So, we hit 700 followers, great things!

Also, Expect another chapter in less than 12 hours~. I've got some traveling to do, so it'll be after that. Sorry about the lack of chapter yesterday, just couldn't finish it :/

Little crying here ---> Spoiler : Noo, my 5th star is almost gone from my rating! So sad

Enjoy the chapter!

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The first thing Steel did after recovering from his ordeal was check the notification he had received.

Status UpdateAfter repeated instances of curse damage with survival, you have acquired the skill "Curse Resistance".

Skill Name:Skill Rarity:Skill Rank:Skill Experience:Curse ResistenceBF35%You've taken so much curse damage ans survived that your mind and body have gained resistance to itPassive Effects:All curses directed at you decrease in strength by 5%. 2% chance of a curse failing to be cast on youCosts:N/ACool downN/A

'Well, at least the pain gave me something.' He thought with a somber chuckle. He got up and helped the other two clean up the camp and back the tents. Well, they took the tents down, he merely added them back to his inventory. Another weird difference between travelers and NPCs, but it didn't faze either Mary or Echo. Once finished, they set back on to the path toward the dungeon.

Today was the fifth day, and supposedly the dungeon would be stable enough for raiding. Steel was already exited, and he rubbed the small dark pink crystal in his pocket. If what the captain had told him was true, he'd have a chance to see her face again.

A notification alerted him to something in his inventory. Worried, Steel brought out the egg and watched as it trembled in his hand. Mary, Echo, and Whisper gathered around, curious and excited. The egg was making the occasional shudder in Steel's hands, and had changed a lot since he had last held it.

The egg had lost all it's softness, and was now hard and firm in his hand. Instead of pure black as it had been before, small swirls of green and red flowed over the egg like rivers in the blackness.

Mary clapped her hands excitedly, "My goodness, your egg is about to hatch!"

Steel held it up to sun and stared at it, "That's great and all, but I think it's poisoned. This red and green color was not on there originally."

Mary shook her head, "No you silly boy it's not poisoned. That's a monster egg isn't it? You got it from the alpha wolf, in that wellspring of darkness mana. It absorbed the darkness mana and became black. While it's been with you, it's absorbed your earth mana and....my fire mana." Mary blushed and bowed her head in apology.

Steel waved her off, "It's alright, I already forgave you. So, does the mana affect what it becomes?"

Mary shrugged, "Unfortunately, that's the limit of what I know. Magic beasts weren't my specialty at the tower."

Steel eyed the shuddering egg, "Well, anything else you can tell me about it?"

Mary nodded, "They wake up hungry."

On that pleasant note, the egg jumped out of Steel's hands and floated in the air. It shone brightly and sank slowly to the ground. As the light faded, it's occupant was revealed to the world.

It was a puppy, rather, a wolf youngling. It was curled up on it's side, eyes closed and paws twitching. It was covered in black fur, except for it's paws; they were a mix of red and green colors. The pup yawned and stretched out before opening it's eyes and seeing the world for the first time. It tilted it's head up at the group and barked a high pitched yip.

Steel laughed, than activated his Shield of Friendship and Charm before giving a leftover piece of meat to the pup. It pounced on the meal and gnawed on it cutely. Steel bent over and put his hand on the pup's head, scratching it. It arched it's head up to meet the hand while trying to lift the food with it's mouth. Mary giggled at the sight.

You have successfully tamed a [Demon Wolf, variant]{Pup}Please enter a name for your new companion___________

Eyeing the adorable ball of fur, Steel typed in a name for it.

Name has been entered as "Shadefur"You have successfully entered into a pet contract with Shadefur and have access to his companion status menu

Companion AcquiredShadefurTypeMasterHealthLevelDemon wolf, variantSteel50/501Attack/Defense25/15SkillsRapid bite

Smokescreen

Paw Swipe

Tackle

Earth Claw

Fire ClawDescription:A companion born from the egg drooped by an Alpha demon wolf. It was raised in a battle intensive environment, granting a bonus to attack and a penalty to health. The high concentration of earth and fire mana in it's vicinity was absorbed into the egg, allowing for the pup to gain affinities in both, becoming a rare variant demon wolf.

A sign appeared on Shadefur's side above her back leg, a shield emblem. Apparently, the system marked his things with shields now. Steel nodded and smiled. "Welcome Shadefur to the Shield Scout Squad."

Shadefur cocked her head at Steel, than leaned over and howled. Before the group's eyes, she grew from a pup to a full grown wolf in seconds. Finished with her transformation, she swallowed the meat down in one gulp and sat on her haunches, her eyes pleading.

Sighing, Steel checked his inventory. The only meat left were from the ruined skewers, which he gave to her hesitantly. He needent have bothered, because Shadefur drowned all three skewers in an instant and gave a canine grin with her tongue hanging out the side as she panted.

Mary and Steel couldn't hold back any longer, and threw themselves onto the wolf with massive hugs.

"So soft, so warm." Steel muttered.

"What a perfect body pillow." Mary sighed.

Echo shrugged and patted the wolf on the back, welcoming her into the group.

Shadefur struggled, but could not escape the tight grip of the two fluffy lovers. She eventually gave up, and activated dead weight. Not really a skill, but the sudden loss of stability broke their hold long enough for her to escape their grasp. Steel shook his head, the feeling leaving him.

"That's a pretty terrifying ability you have there Shady, you really got me with that soft fur of yours." He turned back toward the path, "Alright guys, back to the adventure and dungeon raiding!" They walked along the path in his head, one member higher than before.(right meaning, wrong words :/ Need a better way to say this)

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Instead of the longer way around the forest, Steel led the group straight through the grassland area into the forest. Thankfully, there were no Trap Plants along their path to fight, meaning that the plants had moved again during one of the nights. Oddly enough, they soon came across a recently cut path that moved through the forest. They found a little sign post on the side of the road:

Dungeon <---

"Well, what do you know, those merchant fellows can get things done fast." Steel exclaimed in amazement.

Mary nodded, "When there is money to be made, the merchant classes swarm and get things done as swift as possible. Master Yorick himself helped to reduce the time to make the city from 10 years to 4. Without their gold and political influence, very little would be done in Rostwood. It's different at places like the capital and other long established cities due to the nobles and such, but even then merchants hold a lot o power in the human kingdom."

They followed the path through the forest for a while, and before long they began to hear the sounds of voices and chatting through the trees. The path opened up into the clearing of rocks, and Steel was amazed at the scene before him.

Before, this area had been a flatland leading up into a hill of stones and boulders. Now, the flatland looked like a base camp of an army, and buildings were being built all around and through it. There was a inn, tavern, guard house, and a few merchant buildings that were brand new, and a few buildings still being made. There was even what looked like a stall run by the mages.

"Mary, why is there a mage run shop here?"

Smiling at the shop, she replied, "Dungeon monsters always contain monster cores, and sometimes drop them when they are defeated. The most common cores can be ground down into mana potions, but it takes a lot of cores to do so. Higher ranked cores can be used for all sorts of things, from enchanting to spell casting. My father has an agreement with Master Yorick; they help build things for the guild with magic, and the mages can have their own store at any location. They are also drinking buddies, so that helps too."

"So that's why the buildings were set up so fast. It makes sense I guess." Steel mused to himself, "So, shall we head up to the dungeon?"

They made their way down to the miniature town and strolled through it. The merchants stores that were up were selling weapons, armor, and potions to the adventurous and bold, and had signs up advertising their buying prices for loot from the dungeon.

They ignored everything however, and soon left the buildings for the rocky hill in front of them. Steel noticed a few players in the area, most likely here by coincidence. Steel had no doubt that this place would become a bustling player attraction when word got out. That was the main reason why he had come on the first day with Mary, to avoid the large crowds that might stress her out; or at least prevent her from being nervous.

He passed the last rock, and there it was; the entrance to the dungeon. It was bigger than he remembered, and torches inside outlined the tunnel within. More players were here at the entrance, and a few small merchant stalls as well. Those stalls only had potions, but were obviously here to buy as much as they could from returning raiders.

As they approached, Steel noticed some guards standing in front of the entrance. They were standing beside a booth, and it was obvious they were not city guards like Steel was. "Wait here a moment guys, I'll be right back to check on something." He told the others, and he walked up to the booth.

There, he found a man taking payment from adventurer's before they went in. "What's this here?" He asked.

The man behind the booth, bald and bulky, said in a bored tone, "5 silvers to enter, 15 for a month's pass."

Steel couldn't believe it, the merchants were charging people to enter the dungeon! "Is this legal? Isn't the dungeon a free spot for anyone to enter."

The man chuckled and wagged his finger, "Boy, the guard of Rostwood fought tooth and nail to conquer this dungeon at great cost. They installed the heart crystal, meaning they own the dungeon and the rights to it; which makes it an asset of the city. The merchant guild has been charged to utilize this resource to the best of it's profitability, so that means charging for entrance. Besides, if you do well with loot in there, I'm sure you'll make a profit anyway. Now, do we have a problem, boy?"

The two guards inched close in subtle warning. Steel was not impressed, and folded his arms. "That seems kinda low don't you think? I myself helped in the subjugation, do I have to pay as well?"

The man laughed, "You don't look like much boy, least of all a guard. . . " He stopped laughing when Steel showed him his guard emblem. The man coughed and corrected himself, "Apologies corporal, I didn't realize. . . "

"No, you didn't." Steel interrupted, "So do I have to pay or not?"

Coughing, then man fanned his red face, "You do sir, but for helping to subjugate this dungeon, you receive a discount. Would you like to enter today?"

Steel nodded, "Yes, and I am escorting the Archmage's daughter as well. Will she have to pay?"

Paling, the man shook his head. "Your group can go in for free sir. Thank you for your business." He croaked out.

Steel turned from the booth and walked away with a smirk. He dispelled Charm and chuckled to himself how easy it was to get things for free when you knew people. We walked back to where he had left the others, but they were missing. Looking around, he spotted Mary and Echo being cornered by groups of players against one of the rocks. As he hurried over, he began to hear what they were saying:

"Miss, your very strong and beautiful. One such as yourself should join my raiding group, we'd even protect your servant."

"Idiot, my group is the strongest here, she should come with me instead."

"Sister, you have a such a cute wolf pet! Join up with us girls and ignore these filthy men."

"Filthy, who are calling filthy? It's not like your any cleaner!"

Steel pushed his way through the arguing crowd and popped out in front of Echo, who was putting his body in front of Mary like a shield. Mary herself looked very nervous and embarrassed, not a trace of her former arrogance anywhere. She obviously was not used to people treating her so casually, but she seemed more scared than angry.

"Come my lady, your humble guard has returned to escort you into the dungeon." He bowed to her and held out his hand. Shadowfur barked happily and rubbed herself against him. Mary's face changed in an instant, regaining her regal look.

"Thank you sir guard, you are most appreciated for your assistance." She turned to the crowd, "I'm sorry to say I'm already being escorted by this young gentleman. Thank you all for your kind offers."

They made their way through the crowd, ignoring the protests and mutters of annoyance. As they came out of the crowd, they found their path blocked by a group led by a very arrogant looking man.

He had the (filthy casual) stereotypical long, blonde hair with a chiseled jaw and handsome face. He spoke in an arrogant tone, "Young miss, forgive my impudence but we are the most suited to leading you into this dangerous dungeon. We are the Hero Party and would gladly escort you past all dangers. We would even lead you safely back to your father at the tower."

Steel narrowed his eyes. The jerk clearly could see Mary's identity and was trying to use her to gain favor. He could here the people behind him whispering.

"That's the Hero Party, the strongest in Rostwood."

"Yeah, see him there; that's the leader Lancelot. He got a rare knight class and took care of that band of thieves in the city."

"My favorite is Mistarrow, he's the best ranger ever!"

"You idiot, the elf player Stalk is the best. Now Iceseer, shes an ice mage and her cold beauty is so amazing."

Steel ignored the rest of the peanut gallery. He already recognized the barbarian looking woman and the pyromaniac from the expedition. They totaled 5, and were all level 3. Steel didn't like his chances if things came down to a fight. Even though their names were clearly original and so complicated; okay so he may have been laughing on the inside.

Mary frowned at Lancelot, "Sir, I have no need for any more assistance, please get out of our way."

He smirked, "Come on now, we are clearly more experienced than this chump with you. We even have two veterans who have been through this dungeon before, during the original raid." His boasts were met with wonder and respect from the peanut gallery.

Mary shook her head, "My guard is stronger than any of you and has also been through the dungeon. Again, I ask that you step aside."

Lancelot frowned, clearly annoyed his boasts hadn't had any effect. He eyed Steel up and looked above his head, eyes widening in surprise at Steel's level. A player could see the names of anyone they looked at, and if they concentrated the level and class would come up as well; as long as it was not too high a difference."

"Hey player, I bet this is an important quest and all, but why don't you let us finish it? You'd be well compensated for your troubles." He switched tack to coerce Steel now.

Steel wasn't having any of it, "I refuse. Now please leave."

Lancelot gripped his sword, "In that case, I chal. . . " A sudden fireball knocked the knight away and blew him back into the crowd. Steel turned to see Mary put her hand down.

"Anyone else want to get in my way?" She asked innocently. The crowd was silent and turned to find something else to do. The other members of the Hero Party left and ran to check on their leader. Mary turned to Steel with a smile, "Okay, lead ahead Steel."

Steel was suddenly reminded of the time she had exploded in anger in front of him. Even if he didn't like the guy, he still felt pity for the knight. They passed the booth man, who waved them in without a second glance, and entered the dungeon.

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I have to leave for a long drive, so I'm sorry for the spelling mistakes. I'll fix it while I write today's second chapter.

Peace.