Inside a好了 好了 rocky, cave-like dungeon, was a young man currently in a fight with an Orc lord. He was wearing black pants and shirts to hide in the darkness.
Due to his skill [Dark Hunter], he gained improved movement speed and attack speed in the darkness. So he was constantly dodging the Orc lord's clubs.
The Orc lord was the boss of the C-ranked dungeon, [Orc Cave], and thus the strongest monster in the dungeon.
The young man slid between the Orc lord's legs, and immediately activated [Stealth]. He vanished from the spot.
The Orc lord looked everywhere, but couldn't find him. Suddenly, a dagger stabbed into the Orc lord's back, dealing a good amount of damage to it.
The young man took out his dagger, and once more stabbed it in while using the skill [Dagger Strike]. He dropped from the Orc lord's back and disappeared once more.
Slowly, using one attack after another, the young man managed to kill the Orc lord.
Huff. Huff.
He was exhausted. The young man sat down to check his level of improvement.
"Status".
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Hunter Info
Name: Adler Lee
Level: 29 (26%)
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Stats
STR: B-
INT: C-
VIT: C-
AGI: A-
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Miscellaneous
Skills: [Dagger Strike - C][Stealth - B][Dark Hunter - C][Increased Movement- C]
Equipped Items: [Snake Boots - C][Leather armor -D][Steel Daggers - B]
Inventory: 55/70 *open to check further*
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A blue panel appeared in front of him showcasing all his stats and skills. He looked at his level information and realized his experience percentage had only gone up by 20%, even after he had solo cleared the entire dungeon twice.
He had started as a D-rank hunter, and slowly improved himself to be a lower-end B-rank hunter.
"My level is taking longer and longer to improve." He said out loud.
He had awakened as a hunter 1 year ago, 2 years after his parent's death. His mother and father had been on a vacation trip when a nearby forest had a dungeon break.
They were caught in the monsters' attacks and had tragically died. Ever since then, it had only been him, and his sister Andrea who had been living together.
At first, he had been worried he would've to survive on his parents' inheritance, but soon he awakened, and he didn't have to worry about it anymore.
However, awakening as a D-ranked hunter meant no guild was ever gonna take him in. So, he had to form parties with other lower-ranked hunters and clear dungeons together.
Ever since he reached the levels of a B-ranked hunter, he had been solo clearing C-ranked dungeons.
Adler stood up and dusted off his leather armor. He then walked over to the place where the Orc lord's corpse was.
The Orc lord's corpse had already disappeared, absorbed by the dungeon. However, in its stead, there were 2 items there.
Adler frowned. There was always 1 item that dropped when a monster died, that was a Mana Stone.
Most normal monsters in the dungeon dropped mana stone about 1 in every 10 times. However, a dungeon boss dropped the stones with a 100% drop rate.
However, there never were 2 items.
"Could it be a skill stone?" he excitedly thought. A Skill stone was a very, very rare drop from a dungeon boss that would give an awakened hunter another skill when used.
While a Mana Stone had a fixed price rate based on their rank, a Skill stone could be sold for anywhere from thousands to millions of dollars. He was excited.
He went forward and picked up the first item, the mana stone.
The mana stone, being from a dungeon boss, was a lot bigger than the normal ones. He looked at the stone with a satisfied face and kept it in his inventory.
He then went on to pick the next item. He was excited to get a skill stone, but soon, the feeling changed to confusion.
"A key?" the second item the Orc lord had dropped was actually a key. This was an unprecedented event. He had never heard about a key being dropped in a dungeon.
The key was about 10 cm in length and seemed to be made up of an unrecognizable material. He flipped it around to take a better look, wondering what it could be possible for, when.
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[Hidden]
Key to a timed dungeon.
Owner: Adler Lee
Location of Dungeon: Unavailable *please get out of the dungeon to check the location*
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A panel suddenly appeared in front of him. Adler read it and frowned.
"A timed dungeon? What's a timed dungeon?" he had never heard of it before.
"And what's it about me being the owner? I own something ?" questions started forming in his head he could not possibly have answers to.
After seeing that it told him about the dungeon location, he decided to leave. He kept the key into his inventory and walked up to a big white circle at the end of the circle which transported to the outside gate of the dungeon.
He looked around and found that there was no one in the vicinity. Event he hunters that hunted later at the day had already returned.
He looked at the sun and realized it had already set beyond the horizon.
"Oh no, I'm late." It was already evening, and his sister would be home alone. Although she was already 18 years old, she was still younger than him by 5 years, so he cared for her dearly.
He swiftly walked to a mana store near the dungeon. Adler made his way to a free clerk who saw him and welcomed him.
" Good evening sir. Are you here to sell or buy?" The clerk asked.
"Sell," Adler said as he brought out a bunch of mana stone from his inventory.
" 12 D-rank and 2 C-rank mana stone, is that all sir?" the clerk asked to which he affirmed "Yes" as he handed the clerk his hunter card.
The dungeons were ranked based on their boss's rank, rather than their regular monsters, so most of the Orcs he fought in the [Orc Cave] were D-ranked monsters.
"Thank you, sir. Please come again". The clerk said and handed the card back.
Adler walked outside the store and took out his phone. The screen had a picture of him and his sister, who looked just like his except with longer hair and a bigger smile on her face. Tuesday, June 11, 2023, was written on top of the phone.
After a few seconds, he got a notification.
-C-station Mana Store has deposited $320 into your account-
$320 for a day's worth of work, it wasn't that bad. For a job that was very dangerous and incredibly taxing to the body, this was an acceptable earning.
Fatigued, he stored his phone in his inventory. As he did so, he suddenly remembered. 'The Key.'
He took it out and a screen opened up in front of his eyes again.
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[Hidden]
Key to a timed dungeon.
Owner: Adler Lee
Location of Dungeon: 800m north-west
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He was completely sidetracked from finding out what the key was. Now that he remembered, he checked the location.
"800 meters North-west? Isn't north-west… " he trailed off his thoughts as he looked towards the north-west direction. It was the direction he had just come from.
He slowly walked towards the [Orc Cave] and it quickly reaffirmed his conclusion that the key was indeed pointing towards the dungeon.
Thanks to his movement improvement skills, he quickly reached the dungeon.
'What's going on?' he was confused.
Suddenly, the key started vibrating. It started shining brightly and floated towards the gate of the dungeon. The gate which usually shined in low orange light suddenly started shinning blood red.
An incredible attraction force came out of the dungeon, pulling Adler towards the gate. Frightened, he tried to run away from the gate.
He knew a red gate usually meant an S-ranked dungeon, so he wasn't going to be stupid and stand around it. However, he couldn't run away.
He utilized every skill possible, but, the attraction force was just too strong. He looked around and realized it was only him that was being pulled towards the gate. He cried for help, but, there was nobody near the dungeon at this point.
Helplessly, he got sucked into the dungeon.
Adler slowly got up and looked around. The dungeon he was in was incredibly vibrant, full of plant and animal life. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call this another world.
As he looked up he saw the sky. ' A sky in a dungeon?' he was stupefied. It was shocking but not as shocking as what he saw next.
Ding
A screen appeared in front of him.
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Congratulations on finding the [Key to the Demon King's Realm]
Dungeon Name: Demon King's Realm
Difficulty: Immeasurable
Clear Conditions: Survive for 100 years
Time Remaining: 99 years 364 Days 23 hours 57 minutes 23 seconds
Failure Conditions: Failure to kill a [C-rank] monster every 7 days. (monster rank may change depending on the player's strength.)
Penalty: Death
To complete the challenge you have been given 2 gifts.
1. Mini Map: You can use the mini-map to search for the location of the monsters. (Any other description other than rank won't be shown)
2. Eternal Youth: For the duration of the dungeon, you will not age.
Good Luck!
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And so, Adler had to somehow survive in the dungeon for a hundred years.