There was a slime waiting for us around the first turn.
“Magic Arrow!” Aelin fired her bow. The bolt of magic drilled through the slimy body and shattered the crystal, reducing the monster to a puff of smoke.
Ether picked up the crystal and put it in her crystal band. Our tank turned around to look at the Hitter, who was hanging in the back. “We can split the crystals at the end of the day.”
That reminded me. "We need to add her to the party.” I tapped on my crystal band and cycled through menus until I reached the party one. It had me designated as the party leader. Each of the five of us had our Adventurers card displaying, which showed our name, our class, and our stats. Mine read:
Atlas Zeb - Level 2
Age: 18, Hair: White, Eye color: Green
Skin: White, Blood: Black, Height: 6’
101.9 Exp
Caster
8 Power 6 Defense 6 Speed
12 Magic 3 Recovery 3 Aura
Stat Points: 0
Skill: Dash, Pebble Shot, Bind, Siphon
Passive:
The brand over my heart seemed to be doing its job. I turned so that I was looking at Fray and pushed the button to add her. There was a momentary buzz, and then her card was added in our sixth slot. It read:
Fray Harror - Level 1
Age: 18, Hair: Brown, Eye color: Brown
Skin: Green, Blood: Red, Height: 5’2”
19.5 Exp
Hitter
10 Power 6 Defense 4 Speed
4 Magic 8 Recovery 3 Aura
Skill:
Passive:
She’d had her Mantle for over a week and she only had nineteen and a half experience.
“Ether." I motioned for the white-haired woman to duck into a corner with me.
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“Hey!” Aelin stuck out her tongue. "Makeout on your own time!”
“Just keep killing slimes and we’ll catch up.” I must have got the serious look right because Aelin smiled.
“Alright everyone! The mighty Aelin will slay all the slimes!” The blonde marched forward, taking the other three with her.
“What can you see on the party screen?”
Ether pulled hers up. "Just the name, level and class. Why what do you have?”
I showed her my display.
She shook her head. "I wonder how long they have these people down here.” Ether looked back the way we had come. "I know we booked it, but we had more than this three days in.” She looked at me. "What are they doing to get so little experience?”
I shrugged. "No clue. But with only three teachers for twenty six students, the hunting ground have got to be slim.”
“True.” Ether looked a little concerned. "Atlas?”
“Yes?” I closed the display and shifted the sword on my back.
“Why did you offer to bring one of them with us?”
I thought about how to phrase my answer. "I knew we couldn’t help all of them, but this one we could.”
“This one?” Ether raised an eyebrow.
“You know I was wanting to pick someone else, but then Aelin was Aelin and now…”
“We’re kind of stuck with her.” Ether finished.
I started to kiss her, but remembered what Aelin had teased and diverted to her forehead. I put a finger on her lips. "For later.”
She took my hand in both of hers and kissed my finger, then brought it away from her mouth. "Promise.”
I nodded and we started walking to catch up after the others.
“How long until we level her?” It was mainly the reason why I had shown her the woman’s stats.
Ether looked at me, then started thinking out loud. “She needs eighty experience and she’ll get about one fifth for every monster we kill on this floor. The map won’t be the same size as the one at Zeb, but if you factor three hours to reach the boss, with one spawning every fifteen minutes…” She looked up at the ceiling. "That’s two point four experience. Add another for the boss and we’re at twenty two point nine when we get to the second floor.”
“Which I’m guessing may be as far as we go today?”
Ether scrunched her brow. "Why? Even if it takes us an hour on the boss, which it won’t, that still gives us three hours to farm until six.”
I laughed. "What happened to a shopping trip with Aelin?”
Ether glared at me. "Are you taking her?”
My heart sped up as fear gripped it. "No, I thought you and Justia would like to…”
“Justia, maybe. But that’s a hard pass from me. I’d rather spend time in the dungeon than have Aelin drag me around.”
I laughed. "Same.” I looked at her as we rounded a corner. "Do you think she’ll be level two before we have to leave?”
“That’s over four hundred and fifty monsters we’d have to beat in just a few days.” She looked at the women ahead of us. "That’s…” She thought for a moment, finishing the math she’d started. "Over fifteen hours a day in the dungeon.” She shook her head. "I know we just did that, but I’m not planning on farming that hard for a while.”
“Ouch.” I looked at the tunnels jutting off all over the place. "And it’s not like we can split the team in half to double up. Unless…”
“No.” Ether shook her head. "We have farming that we have to get done here before we can go to the Dispatcher dungeon.”
“But could that work?”
“We’re spending ten hours a day in here.” She sighed. "It might work, but even then, it’ll be close.”
“What if we farmed on the third floor?”
Shock covered her face. "No.” She swiped her hands. "I’m not running that math for you.” She playfully pushed me away. "This is supposed to be a vacation and I’m not letting you ruin that for me.”
“Okay.” I smiled as I pulled her closer. I’d have to run those numbers tonight.