Mark saw that everyone was already in the studio including Albert and Danielle, Robert’s family.
“What are you two doing here? I thought Robert forbade Albert in joining him in the dungeon?” Mark asked Danielle.
Danielle smiled and told him that they were not joining them in the dungeon. They were to greet everybody, but they would go home once everyone entered the portal.
“Why can’t I join? I have the Displacement Amulet that my father bought from you! I can borrow the Magic Missile Wand from father! I can help you blast all the nasties to pieces!” Albert cried.
“Sorry kiddo, the rule says that only eighteen and above can enter the dungeon. You can try it out if you want to.” Mark opened the portal to the dungeon on the assigned door. Without hesitation, Albert tried to walk through the door and Robert and Danielle were about to stop him, but Mark signaled them not to. Albert tried hard to enter but he wasn’t able to. It was like he was trying to enter a concrete wall.
“See I told you, only eighteen and above.”
The kid actually cried, and Mark looked at Robert who firmly shook his head signaling to him that Albert was not allowed to join.
“Sorry, Albert. You know what, if I find something amazing, I’ll give it to you. Okay?”
Albert didn’t answer Mark and just went to his mother. Danielle then said that they would go out shopping and wait for Robert at the villa they’d rented. When Danielle and Albert were out of the studio, the group had a small meeting first. Mark told them that the fifth floor of the dungeon would be a forest, so they needed to be aware of the surrounding environment. He also stated that he would not be joining the fight again and would just make sure that everybody was safe and of course, he would be taking the video.
“Why are you not joining the fight?” Robert asked.
“I’m doing solo dive, and I completed the 20th floor. I’m incredibly powerful and to be honest with you, with one wave of my hands, all the enemies would be dead and because of that, the items that we will receive will be lesser.”
Mark then asked who would be guarding the entrance to the studio and Donald said that he hired a professional security team who were discreet but of course unaware of what actually was happening.
“They probably thought we were just filming some fantasy skit or something and that portal is just from some fancy machine.” Donald added.
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Everyone entered the portal after they’d equipped their dungeon items and when they saw the forest, everybody was amazed.
“I almost expect Robin Hood and his merry men to suddenly appear!” Enleed said while looking at the forest.
Everyone was excited so they proceeded to go forward to cause magic and mayhem to the denizens of the fifth floor. The group encountered various kinds of enemies, from Giant Spiders to Orc Shamans. During the enemy encounter, Mark didn’t forget to summon his Golems to protect the people at the back.
The group took some rest when needed and upgraded their items whenever they could after Mark identified all of the items they’ve got. By the end of the dungeon dive for the fifth floor, half of the group completely upgraded their dungeon armor set and the rest was kept by Donald and Robert. The unwanted items were kept by Mark to be destroyed for crafting materials.
Looking at his friends’ faces, Mark knew they enjoyed the dive thoroughly.
“Every time I upgraded my item, I can feel myself getting stronger!” Sam said.
“Yes, you are right, we are stronger when we're wearing these items but, on an emergency, I would hope we would have the time to equip them.” Donald commented.
“You can use storage rings or amulet to store your dungeon items then equip them during emergency. So, who doesn’t have any storage item yet?” Mark asked.
Based on the count they did, Armina, Enleed, Elizabeth and Robert were the only ones who didn’t have any storage accessories yet, but Donald and Robert said that they would like to have more for their families. So that means that he would need to search for more than five storage accessories.
When they got outside the dungeon, Mark closed the portal and Donald said that there were lockers and bathroom located somewhere so they could freshen up. After they took their shower, the gang excluding Donald, Elizabeth and Robert who went home immediately, went to a restaurant to eat. The gang talked about a lot of things including how scary the monsters were but how they were already getting desensitized by the horror of it all. How beautiful the forest was, especially when twilight arrived, it was almost the perfect setting for a fantasy story. How they wish they could get items that had skill, but Mark told them that those would only start to appear on the 10th floor and beyond.
It was around eight in the evening when the group arrived home, and they saw a car that they hadn’t recognized in front of their house. Well Mark did recognize the car. It was from the government agent who shared Danielle, Robert wife’s name, Danielle Harper.
The group exited their cars and Danielle Harper and the man who he couldn’t remember the name went and greeted them.
“Mr. Baker. We meet again. My name is Danielle Harper, and this is Andrew Feldman. Can we talk to you inside?”
Mark told the other to go home first then talked to the agents.
“I remember you Ms. Harper and you Mr. Feldman. How can I help you?”
“Can we talk somewhere private? If you wouldn’t want to talk inside your home, we could go to our station so we can talk.”
“Inside my home is okay but can I invite my lawyer first to avoid any misunderstanding?”
Agent Danielle just smiled and said to go ahead and call his lawyer. Mark walked away for privacy and called Donald first. He told Donald that the agents from the FBI were talking to him, and he would like assistance from a lawyer, preferably someone who was aware of their situation. Donald said that his brother David already saw how Elizabeth got cured and would help. Donald then told Mark to wait for about 30 minutes and David would be there.