In a small town, full of people of Lower Rank and an occasional Low Rank, a small young man stood out for the discoveries he made in his adventures, this young man's name was...
"Mark! Come back here!"
"Hey Mark, stop!"
"Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaark!"
Mark was a cheerful 14 year old boy, who despite being so young managed to reach the Middle Rank of Explorer, thus earning the admiration of some and the envy of others. But in spite of everything, Mark was only focused on one thing and that was to be better every day, until he reached the Superior Rank of the Explorers.
Mark's days were simple, and all of them, absolutely all of them followed the same routine, which was to wake up, run for a while, have breakfast, pack his bag, and finally go on adventures.
"Going out already, Mark?" - His friend and adventuring partner, Alex, asked.
Mark nodded in agreement, as, unlike the rest, Mark couldn't speak due to a condition he's had since birth.
"I see… In that case, there you go, I've marked a new location on your map." - Alex said as he handed a slightly damaged map to Mark.
Mark looked at the map with some doubts, he wondered what kind of treasures would be in that place.
"You want to know what's in that place, don't you?" - Alex asked, knowing the answer to that question. Mark nodded again.
"According to what I've heard, there is an ancient relic there from an old tale, although it is unknown if it's true or not its existence..." - After saying this, Alex's gaze lowered, while Mark felt interested in the story.
"You wish to go there, don't you?" - Alex asked, Mark nodded more energetically than before.
"In that case, I have no choice but to wish you good luck, Mark." - said Alex, knowing that whatever he said, Mark would go to that place. And so, once those words were said, Mark ran off to where the map indicated, he was sure that, in that place, was the beginning of a new adventure.
"Just as energetic as ever, heh..." - Alex let out a sigh. Although he knew Mark was an experienced explorer, he was worried that at some point his buddy would run into a problem he couldn't solve.
Meanwhile, Mark kept running. Thanks to being born with the Speed Advantage his speed was slightly greater than the other Explorers, which gave him a better performance when exploring.
After running for about 5 minutes, Mark finally reached his destination, which was a small cave hidden behind a small forest.
Once there, he started walking through the forest. Slowly, Mark got closer and closer to his destination, and although he was excited about the treasures he might find, he was also worried about what might be in that cave, since, after all, Mark was still a kid.
Crack~
There was the faint sound of a branch breaking behind Mark's back, who immediately turned to see what caused the sound.
Nothing. That's what Mark saw, just trees everywhere, one after another as if they were lining up.
Without realizing it, Mark was already at the entrance of the cave that Alex had pointed out to him; a slight chill ran down Mark's back, who was both excited and scared of what was going to happen once he entered there, but after thinking for a while, he finally decided to go in.
Once inside, he could see nothing, his sight was completely in darkness due to the cave having no light entrances except for its entry. Mark, without worrying too much about this, continued walking along the path that was barely visible, but after walking some more....
Whoosh... Plaf!
Mark fell through a hole that was under his feet, becoming unconscious after the fall.