At the gates to Acton, the merchant told us our escort job was over and to go to the adventurers to finish the quest and receive our money.

The guard asked us for our adventurer card to let us in. Compared to the security in Farsbarow, it was way more strict.

Ned asks one of the guards for directions to the adventurer guild since we weren’t familiar with this city.

The guard pulled out a map from his pocket like he had done this many times. Unfolding the paper, he showed us the layout of the city.

To my surprise, this looks exactly like those stereotypical fantasy cities, with it being a circle and having that same river running through the city like in many fantasy worlds.

The only difference was that there was a small split in the middle of the river that connected to a small lake in the center of the city.

The guard pointed at the small island in the small lake; he explained that was where the Dradevow dungeon was and near it was the adventurer guild.

After getting directions to the guild, everyone went to the adventurer guild in this town.

Walking through the city, as expected from a city, it felt way more crowded and dense. The people were way more bustling than in Farsbarow, with some looking to be in a hurry.

When we reached the adventurer guild after an hour of walking, I and the rest of the adventurers were amazed by the size. The building was about three times the size of Farsbarow, with an additional two stories.

Inside, it was as big as it was outside. The reception desks in the reception area are situated on opposite sides of each other, with 14 booths on each side.

Going into one of the reception desks, I received payment for the quest from the receptionist working at the booths and from the goblins.

“So, Nyx. Since we finished our escort quest, I’ve been wondering if you would like to join our party.”

Ned had asked me if I wanted to join their party, but given my circumstances, I couldn’t join a party because it would be way harder to hide my identity.

"Sorry, but I’ll have to pass, I prefer working alone. However, since we are going to stay in the same inn, I don’t mind working together.”

“I see, and what are you going to do tomorrow?”

“Explore the dungeon.”

“That sounds like fun. We are planning to take a day off tomorrow.”

After we were done, I went with Ned and his party to an inn recommended to Ned by one of the receptionists.

The inn was a 30-minute walk, and when we got there, it was a pretty decent-looking inn when you compare it to the other inns we passed by.

After paying for our room and unpacking our things, we went to a tavern next door to get something to eat and went straight to bed.

The next day, I went next door to the tavern to eat some breakfast. I didn’t see Ned and everyone else come; they all must be sleeping in then.

Going to the adventurer guild, I realized the city was big enough to get lost in, so I better remember the name and street of the inn I was staying at.

Luckily, I remember the direction back to the Adventurer Guild. When I got to the adventurer guild, I entered the building and noticed it was packed with adventurers.

I made my way to the quest board by weaving through the crowd of adventurers.

Looking through the quests, I wanted to take a quest related to the dungeon, so I picked a D-rank quest to gather 10 small magic shards.

When I was in Mables’s library, I read a book about dungeons, and from what I’ve learned, not a lot is known about dungeons, like their origins. But what people do know is that they are vastly different from the outside. The deeper you go down, the more abnormal they become, like cases of one flooring being a desert and the next being a forest.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Additionally, monsters work differently as well. When you kill a monster in a dungeon, it usually disappears and leaves a magic shard or rarely a monster part, like in video games.

After entering the quest at the reception desk, I went directly to the dungeon.

On the way, I bought a map of the first 10 floors from a street vendor.

When I saw the small island where the dungeon was, I crossed a bridge to get there.

At the entrance, I saw some heavily armed guards and a large metal door, likely to prevent any monster from getting out.

I also saw adventurers coming in and out of the dungeon.

Showing the guards my adventurer card, they allow me to enter the dungeon.

The first thing I noticed going inside was that it was like going inside a cave in a videogame but if it was in first person. Looking at the map, the layouts of the first 9 floors are like a maze, with the 10th being the boss room.

Walking deeper inside, I saw there were small orbs of light on the ceiling that lit up the big passageway and arrows on the sides of the walls, some of them being a different color. From looking at the map again, it also has these arrows. The yellow arrows show the main route to the second floor, while the blue one leads people back to the yellow arrow so people don’t get lost. I’m guessing this is probably done to prevent people from getting lost.

I was getting excited about stepping inside, and once I was sufficiently far away from the entrance, I encountered my first monster in this dungeon.

Three oversized rats came around the corner from a different direction. I don’t recognize them from the monster encyclopedia I read, probably because it only covers non-dungeon monsters, but they are on the first floor, so they should probably be weaklings.

I killed them without much effort and was surprised when their bodies turned all black like a shadow was covering them, then disappeared like ash.

Once they had fully disappeared, one of them dropped a small, clear crystal shard. I pick it up, examine it, and store it in one of my pouches. Good, I only need to get nine more to complete my quest.

Continuing to follow the arrows on the wall, it led me to a stairway where adventurers were going up and down.

It was the staircase to the second floor, and going down the stairs, I continued following the yellow arrows to the third floor.

I continued making my way down and fighting monsters on the way. I noticed that the number of times I encountered monsters had increased and that each floor introduced a new monster.

Once I was down to the third floor, I decided to wander off from the yellow arrows to see what it was like to explore a dungeon.

Compared to the size of the first and second floors, it’s double the size of the two.

I encountered the occasional rat monster, these bat-like monsters with giant fangs that started appearing on the second floor, and sometimes these dog-sized lizards on the third floor.

When I kill the lizards, I notice that they drop the same magical shard, and the frequency of drops is higher than that of the night rats.

Going by game logic, it’s because they are a more difficult enemy to fight, that makes sense I guess.

Once I finished collecting 10 shards for my quest, I went back to the surface and saw that it was afternoon when I got out.

There were still a lot of people when I went to the adventurer guild. I waited in line to turn in my shards to complete my quest at the counter.

“Hello, my name is Iris. How may I help you?”

Iris, that name sounds familiar. Oh right, isn’t she the receptionist Emma told me about?

“Hi, I’m Nyx. You know Emma, right?”

“Emma?”

Surprise, she asked if I was an acquaintance with Emma, giving a hidden meaning to the question.

"Ya, she told me if I need help, to come to you.”

“I see. So, how can I help you?”

After thinking about it for a bit, maybe I should ask where the library is.

“Ya, can you tell me where the library is?”

“Unfortunately, we don’t have a library, unlike in Farsbarrow.”

It’s a shame but I better start saving up then. Not sure how much a single book would cost me, but it would probably be really expensive.

“However, I can recommend you to a bookstore.”

“Bookstore?”

“Yes, it sells books at a decent price. However, the owner tends to open whenever they feel like it, so you can’t really expect when it will be open.”

“I see”

After turning in my shards to finish my quest and receiving the money, which was a large bronze and three bronze coins, I exited the guild building.

Outside of the adventurer guild, I was pretty disappointed that they didn’t have a library I could use, but Iris gave the location and name of a bookstore instead, called the Ash Thorn bookstore.

There was still daylight, so I followed the directions Iris gave me.

As I was walking, I was intrigued by the wide variety of shops mostly catering to adventurers, but they were all really expensive. No wonder this city is considered a bad place for adventurers who are just starting out.

When I got to the bookstore, as expected, it was closed. It appears that the owner isn’t here today.

I decided to go back to the inn because usually, a city is not a safe place to walk around at night.

Going back to my inn before it got dark, by coincidence, I encountered Ned and everyone else on my way back.

Oliver, noticing me, ran up to me first, followed by everyone else who walked. He said hi and asked how my day was.

“How was your day, Nyx?”

“Interesting, I went exploring the dungeon.”

“Oh, I see. What was it like?”

Oliver looks interested in hearing me.

“I just went down three floors and killed some monsters for a quest. I’m planning to explore deeper tomorrow.”

The monsters I encountered were weak and not that interesting to fight, so I wanted to go deeper to fight stronger monsters.

“So how about you all? What did you do all day?”

Since Oliver asked what I did today, I was curious about what they did today.

“We went around shopping, but everything was so expensive.”

“Ya, I know Ned. We better start saving up then.”

“If it isn’t too much trouble, can we join you in going into the dungeon?”

Thinking about it, it wouldn’t be too much trouble; I know that they can handle themselves in a fight.

“I don’t mind it Ned, but I’m planning to go deeper.”

“Okay then, thanks.”