As Max and Lucius emerged from their respective passageways into a grand chamber that glowed with a mystical aura the reward for clearing the second level seemed to be awaiting them.
At its centre lay two pedestals, each holding a Shard of Life. One was a radiant Tier 9 shard, and the other a less dazzling but still significant Tier 7 shard.
"I believe you should have this one," Max said, pointing towards the Tier 7 shard as he himself confidently walked ahead and picked up the tier9 shard.
Lucius hesitated but finally nodded, a forced smile on his face. "I guess a reward is a reward," he muttered, trying to suppress his envy.
With this second shard and a few small odd treasures his total merit points were now nearing 20,500 points, however, Max just by the tier9 shard alone had about 20k.
Although he had joined the race for treasures later than Lucius he had already made 15 billion gold coins and was at the same pedestal as he was.
*****
( Meanwhile the Saint Maximus clan and Felix Aurelius )
Inside another passage, the Saint Maximus Clan was visibly struggling.
They too had managed to clear the ice-dragon round without having a single casualty as they used their bloodline ability to detect the exit and then without fighting the dragon they made a beeline for it.
However, in the riddle round they seemed to have found their true foe.
Despite their best efforts, they could not solve all the riddles in time, and inside the small passageway, their Bloodline ability of enhanced hearing was all but useless.
Not being the best fighters anyway, they could not clear the fights against the door guardians with enough time left to escape the dungeon.
Unfortunately for them, when they were barely on door 3, time ran out and they died horrifying deaths by being pierced by the spikes.
Meanwhile, Felix Aurelius, on the other hand, seemed to be faring a bit better.
He had just cleared the ice dragon stage but had lost one of his team members in the process.
Unlike the Saint Maximus clan or Max, Felix was the first one to clear the stage through brute strength alone as he defeated every single warrior and the ice dragon to complete the level.
Unfortunately, he too lost a member, a loss that would be acutely felt in the fights to come.
********
( meanwhile Max )
After claiming the reward for stage2, Max and group advanced to the third stage.
As they entered the third stage of the dungeon, the atmosphere shifted drastically.
The ice suddenly thawed, and they entered a moderately warm rocky outcrop where a lush red Sanguis river flowed through.
The scent of the pure blood flowing in this part of the Sanguis made both Severus and Lucius hiss in pleasure as they bared their fangs and expressed their desire to drink some of the river water.
" The third stage is a level of illusions, this one can be tricky " Max said in a low voice as he warned his group to not trust their senses.
" I hear a waterfall nearby " Severus said, pointing towards the north-west direction where he felt that a waterfall might be, not more than 400 metres away.
As the group walked in the direction he pointed, the sound of the waterfall grew louder and louder until before them stood an 100 feet ominous waterfall cascading not water but blood, its surface shimmering with illusions.
Almost immediately, everyone except Max began to act strangely, their eyes clouded as thick killing intent could be felt all around in the air.
Sebastian drew his sword, turning on Anna who drew her bow and began shooting at Sebastian.
DarkSorrow snarled at Severus, who had his hand at the hilt of his broom as the room was filled with tension.
Max looked horrified. "What is happening? Why are you all turning against each other?" , He questioned, yet before he could do anything about it, Lucius, who was also under the waterfall's spell, lunged at him with a fearsome war cry.
With a quick sidestep, Max evaded the attack, binding him and everyone else with blood chains as he forcefully separated them all and prevented them from harming one another until he figured out just what was going on?
***********
( Meanwhile Rudra )
What the kids learned in a matter of weeks unde Rudra, many experts needed years to master.
At first, Rudra felt that the growth rate of the kids was normal, however, it wasn't until all of them were starting to slice through thick rocks with nothing but blunt wooden swords that he realised that small kids were not supposed to be so proficient with the weapon.
Things had evolved to a point, where to not impede their growth, Rudra had to start to source small and big monsters for them to hunt and level up, as all three of his kids had apparently his the upper level cap for tier0.
By now, Rudra had figured out a way to give them classes and raise them in a structured way outside the controlled universe, so he wasn't worried that without the help of the queen, he wouldn't be able to nurture his kids, however, this way around, he was practically giving his kids classes of his own choice, rather than them choosing a path of their own.
At first he felt reluctant to do so, but after Naomi and Ruby encouraging him on, he felt confident enough to do so.
Afterall he was their father and his judgement was the best for them at their age.
For Jake, his eldest son, Rudra decided that his talents with the sword as well as his demeanour made him a stable and well rounded warrior just like himself, so he gave him a class that was close to his heart in the form of ' Mystic Knight '
For Amy, whose talents in healing he had come to acknowledge, he gave her the class ' Healing Mage ' , but decided that despite her class that was aligned towards purely support, he would still teach her combat.
Finally for Kartikeya, the little devil who was arguably the most talented of the bunch, Rudra gave him the simple ' Berserker ' class, for that kid needed no special class for his skill to shine.
As to how this would play out for the kids in the future, he did not know, but at least for now up till tier3 they had a framework to work on.
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/// A/N - Mass release chapter 6, enjoy ///