On Floor 0:
Cheers!
"May this drink lead us to more victories," said a person lifting his wooden cup high, who seemed to be their party leader. "Though we may be a 4-man party, but we've got enough power to clear level 29 easily," another person said. "But leader, what do you think of the person who is clearing floors himself?" the young boy asked. "Well, can't say anything. They say his identity is still unconfirmed, and it's unsure whether he is alone or with a party," the man replied. As they were celebrating their victory, an array opened nearby to floor 0, and a man whose armor was shredded came out of it. This man looked muscular and had neck-length white hair, which gave the impression of the moon itself.
A guard ran towards this man and said, "Sir adventurer! May I check your badge." "At ease. I am not running anywhere, and drop the 'sir' part, would you," said the muscular man with a smile. The man then passed his badge to the guards, and when the guard looked at the information on the badge, he looked pale, as if his life had been taken out of him. "Sir, please wait here for a moment," the guard said. The man nodded in understanding. This event drew many people's attention towards the muscular man, and people on floor 0 started gossiping among themselves. "What do you think he has done for the guard to turn pale and panic like that?" a young boy said, a member of the same 4-man party.
"What else? He might have killed someone inside the dungeon," a frail-looking guy replied. "But isn't it prohibited by the law?" the boy questioned. "Do you think criminals obey the law?" the frail guy replied.
"Stop already. We don't know anything yet, so stop making conclusions of your own," said the party leader.
After a couple more minutes of waiting, a large group of soldiers entered the dungeon and started marching towards the man who came out of the array, the main culprit. "What are the holy knights doing here?" many people wondered.
"Didn't I say he must have committed murder in the dungeon?" said the frail-looking guy again, but this time, no one even batted an eye, as everyone on floor 0 was having the exact same thought, "Who is this guy, and what has he done?"
The marching soldiers stopped a meter or two away from the man and opened up a path. A person donned in white plate armor came and looked towards the man of attention.
"Are you Mister Aldric?" said the person. "Yes," replied the man, who was once again Aldric.
"My name is Orx Veilf. I am the commanding officer of the holy knights in Aegis City," greeted the man.
"Holy knights? What are those?" questioned Aldric. "I will be happy to answer that, but first, I need to ask you to come with me," said Orx.
Aldric nodded in affirmation, and as they were about to depart, someone from the crowd shouted, "Well, look at that! Knights supposed to protect us are now hiding murderers."
As the person from the crowd finished his sentence, a soldier from the troop unsheathed his sword but was stopped by Orx. "Stop. Let me handle this."
The soldier then sheathed his sword. "Yes, sir, as you command," the soldier responded and backed off a little. At this point, floor 0 was filled with many adventurers who had either just arrived or wanted to leave.
"First off, this adventurer named Aldric is not a murderer," paused Orx and took a deep breath. "And the reason why we are here is that this young man may have created a history that no one ever will," Orx continued. To this statement, many people showed confused expressions on their faces, including Aldric. "Me... history? What sort of nonsense is that?" Aldric thought.
"I hereby officially, as a proud commanding officer of the holy knights of Solaria, as well as a faithful follower of Ashflames, God of Fire, declare that the adventurer named Aldric has conquered all floors up to floor 80, all alone," announced Orx.
Silence fell upon floor 0. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of breathing. This was the second time floor 0 had fallen silent. "M... em... possible. How can such a thing happen?" finally, someone broke the silence. Many other people started following his lead and rebutted about the statement. "Well, we checked the measures, and it is what it displayed. If someone has the audacity to prove the badge wrong, they can come forward," Orx said and immediately released his aura. Every person, including the soldiers on floor 0, started shaking, while some had already passed out.
"Well, I guess I can leave now," Aldric said, who was unfazed by this. "The things I did inside the dungeon, this is nothing in comparison," thought Aldric, giving off a smile. "Yes, you may leave now, adventurer," Orx said, retracting his aura.
Aldric then took his badge from Orx and left the dungeon. "Oh man, it feels so good after coming out from that hell of training. By the way, you told me that dungeon clearing is common. Then what is this?" Aldric stretched his arms as he called Vorondor. Unlike before, at this point, he didn't need to move his lips to talk to Vorondor; he just needed to think about things now.
"Well, it was common in my time. I guess today's warriors are just too weak," Vorondor replied.
"Now, I need to go to a bathhouse first, then the adventurers' association," Aldric thought. On the way to the bathhouse, Aldric picked up some clothes and was now totally broke. Aldric then reached the bathhouse and went in to take a bath.
Baths in Warna were free since they were maintained by the public themselves, and it was not only for the baths but many other essentials.
Aldric finished taking a bath and put on his new clothes. He bought some normal shoes, pants, a shirt, and a leather jacket. He placed his armor in his inventory and left for the association building. After walking for a while, the association's building came into his sight, but there was a huge crowd gathered around the front gate of the building.
"What is going on here?" Aldric said to a man as he approached the crowd.
"Didn't you hear? There is a guy who cleared the dungeon up to floor 80. Can you see the people in the front rows? They are nobles of different ranks who are either here to recruit him into their guild or to hire him as their bodyguard, and so on," the man replied to Aldric. "Well, this was to be expected," Vorondor said to Aldric in a proud tone. "The hell are you proud about?" Aldric said to Vorondor.
Aldric then made his way through the crowd. "Hey, what the hell, man? Can't you see we are in line?" someone said from behind. Aldric ignored him and reached the second row. He could see Ragnar at the door, trying to control the crowd. "Please stop. As I said before, I don't have any idea where that man is. He hasn't come here to deposit his monster bodies," Ragnar said, facing the crowd.
As Aldric was about to go through the first row, someone grabbed his shoulder from behind. "Hey, punk, can't you see there are nobles here in line? This is no place for a lowlife like you," the person said in an angered tone. "What is a trash person like him doing in a place like this in the first place?" a noble said. After this, many other nobles joined in and started bad-mouthing Aldric. "Throw him away already," a noble in a disgusted tone said and left to talk with another noble.
"You heard him, kid. Better leave before things get a little fuzzy," the bodyguard said. "Take your hand off my shoulder," Aldric said in a nonchalant voice. "What?" the bodyguard said in a confused voice.
Boom!
Aldric released his aura to the fullest with his blood intent. Everyone in the crowd was now kneeling down on the ground. "It seems like you can't understand the situation you're in," said Aldric with no expressions while looking at the guard as if he was about to prey on him. Other than Ragnar and some other personnel of nobility, everyone, including the nobles who had trash-talked Aldric before, were now miserably lying on the ground.
"Who are you?" one of the soldiers said, who was with the nobles.
"Me?.. My name is..."
To be continued...