Chapter 13: Mistral's Den I

ARTHUR LEYWIN'S POV:As I reflected on my first three months as an adventurer, everything seemed like a blur. From the moment I began this thrilling journey with Jasmine by my side, we delved into numerous dungeons ranging from C-class to B-class and on very rare occasions to A-class. Although Jasmine initially encouraged me to join group adventures, we eventually found ourselves venturing alone, primarily due to encountering only B-class mana beasts on the boss floor of C-class or B-class dungeons. I had acquired numerous cores, particularly from the dungeon where it was just the two of us, and they were split into two parts. Jasmine typically sells most of them in the guild hall and manages to secure decent prices. On the other hand, I retained the B-rank cores to give to Sylvie and sold the remainder of them.I've dedicated a lot of time to physically training myself by engaging in regular sparring sessions with Jasmine. It has become a daily routine for me to focus on improving my physical abilities and getting more in tune with my body. During these sessions, I also take the opportunity to teach Jasmine advanced skills, such as Swift steps and various footwork techniques that complement her incredible dagger skills. Her expertise in wielding daggers is truly remarkable, and her mastery over wind magic is equally impressive.I also made a breakthrough in reaching the Dark orange stage. My mana purity seems to rise almost 3 times while the amount of mana also increased 2.5 times. Amid my thoughts, I felt someone tapping my shoulder to get my attention."We are almost there," announced Jasmine. At that moment, we were on the way to an A-class dungeon known as 'Mistral's Den'. This dungeon is a unique elemental-type dungeon which is very rare even in beast glasses, they held a special place in the Beast Glades due to a fascinating and unusual phenomenon. Unlike most dungeons that reset every 2 months to 1 year, depending on their rank, or the rare S-class dungeons that reset after 5 years, Mistral's Den stood out because it reset on average every 12-15 years. This astonishingly long reset period had been documented in the books I had read during my younger days, adding to the allure and mystery surrounding this unique A-class dungeon.Both Jasmine and I jumped from our horses as we reached, the party members waved at us to get our attention. Waving back at them we took our belongings and strode towards them releasing the horses to go back to their stables at the guild hall."Hello, It seems you are the last ones to arrive. My name is William Jones, AA-class wind augmenter. I will be the leader of this party. It's nice to meet you all." A large blue-haired man with a friendly smile introduced himself. "Since we all are here let's introduce ourselves to everyone." He continued. "Well then, I will introduce myself next. My name is Henry Morrison, an A-class Earth augmenter specializing in the shield." Another man this time more bulkier than the previous one spoke. His size and body structure indicated that he has nice defensive skills. He has dark brown hair almost matching his affinity."Hi, My name is Emma Hart. I am a wind and sound deviant conjurer, also an A-rank adventurer." A petite-looking girl in her mid-twenties introduced herself. She has cyan-colored hair and green eyes. "I am Noah Smith, AA-rank, water and ice conjurer." Another man with striking lilac hair and intense deep blue eyes introduced himself. He exuded an air of seriousness and composure."I am Jasmine. A-class, wind-augmenter specialization in dual draggers." Jasmine introduced herself next. "Note, A-rank Swordsman, specialization in fire, water along with lighting and ice." Seeing all eyes on me now, I introduced myself too."Oh, so you're Note, the individual who underwent a thorough examination by Kaspian in person." The leader of the party said to me."Wait! You were examined by Kaspian himself?!" Emma asked in amazement. "Umm, Yeah," I replied feeling awkward as everyone's attention suddenly shifted to me."Wow, That's awesome, looks like we have someone special with us." Henry also complimented. As we ventured into the foreboding dungeon, I couldn't help but reflect on the unusual circumstances that had led me there. You see, word had spread like wildfire throughout the Adventurers Guild about my encounter with Kaspian, and it seemed that everyone knew my name. The fact that I had been immediately awarded an A-rank only added to the fervor surrounding me. It's highly uncommon for the guild leaders themselves to personally evaluate a candidate unless they hail from a distinguished noble family or possess a significant level of renown in the adventurer community. For someone of more modest origins like myself, it's usually left to other experienced adventurers to carry out the evaluations.As I was lost in thought, a group of Sonic Bats appeared on the first floor of the dungeon. Sonic Bats are D-class mana beasts that use sound-based attacks. They are fairly large with a size of 35-40cm. Individually, their strength is only D-class, but when in hordes, they can easily subdue a B-class mana beast.William quickly spotted the bats and immediately issued instructions to his team. "Emma, create a sound disturbance to disorient the bats. Henry, protect Emma, Jasmine, and Note with me. Noah, use your ice spell to deal damage to the bats."As per William's command, Emma began reciting an incantation designed to draw the attention of the bats. The sound, being confined within the cave, started reverberating peculiarly. William had instructed Emma to create this disturbance because the sonic bats relied on their hearing rather than their eyesight. With Emma's spell disrupting their ability to sense the environment, it would be much easier to target them.The bats, disoriented by the loss of their hearing, began to fly in all directions. Many of them crashed into the walls, while the ones heading towards us were swiftly dealt by William, Jasmine, and me. Noah also joined in the fight, using an icicle to take down the bats. It was a challenging task, as there were so many of them, and it took us a couple of hours to finally eliminate the majority of the creatures. Their number was almost 300 which means 300 D-clas mana cores, collecting all of them was not worth the money so we decided to just let them be.After taking a brief 30-minute rest to regain our energy, we made the decision to push forward. It wasn't long before we were able to go to the next floor. We received an invitation from a pack of C-class mana beasts known as 'Tepiltzin'. These creatures are characterized by their wind-type mana and have an average size of around three-fourths of a meter. They possess sturdy bodies and often reside in groups alongside D-class mana beasts called 'Icky'.With William's command, we all readied ourselves for battle. Jasmine, William, and I formed a tight triangular formation, standing at the forefront, while Emma and Noah stood behind us, casting powerful spells. We fought valiantly, striving to prevent any mana beasts from breaking through our defenses. Despite our best efforts, a few sneaky Ickies managed to slip past us, but Henry skillfully handled them without much trouble.Time passed as I cut down the Ickies, but the Tepiltzin were just as sturdy as I read about them. I needed to imbue fire mana into the sword to cut it down swiftly, while Jasmine and William were able to cut efficiently without elemental magic. The battle on this floor didn't last as long as the previous one, even though there were more Icky compared to Sonic Bats. The key to our success was our strategy of cornering the entire horde and freezing them with Noah's powerful ice magic. With the horde immobilized, Emma seized the opportunity to deliver the final blow, shattering them with her devastating spell {Sonic Blast}.As we continued to advance through the dungeon, we cleared each floor, encountering an increasing number of C-class beasts with each level we conquered. Despite the growing presence of these creatures, we still hadn't come across any B-class mana beasts by the time we reached the fourth floor."Good work everyone! Let's make our tent here for tonight and take some rest. According to the description of this Dungeon, there are only 7 floors. From tomorrow we will be facing B-class to AA-class mana beasts, so prepare yourself. Let's get back alive, okay?!" William exclaimed with an enthusiastic smile encouraging the members of the party."Hell yeah! I am tired of these Bats and Tepiltzin anyway." Henry expressed his frustration with the large number of mana beasts. "Yeah, I definitely need a nice sleep after using so much mana." Emma also seems to agree with Henry. Soon it was decided that we would be camping here for tonight. jasmine came to check up on me and to see if I was alright, I reassured her that I was okay and asked her if she was alright which she replied positively. The leader took the role of guard followed by Henry and Noah as the rest of us set up our tent and went to sleep. Before sleeping I tried connecting to Sylvie and asking how was she doing but I only got nice snoring from her in response. "Haha, I guess she is asleep." Saying that I also drifted to sleep. _________________________________________________________________________________A/N: So finally a chapter with no copy-pasting. Dang! This feels nice. Hope you like the chapter. As usual, leave a like for this chapter if you like it, of course, comment on ideas or advice you have that you want to see in the future, and make sure to tell me if you have any complaints.