Just a week. And she was already level 2. Astrid leaned against her hammer as she placed it on the ground. After the days she'd spent delving so far, she knew enough to never let her guard down while in the Dungeon. Even when Grom was nearby to make sure that she never drew too many wargs to her at a time, this wasn't a training ground. She'd taken one serious wound in her delving so far when a third warg had darted at her from behind and managed to catch her in the upper thigh. It'd nicked the major artery there, and her blood had flowed out like a river. Fortunately, she'd dealt with the other two wargs quickly enough that a usage of Quick Recovery stopped the worst of the bleeding for long enough for her to retreat from the Dungeon.
Now, though, Astrid couldn't help but excitedly pull up her Status, even though she was still in the Dungeon.
Status
Name: Astrid
Class: Warrior (Bronze)
Total Level: 2 (9/2,000)
Attributes
Current
Per level growth
Power
18
+5
Alacrity
13
+3
Fortitude
18
+5
Magical Potency
7
+1
Self-Mastery
8
+1
Acumen
8
+1
Nearly 20 in Power and Fortitude would mean that she could better withstand any attacks from the wargs. She'd long known that the wargs' strength at level 4 was the absolute limit of what she could survive, and that was exclusively because of her Bronze tier Skills. If not for her Shield Wielding, she'd be knocked prone all the time. Instead, the Skill gave her increased footing and ability whenever she was blocking with a shield. Since the wargs' attributes were skewed to Power and Alacrity, Astrid could dispatch them without too much difficulty so long as she could get some solid hits in. Of course, the level 5s had been too strong, and their Fortitude, even though it was one of their lowest attributes, was high enough that it was nearly impossible for her at level 1 to break their defences.
Now, though, she could kill so many more things! She still would stay on the first floor of the Dungeon, though. On the second, there were much larger packs, and Astrid would have to work her way up to dealing with even three wargs safely, much less four or five.
"Congratulations." Grom clapped her hard on the shoulder as he jogged up. "I said a month, and now that you're getting four times the experience, it took a quarter of the time!"
"Yes, you're very smart." Astrid joked back. She'd gotten more of a measure of the man in front of her in the past days, and realized that, when he wasn't actively working as the Guild's representative, he was a lax and generally easygoing guy.
"You've seen the change, though, right?" He said. "You've killed almost 200 wargs to get here. Now, you'll have to double that. It'll keep getting harder and harder each level, and level 6 is another watershed."
Astrid nodded. Intellectually, she knew how levels scaled. For Bronze, the first five levels would progress from 1,000-5,000 each, then once she got her fourth Skill option at level 6, the levels would jump to 10,000-15,000. Then, it would continue to progress that way, skipping 5,000 experience needed each time she gained a level until, at level 20, it would take 35,000 experience to enter Iron. Then, the experience would continue to climb higher and higher, giving diminishing returns o n the monsters she fought as she continued to delve. Deeper and deeper she'd need to go, into harder and harder branches of the Dungeon until she became Mithril or even Adamantium some day. Arcanite, of course, was a dream of a dream, and to get through Adamantium, she'd need to gain millions of experience per level. It simply wouldn't happen.
Even Adamantium was so far beyond her reach right now. Instead, she focused on the new strength in her body. The hammer and shield were much lighter in her hands, and raising them was hardly a strain on her. Considering how quickly she'd gained so much Power, though, it wasn't a surprise. Her body from before she'd gained her Class was less than a third as strong as she was now. The armor and shield that had weighed her down were now only light hindrances. Her hammer swung easily in her hands now, whipping through the air.
"Feel different?" Grom asked as he jogged over with a grin. "I still remember those first levels."
"It's… like I'm a totally different person." Astrid admitted.
"For people who don't have as many bonus attributes as you do, it's even more so. Since you'd trained almost a level's worth, the Bestowal was bigger than this, but with the addition of Skills and so on, the attribute growth isn't as impactful for most people as the Skills take up the bulk of the change in them. Now, though, it's just the attributes."
Astrid nodded slowly. "It's great. It makes me want to keep delving for longer!"
"Well," Grom sighed, "I can maybe do a little longer, but not much. I've got some letters I need to send immediately. They… well. Since you're a delver, and have hit level 2, you'll be in on this as well. This swell is looking more and more like it might actually be a surge. We can't know exactly how far it's going to range, but there's very little chance that it ends up as anything less than a localized surge."
Astrid sat up tall. "Is anyone going to get mana intoxication? What about disfiguration? What are we going to do about the nearest Dungeon entrance? Are there—"
"Kid. Astrid." Grom shook her gently. "We'll be fine. I'll focus on the wargs above level 5 that appear, and the rest of you will work to make sure that there aren't too many of the wargs that end up breaking free. It won't be the first time that there's a surge in a Dungeon entrance, and nobody's going to be too concerned about wargs. Maybe we'll have a couple higher level Bronzes get sent here, or maybe even an Iron, and they'll be able to take care of everything. This'll probably just be an opportunity for you to get a bunch of experience. Don't sweat it."
"How high of level monsters will appear?" Astrid demanded. Grom sighed.
"Maybe as high as 10. Usually, a surge will show enemies up to the max of the entrance's Boss's watershed. The Boss here is a level 6, so they could range that high. I doubt it, but we'll prepare for at least that. Don't worry, there won't be too many of the highest level ones, and, as I said, I'll take care of them. I'll end up pulling most of them anyways. Having an Iron Shieldmaster at a surge of Bronzes is about as good as it can get for you."
Despite his best efforts, Astrid still felt the stress and fear from the word "surge" that, as far as she could tell, anyone rational would. They'd changed the world, they'd made every nonhuman race, and they'd driven humanity from a world-sprawling power to one sequestered to an inhospitable land outside of the influence of the more monstrous races. Then, after the fear, came the pride. After all, Astrid's driving goal had always been to protect her land, to become strong enough to serve as a deterrent for the other powerful individuals in their neighboring countries. She imagined the many enemies she could fight off.
A Mithril or Adamantium Hiveguard could easily fly over the Bulwark and carry off citizens to feed their Queen without any humans noticing. A similarly leveled Barbarian would plow through the Bulwark and expose their fertile lands to the raids of humanity's enemies. A Kin would devour every human they found, becoming more and more monstrous with every level. One of the Walkers could cause their fields to become toxic or their homes to wither.
Yes, a Mithril tiered Astrid would rush across the borders of the Bulwark and drive off their foes, her weapons flashing in the sky and her presence announcing to humanity that they were safe for another day. Maybe, even, she could reach Adamantium or Arcanite and become of the continental powerhouses that served as not just a warning but a weapon of absolute destruction when deployed. A tool to help the Duchess preserve humanity's continued independence.
For now, though, she'd work to protect the people she'd met in Schteld. There was Moira, the Smith who'd helped reforge a couple links of her chain mail back together, and her son Seth who helped out in the forge when he wasn't working in a nearby bakery. He would go to Stalstadt to get his Class next year. Then, in the third store that Astrid finally visited was Guinevere, the kind Apothecary who'd provided a dose of a healing draught at a reasonable price. Her husband was the intelligent man that'd come to Percival's assistance, a Laboroer whose Skills allowed him to create most of the fine work in the village.
A dozen other people were here, and they needed her help!
"If that's what you need me to do." She said as she nodded. "Is there anyone I'll be working with, or is there anything I need to do right now?"
"For now, all you need to do is collect those ears and finish your hunt. Any experience you get in these next days and weeks might get you close enough to get another level in the surge. We have no way to know how long it'll actually be before the surge begins, there aren't any Dungeoneers or even Scholars here in town, so we're getting those here as soon as possible."
"Yes, sir." Astrid answered as she bent down and cut the ears from the wargs dead on the ground around her.
"Let's go."
Grom shrugged and gestured for her to continue. Astrid did without further words. Though her mental attributes hadn't grown as much as her physical ones, Astrid felt she could hear a little better what was happening in the forest around her. There wasn't much of a change, there, but as the black leaves shifted in the strange breeze, Astrid felt she could pick out more of what was happening around her. There wasn't any monster in the immediate vicinity, but she didn't mind that. Instead, she just focused on ensuring that she was aware of anything coming near.
It wasn't long before a pair of wargs burst out of the nearby bushes and threw themselves at her with their maws wide open. Strangely, they weren't nearly as fast as they'd always been. Astrid had enough time to lower her shoulder to her shield and stride forward into the monster on the left. As she felt the impact of the body, she swung her hammer in a wide, warding blow. Surprisingly, it caught the warg's shoulder, and it collapsed under the blow.
Just as soon as her perception caught up to what was happening, Astrid recognized two paralyzed foes. The one she'd smashed with her whole weight and shield's neck was snapped, and it lay wheezing on the ground while the other's chest had been fully collapsed by her strike. With two more quick strikes, the incapacitated beasts were dead.
Warg slain. 6 Experience gained.
Warg slain. 5 Experience gained.
"One of these was level 2?" Astrid couldn't hold back the disbelief. They were so… weak.
"These are among the weakest of all Dungeon monsters." Grom stated. "They only have a total attribute growth of 5 per level. You knew there's variability between different monsters, right?"
Astrid nodded.
"Great. Then, the only weaker monsters for individual attribute level growth are goblins and slimes. Wargs are easier targets than both of those, especially with your hammer."
She'd been told that this was a perfect Dungeon entrance for rookies, but Astrid hadn't asked good enough questions for why that was, it seemed. Then, another question occurred to her.
"If the wargs only gain 5 attributes per level, I'd guess it's 2 Power and Alacrity, 1 Fortitude?"
Grom nodded.
"Then, how is the Boss hard for anyone? It's a level 6 warg, and sure, it's got a Skill now, but that isn't that big of a deal, is it? Its Power would be… 14? And same goes for its Alacrity? That wouldn't pose any real threat to me, so why would that be called a Boss? Just because there's two other monsters with it?"
Grom gestured for Astrid to gather the ears and while she did, he explained, "You don't quite understand. At each watershed, so 6, 11, and 16 at Bronze, monsters undergo a small evolution that grants a sizeable bonus to their attributes. In the case of our Boss, it gets a +10 bonus to all attributes plus its Skill, which enrages it and its two minions, granting a bonus to their Power, Alacrity, and Fortitude based off of how much Self-Mastery, Magical Potency, and Acumen they lose. They effectively lose all of them."
Her confidence was quickly washed away. That was far from something she could confront any time soon. Astrid nodded and stood, ready to go find some more monsters, but Grom shook his head.
"It's time."
Astrid sighed and stood tall. Her sweat mixed with the dirt kicked up by her fights caked her face under the arming cap and gambeson, and more wetness trailed down her spine. It was time, she supposed, and with a nod, she turned to walk out of the Dungeon. Surprisingly, they came in contact with two other individual wargs on their path out. Astrid struck both down without any real focus, and for the first time, she truly felt like an accomplished delver. After all, she was able to cut down monsters wherever she walked, and she'd already gained a level!
A single level. She tamped down her excitement. Even more surprising was that, as they scaled the stairs, they stumbled across two more wargs that were in the process of trying to escape the Dungeon. Again, Astrid struck them down, but with a level 3 and 2 there, it was more concerning than the two level 1's that'd spawned earlier.
"This… isn't normal." Astrid said more than she asked. Grom's face, though mostly obscured by his helmet, was obviously grimacing.
"No. It's not."
"Should we hurry?"
"No problems would come of it, I can say that."
Astrid nodded and jogged up the stairs. As soon as she was in the real, green forest, though, Grom's armor disappeared into wherever it was when he wasn't wearing it.
"I'll see you in the inn." Then, he sprinted forward. Even though he wasn't a speed-based Class at all, Astrid didn't have a prayer of keeping up with the Guild Representative. As such, she hurried as much as she could manage, but by the time she got to the inn, more sweat dripping down her face than she'd imagined possible, the delvers were already in an uproar.
For the first time, Astrid was truly reminded that even the most experienced delvers here had less than a year of experience. The notion of a surge, that they'd serve as the front lines holding it back from allowing hundreds and thousands of wargs out into the world to reproduce and devour whatever they could see… it terrified them. Some of the delvers that Astrid had passed in the halls and exchanged pleasantries with looked like they were ready to escape town right away.
"The timeline is unknown, so we all need to be on constant alert!" Grom said. "I know everyone who's here. If you deliberately escape so as to not participate, you will be blacklisted from the Guild as a whole. If you do achieve participation in the subjugation, it will count as three marks in your favor, which will wipe away a litany of marks against you, as well as grant you increased trade rates and equipment purchasing rights."
Seeing so many of the delvers that she'd subconsciously looked up to in the past week as experienced actually shivering in fear just… was incomprehensible to Astrid. They'd signed up for this? What was the worry? What was the problem? Instead of thinking more about it, Astrid raised a hand. Grom pointed at her.
"What, Astrid Warrior?"
"Is increasing our hunts' length and duration something that'll help us during the surge?"
"Short answer, yes." Grom replied. "You'll get experience, and the monsters that come out will be lower level, the fewer of them there are in the Dungeon for extended periods of time."
"Alright." Astrid nodded. "If that's the case, then I'm going to take a quick lunch and go out. Will there need to be someone with me for this, or can I just go out and kill the monsters without supervision?"
"Don't go alone." Grom shook his head. "There's more and more of them coming. But, it can be any other two people than those who you've worked with previously. I rescind your previous punishment restricting you from partying with others. Anyone who wishes to go with the newly level 2 Astrid Warrior, you are welcome to do so."
The subtle announcement of how quickly she'd gained a level got attention throughout the assembled people, and a couple seemed to realize that maybe she wasn't as out of favor with the Guild as they'd supposed or been made to believe. Astrid grinned as Stark brought her a double serving bowl of a hearty porridge and a couple people seemed to steel themselves to come up to ask her to allow them to party with her.
Maybe there wasn't a whole lot of a reason to worry about this.