Eara's daily routine consisted of hammering, she was patiently waiting for her sister to finish her quest. Not only that but she also routinely farmed monster for exp and combat training.
One such occasion was when she entered a newly discovered dungeon, the dungeon wasn't all that special so most of the big guilds ignored it, to smaller guilds however it was a way to quickly gather exp, low level materials and loots.
Since most large guilds would always claim some high loot dungeons, most small players are left with dungeons that aren't worth taking in the eyes of large guilds.
The dungeon contained undead mobs, mainly skeleton warrior, soldiers and archers. The warriors and soldiers aren't that big of a deal but the archers are more dangerous.
Since the players are still learning how to move and fight in game, the undead skeletons are the perfect training partners. The lower tiered skeletons don't move fast, they also fight clumsily, their armor slows them down and pretty much crumbles after repeated hits.
The dungeon have a limited slots for players, be it guild players or independent players in order to avoid a scenario where the players simply wash over the dungeon like an ocean wave.
Eara was clad in her new battle dress and equipped with her pride and joy.
Tier 0 E-0 Katana Blade Prototype.
Rarity : common
Atk: 18-21
Sharp: 4
Atk Spd: normal
Durability : 30/30
Vicious: Increased attack damage and slightly increased attack speed.
She have played with it on any occasion that she could, she would find low level monsters and act as if she was a samurai. Even going as far as imitating their stance and battle cries, of course she made sure that she was alone while doing it.
Her obviously rare battle dress and katana was hidden under a cloak, her sister gave her one by selling it in the auction house for a ridiculous amount of gold. Eara was the only player who could buy it and the only loss that the pair incurred was the tax money taken by the auction house.
There were already a few players wearing cloaks but a majority of them were probably guild players who wanted to hide their identities.
She was on her way to enter a dungeon when she heard the shouting of players around the entrance.
"Looking for a member! we already have two swordsmans and a tank, we need an archer or a hunter."
"looking for party! im a level 37 Tank!"
"looking for party! im a level 38 swordsman!"
"Looking for members! we have a level 39 swordsman and a level 38 Tank, we only accept players who are level 38 or above!"
"hey buddy! im a level 38 thief! can i join!"
"sure!"
All the current players in the entrance have limited classes, swordsman, thief, archer, hunter and tank. Classes like mage, priest, enchanter and cleric haven't appeared yet. Archers and Hunters aren't supposed to appear yet but because of Eara's bows that started circulating among the players, they managed to aquire these classes early on.
Most player craftsmen are still unable to craft a bow since they're still stuck on their promotions and the npc's don't usually sell bows and other weapons to just anybody and any equipment and weapons they do sell are quite expensive so the players had to rely on their fellow players who have the craftsmen subclasses.
Eara ignored the players who were shouting and proceeded to go inside the dungeon, as she was about to enter a young voice suddenly called out to her from behind.
"E-excuse me?!" a young girl probably at the age of 12 or so came running from behind Eara, behind the girl are two other children who appeared to be near the girl's age.
Eara looked back and saw the girl rushing before stopping in front of her. "did you need anything?" Eara asked.
The girl was a little bit embarrassed but still spoke just loud enough to be heard. "u-uhm, are you perhaps going in solo?"
Eara looked at the group of children and nodded. After observing the group, she concluded that the kids are probably lower levelled compared to the mainstream players.
Based on their equipment and the fact that they lacked any notable equipment, other than a familiar blade. Eara was sure that these kids were desperately looking for a higher levelled party member to carry them at the dungeon.
"yes." Eara answered trying to look aloof as possible. She wanted to present a different vibe from her real self in order to go along with her mask.
The kids all smiled for a moment before the girl who seemed to be their leader spoke. "i uh, c-could you.... please join our party!" the girl suddenly said while closing her eyes and bowing their heads, the other two looked at each other before bowing their heads also.
Eara looked surprised at their actions, though only for a moment. She acted as if she was pondering for a moment before finally agreeing.
"alright, but first i want to know your levels." Eara declared.
The kids were overjoyed at first but suddenly their faces showed worry as they reluctantly spoke in a quiet voice.
The girl spoke first. "i... im level 23.…" followed by the eldest. "uhm, im level 24" and lastly the smallest and most quiet girl. "i..." the small girl was obviously struggling to speak before finally finding courage to speak. "im level 18.…"
Eara wasn't really surprised about it, she casually nodded. "alright cool, send me an invite."
The leader sighed and lowered her shoulders as if she already expected an answer only for her to suddenly realise that she received a different answer this time.
"r-really?!" The girl beamed before quickly sending a party invitation.
The girl enthusiastically added Eara to her party, once they noticed Eara's level however, they were suddenly stunned.
There were many ways for players to gain experience points in game, killing monster, doing quests, crafting items, opening chests are some of the ways that a player could earn exp from.
Eara was doing several of them, killing monsters, doing quests and crafting items have allowed Eara to level up several times faster than other players.
Even so, her level wasn't considered as high since most large guilds have long surpassed the mainstream players by atleast 4 or so levels.
"Y-your level 41!?" The girl said in astonishment.
In which Eara replied. "huh? oh yeah, i am." then casually checking the party list and read their names.
"Alright, let's get in before the dungeon runs out of slots."
"y-yeah" The leader girl named Jeaz nodded.
The remaining two introduced themselves, the eldest boy was named Supreme Thunder Dragon Emperor while the youngest was name Little Cherry Blossom.
Eara was dumbfounded by their names, specifically by the eldest boy who seamed proud of his name. Eara decided to call him Suthor based on his name and call the youngest Cherry.
The dungeon entrance looked like an ordinary cave but as soon as they stepped in the cave, the group found out that the cave didn't extend further down and instead led to a large room.
A closed stone gates appeared surrounded by weird inscriptions and carvings, there were also several human bones scattered around the floor.
The group got near the gate and pushed the gate, while pushing a notification appeared in their eyes asking for confirmation.
Jeaz accepted it and the gate opened by itself, stepping in, the gate closed preventing them from going back.
The surroundings didn't change however and the walls are still similar to that of the cave. The group walked forward, Eara let Jeaz take the lead, jeaz was actually reluctant to do so since Eara was higher levelled than them but due to Eara's insistence she had no choice but to lead the way.
They walked about 50 meters forward when they first encountered their very first skeleton. it wasn't wearing any armour and its bones only carried old ragged clothes that was ripped and and teared beyond recognition.
The skeleton was holding a short sword, it slowly moved around until it noticed the group. Jeaz readily pulled out a familiar weapon, her sister' s tanto.
Eara smiled under her mask and she then gestured for them to go ahead. She didn't want to steal their kill and simply watched them fight.
Eara watched the spectacle that was displayed in front of her, the epic battle between three kids and a skeleton.
It was horrible, they lacked teamwork and they are basically using moves that they definitely saw in an action movie or some video games . The eldest kid Suthor who was using a bronze sword even imitated a martial artist by using the sword with one hand while using wierd gestures with the other.
The youngest Cherry was using a bronze dagger, unlike Suthor she was wildy swinging the dagger around causing both jeaz and the older kid to distance themselves to her. The skeleton who was somehow a better fighter than the three of them combined was swinging in a shaky manner and without hesitations.
Eara watched painfully as the eldest kid do a roundhouse kick while completely ignoring his sword that almost gazed Cherry.
Almost a minute has passed and the three finally killed the skeleton when jeaz swung her tanto on the skeletons neck and made a not so clean cleave.
Eara finally spoke after her fifth face palm. "Tell me honestly, is this your first time fighting skeletons or better yet humanoid creatures?"
Jeaz was suprised since this is actually their first time entering this dungeon, although Eara didn't criticise since this is also her first time entering said dungeon.
" y-yeah, we've been battling sewer rats, forest wolves, slimes and forest cats. This is actually are first time fighting skeletons." Jeaz admitted while looking a little glum.
Eara sighed and nodded. "alright, starting now you three follow me and watch how i fight, i won't be teaching you guys how to fight properly but at least watch how i move and try to follow my steps."
The three eagerly nodded and let Eara take the lead. For the past 3 weeks Eara have practiced both in game and in real life with her sister. Her fighting skills and experience was now comparable to that of a third rate guild elite from Yulis's previous life.
Guilds have a general ranking on their players depending on their fighting skills and experience, the backbone of their armies the soldier class are the most numerous and most individually weaker players, they form armies that are the main fighting forces of guilds
Next there's the elites, they're much more stronger and are usually taught real life fighting skills, they aren't as numerous as the soldier class and are considered one of the guild's trump cards. They also form legions that are also tasked with special missions and sometimes raid bosses and dungeons.
Then there's the special forces, these players are usually under the direct command of the guild's vice guild leaders and guild leaders. These players are the cream of the crop, the best players that the guild can offer.
Then finally theres the main or primary team, the team consists of players that are either the founding players of the guild or the commanders. They don't need to be combat oriented and instead they either lead, or command from above.
Eara was like a beginner elite of a third rate guild, other than the lack of battle experience she's pretty much the real deal.
Going in further more and more skeletons began to appear, although they are still the same slow, weak, dim-witted idiots that was mindlessly swinging their weapons. In Eara's eyes atleast, to the group of kids however they were still a terrifying threat that they couldn't defeat one on one.
The trio watched in amazement as Eara began sidestepping the skeleton's slow attack and began kicking or punching them down, she didn't even need to draw her weapon.
They finally reached a set of stairs leading downwards, The second floor of the dungeon contained more tunnels and passageways, the skeletons also increased in numbers but it wasn't that noticeable.
Eara chose a random tunnel and continued on, like before their marching speed wasn't unchanged and they finally reached another set of stairs leading to the third floor.
This time the numbers of the skeletons abruptly increased, their numbers doubled and their equipment visibly doubled in quality. The old tattered rags became old tattered leather, their old rusted swords that was usually broken in half was now intact and wasn't that rusty anymore.
Eara finally took their threat seriously and drawed her sword, the kids watched in amazement as a shiny katana bit the bony neck of a skeleton.
Her weapon was a fully fledged katana and not a tanto! The three became excited and forgot to watch their surroundings and stared at the katana with excitement.
Eara didn't have enough time to play with her new toy so she's both inexperienced and excited, the only thing she knew was the basics in handling blades. Yulis taught her that blades like katana doesn't rely on brute strength but in pure speed and precision.
Her strike doesn't have to be all powerful but it needed to strike on the enemy's weak points with quick precision and speed.
Of course, Eara also needed brute strength but that isn't the katana's main source of power. Her quick strikes and precision aiming needed work and Eara was very stoked about learning the way of the katana or atleast learn not to suck at it.
She held the blade in both hands and would parry the skeleton's sword and strike when it lost its balance.
However, when two or more skeletons appear, Eara would switch to a much nimbler stance, holding the katana in one hand and instead of fighting the skeletons one on one, she would instead run around the skeletons and strike them at their exposed openings.
And when there's no opening to be found, then she would make one by either baiting them out or slapping them into place.
Their paces quickened the moment Eara pulled out her trusty katana, they entered the third floor no problem.
The third floor is where they had their first player encounter, the party consisted of what looked like a ragtag team of independent players.
A spear wielding guy was leading the team followed by a female archer, a largely built dude that took the role of the tank and a swordsman as their vanguard.
Their equipment was subpar other than the bow and the tank's armor, the rest wasn't as good as the others.
As soon as they entered the third floor, the other party quickly noticed their presence. As an unwritten rule in the player community, there is no need to present pleasantries or any form of talking.
The leader nodded at Eara who was recognised as their team leader and Eara nodded at the spear dude to acknowledge their presence before leaving each other alone.
With Eara's experience of fighting thousands of undead skeleton, the group pretty much breezed through five floors of the dungeon.
At the earliest stage of the game, everyone believed that the dungeon starts at the first floor. Although technically correct, the actual challenge or the official start of the dungeon starts at the 6th floor.
Some dungeon actually starts at later floors, the harder the dungeon is the deeper the starting floor is. Eara's party was greeted by a much more different gate than the previous five.
The surroundings also changed massively to a cave walls into stone brick walls, the blue torches became chandeliers that holds candles that emits blue flames. The floor was white marble and a thick layer of dust paired with a few pieces of bone shards decorated the floor.
The group instantly felt the change in the atmosphere as the air suddenly felt heavier and the feeling of death suddenly damped their mood.
Eara looked back at Jeaz, she in turn nodded giving the impression of confidence. Eara walked forward but in a slower pace, she heightened her perception and her concentration.
Once the dungeon officially starts, treasure chests, traps, trapped chests and other similar things started to appear.
At first simple traps like pitfall traps, poisoned arrow traps, spike traps and other simple contraptions greeted the players on the early stages of the dungeon.
The deeper they go however, the more complex the traps that they encounter, magic traps, teleportation traps, summoning traps, and even traps that could instantly kill a player.
Eara would always find the traps that the dungeon offered at the sixth floor no problem, the real problem was the skeletons. The skeletons at the current floors are now wearing plate armors in combination with leather armors, although crumbling they were still propper metal armor.
The skeletons also have higher stats and that means higher intelligents, they no longer moved like dumb and stupid skeletons but like actual trained soldiers.
They would always show a semblance of formation and some form of teamwork, but still, with superior gears and fighting skills, the group managed to push on.