The sun sank deep into the horizon, while the unfathomably massive purple planet loomed over the sky's backdrop—unchanging, unmoving. Chess piece-like structures were scattered across its surface, piercing through its atmosphere.
The stars twinkled, countless nebulae revealed their beauty—each with innumerable stars shining like jewels. The moon began to rise on the horizon.
Orario had eight districts. Each district had dozens of sectors, each with many streets.
In a certain district, within an abandoned sector, a man carried huge debris and rocks, dumping them all in one place. Amidst the hill of ruins and stone, the man cleared it with his own hands—alone.
This man was John, the current owner of this sector—well, only 80% of it.
John carried massive rocks and debris dozens of times larger than himself. If a normal person tried, they would be crushed, but to him, it was nothing. It was like carrying feathers—he even spun one on his finger like a basketball.
He was in the middle of his construction. First, he was clearing an area where his house and farm would be built.
He planned to clear five thousand square meters and was already 50% done with that task. John carried the debris and dumped it onto another hill of rubble. He lifted boulders as if picking up a ping-pong ball.
While moving debris, John often encountered rats, insects, and snakes, which he either teleported away or caught.
One snake tried to bite him, but its fangs couldn't pierce John's skin—they cracked and broke. He caught the snake and stored it in his inventory, saving it for dinner.
John continued back and forth, carrying and dumping debris until he finished clearing an area spanning five thousand square meters.
"Next, staff materials." John had many materials within his power, but he decided not to use them from this day forward. Everything would depend on what he currently had. Right now, he had neither the materials nor the money to buy them.
"Looks like I'll need to go dungeon diving to build."
The fastest way to earn money in this city was to collect magic stones and sell them to the Guild. Where did they come from? From dungeon monsters—their hearts. So anyone who wanted to get rich had to explore the dungeon and gather magic stones.
"This will be delayed for now. Tomorrow, I'll be meeting them," he muttered as the image of a certain half-elf beauty flashed in his mind.
John yawned and lay on the ground, falling asleep.
Early in the morning, at the Guild's main building—the Pantheon—in one of its private meeting boxes in the lobby:
"This is Rose Fanett."
"Rose, this is John, the adventurer we're in charge of."
Rose smiled gently and shook my hand without saying much. She was a beautiful and voluptuous woman with waist-length wavy red hair, golden eyes, and fair skin. She was a beast folk from werewolf clan — her ears and tail both belonged to one. They were floppy and soft to the touch, especially the fluffy white fur inside her ears. Both her ears and tail were the same color as her hair.
"What should I call you, Miss Fanett?"
"Just call me Rose."
"Ok, copy that."
We sat on a comfy sofa. Beside me was the lively Misha, while opposite us sat Rose and Eina.
"Are you ready for your lessons? This will be a long, long lecture."
"How long?"
"It would take trillions of years. These are the beginner's dungeon guidelines you must know most." —Eina.
"That long?"
"The guidelines cover from the hundredth floor to the one duotrigintillionth floor. Those are the levels you can challenge at your current power. Beyond that will be revealed once your power grows further," Rose said calmly.
"Do we start here or go somewhere else?"
Eina stood. "Follow us, John."
Misha and Rose followed her, leading me deeper into the Guild—beyond the lobby.
We walked through an endless hallway filled with doors, corners, forks, crossings, curves, and stairs that led both below and above.
While following them, a teleportation array suddenly emerged beneath our feet, engulfing us completely. I felt no hostility from it, so I didn't resist—and even if I did, it wouldn't matter. The excess force leaking from the array was enough to kill me, even destroy all of existence before the Great Change.
My vision blurred, and when I opened my eyes again, I found myself surrounded by a sea of golden clouds and floating islands.
I lay on the ground of one such island, which was only thirteen meters across.
At its center stood a golden apple tree—its stem, branches, and leaves made of living gold. Beneath its shade rested a table set. Eina, Rose, and Misha were already seated there while I stood, looking around.
With a single breath, my magic senses expanded to their limits, revealing that this place was endlessly larger than Demeter's smallest guest room. Its expansion rate was faster, and far more dangerous creatures flew through this endless white void of floating islands and golden clouds.
"Where are we?" I asked while pulling out a chair and sitting down.
"We're in a meeting room—the smallest one," Misha replied.
"Here, a single eon will be a second outside," said Rose.
"This place is suitable for the lecture and information we're going to teach you," Eina added.
"It's a nice place. Can I use it for training?"
"Sorry, but that's forbidden. However, you can use our training facilities—they're much larger and more suitable for that," Eina said.
"Don't get too excited though. Your strength isn't enough to step into even one of them. The weakest and smallest could crush you," Rose warned.
"I understand."
"Are you ready? We're about to start," Eina said.
"I'm ready."
Eina stood up and pulled a whiteboard out of nowhere. Then she began a lecture that would take trillions of years to finish.
From time to time, Rose and Misha added their input—or took care of other things: cooking, laundry, hunting.
We'd wake up, eat breakfast, then study. Lunch break, then lecture again. Occasionally a bathroom break, then more lessons, dinner, lecture till midnight, and sleep—then repeat.
Rose and Misha followed a similar routine, except they handled the hunting, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of us.
Eons passed, then trillions. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of trillions of years slipped by—yet outside, only two days had passed.