Archie found himself in the jungle once more, not that far off from where Oliver’s cult was weirdly enough. But then again, the more he had explored, the more he'd found the island wasn’t as large as he thought.

  There were invisible boundary lines along the edges of the jungle and some in the ocean, effectively locking them in the island. Which made sense to Archie, it was a tutorial, which in most games was a locked space where you learn the basics before being thrust into the real game, which in this case was the Multiverse.

  Which made him question if the system’s protection would end the moment the whole Tutorial ended.

  Would it be done that fast? Even when the majority of the people on Earth would still be E-Grade at most? When E-Grade was effectively the lowest grade someone could be in the Multiverse.

  Who knows, the system aspect might provide him with some insight into the matter at the end of the Tutorial. No need to rush to conclusions when he’d get his answers in less than two weeks’ time.

  Besides, worst case, he grabs his family and takes them to the Nature’s Covenant for protection. If that requires him to become a full member of the Covenant and deal with all those responsibilities, then so be it.

  Focusing back on the Compass of Desire, Archie saw its needle start to spin uncontrollably whilst glowing brightly. He was close to the Sigil Dungeon.

  But where was it?

  He was in the decayed part of the jungle that overlooked Oliver’s cult, a bit deeper than where the raid group and himself walked through previously, and closer to where he killed the Verdant Serpent.

  Everything around him was decayed and rotten, leaving no signs of the jungle’s previous splendor. The trees that previously towered over him were now withered and twisted, their mahogany bark became sickly and covered in patches of moss and lichen.

  The vibrant grass was now dead, surrounded by fallen, decayed logs, rotting creatures that failed to escape the rot, and other dead foliage.

  All in all, it was miserable, especially with what he felt with his Nature Affinity and compared it with the other healthy parts of the jungle and the dinosaur jungle.

  Sending a large pulse of nature mana into the environment around him, he activated Material Insight

  Kapok Log:

  A decayed Kapok tree native to the Emernigan jungles. Its wood, previously sought after by various Woodsmiths for its iron-like durability and deep red mahogany coloring is now rotten and decayed; rendering its previous properties null.***

  :

  A white-capped mushroom commonly found clinging to rotting logs in dense rotting jungle environments, where death and decay are abundant.

  Archie also felt his Material Insight

  Lifting the decayed log up, revealed a dirtied emerald sphere. Touching the sphere brought up its dungeon notification.

  Dungeon of the Hidden Temple

  Objective: Reward:Requirements: Warning:

  Curious, Archie dug around the dirtied, emerald sphere and found it being held up by a dirtied and…singed… stone pillar with various texts inscribed onto it. Guess this is the temple, just entombed in dirt.

  Checking that he had everything he needed on him and enough room in his spatial storage, he mentally accepted the dungeon’s entrance request. Something that he learned he could do, similar to reading his status page.

  He’d previously gone to his base to dump almost all of his cores, save for the Emberlash Eudromaeosaur Beastcores and Verdant Serpent Beastcore, almost all of his frostiron, the Sigil-ridden furniture he took from the Shaman profession dungeon, and the Miniature of Primal Wrath.

  It left him with a good portion of free space in his spatial storage and his forging equipment. And judging by its name, he was hopeful that like the Jungle Temple in Thalindra’s dungeon, it would be full of dense nature mana, which meant stronger nature spirits.

  Blinking, Archie found himself standing before an enormous jungle, far larger than the one on Emernigan Isle—and far richer with nature mana.

  His gaze was drawn upward to a massive stone temple, its towering structure entwined with the gnarled roots of massive ancient trees atop it. And on the tip of the temple was the sphere-shaped emerald he’d seen before.

  The temple’s stone walls bore the scars of both time and battle, their weathered surfaces pitted and cracked. Fragments of broken spears, swords, shields, bows, and staves lay embedded in the walls, trees, and ground. It was as if the temple itself had been the epicenter of a battle whose echoes lingered in the air.

  Activating Material Insight

  Walking up the cracked, Laterite steps, Archie approached the massive stone door that blocked his entrance inside the temple. He took in the twin lacerations carved deep into its surface, partially covered by gnarled roots, gouging out parts of the intricately carved designs.

  He reached out, ripping off the stray roots that clung to the right door, and tossing them behind him. With them out of the way, Archie pressed his palms against the Laterite door and pushed.

  The Laterite door grated against the stone interior, creating a reverberating rumble. The noise silenced the ambient jungle sounds, leaving an almost oppressive stillness in its wake.

  Standing for a moment and taking in the silence, Archie waited for something to happen, but when nothing did, he stepped into the temple.

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  Its interior was in tatters, destroyed Laterite shelves, tables, and stands decorated the entranceway. The flooring is decorated with a thick layer of dust and…stone? Probably from the boots of whoever invaded before, Archie thought as he looked at the two paths beside him and the even larger stone door in front of him.

  Walking to the door, Archie pushed against it, but it did not budge. Looking around the door, Archie pushed aside the Laterite rubble and found two sockets, one on each bottom side of the door’s frame. , Archie smiled as he walked down the left path.

  As he walked down the Laterite hallway, he looked out of the few pattered, glassless windows that poorly lit the hallway. From a different look into the front ‘yard’ of the temple, it did look like a battle took place previously.

  Suddenly goosebumps flared across the right side of his neck, making him lunge his right arm forward clutching something in his grip. He felt something leathery and furry within his grasp, that squirmed.

  Looking at his palm, grip still strong, he felt something peck against his bracers as he grabbed the creature. With a firm squeeze, a pained squeal screeched from the thing in his grasp as its invisibility faded, revealing his attacker to be a giant, furry mosquito creature.

  Its body, was covered in coarse, bristled fur that shimmered an iridescence color. The creature’s spindly legs ended in hooked claws that scraped against Archie’s chestpiece as it writhed in pain from Archie’s grip. Large compound grey eyes stared at him, reflecting his mask. On its back were translucent, bee-shaped wings that buzzed frantically, produced no sound, and only seemed to vibrate the air around it.

  “What the fuck,” Archie muttered as he frowned in disgust as its long, floppy, moist snout tried to touch his mask.

  Identifying the creature gave him a name to put to the creature he caught. Which really didn’t suit it; as it looked far more mosquito than locust.

  [Chameleon Locust Lv 87]

  “Looks like these would be perfect against mages and healers, perfect assassin types,” Archie noted as he crushed its neck and let it drop to the floor. “But anyone decked in plated armor should find these…big guys…a nuisance if they get hit by them. Not sure if archers would fall for their camouflage as their perception stat might be high enough to detect them instantly. But considering how I was able to detect this one hovering by my neck, they should be able to detect them from a far further distance.”

  *[Chameleon Locust Lv 87] has been slain – XP has been given. 1131 Tutorial Points given*

  Now that Archie knew he wasn’t alone anymore, he activated Vital Sight

  Archie quickly counted at least fourteen of them, scattered across the hallway…Archie thought as he is stared at a large blob of vital energy with many similar-looking vital sparks constantly moving around, slightly below where he stood.

  The large blob of vital energy was in a room at the end of the hallway, guarded by the locusts in front of him.

  "One thing at a time," Archie muttered before activating Adrenaline RushThornscourge Expansion

  Pivoting, Archie punched the torso of a locust trying to jump, punching through its squishy torso with ease and sending it splattering across the hallway. , Archie smiled before immediately schooling himself. He was in a dungeon, things could get bad fast, no need to jinx anything.

  The noise of Archie’s impacts alerted the other locusts to give up on their camouflage and charge at the lower-level prey in front of them.

  A smile grew on Archie’s face at the dozen giant locusts who sped towards him.

  Kicking off the ground, smashed through one of the locusts with his fist and kicked through another locust before, throwing his center of balance forward to perform a webster axe kick with his other foot, dragging an incoming locust to the ground and crushing it with his boot.

  , Archie thought as grabbed the wings of one of the locusts and hurled it at two more flying at him. But as the locust left his hand, he ripped out its wings, producing a shrill screech and making its green blood ooze from behind as it smacked into the two other locusts flying at him.

  Sending a surge of nature mana into the vines on his right fist, making the vines explode forward and wrap around the two dazed locusts before the vines grew jagged thorns and started to gyrate, like a chainsaw, before ripping them to shreds.

  Archie headbutted a locust that tried to get too close, the thorns around his head, grew both in length and sharpness as they pierced through its soft skull, killing it. As the locust was pierced, it was stuck in front of his face, as such it covered his vision, blinding his physical sight, but not his Vital Sight

  Spearing through the chest of another locust and grabbing two extended snouts with his right hand. Yanking them towards him, he briefly let go of their snouts before crushing both their skulls with both hands.

  Staring at the last remaining locust, he shook off the flesh and blood of the locust bits still attached to him before he sent a surge of nature mana into the vines wrapped around his left fist. The vines exploded towards the last locust that was trying to flee. It got less than a foot away before it was wrapped in vines and ripped to shreds.

  Activating Forgesmith’s Flame atop his body, the blood, flesh and fur of the locusts that were attached to his body turned to ash and fell to the floor, leaving behind the scent of burnt grass oddly enough.

  Walking to the end of the hallway, Archie looked at a seemingly empty room, but his Vital Sight

  The ants had an obsidian-black exoskeleton, marked with jagged, sickly green streaks running across their armored bodies. Thin, lean legs with sharp claws on their ends and oversized mandibles… Archie questioned as he stared at a nozzle-like tube under its chin connected to its exoskeleton, reaching to its bulbous abdomen.

  [Venomspitter Ant Lv 88]

  , Archie joked before he was about to jump in, but before he did, he remembered what he had in his spatial storage. , Archie chuckled before taking out three of his Rot Spreading Spheres and flooded them with his mana before chucking them down where the twenty-something ants were awaiting their meal.

  Jumping backwards, Archie heard a large explosion before a large burst of sickly reddish-black smoke started to rise from the room and towards him.

  As he backstepped away from the smoke, he heard shrill chittering from the ants as they writhed in pain, clawing and scraping at one another. His Vital Sight

  , Archie smirked, .

  As the smoke started to dissipate, he jumped into the room below filled with sickly giant ants who weakly twitched in his direction before falling to the ground, exhausted.

  Making quick work of the barely living ants with barely any force in his blows, Archie deactivated his skills once the last insect around him died and looked at his notifications.

  *[Chameleon Locust Lv 87] has been slain – XP has been given. 1131 Tutorial Points given*

  ***

  *[Chameleon Locust Lv 87] has been slain – XP has been given. 1131 Tutorial Points given**[Venomspitter Ant Lv 88] has been slain – XP has been given. 1144 Tutorial Points given*

  ***

  *[Venomspitter Ant Lv 88] has been slain – XP has been given. 1144 Tutorial Points given*

  *Your Class has reached Lv 73 – Points allocated, +4 Free Points*

  , Archie smiled. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with the Venomspitter Ant cores, but he did have some uses for the Chameleon Locust cores with some stealth equipment he could make.

  “Ah,” Archie spoke aloud as he remembered that he had to find the jewel.

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