Circe got a bow when the other team cleared 1G.

  Armed with two ranged attackers, it was a lot easier to chase the monsters into a corner and then shoot them down. They ended up spending more time waiting for their mana and stamina to regenerate than they did actually fighting.

  They all leveled while clearing their third square and most of them got as a passive. The exception was Judah and the Tanks. Judah earned himself , which allowed him to start participating in the fights and the Tanks both earned a taunt.

  After clearing the first column, they all met back up at 1E to compare notes.

  Penelope glanced at the timer on her menu. It was almost four in the afternoon and they still needed to clear at least the next column, which was going to take them four hours to do and that was still going to have them behind.

  “What are you doing?” Frederica glared at Patrick, who was using one of the Shadow Assassin’s swords from 1A to peel the carapace off one of the Demonic Ants from 1D.

  “People are going to be getting hungry.” Patrick pushed the rounded shell towards Judah. “Fireboy, can you heat that up?”

  “You want us to eat bug meat?” Frederica turned green. “I’m going to be sick.”

  “The next column is a bug and a bat.” Ula laughed. “I don’t think it’s getting any better!”

  “We still need water.” Eldri held up a sling of potions. “These aren’t going to go very far, especially if you cook that enough to kill off any parasites that might be in it.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it’s cooked well enough.” Patrick sliced off a slab of meat and threw it in the carapace cooking pan. “Alright, let’s try this!”

  Penelope closed her eyes as she thought about what to do next.

  “The water and ice spells are on column four.” Jeru reminded her. “You’re not going to reach that until near the end of tomorrow.”

  I can get at level three, convert it to

  and get us water that way. Penelope opened her eyes and looked at the monsters in front of her. The Shadow Poisoner was her least favorite of all the Shadows and it didn’t help that this particular Demon had killed her friends more than any other Demon in the Dungeon.

  “You’re already creating questions in the others because of how much you know.” Jeru clicked his tongue. “There’s a limit to how much stuff you can claim you’re ‘importing’ from a tabletop game.”

  It’s just a matter of time before they realize where my job levels are at. Penelope cast , but kept the spell in her hand, letting the spell change shape in her palm as she looked at the monsters in the next column.

  “Just because it’s an eventuality doesn’t mean that you need to rush it.” Jeru floated in front of her. “These people are scared and if you keep doing incredible things, some of them are going to fear you instead of admiring you.”

  I’ll keep that in mind. Penelope let the spell evaporate in her hand as she turned around.

  “Be careful messing around with the fire; we don’t have any water to put it out if you catch yourself on fire.” Frederica snapped at the two men who were experimenting with cooking ant meat.

  “Water is going to be a problem…” Ula looked over at Penelope. “In your game, how did you get water?”

  “There was a spell for it.” Penelope shrugged. “Anyone with a water or ice spell could fill a container and we’d have drinking water.”

  “Maybe that’s the spell that you should try to get the next time you level up?” Ula took a deep breath. “That sulfur water will keep us from dehydrating, but that’s about it.”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “The skills and spells you learn don’t work like that.” Penelope took a deep breath. “Once you pick an element, you’ll only learn spells and skills that are from that elemental affinity or ones that don’t have an affinity.” She tapped her temple. “Like . It doesn’t have an elemental affinity, nor does it have a stat restriction, but that’s a completely different thing.”

  “So you’re saying that because none of us have a water or ice affinity, we won’t learn how to make water?” Ula took a deep breath. “We should have brought a water Caster down here with us.”

  “The Shadows should be able to drop spell or skill scrolls and some of their enchanted gear could have the spell as well.” Penelope winced as Ula turned to glare at her.

  “You knew that none of us were going to be able to make water and you didn’t bring someone along who could on the off chance that there was an item down here that would do it for you?” The older woman cupped her eyes with her hand. “Seriously, girl? What were you thinking?”

  Penelope took a deep breath.

  “Don’t do it.” Jeru cut off her defense before it started.

  She let out the breath and hung her head. “Sorry.”

  “You’ve got an amazing head on your shoulders and I know we’ve done better with you giving us tips than we would have if we had just come down here without you.” Ula put her hand on Penelope’s shoulder. “But you’ve got to make sure you cover all your angles. You can’t rely on there being the item we need down here.” She pointed at the monsters. “This isn’t a game where the person who designed the floor has left you all the supplies you need to reach the end. This is real life and in the real world, you rarely get everything you need handed to you.”

  “Sorry.” Penelope looked down at her hands. “Maybe there’s a way that I could change the element of my spells. In the game there was this spell called

  that would change a light spell into any other element.”

  “That would be helpful.” Ula nodded. “We’ll have to get back to it and see if we can’t level you up and maybe you’ll learn it.”

  “Cheater.” Jeru stuck out his tongue.

  I’m just using what I have available to me.

  “You know that your ‘knowledge’ of this place is going to work against you the moment the Elves get here.” Jeru eyed her. “People talk and that you had extra information is going to get back to the higher-ups.”

  Are you telling me that there is no way that one of your Elf Casters didn’t make a game using similar rules to this system and hide it on Earth for Humans on the off chance they ever got brought to a system planet?

  “Is it possible? Sure. But you’re betting the whole loop that the Council buys that and further that the Demons don’t know you’re full of it when they inevitably hear about it.”

  Fine, I’ll tone it down with the revelations from the game. Penelope looked at the older woman beside her. “When are we going to start back up?”

  “The boys are having their fun trying to burn the bug meat.” Ula laughed as the fireball Judah tried to hold under the carapace popped like a balloon. “We’ll give them a few more minutes to play, then head in there.” She pointed at 2E.

  “Um, maybe we should start at the top?” Penelope winced as she struggled to think of a reason to start with the other square without revealing how difficult Shadow Poisoners were to fight.

  “And why’s that?” Ula looked to her left towards 2A.

  “You don’t have a weapon yet and Patrick doesn’t have any gear either.” Penelope pointed at the Shadow Swordsman in 2D. “It would be better to start with a square that has gear that we need rather than one that won’t give us anything.”

  Ula rubbed her chin for a moment, then nodded. “You’ve got a good point. Right now, I’m just standing in the back with Marlow and Riva while you and Circe kill everything.” She clapped her hands. “We’ll start with 2D to get me a weapon and Pat some gear, then we can figure out where to go from there.” She patted Penelope on the shoulder. “See? That’s what I mean about thinking with your head!”

  Penelope let the nervous grin she’d been suppressing cover her face. “Thanks.”

  “Alright, you go get ready and I’ll round up the others.” Ula looked over at where Patrick was holding up a white steak. There was a pile of black ones beside him, but the balding man wore a look of triumph that he’d managed to cook a single piece of meat without burning it.

  “I’m ready.” Penelope twisted out of the older woman’s grip and headed over to the barrier. She clutched the wand that she’d received from beating 1A and touched the necklace that she’d earned from 1C. Both items increased her Magic by one and with the level, her Magic was up to 14.

  “Still is going to take two hits to kill a bat and four for the beetles.” Jeru shrugged. “They don’t have big eyes to aim for like the ants.”

  I’ve got this. Penelope took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves. I only need to clear two squares to hit level three and then we’ll have water and that’s the last thing I’ve got to worry about.

  “You hope.” Jeru corrected. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned about the loops, it’s that you can’t always predict when you’re going to have trouble.”

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