After more than a week had passed, I had only gotten one key from the requests. But the type of key I had gotten was for the normal difficulty which I could not do at the moment.
Finishing the rest of the requests I accepted today, I started heading towards their homes to obtain their signatures.
Hopefully this time I can be lucky and get the key for the easy difficulty…
Arriving at the outskirts of Arkesia, I found the first house and knocked on the door.
"Hello, I have completed your request from the adventurer's guild."
Opening the door, an old lady had welcomed me into her house.
At first she seemed startled by the cloak and mask, but she quickly ignored it.
She began talking as she handed me a cup of water, "It seems like the rumors were true, there is a new adventurer who's hiding their identity, and is completing the requests that have been ignored until now."
"Sonny, we are all grateful to you lending us a hand despite the little reward we can give you." She smiles as she opens her small pouch. "The reward I would give you would be 7 copper, but would you want this instead?"
The old lady pulled out a small rock that had a faint light blue radiating from it.
"I heard from one of my friends that you accepted an unusual glowing rock she found instead of requesting for money." she continued explaining as she handed me the rock to inspect. "I'm not sure if this is the thing you are looking for, but if it's not you can just ignore it and accept the money."
After looking at the rock for a while, although the mana is faint, I can confirm it is the same type of item that transformed into the key for the normal difficulty hidden dungeon.
"No, this is the thing I'm looking for." I nodded. "I'll be taking this instead of the normal payment, thank you."
Getting her signature, I headed out and gathered the rest of the signatures before submitting the results to the adventurer's guild.
Although the rest of them didn't have a key, at least the spoils were good this time.
Heading back to the dorms, I took out the small rock and began injecting mana into it.
The rock began to slowly absorb my mana, and start changing into the shape of a key.
[Item Name: Hidden Dungeon Key (Easy Difficulty)
Rarity: Rare
Effect: Allows the wielder to enter a certain hidden dungeon in Arkesia
A one-time use key that can open a hidden dungeon containing weak but rare materials.]
Now… after getting the key, one of my major concerns is whether to invite the others to the hidden dungeon or not.
If I invite them, it will be safer as there will be more of us, but at the same time I cannot guarantee their safety.
Troubled with my thoughts, I decided it'll probably be better if I asked them for their opinions instead of deciding by myself.
Whether they want to join me or not will be up to them.
After sending both Ji-Hye and Sung-Ho a message, we met up at our class training area.
"Hey Seo-Jun, what was it you wanted to tell us?" Ji-Hye said as entered the room with Sung-Ho.
"Remember to keep this a secret."
"Alright."
"Sure."
"I obtained a key that lets us go to a relatively weak hidden dungeon, and I was wondering if you guys want to go with me. Of course you don't have to join me if you do not want to."
"A hidden dungeon? Wouldn't it be dangerous if we were the only ones to go?" Sung-Ho replied worriedly.
I took out the key to show them its information, "It should be ok because the item says it's for an easy dungeon."
"I want to be able to clear it on my own or with friends and not give it to others so we can keep all the materials from the dungeon." I began explaining. "Like the description says, the dungeon gives out rare but weak materials so it should help our issues with being weak."
Being interested in going due to the rare materials, Ji-Hye instantly agreed. "I'll go with you, and if needed, just in case I'll ask Hyun-Woo to join us."
"Alright." I turned my head "what about you Sung-Ho?"
"I… I'll go with you guys, or else I"ll be too worried to sleep." Sung-Ho replied dejectedly.
"Well, I'll go and ask Hyun-Woo." Ji-Hye began running off. "In the meantime, you guys should prepare in advance, and we'll come up with the plan tomorrow!"
"I'll go ask my father to send some items over just in case. I'll see you at the dorm later." Sung-Ho waved and took off as well leaving me alone in the training area.
Well… I don't really have anything to prepare as I can afford items.
I might as well train now that i'm at the training area.
* * *
A day later, after classes were over, we all decided to meet up at a cafe with enclosed rooms so we could have a private conversation.
After we finished ordering a meal, Hyun-Woo was the first to talk. "Are you sure you shouldn't inform anyone else about the hidden dungeon?"
"I don't think it's a good idea to give away the hidden dungeon for money because it's a one time dungeon so the rewards are unknown."
Hyun-Woo sighed. "I don't want you guys going, but knowing Ji-Hye, she will be stubborn no matter what so I'll go to help out as well."
Alright, with the addition of the main character it should go much smoother.
"C'mon… I'm not that stubborn." Ji-Hye scratched her head.
Hearing Ji-Hye's response, Hyun-Woo's eyes twitched. "What do you mean not stubborn, don't you remember about all the…"
Quickly interrupting Hyun-Woo's nagging, Ji-Hye quickly brought up the main focus of today's meeting. "A-Anyways, what will be our plan for the hidden dungeon?"
I began explaining the team formation we should use. "Because our team is pretty unbalanced having 3 close range and 1 long range attackers, we should have 2 people be the vanguard and have one in the middle to protect the backline."
"I think me and Ji-Hye should be in the frontline. We both have the shortest range weapons and need to get up close, while Sung-Ho provides support by sniping at the enemies."
"Also, another reason why Hyun-Woo should be in the middle is because he is the strongest out of all of us, and can easily help both the front and the back if we are ever in danger."
"The plan is good, but I think Ji-Hye should be in the middle." Hyun-Woo interjected.
"Huh why?" Ji-Hye was confused over Hyun-Woo's suggestion.
"It's because you have a weak body." Hyun-Woo explained. "You are strong enough to be a vanguard, but because of your weak body, if you run out of stamina it could put you in danger."
Ji-Hye wanted to argue with him, but what he said was true. If she ever ran out of stamina while being in the frontlines, it will put not only her in danger but the others as well.
"Alright then, both me and Hyun-Woo will be in the front, Ji-Hye in the middle, and Sung-Ho in the back. Are there any objections?"
Everyone agreed with the plan, although Ji-Hye looked a bit disappointed.
"By the way, Seo-Jun, do you know where the hidden dungeon is located?" Sung-Ho asked because the item description didn't give a location.
"Ah." I forgot to tell them the location of the area yesterday. "The entrance to the hidden dungeon is located at the end of the Forest of Life where the mountains are located."
The Forest of Life is one of the safe zones in the game where players can spend energy to randomly gather resources such as herbs or meat.
After saying the location, the food had finally arrived.
"Well for now, we should eat and finish preparing what we need. After that we will meet at the entrance of the Forest of Life around 6:00pm."