Dungeon

Dungeon.

[Ace POV]

'Dungeon?'

The more I hear these terms, the more I find myself referring to fantasy books and video games.

"Dungeon, huh?" "Is it finally my turn to grind?" a voice beside me asked.

'Grind?'

'Does he refer to this as a level-grinding game?"

Huh?

I came to a halt when I realized that, in addition to the game-like panel, we have levels and now a dungeon in front of us.

It looks exactly like the description of a grinding location that I usually see on the internet when game enthusiasts talk about it.

Unfortunately, I didn't feel anything while playing games, so I have no idea about these things.

As I was thinking this, I turned to look at the person who made the statement and noticed that the person who said the grinding stuff was a girl.

Her voice was too low when she spoke, so I assumed it was a man.

I don't recognize her, which means she wasn't in my class or she didn't make a strong enough impression on me to remember her.

When I saw her, I noticed something unusual in her hand.

A wand.

Its appearance was similar to that of one in a movie.

A wooden staff with a core embedded on top of it.

When I saw the core, I knew it wasn't a natural crystal core but rather a man-made one.

A blacksmith or an alchemist can create it.

However, only a rank 1 Advanced Blacksmith and a rank 1 Advanced Alchemist can create it.

It wasn't something I could touch right now, and it wasn't even the point.

If she's carrying a staff, it can only mean one thing.

She's a mage or at least someone who works with spells and magic.

And looking at the quality of the core, even though I couldn't tell what level it is, I know it's at least a low rare-grade magic staff when combined with the staff.

She was either strong enough to kill a strong monster early on to receive the wand as a first-kill reward, or she was like Anna and me, who received free item tickets and chose to exchange for the magical staff.

After a while of observing her, I turned my attention away from her and back to the portal-like thing.

Supposedly a goblin lair.

This is quite simple to grasp.

I'm not sure if the goblin here is similar to the one in the arts I've seen, but entering this 'portal' will take you to their lair.

It's just the difficulty and the requirement that are difficult to understand, but I believe it should mean that the participants must be at least level 15 to enter the dungeon, and the difficulty of the dungeon is hard.

I'm not sure how difficult it is.

Perhaps the goblins should be stronger than monsters of the same level, or something.

And if the difficulty is hard, it means that there is a level to how difficult a dungeon can be.

There's also the part that says this dungeon is only temporary.

Does this imply that the dungeon will vanish and be relocated? or will it simply vanish, or will something happen to it after it has been 'cleared'?

The cleared here is simply me using a gamer term for dungeon clearing.

In a way, this can be straightforward if the dungeon is what I believe it to be.

It may even be advantageous because the dungeon may be a gathering place for monsters, and as long as you don't die, you may be able to level up a few times.

As I was thinking this, I looked at Adara, who also looked back at me when she sensed my gaze, and she spoke first, saying;

"Ace? What are you doing here?" she inquired, to which I replied:

"I was curious when I saw the crowd gathered here," I simply stated, and she smiled.

To avoid unnecessary discussion, I spoke first, before she could, and said;

"Do you intend to enter?" I questioned, pointing to the dungeon 'entrance' in front of me.

When she heard this, she paused for a moment before responding, saying;

"I'm still thinking about it, but it's likely I have no choice but to enter the dungeon because I can't just leave it out in the open like this and pretend nothing is happening," she said, adding, "Heaven knows maybe something will come out of it."

Hearing this, I nodded and asked'

"Would you go with me?" I inquired.

My purpose for wanting to enter differs from hers.

My key reason for entering is pure curiosity.

As I waited for her response, I didn't expect to be interrupted by the girl I had seen earlier.

Even though I was only conversing with Adara, we were not quiet, so anyone who bothered to listen could have heard what we were talking about.

"Are you guys planning to grind too?" the girl asked as she approached Adara and me with an excited expression on her face.

I was about to say it was to explore rather than grind, but it was too stressful to say so I just nodded.

After spending some time with Adara, we moved on to the dungeon, but just as I was about to proceed, I stopped and turned to Anna to ask what we should do about Mia because if we were truly going to a location where monsters gather, then it will be dangerous.

When I turned back to face Anna, I realized she wasn't even following me.

It looks like she had no intention of entering in the first place.

I was about to approach her to talk when I heard her voice in my head.

"Don't worry about me," she said and continued;

"I'll stay here with Mia, so Chris can follow you and help you if anything happens," she said.

Is this telepathy?

I think she stated that this was one of the skills she exchanged the free item ticket for in the store.

Looks like she has also considered things because I doubt Chris will want to follow me to the dungeon if his sister is with us.

Though I can tell he's not as vigilant as he once was with us, it's because we're the reason his sister is safe and he can become more powerful to protect her.

It's as if his mission in this world after the end of the old world was to keep his sister safe.

Though I am fine by myself, I believe it would be preferable if someone strong could assist me in the event of an emergency.

At the very least, Chris teaming up with me is preferable to joining forces with others for the first time, as they may abandon you.

Chris is unable to do so because his sister is with us.

We keep her safe, but we also 'keep' her, so Chris can only help honestly or leave with his sister.

After hearing what she said, I considered it for a moment before nodding and turning back to the portal.

When I got to the front with Adara, the gamer girl, and a few other people, I slowly led my hand to touch the portal, and when it did, I felt my hand sink into soft solid liquid.

It was strange.

As I was about to withdraw my hand, a familiar panel appeared in front of me.

[Would you like to enter the dungeon alone or with a team?],

When I saw this, I stopped for a moment and told the others in the back what I had seen, and they said it was better as a team, which I agreed to.

After deciding, I chose to enter as a team, and another text appeared on the panel.

[In this dungeon, only 5 species can enter as a team, with a minimum of 2],

[Would you like to enter?],

[Number of participants: 1/5],

When I saw this, I told the rest of the people behind me what I had seen and informed them that Chris was with me.

They gave me strange looks and looked at Chris strangely when they heard this.

It's not their fault; after all, Chris's appearance can be deceiving, but I didn't bother explaining.

The gamer girl was the first to volunteer, and I had no objections, so I nodded.

I wasn't worried about carrying a burden because you have to be at least level 15 to enter, and I was also curious about the girl's attack method.

After this happened, Adara immediately volunteered after this occurred.

I was about to respond when I was interrupted by a voice.

"Adara, I think it's best to think about this," the voice said, and when I turned around, I was surprised to see a familiar face.

Brian Blaze.

"Hello there Ace, Blaze?" He said.

......

Author notes:

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