Golde dungeon

Getting to Golde dungeon was hardly a chore as it's located right outside the city gates on the west side. It's considered one of the easier dungeons to traverse, though its lower levels can be challenging, but have high chances of spawning rare minerals and treasure chests. 

"Alright, so your job is simple; guard me. I can't mine minerals and dig up treasure if I have to fight monsters," Ami grumbled.

"You can't clear them all out first?" I asked.

"Not in Golde dungeon. The normal floors are fine, but the treasure floors have endless wave after wave. Even large parties often have to leave treasure lying around just to escape, and if they do, the monsters get it, and rebury it."

"What kind of monsters are there?"

"Typical variety. Goblins, zombies, rock monsters, but most troubling, dybbuks."

"'Dybbuks'?"

"Yeah, spirits that are infamous for possessing men. They can also posses women too in rare circumstances, but dungeon crawling usually ain't one of them, unless you're stupid enough to hold your wedding down there."

"I... I don't think I can fight spirits well. Or the undead if touching them is bad."

Ami scowled as she flung something towards me with her wand. "Put em on. They're gloves that protect your hands, along with a jewel that embeds itself into armor to form a protective barrier against being infected by undead flesh."

I slowly nodded as I put the black skin-tight gloves on before holding the jewel up to my armor plate. "So how does this- WAAH!?"

"Just melts in. And now that armor is enhanced permanently, so don't go parting with it. The jewels are a pain to make, even though the materials to make them are commercially available."

I had more questions than answers at this point, but it was probably better to ask them later after completing the job.

Making our way down was relatively easy thanks to one of Ami's inventions known as the elevator. It's a large box that runs on magic that allows us to travel up and down to any floor without having to find the stairs like normal. Only downside is for security and safety reasons, only one party can use it at a time, meaning you have to reserve it at the dungeon's reception counter by the dungeon's entrance. That said, this dungeon has four elevators, meaning up to four parties can use them.

"Ever been in one of these before?" Ami asked as we entered an elevator.

"No, it's my first time," I responded.

"Not a surprise. The dungeons in Central Province are pretty much the only ones with them in right now, but there are plans to put them in all dungeons in the kingdom. Wouldn't be for a while though."

"And these can really take anyone down to the lowest floor?"

"Yep, thanks to dungeon levels all being structured neatly, all you gotta do is drill down a shaft, and carve out places on each floor for the doors. Oh, and you gotta enhance things to the max so you don't get monsters sneaking into them or damaging them. Last thing we need is monsters abusing them to try and escape the dungeon."

"What happens if a party uses one, but gets wiped?"

"Ah, that happens a safety protocol will be triggered, resulting in a special golem coming forth to retrieve the party. Though if a member of the party is cursed or possessed, it quarantines them in a barrier before taking them back with the others."

"You really did think of everything."

"Well I am a genius," Ami proudly huffed.

The doors then opened and Ami began leading me out into a room lined with various minerals. It was a pretty sight, but I knew it wouldn't be one we could enjoy for long as I could already see some goblins nearby.

"Tch, right where we need to be. Listen up close; the big rule here is that once the monsters spot you, they won't stop attacking until you're wiped or out of here. The waves do start small and easy, but the more you beat and longer you stay, the more they come and the stronger they get. My goal is to try and get three chests and about 3 full mine carts of minerals. Since there's a protective barrier in the area right in front of the elevators, all we gotta do to pocket the treasure is get things past it. Then even if we both get knocked out, the safety golem will still take that stuff up to the surface with us."

I nodded as I took note of the barrier in question. It was about 15 ft in front of us, giving us a decent safety zone.

"If the monsters start attacking, I can take them out effortlessly without compromising the mining operation, but when they start getting to be too much, that's when you'll need to step in."

"Do you want me to help with the mining?"

"Not really. You're more suited to fighting, so that's what you should be doing. Just watch my backside and your status."

"Understood."

"Now ready? No cramps, no nerves, ready to go?"

"Yes!"

"Then follow me. We're going for the vein on the left first," Ami nodded as she used her magic to drag three large mine carts with black rubber wheels on them to her.

We then stepped out of the barrier and reached the ore vein Ami wanted to mine first. Summoning a glowing pickax and drill, Ami began mining while I watched her backside. So far, the goblins didn't seem to notice us, but as we slowly began to progress, they let out a cry and began to charge us.

"Just the first wave. Don't waste energy on them," Ami grumbled as two small fireballs appeared behind her and began firing out blasts at the goblins, destroying them instantly.

That left me with little to do but just stand there at the ready. Though once Ami had filled up one of the carts, a goblin king emerged.

"You can take that one out," Ami growled.

I nodded and rushed towards the goblin king, easily dodging its club swing and delivering a killer blow to the side of its neck. I then leapt back towards Ami as rock monsters began to pop up out of the ground.

"You can break rock with your fists, right?" Ami called out.

"Yes."

"The dull ones, smash, but if they got crystals, try not to smash them too much. I want them as intact as possible."

"Understood," I nodded as I rushed towards the rock monsters.

Rock monsters are low-level creatures averaging around 3 ft in height. They have vague humanoid shapes, and are kind of primitive. Some are known to have their bodies imbued with various minerals, making them profitable to hunt, but that's only if you can properly destroy them. Use too much force, and you get nothing but powder. Don't hit hard enough, and they'll retreat into the ground before you can finish them off. It needs to be just right otherwise you're just wasting energy and time.

Luckily, there was a seaside dungeon in my hometown which had an abundance of these little guys, so needless to say, I had plenty of chances to hone my skills. Since the crystals always grow on the head, always go for the stomach!

With a slightly elevated sweeping kick, I had downed the whole swarm of rock monsters, normal and mineral-type.

"Wow, that was fast. Here, suck them up into this. I don't want them getting mixed in with the normal ore," Ami nodded as she tossed something over to me.

"What is this?"

"A crystal vacuum. Aim the end at the crystals and it'll automatically suck them up."

I nodded and held out the wide funnel end towards the crystals, and sure enough, they all got sucked in.

"When you're done, you can plop it on the cart that's covered."

"Will do!"

Before we knew it, all three carts had been filled and after rushing them all back to the safe zone, we were onto trying to dig up chests in the center of the room. Unlike before, Ami had to divert a lot more magic power to digging out the chests, meaning she could only provide minimal covering fire as I took out the swarms of enemies trying to encircle us.

"Really makes a difference when you don't have to do all the work yourself. Now finally, I might be able to get all three chests out," Ami muttered as she finished digging up a chest.

Sadly, we couldn't open the chest until we were out of the dungeon, so we'd have no idea what was in them until then. 

Things gradually began to escalate in difficulty with some zombies appearing, but thanks to Ami's gloves and enhancement, I was able to tear through them easily. Dungeon zombies are actually more mud-based than flesh-based, but can still inflict some nasty ailments on you if you aren't fully protected. Though at the very least, zombies aren't the corpses of actual people, so they can be slayed without any regrets. However, one monster that has a large chance at being molded from a former human... is a dybbuk.

"Hehkhekhhekh! What do we have here? Two beauties."

All went quiet as me and Ami turned to see the monsters parting the way for two skeletons in black cloaks.

"Oh, it's the witch! The one we tried to grope a few days ago!" one of the skeletons cheered as he pointed at Ami.

Ami scowled and bit her lip as she stared at the chest she was still trying to dig up. "LaNorne, this is where you truly prove your worth. Keep those dybbuks at bay!"

"Will do!" I grinned as I assumed a combative stance.