Dungeons?

Vergil walked into the kitchen and was greeted with a plate of Fenian's "famous" meat stew. "You sure like meat stew don't you Fenian?" Vergil said as he sat down to enjoy his meal.

"Yeah, my grandparents used to make it all the time when I was little. I still remember those winter days where I would come back from...somewhere…and enjoy meat stew."

Vergil chose to ignore that Fenian didn't mention where he had been coming back from and instead said.

"So Fenian, what are you going to do about the wolf fur back in the wolf camp?" Vergil asked this since Fenian seemed to be very intrigued by the storm wolf fur before he got injured.

"Oh speaking of, Vergil, I'm going to be out of the house for a bit," Fenian said as he took a big mouthful of meat stew.

"Really? What for Fenian?"

"I just need to contact some people from the city so I can sell and bring the wolf fur into the city," Fenian said as he took a piece of bread and dipped it into the stew.

"So, in the meanwhile, I'm going to…*gulp*...I'm going to need you to take care of the house for a while," Fenian said as he gulped down on a piece of bread and stew.

"That's fine and all but, are you sure you should be out and about when you just had a life-threatening injury?" Vergil said as the thought of Fenian's wounds were still fresh in his mind.

Fenian finished the last bit of his meat stew with bread and said, "Yeah, don't worry about me. That medicine you gave me is a super effective "Red Potion."

"A Red potion? Is it supposed to be some sort of "instant heal" sort of item?" Vergil said as he also finished up his meat stew with bread.

"Kinda, It doesn't instantly heal you but boosts your bodies natural healing to the extreme. That's why it's suggested that you only drink one for emergencies as drinking too many of them can cause immense damage to your body." Fenian said as he went over to the sink to wash his dirty bowl.

"There are also "Blue Potions" that regenerate the magic inside your body and there are also "Green Potions" that boost your stamina. All of these are made by the alchemists guild and distributed to adventurers and the public."

"Alchemist guild? Like people who do alchemy?"

"Yeah, there are also two other ones known as the adventurers guild and blacksmith guild. Although they all do vastly different things, they all follow a basic ranking system."

"A ranking system from what to what?"

"Well, most people start as the "wood" tier with only the best of the best making it to the top which is commonly known as the "diamond" tier.

"Are you in any of those guilds Fenian?" Vergil said as he also finished his meat stew with bread and made his way over to the sink where Fenian was.

"I was, but only for a short amount of time."

"Why's that?"

"Well, I decided that being an adventurer was a little too hard for me and instead, I took over my grandparent's lodge."

"Being an adventurer was too hard? What did you do to make you come to that conclusion?" Vergil said as he finished washing his bowl and dried his hands with a towel nearby.

"In the adventurers guild, you have missions. These missions usually involve killing random monsters or creatures that pop up throughout the city or the city's outskirts.

Although the wolves you faced were easy, they were nothing like some of the monsters that adventurers have to face."

Vergil put the towel back and handed it to Fenian who had also finished washing his bowl. Vergil then thought back to some of the games he had played where there were dungeons with boss monsters and the like. These thoughts made Vergil wonder about something and so he decided to ask Fenian about it.

"Hey Fenian, are there such things as "dungeons" in this world? You know a place where random monsters roam about with the strongest one usually being at the end."

Fenian dried his hands that were wet from the water used to wash the bowl and said, "Yes, as a matter of fact, those are common."

"Wait really? Does the adventurers guild mainly offer quests regarding those dungeons laid about?" Vergil said as the thought of dungeons being in this world intrigued him.

"Yeah, mainly they offer quests regarding dungeons because of a certain reason."

"Reason? What other reason could there be except for the fact that they are common and help people get stronger."

"Well, you see Vergil, after a certain amount of time, if the dungeon is not completely cleared, all those monsters inside are immediately bolted out of the dungeon and are brought into the outside world, where they wreak havoc upon anything they come into contact with."

"So that's why...They eventually come out of dungeons. Hmm, does anyone know who created or makes these dungeons?"

"Well, kind of. You know how there is a bunch of different [Jobs] right? Well, A couple of thousand years ago, a group of people with very specific jobs known as [Ultimate Summoner] and [God of Sealing] along with some miscellaneous people with the [Builder] job, created the dungeons. The summoners would summon random creatures into different huge structures made by the builders and the sealers would seal these structures so that the monsters within couldn't escape."

"Hold on, if the sealers sealed these structures, then why and how are monsters able to escape? I mean you said this was done over one thousand years ago, right? I mean, if you say they're so common, why didn't people just go inside them or destroy them from the outside? And did monsters always escape from these, or did this start happening recently?" Vergil said as he bombarded Fenian with questions.

"Alright alright, let me answer what I do know. Firstly, people couldn't destroy the dungeon from the outside or go into them until recently. Before then, there have been many recorded records of people trying to break into these dungeons or go inside but no matter what anybody did, nobody could break into them. The records for how these dungeons were made and when exactly they were made have all been wiped from history. Not only that, but the [Ultimate Summoner] job and [God of Seal] job are almost so impossible to get, that some people say they are just made up."

"If they're made up, then how did people find out about them?"

"People found out about those two jobs because of a historical record from over a thousand years ago. The only records that still exist from one thousand years ago are the records of someone's diary that worked around the people making the dungeons."

Vergil listened to this and his eyes almost popped out of his face. "That's...that's impossible. How is it that the only historical records that remain from that period is a diary from someone? How did all that history get wiped away? Also, why is it that although all the history was seemingly deleted, why and how did one diary manage to make it through?" Vergil said as new questions surfaced.

"Listen, Vergil, I'm not a historian alright? I don't know much about why or how these dungeons were made. All I know is basic info provided by the adventurers guild and other info that people provided to me while I was adventuring. All that other info you want can only be found in old books or by asking a historian directly. Once you get into the city, you can ask them all you want and you can also go to the public libraries and check it out for yourself." Fenian said as he made his way past Vergil and into the corridor.

"Now, if you excuse me, Vergil, I need to start preparing for the travel to the city."

"Wait, Fenian!"

"Yeah?" Fenian said as he looked at Vergil.

"Can I come with you? I mean, I know you tasked me with protecting the house and all but, we're in the middle of a forest and I haven't seen any other intelligent beings besides you. Don't you think the lodge is already safe enough by being this secluded?" Vergil said as he tried to convince Fenian to take him along to the city.

"Well, although you are right...I still don't suggest it."

"Why not Fenian?"

"The people in the city can be a little bit...racist," Fenian said as he made a strange look almost remembering something.

"Racist? What do you mean racist? Do they discriminate against other races?" Vergil asked with a confused look.

"Yes, although it's not very obvious sometimes, especially if you're in the adventurers guild were all sorts of races reside."

"Alright, but how do they discriminate if it's not very obvious?"

"You see, most of the people that reside in the city are humans. Humans in this particular city are very much full of jealousy. They are jealous of how most of the other races get a natural boost meanwhile they don't get any particular kind of boost. They are especially hateful of Elves who have both natural good looks and natural affinity to magic."

"Cool, but how do they discriminate?"

"Well, due to this jealousy, most store owners or even sometimes most political officials will make laws and rules that make the lives of other races besides humans more difficult."

"How so Fenian?

"I think It's better if you see for yourself once you get into the city. Although I still don't want you to go just quite yet, I won't stop you."

"Hmmm," Vergil said aloud as he thought about what to do. He could go to the city and get answers for some of the questions he had been wondering about. Or, he could stay here at home and practice more until he got his second weapon form.

Vergil after thinking for a while finally made a decision. "Alright Fenian, I won't go just quite yet. I'll get strong enough as to where I can defend myself against most people and then I'll go to the city. Does that sound good with you?"

"Yeah, that sounds good. Anyways, I should start packing now, if you need anything I'll be in my room for a bit." Fenian said and then left to his room leaving Vergil alone in the kitchen.

Vergil had decided to stay because he wanted to unlock the second form before anything else since it sounded like it would a ranged weapon which Vergil desperately needed right now.

He wouldn't necessarily get the second form as of right now though. The reason being that he couldn't afford even the most basic gun which cost 300 SP. Right now he only had 100 SP and no new quests had popped up from the system.

"Speaking of SP...Yo system, why didn't I get SP from killing those fire bears?" Vergil asked as he suddenly remembered about the fight he had earlier with them.

[The reason being...They weren't anything special. They're quite common in these forests. I only give out SP if you kill something unique or special like Variants. Something that stands out and is different from the rest of the species is bound to give you SP.]

"So that's why I didn't get any SP from them. I should've realized that you only gave out SP from missions or killing special monsters/creatures when I didn't get a single SP from all those wolves I killed."

Vergil then remembered something else that had been bothering him for a while now. "Hey system, where you the one that made me throw up when I almost mentioned you to Fenian?"

[Yes, I'm not sure if you know Vergil but the secrets of the system can only be revealed to YOU and none else. I was nice and made you throw up before you mentioned me, but I could have been "mean" and just paralyzed you for a few hours, leaving your friend to slowly die.]

Vergil realized that the system was serious about that last part and so Vergil decided to make a mental note and never mention the system to anyone else. After that little discussion with the system, Vergil made sure the kitchen was clean and then made his way outside, where he would start his daily training from now on.

--END--