But for a Slime

* * *

Joe turned to look at her, and Gwenvair felt fear spike through her but then calmed when she found Joe unusually calm as well. She sighed in relief to see him so, his rage earlier had been overwhelming; terrifying even. She'd struggled against it to calm him, but while the rage had consumed them both, she quickly realized she had nothing to fear despite his rage, what he felt was only anger, there was no intent. That calmed her, and confused her. She couldn't understand why rage like this was somehow so benign. In any other person, she feared it would have been indiscriminate, destroying all around them and for a time, despite her knowing how polite Joe was, she expected exactly that. Yet, his rage, despite how powerful it was, was held back behind something she could not explain. He was angry, but his anger appeared to be directed and so she felt relief for it and dedicated herself to keeping it safely contained, keeping it tightly controlled in a tiny little ball buried deep down inside their family's psyche. She could keep it there for a long, long time.

Joe grinned down at her, "I have an excellent plan to execute!"

* * *

Joe grinned down at Gwenvair, "Boy do I have an idea!"

Gwenvair smiled back up, "What is that?" Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on novelꞁire.net

Joe smiled brighter, "Watch!"

Joe then took out another couple goblins before directing them to the second floor and killing most of the mobs on that floor. Still need to level them up… and it's not that hard and we can still head on down! He deliberately led them through the dangerous mob filled floor by killing every mob he could on the way across it. The others continued to level quickly and easily, and Joe wiped out most of the floor before heading into the third floor and killing everything there as well. He first spent some time teaching the three new members how to kill the monsters there before continuing on, leading them across the floor until they reached the door to the fourth floor.

He paused there and checked how they were doing and noticed that they'd reached well past level fifteen and Joe grinned to see it. Nice… tomorrow will get them past metropolitan easily. Hmm.. would be nice if I could get that done tonight then be on to citizen. Then we could hit the education jobs in two days. Although… now that I know about gifted, opening a massive amount of jobs would … really be a good idea… Joe frowned, a bit bitter about it. Couldn't do it though… I don't have enough job changes to do that… nor enough jobs for them yet. Hmm… maybe with metropolitan and citizen I'll get enough? I… huh. Joe paused and took a look at his available jobs in citizen and metropolitan and then he frowned. Really? Only fourteen open jobs? Does that mean… twenty five? Thirty? In citizen or metropolitan, or… maybe other jobs? Man… hmm… OK. So… still worth it to head to educated and hmm… yup educated and crafter. Easy fifty jobs there… although after filling up commoner, metropolitan, and citizen… they'll only need maybe thirty… So probably should do educated to tap it out for the learning gains then swap to crafter ASAP to fill it up to fifty jobs for them. That should really help. Then… yeah.

With that, Joe decided that it would make sense to see if he could get them to twenty in metropolitan tonight and also realized that getting them to ten in the other jobs hadn't really been that useful, despite the increased learning they'd gained, it was nothing compared to the learning Joe was somehow gifting them with his researcher skills. But… this'll help them get real independent real fast… and the best I can do for them right now. They really need their own learning… can't really have them too dependent upon me.

They'd gotten to about to level eighteen and Joe was pretty certain it was getting into evening so he pushed on into the fourth floor for a break. The other's followed along easily enough, although they seemed a bit confused.

"Where are we going, Joe?" Gwenvair asked.

Joe grinned, looking down at Gwenvair, "To help you guys and to help you and your mother with your … clan issues."

Gwenvair raised an eyebrow at that before grinning, "This will help my mom?"

Joe grinned then felt it slip a bit, "It won't help much, but… right now, it's the best I can think of."

Gwenvair's grin grew, "Whatever you are willing, all I can say is thank you."

Joe nodded, then turned back to the fourth floor. He swapped out his job to navigator so he could figure out where he was going and brought up the map. He studied the map carefully then realized he could just keep it up until he got to one of the four mini boss mobs on the floor before swapping to what he wanted to level. He grinned at what he was doing, wondering if it was even really worth it, but decided to continue on that path anyway. Every little bit helps. He quickly searched the map before drawing out his options and led them all on the quickest way through the maze.

Their first stop was the slime. He swapped to a job he was currently leveling before he took it out pretty quick. While he tried to get the others to help out, the slime was simply too fast and dangerous for them, much to the frustration of both Stephliquen and Kalia. Ultimately, all four of the sub boss monsters proved too difficult for them to be involved in and so he ended up killing them all by himself. The others were unable to gain any experience since they didn't landed any hits or caused any damage.

Despite that, he punched through the fourth floor with ease and quite quickly, finishing it off in about thirty minutes or so. When they arrived before the giant door to the fifth floor, he quickly slapped in all the medallions, including one of half a dozen goblin king medallions he'd gotten and hadn't used. The door opened and then he turned back to the others. The three new people stared up at the door with curiosity and some interest, but not much else. Gwenvair seemed to understand the ramifications of the door and stared at it with equal measures of greed, worry, and excitement. Joe grinned and nodded at her before facing them all.

"Right. This is the final floor. There are six monsters in there… all two core ones. I'm going to head in and fight them. You can come in if you want, but you need to hide and protect yourselves. To be honest, I think it would be best if you didn't. I think I was lucky because the monster dealt with me honorably, but at the end, he did start attacking the others and things got crazy. So, if it's OK? Could you wait out here and then I'll come back out after I'm done?"

Gwenvair quickly nodded in agreement while the other two who knew common also agreed. Stephliquen simply stared at him oddly as well as avidly staring at the door. Joe nodded to all of them with a grin then turned. He then pulled out his backpack from the magic space which had everyone looking at him with various emotions ranging from wonder to curious consideration. He dug through his pack and checked out the weapons in his magic bag inventory, wondering whether he wanted to set up his whole weapon harness before festooning himself with his weaponry or attempt to use his magic bag inventory to hold his weapons.

He spent some time again, just making sure of how his magic bag inventory worked, and frowned at how the weaponry came out of the space. Gonna add some time to the whole thing cause I'll need to change my grip on every weapon that comes out… but, I'll get a lot more agility, not worrying about where my weapons are in my harness or even about my harness… and I still will take time to pull most weapons out of my various sheaths, so… a wash? Except much easier and freer movement since I don't have them sticking off all over me? Inventory slightly better on the pros, I guess?

He played a bit more then had an idea and put his quiver in the magic bag as well before figuring out how it would work. Thankfully, the quiver and all the arrows somehow counted as a single item so all went into one space. That excited Joe but he was still quite pessimistic, remembering one aspect of the magic bag that made it of dubious worth for storing weaponry for use in the middle of combat. His fears proved true after inserting and removing the quiver from the space a half a dozen times and on the seventh time, the quiver appeared in his hand upside down. His hand grasped it perfectly fine, holding it well, but all the arrows tumbled out of the quiver and clanged out as they collapsed to the floor like a massive game of pickup sticks. Joe frowned, grumbling under his breath before tossing the quiver bag into the magic bag by itself then paused in thought, wonder stealing over him. Ooh!

He took all the arrows, and began popping them back into the magic bag and he soon had all fifty of the modern arrows in a single slot in his magic bag space. Joe grinned. OK. This… is real nice! But his grin slipped when he pulled an arrow out and had it come into his hand in odd directions and ways. That said, he was able to retrieve a single arrow and with semi-relative ease set it to his bow. His grin returned and he slipped the arrow back into the inventory. Not amazing, but not bad! Right… His grin grew even more as he turned to consider his primary weaponry. He considered for a few seconds before he equipped the shield and spear. He checked himself one more time then headed in. Joe's grin grew from an easy farewell to a grimacing snarl of glee. This… is so gonna work!

Joe headed into the yawning darkness and stepped past it into a brilliant hall. Behind him, the others vanished as he passed the threshold. Right… let's do this!

* * *

Gwenvair watched him head in, then turned to the other three, finally allowing her fear and worry to show. The others seemed to notice, although Stephliquen still appeared confused by what she was watching. Xylarnae stepped forward with a soft grin.

"What is happening?"

Gwenvair grinned, "He goes to conquer the dungeon."

Kalia narrowed her eyes at this, "This is… a dungeon? You call it such?"

* * *

"He goes to conquer the natural mana font."

Kalia narrowed her eyes, wonder sweeping through here even as she stared with some consternation at Gwenvair, "This is… a mana font? You call it such?"

"Yes? These are mana fonts? We spoke of these before. Your clan has some, no?"

Kalia shook her head rapidly while staring around them, "This is no mana font."

Mana swelled wildly, swirling around her and Kalia glanced with startled concern before calming as no meaningful intent presented itself. Then she realized what she was feeling, having experienced it before as the mana swelled then washed out across their party.

* * *

"This is no dungeo…" mana swelled and Gwenvair looked up with some wonder as it swept in then meaning came to her, understanding settling within her mind.

"This is no mana font." Mana font? Interesting… I do…

"What is a mana fo…"

"What is a dung…"

Kalia and Gwenvair spoke at the same time before both cut off and Gwenvair waved Kalia on to continue.

Kalia, however, insisted, "Please, you may ask first, Queen."

Gwenvair took the offer with a nod, "What is a mana font?"

Kalia frowned slightly before nodding, "You … do not have such, or… hmm," she interrupted her thoughts and continued to answering the question instead, "It is a natural welling of great mana. From it, creatures and monsters naturally reside and often are forced out, escaping from other stronger and greater monsters. Treasures and wealth abound within such, but often are guarded by the monsters there. Fonts draw monsters in from far and wide, but their greatest treasure is that which has been steeped within the font for lengthy amounts of time, whether plant or animal, monster or beast. Often, fonts are a source of great fecundity depending upon the mana swelling from the well there."

"It creates beasts and monsters?"

"No. Not like… this… thing."

Gwenvair frowned, "This dungeon?"

"Yes. It… apologies, Queen. But what is a dungeon.

Gwenvair frowned at that ashes looked at Kalia, "It's… a dungeon. I am uncertain how else to describe it."

Kalia frowned herself, "I am assuming you do not keep your prisoners here? How is the dungeon creating … or bringing forth so many new creatures for us to fight?"

Gwenvair knit her eyebrows, "No, we do not keep our prisoners here, and it is the nature of a dungeon to create creatures and defend itself from intruders."

Kalia seemed shocked by that, taken aback even as Xylarnae started, surprised. Xylarnae did not speak, but Kalia quickly jumped in.

"This… is a creature? We are inside a creature?"

Gwenvair grinned at that but with hints of concern roiling within, "You do not have dungeons? That… I find that quite interesting, but … I am uncertain if it is a creature. There are some who argue it is so and others say it is simply the natural interaction of mana. I do not know. I am no scholar."

Kalia frowned, then shook her head, "No mana on any plane I have been has interacted to create such things."

Gwenvair frowned at that, "Truly?"

Kalia nodded, "Truly. These are… unnatural."

Gwenvair shrugged, "There are many available for use… there are four in this city alone. We are not a great clan, but we are quite lucky to have four."

Kalia nodded, "It is… interesting."

The two then quickly fell into a long conversation about dungeons where Gwenvair ultimately had almost nothing to teach Kalia, her questions delving too deeply into attempting to understand their purpose and origins, which Gwenvair knew very little of. Despite that, it helped distract her from the time Joe was away. But before her worry could even really grow, Joe returned with his spear over his shoulder and a grin on his face.

"Right. Ready to head back?"

* * *

Joe took a look around the hallway when he entered and grinned, excitement coursing through him as the challenge before him began to settle in and he prepared to fight. Nothing really seemed to have changed when he stepped in but he found the room empty without any of the monsters he was expecting. He grew concerned, looking around when a popup suddenly appeared before him. He narrowed his eyes as he stared at it, reading it carefully. Huh. Very interesting!