Making an Army

"Alright. For me to tame a monster, there are several conditions. First, I must have basically full Mana Points. Taming Python used up 180 Mana Points. Second, the monster that I'm about to tame needs to have low Health Points. Third, the monster must be weaker than I am. Am not sure what weaker means exactly. Is it its level? Is it its stats? Is it fighting ability? The System will only say that I need to be stronger than the monster I am trying to tame." Adam finished his explanations about his Skill.

"Okay. Seems pretty straightforward. We take the right tunnel, you tame a bunch of spiders, and we're golden." Layla said.

"Yes. It would be best if I could tame Paralysing Spiders or higher rank than that. I might be able to even tame Mutated Black Widows. But getting lots of Paralysing and Venomous Spiders would be great." Adam added.

"Let's goooo!" Salma said.

The three walked towards the right tunnel. The one full of spiders. Adam was of course accompanied by Python who was resting on his shoulders.

"Do you guys mind if Python gets rid of the Mutated Spiders?" Adam asked.

"Not at all! He should get lots and lots stronger! We're all level 11. So we need 2750 Experience Points to level up so... We're pretty far away. That would be 100 Mutated Spiders each. I don't feel like going that much work." Salma complained.

"Sure. I don't mind either." Layla added.

"Alright Python." Adam said as he lowered his body. "You go ahead and get rid of some spiders. Try not to get noticed. If you see spiders with colorful stripes, come back."

The snake slithered away into the darkness.

"Are you not worried about him?" Salma asked.

"Who?"

"Well, Python!"

"Why would I be? I just got him today, you know. If he doesn't make it there are a bunch of other eggs to choose from." Adam answered with an apologetic expression while scratching his head.

"That's cold." Layla said with her hand risen and Mana condensed around it.

"You're the ice queen though. Even your Mana is as cold as ice hahahha." Salma said jokingly to her sister.

"Well, I guess I would like Python to come back. But I can't always be following him everywhere. My baby is growing so fast." Adam said while acting like he was overcome with sadness.

"Hahaha they sure do. So? We leveled up. Should we check our stats?" Layla suggested.

"Yep. Let's start with Salma." Adam said.

"Whaat? But am always the big finale..." Salma was disappointed, still, "Kayla show us my stats."

[ Stats: Strength: 18(+1)

Agility: 24(+1)

Sense: 63(+1)

Vigor & Endurance: 20(+1)

MagicAffinity: 61(+1)

Mana: 67(+2)

Unused stat points: 3(+3)

]

"Alright! Mana can get to 70." Adam said excitedly.

"Yup! Isn't that great? Alright, three points in Mana" Salma said with her fingers crossed.

"Oh, well. Too bad. No Skill for you. Hahaha. Adam?" Layla said jokingly.

"Show us my stats."

[ Stats: Strength: 53(+1)

Agility: 37(+1)

Sense: 52(+1)

Vigor & Endurance: 35(+1)

Magic Affinity: 28(+1)

Mana: 21 (+21)

Stealth: 51(+1)

Unused stat points: 3(+3)

]

"Umm. It's either Magic Affinity or Agility right?" Layla asked.

"Yeah. Magic Affinity for sure though. Being able to control my Conjuration Skill and Crumbling Touch is super important." Adam said.

"What do you mean controlling Crumbling Touch?" Layla asked.

"Did I never explain it? Well, basically the Skill wants to turn everything into dust. If for example, I wanted to touch a rock and turn it into dust, it would take me more Mana Points and Endurance Points to control how much of the rock I actually want to turn into dust. It would basically cost less to turn the whole thing into dust." Adam explained.

"Oh! It's like how when you want to burn a piece of paper, you set fire to it. And if you do nothing it will all burn. But if you want only half of it to burn, then you have to move it around or go get water. Right??" Salma had very shiny eyes as she asked that.

Nobody could go against her. Plus, what she said was true. The Crumbling Touch Skill was like that.

It was a Skill that wanted to devour everything, and not allowing it to had a cost.

"Sure. Three points in Magic Affinity then." Adam answered.

"That leaves me. Show my stats to us all." Layla said.

[ Stats: Strength:33 (+1)

Agility: 58 (+1)

Dexterity: 41 (+1)

Sense: 22 (+1)

Magic Affinity: 21 (+1)

Mana: 16 (+1)

Vigor & Endurance: 39 (+1)

Unused stat points: 3 (+3)

]

"Two in Agility and one in Vigor & Endurance, right?" Salma asked.

"Umm. I've never put points in Vigor & Endurance, but why not?" Layla said.

"Me neither, I think." Adam added.

"Alright two points in Agility and one point in Vigor & Endurance."

[ 1 unused stat points have been allocated to the Vigor & Endurance stat.]

[ Vigor & Endurance 39 ---->40.]

[ Your Vigor & Endurance Stat has reached 40.]

[ You have been awarded a Skill due to your high Vigor & Endurance Stat.]

[ A Skill is being chosen by the System.]

[ Individuality of the user has been taken into consideration.]

[ You have been awarded the Passive Skill "Boosted Endurance Regeneration".]

"Since it's a Passive Skill, no need to check I guess. The Skill's effect is obvious." Layla said.

"Ah. Python is coming back." Salma said.

About a minute later, Python arrived.

"Alright. So you found spiders with colorful stripes?" Adam asked.

Python shook its head up and down.

"Wow. It really understands you." Salma said.

"Of course. Python, stay behind us. We'll leave you some spiders alive. You finish them off." Adam said.

They started jogging at a pace that Salma could keep up with.

"You don't have to wait for me." Salma said frowning. She didn't like holding the group down.

"Yes, we do. We're in this together. We already survived the Dungeon together. I don't think a little run is what will separate us." Adam said with a smile.

They arrived at a group of twelve spiders.

Salma had previously warned them that 7 of them had stripes on their bodies. She could tell because they were bigger than Mutated Spiders.

"Should we fight them unarmed?" Layla suggested.

"Why?"

"Well, we don't want to kill any of them."

"True. Sure, let's do that."

"What will I do?" Salma asked.

"I think your Strength is higher than mine was when we burnt the spiderweb wall. You should be able to fight them too." Layla told her.

"Really? I can?" Salma got goosebumps. It was the first time she was about to fight at close range.

"Sure. Just be careful. These can't do much harm anymore, but still." Layla added.

"Alright!!!" Salma went running into the darkness.

No one was more comfortable than her in the darkness. And the spiders would soon find out.

As soon as she found herself behind the group of spiders, she punched a spider's abdomen with all her strength.

The spider fell to the ground and stopped moving.

Salma was surprised by her strength.

A Paralyzing Spider shot poison towards her.

But Salma wasn't phased at all.

'Compared to the Spider Queen's guards, this is nothing!'

She easily dodged the poison and shot a Fire Arrow at the closest Spider to her.

' I'll use 20 Mana Points.'

It was a very weak Fire Arrow, but against a Mutated Spider, it was more than enough to make them lose lots of their Health Points.

After Adam and Layla watched Salma fight for a bit, they joined in.

Python got rid of the different Mutated Spiders, and Adam marked the Paralysing and Venomous Spiders.

Surprisingly, marking those only consumed 50 Mana Points.

"Alright. The Spider Army is officially hiring! For now, we have 4 proud Paralysing Spiders and 3 strong Venomous Spiders." Salma shouted in the tunnel.

The group had gotten strong. They weren't scared of weak monsters such as Mutated Spiders. They wouldn't even be scared of a group of Mutated Black Widows. Except if there were more than eight of them at once.

"Okay. Good. Spiders, continue advancing. Paralyzing Spiders, attack from far away and don't let the enemy notice you. Venomous Spiders, shoot the paralyzed enemies. Try to only kill Mutated Spiders. Beat up the rest. Python, you stay with us. All spiders get the minimum of the Experience Points the monsters they got rid off dropped." Adam told his little army.

"Would you look at that? You're becoming a commander." Layla said jokingly.

"Yes Captain!" Salma said while performing a military salute.

"Hahaha. Well yeah, this is a great strategy you know. We're clearing the Dungeon while taking a nice walk."

"True. This is nice. Especially since we have the option of going out anytime we want." Layla took a deep relaxing breath.

"I bet grandpa and grandma are freaking out." Salma told her sister.

"I'm sure they are. But we need to get stronger. And this challenge might be the best opportunity to do so. In one year, monsters will start getting out of Dungeons so..."

"I know, I know. That means this isn't our last Dungeon right?" Salma asked Layla.

"Well, well no. I guess that means it's the first of many. If we want to survive, we have to continue getting stronger." Layla answered.

"Even though you might die?" Adam asked.

Layla frowned while staring at Adam.

She walked up to him and stared at him dead in the eye.

"If we enter Dungeons, we might die. If we don't, we'll definitely die."

"Right...." Adam was intimidated by her.

They walked silently for a bit.

"Oh. We lost a spider." Adam said.

"Oh noooo! This is the fall of the army! What will we do??" Salma shouted dramatically.

"Ooh, they're coming back." Salma added.

Adam was impressed. The monsters were his tamed creatures, and yet she could sense them before he could.

He was impressed, but it was nothing new when it came to Salma or Layla.

The spiders arrived a bit later.

"Apparently they cleaned up a bunch of spiders before coming back." Adam said.

"Let's go then."

As soon as Layla said that, they started jogging, with Python on Adam's shoulders.

After a bit of jogging, they found a bunch of spiders on the ground. Some were paralyzed, others poisoned and of course, the Mutated Spiders were dead.

Adam drank some Mana Potions and Marked all the Paralysing and Venomous Spiders that were still alive.

"Alright. 11 Paralysing Spiders and 7 Venomous Spiders." Adam said.

"If only we could get some Concealing Spiders or Black Widows, whether Mutated or Starved." Layla muttered.

"Well there are some, but they're super rare on this side of the tunnel. The way is still super long you know." Salma told the other two.

"Well, now that we have more spiders it should advance faster. Let's say the goal is thirty spiders. How about that?" Adam suggested.

"Umm.. Pff... Okay. I guess 30 is okay. Only 12 left." Salma answered.

"Alright Spiders. Make sure to beat up 12 spiders higher rank than Mutated Spiders. Don't kill them." Adam said.

The spiders went away after hearing his command.

"I wonder if I'm approaching the max that I can control. I hope this will go well." Adam muttered.

"Probably. But 30 should be fine. Especially since the snake is usually asleep. If thirty spiders shoot Venomous Poison and Paralyzing Poison at once, I'm sure it'll have an impact on it." Layla reassured him.

"I hope." Adam answered.

"So? Do you plan on staying with us after getting out of the Dungeon?" Layla asked suddenly.

Adam answered while looking in the direction the spiders went towards.

"I haven't thought much about what comes after this. I'd like to stay for a bit, but I need to see the big picture."

"The big picture?" Layla asked.

"Yes. I don't know what I want to do after this. I'm not sure about what I want to happen." Adam said.

"Maybe you'll figure that out while you're with us." Salma said out of the blue.

Adam gave the two sisters a big smile.

"I really hope I will."