Dim Dim threw one brittle vial after the other with uncanny accuracy, hitting the dogs closest to them right on the face.
The residue of the exploding powders also spread in the air, affecting the other dogs chasing Alex and Dim Dim.
A minute later, the group of feral dogs was completely neutralized. All of them howled in pain, unable to see properly due to the effect of the young man's home-made concoction.
Seeing that all of the monsters were down for the count, Alex charged in with a sword.
Before the young man entered the dungeon, Cairo had given him one of the swords he had used in the past.
It had been specially enchanted, which made it lighter and sharper than the other swords Alex had ever used. Most importantly, the sword was imbued with a skill that was perfect for the young man's current situation.
With one powerful strike, Alex severed a feral dog's head from its body.
A moment later, its body turned into particles of light, leaving a red crystal behind.
'Master is right,' Alex thought. 'This is just like a dungeon.'
The difference when killing monsters inside and outside the dungeon was very obvious.
When you kill normal monsters, they don't turn into particles of light. Their entire bodies would be left behind, allowing the Adventurers to dismantle their body parts and sell them to the Adventurer's Guild.
Meanwhile, the moment a dungeon monster was killed, its body would disappear and leave items behind.
The most common monster drop was a Monster Core, which was the core of their body.
Alex decided to use the Slash Skill five more times to instantly kill half of the feral dogs that had attacked him earlier.
As for the rest, he used sword strikes and sword thrusts to kill them.
The skill Slash required Stamina every time it was used.
Alex didn't want his Stamina reserves to decrease drastically when the expedition was just starting, so he resorted to normal attacks to finish the rest of the feral dogs.
Once all the dogs were dead, a familiar notification sound resounded inside the young man's head.
Alex was naturally happy about it, but he remained alert and watchful of his surroundings.
His stance remained ready to strike, and he did not even pick up the monster drops on the ground. He only lowered his guard when Dim Dim confirmed that there were no monsters nearby.
"That surprised me," Alex muttered before wiping his head with the back of his hand. "Good thing I stocked up on my secret weapon before coming here."
The young man then picked up the red monster cores that were the size of his pinky finger on the ground.
He examined one of them because this was the first time he had seen a monster core in real life.
"It's harder than I thought,' Alex mused before storing the red gem inside his storage ring.
He then glanced at the sword in his hand and smiled due to how amazing it was.
Passive Skills: Lesser Weight Reduction
— The foundation of all swordplay—a strike that has ended countless battles.
— Multiplies your Sword Damage by two.
— The weight of the blade is reduced by a third, making your sword swings swifter and more precise.
'I got carried away,' Alex thought as he took a bite of one of Dim Dim's roasted pork buns to increase his stamina regeneration. 'I should use my stamina more effectively in the future.'
Using Slash had allowed him to instantly kill a feral dog. However, after he regained his calm, he realized that two sword strikes would have also been enough to kill one.
Conserving stamina was very important. The lower his stamina, the slower his speed and power—it affected not just his running but also the execution of his skills.
Also, the more stamina he had, the more physical skills he could use.
This was very different from magical skills, which consume Mana.
For Warrior Classes, stamina was comparable to mana.
After feeling that his stamina was starting to recover, Alex asked Dim Dim to climb up a tree and look for a place with water.
The Dim Sum God readily complied. A few minutes later, it returned and pointed in a direction.
"Dim!" Dim Dim said with confidence.
Alex nodded. "Okay, we will go that way."
Everyone who entered the Etherion Domain was given only one waterskin and one small pouch of beef jerky.
This domain, teeming with monsters, was perfect for teaching the members of the Clawford Tribe how to survive in the wild.
But, since it was a dungeon, there were treasure chests scattered around, giving the Catkins the opportunity to get something useful.
Alex checked his map and, to his surprise, he realized that he was actually on the second floor of the domain.
'I thought everyone would be sent to the first floor. Don't we have to manually get to the second floor to look for the temple?' he thought. 'Then, when we find it, we get to choose our first Professions, allowing us to use Class-exclusive skills from their branches.'
Of course, the young man thought that being sent to the second floor instead of the first floor was just a coincidence.
But when he remembered his default difficulty setting, he was starting to feel that he had been sent to the second floor on purpose.
'I just hope I don't meet with those troublesome kids and Lavinia,' Alex wished as he walked in the direction Dim Dim pointed at.
From time to time, Dim Dim would ask him to change direction because there were wild monsters in front of them.
For the time being, Alex decided not to engage with any monsters until he arrived at the river that Dim Dim had seen from the top of the tree.
"Not bad." Alex placed his hands on his waist as he looked at the river in front of him.
According to his estimation, the river was at least ten meters wide. The water was also crystal clear, allowing the young man to clearly see fish swimming around.
Not to mention, the flow of the river also wasn't strong, making it suitable for a swim.
"Dim Dim, are there water monsters in this river?" Alex asked.
"Dim." Dim Dim shook his head.
The young man nodded and looked around his surroundings.
Since he was going to stay inside the domain for ten days, he would need to find a safe place to sleep for the night.
'Maybe I should look for the temple's whereabouts,' Alex thought. 'That should be a safe place, right?'
While the young man was thinking about these things, a monster that shouldn't have appeared on the second floor of the domain broke out of a cocoon.
If Alex had seen this creature, he would have definitely started to panic because he had faced it in the past, and it had almost cost him his life.
It was none other than a red-eyed zebra jumping spider.
But there was one clear difference between this spider and the one Alex had fought in the past.
Instead of white and blue stripes covering its body, this jumping spider had red and black.
This monster was a mutant, more or less equivalent to a Rank 2 Boss Monster in terms of strength.
What made it truly dangerous was its ability to roam instead of staying in one place, hunting anything that caught its attention.
< Red-Striped Zebra Jumping Spider >
Monster Rank: Rank 2 Field Boss Monster
Monster Grade: Mutant
Note: The unnatural mutation of this spider gives it both heightened agility and a deadly venom, making it a very formidable hunter.
Everyone was still unaware that such a dangerous monster had suddenly appeared on the second floor of the Etherion domain.
But just as the saying goes, ignorance was bliss.
Because the moment they got wind of its existence, all the confidence that the young Catkins had when they entered the dungeon would disappear like the fleeting clouds in the sky.