51 Factions Abound: Dungeon Entrance

Once he was through the Dark Forest zone, Merrick finally found himself back in a place he had started to think he would not be able to find. As he was about to reach the end of the Dark Forest zone, his map markers turned him off the main path to something much smaller and more winding. It was more of a hunter's trail than a merchant's road.

The trail slowly started to remind Merrick of when he had been chasing after the fleeing Guardian: Xerxes. He had not been leading the chase, so Merrick could not be sure that this was the same path that they had taken. However, the branches and the bracken seemed unlike anything else he had encountered in other areas of Dungeons Below but eerily familiar at the same time.

The Dark Forest zone, true to its name, was dark. The system clock said that it was now leading into the late afternoon but there was little light for Merrick to see by naturally. On the main road that had not been a problem, but on the winding trail the reduced visibility made it difficult to stay vigilant.

Merrick was hesitant to summon more light. It would help ease his own tension but it could also draw attention to him. Instead, he relied on Crudle to keep an eye on their surroundings and Merrick instead just focused on following his map marker down the path ahead.

The information broker had said that the Elemental Cage had been on the other side of the Dark Forest zone but Merrick learned that that was not exactly true. Based on the actual zones of the game Dungeons Below, Merrick stepped out of the Dark Forest zone but he was still within the confines of the trees that made up the zone.

Instead the game introduced him to a new area: *Hidden Zone: Guardian's Glen*.

That was when Merrick stepped out of the last line of trees and into the familiar area. Despite the system clock saying that it was still daylight, Merrick stepped into the middle of a moonlit courtyard. Stone arches and blocks spread out like the bones of a fallen dragon.

The last time he was here Merrick had been so focused on the Boss Battle that he had not been able to truly take in the surroundings. Halfway across the courtyard Merrick could see the archway that he had stepped through months ago to leave the dungeon and face Xerxes, but now that he was back he could see that at least three of the other archways also had pathways behind them leading beneath the courtyard.

The courtyard itself was also larger than Merrick had originally realized. Behind the pathway he'd emerged from there was another whole spread of arches, fallen pillars, and an abandoned fountain. The more he looked at the courtyard, the more it felt like there should be a mansion or manor on the far end but instead it was completely surrounded by a ring of dark trees.

As Merrick walked into the courtyard, he eventually reached the place where the fight with Xerxes began. That was when the system determined that he was close enough to deliver the bad news. A notification popped up in front of his face:

***

Dungeon Closed due to System Overhaul

The Secret of the Elemental Cage will be released as a part of Patch 0.8.9.2 as the starting dungeon for Mage-class Adventurers.

The Treasure of the Elemental Cage will be released as a part of Patch 0.8.9.2 as a new Veteran Solo dungeon.

The Leader Board for the original dungeon will be honored even though the original dungeon will no longer be available. The Leader Board is previewed below and will be updated to the live instance of Dungeons Below. Any lost or corrupted clear rewards due to the bug in the original dungeon will be returned with the deployment of Patch 0.8.9.2.

Reference Patch Notes 0.8.9.2 for detailed information.

(Preview) Leader Board

First Clear: Merrick - Mage

Fastest Clear: Merrick - Mage

Top Clear: Merrick - Mage

Second Clear: *N/A*

Third Clear: *N/A*

***

Merrick closed the system notification feeling a little better about his original delve into Dungeons Below. Even though his personal account did not currently show the dungeon clear, Alex must have found a way to honor his work in the system. It left a better taste in his mouth than the bitter one that had been there.

After relying on the information broker and others to read the notes for him, Merrick decided that it was finally time for him to delve into the Patch Notes for himself to see if there was anything else he needed to know. Once the notification was gone, the system did not kick him out of the courtyard, it just blocked off the pathways leading down.

Using one of the fallen pillars like a bench, Merrick opened the Patch Notes through the system menu and started to read. There was a lot of information about Factions that Merrick highlighted sent to his home computer for later reading. Then there was a few entries about other dungeons that would be released, monsters that would be updated, and special items that were going to be added. Merrick took those notes down and sent them to his home computer as well.

This was why he had been avoiding the Patch Notes as much as possible. The side of his brain that carried him through his research projects for the University was starting to activate. Instead of diving deeper, Merrick kept his query to the surface level and eventually found the answer to a question that had been forming since the last Faction War.

The War Officiant had updated the difficulty of the dungeon. Merrick had never thought about dungeon difficulty in that way. He had known that some dungeons were harder than others and dungeons that were delved as a party were even harder. The War Officiant's announcement had broken that down into a few categories and the recent notification that Merrick got had added more.

According to the Patch Notes, Dungeons Below was going to feature three primary difficulties and the complexity of classes would also be factored in now. The difficulties would be Solo, Co-Op, and Party. A Solo Dungeon could only be done alone and would provide a significant challenge based on the Adventurer entering the dungeon. The only difference between a Co-Op Dungeon and a Party Dungeon was that a Co-Op Dungeon could be attempted by any number of Adventurers but a Party Dungeon required a balanced party.

Merrick had been assuming that the term Veteran would be a difficulty modifier but he was wrong. Instead it referred to a subset of classes, they were an upgraded version of base classes. The notes gave the example of a Fighter becoming a Knight or a Rogue becoming an Assassin. To enter a Veteran Dungeon after the patch was deployed, an Adventurer must be a Veteran class.

That meant that Merrick was going to have to decide on a path instead of staying as the generalist magic class that he had been using: Mage.