Road To Sierra Pt2

The results of our experiment were actually better than I anticipated.

Even though we were only seeking thirty people we had over sixty people apply by reacting to the clan announcement. The announcement had been specific to Sierra so it was more than good to have this many volunteers. Since we had surplus we actually had the ability to do more than set up the village's garrison.

Remembering the other small clan in my current clan alliance, I decide to filter through the levels, classes, or general skill information of the volunteers. Despite the fact that my party and I had always seen the most resistance the regions could offer, the rest of our clan and most of the general player base would not be as heavily assaulted as we were.

Plus, these guys were all coming from the noob city. Their highest levels were in the forties or even the lower fifties if they came from the first generation of players. Those level fifty players would receive the most attention and thus should not be initially garrisoned in the village.

If they were, the village might become targeted by random mob herds due to the strength of present players. Instead, I filtered out more than half of the volunteers who were above level forty-five and made another announcement. If they wanted, the listed volunteers could also come to the village for a temporary stationing while raising their levels in the area for a week or two.

After their levels had entered the seventies after a week or so of grinding the area they would then be shipped out into the mountains and down the range toward large trading town where Mistress' clan came from. A presence of only thirty-plus players as a defensive unit would not really make much of a difference in the location's security by themselves. However, they came from a top ranking clan and the clan's name alone was as much a shield as a target.

Too many people would draw too much attention but a single party of thirty-plus players who could speak for themselves would definitely make an impression. As long as nobody made trouble for the town itself, our garrison of volunteers would literally be there just to draw attention away from Mistress' crafting guild.

Of course, as our numbers and levels continued to grow we could increase the sizes of our garrisons in those locations. However, I did not plan on investing more than fifty players in the border village until the village itself grew by at least a hundred people in its population. Then I would just add ten players for even hundred NPC to keep from overwhelming the permanent population in the area.

The next morning after everything was decided and settled with the clan, we once again hit the road and did not really care about our hunting for experience and treasures. This stretch of the Canfor region dominated by plains had a top level range of forty and not much else to offer. However, we still had several destinations in the area to visit.

Not only did I need to check the evergreen grove but I also needed to resupply the clan's stocks of ancient scrap steel from the sepulcher. As well, it was finally time that we cleared the sepulcher's Hardcore Mode since we were now a proper clan. If we had cleared it as a party, we would have been at a loss for first clear rewards biased toward clans.

On top of that I probably needed to check on the lodge outside the forest. Even with its giant berm walls surrounding the place, it was probably home to kobolds or spiders by now despite the passive claim on the land. It was honestly the simplest project to take care of, which I could simply hand over to Lana and the Delai family.

Unlike the previous days, though, we stopped at midday to rest the dragons for a couple of hours while the familiars wandered about gathering herbs. Then we set out once again until evening when we once again Fast Traveled along the highway. Late into the night, I simply used a Spirit Slash to clear an area of the plains for us to park and camp for the night.

As per usual, our familiars prioritized capture over killing when available and during their gathering trips would constantly bring home things like venomous wyrms and kobolds. Since these were fairly low in level comparative to our clan members they would be sold directly to the Golden Ferry rather and through them. The juveniles would at least bring in more than their new eighty copper per kill.

Using this method of travel, it was at midday the next day when we came within sight of the unnaturally large mounding of earth that covered the ancient tomb. Looking at the dungeon from the distance, I could not help but wonder why we even thought to go there to begin with. It was not the only place of bare clay earth in the plains region but it was at least the most visible from the road as a high ground.

Thinking about the recent past that felt like ancient history already, I idly reach up with one hand and grip the divine Hauntings while thinking about how much stronger my party became thanks to this dungeon. Luck was certainly the most important stat in our early game lives.

Unlike most places that might offer actual equipment like some of the NPC dungeons that were available at the start of the game, these hidden dungeons offered not only potent silk material for equipment and clothing but also construction. Sure, the undead mini boss dropped its swords and an accessory while the spider mini boss dropped an accessory and special items and the big boss dropped a combination of both, but the scrap metal of the lesser mobs ruined equipment and the stuff buried with the bodies in the walls were worth ten times their weight in gold.

After pointing out the location, nobody really needed to say anything else as we all picked our mounts and a couple of other familiars for support before simply heading out into the plains. Everybody not only knew the plan for our return trip by heart but also knew we were dangerously low on materials after all of our crafting and experimenting in the raid. Even if I could outfit the main party with cordycep silk because they were the leaders of my monarch army and were aligned with Plaguedman but the rest of my clan could not be given such positions and provisions.

Gigantula silk was an absolute necessity for increasing the clan's survival chances with our standards for underarmor. Only a few dozen of the first people to join the clan had access to such suits while everybody else was forced to use the Scrap Silk Armor I had everybody's familiars make while experimenting.

This was fine to force on the newest generation of lower leveled players before the full release of the game and then those players as well for the sake of training purposes. Everybody else, though, would eventually have proper jobs to do and needed a proper clan underarmor to support their work. At least the Silk Soldier Standard, anyway.

When we arrived at the dungeon entrance, I took a while to enjoy the short fenced wall around the area and the purposefully old looking sign claiming the dungeon, setting a ten-gold price for entry, and warning unwanted person with Melpomene's name. However, the bottom of the sign had a new addition.

'Blacklist: Fallen Monochrome. Bygones WERE Bygones.'

I could not remember ever adding these clans to a blacklist or enemy list of any kind but it appeared they had done just that to use and automatically gotten onto ours. It was not like I would actually let them run the dungeon if they tried to pay me but I would have liked for them to think they could sneak in at least.

"Alright, you guys and gals ready for this?" I ask with a casual and cheerful attitude as I walk forward with only Cweeper and Hermes flanking me, approaching the dungeon entrance to pick the entry setting. While the others were either shouting battle cries or jokes about not having all day, though, I opened my menu window instead. A quick flick and two presses later, I had left the party with my familiars.

Flashing my friends a cold smirk over my shoulder, I step into the dungeon while simply saying, "Hardcore."

An instant of darkness later, I found myself in a familiar vaguely subterranean cave entrance and tunnel setting. The walls were mostly dried and cracked clay while only the entrance had any light. The tunnel, though, visibly steeped downward as one traveled into the dark.

With eyes made of super reflective crystallized mana and metalloid material, though, I could easily see into the tunnel with an overall brightness level similar to a candle. It could clearly see the walls, floor, and ceiling as well as the slope they followed. However, without actual light to cast shadows I could not make out the broken roots of old plants and such that brushed against my helmet from time to time.

Somehow, the tunnel seemed to grow larger and larger long before it finally opened up into an old stone stairway. The stairway itself was only slightly brighter than the previous tunnel but seemed to stretch on for much further than I remembered. However, the size of the dungeon had changed previously in the Difficult mode when the numbers of the enemies had been increased.

When the bottom of the stairway was finally in sight I could see the light of eternal torches glowing down below and even the hinting movement of shadows from the undead and spiders waiting below. If not for the fact that Geist fed on the undead, I would not even bother to draw my swords. As it was, though, I gladly drew my Hauntings from over my shoulders and blurred down the stairway with Quick Step.

Eight level fifty-five undead soldiers were waiting only ten yards or so from the bottom of the stairs with a backing of six Young Gigantulas at the same levels. Further down the extended tunnel were three more groups of the same enemies with the addition of a large berserker in the final fourth group of the entrance hall.

"Experience notifications, please," I say briefly while taking two running steps across the distance and leaping toward the first soldier. Crossing my swords ahead of time, I more or less shove them against the ruined armor of the soldier's chest and slash them apart. Unable to resist the coupling of sword damage, my Strength, and my buffs, the undead soldier's upper body simply exploded.

[One-Shot]

[Critical Hit: Bisection]

[+125*.75 XP]

Simply sailing passed this destroyed undead enemy as its surrounding aura was absorbed into my swords, I land in a crouching slide while rushing straight toward a Young Gigantula. "Geist Slash," I say to trigger Geist and my Slash skill through both weapon, scything deeply into the giant spider's face before the release of phantom blades that shred its body apart.

[One-Shot]

[Critical Hit: Headshot]

[+125*.75XP]

"Experience notifications, please," I ask again much more happily than before, realizing that I could make an estimated two hundred experience from each of these mobs. Each of these groups would then be worth around two thousand experience points and I was sure the bigger spiders and undead would be worth even more!

Moving on from one target to the next, I cycle through a large variety of skills and combinations in order to instant kill each of the dozen-plus mobs in the first group. Their levels were sure to go up when it became only berserkers and larger spiders, though, so I was skeptical about being able to instant kill every mob in the dungeons. Bosses aside, of course.

If I made a giant combination of skills and magic, I might be able to beat the giant berserker and spider bosses but the big boss at the end was a different story. They would probably take a few big combo skills to kill quickly. Even if I used my cordycep abilities it was not likely that I could one-shot the big boss.

The first group did not last for a full minutes, neither did the following group despite their awareness of my presences. After them, though, the third group of mobs were already prepared for me and the spiders were turned around shitting web in every direction around the entrance hall to entrap me.

Since they were so willing to spew wet proteinaceous silk all over the place, I was also willing to run a current of several thousand MP St. Elmo's Fire through their webbing. Even though the spiders were paralyzed into no longer spitting web they were still standing in it and continued being cooked. In less than ten seconds they were all dead and smoking from their joints while the soldiers moved in to surround me once the electricity stopped.

Once the electricity stopped flowing the undead started rushing forward and sweeping out their swords. It took a few moments to dodge and parry their strikes but after deflecting the final sword off to one side I immediately switched gears. This third-to-last group only took a few seconds more than one minute.

*