In a room within a giant castle, a man could be seen sitting on a chair made of gold. The man had blonde hair and a star mark on his forehead. He was the 28th Wizard King, Julius Novachrono, the strongest mage of the Clover Kingdom.
The door to his chamber opened, and a man with blue hair and a mushroom haircut entered with a report. He was Marx, the assistant to the Wizard King.
Julius read through the report and said, "Tell the following captains to send some of their members and be sure to include that four-leaf grimoire boy. This dungeon is near the Clover Kingdom, so other nations would probably not interfere."
"As you command," said Marx as he exited the chamber.
"Hmm, an interesting dungeon. Let's see, Julian, what else can you show me," thought the Wizard King.
---
Julian's control of solid flames had increased significantly. He had been sparring with Luck regularly using only mana daggers. He got hurt a lot, but the production and quality of the daggers increased. The power of the daggers increased a lot if he used higher flames, but the speed of creation decreased as controlling the red flames was very hard.
A few days ago, Yami beat the shit out of Julian because he was pestering him too much to spar. Julian resolved not to piss him off too much next time.
While training in the forest around the base, Julian sensed mana fluctuations around him. A portal opened near him, and Finral stuck his head out, saying Yami was calling for him.
Julian entered the hall and saw everyone waiting. Yami stopped smoking and said, "A new dungeon has opened, and the Wizard King wants our squad to participate in the exploration. Sigh, this is troublesome... Julian, go and take Finral with you."
"What? Me? Nonono, I will die there! I don't want to die so early," Finral cried.
"YOU WILL GO, OR ELSE I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF," Yami said, looking Finral dead in the eyes.
Finral reluctantly agreed to go, but Julian was pretty excited for his first dungeon dive. Luck wanted to go, but Yami had other missions for him.
---
Types of Dungeons:
There are many types of dungeons, almost all created by ancient mages. The first type is natural dungeons. These form when a powerful artifact or source of power is created and abandoned. The artifact influences its surroundings and gives rise to a natural dungeon. Wild plants or animals make layers near the artifact and evolve under its aura, creating a natural ecosystem around it. This type of dungeon is generally found in extreme environments like inside a volcano or underwater with minimal human interaction.
The second type is treasure dungeons. These are built in separate dimensions by ancient mages who wanted to protect or pass on treasures, knowledge, artifacts, money, etc., to future generations. These dungeons have many traps, but over time, the ambient mana inside the dungeon may give rise to natural traps and new species of mana beasts. The beasts start to pour out of the dungeons if they are left uncleared for long, causing havoc.
The last and most dangerous type of dungeon is the inheritance dungeon.
These dungeons are also in separate dimensions, but their difficulty is greater than the other two. These were built by ancient mages who wanted to pass on some of their powers to a specific group of people.
These dungeons have different chambers with different trials, and only by passing the trials can one reach the final room. Here lies a treasure guardian made from mana, and only by defeating it can the power be accessed.
However, the treasure is a gamble as the power has its own will and may or may not choose the dungeon clearer.
For example, if the reward provides a boost to fire mages, then only if a fire mage clears the dungeon would they receive the reward.
When the main treasure or artifact is brought out of the dungeon, the separate dimension may collapse. This generally happens for the latter two types but not for the first type. The dungeon they were going to was the inheritance-type dungeon. It was distinguishable from others as it released more mana into the surroundings than the others.
---
The next day, Julian and Finral went towards the direction of the dungeon. It took some time to reach as the grand magic zone often messed with their mana control.
The dungeon entrance was a large black hole on a giant rock. There were different colored plants and mesmerizing flowers all around it, which were said to be extinct hundreds of years ago.
Near the entrance were two members of Golden Dawn, three of Purple Orca, and a spatial mage from Crimson Lions. The only people Julian recognized were David and Letoile from the Golden Dawn, the dice magic user, and the woman with compass magic who fought with Noelle and Nozel in the elf arc.
"Look, the savages are here," said one Purple Orca member.
David just smiled, and Letoile said, turning towards them, "We would like to go on a separate path in the dungeon, but if we come across the same trial, some help would be appreciated."
This was acceptable as most of the time many different paths lead to the last room.
Unlike the Purple Orca members who didn't like them being there, the Golden Dawn members showed no problem with their presence.
The spatial mage from Crimson Lions was responsible for taking them back after the exploration or sending support if the dungeon was too difficult.
"Sure, let's not waste time and enter," Julian said, ignoring the Purple Orcas.
But what they didn't realize was that the entrance closed when they entered the dungeon.
The mage from Crimson Lions panicked and sent emergency signals to the nearby squads.