"That seems like a really weird thing to forget," I say as Adam finishes applying the salve to my arm.

He remembered five minutes before the timer expired that he had a salve to help heal injuries in his Inventory. Considering how big mine is and the space is the same size for everyone based on Class Tiers, how could he have overlooked it?

Now we're in the forest, just a little past the entrance. If we hadn't moved into it immediately after appearing back where the boss had been, Adam says we'd have been given a nasty incentive to do so.

His scales are back to black as he made sure to use the Skill again as soon as he could in order to cycle through the colors back to his preferred one. I missed getting to see him do that as he did the changes while I was sleeping. Hopefully, he'll let me see him with the other scale colors soon.

"I don't normally need help healing," Adam tells me. "My broken bones will set themselves and heal within a day. A salve for healing flesh wounds always seemed weird to me. Honestly, this thing is probably four or five years old."

"And you put it on me?" I look at the cut, which has only a slight shine from the salve, which rubbed on clear.

"It lasts for years," he tells me. "It's an ancient recipe of my people. It will turn green when it's bad, and it hasn't. See? Still tinged with yellow and not a trace of green."

He shows me the salve, and I just shake my head in exasperation as I start wrapping my arm again.

"I have 19 Vitality," he tells me. "Each point is a massive increase to one's healing factor, don't forget. My people often don't need healing items. The salve is actually meant for our scales, which take longer to heal from damage, but it works for skin as well."

His scales also have their own toughness factor – his Constitution means absolutely nothing for how tough they are. Adam can't even tell me their own value since it's not listed in his Status, and it varies from dragon to dragon and person to person, but it's always higher than their Constitution.

"Anyway," he puts the salve back into his Inventory. "We should get moving."

"Alright," I tug my sleeve back down over my arm. "Are you going to put a tunic on?"

"No," he answers. "Since we'll be fighting a bit, they'd probably get soaked in blood again. The less I need to clean, the better."

"Ah," I say as we begin walking. "What does Stage Three consist of? I forgot to ask while we were eating breakfast."

It's morning now, and the foods that were set out for it when we woke were all breakfast foods rather than dinner foods. No vegetables were present, and I think Adam was happy about that. I'll get him used to eating them if we do stick together after leaving here.

"The first segment is the forest," he tells me. "We'll have to deal mostly with ranged giant rats, mostly archers and mages. We'll also have to deal with the occasional ambush from groups of rat soldiers and possibly traps."

"So this section will probably be hell for protecting me," I say.

"Only a little," he says. "I probably should have woken you up a little bit sooner so you could learn a stronger spell that will travel further, but we can make do with what we have. I'll stop anything from too far and kill most or all that get too close, so it won't be an issue."

"Okay," I say. "And the second zone?"

"The second segment," he says. "Depends on which way we go. There are several choices, but we'll be going to the ruins."

"I take it they're the faster, more direct choice?" I make a guess based off his patterns.

"Yeah," he answers. "Which is better, especially for you. The other routes will require us to set up camp, and I don't think you'd be able to handle a night shift properly."

While I knew that he'd said some people can spend a week or more doing the Dungeon, it hadn't really occurred to me that taking that long would mean resting in the zones themselves. The safe zones are only after completing the first and second Stage.

"Probably not," I shrug. "What are the ruins?"

"They're ruins of another temple," he answers. "Another large hall we'd enter into. Once we do, swarms of rat soldiers, mages, and archers will enter and attack us, and there will be four mini-bosses to kill. Once all four are dead, no more will swarm in and we'll have to kill what's left."

"And after that?" I ask. "More dungeons?"

"No," he answers. "The Dungeon Boss will appear, giving us no rest between the two. It won't really be an issue for me, but this is why it's considered the most difficult route for this Stage."

"I won't complain if you accidentally obliterate it," I say, and he snorts in response. "So it's the Third Avatar of the Rat God?"

"Yeah," he answers. "And no, I don't know why this Dungeon is themed to rats. No one really does, to be honest. How the Dungeon themes are determined is a mystery, though it's probably the gods. There haven't been any new Dungeons in over three thousand years, though."

"No new Dungeons?" I ask.

"Well, none that can be verified as actually new," he tells me. "But new to being known, yeah. They always have at least one segment of their first Stage, usually at least the entire first Stage, having already been completed at least once. This is obvious by the fact that there's no bonus for being the first to complete them."

Every Dungeon is already explored, even ones that are discovered and thought to be new? That seems strange, and Adam's tone suggests he finds it strange as well. There are probably scholars devoted to tracking and studying this and trying to find out why.

"Supposedly," he says. "There's a Special Trait for being the first to clear all three Stages of a Dungeon, which doubles all bonus Experience in Dungeons, but no one can confirm its existence. Even if Stage Two and Stage Three aren't completed, a single segment of Stage One being beaten at least once revokes that."

Such a bonus would be absolutely immense for anyone of a higher Tier, or even Rankers. They'd be able to bring two or even three Classes up through the more difficult Levels, possibly even to the end of the Tier they're in, with less work.

With significantly less work.

A Special Trait like that is probably just a rumor invented to come up with a reason for being the first to even set foot into a Dungeon. If it's not, though, that would explain why every Dungeon found is explored at least partially. Ancient adventurers probably hunted down every last Dungeon they could find in order to get that bonus and the rewards that came with it.

There might be some that aren't touched yet, but they're rare enough no one's found them. Or someone has, but hasn't shared it with anyone.

"Dungeons used to appear?" I ask.

"Yeah," Adam answers. "At least, that's what the stories say. Then after a time, they simply stopped. That was when the Era of Heroes ended. It was the last time any of the gods ever had a Hero appointed, so people suspect it's connected. The Dungeons may have been created by the gods to test their Heroes or potential Heroes."

Heroes were one of the things Adam has already told me about. They were bestowed a special Title that granted them relatively decent bonuses to various Attributes and other things depending on which god gave them their Blessing. The Era of Heroes ended about three thousand years ago, when the gods suddenly stopped appointing new ones and even revoked their Blessings from the existing ones.

"Maybe," I say.

Adam suddenly grabs me and pulls me to the side, an arrow zipping past where I had stood only a moment before.

"Thanks," I say as he catches a second arrow, then throws it back. "Return to sender, huh?"

"It worked," he shrugs. "Come on."

The next encounter is almost twenty minutes later, a group of four rat soldiers bursting out of the brush to attack us. Adam already had his sword drawn thanks to having noticed them there, and he quickly begins killing them.

I attack one just for good measure, and Adam lets me handle it, the rat soldier attempting to strike me with its sword as I shoot [Magic Bolt] after [Magic Bolt] at it. A fully-charged one to its face only sends it tumbling back, not killing it. Half of its face is bleeding, though, so as I step to the side, I summon and charge up another one, then attack again, narrowly avoiding being slashed by its sword.

[Apprentice Wizard] Experience Acquired: +12%

"Good job," Adam says as the rat soldier drops to the ground.

"Thanks," I say. "I'm almost to Level 7 now."

"I figured," he responds. "You're a decently low Level compared to this area, so you'll probably reach Level 8 or 9 before we reach the ruins, if you kill at least one from every ambush. We'll try to get you to Level 10 for that second increase to your Attributes."

"Thanks."

Our journey continues, with the occasional ambush from the rat soldiers and attacks from archers and mages. Just as Adam said, though, they're not that problematic. The main issue for me is navigating the forest, really. The ground is uneven and covered in roots and undergrowth, so my footing isn't as sure in a fight. More than once, Adam catches me and keeps me from completely falling on my face or ass.

While I don't notice any traps as we walk, I'm certain that's because Adam is just navigating us around them. His powerful senses and rather high Perception means he's no doubt noticing them.

The forest grows noticeably more dense as our journey continues, the monsters stronger and more frequent. More than a few times, Adam has to leave me to deal with one of the ranged monsters, only to come back and find me trying to get the rat soldiers to attack each other.

It took him two trips of leaving and finding me engaged in battle to realize I was trying to get the rat soldiers to do most of the work in killing them for me. While it means I earn less Experience, I also have much less risk to my life with this strategy.

By the time we stop at a creek to rest and eat lunch, I'm covered in cuts and bruises, my tunic ruined from slashes and blood. Even still, I try to give it a good scrubbing in the creek before setting it out to dry. There's not much sun making it through the trees, so it will probably still be wet when I send it into my Inventory.

As I work on this, Adam catches fish with his bare hands. He removes his boots and rolls up his pants, steps into the creek, and then starts catching fish as they go by, targeting only the large ones. The moment he pulls them out of the water, Adam snaps their necks and tosses them to the shore.

"Are we eating them raw or cooked?" I ask.

"I'll eat them raw," he says. "Do you want them cooked?"

"It doesn't matter to me as long as it's safe."

"I'll prep them in a minute," he tells me. "Let me grab just a couple more."

There's already a pile of about twenty of them. Just how many does he expect us to eat? Or maybe he just has something against letting fish live? I don't know.

While I wait for him to 'prepare' lunch, I give my cuts and scrapes a quick cleaning with the creek water. There aren't any major injuries, and the cut that Adam used his salve on has almost completely healed up.

"Adam," I say as he sits down and starts gutting the fish. "Can I use your salve after lunch? That works miracles."

"Sure."

It doesn't take him long to prepare enough fish for us to eat, and he continues working even while eating. He gives me some jerky, dried fruit, and nuts he had in his Inventory to eat with my lunch, and after, I start working on applying the salve.

"I'm going to be right back," Adam says.

"Didn't you go to the bathroom, like, twenty minutes before we stopped?"

"Rats."

"Ah."

Adam leaves, returning as I finish applying the salve. There's a bit of blood on his chest, which he burns off as I hand him back the salve. He puts the tunic I'd borrowed from him into his Inventory, then we cross the creek and continue our journey.

Just like with the [Hills of the Rat God], the monster density and strength continues to grow as we draw near our destination. Adam starts doing more and more of the work as I start becoming less and less effective at it. Even the point of Magic I earn as we travel doesn't help me.

Finally, after three more hours of walking, the soreness from all the physical exercise on the hills yesterday and today is nothing more than a dull throb. We've also finally arrived at the ruins.

They really are ruins. The stone walls of the large temple are partially collapsed, the ceiling is visibly gone, and the pillars of the rat god are broken or crumbled entirely. As soon as we step into the clearing it's in, we receive the notification that we've completed the previous zone and received the bonus Experience that comes with it.

"Ready?" Adam asks.

"Can we take a few minutes to rest?" I ask. "I really don't have the stamina or fitness level you do."

"Sure."

Adam gives me a few minutes to rest, and while I do that, he explores the inside of the ruins a little. The swarm of monsters won't appear until after all members of the party within the Dungeon are inside of the ruins, so it's relatively safe. Even if it looks like we'd be able to leave once it activates, however, we won't be able to, forced to either beat the zone or die.

Once I've caught my breath, I call out to him that I'm entering, and he returns to the entrance.

"How fast do you think you can do this?" I ask him as I enter.

"Depends on how bad the swarm actually is," he answers.

The scampering of tiny feet fills the air, and as we watch, hundreds of giant rat monsters begin flowing over the walls of the temple. Adam immediately gets to work on slaughtering them, sticking as close to me as he can in order to ensure I don't end up dead. As he works on that, I fire off the occasional spell, hitting any of the soldiers that I feel get a little too close to me. A moment after my spell strikes, Adam kills the beast.

This reminds me of the gauntlets we've faced, only more dangerous. While I'm confident Adam will shield me from anything, I can see how a party with people at or below the expected Level for this Stage would struggle. They'd have to have several people devoted purely to defending against ranged attacks, while their ranged members would need to focus on taking out the ranged rats. The rest of the group would have to focus on taking out the rats near them. Splitting into three groups of five might work as well, to help divide the rats and somewhat lighten the load for each person.

Only somewhat, though. For every rat that's killed, there's another to take its place.

Adam leads me around the room as he battles, blade and fire magics slaughtering the rats with ease. It takes me a few minutes to realize he's hunting down the mini-bosses, then he begins cleaning up the rest of the rats.

"Recover your Mana," he tells me as the swarm begins to thin. "If you want to do anything against the boss."

"You can go ahead and obliterate it," I tell him.

He's already doing all of the work, might as well not take any of the Experience from him. I'm already receiving enough as it is that it would feel wrong to get the immense amount I'd sure gain from the Dungeon Boss. It would feel quite cheap to me. Maybe I should just take the Experience, but I'm certain that I'll gain plenty anyway.

The 100% bonus to all Experience will see to that, whether I stay with Adam or not. If I join up with a party closer to my Level and go on hunts and Dungeon runs with them, I'd probably reach Level 25 within a month or two.

So I keep fighting with my magic, actually managing to kill a couple of the rats in here. Soon enough, the last of the giant rats are dead, Adam and I standing near the entrance of the ruins once more.

[Forest of the Rat God: The Ruins of the Rat God's Temple] Completed First Time completion bonus: 30% Experience

Pale blue light shimmers around the center, forming into a dome that fades away a few seconds later. I dismiss the notice as the Third Avatar of the Rat God is revealed to us. As soon as the barrier fades away, Adam charges forward, jumping into the air and slashing with his sword.

He cuts clean through the avatar's staff and neck, killing it instantly. Just for good measure, he stabs it in the chest as they both fall to the ground. Rolling my eyes, I check the notices in my vision.

[Forest of the Rat God: The Third Avatar of the Rat God] Completed First Time Completion Bonus: 30% Experience [Forest of the Rat God] Completed First Time Completion Bonus: 30% Experience Small Party Completion Bonus: 30% Experience [Dungeon: The Rat God's Lair] Completed First Time Completion Bonus: 50% Experience Small Party Completion Bonus: 50% Experience Level Up! You have reached Level 12. Exit from the Dungeon will occur in 15 minutes.

A timer appears in my vision with the messages, counting down from fifteen minutes so that I know how long is left before we leave. This is to allow parties to obtain any loot which might have dropped from a monster – that's what Luck does. Its purpose is affecting loot drop chance and loot drop rarity, after all.

We didn't receive any loot drops, so we just wait out the timer, Adam giving me a look I can't quite make out the entire time. He's burned off the blood from his skin and pulled on a tunic again, no doubt to look more presentable once we leave.

"Everything okay?" I ask.

"Yeah," he answers. "After we leave here, we should probably head to the inn and take a shower."

"A shower?" I raise an eyebrow, and there's apparently a Skill for that.

"If you don't mind taking one together," he nods. "Maybe washing each other?"

I take it that means he approves of me, then.

"Sure," I say. "But no sexy times."

Adam looks disappointed at that.

"Food is more important," I tell him.

"Yeah," he snorts. "After a shower, let's go find a good restaurant and have a decent meal."