It was a grassy plain area with trees scattered around. There were no big monsters visible to them, only slimes bouncing around.
"This is a slime dungeon; it seems few of us have a chance to ascend."
"We are lucky to find this."
"Don't you guys know this from the player association map?" Haruka asked and showed her mobile.
"Haruka, you registered with the player association?" Michi was shocked to see that.
"Why are you so shocked?"
"They take 40% of our earnings as tax. What is there left after all the hard battles we fight."
"I see, I never gained anything, so I didn't know," Haruka covered it skillfully.
"Criminals are roaming the streets with the player powers," said Akira, "if you are not registered under them, it might be hard to get their help quickly. They are busy as it is to protect civilians.
Soon they might form safe zone cities. If you want a good house in a safe zone for your family, you should reconsider. They might even restrict entry to dungeons in the future."
"He is right. Why didn't I think about this before?"
"After this raid, I will go and register."
Few of them started to consider it.
"Being just a player is hard. I want to join some organization to have a stable life."
Iwasaki became angrier. 'Damn, these all are my pawns. This bastard is trying to ruin my plans.'
"OK, everyone. We can do it later. We are in a dungeon, so focus on the monsters. As we have new members, let's get familiarized with their skills first. Hoshi-san, do you want to go first?" Iwasaki asked.
Akira indifferently said, "Nope. Ruka, you go."
Iwasaki was surprised and genuinely said, "You are sending a girl to fight?"
"I am a healer, how can I fight," said Akira, which made everyone shocked.
'Oh right, Akira is too perfect. He might have forgotten how to make mistakes,' Haruka thought and said, "You guys, I am weak, so come in quickly if I can't defeat a monster."
Haruka noticed the girls wearing skirts. 'Damn, they are distracting me. Wait, I am a girl, why should I get distracted by skirts?'
She looked at Aki with anger. "Aki, close your eyes until I tell you to open."
"Ok." He didn't know why, but he knew he didn't have a choice at that moment, so he closed his eyes.
Haruka went near a slime. She was holding a different sword than she would use as Haruka. 'Fortunately, I have an E-rank weapon.'
"Haruka, slimes will jump at you when they are 1 meter close," Michi guided, "put your sword in between you and it. While it tries to jump, thrust in its way. It will cut itself with your sword."
Haruka did as she said, and the slime cut itself and died. Haruka became very happy for killing it. "Wow! Michi, you are a pro. How do you know all this?"
Michi modestly said, "Yesterday I saw a system channel with 10 videos released at a time. They showed all kinds of ways to kill slimes. You might have heard about them, the black bear mask guy that cut off a man's hand in public."
"Isn't their news all over the internet?" Haruka asked excitedly.
"Ruka, more slimes are coming your way."
"Let's help her." Michi went forward, but she thought, 'Isn't Hoshi-kun closing his eyes? How did he know slimes were coming her way?'
While fighting, Haruka noticed Michi's skirt. She was not even wearing shorts under it. She felt embarrassed for her while Michi was freely fighting the monsters.
After they killed the slimes, Haruka pulled Michi to the side and whispered, "Hey, everyone can see under your skirt."
"Don't worry about that. After surviving the tutorials, I felt being modest was no help. It will only slow me down."
"How can you get a boyfriend like this?" Haruka asked worriedly.
"I already have a boyfriend," she said and called, "Jun-kun."
A boy waved his hand.
"He accepted me the way I am. Besides, it's the same skin exposed as a swimsuit, right?"
Haruka was defeated, completely.
"Hey you three, why aren't you picking up crystals?" a girl called.
Michi and Haruka were speaking, but Akira was standing alone without picking crystals.
"Come, Haruka." Michi called.
"It's fine. I already said I won't take any."
"You can't grow with that attitude; come, I will show you how to do it." Michi pulled Haruka.
"No, I don't want to do it."
"You will get used to it."
"Aki, help me." Haruka asked.
"You should cherish the love you get, Ruka," said Akira while still closing.
Haruka got enraged. "Aki, you backstabbing traitor. I will tell Uncle about this."
She didn't have a choice but to dig with others.
After fighting for 30 minutes, everyone took a break.
"Slimes are too easy. I hope this dungeon won't disappear."
"It's all thanks to the black and white channel. Our hunt became many times more proficient."
Everyone suddenly felt relaxed, and their pain went away, while their previous injuries also healed totally.
"My previous injury got healed."
"The pain from periods is also gone."
"Hoshi-kun, is that you?"
Everyone looked at Akira.
He was indifferent even when a girl said periods. "Yes." While other boys were embarrassed.
"It's nice having a healer. We might clear this dungeon with Hoshi-kun's help."
"Hold your horses. This is an easy dungeon; we shouldn't clear this."
"Then let's kill more slimes than planned."
"Did we even plan?"
"Hey, why don't we go to the fox monster dungeon? I need fox tail fur to ascend."
"I want a goblin right arm bone."
Everyone started to tell their requirement.
"Wait, you guys. We can't raid all those dungeons right away." Michi tried to calm them.
"Why not? We have Hoshi-kun now."
"Yeah."
"But they only came to us as a class reunion; we don't know if they stay with us, right, Haruka."
"About that. I am sorry, Michi. I can't join your group. We will only become a burden to you because we took an E-rank profession."
Everyone was shocked.
"E rank? That's double the crystals we need; how did you ascend to level 20?" Michi asked.
"We actually found a dungeon that had slime bomb monsters," said Haruka, "didn't I say we stayed in a dungeon for a long time? We raided it for one week. But sadly, someone came and killed the leader, and the dungeon closed after that."
"I heard about them. They will explode when they come in contact with a living thing, which is bigger than them."
"Later, we started scavenging dungeons," said Akira, "we have many materials you want. If you like, we can give them to you."
"You are not serious are you?" a boy asked.
No one would believe Akira, as no one would give anything for free.
"Don't worry." Haruka hugged Akira's arm passionately. "We decided to live a quiet life. We won't hunt anymore, so we don't need these materials.
We planned to sell them but if you guys want them, you can take them. And don't worry about money. We are financially well-off and we have a lot of system coins if needed for an emergency. Trust me guys, you can take them for free."
Michi struggled to accept and said, "Haruka, thank you. Although I want to decline, I am really in need of these. I want to continue being a player but if you are in trouble in the future, I promise I will always come to help you."
"It's fine, Michi. I know you well. Be careful and don't get taken advantage of by anyone. And please wear some pants while fighting. Perverts will always give reasons to touch you; if you openly arouse them, you will get into trouble."
"I will listen to you," said Michi.
Akira gave the materials needed for everyone except for Iwasaki.
Everyone ascended and thanked Akira and Haruka for their help.
After a few more rounds of fighting, they exited the dungeon.
Iwasaki became more enraged by Akira. 'These bastards, I was stalling them so that I could sell them my materials, but they gave everything for free. I won't let you have a peaceful life for ruining my business.'
The group decided to finish the reunion at 3 PM.
"Haruka, don't hesitate to call for my help," said Michi, while she was alone with Haruka.
"You should be careful, Michi. Because people gained power suddenly, many turned into criminals and psychos. Don't trust anyone blindly because they helped you."
"I will keep that in mind, bye for now." Michi waved and jogged to her boyfriend.
As everyone left, Akira kept his eyes on Iwasaki.
Haruka came to him. "Aki, shall we go then."
"Ruka, I have something to do. I will be going for some time."
That was sudden, but she understood it had something to do with Iwasaki.
"I will come with you," she said.
"No, don't follow me," Akira said harshly, which made Haruka sad, and then he realized. "No, I didn't mean...just don't follow me for today, please."
"Ok, I won't bother you today," she said with a smile, although sad, she wanted to give him space.