Joe ground his teeth, his thoughts turning to Zilnek before sighing and turning back to the dungeon but then paused. But… I… A smile came to his face. Right… I can still go towards priest lines to help Zilnek… and I’m not leaving him hanging… just… I HAVE to take it slow… between each priest job… right? So.. I’m still helping him… and between the week… maybe two? Gotta do at least a week, right? So… I can do the combat jobs there… then … check out nobility… He smiled, relief flooding him even as he allowed the excitement through knowing he wasn’t compromising. Mage! I can find the mage lines! Gwenvair had a mage job… just gotta find it! That… maybe I can stretch it out every two weeks… uh… no… would take a month… maybe two months… can’t do that to Zilnek… promised him it would be soon… so at least a week then but… no more… but that still gives me… five or six other jobs I can do? More on the weekends if… He glanced to Kilniara and smiled, grateful she was willing to allow him to delve on the weekends. Then… His grin grew and stepped into the fray, a small knot in his heart loosening. Joe, having seen what he wanted and come to a decision he was comfortable with, headed out into the fray with Kilniara, quickly killing one goblin.
Kilniara noticed his changed and looked up at him, “You’re… happy?”
Joe smiled, “Yeah… just figured some things out.”
Kilniara’s smile grew, then fell a bit, “Something… was wrong?”
Joe looked at Kilniara a bit his smile settling and then he frowned, “Are you… OK? Oh… no… It wasn’t about us.”
Kilniara’s relief was subtle but enough for Joe to catch it and he chuckled, “No. We’re good. Don’t worry. I was worried about your brother.”
Kilniara grew serious, “You… cannot help him with… easily?”
Joe’s smile grew, “Nope. It’s all good. I’ll be able to help him… I think. I’ll have to check when I get there, but… yeah. Don’t worry… it’s a good thing.”
“It is?”
“Yeah… I was… just pressured to help him and but also worried about … some of my other… things. I’m… feeling better now cause I can kinda do both…”
Kilniara smiled, “You can?”
He nodded, “Yes.”
“Then that is good.”
Joe’s grin grew, “It is… and I hope I can help your brother … pretty soon.”
“Good.”
They paused at that, staring at one another for a time before a sudden scream and a charging goblin broke them from their moment. They both turned and took out the goblin quickly and easily. After it died, the glanced at one another and then Kilniara burst into laughter while Joe simple grinned. He chuckled with her a bit before turning back to the wide first floor dungeon.
“Back to it?”
“Sure.”
Joe nodded, only taking a quick moment to once again flip open his status page but this time to take a look at his current job stats at level one. He wanted to easily evaluate the current job. Joe grimaced at the stats shown, but wasn’t too surprised. The learning was a nice chunk of change, but having gotten used to a hundred per level, the twenty seemed paltry in comparison. He sighed in disappointment, but didn’t allow it to get to him. Time to get this done pretty quick. Don’t want to bother Kilniara too much by how long we stay down here.
Status
Blessings
Current Job
Available Jobs
Current Skills
All Skills
Log
Joe McConnell
Status
Physical Resistances
Magical Resistances
HP
1.00
Physical:
Wind
0
SP
1.00
Piercing
0.00
Water
0
MP
2.00
Crushing
0.00
Earth
0
Attack
1.00
Slashing
0.00
Fire
0
Defense
1.00
Ice
0
Magic
1.00
Gravity
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0
Magic Defense
1.00
Magnetic
0
Strength
1.00
Light
0
Dexterity
1.00
Teacher
1
Shadow
0
Agility
1.00
Space
0
Speed
1.00
Spirit
0
Endurance
1.00
Mental
0
IQ
12.00
Sound
0
Wisdom
8.00
Electricity
0
Will
7.00
Learning
20.00
Luck
0.00
Joe flipped up a piece of garbage off the floor and tossed it at a nearby goblin. Its screeching cry echoed through the loud chamber as it charged towards them, and Joe and Kilniara fell easily into combat, helping one another. The goblin fell to their combined effort quite quickly, and Joe gulped in a breath when the level up hit him, swarming through him in a massive rush. He flipped open his status again to check his current level before chuckling. He’d reached level fifteen in a single kill. This is getting… absurd!
But Joe didn’t care. It was useful. He had no desire to complain. It was, however, completely broken, but also worth it. After that, until he reached twenty, he got one or two levels per kill, which meant he made it to level twenty in all of about five goblins. The silly grin on his face didn’t let up even if the slog quickly hit him, as making it through one level in the early twenties took three or four goblins and level twenty five to thirty was even more ridiculous, taking the rest of the morning until noon. It really was absurd how steep the experience demand was. He literally made it to level twenty five taking on only eighteen or so goblins. Then, it was over a hundred goblins just to make it to thirty. Or, time wise, it was about thirty minutes to twenty five and the rest of the five hours to thirty. Joe grimaced as the steep curve hit. This is just… stupid.
In any case, he didn’t let it affect him, and fought on through the day, allowing Kilniara her rest as she needed, until lunch time, where he took a quick break, but didn’t have a meal since it looked like he could finish his drive to thirty in just about another half hour. Kilniara agreed and their usual lunch break was a short ten minute resting in each other’s arms before Joe was up and once gain grinding through goblins. He felt relieved when he hit thirty, and realized he probably pushed it today. Probably need to make sure I take days off, as well… but… Joe frowned, but then realized that the days off really wouldn’t affect him too much as he could use those days as a buffer between grinding up through the priest jobs.
Regardless, Joe smiled and glanced towards Kilniara, “Let’s go ahead and call it a day.”
Kilniara smiled happily, although she was a bit exhausted and covered in sweat, “Sound great.”
“To the baths?”
“That would be wonderful!”
“Lunch at the guild after?”
Kilniara blushed brightly at that, unable to speak, but quickly nodded happily. Joe laughed and held out his arm after he’d slipped his pack on. She eagerly accepted the offer and the two slipped through the first floor into the safe area and out of the dungeon. They made it past the guards quickly enough, the guards now understanding Joe’s desire for privacy.
Kilniara was the one that pulled Joe onward expectantly towards the bath, and Joe chuckled as he was dragged along. Joe played it up, pulling back a bit and pulling against her, and she at first struggled harder before she turned around and realized that he was playing with her. She frowned and stared at him and he just laughed before he ended his resistance and stepped forward, offering his arm again while also increasing his speed. Kilniara’s frown quickly disappeared as she joined in his laughter by speeding up herself, once again pulling him. Joe grinned and reversed their positions, speeding up again and pulling her. This flipping back and forth occurred several times before Kilniara quickly took off, leaving him in the dust, sprinting away from him while leaping over and around obstacles. Joe gasped before he shouted after her.
“Hey! That’s just cheating!” Joe shouted as he burst after her, sprinting.
The two chased after each other, laughing and chasing while they ran down the road. Joe did have a bit of a struggle with the pack on his back, but he did pretty well keeping up with her and only caught up with her just at the last corner to the baths. They were running neck in neck, with Joe pulling ahead just barely at the end before a tail wrapped around his waist, yanking him backwards slightly. Joe watched with stunned awe as Kilniara used her tail to swing around behind him then throw herself directly forward off of him. Her tail slipped from around his waist and he squawked in anger even as she giggled and sailed towards the door. Joe’s hand reached out and snagged her tail, stopping her forward movement almost instantly, causing her to squawk in angry consternation even as Joe pulled her back into his arms and slowed, slipping into the bath while holding on to her.
Her angry shriek quickly stilled as she found herself in his arms, her anger flipping to passionate embarrassment almost immediately. Joe stepped into the room carrying Kilnaiara but stepped to the side to free the path as he set Kilniara down. She dropped down to her feet but kept her hands around his neck, looking up at him without moving.
When he felt her arms still around his neck, he quickly looked down at her and saw her eyes passionately staring up at him. He smiled in return, feeling his own heart speed up while also quickly joining her in the heightening mood. He did find himself lost in her eyes for a bit but took a deep and stepped back.
“Probably not a good place for this.”
Kilniara blinked, quickly looking back and recovering, her face blushing furiously. Joe smiled and wrapped an arm around her, offering her a one armed hug before stepping up to the front desk.
“Entrance token, please.”
Joe nodded, but didn’t reply, holding out his token to the front desk. The worker checked it and allowed him to pass quickly. Joe didn’t immediately leave, but turned to look back at Kilniara. She had quickly come back to herself and slipped into line behind him, already handing her token to the front desk worker. After it was verified, she turned to Joe. They both smiled at each other and Joe waved her on.
“I’ll meet you back out here. Then we’ll head for lunch.
Kilniara quickly smiled and nodded, “OK.”
“Do you want to bathe quickly to get to lunch fast or would you rather enjoy the bath?’
Kilniara took a moment at that before shrugging, the two desires obviously warring quite equally, “I’m not sure. I… I am very hungry.”
Joe smiled and nodded, “Yeah. Me, too. How about you send me a runner for when you’re ready to go, and I’ll come out right away. I’ll wash off first then relax so I’ll be able to come out pretty quick when your ready.”
Kilniara smiled brightly at that, nodding, “OK!”
Joe chuckled then turned to the bath. He headed in and bathed quickly, immediately washing and cleaning completely and thoroughly before taking the time to relax. They did end up spending a good chunk of time in the baths relaxing, almost thirty minutes if Joe’s judge of time was close at all.
The runner came and Joe quickly rose from the baths, drying himself off and putting another set of his serf clothing on. It was going to be nice when he could get more fitted clothing from the tailor, but for now, he was simply glad enough to be able to get cleaned regularly every day now.
Out in the front area, he found Kilniara already waiting and the two slipped out arm and arm, this time more sedately as they headed for lunch. When they entered the restaurant area, he was led to the backroom just as he had been when he’d met the Matriarch’s daughter. It was nice to have a bit of privacy, so Joe didn’t complain and Kilniara seemed to really enjoy it.
“I like the food here.”
Joe smiled and nodded, “It’s pretty good. It’s a bit meaty for my taste, though.”
“Meaty?”