JJ and Helot really hadn’t been paying attention to how long they were inside the dungeon and were rather surprised when they saw just how many stone keys Firetank had dug up. So much so that upon seeing the mound of stone keys that was before them, they were both in awe and expressed surprise in the telepathic channel inside JJ’s mind.

“Ah,” Firetank said while in the middle of digging up another key, “It took you guys quite a while to finish the stupid dungeon! I have been digging for days!”

“Have we been gone that long?” JJ said as she wasn’t really sure of anything anymore.

“Oh don’t mind him, I’m pretty sure he’s saying that on a whim,” Helot said downplaying the woes of the great fire lizard.

“While I still despise your guts you stupid wolf, you may be right. My sense of time is probably not the same as yours,”

“Hmm, it seems like you managed to dig up in excess of over 20 keys, this is enough according to my expertise.”

“Yeah, yeah, can I go fight now? I’m itching for some action”

“Why not, this should be enough keys for now. Do you need a rest or anything Firetank?” JJ said as she made all of the stone keys, save for one, to disappear into the 4th dimension. This was her personal storage space and she could not be happier to have peace of mind for all the things she would not have to lug around.

“Finally! Let’s go. Helot, I bet I can beat more monsters than you can.” Firetank said almost jauntily as the three of them headed to another such dungeon.

“Oh never mind you witless lizard you, JJ, which dungeon do you want to go through?”

“I remember M told me that I would be able to pick a class of my own choosing once I reached level A10. Now that I have gone through all 3 basic classes, I think I’ll stick to warrior class as I have made all my game characters go through.”

“Well, there are a few more classes than just those three. Nonetheless, the rest of the classes are certainly not as straightforward as the three basic classes.”

“Yeah, nothing beats beating your opponents up close, I can guarantee you that.” Firetank interjected into the mental channel.

“I know, let’s go. Helot, which one should we go to now?”

“Hold on, let me check something real quick.”

“Wow, that’s the first thing you’ve said that wasn’t a rhyme in a while.”

“Don’t get used to it, also, the life force of this wolf is dang near empty. Why don’t you end the contract and summon something else for me to possess?”

“What do you want?”

“Anything.”

“Ok,” said JJ while she spoke to the wolf mentally and ended the contract, it was a bit of trial and error, but she managed to get it done after fumbling around for a bit. Then, she gave a good few seconds to ponder what would be a good choice in partners. She already had someone who could tank, Firetank, so what was best was someone who could support the frontline. Given that Firetank had an aoe attack, a mage wasn’t really necessary. Alas, she finally decided on something that she could conjure up, a small goblin archer.

“AHAHAHAHA, so you’re telling me that Helot will be donning this weak and pathetic creature? Master, you are a bit too funny.”

“I can only really conjure up beasts that I have seen before, plus, I’m still recovering my magic points from summoning you.”

“This matter is of no consequence, I have the utmost confidence.”

“Oof, that didn’t really rhyme.”

“...What’s a rhyme?” Firetank asked all confused.

“Something out of your realm of knowledge, as I’m sure you’ll come to acknowledge.”

“Pshhh. So. Dungeon. Now?”

“Yea, JJ just go pick any statue with a melee weapon, I’ll leave it to your discretion.”

“Uhmm,” JJ said while making her way towards a few statues with swords, spears, tridents, and even some animal ones. Finally, she picked one that embodied a half demonic statue with horns and the other half was a normal human looking teenager.

“Ah yes, one part human one part demon. This will be a challenge for sure.” Firetank opined.

“As I’m sure you recollect, demons are the main race in this world, and they are far more superior in almost every way to humans, no disrespect.”

“None taken, I think this will be a good trial for me to test my limits and for the class I want to dedicate the rest of my journey with,” JJ said as the key that was in her hands transferred to the statue and disappeared. Just a moment later, Firetank, the goblin archer, and herself were transported inside the dungeon.

“Remember to be careful as this dungeon is beyond dreadful,” Helot said as the goblin archer that he had taken over pined around. For a dungeon that harboured demons, it was a lot brighter than he had thought.

“Let’s go,” JJ said as all three of them made their way through the deep long path to the first room. There, she saw almost twenty imps, from what she could tell, they were red and had the ability of short flight. This might be a problem if they were able to gang up on her, but she had a backup.

However, she felt like she had something to prove and had the others stay put for the time being while she took on the room by herself. She conjured up metal knuckles which immediately appeared on top of her gauntlets and she waltzed into the room with a real determined look in her eyes.

She was spotted as soon as she walked in and 2 imps flew over to attack while the others watched with their sinister little grins. Before the two made contact with JJ, she all of a sudden had the thoughts of her parents inside her mind. Why was she thinking of this subject now of all times? For the time being, she pushed her thoughts of her family aside and focused on the fight at hand.

There was one imp that had dropped out of the sky while the other one remained in the air. Presumably, this was meant as a way for the imps to divide her attention and thus have a higher chance of taking her down. Or at least wounding her. This was just the first room, but for once, JJ felt more of a thrill in fighting enemies than she had before.

They came closer and closer until JJ decided to run full speed at them. From what she saw, the one on the ground was lagging behind as the short legs that it had could not keep up with the speed of the one in flight.

First, she gave the airborne imp a good punch which sent it flying backwards, then, a mere second later, she gave the other one a very satisfying kick right to the head. The sound of a skull being broken could be heard and before either of them fell to the ground, JJ rushed towards the imp that she had sent flying back. By the time that she had gotten to it, it had hit the ground and was still dazed. This was when JJ kept punching and kicking an enemy that was already down.

Her head was covered by the helmet that was part of her armour, but both Firetank and Helot knew that JJ was sorting out a few problems right now. This was not something that they wanted to deal with. In the room, the fight continued. Once the other imps saw what had become of their allies, 6 more of them rushed forward once they received orders who seemed to be from one of the fatter and taller imps.

JJ welcomed this challenge and did an admirable job fending them off for now. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that the imp that seemed to be the leader out of the bunch was seemingly chanting a spell. She did not really mind fighting these imps since they weighed about as much as a third-grader, but that spell could be dangerous. Thus, she did all she could to beat her opponents into submission and made a break for the spellcaster. There were only a few imps in her way, but she didn’t really bother with them.

She could tell at a glance that at the leader imp was leagues ahead of his subordinates and that if she wanted to end this, she would need to take him out first. As she was running towards the imp that was now going as fast as he could, she conjured up a spear and threw it. Luckily, she managed to hit him in a way that it was able to mess up the rhythm of the chant. After bypassing the last of the guard imps just a few moments later, she conjured up another spear and jumped as high as she could just a few paces from the imp that was sprawled on the ground and brought forth the spear right on top of the big bald red head.

All throughout this battle, she had been distracted by her recurring thoughts of her parents. She kept pushing them out but they kept penetrating her mind. She pushed them out once again and got down on her knees then proceeded to beat the ever-living daylights out of the now-dead spell caster. She did not stop.

She kept going on and on and on not stopping until a small hand rested on her shoulder. Her first thought was that it was another imp and she turned around to beat whoever’s hand it was that were on her. It took her a few rounds and Firetank’s very shocked o face to realize that she was beating up the goblin archer that she had summoned.

“Oh shoot, sorry, Helot. Why didn’t you say anything to me?” JJ said as she got up only to see the goblin archer fading away into the dust.

“Uhmm, damn, master. Are you alright?”

“Huh? Yeah… yeah, I’m fine. Where are the rest of the imps? Did you kill the rest of them? I was beginning to wonder why they weren’t attacking me.”

“The rest of them were merely summons from the one you just beat up, and I didn’t saying anything since I didn’t want to disrupt.”

“Disrupt what?”

“Even I can tell that you have issues, master.”

“You guys are not making any sense right now. Can we just go to the next room?”

“I’ll say this without rhymes or poems or tricks, but you need to know that you are going through some anger release issues right now and that is completely normal.”

“Hah, what anger could I possibly have? I’m in the world I always wanted to be in, what more could I want?”

“I may not be as cunning as M, but I am infinitely better at understanding emotions. You have no regrets leaving your family behind, I’m sure you realize that by now you’re angry at yourself that you are this way.”

“How? How could you possibly know this?”

“Just call it a hunch. You are not the first that I had to comfort in this situation. M is notoriously bad at these types of things so he left me in his place to essentially help guide you and your mindset to where you are right now, not where you’ve been.”

“Do you really think that is what is really plaguing my mind?”

“I do, that is why you were so relentless in bashing in the head of the imp just now.”

“...Maybe you’re right. I pushed almost everyone away so that I didn’t have to deal with drama or anything like that in my past life. Perhaps that was why it was so easy to pretend that I didn’t really care that I would never be able to see my parents ever again. It took a day or so, but now that my reality has sunk in, I guess my outer shell of I don’t care attitude has finally betrayed me. Tell me, is there something wrong with me?”

“Dear child, there is nothing wrong with you. You are the way you are because you chose to be, mostly. But you should know that the you of the future has an arguably larger bearing on your life than the past. I can’t give you all the answers you seek, but I’m sure given time, you will.”

“You have been so silly and wacky the little while I’ve known you, why are you so wise all of a sudden?” JJ said while she felt a tear roll down her face and gave a slight chuckle.

“I find humour to be quite endearing and a bit of a challenge. I won’t say I understand your feelings, but you need to know that you have been given a second chance, and we need you in your tip-top shape. Will you be able to do that on your own now? Or do you think you need to speak with me a bit more?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

“Well, if you ever need to talk, just know that…”

“...Know what?”

“...Know that you’ll have to get M to release me into this world. I am but a facet of his and honestly, I'm even more of a tool for him than you are.”

“Heh, I think what you have said made a lot of sense, but I will need a bit of time to digest everything and get my bearings in order.”

“Ok good. Now, can you conjure up another body for me? Cause...you know...you killed me last time.”

“Hah, oh yeah just give me a sec,” JJ said as she summoned another goblin archer. After doing the formalities all over again, JJ looked at Firetank who was just laying there waiting for them.

Upon seeing that they were done, he excitedly said, “so we can go kill stuff now, master?”

“Hold on, lizard, she still needs to pick her class.”

“Ah! Does that mean I am level A10 now?”

“Indeed it does. Go on, choose.”

“I think I’ll go for the warrior class, as I had previously planned. How do I not get a notification for all this stuff?”

“Ah, that’s because, for the most part, M and I deal with all of that. You just need to kill monsters.”

“What about skill points and all that?”

“I can take care of all of that for you too if you’d like. I can do a pretty great job given I know a lot about the warrior class.”

“Ok, please do. Just make sure not to overstack any one skill and vice versa.”

“Stop nagging, I get it. Let’s go Firetank.”

“Finally,”