"God! I really need better VIT stats. It's annoying how easily I get exhausted in this game," he thought. He rested for a while and checked his profile.
He needed 1000 Exp to level up, and he had about 560 right now.
He stood up after a bit and went on to fight some more Vileshroom. He defeated a few of them easily and decided to return.
While hunting the monsters alone was working for him, he needed to find a better way to gain Exp if he wanted to grow up faster.
He needed to find some quests for himself.
Ning went back to the city and found a place where he could sell the mushroom and spores. They didn't give much money, but it was good for now.
"Say, do you want any help?" Ning asked. "Anything I can do?"
The shopkeeper looked at him and said, "Can you bring me the Shroom King's Poison Spores?"
"Shroom King?" Ning was confused.
[You have received a quest.]
[Quest: Harvest Shroom King's Poison Spore
Kill Shroom King in the Vilshroom Dungeon and obtain Shroom King's Poison Spore
Reward: 10 Silver Coins and 12000 Exp]
[Do you accept?]
"Wait, what?" Ning was surprised. "12000 Exp… I can get 4 levels so easily? That's a steal. I accept."
Ning left the store after that and went on his way outside the gates once more. He started asking the players where the dungeon was, and they quickly told him where he had to go.
However, Ning didn't leave. A dungeon meant that it would likely be very strong when compared to normal beasts out here.
Which meant he either had to fight at a party or wait until he was quite strong. Since he didn't want to wait, he went around trying to find a party.
Once again, most rejected him. However, Ning wasn't discouraged this time around due to the sheer number that was there. Not long after, he found a party of newbies that were trying to fight their way to the dungeon.
Ning was easily accepted to the party and they left.
The party consisted of a swordsman with incredible damage, a ranger that used a crossbow, a fire mage, and an assassin.
The group met their first Vileshroom and started their fight.
Ning activated his Wing Arrows, dealing 133 damage at once. The ranger shot her cross-bow, dealing 140 damage thanks to hitting a critical.
The fire mage used a skill that started burning the shroom, dealing constant damage over time.
The assassin jumped behind the shroom, using a skill to attack its back, dealing additional damage, for a 100 total damage.
Finally, the swordsman used a Sword thrust skill, that killed the beast entirely.
"That was fast," the assassin said with a surprised look on his face. "I would've thought we would have to go into actual battle."
"Not for now," the fire mage said. "With the four of us, we should be able to burst down any monster that comes for us here. The problem will only be worse when we get to the dungeon. Apparently, they are all between Level 15 and 20."
"Oh," Ning was surprised. "Then we will have to get stronger than we are."
"Yeah, going as we are is a death wish," the swordsman said. "Let's continue."
The group went on their way, fighting through the Vileshrooms they came across.
Most of the time, they would just burst down the monster, and maybe use an attack or two more to finish it off later.
However, some of the time, there would be more than one Vileshroom in a single field, forcing the party to coordinate.
They defeated the monsters slowly, and Ning even broke thought along the way, becoming just that much stronger once again.
He wasn't forced to use his skills at all, so no one really knew what his class was. They all assumed it was a variation of magician and spearman, based on how he fought.
Finally, after more than 2 hours of fighting, the group appeared in front of a giant wooden arch, covered in mushrooms of all colors all over.
There was a thin layer of white below the arch, letting them know that beyond this point was a dungeon.
[Vileshroom Dungeon
Maximum Level allowed: 20
Maximum Players allowed: 5
Recommended Player count: 3
Party clear record: 8 minutes 8 seconds
Solo clear record: 15 minutes 22 seconds]
"Woah, who completed this in just 8 minutes?" the ranger asked with a surprised look on her face.
"Can't we check?" the swordsman asked and expanded it.
Ning realized that he could do so too and expanded the Party Clear record to see that the record was set by some group of people that called themselves "Breaking Point".
The second fastest clear after them was nearly 52 seconds later.
Ning nodded to himself and looked at the Solo Clear record. Unfortunately, the name was [PRIVATE]. Whoever it was that cleared the record, didn't seem to want to name themselves.
"You guys think we can beat that?" the Fire mage asked.
"You probably have to be all Level 20 to get that fast of a record," the ranger said.
"Let's not waste our time," the Swordsman said and walked up to the thin film.
<Do you wish to enter?>
"Yes," he said. As the Party leader, he alone had the right to choose that.
Suddenly, the group was covered in white light, and they disappeared, before appearing in a different place.
[You've entered the Vileshroom Dungeon]
Ning looked at the empty meadow around him and then stared in front of him at a massive hedge wall with a single opening in it.
"No way," Ning spoke softly to himself. "No way that's a maze, right?"
"We will only know after we enter," the assassin spoke from his side.
The group walked forward, entering through the hedge wall, and immediately saw that there were two different paths to choose from, left and right.
"Yeah," the Fire mage said. "I'm pretty sure this is a maze."
