"System, use analyze."
[This appears to be a trap door floor. The original party opened a treasure chest only to find an angry horde of 20 B ranked golems. 18/20 remaining. Golems are immune to magic, use sword skills and hand to hand combat. Good luck!]
'Trap door floor? That's not good.'
[PING. New goal: Clear the golems and save the person on this floor with you. Reward: ????]
'Sweet, a new goal.'
His excitement dwindled as his eyes swept the room, frightened by the sight of three dismembered bodies, fresh blood, limbs torn from their bodies, lying awkwardly across the dungeons' opaque floor.
He started cutting down some golems.
"What do you think you're doing asshole? My room. My golems. My treasure," an annoyed young woman shouted at Sora.
He turned his shoulder and the most beautiful woman he ever laid eyes on was staring at him with the most pissed off expression imaginable. Her petite frame, yet amazing body wasn't even the most beautiful part about her. Her natural blue hair with teal eyes would make any man on Earth drop dead.
'She's literally perfect…' he thought before he yelled back.
"I'm just trying to help!"
"Who said I needed your help?"
She did a really beautiful and powerful spin move with her Katanas to decapitate a golem.
"I promise I'm not after your treasure, just let me help you out!" Sora cried out emphatically.
"Yeah, sure, whatever. Go ahead then Mr. tough guy. Show me how much of a badass you are." she said, still clearly displeased.
Sora fought his way easily through the golems.
[8 golems remaining. You have leveled up to level 6, congratulations! You have gained 5 health points. Current health: 65 of 65 HP.]
Sora noticed the young woman, who couldn't be much older than 18, swung into action, and as soon as he heard [one golem remaining] she jumped down and executed the last golem.
"I'm not some damsel in distress you fuckhead, I killed the last one, treasure's mine," she boasted.
[Error: Goal not achieved as another user defeated the last golem. No reward given.]
Sora laughed, hard. So hard, he keeled over. By the time he realized he probably sounded and looked like a huge creep, Sora stood up and apologized.
"I'm so sorry, your damsel in distress line got me. I agree, you are definitely not a damsel in distress! You're actually a badass!"
"Whatever," she said.
"System, please analyze our new friend."
[Analyze skill is for dungeons. I believe you are trying to inspect this person. Inspect used.
Name: Brianna Reinhardt.
Nickname: Brie
Rank: S rank adventurer
Age: 19
Magic: Water, ice, healing, inspect, analyze, unique vampire skill: control]
'Ok I get the jist of it, thank you system!' he thought and then placed his weapons back into his dimensional void.
He turned, only to see the young woman just staring at him blankly. "Uh, hello?" he asked, confused.
"Well, thanks for not fighting me about the treasure. Nothing but some money, what a waste. Anyway, I'm Abbie, I'm an adventurer for hire. I'm currently rank A. These unfortunate souls you see are the ones who hired me. I warned them not to grab an unguarded treasure box, but you know how people are…" she explained.
"Ok, first of all, if we're going to start to get to know each other, can we at least be honest with each other? I know your name isn't Abbie." Sora interjected.
'Shit, what the fuck? I wonder if that's why all his stats came up blurred out when I inspected him. I never thought someone in an A ranked dungeon would be higher ranked than me.' Brie thought to herself.
"Ah, apologies, I see you also have the inspect and analyze abilities. Well, my name's Brie. Everything else about what I told you is true, I think. I'm sorry I lied. You just don't know who you can and can't trust anymore, especially with the poor King's state," she said with an apathetic tone and regretful smile.
"It's ok. After all, I'm the one wearing a mask. I'm sorry there wasn't more treasure for you and I'm sorry about your party members. Do you want to party up?" Sora asked her in a cheerful tone.
"I mean I'm sure you could clear this on your own, but I'm not interested in the treasure, I'm just interested in clearing the dungeon to level up."
"Rank up? Ah, I see. I'm willing to party with you for the rest of the dungeon, but anything more than that, well, I'd have to see how we worked together and I'd have to know who you really are," she said with a wink.
'Shit. I kind of liked this girl. She was honest, straight to the point and very talented,'
"System, I know Chronos told me to find party members, and it was essential, but I'm also kind of weary of revealing myself. What do you think?"
[Clear the dungeon and I will keep a close eye on Brie. I suggest making a temporary party bond using your sealing magic.]
"Hey, Brie, do you mind if we create a temporary party seal?" Sora asked politely.
"Woah, a sealing magic user? Those are, like, super rare. Yeah, I suppose. What do you need from me?" she asked, eyes widened with curiosity.
"System, initiate temporary seal."
[Temporary party member seal initiating. Your mark of yin and yang has temporarily been added to both of you. The conditions of the party seal are you are to not betray one another and help each other in time of need. I figured you could use some assistance with your first one, so I took the liberties of setting the conditions myself. In the future, you can set whatever conditions you'd like.]
"System, please add all treasure will be awarded to Brie Reinhardt."
[Complete. That's quite generous, Sora.]
"Well, I have to get a feel for our new friend, right?"
A bright light illuminated and a faint yin and yang symbol, which matched Sora's mask and white cloak appeared on both of their hands.
"Woah, that's so cool. It read the conditions to me in my head. Thank you so much! Why would you give me all the treasure, though?" Brie exclaimed.
"This is going to sound really arrogant, but I don't need it. Like I said, I'm just here to clear the dungeon to level up." Sora said politely.
"Rank up, you mean?" Brie asked, with a confused look on her face.
"Hey system, what's the difference between rank up and level up?"
[Brie is referring to your adventure rank, which is currently SSS. You are unique in your ability to level up. Her stats and abilities level up, but she is not aware of that, only you are. Most humans and other creatures of Exteria know their strength and their limits, but their adventure rank allows them to take certain missions, and you are one of the very few SSS ranked. SS rank is also very rare. The fact she is S rank shows she is very skilled and she very clearly is determined to reach this SS rank.]
"Er, yeah, rank up, sorry. I don't know why I call it leveling up. I'm forgetful sometimes." Sora said, a bit embarrassed.
"What is your rank anyway?" Brie asked, eyes full of curiosity.
"That's a question for if and when we decide to party up. Let's go through the rest of these floors." he said sincerely.
'I can't screw this up. I have to make sure she's my first party member. I just have a feeling in my gut that she's going to be important. Why else would I meet her on my first night?'