Rok sat at his desk, nursing a headache as he has done far more often in the past few days than ever before. Today’s was due to the Dungeon’s first “official” victims two days earlier; the daughter of some noble or another, and the mercenary she’d hired to escort her. The girl and the merc being separate from the guilds meant that they were allowed to dive “at their risk” during the day, and they could enter despite both being obviously not the recommended A rank.

Not mentioning anything else about what happened, Rok found it impressive that, despite not yet even updating a single map to include the dungeon, they had already found it a mere three days after announcing it, despite being given no more information than that it was in the Hynix Grand Reef, a place that was thousands of square kilometers in area.

Of course, a noble daughter with no more training than how to thrust the A+ rank relic she’d been given, and a B+ mercenary going into the A rank dungeon, with practically nothing known about it, they were doomed to fail, at least in Rok’s humble opinion. He couldn’t even puzzle together why they did it. Whatever the reason, the father seemed rather displeased about the whole ordeal, claiming in the strongly worded letter that somehow it was his fault, and that he would regret letting his little girl die.

Rok simply scoffed and soaked the paper in the waters around his desk, as he did with all of the threats and insults he’d been receiving lately. However, now that the location had been discovered, the floodgates had opened. He looked out the window of his office, watching the people on the shore preparing boats of all shapes and sizes, with the docks themselves being completely packed with anything that could find the space. Already people were setting off, and it was to his great displeasure that he knew almost none of them would be returning should they go too deep.

The reptilian city leader felt awful for the people stationed outside the entrance within the impromptu Dungeon Hall, a floating building staffed by the Guilds which was created to monitor both the people entering and leaving along with any signs of the dungeon going rogue; they were tasked with the unenviable job of enforcing the rules of entrance; one group can enter within an amount of time, and they ensured that no guild members beneath rank A are amongst those entering, though non members of any strength were allowed in at their own risk as stated. The past two days had been awful, supposedly. While most people were content to wait in line, it only took one person to think themselves above waiting to ruin it all. Thankfully, most of these people were weak, and the ban on diving the reef dungeon given by the guards was enough to make an example that lasted at least a little while.

Still, with the amount of traffic being received, the past few days had seen plenty of news coming from within the dungeon. One of the more concerning pieces of information was that the lesser wyrm was missing from the fourth floor. Rok wasn’t sure what to make of this news, it could mean someone subjugated it and hadn’t made it known, but it could also mean that it simply hid for the groups that had made it out alive, or that it had changed floors. It wasn’t a boss creature, despite what logic would dictate about a mature lesser wyrm within a Dungeon likely not even a year old. However, if the beast did move, nobody was aware of exactly where to.

The amount of people coming and going did mean that the floors were mapped out better, but nobody had been beyond the ninth floor that they were aware of and almost everyone who made it that far had to return with relics or magic, the news they brought with them told of a truly massive floor, one that resembled the Open Seas. Also known, the wyvern of the eighth had allegedly further evolved, now no longer of the lesser variety, and potentially even an unknown variant. They didn’t know, however, because they couldn’t see it. At least two teams had gone down with the sole purpose of subjugating the creature, and were never heard from again. One person that did return from floor eight also spoke of what appeared to be the abandoned home of a Nereid, a minor detail that could imply a great number of things about the dungeon.

Another change, the sixth and seventh floors had been merged. Rok had seen merged floors before, but once again, never this early, and whatever creature that lived there was still taking its toll on anybody venturing through. More than once, a team came out desperately restraining one of their own, who’d become closer to ravenous beasts than any person. Rok had seen one of these people brought into the clinics of the island after she was rushed back; she’d been frothing at the mouth, eyes wild and bloodshot as she tried to chew through the gag and continue her assault on the surrounding onlookers. She was still like that today, a full thirty six hours later, even the best healers they’d brought onto the island weren’t able to say what exactly was happening, much less fix it. All that was known was that it was a Song of some sort, and it would affect anybody who could hear. Some people go in wearing ear plugs, or have their hearing already taken by the shrimp, which seems to work for the floor, but the lack of hearing makes them at a greater risk for whatever else they may find there.

Then there were the people who’d underestimated the first three floors, each had been greatly changed from what the initial team had surveyed. All three appeared to be mazes or labyrinths, illuminated entirely by the corals and teeming with life. It sounded idyllic, but those who let their guard down, and even those who didn’t, could be met with those horrendous shrimp, or ambushed by packs of nigh invisible barracudas, or any number of other fates.

One group had even returned early, seemingly flayed alive from the chest down. When asked what happened by a horrified healer, they learned that one of their party members had attacked a group of fish, thinking little of it, when the waters turned yellow. That member had been under the waters at the time, and they hadn’t seen him come back up.

Rok would be certain that a dungeon of this caliber would be at least a decade old, but the behavior it displayed was obviously young. None of the creatures within dropped loot, something common in young, unbound dungeons that have yet to realize they should do to draw in more people. It also was very clearly learning and adapting, coming up with strategies that are commonplace amongst dungeons that are older.

Rok also knew that his real work was only about to begin, by this point, the first wave of return trips had started, people finally making their ways back from the dungeon with whatever spoils they had amassed, along with stories. Some would return in high spirits, finding curiosities among the floors and creatures to take from the dungeon to tame afterwards. Many more would be returning empty handed, if at all, beaten, battered, or broken after going too deep.

Rok was broken out of his musings when his door was flung aside by Kelly and Jacky, the two rushing towards his desk with armfuls of something. Behind them stood a rather short and chubby, beast-folk of some sea-mammal variety. Given his short, slick fur he was likely some sort of seal, and he was trying hard to look professional. Rok moved aside the paperwork he’d been working on just in time, as dozens of crystals scattered across his desk. They were all small, none were wider around than a mere centimeter or two, and were a variety of colors. It took him but a moment to realize what they were; elemental crystals. Mana crystals that contained a pure elemental mana were much rarer than the non-elemental variety, and would often be worth a lot more, especially for those containing secondary elements. Tertiary elemental crystals were nearly unheard of, and yet he spotted one in the pile, that of radiance. He turned to the two, not even needing to ask the question before the mermaid answered.

“One of the unaffiliated came by and wanted to sell these to the guild. He’d claimed that spotted one nestled up by the corals on the first floor, and that when he looked closer there were more around all the other coral too.”

Rok took a moment to make sure he’d heard right, then asked the man to be safe.

“So you’re saying that you found dozens of elemental crystals on the first floor?”

“Yessir, and I figured I could sell 'em pretty easy to the guilds, and if this was somethin important I ought to be gettin a bit extra, too?”

Rok ignored the casual attempt at extortion, far too busy thinking about what he'd just been told. On top of this dungeon being one of a kind already just by where it was, fiendishly difficult for anyone who wasn’t prepared, now it produced elemental crystals. This development was worrying for a variety of reasons, not least of which being the absolute frenzy this could incite if not handled properly. While few would be foolish enough to directly challenge either guild, much less the behemoth they were when they worked together, it would be better not to have it happen at all.

He took out the communication crystals he’d been given, single-usage items to send messages to the branch leaders in case of emergency. He felt that if this didn’t constitute an emergency, then very little else ever would.