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Once Tabase-senpai joined us as well, we immediately headed for the dungeon, but—it was completely crowded!
"Healers are the linchpin of any party's coordination. No matter how well a tank fends off attacks, they'll eventually hit their limit. Our job is to heal and stabilize the situation. We turn enemy attacks into non-threats, make our allies feel confident and in control, ensure they can fight without a care in the world, and ultimately, tip the scales towards victory. That's the healer's role."
"Noted!"
With Tabasa-senpai, a seasoned healer, joining the ranks, the training for the new members became incredibly productive.
Orihime-san, in particular, seemed to hit well with senpai. After all, she was initially a «Priestess», the same role as Tabasa-senpai. Having realised she’d barely started, Orihime-san meticulously analyzed Tabasa-senpai's way of magic, determined to incorporate what she learned into her current «Mermaid Princess» job.
Tabasa-senpai also gave pointers to Elisa, who had recently changed her job to a healer, as well as Katalina and Fina, who could also hold their own in a healing capacity. Even I, still green myself when it came to real-world combat, especially PvP, found Tabasa-senpai's guidance incredibly insightful. It was a learning experience for me too.
So, it's the healers who bring about victory, huh? That's a profound thought.
Meanwhile, the other members were getting lessons from the assistant members. Take Fraumina and Celia's duo, for instance.
"Fraumina, while your summoned monster does the fighting, it doesn't mean you, the summoner, get to sit back and do nothing. The summoned monster and its summoner are one and the same. Always be mindful of your summoned monster, support it, assist it, and maneuver in a way that gives you an edge in combat."
"Got it! Ru-chan, move back! «Magic Shot»!"
A magic arrow shot from Fraumina's wand struck the target dummy. Ru, the Leader Wolf who had been attacking the dummy, leaped back on Fraumina's command, while Chi-chan, the Super Mochi, used «Mochi Restraint» to bind the already stationary target. They're practicing coordination.
By the way, «Alpha Dog» can use magic. Her previous job was a physical class, so Fraumina was currently honing her senses as a magic-user. Tamer's very obvious achilles heel was themselves; if they go down, their summoned monsters would also be incapacitated. So, they're often kept at rearguard.
Under Celiaa's guidance, Fraumina was learning the ropes of unfamiliar magic, like when to provide support, when to assist, and when the summoner herself should attack the enemy.
As for the tanks, Sharon and Rosetta—
"Hiya! «Evade»!"
"W-wait, she vanished again!?"
"Sharon-san, behind you!"
"Hiya!"
"Ack!"
Lulu's normal attack landed with a bang. A light clang echoed from Sharon's kite shield, and then Sharon found herself sitting on her backside.
"Ugh, Lulu's too strong!"
"It's 2-on-1, yet I didn't expect to be so utterly outmatched."
It seemed Sharon and Rosetta were sparring with Lulu. Lulu was sticking to basic attack—even if they're tanks, the disparity between them was enough that a single offensive skill would knock out the two—dodging around nimbly, but it didn't seem like the two were getting any upper hand at all.
"B-both of you are too focused on blocking with your shields. O-our role as tanks is to hold the enemy in place, so we must always keep our eyes on them. Always keep a part of the enemy in your sight, and don't lose track of them."
Ooh, Lacritta was giving solid advice!
She was still a bit timid, but after going through rapid growth recently, she'd gained confidence in her skills. She was doing a good job teaching her two juniors. She still had to work on her stammering, but go for it, Lacritta!
"Alright, next, I'll sing and apply buffs, so try to get used to moving with buffs."
Finally, there was Noel, the assistant. Naturally, the tanks were the ones who truly benefited from her support and healing buffs. When tanks receive buffs that amplify their strength, they need to learn to control that power and not let it get the better of them.
This was one of the aspects that games couldn't quite replicate. In games, no matter how many buffs you piled on, the controls never felt different. But in real life, the sensations changed quite a bit. You might find yourself moving faster than you intended, for example. Being able to control that was important, so Noel, the buff specialist, was helping them develop that sensory awareness with and without buffs. They were also practicing callouts.
"Increasing speed! «Cheers, Tempo Up»! Listen carefully to my voice! Don't miss it! If you miss it, your perception will suddenly change, and you'll be thrown off!"
"Understood!"
This kind of training wasn't something you could easily get in a classroom, nor was it something you could learn quickly. It's all about practice.
And so, we spent the entire morning practicing diligently in the training ground. Afterward, we all had lunch, and then in the afternoon, we moved on to a different kind of practice.
"Now that it's afternoon, we'll be doing practical combat training. So, let's head to the dungeon!"
That was the plan.
However, they were still only LV20. Intermediate dungeons were the most they could handle, so today, we were heading to the «Grassy Plains Dungeon», which was teeming with goblins, to let them practice against them. With the assistants included, it was a large group of 13 people.
We formed three parties and entered the dungeon, even though it wasn't a raid.
"Gob!?"
"Gobgob—!?"
"Ah, the goblins are running away!"
But then, trouble struck. The goblins were fleeing...
Oh, right, I remember now. Monsters will run away if the power difference was too great. I usually never went into low-level dungeons with multiple parties in the game, so I completely forgot. We came with a bit too much firepower.
"Oh well. Let's head to the boss room!"
The boss couldn't escape from the boss room. Of course, only five of us could enter the boss room, but that was beside the point. A boss would make for a better practice target, and that was more efficient.
Wait a minute… if only five people could enter the boss room, wasn't it pointless to bring 13? I realized this later, but I decided to pretend it was just my imagination. It was all those fleeing goblins' fault.
We arrived in front of the boss room, but another problem had cropped up.
"Crap, there are a lot of people."
"...All of them appear to be «New Grade» students."
"We can't farm the boss then..."
"Farm the boss?"
As Tabasa-senpai said, the area in front of the boss room was indeed swarming with students.
Seriously? I mean, I did notice a lot of people on the way here. I should've noticed it earlier, because of the job transfer system, everyone's levels dropped, so it was no surprise the beginner dungeons were filled with students. I completely spaced on that.
We definitely couldn't let boss farming reveal yet. Much to my disappointment, we ended up single boss battles per party, got a little practice in, and then, because there was a line, we quickly dispatched them and returned via the teleportation circle.
"It barely sank in."
"But everyone seems to have a good handle on things, isn't it?"
At Tabasa-senpai's words, I looked over and saw the new members excitedly discussing their battle experience against the boss «Night Goblin».
They'd new jobs, new abilities, and new strategies to try. Even though it was only one battle, it seemed to have been a significant learning experience for them.
"Guess it can't be helped. Let's go back to the training ground for more practice today."
"Let's all go to the dungeon again when we're stronger."
And so, we ended up practicing in the training grounds again in the afternoon.
Next week, the «New Grade» students would be allowed to attend the Extra-Dungeon at the academy again. The academy took care of students up to level 40, and it seemed there were two Extra-Dungeon curriculum slots scheduled for next week.
The new members would probably all have their third-order skill trees unlocked as early as next week. Once the third-order skill trees were unlocked, they could challenge intermediate dungeons.
Then, we could hopefully farm bosses in less popular dungeons. And the target would be, obviously, the «King D»! (Grawwr?!?)
For a moment, I felt like I felt King D screaming and retreating... but it was probably just my imagination.
I was really looking forward to it!
T/N - Just a heads up, I read about the illustration page error—though it's been couple weeks since then—and have fixed it. All the illustration, coloured and b&w should be now properly in their places.