I then spent the next day grinding with my new 1-star heroes.
It was nice to finally obtain a 2-star hero for the main party, but I still needed a solid talent for the fifth member.
Trudy was not a reliable candidate yet.
She worked well with the other members in Party 1. But her combat skill was still level 1.
I had formed five other parties aside from Party 1 and made them repeatedly go to the first floor.
In order to find potential heroes, I rearranged the party composition multiple times to modify the battle condition.
It was a productive experiment.
Few heroes did die because they were terrified and debuffed all the time in battle.
But most of the 1-star heroes had levelled up and developed a combat skill. That Gerson had even developed to level 2 in Basic Swordsmanship.
Should I switch him with Trudy who was still level 1 in the same skill?
Even so, Trudy had acquired bond points with the other heroes in Party 1.
The points allowed her to synchronize better with the other heroes, making them perform better together in battle.
Heroes' relationship was quite significant in Pick Me Up. Or so the guide in the official forum pointed out.
Perhaps I should wait and observe a while longer.
Maybe Trudy would develop her skill further if the battle became more difficult, like on the third floor.
[Do you wish to challenge the 3rd Floor of the Main Dungeon?]
[Yes (selected)/ No]
[Which party will you deploy?]
['Party 1' -(selected)-]
[Opening the rift of space and time!]
There was no need to have this experienced party grind on the second floor.
We had a 4-star and a 2-star hero in this group. They would not be receiving enough experience points there.
The guides mentioned the third and the fourth floor were where you should farm experience points to prepare for the first boss stage.
['Cecily (★★)' has equipped the 'Reinforced Short Bow (C)'.]
2-star heroes had weapons equipped on them upon summoning.
But the bow Cecily brought with her was only D-rank.
So she naturally had to equip the upgraded one made by the crafters.
[Main Dungeon, the current challenge floor is the 3rd Floor.]
[The doors will open after ten seconds. Get ready!]
Alright. Moving upward.
The screen faded into the familiar grass plain.
[Floor 3]
[Mission Type – Subjugation]
[Objective – Annihilate all the enemies!]
This time my party had to face five well-armed goblins.
Three machete-wielding goblins and two crossbow-wielders.
[Goblin Lv.5 x3] [Goblin Archer Lv.4 x2]
How would my party face the enemies this time?
Jonah, Shanny, and Trudy charged forward and engaged the machete wielders. While Serafina and Cecily remained at the rear.
The 4-star mage used her magic to deflect all the arrows launched by the crossbow wielders.
She put herself in the supportive role this time. Interesting.
Shuck!
The 2-star Cecily managed to strike one of the crossbow wielders with her arrow.
It was not a fatal shot, but she impeded the enemy's mobility.
Cecily had improved her Basic Archery to level 2 while I was focusing on the other parties. So this performance was expected.
The crossbow-wielders then directed their attention to the archer.
Trudy suddenly went in front of her and blocked their arrows.
['Trudy (★)'s Basic Shield Technique has levelled up to level 2!]
I was right about her improving in a more difficult situation. She also did well in aiding her allies, thanks to the bond points.
But if only she would improve her offensive skill instead.
Shuck!
The 2-star Cecily killed the goblin she injured earlier.
She launched another arrow and landed a critical hit on the last crossbow-wielder.
['Cecily (★★)'s Basic Archery has levelled up to level 3!]
They were right about 2-star heroes improving faster than 1-stars.
But it did not necessarily mean that 1-star heroes were lousy either.
On one side of the field, Jonah dashed toward one of the machete-wielder with his spear pointed at the enemy.
Shuck!
He killed the goblin instantly in one critical strike.
['Jonah (★)'s Basic Spearmanship has levelled up to level 4!]
This guy improved really fast.
The first 1-star to reach level 4 in combat skill.
I was really glad I did not synthesize him during the tutorial.
Meanwhile, Shanny was maneuvering against her opponent in a way that the enemy could not land a single hit on her.
She eventually put herself in the goblin's vulnerable side and swiftly killed the creature right there and then.
['Shanny (★)'s Basic Shield Technique has levelled up to level 3!]
['Shanny (★)'s Basic Swordsmanship has levelled up to level 3!]
['Shanny (★)'s Basic Shield Technique and Basic Swordsmanship have combined into Basic Sword-Shield Technique level 3!]
Impressive.
The 1-star Shanny managed to integrate her two skills into the Sword-Shield Technique, one of the most common and used skills in Pick Me Up.
It was an all-rounder skill which improved a hero's offensive and defensive ability.
A good performance from my aces.
If only that Trudy could keep up with them.
She struggled to kill her opponent.
The goblin could not wound her, but they kept exchanging blows in equal manner that it was almost a stalemate.
Cecily eventually launched her arrow at the goblin and staggered it.
Trudy immediately leapt at the huge window to kill the creature.
[Stage Clear!]
['Serafina (★★★★)', 'Jonah (★)', 'Cecily (★★)' levelled up!]
[MVP – 'Cecily (★★)']
[Reward – 3000G, Iron Ore (C) x3, Copper (C) x3, Leather (C) x3, Plank (C) x3]
Great!
Another fruitful outing.
Jonah received so much experience again that he did not just reach level 4, but he was about to go over his experience cap as well.
The guides did say that heroes absorbed experience points differently.
Apparently low-ranked heroes that were quick to level up could become very strong, which was another indication of huge potential.
It was not hard to believe considering Jonah's progress so far.
Shanny would probably be on the same level of progress as him if I were to synthesize some heroes with her like what I did with Jonah.
But she also upgraded her skill in this battle, which was nice.
The 2-star Cecily also quickly levelled up since she immediately challenged the third floor.
I wished Trudy would had made more progress.
Perhaps I should seriously consider replacing her if I could find others that were significantly better.
We could always increase the new hero's bond points with the others in Party 1 through grinding.
Lastly, my 4-star hero finally levelled up.
Heroes could only increase their general level through battles in the Main Dungeon or synthesis.
Frequent synthesis could demoralize the heroes in the lobby so I had been trying not to do that often. And it would likely take many heroes to level up a 4-star, considering how long it took for Serafina to level up.
So I had been intending to make her gain experience points by grinding in the Main Dungeon instead.
But I read in the official forum that 4-star heroes immediately levelled up in their first battle, even in the tutorial.
My 4-star had gone through several already and only now she managed to level up.
Honestly, it was as if this Serafina's status window was bugged and that she was actually a 5-star.
They did say a hero of Serafina's skill set was worth a 5-star hero.
Serafina's support skills made her suitable to become a mage-engineer.
That type of mage was really useful in many features of Pick Me Up.
And in order to fully utilize such mage, you would need a Magic Hall.
It was time for me to build that facility.
But let me send another party to farm more experience points for themselves first.
[Do you wish to challenge the 2nd Floor of the Main Dungeon?]
[Yes (selected)/ No]
[Which party will you deploy?]
['Party 2' -(selected)-]
[Opening the rift of space and time!]
I already made the other parties started grinding on the second floor yesterday.
They could handle the enemies there just fine now that they had levelled up and developed combat skills
[Main Dungeon, the current challenge floor is the 2nd Floor.]
[The doors will open after ten seconds. Get ready!]
There was no need for me to observe them and made sure they would survive or not.
I could not interfere with the battle anyway and I had marked the potential heroes in that party. If there was huge improvement, I could always check the battle logs later.
There was a feature where I could record a mission and watch it again at a later time.
But that feature was mainly used for boss stages where I would need to analyze its extensive content repeatedly.
Anyway, let's build that Magic Hall.
It had three pieces of building in its initial state, each cost 500 gems.
I had the gems that I needed for the facility.
But I would need to buy more gems so I could make use of the special feature that the Magic Hall had to offer.
[You have selected the Library construction. Would you like to build it?]
[Yes (selected)/ No]
[500 gems have been consumed for construction. Mages can now develop their knowledge.]
[You have selected the Alchemy Lab construction. Would you like to build it?]
[Yes (selected)/ No]
[500 gems have been consumed for construction. You can now synthesize various types of items.]
[You have selected the Magic Research Lab construction. Would you like to build it?]
[Yes (selected)/ No]
[500 gems have been consumed for construction. Research is now available.]
[Good!]
[The Library, the Alchemy Lab, and the Magic Research Lab have been combined into a Magic Hall (Lv.1)!]