CHAPTER 37

"Had a pleasant journey?" Karthikeyan asked.

"Ye...yeah" Yerilia said while stuttering and looking down.

Dammit. Only his eyes were too much . Now his entire face. She couldn't even look at him in the eyes.

Karthikeyan saw this.

"Are you like uncomfortable with all this ordeal , Im sorry if I invited you without you liking it. I just wanted to catch up with a buddy."

"No...No, it's all right . I came here on my own accord. You don't have to apologise."

"Ok then , well , care to drink anything? , I can order something for you."

"No it's all right. I already ate before coming here."

"Thats a shame. I thought that I could treat you with something"

"Its alright you do... don't have to really"

Karthikeyan looked at Yerilia for sometime and before sighing he said

"Not even orange juice?"

"Huh?"

At the mention of orange juice her ears perked up. She would do anything for orange juice.

"I got you one here on my way , guess I would drink by myself."

Saying that he soon took out a orange juice from his inventory.

Yerilia gulped.

Karthikeyan noticed her gaze.

"What? didn't you say you don't want it? now why are you eyeing it?"

Yerilia realised it and soon turned at her head around at embarrassment.

Karthikeyan let out a chuckle.

"Don't worry I was just teasing you , besides I was not letting you off the hook. Consider this as a formal thanks of accompanying me during the start of the apocalypse and coming here after seeing my message."

"Here"

Karthikeyan passed the bottle.

Yerilia soon gulped it like she didn't have anything to drink for days.

Soon she finished it and for a good 2 minutes , there was an awkward silence between them.

"Well , you must have a reason to call me here right, other than just thanking me" Yerilia asked finally breaking the silence.

"Yeah, you are not wrong."

"Um.. how to put this in words, I would Um... like you to join my squad and go on dungeon diving"

"Huh?"

"Would you?"

Yerilia forgot all of this. She knew this was coming. She forgot it because she was so mesmerised with his fa.... Um no with the orange juice.

"Dungeon diving?"

"Yes, I have gone on few dungeon raids myself but I really want to go to one with you."

"Why?"

"Well I wanted to like form a squad. You know if we had teammates along our side then our chances of surviving could be really high. And besides you are crazy strong right? many teams talk about you."

Karthikeyan was not wrong. Even though he knew her exact level through Oluz as he given him his ability [ANGELIC PROWESS] , there were many rumours about Yerilia about how she was crazy strong and it was quite widespread. Not surprising , as Balka was just a small town and Yerilia almost dungeon dived everyday.

"Well you could always join a better team you know if you are yourself strong."

"Yes,I know teams are good and all but they constantly keep on changing you know ? they may be good on paper but could it be the case all the time? besides who knows us better than our squad members?"

Yerilia couldn't say anything in return as Karthikeyan was right. A squad contained your teammates who dive with you every time you dive a dungeon as well.

There are already famous squads all around the world. As much as guilds would be important in the future , a squad was the most important one. 

A squad is created when all the concerned parties gave their consents and sign a contract with the system. They all decide the terms and conditions as well mutually. Matters concerning the splitting of rewards among themselves , penalty for leaving the squad and many more. The conditions could even include nothing at all.

Well all in all, a squad was a way to form connections with people and make sure that someone has your back.

If set certain conditions , then if the squad members betray you they would get penalties as set by the contract. This compels a cooperative and solid structure.

"Well what about it?"

Yerilia was currently thinking. She wanted to stay out of trouble and wanted to get strong herself. But as she gets stronger is it really possible to avoid enemies who are jealous of her and try to end her?

In that situation who will she have by her side to fight with her?

Having a squad was not a bad idea.... maybe she will try it but not try to get overly attached.

She still decided to play it safe.

"Ok what will I get from this ordeal?"

"What do you want?"

Suddenly Yerilia took out a piece of paper and a pen from thin air and started to write down her thoughts.

After 5 minutes.

"Here"

...

"Um, ok these conditions seem fine, I'm ok with it."

The condition stated that first Karthikeyan and Yerilia would dive dungeons 3 times and decide whether their synergy would work out together which was also important to consider when forming a squad.

If their synergy didn't work out , they would naturally split up without any setbacks.

If they succeeded, then it was all good.

The conditions then stated the usual how they should split the rewards equally , how they cannot leave the squad without any good reasons, nor betray each other and so on that all seemed logical and reasonable.

"Ok then , so when do you want to dive the first dungeon?" Yerilia asked while folding her hands.

"Um.. let's see , how about today 8pm? I heard there was a 1.5 level dungeon 30 kms away from here that has got quite a popularity."

"The abundance cave?" Yerilia's interest got piqued.

This was the dungeon that was situated 30 kms away from Balka in a rural setting with mountains surrounding. The subway structure was in middle of the mountains and it exactly looked like a naturally formed cave. It took quite some time to find this dungeon. It seemed that dungeons not only descended from the sky, but also "spawned" at random places.

That said Yerilia wanted to dive this dungeon for a time. Rumours were that the dungeon was very generous in its rewards. One could expect to get a good level 6 or even level 7 skill and weapons of the same level. Her halberd was currently level 6. She wanted to acquire a good weapon if she wanted to get stronger.

"Sounds good" Yerilia said while leaning in to shake Karthikeyan' hand.

"Its a pleasure to work with you Yerilia , hope we could form a bond."

Yerilia blushed a little. Bond? what kind of bond was he talking about. Ah man she and her messed up teenage hormones.