While the dino-trio was eating to recover the stamina loss from the evolution, I was thinking about how to challenge the T-Rex. I wanted to get this over with at ones, but thinking about it rationally, shouldn't I let these guys break in their new powers and bodies?

Leaving Riri aside, since her evolution is a power-up of her former state, Virt and Sent have turned so different due to the evolution, that they'll need some time to get used to it.

After the three were finished with their meal, I suggested going to the pillar area first. Riri and Sent looked unsatisfied, but when I told them it was to get used to their new bodies, they agreed. I'm a little worried about Virt, the one who I thought would complain the loudest here, but instead agreed wholeheartedly. Something's up here...

---

When we reached the pillar area, the trio started their hunt on the spot. Virt ran around, slashing away at monsters at breakneck speed, demonstrating the sharpness of his new [Bio-Blades]. He jumped and turned like a circus acrobat, thanks to the new skill he bought when he evolved.

Sent is doing his thing at his own pace, casually walking up to monsters and smacking them to kingdom come with his tail hammer. Despite being as slow as a turtle, Sent received no damage at all. Any attacks the monsters of the pillar areas could dish out, bounced off his armored body. It was like looking at ants trying to stop a bulldozer.

The one who received the title of most vicious is Riri. She fired away like a Gatling gun any living being in her sight with poison, darkness, and water magic. And I mean it when I say 'everything'. Both I and Virt needed to dodge some stray bullets, while Sent was hit for real. The result was no damage. What defensive power.

Riri has shown us how powerful a monster with a class can be. While she could fire several spells in a row before, but not at this level. The MP consumption has decreased as well, giving her more ammo that way. She's also recovering her MP now, letting her keep on the rapid firing for a longer amount of time. AND, said skill is still on the beginner level. If she keeps on using them... brrrr. Scary thought.

Thinking about it, I'm the same as Riri. The Assassin class boosted my SPD and DEX to stupid levels. I also got some wicked skills due to it, so what if Riri gets some as well when the class level increases? And what if Virt got some swordsman class, or Sent some guardian class... oh boy. 

---

The next days went without any problems. Virt slashed, Sent smashed, and Riri made beehives out of monsters. I had taken the role of the tactician, spending the days on top of Sent doing noth- ehm, planning our next course of action diligently, hmm. 

That stopped one day when we found a settlement of sahuagins. You know, those fish-people that I sometimes came over in the upper-layer tunnels? Like that one? The one I met just before finding Skelly? Those guys, not the lesser variant from back then, but the normal type.

These non-lesser sahuagins has made the pillar area their home after they evolved into their more intelligent selfies, and this is it. Well, I keep on calling it a settlement, but it's just some caves with boulders placed in front of it, forming a fence against other monsters. This can't hold a candle to humanoid settlements, I think. I hope, like, seriously.

While I was thinking about stupid things on top of Sent, Virt and Riri had done some discussing amongst themselves, leaving the two of us out of the loop. Eh, wait, they started to attack the sahuagins?! Oi, oi, oi, didn't I teach them not do charge straight into enemy lines! Not that I think some sahuagins can take those two out. 

The most damage our side would take from this is the shock me and Sent got from the sudden dash. No, don't think that Sent was disturbed over that. From the look of it, he's more shocked over being left behind. Keep your head up, big guy. I'm still here for you. I gave him some head-pats while trying to cheer him up.

While traveling at our own pace, mostly because Sent hadn't recovered from the mental damage, we arrived at the settlement, only to find Virt and Riri staring down the sahuagins, not sure what to do next. Come on, you guys were the attackers! If you're gonna do something, stick to it till the end!

While scolding the two idiots, I released some [Bloodlust] at them as well. That didn't do much since they've gotten used to it by now, but the sahuagins, which were in the line of fire, got a good dose of the skill right in their faces. I didn't use that much [Bloodlust], so why did they start kowtowing on the spot like that?

Riri started to explain, that Virt wanted to recruit the sahuagins into our team. Therefore, they wanted to show their strength to the sahuagins. Why do that? Weren't they gonna challenge the T-Rex on their own? In any case, you have to remember to report, contact, and consult, when in a business, you stupid lizards! Eh, monster-slaying isn't a business? It's close enough.

It does explain why the sahuagins didn't fear the two so much. There was no blood-lust in their attacks, so the sahuagins weren't that scared, until I, the biggest, worst bully, came in and scared them half to death. I'm reflecting on that, seriously. My karma value even went down when I checked. 

The good news is, the sahuagins joined our party. But they're like, 60 of them? Did we just upgrade to a raid-party?

---

After recruiting the sahuagins, Virt and Riri started to train the sahuagins in how to survive in the dungeon. Sent was still depressed, so he just joined the sahuagins in hunting.

Now then, just how successful do you think those muscle-brains training would be? It won't. Since those two weren't able to train the sahuagins, I had to step in for them, much to the sahuagins' horror. They didn't forget the [Bloodlust] I unleashed on them the first day. 

That changed after I gave them threads to work with. Not to brag, but the threads that I can produce is of high-quality, maybe even better than the stuff back home. Some of the sahuagins proved themselves to be better at DIY than myself, by weaving the thread into real pieces of cloths. 

After a short while, the sahuagins were equipped with robes, stronger than some cheap metal armor. It helped when I managed to teach them how to use the skill shop. Unlike certain others, they understood the idea that more skills are more profitable than doping the few skills you already. Don't look at me like that, Sent! It's true, and you know it.

The one part that irks me is that they managed to obtain classes with relative ease. Most of the warrior sahuagins chose the Soldier class, which is an all-rounder of physical classes like Mage is for magic classes, and some talented individuals earned the Lancer-class, a class-specific for spear users. That one bandit that fought with the berserker was of the same class.

Some sahuagins took up crafting classes as their main classes. Most of them chose Weaver, while others took the Leatherworker class. The former guys were using the threads that I now mass-produce to make clothes, while Leatherworkers make use of monster skins, like the frogs', to make leather armors and other products made of leather.

I also gave them the turtle snakeskin I couldn't use to make medicines. They needed to do some trials before they were able to process the turtle snakeskin. The result was great, from their point of view. For me, it's just some regular leather armor. Still better than the frog kind.

Both classes can also repair said types of items, as long as you don't blunder it, or have a too low level for reparations. Not that the sahuagins needs to think of that. They are a mass of talent, every one of them. That must be why they got their classes so easily. I'm not sad, you know. Not at all *sniff*.

I also let them have a look at the weapons I plundered from the bandits. There wasn't anyone who got a weapon maker, or a blacksmith class out of it, but it gave them some ideas about how to upgrade the weapons they already have. They only have rock-and-bone spears, and rock daggers, but an improvement is an improvement.

As another stroke of fortune, the leader of the sahuagins managed to get the [Translator] skill, which helped big time with the small communication problems we had. The skill is like a seriously nerfed [Language Adaption], and it allows you to understand some parts of foreign languages, as long as you know the idea of what's being said.

That part about having an idea was covered by my and Riri's drawings, so the miscommunication problems were reduced to almost zero. The only problem was me, who could barely speak anything at all, making [Translator] useless. That must be the difference between our two skills. They understand my pictures, at least.

Since the leader guy was gonna be our translator, I decided to name the guy. One reason was to ensure he didn't die on the roadside, so to speak. The second reason was that I couldn't differentiate between the different sahuagins. The third reason is that the sahuagins are weaker than the raptor-trio when I met them for the first time, so it won't be that draining. The result? See for yourself:

=====================================================================

Name: Bihamut

Race: [Sahuagin]   | Level: 7

Skills: 13

Titles: 0

 

Main Class: Lancer

 

HP: 81/81   | MP: 45/45   | SP: 80/80

STR: 65   | VIT: 54   | MAG: 21

RES: 47   | SPD: 50   | DEX: 55

INT: 90   | LUC: 104

=====================================================================

=====================================================================

SKILL LIST

Ability Skills: [SP Reinforcment (Small) LV1] NEW [SPD Reinforcment (Small) LV2]

Attack Skills: [Spear Arts LV2] UP1 [Mana Burst (Water) LV1] NEW [Strong Strike LV25]

Crafting Skills: [Primitive Weapon Construction LV6] UP1

Passive Skill: [Weapon Performance LV3] [Translator LV2] UP1 

Resistance Skill: [Water Resistance LV2] [Pain Resistance LV9]

Leadership Skill: [Leader LV1] NEW

Elements: [Lesser Water Element LV17] [Lesser Darkness Element LV1] NEW

=====================================================================

Kinda wimpy, and he still is. I got the name from Bahamut, you know, the famous monster from games, that's a sea monster, despite what others think? The skills that are of a high level are those he had from before we arrived at the settlement.

That will-skill is boosting his VIT by using MP, and that [Strong Strike] attack gives more damage based on the SP you feed the skill. The cool-sounding skill called [Mana Burst] is a little something that enhances your attacks with a specific-attribute, water in this case, while also boosting the power of the said attack.

As you could guess from the name, using this skill costs MP, but it's worth it, after seeing it in action. I want one myself. It's gonna be damn expensive, I bet. Speaking of experience here. And Bihamut got it just from me giving him a name, that's so unfair! 

The NEW-signs is something new I found, by messing around with the [Appraisal] skill. Thing is, [Appraisal] has an options menu when you appraise the skill. I didn't do that before, because I got all the info about the skill from the System announcements.

Some of the stuff you can change is like I showed you just now, is showing what has changed on the skill list and title list since the last appraisal. Other stuff is having my status page available at all times. That turned out to be a major pain, so I put it at being semi-available at all times, meaning it's hidden till I want to see it, without accessing the skill itself. 

Back to Bihamut: he started to show his prowess as a leader right after I named him. Thanks to his new [Leader] skill, or just from the gratitude of getting a name? Whatever the case, it didn't change that he turned stronger after getting the name. If he's careful, maybe he could hunt spiders on his own.

---

Like this, our days kept going. I'm starting to wonder if those three want to challenge the T-Rex or not. Virt has started to obtain metal-attribute skills, probably due to being shown the katana I had.

Sent came over the depression, and started to learn earth-attribute skills so that his defenses became more rock-solid. Why he didn't go for metal like Virt is because he's developed a little rivalry with him.

Riri didn't learn anything special, but she started to learn up the sahuagins on how to use magic. It didn't go so well, with that teacher, and those students, but we got three more Mage classes out of it, so that's all and well.

When I asked Virt when he was gonna strike at the T-Rex, he just said to me, I mean draw to me, that he was waiting for someone. Who it was, he didn't tell me. I hope they aren't bad news for me, those reinforcements, as Virt put it.