System Change

Next, they stepped out of the teleportation circle at the outpost. Everyone was already standing around waiting for them.

“Alright,” Edgar said, clapping his hands. “This new dungeon is a ways away. Let’s get to it.” Soon, the prince led the group of 24 of the kingdom’s elite out of the outpost.

Even though everybody in the party was power, they still set a medium pace that no one had any problems matching. With the dungeon having such a time dilation, it didn’t matter if they arrived a few hours later or earlier.

The march was long, but Derek occupied himself by taking in the changes in his surroundings. When they first left the outpost, there was just flat land and dirt paths. As they continued on, they moved closer and closer to the coast.

He wondered how the ocean of this world would look, and when they arrived at the coast, he wasn’t disappointed. Currently, the azure water was as smooth as glass, and stretched out beyond what his enhanced eyes could see. There were no land masses in the distance, just the ocean. He’d been to the coast back in his world, and while it wasn’t completely different, there were definitely some differences.

First, no one dared to swim here. Then again, he guessed nobody was swimming in the oceans back on Earth anymore, either. He hadn’t been since the system took over, so he guessed that wasn’t much of a difference anymore.

There were also no boats or other vessels in the water, though they did pass multiple sentries stationed by the coast to keep watch. Apparently, beast tides weren’t too uncommon, and they were very destructive.

But the thing that stuck out the most as they traveled close to the coast was the enormous creatures that occasionally leaped out of the water at a distance. Once second, the water was still, then the next, a monstrous beast would fly high above the ocean before crashing down, causing a mini tidal wave in its wake. It was an eye-opening experience.

He wasn’t sure what the level of such a beast would be, but he knew he didn’t want to fight it. Even if it was weak and easily defeated, the cleanup would take ages. For the first time since learning about the dungeon, Derek knew what type of monsters he didn’t want to fight inside.

Other than the constant surfacing of one creature after another, and the ruckus that followed, the trip to the dungeon was quite tame. Of course, there were plenty of beasts that were lacking in the common sense department that tried to attack the party on the way to the dungeon, but if a troop of regular high grade soldiers were able to make it there in one piece, how could they possibly cause any problems for such an elite force.

With a single point of his finger, Edgar would zap a beast, or a sudden spike of shadows would erupt from the ground, leaving a hole where a creature’s heart or brain should have been. Nobody hesitated when they were attacked, they just kept walking. It was like an egg splattering against a rock. Derek never had to make a move. Luckily, all the beasts in the ocean seemed to want to stay in there.

Finally, after half a day of travel, they arrived at their destination. In the distance, there was a small, rocky alcove just off the coast.

Edgar pointed at it. “The dungeon is in there,” he said.

“That’s… small.” Tyron said with hesitation. The man was huge. Derek doubted he would be able to squeeze into such a tight space.

“Don’t worry, it’s a proper cave on the inside. Just got to make it past the entrance. If we have a problem, we can always make the entrance bigger. The only reason we haven’t yet is because the dungeon’s somewhat of a secret,” Edgar said as they walked forward.

Sure enough, the entrance wasn’t even big enough for Derek to squeeze through, much less the giant of a blacksmith. However, that problem was quickly solved with a little earth magic. Derek didn’t recognize the elf who walked forward, but he went all out, quickly turning the boulders into steps and hollowing out the small tunnel that led inside, making it a proper entrance.

Once again, Edgar led the way inside. Just as he said before, after a short distance, the tunnel opened up into a giant cavern where three guards stood ready for battle. There was nothing quiet about terraforming an area, so they were easily alerted when the party member began moving the earth and stones.

When the guards saw Edgar’s face, they calmed down and put their weapons away.

“Prince Edgar!” One of the guard saluted. “We weren’t expecting you until much later.”

“We made good time,” Edgar answered. “Any changes?”

The lead guard shook his head. “It’s been the same as always. No fluctuations or increase in volatility. We should still have some time before it overflows.”

Edgar nodded. “That’s good,” he said. “Please wait outside while we prepare to enter. Once we are away, you can… renovate the entrance back to how it was. Some of us had some problems fitting into the tight space.” He dismissed the guards as he glanced at the smith.

Once the guards were gone, Edgar had everyone gather around. “Alright, so this is it. We don’t know what kind of enemies we will encounter inside. We don’t even know what kind of raid dungeon it is. It could be as simple as fighting waves of enemies for a while, or we may have to solve a ton of heaven forsaken puzzles.”

Everyone nodded in understanding before he continued. “Almost everyone has already been introduced when we met earlier. There are only a few who arrived late.”

He then introduced Avery, Walter, Vanessa, and Derek to the rest of the group. He made sure to point out that Derek was there as a support for their travels, specifically mentioning a dimension they could use for rest and recovery, and that Walter was another healer.

When the group learned about Derek’s purpose, it turned some heads. Everyone knew of Derek, but not really who he was. Like Edgar said, they were all pleasantly surprised and happy to learn about his ability.

Avery didn’t need much of an introduction, as he was already well known. Everyone knew who Vanessa was, as well, but were all pleasantly surprise when they found out she now worked for the kingdom.

Derek learned about the man who restructured the cave as well. He was a member of House Greenland, who’s matriarch Derek had noticed at the auction. His name was Victor, and he was there, along with his cousin Asana.

The man who Shae had been with for most of the time was the Guild Leader of the Adventurer’s Guild in the capital. He was an elementalist mage called Cain Ibarra. He also got to know a bit about the rest of the party.

In total, there were twelve damage dealers, all with a mix of physical and magic attacks. There were also four support classes that focused mostly on buffing their allies and debuffing the enemies.

There were also four healers. Tristan Allister, the son of Craig Allister, Walter, a man named Jasper, and a woman called Elena.

Then there was Derek, Edgar, Tyron, Avery, and Vanessa. Who all had free rein to fight as they wished. With Derek being the exception, he was stationed as the support for the support, after all.

The group was a mix of human, elf, and dwarven races. Derek looked closely, but he didn’t see any halfling like Roman.

After introductions, everyone gathered around the dungeon orb. This orb was unlike any other Derek had seen before. First, it was giant-well over twenty feet in diameter. It was also aqua blue and pulsating. It gave off an odd, but familiar aura.

“As this is a raid dungeon, all you need to do is gather around the orb’s area of influence. I’ll take care of the rest,” Edgar said as he walked forward toward the orb. Everyone took a couple steps closer, as to make sure they were in the area of influence, then Edgar placed his hand on the side of the orb. Derek soon received a notification.

Max Participants Reached

Participants 25/25

Edgar Cydaria: Level 250

Elena Webb: Level 250

John Newman: Level 222

Vanessa Hodges: Level 250

Tristan Allister: Level 240

Victor Greenland: Level 250

Asana Greenland: Level 250

Layne Marshall: Level 232

Jasper Ross: Level 250

Louise Bonilla: Level 215

Walter Searidge: Level 204

Avery Swan: Level 250

Shae Holmes: Level 225

Cain Ibarra: Level 250

Ciera Cook: Level 224

Felix Ayala: Level 220

Tara Perez: Level 240

Kieron Dawson: Level 245

Timothy Nash: Level 223

John Doyle: Level 219

Ray Fergus: Level 228

Sachiko Sato: Level 232

Scarlett Mason: Level 230

Tyron Blacksteel: Level ???

Derek Hunt: Level ???

Please Choose an Option Below

View Dungeon

Enter Dungeon

Leave

Derek quickly looked over the names and levels of everyone he was going to spending time with for the next few months. The average level was quite high, but there were still some closer to level 200 than to 250. Walter was especially out of place, only being at level 204, but Derek was actually impressed. He had gained a few levels in just a handful of days since having the contract annulled.

Another thing that caught his attention was Tyron Blacksteel. His level was hidden. This meant he either had the Solo Diver Award or some other Award like it. If he had that one, Derek would bet he would also have the Repetitive Dungeoneer Award, as well. It made sense, as Alanah had said that he preferred to go out and gather his own materials for crafting. So he must frequent many dungeons.

He probably had Awards related to dungeons that Derek didn’t even know about. Derek’s gaze soon landed on the giant of a man, and they both smiled knowingly. Of course, Derek was sure that Tyron was actually level 250, or at least very close to it, while Derek hadn’t even made it to level 200 yet. But nobody else needed to know about that.

He soon focused on viewing the dungeon status.

Raid Dungeon Status

Dungeon Level

250

Dungeon Type

Time/Enemy Unknown

Dungeon State

Unstable

Dungeon Rewards

Unknown

Max Participants

25

Sure enough, it was a max level raid dungeon with unknown qualities.

“Is everyone ready?” Edgar asked. Seeing as nobody objected, he continued. “Okay, get ready.” With that, the countdown timer began, and Derek waited to be whisked away into his first raid dungeon in this world.