Chapter 9 - 9

Everyone is right on time, well fed with coffee in hand when the sun comes up, ready to face the dungeon.

"Introductions are in order" Cixelcid says "Stubbs and Lickity, meet Misha and Cain" they all shake hands politely and Lickity blushes when her tail wraps around Cain's arm.

"Sorry, it has a mind of its own. I'm still mastering subconscious control of it." She frowns, looking at her tail.

"That's quite alright, think of it as a two handed handshake" Cain smiles back, not sure why she's so embarrassed. Maybe it's just her personality. But the outfit she has on is amazing, a black leather and red lace basque with matching boyshorts and tight black leather chaps, showing off her underwear, topped of with a short vest cut too small to be closed, sporting a wide, feathered collar and some sort of amulets dangling from her arms.

Good thing Cid warned him about mentioning the outfit, she looks amazing.

"Do you want to pull or should I?" Cain asks Cid instead. "The big golem is pretty quick, and isn't bad at holding a pack's attention."

"I'll pull. I've got a charge skill as a berserker that increases damage for a while" Cid answers "But feel free to take extra packs if we're clearing too quickly."

A fast clear to the first boss is an understatement. Lickity the Sorceress does a ridiculous amount of damage, often killing monsters in a single strike. So, to compensate, Cain sends Golems ahead to pull packs, allowing the group to clear at an almost walking pace.

"How's your mana?" Cain asks "You were throwing around those black energy attacks like nothing the whole way here."

"Those are a Sorceress Classes base attacks, they don't use much mana. I've put points into mana regeneration and one amulet also increases the rate, so I never run out doing that." That's, frankly amazing. She's only level 8, well 9 now, but she is far and away the highest multi target damage in the group, beating out even Cid the berserker who is almost 30 levels higher.

"Keep it quiet, but she got a legendary amulet crafting recipe" Cid smiles. "Both are actually the same amulet dual wielded, and they increase damage of her primary attack."

"I can't use the secondary effects until level 20 though. After that they'll make it hit more times and have a bleeding effect" okay, that's making Cain a bit jealous, but as he couldn't use them anyhow, it doesn't matter.

"Good to know things like that can drop here too" Cain laughs. "Gives us something to look forward to"

Cain looks over the available information on gear, finding 6 quality levels. Grey is trash, white is normal, green is superior, blue is magical, purple is epic and gold is legendary or artifact. All separated by the color of their item name when someone with an interface looks at them.

Blue items are supposed to drop at least once a run here, Cid says. So with a group this varied, they should be able to use most of the drops. At just that's his plan, get everyone some gear before the leveling is done.

Cain's Golems will take the commanders, while everyone downs the boss. The big golem starts everything out, grabbing all three with a stomp before Cain orders it to the back of the room. The small Golems follow and Cid rapidly attacks the boss, dragging its attention back to him.

As efficient as usual, the boss and his subordinates are soon no more.

The first boss drops nothing of consequence, so they're on to the next, Cid's rapid axe strikes and Lickity's arcs of black energy making short work of the larger packs.

The Dire Wolf boss is down in well under a minute, surprising everyone. Plus it drops a pair of blue quality daggers, an upgrade for the rogue.

"Just pull from the middle of the room", Cid laughs at the usually problematic double pulls that follow.

"This group is awesome, we should do this way more than once" Lickity agrees. "I'll send you both friends requests in case we meet up in the future."

[Friend Request From Lickity]

Neither Cain nor Misha even knew such a thing existed. But now that they see it, there's even an option to message friends, like sending a message from your phone. This is a huge discovery, a total life changing moment for them, but there's monsters to kill.

Cain sends the small Golems to take point. With two semi ranged members, it's best if the little ones pull, as you can easily shoot over them to hit your target. Cid and the big golem are sent to the sides to attack from there, leaving the middle clear.

Before long they're at the last boss. The small Golems are commanded to take the puddles when they appear, their numbers making it an easy task as everyone shouts appearances near them. A big change from Cain missing their assistance and letting them spawn more monsters to fight.

Not just one but two blue items drop, and everyone levels up from the dungeon completion bonus, if not the boss.

"This is crazy, I'm level 12 now. That's 4 times in one dungeon." Lickity giggles, making her chest bounce and Cain have to look away a moment.

"Well, what did we get for drops?" Cid asks.

"I got a blue quality ring. Healing done increased and some INT, that's for Misha" Stubbs says, handing it over.

"And I got a new robe" Misha says, equipping it straight from inventory, the way it just appears and replaces her old outfit startling Cain. "Blue quality, adds INT and mana regeneration"

"Good Job Misha" everyone congratulates her and Cid waves them towards the exit.

"At this rate, we'll try to get another before lunch, and two in the afternoon. Usually a group is slowed either by bosses, pulling, or the need to defend softer members. With the poison from two members though and the Golems blocking the vulnerable, bosses die quickly and nobody is at risk of being two shotted" Cixelcid explains.

"Wait, you mean to tell me Misha, you can't take two hits from those monsters!" Cain gasps.

"Neither Can I" says Lickity.

"I can take three, barely" says Stubbs.

"What about you? Cid asks "A lot of the advanced classes have hidden modifiers"

"Well, if I get a few seconds to regenerate in between hits, I should be able to take eight if none are a crit." Cain shrugs "I thought everyone would be closer to that. You guys are way braver than I gave you credit for."

"You're on a warrior level modifier or better then, and you've got a lot of HP for your level." Cid says thinking.. "Since you can use Hunter armor, you can be pretty tough, they're one of the more heavily armored classes."