WREN STOOD in front of the dungeon tower. He stared from the foundation of the tower to the top until he couldn't see the end of the tower itself. As far as the original knows about the tower, there are ten dungeon towers in Orientale. Five of them were new dungeon towers that were created by the association, while five were the original towers founded at the start of the Genesis Era.
Among these dungeon towers, the tallest of them is the one founded in the capital—the one before Wren. This dungeon tower has a record of one hundred and thirty floors. Thirty of these were said to be dungeons that are still not explored. Because those were dungeons that naturally appeared on top of the tower for the following years. The dungeon on the highest floor was recorded to appear twenty-five years ago.
After having his eyes feast on the marvelous outside of the dungeon tower, Wren decided to enter. The first floor of the tower, where the lobby is, was not a part of the old dungeon tower.
It was the association that added the circular building below the floating tower. And yes, all the original dungeon towers were supposed to be floating. As long as you have awakened a system, you can teleport yourself inside the dungeon.
But only the first batch of awakened hunters can naturally teleport inside. That's when the newly founded hunter association decided to build the foundation, which was the circular building below, and the other awakened hunters were able to enter the dungeon.
Wren entered the big and open entrance of the dungeon lobby with other hunters. The moment you enter the entrance, you can see the lobby, which is divided into three areas: the leisure area, the trading area, the commission area, and the teleportation area.
The Leisure Area was the first thing that would welcome you once you entered; it was where the hunters could meet up if they wanted to raid in groups. This area has sets of sofas and tables in the middle, while each side has different food stalls where the hunters can buy food.
On the right side was the Trading Area. Instead of an open area where the hunters could freely buy and exchange items, the area was composed of maze-like rooms where the hunters could privately transact with the assigned worker inside.
On the left side of the lobby was the Commission Area, an open area with a big holographic screen in the middle that can be seen. It was a back-to-back screen with hundreds and thousands of posted tasks and missions that any hunter could take.
Since some of the materials and items can only be found in the dungeons, some merchants and business-minded people who are not awakened can issue a task or mission, and the hunters can choose freely what they would pick.
If they had chosen a certain task or mission, they had to go to the information desk to ask the clerk about the details. This information desk was a long desk, occupying the wall of the whole mission and task area.
The commissions on the holographic screen had a specialized ID number that the hunter had to memorize. That ID number will be used by the information clerk to get the details filed in the system.
The details, aside from the class rank of the mission and the description of the mission, can only be found in the system files so the hunter must be sure about taking the commission, lest the hunter be asked to pay an amount.
If their request to complete the task or mission is approved, it will be transferred to their god system panel. Once it was completed, they just needed to go back to the information desk, show the clerk the task ID, and give the task material or item. Then, the clerk will remove the mission or task from the holographic screen and put the task into the completed task or mission system storage.
The hunter will receive the provided rewards from the clerk and he can decide whether to pick another task or not.
If you pass by the Leisure Area until the middle edge of the building, you will find the Teleportation Area, where another long table of information desks is located quarterly surrounding the big teleportation circle in the center.
One must pass the information clerk first before you are allowed to enter the teleportation circle that will automatically teleport you to the dungeon you want to enter. Because the information clerk will have to check the hunter's profile stats to prevent any illegal and unregistered awakened from entering the dungeon, as well as to prevent a reckless hunter who would want to enter a dungeon level that can't be handled by their class rank.
As for Wren, he directly goes to the teleportation area. He might love to visit other areas but what he lacks most now, aside from money, is time. He still has a daily task to complete and it can't be delayed.
"Good morning, sir. This is table nineteen information clerk, Carl. Going up?" The clerk on the number nineteen information desk asked him.
Wren nodded silently and put his hand on his left ear, where he had a plain black stud earring pierced. He silently watched the reaction of the clerk as he touched the black circular stud to show him his profile stats.
Carl only looked at him before he looked at the system panel that appeared between them. This natural indifference made Wren undecided about whether he would feel mad or not.
He wanted to feel mad because the clerk didn't find his SPIA ear stud cool. This just confirms Hunin's criticism of his so-called 'ancestor' choice.
It was because of what happened before he left the Hunter Association. After taking all the tests, he was brought to the last part, which was him having the SPIA or system profile imaging accessory.
This accessory will allow the hunter to easily show his identification instead of providing a physical ID card. Because an SPIA will freely show not only the owner's personal profile but also the hunter's profile stats as long as he allows it. What he needs to do is give the mastersmith a drop of his blood and his chosen accessory and he'll have his own SPIA.
"Feel free to choose your accessory, Wren. Mine is in the form of a layered choker. At first, it was only made of ordinary gold but after I got an aquamarine magic stone after killing a king kraken on the fifty-seventh floor, I asked them to change the material of my SPIA choker into this," Lucy informed him and even showed her beautiful necklace.
It was an aquamarine, dainty, drop-layered choker. The first layer was a delicately furnished chain. Then the added layer was a minimal necklace choker with dainty pendant drops of small water drops.
"Is your summon a mermaid?" Wren subconsciously asked.
Because of the ocean vibe in her special SPIA choker, Wren could see that her summon might be something related to the ocean. And the only creatures he knew who had this type of rare beauty were mermaids. That's why he reached that conclusion.
"Well, you can say she's a mermaid. Are you familiar with the
Wren tried to remember something from his own memories and that's when he remembered one of his ocean adventures in the Philippines. It was because of the report that a mermaid was said to be spotted in the Albay Gulf in Bicol.
But according to the fishermen who had seen the mermaid, it wasn't the same as the usual mermaid with beautiful fishtails; instead, the one who attacked him was a mermaid with glamorous snake tails.
The people tried to look for the mermaid, but one night, a group of fishermen went missing after trying to hunt the said mermaid. A day after they were announced to be missing, a very big and long snake tail drifted ashore.
When Wren and his team came, some old women told them that it was not a mermaid but the tail of a Naga. Together with his team, they were allowed to look at the snake tail that was cut off by the missing fishermen before they were drowned alive in the sea.
And Wren was amazed when the tail was very similar to what those old women had described to them, as well as how the nagas were described in his own readings. Unfortunately, the city officials didn't allow them to take the body, as they believed that it was just the tail of a very big snake.
"Those mythical mermaids with snake tails?" Wren answered with a fake unsureness.
Lucy's lips turned to a small 'o' while her beautiful emerald green eyes shone brighter. It was a very cute reaction that Wren wanted to pinch her cheeks but was able to hold back.
"How did you know? Do you perhaps love to read mythological history books?"
Wren decisively nodded. He couldn't tell her that it was more than that. He might have known more than those mythological history books they had when they were studying. So he just approved of this excuse.
"Jeez. What a nerd," Hunin commented, and as usual, Wren ignored him.
"They are beautiful, aren't they?" He nodded once again. "Hmp! See that, Luca? Wren finds them beautiful as well. You're just jealous because I got a pretty summon while you got a demonic one."
"Whatever. At least mine's more useful because I've got both beauty, brains, and strength. As for yours? Oh, nevermind."
"My goddess is powerful as well! She's pretty, she's witty, she's mighty, and she's good at swimming. Unlike you—oh! Did I just get too personal? I'm sorry, cousin, but that's intentional. Hmp!"
"You're too much! At least I'm more beautiful than you."
"Heh. So you're not denying that you're not handsome but beautiful?"
"I did not! Darn it!"
Wren just let the two fight and instead, he took his time to look for the sample accessories displayed to him by the mastersmith, who would make the SPIA for him.
His eyes would only give a one-second glance at the accessory that he thought didn't suit him. Some accessories would have his eyes for three seconds at most if he thought they would suit him but didn't like them.
Until he reached the area for earrings. Since he thought that earrings would be too girly for him, he had planned to bypass them, but a pair of small, plain black stud earrings caught his attention.
He remembered that during his time in the modern Earth era, men wearing single-ear stud became a trend and most teens find them cool. When Wren saw the simplicity of the black ornamental stud on the earrings, he was quickly reminded of that trend. And since he looks manly and handsome now, wearing it will give him a cool vibe.
"Can I have this design? But I only want one, not a pair. Is that fine?" He asked the mastersmith, who gave him a thumbs up.
Wren thought that making it would take a long time, but a minute later, the mastersmith came back with the finished product. It was a lot faster than the end of the fight between the pair of cousins behind him.
"Here. I changed the materials for you. It was made from the remaining black opal magic stone that I store. This is my gift for you, young man," the mastersmith said with a smile.
Wren was surprised by the sudden gift that the mastersmith had given him. And since it was a gift that came from the heart and his own volition, Wren gladly accepted it.
"You have to wear it on your body for it to work. Put it on and try using it."
Because of the blood he provided as an ingredient in making this accessory, it would quickly intercept the system nucleus, which could make his system profile and other information appear on it like a projector.
And to secure the hunter's information, a SPIA that was made with their blood will only work if it is worn by the blood owner to detect physical DNA, which was the SPIA's activator.
Wren took the accessory and walked towards the facial mirror. He carefully took the stud earring from the accessory box. Then he easily put it in his left ear. And then he looked himself in the mirror.
"Oh, you had your SPIA?" Lucy, who suddenly appeared beside him, said. "Oh, is that a pair of earrings?"
Instead of commenting on how cool he looks, he decided to face them and let them be the judge.
"Nope. Only one. How do I look?" he corrected and then ask.
"You look cool!" Lucy immediately commented with her hands, both showing a thumbs up.
"Cool? What are you, an old man? Only those ancestors liked wearing a single earring!" Hunin rudely criticizes.
And that's how Wren's self-esteem has decreased. Fortunately, he wasn't the type of person who dwelled on it. Although he sure holds a grudge against Hunin, let's just forget about him.
"You're set, Mr. Adams. According to your class rank, you can only enter from the first to the twentieth floor. And since this is your first time, you have no record of any floor, as mentioned so we will have to directly teleport you to the first floor. Would you like us to provide you with basic information about the first-floor dungeon?" Carl asked after giving him his one-time use teleportation ticket that was automatically included in his system stats.
"No need," Wren kindly denied. He didn't need those since the original had studied it for him.
"Then we wish you good luck, Mr. Adams. May the venerable gods bless you on your exploration."