Chapter 12 Dungeon Dive

The next day there was an early roll call for all the recruits, as they had all gathered, at the front someone dressed in a fancy uniform began speaking, "Hello, I'm Grayson Argyle from the western city, I'm part of the royal family, so I expect complete trust from all of you, despite most of you being commoners this will be your chance to rise and be better, we are here in case that we need to defend our land and our people I expect all of you to put your lives on the line, I will be seeing how your training is going, don't disappoint me, dismissed!".

As he stepped down, Ferdinand and Theo went to do their conditioning, today was their first training session as part of Everette´s garrison.

"High-Borns are such entitled beings, I wouldn't trust him Theo" Prim said to Theo.

The training for Everette´s garrison was far more intense, but Theo was used to worse because of Ferdinand.

The garrison was comprised of 13 3rd rankers, 5 4th rankers which were Ferdinand, Everette, and 2 of his aides, and Theo who was the only 2nd ranker, 16 were the winners from the tournament, 3 were Everette and his 2 aids and the last person was a hooded officer that was joining them.

After training, Everette took them to another camp, where the soldiers that were part of Luna's loyal army were stationed, about 5,500 soldiers were there, stationed north of the recruits, the camp was by the cliffs overlooking the ocean they could see plenty of nobles and high ranking officers.

"Men! Present yourselves and wait here I'm going to talk to some superior officers" Everette then left with his two personal aids, as they waited Ferdinand started sparring with Theo, giving him pointers, "you must treat your weapons as an extension of yourself to truly be able to utilize them properly".

After an hour Everette returned with Prince Grayson, "Today is your lucky day, as Everette's garrison, there's is a dungeon not far from here, you will go there to help with your training, the dungeon is D rank so you should be able to handle it, you must complete it in about two days, try to be better than you are and rise commoners" he talked as if they were his dogs.

(Dungeons correspond to adventurers' ranks that go from E to A, which mostly corresponds with the awakened ranked from 1st rank to 5th rank).

As Prince Grayson left, "Ok men gather supplies and items, we set out in 2 hours, it's about a 12km Northwest walk from here we should be there in 3 hours" Everette said.

As they all went back to gather their things, Theo walked alongside Ferdinand "Have you ever been to a dungeon?" Theo asked him "Yeah, I´ve been to half a dozen of them," Ferdinand said a little bleated.

After everyone had gathered back with all of their belongings, they set out, they traveled steadily and made their way through a forest, coming up to the side of a small mountain to the entrance of the dungeon, on the way they hardly encountered any hardships, meeting just a few rank E monsters on the way.

Dungeons are magical spaces where monsters of certain ranks roam freely, looking for nourishment, typically dungeons have floors, from 2 up to 20 floors depending on the rank, you can find magic treasures and items in them which is why adventurers explore them.

Being a D dungeon it should have about 3 to 5 floors, as the garrison is comprised mostly of 3rd rank trainees they should be able to handle it with ease, There was also Ferdinand who was 4th ranked Peak, Everette, and his two aides.

"All right we're here, we´ll rest up for a bit before going in, start readying yourself, this is a real battle ahead of us, Listen to what I say and we should all make it out of this safely" Everette looked at the garrison with confidence.

"Stay close, and always be on high alert, never underestimate a dungeon," Ferdinand said while he was setting his lance and armor on him, Theo grabbed his two daggers which were his only weapons, and prepared himself.

The entrance was pretty big, it was similar to a cave but with a big opening to it, about 4 meters high and 8 meters wide, they went in rows, Everette was in upfront with his two aids and 4 trainees, Theo was in the middle with another 5 trainees and Ferdinand brought up the rear with the remaining trainees.

"According to the adventurers association this is a 2-level D rank dungeon, there's mainly gonna be goblins and dark bats here, as we start encountering a few mobs of goblins and bats we will be going by rows, the front row will attack first as the row in middle will avoid the mobs and provide support the 3rd row is in charge of finishing them off," Everette said as they started descending on the first floor.

Theo was very nervous, he had never killed anything before because his father was a healer, and he was taught to respect all life, even if they were monsters, why did he have a right to take their life, as he was pondering on this "Theo killing monsters is very different to slaying magical beasts, a monster is animals that have been corrupted by mana, all they do is destroy and affect the balance of the world, that is why they are hunted if left uncheck, dungeons can have outbreaks jeopardizing the lives of all-around" Prim said, "And why are magical beast different?" Theo then asked "Magical Beasts work in balance, they eat what they need and value life, that´s why some of them can be companions to adventures, they are respectful of the world and therefore deserve ours"

Theo nodded, "I understand", as they were descending they ran across their first mob, 7 goblins were standing around, as soon as they heard the garrison they ran to attack, "Formation everyone!" Everette shouted.

As the mob got closer to them, Theo took his position in the middle row, the front row took the force of the uncoordinated attack of the goblins, defending against all attacks, "Now!" Everette screamed, in that moment the front row allowed openings to their side, having the second-row attack.

Theo was very nervous about taking a life, but after Prim had explained things to him he steeled himself and gripped both his daggers, jumping next to his teammate in the front row he thrust hitting a goblin straight in the chest, plunging both daggers in as a black secretion pumped from the green goblin´s chest, it screamed at Theo and spat blood before dying out.

Theo had just killed his first monster, and just as he did so he felt a slight surge of energy, "What you just experienced is known as mana breath, when you extinguish someone or something that possesses mana, you get an instant fill from that mana and goes into your core, from that goblin you just increased your mana core by 5, this is one of the main reason people battle monsters, it is the fastest way to get stronger" Prim related to Theo.

They practiced working as a unit, the front row would protect and defend against the monster's attacks, the middle row would land surprise attacks on the monsters and the third row would prepare spells to hit the monsters, each row working in unison.

As they began to go deeper into the dungeon Everette changed the dynamic and set them in groups of 5, there would be 4 groups total, by dispersing the mobs and picking them off quickly, when one group finished they would help out the remaining groups, this was because the mobs started being larger with goblins and bats mixed in larger groups, this way it would be faster and safer for them to clear them.

As Theo worked with his group, he was getting used to defeating the monsters, you could tell he wasn't in complete control of himself yet, as he hesitated before landing killing blows, this hesitation could prove deadly "Theo, do not hesitate, this monsters will not show you any mercy and you must treat them in kind" As Prim had predicted at that moment a Bat appeared behind Theo

These bats were the size of a toddler and had tails they used as whips, as it approached Theo, it curled its tail around his neck and began to fly up while choking him.

Theo felt a cramping pain around his neck as he began to gasp for air but none could get through, his eyes felt like they would pop any second, and in a desperate attempt he used Arc Slice under him, which propelled him upwards, he gasped and breathed in and in one swift motion cut the bat up in half.

The dead bat then released him and Theo fell back down, his teammates took care of the remaining Goblins, one of them checking on him, "Hey, you ok?" he asked, "Y-yyeah, just have a bit of a sore throat" Theo answered jokingly as he rubbed his neck.

Theo had learned an important lesson, all life was important and deserves to be respected but in matters of life and death, his life was most important.

After about an hour, Theo had killed 13 goblins and 5 bats, improving his mana by 85, 65 from the goblins as each gave him 5 mana and 20 from the bats each giving him 4 mana, also he had found a green pebble from one of the goblins, it had a slight glow on it.

"Hey Prim, what is this?" Theo asked her, "That is a monster's mana core, it's a gem comprised of mana, you can use it to forge artifacts or consume it to improve your mana core" Prim recited, "How come I've only found one so far?" Theo inquired again.

"Because goblins are E-ranked monsters, they rarely drop cores but all magical beasts and monsters can drop them, the stronger they are the more likely it is that they have a core, and the bigger they can be, it all depends on their rank" Prim explained to Theo.

As they were nearing the decent point to the next floor they had killed hundreds of goblins and bats with no real injuries to any trainee of the garrison, as they neared the end of the first floor the mobs that were there were of hobgoblins and Acromantulas, all D-ranked monsters.

"What are those" Theo decided to ask Prim "The spider-looking ones are Acromantulas they are human-sized tarantulas, they can communicate with their mother up to 100km, and they have venom in their fangs that can paralyze someone for up to a day and can throw stinging metal hairs from their bodies, the goblin looking one's are Hobgoblins, they are stronger than the ones you´ve been fighting, they have their weapons you can identify them because they carry a weapon and their skin is gray instead of green" Prim answered.

Seeing the Acromantulas, "Looks like we're going into an Arachnids Lair" Everette said, "Are they strong?" Theo asked Ferdinand sounding nervous, "Most are E and D rank but with time they can grow as they can suck energy from most monsters," Ferdinand said as Theo swallowed nervously.

Everette then divided the garrison again, giving a front line that would cover them from getting bit or having their metal hairs land on them, Ferdinand was the most proficient in killing them with his fire abilities, as soon as he dropped one of them they open the front line and hit the body of the Acromantulas killing it before it could paralyze any of them, it was a pick off strategy killing them one by one, it was slow but it would keep them the safest.

After defeating the hobgoblins and the Acromantulas they took a rest before descending, It took them about 2 hours to clear the first floor, with no healers in the garrison, they had to care for any injured which took longer.

"Good work everyone, our teamwork is getting better, and as we did with the last mob we must be ready to shift quickly to suit the situation at hand", Everette said after resting they began their descent to the second floor.