First Step Taken

"That is certainly the main reason," the receptionist replied. After taking a deep breath, she tacitly explained, "Generally, adventurers are an independent group of their own. In this city, they are recognized by most to be unaffiliated with other guilds.

"However, there are some in the upper management of this country who see our organization as no different than hired mercenaries to the state. These kinds of people would often issue quests to members of the guild without following the normal procedures of issuing missions. One example of this involves secretly making deals with adventurers in private against the knowledge of our staff.

"But even if they do properly send out a request through the public board, they will often not show any consideration to the ranking system our guild has established."

"You mean that they won't list out any requirements for the adventurer's level, because they don't care about the risks that they could face?" Leo quickly understood. Without any indication of the adventurer's rank needed to complete a certain task, the amount of danger one can encounter will be very obscure. This treatment is no different than how one would issue jobs for common mercenaries. He has begun to understand why these kinds of missions are not well-liked in the guild.

"Hm, that is indeed the case," the receptionist's body started to relax, "Because of this, some adventurers have ended up dying needlessly due to taking jobs too dangerous for their current abilities. The rest have become offended and have actively refused to accept any of these tasks.

"We have tried to negotiate with these people and hoped they would show more respect to the system we have established. But there are some individuals every year who do not express any concern over this. In short, they don't officially recognize us as a formal group to take seriously."

There was some sadness behind that last sentence. The reception lady even looked a little depressed.

"I see. That certainly makes sense." Leo quickly thought of the two teams that the lady recently mentioned.

'Although the mission initially appears quite attractive, due to the reasons she explained, only two groups have currently accepted it.

'This certainly does complicate things.'

He suddenly found himself in a dilemma.

'Should I take it or not? Is it really that bad? Or could there be an opportunity somewhere?'

He isn't willing to judge something based on preconceived notions. However, this mission does seem to be a bit problematic.

"Do you still want to accept it?" the reception lady patiently asked.

"Hmmm, I'll think about it. Could I have the map that leads to the ruin?"

The receptionist nodded before rummaging behind the counter and taking out a folded sheet of paper.

"If you want any more information, I'll gladly provide some help for you."

"Yes, thank you very much." Leo bowed his head quickly before walking away.

He decided to sit down at one of the guild's tables to think it over. Both the request paper and the map of the ruins were placed in front of him to study.

----------

Half an hour had passed.

During this period, Leo had gone back to the receptionist lady several times to get more details. He particularly asked for info regarding other explored ruins in the past with similar circumstances to this one.

The lady remained patient and did her best to provide him with all that he needed. Throughout this time, she did not attempt to persuade him to give up on this quest. She appeared to respect Leo's decision to make his own choice.

On the table, there were several documents containing the accounts of other adventurers who had undergone similar types of explorations. Half of the quests they took in the past were issued by nobles who had discovered mysterious structures appearing on their lands. Unlike the current mission in Leo's hands, the majority of those quests were properly issued with the basic level requirements to the guild.

One interesting fact that Leo discovered in his investigation was that a little more than thirty percent of the total number of explored ruins in recent decades all shared the common feature of being built from some kind of black stone.

This black stone seemingly appeared to be timeless. No matter how diligently mages have studied it, the origins and age of this material were beyond their understanding. There was a strange sense of mystery surrounding them, and certain adventurers who've explored them have described to have felt an eerie sense of foreboding.

Another interesting detail about these ruins is that they've all appeared in a variety of different forms. Some came out from underneath the earth, others have been said to have magically floated down from the sky, and the rest suddenly appeared out of thin air with absolutely zero indication that it would happen.

Despite the strange and bewildering accounts, there have yet to be any severely hidden dangers mentioned by the adventurers. Although there were some surprises, barely any of them were truly fatal. At least, to the average adventurer.

'It's not as bad as I expected,' Leo thought, 'The only real danger to these ruins is that no one knows where they came from or how they were made. But that can hardly be considered a major threat.'

Fear mainly comes from the unknown. But this fear is oftentimes merely misplaced.

'Seems like I can take this opportunity. Although the minister did not place a requirement, it doesn't appear to be a problem for me.'

In all honesty, Leo did not take too much of an offence to the current views others have towards the guild. Although the adventurers were being looked down on, it isn't a big enough issue for him to start complaining.

'Maybe it's because I'm new. Perhaps I'll have a change of heart in the future.'

----------

"I'll accept this task." Leo said to the receptionist. He neatly handed back every document that was given to him and held up the mission paper he took from the board.

"Are you sure about this?" the reception lady asked. This time, her tone and expression were perfectly normal and it didn't seem like she planned on convincing him to change his mind.

"Yes," he nodded firmly.

His mind was now made up, and he has already considered what he needs to safely make this trip.

"Then, I'll register you for this quest. Make sure to leave that poster here so that other adventurers can take it themselves.

"Anyway, have a safe journey."

After waving away to the lady, Leo briskly set off to get some food supplies. The route to the ruins wasn't actually too far, but he still needed to prepare a set of provisions since he could end up staying in those ruins for a long period of time.

'Based on the map, the location can be reached on foot. It will take a few hours, but that's fine by me.'

Leo was already planning to get himself both physically and mentally prepared for the exploration to come.

----------

The ruins were located somewhere in a far off forest near the city. The journey would take approximately three hours for one to reach the edge of the forest on foot.

While travelling there, Leo was constantly checking his person to see if he had everything he needed.

Before leaving Victoria City, he had only brought along his short sword and a small pouch that was tied to the back of his waist. The pouch contained nutritious food, a map, some tools, and his healing potion. The magic sword was hung on his left side.

Along the way, magic fluctuations could be felt in the air. Faint colors could be seen surrounding Leo, and the area around him had subtle changes.

Since this was his first real adventure, he had decided to practice some spells to get familiar with his abilities. He had also used his short sword from time to time, swinging it around to measure the maximum potency of its effects.

Of course, having experience with crafting his own weapons before at the academy, it didn't take too long to fully understand the magic item.

He eventually reached the forest where the ruins lay. Passing through the trees, Leo was carefully observing the map before finally coming across a barren area. The land was scarce of plants, with a giant black protrusion jutting out of its surface. The protrusion was made of black stone and was almost completely square in shape. It roughly covered a dozen square meters above ground, and possessed an opening at the front which could allow three humans to pass through side-by-side.

Leo knew that this was only a very small section of the ruin. Most of it was submerged underground with the other adventurers inside.

"There doesn't seem to be any traces of human activity in the front." Leo muttered after carefully inspecting the entrance. He had assumed that the people who've gone to explore the ruin would have left something behind for them to make their way back.

Before reaching the forest, he had already come up with a plan to tie a thin string outside the entrance to help him find the proper path in case he ever got lost.

'It's a simple idea, but it should be quite convenient for one to use. Did none of these adventurers think of that?' Leo couldn't help but have doubts.

"No, they either might have thought of it or had other methods they could use to get back. After all, they should be more experienced than me.

"It's possible that this ruin could have mysterious ways to prevent people from using simple tricks once they trespass."

Despite that though, Leo was still planning to use his string method anyway. It couldn't hurt to try, and even if the string were to get broken upon entering, then it could potentially provide some clues about the mysteries of the ruin.

"Let's get started then."

[Earth Creation - Metal]

A thin strand of metal about the width of a person's hair came out from the tip of his left forefinger. After it extended to a length of 10 meters, he quickly walked over to the closest nearby tree and wrapped it around a wooden branch. With the metal string still connected to his fingertip, he then walked back towards the entrance of the ruin. The string would continuously grow longer with each step Leo took as he constantly injected mana to extend its length.

He unsheathed his short sword before stepping into the darkness below.

----------

While one would expect adventuring to be difficult for a beginner, Leo was far from a novice. Granted, he had no real experience with this kind of job. However he made up for it by constantly being prepared with the knowledge and skills he had obtained during his years of education.

At Halo Academy, his teacher Gerald Armstrong had taught him that a warrior should always try to keep his body relaxed and his breathing steady. This was not a sign of lowering one's guard, rather it was a technique that can help a person loosen their muscles to prevent fatigue on the battlefield. Their mind should still be alert for any attack while their body will be able to better react to the unexpected.

Along the journey downwards, Leo had yet to encounter any serious dangers. He had cast a light orb beside him but properly controlled its brightness so that it would not attract too much unwanted attention from the possible creatures lurking below.

Once the stairs began to disappear, he had suddenly found himself walking onto a flat surface area before coming amid an intersection. In front of him held three pathways leading to unknown regions further inside.

After thinking for a moment, Leo simply shrugged and kept moving forward towards the middle pathway. There wasn't any complicated reason behind the decision; it was simply made on a whim.

'The other adventurers must have also decided to pass through here.' Leo thought after carefully noticing some markings on the walls beside him; a battle most definitely occurred here. Along the way, he continuously kept increasing the length of his string.

He moved his light orb around to more closely observe the signs of battle around him. There appeared to have been blade marks etched into the black stone of the ruin, along with a few droplets of blood flowing down the sides of the wall.

Going further in, an open space finally appeared in front of him. The stones of the ruin also began to show colors besides the all-consuming black. In fact, one could even say that the area might have been splashed by a rainbow.

The open space had stones that showed signs of all kinds of different colorings. There was absolutely no pattern to them; they were all completely random from each other. Although he had no idea what purpose they meant to serve, Leo began to hold his short sword more tightly as he stared ahead carefully.

This location had an untraceable lighting that rendered his light orb unnecessary. It seemed like the painted stones were exuding a type of glow.

Obviously, these stones would most likely not be painted by adventurers unless they were morons, and could be a possible sign that monsters were lurking around in this area.