'So how are we going to this place again?" Lisa asked for the 5th time as Zack sighed.
"We are going there on top of two eagles that are our partners," Emma replied calmly even though she was answering the question for the fourth time.
Even though she could see the two eagles in front of her, she couldn't believe that they were not just partially contracted beasts but were actually the duo's partners.
Zack was getting impatient so he went behind Lisa and pushed her on top of Daedalus before climbing upon the eagle himself.
He then looked at Emma before nodding as Daedalus shot up in the sky and started flying towards where the Echo Bat dungeon was.
Zack didn't ask the eagle to fly at a slower speed since Lisa had flown before. So because of that, everything passed by in a hurry as Daedalus suddenly landed down.
"So this the place you used to come at?" Lisa asked while eyeing the entrance of the Echo bat dungeon.
Since she had already joined Zack's guild, he had told her most things about what had happened since he had joined the game while adding up as her friend.
That might seem like a naive move however, it was a necessary thing to make sure that he maintained a good relationship with Lisa.
While Lisa was eyeing the dungeon entrance, Icarus suddenly landed beside his brother. Emma jumped off the eagle with Marcus and Jack in tow.
She had dragged both of them out of their alchemy room to come to fight with them.
Though both of them had protested like babies, Emma had been able to convince them by saying that they will gain alchemy ingredients.
Daedalus and Icarus said their goodbyes before flying away even though they were going to stay around the duo in a certain radius.
The five of them were ready to go ahead and clear the dungeon. Zack went near the entrance as the list of options appeared in front of him.
[ Party mode or solo mode? ]
Being the leader of the group, Zack chose party mode since this time, there was a chance that they could get a dungeon core.
The base limit for unlocking the chance to get a dungeon core was to have a party of 5 but the chances didn't increase even if you had a party of five million.
Depending on the level of difficulty, the chances of getting a dungeon core after defeating the dungeon boss rose and fell.
This also ensured no single player could solo grind and take multiple cores.
[ Choose difficulty:
Normal
Hard
Extreme
Nightmare ]
If Zack chose normal, the base level of monsters would be around 13 to 16 while the boss will be level 20.
If he chose hard, there will be two to three bosses all at level 25 while the base monsters would be between level 16 to 18.
Both options had their pros and cons since choosing the hard option will give the group more exp.
Furthermore, Lisa was at level 23 while Jack and Marcus had managed to level themselves up to level 19 simply by mass-producing pills.
In a way, alchemy was one of the biggest cheat leveling systems in the entire game but the higher progressed, the more difficult it would become.
"For now, we will fight at normal mode until and unless I and WolfHeart manage to level up to level 23. So get grinding." And with that, the group stepped inside the dungeon at normal mode.
They walked a few meters inside however, no bat appeared in front of them which was very odd.
After roaming deeper, they soon arrived at the doors of the boss room without encountering a single beast.
'Something weird is going on.' Without thinking twice, Zack pushed on the doors to the boss room and entered it.
Suddenly, a white light surrounded the group and they were teleported to the entrance of the dungeon.
[ Dungeon on cooldown: 24 hours
Reason: Normal level core has been extracted. ]
Zack raised his eyebrows in surprise as he opened the choose difficulty page again and saw a new addition there.
[ Choose difficulty:
Normal (Cooldown)
Hard
Extreme
Nightmare ]
The cooldown bracket hadn't been there before which meant that someone had cleared and gotten the core of the dungeon and normal difficulty.
And whoever the party was, were soon about to be teleported to the entrance of the dungeon.
"Hide," Zack ordered while looking at Lisa as the formations master sighed.
"It will take me at least 5 minutes to prepare the formations. So unless you explain what is happening while I create them, let's go hide in the bushes." The group of five went to hide in the bushes around 50 meters away from the entrance.
Marcus and Jack were acting like water buffaloes since they had no idea how to stealth walk. Zack just decided to grab their collars and yeet the duo into the bushes.
Thankfully, the party was taking their time which allowed Zack to explain everything to the group while Lisa prepared the cloaking formations.
*The only time a cooldown option appears is if the game developers personally shut them down or the core of the dungeon had been harvested.*
Since all of them were in a party as well as a guild, they had the option of talking mentally while hiding in the bushes
(A/N: Party talks and guild talks will be placed inside *this* while private talk will remain inside [this])
*And how do you know all of this?* Lisa started drawing blue-colored symbols on the ground around the group as she slowly extended outwards.
The symbols all looked interloped with each other and only someone who knew about formations could tell anything about them.
*Just read the forums.* Zack replied with a shrug as a vein popped on Lisa's forehead.
Emma sighed before she gently patted Lisa's should to calm down the girl.
[ He knows information like a beta tester but most of what he knows is already available for those who search for it real hard. You'll get used to this in no time. ]
She comforted the second girl who took a deep breath and nodded. She then started focusing on finishing the formation.
As soon as she drew the last symbol and the entire thing illuminated, the party finally showed themselves.
'"So should we go in for another round?" An excited voice asked and was met with cheers.
The party in front of the group consisted of 100+ people which clearly indicated that they were a guild out to grind their levels.
All eyes turned towards the front of the group where a player, who looked like the leader of the guild, stood with a smile on his face.
Zack immediately recognized who the player was and sighed.
He was none other than 'Lala Cha Cha', the only player who had chosen dancer as his job class and went to fight out with it.
And despite how it sounded, his fighting style was next level.
*Let's just go.* Zack then turned around as all of the party members started moving away.
Their grinding spot had been taken by another team who were most likely going to go ahead and try the hard mode.
Zack knew that he couldn't do anything except move on since if the other guild decided to declare a guild war, he could only rely on Lisa and the two eagles.
'I need to find a new dungeon and that too soon since more and more players will start leveling up because of guilds and dungeons.' Zack already had a plan forming inside his mind.
He had to quickly reach level 30 and catch up to the rest of the players. Because of his current low level, Zack's growth was going to be very high.
'Daedalus, can you keep an eye on the group? Tell me when they leave.' Zack sent a message to the eagle before they started roaming the area in search of another dungeon.
But while searching, all five of them received a system message in front of them.
[Global announcement: We have decided to change the weapon rankings system while also allowing players to see the ranks of the dungeons that they will be conquering.
New weapons ranks are common, rare, epic, mythological, and legendary.
Dungeon ranks are common, rare, epic, mythological, and legendary. Enjoy your playing time players.]
After reading the announcement, everyone except Zack checked their inventories to see that their weapons had been rounded off to a nearby level.
"We should spread out and search for a dungeon. If anyone finds a common dungeon, message the others the location and we will meet up at once." After giving his order, Zack went towards the east in search of a dungeon.
The group was currently searching for dungeons fifty kilometers away from the border of the Eizenburgh and Heridor kingdom.
If they moved towards the border, they would be able to see the army of the kingdom but Zack had no interest in meeting them.
'Didn't Ash bring me here in the past? We even looked at a common dungeon and battled there.' In his previous life, Ash had dragged Zack, Marcus, and Jack to the same place where he was searching for dungeons.
They had somehow ended up in an underground dungeon that was perfect for them with lightning magic.
Zack was trying to recall the location of the place before he remembered that there was a way he could find the entrance.
"Earthquake."
[ Magnitude: 1.4 ]
The earthquake that took place wouldn't have been felt by anyone however, it opened a new entrance in the ground.
And Zack was standing a few meters away from it.
[ Underground Fish Dungeon (common) ]
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