Making their way back to the cavern took a few hours and nothing happened during the journey back, this time though rather than walking the entire way they would also swap between running, jogging and walking. As they reached each of the splits in the tunnels that they would go down Eric would mark the cave wall with his sword so they could keep track of each tunnel they had gone down as they started to explore more of the cave system in the coming days.
As they got close to the cavern they slowed down and just as they reached a point where they could see the light coming from the opening they came to a stop. “Before we go in we need to talk about what we should and shouldn’t tell everyone.” Shaun said to the others, “Obviously the heating stone should stay between us otherwise it will end up causing issues with everyone in there, especially as it’s a much better way of cooking the monster meat then a Mana Bolt.” He received nods of agreement from both Gabe and Eric.
“Secondly if they ask us for all of the meat we have gotten I think it's smart to give over some of what we each have, enough that it wouldn’t seem like we were holding back but we should still each keep enough in case of an emergency.” Shaun continued.
“Agreed.” Gabe said, “If they ask about levels I think we need to be honest as well, the chances of someone identifying us is high. Eric and I are both going to come up as level 3 and you are going to come up as level 4. We say we got lucky with finding groups of monsters and that Shaun you are a higher level because you were able to take out more monsters because of being able to attack first from stealth when we were outnumbered.”
“Perfect.” Shaun replied, “Is there anything else you think we need to cover off?”
“Just one last thing.” Eric spoke up, “I think it's smart that when it comes to keeping watch tonight that none of us are on the same shift. Think about it, we don’t know what has happened with the other group today but we do know that they won't be happy with you Shaun. I’m not saying anything will happen while you sleep but if one of us is always awake we can keep an eye on you while you sleep. Just in case, you know?”
Shaun actually appreciated Eric worrying about him. They had bonded today, during the walking and the fighting and although he couldn’t quite call him a friend yet he did trust him enough to watch his back. The fact that he had thought ahead and wanted to make sure that he was safe around the others just reinforced the level of trust that Shaun had placed in him.
“Thanks Eric, I didn’t even think about that. I doubt anything will happen but, yeah, I appreciate you looking out for me. I mean it.” He gave Eric a smile and nod and then did the same with Gabe, “Let’s get in there and get this over with, shall we?”
As they entered the cavern the other group had already arrived, they were all sitting around talking in groups. Those that had been out hunting in the other group looked pretty torn up, especially Trevor and Michael. Their clothes had tears through them, their armour was scratched up pretty badly and they looked exhausted. The tone in the cavern was not joyful in the slightest, everyone looked pretty defeated.
When they caught sight of the three of them walking in, everyone jumped to their feet. Danielle was the quickest and rushed over to them, “Oh my god, your back! Are you okay? We were all so worried about you! Where have you been? Why has it taken you so long to get back?” She first grabbed a hold of Gabe and looked him over and then did the same to Shaun then Eric. “None of you are hurt.” She said, it wasn’t a question, but she still sounded confused as to why they weren’t needing any healing. “Why aren’t you hurt?” she then asked, taking a step back and looking them over.
“We got lucky I guess?” Gabe replied, sounding a bit taken back by the barrage of statements and questions that were flung at them from Danielle. “I guess the others can’t say the same?”
“Oh it was terrible!” Danielle went on, everyone else in the cavern not saying a word. “The others got back hours ago, they were all bleeding and cut up, it took so long to heal all of their injuries.”
“Where is Marcus?” Eric asked, looking around at everyone present.
Who the hell is Marcus, Shaun thought. He looked at the group and the only one missing was the other rogue.
“He is dead.” Trevor replied, “Got over confident and thought he could take on a monster alone. It didn’t end well for him. Looks like you didn't find much out there. No monsters to fight down your way huh?” he said with a sneer.
Michael, who had been quiet up until this point stepped forward, “No, they definitely found monsters to kill. Look at them Trevor. Eric and Gabe are both level 3. And I don’t know how but Shaun has managed to get to level 4.” He gave them all an assessing look, “How did you manage that?”
“Like Gabe said, we just got lucky.” Shaun decided to speak up at this point, knowing that staying quiet wouldn’t help them, especially with everyone now staring at him. He quickly identified everyone there and the rest of the group were all level 2 outside of Richard and the other archer that stayed behind who were at level 1. Danielle had clearly levelled up from all the healing she had to do when the others got back.
For a moment, which felt like an eternity, there was only silence in the cavern. Trevor was holding back barely controlled rage while Michael looked to be considering the situation he now had in front of him. Shaun was the strongest person present and both Gabe and Eric also out levelled the rest of them, they had all come back alive and stronger. This just solidified Shaun's assumptions. Michael and Trevor weren’t expecting him to come back, they had let him go down that tunnel in the hopes that he either decided to never come back or that his stunts would end up with him dead, a bit like the other Rogue.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“We are glad you all made it back.” Michael finally broke the silence. Sure you are, Shaun thought, holding back a laugh. “When we got back and you weren’t here we were worried about you. As the hours went by we honestly thought the worst, that you had all died. When we saw you walk back in here just now I can't explain how happy we all were for you all to have returned unharmed.” Michael continued, “I’m assuming you would all be happy to contribute to the store of food that we have all collected? Shaun I’m assuming you have hold of it all?
Why would I have all of the meat? Shaun was confused by the statement for a moment until it dawned on him that Michael thought that he had taken control of the group and looted all of the monsters, or at the least had taken all of the monster meat from the others. “I am sure we are all happy to hand over the meat we gathered from the monsters we killed, right guys?” He directed at Gabe and Eric.
They both agreed, causing a look of confusion to flash across Michael’s face for all of a split second before he composed himself. They each took turns putting a pile of meat on the ground in front of them, as each of them started emptying their inventory gasps could be heard through the cavern and as the piles grew they started to talk in excitement. They had killed over 30 monsters today as a group, which meant that they had a decent amount of meat to put forward, even with each of them holding back a little.
Michael's eyes got wider as the piles grew larger until finally he cleared his throat, “This should do for a few days worth of food. Good work. Do you have anything else to tell us about? Anything different you came across?” Michael asked.
“Nope, just much of the same. Walking, fighting then more walking. Nothing out of the ordinary.” Gabe replied instead of Shaun, wanting to take some of the attention off of him knowing how much he disliked it. Thank you Gabe, Shaun thought to him.
“Okay, good to know.” Michael said with a nod, although Shaun wasn’t sure he actually believed what Gabe had said. “One of the mages can blast some of the meat for you, you all must be hungry. Then like last night we will split into 3 shifts to keep watch. With Marcus no longer with us we will have to change it up a little, the three of you should be split between each shift, Shaun, you and Eric can keep watch of one tunnel alone unless you have an objection to that as well?”
Yeah he is definitely still annoyed with him Shaun concluded but didn’t voice his thoughts. “No issue, that sounds like a great idea!” He replied enthusiastically, receiving a questioning look back from Michael in return.
After they had eaten the crispy salamander meat, they drank from the pool of water and everyone went back to their smaller group and got ready to sleep. Shaun still had the last watch but this time around instead of sleeping by himself, either Eric or Gabe would sleep right beside him.
There were no issues throughout the night and for the next 3 days the same pattern followed with only one small change. This time when they all left to go hunting monsters no one stayed behind in the cavern, Danielle, Richard and the other archer had joined Michael and Trevor’s group with the three of them breaking off at the first split to continue on alone.
Over the course of the next three days Shaun, Gabe and Eric had explored a lot of the tunnels, not finding any more chests but finding plenty of monsters to fight. They never encountered anything they couldn’t handle, instead their team work had become like a fine working machine, they knew each other's moves and could instinctively tell where they needed to be and how they would approach a given situation.
However on the fourth day, having now been in the tutorial for 6 days Shaun had started to get frustrated. He had only gained one more level in his class, now being a level 9 Rogue. He felt that he was close to level 10 but the low level monsters just weren’t giving him enough experience any more. He had still gained a good amount of levels in his skills but there was no challenge in fighting level 3 monsters anymore.
The only changes in the monsters they found was that every now and again they would come across another cavern, these caverns were generally pretty empty of any resources but they did find a different kind of monster. Blind blood bats they were called, they were the size of a normal bat but they would attack in huge groups of anywhere between 20 – 30 per cavern. They would swarm them every time they entered one of these caverns, but if Shaun was being honest they were more of an annoyance than a threat. If they managed to land on you they would bite down and start drinking your blood, probably where they got the name blood bat, but they had no defensive ability so it only took one hit to kill them. Their loot was much the same, they didn’t get any meat from these but instead just the bat hide.
Both Gabe and Eric had both reached level 8 in their class, closing the gap between him and the others which he was happy about, while the other group had also starting gaining levels, Michael and Trevor had both hit level 8 as well but the others lagged behind, Danielle was now a level 6 healer and the rest of their group was sitting around level 5. It had been obvious that Michael and Trevor had both taken most of the kills to gain the experience, to the detriment of the rest of their team. They were all alive though and that more than anything kept the entire group from trying to change the status quo.
On the next day, now 7 days into the tutorial, the day had started out the same as the rest of them. They had set out, went their own ways at the first tunnel split and continued on exploring the tunnels. They had set down a different tunnel today, having explored most of the others the previous few days, like every time they went down a different tunnel Shaun was back to scouting a head.
As Shaun was moving through the tunnel he heard a fight up ahead, but this wasn’t the sounds of monsters fighting monsters like he had heard previously, he could hear the sounds of metal slicing through monsters and see the flashing of lights that indicated Mana Bolts being released. He knew he had found other people up ahead. Making his way forward to get a better look, what he found was the ending of a fight between a group of salamanders and three people, one was a mage, one a warrior and the last a rogue. What did catch Shaun’s eye was that the rogue didn’t have the standard dagger in his hand, instead he saw that he had a short sword which looked like it was better quality then the daggers Shaun used and even the swords that the warriors had gotten.
Before Shaun got a chance to turn around and head back to the others he heard the Rogue speak up loud enough for him to hear.
“Come out, I know you are there.” Shaun just froze, how the hell did they see him? He was in stealth and far enough away. Detection, he concluded. He used his detection skill and found me, crap what do I do now. “There is no point hiding, we know you are alone, come out and talk, we won't hurt you.”
He didn’t have a choice any more, if he tried to run they would be able to follow and they had ranged attacks if they chose to use them. Besides he didn’t want to run the risk of leading them to Gabe and Eric, he had moved pretty far ahead so it would be a few minutes before they reached him at least.
Stepping out of stealth Shaun came into view and walked a few steps towards the three people in front of him but still far enough away that if he really needed to he could run. “Hi, I’m Shaun, and you are?”