by Brent Tyman
I was expecting a health bar or something, but it was more like a general status with the system reporting that she was currently ‘healthy’. It also let me know that we would be sharing stat progression during battles as well.
Now this finally felt like a proper RPG.
On the way to the Dungeon, I asked her about her availability, since she attended the Academy. Apparently, the next few weeks included just a single class on theory—with the rest of her time being spent training in the Dungeon.
She was supposed to be doing that with her retainers, but after her deal with me, she would instead work with them weekly. I would be able to grind with her in the afternoon for most of the week.
That worked for me.
“This Clan interface is really impressive,” I said as I kept trying to dig into it on the way.
“Indeed, I shall message you on it, if there are any unforeseen changes in my schedule. It’s quite refreshing to have just the two of us together, doing private chats,” Clarissa said, batting her eyelashes at me.
She walked close beside me, her hands wrapped around my arm.
“Did your old Clan chat get busy?” I asked, and she laughed at that.
“My father’s Clan is vast, and there is no way to filter the messages. Only drab reports were allowed on it from scouts. My father is obsessed with the military state of affairs in our homeland, although…” she tapped a perfectly shaped fingernail against her chin in thought.
“I suppose the messages right now will most likely be about my absence from the Clan. No doubt, mother will demand my father dispatch soldiers to find me. Oh well.”
“Isn’t that… you know… Bad?”
“No, not really. They can’t use the location tracker to find me, so they likely went looking for me at the Academy.” She waved a hand in the air, dismissing the matter. “It matters not, I would rather be here with you.”
Clarissa adopted that sly but satisfied smile of hers as we neared the Dungeon. She was certainly an interesting woman. And I still couldn’t get over her beauty. It felt like I was walking alongside a super model.
I led her through the Dungeon to one of the earliest routes I had used. This was mostly because I knew it was away from the rest of the other adventurers. It wasn’t long before a pack of rats barred our way and Clarissa immediately prepared for battle.
“Okay, we just need to walk over this way, to their flank,” I said, suiting action to my words.
“Their flank? But the rats are right there? What does it matter if we are against the Dungeon wall?” she asked, as I’d expected she would.
“I’ll show you,” I said with a smirk. “Let’s just take this one slow and steady.”
I showed Clarissa my tried and true method, and to say that she was puzzled would have been an understatement. As soon as we were parallel with the Rats, with them forming a column in front of us, questions bubbled forth.
“Why haven’t they attacked? Is this some kind of hidden spell? Why won’t they move?” she rattled off one question after the other, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Alright, let me just demonstrate what happens next. Stay behind me and walk slowly. As soon as one of them moves, just stand your ground.”
When the first Rat attacked, I stabbed my sword right through its head without hesitating. The look on Clarissa’s face as she blinked at the dead Rat and then at its buddies who hadn’t reacted in the slightest was totally worth it.
“I don’t… What?” she scratched her head, pushing her blond locks behind her ear as her face morphed into contemplation. “I don’t understand what is happening. The Rats I fought before never reacted like this.”
“I take it your party just charged in all the time, right?” I asked, and she nodded.
“A battle with these Rats always ends up in chaos, but our high stats made it a breeze.”
She looked over and frowned at the snarling Rats which still waited in line while we talked.
“To think that we could even have this conversation while in battle, I dare say your technique is impressive and attractive.”
She didn’t beat around the bush—just like Kesara. It was starting to grow on me, if I was honest with myself.
“Since your Strength stat is good enough to one shot them, how about you give it a try with my sword? Remember, as soon as the first one lunges at you, simply stand still and strike its head.”
Clarissa happily took my sword and tried it. She was a quick learner it turned out as she imitated exactly what I had done previously and sliced clean through the next Rat’s head when it attacked.
“It surely can’t be this easy?” she asked, and I laughed at her dumbfounded look.
I took back my sword and quickly finished off the last one.
“That’s pretty much the gist of it,” I said. “As long as I have them at the correct distance, I can take on multiple packs, but only have to fight them one at a time. The only trouble is when another pack stumbles in on me that I don’t end up seeing first, or if I try to flank a pack, where there isn’t enough room.”
I sighed. “Fortunately, this part of the Dungeon is full of wide caves, so that hasn’t been much of an issue.”
I explained to her that I suspected most monsters had an attack pattern that we would need to identify and could then take into account when facing them. She was very enthusiastic about the concept.
“If you are right, then it’s simply a matter of knowing how a monster behaves and using that to our advantage, yes? I knew this arrangement would be beneficial.”
“Right, I still haven’t gotten to the second floor yet since I wanted first to increase my Strength and I’m now working on my Defense—at least for now,” I said.
“Yes, we had best ensure you are able to take sufficient damage before we progress.”
Clarissa suddenly grinned as she rubbed her hands together.
“We have a long day ahead of us and I’m looking forward to it. You do know how one increases their Defense, yes?”
I didn’t know, but had figured it would be the same way I’d increased my Strength.
“Fighting monsters, right?”
She shook her head and rubbed her hand up and down my arm.
“Oh no,” she said as her grin widened. “I’m afraid it takes a more…”
She paused for effect, and I just knew I wasn’t going to like what came next.
“Involved approach. Follow me and I’ll show you exactly what I mean.”
Clarissa took my hand and led me further into the Dungeon.
I wondered what this involved approach meant, but by the way she was grinning… I just knew it couldn’t be any good.
11
It turned out that the method for increasing my Defense was the poorest and most contrived thing possible. In fact, it was probably the worst way anyone could ever have conceived to increase a stat.
I simply had to take damage. And that meant it hurt. A lot! I wished there was another way—any other way, really.
A Rat was currently gnawing its way through my ankle. The pain caused me to feel dizzy at times and it was only when I was moments away from toppling over that Clarissa threw a heal my way, reviving me enough to lop off the Rat’s head.
“Can’t I just end the Rat as soon as it bites me?” I complained, and Clarissa tsked that away with a smile.
“It’s all about how much damage you take. The gains for Defense are much lower if it’s just a scratch. Believe me, this is the most efficient way.”
Clarissa came over to stroke my arm. “If it makes you feel any better, it pleases me greatly that you are willing to trust me so much—with your life, even. Your fortitude in enduring the pain is quite… sexy.” She directed another sultry look my way.
“Trust me,” I muttered, “if you were in my position, it wouldn’t make you feel any better.”
“Hmm, really? Well, maybe I’ll have to find a way to make it up to you.” She winked at me and ran her tongue ac
ross her top lip suggestively. “Later, though. For now, let’s find another pack,” she said, dragging me along.
Her heals at least worked quickly and my ankle knit itself back together in an almost surreal fashion every time with her green colored magic.
Another strategy we could have used was for me to just stand there and let a Rat gnaw away at my ankle and have Clarissa heal me indefinitely. There was no way I was letting that happen, though, as I absolutely needed that break between packs—not to mention the satisfaction of vigorously ending the cause of my pain.
Plus, I still needed the money from the Rat pelts, which led to me constantly having to remind Clarissa to slow down while I gathered them. I couldn’t let these pelts go to waste; my room at the inn wasn’t going to pay for itself, after all.
Our farming went on for hours and despite Clarissa’s heals, I was pretty sure my ankles had sustained permanent damage. A lingering pain had developed and at times, I swore I could feel the Rat’s teeth before it had bit me.
Clarissa’s presence at least allowed me to be a little more reckless, so we managed to farm hundreds of Rats before the day was over.
“We could keep going until morning, if you like. I don’t have class until closer to midday tomorrow.”
“Heck no, I feel like I’ve been poisoned over and over again,” I complained.
“Ah yes, you did get poisoned multiple times. Nothing my heals couldn’t cure, however,” Clarissa said with a flick of her hand, dismissing a rather nasty way of dying as if it was inconsequential.
“That’s… good to know…”
“Come on then, I would have you at least escort me back to the High District. It’s only right I return with a handsome man in tow.”
“If you insist then,” I said, rolling my eyes.
Anything to get out of this Dungeon of misery and closer to my bed. My poor ankles…
By the time we got back to the entrance, I realized it was the dead of night. This was possibly the longest session I had trained in the Dungeon. Having more party members definitely improved my efficiency and lowered the fatigue I experienced, grinding for hours on end.
Even an experienced RPG gamer like me had their limits, though. At least for now, I had limits.
“Let me just have a look at my stats, real quick,” I said and brought up the Clan menu.
I had fallen in love with how it looked—with its functionality and similarity to modern interfaces—so I endeavored to use it as much as I could. It let me check my own stats on here, as well.
Stats
Strength: 63
Speed: 1
Defense: 9
Magical Power: 1
Magical Capacity: 1
Luck: 1
“Nice, I managed to raise it to nine,” I cheered.
“From one? That… can’t be right…” Clarissa muttered before her eyes became distant. She was no doubt looking at the Clan interface herself, to double check my claim.
“This is truly astounding. Unprecedented even,” she said before giving me a once over, her eyes turning mischievous, “I’m surprised its… so big.”
“You are talking about my growth, right?” I grinned, deciding to play along.
“Oh… maybe,” she winked. “I believe you will be ready for the second level soon.”
“That would be a nice change from fighting Rats all the time. What monster is on the second level again?” I asked as we passed the gatehouse into the city. The guards didn’t even bother talking to us when they saw Clarissa.
That was interesting.
“Floor two hosts Ravens, of all things,” she said. “Normally harmless, but they fly through holes in the walls, enabling them to easily swarm you. The Dungeon in my homeland had them as the floor four monster.” She narrowed her eyes and grimaced. “The number of dresses they have ruined is completely unacceptable.”
She suddenly smiled at me, while batting her eyelashes.
“Although if they peck away at my dress with you by my side, maybe I won’t mind as much…”
“Haha, I’ll try to protect my healer, it’s the least I can do. Ravens though… I’ll have to see how they behave, in person.”
We exchanged some more small talk with Clarissa dropping innuendos left and right. I tried to play along, but she had me beat with her brazenness.
Eventually, we reached the so-called ‘High District’. The only difference I could see was that the road became twice as big, and there were even more guards than there had been on the past few streets.
That was despite the fact that it was the dead of night. The city practically slept and the only people moving around were either guards or the occasional adventurer, as far as I could tell.
“Over here Alex. Normally I sleep at the Academy, but today I think I’ll spend the night in our family manor.” Clarissa directed to me a massive, gated mansion that boasted a full complement of guards in front of it.
I wasn’t able to make out much detail, with the lack of light, but I could tell the property itself was huge, with the mansion taking up most of it. The beautiful marble entry was flanked by a huge number of windows.
I supposed the nobles here enjoyed having their mansions filled with glass windows all across the front. What was even more impressive, was that the mansion was three stories tall, by my estimation. That was a hell of a lot of glass for a pre-industrial society. Although, come to think of it, they probably used magic somehow, to make things easier.
Magic made everything easier—except for modern plumbing, apparently.
“Lady Hoganna!” A guard bellowed when he recognized Clarissa. “Your entire Clan is out looking for you.”
“Hmm, I suppose they would be,” Clarissa said absently, more interested in stroking my arm.
“Your mother is inside while the Clan Master, your father, is…” the guard’s eyes became distant all of a sudden. Was he looking at his own Clan screen?
“I believe he is at the Academy this very moment,” the guard finished before he turned to glare at me. “Who is this man?”
“Ahh, see that Alex,” Clarissa beamed at me. “It seems I made the right choice coming here first. Explaining myself to Mother shall be much easier, without Father huffing at me over my shoulder.”
Oh yeah, I had almost forgotten about the whole thing with her leaving her Clan to join mine. I knew it was a big deal, but seeing how this guard was reacting was telling on how her family would take it.
Clearly not very well, if the entire Clan was out looking for her.
“If you say so. I’m afraid I know very little about this… Clan stuff,” I mumbled.
“In time, you will. Now I had best go talk to Mother. Farewell, my handsome Clan Master.”
Clarissa dropped her hands from my arm and paused for a moment before pressing a chaste kiss to my cheek. She giggled for a moment before offering me a final, sultry look and heading through the gate to the mansion.
The guard looked beside himself with shock and narrowed his eyes at me. I simply grinned at him and waved before walking back the way I’d come. I looked back a few moments later to see the guard trot after Clarissa, while another guard opened the front door for her.
It took me some time to get back to the Windy Wolf. It was the first time I’d come inside that the innkeeper wasn’t around. No doubt he, and everyone else, had gone to sleep hours earlier.
I quietly headed to my room, shrugged out of my leather armor—which still had the shins battered in from letting the damn rats chew on me and sank into my bed. Today had been exhausting, and I couldn’t wait to just close my eyes and decompress. I moved to do just that, but a small icon appeared in the corner of my vision.
With a frown, I examined it.
The Clan Management screen appeared, diving right into the messages, with Clarissa’s full name appearing at the top. She asked me if I had arrived back home safely, and for a moment, I had to chuckle quietly to myself.
Never had I thought in this fan
tasy land to be reminded of my high school years, where I would spend much of the night messaging back and forth with my girlfriend at the time.
Clarissa talked about how angry her mother was, but she’d eventually managed to convince her to calm down.
Since I didn’t have much knowledge about the ramifications involved with leaving a major Clan like hers, I just wished her luck. Given that her Luck stat was much lower than the rest of her stats, she’d probably need it.
Somehow, our Clan Chat evolved into her gossiping about her Academy peers. It was strikingly similar to what had happened at my old school, minus any magical elements.
One student had challenged everyone to punch him—that would be Daiver. Another had lobbed a fireball that chewed through a wall and exploded into the Academy’s kitchen, meaning no food could be served there for a few days.
Someone had even tried to challenge a teacher to a duel, and that ended exactly how I expected.
Surprisingly, that hadn’t been Daiver, though.
Our chit chat continued until my eyes just couldn’t keep themselves open anymore, and I slowly closed them as sleep took me. My last thought was that Clarissa was really growing on me, and I had only known her for a day.
Hopefully, she wouldn’t have me reeling in pain from Rat bites again for the rest of the week. It really did hurt, like misshapen pencils were being poked into my lower legs.
Ouch…
Unfortunately for me, it looked like today’s agenda included a lot more pain for more gain.
Clarissa had continued messaging me for quite a while after I had fallen asleep. Mostly more gossip, of course. For some reason, I found myself reading about how a student had brought a tame monster mouse into the Academy which caused several students to flee in fear and ate several days’ worth of provisions before being caught.