As a rule, Crytalis of The Green did not hate dungeons. It was hard to hate them when your whole livelihood depends on going into dungeons and stealing from them. However, the elvish [Hunter] could not help but be annoyed when he appeared on the second floor of the Tomb of Ten Thousand Techniques. Would it kill the dungeon core to create a bigger spell circle, or create more circles to the second floor?

With only one spell circle, all the adventurers needed to take turns and the wait was annoying. However, as a seasoned dungeon delver, Crytalis kept his complains to himself. The dungeon core could be listening, and he was not going to draw unwanted attention to himself.

The open and spacious cave of the second floor was as big as advertised and Crytalis saw the central pillar that served as the landmark of the second floor. He walked towards it, and quickly found Bran Brownshield. The dwarven [Shield Warrior] was the first member of his party to enter the second floor, and he was sitting on the ground, quietly sharpening his axe with a whetstone.

“You look relaxed. You do know you are in a dungeon, right?” Crytalis teased as he sat beside the dwarf.

“Look at all the adventurers who had grouped up here? The dungeon is not stupid enough to waste creatures attacking us, this core is a smart one.” The dwarf replied with a nonchalance that belied his reputation as a seasoned adventurer.

Crytalis could not help but chuckle at the response. Most dwarves liked to act like worldly veterans, but Crytalis knew for a fact that Bran really was a veteran. The Level 19 [Shield Warrior] had grey in his beard, a mark of age and respect in dwarven culture and rumors had it that Bran left the dwarven kingdoms because he could no longer be an adventurer due to his age.

Greybeards were honored and respected in dwarven society, and they were expected to retire and be advisors to the new generation. Bran preferred to be in the thick of the action. They had been partners for over two decades and Crytalis was almost certain that Bran was a lifer. The dwarf would never quit. He would die an adventurer.

That was why their party was known as The Forevers, none of them had any intention of ever quitting the life of an adventurer. The elf looked around and saw that most of the adventurers were sitting down while waiting for the other members of their party to arrive. The adventurers had agreed to gather around the central pillar, but divisions had appeared. Most of the adventurers were sitting with their regular parties and allies were grouped together. The only exception were three mages. They were standing at a section of the walls of the cave. With his enhanced hearing, the elf could hear that they were arguing about the green glow coming from it. Crytalis smiled.

[Mages] loved to argue about anything magical.

There was a relaxed air among the adventurers, and he wondered how the dungeon core feel about that. Maybe it found them perplexing, but there was a reason for the adventurers to act the way they were.

The adventurers knew that they were safe. They know their presence was feeding the dungeon. Scholars had found that dungeon cores feed on divine power the Classed released, so most dungeon cores were in no rush to rid their dungeons of adventurers. That was why there were settlements and mining operations in dungeons. The adventurers were food and if they do not threaten the dungeon, most dungeon cores would leave them be.

It was a matter of give-and-take between adventurers and the dungeon.

It took a few more minutes for the other two members of their party to arrive. Saverio, a human [Thief], and Lukalla, an elvish maiden who had the [Wizard] class. The four of them sat together to rest. Like the other adventurers, The Forevers were in no hurry to challenge the rooms.

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After half an hour, Bran stood up and tossed his head towards one of the tunnels. Time was up. The party of four stepped away from the other adventurers and walked towards the tunnel with the number ‘1’ above. With the information gathered by the exploration team, the adventurers had been calling it the ‘Lake Room’, and it was the room The Forevers would be attempting.

Crytalis could feel eyes on them, but none of the other adventurers stopped them. No one even approached them, and they just looked on as The Forevers did a last minute of their equipment at the entrance of the tunnel.

“You know, it’s not too late to change our mind and try one of the other tunnels?” Saverio said as he coated a layer of poison on his dagger and shortsword. “Alessandro says The Young Nobles intend to attempt the ‘4’ tunnel.”

Crytalis glanced at the human team sitting near the central pillar and frowned. Like Crytalis’ team, The Young Nobles was a four-member party but unlike The Forevers, The Young Nobles was young and fully human. Crytalis knew Alessandro and his party were all third and fourth sons of minor nobility and they had a growing reputation as a daring new adventurer group, but the elf thought the young [Knight] was taking a lot of unnecessary risk attempting a new tunnel with his team. Being daring was not a good survival tactic in a dungeon.

Crytalis kept his council. Every adventurer makes their own decision on how much risk to take for power and levels.

“No,” Bran rejected Saverio’s suggestion without hesitation. “The Adventurer Guild is offering a reward for information on the two ‘jig-saw’ puzzles the exploration team missed and I intend to collect. Does everyone remember which paths you should be taking?”

Everyone did. The plan was to have Bran and Saverio, the two members least likely to complete the jig-saw puzzles in the time limit, to attempt the paths that the exploration team had missed while the two elves would attempt the puzzles which they had some confidence in completing. From the information given by the Guild, Lukalla would attempt to complete the puzzle with a multistory tower with a red curved rooftop, while Crytalis decided to attempt the puzzle showing a farmer on a wheat field under a blue sky.

After completing the checks, Saverio tried one more time. “Are we sure we do not want to try one of the other tunnels? Their numbers are higher, so people are betting the treasures in them are better than this one.”

“No wonder you are such a shit gambler,” Bran grumbled. “We don’t know that. And even if it is, so what? Better treasure means more danger. You know Viaggia is building a new graveyard due to the dungeon? You want your tombstone to be the first one in there?”

Saverio immediately put up both hands in mock surrender. With that over, the team entered the tunnel. The tunnel was short, and it took the team just minutes to enter the Lake Room. Bare black stone, green grass, and a lake in front, everything was as in the report from the Guild.

The party walked to the edge of the lake and took in the strange looking pavilions situated in the middle. Elegantly designed, the pavilions gave Crytalis a sense of peace, as if the dungeon core was trying to make them part of the lake instead of structures built on it. As an elf, Crytalis appreciated the attempt.

“Want to grab some of those lotus leaves? I heard some scholars are paying good gold for them.” Saverio asked as he pointed to the plants floating on the water of the lake.

“Are you volunteering to go for a swim in a dungeon, in a lake with a boss creature swimming beneath you?” Bran asked.

That was the end of that.

Each member of the party went to the assigned footpath. After a check to make sure everyone was ready, the four of them stepped forwards. Crytalis immediately felt a pressure on him, a weight that told Crytalis he was under an area enchantment of some sort. The report from the Adventurer Guild had mentioned this, so Crytalis was unsurprised by the spell and started to walk towards the pavilion.

Up close, the pavilion was as elegant as it seems from afar. Crytalis touched one of the pillars and his eyes widened in surprise. As an elf from an elven nation, Crytalis knew wood. He had been in many dungeons before and the wooden items created by the dungeons always felt off, like there was an unnaturalness to them. This pillar did not give him the same feeling. It felt smooth and natural, like it came from a tree that grew up in a forest. Crytalis grinned in delight. It looks like the rumors were true.

This dungeon was different.