"Good morning, Greg," Ian said, handing a large coffee to the AO representative. "How have things been going?"

"Why, thank you! Everything has been pretty quiet the past few days. There have been a couple of groups who have come here to kill the workers, but they stay away from the village. I'm kind of glad that your stream is so popular. It's helped highlight the dangers of the village, so most people don't even think about going inside."

"That's good. We'll probably be staying out of it today ourselves," Ian said, looking back as the rest of his party walked up to the counter.

Greg looked over the group and smiled, though his eyes lingered a moment as his gaze swept across Lana. It was dark enough out that Ian wasn't sure most of them noticed.

"Well, don't let me keep you," Greg said, turning his gaze back to Ian. "Just make sure to stay safe in there."

"Appreciate it, man," Ian said, giving him a wave as the party walked through the checkpoint and headed towards the dungeon portal.

"Oh, before we go in," Ian said, pulling out a cloak from his backpack. "I've got this for you, Ash."

"What does it do?" she asked, moving to accept the item.

"It is called the Alpha's Call. It's a short, hooded cloak that extends a quarter of any buffs you receive to your minions. It doesn't give any stat bonuses, but I think it will be a long-term item for you."

"Holy shit, Ian. Where did you get something like this? I looked up similar items last night, and they go for millions."

"He got it off the Fang Patriarch he fought," Claire said, looking at the silver fur lining on the inside of the hood. "It is an extremely rare monster, and this is one of its drops. Most are after the necklace, helm, or the chest piece, all of which are scaling armor that lasts for a long, long time."

Ashlyn looked conflicted as she looked at the cloak, "I hate what you went through to get this item."

"But you being able to use it helps make it worth it," Ian said, ruffling her hair. "Hurry up and put it on. It should help keep Mara safe while we are getting her caught up."

Ian walked through the gate as his sister quickly tossed the new item over her normal leather armor. As the sky suddenly changed from early morning darkness to the bright midday sun of the dungeon, Ian took in the familiar scene. A lot had happened in the last week, and this dungeon had helped set a lot of it off.

"Why is it always either pitch black or super bright in dungeons?" Ashlyn said as she came through the portal last with Mara.

"I used to ask myself that same question," Ian murmured before picking out a few of the workers out tending their fields. "Alright, folks, there are a few right down the road from us. Let's get this party started."

As they took off at a brisk pace, Tram looked over at Lana, "I think Greg may have a little crush on you."

"Totally had a crush, but you are one of the former beauties of Peerless. So, you can't blame him for noticing your looks," Ashlyn added.

"That's…honestly something that I haven't dealt with much," Lana replied. "Avra was always the center of attention, and I was relegated to minimal screen time. I was also coached to stay farther back during events to not pull any attention from her."

"Oh, and how do you feel about her getting that sort of attention?" Claire asked Tram.

Tram just started chuckling, "More power to her. She hasn't had many chances at getting a boyfriend since we met."

"Wait, you two aren't dating?" Claire asked, only to receive laughs from both of them. "With how close you two are, I could have sworn you were an item. I'm sorry."

"No need to worry about it, we get that all the time," Lana said, still giggling. "I got placed in the same foster home as him when I was ten. We clicked and began helping to take care of each other. We didn't have anyone else to lean on back then, so we created our own little family."

"Yes, having someone to rely on makes all the difference," Selenia beamed.

"Alright, horker ahead," Ian said, slowing down. For the first one, I'm just going to quickly put it down using magic soul. Tram, watch for any additional monsters that come running. Mara, you stay back next to Ash. I'm sure that you are more than capable of holding your own, but you are underpowered for this dungeon, and it would be a shame if you were to be hurt or injured."

Getting a nod from Tram, Ian was surprised when Mara gave him a quick nod of her head and went to stand next to Ashlyn. Smiling, Ian took off at a quick, yet quiet jog towards the horker who was using his spade to dig furrows in the field. As he hit the edge of the grass, Ian kicked it into high gear and sprinted at the horker. It didn't even have time to fully turn at the noise before Ian's magically enhanced spear burst out of the creature's chest.

Congratulations! You have defeated an enemy more than 250 levels higher than yourself. Experience rewards are multiplied by 10. You have earned 34 levels. You have achieved level 136. You have been awarded 1020 skill points!

Ian heard Tram whistle as he pulled his spear back and looted the body. He turned around to find his party back at the edge of the field. Tram and Mara were still on the lookout for additional monsters, but the women were all staring at what Ian could only assume to be their status screens.

"That was clean," Tram said as Ian got back to the party. "It was so quick, the one in the field over there didn't even flinch. It's close enough that I am pretty sure it would have come over if we let that one make noise."

"Yeah, I'm definitely a lot stronger than the last time I started leveling in here. I think we should grab that one, head down the road, and take out the two gate guards while they are still more than 500 levels ahead of us," Ian said, motioning towards the village.

"Actually, we should probably skip that one and head straight to the guards," Claire said. "It is a much larger multiplier that we would be silly to not get the bonus before it goes away. Experience is kind of weird, as the equations have both internal and external multipliers. There is a level differential adjustment, then there are the feat boosts. Combine that in with how it is split between our party members and…other adjustments," Claire pointedly looked at Ian, "makes it a bit different. If the math is right, it should take us about twice as many kills to get the same effect that you had in here when you were solo."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Which is going to be offset by the efficiency of having multiple players doing more damage and covering for each other's weaknesses," Ian said. "Alright, let's hit the road and go take out those guards. Then we'll do a lap around the village and see where we are at. Does that sound good to everyone?"

After getting an agreement from the rest of the party, they all set off towards the village. With the road being a straight shot, they arrived in sight of the gate in just a few moments.

"Alright, Ian. Can you let Nia and me take care of the one on the left?" Ashlyn asked from behind him.

Turning, Ian saw a glow surrounding both of Nia's hands with a feral smile on her face. Ashlyn was standing next to her friend, ready to draw.

"Go for it. Tram, you've got their monster if it survives long enough to get close. I'll take care of the one on the left. Is there an order they should be killed in, Claire?"

"The one they are attacking needs to die first. It is level 651, and the other is 697. If we get lucky, we will get the higher feat bonus on both. Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing the results."

"Sounds good," Ian replied. "Just let me know when it is safe to give the finishing blow."

"Pulling!" Ashlyn said, pulling Ian's attention to the two guards.

An arrow suddenly embedded itself into the upper torso of her target. The creature tossed its head up to cry out in pain just as an ice shard the size of Ian's arm speared straight through the spot the creature's heart should have been, knocking the giant pig man back into the side of the village palisade. He didn't even need to see the notification to know it was dead. The shard quickly melted, leaving a six-inch diameter hole in the monster's chest.

The attack had happened so fast, Ian hadn't even started to move. When he looked over at his target, it was staring at the corpse that had been guarding the other side of the gate just seconds ago. Ian went to take a step forward when the second guard was suddenly hit in the chest with a second arrow, followed quickly by a third.

"We got this, Ian. Just stand back," Ashlyn said as the creature was hit by a large ice shard in the stomach.

The creature squealed in pain before an arrow embedded itself into its throat, turning the squeal into a gurgle.

"We're probably going to get adds," Tram hollered as a second ice shard flew from Nia.

"I already see them," Claire said, eyes glowing green. "Two more guards and two villagers. Nia, Ash, get ready to hit them as they come through the gate. Once they get more than a dozen yards past it, stop firing. It will be up to Ian and Tram at that point.

"And remember, if we call for a retreat, just stop what you are doing and run down the road. Ian can probably drop this group by himself, but he can't do that if the situation goes sideways and he is worried about protecting us."

Ian smiled as everyone nodded. Selenia had already prepared her spell and beat Ashlyn to the punchline when the monsters ran out of the gate. Ian noticed she liked to aim low, because it took off one of the horker's legs at the knee, causing it to crash and roll a few times from its previous momentum.

Ian saw two arrows appear on one of the guard's chests, but they didn't seem to do much more than slow it down a bit.

"All yours," Selenia called.

Tram let out a growl and charged forward towards the two guards at the head of the rapidly approaching group. Ian sprinted to catch up to him.

"I'll take the one on my side," he said to Tram, getting a grunt in return.

Ian saw the second, uninjured villager a few yards behind the two guards. He would need to quickly drop the first one and hop on the second to help Tram. When they were ten yards away from the guards, Ian pushed himself to his max speed.

The burst was just enough to ram his spear into the creature before it could finish winding up its club. Ian felt his arms and shoulders spasm, and it felt like his core and legs rippled as his body absorbed the impact from the huge creature. The wings of the spearhead originally caught against the creature's ribcage, but the crunch of bones preceded the spear sinking an extra foot.

Suddenly, the creature was close enough to reach forward and grab him, but it instead just opened its eyes wide and vomited blood. Ian let go of the spear and jumped back, causing the creature to fall to it side. Not giving himself time to think about it, he drew his sword from his item storage and moved to help Tram.

His friend was blocking swings from the clubs, each giving off a loud clang as they hit the metal shield. The guard had a cut across its chest and snout, and the villager was also sporting a cut across its face. As the guard raised its club to bring it down, Ian caught the arm right below the wrist. It froze to look up at its hand, giving Tram the time to bash the villager with his shield and drive his sword straight into the guard's neck.

Seeing the opportunity, Ian drove his sword into the stunned villager from behind. Quickly pulling out the gladius, he grabbed the mane of the monster and drove it back in at an upward angle. The notification let him know the creature was dead.

"No time to gawk. Loot quickly and let's get away from here before more come," Claire said, sprinting to loot the guards next to the wall.

Grabbing his spear, Ian quickly caught up to her. He didn't see any more monsters coming, but the last thing he wanted was for any of them to get hurt.

"Loot, I'll keep an eye out," he said, catching her eye.

"Thanks," she said, leaning down and looting the monster and picking up the arrows. "I'll feel better when we are away from this village. I think the risk was worth it, but I'd like Ash and Nia to get more experience before we do something like what you did with the houses inside."

"Agreed," Ian said.

Once they were back with the group, Ian felt like a weight had lifted off of his shoulders. Fighting in a party was much different than fighting solo.

"You okay?" Ashlyn asked him. "You seemed a bit tense there for a minute."

"Yeah, was just worried we would get mobbed by the village for a few moments," Ian said, looking back at the gate slowly getting farther away.

"We could have taken that entire village, though," Selenia said. "The way you were able to handle them in the past makes the danger minimal. My father's wives were all quite impressed with the quick action you took your first time inside. There is nothing stopping us from doing so now."

"You aren't wrong," Ian agreed before frowning. "However, we have to get all of you inside one of those buildings. As a solo adventurer, I just needed to get myself in there. Getting all seven of us in there could be difficult if they are coming out of the alleyway and stuff."

"Yeah, we need to be able to split into two houses if needed," Tram said. "Ian and Nia are the only ones with skills powerful enough to do a lot of consistent damage."

"Oh, I'm so stupid!" Ashlyn said, smacking herself on the forehead. "I never even thought about using my spirit arrow skill. I was so nervous that I would miss something that I was on autopilot while shooting."

Ian began to chuckle, "I remember doing the same thing when I got my attack skill. Anyways, I think we are far enough now, let's check how we did."

Pulling up his notifications, he was shocked at the last one.

Congratulations! You have defeated an enemy more than 250 levels higher than yourself. Experience rewards are multiplied by 10. You have earned 18 levels. You have achieved level 336. You have been awarded 540 skill points!

"Mara and I have a little problem," Ashlyn said, looking over at Ian. "Mara is milestone capped, but it isn't dungeon-based. She needs to absorb ten units of essence stones to be able to process all the additional experience she's gained. It is all stored, but she is kinda stuck."

"How much is a unit?" Claire asked.

"No idea," Ashlyn replied, placing a hand down on Mara's head.

"Well, let's find out," Ian said before pulling a small essence stone from his pouch and tossing it to Mara, who deftly caught it in her mouth.

"That was a single unit," Ashlyn replied. "I know we haven't gotten enough of them yet, but I'd like to use my share of them on Mara."

Ian looked around at the look everyone was giving her before his eyes met Claire's. Trying not to laugh, Claire pulled out nine more stones and handed them to Ashlyn.

"Mara is a member of our team, as are you," Claire said, stopping her from protesting. "Making sure that we are all getting stronger is more important than a few dollars."

"Damn straight," Tram said. "Besides, the ale they have in the dining hall back on campus is free, so what do we really have to spend money on?"

Mara began sniffing Ashlyn's hand as the emotions flickered back and forth across her face. Opening her hand, Ashlyn let Mara pull the small stones into her mouth with her tongue.

"Thank you," she finally said. "It means a lot."

"Just remember not to try to argue next time," Lana said, nudging her arm before giving her a small smile.

"Well, there will be plenty of next times," Ashlyn said with a small smile of her own. "I dropped all of my SP into upgrading the skill. It may have cost me a cool five thousand, but I'll have my own little moon prowler pack."

Mara, who just finished eating the last of the stones, looked directly at Ashlyn and cocked her head to one side.

"Yup, I'll be summoning them shortly. Are you ready for some friends to play with?"

Mara let out a low rumble in response and started to bounce excitedly.

"Then let me give you twenty more stones, and you can get them summoned before we go find the next horker," Claire said, accessing her item box.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.