I

In a surprise to herself, Eva woke with the sun the next morning. Hideki lay next to her, sleeping. The crisp morning air felt good but smelt terribly. She knew she smelled like a latrine, but so did everyone else. Maybe—if all the cards aligned—she could find a place to take a bath. The stream she had spent the first two nights near was an option. She wasn’t sure where the majority of people went to draw water, but she’d rather not contaminate that source with her stank, so the old stream was her best bet.

She still had the soap from the first day, and she looked forward to using it to clean herself up as much as possible. Maybe she’d be able to find some shampoo for sale, but that would be a long shot. Something for her to look at after she got through gathering and training the twenty people as she’d been voluntold.

Once she had some food in her belly, Eva Observed✦ anyone around who looked like they had held a weapon in anger against monsters. There was a clear division between the people who had not participated in any combat and those who had. The people who stayed behind the walls were around level 3 or 4. The fighters were all at least level 5. It was those fighters at the low end that Eva was looking for. She found a group of three low level men eating breakfast. They all had monster hide armor and a crude spear they were either holding or within easy reach.

“‘Morning, folks,” she said as she approached them.

One of the men looked at her a little longer than necessary before he spoke.

“Uh, hi.”

“I need to get a group of fighters together for some training.”

“But why? We’re not strong,” the first man said.

“Great,” muttered one of the others.

“That’s exactly why you’re being chosen. You. Need. Training.”

“You’re only level 7, you’re not tough. If you want to do training, I could give you a goo—”

Eva Charged★ into the man, knocking him flat on his ass.

“You were saying?” she asked him. When she got no response beyond a groan, she continued. “That is exactly my point. You guys have weapons but don’t know how to use them. And I’m not talking about the spears in your hands. I’m talking about your bodies. Look what I was able to do just by moving. Monsters are going to fuck you up if you don’t get it together soon, so it has fallen to me to get your asses in gear.

“Get your stuff together. We’re going to gather a bigger training group, so I need you with me, ok?”

The men grumbled but assented.

Over the next hour, she picked up a motley crew of potential warriors. There had been a couple more times she had to show her superiority; but as she went, the larger the group got and the less often jerks attempted to pull a fast one.

II

Eva led the trainees to the dungeon. They were slow in traversing the distance, but they made it after another hour. Waiting for them at the dungeon were several groups of higher leveled people. Directing things was the lieutenant who gave out her patrol assignment the first night at the village.

“That’s quite the group you have there,” he said.

“They need training; and because I opened my big mouth, it’s now my job,” she complained.

“I hear you on that. So here’s the deal. The dungeon instances every ten minutes. What that means is every ten minutes the dungeon locks whoever is inside until they leave. At the same time, it opens a new version for other people to enter. The result is that every ten minutes on the Tutorial quest timer, another group can enter without messing with the previous group.”

“Ok, thanks for finding that out.”

The man glanced down at a notebook he was carrying.

“You have about an hour before you can go in if you’re doing the Basic▲ dungeon. Novice✦ is a shorter wait, and there is no wait for Journeyman★.”

“Thanks. I’ll be breaking them into four groups and sending them in one after the other. I’ll let them know.”

Eva hated this sort of thing. The public speaking she needed to do was even worse. Still, it was a job she had to do so it would get done and it would get done right. It was time to channel that drill instructor from Full Metal Jacket.

“Alright, listen up!” she barked at the trainees. “I need you to make four groups of five. We’ll be going into the dungeon in about an hour. While we wait, I will prepare you and set some rules as well.

“I will go into the dungeon with each group for five minutes to give you a heads up and make sure you’re ready to fight the monsters there. Then I will exit and join the next group in line. Now then, we’re going to go for a run to get you in shape!”

Many of the trainees groaned, but they followed her jog—their run—along the edge of the hill where the dungeon was. By the time they’d made the loop around, over, and back, there was little time for anything else besides catching their breath before the first group was due to head into the dungeon.

The first group consisted of four women and the husband of one of them. They checked their gear and walked into the dungeon when they were given clearance. Eva followed them inside.

“Ok,” she said, getting their attention. “Every room you go into will have monsters to fight. They are rabbits—and not the fluffy bunny foo-foo variety. They will hurt you and eat you if they can! I do not want any of you to fight the boss yet. You are not ready.

“I do not want any of you dying! I want you to work as a team to get this done. If I hear of any bullshit you shouldn’t be doing because you think I won’t know, I will make sure it never happens again, am I clear?”

She saw them nodding or speaking their affirmation.

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“Sometimes the monsters in the dungeon will drop shards. These are yours, but you need to share them amongst yourselves. You can—and should—use them to upgrade your equipment. Now, let’s go to the first room so I can see you in action!”

Eva followed the five trainees into the room. They formed into a rough wedge when they entered. The three rabbits in the room bounded towards the group while she looked on, ready to step in if anything went wrong. They talked amongst themselves as they fought the monsters. With the reach of their spears and their decent teamwork, they made quick work of the rabbit and moved on to the next room.

Eva monitored the group for two more rooms. She explained how the shards were used before she exited the dungeon to assist the next group of trainees with their first few rooms. Soon enough, she left the last group and she was alone. It would be at least another hour—possibly two—before the first group would be done with the dungeon. She had some time to burn!

III

“How long is the wait for Novice✦ right now?” she asked the man in charge.

“You can go now. The last group went in about 15 minutes ago, and there is no one queueing up at the moment.”

“Thanks. I’m not planning on doing the boss on my own, so I only expect to be in about an hour or so.”

“Good luck.”

Eva made her way into the cave and selected Novice✦ when presented with the choice. The inside was as she’d come to expect.

The dim light of the tunnels was truly a pain in the ass. With that in mind, and bolstered by her much larger mana regeneration than in days past, she Infused★ her sword with light. The sword brightened her surroundings about as well as a torch would have—without the detrimental flickering that fire had. The steady luminescence cast long shadows behind every nook and cranny along the walls. The floors were fairly smooth in comparison.

Eva took a step out into the first room where there were two rabbits waiting. Even though the light was shining on them, they did not react until her body crossed the threshold of the room. The rabbits turned in her direction and stared at her, unblinking. A shiver ran down her spine. Dungeons were strange places!

She was the first to break the standoff with a Charge✦. As she neared the rabbits, she was forced to Dodge★ one of the rabbits as it lunged at her in its own Charge. The momentarily boosted Stats made her attack fall faster than the second rabbit was expecting. Her sword sliced through the rabbit and left it dead on the ground.

The other rabbit wasn’t sitting still. It had turned around in the time it took her to end the first rabbit before jumping at her again. This time, there was no reason for her to avoid its attack. Instead, Eva Pierced✦ its head with her shortsword before sliding the rabbit corpse off of her blade and onto the floor.

It took around thirty seconds for the corpses to fade after being slain. She did not find any goodies left by the dungeon. It was time for the next room—but only after marking the room and exits down in her notebook to improve the Mapmaking▲ skill.

Eva made her way through the dungeon. It was slower than with Hideki, but she also didn’t have to share loot or experience. She used the quest timer to make sure she would be out before the trainees. After an hour of delving into the dungeon, she’d cleared 25 rooms. In that time, she picked up 14 Basic Augmentation Shards▲, 3 Novice Augmentation Shards✦, and 1 Novice Deletion Shard✦.

The biggest boon of the expedition was that Charge✦ ranked up. She chose the option that added distance to how far she could use the Skill. There were other choices like adding damage to enemies she rammed into using the Skill, but it wasn’t what she wanted. To her, it was a mobility Skill more than anything.

Journeyman Charge★ Lv 1

Agility and Strength increased by 21% for up to 10.1m

Gain 1.1% of damage dealt as health

Costs 5 Stamina to activate

Thanks to Mapmaking▲—which had gained another level—she was able to quickly exit the dungeon. She smiled when she learned that the groups under her watch had yet to return. That gave her some time to consider what she wanted to do with the currency she’d gained.

Four pieces of her gear were Novice✦ tier, namely her Boots of the Traveler✦, Hauberk✦, Helmet✦, and Shield✦. Coincidentally, that was how many of the Novice Augmentation Shards✦ she had. She decided to use one on each to see what she could get.

The Boots of the Traveler✦ now gave an extra 31 health. The Hauberk✦ gained a reduction of water damage by 10%, mirroring the fire version it already had. The Helmet✦ reduced the amount of critical damage taken by 5%. Finally, the Shield✦ gained the vaunted self-repair.

Interestingly enough, adding a second modifier to her gear did not change the tier. They would still be able to take at least one more Novice Augmentation Shard✦ before they needed a different tier version. Before the trainees were done, Eva turned her experience into more stats.

IV

Eva sat by the entrance to the cave. There was enough space there that she wouldn’t be in anyone’s way while she waited for the trainees to finish. At the same time, it allowed her a reprieve from the sun’s rays. She took a deep gulp of water from a water bottle before sticking it back into her backpack.

“Had a good run?” someone nearby asked.

She looked up at them. The person asking was a man in his forties with a group of people that looked like they’d just left the dungeon. A quick Observe✦ showed that all six of them were around level 8.

“Not bad. How did you guys do?”

“Boss wasn’t too bad. I think we’ll try Novice✦ later.”

“Beware of the Novice✦ boss. It’s definitely harder than the Basic▲ version.”

“You’ve beaten it?”

“Mhm.”

“Thanks for the tip. It was good meeting you. We’re going back to prepare for the monsters.”

“Good luck.”

Eva checked the time. They had a little over an hour and a half to get back to the village before the monster wave would come. She hoped the trainees would come out sooner rather than later as rushing there would leave them low on Stamina for the fight.

Several groups came out before the first of the groups she was waiting strode from the inner part of the cave. They looked a little beat up but otherwise in good spirits. Their levels had increased by one or two, so they’d had a fruitful adventure.

“Good work,” she told them.

“You’ve been waiting here the whole time?” one of them asked after nodding.

“I went into the Novice✦ dungeon for a bit. You’re the first out. Please head back to the village. Looks like there’s around an hour twenty left before the monsters show up.”

The group shuffled out and went on their way.

All but one of the groups came out from the dungeon in the next fifteen minutes. They were much like the first—a little bruised but with higher levels to show for it.

Eva began to worry as the minutes ticked by. With forty five left, there was the possibility that the final group hadn’t made it, or they’d encountered some problems. She decided to leave as soon as there was half an hour left as that would give her enough time to run back to the village before the monsters showed up. Her own experience took precedence over their safety. It might be harsh, but it wasn’t like she could do anything about it when the dungeon had instances.

Five minutes before she was due to leave, the final group stumbled their way out of the dungeon. Two of them were in good health, but the rest were struggling. They were bloody and limping with the healthy ones assisting the injured.

“What happened?” she asked them.

“We,” one of the healthy ones began, “we tried the boss.”

Eva imagined her head smacking a wall very, very hard. This was exactly what she was trying to avoid. Once they would get some Skills and levels, they’d be able to manage the boss. Straight away, this was one of the better outcomes. At least no one had died!

“Well, now you know why I told you not to!”

“We understand.”

“Be grateful that everyone made it out!” Eva sighed and gathered her though. “The important thing is that you’re working as a team. Learn from this because you don’t get second chances often.”

“Where is everyone?” a different man asked after a moment of silence.

“They went back to the village, which is where I am going. Since you’re not going to make the trip in time, stay here in the cave and defend yourselves from the monster wave. When it’s over, come back to the village.”

Eva got up and felt the jiggle of liquid against her hip.

“Oh, these should help,” she said, taking the health potions and handing them to the team. “They’re Health Potions✦. Should fix most things. Anyways, I’ll see you in town later, and we’ll be training again tomorrow. Good luck!”

“Thank you,” one of the injured members said quietly.