Varian calmed down.
Special Locations were indeed not a good place to be, particularly due to the degree of uncertainty regarding the danger.
All special locations are harder to clear than normal zones, but some special locations have absurd difficulty.
However, they were sought after by all adventurers despite the higher dangers.
Why?
Rewards!
Defeating the final boss would give the adventurer a rare reward.
'The special location with Sarah and others, it was destroyed.' Varian shook his head and glanced at the three passages ahead.
He chose one at random. The passage, like the other two was full of vines.
Click.
He slowly stepped into the pitch black passage.
Varian used his space sense and cautiously trod forward.
'If goblins are the magic beasts inhabiting this special location, then who is their boss? A bigger goblin? Hobgoblin?'
The passage was long and with his slow advancement; it was only after a few minutes that he saw the end.
Varian's nerves tensed, and he spread his space sense.
However, his Space sense's range was not high. Being a Level 3 Body Awakener meant whatever information his space sense conveyed, his five senses would've likely done the same, only earlier.
'But just in case.'
"Ga"
"Ga"
Varian heard the goblin's voices at the end of the tunnel.
Judging their location from the sound, Varian took the initiative.
He leaned forward slightly, and the next moment; he shot towards the exit.
The vines were blown away by his speed and—
"Ga!"
Zapp!
There were three goblins outside the exit.
Right when he was about to step out, their lightning sense detected him and with a wave of hand, three lightning bolts shot at him.
These lightning bolts were about a meter in length and wiggled like golden jelly. But having tasted the lightning attacks from the golden apes, Varian had no intention to be thundered.
He side stepped and dodged the frontal attacks with ease.
Boom!
Zapp!
The lightning arcs bombarded the walls. The light yellow walls were roasted into pitch black.
"Tch"
Varian glanced back at the goblins, but only after seeing something weird.
The plants directly hit by the lightning arcs died, but the ones in the vicinity didn't. That attack should normally kill every plant in the surroundings as well.
'Weird. Do plants here have some speciality relative to thunder?'
"Ga"
"Ga"
The goblins roared. Their little green eyes glared at him with madness.
These warmongers found invincibility in their higher numbers.
Varian judged them to be mid-Level 3s—the new ranking he came up with.
Low Level 3 was 0-133. Mid was 134-266. High was 277-399.
'Not bad.'
He grinned and dashed to the nearest goblin.
Zap!
Zap!
Zap!
Three two meter lightning arcs shot at him.
Usually, a Level 3 Body Awakener would be severely injured with such an attack.
The goblins plan was indeed meticulous.
Facing such an attack, his only option was to dodge the dangerous lightning arcs. That meant giving up pursuing the goblin in front.
But if he does that and escapes, he'd be chased by lightning arcs released right then.
Their lightning arcs were as fast as him and were greater in number.
So the longer he dodges, the quicker he'd be drained and the greater the chances of being hit by their attack.
Just one attack and he'd be in their bag.
But—
"Tsk" Varian sneered and continued to dash forward.
"Ga?!" The goblins yelled incredulously as he dodged two lightning arcs and took the third one head on.
Boom!
Varian shrugged off at the light injury on his chest and swung his sword.
"Ga!"
The goblin's lightning wall was pierced through and the next moment, the three foot tall body collapsed.
Varian grinned at the other two creatures.
With Space binding and Lightning mana, he turned the heavy injury into a light one.
To his surprise, despite being only Level 1, lightning mana surprisingly reduced a significant portion of the lightning attack.
[+5 Xp
+5 Xp
+10 Xp
Body Path Level 3: 10/400
Space Path Level 2: 45/200
Lightning Path Level 1: 20/100]
"Yes!" Varian felt the rising power in his body.
Until now, his body was only beaten by lightning. Now it was slowly countering and growing stronger with each beating. Perhaps this was the so called 'tempering'.
Varian wanted to yell 'I get stronger with each beating!'
Along with Body, his Space path was also progressing.
The most progress was evident in the Lightning Path.
With each lightning hit, the lightning mana in his body would slightly rumble and interact with the foreign lightning. Then Varian would learn something more about the way it was used and his progress would increase.
Thus, all his Divine Paths were progressing.
This sensation of growing stronger was addicting and to him, every addition in strength meant more chances of getting out of this godforsaken dungeon.
"Ga!"
The other goblins were stupefied and let out their attacks in panic.
Zap!
Zap!
"Not enough." Varian chuckled and easily dodged their attacks.
With only two of them left, they posed no pressure.
"Shua"
"Shua"
In no time, Varian's sword broke their lightning shield and slit their throat.
Thud.
Thud.
[+10 Xp
+5 Xp
+20 Xp]
[Body Path Level 3: 20/400
Space Path Level 2: 50/200
Lightning Path Level 1: 60/100]
'This speed is insane.' Varian felt the soaring lightning mana in his body and sighed in wonder.
[This is a lightning heavy environment. During the battle, you are observing how they are using their lightning mana and learning. Plus, you have plenty of aura crystals backed by the highest talent of any human. This is perfectly normal.]
Listening to the System's explanation, Varian coughed.
"You're right. This is perfectly normal. Level 1 is the easiest, anyway.'
He extracted the beast cores from the goblins and proceeded forward.
Like earlier, there were three passages.
The next passage was going to be harder.
'Instead of picking stronger enemies right away, I can use the weaker enemies and advance to Level 2 in Lightning path. That'd give me more leverage against Lightning Beasts.'
Varian patted himself on the back and turned back.
Then his face twitched.
The passage was closed.
He clenched his fist and—
Boom!
As his fist connected with the hard surface, he realized there was no way back.
"There goes my path to Over Poweredness. Must I be nerfed?" He shed some tears symbolically and turned back to the three passages.
"No. I will advance to level 2." His eyes were filled with determination.
"Nothing can stop my OPness." With that, Varian stepped into one of the passage.
Inside his mind, he told himself: 'I must get out of here.. Alive.'