“You see, when I broke down the door, I broke protocol, and likely pissed off our host. The runed orbs used to unlock it are filled with mana that the dungeon absorbs through the lock. Destroying the entrance to a dungeon like that will require said dungeon to create a new one. Now, I’m sure this explains plenty.”

“But I thought mana was a useless resource,” I said as I left utterly confused. “I mean, we can’t control it, right? How is it then put in those orbs?”

“It isn’t. Dungeons have to do that for us. They are the only beings that can manipulate mana. The way it’s usually done is by having high-level adventurers enter dungeons with an empty orb, and if they spend enough time in there, the dungeon will fill it with a portion of mana. We’re not quite sure why they do it. Our best researchers are just wildly guessing when it comes to anything regarding mana at this point, but who knows? Maybe you can confirm.”

“Maybe I can,” I replied. “I can ask Arch and see what he knows, but I can’t make any promises. Maybe they want to keep this secret.”

“Perhaps. Either way, I hope our intentions are clear to this dungeon, and I’m hoping that with time, it has taken enough mana to warm up to us. Velineri knows it should get incredible amounts from me.”

I nodded as he came to a halt, holding up his hand with a ‘stop’ gesture. I couldn’t help but ask one last question that had to do with whether he had an estimate of this dungeon’s size.

“That’s always an uncertainty,” He responded. “The more difficult dungeons are generally larger, but I’ve also seen high-level dungeons that are merely a single room, but extraordinarily dangerous, as if all their resources were put into that one place. Likewise, I’ve seen dungeons that were incredibly long, but not diverse at all in threats. Having only one thing to worry about, even if it’s considered significant in strength, makes things much easier.”

“I can imagine.”

“In any case, working through this dungeon shouldn’t take too long.”

Not with the speed he was killing things with no.

The hallway abruptly ended and Valtheril moved on forward without speaking a word, but it quickly became clear that there wasn’t a room ahead. Rather, we could all see there was a T-junction, leaving us with a choice.

“Hum,” The general scoffed. “I daresay this is where things could get interesting.”

“How come?” Velariah asked.

“Because we are the first ones in this dungeon. There’s no telling which is the ‘correct’ way.”

The way he’d said ‘correct’ felt as if there was more of an explanation behind it, and all of our curious looks seemed to prompt just that, combined with a smile.

“One way will lead deeper into the dungeon and toward the core, the other… well, who knows what awaits there. In my experience, it’s very often a single room. Only rarely have I been in mazes.”

The sheer idea of a maze was more than disturbing to me. I’d always had a terrible sense of direction which meant that getting lost in them was one of my worst nightmares. I knew such a scenario was most unlikely to happen with Valtheril here, but the thought of it still sent shivers down my spine.

“Quick piece of advice,” He continued before choosing to go right. “Single rooms that have branched off of the main route usually have more difficult challenges, but they also offer better rewards. Here’s an interesting thing I’ve found out through the years regarding these side-rooms: The first parties to explore a dungeon are tasked with mapping it as best they can. The party that the guild sent after you entered the dungeon near Dawnleaf did that for you, but once you start getting to the more difficult ones, you need to keep in mind that it will be one of your expected tasks.” He halted for a moment and remained silent with it. “Anyway, regarding these side-rooms, it’s very common that the first adventurers acquire very decent loot from it. I assume you can figure out why.”

“Because of the mapping process,” Draco answered very shortly thereafter. “If the risk is well worth it, they will include it in their mapping, and others will be more tempted to check it out.”

“Correct. Now, we hypothesize that it costs a greater amount of energy for dungeons to spawn high-quality items, and as such, the items acquired are not always of that very high standard, but as long as it is once in a while, it’s enough to win adventurers over.”

“It’s so fascinating to see how dungeons operate,” I let out softly. “It’s such a complex system and relationship that it forms with people, even if there is no communication between the two. It still astounds me just how vital they are to everyone, even if they are perilous, and sometimes, just straight-up deadly.”

“You could say that again,” Valtheril stated. “Can you imagine what the world would look like without them, without magic?”

“Actually, I can,” I replied with a grin.

Velariah was left giggling at my all too spot-on response.

The general simply shrugged it off as we came to the next room. Like before, we watched him check for traps and enemies that lurked in the dark. However, as much as he poked and prodded with both weapon and foot, nothing happened. Besides that, there wasn’t a single creature in the room either, raising everyone’s suspicion.

“Strange,” Valtheril said as he reached the center of the area and started looking around.

Then, as if in a flash, a shape, a shadow darted across the room past the general, and then another, and another.

A barrage of shadows with speed faster than my eyes could keep track of flew towards our guide, and seemed to narrowly miss him with each pass.

“Interesting,” He said calmly as he seemed to increase the grip on his sword. Then, everything became blurry.

I saw flashes of black and white like specks dart through my vision. Whatever Valtheril was facing was quick, but it was clear that he was much, much quicker. Eventually, things slowed down until all that remained was the general standing up straight, with his sword firmly gripped and ready to strike. A few seconds passed, but when nothing happened, he finally relaxed.

“Holy crap,” Was all I could say at the phenomenal display of power I’d just witnessed.

“That was insane,” Seralyn added, much in the same disbelief, and this was despite all he’d shown already.

“Speed,” The person in question simply stated. “Incredible speed, but very low in strength. Such shortcomings are typical in these types of dungeons.”

A clicking sound came from the ceiling about four meters high, and within a fraction of a second, Valtheril had jumped backward and had his sword raised in the direction of the sound. Then, an object fell from above in front of his feet with a loud slam.

“Funny,” He said with a light chuckle and grin as he stared at the treasure chest that had just landed in front of his feet. “And thank you. That was fun.”

He opened the chest before him with his sword to make sure that it wasn’t a trap, but I could read from his figure that he wouldn’t expect it to be. Besides, there was this part that was mentioned earlier, if there wasn’t a reward, people wouldn’t come here.

That was, if…

“And yes, it looks like we have a side-room here. There’s no way forward.”

Well, that confirmed it.

“You’re free to take this treasure. If anything, this stuff is quite useful.”

Velariah and Seralyn, unable to contain their curiosity, hurried towards the chest with me following closely behind. The reward for defeating those shadows was more of the same purple metal from before, another turquoise gemstone, and a large orange one. I had to admit that I was very interested to hear what the turquoise and orange ones did. I had seen teal ones, hell Draco had them in his shields, and they increased his ability to block, but these ones were different enough and much lighter in color.

It made me wonder since teal and turquoise were technically darker and lighter versions of pretty much the same color, whether it meant the effects were similar. Likewise, I wondered if the same was true for the smaller and bigger versions of the red gems.

There was plenty more to learn, and it was exciting.

All the items disappeared into Draco’s bag without much thought as we tried to keep up the pace that Valtheril had set.

We passed through the T-section once more and went on to explore what the other hallway had in store for us. Like before, a corridor led to a larger room, and the process of finding traps and hidden enemies started all over again.

It was kind of interesting to see how he remained focused, even if he had to do the same thing over and over, even if none of these traps so far could have done any harm to him. I wasn’t sure if it was because it was routine for him, as in, he had learned to do this, no matter how insignificant the dungeon may seem, or whether it was some form of paying respect to the host as he’d called it. Perhaps he was just doing it to set a proper example for us to aspire to, and I had to admit that he was doing a proper job at that.

And so we waited.

And waited…

And waited some more…

Valtheril had circled the room at least five times, checking every nook, every cranny, every inch of the floor, but there were no traps, no enemies, nothing.

“How strange...” He murmured after completing yet another round. “It’s completely empty.”

He scratched the back of his head with a gloved hand and thought aloud.

“It’s an empty room. I suppose we’ll be fine to advance as I’m a hundred percent confident there’s nothing here.”

“What about illusion magic?” Draco suggested.

“The level of illusion magic used by this dungeon is no issue for me to recognize, and I highly doubt it uses a higher level than that used at the entrance. No, if anything, I’d say we’re being helped right now.”

“You think the dungeon has calmed down?” I asked. “If it was angry that is.” I looked forward and tried to get a sense of communication, but it was hard. I knew the dungeon could hear me no matter in what direction I spoke, but having a face to talk to, even if it was that of a spider, would make things much easier.

“Are you willing to talk?” I asked, hoping to get some kind of reply.

There was nothing, and after a moment of waiting, Valtheril urged us to move forward.

Another corridor followed, shorter this time, but yet another room lay behind it, seemingly empty once more. The general, however, had already learned everything that Arch was in the process of teaching us and took no risks, continuing to be careful and methodical when it came to investigating the room.

There were a few clicks that I’d learned to associate with traps, but no effect followed each one. It was as if the traps had been exhausted from the start - perhaps disabled.

“You can never say it with certainty,” Our leader said. “But it certainly appears as if our host is being quite generous.”

He had a small smile on his lips as he turned towards us, gesturing us to move once more, and I quietly thanked the dungeon, hoping to further please it by showing generosity if it was doing what the general had suggested.

“Is there anything we can do to help dungeons?” I asked. “Besides staying inside, that is.”

“Besides orbs and that, very little. I suppose an apology from my side for breaking the door open is in order. I’ll make sure to make up for it. From the bottom of my heart,” He bowed deeply. “I am sorry.”

It looked amusing to see him like that, but it was perfectly understandable too. Our semi-ally in the form of Arch had been invaluable, as was the information he’d provided us so far. Thanks to my inherity, I’d come to learn things that no one has ever known. Some of it had been speculation that had finally gotten a confirmation, but there was an entire ocean of new knowledge just waiting to be tapped into, and who knew what this other dungeon knew?

Oh, what secrets await.

I hoped we could find more genuinely nice ‘hosts’, but we’d have to be careful, always.

The general made another few rounds before walking up to us again, shrugging, before turning to the darkness before him as he addressed the dungeon.

“I have to be honest, as much as I appreciate the cooperation here, it does make it harder to map this place. It’s quite clear that this is a room full of traps, but there’s no telling what type.”

He looked around for a moment before moving forward while at the same time gesturing us to follow.

“Either way, thank you.”

Another tunnel followed and this one had another T-junction. Valtheril chose to go right again, but the moment we turned that direction, I felt something hit my head.

I immediately stopped, holding up Seralyn, Draco, and Nira behind me and moved a hand to my forehead where I’d felt the impact. However, there was nothing there. No bump, no blood, nothing. I intended to just shrug it off as some kind of spasm, but as soon as I lifted another leg, I felt the same pain as before a second time. It was as if someone stabbed me with the butt end of a nail, not hard enough to cause pain, but enough of an annoyance to suddenly halt me.

“What’s wrong?” Velariah asked as she turned around to face me. She had initially continued walking forward, but my sudden stop was enough to grab both her and Valtheril’s attention.

“I’m not sure,” I admitted.

I started to get an idea of what was going on, and to test it, I turned around (with which I had some degree of difficulty as the tunnel wasn’t exactly the widest) and took a few steps in the other direction. After nothing happened, I tried to turn around once more and as soon as I took a single step, I felt another pin hit my head.

“Call it a hunch, but I think this is the wrong way.”

“The dungeon?” Velariah immediately asked.

I nodded, prompting a smile and a nod from Valtheril after he turned around. As we walked in the opposite direction, I was working things out in my mind when the white-haired knight broke my train of thoughts.

“Some kind of connection?”

I nodded.

“Feels like it, yes. It’s not quite the same as with Arch as this dungeon doesn’t talk in the same way he does. It’s more of a… crude would be the way to put it, type of communication. When I went in that direction, I felt something poke my head, as if to say ‘no’. I’m not quite sure why it has to do it this way, but I’m sure the dungeon has its reasons.”

I gave it a few more seconds of thought before continuing.

“Perhaps it’s trying to find a way to establish communications. It’s not optimal quite yet, but we’re getting somewhere.”

“Let’s hope that line continues,” She replied.

After another ten minutes of walking, and exploring the next room, Velariah’s dad commented on the fact that this was, indeed, the right direction to get to the core. There was no resistance in the next two rooms, and after that, the corridor led towards one last empty room with a short hallway that ended with what appeared to be a stone wall.

It quickly became clear that it wasn’t that though for there was a slit in the middle, an obvious sign of a door, or in this case, two doors.

It didn’t take too long for Valtheril to figure out how to open it either. There was a stone button not exactly hidden to the right, and after telling us to take cover, he carefully pushed it before jumping backward.

However, both parts slid into the walls without triggering any kind of trap. When I peeked around the corner, there wasn’t any kind of danger looming beyond, and the general had his sword drawn as he moved forward.

“Well, it seems the coast is clear. The core room is ahead. Feel free to follow.

We did as he asked, but before going through the corridor, I pressed the button once more to see what would happen. I’d hate for the doors to suddenly close just as we were going through. If this was on some kind of timer, I thought it smart to extend it. After nothing happened, I quickly passed through.

Before us, part of the darkness was illuminated by the same blue glow that I recognized from Arch’s dungeon; the core’s glow. We hurried over to it to find the heart of the dungeon on a pedestal.

It managed to light the entire room, and although it was smaller than the others, it was large enough to house a spider, the size of a large dog, and a giant platypus the size of a giant bear in the corner, somehow managing to stand on two feet.

At first, I thought it was a fake or even taxidermy, but when its head and beak moved to the side, I had to reconsider that idea.

The general was ready to protect us, but there was no sign of hostility from either of the creatures.

While Velariah was enthralled with the platypus - seriously, her eyes were so wide that it made me firmly believe she’d never seen any animal like it - mine were fixated on the not-quite-as-large-as-Arch’s-spider.

The core suddenly lit up brightly, and with it, I felt another poke on my head, before it returned to its normal, steady, soft glow.

It would appear it wanted to talk to me.