The next morning, Li Wei woke up early as usual and went down for breakfast. He needed to meet the other players of the sect at 7:00. He still had some time to enjoy his breakfast. There was no need to be polite. He directly ordered a big portion as he was not paying. Today, he chose a typical English breakfast.
A few players also appeared while he was eating. They chatted for a while and when it was time, they went together to the headquarters which was the meeting point for today's expedition.
Upon arriving, Li Wei noticed a plethora of badges. Each guild had their own badges. The one of the Fleeting Clouds Sect represented 12 clouds arranged in a circle with an animal of the Chinese zodiac on each one of them.
As for Li Wei, he was wearing Avalanche's badge which represented a snowflake being strangled by a dragon.
He quickly went to the reception and was given some directions. He was allocated to Bright Sun's party which was the lead team of Avalanche.
When Li Wei arrived, only five players were already there. Bright Sun did not arrive yet. A young blond rogue stepped forward to greet him.
"Hello, I am Cai Wenji, Bright Sun's elder brother. Nice to meet you," greeted the rogue while presenting his hand.
"Hello, I am Seven. Looking forward to working with you.” Li Wei as shook the rogue's hands. He then looked at Cai Wenji's name. ‘He does not use an ID but his real name instead?’ Many members of the Fleeting Clouds Sect tried to use their real name; they wanted to represent their own family, even Bright Sun tried to, but ‘Cai Die’ was already taken.
"Good. Let me present the team. This is Cai Lang, The One Hero, ..." Cai Wenji presented the four other players one by one and in the meanwhile, three others arrived. There were 2 paladins, 2 warriors, 1 ranger, 1 priest and 1 mage.
The team was not very balanced since they lacked magic damage and healing but since they were mostly martial artists, it was to be expected.
Li Wei stayed with the two other warriors, The One Hero and Silent Day. They were both very friendly and did not actually have the surname Cai. It was their respective mother that was part of the Cai Family and so they did not inherit the family name.
As they were chatting, the crowd suddenly turned silent as a group of players appeared. The leading player quickly stepped out of the group and looked at the players.
"Everyone! Good morning and thank you for coming here today! I'll keep it short since there is a lot to do. This is our first expedition. Let's work together and conquer the dungeon, " shouted a charismatic man with the IGN, Wang Chong.
"We have many recruits that joined us today. I will like to thank all of you for trusting the Fleeting Clouds Sect. I hope that you will integrate very quickly in our sect…”
“Today's primary objective is not to climb as far as possible but to ensure that we work well together! Everyone, please coordinate with your parties. We will spend the first half of the day leveling up with our respective parties. As for the second part, let's try to push the limit and reach the tenth floor!"
"Clap Clap Clap" Many players surrounding Wang Chong started to clap loudly and quickly, everyone followed out of respect.
After he finished, the players behind him quickly dispersed and joined their respective parties. Sun Rose and Bright Sun walked out together. They clearly stood out from the rest. The men' eyes were immediately attracted towards the two beauties. The two girls quickly said goodbye to each other and went to their respective parties.
Bright Sun gracefully walked toward Li Wei. There was a kind of aura surrounding her causing the players to instinctively move out of her way.
"Hello! Did you have a good night?" greeted Bright Sun with a smile.
"Hey! It was alright, the rooms are much better than the ones of the Beginner's Town," answered Li Wei.
Immediately, the eyes of the surrounding players turned towards Li Wei. In their mind, they were all wondering who he was for Cai Die to be so friendly. How could the beauty that refused countless proposals be suddenly so close to a random stranger?
"Cough Cough! Let's get moving," quickly said Cai Wenji as he led the party towards the dungeon.
It was an impressive sight as more than a thousand players, closely grouped together, were exiting the town. It was one of the goals behind such expeditions. The Fleeting Clouds Sect wanted to show its strength to the new players that were entering the city, making it easier to recruit.
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As they were walking, Li Wei felt had a weird feeling. Someone was stalking him, but he could not find its source. The players were all chatting with their neighbors, some were grumbling about having to wake up so early, while some were sharing their experiences of the previous hunt in the dungeon.
The dungeon was located to the north of Algate City. It wasn't far. The group reached the dungeon in less than 30 minutes. The Dungeon was a place full of resources and so, the city was built relatively close to it. They could actually see the Dungeon from the walls of the city. It looked like a giant anthill sticking out of the landscape.
At the entrance of the dungeon, was a large camp of NPC guards. They were here to protect the resources inside from rival cities and to defend in case of monster waves. These were common in the past. Monsters would regularly try to invade the nearby cities. Many towns were destroyed because of them. But with time, the waves became less frequent but still, guards were stationed there to be able to react quickly.
"Hey Seven, have you been to the dungeon before?" asked The One Hero excitedly.
"No, I just arrived at the city yesterday and I went to the field instead," answered Li Wei.
"I just arrived yesterday too but I had to work as a recruiting agent. They always use women for recruitment. That's so sexist," added Silent Day with a sigh.
"Haha! So I am the only one who has experience. Just stay behind me Silent Day, I will protect you!" exclaimed The One Hero.
Silent day just ignored him as she waved her hand.
"Ok everyone. We will go to the 7th floor. There are level 10-11 mine bats there, they are quite agile, but once you get the hang of their rhythm, they become easy preys," exclaimed Cai Wenji as he led the party.
'Mine Bats? Mmmm, let's see if I improved since then' thought Li Wei. He recalled how he almost died to a corrupted bat without being able to retaliate at the Sealed Mines.
Each group went to their respective areas. While most decided to hunt mine bats, some wanted to try their luck on the level 11-12 scorpions of the 8th floor.
As Li Wei entered the dungeon, he was surprised to see that it was similar to a cave. The entrance was basically a mine and there were several tunnels inside. He silently followed his team while observing the surroundings.
There were several slimes scattered around the rooms and tunnels, but they avoided Li Wei's party. Li Wei did not find this surprising. It was due to the level differences; they were all level 10 while the slimes were all below level 6. The slimes knew they did not stand a chance against that group.
After roughly ten minutes, they eventually reached what looked like stairs and climbed it to reach the second floor. Just like on the previous floor, most monsters decided to avoid the party but some courageous level 8 mine rats still tried their luck but they were easily slain by the party's mage and ranger before they could even reach them.
They slowly climbed up the floors and eventually reached the 7th floor where the bats were located. The 6th floor also housed mine bats but the population density there was lower and so, they decided to go to the 7th floor instead.
Li Wei's party was accompanied by several others and as they reached the 7th floor, they slowly dispersed and walked in different caverns and tunnels. It was better to spread out to maximize the exp gain or else, the exp for killing a monster would be divided among all of them. It was futile to compete among themselves; their goal right now was to level up as fast as possible.
"All right. Titan! Forge God! We are counting on you!" said Cai Wenji as they entered an empty cavern.
"Yes!" answered the two paladins as they stepped forward and activated their taunt.
Li Wei was surprised. He did not see any enemies yet, but the two were already using their skills. He trusted his team and drew his swords, getting ready for action.
And seconds later, a loud sharp scream was heard, and 4 mine bats came out from behind the stalactites above their head.
The mine bats rushed towards the two paladins, 3 of them were level 10 while the last one was level 11. Li Wei was temporarily shocked when he saw that there were bats that were so close without him noticing them.
Compared to the last time, Li Wei could now follow the path of the mine bats. He saw them dive right on the two paladins who rapidly raised their shields to protect themselves.
As the two paladins blocked the initial assault, Cai Wenji used [Rush] and charged at the mine bats. He grabbed his curved daggers, jumped behind the closest bat and slashed vertically using [Shadow Strike].
At the same time, a [Mana Bolt] flew from behind Li Wei and exploded on the level 11 mine bat that was about to scratch the shield of Titan. The One Hero and Silent Day each engaged one bat.
It was clear that they were quite used to each other. Even if it was her first time here, Silent day perfectly coordinated with Titan and stabbed the mine bat with her spear.
They were all fast and efficient. Li Wei who was waiting for an opportunity simply did not even need to make a move. The four bats were slain very easily without Li Wei's help. They did not have high HP to begin with, they only had a high movement speed but if the players were able to hit them, then the bats were as good as dead.
"Haha, come on Seven. Don't just leech off us!" jokingly said The One Hero.
Bright Sun and the mage at the back silently giggled.
Li Wei could not help but be embarrassed. He felt like he was just a dead weight soaking the exp from the party. He quickly realized the mistake he made; he waited for an opening that never came. The situation was different from solo hunting; the bats would not attack him. He could not simply stand there and wait for the enemy, especially with a well-coordinated party. If he wanted to contribute, he would need to take the initiative to attack.
"Fine, let's go look for more bats!" said Li Wei with determination.
Cai Wenji silently nodded to the two paladins who immediately walked forward in search of the mine bats. He did not say anything about Li Wei leeching off. It was normal for a new member to adapt to the party and they were Avalanche's lead team who already had a good synergy.
A few seconds later, a group of 5 bats was baited by the two paladins. This time, Li Wei took the initiative to attack. He swung his swords at the closest bat which immediately screamed in pain.
The rest of the party also got to work and quickly attacked.
The mine bat hurt by Li Wei immediately spun around the blades and glowed slightly before dashing towards Li Wei. It scratched Li Wei's face dealing 19 damage but the latter ignored the pain and took a step back before making a vertical strike with his right sword. "-24".
Right as the sword landed, he slightly bent his knees and shifted his body, making a diagonal strike with his left sword.
"Shrrrkk". The bat took the strike and flew back for a second. It then dived towards Li Wei, revealing its long fangs. In his current position, Li Wei did not have enough time to dodge the attack.
But as the mine bat was approaching, Forge God appeared before him, raising his shield to take the blow.
He looked back at Li Wei with an expressionless face, "Don't attack recklessly like that, remember that they have aggro. You are not alone right now. You should let the paladins tank the damage; it's more efficient this way."
He did not wait for Li Wei to answer and quickly used [Bash] pushing back the mine bat, who was then stuck in mid-air by a [Mana Bolt].
Li Wei did not know what to say; what the paladin said was correct. He was not used to fighting in teams. He mostly hunted alone and did not have to control the aggro. He once again felt that he was dragging down the team but he did not let that weigh on him. Li Wei quickly moved to one of the three remaining mine bats wildly swinging his swords.
He cut through the mine bat, leaving it with just one-third of its HP but at the same time, Silent Day appeared behind him.
"Don't let what Forge God said let you down. He's always like that; bad at communicating but he is very nice inside," said Silent Day with a smile.
She immediately grabbed her long spear with 2 hands, as a light wind started to surround the tip of the spear. She stabbed towards the weakened bat.
[Flurry Stabs]
It was the technique she trained in, Flurry stabs. The wind surrounding the tip of the spear seemed to form another spear on its own identical to the original one. It stabbed the bat at the same time as the real spear, "-31","-32". The bat was left with a sliver of HP but Silent Day quickly spun the spear and hit the bat with the wooden part, ending its life.
Li Wei was still watching the spear as the wind slightly faded away from the tip, "So these are the techniques' skill!" said Li Wei to himself.