Nox stopped in the middle of the hallway and pulled up his stats. He'd been walking around for an hour now, following the trail of destruction the boss monster had left, and frankly, he was getting bored. Time to see what all that monster-killing had actually done for him.
[Level: 8]
[Health: 160/160]
[Strength: 24]
[Agility: 19]
[Unallocated Points: 0]
'Level eight. Not bad.' He'd dumped most of his points into Strength because punching things really hard seemed to be working out pretty well so far. His Agility was decent too, which explained why he could move so fast compared to everyone else.
'Wait a minute.' He mentally scrolled through more of his interface. 'What's this mana thing?'
[Mana: 0/0]
[Mana Regeneration: 0 per minute]
[Magical Affinity: None]
'Zero mana. That's interesting.' He'd been wondering why he couldn't do that fire thing like Ava or throw stuff with his mind like Diana. Apparently there was a reason.
'System, why can't I use magic?'
[User has not undergone magical awakening. Mana channels remain sealed.]
'And how do I get this magical awakening?'
[Unknown. Awakening triggers vary by individual.]
'Helpful as always.'
He looked back at the girls, who were standing around waiting for him to move, looking tired and pretty useless. Not their fault really, but dragging around four Level One teammates wasn't exactly speeding things up.
'Let me check their stats.' He focused on each of them in turn.
[Emilia - Level 1]
[Health: 25/25]
[Strength: 3]
[Agility: 4]
[Plant Manipulation: Basic]
[Vasa - Level 1]
[Health: 30/30]
[Strength: 4]
[Agility: 3]
[Ice Manipulation: Basic]
[Kendra - Level 1]
[Health: 35/35]
[Strength: 5]
[Agility: 2]
[Armor Skin: Basic]
[Yeda - Level 1]
[Health: 20/20]
[Strength: 2]
[Agility: 5]
[No Abilities]
'Yeah, they're weak as hell.' Emilia's plant powers had potential but her Strength was pathetic. Kendra was the toughest but slow. Vasa was balanced but not particularly good at anything. And Yeda didn't even have powers yet.
'This is pointless. At this rate, we'll never find the boss monster, and they'll just get themselves killed the first time we run into something serious.'
"Nox?" Emilia said, pulling him out of his thoughts. "You've been staring at nothing for like five minutes. What are you looking at?"
"Your stats," he said without thinking.
"Our what now?"
"Never mind." He started walking again, a new plan forming. "We need to find some monsters for you guys to fight."
"Why?" Kendra asked, jogging to catch up. "I thought we were looking for this boss thing."
"We are. But you're all Level One and basically useless right now. If we run into anything dangerous, you're dead."
"Thanks for the pep talk," Vasa said dryly.
"I'm being practical. You want to survive? You need to get stronger. That means killing monsters and gaining experience."
"Experience?" Yeda spoke up, curious. "Like in video games?"
"Exactly like in video games. Apparently whoever designed this system has a sick sense of humor."
They walked for a few more minutes until they came across a group of three Plague Hounds sniffing around some lockers. Perfect. Not too many, but enough for practice.
"Alright," he said quietly, motioning for them to stop. "There's three of them up ahead. You four are going to kill them."
"What?" Emilia whispered, eyes wide. "We can't fight those things. They're huge."
"They're not that big. And you outnumber them."
"But they have claws and teeth and we have... what exactly?" Kendra hissed, clutching her bent pipe.
"You have powers. Use them."
"Our powers suck," Kendra said bluntly.
"They suck because you're Level One. The only way to make them not suck is to level up. The only way to level up is to kill things. See the problem?"
Vasa was studying the monsters, calm and analytical. "What if we die?"
"Then you die. But if you don't try to get stronger now, you're definitely going to die later when we run into something worse."
"That's really reassuring," Emilia muttered.
"Look," he sighed. "I'm not going to let you get killed, okay? If things go really bad, I'll step in. But you need to at least try first."
The girls looked at each other, having one of those silent conversations. Finally, Emilia nodded.
"Fine. But if we die, I'm haunting you."
They crept closer. Nox stayed back, leaning against a wall to watch.
"Okay," Emilia whispered. "Vasa, you think you can freeze one? Or at least slow it down?"
"I can try. But my ice powers are pretty weak. It won't hold long."
"That's fine. Just slow it down. Kendra, you're the toughest, so you get in front. Yeda and I will help from behind."
"What am I supposed to do?" Yeda asked, trembling slightly. "I don't have powers."
"Hit them with something heavy," Kendra said, picking up another piece of pipe and handing it to her.
Yeda took it and held it like a baseball bat. She looked terrified but determined.
"Alright," Emilia said, taking a deep breath. "On three. One... two..."
"Wait," Vasa interrupted. "What if—"
Too late. One of the monsters looked up and saw them. It barked, alerting the others, and all three creatures spun toward them, growling.
"Shit," Kendra said. "So much for surprise."
The first monster charged. Kendra yelled, "Get behind me!" and activated her power. Her skin turned a dull gray, like stone. The creature slammed into her, knocking her back, but she stayed on her feet.
"That actually worked," she said, surprised.
Vasa pointed at the second monster, and ice crystals started forming around its legs. The creature slowed, its charge becoming a clumsy stumble.
"It's not working very well!" she yelled.
"Just keep trying!" Emilia shouted back.
Emilia pressed her hands to the floor. Thin vines started growing through cracks in the concrete, snaking around the third monster's legs and holding it in place.
"Holy shit, it worked!" she said, shocked.
Yeda, seeing her opening, ran up to the ice-slowed monster and started beating it with the pipe. The creature tried to bite her, but the ice slowed it just enough for her to dodge.
"This is actually kind of working," she said, whacking it across the snout.
The monster fighting Kendra was having a hard time. Its claws scraped uselessly against her armored skin, and every time it tried to bite, she punched it in the face.
"Come on, ugly," she taunted. "Is that all you got?"
The creature Emilia had trapped was struggling against the vines, but they were getting thicker by the second. Emilia was concentrating hard, sweat running down her face.
"I don't know how long I can hold this," she said through gritted teeth.
"You don't need to hold it long," Vasa said, moving to the trapped monster. "Just keep it still."
She placed both hands on the creature's head. Ice spread across its skull, covering its eyes. The monster's struggles went wild, then stopped completely.
"Did I... did I kill it?" Vasa asked, pulling back.
"I think you froze its brain," Nox said from where he watched. "Nice work."
Kendra's monster reared back to claw at her face, but she caught its paw and twisted. There was a loud crack, and the creature howled.
"That's for the nightmares," she said, then punched it hard in the throat. It collapsed and stopped moving.
Yeda was still beating her monster. The ice was melting, but the creature was hurt, moving slower and bleeding.
"Little help!" she called out.
Emilia released the dead monster and sent vines toward Yeda's target. They wrapped around its neck and squeezed.
"Now!" Emilia yelled.
Yeda brought the pipe down hard on the monster's skull. There was a wet crack, and the creature went limp.
"Ew," Yeda said, looking at the blood on her pipe. "That's disgusting."
They stood there breathing hard, looking at the three dead monsters. None of them could quite believe they'd won.
"That was terrifying," Emilia said.
"But we did it," Kendra added, grinning. "We actually killed them."
Nox watched his interface update. All four girls had gained experience and leveled up. Their health bars were fuller, stats slightly improved.
"Your powers are already getting stronger," he said, walking over. "Emilia, your vines were way more effective than they would've been an hour ago. Vasa, you actually froze that thing's brain. Kendra, you took hits that would've knocked you out before."
"I do feel different," Emilia said, looking at her hands. "Like there's more energy flowing through me."
"Same," Vasa added. "The ice came easier that time."
"What about me?" Yeda asked. "I still don't have powers."
"You beat a monster to death with a pipe. That counts for something."
She smiled at that. "I guess it does."
"So what now?" Emilia asked.
"Now we find more monsters. You're all Level Two, but that's still not strong enough. We need to get you to at least Level Five before we go after the boss."
"How many more monsters are there?" Kendra asked.
He checked his system interface. The dungeon counter had dropped from over a hundred to ninety-three.
"Enough," he said. "Trust me, we're going to be here for a while."
They started walking again, following the trail of destruction. The girls were talking excitedly about their fight, comparing notes on what worked and what didn't. They seemed more confident now, less like dead weight and more like actual teammates.
Not that he cared about having teammates. This was just practical. More fighters meant faster dungeon clearing. That's all.
At least that's what he kept telling himself as he automatically adjusted his pace so they could keep up.