The Ancients World

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

~~~(Location: Traveling the Open Skys heading Northwest)~~~

~~~(Time: 10:12 AM)~~~

I've been traveling since I got up at 5:00 AM this morning, and my marker shows that I'll be there in a few more minutes. I dip below the clouds, and I look towards the marker I've set, and I can see The CIty of Portes just ahead. It's quite large, but it lacks any walls for security which is quite strange in my opinion. Monsters could attack at any moment.

[Worldwide Announcement: Since NPCs and Players are rapidly gaining strength, ordinary monsters that spawn around the world are becoming too weak to pose a challenge! From this point on, all monsters and evil creatures now have access to the system to grow in strength to keep up! All monsters have gained independent intellect!]

My body and momentum come to a halt as I listen to the Worldwide Announcement repeat. "What the fuck does this mean for the future..." In the past, this never happened. Along with NPCs able to become Players and have access to the system. "More and more changes are happening, and it's a precursor to something big coming." That's the best explanation I can think of.

Monsters and evil creatures are gaining access to the system... Not only that, monsters will get smarter and pose a challenge. I'll assume the worse and say they're as smart as a human and are capable of incredible independent thought. I'm slowly gliding as I think about this, and since I'm getting close to Portes, I should land and walk around like an actual person.

Once I land, I toggle my wings off and place my hood over my head. There are times I'm fine walking around with my identity known, but there are things I need to know, and the complications of crowds and nobles are an obstacle that I don't want to deal with right now. Keeping my identity a secret while I'm here is my best option.

The road towards Portes is well-traveled, and people are coming and going from the city easily. I can see guards patrolling and heavily armored individuals barking orders at people that aren't so armored. As I get closer and in the city, I hear what they're yelling about. "The Ancient Dungeon of Isexxs is no joke! We need to be constantly vigilant!" I stop in my tracks and listen.

This is a valuable chance to learn something essential to my Class and me. "It's highly dangerous, and the monsters scale to the power of the people that enter it. Making it a challenge to clear over and over. The Ancient Dungeon of Isexxs is a permanent dungeon. It doesn't go away upon completion." Now that's something that I didn't think would be here.

Dungeons are sometimes one clear only and sometimes repeatable. It really depends, and now I know more about what I'm up against. "Sir, what are we supposed to do if we're overwhelmed. I know all of us are Players now, but I don't want to lose any levels trying to beat this dungeon." Turns out these people are NPCs turned Players. Good for them.

<br/>Many in the group I'm watching nod their heads and the man in heavy armor just sighs and shakes his head. "We're lucky to even get a chance at this dungeon. If you want to enter it, you'll need permission from the local Church of Light branch. They're the only ones with keys." Hmm... I was hoping to avoid all this, and I can't go in with these guys.

The monsters in the dungeon scale in strength, and they'll all be massacred if I'm in there. "Listen, everyone. I'm not going to force any of you to go, now that we're Players, we have a lot more leeway in how we do things, but this is a golden opportunity to gain levels and drops from The Ancient Dungeon of Isexxs." Being able to respawn does open a lot of doors for them.

If I want to get inside the dungeon, I'll need a key from the Church of Lights local branch. But before that, I should hit the local library to find any information I can about The Ancient Dungeon of Isexxs. I'm betting there are a lot of things that happen in that dungeon only when I'm in there, and possible hints to what those are is something that I'd want to know.

Before I turn tail and head for the library, I finish listening to the final thing the leader of this large group says. "Fair warning, the boss at the end of the dungeon has a notorious reputation for being a pain in the ass and capable of killing entire dungeon teams." That requires skills that are able to perform incredible AOE damage. That's good to know.

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

~~~(Location: The City of Portes, Outside The Kingdom of Avalon)~~~

~~~(Time: 10:31 AM)~~~

The library here in Portes is impressive given the size of the city. It's not small, but it wouldn't compete with some of the Capital Cities I've been to. My hood is still on, and I walk up to the front counter. The old librarian looks at me and raises his eyebrow. "Do you have any books or scrolls about The Ancient Dungeon of Isexxs?" He sighs and takes his glasses off.

There are probably tons of people coming and going from here asking about The Ancient Dungeon of Isexxs. "All the books and scrolls you'd want are already checked out or have been straight up buying them. You're in luck, though, cause I know more about it than any book does. So ask away." In many ways, this is better than reading from a book.

The first thing I want to know is the dungeon's layout and how long it usually takes to complete it. "What do you know about its layout and how long it takes to clear? Preferably alone, if you know." He looks at me like I'm crazy. "Before you say anything, I'm going in by myself, so just leave it at that." He chuckles a little and straightens his back.

Older generations of people know more about the places they live than anyone else. That's the best people to ask, which is what I've found myself doing. "There are many pathways and traps in The Ancient Dungeon of Isexxs, but you can find the path that leads straight to the boss by sticking to the leftmost path." He's leaving out information about the layout.

From the way he's talking, I can tell that there is more down the paths that don't lead to the boss. "The time for a team depends on its strength, and doing it alone has never been done before. So unless you got some serious weapons and skills, you're not getting far your own." I have a path to follow, but I want to know more about what's down those other paths.

My hood is obscuring most of my view, and from the way he looks at me from time to time, he's having trouble reading my intentions. "What's down the paths you didn't mention? Have people explored those before?" He becomes stiff, and he gains a look of pain. Something personal has happened based on the way he's reacting.

He takes fiddles with his glasses sitting on the wooden countertop and takes a calming breath. "No one knows. People that go down those paths never come back out. The Players that come back after respawning don't remember what happened. It's been something of a mystery for a long time..." This has been helpful, and I'll be checking down those unknown paths.

From the way he's looking and sounding, he's lost someone to the unknown paths we're talking about. I won't pry any further.

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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.211]

[Exp: 40/100%]

[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: 200] [Armor rating: 500]

[Inventory] [Dice of Wayland (Divine)] [Hardened Tree sap Armor (Very Rare)] [The Witness (Legendary Sword)] [Fenrir's Whistle (Divine)] [Sally's Dresses 5x] [Camping gear] [Food Rations 3x] [Dried meat 3x] [Fishing poles 2x] [Fish 8x] [Festival Garbs 2x] [4x EXP Boosts]

[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 80/6800] [Double Strike N/A] [Kingslayer N/A] [Raging Machine N/A] [Winged Glory] [Angelic Flight] [Divine Pressure Exertion] [Divinity Pulse] [Controled Fun]