Leaving the village, now just the five of us, I decided to catch up on lost time as we sprinted in the direction Bainer had placed on my map.

"Be honest," Fras said, keeping stride with me to my left. "Why are you doing this? You could have easily gotten the same amount of Experience if you just threw your Nobility title in the faces of some Guilds, making them escort you on multiple dungeon runs. It would have been safer, and just as effective."

I thought about his words and had come to a similar conclusion myself while talking with Mel about what kind of authority I actually had. While he was right, and that would have worked, there were still restrictions and protocols put into place regarding the loot. It was split evenly regardless of need or contribution. I wasn't a greedy person, but the little girl in my head was. And I didn't plan on disappointing her for some stupid Guild rules. This was actually, a perfect segue into an uncomfortable conversation.

"Because I want all the loot," I said.

Fras laughed and even Kira smiled a bit. Isamaar was looking straight ahead and Trennel was watching the back of our female scout.

"All the loot?" Fras asked.

"Anything you kill, you keep. For team kills, the person who does the most damage obviously gets the kill notification. That's who gets the loot, and anything that would improve your fighting ability personally, or if multiple members receive equal credit, can be voted on. It's in the group's best interest for each member to be as strong as possible before the Mother Dungeon. Whatever can't be agreed upon goes to me for study."

"What about natural resources?" Trennel said.

"Which of us are continuing on the path of a craftsman?" I asked the group.

"Just the basics, for the foundations needed to enroll in Primrose," Kira stated, jumping over a small ditch as we left the compact road.

"I've been taking the Enchanting classes as one of my Major studies, but Alchemy wasn't one of my talents. So going into my second year, I didn't take any of the courses" Trennel added.

"So you don't have to do any crafting if you don't want to?" Kira asked.

"For the first year, it's required. Then you can elect to continue if you show an aptitude or interest in the subjects." He met Kira's eyes and then quickly looked away, addressing me instead. "What about you? You said something about required crafting practice being the reason you aren't doing a normal dungeon raid, but instead, we will be doing the floors in chunks, exiting every fourteen hours?"

"I'm going to focus on both Enchanting and Alchemy," I said. "They are both excellent pools of Experience to tap into for extra levels. I'm not sure what branch yet. I'm still doing foundational studies before enrollment, but Alchemy definitely came a bit easier. So, I would say ingredients go into a pile and divide out based on who can use them currently. I can only craft minor potions currently, in the beginning, I won't need as many of the specialty ingredients or crystals, but they are still worth something, so we will have to come to a mutual agreement."

Fras and the others looked excited, despite the danger we would soon find ourselves in. An entire dungeon's worth of loot split amongst five people could make what Osiph had given me, look like a normal amount of money to walk around with.

These raids usually left multiple squads set up for a cushy life. This is why any Dungeon that did pop up was usually left to grow. To train members and mine the loot from within. This also corresponded to why the most common profession for Mages was as an Adventurer or a similar independent Guild.

"Where almost there," Kira said, as we were exiting a barren field back onto a small roadway. "It's down this road about a half mile. There are usually only two types of creatures that are summoned in this region. The closest Dungeon to here is a few miles further, into the forest, but this is where their domain starts, so the creatures will congregate at the border."

We slowed down our sprinting pace to a walk, as she continued. "One of them being Death Wraiths. They are usually between Level thirty-two and forty-seven. With the Novice Dungeon being their source, they are on the higher end of the surface dwellers. That also goes for the Undead, always in the mid-thirties. Wraiths are fast and only magically treated and enchanted weapons work on them. They usually fight alone, however, making them easier to focus on. Conversely, the Undead are slow but typically swarm. Making them easy to avoid but easy to get cornered by."

Getting closer to the indicated field, I saw a swarm of several dozen Undead shambling about aimlessly. A few Wraiths lingered, screeching at the occasional Undead that got in their way.

"So what's the plan?" Trennel asked.

"We shouldn't need a plan right?" Fras asked. "They are just surface dwellers, only Beginner tier. The only one they pose a threat to is the boy here. No offense intended, I don't think they will. I just meant we are all Novice, but we should be able to wipe out the whole troop of these ghouls with just one of us, maybe two."

"That's valid, I don't think it will take all of us, but as I said, this is an opportunity to see what we can do together. The aim of this is not to wipe out the creatures, but to use them to test our compatibility. We will break up into teams of two. First, it will be Isamaar and Kira, Fras and I. With Trennel, as the highest level among us, offering support to both teams as a floater. The aim is not to kill them but to corral them to a single point without any of them dying, using both teams. Once we accomplish this, we will rearrange the teams and go again. We will continue this until we have to return."

"Why aren't we just killing them? Shouldn't we be practicing for the dungeon?" Kira asked.

"I want us to get a feel for each other's abilities, but we can't do that if you just slaughter these things with one attack. Try and use different attacks each rotation, so we can work out synergistic attacks and situational contingencies." I answered. "I would also like to be the one to kill them if you don't mind, since I'm the only one who would receive any meaningful Experience from a Beginner tier creature."

Everybody seemed to agree. With no one voicing any objections, I said. "Let's get started then. You two take the right and we'll take the left. Trennel, stay back at your comfortable range. We'll take turns at first, getting an understanding of each other's capabilities. Then after a few turns, I'll clean up here and we will start working on some drills."

Trennel stepped forward and held out his hand, in then were a handful of of earrings that shimmered with a blueish silver in the shape of a fishing hook. It had a red gem on the tip that held several runes. "These are direct communication items that I made, they were quick and simplistic, so they only work at a short range but it should keep us in contact, while on any floor in the dungeon."

He handed them out to each of the team. We all thanked him as we equipped the item, making him blush when Kira voiced her gratitude.

Earring of The Idle Mouth

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

(Common)

Type>Item>Earring

Enchantment: While in range, send and receive telepathic messages with up to nine other bearers of the paired batch.

Splitting up into our groups, I walked with Fras to the far left about two hundred yards away from the closest creatures, while Kira and Isamaar flanked to the right doing the same. Trennel stayed back in the center preparing a spell, as two mechanical spiders formed in front of him. They were the size of my hand, and each had a hexagonal block, an inch tall, protruding from their back. Scurrying forward, they approached the first few Undead stragglers while the rest of us got into position.

With a nod from me. Kira was up first, and she didn't hesitate as she brought her staff up. And one of the faces opened its mouth unnaturally wide, and began…singing? The voice was thrown due to Kira's Affinity with Sound magic, and it appeared to be coming from the center of the group of creatures.

They all turned at the sudden sound in their midst and began clustering together into a huddle. I felt the temperature drop as over a dozen spears of ice shot from Isamaar's palms, embedding themselves into the soil around the group of undead. With a surge of Mana, the spears began unraveling, seeking out their pairs, before connecting and forming a pen around them.

Trennel gaped a bit while Fras and I just stared over at them. The whole ordeal had taken about thirty seconds, and the two had never even moved. Trennel's spiders had barely made it to the creature's before the wall had sealed around them. Their speed and efficiency, having never worked together, showed just how skilled they were as experienced fighters.

I looked at Fras. "You got anything like that?"

"Not even close." He responded. "The only non-lethal trap I have takes too long to set up, and my spells are very bad for Undead, being fire and all."

"Me neither. This is going to have to be up close and personal then. Try not to kill them, but don't get infected just for this skill assessment."

"Oh? Is this a test?" Kira asked through our earrings.

"Not a test, just an assessment. I won't go into too much detail, but I have a way of recording this and studying it later to find optimal pairings and combos for difficult situations that we may encounter. After a while, it will come naturally as we work together, but we have to survive until then for that to matter. Moves like that may be incredibly useful for being swarmed, and creating a bit of space for us to breathe."

"That's fair, I guess," Fras said. "So it's our turn then?"

"Yeah but I'm having second thoughts, I don't think us paired together fits this situation very well. I have nothing that would round them up, and I'm sure it can be done, but between us, it will take too much time to hold back, not killing them." I said.

"So you're not going to do it?" Kira asked.

"I still want to do it. It is important that we can control our power not just in the dungeon, but out of it too. I just think we're going to have to approach it differently." I surveyed the area with the Undead, on alert after being released from their cage, still not leaving the border of their domain. "Does anybody have a long length of rope?"

***

I weaved around an overhead lunge from one of the Undead, looping the chemically treated ropes around their midsection. I could smell the stench of decay emanating from the walking corpse as I passed by it. Dodging its kin, I pivoted and ran between two others, tying them up.

One of the Beastieries Mel had me absorb stated that noncorporeal beings could be interacted with by using the pure Mana in a Mana potion. Not that it would be any help in a fight as it did no damage, but for those hoping to capture spirits, using treated nets or cages proved extremely effective.

Wrapping back around the outer edge of enemies, I circled to the left, tightening the slack of the rope and pulling the creatures into a tighter group. I used my ring effect to conjure vines, attempting to hold them in place, but it only reached a few of them in the limited effect range.

Some of the wraiths slipped out over the top, but grabbing the other length of rope I got from Trennel's storage space, I empowered my legs, jumping several feet into the air and catching one of them in the grip of my Mana-clad hand. It screeched at me, clawing at my arm. Its claws hit my gauntlets and bounced off as I threw it down into the pile of Undead being herded, then passed the rope anchoring them together to Fras. He tied off one end to a sturdy fence post and held the other end tight enough to keep the rest in place.

Turning back to face the last two wraiths still free, they let out another screech and darted towards Fras. I ran parallel to their flight path, trying to intercept them, but they were fast. The first wraith reached Fras, clawing at his face. He ducked, dropping his end of the rope as he tucked into a roll. Hopping back to his feet, he ran back snatching it back up, but not before there had been enough room for a few more wraiths and even two Undead to slip out. Trennels spiders came in releasing a low hum that bothered the creatures. They scurried around the center mass of the group, riling up the Undead, but not affecting the wraiths. The boxes on their back were apparently some type of enchanted sound-producing item that drew an enemy's attention, keeping the majority of them in the designated area.

"This was a brilliant idea, you are doing an amazing job of catching these ghosts with a rope. This will definitely be a ballad they sing in taverns, to honor your legendary epics and masterful accomplishments." Mel said, floating along lazily, next to the screaming wraith, as it banked to try and get another slash in on the stationary Fras.

Not helpful! I thought at her. You could at least try and give some solutions too, you know?

"My advice is to keep it up, the only option you have is to physically restrain them. Your Abilities are really more of the lethal force variety, than incapacitation. Keep it simple, and press on, I'm sure you'll get there."

Taking her advice, while I complained about it in my head, Fras and I kept up our strategy, only taking a few glancing blows from the wraiths, who were unable to get past our Armor Rating. Seventeen minutes later, the group of several dozen creatures cried out angrily from their positions, all bunched together and bound by the several treated ropes.

"Took a bit longer than you, but we got there," Fras said to the others while breathing heavily and holding his chest dramatically. He had been the most in danger, as the creatures had seemed to single him out and continued to pursue him, even while I was subduing others nearby.

"I thought you would have given up after their second escape." Kira half-teased, half-jabbed, while joining us over by Trennel’s position by a mound of medium-sized boulders, making these our temporary resting area. "With this being your idea, I figured you had some big show of strength up your sleeve meant to wow and amaze us. You know? To give us confidence about following you into five dungeons."

"You give me time to prepare and let me kill them, and this could have been done in seconds while we sipped tea in a Cafe miles away," Fras said, defending our performance.

"That's not the point. I'm not doing this to show how good I am at killing things, I'm trying to become stronger and better, and doing so means I need a better foundation and mindset to do so. When I'm a high enough tier, I can't look at every problem in front of me, and just smash it. You all know of the story of the Mad King.” I looked around, each of them nodding. “If I don't learn this now, in the future it may prove detrimental to my overall growth and path. It's about exploring all your options, and not just working on the one thing you know that works, as much as it is about control."

"The Mad King was Master tier, I don't think you will have anything to worry about there. It's not like any of us will ever get close to that." Fras said.

"I will," I muttered, as a statement of fact now; where it once was just a fantasy.

Fras looked at me curiously but said nothing, the others having missed what I said.

"We'll release them and let them scatter once more. This time it's Trennel and Kira, and Isamaar and I grouping up, leaving Fras as the floater." Looking at the Trap-smith I said, "Start laying your nonlethal trap now and we will try to lead them into it."

He nodded, as he got to work a few dozen yards into the boundary of the dungeons domain.

"Let's get back to it then," Kira said, cheerily.

Trennel looked at me smiling. He shot me a covert thumbs up and followed Kira to the wide right position.

"Are you playing matchmaker now?" Mel asked teasingly.

I can help out a buddy if the time calls for it. He seems like he just needs a push to come out of his shell.

"And you're going to be the one to give him that push?"

I know what it's like to be raised to go into the family business. Sure, I wanted it, but there were times when I wished I could have been given the freedom to make my own decisions. Trennel is in a very similar position, with his father and grandfather. Letting him experience the world while he has a bit of freedom is something that costs me nothing and won't hurt anybody except maybe his feelings if she rejects him. Though, that could be a valuable learning experience.

"Valuable learning experience? You realize you are the youngest here, and likely the one with the least real-world experience?"

Ignoring her, I turned back to the situation at hand. Nodding to Isamaar, we signaled to the others we would go first, as we prepared ourselves.