Chapter 332: It Won’t Be Easy

After a few minutes, there were more teams ready to enter, certain that they would be able to complete the dungeon. But while they were all concerned about fighting, Kalli had other questions.

"What were the dungeon rewards like? Any hint as to what sort of experience it’s giving you toward your next level?"

Sanchez shook his head. "No exact numbers, I know that we got an experience reward from the dungeon, it said so. But no clue how much or what we need to actually level up. We did get one Epic Grade item out of it though, and two Rare Grade items. Everything was granted at the end of the dungeon, after the second boss.

No drop after the first boss, so I don’t think that you can do it partially, unless it gives you an option to get loot at the end as you leave.

If it doesn’t count partial completions, that will be an issue. However, there is a chance that we’ll find more of them, right? We faced so many types of monsters during the trials, that there might be more dungeons hiding out here in the wilderness somewhere for us to find.

A couple more in the middle, plus the roaming monsters that are spawning now as the world advances, and we should be able to bridge the gap."

Esmeralda frowned at him as she petted her Crocolisk’s head.

"Why the big concern about getting everyone advanced? The city needs heroic defenders, not a whole city of superpowers, right? As long as it’s enough that the top can keep moving up, I think that we should be good enough to wait a bit while everyone else catches up.

That’s the natural order of things, I think.

The longer the trials go, the bigger the stratification of the heroes. The ones who are actually heroic, the ones who are minor characters, and the ones who simply have some powers that help make their lives better.

Take the Tinkers for example.

They’re not the fighting sort, but they’re actually heroic, and they pump out all sorts of life saving gear that keeps the city going. So, they’re near our level, even if they’re not near our combat power.

That’s likely how it’s supposed to be. Everyone settles where they belong, and only those truly willing to risk their necks and work for it will end up at the top."

That seemed a bit cynical to some of the others, especially the ladies of the Student Council who had just finished the run with Niall.

But Kalli saw her point.

Some people did the bare minimum, finished the daily quests, and called it a day. Others put in the work to help others, take on the hardest version of the challenges, always pushed to the front when things needed done.

And those people had been rewarded the most by the System.

"Well, if we can’t see the exact numbers, and I can’t find a way for us to see the exact numbers, then we’ll just have to guess. But did it feel like you were making progress or gaining power? I see that nobody reached level twenty, but you were all near the start of level nineteen, right?" She asked.

Sanchez nodded. "We all advanced in the last few days. I think that we might see more from the lower levelled teams that entered, since they were already at level sixteen and seventeen for a while. The level eighteen members might get what they need for nineteen as well, but I wouldn’t count on it."

Kalli shrugged. "One day was never going to be enough. But we can keep coming back here daily to complete it again, and push the teams up towards the peak of their potential.

Once we’re higher level than the Frost Giants, which seem to be based off how strong they were when we fought them, then we should be close to the peak power level of the factions, I think."

They might be lower ranked on the trial scoreboard, but they were among the individually strongest opponents that the people of Marimgar had faced. There was always the question of if there were more powerful beings out there, or if everything that had been eliminated from the trials was getting a power boost, but none of them had answers to that.

"That just leaves you with one major issue, Coordinator." Esmeralda joked. "This is out in the middle of nowhere and we can’t see it from the scout towers. Are you going to build something nearby to keep anything else from inhabiting the area? Or are we just going to show up and see what we find?"

Right, the scout teams had found this in the wilderness, and it was hidden from the city.

"I’ll make a small shack here for teams to rest and recover, or stage for the morning. Nothing too grand, so it doesn’t attract more monsters than necessary. Does that work for everyone?"

"As long as the building is tough enough to hold off a small monster attack while we sleep. If not, we’re going to have to set a watch, and that means more tired fighters," Sanchez reminded her.

"No worries. I’ll make it out of Plascrete, so that it’s durable, and put a few laser defence turrets on it, so you can sleep well. They have an alarm function, if they find monsters in the area," she offered.

Sanchez smiled. "That should do it. I know that we all hate waking up to an alarm clock, so having that same sort of alarm mean monster attack at the dungeon entrance is perfect. It will put everyone in a suitably bad mood, just right for dealing with the issue."

Kalli smiled as she shook her head. Not the same tone, or people would wake up in a panic at home when the alarm went off. But an alarm tone, nonetheless.

"How about right over there? Near the edge of the trees, but still far enough into the clearing that it won’t be taken by surprise. That will keep it out of the worst of the wind, so the teams can sit on the porch and relax during their downtime.

I know that you’re mostly going to be travelling back and forth, since there are other missions to be done, but we can set a dedicated shuttle to move teams.

If it’s scheduled, someone will get their work hours waiting for the teams to move as well."

"Double efficient. Good work, Coordinator."