Felix silently moped as Emma led him towards one of the first sectioned off caves. This one, instead of a curtain, had a wooden door shaped perfectly to fit in the entrance. She knocked twice on the door then stood back and waited. After a few moments, she knocked twice again, this time a little harder. Felix heard a gruff male voice yelling out from inside, "What do ye want, Emma?"

"Ben, I've got someone for you to meet and I've got an assignment, one you'll like I promise."

"I'm not training some fresh out the oven new recruit for you I already told you I don't take orders from you."

Emma smirked, "Well, if he's fresh out the oven I might have to capture and experiment on him since he's already a higher level than I am. And, I don't need you to train him, want you to lead him-"

The door swung open interrupting Emma as a barrel chested man of slightly below average height with bulging arms and legs opened the door. He had short, buzzcut light brown hair and dark brown eyes. Were it not for the fact that he was clean shaven, Felix might have mistaken him for a dwarf.

[E - Common] Human (Lvl 38)

"Huh, would you look at that." The man stepped forwards and held out his hand, "I'm Benjamin, nice to meet you."

Felix grasped his hand which was a similar size to Felix's but covered in a thick uniform callous, and offered a slight nod "John."

The slight smile shifted from polite manners to a mirthful grin as he turned to Emma, "Where'd you find him?" Then his expression darkened with exasperation, "and what's the damn assignment?"

"He just showed up and knocked on our door. He's looking for a dungeon on the west end of the map, slightly to the south from here. Sound familiar?"

"I take it that's the assignment too?"

"It is. You can take whomever you want, but I want the path cleared out all the way there. I want to be able to use that thing again, and soon."

"Yeah yeah, I got it. I'll go round em up. I'll come find you when we make it back."

Emma, slightly put off by the obvious dismissal, "Right, well… I'll see you then. I expect a full report and I want you to debrief me when you get back." Then she hurried off, walking with discipline but clearly eager to end the conversation.

Benjamin sighed, "You debrief me… Whatever." He turned to Felix, "Gimme a moment to put on my armor and collect my things and we can go. I assume you have some rations and other provisions, the trip is gonna take a while with lot's of fighting along the way."

Felix just nodded and stepped back to give Benjamin room to disappear inside his abode and collect his things.

After a couple of minutes, Benjamin opened the door again wearing some ramshackle heavy armor. It appeared to have been assembled from multiple pieces of different sets, with some leather and some raw iron plates fit together. While not uniform, it did appear to cover almost everything. He also had a shiny axe strapped to his belt on his left side.

Oh man, not having hit a quest or combat dungeon must be rough. You could buy it on the auction house, but I'm not sure how much income you could have.

"Alright, let's hit the lounge then the caf if they aren't there. How many people do you think we'll need? I can definitely get two and likely scrounge up a few more to make at least 6 to 7 or so, you think we'll need more? I figure since you are the higher le-"

"Uh, how about just you and me?" Felix interrupted.

Benjamin turned and scowled at Felix, "Look buddy, I'm not interested in killing myself out there, and I'm not interested in walking out there all alone so you can stab me in the back."

"Alright bring the two you said you know for sure will come. That'll be enough, the less people the better."

Benjamin started walking towards the lounge Felix had passed by on his way in and Felix followed him.

"Look, these Mole-Ants are nasty creatures and some of the higher leveled ones are hitting around the mid forties. Just the other day, one of the scouts spotted one at level 45. I can handle one a few levels above me on my own with a bit of time, but what do we do when a whole group of mid level forties come 'round the corner?"

AGH. What the hell do I tell this guy, "Just trust me, the random stranger who just showed up." Yeah right.

Benjamin continued, "Let's go talk to Will and Alan, see what they think about just us four heading out on our own. If you can convince them, I'll go. So uh, good luck."

Felix followed Benjamin through the caves, towards the lounge area at a blisteringly glacial pace, for Felix at least, which was still marginally faster than most peoples normal speed. It did allow him to restrict his energy flow and train his body to be more efficient though, which was something.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Ding You have demonstrated sufficient proficiency to unlock the General Skill: [Internal Energy Cycling (Uncommon) By cycling the energy within your body, you are able to train your body to be more efficient as well as increase it's performance. By restricting the flow of energy to your bodily functions, your body is becoming gradually more efficient. By increasing the flow of energy to specific bodily functions, you can increase their performance. By increasing the flow of energy to entire systems, you can increase your stats for as long as you have energy. This skill can be upgraded. You may alter the course and function of the buff at any time by manually directing it, this skill will simply maintain the last manual state. (Current maximum stat increase: 65%)]]

Felix almost tripped, with the notification catching him completely off guard.

No thanks. While I have been waiting for this, and this could be upgraded, I have a theory that it will be easier to start with a skill closer to what I want, then to start with this and evolve it in that direction. Surprised it took this long honestly, wonder what the hold up was.

Benjamin turned his head and looked at Felix before continuing onwards and leading him into the lounge. Benjamin approached a table at the back where there were 7 people, 4 men and 3 women. Most of them were anywhere from level 26 to 30 but two of them stood out from the rest at levels 36 and 37. Those two, Will and Alan Felix assumed, appeared to have the vast majority of the pot, which was a pile of pebbles, between them.

"Oi, Will, Alan stop cheating the rookies out of cash."

"Cheating?" They looked at each-other, "We would never." They innocently shrugged.

Benjamin tapped on the shoulder of the woman sitting just in front of him, "They can see your cards in the reflection of your eyeballs."

"Did'ya have to tell em before they handed over their credits?" One of Will or Alan said.

"Yeah come on Benny." The other chimed in

"Yea, I did. And you lot wouldn't have even gone through with the transaction anyways you little pansies. You cheat'em but your fatherly instincts won't let you actually punish them for it. You know it teaches them that there are no penalties to screwing up right?" Benjamin shook his head in exasperation.

"Hey now, these fine recruits are plenty old enough to have learnt from their own parents." The first one said

"They aren't kids you know." The other added.

"Then why do you treat'em like they are?" Benjamin rehearsed.

They both rose from their seats and grumbled as they made their way over to Benjamin and Felix. The rest of the table was too busy intimately looking into each-others eyes to try and examine each-others cards to notice them leave. These three had clearly had this conversation before and there was nothing more to be said at this time.

"Who's the powerhouse and why isn't he wearing any armor?" The taller one said.

"This guy," Bejamin gestured towards Felix, "wants us to escort him to the dungeon."

Will and Alan looked at each-other and shrugged before Benjamin interrupted them, "Just the four of us, no one else. Tried to convince me to go with him alone too."

They both started giggling at that, "I see, so he asked you out." The taller one started.

"And you refused? But he's so… your type. High level red head and… Is there anything else?" The shorter one continued.

"Nah, that's all he really cares about anyways. No time to shoot the shit with his old buddies, huh." The taller one added.

"We've known each-other for what, 2 decades now? and you both come with me when we level. Plus, you two love it." Benjamin said with growing exasperation.

"Awe, you remembered." The taller one pivoted.

"That's so sweet. What did you get us for our 20 year anniversary?" The shorter one added.

"Oi, enough joking around." Benjamin said, done with their shit.

"Alright fine." They both looked at Felix, "So, are you insane or what?" The shorter one said.

"Why would we even try something so suicidal?" The taller one shook his head.

"Ok, how about this. You show me the way, give me a map. I'll clear it out for you." Felix was annoyed and impatient at this point.

"Sounds good to me" The shorter one said.

"Oi, you both still need to run the dungeon. If he's gonna head that way anyways, we might as well take advantage."

After a few minutes of arguing, Benjamin convinced them to come along, then turned to Felix, "So why are we gonna only need four of us?"

I feel myself sinking into the pits of despair, tempted towards evil as the dark thoughts seep through my skull and penetrate the serenity of my mind. I just need a map… I could force them to give it to me. Ugh.

"Ok, first things first. Which of you is Alan and which is Will. I'd like to stop referring to you as the shorter one in my head. Oh also, just for reference what are your classes."

Benjamin and the taller one both snickered, "As you so rightly pointed out, I the taller one am Will. I'm a duelist, practiced fencing back on earth and use a single sword out here. Y-"

"He's a fighter, a common class, unlike my, uncommon class. I'm Alan, nice to meet you. I'm a hunter, use a bow and arrow." The shorter one cut in.

Well that is… a coincidence.

"How about this, you guys tell me where to go and I'll lead up ahead. If it's too much for you guys, you can run away and leave me behind."

"Look, we may joke around, but we will never leave someone behind." Alan said.

"Besides, we could just get ambushed pretty easily." Will added.

I don't really want to just bust out my level. I know it doesn't really matter but… I just feel safer this way. I know it doesn't make sense… Agh whatever, I'd rather blow some money that I can make back than my identity which I cannot.

"Alright, I will outfit you all with some equipment I have found on my travels. If you show me the way, you can keep em, how about that?"

They all looked at each-other before Alan piped up, "Well we have to see the stuff first."

"Got somewhere less in the open?"

Benjamin led them over to one of the tunnels that he said would lead out of the camp and towards the dungeon. They stopped part of the way through with Benjamin assuring Felix that there was no one else further down the tunnel.

Felix turned to Benjamin and pulled out the [E - Uncommon] Steel Plate Armor he still hadn't sold yet and handed it to him. Then he turned to Alan and pulled out the [E - Uncommon] Longbow of the Sands and the [E - Uncommon] Glass Head Arrows he had. Finally he turned to Will and pulled out the [E - Uncommon] Glass edge Rapier he had used as a prop back on the Icewatch hunt with Broxus and Lucas.

Their eyes lit up as they cradled the treasures in their hands. After a few moments and a couple of tears shed by Alan, they all looked at each-other.

"Alright we would be lying if we said we weren't tempted, but I'm not gonn-" Benjamin started.

Felix reluctantly pulled out the [E - Rare] Shivering Ivory Axe and handed it to Benjamin, who promptly dropped the armor he was holding in favor of the weapon.

Not like I ever would have been able to use that thing anyways. Plus, with the amount of cash I have now, selling all of this wouldn't have been worth much. . . . . .