"Maria?" - Garami

  "Yeah. The infamous "Broken Nun"." - Bck Bones

  After the event with the train (good thing the vampire only KOed the drivers. I had no clue how to operate the train.) and some questioning by the local authorities (they sent some troops in the hope of catching the vampire), we went to a bar on the skeleton's tab. He had something to tell us. Or me, to be precise.

  "I've heard about her. She is an incredible Bishop with some slight...personality problems." - Aino

  Huh? What's that supposed to mean?

  "She is... You know how nuns are described sometimes in hentai and such, right? Attacked by demons or other "unholy forces"?" - Aino

  "Sorta." - Garami

  "That girl is rumored to be wishing for such situations. To an incredible degree...." - Aino

  I turned over to the skeleton and saw him nodding to this utterly impossible idea. Ehh...you guys are serious?

  "And that sicko perverted nun's currently looking for the Princess." - Bck Bone

  What!? I've got a stalker!?

  "That is not so surprising. Mistress Garami is a perfect assaint for the type of situation she wishes for. When you go only by the rumors about her." - Bloom

  "Even when the real deal's a bigger wimp than you'd expect." - Aino

  Shut up! Those creatures of the undead aren't scaring me that much anymore! I mean, when there can be someone as stupid as that vampire in their ranks, why should I be shaking in my boots for something like moving corpses?

  "But why did Master Bone travel to these Bstfields then? We were at the port town until recently." - Bloom

  "I asked the people at the Union where you were and they told me your pns about going to the Bstfields." - Bck Bone

  "Then you ended up at that train. What a coincidence." - Aino

  "Yeah. Thanks for the warning. See you-" - Garami

  "Wait just a minute!" - Bck Bone

  The skeleton jumped out of his seat and did a dogeza on the spot. Good thing for him that there aren't many customers here, but the waitress is looking at you funny. Shouldn't you stop?

  "Please! I beg of you! Please allow me to join your guild!" - Bck Bone

  ...huh?

  "Please! A Spectermancer like me needs allies to gather materials for creating undead, but nobody wants to py with me since there will be no drop-items from me taking the whole corpse!" - Bck Bone

  "...wait, what are you saying? So the tip about the Broken Nun was..." - Aino

  "Oh, that's completely unreted. That girl's bad news for anyone." - Bck Bone

  Great. That's making me feel better...

  "Then why are you..." - Aino

  "I'm asking anyone with a steady group to py with. Please, help me here! At this rate, I won't be able to keep pying the game!" - Bck Bone

  "...tell us the problem." - Garami

  The skeleton (still kowtowing) told us his story. About how the skill of his main css, the [Necromantic Rites] skill of the Spectermancer css, required him to consume a whole monster's corpse to stock up on "Necromancy Counters". By using the counters, the skeleton can create undead to command by using Spectermancer-reted skills such as [Create Undead: Skeleton].

  The problem was that taking the whole corpse turned into a sour situation when hunting with other pyers. There would be no materials for them to gain, so the total income of hunts got reduced for them.

  That, combined with the fact that the skeleton didn't have the AP to improve his offensive abilities, meaning he couldn't collect corpses that efficiently on his own, gradually made him incapable of catching up to the other pyers.

  "But the test event gave me the windfall of a lifetime. I obtained the [Lesser Undead Talent], got the Swarming Undead trait that improves my LP problems with the undead, and even obtained enough LP to start taking the Nether Caster css!" - Bck Bone

  "Then what's the problem? And you don't have a lifetime. You're a skeleton." - Aino

  "...once you have been spped with a bad reputation, it takes a long time to clear your name." - Bloom

  And surprisingly it's Bloom who's sticking up for the skeleton! But it is kinda something she would do. Bloom was controlled by those bugs and performed crimes due to them, so she was in a simir situation to the skeleton.

  "That's exactly the problem. Most of the pyers I know are efficiency idiots. And to add to the pile of bad luck, I'm sort of famous after I got pced on some list after the first event. Most people know me in one way or another. And not in any good ways. Most pyers don't want a resource-eater like me on their teams. So I thought that you girls were less strict on that part...?" - Bck Bone

  Yeah, we're not exactly the most game-obsessed group of girls out there. Can't bme him for thinking that about us. Not that there's anything to take offense from.

  "...what else can you do?" - Garami

  "Garami!?" - Aino

  "I can at least give him an interview." - Garami

  The skeleton perked up from that and started to expin his talents. While sitting in seiza. Hey, calm down already...

  To give a quick summary, the skeleton has both the Lesser Water Talent and the Lesser Undead Talent. The tter was obtained from the event as he mentioned before, but his starter element caught me off-guard. To think there's an undead named "Bck Bone" that didn't go for Death or Darkness as their starting element...

  Other than the Spectermancer css he described, he also has Nether Caster. It's a "Book of Tradition" css that uses magic that originates from the Netherworld. From hell. Scary.

  But Nether Caster is his second Sub Css. The first one is a css named "Angler". As one can guess, it's a css for catching fish. It's what you could call a "hobby css". Those are being looked down upon by the hard-core gamers. No wonder he couldn't find any decent pymates.

  Though, I'm not that against it. Bloom's Crime Caster css could be seen as a "role-pying css", making it have the same value as the hobby csses at first look. But Crime Caster allows us to participate in special quests, so maybe Angler and the other hobby csses can do the same...?

  "Okay, you're hired." - Garami

  "Really!" - Bck Bone

  "But on a trial period." - Garami

  "Eh? I mean, yes, ma'am!" - Bck Bone

  "...oh. We are having him help with clearing the Dungeon quests." - Aino

  "Mhm." - Garami

  "...excuse me, ma'am. But I'm not confident I could defeat a Dungeon," said the skeleton while turning pale...er. The avatar developers in this game are awesome. They're capable of making a skeleton turn pale from fear.

  "Not other Dungeons, but my own," I told the skeleton while showing him my new Portable Dungeon Terminal. I got it for free as part of the test update.

  Dungeon MenuOwner: Garami Dungeon Name:Darknd FortDungeon Level:3Dungeon Floors:6Dungeon Type:Dark Royal ClocktowerDungeon Elements:Main: [Darkness]Sub: [Crystal]Dungeon Points:360/360 Dungeon Stats:Strength: [?]Magic: [?]Stealth: [?]Knowledge: [?]Monsters: [?]Management:Facility CreationMonster SpawningTreasure Creation"So this is how a Dungeon master does things! ...question marks?" - Bck Bone

  "That is the problem~. The Dungeon's status values are in an uncertain situation." - Aino

  "The test update removed something called "facility points". One used them to pce facilities inside the Dungeon or to upgrade those status values. Now the Dungeon grows by clearing specific conditions instead.

  "Now the Dungeon's stats only grows when it clears some special Dungeon-reted quests. But after the update, the already-created Dungeons were given a free period of 3 weeks. Intruders can't enter during that time, plus it's easier to raise the Dungeon's status values during that time.

  "That is why we went to this region. The Bstfields contain many different and rare items. Feeding the Dungeon these items are among the special quests that are only avaible during this free period. We want to harvest as many materials during this time to make the Dungeon ready for when the free period is over." - Garami

  Phew, I talked a lot. Can I get something to drink?

  "...having a Dungeon is more work than I imagined." - Bck Bone

  "And we expect hard work if you want to join." - Aino

  "Yes, ma'am! However...my Necromancy Counters...?" - Bck Bone

  "We'll rotate on who gets the materials of the killed monsters. Harvested materials will go to the Fort if nothing else comes up." - Garami

  "That is a fine pn." - Aino

  "Phew. Finally someone with a big heart." - Bck Bone

  Even when my Karma's supposed to be the lowest of the low.

  "Anyway, there are three areas I wanna look at," I told them as I opened a map of the area on the table. It's something I bought before we left the port town, as I've pnned this excursion ever since we defeated that butterfly monster during the event and I got to know about the Dungeon update.

  "This volcano here. Mount Bstuvious." - Garami

  "What a bombastic name." - Aino

  "That does sound like a pce with explosively good materials." - Bloom

  "And demons. Probably some heavy-hitting ones." - Garami

  "Now that you mention that, the little bck one on the train was one of your tamed creatures." - Bck Bone

  "On the same subject, punish Nyx for going AWOL on us back then." - Aino

  Sorry, Nyx. I'll properly expin to them that you were unsummoned because I needed to bring out Na...

  "We're saving this for the third week. I have two other areas I wanna explore." - Garami

  "Why the third week?" - Bck Bone

  "That is part of Garami's pn. We will challenge a stronger area each week so that we can gradually adapt to the Bstfields' harsh environment." - Aino

  "Mhm. And here's the pce we're raiding and destroying in the second week." - Garami

  "So aggressive...? Hmm? Is the map damaged? It's all bck here." - Bck Bone

  The section of the map I'm pointing at is almost scorched-bck in color. There are also several crossbones and skulls marked there, plus drawings of houses.

  "It's a former urban area that the inhabitants had to let go of. Because of constant attacks from the undead." - Garami

  "......" - Bloom & Aino

  "D-don't look at me!" - Bck Bone

  As for why the undead could popute that area because there's no sunlight due to the ashes in the sky. The undead can walk around even during the day.

  "Why do you wish to look for materials in that pce? Did you not have a phobia for the undead?" - Aino

  "It's not that bad... As for why this area, it's for revenge." - Garami

  "That vampire noble got you that worked up. Now I get it. Those guys are masters of pissing people off." - Bck Bone

  "Poor Bones who have to suffer from mistress Garami's venting." - Bloom

  "Yes, yes...hey!" - Bck Bone

  They're not completely wrong. I do want to vent, plus it's prolly not just me who's scared of the undead. I sure hope so, 'cause it would be extremely unpleasant if I was the only one...

  In any case, the undead and their "terror strategy" would be a good addition to the Dungeon. As guards against proper invaders, not those fanboys. One of the new things added to the Dungeon is the possibility of adding a new line of monsters, or even a new sub-attribute, to the Dungeon if you offer enough items reted to either one.

  Though, I'm pnning on more than just "venting"...

  "But starting from tomorrow, I've got pns for this pce," I said as I pointed at a huge ke painted on the map. And not any normal ke either.

  "...the "Lava Lake"? We are going there?" - Aino

  "Yup. Just decided it." - Garami

  "It wasn't your first choice?" - Bck Bone

  "Nope. But I changed my mind. Because I overheard that you can fish there." - Garami

  "......huh?" - Aino, Bck Bone, & Bloom

  I wonder what va fishies taste like. Prolly like charcoal.