“Didn't want to join in on the fun Locke? Or were you too scared to move?” Rae teased.

Ignoring the teasing from Rae, Locke asked the group “How much experience did you all get from that kill, I am curious if there are any differences based on how much you contributed?”

Rae clicked her tongue, “You're no fun, let's see.....I got 10 experience what about you?”

“Also 10, Hmm looks like while we're in a party we share the experience points evenly.” Locke frowned.

“I know what you are getting at Locke but this style of experience sharing is turned on by default for now,” Thomas replied, “After the tutorial is finished it will open up the option to change experience distribution.

“Oh? Not that I don't believe you but I am curious where you got this information? The forums?” Locke inquired.

“My guild has been sharing information about how things work outside the tutorial, a few of them conquered this dungeon a while back.”

“It's interesting that you are just mentioning this now, this means you should know a lot about this dungeon including the objective,” Locke questioned.

“There was no reason to, it's just a tutorial dungeon, do you really need me to carry this party any more than I am already?”

This response earned a glare from Rae. “That's rich coming from the tank who let the beast just run past him. It's a good thing it went for me and not someone scared like Locke, he could have been injured.”

…..you are starting to get on my nerves.

“I took his initial charge so that you guys could prepare, if you cannot handle a single enemy like a boar on your own then this might not be the game for you,” Thomas argued. “Also there is no aggro in this game, so tanking isn't exactly a thing. I will do my best to make myself the main target but that doesn't always work so suck it up.”

“I don't like your cocky attitude just because you got a head sta...” Rae was interrupted before she could finish her sentence.

“Everyone that is enough bickering, Thomas would you be able to tell us more about this dungeon please?” Shelia speaking up instantly calmed the emotions of the group. She didn't speak much but she gave off the impression of someone timid and pure. Where you just don't want to argue around her for some reason.

“fine, yes I do know a bit about the dungeon itself, but I never asked for details on the boss....it's more fun that way you know,” Thomas answered, “The dungeon is full of wild beasts and goblins, nothing to be scared of so can we get a move on already?”

Wait there isn't an aggro table? That is an interesting design choice. This means that front line characters will have to either be agile or annoying on top of being the players with the highest defensive stats.

“Earth to Locke are you ready to go?” Rae snapped her fingers in front of his face interrupting his thoughts.

“Sorry was lost in thought, I am ready to go but you all seem to have a misconception about me so the next fight is mine and mine alone,” Locke stated while staring coldly at Rae.

“Finally got a rise out of you eh? Well, you don't have to go get yourself killed to prove how manly you are though.” Rae replied.

Locke didn't answer and moved forward towards the objective.

Jason walked up to Rae and whispered “Why are you antagonizing Locke so much? You don't even know him.”

Rae shrugged her shoulders and kept moving. Jason sighed and followed along behind.

Eventually, the party spotted another boar on its own, the creature didn't seem to notice their presence yet. Locke told everyone to be quiet and keep out of sight for a minute while he sat down to meditate. These actions from Locke got a few confused and mocking looks. He couldn't fault them though as it looked like he was preparing for a challenging battle by calming his nerves first, against a simple boar.

What Locke was actually doing was casting a small physical boost to increase his strength attribute by 25 to a total of 30. He wanted to go all out against this boar for a number of reasons and without them being noticed this was the perfect opportunity to do so.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

The moment Locke finished casting Thomas blurted out “Oh quit fucking stalling and fight it already or I will.”

This alerted the boar which looked towards their direction in anger. A surprise attack was no longer possible but that didn't matter. The spell was finished casting and Locke was ready to go. He dashed towards the creature. Normally he wouldn't rush like this, but his mana was already being drained. The boar responded in kind by charging towards its foe.

Locke halted his movement and launched an ice spear spell with minimal mana usage, the goal was to slow down the charge a bit. The icicle didn't pierce the leg and shattered once it landed but the desired effect was achieved as it slowed down slightly. Locke moved forward and simultaneously grabbed both the tusks of the creature and dug his feet into the ground. He stopped its movements and forced the momentum upwards easily lifting the boar. The boar squealed as it dangled in the air for a moment before Locke slammed it into the ground as hard as he could.

“What just happened?” Rae shouted with surprise in her voice.

“So he wasn't just a new player after all, but I never saw him in the combat area how did he get so strong. Unless he invested all his points in strength....but.” Thomas's thoughts were interrupted when he saw what Locke did next.

Locke raised his right hand which then proceeded to become coated in electricity before smashing down on the boar's head. A strange scream could be heard from the creature as it died from the punch using shocking touch. Locke cast the spell at maximum capacity which resulted in a large boost of power.

"Well that sure showed me, I had a feeling you were strong by how confident you looked." Rae complimented while nodding. "Even if you are strong running into an attack like that with your bare hands this early shows you have guts."

"So you were testing me?" Locke asked.

"What? did you really think I would be an asshole like that to an actual noob?" Rae angrily retorted.

Locke laughed, "Could have fooled me."

Rae turned to Jason, "Oh come on back me up here," Jason just shook is head. "Even my own brother." She sighed in defeat.

For the first time the group laughed together, then there was a slightly awkward pause broken by Jason who couldn't hold back any longer.

“Ummmm Locke Sir.......What was that magic? I didn't see anything like that available in the previous tutorial.” His voice was timid, but his face was full of excitement. “All I have is this boring firebolt.”

Wait they didn't even do the beginner quest to get a free spell.....why?

“They were spells called Ice Spear and Shocking Touch which I created in the mage training area,” Locke answered. “Also that meditation from earlier was an enhancement spell to increase my strength.”

“You didn't say a word when casting those spells, also not trained but created?” Sheila spoke up.

"ahaha you noticed that, how do you know that I didn't just whisper it?”

“Spells don't activate when whispered, and I have good hearing.”

“Did you retain your good hearing when you joined the game? Shouldn't it be based on your perception attribute?“ Locke questioned.

Shelia shrugged.

“Fine fine, I will share a bit of what I know now to listen closely.” Locke found a spot to relax.

Locke gave a brief summary on what custom magic was and how it functioned differently from trainer learned spells. He didn't really go into much detail on how to learn it though, it would take too much effort to explain and he wouldn't do that for free. A few basic questions were asked to which he answered. The main reason Locke was providing this information was that Thomas mentioned something about a guild so he decided to put out some bait to see if he would bite.

“You mentioned two books that the instructor gave out that explained how to learn magic, did you get to keep those?” Thomas asked.

There it is.

Locke nodded, the bait was taken. He had no more use for the books so it made sense to sell them. The main issue was he did not know the value of them yet and where to sell them. If he could get a good price for very little time and effort he would take it. Also, currying favor with the first guilds could have benefits later.

“I will ask my guild if they would like to purchase these books from you, what's your asking price?”

“It should be pretty obvious that I don't know the value of these two books yet, however, I am willing to sell at a discount once I do.”

“Makes sense. This is the first time I am hearing about these books so I figured my guild would be interested in them. Alright, let us add each other as friends so we can contact each other later.”

“Well Thomas I should warn you ahead of time, It was not easy to learn and without the benefits of the tutorial it will be extremely difficult,” Locke decided to explain in more detail, “The tutorial had no mana consumption and provided a training room that had extremely dense mana to assist me. Even with these advantages, it took me quite some time to learn. I recommend having much higher intelligence, wisdom, and perception attributes before they try.”

“Thanks for being upfront about that, I still think they would purchase it sooner rather than wait.”

It might have been easier to sell these books to Thomas if he didn't explain the difficulties upfront. However, Locke believed that better connections can be more lucrative than money depending on how they are used meaning it was better to build relationships early. Even if it didn't pan out in his favor later it was still worth the gamble.

“It seems like you can gain a lot in the previous tutorial,” Jason said with a frown “Rae I told you we should not have rushed through it.”

“A tutorial is still a tutorial, these early advantages won't mean much. Those two would be much stronger if they went past the tutorial a month ago trust me......no offense.” Rae responded bluntly.

“That is very possible, but I don't regret it at all. It was a lot of fun learning magic.” Locke replied.

“Alright, that is enough getting to know each other, lets clear this dungeon. I got friends waiting on the other side.” Thomas said while walking forward towards the objective.

The group agreed and continued forward in their standard formation.