Pov Edmund

I felt how the wind shifted and changed. All of this felt so real, even the sky above, but it wasn't. How this dungeon managed to make such a small area feel so real and big, I had no idea, but from what I could tell, it was getting constantly better at mimicking real environments. Currently, I was sitting on a small cliffside overlooking almost the entire hideout that we had just recently gotten.

Almost all of us were now here, building up homes and other buildings, making this a small village for us to use. A hideout is the safest place you can find in this dungeon, and safety is what we require. There’s only a small fraction left of us who were here just a few years ago when there were so many of us. It’s unfortunate because everything had gone so well after the death of my vile cousin.

We used to own territory, and it was quite good as well, but no matter how strong we might be in the outside world, in this dungeon we are basically like everyone else. Our strongest members could only be platinum rank, and while this dungeon is getting better and better for platinum ranks to continue to advance, it’s not quite there yet. Most of the platinums in our ranks would rather work towards getting recognition and permission to be taken to diamond rank.

While protecting our promising prospects, like me and most others here, isn’t too bad in that regard, it also isn't the best. So, because of all that, we weren’t ready for what was going to happen in the dungeon.

The first time we were attacked was by a small guild that had broken from the large one that was close to us. They had quite a few fresh platinum ranks, but in this place, a fresh platinum rank was truly scary.

We lost two of our minders, and because it was a sanctioned attack for territory, there wasn't the usual punishment for killing someone that the dungeon usually dealt out. That guild broke apart soon after, as basically all their platinum ranks died. Then we started to investigate further, and, well, it seems that there will be a period of instability that will get worse and worse as time goes on.

It only took a few months before our territory was challenged again, this time the guild seemed even stronger. Of course, we could get many platinums from the outside world, and we could crush any resistance, but that would be way too noticeable. And of course, this dungeon wasn’t seen as a truly official training ground by most, and the ones who saw its potential unfortunately decided not to fight this fight right now.

I haven’t been home for a long time, but apparently things aren’t as calm as they used to be. It seems there’s a lot of trouble nowadays—perhaps it’s just the time for trouble as everything seems to be in flux nowadays.

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It was decided that we wouldn’t take that fight. Instead, a lot of us left; in fact, almost all of us were supposed to leave, and only a few would stay in the hub stations, which most likely wouldn’t see the turbulence happening in the rest of the dungeon.

I and a few others didn’t really want to leave or be forced to stay in the hub stations for our protection. We had heard rumours about hideouts, and that they could be pretty big, so a few of us decided to follow some of those rumours.

After quite a long and difficult quest chain, we eventually managed to claim this place. We would still be limited in where we could go to explore and fight in the dungeon, but all of us who lived here have long ago joined the front lines. And funnily enough, that was actually the second safest place in this dungeon, besides the recommended path with the hub stations.

While I have grown used to it, I remember reporting all of this to my uncle, who looked at me like I had grown a second head—and not one of my animal form. I’m still surprised that my uncle was actually willing to take on this appointment and oversee everything that went on in the dungeon that had to do with us. He usually just likes to get drunk and talk about the good old days and the dungeons that used to be like forts.

I mean, those were interesting stories, but it was weird actually seeing him do something productive. Not only that, but apparently he's actually thinking about sending someone to do a proper survey of the dungeon.

When I asked him why he wasn’t helping with the other problems we seem to be having, he gave me a simple answer, which I should have expected, “That's boring, let the ones who are worried deal with those things.”

It was also thanks to him we got permission to stay here and find this hideout, and I think he will start sending the others back here and hopefully continue to fund us even further. We were back to five minders now, even if we only needed two with our current numbers. I might actually need to go to the outside world and give him my full report in person, but that would be a long process, and I kind of don’t want to do that.

I continued to sit on the cliff’s edge and came to a startling realization. I was calling everything that was outside this dungeon, except my home, the outside world. When did that happen? That’s something I should keep to myself—wouldn't want others to know that I think of this place more like the real world than the actual one.

It’s just that everything here is so much more interesting. All the quests you get to do, even the simple ones. Then there's the fighting, which is so exciting, even if I’m close to platinum rank. The fact that if you simply keep pushing forward, you will continuously be challenged, no matter how strong you get, is something extraordinary. Then there’s the loot. Just thinking about that makes me want to go out there and fight.

It’s hard to get loot, as you need to know how to harvest each monster you kill, but the excitement—especially when that monster had interesting skills or a few skills that stacked. You process that monster, and then there's the moment most of it disappears, and you're left with something that could be so good or just something decent.

Someone said that it reminded them of gambling. It took me a while to understand, but it kind of did give that feeling, though it was so much more exciting, especially when you got an epic piece of loot. I have yet to get a legendary one, but I hope that one day I will.

Perhaps ‘legendary’ will mean something different in the future, but right now, it would be 6 or more skills that enhance a singular aspect of the creature, like its hide, and all of those skills would have strengthened or changed the hide you got, making it something truly special.

If those pieces, even epic ones, weren’t so rare, I was certain that there would be an even bigger flood of adventurers coming here just to farm those items and sell them in the outside world. But right now, I was still amazed at how few of those reached the surface, as most would rather have the better materials made into armor and weapons to help them fight even stronger monsters than to simply settle them for coin.

It was another weird aspect, and something my uncle was, once again, quite curious about. Hopefully, the instability currently in the dungeon will correct itself soon so we can get even more of our people down here and explore this wonder of the world.