30)

A brick flew across the starter room and nailed a squirrel trying to get away from the monstrously large cat.

Molly jerked her raised fist down in triumph. "Got it, and Buttercup is on it. Get him kitty!"

Their next trip down into the dungeon had gone a bit differently. For one, the cat stayed outside until the squirrels began to emerge, then dashed in to join the two ladies who stood back to back in the center of the room.

Molly had a brick in her off hand and her racket in her right. While Iris had walked in one in each hand, both of which she threw up into the fake tree branches while the beasts were circling around trying to find a blind spot to leap out at them.

She even caught one hard enough to knock it out the branches to where the cat was able to leap out and pin it down while it tore out the rodent's throat.

When three of them tried to rush out in a group, the old woman did a sort of spinning kick along the floor sending two of them flying. Then she lost her balance and fell over, while Molly ran over and swung her racket along the ground to beat away the last one.

It was a lot more chaotic than their first fight. But the chaos was to the ladies' advantage, the only way a small group of creatures not even a tenth of their size could hurt them was through teamwork. And teamwork is hard to do against unpredictable opponents.

The drop from their second victory was a lot more disappointing. They still got pennies and squirrel parts. But with only a pelt this time instead of a magic hat.

But they weren't too disappointed. Molly did some math and happily announced that "I'm three percent closer to my next level, which brings me a third of the way there."

After taking a shower and changing into a set of simple clothing she set off until the next day.

The old lady stretched out on her couch and passed out for the afternoon. A spinning set of three blades in a rotating cage blowing air on her.

The afternoon dungeon run had gotten me a whole point forty one more BPs. Very soon, in only a month or less the younger woman would be second level, then it would be nearly half a year until the two of them hit third.

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While I would still be stuck as a copper one dungeon.

The more active fight in the afternoon did pay out a bit more. Perhaps if I switched things up every now and then it might keep my numbers up. But not every day. Constant change could make people nervous. And the younger woman was already very unsure about me.

So I let them do their two runs a day, five times a week, with the other two days which they called the weekend, they took to rest.

Two days. Two days out of seven just to rest. That seemed like it would make people weak. They would have to steel themselves for a harsher world in the future.

I gave them a week of easy, predictable fights while I focused on the great rat hunt. And the sewers were full of them.

The main limit on my leveling up was how many rats could be captured and brought to me each day. And the dungeon goo brought them in faster than the Kobolds could catch them. I finally had to dismiss the dungeon goo long enough to let them carry up what they had caught.

They weren't really worth that much, but with so many, I think I was going to reach level two faster than Molly.

By the end of the week, they had their squirrel slaughtering down to an art. So I needed something to add to the difficulty, someone to lead the scampering horde.

Someone motivated.

While not assigned to the room. Envoy was more than happy to lurk in waiting, already out and waiting, hidden on a limb. A broken off spike from the stone clubs in the room in his hand.

The two women had finished off most of the Squirrels when Envoy finally made his move. Leaping out with both hands wrapped around the spike and dropping down on Iris’s back, burying his weapon deep into her shoulder. Possibly even a whole inch and a half deep.

“Ow! What the… You?”

The kobold pulled the spike free and dropped to the ground before turning to run up to the approaching concerned looking healer who jumped back as she saw something darting over at her. "What? No, you're not supposed to be in here. Get away from me."

Trying to run backward on her cavalry heeled boots resulted in her losing her balance long enough to allow the little kobold to take a running leap to cling to her lower leg while repeatedly trying to jam his spike through the yellow full body armor the healer was wearing.

At least until Iris leaned over and punched it in the back with a crunching sound that left it falling backwards off Molly’s leg to collapse on the floor before the old woman repetitively stomped on it.

Then she down at the floor. “Tark! What the hell was that?”

I created a note above her head and let it fall toward the ground. She snatched it out of the air. "You been complaining your experience points had been diminishing. I needed to spice things up. But don't worry, he won’t attack you outside of this room.”

Molly moved around to Iris's back while holding a white piece of cloth she had taken out a pouch on the belt she had taken to wearing. A cloth she had taken out of a paper package and proceeded to attach to the old woman's back with a sticky paper she took off a roll.

Iris looked over her shoulder a the healer with an irritated expression. “Can’t you just heal it?”

Molly did the thing with her hand out flat and wiggling in front of her. "Yes, but we're going to let it bleed a little and then hit it with an antibiotic. Which will let me do more with my healing spell.

Also I don't want to use up all my magic in case I need the spell on the way home. Let's get upstairs to where I got my med kit."

The old woman let out a "harumph" sound and agreed, but only after she made Molly collect all the loot.

This time they got a little bleached white skull from near Envoy's corpse. "Huh, this feels a little heavy for bone. Oh, it's enameled. It's too heavy not to be metal underneath."

The two of them examined the weighty little skull, but whatever it was, and whatever it did, this one didn’t come with a handy label on it.