Chapter 17 - Dungeon Dive

Chapter 17

~

"H-How does she already have skills, too. . ." Abaddon whispered, standing on the side and questioning life as he watched the girl weave through a hoard of the Forest Boars, green furred boars with angry red eyes about the size of a motorcycle, after running around and gathering them in one place.

Disregarding the ease with which she had seeminly already adapted to the change in attributes both mentally and physically, INT rather than just 'Intelligence' which was too broad of a concept to realistically categorize instead boosted cognitive functioning, i.e, memory, processing speed, problem solving and so on.

It was also, same as VIT was for HP, multiplied by 10 to calculate MP.

PER or Perception was fairly simple, heightening your senses and awareness of the world around you, in some cases even granting a very slight boost to intuition.

STR, VIT and AGI were also pretty self-explanatory.

However, there was a difference between looking at it from an outside perspective like in normal MMO's and such. Suddenly gaining more Strength and Agility without being able to properly control it was extremely disorienting if you weren't used to it.

It got easier and easier with time, but this early?

Abaddon wouldn't be surprised if her mind just shut down the moment she spawned in with such a large leap in bodily attributes.

After she had chosen the [Tank] class, a choice Alexander very loudly showed his approval of, Abaddon went to fetch the [Rogue] class for himself before deciding that he had wasted enough time and quickly set off to pick up some quests trailed by the girl.

He had initially wanted to start with introducing her to some basics when it came to acting as a [Tank] which he did during their walk, going past the first beginner area and moving deeper into the forest because staying there was just a waste of time, not only were they swarmed with other Players, but he was sure that if he could make proper use of her abnormal Strength their Levels would practically soar.

Unfortunately, his lecture had apparently gone in one ear and right out the other. Not to mention staying back to protect him, she had left his side the moment she spotted a lone Forest Boar skulking around next to a tree, walking out right into the open without even trying to hide.

Although Forest Boars were also Tier 1 mobs, they were both fairly beefy and had the [Charge] skill making them very annoying to fight against if you didn't know what you were doing. The most used strategy being goading them to ram into something and kill them during their stunned state.

Just as he was about to chase after her, not wanting to shout since they were basically in the middle of their territory at the moment, he bit back a curse as the Forest Boar noticed them. Rearing around and stomping at the ground, an enraged squeal escaping it whilst a film of green energy swiftly covered it's body.

Unthinking red eyes angrily glared at them and just a second later it dashed towards them like a speeding car.

Abaddon lamented his fate, internally thinking that the saying, 'A bad teammate is worse than a good enemy', was fairly accurate.

The thing was, even if he somehow survived this by himself. He had only gone this deep because of the girl's STR, if he had been solo he would've joined the other Players for at least a few Levels before advancing this deep into the forest.

Even if he somehow managed to take one down by himself it just wasn't economical to do so at this point due to a combination of, in his mind, a stark lack of offensive skills on top of less than ideal stats.

He knew the strategies to beat alot of monsters, but if he couldn't implement them effectively then what was even the point.

"Dodge!" He urgently called out though he wasn't expecting much, faced with anything approaching at a speed beyond someone running most people either freeze up, panick or just turn around to leg it.

Which one of those categories she fit into was made quite clear when she just planted her feet in place without even making an attempt to move away.

Seeing this Abaddon facepalmed. Just because she picked the [Tank] class didn't mean that she was suddenly invincible, and beyond her STR which wouldn't help in this situation, her VIT probably wasn't more than 15 and that was in the best case scenario.

Not to mention, the noise would probably attract hoards of Forest Boars to their location either way.

Inwardly letting out a sigh, Abaddon decided to make the best out of the situation and retrieved the [Standard Daggers] from his back, moving around and preparing to attack the moment it slammed into her and probably shaving off 50% of her HP.

A quick look made him bump that estimate up to 75-100%, she hadn't even bothered to grab the [Standard Shield] which was currently still holstered on her back.

Betraying his expectations however, the girl's leg lashed out just before they clashed smashing into the Forest Boar's face and sent it flying with a screeching squeal.

It's hefty body crashed through a tree and eventually skidded to a stop in front of one standing further away, the film of energy coating it popping like a soap bubble whilst the Forest Boar turned quiet, laying beside the tree's trunk unmoving.

". . .Huh?"

...

Even moving past the girl's apparent ability to fight, and being no slouch in it either, Abaddon's shock still wasn't over yet when, surrounded by a dozen Forest Boars her hand suddenly started flickering a deep ocean blue color.

His face morphing to the point you might've though he had seen the world around him crumbling apart.

Perched in a tree above the chaotic battle which she easily navigated with an uncanny familiarity, her fist which had already been quick before suddenly sped up to the point of blurring and smashed into another Forest Boar's side.

The monster shooting away like it was just hit with a wrecking ball leaving droplets of water in it's wake, the girl's hand currently coated in a torrent of water originating from just in front of her knuckles rushing up towards her elbow.

And as if to fuck with his perception of reality even further, a blocky gauntlet of earth and rocks slowly formed underneath the water without outwardly disturbing it's stability nor power in any way, perfectly blending together in harmony to form something that looked as mesmerizingly beautiful as it did powerful, a wonder of nature's elements coexisting in a way you just couldn't replicate in the real world.

"S-Skill Superimposition. . . !?"

Abaddon felt faint, almost falling of the branch before quickly steadying himself.

Skill Superimposition, using two Skills in tandem whilst not having them interfere with one another but rather compliment each other, a concept that shouldn't even be a thing at this stage of the game.

Activating two active skills like [Fire Ball] and [Ice Shard] that you just had to aim and shoot was difficult but manageable, but 'Channeling Skills' which you had to constantly keep up for prolonged periods of time was a whole other story.

In Grand Adventure Online, most noticeably in buffs and similar skills, weren't just point and fire type of skills. For example.

A priest casting [Heal], well the target would gain a set amount of HP in turn.

A priest casting something like [Minor STR UP] or [Minor HP UP] however, would require the priest to constantly keep those skills up and running, the effects disappearing as soon as the skills were in any way interrupted.

This was one of the reasons why AOE support buffs were so sought after, the supporter only needed to keep that one skill running if the team stood in it's radius during activation after which the effects would stick to them even if they moved around.

During the early game supporting roles had pretty much only relied on point and fire type skills, but as more and more content was explored it eventually reached a point where buffs were essential components to ensure a success, whether that was a Dungeon or a Boss.

A good supporter at the time in his previous life could keep a handful of AOE buffs active and still be aware enough to dodge and occasionally throw out a quick activation skill now and then when needed.

But that was after literal years of training and getting used to the skills themselves, basically casting them until they were ingrained in their bones at which point they didn't really have to dedicate as much attention to them anymore.

The system only allowed you to use the skills, it didn't whatsoever aid you in actually utilizing them proficiently.

That was solely up to each Player's own capability.

Even if he knew that people extremely good at multitasking could possibly pull it off, it really threw him off to see it being realized on launch day.

He only returned to his sense when the sounds of battle had quietened, looking down to see a couple dozen Forest Boar corpses laid scattered around the clearing.

"Fuck. . . how the hell do I not know about her? There's no way in hell she couldn't have joined the ranks of the Top Players if she continued playing, maybe she quit for some reason?" Abaddon pondered to himself, taking a deep calming breath before climbing back down to the ground.

Approaching the girl who went around to collect the materials by touching the Forest Boars one by one like he'd showed her, chucking her haul into a large sheet of [Forest Boar Hide] dragging behind her, he realized that he had forgotten do something fairly important in case he wanted to keep contact with the girl.

Now more than ever since snatching some items he had been skeptical about before had suddenly been made alot easier.

He just hoped he could convince her, or if that didn't work, subtly hint or point her in a direction in which he would receive the most benefits from.

Of course, if she became a trustworthy ally he wouldn't leave her out to dry with nothing to show for her efforts. His treatment from the company in his previous life had made him more empathetic towards those getting used for others' benefits, but that empathy was only extended to others when it didn't cost him anything to remedy or those he recognized as allies.

"I just remembered that I never got your name which makes it a bit difficult to add you as a friend. Otherwise, maybe you could add me? As a reminder, my name is Abaddon." He spoke up whilst trying to make her choose between one or the other, both of which would lead to the two added friends rather than the girl just wandering away with not only his secret, but a relation to a basically guaranteed future Top Player in the making.

"Nana." She responded flatly, moving on to the next body.

Feeling his nerves relax with her answer, Abaddon brought up the menu and so, by the time the last body was looted he had acquired the first person on his friendslist in his new life.

...

Doing his damndest to avoid eye contact with the girl intimidatingly looming over him, though he had a feeling that the intimidation part was unintentional, unblinkingly staring down at him with an, again probably unintentional, weighty gaze.

"Hmm? I really don't have any idea about what you want me to do, we started at about the same time after all. I haven't explored enough to know anything like that." Abaddon said, shrugging his shoulders with false nonchalance.

". . . Half lie."

"What do you mean 'half lie'? And how do you even know when I'm telling the truth or not? Are you a lie detector or something?" He responded, attempting to change the subject.

"Tell." She said. Her insistant manner almost sounding childlike to his ears before the massive shadow she cast down onto him very quickly dispelled that illusion from his mind.

"I told you already, I don't-- AH!?" Almost too quick for him to process he was suddenly lifted into the air by the leg, letting out a startled scream as he dangled limply in her grip.

"What the hell are you doing!? Let me down!"

"Tell." She repeated, Abaddon spotting her cheeks lightly puffing out from the corner of his eye.

"No!"

". . ."

"Stop acting like a child and let me down. I'm sure we'll eventually find a Dungeon whether we want to or not, it's a staple of most fantasy worlds either way." Abaddon tried reasoning, just barely able to keep his twitching eye in check by inwardly reminding himself that this was for his future plans and to tough it out, feeling blood pooling in his noggin.

When she went silent for the next minute Abaddon thought he'd managed to convince her to calm down before very quickly realizing that no, no he had not.

"Listen, let's just continue hunting Forest Boars for a while longer before going back to turn in the quests, oka- aaaaaAAAAHHHHH!?" Abaddon's world suddenly warped into a blur of motion, colors flitting past his vision too fast for him to discern what was even up and down as the girl started swinging him around like a human lasso.

His eyes shot wide open whilst a loud, very manly, scream blasted out of his flapping lips, feeling like he'd just stepped into a high-g centrifuge as he helplessly ragdolled through the air. A weightless sensation mixed with gravitational tugs bombarded his senses resulting in adrenaline surging through him, further amplified by his minor acrophobia blaring at him in alarm as he imaged the possibility of her grip slipping.

"S-Stop! STOP! I'M GONNA PASS OUT FOR REAL!!!" Darkness creeped into the edge of his sight, a pressure clamping around his temple smothering any thoughts other than a desire to make her stop.

"Tell." She still stubbornly insisted, acting like she wasn't currently performing a valiant attempt causing him a whiplash.

When it became clear, after what felt like an eternity but was in reality maybe around 10 seconds, that she most likely wouldn't stop unless she got her way Abaddon was slightly ashamed to admit that he fairly quickly gave into her demands.

"F-FINE! FINE!!! I'LL TELL YOU! YOU LET ME DOWN! LET ME DOWN, RIGHT NOW!!!" He bellowed out with all his might.

Though unfortunately for Abaddon he discovered that the girl might've taken his words a bit too literally when not even a moment later he abruptly found his momentum arrested resulting in inertia slamming into him like a truck scrambling his brain instantly followed by an enormous dizziness and vertigo.

Before he could even take a second to get his bearings back another sensation of weightlessness enveloped him, the startled yelp that instinctively escaped him turning muffled after eating a mouthful of dirt and grass.

"Blegh- Pt- Pt- Pt- Pt- Pt-" Abaddon spat miserably, panting breathlessly in the aftermath of such an 'exciting' experience.

After eventually recovering he was on the verge of storming away in pure annoyance and irritation, internally debating whether it was even worth it to befriend the girl in the first place before his rational side slapped him over the head.

What was a mere moments of indignity in comparison to the chance of easily leaving every other Player, other than the girl herself, in the metaphorical and literal dust they'd be met with after he'd snatched all the goodies for himself. . . and the girl.

Not to mention, he wasn't even sure if the girl was going to allow him to just walk away after he basically admitted to possessing knowledge of what she wanted to know.

. . . He had a feeling he already knew the answer.

On the bright side, which just barely managed to bring him some comfort and soothe his ruffled feathers enough not to explode on the spot, the girl didn't even seem to care about 'how' he knew the things he did, only that she could utilize him like a glorified guide/tracker/wiki.

Oh, he was so happy. . .

So happy.

Somewhat shakily pushing himself back up on his feet, Abaddon took a deep, deep calming breath before he felt confident he wouldn't just start inarticulately screaming at her as soon as he opened his mouth, raising his head to regard her with a beaming, strained, smile plastered on his face.

"Alright then, the nearest Dungeon is a bit deeper into the forest so you'll have to escort the both of us there. I can't really show you where it is if I'm dead, right?" His words definitely weren't gritted out through clenched teeth, there definitely wasn't an angrily throbbing vein on his forehead and anyone who pointed out his knuckles turning white from the force he was balling up his hands with was just hallucinating.

...

Abaddon had a very unamused look on his face feeling the wind blowing through his hair, currently carried under the girl's arm like a sack of potatoes as she sped through the forest like a cheetah dodging terrain and monsters alike as if she could see them coming from a mile away.

There were a few especially Agility focused monsters he was wary of as they got closer to the Dungeon which was located where the Tier 1 zone ended and the Tier 2 zone just began, however, it seems his fears were unwarranted, the monsters that to his senses were just blurs were easily swatted away when they got into range, a sparse trail of bodies trailing behind the two of them.

It was only when the forest parted to reveal a flat clearing in front of a gigantic cave opening that Abaddon suddenly smacked his face having forgotten something pretty important, why the hell hadn't he partied up with the girl BEFORE she began mowing through droves of monsters.

He really couldn't keep making these mistakes.

In his previous life he was rarely in parties with anyone other than an 'overseer' from the Knights of Radiance making sure he and all the other puppets were doing their work which made him subconsciously reject the idea, something he really needed to sort out.

He was living a new life, he couldn't get stuck in the past he internally reprimanded himself. If he hadn't been acting like an absolute idiot he could've at least been able to somewhat weather through a dungeon as long as he focused.

The shocks and surprises the abnormal girl kept throwing at him also wasn't helping the situation whatsoever.

Abaddon was ripped out of his thoughts when he was unceremoniously dropped on the ground, letting out a breathless wheeze upon haivng the air suddenly punched out of him.

As if to really cement his position in her mind and to further rub salt into the wound, he watched her release the makeshift sack of loot she'd clamped down on with her apparently razor sharp teeth which she then carefully hid it in a bush, after a slight pause also burying it in a mound of dirt following a slight twitch of her nose.

Abaddon let out a forelorn sigh as he begrudgingly accepted the role he'd been given, his previous gusto taken out of his sails leaving him with a headache and the urge to sleep for the next week.

Standing up and sending a party invitation to the girl whilst walking over he wondered how in the world she managed to get 3 Skills that weren't core class Skills so early.

From what he'd seen so far, two elemental coats, weird that she'd gotten two Skills so similar this early, and the one she used to bury the loot he didn't recognize but if all it could do was move around a bit of dirt he didn't see any uses outside of extremely niche situations.

"Maybe it could be useful for making small traps in a hurry?" He muttered, stepping closer prompting a system window to pop up in front of him.

[Green Leaf Forest]

[Rank: Tier 1]

[Difficulties: Easy, Medium, Hard, Elite, Nightmare]

[Recommended Team Size: 4-8]

[Clear Condition: Defeat the Boar Prince, Rianok.]

"Alright, then. Let's start on Hard to being with, I don't think you'll have any problems running through it as you are now and you can get a 'lay of the land' so to speak. We can move onto Elite after you- we clear it and work our way upwards. There's no First Clear until Nightmare but the EXP and loot won't be too bad for the current us."

...

Abaddon stalked after the girl with a pile of stones in hand which he used to mooch some EXP, he wouldn't gain any by just doing nothing since it was calculated based on overall contribution rather than evenly distributing it across everyone in the killer's party.

It was a paltry amount in all honesty, however, he didn't have any potions on hand and wanted to save his MP for the boss fight.

"Ah, lucky." He commented idly upon hitting a Forest Boar, the ones in the dungeon looking noticeably more weathered and ferocious than the ones they encountered outside, in the eye.

In the moment the Forest Boar reared back with a startled squeal, subsequently closing it's eyes, Nana's gauntlet clad hand smashed into it's jaw delivering a viscious uppercut further boosted by a shell of water shaped like a bullet revolving and surging around her forearm lifting it into the air.

Hearing the *Ding* confirming his Level Up the moment the Forest Boar hit the ground, Abaddon felt like Leveling wasn't so hard after all. Even if he only got slivers of the total EXP he had already reached Level 2.

He had also distributed his stats focusing mostly on AGI followed by PER, INT for more MP and lastly STR and VIT, continuing to follow a similar pattern with each successive Level Up.

The Forest Boars he wouldn't even be able to react to in time if hadn't been staring at them before he was now more confident he could dodge, somewhat at least.

When they eventually reached the Boss room Abaddon had reached Level 4.

Glancing at the Party Screen, Abaddon was a bit weirded out upon seeing his carry's status.

[Abaddon] - [Leader]

[HP] - 100%

[MP] - 100%

[Nana]

[HP] - 97%

[MP] - 92%

He could've sworn her HP was down to 89% not too long ago since she apparently didn't care for evasion whatsoever and the default HP Regeneration in Grand Adventure Online was freaking atrocious.

It had been the source of mountains of complaints in his previous life courtesy of pissed off Players forced to backtrack in the middle of grinding because they were low.

If you weren't inside a safe zone like an inn it regenerated at a snail's pace so slow it might as well not have been a thing at all which lead to potions being an extremely important item to carry on hand for people without access to a Healer of some sort.

Food Items could also supplement your HP Regeneration but most people ididn't even bother because of cheapness or laziness. You had to actually cook the food yourself or buy it from someone else, you couldn't just chuck a bunch of ingredients together and magically get a finished product with the press of a button.

Same as all the other craftsman professions.

Skills helped but they were more there to aid you and increase the chance of success rather than straight up doing all the work for you in an instant.

Just as he was about to dismiss the Party Screen he caught something out of the corner of his eye and did a double take before his jaw dropped like rock upon seeing the [HP] - 100% staring back at him.

"W-What the fuh-" He croaked out, shakily asking a question he almost dreaded hearing the answer to but it couldn't be that bad, right?

"N-Nana. . . how many Skills do you have?"

She blinked at his sudden words before presumably bringing up her Status, eyes leisurely reading something he couldn't see unless he was granted permission for a few seconds before directing him an inquiring look.

"Hmm. New Skills. Count?"

"Uh. . . Y-Yes, including the 3 Skills you got from your [Tank] class." It took him a second to understand what she meant.

"12." She answered bluntly.

"Ghk-!?" Abaddon immediately descended into a fierce coughing fit.

"Why."

"N- *Cough* Nothing, d-don't mind me." He responded, hunched over with a hand propping him up on his knee, the other in front of his mouth as he internally screamed at the world's unfairness. How. How did she even get that many Skills this early on!? Even he hadn't gotten a Skill outside of the basic 3 Skills you got when first picking a class.

Even with all his knowledge and if he had been able to choose his starting place it STILL would've been absolutely impossible for him to replicate the feat.

Slightly startled by the sound of the heavy stone door scraping against the threshold Abaddon looked up to see Nana entering the Boss room and hurried after her.

Emerging into a large clearing boxed in by tall cliffsides and shrubbery forming a rough circle the large green furred boar the size of an SUV standing in the center clearly stood out despite it's hide somewhat blending in with the surroundings.

The door slammed shut behind them as the scene came to life, the previously still environment gaining a vibrancy as the Boss's eyes gradually lit up a fierce crimson red, it's snout scrunching back into a viscious frothing snarl as it's spear-like ivory tusks dangerously gleamed in the sunlight streaming down from above.

Turning to face the two of them Abaddon tensed up as a thin prickly green film of energy slowly climbed over it's huge body in preparation, it's hooves impatiently banging against the ground in agitation with huffs of steam escaping it's nostrils.

The same moment it's eyes narrowed into sharp slits, Abaddon's own widened before he quickly hurled himself to the side.

Meanwhile Nana did the exact opposite, instantly firing up her own [Charge] Skill she got from her class and shot forwards in tandem with the boar pushing off the ground enveloped by a white coat of energy with wisps of deep ocean blue and dirty earth yellow flaking off of her figure.

Clashing, gales of wind whipped around them as both of their [Charge]s slammed into each other producing a brief vibrating pop spherically dispersing outwards leaving the two locked together with Nana's hands grabbing the tusks while the boar's hooves scraped grooves into the ground straining against her hold.

When Nana felt her feet losing grip, the boar starting to push her into sliding backwards, she let go with her left hand and weightily threw herself to the right tugging the boar along with her by the tusk before it could react.

Now at it's side she threw a kick at it's leg further destabilizing it and wrestled it down to the ground the moment it lost footing.

Anchoring one of the tusks to the forest floor with a foot she firmly grasped the other one with her left hand and braced back, using her weight to further force the boar on it's side making it impossible for it to get any grip with it's legs two of which were currently wildly flailing in the air, the remaining two uselessly scraping against the grass, digging up dirt unable to find purchase.

Trying to activate another one of her Skills Nana blinked in confusion when it refused, fizzling out before it'd even begun forming.

Consulting the intuitive knowledge she'd received regarding how her Skills worked she understood what was wrong a few seconds later, it required a shield to function properly.

Glancing at the one currently holstered on her back that she got from Alexander she frowned slightly.

She didn't want to use it.

Her instincts were telling her that it was a useless redundant item, something she didn't actually need.

That it was beneath her to even think about wielding it in battle.

Grasping that feeling she materialized her blocky earth gauntlet, feeling the boar still crazily bucking and trashing around she paused to secure her hold and planted herself further.

Looking down at her gauntlet for a moment she didn't feel it was completely done yet and continued manipulating the earth to shape a disc attached to it's top about the size of the shield on her back.

Humming musingly she then slightly nodded to herself in satisfaction, this felt better.

Trying to activate the Skill again a similar coat of energy to her [Charge] flickered to life revolving around the guantlet which she slammed into the boar's temple.

[Shield Bash] (Common)

[Lv.1]

[Type: Active]

[Effect: Minorly empowers the user's shield allowing for a more powerful blow surpassing normal Strength. DMG = 120% of STR, 10% chance to daze the target for 2 seconds]

[Cost: 10 MP]

[Cooldown: 8 seconds]

A loud squeal of agony echoed across the clearing as the Boss' HP instantly dropped down to 84%, not letting up her attacks the water coat also surged to life around her modified gauntlet as she continued brutally hammering into the boar's skull.

Abaddon who was stalking around the edge of the clearing panicked a bit as large chunks of the Boss' HP continued to disappear and quickly ran over, entering [Stealth] halfway there making his silhouette blur slightly alongside his footsteps getting fainter.

Mentally calculating that unless he did something now, that he wouldn't get any contribution points he retrieved his daggers and circled around it.

Making sure that the boar didn't spot him so he'd get the ambush damage bonus, he quickly moved closer and aimed for it's eyes.

[Piercing Strike]

Swiftly retreating again so he wouldn't accidentally be hit during the boar's wild struggles and probably get insta-killed because of his paltry VIT, the few percentages he nicked off of the HP bar was instantly overtaken by the girl.

Breathing out a sigh of relief at having at least done SOME damage before the Boss died, which it did just a moment later, he didn't know whether to be happy he'd found such a strong carry to help him along or depressed with how little he was actually doing.

Didn't he get reborn?

Why was he already lagging behind before he'd even gotten started. . .

At least he got pushed to Level 8 whilst most others were still at 3, maybe 6 if they really pushed themselves and had help, he inwardly consoled himself as he dejectedly allocated his SP.

...

After dividing the loot of the Boss and the treasure chest that popped up after they cleared the dungeon, Nana claiming the tusks, meat and hide whilst chucking all the equipment at Abaddon because of that odd sensation of contempt she felt everytime she so much as glanced at it, the two left and hid their harvest in the nearby bushes where Nana's intial bounty laid.

Whilst she was transferring her things to the much larger sheet of hide dropped by the Boss instead of the normal hide she used before Abaddon was currently sat to the side holding a book with a single dagger symbol on the cover's front, staring down at it with a look of contemplation.

Although he didn't have the [Appraise] skill yet, he already recognized what it was.

A skill book, a skill book related to the [Rogue] class more specifically.

Unfortunately, he had no way of deciphering what skill it would give him without [Appraise] which is why he was pondering on what to do with it.

It was most likely an Uncommon grade one because he was 99% sure he wasn't lucky enough to get a Rare grade one right off the bat and to his knowledge there were no Common skill books.

As for Epic and above, you couldn't get anything at that grade no matter how many times you ran the beginner Dungeons since they weren't even on the drop table.

Either that or the chance of it dropping was so astronomically low that no one in the years the game had been online in his previous life had ever gotten the drop.

The reason he wasn't just instantly using it was because if the skill was something he didn't need then he'd rather sell it, at this point in the game skills shouldn't even have gotten a market yet because there probably wasn't anyone willing to sell anything.

Which meant he could set his own price, within limits of course, but he could potentially get alot more value by selling it than acquiring a skill he'd never use.

Still internally debating by the time Nana was done doing her thing he tossed it into his pile planning to decide after they returned from another Dungeon run.

"Are you sure you want to go Nightmare right away? Hard had a +50% Stat modifier monsters which is kind of doable if you're good enough or you're overleveled, but at Elite it's raised to +100% and introduces a drain effect sucking 1% of your HP every 10 seconds. In Nightmare it's even worse with a +150% modifier and 1% HP every 5 seconds. It's fine with a healer but since we don't have one, we only have a little more than 8 minutes to clear it even if we never get hit once." Abaddon hesitated. The girl may have gotten some broken ass HP Regen skill but he, decidedly, did not, which is why he used 'we'.

To inspire some sense of camaraderie.

"Go." She didn't seem to care all that much.

"Fine, fine. . . Don't care about the person that showed you the Dungeon in the first place why don't you, go right ahead."

...

"Holy shit. . . We actually cleared it in time?" Abaddon muttered skeptically, still not entirely believing what he was seeing.

He had been a bit worried about whether she would be able to keep up her previous pace when the monsters got their stats bolstered if they repeated what they'd done the previous Dungeone run, though the girl apparently had an idea, picking him up as soon as they entered and started spamming [Taunt] as much as possible.

[Taunt] (Common)

[Lv.1]

[Type: Active]

[Effect: Provokes enemies in a 5 meter radius around you for 3 seconds]

[Cost: 15 MP]

[Cooldown: 30 seconds]

As soon as she hooked the first 3 to 4 boars she didn't even really have to do much since all the others just naturally joined the horde chasing her after being attracted to mini earthquake they produced.

Pulling what must've been every single monster in the Dungeon to the Boss room's entrance she proceeded to tear through the wave of boars like a tornado of death after somehow transforming her gauntlets, changing the blocky fingers into jagged, gnarly looking claws of stone.

On top of this, though slightly unstably, she also used the water coat to further sharpen them and slightly extend her reach.

Abaddon could see her MP depleting but her maneuver allowed her to shear through the army of monsters like a knife through warm butter, even if she took some damage doing this due to haste it was rare enough that she'd pretty much healed up again before taking another hit.

On the other hand, the Boss was somehow handled just as easily as the first one despite the stark differences in stats between them.

Though maybe that was because she pumped all of her SP into STR, he hoped she didn't because it would be kind of a stupid move, but he couldn't think of any other reason for the ease with which she basically bullied the Nightmare Boss.

Now standing over it's unmoving corpse Abaddon didn't really know what to feel anymore.

Unfortunately for him, his dazed state resulted in the one thing he really, really, REALLY did NOT want to happen this early.

Patrly because he had never been in a similar situation before he had forgotten that whilst the decision regarding whether you wanted to remain anonymous or not in the subsequent First Clear Announcement was up to each Player's own choice, there was a little something that he hadn't really thought about before subconsciously declining having his IGN included after skimming through the prompt that popped up.

More specifically what had happened due to him being the one to have created the Party.

And so, he was shaken out of his trance by a World Announcement ringing in his ears, turning white as a sheet as he heard the Party Name being read out loud and clear for everyone to hear.

[World Announcement: Congratulations to Team 'Abaddon's Party', Player Nana and Player [Hidden] for achieving the First Clear of any Dungeon on Nightmare Difficulty ever. Rewards include an exclusive [Spatial Storage Skillbook] (Legendary) x1, 15 000 Gold Coins, +250 SP, a [Title] (Legendary), +15 Levels and a [Mystery Box] (Legendary) x1]

With each repeat of the announcement, 3 in total, Abaddon paled even more. Ending up looking indistinguishable from that of a corpse's skin tone by the time it was finished and only had a few seconds of wallowing in dread and misery before another one followed right after.

[World Announcement: Congratulations to Party 'Abaddon's Party', Player Nana and Player [Hidden] for achieving the First Clear of the Green Leaf Forest Dungeon on Nightmare Difficulty. Rewards include a [Class Skillbook] (Epic) x1, 5000 Gold Coins, +50 SP, +5 Levels and a [Mystery Box] (Epic) x1]

As the message repeated another 3 times Abaddon sunk to the ground in despair, muttering lifelessly under his breath as he stared into nothing with empty eyes.

"I-It's all over, m-my plans. . . I'm so freaking screwed. . ." Hearing a series of *Dings* at such a fast rate they practically blended together into a constant stream of noise which he was 99% sure was friend request notifications he got up on his knees and threw his arms out as he bellowed into the heavens. "W-WHY ME!? WHYYYYY! MEEEEEEEEE!"

...

[World Announcement: Congratulations to Team 'Abaddon's Party', Player Nana and Player [Hidden] for achieving the First Clear of any Dungeon on Nightmare Difficulty ever. Rewards include an exclusive [Spatial Storage Skillbook] (Legendary) x1, 15 000 Gold Coins, +250 SP, a [Title] (Legendary), +15 Levels and a [Mystery Box] (Legendary) x1]

x3

...

[World Announcement: Congratulations to Party 'Abaddon's Party', Player Nana and Player [Hidden] for achieving the First Clear of the Green Leaf Forest Dungeon on Nightmare Difficulty. Rewards include a [Class Skillbook] (Epic) x1, 5000 Gold Coins, +50 SP, +5 Levels and a [Mystery Box] (Epic) x1]

x3

...

". . .Is that our Nana?" Jenna asked after a slight pause, using her [Standard Staff] to shield her eyes from the sun as she looked up into the sky where the enormous system window floated amongst the clouds intermittently flashing with a sparkling golden shine as if afraid it wouldn't be seen.

"You think it could be anyone else? At least we know what she's been up to for the last few hours, she probably forgot to add us after finding a Dungeon. I wouldn't be surprised." Jonah commented from the side, [Standard Wraps] wrapped around his arms and legs over his beginner outfit.

"I wonder what drops she got, I'm almost out of [Rabbit Hide] to practice on but I've gotten pretty good if I do say so myself." Karl mused idly whilst making sure the seams were extra secure, a necessary precaution considering that he'd never made anything meant for battle.

"We can't fall too far behind guys, let's get back to grinding!" Charlie shouted excitedly, waving around a [Standard Shield] in the form of a buckler as he began marching back to the Rabbit Plains just outside the town which they had all luckily spawned in together.

...

"Oop. Looks like you missed it, huh. Not that you would've gotten it either way but rushing head first into a horde of monsters and getting pummeled to death probably didn't help considering the amount of EXP you lost."

"Shut the fuck up Ash!"

...

"Senior Brother Tian Long, it seems someone has already claimed the First Clear."

"I have eyes, Fatty. The heaven spanning message is hard to miss. Don't get distracted by earthly desires, let us continue."

"But didn't you give your core technique to that beauty a few weeks back? She left right after, too. . ."

"Be quiet Fatty, you would be unable to comprehend my goals even if I were to spell it out for you."

...

"Hey, Viper look up."

"That's really fast, I'm guessing some big shot hired someone and boosted them up before getting carried through the whole thing."

"Hah!? Why should I care."

...

"Ay Orson, ain' Nana the name 'o the lass you 'ere yappin' abou'?"

"It was Hana you old fossil, you're losing your memory."

"Mmm, really? I think Ray's right, Edmund. Nana sounds more familiar than Hana."

"It sounds more familiar because it is correct, Philip."

"Oh? And why are you so sure 'bout that, Henny? Huh?"

"Because I'm the only one here capable of listening to anyone talking for more than 5 seconds without drifting away or getting bored."

"""Tsk."""

" AY, ORSON! YOU LISTENIN', OLD FOOL!? THIS WAS YOUR IDEA DON'T GO FALLIN' ASLEEP ON US!"

"I am listening."

"Oh, ya are? And why're you back ta broodin' again? I thought you'd gotten all'a that outta ya actin' like a wall all day long."

". . .I wouldn't be surprised if it was her, and I'm just thinking about some things. Ask the boy, he was there too."

"James! The girl was named Hana, right!"

...

"Of course she also joined and of course she's already appeared on the World Announcement, why not right?"

"Hmmm~? How are you so sure it's the Nana we know, Kaya?"

"Because if there's something not normal going on and the chance of her being there isn't zero, then she'll be there. It's like she's a goddamn embodiment of a sub-category of Murphy's Law. 'If anything she finds interesting happens, Nana will be nearby.'"

"A rather apt description seeing what she's gotten herself into the past few years since she joined the team, wouldn't you say?"

"I think so, too."

"Hmph."

...

"Yo, Bossman. The guys managed to figure out how to make a guild, do you want to use the company name as the guild's or do you have anything else in mind?"

"Nah, I'm too lazy to think of anything else, just use the company name."

"Got it. Also, the team is making steady progress so far, most have reached Level 4 with some approaching Level 5."

"Good, make sure you don't work yourselves until you pass out though and no need to compare yourselves with the top guilds that'll most likely start popping up soon enough."

"Yup, thanks for thinking about us Bossman. I'll go remind the guys, dunno if they'll listen though. You've saved most of us from an early end by starvation, after all. All of us want to repay you as much as we can."

"Eh. I just gave you the opportunity, it's by merit of your own hard work that you've stayed until now and climbed this high. I wasn't going to promote someone just sitting around twiddling their thumbs, you know?"

"Still. Just know that we're ready to kick it into high gear in case you need us to. Anyhow I'll leave you to it, Bossman."

"Holy crap! Did you SEE that, CHAD!? I USED ACTUAL FUCKING MAGIC! HAHAHAHA! HELL YEAAAAH! THIS IS SO FUCKING COOOOL!"

"I saw. By the way, are you sure you don't wanna send Nana a message?"

"I already did and she said she'd also be playing."

"Don't you want to add her, though? I thought about sending over my IGN so we could play together."

"But I want to surprise her. There's gonna be events and stuff eventually, right? We could probably meet up at one of those if they're big enough."

"Sam. . . we don't even know where she spawned in."

"You underestimate my Nana senses too much, we'll meet. I can feel it."

". . ."

...

[GAO - World Chat]

SlayerSpoon: Ayoooo wtf? There's Dungeons and shit?

CrayonConneiseour: pfft of course what did you think someone would make a fantasy game world and not include dungeons? dungeons are like 20% of the games appeal the other 120% are hot chicks btw any spotted yet?

HobblingHermit: You misspelled connoisseur, also, learn to math scrub. Also, also. Consider using commas when you write, you're gonna give someone an aneurysm.

CrankyTanky: +1

4FootnLookinForLoot: +1

1Shot1Kill: +1

CrayonConneiseour: Just great a grammar n*zi has arrived also who the fuck cares.

HobblingHermit: I'm getting a headache trying to decipher your messages.

CrayonConneiseour: don't see how thats my problem bro.

HobblingHermit: It's not. However, you are everyone else's.

SlayerSpoon: Oof.

SparkleHatKittyKat: Does anyone know who the Players are, btw? I checked most of the streams online atm but I didn't find any related to Dungeons except people still searching for them.

4FootnLookinForLoot: No idea. I sent over a friend request to both of the Players though, fingers crossed one gets accepted.

CrankyTanky: 10 000 Credits says you're ignored.

1Shot1Kill: 30 000.

4FootnLookinForLoot: Bet.

DivineDarkness: Doesn't anyone find it at all suspicious that someone managed to clear a Dungeon this fast? At, presumably, a very high difficulty considering the generous rewards? From what I could gather the currently highest Level publicly available is 8 and the guy is backed by a literal army of tanks and healers allowing him to not give a fuck about anyting other than killing monsters as quickly as possible.

CrankyTanky: If they are cheating then the Devs will probably just ban 'em and issue an announcement anyway.

...

"Any leads yet?"

"I'm afraid not, Young Master."

"Keep looking. Regardless of how they accomplished it, just the additional Levels they received as a reward is enough reason to seek them out. Don't let me down on this, if any of the others find them before us we can kiss our place at the top goodbye."

"By your word."

...

...

...

"If I go jump off a bridge, do I get another restart?" Abaddon lifelessly muttered down into the grass muffling his words as he laid just outside the Dungeon's entrance. Even the metaphorically sparkling items most would kill for scattered around him was unable to cheer him up.

A few meters away at the forest clearing's edge Nana was currently busy stuffing her things into her newfound [Spatial Storage] skill.

She had been a bit troubled thinking that she wouldn't be able to take everything she looted back with her since the hide-sack wasn't exactly bottomless and the amount of items were almost forming a small hill by this point, but the skill came at a convenient time which solved her problem.

Inadvertently glancing over, Abbadon's eyes suddenly widened when he saw her chucking the [Class Skillbook] (Epic) into the crack in reality the [Spatial Storage] appeared to be as he got an idea.

Darting up on his knees he quickly started rooting through the hill of gold and the occasional item mixed in like a man possessed until he eventually found what he was looking for.

Tightly clenching his own [Class Skillbook] (Epic) in his trembling hands, Abaddon felt excitement welling up inside him.

Maybe he wasn't completely fucked just yet.

As long as he could get something that would block or at least obscure his status against other people casting [Appraise] on him, it wouldn't matter even if they knew his name.

It wasn't like anyone other than Nana knew what he looked like at the moment.

Body tensed up to the extreme with a chilling sensation dancing at the edges of his skin slowly penetrating deeper, he took a deep breath and prayed to whatever god, deity or being he knew.

Almost unable to look, he squinted whilst shakily raising a finger to press [Confirm] on the prompt asking whether he wanted to use it.

The book dissolved into flakes of light before entering his body, his figure flashing with a soft glow once the last of it had disappeared as another window popped up in front of him.

Abaddon read it with bated breath and a clump in his throat.

[Masking Haze] (Epic)

[Lv.Max]

[Type: Passive]

[Effect: Guards against scrying effects of Epic grade and below]

[Cost: N/A]

[Cooldown: N/A]

Abaddon instantly collapsed down into a boneless heap, a sharp shuddering breath leaving him as relief flooded his system like a mountain had just been lifted off his shoulders.

"I-I'm so fucking lucky."

...

After calming down from the scare Abaddon eventually got up and also used the [Spatial Storage Skillbook], stored everything inside it before bringing up his status.

---

[Abaddon]

Lv.25 (33)

Rank: Tier 1

Title: [Brightly Shining Star] (Legendary) Lv.Max - Increase all Stats by 50%,

Race: Human

Class: [Rogue] (Common) +2 AGI +2 PER +1 STR +1 VIT +1 INT

HP: 490/490

MP: 930/930

STR: 46 - (31 + 50%)

VIT: 49 - (33 + 50%)

AGI: 136 - (91 + 50%)

INT: 93 (62 + 50%)

PER: 117 (78 + 50%)

SP: 480

Skills: [Piercing Strike] Lv.1, [Stealth] Lv.1, [Dash] Lv.1, [Spatial Storage] Lv.1,

Passives: [Masking Haze] Lv.Max,

<[Class Up Available]>

---

Looking at his Stats at just day 1 of Grand Adventure Online, Abaddon wasn't sure whether this was real or if he was just dreaming all of this up.

He was almost leaning towards the latter option considering how absolutely terrifying his progress was so far.

Prior to this he had been coasting on deliberate hardheadedness to not acknowledge the towering unease and anxiety he felt at the possibility of being unable to change anything compared to his past life even with his advantage.

Seeing the tangible results staring right back at him, he was suddenly hit with the realization that maybe, just maybe, he could actually do this. He could change the fate of the ones he'd failed before, most prominently his dear little sister.

A steely edge entered his gaze as his confidence, battered and broken to pieces by years of servitude not unlike slavery slowly recovered, waning flames of determination roaring to life so bright as if trying to outshine the sun.

Since even luck was on his side allowing him to meet the girl he wasn't going to wallow in self-pity anymore.

It was only now that he really cast away the shadows of his past life, disintegrated to nothing and replaced by ambitions of reaching heights he could only ever spy from afar.

[Class Options]

-[Rogue] (Common) +3 AGI +3 PER +2 STR +2 VIT +2 INT

-[Fearless Rogue] (Uncommon) +4 AGI +4 PER +3 STR +3 VIT +3 INT

-[Star-Touched Rogue] (Rare) +8 AGI +6 PER +2 STR +2 VIT +4 INT

"A Rare class, already?" Abaddon muttered in surprise. "Didn't think I'd get one this early, even an Uncommon one showed up."

"Well. The choice is fairly obvious, isn't it?"

Choosing the [Star-Touched Rogue], the window disappeared whilst the extra 8 Levels he received in surplus brought him up to Level 33.

Bringing up his Status again, he got to work assigning all of his SP and finished a couple of minutes later.

---

[Abbadon]

Lv.33

Rank: Tier 3

Class: [Star-Touched Rogue] (Rare) +8 AGI +6 PER +2 STR +2 VIT +4 INT

HP: 1030/1030

MP: 2610/2610

STR: 100 - (67 + 50%)

VIT: 103 - (69 + 50%)

AGI: 652 - (435 + 50%)

INT: 261 - (174 + 50%)

PER: 400 - (267 + 50%)

SP: 0

---

"The free SP and that [Title] sure adds up, doesn't it. A Tier 3 Level 33. If it was someone else I would've called hax the instant they so much as hinted towards the concept."

Abaddon shook his head at the mere thought.

Turning around he was about to call out to Nana that they should probably start making their way back to town when he saw her sat down leaning back against a tree fiddling with what he presumed to be her Status and let his curiosity take over.

He knew that it was bad etiquette to ask someone else's Status but with how already terrifying his own looked, how could he not at least try once.

"Did you pick your new class, Nana?" He walked over and crouched next to her, once again reminded of how gigantic she was when he had raise his head to look into her eyes currently tracking the air.

"Mm."

"Did you get anything good other than the [Title] class? I went with it since I didn't have any better options."

"Hmm."

"Do you mind if I take a look at your Status? I'm pretty familiar with GAO's system so I could probably help you with some tips and tricks when it comes to Skills and Stats if I knew what you had." He proposed.

At this point he was 99.9% sure she wasn't even the slightest bit interested in where his knowledge came from and if she was plotting against him, then she had to have been the worst planner in the universe considering how strong she'd helped him become this early on.

Internally crossing his fingers as he waited, he heard her let out a flat hum before the neon blue system window materialized in his vision, the girl swiping it around to let him take a closer look.

As he leaned in Abaddon's breath soon hitched abruptly, heart stopping as if frozen in time as he received a shock so intense it physically knocked him over.

---

[Nana]

Lv. 43

Rank: Tier 5

Title: [Titan Infant] (Ancient) Lv.1 - Add STR to VIT stat when calculating HP and Increase HP by 100%, [Brightly Shining Star] (Legendary) Lv.Max - Increase all Stats by 50%,

Race: Hybrid - (Human) - (Tecton Swamp Turtle) - (Rage Glutton Dragon)

Class: [Baby Titanus - Tank] (Epic) +11 VIT +11 STR +3 AGI +6 INT +6 PER

HP: 86100/86100

MP: 6490/6490

STR: 2600 - (650 + 300%)

VIT: 1705 - (682 + 150%)

AGI: 303 - (202 + 50%)

INT: 649 - (433 + 50%)

PER: 609 - (406 + 50%)

SP: 180

Skills: Earth Magic Lv.2, Water Magic Lv.2, Burrow Lv.1, Bite Lv.1, Shield Bash Lv.1, Taunt Lv.1, Charge Lv.1, Spatial Storage Lv.1,

Passives:

Tectonic Shell Lv.1 - Increases VIT, Earth Resistance, Water Resistance and Physical Resistance by 100%,

Draconic Might Lv.1 - Increases STR by 250%,

Ravenous Advancement Lv.1 - Gains SP through consumption and battle,

Rapid Regeneration Lv.1 - Regenerate 1% of total HP every 3 seconds,

Mental Attack Immunity Lv.Max - Immune to the Abnormal Status Conditions affecting the Mind

---

"W-What the-" He whispered shakily sprawled down on the ground after his legs gave out, Abaddon's haunted wide-eyed stare drifting between that frankly broken [Title], those terrifying Stats and subsequent bonuses, and last but not least.

Those damn Skills.

[Rapid Regeneration] was, although scary, kind of useless on anyone that wasn't at least somewhat beefy which she was because, holy shit, she's a walking Raid Boss with that HP. Her HP on top of that Skill? An absolutely disgusting combo. At the moment she was regenerating 861 HP every 3 seconds, you'd basically need an army of the Players to take her down at this point in the game.

And it was still only Lv.1, why the hell did it even exist to begin with, did the Devs create it while drunk or something!?

[Ravenous Advancement] on the other hand was just a straight up cheat. Players couldn't in any way gain Stats by performing actions. Didn't matter if you lifted weight til your arms fell off, didn't matter how many times you got hit, didn't matter how much you ran, didn't matter how much knowledge you consumed, and it didn't matter how much you honed your senses.

You wouldn't gain stats. Period.

Even moving past the [Tectonic Shell], the [Draconic Might] and the [Mental Attack Immunity] which he wasn't willing to get into at the moment, what even was [Earth Magic] and [Water Magic]?

Were you telling him that she could just do whatever the fuck she wanted with those elements as long as she had the MP necessary to activate the Skill the system would theoretically categorize it as!?

That's just. . .

He didn't even know anymore.

Skills did NOT work like that.

You couldn't just use the [Water Ball] Skill to trap someone in a bubble of water like the [Water Prison] Skill despite the both of them technically conjuring water in the shape of a sphere, you'd have to actually get the [Water Prison] Skill.

Skills were specific templates of an action which the system helped you perform, not a crutch which eventually allowed you to learn magic on your own.

So.

What in everything that is holy were these freaking umbrella Skills doing in the game!?

It completely defeated the purpose of acquiring Skillbooks, didn't it!?

What's the point!?

As for her having already somehow managed to change her race, he didn't even know what type of mosnter the [Tecton Swamp Turtle] nor the [Rage Glutton Dragon] was.

Because the names themselves kind of cemented her as a monster Demi-Human in comparison to the more common variations Players would eventually get their hands on.

He had never heard of any of them, ever.

However, he didn't think both her [Title] and [Class] including the word 'Titan' or 'Titanus' in some respect was a coincidence.

Speaking of which. Her [Title], Ancient grade. Ancient grade? What the hell was Ancient grade? He thought it only went up to Legendary.

He only knew of Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic and then Legendary, but apparently there was Ancient above it as well.

Because it was beyond Legendary, that he was sure of.

Either no one had progressed far enough in his previous life to come in contact with things of that grade, someone had but hid it, or they were so scarce in quantity that no one had found any yet.

On account of the first and last point, considering he didn't think anything like that would stay hidden for long no matter how much the theoretical Player tried, what the hell?

Apparently there were things even he didn't know about the game.

He'd have to try keeping that in mind so he wouldn't gain a sense of false invincibility and think himself above everyone else.

Well.

The girl next to him was probably abnormal enough to humble 15 of him to the point the chance of that ever happening was basically to zero.

...

Wandering back into the town Abaddon hid a grimace when he saw how much attention they were gathering, maybe the idea of coloring his hair crimson red wasn't the best decision in hindsight, but he needed something tangible to push him or he knew that he wouldn't give it his all.

Though, he inwardly guessed that his hair was probably the lesser reason why people did a double take as they walked through the Rabbit Plains, all of the towns sporting a similar beginner area just outside of it's borders.

Not only were they coming from deeper into the forest, but the girl stood out like a sore thumb.

She both towered over most of the Players present, he could only spot one guy who could somewhat rival her in height but even that was just in comparison to everyone else, and her size only highlighted her generous curves along with her muscular physique further.

He pondered on whether buying a large cloak to drape over her would just attract even more and eventually came to the conclusion that yes, yes it would.

People seeing something someone is 'hiding' would only spark curiosity to find out what it was.

Spending a few minutes going around to turn in the quests they accepted previously, Abaddon changed course to the nearest inn.

He hadn't forgotten the mystery boxes they got from the First Clears but opening them where others could see was just asking for trouble.