Gerhart and his group arrived inside Tabarga, leaving the slaves to wait outside the walls while they entered. They could have brought them all inside, but they figured it would be a hassle. Ignoring the entrance fee, cramming several dozen people and a horse-pulled wagon into the city was not a good idea.
"So this is Tabarga, hah?" Gerhart muttered as he looked around.
As the capital of the Nehan Kingdom, Tabarga was the largest city in the Nehan Kingdom and the king's residence. As a city with tens of thousands of residents and several tis larger than Vlita, it was also more well-built, with taller buildings, a denser population, and more guards. Gerhart noticed a wide variety of goods and services, at least more than in Vlita.
"Gerhart, we are being spied on." Hope said.
"I know." Gerhart lightly nodded.
Of course, there were two sides to every coin, and he knew that the brighter the light, the bigger the shadow. Tabarga also had more prominent poor and criminal elents, an inevitable flaw that ca with a dense population. Even without a careful look, Gerhart spotted a few spotters assessing them, determining if they were easy prey. Of course, he didn't give a damn. If they tried anything, it was their bad luck.
"Bertrand, do you know the way to the Dungeon Explorer's guild?" Gerhart turned to look at his Lizardkin butler.
"Of course, my lord. Please follow ." Bertrand said as he led the group through the streets.
After going through the busy streets, they arrived at the local Dungeon Explorer's Guild, this ti situated not in the central plaza but closer to the outer layer of the city, next to the rchant district. It was because, in the center, there was a magically-fortified castle and the noble district near it.
"This is it, my lord." Bertrand respectfully said, gesturing at the guild entrance. It was a no-brainer, considering they had a prominent guild sign outside the Dungeon Explorer's guild, a cryptic door with a crossed sword and staff behind drawn on it.
Gerhart and the others could vaguely hear the sound of chatter and laughter, explorers drinking in the dayti while sharing information.
"I am so excited! I'm going to be an Adventurer!" To-ri fidgeted, a broad smile on her disguised face.
"It is a Dungeon Explorer, To-ri." Calvin corrected.
"To-May-To To-Mah-To, who cares?" To-ri shrugged.
"I wonder if there would be anything challenging in the dungeon. And swords! I want a new sword!" Havre said, an excited glint in her eyes.
"There should be a Magic Guild as well, right? I want to study there also. And I wonder what spells could drop in the dungeon." Qold said, thirsty for knowledge.
"I would have to fight a lot of monsters, hah..." Ray warily said, not keen on fighting monsters head-on.
"Don't worry, Ray. We will be with you." Calvin patted his shoulder.
"Let's head inside," Gerhart said, pushing the door open.
As they entered inside, the chatter in the guild slowly quieted as everyone gave them wary looks.
"Hm? What is up with them?" Gerhart raised an eyebrow but didn't pay much heed to it.
Instead, he went to the counter, where a lovely young lady with a business smile greeted them, "Hello, @%. How ^$~!# I ^#$ you?"
She spoke in Nehanian, and Gerhart couldn't understand all her words. Youvamorian and Nehanian were similar languages, and Gerhart already started learning on the way, so it wasn't too bad. But he still couldn't understand what she was saying. Of course, he already guessed what she wanted to say.
"Hello, do you speak Youvamorian?" Gerhart asked.
"A bit, but I am not fluent. I can bring soone who speaks it better." The clerk warily said.
"It is fine. My butler will translate for us." Gerhart gestured at Bertrand.
"Butler? He should be a high-level adventurer or soone wealthy, then." The clerk guessed as her business smile widened.
Bertrand then started a brief negotiation with the clerk before turning to Gerhart, "My lord, we must go through a magic test, sign so paperwork, and pay the fee before they accept us."
Gerhart nodded, unsurprised that the guild accepted them readily and without a background check.
Like many other dungeon cities, one of Tabarga's sources of inco was their 60-floor dungeon. Because of that, many kingdoms had a policy that accepted Dungeon Explorers with little background checks, hoping to attract talents that could increase their inco. There were just too few high-level adventurers to be picky.
With the high death rate in the dungeon, how would they turn a profit if they nitpicked everyone? Many Dungeon Explorers ca from poor origins or even immigrants. Are they supposed to stop these money-makers at the door because they didn't have proper docuntation or background?
At least, Dungeon Explorers relied less on reputation than Adventurers since they didn't take requests.
Gerhart and his other seven mbers registered in the guild, paying a hundred Nehanian Silver Coins each as an entrance fee. The Nehan Kingdom's currency was similar to the Youvamore Kingdom's, at least in weight and composition. It was perfectly acceptable to trade 1 for 1 in Silver Coins. Before departing, they received 10,000 from Thomas and the others, which was but a piece of the mass wealth they got from selling all the Goblin Equipnt and Monster Materials.
Thomas wanted to give them more, but they didn't need much money. Anyways, they could earn it from the dungeon.
After they were done registering and received their cards, Bertrand started negotiating for renting houses and a mansion outside the city walls. However-
"I am sorry, but you must reach B-rank for this service. You may try raising it in the dungeon or receive a recomndation." The clerk politely said. "Those are guild rules."
"Then I suppose we will do a dive and raise our rank." Gerhart nodded, unsurprised.
They already expected this to happen, so they inford the slaves to camp outside the city. However, just in case-
"Bertrand, take Calvin and Ray and return to the servants. We will dive first." Gerhart said.
They already brought supplies in backpacks, enough to last three days. After three days, they would return, likely already B or even A-rank.
"Yes, my lord." Bertrand bowed.
After bidding farewell, Gerhart was about to head to the dungeon when Hope stopped him. "Gerhart, the people here are too wary of us. Sothing is wrong."
"Hm..." Gerhart narrowed his eyes as he looked at the explorers. When his gaze t them, they lowered their eyes as if not daring to look at him.
"Weird. Explorers are not timid like that." Gerhart thought and turned to To-ri, "To-ri, ask them."
"Okay." To-ri, disguised as a beautiful woman, nodded and went to them.
As expected, seeing To-ri's appearance disard the wariness of the explorers as they explained what happened. After several minutes, To-ri returned.
"Gerhart, they are afraid because so sword-wielding maniac accompanied by a princess murdered people in broad daylight for slight provocations. He murdered a total of 18 innocent people, including an adventurer, cutting off the hand of a prostitute before being banished from the city by the king himself because he received a pardon from the temples. There were many outcries to execute him, but they were all silenced." To-ri said with a fearful look.
There were 18 people murdered in broad daylight. That was a scary thought. What stopped him from murdering her or her family next?
Gerhart's expression changed. "You said, princess? And the temples?"
"Yes." To-ri nodded.
Gerhart looked at Qold, who quietly nodded. Several days ago, Xenova contacted them and told them that the Otherworlder was conjured here before leaving this city on the sa day. However, he didn't know the reasoning. But now he knew. The new otherworlder was likely from a violent and brutal world that valued life even less than in this world.
"Seems like it is the otherworlder. What are those higher-ups in the temples thinking, setting loose such a crazed maniac? Is the situation that bad?" Gerhart's expression turned grim.
He didn't believe the temples were fools. Otherwise, they wouldn't be a dominant force all these years. Instead, he felt the danger they faced was just that bad.
"We have to grow stronger as soon as possible! Before sothing terrible happens. And to do that, we must gather energy." Gerhart thought.
Gerhart beca even more determined to dive into the dungeon now. He had to farm more energy!
"Let's move," Gerhart said, leading the four won.
Passing through the checkpoint, Gerhart and his group reached the first floor. To the side, Gerhart saw the familiar obelisk, able to teleport a party to the depths of the dungeon, a one-way trip. Of course, he couldn't use it since this wasn't the Vlita Dungeon. At least, not until he conquered the 5th floor. Naturally, Gerhart had no plans of rely stopping at the fifth floor.
Without saying a word, he continued moving while glancing at the insides of the dungeon.
The Tabarga Dungeon, unlike the labyrinth-style dungeon of Vlita, was more of an undead mausoleum. From the monsters to the decorations and traps, they were all undead-related. There were blue-greyish torches, bones, coffins, carved skulls, stone statues, etc.
"Wow... So this is a dungeon? Pretty gloomy." To-ri said with widened eyes.
"Interesting design. Is this because of different mana type concentration or a deliberate the?" Qold asked herself.
"Ho... I wonder if there are undead swordsn here." Havre muttered.
"The enemies and traps should be a bit different," Hope said without much care.
None of them were scared because of the undead the.
Walking forward, they t their first enemy, a floating skull surrounded by grey flas, a Will-O-The-Wisp. It was a complete weakling, a remnant spirit, not even a ghost. These monsters were comparable to the weakest of slis and rarely even attacked outside the dungeon. When they ford, it was a sign that it was an undead territory and that the conditions to form undead were sufficient.
If it were outside the dungeon, such creatures couldn't even kill a child, being more of a nuisance. However, they could evolve into low-tier undead if they t certain conditions.
Looking at the grey, floating wisp, Gerhart curiously analyzed it.
Na: ---
Race: Will-O-The-Wisp(Dungeon Spawn)
Level: 1
He didn't even bother checking the other stats and skills. Sure, he could kill them, but they wouldn't leave behind anything he could absorb aside from a Magic Stone.
Besides, he already knew their ability. They sapped the mana from the target- And that's it. It could be considered a weakened version of Energy Drain.
"Aw... How adorable." Qold smiled and casually walked forward.
"Shh*" The wisp gently floated toward Qold. When it was close enough, it opened its mouth, trying to suck out Qold's mana.
A tiny stream of mana exited Qold's body, but it was barely a trickle of her total mana.
"Hehe, that's it? My turn." Qold playfully said, tapping the wisp.
The wisp beca unstable. It was unable to compete with Qold. Instantly, the wisp faded and collapsed, soon turning into a Magic Stone. Qold smiled and picked it up before bringing it to Gerhart, "Here, master."
Gerhart casually nodded before casually absorbing the stone, turning it into powder. "Let's not waste ti here."
The group agreed as they quickly advanced through the 1st and 2nd floors. When they reached the 3rd floor, they encountered ard skeletons.
"Mya~ Let handle it!" To-ri grinned, her hands changing into claws as she rushed forward, smashing groups of skeletons.
With Hope leading using her Intuition, the group smashed through the 3rd, 4th, and 5th floors until they reached the mid-boss. The boss was just a Skeleton Warrior, so To-ri smashed it, acquiring a dropped Scimitar to play with.
Continuing forward, the group avoided the traps while spending the bare minimum ti on the monsters, smashing through one floor after another.
For the 10th-floor boss, they fought a Skeleton Martial Artist able to use Aura. Of course, To-ri killed it on their first clash. Aside from Teleportation Stones, they also received an unexpected reward.
"Nya? Mya~! Gerhart! It's a skill book!" To-ri broadly smiled while waving a skill book.
"Eh..." Gerhart and Hope were both speechless.
Skill Books were among the top drops in the dungeon. Yet, To-ri got it on her first dive. That was quite so luck. Taking the book, Gerhart saw it was a Beginner Hand-To-Hand Combat skill book. It was useless since they could learn this skill with 1 point of energy, but that didn't an they couldn't sell it!
"It should fetch a few thousand. Place it in the bag." Gerhart casually said, unmoved as he absorbed the magic stones, feeling slight pain as his power increased, albeit negligibly.
After acquiring the new talents, they were still technically at level 1, and Gerhart didn't use energy or body forging to level them up, so absorbing low-level Magic Stones would raise them.
After only a slight pause, they continued forward to the 11th floor.
On the 11th to 20th floors, walking corpses and undead animals started appearing, and the bosses were a Zombie Archer and a Zombie Guadian. However, To-ri still made short work of them all. They also found two chests on the way the 15th and 20th-floor boss chests, acquiring two recovery potions, a bow and arrows for Hope, and an enchanted tower shield that Gerhart picked for himself.
Starting from the 21st floor, all the enemies were ghosts. They were immune to physical attacks, could use mind, ice, undead, and charm magic, and had more proper Energy Drain than the wisps.
To-ri couldn't handle everything, so Hope, Havre, and Qold joined. Together, they defeated the 25th and 30th floor guardians, a Specter Knight and a Spectre Witch, acquiring a longsword and a staff. Havre picked the sword while Qold took the staff.
After defeating this floor, they finally rested in the safe zone after the 30th boss room. They also t another group of Dungeon Explorers resting there, but through tacit agreent, they didn't bother each other.
The following day, they continued to dive the 31st to 40th floors. By this point, To-ri began feeling pressured, so Gerhart raised her level to 40 and granted her a few skills and talents. By this point, he was starting to run out of energy, reserving 5,000 for ergencies. Since the Magic Stones he absorbed automatically leveled him up, he was temporarily unable to gain Energy Points.
On the 31st to 40th floors, they t stitched undead. After defeating a stitched Giant Wolf and a Stitched Abomination, they received fur boots and an oversized at cleaver that Gerhart took. They also got other drops from monsters and chests, mostly undead materials, a ceremonial dagger, and chainmail armor. He didn't absorb half of the Magic Stones from the 31st to 40th floors. Not picking magic stones before the 31st floor might be associated with arrogance, but not doing it after that would be suspicious.
After clearing the 40th-floor boss and activating the obelisk, they already had all the Teleportation Stones they needed to leave. That is if they wanted to.
"What do you think? Should we stop or continue and clear the 50th floor?" Gerhart asked, unworried. They outclassed the first 50 floors by too much.
"I am feeling pressured by this point. My level is incomplete." Hope said.
" too. I am not as strong as you three." To-ri bitterly said while looking at Gerhart, Havre, and Qold.
"I, for one, want to continue. Of course, it depends on my lord." Havre said.
"I will go wherever master goes," Qold added.
"Okay, then. You two can return to arrange for our new guild ranks and mansion. We will continue exploring up to the 50th floor." Gerhart said, transferring the Magic Stones and materials to Hope and To-ri.
"Okay! Be careful!" Hope said after taking the loot.
"Bye, Gerhart! We will pick a good mansion for you!" To-ri waved.
The two soon crushed the Teleportation stones, returning to the 1st-floor obelisk.
"Let's move forward. I don't want to waste another second." Gerhart said.
Havre and Qold nodded and followed him to the 41st floor.
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