Dungeons Online

Even with all Cleo's encouragement, even with all her hurrying... Tom still had to take his sweet time to organize everyone. 

With the two bigger groups now merged, nearly a hundred people gathered in the boss room, making it a surprisingly challenging task to gather them up. 

"I will be leaving all the local troubles to you," Tom said, turning to Cleo as the people continued to gather around. 

"Huh?" Cleo almost jumped in surprise, instantly throwing Tom an angry look. "Do you want to say I won't get to help you with the last boss?" she asked, only to shake her head. "No way," she refused, turning her head away and crossing her hands on her chest. 

"You are the only one that I can trust with dealing with all the possible problems with them," Tom muttered, nodding his head to point at the crowd. "Marvin would also be a good pick, but not only do I need his support abilities, but his lack of offensive ones would make it hard for him to deal with any potential problems," Tom added, explaining his stance. 

"No way," Cleo refused again, not even looking back at Tom. 

"Then who else do you think can handle this?" Tom asked, Cleo's behavior starting to annoy him a little. 

"Just leave it be," Cleo shrugged her arms. Now that there was a topic that she could do anything about, she was willing to talk. 

"You don't care that this might cause someone else to die for no reason?" Tom asked, riled up by the answer. 

"They are all grown-up adults. You can't babysit them," Cleo replied, unwilling to drop her idea. "If they are going to kill each other, then trying to stop them now will only make you seem like an autocratic figure. And if you don't stop them now, the rest of the family will ask you to do it later," Cleo said, a shrewd smile appearing on her lips. 

"And in this way, instead of a tyrant, I will appear as the saint saving them all," Tom muttered, catching Cleo's drift. "Okay, fine," Tom said, dropping the topic. 

Out of all the things, convincing Cleo to do something that she was so fervently against wasn't the smartest idea. That's why, rather than arguing pointlessly with her, Tom turned around and took a look at the crowd. 

During their small discussion, the people finally gathered up and waited for what news he had for them. 

"Everyone, after thinking things through, I decided that along with a few of those who leveled up, we will go ahead of everyone," Tom shouted, hoping that everyone could hear him. 

In an instant, the entire crowd riled up. 

Some people started shouting while others simply murmured under their noses. 

While it was hard to make out what the specific men and women were saying, the general consensus was simple.

"Are you going to leave us be?" 

"Group leaders, step up!" Tom shouted his next order.

Just like Cleo wanted, Tom was going to go and challenge the boss of the entire dungeon again. While he had already defeated that dragon-girl twice, with how the dungeon continued to change, he was no longer confident about tackling her on his own. 

Soon, the crowd divided into two groups. The majority of people stepped back and started to disperse, making the most of the unexpected break to eat, rest and waste time. 

On the other hand, ninety others remained around Tom, all ready to receive his further orders. 

'From what I see, there are only seven guys and one girl from the second generation,' he thought, stopping himself from disqualifying the rest right off the bat. 

Because there was one thing that he had to do first. 

"What are your abilities?" Tom asked, approaching the first one. 

This survey took only a few minutes, far shorter than Tom expected it to take. Normally, no player nor adventurer from the other side would reveal their abilities to anyone outside of their closest friends and companions. After all, those abilities were their lifeline, their means of protecting themselves from others. 

But this situation was different. 

In this group of ninety people, only eight of them looked like they ever played Dungeons Online. What's more, all of them belonged to the second line of the family, meaning they knew better than to put their personal agenda above the wellbeing of the entire family. 

As for the others, they didn't appear to be aware of how crucial this kind of information was!

'Eleven fighters, five ranged, two one rounders, one half-support,' Tom thought after taking the count of everyone. 'What's more, only two of them show any promise,' he thought, biting his lips. 

The situation was far worse than he expected. 

'Well, that's only natural,' Tom bit his lips after a moment of thought. 'Given how they were tasked with clearing the monsters, no one with support abilities would be given priority for the stones,' he realized, shaking his head. 

In this situation, finding out a single semi-support who could help the others and fight on the frontline was already a lucky find. 

"Okay, everyone!" Tom shouted again, this time limiting his voice. After all, only the group leaders had to hear him now. 

"Me, Cleo, Marvin, Dagstan, and Robert will form a single group, and we will advance all the way towards the last boss," Tom announced. "In the meantime, I want the rest of you to slowly advance towards the eightieth floor just like planned," Tom gave another order. 

This time, no one dared to voice out their protests. It was partially because those who used the stones to gain levels were aware that sooner or later they would have to get some responsibilities for it, but mostly because right now, Tom could spot every last one of the complainers. 

"Now then," Tom muttered, closing his eyes for a moment only to open them up a moment later and look sharply at the people before him. "Subaru, Emilia, and Peter come forward," Tom ordered. 

The trio moved forward, their looks as if they were heading for the execution. 

"You guys will be responsible for carrying this entire group ahead," Tom said as he pulled out the bag with the stones. "Cleo, pass me the slime," Tom shouted, reaching out with his hand to where the girl stood. 

"Here," Cleo passed out the slime, a small smile appearing on her lips as she looked at her 'sister'. 

'Is she curious whether she will act like she did while leveling up?' Tom thought, rolling his eyes over the silliness of his lover. 

"I have enough stones to bring you guys all to level one hundred," he announced, putting on a glove and pulling out the first of the stones. "Are you ready?" he asked, passing the stone out to the slime that jumped on his shoulder and whipping out his main spear. 

"I am ready!" all three of them replied in unison. Something that was possible only because they all came from the second line of the family.

The fact that Tom decided to invest the stones in them wasn't derived only from how they all received a military-like upbringing. It was a major but not a deciding factor. 

"Peter, you will go first," Tom said, pressing the blade of his spear against the slime the second it turned the color of its skin to green. 

A surge of energy instantly flushed through Tom's system... but this time, it was far weaker than what Tom expected. 

'Did the slime skimp on the mana?' Tom instantly thought, moving his sight on the small monster on his shoulder... But as the mana continued to pour into his spear, he realized that it wasn't the case. 

'It's not like the amount of mana is decreasing... but rather, I'm now capable of holding a far greater amount of it!' Tom figured out, only to instantly fight off the desire to just take all the mana for himself. 

Right now, regaining his full potential was far less important than letting those three reach a higher level. After all, they would be the spearhead for the rest of his family. 

Leveling up Peter went smoothly. He didn't show any signs of side-affects of Cleo's kind. Rather than that, his face took on an elated expression, as if he was brought near orgasm by the influx of the energy. 

Leveling up Emilia turned out to be the weirdest of them all. Rather than reacting like Cleo by actually getting sexually aroused, she simply stood in place, soaking the mana like a fresh sponge. But the weird part was, the more mana Tom flooded her system with, the faster she became at sucking it even more!

In the end, Subaru turned out to be the most normal out of the three of them. While his body resisted the sudden influx of energy a little, the entire process went through smoothly, without any visual or internal side effects. 

"You guys should take about an hour to train your new abilities," Tom said when he finally lowered his spear and used the rest of the mana residing in it to ward off his exhaustion. "Don't let this feeling of power go to your head... But who am I even telling that to," he laughed out. "You should all be aware of that... But with that said," Tom muttered, turning around and looking towards the gate leading towards the next floor. 

With the trio now capable of spearheading the group, there was nothing stopping Tom and his group from going ahead.

"It's time to go for the boss!"