Note: This chapter has not gone to my editors and events may change before final release. The below is also unedited and in a raw non-polished form.

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“So you have some great skill to kill the puppy spiders, right?” Shuddered Toaby.

“Not really. Personally, I don’t like fighting them ever since I lost my bow. These spears,” Sam gestured with his weapon, “only do one damage. They’re terrible.”

‘Well, hopefully when he’s done today,” Toaby gestured at Nate who was mining loudly behind them, “we can get you a sword at least.”

“I would still prefer my bow, but a sword would be nice.”

“Are there any carpenter’s in town? Can’t they make you a new bow?”

Sam nodded. “Theres one and I suppose it’s possible for him to make a bow, but everything we make gets stolen. Now that you’re around, I suppose I could ask them to try.”

“Having you equipped with your preferred weapon would make me feel a lot more at east.” Toaby looked around the dark cave. “I have to questions. How am I supposed to see anything in here and where are the spiders you mentioned?”

“I could light a torch, but it would just attract them faster. And to answer your second question, don’t worry. With Nate slamming away with his pickaxe, its just a matter of time.”

As if they were answering his call, loud scurrying and a screeching purring noise came from deeper in the cave. Toaby squinted his eyes in order to find anything among the blackness.

He turned to Sam when he still couldn’t see anything. “What do we do now?”

“We get ready.” Sam readied his spear, gripping it with both hands firmly.

Toaby followed suit and tightened the grip on his axes. That’s when first saw one of them. A hairy black spider the size of a puppy, its body being roughly a foot long from head to butt. He noticed thin purple and yellow stripes along its legs as it ran toward them.

“We got lucky.” Sam grinned.

“How so? That thing looks terrifying.”

“Ya, but its only one. They’re much tougher to face in groups.’

Toaby wanted it dead. He never suffered from arachnophobia on Earth, but at the sight of a foot long spider, his entire body shuttered. Not wanting to waste anytime, he took aim and tossed one of his axes. Luck really was on their side, his weapon sunk into the spider's body.

You deal 2 slashing damage to a Baby Tunnel Spider.

The spider stumbled backward and let out a screech of pain. Both Toaby and Sam took advantage of the temporary distraction. Rushing forward, Sam plunged his spear into it. Simultaneously, Toaby tossed his other axe. The weapon flew a little to the right and missed the spider’s body. It caught one of its legs, taking it clean off.

You deal 2 slashing damage to a Baby Tunnel Spider.

You have caused a minor wound to Baby Tunnel Spider.

Toaby then realized his mistake. One of his blades was stuck in the back of the spider while the other was a few feet behind it. I’m an idiot. He sprinted forward to grab his loose axe lying on the floor. While he ran, Nate continued to pierce the spider. His spear was actually proving to be quite the affective weapon against the creature. Its length allowing him to keep it at a distance.

As soon as Toaby had his axe, he turned to face the spider. It took a step back and bent low. Lifting its rear to point it at Sam, it released a string of webbing directly at him. The webbing hit him directly in the chest. The spider immediately pulled Sam toward him, but Toaby had rejoined the fight, severing the web with a savage downward slash.

Now being directly above it, Sam thrust his spear down again and again as Toaby positioned himself. When he was ready, he joined in with slashes of his own. The spider died only a moment later.

Congratulations! You have defeated a Baby Tunnel Spider.

You have been rewarded 10 (15 - 5 non-party penalty) experience.

Toaby read over the rest of his notifications as he caught his breath. The one about the experience was eating at him. “Hey, Sam.” Sam turned to face him. “What’s with the non-party penalty to experience?”

“The system penalizes us when we fight with non-party members. I think its to prevent a bunch of people from taking on the same creature at once. Kinda makes it fair that way by limiting us.”

“Then why don’t we form a party?” Suggested Toaby.

“I only have one point in charisma and I used it to learn an ability that makes me more attractive to woman.”

“Seriously?” Toaby asked, more out of curiosity of such a skill’s existence rather than wasting a skill slot for it.

Sam nodded. “Yeah. Theres a skill for practically everything, so choosing the right skills is truly important.”

“If the system limits us on the skills we have, are we able to drop skills or unlearn them?”

“Ya, but you lose all your points in it and you won’t know if you’ve missed out on a skill either.” Toaby cocked his head in confusion, and Sam took the hint to continue speaking. “So lets say your strength is one and you’ve learned a weapon mastery like swords. You fight for a while and level your sword skill to three, but you want to fight with a spear. You could fight for the next year with a spear and never get the spear skill. You would need to drop you sword skill before you could learn the spear, and all that time you spent with a spear would be wasted because you would get the spear skill at level one. And if you ever wanted to switch back to swords, you would not only need to drop the spear skill and the time you spent leveling that up but you would learn the sword skill back at only level one, losing the three levels you earned in it previously.”

“Ok. You really need to plan out your build early then I guess.”

“Yeah. It’s ok to experiment but only if you have free slots available. You would benefit more from picking a lane early and sticking to it.”

Toaby scratched his head. “I still think it would be beneficial for me to have the party skill. Especially if we’re going to come here a lot. Besides, I have two points in charisma so I can spare one. Only question is, do you know how I can learn it?”

“Yeah. There’s a handful of people back at the settlement who have it. Its really easy. All you need to do is focus on someone you want to bring into your party and think about forming a group with them.”

Sounding all too simple, Toaby gave it a try. He gazed at Sam and thought about forming a group with him.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill Party Leader.

Party Leader: Finally figured out that you can’t do it alone? I’m going to miss watching you fumbling around alone like a fool. At skill level 1, you can have a total of 3 additional members besides yourself. Party members also have the ability to monitor each other's hit points and status effects.

You have invited Sam, the Hunter to your party.

A moment later he got another notification.

Sam has accepted your invitation!

Sam’s name appeared below Toaby’s. Under his name was a long rectangular red bar, just like his own, that indicated Sam’s health. He also has a buff icon labeled ‘Hunter’s Bounty’.

“Sam. Do you mind if I ask about your hunter’s bounty skill?”

“Not at all. It’s one of my class skills. It provides additional basic loot items. Meat and hides primarily, but it also provides a small boost to finding crafting materials. It extends to the entire party when I’m in a group, so feel free to loot the spider.”

Toaby had completely forgotten about loot. Excited, he placed a hand on the spider and thought ‘loot’. The loot table appeared with three of its boxes filled. The first two both a ball of spider web and the third had a spider leg in it.

“How do you want to split this up?”

Sam scratched his chin. “Doesn’t matter to me. I was just going to give it all to the settlement so either of us could carry it. The spider silk should combine into one inventory slot once one of us picks it up.”

“Wait. You can see the loot?”

“Yeah. As soon as someone opens the loot table, it becomes visible to the entire party and we can select what we want. As soon as someone selects something, everyone else has sixty seconds to either pass on it or cast their lot for it. If more than one person wants an item, the system generates a number from one to one hundred and the highest number get its. The items are automatically sent to each person's inventory. It’s kinda neat.”

Toaby agreed. “That is neat.” He selected all three items and a green border outlined their boxes. His name, written in green, was above each box. A timer was placed on-top of each item, counting down from sixty.

“Just for demonstration purposes, I’ll selected each of them too.” Same noted.

As he selected items, an orange box appeared around them with his name written in orange.

After an item had both of their boarders around it, a number appeared next to each of their names. Toaby had higher numbers for one of the spider silks and for the leg. As the system generated numbers, the items disappeared from the loot window. Opening his inventory, he confirmed that he had both the items he just won.

“That is really neat.” Sam laughed at Toaby’s excitement. “There’s a lot of fun stuff to explore here. For example,” Same got close so Nate wouldn’t be able to overhear, “one time when we were on a mining trip, I ran really deep into the cave. I was being purposely being chased by a bunch of spiders so others could escape, but before I died, I found something.”

“What did you find?”

“There was a metal door built into the wall back there. I think it was some kind of dungeon. Like out of a video game.”

Sam was getting really excited, and Toaby knew where this was going. “You’re not suggesting we try to enter it, are you?”

“No, no, no. Of course not. Not the two of us, but maybe tomorrow we come back with a couple more people?” Sam raised his shoulders suggestively.

“These ‘puppy spiders’ are only babies according to the system. I’m afraid to find their parents, which is probably what's behind that door.”

“Yeah, but think of what we could find. Maybe something to fight the raiding parties?” Sam suggested. “Plus, as long as Nate is able to mind a bunch tonight, we would come back with proper equipment. I also know that we have an herbalist back in the settlement who can make really weak healing potions. We’ll need to spend a few hours gathering herbs but we would come back with,” he raised a finger for each of his points, “proper equipment, healing potions and a full party.”

“I’m not sure.” Toaby crossed his arms.

“We’ll need to discuss it later. We have some company.” Sam pointed at another spider crawling up to them.

They went straight back into combat mode. Toaby smarted up and only tossed one of his axes at the monster. Again, it sunk into the spider's body and allowed him and Sam to unload on it. This one was a little tougher and ended up biting Sam on the leg. Toaby saw Sam’s health bar dropped by a third and a paralysis icon appear next to his health bar.

The paralysis didn’t appear to be painful but, according to the system, it disabled Sam for five seconds. Unable to take any actions or even move. Thankfully, Toaby was able to get a combo of attacks off and finish the spider while it was busy bitting Sam. This dropped his stamina to zero, and the grip on his axes loosened as a result.

Congratulations! You have defeated a Baby Tunnel Spider.

You have been rewarded 15 experience.

“Well, the experience is nice. I should level if we manage to take out a couple more.” Toaby looted the spider and found two more balls of web. “I’ll grab this for the settlement. It should stack with the bit I already have.”

Sam fell over. “Oww.” He rubbed the side that hit the ground. “When the paralysis wears off, your body just slumps. Yeah, that’s fine. You can take the webbing. How much experience are you getting?”

“Fifteen a kill now that were in a group.”

“Nice. I’m only getting five, but it’s still pretty good.” Sam looked back. “Looks like Nate is just getting started, so let’s get down to work and wipe the floor with some spiders!”