Ring ~
Greenfield jumped a bit because of the sudden notification of his smartwatch, it was late at night and he didn't expect to be notified of anything at this hour, unless it was from his family or an important information about the status of Parallel. As both of those reasons were very important to him, he checked his smartwatch rapidly.
As soon as he read it, he opens his eyes wide, muttering "Well, crap". Amused, he thinks 'Geez, this kid is too fast. Here we thought he would take a bit longer'
He picks up his cellphone and calls his friend and coworker, Park.
After ringing a couple of times, a weary voice answers the phone "What is it?"
Remembering that his friend stayed late these days to finish one of the projects they had contemplated in Parallel, he chuckles and says "Sorry for waking you up, Park. But some surprising news came in"
"You don't sound too apologetic" rebuts Park annoyed. He knew that Greenfield wouldn't call him for something useless, but it still annoyed him when he was called in the middle of resting, especially when he was this tired, so he says, "What are the news about?"
"Heh, you got me" says Greenfield with a smirk. Knowing that his friend would hang up on him if he continued teasing him, he rapidly says, "Someone has broken the pain parameters of Parallel, so the notification came in, you must have gotten it, too."
Park sits up on his bed when he hears that, his head sobering as surprises washes on him, "What!? So soon? Who was it?" He gives a barrage of question as he hurriedly looks at his watch, the notification on it proving his friend right while answering all of his doubts.
"It's that guy, Ardha. Well, you must have read the notification already" Greenfield answers with a chuckle, knowing fully well how his friend reacted.
"He sure is fast, this kid" Park shakes his head amazed, with a sigh he adds "There sure are some amazing people in this world, those rising stars as of late are quite monstrous too"
"Yes, and surely there are more hiding around" Greenfield grins at the prospect of new gems appearing. The thrill of what would come fully energized him. Excitedly, he adds "It's good that you worked overtime to finish that project early! This is going to be fun!"
Park grins as he hears that and says, "It sure will be! Let's see the video of what happened and decide the old way which of us is going to meet him"
"Sure! Tomorrow at 8?" asks Greenfield, feeling confident of his chances.
"Yes, well, I am off to continue sleeping, be sure to be there at the time, don't blame me for taking the chance otherwise!" Says Park threateningly.
"Aye, mate, don't worry, I'll be there" Says Greenfield as they say goodbye and hang up.
The next day at 8 AM, both men stood in their private studio as they watched a video of someone almost self-destructing. They both were amazed at the sight.
Greenfield couldn't help but mutter, "He sure is reckless"
Park nods at him, and then, both turn to each other, seriousness in their expression as neither of them wanted to back down.
Suddenly, both of their right hands move at lighting speed, stopping before each other just barely.
Greenfield's eyes open wide in disbelief while Park shows a joyful smile, wagging his fist in the air as he won their Rock, Paper, Scissors game.
"I can't believe I lost with my Scissors of Victory…" Says Greenfield despondently.
"System, send a notification for ID XXXX2R. Tell him that his appointment is due tomorrow at 8.30 AM" Says Park immediately at the system with a smug smile, the system complied and soon got an answer back for confirmation.
'Finally… he has come!' Thinks Park as he looks sharply ahead.
The preliminary steps have been taken, and if everyone thought that what they saw until now was the extent of their creation, they had to know something.
That they were totally wrong!
-------------------------------------------------------
As soon as I logged out of the game, I contacted support through the Parallel interface. I got a message that I would be notified of my appointment soon. I was a bit skeptical, as there must be quite a lot of systems regulations that they would have to pay attention to besides my case.
But on the morning of the next day, I knew I was wrong. My appointment was scheduled for tomorrow first thing in the morning. Surprised, I confirmed as I wanted to get it over with quickly, before the true fight started. Who knew, I might accidentally be logged out if any problems arise, and that would mean great trouble in the middle of a huge fight.
I shook my head and focused, today we would have to go through the tunnel, and by what we sensed, it will be quite troublesome. Hopefully, we will take a couple days in game to go through.
Resolving myself to do my utmost to go through at the fastest speed possible, I notify the others before logging in.
The first thing I see as I log into Parallel is Zenith sitting while facing the cave, a serious expression on his face. His aura feels imposing and tense, something obviously bothering him.
I look at Juran quizzically and he looks at the dungeon seriously as he says, "We have found out of something troublesome" then he looks at me and continues, "This is the Dungeon of Death"
Hearing that, I look at him surprised. From all the time we have been here, we have got to know a lot of things in general about Parallel. It does have to be said that a lot of their history has been lost on the year of the Great Disaster, War of the Realms, but there was a bit of information about the Dungeon of Death. It is the place where the strongest Death Lord to date was sealed and the Beast Guardian, Warsaw, perished.
It was quite a catastrophe, as the Death Lord had to be sealed off before being defeated, a lot of Beasts died that day, along with many people that sacrificed themselves to generate a seal strong enough to repress the Lord by a realm. It took so much effort to bring it down, and while not much it is recorded of that time, the losses were tremendous.
While that Death Lord didn't die in this place, its essence was sealed here along with the corpse of the Beast Guardian.
'This is going to be troublesome' I click on my tongue as I think, but then I turn to the Scardinians and ask, "How did you manage to go through it?"
Grudell, as if the leader of the group, shrugs and says "While you don't go to the spaces inside the dungeon, it isn't hard to go through", then, he frowns and continues, "but it is going to be troublesome now, as you guys are non-beast"
I look at them confused and then it hits me, "Because of the remnant essence of the Beast Guardian?"
Isca looks at me sharply, as if a bit offended by what I said, "Lord Warsaw" He corrects me and then keeps staring at the dungeon with a respectful, almost reverend, expression.
Grudell nods, and says, "It is to honor Lord Warsaw, we believe he had transcended just the state of a beast to something greater", but then shrugs and answers my previous question, "But yes, it is because of that. For us it is fairly easy to go through, but with the addition of you guys is going to make it troublesome".
I sigh at hearing that.
'Truly, nothing comes easy'
Then I look towards Zenith and walks to him. I stand besides him as I look at the Dungeon. Now that I focused on it, there truly was quite a terrifying deathly aura. I pat his shoulder and say, "No matter what happens, I will always have your back"
Zenith eyebrows shot up slightly and then smiles, looking at me as he tells me resolutely, "Don't worry, I shall pave forward with everything I have!" His expression blotting with fighting intent.
As I smile, I hear people appearing, it is the others logging in.
We greet them as they start appearing one by one and we prepare to go inside the dungeon.
"Well, this is a nice way to stretch your mind early in the morning ~" Says Arksen as he stretches a bit with a lazy yawn. He grins suddenly while closing his fists, "Come on ~ I wanna hit something already, he- ugh"
As he says that, he is punched in the head by Isa, who reproaches him "Don't be reckless"
Arksen looks at her with a bitter expression and nods. We laugh at that interaction, even the Scardinians leave a chuckle or two. Aren loud laugh definitely was alarming, so we start going inside the dungeon fast.
- You have discovered the Dungeon of Death!
The same notification we have gotten more than a few times appears, the increase in fame and double exp bonus did help a lot, but then, something surprising appears.
- Because of the concentrated Aura of Death that the Dungeon has, detrimental statuses has been imposed on you character.
I could feel my body a bit sluggish, and I smile bitterly,
'Truly, nothing comes easy'
But then I notice Zenith looking puzzled as he smiles a little, and then realization hits me as I smile, "Well, let's buff ourselves and try to move cautiously"
Everyone nods and Juran starts buffing everyone, but as if the aura of death was afraid of him, it didn't seem to get near him. While the aura of this dungeon was quite chaotic, full of raging death, it didn't seem to do anything to him at all as a small shining aura came off him.
I whistled, and then someone besides me says, "Kid, try running your elements in your body, it should help you here"
I look at my sword surprised and look at him puzzled, "Activate Elemental Enhancing? Wouldn't that be more consuming?"
Dei stays silent for, and then a clear sigh runs out of my sword, it seems very tired as it starts to talk again, "I knew it" as he says that resignedly, he adds, "You don't need to activate elemental enhancing to process the elements in your body, you could say it is the previous step of Elemental Enhancing. While it does give you some buffs, it isn't as invasive as a direct enhancement, most elemental elves end up at that point without being able to advance further…"
I look blankly at it, trying to process what my companion is saying, I suddenly start running the elements in my body.
- Detrimental effects are nullified, your body starts healing from them.
A sudden notification appeared, and I look at it as enlightenment came and I hit my forehead with my palm, "I am an idiot!"
"… You are. A bloody genius idiot" Dei says with another long sigh and continues "You really learnt how to run before walking" and he goes into silence again.
I smile bitterly as everyone looks at me puzzled as they watch a gentle white light emanating from me, different from Juran's, mine looks simply yet at the same time the undulation of elements could easily be felt from it.
"Because I was so focused on learning elemental enhancing back then, I totally bypassed that my master had to instill the elements first in my body for me to be able to easily take them into my body. But enhancement requires a step further from that, if simply running the elements through the body is like a gentle river, elemental enhancing is a furious stream, which makes it way harder to control and to sustain." I look up with a bitter smile.
'Really, I am too reckless' I look at everyone and they keep having a puzzled expression, but Arksen seems thoughtful and enlightenment runs through his expression as he smiles.
Suddenly, a different aura from mine, Zenith, and Juran appears from him. It seems to contain traces of martial artists aura, along with another few mixed in.
"Huhu, you guys aren't the only ones glowing" He says with a smug smile, and then Isa along with Vladi, as if understanding, run on their skills and the concept behind them, creating a something similar. Satisfied expression runs on their faces.
The Barbarians, amazed, try the same, but they obtain nothing at all and look despondently. The Scardinian were amazed at the sight and then release something quite similar like us, but they seem to have a bit help with the accessory they had on. Isca's eyes flashes with hidden intention and then turns to look ahead.
As we give our first cautious steps into the dungeon, the Scardinians start going in front, their stealth very good, probably as good as Eliana's, which was quite surprising. They had briefed us how the monster here would be, but a bit of cautiousness always helped.
And then, it appeared, the first monster of this dungeons.