Kron and I swung the last lizard-dog body and released, sending it flying into the gap. With a hole to the lower levels there, it sure was convenient to dispose of dead bodies — something I never believed that I would think.

“Finally!” I said, stretching my back. “Now we can get out of here!”

The two hours had passed, and it was time to escort our miner out. For the most part, the area had been quiet aside from Val’s pickaxe rhythmically striking against stone. Every once in a while, a brave but dumb lizard-dog would make its way into the cavern and only to swiftly die by our hands. Fortunately, the crab hadn’t come back yet, but we weren’t taking any chances. Actually, it was a bit strange for such a strong monster to be this close to the front of the dungeon in the first place, but we figured the lower levels had become overcrowded due to the lack of adventurers willing to delve its depths.

During the few fights we had, I kept thinking of ways to attack just the aura defenses of a creature, but everything I tried ended up failing. I would have to find a higher-level tank to talk about how to create a skill like that.

Val handed over a bag to Murr. “As promised, 25% of what I mined.”

He glanced over it and frowned. “It’s not as much as I’d hoped, but you did only have two hours.”

He grinned. “Don’t you worry. There is something good in this mine. I can feel it. You take care of that crab and let me swing my pickaxe at closer to this dungeon’s end and we’ll all be eating the guild hall’s gourmet food by the end of the week!”

The catfolk smiled. “Then that’s our plan.”

He patted the rogue’s shoulder, causing the small teen to step forward. “Hey, you guys may have had a rough start, but you did better than I expected! When we reach the Adventurer’s guild I have a surprise for you all!”

***

“And this here is Samalrune, an elven tank.” Val patted my shoulder, then pointed to an older miner who grimaced. “Hey, don’t look at him like that. He fought with a giant crab and held its attention long enough that I could get away.”

I awkwardly nodded to the large group of strangers Val was introducing us to. They were apparently other miners, non-combatants and new adult adventurers. Some looked battle-hardened, like they’d gone through a hell year or two already, while others appeared to be fresh faces like our own.

“Now, I won’t tell you that you should go and give these guys some compliments so they can get into a better dungeon once they reach level 11, but I’m not saying you shouldn’t.”

Then he gave them a big wink.

I almost groaned. That was way too obvious.

“Actually, I’m good,” I said. “I’d rather not receive any reputation, positive or negative, that I don’t deserve.”

“Look at this guy. So modest!” He punched my shoulder hard. I did not take a step forward, but only just. The strength of miners was no joke. “Anyway, I’m sure they have things they have to do today, including giving out compliments of their own.”

I took the hint and nodded. “It was good to work with you, Val.”

“See you tomorrow, like we talked about.”

We agreed to clear it out first during the morning hours. Then in the afternoon, he’d show up and mine for a few hours. But that also meant that we had to take care of that giant crab if it returned.

Murr, Kron, and I stepped over to the reception desk and submitted our compliments for Val. I wanted to hand in a complaint about those adventurers who tried to harm him, but he said he’d take care of it. He didn’t even tell us their names, so there wasn’t much we could do.

As we left, Val was still talking us up to his friends, exactly like he said he would. I was pretty impressed by the dwarf’s hustle.

Well, as long as he really felt we deserved those official compliments, it should be fine. Maybe it was because of all the undeserved bad ratings I would sometimes receive as an Uber driver in my past life, but receiving something I didn’t earn made me feel uncomfortable. Especially because, early on in my driving career, I’d met a few customers who refused to give anyone a full 5 stars — probably because they were saving it for the drivers who treated them like monarchs or something. Their low scores almost dropped my rating far enough to make me unemployed again.

And that was when we ran into a group of obviously high-level adventurers. One of them was a familiar golem tank.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Mrs. Kronus?”

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“Mom? You’re early!”

She waved her team inside. They hurried into the building with serious faces. Then she hugged her shorter son.

“I’m with my party!”

“Little one, respect your mother.” She released him.

“Why are you back early?” Kron asked.

She sighed. “The dungeon we were in was... unusual. It had minor changes. Like a hallway missing lighting, or a monster with a minor extra ability that wasn’t recorded. That was enough to scare our leader.” She glanced at each of us with a very serious expression. “Remember this, if you ever run into a dungeon that feels different than it’s supposed to, leave and tell the guild. They’ll send scouts to look into it. Could be nothing. Could be a devastating change. Either way, the guild has to know first.”

We all nodded.

“Now, how about I treat you all to an early dinner?”

I looked at the bright blue sky. “At this hour, it would be a slightly late lunch.”

She scowled and rested her hand on her armored hip. “You new adults want a free meal or not?”

“Thank you, Mrs. Kronus,” we all said.

***

The guild’s food was known to be absolutely amazing. The issue was its expensive price. These were supposed to be nutritious meals made for mid to high-level adventurers. People who usually had a good amount of cash. Which meant that us low-level newbies wouldn’t be able to afford to buy a meal here for a while.

Having two sets of memories was a bit strange. On one side, because of my memories of being an adult who paid my own way, I felt awkward having a party member’s mother buy us food. On the other side, in this reality, I was still barely a new adult. Comparatively, my wallet was near empty since I was just starting out. I decided that as soon as I could afford to, I’d return the favor to Mrs. Kronus and ordered some Elven quiches, roasted vegetables, and honey-butter rolls.

Murr requested the salmon on toast, which was fancier than it sounded since it came with sides like caviar and the fae version of guacamole called Yisnel. Kron asked for a golem dish that was essentially softened mana-infused stones topped with edible gold leaf. Mrs. Kronus ordered the same dish as her son, along with a few other dishes and a large glass of a glowing blue drink.

Once we finished our meal, I finally asked Mrs. Kronus my question. “What do you know about tank support skills?”

Her eyes sparkled. “You want to learn about low-level support skills, little one?”

I nodded. “Specifically, those that can soften or remove aura armor entirely.”

“Hmmm.” She leaned back in her chair till it balanced on two legs. The wood squeaked from her weight. As she thought, she put her hands behind her head and looked up at the ceiling.

A few adventurers entered and Murr silently pointed to a glass of the not-milk catfolk liked to drink. We waved him off, and he left to go order it.

She suddenly leaned forward, her chair’s other two legs slammed into the floor with a loud bang. “This is what I know... most skills that temporarily remove defensive aura like what you’re asking for requires competence to create, and a large amount of aura to actually affect a monster. Mostly, these types of skills are first created when a tank gets to rank G or H.”

“So it won’t be possible for Sam to make it just yet?” Kron asked.

She held up a finger. “That’s for normal tanks. Sam is not normal. It could be that his build allows for creating skills like that sooner... Or he’ll have to wait.” She shrugged one armored shoulder.

Kron frowned.

“I want to try. Can you tell me what I need to do to make an attempt?”

“It depends on you, and your capacity to manipulate your aura.” Her glowing eyes seemed to judge me and find me lacking. “It’s a technique that requires more skill than what I’ve seen from you so far.”

Was my aura manipulation that bad?

She grinned. “I can see what you’re thinking, little one. Your aura manipulation is fine. It just needs to be better for you to succeed at constructing a skill like this at such a low level.”

“What does creating that skill need, exactly?”

She picked up her fork and stabbed a piece of... stone or something, then pointed at me with it. “If you only need a technique to eliminate aura defenses in a specific location, then focus on that area and crush it with your aura’s strength.” She stuffed the stone in her mouth and chewed it with a loud crunch. Once she swallowed she continued, “However, if you want to remove it from a whole monster, then you have to think about creating a kind of latticework with your own aura, and squeezing the creature until its aura shatters.” She then crushed her fork with one gauntleted hand.

Whoa! High-level adventurers were different.

She sighed. “Of course, that will only be temporary as it will quickly repair itself, but it should give you a couple of seconds where your DPS can find a good weak spot and kill it.”

“That sounds perfect!”

She rested her dark hand on the pale wood table in front of me. “Keep in mind that this is something low-levels like you should only attempt on creatures much smaller than you.”

“I imagine it will all take a lot of aura, so I should only try it toward the end of a fight in case I need to protect Murr and Kron.”

She grinned. “Now you’re thinking like a tank.”

Kron set his drink down. “I’m sure Murr and I can work with you on this. Things like creating new techniques is the exact reason the Guild Master wanted us to clear out this dungeon.”

Murr returned to the table with his white drink that looked suspiciously similar to milk and started sipping it.

Mrs. Kronus glanced at her son, then to our rogue. “I imagine you two won’t be letting this poor little tank do all the work. You both plan on learning things that can help you pierce through tough defenses, right?”

Kron straightened. “I’m going to go to Gerald’s place and see if he can recommend a few good support spells.”

Murr licked the froth from his not-milk off his upper lip and set the glass down. “And while you do that, I have to see an Artificer about a schematic.” He smirked.