I Can Make Everything Level UP

Although he felt a bit lame, Alexander also felt thankful in front of Billy. He was thinking that Billy probably could clear the dungeon by himself with relative ease considering how many cards in his hands he had, and yet he still was letting everyone fight as much as possible and accumulate battle experience. As if that wasn't enough, he still gave everyone pointers on how to improve. Billy was grumpy like an old man, but for Alexander, he was the best friend one could ask for.

"Why are you smiling?" Billy frowned. "Have you awakened to masochism? You are kind of creeping me out..."

"What is masochism?" Alexander asked.

Sometimes, Billy felt like he was corrupting that world with his knowledge from Earth. Still, for some reason, he felt like such tendencies also existed there, but people haven't named them yet. In any case, Billy made the cold leave the bodies pretty fast. Since he could combine water and wind, he also could combine wind and fire and create a warm wind without burning anyone. It sure was relaxing in an environment like that.

"Kid, you have many talents, but if you don't focus on a few of your skills, you will never reach the top with a single one of them," Marie said.

"You think so?" Billy asked.

"I don't think so. I am one hundred percent certain," Marie said. "Come to work for me, and I will make sure that you will reach your true potential."

"What will I gain by working for you?" Billy asked.

"You even want to be paid when you will have the chance to be trained by the great me?" Marie said.

"It doesn't have to be money, you know," Billy said.

It could be a single hot and passionate night as well… Billy didn't say that because he still had a small amount of sense in his head and because that also would be kind of lame. Besides, before he could try to joke his way out of that, his leg got kicked. He didn't have to turn around to see that Kate had done that… either she was truly dumb and using the same excuse a third time would work to convince him, or she truly picked the worst times to let her lack of motor coordination work. However, Billy could try to fool himself as much as possible, but deep down, he knew that Kate was jealous… They had been working together for a while, so he assumed that she would eventually find many potential marriage candidates, but it looked like he would have to help her.

"Sorry, but I will have to refuse. I like my current freedom," Billy said. "Besides, I have two little siblings, and I want to be with them as much as possible until they become rebellious teenagers that will think that I am uncool."

"I don't know if you are serious enough, but suit yourself," Marie said.

Once the talk was over, they resumed their exploration, and Billy immediately noticed that the second level of the dungeon had many bifurcations, even more than the first level. The map on his notebook was starting to look like the upper part of a tree, filled with many branches… little by little map was being filled with dead ends, so it seemed that they would stay on the second level for a few days… unless they increased their hunting speed.

In any case, the boxes were taking a while to get filled. It was only natural since the cores were the size of fists. However, it seemed that filling even one of those would be impossible. Around noon, Billy noticed that Alexander was reaching the limit of his exhaustion, and Natalie was also breathing roughly.

"Let's call it a day here," Billy said.

Billy thought he would hear the usual protests, but everyone just nodded. Was he becoming more respected as a leader, or did his other friends also notice that Alexander and Natalie needed more than a few minutes of rest?

"Your party is pretty united… it is hard to find parties these days where the leader is obeyed like that," Pierre said. "Those who had such leaders usually become clan leaders, or they become people like my sister and Gerald."

"Which reminds me… you were the first person to clear this dungeon?" Billy asked. "I was thinking that this place is supposed to be older."

"You guessed right, my guild is the third one to rule this dungeon town," Marie said. "The previous guild master died in a war, and the law says that once the guild master dies, the new guild to clear the dungeon faster is supposed to be the new owner of the place."

"That is a really weird way to choose a new leader… wouldn't it make the old clans and parties have an advantage over others?" Billy asked.

"That is the idea. Most people would think that a veteran group would do a better job managing the guild," Marie said. "However, even though my party was fairly young, we managed to beat those old foxes."

That was rather impressive. Still, Billy was fairly certain that the competition would only take place after the dungeon was cleared and the old maps were rendered useless; she probably forgot to mention that. Nevertheless, it had a problem. If someone wanted to be a guild Master and all the dungeons on a state were already being managed, it would mean that the newcomers could have to wait for decades.

"That being said, you can always challenge a guild master for a duel to have the ownership of the dungeon," Marie said as if she could read Billy's thoughts. "Those are hard to take place, though. The duels are too death, and if by some miracle the challenger succeeds, they will have to accept the challenges of the friends of the previous guild master. We can't refuse the duels, so that is almost a death sentence."