Liam turned towards the owners of the people who called out to him. His heart started beating quickly because he hadn’t heard these voices in a little over two years since they disappeared. He was also surprised to hear their voices here of all places.

Standing at the open doors were two males. One was a little taller than the other. He had short reddish messy hair that brought out his forest green eyes. His plain white T-shirt and tanned pants showed Liam how bulky and well-toned he had grown these past two years compared to the lanky slim young man he used to be. This man was Waylon.

The second male stood a little shorter than the other but was still an inch taller than Liam. He had hazel eyes and short well-kept copper hair that reminded Liam of a crewcut. He too had a well-toned physique that told Liam he had been working out and exercising a lot during the time they hadn’t see each other. His wide playful smile reminded Liam of all the times they had gotten into mischief when they were younger. This man was Knox.

“Waylon? Knox?” Liam questioned as he raised a brow while staring at them.

Cindy gave Liam a curious and confused look as she looked back and forth between Liam and the two men.

“Holy shit! It is you!” Waylon shouted as he gave Liam a wide grin while quickly making his way to him with Knox close on his heels.

As soon as the two were within arm’s reach, they both quickly gave Liam a bear hug. Liam wasn’t sure if stats had anything to do with it, but he felt like he was going to be crushed.

“Damn dude, you don’t write or call? When did you get here?” Knox questioned as he released Liam from his grip.

“I just arrived two days ago,” Liam replied as he stared at the two.

“Arrived here at this city two days ago? We came here two days ago too. How did we miss you?” Waylon asked as he gave Liam a confused look.

“Probably because when I got here I had to deal with the New Arrival procedures,” Liam replied.

“New Arrival Pro…,” Knox started to say until something clicked. “Wait, did you arrive to this city two days ago or this world two days ago?”

“Both,” Liam said with a smile.

Waylon and Knox looked at each other before looking Liam over. They also walked around as they studied every inch of his body.

“What are you guys doing?” Liam asked as he felt a bit embarrassed.

“Checking to see why you arrived here instead of one of the Human territories,” Knox replied as the two men made their way back in front of Liam.

“Oh. You won’t be able to tell that way. Here, this is the reason why,” Liam started to say as he pulled his sunglasses down a bit for them to look at his eyes.

“Whoa that’s pretty cool,” Waylon stated.

“What race?” Knox asked as he grew curious.

“Cat-folk and human mix,” Liam stated as he placed his sunglasses back over his eyes.

“Damn that’s pretty cool. We’re only human,” Waylon stated.

“Yeah, out of all of us, I think Zo was the only one who had a different race,” Knox commented.

“Zoe’s here?” Liam asked as he looked at them.

As Liam asked this he noticed something weird pass over them. Before he could ask what that was about, Waylon chimed in, “So is Levi and Wyatt.”

“Levi and Wyatt are here too?” Liam asked feeling a bit relieved to hear his other friends were transported to this world.

“Yeah, but they aren’t with us right now on this island. They’re in a different territory taking care of some things,” Knox replied.

Before Liam could ask anymore questions, Cindy, who was standing there quietly and patiently, chimed in, “Do you know these guys?”

Liam, Knox, and Waylon turned to look at her.

“Who’s this cutie?” Knox asked as he gave Liam a wry smile.

“Ah sorry Cindy,” Liam started, ignoring Knox’s words. “This is Waylon and Knox. They are my best friends from my home world Earth.” He then looked at the two guys and introduced, “This is Cindy. She is a friend I recently made after arriving here in this city. She’s helping me get my A.I.D.”

“Nice to meet you Cindy,” Waylon greeted.

“Sorry you got stuck helping this guy out,” Knox teased as hiked a thumb towards Liam with a playful grin on his face.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Liam questioned with a raised brow.

“Not much. Just that you usually get lost in your thoughts majority of the time so it’s hard to tell when you’re actually paying attention when someone’s talking to you,” Knox said as he stared at Liam.

Liam was about to argue until he thought about the times when he would lose himself while crafting or training. He did get stuck in his thoughts whenever he did those things, but when he’s not doing any of that…

“See you’re doing it right now,” Knox said as he let out a laugh.

Liam shook his head, not sure what to say.

Cindy let out a laugh as she watched their antics play out.

“Anyways, what are your plans for the day?” Waylon asked.

“After I get my card I’m going to help Cindy out with gathering some supplies in the dungeon,” Liam said.

“Oh? That’s nice of you,” Knox said as he looked at him.

“What about you guys?” Liam inquired.

“We’re waiting on a couple of people to get here before we decide on what we’re doing,” Waylon stated.

“Alright, we’re all done on our end,” Don suddenly announced as he walked back up to the counter.

“Looks like you’re up. We’ll catch up later,” Knox said as he and Waylon started to walk towards the area with tables and chairs.

“Be safe out there. Don’t know what class you have, but always remember there’s someone or something stronger than you,” Waylon called out giving them a wave.

Liam nodded before turning back to the man who stood there patiently.

“Sorry about that,” Liam said as he approached the counter.

“It’s all good. It’s always a good thing to talk and try to connect with other adventurers on your own. We try to help out where we can, but we like to see adventurers being proactive on their own.” Don smiled as he placed a thin card down on the counter. “Speaking of us trying to help where we can…I saw you put down that you are interested in the Gatherer specialty. I saw you have both the Harvest and Butcher abilities. Both are excellent abilities to have for that specialty.”

Liam nodded.

“I must also say that I saw you put down an ability that can be beneficial to a few support type specialties. And I am rather impressed you have this ability,” Don added giving Liam an approving look.

“Oh? What ability and what specialties are you talking about?” Liam questioned as he grew curious and interested. Cindy also grew interested as she waited to hear what Don had to say.

“The ability is Perception of the Control Tower,” Don replied. “To name a couple of specialties where this ability can be useful are Dungeon Guide, Dungeon Scout, and Group Comms.”

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Cindy’s eyes widened as she looked at Liam.

“How is that ability useful for those specialties? Also what is the Group Comms?” Liam asked a bit more interested in learning.

“As you know, Perception of the Control Tower can monitor and keep track of a party’s health, mana, and stamina. It can also do the same for monsters or enemies you encounter. This ability can help a party you are in or contacted to, to help them proceed throughout a dungeon dive. As a Guide or Scout you can relay information to the party or parties, depending on the type of Dungeon you are taking on,” Don explained.

“As for Group Comms, once you have the ability at a certain level you will be able to talk to those in your party even if you are not next to them. The range allowed depends on the level of the ability as well as your Perception sub-stat. After further leveling the ability after unlocking that potential you will be able to allow those you grant, in the party you are in, to communicate with others as well. I think you can understand the importance of that for quests that require stealth or raid type dungeons.”

Liam’s eyes widened at the explanation Don had provided. He knew the ability was great, but after hearing there was even more potential to it he really wanted to level it up and learn more on what he could do with it.

“I can tell you more about it if you’d like,” Cindy offered as she recognized the excitement growing on Liam’s face.

Liam turned to look at her. “You have the ability too?”

Cindy nodded with a smile. “Yes, I currently have it at level thirty-one.”

“Nice! Yes please!” Liam nodded vigorously.

Cindy let out a laugh as Don continued, “Setting that aside. Let me go over the features of your Adventurers Identification and then I’ll explain the types of dungeons there are.”

Liam turned his attention back to Don who handed him the blank white card.

“Before we start go ahead and channel some of your mana into it. Not a lot. Just a small amount will do,” Don instructed.

Liam did as he said and watched as information appeared.

“Name: Liam. Age: 22 Rank: F. Specialty. Groups. Mentor. Weapon Skills. Fields. Abilities and Skills. Dungeons: 1. Quests: 0.”

“Now don’t lose this card because it can be used for multiple of things,” Don started. “Since its attuned to your mana only you will be able to activate it.”

“So, it’s like the C.I.D. in that aspect?” Liam asked.

Don looked at him and nodded. “Yes. Just like your C.I.D. it is your I.D. for adventurer stuff. Adventurer Stores, Adventurers Association quests, and more. It also keeps track of things like your specialty or specialties, how many dungeons you have taken on and completed or how many floors you did in a dungeon before giving up on the whole dungeon.

“Parties, Clans, or Guilds you belong to. Mentors you are under. Weapon Skills, Fields, abilities, and skills. It also keeps track of all Quests you have successfully completed or failed. If you need to show proof of any of those all you need to do is click on the subject. Go ahead and click on Dungeons.”

Liam pressed on the word Dungeons. The information on the card changed as new information appeared.

“Dungeons. Dungeons completed: 1. Red – 0. Blue – 0. Yellow – 0. Green – 0. Brown - 0 Multi-colored – 0. White – 0. Black – 1: Black Tutorial Dungeon, 6 floors – Complete. Dungeons not finished – 0.”

“That’s pretty cool,” Liam stated as he looked back at Don.

“Your starting Rank is F,” Don started back up. “From weakest to strongest the ranks go F, E, D, C, B, A, and S. The ranks represent your strength. If you have the right stats to enter the appropriate dungeon. Compatibility. If you have the skills to do the quest. And lastly, dependability. You have a lot of successful quests completed.”

Liam nodded as he wrote this down.

“Majority of the F through D rank quests can be done in the same dungeon difficulty. However, the higher ranked quests can only be done in higher difficulty dungeons,” Don informed.

“Higher difficulty dungeons?” Liam asked with a raised brow.

“I’ll go over that soon enough. Another thing you must know about this card is when you grab a quest and bring it to the receptionist you must hand them your A.I.D. so they can put it on your Quest list,” Don continued. “After you come back, whether you complete or fail, you must present your card again so they can mark it down as such. The dungeon information on the card updates by itself.”

Liam frowned at the last part. “How?”

Don shrugged as he replied, “I don’t know. That part of the card’s function is not explained to us. The only answer I can provide is what they told me. Magic.”

Liam shook his head as he found the answer utterly useless.

“You can always update any personal information whenever you want by coming to this desk at any Adventurer Association,” Don added. “Now…on to dungeons.”

Liam looked back at the man as he placed his card down on the counter.

“There are several different types of dungeons. I’m sure the Overseers explained the different colors and what they represent correct?”

Liam nodded.

“Ok good,” Don started. “Now Dungeon information can be broken down into four things. Colors, Types, Rules and Requirements, and Breakthrough. For the color portion of the dungeon explanation, I’ll just summarize since you were already informed. There are several different colored dungeons. Green, Blue, Brown, Red, Yellow, Black, White and Multi-colored. Each color that we know of so far represents the environments. There are some talks about the color being a way to predict the type of creatures you will encounter, but there isn’t enough data to prove that theory yet.

“You can also tell the difficulty of the dungeon by how dark or light the dungeon is. The lighter the color the dungeon is the easier it will be. The same goes for the opposite. The darker it is the harder it will be. The only color that doesn’t match this is white and I’ll explain that soon.”

Liam took out a new notebook he hadn’t used yet and started writing this down.

Don was surprised by this and continued with a smile, “There are several different types that we know of so far. They are Free Roam, Tower, Wave, Puzzle, Raid, Jumbled, and Captured. Free Roam is a type of dungeon where anyone and everyone can enter it. The world inside that dungeon is bigger than usual dungeons. Random monsters spawn throughout the dungeon at any given time. We are still trying to understand how that happens and where they spawn from.

“This type of dungeon is popular because variant types of monster will also appear. We try to make sure monsters are slain weekly, so it doesn’t get over populated. Many Gatherer specialized adventurers tend to go to these dungeons since materials appear on a daily basis. These dungeons also have hidden areas adventurers try to look for due to hidden treasure or loot you can get from killing the monsters hidden within.

“Tower type Dungeons have floors. They can range from two to twenty. You fight and kill every Elite Floor Monster and Floor Boss before being able to go to the next floor. The Boss Monster on the last floor is called the Dungeon Boss. After you kill that boss you have defeated the dungeon. You can think of the tutorial Dungeon you took on as an example for what a Tower Dungeon is like.

“Wave Dungeons are a type of dungeon where you have to kill several waves of monsters. Depending on the difficulty of the dungeon you could finish it quickly or be in there for a couple of days. It really depends on the dungeon.

“Puzzle dungeons are the type of dungeon where you have to solve problems or puzzles. Some have you kill monsters as part of the puzzle or as a penalty. These dungeons are rare, but the loot that can be obtained makes it worth it.

“Raid style dungeons are the type of dungeons that require multiple parties to join together to take on powerful monsters. These dungeons are usually popular with Clans and Guilds. Some use these types of dungeons to test new candidates they are scouting to see how well they mesh with their clan or guild as well how well they do in situations.

“A Jumbled Dungeon is the type of dungeon where it mixes either two or more types of dungeons together. You never know what you’ll get until you step into it. This type of dungeon is rare to come across and are usually avoided when they appear until Dungeon Exploration Adventurers or Dungeon Scouts confirm the types that are mixed.

“Lastly, there are Captured Dungeons. Captured dungeons are places that people, with the right set of skills and abilities, permanently anchor to the spot they appeared and are used to live in before they disappear.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Liam asked, a bit confused.

“Not all dungeons remain after you successfully defeat the Dungeon Boss,” Don explained. “There are some dungeons that appear out of nowhere at anytime. It doesn’t matter where, they just appear. We call them Limited Dungeons. After you successfully complete the dungeon they will disappear. However, many years ago someone found a way to anchor them in place and make them inhabitable. It is popular amongst many well-known and powerful clans, guilds, and even Deities. The way to tell if a dungeon is a captured dungeon is its color. The original color fades to white.”

Liam stared at the man. This bit of information was quite interesting to Liam. He really wanted to know how to do that. He was even impressed with the types of dungeons Don had to explain. However, he knew there were a couple more types he hadn’t listed and asked, “Are those the only types?”

Don shook his head. “No. New dungeons spawn all the time. We still haven’t explored all the dungeons out there yet. These are just the ones we know about right now. When new dungeon types appear we take notes and try to figure them out before we let others know.”

Liam nodded his head.

“Now, the next thing you need to know about dungeons are the rules and requirements some have,” Don continued. “Every dungeon has rules to them. For example, there are Party Amount Restrictions, Magic Restrictions, Class Restrictions, Stats, and more. There will be a description of the restrictions placed on the information tab before you enter the dungeon letting you know what the rules are.”

Liam’s head tilted as he heard this.

“How can a dungeon place rules on themselves?” Liam asked.

Don shrugged. “I don’t know. Like I said before we’re still learning more about the dungeons and why they do what they do. Another thing you must be careful about is the last thing I need to tell you. Dungeon Breakthroughs.”

Liam remembered Farry mentioning about them.

“Dungeon Breakthroughs are a phenomenon when a Dungeon suddenly lets its monsters loose into the world. We still don’t have all the evidence or facts on why this happens, but so far we theorize that when a dungeon has gone too long without anyone challenging it and killing the monsters residing inside it will happen. For a short amount of time, the weakest of the monsters will exit the portal. After some time, stronger ones come out. We haven’t seen a case yet where a Dungeon Boss has come out yet. The only way to stop the flow of monsters leaking out is by going inside the dungeon and successfully conquering it.”

“Is that why there’s quests? So that way Dungeon Breakthroughs don’t happen?” Liam questioned.

“Yes,” Don nodded. “We believe that if adventurers keep taking the dungeons on then it will keep them from allowing mayhem from happening. However, this is just speculation since we’re still unsure how Dungeon Breakthroughs completely manifest.”

Liam nodded his head understanding.

“And with that you have completed your application for an A.I.D.,” Don stated as he gave Liam a smile. “Welcome to the Adventurers Association and I wish you the best of luck on your journey going forward.”

Liam returned the smile as he replied, “Thank you.”

“Now, can I offer some suggestions for your first couple of Quests?” Don asked.

“Yes please,” Liam said as he grew excited.