I was waiting at the city exit fiddling with the map with the presumed dungeon location waiting for the team of adventurers to arrive. It was hard to stand still both way to nervus and exited at the same time.

As the team walked up to me a large man split off to talk with me. “Are you Lucky”

“Only sometimes sir”

“Hahaha... hopefully this is one of those times. I think we're going to get along just fine.”

“My names Roy the paladin and leader of this group. The lady in white there is Katie our E ranked Healer and support mage, the one with the spear is Aaron our medium range fighter. The one with the hood is Steve our ranger, and finally Alan our berserker.”

Roy and Katie seemed to be human while Aaron a merfolk, Steve an elf, and Alon a lion beast kin.

“Quite the diverse and promising looking team you got there.”

“Ha see I knew I'd like you. That’s one of the reasons a team like us were picked. No one nation or species getting an advantage.”

“It's well-known that if your respectful to a young dungeon as its first divers it might form a sort of favor for you, maybe letting you off in a dangerous situation in its halls later in its dungeon just so it can see you try again.”

“Well follow me then, I know this forest like the back of my hand.”

“As you may or may not know the plant life, terrain and climate is ever changing as you travel through this forest. As the goddess nova intended its quite the site to see. But unfortunately, it’s a pain to travel through at any reasonable speed. With a proper road it would only take maybe ½ a day to get their but unfortunatelyit's going to take us about 2 days.”

As we hiked threw the forest, I started hearing strange sounds coming from the team behind me. Turning around I was shocked to see them picking plants. I almost fainted when I saw Steve shout down an eagle.

“What the Hell Are You Guys Doing! Do you want the goddess to smite you!”

They all broke out in laughing.

“This isn't a joke quickly pray for forgiveness.”

They all laughed even harder until Roy said “It's fine. One of the reasons it took so long to send a team was the negotiations with the goddess.”

“There will be a road built and all resources may be taken from the island as long as it is handed over to the dungeon. As put into the goddess's words “Kronos so did enjoy his monsters” and what better way to tribute that than a dungeon.”

Lucky had a hard time believing that, but none of us were dead yet so he went along with it and continued leading.

Half way through the hike we set up camp to rest. As we were setting up our dwellings, I noticed something was off.

“Wait if you have been collecting animals and plants this whole time where is all of it?”

Katie spoke up pointing to the ring on here finger “right here, it’s a storage ring. Usualy we wouldn't be able to afford it. But the higher ups gave it to us to give it and everything in it to the dungeon as an offering.”

“But why would they give it something like that?”

“To influence its growth. A dungeon can only create what its absorbed. By feeding it rare magical and mondain materials and creatures it will start to grow, spawn, and drop them as loot. By carefully feeding it we can maximize the profit gained and minimize danger taken.”

After that Exhange we all chatted and got to know each other and discussing proper dungeon diving tactics. After a nights rest, we continued on our way.

Late the next day we spotted a small structure sticking out of a cliff side. Sticking our heads inside even I could feel the change in mana density. It almost felt like a static charge in the air.

Katie spoke up “It's definitely a dungeon alright. It’s pretty smart and powerful for one it's age too. The design on its archway is well done and its mana is rich and pure.”

Roy stepped up “Ok people, looks like we got a quick bloomer here. Well Prepare for a proper fight. Set up camp and get some rest, well give our offerings now and go in tomorrow morning. Katie the ring please.”

“Yes boss”

Roy duped out the contents of the ring and after also throwing the ring in shouted “Oh great dungeon please forgive our future transgressions. We don’t come only to loot but to also respectfully challenge your halls so we may both grow stronger in the process.”

At the end of his speech everything slowly started disappearing into nothing almost like it was never there in the first place. As I watched the process all of what I came to be known as team Chimaera gasped.

“Huh? What's wrong.” I said looking around.

“Look” they said pointing to where the materials used to be. Carved into the ground were the words (Thank you, watch your step)

“It is a little strange but dungeons are intelligent right? You were just talking to it.”

“No that was just a ceremony. dungeons are instinct more than anything. There supposed to barely be smart enough to build and run their dungeon. No something is definitely wrong; they should not be able to talk back.”

Every one took a moment of silent concern while looking at the dungeon. Until Roy spoke up.

“This doesn't change anything; It's actually better. Imagine the kind of reward and reputation well git from being the first people to ever bring back information from the first documented sentient dungeon.”

“Now get some rest. If this thing can think then this is going to be far harder than any of us signed up for. But we can't turn back. We will be laughing stock if we can't map out a dungeons 1st floor no matter what kind it is.”

That night I don’t think anyone slept well, too busy thinking of the fresh hell that awaited us in the morning.

As we entered the dungeon, we took its words too heart and walked in full formation, watching our every step. Roy and Alan up front Katie in the middle for protection; Steve and Aaron behind her and me in the back as support and to watch our 6.

As we walked Alan taped the ground in front of him good thing too as a minute in and Krack! The floor in front of them broke. Taking a look into the pit he nodded and spoke.

“Damn this dungeon is not joking around. First pit trap and it has mana crystal spikes at the bottom.”

Perking up I asked. “Mana crystal!? Should we collect it?”

Katie giggled “Not unless you want to jump in, and Based on what my mana since can tell its chaotic mana anyways, Basically useless.”

Roy “Come on people stay focused. If we weren't warned beforehand that could have killed one of us. This is just the beginning; we have a long way to go.”

We soon came to a small room that looked empty, when snakes came bursting out from the moss patches on the walls. We smacked the quickest ones away and got in a circle around Katie. She cast an aura around us of minor cure, to keep us safe from the effects of the snake's venom.

Roy smacked his shield activating a skill to attract most of the snakes. While killing the snakes wasn’t impossible it wasn’t easy ether, these were some of the biggest and fastest snakes I've ever seen. The only help was that I noticed that there seemed to be a spark that came off some of the fastest snakes right as they lunged, letting us perry and dodge if we were vigilant enuf.

“Flury strikes!” Alan roared out swinging his broad sword in red flashes cutting down most of the snakes Infront of Roy. But as he did so he snagged a few vines hanging from the celling which must have activated a trap off sorts because giant scorpions and spiders rained down on us.

Katie screamed and faltered in her casting. I quickly felt the poisons start flowing threw me and lost most of my strength. In my blurry vision I saw a snake pounce at my face. With all my strength I was barely able to raise my dagger as it impaled its self.

About to pass out I heard Roy yell something to Katie and felt a wave of relief wash over me. But the battle wasn’t over yet so we regrouped and started kicking, smashing, punching, and cutting our way through the room until nothing was left alive.

Once we knew the coast was clear we all collapsed, whether it be for panting, shaking, or crying. I chose all of the above. After a few seconds we were all startled back to attention when an enormous amount of XP came rushing into our Cores.

*Core Level up 4 ---> 6*

“Wow... is that normal for dungeon creatures?”

Roy started Laughing and didn’t answer till ½ a minute later. “No, not that kind of strategy, speed, or strength. At least not this early on; if we didn’t have a healer, we'd all be dead. And definitely not that kind of XP. I guess a sentient dungeon is quite special.”

“Look” said Aaron said pointing his spear.

Turning around all the creatures were disappearing and leaving behind their loot. There was snake skin, fangs, stingers, spools of spider silk and even meat the strange thing was it’s all of the highest quality. Plus, there was even a small pile of silver and gold nuggets.

“Man, even the loot is amazing.” after a small celebration and break we distributed the loot and continued on.

With great difficulty we slowly made our way through the strange tunnels. Avoiding or disarming traps, killing creatures, and grabbing loot. It was not all smooth sailing though. Let's just say we all have a few more nightmares in are heads and holes in are clothes. Whether that’s threw being impaled in the side by a sike or blinded by a fish before being jumped by a group of horned rabbits.

Their leader seemed too somehow be special, doing and taking a lot more damage than normal. Some of my arrows bounces off it. I mean come on It’s a rabbit! This dungeon is crazy. Once Katie patched up our eyes and... holes. We all worked together killing its friends and distracting it before Alan was finally able to decapitate it.

It dropped its sturdy pelt, Strong horn, and gleaming meat as loot along with a small ear ring made of platinum with a small wind mana crystal embedded in it. Beautiful and ripe for enchanting. We decide to give it to Katie for working so hard in keeping us alive.

After way too many close calls, especially one with a boulder. Luckily, we set it off before we got too far into the hallway. We set up camp and ate some of the looted meat. Every cut was tender and juicy filled with both mana and flavor energizing us, pushing us to continue on our jurney. Until we made it to an empty room with a vine wall.

Katie “The vine with the flowers is definitely magical but I've never seen anything like it. Be careful everyone this is definitely a trap I just don’t know what kind.”

Slowly getting closer nothing happened, even when we touched it. So, I peeked through some vines and called out “Guys there's a treasure chest on the other side!”

Alan “Thin let's get this stupid plant out of the way.” as soon as he pulled out his weapon to attack, the flowers all shot out a different elemental attack pelting all of us and pushing us back. But Alan didn’t get pushed back instead he got injured and enraged. Striking back at the vine it managed to put up a weak barrier preventing any major damage.

This only enraged Alan more so he tanked a few more shots and charged a killing blow. Noticing a few falling rocks, I looked up and saw the ceiling cracking. I tried yelling out for him to stop but it was too late.

He swung splitting the plant wall in half and dropped a pond of lava on his head. After a brain curdling scream, he was dead. But the danger wasn’t over and the lava came crashing down at us. Roy brought up his shield but was suddenly pushed out of the way. Aaron jumped in front of us instead and created a wall of water.

An explosion of steam nocked us all down. When we could see again, we were safe but Aaron had half his body burned away. Katie rushed up to him to try to save his life. When she kneeled down to see if he was still breathing a lava crabs' pincer suddenly burst out of the rock and cut her neck with its claws, fortunately the intence heat burned the wound reduceing blood loss.

Roy, Steve and I rushed the crab in a rage sacrificing our weapons to the crabs melting claws if it meant one more attack landed on it. Roy with a great shout of rage smashed his shield down on it. Cracking its skull open killing it. But melting the shield in the process.

Rushing back over to Katie she was still grasping onto life using here magic but she was running out quickly. While it seemed, Aaron had already passed away. Not being able to help we could only watch as our friend died.

That is until I got an idea. Rushing over to where the chest had been, I started picking at the hardened rock with all I had. Even though the rock was still hot and burning me, I willed threw it till finally. With a resounding crack I broke through and opened the chest, hoping that just this once I live up to my name. And thank the gods I did. Siting there was a health potion, one of the rare magical items we just gave the dungeon earlier.

I ran back to Katie but there was a problem. She couldn't drink it. So, thinking fast I poured a little bit onto the mound then asked for one of Steves arrows, for I had run out. He quickly gave it to me before even realizing what I was about to do.

I stabbed the arrow into her neck creating a new hole and forced the liquid down. The wound quickly healed over but it left a nasty scar. After confirming that she was breathing we all passed out on the floor. We were awoken a few hours later by Katie.

Her eyes were red and puffy, she must have cried for a while. She tried saying something but all that came out was a small squeak. After a few more tears she waved us to follow her into the next room.

Following her the tunnel suddenly opened up into a massive cavern. It was like we stepped into another world. It almost looked like a true paradise with beautiful colors reflecting off surfaces, birds chirping, and ‘Clouds’ floating above. But we quickly remembered where we were whin, we spotted wolves looking at us from the trees nearby.

“Let's go back now. Weve gained and lost enough for one day.” Roy said before walking a few feet forward and yelling. “We are leaving now and wish no more harm to you or your creatures. May we leave in peace?”

After a minute there was a flash of light. When the light faded there was a chest with a note on top of it. The note read “You may leave in peace. In this chest is a one-time gift for doing so well as my first adventures. I wish you the best of luck on your next dive.”

Opening the chest, we were all aw struck, there was 2 small statues of our dead friends. One of Alan bravely slaying a giant snake and one of Aaron sheltering us from the wave of magma. Overcome with emotions we all started sobbing in each other's embrace for half an hour. Eventually calming down we looked back into the chest and were struck with another wave of aw.

There was 4 mithril rings embedded with space crystals and enchanted for storage. Putting them on and checking how much space they could hold found them about the 5 cubic miles large. They could almost be considered national treasures and we now had 4?

There was another note beside them which read “P.S. you better give me a good name.”

Wiping away some tears Roy yelled “We will, and that name will be known across the world as the dungeon we will someday beat. So, you better be prepared for when team chimera comes back for round 2!” we turned around and made our way back.

It took us a few days but we made it back to the city. I signed up at the adventurer's guild and signed up with team chimera. Now that my cores level 10 my magic affinity unlocked. Turns out I have a rare storm affinity making my future look bright. Unfortunately, while I joined Steve left, stating that he was going to sell the ring and live peacefully with his family for many years to come.

Me Roy and Katie discussed and we decided on what we would ask for from the mayor and created our report. This time on the way up to her office I walked with much more confidence having experienced too much in the dungeon to fear a little Meeting. Handing over our report a variety of emotions appeared on her face as she read it “Is this actually true?”

“Yes, mam every word.”

“If you're lying to me, I'll kill you all personally. But if this is true, I can grant any reward you want. What shall it be?”

“We only want 2 things. 1, compensation for the deceased's families. And 2... we wish for you to personally Train us.” the room went silent for a moment before she gave a grin that sent a chill so cold down my spine, I instantly regrated our decision. But it was too late as she spoke up saying

“I can do that.”