The 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 life 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 station. “Ya are looking 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 station.

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. Well, 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 ideas 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 eye brows 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 again. “Nope.” John finally came to that solution and extended his hand to the sky. “Absolutely none.” The Instant Dungeon was erected, the entrance to it also quick to be found. They went inside the catacombs, and John materialised both Gnome and Salamander. Speaking of the latter he had never used or oberserved her, so this would be a nice field test.

Was Krieg not just the German word for war? Either Gaia was lazy in the naming sense or the elemental had some unpronounceable name and his mind just translated to the next best thing. Whatever may be the case her Stats were pretty glass canon-y. However, 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 that pushed him down to roughly 1,08 Mana per Second. Pretty good all things considered, he might not be the greatest threat, but with Gnome and Salamander around (+Aclysia normally) He was a four-people package. Not that he lacked firepower himself with Mana Ray around though, it was just not particularly great outside of a finishing move.

Which is why he should probably start testing his newest tool; actually two. He activated Mana Shield, not because he thought it necessary but because he needed to level it anyhow. He hoped he wouldn’t have to use it, the Mana Cost for that thing currently was disgusting. Best to not get hit in the first place.

“Okay, let's figure out how to integrate you into the formation Salamander.” “Fuck formation!” Salamander cursed right at him, which surprised him twofold. She had been active the entire time (Like Gnome he liked to keep her levelling through the passive use) but she had never spoken a word. The other thing was her tone.

“Just point me at something to burn!” Salamander demanded. “I like her!” Rave said, “Speaks my language, just with fire.” “Well, I don’t like her.” Copernicus chimed in, the sun cat suddenly appearing between the party, yawning, “Fire Elementals are always dim-witted.” Salamander flew over and hovered in front of the sun-cat for a moment. Then she made a single mocking laugh before leaving the cat on the floor again. “What is that supposed to mean?” Copernicus meowed.

John sighed, well, as the party grew so did the number of odd-balls apparently. “Let’s just get this moving; I want to see what Salamander can do. Afterwards, we should hurry to the next floor or even the one below that. The enemies up here aren’t exactly great EXP givers.”

The Verdin, which he had pulled into the Illusion Barrier with him this time, fluttered its wings and started scouting out the corridors. It didn’t take long for them to locate the first group of Minor Skaven. “Okay, Jane you do your thing at the front lines, I will disrupt them with Possession, Gnome you guard me, Salamander you show us what you can do.”

The Fire Elemental grinned with a mean expression. “Got it!” She said, visibly enthused. Rave stormed around the corner, and the fight began. Of course, they were horribly out levelled. Lower Skaven had a Level ranging from 20 to 25. John and his elementals were currently level 31; Rave was on level 34. To put it easy every single member of this party could have probably taken on the seven Skaven on their own.

Salamander showed how useful she was as her body became a fire fly that rushed through the air. Her attacks could broadly be described in two different way: Either she tackled the enemy with her flame body with rapid melee attacks, or she used her small size to fly around the enemy and bombard them with fire attacks. The former was more devastating, covering the Skaven in trails of burned fur, while the latter was disruptive and proved little chances for counter attacks.

Salamander returned to John’s side for a moment, her form of flying fire melding back into the red-skinned woman as she held her position. “Ya like what ya see?” She asked and wiggled her hips, winking with one of her coal-black eyes. “Yes.” John didn’t further get into the sexual advancement; she was sexy but way too small. Hopefully, that would change over time.

“Let me test something. Jane, can you make way?” His girlfriend jumped backwards, and now John extended his hand. Time to try using fire himself. He offered Mana up to Salamander, and she started laughing. “Aw yisss!” She exclaimed and covered the remaining three enemies in a wave of fire that filled the hall in front of him.

John felt very stupid as he looked at his own hand, doing nothing, as the Fire Elemental laughed at the destruction she brought. It made sense when he gave Gnome of his Mana he wasn’t the one doing the heavy lifting either, but this was nonetheless disappointing. So instead he checked his mana to effective destruction ratio, which was more an educated guess than actual math.

Well, three Skaven were dead, and the whole ordeal had cost him a mere 60 Mana, meaning he could easily kill one every 20 seconds (Theoretically, reality had the mean attribute to defy expectations from time to time).

“I am a tool of destruction!” Salamander laughed with hands stemmed into her hips as the cooked bodies of the Skaven vanished. “This is fun; let's do more of that, can we? OF COURSE, WE CAN! Let’s go John, gogogogogogogogogogogogogogo.” Whenever did he land in the Looking for Group-Group? Whatever, the Avian-Side of him had already found the boss room. He read the Observe information on the boss while they went and fought their ways through the Dungeon, towards him.

They burst into the boss room with an explosion caused by Salamander. Skaven were catapulted through the air and crash landed on the dirty stone floor, vanishing moments later leaving 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, but their teeth and claws looked like they packed 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 of a mighty axe. The Rat-Wolves sprinted at them, but Rave didn’t even mind. With her far superior speed, she charged at them, dodged their reviling maws by sliding underneath them and then jumping right at the Warlord.

This little manoeuvre plus the dogs moment of confusion that followed allowed John to get his first Mana Ray off without interruption. The attack seared one of the Rat-Wolves front legs, crippling him with one blow that made it impossible for him to continue his charge. The other Rat-Wolf, now aware of the danger the Gamer posed, went on the offensive again but didn’t manage to get past Gnome who stood in its path and packed it by the snout.

The Earth Elementals strength was shattering, figuratively. Although she wasn’t able to squish the attackers head in her palms, she was able to completely immobilise 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 as the second attack killed the beast.

At the same time, he heard the howling of a wounded animal from the Warlord who collapsed moments later. Burn marks from Salamander and Rave, interestingly different in their patterns, covered the dying Skaven before he died as well. 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. That shit was worth a lot more.

“Let’s go down.” He decided and opened the door. Behind was a staircase that wound downwards. The Verdin took the lead, and he found the first enemies before they were even done with the staircase encounter.

“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 see 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.