Around midday, the town of Strever came into sight, but the carriage turned onto a different path, the tarred roads turned to well-maintained cobbled roads that lead to the various counties and duchies of the nobility.
While travellers were still many the roads weren't as congested as the king's road that lead to Strever, an occasional guard detail moved on foot ensuring the security of the roads and collecting the tolls from travellers using those roads.
The carriage continued for about an hour before they passed through a small noble estate, while there Lucian found a general store and picked up a couple of supplies.
Since he threw out everything his mother had given him, he had to restock, he managed to acquire an equipment bag, a dozen torches, an enormous bundle of rope, and a couple of rations the dungeon was near a lake so he decided it would be best to get some fishing line and rods.
After that he went to the local blacksmith and found a pair of daggers and a decent sword, it was by no means castle quality, but for some small backwater noble estate, it was excellent and would be the envy of any mortal swordsman.
It cost just a couple hundred Mercuries, the currency of Mercurion, and before long the carriage was on the last foot of the journey, a short half hour ride later the carriage pulled to a halt under the shade of a tree, that sat on the banks of a lake.
"The dungeon portal is a little south of the lake," Diego said as they climbed out of the carriage.
There was no road connecting directly to the dungeon gate, they could appear anywhere, and if anyone discovered a gate they would have to go to the Adventure's Association to report it and get the gates evaluated.
Based on the energy reading they would declare its rank and any adventurer with a corresponding rank would be allowed to enter and kill the creatures to obtain their energy cores.
Other than that, by destroying a dungeon people could gain special items, herbs, plants and materials from the dungeons, but for the most part, dungeons were farmed.
If the main core is not destroyed the dungeon would gradually respawn the creatures and create a route through which cores could be stably farmed.
However there were exceptions, for instance when a dungeon is of a very high level and it isn't possible to have people who can deal with it on hand at all times, and of course, if a portal is too far out and it's not profitable to make the daily trip and farm the cores.
Cores were in high demand as a useful cultivation aid, and while they were a consumable resource they weren't the only energy-rich cultivation resource, so while it offered a bit of wealth, it wasn't anything crazy.
The average red core would go for about 10 - 25 mercuries, the Mercurion currency, a piece, it just depended on where you were.
The current dungeon was one of those outliers, though maybe profitable for commoners, it was not very profitable for even the lowliest of nobles, let alone a prince from a Sacred Lineage, so Lucian's goal with this portal was to remove the core and shut it down...
Lucian moved silently through the forest, his light green and white warrior outfit almost making him blend in with the forest, only the gold ornamental rings giving him away as they reflected the rays of sunlight.
He spotted a stray rabbit looking at him from behind a tree, the moment he turned to look at it, it scampered back kicking up tuffs of dirt as it ran away.
Lucian continued to move through the forest looking for the dungeon entrance when he saw a shimmering pool of grey hanging in a small clearing.
"Looks like we found it," Diego said standing up straight in his armour, it was only then that Lucian realised that he didn't hear Diego make a sound despite his thick and heavy armour.
Lucian paused and looked up at the sky, the sun with its heavy southern tilt at this time of the year, was quickly reaching the horizon.
"We'll make camp for the night and I'll enter in the morning to get my first look," Lucian decided.
"My prince you needn't be so hasty, you do not have any cultivation, but I may be able to instruct you on some of the techniques I used when I was young, the world energy may not be dense here, but it is enough for you to be able to reach the red core in about a month," Diego offered.
"You still remember the techniques you used back when you were red core?" Lucian asked with a sceptically raised brow.
"Of course, they are a part of me," Diego answered like it was only natural.
"Well even if that is true, I think I'll pass," Lucian replied.
"My prince please you must seize this foolishness," Diego pleaded.
"You know what, I liked you better when you were just an ornament," Lucian groaned.
"The reason that I reject your offer is simple, who is your superior?" Lucian asked.
"Her Majesty the 7th empress," Diego immediately replied.
"Exactly and if you were to help me, it means that that wench who provided me with your services gets to take the credit for my success," Lucian explained.
Diego looked down at him and slowly shook his head, before storming off to the carriage, while muttering a barrage of insults.
"Yeah, I liked him better when he never opened his mouth," Lucian muttered with a yawn.
Lucian made his way back to the carriage where Diego and the coachman were busy setting up their tents.
As this was happening Lucian took a seat under a tree and looked at the system.
[Name: Prince 786]
[Cultivated Organs: 0 (Expand/Collapse)]
[Overall Level: 0]
[Average Level: 0}
[Energy Expulsion: 0 p/h]
[Core Status: White (Special)]
[Essence Realms: (???), (???)]
[Abilities: 0 (Expand/Collapse)]
[Skills: 2 (Expand/Collapse)]
- [Novice Swordsman]
Known Sword Katas: 11
- [Novice of Arrays]
Known Nature Runes: 19
Known Runes of Order: 2018
Known Nodes: 32
[Techniques: 1 (Expand/Collapse)]
- (Unnamed) – a meditation technique that allows a cultivator to negate energy loss when used and removes the need for sleep (Tier 7). Condition for usage: Must not engage in energy-consuming activities.
---
Over the past five years, he added quite a bit to his banks of knowledge, his ability to learn new kata's was remarkable, and put him years ahead of every member of his class, but the students had no clue and he kept it that way.
The only reason he learned so much was that the master paid several special visits to the palace so that he could teach Lucian on occasion, while he knew that Lucian wouldn't change his mind about becoming his disciple, he felt it would be a shame for Lucian's talent to go on unused.
As for his skill of Novice of Arrays, no one knew that he had achieved it as yet, because of his white core it was nearly impossible for him to draw arrays, but his special core granted him a few perks in that regard.
There were only 32 nodes for simple spells that he was able to draw with his current energy reserve, but it was quite the feat on its own when considering that he hadn't cultivated at all.
But that wasn't the end of it, the master hadn't demonstrated the level of an adept swordsman to him yet, but he could tell that he was close to a breakthrough on that front.
As he mulled over his skills, Lucian felt a little confident in his ability to clear the dungeon, at least he felt that even if things didn't go well he would be able to escape and brainstorm another strategy.
When night arrived, Lucian pulled out a pack of rations and put a plain-looking cracker into his mouth.
The moment he bit into it he spat it out, "That is disgusting," he cried out, "People don't actually eat that poison?" he asked turning to Diego and the coachman who were sitting around a log fire.
"I almost forgot that you have never eaten anything that never came out of the palace kitchens," Diego laughed as he took a bite of the crackers.
Lucian felt like throwing-up just from watching him eat it, it was supper salty and flavourless, it was like a mouthful of dirt and salt mixed together, to form whatever the hell he put in his mouth.
"Young prince a single ration has all the nutritional ingredients you need to get you through a day," the coachman said in a low and humble tone, "It's also very light and easy to cart around, most adventurers and mercenaries live on rations."
"I could hardly call that nutritious, and if anyone eats that on a daily basis I would hardly say that they are amongst the living," Lucian replied with a pulled-up face.
He took another bite of the foul ration and spat it out a second later.
"Yeah, I think I'll check in for the night," he said and climbed into the best-looking tent.