Liam and Cindy made their way out from the Adventurers Association not too long after Don had explained everything and given him his A.I.D. Liam was excited now since he was about to do something he had only read about in mangas and books. He was going to do quests as an adventurer.
Don had suggested he take a couple quests that aligned with what he was helping Cindy with. These quests included a couple of Monster Hunting quests and a couple of gathering quests. The Monster Hunting Quests he was suggested fit well since the monsters requested to be killed had some of the materials Cindy needed.
The Gatherer Quests were basic ones requesting to gather ten of Shallow Bell flowers and ten Lily Crown flowers. Don had told him there wasn’t any extra reward for turning in more than the requested amount. It was allowed many years ago, however, a few people tried to exploit it and it got out of hand.
Another thing he learned about quests were some of them were timed while others did not have a time limit. The quests he had taken were ones that did not have a time limit since they were low leveled and not high in demand.
“There are some things you will need to know once we get to the tower,” Cindy started as they walked. “The tower is only accessible to Adventurers with an A.I.D. There are guards stationed at the entrance who check everyone for their A.I.D. before entering the tower.”
“Okay,” Liam said as he listened.
“The next is there are four floors to the tower. Each level has different difficulties to the dungeons. The first floor has the weakest dungeons and the top has the strongest there are here on the island,” Cindy informed. “To be able to attempt a dungeon on a different floor you must have the right rank for it. To prevent adventurers from entering a dungeon they shouldn’t guards are stationed at the stairwell. You have to show them you’re A.I.D. so they can see if you meet the criteria for the dungeons on higher floors. If you don’t then you will be rejected to head up.”
“Makes sense,” Liam said. “Its to stop any adventurer from trying to bite off more than they can chew right?”
“Exactly!” Cindy stated, glad to see Liam understood. “Luckily for us, the dungeons we are going to enter are on the first floor. Since they are easy, we should be able to not only get your quests done and collect some of the items I need, but also have a couple dungeon completions on your record.”
“Sounds good to me,” Liam said as they turned around a corner.
Cindy started talking more about the dungeons they were going to take on. Liam listened to her, but after taking a few steps his attention was suddenly averted to a notification text that had suddenly popped up.
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“Liam! To your left! – Eri.”
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Liam quickly looked to his left and was ready for any attack that was coming his way. He didn’t know who could be so bold as to attack him in broad daylight in the middle of the city, but he was ready. However, there was nothing out of the normal.
Liam looked around and only saw random people either walking about or standing still talking to each other. No one was staring at him or Cindy or making their way towards him in a threatening manner.
Where are they? Are they invisible? Liam questioned as he kept scanning the area.
Cindy noticed Liam had stopped and looked back at him. “Is everything alright?”
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“What? Is who invisible? – Eri.”
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Liam’s brows scrunched as he grew confused. Weren’t you trying to warn me from an attack?
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“What? No. I was trying to get your attention so you can see what’s over to your left. – Eri.”
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To my left? Liam inquired. He looked around once more.
Besides people milling about there were a couple of stores with space in between them, allowing people to walk around the buildings.
Not sure what was going on with Liam, Cindy looked in the direction he was staring at. She recognized the stores he was looking at and tried to deduce which one had caught his attention.
A couple of the stores weren’t really noteworthy, so she took them out of the equation. One was a tool shop for different crafters. Another was a café. The last one was one she never had an inkling to check out, but knew it was popular with those pursuing musical type classes.
“Are you interested in the Rhythmic Strings?” Cindy asked.
Liam’s attention was suddenly brought onto her as he asked, “What was that?”
“I asked if you were interested in the Rhythmic Strings?” Cindy repeated. “It’s a Violin and Fiddle shop. Bard or other music type classes check it out, but there are those who love to play them as a hobby as well.”
Liam looked for the store she had mentioned and found it. What she had said about the store made him remember something, so he looked for the sign to see if it was what he was thinking.
After focusing on the sign, his vision zoomed in. He scanned the sign from top to bottom and then saw what he was looking for.
At the bottom right, almost blending in with the corner of the sign was a small spider. It was so small that if you didn’t focus and know what you were looking for anyone would miss it.
The Fiddler’s Spider Web. Liam internally thought.
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“Yes. Now that we know there is one here in this city, and where it is, we can visit here at a later date. – Eri.”
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Liam nodded before looking at Cindy. He gave her a bashful smile and replied, “Yeah, I’ve always wanted to learn how to play, but never had the chance.”
Cindy gave him a teasing grin as she stated, “It is never too late to learn. But I would like to request that if you do start while you’re still here on the island that you don’t pollute my ears with your horrible screeching as you start learning.”
Liam’s mouth dropped. “You know what. Just for that I will make sure to only practice when you’re around me.”
Cindy let out a giggle before turning around and walking away.
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Liam stared at the building right in front of him. It was a huge, rounded building that stood a little over four stories high. It was pitch black with four different shades of blue, green, red, and yellow spots around the building. The lighter shades were on the bottom part of the building while it grew darker with each story.
Liam stared at the materials used to make it. He could see it was made out of some sort of stone, but couldn’t figure out what the stone was.
People walked up steps that led up to the open doors where four guards stood inspecting everyone’s A.I.D. cards before allowing them access inside. Above the doors was a sign that read, “Dungeon Tower.”
Cindy looked at Liam and asked, “Shall we go in?”
Liam nodded as he followed her to the line of people.
After a few minutes of waiting, Liam and Cindy finally made it to the front door. As they approached Liam got a good look at the guards standing there. All four of them were muscular looking Lion-folk males.
“A.I.D.’s please,” one of the Lion-folk males requested as he and the closest one to him put their hands out.
Liam and Cindy each handed them their cards and waited.
The Lion-folk checking out Liam’s A.I.D. looked at it then at Liam. He then looked back at the card and asked, “Is this your first time here?”
Liam nodded.
“Are you going solo or are you with this adventurer here?” he inquired.
Liam thought it was weird he was asking him this since Cindy never told him about being questioned. He looked at Cindy and noticed she looked confused as well.
He was about to answer, but Cindy spoke up first. “He is assisting me on gathering some supplies for my uncle’s store. He also has some quests he will be taking on while he is here. Why, is there an issue?”
The Lion-folk looked at Cindy. He looked her up and down before handing back the card to Liam and saying, “None whatsoever. I just wanted to make sure a new adventurer isn’t stupid enough to go in alone during their first time.”
Liam took the card and placed it in his inventory. Trying to keep a neutral expression, he said, “Thank you for the concern. However, after experiencing my first dungeon, I have found that going in alone would be suicide, especially when I am still so low in levels.”
The Lion-folk nodded. “Good. Good luck with your quests.”
Liam and Cindy walked in after that, not wanting to have the guard’s attention on them anymore than it was.
After getting in and getting as far as they could from the entrance, Liam turned to Cindy and asked, “What was that about?”
“I…I honestly don’t know,” Cindy responded as she looked back at the entrance with a confused look. “That has never happened before.”
“Is that so?” Liam said as he looked back at the entrance too.
He didn’t let his stare linger there for long as he turned to get a better look at the room.
A lot of people stood around the room. They were grouped up talking to others while some were entering or exiting out of the portals that stood close by the walls.
Liam looked up and noticed he could see all the way to the ceiling four stories up. As he looked up he could see people staring down or looking up at the other floors. The walls were just as pitch black as the outside in areas where the portals weren’t located.
Colors and pictures were painted on the walls behind the portal they portrayed. For example, behind the green portal was a forest with several short green monster-like humanoid creatures that looked a lot like goblins. There were also other beast looking creatures hiding behind bushes or in trees.
Signs stood next to the portals as well. Liam wasn’t sure exactly what was written on them because each time he tried to look, someone would step in the way, blocking his view.
Liam noticed a couple of things about these portals. One was the shade of the colors. They were all a light shade meaning these were the weakest, that he knew of. The other was there was no Black Dungeon Portal.
Curious, Liam asked Cindy, “I don’t see a black dungeon anywhere. Are there any on the upper floors?”
Cindy raised a brow before shaking her head. “No. There are no Black Dungeons here on the island or in this tower.”
“How come?” Liam asked.
“Black dungeons are rare. They don’t normally pop up in areas like cities, towns, or any populated areas,” Cindy explained. “Some have popped up as a limited dungeons in places like graveyards, but even those are rare.”
“That’s strange. I had to take one on in the Tutorial Area,” Liam stated as he looked around once again.
As he looked around again he noticed two Lion-folk men stood by the stairwell that was located on the back side of the building.
As he looked at the stairwell, Liam noticed something strange move. It was a very small creature, crawling along the wall. It blended in with the wall so well he thought he was seeing things. However, after focusing on the tiny little creature he noticed the color of its skin was just as black as the walls. The creature he saw was a spider.
He watched as the spider made its way towards an area where two more Lion-folk stood. This pair stood by a closed door located not too far away from the stairwell. The spider made its way down the wall and then wedged its body under the crack and behind the closed door.
“Where does that door lead to?” Liam questioned as he stared at the door.
Cindy looked at where Liam had pointed. “I’m not too sure. No one really knows. There have been plenty of guesses like a storeroom or a place where the guards sleep when they stay here to guard. However, no one has seen them open it before, so no one really knows.”
“Huh,” Liam muttered before looking back at Cindy and asking, “Okay so which one are we doing first?”
“We’re going to start with the Blue Dungeon over there,” Cindy said as she pointed to the area that held the Blue Dungeon Portal.
Liam followed her over to it and got a good look at the picture behind it. Against the wall was a picture of a river running into a sea or ocean view. A cave sat on a beach next to the wide spread water. Poking out along the walls of the mouth of the cave were several circular blobs that looked a lot like Slimes.
Liam looked at the sign next to the portal. It read, “Seaside Cave of the Water Slimes. Dungeon Type – Tower. Restrictions – Party Amount allowed – 7. Rules – Defeat the Elite Floor Monsters and Floor boss on each floor. Floors – 3.”
Liam was surprised to see all that information written on the sign. He pointed to it as he asked, “I thought this information was given when you try to enter the dungeon?”
“It is,” Cindy said. “But since this dungeon is here in the Tower, the Adventurers Association thought it would be helpful to have that information on a sign so everyone didn’t have to waste time having to keep placing a hand on the portal to find out which dungeon they would like to do.”
“That’s convenient,” Liam stated.
“It is,” Cindy nodded. “Now lets go.” She then placed a hand on the portal and mentally accepted before walking through.
Liam felt a sudden buzz of excitement as he stared at the portal. He was about to enter another dungeon and this time it wouldn’t be like the last. This time he would get to enjoy and see exactly how it was supposed to be. He took a gulp before finally taking a step forward and through the portal.
A few eyes were locked on Liam as he stepped through the portal. After he disappeared they looked at each other while standing in different sides of the room. They each nodded to each other before a couple walked out of the building.
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That excitement Liam felt before stepping through the portal instantly changed as soon as he appeared on the other end. Fluids inside of him stirred within his stomach before they shot up through his throat and out of his mouth.
Liam took a few seconds to let everything escape before he muttered to himself in an almost silent groan, “Upchuck Roulette strikes again.”
“What was that?” Cindy asked as she turned to look at him.
Liam waved a hand as he slowly got up and cleaned his mouth off.
As Liam pulled out a small water bottle to clean the taste out of his mouth, Cindy suddenly said, “Oh before I forget. I have something you can use while we’re collecting supplies.”
She reached inside her inventory and pulled out a small bag.
Liam looked at the bag. It was a simple tannish bag with green embroidery designs along the flap and the strap. All in all it looked almost like a bookbag with a single strap.
Liam tried to assess the bag to get a better idea of it.
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“Gatherer’s Bag of Harvest. Item type – Storage. Item Rarity - Common. Item Quality – Poor. Enchantments – 2. Enchantment Quality – Poor. Enchantments – Space, Crafter. Effects – Harvest Transfer. Harvest Transfer – Transfers any materials collected through the Crafter’s ability Harvest to the Gatherer’s Bag of Harvest.”
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“That’s interesting,” Liam stated as he looked over at Cindy.
“Gatherer specialty Adventurers use this bag or ones like this to help clean up clutter in their inventory,” Cindy informed. “It also helps so you don’t have to look for it all in your inventory and take it out one at a time just to put it into another bag.”
Liam loved this idea. This was a revolutionary thing that people who hated going through their inventory just to find and transfer materials to a new bag. He wanted one for himself. No, he wanted multiple to separate materials.
After thinking about it he had a question.
“Is there a way to make it so only certain materials can transfer to a bag like this or is it all materials collected through harvest only?” Liam asked.
“There are bags that have specific materials only, but they are costly due to the process needed to undergo just to make it specific materials only,” Cindy answered.
Liam beamed. He now had an item he wanted to find no matter what.
Cindy shook her head as she watched Liam stared at the bag with delight. “I get you are excited, but don’t forget that this is only a loan. If you’d like I can introduce you to someone who keeps an eye out for these items.”
Liam swiftly looked at her and nodded his head vigorously.
Cindy let out a laugh. “Hurry up and take it already. My arm is starting to hurt holding it out like this.”
“Ah sorry, my bad,” Liam said as he reached for it.
After placing the bag in his inventory Cindy stretched her arms out and let out a breath of air before asking, “Alright, now that that’s taken care of. Are you ready to do this?”