09/15/3122 YDB – September 15th, 3122
It was Monday and for Archer Griffen and his classmates, that meant dungeon delving after lunch. As Archer casually roamed around the tunnels of the dungeon pretending to be busy, he occasionally wandered over to other groups to see what was happening. Their class along with a few others travelled down to the school dungeons.
Everyone seemed to be doing as expected, all the groups kept themselves isolated from one another to keep the spoils and experience amongst themselves. The higher ranks resided further in the dungeon and even down to the second level, while the lower ranks understandably dealt with the less dangerous monsters.
Though there was one group in particular of pure F-ranks that had been going deeper than expected and succeeding. Ran Almer's group, he was good and capable, but more than that, he knew how to lead a team. Once formed, he knew exactly what his group's strengths and weaknesses were and played to them accordingly.
From the glances Archer saw of the group, he couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of homesickness. Perhaps it was this feeling that caused him to be spotted by people like Luna who tried her darndest to try and get him to join with the group. Archer tried to argue that there were limits to the number of members per group, but it was pointed out to him that that rule only mattered in the beginning so that students could manage teams better.
So Archer gave another reason. He did not want to. This lack of motivation to go deep into the dungeon with a group did not go unnoticed by others. Archer found that there were a couple of rumours going around regarding him now.
From his laziness to the lack of success in the dungeon, people began to think of him as rather useless. If the F-rank didn't already do that for him. Still, it didn't really bother him, besides the faculty as a whole cared little of Archer's success so long as he did the bare minimum.
Which he has been doing, the studies were easy enough for him to cruise through without needing to worry, and that worked with the story Archer was going with. A kid that was surviving through Trinity Academy via pure theoretical work alone. It was a believable story, in fact, it was the actual situation Luna found herself in, minus the progress she made these past two weeks.
Speaking of Luna she was one person not all too happy with the rumours of Archer's ineptitude. But promises with Archer meant that she kept her mouth shut for the most part. Though, that didn't stop her from hanging out with him. Which caused a few issues for him.
The obvious one is that Luna wanted to help Archer with any issues that occur and those issues tend to be dangerous. Archer really didn't want others to get involved with his job and get hurt. Another issue was that perhaps she was using their friendship as a buffer against the five chasing after her.
It appears that playing hard to get simply incentivized the boys to go after her harder. Clearly growing up with parents that gave them everything they wanted and naturally having enough charm to win over others meant that someone saying no was different from what they're used to. And it seems that this different reaction excited them, and they have been relentless in trying to win her favour.
Hanging out with Archer, and to a lesser extent Ran, has caused them both their own personal headaches. Fortunately the ire is mainly focused on Archer, and that meant that the group couldn't do much towards him. It was one thing to go after Ran, a boy actively trying to climb the ranks. But someone as sad and pathetic as Archer? That would be straight up bullying someone Luna likes.
In fact, the group stayed so far away from Archer that he only really knew of Theo and Codrol, he barely had any interaction with the others. Aside from suspicious looks. Not that Archer complained. Still, the biggest issue is that Luna's attempt to bond with him was one that he should have seen coming. He liked her company.
Archer knew that he should keep it professional and have next to no interaction with anyone unless it's work-related. Besides his alter ego screams lone wolf, it also screams a lot of less than savory things, but part of Archer's mystique was that he stood by himself. But Archer was still human and talking to everyone in that group chat was fun, and it made ignoring them hard.
Archer shook his head as he thought to himself. Archer I have never met a person who represents a walking contradiction more than you. Well, aside from pops. Archer said as he walked down a tunnel.
Speaking of suspicious adults Archer knew in his life, his mind focused onto a professor of this school. Lilith Lilac, a mathematics professor at this school. Her powers were pretty subpar and wasn't one of the first people you would think of that would teach at Trinity Academy. She was a young hire who, from what Archer gathered, was a bit of a well-meaning klutz.
The main danger with her was the fact that her family tree is apparently linked to demons. Tracing something like that was hard but from what Archer was able to gather hundreds of years ago, one of her distant ancestors had a child with a demon. After these centuries that bloodline was so thin that the current Lilith gained no benefit from it.
But it does mean that she is more susceptible to being possessed by a demon. Specifically that demon. Who might be dead already or locked away for eternity with no hope or some hope of being freed. Archer mused. Not much to go on and aside from the fact that Evan and Petyr have been watching her, Archer really wouldn't think much of it.
But the fact that they're watching her meant that it was likely to happen. How and why? Archer had no clue, it seemed to be something that he would just have to sit and wait for. Still that meant that he had time to relax and ready himself for anything else to happen.
Archer then stopped as he saw the path leading down to floor two. He frowned as he noticed something that wasn't there before. On the third step there was an engraving, an engraving that was not there before. It was faint and covered with dust but Archer could see the small indentation where something was etched in.
Archer crouched down and brushed some of the dust off to read it. He vaguely recognized the markings, it was similar to the magic writing he'd seen people like Pepper Korn write back with the WDO.
What did she tell me about this stuff again? Right you can tell that this thing is older because it will use older iconography. Archer recalled. So clearly it was here for a while. Looking at it more, he saw a few things he recognized. Symbols for lock, time, and strength were all on the stone. In fact the more he looked the more he realized just how complicated this thing was.
He wondered if he should take a picture and send it to someone to get some advice on what the thing said. He gently traced a finger over the symbols trying to figure out why they appeared. After whipping some dust off it he took a picture with his phone.
Looking at it he noticed something that he had dusted off. It looked like something that was begging to be pressed. Archer paused for a moment and considered the next step to take. He could send the picture to Zoe or someone else, and he could probably get a reply if he waited a little. But fortune does favour the bold so Archer decided to trigger it immediately.
Upon contact Archer blinked in surprise as he found himself warped into a different place. He was in a completely black room and now wondered if he perhaps made a small mistake triggering this thing. A moment later a screen appeared in front of his face.
Right. Dungeon rewards. Archer recalled, a lot of these dungeons and towers often offered special rewards for completing levels or finding secrets. Archer had heard and read stories of people's experiences, but this was still a bit different from what he expected.
As he wondered, a screen appeared in front of him. It was semi-opaque and had text on it. Like a video game. Archer said as he read what it said.
Greetings! You have found the hidden Easter egg on the first floor of the dungeon!
Will you accept this reward?
Yes/No
Archer shrugged and tapped the 'yes' option and found the black room changed, and now Archer stood in the middle of a field. To be more precise, the middle of a battlefield. An ancient one at that, he saw armoured human soldiers battling with what looked to be lizardmen.
Sniffing the air he could smell the scent of grass, mud, sweat, and blood. If this was all a hallucination it definitely felt real with the clashing of metal, battle cries, and screams of pain. Archer stood steps away from ongoing combat as he looked around. Should I help? Who do I even help? I need more information.
Turning his head Archer then looked back at the screen in front of him and noticed the text had changed.
GO TO OBTAIN THE ITEM.
"Okay. How do I do that?" Archer said as he then heard the sound of a horse neighing. Looking at the direction he saw a horse collapse onto the floor along with a man with a crown on his head who was riding it, "That way then." Archer concluded as he walked his way over.
"My king! Are you alright?" A knight with a winged helmet shouted rushing over to the king.
"My leg, damn!" The king grunted in pain as he pulled himself free. A line of soldiers ran up to create a protective barrier around their king.
"Mage! You must help our Lord Majesty!" The knight called out.
Hearing the call an old man with a long grey beard came rushing in, blasting hordes of lizardmen as he did so, "King Coldbrew, what has happened?" The mage.
"My leg, it's broken." The king said with a grimace as the knight helped him up.
"We need to get you back to the healer."
"No! My children are still there captive!" The King Coldbrew roared as a couple of others took the place of the knight to hold the king up.
"But your majesty! You are in no shape to fight!" The knight pleaded.
"I don't care! They will not sacrifice my children to the devils!" The king screamed as he commanded the mage, "Holgsgar! Punch me a hole through that line!"
"I can't do that without endangering you." Holgsgar the mage said.
"So… your kids are kidnapped?" Archer said standing next to the king, startling everyone.
"What the? Who are you?" The knight said pointing a sword at him as the mage and a few others pointed weapons at him.
"Uh, lost I think. Where are we?" Archer asked casually to the king.
"How dare you address the king like that? Do you dare lose your tongue? We are obviously in the land of Saffron fighting for King Coldbrew for the kingdom of Fenir!" The knight snapped before looking confused as to why he answered him.
"Huh. Interesting." Archer said as he decided to test a theory he just came up with, "I know you're busy so give me a very quick explanation of what is happening right now and why your kids are here in a battlefield in the hands of the enemy."
"The kingdom of Fenir has been on the forefront of battling the forces of evil. The devil Krragollol made a pact with the local lizardmen factions and kidnapped my children in order to summon him. I must free them." The king said voice steady and full of conviction.
They could still be lying. I'm in a world that may or may not be real and have had several things thrown my way. Archer thought as he glanced over to the screen. The text changed again.
The prince and princess have been kidnapped! You need to save them!
It could still be trying to trick me. From the stories I've heard of people ending up in other worlds sometimes they would get deceived. Archer pondered as he saw the battlefield with people dying as this went on. But other times it was all genuine. Besides, this is for an item.
"Okay, I'll help." Archer said nodding.
"Thank you." The king said bowing his head in thanks, "Please save my children."
"Here take this." The mage, Holgsgar said handing Archer a small jewelry box and as Archer touched the box he found himself back at the steps inside the dungeon.
"Huh." Archer said as he stared at the box in his hand. It was a silver-lined red velvet box that seemed to be locked. Archer decided it would be best to worry about the thing later as he stashed the box inside his jacket pocket.
It was moments later as he did so when Petyr Powl came wandering along. He looked to be searching for something, something on the ground as he was practically crawling around. Petyr seemed so focused that he didn't notice Archer standing there watching him as he bumped into him.
"Hey what the?" Petyr said as he bumped into Archer, looking up at him, "What are you doing here?"
"Um." Archer said as he quickly looked around the dungeon, "Standing." Archer said shrugging.
"Did you touch anything?" Petyr asked standing up quickly and looked to stare Archer down.
"What is there to touch?" Archer asked as he took a step back.
"Nothing." Petyr said as he brushed past him and looked at the entrance down to the second level, "Not here either." He whispered to himself.
Looking down, Archer indeed saw that the old markings on the steps had vanished. It looked like it was only a one-time thing. It also looked like it was something that Petyr was looking for. Archer then wondered just what this jewel box contained now.
"Did you lose something?" Archer asked Petyr.
"None of your business." Petyr growled as he continued to search for a magical item that was no longer there.
Then both could hear the echoes of an argument from down the stairs. Archer peered down curiously as he asked Petyr, "What's going on?"
"Who cares?" Petyr said barely paying attention.
"Well if there are students there and it's in the middle of two levels then it should be pretty safe." Archer said as he walked down the stairs.
"What a weird NPC." Petyr mumbled as Archer disappeared around the spiralling staircase.
As he got closer to the bottom he could hear the voices of the people. The voices of Julia and Nicholas Aldis were arguing against another person, Dominic. They seemed to be arguing about mistreatment.
"She's your sister! Are you really not going to help her at all?" Julia asked sounding disgusted.
"Hey I did my share of the work! She needs to pull her weight!" Dominic defended.
"She clearly isn't able to keep up down here you're the one that dragged her here. She's only down here because of you." Nick countered.
"Shut up. Are you saying I'm using her?" Dominic snapped at them.
"N-no, no. Please don't fight, it's fine." Rosa managed to squeak out.
"Rosa, you're hurt. You don't need to keep carrying all that stuff." Julia pleaded.
"N-no! It would be a waste of everything if I can't bring this stuff back."
"Then at least let your brother carry it."
"I-I can't do that."
"Why not?"
"Because she's not needy." Dominic said.
"Hey, why did you even try to go down to the third level with just the two of you? You need a full team." Nick asked.
"Shut up, don't act like a know-it-all."
"Uh, is everything alright?" Archer asked calling down from up the stairs.
"What do you want?" Dominic sneered.
"Oh sorry, I heard some noise. Nobody's hurt right?" Archer said apologetically.
"We're fine. Why are you even down here?" Dominic asked glaring at the F-rank on Archer's arm.
"I got curious and was hoping that since it was just at the bottom of the stairs it would be safe. It is safe right?" Archer asked as he looked around the cave.
"It's fine." Dominic grunted as he ordered his sister, "Let's go already, don't forget the bag." With a huff Dominic marched past Archer and back to the first level.
"Coming!" Rosa said as she struggled to carry the large backpack that was now stuffed full of items. Archer noticed a limp as she walked up the stairs.
"Do you need some help?" Archer offered as she neared him.
"Uh, no. No, I'm good." She said quickly almost looking worried for Archer. Another shout of anger from her brother caused her to almost fall as she tried to hurry her pace to catch up with him.
"I can't believe him." Nick said shaking his head watching them leave.
"We can't really stop him." Julia said sourly.
"Doesn't mean I approve of him." He said as he looked at the time on his phone, "I need to get back to my group, "You need any help Archer?" He said looking up at him.
"Oh you remember me." Archer said surprised, "No I'm good with not needing to deal with whatever is down here."
"Then stay safe." Nick said before addressing Julia, "I'll see you both later then."
"Take care." Julia said as she gave her goodbyes to Nick and approached Archer. Recognizing the question he was about to ask, "The Bent siblings went too deep alone, something attacked and injured Rosa. Dominic didn't seem to care very much."
"What's the story behind them?" Archer asked nodding his head.
"You don't know?" Julia asked looking surprised.
"I don't know everything. Besides, why would I research about this? You think this would be on a brief or something?" Archer said shrugging as they hung out at the steps where they could be alone.
"So why do you want to know about it now?" Julia asked.
"Are you teasing me?"
"Maybe. Did your duties as a hero make you want to save a damsel in distress?"
"Well… I'll be honest it doesn't sit well with me from what I've seen." Archer admitted, "But it was why they hunted so much, that bag full of monster drops from floors one and two could fetch quite a bit. Do they really need that much money?"
"They shouldn't. They're the Bent family, they should come from money." Julia said frowning now, "So why loot so much?" She asked to one in particular.
"The Bents have some sort of falling out?"
"If they did, it was a quiet one. Never heard anything about it." Julia said now thinking about it, "We were all in the same middle school. Dominic was always strangely enamoured with Rosa but she wasn't that dependent before."
"When do you think the change happened?"
"Don't know, I guess something must have happened during the summer." Julia pondered, "Do you think something serious might happen?"
"Don't know, but you've made me curious. So I need to find out now. Who knows? It might lead to something stupid." Archer said as he paused and asked, "Ran Almer, did you see him?"
"Who?"
"He should be leading Luna's group."
"Oh, uh yeah. Still on the second floor."
"How deep?"
"Never followed them." She said shrugging.
"Huh. Two weeks in level two… good progress."
"Progress with what?"
"Did you hear of a challenge between a D-rank and an F-rank?"
"Oh yeah, I hear something happening at the end of the month. Wait. He's the one taking the challenge?" Julia asked and Archer nodded his head. Julia huffed in amusement, "He might do it if he made it this far already."
"That is the hope." Archer said as he went up the steps, "Good luck on the dungeoning." Archer called to her. I need to go snooping around a bit.