How It All Started

It was never like this, people only lived their lives surrounded by modern technology, cars driving, people walking, some using their phones while some just rushing to get to their destinations using buses, trains and other means of transportation.

On a festive day something which the world would remember as an unforgettable event occurred. In the bustling market, where bickering between different buyers and sellers took place, merchants calling people to check out all their goods, and other activities. At a certain building, a gate was forming. No one had ever seen such a scene which bought a large crowd to the place, all curious about what was going on.

A massive amount of crowd was at the place where the portal was forming, some using their phones to make live feeds of what was happening, bringing a massive amount of the population in that county to know of this beautiful scene layed out before them, but what nobody knew was this scene which people called 'beautiful' was going to be the end of most.

In a few minutes, after the gate had completed its form and had fully materialized the crowd heard sounds coming from the portal.

*Grunt*

In a matter of seconds what made those sounds were finally visible to them all, but the only thing it brought was just pure horror to the faces of those who saw it, monsters which had never been seen before came out of those portals causeing a huge wave of panic among the crowd, people fell to the ground as their legs would give up. Some of the people who had slightly stronger wills to live ran for their lives while screaming their lungs out due to the extreme fear already visible on their faces, but the monsters which came out of those portals had powers like strengths which you could only hear from stories of myth. Before people started to notice the number of the population who had come to watch the 'beautiful' scenery only few could be seen as the monsters were just too ruthless, but it wasn't only this particular location this scene was playing out. The same fate was repeating itself all around the world, taking the lives of so many people and also bringing different types of monsters to this world. A world once known as peaceful would now become the very place filled with savage beasts, powers and also chaos like no other. This was the start of The World Of Dungeons

A Few Years Later.

It was a very sunny day,the sun shining with so much intensity you felt you were on the Dasht-e Lut desert for weeks but the farmers who lived in this area for most of their lives did their jobs as they were all used to this sun,this wasn't the first time they worked under this type of heat and they knew it wouldn't be the last.This was their means of livelihood and they would all starve if even a single area was left unmanned-They had all grown accustomed to it and also made shifts so the work could be efficient any time of the day.

While the farmers worked, In a particular house, a family of four were eating while conversing and laughing among themselves. It was a relatively small house but they ate with joy and laughed among themselves forgetting about their worries. There were a Mother,father,son and daughter all seated at the four corners of the dining table.

"Father are we going to the farm tomorrow".

Ethan, the son out of the family of four asked his father thinking of a way to escape work...not like it was anything new for this family of four.

"Yes Ethan, I remember telling you this morning".

His father answered him with a slight annoyance in his voice. He always had to tell him the same thing almost every time.

'Time to put on some slight acting' Ethan thought while smiling mischievously to himself.

Acting all weak now he stood up and said in a somewhat sickly voice "But I don't feel too good maybe...."

"Trying to act sick for the third time this week isn't going to happen so sit down and eat your food quietly!".

Ethan's father, tired of his son's antics shouted at him with a not so loud voice, anger visible on his face.

He had no choice but to sit down quietly and eat his food as he didn't want his mom to join the conversation if not he was going to be in big trouble.

As he thought of this, his body froze up for a few seconds and beads of sweat formed on his already tense face. He felt someone staring at his back which was where his mother sat down eating her food quietly and he also didn't dare turn his back to see what was going on.

"Father I got a letter in the mailbox this morning . I was finally accepted into the hunters guild and they want me to start tomorrow".

The daughter who had been quiet until now finally spoke with visible excitement in her voice.

"Oh that's great Alice you are making this family proud not like someone who acts sickly all the time" said the father with a teasing tone,loud enough for his intended target to hear.

'Hey old man I'm still here you know' Ethan who knew his father was referring to him just thought while rolling his eyes.

A few minutes later, they were all through with the meal and Ethan was asked to do the dishes as it was his turn on the chart today. While the father and daughter duo continued their conversation in the living room.

"so did they give you one of those measuring devices, hmmm what's it called again?".

The man was in deep thought thinking about the device which he had used when he was really young to measure his mana.

"Ava you remember the device right"

He asked his wife whose name was Ava sure that she will remember

"I think it had to do with mana Alex, right Alice?".

Ava asked her daughter sure she would know the answer related to this.

"Yes it is called a mana capacity measuring device. If I have a good amount of mana in me I can become maybe an F-rank hunter"

After the appearance of Dungeons people started to notice they had gotten powers which enhanced their bodies and made them stronger but the name of this power was unknown to all.

During this time, tombs of powerful people who had lived for thousands of years but died so many years ago were found, it was discovered that they also had this hidden powers and that was when it all clicked.

This wasn't the first time dungeons appeared. It had existed before but how or why did it reappear if it was taken care of before.That was a question which none of them could answer. It was also at this time when they discovered some type of journal of the dead. They used said journals to learn about the dungeons and their acquired powers knowing how to make use of them.

After countless studies it was found out that the power which they had was called mana and those portals which caused chaos were made of a lot of dense mana making it spread around the atmosphere and finally entering people as a form of power which enhanced their overall abilities like strength, agility, stamina, endurance.

After this was discovered people finally found a way to subdue the dungeons and started using it as ways to gain experience and also make money

This was also what brought guilds, and hunters were formed to take care of the dungeons.

Ranks were formed for people with a certain amount of power level. S-rank being the strongest and F-rank the weakest

People who didn't have mana were known as civilians and they were given normal jobs as they couldn't survive in the dungeon for even F-rank hunters were stronger than them.

"So aren't you going to use it to measure your mana or are you scared of getting a low mana capacity" Ethan said after washing all the dishes trying to make her angry.

"Well I haven't seen you getting any job opportunities" said Alice angrily seeing that Ethan just came to tease her

"I don't think you two should start fighting now right? "Ava stopped their bickering with a smile which had a threatening meaning to it.

When they both saw this they had to keep quiet knowing if they got on their mother's bad side they were going to be in big trouble.

'I think I'll be heading out now the guys must be waiting for me' Ethan thought

"I'm sorry mom, um I think it's time for me to go out they must be waiting for me".

Alex just sighed "You always try to escape working with this old man but you always enjoy doing work with your friends".

Ethan just smiled and said "Don't worry dad one day I'll make you proud and you won't have to work again"

Which everyone responded to his words with a smile and they all hugged each other.

Ending the hug Ethan rushed to the door "Okay guys I'm already late see you all later don't miss me too much".

"Remember to come back to the house early, okay?" Ava said to Ethan.

Even if she knew she would not care if he missed ten minutes because he gets to see them only once in a week. She knew he would still come home in the evening as he never missed dinner.

After some minutes of Walking, Ethan spotted his group of friends, waving at them while heading towards the meet spot"Hey guys, hope I didn't take too long this time".

They have all been best friends since they were children. The three of them had always been the trouble makers of the town.

"Hey Ethan did you miss me I have some stories to tell you about my hunting trip". Said Leo

Leo's father was a hunter and so they had to live in the forest to protect the town from monsters who came from the dungeon.

"Took you long enough we were about to start today's mission without you. Added Matthew

Matthew's father was a merchant they always had to travel to different cities to get more merchandise he was also the one who fixed Wednesday as their meeting date.

"So today we will be trying to find any good items near the dungeon as we did hunting last time".

The trio had come to take a liking to their fathers' professions, Ethan included even though he still skipped so many days of hard labor. They had come to love and respect it so much, it became a hobby for them to participate and work with their fathers as a team on their respective jobs. Some farming when it was Ethan's turn, hunting when it was Leo's turn... not beasts though Leo's father would never allow them to follow with only on very weak dungeon expeditions and finding items when it was Matthew's turn in any place of his choice.

"Are you sure about this, you know it is dangerous to go near any of those dungeons, right?" Ethan asked not sure if what they were doing was right.

"Yes I'm sure and also it's not like we are going inside the dungeon we are just going near it" Matthew replied with a smug look on his face feeling confident in what they were about to do.

There was a dungeon in the forest which was close to the town it was also the reason why the hunters built a small guild in the forest so they could watch the dungeon and also to prevent dungeon outbreaks.

"Okay it's time to go. Hope we all come back safely".

With this said, they all took their first step. Heading to the direction of the dungeon, oblivious to the strange encounter which would unfold.