When I open my eyes, I realize that unfortunately it's still dark, I really don't like waking up before sunrise, but last night Raziel came to give me Martin's message it looks like we're going into the dungeon much sooner than we agreed. yesterday.
Looks like the night owls have another appointment today, so we had to move the entrance to the dungeon for dawn so we can calmly explore the dark lair, as exploration can take several hours especially if we're able to make it to the twentieth floor without not a problem.
I throw Wulfgar out of bed, he should be sleeping in his own bed and not mine. It only took me a few minutes to equip my armor, weapons and supplies needed for the expedition. As I leave my room, I look at Wulfgar who is sprawled on the floor.
The laziness doesn't even wake up when I kicked him out of bed, he looks like he's in a coma and not sleeping. He really needs to go through a good outdoor betrayal for him to develop his wild animal instincts.
On my way I meet Raziel and we make our way to the inn, we usually talk about random and unimportant things, but today Raziel had a more important matter to talk to me about.
"I want to ask you a favor Ulric."
"Was this a statement or a request?"
"I need your help with something."
"Did something bad happen?"
"No, but it could end up happening and that's why I need your help. But this is a very problematic subject and can get you into some problems."
"I'm curious, what kind of help are you needing?"
"And my family, I need your help to find a very special treasure. Last week when my family invaded territory near the southern border, they found an injured refugee, after saving him my uncle found out he was part of an expedition that was looking for an ancient ruin."
"His group was basically wiped out by level four magical beasts, he barely survived and was basically dead when he was rescued by my family, he was a maximum stage green core fighter, but after he recovered, he almost fell to stage weakened initial, if it were possible for the core to regress it would have a gray core now."
"Should you be saying this while we're outdoors? Wouldn't it be better to say that indoors Raziel?"
"Not the need to keep too much of a secret, as I said his group was basically wiped out, that means more than one survivor, so the rumor about an ancient ruin not yet discovered will spread, it's not possible to keep it a secret for long time."
"And I have this magic tool, it can block observation and keep the sound from moving away from us, so if they're not within two feet of us, it's not like we're overheard."
"Okay, but why are you telling me this?"
"Why do I need your help to improve the chances of finding the old ruin?"
"I'm not an expert on ancient Raziel ruins, I only know the basics about them that I've read in books I doubt I can help you."
"Oh, you're wrong, this ruin is very complicated to explore and this is not because the beasts and magical animals are strong protecting it, but because it is very difficult to find it, it seems that it is protected by several ancient matrices and one of them is a that prevents it from being easily found."
"My father believes it must be a high-level illusory matrix from ancient times, so it's very difficult to find the ruins which makes sense they are close to the border, if she didn't have that kind of protection she should have been found before. It seems that the leader of the group who died found an artifact that guided him to the ruin, without that artifact the ruin would have remained unknown for a few thousand more years."
"I'm not an expert in illusory matrices and I don't even have this element, how could I help you?"
"Although I don't know exactly how your ability works, and I'm clearly not interested in discovering your Ulric secrets, but I've heard that sensory-type people might find the matrix illusory and as you've learned about runes you should know if you can locate the illusory matrix, using your senses."
"I'm not sure, I can try harder I can't even give a guarantee about finding the matrix, let alone disarming it. If I am successful, what would my payment be?"
"Obviously you would receive very well if you succeed, but to close this transaction I have no authority, I would have to take you to meet my mother, she was the one who gave me permission to talk about the ruin and ask if you would be interested. "
"But I can tell you what your part in the expedition would be like, you would be at the center of the formation with the mages and you would stay out of any risk. Your only job is to find the location of the ruin, but if you don't want to enter it you won't be forced anymore if you accept to help in the exploration of the ruins, you can claim a share of the profits that match your contribution to the exploration."
"The payment on finding the wreckage is something you must negotiate with my mother, and only half of it will be paid before the second part will not be paid until after we get back. Is it okay to do it that way?"
"Yeah, I don't even have a problem, but if things go wrong, I'll do it ASAP, I won't risk my life for others. But because your mother would trust me to be skilled enough to find the dungeon."
"Well, I told her about a few times about how you found valuable objects, and how you got into the night owls with me, even though you didn't have the shadow element."
"Did you tell her about what we get near town or what we get away from town?"
"I just told her that you were able to find minerals and herbs in the emerald forest as if you were walking through the forest as if it were your own garden of resources. This is not normal Ulric, and that's how I convinced my mother that her sensory abilities were very good and unusual."
"It took even longer for her to decide you were a viable option, and then become our best option."
"If I'm only the best option now, does that mean I have more options before?"
"Avia some other tracker options, you guys might be rare, but you guys aren't legendary in town to some adventurers who are trackers, but the problem is that they're not entirely reliable in the current situation and my family doesn't have a good edge to be able to pressure them or find a tracker in another city."
"Even your brother can't help? As far as I know he is a well-decorated military man in the capital."
"He could even help, but that would put him in a bad position. As a realm official he must communicate about the possible ancient ruin to the realm, and thereby gain credit for the discovery, but our family would gain nothing from the ruins and they can be very profitable. That's why my parents and uncles chose not to ask for his help, and keep him in the dark."
"So that's just me, but if we fail your family should tell your brother about the old ruin and help his career."
"In reality even if we manage to explore the ruin, we'll just grab as much as we can carry and run away, then we sell the information from the ruins to the kingdom."
"Good plan, are you going to participate in the expedition too?"
"No, I just have a gray core and it's very dangerous for me to participate, you'll just be safe because you'll be at the training center if you were to be in the front line, I would tell you not to go."
"Serious?"
"You and my friend and I don't let my friends kill each other, even if it was a profit for my family."
"I see, so I'll tell you what I know about the expedition."
During the rest of the way Raziel told me several interesting things about what I can expect from this expedition. It didn't take long for us to arrive at the inn and find Martin, Vera and a shield warrior with two elements they are shadow and earth and a green core in the advanced stage, it's still a while before he enters the peak stage.
He must have a very high defensive ability inside the dungeon, I'm very curious to find out how he uses his two elements in harmony. His maturation is nothing special other than being a level three maturation, but his shield is quite special I see inside it a central gem of the shadow element and several layers of earth element precious matter, this is a really good shield.
The adventurous night owl group is really a group with good equipment and high level.