I

Eva looked toward the dungeon entrance and saw Hideki waiting with three others. She made her way over, introduced herself to the newest member—Yao—and entered the dungeon at the signal from the scheduler. The others entered soon after.

She turned to Hideki when they were all inside together.

“So,” she asked, “how do you want to do this?”

“You’ll be backup for the Novice✦ run,” he said. “We’ll need you up front when we get to Journeyman★. Take it easy and handle the mapping.”

“Sure,” she said before remembering what she needed to ask him. “Oh. When I killed the landwalker earlier, the notification from the System said it had been a Swordsman. Any idea what that’s about?”

“Was it at least level 10?”

“Yeah.”

“That was its class, then… I think, anyway.”

Eva nodded. That made some sense, considering Hideki was stuck at level 9 while awaiting enough experience to break through. If completing the first breakthrough was what unlocked classes, then it followed that the landwalker would have a class listed by the System while the level 9 human did not.

Not having to lead or do all that much was a welcome change of pace. It gave Eva time to think about the battle against the landwalkers earlier—about the mistakes she had made and what she’d done right. It hadn’t been a pretty fight, but she was able to get through it on the power of her Stats and Skills. Her execution and planning needed a bit of work, however. That the archer struck her with more than one arrow was an obvious standout. She should have been more strategic with her positioning to avoid that. The archer got away as well, and that irked her most of all.

The party took care of room after room while Eva used Mapmaking▲ to mark down each room they went through. The dungeon layout was different each time she entered, even if it was the same tier, and keeping track of it was incredibly important. The four doing the fighting weren’t bad, though it was Hideki who did most of the damage. He was level 9 while the others were level 7 or 8. He had a lot more experience in combat, and he’d learned from watching her fight every day.

Yao and Liz were competent enough. They had some skills she recognized—like Pierce—and a couple she didn’t that she could tell were a consequence of using a spear. Javier was almost as good as Hideki. He had a Skill where the tip of his spear would sparkle momentarily before impacting his target. It was some kind of fire elemental attack similar to what Infuse Weapon★ did for her, only more focused on the fire element.

After two hours, they reached the boss room. Eva probably wouldn’t need to do anything, but she was prepared just in case she would have to step in to save someone from the boss. The battle went relatively smoothly. Liz got stunned by the boss, but there were three others who were able to put the pressure on and keep her safe. Hideki got the last hit. They picked up the loot—a few shards—and made their way out of the dungeon.

Hideki beelined for the person in charge of scheduling before coming back some ten minutes later.

“We’re good to go for Journeyman★ now. There’re only a couple of groups running it, so there’s no queue. Eva, you’re in charge on this one.”

“Ok. Let’s get going.”

She stepped into the dungeon and selected journeyman. Soon after, the others entered.

“I haven’t tried this difficulty yet,” Eva said. “However, I expect it to be much the same as Novice✦, just with higher leveled enemies. I’ll be taking point.”

Eva moved forward to the first room, marking the room and their entry point with Mapmaking▲ before they entered the room. Inside the room were three enemies at level 13. She chose one and Charged★. With two teams of two fighting the other two enemies, Eva did not need to watch her back nearly as much as she would if she were on her own. As such, she was able to forgo the usual defensive tactics and attack with an air Infused★ strike.

Hideki and Javier made quick work of the second rabbit, while Liz and Yao took a little longer. After the carnage, there was a shard dropped that went to Yao after a quick game of rock-paper-scissors between him and Liz. Eva pulled out her paper and pen, and marked the room’s exits. It was on to the next room.

It took almost two hours to map out and fight all of the non-boss monsters. They’d found the boss room around halfway through the dungeon, but left it there for later since killing the boss would mean the end of the dungeon. It was considerably faster to complete as a team than if Eva had tried on her own.

“So, boss time,” she said on the walk back to the boss room. “I don’t know what new tricks this version has over the Novice✦ and Basic▲ ones, but I would be cautious just in case. Hideki and I had a difficult time against the Novice✦ boss, so I am hopeful that we’ll have an easier time now that it’s five people. We know it’ll be faster and have that stunning ability, so be prepared for that. Otherwise, we’ll keep the same formation with me in front.”

The others acknowledged her decision. She walked into the boss room cautiously. The boss was larger than before, but not as much as between Basic▲ and Novice✦. It looked angrier, and it exuded an aura that felt like hatred. It turned in her direction as soon as she crossed the boundary of the room.

Eva Infused★ her shortsword with air and Charged★ the boss. The monster met her halfway. The rabbit’s claws were several inches long and razor sharp—not something to be taken lightly. When it swung them at her, she was forced to Dodge★ instead of landing a blow of her own.

When the others began to flank the rabbit, the monster unleashed its stunning skill. Eva was prepared for it—as were most of the others—but Yao was caught by the effect and left rooted to the ground where he stood. She yelled and swung her sword at the boss, but it Dodged out of the way—right into Liz’s awaiting spear. The tip of the spear dug into the monster and then popped out.

Next to attack was Hideki. His sword bit into the rabbit a little deeper than the spear had. It was a long, bleeding gash. Not anywhere close to fatal or even debilitating, but it was a start. Eva swung her sword again, and again the boss Dodged.

The boss turned from her and attacked the stationary Yao with a swipe of its claws. He fell hard to the ground and, though he had the wind knocked from him, he was able to move again. He was bleeding from where the claws had sliced through his armor, but was otherwise ok.

Javier poked the boss with his spear, doing around as much damage as Liz had. Eva finally got a hit in when she Charged★ and Pierced✦ the boss with her sword. She had to immediately Dodge★ the counterattack, but a significant amount of damage had been done. The rabbit was bleeding heavily from the puncture wound and growled in her direction. It was then that they learned the new Skill the Journeyman★ boss had.

The monster opened its mouth and Bit down on Liz’s spear, shattering it. Another Bite came against Javier’s leg, severing it. The final Bite was towards Eva, but her Stats allowed her to successfully Dodge★ it. With the Stat boost, she struck back. Her blade Pierced✦ the boss’ heart, ending its life a few moments later.

Javier lay on the ground screaming. Blood poured from the stump. Hideki did his best to staunch the bleeding while Eva searched for the leg. With healing potions, she was unsure if limbs would regrow or not. They were still somewhat new to her. Even in the Training she’d done, she never had a situation like this that hadn’t ended with her dying. There was also what Alexandra had written in the letters about potions being weaker in the real world than in the Training. She didn’t want to take any chances.

Eva found the mangled limb several paces from the now dissolving boss. She shuddered at the gruesome sight. It was one thing when she killed her enemies cleanly and something else entirely when an ally had a limb torn from his body!

She returned to Javier with the leg and produced one of her health potions, which she gave to Liz. Eva held the mangled leg to the stump while Liz forced the potion down the throat of a still screaming Javier. Like magic, the touching flesh knit itself back together. The bleeding slowed but did not stop completely. It took another potion before he was able to stand on his own.

When the boss finished dissolving, it left a small pile of shards behind to divide between everyone. Javier gave his share to Eva as payment for the potions. Though it didn’t remotely cover the costs, it was at least a worthy attempt. Despite the dicey ending, she was able to come out ahead with a fair amount of shards. They would be enough to see her stock up on Health Potions again for future expeditions while having plenty of Basic Shards▲ left over for other trading.

Once outside the dungeon, Eva said goodbye to everyone besides Hideki. She wanted to talk to him about moving to the dungeon town area the following day.

“I was thinking of staying here overnight starting tomorrow,” she said. “I have to train some people in the morning and told them I’d meet them in the village, so I’ll make something here after that’s done with. Do you want to join me here?”

“That would be nice,” he blushed.

“We can work on making a nicer place to stay, maybe figure out how to make a bed that doesn’t involve leaves.”

“Sure, that sounds good.”

“Great! I need to put in some time on the schedule for the trainees then we can go back.”

“Ok. I’ll wait for you by the entrance to the cave.”

Eva found the man who was in charge of the schedules and marked four slots the following morning around 10 am for the trainees. That would give them three hours to go through the dungeon before the monsters came. She also let him know about the Journeyman★ boss’ new Skill in the hopes that what happened to Javier wouldn’t happen to more people.

II

On the way back, Hideki used his Light spell to show them the way in the dark. Though the soft light and darkness made for a rather disorienting feeling, Mapmaking▲ kept her on course. She looked at Hideki and saw him deep in thought.

“How was the haul from the dungeon for you?” she asked.

“The haul?”

“How did you do experience wise? Were you able to break through?”

“Oh, yes. I got my level up to 10. I have to choose a Class.”

“Oh? That’s exciting!”

“It’s a big decision. The message I got says I can’t change it once I pick, and that I have to pick before time runs out, or a random one will be chosen for me.”

“How long do you have left?”

“Five minutes.”

“Damn.”

“Mhm.”

“So what are you thinking?”

“Well, there are a bunch I’m not interested in, so that part is easy. The issue is that it looks like I have to decide between magic Classes, physical Classes, or a hybrid of the two. Warrior✦ is a Novice✦ tier Class that I could take, and so is Light Mage✦. There’s also a Light Warrior✶ Class that is Adept✶ level that seems intriguing, but I don’t know if taking it means I’ll be both a worse Warrior✦ and a worse Light Mage✦ than if I go with one of the focused ones.”

“I can see what you mean. On the other hand, what’s to say that the hybrid Class doesn’t have some bonuses to both at the same time that make you come out ahead when using Skills or weapons that apply to both at the same time?”

“That’s a good point I hadn’t thought of. Ugh, it’s a difficult choice.”

“If it were me, I wouldn’t give up on magic, but I also wouldn’t give up on beating things to death either. Maybe it’s weaker, but it would keep your options more open, too. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help. You got to this point before me.”

“I don’t have much time left,” Hideki mumbled to himself. “Ok, I’ll choose this one.”

A bright flash of light enveloped Hideki before dissipating. It left Eva blinded for a few seconds. When she could see well enough again, she Observed✦ Hideki.

Hideki, Level 10 Human Light Warrior

“Oh, wow,” he said.

“Any changes?”

“Nothing immediately, but I have one Class point to spend. The skill tree is more like a skill web with four general paths it looks like. The first is a spear path, which I probably won’t be doing since I’m using swords now. The second is a sword path. The third is a light magic path. The fourth is Stat related. I could focus on one or two of them. I’m not sure how many Class skill points there will be, but I would say that three would be pushing my luck. I’m going to put my first point into something on the sword side of things. It will give me added strength when using a sword.”

“That’s pretty cool. I can’t wait to see what Classes I’ll get to choose from!”

“It is exciting, isn’t it?” Hideki smiled.

“For sure. I hit level 9 after doing the dungeons, so I should be getting pretty close now. I hope it will be tomorrow.”

“Good luck.”

Eva nodded. Soon after their discussion, they arrived at the village and made their way to their lean-to. They cuddled by the fire for a while before going to sleep.