Everyone stood facing the massive stone doors, the arc of half-rotten offerings spread before them. For a long time, no one spoke.
At last, it was Selka who spoke up. She sounded flat but edged with incredulity. “You’re all looking at it like it’s a gift from the gods,” she said. “But you didn’t learn from the from your past experiences? This Dark Den, you’ve mentioned? You don’t just walk into a dungeon blind. That’s suicide.”
Rynel folded his arms. “She’s right. First-entry dives are worth more than the dungeon points. The information that pioneer dungeon divers come back with… Information is what guilds pay for; Maps, Layouts, Monster types, Weaknesses, Traps. That’s the real currency. People die in droves when they charge into a dungeon without it.”
"What, but the System won't let you tell people what's in a dungeon if they haven't been in it." Alex said. He knew that for a fact, he had tried with the Dark Den.
"There are ways around things. After thousands of years, people come up with work-arounds. You know that don't you?" Sarson said. "Info is the money maker, because dungeons are dangerous, and knowledge is power."
“Maybe,” Kate countered. “But power is also power, plain and simple. And, people also grow fast. There’s no better opportunity than this. Dungeon points, loot, cores, cultivation treasures, you think the villagers left this alone for generations because it wasn’t valuable?” She jabbed a finger toward the offerings. “They fear it because they’re weak. We’re not.”
Eric’s eyes narrowed. “Or they fear it because it’s something different. Something worse than the usual System Dungeon? Terrified villagers don’t make offerings to just anything. They’re trying to appease it, maybe?”
That made the group fall quiet again. The wind seemed to sigh across the ridge, and Alex felt a ripple through the aether, like the doors themselves were listening to them argue.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged, though the grin never left his face. “Either way, it’s not going anywhere. Opportunity like this doesn’t fall into your lap twice. We came all this way, we’d be idiots not to at least prepare to go in.”
“Prepare how?” Devon piped up. He glanced uneasily at the looming archway, then at the offerings, like he half-expected the food to start crawling with maggots and undead to start pouring out of the gate. “We don’t know what’s inside. We don’t know what kind of element it favors, what monsters spawn in it, how deep it is, how many floors—”
“Exactly,” Selka cut him off. “That’s why you don’t just dive in.”
Sarson scratched at his beard, his tone more lax than before. “Standard protocol for a fresh dungeon would be: a stockpile of potions, plenty of curatives, talismans, spell tablets, escape tokens if you can afford ‘em. And at least a week of conditioning. You train your formations, sharpen your timing, drill your teamwork until it’s second nature. First-entry isn’t a simple gamble you take, it needs to be a sure thing, as sure as you can get anyway.”
Alex’s brows lifted. “Funny, nobody told me that last time, yet here I am.”
“Because last time,” Allie snapped backed, “you got lucky. Walking into the Dark Den without prep was insane.”
Obby chuckled dryly in Alex’s head. “Finally, someone said it out loud. You got lucky, because you had me, though.”
“Well, I didn’t really have a choice at the time did I?” Alex scoffed.
The argument spun back and forth, tension drawing tight as a bowstring. Kate and Ghrukk both wanted in immediately, hungering for the rewards. Selka, Rynel, and Sarson argued for caution, hammering protocol into the dirt with every word. Because Rynel was on that side, Cole took it as well, backing up the archer’s every argument. Meanwhile, Devon looked like he’d rather be back at the caravan. Even Garret, usually the first to leap into danger, looked uncertain.
Eventually, Eric raised a hand, he spoke strongly with an air of command. “Enough. We’re not charging in tonight. Not tomorrow, either. We can take some time, push our cultivation, hone our skills. Restock everything we can. When we’re sharp, when we’re stocked, then we’ll decide if this dungeon’s worth bleeding for.”
That seemed to settle it, if only barely. A compromise, but one most could live with.
Alex rocked back on his heels, eyes locked on the massive stone arch. His [Aether Sight] still burned with the vision of that perfect, ordered rhythm of energy pulsing from within. The heartbeat of something vast, waiting for them to step close enough.
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He couldn’t help the thrill that tightened his chest. That tingle of anticipation he got before every mad surgery he performed on his body, each crazy ritual, each push of his attributes over a threshold into another tribulation. He was addicted to the thrill of overcoming the roadblocks between himself and more power. This dungeon was no different. Whatever was inside, it would hold the potential to change them.
And Alex Pierce had no intention of walking away from that.
“Its decided then?” Eric finally asked. He got a smattering of nods and verbal confirmations.
Then Alex’s vision pinged with a new notification. He brought it up quickly, curious by what the Heavenly System decided to bless them with this time.
He swiped the notification away, still a bit tired of the System’s antics, but happy with the windfall of experience. The quest screen had only just vanished from his vision when he heard a long, low whistle.
“Hot forge-coals, you all really are worldstriders arn’t ya?” It was Doran, the Dwarf who was now looking at Alex and the others with an appreciative eye.
“I thought as much, but having confirmation like this… Well it explains a lot.” Myrae nodded to herself, biting her lip in apparent thought.
“Uh… what are you guys talking about?” Garret asked, a loopy grin plaster on his face.
Rynel stepped forward then, his face set into a stern mask even as he set his hand on Cole’s shoulder. “Hidden Quests don’t come around often, they are rare, very rare. With few exceptions, one of those exceptions being when around worldstriders, who tend to have far more Hidden Quests thrust upon them.”
No one said anything and just let Rynel continue. “There are reasons why people like sticking next to worldstriders, and reasons why people like staying away from them. Those happen to be the same reasons, though.”
“Because of how great they are?” Cole asked, flashing Rynel a grin.
“Maybe.” The ranger smiled back.
Alex cocked his head to the side, unsure of where this line of thought was going. “Okay, but really, why are people so often into our business?”
“Danger,” Myrae interjected. “Its the danger. The System throws way more at worldstriders than it does native Aetherians. More monsters, more quests, more bullshit.”
Alex couldn’t bring himself to disagree with that. They had a rather long string of bad luck when it came to running into monsters, and trouble in general for that matter. But that didn’t explain everything.
“So then, why do you think we are worldstriders?” He asked.
“We ain’t dumb young one.” Doran grunted angrily. “We heard the rumors around Terraxum’s warfront same as everyone. About the Demon of Terraxum and his Aspirants.”
The worldstriders all stiffened behind Alex at that remark, and Alex even felt his own muscles suddenly tighten, as if preparing for a fight.
“We don’t care about all that, though.” Sarson raised his hands, palms out. “Just, between the basilisk juveniles, the mother afterward, that’s not normal. Glassfangs aren’t rare, but adding them with the hidden Quest, the manitcore, the Dungeon here, those rumors… it all adds up.”
“No wonder you are strong enough to fight me. A mere human mage could not stand against my might, let alone best me.” Ghrukk added.
“That’s another thing,” Sarson continued. “You are all just a bit too strong for your own good.”
Alex looked back to his friends, all of them glancing among each other, uncertain. Were they all too strong? Everyone had their own thing, Allie’s powerful healing spells, Kate’s immense firepower, Zach’s aether control, even Devon was formidable when he had time to put his creativity and [Glyphcraft] to work. All of them were powerful sure, but they all also had a little something extra that put them even a step higher than normal mages would be. Then there was Alex himself, a walking contradiction, with more hidden cards than a magician’s sleeve.
Yeah, that actually makes sense.
Rynel spoke again before Alex could argue. “But again, having said all that, people also like being around worldstriders for that same reason. Challenges and opportunities for growth are hard to come by in this world. Usually, slow cultivation is the typical path to power. But, and I can only speak for myself, but I think I’ve grown more in the last couple weeks than I have the last year thanks to you all.”
Ghrukk and his squad all nodded, the Ork himself merely shrugging, but that was as good as any yes from him.
“So… you want to stick around? Even if it means you’ll likely die?” It was Peter who asked the question.
“Well, yes.” Sarson nodded, the others confirming their agreement.
Alex looked at his friends once more, each of them uncertain but none readying for a fight. It looked as though the bond between the worldstriders and the mercenary squad had already been formed.
“Okay then, welcome aboard.” Alex smiled holding out a hand. Sarson shook it without a moment of hesitation.
“Hell yeah, welcome to SS. Worldstrider!” Garret yelled out, offering up his hand above his head, held flat for a “high-five”. Rynel looked at Garret, then to Cole, whom slowly shook his head. Rynel understood the message and nodded before moving away from Garret as though he had bed-bugs.
Every one of the worldstriders laughed, even Tom-Tom, as Garret was once more left hanging.