Chapter 102

Cynthia was in the shop with Destiny, and they were making the finishing touches on her new winter clothes. Meanwhile, Sera and Tanya were storing all the inventory, and double-checking their orders.

While they were gathering everything Zack walked in with Yu. All of them were picking up new clothes for the trip. On their journey to Tamiko's village, they learned they weren't properly prepared for the weather. Once they were changed Zack appeared in the shop, and not long after the rest of their group began to arrive.

"You nervous?" Kintaro asked.

"A little. I've only seen it from a distance after all." Alisha replied.

"I'm excited. They always warned us about approaching cities, but that just feeds the curiosity." Silas said as he approached Sera.

"Just don't wander off, and remember your promise," Sera said tugging at Sila's sleeve.

"I never traveled out of view of the mountain before," Thea turned back for a final look at the mountain.

"It's okay. We will be by your side the whole time" Rolen replied.

"Which wagon do you want us in?" Asad asked.

"Can you drive the other one?" Zack glanced at Kintaro.

Kintaro nodded as everyone left the shop gathering around the wagons. Rolen was handing pouches of gold to Silas, and the other elves to use in the city. Kintaro informed them that it was the most important thing in Blackreach, and with it, they would see no issues.

Before they loaded into the wagon Vicente came dashing from the array. He seemed worn from battle, but there was a smile on his face.

"Glad I made it in time," Vicente smirked walking up to greet Zack.

"How did things go?" Zack asked shaking his hand relieving him of the wounds.

"We managed to take all five dungeon hearts with little effort," Vicente replied.

"Then why were you covered in wounds, and out of breath?"Lilith teased.

"We were pushing deeper into the dungeons for resources and ran into some trouble. It wasn't from Invitucs though." Vicente said as they loaded into the wagons.

"Abominations?" Zack asked as they began riding down the road.

"Yeah something was already lurking down there, and the dipshits didn't know about it. Was a massacre waiting to happen, but we handled it thanks to the new weapons. You really have an amazing blacksmith." Vicente praised.

"What are the dungeons like? I wandered past one, but it seemed ominous." Ren asked.

"You saw one unmanned? Where was this?" Vicente investigated with excitement.

"It wasn't far from Eden. If you wanna know more answer my question." Ren retorted.

While they were traveling down the road Vicente gave them the basics. Dungeons are places radiating mana, and many creatures tend to be drawn to them. Deep inside were many floors housing a variety of creatures. The first floor was generally clear besides animals, or humanoids taking shelter. On the second floor was a series of hallways resembling a labyrinth that leads to a large structure in the center of a room resembling a heart.

These dungeon hearts were ancient structures forged to harness the natural flow of mana residing inside the dungeons. Once turned on it would draw from the mana vaults pumping the power through the heart. It would then flood the two floors around it with mana, and this would produce magic crystals steadily.

With this, you could harvest magic crystals at a steady rate instead of waiting for them to naturally form, but it came with challenges. The increase in crystals came with an endless wave of powerful enemies. The heart's power comes from the mana vaults in the deeper levels of the dungeon.

From these vaults form elementals that would instinctively drive humanoids away from them, but if you could defeat these elementals it would take time for them to reform. This allowed you to go down a level, and use the mana vaults to make powerful gems of mana. They were unique gems capable of storing the essence of a weakened elemental. These were worth a small fortune as they were used by expert enchanters to attempt artifacts or other mystical items.

At the end of each level was a large lever that would allow the heart deeper access to other vaults. This would produce better crystals and a larger quantity. The wealth to be gained in a dungeon was substantial, but it was filled with dangers.

With each level, the elementals grow stronger while your path to safety only grows farther away. If you weren't careful elementals could form on the previous level halting your escape. When retreating if you lost control of the new floors the lever would reset restricting the heart's access once again.

This is why guilds were well-trained militias and underwent vigorous training methods. No matter how strong the guild was they were always forced to retreat returning to the normal farming method. The reason for this is too much time in the lower levels had a dangerous side effect.

The mana vaults radiate so much power they can distort someone's body making them an abomination. They could become grotesque creatures overflowing with mana, and attack like a feral animal. Even a normal human with no talent in magic could give experienced raiders a serious fight when turned.

The dangers didn't stop there either. On a rare occasion, some creatures may wander. A spider could get lost when entering the dungeon, and the elementals wouldn't see them as a threat which would allow them to pass by without a worry.

Unknowingly they too would be affected by the mana, and morph in a similar fashion. The only difference is they would keep their animal behavior, and instincts. With the transformation came an increased intelligence, and some of them used it to return to the wild.

Producing offsprings was extremely rare, but when they did it would one day return to the dungeon instinctively. With this, the possibility of a double-side assault was possible while running the heart. This is why raiding dungeons was not for the weak-willed. Every day on guard duty could turn into a battle of life or death.

Most guilds hold the dungeons simply for the magic crystals produced naturally and block the tunnels to the lower levels to prevent this. This way they could focus on the assaults from other guilds, or abominations returning.

This was a crucial task for if the dungeon heart was ever destroyed you could only rely on magic crystals slowly forming every decade. This slow rate of farming is why guards were always stationed at a dungeon, and the reason they frequently rotated soldiers. Having a fully rested team on guard was crucial.

All over the world, the dungeon system is a crucial part of many societies. It was one reason the neutral territories saw so much conflict. The dungeons located there were the strongest ones, and even the treaty would allow skirmishes over them. The only restriction being angels, and demons couldn't kill one another during the conflicts.

It was rare to witness an angel participating in dungeon raiding, but in the event of them participating special rules were enforced. If they were to capture the dungeon by force they would have to release the captive after, and no one dared break this. Everyone knew if this rule was broken both factions would hunt them down.

"You mean I could fight all day, and still not run out of opponents?" Ren asked as her eyes lit up with excitement.

"Yes, you could. In fact, I wanted you to join us sometime, and even mentioned it to your man a few times." Vicente replied with a smirk.

Vicente arrived at the gates of Eden in a rush to journey to Blackreach for recruiting. By taking the new dungeons Cerebus was once again in the top three guilds of the southern kingdom. With the money from working with Zack, and a new increase in crystal output he could begin recruiting once more. Seeing Ren's excitement he thought he landed the best recruit of them all.

"Sounds like a great time, but your gonna have booze right?" Ren asked.

Zack began laughing from the front of the wagon clutching his side. He knew Vicente would attempt this one day, and he could imagine the look on his face at this moment. Vicente has witnessed firsthand how much she drinks, and it would break the bank. Vicente could only think of one possible solution.

'Maybe I should invest in a few fields . No way I could pay market prices with how much she drinks.'

"What was so funny?" Cynthia asked leaning against Zack.

Kaya glanced over pouting that she got the middle seat.

"Nothing just a random thought. Was convincing Ashleigh to stay hard?" Zack asked.

"Not really she was eager to train with Athlan. Thank you for helping my sister." Cynthia smiled at Kaya.

"No problem she's a talented kid. I imagine if you trained when you were younger you would've been the same. Waiting this long would make things difficult." Kaya stated.

"I'm capable with my natural abilities, but thank you for the compliment," Cynthia said while cuddling on Zack.