“I finally used all my string,” Harri sighed.

“Don’t worry Lil’ one, we’re almost there,” The old man replied.

Dawn was breaking, everyone was fast asleep other than Harri and the old man.

“Sorry to ask this, but what is Kethral like?”

“If little Newtown was a flourishing flower, Kethral would be like a rotting weed,”

“What makes it so bad then if it’s a rotting weed,”

“Expensice prices, terrible folks, and… enslavement,”

“Enslavement!”

“It’s a mining town, labour and bankruptcy are quite common,”

“What’s the probability of me going into enslavement,”

“Almost-nothing, although you better start explorin’ the dungeons, or you might not make it back,”

“Dungeons?”

“There places where only adventurers such as yourself can enter, you can go to the public quest board to get some more sals. If it were a labyrinth, it would be a different story,”

“What’s a labyrinth?”

“Pretty much it’s a dungeon with levels and different biomes, from two to infinity, the deeper you go, the more powerful the monsters get, the monsters also change each floor as well,”

“Thank you for the information,”

“Yer welcome,”

“*Yawn* are we there yet?” Kaloko grumbled.

“Right at the gates, just a check with the guards and we’re in,”

The old man cracked the chains and horses came to a halt. The rest of the group was awakened from there slumber by the slow stop. Everyone saw it, the gates to Kethral were closed. What was around the gates were only worn down rocks stuck on top of each other. The gate was made of old cracked and thorny vines woven together. As the group was marvelling about how bad the gate’s condition was.

“Who is it?” Someone from behind the gate yelled.

“Ferdy! I got some adventurers who want to enter yer city,” The old man replied.

“Very well, you got anything else?”

“Just some nice Green Radish,”

The two of them fell silent for a while.

“OPEN THE GATES!” The man from behind the gate yelled.

With a piercing screech due to the meeting of gears, the gate opened very slowly. After what seemed like millennia, the gates were completely opened. A man with a rusty armour came out and stared at the old man.

“You travelling folks can go to the inspection, I'll have to deal with old Ferdy,”

“Thank you,” Atogin replied.

The group all got out of the wagon and headed to the gates, where guards were waiting for them. As the

“We’re just gonna use appraisal on you, is that ok with you all,” Another guard sid.

“We believe that should be fine,”

The group were appraised one at a time and were all allowed to enter the city of Kethral. As they looked around, Harri realized that Ferdy was correct. If Newtown Was a flourishing flower, then Kethral was like a rotting weed. The streets were covered in filth and people were only wearing rags.

The group stayed as close to each other as they could and headed to a secure place. When they found a place that suited them, Harri told everyone what he had learnt due to Ferdy.

“So we go to the dungeon and get a suitable amount of sals, and then go to a trading area,” Harri whispered.

“We should also start using a request board for monsters,” Enar whispered back.

“Agreed,” Atogin replied.

“But where would we sleep? Based on Harri’s information nowhere is safe,” Nicko pointed out.

“Harri and I have brought five sleeping bags and a few other items just for this situation, we can camp out in the dungeon,” Enar said quickly.

“How long will we do that for?”

“It depends on what happens or until we reach the end of the dungeon,”

“Sounds fine by me,”

“Wait! What does ‘what happens’ mean?” Kaloko interrupted.

“If something bad happens, like if we run out of provisions or something rare happens,” Harri replied.

“Like what!”

“An event boss, we’re not having something like that happen again unless we’re ready,” Atogin responded.

“Suitable enough,”

“Don’t worry about food, I can cook the monster meat,” Nicko pointed out.

“Then that’s settled, let’s go and find some requests before we enter,” Harri yelled out.

“Don’t forget about stocking up,” Kaloko replied.

“Forget it Kaloko, Kethral is known for its overpricement, only buy things you need, as some map of the dungeon,” Harri quickly responded with a careful tone.

“Fine,”

“I’ll head off to find a water source, and remember not to waste a single sals,”

Harri then disappeared from the group and started to scour Kethral to find a water source. It wasn’t long until he saw a dam near the mines. As Harri etched closer, he saw what Ferdy was talking about.

Slaves were quite common, small and weak in shackles. Harri removed his eyes from them, not trying to get nightmares. As he got nearer to the dam, the slaves were almost everywhere.

Harri felt sorry, but he could do nothing without causing an uprise. When he entered the dam area, Harri bolted towards the water and then knelt, picked some water with his tophat. Harri then opened his Infinite Item box to see what the water was.

[Kethral dam water]

[Status: unfiltered]

[Amount:100000 litres]

[Best precaution: Boil water and Use [Healing Magic] on the water]

Harri was surprised that healing magic was one of the best precautions, but he had no complaints about it. Harri stood up before he was interrupted by three men, all with.

“Oi lad, yer an adventurer aren’t ye?” One of the men spluttered.

“Yes I am, but I just came here today, so I don’t know any of the rules,” Harri replied formally.

“Yer right Lil’ bugger, it’ll cost 1,000 sals to take a sip here, each,” Another one of the men said.

“Fine by me,”

Harri then opened up his status board and took out three 1000 sals pouches and handed them each one of the pouches. Without giving a care in the world Harri ran out of there.

“Not doing that again,” Harri grumbled when he was running to the dungeon.

After Harri reached the dungeon entrance, he was panting. Everyone else in the group was waiting for him.

“What took you so long,” Enar asked Harri.

“Some drunks didn’t leave me alone, so I gave them some drinking money,”

“Then that’s settled, let’s go get us some requests,”

“Agreed,”

The group went over to a large board and saw that it was full of requests, it was quite easy for them to find quests for monsters in the dungeon. The group had each got one quest and headed to a small worn down hut with a sign the said ‘Kethral Quest acceptance’.

As the group entered, the hut, they were shocked at how small it was. There was only enough room for a group of ten and the receptionist.

“Welcome to Kethrals quest acceptance how may I help you,” The receptionist grunted.

“We will take these five quests please,” Atogin yelled out.

“No need for yelling, I'll just need your party name,”

“Party name… What do you think guys?”

The group muttered to themselves for a while for the name. Unlike everyone else, Harri was thinking by himself. He remembered the conversation with gold before he left, so he decided on a name.

“Our name will be ‘Lunar Rays’, what do you think guys?” Harri said to everyone.

“Not too catchy yet not too little, you have my vote,” Enar replied.

“We agree,” Nicko and Kaloko then said simultaneously.

“Ok, so your name is ‘Lunar rays’, are you okay with this,” The Receptionist grumbled.

“Yes, we are,” Atogin responded.

“Great, now leave,”

The receptionist’s aura turned into bloodlust. Scared of the transformation, the group ran out of the hut.

“Alright then, we’ll be in the dungeon for a while, so we chose the toughest requests, shall we go now?” Enar asked.

“Nothing is stopping us,” Nicko replied. “I am quite hungry for some new monster meat,”

“Yeah, yeah, we know how your ability works so would you shut up about it!” Harri replied.

“Fine,”

“Then let us be off!” Atogin yelled.

The group then galloped towards the dungeon at an alarming rate. Harri was behind the small stampede before he hears something.

“Eyes, soon yours will be my lords” A voice whispered inside Harri’s head.

Harri immediately stopped and turned around to see if he could find the voice. Kaloko took notice of this and stopped as well.

“What’s wrong,” Kaloko asked Harri.

“Did you hear that?” He replied.

“Hear what?”

“It was like... a voice in the wind,”

“I didn’t hear anything,”

“But I did,”

“It’s in your head, worry about it later, we need to enter the dungeon now,”

“Fine,”

Harri and Kaloko started to run again to the dungeon. But the wind that Harri heard wasn’t in his head. Perching on a spike near the dungeon, an unnoticed cloaked figure was trembling.

“How did he notice me?,” The figure asked itself. “I’m one of the 72 pillars, the weakest of them, but how did this child notice me?”

The cloaked figure almost punched a rock near itself. It then stopped at its own accord.

“Idiot Androma, I don’t want to kill everyone here,” The figure started to talk to itself again.

The figure reached into its dark cloak and pulled out a circular ruby. It was slightly larger than the average eye and gave off a clear reflection of the cloaked figure.

“I just need to hide this near the entrance to the room and if the child survives the boss, well done. Maybe a promotion is in order. If not, hopefully, I'll get praised by my lord. Whatever the quicker I do this, the more likely I'll get praised,”

The figure’s body then turned to dust and went into the farthest crevice of the dungeon. The dust reformed into the cloaked figure right outside a massive gate. Not interested in the gate, the figure placed down the ruby.

“[Illusionary Victoir] May the boy with pink hair and a red-eye see this after he defeats the boss,” The figure muttered to itself.

The figure stood up and vanished again to dust. The dust found its way to aspire right near the borders of Grandage. In the middle of the spire, a young man with a blood-red tail was sitting on a throne of bones. The cloaked figure appeared in front of the young man.

“Lord Belphe, I have done what you ask, the stone is now in the deepest part of the Kethral dungeon,” The figure exclaimed as it bowed.

“Very well done my subordinate, I believe that I will produce something for what you did for our lord,” The young man replied.

“L-lord Belphe, I-i don’t know what to say,”

“I believe you do, your daughter,”

“My-my daughter, what does she have to do in all this,”

“Her magical abilities are quite above average, even higher than yours,”

“Yes, I do know that is a fact,”

“So that is why she’ll be taking your place in the 72 pillars,”

“B-but l-lord Belphe no one from the 72 pillars has had a fatality in over a year, so there shouldn’t be any room,”

“I guess that I'll have to make some room then,”

The entire room was then enveloped into flames, surrounding the young man and the cloaked figure.

“Now die for me Androma, may the errors in your ways be cleansed in your next life,” The young man boomed.

“Why are you doing this!” The figure yelled out.

“Because you failed,”

“I’ll make up for it, I’ll even kill the little guy if that’s what is needed to save my life,”

The young man had lost his patience and snapped. He got up from out of the throne of bones and lifted his left hand. The young man then clenched his hand into a fist erupting flames around the cloaked figure. A banshee-like scream then happened for one second and all was silent. The flames subsided, leaving the room as to how it was.

“He showed potential, let’s see how you can do better, isn’t that right Andromane, his daughter,” The young man echoed through the room.

A body then appeared from nowhere and was bowing to the lord. A cloak as black as night, horns as red as roses, armour enveloping its entire body. The small suit of armour ten stood up.

“The last 72 pillars, Andromane, daughter of the Andromeda household at your service, what do you wish for me to do my lord,” A feminine voice came from the armour.

“Keep an eye on that boy, the one your father failed at watching,”

“Yes my lord,”

The armour then turned to dust, leaving only the young man and his throne made of bones.

“Forgive me my lord, but there must be no errors in your wishes,”