The village when Artha had spawned was nearly deserted by the time Artha had finished sorting out and clearing the trash. Nearly all had flocked towards dungeons after replenishing their stocks. There were no newly revived players yet. Either they were playing well or they were so bad that no one took them into dungeons yet.
The cook in the inn was in the happy mood. He was a rabbit person, apparently. He looked to cook anything related to rabbits. Oh, what a coincidence! The dungeons have nothing but bunnies. He can cook to his hearts content.
In the happy mood, he even gave few tasks and a skill to his apprentice, Artha.
Skill- Slice. Level 0
Slice the matter precisely. Avoid waste. Retain best character.
Can be used on plant based on animal based products.
Can be upgraded. ( Level 1 - Need 1000 points.)
Artha was happy that he got a skill. Didn't he realise that it was lousy?
Artha was not even a melee player using a knife, dagger, heck, even a sword. After from prepping food, he could not use this anyway else.
See the apprentice blacksmith. The basic skill they get is 'Hit'. They could use it not just on metals but in grinding too. Have a heavy weapon. Hit. That monster. Have a shield. Use it to hit that monster. You can use any heavy item, even like a stone, to use that skill. Not that anyone had tried it in the game. If they had, they had not shared such wisdom to others. As mentioned before, this game was just restricted by what you can imagine.
But Artha was happy. Something to show about his lifestyle job. He didn't get anything either as a trader or as a herbologist or even as a cleaner. He happily ran around to collect the tasks. After all majority of them were related to dungeons.
Most simplest ones were to just enter the dungeon. Next were killing specific number of monsters. Harder ones were asking to murder elite bunnies. Huh! It won't be so easy to swallow those XP and bonus meant for completing the task. The tasks were subtle way of the NPCs to clear the dungeon. ( Not so subtle, really!)
The low level maps looked barren without players. If you are there, it meant you had died and suffering from death debuff, so you can no longer be frolicking in the maps you usually hunted or you have some gathering task.
Artha was just on time. He had to run to reach there and his fatigue was about to be maxed, but he still came on time. Sela and her usual team finally gathered to run few times before disbanding for the day.
Other than Artha who was really a tag along this time too, each member brought something to the team. The forks and paths cleared.
Sela who had experience, had a great plan. They would be clearing dungeons similar to guilds. You see unlike independent players who would just try to move towards the boss or the end, the guilds would maximize the benefits in every run. If you are going to die, better make it worthwhile. So they would clear all the paths till the level they can clear without worry and trace back, try other paths. Repeat the process till all the early and easy areas are cleared. Then choose one direction and move onwards to commit Harikari, wrong word, to commit suicide and die at the hands of elites.
So each member had teamed in different groups, cleared as much as possible and added the easy routes , to be exact, the points of facing elites to the master map.
As this was dungeon run, there was specific captian or leader and his subordinate to guide others properly. Sela was captian. But she would be aided ably by the healer. He was not perfect but Sela who would be in front can't have ears behind her head to give orders. Artha would have been a good choice, but all the members knew that he was noob through and through. Just witness what he wanted from the dungeon run.
"Sela, Sela, let me able to collect all the loot. Oh, oh, let me grope around for the elite monster loot. Please, please!"
The veterans in the team coughed blood. A glass cannon with limited fire wants to collect all the loot? And what you mean by grope the monster? It's clearly looting it. But they didn't say anything. Sela didn't accept insubordination. And, Artha always paid for any shortcuts he took.
Look, look, they are bargaining. If Artha shells out more, it means they can spend less on themselves. A penny saved is a penny earned, baby.
Just like that, all the players in the team , except Artha earned few coins (saved few coins) even before entering the game.
Artha really liked Sela. She knew which matters had to be held strongly and when to loosen others. Artha was a poor player, a noob with limited spacial awareness inside the game. But that could be corrected with increased playing. Important factor is his grasping power and ability to learn. He learnt awfully fast. He may not become an expert shaking the world but if he persisted, he could be a player worth remembering. And helping, giving favours.to such player is a no brainer.
Sela handed over her copies of the dungeon map, markingbthe elites to all. Just in case.
You know that you will die, so others would be forced to use this anyway. Sela, the great Seer!!!
Artha, who had a small inkling on why dungeons were loved by all players everywhere, had the first row seat to see the event. The concentration of monsters within dungeons were definitely a lot more than in fields. The bonus for killing was more too.
Look at all these items dropped from ordinary bunnies. The healer too wacked few bunnies to restrict the movements. Others...well, there is a reason why Sela's team was considered one of the best. It was a good thing that Artha had cleared nearly all of his bags and brought all the empty ones. What can he say other than Sela is a genius.
So, most of the time, nearly all the time they were hunting energizer bunnies. So Artha didn't get the chance to frisk the dead body. But he practiced his work diligently. After finishing each fork, while they walked back, he gave the stats. After all, monsters didn't respawn till the dungeon was reset, you can talk, rest to recover fatigue, drink water, munch apples. This type of run was tedious and boring for the reckless youth present in the team. Even the old 'Jack in the box', a middle aged , flirty thief, felt bored. So of course, his jokes tended to become more bold and imaginative.
"So, Jack! Did you give that name to yourself because when your jack comes out, it frightens the other party?" Artha, the party pooper.