Dungeon

What are Dungeons?

Put, Dungeons are a gate leading to another world different from the human world. They generally contain a horde of monsters led by a boss and remain open until the boss is killed. Once the boss is killed, the Dungeon will stay open for about an hour before closing. If the boss didn't get killed one week after the Dungeon appeared, then monsters would start to leave the Dungeon and wreak havoc in the human world.

Just like it has been previously said, people risk their lives to clear the Dungeon because of money and fame; not everyone has good intentions when clearing the Dungeon, and everyone can see that. But in the end, it becomes justified, considering that they risk their lives to stop the monsters, so it is only natural for them to earn such a reward.

While walking, Ky's goal is simple: finding any nearby portal that would lead him to a dungeon.

Earn money and find a place to live; Ky's goal is as simple as ever.

'You know, now that I think about it. I want to journey worldwide to see what it is like.' Ky thought, 'I mean, from looking at the world map, the world has a clear big difference; I do wonder what sort of cultures they would have in different continents and countries.'

While that is certainly an exciting thing to think about for Ky, he knows that he can't do it, well, not yet. First, he needs to earn enough money before travelling the world, meaning Ky will stay in this city for quite a while.

'That aside, I wonder what my Augurium will be like? Considering I'm a Conceptual, developing or creating my Augurium would be harder than most.' Ky continued, 'They said it would be challenging to develop one, but I wonder about that.'

Augurium is like any other skill; some can learn it faster than others. Some can discover how to manipulate their mana independently without formally understanding it. This can be anything from inadvertently being able to use the basic techniques of Magic/Sorcery or unconsciously developing a unique Augurium that can be used without understanding how or why one can do so. The only condition they must fulfil is to have their mana vein awakened.

These individuals are typically known as "geniuses". Typically, geniuses of Magic/Sorcery are exceptional artisans in their fields, and their abilities are related to them.

However, Ky, conversely, can be concluded as an anomaly, a singularity of sorts. A man who is a genius among the geniuses, an individual so talented that he becomes a master in anything he does. He was learning how to perform the basic techniques of Magic in one battle, a time to learn less than a day, less than an hour.

By its nature, Conceptual Augurium effects are wide-ranging. Some Augurium with Conceptual affinity allows the user to garner knowledge that would be unattainable through other means, such as about past or future events. Others Conceptual Augurium has completely different effects.

If there is one thing Ky learned about mana and Augurium is that they are based on the rule of equivalent exchange. If you want to be more powerful, you either train for it for a very long time or you have conditions on your Augurium to increase its power or to make the Augurium feasible in the first place, whether because the user lacks the degree of skill otherwise required, or because the effects of the ability exceed what can be achieved with mana without a trade-off.

There are three general conditions types: Conditions Activation, Self-Imposed Conditions and Conditions Payment.

Conditions Activation, as its name implies, must be fulfilled before the user is allowed to use their Augurium.

Self-Imposed Conditions are conditions that the users put on their Auguriums intentionally to limit one Augurium so that it can increase the Augurium's effectiveness; they are conditions that can be broken; however, if they do, the users will pay the price that they set for doing so. The stricter the condition, the stronger the user's resolve, and thus the more their ability is strengthened.

While Conditions Payment conditions you need to pay for to maintain one Augurium. These conditions are deeply tied to the user's emotions, to the point of being implemented simply because they "feel right". Unlike the penalties that some limitations carry, they are not activated when a rule is broken and do not impair the user's Augurium but function as a limitation.

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But for Ky, what kind of Augurium will he develop? Saying that he doesn't know it would be a lie; after all, he already has an idea of how he wants his Augurium. the only thing stopping him from making it is, well, he needs to stop and train, but Ky knows that he can do that later.

'Only have one Augurium that only does one thing? That seems to be a bit boring for me.' Ky thought, 'I want to make an Augurium that does everything that doesn't restrict to my affinity. That would be much more interesting to have for me. But I must have all sorts of conditions to make it work in the first place, which would lead to one question. What would my conditions be? I think I already know what it will be.'

As Ky continues to walk, he suddenly feels something off coming out from his pocket and pulling the object that causes the feeling from his pocket. He sees that his Sorcerer ID card is now glowing, indicating a portal nearby.

"Perfect," Ky says while looking at the card before increasing the speed of his pace.

As he starts walking around the area, Ky keeps looking back at his ID card to see whether it is glowing brighter, so after five minutes of walking, Ky finally finds the location where the portal is currently.

"Well, I will be damned, a Dungeon located in some random alleyway, now that is quite lucky for me," Ky says before putting his Sorcerer ID card right next to the portal to let the ID card determine the rank of the Dungeon.

[Dungeon: Rank D]

"Rank D? Nice!" Ky says, "This should be a perfect tutorial for my Magic, and it should give me some idea of what sort of Augurium I want to have."

Without wasting any more seconds, Ky quickly enters the Dungeon. The moment he enters the Dungeon, Ky quickly notices something.

"The air... it's different." Ky says to himself before taking in his surrounding, "A cave, huh? How generic."

As Ky continues to walk deeper, monsters appear out from the cave deep, "Goblins? Why am I not surprised?"

As the first goblins jump toward Ky, he quickly intercepts the goblin by delivering a high kick right into the goblin's stomach, with the kick being enforced by Enforcar; the kick immediately kills the goblin, who jumps toward Ky, the latter of whom look surprises by the fact that it only takes one hit to kill the goblin.

"Huh, look like I am stronger than I thought," Ky mutters before turning toward all the remaining goblins, who look terrified by Ky, "Ho? it seems you guys are smarter than I thought, don't worry; this will be quick."

With a slight smirk, Ky showed no mercy on these goblins, and the only thing that could be heard from inside the cave was the sound of monsters screaming in pain that seemed to echo throughout the cave.

__________________________________________________

"Now, that was disappointing, and I cannot feel myself getting stronger. I can't even see any emotions killing you guys." Ky says while sitting on top of what seems to be a mountain of corpses made from the bodies of all the goblins he killed. "I guess I must challenge myself to feel something."

Standing up and jumping down from the mountain of corpses while looking around at the mess he makes, "Let's just hope the boss can offer something more exciting than this."

Making his way deeper inside the Dungeon, Ky continues, not even caring that he was leaving all of the monster's stones behind, something that would cost people a fortune to get them. For Ky, earnings money can come second after he clears this Dungeon, an experience that Ky feels more disappointed with the longer he stays inside the Dungeon.

As Ky continues to venture deeper and deeper inside the Dungeon, suddenly, the Sorcerer's ID card of his starts to beep, getting his attention and causing Ky to pull it out and check the ID card.

[Warning! The Dungeon rank has increased! The Dungeon is now Rank B!!]

[Two other Sorcerers have entered your current Dungeon!]

"Well, now, isn't that interesting? Not only that the Dungeon rank increases, but there seem to be two uninvited guests." Ky says, looking more interested than distorted, "Did the Dungeon increase its difficulty because more people enter Dungeon? That seems possible, but I never heard about Dungeon increasing its difficulty. However, this is getting more dangerous, and certainly out of my pay grade..."

The moment he finishes his sentence. However, Ky unconsciously moves his hand toward his mouth, covering it, while his entire body shakes" uncontrollably.

Was it out of fear that Ky started shaking? No, if anything...

"...Dammit..." Ky says, his voice shakingly as if something is threatening to come out of his mouth, "I can't stop this laugh from creeping up inside me...!"

When the Dungeon rank increases, an average person would immediately try to leave the Dungeon to save their own life. However, those are the thought of an average person, and Ky Kurenai is anything but ordinary.

After all, Ky knows that if he ran away now, he would eventually become stronger, but the thing is...

Ky also knows that fighting the Dungeon here will make him even stronger!

Ky Kurenai does not run away from a challenge!

He takes the shortest and the quickest way to become the strongest!

'If a man can't even put his life on the line, he can't become the strongest!!' Ky thought excitedly before continuing deeper toward the boss's room, not caring about the danger he would face.

And little does he know he has taken his first step to creating his own Augurium.