Friendly Neighborhood Adventurer
***POV - Jack the Examiner***
"Hello, everyone... It's me, your friendly neighborhood Adventurer, Jack!"
Nothing special to see here. It's just your average All-rounder Class, Steel_Rank Adventurer, waiting for those young adventurer examinees to arrive at the meeting place here inside the Dungeon_Core area.
I called them young not because I'm old. For a 35-year-old guy like me, I'm considered a young adult. I mean Humans have 150 years of life span so being 35 won't earn you the title of Middle-aged man, not at all.
Yeah... I'm still young... A young adult.
Anyway, as I said earlier. I'm one of the Adventurers waiting for those examinees which means, I'm a member of the Adventurers' Academy and one of the Guild's staff assigned as Examiners for the entrance exam.
However, instead of the fun job of secretly following and watching those young Adventurers, I drew the shortest stick among the odds and got stuck at the most boring job.
To wait all by myself, bored and lonely, at the arrival of Adventurer examinees here inside of the Dungeon_Core area.
"Jeez... I'm so bored that talking to myself starts to sound very entertaining."
.
.
.
Six days have passed since the start of the Adventurers' Academy Entrance Exam.
And as the daybreak shines upon this bored and lonely examiner, it marks the seventh day, the last day of the Entrance Exam.
Then until the sun sets and turns the crimson sky into nightfall, those who will arrive here will be able to pass and prove themselves worthy of being one of the students of the Adventurers' Academy.
"Ack!... My monologuing is starting to sound like I'm writing some novel... This is getting dangerous... Please arrive already examinees!... Being alone for six days straight is both lonely and scary!"
.
.
.
Group by group, the Adventurers' Party starts to arrive by the time the sun reaches midday.
Some of them are doing fine. Some are slightly injured. There are a few with the worst injuries but not to the point that they can't move or that they need immediate treatment from a Healer.
All of them are in a different state of condition. Much worse or less than the others. But there is one thing that is the same for every group of Adventurers that arrive at midday.
..."""FOOD!!!... GIVE US A PROPER FOOD!!!"""...
All of them are starving and hungry for food.
One of the Guild's staff who arrived following the examinees then gave me a warning.
"Don't show them your food. If you ever do then this group of starving Adventurers will get crazy for it... They might even start to rampage and fight over it... You might even lose your life getting in the crossfire."
What the heck!... Are they so hungry that they will fight over proper food?
According to the other Guild's staff, the food given to the examinees as provisions is trash and they're eating that trash food for six days straight. Some of the food even expired along the way and caused some cases of harsh stomaches.
I don't know what the reason for that but it surely never happened before.
.
.
.
.
.
It's already past the afternoon.
Out of the 93 Adventurers examinees, only 67 have arrived here at the meeting place. That makes it around 72 percent of the total examinees with a group count of 19 Adventurers' Party.
It's quite low but still around the average passing rate of 75 percent. So it means that this year's entrance exam was a success.
.
.
.
The sun has started to set and the sky has been painted in the color of Velvet...
"Ack!... That's dangerous... It's also like I'm writing a poem!"
"What are you saying, jack?"
"Nothing!... It's just being alone for six days straight is getting to me."
"I see... You got the worst job after all!... Hahaha... It's only a few minutes left so after this let's go grab a drink."
"Let's drink a week's worth of alcohol and beer after this!"
..."""FOOD!!!... WE'RE EATING PROPER FOOD AFTER THIS!!!"""...
"Hahaha... Since there are no unforeseen circumstances that happened, let's celebrate this job as a success..."
...TREMBLE!...TREMBLE!...TREMBLE!...
"That tremble wasn't real, right?... It's only in my imagination, right?"
"""Yeah, you totally jinxed us, Jack."""
"""What a classic, Jack."""
"Don't make it sound like it's my fault!... Get ready to fight everyone!... Prioritize on defending the injured examinees!"
"""Yeah!!!..."""
.
.
.
Aside from the 67 Adventurers examinees, there is a total of 20 Guild staff here ranging from Iron_Rank to Steel_Rank.
That's a lot but considering that half of 67 Adventurers examinees are injured and needed to be protected from whatever is causing this trembling of the ground, we're definitely at a disadvantage.
"For the other examinees who are still doing fine... Don't fight!... Just prioritize defending your fellow examinees!"
"""Yes, Sir!!!..."""
With my command, everyone takes their stances preparing for combat.
We're outside at the innermost layer of the Dungeon, the Dungeon_Core area.
I mean we're technically inside the Dungeon_Core area but we're still in the safe layer in which the Dungeon_Keeper won't attack us and the outside Monsters won't approach us.
It's the safe area or what we call the Observation_Area where anyone can safely observe what is happening inside the Dungeon_Core area and be safe from the high-ranking monster roaming around the third layer of the old ruins.
"Whatever is causing this trembling ground, let's just hope that it won't be able to get inside here at the Observation_Area..."
"""DAMM IT, JACK!!!... DON'T JINX US!!!..."""
.
.
.
After a few minutes of intense waiting, the source that is making the ground tremble finally reveals itself.
The ground, a little further from where we all, begin to break and collapse. Then a 3-meter tall bulky humanoid golden golem appears out of the ground.
"""Shit!!!... It's a Rank_5 Golden_Golem!!!..."""
"""There's no way we can win against that without any casualties..."""
Damn it... Why is there a high-ranking monster here at the Observation_Area of the Dungeon_Core? This kind of incident never happened before.
Plus, it's a Rank_5 Golden_Golem. Even a group of Silver_Rank Adventurers' Party will have a tough time defeating this Golem.
With 20 of Iron_Rank to Steel_Rank Guild's staff against a Rank_5 Golden_Golem, I still doubt we have a chance of winning.
The best thing we could do as Guild's staff examiner is to give time until every Adventurers examinee can be safely teleported back to the Adventurers' Academy.
"That's right... After all, the most important skill of an Adventurer is to be brave and survive."
"""Pfft!... What a classic Jack... Hahaha..."""
"""Everyone!!!... Get in the Teleportation Magic_Circle!!!..."""
.
.
.
"Will give you enough time to escape!... So be brave and survive!... Leave us behind and don't look back!"
I took my stance and ready myself.
Along with my fellow Adventurers, we march towards our faith.
To fight bravely and to survive victorious.
"Because that's who we are!!!..."
"""WE ARE ADVENTURERS!!!... WAAARRRHHH!!!..."""
"Ohh!... Mifumi-sama, Felin, we're finally outside!"
"""UH-HUH???!!!..."""
Halfway toward the Golden_Golem, someone came out from the collapsed ground from where the Golden_Golem came from earlier.
The surprise from seeing that young girl made everyone confused and halt their march towards the Golden_Golem.
"Uh-huh?... What's happening?... Who are all of you?..."
..."""Where the one who should be asking you that!!!"""...
"Ack!... Are you all trying to hurt Gold-Puro?... Then get away or I will put a hole in every one of you!"
The young girl who came out from the collapsed ground behind the Golden_Golem threatened us by aiming her weapon at us. I don't know if it's a Magic_Item weapon and what can it do but that young girl is angry and hostile at us.
Is she defending that Golden _Golem?... But why would she defend a monster?... Is that monster important to her?
"Gold-Puro is mine and mine alone!... That 5 percent reward is mine alone!"
Yeah... That monster is important to her because of the 5 percent reward for reporting the appearance of Golden_Golem and nothing more.
What the heck I'm getting sentimental for, thinking of a faithful bond between Human and Monster?
I guess I'm getting old... Nope... I'm only a young adult!
"Get away from Gold-Puro, you bast..."
...SLAP!...
..."""WHAT???!!!"""...
To our surprise, another young girl, a Beast-kin, came out from the collapsed ground behind the Golden_Golem and slapped the hostile young girl in the face.
And what's more surprising is another young girl, a Half-Elf, came out following that young Beast-kin girl... Okay, that's not actually that surprising compared to the hostile girl getting slapped in the face.
"Ugh!... My dignity as a senpai falls into the ground..."
"Stop being greedy, Vier."
"Uh-huh?... Wait!... Please don't attack the Golden_Golem!... It won't harm anyone unless it is attacked!... It's only trying to get back to its respawning point, so just let it go for everyone's safety!"
Upon seeing every one of our group, the young Half-Elf girl immediately gave us an explanation as to what was happening with the Golden_Golem.
However, even with her statement, we can't still ignore the threat of a Rank_5 Golden_Golem in front of us.
"Please!... Don't attack Gold-Puro... I mean the Golden_Golem!"
"""What do you say, Jack???"""
"Jeez... Why I'm the one making decisions?"
"""Because you're, Jack. That's obvious!!!"""
"Fine!... Listen to the young Half-Elf girl!... Don't attack the Golden_Golem but remain vigilant!"
"""Okay!!!..."""
An awkward standing contest between all the Adventurers against the Golden_Golem stand for who knows how long. Then to our surprise, the Golden_Golem ignored us and walked inside the Dungeon_Core area.
It was surely surprising that a monster went inside the Dungeon_Core area. After all, that never happened before. The only monster that should exist in the Dungeon_Core area is the Dungeon_Keeper itself.
But what's more surprising is that the Golden_Golem disappeared, like it got teleported upon entering the Magic_Barrier of the Dungeon_Core area.
"Gold-Puro!... Why?!... Where did you go?!... What about your promise of giving me your golden arm?!... Sob...Sob..."
"Gold-Puro is not yours, Vier."
"Enough with your drama, Vier-chan!"
..."""What the heck did just happen!!!"""...