POV Pyter Synder

When the ship sailed closer to the iceberg, they seemed to pass a barrier that made every person vary and alert. Many of them looked around to see what it was, but Pyter knew. He had heard of this but never experienced it himself. When dungeons become large enough, they start obtaining what is called a territory. It is not a part of the dungeon itself, but is an area in which dungeon mana circulates in the immediate surroundings of the actual dungeon.

Most sentient beings can feel when they cross over into this area, and that was what they felt. This made Pyter even more interested in studying and potentially trying to get a no-kill order set up for the dungeon core.

A no-kill order is created by the adventurers guild that prohibits any adventurers in a dungeon with a no-kill order from harming, destroying, or breaking a dungeon core in any way. If an adventurer does this, they are blacklisted by the guild and a significant bounty is set on them, dead or alive.

Usually, no-kill orders are set for unique, important resource generating, one of a kind, or are too dangerous or powerful to confront.

Pyter called out to stop the ship from progressing even further into the dungeon's territory and got them to back up, so they were just a metre away from the start of the territory before they anchored down.

Once they were anchored, Pyter, Merkelis Byla, the leader of the adventuring group that came with them, and Felix Blair, the captain of the ship they were one, were in the captain's room huddled around a large, flat crystal.

"When is the guild master calling" complained Felix, "we have been waiting over two hours for him to call us back."

"The guild master is busy, but I do agree that it has been a while for him to get back to us," responded Merkelis.

"Shush," hushed Pyter, "the crystal is glowing."

After a couple of seconds of the crystal glowing, a small image of the guild master at his desk appeared.

"So, you have found the dungeon encased in that iceberg?"

"Yes, guild master Crowe" responded Merkelis.

"And have you explored and marked out the iceberg yet?"

"Well, about that, the dungeon has set a territory, and we did not want to cross and explore without informing you first."

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With a sigh, the guild master rubbed his eyes. "You can go now, but prioritize finding information about the dungeon, monsters, creatures, environment, etc., anything that you can find. I will be sending extra teams, supplies, and some water mages. In addition, we will be preparing to set up a small floating city, as news of the dungeon has already been spreading. But luckily, the location has not yet been found, so we will have time to prepare for that. They should meet you there in a couple of days. May Romara bless your adventure and keep you safe."

After saying the blessing for the goddess of adventure, the small image cut out, and the crystal light dimmed back to non-existence.

After the meeting with the guild master, Pyter turned to the others. "They're actually prepared to set up a floating town without even knowing a thing about the dungeon and how it moves. But enough of that, now I think that our priority should be collecting information of what is inside the dungeon and potentially mapping it and the territory surrounding the iceberg."

"I say we should assess the dungeon's temperament before we do anything," responded Merkelis.

A dungeon's temperament is important, as some dungeons will try to kill anyone who steps foot within their dungeon, and some will let adventurers pass with danger but not try to instantly go for the kill.

"From what I remember of my time on the iceberg, there was a portal at the end of a tunnel within the iceberg. And as soon as I entered the portal, I dropped into an area of water, so unless it has changed, we have to be prepared for that."

POV Amy

Just as Amy was looking at the three new objects that she had just gained, she noticed a ship cross over into her territory. The ship then made a sudden stop and exited out of her territory, and stopped just a bit ahead of her territory.

This made Amy curious, as they made it a point to stay close to her territory before anchoring down. But, as nobody on the ship made to get off or come into her territory, she decided to just keep an eye on it for now but to leave it alone.

So, Amy went back to thinking about using and creating with the will of a crystal. It will naturally produce crystals within the immediate area and affect the surrounding life. However, she did not know how valuable the will of a crystal would be to the outside world, so the best option would be to place it somewhere where it would be difficult to find. And she knew just the place.

There was a very deep point within the southwest section of the second-floor area where one of the dense kelp forest covers that Amy thought would make a perfect place to hide the will of a crystal.

In that area of the kelp forest, there were some rock pilings along with some of her more stationary creatures. It was a perfect place to see the effect of the will of a crystal. She dug a small enough hole in the sand so only the top portion of the crystal could be seen, placed it in that hole, and pushed sand around it. This, she hoped, would help hide it while still having it interact with the surrounding environment.

With the crystal placed in the deepest kelp forest, Amy also placed the other interesting thing she collected, the crystalline seagrace, very close to the crystal.

Just as she finished doing this, she felt a mana pulse. However, it did not pulse in her dungeon or her territory but within the ship that was anchored outside of her territory. This made Amy even more curious and somewhat cautious about why the ship is here and only staying outside her territory.