"We're immediately going boss hunting?" I asked. "But I’m only level twelve. Unless you mean we’ll hunt lower-level bosses? I also have no experience killing bosses as a Mardukryon." Or any bosses in Mother Core Online for that matter. But they didn't need to know about that. I wasn't lying with what I told them—any wrong conclusion was on them.

"That's why we need to practice," Kezo said, giving me a very energetic thumbs-up. "The important thing is to build our teamwork since we have no experience working with each other as a party."

"Kezo recruited us just last week," piped up Megan. "This will also be the first time for us to hunt with him. I don’t hunt much though…"

"We'll start with weak bosses," said Kezo. "They'd be higher level than you, much higher, but there's no need to worry because the three of us here would handle them. You just watch out for yourself and we’ll take care of it. Then we can work our way up the ladder, see what we'll find, and learn each other's playstyles."

"My playstyle is being bad at the game," Nitana drawled in a bored voice. Similar to Megan, she also chose to use her normal voice for her character.

"Don't say that," said Kezo. "Teamwork will overcome any challenges we'll face." While he retained his demonic Mardukryon voice, his excessive enthusiasm, which would make him a great motivational speaker, looked out of sync with his formidable appearance, especially with the massive swords on his back. "It's normal we'll have some troubles at the start, but we'll eventually be able to smooth things out. We still have two weeks until the Great Hunt. We'll be a cohesive fighting unit by then, and we'll be able to compete with other parties."

"Fighting unit?" Nitana snorted.

"We'll do our best," Megan told Kezo as she elbowed her friend. Then she turned to me. "Right, Herald?"

"Definitely," I replied. "But where will we hunt bosses? Are there any on this side of the cliff wall? Other than Buvalu?"

"There are three others." Kezo held up that many fingers. Then he extended another finger. "Four if you count the golem you'll have to defeat to go deeper into the tunnels—but that's a quest boss though, so I shouldn't include it.”

“And three mini-bosses and a big boss are inside the tunnels too," Megan added. “Also golem-looking thingies.”

Before I could ask where they were located, Kenzo continued, "But those are all too weak for our group. Megan could probably kill them solo except for two of the golems with pesky reflect damage. Instead, we're going to try those past the tunnels."

"Wait, what do you mean past the tunnels?" I interjected. "I heard you mention there’s a quest boss I had to kill to do that. Do you mean that I have to do a certain quest first before I'll be able to follow you?"

"No need," said Kenzo with a guttural chuckle. The swords on his back clinked together as his shoulder heaved. "If you'll party with us, we can directly teleport you to the Sigil Totems on the other side. Those are mini-warp points for fast travel like the Gates System of the...outside world, let's just call everything off the mountain that. Of course, you can't do any questing content there because they'll be locked, but you can roam around and hunt bosses with us."

"Got it. But wait, I think I may have a problem."

"What is it? We'll try the safer mini-bosses if they're available, so don't feel pressured. We won't blame you or get angry if you die if that's what you're worried about."

"It's not that." I shook my head as I recalled what happened with my first and only party—the tutorial fight at Amberkeld with the NPC, Dunstan. "If I'm in your party and you kill the boss, would I also get Essence and Gli?"

"And the Artas and other drops too. Oh, are you thinking about leveling up too fast?"

"I do want to keep my level low for now. You see, I farm the low-level mats to sell at the auction. Will the system limit the Essence I'll get from hunting bosses higher leveled than me?"

Kezo snapped his fingers. "Right! Right, right, I've seen your items on the auction. That's how I knew there was a new player we can recruit. We'll be aiming for level forty mini-bosses, mostly because the avid boss hunters don't care about them."

"That's around our level," Megan said, gesturing at herself and Nitana.

"With that large of a level gap between you and them, you'll practically receive the Essence and Gli of only a few Swinelings—Megan told me you're farming them. So there are no issues whatsoever on this front."

"I see," I said with a nod. "That's great then. And for how long will we boss hunt?"

"Maybe an hour? Or two depending on our progress. If we keep fail—erm, if we'll have problems with teamwork, we can rest and continue the next day. You're not busy, are you? Do you have something to do later?"

"My only schedule right now is farming Swinelings to sell their loot for high market prices. I want to save enough Artas to buy decent gear before the time for the Great Hunt." Wasn't I such a diligent teammate, already thinking about my contributions to the party? Come on, get the hint. "Because of the level gap penalty, I also won't get much Artas and loot from the bosses we'll kill, am I right?"

"That's correct," Kezo said, scratching his tusk. It was interesting how we slowly developed habits that weren't possible to do with a human body. "You won't get anything. Right, right. Let's see...I'll give you Artas after we're done as compensation."

"You don't have to," I quickly said, even though I was already thinking if I should ask for a Contract. That's probably being a greedy ass.

"We'll cut into your farming time while you're not getting anything. It's only fair if I pay you," Kezo said, giving me another thumbs up.

[ Join Kezodilla’s Party: Y/N? ]

I checked their levels as soon as I joined their party. Kezodilla was sixty-five, Megantress was forty-four, and Nitana2003 was forty-two.

And, of course, there was me at level ninety-two...minus eighty...equals twelve. Wow, I looked really pathetic right next to them, didn't I?

Perhaps being considerate, they didn't even ask me to open my gear for viewing. As I thought more about it, it dawned on me that it wouldn't matter if I only had average gear or the best at my level. It was all the same to them—I'd still be a glorified cheerleader.

Kezo motioned for us to gather close together and prepare for teleportation.

A small wooden statue materialized on his palm. It was roughly carved so it was hard to tell what it depicted but I guessed it was an enraged Mirdabon on top of Snowy Swineling on top of a Crabore, maybe a Craboreling given its relative size. He dropped the small statue to the ground and a magical circle outlined in blue light appeared below our hooves.

"Welcome, to the world beyond the tunnels," Kezo jovially said with a matching clap of his hands as a flash of light engulfed us.

In the next blink, I was transported to a different place.

A large trunk came crashing down right next to me. I jolted in surprise and skipped a step to the side. My gaze followed the tree upwards and realized it was the leg of a [Lvl 35 Cedarlyon]. Its tree-like body was humanoid with disproportionately long limbs. What would've been its leaves were a mix of white and golden fur, mostly concentrated around its stone lion mask hiding its true face.

It hummed like an old air conditioner and continued on its path, the ground shaking with each step.

After it had passed, a low rumbling preceded a couple of monsters rolling by. I tensed for a second, instinctively assuming they were bigger cousins of the Mirdabons. They were actually far from those murderous furballs; they didn't even seem to be animals of any sort.

The [Lvl 37 Laphishere] was a collection of rocks, rubble from buildings, and broken pieces of statues floating around a barely seen ball of energy. They quickly moved away before I could take a closer look.

"Relax, the monsters in this area are not aggressive," Megan explained to me. "Aggressive monsters will start appearing the further we are away from the Sigil Totems." She pointed at the statue beside Kezo.

The Sigil Totem was similar to the small statue Kezo used for teleportation, with the three monsters stacked on top of each other. The carvings of the much larger Totem were more detailed and it had many golden crystals covering it.

"We can make them aggressive if I hit them," said Nitana.

"Hey, don't do that!"

I gazed around to examine this new environment I found myself in.

Similar to the Scholar's Lodge area, this was a place of ruins. We were at the edge of a once-big city compared to the small former settlement the Craborelings now called home. The wild forest had claimed much of this place, but they weren't simple trees mixed with veins of gold from the anomalous crystals.

There were frilly blue plants, red spongy geysers, bright yellow mushrooms, and so much more. It was a whole new ecosystem populated by monsters around the mid-thirties in level.

"We'll eventually encounter aggressive monsters on our way to our first target," Kezo said. "They're not strong though. Firstly, let's eat up. Megan, have you prepared food?"

She laid out five different meals on the ground for us to eat. We could sit down and eat them normally, or we could simply stand near to consume them. "Herald, since we can only have three meal buffs active at a time, you eat these." She pointed at the three nearest to me. "They're not much, but they'll add health and stuff so you won’t die easily."

"Come the Great Hunt, we'll buy the higher-star foods," Kezo said to me. "For now, that’ll suffice."

[Swineling Meat Pie: +10 All Attributes (Might, Vitality, Spirit, Sense) for 30 Minutes] ★★☆☆☆

[Glazed Flatbread: +15 HP per Second, +500 Health for 30 Minutes] ★☆☆☆☆

[Plemy Fruit Juice: +10 Spirit, +10 Vigor, and +1000 Health for 30 Minutes] ★★☆☆☆

Seeing the benefits of each meal, especially the Plemy Fruit Juice—is a drink considered a meal?—convinced me more than ever to find a Cooking Ocadule. That, or I could focus on getting rich to buy high-star meals with good buffs. The flatbread and the juice almost doubled my health.

I decided to hastily eat them, taking a quick bite of the pie, the sort of sweet-tasting bread, and the juice that I had drunk before when I met Chimi. My party mates were surprised that I actually ate the food. "Thanks a lot for these," I told Megan, passing it off that I was being polite instead of curious about their taste. If I had a Cooking Ocadule, I feared I might get addicted to eating virtual food and forget my mission to be hard. "The buffs will surely help me survive."

"Finally, someone who'll eat my cooking," she said. "Too bad it's only in a game."

"That's probably for the best," Nitana quipped.

Kezo clapped his hands. "Let's not forget to eat again later after they expire. Everyone follow me, I'll explain what we'll do along the way."