CHAPTER XIX: YOU ARE A MONSTER.
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{23:44 LOCAL TIME 13TH MAY 1ME}
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LONG BEACH
PRIME-
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< ALERT >
{Sugar has left your team!}
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“Well, shit.” Soto cursed. “This is FUBAR battle.” He said to Colonel.
“Master of the obvious as usual Soto.” The Legacy replied curtly.
Clyde glared at Soto, but it was unfair to blame him for triggering whatever was happening with Sugar, or should he say Nicole. He Analyzed her.
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< ANALYZE >
{TITLES: Team wipe survivor
PLAYER NAME: Nicole
Level 10
CASTE: Commoner(Classer) RACE: Human CLASS: Fighter
Spec 1:Metal knight Initiate
POOLS:
HP:260/260 regen 54HP per day
MP:39/139 regen 44MP per hour (-40MPH)
DR:25/25 regen 1 per minute
Temporary AR:40/40
RESISTANCES
Physical: 0% Magical: 0% Willpower: 0%
ATTRIBUTES:
Strength:28 Dexterity:26 Constitution:26 Intelligence:16 Magic:1.39 Charisma:15 Luck: 17
Free Attributes:1
Current attribute gain per level:
Class:+2 STR & CON, +1 DEX
Spec 1:+4 STR, +2 CON, +1 INT
Title:+2 LUCK,+1 CON,+1 DEX
EFFECTS: Diligent
SKILLS LIST:
Spells:
Metal Armor, Metal weapon, Summon battle mount
Title Skills:
Battle sense
ACTIVE QUEST
Quest:
Protect the body at all costs.
End of CS}
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“That's certainly not good.” Clyde stared at the prompt stoically.
“What is up with that quest?” Soto said after the prompt was shared. “Oh shit she specialized already, was that that flash of lightning?”
Nicole’s red flame-filled eyes look at them calculatingly. She was leaning on her pike, but it was for show. With the Colonel’s perception, he could see that her weight was well distributed, which would easily allow her to strike at a moment's notice, and she wanted to strike. She was a powerful shining beacon of metal.
She seemed to be comfortable with standing and observing the teammates with appraising red eyes of flame from behind the sealed metal helm. Steam slowly left the eye sockets.
[Can you get the 411 on those Spells? Her whole character build has changed. She is like a completely different person] Soto asked in team speak.
[Stand by.] Colonel replied.
The legacy looked at her spells and his Tool tip triggered. He shared with Soto.
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< TOOL TIP >
Class Spell: Metal Armor(Toggle): When on the player is encased in liquid metal armor of her own design. This armor increases Constitution by 10% and gives +40 Armor Rating. Cost:-25 MPH}
Class Spell: Metal weapon(Toggle): The player can spend mana to create metal weapons. The weapon must remain in touch with the player to stay corporeal. Cast Time: Instant. Cost: -10 mana per minute.
{Class Spell: Summon battle mount(Toggle)
The Player summons a noble steed to ride and fight along her side. Cast time: 10 seconds. Cost: 100 mana & 25 HP -15 MPH. Duration: until death or dismissal. Cool down: 120 seconds. Requirements: Chant. Hand Signs & blood of the player.
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[The good news is in 3 minutes she will be out of mana from her weapon spell alone.] Soto said doing the quick math.
[And the bad?] Colonel asked not really sure how this was all going to play out.
[That title skill might be a problem.] Soto grimaced.
Colonel had a tendency to miss those things, which is why he leaned on Soto for this part of the gaming experience. He looked at the title skill and shared the disappointing prompt with Soto not knowing what to think of it.
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< TOOL TIP >
{SKILL NAME: Battle sense(PASSIVE)
SKILL LEVEL: NOVICE 0
DESCRIPTION: The player gains an innate sense of their enemy the longer they are in battle.
SKILL EFFECT: See the flow of battle better the longer you are in battle.
STUDENT EFFECT:???
NOVICE EFFECT:???}
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Soto frowned he then turned to Adia. “Two questions.” He began with his index and middle fingers up. “Are general skill effects unreadable by most identification or scanning powers? He put down his middle finger. “And is it safe to say you won’t be helping us out here?”
Adia nodded her head solemnly answering both questions, before her eyes widened. Soto looked back to a pike point inches from his face. Even though she caught him off guard she was still much slower than Soto.
He could dodge, but this was a game and he had intended to let Colonel handle this situation since he was much better equipped for it. He couldn’t help but smile at her ruthlessness though, she would make a great member of the team.
[Help.] He said calmly.
Nicole’s burning eyes narrow before Soto was replaced by Colonel swapping places with him because of RALLY HERE. Her eyes widened in shock as Colonel stopped her cold with his own higher physical stats.
He held the pike barely a centimeter from his face. His arm was burning from the power of the attack, his Find weakness telling him to take the off-balance girl and toss her since he had control of her weapon. That was when the pike changed into a great sword the same length as the pike.
Colonel was forced to let go or be cut. He mentally let his HUD wash over him making a decision on his class skills.
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< BRANCHING PATH CHOSEN >
{Bulwark has been upgraded}
{Class G-spell Name: Bulwark(Passive)
Spell level: Student 0
Description: The player will place themselves in between their enemies, and their allies and by doing so earn more defense.
SPELL EFFECT: Increase Constitution by 1% per level of the spell when in melee range of any enemy.
STUDENT EFFECT: The more enemies in melee range the more effective the Spell effect becomes.}
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Nicole took a step back from Colonel. “Sorry Nicole, but I’m the tank in the squad. I know you don’t know us, but we are here to help you.”
Nicole tilted her metal helm looking at the black man, “Does it look like we need your help?” As she leaped at him with a feint that Colonel could see a mile away, he played along deescalating the fight as bloodless as possible.
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< G-SKILL LEVEL UP >
{Find weakness is now Novice 8}
{Legacy Style Melee is now Novice 5}
{Bulwark is now Student 3}
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Colonel could feel his skin get barely perceptible tighter. He may get to his Skill quest to find weakness. He smiled beside the situation. Leveling just felt so damn good, even though skills give a small boost.
Then Nicole reversed her sword swing surprising Colonel and getting passed his DR somehow, drawing blood easily.
“Ouch!” Colonel yelped more in surprise than pain, though the pain was very much real.
[This game man, and its pain settings. Can you check and see if we can adjust it again.] Colonel said to Soto
[Roger that Colonel.] Soto replied quickly.
Colonel looked back at Nicole circling him trying not to put herself between Soto and any of the other players. Colonel was impressed. He looked at his hit points not having his battle log on.
HP:685/700
‘Even if she can penetrate my DR...’ which he didn’t know how. ‘I can just avoid her.’
Stolen story; please report.
[Shit RALLY HERE!] Colonel yelled and quickly switched targets to the absentminded Soto. Who thought his dexterity was so much higher than Nicole, but was caught by surprise when he couldn’t just avoid being cleaved in half. As Colonel swapped places with him, he took the damage meant for Soto on Nicole’s backswing.
HP:625/700
“Alright Nicole, you are going to stop trying to kill your former teammates. As he ducked under a big swing he noticed her swings were getting faster and more precise.
Battle Sense seemed to be making up the difference in their stats. Colonel smiled at how one combat skill can trump stats this quickly. ‘Good to know.’ He was learning that power was not straightforward in the GREAT GAME.
Nicole ignored his words and pressed the offensive and her advantage. She swung the sword wide easily missing Colonel but using the momentum to shield bash him in the face knocking him clean off his feet, she was getting stronger too it seemed.
Soto looked up at the sound of metal reverberating off of his leader’s skull and grimaced.
Colonel rolled back trying to get back to his feet. “Will you stop that?” But Nicole kept up the attack as he rolled out of the way.
The sword-sized grooves she left on the ground as she barely missed the rolling Colonel took chunks out of the concrete. But much to Colonel’s surprise the bastard sword healed itself again, and again before her every strike.
She then turned the large sword back into the pike. Instantly giving her extra length that Colonel couldn’t account for as he struggled to even get out of his rolling escape. The pike tip hit his skin a few inches from his knee and Nicole’s eyes light up. The pike then retracted quickly the stabbed out again, and then a third time in the exact same spot.
This time however his DR held. Only losing a single point from the pool.
DR:31/32
Nicole didn’t let that discourage her, if anything it made her more aggressive.
[No go on the pain settings. The setting page is really simplified just to reduce prompts from battle logs and stuff it looks like we are up shits creek with the pain.] Soto said causing Colonel to stumble, his concentration broken.
Nicole used that opportunity to strike. She swung her transformed bastard sword at his head.
Colonel could sense his doom. The legacy was unbalanced and that sword seemed to ignore his DR, if she connected, she may peel his cap back. And he was no longer in any position to defend himself, as off-balanced as he was. Fortunately, like his dad used to say. “The decisions you make today will never affect yesterday, but the decisions you made yesterday will always affect your today. Don’t live in yesterday, but make good decisions for today.” And man did he make a good one.
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{00:00 LOCAL TIME 14TH MAY 1ME}
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Colonel blinked at the timestamp that randomly appeared. The action spelled his doom. He no longer looked at the sword swinging at his head. He smiled at the prompts and instantly let them wash over him.
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< CONGRATULATIONS >
{Defensive Stance Upgrade Complete}
SKILL NAME: Defensive Stance+(PASSIVE/Stacking)
SKILL LEVEL: Novice 0
DESCRIPTION: The player temporarily sacrifices immediate mobility for increased defense. When defending, your health pool will continue to get bigger over time, making the player harder to kill the longer the fight goes on without them moving away from their original location. When the player moves from the location all of the gained HP is removed. The + doubles all values.
SKILL EFFECT: The player gains +1 Constitution per Skill level per second while defending in 1 meter area per Class level.
Current CON gain: 20 per second
Current range: 4 meter
STUDENT EFFECT: Pool regeneration is Slightly increased over time.
NOVICE EFFECT: The extra HP falls off Minutely slower instead of it all being removed at once. As long as the player is in a 1 meter per Skill level area of teammates the stacking effect continues.}
{THIS SKILL CAN NO LONGER BE UPGRADED}
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< BATTLE LOG >
{Nicole causes CRITICAL DAMAGE -450 DAMAGE to you}
< DEBUFF ADDED >
{Bleeding 5; - 50 HP per second.}
{You resist stun for losing half of your life in one blow.}
< SKILL LEVEL UP X8 >
{Defensive Stance is now Novice 8}
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[I’m okay Soto, STAND DOWN!] Colonel yelled in a team speech before his teammate killed Nicole. But the second he got the Stance back his HP jumped 200 points, and every second he continued to get 200 more.
“Colonel couldn’t blame Soto’s actions. If anyone saw their best friend even in a game half way decapitated, they would seek swift and violent retribution. The drawn bow in his hand, and the silver arrow that was rapidly turning black with dark mana as Soto’s rage built accentuated the reality.” The narrator began narrating.
“Bour looked at the gory scene with disgust as the first spray of blood spattered onto Nicole’s metal face. The flame in her eyes streamed from the arterial spray and her inner heat.
“Adia's face has a look of horror, confusion, and genuine concern on it. Clyde was kind of touched by that, but Colonel pushed down that thought right away. The job's not done, Clyde.
“Colonel for his part was trying to figure out what had just happened. First, he realized that he could instantly let his HUD notifications wash over him which was new, but good, it took more than an instant to understand the prompts, but it was still faster than reading them.”
The fact that he was off-balanced saved his life. Nicole didn’t have a good angle to cut cleanly through his neck. Instead, she cut through his collar bone stopping at the spine.
The maneuver must have caught even Nicole off guard to the point that she hesitated when the blood sprayed in her face. She let go of her sword and tactically retreated wiping the blood from the eyes of her helm. She left the bastard sword stuck in Colonel’s shoulder.
When the blood was cleared from her eyes she looked back at Colonel who was still in the same spot.
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< BATTLE LOG >
< DEBUFF REDUCED >
{Bleeding 3; - 30 HP per second.}
{You resist stun for losing 40% of your life in a single attack or combo.}
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Colonel smiled at the prompt. Nicole saw this and put her hand up in his direction. The sword flowed out of his shoulder and into her hands as he grunted with pain.
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< DEBUFF INCREASED >
{Bleeding 6; - 60 HP per second.}
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Colonel ignored the battle log messages.
HP:380/990
She was going to kill him at this rate. But as the large gash healed before everyone’s eyes. The Colonel could feel the muscles and bones knitting back together. The pain was barely bearable, but he gritted his bloody teeth, so he didn’t bite his tongue again.
“Have you gotten out your aggression yet?” Colonel asked calmly, the pain was awful, but he had always had a high pain threshold in combat, he got a scowl in return, well he thought it was a scowl, her mask was hiding the entirety of her face. Nicole then reformed her sword and struck again. “I take that as a no.”
Soto doesn’t dare take his eyes off his buddy again. Watching him take a near-fatal attack, had him a little shook, the game seemed to have scared him again. The pain Colonel was in as he tried to dodge the new onslaught from Nicole was written all over his face.
Soto could see the wounds stop bleeding every second, and after about ten seconds his wounds were noticeably healing and fully healed. He looked at Colonel’s HP after the attack trying to get an idea of how much damage he was taking.
HP:1210/2090
Soto was so confused by the number that he almost clicked on his team leader's thumbnail to see how his life was going up so quickly. But he wasn’t a noob, though to be fair he had been acting like one. Not one, not two, but three ghouls which were basically zombies snuck up on him. How embarrassing, but he was digressing. Sugar was now Nicole that was unexpected. How can one person be two people? Was she an NPC the whole time? If so the GREAT GAME has truly achieved true photorealism, which was an accomplishment of the century if it were true.
Games always looked like games, real life was always easy to identify. But this ‘game’ had shattered that misnomer after their first teleportation.
They were in such pain that they hadn’t even thought about how real the game looked.
Of course, Soto wasn’t going to start admiring it now. He was the backup. He kept his eye on his teammate and former teammate as they danced on the edge of life, and skill advancement. He really wanted some more skills. But he wouldn’t let his friend be killed saving someone who was trying to kill him. He wouldn’t do it in real life, so why would he do it in a game.
As a rule of thumb, Soto always played the hero. Like most men, growing up he wanted to be one. He joined the Army and less than a year after joining he was in combat. War isn’t pretty or glorious. It was dirty and disappointing. Soto sighed just thinking about it.
But again he won’t let that bother him. Sugar or Nicole had this weird barely visible energy around her. Every time she would make contact with Colonel it would flare up and become more vibrant.
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< GENERAL SKILL AVAILABLE TO LEARN >
{Skill name: Insight(P)(Pa). Cost: 3 skill points. (Cost discounted because of Legacy team Perk)}
{Available skill points: 4
Would you like to purchase Insight(P)}
< NOTE >
{You gained access to the skill store early because of your affiliation with the Legacy.}
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He didn’t hesitate. He paid the price for the Skill, he just read the new prompt.
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{SKILL NAME: Insight(P)(PASSIVE)
SKILL LEVEL: Student 0
DESCRIPTION: See the flow of the world as it is, not your limited perception of it.
SKILL EFFECT: The Noble can see the Slight changes in the world represented by fluctuations in the air. The higher the level of the skill the more information gained from the fluctuations.
STUDENT EFFECT: Once per target the player can get information on the fluctuation. The longer they observe the target the more information is given.}
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Soto smiled. ‘Ask and you shall receive.’ If there ever was a skill he needed as a ranger class, it was this skill. Every sniper's dream. Most snipers crawl on their bellies for days to get into position, only to observe the objective for a day trying to figure out the patterns of their target.
This skill would help take some of the guesswork out of that aspect of his job. The best part it was passive. The active version of a skill like this would also have been welcomed, it would have been like some kinda of identification skill. But he wasn’t going to complain.
BAM
Soto was startled by the noise. ‘Shit I wasn’t paying attention again.’ His eyes open wide.
Nicole had apparently gone for the decapitation again, but this time her sword was stopped by Colonel’s collarbone. She dismissed the sword trying to cause a bleeding effect, but the cut healed almost instantly.
The shock in her body language could be seen through the fluctuations around her. Her stiff back, Her off-balanced retreat.
She tried to regrow the sword, but halfway through it forming she ran out of Mana. Her armor evaporated into the motes of silver light, leaving her on her knees, grabbing her head because of the mana depletion headache. Her red hair looked disheveled and wet with sweat, sticking to the side of her face.
All that information came from just Soto’s Insight Skill.
Nicole glared at Colonel with anger, indignation, and a little fear. “You are a monster.” She tried to rise up from her knees. But her body was beat up badly. “Get him, girl!” She said under her breath.
And that was when the horse-size dog finally made its move. Kuma jumped from Colonel’s blind spot and latched onto his neck, but that was as effective as a chihuahua chewing on a marble statue. She just hung there, her teeth were unable to penetrate Colonel’s newly toughened skin for his Defensive Stance.
Colonel for his part was just in awe of his skill. His hit points were so high that his skin was even tougher than that annoying sword.
It was still annoying that he had a half-ton dog hanging from his neck, after all his strength didn’t go up. Then Kuma disappeared from his neck in an instant.
Colonel looked back to Nicole as she passed out falling on her face with exhaustion. “You are a monster too Nicole, I can’t wait to see what you can do when you aren’t attacking us.” He bowed his head in respect. He then looked at his new prompt.
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< SKILL LEVEL UP >
Defensive Stance is now Novice 9
{Skill Quest: Take 100 hits of slashing or piercing damage (15/100)}
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Colonel smiled at his Skill quest, it wasn’t going to take any time at all considering his track record. “Apprentice tier here I come.”
Soto walked up to him and they fist bump. “How you feeling boss?” He asked soberly.
“Pretty good just going over my skill level ups. Colonel replied.
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< G-SKILL LEVEL UP >
{Find weakness is now Novice 9}
{Skill quest: Find the weakness in 100 different creatures (Tier 2 & above)(1/100)}
{Legacy Style Melee is now Novice 8}
{Bulwark is now Student 9}
{Skill quest: Take damage from two or more targets 10 times(1/10)}
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The Skill quests were very doable, and he couldn’t wait to see what he got as his new bonuses when he completed them. This game was awesome. The pain made him feel alive in ways only combat could make you feel. The stakes seemed higher because of that pain, not as high as war, but maybe high school football. The sense of accomplishment for success was palpable though.
“That is dope brother,” Soto said reading the prompts, he smiled. “What should we do about her?” He asked.
“We wait for her to wake up, again, so we can finally finish this damn quest.”
“Should I grab the loot point?”
“I don’t think so since Sugar is no longer in our team, not sure she will get any of those rewards.” Colonel looked at the floating globe of loot rotating lazily enticing the Legacy to touch it.
“Fuck that, she tried to kill you, mo,” Soto yelled pointing at his bloody and torn army BDU blouse that was barely hanging off of his body, his brown t-shirt was in better shape but that's not saying much.
“Multiple times actually. But it's just a game, I would just have to roll another character. You shouldn’t take it that seriously homie.” Colonel sat down as his HP fell back down to regular amount as he was no longer in combat. He felt drained as he lost the extra HP.
“Bruh, you are sick. You took a bastard sword to the neck...twice.” He laughed and Colonel couldn’t help himself, he started to chuckle uncontrollably.
SLOW CLAP
Bour clapped as he walked up to Clydel and Soto interrupting their laughing session. “Impressive. I thought you were dead multiple times in that dance with the reaper you were having. Good job son.”
“Yes, very worthy of the title hero, and adventurer. Where most people would have killed her, you prove to her without a shadow of a doubt that you meant her no harm.” Adia added. “Very admirable.”
“I had forgotten y’all were even here,” Clyde admitted sheepishly.
“Understandable lad, you were not only fighting for your life, but for the lives of your friend, and even your former teammate,” Bour said back to him with respect.
“Yeah, my situational awareness was definitely off during that fight. It took almost all of my attention to dodge fatal blows until I was tough enough to take them like a champ.” Clyde smiled tiredly.
Bour laughed and Adia smirked at him. “I can honestly say that I have never seen anyone survive partial decapitation with such poise, and I have lived countless decades, and I have specialized a lot which combined with the fact that Elves are long lived, you are one of a kind Clyde, one of a kind.” Adia looked at Clyde with deep brown eyes that said much more than just words, but a feeling of unfettered pride.
“Aye lad, the las is right, I am over twenty thousand years old. I don’t think I would have had the patience to go through a battle like that.” Bour said impressed.
Clyde was exhausted. He nodded his head at his new companions'/mentors' words of encouragement not even acknowledging that the dwarf was older than any known civilization on earth. Then darkness took him, as his eyes rolled back into his head.
The last thing he heard before passing out was, “I am surprised he was able to stand upright for so long after losing that much blood.” He couldn’t make out the voice, sleep claiming his mind.
***
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{03:55 LOCAL TIME 14TH MAY 1ME}
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LONG BEACH
SOTO
Soto looked at his friend pass out. He turned to Bour and Adia and said the first thing that came to his mind. “I guess he isn’t that good at taking compliments. It's a guy thing.” He smirked smugly.
All three burst out laughing.
After about a minute of just laughing the tension away. Soto finally asked the question that was burning him. “How come our time is moving so fast?”
“That’s easy. Dungeon time doesn’t follow the same rules as the outside world, so when the Dungeon master left, he caused the Dungeon time to show as the normal time.” Adia said. “But it is still January 1st inside of the Dungeon. Believe me, you want that. Once you win the benefits will be... amazing.”
“It didn’t help that we were teleported into your Dungeon, that affected the time as well,” Bour added.
“No, it didn’t, we usually wait outside because we don’t want to be caught in a time loop. That spells instant death for most players. Well as instant as the time loop would allow.” Adia said.
“But an Elder Dragon has sufficient power to teleport an entire planet into a Dungeon, so what is a few little ants like us?” Bour pointed at himself and a frowning Adia.
“Eww, I am not an ant, you muscle brain.” She stated with disdain.
“Compared to the founder, we would be harmless bacteria Las,” Bour said.
Adia begrudgingly nodded her head in acquiescence. “That is fair to say.”
“So that much time has passed in the real world?” Soto asked a little disappointed. He was hyper-aware that these two had just said they were like bugs to a dragon, and he was like a bug to them so what was he to a dragon?
“When you have completed the first floor which is all you have to clear to get completion for most Dungeons when it comes to preventing overflow at least. Going deeper in will net you more experience and items. Depending on the type of Dungeon you may be able to take the Dungeon core if you clear the whole thing. But won’t change the horde frequency if you go past the first floor.” Adia added.
“Horde?” Soto was a little confused.
Adia looked at Soto curiously “Right you started in here. Well, outside is a scene from all sapient being’s nightmares. Buildings burning, people dying only to get up and fight alongside their killer. It is why undead are hunted down to the very last one. The Scourge is always a problem that needed to be put down as soon as possible.”
“Killing the Lich Lord, Vampire Lord, with fire and life magic. The latter being the easiest method, but also the longest. Sometimes it means killing all of the minions just to get to the Lord which usually means a raid party.” Bour said remembering his glory days.
“Alright then, say no more.” Soto looked at Colonel starting to get up groggily. “We should get going, or even better we should start building.” The dark ranger said with an evil smirk.