After a long night of rest, I wake up ready to begin a new week of training.
Today, I'll be entering the Vice City Labyrinth.
I hop out of bed to take in the wide-open view of the city below me. I'm 42 stories up, no matter the weather, the view is always incredible. It's early in the morning, so the sun rises up over the horizon casting orange light through the low clouds.
Taking the elevator downstairs, and walking through the empty lobby, I begin my walk to the Dungeon Hub before the morning crowd of hunters gets a chance to crowd the square.
I walk over to the C-Class gate, show the blond-haired guard my ID, then ask him for directions.
"Hey, how do I get to the Vice City Labyrinth? I just got clearance today."
He looks at me with a smug, yet impressed nod, then points behind him to the moving staircase about 15m away. It's guarded by 2 more men from the association. I've seen parties go back there before, but they always wore Association uniforms and seemed to be in a whole different league than me.
It seems it's my turn to ride that escalator upwards.
"Thanks. Appreciate it."
I give the guard a firm nod and head over with my ID in hand. As I approach, I get a better look at the two men on duty. They're wearing full armor and have shields ready by their sides. Both of them seem to be tanks. One is middle-aged with tan skin, a black beard, and a bald head while the other is younger with fair skin and a full head of glossy black hair.
I use inspect on both of them.
[Lv. 289]
[Lv. 314]
The older guard, level 314, looks me up and down as I approach.
"Hey kid, I think you're headed the wrong way. The dungeons are behind ya!"
I flip my Hunter's License toward him to show my name and rank. With an eye roll and a look of disgust on the older guard's face, he takes my ID and places it on the small metal scanner.
"A new C-Class recruit going solo in the Labyrinth? Yeah right, there-"
He's cut off by the small green glowing light shown by the sensor. The bearded guard looks at his younger counterpart with his mouth wide open. Both of them shrug, then he hands my ID back to me.
"I- Sorry I jumped to conclusions. You must be one of the newer recruits. I wasn't aware there were any Elites in the batch of hunters that just came in."
I take my card and give him a professional smile and nod as I get onto the moving stairs upwards.
"Thanks, have a good day!"
This is a pretty odd feeling, going up instead of down. I've gotten pretty used to going underground in order to dungeon dive. I wonder what's up here? Also... did he just call me an Elite?
As I slowly move up the mana-powered stairway, I see another set of guards eyeing me up and down near the top.
It's another pair of tanks in full shining armor... The Association really keeps this place guarded well. I use inspect as I get closer and closer.
[Lv. 348]
[Lv. 366]
Both of these guards seem to be much older, if I look close enough I'd definitely spot a few grey hairs. They must be hunters working for the Association full-time, leveling up slowly and collecting their pay. It's an honest living, I'm just focused on another path.
The level 366 wearing thin-framed glasses and a bright smile greets me.
"A newcomer? You must be from the class that came in last week. Am I right?"
I hand my ID over to his outreached hand. He takes it politely and scans it again as I reply.
"Yep. Just joined the Association. A pleasure to meet you, I'll be seeing you a lot in the future."
As the green light on the scanner flashes again he hands my card back to me. I walk past with a wave goodbye.
In front of me, there's a narrow hallway that leads to a silver door no more than 10m away. The walls are black, similar to the lining of the train station down below in the Dungeon Hub.
The small black scanner on the front of the silver door catches my eye. I mumble under my breath as I approach.
"They sure don't mess around with security measures here..."
Placing my card against the scanner, it flashes green and the final door opens with a light click. I walk through and it closes behind me immediately.
I'm left in a black box 10m tall and wide, with a silver door to my back. The only other thing in this room is a large bright green swirling mass of energy. The Vice City Labyrinth portal.
I blink a few times with a sense of awe and confusion.
The Labyrinth portal was right here all along... Right above the Dungeon Hub, there are dozens and dozens of floors filled with monsters more powerful than anyone in this city could ever dream to handle. This is one of the oldest standing Labyrinths in existence.
It's just sitting here at the center of the city, for decades... No one has managed to make it to the top floor.
After staring at the portal for a few seconds, I nod firmly and I step through, entering my new training grounds.
I'm teleported into a goblin dungeon on the first floor. The tall grass sways in the light breeze and the artificial dungeon sun shines bright.
Taking the first floor slow and steady, I enjoy my morning stroll, sending level 5-10 goblins flying with single kicks to the side as they mindlessly charge at me.
By the time I get about 1km into the first dungeon, I activate my enemy detection skill to make sure no one else is around as I release Ember from my pocket dimension.
The Dragon rises from the ground after falling from the spacial magic portal, flexing his wings and emitting a soft red glow as he senses the shifts of mana density in the surrounding air.
"So this is the Labyrinth."
I grin, looking up at the monster.
"It is. Our goal this week is to defeat the boss on the 20th floor."
Ember flaps his long glossy black-scaled wings, hovering 10m or so up in the air before replying. His head is held high and the crimson glow around him stays activated.
"The structure we're in has many floors... The 20th is the least of our worries..."
With a confident and eager smile, I channel my wind magic, propelling myself upward with a few air-steps. I gracefully ascend to meet the Dragon in the sky. Landing on his sturdy back, I reply through our link.
"We'll face those enemies when we get there, let's climb one floor at a time."
Holding on tight with both my legs, Ember flies high up into the sky, and our adventure begins. As the wind whisks through my hair, a refreshing coolness fills my mind, invigorating my senses.
It's a short ride, but a sweet one. We make it to the first-floor boss in mere minutes. Dragon transportation is the way to travel! We'll make it through these floors in no time, I'll be able to use Dungeon Walker to any floor I fancy by the end of the day!
The only caveat, is I can't sense what's on the floors above me just yet. I make sure to put Ember safely in my pocket dimension and scout out the floor with enemy detection to make sure no other hunters are present before letting him roam free.
We continue this process over and over. The first 5 floors are all familiar spawns like goblins, wolves, slimes, rats, and other E and low-grade D-Class monsters.
The next few are a breeze as well. The mobs get a bit tougher, like trolls, ogres, and hobgoblins, but we soar through each floor unscathed.
On average, we're clearing entire levels in less than 30 minutes. It's not until 5 hours later, that we run into an unexpected development on floor 10.
As I defeat the level 244 Minotaur boss on floor 9, I open my spacial magic portal for Ember to hop in. He does so and I wait for the white transfer light to appear.
It does, and I activate my enemy detection. As I find myself materializing on the 10th floor, I go on high alert. Over a dozen alarms go off in my mind's eye as I detect threats over level 300 scattered nearby, one is even well over 400...
I clench my jaw and take out both of my blades while activating my stat-boosting skills, igniting my body into a ball of flames.
Whatever base-level monsters have come to greet me on this 10th floor, they're much more skilled than I was expecting.
As the white light fades away from my vision I continue gritting my teeth in anticipation. Determined to face whatever monsters lie ahead, I strain my senses, squinting to make out what exactly the danger that looms before me looks like.
A surprised voice with a hint of amusement rings out in my ears.
"Hey, hey! Chill out, man! We're hunters, we're on the same team here!"
My vision clears, and I can't believe my eyes...
A small stone pathway has formed beneath my feet, and I'm greeted by a smiling hunter with red hair and green eyes. He raises both his hand defensively, laughing, trying to calm me down.
My eyes dart around, taking in the view, and tracking all of the enemies I previously spotted on my radar.
They're all hunters.
I let out a whisper under my breath while deactivating my skills.
"What... is this place?"
The soil is rocky in all directions with thin patches of grass. Small stone formations scatter across the landscape, and larger mountains jut up in the distance. The sky is blue with a few small clouds and the air is cool and crisp.
The red-haired man shows me a bright white smile and turns to point down the small pathway.
To my surprise, there's a village center on the 10th floor of the Vice City Labyrinth. With half a dozen small shacks and merchant stands lining the little road beneath my feet, I watch hunters trade loot and food. I gaze off in the distance to see a large Inn-like structure about 200m away with smoke coming out of a tall chimney.
I place my weapons into my item storage while staring at the view wide-eyed and speechless. The tall fiery haired man speaks up again.
"Welcome to the 10th-floor Labyrinth checkpoint. Take advantage of the Association-run vendors to buy and sell any loot you've acquired or need during your journey. Should you require rest or relaxation, the Inn is available to you before continuing to any other floors. Come on, let me give you a quick tour!"