Chapter 56: Dungeon? (1/2)
In the library, Arima gawked at a certain book in his hands.
”I never really searched it before… but I believed that I more or less knew what was awaiting me. But, hell, it's freaking huge!” He exclaimed and Night also agreed as he looked at the book.
”This Main Land has a surface of more than a hundred and fifty million square kilometers. No wonder they would call it 'Main'. At this rate, my falcons will finish scanning this continent in two days or so,” Arima put the book back in its shelf and then started looking for other records that could interest him.
”Are you looking for something in particular?” A staff member asked when she saw Arima surfing through the titles of every book he walked by.
”Oh,” Arima turned around, ”Well if you can tell me about the interesting things in this continent, that would be good.”
”Interesting?” The staff member muttered then assessed Arima. ”…Are you a mercenary?”
”Indeed. I arrived in the Main Land recently.”
”I understand now. It's fairly rare to see mercenaries travel that far. Then, for someone like you, apart from the HQ of the guild, what attracts mercs the most are dungeons.”
”Dungeons, huh?” Arima mumbled.
”What is that?” Night raised his voice but the staff woman wasn't surprised as if she knew he was a soul beast.
She smiled, ”If you want to learn more about dungeons, you can try this shelf over there,” She pointed at a row of books that weren't that far from them.
”Thanks,” Arima thanked her and went there right away. The woman smiled, she slightly bowed and left.
Arima picked the most relevant book and started reading it. Apparently, 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 enticing monsters by liberating a nature of mana they like and also by baiting them with different odors and sounds.
Once they are inside, they can't leave unless they're strong enough to break the magic array set around it. So, in the end, they become some kind of nest. But it's also true that dungeons need to be 'cleaned' often. If there are too many monsters in it at once, there is a risk of overflow that would put nearby human settlements in grave danger.
Killing the monsters in those dungeons is the main job of this continent's mercenaries. Arima deliberated a bit then took another book which gave the emplacement of every dungeon in the Main Land. Apparently, only one could be built every decade and they started doing it around five hundred years ago. So, there were approximately fifty of them on the whole continent.
There were some that were more dangerous than others and always kept in check. A few were so unsafe and they were only visited by the strongest mercenaries or the army. You could also find dungeons that were specifically used as training grounds for young soldiers and students.
Arima closed the book and put it back, ”Well, let's go to Center City next. Although the name is bland, it's the largest city on this planet. The HQ of the guild is also there, I'll pass by before trying out a dungeon.”
”What are you going to do before that though? You said that your falcons will need two days.”
”Well, by tomorrow I'm sure they will have finished scanning until Center City at least. As for what I'm going to do while waiting…” Arima chuckled, ”I will, of course, see for myself what kind of candies this town has to offer,” He said and left the library in high spirits while Night sighed deeply.
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Five hours later, it was late in the afternoon, Arima was quietly eating in a restaurant with Night lying on the table. He then sensed something happening in his dimension and was a bit surprised, ”Oh, Lanya broke through the ninth level already.”
Night rolled on the table and stood up. He chewed a piece of meat and glanced at Arima, ”By the way, you never explained the words you said when we met Lanya.”
”What words?”
”You said that you looked alike… No matter how much I think about it, you two are not similar at all,” Night replied and sat down.
”Ah… that,” Arima exclaimed, ”It's literally what it means though. When I saw her, I felt like she looked like me when I was younger, much younger.”
Night tilted his head, ”I'm not sure I understand.”
Arima laughed, ”What I recognized in her was not only her hatred but a really peculiar feeling. The one you have when you killed your parent,” He said with a dark tone and Night's expression sunk.
Arima patted him, ”Don't mind. I got over it since. And to be fair, I didn't kill my mother for revenge or something like that nor was it me directly who did it,” He added and continued to pet Night.
”…Stop petting me,” Night groaned and Arima snickered.
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Eighteen hours later, Lanya and Lilis finally exited the dimension. Lanya had reached the upper class of the ninth level. Arima could have kept 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 in and directly left the next day when Arima's falcons had finished scanning Center City.
Arima first transferred above the city to observe it with his own eyes, ”This is really huge after all.”
”As expected of the biggest city in the planet,” Lilis commented.