The Golem Adventurer - Chapter 25 Even

The day of the expedition soon arrived. Me and Tessa asked Hina if she wanted to join us but she declined. They would soon depart back to Weiss and she needed to complete some unfinished business around the city before that happened. I bought at least a weeks worth of supplies before I rendezvoused at the Guild with the rest of my party at first light. Myself, Tessa, Erwyn, Aelinor and Johann were ready to go and we headed out through the north gate.

Compared to the plains that pervaded the southern reaches of Haldin, the northern area was quite hilly. From the horizon, I could see mountain ranges that stretched across my field of view. The soil here wasn’t fertile enough for agriculture so a sea of wild grass flourished all around us.

By the time midday hit, we decided to take a break and have lunch just a bit off the road. Compared to the southern highway, not many merchants or travelers came from the north. Trade was apparently more plentiful with the southern countries of Weiss and Rigali.

I bought a few more fruits with me that I cut into pieces with my pocket knife along with some bread and jerky. It’s times like these I wish I had a proper kitchen but eating on the go was something I was used to. Eating an actual meal wasn’t something you’d do out in the field. It was just enough to fill your stomach and give you energy. Just the latter in my case, at least.

Erwyn and Aelinor were sitting away from us to discuss our training plans. Tessa and Johann sat next to me while we ate. He was asking me questions about what I wanted to find in those ruins.

“How’d you even find out there were parts for you in those ruins anyway?” He said while taking another bite of his sandwich.

“Oracle told me,” I replied. I couldn’t really tell him that it was the Goddess of Light. Even saying it was Oracle was a stretch and I could tell Johann was skeptical with the answer he was given. Nevertheless, he didn’t inquire further.

“But you need those to get stronger? I mean, you’re already strong enough, Arlan. But can’t you just keep fighting monsters like the rest of us and level that way?”

“I can’t, Johann. I have a cap on my level. The max for myself is ten.” After that, my [Spiritual Attunement] levels can’t go further.

He jerked up from his seat, “Ten!? But that’s waaaay too low!” he turned to look up in contemplation, “The only level cap I’ve seen on things are on familiars. People don’t have caps on their level, you know.”

I turned away from my meal to look at him, “You saying you don’t have a cap?”

Tessa engaged in our conversation, “He’s right. Humans and the other races don’t have a level cap. Technically, someone can become infinitely strong but that’s never occurred before. I mean, you’d have to live forever and never age if you wanted to do that.”

“Well, if you met that criteria, you’d technically be a god.” I replied back. That’s a scary thought. Though from what Guildmaster Kurtz told me, some of those S-Ranks seem godlike. One of them could make a small ravine with just a swing of her sword. It kind of blows my mind. That’s way too much physical power for one person to have.

“You think what you’ll find in those ruins will help you with that problem?” asked Johann.

“I dunno. Oracle says it’ll help me get stronger. Maybe it’s something that’ll raise my level cap. For all I know, it could just be better parts for my body.” I replied. All I could do is rely on the information I’ve received. Celecia seemed adamant in her letter that I needed to go here for the dangers looming ahead. Whatever I find, I’m sure it’ll be useful.

We continued our small talk until we finished our meals and continued travelling. We slowed down a bit as the highway began to slope upwards farther into the highlands. Our pace picked up a bit as we took a left onto a small dirt path into a valley. It was early evening by the time we had reached our destination. In the middle of a valley sat a small lake. In the center was a small island with a metal tower a few stories high, reachable by a man-made bridge from the lake shore. That must be the dungeon entrance.

We decided to camp for the night and enter first thing in the morning. The rest of my group was tired from their trek after all. They spent the rest of the evening talking by the campfire while I tried my hand at catching some fish in the lake. It was only as deep as my waist and I could see quite a few fish swimming near it’s surface. I managed to stab a few with my spear and decided to cook them for dinner.

Tessa seemed to get along well with the other adventurers at least. I was worried she might be too shy but my beliefs went unfounded. She was quite open with Aelinor as well. It makes me wonder if she ever teamed up with another female adventurer before this. There wasn’t a whole lot of women adventurers in the guild. At least not in Haldin. When I inquired about it, Tessa told me there were more in the southern lands compared to here and the northern countries. I couldn’t help but think that’s odd. Maybe it’s a cultural thing. From what I’ve gathered in my passing days, the northern territories seem more… traditional.

The night passed us by without any incidents. With the light of a new day on us, we did a final check on our gear and headed across the bridge into the dungeon. The tower doesn’t seem to have a function as the only entrance lead to a stairway leading down. A stone hallway, lit up by the soft glow of crystals mounted on ornaments spread out before us.

Erwyn and Aelinor stepped out in front of the rest of us like teachers watching over kids on a field trip.

“Alright, everyone!” Erwyn shouted enthusiastically, “Since this is Johann’s first dungeon delve, I’ll be going over the basics along with the dangers you’ll find here as we continue down to the boss room. Aelinor will be the one to teach you how to disarm traps and unlock doors as we run across them.”

Aelinor looked over at me and Tessa, “I know both of you are much stronger than us, but I’d like ask you two to confer leadership to us while we’re down here when it comes to combat. I want you all to focus on learning new skills for now.”

We both nod in agreement. Considering I have no idea what to expect down here, promoting the more experienced people as our group leaders is the best choice regardless of strength. I just wanted to learn some new tricks. And Tessa sure as hell wasn’t interested either. She looked nervous despite the fact that she could nuke anything down here to dust with her magic. She was Hina’s apprentice after all.

I gave her a gentle slap on her back as we began to move to get her attention. Tessa seemed annoyed at my attempt to bring her back to reality but all I did nod my head towards the hallway and gave her a pat on the shoulders. She smiled nervously at me as we tried to catch up with the rest of the group. I wanted her to know I had her back.

“The first floor is usually quiet,” Erwyn said back at us, “The second floor is when monsters start to show up along with your first set of traps. The higher ranked dungeons will flip this on you though. By C-Rank, even monsters will pop up on the first floor. Not to mention that traps get more complex as we go-”

[ATTENTION]

A familiar voice boomed around us. For a moment, I thought it was Oracle but the rest of the group had heard it as well.

“Where’s that voice coming from!?” said Johann in a slight panic.

Aelinor wore a grim expression, “Don’t tell me… this is…”

[GOLEM MODEL TYPE VK1-P HAS ENTERED QUALITY ASSURANCE COURSE. COMMENCING SPECIFIED TESTING MODULE.]

I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

Erwyn shouts behind us, “It’s an [Event]! We need to leave! Now!!”

We started to regress back to the exit in a hustle. I remember Hina telling me about [Events] back when she first met me. An item or a specified time is what can cause these things to trigger. An [Event] can cause a dungeon’s difficulty to skyrocket. In this case… I think it was me. This place is some kind of QA facility for golems and me entering has put this place back into testing mode.

[THE TESTING COURSE WILL NOW BE LOCKED FOR THE SAFETY OF ALL OBSERVING PERSONNEL.]

The moment we reached the stairs, the exit had been shut closed with a large metal door. Our group was sent into a panic as Aelinor looked for any way to open it.

“Crap… we’re trapped in here now.” Johann said grimacing.

“…This [Event] must have started because I entered the dungeon,” I said regretfully. Shit, I didn’t know this could happen and now I’ve put everyone here in danger.

Erwyn sighed, “This isn’t your fault, Arlan. No one could have predicted that this would come to pass. If we could, dungeon delving would be a whole lot easier.”

Aelinor returned from studying the door, “Well there’s no locks on that thing I can pick. Or any kind of lever mechanism to open it. Looks like the only option we have now is to beat the dungeon.”

“How do we ‘beat’ a dungeon, anyway?” I asked.

Erwyn stood up to look at me, “We need to beat the dungeon boss.”

We stayed here a moment for some composure. Readying ourselves, we continued our trek down the hallway. I get the feeling that this wasn’t going to be the cakewalk I was hoping for. Oracle’s threat detection was going nuts. Numerous red dots were filling up my HUD. There were a lot of things waiting for us down below.
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