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[indent][indent][indent][color=gray][sub][right][color=#87c735][b]Location:[/b][/color] The Dungeon -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria[/right][/sub][/color]
[hr]As the heat began to rise to unprecedented highs, Alex found himself visibly puzzled at the change in mechanics. Where another player would have kept their mouth shut out of a fear of looking inexperienced, the worry hadn't crossed his mind in the first place. [color=#87c735]"Man, this heat [i]sucks[/i]. Don't tell me all the new raids are gonna have stuff like this to make it harder on us."[/color] His light armor was merciful at least. The tanks in their formation couldn't say the same. At the speed they were going, they were gonna get cooked like lobsters by the time they reached the entrance. Or at least, the speed he [i]felt[/i] they were going. The heat was starting to make time feel heavier, he realized.

He was tempted to whistle a tune to pass the time. Of course, that would have been idiotic in any other raid, given the propensity this game had for sudden combat against monsters with names he needed help and roughly three tries to pronounce correctly. But this... was different. No rustling from within the undergrowth, no tracks left on the ground, nothing. Just the heat. [i]God[/i], the heat. It made the Canadian slightly homesick. 

When they had at last reached the entrance of the dungeon, the odd sensations continued. Smells, this time. The naturally repulsive odor of a cave mixed with the eventual rot the second they finally entered combat. Alex was no stranger to the occasional hike in real life, so the discomfort did little to actually affect him from fighting. He was even piqued to a certain degree, wondering what other new technologies the game developers were going to try and showcase. The murals the two groups stumbled on only made the gears in his head spin faster.

A small grin crept through his face. Benkei picked the path with seemingly more traps than combat. When it came to the minutiae of combat and the metagame, Alex trailed behind the rest. But when it came to traversing obstacles, combining enhanced athleticism with wind powers granted him quite the potential for sneaking around.  

As they walked, they talked in controlled voices. [color=#87c735]"Hmm, yeah,"[/color] he said vaguely, in response to Seele. [color=#87c735]"I'm all offense and no defense, but these tanks can cover that part for me while I cover for Kazuki."[/color] 

He raised his voice so the rest of the group could hear. [color=#87c735]"Hey, do you guys think this might be because of something like a tech demo?"[/color] he asked. [color=#87c735]"My brother's into tech stuff, and he says companies usually do them as a way of showing off what they can do with new technology. The weird smells and heat- this raid could be a way for them to show new updates off. On top of that those demos are always short, and we haven't really fought a lot of monsters. That could be what's going on."[/color] 

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