Kali was genuinely surprised to hear that the famous Alakai from WoW was in fact the very same Alakai. He hadn't really spoken much about his past games though she had assumed that he had used a different name like she had. What was even more surprising was Joan's reaction. She couldn't help but wonder if this knowledge would help with Joan's bad behavior towards them. Then again he would probably act all flustered around Alakai and rude to her as he usually was. Not that she entirely minded since she wasn't too bothered by his treatment.

"That's impressive," she said jokingly to Alakai as she playfully nudged his arm. "So, this might be an odd question but has anyone here died yet?" she asked rather softly though no one had spoken. "Ah well.. Kacy has. She's out training at the moment, but.. she joined not too long ago," Josie explained. "So she came back with no problem?" Kali asked wanting more details on it. She had been curious but hadn't had the confidence to give it a try. "Well she came back fine. It took a while though, usually in the game it only takes about 30 seconds to resurrect, but Kacy had taken a full minute. She came back fine though," she explained. "We asked her a bit but she said it hadn't felt like she had left the game. She couldn't remember much about what happened in that one minute."

Kali only nodded wondering a bit about it herself. It was really hard to say what would happen unless it actually occurred to you. "She's only died once though, she did remember the experience being incredibly unpleasant." She pointed out though the others nodded. The concept of death was frightening because they were unsure if they would really come back or wake up in reality. "Drink up guys! We shouldn't be talking about something so dark," Josie said as she lifted her cup up in the air.

The information about dying was certainly useful. But at the same time it was a bit depressing. Something about dying was apparently unpleasant even for them, who could resurrect. Was it even really dying what they did? Since their body got teleported back to the cathedral in the city. It only made Alakai suspect even more that dying in this world wasn't a simple respawn. The subject was quickly brought back to drinking though. Which was a good thing. Alakai took his mug and took a few gulps. It tasted like...well tasteless water. So basically like nothing. But at the same time there was that familiar warm tingly sensation in the back of his throat afterwards. So this definitely had alcohol in it.

The rest of the evening was mostly spent just drinking and talking a little more. Alakai didn't say much himself, and he carefully avoided talking about certain subjects. Mostly when they started asking questions about their previous life or their stats or how they planned to level after the dungeon. He only mentioned the ant farming spot he and Kali had been using to get to level 26 and 24 a few days ago. As they didn't need to go to that area any more anyway. And at one point Alakai indeed talked to the guild master for a little bit. Sungrol was curious about his tiger being able to think for himself as well, so they agreed to test it out in the near future.

And soon it was time to go to bed. It was Josie that decided to show them to their room. "This is it." She spoke as they arrived at the right door. "The other rooms don't have furniture yet, so you'll have to share this time. But I'm sure that won't be a problem right?" The woman winked at the two, suggesting that she thought the two of them were closer than they actually were. Immediately Alakai's face turned bright red, as he fully realised what Josie was thinking. "N-no! It's n-not like t-that! W-we just...um...didn't have m-money to spare!" It was true that they had been sleeping in the same room for quite a while now though.

And then things got even 'worse'. As soon as they opened the door, they could see that inside there was only a single bed. A two-person bed yes, but still just one bed. The man was speechless for a few moments as his mind battled to push the dirty thoughts away as best as he could.

Kali was surprised that she was enjoying the drink. Despite being tasteless she could feel the alcohol in it. It was nice to let loose, feeling it relax her muscles was something that resembled closely to when she drank in reality. She ended up mingling with the others getting to know their class and levels and even their skills. Though she wasn't sure how much she drank because soon enough she found herself being led to a room. The door opened revealing a simple room, Kali however thanked Josie, practically mumbling out the words before she stumbled towards the bed. She pressed her face to the pillow sighing with content. Eyeing the two at the doorway she gave them a smile.

"Come on over Alakai, the bed is soft," she hummed as she buried her face against the pillow. "So soft," she mumbled to herself though mentally she was trying to count how many drinks she had. She could have sworn she had take two though perhaps she had taken more when she mingled with others. Still she could care less, she had a roof over her head and a soft bed to rest for the night. Eventually she heard the door close and she assumed that he was done speaking with her. Turning to her side she gave a sheepish grin. "The guild sure is nice huh?" She mentioned softly before she yawned. "They sure were welcoming, especially after knowing that you're the all mighty Alakai from Wow," she teased softly.

"How do you feel bout em?" she asked though her words were starting to slur as exhaustion was hitting her. She was surprised that getting drunk in this world resembled the real world though she had hoped that she wouldn't suffer the consequences of a hangover.

Unlike Kali, Alakai only drank in moderation. He wanted to at least keep some of his wit about him since they were still in a strange place with people they didn't know. Even so at the end of the evening even Alakai was feeling the alcohol's effects. He wasn't quite drunk yet, but knew if he had one more drink he would be.

Josie left moments later, Alakai being pushed inside and the door shutting behind him. His face was still completely red, and seeing Kali being so...inviting to join her on the bed only made it worse. Even so, he couldn't deny that the day's events and alcohol were making him drowsy. "Uhm...right...coming..." He mumbled hesitantly, pulling off his shoes and robe, but leaving his pants on. At the very least it would be a tiny bit of a barrier while they were laying in the same bed.

Kali mumbled some things about his great the people were in the guild. Alakai couldn't deny that. Even if it was mostly the alcohol, he had still felt far more at ease than he had expected beforehand. "Heh...I'm reallyn not that great. Just a geek that's into theorycrafting..." Theorycrafting was a term invented for WoW, where people would dig through the game's code to get specific damage numbers and the like to calculate everything as precisely as possible for when you played. But it had started to be used for other mmorpg's as well.

After hesitating a bit longer, the man finally laid down next to Kali. And as she had said, the bed was wonderfully soft. Far better than the room at the inn. It immediately made him relax a little more. "I guess...you're right." He started to answer her final question. "They're nice people. We should seriously consider joining once we're sober." It was best not to make such decisions while drunk or almost drunk after all. "Uhm...good night..." He spoke softly, sounding rather calm. Though in reality he was anything but. Kali was laying so close to him now. In fact, some part of her was touching him. Though he didn't dare look to see what part, instead opting to look at the ceiling. Luckily he could sleep on his back just as well as on his side.

Kali couldn't really understand anything he was saying though she did listen as if she had interest in it. She only hoped that she could remember when she woke up the next day. She felt the space next to her sink slightly as she rolled to her side to face him. "They are nice people! Joan totally loves you now," she said teasingly to him as she hugged her pillow tightly. "Night, Alakai," she mumbled as she pressed her face against the pillow. Within a couple of minutes she was fast asleep, though she was snoring lightly which how heavily she was sleeping.

Kali had woken up the next day feeling rather sluggish. Her memory seemed to be intact however she immediately noticed how difficult it was to recall things. The images she tried to recall were heavily blurred and voices seemed mixed and faded as if they had been speaking to her from a distance. Sitting up she stared at the room they were in, finally getting a proper good look at her environment. The room was tidy, mostly empty though it seemed spacious enough for more than one person. Rubbing her head she got out of bed and left the room, fortunately her head hadn't been hurting too much since she had been worrying about feeling the effects of a hangover.

She could hear people speaking downstairs though it was still quite early. Returning back to her room she caught sight of Alakai. "Alakai? Are you meditating?" she asked him before she pressed her finger against his cheek. "Alakai~" She whined out before she pinched it gently. She figured it would be the best time to discuss things seeing how they were alone for now.

"Wha? Huh?" Alakai responded, still being mostly asleep. It had taken him some time to get asleep again, so if it was up to him he could sleep for another hour at least. "Fiv mo' minutz..." He muttered softly, turning around and closing his eyes again. Though a moment later he could feel something pressing against his cheek. And once again someone called out to him. It was only when she pinched it that he opened his eyes a second time. "Ouch, stop that..." He muttered, still holding on to the idea of sleeping a while longer. But it seemed like he wouldn't get the chance for that any more.

"Fine fine...I'll get up..." He grumbled, not exactly being happy about the alarm clock called Kali that tried to wake him up at what no doubt was way too early a time. "But only if you get me some coffee." He then added. Coffee had been a thing in the game. And even if it didn't taste like it, at least it would help him wake up enough to wake up enough to figure out what was going on.

Kali grinned as he replied. It sounded like he managed to get some rest instead of meditating which was good. "Coffee huh?" She replied as she tapped her chin. "I think there's some downstairs. I can hear others already up and about too," she mentioned though she wasn't entirely sure if there was. "How about I go check now then," she suggested. Getting off the bed she moved over to the door. She felt alot better compared to the past day where she had been feeling a little homesick. Opening the door she left the room rather quickly though she had bumped into Joan at the stairway. He looked about ready to snap at her however paused mid way. "Is Alakai up?" he asked clearly sounding interested. "No," she lied, he frowned at her words and continued his way much to what Kali expected.

Five minutes had passed when Kali finally returned with a cup of coffee. Closing the door she sat on the bed. "I'm surprised you didn't meditate last night. Do we have any plans today?" she asked him. She usually left that up to him since it was mostly grinding though she was sure that he probably had something different planned considering how they were considering a guild now. "We can speak to the other members today? You know get more insight, I'm curious about Kacy," she reminded him before she handed the cup over to him.

When Kali returned Alakai was sitting upright in his bed, still trying to fight off his sleepiness. When he was handed his cup of coffee he quickly took it and took a few sips. The taste was just as he expected. Hot water. He sighed a little bit, mentally noting that he should maybe try to make real coffee. It luckily wasn't that hard. You just needed the right type of seeds, crush them, and pour hot water over them. Now if he could only find the right seed...

"Thanks... Tastes like water, but at least it's coffee." He spoke with a smile. Kali asked what they were going to do for the day, and in truth, Alakai wasn't sure. There were plans to start grinding again, him wanting to always be at the top. But he was also curious about the guild. They hadn't really talked to half the members yet, and he wanted to discuss about going to the dungeon in the very near future. "Let's see...I kind of want to start levelling again, but I also want to know more about this guild. Maybe we can do both? First we can take it easy and find out about the guild a bit more, and then we can go out to level a bit more later in the afternoon? In truth...I think some levelling will help me sort out my thoughts as well. I haven't even considered joining a guild in quite a while..."

Kali idly tapped her chin as she thought about it. "Well I was going to suggest that we could always bring maybe one of two of the guild members and just level up together? We would have a rough idea of how they fight and react in battle and we could probably grind a lot faster," she mentioned casually. "Though of course if you want to level up alone with me that's also understandable." She added on. Kali was well aware that he would have to put more thought into joining a guild. He could easily make them one of the top guilds which would easily come with quite a bit of responsibility on everyone's part. It was hassling to think about. She wished she could be more help to him but honestly she didn't mind joining a guild for the sake of large raids otherwise she wouldn't have bothered too much with it. She mostly played the games alone and often got too annoyed with others to work well with them. She was sure that Joan was the same though he seemed to be behaving because of Alakai.

"Just know that whatever you decide I'm with you," she added as she got off the bed and stretched out her arms up. "I've already set my primary points for a pure support class," she added on seeing how she wouldn't do well if she were to go damage even if she were to use her secondary set. "Besides if you decide on the guild, it's not like a contract for life," she added knowing that they could leave anytime he felt was necessary.

"Heh, I'm sure you'll be the best healer in this world in no time. You're not entirely right about levelling faster when in a larger party though." Alakai mused, deciding a short explanation was in order. "You can kill monsters faster. But the exp gets shared evenly between everyone. So unless the entire team works together efficiently, things will actually be slower. The two of us are doing great now, but together with people we've never partied with before..." He thought for a few moments and then nodded. "Well, we can party up for a few hours anyway. With a bit of luck it'll mean the dungeon will go faster as well. Which in turn means we can possibly farm the dungeon a few times, which will give more exp than just the two of us together." He would have to change his carefully thought out plan a little, but if they could level faster in the end it would be a good thing. "As for joining the guild, well...I guess we can give it a try. See how things go. Having a guild to call on for group quests and dungeons will speed things up in the future. If the guild becomes too big or if I start getting too much attention I'm leaving again though." Not that he expected to become the center of attention. He just really disliked it when it did happen.

Alakai took another few sips from his drink that had to pass for coffee and sighed again. "Well, I'll go get dressed and we'll go and ask the others if they're up for some partying with me as leader." Since Joan knew about Alakai's exploits in his previous mmo he would probably be all for it. The others probably wouldn't mind. But still, they had to ask first.

-----------------------------

After announcing that they would give the guild a try Alakai and Kali talked to the guild members for a while. Or at least, Kali did. Alakai listened more than talking. Even so there was still a lot of useful information to be gained. Eventually someone asked them a question that had been avoided up until now to be respectful. But the guild was still quite curious. "So I'm sure we're all dying to know, especially now that you're joining the guild, what are your levels anyway?" Someone asked, though it sounded like he didn't really expect a straight answer. For the first time though, Alakai didn't mind answering. They would find out once they created a party for the dungeon anyway. Since the party window showed ones level as well. "We're level 28 and 26." Alakai answered plainly.

"Whaaat?!" Several of the guild members exclaimed. "You two are both higher than our guild's highest members?!" "H-heh...y-yea..." Alakai muttered, quickly starting to feel nervous again. "Please don't tell this to people outside of the guild though. I'd like to avoid getting too much attention." He didn't even know why he was levelling so diligently, apart from that it was fun for him. To be the strongest, to discover new things first. That's what new mmorpg's were all about after all right? Maybe he didn't need any more reason than that. He wondered if Kali thought the same though. She had followed his guidance without question up until now. But he wondered if she was fine with it all, as they barely ever relaxed. And there was plenty to do outside of levelling in this world.

Kali had questioned plenty of other guild members, having asked what their class was and how they found the guild. That and what their goals were in this game. Most of which seemed unsure of what to do in the game so opted on joining a guild to be with others. It seemed like a safer idea at least it would be considering how they would most likely be in groups more often than wandering on their own. Kali however had grown quiet when the question of their levels was asked. She kept to her word on keeping silent about it since Alakai had requested it of her. Their reaction however was a little surprising. She hadn't expected for so many to be surprised since the difference wasn't too extreme. They could easily catch up within a couple of days if they were to party up and grind. Then again she had to remind herself that they probably wouldn't be grinding as hard as she and Alakai would.

"Well the higher the level the more places we can explore. Staying in one place is bound to get boring," she admitted to them. "But still. Those are some pretty high levels for such a short amount of time," one of the mentioned though Kali merely smirked. Placing her arm around Alakai's neck she pulled him down and close to herself. "Well this one here has me healing nonstop! It's very tough work. I rarely get a break," she joked seeing how she hadn't needed it. Their stamina felt almost unlimited when it came to anything physical. Of course she couldn't run as fast or take a hit, but as long as she had mana her healing was unaffected. Though it did sometimes take a toll on her mentally, since it could get a little boring seeing the same thing and doing the same thing for hours on end. "I can't wait for the dungeons though, bet they look amazing!" She brought up. Course she wasn't sure when that would be, but she looked forward to it. Dungeons could take hours and sometimes they were done in a way that it was made interesting, there may be extra bosses to fight for the loot or even a storyline with each party having to do something specific to defeat the main boss.

"Hopefully we'll be doing that soon, huh Alakai?" she said as she let go of him with a wide grin.

"Of course we'll be doing that soon. I planned to go to the dungeon tomorrow if we can work well enough as a party today. The recommended level is 24 to 26, and we're already above that. So it should be fine." Alakai replied. "With that said, how about we go level as a party in half an hour or so?" The three that he wanted with them were sitting with them at the moment so he figured he might as well ask. "Tomorrow huh? That's pretty fast. But we're pretty much prepared for it already anyway, so we could be ready." Josie answered. "As for today, we've been wondering about how to go about this since we woke up. But it seems we can count on on you for the planning part." Alakai nodded with a slight smile. "Sure, leave the planning up to me." He would feel more at easy when they followed his plans anyway. As that meant there would only be slight alterations to his overall plans rather than large ones.

"With everything in mind, I'll be going for a bit then. I need to buy some ingredients to make food that gives stat buffs. Kali, if you want you can stay here and talk with everyone a little more. Or do you need anything before we go as well?" Whether she went with him or stayed, Alakai headed out after that. He was gone for about 20 minutes before returning. After that it took another 8 minutes to make the 10 shaved pork meat sandwiches. The guild had a great kitchen with even a working stove so it was easy to make for him. And after that it was pretty much already time to go.

Once everyone was ready to go Alakai had another question. Something he hadn't thought of until he wanted to go get Khronos from the guid's stables. "Oh, I almost forgot...do you guys have mounts yet?" In the game he had calculated that the earliest mount could be bought at level 23 to level 30, depending on how much one saved and got lucky with item drops to sell. But now things might be different. "Luckily, we do. The guild put some money together so we have four mounts in total that we share." Josie answered. "Share? You mean you can share mounts?" Alakai replied in surprise. "Yea, it surprised us too. Since mounts are physical beings in this world anyone the mount is familiar with can ride it. You two ride your leopard together as well don't you?" Alakai nodded, feeling a bit dumb for not realising it sooner. "I guess you're right...Kali even steered once before. Well, all the better. Otherwise it would take a good 4 hours to get to where I want to level. There's a goblin cave to the west past the farming village. Decent respawn rate, and the monsters are level 28 to 31. A bit higher than the ones in the dungeon. But dungeon monsters are always harder. So it should be a good spot for some exp, and to get used to working as a full party." With just him and Kali it would be a bit risky to go there, but still worth it. But with a party it should be just the right amount of challenge. "Well then, let's go get our mounts. The more time we have now, the better the dungeon will go."

In the stables Joan came to see Alakai's leopard before they went. It was only natural, as in the real world no one had an opportunity to get this close to what was normally a dangerous predator. Khronos growled a little as he approached. Though Alakai, of course noticing that, quickly patted the beast's head. "It's okay Khronos, he's a friend." Because of the growling Joan was a bit nervous as he came closer, though he still looked delighted when he carefully petted it's soft fur. "Incredible...you can't do this kind of thing in the other world..." He mused softly. Though he quickly focused on the task at hand and went to one of the horses. He had his own while the two girls shared one. Since June was a bit too short to get her feet in the stirrups. And with that they set out to their destination.

Kali nodded to him opting to stay with the others as he went out. "I'm good," she assured him. Whatever he made would taste good and be sufficient for the dungeon anyways. Kali spent the next half hour socializing though it was more of harassing Joan. Though she suspected that he was more tolerant about it because of his admiration for Alakai. Which of course was plenty fun to abuse. When they were finally ready she couldn't help but grow a little tempted to shove Joan, especially with how weary he was being. Still she behaved herself and let him touch Khronos for himself.

The girls seemed as impressed as him though they seemed content with their horses. Kali climbed up on Khronos as she gently climbed up behind Alakai. "Maybe later you could let one of the girls ride it with you," she whispered over to Alakai teasingly. Joan couldn't help but catch up as he rode alongside the two. "How did you get such a rare mount?" He brought up hoping to strike a conversation with him. "I still can't believe you guys are such a high level." He added on though Josie laughed from behind. "Well it seemed like Alakai and Kali are rather focused leveling up. Kali even mentioned how she was interested in exploring," she explained though Kali grinned. "I want to explore the whole land. Oh and the dungeons too." She added seeing how there would be special item drops too.

"I'd rather not..." Alakai muttered at Kali's suggestion. Even now he still got a bit nervous and distracted whenever she sat behind him. And they had already been travelling together for over a week. Plus, for some reason he didn't like the idea of someone else riding with him. Like that spot was owned by Kali or something. Joan had decided to ride beside them though, and decided to try and make conversation. "Well...I'm sure a few others have it. It came with the game's limited edition." He answered. "And we're not really that much higher..." He added, feeling like the praise was undeserved. Clearly he and the two girls had been putting a lot of time into levelling as well, since they were pretty high. Alakai and Kali just had the advantage of Alakai having the early levels until at least 50 already planned out with spots and quests that gave the best exp per hour.

Alakai smiled when the subject changed to exploring. He definitely agreed to that. "I'm the same. I always wondered what it was like to travel lands like these. With all the fantastical things you could encounter, and all the beautiful landscapes you could see. I want to see the elven forests in the west, and meet the beast-kin in the north-west, which require level 50. And if the box art is accurate, the floating islands above the isle of Kalis to the south-east will be amazing. Those isles require level 75 though. But we as players are stuck in these hills and the nearby coast. So yea...I want to level up fast."

Kali hadn't really noticed Alakai's displeasure at the the idea of him sitting with one of the other girls. Too engaged with the conversation she nodded to his statement. "I want to see the snowy mountains. Oh and don't forget those old hidden ruins." She mentioned. She hadn't really gotten the chance to travel unlike her friends, which was probably why she resorted to gaming since it was the closest she could get to travelling to unique places. Unfortunately leveling would get slower the higher they climbed because it would require more experience. "Level 75 is going to take a while to hit," she admitted, maybe even a couple of months. They could probably speed it up seeing how they didn't have anything else to do, but maybe only reducing it by a month of so.

"Wow, the both of you aren't really concerned by the fact that we're all stuck here," Joan brought up. "I don't really see a point of worrying about it, we're not exactly in any position to do anything about it either." Kali admitted. It had bothered her slightly, but worrying about it wouldn't help in her opinion. "Who knows, maybe once we're high enough we can explore places that'll give us answers?" Kali tapped her chin before grinning. "Maybe some high tech secret swanky laboratory?" She added though Josie had rode up on the other side. "I wouldn't be surprised if they had something like that." Her expression seemed somewhat distraught the idea of it though everyone had eyes filled with curiosity.

"Grinding is going to take so long,"Joan complained seeing how they had quite a bit to climb. "At least it'll get more interesting as we get stronger," Kali reminded.

Joan was surprised at how the two of them didn't seem to mind being in this world. At least for Alakai that was definitely true. In fact, he liked being here. Dying from something dangerous didn't seem to be a problem, the world was beautiful with plenty to explore, and if you did what he had been doing for years in mmorpg's, you could become a powerful hero as well. What was there not to like? Plus, there was another reason. "I guess for me it's partially because I didn't leave much of a life behind in the real world. I didn't have any real life friends, and I guess my mother might be worried if she knows. But I hadn't talked to her in a year or so after I moved to a different city. So she might not even realise I'm gone." Alakai mused softly. While he had felt content enough in the real world, thinking back on it now he probably was a bit miserable. Playing games was pretty much all he had. And he wondered if any of that would change if he ever returned there.

"Anyway, grinding might take long yea. But in the end it will be worth it! And you'll only have to do it once after all." Unlike a real life job which you had to keep on doing year after year to keep up, your level was permanent. And earning enough money to buy a house and live comfortably would be easy once you were level 50 or higher. Grinding monsters one day per week would already be plenty to cover the upkeep of a small villa.

The group arrived in town when it was still quite early. There were a few other players going about their business as well, having probably gone to the inn for the night, rather than returning to Malystare. Judging by their gear they weren't quite as high as their group yet, but it wouldn't take more than another few days for them to reach level 25 as well. Their group, however, would probably be jumping ahead quite a bit now. Dungeons gave tons of exp if you could run them quickly. And the more they learned to work together and the higher their level, the easier and faster the dungeon would become. "Let's go to the dungeon right away. With any luck we can run it at least twice today." He spoke, spurring on his tiger to run to the beach.

Kali had picked up on the silence that hung heavy around the town. "The dungeon should be this way," Kali mumbled knowing it was through the town and in a wooded area. It hadn't taken long to search for it since she had a rough idea of where it would be. The cave was built into the muddy brown rock of the cliff, the stone guarding the entrance was jagged and uneven, arranged in such a way, that it would be difficult for passers by to spot. Neither of them could see into the cave with how dark it was though she knew that the moment they passed through it would appear entirely different. It could be larger, smaller or even have beasts ready to attack.

"Okay we should just double check that we have everything ready. I'm not sure if it's the type of dungeon where we can just leave," she mumbled knowing that some would lock them in until the task was done. She wanted to ensure that everyone and everything was in order before entering. Joan went ahead to check his inventory as he got off his mount. "Everything is fine on my side," he mumbled as he glanced over at the other two. Josie nodded in agreement. "We should be fine as long as we do our part," Kali assured before grinning. "Alakai? You ready to lead us in," she teased as she playfully nudged his arm.

The dungeon was fairly easily found. Alakai already knew where to look after all, and once they were in the area and knew what they were looking for it was easy to find. Once there, Kali wanted to double check if everything and everyone was ready. At which Alakai paused and opened his inventory. "Not ready just yet...I made food that gives us a small stat bonus. +5 to your class' main stat. So intellect for the casters, agility for me, and strength for Joan." He handed everyone a shaved pork meat sandwich with a slight smile. "So, eat up and then we're ready to go." Everyone greedily ate the food. After having only eaten food that tasted like salty crackers for quite a while, they all appreciated proper tasting food all the more. And Alakai's cooking was quite good as well, with a combination of his cooking skill level and his real life cooking skills.

Once everyone was finished it was time to go. "Okay..." Alakai spoke, moving to stand in front. It was the tank's job to go in during fights after all. "We'll take it slow at first, pulling as little enemies as possible at a time. If I feel confident we can take on more I'll say so beforehand." With that he stepped into the cave. And everyone else followed behind him.

Inside they were greeted by a long tunnel that seemed to get wider at the end. Though it went downwards and around a corner so it was hard to tell what was there. However as soon as they arrived at the corner they were greeted by a beautiful sight. A large open cave, with it's ceiling covered in a blueish green moss that glowed a light blue colour. Large stalactites and stalagmites formed partial pillars here and there. And the floor was broken up by mostly shallow, and some deep pools of water, which reflected the light of the ceiling. The walls had patches of green, purple and red plants and also the blue glowing moss. And in the back there was another cave opening with some broken ruins surrounding it. It had probably been some kind of beautifully handcrafted entrance in the past. The scene had quite the fantasy feel to it overall.

Even so, there wasn't too much time to take in the sights. As the cave wasn't empty. Huge crabs just like on the beach scuttled around the area, and they didn't look as friendly as the ones outside. Here and there there was even a fishman looking creature near the deeper pools. They seemed to be directing the crabs in a fairly primitive way. "Time to get moving. Once we've cleared out the this first part we can take it easy and look around a little." With that Alakai moved forwards. After getting a bit closer to two crabs, the man picked up a stone and threw it towards one of them. It hit, which immediately caused both crabs to chitter angrily and scuttle towards the group of adventurers. "Here we go." Alakai mused with a grin. "Focus the one I hit with the rock first." Even though things were getting exciting the monk kept his voice on the softer side, as he was worried that they might pull more crabs if they made their presence known by making too much noise.

Kali pretty much shoveled the whole thing into her mouth though she had immediately regretted the action. It was a fair bit and the texture had made talking rather difficult. She also wished she had taken her time to enjoy the meal. She hadn't expected for it to taste as good as it did, but the deed was done. Finally swallowing it down she let out a content sigh. The cave itself was unique and differed greatly from the outside. It was a lot more dim though vision wasn't too bad and it felt a little more chilly compared to being outside.

Kali went ahead to get ready by keeping herself further away but in range to heal. Joan had gone ahead to follow Alakai though he too kept some distance knowing he'd have to wait until Alakai picked up full aggro or else he could easily steal the attention and get hurt. The crabs scuttled over to Alakai immediately trying to crush him with his claws. The first hit he had taken as surprised Kali because it was a lot more damage than she had expected for them to deal. Healing him quickly she watched Joan and the others get to work as the crabs health began to disintegrate. Finally slaying the first crab, Joan couldn't help but shout with excitement as he stepped on the corpse. his voice had echoed throughout the cave however the crabs hadn't noticed. Kali however was feeling the strain of it. It was only a couple of crabs however the damage they had dealt had taken a good quarter of her mana. Which meant they would have to go a bit slower or careful. Or they could pull a big amount, but she would need time to regenerate. "We should be careful about how many we pull," she mentioned over to Alakai though it was probably obvious that he knew it as well.

Alakai had also noticed how fast his hp was going down. Kali of course managed to keep up quite easily. But it still cost her 1/4 of her mana. If they kept going like this, they wouldn't even be through this first cave before she had to regenerate. That wasn't too rare a thing in dungeon, and he had plenty of food with him. But he'd rather not have even the regular enemies be this dangerous. "Guess we'll have to change it up a little bit..." He muttered after their first pair of crabs was dead. "I'm going to focus on dodging more, and do a bit less damage. Everyone be sure to pay close attention to how much damage you do. If someone pulls aggro I'll use my taunt. And if that happens, try doing a bit less damage okay?" Everyone agreed. This was all fairly basic stuff for the more difficult mmo's. Most people were used to just being able to dps as much as they wanted, so it would take a bit of getting used to.

"Okay, guess we're taking a second group. June, since you now have earthen grasp, use it to root that fishman over there. I'll first pull the two crabs he's with, and we'll deal with the fishman once they're dead." Like that, Alakai explained the tactics for each group. Once they got more used to each other and the dungeon these explanations wouldn't be needed any more. But for now this would keep them going at the most efficient pace. Alakai also called out for certain skills to be used at certain times. Like telling Joan to use his taunt on one crab when Kali started getting low on mana. At the same time he told Kali to only heal either of them when they were below half health.

After that final fight a path was finally cleared towards the second area's entrance. Kali was now low on mana, Josie had taken one hit, and both Alakai and Joan had about half their health left. It had taken them half an hour to get this far, but they had made it without anyone getting too injured, so that was definitely good. "Phew...we made it..." Alakai spoke, moving to one side of the entrance and sitting down on a rock. "Let's take a short break. I have green tea for everyone. It just recovers mana, but I think everyone could use a break right?" He took a bottle out of his inventory together with a set of cups, then started pouring tea for everyone.

"And in the mean time, this is also the point where we're going to encounter the first boss." The man spoke, pointing towards the large pool of water right across from the entrance gate that was still closed. "We're going to be fighting a large crab, so let me explain tactics. It's only the first dungeon and first boss so he only has two mechanics. First one is that he sometimes spits acid towards the tank. So I'll be tanking him with his back towards you guys, and will dodge when he spits. Second one is that he summons one of the crabs we've been fighting from that same pool to help him. Joan, at that time I want you to taunt it so it comes to you. You will have to tank those adds whenever they spawn. Hopefully not more than two or three will spawn before the boss dies. Kali, I want you to mostly focus on Joan with healing when he's tanking the add. And of course everyone should focus on the add to kill it first while I keep the boss busy." Joan raised a hand. "Wait, what if the boss acts differently from the game?" Alakai looked down for a moment. It was something he was worrying about as well. "It's possible... If that happens I'll give orders on the spot. Though I think the boss will at least be very similar to the game. Since all enemies have been similar or exactly the same so far."