CHAPTER 20

His purple eyes shined in the dark.

The lady in front was not special or anything but her sapphire eyes gave the feeling of vulnerability. Karthikeyan sensed an urge to protect this women who was emitting the vibes of a motherly figure.

"How old are you , if I many ask?" Karthikeyan decided to break the silence.

The woman was taken aback , why was he asking for her age ?

"I...I'm 29" she replied.

"You have 2 kids?"

"Yes..."

"Why are you dungeon hunting, if I may ask? "

"To feed my kids"

"I know that of course but what I'm asking is not that. What happened to your husband ? if I may be so direct, you have 2 kids at home after all."

Hearing that question , the lady just stood silent. Her past was now appearing in front of her . It was traumatic.

As she was quite a pretty lady , she was married against her will while she was pursing a degree at one of the top universities in India when she was 21.

Her husband even though was born with a silver spoon was an alcoholic and just beat her up everyday. When she was 27 and left with 2 children , he just left them to live with another girl he had fallen in love with.

Even though nothing was her fault , the society blamed her for the husband's fault. She was blamed of infidelity, nagging , always asking for money , torturing him , etc , but in reality those accusations were not her faults but her husband's .

She loved him with all her heart , even though she was at first forced to marry him. She didn't love him for his money , but for himself. She would advise him against alcohol , but all she would get was a nice beating . Nevertheless she continued loving him but in vain.

Seeing that she was in pain , Karthikeyan said

"Its alright , I apologise for asking such an emotional question."

"It..its alright , its not your fault" the lady replied while holding back her tears that threatened to fall at any time.

After a good silence , she finally looked up and asked.

"Good sir , perhaps to what do I owe the pleasure of saving me?"

"Nothing , just some information about dungeons."

"Dungeons?"

"Yes. I myself have not indulged in raiding dungeons as I would like to have information first and then raid in."

"But there are tons of information online though why ask me sir?"

"Well, my reasoning is why not just ask someone who has experienced the dungeon first hand?"

"But sir Im just an insignificant porter , what information you might get from me , if may not be so rude?"

"Well ,information that is more than sufficient."

This lady in front of him had a d tier talent which gave her the level 4 skill "Keen eye " which helped her to observe the surroundings and get information in relatively less time. He could definitely find use in her, he thought.

It also gave justification to why she was porter. She probably didn't realise the potential of her skill and just be a support as it was a non-combat ability.

Non - combat ability were seen down upon as the lower ones didn't have that much of a prowess.

"If you wis...wish so sir."

"Well that settles it." Karthikeyan said " Its night time and you yourself got your kids, so how about we add each other as friends in the system and meet up in a cafe tomorrow? I would ping you the location and time later, if course only if it suits you."

"Very well, sir that might do"

"Karthikeyan" Karthikeyan extended his hand and introduced him.

"Margaret , good sir " The lady reciprocated the greeting while smiling.

---

The next day arrived as time went fast. People were still raiding dungeons non-stop and one thing due to which Karthikeyan can help delay his raiding was the fact that he had op skills.

The day just went as normal. The one good thing was that Margaret was free by 3pm today and had no work to do. Karthikeyan could raid the dungeons tonight if went by plan.

After doing the normal day routine , he got ready and went to see Margaret by the cafe which was located in the heart of Bakla, the wanderer's streets.

It was not a well known cafe where top people would come and spend their time. It was rather a well acquainted cafe frequented by middle class people and thus now by not so powerful and famous "Adventurers"

Yes people who decided to level up and raid dungeons were now given the typical name of "Adventurers".

So by using the ability to blend in to his surroundings given by his skill [THE SHADOW SENSE] , he got by the crowd quiet easily and was near his destination.

Yesterday night before going to sleep , he thought of the possibility of what would have happened if he had made Korneus his slave by using [ANCESTRAL SKILL] [TRUE RISER].

But he couldn't possibly do it because it would conflict with his ideologies. His ideologies were little bit complicated and bizarre.

Finally he reached his destination without any hinderance and went inside the cafe and began looking for where Margaret was seated.

"Hello" Karthikeyan said to Margaret while being seated in front of her.

Margaret was startled and looked to where the voice resounded to see Karthikeyan sitting there coolly. She didn't even notice him entering the cafe even though she was staring right in front of the shop's entrance.

From yesterday's fight she concluded that Karthikeyan was probably an assassin who was not only fast but also powerful. She didn't decide to probe in to it further , because he was the one who saved her life. She just let it be.

If God saved someone , they wouldn't contemplate how powerful god is. The fact is that god saved them and they would forever be grateful. Now Karthikeyan was supposedly in the same standing.

"Hello good sir. Its nice to me...meet you again"

"No need to be tense around me . Just relax."

"Ye..yes sir" Margaret told while nodding her head hesitantly.

"Well, let's directly get in to the details. Tell me everything you know about dungeons.

"Perhaps sir , I might order you a tea fir..first as a token of gratitude ."

"No need for gratitude, the information would suffice"

"Yes sir" Margaret told with a serious expression on her face. She couldn't disappoint the man in front of her and had to tell everything she knew about. So she didn't delay any further and started explaining.

---

She started with telling the trivial stuffs by telling the structure of dungeons and about the 2 gauges that govern the dungeons. She had raided three dungeons till now and all were in the range of 0.5 to 0.8 range of energy.

She first told that in order to enter a dungeon people had either to form a team and enter or can enter alone which was not recommended but nevertheless dangerous. They could either do it on the surface or after entering the dungeon.

The dungeon would have staircase typical of a subway and once adventures descended down , they would reach a spacious space where they could discuss about forming a team or just revise their strategies.

Once they were ready they would have to either enter the three gates , that were in front of them. Easy, medium and hard.

The explanation was that even though the energy supplied , ie the power of the dungeons, was the same in all the difficulty levels , the mode of the difficulty differed in the fact of the efficiency of energy.

It could be understood with an example. Take a 0.5 energy dungeon. it would have three modes of difficulty. The 0.5 energy would be used with such an efficiency in all the three modes of the dungeons such that medium is tougher than easy while hard is tougher than medium.

We could hack a game and have unlimited currencies and stats. But the way of using it efficiently is what makes it if we are using the advantages given to us rightly.

Then she explained how each dungeon had a specific theme to it and specific types of demons attached to it. The rules were not strict.

That is in a dungeon themed "Swamp" , not only demons related to it could occur , other types of demons could occur as well. The human types of demons were common to all dungeons.

As the demons were being sent from the other "Kingdom" , they form a settlement, a community inside the dungeon and just live as normal people , nevertheless if they live for 1 day or forever. They train as well.

There were no limits on how many people could enter a dungeon , but one main feature of dungeons was that , there was no separate raids for everyone.

That is if 2 teams entered the easy mode, they wouldn't just be teleported to different sessions of raiding unless they chose. The adventures when they are raiding dungeons under the energy level of 1 would be the given the options of 3 sessions in easy , 2 sessions in medium , and 1 session in hard.

For example , 2 teams set to raid the easy level dungeon can either choose session 1,2,3 according to their choice. The number of people currently raiding in the same session would also be shown and also the time elapsed in the session on a screen on top of the wall of the dungeon that seemed to be its asset

So according to this logic, people couldn't possibly enter a session in middle , as the loot would be not worth the effort. So people generally chose to raid when the session just started.

When all the demons were exterminated or the dungeon deemed it as humans victory all of them would be forced out and a new session would begin.

Thats why even though Margaret raided dungeons of low level with an average of 200 people which would make it pretty easy to clear, she had just raided 3 dungeons. All the dungeon raid just took 2 hours at maximum. But that didn't mean that they finished the dungeon that quickly. In fact an hour was about 10 days in the dungeon. Margaret has spent nearly 2 months in dungeons alone.

That also explained how people were levelling up at monstrous rates given sufficient talent.

The dungeons were seen as gold mines and should under no condition be destroyed until prompted.

It was an unspoken rule that came up as soon as the dungeons themselves.

She made do with the hour rate pay paid to her by the team she was currently hired in , which Korneus was also a part of.

The rewards were plenty as well , explaining why an insignificant porter was able to get 2 weapons which were worth 10 days of meals.

Hearing all this Karthikeyan gulped.

---