17 Departure from Tir Chonaill

Axel continued to walk with Max to the treasure room as he reflected on the differences between this world and the game of Mabinogi. His master's 'Final Hit' had gone beyond any 'Final Hit' he had known, and if Max had wanted, he probably did not need to use any skills to finish this dungeon. The usage of skills were meant for convenience in Max's case, such as using 'Limelight Cutter' to hit monsters from afar. All of the skills used were meant to teach a lesson for Axel's first time inside a dungeon. Another valuable insight Axel had taken from Max's fights were that no matter how strong an adventurer had become, it was wise and effective to kill monsters in 1 hit even if it meant using skills that were superfluous in terms of raw damage.

Upon entering the treasure room, there was another Goddess Statue that stood in the middle of a smaller sized dungeon room. On opposite sides of the statue were two treasure chests lying in the open.

"Pick one! Who knows, you might get lucky and get some equipment!" Max said with a chuckle.

Axel pondered for a bit and decided to pick the treasure chest closest to the entrance of the treasure room. After clicking the chest open, an assort of items were displayed inside the treasure chest. He examined them in order:

[MP 30 Potion (5) ]

[Lute]

[2508 Gold]

[Mana Herbs (3) ]

"Aw, you didn't get a single equipment related to combat! Well you can become a bard instead I guess hahahahhaha!" Max barked jokingly.

"Master, you're being mean....." Axel said with a hint of annoyance. While the gold reward had been good, he had no use for mana potions, mana herbs, and he did not intend to be become versed in the ways of music.

"It's my turn, let's see what I get." Max said as he walked over to the chest and kicked it open. Upon examination, it was as shown:

[Enchant Scroll, (Fine) prefix, Rank F, +1 Critical when Level 4+]

[HP 30 Potion (2) ]

[2485 Gold]

[Short Sword]

"Wow, what a haul!" Max cried. "Here, you can have the short sword, it's a lot better than that stubby dagger you have."

As the short sword was placed in Axel's hands, he was grateful for having such a generous master.

"Thank you so much Master Max! I will cherish this sword and name it after you!" Axel sweetly said as he posed with the short sword a few times.

What surprised him most was not the fact Max's chest had given him a short sword, but the fact that there was an Enchant Scroll inside as well. For some reason, Axel's chest did not get a Enchant Scroll, which was normally an automatic reward in the chest in the game of Mabinogi. He felt confused and then asked,

"Are Enchant Scrolls usually really rare items from reward chests?"

"Of course! Why did you think it wasn't? Did you know that even if you ran Alby Dungeon 20 times, you might not be able to get an Enchant Scroll! Not to mention, even the lowest rank F scroll can be sold for over 20000 Gold in the marketplace. There are even requests in which Enchant Scrolls are sought after or rewarded to adventurers." Max remarked happily.

The thought of the lowest rank F Enchant scroll being rare seemed to puncture Axel's sense of reality so far in his time in this world. 20000 Gold for a lowly rank F scroll? Not to mention it was so rare that 1 in 20 runs inside the easiest dungeon could barely net one enchant scroll at times. Although 20000 Gold was not a lot of gold in the game of Mabinogi, it was apparently a exorbitant amount to pay for an Enchant Scroll with the earnings an adventurer could make from completing most requests.

"Well it's understandable for the hefty prices since there is a scarcity of magic users, and within that group, the number of Enchant Users are even fewer in number. It was by luck that we have Bel in our party too." Max said with his eyebrows lifted.

Axel then remembered the destructiveness of Bel's Fireball back at the pastures. That single intermediate tiered spell could wipe the floor with non-magic users on the same Mythril adventurer rank. Even Max and the archer Kaiser would not be her opponent if she were allowed time to cast the spells.

"Alright, let's leave the dungeon. Place your hand on the Goddess Statue and it will immediately warp you outside to the dungeon lobby." Max said.

As Axel's hands touched the stone of the statue, his body teleported out so fast he could not see the flash of light in the lag time in between the trip. He was back in the dungeon lobby and Max was already heading towards the exit of Alby Dungeon.

"C'mon, what are you waiting for? Let's go grab a nice drink and some grub!" Max yelled as he waved for Axel to come over.

Axel followed his Master outside the mysterious, dimly lit dungeon. This had been his first dungeon run in this world, and although it had been completed under the supervision of Master Max, he thought that he was fortunate to have experienced the ordeals of a dungeon before he became an Iron ranked adventurer. Not to mention, he made more gold than he would have gotten from doing multiple requests on par with the Gray Wolf request from Dunbarton.

...

It was early morning when they had gotten out of the cave where the dungeon was. The morning fog was thick like misty smoke, and it was difficult to see what was ahead of them. Since it was always dark inside the dungeon with the exception of litting a campfire or torches, there was no accurate way to percieve day and night in there. Having seen the natural brightness of dawn, Axel bathed in the nature, and even breathed in the heavy air from the foggy weather. He felt great to be alive. His entire body felt sore, but strangely enough, he felt a bit stronger than before.

Transvering downhill, both of them stopped by Caitlin's Grocery Store. Axel bought entire week's worth of bread. He even bought some bacon, since he had ample amounts of gold already. He had spent about 1000 gold, but he still had about 3000 gold remaining. Max bought himself and Axel 2 stouts to celebrate Axel's first run at a dungeon. They clacked their their beer glasses to one another and downed the alcohol in a few gulps. Both of them had rosy expressions and were feeling very relaxed after some drunk talking and fooling around. Axel waved goodbye to the Max upon leaving the Grocery Store and went back north to see Dilys. His medical fees had long been overdue.

After arriving near the entrance, he proceeded to go inside the healer's house. Dilys, who had been working in the back, noticed that a new customer had arrived.

"How may I help you today?" she asked.

"Dilys, it's Axel. I'm leaving Tir Chonaill today so I'm here to pay the 90 gold for the treatment fees from last time." Axel said loudly.

He retrieved about 400 gold and gave it to Dilys. He put in a lot of extra gold since he had been lodging at the clinic for nearly a week. Even this much gold wasn't enough to cover for everything, but he still paid it as a sign of courtesy.

"Oh, you don't have to. As long as you're my patient, it's 90 gold regardless of how injured you were at the time." Dilys waved her hand as she tried to give back the extra gold.

"No, I insist. You've been so good to me doc, I'm really grateful for the careful treatment you've administrated!" Axel cheerfully said. It seems that Dilys was not only a beautiful mature lady, but she also had a serenity and big heart that exemplified the kindness that many human beings severely lacked.

Hearing the honey glaced words of Axel, Dilys slightly blushed and turned her back to him. She put away the gold and went to the backroom and retrieved a few bandages for Axel.

"Please take some bandages for 'First Aid' in case you suffer wounds that are life-threatening. I won't always be around when you adventure off to places far away." Dilys' sweet voice creaked slightly.

Axel nodded and waved goodbye to Dilys as he walked out the clinic. Now he was heading towards the Tir Chonaill Moongate, ready to return to Dunbarton to complete his initial request of defeating the gray wolf.