Chapter XV - First Dungeon

"How did you unlock Squire??" Mawu said breaking the trio's dumbfounded silence.

Marcus smiled sheepishly "At level 5 you can go to the Adventurer's Hall and pay 1 Silver to take the test to promote out of Adventurer."

The twins looked at one another as they didn't even have a silver between the two of them. Marcus continued "The first two silver we earn together will go towards you guys, that way you can promote." He smiled, if he could make friends with these two it would certainly be beneficial to his future goals.

Mawu bowed "Thank you for your generosity, my sister and I won't soon forget this."

Lisa beamed delight as she clasped her hands together. "So where are we headed?"

Marcus opened his map and pointed where the green dot was "Apparently there's a wolves' den there and I need to collect 4 hides for this quest. We can clear the dungeon for rewards, I can finish my quest, and we can all kill stronger monsters to level up. It's a perfect Win-Win-Win scenario for all three of us!" Marcus exclaimed.

The twins nodded as they began following Marcus. Mawu used a pike and bow and arrows as his weapons, while Lisa used a spear and shield. Marcus had advised them that he used his sword alone and had a shield in case of emergencies.

"Before you guys decide to take the Advancement Quest, check out this tips and tricks guide I'm working on. Send me a friend request with one of your addresses and I'll send it over after we're done here." Marcus said, wanting to sweeten the pot and get them on his side.

[Friend Request Received.]

Marcus accepted both of their requests and his friends list had now increased to 3.

The trio made their way through forest towards their destination taking their time as they cleared through the monsters working on their teamwork. Initially Marcus felt the odd one out, disrupting the duos method of aggro swapping but after the first few kills, he was able to join in and they were able to get their teamwork on par.

Level 8

HP: ???/???

The three had already taken out 4 on their way to the dungeon. Their assault always began with Mawu unleashing an arrow to the rump of the unsuspecting pig. Critical Hit!

At this time the boar would squeal and flip around and began stomping the earth below it's hooves before charging, Marcus would rush forward and sideswipe the boar's frantic charge as the twins circled around to flank.

Marcus would unleash his skill [Rush] and hit the boar on it's side and block with his shield as two spears would impale the boar from it's 4 o'clock and 7 o'clock sides. It's movement would be seriously impaired at this time as it would begin flailing and bouncing between the trio trying to retaliate to no avail before losing its life at the hands of the twins.

Giant Boar Slain!

25+2 EXP

Being in a party had many advantages in The World, the first was safety in numbers, you had someone to watch your back. The second advantage was the members of the party could target stronger monsters, higher risk meant higher rewards. The third and final advantage was the experience boost. Solo players earned 100% of the monster's rewarded EXP, 2-3 members earned 110%, 4-5 earned 120%, and 6 members earned 125%.

In addition to parties, there was a party feature that allowed multiple parties to team up to tackle even more difficult challenges but we'll save that for another time.

Marcus observed his experience bar: EXP: 905/1062, he was almost level 7 now. He didn't know how far the twins were from reaching 9 but he figured he would hit 7 before they leveled up.

They had come up on the den of the wolves as they knelt behind some bushes. There wasn't any indication of inhabitants of the dungeon. Marcus stood up and casually strolled over as he began explaining the dungeon mechanisms. "We have a few choices, there is Easy, Normal, Hard, and Insanity difficulties."

"With how well we have been killing these boars, I don't think we need to tackle easy mode, maybe we should go with normal?" Lisa asked.

Mawu puffed his chest and stuck it with his thumb proudly proclaiming "normal! Bah with our teamwork we could easily take hard mode!"

Marcus shook his head, "none of the above, insanity or bust. In addition to increased drop chance, boosted experience rates, there's also a first time clear bonus. This is a very low ranked quest for level 5. I don't think we'll have any trouble with insanity, I'm almost level 7, all three of us could get level 10 with this dungeon alone. He explained.

The announcement surprised Marcus, he must have spent far too much time doing his advancement quest and lost a lot of his valuable lead. It was at this moment that the black portal at the entrance of the cave shone a dull bronze color as the party of 6 exited the dungeon and ignored the trio in their way.

To them, they were the cream of the crop and despite this 'Nobody' claiming a few of the first achievements they were the true masters of The World.

In his past life, Marcus could never hope to hold a candle to the #1 Guild, Mount Olympus, but this time, he planned to dethrone the pompous guild who looked down on every other guild. As a tiny ant in their guild, they oppressed every member into what was essentially slavery. Their larger than life image was maintained by the upper echelons but the disparity between the top and bottom was too vast and far too many were suckered in and manipulated and abused.

Marcus glared at the party as they passed, he wouldn't touch them now, but just you wait Mount Olympus, I cannot wait to tear down your mountain! Marcus thought to himself.

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