A Degenerate's Tale

The next morning, Ari brought Earl to the dungeon of Kopla.

The dungeon was located in the middle of the city. A tall tower was built on top of it, acting as a seal to prevent the monsters from spilling out. The tower was round and cylindrical, having been built out of stone.

A long line of Adventurers was formed outside the tower. By the gate of the dungeon were two guards who stood with straight backs, donned in thick silver armour. Within their hands, they held spears. They would only allow the Adventurers to enter after inspecting their rank.

Ari did not go through the hassle of lining up, but merely held Earl's hand and walked straight into the dungeon. No one noticed their entry. This was the power of Ari's Concealment Magic!

Inside the dungeon was what appeared to be the inside of a very large cave. There were mana stones embedded in the walls which acted as the light source.

Because of the high number of Adventurers frequenting the dungeon, the first floor was completely cleared. As they walked through the first floor to move onto the second floor, Earl observed his surroundings curiously.

He recalled the information he read about dungeons. It was said that dungeons have existed for as long as men. It was unknown where they came from and what the purpose of it was. Many mages have speculated that monsters that roamed in the wild today originated from the dungeons.

Monsters would spawn naturally within the dungeons. As one ventured deeper within, the monsters would get stronger and stronger. If a dungeon floor was not cleared for a long time, the number of monsters within would build up and result in a breakout. This was why Adventurers must continue to frequent dungeons to maintain order, as well as the reason why being an Adventurer was such a lucrative profession.

It was unknown how deep each dungeon was. The deeper one went, the stronger the monsters would become, which would eventually turn into a bottleneck for the Adventurers in that city. Fortunately, stronger monsters took longer to form, so a breakout from the deeper floors was never a problem. The main problem was from the earlier floors, where monsters spawned every day, and could quickly build up.

The only known instance of a person reaching the very bottom of a dungeon was of the Hero King's party, hundreds of years ago. It was publically known that after reaching the very bottom of the dungeon, the Hero King gained an immense boost in power which aided his subjugation of the Demon Lord. That dungeon, from that day onwards, no longer spawned monsters. And it was unknown what exactly the Hero King gained from the dungeon.

When they reached the second floor, the appearance was just like that of the first floor, except a little wider. There were still no monsters so they proceeded to the third floor.

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The transition point between each floor was a worn-looking staircase that formed naturally at the end of the floor.

As soon as they entered the third floor, they could hear the cries of monsters right away. Compared to the two previous floors, the third floor was much brighter, due to the higher concentration of mana within the mana crystals which acted as the source of light.

Earl looked left and right and noticed a few groups of Adventurers fighting monsters here and there. At one pillar, there was even a miner digging out a mana crystal and putting it into his bag.

"The dungeon is a land of opportunity for many. Adventurers come here to hone their skills, and Scavengers come to harvest mana crystals and monster corpses." Ari told Earl. "Oftentimes, Scavengers would team up with Adventurers and help them harvest the monster corpses to increase their efficiency. In return, the Adventurers would give the Scavengers a share of their loot."

Earl nodded in understanding and asked, "What was your party like during your adventuring days?"

"My adventuring days?" Ari said playfully, "I didn't have a party and went solo because there was no one as strong as me."

"Woah..." Earl let out an impressed sound. "Wasn't it scary? Doing everything alone."

"A little bit at first, but it was a valuable learning experience for me. I was approaching the Grand Mage level then too, so everything here was a cakewalk until I went deeper." As Ari continued talking a group of kobolds walked out from behind a rock pillar. "They are kobolds, why don't you show them what you got?"

The Concealment Magic was cancelled and as soon as the kobolds saw the pair, they immediately made a mad dash for them. The kobolds were about the size of Earl with the body of a human, and the head of a reptile. They were red in color, and held basic tools like spears and swords in hand, signifying their level of intelligence.

Earl was not very experienced in fighting. Seeing 5 kobolds running at him made him panic slightly as he quickly conjured up a fireball to burn them to crisp.

Kroa!

The kobolds dodged the fireball and then dispersed into different directions, surrounding Earl. He took this moment to calm down and recollect himself.

At this moment, a kobold jumped at him from his left. Having been prepared for it this time, Earl summoned an earth wall to block the attack, then changed it into an earth spear, impaling the first kobold to death.

1 down, 4 more to go.

Earl's heart was beating fast. He took a deep breath and targeted the kobold behind him, summoning four earth walls that surrounded it and then impaling it from four sides. Blood seeped out of the earth cage he made, the bloody sight caused his head to throb. Despite knowing that his mother was behind him, it was still a different experience altogether to fight these wild monsters.

2 down, 3 more to go.

Earl was breathing heavily now from the intense mana consumption from the two attacks earlier. Everything seemed to turn in a blur as he watched the movements of the kobold. The kobolds were not very stupid. Seeing their two comrades go down, all three of them attacked at once.

Earl used the same tactic as before, using his terrain to his advantage by using earth magic. He was able to trap two kobolds instantly, but the last one jumped out of his grasp at the last moment, throwing its little spear at him.

It was as if time had slowed down. The two earth cages he made before instantly transformed into spikes which killed the two kobolds. The last kobold was still in the air, having escaped from his grasp, but Earl had reacted instantly, turning the area under it into a large spike.

However, the spear was still flying towards Earl. The moment the last kobold was pierced, so was Earl. An excruciating pain went through his mind as his left arm was pierced.

"Argh!!" He screamed and buckled down to his knees.

In the next moment, Ari appeared in front of Earl and quickly removed the spear before healing him. "It's okay now. It's okay now." She repeated as she took Earl into her embrace.

With the pain now subsided, Earl took another moment to recollect himself.

"I'm sorry, I should've reacted faster," Ari said softly while embracing Earl.

"It's alright, mom. It was nothing. If I can't handle something this small, how can I call myself your son?" Earl lifted his head and told Ari while looking at her in the eyes.

Ari was dazed by Earl's words, almost tearing up a little. She sniffed and hugged him harder, "My son has grown up..."