56 Dungeon? (1/2)
In a library, Arima was staring with widened eyes at a book
”I never really looked up for it before but I thought I knew what was awaiting me, but h.e.l.l, it's freaking huge” He exclaimed and Night also agreed when he looked at the book from Arima's shoulder ”This Main Land has a superficies of more than a hundred and fifty million square kilometers. No wonder, they would call it Main” Arima said ”At this rate; my falcons will finish to scan this continent in two days or so” He put the book back in its shelf and then started looking for some books that could interest him.
”Are you looking for something?” A staff member asked when she saw Arima surfing the t.i.tles of every book he pa.s.sed by.
”Oh” Arima turned around ”Well, if you can tell me what could be interesting in this continent, that would be good” He said
”Interesting?” The staff member mumbled, she then observed Arima ”Are you a mercenary?” She asked
”Yeah, I just arrived in the Main Land” Arima answered
”I see, it's quite rare to see someone travel that far” The woman nodded ”Then, for a mercenary, apart from the HQ of the guild, the thing that attracts adventurers a lot are the dungeons” She said
”Dungeons, huh?” Arima repeated ”Dungeons, dungeons …” He then started mumbling ”Dungeons? That dungeon? Like, dungeons?” He began to speak strangely ”Hey, dungeon. She said dungeon, right? Why did I never hear about dungeons?” He asked toward Night
”Yes, she said dungeon, stop saying dungeon, and I don't know about dungeons” Night quickly responded
The staff woman smiled ”If you want to look for information about dungeons, you can follow me” She said and turned to head toward a different section of the library. Arima obviously followed her ”Here” She stopped at a certain shelf and said to Arima.
”Thanks” The latter started looking into it immediately. The woman smiled, she slightly bowed and left. Arima then looked into the content of the books here.
From what he read, a dungeon was an artificial structure created by humans. The dungeon itself can be compared to an artificial creature or something like a homunculus. Dungeons are capable of attracting monsters, princ.i.p.ally, by liberating a type of mana they like and also by baiting them with different methods.
Once they are inside, they can't leave unless they're strong enough, the dungeon stops them from going out once they're in. So, in the end, they become some kind of training ground for people who wants to fight. But it's also true that dungeons need to be 'cleaned' often, if too much monsters enter in it, they will be able to destroy it together and then unite to attack a nearby human settlement.
Killing the monsters in these dungeons is one of the main jobs of this continent's mercenaries. Arima thought a bit about it then took another book with the emplacement of every dungeon in the Main Land. Apparently, they could build one every decade and they started doing it around five hundred years ago, so you could find approximately fifty of them on the whole continent.
There were some that were more dangerous than others and always kept in check, some that are too dangerous and were only visited by the strongest mercenaries or the army, and you could also find dungeons that were specially used as training grounds for soldiers or students.
Arima closed the book and put it back ”Well, let's go to Center City after that, the largest city on this planet” He said ”If the HQ of the guild is there then I'll pa.s.s by before going to a dungeon”
”So, what are you going to do?” Night asked ”Your falcons will finish in two days you said”
”Well, by tomorrow I'm sure they will finish scanning until Center City at least, as for what I'm going to do while waiting, of course” Arima grinned and Night gulped ”Try the sweets of this town” Arima said and left the library while Night sighed deeply.
Six hours later, it was late in the afternoon, Arima was silently eating in a restaurant with Night on his shoulder, he then felt something happen in his dimension and was a bit surprised ”Oh, Lanya broke through the ninth level already” He exclaimed and chewed on piece of cake.
Night jumped on the table in front of Arima and licked a part of the cake too ”By the way, you never really explained what you said when you met Lanya” He suddenly asked
”What did I say?”
”You said that you looked alike, at that time I couldn't understand it at all and just ignored it but now I'm curious” Night said and sat down.
”Ah” Arima exclaimed and remembered ”That's exactly what it means, at that moment, when I looked at her, I felt like she looked like me when I was younger” He then smiled wryly ”Much younger” He added
Night tilted his head ”I'm not sure I understand” He said
Arima laughed ”What I saw in her was not only hate, but a certain feeling to be exact” He said and Night didn't say anything ”That feeling you have when you killed your parent” He said in a gloomy voice and Night's expression darkened a bit.
Arima patted him ”Don't mind, I got over it since” He said and smiled, he continued to pet Night.
It wasn't long before the latter brushed away Arima's hand ”Stop petting me”
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Eighteen hours later, Lanya and Lilis left the dimension. Lanya had only reached the mid cla.s.s of the ninth level, Arima could keep the dimension active longer since he had more mana than before, but he still told them to stop the training for now.
They spent the night in the town they were and directly left the next day, when Arima's falcons finished scanning Center City.
Arima first transferred above the city to observe it with his own eyes ”That's huge too after all” He commented after looking at the view.