> Some days I lie wide awake until the sun hits my face and I fade, elevate from the dirt, far away to a place where I'm free from the weight, this old world, this world~

>

> Some only live to die, I'm alive to fly higher than angels in outfields outside of these lands. I'm ascending these ladders, I'm climbing, say goodbye to this old world, this old world~

>

> I'm born to stay on the ground while I look to the sky, clasping my hands and praying for luck to pass. But today, here I stand; reaching for the stars with pride, unbound by this old world, this old world~

>

> With a floating heart I thought that when I jumped I flew~, even if it felt like I was falling...

>

> -Onto this world.

-Excerpt from 'Three steps to transcendence' written by 'Lucaric Ba'alhos'

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Dannis the {Rogue}, along with his companions, sat around a table, whispering silently with somber mood "Did you hear about the drop?"

"Yes..." The woman that had previously confidently talked about the specifics of the adventurers guild couldn't help but say sadly.

They had all heard the 'Good news', the drop had lead to a death trap very obviously made to kill any unsuspecting invaders. Though Dannis didn't know the specifics, it was just another problem on the heap.

He couldn't be sure, but a thought came to him "Guys... What if 'It' was actually the diversion?"

Every member of the core-hunting party of adventurers paused, before the gloom regained its rightful place before intensifying even more. It just made sense, even if they didn't want it to.

The first diversion from the dungeon showed that it could make diversions, and after seeing that it was found so quickly, it'd probably think that the next time it could be possible from the hidden passage to instead be the diversion.

Even if it wasn't, the chance that it was could be the difference between winning or losing. The real problem was that both paths were exceptionally dangerous, and the chance that something more dangerous would pop-up if they continued. And if the fact that they could just be wasting their time was also taken into account...

"How about we sell it?" Asked the user of arcane arts, Noren "Cut our loses and at least get something."

"...Are you insane?" Yurilin asked exasperatedly.

But before she could continue, Dannis raised his hand "Hear him out."

A silence loomed over the table before the mage- His specific variant unknown- Spoke up once more, explaining his thought process "Well, since we can't force our way through, pass through it without alerting others, isn't it obvious to let others go first in order to find out what's up? And since we can't buy people, why not sell it instead?"

She thought for a moment, but shook her head "No, there's no reason to let go of a potential lead."

But, Dannis was not convinced "One that'll probably kill us?"

"...Yes." She confirmed.

Dannis' body shook slightly, but was quickly supressed by a smile from a [Common] {Warrior} sitting next to him, and from that smile was born the words "And why does your opinion matter? You're not the leader, are you?"

Yurilin, the academy student, could not find a rebuke; for her higher standing was based merely on her upbringing, holding no true right to rule. Gritting her teeth, she spout out "Fine, but, if we're doing that. Then let's leave for an [Uncommon] dungeon nearby to level-up and buy equipment, any suggestions?"

Luckily, it seemed the rest of the party wasn't against the idea as they proposed different ways to sell the information or where to go afterwards.

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Zera went through paperwork with skill-assisted proficiency, a silent grumble appearing within her mind with each extra page she completed. She was tricked into this by Thalos, and like always; he was scarily good at it too, along with making friends in the adventurer community.

He had even made friends with the main leader of the original populace and seemed to sometimes go drink with him too, leaving her with all the work as always.

Thinking of drinking, she couldn't help but hold her head with a wince at the sharp through temporary mental pain of a hangover. It just... Happened. She was stressed out and there was rum nearby...

Returning to her work, she tried to take her mind off of it by being optimistic 'At least with Thalos at the wheel, I don't have to worry about any public backlash or anything else political, the hardest part of the job.'

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Though her slightly appreciative mood was quickly interupted, such a mindset not being allowed for a guildmaster, as the door was kicked open by a certain lazy guildmaster.

Without any words, he neared with Norman coming through the door behind with a somewhat nervous and worried expression. A worrying situation, not Thalos kicking in the door, it wasn't exactly out of character even if she had jumped back at it. But Norman being worried, that was strange. The only question was what he was worried about, Thalos or herself.

"What is the meaning of this Thalos?" She asked while leaning on the table with a hand half-covering an eye, her annoyed tone betraying her less than palatable mood.

Though Thalos, actively deciding not to take notice, took the pile of finished paperwork and started to blitz through it- To such an extent that Zera wondered why he didn't want to do paperwork that would take less than half-an-hour- While he started to explain "Well, lil' Norman was worried about your new vice so he asked me to check in on you. And here I am, checking in on you, aren't I nice."

Before Zera could respond, he turned back and showed the stack of documents and such to her only employee so far "No faults to be seen, it'll be fine Norman, if the hangover doesn't affect paperwork then it doesn't affect much else."

It was a bit strange to see paperwork used as a test to see if her hangover was an actual problem, but, she couldn't really see a specific issue in his reasoning at that particular moment "Did you only come here for this, or did you have a change of heart and do your fair share?"

With a slightly mocking laugh the {Magic swordsman} answered "Keep dreaming, I'm here to tell you a new little rumour that's become the talk of the town. Quite an interesting one really."

"Well, spit it out." She prodded calmly.

"Jeez, what happened to respect these days, must be the moral degradation that I've been hearing about." Thalos whined indicatively of a certain word he'd like included in her prod.

"Tell me, please." She relented, knowing that Thalos wouldn't tell her until she did.

"To think there were still such polite young'ins, brings a tear to my eye," The lackidazical procrastinator said with a snake tear "Since you're so polite, I'll tell you; a little birdie that the tunnel behind a hall at the initiation area wasn't the only one, it has a twin at the entrance of the slime plains!"

Zera did not say a thing, just sitting there; waiting for Thalos to stop with the jokes and actually say what was going on. Though as she saw Thalos start looking around, it dawned on her that he had decided to just directly state it this time... He was messing with her by making use of their previous interactions! "...Seriously? Again?"

"Yep, pretty cool. It's a shame that I myself won't be going on this expedition." He remarked off-handedly.

Zera took a moment to process his words "Another expedition?"

"Yea," He confirmed "WIth both paths being pretty dangerous without proper equipment or prep the guys downstairs decided to start another public expedition, which is pretty impressive considering none of the big parties are involved yet."

"How many has it been now? Three?" She asked.

"Nah, it's been two." He contested, surprisingly getting a skill in the process;

"Ahh..." She sighed "Why can't this dungeon just be normal..."

Thalos shrugged with a small smile "Look at the bright side, or at least try to, our spot as guild masters seems pretty stable to me."

"As if I you wouldn't rather relax in the capital." She shot back.

"I would actually rather sit here, in this office, than back in the capital," Thalos retorted, surprisingly "The difference is clear."

Zera didn't buy it, but sadly her opinion didn't matter in these matters as thalos left directly after his words had fallen.

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In front of a certain hole to the underground which had been partially covered from rain by the semi-make-shift creation of an {Junior architect} and a few {Builder}s, doing so for skill- and class levels, 15 adventurers stood with Thalos before them.

"As you all know you will be entering the dungeon behind you, piercing through the dangers that would halt any regular party. With the strength of fifteen you will overcome that which was meant for fewer and explore the depths not meant to be reached!" He declared "The path is known and the end goal is as well, but what stands to stop you is yet discove-"

A large explosion erupted in the distance, as the looming red glow of flame overshadowed the noon sun and winds blew over seconds later, forcing many a being to stumble and fall. But that was not all, as below rock and stone certain thin walls stirred; opening up and letting semi-new creature out for a turn.

Along with multiple rocks falling down, quickly being cleaned up before a sentient within could take proper note in the panic of the world rumbling.

Though in time, some came back to their senses, allowing them to see the rapids of smoke rising in the horizon. Indicative of destruction beyond regular means, a destroyer, and no a kind one either. And soon their identity became clear, as a large silvery-white creature with wings spanning multiple houses in length rose from the horizon which was still tainted by smoke and dust.

As one of the first to overcome the shockwave of draconic origin- One certainly held back to the point any average human would not go deaf from the force- Thalos stood up, a smile forming as he hid his eyes from the still looming sun, giving a laugh both honestly and to relieve the tension "A dragon, never thought I'd ever see one of them with my own eyes, quite lucky really."

...

"Let's hope it isn't coming for us," He said, almost just to stave off his own fear "Because there's no chance we'll ever be able to fight back nor is there chance for reinforcements strong enough to wade its advance."

And he did indeed feel the words sooth his fragile human soul a bit, letting him take a proper look around as multiple of the less well-made buildings had fallen to the ground 'It seems... That the expedition will have to put-off for a bit.'

"Everyone! Get moving! We need to rescue anyone who got caught under rubble!" He yelled out, catalysing a few of his listeners out of their fearful stupor "Forget about the explosion and save as many people as possible, there's no chance to resist it so it's better to work with the only scenario where we get out of this alive in mind!"

Then a thought occured, one alien to him due to a lack of residence in an area with a [Common] dungeon before this "Five of you go down and see if anything collapsed, if not come back after yelling to come to the surface! If it did... Come back anyways, they're a lost cause!"