Chapter 22- Having My Own Dungeon Makes Me The Protagonist, Right? (Part 1)
Walking down the long staircase, the duo finally reached the end which seemed to be a small, dark and humid room. The only sound Rin could hear inside was the sound of water dropping from the ceiling and the only thing he could smell was the stench of old walls and mud.
'Way to go for a secret dungeon.' He thought to himself as he looked around.
He didn't expect to find a luxurious 5-star hotel suit here but he at least expected it to be more 'approachable' if that was the right word to use. This place looked like a room straight out of a B-Rated horror movie you find in cheap cinemas.
That's not to say that he was scared or was having second thoughts. He was just comparing his image of a dungeon entrance to all the light novels he read.
Shaking those thoughts away, he gazed at his father who walked to the middle of the room. He then extended his hand in the air casually. The moment it was fully extended, a light appeared beneath him and then, something appeared out of thin air.
The object looked like a spinning wheel except that it didn't have any colorful parts and was merely black. Except for the faint light surrounding the edges of the wheel, there was nothing else on it. Just a black circle-shaped disc.
Using his hand, Damian started spinning it slowly. It didn't make any sound as it got span again and again until it was turning around at a moderately fast speed.
A few seconds later, Damian stopped his hands and coincidentally, the wheel stopped turning too.
"Open," Damian muttered.
Then, as if it understood Damian's command, the light around the wheel intensified. Slowly yet surely, it became harder and harder for Rin to look at the wheel so he closed his eyes for a few seconds because of the strong light.
Finally, after waiting for some time, the light vanished and he was able to open his eyes slowly. In the place of the wheel, a weird, messy black whirlpool of black matter and some other energy that he didn't recognize was floating mid-air.
The portal was making a faint sound that Rin couldn't quite describe. But, what bewildered him, even more, was the fact that he felt connected to that portal.
It wasn't a simple interest but an actual connection on a deeper… far deeper level than he thought. If he had to describe it in words, Rin could only say one thing.
'It feels as if it's a part of me that I created.' He thought with a weird expression.
He really didn't know how to react to such a thing at all. In fact, he was now starting to hesitate about getting inside that portal. He felt as if something will happen if he did that and he didn't know what it was.
'No, I can't chicken out now because of a mere hunch. Let's just do our thing as planned.'
"That's the portal to the G-Rank dungeon. The wheel you saw allows me to choose which rank I want to go to. If you want to leave, just think of the word 'exit' and an exit will appear in front of you." He explained.
"I understand." Rin nodded his head.
"One more thing. Never underestimate the monsters you find inside no matter how easy to kill they appear to be. A single mishap could end up sending you to the afterlife. I can't stress enough how much its important for you to focus and never relax at all inside." Damian explain.
"I am aware of that, father."
"Good. I can see that you are serious. Anyway, take care of yourself, son." He said with a rare smile before he sent me off.
Left alone in front of the portal, I didn't immediately walk inside.
'Care to explain that feeling, system?'
[Can you take 'no' for an answer, host?]
'No.'
[Well, tough luck, host. You will have to take that for an answer now since I can't explain that feeling to you… at least not yet.]
'Hahaha. You are so funny, system. Look at me, I'm laughing so hard now.' Rin replied as he rolled his eyes.
He didn't know why but this robotic system liked to be sarcastic and joke around from time to time. Most systems were either too serious or too free-spirited but this one was right in the middle. The perfect balance of character.
That balance, as seamless as it looked, was pure hell for Rin who didn't like getting teased too much.
'Anyway, let's get inside.' He thought to himself and started walking toward the portal.
When he was close enough, he extended his hand and touched the surface of the portal lightly. Weirdly, he didn't feel anything on the tip of his fingers as if he basically touched thin air. Yet, he could clearly see as his fingers pass through the portal and were completely swallowed.
Taking a deep breath, Rin closed his eyes and advanced quickly until his body fully entered the portal.
When he opened his eyes again, the whole world around him had changed drastically. Instead of the dark, damp and disgusting place he was in, what he saw around him at that moment was a vast plain under a blue, clear sky.
From all the things he expected, none of them included a beautiful place filled with greenery.
Before he could even question where he was, a notification appeared in front of his eyes. It didn't obstruct his vision and instead was right in the corner of his eyes.
[Host entered G-Rank Dungeon: Valley Of Tranquility.]
[Main Quest triggered!]
[Finish the G-Rank dungeon.]
[Reward: 150 Action Points/ 1x G-Rank random item.]
'Oh, so the main quests finally appeared.'He thought with a smile.
Ignoring the first reward, the second one was what caught his attention. A random G-Rank item? Even now, Rin was basically 'itemless' except for a pair of normal daggers he got from the weaponry in his home.
He didn't like the armor he found there as it was too heavy and would rob him of his fighting style which relied mostly on speed and accuracy.
'I can't take the rewards for a given. Finishing this dungeon might not be that easy after all.'
As he thought saw, another notification popped out.
[Map updated!]
[Check the map for more information.]
Rin instinctively opened the map section and a huge window filled his vision instantly.
'Make it smaller and put it in the corner.' He asked the system in his head and the latter immediately did that.
The map was simple, there weren't many details on the map except for a red dot in the middle of it.
"There aren't that many things on the map." He muttered.
[That's because this place is still undiscovered by the host. The more you walk around the more things will appear.]
Nodding his head, Rin chose a random direction and started walking slowly. The grass wasn't that tall but it was tall enough to hide small creatures. So, he made sure to be careful with each step he took and his surroundings.
As silent as this place was, Rin could still hear small sounds created by the wind. He was more than surprised by the fact that this place looked like the actual real world.
'How is that even possible?'
[Dungeons could recreate environments perfectly. Higher-ranked dungeons could even create drastically different laws that defy the laws of nature of the real world.]
Hearing that, Rin felt that he was still totally clueless about this place. As much as he tried to learn about it, he felt as if he was still a newborn baby finally leaving his house for the first time and seeing the outside world.
The journey continued, no enemy appeared in his vision and it made him question whether he would even find one or not.
However, as if they heard his complaints, he finally heard a sound coming from ahead that wasn't the sound of grassing rustling, and moving.
Rin immediately bent down to hide his presence. His eyes went straight to his map and good enough, there were other things on his empty map.
Exactly, there were 2 blue dots. Each dot was moving slowly on the map in a random direction to prove that they were some kind of lively creatures.
Peeking from his position, Rin finally saw the beasts. There, he could see two deer-like animals that were eating from the ground.
Their fur was white and their eyes were a weird shade of blue that he never saw before. The other noticeable thing about them is their giant frame that was at least double the size of a normal deer in his old world.
Their bodies were also well-built and filled with bulging muscles.
'Two buff deers? They definitely didn't skip leg day… damn!' He honestly praised them in his head.
(A//N: I can appreciate some body-building deers once in a while. The fact is, appearances are sometimes tricky.)
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