Hours Earlier, a trio of teenagers marched through the dense jagged ground forest on the paved marble path dividing the forest. The roars of the ocean waves slamming against the rocky cliffside rushed past the trio's ears.
"Why does the dungeon have to be in such an inconvenient location?" the tall sightly-toned male teen muttered groggily as he huffed aggressively. (He is a half-human/half-demon; he has pitch-black slightly long slick back hair, black eyes, fair skin, and two large dark purple horns on his forehead which curved upwards)(He is wearing a black gothic trench coat with faint glowing purple inside, a white button-up shirt with the top button undone, black trousers, black boots, and a cyan metal bead necklace with a glowing white gem wrapped around his left wrist.)
"It can't be helped, now can it, Zak? Everyone else in class already got assigned the other dungeons... though given the location, it's bound to have some crazy loot at least," the average-height slightly busty female teen stated as she looked at the floating map with a green border showing the group's immediate area. (She is a half-human/half-vampire; she has elbow-low muted pink hair with a bright red ahoge, bright red eyes with black scleras, and whiteish pale skin)(She is wearing a transparent faint green hooded raincoat covered in glowing green cartoony bat silhouettes all over it, a green sleeveless wool shirt which goes down to her knees, black leggings, black hiking boots, and a cyan metal bead necklace with a glowing white gem around her right thigh.)
"What makes you say that, Aeova?" the super short teen girl with firm and thick thighs asked as she marched ahead of the group while fiddling with the pink heart-shaped gem in her hair. (She is a half-dwarf/half-merling; she has knee-low curly light blue hair tied together with gold metal beads necklace into an eight-petaled flower, golden-coloured eyes, tanned skin with light blue fish scales on her body [forearms, lower legs, back of hands, and feet])(She is wearing a dark blue mage robe-like zipless open hoodie with a faintly glowing pink inside, black sports brack, black running trousers, black running shoes, and a cyan metal bead necklace with a glowing white gem around her neck.)
"Well, Moina, given the dungeon is located in the Eternal Strife area, it's a given," Aeova stated. Zak and Moina silently stared at Aeova before the two stopped walking, followed by Aeova stopping shortly after them.
"Why'd you stop?" Aeova asked. Zak placed his fingers between his eyes and sighed.
"Unlike you, we don't spend all our time reading history books, Little Miss Bookworm," Zak remarked before he dragged his hand down his face.
"Right, I know that... but whenever I try to explain anything, you two always groan at me," Aeova said with a pout and puffed up her cheeks.
"Maybe if you didn't put multi-part online video series to shame we wouldn't have an issue," Moina remarked cheekily as she poked Aeova's face while she piggybacked on an annoyed Zak's shoulders. Zak audibly groaned, making Moina nervously flinch before jumping to the ground.
"Sorry...," Moina mumbled awkwardly as she looked at her feet.
"Whatever, Aeova, just do the explanation so we can get a move on," Zak requested. Aeova looked to her side before back at Zak and Moina.
"Ok, so... you know the beings known as the Celestial Sovereigns, right?" Aeova said. Zak and Moina nodded as Moina started to tap her fingers together.
"You mean the theoretical quintuple S-Rank uber-strong monsters from five hundred years ago that may or may not even exist?" Zak asked, with Aeova nodding cheerfully.
"Yeah, and if they were indeed slain by the-.". Zak raised a hand with Moina mimicking Zak's hand raise, and Aeova stopped talking.
"Soo... theoretically, the dungeon should be high in reward and rank?" Zak asked.
"Yeah... but why'd you have to cut me off?".
"Because you were about to go on a tangent about your obsession with the Celestial Conqueror again, duh," Moina stated. Aeova went fully silent at Moina's comment before she glanced to the side.
"Fair...," Aeova mumbled as she turned and walked off before Zak and Moina followed after her whilst Zak whispered about maybe being a bit harsh to Aeova when he cut her off.
A few minutes later, the trio arrived at a mini quarry in the middle of the forest with the howling of heavy machinery raging from the quarry. Moina poked her head over the edge of the quarry and stared at the temporary camp, which was covered in insignias [golden shield with a silver sword and bow behind the shield, and a blue diamond] on the tent and machinery at the bottom of the quarry.
"Seems a bit excessive, don't you think?" Moina remarked as Zak and Aeova looked into the quarry.
"The Heiliglicht Temple, the guild which doesn't heed the word moderation," Zak remarked harshly as he kicked a rock into the quarry. Zak snapped his fingers and a square-shaped purple mana(a wavey energy) barrier, before the trio hopped onto the mana barrier and rode it down to the base of the quarry.
The trio arrived at the base of the quarry and hopped off Zak's mana barrier before it faded into the wind. Aeova and Moina swiftly jogged over the camp in front of the large building-sized gothic-themed black marble cathedral door the wall of the mini-quarry with a group of sixty people from various Dungeon Delvers Guilds. Zak sighed and half-heartedly meandered his way after his academy buddies.
At the camp, people in construction gear with the Heiliglicht Temple's insignia on their clothing and machinery. An adult male with grey hair and a well-trimmed moustache exited one of the tents and wiped his forehead.
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"How is talking with them the most exhausting part of my day?" the construction chief grumbled as he flicked the sweat on his glove away. As the trio approached the centre of the camp, the construction chief spotted the trio and signalled them to come over to him.
"I take it you three are dungeon delvers sent by Phasmoluso Academy?" the construction chief asked.
"You betcha~," Moina proclaimed. Moina proudly raised her fists and shadow-boxed the air.
"Say, have you figured out if this dungeon has any relations to any of the Celesti-". Zak grabbed the hoods of Moina and Aeova's clothes and pulled them over their faces to stop their shinanigans prematurely.
"Knock it off, would ya," Zak said as he shook their heads before he let them go, "So, do you need to see our Delver Cards and whatnot?" Zak said to the construction chief. The guy glanced back into the tent before at Zak and Co.
"Well, you don't really need to do it right now, but if you want to present them ahead of time you can do so at the temporary Delvers' Association tent over there," the construction chief mentioned as he pointed to the nearby large tent with a different insignia on it: the insignia on it is a dark red helm with twelve handles made of different coloured gems [Red, blue, teal, green, cyan, orange, pink, grey, white, black, purple, and yellow].
"Right," Zak stated. The trio thanked the construction chief for his heads up before they headed towards the Delvers' Association tent.
Inside the tent, a short humanoid anthropomorphised creature stood on the chair by her desk with her upper body sprawled over the drape-covered desk as she pessimistically groaned. (She is a phasmolyene [a small child-sized human-shaped anthropomorphised creature with child-like features]; she has fur which covers her head to toe in short fuzzy grey fur with a white belly and back area, long scruffy sun-shaped white hair, glowing pale pink eyes with black scleras, four large azure-coloured crystal curved goat-shaped horns on the side of her head[two facing forward and two facings backward], a white football-sized and shaped tail, rain boot-shaped feet, and winter glove-shaped hands)(she is only wearing a pink headband wrapped around her front right horn with the Delvers' Assosiation's insignia on it, and a cyan metal bead necklace with a glowing white gem on her front left horn)
The phasmolyene groaned in frustration as she rolled her head across her desk until she was looking at the bowl full of transparent ice cream.
"Why'd I have to get sent out to the middle of nowhere when the dungeon hub hasn't even been built yet? It's not like those dungeon delvers would actually walk the distance here...," the phasmolyene mumbled as she heard the drapes of her tent flap about from the teenaged trio entering.
"Or... not," the phasmolyene uttered with a hint of enthusiasm as she stood up straight in her chair. She puffed up her hair and tail with her hands before placing her hands on her desk.
"Welcome to the Temporary Dungeon Hub Camp. I am Phi-Sealina; you may call me Sealina, and how may I be of assistance today," Sealina said with a chipper tone as the trio stood before her desk.
"What a change in demeanour...," Moina remarked.
"You're one to talk," Zak remarked, making Moina snicker.
"We're here from Phasmoluso Academy for the upcoming dungeon ranking evaluation," Aeova stated.
"Yeah... I think my boss mentioned something about that," Sealina remarked as she hopped off her chair and walked under her desk. Sealina returned, hopped onto her chair, and placed a colourless nine-by-nine cube with a grid texture on each of its faces.
"Please place your Delver Cards on the Staus Calibrator, if you would please," Sealina requested. The trio took their Delver Cards (Delver Card are metal cards which looks like an RPG screen; Zak's is purple, Moina's is pink, and Aeova's is green) out of their pockets and presented them to the Status Calibrator. The cube flickered the colours of the trio's Delver Cards a single time before the trio placed their Delver Cards back in their pockets.
[Zakoreign][*III]
[Class][Master of Gravity, The Reaper]
[HP][A]
[Mana Capacity][E]
[ATK][S]
[DEF][G]
[SPD][A]
[Weapon][Weapon-Type][Gear]
[ATK][S]
[Mana Capacity][A]
[DEF][A]
[Moipha Quantio][*II]
[Class][Die Hard Author, Sharp Shooter]
[HP][A]
[Mana Capacity][A]
[ATK][C]
[DEF][B]
[SPD][E]
[Illustrative Bow][Bow, Axe, Quill][Phasmo Switch Gear]
[ATK][A]
[Mana Capacity][A]
[DEF][D]
[Aeova Starveil][*]
[Class][Blacksmith, Enchanter]
[HP][A]
[Mana Capacity][S]
[ATK][D]
[DEF][A]
[SPD][C]
[Forger's Molder][Hammer, Pickaxe][Phasmo Switch Gear]
[ATK][B]
[Mana Capacity][S]
[DEF][A]
"Alright, you're all set for the dungeon evaluation in an hour, though I have no idea why you three are the only ones to show up aside from the members of the Heiliglicht Temple guild," Sealina muttered in uppercase. Sealina's remark perplexed the academy student trio and made Moina and Aeova glance at each other.
"But what about those Dungeon Delvers standing by the Dungeon's entrance?" Moina asked in utter confusion. Sealina blankly blinked at the trio before slowly lowering her head to her desk.
"Of course, they missed my tent," Sealina said under her breath as she balled up her fist, causing them to make xylophone key noises.