Chương 59: A New Mission

"A mission?" Damion questioned. Sure, he was eager to try his new armor out and get back to making money so he can afford his next level of gear, but he was nervous. Ms. Teft was sure to give him a mission that would challenge him and right now, Damion just felt like taking a nap. After finishing the promotion test, Damion had taken Ms. Teft's training bracelets out of his pockets and put them back on his wrists and ankles.

This resulted in him feeling quite lethargic as he was tired from the test and the bracelets slowed his recovery. He already went from the Adventurer Association to Leland's shop and the next place he wanted to go was home.

"Yes, a mission. Though you can get a good night's sleep first," Ms. Teft said looking Damion over.

"What kind of mission?"

"The kind in a dungeon." Those words perked Damion's ears up. He did not think he would be able to go into a dungeon again in the near future, possibly not for years. The idea of being able to go into one again was quite exciting.

"One of the dungeons here in Saung?"

"No. This one was discovered in the Benault Forest."

"A new dungeon?"

"That is what the Adventurer Association is trying to find out. The Falks Guild member you captured a few weeks back provided the Justiciar's with quite the juicy piece of information."

"The Falks Guild?" Damion was now confused.

"Yes. The Falks Guild evidently discovered the dungeon shortly after the end of the beast wave that hit Bufort a few months back. And instead of reporting it to the Association, they have been trying to farm it secretly."

"If they found a dungeon, why would they call attention to themselves by attacking a trade caravan?" Damion asked. The guild's actions made no sense to him, and he had been struggling to understand them for some time.

"If you recall, the target of their raid was the portion of the caravan that belonged to the Adventurer Association. And one of the things they were transporting, was a containment unit."

"What is a containment unit?"

"Containment units are how Stable Breaches are moved. They take a great deal of mana to power, but they can safely move a dungeon from the wilds and into a secure facility in a city."

"I understand now, but what about the second attack? The one where Arica and I captured the guy with all this information?"

"That was just the work of their team leader. He was just stupid and greedy and thought you two would be an easy target."

"Okay, so the mission involves this new dungeon. What do we know about the dungeon?"

"Thus far, it has been cleared five times, so they are fairly certain that it is a dungeon and not a Semi-Stable Breach."

"Does the Association know how many times the Falks Guild cleared it?" Damion asked.

"No, but we don't think they cleared it too many times." Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"What makes you think that? They had knowledge of it for several months. Even if they only did it once a week, they could have cleared it a dozen times by now."

"Ah, I guess you don't know a key feature about Breaches. If you are above the magic power level of a Breach, then you can't enter it. Well, except for labyrinths."

"What? How would a Breach even know what your power level is? And why are labyrinths different?"

"The portal simply does not let you through if your power Rank is higher than the guardian's. This is why City's often have a several dungeons, and why higher Ranked dungeons are so important, since high Rankers, can't enter lower Ranked dungeons. A labyrinth is different because you always start at the lowest Rank and have to clear all the floors every time you go in."

"Well, that sucks," Damion blurted.

"Yes. Since high Rankers have a limited number of dungeons they can enter, it becomes harder to advance, and clearing the low Rank floors of a labyrinth takes a long time. Since we can't use our abilities easily in the regular world, it makes it harder to advance our cores."

"Because you can't exhaust your mana, it makes you slower to advance."

"Precisely. And this dungeon is E Rank. Most members of the Falks Guild are D Rank. Though knights can often be promoted by doing well on the test if they have a good enough artifact to boost their power when their real magic power is below the next Rank's threshold. Even with that it still makes doing the dungeon difficult if you can't form a proper team."

"Is that how Justiciar Mathis, who is a B Rank knight join us in a C Rank dungeon?"

"Yes, he passed his B Rank exam, but his actual magic power is below B Rank. In fact, most knights never reach the magic power of B Rank. They advance their knight rank through the use of good artifacts and exceptional combat skills. Though, Justiciar Mathis, I understand, is quite close to reaching the 10, 000 raw magic power threshold to be considered a real B Rank."

'10, 000 magic power was the threshold for B Rank,' Damion could not help but be shocked. He barely had 600 magic power, he had no idea that the difference in Ranks was so high.

"What about my team for the dungeon?" Damion asked when he regained his sense. He was not sure if Ms. Teft had put a team together for him or if the Adventurer Association had. Or if he was supposed to build his own.

"After a fashion. You seemed to do well with the Hoyt boy and young Ms. Miller. The Association will fill in the last two spots, expect them to be a healer and some other support mage."

"And when will I be going to this dungeon?"

"Tomorrow. I've already arranged with Daniel Hoyt for you and his son to take a ground car into the Benault Forest to the dungeon location. You will get to clear the dungeon once and after all the teams have cleared it, and assuming the dungeon does turn out to be a Stable Breach, then you will automatically have the mission to escort the convoy transporting the dungeon back here to Saung."

"Tomorrow," Damion repeated. He had just been made an E Rank knight and his first mission was to go into an E Rank dungeon. What was more, as long as the dungeon turned out to be a Stable Breach, he would likely be able to go in and clear the dungeon quite a few times, at least until his magic power reached that of a D Rank.

"Do we have to pay an entrance fee for the dungeon?" Damion asked. Sure, he had the gold to afford it, but he really did not want to spend any of his hard-earned coin.

"No. Since this is a new dungeon, the Association is insisting on purchasing all the materials your party gathers. Though they will only be taking a five percent fee of the total value."

"Well, that is something," Damion said happily. There was no telling what his share of the dungeon run would be. Having only done one run in the graveyard, Damion did not have enough experience to say if this new E Rank dungeon would award him more or less gold.

"What is it like in the dungeon? Do I need to prepare anything special?" Damion asked. If the dungeon had been cleared five times already, there was a good chance the Association could tell him what to expect inside and how to best prepare for it.

"This dungeon is set in a forest. The previous clear reports indicate Demonic Beasts inside are typical of forest creatures. Some docile, but the majority being predatory. One of the Demonic Beasts, you killed not long ago."

"What do you mean?"

"The grey wolf during your promotion exam. That was a Wind Wolf, captured inside the new dungeon and transported here for your test."

"You mean that was a Demonic Beast and not a Ferocious Beast for my test?"

"Precisely. Even though the association knows you went into a dungeon before, they were somewhat hesitant to let you enter this one without knowing for sure that you can handle a Demonic Beast. And I must say they were quite impressed. Killing it in one attack. Though, you might want to tone your power down a bit if you want to make good money from the dungeon."