Under the building of the adventurers guild, there was an underground battle arena, it was not as sophisticated as arenas used in tournaments. On that note, all adventurer’s guild was always built in the same way, it was always been the first one to be built when a town was established so it was always been the oldest building in the villages and towns in the frontier.
However in some of the cases, there were some like the small clan village of the Ahas which didn’t have any building for adventurers and only had a representative, there were some political issues behind it, such as the way of the nobles.
Simon and the old man Alphecca were in an underground room, the guild master along with two staff came down carrying two boxes of balls each, the balls were made up of leather from monsters and rubber from the rubber trees that were plenty around the town.
There was a separate room for meditation and that was where they were. The training was simple it was to dodge the ball blindfolded.
“Alphecca you are too harsh on the boy!” the guild master said he already had the idea. That training was actually in the curriculum of the adventurer’s free training for beginners.
“Nah, he is good to go, it's okay!” the old man said as he put the blindfold on the boy’s eyes. “Dodge anything that comes okay!” he said and the boy nodded.
Simon guided by the old man stood in the middle of the room and the old man threw a ball, Simon dodged the ball but got hit when it bounced back.
“I’m hit?” Simon said…
The old man glared at him, the boy could not see it but he felt the cold stare.
“Each time you are hit I will reduce your food… be careful,” it was a cold word from the old man and Simon finally felt that he had to go serious.
The old man wittingly threw the ball downwards making it bounce, Simon dodged it by bending his neck up.
“Hmm…” as soon as the old man threw the ball he knew it would bounce back, so to add to that he threw another curving ball to Simon aiming at his stomach, the old man would always go for the stomach of the boy when training.
“He dodged it!!!” the guild master said as he saw Simon go out of the way.
The old man smiled fiercely, it would not be easy, it should not be easy.
“You are not watchers here… throw him some ball!!!” the old man said and the 3 followed suit throwing balls at Simon.
<--->
3 days had passed and Simon was still under the program of the old man.
“Growl…” It was Simon's stomach, it was already the 3rd day and he was just having a minimum amount of food.
“You have to dodge it boy if you want to eat more,” and Alphecca the old man was there eating a good full meal along with a mug of beer.
Simon just sadly ate, they were going to go at it again after breakfast.
On that 3rd day, even some of the town kids and adventurers joined in throwing the ball at Simon, the kids were good… really damn good and they were giving Simon a hell of a time dodging, not that it was random, their intentions was all for fun, not unlike the adventurers who show a hint of blood lust when throwing the ball at him, Simon could then dodge it.
“Come on boy!!! Feel it!!! Feel it!!!” the old man really loved tormenting the boy, the children kept on throwing the balls, and even some of the adventurers too. Then unlike before, Simon started moving.
“Oh… he figured something out?!!” the guild master who was also having fun said.
The balls began missing. What Simon arrived at was that he needed to make space for the balls to miss… he would miss the balls from the children and dodge the well-aimed balls from the adults. It was effective.
“Oh finally!! I’ve been waiting boy!!!” the old man stopped throwing balls, took his wooden stick, and attacked Simon, the boy dodged the first attack… the 2nd and the 3rd. “Excellent!!” the old man muttered.
The 2 were dodging the ball in the middle of the room all while training Simon more by trying to hit him with a wooden stick but the boy was leading the old man’s attack.
“Oh boy… you’re going to make me go serious on you!!!” the old man who was now having a hard time hitting Simon said this with a glare.
Simon just gulped as he kept up but he was getting more hungry.
“The hell should we continue?” one of the staff stopped and asked.
“Continue!! One bronze if you hit any of the 2!!!” the adventurer’s guild master said and the motivation was back the participants cheered.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Orera I heard that you're on!!” the old man who heard the guild master’s command smiled.
<--->
After the training. The two stay-ins were having lunch in the cafeteria.
Simon was quite happy, the food on his plate clearly increased. The staff members that were together felt happy for the boy, especially the Pams that operated on his leg, the boy’s regeneration was some sort of a miracle.
“I’m hungry!” and he started wolfing it down.
“Simon… eat slowly so that you will feel more full, that’s the trick in eating,” the old man said to Simon, the boy nodded and did what he was told.
The guild master was also together with them eating. The old man Alphecca and the guild master Orera chatted as Simon wolfed down his food.
The boy was eating 8 fried eggs and 2 pieces each of bacon, cheese, and bread, a reward for doing great.
“I can still remember when you did that to us… your training methods were weird but effective,” the guild master said, he was one of the adventurers Alphecca had trained before when the old man was campaigning for free training on the adventurer's guilds.
“Did the free training stop already?” Alphecca asked just wondering, they were eating lunch in the cafeteria and even some of the staff had begun joining them when they did.
“It's not that we stopped, fewer adventurers are coming out already, most opt to be knights or magicians on the Magic Tower, the adventurers just thinned down,” the adventurer’s guild master said.
Well, Alphecca had something to do with it too since he did an outstanding job during his time. Back in his time when the dungeons were out of control. Not only that there was a surplus of adventurers, the adventurers of that time were bolder and were not afraid of anything. He was one of the guys that campaigned and created a special course for the adventurers to at least train them in basic.
But times really do change. During the old man’s time, there were hundreds of adventuring clans but now it was rare. Only 8 of the major clans were still surviving right now and most of it was based on the central continents, there was none in the eastern frontier.
The 2 started eating silently, Simon instantly noticed the silence but didn’t care as he was busy with food, the old man said they would be training in something different after the 1-hour break of lunch.
<--->
They were back in the same room but this time the old man had something different for the boy.
In just a few tries, Simon was already adjusting to the speed of the ball as he caught it. The next training was catching and deflecting balls. Not only that it would increase one's reaction time but it would also build his reflex. It had just been the 3rd day and the boy was making quick progress. Then Alphecca noticed Simon’s clothes, he was outgrowing him. (Well, he was eating really hard)
“How old is Simon?” the guild master was also together with them throwing balls, it seemed he had a lot of free time in the frontier especially since his town is located in the farther part of the eastern continent.
“5 years old” Alphecca answered.
The guild master was shocked “You are kidding me!!! You are too cruel!!!” the guild master threw balls at the old man, and the old man slapped it off.
“He can take on mid-boss dungeons with his strength!!! He will be a good fighter in the future!!!” the old man said so proudly.
But then the guild master stopped as he wondered why he was not teaching Simon swords.
<--->
The 4th day came, in the morning, the first round of training proved that the boy was already good at dodging and deflecting the balls. It was a good chance for the old man to teach the boy other things.
In the afternoon the old man decided to stop the dodgeball training. He urged the guild master to teach Simon about the map. There was a map located in the adventurer’s guild, posted on its wall was the largest map of the whole realm humans have ever known and then a smaller map for the vicinity of the adventurer’s guild.
The boy and the guild master stood in front of the large map.
“See those large letters? Read it!” the guild master said, Simon was standing straight, he was trained by the old man to stand like that when he was training him how to write and read.
“Izenda, Glandor, Merriam, Shamal,” Simon said without stuttering, it seemed that the old man was good at teaching Simon. He looks at Alphecca who nods in a proud manner.
“From the upper left Izenda is the northwestern continent, Glandor the southeastern continent, Merriam the central continent, and finally Shamal the eastern continent, It is also where we are right now” the guild master explains.
“... I don’t understand” Simon suddenly said.
“Oh… so I need to start with the definition of a map,” The guild master was quite surprised, the boy could read and write but it seemed that it was not enough…
<--->
It was finally the day that they would go into the dungeon cavern. They have done their preparation yesterday.
“Simon, did you listen to the guild master?” the old man asked as the 2 of them went out of their room.
“Yeah,” Simon smiled and nodded.
“Then you will be the lead, if we don’t arrive in the dungeon before nightfall you will not have dinner!!” the old man said threateningly.
Simon immediately ran down to the ground floor to check the map again.
The old man followed him, the guild master was there also waiting for him.
“It was fun seeing you… how many days do you think you would stay in the dungeon?” the guild master asked.
The old man looks at the back of the boy.
“Depends on how well and fast he develops… 3 months at the minimum, the Tugak’s that are not too mutated are edible! We will last! What else would we find under that cavern I wonder!!!” then the old man sounded laughing like Har-har-har
The ones who heard this thought of the old man’s idea as insane… was the Tugak even edible?
“Simon!!! Let’s go!! You better bring us there!!” the old man called the boy who was staring at the smaller map, the boy quickly went to him.
“I’m ready!!!” Simon said it like his life depended on it.
“That’s the spirit, then off we go!!!” the old man excitedly said.
<--->
Dungeons were probably the most mysterious thing in the world, not only that their spacing and floors didn’t make sense, but the more you mapped it, the harder it made sense. A method existed of mapping it by floors and by planes, not considering the height and the dimension the dungeon took.
There are also instances when dungeons would shift, changing their whole form inside. It would affect the ecosystem of the living things inside.
Dungeon monsters; are different from the monsters on the surface, they would remain at the same level of power when they were born out of the dungeon’s walls. There would be some that would be born mutated, this monsters unlike the conventional dungeon monsters could change the ecosystem of the whole dungeon, making it harder or easier, depending on the situation.
The part of its mystery is that it just suddenly appeared… and with no signs and warnings it suddenly changes.