Nearing noon, at the inn in Deya City, Reg, having spent the night disguised in the carriage, quietly made his way to the Adventurers’ Association to find Anderson.
After confirming their safety, the two sat with their heads down in a corner of the main hall, whispering in low voices. Anderson was the first to speak:
“Where have you been these past few days? Quite a few nobles have been looking for you like madmen. There are even rumors circulating in the Academy lately that you’re an illegitimate child of the Sun Family or something like that.”
“Those nobles probably just want me to endorse their products. But I have a mission from the Goddess, so I simply don’t have the time. As for that nonsense about being some illegitimate child, who would actually believe such a stupid rumor?”
“To be honest, I kind of believe it…”
“…”
After a brief silence, Reg solemnly assured Anderson:
“You know I’m not the type to lie. I promise you, I am absolutely not an illegitimate child of the Sun Family!”
He really wasn’t an illegitimate child, but the legitimate fourth heir.
“Alright, everyone has some very important secrets. I’m no exception. If you don’t want to tell me, I won’t pry. So, why did you come looking for me today?”
“About that dirty money, I’ve decided to give up my share. It’s all yours now.”
Reg no longer needed that much money. As a Hero Candidate, he didn’t need to worry about equipment anymore.
What he really needed to focus on now was the Hero’s Trial—standing out from hundreds, even thousands, of Hero Candidates from all over the world, and ultimately drawing the Holy Sword to defeat the resurrected Demon King.
Oh, and he almost forgot—he still had to worry about Truth, that wicked dark mage. For some reason, she felt even scarier than the Goddess herself.
“Are… are you serious?!”
Anderson’s breathing grew rapid. He hadn’t expected Reg to suddenly be so generous!
“Why would I lie to you? Just don’t forget me if you make it big in the future. If I can’t become a Hero, I might have to rely on you, haha.”
“Haha, being chosen as a Hero Candidate means you’ll at least make it to Seventh or Eighth Rank in the future. Even if you don’t become a Hero, you’ll still be living the good life, right?”
“You have to have some ambition. Anyway, I’ll give it a shot. Oh, by the way, when I arrived I saw some really long lines at the Mist. Is it about those Dungeons inside?”
After getting off the carriage, Reg had noticed the long queue at the entrance of the Mist.
But with people from the Law Enforcement Bureau present, he hadn’t dared to get too close to investigate.
On top of that, he didn’t want to ask Truth directly, so he figured it was safer to ask Anderson. This guy was bound to know the latest news.
“Now that you mention it, I get fired up!” Anderson shifted his posture and cleared his throat:
“According to my information, I can confirm that the three Dungeons inside the Mist are extremely unique. They’re nothing like the Dungeons we’ve seen before!”
“Just an hour ago, a Level 14 Adventurer named Gerard was carried back by his teammates. When I saw him, he was seriously injured, barely conscious.”
“Fortunately, a Priest from the Association arrived in time to keep him from going mad. Later, I used a gold coin to get the gist of their story from one of his teammates!”
Anderson began recounting Gerard’s party’s adventure:
“Gerard’s party was the third group to enter the Dungeon. First, every team that enters has to clear a stage called the ‘Novice Tutorial.’ The difficulty is very low—it seems designed to explain the special rules inside Mist Dungeons.”
“For example, Bonfire spots guarantee safety, let you save progress, and allow for teleportation. Reward Rooms can spawn monsters, so they’re not safe. Once you enter the BOSS domain, you can’t leave at will. And during battle, you can see the BOSS’s HP bar in real time.”
“There’s also a very important Revival Mechanism. But since the Novice Tutorial is so easy, not many people fail there, so most only discover this mechanism in the next Dungeon.”
“And Gerard was almost driven insane by this mechanism.”
“After clearing the Novice Tutorial, they came to a fork. The left path led to the ‘Soundseeker King’s Lair,’ and the right to the ‘Mist Wolf Den.'”
“Supposedly, after those names, there were some strange characters and numbers they couldn’t understand. Something like this…”
Anderson tried to copy it roughly onto a napkin:
“‘beta ver0.65′”
“That’s it. The Ancient Scholars say it’s a type of ancient script, and there are records of it in our Academy too. There’s even a Stone Tablet in Teacher Lister’s classroom with the same writing.”
Anderson wrote two English letters on the napkin again:
“s” and “b”.
“Nobody in Deya City knows what these mean, but we can be sure that those two Dungeons are older than we can comprehend. And they give us a real sense of malice from the ancient past!”
“Compared to the ‘Mist Wolf Den,’ the ‘Soundseeker King’s Lair’ sounded like it had more treasures, so Gerard’s party chose the left path and touched the Bonfire. Everything went smoothly.”
“But just as the four of them were raring to clear the Dungeon in 30 minutes, Gerard turned the first corner and got slashed across the neck by a skeleton lying in wait!”
“You know Gerard doesn’t like wearing armor. The skeleton’s blade went right through half his neck—blood sprayed everywhere. Luckily, the blade was rusty, or it would’ve taken his whole head off.”
“Even with half his neck cut, he couldn’t be far from death, right? So did the Revival Mechanism kick in?” Reg whispered.
“Exactly. His teammates panicked, backing away to face off with the skeleton, while Gerard, bleeding out on the ground, was suddenly surrounded by a shroud of Mist. All his equipment dropped where he fell, and before their eyes, he was carried away by the Mist…”
Anderson went on to explain the Revival Mechanism in detail, though Reg already knew all about it. It seemed this Dungeon was the same as when he had tried to challenge it.
Though, had the skeletons’ attack power been reduced? He remembered they could once hack through a Demon Hunter’s shoulder armor, but now even cutting a neck was tough?
It really had been nerfed. Truth had already revamped this Dungeon—she’d removed stealth tutorials, weakened the final BOSS, and slightly extended the time limit.
Now the difficulty better fit First-Rank Adventurers, and the malice was stronger too.
Anderson continued:
“After reviving at the Bonfire wearing nothing but underwear, Gerard’s teammates watched as the skeleton slowly disappeared.”
“Finally realizing how the Revival Mechanism worked, they decided to go fight Slimes to reset Gerard’s revival cooldown, but before that, Gerard tried to retrieve his equipment from the corner where he’d died.”
“And did he get it back?”
“Get it? No, not at all. The moment he hurried to the corner and bent over to pick it up, the skeleton stabbed him in the belly.”
“Ah? Oh, oh—”
Reg remembered that after revival, all the Dungeon’s monsters respawned.
“That stab nearly finished Gerard. Just ten seconds before, he’d heard his teammates swearing the skeleton was gone, and ten seconds later, the skeleton ran him through.”
“Thankfully, his three teammates rushed to help—killed the skeleton, used healing items to keep him alive. Since the captain was so badly injured, they thought about giving up, but Gerard wouldn’t hear of it.”
“He felt it would be too much of a waste to throw away this chance—they might have been the first party to clear the Dungeon. And with so many people waiting to enter, who knew when they’d get another turn.”
“So Gerard put on his armor, stayed in the back, and they carefully watched every corner. After dodging a few more ambushes, they came to the door of a Reward Room…”
At this point, Reg tensed a little, because he knew it wasn’t really a Reward Room, but a Trap Room…
“You know, only the captain gets to open a reward chest first, so despite being weak, Gerard eagerly went in.”
“And then his butt got slashed to ribbons by two skeletons hiding just inside the entrance…”
“Poor guy,” Reg sighed. Anderson shook his head and went on:
“With Gerard hurt so badly by the double ambush, and no Priest nearby, going to a hospital in Deya City was out of the question. So his teammates made a bold choice—head straight for the Slime Plaza!”
“As long as Gerard could defeat ten Slimes, he could use the Revival Mechanism again.”
“But when they reached Slime Plaza, it was packed. Every Slime already had Adventurers fighting over them, everyone trying to reset their own revivals.”
“No choice—Gerard spent all his money buying nearly-dead Slimes from other teams, until all he had left was a shirt and a dagger.”
“‘Wait for me at the Bonfire—I’m going to find a good spot and end things myself.’ That’s what Gerard said, and his teammates left him to it and went to wait.”
“Committing suicide takes a lot of courage. Gerard was truly a worthy captain—he did it, and the Mist carried his intact body right back to the Bonfire.”
“Wow, that really is impressive. I wouldn’t dare do that myself.”
“But Gerard made one fatal mistake—you must have teammates nearby to collect your dropped equipment after dying in the Mist.”
That shirt and dagger were all Gerard had left.
He’d hoped to recover his gear after reviving, but when he got back to where he died, he found his stuff had already been picked up by other Adventurers…
“Ah, well…”
“That’s about all that happened to him in the Mist Dungeon. In the end, Gerard had a mental breakdown—now he thinks the whole world’s out to get him, everyone’s full of malice toward him. Only the Priest’s kindness can help him recover, for now.”
“But since he can’t pay for treatment, the Priests at the Association don’t want to heal him for free anymore.”
“Honestly, I want to lend him a little for medical fees.”
“No need for that. Our Guild Leader is already helping him through this rough patch. After all, Gerard brought back two very useful pieces of information.”
“First, touching a Bonfire causes all monsters in the Dungeon to respawn!”
“Second, always take good care of your equipment!”
……