Chapter 54: Chapter 54: Dungeon Entry
A blue gate with security devices to catch trespassers appeared in their line of sight. The entrance seemed like a closed gate, but one could pass through it like air. If there were restrictions, one would be blocked.
Noticing the presence of Jash's entourage, the hunters moving about stopped and greeted them while the security team bowed in greeting.
Ignoring this, Jash and Caera's eyes shone like jewels as they reflected the sight of the blue magical gate.
It stood 2 meters tall with many people wearing black suits surrounding it. They were members of the security team assigned to guard the dungeon and inform their higher-ups, in case of any mishap.
Usually, officials of the Hunter Association would be around as whenever a new dungeon was found, the Hunter Association had to be informed.
Only established nobles could claim the dungeons for their own, and this was the case for the Ramille Duchy.
Although Jash remained unaware who had registered it, he was sure that his family name was enough to deter the Hunter Association from claiming it.
Naturally, he thought of all such things even though he was somewhat dazed by the sight of the blue portal swirling around, radiating a dense mana into the atmosphere.
His reverie was broken when the hunter-in-charge of this dungeon arrived to greet them.
"We greet the Young Master and Young Miss. We have already arranged for your entry, and everything is ready."
The twins nodded as Caera returned to look at the dazzling sight while Jash observed the woman.
She sported long brown hair with almond-shaped hazel eyes wearing a tight-fitted black attire as she led a team of five.
Noticing his stare, she continued without a ripple on her face. "You may wait before entering the dungeon in the lounge if you wish to. Everything has been prepared for your convenience."
"Let's go then," Jash accepted the offer readily, as he felt the need to adapt to the mana-dense atmosphere.
He wasn't an overconfident idiot who believed everything would happen his way or something. 'It's always better to be safe than sorry.'
Caera awoke from her daze and was a little surprised, but she followed the brown-haired lady alongside Jash to the nearby lounge, where hunters usually rested or gathered before going into the dungeon.
These lounges were created to encourage bonding among hunters and help them relax before entering the dungeon.
The brown-haired lady led them straight to the premium area, which was clearly better than the other seating areas.
Just as she was about to leave, Jash asked, "Can you tell us something about the dungeon we are about to enter?"
The lady paused and pointed at the table, "It has everything we are allowed to inform you, Young Master."
Dumbfounded by her answer, Jash nodded at her, allowing her to leave before picking up the document from the table to read, only for it to get snatched by Caera.
'Whatever Not like it will change anything if I read after her.' Jash shrugged his shoulders and waited for her to finish reading.
Finally getting to go through it, Jash felt amazed by the work. 'It is quite detailed.'
It described the dungeon type, rank of monsters and even the boss monster.
"So, it has some G-Rank wolf-type beasts, huh? And a F-Rank boss, but no information regarding it? It's a simple blue gate, after all." mumbled Jash more to himself.
Dungeons were generally ranked based on the rank of the boss monster and the quality of the mana present in them.
There were no G-Rank dungeons in the world. The rank started at F and continued till SSS without any Integration-Rank between them, different from humans.
Then, there were types of dungeons with many classifications, but only three were commonly known: blue gates, green gates, and purple gates.
Blue gates represented dungeons without any restrictions on entering or leaving. No matter the rank, a person could enter and leave without even killing a single monster inside. Most newly awakened hunters were brought to such dungeons.
Green gates were similar to blue gates, but they differed in enforcing a rank restriction and only allowed a certain number of people to enter. Nobody could enter until the people inside came out or were dead.
Purple gates were entrances to the most dangerous dungeons. When a hunter entered, the portal to exit the dungeon disappeared and would not reappear until the dungeon boss was killed. There was usually no rank restriction on entering, but the number of hunters inside would be limited, prohibiting any hunter outside to enter until the number inside decreased.
If dungeons were not cleared for a long time, the boundary separating the dungeon and the outside world would gradually weaken.
Also, the unstable mana would increase over time and slowly corrode the dungeon. This phenomenon had many names, but outbreak and dungeon break were the most common ones.
In such situations, the monsters inhabiting the dungeons inside would come outside.
To prevent this from happening, dungeons were meant to be cleared on a regular basis. This was also the reason that every hunter, no matter their rank, was needed.
If only talented individuals advanced as hunters, who would clear the rank-restricted gates?
Since even an F-Rank dungeon break would be enough to wipe out millions of people if left unattended. This just went on to signify the importance of hunters in this world.
Hence, several academies, in addition to Solarnelle Academy, existed and flourished, training people to become capable hunters and survive longer.
Naturally, the Solarnelle Academy was the dream of every person who wanted to be strong in their field, but if they couldn't enter it, they still had other academies to join and learn from.
'That's a lot of information,' Jash thought as he massaged his forehead in an attempt to alleviate the frying of his nerves.
'I just came to go for my first hunt, not some hard lessons in college or something!' Jash cursed his brain for recalling all the information needlessly.
Feeling helpless, he chose to enter the dungeon instead of waiting for another jolt of information to assault him out of nowhere.
"Enough resting. Let's enter the dungeon," Jash declared as he stood up.
"Tsk. You are the one delaying it," chided Caera, feeling annoyed because of the delay.
"Yeah, because unlike a certain someone, I haven't reached the peak of F-Rank."
After saying his piece, Jash didn't wait for Caera to come up with something to retort and headed directly outside to where the blue gate leading to the dungeon was located.
'Did she arrive?' Jash wondered, and just as he tilted his head to the side, he was surprised to find her standing next to him, in a battle-ready state.
"Let's enter, shall we?" Caera suggested as she activated her nano-armor.
Jash caressed the black bracelet on his wrist and activated his nano-armor with a small amount of mana before walking closer to the gate.
Suddenly, Jash turned around and ordered, "Only Emma and Kesha will enter, besides us. The rest of you, wait here, and don't enter unless someone triggers the safety bracelet."
Emma, Kesha and the security team didn't mind and nodded, trusting the safety bracelet.
After all, it was a defensive artifact that would signal their team outside in the event of a life-threatening situation.
It also functioned as a barrier that would activate if a critical attack hit either of them, holding out until the security team could arrive to help.