Dungeons of the Fatuna Mountain

Monsters are separated into different classes.

Normal Monsters usually roam around in large numbers around select areas. These monsters are limited to their intended levels.

Special Monsters are monsters that are, among the normal monsters, a bit different. It may be the color, the skills, or anything. It possesses a clear difference from normal monsters. It also possesses a strength twice that of the norm.

Rare Monsters are monsters that can be seen on rare occasions as their name implies. Most of the time, these monsters remain in hiding. Defeating these monsters will even reward you with unique items.

Boss Monsters are monsters that possess strength equivalent to a group of 20 or more similarly leveled players. Defeating them rewards you with high experience and Boss Level items and materials.

Most games possessed this set of monster configurations. However, in WEXO, there's more.

Legend Class Monsters are monsters that are often told in legends. During the whole duration of the game, Legend Class Monsters have only been spotted 4 times and those who spotted them ended up dead in no time.

Scholars say that it was not yet feasible to defeat Legend Class Monsters in the game. This is because their estimated levels are around 400 or so. Wherein the current highest level is about 100 only.

Above Legend Class is God Class Monsters. These monsters are almost unknown. All that is recorded is that the strength of one God Class Monster was enough to kill 100 Legend Class Monsters simultaneously. No sightings nor other information was known.

If you think that this is the last, then you're mistaken. There's still a class above the God Class Monster. That is the Immortal Monsters.

Immortal monsters, like the God Class, only exist on records for now. However, they, as the records say, are immortal and will never die. After several months of research in the game, they found an old record of a successful hunt of an Immortal Monster.

How they killed it was not clearly stated however, only certain keywords were there. One is "They are not Omnipotent". Also, it was stated that they destroyed an item that was representing the immortality of the monster. As soon as they did, the Immortal Monster immediately lost most of its strength and eventually died.

The monster classes are known to most players, but not all understood its implication.

- - -

It was now 7 AM in the real world. By this time, normally, Minami had already finished breakfast and started walking towards the school.

However, starting today, there's no school!

The Graduation Ceremony had passed and her enrollment procedure for College was already done ahead of time.

Of course, she was still going to the same University as Joshua. However, they entered different departments.

Joshua was in Information and Technology whilst Minami chose Liberal Arts.

"Judging Joshua through his attitude… He's currently logged in. Better make breakfast for him." Minami chuckled.

Completely reading his intentions, Minami headed to Joshua's kitchen. She started preparing food for breakfast.

She toasted some bread and covered it with butter.

She sautés some vegetables in olive oil. Then, she prepared the main dish.

She cooked some Omelet and topped it over piping hot rice.

Then, as if on time, Joshua walked down the stairs and towards the kitchen.

"*Yaaaaawn*… You woke up quite late today huh…"

"And you seem to have woken up unbelievably early."

And so, their usual breakfast where random talks were exchanged started.

"By the way… Do you have any other tips for me?"

Minami then asked Joshua.

"I believe I have told you everything that you currently need. All that is left is hard work."

"Fufu. You say that yet yesterday, you told a stranger information that even I don't know…"

"I-I told you that's information that you don't need as of yet."

"And that Marielle needed it?"

Minami's gaze was like a sharp razor piercing through his soul.

"W-Well…"

"What's wrong? Cat's got your tongue? Fu fu fu."

Giving up, Joshua couldn't help but divulge some information.

"Guh… Okay, okay… One thing is that you are currently using your time inefficiently. Unlike me who needs to move continuously while fighting, you just stand on one side."

As Joshua spoke seriously, Minami listened attentively.

"You can read a book while on battle or something. Just standing there and observing the battle won't do you anything good."

"That may be true but I need to conduct the battle…"

Minami's role was usually the command tower or the lifeline of the team. She uses her perfect timing to heal Joshua while keeping an eye out for the surrounding monsters.

"There's no need for that. I'm here remember?" Joshua grinned.

"Then, your burden will…" Minami worriedly said.

"It's fine, I consider those sorts of things quite fun in itself. Leave the battle to me, focus on increasing your stats and raining support skills, that's all."

After they finished eating breakfast, they both agreed to log in at the same time.

- - -

"... What's with that getup?"

"Pretty cool right?"

After logging in, the two of them met each other.

"What do you mean cool?"

"Look! Most of my items are boss class! Isn't that cool?"

"The bonuses may be cool but you look dumb you know?"

He was currently wearing all the equipment that he can equip. The cape, the breastplate, the rings, the bracelets. Those items were fine since they sort of matched each other.

However, the bright yellow gauntlet and the black helmet were redundant. It destroyed the unity among his items.

After being lectured by Faye, Zeus unequipped the Gauntlet and the Helmet.

Then, the two of them started walking towards the market again. Their aim was to search for proper-looking items and accessories.

They browsed several stores and managed to find some useful ones at reasonable prices. Faye bought a new robe with higher defense and several rings. She also bought a pair of earrings and a necklace.

Her focus was mana increase, magic damage, mana regeneration, and stat addition.

Zeus focused on completing his rings. He bought rings and equipped all he can. Since he already had 5, he bought an additional 15 rings. He also bought a necklace but didn't buy an earring. He was saying that he would never punch a hole in his body even in virtual reality.

Other than that, he also bought a small head protector and an arm protector. He also bought an upgraded version of the Magic Bag that he was carrying.

All in all, he spent over 500,000 D in a short span of time.

After buying several things, they then sold their excess items, easily recovering their expenses.

After their short shopping trip, they headed towards the gate once again.

"This time, we'll head to a different hunting ground. We'll try heading towards a village off east here. There, a chain quest can be started."

Zeus explained.

"Is that available to me too?"

"The quest itself doesn't require that many pre-requisites but as the level of the quest increase, the harder it will get."

"Then we should wait for Marielle. It's better if the three of us took it together."

Faye suggested. Zeus, who completely forgot about their third and new member, momentarily stopped in his tracks.

"… Okay. Then, we'll head to a different hunting ground for now. Down the opposite direction, west."

"Let's go then."

The two of them then walked towards the mountainous regions off the west.

The west was famous for the mountain dungeons. Each dungeon has different Level ranges starting from 20 up to 80. The one they are planning to visit was the level 20 dungeon.

On their path, they would need to pass through the forest.

Since the monsters were weak compared to them and due to his awe-inducing equipment, they weren't bothered much by monsters.

They headed straight toward the Fatuna Mountain Range.

Minutes passed and they reached the nearest dungeon's entrance. It was located at the foot of the mountain. A cave covered with moss and limestones.

"Be careful of your footing. The floor's a bit wet."

As Zeus warned, the two of them entered fearlessly but carefully.

The cave was wide. The ceiling reaches up to 3 meters high. The passage was wide enough for 2 carts to pass side by side.

After a little walk, they encountered the first monster of the dungeon. Bats.

"-----!!!"

Seeing the intruders, the group of bats immediately took off and flew toward the two.

Cave Bats. Level 22. It was said that they always group together that's why they are hard to hunt. However…

"Mercy of the Earth Goddess, prevent those who wished to inflict harm on your humble servant. Holy Shield!"

As she chanted, a series of transparent walls made of light appeared between the bats and Faye. Zeus was on the other side of the shield, together with the bats.

Rather than protect herself, she used this skill to block the exit of the bats. This way, they cannot run away even if they wanted to.

"HAAAAAH!!!"

Beast's Roar! As he activated his skill, the bats in front of him fell down one by one, stunned. Without wasting this chance, he immediately slashed at the fallen monsters. Three slashes were needed to kill the bats!

He endlessly slashed while almost ignoring the remaining ones that are still flying. His sword was flowing gracefully and swiftly.

Those that are still flying were hit with strong attack magic by Faye and died.

In a matter of seconds, the group of over 20 bats was obliterated.

Of course, Zeus tried to receive hits as much as he can so his health was down to critical levels.

Then, after a few seconds of recovering his health, they continued deeper into the dungeon.

The dungeons of Fatuna were interconnected with each other. Paths of dungeons with different levels will merge every so often.

This intricate network of tunnels led the dungeons here to earn their reputation. Most of the adventurers that enter the dungeon take the warning to their heart. That is, 'Don't enter without a map'.

After the first month of the game, some of the players decided to map every dungeon that they have entered and cleared. Dungeons of Fatuna were some of the still-to-be-unbeaten dungeons around the vicinity.

Even though the levels are at most level 90, all species of monsters inside, excluding boss monsters, always move in large numbers.

Still, some adventurers had mapped almost half of the network and tagged the level groups at each tunnel and corner. Zeus was looking at one such map right now.

"We will first clear the path for level 20 to 30 tunnels. Then, we will try challenging the level 40 ones."

Zeus spoke as he was staring intently at the map in his hands. It was a map bought in advance for this hunt.

The drawing of the map looks more like a spider's web. A lot of branches lead to similar locations. Some spots even had large open spaces. Also, colors were drawn for each tunnel. It was color coded.

White indicated a range of 20 to 29. Green for 30 to 39, yellow for 40 to 59, orange for 60 to 75, and red for 76 to 90.

Moments later, they chose a path and started their hunt. It was a roundabout path that passed through most of the white tunnels and crossed some green ones. In the end, near the center, a yellow one was to be passed through before going straight out.

On the white ones, the battle was finished almost instantly. On the green ones, it lasted for minutes and required continuous healing, leaving no time to rest.

Their exploration was done in a rhythmic manner and after 5 hours of hunting, they finally finished their designated path.

All that was left was the large yellow area near the middle. The pair rested for a little while, then went inside with large strides.