“What the hell!” Emma shouted as she leapt to the side of a flaming ball of magic hurled at her by a nearby zombie. “I thought it would be like little baby magic!"

Zoe laughed. “I told you what they were going to do, though?" She looked at Joe who shook his head.

“I’m not even gonna try. My classes are fine for bonuses and stats but I really don’t have much combat skills.” He said.

“You two really ought to learn some good general skills. Maybe we can get you two shields.” Zoe shook her head as Emma shot off another space arrow from her conjured bow at the zombie she was fighting.

Emma had seen the fire magic zombie a few minutes earlier and told Zoe to not interfere unless she really had to, and Zoe decided to oblige. She didn’t think her friends would be able to handle the mages very well, neither of them were all that suited to fighting real combat let alone mages. And the extra mana the mages’ attacks carried tore through Emma’s defenses like a knife through warm butter.

Against the physical attacks, her armour held up wonderfully and even did a great job of dismantling her opponents if she used it just right. But the zombie’s magic washed over her and overwhelmed her mana, leaving dark marks across her body and clothes as the flames burned her.

The zombie didn’t have the power to take Emma out, not at once anyway. In time if she stood she would die of course, but at such a low level on the mountain Zoe didn’t need to worry about sudden deaths. All she had to do was watch out for any surprises — more zombies climbing up towards them, or a cry for help from Emma as she ran out of mana or even stamina.

Joe was even less suited to combat than Emma, but he had a massive pool of health for his level thanks to the Unbroken feat he’d managed to get just a few months earlier. It didn’t look like an enjoyable experience, but he had more than enough health to soak up damage as he worked through his opponent.

Frankly, Zoe thought the reason Joe wasn’t interested in fighting the mages was more because he didn’t want to suffer through the pain of their magics more than anything else. He’d probably survive just fine if he tried, but Zoe wasn’t one to judge.

Emma finished up the fight with the zombie and walked over to the tree Joe and Emma were standing under. “And another thing! You didn’t tell us they’d be so much higher level! We’re only level twentyish, why would we fight these? That was level fifty two!”

Zoe shrugged. “You handled it, didn’t you?"

“Yeah, and it sucked!” Emma cried.

“I told you it would, though. You’re the one who didn’t want help unless you really needed it.” Zoe laughed.

“Eugh, I just wanna complain dammit, stop being right.” Emma sighed.

Joe laughed. “Well the next stage is easier, right? Lets head up there.”

“Well, I said it was but it only kinda is. They’re higher levels, and they come in groups. But they’ll be like the first zombies at the bottom, mindlessly swinging their arms at you.” Zoe said.

“Groups? How many?" Emma asked.

“As many as you want, really. They usually come in groups of three to five, but I can kill off the extras so you can take one on at a time, or lure more together if you think you can handle it. The main thing isn’t that they’re in groups, it’s that they’re high level and really stupid.” Zoe explained.

“Right, well as long as they’re not far faster than these ones, I think I could handle a higher level dumb zombie.” Joe said.

“Well, lets go see. After them comes the tool wielding zombies, which I think we’ll end up stopping at for a while. And then after them is more mages, which I don’t think either of you are going to want until you have at least another class under your belt.” Zoe said.

The three walked up the mountain while Zoe fired earthen projectiles off at the nearby zombies before they could disturb them.

“What did the people in Korna wear down in their dungeon anyway?" Emma asked. ”I have this weird fantasy of them raiding dungeons half naked as some kind of statement of who they are and that’s probably not right but it is really funny to me.“

“No, some of them did, actually.” Zoe said.

“Really?" Joe asked.

“Yeah, absolutely. I thought you two would’ve been to Korna at some point, honestly.” Zoe said.

Emma shook her head. “Nope, never left Flester. At least not very far, anyway.”

“Most people don’t leave where they’re born here, Zoe. I don’t know what it’s like where you’re from, but travelling is rather dangerous and expensive, with very little benefit anyway.” Joe explained.

“Huh. Yeah I mean I guess back home most people tended to do the same thing, really. But it was pretty common to see people flying around the world. I guess only until about two hundred years ago, though. Before then it was a big deal to go somewhere, I think.” Zoe said.

“Did you travel much?” Joe asked.

“Not really. Probably a lot more than you two, I guess. I went to nearby cities all the time, but that’s not really that far away. Probably closer than Korna, I imagine.” Zoe said.

“Why wouldn’t they just move together and make a bigger city? If they were already so close?” Emma asked.

“Politics, I guess. Some people were far enough away that it wouldn’t make sense anyway, but sometimes you would walk through a neighbourhood and one moment you were in one city, and the next you were in another. It was just lines drawn for, I dunno. To just have different groups of citizens to make it easier to manage I guess? Probably for like schools and police or something too, maybe.” Zoe shrugged. “Never really thought about it.”

“You had cities that were touching? Like neighbours who wouldn’t be in the same city?" Emma asked.

“Yeah. Most cities bordered another city, probably. I mean it’s just like, we had a similar history to how life is here now, kinda. Except that in time Flester grew so big that managing it wasn’t feasible anymore, so it was split up into Flester one and Flester two with their own mayors and guards. I guess. I never cared much for politics and all that.” Zoe said.

“Huh. And you didn’t have any magic there, at all right?" Joe asked.

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“I’m less sure of that now, but it wasn’t obvious anyway. Maybe there was some underworld that us mere mortals didn’t know about. But from my perspective back home, magic was trickery. Smoke and mirrors.” Zoe said.

“I’d like to see it one day, if you ever make it back.” Emma said.

“I’ll take both of you back for a visit if I can, but who knows if I ever can anyway.” Zoe shrugged.

Joe pointed ahead of them at a group of five wandering zombies. “There’s the first group, I guess. Emma takes one and I take one? Zoe you take out the rest for us?"

Zoe nodded and fired off three projectiles that exploded into ash and frost as they impacted three of the zombies, leaving their bodies to be claimed by the dungeon’s magic. The remaining two looked over at Zoe’s group and charged towards them.

Joe and Emma split off and both the zombies turned towards Emma. Zoe conjured a wall of earth to split the two zombies up, forcing one of them towards Joe.

Zoe watched her two friends fight their zombies. Emma was handling herself pretty well against the lone mindless zombie, dancing around it with her space magic while its claws were countered completely by the layer of space mana surrounding her body.

Joe was getting by a little worse, but managing in his own way. The zombie’s claws slashed across his body as he grimaced from the pain and rammed his short sword into the zombie. He had very little experience with the sword, and Zoe planned to give him some lessons on it at some point. But it was better than punching, and none of his skill were very defensive in nature.

If he had an inn to defend, that would be great. But out in the wild, many of his skills were left useless. It did give Zoe a bit of an idea though, if she could build an inn up on Moaning Point and lure zombies to it, defending his inn would be both easier and far better for his classes. A bit of an odd method, but different classes called for different solutions.

Several of the people Zoe took up had taken guardian classes that made them better at defending people, so Zoe had to play the awkward role of being protected while also being the protector. One was a merchant looking to get a powerful class to protect themselves on the road and needed Zoe to set up a small shop on the fifth stage for them to defend.

Emma finished her fight a few minutes earlier and returned to Zoe to watch Joe finish.

“I didn’t believe you.” Emma said.

“Hmm?” Zoe questioned.

“Why is this stage easier than the last one?" Emma asked.

“It’s a lodestone dungeon. You’re supposed to be able to train effectively here, according to the system. So find your specialty and sit at it.” Zoe explained.

“I thought lodestone dungeons progressively got harder, though?" Emma asked.

“They do.” Zoe said.

“But this was easier?” Emma asked.

“To you, yeah. They’re higher level here though, and if you were better suited to handling magic then you would have found them harder. Plus you’re supposed to have fought all five at the same time instead of just one, you know?” Zoe smirked.

“Right. I kinda forgot about that, actually.” Emma laughed.

Joe finished his fight with the zombie and struggled for a moment with the black bones that were being claimed by the dungeon before he gave up and walked over to Joe and Emma.

“You did this for a decade?” Joe asked. “You’re insane. This is not fun.”

Zoe laughed. “It’s fun seeing the numbers get bigger, though.”

“Yeah cause yours keep getting bigger even when you reset your damn class.” Joe rolled his eyes.

“True, I guess. But that’s why I enjoy it anyway.” Zoe said.

“It’d be better if I had an inn up here. You think there’s any inns I could buy up here?" Joe asked.

“Nope, but I think I’m going to build you one.” Zoe said.

“I hadn’t even thought of that. Huh.” Joe said. “If I had a portable inn of some kind, in a storage item or something then I guess I could wander around and use my skills wherever I wanted, huh?"

“Maybe, yeah. Worth a shot, anyway. Either way I’ll probably build you one up here, just gotta find out what the bare minimum is. Needs a sink I know that at least.” Zoe laughed.

Joe chuckled. “Yes it does. But a barrel of water counts as a sink anyway, just doesn’t look as nice.”

“Huh, alright. We can get start on that then. We’ll probably go up to the next stage and get you an inn. You okay with that, Emma?” Zoe asked.

Emma nodded her head. “Yeah, anything but the mages. Don’t like the mages.”

The next week Joe and Zoe spent building an inn while Emma went off hunting the tool wielding groups of zombies. With her conjured bow she was able to pick them off from the trees rather effectively, and as long as she stayed somewhat nearby she could hop back to Zoe with her space class in a pinch for help.

Emma only ended up needing to once, and brought a veritable horde of zombies towards the ramshackle inn Zoe and Joe were building. Dozens of zombies wielding sticks and stones, and even a few in full plate armour with hammers and axes charged at them. Zoe made quick work of the horde and scolded Emma for being so careless while Joe laughed at the absurdity of it all.

When the inn was built, the three sat inside at the single table eating a meal Joe prepared.

“So lure over some zombies and get them to attack the building?" Emma asked.

“And I have to stay inside the inn at all times?" Zoe asked.

“Yup, that’s right.” Joe said.

“How many?" Emma asked.

“Two groups? Ten to fifteen, around there? Should be fine with more, but I’ve never put these skills to the test like this.” Joe said.

“Alright, I can do that.” Emma said.

Emma had made it to level fifty fighting the high level zombies as effectively as she was, but Joe was still stuck at level thirty four due to his disadvantage. The three had agreed that they would all help Joe get some levels under his belt before they started focusing on themselves.

When Emma returned a few minutes later, she had twelve zombies staggering after her and rushed into the thrown together inn, closing the door behind her. The zombies slammed into the door, and a blue energy met their blows, slamming into their fists and sending them flying back.

“Damn, that’s impressive.” Zoe said.

Joe shrugged. “It only works if I’m in an inn and there’s an immortal in it, which is not often.”

“But it is now.” Zoe said as she watched the next round of zombies slam into the walls of Joe’s inn only to be thrown back by the blue energy that rushed out to meet them. “How long can you keep this up?”

“For a few hours, probably.” Joe said. “Drains my mana but as lon as its only a handful of them I should be fine, as long as you’re here.”

“And if I wasn’t?” Zoe asked.

“Thirty minutes, maybe?” Joe shrugged. “It’s a big difference for my class having an immortal being protected by my skills.”

“Makes sense, I guess.” Zoe said. “This is going to go a lot quicker than I thought it would then.”

“How long did you expect?" Joe asked.

“Two years? But I think we’ll get you two a couple nice new classes by the end of the year at this rate. Might even try taking on the boss if we’re lucky.” Zoe laughed.