(Michael's POV):
I have meet a group of eccentrics that are pretty interesting. I saved them from a group of enemies claiming that they could defeat Asylum with their cooperation. Now that I have saved them, I invited them as guests of mine. We lived a normal life around while I'm getting along with the possible new members.
"Ah, Michael! How are you doing right now?" - ???
A guy with the same height as me called out while I was walking along the hallway. He had brown hair that isn't particularly long or short. He had average looks but is actually holding a powerful class by himself. His name is Percy, he's a voidrift blaster, an overpowered bursting class that can deal very high damage.
"Oh, Percy! I'm good right now so, where are the others?"
"Ah, the others went shopping altogether. Eri said to prepare a whole lot on the upcoming expedition." - Percy
Apparently, every other member of the expedition group is out somewhere. With that, I have time to stack up a huge amount of holy potions.
I went around the castle and met a few members running around without much to do. The schedule loosened up after completing the castle so we don't really have anything to do as far as we know.
I often see Julius, Karl, and Mitch wander around the castle early in the mornings. Just as usual, I called out to them.
"Yo!"
"Ah, Michael! Let's go farm a bit of loot in the south of this map." - Julius
South? Are they talking about the Desert Biome?
I pondered for a bit before deciding on what to do. Since I don't have pretty much stacked up a huge amount of levels, I might as well take the chance while I can.
"Eh sure, I have some time left."
"Time?" - Julius
Julius was confused about why I have a set schedule today. Seymour did not tell them yet? Guess I should let them know then.
"Ah, well... I'm supposed to wait for the rest of the new members before embarking on a long term expedition."
"Ah, really? Then good luck with that." - Karl
"Well, it's still a while before they arrive anyway so let's head to the desert."
"You sure about that? What if you ended up meeting them?" - Mitch
He's right, what do I do if I ended up bumping into one of them? Eh, screw it! They'll wait for me anyway.
I simply told them that it'll be fine with a slack tone.
"It'll be fine, what could go wrong about it?"
"Yeah, told ya." - Julius
Our group has went towards the spawn area after asking Seymour permission to head towards the Desert biome. We then raced out towards the spawn area using boots that allow us to sprint at very high speeds. It was only meant for short travel periods and is practically useless when we entered combat.
After some time, we have arrived to the central fountain. That certain fountain is the very center of this world. We sat down and chat for a bit of our plan and formation.
"So, we'll be doing this the standard way? Karl and Mitch takes the backseat shooting out the enemies before they could hit us and Michael will be tanking." - Julius
"Oi, what do you mean by tanking? I'm also pretty squishy you freak."
Julius is one of those classes that can basically one shot everyone. He lurks in the shadows and can turn invisible pretty easily.
That class is a shadow assassin. It allows players to phase through objects and turn invisible anytime. Julius has tried using phasing but has incredible issues with it according to him.
"Mitch, your eyesight is gonna be very useful here. Use it very well when sniping your targets." - Julius
"Dude, don't ignore me."
Mitch is our ranger, he has a powerful scouting ability by using a certain skill called 'magnification'. It's a powerful way to view a certain distance without much effort or mana expense.
His class is a magic sniper. All his bullets are made up of solidified mana and can gouge through a person's armor effortlessly.
"Ahaha! My bad Michael, well... Just do your best at dodging." - Julius
So you're telling me to perform a 'dodgefest'? Dude, I know you're gonna steal kills anyway.
In terms of leveling, I am actually way ahead of them and can perform at levels that I normally cannot handle easily without training.
"Well, I'll still stay at the back preparing nice follow-up for you guys." - Karl
Karl is our magician, he holds a tarot card and can utilize it to perfection. His class is a Royal Magician, a powerful class that allows himself to learn and create his own magic formula. With his ability to create enchantments along with Denzel's weapon creation techniques, we were pretty much set for weapons and equipment. Armor crafting can still be done automatically and without much effort on anvils.
While we were discussing about our classes, our topic shifted to our weapons.
"You guys have your stuff worked on by Denzel right? What did he make for you Michael?" - Julius
"Ah, he made both of these."
I brought out the weapons made by Denzel sometime ago, it's still in perfect condition but will probably need repairs soon enough. They were shocked about the design and the lightness of both weapons.
"A scythe and a trident huh? What are the functions?" - Julius
"I'm glad you asked..." - Karl
Karl started explaining the functions of the scythe in which he gave Denzel the parchments to enchant both weapons. Julius showed some surprise and looked at me mischievously.
"Vanguard." - Julius
"Shut up."
I knew it, he'll set me as a vanguard if I brought these out.
"Well, how about you two? What kind of weapons do you have?" - Karl
"Ah, I'll show mine first." - Mitch
Mitch revealed a large musket with a rifle scope manually made by Denzel.
"It's basically an M1 Garand type rifle so I could use this and attack people at an extreme distance using magnification along with the rifle scope." - Mitch
"I see, what about you Julius?"
"Ah, here..." - Julius
Julius brought out a black shortsword with runic marks in it.
"Oh? You have the anti-physical defense blade?" - Karl
"Yeah, it basically allows me to phase this weapon through armor only when the enemy is in a panicked state. It's hard to do it though, panicked state can last for a split second only which is a hard margin." - Julius
Julius takes out another blade that has a somewhat orange futuristic design.
"This is meteorite right? Did you collect some when a meteorite landed?" - Karl
"Yeah, I then told Denzel to make me a nice sword with it. It was said that it can melt armor very easily." - Julius
"Impressive, seems like our work will be in perfect condition for a while. If it starts to break, head to Denzel so he can repair it and then I'll refresh the enchantment without much issue." - Karl
"Alright, shall we he-"
"Michael! What are you doing here!" - ???
Ah shit, I goofed up real bad...
A girl with short red hair was walking towards me with a somewhat angry mood. That girl is Eri, the girl who invited me in the expedition in the first place. The three guys behind me are grinning lightly like a girl catching her boyfriend getting drunk with his friends.
"Ah, you see... I'm pretty much set for the expedition already, we're just gonna head to the desert and collect some experience points just for a while."
"I see. What are you gonna do to make up for it if you're late tomorrow?" - Eri
"We'll be back to the castle by dusk though?"
"Really now? Where are you going then?" - Eri
"Pretty sure I told you we're going to the desert to farm for some time?"
"I-! I know that idiot! But, where you exactly headed to?!" - Eri
Seeing that I have no idea where we'll exactly farm for XP, I turned towards the three grinning guys behind me. I then gave them gazes that I seriously need assistance.
"Khufufufu." - Julius
Julius was trying his very best to hold his laughter. Karl got rid of his laughter and decided to help me the best he can.
"Ah well, we're heading towards the northeast desert well since there is a sinkhole in there. We will return with various kinds of loot around dusk." - Karl
"Is that so? Then take me with you Michael." - Eri
Jeez, she looks set too and we can't really do anything about her.
"Alright, you can take another one with you."
"I see, Celine! Come with me then!" - Eri
Eri's class is also a demon incarnate. I haven't confirmed it yet but I know for the fact that she's a demon type. Celine is a Chronorift type but is actually a mender. She has brown hair and has a moderately short and slender stature. Eri then signaled the others to return to the castle and brought Celine with her.
The other members returned to the castle.
"Alright, we may have to spread out in the exploration though will that be alright?"
"Of course it is! What do you think I am?" - Eri
"Yeah, don't think of going aggressive on us. We have our tactics laid out nicely in case we bumped into a player attack."
"Alright I get it, I get it!" - Eri
I then introduced both Eri and Celine to the three. They exchanged their greetings and have asked about the details of the combat formation.
"I see, it's a classic formation but there isn't really any need to hold back right?" - Eri
"Well, we can pretty much pummel through any formation without really wasting our potions or so."
"Really now? Then what happens during the exploration?" - Eri
"We split up of course, it's more efficient to spread out when exploring a cave."
"Ugh... Alright." - Eri
I surely hope that everything will be alright...
So after a long day, we did explore around the desert and had no player encounter. But we collected quite a bit of loot.