"Medical kit and lifeform tracking system." The woman said in a monotone voice as she pointed at a small grey box and a small round object that resembled a pocket watch which were placed in the cabinet.
Ray raised his eyebrows in response, and the woman explained, "They're supposed to be complementary items if the guest is entering the dungeon alone."
"Ah." Ray nodded his head. The woman then picked up the box and the tracking system from the cabinet and handed it over to Ray, who took it from her. "Can I get a backpack for the items?"
"Certainly." The woman snapped her fingers before grabbing a black backpack from a small locker and handed it to Ray. She glanced at him for a second before continuing, "Or perhaps you might like a storage watch?"
The woman pointed at her wrist as she spoke, which had a professional looking watch strapped around it.
"Maybe another time." Ray shrugged his shoulders as he placed the medical kit inside the backpack. "I don't want to spend my 'hard earned money' so recklessly. Perhaps after I complete a few dungeon quests." He now had money, but it also wasn't infinite. So he had to be careful and clever about his spending.
"If that's what you prefer." The woman bowed her head lightly as she spoke. She then pointed at the cabinet once again and asked, "So, what else do you wish to take with you into the dungeon?"
Ray shifted his gaze towards the cabinet and thought for a few seconds before answering, "First, I'm going to need cures for exhaustion, poison, headaches, confusion and energy loss."
"So adrenaline stimulants, antiserums, sedatives, energy bars." The woman pulled a black box out from the cabinet as she spoke and showed it to Ray. "This is the beginners potion package. It's got everything that you mentioned, and it also has double the amount of items."
"Looks good." Ray said after inspecting the box for a few seconds and nodded his head. "I'll take it."
"Anything else?" The woman asked as she watched Ray place the black box inside his backpack.
"What about food products?" Ray asked, and the woman raised her storage wristwatch and rotated the bezel clockwise in a specific manner.
Swoosh!
A red paper bag popped out in the air as though it had manifested right in front of them. The bag floated in the air for a few seconds before slowly descending into the woman's hands, who then handed it over to Ray.
"Liquid nutrients." The woman started to explain as Ray went through the contents of the bag. "It's easier to carry and consume, while also not losing the flavor and the taste of any normal food product."
Ray looked inside the bag and found what appeared to be small packets that were similar to a ketchup packet.
"I'm assuming that you might also need body armour and weapons, right?" The woman asked, and Ray turned his gaze back to her and nodded. "You assumed right. What have you got?"
"Everything." The woman said as she pressed a white button that was on the wall, and the entire cabinet started to expand as though it was being stretched open, revealing a hidden room behind it.
The woman walked inside, and Ray followed her while admiring the interior of the room once again.
Hung on the walls of the room were countless weapons, from swords and spears to laser guns and missile launchers.
"May I ask which weapons you desire?" The woman asked without turning around, and Ray answered, "For now, I'm just going to need the base model versions of body armour and laser gun, as well as a couple of specialized grenades."
"We have the base model versions over here." The woman pointed her finger at a glass desk that was to their side, and placed on top of it were pistols, rifles, grenades, body armor and other equipment.
"Pick your poison." She said before stepping away from the desk, and Ray stared at the weapons in front of him.
He thought for a few seconds before grabbing a low level body armor, a small dagger, a laser pistol and about half a dozen specialized grenades.
"Will that be all, sir?" The woman asked, and Ray nodded with a satisfied expression. "I think that'll do for now. How much is it going to cost?"
"1,700 coins, sir." The woman replied, and Ray almost tripped over his feet. That was almost all the money he had right now. 'Jesus Christ. I can't believe it costs so much here. Is this how the Obsidian Guild functions? By robbing the customers of money?'
"Is there a problem, sir?" The woman asked after hearing no response from her client, and Ray immediately shook his head. "Ah, yeah, no. I'll pay the fee right now."
After reluctantly paying the fee for all the products that he had bought, the woman led Ray back to the metal door behind which was the portal to the dungeon.
"Press your finger on the scanner over here, and the door will open." The woman instructed Ray on how to open the door, and Ray did exactly what he was told to do.
WHAM!
The metal doors opened with a loud noise, and a bright blue light shot out from within, forcing the two to squint their eyes in response.
Ray could see an enormous bright blue portal situated right in front of them. It was rotating continuously, and was also very noisy.
"Good luck on the expedition, Mr. Park!" The woman yelled through the loud booming noise that was being projected by the portal.
Ray nodded his head while squinting his eyes. "Thank you, Miss…."
"Maria!" The woman replied, and Ray continued, "Thank you, Maria!"
Ray then began walking forward, covering both his eyes using his hands, and entered the portal, and suddenly, everything went dark.
Whoosh!
When Ray finally regained his vision, he was inside what appeared to be an underground cave. He then looked around and found another metal door, same as the one he saw inside the Dungeon Entrance Building a few seconds ago, situated right behind him. It looked like he had exited through that door, which had automatically shut itself after he walked away from it.
'I guess this is the dungeon,' Ray narrowed his eyes and his expression turned serious. He then took out the tracking system from his pocket.
As soon as he flipped open the lid, the object showed a map of the surroundings, as well as the different kinds of objects that were in the pathway.
'No lifeforms present within five hundred meters from my location,' Ray made a note in his mind before strapping the round tracking object onto his dungeon wristband, which could accommodate multiple accessories for quick access.
'Let's start moving,' Ray began to walk forward, his gaze switching back and forth from the tracking system and the pathway in front of him. For now, he was focused on finding a way out of this underground cave.
Dungeons were gateways to a different world. And like Ray's world, it was also extremely vast in scale. This meant that the dungeon that Ray had just been transported to was not limited to the underground cave.
Drip, drip!
Droplets of water began to fall from the roof of the cave and down to puddles as Ray passed by. He was following the faint light source that was keeping the whole place lit. He felt like it could lead him out of this cave.
'It's strange, though…' A random circuit in the back part of Ray's brain told him. 'I've been walking for more than five minutes now, and yet for some reason, I haven't seen a single monster.'
Usually, when a hunter enters a dungeon, they're immediately attacked by low level monsters, and the power level of these monsters increase as the hunter pushes forward, moving deeper into the dungeon.
But if there aren't any monsters nearby…
Ray furrowed his eyebrows. These monsters are extremely territorial, so the fact that there aren't any low level monsters here could only mean one thing.
'Something far more powerful have claimed this territory.'