Chapter 9: The Dungeon

-Mormial Kingdom; Raphtal City; Royal Palace-

After living in the castle for what amounted to weeks and nearly a month, Alaric found himself in the courtyard after training as usual, and the routine had been the same so far. While this was beneficial in the beginning to get him acquainted with the place and properly integrated, he needed to be able to properly grow beyond this, and something like that was not happening any time soon.

(I'm already integrated and now, I should leave at least for a while so that I can properly hone my skill uninterrupted. My mindscape can only take me so far, I need some privacy to let loose.

However, from what I have seen so far during my research, the dungeons around aren't the best since they are either overcrowded or over-leveled for me. Not all that fun...) Alaric found himself thinking as he sat in the corner.

Fortunately for the young man, a solution came right up to him.

"Young Heroes, I was informed that the King allowed me to take you into a newly discovered dungeon, perfect for beginners like you lot. You all have progressed quite a lot in the past 4 weeks, and are almost ready for expeditions to dungeons, well Alaric should be fine, but the rest need some work." Rana announced with a serious expression, and his arms crossed.

"Honestly going to a dungeon of all things does not sound fun." Leopold was the first to say something with a bit of a thought expression as he was anxious just thinking about going to such a place.

"Don't even mention it. Just imagining how dirty it must be, don't even get me started on how it must smell. I'm fine as I am, I don't need a dungeon." Heather added with her arms crossed as the thought of it sent shivers down her spine.

From behind her, Fritz came up and abruptly grabbed her shoulders.

"Come on! A dungeon would be fun! Just think of all the treasure, the cool fights, and the adventure of it! No real heroes would pass on the chance to dungeon crawl!" He adamantly yelled with a slight frown listening to the others talk. 

"That sounds dangerous for no reason, then again, I guess you can get stronger in this hellscape." Holding onto the black slime, Lavenica spoke with a blatant disinterest.

"Unbelievable! You guys can't be heroes if you aren't even ready for this much." Fritz sighed in disappointment before he pouted.

Ignoring their antics, Alaric walked up to the Commander and said.

"I want to go to this dungeon, as soon as possible. preferably now." The boy had a slight smile on as he spoke.

This caused the others to look at him confused, just as Rana turned to him.

"That's a bit haste, don't you think?" Rana asked looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Not really, I can handle myself the best among the heroes of Mormial, you said it yourself and I feel like I made the progress I could be making restricted to them," Alaric responded with bluntness as he looked up at the men in front of him.

"I guess you are ready and I did permit you to leave the castle weeks ago. Fine, just be careful and don't spend more than 3 days there. The next phase of your training begins then, and I'm sure you'll be much more eager for that. You can leave tomorrow." Rana replied with a shrug of his shoulders and then left.

At that time, Fritz came up to him and put his arm on Alaric's shoulders.

"What's up with that, man?" Fritz asked with his eyes narrowed, the slight frustration clearly visible.

"I'm going to the dungeon to train, honestly, you guys are holding me back. No offense." Alaric replied with a deadpan expression.

"Rude much. I don't even care about that... Why are you going dungeon crawling without me? You know I want to go through my first dungeon too." Fritz was teary-eyed as he complained.

"We'll do it together some other time, right now, I need to do it this way." Alaric pat his head.

"You can't just leave me behind man! I'll just hide behind the skeletons! just take me with you!" Fritz began clinging onto Alaric as he cried.

"Not happening. No amount of crying will help." Alaric was unfazed by this behavior as if somehow used to it.

The others just watched their interaction from the side.

"There he goes again, I'm honestly not sure if Fritz is the older one. It sure doesn't feel like it." Leopold sighed shaking his head.

"He's always so dramatic... It's really sad." Heather looked at the interaction with disgust.

"I like it, it's good that he's making friends even here. Just like always." Lavenica smiled as he held the black slime tight.

"I guess so, It's better to live that way than to wallow in misery like me if only the pretty maids weren't so cruel..." Leopold let his head down just thinking about it.

This resulted in Lavenica kicking him down, causing him to roll until he hit the wall and walking away pouty.

"That was uncalled for... So brutish. I'm a free man now, ya know... It's not like you said anything!" Leopold complained to himself.

"Like father like son, both idiots." Heather rolled her eyes before leaving.

"Maybe the single life is the real way to find happiness." Leopold crossed his arms as he stayed there upside down against the wall.

-Later-

Back in the shared room for the boys, they were all getting ready to sleep.

"Good luck in the dungeon. Don't die, I don't want to have to bring you back." Fritz said before closing his eyes.

For a bit, there was only silence in the room.

"Of course, I won't. I'll bring you a souvenir." Alaric replied before closing his eyes.

That was a peaceful night as Fritz left to go listen to the princess play, another lullaby that whisked everyone away into a deep sleep.

In time Rana just entered the room loudly, waking them all up.

"It's time to go if you want to make the best of the 3 days you have. You better not waste these 99 hours!" The commander declared.

"...I... won't!.." A half-asleep Alaric replied as he fell off the bed.

"Then get ready! One of the maids will guide you outside. Just don't die." Rana said then walked away.

After he left the victims began speaking.

"I don't think we had to go through this... I swear that man feeds off my stress." Leopold complained also on the floor having fallen off the bed.

"I'm used to it by now... Yeah, I'm definitely totally fine! Better than ever..." Fritz's eye was twitching as he spoke.

"Sorry about that, I didn't expect him to come here at midnight for this..." Alaric was sluggishly getting ready for what was to come.

Once he was ready, he walked out of the room.

"I hope he doesn't forget the souvenir," Fritz commented as he rubbed his eyes.

"That's if he does come back. Feels reckless of the Kingdom to just let him go like that." Leopold shook his head.

"I have a hunch he'll do just fine." Fritz smiled.

"How would you know?" Leopold started preparing to bathe as he asked.

"... Let's just say it's a necromancer's intuition. If anyone knows about death, it's us." Fritz smiled smugly as he raised his head.

"As if, you barely know how to raise skeletons, don't get too ahead of yourself. We can't afford to die after being given a second chance." Leopold shook his head.

"We'll see in 3 days then," Fritz replied as he too got his stuff to go bathe.

"Wait a second... It's midnight... Why are we getting ready to bathe?" The realization dawned on him.

Thus, father and son went back to sleep.

Meanwhile, Alaric was approached by Beth, the head maid, who guided him to the outside.

___________________________________________

In the King's office, he who was still working at such a time, was approached by Lavenik the head butler, standing in front of him waiting.

"That Rana, just going and doing things on a whim. Oh well, just have a Mormial Shadow Squad on the lad. It should be more than enough. Either way, his death would not be as damaging as losing one of the other wolders.

"According to Rana's report, he hasn't progressed as much as them. While he's impressive now, he won't be later growing at that rate." King Faroz ordered.

To this, Lavenik nodded and disappeared into the shadows.

___________________________________________

-Mormial Kingdom; Raphtal City; Noble Layer, Main Street-

"Good luck, young hero, take this, and know that I'll be back here at this time for the next three days," Beth said her goodbyes before leaving and gave him a map before, going back into the royal palace.

From then on, Alaric was left to his own devices.

There were many large buildings and Mansions in the area, and as he continued to walk through the streets.

(I should look for the adventurers guild. Registering as an adventurer will come in handy later. I hope it's opened at this time...) The boy decided as he continued to stroll by under the moonlight. 

From then he began moving until he got to the building of the adventurers guild, and went inside to be met with a bar atmosphere with various men and women getting drunk while talking and laughing, but somehow the place didn't smell like alcohol or worse... 

Despite it being midnight, the place was as lively as could be something that Alaric somehow didn't notice until he was inside.

Not minding that too much, he continued walking to the counter.

"Good night, and welcome to the adventurers guild, how may I be of help to you?" The black-haired woman at the counter reacted and spoke as soon as he got close enough.

"I would like to register as an adventurer," Alaric replied.

"Hum... Ok, just know that while the minimum age requirement is 9, no one below the age of 12 can take any quests beyond J rank, which amounts only to chores unless proven capable of doing so by completing the I Rank initiation test. Would you like to proceed anyway?" The woman explained with a smile.

"Yes," Alaric answered.

"Good, wait a while, I'll go get the card and the sphere." The woman excused herself and went to get the necessary tools.

(It doesn't seem like I'll be approached by adventurers looking to scare me off. I wonder if it's just not common or if I'm just lucky...) Alaric thought to himself as he looked around.

The adventurers were either looking away, mean-mugging, smiling, or winking at him. A myriad of reactions, but none of them even tried to approach him, mostly minding their own business.

Eventually, the woman with black hair came back with a tray containing a sphere and a blank card.

"Here, you just have to put your hand on the sphere and It will record your mana signature and imprint it into the card." She explained.

In response, Alaric put his hand on the sphere and it began glowing purple before dimming down, and words began appearing on the blank card.

[Adventurers' Card]

[Name: Alaric [Reveal]

Age: 14 years old 

Sex: Male

Species: Human | Sub-Species: Mormial Human

Level: 5

Ad Titles: None

Job: Harem Collector [Reveal]

Class: Slayer(Common)

Rank: I+(Wood Rank)]

It went from being a blank white card to having a wood pattern with some of Alaric's info on it.

"Adventurers are divided into ranks as you already know and there are 10 ranks in total. 8 mortal tier and two celestial tier ranks, but there are very few celestial tier individuals in the whole world, much less the Crismantia continent which only has 4. The mortal tier ranks are: Wood, Bronze, Iron, Silver, Gold, Dimond, Platinum, and Mithril rank." The receptionist began explaining with a smile.

This was then followed by a short pause as she pulled up a wooden board with a graphic illustration of the ranks she just mentioned. It did not stop there as she pulled another board after letting go of the first one, before continuing her explanation.

"Aside from that, there are 6 types of Quests: Rescue, extermination, escort, gathering, obligatory, and bound quests. Rescue quests are exactly what they sound to be, missions with the focus on saving someone or something. Extermination quests revolve around killing monsters. Escort quests are about helping the client transport something or someone. Gathering quests as one would expect have to do with gathering materials." She pointed at various parts of the new much bigger board.

"Obligatory quests only apply to Gold ranks and above for dangerous times where monsters invade the city or cases of such magnitude. Finally, there are Bound Quests, which also only apply to Gold ranks and above, and they are quests that have been specifically assigned to an adventurer by a client at a higher price than general quests." She finished with a bit of relief looking at the boy, hoping he would not ask for the explanation.

"Got it, is there anything else?" Alaric asked.

"Well, there is a library with a vast knowledge of wild monsters, as well as a provision shop, and if necessary we could put you in contact with the thieves guild. Oh and don't stay put for too long, your card will be revoked for inactivity after 3 weeks. Will you be taking a quest or making a request?" She responded before questioning.

"Nope. That's fine." Alaric nodded and then left.

After having been informed of all the basics by her, Alaric got provisions using the prize money he got from Rana, and then left the guild, to go to the dungeon.

So he walked around carrying a provision bag, and a black-haired, blue-eyed young man in a black long coat over a white shirt with gold patterns and purple gem, with black pants and boots, could be seen walking the moonlit streets if one were even awake.

(According to the map it should be this way... finally, I'll get to go all out and actually train. Plus, I really need to get off level 5.) Alaric thought to himself as he followed the map.

Once he got to the common layer, after going through the merchant layer. 

Something unusual took place as four men jumped off an alley and surrounded him, all of then holding bronze knives and wearing bandanas as well as makeshift cloth face masks, covering up to their noses.

"Hand over the bag and the clothes rich boy!" One of the man commanded as he pointed the knife at him.

(I'm getting robbed... That was quick... Should I kill these guys? From what I can tell they don't have mana links, so no magic, and they don't seem to know how to use chi, so just dudes... hum... They do seem to be naturally physically stronger than me...) Alaric found himself considering his options.

The silence set in and the aggressors began to feel even more comfortable with their choice.

"Kid! Hand the bag and the clothes, now! Nobody is gonna save ya in this part of town!" The criminal insisted as he took a step forward and pressed the knife on the boy.

(It seems they have full intention of killing me, in that case, I guess I should end this now.) Alaric's eyes glow blue with a tinge of purple as he got ready to act.

"You people really don't learn not to go for this... It solves nothing really." A woman with light blue hair punched the man pressing the knife against Alaric's neck, knocking him out before anyone could even hear her words.

"Damn it! Not this b*tch again! I'm out!" One of the three remaining man immediately ran off.

"It had to be the rabbit's b*tch! We have the worst luck." Another one instead went for a jab at her neck.

Meanwhile, the last man was paralyzed with hopelessness having completely given up.

The woman grabbed the man who was trying to stab her by the hand, blocking his attack, then kneed his stomach making him lose spit, and threw him at the man running knocking them both out. Finally, she looked at the man who lost his will to fight and said.

"Get them out of here, if i catch any of you robbing again, I'll treat you like actual bandits! Understood?" She asked with a serious expression a slight frown.

This caused the man to shiver as he nodded his head, and began collecting the unconscious bodies of his partners in crime.

(That was uncalled for... Just who is... Wait... She looks familiar... But there's no way such a major character in AF would be here, on such a minor planet... Even in the games, lookalikes were common to confuse the player.) Alaric, who was not worried about the man who just tried to rob him in the slightest instead focused on his light blue-haired savior.

She was tall with light and smooth features, accentuated by the moonlight, as her light blue hair lightly waved due to the night wind. Her equally blue eyes turned to the boy, just standing there looking at her without a word.

Before he could speak, however, she bowed to him and said. "I'm sorry, I let your aggressors go unpunished, but I ask of you some leniency, they are fools who did not know any better. I am willing to compensate you monetarily for the troubles they caused."

"Huh... I don't know about that, they could have killed me even if by accident" Alaric frowned not pleased one bit by her words.

"While I understand your concern, I can assure you, they are not killers. Even if they were... I can see you would have been fine. It's a selfish request, but I hope you can find it in you to accept." The woman lifted her head and her expression showed her disagreement, but her voice was pledding. 

"That's a pretty bad argument, but I don't care... Just tell me one thing, what's your name?" Alaric questioned.

"Well, they-... Wait, did you just ask for my name?... Oh, I'm Chimena, I'm the first Diciple of Sir Bun Bun, the Hare Of Heroism." Chimena was going to say something but changed upon realizing what the boy actually said.

(She's just a lookalike, what a pity. Oh well, then I shouldn't waste time here. I only have 3 days.) Alaric began walking to leave.

"Hey! I was still talking to you... Are you not at least gonna take the compensation?" Chimena asked looking at him confused.

"No need, just leave me be." Alaric waved it off.

"Huh... Ok... huh... Sir, may I have your name as well?" Chimena inquired looking at the boy confused.

"It's Alaric, just don't let your little criminals meet me again," Alaric replied as he walked off.

She simply looked at him go, and narrowed her eyes.

Soon, he reached the entrance of the dungeon, and there was nothing but a bunch of trees and vegetation all around.

"There's nothing here... Did I misread the map?" Alaric looked at the map trying to see if he didn't go wrong somewhere.

Walking closer Alaric was met with an illusion hiding the entrance of the dungeon. The moment he step foot inside.

{That who wishes to conquer this dungeon, must be ready to face the hand that always lay on their shoulder} A voice could be heard in his head as there was no sound.

(This dungeon has a warning... This place is definitely worth conquering.) Alaric decided upon hearing it.

Inside things were a bit different, weathers the outside was more of a forest due to the various meters of vegetation that surrounded the entrance, the inside was a cave system with a few tunnels in sight and only a basic level of lighting, produced by some sort of glowy musk splattered all over the walls.

This however did not stop him in any way, and he proceeded calmly, bearing no worries about his surroundings.

"Finally, I can grow stronger again. I just need an Infirmi rank monster's core." Alaric said as he continued to walk.

After walking for what felt like a long while, the boy was met with the first goblin.

It was about as tall as a child, being at about 1,20m(3'11ft) with its wrinkly green skin and deep fully red in the rather dim cave, with a bronze smile carrying nothing but an empty feeling of need, and on it, only the loincloth it used as clothing could be found, that is if one didn't care to consider the sharp nails borderline claws even.

Not fully standing, but instead crouching, this creature looked at the boy with its blood-colored eyes, before getting on all fours and running at him.

(This is honestly too easy. The way it moves is far too predictable.) Alaric's eyes began to glow blue with a tinge of purple, seeing everything around him with enhanced precision and the mana around him.

Once the goblin was close enough and jumped at him, without hesitation he grabbed it by the neck and began choking it, while looking and watching its life fade away with a motionless expression as cold as ice.

"... gaerrghh!... hgggahh!... asgh..." Soon the creature closed its eyes as it tried to claw at its attacker to avail as the great darkness consumed it.

"I don't feel anything yet... Is it because it's a monster, or is this just me?" Alaric wondered as he let go of the corpse of the goblin, letting it hit the ground.

Many were afraid of doing certain more questionable things due to the nature of the consequences, some because they legitimately found such actions disgusting and or deplorable sins, and at the end of the rope there was a group of people that felt differently... They were still scared but what made them scared was something else.

"In the end, it might be who I am. True or not, I'll make the most of it to become strong." Looking at his hands, before clenching them, he found his resolve.

When everyone else was fearing what they could become or what could become of them, the last group of people, were afraid of the truth, they were scared to learn that they in fact, didn't mind those actions, whether it be for the punishment or the moral guilt, what truly terrified them was…

[Master, you have killed a level 1 goblin. 1 experience point has been gained.]

Themselves…

"Whatever lies at the end of this place, I hope it's not bullsh*t, AF was notorious for that. Oh well, I'll win regardless." Alaric turned to the corpse on the ground.

With that, Alaric looked at the body on the ground, ready to conquer this dungeon in under 3 days, and from the darkness of the dungeon many red eyes could be seen one after the other.