Chapter 12

Siting inside of Alred's hut, I could wonder how many times did this guy fought against monsters to have such an impressive collection of heads.

"I presume you are wondering how many times did I fought against these beasts, am I right?"

"You are right about that, but even though I don't know the exact number, I'm fairly sure it's not a sport for you, it's survival of the finest."

"I'm glad you can understand my situation. We don't necessarily like to end the lives of other creatures but need to do it if we want to continue living. You see, most of the creatures inside this place were cursed, by the first gods to become mindless monsters that seek the flesh of the surface dwellers and while not many have managed to come this far, my people sacrificed themselves to scout the deeper parts, hoping to find something that would let us survive against the cold and any future threats. Thanks to our ancestors that rejected the curse, we didn't become monsters and we even managed to build a village inside this place, and at one point in time, it is said that there are others beings in this place that aren't cursed."

That's a lot to digest … so the dungeon was God-made, but for what purpose? Maybe a weapon or training ground for future generations? No, that would be too simple, and knowing how gods are, they wouldn't make something that could threaten their pitiful lives.

"Say, Alred, why would the gods create this place?"

"My father told me a legend when I was just a child, but even after fifty years, I still remember this story word by word. Would you like to hear it?"

"Of course, everything little bits of information would help."

"It's like this: Once upon a time, the six stars descend in our world with a lust for entertainment. The world cried tears of joy when those stars become beacons of hope for the weak, but that was just a false image created by them to gain followers. As the time passed and the bodies pilled, the stars showed their true colors and the ground opened. Rivers of blood flow as the stars were enjoying the show. The people were left at the stars' mercy until the gods' descended to fight the stars and stop the show. "

Quite an interesting legend, I could say and while it doesn't really tell me anything concrete, I believe those stars are probably the first gods to descend, and maybe those gods were sealed into the dungeons or even made into the dungeon by the primordial gods? If that's the case, then I'm still weak compared to the real gods and those that come here to entertain themselves.

"Not really a child story, but I hope it gives you something to think about it, after all, even the oldest elf in my village ain't older than 150 years old, so even he won't be able to tell you more than me, I'm truly sorry."

"Don't be, you already helped me more than you should have, after all, I was someone that invaded your home. Thankfully our first encounter didn't end up in an all-out fight."

"I agree with you. Truthfully speaking, I can't measure how strong you are compared to me, but I'm sure that no one on this floor could fight you as an equal."

"That's good to know, but that still doesn't tell me too much about the level of the monsters."

"Level? Ah, you mean the strength of a creature, no?"

"Yes, that's what I meant. Care to tell me in what category you and your people are? No wait, I'll explain to you the level system of the adventurer first."

Fifteen minutes later, Alred and I managed to create an exchange between his strength system and the level system of the adventurers

"I don't know if we use the same measuring system, but I can fight a Savage Furball (Yeti) and that thing has the strength of a level seven, at least that's what I believe, after your measuring system."

"Alred, earlier, you mentioned something about your people scouting the deeper floors. Could tell me what you have found?"

"We sent out three scouting teams and only one returned, heavily injured and with high casualties. Take it like this, we are born with a strength equal to that of a level two adventurer and for us to reach the average strength which is four or five, we have to face dangerous encounters that, most of the time are life-threatening. The scouts that I sent were all level five or six and only the level six managed to get back after going two floors. While the only new creature is a long centipede that can travel under the ice, my scouts told us that is somewhat a passive creature and will only attack if a creature approaches it, and then there's the problem of the savages' furballs. I also found that there are three types of them deeper into the dungeon: The ones that you can find on this floor and then a magic variant and a rarer one that can be tamed like my companion."

"Thank you for sharing all of this information with me. I hope to see you in the future, Alred."

"Good luck finding the truth about this place and don't die."

"I don't plan to do it, after all, I'm sure someone will bring me back to life, only to get beaten to death again."

___________________________________________________________

Special Thanks to : J. Koster for becoming a Warrior