The clerk spent several minutes going through the positions that she felt would suit the new arrival best. She based her choices on the information contained in the young woman’s file, but nothing the clerk mentioned was of any interest to Isa.
Network security was obviously off the table for a new citizen, especially one coming from the Empire. But nothing really piqued the young woman’s interest… until the clerk mentioned the option of becoming a Dungeoneer as almost an afterthought.
“Dungeoneer?” Isa asked.
The clerk looked at the newly emancipated adult with wide eyes, suddenly remembering the specific event mentioned in the girl’s exile paperwork.
“I don’t suppose the anomaly you explored was a dungeon? The excuse they used to exile you would make a whole lot more sense if that were the case,” she said as she reread the information in Isa’s file.
“It was,” Isa stated.
“Well, if that experience didn’t scare you away, becoming a Dungeoneer might be a good fit. It’s a new category that’s still being established, so there aren’t a lot of them,” the clerk said. “Normally, you’d have to be eighteen to pick a role with a higher danger rating, but since you were officially emancipated before your arrival, I can waive the restriction. Only if you’re absolutely sure that’s what you want, though,” she added, looking at Isa closely.
Isa nodded and quickly began filling out the paperwork required for the new job assignment. Once that was complete, Isa was given the option of living on the surface or in an advanced underground city. Curious about the second option, she chose the latter.
Her decision made the friendly, mind-reading clerk smile widely.
After leaving the office, the clerk handed her off to another individual and wished her good luck. Isa was taken to a large elevator that led deep underground before opening into a well-lit tunnel. It took several minutes of walking to reach the end of the tunnel, which opened into a huge space reinforced with an enhanced lattice of mixed materials on the ceiling.
Horizon City was huge, extending beyond her enhanced visual range. The sight caught Isa by surprise since any hints of such a massive underground structure had been completely shielded from the satellites monitoring the isle of exiles.
The clerk had not been exaggerating when she described Horizon’s civilization as more advanced than the rest of the world. Had she not known better, Isa would have thought some of the technologies she saw were manatech – fusions of technology and magic.
But she did know better. However, that just made some of the things she saw all the more amazing.
Isa’s head had constantly swiveled back and forth as she took in the sights around her, marking her as a new arrival. The person assigned to escort her found the young woman’s reaction amusing, though it wasn’t an unusual response.
Almost everyone entering the massive technological feat for the first time reacted similarly.
Tall buildings stretched from the floor to the ceiling in several places, most of which were connected by bridges forming web-like elevated walkways. The buildings likely served as reinforcement for the lattice, considering how massive the space was.
Isa eventually made her way to a residential building where she was given a comfortable, albeit small, room before being taken to meet some of the people involved in her new ‘field.’ Several dungeons had already been discovered across Horizon, and this was the group spearheading their exploration.
It was perfect for what Isa wanted to accomplish.
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“Are you ready to go?” a young man with long, curly hair pulled back into a bun asked after knocking on the open door leading to Isa’s new accommodations.
Just over a week had passed since her arrival, and she’d spent most of that time training with her new team. A week wasn’t nearly long enough to get used to working with a new group, especially since most of her training was related to shooting weapons instead of practicing with magic. But her new teammates were nice enough, though more than one comment had been made about how young she was.
Everyone who wasn’t brand new had already gained a few levels from their initial surveys of the dungeons, making her the lowest level out of the group. That was fine, though. Isa was still ahead of everyone, given her advanced racial grade.
“Lead the way,” Isa said with a smile as Jamie, the team’s Healer, blushed lightly. The native Horizian was only a few years older than Isa, though his behavior made him seem quite a bit younger. Of course, while Isa was only seventeen years old in body, her metaphysical mind was older than all the people of Horizon combined.
“Dion wants us to meet at the armory,” Jamie said as he glanced at Isa’s form-fitting under armor. Though it was more revealing than she would have liked, it was a necessity for the armor she was assigned by the city. She could have worn something over the bodysuit until she got to the armory, but the former goddess didn’t care enough to bother.
“You brought your focus, right?” he asked, referencing the runed wand she’d made out of some of the material she’d taken from Sumar.
Isa hadn’t informed the others of her spatial storage yet, though it was hidden in the thin backpack she wore. She didn’t want to give too much away, especially with how new magic and the system were. It also wouldn’t do for her to display too much magical prowess right from the beginning.
“I have it,” Isa said, motioning toward the bag. “And it’s called a ‘habetis.’ That’s the term for a magical item with an embedded or enchanted spell.”
“Hmmm,” Jamie hummed. “I’ve never heard that term before. I thought all magic wands were foci?”
The former goddess shook her head. “No. Foci just strengthen the magic cast through them. They don’t contain actual magical effects.”
“I’m so jealous that your class came with knowledge on how to make stuff like that,” Jamie lamented as he equipped his armor after drawing it from the armorer. “Do you think you could teach me how to enchant stuff, too?”
“Sure,” Isa said agreeably as she collected the modular armor she’d been assigned from the quartermaster. It wasn’t quite a mecharmor like she’d used during one of her early lives, but it was pretty close. The armor even had accessory slots that worked to hold her wand – not that she’d likely get to use it.
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While Horizon was a lot more progressive than the Gentrius Empire, the Dungeoneer teams still primarily relied on technology and weapons to combat the creatures they encountered. Eventually, that would change, though it probably wouldn’t happen until the threat exceeded what technology could counter.
“Alright. Finish your checks, and let’s head out. We’re going to a new dungeon that was discovered on the surface,” said Dion, the team leader assigned to the large group. “Nobody has explored it yet, so we have no idea what to expect. It’s nothing most of us aren’t used to,” he added, grinning at the team in comradery.
Ten people were far too many for a basic dungeon exploration, but Isa understood their desire to be safe. Eventually, they’d grow comfortable enough to reduce the groups to more manageable levels. Whether that would happen before or after they embraced the potential of magic was a different issue.
The trip to the surface went smoothly, but looking out of the vehicle as they traveled was a bit jarring.
Everything looked so mundane compared to the advanced city below. Even the vehicles they used were older ground-only models that had been popular across Gentrius a couple of decades prior, back when anti-gravity was still a nascent technology.
Thankfully, they were well-maintained and got them where they were going easily enough.
“Are you sure this is a dungeon?” Milo, the Ranger and quasi-scout, asked as he eyed a hole in the ground several kilometers outside the surface city. It had taken a while to navigate the untamed terrain, but they’d managed it without issue.
“I’m sure,” Dion replied. “The blessing I got from Lord Eritt makes it pretty obvious.”
As the team leader of a dungeon exploration team, Dion had volunteered to become a follower of Eritt, the Dungeon God. It was a new thing, so the others were waiting to see how things worked out before taking the plunge themselves. So far, Dion seemed satisfied with the decision.
“So, we just jump in?”
“Let me go first,” Dion said. “I’ll go in and come right back out to let you know how entry works. If, for some reason, I don’t return in five minutes, send Escobar in after me.”
Isa had entered plenty of dungeons that had horizontal entryways, so she knew the transition was a bit awkward. Coming out was worse, but knowing what to expect made a huge difference.
“We should step back, just in case there are some oddities with his exit,” Isa suggested, knowing the team leader would simply appear next to the portal when he exited. Nobody questioned her recommendation since they’d already learned how smart the young Spell Crafter was.
After he reappeared next to the portal, Dion said, “Okay, that wasn’t too bad. I didn’t see any mobs inside the arrival room, so we should be good to go.”
After one last check of their equipment, the team leader gave instructions on the order of entry before turning and jumping back into the dungeon. The rest of his team followed, with Isa being placed roughly in the middle of the line.
Like most dungeons, this one appeared to have a safe zone around the entrance.
Various vined plants were growing along the outer walls, but nothing came close to the arrival platform. The walls looked like hardened dirt instead of stone, so one of the people on her team sent a plasma bolt into a nearby wall to test it.
The complete lack of damage revealed the walls were much sturdier than they appeared. With the testing complete, Dion stepped off the slightly elevated platform and placed several items on the ground.
“According to Lord Eritt, it’s a good idea to provide offerings to dungeons, especially when they are new. It helps them to filter mana more effectively by providing more blueprints for them to use,” he said by way of explanation.
On the ground were several coins of various metals, some charcoal, a variety of fruits and vegetables, and an older phone that predated the current network being used within Horizon.
Isa and the others stepped around the offering and formed up by the tunnel leading out of the small cavern. When she looked back, the items had already disappeared.
The dungeon was small, and the group had to split to comfortably fight within the cramped rooms. The porter stayed in the back since he wasn’t an active combatant, though he did carry a plasma pistol on his side, just in case.
The group stayed together and rotated fighters between each encounter, allowing everyone to gain experience.
The mobs were dire rats, which only meant they were significantly larger and stronger than normal rats. Each reached about knee height, which was massive for a rodent. Isa didn’t see any other mobs in the dungeon, so she assumed it was too new to have obtained any other blueprints yet.
Their weapons were more than enough to handle the weak mobs, though Isa knew that would not always be the case.
Plasma weapons were particularly effective against the feral creatures, though projectile rounds also worked. However, the small bits of metal didn’t do nearly as much damage per shot as a blast of concentrated plasma.
Because of how few rooms the dungeon had, Isa only got to fight a handful of times before they reached the boss at the end.
Unlike the dungeon on Sumar, this one didn’t have long, winding hallways connecting each room. Where the Sumar dungeon was like a mine with carved-out rooms, this new dungeon was closer in style to a building, with each room separated by a near-indestructible wall.
As they progressed, Isa scavenged a good amount of material that was left behind by the team’s harvesters. Unlike the porter, those assigned harvesting roles were still active fighters. Harvesting was more of an additional duty that three members of the group performed while the others kept watch.
Isa had volunteered to help, but her assistance wasn’t needed. Dion still let her go behind the others and scavenge once they were finished since she’d explained that her class required material to enchant. Everyone on the team knew the gist of everyone else’s abilities, so there were no complaints about her actions.
Nobody noticed that she collected far more than should have been possible to store in her thin backpack.
It helped that the mobs were rodent-type creatures, and nobody saw much use for the materials left behind aside from the cores. Had the dungeon used something other than rats, that might have been different.
Though they hadn’t figured out how to use cores yet, Dion knew from his connection to the Dungeon God that they were worth collecting.
Instead of adding something unique, the boss was just a bigger version of the rats they’d encountered throughout the dungeon. It didn’t put up much of a fight against the team’s weapons.
Plasma rifles and pistols were just too overpowered for weak, unarmored E-Grade creatures.
“What did we get?” Milo asked as Dion opened the chest that appeared once the boss fell.
The harvesters were busy extracting the mana core from the boss and its minions while the rest of the large party maintained a perimeter just in case new mobs spawned, but everyone paused to look toward the team leader as he answered.
“It looks like the dungeon already incorporated our offerings,” Dion said with a complicated expression as he held up a handful of mixed coins. “I’m sure Jenkins will be interested to hear how quickly dungeons can adapt.”
“Didn’t the Dungeon God tell you that already?” the Ranger asked.
“He never expressed a timeframe.” The team leader shook his head. “And it wasn’t like I spoke directly to the god. It was more of an understanding that I got after I prayed to him and asked for guidance.”
“Do you think it’s worth converting for the rest of us?”
Dion gave Milo an odd look. “I’m not giving religious advice to anyone. You do what you feel comfortable with,” he said as he handed the coins to the porter. “I will say that I have not been unhappy with my decision thus far.”
Dion gave Isa a few extra minutes to collect the materials she wanted from the boss before calling for a cautious withdrawal. None of the creatures had respawned behind them, so they quickly made their way back to the surface.
It wasn’t common for dungeons to respawn behind a group. It usually only happened when the dungeon core felt threatened or too much mana had built up, and the dungeon was close to overflowing.
But this group didn’t know that.
If Dion was aware of the more detailed dungeon mechanics, he didn’t fill the rest of them in. Regardless, it was good practice for the teams to get into the habit of looking for respawns while exiting.
Isa stared out the window as her teammates chatted amicably during the ride back to Horizon City. The surface city was called Harvest – a fitting name for a city oriented toward agriculture and where the castoffs of the world’s main civilization were collected.
As they traveled through the city, the former goddess examined the slightly run-down façade. There were a lot of people living in the surface city, but one woman in particular caught Isa’s attention. She’d only caught a glimpse of the woman in passing, but it was enough.
While the others chatted happily about the successful mission, Isa reviewed the footage of the familiar woman captured by her AI.
“Karena,” she murmured, surprised at who the still image depicted.