Right after accepting the quest, the rest of his band of brothers started to pack up and take down the camp. They had about a day's journey to reach the dungeon, according to the quest indicator, and they already had all of the necessary supplies ready. Even if they didn't, they wouldn't be able to afford anything more than a few loaves of bread. While everyone else prepared, Jones spent the time reviewing his [Party].
Party: Jones and Folks Party Members Level Rank Class Jones Ram 4 1 Acolyte George Ram 4 1 Shieldbearer James Ram 4 1 Skirmisher John Ram 4 1 Hedge Mage Harry Ram 4 1 Tracker
They had all received the first two skills for their respective classes during the last few weeks after registering with the Adventurer's League, one at level 1 and another at level 3. All of them were now at Level 4 and they would only be able to upgrade from rank 1 to 2 at Level 10. Most parties would be able to achieve rank 2 within a month of being formed with steady work and rank 3 within the next half a year. Thus, the fact that Jones and his brothers were still below level 5 even after 3 weeks went to show how desperate for action they were. Seeing as they were facing a Rank 1 dungeon, it would only have 1 floor. which suited their needs well. In terms of monsters, Jones expected they might face some forest critters but this being his first dungeon dive, he was unsure exactly what to expect. Regardless, he knew that the risk of death was high.
Mustering his thoughts, Jones voiced out to his brothers, "We need to all be at least level 5 before we go into the dungeon. Dying in there can happen and I don't want to lose any of y'all. I need 44 more XP, then I'll have enough for the 102 XP for level 5. What bout y'all?"
John, their [Hedge Mage], nodded as he slung his sack and knobbed staff over his shoulder. "Need 40 more XP myself Jones. We'll have to go and find the place first. Likely to get some experience while on the way and if someone ain't level 5 by then, we'll hunt around the area and get'em to it. We've come this far, I ain't gonna let any of y'all go cryin' ta' the elder in the hells."
A round of grunts and nods demonstrated the agreement of the plan for the rest of the group. The rest of the group reported their own XP needs, all of them again close enough to 40 XP more on average.
"Well, no use just sitting around, let's start." Jones finished, grabbing his own pack that was prepared by Harry before the rest of them got into formation and headed out.
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[Ding! Jones and Folks have accepted the quest.]
[Distance from the dungeon: 23 km]
Swiping away the new notifications with his mind, Lethe started to work on the last part of his dungeon. He didn't know how long it would take them to arrive, but he assumed that he would have enough time to finish the entrance. The round opening of his cave leading to the outside world continued to be as it was in the beginning after being created by the system. For now, he extended the template for [Cavernous Room] up to the entrance of the cave, making the somewhat smooth walls and floors jagged and rocky. Small stalactites grew out of the ceiling while moss crept in from the other room into the narrow tunnel.
Looking over the tunnel, Lethe realized something that he seemed to have forgotten. Light. He could see the whole of his dungeon without light because it was his dungeon. And the [Slime]s also didn't seem to rely on vision and more on mana sense. But he understood that most other species in this world required some form of lighting. Looking through his options, Lethe decided that the best thing he would do would be to either leave it how it is, as he knew caves were rarely lit, or figure out how to make his moss luminescent. Forgoing the latter option, for now, Lethe simply accepted that he would have to figure this out later. Perhaps the adventurers would carry a torch that he might be able to learn and copy from?
Looking out of the entrance, Lethe saw that the sun had started to rise over the horizon towards his left while he distinctly remembered that it had been sinking on his right the last time he had checked. He hadn't even realized that so much time had passed since then. As a dungeon core, Lethe didn't particularly feel the need to sleep, but without anything to do at this time other than wait, he decided to simply see if he could.
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"Jones, I think it might be here!!" George the [Shieldbearer] excitedly exclaimed as they came upon a stout hill in the middle of the Evergreen. It was already the next morning, the party camping out in the forest the night before after eating a [Savage Boar] they had fought while trudging through the dense overgrown flora. The battle itself was straightforward, their [Tracker] had already spotted the beast and was able to pre-emptively blind it with a well-placed arrow. The swine, both raging and panicking, charged at the [Shieldbearer] while the rest of the party surrounded it and beat it down. George had received a few bumps and bruises, but nothing a simple [Mend] by Jones couldn't fix. It had been a rank 1 beast only, and since it had no sapience, it did not have a level. As such, the 5 members of the party only received 20 XP from it, which was 4 XP each divided amongst all of them, not even close enough to what they would need to get to level 5.
After waking up early the next morning, the party had made their way through the Evergreen as indicated by the quest and stumbled upon this hill. The indicator showed that there were only a few hundred meters between them and the dungeon, so the group spread out and started to search. Thankfully, it didn't take them long to find the cave near the top of the hill. And as soon as all five of them were close to the entrance, a notification rang out for all of them.
[Ding! Congratulations on finding a new dungeon!]
[Quest complete! Rewards: 50 XP!]
[As the first party to discover this dungeon, awarded a 100% XP bonus for the first week while in the dungeon!]
[Enter Dungeon?]
Reviewing the series of notifications, the group of boys began to holler and howl in cheer. It might be a coincidence, but they had received enough XP to level up to 5, one of their goals before entering the dungeon, and will be receiving a large bonus as they were the first to encounter it. Feeling lucky as if the deities themselves smiling down on the group, Jones immediately notified everyone to assign their XP to level up. Five bright flashes of light later, the party were now all Level 5 Rank 1 and had each received a new skill. Furthermore, they had all also unlocked [Message] function of the system, which would now allow them to send and receive messages without being in a dedicated outpost, a large benefit of the classes provided by the Adventurer's League.
As he looked around him to the excited yet grim expressions of his brothers, Jones squared his shoulders and proceeded to enter the dungeon. Whether they faced weal or woe, it would be up to them to decide their fates during this delve.
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"Phew! I think I might have overslept but I feel really good now. Sharp! Witty! Woooooooeeeey!!" the recently awakened dungeon core enjoyably exclaimed to itself. "I feel like I'm missing something though. Wait, the adventurers! [Party Quest]!"
[Distance from the dungeon: 20 m]
"Oh, they're only 20 meters away, huh?" quickly realizing his folly, Lethe looked out of his entrance to see five grim-faced men with shoddy leather and cloth armor talking amongst themselves. Inspecting each of them, he saw the classes and ranks of each. He didn't know whether they were strong or weak though, but it did catch him by surprise to see that they had levels. "DId experience work differently for adventurers?" he wondered.
He watched as the man wearing the white robes, the [Acolyte] stepped past the entrance and into the dungeon, with the rest following soon after. As soon as they were all inside, a chant came out of the [Hedge Mage] as he mumbled "Light!", and a small floating orb of light materialized in front of his hands. Immediately after, the [Shieldbearer] stepped in front of the party while the [Skirmisher] and [Trapper] flanked the [Hedge Mage] and [Acolyte]. With the walls visible, the party went into a tense silence before noticing that nothing was attacking them. Exchanging silent glances, the group slowly edged their way into the first room. Seeing their reactions so far, Lethe felt excitable and anxious at the same time. He knew that the party wasn't experienced but their reactions so far showed they were cautious. He didn't particularly care whether they conquered the dungeon or perished. He instead wanted to know if it was a "good" floor,
Returning from his musings, Lethe saw that the party had advanced to the edge of the first room and spotted the [Acid Pool]s on each side of the opening to the cavern. With the [Shieldbearer] continuing to take the lead, the [Tracker] knocked an arrow to his bow and shot it into the pool on the left. Luck or not, he had hit the [Acid Slime] hiding in the pool, although the arrow mostly phased through the slime. Regardless, the [Acid Slime] immediately floated to the top of the pool and leaped towards the [Trapper]. However, even before the monster could get halfway to its target, a wooden buckler smashed against its side, pushing it deeper into the room and away from the party. Not to be outperformed, the other [Acid Slime] leaped from its own pool and headed towards the [Skirmisher], the [Shieldbearer] being too far to perform the same feat it had with its previous brethren. Without any signs of panic, the [Skirmisher] honed in on where the slime would land and jumped back while drawing forth two rusty shortswords and engaging its would-be attacker. With the slime focused on the dual-wielding combatant, the [Hedge Mage] started chanting and used a [Flare] on the slime. On the other side of the battlefield, the [Shieldbearer] and [Trapper] focused on the acid slime that had initiated the encounter. And thus, the battlefield divided itself into two, with the [Acolyte] on the lookout for any further ambushes.
With all of them being similar in rank and power, the pair of [Acid Slime]s were quickly being whittled down. However, unbeknownst to the novice party, even with their precaution, they had dragged the battlefield towards the center of the room chasing after the slimes. And as they continued to rotate along with the slimes dodging and striking each of the combatants, Lethe couldn't help but manically laugh as the [Acolyte] came within 3 meters of the third [Acid Slime]. As soon as the white-gowned man stepped to reposition himself with his party, the pool within the stalagmites started to bubble and the third [Acid Slime] launched itself to the back of the [Acolyte]. Expecting a gruesome scene where the slime would start to melt into the man's skin, Lethe was dumbfounded when a small bubble popped around the [Acolyte], knocking both him and the slime away from each other. As soon as he was knocked away though, the [Acolyte] quickly yelled to let the others know. "There's a third one, it popped by [Bubble of Faith]! George, get the new guy, let Harry finish the old one" the [Acolyte] instructed, and the battlefield shifted once more with the [Shieldbearer] quickly withdrawing and throwing his shield at the new one, and the [Trapper] shooting faster at the first slime. As Lethe watched the party fight, he couldn't help but be impressed by their quick reactions and subsequent handling of the fight. He was surprised they were so low ranked and had no contracts under their belt, which on hindsight could've been for a multitude of different reasons other than their strength.
Regardless, the party soon cleaned up all of his [Acid Slime]s, each of them dropping 1 or 2 copper coins. As the party regrouped and cleaned up, they took the chance to loot and review their battle, once more impressing Lethe and making him look forward to seeing how they would handle the rest of his dungeon.
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