Mantle of the Gods

Chapter 26

Everyone was outside before it was time to get up.

After the previous morning's antics, no one wanted to be on the receiving end of a lot of cold water, but that desperation didn't mean that there weren't a few of us yawning. We spent a long time in the dungeon the day before and I could tell that Edward wasn't used to that much physical strain or activity. I wondered if Aelin didn't work much in the evening given how much she was yawning while looking like she was barely staying awake as we gathered in a half circle around our teacher. For me, it felt like just another day and to be honest I wasn't doing much different than I would have been doing if I hadn’t received a mantle.

“Are we going back into the dungeon?” I asked as the teacher stood quietly for what I considered way too long. If we didn't start doing something soon, I was afraid that both Aelin and Edward were going to fall asleep.

Edward had already sat down on the ground and Aelin was propped up against Justia with her eyes barely open. I adjusted the strap on the sling bag that I had purchased with the last of my money from yesterday. Justia had covered the cost of my ration box so that I could afford it, but considering I had everyone's rations for the day and what was left over of the bandages after she had wrapped Ether’s hands and arms, I felt like it was a decent trade. I wondered why a Noble would seemingly be able to keep up with the rest of us in terms of stamina but that was a question for another day. Trent looked like he was muttering to himself then he opened his eyes with a smirk that told me he had thought of something truly devious.

“Yes, we are.” He turned on his heels and walked out of the yard.

I held out my hand to help Edward stand up and Justia jostled Aelin awake as the others followed after our teacher. I was starting to feel a little more familiar with the twists and turns that we were taking as we went down to the dungeon mouth. There was a different attendant behind the desk, but either this one had been informed of our excursion or was aware of our teacher’s authority. Either way, there was only a silent exchange between our teacher and the attendant before the gate sealing the mouth of the dungeon dropped and he let us through.

Once we were in the dungeon we looked at our teacher for direction about what we would be doing that day. After a very awkward staring contest, at least on my part, our teacher motioned towards the woods.

“You are losing a lot of time.” he sat down beside the gate.

“Isn't there going to be a lecture?” The others groaned at my question.

Trent started to speak then considered for a moment.

“One of the mainstays of Adventures is grinding in the dungeon. Farmers will do this in order to make money, but Explorers and the ones pushing the depths have to stop and farm as well.” He looked at each of us. “Why is that?”

“For money!” Aelin's voice was still heavily filled with sleep.

Our teacher nodded, “True. You'll need money to get patched up, buy new gear, or for food.” There was a momentary twinkle in his eye that told me there was a lot more to that list than he was adding, but now didn't seem like the time to ask him to expand upon that list.

“What's another reason?” He looked over the group then his eyes rested on me, “Atlas?”

“Levels.”

“Exactly!” He motioned out at the woods, “When do you think all of you will be ready for the next floor?”

“When we're level two?” Ether asked

“Maybe.” our teacher shifted as he got more comfortable, “There are some who are able to go many levels deeper than their level, while others are unable to clear depths that are much lower than their level. Why do you think that is?”

“Stats.” I said

“Gear.” Ether asked at almost the same time

He looked at our Healer, “Justia, you looked like you were about to say something.”

Justia shifted for a moment then cleared her throat, “Party dynamics.”

He smiled at her response, “All of those are very viable answers and each of them makes up part of the answer.” he pointed at the buffer, “How can you work on all of those?”

“If we had more money then we could buy better gear.” Aelin shifted when he didn’t congratulate her on her answer.

“Keep going.”

“We need crystals to get money, and we need to fight monsters to get crystals!” The blonde woman got excited, “And the more monsters we fight, the more experience we get, which will level us up!”

“The more you fight together and spend time together, the better or worse your party dynamic will become.” He inclined his head, “Something to remember is that the six of you are going to be together for the next six years, so you need to work on your party cohesion.”

“How long will it take us to hit level two?” Edward asked,

“At the rate you're going?” Trent began to think, “Probably a month.”

If it was going to take a month for us to get to level two then I was going to have to find some way to contribute other than being the party's Porter. Given that it was going to take ten days by myself just to get enough crystals to buy a new skill and that was if I didn't need to spend the money on anything else. I felt the level fourteen crystal in my pocket and decided I would ask my teacher about it later. For now, I had other things to focus on.

“Let's go!” Aelin shouted. Somehow her exhaustion had vanished at the prospect of making money. She took off into the woods.

We looked to the teacher for guidance.

“You better go after her.” He closed his eyes and leaned against the gate.

We looked at each other for a moment then took off into the woods after our enthusiastic Buffer.