NamelessAlter

  It’s been a few days since I started grinding at the spider dungeon, and I hit level 150, which means I can move forward to harder D rank dungeons.

  D rank is level 50 - 250 and the highest level requirement dungeons in that bracket are 200, meaning I have one more step until I hit that point.

  I also changed up my normal schedule, since it is becoming harder and harder to continue hunting with Nyx, even just once a week. Thanks to my dedication to leveling up, and her still needing to level up other things like magic, we just aren’t lining up super well.

  So instead, we decided to meet up at least once a month to talk about what's going on with her and my hunting. During that time, I usually go help her in a dungeon. SHe moved to a different dungeon from the skeleton catacombs, but she was still on a lower tier than my own.

  ANd for today, when I woke up, I got a call to another new dungeon, somewhere in the city.

  New dungeons were not super uncommon, and they usually happen when one dungeon fades, so this wasn’t too unusual.

  Thanks to Uncle Gideon, I was pced on the team to investigate it. He even told me it was the exact same team that I was with st time as well, that being Ryan, Mieachel, Jessica, and Mia. Turns out that they had actually been training together since the st time I saw them.

  I know this because my Uncle, in his infinite wisdom, gave them my phone number during the st week as well, and they had asked me to join them if I had time.

  So, my pn for today quickly became going with them to this new E rank dungeon again.

  ?

  The dungeon I was going to today was a lot further away from my house then any of the others I had gone to, being on the complete other side of the city.

  Thanks to this, I had to ask Anthem to drive me.

  Currently I was in the car with him.

  “Thanks for driving me today” I tell him, as I see us getting closer to the location of the new dungeon.

  “Any time. BUt you are 16 now, you could learn to drive” he tells me.

  “I thought about it, but I just am not interested” I say.

  “Well, I am always happy to drive you, and if she didn’t have things today, so is Aria”

  “Yeah, thanks”

  “Hey, that reminds me, do you know what Aria is doing today?”

  “No clue, but Hunting I think. She did ask me to make a few items for her so I think she is testing my skill out” I tell him.

  Aria had come to me when I got back home st night and asked me to make a bunch of items that increased dark magic effectiveness.

  “Hmm, I wonder what she is trying to do? She is already super strong”

  “Yeah, but neither of you are unbeatable” I say, thinking about the one level of power above the two of them. “You aren’t national css yet”

  “...” Anthem says, waiting before he speaks again. “I don’t know if I even want to reach that point”

  “REally, I know I do”

  “Yeah, I know you would”

  And with that, we finally got to the new dungeon barricaded.

  “Well, I’ll wait around here for you to finish, just call when you are ready” He tells me.

  “Got it, it probably won't take super long”

  And I got out of the car.

  Walking up to the barricade, I show them my hunter Id and they let me into the dungeon, where I meet everyone.

  ?

  While Zenith was dealing with the new dungeon, Aria was in the S rank dungeon, the temple of rebirth.

  The temple of Rebirth was the S rank dungeon in the city they all live in, and is one of the most mysterious dungeons ever.

  As a S rank dungeon, it is a field dungeon, not a progressive one like every dungeon Zenith has been in.

  This means that instead of going through several levels, it is one single area with a massive expanse with several different areas where you have to find a way into the boss room.

  BUt one of the main things that made the temple of rebirth so interesting was the yout of the dungeon.

  Any person who had ever been inside the dungeon could tell you, it did not follow basic physics.

  Doorways didn’t lead to where they should. Staircases sometimes didn’t follow gravity. It was all very garring if you were unprepared.

  Aria had been here so many times that she was fine with any of the strange habits of the dungeon though, which made it the best pce for her to train.

  And currently she was fighting with a new weapon that Zenith had made for her.

  A +5000 Strength sword wasn’t super good in comparison to what she normally used, but the bonus effect is what she was happy to use.

  The sword was attuned with dark magic, making it a very powerful weapon in her hands. Thanks to her skill and title, it was one of the best weapons she had ever seen.

  As she continued to use it, she was seeing the truly powerful part of Zenith's intrinsic skill.

  The temple of rebirth mainly used golems as the enemies, giant statues with stone weapons that could easily deal with even the strongest of S css hunters, and she was tearing them apart with no problem with the sword she was given.

  The sword worked by naturally giving off dark magic, making it a type of elemental weapon. But on top of that, it was attuning to the users magic as well. With every swing, it felt more natural to use for Aria.

  With another swing, the giant stone statue of a warrior, around 20 feet tall, was cut in half.

  And Aria moved forward again.

  She was going to clear the dungeon again today.

  She came here at least once a week, since she could make enough money to match her parents combined sary in a single day here. That was the earning capacity of a S rank hunter.

  Each magic stone from the golems was worth hundreds of thousands, and the dungeon core crystal could easily be auctioned off for millions.

  As much as Aria and Anthem would never brag about it, they were the strongest of the S css, only one step below the National rank. She, and no one else, didn’t know what the difference was, but she knew there was one.

  The national rank were said to be able to clear S rank dungeons alone, but so could she.

  It both did, and did not, make sense.

  As she pondered over this, she made her way to the boss room of the dungeon.

  The way you opened it was by collecting a key from sub-bosses all around the dungeon.

  And then you opened the boss room to find a rge group of the statue golems, surrounding an even rger one, around 100 feet tall.

  Aria pced the key in the door, and walked into the boss room again.

  BUt the fight that usually starts right away does not.

  Aria, confused by this, walks around the room until she notices a statue that is not normally in the room.

  It's a angel, around the size of a normal human.

  And in her head she heard a voice while looking at it.

  You hold a piece of creation, but you are not its bearer… Please continue on, Heir of Darkness

  And in a sudden fsh, the angel statue vanishes, and the fight starts like normal, with the giant statue standing up from the throne.

  And Aria readies the sword to fight the boss once again, while thinking over the weird message and statue she received.

  ?

  Apotheosis - You have cleared a new rank 1 area

  You gained 2500 SP

  After going through the dungeon for a few hours, we finished up. And this time, I spent the time talking with Jessica. THis was because I made a pair of the appraisal gsses and was testing them out.

  She was nice, and seemed to really like the work she did for the association. I also got to learn more about the dynamic of the group.

  The big thing I learned was about the member who left recently.

  He had a decently rare combat skill for his intrinsic skill, and really liked to train, so he leveled a lot faster then the others. ANd when he reached D rank, he was recruited by a guild and left them behind.

  Turns out that he was actually super mean about it too.

  I also did talk to Mia a little before we headed into the dungeon, mainly about what she had been doing since the st time we talked.

  With the more we move away from the topics she brought up when she showed up at my house, I think I can deal with her.

  As I walked away from the dungeon, our work being done, I had a strange thought.

  It was fun just to talk to them.