After Marcel had received his new identity as ‘Dave’ along with a few other things he didn’t know of and presumably also the soul of the hero ‘Dave’, he followed Claude as they made their way to the telecircle. Marcel followed Claude as they headed to the center of town to the location of the telecircle that would transport them to the dungeon. Speaking of which, what even is a telecircle?  

A telecircle is what holds the rift that connects to the different dimensions in place and allows them to be used as a means of teleportation. The telecircle is made up of a magic circle created by a certain someone holding the rift in place and magic crystals to power the magic circle. These crystals fuel on any source of heat energy to get their power, meaning that the sun provides its power most of the time. This makes it possible for the telecircles to be used at almost any time of the day and even when it rains out since generating heat with magic is generally an easy thing to do. This, Claude, told Marcel as they were walking and he asked about it, being the curious person that he is.  

As they both walked towards the telecircle at the center of the city headed for the dungeon, a thought came to Marcel’s mind, so he asked about it. 

“Claude... What’s this city called anyway? I never even asked about it. Speaking of which, I don’t know anything about the demon realms except for what I’ve read so far, which is that this city is presumably a city of dragons. Why is the demon lord’s castle situated in the city of dragons? Shouldn’t he be in the city of demons since he’s called the demon lord?” Marcel asked curiously. 

“Yes and no. The demon lord’s title implies that he’s the lord of demons, but that’s not true to some extent. He’s the ruler of all the demon realms and sort of functions like a sort of guardian to all of them although on a much grander scale. It might give you a headache if I talk about it now, so let’s leave it for some other time. This city is called Sizburn. Being that this is the city where the demon lord’s castle can be found, also means the most populated city in this world. About 600 000 people live in this city and the floating islands aren't far from here live the main dragon population. There are about a total of 23 floating islands here and the Queen of Dragons rule them. This world is one of the most populated and busiest of the known worlds and it’s all because the guardian of all the worlds is here, and if you haven’t guessed it already, this guardian I’m talking about is the man you’re engaged to, the one famously known as the demon lord.” Marcel listened carefully and every word that Claude spoke made him think of just how incredibly dumb and foolishly headstrong he’s been when he thought that he had any chances of winning against the demon lord.  

Learning that the demon lord was the protector of these so-called ‘Rulers’ made him think that maybe the demon lord might be the most vital person to this world. What would happen if he, let’s say, killed the demon lord? That would throw the entire demon realms into chaos and who’s to say that that chaos wouldn’t affect the human world in some way. He imagined how the humans who wanted to eradicate the supposed ‘Source of all evil’, his future hubby would act if they found out that that same supposed ‘Source of all evil’, is what might be potentially keeping their world functioning as it should. Those humans would probably shudder in fear if they knew how powerful this person called the demon lord is and how he managed to strip the hero they cheered for to eliminate him in less than a minute and rolled under the sheets with him afterward. 

Marcel was dumbstruck, agitated, and felt embarrassed, once again, over how much he’d managed to embarrass himself in front of the demon lord. He thought of how it was probably best to give up on ending the demon lord for good to embark on an adventure that might reveal to be more productive than trying to eliminate a mighty force that kept the world afloat. He was also sure that if he even managed to kill the demon lord, one of his subordinates, Sephana, has the power to bring him back to life if an appropriate price is paid, so what was even the point in trying to accomplish something so pointless except for maybe quenching his thirst for getting revenge on the demon lord for about a minute for when he did stuff that left him embarrassed. He was also sure that the demon lord didn't deserve death for something as minor as making him embarrassed, even when he told himself multiple times that it was okay to kill him for it. He was also sure that trying to get back at the demon lord for all the times he embarrassed him would be more productive and satisfying than trying to kill him anyway, so letting the idea go was easy. He felt so relieved as he threw away the last of the hero's supposed burden given to him by the human race in the land of Vysdor and the tattoo on his arm seem to agree with him as he heard something like giggles being projected into his mind. 

After the thought of actually giving up on his quest for good came to his and he’d already come to terms with what it implied to both the human world of Vysdor and the demon realms as a whole, a new goal popped up in his mind: To fake not giving up and plot to discover the demon lord’s dark side, then blackmailing him to do whatever he wanted and maybe giving the demon lord the scare of his life. This was Marcel’s new goal, as irrelevant and childish as it was. 

Claude looked at Marcel who had suddenly stopped in the middle of the road and noticed the slightly fiendish aura pervading Marcel’s normal pure aura and he felt a certain sense of danger from Marcel. This wasn’t the only thing that made him shudder.  

It was how Marcel’s normal pure aura was being blended with a slightly malicious aura that intensified the effect the normal pure aura had on its own. Luckily, the new gifts from the Spirit of the World were fully functional or else he was afraid that Marcel, or rather, Dave at the moment, would slaughter about an entire 100-meter radius of Marcel, and it wasn’t the normal killing variety of slaughter but rather, the heart-slaying variety. He looked at Marcel as he thought, “This little boy is dangerous!” 

Claude and Marcel continued walking to the center of the town until they came to the telecircle which Allan and four guards were waiting near. They arrived at the center of town where a big magic circle, about 10-meters in diameter, was holding the rift to the dungeon in place.  

Marcel at the rift in awe. The rift, as Marcel looked with his eyes, seemed fully alive. With his eyes, he saw the different sides of the world that wouldn’t normally be seen. The rift in front of him looked like parts of different spatial energies patched up together. The patches were being held in place by the magic power from the circle working like glue and the formless spirits around the rift looked were a bit different from the others. They looked almost nonexistent and the formless spirits of the other elements passed by them so casually. This, Marcel, found very strange.  

Usually, when two formless spirits of different elements meet each other, they tend to um... greet themselves. When a water spirit met an earth spirit, they’d sort of coming together for like a second and then separate, then continued with their journey, but this wasn’t at all the case for the spirits around the rift.  

The spirit around the rift seemed a bit more ignored by the other spirits. The other spirits just passed by them so casually and the strange part was that even when they seemed like they were on the verge of coming together with the rift’s formless spirits as they passed by, they’d just pass right through them, like the rift’s spirits existed on a whole other plane than theirs. 

Marcel watched this weird phenomenon as it happened multiple times when the spirits met and sort of ignored each other as Claude dragged Marcel, who was fascinated by the spirits' usual behavior, into the rift and for the dungeon they went. 

The rift did its job and to the magic circle at its end it brought them. It brought them to a rift in the dimension of dungeons.  

Marcel, even after they’d arrived, was still focused on the behavior of the spirits which stayed the same even in another world. They just passed by each other like they each existed on a different plane from the other and couldn’t feel the presence of the other spirit.  

While Marcel stayed in his entranced state, his Informer notified him, still with the demon lord’s sweet ambiguous voice that he was now very used to. It would be weird if you still couldn’t get used to the whispering voice of your future partner after many months of interaction.  

<< Ding! Location: Dimension of dungeons. Now forcibly switching to Dungeon Mode. Luck system activating. >> 

<< Diminishing owner’s normal luck levels to forty percent. System recommends that you choose a dungeon of the same rank as yours as the world’s support to you is limited to a bare minimum. >> 

<< Preparing to display status bar above you in 10 seconds. >> 

<< 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. Alterations are complete. System is now in Dungeon Mode with the identity ‘Dave’ active. Have fun adventuring. >> 

His system said and Marcel, who was unfamiliar with how anything worked, felt perplexed and when Allan noticed that naïve expression on Marcel’s face as he looked at them, he just had to explain. 

“Do you remember the luck system I mentioned last time to you? Well, it’s currently in effect as well as a few other things. One of them is the status bar above our heads and on every object inside the dungeon. It gives both its owner and others some information about the power levels of the owner as well. There was something that displayed one’s value of EP, but the system now no longer does so and keeps it private to each person because of an incident that happened long ago. Someone got envious of a hero’s EP stats and tried to eliminate them because of it.  

EP stats accumulation also happens faster inside the dungeon than outside it for some reason. You can gain it from doing the most ordinary things and the amount of EP gotten from the dungeons compared to the outside is about tenfold. After it fills up, you can use it to either acquire a random ability from the World Administrator or use it to upgrade your Informer, although, normal people don’t see the point of upgrading our Informers with valuable EP, so we just use it to acquire newer skills on top of our respective race’s blessings. Heroes, as usual, tend to fill up their gauges much faster in a few years while we normal people gain enough EP after maybe a century or so. So unfair!” Allan looked like he was about to explode in anger as he thought of the unfairness of the world and how biased it was towards heroes. 

“Oh, and you can also gain EP outside of the dungeon as well by working for it. I usually accumulate some by making potions and magic items all the time, although the amount I receive is very small when compared to how much EP can be gotten from just a trip to the dungeon. That’s why people like coming to the dungeons so much. Oh, and let’s not forget the cool skills that you can acquire from monsters after defeating them.” Allan continued his explanation, still thinking about the unfairness of the world even when the luck system is active. After all, heroes accumulate enough EP to exchange for a skill from the World’s Administrator much faster than normal people do.  

Marcel, after Allan had finished explaining what the green bar that appeared on his head was, remembered when he first transformed his grimoire from the human world into his Informer and how embarrassed he felt when he found out that he was even weaker than regular denizens of the demon realm. He thought of that EP gauge that his Informer spoke of back then, then he remembered the woman he met from that time and wondered how she was doing. That woman, by the way, was still somewhere plotting which action she was going to take, let’s not forget. 

Marcel finally stopped focusing on Allan or the weird rift spirits and looked at the dimension of dungeons. It was breathtaking.  

Everywhere he looked, there were tall, megalithic structures that reached the sky. This was exactly how he expected the dungeon to look like as he still remembered their appearance from the human world. He wasn’t at all disappointed by them. He saw millions of them, all different shapes and similar in length and width to the others. Although they all looked close to each other, Marcel didn’t feel like they were there. It was more like he was looking at illusions, unlike the ones he knew of from the human world. 

“Don’t let it intimidate you. They’re all merely constructs meant to intimidate you, sort of like an illusion or a mirage. I can assure you that they don’t look anything on the inside like they do on the outside. You’ll find out what I mean when you enter one of them. These are just doors that lead to the real dungeon.” Claude noticed the intimidated Marcel staring solely at the dungeons as he tried to figure out if they were illusions or not. 

Marcel nodded and tried anticipating what to expect when he entered the dungeon. The others stood there with a matter that they should have dealt with before coming to the dungeon: Which dungeon were they going to enter?  

Excluding Marcel and the four guards who’ve been quiet the whole time, Allan and Claude discussed among themselves about which type of dungeon would be best for Marcel to enter on his first time into the dungeons. They discussed for about half an hour while Marcel stood close and stared at the magnificent structures in front of him that might just be illusions. He wanted to just approach the close one to him but in fear of not knowing what would happen if he did, he perished the thought and just stared at them from a distance.  

After Allan and Claude had taken into consideration all the factors to think of when choosing a dungeon to start a hero’s epic tale, they decided to go with a plant-type dungeon. From what they knew, plant-type dungeons are relatively easier to traverse through in the lower stages than the others. Lesser people also tend to choose plant-type dungeons, meaning that Marcel can get to be himself and not worry about slipping up about the secret that might maybe cost him his life if it got out. 

After pitching the idea towards Marcel, he agreed without any resistance and they sighed in relief. Allan was very happy that Marcel agreed to it since if he hadn’t, they’d have to continue thinking about which dungeon to choose for Marcel, but not only that. He was also very happy because if he played his cards right, he might get a certain plant-related skill that he really wants. It’s also about the fourth time he was visiting a plant-type dungeon because of something unpleasant that he heard about them. Apparently, they hold a type of vicious plant monster that did the most, um... inappropriate things to whoever was unlucky to bump into them. He’s been hoping that he never runs into such monsters on his trip into a plant-type dungeon. 

After they’d decided which dungeon to visit, Claude and Allan then choose which type of plant-type dungeon they wanted and the dungeon class, which Claude did by reading the status bars on the dungeons and then choosing one which suited all the qualifications they were looking for. The dungeon they chose had a leafy design added to its exterior and they readied themselves to enter it. 

At the entrance of the dungeon that Claude chose was a big door that felt as unreal as the dungeon itself. Marcel wondered if they were going to open the door to enter the dungeon. 

Claude and Allan, after they’d arrived, headed straight for the door and showing no signs of opening it. Marcel was about to ask about the door when they just went straight through it and he opened his eyes in shock. The door was a portal that led into the dungeon. The entire dungeon was a portal leading to the real dungeon. All the dungeons one sees when one first enters the dungeon of dimensions are just illusions that cover up the fact that the dungeon one sees is but a portal that leads to the dungeons with the same elemental attributes as the exteriors suggested. All the dungeons were in a whole different dimension apart from the world Marcel and the others stood on. 

Marcel, after the two and the guards, had entered, followed them in and what he saw changed the image he had of dungeons forever.  

Inside the dungeon was like a whole other world than the one he just came from. The first thing he saw, was a big blue sky. The sky was vast and looked unrestricted that probably no one would think that they were in an enclosed space, but that isn’t quite right. The question is ‘Are they really in an enclosed space?’ This was entirely different from the dungeons he was used to.  

The portal brought Marcel to a hill where he watched both above and below without anything obstructing his view. Above was a vast blue-sky and below was a lush forest brimming with life and let’s not forget monsters. There were plant-type monsters everywhere according to Claude’s tracking magic and some of them were very conspicuous while others, not so much. Some were also totally undetectable as well as although unintelligent, were still able to camouflage their presence in nature’s bountiful magic energy. It was incredible. 

As usual, Marcel took that first breathe of air and relaxed for a bit. The air was full of magic and the spirits, he thought, might be even more bountiful in the dungeon than outside of it. Most of the spirits here seemed to be taking shape, although they still weren’t quite there yet. From what he’d learned before, formless spirits take form by joining to form a higher-level spirit. The new spirit absorbs everything belonging to the old and weaker formless spirits and then develops its personality and abilities as a unique spirit. The dynamics of spirits is pretty interesting, but Marcel didn’t have the time to delve in too deep, or else he probably wouldn’t be in a dungeon adventuring right now. 

The spirits in this dungeon were mostly earth spirits as well. Marcel discovered that it was quite easy to search the presence of monsters if he looked hard enough since the spirits flocked around the different monsters in the dungeon. His eyes are more useful to him now than they were in the past and he’s loving them.  

Marcel and the others, after they’d gotten a full scope of the area from the hill, decided to descend the hill to finally go do what they came for, monster hunting.  

They started walking into the forest when the four guards began lowering their power to the D-class from whatever level they were already on. Claude then repeated to Marcel that the guards weren’t going to help him and Allan and neither was he. He was just going to try and limit his presence as much as possible as to let monsters come closer to them, so he should get ready because the moment he does, monsters are going to appear.  

After that, he told Marcel about which elements that are effective against plant monsters if he wanted to use magic on them, like fire, ice, and lightning. He also warned Marcel to always stay vigilant as some monsters can have resistances towards certain elements and then he checked once again to see if the less conspicuous version of himself was okay before he erased most of his presence from his surroundings.  

After a while of walking, Allan who’d been using tracking magic for a while noticed that something was coming. The first monster who was eager to take their lives was coming, a vine serpent was coming their way. Marcel and Allan readied themselves to face it.