The clubber threw away its hopes for a good flank and joined the fray. The two of them assaulted me pretty much from the front, forcing me to defend myself. I could get more aggressive, but I preferred to play it safe, avoiding the risk of unnecessary wounds.

  I waited for an opportune chance to strike, and it soon appeared. The club wielder managed to push my buckler a bit to the side, causing me to take a step back to retain my balance. Its friend immediately started preparing a tail swipe.

  Unfortunately for them, I was ready to cash in on that.

  Acting as If I had failed to keep my balance, I swayed a little further to the back. The club wielder took the bait and came forward with a follow-up to its previous attack. I was ready for it, though, and quickly swung my buckler into the advancing Kobold, locking us up shield to shield, which I used to rotate my body to the side.

  That caused it to lose its balance as it went past me, and it stumbled into the range of the tail swipe of its partner. As expected, it fell to the ground with a miserable yip, and I hastily brought my mace down right onto its forehead with both hands.

  A sickening crunch followed.

  The swiper finished turning around in time to see me crush its friend’s head, but I didn’t give it time to react and swung my weapon up in an uppercut. A trail of blood followed the head of the mace, which smashed into the Kobold’s snout from underneath, knocking it off its feet.

  I followed after it, jumping onto the short creature and pinning it to the ground with my knee. Bringing my mace up and down again, I crushed its skull, too, finishing my fight.

  Two enemies down.

  I tried to calm my labored wheezing and checked on Aisha. She stood proudly over the mutilated corpses of her enemies, splattered only a little by their blood. They hadn’t stood a chance against her heavy axe.

  She opened her mouth, most likely to compliment me, but I noticed movement on the ground behind her. She was facing me, with the four supposed corpses behind her. Except one of them stirred.

  “Jump!” I shouted, my voice filled with intent.

  I felt a sudden decrease in my mana and Aisha jumped, before she fully registered my words. An awkward swing of a wobbly sword passed beneath her feet.

  She quickly spun around after landing and slammed her axe into the still-breathing Kobold.

  “That was rather incompetent of me. I apologize.” She gave me a wry smile.

  “Happens.” I shrugged my shoulders, still struggling to bring my breathing under control.

  “What was that?” she asked, walking closer.

  “Most likely my Command. I’m glad it worked, even if all you would have received was a shallow cut.”

  She nodded. “Thanks. My body pretty much moved on its own, even before I intended it to. A very useful skill to quicken one’s reaction speed.”

  “I would like to see how much force is in it, later. Now, though, I need to check my wrist before it falls off from all the buzzing.”

  It seemed there were a whole bunch of notifications. And I meant a lot.

  This would be fun.

  Chapter 10

  Level Up

  We made sure that the sounds of battle hadn’t attracted more Kobolds, waiting quietly for several minutes while focusing on listening to our surroundings. When it looked like nothing was coming our way, we moved closer to the wall by the campfire and sat down side-by-side.

  I pulled up my watch to let Aisha see the notifications too. Soon, the hologram materialized. And, damn. It was a lengthy one.

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  After receiving brief guidance, you have shown great effort to efficiently wield your weapons, smartly overpowering your enemies.

  New General Skill Learned: Mace Proficiency (F)

  New General Skill Learned: Buckler Proficiency (F)

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  “That was pretty much expected,” I murmured.

  “Yeah. You’ve been doing pretty well with these,” Aisha commented. “The only downside to this is having your General Skills tab cluttered with a myriad of proficiencies you aren’t really going to make use of soon. Unless you plan on sticking to maces and bucklers.”

  I sighed. “You are right. But, better more skills than less. And, after you get more than three proficiencies, you can bundle them up, actually. I think it was Weapon Proficiencies and Armor Proficiencies?”

  “Oh. I didn’t know that. But, it’s not like I ever had more than two. I used greatswords for a bit. I guess I didn’t reach a high enough proficiency for it to carry over after my death.”

  Shrugging, I scrolled down through the notifications. “Not sure if it works the same in real life. We’ll see.”

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  Over the course of your recent battles, you have displayed a commendable focus and sense of battle, using your opponent’s moves to your own benefit.

  Battle Sense (F) -> Battle Sense (E)

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  “That was pretty quick.” I raised a brow after reading the text.

  “Not really. The first rank-up often happens even on the very first delve. Congratulations, nevertheless. Your first E.”

  “I’d hoped to get Telekinesis to E already, but I guess it’s harder to rank up. Or maybe the threshold is greater. Anyway, thanks. Let’s see…”

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  Congratulations!

  Through defeating monsters and partaking in other activities, you have gathered enough experience to strengthen yourself.

  Level 1 -> Level 2

  Gained Attribute Points: 5

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  “That too was coming at any time.” Aisha smiled. “I’m surprised I didn’t level up before you did, though. I slew more enemies than you, and that gives the most experience. Or did you already skip past it?”

  I shook my head. “I didn’t. I checked our statuses regularly. But…”

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  Congratulations!

  As you push through adversity together, your Subordinate has gathered enough experience to strengthen themselves.

  Aisha Erlivyre: Level 1 -> Level 2

  Gained Attribute Points: 5

  New Class-Related Skill Learned: Ground Pound (F)

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  “Oh. Looks like we leveled-up more or less at the same time. That’s rare.” My drakan companion rubbed her chin. “I even got a new skill already. Judging by its name, I think your Command from earlier influenced its acquisition.”

  I did the same. “So, you can get additional skills not just from the static unlocks at certain levels, huh.”

  “Yes. It’s the same as with the General Skills. You can earn one by doing something close to the original. Of course, even replicating the skill perfectly doesn’t guarantee you will get it added to your list. Proficiency is the key.”

  “Then you must be quite proficient at jumping.” I chuckled.

  Aisha rolled her eyes with a soft smile. “It’s just a theory, but I think my past experience is showing. I did use Ground Pound during my first run quite a bit. I actually combined it with a lunge ability, making them my go-to gap-closing moves. That’s probably why the jump triggered it.”

  I nodded. “That’s good to know. You might be able to regain your previous skills at a faster rate than normal. As for the mutual level up, I’d wondered about the wording of something and now I’m inclined to believe I was on the right track.”

  “Which is?”

  “My Overlord Class says something about growing stronger through overcoming adversity together. It’s just a blind guess, but I think our experience is shared. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that is the case.”

  “Hmmm…” Aisha pondered for a moment. “Wouldn’t that mean the more Subordinates you get, the slower the process will be?”

  “Technically, yes, but let me just…”

  I brought out my smartphone and navigated to the Subordinate Management section. After glancing through the menus there, and over Aisha’s avatar, I spotted what I was looking for.

  “It’s as I thought. I can decide on the party’s split of experience after we enter a Dungeon. I could even exclude you completely, having all the experience transferred to me.”

  “Oi. That’s cheating.” Aisha huffed, crossing her arms under her chest.

  I chuckled. “It’s called getting carried. Or riding a bus. I wonder if I can send you out alone and still reap the benefits of your work.”

  She squinted her eyes at me until I laughed again, hiding the smartphone back in my pocket, but leaving the split at the equal setting.

  “Anyway, does the attribute point gain scale with level?”

  “It does. You must know about it from that game of yours, right? Up to Level 5, you get five, then seven up to Level 10, then ten up to Level 15, and so on, with the number starting to increase much more at higher levels,” she explained.

  “Seems to be about the same. I suggest we save our current points for now and discuss the distribution after returning to the apartment. Or is there a path you would already like to pursue?”

  Aisha pondered for a moment, staring into the glowing stones in the campfire.

  “Honestly, I don’t know. I was a Blood-Crazy Berserker last time. It’s what I’m used to. But, I’ve learned that you know quite a bit about the System, so while part of me wants to regain my former glory, the other half is excited to see what you would come up with for me.”

  I dismissed the notifications, hiding my smartwatch back under my sleeve.

  “I don’t think Blood-Crazy is the best choice, honestly. But, that’s only because I keep team play in mind. For a solo player, it was a good pick. I pity those who partied with you, though.”

  She chuckled and elbowed me in the side. “Hey! I wasn’t that bad! Most of the time…”

  I laughed, too, and crouched before bending over to extend a hand to the drakan Berserker. She took it and we raised each other up off the ground.

  “Come on. Let’s get some more experience before the Kobolds start to realize something is wrong in the Dungeon.”

  I gazed into Aisha’s deep crimson irises, and she looked back into my gray ones as I squeezed her hand.

  “If you decide to entrust your progression to me, I promise that Tri-Class will be just the beginning of your journey.”

  Her eyes widened at my statement. “Wait. You can get more than just one extra title?”

  Chuckling, I patted her shoulder. “Oh, my dear Aisha. You are just like a little frog at the bottom of a well. There’s a whole world you know nothing of hidden beyond your current horizon. I, too, am on the path of regaining my former glory.”

  “Your former glory? Then… How many—”

  “Athena’s Chosen Heaven-Defying Tactician God of Unbreakable Will and Unyielding Spirit,” I answered with a wry smile, trying not to cringe.

  These long-ass, multi-layered Class titles that you accumulated over countless advancements and other means were the main reason why normal people practically never used more than the core parts, like Tactician God. Just reminiscing about seeing it fill my status menu in the game made me shudder.

  I had to wait a little bit for Aisha to leave the stupor my words had thrown her into, and she blinked at me several times, mouth agape. Fortunately, she hadn’t noticed my inner turmoil.

  “That’s like… what? Three? Four?” she mused. “And what’s with that chosen part?”

  “Technically, it’s five. I’m not really sure if that beginning section is relevant to our situation, though. You could gain the favor of certain beings, gods, or powerful entities to support you in the game. I don’t even know if gods exist in the real world.”

  “Athena… Athena… Ah. I remember.” Aisha kept tapping her lips while furrowing her brow until her forehead shot back up. “She belongs to one of the human pantheons, right? I think it was… graze… grize… grease…”

  “Greece?”

  “Yes! That one!”

  It was my turn to be stupefied. “Do you mean to say… she is real?”

  Aisha nodded enthusiastically. “Of course. I know of guilds and organizations run by gods, but I have never heard of anyone receiving their support to such an extent as for it to show up in their Class. You must have been really amazing in that game.”

  “Uhhh… Yeah… You could say that…” I chuckled wryly, still trying to wrap my mind around the existence of mythological gods.

  But, I guess I should stop getting surprised by such revelations. Over the span of a single day, I had changed from an office worker to a fantasy-like adventurer defeating monsters for the sake of the universe, hired by some unknown, almost almighty power. This shouldn’t have been such a big shocker.

  “You said that the gods manage guilds, right?” Curious, I decided to dig into the topic a little.

  “Some of the more powerful organizations, yes. Gods were always all about gathering followers, so it was only a matter of time before they started their own guilds. It usually works out quite well. They get recognition and their adventurers receive a lot of support in clearing the Dungeons.”

  I began wondering if a god ran my company, and which one it was, if that was the case.

  “Could you give me a few examples?” I asked.

  Aisha squinted her eyes. “Hmmm… I’m not really too familiar with many of the gods but I guess… Ryujin is quite popular amongst drakan in my realm… I think beastkin often tend to turn to Inari… People also mentioned Raijin or Tsukuyomi… A dwarf Defender I once partied with in the Dungeon always talked about how Tyr and Ares can’t stop one-upping each other…”

  You didn’t have to be a history major to recognize most of those names. Even if I had known nothing of Japanese mythos, which wasn’t exactly true, just the spelling betrayed the origins of those gods. And another Greek deity, Ares, was pretty self-explanatory, though the Norse god Tyr might be unfamiliar to most folks.

  “Alright. Looks like I’ll have to check some lists on the web after we get back to refresh my memory. I can safely assume that most of the historical pantheons that humans know of, aren’t exactly just history. I wonder how their influence spanned over multiple realms, but let’s leave that a problem for later. Thanks.”

  “You are welcome.” Aisha gave me a warm smile. “And, I might have an idea or two about that. But, as you said, we’ll leave that for later.”

  We nodded at each other and quickly harvested the spoils from the deceased Kobolds. After this short break to catch our breath, we continued exploring the caves and searched for more enemies.

  As we had decided earlier, we wanted to use the Tutorial Dungeon according to its intended purpose and gain as much actual fighting experience—not the System version—battling monsters. This would help me grow more accustomed to it, and for Aisha to get used to her body again.

  For the next five days, our schedules stayed pretty much the same. We would wake up together—albeit a little reluctant to leave the covers and the pleasant warmth of each other—share breakfast bought through the D-Shop while discussing our performance from the day before, finish toiletries and daily maintenance, and dive straight back into the Dungeon to get more experience.

  Of course, that wasn’t exactly all we were doing. I would sneak in my own training related to Mana Control and Telekinesis wherever possible. Additionally, Aisha started instructing me on how to properly handle my weapons, serving as my sparring partner every now and then.

  Seriously, I was getting more bruises from her, than from the Kobolds. I could tell she only meant to help me, though, and I certainly appreciated her spending her own time to teach me. The gods knew I needed it.

  Somewhere around the second or third day, we stopped caring about our position in bed.

  At first, we’d fall asleep on our own sides, but often wake up entangled together in the morning. We soon dropped all pretenses and began dozing off in each other’s arms.

  The big, strong Berserker was a real sucker for getting spooned, as I soon learned. And I would lie if I said that I didn’t enjoy falling asleep with a beautiful woman in my arms, my face buried in her soft, fragrant hair.

  Although, her tail rubbing a certain place as we slept in that position wasn’t exactly… relaxing… at first…

  It was now the seventh day since the Dungeon had opened, and we were just returning from our latest expedition. I kept staring at the complex map I had drawn over the past week. I was pretty sure we had uncovered most if not all of the outer areas of the Tutorial Dungeon.

  We had avoided the center zones, for now, assuming that the baddest monsters resided there. The description in the Tasks menu mentioned Rare Monsters and Boss Monsters, but so far, we hadn’t stumbled on any deviations from the normal types of Kobolds.

  “I think it’s time to tackle the inner sanctum,” Aisha said aloud as we neared the door to my apartment. “It’s getting harder to catch smaller groups, and almost impossible to find lone wanderers anymore. They’ve started getting wary.”

  We walked side by side, each of us literally bathed in Kobold blood. As she had said, our encounters had switched to fights with multiple enemies a long time ago, relatively speaking, that is. I was getting better at fighting as many as three opponents at a time. My Battle Sense was already at rank D.

  “So it seems,” I agreed, pocketing the map. “Let’s take our well-earned rest, spend the attribute points we decided to save up until now, and get ready to finish this. I don’t want to get too used to fighting only Kobolds. It can be detrimental in the long run.”

  “True. The Tutorial Dungeon should be cleared quickly. The next ones usually have a slightly bigger variety of monsters inside. Although, single type Dungeons still pop up.”