"If that is a dungeon gate, that means that there is a dungeon underneath."
"Means that this entire plain is the Surface Level or the 0th Floor of the dungeon. That explains its irregularities. Dungeons were not within the jurisdiction of the world after all."
Dungeons have different kinds of systems and are isolated from the world. Since this area was located within the dungeon's territory, it was not affected by the forest's thick mana concentration and fertility.
But what is a dungeon, anyway?
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Dungeon. A structure that was constructed beneath the surface. It was neither naturally occurring nor made by human hands. But it is said to be made by the cosmocrats themselves. It's up to a person if he believes that idea.
Aside from taking quests, dungeons are one of the major sources of income for the adventurers. Loots from the dungeons are indefinite and have the highest potential to bring fortune.
Dungeons have different sizes and difficulties. Its size varies with the number of floors a dungeon has. Each floor is inhabited by countless monsters. But the number of monsters is constant and doesn't overflow to the surface.
Every ten floors, a Domain Guardian awaits. The Guardian must be dealt with first before proceeding to the floor below. When defeated, a reward will be given to the challenger, who can then take the Guardian's corpse.
The strength of a Guardian is proportional to the level of the floor where it stands. The value and rarity of the reward were also based on the floor on which it was situated.
The deeper the floor, the more and stronger monsters you can expect. If there's a monster, there are also its raw materials to loot. It's no wonder why dungeons are the main source of income for most adventurers.
Dungeons of different sizes scattered all over the world and waited to be conquered. The first person to defeat the Dungeon Guardian, the strongest monster located at the bottom floor, will become a Dungeon Master to manage the dungeon.
The easiest known dungeons had only ten floors and a Dungeon Guardian of E to D rank. While the most difficult known dungeon was the Imperial Dungeon of the Dixon Empire. It has seventy floors and a high-tier, S-ranked monster as its Dungeon Guardian.
The reason for the existence of dungeons is still unknown. But it was speculated that it was the way of the gods to improve the capabilities of their subjects.
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Well… that's what our mothers said. There were still mysteries behind dungeons left unsolved.
Theorists and scholars are currently studying dungeons until these days. It has a purpose, a structure, complex systems, an origin, and many more unanswered questions.
Before my mind could derail, I cleared my thoughts and went back to what was important right now. I stared at the big gate and expressed my thoughts.
"From the way it was located hundreds of kilometers away from the entrance and buried for a long time, I assumed that it was still untouched by human hands until now."
"So this is an unexplored dungeon, huh."
"What are we going to do now?"
"What else? Since we are already here and still have time before the curfew, how about exploring it for a while?"
"Are you sure about that, Sis? Exploring an unconquered dungeon is dangerous, you know?"
"Are you referring to the resurrection feature?"
Conquered dungeons had many functions and features that Dungeon Masters could implement in their own dungeon. Every conquered dungeon had a function to issue cards to people and have them become its members. One prime example of it is the Adventurers Guild Card of the Imperial Dungeon.
(Like a membership card for a hotel.)
By having a card for a specific dungeon, a member receives perks for accessing some of the dungeon's features. The implemented features are up to the Dungeon Master themselves. One of these features was the resurrection system.
Stepping inside a dungeon is the same as digging your own grave. If an adventurer was not careful and prepared, death was inevitable. That's where the resurrection system comes in.
The resurrection feature is a function that only members of a dungeon could use. It is a feature that allows members to resurrect themselves if they die inside the dungeon. Died members would be resurrected at the resurrection area of the last 10th floor they visited.
By the way, I have a card of five different dungeons around the continent.
Even though a person got resurrected, the resurrection had its drawbacks. After resurrection, the resurrected person lost two percent of their Level, with a minimum loss of one Level. It may look small, but it's a big hassle for high-level adventurers to gain back the lost Level.
Not only that, if you're not holding your weapon upon death, it would be excluded from your resurrection and left behind inside the dungeon. Loot and equipment are also left behind in the dungeon if they are not within your grasp.
Adventurers had an unspoken rule-finder's keeper. So you have to negotiate with the finder to get your weapon back. That's why it's recommended to have a magic bag hanging on your waist to keep your weapons and loot.
Even though there's resurrection, adventurers tend to be cautious when it comes to dungeon crawling. The drawbacks are hitting them hard.
That's the advantage of a conquered dungeon. And my sister wants to explore an unconquered one.
"Isn't it better to inform our mothers first? They scolded us for fighting an unknown monster; how about exploring an unconquered dungeon?"
"Well, we will just explore as deep as we can and call mothers for help if things go so south. How about that?"
"Hmm. I'll think about that."
"Beside, we alone are strong enough to reach at least fifty floors."
Our parents were former adventurers who had already conquered dungeons. So it would be better to leave it to the veterans. But Sister's idea wasn't bad either.
"Sigh. If we think we cannot go further, we will inform Mothers, okay?"
"Of course. And if we're lucky enough, we might be able to conquer this dungeon and become Dungeon Masters ourselves."
"Having a dungeon as our training grounds isn't that bad. It's inhabited by unlimited monsters that can be a good source of EXP."
"That's decided. Let's go and conquer this dungeon!"
"We still don't know how many floors this dungeon has, and you've already declared its conquerability."
After Sister's declaration, we stand in front of the gate. We hold the golden-black metallic ring latch on each door with both hands. Despite being buried for a long time, the metallic doors made of the same metal don't even deteriorate and are still void of rust.
We strengthen our bodies, then slowly pull back the huge doors. The doors are large and quite heavy.
After a time of creaking hinges, the doors reached their limit and pivoted for more than ninety degrees. We let go of the latch and faced the open gate.
"Every time I saw a dungeon gate, I couldn't help but think it really looks and works like the Portal spell."
When we fixed our gaze on the gate, the scenery within the frame was a stony pathway in contrast to the grassy plains behind. Same as my Portal spell, dungeon gates are the passageways to enter a dungeon floor beneath.
"The back of the gate is also made of the same pitch-black stone."
Sister walked around the gate to check out if the back also led to the dungeon. From a bird's eye view, all you can see at the center of the plains is a lone, standing black gate.
"But before we proceed... Mirage."
Now that the gate has been unearthed and exposed to the surface, others can also catch a glimpse of it. To keep it hidden from any spectators' eyes, I used Level 5 Illusion Magic: Mirage to make the gate blend with the grassy ground.
"Griffith, keep an eye on the surroundings."
"Skwa."
"Okay, let's move in."
"Yosh."
With my words, me and my sister entered the gate and stepped on the stony path corridor. The inside is bright despite having no source of light like a torch or a magic light bulb.
The pathway that we track is quite wide. The walls, floor, and ceiling shared the same width of ten meters. The stones were a dark gray and looked sturdier than normal bedrock.
I used my Omnidirectional Perception and discovered that the walls were blocking my detection skills. Even my Clairvoyance couldn't pass through the walls.
(Dungeons are really otherworldly.)
Even though my detection was blocked by the walls, I could just ignore the walls and only detect the air and the life forms. With that, I am able to draw a map of the floor. Like water looking for gaps to flow down.
"Based on what I've gathered so far, this floor has the same labyrinth structure as the other dungeons' first floor. It is circular and had a whopping diameter of two kilometers."
"Even the first floor of the Imperial Dungeon only had a diameter of 1400 meters. That means this dungeon contains more than seventy floors!"
"It means this dungeon has more floors than the Imperial one."