Darla was holding Evelyn in her arms with tears in her eyes, "I'm so sorry. Please don't leave me."
Evelyn was staring at Darla in her state of despair and thought in this moment, "Should I tell her I'm fine or let this play out?" Over Darla's shoulder she had sifted through the system shop until she found an advanced healing potion and antidote that she can afford with her coin. "I'm happy she cares so much for me."
Darla's vision had become blurry from the tears, and she pulled Evelyn in close to her body and squeezed her so hard.
"This is a little tight. Any tighter and I might actually die," Evelyn thought.
Evelyn sighed in Darla's arms, as if she has breathed her last breath, and Darla let go and gently put Evelyn's body down. She wiped the tears from her eyes and then her look shifted from sadness to confusion. "What?" She said looking at Evelyn who was lying there with her tongue hanging out her mouth. Darla sighed and said, "For fucks sake."
Evelyn popped her head up and said, "What?"
"You're alive," Darla barked.
"Oh, well will you look at that. Looks like I am," Evelyn laughed.
"I don't find that funny. I literally wept for you," Darla said with an annoyed expression on her face now sitting on her heels.
Evelyn sat up and move the shop interface down so Darla could see it. "You forget this is available?"
Darla could see the advanced healing potion and antidote highlighted on the screen. Evelyn selected purchase and then switched to her inventory and pulled out both potions.
"Bottoms up!" Evelyn said as she drank both potions.
"I hope it tastes like Orc piss," Darla said standing up.
Slightly choking on the potion from Darla's comment, Evelyn said, "Sounds like you have a bit of experience with that yourself, don't you." Evelyn stood up.
Darla exchanged a sinister smile and replied, "Well, no. But I can tell you about a few wonders of the taste of Godric's-"
"FUCK YOU!" Evelyn scolded her. "I don't want to hear any more of that. You win. Damn it all!"
Darla was laughing at Evelyn's disgusted rage. And then she walked over to Evelyn and embraced her and said, "I'm just happy you're alive."
Buried in Darla's hug, Evelyn's muffled, "Are the rest of the monsters here going to be harder? Ultra beasts seem excessive for the second and third bosses."
Darla let go and said, "You've been doing this longer than I have. You tell me."
[Mission: Defeat Humanoid Scar] [Status: Completed]
[Reward: Penalty] [Status: Revealed]
[Rewards: +1,000 coin]
[Full Recovery]
[+100 Class Exp]
[Auto Level Up - x2]
[Rewards apply to all participants]
******************************
[Congratulations! You are now level 13]
[Congratulations! You are now level 14]
[Congratulations! Your class is now level 8]
[Name: Evelyn Black]
[Age: 19]
[Level: 14]
[Current exp: 0/800]
[Species: Siren]
[Class: Brawler – Level 8]
[Current exp: 25/200]
[Title: Yo-La-Lu's Master] [Str: +5] [Agl: +5] [Def: +5]
[Armor: Crystal Heart Equipped]
[Weapon: Delicate Bashers Equipped]
[Stats:]
[Strength: 23] [+5] [+5] [+10]
[Vitality: 23] – [HP – 230]
[Defense: 20] [+5] [+12]
[Agility: 22] [+5] [+1]
[Magic: 25] [+14] – [MP - 780]
[You have 3 assignable stat points]
[Stat points have been applied.]
[Stats:]
[Strength: 24] [+5] [+5] [+10]
[Vitality: 25] – [HP – 270]
[Defense: 20] [+5] [+12]
[Agility: 22] [+5] [+1]
[Magic: 25] [+14] – [MP - 780]
******************************
[Congratulations! You are now level 10]
[Congratulations! You are now level 11]
[Name: Darla Blume]
[Age: 33]
[Level: 11]
[Current exp: 0/500]
[Species: Human - Powered]
[Power: Nature]
[Default Rank: First Mate]
[Title: Ex-Captain] [All Stats: +1]
[Armor: Emerald Grove Equipped]
[Weapon: Emerald Vine Equipped]
[Stats:]
[Strength: 17] [+1] [+1] [+5]
[Vitality: 16] [+1] [+4] – [HP – 210]
[Defense: 18] [+1] [+15]
[Agility: 19] [+1] [+5] [+10]
[Magic: 22] [+1] [+9] – [MP – 640]
[You have 2 assignable stat points]
[Stat points have been applied.]
[Stats:]
[Strength: 18] [+1] [+1] [+5]
[Vitality: 16] [+1] [+4] – [HP – 210]
[Defense: 18] [+1] [+15]
[Agility: 20] [+1] [+5] [+10]
[Magic: 22] [+1] [+9] – [MP – 640]
"Shit! Just one level away from level 15!" Evelyn exclaimed.
"Again, what's so special about level 15?" Darla smiled looking at her stats and watching her magic power replenish from the full recovery.
"Benefits you will see in your own time," Evelyn replied. "You'll shit a brick."
With a confused look on her face, Darla replied, "I don't see how shitting a brick is a benefit."
"That's not- Gee- What the fuck!" Evelyn sighed and then she noticed a door had appeared on the far side of the area and had an arrow in their view pointing to it like a guide. "I guess following that door is next."
They followed the arrow through the door and ascended the staircase that followed. Evelyn and Darla were quiet as they climbed until Darla spoke up, "Don't you feel like it's getting a little cooler?"
They came to a landing and Evelyn replied, "Yeah. Now that you mention it, it's really cold up here"
She noticed look of complete shock on Darla's face and then studied the room they arrived in and expressed a look of shock as well. The room they arrived in was massive. It must have been at least a mile in height and a mile across in length and width. That wasn't entirely clear with the pillars and stalagmites.
"Whatever we encounter in here, that Ultra Beast must have been on easy mode," Evelyn whispered.
"Easy mode? Not at all," A low voice bellowed from the darkness of the massive cavern.
Evelyn and Darla were astonished as the Dragon came into view. The dragon stood 150 feet tall with golden scales and a white belly. It stood on four legs with two large wings along its back. The spikes running along its back look as if they could impale somebody and its tail was long and jagged like a lighting bolt with serrated edges.
"Are you two okay? You should be smiling. You completed the dungeon!" The dragon laughed.
[Completed: The Dragon Cave Dungeon has been cleared!]
[Rewards: Audience with the dragon]
[+1,000 Coins]
[Instant status recovery of all health, mana, and any lasting conditions such as poison, burn, freeze, paralysis, or bleed.] – [Reward has been converted into potions and put in player inventories due to players not having negative status effects.]
[Secret Rewards]
[+1,000 Class exp]
[5 Dungeon Bosses skipped: Auto Level Up Per Boss Skipped – x5]
[Rewards apply to all participants]
******************************
[Congratulations! You are now level 15]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Congratulations! You are now level 19]
[Congratulations! Your class is now level 12]
[Name: Evelyn Black]
[Current exp: 0/1,300]
[Species: Siren]
[Class: Brawler – Level 12]
[Current exp: 75/400]
[Title: Yo-La-Lu's Master] [Str: +5] [Agl: +5] [Def: +5]
[Armor: Crystal Heart Equipped]
[Weapon: Delicate Bashers Equipped]
[Stats:]
[Strength: 28] [+5] [+5] [+10]
[Vitality: 28] – [HP – 280]
[Defense: 25] [+5] [+12]
[Agility: 27] [+5] [+1]
[Magic: 30] [+14] – [MP - 880]
[You have 5 assignable stat points]
[Stat points have been applied.]
[Stats:]
[Strength: 28] [+5] [+5] [+10]
[Vitality: 30] – [HP – 300]
[Defense: 26] [+5] [+12]
[Agility: 29] [+5] [+1]
[Magic: 30] [+14] – [MP - 880]
******************************
[Congratulations! You are now level 12]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Congratulations! You are now level 16]
[Name: Darla Blume]
[Level: 16]
[Current exp: 0/1,000]
[Species: Human - Powered]
[Power: Nature]
[Default Rank: First Mate]
[Title: Ex-Captain] [All Stats: +1]
[Armor: Emerald Grove Equipped]
[Weapon: Emerald Vine Equipped]
[Stats:]
[Strength: 22] [+1] [+1] [+5]
[Vitality: 21] [+1] [+4] – [HP – 260]
[Defense: 23] [+1] [+15]
[Agility: 24] [+1] [+5] [+10]
[Magic: 27] [+1] [+9] – [MP – 740]
[You have 5 assignable stat points]
[Stat points have been applied.]
[Stats:]
[Strength: 19] [+1] [+1] [+5]
[Vitality: 19] [+1] [+4] – [HP – 240]
[Defense: 19] [+1] [+15]
[Agility: 20] [+1] [+5] [+10]
[Magic: 22] [+1] [+9] – [MP – 640]
Wide eyed, Evelyn and Darla said in unison, "Wow."
"Wow, indeed," The dragon laughed.
"I'm more surprised about you right now Mr. Dragon. I've seen pictures of dragons, but they never look like you. With four legs. Usually two or none."
"Sounds like you're talking about the branches of my kin. There are many of the two-legged dragons called Wyverns and then branches of Wyverns with no legs but fins you live in the sea. Then there are more that are rarer, but my breed is the original form of Dragon. The breed of Elder dragons. The original. One of three Elder dragons that roam this planet."
"Is he for real right now? Elder dragon? The original? Seeing him in front of me I cannot say I don't believe him. Those claws are bigger than two of Kanaka's. His jagged teeth would rip something into shreds in one bite. A bite might be overkill where a nibble is more realistic. A bite would seize existence meeting its mouth. I hope this interactions doesn't overstep his authority." Evelyn thought with uneasiness.
"But did I say completed? I did, but in a way, you cheated it. Skipping bosses two through six. Sure, the Ultra Beast showed up in your system as being placed in order, but that's how it's operated as you encounter the bosses. Or would have encountered them."
Snapping back to reality, Evelyn thought, "I don't know if that's praise or criticism…" Evelyn then said, "Hold on! You know about our systems?!"
"Of course I do, Siren of Volgma," The dragon replied.
Evelyn blushed and said, "Thank you, Mr. Dragon." She composed herself and said, "Wait a minute, what's your name and why did the cave turn into a dungeon once we entered?"
"The dragon lowered to sit in front of the girls and said, well getting right to business for 'audience with the dragon' I see. Anyway, I don't exactly have a name. When I am not bonded to a master, I go by my first master's chosen name for me, Tempest." He looked up and said, "The dungeon is in effect when I'm not bonded by the architect."
"Master?" Evelyn questioned. "You said you need a master? Then how about becoming my squire?"
"Evelyn!" Darla burst out.
"What?" She said, turning to her. "He says he needs a master, and you can't say a dragon would be a wonderful addition to my crew."
The dragon laughed and said, "You are quite entertaining, Siren. But that is not possible."
"Not possible," Evelyn replied with a confused expression. "So, it can't happen, or you won't?"
"I belong to another Siren. One who has not awakened yet. When she does, I will sense it and journey to her to become her familiar, as each Siren has," The dragon replied. "I sense you have not yet encountered and bonded with yours yet."
"What do you mean?" Evelyn said as Ember materialized on her shoulder. The spitfire looked at Tempest with bewilderment and that smiled and waved by flashing its fire bright.
"The little spitfire is how I remember it from the first Volgma Siren, Freya. It's not technically a familiar, since it's linked to an ability. Beasts, like myself, are your familiar's."
Evelyn and Darla stared at Tempest until Darla said, "So, you'll leave the dungeon when the Siren awakens?"
He nods in answer to her question.
"What about all the people who came to the dungeon before we did?" Evelyn asked. "Surely they don't have a system, so they didn't answer the same dungeon."
"They don't," Tempest replied. "But they did perish. All in this dungeon is in relation to the system dungeon. But to those without one, there is a sinkhole quite a distance from the entrance of the cave that leads to Scarpisa's Ultra Beast arena."
"Right," Darla said. "Because Ultra Beast arenas aren't created but just exist and are found."
"So when anyone else comes around they will just fall into the sinkhole into an empty arena?" Evelyn said. "Unless the door we went through will still be open again?"
"Ultra Beasts respawn," Darla said.
"Yes, Ultra Beasts respawn," Tempest confirmed.
Evelyn stared for a moment and then said, "So then, that really answers all my questions. People thought you were just a beast awaiting to prey death upon the continent."
"I could, but that would be at my master's command. As I am independently, I still could but that's not who I am," Tempest answered.
"So Neptune created you?" Evelyn asked.
Darla laughed, "Evelyn, you think Neptune exists?"
Evelyn and the dragon were looking at Darla with expressionless stares and Evelyn said, "You don't think Neptune exists?"
Darla, still laughing, "What in the world makes you think he does?"
"Is she serious?" Tempest asks Evelyn.
"I think she is," Evelyn replies.
The dragon growls for a moment to urge Darla to stop laughing and stares her down intensely, "Girl. Neptune does exist. He is real as I and you. To deny him is not to be taken lightly. He is the direct creator of my first master. The fact that you have pledged loyalty to this Siren here gives you no reason to deny his existence."
Darla couldn't believe she was being scolded by a dragon but to rebuttal his words felt to her that she would leave the dungeon in two pieces and find out real quickly if Neptune did exist.
Evelyn sighed and said, "Well my main reason for coming here was to see if you were a threat but it turns out that you're the furthest thing from it." She looked up at the dragon and said, "I've really liked out chat if I'm going to be completely honest. But I think it's time for us to go. Can you use your fire breath and open a hole for us to leave?"
Tempest smiles and says, "Yes and no. I can't breathe fire, but I can get you out."
"What kind of Dragon can't breath fire?!" Evelyn exclaimed.
Tempest opened his mouth facing one of the outer walls of the cave and a charge of electricity sparked too rapidly that the air around them was violently shaking and then let off at the wall like a beam. Sun light leaked in when he dispelled the beam and said, "The Legendary Lithund Dragon does not breath fire."