Live Dungeon!

Having teleported to the Grasslands of the first layer, Tsutomu scanned the nearby plants and trees swaying in the wind until he got a general grasp of the current location, and then replaced his Potions just in case, equipping them onto his belt. Since this was the first layer, Tsutomu knew that there was virtually no chance of the team being in a tight spot, but his preparations were for trouble-making Explorers that they may or may not get into trouble with along the way.

The first few layers of the Dungeon were full of the bad eggs among Explorers, so one could not be too careful, but then again, not many of them would be so reckless as to attack those from the major Clans. If they were to catch a fight, Leon would surely rush over and have them arrested, and that was assuming they could even match any of the team’s levels in the first place. Statistically speaking, there was no chance of those buggers defeating any of the three.

While Tsutomu finished up refilling his Potions, Barbara gazed at the wind-swept grasslands, her large round ears slowly wiggling on top of her head, and Eunice looked around briefly, her eyes signifying utmost boredom, before proceeding to practice casting >.

On the way to the Guild, Tsutomu had asked the two some simple questions about the layers’ monsters and safe areas. As a result, he had been made aware that Barbara was only familiar with layers she had previously leveled on, which were fifty-one to fifty-three; Eunice, on the other hand, had answered everything correctly.

In terms of combat prowesses, once when Eunice had been targeted by monsters after using >, she had been able to keep herself from dying while waiting for Leon to get his equipment ready again. Therefore, she had already garnered quite a lot of experience in actual combat and survival, and would not gain much from this trip to the Grasslands.

Barbara, on the other hand, had spent most of her levels in layers fifty-one to fifty-three, occasionally observed the others through the Monitors, and on rare occasions had gone to the Beach on the forty-first layer to replenish the Clan’s Potion Fish supply. She had not explored the other layers much aside from her first time through them.

As such, while she was used to dealing with the beast-type monsters of the fifty-first layer such as Verdant Wolves and Red Grizzlies, she had been neglecting measures against Goblins, Orcs, and other bipedal creatures. Tsutomu, with that in mind after he had seen Barbara in action during the earlier visit to the Canyons, had suggested to her that she started exploring from the first layer.

“For starters, let’s roam around and search for Goblins or Kobolds to practice on.”

“Got it.”

Barbara, wearing a round helmet, nodded in response to Tsutomu and proceeded to walk on ahead through the Grassland. Eunice kept on practicing her > as she and Tsutomu walked on behind Barbara; Tsutomu was secretly impressed that Eunice’s shots were starting to take a rounded shape now.

At one point, three tall silhouettes emerged from the shades of the vegetation; they were Goblins. Noticing the three Explorers, the monsters briefly tensed up, then held up the clubs in their hands as they raised their grating voices.

“Barbara. Use >, please.”

“>!”

Barbara unleashed her aura, wrapping all three Goblins in red light and prompting them to immediately turn to her. She then readied her spear, but Tsutomu called out to her,

“Oh, one more thing — you don’t have to attack this time. Just focus on defending and not getting surrounded,” Tsutomu directed.

Barbara nodded and pulled back her spear, then caught a Goblin’s club swing with her buckler and flicked it away. With the overwhelming level difference and Goblins already being a weak monster, it did not take any struggle to blow the creature back. Seeing how Barbara was holding an advantage over the Goblins, with her gradually pushing forward, Tsutomu pointed his white staff at the Goblins.

“>.”

Three green clumps of energy struck the three Goblins, providing them with a boost of AGI. Now slightly faster, one of the Goblins managed to take Barbara by surprise and land a blow on her arm, which led to the other ones following up with more hits. But this was a non-issue; Barbara’s VIT rating was an A-; as long as she did not take a critical strike, the Goblins’ attacks were no more than bug bites to her.

Eventually, getting used to the flow of the fight, Barbara started regaining her advantage, stabilizing the situation. Tsutomu, seeing that the Goblins had been weakened by the last few buckler bashes, cast > on them. Eunice paid close attention to Tsutomu’s > shots while practicing to make one herself.

After a while, more Goblins and dog-faced Kobolds in the area started gathering around, having heard the sounds of the ongoing battle. Tsutomu instructed Barbara to use > as soon as possible, then retreated to the back in order to avoid the Kobolds’ claw swipes.

The enemy group now numbered more than ten. Still, each of them was only as tall as human children, and their physical prowesses were relatively weak. On their own, they posed virtually no threat, but it was a different story if they were to work together.

“Gah, damn–“

Barbara, noticing that she had been surrounded by all ten, immediately scrambled her way out of the fray. The monsters gave chase. Barbara knocked them back one by one, but then she was hit by the Goblins that had gone around to her flanks. Not being quick enough to deal with the ones on her sides, she was starting to be surrounded again.

Taking club blows on her helmet, Barbara’s brows twitched at the sounds of ringing metal, but she still managed to push a Kobold aside and successfully retreat. Tsutomu watched over Barbara as she repeated this process, and shot > to the weakened monsters.

“Eunice, you can shoot those at the monsters if you think that’d help. Maybe you’ll get the hang of it more easily if you have a target.”

“...I know.”

Seeing Barbara semi-panic while being surrounded by the monsters, Eunice could not help but feel somewhat sorry for the former, but she did as Tsutomu had told her and cast > at the monsters. Her shots were skill vapor-like, but their cores were starting to have a spherical shape and their flying range had increased. Although it did not quite reach the monsters seven meters away yet, it was indeed an improvement from before.

“At the rate you’re going, I suppose you might be done in less than a week.”

“...I’ll master it within two days, you’ll see.”

“All right. Good luck,” Tsutomu gave a brief, inoffensive reply, what with him not being particularly interested in Eunice for now.

“...>.”

Noticing the arrival of new Goblins, Tsutomu counted them, and made sure that not more than fifteen surrounded Barbara at once by killing the excesses with >. Eunice, taking Tsutomu’s reply as dismissive, kept on practicing her > despite her annoyance.

――▽▽――

Barbara kept on fighting the Goblins for almost three more hours without a break. The heat building up in her armor had made her struggle to catch her breath; her not getting as much air as she’d like had greatly dulled her decision-making. Tsutomu had at one point suggested clearing out the Goblins and taking a break, but Barbara had silently refused him and kept on fighting, constantly taking on at least ten Goblins at any given moment.

Though her mind was getting murkier and murkier with the rising heat of her body, she refused to stop. After constant constant action for three hours, her movements had become so ingrained in her mind that she was moving almost subconsciously now.

Upon seeing the motion of a Goblin raising its club, Barbara was prompted to take a step back in advance, and then she raised her buckler to block a Kobold that was tackling at her from the right. As the Goblin’s club swung past in front of her, she knocked the monster away with a strike from the butt end of her spear.

“>.”

Although the Goblins’ AGI had been constantly enhanced by Tsutomu’s magic, Barbara was now positioning herself well enough to not be surrounded by them and the Kobolds. Barbara’s not being surrounded made it easier for one to shoot her a >, which meant that Eunice was having an easier time, too.

Tsutomu had other options when it came to healing a surrounded Tank, such as using > to ascend into the sky and drop a > spell from above, or get to an elevated ground and throw a > like a curveball. It would be too much to ask a beginner like Eunice to try doing those, however, so Tsutomu had decided to teach Barbara to avoid being surrounded by monsters instead.

Being able to achieve the latter compromise still meant that she could fulfill the minimum roles that Tsutomu had in mind. An ideal Tank would be able to maintain their resistance, keeping themself from being surrounded, and defeat some monsters while they were at it, but training from the upper layers down was necessary to get to that skill level. As such, Tsutomu now was not expecting Barbara to do all that, what with her not having much of a fundamental to work with yet. All she needed to do for now was to attract the monsters’ attention, avoid being surrounded, and try her best not to die. Tsutomu thought that if she could do just those, then things would be all good going forward.

As Barbara began to have a coughing fit after moving constantly for hours, signifying that she was at her limits, Tsutomu used > to slice the remaining Goblins and Kobolds in half. As the horde of monsters disappeared, Barbara collapsed to the ground with a loud crash.

“Now, Eunice. Please cast long-ranged > and > on Barbara.”

Following Tsutomu’s instruction, Eunice chugged down a vial of cheap Blue Potion and started casting the specified spells. Her >, though almost a round energy ball now, still had a vapor-like property in spots. Once it came into contact with Barbara, it turned out the effect was only about twenty percent of the expected result.

After five minutes of lying on the ground, catching her breath, and taking several > and > shots from Eunice, Barbara stood up, her strength finally recovered. She took off her helmet, parted her brown hair from her forehead, and stared blankly ahead for a while. The large, round bear ears on top of her head were also folding down. Seeing her like that, Tsutomu put on a smile and said to her,

“Thanks for your hard work. You’re pretty good.”

“Pretty good...? Those were just Goblins, you know. I’ve still got a long way to go until I’m a proper Tank... Haha.”

“Oh, no — you see, I’ve also buffed the monsters with >, so you not getting surrounded was good enough already. If you keep this up, I say you’ll be a Tank fit for the main party in just a month!”

“Y-you mean it?”

To Tsutomu’s cheerful tone and the referenced time frame of one month, Barbara’s eyes widened as she stared at him. The former looked back and affirmed her with a smile,

“Of course; why would I lie to you now? Keep going one step at a time, and you’ll get there soon enough. Your level is already high, and your Heavy Knight Job is a good fit for your race. Besides, you’re not too bad at dealing with beast-type monsters, either.”

“A-ah, I see.”

Reaffirmed by Tsutomu’s statements, Barbara’s bear ears started to stand back up, with her feeling confident in herself that she had indeed improved. Tsutomu, seeing that energy was starting to return to her blankly-staring eyes, nodded in agreement with her.

“Tomorrow, let’s go to a deeper layer — yes, six should do. You’ve gotten great at countering Goblins and Kobolds, so I reckon you’ll want to get those moves of yours down on a basic level. Let’s try them on the Wastelands’ Skeletons next.”

“Got it!”

Barbara, now having fully regained her energy, accepted a towel from Tsutomu and wiped off her sweat, then proceeded to pick up the buckler and spear that she had dropped earlier. Eunice, not liking that Tsutomu had praised Barbara so much, gave him a suspicious look.

[Maybe I’m going overboard... But she is motivated, so that’s all good, I guess.]

Back in the game Live Dungeon, when he had established himself a Clan and acted as its Leader, he had guided beginner Clan Members through the same training routine that Barbara was going through now.

He had always praised the good parts of the new members’ actions when he saw them. There was a clear difference in the retention rate of new clan members depending on whether or not that was done. It was especially true for beginners and novices, so Tsutomu had tried his best to liven up the in-game chat as he trained them.

However, since expressions and tones of voice did not carry over in text, he had occasionally made the wrong choices of words. Naturally, Tsutomu would want new members to leave so soon, so he had worked to improve himself on that front. As such, if he were to predict someone’s personality when meeting them face-to-face, he was sure not to make any mistakes in his speech.

Barbara’s current level was sixty-five. It was technically not normal for someone like her to struggle against Goblins, but Tsutomu still made it a point to praise what she did right, no matter how small, having predicted that she was humble and that she would not react negatively to being praised.

Eunice’s personality, on the other hand, was the equivalent of a contrarian intermediate player who had become a little more familiar with the game. Among players on that level, many of the so-called contrarians, certain prideful people, and highschool-age players tended to become unhappy upon receiving praise.

Moreover, since Tsutomu did not have that nice of an opinion on Eunice’s character in the first place, he had figured that it did not really matter how he taught her as long as she got it.

“Well then, shall we call it a day?” Tsutomu asked, to which Barbara replied with a cheerful attitude, while Eunice, unamused, groaned up her nose and gave only a short answer.