“So, there’s gonna be a group there, right?”

James asked Jack as they were driving to the campsite in Oregon the next morning.

“Yeah. We three are gonna be our own separate group, but we have a sort of counselor for this entire trip, and there’ll be other people there.

“This sounds like a summer camp type excursion. I’ve never actually been to one of these, so I’m quite excited,” Mo said.

“It’s actually a spring camp, not a summer camp,” said James. “You see, it’s March right now, and March is part of spring, not summer.”

“…”

Jack started laughing as Mo stared at James with killing intent.

“Hey, it’s your fault. Who the hell uses the word excursion when they’re talking to their friends? You’re trying too hard to be smart. We already know you’re smarter than Jack but not smarter than me.”

“…”

“Hey, what do you mean he’s smarter than me? Bullshit!”

The rest of the car ride passed by quickly.

====================

James, Mo, and Jack got off the car and grabbed their bags. They had their tents, clothes and other necessities with them. Equipment like fishing rods would be provided by the trip.

“We arrived quite early, which is okay. We have like 30 minutes before the first meeting at the amphitheater. We can just chill until then.”

“We have to wait for our campsite to be chosen, huh.”

“Yeah.”

The boys went over the the small amphitheater and sat down on a row of the stone steps. There were already a few people there.

Mo spoke first: “So, hiking, fishing, swimming, campfire shit, what else could we do? We have 5 days here.”

“Do they have bikes here? We could go biking.” James looked at Jack.

“I think they do. Okay, okay, I know invited you on this trip, but I don’t know everything, alright?”

“You should’ve asked your dad, or done more research,” said Mo.

“Why would I need to do more research? Couldn’t you guys have?”

“We didn’t even know what this place was called! Actually, I still don’t know what this place is called. James, what is it called?”

“I don’t know either.”

They say time flies when you’re having fun. Before long, the amphitheater filled up with lots of kids, and a man walked into the center of the podium. The man gave a short speech, welcoming everyone to the camp. He stressed that even though nearly all of the campers already had groups, they should be friendly to each other and talk between each other. Then, he mentioned that there were a few very important guests during this trip. One of them was probably Jack. Finally, he went ahead and assigned campsites.

While James was speaking, his eyes wandered around the crowd, and his gaze fell upon two people. It was a pair that appeared to be siblings, both with blond hair, and sky blue eyes. When he looked at them, they met his gaze, and his spine shivered. Those blue eyes felt like they were stabbing into them. Then, he felt the slight presence of mana.

Were these people dungeon explorers? James felt like they had to be special in some way. However, when they turned away, he continued to feel faint pulsations of mana. James realized it was not coming from across the amphitheater, but rather from his side. He turned around. Mo was there, listening to his ear-splitting music.

James got a headache all of a sudden. It turned out that the source of the mana was again Mo’s music. What was special about it? And also, was the feeling he felt when he looked at the siblings his own imagination?

“I thought the dungeon and my life on Earth would almost be two separate things, except for the money I make in the dungeon. But it turns out it isn’t as simple,” he thought to himself.

However, Jack and Mo got up, because their group had just been assigned a campsite.

“Allow me to demonstrate my tent-erecting prowess,” said Mo.

====================

“Wait, no, this pole is in the wrong place. I’m pretty sure the longest one goes over here.”

“No, because that sleeve along the side. The longest pole has to be diagonally across.”

“Then what about the door pole?”

“Actually, we don’t even really need the door pole. The door works just fine without it.”

“Wait a minute, why did you already stake it down? We haven’t centered the tent yet.”

“I didn’t stake the tent, I staked the rainfly. The instructions said to do that first.”

“That can’t be right. Give me the instructions. Look, these are the instruction for the rainfly, not the tent. They’re separate. You have to do the tent before the rainfly.”

“I don’t get this. James, get your bitch ass over here!”

James was standing to one side, his thought occupied by the dungeon, the two siblings he saw, and Mo’s deadly music. He looked up when Jack and Mo beckoned him over. He sighed. No matter how much he thought about it, he likely wouldn’t be able to come to a conclusion. After all, he simply didn’t have enough information. He decided to stop focusing on it. He would figure things out as they came. James walked over to the misshapen tent that Jack and Mo had tried to construct.

“Oh my lord. What did you guys do? You’re useless.”

“Oh yeah? Why don’t you try?” Mo huffed.

“Fine. So, where are we setting up the tent? Here in the center, where you’ve placed it?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Move the tent out of the way.”

“What? We struggled so much to get this far. I don’t think that there’s a problem with what we did up to here, we just don’t know how to continue.”

“You guys didn’t even clear the ground. There are pinecones, sticks, and rocks here. You’re gonna sleep on that?”

“…”

“…”

James made a mental promise to make smarter friends in the future. His senior dungeon explorers were much more dignified than this.

====================

A bit later, the tent had been set up successfully and their things with odor had been packed into the bear lockers. Jack yawned.

“Setting up the tent tired me out. Oh. It’s almost time for lunch.”

“Alright. I can cook.”

James and Jack nodded. Although his tent-erecting skills were not the best, Jack and James had experienced Mo’s cooking before, and judged it non-toxic. At least, it was better than anything Jack or James could do. Mo grabbed the portable stove, the propane canister, and some ingredients and began cooking.

“So, we have half a day today. What should we do in the afternoon,” asked James.

“Let’s spend the day at the lake fishing, or swimming. We can save hiking for a full day,” replied Jack.

“Sounds good to me.”

When the boys finished eating, they headed over to the lake.