After throwing up an appropriate amount to express my distaste for turning innocent people into paste, I got up and dusted myself off. "That was a lot easier than it should have been," I said.

  "It gets easier the more you do it," Haglor said.

  "What, killing? I don't want it to," I said.

  "Doesn't matter what you want. It just gets easier," Haglor said.

  "That's fair, I suppose," I said. "Let's get back to the base."

  We walked out of the square and down a block, to find ourselves in familiar territory. We were relatively close to the merchant guild hall. We walked down a few streets and ended up outside the building. When we walked in, I greeted Stylus and said, "Stylus, this is our potential new teammate, Haglor." I gestured to Haglor.

  "Hi," she said and waved at Stylus.

  "She is a man of few words," I said.

  "I'm not a man!" She said defensively.

  "Up until an hour ago, you had been pretending to be one for years. What changed?" I said.

  "I stopped pretending to be one," she said.

  "Fair," I said narrowing my eyes. "Ok, well she's a woman of few words."

  "I can see that," Stylus said. "Welcome aboard if you choose to stay." He wrote something down on his notepad. "If you don't, I will have to delete you from our records."

  "Delete me? Is that a threat?" Haglor said.

  "I guess that depends on what you mean by threat. If you mean, threatening to delete you from our records, then yes," Stylus said.

  "I don't think it's a threat. Watch this," I said. "Stylus, show me what deleting her from our records looks like please."

  "Ok," Stylus said. He ripped the top piece of paper off his notepad, crumpled it up, and threw it into a trash can near his feet.

  "See? Nothing to worry about," I said. "Now, can we get to the debrief?"

  "Please," Haglor said.

  "Ok, so it was nearly a failure. Eh, let's not sugarcoat it. It was a failure. We didn't destroy the noble branch like we'd planned. I killed a few people and that's it. We did get something though. Well, two things. We got Haglor the Unstoppable and I got intel that the noble branch is planning something at the gala. Something about testing crystals on children. Haglor, would you know anything about that?" I said.

  "Not really. They didn't tell us anything they were doing. Just when and where to guard them," she said.

  "Ok. That's disappointing but it makes sense. In that case, we will need all the help we can get. Haglor, will you join us in our fight to take down the Red Tail Fox Company?" I said.

  "Why do you want to take them down and can you afford me?" She said.

  "You saw the crystal addicts in the stacks. We want that to stop them from turning people into that. And how much do you cost? I mean, what's your price?" I said.

  "10 gold per day," she said.

  "I can do that," I said.

  "Then you've got my aid," she said.

  "Here's your first payment," I said. I pulled out a bag of gold and handed it to her. It had 100 good coins in it. It suddenly multiplied into 3 bags.

  [Multiplied Generosity activated!]

  "Wow! Thanks! How did you do that?" She said.

  "Magic," I said.

  "Well, thanks!" She said.

  "That should pay for 30 days of service," I said.

  "Ok," she said. "You've got me for at least 30 days then."

  "Good. We'll need you," I said.

  "Now that I'm officially on the team, there are some changes that need to be made," she said putting the bags down.

  "Like what? You're not firing any of us are you?" Abigail said.

  "No one is firing anyone," I said.

  "No, but you all need to get better at your jobs. I took down your commander singlehandedly. And all of us were useless against the crystal addicts, besides Tom. If you expect to do anything at the gala, you all need to get stronger, myself included. They'll have dozens of guards at the gala, all nearly as strong as me. To get stronger, we'll be going dungeon diving," she said.

  "How will we get access to a high-level dungeon? We have access to blue dungeons and that's it. The adventurer's guild and the kingdom control the others," I said.

  "I can use my name to get us in, and if that doesn't work, then we can fight our way in. They usually only leave 2 guards at each dungeon entrance at a time," she said. "What is everyone's class and level?" She looked around the room.

  "I don't have a class," Stylus said.

  "I wasn't asking you. I was asking the fighters," she said.

  "Oh. My apologies," he said.

  "I'm a bone mage, but I also have a healing grimoire. My bone mage level is 8, but my healing level is 7," I said.

  "No wonder you're so strong," she said.

  "I'm a bubble witch, but I also have an enchantment grimoire and a protection grimoire. My levels are 5, 5, and 5, but not in that order," she said.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  "I see," she said.

  "I don't have a class!" Marcy said putting her hand up.

  "Neither do I!" Nico said also raising her hand.

  "You don't have to raise your hands, but what? You don't have classes? We're going to have to fix that first. We can't go to the adventurer's guild. So does anyone know someone with a spare orb lying around?" She said.

  "Sally does," I said. Oh right. Why didn't I think of that. Sally could assign classes with her orb. We should have done that before going on the mission. Damn it.

  "Good. Let's go to this Sally person," she said.

  "Can I take a nap, first?" Marcy said.

  "Me too!" Nico said.

  "I approve the nap," I said. Haglor gave me a look. "What? They've been through a lot today, they can get some rest. Sally's will still be there tonight."

  "Fine. Team leader," she said.

  "Good. I'm glad you can take direction," I said.

  "Don't push it," she said.

  "Fine. Don't nap then," I said.

  We all took naps. We only had three beds, so Marcy and Nico napped together, Abigail and I napped together, and Haglor let Stylus sleep by himself. She said she wanted to keep watch, but I think she just didn't want to share her personal space.

  Once we had awoken and it was night, we set out for Sally's tavern. When I informed Sally what we were there for, she took us up to the attic. Sally only took Marcy and Nico into the cramped attic. There wasn't enough space for everyone to fit.

  When they came out, Marcy said, "I'm an S-rank saboteur!" And Nico said, "I'm an S-rank assassin!"

  "Very good! Now let's go hit some dungeons!" I said. "Haglor, you think you can get us into some dungeons right now?"

  "Sure. All the guards are probably at home, asleep right now," she said yawning.

  "You should've napped with the rest of us," Abigail said.

  "You all can have your naps. I sleep at night, like a normal person," she said.

  "To each their own. Now are we ready to head out?" I said.

  Everyone agreed to head to a dungeon. When we got there, a locked gate blocked the way, but I raised a large bone platform underneath it, ripping it apart. We passed through the destroyed gate and found a portal on the other side. It was orange.

  "This is an A-rank dungeon. I can participate in these, despite being only B-rank because of my decade of experience. Higher potential goes a long way, but if you die before you reach that potential, it doesn't matter. And the other way holds true. If you keep dungeon diving and keep surviving, you'll surpass those with higher potential. There is no upper limit to stats or levels. Just different progress rates," she said.

  "Thanks for the advice," I said. "Now let's go inside."

  When we entered, we appeared in a castle. A notification appeared in front of me that looked separate from my normal system. It glowed orange.

  [Objective: Protect the King]

  [30 seconds until Wave 1]

  "Is everyone else seeing this?" I said. Everyone else confirmed they were seeing the same thing I was. "Everyone, get on the walls of the castle and prepare for long range combat!"

  We all got into position on the front wall of the castle. The castle was surrounded by a moat and a stone bridge leading to the front. Massive fiery orange numbers counted down to the beginning of the first wave.

  [Wave 1 starting!]

  A massive group of goblins appeared on the other side of the bridge. They were dressed in tribal war gear and carried crude weapons. They rushed across the drawbridge screaming. We already had our weapons ready, so we immediately began firing on the goblins.

  "Sorry, Marcy!" Nico said as she killed a goblin.

  "What are you apologizing for? I don't know these people!" She replied throwing crystal bombs at the goblins.

  "I don't know!" Nico said killing another goblin with a well thrown knife.

  I used small bone spikes because the enemies were small. Marcy's bombs weren't very concussive so they did minimal damage to the bridge. They just spread crystal shards into the air. Haglor used her bow to methodically take down her targets. Abigail used bubbles to fly goblins into the air and drop them to their deaths.

  After a few minutes, we had destroyed the wave of goblins and a new notification popped up!

  [You have survived Wave 1! Wave 2 starting in 30 seconds]

  "Everyone good?" I asked.

  "Yeah! I just hit level 1! I can make basic explosives from nothing now!" Marcy said. She fiddled her hands in the air and a bomb appeared.

  "And I gained Stealth Strike! I do more damage when attacking from stealth!" Nico said.

  "And I'm Abigail!" Abigail said. I feel like she does these jokes on purpose.

  "Yes you are, my little sunshine," I said. Abigail smiled at me. She definitely knew what she was doing.

  "I need to get on the ground," Haglor said. She jumped over the wall and landed hard on the bridge. Small stones from the bridge came loose and flew in different directions.

  "Hey Haglor! I never asked what your class is," I said.

  "Juggernaut!" She said. She got into a running position as the last few seconds counted down to the beginning of the next wave.

  [Wave 2 starting!]

  Another massive group dropped in on the other side of the bridge, but this one had a different composition. There were hobgoblins, trolls, and orcs. The hobgoblins held massive ladders, the trolls held battering rams and the orcs were decked out in warrior gear. Haglor waited for the orcs and trolls to come three quarters of the way onto the bridge before she charged them.

  Every step she took sent stones flying and propelled her faster than the previous step. She gained speed quickly and didn't stop when she hit the frontline. She held her arms out to her left and right as she ran. She smashed and clotheslined orcs until she got to the first troll. She grabbed it by the leg and tossed it off the bridge and continued forward. She smashed through countless orcs and tossed trolls aside with ease. She continued to gain momentum as she ran across the bridge.

  As she was nearing the end of the bridge, the air around her body began to ripple and enemies bounced off a barrier of force that surrounded her body. The barrier expanded out to the sides, knocking enemies off the bridge that were far outside the reach of her arms. She ran off the bridge and onto the grass where a large group of orcs and trolls were waiting. When she hit the mass of troops, an explosion of force went up and sent enemies flying in every direction. When the dust settled, Haglor stood in a massive crater of her own creation.

  She fell to one knee and yelled back at us, "I think you can handle the rest!" Then she collapsed to ground onto her back. She didn't pass out. She was just resting. Her eyes were still open and she was breathing. Whenever someone tried to attack her, she just kicked them away. She wasn't out of the fight. She was just tired from the powerful charge she had pulled off.

  A decent amount of orcs and a few trolls remained, along with nearly all the hobgoblins. The hobgoblins weren't taking the bridge as a route. They laid down their ladders, which reached all the way to the top of the castle walls from across the moat, and they began to climb up the ladders.

  Marcy bombed the center of the bridge, while Nico stealthily took out enemies that clung to the edges of the bridge. Abigail grabbed trolls with massive bubbles that turned green and toxic. The trolls tried to smash the bubbles to escape the toxic fumes, but the protection spells on the bubbles were too strong. They all fell before they could break out.

  I on the other hand, used bone platforms to push the ladders off the walls and into the moat below. The hobgoblins didn't know how to swim, so they all drowned. After I had disposed of all the ladders, I made bone spikes spring from the ground to impale the orcs that were just making their way onto the bridge. We quickly picked off the remaining enemies and a notification appeared.

  [You have survived Wave 2! Wave 3 starting in 60 seconds]

  "Hey Haglor! You good?" I yelled.

  Haglor got up off the ground and walked back to the castle gate. "Yeah, I'm fine. Charges like that are just tiring. I can only do about three of those in a row, but then I have to take a long break. I wanted to conserve my energy for the next waves." She got back to the gate and faced the bridge again, waiting for the next wave to start.

  "Good thinking!" I said. "I can see why your class is called Juggernaut now."

  "Yeah? I used it on you once. The charge I mean. Didn't get much space to gain momentum though," she said.

  "Yeah, well I thought blowing me through a wall was good enough. I would've hated to be on the receiving end of that energy wave thing you did. Might've turned me into paste," I said.

  "Well, I'm glad I didn't," she said.

  "Me too," I said under my breath. "Nico! Go protect the king! With the way these waves are escalating, they'll get over the walls soon and we'll need a last line of defense."

  "Sir, yes sir!" Nico said. She climbed up the castle wall and ran further into the castle somewhere.

  "Abigail, you watch the skies! I have a feeling we're going to get flying enemies either this wave or the next," I said.

  "Sir, yes sir!" She said, squeezing my bicep and winking.

  "Uh, thanks," I said.

  [Wave 3 starting!]