Chat with Mandrome

"I'm saying that Mondaka helped me out and seemed nice." Monika explained to the 3 friends

"Yeah our trainer was drunk, did a bare minimum explanation, and we figured out everything else ourselves." Mark said

"Give me 3 minutes." Monika said as she walked to the mentor room and said "Back from a first boss fight, and found 3 people"

Mandrome looked up from a magazine and said "Congrats... Looks like you opened up those loot boxes and based on those wraps... You've learned about how momentum goes both ways right?"

Monika nodded and said "Can you come out of this room into the safe room?"

Mandrome nodded "It's how we usually get stuff to eat, usually we have our own food stipend and aren't allowed to share but considering the food's free this floor eating together is fine." Mandrome walked out with Monika and nodded to the other adventurers "Hello."

Clarice whistled "Wow, looking professional."

"Let me guess you got a drunken trainer wallowing in sadness?"

"Yep" Mark said

Mandrome took a seat between Monika and the 3 friends and grabbed one of the dishes on the converyor belt which was a mix of half sushi and half other japanese cuisine. He had grabbed a miso soup and took a sip "So professionally I have to ask you Monika do you really want to party up with these 3?"

"What do you mean by that?" Mark asked

"You 3 are fine, for this time in the dungeon you are all fine. Teaming up is a valid strategy, partying up however will do two things for her. One she'll be splitting xp with you three which means in order to stay at the same level you'll all have to be doing larger riskier encounters. Secondly her travel speed is 4 times you three. That means she can find more secrets, hidden rooms, sucker punch random mobs, and more. The way I see it is unless she decides to fill her boob inventory up and shove you guys into her cleavage she loses a LOT of benefits from being mostly solo. But feel free to friend each other, exchange info over chats, whatever... This is of course my recommendation at least for now."

"I don't like him" Clarice said

"Yeah" Stewart said

"...He's being honest... Considering how that last boss went we aren't even in the same power league as Monika." Mark said "What do you think Monika?"

She thought and said "...I think I somewhat agree... We'll keep in contact, but I need to be practicing more on single larger opponents or smaller ones. Especially since I need to get this Self Harm Resistance skill up to make my physical combat work." Monika reached for a plate of Takoyaki

"Umm, Monika, you sure you?" Clarice started asking

"I lived in Japan my whole life, I don't need writing to know what Takoyaki are!" Monika exclaimed

"Monika-" Mandrome started as she was putting one in her mouth "You should maybe have listened to your literate friend" Monika was chewing and then was realizing what they were saying "Those are SPICY Takoyaki they make for russian roulette style games."

Monika's face flushed red and she choked out "Mr, Miss, can I get some milk?" The older Lady dwarf came by with the white liquid and Monika drank some and breathed a bit "What? Your acting like I can't eat spice at all?"

Stewart said "That had like 6 chili peppers on the card"

"Again? What's the issue? I usually eat a bit less spicy, but I can handle this." Knowing what she was going to handle Monika ate the 2nd of 3 russian roulette takoyaki and chased it down with some milk. The 3 friends just grabbed some sushi and started eating feeling like Monika was some weird sexy super human. Monika meanwhile just grabbed stuff she recognized and imagined that if spice was the only thing she had to worry about then being illiterate here wasn't so bad.

"Say Mandrome? Know why we're all speaking the same I guess regional dialect?" Monika asked

Mandrome said "For the show"

"The show?"

"Yeah, Why do you think aliens would just level a planet's civilization to zero and make dungeons pop up like this? It's a reality show."

"I thought this was some sorta survival of the fittest kinda things" Mark said

"Maybe some sorta test chamber?" Stewart guessed

"If we're talking conspiracies maybe the Japanese government kidnapped us into some SAO deathgame" Clarissa nonchalantly threw out

"No, the primary reason they keep making dungeons is for death game entertainment. And for now I need to leave it at that." Mandrome stated

"Does that mean? Perverts have been watching me move and bounce around nearly naked all this time?" Monika asked covering her chest

"Probably" Mandrome again stated "You got a high quality item right off the bat, a cute critter, and a certain amount of sex appeal. I imagine there are others that are better at the death game thing, but you've probably got a niche starting to generate. It's early but word will spread... For better or worse a bunch of cosmetic and porn companies will probably try to sponsor you which can be a blessing and a curse. That's a bit of advice to you 3 as well. You associate with her and you'll probably be getting some side merch and be known as her servants or something." The 3 friends were taking bites of their food wondering what the universe as a whole may think of them after that. "On the bright side that means if you survive the starting floors you'll get sponsors giving you items that'll help, plus there'll be some gigs after you get out almost guaranteed." Mandrome added. "The heck can you three do anyways?"

Clark said "I've got some decent constitution and armor, a strength based katana, and now I CAN CHARGE!"

Stewart said "I've got a bow, arrows, and I can shoot a lot of them quickly till my arms get tired"

Clarice said "I can cast some big spells, then shoot smaller spells at a short cool down. I also got prestidigitation!"

Mandrome nodded "That's a very useful cantrip, look for any useful applications for it and spam it. As levels make things exponentially stronger it'll go from doing some silly tricks to... Well covering a large area in crud that's hard to walk in to slow enemies, clear a field to rush in, create a strong breeze... imaginations the limit really."

Clarice looked at her plate of really good sushi "but I don't wanna flavor something so good."

"Then memorize that flavor as best as you can and apply it to other things in the future!" Mandrome suggested

"Oh what can I do!" Stewart asked

"You can just keep shooting arrows... It's boring, but I doubt your intelligence or mana is high enough to use spells to enchant your arrows. Your bow is a bow, your arrows are plentiful, you can shoot them quickly... It's just keep doing it and don't die and eventually you'll be shooting REALLY fast REALLY hard." Stewart felt kinda sad about the suggestion since that's what he had guessed himself.

"Know what charge does?" Mark asked

"At low levels it basically slows down your time at the start of combat, and helps your allies know generally where the fight is. Higher levels... It turns more into a skill for a general or commander and let's you get a lot of free actions in for the first few seconds. You all got very fine function skills and some ok equipment."

"One last question, How did Monika do a lot more damage than me when I have more strength?" Mark guessed

Mandrome smiled "The formula for damage calculation is unknown, but for physical attacks it takes your strength stat along with the amount of actual force you put out. A simple slash does some damage, a full charge attack will do more, and throwing a boulder at something will generally splatter them. You've probably been slashing things with a sword, Monika's been running at things and using all the force and momentum to apply more force even if she's weaker. Spells are different, and are more case by case... but generally whatever the spell does and surrounding circumstances. Spell level, mana requirements, and other restrictions tend to boost the power as well. Now that we all know that you three are decent but a bit boring, and Monika here is a sexy speedster what do ya'll want to do?!?"

Monika sighed and said "We've got each other in the chat, Mark's been sending some map data and with his map skill"

"Wait he has a map skill!?!" Mandrome asked

"Is it that Impressive" Mark asked "It's only level 3"

"How'd you even get it?"

"A few of us have random skills. I was a D&D GM and worked at an amusement park and often had to scribble directions on maps. I guess that's where it's from?"

"Yes, it is impressive. Not exactly now, but depending on the information you get your minimap will become more detailed and more filled out than normal... and you can share that information with people nearby, at higher levels you can share it from further and further away till the range basically becomes infinite... That changes things a little bit. Monika can scout somewhat nearby, and use the chat feature to help you train your map skill allowing her and your team to assist and coordinate a lot better. It's not exactly being a party, but it'll feel like it. Especially when taking on bosses!" The adventurers looked at each other and came to the same conclusion, that sounded like a good plan. "Alright then, you four should rent a room for 8 hours and sleep. Time matters, but the first day is often rough for ya'll and your starting to look a little sleepy."

Thus was time for sleep where they bunked in 2 rooms where both sexes were separated... This safe room only had two rooms so they'd have to share a bed and so there was an awkward bit where the two guys tried to split the bed, and the same in the girl's room but the girls got a bit closer easier. They all slept in the end