Ruby showed us around a bit more last night, before we went back to our ‘rooms’ for the night.
It was way more than just a ‘room’…
That ‘room’ was bigger than the house I live in…
I guess it makes sense though, the guild HQ is ginormous.
The bed was really comfy too!
I haven’t slept that well in a long time.
Since we joined at the same time, our rooms were all right next to each other as well.
We’re staring at the mission wall, looking for a good first mission to go on.
“What about this one?” – Lett
It’s an F-rank mission from some small village in the outer area.
Apparently, some houses there burned down in an accident, and they need help to rebuild them.
The pay isn’t great, but that’s expected considering it’s from a poor village in the outer area.
“Nah. There are only three months left until the E-rank exam. We should go for something harder, so that we can prove that we are worthy of taking it. What about this one?” – Shin
That one looks more interesting…
“It’s just an F-ranked dungeon, but the recommended party size is 20 people. That should be a good enough first mission.” – Shin
“Yeah, seems good.” – Alex
“…” – Lett
“Don’t worry, Lett. I know you want to help those people, and I do too! But we need to go for something harder if we want to get recommended to take the exam. Besides, I’m sure someone else will take it!” – Alex
“I suppose…” – Lett
“Well then, I guess it’s decided. We’re gonna take on this 20-man, F-rank dungeon!” – Shin
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
We take the flyer and walk over to the reception.
Shin hands it to the receptionist.
She looks at it for a second then looks back at Shin.
“This is a 20-man dungeon, you’re just three people.” – Receptionist
“And?” – Shin
“…” – Receptionist
With an annoyed look, she looks into Shin's eyes for a second before responding.
“Look. I’ve seen cocky newbies like you get hurt way more times than I care to count. It’s not going to end any differently this time.” – Receptionist
“It’s just an F-rank dungeon, okay? We got this.” – Shin
She lets out a sigh; I get the feeling she’s tired of arguing.
“Fine…” – Receptionist
The receptionist has a different ‘tattoo’ on her left hand.
She puts it in the middle of the flyer, and the mark gets burned into the paper.
“All of you, put your guild marks on there.” – Receptionist
We do it one by one, and each time it lights up a little.
“The mission has now been assigned to you three. You’ll receive your rewards when you come back.” – Receptionist
“Thanks!” – Lett
We walk outside.
“Well then, let’s get going. The dungeon is about eight hours of travel from here.” – Shin
We start running, but just moments later, we realize that Lett can’t keep up.
We run back to her.
“…” – Lett
“I’m sorry… I can’t run as fast as you guys can. I can stay behind and do other missions if I’m just going to hold you back…” – Lett
“Hey! Don’t worry about it, okay? You’re coming with us…!” – Shin
He casually picks her up and throws her over his shoulder like she’s a sack of potatoes.
“Ah!” – Lett
“There we go, now we’re ready to leave!” – Shin
---
Several hours has passed since then and we are finally at the dungeon entrance.
It’s a large cave in the side of a mountain.
Without any hesitation, we walk straight in.
It’s dark in here, but luckily, we made some torches on our way here.
That was actually Lett’s idea.
When we got a little deeper into the dungeon, we started hearing some weird noises.
“What was that?!” – Lett
“Dunno.” – Shin
Out of nowhere a skeleton appears.
It has a stone club, and it swings it at me.
I block it with my right arm, and then counterattack with my left.
A single attack was enough to destroy it.
The swing did hurt a little though.
I’d say it was about as strong as the attacks of the people we fought in the exam.
We get a little further in and three more skeletons appear.
They’re exactly the same as the first one; stone club and all.
This time Shin steps in and destroys them all before they even get to attack.
“This is way too easy… Even for an F-rank dungeon…” – Shin
“I agree…” – Alex
We continue going in a little further.
“Look, the walls!” – Lett
There’s an abrupt change in materials for the walls, ceiling, and floor.
Earlier in the cave, just as you’d expect, it was all made of stone.
But here…
It’s all metal!
It doesn’t even resemble a cave in the slightest.
It’s like we’re walking through a metal box.
The skeleton noises start to get louder and louder…
We walk around the corner and…!
It’s a large room, lit by torches all over the walls.
There are large piles of bones everywhere.
That’s creepy…
Out of nowhere we hear an ominous voice.
“Welcome.” – ???