A month later, James had settled into a dull routine of doing not much of anything. The old iron mine was completely sealed, as far as he could tell. Cursed Dragon-Fire Melted Stone blocked his way in all directions. So he would wake up, eat breakfast, recharge the ward which now encompassed the entire cavern, and then stare at the embers in his forge. He would stare, numb to the world, unable to bring himself to put hammer to metal, until he grew hungry again. Then he would eat, and go to sleep.

He never remembered his dreams when he woke.

His right hand never fully recovered. It was completely numb, and he had lost all fine motor control. At best, he could squeeze a grip and release it.

His career as a Smith was basically over.

He had managed to repair his Fire Armor, but it had been one of the most frustrating experiences of his life. He was sure the gods were mocking him when he acquired what he expected might be his last skill.

Smith Class Skill [Ambidextrous] has been acquired.

It had made his left arm as strong and dexterous as his right had been, but it did nothing to help his right.

There was still some hope for work as an Enchanter. He would have to work with another Smith for the etching of the patterns, but at least he could still channel his mana as he pleased.

Around and around his mind spun, incoherent, trying to process everything. The sealed mine. His ruined hand. His ruined future. The dragon. The bright staircase. What his family must think. Were they looking for him? Were the slavers looking for him? How he could have a future career if he ever did make it out of this Dungeon.

Why he had ever been so foolish as to not just pick a combat class.

On and on this went until one fateful day when he was preparing his usual breakfast of porridge and the magic bag stopped working.

His heart rate spiked and he immediately withdrew one of his war hammers at random, his Green Iron [Rapid Blow] enchanted hammer.

Thank the gods the magic bag wasn't broken.

But the truth of the matter was nearly as bad.

James was entirely out of porridge.

He had finally reached the end of what the slavers had stocked up for winter, so many months ago.

Dread crept up upon James as, for the first time in so long he couldn't even remember when last he had done it, he took stock of his food stores.

The porridge was entirely gone.

He was very nearly out of flour, enough for maybe a few more loaves of bread and that would be it.

He had a fair bit of salt left, but not more than a few week's worth.

The crab meat he had stored up was nearly gone as well.

He could try to find some mole monsters nearby, but that still left him the salt problem.

James stared at the pathetic pile of supplies, feeling numb.

He really was going to die here, wasn't he?

He was finally roused from his ruminating by the rumbling of his stomach. He ate a small bit of the crab meat and put on his Green Iron Armor and went exploring.

First, giving the spider tunnel a wide berth, he approached the mole monsters' tunnel, figuring that the giant mole monster would have a lot of meat on it.

But the tunnel was empty. The walls contained veins of brown iron ore and coal and went only a few dozen yards deep, but there wasn't a single mole monster inside.

Puzzled, he left and faced the bat monster tunnel where oh so long ago he had been swarmed. He approached and found that glowshrooms had invaded some ways inside, revealing…

Another empty tunnel, with no monsters in it.

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Next he checked the tree monster tunnel, that he had once thought a possible exit into a lush forest. This tunnel wasn't empty, but all that remained was dry, rotted wood remnants of the tree monsters and withered plants. The back of the tunnel was visible now, shallower than James had thought it would be, but nothing lived.

Last, James very cautiously approached the spider monster tunnel. And here he found what had happened to the other monsters.

The floor of their cavern was entirely littered with the skeletons of monsters. Dominating the rest was a skeleton that even lying on the ground was nearly as tall as James: the giant mole monster. Strands of webbing littered the ground as well, and among them were spider monsters, dead, curled up in that way spiders do when they die. The web in the back remained in place, but there were no spider monsters crawling in it, no spider monsters on the walls nor on the ceilings.

Everything was long dead. There was nothing to hunt.

James really was going to die here.

He shook his head in his helmet and made his way back to his basecamp and removed his armor and stoked the embers in his forge.

Numb as his right hand was, forging was an ordeal, but he forged a new helmet of regular iron, and enchanted it with [Reflect].

[Appraisal]: Iron Visored Helmet, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 10/10, Enchantment: Reflect (12)

Perhaps this would be enough to block out some of the light on the staircase. He also forged some simple iron boxes, as big as they could be and still fit in the magic bag.

James packed up his things and put on his Water Armor and took one last look around the cavern. Pressure squeezed him almost physically as he realized that if he didn't get a move on, he'd die of starvation.

But on his way out, he made a point of collecting as much ore and coal as he could. He wouldn't be coming back.

And so he left, passing once again through the pangolin boss room. He considered harvesting the last blazing mushroom for its magic crystal but decided against it. He had plenty from his time on the fourth floor anyway.

On the second floor he stopped and filled his newly forged boxes with as much clay and sand as he could, because he wouldn't be coming back to this floor either.

He took the usual, long way around the lake in the center, keeping an eye out for monsters, but none appeared. He made it to the snowy passage and the blizzard continued raging, as fierce as ever, but James stopped.

He really wanted to find some monster meat if he could.

He put down his warding stakes, creating a large safe zone in front of the snowy passage, and took out his Green Iron Tower Shield. He ensured the [Reflect] enchantment was active and cautiously approached the lake in the center, a mere forty yards away, mindful of his surroundings for approaching monsters.

But there weren't any.

Eventually he reached the lakeshore, and the water's surface was nearly still, only disturbed by the faint breeze ever present on this floor. James couldn't see anything in the water, but on the shore by the water's edge were the skeletons and rotting carcasses of several large fish, perhaps four feet long on average.

At this point, the Smith's concern started to overcome his numbness. He was counting on monster meat to extend what little food stores he had left.

He cautiously backed away from the lake, still wary of water spear attacks, but none ever came. He packed up his warding stakes and proceeded through the snowy passage, but even here, no ice specters nor snow golems appeared.

Finally, in the hot springs room, a crab monster appeared. Relief washed over James as he smashed it to death with his Terra Rosa War Hammer and then put down a ward.

For an hour he stalked around the room, hunting the crabs, but he only found a few more than a dozen. Then he approached one of the serpents in the springs, but it only woozily waved its head at him before retreating into the water.

Resigned, James returned to his ward and dismantled the crab monster carcasses he had collected. Maybe a week's worth of meat and ten water magic crystals and five fire magic crystals.

He stopped for the night in the crab boss room and smoked the meat he had collected. He thought maybe some monsters might approach from the surf, but they never did as far as he could tell. The next morning he awoke, ate a proper meal, and changed into his Wind Armor. Equipped with his large Iron Tower Shield, he hiked across the windswept plains directly into the rainstorm where he stopped and managed to catch two of the flying fish. These he dragged out of the storm and into a lee under a rock outcropping before the ridge separating the sand and fire storms. The fish had a decent amount of meat, and he smoked it all padding out his stores that much more, and then continued on.

At the top of the ridge there were no new turtle monsters.

And none of the hawk monsters on this floor had ever shown up.

Disturbed, James continued on through the Lightning Serpent's boss room and in the staircase out of the wind he changed into his Fire Armor with the cooling strips underneath.

At this point, the food he had was the food he had, until he found a new edible monster on a lower floor.

Quickly and efficiently he proceeded through the floor. He had to rely heavily on the map he had created, having forgotten the path through the labyrinth, but he made it through without encountering any monsters.

Not so for the lava room: there were as many lava serpents there as ever, because of course there were. He simply hurried across, using his Red and Blue Iron Round shields, and proceeded directly into the boss room.

The dragon's carcass remained, incorrupt, as though it had died mere moments ago.

James was about to hurry past it to the staircase but he stopped a moment to gaze upon the dragon's body.

Maybe there was meat under those scales?

He shook his head to get some sweat out of his eyes. Maybe later. First, the staircase.

He proceeded into the tunnel and down the staircase to the point where the heat died down enough that it wouldn't melt his equipment, and took out the Iron [Reflect] helmet. He put it on and continued down, but the same as before, the light grew so bright that he couldn't see.

He walked back up to the boss room and threw the helmet on the ground, junk that it was. Let the heat ruin the enchantment.

In a fit of pique, James pulled out his enchanted pick-axe and smashed it into the dragon's body. Some of the scales were broken, but he was able to pry out nearby scales with his blue iron tongs. He also managed to get some fangs out by smashing the dragon's jaw with his Terra Rosa War Hammer, and after mangling the feet, got some of the claws.

[Appraisal]: Fire Dragon Scales

[Appraisal]: Fire Dragon Fangs

[Appraisal]: Fire Dragon Claws

The meat, though, looked the same as the Fire Lizard meat, and besides which, it had been sitting for over a month. It didn't look like it was rotting, but…

James left the dragon alone and turned back to the helmet. The heat had turned the metal soft and ruined the [Reflect] enchantment.

But the thought of useless enchantments sparked an idea in the Enchanter's mind, and with nothing better to do, he took the helmet down into the staircase, out of the heat, and etched the [Reflect] pattern back into the helmet, except on the visor, where he etched a pattern he had yet to try, that by all rights didn't belong on armor at all:

[Basic Dark Enchantment: Blind].

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