Chapter 122: The First Dungeon (27)
They had also made plans together and even exchanged numbers.
Jake didn't expect to be able to get Sin's number, but he somehow got it after coming back home from his visit to Ingrid. She called him, introduced herself with her real name, Rebecca, and asked for a few details about Jake's predicament in the game world.
She wanted to know the most whether her necklace of the invisible zone hadn't been broken and whether Jake still had enough arrows in his quiver to continue the dungeon expedition.
Once he confirmed her item wasn't destroyed and that he was ready for more floors, she switched to Ender's prowess and hypothesized about it, which was quite an interesting talk for Jake.
Rebecca told him that she believed Ender's range to be at least as wide as one floor and that his influence couldn't go past the dungeon for apparent reasons.
Jake was on the same page here.
He wanted to see whether Ender could tame the entire dungeon's darkness with his nest or at least what kind of range he had in his little form.
"Huh?!" Jake exclaimed, all his prior thoughts vanishing upon coming to the game world. He didn't appear on his two feet but on his back, swimming on something hard and unbalanced.
He looked around, finding out that he was surfing on people's helmets, hands, and even blunt weapons like hammers. It was so uncomfortable and painful that Jake wanted to immediately extricate himself from this predicament.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Jake had caught the sight of Prince and his heavy armor sinking into the crowd. A few players were around his level and they couldn't deal with his weight, meaning that they all had crumbled onto their four.
They were smashed by his heavy armor of darkness!
Sin stood on his stomach, not letting anyone touch her. It was difficult to see whether someone had managed to even scratch her once because she wore her usual indifferent expression.
Her lips were slightly parted. She seemed annoyed.
"Oh, my dark horse!" Prince exclaimed upon noticing Jake's stare. The actor seemed to have been enjoying himself and was in a great mood—like a man sailing on the gentle waves of the ocean.
Jake thought, 'You aren't a singer, but an actor. Don't tell me those guys also get to crowd dive?'
Prince had a lot of experience or perhaps he had no choice but to remain like that until the crowd around him scattered away so as to he could get some room for himself.
Jake didn't know what to do, so he tried swimming toward his teammates. However, a few players hated that someone had appeared above them, making it much more difficult for him.
After a few minutes of the uncomfortable crowd diving and swimming, the party of three oddities had found themselves huddled in the corner of the first floor's cave.
The entrance to the second floor was across them.
Prince crossed his arms and called everyone on their party voice chat.
He casually spoke, "Shall we hear the full story, my dark horse?"
Jake nodded, "Yeah. But is it okay for us to stand out like that?"
Sin faintly smiled, "We're no longer standing out. A plethora of high-level players are studying this cave, hoping to find any clue to the thunders that have awakened Cerberus. Our enemies don't have time to bother about us, either. They have to keep an eye on everyone and ensure no one is causing any mess or is looking suspicious of their new standards.
We have become like one of the common players now."
Jake agreed with her judgment. Sin and Prince must have had way more experience of standing out in various crowds, as they were rich and didn't hide that. Jake only caught attention with his summons, so it wasn't like he would stand out on his own, even if he wore a bow and a quiver.
That said, he wanted to summon his companions.
Since it seemed to be a safe move, Jake took out Odin first.
He snuggled him up to his chest.
"Odin! Well done yesterday!" Jake exclaimed.
Odin howled. It was a howl of pride and victory!
Jake's smile widened, "Your true name will be known across the world, and so will the name you've received from me! That much power is just asking to get attention and have anyone bow before you! Odin! You're about to get a lot of raw meat when we're done with this dungeon! I'll count on your power a lot from now on!"
Odin's red eyes flared with passion and excitement. His master and friend hadn't even used his true name once and insisted on calling him by the name the baby wolf liked and was proud of.
It made Odin's heart swell with more pride and love toward Jake.
He couldn't have kept his jaw shut.
"Haha! Was that a lot of fun?" Jake asked.
Odin howled more and more!
Although his howls had stirred a few high-level players, everyone had calmed down upon noticing that a baby wolf was the cause.
A little baby wolf cuddling with a low-level player couldn't have possibly awakened Cerberus, right?
After that, Jake let Odin stay at the helm of their party. It was Odin's favorite spot other than Jake's arms.
Ender appeared second.
He perched on Jake's right shoulder and screeched faintly.
He seemed patient and cautious since they were still in the enemy's territory. He was so unlike Odin that all his previous pathethique expressions toward him were understandable.
Jake scratched Ender's head with his finger, "You did a splendid job yesterday, Ender. Everything you did matched my poor imagination and even exceeded that. You bought us so much time with the way you threw the loot around! It was as though a sudden event started in the cave, so you had set that assassin perfectly! Did you enjoy that?"
Ender screeched in a prideful but much merrier note that Jake enjoyed as much as his arrows' whistles.
After that, Wukong appeared on Jake's left arm.
He was vigilant and on guard, taking in his surroundings with his awakening fighting abilities. Once he understood that Jake and everyone else were safe, he smiled in his adorable way.
Jake took Wukong into his nest and embraced him.
"We won," Jake told him, "Just like Ender, you bought us a lot of time, Wukong. When your tattoo on my back warmed up, I knew I could rely on you to protect my back… you made this thought a reality. It's not the first time, either. Back in Viktor's place, I felt like you lacked something.
With the information I had at hand, I crafted you a staff, and you're continuously showing me that this was the correct decision: that you're an awesome fighter and friend!"
Wukong stared at his friend and master with widened eyes.
He'd acted on his feelings and didn't know whether that would be enough. He felt like he could have done much more yesterday and wound the assassin way more! It was Wukong's hidden potential telling him that he didn't do enough.
Yet Jake was so happy for him that Wukong could only smile broadly and take the same baby steps as Jake had done before in the Warmonger Empire.
In fact, Jake's growth hadn't stopped yet! He would take those baby steps for a long time! Even as a high-level player!
Jake asked, "Was it fun?"
Wukong nodded a few times.
At last, Medusa appeared at the scene.
Everyone's eyes had fallen on her. A thick silence surrounded her.
It was the first time the baby snake had felt this way.
She couldn't say anything but only stare at Jake's face.
Jake sighed, "Bad girl."
Medusa hissed in response. She wouldn't take that!
"Coming out on your own won't receive any praise despite me knowing you had done it for me. What if I needed your help for something else or your arrow? What you did deserves 'a bad girl' treatment," Jake explained.
Medusa hissed and hissed. She didn't want to accept that.
Odin and Wukong were looking at her with worried eyes.
Meanwhile, Ender threw at her Pathetique expression—Medusa was the second existence to deserve that!
Odin caught sight of it and howled.
Ender didn't spare him, too.
These two were now in a deadly stare contest.
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Jake ignored them, taking Medusa onto his palm, "You can't rest in your nest on my chest. As a punishment for acting alone, you will wrap around my left wrist and stay still here until I say you're free to act."
Having nothing to argue with, Medusa gave up and crawled to Jake's left hand. She wrapped herself around him and silently hung. It was so unlike her that her presence and palpable feelings ended Odin and Ender's staring contest in a draw.
Jake also felt conflicted but didn't want his summons to act alone.
Giving them so much freeway could hurt him down the line in the process.
At last, he shared what had happened with Prince and Sin.
These two were in a good mood after seeing Jake's bonding.
Jake finished his story smiling, "We're going to explore and mine a lot, right? Also, Ender, I need you to find a player around our level with a staff weapon. Wukong needs it."
Ender nodded and hid in the darkness. He first went through the second floor's entrance and began making his own kingdom of darkness here with his nests.
Jake's smile broadly widened.