A Mysterious Individual

The trio walked to the dungeon and were really excited to see what they could find, this was the first time they would be going to a dungeon unsupervised but that was true for only two of the three which was Ethan and Matthew.

As Leo's father was a hunter so he always took his son with him to F-ranked dungeons. Not long ago, his son had also started entering some low F-ranked dungeons without his father's supervision due to the secret he had been trying to word out to his two friends a few minutes since their journey began.

"Hey Leo are we close to the dungeon yet" Matthew asked Leo who was the one leading them to the F-ranked dungeon, he couldn't hold his excitement anymore.

"We are almost there so be patient" Leo answered Matthew while thinking of how to break the news which he had been keeping to himself for some time now.

While all this was going on Ethan was sceptical about what they were doing as he had always heard about the dangers of going to dungeons unsupervised or without proper preparation from his father.

"Matthew, Leo are you guys sure of what we're doing?, this is really dangerous you know?".

Still trying to convince his friends, he found out they were not willing to listen to him.

*sigh* Ethan just sighed and continued to follow them quietly.

"We are here" Leo said to the other two when he saw the entrance to the dungeon.

Ethan and Matthew had a look for awe on their faces when looking up at the dungeon's gate. No matter how many times they saw it that look never left their faces.

"Wow" the both said at the same time as they couldn't hide their astonishment.

"You will get used to it when you've seen it a number of times" Leo said to them while setting his bags down".

"So, are you guys ready to start the hunt for items" Matthew asked his friends as he couldn't wait to see what he would find near a dungeon but one thing he knew was he couldn't wait for the boys as he prepared himself ready to find some good stuff.

"we shouldn't wander too far and we should be back here in one hour" Leo said to the two boys.

In normal cases it would have been Matthew leading the three but, this was a dungeon so they had to listen to Leo as he had more experience about dungeons amongst the three of them.

"What about entering the dungeons to look for items that would be better wouldn't it?" Matthew asked trying to convince the other two boys into entering the dungeon.

"I don't think that will be safe as we don't even have mana to defend ourselves against monsters which are inside the dungeon" Ethan had a point here as none of them had awakened their mana.

"Well... about that I have awakened my mana some time ago" Leo said to them. This was what he had been waiting to tell them for a long time now as they all walked here.

"What?!" both Ethan and Matthew exclaimed as they were speechless, why were they just hearing about this news.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys sooner, I was actually planning to break the news to you here".

"It happened during the last dungeon raid I followed my father, after we had gone a little bit deeper into the dungeon, I was almost attacked and at that time I felt a wave of power erupt inside me which made it easier for me to defend myself and kill the goblin"

Leo explained to his friends what had happened and how he awakened his mana and they both listened silently

Some minutes passed with them discussing about the awakening of their friend's mana, they found out his mana capacity had been measured and he had the chance of reaching D-rank which made them all excited and also gave the other two a willingness to gain power.

"Well since you have awakened your mana what about we check out the dungeon" Matthew said finally finding a way to convince them to enter the dungeon.

"...Okay we should be able to explore the dungeon since one of us has mana" Ethan finally agreed still a little bit skeptical but he believed their friend could protect them if worse came to worse.

After a few minutes, they were prepared and ready to enter the dungeon taking their first step into the dungeon unaware of what the outcome would be.

'So this is how dungeon looks like'.

Not like Ethan had not seen inside a dungeon before but this one had a different feel to it. Maybe the fact the crowd which always blocked their view was nowhere to be found made him absorb the scenery which lied in front and that strange feeling.

"Wow, this is awesome!" this was also Matthew's first time in a dungeon that felt more otherworldly than normal, he just had pure excitement showing on his face.

"Okay, so we are looking for loots in here but we shouldn't go too deep or we might get into a fight we can't handle"

Leo explained ways for them to survive in the dungeon and they both listened diligently.

After they had finished planning they started to walk, hoping they wouldn't have to go too deep to find anything

"By the way, what monsters live in this dungeon?" Ethan asked after remembering the question which had been bugging him since.

"Well this one belongs to goblins and it is also one of the weakest F-ranked dungeons"

Leo replied Ethan, this statement also brought a sense of relief to both his friends lifting a huge burden off their shoulders.

"Hey guys look over there"

Matthew called their attention seeing something which looked like a ball lying on the floor.

"That's..."

Leo couldn't believe what he just saw, that was an uncommon grade mid tier beast core.

Beast cores were graded from common grade, uncommon grade, Rare grade, legendary grade and mythic grade

They also were low tier, mid tier and high tier in those grades.

Which was why he was surprised, as he never expected for that to be in one of the weakest dungeons.

Matthew hurriedly picked up the beast core and put it into the spatial bag which his father gifted to him on his 17th birthday.

"Something weird is going on" Leo said to himself, he was not sure if what was going on making him feel wary.

"Isn't it too quiet here?" Ethan who had always been vigilant noticed something wasn't right.

"Guys let's just pick the beast cores they are not going to pick themselves" Matthew said to them oblivious of what was going on.

He had always been the most naive out of the bunch which was something his friends tried to change but he never changed that nonchalant attitude of his,always saying the same thing, 'Don't worry guys I'll change just give me some time', but here they were and he was still being oblivious to his surroundings.

Matthew continued to pick up the beast cores which had been laid on a straight path making it known to all that this was a very obvious trap. At this point Leo already had his spear in his hands ready just in case anything tried to attack them.

While all this was going on, an individual watched them on an orb while smiling as this individual had already set all of this in place and waited for them patiently continuously tapping their right foot on the floor.

Also the gate which they had used to enter the dungeon was sealing itself slowly with every second that passed, their chances of leaving this place became less likely, this was also the work of that individual. A very mysterious individual indeed.

The three friends continued to follow the trail of beast cores but one thing they didn't understand was why there wasn't a single monster since they stepped foot into this cave.

After a few more minutes of Walking, a castle came into their view, this castle had a gloomy aura around it. Anyone would know just by looking it had many memories than most who had lived but still stood firm even though cracks ran through its walls and vines also covering some parts of it.

The trio upon seeing this became visibly scared and also reluctant to see what was in that castle but curiosity got the better of them and so they all looked at each other before taking steps into the gate.

Immediately they entered the gate of the castle, they were shocked to see that this led them to a different scene prior to what they were faced with a few seconds ago, they felt the castle's gate they just entered had led them somewhere else, it felt more like it took them back in time to when that old castle they saw before was in it's prime it now looked like a castle which had a majestic aura. It made them wonder what happened to the castle that looked old and gloomy.

The three boys entered into the courtyard of the castle but immediately they entered they heard a voice.

"Halt, who goes there!" the three friends heard this voice which was filled with authority and command and immediately felt like they had to answer as they couldn't dare to disrespect this knight which stood in front of them

"We saw this castle as we were strolling and we had to check it out sir, we mean no harm".

Ethan replied the guard trying to sound more respectful than his usual tone, he had already noticed something which the others hadn't realized yet, this place wasn't the dungeon they were in just a few minutes ago, they were now in a world which belonged to people they didn't know

As the guard was about to send the trio on their way he heard a domineering voice.

"They are my guests Eric, let them in"

This was not the voice of an ordinary individual as immediately it was heard the guard bowed and with a voice filled with respect and fear he said.

"R... right away my liege I will send the guests in now".

When they got in they were introduced to two maids who took them to the throne room.

As they entered the throne room, they saw a mysterious individual with a veiled appearance sitting on a throne majestically giving out the aura of a ruler which was too heavy for them to bear.

If they knew this person was just using a tiny part of their aura they would have coughed blood.

"Oh, sorry about that" the individual said withdrawing the aura with a slight smile which they couldn't see and then saying words which would put the three friends in a state of confusion.

"I have been waiting for you three".