The thief glanced at the numerous zombie corpses on the ground, slightly surprised. He hadn’t expected Ryan Bennett to be able to kill so many zombies alone. The thief checked Ryan Bennett’s level—Ryan Bennett was only level seven.

“Friend, please wait a moment,” the thief called out.

Ryan Bennett turned his head, secretly on guard, and asked, “Is there something you need?”

“My name is Blake Miller, I’m a level seven thief. This is my big brother, Scarlett Miller, he’s a level eight druid, and my younger sister, Emily Miller, is a level seven priest,” the thief introduced. He looked to be about twenty-five or twenty-six, with ordinary looks, but he had a rather upright air about him.

Ryan Bennett couldn’t help but glance at the giant bear nearby. So this bear was actually transformed by the druid. The bear’s bones kept shifting, and finally it turned into the form of a man about thirty years old. The druid called Scarlett Miller greeted Ryan Bennett, “Hello.”

Ryan Bennett greeted him back, “Hello.”

The girl called Emily Miller twisted her hands together, clutching her priest’s staff tightly, looking a bit nervous. She said softly, “You… you… hello, my name is Emily Miller.” A lovely blush appeared on her fair cheeks, her head lowered, eyes darting away, looking rather shy.

Scarlett Miller smiled apologetically at Ryan Bennett, “My sister isn’t very good at talking.”

Ryan Bennett nodded, indicating he understood.

“I wanted to ask, are you also planning to enter this maggot cave? Here’s the thing—our team happens to be missing a magic DPS. If you’re willing, we’d like to invite you to join us in exploring the maggot cave. Money and equipment will be distributed using the PB system,” the thief Blake Miller stated his intentions. A thief, a strength-type druid, a high-damage warlock, and a priest—while not the perfect combination, it was still a pretty good setup.

“PB system?” Ryan Bennett asked in confusion.

The thief Blake Miller was quite surprised—did Ryan Bennett not even know this? He glanced at Scarlett Miller, who also looked puzzled.

“I’ve always leveled up solo, never teamed up with anyone before,” Ryan Bennett explained.

“Ah, that explains it,” Blake Miller said, suddenly understanding. “The PB system means that any money we get is split evenly per person. If we get equipment, the four of us bid for it, and the gold from the sale is divided equally among all teammates.”

“Xiaoyu’s skills are a bit weaker, so she’ll get half a share,” Scarlett Miller added.

Ryan Bennett pondered for a moment. Entering the cave alone would be very dangerous. Although he’d never teamed up before, it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try.

“Alright,” Ryan Bennett agreed.

System: You have joined Scarlett Miller’s party.

“There are a lot of branching paths in the maggot cave, and maggots often crawl out from the side tunnels. You all need to be careful,” Blake Miller reminded them.

Volume One: The Legendary Debut

Chapter 13: The Maggot Cave

Roar! Scarlett Miller shifted back into bear form. With Scarlett Miller in front and Blake Miller in the rear, the two entered the maggot cave. Ryan Bennett and Emily Miller, being magic classes, stayed in the back.

The entrance to the maggot cave was a gruesome sight.

Seeing Emily Miller’s pale little face, looking as if she might collapse at any moment, Ryan Bennett couldn’t help but ask with concern, “Are you alright?”

Emily Miller bit her lip and stubbornly shook her head. The two of them followed behind Blake Miller and Scarlett Miller into the maggot cave.

Inside, white maggots spawned—monsters around level ten or higher. Thanks to his many skills, even when facing monsters one or two levels above him, Ryan Bennett could barely manage, but anything three levels higher was tough. This was where the advantage of teaming up became clear: with a team, even if the monsters were five or six levels above the party’s average, there was no need to worry—after all, there’s strength in numbers.

Blake Miller entered stealth mode and crept up to a maggot.

Sap!

The maggot was stunned.

Roar! Scarlett Miller charged forward, slapping his paw into the maggot’s tender flesh.

Corruption!

Shadow Bolt!

Searing Pain!

Ryan Bennett cast three spells in a row. With Corruption active, both Shadow Bolt and Searing Pain dealt over a hundred damage to the maggot each time.

Surrounded by Blake Miller and Scarlett Miller, the maggot was killed without any chance to fight back. The stun skills from Blake Miller and Scarlett Miller never let it recover. Ryan Bennett could tell that both Blake Miller and Scarlett Miller were highly skilled—Blake Miller had mastered his control abilities, but a thief’s stun skills were hard to maintain, and against tanky monsters, the stun would sometimes wear off. That gap was perfectly filled by Scarlett Miller. After transforming into bear form, the druid also had a stun skill. The two coordinated seamlessly.

Ryan Bennett’s spell damage also surprised Blake Miller and Scarlett Miller—Ryan Bennett was only a level seven warlock, yet his spell damage was already so high. Blake Miller and Scarlett Miller exchanged glances, both seeing the astonishment in each other’s eyes. And Ryan Bennett had actually learned three different warlock skills! This was unheard of in the game. Of course, since these matters involved personal privacy, Blake Miller and Scarlett Miller wouldn’t pry.

“How did you allocate your stat points?” Blake Miller asked.

“All into Intelligence,” Ryan Bennett replied.