Since they were going shopping, Ilaria expected to go directly towards the Clothing Shop. She was surprised when Amy turned a corner halfway, and made her enter to a different, smaller building; so much that she didn't even identify the statue outside. Did it have one? Must have had, we're in Torinelo City after all.
As soon as she stepped inside, she could feel the warm ambient light, accompanied with a soft piano melody, and an earthy smell that filled the room. Handbags, jackets and other leather items occupied the sparsely placed shelfs.
“This is familiar...”
“Yes,” said Amy, smiling as she turned around. “We have been to one of their stores, in Lima.”
At that point it dawned to Ilaria; this was in the exact same style as the shop in which they had bought Minerva's Christmas present. She wondered what had happened with that handbag; she supposed her sister had received it, but she hadn't ever asked.
Amy walked Ilaria towards the handbag's rack. “Now that you'll start to date seriously, you need one.”
The 'bag' slot in the game could be any kind of carrying device, from a suitcase to a purse; the size and shape not influencing the inventory size. Since it only appeared whenever you wanted to store or withdraw an item, Ilaria hadn't cared about upgrading her beginner's backpack yet.
“They are expensive...”
“Come on,” said Amy. “It isn't even a fifth of what we paid for the real one. Besides, if you choose a neutral color, you only ever need one.”
Ilaria started browsing, contemplating the options. If she was to only buy one, it should go well with both of her formal dresses, and with her red and black combat dress too.
Maybe this one, black with gold accents...
A pulsing red button suddenly appeared in her display, startling Ilaria, who almost dropped the handbag she was looking at. Flustered, she pressed it without thinking.
“Hello, are you busy?” asked the male voice. Ilaria took a second to identify it as Kyle.
“I'm shopping, but I'll finish really soon,” answered Ilaria, still with the handbag in her hands.
“If you want to do the Dungeon Date now, I'll be around the fountain,” said Kyle.
At the mention of Dungeon Date, Ilaria felt her heartbeat accelerating; they were finally going to do it. “Yeah, I'll go there in a bit.”
After closing the call, Ilaria raised her head towards her currently smiling companion.
“Is your date already here?” asked Amy.
“I guess he is,” answered Ilaria, noticing that it was a few minutes past 4. “They usually log in later.”
“He must have been looking forward to it as much as you,” said Amy, grinning. “Don't make him wait too much. And take that purse, it'll be my gift. The beginner's backpack clashes awfully with your dress.”
“No, I'll pay,” said Ilaria, not letting Amy touch the handbag. “I can't keep mooching from you; you are helping so much already.”
And she meant it; Amy had already gone above and beyond what Ilaria had expected from her. Even if the elf had plenty of expending money, it was wrong for her-him-to keep taking advantage of the younger girl.
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“I thought you couldn't log in until later,” said Ilaria. She had met Kyle at the fountain, the warrior already in his combat suit.
“I ran from school and logged just after getting home,” said Kyle, reddening as he was saying it.
“That explains it,” said Ilaria, unable to stifle her laughter. This guy was so earnest in his words, not even a bit of guile or deception.
Ilaria couldn't fault him though. She had walked the fastest she could from the bag store. No running though; she didn't want Amy to tease her any more than she did.
“Did you already try it yesterday?” asked Kyle, still red-faced.
“Nope. I was tired. And I didn't want it to be a disappointment,” answered Ilaria. “But I did research into it!”
“I did too!” exclaimed Kyle, beaming.
After a short planning session in which they decided to spend potions–you could only do a DD for the first time once–both pressed the button that transported them to the date dungeon.
They appeared in the middle of a huge circular room–if not for the lack of stands, one would call it a coliseum–surrounded by dozens of half-rotted, paint-peeled ornate doors.
Looking up, there was a huge, half-lit candelabra hung from the overly tall dome that served as a roof. Despite it having candles, the light was blue and eerie, a cold chill permeating the building. A discordant piano and strings tune completed the ambiance. Thankfully it played at a low volume, Ilaria didn't know how much time she would had tolerated it otherwise.
Unlike the under-20 date, this date dungeon scaled up or down the number of enemies in each wave according to the average level of the couple. Ilaria and Kyle being at level 20 meant the least possible monster number.
Kyle looked at her, the mage nodding confidently, ready to start.
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First wave: Ten nightmaned direwolves
The first wave was against melee opponents, so Ilaria took cover behind Kyle as they had planned before. Nevertheless, she had readied a fireball for release as soon as their enemy appeared.
“I like dogs but those look like meanies,” said Ilaria, taking a look at their materializing foes.
The direwolves were huge, even with them being in all fours Ilaria had to raise her head to look at them in the eyes.
“Yeah, I bet they beat up cute puppies and steal their food,” added Kyle, getting into a guarding stance.
“Bad doggies shall burn in hell!” exclaimed Ilaria, laughing as she shot the first fireball.
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Second wave: Nine skinshredder hawks
Kyle was still engaging a couple of direwolves when the new wave started materializing. Ilaria had her mana pool at half and was drinking a mana potion since being at level 20 meant she couldn't be stingy.
“Sorry, I'll have to rely on you for those,” said Kyle, still chipping little by little at the last direwolves' HPs.
“Don't worry,” said Ilaria, grinning. “Those fat birds will get roasted in no time.”
“Fireball!” exclaimed Ilaria, as she shot the closest winged menace.
The meter tall brown hawk with oversized claws screeched in the air before erupting in flames. It started to fall down in circles, as the ones closest to it noticed Ilaria and prepared to dive, claws in front.
Ilaria shot another fireball before taking cover with Kyle, who was still at it with the only surviving direwolf. A hawk scratched at Ilaria's back before Kyle's spear forced it to take flight again. She had felt that, a stinging sensation that didn't subside. She worried for her dress for a second, before remembering that armor didn't degrade in DDs.
Ilaria collected herself and mana bolted the direwolf, finishing it, while Kyle kept circling to prevent the hawks from diving.
After Ilaria fried a third bird, the spear's deterrent wasn't enough and three hawks dived for them at the same time. Ilaria immediately shot at the one towards her left, Kyle throwing his spear towards the rightmost one while taking cover with her shield against the last diving hawk. That one made a 180 degrees turn and joined the one that had evaded Kyle's throw.
“I don't think I'll be able to get them with the spear,” said Kyle, while willing his weapon back to his hand.
“Making them flee is good enough,” said Ilaria, readying another fireball as the other trio of hawks prepared to dive.
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Third wave: Eight ethereal nightmares
The couple had already beaten most of the hawks, but the next wave wouldn't wait for them to finish.
The nightmares, horses with legs finishing in shadowy clouds of fog, started to cross their respective doors. Ilaria and Kyle were bracing for the last hawks' attack and couldn't afford more than a glance at their new enemies.
“Are you okay?” asked Ilaria, drinking a health potion. They were cheaper than the mana ones.
“As fine as I could,” answered Kyle, smiling as he drank a potion himself.
As the hawks dived, they could hear the nightmares rapidly approaching.
“Fireball!” exclaimed Ilaria, frying a hawk. Kyle threw his spear at the other one, making it flee. And just in time, since the first couple of nightmares were already within breathing distance.
Ilaria heard the impact–she was frying a hawk–before being able to turn around. She touched Kyle's neck reflexively.
“Arghh, and I just healed myself,” said Kyle, still shaken.
The two repelled nightmares moved aside to make room for the next pair of charging steeds. This time Kyle had his spear back, blocking both of them while suffering a manageable amount of damage.
“Sorry, I won't be able to counterattack,” said Kyle, grunting from the effort.
“It's okay; we'll go as far as we can,” said Ilaria, smiling as she burned the last hawk out of the air.
Fourth wave: Seven heartbroken otterflies
“So cute!” exclaimed Ilaria, as the new foes materialized: dark colored otters with butterfly wings on their backs.
“I don't think we'll last much longer,” said Kyle, deflecting another double charge of nightmares. “Try to kill one or two of them before we are done.”
The eight nightmares were still alive and mostly undamaged. Ilaria had to use her healing touch nonstop to keep Kyle's hit points outside danger zone.
“Alright; see you on the other side,” said Ilaria, withdrawing her outstretched arm.
The mage girl used her recently freed hand to drink a mana potion and stepped back, aiming at the closest otter. It squeaked and flew around Kyle, being awarded an encounter with a big ball of fire. As soon as she had let the Fireball go, she felt it. A sting several times stronger than the hawk's scratch had been.
“Kya... Argh,” grunted Ilaria, as she tried to shake away the otterfly clawing at her chest, finally killing it with a point blank mana bolt.
Kyle turned around, but he was unable to leave his position; he couldn't do anything about the otterflies anyway. The nightmares were still contained for the time being, his HPs bar decreasing steadily in a corner of the mage's viewpoint.
Ilaria was half-kneeling, recovering her breath, when another otterfly dived for her face. She fireballed it down with a well aimed headshot. This time she didn't hesitate and finished it with a mana bolt; her burned and scratched chest felt like she was continuously zapped by static current.
The five remaining otterflies decided to dive down at the same time, three towards Ilaria and the rest against Kyle, who had less than a tenth of his HPs remaining.
“Fireball!” Ilaria half-yelled, half-grunted as she took down the centermost otterfly. The other two clawed her at her shoulders, as she resisted the pain and finished the burning critter.
Kyle died stoically, not making a sound, and Ilaria just closed her eyes.
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“Was it like you expected?” asked Kyle, already recovered and smiling.
“Yeah,” said Ilaria, grinning while catching her breath, her chest still throbbing with the emotion. Even if it hurt, she did enjoy it. Am I turning into a masochist?
“I was wondering, being a tank you are always getting hit, don't you?” asked Ilaria.
“Yeah, that's how it usually works out,” answered Kyle, who appeared to be checking something in his viewpoint.
“Doesn't it hurt?” asked Ilaria. “When the otterfly got me before, my chest felt like it was being zapped.”
“That must have sucked,” said Kyle, raising his eyes to look at Ilaria. “The simulated pain level in VC depends on the percentage of your hit points suffered. I get hit constantly, but the damage is really small compared with my HPs.”
“Was it painful?” asked Kyle, eying Ilaria.
“Just a bit, not unbearably,” answered Ilaria, still breathing heavily. “I think I'm starting to understand Diana.”
“Don't become a battle junkie like her, please,” said Kyle, feigning reproach. “That would be really unladylike.”
“See, complaining again,” said Ilaria, playfully. “Surely your next girl will be a fluffy, squealing little princess.”
“Maybe...” said Kyle, thoughtful. “You did squeal, though.”
“I didn't,” quickly denied Ilaria.
“You did,” reaffirmed Kyle, smirking. “You tried to cover it up, but I heard it.”