33 A normal day at the sea... dungeon 1

"So are you all ready to enter the dungeon now?" asked Will with a calm smile.

"We are ready as we will ever be," said Sarah as a determined expression flitted across her face causing a smile to surface on Will's face.

"Perfect," purred Will as he took his first step into the dungeon. "Then come follow me. I promise that as long as you guys follow my instructions that I will earn you at least 50 water attributed mana stones per person by tonight."

"That much?" exclaimed Sarah as the knights behind her involuntary widened their eyes as well. "How in the world will you-"

"That is an impossible amount," grumbled one of the knights as he sent a disdain filled glare towards Will. "This man is merely an E rank adventurer. He must be boasting."

Will shrugged. "Think what you will knight, you just don't know my special ingredient to tonight's success."

"Which is?"

"Miracles baby," said Will as he ventured further into the dungeon. "Now are you gonna come in and follow me or stay outside and wait for me like electrified goblins?"

"Oh- um sorry," said Sarah as she scrambled into the dungeon with the heavily armored knights clambering after her accompanied by the sound of metal clanging against metal. Hearing the knights clambering around, Will's expression slowly morphed from a smile and into a deep frown. It seemed that during his absence, his acquaintance was struggling with her life. For her to venture this far away from her home in search of water attribute mana stones... why didn't she just ask for assistance from his father?

His frown grew deeper as his mind started calculating all the possibilities that would arrive at the current situation and continued to do so until the dungeon tunnel stopped descending into the earth and evened out into a horizontal slope.

A faint glimmer of blue distracted Will from his thoughts as he set his eye across the view before him. Hearing the knights and Sarah approaching, Will turned around, adjusted his mask, and put on his best professional smile, and stood there waiting for them to arrive.

Sarah was the first to arrive with a heavy pant and immediately bent forward to catch her breath. "S-sir phantom! Why is it that we haven't s-seen a monster since entering the dungeon."

Will smiled as the knights finally caught up with them as well and stared blankly into the scene that laid just after Will. Will clapped his hand to catch Sarah's attention and have her look up from the ground.

"Miss Sarah," started Will with his best professional voice as he enjoyed the gradually widening eyes of Sarah. "This is most likely your first time visiting a dungeon like this, so let this humble adventurer be the first one to say, Welcome to Genesis City's most renowned dungeon, Saphire Sea."

Will turned around and presented the view before him with an elegant flair of hands while looking back.

Clear blue waters spread from the pristine white sandy beaches to the black rocky shoreline that seemed to continue indefinitely forever. There were quite a lot of adventurers playing in the sea merrily. Girls would wear skimpy swimsuits while men would play shirtless to show off their muscles and scars. An occasional sea monster or tentacle could be seen leaping out of the water or peek out of the surface in the far-out sea, which would quickly disappear only to be never seen again.

Will placed a hand over his eyes and observed the sea further beyond. "Hmmm... the weather seems to be great today. Perfect weather for hunting sea monsters. We are in luck today. We might even go 70 mana stones per person today."

"Seventy-"

"That is an impossible amount!" scorned one of the three Knights guarding Sarah. A lowly E rank Adventurer would never be able to kill 70 sea monsters in one day!"

Will shrugged. "I have a water spirit and besides, I'm about to rank up to D rank after I finish this quest."

"A water spirit and D rank doesn't change anything. You are only boasting to attract my mistress's attention."

Will let out a loud sigh, "It's best if you keep your arrogance or prejudice away from here, Knight. Remember that it's me doing you a favor and not the other way around. Besides," Will gave a glance towards Sarah before focusing his eyes back onto the knight. "Miss Sarah is indeed a very beautiful woman but I am not that attracted to her."

Sarah flinched as the knights let out an indignant shout. "What? How dare you say such insulting things! Are you trying to say that our mistress lacks beauty and charm?"

Will let out a groan. "Sorry for the misunderstanding but that is not what I meant when I said that I don't feel attracted to Miss Sarah."

"Then what did you mean by those words?" threatened the knights with their hands on their hilts."

Will placed a finger on his chin and went deep into thought." Hmmm... How do I explain this..."

Will glanced around his surroundings searching for nothing in particular when a particular person came into his sight.

"Ah! Perfect! Do you see that person over there?" said Will as he pointed towards the person.

Everyone followed his fingers and squinted their eyes. "... Are you talking about the girl with red hair?"

"Yes," said Will as he clapped his hands together. "That girl is called the flaming dragon slayer."

The knight frowned. "So are you trying to say that that is the type of woman you are attracted to?"

Will shook his head furiously, "Definitely not, the Flaming Dragon Slayer is considered to be one of the top beauties in Genesis City. And once upon a time, there were a lot of interested suitors who wished to court her. But one day, the Flaming Dragon Slayer got annoyed at a stubborn suitor and burned him half to death. The man never stood up again and quit his job as an adventurer."

The knights gave Will a blank stare. "Oh."

"Thus," said Will, "We male adventurers go by a single rule."

"Which is?"

"Not to fall for the first beautiful girl we see."