Akiol teleported to Red Bush, as he walked towards the town hall to turn in the bounty and his quest a voice sounded.
'I didn't know you could fight like that.' It was Stars.
"Was it a good show?" Akiol asked.
'One thing I will never lie about, is on what I think was or will be cool. That fight was pretty cool.'
Inwardly shaking his head Akiol responded, "Glad you liked it."
A notification appeared.
Looks like the only way to increase favorability with Stars was doing things he thought was cool.
Entering the town hall he turned in the quests and bounty. Gaining two levels and three hundred gold, it was a nice addition.
While Akiol had leveled up several times in a few days. The time on his quest was running out. He had a lot of grinding to do. Akiol braced himself for the mind dulling task that is grinding and went to the quest board.
. . .
It had been two days in-game time. Akiol had spent all his time grinding in game, only logging out of necessities and such. He had reached level 49 and even gained some additional stat points. He was about to level up when a notification appeared.
[The Evolution of a Lesser Slime]
The time has come and your evolution is imminent.
Requirements:
-Absorb a decently powerful Mana item (complete)
-See a higher tier slime (complete)
-Defeat three higher leveled opponents at least ten levels higher. (2/3)
Akiol saw the quest and sighed in relief. It wouldn't take too long since he had already completed most of it. All he had to do was find a level sixty creature and kill it.
That's when he froze, the only higher leveled person he saw was Mantis, and that was at level 50. Wouldn't level sixty creatures be at towns?
Wondering about this he sent a message to Wrock.
-Need to kill a level sixty or more creature. Got any leads?- Akiol
-Well there was that dungeon that was discovered a few hours ago. Didn't you get the announcement?- Wrock
-Announcement? When?- Akiol
-A few hours ago, some player named Books Too Heavy discovered it and its location was announced- Wrock
-I wasn't on a few hours ago, is there a minimum player count needed?- Akiol
-Yeah, it's a five player dungeon.- Wrock
-Sighh. Did you want to assist me in trying it out? We could try joining or finding the remaining teammates.- Akiol
-Sure! Just give me an hour, completing a quest.- Wrock
-Meet in Yellow Stalk then?- Akiol
-Works for me- Wrock
While Akiol waited for Wrock to finish his quest, he stocked up on healing and mana potions. He still had some time left so he took a look at the items Mantis dropped.
First was the skill stone, which he crushed. A notification appeared.
[Aura Boost:
Allows the user to gain 40% in agility, attack, and defense.
User can forgo any buff to triple another.
Cost: 300 MP
Duration: 3 minutes]
A fantastic skill, he approved greatly. Next was the scarf.
[Mantis's Scarf: Accessory]
The scarf of Mantis, a gift they received as a child. Infused with mana it provides benefits to the wearer.
When equipped receive:
+10 in all stats
Gives temporary immunity to an attack if the attack is guaranteed to kill when hit. (Works once a day)
Akiol now understood the reason why he had failed to kill Mantis during that one strike.
He decided to equip the scarf, there was no reason not too. The main reason he never equipped any armor in the first place was because he didn't need too. The only damage he received was from his core, and that would be near enough to kill him.
Akiol longed for the day he could move his core, but that wasn't now.
Teleporting to Yellow Stalk he waited for a message from Wrock.
Fifteen minutes passed the agreed time, Akiol got a message.
-Sorry for being late, quest was longer than expected- Wrock
-No problem, waiting by the fountain- Akiol
It wasn't long before he saw the dark skinned pugilist jogging up to him.
Akiol met him halfway, after they greeted each other Akiol then said, "Lead the way! For I have to defeat this higher leveled enemy as soon as possible."
Wrock grinned and asked, "What's the rush?"
"Something like a quest."
"Something like. . . ?"
Akiol explained the reason. Wrock nodded and said, "Say no more, I shall lead the way."
As they traveled Wrock asked, "So when are you going to change out of the beginner equipment?"
Akiol responded with, "The only equipment I have is this scarf."
Wrock raised an eyebrow, "Surely not, does that mean you have been leveling this whole time without any armor or anything?"
Akiol nodded, "The only time I can get hurt is if my core gets damage anyway, what's the point of wearing armor if that's the case?"
"You mean you're immune to damage?"
"Kinda, in return for my partial immunity any damage my core takes is on par with a vital strike. The times my core got hit I nearly died, and both of those times were just blunt hits."
Wrock whistled, "So if you get stabbed in your core, your as good as dead?"
Akiol once again nodded, "It's quite the weakness. Although this scarf I recently obtained prevents a sudden death once per day."
The two chuckled, Wrock pointed out, "You still need to do something with your outfit though. If players see your in starter gear they might not want to party with us."
Akiol tapped his nose, he had no idea what the common gear looked like. He didn't want to make himself look like an armored tank either.
Finally deciding he went for a popular choice of armor from his world. It was a mixture between a half-plate and chainmail armor. Adding a brown leather looking shirt to cover his arms. He added leather gauntlets with metal pieces. Wearing leather pants and metal greaves. He just put on some normal shoes. Looking like a DnD knight, minus the helmet, he asked Wrock if the outfit looked alright.
"A much better improvement. The scarf is a good addition too." Wrock replied approvingly.
"Glad you're well versed in player fashion." Akiol responded.
The two soon arrived, Akiol saw a decently sized cave entrance. There were hundreds of players crowding near the entrance, shouting party requirements.
The two soon walked near the herd, looking around. Dodging the jogging players, and refusing some offers. They soon came across a small party of three.
"We need a healer, you can do." One of the players said to another.
"Do I get full rights to whatever priest items drop?" The player replied
"Sure sure. I hope your healing skills are up to par if your going to join us with such a demand." The player said.
Akiol didn't like the tone of voice the first player had, he would have ignored the situation, if it wasn't for the fact that the healer was really familiar.
"Hey Wrock, doesn't that healer look like Yielya?" Akiol asked, pointing towards the priest.
Startled, Wrock turned to where Akiol was pointing. He responded, "Yeah, I can see where you're coming from."
"Then let's go see if we can introduce ourselves."
The two walked towards the trio. Akiol asked, "You guys need party members?"
The first player turned towards Akiol. Observing the two he asked, "You two damage dealers?"
Akiol nodded.
The player responded, "Good! We needed two damage dealers. The name's Reformed Will, I am a defender. That archer over there is Stale Cracker. This priest just joined us so we have yet to know their name."
The priest said, "I am Proven Remedy."
Akiol responded, "I don't have two worded names like you all, the name's Akiol." He patted Wrock's shoulder. "This one will introduce himself."
Wrock looked at Akiol weirdly. He responded with, "Name's Wrecking Rocks. You can just call me Wrock though."
As Akiol expected, the priest named Proven Remedy looked shocked to hear Akiol's and Wrock's names. This further cemented the idea that the healer was Yielya.
Reformed Will said, "You can just call me Will and the archer Stale. Since we have a party let's begin."
The tone of voice was still there, to test the personality of Will Akiol asked a question.
"How will loot be distributed?"
Will answered, "Since were all different classes then the loot will go to the person with the class."
"What about loot to a class no one here is? What about accessories?"
Will's eye twitched, "Depending on the accessories stats, people could roll for it. The same for equipment that cannot be used by any of us. Is that good enough?"
Akiol nodded, Will had passed for now. A notification appeared shortly later.
Akiol accepted the invite, it was time to experience his first dungeon.