2 Father!

Despite the range of injuries from bruises to fractured bones, it was still far from over for the two hundred or so who made it this far. A greater challenge laid ahead, the five steps of the illusionary realm.

It was a test of their willpower and mindset. It only took five steps to pass, yet each step meant another test. The five steps of the illusionary realm.

The first ten participants walked up to the first step and froze there. The crowd remained silent as they paid attention to the participants.

Each of the participants had a representative from the guilds to pull them away if needed. The guild members only had one task, which was to prevent anyone from losing themselves on these steps.

On these steps, each participant would face different illusionary realms, it might be one of greed where they become the lord of a town. One of lust where they are surrounded by alluring beauties from across the continent. It might even be the one of desire where they fulfill their ambitions without any sacrifice. A beautiful reality of glass.

Anything could happen, everything was in the mind of the participant.

Lose themselves and it would be no different from losing their mind.

In the end, only one of the ten passed the test. It was a middle aged man who was panting heavily whilst laughing aloud. The guild member in charge of the man passed him a token before returning to his position.

The participant sighed and awaited the results at the side. He knew well enough that even though he passed the test, his talent meant that he would only be a minor adventurer his entire life.

From there on, only one or two passed the illusionary realm each time and yet none of them were below the age of twenty. The guilds had a classified rule to determine the initial talent of adventurers.

Those at the age of sixteen are definitely apex geniuses, even known as peerless talent.

Those below eighteen years of age are first tier geniuses.

Those below twenty years of age are the average geniuses.

Those below twenty two years of age are elites.

Those below the age of twenty five are average whilst anyone who becomes an adventurer above that age would be better off being a mortal.

At this time, it was Klauw's turn.

As he entered the illusionary realm, he stood outside a castle's throne room, and it was pouring outside. He took out his Talon and started swinging it around his index, whilst walking up to the door. His steps were muffled by the sound of the blades falling from the sky outside as if they were being murdered in their sleep.

He slightly opened the throne room door with a gap large enough to stick his head in to peek. The first thing that caught his eye was a throne but it was not the throne that caught his attention. Knives. It was the most majestic thing that he had laid his eyes upon. All types of blades, each one was unique, and they were connected together to make a throne, a throne for him. There was no doubt to what he did next. Obviously he went to sit on it.

Without much difficulty, he passed the test as the guild members hurriedly contacted their respective guild masters in this town. The Sunset town might be small, but as expected, it was a town full of talents.

Klauw gained the admiration of the guild members present as they hurriedly contacted their guild masters. They had to be one step ahead in recruiting such a talent, he was bound to become someone who exceeds even their guild master, someone who becomes an intermediate tier hunter.

As Klauw stood there oblivious of what was happening, his peaceful phase of zoning out was interrupted by Drasnek and Loyde congratulating him for his performance. Drasnek concealed true intentions whilst complimenting Klauw. Behind him was Lorde with a smug look on her face which made Klauw take his attention elsewhere.

This had resulted in the hatred for Lorde to begin accumulating exponentially in Drasnek's mind. After all, it was Lorde's father, Lloyd, who had recruited him to be her guardian, but it seemed that even he could not stand her behaviour.

Along the outskirts of the town, a young man was lying down on the hill. His legs were crossed, his hair swaying with the gentle breeze. His mind was foggy initially, but one night was more than enough for him to sort out his thoughts.

That young man was Vildred and by the time he opened his eyes once again, he smiled towards the afternoon sun which he had forgotten about months ago. After some stretching, he returned home to grab some dry food and a bottle of water for the short journey.

He might have felt sentimental towards the village which contained his childhood memories, but today was the turning point in his life. He may only be thirteen years old, but he would never use that as a reason to fail Charlotte.

Following the map Charlotte gave him, he passed by lush bushes and tall trees that competed for sunlight. Occasionally, squirrels would be seen scavenging around for nuts whilst birds were perched on trees singing with their melodic voices. The forest was lively and Vildred enjoyed this serene environment.

It was Vildred's first time being free from the shackles of life, it was the first time he understood what he wanted. It was freedom. Not just that, he had a reason to live, to become a dungeon lord strong enough to be with Charlotte in these three years.

Approaching the dungeon marked on the map, Vildred noticed that there were no signs of life nearby. He had his own guesses at this juncture. Charlotte must have left this dungeon for him behind her father's back.

Knowing that Charlotte should have cleared the dangers nearby, he entered the ruins without the slightest fears.

"Hoot! Hoot!"

Hearing the voice of an owl from the dungeon, Vildred followed its voice and was doubtful as to what was going on. From what he knew, dungeons were supposed to be complex with many twists and turns to reach its core area.

However, the dungeon that he was in right now had only one straight path. One that led directly to the core area, the snowy owl awaited his arrival on a book, engraved on its feathers was the name: Veil

The core area was surrounded by some torches lit up with magical flames, providing dim lighting and slight warmth to the dungeon. Vildred hesitated for a moment, but still approached the owl upon seeing that it meant no harm.

"Did Charlotte call for you to stay here?" Vildred asked curiously, his body prepared to back off.

"Hoot! Hoot!"

"Charlotte, were you afraid of me forgetting about you?" Vildred mumbled to himself, a smile forming on his face.

In the three months he had spent together with Charlotte, she told him many things. About how she loves serene nature and animals, especially owls for their wisdom and her fascination over daggers which once saved her life.

It was also on that day that she made the promise to him, "From today onwards, I won't take a life unless circumstances force me to." That was on a starry night after they had gotten closer with each other, without her threatening him with her dagger when she got closer to him as they laid on the hill together, facing the stars.

In the first month, they were close friends.

In the second month, they could share everything about themselves towards another person for the first time in their life.

In the third month, it inflicted pain on them. It was also at that time that Charlotte shared her deepest secrets with Vildred. Three months of hours with each other, only for separation due to external factors.

And yet, their love story had just begun to unfold...

The owl might be incapable of human speech, but it was evident that Veil understood VIldred's intentions. Flying off towards the end of the dungeon, it used its legs to activate one of the buttons which opened up a path further down.

The gates divided to the side, revealing a flight of stairs that led to an underground area.

Veil then looked towards the book on the altar, its eyes suggesting for Vildred to open it up.

Vildred picked the book up and opened it as suggested. Words came alive as they spiralled around him, dancing around him like fireflies while glowing in the dark.

Before Vildred could ask Veil what was going on, he felt something trying to enter his mind against his own will.

[Decyclopedia]

Recorded within it was information of monsters he already knew of and details about them. Besides that, there was nothing else in the Decyclopedia for now.

No further explanation was needed, he just understood how the Decyclopedia worked. Most of the functions were locked until he had his first dungeon monster.

No wonder dungeon owners are capable of contending against humans! The solemn thought shocked Vildred. The dungeon owners had a system to guide them, management wasn't that difficult.

That was Vildred's mindset towards managing a dungeon for now at least, but reality was bound to prove him wrong.

"Hoot! Hoot!" Veil called again as Vildred walked towards the recently opened path, the book vanishing from his hand as it popped into his mind.

The book was a rare cultivation manual which allows him to cultivate dark essence without a limit until he gets stopped at the peak of the third tier.

In the dungeons, the dungeon owners are categorised into six different tiers as well. These tiers are respectively known as: Master, Lord, King, Emperor, Ancestor, Saint

To promote to the next dungeon owner tier, the requirements would be revealed to the respective dungeon owners when they reach the peak of their current tier. It could be as simple as taking over a territory such as a forest or swamp, or something such as getting a loyal servant a tier above them.

It was a coin flip and also the reason why most humans fail to promote further beyond the tier of a dungeon master. They were unable to gain the true loyalty of those monsters.

When he entered, he realised that it was an incubation room and that the layout for the dungeon has been reverted to its initial state. The path to the core area was now complex and even though the traps were disabled, he would be able to activate them once his dark essence reached the certain threshold needed to activate them.

Based on the information he sees from the Decyclopedia, there were eight incubators.

[Basic Incubators: (1/8), Intermediate incubator (0/1)]

"Did Charlotte leave behind a monster egg for me?" Vildred approached the basic incubator near the far end of this passageway with empty spots, possibly for more incubators in the future.

At this moment, he heard the sound of an egg cracking. From within, two eyes wide open were staring at him.

"Father!"

"New function of the Decyclopedia has been activated with the first monster joining your dungeon!"