Rastel and Roxanne walked towards the set of mine entrances that were the system dungeons created for Eadon's mines.
Unlike regular dungeons that players can stumble upon, system dungeons were dungeons that as implied by the name, were managed by the system.
The monsters there respawn after being killed and usually dropped kryts and resources. If you were lucky enough, some weapons and equipment might even drop. Those didn't happen very often though.
They were basically like traditional RPG dungeons with bosses, level limits, and clear rewards so they were very popular with players.
But system dungeons didn't just appear anywhere. The basic requirement as noticed by the players was that a relatively large settlement had to be nearby for a system dungeon to be present. Places like towns, cities, large settlements and the like usually had at least two dungeons around them.
Eadon also had another dungeon but it was not as popular as the mines.
The second requirement was a natural back story. Just like the presence of Eadon's mines and the Jeber gave rise to this particular dungeon, all other system dungeons usually had a natural backstory that fuelled the dungeon's existence.
Some rules were also attached to system dungeons, like for example, the level of the mobs would be determined by the highest level player in the party.
Different difficulty settings and the fact that a player was only allowed to enter a dungeon just twice a day were also present. This made it impossible for players to camp dungeons for extended periods unless they didn't want to progress.
As Rastel and Roxanne neared the dungeon entrances, they naturally drew the attention of the players around.
One factor was that Roxanne was an obvious babe, and her dressing tastes were quite unique. For the male players that had a passion for such things, her appearance always ignited a fire in them.
The second was the fact that Rastel was a muan. If it wasn't made obvious before then it should be said again that muan players were rare, at the very least, they were in Gorm.
And with the bounty of Sleeping beauty currently being hot news, all muan players were naturally always under close scrutiny.
As they got closer, Roxanne's face became much clearer and her identity was eventually revealed.
"W-wait a minute. Isn't that Roxanne?"
"Eh? You're right! It's really her!"
"A big shot! A real big shot is in Eadon! What is she doing here?"
"Sigh! I wish I was that beautiful. Her eyes are just too mesmerizing!"
A small hubbub broke out because of Roxanne's identity and people temporarily forgot about Rastel's existence.
Roxanne was immune to it though. She just walked forward with a slightly thoughtful look on her face, contemplating something in her mind.
Rastel turned to look at her, his thoughts running through his mind.
'Being famous looks so troublesome! Can a person even live like this? I have to make sure I never participate in the ranking matches no matter what.' He silently declared in his mind.
People were happy to see such a big shot walking around, it was like meeting a superstar in real life. Most rankers were normally attached to guilds and other similar organizations and were not usually seen as casually.
Even if they were exposed, they normally had significant security around them which were issued to them by the guild or organization that was backing them.
Rankers like Roxanne were rare. She drifted from place to place on her own, seemingly without care about her fame or safety. Well, it wasn't like many people dared to attack her though.
Most people's opinions on her were normally limited to adoration, fear, or both.
Just as a few people were contemplating approaching her to try and introduce themselves, a series of notifications rang out simultaneously across the interfaces of most players present.
DING!
QUEST COMPLETE!
EMERGENCY QUEST!
TOWN DEFENSE – RANK B
THE TOWN OF EADON IS ABOUT TO FALL UNDER THE ATTACK OF A BERSERK BEAST HORDE! JOIN THE TOWN'S TROOPS TO DEFEND THE TOWN FROM THE ATTACKS OF THE BERSERK BEASTS.
REWARD: 20,000 EXP
The entire mine seemed to be quiet for a while.
"Oh good lord, yes!" somebody's loud shout seemed to break the silence.
"A dream! I must be in a dream! Defense quests are just too good!"
"I leveled up! Finally, I haven't leveled up in weeks!"
Loud cheers and excited chatter broke out everywhere across the mine. Plenty players were happy about the rank B quest that offered them such numerous experience that was normally hard to come across.
Most of these players had never done a rank B quest throughout their entire gameplay, this was the first one and the reward made them sufficiently happy.
"I wish the town would be attacked by beast hordes every day!" one particular player yelled.
If the residents of the town heard what that player said, they would probably stone him to death with pebbles. But that was the reality of the players who grew stronger by doing quests, everybody there either loudly or silently agreed with that sentiment.
Rastel also received the notification and was looking at his interface with a slight frown on his face.
"What is it?" Roxanne who had also stopped looked at him from the side.
"I received so much exp and I only leveled up twice. Is leveling up really that hard." Rastel's frown deepened.
A small giggle escaped from Roxanne's lips.
"You shouldn't be complaining. This is probably the last time you will ever see double-level ups in your life." She looked amused.
"The first ten levels are relatively easy to level up, it is probably a compensation effect from the system to help you get strong quickly enough to be able to protect yourself. After that, leveling up takes far more exp as you progressively get stronger." She explained to him.
Rastel's eyes widened a bit before frowning again.
"This is really troublesome." He muttered under his breath.
"It is how it is. If not, wouldn't it be too strange that after three in-game years, the highest-ranked player is just above level 30?" she lifted her hands with a shrug.
Rastel nodded in understanding. It was not as if he found it too unacceptable but he thought he might get a bit more than that. His calculations were now a bit off.
'It took so long for the quest to be registered as completed though. Was it because the system deemed the danger unresolved till now? That might be it. SIGH! I hope I can get a reasonable amount of exp from the dungeon.' He thought as he closed his interface.
Turning to look at Roxanne, a large smile appeared on his face.
"Let's go in before these people get over their exp high." He gestured at the mine.
Roxanne was thoughtful for a moment before nodding her head and leading silently. They approached the mine and before long, Rastel saw a notification on his interface.
DISCOVERED NEW DUNGEON!
EADON'S MINES
'So this is the notification? He looked at it silently.
Not long after, he saw another notification.
ROXANNE has invited you to a party.
Do you accept?
He accepted instantly and his interface smoothly changed. Just below his name and other basic information on his interface. Another similar description appeared but for Roxanne.
Name: Roxanne
Class: Rogue
Level: 25
HP: 330
MP: 210
Rastel looked through it but didn't comment. Roxanne was busy settling the dungeon matters but she suddenly turned and told him.
"We are playing hard mode."
"Ehn? You have that much confidence when there's only two of us?" he was confused.
"You have golems, I have my guns. Our offense and defense are perfect." She stated as a matter of fact.
"That's true." Rastel thought about it for a while and nodded.
"Well, let's go in then." She smiled.
Rastel forgot his previous concerns and followed her in, his eyes sparkling with unconcealed anticipation.
They walked towards one of the mine entrances and soon disappeared with a flash of light.
It wasn't until a few seconds later that somebody in the crowd suddenly realized that they were gone.
"Ehn? Where is my goddess?" he looked around in confusion.
________________________________________________________________________________________
In a corner of Eadon, a tall figure wearing a pitch-black cloak left an inn with large graceful strides.
Although he was walking with such flair and exuded a fair amount of nobility, none of the people around seemed to notice his existence and the crowd seemingly parted ways for him to pass.
Just underneath the cloak, the handsome features of the powerful ancient vampire, Lord Edgar, were visible. With a slight smile on his face, he walked through the crowds as he looked around.
'The commercial district of Eadon is not bad, they have a significant amount of inns and restaurants and most of them serve good grilled meat.' He thought to himself as he moved through the crowd.
He had been going around Eadon for a while now, sampling the various types of meat dishes available in the town with great relish.
So far, he has been satisfied with what he was getting. Tender meat with succulent juices and heavenly tastes, spiced within his acceptable taste range. The feeling that Eadon was not quite bad of a place was now solidified in his mind.
As he walked around looking for the next inn or restaurant to try, a group of people passed him by.
The powerful ancient vampire, Lord Edgar, would obviously not pay any attention to such mortals. He had lived through countless generations and had seen all the sights Aelmar had to offer, very few things could catch his eye.
But when this group of people passed, he involuntarily stopped and a small frown appeared on his face to reflect the shock in his heart.
This was because, in a situation where he had used his skills to make himself appear basically non-existent to all living things around him, both physically or psychologically, somebody seemed to have noticed his presence and was looking straight at him.
The little human girl with a long ponytail and large blue eyes stared at his cloaked figure with obvious curiosity as she sat on the shoulder of a large bearman who was leading the way for a young woman pretending to be old and derelict.
As the powerful ancient vampire, Lord Edgar, looked at this young girl more and more, a foreboding feeling started to appear in his heart. And it was related to her seemingly pure blue eyes.