The next day, everyone gathered in the back room of Zumra’s shop to discuss in full the planned dungeon delve. At first Leo wondered why the shopkeep would let them use the space other than out of friendship and generosity, and then he remembered that everyone there other than Leo himself would probably stock up on potions and the like from Zumra himself. It made Leo wonder if Zumra facilitated planning like this often for other Laborers.
Once they gathered, Layne went back over the details, that the dungeon would be opened by the four seals - three of which he found and one that Leo did, and because of that, they could expect a higher than average difficulty from the dungeon’s listed rank. After stocking up on supplies, Layne planned to have everyone teleport to Dumatha so he could find a healer he had in mind, and then teleport directly to the dungeon since he’d been to the entrance before. Other than that, unless someone wanted to buy a fairly expensive item to teleport them back to a city, they’d be walking back after they cleared the dungeon.
“I can take care of that. I have better things to do than trek through the wilderness for days on end.” Hayumi offered. “Though, by the sound of it, it seems as if we’ll need to supply for a prolonged journey anyway?”
Layne went on to explain that he believed the dungeon itself was particularly large, and spread out throughout a mountain range. It might require traveling around the base and along the mountain itself - with the delve potentially taking multiple days. Leo had heard bits and pieces of this, but having it explained in full really hammered it in for him. They were planning an expedition to something massive. Larger than the handful of rooms from his tutorial dungeon.
The rest of the planning centered around exactly what supplies they would need. Apparently, Laborers would normally need to plan around how much they would bring and how much they could carry back from any potential haul, but this party already had two people with the Storage skill, they could take enough to not worry about supplies and likely be able to carry any large loot. After that, they talked about their strengths in order to build an effective party strategy. Axilya and Layne had high Fortitude compared to everyone else, and they, along with Kazato had a comparatively more melee focus. Rize had incredibly deadly magic in her ghostflame, which could affect many enemies at once, but still required her to be separated from the group for effective use. Hayumi specialized in illusions and misdirection though she had a handful of other offensive spells she could use in a pinch, and Leo could somewhat confidently say that he could act as an all-rounder, though he got a heavy suggestion from everyone that he should stay out of the fray. He wouldn’t argue, between his arrows and bombs he could comfortably stay out of harm’s way, or dive into it with a potion in hand if needed. As an absolute last resort, he had his various oils to pour onto his sword that might at least draw attention away from anyone else.
They could speak on any specific strategies they needed to before they actually entered the dungeon. When they finished, the group agreed to meet at Hayumi’s place to teleport to Dumatha, and broke up to shop for supplies. That consisted of several minutes spent buying Zumra out of house and home - something the shopkeep probably appreciated greatly. Leo himself stood near the counter while this happened, looking into the Labors’ shop so he could chart out what materials he could buy. He planned to use what he had to make sure he had a solid stock of most, if not all of his available options in terms of bombs, arrows, and the like, and then stock up on other materials so he’d have something to combine in the event that he needed to make something new. He’d already done the former over the course of the past month, but for the latter he would have to wait until after he’d filled his storage with other supplies.
In the midst of his scrolling through the shop, he felt a hand on his shoulder and a gentle tug to get his attention. He glanced up to Hayumi, Kazato, Rize, and Axilya. He couldn’t see Layne anywhere, so Leo had to assume he’d left already. “If you are quite done staring into space, come along. We’re headed to the markets.” Hayumi said.
“Do you actually need me around for that?” Leo countered.
“Oh, you’d leave the four of us to collect and carry the supplies of the entire expedition on our own? How inconsiderate of you. Besides, we need you present to shop for attire as well.”
“I don’t know, I feel like Axilya could carry just about everything you guys get by herself.” Leo said. He already knew he was going with them, he’d resigned himself to it as soon as he realized Layne had already left, but as had become common over the course of the month, he argued with Hayumi simply for the sake of arguing over something exceedingly trivial. “Also, I already bought a coat.”
“If it came down to it, I’d rather just carry you after you’ve put everything in your storage.” Axilya said with a rare smirk. Rize and Kazato stood by with hands over their mouths to hide growing smiles, leaving Leo to ponder when Hayumi convinced them to gang up on him over this.
“Simply having a slightly thicker coat won’t do.” Hayumi added. “If we are going into the mountains for some time, all of your layers of clothing must be up to the task of conserving what little warmth you’ll have. You’ll have little to preserve you in the event that we are separated. Without proper clothing, you’ll freeze to death in minutes!”
“I don’t think it’s that serio-” As Leo spoke, Axilya stepped forward and looped a hand around his waist and lifted him up over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
In his stunned silence and Haymui’s snickering, Axilya turned to the counter. “Zumra, we’re heading out. It might be a good while before we get back”
“As always, I will look forward to hearing the stories of your adventures upon your return, and young Leonell-” Zumra paused, allowing Axilya to put Leo down back in the elf’s direction. “-I wish you the greatest of luck in your future endeavors. The path you wish to walk is not an easy one, speaking from experience, but I believe you will succeed.”
“I can’t say enough how much of a help you’ve been, Zumra.” Leo replied. “Whenever I get back, I’ll share whatever combinations I’ve managed to mix together that might help your shop. Or even anything that might interest you, for sure.”
With a smile, Zumra gave a nod in reply. “I can’t wait to see what you might bring.”
With that, they left the shop, heading for the markets. They spent the rest of the afternoon going through the various stalls; buying food, clothes, and other supplies for potentially climbing mountains, the vast majority of which went straight into Leo’s Storage space. Thankfully, the amount of size increased with every rank, seemingly exponentially from what Leo could tell. Before long, they’d assembled a wagon’s worth of supplies - or at least enough to split between several heavy backpacks that they’d each have to wear, all taken care of by Leo’s storage. The lack of baggage would make it easier - especially for people with lower Fortitude to travel and fight should one spring up unexpectedly.
“If anything, had you started delving in dungeons with others, you would have made an excellent pack mule.” Hayumi joked. Axilya did bring up that the role tended to prove more important than most people realized, given that the supplies couldn’t get lost or spoil as long as they didn’t lose Leo. According to her, most dungeon delving Laborers didn’t tend to pick Storage as a skill since there were usually more pressing skills, usually related to their class. Most classes didn’t start with Storage either, like Leo’s did.
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“That does make me wonder- is dungeon delving that popular for Laborers?” Leo asked. “It doesn’t seem like you get any quests that direct you to them that often.”
“It’s not more ‘popular,’ per se, but dungeons are highly sought after by Laborers.” Rize answered. “They are titled such because they are the secluded and hidden spaces in the worlds governed by the Labors, far from the gaze of even the gods. The ancient treasures hidden within some of them have quite literally turned the tide in the conflicts on different worlds, leading them to become liberated even when they were on the brink.”
“As such, the gods tend to reward those who discover and clear dungeons handsomely.” Kazato added. “It’s not as much of an issue since apparently the sigils are needed to enter the one we’re heading to, but when a dungeon is discovered, it's usually kept a secret until it's cleared. Although…if the ones who discover it take too long or decide to abandon their attempt, other Laborers will start receiving quests for it. I imagine it’s because Outsiders would likely discover the dungeon too.”
Hearing that, Leo started to understand why Layne almost seemed desperate to find the last sigil, though Leo had to imagine the gods would have given Layne some leeway since the sigils were needed to access the dungeon to begin with.
Before Leo could ask any more about dungeons and the like, they made their way to the general area where Leo had gotten his coat. The girls proceeded to pull Leo to several stalls and shops and had him try on several different articles of clothing. More than he thought was entirely necessary, but Leo supposed that it was good that they were bonding over something before the dungeon delve, even if that something was treating Leo like a mannequin. He hadn’t kept track of the time, but by the end they might have spent more time getting clothes - both for him as well as themselves - than supply shopping, though everything they got for him went into his storage all the same. By the end, he had a sizable wardrobe, costing a negligible amount of credits since they were all mundane if not exceptionally well made clothes.
Thankfully, they stopped after too terribly long, satisfied with what they collected, and they briefly broke apart with the plan to reconvene at Hayumi’s. Leo, Kazato and Hayumi headed straight there, and Layne was the first to arrive, having taken care of his own business.
While they waited for the rest, Leo took to filling his storage with more materials from the Labors’ shop, making sure he had a stockpile of materials in order to fuel more mixes. Ideally, he wanted to have at least ten of every element, of every rank up to C, but he didn’t have nearly enough credits for that. He settled for having ten of everything except for Aether up to rank D, burning most of his credits in the process. That would have to do. He still had some C-rank, and A-rank materials to use, and he’d been steadily creating the various items from the combinations he’d learned over the course of the month. He had a stockpile of E, D, and very few C-rank bombs, arrows and oils from rare critical combines.
Much as he convinced himself of his preparedness, he couldn’t ignore the feeling nagging at him that he didn’t have enough, that he’d run into another absurd situation like the attack on Normouth. He pushed back the thoughts, however. Short of asking everyone else for credits, he’d done all he possibly could to prepare.
In short order, Rize and Axilya made their way to Hayumi’s with the rest, and once they confirmed that they were ready, Leo saw a notification pop up for him.
You have been invited to Layne Blackburn’s Party.
(Join / Refuse )
Without much of a delay, he selected the option to join. The box had just disappeared when another one popped up.
The Party Leader wishes to Teleport all party members to [Dumatha]
( Accept / Refuse )
Bracing himself he selected accept and almost immediately felt a feeling of weightlessness, as the teleportation magic took hold. Between all of them, the area began to glow, filling Leo’s vision until all he could see was white.
Name:
Leonell Bolden
Stats
Title
Equalizer
Fortitude: D- (2/10)
Class
Mixer
Reflex: E+ (0/10)
Element
-
Intellect: E (0/10)
Total Rank
D
Intuition: C- (0/10)
Status
Health 100% Mana 100%
Will: E+ (0/10)
Skills
Combine, Auto-Loot, Appraise, Storage, Replicate, Inoculation, Soul Harvest
Luck: D (5/10)
Skill: Combine
Mix different raw materials into a new item. You choose the shape of the form. Final form is affected by rank and element of materials.
Store Combine results into a mental guidebook that grows based on Intellect rank.
Skill: Auto-Loot (Mixer)
Automatically separates mixable materials from slain creatures. If the [Storage] skill is active, automatically places loot into storage space.
Skill: Appraise (Mixer)
Look at a creature or material and gain information on them. Information includes: Rank, Element, Class, Statuses, Titles. May have difficulty appraising creatures of higher rank, or creatures hidden by another skill or effect. Skill effect boosted by Intuition Rank.
Skill: Storage (Mixer)
Creates an inter-dimensional storage space that only you can access. Storage increases with Total Rank
Skill: Replicate
Create an item that you have previously created using materials of a similar element. Final product will be lowered one rank due to Replication.
Skill: Inoculation
Ignore Toxicity gained from items created with the Combine skill.
Skill: Soul Harvest
By using Mana, automatically create Aether materials from slain creatures when you use the Auto-Loot skill.
Arsenal (Highest Rank) Arrows | Fire, Frost, Shock, Metal, Splintering (C) Creature Abilities | Aqua Cannon, Stoneskin (C) Oils | Ashblood, Freezing, Electrifying, Sharpening, Poisonous, Blackening (C) Misc | Witchlight (C), Tideshard Amplifier (B) Bombs | Fire, Frost, Lightning, Shrapnel, Poison (C) Spells | Candlewick, Spectral Bow (E) Potions | Healing, Mana, Restoration, Deepbreath (C) -