In the end, we decided to map the second floor completely and slowly build our strength. I also began to help those two skin the monsters since I had a knife that could do that and because they were starting to get tired. Skinning was hard work too. Still, with my stamina and skill, it was easy work. A few lines of cut and then pulling the part of the back of the fire wolf was easy for me.
Those three looked at me with a bit of suspicion in their eyes… Perhaps I shouldn’t show my skill that much. I was a bit taller than them, but I didn’t look older, after all. In any case, we finished mapping the second floor at noon. We found some parties passing by us and only one returning to the entrance. Still, it wasn’t like we wouldn’t find monsters since the next floors were bigger.
“Let’s take a break to eat.”
The hammer kid said… referring to them like that was easy, but I could just use Identification on them. Still, I didn’t feel like it. It would make me look suspicious if I suddenly used their names as well.
“How can you endure this heat while wearing clothes like that?”
The hammer kid was eating some jerky while fawning over himself with his hand. If he was already that bothered by the heat, he probably would have a stroke before the boss’ chamber. The others didn’t look that much better, but they weren’t complaining.
“I am used to the heat and…”
I wondered if I could sell them my services as an enchanter. They might not have enough money to pay for any enchantments now, but I would benefit if we manage to reach the tenth floor and get another battle class. Doing that before my scheduled exploration would be really helpful.
“I know some basic enchantments. If you give me some mana cores as payment, I can make this a bit more bearable for you guys.”
They looked at me in surprise… enchanters were usually old mages, after all. Or at least they work for rich merchant groups.
The journey of beginner adventurers hunting monsters to earn enough money for enchanted or runic gear is a difficult one. It typically begins with a group of novices, fresh from their training, filled with excitement and nerves. Armed with basic weapons and wearing simple, often hand-me-down armor, they set out to hunt low-level monsters.
With time, these groups begin to accept more dangerous and better-paying quests. They face larger monsters, which require not only skill but also careful preparation. They begin to understand the importance of hunting not just for survival, but for specific materials that fetch higher prices, such as rare monster hides or magical cores. After doing that enough times, they obtain enough to buy enchanted or runic gear.
“... Can we pay you after we return to the guild?”
That was a difficult thing to ask, but in the end, it was the only option that they had. I nodded and offered them basic enchantments for twenty mana cores each. Those that we found were worth at least forty Breeze coins, so it felt like a decent price. The only problem was that they didn’t have uncommon ranked gear. Only those could be enchanted.
Still, I had some bone knives… they weren’t as good as boots or gloves to protect people from the heat, but they helped a bit.
“I can sell them for ten Terra coins each. They have two frost enchantments, so they will probably stun the fire wolves when you use them.”
“Two?!”
The hammer kid and the spear kid looked surprised. Even Rebecca opened her eyes widely. It must be hard to start as a beginner like that… Rare enchanted items would be worth several months of an average salary. In that aspect, starting with a crafting class is more beneficial.
“Just don’t show them to the people around, or you might get unwanted attention.”
They gulped when they saw the bone knives emitting a light blue glow…. It didn’t extend to their whole bodies, but just by holding the knives, they felt the surrounding heat decreasing.
“Why didn’t you enchant your arrows with frost effect?”
The spear kid asked that while studying me. It was an obvious question. I actually enchanted some of them, but I didn’t use them.
“The earth effect is better to make them last longer and slow down the targets.”
“... Why didn’t you join a clan? If you can make enchanted items with two effects, they will pay you well.”
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“I spent two years working for someone doing that kind of job, while that helped. There are other skills that I want to improve as well.”
Rebecca finally opened and asked as well. I wondered if I shouldn’t have said what I could do so early. I didn’t know them very well, after all. I didn’t forget what happened to the twins, but I truly wanted to get to the second class before long. Besides, there is value in taking risks as well… better to understand those kids as soon as possible instead of letting them cause problems for me later.
While working for others was useful sometimes, it would be troublesome to deal with large organizations, even more so when they had a lot of fighting power in their hands. They might try to scare me with that fighting power… money wasn’t at the top of my list when it came to things that I wanted, it was just a tool to achieve the real things that I wanted.
Regardless, thanks to the addition of the knives, we began to fight better after lunch, even though they barely used them. The reason for that was the fact that the heat wasn’t draining their stamina like before. When night arrived, we had finished mapping the third floor.
‘I guess this pace is acceptable for newbies. In any case, I can gain more experience by staying on guard duty, so it will be fine.’
We set up a camp to rest close to the entrance of the next floor, so we found some parties heading to the exit. They looked really beaten and their bodies were red thanks to the heat. Some adventurers were even being carried like sacks of potatoes since they passed out thanks to the heat.
“Should we use this chance, like Clive said, and hunt at night?”
The spear kid looked a bit eager to continue fighting. While they didn’t feel like that was the case, they should be pretty tired… the excitement was making them not realize that. I wondered if I should say something since the hammer kid was still thinking about it.
“It will be better if we eat and sleep until three or four in the night. We will have a couple of hours ahead of the next parties and the new ones that will enter the dungeon, and we can use that chance to map the next floor. Remember, it will have more enemies and we will need to be on high alert.”
Everyone nodded. They weren’t unreasonable and, since they were inexperienced, they were willing to listen as long as things said made sense. Still, we had a problem on our hands, sleeping in such a place. We had our own tents, but we still would be attacked periodically.
“We will work in pairs and move away a bit from the camp to let the others rest properly. Are you still fine, Clive?”
“I am used to staying on guard at night.”
In fact, it was the hours that I preferred to work the most, but I would rather not say that. Sleeping three or four hours a night was enough for me while we remained in the dungeon.
“All right, we will take the first watch then.”
I also would be fine by myself by using my crossbow, but I decided to wait a bit… I couldn’t show all my cards on the first day. Until now, they didn’t give me a bad feeling, but I still had to be cautious. Even if they weren’t bad kids, they could have big mouths.
In any case, we moved away from the camp to deal with the monsters, and I decided to stop holding back… I wasn’t actually holding back, but I wasn’t that focused either, but now it was different.
I installed two magic torches ahead of us and then we sat down in the darkness while watching the direction the monsters could come from. Those were a bit different from the torches that people usually used. I didn’t know the full details of the original ones, but mine worked by burning the tip of the torch soaked in oil. Thanks to that, it didn’t consume mana cores.
As soon as the next monsters arrived, I killed the first with Power Shot and the other got an arrow on its cheek… while the beast was stunned, the hammer kid stepped forward and then smashed the skull of the monster. Maybe it was confidence, maybe it was his parameters, or maybe it was the opening I created for him, but he could do that now.
You received 50 experience points.
You received 30 experience points.
“That was a skill, right? Another effect of your bow, or can you recover that fast between battles?”
“A little of both.”
Truth be told, I was just doing better because it was night and my parameters were as they should be. During the day, it felt like I was a bit chained to the ground. Perhaps it wouldn’t have changed a thing if I had picked the Spearman class and increased my dexterity.
When the next fight took place ten minutes later, I used camouflage to disappear in the darkness and then Silent Strike… the arrow pierced the forehead of the monster deeply, the creature didn’t even notice the attack coming. As expected, I could combine the skills like that.
‘Maybe I should follow the stealth archer build… it is showing signs that it is pretty broken.’
I recalled a pretty long game which I beat three times using that kind of build. It lacked a bit of action to fight the enemies like that, but it was satisfying to defeat them or almost defeat them before they damaged me.
Considering my health and the fact that I didn’t pick a single class that could increase my health, that was probably for the best, but it was a bit worrisome since it felt like I could die by the fart of a powerful boss or something.
In the end, I did some other tests for a while and the hammer kid couldn’t help but stare at me whenever I tried something new…
“The next floor. We will need your and Rebecca’s help. We can’t afford to save strength any longer.”
“That is probably right.”
“By the way, our names are Jalal and Gao… sorry for not saying this sooner. We are betting a lot on this expedition and since we had been waiting for people to join our party for a while, we were a bit on edge when we met.”
“Not a problem.”
I was also being cautious, and my way of being rude was more subtle, so I couldn’t blame them for acting the same way. Besides, I was using them to achieve my goals, the same way they were using me.