"By the way, Steve," says Lucca, "I spent our last battle gathering data on the opponents of this world, and it looks like they've been ratcheting up their strength. Perhaps this is in preparation for the coming of The One? In any case, we should probably do the same thing, or else they're going to keep beating us consistently."
Steve looks around at a few of his compatriots, who all appear to have faint battle auras, while his, which was once strong, is now fading away.
"Aw, how many times do I have to do this?" asked Steve. "I can't keep up an imposing presence on the battlefield if I don't have any Mana to show off."
"If you're that worried, go out there and knock some more heads, like you do best."
And so he does. Steve expends most of his remaining mana to create another dungeon. Luckily, his high attack power allows him to destroy most of his enemies in one or two hits, and he regains the mana he lost, and then some (gaining about 10 levels in the process).
Random Dungeon Highlights
Level 1: Meredith finds herself a delicious pie laying out in the open, and snatches it.
Level 3: A well-armed and powered Puppet Robot menaces the party. Rather than deal with it directly, they kill a few of its compatriots and run away before it opens fire on them.
Level 5: "Ooh! Someone left this fishing pole lying out here," says Io. "Don't mind if I do?"
"And what exactly are you going to do with that fishing pole?" asks Miyako. "We haven't seen a single fish since we showed up here?"
"You'd be surprised at the sorts of things you could do with a fishing pole."
Levels 6-7: A horde of enemies approaches the tome. With very limited space to summon units, Steve goes out by himself and lets the B- and C-teams assist him. The action is noticeably quieter on level 7.
Level 10: Boss level. An elite merchant greets the group as soon as they arrive. Taking full advantage of this opportunity, Steve and company gang up on her and unleash a devastating combination attack, ignoring all of the other mooks and getting a huge payday.
Level 11: Jeanne, Nabiki and Io go out to hunt down a pair of rogue Wizards, and are rewarded with a Dark Runner Z2 for their efforts.
Level 12: The leaders are attacked by a group of archer-maidens, one of whom is wielding a balloon. She attacks them and then floats away, giving one of her partners a huge power boost. That partner then proceeds to blow away Kashiwa with her Paper Fan of Doom.
Level 13: Breather floor. Just two enemies and a pair of running shoes.
Level 15: Practically a gimme. A highly-valued apple is within walking distance of the starting point. Since the next area spawns so far away from them, they have no choice but to move forward.
Level 16: A single level 60 warrior is on this level. Nabiki believes they could just take the thunder drum and go, but because fair play is lethal in the multiverse, they lay a surprise gang-beating on the warrior and take all of his stuff.
New Map Effects Discovered!
- Night King Vampire Group: Summons Vampire units.
- The Supplies Have Come: Summons vehicle parts and no enemies.
- An archer appears: Summons Archer units.
- An Eating Contest!: Summons a Gourmet ogre and some food.
Upon their return, Meredith wishes herself into an Outpost Tent, and raises her rank to Destroyer. Nabiki gets behind the wheel of the new Dark Runner Z2. Astral and Morrigan have enough mana to jump up to the next class, but choose to hold off on doing so until their next battle.
