The first few things Rei noticed when he regained his consciousness, was that his body was hurting.
"Ugh..."
'Maybe I should've stretched in those three minutes.'
The second thing he noticed was since his body was hurting, and he wasn't back in the usual starting spot whenever he died, he wasn't dead.
Which was good, because he didn't know if he could produce those results again that he somewhat miraculously achieved through the power of pure will that he couldn't consistently keep. And because he was mentally tired and sluggish right now.
And third, he was given a lap pillow right now by Clara, and when he looked up, he saw her wearing some sort of veil, she was currently healing him. Most likely that one rune Rei remembered seeing.
'Ah, it's good that this healing is the usual type of, you feel good while being restored.'
Rei just enjoyed the peaceful and serene moment he was in while wiping away the blood around his mouth and looking at his status and notification log.
[You have reached your limit in endurance: +1 Toughness]
[You have earned two proficiencies]
[Dagger Novice LV1]
[Evasion Novice LV1]
'I only earned a level 1 in evading? Come on, I dodged so many attacks while I was hanging by the ledge of exhaustion!'
Well, he did get cut a lot in the end, or maybe throughout the fight yet he didn't notice... Ah the cons of adrenaline, and maybe a bit of carelessness, Rei can't truly be all cautious now, could he?
Maybe a little reckless too.
'I can be reckless with this ability.'
Though on second thought, maybe he couldn't be, the ability he was still using was an unknown, he could only make a few guesses on how many tries, and what the limits and other secrets this rune held.
He was also scared of it saving throughout the run, and he couldn't revert the consequences...
'Gahhh, why can't this be so simple?'
Whether it updates once enough time passed, or a special event happens, or it simply, didn't update his savepoint at all.
Suddenly, a new notification popped up.
[You have earned the skill]
[Poison Resistance LV1]
'Woah, nice!'
That made him smile a bit after all those grim and brain-racking thoughts, he bets he couldn't keep that in the next run.
'Maybe, but who knows.'
[Click to check the records of 'Rei Anamada']
Seeing the status screen filled Rei with satisfaction, his inner gamer being treated well by seeing all the new skills and that sweet-looking [14 Agility].
'Yep, seeing my hard work bear fruit in numbers and new words really makes me want to work more. The real world should have some sort of system too. You've become more knowledgeable, +1 intelligence...'
"Hey, he's awake!"
They probably saw his smile and his hand moving around to wipe the blood off his glasses too while he was thinking. He opened his eyes again and glanced around, also seeing that the healing was over, and his body was somewhat refreshed.
'Still somewhat sore though...'
He also felt a little lazy.
The student with a dagger, which he then recognized as Avery that transferred two years ago, he didn't know much about him, though he assumed he wasn't a bad person.
Avery crouched down to look at Rei.
"So Japanese people aren't just good at games huh?"
Rei was dumbfounded for a second hearing that, "That's..."
"I was joking," Avery smiled and waved his hand up and down.
"Man, you were crazy, who knew you could be that... Feral."
'Feral?' Rei thought back about how he fought earlier, he certainly was vicious and...
"While looking like a drowned rat." Avery glanced away, was he wondering about something?
"Excuse me?"
"Like, you know, you seemed so exhausted and feral at the same time, you're wild dude!"
Rei didn't know whether to feel flattered or not, he was being complimented but... He just didn't choose his words right to make it work. It was a bit insulting? Lackluster? Weird?
'...Choose your words carefully kids.'
"But damn dude, where'd you learn to fight like that?"
Clara was keen on listening in too, along with the rest of the other survivors. Glancing around, Rei saw Cherry sitting nearby, and the last two new survivors, one of which was the pyromancer girl, and the guy who used the [Wolfendread] longsword that Rei used in the previous run.
'Guess I won't have any weapon runes this run...'
Rei then turned back to Avery, a young man with brown hair and headphones around his neck, which made Rei wonder.
'What happened to the bags then? And my phone?'
He then answered the question before anything else.
"Skills, you should know that they actually make you do better already right?"
"Yeah yeah."
Rei showed Avery his status while asking for the rest to show them. Cherry was explaining what his records were to Clara, while he summed up what the rest could do.
Pyromancer girl, who was a close friend of the most popular girl in school, was rather quite bossy in Rei's opinion. Though currently, she wasn't like her usual self, which made sense. She can create flames and has about 30 mana, she has no class, but she is quite quick with [7 Agility] like Rei himself at the start.
One thing to note though, was that the fireball wasn't an ability, but a spell that came from a book rune that mostly cannot be deciphered by her. 'Mostly', meaning all but one page.
To Rei, everything was gibberish.
"...I guess it doesn't say nonsense to you?"
"No, it actually does."
Rei blinked for a second, staring at her with silent questions written all over his expression.
"But I can actually understand it in... Some weird way, don't ask me I don't know either, it just comes... Naturally, you could say." She was playing with her hair while she talked, making Rei wonder if she was nervous or something.
'I wonder whether I can actually learn something from it.'
Now to the next person, the jerk with the longsword, who looked at Rei funny while he was talking to Seraline, who was the Pyromancer.
'Jeez, it's not like I'm here to pick up girls, who would do that in a dungeon?'
This made Rei question, whether he would use this ability to get better at charming women.
'It's not like I would in this situation... But for after the dungeon...'
Now this, was the REAL question.
'Like hell it is.'
Rei didn't think he'll do it, getting too attached to a girl and then resetting... That would hurt a lot, to any person honestly.
'Another con or a pro considering the circumstances.'
He wasn't too lustful either, sure he liked the moment he was laying down on Clara's lap, but he isn't a horn dog, at least he thinks he is.
'I definately am not.'
Anyways, looking at Mark's records, the athletic young man has a trendy haircut, and wearing a leather jacket of all things.
'It's so hot in here dude... Wait.'
Rei did a double take on Cherry, who was also wearing her tracksuit still.
'These two...'
Well, whatever, Mark has the class [Hunter], and he can power up his attack using 5 MP which nets him two powered-up strikes with his 10 Max Mana, he was level 1, mostly built on [11]strength and [11]toughness, with [9]Agility closely behind. He gained 4 stat points with the Level-Up earlier and had already used it.
He had [Sword Novice LV3]
'Maybe I could learn something from watching him fight.'
Now for the last one, Avery, well he already showed his.
No class, he has two skills: [Stealth Novice LV2] and [Dagger Novice LV2]; with one ability, which he still hasn't used yet.
[Blood Control [LV0]]
[Depending on the user's mana, they can control blood. The user cannot use this ability]
'Makes sense... Considering he has 0 mana.'
The headphones of his also had become runes! When he wore them, he can't hear anything, but nothing will also be able to hear him.
And for Clara and Cherry, Rei found out she placed the 2 stat points on [Strength] and [Agility], and 1 on [Toughness].
And Clara was blind due to the [Prayer's Veil] rune, and the reason she couldn't take it off was.
"It says, I will pass out if I do..."
"Huh?"
"I still need a few more minutes before I can take it off safely."
"Interesting..."
Rei was also now adding her buff skills into his plan, currently, she said it only lasted for half a minute along with a good amount of boost, using half of her mana. She also needed physical touch, and the ability took a few seconds to activate fully.
'How situational.'
He fully learned that she had also used all her mana to heal him, and was currently recovering it slowly.
'With this, the team seems balanced enough. We have support, two dps/tanks, one mage, and someone who can act like an assassin and a scout. For me... I guess I'm another dps? Or like Avery.'
"Alright, we should get going."
"Huh, why?" Seraline asked, the rest seemed hesitant to leave too, most likely because of this recent battle.
"One, do we have any food? Water? Two, we need to find a way out. And if you need some reassurance, I at least know the surrounding areas by now."
And with that, the others decided that he was right, and began getting up or walking to him.
'...Huh, I guess I have the leader role then.'
And so, a party was formed.
Turned around and walked to the exit, feeling more sure of himself and a little ready to take on the dungeon again.
'God, I'm still so sore.'
Rei decided to stretch his arms while walking, before stopping in his tracks.
CRUNCH...
That was when he saw the red demon from before.
'Damnit, I forgot about him!'
It was currently feasting on the hill of dead goblins, blood was barely visible due to its red skin... Though was it red skin, or skin soaked in blood?
"Hey, why'd you stop-"
Rei immediately covered Avery's mouth when the Demon's attention turned to them.
'Oh for the sake of my sanity!'
...