Sarah laughs again, “Makes sense! I come to him already anyway for my practice arrows. Oh, and call me Bell. Sarah’s my mom’s name and while I respect the origin of the name and all that history it has in my family it isn’t for me. Now when are we going? I can’t wait to use my bow on some monsters!”

Susan coughs, “I planned to head down in ten minutes so everyone had a chance to gather their stuff. The others already know. Now what did you mean by soul bow?”

Sarah pounds her fist against her chest, “The Soul! Like, that core part that makes us human and according to my overly confused guide who assured me what I did shouldn’t work, it is what makes us sapient. Luckily, some of the other guides in my tutorial had heard things about people using their souls.”

“Anyway, you probably already know, but there are a lot of different types of mystical energies out there. What you might not have known is the three main ones represent. Mana, the all powerful source of magic. True magic, mind you, not all the things people call magic because they can’t be bothered with finding out the real source. But yeah, mana is of the mind! The stereotype of smart mages isn’t wrong, though of course you can power it with any mental stat.”

“Qi, that ever popular eastern energy is power from one’s body. While it is connected to wisdom in our mythology, that’s just hogwash related to only the wiser practitioners survive long enough to be recognized. Qi is the energy in your blood and of swinging your fists till either you can’t or your enemy is gone.”

“Finally is what I use. Some religions would call it Prana. If you’ve heard of yogis and chakra points, this is it. It is also another reason Qi gets connected to wisdom. But yeah, your soul’s power to change the world in the most literal sense. I don’t actually call it Prana though as that gives it connotations that just aren’t there in reality. Something bound to happen when you connect it to a religious system without having access to the actual energy in the first place.”

“I’m still trying to figure out all the differences. Most interesting about that though is that once I figured out that I don’t need to mess around with the whole chakra thing, the system even changed what it was called in my status. I can’t tell you what it is now called, though. Not because I don’t want to but because I would need telepathy or something similar. It’s true name isn’t something you can speak. Isn’t that awesome? I’m practicing something that words can’t even describe!”

Susan blinks, “Oookay. Well, be ready in ten, wait, no, seven minutes. We’ll head out then.”

Bell gives a thumbs up and runs off to grab her bow. Once she is gone Zach laughs at Susan’s reaction, “Don’t worry, whatever Bell is doing works. She is just a bit worked up over it. She is literally too lucky, so this was her best path to take.”

Susan shakes her head, “Ace suggested her so that’s all I need. Just make sure you’re at the dungeon entrance in time.”

Seven minutes pass and we find the six gathered up. The Barrais arrived first as they had been ready before Susan went to talk to Ace. Right behind them was Doctor as he had figured this would happen when Susan ran out of spores. Then Zach shows up, dragging Bell behind him. Last to arrive is Kelly, not late but exactly on time as she used as much of her time as possible in advancing her research.

With everyone together, Susan claps to get their attention. “Okay, everyone is here. All of you should have completed both the original floors so the new layout will be a breeze. Let’s use it as a chance to make sure our teamwork gels. Now let’s start our dive!”

The six of them enter the dungeon and note that the first room is still clear of goats. Bell laughs, “This will make organizing parties a lot easier at the start! No need to try and get in formation before you enter.”

That out of the way they continue onto the first encounter. Of course at this point four goats wouldn’t cause problems for any random group of six people in the settlement, so the Barrai’s just wash them.

In the next room there is even less challenge. Though this time because of the two core members and not any of the founders. Zach waves his hand and the vines all swing up and out of the way to reveal both kobolds and the three goats. Then next to him Bell shots off five arrows in rapid succession, each one glowing with a slight yellow radiance.

The arrows all hit the stunned monsters in rapid succession. This isn’t enough to kill the goats in one hit, just stun them, the kobolds don’t even get a chance to make a noise before they die. Then with the goats stunned, Zach slices down with his hand and the vines above the three descend like spears, creating a bloody mess.

Doctor whistles, “I’d put you up there with Jim on the list of people I don’t want to fight in a forest.”

Zach shrugs, “There isn’t much power behind it. I just have a high skill level that lets me control a lot of them at once.”

Kelly frowns, “Why did you just go and take care of the wolves when they were still in the forest?”

Zach sighs, “You probably have the wrong idea of what I can do from watching Ace and his vines. I am just controlling plants. They are still just normal plants, so even if I threw all the trees at them it would do nothing. Those wolves would have just swiped once or twice and absolutely destroyed the trees. Ace just calls up vines out of the ground that can somehow grab and hold onto any enemy for at least a few moments. My abilities are much better for farming and crafting right now. Maybe in the future I will be able to raise up forests to drown out my enemies. For now just let me process some logs into planks. I can’t even strengthen them all that much.”

Kelly nods, “Reasonable. A control skill is different from an attack skill. Though speaking of strengthening the wood, can you do that while they are alive?”

Zach tilts his head to the side, “Huh, I haven’t actually tried that. Going with how my skills and paths seem to be themed, that might actually be the better way to do it. I might even be able to strengthen the wood more if I grow the tree myself. Though that would be a longer term goal. Which I guess is inline with how I’ve been building myself anyway.”

Bell laughs, “You’re just going to end up a forest hermit, aren’t you? That fits you so well!”

Zach rolls his eyes, “Maybe I would get some peace and quiet.”

Bell shakes her head, “Silly boy, forest hermits are only second to mountain top sages in being bothered by young heroes!”

Zach lets out a long-suffering sigh, “Let’s just move to the next room already.”

No one else had anything to add, so they formed up and moved on. In the next room, things didn’t exactly get harder either. With the party so heavy on ranged attackers and with even the frontline being more burst damage, six goats just aren’t going to be a challenge. Still, that room and the next allow them to get used to working with one another.

Now though, they reach the main goat room for the first floor. The Barrais enter with confidence and all the goats charge. From back in the hallway, an arrow and three spells fly. First to strike is the arrow which pierces a goat’s skull in an impressive display of strength.

As Susan and Jeremy face the first couple goats, two of the spells land to the sides. Kelly’s spell is what has quickly become a standard of the settlement, the fire ribbon. It slices through the neck of not one but two goats as it arcs off into the left wall. Doctor hasn’t done too much with attack spells so his is something most people would recognize, an untyped magic missile. A guided spell which is best known for basically always hitting. This time is no exception, though the spell trades pure damage for this feature. While hit, the goat isn’t stopped let alone killed by the attack.

Slower than the rest, Zach’s spell hits last but has a significant effect on the battle. Like the rest of them he had been wearing a light pack and from it he had grabbed out a bundle of cotton rope. With an almost half-hearted toss, he had pitched it into the room. Once in the air, it starts to unwind until the mass smacks right into the boss goat and the rope sprays outward. While the rope is a pre-system product that doesn’t change the fact it was well made and is able to restrain the much stronger monster.

Normally a single monster wouldn’t change the fight too much, but the whole party is basically a glass cannon. Even the Barrais and that goat was the only one that could survive an attack or two. With it tied up, everyone else is able to clear out the room while Zach continues to channel his magic. Things wrap up cleanly once only the lead goat is left.

With the room free of enemies, Zach calls the rope back. As it comes to him while winding itself back into a bundle, the blood also is pushed out of it. Not that it matters too much as the blood evaporates just like the rest of the monster, but it shows how great his control of the rope is.

When they enter the next room Zach turns to the Barrais. “Let me harvest the berries, I have a skill for it and with my magic can do it a lot faster.”

Jeremy shrugs, “Long as they get harvested. Though I have to ask, if you have the skill why haven’t you been helping so far with harvesting the herbs?”

Zach rolls his eyes, “Maybe if there was ever more than a couple herbs in a room. By the time I spot them, it is just because you two have already gotten down next to the herb to harvest it. I’m more of a farmer than a forager.”

Susan laughs, “Fair enough, now let us see what you can do with the berries. The olives come up next and I suspect you’re the source of all the high quality olive oil that has been going around.”

Zach shrugs as the bushes all extend the berries outwards, dropping them into his held out pack. “Well, you’ve already seen me process entire trees into perfect planks of wood. If I can slough off a tree’s bark and straighten out knots, there isn’t really anything stopping me from extracting the olive oil.”

Susan claps, “Oh, me and you are going to be good friends from now on!”

Bell coughs, “We need him over at construction.”

Susan looks over at Bell with a wide grin, “Oh don’t worry deary, I just want him to help process our herbs. He can be all yours.”

Bell turns beet red but grabs Zach’s arm, “Fine!”

Zach stands there as wooden as the trees he deals with and coughs, “So uh, last room to the floor next? Also, anyone getting the honey? I can’t really do much with stone and wax.”

Jeremy holds up a jar sealed with beeswax. “Don’t worry, I got it while the drama was happening. We can go and play around with the last bit of the floor. Though just as a reminder, it is back to being two rooms. The kobold camp and the leader with their five goats. Shouldn’t be much of a problem, especially since there is only the healer mage left.”

Akhier

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