The Illicitous Dungeon

The forest was filled with the sounds wind rustling leave, birds chirping, insects buzzing, clapping of feet sprinting through the underbrush, and distant roars of various monsters. It may be a forbidden area called the Abyssal Forest, but it was filled with vibrant life.

It was early summer as Therina finally departed from the dungeon, albeit only a temporary trip. The morning sun filtered through the tree canopy in diagonal pillar of light.

"Is this truly a forbidden area?" Styx's voice asked in her mind with curiosity.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean that nobody is allowed to enter. A forbidden area is just a term used for high level danger zones. This is due to the Monster Lords and innumerable powerful monsters in the inner regions. The outskirts of the forest are in fact very safe."

"Mmhmm," Styx seemed to hum in agreement in her mind.

His voice still sounded a bit unemotional like always, but Therina had learned to identify his moods. It was similar to a sixth sense she had developed.

The elf was a natural denizen of the forest, and with the higher level and dexterity, she traversed through the forest like a natural predator.

She didn't go out of her way if there were nearby monsters, but she did heartlessly slay any she came across. There wasn't even a challenge, as she ambushed every single group and slaughtered them in a flurry of sword that was sharper and more precise than what her level suggested.

This also stopped her from levelling up faster than she could fill herself up with potential, and inevitably having her mana network not grow to its full capability. Although the majority of this issue was mostly turned irrelevant by Styx manually stretching and growing her mana network like she was eating some super expensive high level elixir made from spiritual herbs every level.

After an hour of quickly passing through the forest, the trees gave way for rolling hills covered in lush green. It was much hotter too now that the sun shone down directly on the skin.

Therina used her hand to shield her eyes from the sun as she squinted and peered into the distance. She couldn't spot any towns or landmarks from her immediate position, so she instead aligned herself to a large hill in the distance.

There appeared to be farmsteads on some hills, but she didn't wish to interact with them. Just the fact that they were here within range of the Abyssal Forest should a monster wave attack, means that there should be a nearby fortified town they could retreat to. Not to mention their inhabitant's levels most likely weren't low.

~~~~~

As the noonday sun hung in the middle of the sky like a blistering fireball, Therina sat down on top of a hill under the shade of several trees and made herself a quick lunch based on what was in her satchel.

She had taken off her sword belt to avoid the weapons being in the way of sitting on the ground, but they still laid across her lap, readily available should she come under attack by goblins or some other roaming monsters.

Whilst eating in the shade, she watched a fortified dungeon city approximately 10km away.

It was huge, spreading out to the hills on the horizon. An enormous 20m tall concrete wall circled the entire city, but most of the house were three or more stories tall, so their clay tiled rooves and timber framed tudor style structure could still partially be seen.

"Impressive. See if you can find a camera, or something to take pictures with when you are in there."

"I will see if I can find something like that, but it is unlikely I will be able to afford it," Therina just helplessly responded.

She watched the stream of people entering and leaving the city, many on foot but just as many with carts or on carriages of various sizes. Most of the carts were pulled by large oxen like beasts with large horns and thick hides, but there were others which used horses and various fantasy beasts. There were even some which were entirely self propelled by some unknown means.

The carts and caravans heading into town were filled with all kinds of goods. Many had crates of food, seeds and grains, but other carries anything from a group's daily hunted monsters, or dismantled monsters, to medicines or even slaves.

"Humans…" Therina gravely spoke under her breath as she watched the slaves being carried inside the town, remembering what happened to her village.

In each giant kingdom of the world, there were countless nationless villages and even towns. Most of these usually were hidden in recluse locations or behind barriers, making them difficult to find and also the reason why they have lasted so long.

These nationless villages were not attached to the kingdom they residing in, and as such, did not have to pay tax to them, but neither were they protected under kingdom law. Due to this, they were the favorite targets for slave traders or those looking to make large profits from the slavery industry.

"Don't be so hard on them, you have no issues with humans being slaves." Styx said in her mind in a tone that seemed to transmit rolling his eyes.

"They deserve it," Therina bluntly replied.

Styx didn't point out her hypocrisy, as he knew it was a biased opinion toward humans based solely on what happened to her and her village. She would even purchase other elves as slaves, actually preferring them over human slaves in fact.

~~~~~

Therina slipped into the line of people entering the city, most people not even noticing her due to having Concealment constantly activated.

At the entrance of the city, there was a guard station at the city gates. Therina was mostly unaware of the procedure for entering the city, but she could see and hear others on their way in.

The first way people would enter would be with a thick identity card, which the owner would place on a pedestal like device with a magic array engraved in it. The array would light up green upon the card being accepted.

She had considered secretly stealing somebody else's identity card at first, but held off due to unknown risks.

The pedestal not only checked identity, it could only be properly activated by the owners mana. It would also record the comings and goings of certain people, but each record was limited to the city, as there was no broader network among the kingdom.

The second method of entry, which was used by travellers and traders not bound to the kingdom, was paying an entry fee of anywhere from 2 copper coins to 10 silver coins and being given a temporary permit that they needed to return when they left the city.

Each time entering would cost them the same amount, so these people often carried everything they needed into the city and didn't leave until it was time for them to move to the next city.

The guards would give a quick inspection of everyone's cargo, but this was just to make sure that no illegal goods or smuggling were present. There was such a large amount of traffic passing through the gate though, they couldn't possibly inspect everything too closely.

The line to enter Rhodeus, the dungeon city Therina was lined up at, progressed quickly until it was her turn.

"Ma'am, please present your citizen card, or are you a traveller?" One of the city guards screening people asked after seeing her not take the initiative to present her ID.

"You have no money," Styx calmly spoke inside of her mind. "Offer to pay with one of the smaller manasteel ingots. It's expensive for just an entrance fee, but it is acceptable for a once off cost."

"I am a traveller. I have no money, but I do have things of value. Will this do as an entry fee?" Therena asked while talking in the human language she had multiple times referenced as being vulgar and distasteful to Styx in the past.

She took out a manasteel ingot and extended it toward the guard for payment. The guard looked her up and down, particularly at her long, elven ears and immediately understood she was someone from a wild village and had no kingdom currency.

This situation wasn't too abnormal, as there were always people leaving nationless villages and joining the kingdom to take advantage of its dungeon cities.

"Understood, you can report to the city hall if you wish to register for citizenship," The guard nodded and gave her a blank temporary identity card while accepting the metal ingot and placing it in a large box in the guard station. "What is your name and species?"

"Therina Sel'Ether, Tree Elf."

Therina then placed the blank card on another pedestal with her hand as her mana signature was imprinted on the card. Once the procedure was done, she nodded to the guard and entered the city.

Inside the city was roads of cement and walkways of perfectly flat reddish stone bricks. The cobblestone and brick base tudor style houses towered above everything in their stylish grandeur.

Carts, carriages and even more self propelling carriages constantly moved along the roads, while people walked across the footpaths. There were large public carriages too which were essentially buses according to Styx's observation.

"Ask some people where you can find a blacksmith as well as commercial areas. You also need to find a tavern, but there should be plenty of them near the entry points to the city anyway. It's a prime location for them after all."

She scrunched her brow and did her best to avoid any humans, looking for a non human to ask. Now she was away from the city guards, she did little to conceal her disgust toward humans.

"Excuse me," Therina asked when she eventually found a beastman, who was far more beast than man. "I'm looking for the commercial district, as well as the city hall."

The beast man sniffed the air and did what seemed to be a grimacing appearance before avoiding her and refusing to answer her.

Seeing no luck with the beastman, she then found someone who had an ethereal look and long green eyelashes and hair. She had an odd sense of beauty to her, but clearly wasn't human, which was enough for Therina who repeated the same query to her.

"Hmm?" The ethereal woman said while tilting her head to the warrior appearing elf, a temperate smile on her face. "There are plenty of city halls, usually around or nearby commercial districts. Further up the road there are the guild services along with a city hall. You are obviously new to a dungeon city. Just look at the map in the adventurer, mercenary, or merchant's guild to find things in the city. You can also follow the traders' caravans heading toward the merchant districts, but that may take a little longer."

"Thank you," Therina bowed her head slightly and thanked the woman before departing.

True to what she was told, she found several large buildings further down the main road, each at least eight stories tall and with countless decorations which drew the eye.

Large signs hung in front of each one, although the mass of people entering and leaving already indicated what kind of place each was. There were also small laneways around the back of the buildings with a line of carts waiting to deposit their hauls to the guilds in return for money.

There were also clear signs telling people that all cargo must be handled at the rear entrance and to no block off the front of the guilds or main road.

Therina walked into the adventurer's guild rather than any of the others. This was a place for smaller parties and individuals rather than the large mercenary groups.

Inside was a large area where adventurers would accept and turn in quests, large request boards lining the wall on one side. The entire floor was dedicated to the lowest rank adventurers, and each higher floor was for a higher rank than the previous.

A large, highly detailed city map was on another side of the room, so Therina weaved her way through the crowd unnoticed and arrived in front of the map. She had some difficulty reading the cursive, tiny human language writing on the map, but quickly located everything she needed to.

With nobody realizing she had been there, she stealthily left the guild and began travelling through the streets. Just to be safe, Styx had made a carving on a large stone wall to replicate the map, which he used to follow where she was going, and give directions if she needed it.