Derek opened his eyes and looked around the small room. He stood up and stretched, letting out a deep breath in the process before checking the system for the time. They should be awake. Might as well go get this meeting business over with early. Derek opened the door and headed to the bar.
Bart was wiping the bar down with a rag, and there was a young woman setting the tables and moving the chairs into their positions. Derek walked over to Bart, and the man looked up. “You wouldn’t by any chance have coffee, would you?” Derek asked.
Bart looked at him questioningly. “Coffee? Never heard of it.”
“Damn, figures. You got any boiling water?” Derek asked.
“Of course.” Bart walked to the back and brought back a steaming kettle-like pot. He sat it on a cloth on top of the bar.
Derek let out a sigh. “Beggars can’t be choosers,” he muttered. Then he brought out a small pot and a coffee canister from his bracelet. He poured the water into the pan and scooped some coffee grains into it. He immediately covered the pot with a lid. While camping back on Earth, he had made coffee like this many times. It wasn’t the best or cleanest way to make coffee, but it got the job done.
While he was doing all of this, Bart was staring at him with confusion in his eyes. Derek laughed. “Got a couple of cups?” he asked. Bart nodded and walked to the back again, bringing out what looked like a bigger version of a teacup.
While waiting, Derek asked Bart a couple of questions. “So, what are people saying about me?”
Bart looked up from the pot. “Mostly nice things. I think I’m the first local that’s met ya. It’s mostly the villagers you brought in that talk about ya. How you saved them and brought them here.”
I guess Leon or the others haven’t said anything about the Void Beast yet. I guess that’s good. “The only person I really saved was Leon. I think Marshall would have bested the wolf that attacked them,” Derek lied. “They probably could have made it here without much danger.”
“Did you really give a little girl a bunch of high-level hides?” Bart asked.
“I mean, I gave her hides, but they aren’t really high level. The highest was around 70.”
“Ha. Level 70 and not a high level.” Bart scoffed. “A level 70 could become a silver-ranked adventurer at the Adventurer’s Guild in the city. We’ll be lucky to get a couple of level 70s for this dungeon problem in the forest.”
“Oh? You know about the dungeon?” Derek was surprised. He thought that Rayna and the others would keep quiet about it until they knew for sure.
“I know about it. And a few others outside of Chief Rayna and Richard know about it, including you. That’s all, though. I guess you could consider me an elder in this place,” Bart answered.
Well, if some level 70s go to the dungeon, I guess there will be fewer adventurers in this Adventurer’s Guild. Derek checked the pot. “Look like it’s ready.” He took a ladle out of his bracelet and filled the two cups. “I guess this is your first cup of coffee. I like it black, but many people prefer it with sugar and milk,” Derek explained to Bart.
“Not much of a sweets person myself,” Bart answered and picked up the cup. He took a sip and closed his eyes. He opened his eyes and nodded. “Now that’s some good stuff. Better than any tea I’ve had.”
“Yup, I’ve never been a big fan of hot tea. Unfortunately, I only have a couple of cans left.” Derek shook his head. “I wish I had some seeds to grow the plants. I have a feeling that it’s going to be a long time before I go back home,” Derek muttered.
“Where’s home?” Bart must have heard Derek.
Derek shook his head. “Where indeed?”
Derek finished his cup of coffee and poured another. He downed the second cup. “You have something to pour the rest in?” He motioned to the pot.
“You can just put the rest in the kettle. I’ll have Sam clean it out later. You sure ya wanna leave the rest?” Bart asked.
“Yup, enjoy. I got to get to the chief’s. Tell her where the dungeon is,” Derek answered. He figured that since Bart knew about what they had discussed last month, there was no need to keep quiet about the dungeon.
“Oh, you found it?” Bart finished pouring the coffee out.
Derek took his pot and ladle back. “Yup, it’s probably going to be a pain in the ass for the city to maintain.” He stood up and walked to the door. “I’ll be back tonight. Maybe I’ll try some of your finest alcohol.”
Bart grunted. “I got ale, and there ain’t nothing fine about it, but you’re free to try it,” Bart said as Derek walked out the door.
Derek walked to the same residence where he’d met with Rayna and the others before. He had waited a while at the bar with Bart just to give them some extra time. He walked to the door and knocked.
After a few seconds, the door swung open. It was Richard. “Ah, Derek, welcome. Come in.” As the two walked, he continued. “Thomas won’t stop talking about getting three skill points from that achievement. He told me you had him invest in Meditation and Identify?”
Derek smiled. “Of course, those are two of the most crucial General Skills one can get. I’m sure Leon told you about my Meditation skill, right?”
They reached the table where Rayna was already sitting. “Please, have a seat,” she said, and the two sat.
Richard continued their conversation. “He did. It’s still hard to believe that a skill can upgrade like that. At least I’ve never heard of it. I’m sure some nobles have, but nobles have a way of keeping secrets.” He spat the last part out.
“Oh, that’s the same tone Thomas has when he talks about nobles.” Derek smiled. He saw Richard’s eyes widen. “Don’t worry. I told Thomas when we met, I am not a noble.” He watched Richard let out a breath. “But, yes, my Meditation skill can recover my health, mana, and stamina in minutes. If one is serious about surviving as an adventurer, using Meditation and Identify every chance you get is a must.”
Derek paused, then continued. “In fact, yesterday was the first time I’ve slept in months. Get Meditation high enough and it leaves you more refreshed than a good night’s sleep. As for Identify”—he looked at Rayna—“I’m sure you know that if the skill is high enough, it will block others from using it on you.” Rayna’s face contorted a bit. “Yeah, I know the look people get when they use the skill and it doesn’t work.” Derek smiled. “You probably know, but people are more dangerous than any beast. Having Identify leveled can help keep the trash from trying something.”
Derek watched as both put on a sad expression. “I’m guessing neither of you thought Meditation was worth the point?” he asked.
Rayna nodded. “Yes. Now I wonder if it will still be worth getting it.”
“Sure it will. Just use it every chance you get. Losing all your senses is disturbing at the beginning, but you start getting them back as it levels. Just have someone nearby to break you out of the trance when needed,” Derek explained.
“Now, is this it? Should I begin?” he asked.
Richard answered, “Leon should be here soon. Let’s wait for him.”
Derek nodded, then asked something that had been on his mind for a while. “Rayna, why are you not at a higher level? You’re what, level 31? There are tons of level 25 creatures around the outside of the forest right now. I don’t know what class you have, whether it’s common or epic, but anyway you look at it, you could have gotten like five levels easy in the month I was gone. From what I know, you could get a level just by killing 20 or so monsters at that level.” Derek was judging this based on the kills he had gotten in Leon’s village.
Rayna was silent. She looked like she was in deep thought. Finally, she answered, “My class is Tempest Blade. It is a rare class, so it takes longer to level than others. Until recently, the creatures at the edge of the forest would barely even give me experience if I killed them. My blade has seen better days, too.” She motioned to a broken sword in the corner of the room. “The swords made in the village don’t last long against higher-leveled creatures, especially when I channel the wind through them. Trust me, I want to level, but I am the chief of the village, and the information you brought has left me wanting for time.”
“I don’t know. You can’t really do anything about it. You have to wait for that guy to deliver the message in the city. You might as well go level. Nothing under level 30 should be much of a challenge.” Derek paused. “You said wind? So you can use magic?”
“Uh, yes?” she said quizzically.
Derek pulled a sword out of his bracelet. He had kept an arsenal with him at all times—mostly coming from the invaders he had slain. If the weapon looked good, he would take it. In fact, the reason his bracelet was always nearing full capacity was because of all the weapons he had. He even had a couple of spare glaives, though neither was nearly as good as his custom one.
The sword wasn’t as good as his glaive or many of his daggers, but it was made of the same black steel as his glaive, which meant it was durable enough to channel low-level magic through without damage. Derek spoke. “I’m planning on doing a little training with Thomas for the next couple of days. This is yours if you come train with us. Your skill will be very important to me.”
Rayna finally picked her jaw up off the ground. She reached and gripped the hilt of the sword. “Really, just come train with you and I can have it?”
“Yup, it’s yours. Also, if you have any spare skill points, buy Meditation. You’ll need it for training,” he said mysteriously. Seeing her eyes still on the sword, he spoke again. “You can take it.” He gestured for her to take the sword. “And you will probably benefit from this training, too.”
She hurriedly picked up the sword and ran to the corner, where she took the sheath from her old sword. The new sword fit almost perfectly. She strapped it to her waist and answered Derek. “Okay, I’ll be there.”
About that time, the front door opened and closed, and Leon walked into the room. Richard spoke. “Alright, let’s get this meeting started.”
Leon pulled out a chair and took a seat. Now sitting at the table were Derek, Rayna, Leon, and Richard. Derek could still see the glow in her eyes that she had from receiving her new sword. Rayna turned to Derek and spoke. “You wanted this meeting. The floor is yours.”
Derek nodded. “First, I wanted to ask you all something.” Derek waited for the group to nod before carrying on. “I had an interesting conversation with Bart earlier. While we were chatting, he informed me that the most likely candidates to be sent from the Adventurer’s Guild will be of silver rank. Is that correct?”
Richard was the one to answer. “That is likely the case, yes. And that is if Davis gets lucky in convincing them that the need is dire. It is also possible that he ends up returning with adventurers of the bronze rank.”
“Hmm…” Derek trailed off. “If that’s the case, then they will die.”
“What do you mean, ‘they’ll die?’” Rayna asked.
“Well, on my journey, I found the dungeon. I say that the silver-ranked adventurers will die because the dungeon was level 100,” Derek explained.
With that, the room was quiet. They did not appear to be shocked, but the looks on their faces said it all. This was a worst-case scenario.
Leon broke the silence. “Gold. We need a team of level 100 gold-ranked adventurers.”
“Davis has most likely made it to the city by now. He may already be on his way back to the village,” Rayna said.
Derek spoke. “I fought one of the creatures that came out of the overflow. It was an Acidic Ghoul at level 115. I’m not sure of the levels inside the dungeon, but it makes sense that it was at level 100 when it broke out and leveled up outside the dungeon. If there are more of these monsters in the dungeon, and they are at level 100, even a full group of gold-ranked adventurers will have a problem.”
“Ghouls,” Richard muttered. “So, it is a dungeon with undying properties.”
“Yes, and it is in a state of extreme overflow. That means that there are likely more undying creatures outside of the dungeon. Though, it will probably be pretty clear around the dungeon for a while. The fight between the ghoul and me ended in quite a few casualties,” Derek responded.
“Anyway, you have the information. Do with it what you will. I suggest sending whatever adventurer comes back to the city to request aid. Though I don’t know if they will believe anything you tell them without proof.” Derek hoped the adventurers would heed the warning, but he seriously doubted it. From what I know of most adventurers, they won’t give any thought to what ‘lowly’ villagers say. Hopefully, there won’t be any noble adventurers sent out.
“That’s all we can do for now.” Rayna sighed. “Is there anything else you wish to discuss?”
“Actually…” Derek looked at Richard. “You wouldn’t by any chance have a map of the surrounding area? Maybe one with dungeons on it?”
“I do. It’s not very detailed, but it has some of the level 25 and 50 dungeons on it. I’ve also marked where the villages are on it, too. If you give me a few minutes, I will go get it,” Richard responded.
Derek nodded. “Go ahead.” Richard stood up and dismissed himself. While waiting, Derek spoke to Rayna about their upcoming training session. “Did you have enough skill points to purchase Meditation?”
“I did. My class allows for some extra skill points on upgrade, so I’ve been saving a couple of them. I hope this skill is worth it,” she answered.
“Oh, it will be.” Derek thought for a moment. “You use wind magic, correct? Are your magical skills at an advanced level?”
“I’m not sure what you would consider advanced, but the three that I have are at level 5 or 6.”
That was slightly disappointing but still fine for what he was planning. “That’s good enough, I guess. You’ll probably benefit more than anyone with what I’m planning.”
“Oh, and what is it you’re planning?” Rayna asked. Derek just gave her a mysterious smile.
“Wait!” Leon interjected. “Training? What are the two of you talking about?”
“Oh, I just invited the chief here”—Derek motioned toward Rayna—“to a little training with me and Thomas.”
“Thomas, too?” Leon asked. Derek could feel the worry radiating from the ex-chief.
“Don’t worry, they will both be fine. In fact, I’m sure that they’ll both appreciate it.” Derek tried to assuage Leon’s concerns. “The kid wants to use daggers, so I figured I’d see if he has what it takes to not die in such close range. I found out Miss Chief over there has some wind magic, and it will be rather useful to me.”
Leon stopped speaking. He didn’t seem entirely convinced, but he had no choice but to accept it, anyway.
About that time, Derek heard the door open. Richard entered the room with a rolled-up parchment in his hands. This time, he was not alone. Thomas was trailing behind him. “Thomas wanted to know if I had seen Derek today. I told him you were here, so he insisted on coming along.” Richard laid the map on the table and spread it out.
“That’s fine. I was going to look for the kid once we were finished here, so bringing him just saved me the trouble of hunting him down.” Derek gave Thomas a knowing look. “Though I suspect it wouldn’t be hard to figure out where he was.”
Richard smiled at that. “Not hard at all. He’s spent more time with that little Leatherworker than he has with me or Delilah since he got back.” Both Derek and Richard chuckled at Thomas’s red face. “Here is the map. As you can see, it’s not the best in the world, but it has been useful to me over the years.”
The map was crudely drawn but easy enough to make out. Derek saw the markings showing the villages. There were a few with lines through them. “I assume that these villages no longer exist?” he asked. Richard scrunched up his face and nodded.
Derek found Leon’s destroyed village, then found the one he was currently in. “Is this map to scale? Is the distance used in the forest the same as what is used between villages?” He made his question clearer.
Richard nodded. “Yes, though, as you can see, there is only a portion of the forest on the map as it is vast.”
The map had most of the right side covered with forest. It ended a little before reaching the bottom of the map. At the bottom was a drawing that said ‘Torith’ over it—the location of the city. There were small, filled-in circles dotted throughout the map, drawn in after it was originally purchased. These were the nameless villages. Surprisingly, there were fewer than Derek thought.
Closer to Torith were a few house-like drawings. They also had names. These had to be the villages that were recognized by the City Lord. Then, there were red ‘X’s with some writing underneath. Derek focused on these markings.
Derek looked at the one closest to Rayna’s village. 25… Insects… Support Skill… 6 People… Derek read the words. “So, I assume this is a dungeon?” he asked. After receiving a nod, he continued, “So, it’s level 25 with insect monsters, and the reward for clearing it is a support skill?”
“Yes, that is one of the favorite dungeons for adventurers. The insects are easy to fight, and the reward is great… if you have the skill points to buy it after unlocking it. It’s also the dungeon that I lost my son to.” Richard spoke the last part with a waver in his voice. Derek looked at Thomas to see his eyes filling with tears.
“I see.” Derek pulled out a red marker from his bracelet. “May I?” He motioned to the map. Richard nodded. Derek focused on Rayna’s and Leon’s villages to get a sense of the distance. Then he traced his hand into the forest, remembering the directions that he traveled to get to the undying dungeon. Finally, his hand stopped moving, and he marked it with an X. Underneath, he wrote: 100, Undying, ???, and 5. “This should be pretty accurate, but I may be off by a little.”
“No worries,” Richard replied. “The ones that I have marked are only estimates, too.”
Derek pulled out a large sheet of paper and began placing marks along it. The size was smaller than the map, but he reduced his drawing to scale the best he could. Under the dungeons, he only wrote the level and rewards. He was no artist, so the result of his drawings looked like something a parent would hang on their refrigerator. But others didn’t have to understand it, only he did.
“Well, it’s the best I can do. It will have to do until I can get to the city and buy a real map,” he said, embarrassed, after seeing Richard looking at his art.
After thinking for a minute, Derek asked a question to the table. “So, I imagine, other than a few rich people or nobles that are carried, few people can complete more than one dungeon. At say, level 25, if you go into a dungeon, you would surely level up while inside. I mean, it takes what, 10 kills of something the same level as you to level up if you have a common class? So, how do dungeons with shitty rewards keep from overflowing?” He pointed to a dungeon which read: 25, beasts, lesser mana potion.
Richard smiled at that. “Lesser mana potions are still somewhat valuable to mages. But I get what you’re saying. The Adventurer’s Guild gives out quests to clear those dungeons every once in a while. Since the adventurers will be giving up the opportunity of clearing a dungeon with a greater reward, the rewards that the guild offers are usually quite nice.”
“Ah, that makes sense.” Derek stored his makeshift map inside his bracelet. “Well, is there anything else?” he asked everyone.
“Nothing that I can think of,” Richard answered. “Thank you for the information… and for that.” He pointed to the new marking on his map.
Derek stood and looked at Rayna. “Are you ready for some training?”
