Reaching the suggested teaming zone Akiol quickly realized that a lot of the teams needed more support classes than anything.
It faintly reminded him of how Yielya was easily able to find teams, but never able to stick with any of them due to her style of healing. She often made complaints about others having this idea of always being in top shape. As if her Prayer was endless.
Although nowadays Akiol had faith she'd easily be able to keep up with such demands.
It took him thirty minutes of searching before he found a squad willing to take him. Right as he was about to consider snatching wary players to joining his squad, he found one missing a dps.
"What class are you?", a defender asked him.
Akiol placed a palm on Stars' pommel and hesitated for a brief second. A thought occurred to him, if by some reason he needed to unsheathe Stars in battle as the Star Driven Sword, could that connect his identity to Last of the Forgotten Legacy? Originally he thought since he was practicing {Photon Cutting Slash} he didn't need to worry about this. Along with his technique and the cloak he thought only high level appraisal Skills would be able to identify anything. However it just occurred that you wouldn't even need an appraisal Skill to be able to identify the same sword.
If someone was to realize it was a Borus creation, that was akin to putting the two identities side by side. Simply because Borus creations are one of a kind.
Akiol smiled and moved his cloak to show a bit of Stars, "Warrior, in a way."
"That works, let's go to the dungeon."
It was decided! He wouldn't use Stars! Since he only planned on entering dungeons Second Stage and below there wasn't a need to unsheathe the blade. Akiol had to admit there was issues with his disguises but it proved to be easy to work around.
Although his skill with his fists was lower than Wrock's, he wasn't helpless without a sword!
As they traveled to the dungeon Akiol managed to get some introductions. The defender of the group was named Polou, or introduced himself as such. An archer named Green Pea Tea was quick to follow with introductions. Then followed the Priest who went by Saladly, and their Sorcerer Anomalously Pious, who wished to just be called Pi.
Akiol did not use his normal name when exchanging names. It's no exaggeration that his name was popular in the west continent. Anyone with a mild bit of curiosity could look up the name and find a lot of results. While he could claim to be a fan, he didn't wish for the name to cause any trouble in the future.
"Call me James.", Akiol replied.
He would use James' name in this case. It was common enough to not be thought about twice, and he was used to responding to it whenever someone referred to him by the name James. The newly formed party nodded to Akiol.
The first recommended dungeon via the Guidehands' guide was the Desert Sand Extravaganza. A wave defense dungeon designed to have players defeat a steadily increasing in number horde that arose from the sands. This was recommended due to the vast amount of experience you could obtain in a relatively short time.
Since you didn't need to explore the dungeon, it was perfect for quick and easy progression. A popular beginner choice as well since you gained a decent amount of experience even if you failed in the end.
The Dungeon entrance was quite a sight actually. Several thousand players crowded around the entrance, Akiol could sense very few First Stage players among them. Likely those helping their friends or others. They surrounded a wavy illusion that looked like a portal to another area. It looked like an oasis in the desert, plant life surrounding a large pool of water. Their group slipped through the crowd and entered this illusion, and their vision warped.
Akiol noticed the introduction to the dungeon was slightly different compared to the one's of the west. It lacked any form of story telling. Immediately their party was thrown into the dungeon, an objective to protect the oasis given to all participants.
"Okay! First wave is a few large scorpions, this should be easy. I'll take their attention, you guys kill them off!", Polou unsheathed the short sword and held onto a large shield.
Digging out of the sand several scorpions colored same as the sand brandished their pincers and stingers. Rapidly they crawled towards the oasis. Immediately Polou hollered and the scorpion's attention was drawn towards him.
Pi summoned a large fireball and shot it towards a clump of scorpions. Green Pea shot several arrows, but most missed. It became clear to Akiol there wasn't going to be any sense of strategy in this dungeon, but he expected as much. Asking for a ragtag group of beginners to use a proper strategy was simply a dream.
Akiol withheld a lot of his strength when handling the scorpions. Occasionally knocking one towards the ground with a punch, caving their carapace inwards. This fight didn't require too much focus, so he instead diverted a lot of attention towards the Skills the players used.
He paid proper attention to how the mana moved, and the movements of the players themselves. Looking for common ground between the different Classes. He made note of repeating efforts and compared them, wondering if it was a part of the Skill or a habit of the player.
He was going to need a large pool of players to find any common ground. But it was important to start nonetheless. Slowly he would build reputation and join other teams, learning about their own unique Skills and more!
Akiol dodged an incoming stinger and gripped it. With a pull he ripped it free and swiftly dispatched the scorpion. With a frown he stepped back and suddenly a wall of rising sand formed. As the sand fell it revealed a sandstone wall. Looking back towards Pi he spotted lingering mana around their staff. This was an earth wall. Pointing at it he called out, "What's this for?"
"The future wave! It's recommended to put up the wall to distract the sand worm for a bit!", Pi explained before starting their next cast.
Making a mental note to properly read the dungeon walkthroughs and guides Akiol continued to silently dispatch the scorpions. Sure enough the second wave started and more scorpions dug out. This time a worm breached through the sand, curving upwards. It spat a corrosive substance at the wall, slowly melting it away.
The worm didn't move, acting as a turret more than a worm. Akiol now understood why the wall was recommended, it blocked any ranged attacks for a minute or two. Allowing them time to handle the incoming scorpions first.
Crushing a few more scorpions Akiol watched the team. It became a repeat effort, although Pi's spells were obviously slowing down. It was likely their MP couldn't keep up with the constant damage.
A problem all magic classes suffered, Kan'na struggled with this issue for a long time herself. Pi was simply too reckless however, her powerful spells were chewing away at her reserves. Additionally Akiol noticed Polou was attracting too much attention, Saladly was struggling to keep their HP above a certain threshold.
This was going to lead to defeat, Akiol guessed within two to three more waves before they were overrun. So he put a bit more effort in. Without standing out too much Akiol crushed scorpions while moving towards the defender. Thinning the horde by a sizeable amount while remaining untouched.
Moving towards the side of the defender he spoke, "Focus on using potions to recover your HP for now, Saladly is running low on Prayer."
"Already? Okay.", Polou frowned while fishing in his bag.
Akiol killed three more scorpions with his hands before moving towards Saladly, "Focus on recovering your Prayer, Polou is using potions to make up for the difference."
Saladly heaved a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness."
Moving through the incoming group of scorpions Akiol occasionally killed a few. Enough to not overrun Polou. Returning to the sandstone wall Akiol wrapped his arms around the worm and crushed it. It wriggled violently trying to free itself before slamming into the ground dead. In the next few moments the sandstone wall crumbled, its duration having ended.
Akiol keenly understood that mana would showcase how long the duration of a spell had left. Once it was nearing the end the mana would start to scatter, this was the same behavior it had in his world.
With his efforts the team steadily began to recover their efforts. Pi realized her efforts weren't needed as much and she focused on MP restoration. While Green Pea seemed to reduce how many arrows he used.
Noticing a shift in the sand Akiol prepped himself for the new wave. Wondering what new things were going to arise, until he sensed something upwards. Flying from over the dune hills were strange creatures.
The third wave had flying enemies!