Samara didn't have time to activate her protective skills, but she did manage to put [Boost Damage] on her mace. When the snake struck, she dodged out of the way and brought her mace down on the monster's snout. The snake's head bobbed out of the way and dodged the attack.

Samara pressed the attack, grunting as she swung with all her might. The snake kept dodging.

"[Entangle]!" Bazel shouted.

Green light wrapped around the snake, but it immediately broke out of the effect and attacked Samara again. She narrowly dodged it for a second time.

"[Mesmerize]!"

This time, the skill worked. Red light wrapped around the snake creating an aura. The overgrown reptile swayed back and forth with glassy eyes.

Samara attacked. Once, twice, then the snake was brought out of its hypnotic state. It's head snapped to look down at Samara and it hissed loudly. Samara rolled out of the way.

"Fire!" She shouted.

KA-BOOM!

Bazel didn't hesitate and let loose a barrage of shrapnel at the monster. It coiled up so that its head was hidden and took the attack.

Realizing the skinny beggar was more of a threat than it first thought, the snake struck at him. Bazel brought the Xanadu up like a shield. The snake bit down on the large gun, but it kept Bazel from being skewered on its massive fangs.

Samara scrambled back into the fight and tried to hit the snake in the head. Right before she reached it, something came from her flank and hit her.

The breath left her lungs and she was tossed several feet. She rolled across the rocky ground getting scraped up in the process. Stinging scratches covered her arms and legs.

She only realized afterwards that the snake had used its tail to hit her. She would have to be more careful of that in the future.

She looked up and saw the snake rip the Xandadu from Bazel's hands and throw it aside. He put up his hand.

"Mesmer–"

He couldn't finish saying the word before the snake's tail flicked out and hit him. He too, went flying several feet and hit the ground hard. The snake opened its mouth, extended its fangs and prepared to strike the prone Bazel.

Samara pushed herself to her feet and charged the monster.

It flicked its tail at her again, but this time she anticipated it. She dropped to the ground and slid across the loose ground, going right under the tail. She popped back up to her feet and swung at the body of the snake with her mace.

She only hit it once before the tail whipped back at her again. This time however, it didn't strike her. The snake wrapped it back half around Samara faster than she would have thought possible.

With the body of the snake wrapped around her, she couldn't move no matter how much she struggled. Her bones creaked under the strain and she found she couldn't inhale. She opened and closed her mouth like a dying fish, but couldn't draw in any air.

The snake's head came around and stared at her with those emotionless slitted eyes. It opened its mouth at her again, but this time left its fangs retracted.

It's going to eat me!

Samara looked into the wide pink maw of the snake as it drew closer. Her head became fuzzy and her vision started to darken. At least she wouldn't be conscious when it ate her.

KA-BOOM!

The sound of the Xanadu firing echoed all around the ruins. The snake's head jerked to the side and it released its grip on Samara, dropping her to the ground. She lay in the dirt and sucked in as much air as she could. Her whole body hurt after being nearly crushed by the monster, but being able to breathe again felt great nonetheless.

"[Mesmerize]!" Bazel shouted.

The snake began swaying back and forth again. Samara could see multiple wounds all over its body from Bazel's attack, seeping dark blood down its green scales.

A few seconds later, Samara heard the gun load again and Bazel took another shot immediately.

KA-BOOM!

The snake spasmed and fell to the ground with a thud.

《 Congratulations! You defeated a Poisonous Snake (level 6).

260 Experience Points awarded. 》

Samara crawled on her hands and knees to join Bazel who was sitting against a large square stone. She sat next to him.

"That was pathetic."

Samara turned and saw a woman standing nearby. She had long blonde hair and wore a green suit with white stripes down the arms and legs.

"Who are you!?" Samara asked.

"Just a girl goin' for a walk." She smiled and tilted her head in a cutesy way.

"Keep walking."

"Samara!" Bazel bent to look around her at the woman, "Sorry, my friend here was being rude."

"I probably deserved it." The woman walked around so she was standing in front of them and put her hands on her hips, "My name is Paris."

"I'm Bazel."

"Samara."

Samara frowned at the woman. There was something she didn't like about Paris, but couldn't put her finger on it. Maybe it was because she was drop-dead gorgeous, but also had a strong presence coming from her. Samara reflexively touched her face where the large scar was.

"Cool," Paris smiled, "You guys want some help?"

"You're going to help us?" Samara raised an eyebrow at her.

"If you want." Paris folded her arms, "Maybe I should explain. I work for Aethertech in the training department. My girl Cassandra told me you two might need some help."

So Paris' appearance wasn't random, and Cassandra wasn't as much of a bitch as Samara assumed. The fact she would send someone to help them train proved she had a heart at least.

"I didn't know Aethertech had a training department." Samara said.

"Why not?" Paris shrugged, "It might be hard to believe since we put you guys in deadly situations on the daily, but we do want you to be successful. What better way to ensure success than training?"

"This is something available to everyone?" Bazel asked.

"Sure is!" Paris nodded, "Free of charge, too!"

Bazel looked over at Samara, "We should take her up on this."

He was right. There were so many things they didn't know about the dungeon and the powers granted to them by Aethertech. On top of that, they almost died to a giant snake only a couple levels above them a few minutes earlier. If Paris could help, then they should take advantage of that.

"As much as I hate to admit it, I agree." Samara got up to her feet and held out her hand, "Very well, Miss Paris, please train us."

Paris shook Samara's hand, "I would be my pleasure!"

The trainer turned to walk out of the ruins and beckoned her two new students to follow her. They walked out into the grasslands where she found a rock to sit on. Samara and Bazel stood in front of her.

Paris summoned her interface and looked at it for a moment, then looked back at Samara.

"You're a Guardian?"

"Yes."

"You should use a shield," she held out her hand and a round brass shield popped into existence, "here you go. It's not the best, but it will work for now."

Samara took the shield and used the leather straps on the back to attach it to her arm. She usually found shields to be cumbersome and not worth the trouble in her line of work, but she had no qualms about using one in the dungeon. It would have been helpful against the snake. She pulled up its description.

《 Heroes' Shield, level 3

Blocks 45-77(8) damage (blunt, slashing)

Requirements:

Level 3-9

15 Strength

10 Stamina

"All the classic heroes have shields! This chunk of brass may be heavy, but you'll be glad you brought it along when you're pitted against a horde of monsters! *A product of the Hephaestus Hero Armory" 》

"Thanks." Samara said.

"No problem!" Paris said in her overly enthusiastic way. She pulled two crystals out of her inventory and handed them to Bazel and Samara, "These are crystals for the skill [Analyze]. It's a general skill that doesn't require a specific class and can be used to gain information about your opponent, whether they are a monster or another person."

"I didn't even know there was such a thing." Samara held up the crystal.

"Most new employees don't." Paris said.

Samara activated the crystal. It shattered and turned into swirling blue motes of light that entered her body.

《 You have acquired the skill [Analyze]!

[Analyze] - Shows basic information about your opponent. 15 Aether

Accept skill?

Yes / No 》

Samara accepted the skill and it showed up in her skill list.

"Now, another thing you didn't know," Paris stood and looked over Samara's shoulder at her interface, "By default, the I terrace only shows a simple view of your skills. Turn on the 'detailed view'."

Samara projected the thought at her interface, and the screen changed. It still showed all her skills, but there was more information attached to them.

《 Skills:

[Ablative Sphere] - Creates a sphere of protective aether around you or your allies that reduces attack damage.

Cost: 25 Aether Reduction Amount: 10 points Duration: 5 minutes

[Agitate] - Makes your opponent prefer to only attack you and ignore your allies.

Cost: 15 Aether Duration: 1 minute

[Analyze] - Shows basic information about your opponent.

Cost 15 Aether

[Boost Health] - Increase your or your allies' health for a period of time.

Cost: 15 Aether Boost Amount: 10 points Duration: 5 minutes

[Boost Damage] - Increase the damage of any weapon you or your allies use for a period of time.

Cost: 15 Aether Boost Amount: 10 points Duration: 5 minutes

[Reflective Sphere] - Creates a sphere of reflective aether around you or your allies that reflects a portion of attack damage.

Cost: 25 Aether Reflection Amount: 10 points Duration: 5 minutes 》

Samara remembered how Bazel discovered that the interface could show how much experience they needed to get to the next level, but only if they asked it to display that information. She wondered why they needed to go through all that trouble, shouldn't it just show them these things in the first place?

Still, seeing the exact details of their skills was nice. Samara wasn't as good with numbers as Bazel was, but she could do some basic calculations. Having the specific amounts and times would help knowing which skill to use and when.

"That's why [Entangle] doesn't work on the snakes!" Bazel blurted out.

Samara looked at his screen and saw the detailed readout of the [Entangle] skill.

《 [Entangle] - Slow your opponent's movement for a time.

Cost: 15 Aether Duration: 1 minute Resist Skill: Agility 》

"Because the snakes have high agility." Samara finished his thought, "That actually makes sense."

"Yeah," Bazel pointed at the screen, "[Drain Strength] can be resisted by high Spirit, and [Mezmerize] can be resisted by high intelligence. I assume the [Analyze will show us what the enemy's highest skill is?"

"Bingo!" Paris said, "That way you know which skills you can use on an opponent and don't waste your aether."

Paris sat back down on the rock and crossed her arms under her bosom, "Now, let's talk for a moment about your stats. Right now, they are pitifully low."

"Samara," she looked over at the woman, "the amount of aether you have to use is too low for your class. Your aether is based on an average of your Sense, Intelligence and Spirit, times ten. You should be able to get all of your stats to twenty by level twenty-five, meaning you would have twice as much aether to use."

Samara understood what she was saying, but how was someone supposed to increase things like their senses, intelligence, and spirit? For physical improvement, exercise worked just fine, but increasing spiritual and mental abilities was beyond her.

"How exactly do I do that?" Samara asked.

"There's various things we can do." Paris waved her hand back and forth, "Intelligence can be increased by studying new things, spirit can be increased through meditation. The five senses are a bit more difficult, but doing activities like cooking and music can help. Also, playing games."

"Of course, physical abilities can be improved through different types of exercise," She looked over at Bazel, "So we are going to have a full regiment consisting of all these things."

"You're going to teach us music and cooking?" Bazel asked.

"Among other things," Paris nodded, "yes. Just like Chiron taught Achilles all kinds of stuff to make him so awesome, I will mold you into warriors and scholars."

"The 'Aethertech Advancement System'," Paris pointed at their interfaces, "used to grant people points they could spend on their stats instead of spending time training. However, the directors discovered that people didn't know how to use what they had properly and changed it. Now, you have to increase those stats through hard work."

"But if you stick with me," Paris used her thumb to point at herself, "I'll make sure you guys are all kinds of buff. You'll win that tournament no problem!"

"You know about that, huh?" Samara crossed her arms.

"Yes, Cassandra told me."

"Okay," Bazel said, "So what do we do first?"

Paris pointed back to the ruins and smiled.

"Go kill twenty snakes before sunset!" She wagged her finger in the air, "If you fail, I'll punish you!"