Chapter 12B: Instance Dungeon

Making connection takes time. To allow one person to interact with another person through a medium requires time. This ‘time’ to many, is known as latency. To lower the problem of latency, instance dungeons were created. It allows a small group of people to create a local connection. It lowers the latency to the point where it feels almost instantaneous.

Before Alex and her friends started to work on their current quest, they needed to practice their skills.

“Ruri, we have to work on your control. What are the spells you can use so far?” Alex asked.

“I can use 0000 which is just a ball of magic, 0001 which is a ball of fire, 0011 which is a ball of ice, 0111 which is a ball of wind, and lastly 1111 which is a ball of dirt.”

“Only these four? Shouldn’t there be more combinations with 16 bit?”

“It said I’m currently too low level to access them.” Ruri frowned.

Alex pondered on how to utilize the four spells that Ruri could currently use.

“Let’s first practice with the ball of magic. Is there a way you can shape the ball?”

“Yea, the ball shape is the natural shape of magic. It condenses around a central gravitational point. If I were to change its shape, I would have to add more than one point of condensation. Two points should make a line and so forth.”

“Ah, you seem to be knowledgeable about this stuff!” Kurt laughed.

“I read up on it this morning. I didn’t want to feel useless again.” Ruri said with determination.

“Ok, so before we begin our hunt, let’s take an hour to practice. Ruri, try adding more points to change the shape of your spells. Since your aim is lackluster, make it into an easy-to-throw shape that Kurt can toss,” Alex started assign tasks to her friends.

“Kurt, you already have sufficient combat training. But the burst in speed and strength looks like it will take some time to get used to. Try doing some workout with your buffs on as such you don’t underestimate your own strength.”

“Got it, boss!” Kurt smiled.

“Nell, you should try to teach your mushroom summon some simple commands. They should be smart enough to listen. If you can shorten commands to short phrases or words, you can greatly improve its reaction time to match that of Kurt. Remember, your mushroom is also part of our frontline.”

“Your right, Alex. I will get on that immediately!” Nell said with renewed passion.

Although she delivered the finishing blow on the cow during their last fight, the fact that she took so long to remember her own summon left her ashamed.

“I will be practicing how to control my snake bind,” Alex said to her friends as they walked towards the straw dummies off in the distance.

Al watched the whole process with a smile.

“Oh, ho, ho, this group of kids aren’t half bad,” He whispered.

______

Ruri was adding points to his ball of magic. Each point of condensation required the same amount of mana as using a full spell. His mana was enhanced since he leveled up before, but now it started to become a burden. Adding two points of condensation allowed him to make a magical stick. He strengthened the condensation on only one side, and it became more cone-shaped. Ruri then tried to add a spin to the condensation points to make the cone deadlier, but his mana ran out before he could attempt it. The feeling of having your mana drained out is basically a mild migraine. A numbing pain spread across Ruri’s head from one temple to the other.

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With a sigh, he sat down and waited for his mana to recover. Slowly, the migraine disappeared.

______

Kurt was rapidly jumping around a straw dummy with acrobatic agility. It looked like he was a flying monkey instead of a soldier. When he first started, he often jumped too high or too far. But as his control got better, Kurt began to shorten his leaps to barely a foot apart from the dummy. As soon as he felt his own control over his speed has been fixed, Kurt moved on to his strength.

He grabbed the straw dummy and squeezed. The sound of its wooden core shattering echoed in the garden. The dummy collapsed and vanished, but was soon replaced by a new one. Kurt frowned. He really had no control over his strength right now. If he were to accidentally give one of his friends a pat on the back with his buff on, he might accidentally break a bone.

Kurt sighed and began to seriously work on his strength control.

______

Nell was having a migraine as well. She put nearly all her mana into summoning a single mushroom. The creature that came out was huge. It was nearly the size of a horse! Each of its steps left a hole in the dirt. It looked very strong but was also sluggish. Nell gave it a simple command.

“Dig.”

The mushroom man took its hands and started to grab handfuls of dirt. Soon, a hole started to form. It kept digging and digging and digging. It just wouldn’t stop.

“Stop!” Nell commanded.

The mushroom still kept on digging for a few seconds before coming to a stop. It would seem it had some delay in its actions inside the hole.

Nell suddenly thought of something. She put a scouting spore on the giant mushroom man. It allowed her to communicate with it with less distance. Suddenly, she realized the spore reacting with the mushroom man. It burrowed into its flesh and rooted itself directly at the mushroom’s core.

“This…is this the correct way to use this?” Nell suddenly realized that her skills had more synergy with each other. Instead of having to yell at the mushroom from far away, she could whisper a command to the scouting spore, and her voice will be directly relayed to the mushroom man’s core.

Nell started to give the mushroom simpler commands.

“Punch, Kick, Jump, Run…,” Nell commanded one by one.

The mushroom no longer stalled and directly performed as soon as the final syllable left Nell’s mouth. Inside the hole that it dug, its punches left large holes in the wall, its kick nearly collapsed the hole, its jump allowed it to leap out of the deep hole it dug, and lastly, it ran.

But it was just too big. Its running speed was about as fast as Nell’s fast walk.

“Perhaps I can control its body structure when I summon the next one…,” Nell thought.

She continued to practice.

______

Alex looked at the colorful vial of liquid in her hand. This was the venom that spawned with her skill. This is the only vial she will have for the day. It was a bright neon green fluid inside of a clear glass vial with a stopper on top. As Alex uncorked the vial, a strong fishy odor permeated the immediate area.

She sighed deeply.

“I can’t use this.”

If Alex used the venom on the animals they hunt today, they would no longer be able to eat it. It pains her that the first vial she summoned was so ineffective for their goal. But at the very least, she could save it for a later day.

With a more optimistic view, Alex put the cork back on the vial and stashed it away. She then turned towards a straw puppet.

“Phantom Boa,” She whispered to herself.

A shadowy snake slithered out of the puppet’s shadow and twisted itself around its wooden legs. Alex tried her best to control the direction the shadow snake twirled. It was harder than it seemed. The snake had a mind of its own and couldn’t be easily controlled. Alex then realized that perhaps leaving the snake up to instinct may be better on most occasions as they have experience constricting prey.

Instead, Alex tried to strengthen the bind. The snake didn’t really budge as well. The strength of its constriction didn’t grow any stronger or weaker. Alex sighed. Can she control this skill at all? She couldn’t help but ponder.

With both of her skills tested and practiced, Alex looked towards her last skill, the passive Twin Fang Strike.

She faced the straw dummy and gave it a whack. A solid punch deep into its straw stomach. With a soft thud, her punch landed on the puppet. It didn’t take much damage at all. Alex just doesn’t have the insane physical strength that Kurt had.

She continued to punch. Again, and again, and again, until finally…two soft thuds sounded immediately one after another.

“So it works for any attack,” Alex made a mental note.

Finally, Alex wanted to try one last thing.

“Phantom Boa, Phantom Boa, Phantom Boa…”

She cast the bind on and off, again and again. Finally, her efforts paid off. Two shadowy snakes appeared this time and bound tightly in unison across the puppet’s legs.

“So it can apply to my bind as well!” Alex smiled.

The originally wording of the skill said ‘attacking.’ So it would seem that her bind was considered an attack. This knowledge will be useful later on.

Alex smiled and walked back to her exhausted friends.

“Ready?” She said.

“W-wait! Let me rest a bit longer!” Nell said with staggered breath.

Kurt smiled with crossed arms. He didn’t even break a sweat.

Ruri was lost in thought, be he looked ready as well.

Alex couldn’t help but be proud of her friends. They were slowly improving.