Descending the ravine was interesting. It reminded Mash vaguely of falling from the mountain in the dungeon where he met Priscilla. Although this time he wasn't plummeting to his death after being stabbed and betrayed. His attention was quickly diverted away as he realized the odd design of the ravine. Instead of roads, there were steep stairs that headed towards the base of the ravine. Buildings were lined up with doors aimed towards the staircase. The buildings were almost aligned like columns though they were staggered forming steps themselves. It would almost be as easy to descend by jumping from rooftop to rooftop, rather than just taking the steps.

The four of them took the stairs rather than fly or teleport. They wanted to check out the buildings as they descended. He was curious to know if there were any stores or restaurants but was also curious to know who lived in these buildings. They seemed somewhat dangerous, and he wondered how they dealt with things like storms.

Examining the buildings, he found what he was looking for. It had just been an idle curiosity, but he was pleased to realize that the roofs were slanted downwards slightly. Furthermore, there were holes dug into the spaces between buildings. He slid near one of the holes as he walked. Through his draconic domain, he could tell that they were actually deep tunnels. There was probably an underground basin that helped the houses here avoid things like flooding. It probably also made cleaning a lot easier.

There were light crystals hung by chains to the buildings. They were the only source of light in the ravine, and once they got deep enough it illuminated the streets in an eerie light. As they got to the bottom, they began to hear the sound of flowing water. The river was wide enough to easily fit several boats, and there was even a small dock with a few boats along with it. Several of the boats still had people on them too, and Mash wondered where they could be headed at this time of the night.

“What’s that about?”

His friends shrugged their shoulders, and Jill just started walking towards them.

“We can just ask them. I doubt it’s anything secret.”

It was an obvious solution, and her voice held some curiosity. She was probably right, especially considering the way the ships stood out in the darkness. They had lights embedded along the sides of the boats, and they shone like moons on the river.

The wood of the docks surprised him as almost every building he had seen so far had been made of stone. It creaked under his feet as they approached the nearest of the boats. At this point, he realized that several people were still getting on the boats, and he wondered what was happening. Another glance showed him that the people boarding the vehicles were adventurers. There didn’t seem to be any goods, though those might have been loaded already.

Before they got too close someone stepped up to them. He was dressed shabbily, although he had an extravagant and obscenely large hat. Oddly, there was a bird emblazoned on the front of the hat. Judging from his partially wet clothing, and the fact that the ship behind him had the same symbol, Mash guessed that the ship belonged to him. Or he worked for it at the very least. Why a bird for a ship? The symbol didn’t seem to fit, and the rest of his clothing only added to the strangeness, The man wore pants that were bright yellow though the rest of his clothes were a drab brown. Even the overcoat was just another shade of brown.

“Hello, fellow thrill-seekers. I am Captain Brightbottom, I think you can understand why. Are you looking for a journey through the raging rapids in search of the dungeon of gold?”

Well, that was quite the introduction, and Mash immediately decided that the name he was given was fake. He simply refused to believe that someone could actually be named Brightbottom and would just refer to him as the captain. The man also had a ridiculous red beard that was tied into several tails.

“Well, we are adventurers, but what do you mean by dungeon of gold?”

The man’s grin grew sharper, obviously believing that he had them hooked on his story. He gestured with his hands indicating that they should come closer. It was as if he was spilling some kind of secret. None of them actually got any closer, but the man didn’t seem to be bothered. It was a superficial gesture, and everyone knew it.

“You haven’t heard? There’s a new dungeon nearby about a day away and this river is the only way to get there. Thought every adventurer would know. Nobody has come back yet, but already ferried over a hundred people today.”

His voice was filled with a baseless bravado, but his information surprised Mash. At first, he was going to argue about the river being the only way to the dungeon but realized what he meant after looking down the river. The river leads into the ground, obviously following a tunnel system of some kind. If they didn’t want to dig to the dungeon, they would need to follow the river.

Mash was glad that they had come down here because he didn’t doubt that he would have been digging otherwise. His brother had marked the location on his map, but he didn’t grab it at the moment. It was considered a valuable item, and he didn’t need to let other adventurers see that he had it. There would almost certainly be violence between adventurers within the dungeon, and he didn’t want to give people any incentives to single him out. There would already be a few who would target him for his family and didn’t need to add more reasons to it.

“Thanks for the information, but why is called the dungeon of gold?”

Red asked what Mash really wanted to know, and the man’s response had only made him more curious. Why did it receive that name if no one had returned yet? How did this man have any information on the dungeon? After his recent experiences, he couldn’t help but distrust the captain. The laugh the man gave didn’t alleviate any of his concern, though Mash didn’t detect any dishonesty from his words.

“Right. The name just fits, especially considering how many adventurers have flocked to the city since the dungeon appeared. With how many people showed up, there better be some gold in there.”

“So, the name is more like a wish than an identifier.”

The captain continued laughing, his beard bouncing a little with each sound. He spoke through his laughs the word being punctuated by the rumble.

“Nothing that fancy. Everyone wants gold, right? Seemed fitting enough.”

With those words, Mash guessed that this was a name the captain was choosing to use, and not actually what it would be called. It didn’t really matter what the name of the dungeon was, as the name would come from those to clear it first. If people continued to get trapped within, then Mash’s group might get the honor. The captain turned his head back to the ship for a second before continuing.

“Well, the boats about to leave, if you want a ride, it’s a gold piece.”

The amount was ludicrous, and everyone knew it. However, for an adventure that was going to a dungeon, a single gold piece wouldn’t make much of a difference. They weren’t planning on going tonight though, and Red asked something else.

“Are you going to be offering rides in the morning? We will take one then.”

The captain nodded quickly, smiling brightly towards his prospective chumps. To him all these adventurers must seem crazy, filling his pockets with gold while running to their deaths. Mash thought he knew the real reason for the name. The captain was certainly collecting a lot of gold.

They talked a little more before saying their goodbyes. Red managed to convince the man to wait until they showed up, and she would give him five gold pieces. Mash didn’t like the needless bribery as they could have gone to the dungeon on their own, but he could tell she had a reason for it. Leaving it to her, Mash didn’t say anything. The others seemed to trust her too and only nodded in agreement.

After getting everything set up, they headed back up the ravine. Rather than taking the stairs, Jill just teleported them into their room. It used most of her mana, but there wasn’t anything else she would need it for. She would easily have enough time to recover. Once they got back to the room, they moved to the couch while Red started explaining her plan.

“We are going to leave far before I told the captain. In fact, let's head out before any of the ships and avoid the other adventurers. It’s going to be better for us if we leave without anyone knowing. Plus, the plan will hopefully delay the other adventurers a bit.”

The plan made sense, but Mash also understood the other implications of the plan. It would be extremely annoying for the captain and that alone made it worthwhile. The man was profiting as much as he could while continuing to send people to their deaths. A new dungeon usually attracted people outside of the adventurer’s guild, those who merely wanted to test their luck. Many of those he ferried out wouldn’t even be prepared for a fight. He couldn’t blame the captain, but he still didn’t like it.

They talked about their plans for the dungeon, only to be interrupted when some servants walked in. They were carrying boxes of some kind, and Mash could see that they were filled with rations. His domain made him eager, and he opened up his storage space to deposit them. Revealing his storage space had been a mistake, the servants staring at the door-like entrance with awe. Eventually, one of the servants regained their composure and spoke quickly.

“We’re sorry, we were told that you still hadn’t returned. If you want we-“

“No, it's fine just leave them there or in Mash’s storage space if you’re willing to do that.”

Red cut off the apologizing servant. She was a woman who looked to be around thirty and was clearly not very high level. She had black hair and wore a plain dress of green as it matched the rest of the uniforms. There was clearly a professionalism to her motions, and she unhesitatingly commanded the other servants to deposit the items in his storage space. Mash was impressed with their confidence as it would be pretty dangerous to enter his storage space. He didn’t worry about them taking anything as he could look into his own space with his draconic domain. As expected, they acted extremely carefully and deposited the boxes, moving a bit too fast to be considered casual. After a few seconds, the servants left. Mash gave the others some of the rations though he carried the majority of them. After all, his storage space was the largest now.

The group separated soon after the rations arrived, all of them doing their final preparations for the night. There was only one thing left that Mash wanted to do. Thinking inwards, he looked at his status to use the stats he gained from fighting in the previous dungeon.

Name: Mash Stellumbra Class: Draconic Thunder-wood Imitation

Level: 78 → 80

Health: 2000 / 2000

Energy: 3510 / 3510

Fortitude: 200

Endurance: 131

Strength: 150 → 160

Agility: 170

Intelligence: 220

Wisdom: 102

Charisma: 96

Free Stats: 0 → 10 → 0

Skills: Hunt, Thunder-wood Creation, Inhuman Hibernation, Monstrous Transformation, Thunder-wood Imitation, Draconic Domain, Adaptable Monster Core, Monstrous Humanity, Wooden Body, Mimic’s Avarice, Golden Body

Golden Body (Passive): Having solen the techniques of another world, your body evolves beyond its old limitations. However, even this transformation is incomplete. Seek out the next Step and truly make this power your own.

Trial of the True Body: 1 / 100