Max Leveling Party

A young man appeared within a lush green forest, his hair purple as the light reflected off his hair. He wore merely a black cloth shirt and pants as he opened his eyes to the new world. “Huh…wow…this place is so beautiful, I wonder what awaits me in this massive world” his eyes gleamed orange in the sunlight as he found himself standing on a dirt path through the forest. “Hmm, I need to find a way to town so I can start taking on quests and level up” 

Pulling up a black transparent screen in front of him, it was the menu which had your typical RPG options: 

• Inventory 

• Stats 

• Equipment 

• Skill tree 

• Party 

• Summons 

• Build 

• Social 

Going to his stats he was a mere lvl.1 with low attributes. He looked at his class which was a warlock. “Seems my only skill currently is analysis” 

[Analysis – the ability to see properties or stats of any magical item or enemy through sight. 

Closing the menu, the young warlock sighed. “Seems I’ll need to level up before I can take on any serious threat. What use to me is an appraisal skill? Especially in the forest!? Taking a step forward, he almost forgot to decide on his name… 

“Name, name…oh I got it…Sukuda Bloodspire. Strange name but should work for now” With everything set, Sukuda ventured through the shaded forest, watching birds flutter through the sky when an abrupt sound of trees rustling echoed through the forest causing him to freeze. (That was too loud to be a mere breeze, there must be something nearby. Please just be a deer!) The rustling continued on his right when a small goblin jumped out from the bushes, lunging right for him, it’s sharp claws reaching out for the warlock. 

“WHAT!?” Sukuda turned to dodge the incoming creature, one of it’s sharp claws piercing his right cheek before landing in front of him. “Tsk! You little shit! I may be only lvl.1, but one goblin isn’t really a threat once it’s presence has been known. I may not have any attack spells yet, but I can still beat your annoying ass!” He spotted a staff like stick and attempted to pick it up, only for a notification in red text to pop up: 

[Can’t equip to current class] 

“It’s just a branch! Tsk, fine hands it is! Bring it bastard!” The small monster let out a loud cry before lunging right for him with both claws out. Just before the goblin could attack, Sukuda ducked down, sending a fierce kick to the gremlin’s face. He watched as the little monster landed on the ground before fading into wisps of green light. 

“Hmph! Sad a lvl.1 one monster could injure me so easily, I need to be more careful from now on. I can’t be one of those adventurers getting killed by novice-level enemies. Now to get to town before another one of those little shits shows up!” Sukada raced through the forest path not taking any chances of getting attacked again by any other forest creatures that might want to strike from behind. 

After about a minute of running, the young warlock abruptly stopped to rest beside a large oak tree just off the dirt path. As he struggled to catch his breath, he thought he heard something nearby. “P-please don’t be another g-goblin” Taking a deep breath, Sukuda raced off towards the source of the noise, dodging trees and bushes before hearing something erupt off in the distance. 

Stepping back onto the path, Sukuda saw a young fellow adventurer fighting against a horde of goblins as they advanced towards the magic caster. The man had brown hair with blue eyes dressed in a brown cloak. 

“Flame magic: fire ball!” Sukuda watched as the mage aimed their open palm towards the approaching monsters, manifesting a sphere of flames before sending it right for them. “Raaagghh!” The fireball engulfed the horde in flames, sending them staggering in different directions as they let out cries of agony. The warlock was amazed at the fellow magic caster’s power even though they were a mere lvl.4 after killing an entire group of monsters. 

Approaching the stranger, the young mage reacted by aiming his hand towards Sukuda. “Sorry, but it’s not smart to trust just anyone in these woods. How do I know you’re not just some thug just waiting to rob and kill me when I least expect it!?” 

Sukuda hesitated before answering: “I’m a lvl.1 warlock who’s only skill is appraisal, how do you expect me to steal from or kill you when I could barely even fight off a lvl.1 goblin?” The young adventurer looked him deep in the eyes before lowering his hand. “Fine, but I won’t let my guard down until I can fully trust you” 

“Fair enough, can I at least know your name and possibly form a party with you? With our levels so low, it’s safer if we stick together for the time being” 

Ryu...Ryu Tempest and fine, I guess it would be easier if we form a party for now rather than one of us getting killed in these woods, especially you. If you’re telling the truth, then you might not last long out here without some kind of attack skill. You may be some random to me...but even a stranger doesn’t deserve to die out here in these woods” 

Opening his menu, Ryu went to his social, friending the stranger as well as sending him a party invite. Sukuda noticed a notification pop up in front of him: 

[Friend Request] 

Ryu Tempest 

He quickly accepted the request as well as the party invite. Joining the party, he could see Tempest’s HP above his like your typical RPG. “Great! Thanks for letting me join your party Tempest, hopefully we can work on creating a guild overtime” 

Tempest began walking down the path commenting: “Don’t rush yourself Sukuda, it takes a great deal of gold to create your own guild, as well as reaching the level required to even join one. If I remember, the level needed to open a guild is lvl.50. So, it’ll be a while before you’ll be able to even start your own guild. Follow me, I know where a small town is where we can begin working on quests to raise our level. I saw it a while ago when grinding to reach a higher level before heading to the 1st town. It’s best to grind as much as you can before taking on any real quests, otherwise you’ll just end up getting yourself killed” 

CHAPTER 1: Ryu & Sukuda, the 1st max level members 

After about five minutes of walking, the small town came into view from below the hill. The town had many wooden houses and merchant shops with stone-paved streets as citizens dressed in medieval clothing walked along the streets. “Is this the town you were taking about?” Sukuda asked as the pair looked down from the hill. 

“Yeah, this is called: Netherworth, it’s the only town I've seen for miles, so I assume it’s where low-level adventurers go to take on D-C rank quests” 

“Then let’s hurry and take on some quests!” Filled with excitement, Sukuda raced down the hill as he stepped onto the stone path within the city. He stopped just a few feet inside, looking for anywhere that seemed like a guild or tavern that might be where quests were given. He noticed a few of the people were looking at him in a weird way when Tempest caught up with him. 

“For someone that wanted to join a party, you sure do run off when you’re excited don’t you?” 

“Heh, sometimes, but only in rare situations” Placing one hand on his waist, Sukuda looked around but saw no signs of a guild or tavern near the entrance of the town. “Strange, you’d expect them to put the tavern or guild near the entrance to attract more business from new adventurers” 

“That’s just it, in a place like this, maybe they don’t get any visitors anymore. Netherworth seems like they’re on the brink of collapse, we should hurry and do the quests here and move on to a more stable town. If you want to level up faster and save gold for your guild, we’ll need to take on quests from people who can afford to pay us a decent amount” 

Exploring the town, they soon found the tavern near the center of town where the pair could hear a commotion going on inside. They ran down the stone streets before stopping in front of the twin doors. “You think it’s just some drunk causing problems?” The warlock questioned. 

Tempest frowned. “I doubt it” Without hesitation the party leader stepped inside, only to see multiple people lying on the wooden floor either injured or unconscious. That’s when they noticed a man dressed in a black hooded cloak wielding a knife aimed towards a young woman with blue hair dressed in a bartender uniform. 

“Hurry and give me all the gold in this place or I'll cut you!” 

“I-I'm sorry! B-but we only have a few hundred silver, I'm afraid we’re nearly broke as it is!” She kept her hands up, shaking in fear at the sight of the cold thief. 

“TSK! LIAR!” The hooded man gripped his knife preparing to stab the bartender when Tempest quickly opened his hand as flames manifested. “Flame magic: Fire ball!” Sukuda watched with wide eyes as his ally launched the blazing sphere right for the hostile target. 

The bartender tucked down behind the bar as the hooded man was caught off guard by the burning projectile. “Haaaggh!” His cloak was set ablaze by the flames, causing him to tear it off before it could ignite the rest of his clothes. 

Now facing Ryu and Sukuda, the criminal aimed his blade in their direction with a look of blinding rage. “TSSSK! IT’S JUST ONE PROBLEM AFTER ANOTHER, ISN’T IT! WHATEVER! I’LL CUT YOU BOTH TO PIECES TOO!” 

Focusing his sight on the enemy, Sukuda’s right eye turned blue as he used his appraisal skill to read the stats and skills of their target. “Alright, seems he’s a lvl.7 thief with a passive skill known as “ignition” active...it seems to boost his speed and increase his chances of causing a bleed debuff on one of us if we’re struck by his weapon” 

Tempest smirked forming another fireball within his grasp. “Good to know, if that’s all he has going for him...it’ll be hard for him to use it if he can’t even get in range!” Sukuda watched as the mage shot a fire ball right for the assailant. The man crossed his arms attempting to block the coming attack, only for his body to set ablaze by the intense flames. 

“WHAT! H-how could his attack get pass my guard!” With his HP quickly decreasing, he gripped his knife, preparing for one last attempt. “If I die, you’re going to share my fate!” The burning man lunged towards the pair before slashing Sukuda across the chest. “PERCISE LACARATION!” 

All watched as the warlock staggered back, blood seeping through his cloth shirt just as the thief succumbed to the flames. Both hit the ground as the thief laid motionless while Sukuda gripped his severe wound, his HP going down by one 1% each second. “D-damn it...I'm sorry Tempest, I didn’t mean to be such a burden on you, especially...this soon into the journey” 

Tempest looked down at him for a moment before smiling as he pulled out a small green bottle. “Heh, don’t worry, I got this off a goblin I killed earlier. You better thank me for this later” Pouring the potion into his ally’s mouth, a green aura illuminated the warlock for a moment before fading as his wounds were healed. 

“That was my only healing potion, so you owe me one when we start taking on harder enemies” Sukuda watched as Tempest held out his hand with a smirk. The young warlock was surprised at his party member’s quick change of attitude towards him but smiled back grabbing the mage’s hand as he stood up. The bystanders within the tavern cheered for them, thanking the duo for saving them from the threat. 

Checking his chest for any scars, he was relieved to see nothing there. “Sigh, at least that health potion seemed to heal me completely, I'd hate to have such a huge scar so early in our adventure” They walked over to the bar where the bartender stood, watching the assailant's body carefully incase the man was still alive. “H-how can I help you two? Perhaps a free meal, normally we won’t offer anything for free given are nearly bankrupt village, but saving our lives is worth far more than any meal”

“We actually came to see if this is where we take on quests. We’re novice adventurers hoping to raise our level as well as adventurer rank if that’s a thing in this village” 

The young woman nodded pulling out three files, each a different quest they could take on. “I’m afraid we only have these three currently available. We have: 

C RANK – Find and eliminate the goblin king outside the village. 

B RANK – A horde of undead have been spotted around the outskirts of the forest and need to be dealt with.. 

B RANK- An Ogre has captured innocent civilians and must be killed at any cost. 

Tempest looked over each one before turning to Sukuda. “We could just do all of these in order, get some good grinding in while we’re still in the low-level region of this world” 

Sukuda agreed as they accepted the requests and made their way back outside the village. Both walked beside one another as Ryu Examined the paper explaining their 1st quest. “Hmmm, this doesn’t seem to give any real details on the location of our target. Sigh, we’ll just have to search until we find the damn goblin camp or wherever there king is held in” 

About An Hour Later... 

The sun shined dark orange upon the forest as the warlock and mage made their way through the endless forest. “Ugh, we’re getting nowhere! We’ve been searching the damn forest for hours and can’t find the goblin king’s location!” 

That’s when Sukuda had an idea. “Wait, if we can reach a high point, maybe my appraisal eye can detect any goblins nearby and make them led us to their king” 

“Doubt something like that would work, but I guess it’s the best we have to go off of” Making their way up a nearby mountain, they raced to the top where a cliff hung over the rest of the forest. Standing at the edge of the cliff, Sukuda opened his appraisal eye as it glowed blue, analyzing everything within his sight like a radar. The info of tress, rocks and woodland creatures popped up rapidly in his vision as he searched for any signs of goblins. That’s when he spotted movement off in the distance. Locking on to the specific target the stats popped up: 

[Goblin] 

Lvl.2 

Range: 200 M 

“Found one!” The warlock cried out before leaping from the cliff in the target’s direction. This caught Tempest off-guard as he jumped after him. “You idiot!” Grabbing ahold of his ally’s cloth shirt, Tempest unleashed a blast of flames from his free hand, using it to repel them in the monster’s direction. 

The pair went soaring through the air when a large tree came into view. Before the caster could change course, they struck the large tree, causing them to hit the ground. “O-ouch, g-good thinking back their Tempest, you managed to get us within 50 meters of the target. Brushing himself off he looked up at his HP which was now at 90%. “Damn, that impact cost me some health, but hopefully the king won’t be much of threat compared to his minions” 

“S-shut up Sukuda, we would’ve been fine on foot if you hadn’t jumped off the cliff like an idiot. “You should be happy I managed to cast my spell correctly, otherwise we would’ve either died or been so low on HP that even weak-level monsters could finish us off” 

“Alright fine I'm sorry tempest, now let’s get to that monster before it runs off” Sukuda took off through the forest, still locked-on to the creature with Tempest following close behind. Sukuda spotted the small green monster sitting under a tree eating a fish when it noticed them running towards them. 

Letting out a cry, the goblin took off through the trees with the pair close on his tail. Sukuda kept his glowing blue iris homed on the target as it let out cries. As the pair continued tailing the monster, they noticed it was headed towards a large cave with tons of goblins guarding the cave entrance. 

Getting withing 50 meters of the monster camp, Tempest motioned Sukuda to stop behind him, letting the terrified goblin to run inside the cave. “What? Shouldn’t we attack? Our target is probably in there, why else would there be so many goblins in one area?” The warlock whispered. 

That’s when a smirk grew across Tempest’s face. “Don’t worry...I'll handle this wish ease” Holding his left hand out, the caster formed a fireball once more before launching it into the large fire pit of the goblin camp. The moment his attack made contact with the fire, it absorbed the flames growing bigger before erupting in a fierce explosion, sending the horde of goblins flying in different directions. 

Waaaagghh” A few of them cried out as they succumbed to their burns. 

Tempest 

[LEVEL 5 ACHEIVED] 

SKILL OBTAINED: Flame Prison – Trap targets within a cage made of flames 

Sukuda 

[LEVEL 5 ACHEVIED] 

SKILL OBTAINED: Reanimation: Undead Knight 

Sukuda filled with excitement the moment he saw his new skill notification pop up in front of him. (Yes! Finally I have a skill more useful than appraising items!) Tempest was also filled with excitement, ready to try a new skill after only having fireball for so long. 

Both adventurers jumped out from the trees covering them, standing in the large clearing before the enemy camp that guarded the cave. Six goblins remained as they let out battle cries advancing towards them. 

“Alright, time to see what my 1st battle skill can do! Reanimation magic: Undead knight!” Clapping his hands together, a purple sigil formed in front of him as a skeletal knight rose before him. It had dark bones dressed in black armor with glowing red eyes wielding a sword. 

“Go!” Sukuda commanded swiping his hand to the left. Letting out a demonic cry, the knight charged towards the monsters, bringing it’s blade down with a fierce slash. Tempest watched beside his ally as the undead decapitated one of the gremlins. Dark-green blood splattered across the dirt. 

“Alright, it’s my turn...stand back Warlock...fire magic: flame prison!” Throwing both arms out, a cage made of intense flames formed around the remaining monsters and undead knight, trapping them withing the blazing formation. 

“Heh, good thinking Tempest, with the creature trapped with my summon, they have nowhere to go” Both smirked as Tempest kept one palm aimed at the cage while Sukuda ordered his minion to finish the rest of them. The frightened creatures let out cries while two of them pulled out bows firing wooden arrows at the armored skeleton. However, no matter how many they fired upon the undead entity, it stood staring at them, unphased by the projectiles. 

“Attack!” The warlock cried out once more. That’s when the summons's eye’s glowed red before charging forward with it’s blood-soaked blade. It’s targets stood no chance as they all were mercilessly killed by the knight in just mere moments. Blood dripped from the summons’s blade as it stood patiently waiting for it’s next order within the blazing cage. 

“Well now, seems your knight is rather skilled for a mere level 5 creature. Our skills will definitely come in handy if we combine them like just now. I wonder if I can use my flame magic to give your minion a burn effect without killing them, we should try it in our next fight” 

“That would actually be a great combination if your theory works, but enough stalling, we need to finally take the bastard goblin king out, it’s almost night and this is still our 1st quest” 

CHAPTER 2: The Dual Magic Casters