Risen World

Chapter 83: An Extremely Strange Girl

Joshua stepped out of the portal into a familiar area of the entrance to the beginner's forest. He looked around quietly examining all the people nearby to see if there was anyone that he felt was strong enough to join him in exploring the hidden dungeon that he had found. If it came down to it and he wasn't able to find anyone in the right level range he would just take the dungeon on himself, but he would prefer at least some back up just to be safe. Even if he was thinking along those lines he knew right from the get go that all the people that were grouping up to enter the beginner forest wouldn't be nearly strong enough to be back up for him. If they actually had to group up just to make it through this low leveled rabbit infested forest then they would only be a hindrance to him in the level twenty five dungeon he was planning to explore.

Instead of looking for help at the entrance to the forest he decided to make his way over towards the beginner dungeon area to find some companions. At least the people that were lining up for the dungeon were around level fifteen and knew how to handle themselves to some degree. If he was lucky he might be able to find a pair of people that were closer to his level and had experience of doing multiple dungeon runs. That way they would be better prepared for a tougher challenge.

While making his way through the forest he didn't have to worry about any enemies attacking him sense all the monsters he came across instantly ran away. He did see a few people fighting small groups of rabbits the further he went into the forest. On one occasion he had to apologize to a group of three when their prey ran away after sensing Joshua's presence. They weren't too happy with him, but let it pass when he pointed out a larger group not too far away for them to hunt down.

It didn't take him to long to reach the clearing where people were waiting for their turns to enter the dungeon. The sight was similar to the last time he came except there seemed to be more people lined up with a lot of new faces around. It had been about a month sense he last was there so it was likely that the people that were training with this dungeon before had already moved on to take on more challenging areas or joined guilds by this point. The people he did see were for the most part somewhere between level thirteen and level fifteen. Anyone that hadn't at least reach level fifteen would most likely struggle with the larger than ten level difference the dungeon he planned to challenge would provide.

Joshua did see a few people on their own that were both level sixteen, but he wasn't going to bring them along sense they didn't fit the role he was looking for. One of them was a tank of some sort based of the large shield he carried and how heavily armored he was, the other was a swordsman who clearly preferred to fight up front and personal. Both things he didn't particularly need sense he filled both of those roles on his own. All healer's he saw in the area were in a group already while any mages or archers were to low leveled. He didn't want to wait all day to see if someone would show up that fit his criteria, but he definitely didn't want to ask any of the groups and end up having his hidden dungeon found out by some guild.

With a soft sigh Joshua was about to head out to see if he could search another location for people to bring along when he took notice of someone sitting on a large rock near the other edge of the clearing, just sitting there and watching people enter the dungeon. The person was a young woman that looked to be in her college years based off the fact that she seemed older than his little sister, but not yet old enough to stop ageing. When Joshua tried to use the system to observe her he noticed that she had her name and level up for display as if she wanted someone to group up with her, but everyone else seemed to be avoiding her like the plague. Her name was Lilian and her level was surprisingly seventeen just like Joshua. The fact that a person that was already level seventeen was having trouble getting into a group was odd.

Just as Joshua was about to go over and talk to her to figure out what was going on a hand patted his arm to get his attention. He turned to the person to see what they wanted when he noticed it was a group of multiple people instead of just one person. The one who had grabbed his attention was a rather short man that was dressed up in light leather armor with a bow strung across his back. "Hey big guy, I'd advise you to stay away from that girl if you don't want any trouble. She's just a leach that takes all of the group's experience." The archer said with a frown.

What do you mean?" Joshua simply asked. He didn't like how rude the man seemed to be in regards to the girl. Even if she wasn't a top class explorer or something along those lines the man seemed to think of her as nothing more than trash. From what Joshua could see she didn't seem to be causing any problems, so he would find out for himself whether the apparent situation was warranted.

"All though I don't know what her job is, I do know that it takes up more of the party experience than a normal party member. That alone wouldn't be too much of a problem but she is completely useless in a fight. At most she can heal a bit but that's all." The archer said before his group waived him over sense it was there turn to enter the dungeon. "Just take my advice man and stay away from her if you plan on going into the dungeon. You'll just be carrying her the whole way."

Joshua simply nodded as the man and his group walked off to enter the dungeon, but he didn't really take anything the grumpy archer said to heart. In the end whoever Joshua decided to bring along with him to the dungeon would for the most part end up getting carried anyways. He'd rather carry one girl if her abilities were interesting enough than a whole group that might be hard to protect if they ignored his orders. One thing he had noticed about these quickly put together groups was that they didn't have the sense of comradery that the first group of four he had seen taking on the rabbit in the forest the first time he entered the beginner area. These groups were quickly put together and most likely would have conflicting views on how to go about a dungeon. Even a simple dungeon like this one created rifts between people based on how some of the people acted after completing it.

With that in mind it wasn't too hard to imagine someone that for some reason took up more experience than others would cause an even bigger rift. For now Joshua wanted to figure out what was so special about the girl and made his way over towards her. When he got close enough to get a better look at her he was able to notice that she wasn't actually alone. The girl had curly platinum blond hair that reached her shoulders and a little ways down her back. She had two large bangs that framed her face as she turned to look towards Joshua. Her eyes were a light blue and when she looked towards Joshua he was aware of how her smile made her seem care free even in her current situation.

In her lap she was holding what at first Joshua thought was a plushy sense it didn't budge an inch when he approached, but after seeing its belly expand as it breathed Joshua was surprised that it was actually a pink rabbit that was exactly the same as the one he had seen in the boss portion of his dungeon run. When he examined its name and level he found the creature to be level seventeen just like the girl along with four stars next to its name showing how well trained it was.

When Joshua got close enough the girl hopped down off the rock and waltzed over to him. Now that she was standing on her own two feet and not sitting on top of a large boulder, Joshua was able to see how small she actually was. She was around the same size as Naomi height wise all though she seemed a bit more mature in terms of figure. "Well hi there big guy. It's nice to meet you." She said with a big grin.

"Ah, yeah nice to meet you as well. I was just wondering why you were over here waiting on your own. Especially with your current level." Joshua asked a little surprised by how bright her personality seemed to be under the circumstances.

"Hmmm, well no one seems to want to go in with me. I can't really do it on my own sense my abilities aren't really up to task at the moment, but at least I got this little guy to help." She said as she lifted up the little pink rabbit and put him in front of Joshua. "My names Lillian Ellis, you can just call me Lilly. This little guy here is Floppy."

Joshua cringed a little bit at the rabbit's name and looked at how frightened it seemed to be when it was put in front of him. For a moment he pictured the same rabbit that he had to kill in order to beat the boss and felt guilty. He patted the head of the poor rabbit to calm it down before turning his attention back towards Lilly. "I'm Joshua. It's nice to meet you and all, but I wanted to explore a certain dungeon and was looking for some back up. You're the only one here even remotely close enough level wise to be useful, but I'm not sure if you are ready for a tougher challenge than the beginner dungeons."

"Hmm, you're silly aren't you? Why would you be looking for help on a hard dungeon in a beginner area like this?" Lilly said while tilting her head in confusion.

Joshua scratched his head in embarrassment before responding. "Well let's just say the dungeon is too easy for the people I know, but I don't want to get another group involved to take all the credit." Joshua tried to explain.

"So then you were looking for solo explorers that weren't tied down to a guild that could get involved in your little expeditionmakes sense, but I'm not sure how much I can help you. Just about everyone here considers me a leech so I might just get in the way." Lily said with a surprisingly down trodden look, but it didn't take very long for her bright smile to return.

"Well if you don't mind can you show me your status so I can understand what's going on?" Joshua asked and was surprised by the quick nod in acceptance he got in return. He wasn't quite sure why she was trusting him so easily, but he decided to go along with it for now. Joshua invited her into a party so that she could easily send him her information. With a few swipes in the air Lily sent over her stats page and Joshua was surprised at what he saw. For her Job role she had a unique one called beast tamer novice and for soul beast she had animal affinity. This was the first time he had seen something rather unique under soul beast.

When he looked through her stats the first thing he noticed was that even though she had reached the full potential of a level seventeen the beast tamer class didn't actually give her any boost in stats growth at all. So even though the two of them were on the same level Joshua's stats were more than twice the amount of hers without even having his aura activated. This was rather curious. Joshua doubted that a unique job would not have any advantages so he clicked on the Job and read through its description and abilities.

[Beast Tamer (novice): A unique Job that thrives in training monsters to fight alongside them. Different combinations of monsters can lead to a great adversary.

Abilities:

Taming: A Beast Tamer can tame most monsters as long as they are strong enough to take up the challenge. Some monsters cannot be tamed such as bosses and or guardians, but all tamed monsters can be trained and can grow in strength. Some can even evolve into stronger beast later on when they reach a certain point. A novice tamer can at most use two monsters at a time. Any monsters not in use are kept in the tamers soul realm. If a tamed monster is defeated it will be forced back into the tamers soul realm to heal for a period of time. All tamed monsters gain experience when in battle. This experience comes from the party shared experience. If one monster is out it gains the experience of one person, but if more than one monster is in use then the experience of one party member is shared between them. Monsters can be easily summoned from the soul realm as long as there is space available in the party.

Synchronize: This is the trump card of all beast tamers. This ability allows you to take on the stats and abilities of one of your monsters. You can only synchronize with monsters that are not gravely injured. ]

Joshua was surprised after reading through this description. Although there were only two abilities both abilities explained the issue people were having with Lily. Her strength completely relied on her monsters and at the moment all she had was one little rabbit that was good at healing. Before Joshua thought about it too much he decided to check out her soul beast and see how well it matched with her Job. There had to have been a good reason for the system to give her such an interesting unique job.

[Animal Affinity: The possessor of this soul beast has an extreme attraction for animals. As this soul beast grows stronger their potential to train and work alongside beast will grow stronger.

Abilities:

Excellent Taming: This ability grants the users monster far greater experience from both training and battle. Monsters under the tamer will gain double the experience from battle and training.

Taming Mastery: The user has the ability to use monsters on a higher level than the normal tamer. The tamer can use twice as many monsters during battle as per normal.

Taming Prodigy: The tamer is a genius in his/her field. The tamer has an easier time taming monsters and attracting them when out in the field.]

Well that certainly answered his question. Lilly was perfect for the job with this soul beast, but it was definitely a job that would have a hard time starting off which probably would make people feel as if she was just there leeching off of all of their experience, but Joshua knew just how to get the most out of it. "Lilly I think you're perfect for the role I have in mind. How about we try out this dungeon together and I'll show you the best way to get the most out of your job." Joshua said with a smile.

"Alright, but I hope I won't drag you down." She replied while hugging the poor suffocating bunny tightly. "Well let's go then I'm looking forward to working with you Joshua."

Joshua grinned back before replying. "I am as well, just call me Josh by the way." He knew he had found a diamond in the rough and he was going to make sure to turn her into one of the strongest partners he could get.

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