Introducing Dungeon

After about two hours, they came back only to find dried out Aeneas and others clinging onto last breaths due to hunger. While strolling they forgot to check on time and as they had been eating, they didn't feel the hunger as well. After begging for forgiveness for over a few minutes everyone finally got to eat. Due to Theodore's insisting, no one had touched the food. He insisted on waiting for them, who were having a food stroll behind their backs. Even though they had eaten a lot, after the aroma of freshly cooked boar meat started to engulf the area, even they couldn't resist the urge to join in others for lunch. While eating Theodore suddenly raised a question to Nuae, "Why are we training so hard? Aren't we going to just explore a dungeon? As much as I know, dungeons are empty places. Even if they are acquired by some, aren't you enough to fend them off?" His question was valid. In his past expeditions, he had never encountered any dungeon who was being guarded by anything, though he had only explored two dungeons so far. And even if there were some enemies, they could technically rely on Nuae and Aeneas, after all, they were quite formidable, leaving the question. Why were they being trained so hard? Nuae took a deep breath and replied, "Do you even know what dungeons are? They aren't ruins. They are like exam halls for the strongest in the world. You can't expect to just pass it without studying. And these are 'Original Dungeons' after all. They are no joke." His serious reply was to be taken seriously. Everyone had a questioned look, 'exam? Study? And what is this original dungeon?' They had questions written all over their faces. Finishing his last piece of meat, Nuae replied, "Let me tell you what a dungeon is and what we are getting ourselves involved in. You need to get better at your skills or you will regret it in the desperate times"

After finishing lunch, everyone gathered around to listen to Nuae. The firewood was out of flames now and its cracking sound could be heard in the silence, a few cold breezes would move nearby trees too but not too fast nor too slow. As everyone gathered he began speaking, "Have any of you ever been to any adventures?" To his question, Theodore and Vivian raised their hands. "Been to a lot of ruins throughout our and nearby kingdoms. Been to a dungeon too, with Aeneas here. He knows!" To this Aeneas nodded in agreement. "Yet you don't know about dungeons! Anyways let me enlighten you." After he said so, he continued, "There are two main types of dungeons, mainly differentiated by its origin. One is known as 'Original Dungeon' and the other is known as 'Recreational Dungeon'. As for their origins, 'Original Dungeons' are the oldest while the latter are newer ones. At the time of the creation, the god of creation along with other gods gave birth to the world, not literally but it's what legend says. Before he created hell and heavens, every species was living on the same plane, causing a lot of chaos every now and then. To avoid such conflicts, he ordered other gods to come up with a solution. What they came up with were these dungeons, they planned to lock all these chaotic creatures inside these dungeons. Which, as we all know, didn't go well and hell and heavens split apart. But they managed to lure a lot of these creatures into these dungeons before that happened. For these creatures, these dungeons became their sanctuary, but over time they started feeling restless. The ancient gods found it as a headache, they obviously didn't want to waste their time and energy on these creatures and thus altered the structures before departing from the primal plane. Each dungeon has levels, with each level down you'd face a level up creature. I don't exactly know which god proposed this idea but it made these dungeons work like puzzles and games, though it is a deadly game. While these natural dungeons are quite formidable, it's most likely that there is at least one Avatar of the ancient gods, slumbering. Meanwhile, the latter type is quite safe but not for everyone. These are man-built dungeons and only the person with inheritance can open up a safer channel to the core of it or you'd need or go through all of these levels. I only know two to three 'Original Dungeons' and as for 'Recreational' ones, every kingdom that fought in the great wars has one that means, even dungeons for seven great kings. Any questions?" Listening to his explanation, Theodore understood why he was able to get through that dungeon so easily. But it didn't make any sense, why were the shards kept in there if the dungeons existed long before the war from the era of chaos. After thinking a while Theodore did ask Nuae about it. His reply was, "About it maybe someone who actually fought in the war could tell us." He was looking at Aeneas who was taking a nap as everyone was listening to Nuae seriously. "Oye! He's talking about you!" Vivian who was eager to know snapped him out of his nap with a shout. "Ah..wh..what…who? Me?" He was still half asleep but woke sharply as he received sharp glares from everyone. "Ahem! Well well, it's a long story…" Before he could continue Nuae pointed out their eagerness to him, boiling within. Noticing it he changed his pace abruptly, "In that time, we Aces were ordered to find an artifact which was designed for only one-time use by the goddess of war, during the era of the greater magician. And well after they used it on you know who, the shards just flew away. It was news even to me when Eleanor herself revealed the locations of these shards to you." His reply was a bit direct and sounded empty as if he wasn't telling the whole story, but what he said made sense. "Moreover the dungeon that we are now heading towards has been preoccupied with dark elves, do you know what it means?" Nuae raised a question whose answer was unknown to them. "It means that the Planar Seals are weakening allowing forces of the underworld to resurface. We need to hurry up because if they reach the shards before we do, the dungeon will seal itself from within and we'll be left outside unable to do a thing." His warning got through everyone, after-all they all traveled this far not to get beaten up. But that also was confusing, why would dark creatures from the underworld be interested in the dungeons or the shards in any way? Then Theodore remembered the times he went to the dungeon. There was an immeasurable amount of treasure, jewels, and many more things that could be considered expensive. But, they had literally no use of such wealth as they had no currency system underground. Everyone had a lot of questions. But for now, they decided to just not think too much about it for now.