Chương 5: The Dungeon

"How do you know so much about skills?" I asked.

"Though not as early as you, someone taught me about them from an early age. Higher-level individuals need less sleep, so I studied up while others were resting. Now, come on. Let's keep working on your breathing and running while we head towards the Dungeon," she explained. We left the inn before anyone was up. We had already paid for our room, so we didn't need to take any action before leaving. This day was much like the previous one, and eventually, they arrived at another inn in a small village.

This time, I had to work on the Meditation skill.

"Stillness is key. Think about blackness if you have to think about something and can't empty your mind. Even if you feel itchy or uncomfortable, don't move. Focus on your breathing. Also, tie this cloth around your eyes. It will help you avoid visual distractions," she said. I wasn't sure if I was improving, but I focused on the skill, not what my status would indicate. The numbers were distracting when I needed to focus on stillness and blackness. Even if I were curious, I wouldn't break the rules.

I kept my breathing steady.

"Justin," I heard my name and felt a nudge.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Time for bed. Off with the blindfold," Squire Jessica said. I took it off and settled down on the lumpy straw bed. The next morning, I asked my next question.

"How did my mother pick her Squires? I don't understand the title exactly either."

"Any adventurer who makes it to the Last Bastion at the 20th layer of the dungeon can request a mentor. As a supreme legend, your mother can take up to 3 Squires. She has taken a set of Squires previously. Last I heard, two are still alive. One remained in the dungeon, the other retired and serves as a royal guard. Just before Warlady Elena married and had you, she picked up the three of us. A Squire normally serves for ten years, and our time is almost up."

"And you do what she tells you? What do you get?" I asked.

"Within reason, we do whatever she tells us to do. In return, we get training in high-tier skills. For the last nine years, she mostly worked on developing specific high-tier skills and helped her fight in the war with Crownsmith. She had planned to use these three months to take us into the dungeon in pairs to push us up some more levels and breakthrough certain skills. But with the curse skill that has affected you, that has changed. Now, enough questions, time to run and breathe."

We arrived in the city of Burnstock that evening. Jessica skipped the line at the main gate, which was reserved for merchants and peasants, and proceeded to the other line for nobility and high-level individuals. She held up a small glowing metal plate that had been concealed on a chain, around her neck, and beneath her armor.

"Platinum Adventurer Jessica and companion," she declared to the guard stationed there. The peasants and merchants looked at us, especially me.

"Welcome, Adventurer Jessica. Do you have anything to declare before entering the City of Burnstock?" the guard asked. She didn't have to answer or say anything. It was more a question of whether she was looking to start a fight with someone. If that were the case, they would escalate the matter to someone of greater authority and arrange for the battle to take place outside the city, if possible.

"No. I am entering the dungeon," she replied.

"Then I wish you luck, Adventurer Jessica," the guard replied, and we entered the city with no more hassle.

"That easy?" I asked her, and she shook her head. My tutor said that cities were quite strict in monitoring who entered and exited, the same with the dungeon entrances located inside the cities.

"When you become a platinum adventurer, people don't ask many questions anymore. If it were your mother, they wouldn't even dare look at her. As for other legends, it depends on their renown," Squire Jessica explained. I followed her through the city until she picked out a nicer inn near the center of the city. After enjoying some fresh bread and stew, we went to a much nicer room than the ones in the previous inns.

"Normally, you need to be registered with the Adventurer's Guild to enter the dungeon, but as a Platinum Adventurer, we can skip that hassle." I nodded. It made sense. The Adventurer's Guild established and maintained the entrances to the dungeon and managed any wilderness monsters. They wouldn't let anyone enter who would die at the first monster they came across. But with Jessica, that wasn't even a question. She would flash her glowing plate and skip everything that was a hassle.

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"No more questions right now. Tonight, you are focusing on your Drawing Skills. I want you to draw me," she said, and got out blank sheets of paper and a pen. She made another light orb, and I got to work trying to draw her face. I felt each drawing was terrible, but I didn't give up or complain. Eventually, Squire Jessica told me to stop, and I went to bed, unsure if I had broken through with the skill. The next morning, she woke me up, and we had breakfast at the inn we were staying at.

Apparently, the higher-class places served breakfast. Once that was done, we made our way to a fortress at the edge of the city that was still inside the city walls. Squire Jessica flashed her metal plate, and we were let through without question. At the center of the fortress, behind several gates, was a staircase leading downwards.

"The wild entrances are a pain, along with the lower entrances. At least surface entrances don't shift. Stay behind me," she said, and I followed her down the large spiral staircase underground.

"Who made this?" I asked.

"A god? The System? Who knows? Maybe you will find out one day. Regardless, each layer or level represents five levels, with monsters and their corresponding individual levels, resulting in an increase of 50 in their total stats. So, the first layer, monsters are level 5, is perfect for you," she said.

"I need a weapon."

"Ah, yes. Here, I've got a sword and shield for you. We will start working on these skills while you adjust to the dungeon. If there is anything concerning, speak up," she said and pulled the gear out of her spatial pouch to hand to me.

"Yes, Squire Jessica." We continued our descent.

"The dungeon rearranges itself constantly. Hopefully, we can get you the Tier 2 skill Depth Sense. But it is finicky. For now, the plan is that you fight until you hit half in one of your reserves. Once that happens, we will take a break and have you work on a mental activity. Then once you are full up, we continue," she explained.

"That's it?" I asked. I was expecting something more.

"Kid, that is a lot. Trust me. Fighting is mentally and physically exhausting, even with your stats. I won't let you die, but I will not stop things from hitting or hurting you. So, you need to focus."

"Yes," I answered, feeling nervous.

"Don't worry. Even if there is an anomaly or something unexpected, I can handle anything on the 1 st layer."

"What about other people?"

"We will move away from this location. And someone recorded our entrance. Higher-level adventurers get priority as the Guild manages the number of people entering at once, so they don't run into each other. We skipped the queue, but that is one benefit of being strong."

"And can we get out?"

"Don't worry. Once you get Depth Sense, you can sense where the nearest paths to the layer above and below you are. We will avoid the path to the lower layer. They normally have guardians or champion monsters with twice the level of regular monsters on that layer."

"Where do the monsters come from?"

"Magic? No one knows for sure. I need to make sure you learn Monster Processing. Not the most glamorous of skills, but important if you want to make money in the lower layers of the dungeon. There isn't much value in the top layers, since everyone clears them of monsters trying to earn some basic coin, but improving the skill is important. The higher-level monsters have important body parts that are used in Alchemy and other professions."

There was a lot of knowledge to think about as we reached the bottom of the stairs. There was faint illumination everywhere with no specific light source. Even with the small bit of illumination, it was still quite dark.

"It is hard to see," I said.

"You will eventually get Darkness Vision. Learn to deal with it. The environment can get much crazier than some stone tunnels the deeper you go into the dungeon," Squire Jessica explained. We had entered a large stone cavern with multiple tunnels.

"That way," she said, and I followed behind her down one tunnel.

"The first layer, there aren't many traps. If I find one, I will have you try to figure it out so you can try to get the Trap Detection skill. Now, there are monsters up ahead. When you attack, don't hesitate. That is the worst thing you can do. Kill them and make sure they are dead."

"What kind?" I asked nervously, and she shook her head.

"You need to learn to face the unknown while it is still safe on the 1 st layer. Focus on trying to analyze the monsters, specifically weak points, before a fight, if possible." I advanced with my sword and shield in hand. In front of me were three humanoid rats about my size. They were only wielding short wooden spears with stone tips. Dangerous, but not overly so. Rushing forward, I slashed down at the back of one of the ratlings. It let out a loud squeal as it collapsed. My sword was stained red with blood.

I spun and slashed out, knocking away a spear tip and slashing the throat of another ratling. It stumbled back, gripping at its neck before collapsing to the ground with a spasm. My shield barely blocked the last ratling in time. I knocked the spear to the side with my shield and stabbed it through an eye socket. I felt sick as blood poured out as I freed my sword. Checking the first ratling, I found it was still alive. I stabbed it through the head and tried not to puke.

The guard captain had insisted I see an animal get butchered before training me. He then had me cook the meat. That was where I gained cooking skills and some initial crafting experience. But this was so much worse. At least these monsters were just things created by the dungeon for adventurers to face and not actual creatures or people.

"Good job on your first actual fight. Battle awareness will come in time, along with the development of more skills and skill levels. Especially Danger Sense. That is a good skill to have."

"I don't feel well," I replied.

"Don't throw up on me, but now it is time to harvest. I got you a harvesting knife. The most valuable part is the monster core. It goes up like the colors of the rainbow—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet like the class system. You need to sense the mana flow within the creature and dig it out. You are going to get dirty, accept it," she told me. I already knew most of this, but I wasn't about to tell her to stop talking. I was nauseous as I cut into the ratlings.

A tiny red bead was in a different location in each of them, and I needed Jessica's help to locate them. My Mana Sense skill was too weak.

"Are they always in a different location?"

"Yes, don't eat them either. Either the cores or monster meat. That is raw magic contaminated with the essence of the monster. If you ever see an adventurer with inhuman features, they did something stupid, like eating unprocessed monster flesh," she explained.

"Most don't survive."

"Got it. I am guessing these aren't worth much?" I asked.

"Coppers, kid, coppers. Core color increases every fifty monster levels, or ten layers in the dungeon. Indigo and violet cores are just a legend, mostly. But that is why some people say the lowest level in the dungeon is 34 or 35, since champion monsters are double level. I don't know, and it's not worth the mental energy to worry about such things. Focus on improving your skills," she told me.

"Got it, Squire Jessica," I replied without hesitation. I was curious about my skills and how they were increasing, but I wasn't about to break the rules Jessica had set for me.