Portal World: Entering (Kat)
We all waited in line, queuing for the portal door that leads to the dungeon ground floor. Unlike the tower that houses adventurers with its' skyscrapers, our battlefields are believed to be underground. Although it has yet to be verified since the portals usually send adventurers to various spaces. Is it even earth, you ask? maybe. We don't know. But the dungeon ground floor where the badgers are, might be.
Soon enough, its' our turn to enter the portal. I had enough time while we wait to prepare several empty bottles, buy some poisons and potions from the wandering merchants near the waiting area "lobby". I did not plan to use all my money to buy these stuffs, but it can't be helped since I do not want anyone to know how and where I usually make my poisons.
"Team Leo, you can now enter for your quest" The guard roars while looking at his report with the system monocle.
The world now runs and operates on what we called the world systems. It gives out reports and notifications, and you can view all that with specific tools developed by the world system researchers. That monocle is one of them, just like our blurry wristband that we got for free when we first register as an adventurers. While our wristbands only show our level and our kill count, the monocle could display more intricate and complex information since it is bounded to the user.
Rookie team #37563839
Team Leader:
Leo Stansfield (Level E2) Beastification
Team Members:
Katarina Steel (Level E1) poison master
Scarlet Night (Level F9) fire magician
Gabrielle Bright (Level F8) mind control
Raphael Bright (Level F10) priest
Rookie Team Quest: 1000 badgers
Hidden Indv. Quest: Available
The guards' eyes widen as he scanned through our names. He tried not to show it, so noone noticed his split second reaction.
'Interesting combination' He think inwardly. It's rare to see such balanced rookie team. You'd think the mind controller would be the leader, but it's the beast? does this mean the mind controller is weak? It can't be. She's from the Bright family, they produced many high level rankers so far. It must mean the whole team's mind is extremely strong that they are not affected by Ms.Bright's mind control.
He is not wrong. Gabrielle Bright might be from the prominent Bright Family, but as of now, she probably is the weakest in the team. Her mind control is yet to be strong enough to be an attack towards her enemies. She knows this, hence she is relying in her physical stats and her brother's buff and blessings to get through for now.
Leo confidently step into the green portal, the others slowly follow suit. As the last person to enter, I took a deep breath to encourage myself to take a step in. Suddenly a hand grabs me. I stopped and turn just to see the guard looking meaningfully at me.
"Katarina Steel. I was a member of Arcadia Tower. Orders from above is to help you if possible. While I don't think you'll die in this low level dungeon quest, take this pill if you think you're in grave danger" The guard said hurriedly while handling me 2 small clear bottle full of pills.
"What? what do you mean?"
"I can't tell you anything else. But I will tell you this. There is a hidden individual quest available in this dungeon. Find out what is it, it will help you tremendously. I can't help you much. Find an Arcadia tower affiliates if you need help, and show them your last name. Other than that, it'll be best if you hide your last name. Now go" The guards suddenly pushed me into the direction of the portal.
Stumbling, I can feel my surrounding wraps and twisting quickly. In an instant, I crashed to the ground covered with grass as far as I can see, so I know it's definitely inside the portal. I sat there with my confused mind, trying to process what the guard just said. Looking at the pills inside these 2 bottles, one is red and one is black. With no labels attached, I wonder what kind of pills are these.
'Since the guard said it's for dire emergency, let's just leave it for now' I think to myself, trusting the guard a little
The next thing I need to think about are several things, so I quickly make a list to sort out my thoughts:
1. There's a hidden individual quest. I need to find out what mine is, before the others found out theirs.
2. When in need of help, find Arcadia tower affiliates.
3. About my last name, only reveal it to Arcadia and hide it from others? but why?
I ponder for about 10 minutes, but realized there is no point of thinking about this if I can't get out of here or worse, died here. So with several things on my mind, I decided to focus on my quest first.
"Let's just find a way to kill 200 badgers and find out my hidden quest" I said out loud unknowingly.
"Hidden Quest?" a voice come out from my right.
I stand and turn around so fast just to see my team leader's face, Leon. His brow knits and looked at me questionably
"Huh?" I ask back, pretending to be confused by what he just said
"Did you guys heard what she just said?" Leo asked the other team members
"She said 'Let's just find a way to kill 200 badgers and finish my quest' right?" Gaby said innocently
"I think so? well, she is eager to leave our team that's for sure" Scarlet adds
"Ugh, if only my mind control is strong enough to bound her" Gaby cries,
"Enough. Let's just leave her alone and see if she could survive the badgers" Leo said finally
Raphael suddenly walks toward Leo and whispers to his ear
"I put a curse spell on her. Once she finished her 200 badgers target, she will be weak enough to be mind controlled by Gaby"
hearing this, Leo nods.
All of them turn and left, leaving me alone.
'Luckily it will take some time for me to fulfill my 200 badgers target. For now, they won't hurt me. After all, the quest has a minimum of 200 badgers goal for each member with a total of 1000 badgers. If I died before i reach 200, the members have to hunt 50 more to complete that quota'
'I have to be careful after I reached 200 though, I was stupid enough to let the word Hidden Quest slips out loud. I should not be careless here, I must keep track of my surroundings of all time' I sigh.