Xela currently stood before the entrance of a large plaza. She looked up and read the name of the square that was engraved into the arch over the entrance: 'Vaults Plaza'.
Xela titled her head with confusion, wondering if 'Vaults' was just Elysium's name for Dungeons.
Even though Divine Maidens had access to a paramount of secret knowledge, she had only just been selected literally a few months ago.
The limits of her knowledge outside of Elven society were quite high. She knew thanks to Darius' teachings that each continent had its own power levels and style that was different from the other.
However, the general archetype was carried through across the various continents, with each of them having its own native features.
'Dungeons' on Houto were called Tenchi Trials. Those on Pan were called Secret Realms. Those on Unyris were called Ancient Lands.
And just as Xela had guessed, on Elysium they were referred to as Vaults. Also, while they were fundamentally similar to Dungeons, there were also special differences in each of them, so the elf got her guard up.
She entered the busy plaza and found that there were many small portals set up there. Each portal had its own distinct color and they were manned by different people, with there being a small reception beside each portal that filtered candidates.
Xela gazed around cautiously before choosing a blue portal nearby and walking over. She chose this one because there was no one currently queued to enter, so she reached the reception for it straightaway.
"Greetings, this is my first time here, could you tell me more about Vaults and how they work?" Xela asked politely.
The fellow who sat at the reception had been busy working on some documents, but he raised his head with curiosity after he had heard the sweet voice. When he saw that it was a pretty elven maiden talking to him, he smiled patiently and began to explain.
"Vaults are mystical locations created by the various deities to allow mortals to challenge different levels for corresponding rewards and accolades. Basic Vaults have 3 floors, Intermediate Vaults have 5 floors, Advanced Vaults have 7 floors, Master Vaults have 10 floors and Grandmaster ones have 15 floors!"
"Vaults are separated by elements, with some special cases having more one, though none of the public ones belong to that category. In fact, the majority of publicly open ones are Basic Vaults."
The fellow shrugged. "If you want to access higher-tiered Vaults, you have to become a worshiper of the deity who owns them."
Xela nodded as she digested the basic information given her, then asked: "So what do I have to do to gain access to this one?"
The fellow smiled and brought out a form. "Simply give me your details and I'll register you. Next time, you can just pay a fee to enter instead of registering all over again."
Xela nodded and gave her details to the fellow who quickly handled all the processes for her. After that was done, she paid the 10 Dius entry fee for the public Vault, surprised at how cheap it was.
Upon crossing into the blue portal, Xela felt like she had left the world she had known behind and was pulled somewhere new. When she gained cognition of her surroundings, she noticed that she was now standing in the middle of a small island.
The island was also packed full of people, which surprised her as she had expected Vaults to be instanced like Dungeons on Fallon, but it didn't seem to be the case here.
All around, Xela noticed different groups standing around, calling out to people who just entered like she did.
"Adept warrior building a team to challenge the third floor! Need a qualified Adept healer, magician, and archer!"
"Journeyman mage, fighter, and archer looking for warrior and healer!"
"Amateur mage looking for a team challenging the first floor!"
"Journeyman archer looking for a group!"
Xela filtered through the calls and identified teams that were recruiting Amateurs. Slightly warily, she walked over to an almost full group, with a mage, archer, warrior, and fighter.
When the mage, who was the leader of the team, saw Xela walk over, her eyes lit up. She greeted Xela warmly and asked. "Are you perhaps a healer?"
Xela smiled gently. "I am."
The rest of the team members perked up, excited that they had finally filled their roster. The fighter and archer were also females, with only the warrior being a handsome youth who looked more like a young master than his class' typical bearing.
The mage, who had blond short-cropped hair, light green eyes, and a pretty face smiled. "Now that we are full, we should all introduce ourselves to our newcomer. My name is Nisha and I'm a fire and water dual element mage."
The archer, who was a wood elf with brown hair, green eyes, and cute freckles skipped over to Xela and grabbed her hand. "Glad to meet you, Sister! My name is Elverivar Husinomunto, but I let others call me Veri."
The fighter, who was a rough-looking, brown-haired, and blue-eyed mature woman who many visible scars on her tanned skin grinned widely. "Name's Helen. Nice to meetcha. Oh, and I like to kick things."
The warrior, who was an elegant fellow with slicked-back silver hair and sharp brown eyes smiled widely and bowed. "Greetings, Fair Elven Maiden, my name is Lloyd and I'm a swordsman."
Xela enthusiastically met the embrace of the wood elf, feeling happy to see fellow kin in an unfamiliar place. She beamed and introduced herself.
"My name is Xieliartorsobotar Staonroefuso, but you can call me Xela."
Nisha the mage nodded. "Great, since we all know the basics, let's get ready to head to the first floor. By the way, are any of you new to vaults?"
Xela, Lloyd, and Veri indicated that they were new, which made Helen and Nisha chuckle. This time, the mature woman spoke in a surprisingly light tone.
"Well, Vaults are basically gauntlet fights. Ya enter a floor with yer team and then survive as many waves of enemies as ya can. Ya can retreat if you rush to the entry of the floor and teleport out when it gets too much for ya."
Nisha nodded. "It's unlikely for us to face any troubles as long as we put in our best effort and bring out competence to the highest possible level. Are any of you unfamiliar with your prospective roles by the way?"
