Chapter 35: Going to the Dungeon*
As they walked side by side through the busy town streets, Melting Snow asked. "So, what is this quest of yours about anyway?"
"You're asking me that now, after you already agreed to help?" Xinya asked, laughing.
"I was going to agree anyway, but I still want to know what I'm in for. I might need to upgrade my weapons or get new armor before we go." Melting Snow replied.
To be honest, what Melting Snow said was correct, the librarian did say that the monster they would be facing would have long-range attacks and, since the monster is potion based, the type of skills it could have could be corrosive. With that thought in mind, Xinya felt that Melting Snow's way of thinking was very mature for his age. A certain saying came to him, 'Just because you're older doesn't mean you're wiser' and that was quite true in this case.
"You are right, I probably should let you prepare. I was just going to wing it since I can't use my combat skill, but I forgot that you can. " Xinya said.
"It's alright. So, tell me about what we have to do." Melting Snow replied.
Xinya went on to tell Melting Snow everything he learned from the librarian. He told him all about Shilvak and how he was a legendary combat potion maker who saved hundred or thousands, explained about his apprentice and how he thought the masses weren't worthy of reading Shilvak's book and learning his skills so easily, so he hid the book and the copies left in different dungeons around the world. And then informed him that one of the dungeons was located here in Bellport.
"Wow.." Melting Snow said after hearing all the details. "Your class got a much better backstory than mine. After listening to yours I feel a little letdown."
"How come?" Xinya asked laughing.
"Well, my class story was only, 'An ambidextrous younger man wanted to be more powerful on the battlefield, so he created a new way to fight. He called it dual wielding. He had strong enemies but defeated them all. He went down in history as the most powerful man in history.' Do you see how straight forward and boring that is, no mystery at all." Melting Snow said while sighing.
Patting Melting Snow on the shoulder, Xinya said, "Well this is a newer class, they probably didn't want to make it so generic. I think I would have been happier if they did. Then I wouldn't have to run around like this."
"Don't say that, think about the adventure." Melting Snow said happily. "So, do you know what will be in the dungeon?"
"I know for sure that the first two parts will be a test of sorts, but I have no clue of what kind, just that it might be deadly, so we need to stock up on HP pots. The last part is a boss, a monster created by potions," Xinya said.
"A monster created by potions?" Melting Snow asked.
"I don't know either, but I heard that it's a ranged monster, so we need to fight it up close and its attacks can be corrosive." Replied Xinya.
Melting Snow was quiet for a moment before saying, "I think we should enchant our gear, that way when we receive an attack, our gear won't fall apart."
"I was thinking the exact same thing plus, we need to buy a raft kit," Xinya said.
"Why would we need a raft kit?" Melting Snow asked.
"Oh.. did I forget to mention that the dungeon is on an island, in the middle of a lake?" Asked Xinya.
Laughing heartily, Melting Snow said, "Not only will this be an adventure but it will be an island adventure. I'm totally going to record this. So how long will it take to go there and back?"
"That's the good part, I got a teleportation scroll, so we will only have to worry about getting back here, which, including finding cover for when night comes, will only take us two to three days in-game."
"That's great, at least we won't have to worry about getting there." Melting Snow replied. "Alright, let's go."
They stopped first at the only magic tower in town, they needed a mage to cast the enchant for them. The enchant itself wasn't expensive, since any mage that just had their class change could do it, so they only lost five bronze coins each. After that, they stopped at the general store and Xinya brought a deluxe rafting kit, he wanted to get a small boat but needed to learn a skill to use it. The skill itself was easy to get, but the person you need to learn it from wasn't in Bellport, so he had no choice and got just the raft.
Once they were done with their preparations, Xinya created a party and added Melting Snow to it. Taking out the teleportation scroll from his inventory he ripped it in half, which caused a light to flash, it surrounded their two bodies completely, making them disappear from view. When the light dimmed, the two of them appeared on an island in the middle of the lake. Everywhere they looked there was only water if they squinted they could just barely see a whole bunch of green specks in the distance, which they assumed were trees but they were miles away.
The island was also barren, the only thing they saw was a small opening in the ground, covered by foliage. Looking down the opening, they could only see a pair of stairs made of vines leading down. They couldn't see anything else, everything was pitch black and there was an eerie silence coming from inside of it. Xinya had a bad feeling about this place but Melting Snow was already recording, talking to his fans about what they were about to do.
"Come on, Drifting Cloud, let's go!" Melting Snow said before heading down into the opening.
Giving a small sigh, Xinya quickly followed, once he was inside he got surprised by what he saw.