Maxwell
I was glad that I ran into Kaga. Having information on even just the first boss would make the dungeon easier to clear. My situation with Aurora made me hesitate a little, but from what everyone could tell, this dungeon was completely NPC. The distance from the village should make the situation safer as well.
Since I already had the scout settled, I made my way over to the Jade Collective. They had set up some tents to serve as their base of operations until we had some spare resources. I had told them they could have two of the houses, but they wanted a Guild complex. I couldn’t build those until my village was elevated to Town status. With how things were going, it should only be a few days from now.
I spotted Sasha and Kevin along with a few others from the guild. Waving to catch their attention, I made my way over quickly. “Good morning! You guys ready to take on the dungeon?”
Sasha cracked her knuckles with a grin. “You have no idea. Hunting around here is all messed up thanks to your village. One minute we’ll be fighting things super easy, then the next we’ll run into things that are forty times our level.” She covered her face with a grimace. I had to agree with her there. I, myself, ran into Lapis nearby. While it was at the top of the mountain, it was still only a few dozen kilometers from the village. “Luckily, we managed to escape without issue so far.”
“Sorry to hear that, but at least you’re staying on your toes right?” I asked with a smirk.
“You’ve got that right.”
I reached over and patted her arm. “Thanks for helping out around the village as well.”
“Might as well push this place to the next level a bit faster,” Sasha remarked as she looked at the village that was quickly heading to town level.
“Thanks again.” I studied her guildmates. “Everyone is ready for a dungeon dive?” I honestly had no idea what a regular NPC dungeon would entail. I had just started the game less than a month ago after all. If I went by other games that I had played in the past, then it should be us cutting through packs of monsters to reach a few bosses.
“Yep. This isn’t our first rodeo.”
“Good. Causes it is for me.”
Sasha gave me a thumbs up. “Stick with us, and you’ll be fine.”
I chatted with her for a few more minutes then left to get my affairs in order. Talking to the guards and NPCs in charge of various fields to make sure they didn’t need anything from me before I left for a while. The only hiccup I was seeing was the incoming citizens for the afternoon. They couldn’t get down from the cliff without either Rowena or I here to transport them. When I went to consult Rowena, she already had it covered. She entrusted the Guard Captain with Greavefeather to handle the transport of new arrivals.
“Every time I talk to you, I find another reason to be glad that you have my back,” I remarked happily. We walked over to the armor shop since I wanted to browse through the wares. I managed to find some decent leather armor that boosted my defense by a decent amount. Considering it was going up from zero, anything was a decent amount. I thanked the staff before we headed out to the meeting location.
The Jade Collective, Razz’s group the Goblin Assortment, name pending, a few of Ashona’s soldiers, Kaga, and then Rowena and me to round out the force. Not bad for a village that had only been around for a month and had more enemies than it was worth. I walked over to the leader circle and shook hands with everyone.
“Getting there will be a trek, but getting back will be a walk in the park,” I said once the greetings were over.
Razz ruffled in his bag. “About that, I wanted to try something.” I looked at him curiously as he pulled out a crystal. It was different than a mana stone. There were some interesting runes carved in it that made my Rune crafting skill whisper to me. I wasn’t sure how I knew it, but the runes seemed to be for capturing images. He pressed a metal clip at the top and sure enough, an image appeared over the device. “When you talked about your teleport, I wondered if it was possible to use it if you had an image like this.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
I got a closer look at the picture. It showed an outcrop of rock that had a cave in the rockface. Trees and foliage had been cleared, or rather it looked like nature simply couldn’t come any closer to the entrance. For a magical device, the image was crystal clear. It was almost like I was staring at it for real. “This is interesting and certainly worth the test.” If I could use my teleport skill using images, then I could send out scouts to collect images from important locations. There was no end to the benefits this might bring us.
Taking a deep breath, I focused with everything I had in me on the picture then used my teleport spell. I felt my mana drain as I blinked and found myself in the clearing around the cave. I checked myself over to make sure there weren’t any side effects. Game or not, this was real for me now. Best to be on the lookout for any… changes that might take effect.
Since the test had been a success, I teleported back to the others. The distance was almost seventy kilometers from my village. It took a toll on my mana to jump that far even on my own. With a shaky breath, I moved over to sit on a stump. “It worked. Let me recover my mana and we’ll be on our way.” Since it would take a minute or two, I pulled up my status to just review things to make sure I hadn’t missed anything before this dungeon dive.
--
Name: Maxwell Orfen
Level: 12
Race: Sacred Void Elf
Class: Lord
Specialization: Void Lord
Total Mana: 754/2,025
Abilities:
Dark Sight
Elemental Magic – Dark, Earth, Fire
Void Magic
Basic Sneak
City Management
--
~~~
Appearing with a flash of light, the group spread out once we arrived at the dungeon entrance. I did my best to not collapse to my knees. It really was a different matter altogether to teleport so many people in one go across such a distance. Even with the Mana transfer from the Jade Collective member, it was hard on my weak Void elf body.
“That class is awesome! Being able to teleport without a city matrix!” Razz exclaimed as he drew his sword. He glanced at me as I tried not to wheeze. “We need to get you some more levels though.” I waved him off as I continued to brace myself against my knees. The weakness finally passed as my mana recovered to a few hundred points.
“Trust me. Its on the top of my list of things to work on,” I replied. I checked my gauntlet to make sure it was secure and ready. I liked the weapon compared to an unwieldy staff. As I made sure I was ready, I spotted Kaga who looked visibly shaken. I walked over concerned that she might have been affected by my teleport. “Kaga. Are you alright?”
She jerked as if surprised. “Huh? Oh yes. I was… I was just a bit nauseous that’s all.”
“We can rest a few more minutes before heading in. We’ve already saved almost an hour after all,” I remarked worriedly.
She shook her head. “No. I’m fine now.”
I nodded deciding not to push her any more on the issue. She took a deep breath then pulled out a pistol with a magic gem instead of a firing pin. I would have been surprised considering the genre of the game we were playing, but one of the Jade Collective also used a magic rifle of sorts.
With everyone ready to go, we moved over to the dungeon entrance. Razz and a few others with shields moved to the front of the formation. I thought with our numbers, we should be more than prepared for whatever the dungeon might throw at us. According to the information from Kaga, the first boss was level twenty with considerable earth magic at its disposal. Many of the initial monsters were similar, in that they were elementals.
Nature’s Grotto scrolled across my visions as we fully entered the cave. It was much easier on the mind compared to Aurora’s dungeon.
As we proceeded into the cave, the mages created floating lights to illuminate the darkness. There was nothing about the cave that stood out. It was dark, humid, and covered with moss in places. The footing was crap, and everything shouted that the cave had been naturally craved by the passage of time.
Only a few minutes had passed when we reached the first chamber of the dungeon. We braced ourselves for whatever might be waiting. At the other end of the chamber stood a golem-like monster. It was similar to the ones that I summoned back in my village, only covered in moss and cracks.
The golem turned toward us, raising its arms before charging. It was strange that there was no sound to be heard. Well, if you didn’t count the thudding of the heavy footsteps as it made its way over. I pointed at the charging golem with the other long-distance fighters. I sent a spatial tear at it while the other mages sent their own spells. Mostly icicles since earth would have been absorbed. My spatial tear completely removed the golem’s left arm while the spells hammered it into the ground. The golem had barely made it halfway across the room before it was defeated, its HP completely emptied.
“I’m not sure whether to be impressed or disappointed,” Razz remarked as he walked over to the golem. All it had on it was a mana stone. Razz tossed it over to me without comment.
“I got decent EXP for the kill,” I said with a shrug as I checked my gauge. “Besides, this was only the first room.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“Don’t worry,” Kaga commented as she walked past us. “It gets harder.”