Inside an old shabby house in the outskirts of the Ezir town
A young man in his 20s was sleeping soundly when suddenly a young girl walked into his room. The girl was very young, barely 13 years old
She walked on tiptoe and slowly approached the bed
Suddenly, she jumped on the young man's stomach
Aghhhh!!
"Not again,Silvia!! Cough! cough!"
The young man had unremarkable face
He had brown hair and brown eyes his body was on the average side, but his body had some strong muscles here and there implying this young man was a hard working
"It's wakey wakey time, brother Liam!!"
The young girl on the other side had a very attractive face her long brown hair with slight curves fell on her back and a pair of mesmerizing Hazel eyes that had a mysterious glow to them her body was slim but she already was growing in certain areas
"Okay im a wake now get up i cant breath
Cough!"
Silvia got up from Liam's stomach she interlocked her hands and puffed her cheeks
"Hmph you cant appreciate a beautiful girl like me waking you up its the dream of many
"Okay i get it thanks Silvia"
Liam had a forced smile on his face when he said this
Then a woman's voice came from downstairs
"Liam! Come down the breakfast is ready!
"Im coming mom!"
'Sigh~ another day of work'
Liam and Silvia walked downstairs the stairs made creaking sound when they walked on them
Downstairs a small living room with minimal furniture and a small kitchen with a window that had many cracks on it
Liam saw his mom making a simple breakfast while the sunshine Illuminated her face she had a smile on her face
"Mom were here
"Come sit down the breakfast is ready"
The small family talked and laughed with each other they were happy and satisfied with what they had, except one person
Liam, he wasn't happy with this he wanted more he always thought he was made to do bigger things and had a bright future ahead this was why he registered himself on the mercenary guild as a porter and a dungeon guide
It was a very dangerous job but he had to do it he simply had no other choice high danger and high pay
After Liam ate his breakfast he got ready and wore a pair of poor-looking armor,a cape, and a short sword on his waist he put the backpack on his back and walked outside
His mother and sister were standing outside the house his mother with her warm smile and his sister too
"Mom I'm going I'll be back soon we have a dungeon expedition today some rich young master has commissioned our group
"Yeah be careful Liam im waiting for your return"
Liam crouched and put his hand on Silvia's head and patted her head with a smile
"I'm going Silvia be a good girl and listen to what mom says brother will be back soon
"Okay im waiting for you to come back safely"
Silvia had sweet smile on her face when she said this
Liam bid goodbye and walked toward the mercenary guild
'This is so weird why would someone commission our group we just started a few weeks ago and I just joined them a week ago so I don't know much, but there are much better ones in the guild, something doesn't feel right.'
Liam despite his many worries still walked toward the guild he needed this job and its money this one especially had higher pay since the customer was generous
Soon he reached the guild a group of 13 people was standing outside chatting with each other from their clothing
There were 3 tanks 2 swordsmen and 2 assassins forming the Frontline and for the back line 2 healers 2 mages and 2 porters Liam included
"Oh finally his here guys!"
A burly man said this wearing heavy armor he walked towards Liam and put his hand around his neck with a big smile
The others also looked at Liam and exchanged pleasantries this group was like a family to each other the leader was Charles a tank class awakened the same burly man that was choking Liam with his thick arms
"Okay okay, you're choking me!"
Liam tapped continuously on Charles's arms while everyone laughed
Charles let go and put his hand on Liam's head and while roughing his hair he said
"Your always late lazy chick, this was a small lesson next time its gonna be rougher"
Charles had a proud face like a father disciplining his son when he said this which made everyone laugh
After chatting with each other it was time to move on to the dungeon
Liam didn't know what was the commission so he asked Charles
"Oh it's nothing much the customer wants a piece of the boss monster, its eyes to be precise
"So were hunting the boss this time?
"Yeah the Salamander is not that dangerous with our lineup its easy so dont worry you just need to stay in back line me and John will take care of the rest
"Speaking of him he got rejected again by Cassandra huh"
They looked back and saw john a man in his early 20s with a blonde hair and handsome futures wearing a light armor and a long sword on his waist
he was talking with a female mage that wore a purple robe but her eye-catching curves didn't do her justice to save her from the clutches of John, she was exceptionally beautiful and her temperament was cold,she was like a cold goddess for this group
Next to her, it was john that was talking nonstop and Cassandra ignoring him like usual
"He never changes dose he"
Charles
"Sigh~ no he never does if he could put the females as his second priority he would have been much better in his job
"Speaking of job who was the guy that commissioned us
"His name is Adam or something he came to the guild yesterday and asked for us he said he wants the eyes in the perfect state for an experiment
Although it will be a bit problematic if were careful its nothing much"
Soon they reached the dungeon
The dungeons are the important sources of income for the country so each, and every one of them is comparable to a never-ending gold mine and all the dungeons that get discovered in the human domain are managed by the Awakeners association
The council is composed of the 10 most powerful awakeners of the humanity
many rumors floating around about them being reached the Demigod rank, which is SS rank
they rarely show themselves in the public. Even the king don't have enough authority to command them.
Every dungeon has several floors the lowest rank dungeon has 5~8 floors till this D rank dungeon with 20 floors and every 10 floor there would be a mini boss fight
Furthermore every dungeon has 3 tier
Low tier mid-tier and high tier
The dungeon won't be destroyed until its core is broken or gets carried out of the dungeon, in this case, the core will turn into ash and the dungeon will collapse
But no matter how many times the boss monster dies it will respawn after a certain period depending on its Rank
The higher the rank the longer time it will take to respawn
In front of the dungeon, many guards and Robots were stationed every guard had a strong aura
They were wearing heavy armor similar to Charles but on the left side of their chest armor was an insignia of a Tower with the glowing sun behind it adorned with beautiful carvings
Besides the guards' station was a building a place for guards to rest and eat nothing especial
The guards stationed here were in charge of preventing any dungeon floods and maintaining order here preventing any fight outside of the dungeon, but what happened inside wasn't their concern
The dungeon investigations duty was for another branch they weren't qualified to interfere in the matters inside the dungeon
Outside of the dungeon were many groups of 5 or 7 people looking for party members and many people were going in and out of the dungeon in short it was very crowded like a market the sound of people chatting and yelling filled this place
The group stood in front of dungeon
Charles turned towards group and said
"Everyone check your equipment and Food i don't want anyone starving also check your sleeping bags and tents i don't wanna share my tent, with you John like last time
"Hahaha
"Hahaha"
The sound of laughter filled the group
"Oh come on boss,that was a one-time mistake and i apologized for it"
With a bit of joking the groups mood became better
"Ok get in position were going in"
Then everyone moved in the tanks in front damage dealers Swordsmen and assassins in the middle and mages and healers in the back with porters
Each dungeon floor has a especial environment for the corresponding monster to live in and to pass every floor there were 3 ways
The first was to find the portal leading to the next floor which was pretty well hidden
Or the Second way was to kill every monster present on the floor
The third way that was available only for C-rank dungeons and above,was the floor mission that was randomly given to the group of challengers
All of the 20 floors of this dungeon were mapped out so the group already knew what was lying ahead they were planning to clear this dungeon in 3 days
They had to reach the 10th floor on the first day and the 19th floor on the second day and finally defeat the boss on the 3rd day on the 20th floor
They didn't care about the other groups or the respawn time of the boss all they wanted was the eyes of the Boss monster the Salamander
The first couple of floors didn't take long to complete the monsters were weak so the tanks in front took care of them easily
In less than 12 hours the group was already on the 8th floor and the next 2 floors were the tough ones the 9th-floor monsters were harpies so the mages finally had a chance to show off
The group reached the 10th floor the mini boss room was in front of the group
Charles walked in front and said
"Okay i believe everyone are in good condition."
Everyone nodded without hesitation
"Then get ready the hob Goblin group in this room gonna take a while to clear
drink your mana and stamina potions people i don't want anyone to fall off"
After preparing for a while and resting the group went in with thier usual formation
"Kreeeeeek!!!"
The sound of many hob goblins yelling and screeching filled the big cave like room behind the door and they attacked the group
Clank! Crash! Bang! Hiss! Thud! sqwelp!
The sound of shields against bodies crashing on each other and swords cutting flesh and bones with sound of diffrent spells flying above the groups head filled the place
The Goblin shaman that came out of a small house after hearing the commotion
Didn't have enough time to prepare a spell before assassins made a quick work out of her
"Come on guys puuuush we got this!!!!"
Charles yelled with all his might incouraging everyone
After a short while the cavern became silent again the porters began thier job and started dissecting the monster bodies on the floor
Liam was dissecting the Goblin shaman when he suddenly felt something in her heart a hard crystal like thing was inside it
Suddenly his breathing became rough and his eyes became wide open he was screaming in his mind
'A monster core!!! Im rich!!'
He carefully cut open the heart like a physician only to be disappointed
A black crystal was faintly glowing inside it his hands trembled with anger he clenched the green heart in his hand
Drip! Drip!
The green blood was dropping from it
'Goddammit!!'
The monster cores were supposed to be round and smooth but the crystal in front of him was the shape of a star giving off a foul aura
Thinking that it might worth a couple of gold coins Liam carefully hid the crystal in his pocket without anyone noticing
Unaware of everyone a figure covered in shadows with a cape over his head was watching all this from behind the scenes
"Good everything is going according to plan, you didn't disappoint me, Liam."
The shadow disappeared suddenly without making any sound.