We were inside. Stella had her leather armour on that showed all her curves. To be honest she looked like she's prepared for BDSM. Not that I knew anything about it.

I on the other hand looked like a classical medieval archer and I even looked competent if you imagined that I had no bandages on my body.

We got on our way throughout the dungeon. The constant begging and nagging me about this being not necessary to make money and such I completely ignored. After all what does she know about making money. Besides this isn't about the money, but the growth to survive. She'll see that when she gets her first level up and skill to match it.

I selected Stella’s class as a Warrior. No visible changes happened but now she has a possible skill tree to explore.

Stella was in front of me being a vanguard or in a lack of a better word a meat-shield. That'll be her mission for the foreseeable future. I just hope that she gets it quickly because constantly giving her commands is thinning my patience.

We continued on moving through the passages. Weapons ready for any possible encounter.

Not long after departing from the entrance we arrived at one of the crevices. This'll be a good training opportunity for her.

" Stella stand behind me."

She did as I told. I shot an arrow into the crevice from our far away position.

*Ding killed …

" Why did you do that?" I motioned for her to keep quiet. In silence we stared at the crevice as small spiders came rushing out.

" These are baby spiders. They aren't that difficult to kill. Just make sure to not make too much noise and you'll be fine." I whispered to her.

" What do you mean I'll be fine?" She whispered back and stepped away from me.

" This is a time for you to show your value. Better not disappoint."

She clenched her sword and moved to the nearest spider baby. It was crawling around looking for the one that was responsible for killing its sibling.

But It didn't know that the same fate was falling upon it. With one swift swing the spider was sliced in half.

*Ding Stella killed baby spider lvl. 2

+ Stella 10EXP

The sword hit the ground and a sound reverberated in the tunnel. The next thing we know we're running up the tunnel.

The spiders stopped chasing us after getting a long distance away. We took a short breather where I informed Stella what I knew about the spiders. I praised her and explained what I needed her to do. From this moment onward we would be communicating using hand signs. It took us a while, but we agreed on some that aren't that hard to understand.

We came back to the tunnel where the spiders were still crawling around and I started shooting. I tried aiming at their bellies so they wouldn't die in one hit but some still did. I ended up getting some EXP myself, but Stella still took a good chunk.

Before she managed to level up, I told her to stop and wait. We waited for the spiders to calm down and get back to their crevices before harvesting their corpses.

[ Mandibles ]

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

-Quality: common

[ Poison sack ]

-Quality: common

Excluding the few ones that got ruined by our hits, we gained about twenty of each item.

Later we were in the lower reaches of the tunnels looking for a bigger prey. We moved along one side behind each other and listened for any sound.

We were lucky as we heard a rustling sound coming from one of the adjacent tunnels. I motioned for Stella to come with me.

Before us appeared an ongoing fight between a centipede and a spider. They hadn't seen us yet and I wanted to keep it that way. So, I placed a hand on Stella’s shoulder and showed her to crouch. She did as I told her and behind her, I drew my bow.

In the fight the spider had a clear advantage, because of fighting on his own turf. With webs all around the tunnel it impaired the centipede’s ability to move around. Thanks to that the centipede got its tail stuck on a bunch of them.

By this point it was a downhill battle for the centipede. It didn't do much except lash out each time the spider got close. If the spider backed out too much the centipede would try to free itself. But each time it was just attacked by the rushing spider.

Every time that happened the centipede would get a dose of the poison into its own body. Slowing down its movements and bit by bit becoming a spider food.

When the spider was about to start finishing up its job by rolling itself a centipede cocoon. I shot my arrow into its body alerting it of our presence.

With that the spider should have got the message that I don't approve of it doing such a centipede dish.

" Stella go and tackle that spider." I used one of Stella’s moves.

She gripped her sword and after looking at me got in front of the spider. A distance away the spider didn't wait for her to prepare. Rushing straight at her the spider abandoned all strategy.

Stella responded by blocking the attack with her shield, but she was pushed back. I drew my bow once again in case of an emergency. But Stella responded by attacking. She swung her sword and severed one of its mandibles.

Yet it was no time to celebrate as the spider jumped straight at her. She blocked again with her shield, but she didn't manage to resist it and was forced to the ground.

As she was being pinned down by the spider which tried to get past her shield and tear her face off. I let loose one arrow into its back.

It didn't respond much to the feeling of having its ass pierced. Perhaps it's not the first time. I took a better stance and drew my longbow fully.

I felt as some energy flowed throughout the bow the moment, I let loose the arrow. As the arrow hit a gush of green blood sprayed the nearby wall.

I watched as the spider came rushing at me. But it had no chance as I already had arrow ready waiting for it. I let it loose and watched as it lodged itself into its head. Ending this.

*Ding killed Spider lvl.4

+40EXP

I ignored the notification that sounded in my head and went to Stella.

" Hey there sleepy head, time to get up."

As an answer I watched as she gripped her shield, but after doing so clenched her head.

" You wanted to bash me with that shield? I'm deeply disappointed by you, doing this to your saviour."

She got up from the ground and gave me a blank stare.

" Couldn't you shoot while I was fighting it?"

" No, that way I wouldn't know what you're capable of. Besides I had everything under control."

I gave her a reassuring smile, but she just continued to stare at me.

" Enough of that you see that centipede. Go and kill it."

She did as I told without being flashy. She plunged her blade into its head and a notification sounded.

*Ding killed Centipede lvl.7

+ Stella 70EXP

*Ding Stella levelled up

+ 1 All stats

+ 1 skill point

+ 1 stat point

Now she should have a reason to follow me. Power is a beautiful drug. Everyone wants it, not everyone manages to get it and even fewer people are suitable for wielding it.

She stared at her hands for a while before taking her sight to the centipede before her.

" That change in your strength is caused by one of my abilities. Follow me and you'll get even stronger."

" At this point is there another choice for me."

" I said before your options."

" I'll follow you, but if you go too far, I'll take my own life."

" Strange way of negotiating, but ok why not."

We collected all the loot.

[ Mandibles ]

-Quality: common

[ Armoured carapace ]

-Quality: common

[ Poison Sack ]

-Quality: common

[ Spider web ]

-Quality: common

We also took enough necessary webs to repair my longbow. It won't break until the Durability hits zero, but still having a fully repaired a bow is a relief.

We tried making our way to the main tunnel, but near it we heard voices going from afar. Worse was there were baby spiders crawling around and in the midst of them were four normal spiders.

As I turned to leave, I pushed against Stella which caused her to stumble and fall.

The sound of her equipment clinging against the floor sounded. And before she could register what happened I took her hand and we began running.