Kingdom Building: Civilization Starts with Divinity-Chapter 82: Instance Dungeon!

"This is... A burrow?" Alchemy questioned.

As the group of three arrived, they were greeted by several Verminae who Nera had stationed around the area.

The Illusion had already been broken so that Alchemy couldn’t examine it, but the hole in front of her was definitely one that would have been noticed without such trickery.

{Mother Goddess! We greet you!}

"Hi, kids. Being good?" Alchemy replied with a smile.

The few squadrons of units nodded, causing Alchemy to chuckle.

"We believe so as well. Unfortunately, we couldn’t discern what made these burrows."

Alchemy let out a low hum. She was about to speak when Gravana suddenly took her spot.

"This thing looks like a small Drake made it." He chimed in, causing all eyes to be on him.

"Uhm... Teacher, are there dragons native to the forest?"

The thought of dealing with dragons or their kin made Alchemy’s head spin. Rogue dragons would be easier, but if a tribe were close, she’d need to eliminate them soon.

"No full-fledged Dragons, no. There are a couple of species of Drakes at the far edge of the 2nd layer and throughout the 3rd. One of which is subterranean." Gravana explained.

’Only the 3rd? Do they not have Dragon Cores, or are the Dryads just that strong?’ Alchemy mused.

"Native or not, If a Dragon made this, I doubt they reside here anymore. The population of rodents is too high here."

"That’s true." Alchemy nodded.

Crouching down, she began examining the hole. It was a bit too dark to tell, but tunnels definitely ran throughout this land. The hole itself was wide enough for Alchemy to spread out her body after jumping and still make it in.

When she began pushing her hand through the dirt, the system appeared.

|<Notice: Parameters acceptable. Marking as Instance Dungeon.>|

"A dungeon!" Alchemy’s eyes grew wide.

The hole and subsequent tunnels began to glow brightly. The group backed up.

|<Notice: You have discovered the Instance Dungeon: Dire Tooth’s Domain!>|

|<Noitce: You have gained a sudden Mission!>|

|<Name: Dire Tooth’s Domain!>|

|<Goal: Defeat the final boss of the Dire Tooth’s Domain!>|

|<Sub-Goal: Explore the Dire Tooth’s Domain Dungeon!>|

|<Failure Condition: Death, Failure to defeat the boss monster within 24 hours.>|

|<Rewards: 3 Dungeon Reward Boxes>|

"What the hell is that?! Be careful, Disciple!" Gravana shouted, taking an offensive stance.

Seeing Gravana on guard, Alchemy couldn’t help but chuckle once again as she used her arm to signal Gravana away.

"It’s fine. This is a phenomenon I’m familiar with. Nothing will happen until we actually go inside."

Gravana’s eyes narrowed at Alchemy, then the Burrow.

’An Exploration Sub-Goal for the mission! So it’s a labyrinth?’

Instance Dungeons. Unique Dungeons are created under special conditions and have a time limit to clear. While not rare, It had been a long while since Alchemy had wanted to enter one.

Likewise, Sub-Goals were extra tasks that were given with missions, sometimes for the chance at additional rewards.

When you become a max-tier Civilization, the rewards from dungeons aren’t worth bothering with. But for a low-tier Civilization like hers, this was perfect!

Interacting with the glowing hole once again, the information of the dungeon came up.

|<Instance Dungeon: Dire Tooth’s Domain!>|

|<Time Limit: 23 Hours>|

|<Total Level Recommendation: 60>|

|<First Clear Party Limit: 4>| 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

|<Notice: Would you like to enter the Dire Tooth’s Dungeon? Y/N>|

Selecting no, for now, Alchemy gained a wide smile.

’A Subterranean Dungeon means minerals! Not to mention the reward boxes I’ll get; I’ll finally be able to upgrade my gear!’ Alchemy jumped up with glee.

"This is the best! Hey Teacher, you wanna go with us on an underground adventure?" She asked.

"Your emotions are too flippant, Disciple." Gravana sighed.

"It’s fine, isn’t it? Being Flippant makes it hard for my opponents to read me... Or something like that!"

Alchemy’s behavior caused Gravana to facepalm. He couldn’t even refute her words because there was some truth to them. Granted, that was when one intentionally made their emotions seem volatile, which Alchemy was not.

Or was she? Gravana couldn’t tell, and when he realized, his eyes opened wide.

’Shit! She told me exactly what she’s doing, and it’s working?!’

Of course, Gravana was overthinking it.

"Very well, Disciple. I’ll join you."

"Yippe!" She cheered, smiling smugly behind her happy demeanor.

The total level recommendation was still 13 levels higher than hers, being 42. With Nera by her side, she wasn’t extremely worried about it, but having secured a high-level carry was always nice.

"Nera, are you coming as well?"

"Naturally. I can’t let you go into such a dangerous place alone."

She knew the answer already but asked anyway. That was the polite thing to do.

"Hmm... But we only have three then. It’s not a complete RPG party yet. I’ll need to go grab Sapphire."

While Alchemy spoke, Nera took a look at the dungeon’s information.

"Are you sure we should be taking Sapphire? I apologize for being rude, but she’ll definitely slow us down."

The young Goddess was already preparing to return to the settlement when her head suddenly shot nearly 180 degrees to look at Nera. If her body didn’t follow quickly enough, Alchemy probably would have broken her neck.

"Hmm? Didn’t you yourself acknowledge her potential, Nera?" Alchemy questioned while tilting her head.

All the joy that was once plastered across her face was gone, replaced with her empty, deep, dark brown eyes.

Nera flinched.

"P-potential, yes! But you know that she hasn’t lived up to it yet. She needs more time!"

Alchemy took a step closer to Nera, then another. Two turned into four, and quickly, Alchemy was in her Hero’s face.

"M-Mother Godd-"

Before Nera could finish talking, Alchemy flicked her daughter’s forehead.

"Oh, calm down, Nera." Alchemy sighed, her smile returning as she backed away.

"It’s a level 55 dungeon. If we go full speed, it shouldn’t take more than 5. Even if we screw around and take our time, it probably won’t take more than 8. Being a little slower is worth it if it gives our little Sapphire more experience and confidence in herself."

"That’s... Very well, Mother Goddess. I apologize."

"It’s fine~ I’ll be right back, k?"