The first enemy was a large rat. The rat was roughly half a meter in size. They stood in their positions: Vanguard-Iris, rear-Filia, support-Amary, and covering flanks-Marc. The rat attacked the closest, Iris. Iris flicked his wrist and a moment later the rat fell on the ground. A black hexagon appearing on its head, symbolizing a curse/hex. The battle was over before it even started. Filia sighed, "I thought you weren't allowed to use hex magic." He shrugged, "No one else was around to see." He smirked. "Okay, but can you let others fight as well? Don't take all of the glory!"
As they walked farther into the cave the darker it got. The fungus and minerals no longer shone as brightly. Marcus became a lamp, much to his dissatisfaction. They walked for several hours, while fighting various monsters and beasts. They swapped who would deal with each monster. The monsters were like ants to them. The dungeon was classified as low level, after all.
The boss of each floor was several times stronger than any other monster in that level. The level one boss was a type of 'dragon'. In truth it was a salamander, but its appearance resembled a post-classical western dragon. The salamander was actually weak compared to the other monsters, but had the very useful skill of magical resistance. All magical damage was 12.5% less. However, this didn't include items controlled by magic, e.g. a rock being levitated.
They stood in formation, when suddenly Marcus screamed, "I am done with this!" and ran towards the salamander with his sword. The salamander slowly inhaled. His chest grew larger and larger, then his chest started to glow a fiery red. The salamander breathed his inferno and Marcus was quickly engulfed. The trio facepalmed when they saw the dragon's head fall on the ground and from his neck came a geyser of flame. Marcus walked out with his clothing slightly singed and covered in blood. "Can I take a bath now?"
They rested for an hour while they figured out how to remove an absurd amount of blood from their clothing. The robes they wore were enchanted to repair themselves over time. The cloth could clean itself as well, but several liters of blood was too much for the enchantments. Filia was the one taught the others how to clean clothing. "You take wood ash and mix it with water to make lye soap." Being from nobility, they knew little of the common people. She spent the hour explaining how to make and use basic toiletries. When Marcus's robes were clean, he got a lecture from Amary. "You can't just go and charge an enemy like that! What if you didn't have a fire attribute? You could have been seriously injured! I was worried about you, you know!" This concluded her rant as the two turned around and blushed.
Iris and Filia sat on stones in the corner of the cave, watching the rant. When the rant concluded, Filia stated "Why don't those two just get married already? Their lovey-dovey stuff is getting old."
"I know, right? You should see them on dates. It's sickening. They are too perfect for each other. Why can't I find someone?"
"You're still a teenager, not even an adult. You have your life ahead of you. Don't worry, you'll find someone. If it makes you feel better, I think you are very much marriage material.", Filia joked.
Iris's face twisted with a slight blush, " Eww, It's spreading to you now! You have been contaminated by them!" They both chuckled at their conversation not knowing Marcus and Amary were also watching them.
They continued their journey to the second layer. The second layer was a mountainous landscape. The space had a false sky and some had fun coming here to hike and climb the mountains.
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>hey, sorry to interrupt your date, but your level is now 25.
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She quietly screamed into her wrist, "Not a date!" and looked at her stats.
As she was admiring her stats a monster appeared, a monster made from animated bones that looked like they might have come from a human. Although weaker than the original entity, it could use limited skills and abilities to take down an opponent.
Amary was the next up to fight an enemy. She moved to the front of the group and prepared to do battle. The humanoid skeleton charged with a rusty sword towards her. She leaped to the side and sent a ripple of air to smack across the chest of the skeleton. The skeleton flew several feet before sliding on the ground. The skeleton started to readjust itself as bone shards that might have been ribs clattered to the ground. Amary shot another ripple to the skeleton and hit the skeleton in the skull, causing the whole monster to collapse into a pile of bones, no longer a threat.
It was extremely difficult to advance our skill in something. It would get progressively more difficult until someone's level would increase less than once per year. A level 50 was considered to be experienced and a veteran in their given job. The best way, of course, was to train. A blacksmith would practice making weapons and tools and a warrior would fight, but those who were adventures could take it to an extreme. Fighting to the death. If they fought monsters in dungeons, they could increase their level very quickly, but they could also lose their life just as quickly. This was why many didn't become an adventurer.
The levels of the dungeon got progressively more difficult. The difficulty of the levels would be about, 1-2-4-8-16. The difficulty doesn't account if a monster had a natural resistance. For example a skeleton would take less damage from most physical attacks because of its lack of flesh and it didn't feel pain. Even if they were one of the weakest monsters, they were a pain to deal with; like a colony of ants.
Iris spoke up. "We need to be more careful on this floor, then. If they can't be one-shot then if they surround us we could get easily injured." The group nodded in agreement as they continued. Despite the danger, they only sent one member out for a monster.
After an hour of fighting they were attacked by a group of trolls. Trolls are rarely far apart and terrorize communities as a whole. This was the same in every world, internet or not. [Troll]- Can be twice as large as a human. Strength can easily be three times that of a human. Most have the intelligence of children. Their thick skin can resist most blades and arrows. Hide is valuable for leather.
They immediately formed an attack position. This would be their first real fight.