“At the end of every level, there is a portal that leads to the next one,” said the lockmaster Kivok. “The portals, however, do not open unless you have finished the quest of that level.”

“So if I want to enter the 2nd level, I will first have to do the quest of the 1st level?” Terax asked.

“Exactly,” replied Kivok. “Each adventurer receives a unique quest for any level that he enters. The quest gets displayed as text on the portal itself when it is locked. And once you finish the quest, the lock on the portal disappears, and you get access to the next level. And no, you don’t have to repeat the quest every time you do the previous levels.”

“Then why do you want to unlock the portal with lockpicking if it can be unlocked by doing the quest? I mean, why go through all this hassle?”

“It is because quests at the lower levels become insanely difficult. Do you how many levels are in the dungeon in first place?

“Everyone knows it. So after Earth got the Virus, it sneezed and generated the seven dungeon levels. The 7th level is most important because it contains both Earth’s Core and the Virus. I don’t think humans have reached the 7th floor yet because Earth is still sick.”

If humans reached the 7th level, then they would have already killed the Virus, healed Earth’s sickness, and saved humanity from the monsters.

“What you said is correct,” said Dragoona. “Earth is sick, and humans have not reached the 7th floor yet, which does contain the Virus and Earth’s Core. But the dungeon does not only contain seven floors. The actual number of floors is forty.”

“You should not have said that my lady,” said Kivok with a troubled face. “The actual levels of the dungeon are among the most classified information.”

Terax was surprised. Ever since he was born he was told by everyone that the dungeon had only seven levels. It was common knowledge to everyone living in any of the four kingdoms.

“Weird,” said Dragoona. “In my hometown, everyone knew the dungeon contained forty levels.”

“How?” Terax asked. “If both Earth’s Core and the Virus are at the 7th, what else would be below this level?”

“Kivok, should I tell him?”

“No, what you have told him is more than enough,” Kivok replied. “I don’t want to go to jail. I am far too old for cold and stinky cells.”

Terax was pissed off. “What? Just tell me. After you have told me this much, can’t you tell more just a bit more? Dragoona, please?”

Dragoona smiled, “You look cute in this pained expression.”

AAAAAH, I will kill this stupid dragon.

“Don’t be a hasty young man. Knowing what is under the 7th level won’t benefit you in any way.”

“I don’t care. I want to know about it.”

“Hehe, Terax your curiosity will someday kill you.”

***

After a few minutes, Terax calmed down, and Kivok continued, “So the floor quests get insanely difficult at the 5th level, which is why humans are still stuck at this level for 50 years. The only way I can think of to bypass the 5th level is not to follow the quest but to open the portal through lockpicking.”

“You mean more like cheating the system and not following the quest rule?”

“That is right. This is the best way for us to reach Earth’s Core and kill the Virus after 100 bloody years. It is such a disgrace. Our population reached nearly 8 billion a hundred years ago, but now we are just a single million.”

What the heck? This turned from trying to open up a necromancer’s lock to some noble cause to save Earth.

“Seems quite interesting to me,” said Dragoona. “We will help you.”

And as always, she does whatever she wants without my consent. Dragons have bad manners.

“So, what exactly do you want us to help you with?” said Terax. “We are mere low-level adventurers. We know next to nothing about unlocking doors and portals.”

Kivok smiled. “I am more than aware of that young man. I need you two to give me a sample of the portal’s purple fluid.”

“A purple fluid?”

“Yes, after you finish any quest level, the portal turns from a metallic door into a thick, semi-transparent fluid. At the center of this fluid is a purple fluid that keeps spinning around itself. Amazing, isn’t it?”

Kivok gave Terax a glass container in response to what he said.

“Dip this glass container into the purple fluid and bring it to me. I think that this fluid holds the key to unlocking the portals without doing the quests.”

“Sounds easy to me,” said Terax, pocketing the glass container. “And by giving you this sample, you will unlock the door to the necromancer?”

“Yes, that I shall. But you should be extra careful when you go through the first level. The first level is easy, but the pendant you are wearing will make it challenging. It is a high risk, high reward item. But at the same time, it may possibly be the best dungeon item I have seen in my entire life.”

Terax eyes grew large. “How did you know?”

No one is supposed to know about the existence of the pendant.

“I got a skill to see all the equipment you are wearing along with their stats and descriptions. Do not worry. I won’t steal it from you nor tell anyone about it. It won’t benefit me at my age. And even if anyone did steal it, it is soulbound to you. This means that the only one who can benefit from the pendant is you. But I wonder, who would throw such a fantastic pendant to a low level adventurer like you? It would have been an extremely useful item for the top adventurers.

“...” Terax kept silent. He didn’t tell him that his father gave him the pendant just before he died. That it was a gift from his mother before she went missing.

“Terax?” Dragoona gave him a cold grin as she slowly squeezed his neck. “It seems you have got a VERY important thing you have not told me about?”

Here comes the annoying dragon’s turn.

“Why should I tell you about the pendant if you didn’t let me see what is in the third and fourth row of your drawers?”

She tightened her grip on his neck that it became hard to breathe, “Still bothered by such a childish thing? That is up to me, not up to you.”

Dragoona unbuttoned Terax’s shirt, but he wasn’t wearing the pendant.

She looked frustrated, “Where is it? Have you two been messing with me?”

“No, the pendant is invisible from both sight and touch,” Terax replied. “I will tell you all about the pendant after we are done with this.”

And in return for telling you about the pendant, I will open all your drawers without your consent.

She released her hand from his neck. “Good. If you disagreed, I would have chocked you to death.”

“Now now, this is not a good time to be arguing,” Kivok said. He didn’t seem the least bit interested in what the two were doing. “I hope everything I have told you is clear so far?”

“You want us to get a sample of this purple fluid that appears after you unlock the portal, right?”

“Yes, that is exactly what I need. And take this item with you. You might need it considering that you can’t even unequip the pendant.”

Kivok gave the duo a worn-looking scroll, Terax immediately inspected it.

[Teleport Scroll] {Rare} - Allows you and your party to instantly return back to the entrance of the dungeon. Can only be used once per day.