The toad boss, much to Jack's expectations, was not all that much tougher than its smaller counterparts. Its skin was just a little bit tougher, and its vitality a bit more vibrant. It did pack quite a bit more of a punch, its size adding quite a lot of weight that threatened his maids, as well as those tongue lashes it used. Still, The group had gotten used to fighting toads along their way here, making for one well coordinated and executed fight, with them eventually coming out the victor.
Once the toad boss was down, much to the expectations, it dropped a rare crafting material, opening a portal out of the dungeon a few moments later. Unlike their first dungeon within the steppe where said portal was seemingly built into one of the walls, here it seemed like a random pop up vortex, not one bit a part of the scenery. Not that it mattered all that much to Jack- he was not the one who would grind through this one particular place again and again.
There was another question however with the current situation. Where was the 'console' for this particular place? The previous dungeon had a nice and solid altar that served as one, but Jack could see nothing of the sort as his eyes examined his surroundings. There was no way he would have to comb through the whole area with a magnifying glass just in hopes of finding it? If so, he was sorely tempted to chase Selin Senn and her tribe towards the next place.
'One more run, doing solo and if I see no console after clapping the boss, we go plan B.' he decided, following the maids as the group headed through the portal. Moments later, they found themselves right where they had entered the dungeon, only now with their backs facing the center and faces turned towards the now set up camp of the tribe. "Go on and rest for the remainder of the day. I need to do some testing on my own, so I will not be returning with you just yet. Do prepare dinner though." Jack gave orders to his maids and Spartacus, turning back and disappearing into the dungeon once more while maids did as told, heading towards one of the outer corners of the temporary village camp and setting up their own little home. Tents were unfurled and set up, neatly anchored to the ground. A small campfire was dug into the ground and set up as well, accompanied by a small wooden table that soon was covered with several cooking utensils and raw ingredients- all coming from storage rings Jack had handed to his maids for all manner of necessities. As he had put it- I just can't be bothered to track all of that junk by myself, nuh- uh.
Selin, learning of Jack's groups return, and only his own immediate departure, could not pass up the presented opportunity and headed over to the place Jack's maids had chosen as their camping spot, determined to do some careful probing in the nature of the man. She knew that it was much, much simpler to get women talking, sharing gossip and what not than dealing with powerful, and who knows how dangerous, men.
She was seriously surprised the moment she reached their camp. Not only were they fully equipped for the occasion, they surely had spatial storage devices to travel light. And that was already warning her to be more careful than initially planned. That was not an art that simple roaming tribes like the humanoids of steppes outer regions could master, making said items rare and in extreme demand. To have one not only for himself, but also his servants spoke of wealth beyond reason. And with wealth came power, for without the latter, no wealth could be maintained out here.
"Hello, I hope I am not interrupting?" She spoke as she approached, a warm and friendly smile- though not too bright, lest she seems scheming and desperate- adorned her face. She stopped a fair distance away, indicating her willingness to leave if she indeed was intruding at an unwelcomed moment.
"We are not doing anything critical at the moment. What's the matter?" Spartacus turned towards Selin, his tone calm. As someone with leadership class, he was the best person to take on the role of a spokesperson in Jack's absence.
"I was just hoping to have a little chat with the girls here. Hear their thoughts and experiences within the dungeon. Maybe some little gossiping as we women tend to do. There is no doubt much new I could hear about from those not of my own people." she explained, already having prepared a reason and several alternative paths should some of her current plans were failing.
"Hey. Hey, Spartacus!" Valente nearly smashed his ribs as she darted over, elbowing the man stronger than even she had wanted to, her eyes sparkling with excitement. She was a fae alright, near instantly latching on a chance to exchange stories and have some bit of fun.
"You better not be skipping your own task Val!" Sindu hummed as she sat near the cooking table and peeled some of the vegetables "But I do not mind her sitting with us and talking. That's all though.. Can't disappoint our master. I am not having it."
"Of course, of course. I'm doing my part, see?" Valente darted back to the table a split moment later, her hands grabbing her own knife and joining Sindu in peeling, all while her eyes darted towards Selin "Come, come. Sit down and lets share stories." Valente nodded with her head.
"Fine." Spartacus relented, moving slightly to the side and gesturing for Selin to come right in, the chatter among women slowly developing step by tiny step. Spartacus, as the only man present, wisely retreated, lest he be dragged into things and conversations he would no doubt dread.
------------------
"Interesting." Jack hummed as he darted forward, his sword swinging back and forth and dispatching toad after toad. The scenery around him seemed extremely similar to their first clear, with the same type of pond allocation and the path his group walked along. It was not all a copy/paste however. Not only was there much, much greater number of monsters appearing- no doubt a direct result of the average rarity of class being EX (Not that Jack believed that system calculated anything above legendary), but the tower of eldritch seeker was nowhere to be found. It seemed that that particular location was unique, only available so long it had not been fully cleared once.
"Will the toad boss be on the same island then?" he wondered as his pace only increased, the ever growing number of monsters still failing to even properly inconvenience him. It was to be expected though. The area was swarming with toad monsters no higher than level twelve, a whole twenty levels below Jack's own current one. The difference in sheer might was simply unreasonable, so much so that the toads seemed to be moving in slow motion. It took Jack less than thirty minutes to shred a bloody path towards the island the boss had been located previously, nothing but weak croaking of pain and impotent rage filled squawks resounding behind him.
"There you are! I have been looking for you!" Jack exclaimed in false excitement, his spirit senses picking up the boss location. Unlike the first go around, the enormous toad was dozing off deeper into the forest of the small island, seemingly unaware of the bloody path that had been carved its way. It did not take too long for the creature to become alerted of Jack's presence- the path towards it blocked by a group of female frogs- their slimy and smooth skin betraying their gender. Not that Jack cared much. A dungeon monster was still a monster- all meant to be slain, so he made short work of them, his sword once again singing with glee as it sliced through a body after a body. Unlike the toads slain up until now, these frogs released a rather irritatingly loud wail of sorts, awakening the boss in the process.
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"That's not gonna save you." Jack snickered as he shot further still, his eyes on the prize. Within a minute he had reached the place this particular boss had been napping in. It was a rather nice clearing illuminated by a warm 'sun' from above with a small stream running through it- a crystal clear water almost inviting one to take at least a few sips of its no doubt refreshing water. And there it was, behind the now fuming toad boss, Jack noticed a small, but beautiful altar. A white, two by two meter large marble like platform, housing a small, anvil like table that also was made of marble. On it, a metallic bowl with four legs was placed, something lightly burning within, distorting the air just above it.
"Just a moment." Jack seemingly said to the altar, his eyes locking on the toad boss as its back legs strained. A moment later, the ginormous amphibian shot forward with speed that defied its size, its maw opening wide as though it was trying to swallow Jack whole, only for it to fail doing so, its large maw closing over now empty patch of land. With seemingly iron Jack and crocodile like muscles, amphibians jaw closed as it landed, taking a large chunk of earth with it, only for it to spit it all out a moment later as it realized it had actually somehow missed its target.
The much, much smaller entity- slayer of its kin- made its presence felt just mere moment after it had disappeared from the boss sight as sharp, almost burning pain exploded from the overgrown toads size, earning a croak if pain in response, momentarily after followed by an instinctive kick with the hind leg on the same side as though attempting to sweep the origin of aforementioned pain away. It's then that another anomaly presents itself. Unlike what was supposed to happen- namely a loud sound of a hard skin covered amphibian leg smashing into a semi squishy entity of miniature size, making it to 'splurt' as it was torn apart, the leg was smashed into some unreasonably tough and seemingly immovable object, causing yet more pain for the unlucky boss. Worse yet, a searing pain that blanketed its mind for a short moment follows.
Once the toad recovered from its momentary white-out, it tired to immediately create distance, trying to leap away from the danger, only for it to roll on the spot. It was then that the creature realized it was not one hind leg short- hence the roll and no proper jump occurred. It was not made to suffer much longer, as yet another searing, mind blanketing burst of pain flared through the boss, followed by another- the last one that dimmed the world all around it, ending their short lived bout once and for all.
"Good thing its skin was dry. No thank you to being covered in from slime." Jack hummed as he swung his sword to the side, cleaning it from any of the toads blood that still clung to it. The now headless corpse of the boss scattering into mana dust as he did so, leaving behind another rare quality crafting material. "Hmm, still only rare? Shame." Jack complained.
"Oh, well. It is what it is." He hummed as he noticed the now familiar exit portal forming nearby, just past the small altar in fact.
"Well then, let us see what good things can I do with you." he grinned as he approached the later, calmly stepping onto the marble platform and making his way over to the anvil like table. He then reached out his hand and placed it next to the bowl, his eyes filling with all manner of system notifications.
"Hmm, not bad at all. This will do just for for what we need." Jack hummed approvingly some ten minutes later. He had gone through a veritable wall of text and had formed a proper plan for training Spartacus newfound army. "Yes, this will do just fine." he murmured as he headed over to the exit portal.
Selin had been extremely careful not to seem like a shady person with some nefarious agenda, carefully, though outwardly not displaying her caution, asking seemingly innocent and random questions to the girls she was now surrounded by as they prepared their dinner. She had even gone so far as to join them with the preparations, asking to be given the less critical tasks- like cleaning the vegetables and the like. Her seemingly friendly and curious persona had instantly clicked with the very cheerful fae Valente, with the twins joining in soon after.
She had asked about their likes and dislikes. She had asked about their lives. How it differed from what they had seen of Selin's own here in the outer region. She had asked about their rather peculiar, yet quite beautiful clothing. She had asked about all manner of things other things as well, always careful not to seem desperate for answers they could not, or should not give, slowly but surely establishing rapport. She had learned plenty as is, with the same fae- Valente- more than willing to chatter away. That resilience was something Selin had to admire. The girl had been a slave for a long time, yet still retained the cheerful nature and inquisitiveness of their kind. Many would have been broken by now, their faces steeled and emotionless.
An extremely important part of this all was the story of how they had met their new master- and what a story it was- assuming it was not a fabrication to pull a wool over her eyes, though Selin found it hard to believe such a thing. The fae was just too innocent and perhaps naive to be capable of such subterfuge. Bit by bit she was beginning to doubt her earlier assumption that Jack was among the accursed evil ritualists, though she was still slightly suspicious. His promises were just too crazy and reason defying otherwise. Wait and see. That was the final choice she had come to- not like there was much of an alternative anyways.
"Would you look at that. We do have guests I see." the slightly familiar, and unsettling voice of Jack startled her out of her thoughts, her head jerking in the direction the voice came from, only to see Jack standing right there with a slight smirk on his face, with Mina standing right next to him, head hung low in shame. She had clearly been caught as she was on watch for precisely Jack's return, tasked to hurry over so Selin would not be caught with her fingers in the cookie jar, so to speak.
"Cozying up to my maids are you now, Chief Selin?" he asked with a humorous undertone, though Selin could not find it the least bit funny. She did her best to gather herself as she replied.
"My apologies sir, I just could not resist the urge to learn of the life far away from here."
"If you say so." he replied with seemingly knowing smirk. "Wel girls. was she a good guest?" he then turned his head towards his maids.
"Mhm, Mhm. She is fun!" Valante unknowingly came to her rescue, dashing over to Jack with a smile on her face as a torrent of worlds barreled out of her mouth, all describing their conversation, intermingled with her own personal thoughts on several of the subjects. Jack just stood there and listened for a fair few minutes, nodding his head along every now and then. Only once Valente ran out of breath, forced to inhale to replenish oxygen in her lungs, did he turned his head towards the rest of the group, raising an eyebrow.
"She's nice." replied one of the twins.
"Alright then." Jack just nodded, his attention returning to Selin. "It seems supper is almost ready. Stay for the meal and return after. Starting tomorrow morning, prepare groups that will begin their delving. Do keep in mind that monsters within will be in level ranges of twelve to fourteen to begin with. Plan accordingly."
It was the second time that Jack's words caused her mind to short circuit, creating a lull of silence, filled with an occasion crackle of fire or sizzle of fat as the last touches on the dinner were finished.
"Come again?" it was Mina Ast who blurted out the first response, her head dippin even lower a second later as she realized her outburst.
"Precisely as I said. The toads will be within level range between level twelve to fourteen, with said range increasing incrementally as the teams begin to level up. And once a rhythm is established and a general understanding of the overall capabilities of your people are realized, form a list of the best people you have and the weapon types they use. I will make better gear for them, creating a cycle of sped up progress."
"And what's the price? There is no way that such a fortune could come about for free." It was then that Selin asked the pressing question. She could do nothing but steel herself for the answer. They were too deep in now to back out.
"Hmm, I suppose the price in this particular situation is the culled opportunity of your predecessors within the steppe."
"I beg your pardon?" Selin, and Mina Ast as well for that matter, blue screened for the third time since they had met Jack.
Jack Raja(?)
Age- 27
Species- human(?)
Level- 32
Class- Awakened twin aspect of Creation and Destruction(Ex)
Stats unassigned: +14
Attributes:
Strength- 34 (14+7+13(gear))
Vitality- 28 (12+8+8(gear))
Dexterity- 29 (15+6+8(gear))
Intelligence-20(15+ 5(gear)
Spirit- Spirit- 30 (20+10)
Skills- Wisdom of Creation and destruction(EX), Choice of the creator(EX), Eyes of procurer(EX), Matter storage(EX), Arukain language(C), Spark of inspiration(EX), Origin of matter(EX), Unbound by laws of the lessers(EX), The end made manifest(EX). Destroyers presence(unique legendary).
Spells- none.
Titles(unlocked): The real Monster, Big Game Hunter, The brilliant rookie, The insane Solo. Monster debugger.The actor. Executioner. Survivor. Pioneer, Record breaker.The new champion supreme. Slavemaster, Eldritch garbage disposal(legendary).
Gear: Two handed sword(t3)+ 5 str +5 vit: Armor 3str +3 vit +3 dex; Ring 1 - spatial storage, ring 2 +5int, ring 3 +5 str; amulet +5 dex.
