Sora and his party went through the wooden gate to go into the chasm. All of them got through without paying the fee since Sora had set it to where guild members didn't have to pay. The chasm currently had corrupted creatures on the sides of the and some could be seen going in and out of caves. The path to the boss was already cleared out thanks to Sora, making the trip incredibly easy. The group walked into the cave, each person squinting as they went deeper in thanks to the discomfort of the hot air assaulting their eyes. After a while the cave came to an open cavern, revealing flames that surrounded a body of fire within the center. The view was quite impressive, even Nobunaga had a more focused look as he viewed the boss they were about to fight. Sora went through the basic strategy with the members of his party, everyone quickly understood the strategy since it wasn’t too complex. The main points were that Sora would hold the aggro while the others would deal damage and that fire is presumably bad, so don’t stand in it. Other than that it was just to be prepared to switch strategies at any time.

The boss didn’t seem to be corrupted so Sora decided not to use [Purge with Silver], since he didn’t have enough mana to do so. He also couldn’t rely on parrying since the boss seemed like the type to use magic attacks. If Sora didn’t have a healer then he wouldn’t dare to try and fight the boss. He rushed at the boss and used a [Slash] to start the fight, afterwards he kited backwards to pull the boss away from the fire. As the boss moved a trail of fire was left where it walked, removing a part of the battlefield that was usable. LeeLee would normally attack from behind but she was forced to take a side flank instead during this fight. Blossom had waited until Sora stopped moving to engage the boss with a [Savage Pounce] and [Overwhelm], starting her momentum strong. The boss would attack with what looked like a whip made of fire, lashing at Sora and dealing a significant amount of damage. He couldn’t parry the attacks effectively, since it was elemental and ended up taking hits directly. Luckily Athenes was there and healed Sora as he took damage. She would occasionally overheal him but it was a negligible amount.

Sora had been taking the fight slow, since this was more of a test than a serious fight. The boss seemed like more of a mini boss and had very predictable attack patterns. He decided to judge Blossom first and focused on how she attacked and moved. Her fighting style was very fluid and she seemed to space out her skills to avoid over consumption of mana. Sora had just confirmed in his mind that she was definitely a top tier fighter when the boss hit 75% health, curling into a ball of fire that shot little embers all around. Blossom had seen an ember coming and reacted by jumping back. It would normally be a good reaction but there was already a pit of fire behind her that she directly jumped into. She had to use [Savage Pounce] to get out of the fire quickly, taking a bit of damage because of it and using unnecessary mana to escape. Sora took note of this incident and Blossom had an embarrassed look on her face, almost like she could feel Sora judging her every move.

Sora had started watching LeeLee next. The pits of fire were surrounding her but she still managed to find a spot to slip through. After she was back at an attacking position she started to attack the boss again. Sora nodded in appreciation of her situational awareness. He continued watching and noticed that although LeeLee was very calculating, she was lacking in regards to her fighting style. Her attacks seemed a little clumsy and lacked any form, making her look like she had mechanical movements. Her skill usage was spot on but for someone like an assassin, who relied on their ability to fluidly combo attacks, it was not up to par. Sora had already known about her lack of combat skills but now that he saw it again, it was a little rough on the eyes. He still thought she would make an excellent strategist and decided to possibly take some time to sharpen her fighting skills. The boss hit 50% health and once again used the attack where it shot out embers to random areas around the battlefield. LeeLee skillfully dodged each pit of fire without putting herself into a corner.

Sora switched his attention over to Nobunaga. At first Sora figured he would have a little knowledge on how to fight properly but it seemed he was wrong. He was wrong because Nobunaga seemed like a master at sword fighting and was far beyond just a little knowledge on how to fight. The gear Nobunaga used was very poor in quality but he made up for it with extremely good fighting skills. Even when the boss would unleash the pits of fire, Nobunaga would dance around them and continue attacking. Sora highly believed that the man could definitely be a master if given the right resources and environment. In his past life he had never heard of someone named Nobunaga which means that something had happened to him or he had been overtaken by high level players with better gear and forgotten due to his lack of resources. Sora felt like he had definitely scored big time on this guild member and was already planning to promote him once he learns a little more about him. The only flaw he had was that he would sometimes divert his attention to check on his little sister, even when dodging around he would check on her when he had the opportunity. It wasn’t for no reason either. The boss hit 25% health and unleashed its last barrage of embers.

Just as the boss had begun unleashing its bombardment of embers, Sora switched over to Athenes. He had already confirmed that her healing skill was at least above average so he was interested on how she fared up in other aspects. The bombardment would come but she would only start moving when an attack was coming directly at her, this ended up funneling her into an awkward position and having to take a few ticks of damage from a pit of fire. She was able to survive through it but it could have easily been avoided through constantly moving, Sora sighed as he watched that. Just as Sora started to have low hopes for the girl he noticed that after taking a few ticks from the fire pit she had changed her strategy. Athenes could be seen watching LeeLee and started to copy some of her movements. She would go in a circle to lure pits of fire to surround here and then dodge from the middle through a small opening. It couldn't be compared to LeeLee since her gaps were sometimes too big and sometimes too small, but she was able to mostly replicate the strategy. A good learner was much more important to Sora than natural talent, maybe there is hope for Athenes after all.

The fight had been pretty laid back for Sora. The only thing he had to do was dodge the pits of fire that the boss left while dealing damage and getting healed. The boss died easily, leaving a small pile of loot on the ground. Sora started to sort through the items. Sora wasn’t able to level up but Nobunaga had leveled up to level 40 and Athenes leveled up to level 38. Blossom and LeeLee were on the verge of leveling up and Sora had only gained about 30% of the EXP he needed to level.

[x1 Heated Sword obtained]

Rarity - Rare

Durability - 60/60

Damage - 72 - 82

Requires - Level 40 - Sword Class

“A sword that has a blade heated to a point where the metal is white in some areas. The sword doesn’t have the element of fire within but the intense heat will definitely help to easily cut through whatever it may come in contact with.”

+15 Strength

+5% chance to critically strike

Sora and Nobunaga both rolled for the sword. Sora ended up with a 67 and Nobunaga had a 79. Sora wasn’t bitter about the roll since he already had a sword that had similar stats, plus a level 50 sword waiting to be equipped. He was actually anticipating what Nobunaga could do with the damage that the sword offered. Nobunaga accepted the sword with gratitude and luckily was able to equip it thanks to the recent level up.

[x1 Band of Embers obtained]

Rarity - Rare

Durability - 45/45

Requires - Level 40

“The metal looks red hot from the flames that wrap around it yet it feels extremely comfortable when worn. The intense heat it gives off helps fend off other forms of heat.”

+10 Strength

+15% Fire Resistance

Everyone but Athenes rolled for the ring. LeeLee ended up winning it with a high roll of 92, the ring was immediately put on her hand. Assassins usually relied on equipment to enhance their strength since most of their points would go into Agility and Constitution. LeeLee had only been putting one point of Strength per level up so her attacks were somewhat weak. Things like accessories that gave Strength were perfect for her.

[x1 Chain of Embers obtained]

Rarity - Rare

Durability - 45/45

Requires - Level 40

“The metal looks red hot from the flames that wrap around it yet it feels extremely comfortable when worn. The intense heat it gives off helps fend off other forms of heat.”

+10 Strength

+15% Fire Resistance

It was identical to the Band of Embers except this time it was a chain necklace. The fighters rolled again and LeeLee ended up barely winning. She now had a decent boost to her damage along with a massive amount of fire resistance.

[x1 Lucky Coin obtained]

This time the entire group rolled. Sora rolled first with a low number of 4 and had already forgotten about the coin that would definitely not be his, especially when Athenes rolled after him and ended up with a 99. Athenes won the coin and happily used it to increase her luck. The rest of the loot was just a pile of coins that Sora divided up amongst the group. The group left the cavern after they had finished.

There was still about an hour left until the dungeon opened. Sora suggested that they all explore the chasm in the meantime. He told them some key areas like where the best hunting spots were, where resources could be found, and even that there was a hot springs and fishing area. Sora was going to go fishing until the dungeon opened and started heading towards the cave where the fishing spot was at. Blossom and LeeLee decided to go to the hot springs to relax a little, they still felt worn out from trying to recruit people. Athenes had been invited to go with them by Blossom and was easily pulled along. Nobunaga had been a little interested in mining some Frost Iron Ore or hunting the corrupted creatures but decided to head with the group to the cave where the pools of water were at, mainly because his little sister would be there.

The group entered the cave and saw the two sources of water, side by side. As the girls saw how close together the water was, they became apprehensive about enjoying the hot springs with the two men fishing so close by.

“Mister Fisherman… can’t you put a wall between the two sources of water so it’s a little more private?”

“You can just go in with clothes on, it’s not like the game will make you undress to enjoy the hot springs.”

Sora didn’t think about separating the pools of water since the game isn't too strict about stuff that involves relaxation and entertainment. You could enter a warm pool of water and still enjoy the sensation it brings while wearing a full suit of armor. In his past life there were many territories that had such a system and decided to leave them open since it cost money to build the walls. Sora didn’t see it as a big problem but Blossom looked at him with a serious look.

“If you want walls then you're going to have to pull together at least 50 gold. If you want things like benches in the water, fresh towels, and other facilities then it will cost another 50 gold. I can even make it soundproof if you can get another 100 gold.”

Blossom and LeeLee pulled out 100 gold each and gave it to Sora. They had plenty of money that they didn’t really use from being together with Sora and they figured they would probably frequent the area anyways. As Sora received the money he built a full hot springs with a soundproof wall, stone benches to relax on within the water, an area that had fresh towels and other things to wash with, and even had just enough left over to build an official entrance to the area that was labeled with the name ‘Frost Peak Springs’. As Sora finished the project he thought of a good opportunity. He set an entrance fee to the hot springs at 1 silver, including players that are in his guild, and officially opened the hot springs for business. The girls were happy with the new area and were ready to enjoy themselves for half an hour before the dungeon opens.

“Thanks mister fisherman.”

“No need, this should be able to get your money back eventually so-”

“That’s okay mister fisherman, just take it off of our tab.”

“Tab?”

“Yup, we only owe you 999,800 gold now!”

Sora smiled as he remembered the day he decided to turn these two girls into a pillar for his guild. He was happy that the gamble he took had payed off.