Dungeon Core Online

Chapter 25

"You ranked up without me?" Rue was finally awake from her rest, staring at James with her hands on her hips, glaring at him. The pixie had woken up shortly after he finished upgrading his dickens, climbing disheveled from her tent, wiping sleep from her eyes. She went from tired cute to awake angry really quickly when he mentioned he had ranked up

"Well, you snooze you lose." James couldn't help it. She had left him alone for over 8 hours while she slept. What else was he supposed to do? Count sheep?

Rue opened her mouth, likely ready to launch a string of curses at him, before she stopped herself. She took in a deep breath, and let it out, trying to calm herself. "So, what did you choose to do?"

"Well, I could tell you." James was loving this. For the first day, all during the tutorial, Rue had the upper hand. She knew everything, and he had to constantly beg and ask for any and all information. Now though, James knew something she didn't.

"Glyax-" Rue's eyes narrowed. She could hate this all she wanted, but revenge was oh so sweet.

"How about you just sit back, and see what I did?" James pulled up a window, the first new instance since he had ranked up. He could hardly stop himself from breaking out in laughter as he saw the group walking towards the door. The Knights Who Go Ni were back. They were definitely a hardcore group. The only time they weren't in the dungeon, was when they had their cooldown timers on.

"Everyone ready to go storm the castle?" Z was grinning at his friends as they stood before the doorway, once again preparing to dive. The other chuckled and nodded. They were having a good time, even if they had just been defeated an hour ago by Old Man Jenkins for the second time.

"Yeah, we're avoiding the boss for now, right?" Oak's comment made Z wince, but the leader quickly regained his composure, grinning.

"Yup. Let's wait till level 5-"

"-6." Oak cut Z off. "We agreed to wait till level 6. That way we all have our level 5 skills, and can get our level 6 gear. Those stat boosts for level 6 gear are bound to be helpful."

Z raised his hand, smiling sheepishly. "Right, level 6. We will try again at the boss when we are level 6." He swiped his hand, a motion James had gotten used to from adventurers, as the guild leader looked at his screen.

"So, 300xp for level 4, and if it follows the trend, 400xp till level 5, and 500 xp to get to level 6. We need 1200 more xp guys." Z let out a sigh, as he closed the screen. "Going to be a lot grinding to get there quick."

The others nodded their heads, and Z led the group into the first floor. As they set off, looking around for clusters of mobs, James was curious just how much experience they had been getting from mobs. He was about to ask Rue, before he bit his tongue. James figured it wouldn't be wise to ask her a question right now, since he was currently keeping her in the dark. So, hopefully Z's group would mention their experience gain instead.

"Alright Oak you know what we gotta do." Z's voice drew James from his contemplation back to the instance, and he saw the group was approaching their first mob of the instance, a Mad Cow.

"I hate fighting these guys." Oak drew his sword and shield, and then turned towards Z.

"Yeah, well we know they seem to agro onto guys who are bleeding, and seem to take more damage when they are enraged." Z drew a dagger from his side, and grinned as he cut a slash across Oak's face, drawing a line of blood. The warrior rubbed the wound, covering the top of his face with the fresh blood.

"Oh, what do you call a cow with no legs?" His voice carried across the field towards the Mad Cow, causing the beast to look up from its grazing, turning its eyes towards Oak. The Mad Cow took note of the blood on the warriors face, and its eyes narrowed. The beast let out a snort.

"Ground Beef!" The group let out groans at his joke, even as the mad cow started to glow, steam rising from its body as it charged. "Moooooooooooooooo."

Oak held his shield before him as the cow charged towards him. Just as the beast neared him, Oak sidestepped the beast, slashing at its side with his sword. "Ole." He cried out with a grin. The mad cow simply snorted and bucked, kicking his shield and sending him flying.

"You'd think he would have learned." Z and the others were laughing at the leader's comment, as they began launching their attacks at the Mad Cow. Arrows sprouted from the beast's side, while a magic missile smashed into the side of its head. The cow simply snorted and turned, ignoring the attacks as it focused on Oak.

"Eh, tis but a scratch." Oak managed to get out, before the bull smashed into his shield, its horns punching through it, lifting him up.

"This guy seem a little tougher than before?" Faust seemed to be the first to notice the mobs had gotten stronger, as he launched another magic missile into the cow. If James had to guess, the mage was taking note of how many attacks the group needed to kill certain mobs, to manage his mp. It was a common aspect players in games would take note of, especially those who had to manage mp usage.

"Not that you mention it." Oak was still clinging to his impaled shield, as he stabbed down at the mad cow's eye with his sword. The blade drove in deep, and the cow seemed to slow. James could tell the beast was nearing its limit. "His kick did more damage than before."

A feather sprouted from the mad cow's other eye, and the beast was defeated. The group all circled around it, collecting their loot, as they looked at their screens.

"Looks like the mob leveled up." Elm made the comment as he glanced from the mad cow to the group. "He was level 2 this time. Had more hp, def, and atk. He also gave us more experience."

Z looked down at his screen at Elm's comment, a grin crossing his face. "Did you all gain 2 experience points too?" The others grinned as they nodded. "So, it seems the dungeon has already started to grow, meaning our enemies are going to be tougher, but offer more experience. If we are going to get double the experience now from all mobs, that means a single mob clearing run should net us each-" Z closed his eyes, and James could tell the adventurer was doing some quick math.

He was extremely interested in hearing just how much experience the group would get from a clear of the mobs. James also figured the group was splitting experience, which was a common enough mechanic for games. If each of the members had received 2 experience from the level 2 Mad Cow, he was guessing a Mad Cow was worth 10 experience. There had to be a way for him to check how much experience his mobs offered adventurers, and James made a mental note to glance at his Mob Screen once Z's group was done diving.

"-at least 40 experience points per party member for a single clear." Faust commented before Z could finish counting. Of course the gamer choosing to be a mage would be faster at math. "As long as this instance fills up, we can probably snipe mobs as well, like we have been. I think our record is slaying 10 sets of mobs before the floor got empty?"

"Yeah, I think you're right." Z was nodding, as the others started to grin. "So, if we can do that again, we can each gain over 400 experience in this single instance. If clearing the whole floor is going to take us about 2 hours, plus an hour penalty every time we clear, then we can be level 6, and ready to take on the boss again, in about 12 hours."

"What are we waiting for?" Oak's comment, as the warrior turned head deeper into the dungeon, was met with cheers.

"Think they'll take down Old Man Jenkins?" Rue as looking from the party to James, while sipping what appeared to be hot chocolate, complete with marshmallows. Part of James was growing jealous at her ability to eat and drink. He didn't realize he would miss such things.

"We will see in 12 hours." James paused as he looked around the group, and found himself grinning. The nearest set of mobs to the group, was a group that consisted of a sacrificial lamb, and a flock of dickens. James highly doubted the mobs would kill Z's group. But that didn't mean the fight wouldn't be highly amusing.

"For now, you're going to want to watch this fight." James couldn't help but chuckle in anticipation, as he watched The Knights Who Go Ni advance on the mobs. They were definitely not prepared for what was in store. He cast a sidelong glance at Rue, who was gingerly sipping on her drink. Neither was she.