I was right about the Pick Me Up's journal.
Even though I was only recording my progression so far, it already took up more than ten pages of writing.
We had not even went to the second floor of the Main Dungeon yet.
I would need more than this one thin notebook.
My mother could only get what she could find on the nearest store as she was already on her way to the hospital to check on me.
I should order those special journals I used when recording Warmonger and had them delivered to the hospital.
It was more than likely I would need it if I wanted to have a detailed record of my gameplay by the time I reached the fifth floor.
Anyway, I had gotten pretty much everything in my notebook.
My heroes' stats and skills, as well as their possible evolutions. My lobby's facilities and immediate expansion plans. My objectives to prepare for the first boss stage.
Every section had been organized and I only needed to update my records from there.
It took me a while starting the journal.
I had to wait for my mother to bring the notebook, had lunch with her, chatting with her until she left again for work, and then actually started writing things down.
It was already way past afternoon when I finished recording my progress so far.
A lot of things might had happened since I logged off.
[Loading Complete. Touch!]
[Welcome to Pick Me Up!]
As expected, more changes had happened to the lobby.
And I was happy that it was for the better as well.
More heroes were practicing in the Training Ground, not just my aces. The supporters in the other facilities were hard at work too.
I noticed someone new working back and forth between the Restaurant and the Equipment Workshop.
[Tarran Royle (★) Lv.1 (Exp 0/10)]
[Class: Novice]
[Strength: 10/10]
[Intelligence: 10/10]
[Stamina: 10/10]
[Agility: 10/10]
[Skills: None]
A basic unskilled 1-star hero.
He did not have any supportive skills unlike the other workers I had assigned.
But I would let him keep doing what he was doing.
This hero seemed to be helping out enough in the lobby's facilities.
We would need to expand our supporter force eventually. So better started recruiting apprentices now.
And besides, we now had more main party candidates. It would not hurt to spare one hero to a supportive role.
That also reminded me.
I really should continue our climb.
The crafting materials were almost depleted.
There would not be enough weapons for all the heroes if I left things as they were.
And since we were trying a more difficult floor, I should bring our most experienced heroes.
[Adding 'Serafina (★★★★)', 'Jonah (★)', and 'Shanny (★)' to 'Party 1'?]
[Yes (selected)/ No]
Trudy was already in the party since I logged out last time.
She recently reached level 3 through synthesis, so she was also one of the most experienced heroes in the lobby despite her skill proficiency.
And, as the guide suggested, I had reinstated Serafina's position as party leader.
Perhaps I should use the Party 2 slot for testing newcomers. That way I would not need to rearrange the main party all the time.
Even so, we still had a vacant spot in Party 1.
Should I assign one of the promising heroes I pulled yesterday?
That Gerson or Fritz would probably do well with the others in the main party.
But perhaps I should keep my options open for now.
There might be others that could prove to be more talented than they were.
[Do you wish to challenge the 2nd Floor of the Main Dungeon?]
[Yes (selected)/ No]
[Which party will you deploy?]
['Party 1' -(selected)-]
[Opening the rift of space and time!]
Up we went.
The second floor should not prove much problem for Party 1.
As long as I got the 4-star mage, everything would go smoothly.
[Main Dungeon, the current challenge floor is the 2nd Floor.]
[The doors will open after ten seconds. Get ready!]
Oh, that was right!
I almost forgot to summon more heroes. I had been intending to do that once I logged in again.
There was still enough gold for another ten pull.
[Master, starting 10-consecutive Regular Summoning!]
[I'm excited to see what heroes will appear!]
[DRRRRRR…]
[Boom!]
[Common!]
[Master 'S1GYN' has obtained hero 'Casien (★)'!]
[Common!]
[Master 'S1GYN' has obtained hero 'Richelle (★)'!]
[Uncommon!]
[Master 'S1GYN' has obtained hero 'Cecily (★★)'!]
[Common!]
[Master 'S1GYN' has….!]
Yes!
I finally pulled a 2-star hero.
After this battle, I needed to check that hero out immediately.
[Floor 2]
[Mission Type – Subjugation]
[Objective – Annihilate the enemies!]
The battlefield was still the same open grass plain.
But we had new enemies this time.
[Goblin Lv.4 x2]
[Direwolf Lv.4 x2]
Two scrawny goblins armed with slingshots and a pair of wolves.
Despite the level difference, they should pose no problem for my main party.
Suddenly my heroes rearranged their formation.
Jonah and Shanny went to the front. Trudy stood behind them. While the 4-star Serafina standing at the furthest rear.
The mage began casting a spell while Jonah and Shanny each took on a wolf.
Trudy shifted left and right to intercept the rocks launched by the goblins, protecting Serafina that was still casting her magic.
A wolf tried attacking Jonah but the creature missed him every time.
Eventually Jonah landed a swift critical strike that ended the creature instantly.
['Jonah (★)'s Basic Spearmanship has levelled up to level 3!]
On the other side of the field, Shanny blocked a wolf's charge at her.
The creature locked itself on Shanny's shield and the 1-star used the opportunity to wound the monster to death.
['Trudy (★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. Her stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
One of the goblin's projectiles managed to strike Trudy directly.
But she was still standing and kept on intercepting the other rocks coming toward Serafina.
['Trudy (★)' has been inflicted with burning.]
Apparently heroes could be harmed just by standing in the vicinity of a fire spell casting.
It would be troublesome if my 1-star heroes could not stand around my 4-star mage while she was preparing her spell.
There was a comment in the guide regarding fire elemental mage heroes.
It was recommended that the other heroes in a party together with a fire elemental mage to develop Fire Resistance skill.
A fire elemental mage often unleashed assaults that could cause burning effect to the enemies and the environment.
Other heroes fighting alongside the mage needed to develop Fire Resistance in order to not be hindered by the skill effect.
The guides mentioned that heroes could develop the Fire Resistance skill through a high-level Training Facility where players could instruct the heroes on what skill they should develop.
I did not have such facility at the moment.
But the guides also said that heroes would naturally develop Fire Resistance skill if they kept being exposed to fire in battle.
So I supposed the other members of Party 1 would eventually obtain the skill as long as they kept fighting alongside Serafina.
Hopefully before the fifth floor climb.
Boom!
The 4-star mage finished her casting and hurled a large fireball which engulfed the goblins.
[Stage Clear!]
['Jonah (★)', 'Shanny (★)' levelled up!]
[MVP – 'Serafina (★★★★)']
[Reward – 2000G, Iron Ore (C) x3, Copper (C) x2, Leather (C) x2, Plank (C) x1]
It was a solid performance by the main party.
But this was not exactly how I pictured the battle would unfold.
The 4-star Serafina should be able to cast her spell instantly and wipe out all the enemies right away. That fireball was not that much stronger than her previous assaults I had seen so far.
Even so, she took her time to launch her offense this time.
I wondered why.
Hmm…
Could it be that they were…rehearsing?
As in they were practicing a formation where the 1-stars were protecting the 4-star mage while she was preparing her magic assault.
No way…
Were these AIs that smart?
It would be nice to know if they were, indeed, so deliberate.
I should take notice of this and observe for the same occurrence with the other parties.
Anyway, I managed to obtain the progress that I aimed from climbing to the second floor.
Jonah received so much experience that not only he levelled up to level 3, but he was also about to reach level 4 as well. He also levelled up his combat skill.
Shanny did not receive much luck, but at least she was keeping up with Jonah in terms of general level.
And my 4-star Serafina was about to level up too. Just one more experience point and she would finally reach level 2.
Advanced heroes were really slow to level up, indeed.
And speaking of high-ranked heroes, I just remembered about the 2-star hero I pulled earlier.
[Cecily Rann (★★) Lv.1 (Exp 0/10)]
[Class: Novice]
[Strength: 12/12]
[Intelligence: 10/10]
[Stamina: 12/12]
[Agility: 12/12]
[Skills: Basic Archery Lv.1]
Star-ranking did make a difference.
Even on level 1, the stats of this 2-star hero was on par to a level 3 1-star.
She actually already surpassed Trudy's stats whom was level 3.
The guides said higher-ranked at summoning heroes had faster growth than the basic 1-stars.
So this hero might only have level 1 in Basic Archery right now, but she would develop the skill into a higher level soon.
It was always nice to have a higher-ranked hero.
['Serafina (★★★★)' has invited 'Cecily (★★)' to join 'Party 1'.]
[Do you accept?]
[Yes / No]
Oh, interesting.
The guides mentioned heroes would occasionally recruit other heroes into their party.
It was always recommended for players to accept any request or recommendation made by heroes regarding party arrangement.
Apparently heroes worked together much better when they were the ones that decided the cooperation in the first place.
I did not see any reason to not follow this advice.
It was already my intention to include the 2-star in the main party anyway.
[Do you accept?]
[Yes (selected)/ No]
['Cecily (★★)' has joined 'Party 1'.]
Nice!
Since the 2-star was skilled in archery, we now had another ranged DPS in the main party.
The guides said archer-class heroes could be equipped with daggers as sub-weapons. That way they could still engage in melee combat.
My plan for this 2-star then was to get her develop Basic Dagger Technique as a skill.
I could not really instruct the heroes what skill they needed to improve at the moment.
But once they actually developed the skill I wanted them to obtain, then that would show they were ready.
I had been making goals for the heroes in my main party. The skill levels they needed to obtain at this point in the climb.
This was because I had been reading posts regarding the fifth floor of the Main Dungeon.
The fifth floor mission was different between each account.
But many players had commented that you would need your heroes to at least develop their combat skills to certain level before attempting that boss stage.
Level 3 in combat skill was the minimum standard. Level 4 would be safe enough. While level 5 and above would provide a good clearance chance.
Other than the 4-star, Jonah was the only hero in my main party that had reached the standard skill level.
Shanny would likely reach it soon. As well as the new 2-star hero.
But I was not certain about Trudy.
I might have to observe the other heroes and be on the lookout for better talents.
There were still so much to do for our first boss stage.
Even so, I was really enjoying my experience so far.
It was really fun developing and managing these heroes.
Back in Warmonger, the units were already set from the beginning and the players just had to use with what were given to us.
But in Pick Me Up I could raise my own units.
I could develop my own special pawns that could serve my need in battle.
It was a fun and unique concept.
I liked it.