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It was now a week since Neko joined Jin's and Kage's friends list and party.

The three now played together whenever they could, leveling up and learning together. Jin stuck to his ninja and summoner classes for a while, but got time to level his monk, gunner, necromancer, and mage. But due to seeing the destructive power that Neko showed with his large summonings, he got a little jealous and concentrated on his summoner, until he got a few large summons himself.

The real celebration came when Jin finally obtained his final Shifter Wisp.

But before he put it on, Kage showed him a few tricks, the very first was how to preview how the player would look if he used the Soul Shifter right off the bat.

Suffice to say: none of them liked what they saw.

So Kage taught him another trick, one that Jin took to heart. Kage showed him how to add some 'key' items to change the very appearance of the final preview of the Soul Shift.

Jin was now alone in Neko's house, the cat summoner insisted that Asamu stay with him until he could buy a house for himself. He was going over the different alchemic options of his Soul Shift, since Kage warned him that once the Soul Shifter was forged, it cannot be undone.

He then got an idea.

He pulled out small shining fragment of some stone, but in reality it was a scale, a water dragon's scale to be exact. He got it from defeating a water dungeon boss, with Kage and Neko's help of course.

He added some water and bubble elemental stones, and finally checked the final product.

This was what he was looking for.

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Hiro slammed the door to his room.

He is mostly fed up with his brother's insolence. Hiro was living with his uncle for a while now, since that idiot sibling of his lived with their parents, he didn't want to be anywhere near him, not even in the same house.

His uncle- Adam Kageyama, was half-japanese and half-american, he, beside Hiro's grandparents and parents, didn't judge him for his lifestyle, or whatever he did with his time.

It was actually his uncle who introduced him to VRMMO games, and was the one who bought him the copy of El Dorado for his birthday.

Hiro's brother came for a 'family visit', wasting no time to berate and belittle his brother right to his face. His uncle was so pissed that he practically picked his brother up and threw him out the door.

Hiro was in his room, lying face first on the bed, sobbing softly to himself.

The door softly opened to reveal his uncle. "Hiro? You okay?" Hiro simply nodded with his face still buried in the pillow, Adam sat beside him on the bed's edge. Adam was tall, a heavy build, thick sideburns and semi-spiky hair. "I'm sorry you had to stand for all that. I knew the complications in your relationship with your brother, but I still allowed him to come over. Last time that'll happen." He placed a soft hand on Hiro's shoulder. "When you feel like it: I will meet you in El Dorado. That will help get all that out of your mind." He got up and left the room.

Hiro raised his face from the pillow, turning on his back. He stared at the ceiling for a few minutes, remembering his brother's words: calling him a failure and a disgrace to the family, as if they're family had some sort of high-status reputation to keep. Even their parents were getting irritated with his attitude.

Then all of a sudden, Asamu appeared in his mind.

Hiro was in his BakeNeko avatar, both holding the other in a warm, soft embrace, leaning slowly towards each other.

He suddenly jumped into a sitting position on his bed, a deep blush on his face and trying to shake off the image. 'Where the hell did that idea come from?!' He then sighed and decided to dive in.

____________________________

Neko woke up in his bed, feeling around to find that he was the only one there. He and Asamu had developed a habit of sleeping together, which Neko liked very much.

He went to the living room, but just as he peeked from behind the wall, a bright blue light shone, lighting the whole house, but it was brief.

When his eyes adjusted, he looked and found a strange figure in the living room, with bluish energy steaming of his body.

The figure turned around to face him with a wide smile on his face, or muzzle. "Hey Neko. What do you think?"

He remembered Asamu's voice, despite it being slightly altered due to the cosmetics.

This wasn't the human from before. The Asamu standing in front of him was tall, taller than before. Neko remembers Asamu as being his height which is 5' something, but this guy was almost 7' 5", way taller than before.

But the new size wasn't the issue. The guy in front of him was a dragon.

But he looked more like a seahorse of sorts. Light blue with some black stripes that were almost shaped like a clown fish's. Large and long thin fins going from the top of his head and flowing freely behind him like hair. Long draconic muzzle. Thin scaled tendrils jutting out of his arms, back and just above the ankles. His build was the same as before, but his midsection was slimmer, giving him a slightly wavy appearance.

"Wow," was all Neko could say.

"Cat got your tongue?" Asamu asked with a hint of mischief.

Neko paid the horrible pun no mind, but walked closer to the tall dragon, his body moving on its own, raising a hesitant hand, placing it on Asamu's flat stomach, petting the soft scales slowly. They felt more like smooth skin than scales.

A soft moan emitting from Asamu was what woke Neko from his trance. Asamu gave him a small mock pout. "Oh come on, that felt good. Why'd you stop?"

Neko smiled softly with a blush on his face. "You look great."

"Thanks." Asamu went back to admiring his new body, "Who knew that my first cosmetic shift would look this hot." He flexed one arm, making his muscles bulge slightly.

Neko blushed deeper, and turned around quickly. Asamu noticed. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Neko quickly inputted the commands to wear his summoner gear. "How about we try it out? Heard that some Soul Shifts give you exclusive abilities and perks." Without waiting for a reply, he made for the door.

Hopefully the clothes were big enough to hide the boner he had.

___________________________

Asamu loved his new form, and especially all the looks of amazement on the faces of the other players they passed.

They almost reached the gates. "Neko!! Wait!"

The person who called for the cat was the fire dragon from before, the one who was with the group of that bitch.

"Kellen," Neko acknowledged him, but with an uninterested tone.

The dragon was as tall as Asamu's dragon form, but slightly taller by a few inches. Larger in muscle mass, and with the basic dragon look: Dark colored scales, thick and sharp claws, dangerous jaws and teeth, dinosaur like muzzle, large wings and ram horns.

His gear was a warrior's: A cross harness with one shoulder pad with a spike jutting out of it, a loincloth and a belt with a demonic skull design for a buckler, arm and leg wraps with bracers. All in all: he looked more like a barbarian.

Kellen gave a small nervous smile, "Hey Neko. What's with the cold attitude?"

Neko simply crossed his arms. Kellen then looked troubled, "Look: I know that you're still bitter about Brunhilda, but I assure you: me and the others broke off from her party." His gaze fell to the floor. "You opened our eyes, we were so caught up in her lies that we were blinded to what she was really doing. She wasn't helping us become famous, she was helping herself and herself alone, so we left, and hoped to ask you to come back."

Neko simply chuckled to himself, "Come back? Seriously? After what you and the others did to me?" He would never forget. He once refused to give Brunhilda his collected loot, so she sent the other members at him like attack dogs, beating him up and taking his loot by force and whatever gear he wore himself, leaving him defenseless and weak.

"I know that we hurt you. But what choice did we have? We were nobodies, no one even looked at us. Brunhilda promised that she would change all that and turn us into the most famous players around."

"So you hurt a fellow player for fame? Some friend." Neko couldn't hide the venom in his tone, nor did he want to.

"Look, come back with us, all we have to do is pick up where we left off, but without Brunhilda."

Neko looked at the floor, then at Asamu who had a blank expression. The cat summoner sighed, "Sorry Kellen," He gazed back at Asamu, "But I already have a party to take care of." He then turned to the gates, followed by the water dragon.

__________________________

In the jungle. A small parade of bubbles floated about.

*POP* One of them popped just as Asamu passed by it, running as fast as he can. Or sliding more like it. A small 'board' made from bubbles forming under his feet, allowing him to move faster.

Smooth Stride: a special movement ability exclusive to water monster cosmetics. It forms a small float made of water, foam or bubbles, to allow the user to ride on it, increasing movement speed for the duration. The ability doesn't use any SP but can be active as long as the user doesn't get hit or attack.

Just then a long bodied lizard creature appeared from above the trees, it's size almost slamming Jin to the ground.

Asamu drifted into a stop, jumping off of his bubble-board, just then Neko joined him as well, riding on a white bird, which disappeared just as he dismounted.

The creature they faced was a field boss, it was called Kama the Illusion, no wonder considering that the creature was half dragon and half chameleon in looks. Luckily for them it was a level 20 monster.

"Alright Neko, what do we know about this guy?" Asamu asked taking out his long Jian sword which looked more like a needle with a handle, having changed to his swordsman gear before entering the forest.

This gear consisted of white and blue chinese swordsman clothing, small packs that held throwing needles on both thighs, and his sword.

Neko looked at him briefly, taking a stance of his own, holding his brush close, "Okay... oh.. um, yeah: Kama is a poison type monster, he can shoot his poison as small sharp projectiles or as big bombs. Also be careful of the small nubs on his back, they contain venom spores that will infect us with a plague debuff. Oh and he is weak to electric and fire type attacks." Neko explained quickly.

"Does he drop Shifter Wisps?"

"Yeah he does. All field, dungeon and raid bosses as well as normal monsters drop them, but not story bosses."

Asamu smiled, "Thanks for the tip." He suddenly dashed quickly to the monster who roared loudly. Using a consecutive stab attack, then jumping back quickly, taking out a few needles which were tipped with thunder stones, throwing all of them at the beast.

While Asamu diverted the beast's attention, Neko took this chance to draw a big fire character, calling his large fire wyrm familiar, "Dragonic Vengeance!!" The wyrm blasted the creature, which let out a loud pained roar, taking a hefty chunk of its HP.

It turned its attention to Neko, who began running away from the beast.

Asamu took this chance to charge his own attack. His sword gathered the wind around him, before he made a cross slash in mid air, "Zephyr Blade." The wind cross flew through the air, hitting the beast on the butt, lifting it and throwing it on its back.

The creature was staggered, thrashing around on the ground. Taking this chance, Asamu jumped high in the air, his whole body began phasing into static, just as many copies of himself appeared around him, all aimed their swords at the beast's belly, "Dance of a Thousand Swords!!" All of his replicas charged downwards, a successful consecutive strike.

Dance of a Thousand Swords: a swordsman ability that creates air copies of the user that attack at the same time, the individual damage of the copies is not that much, but the collective sum is almost dangerous. The ability also has a chance to confuse the target.

Neko took the chance to deal the finishing blow, he drew another large character, this time in the air above him, the character was that of thunder.

Just then the clouds darkened, thunder and lightning dance in the sky. Just as a large monstrous face appeared in the clouds, charging a large electric attack. "Storm's Wrath!!" Neko called just as the cloud creature let out it's thunder blast, hitting the field boss head on.

When the smoke cloud cleared, they saw that the creature was on the edge. Asamu stood beside Neko. "You deal the finishing blow, I'll get the next boss."

Neko shook his head quickly. "No, you're the one who did most of the damage, so you take it."

The two argued softly between themselves. Unknown to them, the creature's tail twitched, before moving quickly, hitting both of them hard and fast, throwing them a few feet away, taking a decent amount of their HP along the way.

They were suddenly staggered, giving the creature a chance to get on its feet.

The beast walked over to Neko, lifting its large paw to deliver a killer blow.

"Heavy Break!!" Someone called out, before a shockwave hit the creature square in the back, taking whatever is left from its HP.

Neko and Asamu both watched as the creature exploded into different colors, a figure stood in the middle of the fog.

The large figure began walking towards them, Asamu stood in front of Neko wielding his sword threateningly.

When the person stepped out of the colorful cloud, both of them got a good look at him.

The guy was a large tanuki, as tall as Kellen, if not taller, small but well defined muscle gut and large arms filled with thick bulges of muscle, he had short black hair that was done into a small spike that pointed to the front. His clothes were simple, a diagonal belt strap for his weapon and pants that had a fire design at the bottom. His weapon was a large Kanabo club, that was as tall as him, and looked just as heavy.

"What's with the scary faces? This is the thank you I get from saving you?" The tanuki said with a smile on his face.

Asamu for some reason found himself calming down, a few seconds later sheathing his sword, "Thanks. But you still took the kill so the loot is yours." Jin turned around walking the other direction.

Just then a window stating that he received a gift popped up in his face. He turned to face the smiling face of the tanuki. He checked and he found more than one item, probably the loot from the monster just now. Luckily a Shifter Wisp was among them just as he wished.

"Just a simple present." Asamu's 'ear' perked at that. But didn't say anything and accepted the gift, then another message popped in his face. This time it was a dungeon party invite.

"And this is?" He was looking at the tanuki with suspicion. He felt Neko pulling on his sleeve, he found that Neko received the same message.

"Just simple compensation."

"You already did that."

"I did. But thought that this would make it more worth your while."

Neko looked at Asamu, nodding softly, which the water dragon returned, "Okay. We will join you."

They accepted the offer and suddenly teleported to the dungeon's entrance. There they met with three more players.

One of them was a tall athletic shark with a tiger's pattern, with some stripes lining his chin making a mark similar to a goatee, he was shirtless with only a large anchor designed pendant attached to a collar, gauntlets and metal shoes, and slightly baggy pants. A monk.

The second one was another shark, but had more muscle mass than the tiger shark and had normal great white shark markings, same outfit, but he had a large club which was actually a large anchor. A warrior.

The third one was an oryx his body covered with a large mantle, his horns adorned with different accessories, and holding a long staff which had a crescent design and a large orb held by the said crescent. A mage.

"Everyone," The tanuki started as they stood facing the players, "These two will be joining us for this dungeon. Hope it won't be a problem."

The monk shark simply nodded with a small smile, "No problem with me." He walked towards them with a stretched hand, "Name's Jeri." He pointed backwards towards the other shark, "That's my bro, Teri." The warrior shark, nodded his affirmative.

Then came the oryx, "I'm Admus. Pleasure to meet you." He then turned to the large tanuki, "Hayate? Didn't you say that you're going to look for the others?"

Hayate scratched the back of his head, "Tehe, did I say that? Guess it slipped my mind." He opened his message window, "I'll just send an invite and they'll be here in a jiffy."

A few minutes later, they were joined by three more players.

One was a tall female with a big chest and large gauntlets, she had small horns on her forehead and her hair was short, messy and crimson red in color. Her outfit was a black tank-top and red tight pants. Another monk.

Then a weasel, wearing a dark green ninja outfit, with a large black scarf, waving around in the air, he had a large sword on his back. His fur was sandy brown with a teardrop birthmark on his forehead, while his body was slim and athletic. A shinobi.

The third one was a player that Jin didn't want to see. It was the cheetah he met when he started. Still in his archer loadout.

"Oh hello. Nice meeting you here," The cheetah stated almost too femininely.

"Charmed," Asamu stated through his teeth.

"Oh don't be like that. We're friends aren't we?"

"Whatever." The water dragon rolled his eyes.

"You're late Zard," The tanuki, Hayate said as he walked towards the cheetah, "We were supposed to meet here and be in the dungeon hours ago."

"Oh, quit being such a drama queen." Zard suggested, "Now don't I get a greeting or something?" Zard opened his arms, Hayate accepted the hug offer, taking the smaller cheetah in a big hug.

"Nice to finally meet you Asamu." He turned to the tall monk demoness, who was smiling at him, "Cool looking Shift by the way."

Jin looked at her with confusion, "Do I know you?"

She had a wide, goofy smile on her face, then leaning forward and whispering in his ear, "You totally stood us up when you joined the game."

It suddenly clicked in his head once he recognized that happy-no-fucks-given attitude, "Ra-" He was about to say her real name, but she managed to cover his mouth.

"Yes, Asamu, it's me" She put more emphasis on his character's name, to remind him of the golden rule in online games: NEVER use, or call others with real life names, "You promised to join us when you started."

"I'm really sorry... um.." He did a quick check of her stats and character name, "Demona? I got caught up in a few things," He said looking over at Neko, who was talking with the others.

Ran- Demona, smiled with mischief, "So, who's the boyfriend?"

Asamu's eyes widened as a very deep blush burned his face, "He's not my boyfriend!!" His sudden outburst got the attention of the others, he lowered his voice this time, "He's not my boyfriend. He's just a guy who I helped out."

"Oooohhh, the great Asamu, already helping others, eh?" She said as she nudged his sides with an elbow.

Admus the oryx's eyes widened suddenly, "Wait, you're Asamu? Asamu the Lich-King?"

Neko and Asamu both winced at the name, then asked in unison, "The What-King?"

It was Teri's turn to speak, "Woah dude!! You're really the Lich-King?!"

"Again: The What-King?" Asamu asked slowly getting impatient.

Zard then cleared everything up, "You're the first person to master the Necromancer class at such an early stage of playing the game. That and many people saw your battle with the warriors of The Order."

"Wow Asamu. That was you?" Neko asked, obviously getting a sudden case of hero worship.

Asamu became nervous at all the praise, he didn't know that defeating those three would mean much, but it appears he miscalculated a few things.

"They were a bunch of assholes who thought that they are better than everyone else, and I hate those kinds of people." He admitted with a sudden serious face.

"You better be careful then." Hayate stated, "If I know The Order, those guys are sore losers and just like cockroaches: You take down one or two and the whole guild runs after you."

"Then we better do this dungeon so I could get better gear, right?" Asamu stated opening his class loadout menu.

"You're right." Neko agreed, mimicking Asamu as he opened his own class menu.

Asamu chose his Necromancer and Neku chose his Shinobi. Neko's Shinobi outfit was a simple ninja's clothing colored green and navy blue, and a long white scarf.

The now Necromancer whistled when he saw Neko's Shinobi class, "Nice look their Neko. This is actually the first I saw you in a Shinobi outfit."

Neko scratched his cheek, blushing lightly, "Oh, it's not much actually. You look cool yourself," He said now that he had a chance to really look at Jin's Necromancer loadout.

"If you two are done flirting?" Teri stated, lifting his large anchor axe and hoisting it on his shoulder, "We have a dungeon to clear." He stated as he looked over at the cave with the rune marked gate sitting in front of it.

With that, everyone gave a loud cheer and went inside the dungeon.

___________________________

The insides of the dungeon were a maze of stone walls and corridors. Many monster minions spawning at a rapid rate everywhere.

The monsters of this dungeon all had marine or amphibian characteristics, like lizards, frogs, water serpents and nagas.

The party have just finished a ridiculously long fight, the minions were low leveled, but their numbers aren't something to laugh about. They found a good safe spot away from all monsters and heavy spawning areas, lighting a campfire that acted as a checkpoint along the way, the spot itself was hidden behind a large waterfall, located in an open area.

Neko and Demona were chosen for cooking duty, while the others did their own thing, eating cooked food before going out on a quest or into a dungeon gives extra buffs for a long duration that can span to the whole duration of the mission or dungeon if cooked right.

Teri and Jeri both had high blacksmithing levels, so they were the ones to appraise weapons, gear and accessories dropped by the enemies, as well as fix any worn or broken weapons or gear.

Admus and Asamu were the alchemists, despite Jin still being a novice alchemist, he was high leveled enough to make decent health potions.

Hayate was checking the map of the area that they unlocked so far, to make sure that they are going in the right direction. Finally: Zard and the weasel Shinobi, who Asamu learned was called Lisk, weird name, but he did his job well, both were scouts, checking out further into the dungeon, and with both classes having stealth capabilities, they were perfect for the job.

Zard and Lisk came back, Zard gave his report as he took off his hood, "These minions are spawning faster than we thought is allowed in a game. But good news: We found the boss' room." The others praised their swift and successful scouting, "But there are a few Elite minions from here to there, they are nothing we can't handle however."

Asamu brewed his last health potion, "We can't be too careful. Some Elites can take a whole party of four at least to defeat them, you can consider them the mini-bosses' seconds in command."

"Asamu is right." Admus agreed as he and Jin began distributing potions, "Now that we have located the boss, we need to conserve our strength. I know that Elites sometimes drop nice loot, but that is a temptation we have to overcome. Me and Asamu have used up all our ingredients to make these potions, the only way to get more is if we left the dungeon."

Hayate closed his map and stood up, followed by the others, "Then straight to the boss' room it is. We need to reduce our encounter rate if we want to go there with our full health and as many potions as we can carry."

The others nodded, "Then allow me," Zard stated as he used an ability, "Hunter's Prowl!" Then him and the others became covered in clouds of blinding smoke before going invisible.

"I thought this ability only works on the caster" Neko stated amazed.

Zard then pointed with his thumb to Lisk, "You can thank his aura talent." He pointed at Lisk, "His Spirit Link aura allows the party to share the effects of any buff used by a player to the rest of the party."

Hayate grabbed his club, swinging it over his shoulder, "Alright people, let's go."

_________________________

The party stood in front of the boss's room, facing a large gate made of ceramic.

They were forced to fight two elites on the way, both were large mix between fish and lizards. One had Alert Vision, a passive ability that can see through any invisibility buff. And the other had Teamwork, an ability that forces the minion or creature to join the battle of a fellow creature in a radius.

"On the bright side: We didn't waste any health potions and we got some EXP." Zard tried to cheer everyone up.

"But we wasted our SP, those guys were more powerful than we thought," Lisk stated as he sheathed his sword.

"We'll wait for a bit." Asamu suggested, "SP recharges over time, and we didn't use much to begin with." The others nodded in agreement.

They stayed and talked casually for a while, until their SP recharged fully. Then came the time to challenge the boss.

Hayate placed his hands on the large stone gates, turning to face the others shortly, who all had their weapons ready, he finally pushed hard at the doors, slowly opening them.

The boss' room was large, larger than most dungeons, suggesting that the boss of this dungeon was a titanic creature, if not bigger, there was also a large lake that took most of the bottom area of the room, on the sides were hollowed out walls shaped into hallways to allow movement there.

The party walked slowly forward, looking around here and there, cautious of an ambush.

After a few minutes of looking around, nothing happened "Why is nothing happening?" Teri asked as he lowered his anchor club, "Did someone else beat the boss already?"

"Not possible." Admus stated, "Dungeon's are different from the field. Dungeon bosses respawn immediately, and multiple parties can fight in simultaneous instances of the same dungeon." He began looking around more intently, "There has to be a way to call the boss."

The others began doing the same. While they were looking around, Asamu found a strange card-diamond shaped stone, with some kind of concentrated energy in the middle, it was lodged into a rock near the lake, he picked it up, nothing happened, but instead of throwing it away, he decided to keep it, hopefully it would fetch a good price.

Nothing happened so far, "Dammit!" Teri was getting agitated, "What the hell is wrong with this boss?!" Just as he said that, he kicked a rock into the lake.

A few seconds later, the room began shaking hard, everyone tried to balance themselves. Then a huge splash came from the lake, when the water surfed away, it revealed a huge fish monster with six tentacles that had hooked spikes instead of suckers, the monster itself looked like a gigantic piranha. When it fully emerged from the waters, four HP bars appeared over it, with its name on top of them. Leviathan, Guardian Terror of the Deep.

"Well isn't that name a mouthful." Asamu stated looking uninterested as always.

The monster let out a loud roar, just then everyone began doing their thing. Zard jumped towards the hallways in the walls, they gave the perfect view of the boss as well as great cover against projectiles.

Asamu used his Soul Blast ability. It was a ranged ability that shot out concentrated energy projectiles at the enemy. When the creature was hit, it turned its attention to him, he began stepping back as the tentacles lashed at him, drawing the monster out of the water.

"Lead it out of the water!! If it dives in, we might not be able to beat it!!" Hayate ordered as he barely dodged a stray tentacle.

Neko made a few gestures with his hands, "Thunder Arts: Lightning Strike!!" As he said that, his blade sparked with electrical energy, before aiming it at the boss, letting the charged electricity at it. That didn't do much, "Dammit, this beast has a very thick hide."

Asamu held his scythe in front of him, "Grasping Dead!!" Countless tendrils flew out of the beast's shadow, turning into hands and taking hold of the creature, rooting it and a few began clawing and scratching at its hide, doing a small sum of damage.

"Nice going Asamu." Hayate then began charging at the monster with the other melee affiliated party members and began hitting it from all sides with every big hitting ability they have, taking a large chunk of health, until it reached the second bar bringing it to the yellow zone.

Just then Asamu noticed something from the monster, it stopped moving for a brief moment, Hayate took this chance, "It stopped, now's our chance!!" Everyone did what they did before and threw whatever they had at the Leviathan. Asamu however didn't join in and stayed in his place.

He then noticed the creature's body doing something weird. It appeared to be creating small holes, it looked like.....!!!, "EVERYONE, GET OUT OF THERE!!!!" He yelled loudly, making his party stop.

But it was too late, the holes in the Leviathan's body let out harsh sub-zero winds, freezing the very atmosphere around them, one hit Teri head on, freezing his body completely, when he hit the ground, he was seconds later crushed by one large tentacle, destroying his body taking all of his health in one hit "One... hit?!" Neko stated, scared out of his mind.

Asamu was shocked as well, but he didn't know what the hell was-- Wait a minute. He checked his status and found that he had a debuff called: Absolute Zero, it created a defense break debuff, which means that whatever damage they are dealt will ignore a large sum of their own defense.

Zard still in his place took aim, but he stopped when he saw the beast, it was now freely controlling the water and ice around him, forming countless sharp spears, then hurled them at where Zard was at, taking his whole health in one attack as well.

"We have to get out of here!!" Asamu shouted at the others, grabbing Neko and making for the exit.

The others followed them, but Admus stood in his place, "Go, I will cover you." He now faced the monster, lifting his staff, "Flame Pillars!" As he commanded, five pillars of incinerating fire surrounded the monster, rooting it in place for a duration.

"Admus come on!!" Hayate called from the gate, the oryx happy with his work turned and sprinted to the doors.

Asamu still had this feeling of unease, when he noticed the creature, it was calm, and although he was sure he was seeing things, the creature seemed to be smiling softly, "Admus hurry up!" He ushered the oryx to quicken his pace.

But then, the creature roared loudly, blowing the fire pillars around him away, then charging some attack in his mouth, then letting out a literary freezing cold breath, hitting Admus and freezing him in his place, before lifting a large tentacle and crushing him hard.

"ADMUS!!!" Hayate screamed for his friend, but was stopped by Demona and Jeri before he ran inside, Asamu and Lisk managed to close the door.

Then the party made their way out of the dungeon.

_______________________________

In the entrance area of the dungeon, the party regrouped to review their encounter with the dungeon boss.

"What the hell was that?!" Hayate asked no one in particular, "How are we going to beat that thing?"

Asamu seemed to think about it before answering, "We need to find a way around his defense break debuff, that was the thing that destroyed us before we even knew it."

Neko looked down, thinking as well, "Maybe a Guardian?"

Admus shook his head, "A Guardian could give us a defense buff, but once Absolute Zero hits us, all that extra defense will be for nothing."

“What we need is a healer, and other ranged experts." Asamu held his chin in one hand, "I leveled up my Gunner pretty well, maybe I can use that?"

"Good idea on the ranged attackers, but we will need a Guardian to redirect the attention of the boss so that the others could get in a few hits." That was Demona.

They racked their brains about who they could call for help.

Then it clicked in Asamu's mind, he knew a healer, "I might know someone, a Moon Dancer."

"Really?" Jeri asked, rolling his eyes.

"Yes. Moon Dancers are subclass healers, with concentration on healing than buffing, just like druids, they also have offensive capabilities. That's who we need." He stuck to his options.

"Asamu's right. We need a powerful healer to help us out," Zard agreed. "We will need an Engineer too. Facing that thing head on is suicide, we'll need someone who can tip things in our favor." He gazed towards Asamu, "I think that would be up your alley Asamu, since Engineers are subclass Gunners, with the ability to build machines and status potions."

Then Hayate stood up from his place. "Alright, we'll talk to the Moon Dancer first, then we will do something about the Engineer."

Everyone agreed and teleported back to the city.

______________________________

"You have got to be kidding me" Teri asked as he deadpanned at where they stood.

Right in front of the Crescent Spring, Lady Ageha's place.

"The Moon Dancer is merely an acquaintance, so we will need to talk to the boss of the place." Asamu turned to the others. "You guys enjoy yourselves for a while, I will talk to the boss and strike out a deal." He went straight up to the main office, where Ageha and Akage were.

He knocked two times before given permission to enter.

Akage's eyes widened when he saw the strange creature. "Can I help you, good sir?"

"Hello Mr. Akage. It's good to see you again." The necromancer smiled to himself at the confused look he got from the older foo-dog.

"You sound familiar." Akage tried to remember where he heard that voice from.

Asamu smiled again, pulling out his menu, and inputting a few commands, taking off his Shifter cosmetics, revealing his human form.

"Little Asamu?!" Akage smiled widely, before getting up from his place, almost tackling Jin into a hug. "How are you, young man?" He pulled back to take a good look at the young player. "Just look at you. Almost level 30 and growing, I'm officially impressed."

"Thanks." Asamu's face then turned serious, "I'm here to ask a favor actually," he thought for a second. "And return one at the same time." Akage crossed his arms, with a small smile, waiting for Asamu's explanation. "Me and a few others, formed a party to take on the on the Deep Temples dungeon, but the boss wiped the floor with us, so I was hoping that we could borrow your Moon Dancer employee."

Akage thought about it for a second. "We'll have to ask Mr. Tsuki-Okami, he's the Moon Dancer you want." Soft music began sounding from downstairs, "I thought we didn't have anybody..

Asamu smiled softly, "I might have brought a few guests along with me."

Both players made their way downstairs, Asamu stopped halfway, "Mr. Akage? About your establishment here." The foo-dog turned back to him, "How do you and Lady Ageha feel about guilds?"

Akage racked his brain for a few seconds. "We aren't opposed to the idea, if that's what you're asking." It then came to him, "You mean?"

Asamu nodded his head. "If you create a guild, your employees will become your guild members, and a portion of the money they make from missions, dungeons and raids will be added to the guild bank." He spread his arms wide. "You can use this same building as your guild house, setting a few floors for guests and the others for guild members."

Akage snapped his fingers, grinning widely. "That's not a bad idea at all." He went up to Asamu, taking him into another big hug. "You might just have saved us, young man, and I'm sure that Ageha will appreciate your help as well."

When they arrived at the stage area, they found Asamu's party enjoying themselves despite their previous complaints, Teri having the time of his life it seemed. "So this is what you meant when you said that you brought guests over."

"I sure did. Come on, let me introduce you," Asamu said, pulling Akage close behind him. They arrived at the table, with Jin starting introductions. "Guys, this is Akage, one of the owners of this establishment." He then introduced the others to the foo-dog.

Just then, the lights turned off, leaving a few headlights aiming at the stage. Then a figure came out from behind the curtains, it was the wolf that Jin saw at the stage the first time he came here.

Just as he remembered, the wolf had a lean athletic build, small but visible muscles littered his body, just the right amount of muscles to make him almost irresistible. He was wearing Blue Moon wrist and ankle braces, which were silver in color and had a blue stone in the middle, he wore silk pants and a short jacket that was open all the way to show his chest.

Then the music began. Asamu remembered the song was Rainbow by Lego Big Morl.

At the start of the song, the wolf was simply waving his hands to the music. As the song went on the rest of his body began to move in the same way, his moves made him look like a pole or belly dancer, his clothes' design siding with the latter option. The song began picking up, and when it reached a fast tempo, his movements became sharp and fast, but never losing the flexibility of a belly dancer, his whole body waving around to the music.

Just then the lights turned off again and when that happened, the stones on the braces the wolf wore began to glow as he was dancing, leaving trails of light where they flowed along with his body, creating a mesmerizing mystic effect.

Asamu was more mesmerized than the others, taken aback by both the light effects and the dancing.

As the song neared its end, the wolf spread his arms wide, the trails of light gathered together to form a light silhouette of a bird spreading its wings, and when the song ended the wolf let his arms fall to his sides, the light bird flew above before exploding into tiny specks of light.

The stage lights all came up, then Asamu's party all cheered and praised the wolf's dancing. Whistling and clapping all around, Akage then leaned towards the human summoner. "That's Tsuki-Okami, the Moon Dancer you wanted."

Asamu's eyes widened, looking at Akage then back at the wolf. "He sure takes the 'Dancer' part pretty seriously."

The foo-dog chuckled lightly. "He told me that he just likes dancing of all kinds, belly and exotic dancing more in case you haven't noticed." He beckoned the wolf to join their table.

When Okami joined them, he bowed slightly before taking a seat. "Hello gentlemen, hope that you enjoyed the show."

"We sure did," Admus stated smiling softly. "You're a Moon Dancer, right?"

"Yes I am. I took the healer class, because I like helping others. When I reached the level that opened subclasses, I chose the Moon Dancer right away."

Subclasses in most other games would mean like Blacksmiths, Chefs, Alchemists and the other crafting classes. But in El Dorado it's different, Subclasses are placed instead of talents in other MMOs, where they choose a class path to specialize in certain aspects in said class.

Like the Healer for example, the Subclasses for it are: Moon Dancer, White Mage, and Druid. The Moon Dancer is an expert in healing and debuff removal, while the White Mage sacrifices strong healing for powerful recovery buffs, but is unable to remove debuffs. The Druid can do both, but sacrifices the extra healing power that the other two subclasses have to strong area healing and buffing effects in a wide range.

"That's brilliant. We are looking for a strong Healer to join us in a dungeon," Admus stated, with some hope in his voice.

"I would love to. But I need to help around the place, as you can see we're not doing very good." He gestured to how mostly empty the place was.

“About that.." Akage cleared his throat before he explained the plan he discussed with Jin a few minutes ago.

Ookami thought of for a few seconds before agreeing. “Sounds like a plan, I never joined a guild before, but I would gladly join yours Mr. Akage."

“So will you join us now?" Neko asked with some hope in his voice.

Ookami nodded firmly. This caused the whole party to cheer loudly and welcome the new addition to their little group. “Alright, now that this is over with, we need someone who's good with his gunner class," Admus stated to the party. “Any suggestions?"

Neko looked over at Asamu, staring at him for a while until his fellow summoner noticed. “What?"

“Isn't your gunner class one of the more powerful classes you have?" Neko asked with a tilt of his head.

Asamu turned to his fellow summoner. “Yes it is, but we still need an engineer and I haven't leveled up mine enough to use any useful abilities."

The group then racked their brains together some more. Then it clicked in Okami's head. “Hey I know, instead of leveling up an engineer we could just create a strong one, even early level."

The whole group turned to him, waiting for an explanation. “We can use a Soul Shift and I know just the Wisps we need."

_____________________________

The group found themselves at the entrance to a different dungeon. This one was located in the city's outskirts, a cave under a cliff overlooking the ocean.

“Are you sure about this?" Jeri asked the Moon Dancer wolf.

“I am. The Ratkin are known for their engineering prowess, but we'll need the Longshot Ratkin, snipers that are found in the deeper parts of the dungeon, they give the highest points to engineering than even the Wisp of the boss."

“And how do you propose we find those snipers? I'm pretty sure they won't just stand in the open like most other MMOs." Teri asked with a hint irritation.

“That's why… “ Okami gestured towards Asamu, who now was wearing his gunner loadout.

It consisted of a leather bullet strap, a small sleeveless shirt that lifted a few centimeters above his waisted, long pants that looked like what the ninja class would wear and a short, one shoulder cape that reached to his elbow. His weapons consisted of dual pistols with long barrels, a sniper rifle on his back and different bullet bags surrounding his belt, each carrying a different type of bullets including elemental ones.

Then Okami started explaining his plan. “Asamu told me that he leveled up his sniping skill tree for a while, so he will be at the centre of our group and provide backup, the tanks and damage dealers will take the front, while the damage absorbers and taunters will bring up the rear to divert the enemies' agro towards them."

Everyone blinked a few times, before murmurs of accepting the plan sounded around them.

He clapped his hands together with a wide smile. “Alright then, let's go in shall we?"

____________________________

The loud screech of a fallen enemy filled the caverns of the dungeon, as a Ratkin exploded into bubbles and smoke, but many others blocked the party's path.

The twins, Teri and Jeri took the front along with Hayate, eliminating enemies left and right and carving a path for the party to move forward.

A sniper Ratkin was positioned on a ledge some distance from the party, taking aim at the strongest one of them, who in his eyes was the big tanuki.

*BAM!!!!*

A gunshot rang and echoed through the cavern, but it wasn't the Ratkin's, since he was falling to the ground, disappearing just as he hit it, leaving a wisp where he fell.

Asamu's sniper's barrel smoked a bit from the shot he just took, he brought the barrel to his lips with a cocky smile. “Bullseye." He blew the smoke from the barrel away before replacing his sniper rifle on his back.

After the party cleared the other small Ratkin around the area, they advanced deeper into the dungeon after collecting the dropped wisps and other loot.

“That was some nice shooting there." Admus, complemented Asamu as they walked side by side. “Didn't know that you knew how to use a gun."

“Maybe it's because of all the FPS games I've been playing recently," the summoner turned gunner replied simply.

“We're closing in on the boss' room, careful though, Ratkin are known for their speed and agility, the same goes for the boss," Okami warned them as the door to the boss' room came into view. “Alright, lets heal up and get ready, this boss will be a pain in the ass."

After everyone healed up and repaired their gear and weapons, Hayate and Jeri pushed the door open, scouting the area around them while the rest of the team followed.

Once the whole party reached the centre of the room, the doors slammed shut on their own, startling Neko to the point of forcing an actual cat scream and jumping into the arms of the closest person, to his surprise, it was Asamu.

“You okay?" Asamu asked casually as he held the cat bridal style, Neko nodded his head as a blush covered his face completely.

Asamu lowered him to the ground, but his body stiffened as he felt a strong presence fill the room. He reached for his pistols, while Lisk and Zard prepared their weapons, seeing those three, the others took a stance as well, the party staying close to one another.

Faint rumbling could be heard all around the room, but nothing in sight yet. Just then, Asamu and Zard both aimed their weapons at the ceiling, each shooting their own abilities. Asamu was the first to cast. “Bullet Storm!" then came Zards turn. “Rapid Arrows!"

Bullet Storm: A gunner ability that uses the pistols they carry. Once a gunner takes aim and casts the ability, a holographic targeting mark appears just at the mouth of the pistol's barrel, followed closely a few more that appear in mid-air, all of them shooting rapid bullets of energy. Also if the guns themselves were infused with elemental attributes, then the bullets they shoot will blast with the same energy.

Rapid Arrows: An archer ability that utilizes quick draw capabilities. The archer first shoots three arrows in rapid succession, then fires three more simultaneously in a cone, which are infused with spiritual energy. Just like the gunner's bullets, if the bow was infused with or if the arrows were tipped with elemental heads, then the energy infused in the shot will be of the same attribute.

Both their abilities made direct impact and clearly hitting something. When the smoke cleared something that clung to the ceiling began moving a bit, before letting go and landing in front of the party, all of them took a defencive stance.

The thing in question, was none other than the boss of the dungeon. A large Ratkin, tall as it's big with nail-sharp claws and fangs, it's drool falling to the ground before corroding and eating at it, but what caught the attention of the party was the big crown that was sitting on top of the boss' head.

The usual four health bars appeared as well as the boss' name: Dirty Royal, The Ratking.

“Someone forgot to get in the bathtub this morning." Asamu commented as he waved his pistol in front of his face, trying to fan the stench that invaded the room away from him.

The Ratking let out a loud screeching roar, indicating the start of the battle, as every party member did their thing. Asamu, Zard and Necko all fell back and took backup and support, while the others stood forward.

The Ratking appeared to be chewing something in his mouth, he started hocking up a big one before spitting it out, the party managed to dodge it fortunately. “Uh, RUDE!" Demona yelled as she tried to attack, but was faced with another wad, which she dodged at the last minute.

“Uh, Demona?" Asamu tried getting her attention, when she turned to him, he was looking at where the first shot hit, a large hole appeared in the wall with nasty smelling smoke as it was clear what happened. “Okay, so avoid face-melting loogies. Noted."

Asamu dashed to one side, while Zard took the other, shooting from both sides to confuse the boss. Admus then concentrated and aimed his staff. “Orb of Flame!" He shot a concentrated fire ball at the creature, confusing it further.

Then came the frontline fighters' turn, Hayate and Teri both grabbed their weapons and delivered a direct hit to the Ratking's front “Heavy Break!" Then Demona and Jeri, the monks. First was Jeri. “Force Bash!" Then Demona “Triple Thunder!"

Force Bash: A monk ability that gathers energy into one fist then unleashes it in one powerful punch.

Triple Thunder: Another monk ability that releases electrical energy through three hits, two hits for middle damage and the third stronger with a chance to stun the target.

All of their abilities was slowly corroding the boss' health.

The Ratking then balled himself, his fur stood at end, before shooting strands like projectiles all around him in a large radius, hitting the frontliners directly.

Just as the attack finished, a healing aura covered their bodies, Okami waved his hands slowly as if doing a kata as he cast his healing ability.

The Ratking wasn't finished, as he shot another wad of acidic spit, this time hitting Demona. “EEEEWWWW!!!" She screamed loudly as she was hit with a plague debuff, an advanced poison debuff that ate away at the target's health at a faster rate. The Ratking shot three more in rapid succession, but the others managed to dodge it.

Demona was surrounded by light blue aura for a few seconds as the debuff disappeared. She turned to Okami briefly. “Thanks a bunch, I owe ya." She received a firm nod, before both turned their attention to the boss.

“Alright people, let's end this already." Hayate called as everyone prepared their heavy hitting abilities.

First of course was Okami, who performed a few energetic dance moves, his whole body emitting energy that flowed into the whole party. “Hype Up Step!" This ability raises the stats of all the party members for a few seconds.

The monks dashed towards the beast, gathering earth elemental on both fists, before bringing both together in a double straight punch. “Quake Gong!"

Admus gathered electrical energy at the tip of his staff before shooting it out. “Electrical Bomb!"

Neko drew the big fire character, summoning his flame wyrm. “Dragonic Vengeance!"

The warriors unleashed their attacks as well. “Heavy Break!"

Lisk made a few hand gestures, speaking their mantra. “Rin! Pyo! To! Sha! Kai! Jin! Retsu! Zai! Zen!" He then unsheathed his sword, which shined brightly with power. “Ten no Ikari! (Heaven's Wrath)" He made a downward strike, which released the power as a sharp blastwave.

Zard aimed his bow, gathering wind energy which changed shape into a big arrow, before shooting it. “Storm Shot!"

Finally Asamu aimed his sniper rifle straight with one hand, a big energy construct of the target sign appeared in front of the barrel. “Fatal Precision!" He pulled the trigger, the blast pushed him back a few inches.

All their attacks hit directly, taking the rest of the Ratking's health down and actually sending the boss flying into the wall behind him.

Once the beast fell, the party cheered and congratulated each other, hugs, high fives and shoulder pats were given all around.

“Well that was a little easier than I thought." Okami commented as he stepped up to the downed beast, giving the body a few kicks.

“You mean you've never tried this dungeon?" Asamu walked up to him, with an arm around Neko's shoulders.

“Nope, the information I got was from the forums."

“Well anywho, let's get our loot and go, we got more than enough wisps for Asamu's Shift." Hayate suggested as he pushed at the door leading outside the boss' room.

… It didn't budge.

“Huh?" He tried again, this time with all the power he had. “What gives?!" He pounded the door hard, the sound echoing around the room and possibly through most of the cave.

“The hell is this?!" Teri and Jeri both said in unison as they tried giving Hayate a hand, still the door refused to move an inch.

Just then, Asamu, Neko, Demona and Okami heard a strange sound, it resembled something being digested or dissolved.

“Uh… Guys?" Zard called for the party, they turned towards the boss' body and found that it turned to some sort of slimy substance as it melted away.

Everyone jumped back as the slime expanded before exploding in a sickening *SPLORT* plumes of nasty smelling smoke emitting from the remains, but the party was able to make out the shape of someone kneeling right in the middle.

When the figure stood up, the smoke cleared.

The figure was in average, player sized, it looked like a miniature version of the Ratking, totally naked, save for the long red cape that had white fur along the rims.

He grabbed the crown which changed to a smaller size, placing it on his head and letting it lean on one side. Then his eyes flew open, revealing his all red eyes that were filled with anger, just as a new set of four health bars appeared along with a new name: Corrupted King, Ratking the Swift.

Asamu probably gave his most epic deadpans yet. “You have. Got to be.

Fucking kidding me."