Micky, Pinky, and Pepperoni continued on their little adventure. It was now well and thoroughly past lunch into supper. The two boys felt like the world was ending and it was all going to be devoured through their stomach. Pinky who had been malnourished when he was a child didn’t remember that time, and Micky had never had a time that a pot of stew or something wasn’t boiling over the fire at home. It just was not done! Of course, Pepperoni was more than happy to devour some ROUS. But Pinky and Micky were loath to do so.

It wasn’t that the raw meat threw them off, mostly, or that they thought that it might contain parasites, because even if they did they would die in the conversion from monster body to human. But that monster meat was poisonous if not thoroughly cooked, it was the mana. Humans concentrated mana, either through constructs that made them more likely to gain abilities and spells, the [Tool]s of the skilled. Monsters suffused their body with mana and gained mostly straight stat bonuses. It wasn’t wrong per se, after all it was the hammer solution, but the hammer solution is never the elegant efficient solution, just the expeditious one.

But monster meat raw contained untrained mana. This is what caused them to ‘evolve’. Some [Arcane Mage]s say that it isn’t a true evolution, and others say that it doesn’t matter the point of evolution is to change on the level of a species, and monster do that. Either way, it is ‘evolution’ caused by a mana overflow and the will of the beast to form a shape they deem more useful.

Before the system, or so they say, monsters were far more spontaneous. They were untrained and even the sapients had a tendency to go through an ‘evolution’ or two before they reached any realm of true power. After the system sapients no longer faced the threat of ‘evolving’ on level up. And monster evolutions were a lot more controlled and organized. Making them more dangerous in the process.

Now that Pinky and Micky had Pepperoni they were gaining a lot more loot… when Pepperoni wasn’t stealing their kills. They also leveled much faster even though Pepperoni stole from their XP. Micky and Pinky were aggrieved, they were hungry which they arbitrarily made Pepperoni’s fault, They were losing XP, which Pepperoni gained for them in the first place, they were lost, but Pepperoni seemed to know where he was going in the first place.

All they could do was just keep battling and following Pepperoni. Which meant system notifications.

[Battle [Won/lost]: []x0 Has run away, []x0 has capitulated, [Capybara]x2 has died]

[Opponenets defeated: [Capybara]x2]

[Loot: 1500 XP]

[Level up! Grats!]

[You have passed an ability level you gain the spell: [Enrage]]

Micky Stared at the window, he couldn’t believe it. After all these years he had finally leveled. All the other kids had fought off slime after slime and were already nearing the level 10 gap, but he had been stuck at level 2 for years. His friend Jimmy was a merchant, so he could level differently, just handle money. But Micky was sure he was just sticking to Micky’s level not because he couldn’t level but he could level at any time since his family was rich ‘probably never actually met his mom and dad’.

This was the second time he had broken down crying in this dungeon, this time he was coherent enough to tell that it made Pinky nervous. So he wiped his tears and opened his status.

(Warning: Stats incoming)

Spoiler: Spoiler

Name:

‘Micky’ Anderson

Class:

Pink Mage

LVL 3 [Consolidating]

EXP:

99693/100235

[Consolidating] 150010

Body:

Weak

[Consolidating] Weak

Mind:

Weak

[Consolidating] Lesser

Soul:

Lesser

[Consolidating] Moderate

Physiology:

Human

Pale, Green eye, Red Hair

Face: Angular

Build: Light, Ganguly

State: Hunger, Bruised

Height 1.5m

Waist .6

BMI 18.3

Stats

STR 6

INT 11 [Consolidating] 12

WIS 12 [Consolidating] 15

DEX 7 [Consolidating] 8

PER 9

END 6 [Consolidating] 7

WIL 8 [Consolidating] 9

AGL 8

Spell and Ability:

Charm

[Consolidating] Enrage

Proficiency:

Class Weapon: 1.03

Improvised Spell: 3.07

Spell Cast: 1.50

Cooking: 5.70

Fishing: 4.13

Exploration: .75

Survival: .15

Chores [House]: 2.46

Hunting: 3.90

Repair: 1.11

Whittling: 2.41

Vitality:

86%

Energy:

Mana: 84/100

Stam: 64%

Tears welled up in Micky’s eyes again. Finally he had another spell. [Charm] is like an old toy he’s had forever. It is his first spell, and he still loves it but… How could he call himself a mage with one spell? Even those legendary one trick ponies had more spells to use than him. He finally felt like a [Mage] he could die happy now… well maybe not, he still had to kiss Susan… maybe not Susan.

Micky picked himself up. “I leveled!” Micky

“Yeah and all it took was fighting monsters above your level and almost dying countless times.” Pinky

“Hey I leveled, I’m level 3 now, do you know how long it’s been? Watching all of you guys pass me? I finally, Finally leveled” Micky

“Whatever dude.” Pinky

Pepperoni seemed to say ‘Are you done? Good let’s get moving we have a lot of work to do, and more delicious rats to eat!’

Micky was sufficiently chastised for getting so excited. The mana was getting thin now, they were definitely close to the exit. Micky and Pinky were tired but they still picked up the pace. Eventually, they were racing each other, though they ‘let’ Pepperoni have the lead so that he could lead them… and the fact that they could never beat him in a race didn’t hurt. But then they saw it.

[The Blue Boss] everyone stopped. This wasn’t a [Mob]. They couldn’t just deal with this. They shouldn’t deal with it, it was a [Boss] and it shouldn’t be here. This was near the exit, the mana was thin.

[Boss]s liked to be where the mana was thick so that they could improve. Being a [Boss] was part of the losers circle that couldn’t cut it in the next grade. Only the [Dungeon Boss] was the real winner. So why was it here?

It was a question they would never know the answer to. The only answer that mattered was [Fight]. Micky prepared his staff, Pinky got ready to cast, and Pepperoni’s hackles were up. Pepperoni arched his back and tail, hissed at the boss as he turned sideways, ready to defend his two boys. They were his now he claimed them and that was that.

It brought a nervous smile to Micky’s face to see his friend ready to defend him like that. It was like the original Pepperoni was still here. No, it meant that the original Pepperoni was still here. So Micky did something stupid he was sure he was going to regret. He cast [Enrage] on Pepperoni. Then He cast [Enrage] on himself. He was useless here otherwise, might as well give himself a bonus to melee.

The world went red, a ringing in his ears. He wasn’t angry so much as exhilarated, he could tell this was the ally benefit. He could feel the spell, if he wanted to, it could be a blind rage that would send him attacking anything. Instead, he was just exhilarated into attacking anything. He could still cast, as long as he was doing something. He had to do something. He was going to do something. He charged the boss, Pepperoni too, Pinky stared blankly forgetting to engage for a moment.

Were these two suddenly suicidal? Then he remembered what their charge would be if the debuffer didn’t hurry up and cast [Curse of weakness] and [Curse of slow] real quick. By the time he was ready to cast [Curse of health] the other two were already engaged.

Micky slammed his staff down onto the [Boss] and Pepperoni slammed into the boss. The boss stared at them in confusion, or would have had it any eyes. But it recovered quick enough. However, it was soon apparent that it was to slow and unwieldy to deal damage to these two quick fighters. So the [Boss] used a [Skill].

[Bounce] And the unusually large [Blue Slime] Bounced around smashing into the narrow walls like a normal sized [Blue slime] and not the massive thing it was. Quickly Micky found himself overwhelmed. This put pressure on Pepperoni who was both trying to deal dmg and tank. And one unfortunately timed bounce put an end to Micky’s contribution to the fight.

The boss was coming straight for him. Micky saw it all in slow mo. He had no way to dodge. The best he could do was swing his staff, axe blades first, into the monster. And so he did with all his strength. And the [Boss] bounced into it, again in slow mo Micky watched the boss deform around the staff, absorbing the impact. Then the boss didn’t absorb any more inertia, Micky did, and he was off like a bullet down the cave towards Pinky.

He landed and skidded up by Pinky, who was still making sure to apply his [Curse] stacks but otherwise stayed back. The [Boss]’s health was slowly being whittled down, other than Micky’s ill timed escapade. Micky looked down at his staff still in hand. The axe blades had now become axe blade, one of the sharp wooden blades broken and who knows where.

He looked to see how Pepperoni was doing, and it seemed to be better than when he was ‘helping’. Pepperoni seemed to be in a natural state of [Enrage] when he saw Micky get bounced off. The [Boss] didn’t know what to do with itself. Micky still threw a stack of [Enrage] on him and decided that he was done with this [Boss] [Fight].

And It was done quickly enough. Oddly it looked like the [Curse of health] Had been what did the boss in, though [Boss] Fights worked differently.

[Battle [Won]: []x0 Has run away, []x0 has capitulated, [The Blue Boss]x1 has died]

[Opponenets defeated: [The Blue Boss]x1]

[Loot: 15000 XP [Blue Class armor]x1 [Roll] Y/N? ]

Micky and Pinky looked at each other, smiled a vicious smile at each other, “NEED!” they said at the same time and laughed. Pepperoni looked at them with judging eyes.

[Roll]

[1st Bartholomew ‘Pinky’ 53, 2nd ‘Micky’ 42]

“I won, in your face, in your FACE!” Pinky said as he shoved his tiny butt into Micky’s face. Micky shoved back not wanting to see that, cats were bad enough with sticking those into places they didn’t belong he didn’t need people to do it too. *Growl*

The two suddenly looked at each other wide eyed… Pepperoni was still [Enraged]! They turned slowly to see Pepperoni ready to pounce, tail swaying back and forth *Growl*. Micky slowly grabbed his staff and Pepperoni eyed the movement.

Then out of nowhere he struck, and Pepperoni pounced, grabbing at the end. Then he pulled the staff back again and swung to the side. Pepperoni again pounced on the staff. And Micky began to cry and laugh at the same time. It WAS Pepperoni, it still was Pepperoni. Even if he was a [Monster] he was still Pepperoni.