The dungeon continued onward in a mostly linear fashion, though there were some chambers that jutted off to the sides.

  Lucian looked around cautiously as he turned to enter one such side chamber. A sound quickly distracted him.

  He ducked as he heard a swishing sound just in time to avoid a large vine sweeping past where his head had been. The tendril extended from the wall to the left. A large toothy looking plant that resembled an oversized flytrap had its jaws wide open.

  Two more vines shot out towards Lucian like spears. Lucian acted on instinct. He tilted his body sideways to dodge the first vine and leapt backwards over the second.

  As he sailed over the attack he activated [Manifest Weapon]. As his sword took form the plant launched another attack with the vine it had initially missed with.

  Lucian pivoted as he landed and swung his sword down, slicing down the center of the oncoming vine. It kept coming as Lucian cut down, splitting itself in two down the middle a significant amount before the vine began to pull back.

  Lucian pushed off the ground and launched himself at the main body of the plant but was intercepted by its vines crossing in front of him. The surface of the vines shimmered with a green light and large thorns sprouted from their surfaces.

  If Lucian couldn’t cut through it, or made contact with the vines anyway, he might end up getting stabbed by the knife-like protrusions.

  He slammed his heel against the ground in an effort to kill his momentum, bringing his sword down with a [Slash]. The blade came against the vine but caught one of the thorns. The angle of the spike caused the blade to slip, tilting a bit sideways and not digging very far into the flesh of the vine - but Lucian did manage to avoid impaling himself.

  He immediately pulled his sword back and put some distance between himself and the plant monster.

  The monster’s vines shone a brighter green for a moment before it slammed its spike-covered vines into the ground below.

  Large thorns began to erupt from the ground in a spreading wave in all directions. Lucian’s eyes narrowed and he leapt forward clearing several spikes that lanced upwards breaking through the rock where he had stood. He jumped towards the plant.

  It swung one of its vines at Lucian as he sailed towards it, like a giant spiked whip. Lucian grinned and drove his sword towards the limb with a thrust, activating [Piercing Strike]. His sword cut through one of the thorns that had prevented its effectiveness last time, piercing through the vine entirely.

  He held onto the sword as the vine’s momentum brought him closer to the wall. He used the sword to vault over the vine, jerking the sword along with him, cutting through the vine entirely.

  He glanced down at the thorns below him and continued the motion of the sword, striking the ground with the tip to kill his momentum before he hit the spikes, instead gently landing beside one.

  Lucian readied himself for the next attack as the thorns around him began to retreat back into the ground, “Thank fuck those aren’t persistent.”

  Lucian stepped to the side to dodge a downwards slam from one of the vines which kicked up dust from pulverizing the ground.

  He took a step forward and pushed off of the ground, launching himself towards the main body of the monster. It brought its already cut vine forward to intercept Lucian, who gritted his teeth and swung his blade to meet it with [Slash]. He angled his blade as precisely as he could, cutting halfway through the thick plant matter and managing to avoid deflecting off of the thorns.

  The vine whipped, flinging Lucian away. He landed on the ground and laughed, “You’re a pain in the ass, you know?”

  He felt his sword draw more of his Spirit to remain active - he had burned through half his Spirit. Lucian narrowed his eyes at the plant, “Can’t let this drag on forever…” A plan quickly formulated in Lucian’s mind - he would bait out its attacks then use [Quickstep] to close the distance and try and finish the fight in one attack.

  “Alright… Come on then!” Lucian shouted at the plant, though doubted it could hear him or understand him if it could. Lucian readjusted his grip on his sword and began to approach the monster with measured steps.

  The overgrown venus flytrap launched two of its vines towards Lucian, one sweeping across and one simply launching towards Lucian like a spear. It kept its last vine in reserve, twisting in the air at its side.

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  Lucian sidestepped the piercing attack and leapt over the sweeping one. As he was in the air the third vine shot out towards him, aiming directly for his chest.

  Lucian grinned, “Gotcha.” He swiped his blade through the air, twisted it to parry the attack and use its momentum to move to the side. The monster began to retract its vines but it wasn’t fast enough. The second Lucian touched the ground he launched off of it towards the main body with [Quickstep], piercing through the air with his sword.

  Lucian drove his sword through the jaw-like structure of the monster, feeling the tip of his sword hit the rocks it was embedded in as it pierced through it entirely. He saw a vine coming for him out of the corner of his eye and slashed his blade sideways, carving a path through the plant matter as he freed his sword, nearly cutting it entirely in half.

  Lucian crouched low, and felt the air rush past his head as he ducked the blow. He brought his sword back towards the main body, delivering another attack.

  The vines thrashed as Lucian diced the main body of the plant, thrashing against the walls and floor. Lucian leapt back to avoid being crushed.

  It stopped trying to attack him, convulsing and whipping its limbs around at random. After a few more moments it stopped moving.

  Only then did Lucian dismiss his sword, but not before it had consumed another point of Spirit.

  Lucian exhaled and wiped his forehead on his sleeve. He assigned his free points to Constitution, Strength, and Agility, bringing them to 26, 54, and 50 respectively.

  He paused for a moment, then looked around the room more carefully, walking around its perimeter as he glanced about.

  At the far end of the chamber, opposite from the entrance, there was an alcove in the wall, hidden behind ivy-like plants.

  Lucian pushed the plants aside. Within the alcove there was a small box made of stone that looked like it had grown out of the alcove’s base. He ran his fingers across the top - it was oddly smooth. His fingers pressed against the sides of the lid, “It doesn’t look like it has a lock…” Lucian slowly opened the stone box.

  The box was mostly empty, containing only a silver and white ring. Lucian reached into the box and took the ring out, stepping back from the alcove to examine it.

  It was a band of silver metal, covered with a winding of what looked like some kind of spider’s silk - almost like a spool of thread.

  Lucian played with the ring, rolling it between two of his fingers.

  “Great.” Lucian chuckled. “Well I don’t have an identification skill. Here’s hoping it isn’t cursed…” He thought as he slipped the ring onto his left ring finger.

  Lucian felt information appear in his mind as he put the ring on.

  Lucian nodded a bit, and looked to the wall in front of him. He jumped up and reached out with his right hand, his palm met the stone and he felt for the ring with his mind - willing it to activate. He felt a strange almost-static as his hand simply stuck to the wall. He laughed and grinned, pulling himself up further using arm strength, “Oh this could be fun…”

  Lucian planted his feet on the wall as well and felt them stick with that same not-quite-static feeling. He began to start climbing upwards but felt the ring re-activate consuming more of its internal Spirit, “Hm it’s designed to prevent you from using it to climb?” Lucian wondered, dismissing the effect and jumping back to the ground.

  He raised his hand and looked at the ring, “Still, even if I can’t climb around like a spider, it’s still useful. The ring even has its own reservoir of Spirit for its ability to draw on. Though I do wonder if it will refuse to work or use my Spirit once the ring is empty.”

  Lucian looked back to the entrance of the chamber. His Spirit was still far from full, but he felt confident in his ability to get away if he ran into something he wasn’t confident in beating.

  He stepped back out into the main cavern of the dungeon and continued on his way.

  “I’m starting to get hungry but I might as well push a bit further in…”