[Dungeon discovered]

[Recommended Strength: F rank (Commander) - E rank]

[Participants: 0/1]

’What the fuck is a Dungeon!??’

Rohan was bewildered. He’d spent most of his childhood and adolescence learning all about the Origin Realm, yet he’d never heard of something like this before.

He’d read all about Dungeons in stories and fairy tales, but those were all fiction!

’Is this like a medieval dungeon? A prison under a castle type thing?’ His thoughts did have some merit. Those dungeons were typically underground, and he did find this dungeon through a hidden door in the floor of a house in an ancient town.

’But something tells me that’s not the case with this...’

For one, why would the Origin Realm itself give him a notification about discovering one if it really were just that?? You have to understand that the Origin Realm itself notifying an Awakened about something was a big deal, and there are absolutely no exceptions to this rule.

So this Dungeon discovery was without a doubt something special.

’I’ll have to ask Elane when I get back to the Outside universe about this. If not even she knows about them...’

Rohan shook off any thoughts past this points.

’This feels more like a gate...’ Looking down into the basement that he’d opened up, all he saw was darkness. But he did feel a certain aura emanating from below that he’d only ever felt before when he entered the Spike Beast gate.

He also knew that in some special case, gates could be participant locked like this Dungeon was. ’But I’ve never heard of one that limits entry to only a single person.’ Beyond that, all the participant locked gates were C rank and above, which just made this dungeon even more anomalous.

’Now I know what kept this hoplite in this town long enough for it to repair this house and start living in it.’ But with this realisation came a rush of nervousness.

’Fuck, doesn’t this mean the hoplite will be coming back for this dungeon at some point??’ Considering the severity of the Origin Realm notifying him about this dungeon, as well as this place being important enough for a hoplite to set up shop here, Rohan’s face scrunched.

’It only escaped because Lianne and her several hundred strong group came here. If it weren’t for them, not only would I be dead, but it would still be here guarding this dungeon!’

Gritting his teeth, Rohan came to a decision.

’I can’t just give up on a huge discovery like this!’ He steeled his resolve and stepped down into the basement, where he presumed the dungeon was located. With entry only permitted to a single person, Rohan was taking a chance here. ’This should mean the hoplite can’t get to me in here, right?’

His mind wandered back to the participant locked gates on Earth that he’d heard about. There had been countless experiments to see if there was some way to circumvent the entry limit, but every attempt ended in failure.

So if the same rules applied here, then the hoplite should be locked out the moment Rohan entered, and unable to enter until he either cleared whatever condition there was to leave, or died inside.

’All assumptions, though.’

But still, he trusted the Origin Realm.

If there was anyone or anything that would stick to its words and promises, it would be the Origin Realm. If it said that only one person could be allowed inside at a time, then that was more definite than anything the Federation could promise.

Rohan descended into the creaking wooden steps into the basement with one hand on his spear and the other brushing against the damp stone wall beside him.

The air was noticeable different than above. It was colder, and much more humid. Much like what you’d get from descending into a cave hundreds of metres below the surface, not quite like a basement a metre or two below.

Rohan didn’t particularly like the implications this change in air had.

He liked it even less when he reached the bottom of the short flight of creaky wooden stairs and turned around on instinct, only for his stomach to drop.

The opening above him was gone.

Where there should have been the square rotten floorboards and the underside of the ruined house above, there was nothing but a stony ceiling.

Rohan stood perfectly still for a second while he examined his situation.

’So this dungeon is in another space, or dimension, just like the gates. The similarities just keep on piling up.’ But the method of entry was much different than Rohan was used to.

Even gates had the decency to be obvious and simple about things. A portal was a portal. All you had to do was step through it and the world on the other side made it perfectly clear that you’d left one world and entered another.

This dungeon, meanwhile, was much creepier. It was as if the Origin Realm had altered reality, overlapping two different spaces, then separating them when someone enters the dungeon.

Rohan let out the breath he’d been holding.

Now that he vaguely understood what had happened, he actually felt some relief. ’The hoplite definitely won’t be able to enter now.’

Let alone the limit on participants, Rohan had never heard of an Awakened possessing the ability to cross dimensions unaided by the Origin Realm — even S ranks with Space type genes wouldn’t be able to manage it.

’But now I’m in my own, personal prison.’ Rohan’s face hardened.

Having never heard of dungeons before this point, he had no idea what was in store for him from this moment on.

The only reason he entered was that the recommended strength matched his own, almost to a tee.

’A minimum of F rank Commander tier... And an upper limit of E rank. It’s almost as if the Origin Realm crafted this dungeon with me in mind.’

Rohan smiled. He considered it his good fortune to be able to find this place. ’Even though Elane had to die for it...’

Surely she wouldn’t mind, right...?