"Hey, are you coming or not?" Hana poked the Pokemon that was stretched out on the floor. Zorua gave an mumbled sound. It hiccupped. Illusory bubbles began to appear around the knocked out Pokemon.
Hana's face had black lines running down it. "Are you drunk?" After everyone went to sleep last night, she seemed to recall that Renae had left the half finished bottle of beer on the floor. . . Can Pokemon get wasted?
"Fine then, I'll just leave you here." She turned to Rina who was packing her schoolbag. "We'll be gone for a few days. Take care of yourself."
"Ok, be safe." As Rina left, Hana summoned Gengar. The ghost Pokemon gave her a sly smirk as it hopped before her. "Guard the dorm. If anything strange happens or occurs, capture and wait for me to get back. Rina's safety is your top priority." She didn't know why, but she felt uneasy for some reason.
Gengar laughed eerily. It bowed and faded into the walls. Sigh, another weird one.
Hana shrugged on a empty backpack. Since Renae said that B - class dungeons take a few days to clear, she had brought dry rations as well.
Grasping Hyorinmaru hand, she walked into the courtyard.
Renae and Song Qi were waiting. "Hana!" Renae waved her over. "Let's go over strategy right now. We should familiarize each other with our abilities, so we can position ourselves accordingly."
"Position?"
"Yes, depending on their abilities, teams usually adopt certain formations. The healers usually are in the back, or protected in the middle. Long range abilities often at the back or sides. Hana, what formation does the team you usually run with use?" Song Qi asked.
While Renae was probably the most experienced dungeon hunter in their group, Hana still had some experience in dungeons. She did hear Renae telling everyone at high school that Hana was running dungeons during her period of absence. Considering her summoning ability, she was probably in the back, although . . .
"No position." Hana said with a poker face.
"Huh? Your team doesn't strategize before dungeons?"
"I usually solo dungeons." Hana said. Strategy? She just went in guns blazing . . . Of course, strategy was important. However, she simply had the raw power to overwhelm the dungeon monsters so she never bothered.
Hana shrugged. "I don't need to think strategy when I have the raw power to run through everything." She sounded arrogant, but it was a truthful statement of her abilities. Low level dungeons were simply not a challenge to her.
"That is actually not surprising," Song Qi said after considering her words. She looked calmly at Hana. "Your fire and combat abilities should be sufficient to take a lower class dungeon alone. Since you also can summon, your survival rate is also higher. Although I have never been in a dungeon, statistically your survival rate appears higher than average."
"True," Renae muttered, "but still its risky." She still had mixed feelings after the last time Hana revealed she went in dungeons alone. She widened her eyes. "And you didn't tell me when you learned to use the powers of your summons!"
Hana gave her a blank look.
"It is rare for summoners to reach a level where they can temporarily share abilities with their summons." Song Qi noted. "Even though some rare skill books delineate the process, it still requires a strong bond and talent."
Hana frowned. She didn't want to reveal that she had a system. Frankly, she doubt people would understand even if she did. She had miscalculated the portrayal of her abilities. Sigh, espionage was not her strong fort.
"I never said I was limited to summoning Poke — ah creatures," Hana clarified after some thought. "I summon things from fantasy, er . . . dreams. The stronger I recall my dreams, the more likely I can summon them. The concept is difficult to put into words." She inwardly cringed at her explanation.
However the two seemed to accept her explanation. "Well, many people have strange abilities," Renae waved her hands, "It's no surprise, people tend to safeguard the specifics of how their abilities work anyway." Song Qi nodded in agreement.
"Anyway, we'll just say you can use fire and summon creatures," Renae said. She grinned. "My ability is water control. Wherever there is water, I can manipulate it. It's easier when I have a large body of water to work with."
Song Qi nodded. "I am the healer then. I use light to mitigate the natural healing process. However, I am limited by the severity of wounds. Frankly, healing is a complex process that still cannot be fully explained. However, my results can speak for themselves."
The three fell into silence as they assessed each other. Hana was never a fan of working with others, but she was kind of interested in teams in this world. The so-called strategies seemed similar to games from her past life.
Now that she thought of it, she felt like she had dropped into a world like SAO. Wasn't she basically playing a full dive VR lifestyle?
"Well, let's go then," Hana said.
"Wait, what about your supplies?" Renae asked. She eyed Song Qi's full backpack, then Hana's seemingly light one.
"Oh, I'll be fine with this." Hana had several high protein bars in her bag. She never carried much out of habit. When she was on missions in her past life, she survived on the minimum amount of food required for the human body to function. Besides, the backpack could carry more things from the dungeon this way.
Renae frowned. "I'll get you a storage tool someday." She raised the bracelet around her wrists. "We can share then. I always overpack for emergencies."
Storage tool? Hana raised her eyebrows. Now, that actually sounded useful. Unfortunately her system didn't have a storage space like those in the novels she use to read. But since she could get the actual thing normally, that was great.
Hana led the way to the dungeon. Void Lake. There was not much information about this dungeon, other than the name. The three glanced at each other before entering.