Chapter 416 - Eugan, Shayna, Roculus, and Rat (Patreon)

How to clear the 1st floor is something I still don't know - the information is considered one of the more valuable ones. That kind of info you can also learn the deeper you get into that floor.

For now, I don't bother myself with it that much. My intention is just to experience the floor, to see how it compares to Hell difficulty. I also really hope to see other attendees in action.

These people should all be at the level of Tess, Savant, Lily, Tacita, and Gareth. There is a lot I could learn from them too.

Comparing myself to them is also something I plan to do. How do I stack up against them? Against people who came to Beyond multiple times already or who are on higher floors of the Hell tutorial?

That's why I carefully observe the group of 4 people that were formed into a unit together with me. The entire 20-man group is led by a single leader and split into 4 smaller ones with their own squad leaders.

Each of these squad leaders is a member of the core 7 people who started looking for the expedition.

So to make this easier, we now sit together around a table in a nearby inn, owned by one of the locals. The leader of our small group is a woman called Eugan.

Then there are Shayna, Roculus, and Rat.

Eugan is on the quieter side, but has a sort of confident aura around her. She is a mage and someone who seems to have decent Mana. She specializes in barriers and wide-range attacks. Out of all of us here, she has the most experience.

Of course, she doesn't share her level, subclass, or floor she is on. The identification emblem could be used that way, but without trust or a good reason, no one will do that.

Another member of our group is Shayna, and she isn't human. Her hair and eyes change color in sync with each other, and I'm currently in the process of discerning what color is for what emotion. I also suspect that she can hide it or manipulate it to her advantage, so I'm careful.

There are small wings on her back too, and her race seems to be the same as Lily’s disciple, whose name I already forgot.

Shayna can use a mental variation of a stun attack, and even that gets her a few surprised looks when she reveals it. Mental abilities seem to be rare in similar way healers are.

I wonder how these people would look at Sophie.

Other than that, the winged woman is good at single-target disruption and doesn't mention more.

Roculus is a close-range fighter. He wears no armor and relies on his tough body and regeneration. I even suspect that he might be puting less than 10% of his stats into mana.

That makes me wonder how much it would show. Would this still allow him to use his skills? Are there some skills that require mana for activation only and then rely on the body? There must be something to it, seeing how far that man got.

His preferred weapon is a combination of dagger and mace, both weapons upper epic if I had to guess. Dagger maybe with some poisoning effect? I couldn't examine them more as he already started giving me annoyed looks. Asshole.

Anyway, the last one is Rat. Just Rat. He is an older man who hasn't said a word other than introducing himself, and apparently, he will be our scout. He isn't human either; both of his arms are too long, and his skin color is grayish. I bet in some dark alley his figure would look very scary.

Rat can create… well, rats out of some weird substance he produces. These rats are extremely quick, and he can use them to scout.

I suspect he can do much more, but as everyone here, he doesn't reveal much.

And lastly, there is me, Noname. A kinetic energy bearer, for which I get a few curious looks but nothing more. Primordial energies seem to be rare, but not to the level of healers or mind mages. As intended, the amount of attention is just enough to make me interesting without delving deeper.

Secret identity arc? Future Nathaniel will have a blast with the setup I'm making here. Screw that weirdo too.

So yeah, kinetic energy, a decent weapon to use a bit of fire if needed, and relying on kinetic energy to strengthen his body. There I pretend I have most of my stats in physical stats instead of revealing the level of how I can use kinetic energy for strengthening.

And that's all, no more information for this squad of mine.

None talk that much as Eugan tries to get to know a bit more about our abilities and create some sort of cooperative atmosphere.

“Shayna, as I said, please use your mental attacks only on weaker opponents. It's not worth it using it on someone stronger. If we meet that kind of opponent, just go for single-target disruption,” Eugan gestures impatiently to the stubborn woman.

Shayna smiles and her eyes and hair change color to orange, then white and blue. “I'm sure I can better tell who to focus on with my abilities.”

She is totally playing with us by changing the color of her eyes and hair. That or she might be a bit crazy for her emotions to change that much.

Could be both.

“You know what opponents we will be facing, and trust me, mental attacks are nearly useless until you are of a much higher level. So tell me, can you control them or make them attack each other?”

“As if I would have such disgusting abilities.”

“They seem rather useful, I would like some,” Roculus smiles brightly and takes a sip of the third glass of some weird alcohol he bought. It could be poison too. It smells bad enough for that.

“I don't know how it is for you humans, but I despise such abilities.” Shayna answers.

“Trouble with someone with them?” Roculus asks curiously.

“On the second floor, one of us had a skill that caught the interest of the mind mage emperor. We had to kill that person on the third floor, and before he died, he took the lives of a few of my friends.”

Her hair and eyes change color to red and they stay that way. This time I don't think she is pretending.

“For your friends, may they rest in peace,” Roculus lifts his glass and then drinks up.

To that Shayna smiles just a bit and her hair becomes paler and gradually turns into a yellow color.

“And you, Roculus, any trouble?” she asks him.

“A bit, but such is life,” he smirks, a bit of barely noticeable cruelty shown in his expression.

I wonder if this trouble was caused by the man.

“Any of you are Champion candidates? Eugan? Roculus? and you two too, Noname, you said? And Rat,” Shayna asks, looking around.

“You can become a Candidate in the tutorial?” I ask.

“Maaaan,” Roculus laughs loudly.

Shayna frowns, “If you are talented enough and declared by a Champion. You heard of Champions, right?” she teases.

“Who didn't, but I thought you would need a real Champion, not someone from the tutorial, to declare you one,” I lay back and take a sip of my drink while returning their gazes.

“Apparently, you don't. It's rare, but you can be declared one. Hey Eugan, you are the longest here, how many attendees here in Beyond are Candidates as well?” Shayna asks, her eyes and hair turning pink.

Roculus and Rat also turn towards our leader.

She seems to think for a bit before answering, “Here in starting outposts I would say 10%, the further you get the bigger that percentage is.”

“I heard you need level 400 to become a Champion,” I lie.

“Bullshit,” Shayna giggles and shakes her head, “It's most likely 450 or 500. You are not very well informed.”

I shrug, “My group leader usually takes care of that and I just fight. He also said you get a Primary class upgrade at level 250.”

This time Roculus joins with an even louder laugh, “He is bullshitting you, man, listen, this info is for free. Body upgrade at 250 and I heard from an older Beyonder that the Primary class upgrade is at 300.”

I nod and make thankful gesture towards the man, “Yeah, my leader could be lying. Not like I like him that much. His name is Savant so if you meet him in Beyond avoid him. He is a notorious coward too and tends to run away when things become slightly dangerous.”

Satisfied with how the conversation goes, I take another sip.

Indeed, to make people talk it's best to say something stupid. They will then immediately jump at the opportunity to correct you.

“So you are all brawn and no brain, Noname?” Eugan nods at my ax, “Flamebearer, kinetic energy, most likely some regeneration trait or passive looking at how nicely your legs grow, and decent mastery over mana.”

Hmm, maybe I did show too much?

“I find internal manipulation of abilities easiest, so strengthening it is. Are we sharing our abilities now? Can I ask you to tell us more about yours, Eugan?” I look at her.

Roculus, Shayna, and even Rat turn to her, curious, to which the woman smiles and defensively lifts her hands.

“I just got curious. Of course, you don't have to answer if you don't want to.”

“Got it.” I nod and let them get into the conversation again. The same as me, Rat sits there and observes the others. And unlike me, he didn't say a single word and just watches, not blinking at all and constantly sniffing.

What a creepy guy.

***

After an hour longer, everyone goes their own way, with another meeting planned a few hours before the expedition itself. I also get a paper with some useful information.

The location of the entrance to the 1st floor of the dungeon. The time when to meet there. Some recommended supplies.

Interestingly, there is a recommendation to get an item to defend food and water against the influence the floor will have on it. That item could be a bag, some weird packaging, and similar stuff.

Apparently, the floor makes the food spoil much faster and the water becomes unsafe to drink if not stored carefully. Unsafe even for superhumans like us.

Of course, these protective items have to be bought.

I also get a contract, a paper with a stamp that glows in a pale blue color to check before signing.

Contracts can be written on paper or nearly any different material. Stamps are something you can buy from some specialized institution here to confirm that contract.

Thanks to that stamp, the contract becomes acknowledged by the Beyond's system. That means if one side decides to not keep up the contract, there will be consequences. And it seems like there is a group called Enforcers that deal with these consequences.

There are also multiple tiers of stamps and the highest one ensures that the contract is upheld by the System itself or by Handlers, who are the top dogs here. Most of the Handlers are located in outposts deeper into the dungeon.

Each piece of this information makes my cold heart beat excitedly.

My handler mentioned something about adventure and fun, and I agree with her. This place also isn't that dissimilar to the floors, but there is one huge difference.

Everyone here is real.

It's fun I'm allowed to enjoy even more by not blocking my emotions anymore. But I also prepare in the back of my mind. As far as I can tell currently, we newcomers might be sacrifices ready to be thrown away so the core group of 7 people will survive.

Eugan did strike me as such a type, and I have noticed her sneakily putting some sort of marks on each one of us with the help of some item.

So far, I don't remove that mark and instead examine it. It seems to have three functions: something like a locator, another one is a single pulse of disruption directed at me, and the third one is a single use of a small burst of mana sent into the area. Maybe something to bring attention to me while they run?

The amount of mana it contains is very little, so each of these functions can be used only once and only one of them. It's amusing, but it also disappoints me that the others didn't seem to notice.

Or maybe they did and decided to stay quiet?

Well, in the end, even if they are real, it doesn't matter. I will treat them the same way they treat me, and if they decide to betray me or use me, I might add some extra…

***

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