MMORPG: Ascension of the Strongest Spirit Master
Chapter 36: Instance Dungeon

Chapter 36: Instance Dungeon

The Sun slowly rose from the eastern horizon, its golden rays bathing the vast forest that stretched for tens of kilometres. But in a part of the forest covered by broad-leafed trees that towered overhead, allowing only thin, fragmented rays to pierce the dense canopy.

Below, the forest floor remained steeped in cool, heavy shadows as the sunlight struggled to reach the earth.

Vlad stood motionless in the darkness, his clawed gauntlets dripping with fresh blood, his dark armor painted crimson from his battle against the Duskstalkers, dark panthers whose bodies littered his surroundings.

The battle seemed to be over as there were no more beasts left standing, but Vlad calmly scanned his surroundings, a cold, emotionless look frozen on his face.

Seconds slowly passed, and then an entire minute was gone, yet not even a sound from a bird disturbed the heavy silence.

Then, without warning or sound, the shadow of the nearest tree moved, no not a shadow but a pitch-dark beast nearly two meters in length with its slim yet mighty body pressed low against the ground like a coiled spring.

It moved with astonishing speed, and when only a mere meter separated the two, the beast lunged at Vlad, its jaw stretched wide, lined with fangs as dark as his obsidian fur coat.

A second later, the beast snapped his jaw closed at the back of Vlad’s neck, giving no time for the human to evade its perfect ambush, or so the beast thought.

But all that its fangs found was thin, cold air, and before the beast could even register its failure, pain bloomed in its throat, sharp, wet, and terrible.

Its breath hitched, twisting into a choking gargle as blood and air spilled from its torn-open neck.

The beast collapsed to the ground, a pool of blood quickly forming beneath him, while Vlad coldly stared as its life slipped away.

{You have killed a Duskstalker (Level 61)}

{Exp Gained: 6940}

{Level up}

{All stats have increased by (1). You have five unassigned stat points available for distribution.}

’Level 42, and since now I have enough agility to properly execute the ghost weave skill, it’s time I start putting points into dexterity,’ Vlad thought before putting all five stat points into his dexterity stat.

All players had six attributes: Strength, Vitality, Agility, Dexterity, Mind, and Endurance, with each one defining a crucial aspect of their physical or mental prowess.

The attribute of Strength, increased physical power, and Vitality boosted the overall health and resilience of the body, and Agility was responsible for speed, reflexes, and dodging ability.

While Dexterity improved his precision, accuracy, and fine motor skills, Mind was directly responsible for magical energy, and Endurance raised his stamina and resistance to fatigue.

Why Vlad was now focussing solely on Dexterity had to do with his trait.

His trait, Inhuman Instinct, gave him heightened senses, allowing him to sense things without even seeing them and to perceive everything he saw in greater detail.

However, as amazing as it was, it had its limits.

When active, Vlad continuously had a large amount of information flood his mind, which was its first flaw, but with his years of its use, he had mastered the ability to focus on what was important and let the rest fade into nothing.

However, mastering the information he received was far from the trait’s full potential. In truth, it was merely its crude, most basic form.

The trait could offer much more, namely allowing Vlad to develop an Aura sense, which would enable him to sense not only various forms of energy but also the energy flow of his targets and even emotions when mastered.

Another aspect was Visualization, a state that allowed Vlad to create a phantom of what would happen next, a mere glimpse of the future, but enough to make him a nightmare to face for even a foe stronger than him.

After Visualization came Inhuman Reflexes, where he could replicate a move after seeing it once or create the perfect counter.

And then Instinct Projection, which, as its name suggested, was simple but deadly when mastered, and finally, the Temporal Drift, where he could stretch a moment longer, making reality appear to slow down around him.

In his past life, Vlad had elevated the grade of his trait from A to S, but that was it. Even after years of honing his skills in countless battles to the death, he had yet to master his own trait.

As a matter of fact, there were less than ten individuals who could claim to have mastered their trait to the highest degree.

Maybe in this lifetime, he would be one such master or a monster who surpasses even them.

The Aura sense was going to require a few hundred points in both Dexterity and Mind before he could even start using it in its lowest state, so his focus was going to be on developing visualization trait and refining his heightened instincts.

The only thing that would hold him back from swiftly mastering the various aspects of his trait would be his strength.

While as an Awakened, first Rank ascendant, Vlad was nearly twice as strong as a normal human, but compared to his former self from his past life, who had undergone dozens of genetic augmentations and enchantments, he was as weak as a newborn.

So, to reach his past life peak, he had to at least reach peak third rank and do so while achieving stat maximization.

Vlad collected the corpses and left the area in search of new prey. He moved on and kept hunting any predator that crossed his path, all while searching for clues to the realm tear.

However, strangely, even after a few hours roaming the area, he found no fresh signs of mutilated mountain bears as described in the report, some torn-apart creatures but nothing out of the ordinary.

Another hour passed, and Vlad had combed through nearly two-thirds of his search zone, and still, he found nothing of value.

It seemed like either the mad mountain bear had been killed or was evolving deep within its cave, which meant there was never a real tear in this area or a spirit wandering this place.

There was another possibility. The spirit who had escaped the tear had found a perfect host, forcefully taking over its body, and was now silently guarding the realm tear, feasting on the law crystal it produced.

In a normal situation, a spirit would make a contract with a physical plane inhabitant to stay in the physical world and slowly feast on mana to grow stronger.

A Spirit bound could also use law crystals that held the purest form of mana and laws to help the spirit grow, but that had to be done in moderation because being exposed to too much law essence could slowly poison and even cripple the host.

The same fate was true for spirits as they couldn’t absorb too much world essence even though spirits held great affinity to the laws of their element.

So, the growth of a spirit with a Spirit bound was slow but stable.

The spirit that could have escaped from the realm tear would be trying to achieve great progress at the cost of its host’s life.

Both possibilities had an equal likelihood of being true, but with no clues in sight, Vlad was inclined to believe the former to be true.

At least that’s what Vlad believed until he wandered into one of the caves, thinking it would be home to one or two mountain bears and end after a few dozen meters.

{Congratulations, Player V. You have discovered the instance dungeon: Maw of the Eclipseborn.}

{Since you are the first player to discover it, All rewards will be doubled if the dungeon is cleared on the first attempt.}

Name: Maw of the Eclipseborn

Type: Instance Dungeon

Difficulty: Nightmare

Grade: First Rank

Description: The Dungeon is home to a rare bear born beneath a total eclipse, granting it the right to transcend its common mountain Bear bloodline and awaken its ancestral Beast King bloodline: the Shadow Bear Colossus.

Vlad was left stunned, not because he had found a hidden dungeon that promised great reward or because of its great difficulty, which was something of immense rarity.

The dungeon’s difficulty, which was directly tied to its quality, was divided into five grades. Normal, Hardened, Heroic, Nightmare, and finally, the elusive Mythic difficulty.

So, finding even a normal dungeon that offered Nightmare difficulty was rare, let alone an instance dungeon that could only be cleared once.

But it was not the rarity or value of the dungeon that stared Vlad, but it was its current state.

"The air in here reeked of blood and decay," Vlad curled his nose, too familiar with the vile scent to mistake it for anything else.

Vlad stepped deeper into the dark cave and quickly found the reason for the terrible stence of death. The long passage of the giant tunnel was littered with carcasses of big black bears, their bodies torn to ribbons, their blood and guts painting the floor and walls.

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