“First and foremost, treat her with respect and honest trust… love if you are willing, and she will make your family a wonder. You will find your home a peaceful and wondrous place. You should be cautious of…”
The Matriarch then quickly began speaking rather animatedly, obvious excitement flowing through her. The only times she stopped was when the sparks respawned, then died slowly on the star weaponry. Joe found her staring with shock a bit amusing, but she proved quite resilient and quickly returned to the topic. As for Joe, he found his own interest piqued purely on a scholarly level, finding the whole situation fascinating, if not one he’d ever desired for himself. The discussion was detailed and fruitful, one excitedly questioning or possibly explaining as they both came to know of one another and their unique cultures and peoples. The discussion was long and much deeper than the Matriarch was usually willing to delve, but both found the conversation enlightening and deeply communal. Joe grew to know his possible future mother-in-law quite well that day and the two truly became comfortable with one another. Mother-in-law… holy… what am I thinking? This is just… insane! I’m… gonna have to be very careful about this… Just… how!?
He found his mind racing wildly even as he listened to the Matriarch. And while Joe truly enjoyed the Matriarch as a peer, and even Gwenvair as well in that light, he found the situation so shocking he struggled to remain calm. He learned a lot that day in how to treat and make sure he had a positive relationship with Gwenvair, but the more he heard, the more uncomfortable he became with how quickly everything was moving. Their conversation did not end until well after noon. By the time they were done, Joe almost found himself driven to return to speak with Gwenvair, but without any option to resolve the issue, Joe found himself at a loss. Gwenvair requested some time and Joe had no meaningful resolution. Any conversation would be ultimately meaningless. It was a very long conversation, if at least, fruitful in its revelations.
* * *
The Matriarch walked away from Joe’s farewell without even really noticing. Her thoughts too stunned by his casual use of such powerful artifacts, killing sparks so easily without lifting a hand. She remembered giving him his farewell politely, but even now, little of the event remained in her memory as only a single event remained in her thoughts: his powerful spark killing artifacts. How did he even control them… what did they do? Such… control… This spurred her on to tie the eccentric to her clan even more and while she’d kept her composure, she found herself quite discombobulated, struggling to maintain her equilibrium as she returned to her clan, only hoping that the Bunarl representative was not too offended.
* * *
“It was wonderful to speak with you, Matriarch.”
“And I with you. We… should speak again,” the Matriarch replied although she seemed to be very distracted.
Joe smiled, “I would really like that.”
The Matriarch visibly returned her focus to Joe and smiled before then bowing her head slightly, “Then, till later.”
“Good bye, Matriarch.”
The Matriarch nodded and waved as she turned away, the guards following after. Joe watched on for a bit before turning away, suddenly much more immediately hopeful but much more concerned with finding a resolution. Joe marched towards the second floor entrance, feeling confidence because of his hope and now certain of a path forward, if not exactly the one the Matriarch and Gwenvair were hoping for. Joe strode down the stairs to the second floor and when he came to the second floor, he looked at the various corridors then compared it to his new map. It showed the corridors visible to him as well as the beginnings of all visible offshoots as well. He took a look at his map but couldn’t really discern anything useful so simply chose a direction and headed down it, exploring each corridor and turn while mapping out the floor.
As they walked, blessedly unmolested by any monsters, Joe took a look at his status window once again and considered his jobs, even taking a moment to seriously reconsider what he was doing with his combat jobs. They’re… really not worth it… should I go for the theorist jobs again? I think I really should go for the theorist jobs again… seems like a really good idea, right? I should probably… His thoughts trailed off and he forgot about changing his jobs when he turned the corner and found a distraction.
At the next turn they passed by, Joe remembered what kind of monsters inhabited this floor and he blinked to see a small roly poly bear with something of the charm of a panda bear, but much more deadly and not at all cute in its dangerous focus. Joe paused and took his stance, even as the bear lumbered quickly down the hallway directly for him. It was a bear, and like almost all bears, figuring out a way to kill it was quite the struggle.
It wouldn’t likely stand, considering how small it was but even if it did so, stepping into the range of a bear’s massive foreleg claws was incredibly dangerous even if he had a spear. The range of a spear not much longer than what a bear’s legs could reach. Jumping into a bear hug with a literal bear was a terrifying prospect.
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With the bear on all four legs, attempting to strike something vital anywhere but the head was a nightmare. The massive rib cage would be the first thing that he would have to get through, the unprotected gut of the bear way too far in the rear for him to reach the beast’s weak spot. Any attempt to strike at the bear’s torso would put him in range of the foreleg claws and the jaw of the bear. The head proved just as dangerous, with the ease of its movement and the incredibly small target. Bears were terrifying to fight.
Granted, the massive bear back at the village had been felled relatively quickly, but it was as much luck as anything, and the chance that Joe could get his spear lined up just under the chin of the bear would be incredibly difficult especially since he was quite a bit taller than the bugbear. The massive bear in the village actually made it a bit easier because it was so tall. He was able to easily aim his spear just at the apex of the clavicle and slide his spear down the throat and into the protected rib cage, tearing away at the heart and lungs. But the bugbear was so short, he would have to kneel to get his spear under its chin and he had no desire to be dropping to his knees in a fight.
The fight ended up being rather anticlimactic. He pulled his shield tight into his body and simply allowed the bear to ram into him and attempt to defeat his shield over and over. Sometimes, he was able to line up his spear next to his shield and have the bugbear impale itself on Joe’s spear. Other times, he simply could only get his shield in place fast enough and settled for a quick poke over the top of his shield down on the back of the bugbear. And despite several dozen attempts at aiming for eyes or nostrils, Joe was unable to pierce them, his strikes mostly striking forehead or the boney nose of the bear and jagging off wildly to the side, tearing skin from the bugbears nose or forehead all the way to the bone.
The fight turned into one of attrition, with Joe keeping the bugbear at distance with his shield while he mostly stabbed down at its back, scoring deep wounds into it much like a matador. It took quite some time but the bugbear finally collapsed, and Joe killed it pretty quickly. He stared down at it, then frowned with frustration. That’s… a long long… ooh! He grimaced with chagrin. OK… dumb… really dumb… infusion! After that, the fights became rapid and relatively simple but Joe noted that learning to fight without infusion might be a wise form of practice. With that mental note, he turned back to his exploration.
From then on, they stopped every few moments to kill the floor’s bugbears before continuing on but Joe no longer looked to really fight them and used mana points in his spear head to instantly kill the monsters. Granted, as soon as his spearhead was embedded with a mana point or mana tornado construct, the monsters would become much more cautious. Despite that, they could do very little to dodge his thrusts and he soon found that even a scratch on a limb could often put the monster down, especially if he had used a mana point instead of the mana tornado. He did, however, begin attempting to infuse at the last moment so as to give the monsters no time to respond. Another idea… huh… surprise infusion? Joe grinned wryly and turned back to his exploration.
He wandered up and down the corridors of the second floor for about twenty or so minutes before he had mapped out the floor decently well. There were still some parts of the second floor unexplored and while his perfectionist nature drove him to seek out to fully reveal the second floor, his agitation drove him on and when he ended up finding the next floor entrance by chance, he found himself stopping to consider it. A few moments of staring between it and his map, he finally gave in to instant gratification and headed down the stairs. He wanted to see something new.
When he reached the next floor, the stonework changed instantly, just as the first and second floor changed. The red brickwork of the second floor ended when the third floor corridor met it, the brickwork stopping instantly at the corners to be replaced by poor quality mud worked walls. It was a truly bizarre change to see relatively sophisticated red brick give way to poorly made mud walls. He stared at it, quirking an eyebrow at it before frowning. It didn’t distract him enough, however, his mind too busy with other things so he turned back to his task. He looked down each corridor carefully before taking a look at his map and beginning the journey to map the maze.
Throughout the rest of the day, his mind alternated between his discussion with the Matriarch and with struggling to figure out a way deeper into the dungeon. He traveled more cautiously, wary of the new monster on this floor and traveled down it carefully before taking a corner and finding a strange cat like monster that really did look like a cat. He’d been surprised to see it coming at them aggressively, and reacted poorly. Not killing a kitty cat! That’s… A feeling of danger erupted. The thing streaked across the ground like greased lightning before leaping into the air and only Joe’s natural reactions really saved him. He whipped up his shield and found himself grunting with shock as the small housecat hit him like a freight train. He took two steps back, shocked that a simple house cat with so little mass had hit him so hard.
The surprise didn’t end there and the cat scrabbled up his shield, somehow, finding purchase on the smooth surface enough to slip a paw over the top of the shield and pull itself up. Before it could leap, Joe immediately dropped his spear and reacted once again, his right hand immediately wrapping around and slapping against the nape of the neck and grabbing a massive clump of its flesh in his fist. Right. That should keep i… whoa!
The monster immediately began yowling, sounding much like a cat but its cries had a force to them that left him wincing. Despite the pain, he was barely able to continue his hold on the cat although it became quite precarious as it began shaking wildly, crazed in its efforts to break free. The swiping claws of its front legs regularly connecting and slicing through his wrists with ease, cutting deeply into his flesh while the rear claws swung wildly and regularly gutted him or hit his thighs. On top of that, the cat’s wild shaking seemed to shake his arm as if he was trying to hold back a struggling horse, not simply a cat. Joe was absolutely certain that if the cat had had any purchase on a surface of some kind that would allow it grip, it would have easily launched away from his grasp. He held on, despite the shock.
However, the pain of the wild attack didn’t allow for any thought nor did it make him feel very happy to keep the howling cat anywhere near him. He swung the cat wide, keeping its claws well away from himself before launching it back down the hallway with an overhand throw, whipping its lower body up and away from him. It yowled through the air, twisting wildly before landing with a bad thump on its side. Wai… what!? It didn’t land on its feet? W…