As for Gunner, despite having great stats, none of them passed the limit of 50, so he was classified as an Amateur by the inspector there.
At first, the inspector confused him for a Journeyman when Gunner executed his earth-based skills since they were so powerful, but Gunner insisted that he was an Amateur as they were bloodline abilities.
Gunner saw that Darius had chosen to go with the Intermediate Rank for the guild, so he thought of doing the same. For all he knew, his master has a specific reason for doing so, leading Gunner to do everything to claim an ID with the same tag.
Darius gazed at his own and Gunners, both of which were a lovely silver color and seemed to radiate magic. Clearly, this ID was made with more than just laminated paper and handwritten details, as there was the scent of enchanting on it.
Of course, Darius couldn't smell anything like that, he just Analyzed it and saw that it was made through a cheap and standard enchantment, which was how he knew.
Placing his ID in his Inventory, Darius and Gunner exited the building and began walking further south to where the dungeon's entrance was located. Once they arrived at the area, they found that it was a small park with lovely grass and a few trees about half the size of a football field.
The nearest building to this park was a military outpost and the rest were adventurer hostels for those at the Novice rank. Darius noted how clever it was to put the adventurers right in front of the dungeon, not only to remind them of their weekly duty, but to tempt them as well as place them as the first line of defense should the dungeon break.
The park itself was quite busy, with many adventurers lined up at the entrance. Though the queue moved quickly since people just flashed their IDs at the front and were allowed in, Darius was stunned to see that so many lined up.
Looking at their relative gear and their depressed but hopeful expressions, Darius noted that at least 80% of them should be Novice Adventurers. Of course, to be sure, he Analyzed as many of them as he could in a short while and saw that many were, as a matter of fact, level 1.
Darius had already worked out that the system categorized all non-awakened as level 1 regardless of their prowess, so their stats tended to vary greatly. However, the gap between them and even the weakest Amateur Darius saw in terms of stats was great.
Noting this, Darius was even more confused by his earlier theory. Did his research not highlight how important or lucrative dungeons were? Was he missing something? Why were so many in a rush to enter?
Whatever the case, Darius had no intentions of joining the line. Conveniently, there was a separate queue for the awakened and sparked people, which Darius and Gunner joined to the envy of those on the novice side.
It only took the duo about 2 minutes to reach the front, and they presented their IDs to two bored-looking aides, one male, and one female. After verifying everything, they nodded and allowed Darius and Gunner entry.
The duo unhesitatingly entered the blackness that was the mouth of the dungeon and immediately felt the same sensation as when using a House Portal Scroll or Blink.
Once they regained their bearings, Darius noted that they were in a large cavern with a glass roof. The sun was shining down through the glass and seemed to focus on the patches of plants and vegetation neatly arranged all around the cavern.
It was actually a quaint and lovely place, the smells alone making Darius and Gunner refreshed. It felt like they could relax here and put away all their troubles, forgetting about whatever issue they had outside and becoming a part of the vegetation.
Darius' Mind Power suddenly lashed out around him, hitting… something away, which woke him up from his growing stupor. As for Gunner, his body flashed with greenish energy that woke him up as he roared in anger.
Darius pacified Gunner and pondered. Upon entering what should be the first floor of the dungeon, they had already been bombarded with some sort of mental or pheromone attack that had lulled their senses.
Then how were others supposed to survive?! Darius had the benefit of Mind Power which freed him and Gunner had his half-giant bloodline. These were two very hard things to acquire for the average person, so how many novices even made it past this stage?
No, how many Amateurs or Journeymen survived this long? Darius felt like he understood something. It was just a guess but those people must have received some forewarning before entering the dungeon, so they could prepare themselves.
The reason he hadn't been told was because they thought he was an Adept. And true to that, with Mind Power, he was instantly freed from this trap like it was nothing.
This was only a guess, but it made no sense otherwise. The guild would be sending people to their deaths. Unless... the area Darius and Gunner landed in was random? Not everyone spawned in this section?
Darius looked around slowly. For that matter, where was everyone? With so many people entering, even if the area they were sent to was randomized, they should at least see or sense one soul.
But there was nothing except the lush vegetation around them. Darius had a suspicious expression on his face, because an absurd and unholy idea came to his mind about dungeons in Faust, something he didn't want to believe, but made perfect sense given his previous deductions.
Darius beckoned to Gunner and the duo began to move forward. Whatever the case, his assumptions needed more data to become fact, so he decided to explore the dungeon while he searched for more hidden clues.
Darius took out the gauntlets he bought for Gunner and focused.
[Would you like to change the steel gauntlets into magical gauntlets? This will cost 20 Conversion Points.]
