Various small spectral doorways had been raised from the ground after the individual ratings were assigned. The spectral portals almost became solid soon after their emergence.
"The doorways allow for teams to enter the dungeon together. The teams would be taken to the first floor. Even though I say the first floor, every team will be assigned a separate dimension to battle. And the teams will remain separated from each other throughout their progress further into the dungeon.
We can choose any doorway. They won't matter no matter how near or far they are from the squads. Nor would the number of members in the squad affect the difficulty level of the test it receives. What counts is the average score of the squad that enters the dungeon."
Ronny raised his eyebrows when he heard the explanation. He couldn't help but ask Lady Zee about the question that had just been popped into his head:
"Lady Zee, you mean to say the high scores and the low scores would get evened out in a group battle? How would that affect the rewards considering the average score of the squad would influence the difficulty level it has to face?"
Lady Zee clapped her hands in appreciation when she heard Ronny's question. She responded quickly after:
"Not just the brawn but the brain as well. Colour me impressed, boy. That's right. Since the average score of the squad affects the difficulty level, it also affects the kind of rewards we get. But don't think too much about it. What we are doing now is playing it safe, having the advantages of both worlds.
The difficulty level increases exponentially as the squad approaches a higher average score. So having a balanced average score is not a terrible thing. The Illuminati had squad wipeouts in the dungeon when it had decided to group all the high-scorers."
Understanding dawned on Ronny and his team when they heard Lady Zee's explanation. They also understood that dungeon participation was the safest form of exploration in the purgatory if the average score was balanced out. Because the tower exploration would only consider individual scores for the level of difficulty offered to the ranker.
"Bigger the risks, better the rewards."
Ronny exclaimed after the wheels in his head started churning and he realized what the scene entailed. Lady Zee nodded before responding:
"That's right. That's why most of the first-time participants were brought here first for group participation before trying their luck in the towers of their ranking status.
Here, the idiots will be humbled and the geniuses will be made aware of the dangers they'd have to face if and when they decided to go solo. That's it for the explanation. Let's proceed to the first floor of the dungeon. You'll come to know the difficulty level of this unnamed purgatory eventually."
Lady Zee declared before choosing a door to enter. The group followed her lead and soon disappeared into the black void serving as its passageway.
A spectral shadow appeared over the array eye when everyone entered their respective doorways. It narrowed its attention to the direction Ronny and his squad mates had chosen to before mumbling to itself:
'Someone worthy has finally arrived.'
**********************
"I'll take care of the big guy there. You guys handle the rest as per your ranking status. Julie and Ronny, you guys take care of the two E-Rank hobgoblins. Renar, Viper, and Belar stick close to each other and get rid of the five F-Rank goblins one at a time."
When Lady Zee saw the squad's opponents, she chose the most straightforward battle strategy. She was expecting a swarm of E-Rank monsters instead of facing the D-Rank Goblin Lord. But the purgatory always had a way of surprising the participants when they least expected it. So she wasn't completely taken aback.
'I'll have to make some effort now.'
Lady Zee thought to herself before bolting towards the Goblin Lord. She had already made her squad aware that the monsters they were fighting with weren't real but spectral apparitions that had minds of their own, just like the real deal. Their bodies would replicate the damage the rankers inflicted on them. And the spectral apparitions would disappear into thin air if and when enough damage is accumulated on them.
After receiving his instructions, Ronny began heading to his battlefield. The hobgoblin soon returned the hostility it received from him and cackled before approaching him.
Ronny took out a pair of daggers from his storage just when he was a few meters away from him. His mock battle with Renar had made him realize something when it took place before the dungeon exploration. That he was lacking the E-Rank spells when he was portraying himself as Ronny.
So he had prioritized re-learning all the E-Rank variants of all the fire and lightning element spells he had. He had to use his underground channels with Jake and Agatha's help as he couldn't ask them from LA for obvious reasons. As a result, he could only get his hands on all the two-star variants. But that was enough for him to carry out his act.
Incidentally, Ronny didn't upgrade the time-element spells despite finding the two-star, E-Rank variant of the Sedated Perception. The miser in him thought that the price asked by the seller was too high for him to even consider buying something he was only going to use temporarily. It would be better for him to buy three-star variants or higher once he reaches E-Rank.
'Sedated Perception.
Stunning Speed.
Blitz Steps.
Blitz Bolt.'
Ronny decided to start with a bang. Since he was basically an E-Ranker now with the previous experience of actually being one, he could now cast four spells at once. He still had an easy time with his mana circuits because two out of four spells he cast simultaneously were of F-Rank.
Ronny became a lightning blur because of the spell combo he had decided to work with. In the next moment, he was standing behind his hobgoblin opponent.. The latter had a bunch of illuminated cuts on his body that became visible after some time.