Chapter 100 – To Grind [Wednesday]

Chapter 100 – To Grind [Wednesday]

John’s life was a typical story. Boy meets Girl, Girl helps defeat deadly biker gang with a centipede monster in tow, Boy and Girl fall in love after murdering ghosts, Stuff happens, an evil organization steps on the field and throws their lives into turmoil, tragedy, sadness, drama, an enemy that tries to pull them to their side but the Boy outwits him. John’s life was not at all a typical story.

Which is why he was happy to finally do something he knew how to do again. “Grinding! Grinding! Grinding!” he chanted as they went to the bus stop.

“You look sooooo stupid right now.” Rave giggled at his side.

“Well, it is great to find something normal to do that doesn’t involve someone trying to kill or convert me.” John said as they arrived at the stop. “Okay, monsters will try to kill me, but that’s different.”

The bus pulled up in the distance and with it the impending time of what was essentially the loading screen for his Instant Dungeon. Man, this PC was slow. The bus rolled down the street. Going to the forest all the time surely was annoying. If they wanted to stay hidden they needed to do that. The bus started to slow down.

Wait, hide from whom? The Golden Rose had long found out about them. The only other reason to go to the forest was because John had no idea how Treants would spawn. The bus came to a halt and Rave was waiting with a confused look for John to walk towards the opening door. Why exactly should they take the bus to the forest if they were about to farm Skaven?

He asked Rave exactly that and her eyebrows jolted upwards then shifted downwards quickly as she asked herself the same question. “We have absolutely no reason, do we?” she asked as the door closed and the bus went on its way.

“Nope,” John finally came to that conclusion and extended his hand to the sky. “Absolutely none.” The Instant Dungeon was erected and the entrance to it quickly found. They went inside the underground complex. Materializing both Gnome and Salamander, he doubled their party size. Speaking of the latter, he had never used Observe on the fire spirit. Time to get a better understanding of his new familiar.



Was Krieg not just the German word for war? Either Gaia (or whoever else decided the names of gods) was lazy in the naming sense or the elemental had some unpronounceable name and his mind just translated to the next best thing. Whatever was the case, her Stats were pretty glass canon-y. Thankfully, he also had Gnome.



Who was a lot better at being a tank anyway. If only she were about as tall as him it would be perfect. Probably a goal for the future. Keeping both of them active was about 0,32 Mana per second, also subtracting Aclysia and two Possessions pushed him down to roughly 1,08 Mana per Second. Pretty good all things considered. Individually, he was easily overcome by Abyssals his level, but with all of his familiars he became a one-man army. With Mana Ray he could provide the necessary backline support. Provided his mana didn’t go to other tasks.

Which there were two new outlets for. He activated Mana Shield, not because he thought it necessary but because he needed to level it anyhow. Actually, he hoped he wouldn’t have to use it, the current cost for that thing was disgusting. Best to not get hit in the first place.

“Okay, let's figure out how to integrate you into the formation, Salamander.”



An explosion, caused by Salamander, announced the party’s entrance into the boss room. Skaven were catapulted through the air and crash landed on the dirty stone floor, vanishing moments later. They left behind small amounts of money and other small items.

The Warlord was sitting on a small throne, two Rat Wolves chained to it. They were smaller than the one that had guarded the treasure room last time around. Nonetheless, their teeth and claws looked like they could inflict quite a bit of pain and disease. Behind the Warlord was a wooden door, probably the way to the next floor.

“Let’s make this fast.” John decided, “Jane, you take the boss. Salamander, you help her. Gnome, we take on the wolves.” The strategy was made just in time as the Lesser Skaven Warlord shattered the chains with a blow with its mighty axe. The Rat Wolves sprinted at them but Rave didn’t even mind. With her far superior speed she charged and met them halfway. Nimbly, she dodged their vile maws by sliding underneath them and then jumping right at the Warlord.

This little manoeuvre confused the wolves enough that it allowed John to get his first Mana Ray off without interruption. The attack seared one of the Rat Wolves’ front legs, crippling it with one blow that made it impossible for it to resume its charge. The other Rat Wolf, now aware of the danger the Gamer posed, went on the offensive again. It didn’t manage to get past Gnome, who stood in its path and grabbed it by the snout.

The Earth Elemental’s strength was shattering, figuratively. Although she wasn’t able to break the attacker’s head in her palms, she was able to completely immobilize him for the moment. Which was all that John needed to get a second Mana Ray off on the already wounded Rat Wolf at the back. ‘This is really just bullying.’ John thought, the hit killing the beast.

At the same time, he heard the howling of a wounded animal from the Warlord. The boss collapsed right as John directed his eyes to it. Burn marks from Salamander and Rave, interestingly different in their patterns, covered the dying Skaven. Then it turned to ash. The last Rat Wolf was finished up in mere moments as well.

“Buh!” Rave complained, “Way too easy. Is the Loot good?”

“Nope.” John looked over it. Just some rusted equipment, money and that was it. Well, for some reason people paid a lot for the metal the weapons were made from so he wouldn’t complain. He put the vendor trash away and prayed for some of that Warpstone next time around.“Let’s go down.” He decided and opened the door.

Behind was a staircase that wound deeper into the earth. The bird took the lead and he found the first enemies before they were even done descending the staircase.



“Gaia is officially a lazy game designer.” John stated with a disbelieving, disapproving voice. “She just took the enemies from the last floor and slapped 5 levels on top.”

“Booooooring!!” Rave complained even more. He sighed, “Yep...oh well, let’s keep grinding.”

They beat the boss of that floor too, causing both of them to level up, before calling it a day and going somewhere else.