Six days after the meeting.
Zap
Gauuuuuuuuuu
In a forest, a purple lightning befell as several brown four-legged monsters with giant horns fell to the ground.
"There's the entrance."
Ann, the one responsible for the lightning, said as she pointed at a cliff.
"This isn't just a cliff; it's a nightmare ruin." Ben, who was right beside her, said as he observed the entrance.
"But to think the nightmare ruin had this undiscovered entrance." He said this as he walked towards it. Everyone followed him from behind as they also curiously looked at the small entrance.
'What is he talking about? Nightmare ruin?' Aiden, who was also there, thought as he looked at the entrance.
The entrance looked like it was formed by the walls breaking down by the big boulder beside it. There were cracks everywhere, and the entrance itself was a very huge crack.
'Also, how are we supposed to enter from that?' He thought as a slight frown appeared on his face.
They were in a vast forest far away from their city. Unlike the frond forest, this forest didn't have any names or teleport gates.
They had to teleport to the nearest ghost village and walk up to here. The walk wasn't peaceful, as they were constantly attacked by monsters from left and right.
"No, this entrance looks like it was formed just recently." Ben said as he saw the big boulder.
"Let's not stay around; the dungeon is right inside this entrance." Ann said as she walked up to the entrance.
"Follow me." She said this as she climbed inside the huge crack.
Whoosh
As soon as she entered, her figure suddenly disappeared, taking Aiden by surprise.
"Let's head in, young master." Blake said this as he also climbed inside.
Whoosh
Everyone entered the entrance, with Aiden being the last one to enter.
Whoosh
Gaaaaah
Feeling his mind rotate, Aiden felt nauseous as he held himself back from vomiting.
His dark vision suddenly lightened up as he found himself standing on a tile inside a room that was lit up by torches attached to the walls.
"Young master." An arm landed on his shoulder from behind as Aiden turned around.
'Hmm? That was a portal?' As he turned around, he saw a dark sphere floating in the middle of the room and realized that the entrance was a portal all along.
"The others are preparing to enter the first chamber. Let's head there." Blake said as he led Aiden out of the room.
'What is this?' As soon as he exited the room, he entered an unending, long hallway.
"I've been meaning to ask this since earlier, but is this your first time exploring a dungeon?" Blake asked.
"It is," Aiden said as Blake smirked.
"Not a bad experience for the first time." Blake said that as this was an undiscovered high level dungeon.
People who start on dungeon exploration usually only get to explore already discovered and lower level dungeons for the first time.
But it wasn't really an envious thing. The discoveries and treasures found in a dungeon can change a person's life, but all this needs to be done by putting their life on line.
Inside the dungeon, one can die at any time.
They walked the rest in silence within the darkness. Aiden felt like they were walking endlessly without any destination, but, just when he thought that, a colorful thing caught his eye.
'…It's that colorful door.' Aiden thought as he looked at the door.
Just like in the picture, wool strings were extending from it, and its door knob looked like a button.
"What took you so long?" Ann asked as she looked at the two.
"Sorry, guildmaster, he was in a daze." Blake said as he pointed at Aiden.
"…" Aiden remained silent as he wondered if he had taken too much time to enter the dungeon.
"Don't fall behind; this isn't your mansion." Ann said as Aiden felt some stabs from her words.
'This is one strict teacher you got.' Eden, who was watching it all from behind, said as he didn't expect that.
'…She doesn't seem to be pleased with me being here.' Aiden said as Eden nodded his head.
'Probably because she didn't want a no experienced kid on this important mission of hers.' Eden said as Aiden frowned.
'Ugh. I hate that.'
"I will open the door, be armed, and stay on your guard." Ben, who had been observing the door all this time, said as he placed his hand on the door knob.
Aiden walked up to Ann as he grabbed his sword, which was at his waist.
Kate and Noi stood behind them, while Blake stood at the back.
Clack
The door opened like a regular door as Ben and others could finally see inside.
'It's still dark.' Aiden frowned as the room was dark, just as shown in the picture. They couldn't see anything.
'Is that the next chamber?'
But what immediately caught Aiden's eye was the door to the next chamber right across the room, directly opposite the door they were on.
It was the same old and lanky door that seemed like it was about to fall off. Two torches beside it were lighting it up.
Aiden found it strange, as those torches were brightly lighting up the door but not the room; it was as if the light was being blocked by something.
"Aron Belur." As Aiden was observing the room, Ann, who was beside her, called to her as Aiden freaked out a little.
'…No one had called me by the full name.' He thought as he turned towards her.
"Look inside the room," Ann said as she pointed at the room.
'I was doing that.' Aiden thought as he wondered if Ann was purposely trying to make him bad.
"The room here is dark because it's being blocked by something from the inside. Try to sense the mana in the room to sense the barrier." Ann said as Aiden frowned.
'Try to sense the mana?' He thought about it for a slight moment and closed his eyes.
Remembering a few days back in his memories, he remembered Louis's lesson about the mana.
Inside one's body, mana flows like blood. It moves from the heart to every part of the body according to the body owner's will, but it is different for mana in the environment.
In the environment, mana flows just like air. It's there; it can't be seen but can be felt.
'I know that, but I'm still failing to sense them.' Aiden thought, as he had been trying to sense the mana from the surroundings right after the lesson from Louis but couldn't do it.
'Please reveal yourself.' Aiden thought as he tried to clear his thoughts and raise his senses.
Ting
As Aiden did so, he saw a visual of white air flowing through darkness.
Noticing it, Ann raised her eyebrow as she looked at Aiden in curiosity.
'That was way faster than anyone I have taught. Was the rumors about him not having talent for magic just a fluke?' She thought as she was surprised by how he learned this so quickly.
"There is a dome." Aiden said as other members looked towards him in confusion.
"Dome? I don't sense one." Blake said as he looked inside the room. He could somewhat notice the slight flow of mana within the room, but not any dome.
"Do you sense it?" Still not sensing anything, he asked the mage in his party, Noi, who shook her head as she also had not sensed it.
'Hmm? But it's right there.' Aiden thought as he opened his eyes and looked towards where the dome was. He saw a visual of it when he had closed his eyes.
"Guildmaster?" Blake looked towards Ann as he wondered if she knew what he was talking about.
Nod
Ann simply nodded her head as she also looked exactly where the dome was.
"There indeed is a dome." Ann said as other members frowned.
'…I couldn't sense it.' Noi, who was standing behind Aiden, thought as her grip on her staff became firm.
Ben, who was at the front, scratched his head. He didn't know what was going on; he couldn't sense the mana at all.
Being someone who didn't have much connection with mana, he could only control and sense the mana within him and not the ones around him. But he still had his own ways of knowing that there were some kind of barrier.
"Most of you aren't quite at that level to sense it…" Ann said as she looked towards Aiden.
'…I can feel the gaze.' Aiden thought as he realized that he had just outed himself. His heartbeat started to fasten as he raced his brain to look for an excuse.
'You definitely let your guard down.' Eden said as he face palmed.
Aron Belur, the previous owner of this body, didn't have much connection with the mana, and now, suddenly, the same guy who was called a failure as a mage was showing such performance.
"Louis taught me these." He said as he hoped they would just look over it.