Claire was scared. She knew she should be terrified, maybe more, in her current situation. Locked in a Dungeon, a place made by the World itself to oppose the Great Gods if her teachings were correct, without preparations or equipment for such a thing. Let alone the fact that she was barely level five and her cousin and partner (boyfriend?) were only around eight or nine when it's recommended to be at least level ten.

Yet she was also incredibly excited. Claire clutched Mrs. Whitetail in her arm, the rabbit simply accepting its fate without resistance, and mentally prepared herself. All the stories she had heard of epic adventures and tales of fighting creatures most monstrous made her want to be an adventurer, the reason she was going the class route she planned on and even the God she had chosen.

Adventurers generally had three career choices in life: the League of Delvers, Explorer's Union, or Commission Guild. To explore and dive into a death trap for untold rewards, to bravely pioneer the unknown world, or to mercenary for a city. She loved the idea of fighting, the concept of battle as told in grand tales or campfire stories, but actually fighting was terrifying.

Yet as horrible, awful and cruel real fighting was, as much as she hated taking something's life, there was no hiding the complete utter thrill and rush of adrenaline that came with the battle. It worried Claire that maybe she was a bit too much like her cousin Sera at times. It both was exhilarating and sickening when her fist collided with a goblin's skull, a sensation she both regretted and loved about learning [Fist Techniques].

Should she really be so introspective at a time like this? Yes, yes she should, because she was trying to get her head in the game. Jera peered down the hallway, the orange light of the torch revealing nothing but a long, plain wood floor and walls. Wait...

"Really?" muttered Sera incredulously.

Jera took a small stone out of his pouch and tossed it down the hallway while Sera giggled to herself. The stone bounced all the way down before dropping into an pit at the end. He said with a sigh, "Really, a pit trap just like that? Guess that's what a first level is."

"Have neither of you been to a dungeon before? You two sounded like you knew a lot about them," said Claire.

"We're both aiming to be a [Magic Swordsman] in our own way, and both plan to join the League when we're high enough level, so of course we studied up on them. This is our first dungeon though, I mean, we aren't really swimming in magic gear and the nearest dungeon used to be several days away and over forty levels deep," explained Sera.

Jera shrugged and stepped into the hallway. "This is actually a good chance—"

Two quiet puffs of air shot a wooden arrow from Jera's sides. His hardened leather armor protected his left side but the arrow sunk into his right hip straight through his shirt. It made him stumble for a moment at which a wooden block twice as large as his head slam into his skull from above sending him crashing to the ground.

"Jera!" yelled Sera as she ran over and pulled him to a sitting position. He rubbed his head and held a hand to the arrow in his hip, his sword having clattered to the ground when the wood block hit him.

"I'm fine, sort of. Ow, that really stings," he said before waving Claire over. "Claire, cast a heal after Sera gets the arrow. I'd do it but... Man, I didn't even see those. Who puts all these traps in the first hallway?"

Sera relaxed a bit since Jera was being casual about it, although Claire felt that he would be that way even if he were seriously injured. She grabbed the arrow and with a quick jerk yanked it out. "Wooden, huh? Probably barely dented your health, but that block sure knocked you over good."

Claire walked into the hallway, wary of any other traps in the darkened corridor, and only now noticed the small holes in the wall or the larger one in the ceiling. The pit trap had taken her focus enough that she didn't even think to look for more. "This kind of hallway must be something that turns a person into a [Rogue]."

"No doubt," agreed Jera.

Casting a spell, or rather using a spell skill, was always weird for Claire. Each person's mana felt different to them, although it wasn't exactly unique to every individual. A [Mage] might feel it tended toward their preferred element like Sera or it was something about how they thought mana should feel like. Many of the other healers, whether they be [Cleric], [Acolyte] or [Priest] always had similar feelings. Light, fresh air, a warm breeze or the rays of the run.

Her skin felt colder, not unpleasantly but simply cool while a pool of something was dredged up from her feet and through her legs into her hand. The world always dimmed to her sight, as if the shadows grew slightly deeper for a moment, as she spoke. "[Minor Heal]."

A golden light flashed over Jera and both his injuries disappeared instantly. Although she didn't have the [Mana Manipulation] skill even after months of practice, she was used to the feeling of mana since she volunteered to heal at every opportunity. There was a reason her [Minor Heal] level four and so close to five.

"Thanks," said Jera. Sera grasped his hand and hauled him to his feet, then handed him his sword and torch. They walked over to the pit trap glancing at the walls, but the other two relaxed when they looked inside. Wooden spikes littered the bottom, their points gleaming in the torchlight and dangerously sharp. "All five traps in the first spot, huh? Unless it's a special dungeon or has a skill, we don't have to worry about traps."

"Well, as far as we can guess it is a kobold dungeon. They love traps," laughed Sera before she scowled. "Although the traps are never the issue, is it? It's always the monsters."

"The monsters?" asked Claire.

"The limit to the first floor should be fifteen, and if we're unlucky they'll all be kobolds in a large room. Bad odds for us since only Sera has a ranged attack, but if we're lucky it'll be less or even small. First floors have always been recorded as being both strange and simple because it's usually just whatever it gains or learns first."

Claire imagined them three being in a melee with fifteen kobolds and shuddered. "Maybe it's just more bunnies like Mrs. Whitetail?"

Sera clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Claire, maybe you should let the rabbit go."

She squeezed the bunny harder. "But..."

"You can grab one or three on our way out, okay? You can't punch things with a rabbit in your hand, now can you?"

Sera was right, it would be awful if her new bunny went the way of her other new bunny. Claire set the bunny down back in the room full of its brethren and hurried back to her party already missing the warm fluff ball. It was just so rare to see an actual rabbit, especially one that didn't bolt away three times as fast as she could run! "Okay, I'm ready."

She watched Jera edge around the spiky pit since it took up most of the hallway near the door but left enough space to place a foot and more than enough to stand in front of the door. It was made to probably help the kobolds fight in the corridor, sending arrows down it without the fear of being rushed. Claire muttered,"Strange that they didn't do that though."

"What?" asked Sera.

Jera pushed on the door just light enough to crack it in order to peek into the room. They were surprised it wasn't locked, and then further surprised when a few pairs of eyes peered back through it. That surprise tripled when the kobolds yelped and threw their bodies into the door.

That was how they found out the door opened both ways and everyone gained a new appreciation for the spiky pit of death. It was lucky that Jera chose to open the door since he had enough bulk and strength to catch himself and push back. Sera jumped over the pit and slammed into the door. Their combined strength beat the kobolds back and sent the door flying open.

The room was sweltering compared to the chilly outside. A dozen nests of either grass or furs were spread out around a pit that housed a burning fire. Eight kobolds were inside the room, all the same mottled brown color but each dressed in differing equipment. All three humans immediately noticed the one in the back though.

Eyes like the open sky dyed crimson stared at them with open contempt from beneath a fox skull helmet. Claire expected hatred or anger, maybe even fear like all the goblins displayed. Its, although Claire felt it was a her, scales were beautifully white with curled blue horns. She spoke, a voice like clear spring wind, "More invaders, huh? Shoot them."

That snapped Jera and Sera into action. Two kobolds in the back, one of which she recognized from earlier, nocked a white arrow on their bone bow and sent it flying with a yell. "[[Pierce]]!"

"Behind!" yelled Jera as he pulled the door shut. They all ducked behind it right before the two arrows struck, and then poked out through, the door. He threw it back open before Sera shot off a flame toward a kobold near them. "Claire with me, front line. Sera, get the archers!"

"Got it," said Sera as she leapt into the fray. Two kobolds with short swords and shields made of bone, crude things that looked more jagged than sharp, pincered her as she ran by. She wasn't graceful like Jera with her swordsmanship, her parry was more battering the other weapon with her sword than a proper technique. Jera stepped in and swung in a single smooth motion making the other kobold block with his shield instead of keep with his strike.

"It didn't break?" muttered Jera in surprise. His sword wasn't the best, but considering his strength and it was hard iron against bone it should've cut or smashed the shield to pieces. Still, the kobold was shuddering behind his shield trying to recover from the blow so Claire thought it was time to make a move.

So many creatures in such a small room was an alien experience. At most they had fought three goblins at once in the open field and even that felt like it was too many, and she didn't possess the teamwork and trust that Jera and Sera had with each other.

With some concentration she felt her feet get heavier, as if tensed and ready to spring, before she kicked off. Claire blurred for a moment as she used [Energy Burst] to clear several feet from the door to beside the shield kobold and threw a punch. Her fist, mildly protected by thin leather gloves, smashed into the kobold's head and sent him to the ground. It didn't feel like punching a goblin; its hard scales refused to tear or rip.

Sera leapt over the fire pit, sending a [Minor Ignite] toward one archer as she brought down her sword on the other. The magical fire engulfed the poor kobold with ease, charcoaling its scales and snuffing out its life as swiftly as fire burned oxygen. The other archer blocked with its bone bow, barely deflecting the blow but shattering the bow into pieces.

"Good work you two," said the white kobold. Claire had missed it but it ended up behind Sera. Jera was fending off two kobolds for a moment so he was unable to help in time.

Sera spun upon hearing that voice of what likely the leader, but the white kobold kept to her blindspot and sank both its claws into Sera. Through her armor. It then ripped them out and leapt away from Sera's retaliating blow. Claire had to hurry over and heal her! What kind of kobold can just claw through hardened leather like that?

"Sera! Damnit," said Jera. He tried to go over to Sera but every step he took was blocked by a kobold. The one with the shield went left and the other that didn't wear armor and had only a sword went right. Jera dodged a sword to his leg and swept his open hand over his sword. "[Icy Blade]."

He changed his grip to a two-handed style as the sword gained a blue sheen of ice, mist falling off of it due to the heat of the room, and had a thin, solid icy blade extend from its tip by several inches. Claire had wondered why Jera didn't use a shield!

With his extended reach he parried a blow from the shielded kobold and expertly maneuvered into range of the shieldless one. Its eyes widened and then glared in acceptance before Jera sliced through its stomach with abnormal ease. It sputtered something Claire thought sounded like 'useless again' before it died.

Claire was about to sprint over to support Sera when agony exploded in her leg. She kicked out reflexively and saw that a kobold edged into her field of vision. She worked to ignore the sharp and hot pain in her leg and faced her new opponent. Every person that aimed to be an adventurer of some sorts was trained and taught certain skills. One of which was learned brutally but necessarily: [Pain Resistance].

"Never useless, Trald," said the kobold that had stabbed her in the leg. It twirled its iron dagger in its claws while keeping its other claw on a bone dagger as its side. "Hmm, weakest one? Chion, take other."

Claire backed up only to see another kobold shrug and run over at Jera. Where had they come from? A door was open to their right that hadn't been! These two new kobolds weren't like the others, this Claire knew. They had metal weapons and were covered in various armors ranging from bone, leather and even some metal parts. Claire yelled, "Strong reinforcements!"

"Damn," cursed Jera.

Sera was clutching her side as the blood poured out of her armor with each vigorous movement, but was fighting off the white kobold with some difficulty. No doubt if she wasn't wounded she could easily best the leader kobold, but those claws were something they didn't watch out for.

"Sera, use a potion!" ordered Jera.

"Didn't want to waste the money, but no choice, huh?" Sera slashed wide fending off the white kobold for a moment enough that she snagged out a wood vial and tore the cork on top off with her teeth. A quick drink later her wounds had vanished and she stood straighter. "Let's see how you handle me now."

The white kobold clacked her fangs. "Healing is it? I wonder how many of those potions you all have?"

Claire barely noticed the glint of light off the dagger as it cut at her throat. She dodged the lethal attack by a hair's breadth letting it instead open up her shoulder. Right, she had a dangerous enemy of her own and couldn't afford paying attention to the others. They were far more experienced and a higher level than her anyway.

"Only us left? As usual, need others to level," complained her enemy. It disturbed her that these kobolds could speak, although their voices were rough and accented unlike their leader's. Claire chanced a glance around to see it was true, only the leader was left versus Sera, the other dangerous one was facing off against Jera and she had her own. Three against three. Had her party already cut down seven kobolds? She didn't even notice when the two near Sera, ones without any armor and or even weapons, were slain.

Her mana gathered in her feet again as she turned and showed her back to her enemy. One on one fight? Clearly this monster was dangerous and skilled! Claire used [Energy Burst] to appear behind the one Jera was fighting and threw a heavy punch. Golden light gathered in her fist as she brought it down. "[Lesser Smite]!"

"Chion!" the one behind her yelled, but was too late. Her fist slammed into its back, light exploding into physical force, and tore through him with ease. Or so she expected, but only his scales were shattered and his leather tunic torn instead of like what happened to goblins.

When she tried to pull back her fist she found something thin was wrapped around her wrist that was tethered to the ground. It kept her off balance enough that this kobold, Chion, sank a dagger into her ribs dangerously close to her heart. No matter how many health points you might have, it merely let you last longer through horrible wounds. Lethal and fatal injuries were still that. Although she had heard that if you had high enough health and vitality you could last over a day without your heart or even lungs.

Those were the thoughts that ran through her mind as she felt the dagger break a rib. Although not without cost. Jera opened the kobold from head to toe with an overhead strike, the magical ice far sharper than normal. "[Minor Heal], [Minor Heal]!"

Desperately she called upon her skill, its magic working through her body and healing up all her injuries. She felt that she had maybe half of her mana left. Jera stepped and flowed around her a moment later to parry a dagger that was aimed at the base of her neck. "There you are. Must be a kobold [Rogue] or something, I can't even sense it with [Sense Presence]."

"Master, hurry and—stupid Master," grumbled the kobold before it too was engulfed in flame from a [Minor Ignite]. That didn't stop it from throwing its dagger as Sera in a last revenge effort before the fire consumed it. Unfortunately Sera was limping from one leg and couldn't cut it out of the air with a sword so it sank into an exposed part of her sword arm.

"W-Where did the white one go? Oh, Sera, hold on!" Claire ran over to Sera and cast [Minor Heal]. Sera's injuries vanished under the magical light, and she looked toward Jera.

He nodded and gestured to his legs which had several long cuts that bled badly. "Didn't take a single scratch until that armored one came up. It conjured traps that messed me up enough for it to land several hits."

"[Minor Heal]. Really? You couldn't have been fighting for more than several seconds!" exclaimed Claire.

"It was good, probably level five or so with a couple extra skills. Definitely a young dungeon though, those last three were probably the oldest and the white one was the [Dungeon Master], no doubt about that. I've never even heard of a white kobold before. How was she?"

Sera grimaced and rubbed her thigh. All of them were bloody even if their injuries were gone, and this was just the first room. "Good. Don't know if you caught much of the fight but after I cut down the archers she stepped in and got a cheap shot it. After that though, even after healing, she was about a match for me without magic. I was going to step it up but after you got that one with the daggers she bailed out of the room."

"I saw her claws go through your armor," said Claire.

"Yeah, skill or not her claws were sharper than my blade. I'd put my bet on either magic or high [Claw Techniques]. It makes monster's claws way sharper, whereas [Fist Techniques] makes our hands harder." Sera laughed and grinned. "Still though, that's what, nine dead? First level can only have fifteen or so monsters so that means five left, the white kobold and a boss room if there is one."

"No," stated Jera flatly. "I mean, no boss room. We need at least two more people and level ten to match a boss. Even then that might be too risky."

"Are bosses that strong?" asked Claire.

Sera ruffled Claire's hair which made it stick up everywhere due to her bloody hand. Claire swatted Sera and pushed her away before trying to sort out her hair. To think they could become so gross and dirty within several minutes. "Yeah, they start out really strong but don't ever grow like normal dungeon creatures. They're supposed to be easily as strong as five of their level equivalents, which would be five for the first floor."

Claire was level five so she tried to imagine five of her fighting one creature and still being beaten back. She shuddered.

"We aren't doing the boss," said Jera again.

"I got it, I got it, jeez. No boss, but the other rooms, right?" Sera clasped her hands together and pleadingly stared at Jera.

He sheathed his sword and sighed. "Yeah, sure. No real reason not to, I guess, if this is the level they're at," he said kicking a dead kobold. "You said the left room?"

"Yeah, that white one ditched to the left room," said Sera motioning toward the door. The room was square with a door on every side, so directions felt relative to where they entered from.

Claire looked around the room, gaze pausing over every nest and dead kobold, before asking, "What do we do now?"

"I would say loot the bodies, but there really isn't anything here, huh? The armor they wear is tiny, weapons too."

Jera picked up a couple of iron daggers, the handles were too small for his to hold properly but he strapped them to his belt. "A kid could probably use these, or we could get a a few dozen coppers for the metal at least. Cut off the horns too, I think the Guild pays five copper per kill."

"Aw yes!" cheered Sera who quickly began butchering the bodies for the horns.

Claire didn't feel right to do that to something that talked, that spoke their language, even if it was a creature. The door on the right wall was open and she was curious so she walked over to it. She pulled open the door to see nothing but a hallway of darkness with light at the end, just barely.

"Wait for a moment, Claire," scolded Jera. She knew it was dangerous! It wasn't like she was going to go ahead alone.

Minutes later they had packed away the kobold horns and proceeded down the hallway. Jera led in front with his torch, freshly lit from the fire pit, with Sera and Claire side by side behind him. The door at the end had a silhouette of light around it showing that it was lit inside. And it was also barely ajar.

Jera pushed open the door and relaxed when there was nobody inside. "This must have been where those reinforcements came from. It appears to be a training room. That's... unique. I don't think that I've ever read about a first floor with a creature training room."

"Just like you've never read about a white kobold, huh?" mocked Sera. "Oh, my, gods. What in the gods in that!?"

The room was exactly like something you would see near the guild. Wood floors, polished walls, training dummies and archery targets on opposite sides of the rooms. A shelf of various bone weaponry laid off to the side, but what really attracted Claire's attention was in the middle.

A table sat in the center of the room with several small stools huddled around it. Atop it was a wooden board with colored stones in various places on the grid as if in the middle of the game. Claire knew the game, as did most children in Ardor, as it was a common and cheaply made set. Over on the other side of the table were wooden cards scattered about, half of them on the floor, with odd pictures carved on them but still recognizable from the numbers and letters.

"This is their home," muttered Claire in realization. This wasn't just a dungeon or where they lived, but it was a home. It made her feel... she wasn't sure exactly but her stomach hurt as she gazed around with a new perspective. The room with a bunch of nests, the bunny room, this new training room.

The others hadn't heard her as they gathered around a statue of a warrior kobold in a brilliant pose. Or, she corrected, it was the glittering gem chest next to said statue. Claire's realization took a backseat to the wonder and glory that was this massive chest made from the ruby-like stone. Growing up in Ardor made it impossible not to recognize it..

"A rosestone chest! How! Why? Can we take this out of here?" Sera hugged the chest and squeezed so hard her muscles trembled. "I want it so bad, so very bad. This alone is worth hundreds gold easy. We could be rich!"

Jera was marvelling at it as well, if only because none of them had seen such sheer quantity of rosestone. Although it naturally formed due to the swamp's natural magic and it made it far more common than gems, it was still similar enough to a precious gem to be worth a lot.

"A hundred gold? That... that sounds like a lot," said Claire. She had never held a gold coin before but had at least seen one every now and then in the church's coffers.

"It's like, a million coppers!" yelled Sera.

Oh. Wow.

"Yeah, but you know chests can't leave the dungeon. They crumble upon exiting the dungeon. I understand, I really do, but at least it will give us something when we open it." Jera ran a hand along the chest longingly. Claire did too after a moment just to feel and appreciate it. She wasn't likely to ever touch actual rosestone. "What I'm wondering is why it's here. There was a bone chest in the entrance which is rare enough, but for the [Dungeon Master] to be able to make this kind of chest..."

"Nobody knows how dungeons really work. Sure, we know it's run off of mana and a lot of history and interrogating smart [Dungeon Masters] let us know stuff, but beyond that? What if it's actually something easy to make because the dungeon spawned in the Rosestone Swamp? Who even cares? I don't!" Sera threw the lid open before anybody could object.

"Claire's luck is higher than ours by a lot so she should've opened it, Sera! You're always like this," said Jera even though he didn't truly seem upset. Claire was a bit disappointed that she couldn't open it.

"Oh. Oooh!" Sera dug into the chest and pulled out a knife. A dull grey stone knife that was properly sized for a human and well made. All three of them stared in wonder at the several rosestones as big as a fingernail embedded in the handle. A line of rosestone ran through the middle of the blade and a stone as big as the tip of a finger sat at the pommel of the knife.

"We're rich." Jera stumbled and fell to his knees as Sera danced with the knife held in the air.

Maybe it was the fact that the chest took away the splendor of such small stones, or that she couldn't really comprehend what they meant in terms of many, but Claire knew that it was far more than killing goblins could earn. "H-How much, um, do you think?"

Sera inspected it closely. "Eight small gems, they look like they aren't really thick, and that line of it is probably worth a gold or two each. The pommel stone is so nice and round it would be worth a few! Trading it in... ugh, they're going to tax it hard since we aren't part of the League, but even then maybe like ten gold. That's a thousand silvers or a hundred thousand coppers. This, this right here is why we risk life and limb!"

Jera tried to stand but his legs were weak and shaking. "I just can't believe it. A couple weeks ago my mom wanted me to change over to be a [Apprentice Butcher]. They make like eighty coppers a day. What if there's more?"

Sera's grip on the knife tightened, but she jumped as if scared to break it and put it in her pack carefully. "The other rooms. I used a lot of mana and I don't have the best wisdom to recover it. I think I'm at a quarter, maybe a third. I could make it to over half if we rest most of the day."

"Same, around a third right now, although my full is like your half," said Jera with a smile and shrug.

"Perks of the class! Claire?" asked Sera.

"I'm low, as in I don't think I could even heal someone right now." Claire "Although it only takes me around eight hours to recovery in total."

"I think it's around half a day for me. Twelve or thirteen hours? Ah, my mana capacity isn't near you two's probably," said Jera.

"Over an entire day for me. Hey, being a [Mage] means having high capacity! It's better to cast a lot once than to cast a little but recover quicker, okay?"

"I didn't say anything." Jera whistled.

"Well, we are sort of locked in here for a whole day. It's nicely lit in this room and the floor isn't dirty so maybe we could wait it out in here?" suggested Claire. Truthfully she would've preferred if they camped in the bunny room, but it was next to the entrance outside and if anything saw them, like goblins for instance, they would be ambushed and attacked.

"Sounds good."

"Alright."

They didn't bring supplies or camping gear with them since they were supposed to return to town at night, but they could make do. First though Claire went over and picked up the bar of wood that sat next to the door to put it on the lock handles. With that door barred they could at least rest in relative safety of being snuck up on.

Sera giggled. "Still can't believe we got the knife. Maybe we could buy some real good armor? Hard leather isn't exactly superior to metal most of the time. Ugh, I’m thinking too small. How do you even spend this much money?"

"Easily considering good magic equipment goes for hundreds of gold. Once people come here to loot these chests the value of rosestone might dive a bit though," said Jera. He walked over and squatted on one of the small stools.

Claire thought he looked a bit funny sitting on it, but when he gestured to the cards and board she smiled and joined him. "Might as well pass the time doing something fun, right? Still, this is a weird room. Training I could understand, but games?"

"I call winner," called Sera.