So we ended up killing the leech queen Rosa, but we didnt tell the others about it.

Anya was in her fathers office, going over the quest details with her father after she left Jay and Naria downstairs in the care of Margaret at reception.

Upon hearing that the whole hamlet was massacred, Sullivan had a remorseful look on his face for a moment before replying.

...I see. Its good that you didnt mention Rosa to the others. We dont want an investigation by the safety bearers. Where is Jay and the girl now?

With Margaret, he took all Narias stuff from her room so hes probably handing it all over to Margie Oh Anya looked at the bookshelf in Sullivans office as she remembered something.

I also promised you would give Jay a nice reward for the quest - not just the quest payment price.

Sullivan half-smiled at his daughters antics I see Sullivan intertwined his fingers as he put his elbows on his desk.

Tell him it will be ready by this afternoon, and to keep information about Rosa a secret. It would be better if he forgets about her, better if you both do. Anya could feel her fathers piercing eyes looking at her.

Sure. Ill tell him so what are you going to do with Naria?

Ill talk to Margaret, well figure something out. Perhaps Alevo can care for her once he recovers; he still has to be told that the hamlet is gone. It will be some time before either of them will be.. useful.

Good. Im going to have a rest before I start training again.

Sullivan nodded as Anya left the room before he swivelled in his chair and looked down at the adventurers on the courtyard.

Now what to get Jay, Sullivan started calculating in his mind.

Sending him away will be part of the reward, but Ill add something else

Hes too powerful, so maybe some sort of utility type item. Perhaps even a promise would do, a promise to help him with something in the future That seems a little flimsy though, and I wont be tied down by a promise either. He probably wont want something as simple as a sword anyway, he doesnt do much fighting by the sounds of it Sullivan rolled his tongue in his cheek as he thought for a moment.

After some time, a slight smile appeared on Sullivans face as he thought of something perfect for Jay; something that wouldnt make Jay stronger but would also be useful for him.

Yes he smirked, those will do nicely.

Its ok honey, well take care of her. Margaret smiled at Jay from behind her glasses.

Jay, Naria and Margaret were in a small private room in the association. Jay put the last wooden toy he had in his inventory onto the floor next to Naria before heading to the door with Margaret as they left the room.

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Ill be back soon, stay here ok? she said to Naria as she closed the door and turned to Jay.

Now, lets see what we can do about your reward. She went back to reception with Jay in tow.

Okay, so the difficulty of the quest, type of monster, time, urgency Margaret started speaking to herself as she went over a few documents behind the counter.

Here we are dear. Thankyou for your service. Margaret plonked a bag full of gold coins on the counter in front of Jay - 340 glistening pieces to be precise.

Thanks, Jay smiled as he took the bag. By Jays estimate, this quest was worth it and far more lucrative than grinding in a dungeon; he got to get experience points, and get paid for it.

Plus, if he found anything valuable on the quest it was his to keep - though the monsters didnt drop anything valuable this time. However, if they did he would have made even more money.

I was told Sullivan has a special reward for me too

Hm? Uh, thats unusual. Give me a moment dear. Margaret went into the back room to use a contact crystal before she came back out.

Yes. There is a special reward, she smiled. Come back in a few hours to collect it ok dear?

Awesome, thanks. Ill see you soon then. Jay turned away.

Oh! Margaret waved at Jay before he walked too far away from the counter Also, an adventurer named Trenly wanted to speak with you. We told him you were on an emergency quest and that wed notify him when you get back if thats ok with you?

Yeah sure. Ill be back in a few hours for my reward so maybe I can meet him here then?

Ok, Ill send him a message dear. Take care.

With a thankful smile, Jay walked over to the dungeon board to see what dungeons he could do while waiting for the next few hours.

Might as well be grinding while I wait. he thought as he looked at the board.

Hmm.. he thought to himself as he looked over the dungeons.

Something simple would be good. The skeletons are still all a few days' journey away at the hamlet, but Ill just re-summon Red and Lamp.

Red and Lamp were Jays level 2 skeletons, and were still in the ravine hunting leeches back near the hamlet; though Jay had no experience point notifications for a while so the ravine was probably clear by now.

While Jay was in the ravine, he re-summoned these two skeletons using soap-rat bones while sticking the semi-organic silt wolf bones into his inventory. The soap rat bones were weaker so he didnt care about losing them.

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This way he saved the precious silt wolf bones, so when he resummoned them using these bones again, the soap-rat bones would be left behind in the ravine - but this was fine with Jay since he considered them trash compared to the blue bones of the silt wolves. It was like comparing wood to iron. One was much stronger and could easily destroy the other.

Looking over the board, he decided on a level three dungeon. It was way too low level for Jay who was level 8, but he only had a few hours and two level 2 skeletons, so he thought he would just go slaughter some helpless dungeon monsters for a while.

There were two level 3 dungeons near Losla, but only one was an instanced dungeon. This was a requirement for Jay, as his skeletons would cause an uproar and probably lead to his early death if anyone saw them with him.

The level three dungeon was called [Mist Keep]. The information available about it was simply Stone soldiers. Pyramid trap. Be able to comfortably fight at least four at once.

Jay considered things for a moment. Stinkrat Marsh was a level 1 dungeon, while its monsters went up to level 5, so this level 3 dungeons monsters would probably go up to level 8 or 9.

The dungeon level system represented the minimum level monsters of the dungeon, which also correlated to its difficulty. The higher level a dungeon, the more dangerous its internal trapping mechanisms would be.

Jay thought he probably wouldnt get very far in only two hours, nevertheless, he added the dungeon to his map.

He had a thought that fighting stone with bone might not work out too well, so he visited

Lillian. Jay was intending to purchase some iron bars to make into semi-bone hammers.

The hatch in the trading door was open and Jay could see Lillian.

Here you go you little floof ball Lillian smiled, feeding her novelty pet parts of her lunch. Her smile soon left as Jay rudely knocked on the trade door. He already knew what he wanted.

Hello, Lillian replaced her real smile with a fake smile that she used for customers What would you like?

Three.. Actually six iron bars please. You have some in stock right?

Six iron bars. Yes. Let me check the price.

The hatch closed for a moment before Lillian returned.

Six iron bars will be 72 gold.

Jay handed her the money and the hatch closed again while a familiar light shot out from under the door.

Lillian returned with the iron bars, Jay stashed them in his inventory and left, not wanting to waste any time. He went back to the lobby and left the association, jogging towards the dungeon.

Its about a 20 minute jog, I should only spend an hour and a half there so I dont get back too late, Jay calculated as he jogged through the floating gate of the association, making a sharp right turn towards the dungeon.

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The adventurer association was located on a hill on the north-east side of town, though the guild itself faced the east since the road coiled eastwards around the hill.

The dungeon was located north from where the guild was, down the mountain and slightly deeper into the rocky forest.

Compared to the forest on the south parts of town, there were many more rocky boulders in the northern forest and the trees were a little less dense, making it noticeably easier to travel through. This was due to the presence of the mountain, with the guild on top, as well as the association managing the trees - for both line of sight, and as resources for the palisade walls.

Jay didnt realise this till now, since he had no reason to come here, but a quarry was being set up here - or that was what it looked like to him anyway.

Much of the vegetation and dirt had been cleared away from a small area here and various workbenches and tools were around. A few rough stone blocks had been cut out of a flat cliff face. Near them was a few empty tents with some different chiselled stone blocks.

Jay guessed this was new as he had never heard about it, so perhaps it was a preliminary step to a stone quarry, a test of sorts.

Maybe Sullivans upgrading the walls, he thought.

Jay kept walking, and it didnt take long at all for Jay to reach the bottom of the hill.

To his surprise, there was a stone path here. It was vaguely in the same direction he was going, so he decided to follow it.

Huh, useful path. It led him straight to the map marker It must be part of the dungeons entrance.

The path came to a small compound with a broken down stone wall. It seemed like the ruins of a stone tower that used to have quite a thick stone wall surrounding it; though both the tower and wall were crumbled.

There were two stone statues at the front of the wall. They were 7-foot tall, towering over Jay and clad in thick stone armour with huge stone swords, kite shields and T-visor helmets.

Oddly, the statues both looked brand-new, as if they were chiselled yesterday and placed her overnight. They were quite contrasting to the destroyed tower they were protecting which was mostly just a toppled pile of stone blocks.

A few other adventurers were here too. Some were having lunch together while others were strapping their armour on more tightly as they prepared to enter the dungeon.

Strangely, no plants grew within the broken down walls; no grasses, moss or even insects. It was only cracked and dried out soil. The only thing living inside the walls were Jay and the other adventurers. Someone spotted Jay and went to greet him.

Hey. Youre here for the dungeon? Want to join our party? Its easier with more. the adventurer was recruiting people to his group. So far, there was four of them sitting nearby in a circle, all tending to their weapons as they prepared to enter soon as well.

Thanks, but I prefer to go solo. Jay said.

The adventurer pursed his lips Oh ok all good. was all he said, but his expression seemed to say Ok, its your death wish I guess. as he returned to his small group.

Jay walked further into the centre of the compound, towards the ruined tower.

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All that was left of the tower was a wooden door with stone surrounding it, holding it upright.

Jay didnt need to guess how to enter this dungeon as he walked up to the door, getting a notification when he put his hand on it.