“Good morning, Ranalaiya, Lilfira,” I greeted the two of them, giving them kisses too.
“Good morning, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya spoke back, wearing much happier smile on her face than she usually would.
“Huh?” I squinted my eyes, trying to think of a reason why she’d be like that.
“You look so much happier and relaxed compared to yesterday, Master Rockin,” Lilfira said, also revealing the reason why Ranalaiya was in such a good mood too.
“Oh, yeah. Ahm… yesterday I was… a little worried about certain things,” I said, rubbing the back of my head with my right hand.
“Huh? Sylfrin? Wuaaa… I’m so happy for you,” Ranalaiya suddenly exclaimed, jumping up before leaping forward, appearing right next to Sylfrin before hugging her in an instant.
“Thank you. Master Rockin was the most gentle and made me feel wanted. He truly cared to make me feel good and we had the most incredible sex together,” as usual, Sylfrin wasn’t shy to tell it how she felt or that we made love last night.
“Master… Rockin…” Ranalaiya commented seductively, squinting her cat-shaped eyes while looking at me like a cat would look at a mouse, her cat-like ears becoming very straight, her tail making curling movements behind her.
“Hmm…” at the same time, Lilfira pressed her lips tight together after hearing what Sylfrin has said, her slightly red cheeks becoming even redder.
“Ah, yes, well… I think we need to get going now… or else Tarrion will complain we’re being late,” I’ve come up with an excuse to get away from the raising wistful tension in the air. In all fairness, we definitely needed to go. It was rather early in the morning, but the sun was already up and we have agreed to meet with everyone at Savirei’s inn right before sunrise.
{at Savirei’s inn a quick walk later}
Huh? What gives? I mumbled in my head when I found the main entrance doors to Savirei’s diner locked.
“So sorry, Rockin. Please, come in,” Savirei, noticing someone trying to barge into her diner via the main entrance came to open the doors for us to let us in. “I keep my main entrance doors locked until I am ready to open for the day, but my diner’s back door was unlocked for everyone to enter. By the way, Tarrion, Krisel and Virghel are already here.”
“Ah, right, sorry. I… forgot,” I said, bracing myself to hear some scolding from Tarrion for being late.
“Hey, Furball,” Tarrion said upon seeing us.
“Good morning, ahem… everyone,” I said, the rest of our party exchanging greetings as well.
“Good morning, Rockin,” Virghel said, her eyes showing both excitement and maybe a little jealousy too.
“Are you ready to move out?” Tarrion asked instead of complaining about us being late.
“Ah, yeah. Well, I would need to collect the food from Savirei before we go,” I said before turning to where Savirei was standing.
“Yes, sure,” Tarrion grunted, but he didn’t look to be grumpy or anything.
“Right this way, Rockin,” Savirei said, inviting me to come with her into the kitchen.
“Ranalaiya, Sylfrin, Lilfira, come as well,” I invited them. I thought having us divide some food between us would make it easier. Besides, I had a lot of crafting materials and other stuff in my inventory that was taking a lot of space.
“Wow, you have prepared some desserts for us too, Miss Savirei?” Ranalaiya exclaimed, her eyes lighting up in excitement.
“Of course,” Savirei smiled.
“Ok, let’s divide the food for all of us to carry some each. My inventory is more than half full, so I’ll take just a few. You three take the rest, ok?” I instructed them.
“Aren’t you going to eat before leaving, Rockin?” Savirei asked, seeing we were putting all the food away.
“We’ll eat while going to the dungeon. Will save some time since… we overslept a little,” my cheeks caught a not so humble blush when I said the last part.
“Oh, I see. I’m so happy for you, Sylfrin,” it wouldn’t have been Savirei if she couldn’t have picked up what had happened last night after seeing how elated Sylfrin felt even if she tried not to show it.
“Thank you, Miss Savirei. I feel really happy to have Master Rockin accept me as his woman,” Sylfrin wouldn’t have been Sylfrin if she was to act shy about it too.
“Right, we should get going now. Thank you for preparing all this food for us, Savirei,” I said before stepping closer and giving her a peck on the cheek.
“Oh, wow. You’re welcome, Rockin,” Savirei said, becoming slightly flustered by my act, touching her cheek with her hand. “Good luck and be careful inside the dungeon.”
“Thanks. See you later, Savirei,” I said before leaving her kitchen.
“You’re not eating?” Tarrion asked, seeing we weren’t planning to sit down.
“We’ll eat on the way,” I told him.
“Ok then. By the way, I have bought some Medicinal Herbs. Mind crafting some Healing Potions for me?” Tarrion asked again.
“Sure, but… how about I do it in the dungeon when we stop for a break. You won’t need any potions until we reach lower floors anyway, will you?” I suggested.
“Fine,” he said before standing up from his seat.
“Ok, so if everyone’s ready, let’s go,” I said.
The road to the dungeon was rather quiet. We left the town without any stops, not even going to check the Guild for any quests. Guild quests were irrelevant for us right now. Although, Tarrion, Krisel or Virghel might’ve picked up some quests yesterday. We’ll be going as far as to the eighth floor of the dungeon or at least that was my plan anyway. Whether or not we’ll be able to fight those Stone Golems on the eighth floor was a question to be answered once we got there.
I was hoping we’d be able to reach the sixth floor of the dungeon before the first nightfall. The first three floors of the dungeon weren’t too big and I knew we could get to the fourth floor within half a day if we really legged it. In addition, our plan was to stop at the secret area on the third floor to get some water which had a tiny healing effect. The detour to get the water would add maybe two hours of our travel time or maybe even more, but it was worth it. All things considered, and after having a word with Tarrion on the way, we decided to aim to reach the fifth floor of the dungeon before the first nightfall.
“Excuse me, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya approached me from behind while on the way to the dungeon. We’ve left Hirvant and were walking on an empty road.
“Yes, what is it, Ranalaiya?” I asked her.
“Do you think I could show Virghel my stats? She has shown me hers and was asking about my current build, curious to know how it looked,” Ranalaiya asked me.
“Oh, yeah, sure. Virghel is a friend and we can trust her,” I agreed.
“Thank you, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya said, cheering up before rushing back to walk together with the other women.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
“What level are you now?” Tarrion asked after Ranlaiya went back before adding. “If you don’t mind me asking?”
“Level seven,” I said.
“Tch… I bet your stats aren’t of someone who’s level seven,” Tarrion commented and I knew what he really wanted to say.
“Probably not. Want to see them?” I asked with a tease.
“You had to ask,” He blurted, giving me an annoyed look.
“Hah,” I chuckled before opening my Status Window to show him.
“The fuck?” Tarrion’s jaw dropped. “Level seven my ass…” He squinted his eyes that he kept on the transparent screen in front of him.
***
Rockin Starling. Level 7.
Class: Shielder.
Character Stats:
Stamina – 50+23
Strength – 61+14
Agility – 26+6
Spell Power – 7
Magic Energy – 15
Growth – 6
***
“I don’t have my shields equipped, so my overall stats are a bit lower now,” I told him.
“Tss…” Tarrion scoffed before shaking his head. “Your base stats will be in hundreds by the time you reach level seventeen.”
“Seventeen? Oh, wait. Does that mean you’re level seventeen now?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he blurted.
“Cool. Congrats. Can I see your stats?” I certainly was curious to know how tough he was.
“Fine,” he said before opening his Status Window to show his own stats to me.
***
Tarrion Rockwick. Level 17.
Class: Tank.
Character Stats:
Stamina – 62+48
Strength – 43+26
Agility – 9
Spell Power – 1
Magic Energy – 3
Luck – 15
***
“Wow, look at that Stamina,” I gasped, seeing his total Stamina stat was well over a hundred. On a side note, Tarrion had his shield and mace on him, so I was assuming these were his full stats.
“Yeah, well. Yours is not that far behind,” Tarrion mumbled.
“Hey, I mean it. You certainly know how to allocate your stat points and your build as a Tank class looks awesome,” I complimented him and was totally sincere about it.
“Well… thanks,” Tarrion said, becoming a little uncomfortable before closing his Status Window. “By the way, you seriously want to go to the eighth floor of the dungeon, Furball?”
“Yeah, why not?” I answered without hesitation.
“The two of us aside, the rest of our party are… a bit too low of a level,” he said.
“What’s Krisel’s level now?” I asked, taking a hint who he was worried about the most.
“Level ten,” Tarrion said.
“Level ten, huh?” I mumbled, touching my chin to think about it. “Sylfrin and Virghel are both level eleven, and Ranalaiya is level fifteen. Well, Lilfira is only level five and yeah, she doesn’t have the best equipment either. I mean, we don’t have to go to the eighth floor of the dungeon. At least not right away. We can go to the sixth floor and stay there for a while, hunt monsters to get everyone’s level up before going to level seventh and… depending on how well we would do fighting Goblies go check out how strong those Stone Golems on the floor eight are.”
“Works for me,” Tarrion agreed.
“Ok, cool. By the way, I’d like to eat something before we reach the dungeon, so I’ll have my mouth full for the time being,” I said before opening my Item Storage Box to take out some food to munch on.
“Humph, fine,” Tarrion said, taking out a snack for himself too. We didn’t talk much after that, reaching the dungeon not too long after.
- “What a nice kill. I loved how you moved your hips just now, babe. Two experience points for you and four for your party members.” – Lavita was very happy to announce it after our first Carnabbit kill.
Ah, that’s right. I squirmed, Lavita reminding me she was a part of our party as well.
“You know what, dear, I think she was right. I loved it too,” Krisel commented, adding a chuckle.
“Eh? Humph,” Tarrion grunted in response. It was him who killed the Carnabbit. Hence, the reason behind Krisel’s comment.
“I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad,” Krisel apologized, seeing Tarrion make a sour facial expression.
“I’m not,” Tarrion said, averting his face away which was probably red, but he was wearing a helmet which helped him hide it.
“So, Lavita will really be talking every time we kill a monster?” Virghel asked.
“Yes, she’s really fun,” Ranalaiya said, looking to be in a very good mood.
“It was really strange to hear Lavita speak when I heard it for the very first time even after Ranalaiya and Sylfrin told me in advance about her, but I got used to listening to Lavita talk very fast. With how natural she sounds, I even talk back to her sometimes,” said Lilfira.
“Yes, Lavita can be quite a charmer with her announcements,” Krisel added, showing a smile.
“Yes, well… she most definitely can,” added Virghel, catching a blush for some reason.
The ladies definitely had things to talk about, but we haven’t come to the dungeon to have a picnic, so I ushered for us to keep moving. Fighting Carnabbits was no big deal, so I had us spread out and kill as many of the fluffy killer rabbits as we were able to come across, having Lilfira fight as much as possible too. Raising Lilfira’s level and making her stronger aside, she needed to get fighting experience too. In addition, we were collecting all the Carnabbit meat that would drop too. Extra food for a rainy day so to say, not that it ever rained inside the dungeon.
Once we have reached the second floor, I had Lilfira fight Halluspiders too. Tarrion informed us that he had Antidote Potions with him just in case any of us would get bitten by a Halluspider. I had Poison Resistance skill, so I wasn’t worried about getting poisoned, but the rest of our party didn’t. However, Tarrion reminding me about Antidote Potions gave me an idea that maybe I could learn how to craft the potions myself, given I had the herbs needed to do so. I asked Tarrion about it and he said the herbs, Green Cleansing Herbs as they were called, couldn’t be found inside the dungeon. Green Cleansing Herbs could be found growing outside of the dungeon close to rivers or ponds. They weren’t very common, but Antidote Potions weren’t very expensive to buy from the local shops in town. I squirmed, realizing I should carry some with me at all times just in case. My Poison Resistance skill meant nothing to Ranalaiya, Sylfrin or Lilfira if they got poisoned by some monster at some point.
Halluspiders were faster and trickier to fight, but other than Lilfira who hasn’t fought the green-eyed arachnid monsters, none of us had any trouble with them. Halluspiders weren’t very tough monsters and with her current strength, Lilfira was able to kill them with a single attack for the most part, except when she missed to land a hit on them. As much as I wanted to get to the lower floors of the dungeon sooner, I had to admit that letting Lilfira gain more fighting experience was important, so we decided not to rush getting to the third floor of the dungeon.
Once we got to the third floor of the dungeon however, things became much more difficult for Lilfira. Since she was using a spear as her weapon, she was able to reach further than anyone else of us in the group when fighting Lesser Trents. Unfortunately, the rotten walking trees were able to reach much further with their extended branches than Lilfira could reach with her spear, making it harder for her to fight them. With Lilfira’s current strength, she was also receiving some boost to her stats from the equipment she was wearing, she still managed to kill Lesser Trents on her own without additional help, but she would get hit by the rotten trees now and then too. She wasn’t sustaining serious injuries fortunately, but that just made Lilfira realize how important fighting experience actually was. Little by little, she was becoming more and more serious about becoming stronger. She’d have to fight a really strong opponent during the Rites of Strength who most probably won’t show any mercy towards her either. That thought helped Lilfira push forward and give it her all.
- “Well done, cutie pie. I am so glad you came on the top once again. You have received six experience points and your party members have received twelve.” – Lavita announced, adding a chuckle too and definitely not implying anything with her message either, but it still made me roll my eyes.
- “Maximum experience points reached. Level up is available. Would you like to level up?” – The dull, mechanical voice announced right after, indicating someone, other than me, has received a Level Up offer.
“It’s for me, Master Rockin,” Lilfira said after checking her Status Window. It wasn’t a big surprise, really. She was only level five and needed the least experience points among all of us to reach the next level. Although, a few others have checked their status to see if it was them who received the Level Up offer as well.
“Ok, great. Congratulations. Why don’t you accept your level up right away?” I suggested.
“But Master Rockin,” Lilfira said, pouting her lips.
“I can suggest you how to assign your stat points if you have any doubts about it,” I said, giving her a look that doing it the way we had done it when we were inside the mine wouldn’t be a good idea right now.
“Congratulations on reaching level up, Lilfira,” Ranalaiya congratulated her.
“Congratulations, Lilfira,” Sylfrin added.
“Oh, thank you, Ranalaiya and Sylfrin,” Lilfira said, showing a smile.
“Let’s take a break,” Tarrion suggested, sitting down on some log before taking out water to drink.
“Congratulations, Lilfira,” Krisel joined the girls.
“Yes, congratulations,” Virghel added as well.
- “Level up accepted. Increasing character’s level from level five to level six. Complete. Level up complete.” – The dull, lifeless, mechanical voice announced after Lilfira grudgingly accepted her Level Up offer herself.
“I have received six stat points, Master Rockin. Can you help me allocate them?” Lilfira insisted.
“Ok, can you show me your current stats, please?” I asked her.
“Yes,” Lilfira agreed, perking up before leaning at me from the side when I came to stand next to her.
***
Lilfira Flamelash. Level 5.
Class: Spear Knight.
Character stats:
Stamina – 12+7
Strength – 27+9
Agility – 3
Spell Power – 0
Magic Energy – 18
Luck – 15
***
“Humph…” I thought for a second. “You know what? How about you add more points to your Stamina stat this time? And you definitely need Strength too, so why don’t you add two points to your Stamina stat and four points to your Strength stat?”
“Ok, Master Rockin,” Lilfira agreed, assigning her stat points the way I suggested.
The moment she did that, I felt an unpleasant feeling hit my gut, letting me know I shouldn’t have neglected Lilfira’s Magic Energy stat as well. As weird as her initial stats looked there must’ve been a reason why her Magic Energy stat was so high. Besides, Lilfira had received some skill that she couldn’t yet use or even see what it was and maybe it was dependent on her overall stats. I made a sour facial expression but restrained from saying anything. Lilfira will gain more levels as we go, so I promised myself to suggest her to increase her Magic Energy stat as well going forward.
“Congratulations, Lilfira. The Secret Area with the water is not far from here, so let’s get moving, ok?” I suggested right away. I wanted to vent my annoying frustration and smacking some rotten walking trees was one way to help me do that.