Grillo and I set up shop outside the low-level undead dungeon. The green elves especially would need their gear to be constantly tended. They were being chaperoned by adults like my dad and Luna. My mother turned out to be quite the skilled healer tending to all injuries which were mostly just cuts and bruises.

My mom had a lot of healing skills like herbalism. It made sense seeing as she always fed me the nastiest tasting medicines. I never looked too much at my mom's status probably because her level wasn't high and I trusted her. She was only level 250 and herbalist was her only class.

I finally got to use my ax's in combat, but of course, I epically humiliated myself in front of Emma! Years of playing video games had given me a biased on what I thought skeletons would be weak against. Games always assumed that skeletons would burn like a bundle of sticks. It turns out bones aren't very flammable. The smell like burnt hair when lit and take forever to burn. When I set my first skeletal opponent ablaze, it almost scared the piss out of me by walking out like the gawd damned Terminator. I fell back onto my ass making myself look like an idiot in the process. Emma cackled almost madly as she crushed the thing with one hit easily.

Emma held a hand out and pulled me up off the ground "Just stand there and look pretty!" She commanded.

I raised an eyebrow, "want me to go make you a sandwich?" I replied in jest.

"Depends, how cute is the other guy?" She teased back.

"GROSS!" I shouted in a dramatic flair.

"Don't worry I wouldn't share you with anyone else," Emma said licking her lips seductively.  I was getting a little worried that someday soon she was gonna grab me by the collar and drag me into our tent. Knowing her, she would say "I'm not asking," and then I would lose my boy virginity. Not that I'm afraid... Just worried she wouldn't be gentle.

I heard chuckles from other parties fighting nearby. Our antics had long since been a source of comedy for everyone around. Honestly, I couldn't blame them. The back and forth between us was often hilarious and resulted in some of our better one-liners being quoted. Like how after that instance with the skeleton Emma joked that I got "boned hard." Now it was a meme to say "you got boned! Hard!"

At least having a party was pretty awesome. I could see a mana and health bar for Emma and the rest of our party in the corner of my vision. Unfortunately, there was no group or party chat, but my [Soul Speak] skill made it unnecessary anyway. I was the party leader, and Emma was the vice or sub-leader. It meant we got to lead the party head first taking the most risk but also getting the first pick of the loot. Emma and I were going to share everything fairly regardless but its good to be able to pool valuable resources Grillo's way or keep something harmful out of the kid's hands.

Also if any spell or magic books turned up, I would get dibs on it. The spirit magic book Grillo gave me had come from a dungeon. Dungeons had a chance to reward adventurers with spell books or skill tomes. Sometimes these would even be unique or rare spells. Spirit magic was more of an unusual one that none of the dwarves could use or even wanted. I was the only person present in our village capable of using magic freely. Emma could learn to use some eventually, but I could use it now. Plus unlike other people, I didn't need to consume a magic tome to learn it. Normally to efficiently learn spells and not forget them the spells knowledge/formula are permanently kept in the user's brain with a binding spell. This binding cast by the book is what consumes it and causes it to turn to ash. One could simply read the book, but that would require memorizing and understanding its contents. I could read the book, and my [Soul Memory] would mean I would never forget it. Then I could give the book to someone else suited to it after.

So far we hadn't found any books other than a simple [Cleaving Strike] skill book. It was a skill that could easily be learned with practice or fighting with any melee weapon. I had already learned it after axing a skeleton apart. It crumbled like white china being smashed by an anvil. After my earlier humiliation, it was super satisfying! We used the skill book on the best-suited fighters amongst the green elf children.

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I found out first hand that ax throwing didn't work too well in confined spaces. I threw my ax at one skeleton and when it crumbled into a stack of bones I had to find it amongst the similar colored material. Luckily, it glowed making it easier to find but still annoying. Then I missed once and had to pull an Elorium ax out of the dungeon wall with much difficulty. Having a super sharp ax fly back at us after destroying a skeleton made me stop trying. It just wasn't currently worth the risk, and everyone probably thought I was a klutz by now.

 The kids were power leveling up fast, but Emma and I had only gained a few levels. Both of us slowing to an exp crawl at level 80. We would need to go down to the second floor, but that would require fighting the floor Boss. Both Emma's parent and mine were too reluctant about letting us fight the floor boss alone. They felt that going into a floor boss battle without knowing the enemy was dangerous. Floor bosses could have unique abilities or sneaky attacks that could be instantly fatal. So we went in together... and... saw... the... Floor Boss?

 Thinking it was an illusion I used [Soul Analyze].

Species

Average House Cat

Level

90

Age: 120Yrs

Traits

Name

Elza Bells

Nickname

Cute Princess

Adorable

Floor Boss

Swift Evasion

HP

3405+2000

MP

3000+2000

Paws of Scratching

Feline Grace

Str

20

MP Regen

200/min+ 400/min

End

23

Agl

40

Int

17

Wis

23

Cha

23 +10,000

Con

12

It was just a little grey house cat too busy playing with a beetle to even notice us at first. Then it came up to Emma, Luna, and my mom then rolled on its back while purring. The cute action was followed by a high pitched group " awww!" from the ladies. Yeah... there's no way were killing this thing and now I curious about how "sentient" this dungeon is, it made its first immortal floor boss a "kitty cat" and nicknamed her "Cute Princess."

"... so lame! It hurts Morty! It hurts!" I said to empty air.

Now that I think about it the skeletons didn't carry weapons and did not attempt to attack unless provoked. Maybe this dungeon was a pacifist? Could it just be lazy? Whatever the reason I would soon find out once I reached the core. Others couldn't talk to the soul-filled orbs, but I should be able too with [Soul Speak]! Luckily the Dungeon didn't make us kill the kitty as the door to the next floor was open. Usually, floor bosses couldn't leave their chamber, but the cat was fine when Emma carried it out between her arms and bosom.

When I reached the second floor, it was full of zombies that were aggressive. Well, there goes that theory. I began slaughtering the zombies going into full Doom mode while shouting "GET SOME!"