Before Will, Jake and Qu Quan could even notice, Lumen was already out of sight with the only trace of him being there being his tracks on the ground as well as the rapidly closing hole that he had just been sucked into.
Panic filled them as they wanted to immediately run over to help him, but their rationale stopped them from doing so as they knew from the speed the hole was closing that they wouldn't get there on time. Not only this but the deer beast was still rampaging about, looking for Lumen as well as it too had lost sight and scent of him.
Feeling helpless, all they could do was sit down and wait for the beast to leave on its own and dig, looking for Lumen where the hole had closed up.
---------------
In the hole, Lumen was feeling a little disoriented at the sudden suction force that had pulled him underground.
If his memory wasn't playing tricks on him, he recalled that a hole had suddenly opened up right below him and dragged him into it, as if the hole somehow had a brain of its own.
He kept looking around him as all he could see was darkness in the hole devoid of light.
The only sense useful to him being his touch as he could feel that he was still descending further into the ground below him.
This continued on for another minute or so, until a change that greatly surprised Lumen appeared.
[Hidden Tutorial Challenge Dungeon discovered!
These dungeons can be found in many hidden areas all throughout the tutorial, as well as the Fantasia Realm which comes after. They offer many rewards as well as danger, with the two coming hand in hand; the more danger there is, the better the reward offered.
As a tutorial specific dungeon, this variant of dungeon will have its difficulty and level requirements matching the average level of humans in this tutorial. But be aware, enter at your own risk.]
[Entry requirements: Must be below level 10, must be in the top 10% of overall credits earned, must not have a side class.]
[Entry requirements met.]
[Final Warning: This challenge dungeon does not accept groups of challengers. Only a single challenger is permitted for this dungeon.
Do you still wish to proceed?]
'It seems I've stumbled upon an opportunity in time of great peril!'
Lumen's heart was beating faster than usual as his excitement grew for the prospect of rewards from beating this challenge dungeon.
He was determined to come out of this on top as he wouldn't accept failure.
Earlier he had been thinking of these various 'opportunities' that the system spoke of in the introduction to the tutorial, so far up until this point he hadn't even caught sight of anything that would fit that criteria.
But now he had finally found one, or rather this one had found him.
Lumen didn't believe in fate or anything like that but this dungeon finding him at his most dangerous and terrifying moment perfectly fits the definition of fate.
This dungeon was very will hidden, as stated in it's name, and it would no doubt be dangerous even if it said the difficulty matched the average level of people in the tutorial.
If this was right then he would be in for a hard fought challenge considering the types of human enemies he had met so far, with there being no doubt in his mind that there was most likely others stronger than him here, even with his starting advantage.
But he would do his best to make sure it didn't stay that way.
The extent to which of how many people there were stronger than him, he could only speculate. He knew he was at least in the top 10% of people in this place from him meeting the entry requirements of credits, but he didn't know what end of the spectrum he was on in that top 10%.
Was he in first place, or did he barely make the cut of 10%?
He pushed these thoughts aside as he accepted the prompt from the system to enter the dungeon, all of his senses being deprived of him for a moment until when he reopened his eyes, he could finally see some sources of light.
One such source of light was the system panel in front of him.
[Challenge Dungeon entered!
Objective: Survive and defeat the rabid wolves scattered about the dungeon who plague the deep caves of the tutorial world. The dungeon will be classed as cleared when the countdown reaches zero or extraneous circumstances call for it.
Rewards will be decided based on performance upon clearing the dungeon.]
Lumen felt his vision shift once again as he found himself standing in the midst of a giant cave. Looking around him, he saw only slate and rocks, with shattered and broken stones laying about here and there, littering the area around him. He also noticed the ominous and sharp stalactite hanging from the ceiling of the cave, looking as if it could kill him instantly if they fell on him.
The whole cave had a vague light permeating throughout the whole thing with the source of it being the luminescent moss covering the walls and ground of the cave here and there.
He checked his inventory to make sure that all of his equipment was still there and sighed relief when he saw it all in the same slots he had put them in before.
If he was thrown into the dungeon with nothing but his hands and spells to defend himself he would be in a very precarious situation.
Lumen continued observing his surroundings as he made sure to make note of interesting areas and mark where he had been so he didn't get lost in this place.
This monotonous explore, observe, mark routine carried on for 10 minutes of walking until a change occurred which startled Lumen.
"Grrrrrr-"
A low growl came from a dark area with no moss on the other end of the cave.
Lumen readied his stance to attack the rabid wolf and was ready to pounce towards it when something else had beaten him to it and came flying towards him from the side.
Before he could examine what it was exactly, a second wolf came flying straight at him as he used his quick reactions to barely dodge it by a hair.
'Shit, didn't the system say this dungeon matched the average level of humans in the tutorial!'
Lumen's thoughts quickened as the results of his basic inspect lay clear in front of him.
[Rabid Wolf - level 9]
Both wolves were level 9.