“Ready?” Tarrion asked me after I came outside.

  “Yeah, sorry. Wanted to talk to Lapis about the quests. Ok, let’s go,” I said.

  “Yes,” Tarrion said, turning to go.

  Our party was bigger compared to the last time we went into the dungeon. We had Alragus with us this time. Alragus might’ve been level twelve, but his presence was very well felt, both in size and demeanor. He was big. Bigger than an average human. Add to that his beastly looking armor he was wearing and he could intimidate any average adventurer. I said average because a half decent higher level adventurer wouldn’t judge people by the looks only. They would also be more familiar with the equipment other people wore and would be able to deduct what level the person in question actually was. Still, having confidence in yourself and looking fearsome was a benefit, not a detriment.

  “Mind showing me your stats with your new equipment on, Furball?” Tarrion asked as we walked through the city’s gate. Tarrion, Alragus and I were walking at the front, with the women walking several steps behind us.

  Oh, someone’s curious. I grinned inside.

  “All of my equipment? Sure,” I said before taking out and equipping my shields. “Here you go.”

  ***

  Rockin Starling. Level 9.

  Class: Shielder.

  Character Stats:

  Stamina – 74+58

  Strength – 89+59

  Agility – 29+5

  Spell Power – 9

  Magic Energy – 17

  Growth – 8

  ***

  “Humph, not bad,” Tarrion said which wasn’t a reaction I was expecting to see.

  “May I see your total stats too, Rockin?” Alragus asked, me swiping the screen to the side so Alragus could see it too. “What… are those stats?” Alragus asked, stopping abruptly, his eyes widening before he started walking again to catch up with us. I had never shown Alragus my stats yet, so his surprised reaction didn’t surprise me.

  “Don’t worry. You’re not the first one to react this way,” Tarrion said, rolling his eyes.

  “Hold on. You’re level nine, not nineteen?” Alragus snorted, finally realizing that one additional detail that he had missed.

  “Yeah. I thought you’ve noticed it since we’re in a party,” I said, thinking he had.

  “By my dull left horn, your stats at level nine are something else, Rockin,” Alragus said, shaking his head.

  “Thanks, but… I still have ways to go,” I said, thinking more about what Lavita had said to me regarding my strength.

  “Is your level much lower due to your skill?” Alragus asked, being discreet about it.

  “Yeah. I don’t level up like everyone else does,” I said before adding. “By the way, do you mind showing me your stats too, Alragus?”

  “Yes, of course. Show Status,” Alragus opened his own Character Stats window before swiping his hand to make it so I could see his stats.

  ***

  Alragus Brownmane. Level 12.

  Class: Berserker.

  Character Stats:

  Stamina – 37+22

  Strength – 47+49

  Agility – 3

  Spell Power – 0

  Magic Energy – 1

  Luck – 18

  ***

  “Huh? Your… Class is Berserker?” I gasped, becoming surprised.

  “Well, yeah. Why?” Alragus asked.

  “I mean, you… never struck me as someone who’d lose their tempter,” I said, scratching my cheek.

  “That’s how I’ve always been,” Alragus said, not thinking much about it.

  “Right, yeah,” I said, feeling dumb. “Anyway, your armor certainly ads a nice chunk to your Strength stat. But that’s without your weapon. What kind of weapon do you use and what are its stats?” I asked, pretending I wasn’t feeling as stupid as I was.

  “Humph. I’ll be using this one from now on,” Alragus said before taking out a massive two-handed mace out of his inventory.

  “Woaaah… Now that’s a big hammer,” I gasped, seeing how big it was.

  The mace Alragus took out to show us looked more or less like a simple mace, other than it was extremely big. The mace was easily over five feet in length, with the end of the hammer being about two feet in diameter, give or take. I could only guess, but I could bet it must’ve weighted at least hundred pounds. Well, maybe not a hundred pounds but close to it. Of course, with Alragus’ strength he didn’t have a problem holding it with only one hand. I mean, I wouldn’t have any problems lifting it myself, but using it to fight would’ve been a different matter. It was simply too massive for me to swing it.

  “It’s called the Crusher. I managed to craft it after I had learned the Weaponsmith level two skill. It has an Equip Level of ten and is a blue quality weapon. It requires twenty four Strength to be able to wield it but it also adds ten points to Strength stat and one to critical strike chance and critical damage,” Alragus provided more details.

  “Very nice. It is similar to the King Tarkee’s Mace that Tarrion has,” I said.

  “Yeah. That one is a nice mace,” Alragus said, making it clear Tarrion had shown Alragus his Tarkee King’s Mace some time ago.

  “Hey, that’s right. You haven’t shown your stats to us yet, Scarface, and I can see you’ve got your hands on the new leggings and boots,” I suddenly realized Tarrion was being all quiet through the whole time while Alragus and I were sharing our stats.

  “Humph, show status,” Tarrion smirk before opening his Status Window.

  ***

  Tarrion Rockwick. Level 19.

  Class: Tank.

  Character Stats:

  Stamina – 69+61

  Strength – 47+29

  Agility – 9

  Spell Power – 1

  Magic Energy – 3

  Luck – 15

  ***

  “Cool, your Stamina is much higher than before now. That makes it… a total of one hundred thirty Stamina. Sweet,” I said, being impressed.

  “Said a guy whose total Stamina is one hundred and thirty two,” Tarrion grunted.

  “Hey, I’m an exception, ok?” I blurted, making a frown, but I was still happy about the two extra points difference my way. “Besides, I have a Ring of Lesser Golem’s Toughness which adds an additional ten to Stamina… and four to Strength, for your information.” I felt like boasting just because.

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  “Ring of Lesser Golem’s Toughness. That was a lucky find,” said Alragus.

  “For sure. Equipment like rings, necklaces and earrings are much harder to find. You would rarely find those being offered for sale at the Auction House even,” Tarrion said.

  “Humph, I guess,” I said, touching my chin to think about it. It was true. I couldn’t remember any rings, necklaces or earrings being offered during any auctions, including the big auction when I had bought Sylfrin, unless they had offered one or two accessories after I was gone.

  “By the way, Furball, I’ve meant to ask this for a while now, what kind of shield had you received from Lilfira’s father?” Tarrion asked suddenly.

  “I’d be curious to see it too,” Alragus added, his ears flapping from curiosity.

  “Riiight…” I said, remembering it. I honestly had forgotten all about it. It had an Equip Level of twenty four, so I simply kept it inside my storage since the time I had received it. Well, I had taken it out a few times to look at it when I was by myself at Navirei’s inn, but since I couldn’t use it, it just sat there inside my Item Storage Box. “I mean, I’m a little gutted for not being able to use it yet and you know how long it would take for me to gain two more levels.”

  “Huh? The shield has an Equip Level of twenty two?” Tarrion asked.

  “No, twenty four,” I said, crinkling my nose.

  “But you’re level nine now,” Tarrion grunted.

  “I…” I stopped to think about it before it hit me. “Ah, shit. Three levels…” I added, dropping my shoulders down.

  “You can whimper about your levels after you show us the shield, Furball,” Tarrion said, impatience growing inside of him.

  “Blah, blah, blah,” I blurted, throwing my head to the sides left and right as I spoke before opening my storage to take out the shield to show them.

  “Damn,” Tarrion gasped, his eyes becoming wider when he saw the shield.

  “That’s definitely a high-quality shield,” added Alragus.

  “Yes, it is. It is called Zemmoar the Protector. You already know it has an Equip Level of twenty four. It’s an epic rarity shield too. Surprise,” I said, rolling my eyes before noticing Tarrion’s grumpy face. “Ok, ok. It adds twenty eight to Stamina and twenty to Strength. It also has an additional effect – Toughened. It means-”

  “Toughened?” Alragus asked, interrupting me, his eyebrows shooting up.

  “You know what ‘toughened’ is?” I asked him instead of reading the description of what it meant.

  “Yes. Toughened means it makes the item extremely hard to break, but that’s not entirely true,” Alragus said.

  “Not entirely true?” I asked, becoming curious and a little worried all of a sudden.

  “In reality, toughened items not only don’t break, they don’t sustain any wear as well which also means they don’t need any fixing, not that a blacksmith could do anything to a ‘toughened’ item. Toughened items aren’t considered indestructible, but the person’s bones would get crushed to bits before an attack would leave a scratch on the toughened item. I would say that is one invaluable treasure you’ve got there, Rockin, and it’s a shield too,” Alragus told me.

  “Indeed. Congratulations, Furball,” added Tarrion and he sounded genuine about it too.

  “Wow… cool. And thanks,” I said, nodding my head with an uplifting expression on my face. “Humph, I have another reason to level up faster now.”

  “Another reason? What’s the first one?” Tarrion asked, adding a mild scoff.

  “Lavita,” I said.

  “Lavita?” Alragus asked, becoming puzzled.

  “Just another one of Furball’s girlfriends,” Tarrion said, rolling his eyes.

  “Yes, she is,” I stated, being very serious about it this time.

  “Ok, sorry,” Tarrion grunted

  “Huh?” Alragus became even more puzzled, turning to look back, as if to check if there was another person in our party he couldn’t see before.

  “She’s not here,” I said.

  “Ok,” Alragus said, being puzzled but didn’t say anything else.

  “Remember I said there’s additional caveat to my Overgrowth skill? Lavita is someone who… who is part of the skill too. She’d be making our experience gain announcements after each monster kill, among some other messages… like when I find a new item,” I tried to explain it without mentioning the most important part of Lavita’s messages.

  “Ok,” Alragus snorted, seemingly being ok with.

  “Anyway, you’ll see… or hear when we get to the dungeon,” I said.

  “It’s fine,” Alragus said.

  Fortunately for me, the entrance to the dungeon was now in sight for us. Thanks to us talking and showing our stats to one another, our trip to reach the dungeon seemed to be shorter than usual. Just like us, the women had something to talk about too, the main topic probably being Ranalaiya’s new armor, or something else entirely. I didn’t ask, nor did I want to know, for personal reasons. The first floor of the dungeon was kids play for us and we wanted to get through it as fast as possible. Of course, Alragus had learned what I meant about Lavita announcing our experience gain after our first Carnabbit kill, not becoming overly surprised after hearing Lavita speak. Actually, the part of Lavita’s message where she said that my party had received double the experience points of what I had received made a bigger impression on him.

  - “What a nice kill, babe. You sure know how to move. Two experience points for you and four for your party members.” – Lavita announced after our first Carnabbit kill.

  “So, that’s how it works,” Alragus said.

  “Yeah…” I said, making a grimace while becoming somewhat embarrassed.

  “Quite a useful skill. Makes it easy to know when the monster is dead,” Alragus added, sounding impressed.

  “Huh? Ah, right,” I said, finally realizing I shouldn’t fret regarding Lavita around Alragus.

  We didn’t want to waste any time and rushed through the first floor of the dungeon, collecting Carnabbit meat when it dropped. We haven’t decided for how long we would want to stay in the dungeon, but running out of food would cut our stay shorter even if we wanted to stay longer. Besides, I wanted to get to level twelve during this run, so I could equip and use my new ‘indestructible’ shield, and I knew it would take longer than two days to reach it.

  The monsters on the first, then second and third floors were easy to beat, but I still had a chance to witness the power of Alragus’ swings and the speed of Ranalaiya’s attacks. Alragus certainly had strength to spare. He was nowhere near as fast as Ranalaiya, but he knew how to swing his mace. Alragus had his class specific passive Strong Grip skill which improved his aim and power of impact while using two-handed weapons. He also had the Power Swing skill which basically made his next attack stronger, not that he was using it against Carnabbits or Halluspiders. Unfortunately, Alragus didn’t have a chance to use his Power Swing skill against the Lesser Trents simply because the rotten walking trees were taken down by the four very eager to show off their skills women before anyone else could get close to any of the monsters. Alragus had one more skill, Berserker’s Rage, but it wasn’t a skill one would use randomly on some weak monsters because it had diminishing returns.

  “It will get completely dark before we reach the Secret Area,” Tarrion said before lifting his head to look up.

  “Yeah, I guess,” I said, scratching my cheek with one finger.

  “You mean the secret area you had mentioned to me?” Alragus asked.

  “Yes,” I confirmed it.

  “Should we stop and setup a camp here somewhere?” Tarrion suggested.

  “We could…” I said, but I wasn’t exactly willing for some reason. “How about we go spend the night at the place where I used to live?” I suggested suddenly.

  “A place you used to live?” Alragus snorted.

  “What do you mean, lived?” Tarrion became confused about my suggestion as well.

  “Well, lived… I mean, stayed for a longer period of time,” I tried to explain myself, Tarrion and Alragus stares not leaving my face. “What I meant was, you know how Secret Areas have safe spots where monsters don’t show up? I thought maybe we could spend the night at the safe spot inside the Secret Area?”

  “Ok, but it’s getting dark already,” Tarrion said.

  “We should reach the entrance to the Secret Area before it becomes completely dark and then it’d be only Carnabbits on the way to the safe area,” I told him.

  “Let’s get moving then,” Tarrion said, not wanting to waste the time.

  “Huh? You don’t need me to look for a tree to spend the night, Master?” Ranalaiya asked when we moved on.

  “No. We’ll be spending the night at the Secret Area tonight. Humph,” I said before making a frown, my mind flying back to some distant memory.

  “Is something wrong, Master Rockin?” Sylfrin asked.

  “No, just remembered something. Let’s go,” I said before turning to go myself.

  We rushed to find the entrance to the Secret Area before it became completely dark. It was difficult to find it in the daylight even if I knew an approximate location where it was, so finding it in the dark would’ve been a real challenge. Of course, we had Ranalaiya and Sylfrin who could see in the dark, but still. Instead of going to get water from the stream right after we entered the Secret Area, we made our way through the Monster Rabbit Garden as I used to call this part of the area when I still lived here, with Ranalaiya and Sylfrin taking care of all the Carnabbits that would show up on our way. It was completely dark when we reached the Guardian Tree, the place looking exactly the same as I left it. And I mean, exactly the same.

  “The hell?” Tarrion grunted, squinting his eyes to try and see better in the dark.

  “Wow, what is… why are there…” Ranalaiya gasped, not able to find the right words to describe her surprise or confusion, or both.

  “Why are there Carnabbit fur and Lesser Trent Wood hanging down the tree here?” Sylfrin asked.

  That’s because I was the one who hanged them here. I grimaced, but since it was dark, nobody could see it.

  “Hold on, I’ll make some light,” I said before walking to where I usually would start a fire. “Campfire.”

  “Whaaa…” my party members gasped when the light from the fire illuminated the area, making all the Halloween decorations I had put up visible for everyone to see. Since it was basically a nighttime, the place might’ve looked quite spooky, if not weird.

  “Welcome, travelers. Muahahaha,” I said, extending my arms to the side before adding a creepy laugh.

  “Huh?” However, instead of getting the reaction I expected people would have, I was met with the most confused stares.

  “Cough… ahem… Yeah, well…” I grunted, wanting to put out the fire and hide somewhere from the embarrassment.

  “Who the fuck would hang all these up in here?” Tarrion asked, and it could’ve been me, but he looked to be creeped out too.

  “What a… sight…” said Krisel, looking distressed as well.

  “So, this is the place, huh?” Alragus snorted, looking around.

  “Is it… safe for us to spend the night here, Master Rockin?” Lilfira asked.

  “Yes, it is,” said Virghel, making everyone turn to face her. “We had spent the night here quite a while ago when I came here with my previous group. That’s when… I had met Rockin.”

  “You had met Rockin in here, Virghel?” Sylfrin asked.

  “Yes,” Virghel said, catching a blush. “He… cooked some Carnabbit meat for me back then.”

  “Really?” Sylfrin said before turning to look at me, Ranalaiya and Lilfira doing the same.

  “Could you cook some meat for us, Master Rockin?” The three of them jumped at me before anyone else could say anything.

  Of course… I rolled my eyes, totally being not surprised about their request.

  “You know, I feel like having some roasted Carnabbit meat myself, dear,” Krisel spoke to Tarrion, wearing a very sweet smile on her face.

  “Sure,” Tarrion said.

  “I’ll have some too,” Alragus added.

  “Ok then, it’s barbeque time,” I finally said, knowing that Virghel would want some as well.

  It was totally late and if we were somewhere on the lower floor of the dungeon, we would’ve eaten something quick before going to sleep to get proper rest. However, everyone felt like staying late and cooking some meat on the fire, and probably wanting to find out who had put up all those decorations in here.

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