The World Of Skill

Swamp Dungeon II

“There’s another venom crab in front.”

Ryu warned the party and once again took the initiative to launch a pre-emptive attack. He opened the battle with a critical attack and the rest of the party member followed up perfectly.

This time, Ryu bid his time to launch his attack and doesn’t want to just be baggage for the party. The moment Geoffrey and Azalea backed down to give space for Marina’s spell, Ryu also attacked at the same time. He managed to get 3 hits in while the venom crab is stunned due to the extra elemental effect of 《Lightning bolt》 on the water element monster and causes them to be in an electrocuted state.

“Nice job young man!”

“Heh, it seems that the slave is becoming more useful.”

Marina also gives him a smile which immediately makes him feel elated. He finally seems to get the hang of it. He blended in with the party well and did his designated job.

Soon, they found another monster to hunt but either because he is too excited or the earlier success is getting to his head, he actually hit Azalea instead of the monster. He didn’t wait for the opportunity created by the two melee players but trying to get an attack hit in the middle of the hectic battle. It almost caused the battle to be lost but Geoffrey handled the mess very well with a 《provoke》.

“i***t slave, if you can’t even hit the target, it would be even better if you just stay there like a statue rather than attacking your own teammates. Tell me the truth, you still hold a grudge for losing to me, right?”

That was pure accidental so Ryu is too lazy to rebut her. If there’s one thing that making him hold a grudge towards Azalea, it was purely her manner of speech that ticked him off. Not because he lost to her because he recognizes that he lost due to his own lack of skill. He may be naïve when interacting with people but as an athlete, his father always strictly instructs him to self-evaluate if he makes a mistake. That is why he could improve his archery skill every day and finally earned him a gold medal.

“That must be an accident Azalea, we better find another monster and finish the dungeon. Don’t you have to level up faster than Sayu?”

Ryu was taken aback when they mentioned Sayu. Is it the same person that he knows?

“Young miss Marina, the princess actually doing this to help that girl. Because the bet she made seemed to be impossible to complete. The princess was kind enough to do the same thing as the girl, and if even with our help the princess isn’t able to do it, she hopes that gives young miss Sayu a way to escape the situation.”

“W-w-what are you saying, Geoffrey? Who wants to help that girl from TS company? I am just doing this because I wanted to! Not like my original level is that high either and choosing the 【Ballerina】 class was just done so I don’t have to take the daily ballet class. How can my father be so unreasonable to ask me to do ballet every day? Aren’t he worried that my fragile leg will break because of that?”

Marina can only smile hearing Azalea’s reply. She knows her well enough to realize her real intention. After all, their families have been close since they are little.

“Alright, enough with talking nonsense. Let’s just continue so we can level up!”

The party then dove deeper into the dungeon. As more venom crab fells victim to become their experience, the synergy between them is also improving. Ryu finally settled himself in the party as he now launches an attack when there is a sure chance to hit and there is no friendly fire again after his earlier mistake.

This gives no opportunity for Azalea to speak spicy words to him so she can only pout and the target changed to Geoffrey that always keep saying: “I’m sorry princess, I’ll do better”; even though he was doing his job perfectly without mistake.

Marina also did her job perfectly. Sometimes she mixed fire, wind, and earth spell into the fray just to see how much damage it causes to the monster. It seems that this is her first time playing the game because Azalea dragged her when she reset her character. Marina is experimenting with how elemental damage and resistance work. Ryu also wondered, how come Marina have so much attack spell while he only has one active?

Sensing his gaze, Marina looked at Ryu and asked: “Is there something wrong?”

“No, I am just curious at how you have so many spells?”

“Oh, it was because I learned them through 【skill book】.”

“Skill book?”

While Ryu is confused, Azalea who overhead their conversation won’t leave the opportunity to talk down to Ryu go.

“Tch, you are really a newbie slave. Skill book is an item that will grant you a skill when you use them. It doesn’t have a 100% probability when used so don’t have a weird idea about it. 90% for F rank, 80% for E rank, 70% for D rank, 60% for C rank, 40% for B rank, 20% for A rank. They say that there is a 5% for S rank but honestly, no one knows if it was true or not because an S rank book hasn’t appeared even once on the market. Not to mention that the price for a skill book is expensive. Even F rank book costs almost 50-200$ each and the price increased by folds as the rank goes up. How can you don’t even know about such a basic knowledge like that?”

“Princess, if only you could speak gentler, you will be perfect.”

“So, you mean that I am not perfect now?”

“Of course not, princess! You are perfect no matter what!”

“Hmph!”

“Princess…”

Ryu now knows of the reason for Marina’s spell variety. It isn't weird since they seem to come from a well-off family. not to mention the little girl who is always been referred to as princess by Geoffrey. So, F rank skill book cost around 50 silver – 2 gold coins each. Judging from his measly 30 copper wealth, it seems that buying a skill book is impossible unless he wants to top up his character using money. Honestly, he is tempted to do so right now and get an attack skill. It also makes him realize that this game could actually get so much money from microtransaction. Due to the number of players and not to mention that the price for a higher rank will increase by fold.

“Don’t try to use every opportunity just to talk to big sis and try to get closer to her. You better don’t have any weird idea. Even those rich brats from a prestigious family aren’t a match for her. Not to mention such an i***t newbie like yourself. Hmph. You better find another monster, slave radar!”

As they move further, the number of enemies increased. When they face off against two venom crab at the same time, they needed to change their strategy.

Geoffrey and Ryu fighting one venom crab while Marina with Azalea against the other one.

It was good that Ryu actually leveled up and with another 10 strength stats, he gained another 10 attacks to boost his firepower. While Geoffrey is tanking the venom crab, Ryu is trying to find an opportunity to attack.

It was a bit hard since Geoffrey shield is blocking most of the attack but it also blocked Ryu’s line of sight. He decided that he need to change his location and find the perfect place to launch his attack. Ryu also thinks how amazing it is if he is able to attack while moving around. He tried to do it once in the duel with him against Azalea. However, it was only a simple backstep movement with the target moving in a straight line. If he is facing a monster alone and he is moving around while trying to land an attack, the difficulty immediately multiplied. He knows that he needs to learn that kind of skill too because he won’t always be in a party that allows him to aim peacefully. The monster’s intelligence and stats are also increased and won’t be finished by just a couple of arrow as he managed to finish them easily now as they blindly charging in.

A higher-level monster won’t let him aim easily and they have more attack patterns. He also needs to be able to adapt to an unforeseen situation in the battle so he takes note to himself that he will try to learn it later.

As of now, he managed to find a good location to shoot freely while Geoffrey is tanking the monster. One tank and one damage dealer. It took them more time than when the four of them are ganking on one monster but they took it down anyway. Marina and Azalea combo are faring much easier than them. Azalea with her reflex can actually hold her own grounds while dodging and attacking at the same time. Marina with her spell also timed it perfectly as Azalea never once get hit within the area of effect (AOE).

Finally, the party encountered the second type of monster in the dungeon. It was the blood-sucking leech. Although it is named as blood-sucking, the name venom-spitting leech fits it better. It attacked with its venom that cold cause poison and paralysis. When the target is weakened, it is the time for it to approach and suck the blood out of its target.

Geoffrey can feel some pressure from the venom attack which decreased his shield durability even faster. When the item durability falls to zero, the item will break and become unrepairable. He is now left with no choice as he needs to dodge an attack if he can. Ryu and Marina on the other hand have an easier time since the blood-sucking leech didn’t move from its spot when it is launching its venom attack. They can freely deal damage to the leech as the time took to kill the leech is faster than when they are dealing with the venom crab.

The challenge comes after they move even deeper into the dungeon. They encounter a venom crab and a blood-sucking leech at the same time. This time the monster party consisted of 1 melee attacker and 1 ranged attacker at the same time. Not only players that can coordinate with each other, but the monster can also do it too.

“Princess, quickly dodge to the side! The leech will release its venom soon.”

“I know it, Geoffrey! You just need to focus on defending the crab attack. Darn it! When we finish today, I want to eat King Alaskan crab! Cook it in green sauce, Geoffrey! You need to cook it for me later.”

“Your wish is my command princess, but we need to focus on the battle first.”

“Big sis, i***t slave, go kill the leech first. You can ignore the venom crab since we could handle it for now.”

The more they fought together, the better they cooperate. Ryu also starting to realize that what the Flaming Blaze guild show him when hunting the wind hawk wasn’t a fluke. The party needs to maintain focus and coordination to make sure that each player does their assigned job perfectly.

Ryu actually smiled as he feels that playing the game sure is fun. Unlike archery competition where there is only, he and the target. He even looking forward to the day where he could join a 20-man party or 150-man guild raids. How thrilling and exhilarating would it be?