Joe turned deeper into the dungeon, moving with a purpose to quickly catch up to the three kids. At the third floor archway, he found the floor in a similar setup to the first two: a safe area guarding the entrance way before a white glowing line separated the safety zone from large are where the monsters roamed in a cavern brightly lit but still offering a bit poorer vision because of the flicker light given off by the shadows.
Joe found the three near the back of the safety zone against one of the walls empty of most people. Joe settled in beside them, but still kept a bit of distance. He settled his back on the floor and pulled out some food and the water bottle from his back.
“You should probably eat now. Its afternoon already, I think,” he said to the three under his breath but loud enough to hear him.
Joe pulled out some extra food as well and settled it on the floor on a piece of cloth on the other side of his bag for the kids. The three kids settled down and began eating, tearing hungrily into the dried rations.
“So. Critiques. How did you guys think you did?”
The three kids, now used to what Joe wanted in these moments, quickly began taking turns describing their own thoughts on how they did before waiting for the other two to offer their own critiques. Each of them took a turn going over their own results, learning quickly. Joe had little to offer from how they advised each other, although Joe did temper some critiques that were either too harsh or were light on how serious an issue or mistake was. Joe was quite proud of what he was hearing, smiling brightly as he acknowledged the kids growth.
After discussing for about ten to fifteen minutes, Joe turned their attention to the floor, pointing out the monsters that were out there, “OK. You saw how I examined the monsters on the first floor. Now it’s your turn. Watch. Show me what you see and describe the strengths and weaknesses and how you think they should be confronted. Take a couple minutes to watch, but when you feel like you’ve found something, call it out for all of us, right?”
The three all acknowledged Joe’s plan and began eagerly watching the fights. As luck would have it, the third floor was sparsely populated by adventurers and most of them were out fighting. Only one other group was in the safety zone with them and they were seated against the wall as they were, although on the other side of the archway leading to the second floor. It took close to five minutes before one of them sang out.
“Well, I think the snow elementals would be weak to fire,” Kilniara offered a bit uncertainly.
Joe nodded but said nothing, allowing her point to stand, waiting for others to contribute.
“We’ll have to be careful, especially Kilniara and I. The cold will really kill our energy,” Zilnek added.
Joe again simply nodded, although a speculative look came over his eyes. Hmm… are they really reptilian in that they are cold blooded? Maybe I can ask later when we’re a bit better friends?
Garnedell watched on for another few moments in silence before adding his own idea with quite a bit more certainty, “We’re going to have a hard time fighting them. I don’t think blunt weapons will be very useful.”
“Why? We can just smash them hard,” Zilnek rebutted.
“Well. They’re just a bunch of snow. Maybe we can weaken them or shrink them a bit by bashing away parts of them, but it doesn’t really hurt or kill them unless we can get rid of a lot of their body. Well, I’m only guessing this because of how master and I killed the slimes.”
“You killed slimes? By splashing the slime juice away?”
“Well, sort of. We just removed the core from the slime juice. Without the slime, the core is useless… or at least dead. Anyway, it worked all the time.”
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“Well, duh! Taking out a core will always kill a monster, but taking out a core is the hard part.”
“Nah. Master usually took the core out with a single move. It was easy.”
Joe grunted a smirk at Garnedell’s statement. Well, maybe, I made it look easy, but still…
Zilnek looked to Garnedell in disbelief then look to Joe to see if he would deny it. Joe continued to ignore the three and looked to the killing field, watching the drifting snows. More like snowballs… badly made snowballs… hm… snow … chunks? Snow… I don’t know.. just chunks of snow, but not balls. Joe sighed and drove his mind away from the pointless argument and watched how the things fought.
“Truly? He killed slimes in a single strike?”
“No. Not killing. But taking their cores, yes. He would pin the slimes with one strike and take out the cores with a second. Then, it was pretty much dead, although sometimes there was some slime left on the core and we had to brush it off, but...”
Joe smiled at the conversation, not really butting in, but enjoying where this was going and learning a bit about how people thought in this far away land. He tuned out the conversation and noticed the people pretty much did as Zilnek had said before: bashed the things until enough of the snow had fallen off before smacking the core and destroying it. If left for too long, however, the things began to form more snow in a roughly spherical shape, patching up the area most damaged. The things seemed intelligent or at least life preserving, as they would flee if damaged too much, so often would retreat and any groups pursuing them would run into other snowballs. Huh… a little like the slimes, the core is their brain, maybe, and they need the snow to survive. But they can regenerate more snow, unlike the slimes… maybe condensing water in the air into more snow? Gotta get them, and kill them quick. Hmm…
The kids were still muttering amongst themselves and although it took a bit longer, they seemed to have gotten all the same observations as he had. The easiest thing seemed to just slice the thing in half. Depending on your luck, and what you wanted, you may hit the core and insta-kill it or expose the core. Then just reach in and rip out the core. Simple.
Joe let the kids circle around the idea for another few moments before he jumped in, asking for their advice. It started slowly, with each of the three peering at each other with some fear but opened up quickly as Joe didn’t allow any of the kids to ridicule each other. Huh… kids are the same in any dimension, ripping each other to shreds. Can’t have them be afraid of each other…
* * *
While Garnedell was fairly certain by now that Joe was a master akin to what could only be found in fantasies, this was still a new form of training he had never experienced before and did not wish to disappoint his master. He was the first apprentice, however, and needed to be a good example and a guide to his junior apprentices. He had to lead.
“It seems to be like the slimes, ma… Joe. We must pull the core out and get rid of all its shell.” Master does not like being called master! I must remember this! Besides, the two Acokzau seem pretty good. I must help them advance from their trial apprenticeship. So strange. I’ve never heard of masters so cautious to accept apprentices.
Zilnek and Kilniara saw how Joe reacted to Garnedell’s comment while looking at their senior apprentice for advice. Garnedell smiled slightly in encouragement and the two quickly looked to Joe to offer their comments.
“We could rid the shell with a bladed weapon, master,” Zilnek blurted excitedly!
“But we do not have bladed weapons so would have to strike the snow with our weapons quickly to dislodge the shell,” Kilniara offered.
“Then, the aim would be to remove the snow, yes” Garnedell encouraged, hoping the two others could take the hint?
“Oh, then we would need glancing blows,” Zilnek exclaimed!
“Maybe from both sides at the same time,” Kilniara queried uncertainly?
Joe nodded quietly without any interjections, and although Garnedell, at first, was always uncertain of his master’s mood because of his stoicism, he could see the subtle hints of approval. Garnedell was happy, waiting for Joe’s approval but realized he seemed to be still expectant and he looked to his fellow apprentices, now uncertain what they were missing. The siblings had nothing to offer and looked to their senior for help, and Garnedell felt a burn of embarrassment as he realized that he was lost as well. The three fell silent and turned to Joe in embarrassment.
Joe saw that they were unable to answer and he smiled in kindness. Even with my failure as eldest apprentice, he is still kind. Garnedell relaxed in relief at Joe’s kindness and prepared to listen to any other advice Master Joe had to offer.
“Three things you forgot. We have to kill it quickly. If it retreats after being hurt, it can regenerate and secondly, it can hide amongst other enemies to have us be attacked by other monsters. Lastly, how can they hurt us?”
Garnedell considered carefully, uncertain of the answer as Joe waited patiently but felt increasing shame as Joe continued waiting and he failed to find the answer to the question, inadequate as senior apprentice.
* * *