Emerald Dawn checked her gear one last time while she waited for her other party members to finish preparing for the dungeon. Since Emerald was a shapeshifter, she didn't really need that much gear. Her black fox form was agile and good at making quick attacks, but that became more difficult if she was weighed down with a bulky pack and other gear. She preferred to keep her equipment simple, just wearing a black cloth robe that matched her fur well with a leather belt around the middle. Any gear she would need would then be kept in a small leather drawstring pouch that hung from her belt.

In comparison, their wind elementalist, Gale Tempest, and healer, Cirdan Wynstone, tended to carry a lot more. Gale wore a similar blue robe, leather belt, a leather satchel that he carried at one side, and a wooden staff in his other hand. I mean, sure he did have to worry more about things like mana and his health than Emerald, but the sheer amount of gear he insisted on carrying just seemed impractical to her.

Cirdan was from the elven tribe and was also a male, leaving Emerald the only female in their party. He tended to gather healing herbs as they traveled and stocked up on supplies, like glass vials, whenever they stopped in a city so that he could make potions for their party. However, despite how much gear Cirdan carried around, Emerald was willing to give him a pass since he was a support class with craftsmanship class capabilities. Everyone needed a capable healer, so Emerald wasn't exactly willing to get on the elf's bad side by complaining that he carried around too much junk.

"Are you all ready yet? I want to get to the dungeon early today. I hear the town has employed guards and is trying to convince only one party to enter at a time. Apparently, this dungeon is newer than we had been told."

Gale snorted as he remarked

"I bet they're just saying that. They just want an excuse to collect fees from those wanting to enter the dungeon."

Cirdan sighed as he tried to mediate

"It doesn't matter. We will see things for ourselves when we get there. Now, let's get going."

Emerald's party begrudgingly paid the three copper to enter the dungeon. Just because it seemed wasteful to pay fees didn't mean they needed to risk upsetting the locals. Their party was still fairly low-level. Both Gale and Cirdan were still considered F-rank adventurers with only Emerald at a higher level. Even then, it was still considered a low level since she was only D-rank.

Emerald always shifted before entering the dungeon to ensure she was prepared to fight at a moment's notice. Most low-level dungeons could still be considered rather dangerous with goblins sometimes even leaving their assigned rooms to ambush newbie adventurers at the entrance. So, when they were met with only a single slime in a flower meadow, Emerald was confused, to say the least.

"This is a lot more peaceful than anticipated."

Cirdan noted

"Where's all the others? There's no way this is all of them."

Gale grumbled.

Emerald shrugged before pouncing on the slime, making quick work of it.

"Well, you two can keep guard, if you want. I'm going to collect some of these plants. These acorns can be made into flour and most of the flowers are useful in teas or can be sold. This bee hive looks to be pretty new, so I'm not sure we will be able to get anything from it. Ah well, maybe next time."

Emerald nodded at Cirdan's words, taking up a defensive posture as she watched the door leading out of the room.

Violet knew there were adventurers in her dungeon, but she decided not to go to greet them. She still felt uneasy from the previous day's training. If they tried to come too far through the dungeon then she would warn them not to come any closer to the dungeon core room. However, she was more than willing to just let them explore unhindered otherwise.

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"What the heck! All of these rooms are empty!"

Gale's frustration was clear as day and Emerald wasn't sure that she disagreed with the sentiment. So far, they had found four rooms. The first only had a single slime and some bees, which had been rather disappointing. It wasn't enough for Emerald to level up by a long shot, much less for any of her other party members to benefit. Well, Cirdan seemed happy with the plants he had collected, but that was a separate consideration.

"Well, we could attempt this challenge. It says all we have to do is complete the puzzle and it has a reward I've never seen before."

Emerald huffed as she complained

"Yeah, but I've never heard of a jigsaw puzzle before, have you? I don't think it is worth risking it."

Cirdan sighed as he replied

"Fine, we can skip it for now, but I'm going to stay behind to try it out when you all leave. The dungeon shouldn't reset for a while anyway."

Emerald growled in frustration as she insisted

"No, I'll stay with you. It's dangerous to split up and you don't want to get ambushed while messing about with a strange puzzle."

Gale loudly complained

"Yeah, yeah, whatever! Can we move on already? I don't want to stand here talking about puzzles all day. We came here to get experience and we have yet to run into any useful [Monsters]."

Emerald nodded and the party continued on their way. However, the next room was also empty, which did nothing for the party's morale. Gale didn't even bother stopping as he pushed his way past the entrance and into the hallway where Violet was waiting.

"Don't come any closer. There isn't any more dungeon to explore, you should return the way you came."

Violet's voice fell on deaf ears as Gale began to summon wind magic and threatened

"You think you can stop me? We have every right to be here, we even paid that lousy entrance fee! All for the guards to be bad at their job too! What were they even going on about? They already had other adventurers in here yet they were assuring us they would dissuade others from entering until we left!"

Emerald put her hand on Gale's shoulder and pulled him back roughly, interrupting his magic as she scolded

"Knock it off! You don't even know what rank she is or even what class she uses. Besides, it's wrong to attack other adventurers. I'm sure we can sort something out so no one has to get hurt."

Violet looked relieved as she let her posture relax, but she kept her sword raised in front of her just in case they changed their mind.

"Look, as I tried to tell your friend. The only thing beyond this point is the dungeon core. You should turn back."

Gale growled back

"We have no way of confirming that unless you let us through! I bet you just want to monopolize all the dungeon treasure and experience!"

Cirdan looked at Violet carefully before asking

"Is it possible that you are the Dungeon Master?"

Violet nodded in confirmation and Cirdan replied

"As I thought, Gale, you need to calm down. You don't want to upset a Dungeon Master or else we could very well all end up losing our lives the next time we try to visit."

Emerald looked confused as she questioned

"Can human become Dungeon Masters?"

Cirdan nodded as he clarified

"Yes, weren't you all paying attention in the training classes at the adventurer's guild? It's rare, but human become Dungeon Masters plenty of the time. They just usually don't leave their dungeon core room or hang out in special rooms on deeper floors of the dungeon."

Cirdan turned to Violet, pulling out two vials of potions and setting them on the ground, and apologized

"I'm sorry about our friend, he hasn't always been the brightest. I'll just leave these to cover our tribute and be on our way."

On the way out of the dungeon, Emerald asked

"I thought you wanted to try out that puzzle?"

Cirdan shook his head as he replied

"Not now, let's give it a few days, and then we can try again. Hopefully, offering a better tribute than we would otherwise be able to afford will be enough to dissuade the Dungeon Master from trying to kill us off the next time we come..."