Chapter 2: Meeting The Golems

After breakfast, again a sandwich and coffee to save what coin he could for when he finds a potion vendor, Cain heads to the starting dungeon, as Misha called it. There's a short lineup outside, and a few people in line cast glances at his starter robes before looking away. Maybe they think he's the monk class, A melee fighter he saw in the basic options? "He, you rookie? Got a weapon yet?" The leader of a group leaves the dungeon, as Ks and Cain shake their heads. "Here. Wooden Bat, it's a copper at the weapon shop, but they won't buy them back. I just like using them for the thud." The man laughs after handing over the bat and walks away. Most are going alone, a hthree-personson group is an oddity. Then Cain sees them line up again and realizes what's going on. Power level. When he gets to the front of the line, the attendant stops him, looking at a timer that counts down from one minute. At zero, he pushes Cain through without a word. "That was odd. Maybe there's a wait so you don't end up in someone else's instance?" The total lack of explanation of what's going on would be a nightmare for a new player, but Cain had enough experience in VR games to be used to the basic mechanics. Still, a map, directions to town essentials, something, anything at all would have been nice. It's not as if people seem to be big on lending a hand. Like, there's an unspoken rule of 'figure it out yourself'. Except for the guy who gave him a bat and that cute cleric, so maybe the player base isn't all that bad. "Now, to bring out the Golems. [Summon Lesser Golem] They're two small, clay, doll-like Golems with wooden knives. Not the most impressive, but maybe they're tough, Cain hoped. The dungeon seems to be a rough gray stone tunnel system with a high ceiling and uneven floors, like they were naturally formed by flowing water. There's nothing by the entry portal, so Cain and his Golems begin to move forward. Turning the corner to his left brings him to his first group of enemies in this game world. A grey wolf and 4 angry-looking feral cats. Not the most impressive, but armed with a baseball bat and no gear, they might be dangerous. The two small Golems seem to have a vendetta against the cats, immediately charging them and reminding Cain he never set any actions for them. But the default settings for follow and aggression aren't too bad for now. The wolf ignores the snarling and hissing fight between cats and Golems to charge at Cain, lunging with its teeth towards the startled gamer's neck. "First one catches me off guard every time," Cain mutters, swinging the bat to knock the wolf aside. The life bar turns green to yellow, indicating wounded, but it seems he doesn't have the experience or maybe the needed skill to accurately detect their remaining life. A second hit catches the scrawny wolf in the side, and it collapses to the ground, its inventory gaining one wolf claw. Seconds later, he gains two small pelts and notices his Golems are looking a bit rough, but have taken down two feral cats. Cain runs over to help, and they finish the encounter, gaining one more pelt drop. The Golems are quickly returning to perfect shape, so Cain moves on to the next pack, a pair of wolves. This proves easier, the Golems distracting them gives Cain a chance to club them down with the bat, gaining three claws and a piece of wolf meat. "I hope this can be solved," Cain says to himself lf "But it feels like a game; someone in town should buy them, right?" Another pack down and a notification pops up in front of his eyes, almost startling him off his feet. [Level 2] Sweet, a level up after only 3 packs. At least the early levels aren't too hard. Busting through cats and wolves isn't Cain's favorite sort of dungeon, but before long, he stands in front of a boss. A dire wolf almost as big as he is. The Dire Wolf doesn't seem to care about his Golems, shrugging off their attacks and striking at Cain, who is doing his best to get a solid hit in with the blood-covered baseball bat. Note to self, find something to wrap the handle, this bat is getting slippery. It takes all of twenty minutes to down the boss, and he's left looking at a shining white book on the ground. Picking it up shows the description. [Book of Poisoned Arrow] usable by Ranger, Hunter, and Rogue. A book? These were supposed to be super rare, according to Misha, and he got one e his first run. [Level 3] [Dungeon Clear] The notifications popped up in front of his eyes. If it took her two weeks to get to level 11, Misha must have had a very bad time in this dungeon. "Before going in again, I need to buy a bow. The skill says it creates the arrows, but I need to have a bow equipped. I hope this loot sells for enough." The total for the collected items came to 5 silver, more than enough for the 1 silver cheapest decent bow in the weaponsmith. Cain flips through the combat options in his menu, finding he can individually set commands for his Golems if he wants. Verbally, manually through the menu, or mentally. The most important option he's looking for is grayed out, though. [Hit Box Targeting] requires [Advanced Targeting] or [Auto Targeting] skill to activate. "Fine, I'll go over to the Hall and see what they have for skills. Give me something to work towards. In their records, [Advanced Targeting], a rank B skill, was put up for auction here in town, banned as Transfer Village, once before. The final selling price was 15,000 gold pieces. Of course, it's rare to see good stuff in the very first village of a gam; everyone needs everything they get after all. "Well, that's a bit unrealistic for me. What do we have available?. [Ice Arrow] rank D skill, may freeze enemies on contact. 50 gold. That still might take a while, but a control skill is a mainstay for any ranged class. I'll work towards that," Cain tells himself, making the shopkeeper chuckle at his antics. After buying 10 beginner healing potions for a silver coin, Cain decides to head off to another round in the Dungeon. The potions don't heal much, and can only be used until level 10, but they make him feel much more secure. "So that's why nobody needs a Healer at the low levels. If they get a couple of silver to start, they can get a decent weapon and a stack of potions to get them through to level 10." The line was a lot shorter this time, and not many newbies ran the dungeon all day. Both because of injuries and to prevent exhaustion. The feral cats caused heavy damage to anyone without quick reflexes. "This wolf is too hard to hit," Cain sighed, switching to his bat when the beast got too close for arrows. He was spending so much time aiming that he wasn't even losing mana, and still hadn't hit the wolf at all. But his archery skills were getting better. He had watched many streaming videos on the topic out of boredom in the past and was starting to understand the technique better with every wolf he faced. By the final boss, he could even reliably hit the ones standing still to fight the Golems. But what to do about the boss? It charged right at him last time, so the best plan Cain can come up with is to just shoot straight ahead and hope it works. When he enters the boss's room, a roughly circular chamber in the Stone caverns with a waterfall running down one side and into a creek on the floor, the boss has its back turned, giving him a perfect opportunity for a second shot. Cain aims carefully and looses his Poisoned Arrow directly into the Dire Wolf's flank. Quickly, he readies a second, firing straight ahead. The boss doesn't dodge quickly enough and takes a second hit before the Golems are on it. Switching to the baseball bat, Cain fends off its attacks, steadily fading the health bar to red with the poison and the Golems alone. "No need to risk my neck. That method worked quite well, I'll have to take some time and practice my archery. But first, I need to sell all this and find somewhere better than a booth in the cafe to sleep."