Chapter 5: Quest Issued [Ding!]

[Quest: Generate and spawn mobs 25/25] [Quest complete! Reward: Unlocked Party Finder] [Receive Rewards? Yes/No] No sooner had Lethe finished the [Rule] that the quest complete notification ring out. Accepting the reward, Lethe received an influx of information that answered another question he had. Seeing as how his dungeon entrance was in the middle of a large forest and presumably far away from any civilization, Lethe had wondered how long he would have had to wait for adventurers to show up. As it turned out, this was an issue for many new born dungeons. So to help with that, dungeon cores had access to an interface called the [Party Finder], which would allow Lethe to find the parties closest to him and issue them a quest to find the dungeon. An advantage of this would be the system rewards parties receive upon finding a dungeon. Another advantage for the dungeon cores is that the interface would only show parties that were within his difficulty range. [Ding!]

[New Quest: Defeat adventurers 0/5] And there it is, the next part of the tutorial wanted him to call forth adventurers and pit them against what he had prepared. Feeling both prudent and eager, Lethe checked his [Status] once more to ensure he didn't miss anything. STATUS NAME: Lethe RACE: Dungeon Core CLASS: Locked LEVEL: 1 EXP: 0 / 100 (Earned EXP/Required EXP) MOB POINTS: 25/25 (Used/Total) ROOMS: 6 (60m^3 total volume of control) SKILLS [Creation - Floor 3 | Rank: 3/5 | Allows user to designate a room with maximum volume of 10m^3 as a single room. Allows user to set up design templates. Can combine two or more rooms together to increase allowable maximum volume.] [Territory Control 3 | Rank 3/10 | Allows user to expand his territory by spreading consciousness. Direction of expansion can be specified with will. Territory can now be shrunk by ceding consciousness.] [Creation - Mob 2| Rank: 2/10 | Sub Skills: [Combine] | Allows user to generate mobs based on mob points. Mobs can increase in rank by consuming or defeating mobs of equal rank.] [Design Structures 1 | Rank: 1/10 | Allows user to create and design various structures (traps, buildings, objects, etc.) inside rooms.] TEMPLATES Cavernous Room MOB TYPES Slimes: [Acid Slime 1], [Stone Slime 1], [Treasure Slime] STRUCTURES [Acid Pool] [Locked Chest] RULES Ambush Trap - Acid Slime (F1-R1) Mob Fall Trap - Stone Slime (F1-T1) Ambush - Room (F1-R2) Floor 1 Boss Fight - Room (F1-R3) QUESTS Main Quest: Defeat adventurers 0/5 Happy with his progress thus far, Lethe invoked the [Party Finder] interface. Party Finder Party Name Rank Member Count Distance from dungeon Quests Completed Lityus Shield 1 3 26 km 2 Jones and Folks 1 5 23 km 0 Chimpions 1 3 25 km 4 Jemika and Dray 1 2 26 km 1 Hansen's Striders 1 4 58 km 6 Detir Sewer Rats 1 4 60 km 2 Reviewing the now green interface, Lethe immediately noticed a few details. First, there were likely to be two settlements close to him, one at least 23 km away and the other about 58 km, indicated by the data from the "Distance from dungeon" column. Another detail he gleamed was the lack of any teams higher than his current rank, although what constituted a ranking for these parties was unknown to him. As such, seeing as though this would be the first party he would face, he would rather avoid the more experienced groups, the one with more contracts completed. Finally, he saw no correlation yet to the number of party members and actually being a party. Going over the list thoroughly, he decided to select the easiest group from his perspective and issued the quest as per his will. [Ding!] Quest issued to [Jones and Folks] Venture forth into the depths of the Evergreen and discover the new dungeon within its foliage! Awaiting confirmation.... And so, the now ready dungeon core waited for its first visitors... Jones was a simple man living in trying times. He and his band of brothers had left their village seeking riches and glory, as is usual for youths their age. They had all grown tired of the bland stale life in the village, and with some conniving and encouragement from Jones himself, ventured to fulfill their dreams. Their journey to the outpost of Lityus was trying, beset with difficulties, such as finding places to sleep, affording meals, and sanitary needs. However, they withstood the adverse circumstances and finally reached their destination. As was told by some of the older men in the village, the band of brothers registered themselves with the Adventurer's League and finally received access to proper [Classes]. They left their [Farmer] and [Labourer] classes, losing the few levels they had accumulated in them as well as any skills and perks, in exchange for combat-based classes approved by the League. However, that was when their true difficulties began, namely in the form of cold, hard, copper. Outfitting themselves in the simplest gear they could find, consisting of barely treated leather and cloth as well as a few rust-ridden second hand weapons, the group of men barely past their teens found that they had none left for lodging or food. Thinking that the issue would resolve itself after a few contracts or quests, the group came across their second obstacle. You see, Lityus was a well-known outpost into the Evergreen and had their own local parties for most of their contracts at Rank 1. Seeing as they were foreigners, the higher ranked parties that were well-established felt it was prudent for them to cut them off of any contracts. As such, Jones had been struggling to make ends meet for his party. Hunting had become the norm for their food and camping in the forest was now considered standard fare. Even with all of these "issues", Jones and Folks were stubborn, continuing to camp out at the League's boards every morning hoping to get at least 1 proper contract. Waking up early, Jones left his tent and headed into the outpost from their quaint camp. "Deities above, we only have 8 copper left. If I can't find something today, we'll be completely fu-" [New Quest issued: Venture forth into the depths of the Evergreen and discover the new dungeon within its foliage!] [Confirm? Yes/No] And that, deities above, is exactly the type of help that made Jones the [Acolyte] believe in deities. Picking up his pace, Jones headed back towards the camp. Reaching the entrance of the small clearing they had occupied for the past few days, the young man tore down the alarm system they had set up, a set of bells attached to a line along the perimeter of the clearing. This, as he had intended, set off a series of loud jingles and clings that woke up the rest of his party. "Oyyyyy! Ya'll need to wake up now! I got a quest!" Jones loudly proclaimed to his compatriots, earning 4 sets of glares from around the tents. "We heard ya Jones, least let us get er sand out of er eyes!" Five minutes later, the band of now awake brothers sat around a circle, viewing the quest Jones had received. "See, this is why ya'll need to believe in the deities! A new dungeon and a quest! We get this complete and we'll be recognized around these parts!" Jones intoned to his brothers, who all had grins growing on their faces by the minute. Seeing their response, Jones was assured that they all agreed with him, and with a flick of his fingers, he accepted the quest. [Quest Accepted] [Distance to dungeon: 23 km] [Dungeon has been notified. Be prepared adventurers.]