Chapter 37: Into the Rot
Once everyone had entered the dungeon, Evelyn clapped her hands to gather their attention.
"It’s 3:40 PM now," she said. "Let’s see if we can make some real progress before six."
Then she turned to Ryan. "You can log off and let Molly know to delay dinner a little."
"Alright," Ryan replied, nodding. He immediately logged out. His character froze in place and turned gray, indicating he had disconnected. Evelyn gave it a glance to confirm, then turned to Mia.
"Don’t forget what you promised."
"I won’t," Mia muttered, turning away to avoid Evelyn’s gaze.
A moment later, Ryan logged back in. Without wasting time, he started assigning roles and giving instructions.
"Evelyn, where’s your pet? Don’t tell me you hit Level 10 and still haven’t tamed one." He glanced around her character but saw no sign of a beast.
"It’s... not that pretty, so I haven’t summoned it," Evelyn mumbled, a bit embarrassed.
With a flash of green light, her beast appeared—a sturdy gray bear. It shook its head, sniffed the air, then lumbered over to Evelyn’s side and flopped down with a dull thud.
"Alright. Has everyone watched those videos other players posted?" Ryan asked, referring to the footage from earlier groups who had run the Abandoned Mines dungeon. Players often uploaded their runs to forums—either to show off, ask for help, or crowdsource strategy tips from the comments.