The Astral soul system-Chapter 215: Disadvantage

"I still don’t know why you picked this place"

"Just need to repay a debt"

Zyro said as he approached the dungeon

He quickly spotted the guards stationed in front and approached them

"Hello. I’d like to go in please"

The guards exchanged glances before looking at him.

"You’re a first year?"

"Yep"

"No first years allowed,kid. Buzz off"

He was expecting that and quickly showed them his watch

"I have permission, from a teacher. She said i could come"

The guards once again exchanged looks before one of them held up a device that resembled an old phone, swiping it over the code.

It beeped with a soft green glow and the guards became a bit less guarded.

"Where did you get this?"

Zyro wasn’t sure if that was a question he was supposed to be answering but it was probably just that odd for first years to come here.

"Oh, my teacher’s name is Aurora A-"

"Alaric? You got this from Alaric?"

Zyro was a bit surprised they knew her. He briefly remembered Gary saying she was famous, but he didn’t think much of it originally. Maybe he should look into it. Any information he could get on her would be useful .

He nodded and both guards exchanged glances. They didn’t waste any more time and brought him to the terminal next to the dungeon.

They copied down all the data on his watch, putting him on the register before asking him if he had any storage devices on him.

Zyro showed them his ring

"This is the only one I’ve got"

"If you want to enter you’re going to have to let us search it"

He wasn’t sure why but he wasn’t against it. There was nothing incriminating in or about the ring. Unfortunately...

"I can’t, it’s already been branded"

"No problem. Just empty it’s contents"

Luckily there wasn’t a lot of stuff in it, just some back up clothes in case he had to transform, Zen’s throwing star, Zaine’s sword and his shield.

He handed the ring over for them to confirm it was empty though he wasn’t sure how, probably an ability or something.

One of them held it for a few seconds before returning it.

"You’re clean, you can take your stuff"

Zyro quickly picked up his things and put them back, looking at them eagerly.

"Everything is in order. You can go in. Simply use your watch’s distress beacon if you’re in trouble and someone will come to get you"

Zyro nodded and was about to go when one of them suddenly spoke up

"Oh, right. You’re a first year, so you probably don’t know. There’s a tax on crystals and other things found in dungeons"

Well that definitely explained why they’d searched his ring now.

"Really? How much"

"Ten percent"

Zyro was surprised. Ten percent was honestly a bit more generous than he’d been expecting. Though it didn’t matter much,he was probably just going to eat the crystals he found anyway.

"Alright,thank you"

He said before turning around and walking in with big steps.

After Zyro left, the two guards looked at each other suspiciously

"So what do you think?"

"Everything looked legit but... Alaric? Really?"

The other one nodded,a grim look on his face.

"It’s hard to believe, but what about the kid?"

The other guard shrugged.

"Standard first year, nothing special. If anything he felt weaker than most. He’ll call for help soon,I give him five minutes"

"Really? He seemed pretty prepared. I give him ten"

Rolling his eyes, the other one replied

"Yeah, weapons,a shield,no armor and no teammates is considered preparation."

************

After a few seconds of walking,the terrain subtly shifted. Dungeons have a way of Terra forming their surroundings and their insides. The area of effect was known as a dungeons domain,the golden desert on Mars being a good example,though only extremely dangerous dungeons could have one that extended outside the dungeons borders, and even fewer could have one as large as the one on Mars.

Dungeons were one of the world’s greatest mysteries for a reason. No one was sure exactly how but the moment a person step foot in the dungeon’s domain,it became aware of you,there was nowhere to run or hide from the horrors it held. Luckily not all dungeon creatures were smart.

[Host has entered a dungeon]

[Alignment: Metal]

[Beacon:???]

[Quest issued]

[Slay this dungeon and assimilate the beacon]

Once again the system was showing him a bunch of words he didn’t understand. How in the world would he slay a dungeon?

"Theia?"

"How about we just clear the beasts before we figure that part out"

Zyro was fine with that. He quickly noted that it didn’t mention a reward but it would probably be mentioned later. Or maybe it was like the quest in the cave where the reward was whatever he was able to get out of it.

The ground and walls were lined with thick iron ore everywhere, making it easy to stumble if you weren’t careful.

Metal attribute beasts were classified as an earth attribute variant, at least by human scientists and was one of the least sought after beasts for a few reasons.

First of all, they were tanky as fuck. Durability and strength were their strong suit, more than making up for their speed deficiency. And the elementals wete entirely different monsters

Secondly,they were immune to most elemental damage unless it was of a considerably higher level

Last but not least, beast gear created from their cores weren’t especially sought after. It was a bit vain but they just weren’t popular for some reason. Something about the weapons already being made of metal,so the extra attribute wasn’t really adding much.

Zyro unlike most people had his eyes on a specific set of weapons, and the beasts here would be perfect materials.

He suddenly felt like he was being watched and immediately following that was the sound of clanking and thudding of feet.

"How did it get so close without making a sound?"

Zyro wondered but didn’t dwell on it.

Another reason for coming here was specifically the lack of popularity of metal type beasts and gear. He could fight freely for a change.

The glowing codex flew out of his chest, whirling in the air as it was freed.

He waited for a few more seconds and the beast entered his line of sight.

"Yep,nice and tanky"

He muttered, looking at the relatively small creature. It resembled a rhino, except with the sound of its feet, Zyro was sure it weighed about twice as much as a regular one, and the thick silver plates all over its vital areas didn’t make things any better

Zyro sucked in a breath, giggling.

He might have picked more than he can chew,after all,there was a reason dungeons weren’t available to first years, and he especially shouldn’t be here after most of his power was sealed, but as much as he didn’t want to say it, they were starting to feel a little...stuck.

Even if he didn’t finish the dungeon today he was determined to at least get a few decent hits, plus for some reason absorbing Astra was always easier in dungeons. It wasn’t as overwhelming as in the dungeon corpse but his regular speed had been doubled

His active speed was about 0.5 every minute, and right now it had been increased to 1, though it was once again cut in half during combat since his concentration was split ,it was still better than his base.

He also had one other.

The beast let out a bellow before suddenly charging at him, it’s horn pointed straight for him like a spear.

Zyro quickly spun out of the way. Getting hit by that thing was an absolute fuck no

He threw a quick soul gun at it’s back but it struck against the iron plate, dissipating and barely shifting the thing.

"Right, finesse is the key. Also..."

[Equipped Lilith]

The surface of the codex suddenly turned a deep red and a powerful bloody smell started coming off it.

Moving it closer with his mind, he decided to try something and immediately fired a soul blast through it.

A red ball of energy flew out of the orb, slamming into the beast once again, though it had a slightly different effect.

Zyro felt a chill go down his spine. That felt weird. Really weird. It felt like the energy had been pulled out of him by hand. Okay,that was an exaggeration, but it was still uncomfortable.

Looking at the numbers rapidly going down, Zyro unequipped it.

He briefly examined himself and...

No damage or pain. It really is simpler this way.

Unfortunately he couldn’t test for longer. With his current absorption speed and a reduction of one every second, testing souls and their effect was something he couldn’t do right now

He suddenly pulled out his shield as the shadows in the room started shifting.

"That doesn’t mean I can’t test other things though"