As Jay arrived at the mist keep dungeon there were adventurers out the front like usual, but Jay still didn’t see Stephen this time. This caused him to smile, and the atmosphere even seemed more positive without that guy here.
Most adventures didn’t approach Jay now, they realised it was pointless to try and recruit him into their parties, but many still looked with gawking expressions; still shocked that Jay was level 9.
Jay passed by them as usual without saying a word, but he noticed that the group sizes were much smaller now, with the majority of adventurers in parties of two or three.
There were not even any parties of 5 anymore.
“Huh, I guess three must be the ideal number?” thought Jay as he walked past quietly.
This party size served the adventurers of Losla well, because now the more experienced duo’s were taking in lower level people and helping them to level up as a trio.
The majority had melee-based classes too, and they were finding that the ideal party structure consisted of two melee with either one ranged or one mana.
At least for now it was ideal anyway, as the higher level dungeons sometimes required small armies of men; blacksmiths, hospitals, mess halls inside fortified base camps were constructed in such dungeons, being necessary to conquer them.
Of course, the rewards would similarly reflect such grand efforts.
Just before Jay entered the level three dungeon, he saw a familiar face - Anya. He simply nodded and was going to walk past, not desiring to talk with her.
“Hey Jay.” she said placidly, he wasn’t sure if it was a greeting or a question.
“Hi Anya.” he said as he continued to walk by here.
Some other adventurers began to watch the exchange. The level nine Jay was actually talking to someone?
“Wow, he just acknowledged her? Look” someone said quietly from the crowd.
“It's the guild masters daughter. He basically has to.” Another whispered back.
Anya wanted to ask Jay something, and the next thing Anya said seemed like it was hard to say, but she squeezed it out nonetheless.
“I’m level eight now, want to party up?”
Jay finally stopped walking, and a mischievous smile formed on his face as he turned to her.
“With me? Are you sure this is what Sullivan wants?” he teased her.
Anya said bluntly “No, I would just like to see how far we can get.” she pursed her lips.
As the guild master's daughter, she was supposed to be the highest level adventurer, people were supposed to be asking her to party with them.
She had trained diligently in the guild all her life, and now some butcher was easily a higher level. She had to restrain her pride as she asked Jay.
Of course he had a monster class, but this didn’t factor into Anya's thought pattern.
“Hmm. Ok. But this isn’t a free ride.” Jay slightly smiled, he had tested her pride and she came out humble.
Anya rolled her eyes. “I’m quite capable, you’ll see.”
Jay was actually happy to have her helping. The third pyramid was next, and he wouldn’t mind some help. The second pyramid would have gone much more smoothly with her there.
“I forget how to invite someone…” thought Jay, feeling a little awkward - but thankfully he received a notification before anyone realised.
[Party Invitation - Anya]
[Accept / Decline]
Jay decided to collect his experience points before partying up - just in case he had to share it.
[620 Exp]
“Good” he thought; his productive minions were diligent as always.
“Accept” thought Jay, as he formed a party with her once more.
[You are now the party leader]
Anya made him the leader, meaning he would now be the only one able to invite others; it was practically pointless, but among adventurers it was an unspoken sign of respect.
“Thanks. Let’s quickly enter the dungeon.” he said, before she had a chance to check anything.
Jay wasn’t sure if the disguise stone worked while in a party, and if she knew that he was level 10, there was a small chance she would blurt it out in surprise, so he wanted to quickly enter.
“Wow, he actually partied up with someone, did you see that?” one of the lower level adventurers spoke loudly enough for others to hear.
“I guess he isn’t always solo,” another said, slightly surprised.
In Losla, most people thought that perhaps Jay was going solo for popularity or fame, so after some adventurers saw this, it made him seem like he was being fake.
People built up an idea about Jay in their heads that bear no resemblance to reality, it was purely assumption.
Anya would get more popular after this, as she was the only one Jay had partied up with so far.
Of course, Jay had no idea about any of this, and neither would he care about it. He was solely focused on getting stronger and learning his respective craft - necromancy.
Anya obliged with a serious nod and quickly walked to the dungeon behind Jay. Clearly what Jay said about her pulling her weight had brought out her professional side, and she was not going to be a burden.
To any adventurer this would be a massive opportunity, to party up with the one who was the highest level.
Entering the dungeon, Jay found himself at the second pyramid.
“Huh?” he wondered.
Last time he came here, he would always end up at the start of the dungeon.
“Perhaps it’s because I conquered the pyramid?… but… hmm… I guess I didn’t technically conquer the first pyramid as Sedulus is still alive.”
Anya looked around, gasping as her eyes widened.
“Where are we? How much of this dungeon have you done?” she quickly whispered.
“This is the second pyramid.” Jay said leisurely, as he seemed a little distracted.
“...I need the skeletons to bring the soul stones back here if there are any.” he willed through his mental connection to his skeletons, ignoring Anya who was still looking around gawking.
Jay still needed a little under 300 regular soul stones to complete his quest, as well as the two greater ones.
He could sense that his minions weren’t too far away now because of [Necrotic Sense], and one of them had been tasked by Blue to bring the soulstones back to him.
“The second pyramid?” Anya finally said, shocked.
No one had even conquered the first pyramid yet, even with larger parties. It was simply a labyrinth with too many traps.
“Let me guess, you walked around the first one?”
“Nope.” Jay smiled smugly.
“Seriously?” she had a look of disbelief on her face, “You did it solo too?”
Technically he didn’t conquer the first pyramid, but he didn’t let the truth ruin a good story.
Jay only nodded in response as he looked towards the entrance of the pyramid - He already answered her question, there was no point saying yes again.
No exit opened up behind the stone throne so they would need to backtrack.
Anya read his body language and took out her crossbow, clearing the shock out of her system and getting ready.
She decided in her mind that she would not be a hindrance to Jay.
“Let’s move.” Jay said, heading back towards the entrance of the pyramid through the circles of light.
Anya tried to hide her smile as she stepped over the large toppled statues, a sign of a fierce past battle.
One statue was completely unidentifiable but she could tell that it was huge, even though all that remained now was dust, pebbles and rubble.
She hadn’t stepped foot inside this pyramid yet, so she was trying to study everything.
It seemed like a simple pyramid by the looks of it; there were no trap doors or winding twists and turns, so she didn’t bother to ask Jay for any tips about it - of course, this was a huge mistake.
As Jay exited the pyramid, the black highway came into view - filled with more rubble of past battles.
A fire was slowly rising inside Anya’s belly as she could only imagine fighting through these blockades of stone statues.
The giant pillars on each side only made it seem like the battle was that much more glorious; just the sight made her feel energised, roaring for battle.
Suddenly, Anya crouched on one knee and aimed at something approaching them; it was coming at high speed, she had to act fast.
“Wait.” Jay held his hand up, knowing what she was aiming at.
Jay’s skeleton, Sweeper, was bringing him a soul stone as it dashed through the ruined city and over destroyed buildings.
[17.5 Exp][17.5 Exp]
The other three skeletons killed two more statues as they waited.
Jay was only getting half as much exp now that Anya was here, he didn’t mind it too much as he got plenty of exp while he slept anyway. The real problem for Jay was when it came to the boss fights; Jay would need more firepower, and the skeletons just didn’t quite cut it.
Anya however had a different reaction to the free experience.
She had only been in this dungeon for 10 minutes and already it was like they killed two statues - though neither had done so much as lift a finger in battle.
She was trying to hide her shock, and a small part of her felt like she owed Jay something.
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