Michael watched as Lily finished the clay golem. The ridge bug was still screeching while it was stuck on its side. They had explored a good portion of the third floor, and Lily was making excellent progress in her training.
Just as Liara had guessed, they started to see the monsters appearing in pairs. They would be combinations of the clay golems and the ridge bugs. The couple Lily dealt with was one of each type.
Michael checked her status.
Lily
Class: Demi-Human Rank 8 (+2)
Str: Rank 6 (+2) Dex: Rank 9 (+2) Int: Rank 9 (+2)
Status:
Physical: Normal Magic: Normal Mental State: Tired, Hungry, Happy
Injuries:
Scratch (Left Leg) Stubbed Thumb
Special: Talented, Quick Learner, Demon-Lord Devout
Skills:
Detection: Rank 8 (+2) Stealth: Rank 8 (+2)
Knife: Rank 7 (+2) Cooking: Rank 6 (+2)
Cleaning: Rank 6 (+2) Melee: Rank 5 (+2)
Negotiation: Rank 5 (+2) Intuition: Rank 5 (+2)
Organization: Rank 4 (+2) Sword: Rank 3 (+2)
Driving: Rank 1 (+2)
Abilities:
Sneak Calculation Stamina Boost (Passive) Detection (Dual Op)
Enhanced Senses (Passive) Dark Vision (Minor) Planning
Liara noticed Michael was checking and asked him to update her on Lily’s growth.
Hearing of the minor injuries, they took a short break while Liara healed Lily’s wounds. Liara had also given Lily a short sword as a spare weapon and trained her a bit with it. She recommended that a mercenary must always have extra weapons.
“You are making good growth, kid. No one would be able to make that much progress on three floors. Granted, you have been the sole one fighting.” Liara praised Lily.
“I feel strange, though,” Lily said, looking up at the ceiling.
“Yup, that happens when you get closer to Rank 10 in your base class. A sort of… itch in the back of your mind, right?” Liara asked.
“Yeah! What is that?” Lily’s short tail wagged excitedly.
Liara giggled and patted the young girl’s head. “That means you are close to getting your first class. With your skill set, you will get something along the lines of an Operations person.”
“When will I know I got it?” Lily asked.
“I don’t know what it would be like for your mother’s class, but it’s a rush for combat-based classes. Knowing that, don’t get careless. Things have not been too bad so far, but things will change once we get to the boss.” Liara cautioned the girl.
After their break, they finished mapping out the third floor and decided to continue to the fourth floor.
Their first encounters were with a clay golem and a ridge bug.
“Alright. Caution as usual. Analyze your opponent.” Liara instructed.
Lily nodded. Instead of jumping in like she had been, Lily snuck forward. Her focus was to deal with the ridge bug first. She got between the bug and the wall and waited for the bug to get into position.
The bug crawled near Lily. Quickly, she used the wall to help balance herself and kicked the ridge bug with both feet.
The ridge bug screeched in protest as it fell over. The clay golem turned and began lumbering toward Lily.
It swung at Lily far faster than the ones on the first floor. Lily tried to scissor the arm off, but her daggers got stuck in the soft joint. Unable to remove them, Lily abandoned them and rolled away from the follow-up attack from the golem.
“I lost my daggers!” Lily reported.
“That is okay. You made the right choice to avoid getting hit. The surface may look dry, but I can see it moved pretty smoothly. Use the short sword.” Liara instructed.
Rana was worried. This was the first fight on the fourth floor. What would the boss be like?
“It’ll be okay, Rana.” Michael put a comforting hand on the mother’s shoulder.
She nuzzled her head on his hand, thanking him.
Lily engaged the golem once more. She looked like she was going to slash it but stopped herself, going with trying to pierce it with the tip.
“Good choice,” Liara commented.
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Lily circled behind the golem as it swung at her. Aiming for the shoulder joint her daggers were stuck in, she pierced it.
The blade knocked one of her daggers loose and clattered across the floor.
Lily twisted and leveraged her weight the opposite way the golem was turning and popped its arm off with the sword.
Slipping away from the golem, she retrieved one of the daggers. The other dagger was still stuck in the arm next to the golem.
“Well done. Continue.” Liara ordered.
Lily repeated her last action with the short sword, popping off the golem’s other arm. With it no longer having a way to attack, it tried falling on Lily, who baited it.
The golem hit the ground with a heavy splat, but due to the sticky clay, it was stuck to the floor.
“Have fun getting that core.” Liara joked.
Lily felt she was being made fun of and used her Detection ability. With it being a Dual Op, it meant that it was passively active at all times, but using it as a functional skill would focus her perception capability to the max she was capable of.
Tapping the back of the golem in a few spots, she started digging into the golem. Before long, she was holding the golem’s core, and the body stopped moving.
Liara only smiled at her student who held the core up to see. Shaking her head, they continued their exploration.
The ridge bugs didn’t change too much other than their shell ridges becoming sharp, and they moved a bit faster. But the tactic for dealing with them worked each time. If Lily had had a non-reinforced set of boots, she would have needed a new pair already.
They finished mapping out the fourth floor and camped at the staircase.
Rana cooked up a quick meal for them, and the ladies went to sleep while Michael took watch. Michael checked Lily’s status as she slept.
Lily
Class: Demi-Human Rank 9 (+2)
Str: Rank 8 (+2) Dex: Rank 13 (+2) Int: Rank 12 (+2)
Status:
Physical: Normal Magic: Normal Mental State: Sleeping
Injuries:
Special: Talented, Quick Learner, Demon-Lord Devout
Skills:
Detection: Rank 9 (+2) Stealth: Rank 9 (+2)
Knife: Rank 9 (+2) Melee: Rank 7 (+2)
Intuition: Rank 7 (+2) Sword: Rank 6 (+2)
Cooking: Rank 6 (+2) Cleaning: Rank 6 (+2)
Negotiation: Rank 5 (+2) Organization: Rank 4 (+2)
Driving: Rank 1 (+2)
Abilities:
Sneak Calculation Stamina Boost (Passive) Detection (Dual Op)
Enhanced Senses (Passive) Dark Vision (Minor) Planning
Liara woke up. “Mm?” She looked up at Michael
“You okay?” He asked.
“I need to go,” Liara said. Standing up, she moved over to him.
Taking her hand, he sunk her into the darkness in the corner.
This was how they were dealing with having to use the bathroom. Michael connected the dark river to a dark corner someplace else on the floor they were on. Since Michael controlled the flow of darkness, they didn’t have to worry about anything coming back to them.
Liara tightened her grip a few times to notify him she was done. He pulled her up and used a combination spell that used water and light to clean the body. It was a trick Liara, and he figured out when the two of them were traveling together. It didn’t feel as good as taking a hot shower or bath, but it felt clean, at least.
Liara tiredly went back to her spot and fell asleep.
After breakfast, they continued down to the fifth floor on their third day in the dungeon. Lily was beginning to have trouble dealing with the clay golems now with their bodies being moist clay. She had to focus on using her short sword instead of her daggers.
It was by her fourth encounter that Lily got a burst of energy, seemingly disappearing in front of the clay golem. Her sword pierced the golem’s torso. The golem went still and fell over.
Lily seemed to be in a daze. The second clay golem lumbered toward her.
Before it reached her, Liara intervened, cutting the golem and its core in half.
“Lily!” Rana ran over to check on her daughter, who fell onto her rump. “Are you alright?”
“Huh? Uh, yeah. I think… I think I got my class.” Lily informed them.
Michael checked for them before they asked.
Lily
Class: Royal Assassin of Darkness Rank 10 (+2)
Str: Rank 12 (+4) Dex: Rank 20 (+8) Int: Rank 15 (+4)
Status:
Physical: Normal Magic: Normal Mental State: Dazed, Curious, Excited
Injuries:
Special: Talented, Quick Learner, Demon-Lord Devout
Skills:
Detection: Rank 10 (+2) Stealth: Rank 10 (+8)
Blades: Rank 10 (+8) Melee: Rank 10 (+6)
Intuition: Rank 9 (+4) Cooking: Rank 6 (+2)
Cleaning: Rank 6 (+2) Negotiation: Rank 5 (+2)
Organization: Rank 4 (+2) Dark Element: Rank 1 (+8)
Poison: Rank 1 (+8) Ambush: Rank 1 (+8)
Driving: Rank 1 (+2)
Abilities:
Silent Movements Calculation Stamina Boost (Passive)
Detection (Dual Op) Enhanced Senses (Passive) Dark Vision (Major)
Planning Riposte Assassinate
Shadow Shift Blitz Shift Flurry
Ambush
Michael was just as dumbfounded as Rana and Liara. Lily, on the other hand, was dancing about.
“This is so awesome! Have you ever heard of this class, Liara?” Lily asked.
“Um. No. Cael?” Liara turned to him for help.
Royal Assassin of Darkness. A rare class that has specific requirements to unlock. Other than necessary Assassin skills, one must be serving a royal or equivalent and be familiar with the deepest depths of darkness, not fearing it in the least bit. +2 to Str and Int. +6 to Dex. +6 to the following skills: Stealth, Blades, Dark Element, Poison, and Ambush. +4 to Melee. +2 to Intuition. Provides a major boost to the ability to see in the dark.
“A rare class! This sounds so awesome! I think I used the Blitz Shift ability earlier.” Lily commented, looking back at the golem she defeated.
“You might have used a couple skills at once there. Blitz Shift to get behind it and you probably finished it with Assassinate. So, the skill lets you move quickly. Try using it a few times to see if there are any drawbacks. We might want to wait on taking the boss on until you are used to your abilities.” Liara cautioned.
“I thought I was going to be dealing with the bosses,” Michael questioned.
“Sorry big guy, but I thought it would be useful for Lily and me to at least take on the first few bosses,” Liara commented with an apologetic smile.
“But what about the darkness part of the description?” Rana asked, still trying to wrap her mind around the fact her daughter was an assassin.
“Could it have been because of One with Darkness?” Michael asked.
Lily perked up after trying her skill a third time, learning that there was a time delay between uses. “Oh yeah! I was initially scared because of how dark it was, but I felt comfortable in it when we got to the gateway. Probably because big brother was there.” Lily hugged Michael.
Rana looked up at Michael. “This is all your fault.” She said with a teasing smile.
“I am willing to take responsibility,” Michael replied with a chuckle.
A flash of light rolled over Lily. “Huh?”
Michael checked her status once more and found she had a new Special.
Daughter of the Demon-Lord. Any who harm the daughter should run and hide for the rest of their lives, for the Demon-Lord will never forgive. +8 to overall status. +30% to the progression of any skills the Demon-Lord Possesses.
Rana and Liara held their faces in their hands.
Lily, who was still hanging on Michael, looked up and smiled at him. “Daddy!”
Michael sighed in resignation. “Yeah, this is definitely my fault.”