Healer Book 4 -- Chapter 15

Chapter 15

The feelings of nervousness and elation warred with each other inside Thaden’s mind as he ran at a decent clip with his new Raid Party.  While it had been more than a bit nerve-wracking introducing himself to everyone, as he still wasn’t quite adjusted to the fact that he’d be leading them all, he couldn’t deny that he was still pumped up with the badass way he had handled Steven.

“I can sense that you’re still congratulating yourself, aren’t you?”

He just grinned behind his mask instead of answering.

“Well, I do have to say that did a decent job of talking to them.  It was a good mixture of being informative and mysterious, while also setting your expectations.  Now you just have to back up what you claimed you could do.”

His grin faded a bit as he thought about what was coming up.  While he was confident that very little could hurt him inside the dungeon they were heading toward, he was also worried about inadvertently killing some of the Contenders with his spells.  It would be a poor showing if he ended up one-shotting half the Raid Party accidentally, even if he could Resurrect them afterwards.  He was also worried about whether the Achievement bonuses he’d told Rachel and Corinna about would also apply to his party as well, as the wording on the descriptions were a bit ambiguous.

“Stop it.  I can sense you doubting yourself again.  I told you that you’re going to do just fine, and I re-reviewed those bonuses and it checks out.”

Despite the fact that she professed not to be able to read his mind, Sadia sure seemed to read into his body language well enough that it sure seemed like it.  Deciding to simply trust her, he did his best to push those worries away from his mind. 

It was just in time, too, as Corinna began to slow down as they approached their destination.

“Alright, everyone get in line,” he told the Raid Party as soon as they nearly came to a complete stop – or at least it felt like that compared to the speed they’d maintained for the entire trip.  If he wasn’t mistaken, they had managed to get there a little short of 20 minutes from Darkwood Vale, shaving hours off their normal travel time.  Everyone looked exhausted as they made their way to the designated waiting area for their turn to enter, with half of them bent over with their hands on their knees in order to catch their breath.  The worst off were the Mages, who were really unused to such intense exertion, but Thaden thought that they’d recover fairly quickly once they stopped moving. 

Despite pushing those same Mages to give all the speed they possibly could, to the point where they looked halfway to passing out, none of them looked mad or annoyed.  On the contrary, they appeared ecstatic.

Being able to move that quickly across the land was intoxicating.

When they arranged themselves behind the two other Raid Parties ahead of them, the Solitary Shaman masquerading as a Raid Leader looked around at where they had ended up. 

After putting some distance between them and the forests and mountains around Darkwood Vale, the land around them was fairly open and flat, with only a few slight changes in elevation thanks to sporadically placed, short rolling hills.  Their destination, however, was almost completely flat, but it was dominated by a mass of oversized buildings, all apparently designed with a farm in mind, as there were giant barns, wooden fences, and even a separate farmhouse visible nearby.  There were also fields of what appeared to be something like corn and another of wheat, but he didn’t know enough about either to properly tell if that was what they were from a distance.

And he wouldn’t be able to tell by moving closer, because none of it was accessible; moving closer to it would simply stop you as you ran into an invisible barrier.

The Ranch was one of the few dungeons he’d visited that was based on an artificial theme rather than being incorporated into the environment.  The Mausoleum of Despair was the first one he could think of that was like this, as a massive mausoleum situated in the middle of a forest – even a dead forest – wasn’t exactly an adaptation of the environment.  In his journey across the Region during his hunt for the Anchor dungeons, he’d seen a few others that were similar, while one of those dungeons was one that he’d even cleared.  It was called Argyle’s Manor, and as one would expect from the name, it was basically a giant manor house.

But this was the first time he’d seen this particular dungeon, and he was looking forward to it, especially since the information he’d been given on it said that it was largely open in layout, which was perfect for what he needed in order to ensure the safety of his Raid Party.

As most of his party continued to recover, Thaden looked at the Quest he had been assigned, which was the first of its kind for him.

[Quest Type: GUILD PROGRESSION

Guild Tier Requirement: Tier 3

Quest Time Limit: 30 days

Quest Difficulty: High-Minimal

Minimum Recommended Level: 150

Minimum Recommended Party Size: 100

Quest Description: Investigate and complete the Intermediate dungeon, The Ranch, on Minimal difficulty with a Raid Party; only available for members of the same Guild.

Completion Requirements: Completely explore and clear the Intermediate dungeon, The Ranch (Minimal)

Quest Rewards: 200 gold, 50,000 PICK, +3 toward Guild Tier Progression]

The rewards for completing the dungeon didn’t seem that impressive, considering it was the Intermediate version.  Remembering what he’d received from something like The Devil’s Nail on Maximal difficulty, the amount of gold and PICK reward was a little more than double, but that was all.  It was the “Guild Tier Progression” that was also a part of the rewards that made it so lucrative for the Guild.  Sadia had mentioned it before when he was looking at the Guild Rankings, but it wasn’t until he had seen one of the Quests that it made more sense – especially when she expanded upon what she’d only mentioned in passing.

“Guild Tier Progression is the major factor in determining in not only a Guild’s Tier, but their Strength Rating.  The more Guild Tier Progression a Guild has accumulated from these Quests, the higher their Tier – and therefore more influence toward their Strength Rating.”

Something that Sadia hadn’t told him was the reason the Guilds were so obsessed with their Strength Rating, and subsequently their Ranking – which he had to learn from Rachel during their meeting.  It turned out that having a high Ranking wasn’t just for bragging rights or even some bonus prize rewards every year; there were actually ongoing benefits of reaching – and maintaining – those Rankings.

Apparently, there was a passive stream of PICK that would filter into each member of the Guild, with the higher the Ranking, the more PICK would be filtered in.  Since he was maxed out, he didn’t know how much it was for him personally, but apparently – for Guilded Glory at #3 in the Rankings – it equaled approximately 10,000 per day.  That didn’t sound like much to him, as he could get that much in a few minutes inside a dungeon, but to most people who didn’t solo dungeons, that was a significant amount for what was essentially free.

Even that much PICK – or more, at higher Rankings – was enough to create the frenzy of Guild Quest completions.  No, it was the fact that the more Guild Tier Progression a person earned for their Guild, the higher their discount would be with the local crafters.  Even as the crafters had kept up with and above of the average Level of the Contenders, their prices continued to increase as they became capable of instilling even more effects into their work.  He even heard that they’d recently been able to tie together individual pieces into sets with set bonuses, like his Healthful Protection equipment, but it was reportedly very expensive.  Being able to get a 10%, 20%, or even a 50% discount on something that could cost hundreds of thousands to millions of gold to produce was something worth fighting for.

At least for most people.  Thaden could probably spend a few days soloing Intermediate dungeons in order to afford a custom set, therefore not necessarily needing a discount, but that luxury wasn’t available to everyone.

While they waited, Thaden reviewed his Access Slots to ensure he was as prepared as possible for the upcoming dungeon.  Most of what he already had loaded into the Slots was perfectly fine, but since he’d recently acquired an additional pair of Access Slots, he slotted in Superior Resurrection.  He was still paranoid about killing someone in his Raid Party, despite Sadia’s assurances that he’d be fine, so he’d rather have it available immediately – just in case.  While the Cooldown for it was down to about 27 seconds from 10 minutes thanks to his bonuses, he’d rather have it ready to go immediately.

After a few seconds of thought, he also changed out Protective Guards and Protective Barrier, both of which would be relatively useless in the dungeon thanks to the Perceived Level of the monsters.  In their place, he added Secure Bulwark and Focused Cover, the former which could prevent damage by up to Level 190 sources (Level 210 with his Advancements) and the latter all the way up to Level 210 sources (Level 230 with his Advancements).  They were more situational spells than the automatic protection that would normally cover him with Protective Guards and Protective Barrier, but at least he would have something that mimicked their effects somewhat so that he didn’t have to rely completely on simple damage mitigation.

He also switched out Shower of Life because he wasn’t expecting to stand still all that much, which was a side-effect of the spell, and included Aura of Life instead.  It wasn’t something that he would necessarily use, but if for some reason he needed to heal all of the Contenders quickly, Sadia could rush over and watch over them with the spell.

There were a number of other spells he had access to that could be useful in a party, but switching out anything else would mess with his process in wiping out as many monsters as possible as quickly as possible.  That being said, he was prepared to change things up immediately when it was needed, which was likely to happen when they reached the end portion of the dungeon.  Based on how much room there reportedly was for him to fight properly, it was almost guaranteed that he’d have to use the Raid Party to help him finish the dungeon.   

As they moved up in line a few minutes later as the front Raid Party moved through the dungeon’s entrance, which was a hazy barrier in between large gates leading into the farm-like environment, he began to prepare.  Refreshing the spells on himself, apart from Wild Health Leach, since it wasn’t needed until he was inside, he began casting spells on his Raid Party to add some layers of protection to them as well. 

First came Health Augmentation followed by Overheal, which he started going by casting Regeneration on them all.  As their Health increased, he covered them with Damage Shield and Death Ward, adding even more precautions in case the worst happened.  He was tempted to do even more to protect them, but he stopped himself as he realized he was fidgeting by trying to do too much.  Already, he was going to have to refresh the Death Ward on them every 30 minutes or so, and he’d rather not have to focus on anything else with a short duration.

There was some murmuring through his Party as his spells hit them, which ranged from disbelief to amazement, but he ignored them as he focused on making sure everyone was covered – even Steven.  Surprisingly, the problem child hadn’t been an issue throughout their journey, and while the Contender didn’t seem to be actively trying to undermine Thaden’s authority right now, he was going to have to keep an eye on him to make sure he – or anyone else – didn’t cause any trouble inside the dungeon.

By the time he was complete, the final Guild ahead of them entered the dungeon, after a short delay when they stared at Thaden in astonishment as he rapid-cast hundreds of spells in a matter of a few minutes. 

“Alright, we’re up next,” he announced to his Raid Party as they moved up.  No other group had arrived after them, so it was just them outside the dungeon’s entrance.  “When we get there, I want you to stay near the safe area next to the entrance while I move ahead.  A word of precaution; stay at least 200 feet away from me at all times, otherwise I cannot guarantee your safety.  Once I’ve progressed a bit, follow after me and start extracting loot from all the monster corpses that I’ll be leaving for you.  Any questions?”

Strangely enough, it wasn’t Steven who spoke up.  “Yeah, I’ve got a question,” one of the Mages asked with her hands on her hips, looking annoyed.  “What are we supposed to be doing while you’re supposedly soloing the monsters?  It’s a waste of time for us to have to wait for hours while you feel like you need to act all macho and take them on all yourself.”

Thaden chuckled.  She has no idea what she’s in store for.  “I’ll tell you what.  If you can manage to catch up to me while keeping up with the loot extractions, I’ll let you fight.  If can’t, then simply follow along and collect the free loot I’ll be leaving for you.”  He paused for a second.  “Besides, I’ll need your help when we get to the last section, so you’ll have an opportunity to show me what you’ve got.”

“If you can solo the rest of the dungeon, why would you need our help at all?”

“As I mentioned before, I need space in order to function at a high level, and if we’re too close together, some or even most of you could end up dead.”  Looking around and noticing that the entrance was beginning to change, indicating that they were just about ready to enter, he finished up with, “I’ll explain my plan once we get to that point; for now… try to keep up.”  They couldn’t see his face behind his mask, but he was sure that most of them could hear the amusement in his voice.

Less than a minute later, as they strode over to the entrance, it was ready for them to enter.  A quick glance at everyone showed that they were as prepared as could be, so he led them inside.

Select your dungeon type:

Basic (Small Party 1<5)

Intermediate (Raid Party 6<100)

The Ranch Intermediate Raid Dungeon

Please select dungeon difficulty:

Minimal    Medial    Maximal

Dungeon Slayer World First Achievement override!

Please select dungeon difficulty:

Minimal    Medial    Maximal

You have entered The Ranch Intermediate Raid Dungeon (Minimal Difficulty)!

The Ranch Intermediate Raid Dungeon

Current Difficulty: Minimal   Medial   Maximal

Maximum Raid Party Size: 100

Recommended Raid Party Levels: 140 - 150

The Ranch was very similar in Level Range as the Crestline Gorge Dungeon had been, which was one of the reasons they had chosen it as their experiment.  As he was fairly certain that he could handle it without any difficulty based on his previous experience, it was thought to be a good test of his abilities.  Plus, as Sadia had mentioned at the time:

“And it’s also because they didn’t want to stick you in a higher-Level dungeon with a full Raid Party yet, as that would complete your Evolution Assignment.  They didn’t want to risk you departing after you got what you needed.”

As he passed through the wavy entrance plane, he glanced around at beginning portion of The Ranch, which was a bit different-looking than it appeared from the outside.  The large, nearby buildings were completely gone, and all they were left with were fields of withered crops on either side of a straight, wide track leading into the distance.  Approximately a mile away, he could see a building surrounded by small hills that acted as a wall, similar to what he’d encountered in the Crestline Gorge dungeon.  While it might seem similar, from what he’d been told about this dungeon, he wasn’t going to be facing any Stone Giants here; instead, he would be facing something even more menacing.

Thaden moved slightly forward to make room for those still coming through, and he didn’t do anything until the last of them had arrived through the entrance.

First, he cast Incarnation of Protection, which formed the glowing Incarnation next to him, which made more than a few of his Raid Party flinch back in surprise and grip their weapons tighter.  After that, he cast Mirrored Vigil, and a copy of Thaden appeared on his opposite side, just standing there looking at the Raid Party.  Last, he addressed his new friend.

“Sadia, if you would?”

A giant squirrel materialized in front of him over the next few seconds, looking exactly as he remembered her when she had retreated into his equipment. 

The sudden appearance of these three individuals had some of the Raid Party beginning to panic, but before they could do anything drastic, he announced, “This is Sadia.  Treat her with respect as if she was me; I don’t want to hear anyone disrespecting my friend.  She’ll be with me most of the time, but if you see her near you, she’s there to help you.  Any final questions?” He only waited a half-second before he said, “Good,” cutting off three people who were starting to talk.

“I’m off, then.  Try to keep up!” he said, before he took off at a swift jog, his feet pounding down the dirt track.