Formless Ascension: My Affinity Is Limitless

Uhtred led them all the way through the forest the way he had come. For the first time in their presence, he released his aura in full, shocking them thoroughly. It wasn’t that he wanted to show off, but rather he wanted to keep away the creatures that roamed this deep into Zone 1.

The three had gained levels over the course of the two days, but none of them were even close to being able to forge this deep into Zone 1 on their own.

Diya had moved up from early Level 3 all the way to the peak of Level 5. Dennis, on the other hand, had moved up to the middle stage of Level 4 from Level 2. And Minh Quan, with his Uncommon grade talent, had only been able to reach the early stage of Level 3.

He was the one that Uhtred was beginning to have doubts about the most. But for the meantime, he said nothing about it. The man was truly putting in as much effort as he could, pushing his uncommon grade talent to the maximum possible with each fight.

To discard him simply because of his talent, when the man was this hardworking, was something Uhtred was unwilling to do. So for the meantime, he would watch and observe how the three would play well together in their three-man setup that they had begun to settle into.

"Here we are," Uhtred pushed aside a throng of bushes, revealing a glowing portal-like barrier on the face of a small hill.

A plaque of some sort curved like an archway around the portal, and on it the details of the dungeon were written very clearly:

Unclaimed Regional Dungeon: Sector Cluster 4

Dungeon Floor Limit: 20 Floors

Primary Essence Attunement: Earth Essence

"Earth essence attuned?" Diya was the one to speak. "You said this was a ’real good’ dungeon, but it’s basically of no use to me. I can’t cultivate with the earth attuned cores of whatever beasts are inside there," she muttered with a sigh.

"Yeah, but you can gain experience and refine your fighting techniques," Uhtred responded without even looking back. "Besides... you can always trade any earth essence core you get inside there with me."

Diya huffed, but said nothing. Of course she knew she could always trade with Uhtred. He had been the one to provide each of them with the specific essence cores required for their classes.

Especially for Diya, who was a healer mage, literally none of the beasts they had come across provided her with the healing-attuned cosmic essence core required to cultivate her own core.

It had been Uhtred who had somehow provided the healing essence core for her out of nowhere. He had done the same for Minh Quan and Dennis, giving them the cores required for their specific cultivation needs.

"The gravity here is denser," Dennis suddenly said, jarring her Diya out of her thoughts.

She looked around the surroundings, raising her hand slightly as if trying to feel the difference in gravity Dennis had spoken of.

Even Uhtred frowned slightly. "Oh? You’re actually right, Dennis."

The difference was negligible, but Uhtred could feel it himself now that Dennis had pointed it out. Perhaps he hadn’t noticed it because he had simply been gaining levels way faster than how deep he was getting into Zone 1, but now that it had been brought to his attention, he noticed it immediately.

"Ohh..." Uhtred’s eyes lit up in realization. "I always felt something was up with how distances worked compared to how my location is reflected on the map... The earth has grown larger in size."

Dennis’ eyes widened fractionally, and everything seemed to fall into place in his mind with that revelation. "So it would seem Zone 0 does not only protect us from beasts, but also from the increased gravity. The further away from Zone 0 we get, the less the System reduces the gravity impact on our body."

Uhtred nodded. But following that logic, that means the one who’s feeling it the most right now is Minh Quan...

His eyes flitted over to the calm, collected old man. There was no trace of strain on his face, though Uhtred was certain the man could definitely feel the increased gravity more than anyone else.

So without hesitation, he turned and headed straight for the dungeon.

"Alright then," he clapped. "Let’s see what this dungeon has to offer..."

Uhtred stepped right through the glowing barrier first, and immediately, the sounds of the forest disappeared entirely from his perception, as if he had entered into a whole other world. Only the light drone of buzzing cosmic energy in the air could be heard.

Diya, Minh Quan and Dennis stepped in right after him, just as he was beginning to take in the surroundings.

[You have entered the Mud Crawler Tunnels - Floor 1]

A System notice popped up in their individual field of view.

Uhtred waved away the notice, then observed the Mud Crawler Tunnels... as the System had called it.

The air on the entire floor was cool and heavy, smelling strongly of wet clay and soil. Low, smooth tunnels of damp earth stretched ahead, illuminated by a faint, ambient brown glow radiating directly from the walls all around.

Farther down the floor, the sound of something wet dragging across the clay ground signaled that the first wave of beasts was already moving toward them.

"They’re all yours, guys," Uhtred took a step back, gesturing for the three to move forward and take care of the incoming wave.

Level 1 creatures were in no way beneficial to him at all. He was simply going to stay back and watch how Diya, Minh Quan, and Dennis fought as a group.

Out of the dark bends of the tunnel, the figures of three Level 1 Mud Crawlers slithered out. They were dog-sized, slug creatures with segmented stone plates lining their backs.

They weren’t fast, and they certainly didn’t possess any sort of high intelligence. To Uhtred, they were completely slow and fragile. Even the stone plates on their backs were nothing more than brittle, ceramic-like things that would break with a single punch from him.

But for a newly formed party, this was the exact kind of opponent they needed to test their coordination.

Uhtred leaned against the damp soil wall, his star-metal battle-axe resting loosely in his grip as he watched the trio move.

Minh Quan didn’t even wait for Dennis to call out a plan. The old soldier moved forward instantly, his movements entirely silent across the dungeon floor.

His Uncommon grade talent might have been holding his attribute growth back, but it did absolutely nothing to dull his hardened muscle memory. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

With a low, sweeping movement, Minh bypassed the first Mud Crawler’s slow-moving attempt to bite at him and slammed his knife directly into the soft flesh right between the ridges of its stone plating.

The beast let out a wet, gurgling screech as it collapsed to the ground. And before its other two companions could take advantage of the moment and converge on the old man, Dennis called out from the rear:

"Diya, flank the left! Minh, step back two paces!"

Following Dennis’s precise call, Diya moved with surprising agility for a mage, driving a sharp dagger into the side of the second mud crawler while Minh Quan smoothly rotated backward, avoiding a spray of acidic mud.

Within less than two minutes, the rest of the entire wave lay dead on the floor, dissolving into fizzing, rapidly decomposing grey blobs as the dungeon reclaimed their mass.

Uhtred let out a light grunt of approval. Floor 1 was a complete walk in the park.

The same ease followed them into Floor 2. The Mud Crawlers on the second floor were slightly larger and their stone carapaces thicker, but the routine remained the same.

Minh Quan handled the frontline with a level of vicious efficiency that made up for his low level, while Dennis kept watch from the rear, occasionally stepping in to deliver a quick, tactical stab to finish off a beast.

It was on Floor 3 where the dungeon finally began to show some teeth.

The tunnels widened into large, cavernous chambers, and the beasts they faced were no longer the simple crawling variants. Instead, they faced "Evolved Earth Golems." Squat, heavy Level 3 beasts formed entirely of compacted clay and stones.

If it was only one Evolved Earth Golem, Diya, with her peak Level 5 status, and Dennis, with his middle Level 4 status, would have had no problem at all.

Even Minh Quan, with his early Level 3 status, would have been able to manage. These beasts were not particularly intelligent, after all.

However, it was their numbers that were terrifying. They came out in a horde, Level 3 beasts, surging out of the tunnels...