As usual, the soldiers and I are the first ones up. I let Gorm know about the Spice Rack in the inventory and I thought he died on his feet. He stopped blinking, his eyes staring off into the distance, and a strand of drool fell to the floor. I threw some sparks in his face and it barely managed to get his attention.

"We've got some people going back into the city to get information about disappearences. Maybe I can ask them to pick up some new cook ware as long as they're there?"

I barely have enough room to slip away from his hug to keep from getting crushed. I calm him down and he heads back into the kitchen, laughing like a mad man. I catch Boulder and the others as they equip their gear. After shooting the other players a quick note, I join the soldiers on their daily, early-morning hunting and gathering.

"We used to spend all day trying to gather enough resources to feed everyone," Boulder explains to me, "But since you and Lady Dawn crafted our new gear its been much more efficient. We can take on multiple wolves by ourselves and even Giant Lizards if we work in groups. Hell, with the addition of the bows , we decided today we would see what's on the far east of the dungeon."

He leads us all to the "backdoor" that Sonny told us about and says the password "Dawn of a new era." The magical rock door splits open and closes behind us.

One of the men has a rucksack equipped and joins another as they forage for vegetation, herbs, and anything plant like. The others fall into a formation and hunt the available fauna. I quietly observe, proud to see how seriously they take this little venture. They're not grumbling or complaining about having to do the hard work for dozens of other people. Hell, the only thing they were probably pissed about, besides getting kicked out of their homes, was the fact that their weapons were taken away. Lord Bertrand stripped them of the one thing he knew would give them the chance to survive out in the wild. All a person needs is a sharpened piece of metal and they can accomplish anything. A chorus of grunting and yelling knocks me out of my thoughts and I rush over to help.

Squaring off against my men is a large, familiar, green creature and another not so familiar one behind it. With it's sharp appendages, long legs, and wings I recongize the beast as a stalker, but of the green variety.

>Scan<[Forest Stalker. Lvl 8. 78/109HP, 9/9MP, 35/36SP.

[This carnivorous insect prefers to shred it's prey into pieces, making it easier to get to the organs, it's prefered parts.

[Slash, Bite, Short Flight]

>Scan<[Mandrake, Orchid. Lvl 10. 86/86HP, 105/120MP, 7/7SP.

[A species of nymph that likes to use stronger, less intelligent creatures to fight for it, helping herself to the fallen prey before sharing the leftovers.]

[Command, Drain, +Healing Breeze]

I notice the symbol on the Mandrake's ability and my body shifts into another gear.

"Take care of the Stalker!" I shout as a rush over to the female looking plant.

White and purple petals hang from her head and remind me of hair. They sweep to the side as she turns to my voice, revealing black doll eyes and a mouth full of small, sharp, green teeth. I'm quick, but she is able to raise her hand and hit me with a spell. "STOP" I hear in my head, my eyes open wide as I come to a halt.

[Debuff gained. Mind Control!]

My eyes shoot over to my men who are doing their best to deflect the Stalker's attacks and pepper it with arrows and spear strikes. But, a shimmering rainbow of wind hits the beast and I watch its HP shoot back up. It continues its assault with vigor. I look back over at the Mandrake. My muscles relax as the debuff wears off and she tries to hit me with it again. Fortunately, with my Willpower, the games defense against magical and psionic attaks, her attack fails and I'm grinning behind my mask.

Assassinate. Echo Strike. Roundhouse Kick.

The last attack sends her dead body crashing to the ground. The men finish mopping up the stalker, but they're breathing hard and one is heavily wounded. Come on, come on… I unconciously tap on the back of my thigh as I await the monster's death notification.

[You killed Mandrake, Orchid.

[You received 15XP.]

[Adaptibility Activated! Learned Healing Breeze!]

Yes! I shout out, "Healing Breeze" several times, casting until my MP gives out. The men who aren't that badly injured look dizzy as the wind tries to heal them too, but the injured one had his wounds heal in a short moment.

"Sir Ardacen! You can stop, Conner is going to be alright!"

Conner again! I'm gonna have to see where he gets all his luck from. I absent mindedly grab the Mandrake loot bag while I check out my new ability.

[+Healing Breeze (20MP) 50ft/ +50%Arcane Total HP to everyone in a 15ft diameter]

The pros definitely out way the cons on this one. Area of Effect, good. Healing based on Arcane, good. Ranged, good. Heals more than one, good. Heals everyone including enemies, not so good. I just have to have proper aim or wait for an all clear. The soldiers let me keep the Stalker loot too, saying there isn't any meat on the bug.

[You received 4*Mandrake Petals, 1*Mandrake Root]

[You received 2*Stalker Carapace, 1*Stalker Scythe]

At Alchemy Lvl 5, I couldn't discern anything specific from the Mandrake ingredients. The bug parts don't have the same metallic property as the shadow parts, but they're also not as strong. At least it drops a hint as to where the ones in the dungeon might have come from. I would like to hunt for more Mandrakes but the others should be up soon and I wanted to make sure I at least spoke to Rachel and Richter in person. I give the boys the rest of the healing potions I had on hand and warn them to keep diligent. I ask them to keep a look out for more Giant Lizards as well, or anything that drops a spine if they wanted more Double Needles. They confirm with me in earnest.

Queen Herexa and Lady Lexxes left sometime before I got back. I just got the idea to scan them while I was out in the field, but I guess I won't get the chance today. I meet up with everyone in the mess hall having breakfast and give Rachel and Richter a Hedge Mage Ring each. They decline the Ear Cuffs since we're all players and we could just message each other.

"Besides," Rachel adds while she appraises her new jewlery, "We don't want them tracing anything back to Linqs if we can help it."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

She activates the ring and her appearence changes into that of a redheaded dwarf.

"Oh. Em. Gee. Tell me I'm a dwarf!" she squeels as she looks at her stubby hands. Everyone nods in agreement, glad that it works. "It won't fool someone, like, much higher in level, but it'll get us out of trouble!"

"Dude, are you really just gonna give us these?" Richter is looking around at everyone, like a kid getting a cookie before dinner time.

I shrug my shoulders, "If I had something better to give you I would. You really helped us out with the heads up. What's your build? Need any weapons or equipment? Come on, I'll take you to the storage."

I've gotten used to his constantly bewildered state as everyone also gets up to walk with us.

Dawn and Rachel head inside the Smithy to work on a quick project, Serenity and Kona take the Mandrake parts into the Lab now that it has the right equipment, and Elsbeth and Ramona join us in the general workshop, though they start working with the extra lumber and the carpenter kit. I access the equipment menu for him and summon some rope.

"Dude, I know this world is full of magic and stuff, but how are you not just amazed at everything?" Richter watches the rope hit the floor in awe.

"Hm? Oh. It is amazing! But just the thought of there being even more amazing and powerful things just over the horizon keeps pushing me forward."

He nods his head, chin in hand, "Dude. Very zen, dude. Very zen. Um, so, do you have any bows? I want to be, like, a rogue that uses support magic, but right now I'm not too keen on the pain sensors." I laugh, telling him about the time I died and he joins me in laughing.

I grab some lumber and a spool and start shaving a longbow for him. He's gawking at the way I use my claws to carve out the wood, "Have you ladies seen this?"

They both nod and smile as Ramona says, "He's quite useful, isn't he?" They finish a bed and move on to another one.

"Oh, we're going to be relocating so we'll be putting everything in the vardo, the wagon with the two horses."

They look at me like I'm crazy,

"Trust me, it'll all fit."

I'm actually kind of annoyed by the limitation of only having three Artisan classes, but then I would want to max out all of the ones I would get. So far, because of Survival Craft I would have maybe six or seven already. The only good thing is I get regular class XP for crafting without the necessary Artisan one. As soon as I can start working with metal though…

"Done!"

I hand him the finished product and finish using up the rest of the wood to make three more.

"Wait, what's your Artisan Class?" I ask him, mid stringing of the second bow.

"Uh, Farmer? I know, stupid, but I thought I would get more chances to use it. I've got a garden IRL, and I just wanted to grow some fantasy food, you know? I don't know, I thought it'd be cool."

I put a hand on his shoulder, "When we get to where we're going, we'll need someone like you with the Farmer class. Wait, what about the prize money? I feel like Dawn, Rachel, and I aren't in too much of a hurry at this stage. You?"

He scratches his head in embaressment, "Nah man. Money's actually not my primary concern here. I'm actually… set…"

Now I'm the one looking at him strangely.

"Haha, yeah, dude, I'm actually Ger's realtor and he just gave me an invitation. He's referred me to all his rich buddies in the past, too. But seriously, dude, I don't want anyone else to know about that, okay?"

I can only nod at him.

"Yeah, dude, I've just been a casual gamer since Pangaea, so some of this is still kind of new to me."

"Stick with us, Richter. We'll have some fun."

I give the two a shopping list in case they have time to get items for us: empty potion bottles, bolts of cloth, cookware for Gorm, and a few other things. I ask the girls for an estimate of how much they would need and got four different numbers, so I just went with the highest guess of two hundred silver. Elsbeth sticks a playful tongue out at Kona, "I still think that's way too much! Make sure you bring back the change!"

[I have reached a high enough EP so we can purchase the Inter-Dungeon Trade Center. The items on your list won't be found through it so it would be best for Sir Richter and Lady Rachel to purchase them in the city.]

"Yes! Dawn! Let's get to it! Take it easy, okay guys? Oh, can you extend an invitation to Mika from that item shop where we first saw each other?"

Richter gives me a thumbs up and a fist bump as I continue, "We won't be leaving for a while, but we'll be getting everything set up for when we do."

They leave without much fanfare, everyone heading back to their projects. With Sonny protecting the citizens and the soldiers doing hunter/gatherer stuff, I take Elsbeth and Victoria with me to exploit the Mandrake's main weakness, they can only target one of us at a time.

I don't mind being wrong. Of course, that doesn't mean that I enjoy it. Just as bad, however, is being partially wrong. Sure, the Madrakes can only have one target at a time for their Command Spell, but that doesn't mean they can only have one creature UNDER their command. Just like currently, this particular strain of Mandrake, a Chrysanthamum, has four little pets under it's control. The bright yellow, afro looking flower atop this lithe, green figure bobs to and fro as she wordlessly points out orders. There are three Stalkers and a faceless humanoid covered in rough, dark brown skin.

>Scan<[Bark Golem. Lvl 11. 220/220HP, 9/9MP, 50/50SP

[A creature born from a tree felled by lightning and imbued with mana. It stands dormant in the forest until an intelligent creature comes upon it, becoming their follower until either creature's death.

[Slam, Extend Branch, +Manasynthesis, Stance/Sentinel, ]

That is a lot of HP for a non-boss. The enemy ability is intriguing, but that's definitely not my main concern. Can I ensure the lives and safety of my party? The three of us against one heavy tank, three damage dealers, and a magical support. Now, logic dictates that the tank will charge ahead while it takes on all the hits and the damage dealers will wear down the enemy. So, imagine our suprise when the golem charges at us, knocking the Stalkers aside.

Elsbeth acts first, riding on the damage dealt by the golem, firing two arrows at one of the Stalkers getting a Vital Spot and finishing it off. Seeing the crazy looking spear in Vic's hands, the golem steers its attack toward me probably assuming I'm the weaker of the group. I shoot a grin at her, but she rolls her eyes with a smirk. I start off my bread and butter Assassinate combo when it gets close enough but something goes horribly wrong.

My timing and spacing is off and I reappear several feet away from the golem. It skids to a halt and I learn what Extend Branch really entails. Dozens of spear like appendages shoot out from behind it. I dance past most of them, but two of them punch holes through my armored left thigh and right forearm.

[Bark Golem pierces you for 25 damage]

[Bark Golem pierces you for 37 damage]

I slash my way out of the branch spears, but every attack I deal is only worth 1 damage each. I stumble to my knees as the fallen branches evaporate. I chug a health potion to off set the damage (57/99HP). I roll out of the way of two pairs of scythes, making short work of the remaining Stalkers, trying to conserve my MP for a Healing Breeze as soon as I can. A single word echoing in my head before it breaks like a wave on the rocks, "KILL."

Luckily, my Willpower is able to defend against the Mandrake's Ability. My allies are holding their ground against the currently-on-fire golem. Elsbeth hits it with an arrow. It explodes, causing the fire to bloom. Then it turns around towards me and I can sense the Mandrake behind me calling its defender back. Well, now I have an angry tiki torch stomping towards me.

I whisper to them, "Take out the Mandrake," as a Healing Breeze brings my HP up just a bit more.

It's like fighting against a swarm of giant hornets. I've got dozens of scratches all over where the armor is thinest or not present. There's either a good sized gash on my neck or a big splinter, but I haven't been able to divert any of my attention to it. The fire is out and the golem is trying to get back to its master's side. I manage two Roundhouses, but the second one didn't knock it back. With the use of my Skills and the non stop assault, I'm at around forty percent SP. I may not feel it yet, but if I use any more Skills or miss out on a break I'm going to gas out. We're practically on top of each other when I get the good news from Vic, "Target down. On our way!" Two massive fists swing down, aiming to crush, but I use the last of my MP to teleport behind it. I'm much closer this time, and with the added distraction of Victoria's spear and Elsbeth's arrows, we wittle the last of the golem's HP until we get our loot bag.