The Ancients World

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~~~(POV: Cera Adamo)~~~

~~~(Location: The Jungles of Nu'bor, The Kingdom of Nu'bor, The Continent of Alforza)~~~

~~~(Time: 11:32 AM)~~~

Sally and look at the old-looking structure in front of us. It looks like an old Mayan or Aztec temple. I saw them in documentaries back on Earth, but they were destroyed a long time ago too. It's not nearly as big as the pyramid in Marrinjobic, but it's still a good size.

"So this is the location of the Dungeon..."

It's one hell of a location for one. I'm excited to fight enemies I've never seen or encountered. As we start climbing the steps to the top, I use Inspect on the whole structure.

[The Temple of Jad'var (Dungeon)]

[Description: The Temple of Jad'var was once a religious sight for the people of Cezlite. An ancient civilization that once resided in this jungle. The Temple of Jad'var is the only remaining monument to their people. And holds many treasures, monsters, and secrets.]

It's really cool. I'm learning brand new history. Things I've never known before, and the rest of our time here will be like this.

"Who do you think the Cezlite people were? I don't know anything about jungle civilizations..."

Sally is in the same boat as me, and I feel weird not being able to answer her question. But it's not a bad weird. It's a good weird.

"Let's find out together, Sally. I don't know anything about the Cezlite or this temple. You know as much as I do from reading the description the Inspect gave us."

Coming through the jungle to get here, I've become level 231. And I'm betting I'll be getting tons of EXP from this Dungeon. Sally has leveled up a few more times and is gaining more power. We eventually reach the top and stare into the entrance of the Dungeon.

"That's really dark."

Even with the sun shining into the entrance to the Dungeon, it's dark. Meaning it's some magic that's making it dark in there. Sally smiles and holds out her hand, and I watch an ice triangle form. She walks into the Dungeon, and it lights up.

She's got something to light up the darkness. And it's cool looking too. I follow behind her, and she turns to smile at me.

"Pretty cool, huh? I unlocked it when we were apart doing our Tier-up quests. I've had rare chances to use it, but now I've got a perfect chance."

I'll say.

"I'm a little jealous... I don't have a skill like that... I can use my Golden Wings to light up an area, but it's not nearly as good as this. We can see the walls, the hallway, and paths ahead."

Using the glow of my wings only lights up the immediate area. Her little floating ice triangle can light up a good chunk ahead and behind us.

"It's called Ice Energy Projection. I call it Ice Light for short."

She turns, starts leading down the path, and draws her weapon in case we encounter any monsters or resistance. I do the same and draw The Witness from its sheath. There are different types of Dungeons. Some have monsters, and others don't.

We know this Dungeon has some monsters since the description said so. But that won't always be the case.

"We'll take our time. I don't want to get surprised. Since The System has updated Dungeons and their difficulty adjustment, we should be more careful."

I make sure to warn Sally. But she knows this too.

The System updated Dungeons to adjust the monsters for the Players taking them on. Meaning monsters attacking me will be strong enough to hurt me seriously. But my absurdly high health will take some time to get through.

If the monsters attacking me decide to attack Sally suddenly, they'll adjust to her level and stats. It's a good quality of life in the world for us Players.

"I agree. I don't want to respawn all the way back in Marrinjobic."

She's right about that. If either of us dies, that's where we'll respawn, and for one of us, we'll have to go back for the other. So it's just better to be on the cautious and slow side.

"Since there are so many paths, how do we decide which one leads to the boss room?"

She asks a good question, and this is one of those old-fashioned Dungeons where the deeper you go, the closer you get to the boss room. That's what I think, at least, but Dungeons might be different on the continent of Alforza. I don't know for sure.

"Generally, Dungeons like this work with the philosophy of the deeper you go, the closer you get to the boss room. But I can't be for sure. So we'll search this first level for some stairs or a transporter that goes deeper."

We make it to an intersection, and Sally's Ice Light shows us the end of both paths. And the strong part is both ends have staircases that lead down.

"That's weird..."

It sure is.

"Umm... I guess we check one, and if it doesn't lead to the boss room, we'll try the other path."

After a few steps into the hallway, the walls fold away, and monsters surround us on all sides. They're giant bird people with eagle-like heads and man-like bodies. I can't use Inspect on them before we're both attacked.

I'm defending and attacking the best I can, and I'm dealing with them in a manner that shows I'm being smart about this. Sally is doing the same with her group. It takes a couple of minutes, but we kill our foes and look at each other.

"Now we know this place has traps in it."

The reason I'm saying this is because the staircase at the end of this hall is gone. And I turn around to see the other staircase waiting for us beyond the intersection we were just at.

I've gained 15 EXP from the monsters too, which is fantastic. The rate at which I'm gaining EXP for my current level is very high, and I'm getting happier and happier that I've come to Alforza with Sally.

"That leaves one other path."

Her voice is sounding both excited and cautious. She's enjoying this just as much as I am. We make it down the staircase, and Sally's Ice Light is illuminating the new pathway. It's wider, and there are doors in this hallway.

Upstairs didn't have doors. Just different paths.

"Do you think these doors are trapped too, or containing some treasure?"

My money is on the traps.

"I'm betting it's trapped. There isn't a reason to think otherwise... Although, the description did say hidden treasures and secrets... I want to look behind these doors, but we could be setting off more traps than we need to..."

Her head nods up and down in agreement.

"We'll keep moving forward then."

We continue down the path and eventually enter a room. The metal statues at either side of the room start to move and make their way toward us. They're a little distance away so that I can use Inspect on them this time.

[Guardians of Jad'var Temple (Lvl. Adjusted)]

[Health: Adjusted]

[Description: The old guardians of the Jad'var Temple. Metal automatons that protect the deeper paths of the temple and are strategically placed to guard important areas. Where you find Guardians of Jad'var Temple, you'll find valuables.]

"Looks like we have something that tells us where important locations in the Dungeon are now. The metal guardians protect important locations. We should be able to avoid more traps now."

She smiles and bursts forward toward her enemy. And I follow her lead and head for mine. It takes us about 3 minutes to cut through these guys' health individually, but I get a cool 25 EXP. Meaning I've gained 40 EXP since starting this Dungeon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Below this line, I'll be keeping Cera's player information. That way, I won't have to place it into the story above anymore. It takes about 180 words up.

[Slayer (Zern) Lvl.231][Tier-4]

[Exp: 42/100%]

[Title: The Son of Arch-Angel Michael (Hidden)]

[Stats] [Strength - 7095][Endurance - 7045][Dexterity - 7215][Speed - 8240][Focus - 19,660]

[Mana aura control: 6/100%]

[Health: 76,560,000,000/76,560,000,000] [Mana: 216,600,000,000/216,600,000,000]

[Stat Points: 380] [Armor rating: 500]

[Inventory] [Dice of Wayland (Divine)] [The Witness (Legendary Sword)] [Fenrir's Whistle (Divine)] [Camping gear] [Fishing poles 2x] [Festival Garbs 2x] [4x EXP Boosts] [Princess Saliandra's Panties (Black Lace)] [Desert Warrior Nomad Set (Rare)]

[Passive Perks]

[Inheritor of the Sword] [Son of Heaven] [Slayer of Evil] [Holy Willow Trees Savior] [Finder of Legends] [The Divine who has Legend] [Destined for Greatness] [Dungeon Diver] [An Overachiever]

[Active Skills]

[Heavens light Lvl.74 325/7400] [Protected by Heaven Lvl.74 225/7400] [Slash Lvl.92 4600/21000] [Parry Lvl.68 85/6800] [Double Strike N/A] [Kingslayer N/A] [Raging Machine N/A] [Winged Glory] [Angelic Flight] [Divine Pressure Exertion] [Divinity Pulse] [Controlled Fun]