Joe watched for another few moments, comparing both his own team and the others but found only that as the single difference. He continued watching, but now spent most of the time focusing on his own apprentices, making sure they were safe. When they became exhausted, Joe called them back to the corner, letting them rest. He gave them a few moments then started to ask them about it.
“Hey, you three, what do you think the levels are of the other people in this dungeon are?”
The other three looked at him before shrugging and Garnedell replied, “They are about Zilnek’s or Kilniara’s age, so I am probably a lower level, although with how you are helping us… but at least the same level as Kilniara, maybe.”
“So, Kilniara’s level.”
“Yes.”
“What jobs do you think they have?”
This gave the other three pause, but Kilniara then responded, “Some may be apprentices to combat masters, like we are, but most are probably average apprentices and poor people hoping for a lucky chance.”
Joe pondered for a bit before nodding, “So, they’re likely about your level and ability.”
“Yes. Most likely are.”
“So most are probably not much better than you?”
“We are probably a bit stronger than them. We are your apprentices!” Kilniara shouted brightly.
Right… gotta talk to her about that… Outwardly, Joe chuckled and shrugged, but then found himself at a bit of a loss to understand why his apprentices were taking longer to kill than the others. Even those who were fighting alone typically ended their fights sooner. Joe’s thoughts meandered and the other three noticed quickly so began to enjoy their own conversation.
While they rested, Joe once again watched the others but could find nothing that explained why they were able to kill so quickly. As he continued watching, he also learned that the others never seemed to gain any cores either, and he stood, waving the others to rest once again as he went out into the goblin field and began killing quickly. He replaced his spear with the sword and took out the goblins quickly by taking a single strike on his shield before decapitating them in a hard single swipe. He’d been fighting them long enough to realize that they would almost always react the same.
He killed four and ripped open their chest cavities to find four perfect cores inside, albeit only single core ones. Each time, he grimaced and put on a show for those watching before leaving the goblin behind to vanish into the dungeons grasp. Why? I get cores so easily. But…
Joe stopped and looked back, noticing their attacks at the core chest area and he pondered for a bit before pulling another couple goblins and this time deliberately stabbing them in the chest before pulling open their chests to find the cores still perfectly fine and waiting for his retrieval. This time, Joe’s grimace was not an act, as he found the whole thing confusing, staring at them. The core was directly under the sternum of the goblin, and from what he could see of those with bladed weapons that were stabbing the goblins, all of them were stabbing to the left or right of the sternum, but about the same level. The cores should be fine. They’re not … I haven’t seen anyone actually thrust through a sternum, yet…
Joe meandered back to their corner, lost in thought, wondering why their killing speed was so much faster than his apprentices but from what he could see, he was getting pretty much a hundred percent return on his cores whereas he’d only seen a single person that entire morning gain a core. Although, maybe he was not… smart to shout like that? Maybe the others are a bit more circumspect and hide their gains?
Joe’s mind considered this and when he returned to the corner, decided to ask, “Hey, question. Do the people here hide their luck when they gain a core? Or do they usually get excited like that one guy did?”
Kilniara spoke up this time, “In this beginning dungeon, many are unconcerned as it is too open and thieves are not likely to steal cores from others, although they are cautious when they leave. Those who hope to steal them from the clan may be silent, not wishing the Dungeon Guardians to see, but, most fear stealing from the clan. It is too easy to be caught.”
Joe nodded to Kilniara but wondered how the Guardians could know, glancing back to the safe zone and looking through the adventurers that waited there before he quickly noticed a rather inconspicuous individual that dressed like an adventurer, but seemed to be only watching the various groups fighting. Granted, there were others who were watching as well, but most of them had a relaxed air about them, simply enjoying what they were seeing. This one had an odd intensity to his observation that made Joe wonder. Either he’s the Dungeon Guardian, or he’s working for the mafia. Joe then chuckled as the odd but not unlikely scenario of the individual actually being both crossed his mind before dismissing the man from his thoughts, although he made sure to remember this fact. That’s probably how the Guardians and Matriarch learned about what I did down here, especially with the goblin king.
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Joe sighed but let it go and quickly called the other three to attention, “Right. Let’s go check out the mukfrogs now. Ready?”
Joe led them to the second floor and set them up to fight with the mukfrogs before once again being a downright pain in the rear by dragging in other monsters or distracting them once again while they fought. He did this until he saw them becoming much more aware of their surroundings and stopped, letting them focus on their own fights and developing their skills, although he did still pull in a couple more mukfrogs over the next hour just to keep them on their toes.
Instead, he focused around the room and again quickly noticed that there was a significant speed difference between his apprentices and everyone else. Joe pondered this and the discrepancy soon began to really bug him as he wondered why there was such a big difference. He soon began to rip open the mukfrogs that the other three had killed, checking them for cores and easily finding them, as always, directly under the center of the sternum. What is going on? Why … something is happening that makes them kill faster but we get more cores. Joe’s thoughts pondered the situation and found himself becoming more and more obsessed with it.
Is it the weapons? Maybe they have magic weapons and tha… no. If that were true, then the siblings weapons would have killed a lot of our cores, too, but they are still attacking with their half staves they had before. And Garnedell’s staff is from here. Did we get cheap weapons? Joe looked around the room, taking in the various weapons, but could find nothing unique about them. They’re not glowy! But… maybe the magic doesn’t make glowy weapons? Despite this possibility, Joe still felt fairly certain this was not the case as most of the other adventurers here where using half staffs for combat and thy looked almost identical to the siblings. So what’s going on?
Joe’s thoughts festered but he could find no reason why there was a difference. Finally, he decided to drop it, and focused back on the other three, although he promised himself he would ask Garnedell later about it. He… it seems everyone knows… maybe he knows?
Shortly after, Joe corralled them on to the next floor with the promise to fight snows, quickly reminding them of the dangers and giving some advice and a couple hints. They made it through the corridor easily enough and immediately went out into the floor. Joe joined them for a couple of the fights, but then backed off and let them handle several alone. After they fell into a routine, Joe once again began harassing them with attracting other snows or just dancing in and around them too closely.
Unlike with the mukfrogs and goblins, they did well until their snow suddenly began gathering itself for a breath attack and Joe quickly destroyed his snow to make sure he could help them if there was a problem. All three froze in a bit of fear, uncertain, and Joe watched them as they struggled with what to do. Garnedell then began to attack in a frenzy, striking wildly at that snow, and Kilniara and Zilnek began almost immediately after.
Joe frowned when he saw this, watching for another few moments before he stepped in, not willing to take a chance and still remembering how his arm felt after he’d been hit with a snow’s attack, although it had been a dual core monster.
Joe slammed into the thing with his shield hard, crumbling the whole thing as the soft snow was unable to hold firm under the crushing damage of a shield bash. He then sliced the entire thing along three sides with his sword, leaving the snow with just a small triangular amount of snow guarding its core. With such a small amount of snow remaining around the snow’s core, Joe was easily able to discern where it was and sliced through it with his sword a couple of times until it crumbled to the ground.
He turned to the three of them and frowned, “That… was embarrassing. What were you thinking? Did it look like you could kill it before it released its attack?”
All three hung their heads, saying nothing. Joe looked at them and almost pressed them for an answer, unhappy with their silent acceptance of their failure and his chastisement. However, he stopped, realizing that they were likely accepting his punishment as was appropriate for apprentices in this culture. Gotta ask the question in a different way.
“Tell me. What mistakes did you make?” Joe asked, much calmer but firm.
With this statement, all three looked up with hints of relief. Huh… even Zilnek looked up quickly. How? Why was he… ooh… he noticed the tone?
Joe dismissed his thoughts, although he did tuck that tidbit of information away for later. He continued to look on, staring at each of them in turn but refusing to give way. After some time, Garnedell finally spoke up.
“We didn’t run.”
“Possibly. I did not run. So was running the mistake?”
This caused all three to pause in thought and Zilnek this time replied, “We didn’t react fast enough.”
“Close, but no. It is related.”
All three feel silent for some time before Kilniara offered her thoughts, “We didn’t defend properly?”
Joe shook his head firmly before replying, “No. You panicked!”
All three stopped at that before nodding slowly and Joe continued.
“Whatever you do, panic will kill you. You froze and didn’t know what to do or how to react. But that is the least of the mistakes you made. You made a much bigger mistake. What?”
Again, all there remained silent at that and Joe waited, but none of them were willing to offer an answer. As time passed, Joe had to repress his disappointment and then finally a sigh before he responded.
“You didn’t plan! I warned you and reminded you of what would happen and what snows could do, but you didn’t make any plan. You made the same mistake yesterday with the mukfrogs and the water ball. Without a plan, you can’t do anything and you don’t know what to do at all. You don’t know how to react or keep each other safe!”
All three ducked their heads at that and grimaced but said nothing and Joe let them stew in the moment for a bit before continuing, “Guys. One mistake is not a problem. Two times… I’m worried! How can I know you will be safe if you are not careful and using your greatest weapon! Your brain! The only reason we are able to fight such strong monsters like slimes or snows is because we have weapons, and those weapons come from our ideas and thoughts; our brains! Please make sure to use it carefully.”
Joe ended his impromptu speech with a sarcastic smile and the hint of a joke when they looked up and soon all three were smiling sheepishly and Joe clapped them all on the shoulder.
“Alright. Let’s end a bit early today. You’ve fought a lot and are pretty tired. Tomorrow, we’ll go straight to the snows after the goblins in the morning. Fair?”