Mantle of the Gods [LitRPG / Slow Burn / FTB Harem]

Fray and Justia were behind her.

With Gesai, not Miel.

"I thought we were taking one of the cars?" I caught the breakfast wrap that Aelin thrust into my hands. A similar item was shoved at Ether as the brown woman pushed her way past us and stomped over to the driver's seat.

"After the announcement last night, Trent thought it would be a better idea if we were seen together today." Gesai glanced back at the roof of the clinic behind her. Miel was watching us from the flat roof. Ether's mother wasn't attempting to hide the irritation on her face.

"We should be able to clear this fast." Our new teacher motioned and shepherded the other two into the RV.

Ether and I backed away from the door. The ivory woman tore into her breakfast wrap as she sat down in the booth. I looked at Justia and Fray before turning to Gesai. "Shouldn't we have Astrid?"

"We only cleared the Temple last night." Fray's voice was just above a whisper.

"But you had three hours…" I ran math in my head. Considering they could just port straight to the Dungeon Boss, they should have been able to run all four in half that time.

"Miss Warray said that there wasn't enough time to do both." Fray cowered. "Sorry."

"It's not your fault." I sat down next to Ether, facing the front of the RV. "How long did it take you?"

"Almost two hours." The green Hitter shook her head. "We're not as strong as you or Rix."

While that was true, I knew that they each had some rare and epic gear. Their stats and training should have allowed them to clear the first four bosses in less than an hour.

"Well, let's see if we can't beat that." I pulled out a pair of clips. "Poison, Nature, Water, Fire." I named the elements of the first four floors in order. "Earth beats Fire, Poison, and Water. Fire beats Nature." I put a pair of clips that was loaded with <Pebble Shot> on my belt.

"We all already have Earth weapons from Tres." Aelin sounded sad. "I was hoping we'd need to go shopping, but I guess since Gesai is here..." She glanced over at the other woman. "Sorry."

"What she means is, Miel gives her a lot of All when they go shopping together." I translated Aelin. "Now that we're in a city with a more stable armory, it should be a lot easier to find higher rarity equipment that works for us." I eyed the others. "But I don't think that's a good thing. I feel like we'll start relying on our gear too much if we do that. Wasn't the whole point of that first week to teach us that we needed to be able to survive without our gear?"

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"But!" Aelin paused as she took a turn. "Won't people be less likely to think you're a Godling if you have a bunch of rare gear?"

"That's…" Actually a good point, but I'm not admitting that. "I think that would draw us even more attention, and considering that we're going to have to compete without it, I think it would be better for us to try to use what we have instead of just buying the best. Especially since we're not going to be able to keep doing that once we start Tiering up."

Ether leaned in close and whispered in my ear. "The crystal-to-mythic gear is one-to-one at level twenty."

I shook my head. "Twelve slots with twelve of us means your mom is going to have to do a lot of farming with Klix, which she won't be able to do anymore." I kept my voice low. "It's not sustainable."

"What are you two whispering about?" Aelin craned her neck.

"Ether did the math." I wasn't about to tell her that eighteen groups would pay for us all to have a mythic piece of Tier Two gear in every slot. I knew how fast Dungeon Farmers were, and that was very doable for an afternoon's work. The Elite that spawned would have to be dealt with, which would slow down the monster killing, but five hours to do eighteen groups was feasible for competent farmers. "Treasure what you got in Klix, because it's too expensive."

"We can still get upgrades for what we have." Aelin glanced at the woman sitting next to her. "Couldn't you do the sevens event floor?"

"We're not mooching off the teachers." I cut off Gesai's reply. I didn't trust that she'd refuse her cousin's girlfriend, especially when the older woman was trying to make up for some of the bad things she'd done to Justia when they were kids.

"We can get our own gear." I looked around at my team and smiled. "How about we show everyone that we can clear all of these boss rooms this morning?"

My teammates clapped and cheered.

"And then we'll have the afternoon to do whatever you want." I took a bite of my wrap. The eggs, cheese, potatoes, and bacon were still warm.

"Actually…" Gesai cleared her throat. "We need to go by the hospital on the way back." She looked at us. "But then you can spend the rest of the day however you want."

Fray looked confused, but the rest of us understood.

"Gesai is the heir of Alard Medical Centers now." Justia explained. "Her dad told us to come by, so this is probably a photo op or something."

"For all of us?" Fray glanced over at our current teacher.

"Yes…" Gesai smoothed out her lace elbow-length gloves. "There's an Alard Medical Center in every Ward and Trent thinks it'll help our cause if people see me as someone strong enough to take over." She hugged her arms tighter around her. "I'm not even supposed to be in the family."

"It'll be okay." Aelin touched the other woman's knee. "You've got all of us!"

"Both hands on the wheel!" I got up. "Seriously, Aelin, focus on driving."

The blonde stuck out her tongue as she gripped the wheel with both hands.

"She's right though." I patted the silver woman's shoulder. "You're part of the family. We'll be right there with you."

"Thanks." Gesai covered my hand with her right.

"We're here!" Aelin hopped up as soon as she shifted the vehicle into park. "Let's go!"

I chuckled as the short woman rushed out of the RV. I looked down at the redhead. "You okay?"

"No…" She shook her head as she stood up. "But better."

"Let me know if there's anything I can do." I smiled as I nodded at the door. "How about you show us how to speedrun slime bosses?"