Chapter 16: Dungeon IV
"Finally!"
A young boy muttered with an excitement tinged on his sweet voice.
inhale
Spreading his arms widely, he inhaled the fresh mountain air, feeling refreshed and relieved. His clothes were a mess, riddled with holes and tears, reflecting his arduous journey to his current location but his golden eyes shone brightly with confidence and resolve. He had finally arrived at the peak of the Frost mountain, the first among the countless mountains within the Silver Mountain Range.
Beneath him lay a tapestry of the Grand Canyon covered in pristine white snow. Massive trees stood tall and firm, swaying silently under the cold breeze. Small animals danced around, welcoming the fresh morning sunlight.
The journey from the bottom to the top of the mountain took him around a week. He could have shortened the time easily but the previous attack from the snow leopard reminded him of the danger of this place.
Instead of marching recklessly, he chose to be cautious and patient in his climb, straying away from anything that gave him dangerous vibes. During the week-long journey, he had a close encounter with countless terror-rank monsters and even a tyrant-rank monster. Thankfully, he didn't engage in combat with any of them, learning from his previous mistake.
When encountering such monsters, he quietly hid himself and channeled his mana relentlessly on his presence-hiding artifact, escaping from those monsters' clutches successfully.
Goosebumps arose whenever he thought about those encounters.
"Thank god, I had prepared everything thoroughly before leaving the capital else I would have died a thousand times already."
Shaking those thoughts away, he focused on the small space before him. The top of the frost mountain was flat rather than pointy and there was a reason for it. The legacy dungeon lay here, hidden beneath this seamlessly normal ground.
"Hey System, It's your time to shine." Cassian casually muttered.
The legacy dungeon was a special kind of dungeon. Its entrance was sealed by some powerful being long ago and the only method to unseal it was to utilize cosmic energy.
Cassian didn't possess cosmic energy, in fact, Lucian was the only mortal with cosmic energy in the current timeline.
So, How can he access the Legacy Dungeon?
It's quite simple, through the system. Yes, he was relying on his intuition that the System could help him access the Legacy dungeon. He hadn't confirmed this information yet and if he was wrong then this would simply be a wasted trip.
[Ding! Legacy Dungeon detected!...]
[Would you like to enter?...]
"Thankfully, you aren't as useless as I thought you were." Chuckling lightly, he pressed on the 'Yes' icon.
swish
His body vanished from where he stood, appearing inside a massive domain sprawled across miles.
"Hey system, does this mean I have unsealed the dungeon's entrance?" He curiously asked.
[No, The Legacy Dungeon is still sealed. The Host was granted a back-door entry through the System's intervention…]
"Can I enter here again?"
[No. The System can't help the host next time. To enter here again, the Legacy dungeon's entrance must be open.]
ohh
With a disappointed look, he nodded his head.
The Legacy dungeon allowed one individual with a maximum of three entries. Meaning, that he could enter the dungeon three times throughout his lifetime, anything more than that meant instant death.
Yep, you will die if you enter it the fourth time. Scary, isn't it?
"Hey system, I'm an anomaly here. My soul is not from this world so… do I also have three chances?"
[...]
Tch
"Guess I will have to figure it out myself." Noting it down, he lifted his head, casting his sight over the dungeon's interior.
His eyes widened at the sight before him, a massive space stretched infinitely beyond comprehension.
Beneath his feet was a massive grass field stretched far beyond the horizon and above him was a navy blue sky filled with countless floating islands, each with their own specialty.
Some islands were vibrant and lively while some were dark and gloomy. Some emitted intense malevolence while some…coziness.
'The Author wasn't wrong when he said the floating islands were infinite.' He muttered, his voice etched with amusement and intrigue.
The floating islands inside the Legacy dungeon were divided by their size and each one of them contained the powerful legacy of the predecessors.
Small-sized islands floated near the surface while mid-sized, large-sized, and massive-sized islands appeared far across the sky.
The bigger the island's size, the more powerful legacy it inhabits. The Author had even briefly mentioned that the massive-sized islands contained legacies of the fallen gods and devils.
"Well, opportunities come with their own risks. The bigger the islands, the extreme trials their trials become, each life-threatening." He recounted, gazing at the floating masses above him.
You can't expect the legacies to be served under your table now, can you?
The predecessors were looking for worthy individuals who could inherit their legacy. Of course, it would be dangerous.
"Where is it?" He softly muttered, his eyes darting across several islands, mostly the large ones.
The island he was looking for was a large-sized island, standing at the top of the skies. Its features were quite distinctive making it stand out among the other islands.
After wandering around for some time, he finally found the island that he was looking for.
"There!" He pointed, staring at it intently with his bright sun-like eyes.
The island was as the name suggests very large, spanning tens of miles in distance. Faint traces of elemental mana leaked from its surface.
"This should be it." He confirmed, nodding thoughtfully. The description matched perfectly with his memories.
Smiling brightly, he channeled his mana to the spatial ring and took out a small pin from inside. The pin had a dark black texture with two little bat wings sprouting out from the center. A small face of some weird creature with pointy fangs was drawn on the center.
Clenching the pin tightly, he channeled his mana through it. The pin stirred slightly and melted under his palm, vanishing completely.
Cassian's face displayed amazement as he watched the process curiously. This small pin was in fact a very useful artifact, perfect for his current situation.
The pin merged completely with his body, causing an unfamiliar reaction. Mana gathered around his back, forming illusory wings similar to the one etched on the pin.
The wings unfurled themselves with a gush of fresh wind, forming out from within his back.
"Cool." His eyes sparkled at the sight of the shining wings.
Every human had a dream of flying in the sky freely and he was about to make that dream come true.