The air still hummed with the aftershocks of Vell's audacious proposal. Lex was the first to break the silence, rubbing his temples.
"So, let me get this straight. You want us, a group of registered Players currently employed by the Association, to help you, an unregistered individual who is actively being hunted by said Association, to sneak into official dungeons so you can get stronger, all on the off-chance you might be able to, someday, 'cleanse' us of this corrupted mana you claim we have?"
Vell just nodded, the picture of nonchalance, the weasel on his shoulder mimicking his calm. "Pretty much, yeah. Sounds like a win-win to me."
Mace scoffed. "A win-win where we take all the risk, you mean."
"Look," Jolly interjected, her expression serious. "If he's right about the mana, and if the Association is involved, knowingly or not, then this is huge. We can't just ignore it. But," she fixed Vell with a hard stare, "this isn't a free ride. We get you in, you pull your weight. No funny business. If things go south in a dungeon, you're on your own as much as any of us. We watch each other's backs, but survival is priority one. Got it?"
'She's laying down the law. Fair enough.' "Understood." Deep down, a current of something like excitement, sharp and unfamiliar, began to flow. A real dungeon. After all this time.
"Alright," she said, still sounding a bit like she couldn't believe they were actually doing this. "First things first. How much do you actually know about dungeons? Or monsters, for that matter?" She rummaged in her pack and pulled out a worn, hand-bound book, passing it to him.
The cover, in neat, slightly faded ink, read: Dungeons, Monsters & You (A Not-So-Official Guide). He opened it to a random page. A detailed sketch of a massive, snarling wolf with burning eyes dominated the parchment, labeled Dire Wolf Patriarch. The description beneath mentioned it being surprisingly fast for its size and favoring pack tactics.
"Not much," he admitted, his fingers tracing the lines of the drawing. "Public info on this stuff is pretty scarce if you're not a Player. Mostly just sensationalized news reports."
"Okay, then a crash course is in order. It'll make things less… chaotic for all of us," she said. She seemed to notice his attention was more on the book than on her, but she plowed on anyway.
"Player ranks, you know. Dungeons are ranked too, zero to twelve is the highest anyone's seen. Ranks zero through eight are usually marked by a blue hue at their entrance. Anything above that, you're looking at red. We use these." She held up a small, metallic disc, almost like a high-tech compass. Its face was dark. "Scans the dungeon's mana signature from a distance and gives us a number."
He nodded, flipping a page in the book to a drawing of a creature that looked like a sentient, heavily armored beetle. 'Simple for them, maybe.'
"Loot inside is a crapshoot," she continued. "Could find something amazing in a Rank 1, or vendor trash in a Rank 9. Luck of the draw. The main thing is the monsters. They have their own ranking system, too. Starts at FFF, goes all the way up to… well, let's just say very high."
'The system mentioned Supreme Being for Players,' he recalled. 'If monsters match that… just how powerful are the top tiers?' A faint, almost nervous energy prickled at him as he considered the scale of it all.
"Defeat a monster, you can usually take its core. Those sell for decent credits. Hides, claws, whatever else, can be sold or used for crafting gear. Your call. That's the basics."
"And watch out for other Players," Lex added, peering over Vell's shoulder at the book. "Dungeons aren't private instances. If multiple teams are after the same boss or a rare drop, things can get messy."
"Right," he said, looking up from a particularly gruesome illustration of something with too many tentacles. "That scanner thing shows monster ranks too, I assume?"
"Yeah, it can give a rough estimate," Jolly confirmed. "But once you get more experienced, you develop a feel for it. We're still in the 'rely on the tech' phase for anything tricky."
"Okay," he said, closing the book and handing it back. "I think I get the general idea. Thanks." He let out a slow breath, looking at the sky. The sun was starting to dip, painting the clouds in shades of orange and purple. "We've been out here a while. Speaking of which… can I ask a huge favor? Any chance one of you has a spare couch I could crash on? Or, you know, a floor?"
An awkward silence descended. Mace looked like he'd rather wrestle a Dire Wolf Patriarch. Lex suddenly found the distant horizon fascinating. Jolly sighed, a flicker of annoyance crossing her face as all eyes, Vell's included, eventually landed on her.
'Oh, come on,' she thought. 'Just because I agreed to the dungeon plan doesn't make him my personal charity case.'
"Uh," she began, "don't you have… literally anywhere else to go?"
"Could try a hotel, but I'm running on fumes, credit-wise," Vell said, his expression completely earnest. "Unless you guys feel like spotting me a few nights?"
He almost saw the mental calculations happening as they each pictured their credit balance shrinking.
"Y-you know what?" Yenna, who had been mostly quiet, suddenly piped up, her voice a little shaky. "You can… you can stay with me. I have a spare room. It's small, but…" She trailed off, looking like she immediately regretted opening her mouth. Everyone else looked visibly relieved.
'Well, that was unexpected,' Vell thought. "Really? That would be… incredibly helpful. Thank you."
"Yeah," Yenna mumbled, avoiding eye contact with the others. "No problem." She chanced a glance at Vell, who was now gently tickling his weasel under the chin. The little creature was making happy chittering sounds, and Vell actually had a faint, almost genuine smile. Seeing that, some of the tension in Yenna's shoulders seemed to ease, just a fraction.
"Okay then," Jolly said, standing and stretching. "It's getting late. Let's meet back here tomorrow morning, say, nine-ish? We can figure out a target dungeon then. Don't be late." She shouldered her pack. The others followed suit. As Jolly passed Vell, she pressed her scanner disc into his hand. "Don't lose this. It's not cheap."
"Got it. Thanks again."
"See you tomorrow," Jolly said, and then she, Lex, and Mace headed off, their voices already starting a low discussion about potential dungeon targets.
Vell and Yenna were left standing in the fading light. The silence felt thick.
'This is awkward,' she thought. 'What am I supposed to say?'
He looked at her, and the small smile returned, softer this time. "I know you don't really trust me. Why would you? I'm just some random guy making wild claims. But you still offered. That means a lot. Seriously."
She could hear the lack of pretense in his voice; it wasn't the smooth, calculating tone he'd used earlier. It made her feel a pang of guilt for her own reservations. "I… I'm sorry," she found herself saying.
He studied her for a moment, then a corner of his mouth quirked up. "It's okay. You're a lot more… straightforward than I expected."
'She seems decent. Maybe too decent for this line of work. Or maybe that's just what I want to see.'
Yenna felt a blush creep up her neck. "Right. Well, um, my place isn't far." She started walking, a little too quickly. "Come on."
He fell into step beside her.
"So," he said after a moment. "What's your name, officially?"
"Yenna," she replied, glancing at him.
"Vell," he offered. "Good to meet you, Yenna. For real this time. Hope this… arrangement works out."
"You too, Vell." A tiny, hesitant smile touched her lips. "Me too."
They walked on, the sounds of the city slowly enveloping them as the last light drained from the sky.