The old lady proceeded to tell me a summary of her life while I was eating. She was a chatterbox alright… In any case; she was once the wife of a guard who worked in the city, but he lost his life in one of the elves’ attacks forty years ago.
They eventually had three sons, and she raised the boys alone. They became guards and got married as well… they all died in another attack. Only one of them had a baby son, so she began to raise him. She ingrained in his head not to become a soldier, but the kid still looked for adventure. I wondered about her daughter-in-law, but I decided not to ask about it.
“Pretty foolish, don’t you think? Die fighting for someone who thinks they are better than you.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
I smiled at those words, but soon the old lady changed the topic too, to one that I didn’t like that much. As expected, I should keep my mouth shut as much as possible to avoid that kind of issue.
“Why the hood while you are eating?”
“For no reason, it is just a habit. My shaved head attracts too much attention.”
“Why shave it then?”
I had to use my head and my words like a martial artist to get out of that messy situation… The old lady truly didn’t know when to end a conversation, but at least I learned a few things from her. One of those things was the fact that since too many adventurers were in the city, the humans had to use the dungeon while the elves were around. They had to take turns and there was even a queue for the exploration.
People could only enter the dungeon at the right time, but they could stay there for as long as they wanted. That was easier said than done, though. Around ten days had passed since the discovery of the dungeon and twenty-two floors had already been discovered. That put the dungeon at least on the Abyssal level and the deeper it goes, the better the classes…
“You look like a kid who is also an adventurer. Still, for you to come alone… you look smarter than that, but I guess appearances are deceiving.”
Wisdom comes with age, and it also comes with a brutal sincerity level. Well, I never claimed to be the sharpest tool in the shed… putting that aside, I had to enter a long queue to explore the dungeon, but I also could join a party that might need an extra member. Exploring solo was preferable, but at least for the first time, I would benefit more from going to a party first. Still, who would accept me without knowing who I was?
Maybe I could show my adventurer card. Increasing to gold would do the trick… even in the other guilds, I saw very few people with that kind of rank. That kind of rank at my age would show my experience in fighting monsters.
“Thank you for the food, ma’am. I am going to rest since I will have a long day tomorrow.”
“All right, have a good night.”
I headed to my room and then sighed in relief again… I felt relaxed for the first time in a while, but before going to bed, I began to focus on enchanting one of the bags that I had. At this point in time, they didn’t smell so much, so I could carry them on my back.
The process ended quite fast, but I was left with a killing headache that prevented me from sleeping for a while… Still, since it was night and I had experience with it, I recovered fast.
The next morning, after having breakfast, I headed to the guild. I warned the old lady that I might not return for lunch, so she didn’t have to make extra for me. It was barely six in the morning, but the area around the guild was already crowded with adventurers. A bunch of parties were meeting up and heading to the guild.
I was new in the area and I had a weird set of clothes and a longbow on my back, so I was attracting a lot of attention. Still, no one approached me. I checked the board for jobs and soon I learned the type of monsters that could be found on the first floor of the dungeon. There were a lot of quests over each other asking for materials like: Fire Wolf’s Fur, Fire Crow’s Feather, and Molten Shards from Flame Atronachs.
‘It is a fire dungeon? This can be useful to me… Anyway, Flame Atronachs, huh.’
Flame Atronachs have a humanoid form, but they appear to be made entirely of fire, often surrounded by a glowing, ethereal aura. Their bodies flicker with flame, and they leave trails of fire wherever they move.
They specialize in fire magic, capable of casting fire-based spells and launching fireballs at enemies. Their proximity also causes damage over time due to the intense heat they radiate. In various games or stories, they are known to have a volatile nature, sometimes exploding upon death, causing further damage to enemies in their vicinity.
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‘I guess it is possible for me to fight those things. If they come only three at max, then it is indeed possible. If they are tougher than I expect, then I can make some adaptations to my gear.’
There were some papers with parties recruiting as well to head to the dungeon… but most of them wanted healers instead of damage dealers. There were two parties recruiting people for tomorrow, though. One of them required adventurers at least of gold rank and another didn’t require anything. The second was probably made of newbies since they didn’t ask for one, but three people, unlike the first group.
‘Shall I increase my rank then? Right here?’
That would draw me a lot of attention and create some rumors, but that could also work as an advertisement for me. It was a double-edged weapon that I had in my hands… In the end, I decided to look for the second party, and only mana cores were enough to grant me ten thousand points and one Aqua coin. After that, I added my name to the waiting list to enter the dungeon…
Both groups had a meeting spot for those interested in joining them, but they were in different places. One was a proper inn in the middle of the city, the other was at an ordinary house close to the poor area of the city. I found two boys and a girl in front of the place. They were there for a while since they were silent. They shouldn’t be more than two years older than me. They made me recall the twins…
‘It is fine, it is just for the first run.’
Kids aren’t very professional, and I could tell that they were greenhorns. Well, I was a greenhorn too for this kind of dungeon, so perhaps that made things a bit more even. The two boys found me heading in their direction and soon squinted their eyes. It looked like they weren’t satisfied by the appearance of the only person who showed up to join them.
One of them had short black hair and a thin battle hammer on his back. Not the best kind of weapon to use against the type of enemies in this dungeon. The other had long brown hair tied up in a ponytail. He was playing with a spear in his hands, spinning them in front of himself.
The final member was a blond girl who had shoulder-length hair. She had a cloak that a mage usually would wear, but she also had a bow on her back. She didn’t react in any way to my approach.
“Hello, are you guys a member of the… Rising Stars’ party?”
I chuckled when I read that in the guild and I almost did the same here. It seemed that the boys noticed since my lips quivered a bit.
“Yeah, what about it?”
I felt like sighing when I heard that… the hammer kid had to actually ask that question. As if anyone would try to talk with them without having read the note on the guild. Maybe they are trying to act tough for their age or something.
“Well, I am interested in joining your party to explore the dungeon. I read the note. I am a silver-rank adventurer. My name is Clive” “
I showed my card, and they confirmed that it was the real deal. It wasn’t like people wouldn’t try to forge them, but using silver to forge a card like that was a waste. Even fewer people would use gold to do the same thing, despite the advantages a gold rank receives.
“Did you enter the dungeon already? Do you have any combat classes?”
“Not this one, and I have a few.”
The hammer kid looked at my bow and he could see the enchantment glowing on it. He furrowed his eyebrows while looking at my weird appearance, but nothing aside from that. I was still wearing my cap and hood, after all. Keeping those inside the dungeon would make things difficult since it was a fire dungeon… so I had to do something about that.
“Show us what you can do with your bow.”
I was expecting something like that, so I quickly grabbed three arrows and then tossed them in the air… it was that trick that I came up with a while ago. I trained it when I was bored and thanks to it, I was able to knock the three arrows and fire them one above the other in the food of the house. I didn’t pull the bowstring that much, so they didn’t cause much damage.
The hammer kid looked like he was about to say something, like wondering if I had gone mad for damaging his home, but soon he confirmed that the damage was minimal.
“All right… come here tomorrow at this time and then we will give you an answer.”
Now that was annoying… I knew that they were trying to look important, but it was clear that no one else came to talk with them. The chances were low, but it would be annoying if they still refused me… wasting two days would be more than a bit troubling.
I already had put my name on the waitlist to use the dungeon, but my turn will only come in ten days… Still, I couldn’t imagine things not working out, so it was fine. Even if they do, I will have more time to prepare for my solo run with the information I have.
“Okay.”
I didn’t think that those guys would be stupid enough to dismiss me. Everyone, even the veterans, was using full parties to explore the dungeon. If they wanted to make the most of it, they would need as many people as possible.
Since I had time that day, I decided to check the shops in the town to see what I could buy there and as expected, most of them were enchantments against fire monsters.
‘Nothing new, huh?’
I knew the basics of ice enchantments, and I was fine with them. I was already planning to use them to cool down my body by enchanting some temporary boots or gloves. The question was my bow and arrows… my short swords, too. The swords would be useless in the dungeon, while the bow only had wind enchantments.
It can do the trick, but I will look like a moron without any ice enchantments in my attacking gear. In the end, I decided to buy some special arrows and enchant them myself. They were a bit heavy since they were all made of iron, but they would last for a while.