Tales of the Pearly Kingdom (Pearly Tales Vol. 2)

168. Hard or Easy Training

Hours had passed and they had made their way to the second floor of the dungeon.

Once they passed through the door, they walked down a single flight of stairs into a roughly carved cave system that felt like it could have been a natural formation in more ways than not. Vera paid very close attention to Dakota's instructions and advise. Cal had really hit home that she was in charge.

Luckily, she didn't have to do it alone. Dakota stood by her and walked her through the ropes of responsible leadership.

"Remember, don't get reckless just because the Guildmaster said you won't die." Dakota reminded her. "You'd be surprised by what you can live through and what you wish you hadn't."

Vera stood at the front of the formation since she was the vanguard. Scouting in front of the party was Jasmine. As a Lamia she basically grew up in a dungeon and knew the ins-and-outs of recognizing and disarming traps. She even surprised Seamus, who had been trained as an assassin.

Greffin next to Vera in the formation. Since she had nowhere to fly, she relied on her powerful legs and her training with Joltiana to help maintain the Vanguard.

Juliette was the rearguard caster. Her job was to focus on powerful magic attacks. She wasn't totally helpless though and had proven that she wouldn't panic or crumble in the middle of combat.

Seamus was in the middle. It was so he could successfully support the party in any capacity. Yamamoto perched on his shoulders and kept lookout so they wouldn't be surprised from a surprise attack and played an important role as an attacker that could also draw the attention of the enemy.

*

"Dakota, may I ask a question?" Vera spoke up when they took a break.

They found a rounded cave that had a small pond of crystal-clear water. Blue crystal sand at the bottom of the pool was glowing and gave the dark cave a certain charm. They placed a lantern in the center of the room and broke out their lunches.

Dakota sat by the edge of the water and scooped a handful to take a sip. He smiled with a satisfied sigh. "Ahh. What is on your mind Vera?"

Vera was fairly comfortable with both Dakota and Anastasia, but her question felt awkward. Especially, with what they were doing. "Isn't this too... easy?" She fidgeted with her fingers. "Do we really seem this weak to Cal?"

Vera was worried by how simple it had been to clear the dungeon. There were goblins, wolves, some larger than average insects and even a Hobgoblin. And they had been victorious without breaking a sweat. She worried that Cal had made the dungeon weaker because he thought they couldn't handle anything harder.

"A good question." Dakota sat down and urged her to do the same. Then he reached down into the shallow pool and pulled out a handful of glowing sand. "Juliette, you've been to at least in one other dungeon. What do you think of this artificial one?"

"Um," Juliette grabbed her own tail and played with it. "I think the difficulty is pretty average for a mid-level dungeon. But I think there are too many enemies than there normally would appear. But I wouldn't call it easy."

"Traditionally, only Veterans would venture into a mid-level dungeon." Dakota stated. "Jasmine, what did you think of the traps?" Water began to trickle from the sand in his hand.

"Truthfully, they are both quite elaborate and dangerously simple. There were some that I almost missed because I hadn't seen anything like them. I wish we had some of these back home." Jasmine remarked.