The rest of the day passed away quickly, but for Vali it was not a good experience. His mind was on overdrive as he constantly thought about the dungeon and what would happen to him in there. In his anxiety he even prayed to one of the gods of this world, Belos , the god of fate, treasure, and money, but he didn't feel any different after he did so.
.......
In the morning the middle aged man that had kicked him yesterday came and told him the group heading for the dungeon was gathering. Vali although reluctant ,of course nodded and immediately headed outside. As soon as he stepped outside , the morning sun hurt his bloodshot eyes.
'Dammit....
As he was squinting his eyes to get them used to the brightness , a voice came from behind."Hey, Vali son of Thomas. You seem to have taken a good night's sleep."
Vali turned around and what he saw was Faust wearing some kind of cloth armor with metal plates sporadically sown on some of it, especially his chest and belly. To his side was a sword, on his right hand was a spear, and on his back some kind of backpack. He looked like a proper dungeon delver....Vali on the other hand looked like a bum. He only wore a dark green shirt, wool pants with a leather belt; the only decent thing he wore were his shoes.
"You surely jest, I didn't have more than three hours of sleep. My head is killing me, and I really need a drink right now...
"Tsk...." Faust shook his head and then he approached Vali with a grin. Without a word he handed him a gourd. " This is some mead. I figured that you would need some. Also , I wish you good luck on your first delve, and don't forget....don't trust anyone easily."
Vali squinted his eyes as he looked at Faust and he noticed a hint of resentment on his voice. Vali of course didn't say anything about it and just nodded his head. After that brief encounter they were led across a stone paved road toward the entrance of the dungeon. More than ten people including Vali were checked by two sentries, and some of them were given a spear, albeit a crude one. Vali was one of the ones who received a spear, but not because of generosity, but because of his contract. He had signed that he would do a 'delve' into the dungeon , and in exchange he would get a spear as a weapon. This was not an uncommon thing in this place as exploring a dungeon was not much different from exploring and conquering new places and land.
The empire of course wanted for as much exploring and delving of the dungeon as possible. Every dungeon , from the lowest grade 1 dungeon Vali was about to enter, to the highest one which was grade 5, was a trove of unending materials. It was common knowledge to most of the sentient beings on this world that you could take from the dungeon all the stuff you could carry, but there was a catch. EP, or exchange points for those who didn't know were the currency someone used to check out stuff from the dungeon. It was mostly earned from defeating the minions of hell that resided in the dungeon, or maybe fulfilling some kind of action.
"Huhh....we've arrived..." muttered Vali as he looked around and finally came face to face with the dungeon entrance. A rectangular stone arc 2 meters tall and 1m wide was not twenty steps away from him. The stone arc seemed ancient, and somehwat translucent, but several runes shined brightly even in the day. On the inside of the arc there wasn't a door or even something remotely close to it, only an inky black canvas absorbing all light was there.
Next to the entrance of the dungeon there were two men wearing some intricate robes. One was wearing red and the other blue , but both their outfits seemed to have been made of fine silk and woven with gold. On their neck a chain holding a triangle showing that they were devout believer of the god of knowledge, change and destiny, Naiho. Them beeing devout believers also made them 'mages' , seekers of truth, shapers of reality etc tec. Vali who was from a world where such thing's were only myth and legend of course stared at them, and unbeknownst to him he was led straight to them.
"Name..." said the youngest of the two, clearly fed up with his job by the look on his face.
"U..huhh...Vali, my name is Vali son of Thomas." hurriedly answered Vali and the man moved his gaze towards a parchment in his hand. He red it for a couple of seconds and then nodded toward Vali. " Good, your name is in the registry, but it seems that it's your first time delving...tsk..." the man seemed annoyed by this, but he still didn't stop. He wrote something on the parchment and then looked Vali in the eye." Firstly, before you enter the dungeon you should know that what you see inside is not the real world, but a reflection of this one. Mostly it's similar as the laws governing that place coincide with this one, but there are exceptions. The most common one is that the great god Naiho has used his power to make the delving more consistent, and more safe. Besides the gods bestowed blessing, Naiho bestows upon you the ' status ', a compilation of your strengths and weaknesses, achievements and skills.
I'll show you so you won't be surprised when you get access to it inside the dungeon."
"OK...." said Vali with anticipation on his face. The man spoke several words, gestured with his hands and after a couple of seconds, a shiver passed through Vali's spine. Along with that shiver , a blue window appeared before him.
" The 'status' appears different to different people, but the information written on it is consistent. "
Vali noddedas he lookedat the blue window in frontof him"I see.." it was strange, and somehwat amusing to him as the 'status' the man was referring to was like the data sheet of a video game.
Name:Vali
Health :Good
Physique :26
Mental :15
Skills: Cobbler lv4
It was kind of bare, not showing something like HP or strength , but who was he to complain.