Dungeon Unlocked

POV: Jeremiah

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Mission

Difficulty: E

Objective: Kill 20 Scarabs

Rewards: Randomized Uncommon Item

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Slash!

I watched as Blaire swiftly cut down the opponent in front of us. The violet patterns from her sword illuminated its surroundings and struck at each of the scarab's vital points. I couldn't tell what the sword ability she was using was, but it was certainly effective.

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Stamina +1

Enemy Felled.

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12/20 Scarabs killed

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Gael called out from the right, "That's another one! Only eight more to go!"

I let a satisfied smile manifest on my face and quickly opened my status window.

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Jeremiah

Age: 19

Gender: Male

Species: Homo Sapien

Race: Italian

Class: Defender (Rank F)

Stats: | Affinity:

Strength: 20 | Epic

Agility: 10 | Common

Stamina: 27 | World

Ability Control: 11 | Common

Pressure: ?? | Epic

Skills:

Shield Bash: (Rank F)

Proficiency: 26/100

Reinforced Block (Rank F)

Proficiency: 24/100

Lion's Roar (Rank E)

Proficiency: 22/100

Steel Wall (Rank E)

Proficiency: 7/100

Observers:

Nexus

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Not bad.

Lani sighed, "Thank goodness. I want to get out of this desert as quick as possible. It's hot!"

I glanced behind me at my group and let a soft smile arise on my face. "Let's take a break inside the temple for now."

Most of them nodded happily as the words left my lips.

Last night's sleeping conditions were fairly rough. There was only one bed on the First Floor so the ten of us had to split up the remaining blankets and pillows. Luckily, everyone was full off of Xavier's delicious golden crackers and was able to fall asleep relatively well.

My eyes moved to the temple. This was the perfect place to rest. The scarabs surrounded the outside of it, but the interior looked to be completely safe.

I threw the shield over my back and beckoned the rest of the group to follow me inside. Structures weren't exactly common in the Third Floor desert scene. So, seeing a beautiful red and purple temple in the middle of a sea of yellow was quite the sight for sore eyes.

I gently pushed open the stained glass door and a slow creak sounded from its hinges. The door itself looked like it was home to a Giant. The doors went nearly 30 feet high and left me with a slight feeling of inferiority and a much greater feeling of awe as I entered.

"Woah, it's beautiful." Aria echoed my own thoughts.

There was a thin black carpet rolled out across the floor. In the red and purple walls were scenes that would take a single artist decades to create. The room was surprisingly cool, contrasting starkly with the blazing heat from outside.

Ezra muttered, "Come on, we're so close already! Let's just kill the eight remaining scarabs and move on."

Ezra's personality perfectly fit a competitive speedrunner's.

Hazel almost spit back at him, "No way! This is the nicest place we've been to!"

I had to agree. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't mind staying the night here.

Lani walked around to members of the group summoning water as I explored the area.

It was fairly simple and there didn't seem to be much to explore. It was simply a large circular room with an extremely high ceiling. It felt like a mosque or perhaps an early orthodox church. As I strained my eyes, I saw an insignia laying in the middle of the floor.

I frowned and walked over to it. "Hey, Aria, can I see you for a moment?"

Aria perked her head up and bounded over to me, "What's up?"

I smiled and pointed to the insignia on the ground. "Ari, that looks exactly like your necklace! Do you know what it is?"

Aria dug into her shirt and pulled out a pendant. "Err- This was a pendant that my grandmother gave me. It was a symbol of her tribe."

I peered further into the symbol. It was made of crossed lines that appeared to be two humans on a wave. As I brought my hand close to the object, it glowed a soft violet color and a gentle warmth wrapped around my hand.

Aria's eyes widened as she saw the glow, "Oh! I just remembered what that symbol is! My grandmother told me that it means 'Brothers'."

I pulled back my hand and watched as the insignia's glow faded back to its original lifeless hue. "Brothers?"

Aria nodded, "The one I have on is the 'Sisters' symbol. It's slightly different. However, both of them should mean the same thing."

I looked at her innocent brown eyes and found myself lost for a moment. My voice trailed down as I locked onto the dark ring surrounding the whites of her eyes, "It means something?"

Aria smiled, "It means two brothers have recently been reunited."

I nodded, "In this place, I would take a sign like this seriously. I've seen more fiction than fact here."

I frowned, "Does anyone here have a brother?"

Aria put her finger on her chin, "Uhh, I'm not sure. We can discount Ezra and Blaire. No offense, but Gael definitely strikes me as an only child. I'm not sure about the rest."

Considering the description of the picture, it seemed that only the men needed to be taken into account for this. It wasn't a brother and sister after all. It was just two brothers.

Xavier didn't have any siblings like Gael. Kenji did have a half-sister but didn't talk about her much. That only leaves me left. Obviously, I knew that I didn't have a brother.

A weird thought came over me as I thought of our past leader.

I wonder if you had a brother.

I stared with a sense of longing at the 'brothers' insignia.

I miss you.

Aria seemed to read my mind and gave me a compassionate look.

I reached out yet again to touch the brothers insignia. This time, I went through and grabbed it.

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"I miss you too."

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A cold shiver ran down my spine as I read the contents of the screen.

I thought as loudly as possible.

Nexus! What the hell are you doing!? That's not funny!

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Nexus is responding...

"Innocent."

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I flinched as I read the response. He had a weird way of only speaking in single words. Over time, I had grown more accustomed to his language pattern. I still couldn't tell if he was genuine, ignorant, or if he was being dishonest with me entirely.

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Secrets of the Depths (Rank: Rare) Acquired

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As I looked at the notification, a sound manifested from behind me. The other people in the group quickly took notice as well.

I whipped around to see a passageway in the floor open up to reveal an underground corridor.

Ezra grit his teeth in excitement, "That's so cool! Let's go!"

As I saw Ezra flash past me, I quickly chased after him, nearly tackling to the ground when I caught up, "Wait!"

Ezra struggled to get out of my grasp, but I kept him firmly in place with a bear hold. "We don't know what's down there! Don't go running off by yourself

Ezra looked greedily at the door before ceasing his resistance, "Alright! Alright! Just let go of me."

I took a step back as he began to calm down, "Alright are yo-"

Ezra darted off and sprinted straight for the door.

My face crumpled, "W-wait!"

As I saw Ezra disappear into the darkness, I looked towards Hazel and Aria helplessly. "Alright let's go in. I'll enter first. Let's try to be quick so we can find Ezra."

After a few seconds of shuffling around, our formation was ready and I began walking towards the new entrance.

Ezra came out and looked devastated, "It's not that impressive."

I bit my tongue to prevent myself from saying anything destructive, "Alright, Ezra. Let's just go down and see if we can find anything after looking in detail."

Ezra held his head down like a puppy that had just been abandoned on the side of the road.

(AN: Please don't be that person.)

As I took the stairs down to the underground passageway, I realized that what Ezra said was true. The area was small and didn't contain much. However, what caught my attention was the number of small objects around me in the room. It was strange to see a bunch of junk laying about in what looked to be a tiny cellar.

I had a clue from the first floor though. I raised my hand and moved it next to the individual pieces of junk.

Aria took quick notice of what I was doing and followed suit.

As I tried my technique to no avail, I heard a soft whirring sound behind me.

I turned around to see Aria with an old rusted dagger in her hand.

The room shook ever so slightly and a message appeared in my retina.

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You have discovered a 'dungeon'

'Land of Peace'

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As a red portal softly made its presence known, an ominous feeling came over me.

I don't think this will be peaceful.