"Since there are too many of you, we will draw slots to determine who gets on the team."

Just outside the northern gate, the top players have gathered. The teams from the three large guilds have already been decided and now it is our turn.

There are 26 players from smaller guilds or who are solo players. It’s surprising that the spots have not been bought out, but it must not be possible for the Sacred Order to pull something like that off in the public eye. However, I thought they would at least base it off of personal skill rather than random chance.

"Everyone will be assigned a number and we will draw out 10 stones from this bag,” He holds up a small brown leather pouch, “Once drawn, the numbers will be final. The player who gets their number drawn will pick the next stone. Now, line up."

We all lined up and I got assigned number 13.

The man reaches his hand into the bag and draws out the first number.

18

To my left, a female player with light brown hair steps out with a smile on her face. She moves happily over to the bag and draws out the next number.

7

This time, a male player with short blonde hair steps out. He tries to contain his excitement, but it has escaped and is quite evident on his face. He draws out the next number.

15

This pattern continues...

26

2

9

1

17

10

Now, only one number remains. Mine still hasn’t been called. The players beside me gulp in nervous anticipation. The player whose number is 10 is a female assassin with a petite, slender frame. She reaches her hand into the bag and pulls out a green stone. From my position, I can see the number 3 partially obscured on the stone in her hand.

So much for the dungeon. The other players have also noticed this and many display looks of disappointment on their faces. I start to turn around and head back into the town. There’s no point in staying if it’s going to be like this.

However, as soon as I turn my head, I hear a feminine voice behind me.

“13”

My body freezes on the spot. Relief mixed with disbelief rushes through my head in waves.

*phew*

My number was drawn. The look on those whose numbers were called is that of relief, while the others only look dejected. The ten of us gather near the leader, while the rest trudge back into the town.

The player who will be the acting leader is from the Sacred Order guild. His name is Miles and he is a level 11 knight. With full bronze plate armour overtop of the typical Sacred Order red leather armour, he looks very intimidating. The guild symbol is obnoxiously engraved on his plate body with a gilded plating. Of course, nobody at this stage is currently capable of working with real gold, so it is just golden paint, but it has a life-like appearance. Maybe I am simply prejudiced against their members, but something about them rubs me the wrong way.

The players in the same situation as myself consist of 2 warriors, 1 barbarian, 2 mages, 1 rogue, 1 assassin, a priest and an archer. The other assassin's face is hidden, but I can tell they are female. Most of the other players do not look anything special and their armours are shoddy compared to the three main guild's matching armours.

Many players surround us, due to information on the meeting point being leaked. However, they are giving out cheers of encouragement as they look at us with wide eyes. It is as if they are watching soldiers preparing for battle and are giving us their hopes and wishes.

"There are 15 minutes until we will be leaving. Make sure you have stocked up on food and healing items. This expedition is expected to be dangerous and there is no telling what will happen or how long it will take."

Since there is some time left, I might as well introduce myself to the other assassin player. I won’t bother with the members of the larger guilds, because when I look at them, I am returned with pretentious looks.

Before I get a chance to talk with the assassin, one of the warriors approaches me instead. Equipped with a bronze short sword and square shield, he appears to be a well off player from a smaller guild. He has short brown hair and an average build, but otherwise, there doesn’t seem to be anything noteworthy about him.

"Hey! The name's Devon. Us solo players gotta stick together during this." He gets uncomfortable close; enough so that I can feel the warmth of his breath. "Between you and me, I don't trust those guys from the Sacred Order."

Keep your distance. I am put off by his overly friendly posture.

“Ahem.” I cough, ”You're a warrior right?"

"You have a good eye." He pats my shoulder as if we were close friends. I take a step back and remove his hand.

"Umm, it was a lucky guess."

“So, what are your thoughts about only sending a small elite squad rather than overwhelming the monsters with numbers?” He continues, “Personally, I don’t have much faith in it.”

“Well, by controlling who goes in, they can obtain the most benefits for themselves. They probably wouldn’t have allowed other players in for a while had information of the dungeon not been leaked.” I pause before continuing, “For good public relations they have to put on this farce and if they released the location to the masses, it would become chaotic and uncontrollable as people fight for benefits. Of course, many lives would also be lost along the way...”

Before I could finish my thought, a shouting came from somewhere in the crowd.

“Everyone gather around!” Miles voice drowns out the chatter, “In a few moments I will open the teleportation gateway. It will stay open for a duration of 60 seconds. If you do not get across during this time then you are out of luck. If anyone who is not a member of the surveying team follows us through, then they will be dealt with by our guild’s law enforcers.”

Murmurs can be heard throughout the crowd. I guess some people wanted to try their luck and sneak through. That is one of the downsides to the purple crystals. A gateway large enough to fit two vehicles across side by side will appear 5 feet away from the user and this gateway will allow anything through, including monsters.

Miles takes out a glowing purple crystal from his inventory. He lifts it up at arms length in front of his head and then proceeds to crush it. The item shatters into pixelated dust and a giant portal opens up on the grass. Looking into the portal it is impossible to see the other side. All that is visible is a white haze. This is another downside to the crystal, because one cannot tell what they are walking into. It requires trust in the other party.

For something as major as this, they would not link it up with a dangerous spot, but I can see the potential for using these in ambushes and PK’s.

“Move out!”

Miles is the first to step through the portal, followed by the Sacred Order members. The members of Shadowguard and Wings of liberty are next, and lastly us other players. Stepping through the portal gives off a sensation of lightheadedness. It is as if one is free fallings and the blood rushes to the head.

The sensation only lasts for a fleeting moment, but it is long enough to unsteady my balance.

The scene on the other side is of a temporary camp. The portal’s location is in a clearing surrounded by a rope, but less than 20 feet away tents have been set up. The whole encampment looks to stretch 100 metres across and is crowded with makeshift buildings. It appears like a small village has been set up at this location and been surrounded by a wall made of wooden logs. To one side is a mountain cliff, while the other sides are covered by forrest.

This doesn’t look like it was just discovered in the last day, but then again, something like this might be possible in the game. I don’t know much about the construction skill, but I assume it may be possible with enough supplies and skilled workers. After all, a sword which would take days to create in real life only takes 10 minutes in game.

We are led towards a large cloth tent, which looks to be a strategy meeting area. Many players are going about doing random tasks, such as carrying building supplies for construction.

Within the tent, 3 rows of 10 chairs face towards a podium. We all take a seat, and naturally, I am seated in the furthest row. A man I don’t recognize walks through the seats and settles at the podium before turning and facing us.

“Good afternoon everyone. In a few minutes you will be headed off into the dungeon, and there are a few things you should know prior to this. First off, the monsters within the dungeon are unnaturally aggressive. We have had to cordon off the entrance to prevent them from pouring out. When the first team discovered the dungeon and was subsequently chased off, they managed to escape unscathed into the forest.

“As you know, teleportation crystals do not activate immediately, and can be interrupted through combat. After the first group got outside, the monsters followed, and stayed outside. We lost many players trying to push them back into the mine, and finally were able to build a wall surrounding them with the help of hundreds of players. Their loses will not be in vain!

“The monsters within were abnormally strong compared to those on the outside. Just a simple slime that would be considered fodder in another game is level 10. It took a team of 4 people just to bring down one. Thankfully there was a mage in the group, because those slimes have a ridiculous physical resistance stat.

“This is the first time a type of resistance has been noted on a monster. Another monster we saw were level 8 bats; however, they are the weakest existence in the dungeon. Even so, they have a resistance to shadow magic, and that includes an assassin’s cloaking skill.

“Naturally, you will not be alone while facing them. You will be split into teams of 5 based on your seating arrangements here and these six teams will each take a separate path in the dungeon.”

Sure. That’s fine for the teams from the three guilds, because they were able to balance out the parties ahead of time. However, the rest of us are left with makeshift unbalanced teams.

“The dungeon has many twists and turns, so it is easy to get lost. That is why we included the cartography skill as a requirement. It would be beneficial for each of you to keep the skill activated while outside of combat.

“Now, it is not expected that you clear the dungeon or even find the boss room. As long as you can secure the immediate area while preserving your lives this mission will be considered a success.”

The man observes each of us while murmurs spread amongst the players. This dungeon will be more difficult than i imagined. If the weakest monster is a level 8, I wonder what the average would be. Surely it wouldn’t be impossible for the monsters to exceed level 15, and that is not even mentioning the boss. I can see why they made the requirement level 10 rather than 9 since the bonus points from reaching level 10 gives a huge boost in combat potential.

“You have five minutes to introduce yourselves to your party members. Elect a leader from your group of five and open a party. This will allow you to view each other’s health and locate each other on the map. Good luck!”

I look towards my new party members. Our party consists of myself, the other assassin, the priest, a mage, and a warrior. Overall it is more balanced than I could have hoped for. The warrior Devon is within the other group, and it looks like he is already getting everyone together.

“Shall we introduce ourselves then?” The warrior in our group speaks up. “My name is Sirius, and I am a level 11 warrior.”

Sirius has short unkempt auburn hair held back by a plain black bandana. He wears a bronze cuirass overtop of copper chainmail. Bronze plates are attached to his leather chaps, which gives the impression of being custom made. At his side is a bronze short sword and on his back is a copper shield.

“Elayne, Level 10 mage.”

Elayne is wearing a simple two piece dark red robe set made of cotton. She has waist length dark brown hair tied back in a braid and gives the impression of being a scholar rather than a fighter. She holds onto a 5 foot long wooden staff made from a tree branch and imbued with magic. The staff gives off a faint red light, which tied with her choice of colour, leads me to believe she is a fire mage.

“Astrya, Level 10 priest.”

Rather than wearing the traditional western priest garb, Astrya is clothed in modified shrine priest robes designed to not hinder movement. Her light brown hair is tied back in a ponytail and she wields a pure white wand in her dominant hand.

“Ilyena, Level 11 assassin.”

Ilyena is the most mysterious of the group. Her face is obscured by a black veil as if in mourning and her voice is icy cold. Despite that, she is dressed in sleek bronze plated leather armour underneath a dark black cloth that obscures her slender frame.

“Quinn, Level 10 assassin.”

“Hmm, Two assassins, a mage, and a priest.” Sirius continues, “I guess I will have to be the main tank. Since we don’t have much time, we will do it like this. Elayne will take rear guard, while Astrya will be on support. Ilyena and Quinn, you two will take middle positions and work on dealing burst damage.”

I guess sirius has volunteered himself to be leader, but since it looks like he knows what he is doing, I’ll let him be. The others also seem to have no objection to this.

“If there are chances for sneak attacks, you two will work together in annihilating the enemies while keeping hidden. Otherwise, Elayne will draw aggro and lure the monsters towards us at a manageable rate. Do you think you can do this?”

“Un.” Elayne nods, “I did a similar role for my guild’s team, so I can handle it.”

“Perfect!” Sirius pauses, “How about you two? You will be placed in a dangerous position, but I believe that it will work with the two of you working together.”

“It’s fine.” Ilyena gives a brief reply.

“Yea, I’m fine with it.”

“Wonderful! I’ll send a party invitation to each of you.”

Notification Player: Sirius invites you to join his party. Do you accept? Yes No

I select [Yes] and immediately I can see each of the party members names at the top left corner of my UI. Their green health and blue mana bars are displayed there, so it is convenient to see how much each person has remaining. Sirius, being a warrior, has the highest health, while Elayne and Astrya are tied with the most mana. Ilyena and myself have the lowest in each, but that is compensated by our high damage output and maneuverability.

Armours and robes add mana and vitality on top of a player’s base stats, and these are shown as smaller silver and dark blue bars over top of the health and mana bars respectively. The way this works is that the smaller bars will get depleted first, followed by the regular ones. This system is somewhat redundant, but it differentiates between the two. Of course, these bars are not seen when in combat with another player, and are only visible in the party screen.

“Alright everyone! It’s time to move out!” Miles’ voice rings out. He and his team take the lead in walking toward the cliff.

The rest of us join in behind him as the path becomes clear of observing players. The end of the path we are harbours a large wooden gate made of solid wood construction reinforced with metal. The gate was designed to be structurally sound and capable of holding back those stronger monsters. It consisted of a double door system similar to an airlock and on the other side of the gate is a narrow passage leading to the mine’s entrance.

Atop the walls lining the passageway were archers and magicians, all whom aimed at the entranceway to the mine. Should the monsters attack, the would be funnelled into this death trap and be fired upon by either side. If they were lucky enough to get to the gate, they would have to burst through it twice while taking heavy fire.

The original door to the dungeon mine has been destroyed and all that remains is a hole the size of three people across and 1 person tall. Miles brings out a torch and takes his first steps into the darkness and is followed by the teams from the three big guilds. Our team is the last to go in.

As I step into the dungeon, a cool breeze comes from the depths leaving my skin tingling. Those around me shiver and their bravado falters for a fleeting moment. There is no system message to state we have entered the dungeon, but from the entrance it is readily apparent. This is no ordinary cave.