They advanced into the dire rats' territory, and Aiden's tactics changed. First, he pulled out a blowpipe and hung it around his neck. Sean quickly noticed why: these beasts operated in larger packs than just one or two – as with the weaker variant. And they were clearly more battle-tested, wearing scars and missing chunks of fur in places – the sight reminded him of the esteemed leader . But these rats were also thicker and more muscular than the oversized ones. Or maybe the first ones were simply younger?
Either way, Aiden opened with darts to thin any larger packs – they didn't so much kill the rats as distract and slow them down. The silent attack also attracted groups of monsters in a more controlled manner than with noise or player proximity. And it took Aiden more than one strike to finish a dire rat… actually, it usually took two. There was a lot more running back and forth, and some weakened rats focused on Sean instead. He fought or distracted those long enough that the more experienced player finished off the rest and helped him out.
Only using one weapon and limiting himself to a single skill held Sean back, but he spent most of his time observing the more experienced player. Aiden's fighting was messy, but he was clearly way stronger than the dire rats. Sean wondered how he would've fared against them with Emma… it would no doubt be more difficult than against the normal ones – but he figured he should be able to take one or two. Three would've been a problem, though – and there were groups of four or more dire rats. Aiden avoided larger groups and preferred luring in single rats or pairs at most.
They slowly pushed deeper into the tunnel and, over time, Sean began to notice what the other player had meant by 'senses' : he could feel the rats trying to sneak up on him. And he saw more details than he realistically should have in the distant darkness – once his eyes had recovered from the torch or any bright reflections, and adapted to the dark. But he couldn't just put the fire out, since he had already said that his class was Tank. Do Tanks get some sensory skill? Sean thought he would've remembered it from the training room materials.
After two dozen or so rats, Aiden seemed tired – so they fell back a bit to rest. Funnily enough, the whole fight happened with hardly any words exchanged. Mostly nods and gestures.
Once they were away from the frontline , Aiden kept breathing heavily, so Sean whispered, "Dire rats are much tougher than the regular ones – or oversized, as they're called right?"
"It ain't just the stats," Aiden explained quietly. "They're tougher, yeah, but they move in bigger packs to get you to party up."
"Or reward overleveling," Sean added.
"Or that," Aiden remarked and nodded. "It's not so much… Look, I'm just tryna stack cash for better gear and grafts – that stuff is taxed, for real."
For a moment, Sean wanted to ask about the daggers but figured he would visit some blacksmiths and learn the market himself. He understood why strong gear was important, but he asked about the other thing: "Are grafts so useful?"
"Yeah, man," Aiden replied. "One won't change your life, but they add up. More strength, extra DPS, or whatever they do."
"Wait, so you don't know the details?" Sean asked, surprised.
"It's mad vague," Aiden said. "And there ain't a spreadsheet for this world." He paused for maybe five seconds, then added, "Mobs scale beyond player levels, so if your gear is trash – you're gonna get pwned. And grinding while you keep dying is a major–"
"Wastes a lot of XP, right?" Sean interjected, anticipating mechanics common in video games.
Aiden shook his head and explained, "It's worse than that – you gotta wait on the respawn, then move to get your gear back. On higher levels, it's even worse." Sean nodded and thought about it, so the other player continued, "Most folks overlevel just so they can farm without it being a struggle – 'cause what else they gonna do? Keep dying against an 'equal match' ?" He scoffed.
"Are you getting any experience points here?" Sean asked, then quickly added, "What level are you right now, if I may?"
Aiden hesitated, but answered after a moment, "Level ten now, and I'm barely getting any XP in here. You get the points, and I'm here for the money."
Sean had no idea how truthful the XP part was, but he simply nodded. It made sense, but there weren't any experience bars or character UIs – so he changed the topic: "Why not grind something at a higher level? Would that be better for–"
"It ain't that simple," Aiden cut in. "Higher zones need a full squad, and it's night out – real teams don't have night-senses. Plus, everyone's looking for META-DPS or Tanks, so hard to get in without that."
"Are ranged physical not META, then?" Sean asked.
Aiden frowned, but explained, "I heard they're valid late-game for CC and bosses, that sorta stuff. Kinda sucks early game, since everybody is chasing whatever's most efficient."
At this point, Sean mostly wanted to keep the guy talking – a second opinion was very useful, so he said, "Why not switch to something else and then respec back to–"
"Not that simple, man!" Aiden broke in. "Time and effort – it's a whole mission: you gotta level one class, do the quests, then respec and start the grind from scratch. I'm not tryna do all that. Anyway, the rats are moving reckless – back to work."
Sean looked further into the passage, and the dire rats were again spreading out from side tunnels. Some were jumping into the water channel to feed, and he understood why Aiden had come here: rat corpses were slowly flowing deeper into the tunnel and distracting many groups of beasts – even breaking them up. The location wasn't random, and the experienced player had clearly been here before. Either that, or the whole thing was a display of shrewd tactical thinking.
But as they resumed fighting, Aiden seemed to lean on Sean a bit more – sometimes leading a beast or two back to him, so they faced them together. It was tough, especially facing off against two dire rats at once, but Sean held the line and Aiden delivered the DPS. The heavy armor held, even though the dire versions of jaws and claws were sharper than the regular ones. They took another break, shorter – this time no discussion. Sean stopped counting the dead rats, and he did level up after a while – so at least the XP was worth the money.
Maybe five beasts after Sean had leveled up, Aiden approached him and said, "That's a wrap for the quest, let's head back."
"Already? Oh, right… it's getting pretty late," Sean commented.
"Word, and no point fighting without a quest," Aiden remarked while already heading back the way they came.
Sean suggested, "I could've taken a quest for dire rats, too. That way–"
"I told you the deal – cash for me, XP for you," the other player cut in, and Sean… was too tired to argue. He could've given Aiden the quest reward too, so it wouldn't have mattered – other than a bit less walking. Aiden added after a moment, "But you held it down, man. Up there you were moving like a total bot, but you didn't once trip or get swarmed. I'm impressed."
"Yeah, thanks," Sean commented after a few seconds of silence. "I'm trying to be useful, I suppose."
"You need a legit guild to show you the ropes," Aiden continued. "So you can see what's what and get into some low-level instances, that sorta stuff."
"Are these any good?" Sean asked, meaning the starter guilds, which instructor Bruce had warned them against during the lecture.
"Oh yeah, man," Aiden explained. "The portal stones are mad expensive, but the XP is top-tier. And you're super sketchy on the basics – did that girlfriend of yours make you skip the orientation?"
Sean sighed. He didn't want to discuss the not-girlfriend Emma – but the lecture was something he was eager to learn more about, so he remarked, "Well, apparently our instructor was a little unusual. First time lecturing and in a bit of a hurry too, so I think he skipped a bunch of important stuff."
"Really? Didn't know they could just do that," Aiden commented, then added, "You remember the nick? I moved from up north, so I don't know all the folks here – but I might've heard some rumors."
"Sure, but you probably don't know him – his first lecture, apparently," Sean emphasized. "It was some Australian, called himself… Bruce, Duh, Grate – but with duhh and the kitchen–"
"Now you're screwin' with me," Aiden cut in and stopped walking. He actually turned around to look at him.
"No, I promise, it's…" Sean started and hesitated for a bit, then explained, "The nick was rather memorable: Bruce-Duh-Grate, and you don't see many high-level players naming themselves after kitchen tools." He paused, but the other guy just stared at him, so Sean added, "Or do you? Wait, do you know him?"
Aiden snorted. "Cool story, bro, but I'm pretty sure the Dread-Bruce isn't out here instructing newbies between his PK-raids. The GANK-guild is wilding out west and north-west… but nice one, you almost had me, almost!" he said, shaking his head, then resumed walking.
Sean found it hard to believe, but it sounded too specific to be made-up. After collecting his thoughts, he asked, "What is the 'GANK' guild? Not trying to join, but–"
"Don't even worry about it," Aiden interrupted while walking. "They're the meanest, nastiest bunch of PK-ers and griefers in this part of the world – and Dread-Bruce is one of their main hitters. Even worse these days with that crazy summoner build of his. I only heard rumors, and he's mostly a headache for high-level players." He added a few steps later, "You probably met some fanboy-copycat, who– Forget it, gotta focus!"
The experienced Trickster went ahead to dispose of some rats blocking their way, and Sean thought about how much he might've misunderstood the lecture. Bruce seemed like a nice guy, if somewhat quirky, but… Even Emma had noticed that 'something' was off about the mate ! And Sean had simply assumed… or maybe he wanted to believe the cheerful Aussie was well-meaning? Remembering the 'Surprise Head-Scratcher' now made him shudder. They did not discuss this whole topic further.