"You know one thing that I was thinking about?" Blue ate another strip of bacon.

"What?" Hera asked. They were having breakfast before heading to the guard. Today was the day they would finally go inside the dungeon. Hera wanted to understand how long it would take for them to be ready to fight the Sky Ruler. There wasn't much they could do to figure out how much experience they got with each run. Bonnie once had started working on an algorithm that took into account how many monsters were inside and their levels. If Hera did something similar, it could be possible to have at least some sort of idea of how long it would take for them to reach level 15.

"Why the system gave the Sky Ruler immunity against dwarves?"

"What do you mean?"

"That's what they say, right? If they see it and try to fight it, their attacks won't work, and they can't even enter its lair. Why all those restrictions?" Blue asked.

"I don't know... I don't think I ever heard anything about that. Could there be some sort of rule about all this?"

"Can't you do your thing and figure it out?"

"I told you, I can't. Not right now."

"Why?"

"Blue, you have to stop asking about it. I can't explain how that works, and…" Hera took a deep breath, hoping it wouldn't be enough information to break the rules of the skill, "If I talk about it, I can lose what allows me to do that."

"Really? That seems unfair. Why make a skill that has to be kept hidden?"

"Why a monster has immunity against the people who live in its room? Or why is there a doorway in the middle of a dungeon? Why are roles a thing? I have no clue," Hera shrugged.

Blue nodded, finishing her breakfast. Less than half an hour later, she and Hera were arriving at the guard headquarters. This time they wanted to help with the preparations for the dungeon. So far, they only had been taking the resources away from the city and not giving anything back. However, Naka had other plans. They would be in a small briefing explaining how the dungeon worked.

By the information that Hera and Blue got, it was a pretty standard mission. Go inside and kill the boss monster. It would be roaming around, so the team had to split off to search for it. They had 1 hour to find and kill the boss. Otherwise, they would all have to run away. Leaving the boss alive for too long would awaken the Sky Ruler, and its children would start swooping in to attack. Just like the real version, the dwarves wouldn't be able to harm the creatures.

"Oh, and what is that Sky Ruler? What does it look like?" Blue asked.

"No one alive ever saw it, but its children are four-legged birds with long red legs with black claws, bodies with red and green feathers and long feathery tails. Its beak is long and jagged, capable of biting through rocks, and even the children have some control over the wind," Naka explained.

"That description… It sounds like they are griffons, right?" Hera turned to Blue.

"I guess so. They are basically eagles with 4 legs and wings, right?" Blue asked.

"Yeah. But I only read stories about those things. I have no idea if the information I have is real or not."

"What do you know?" Blue asked.

"It doesn't matter. We are not facing the ruler's spawn. After the Sky Ruler's cry, we have 10 minutes to run away from there. You are not to stall and attempt to fight the creatures, are we clear?" Naka cut them off.

"Yeah, yeah," Hera rolled her eyes.

"I don't want to hear a yeah. You two are not to do anything that goes against my orders. If you do, so help me Mountain, I'll make sure neither of you ever enters a dungeon again," Naka stared them down.

"But we need to check if we can fight those things," Hera protested.

"Not my problem."

"Hang on. Captain," Silah chimed in, "Can't we make the Sky Ruler's spawn come down even after killing the boss?"

"It is possible, yes. But that requires us to kill all the sheep inside it. As you are aware, that is not an easy task. Some of the monsters are very dangerous."

"We can take them," Blue said.

"You don't even know what they are," Naka scoffed.

"We still can try that. Even if not on the first run, maybe on the last. We gather all teams for the last run and clear everyone out," Silah suggested.

Hera nodded to Silah, mentally thanking her for her support, "Can we trap one of the monsters close to the entrance? That way, we can take everyone out of the dungeon before triggering the spawn. Blue and I will stay behind to see if we can damage them."

"That is a possibility, but again, killing all the sheep inside is difficult. The creatures are good at hiding and running away," Naka thought for a moment, "We can trap one of the weaker monsters by the entrance. If we root out all the monsters within our time frame, I'll allow you to try, but you still are to obey my orders. Are we clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," they all replied.

The next order of business was to explain the species present inside the dungeon. Hera and Blue got a hefty tome from Naka. It was the compendium they had for the Wooly Plains. The moment the humans touched the book, it glowed to everyone's surprise, and the information was transferred to their tablets. Hera explained what happened, but she didn't know why the physical copy was still there. Naka explained that this compendium was passed down from the first generation of guards. Most of the monsters inside were called Wooly Sheep. Their attack patterns were much like a horse, either kicking, stomping, or head-butting their enemies. If they meet a Wooly Ram, they would have to be even more careful against tackles or headbutts. Their horns were incredibly sharp and hard, almost like stone spikes. Those species could vary in size, going from the size of a pig to the size of a cow.

Another two varieties were the Mountain Sheep and the Mountain Ram. Their wool was much more like leather, and they could curl up in a ball and deliver some rolling attacks. Aside from that, those creatures weren't much of an issue. They were slower and could easily be kited around.

The Cloud Sheep was the last enemy they could find. It could walk around in the air and was the monster who could drop the coveted Cloud Wool, but it was rare to find them.

The boss was called simply Plains Sheep. It looked like a giant sheep, being 2 meters high when on all fours, and it could use its wool to both attack and defend. There weren't any specific patterns or anything like that, but the wool acted like a tentacle. At most, it could have two appendages at once. The monster moved slowly, but it was sturdy. However, they wouldn't have to worry about that one. Naka was the one in charge of killing that monster. Hera and Blue protested, but there wasn't any way to change the captain's mind. Killing the boss was the responsibility of the senior guards.

"Why? Why can't we fight the boss?" Blue asked.

"Because you are weak. The senior guard is strong enough to survive the encounter. I'm not letting anyone take unnecessary risks. If you wish to fight it, level up," Naka replied.

"How are we supposed to do that if you don't allow us to fight?" Hera protested.

"The same way we all do. Fight against the smaller ones, and in a few decades, you will be strong enough to deal with the boss."

"Decades?" Blue gasped, "How long do you expect us to wait before fighting the Sky Ruler?"

"Maybe a couple of decades, 50 if you get lazy."

"50 years? Are you crazy?" Blue said.

"A sixth of your life seems a small price to pay to defeat a creature like that."

"It's half our life, not a sixth!" Hera yelled, "We are not going to wait 50 years to fight that monster!"

"You will wait as long as I tell you to! I don't care if the king himself asks me otherwise, and lower your voice when you speak to me!" Naka yelled back.

Silah pulled on Hera's armor, trying to make her settle down, and even Blue was trying to calm her friend down. After a few moments in silence, Hera sat down, and Naka continued her explanation. The monsters would drop meat and wool for them to take, and on some rare occasions, horns could also be found. Each run would have 15 people, and they would be split into 3 teams of 5. Naka would follow Hera and Blue, as well as Silah and Sevaris. She would be responsible for carrying the supplies they got. At least until they found the boss.

Even with the tension, the guards finished preparing, and they all left towards the dungeon. It was all the way in the back of the farming area. There was this stairway leading to a half-broken doorway that functioned as the entrance to the dungeon. It looked like it led to a small collapsed tunnel, but it would change to a path leading towards the surface when someone tried to cross it.

Three groups were doing the rounds today, meaning that 45 people would be going inside the dungeon. They would be doing that repeatedly, with breaks between each run. There was a set amount of meat they had to get, but according to Naka, each team would have to complete the dungeon three or four times to get enough meat for the day. Outside there would be a healer, just in case anyone got hurt.

Hera's group was the last one to enter. Naka warned the other dwarves not to follow her team. She knew that most of them were curious about how the humans would fare in the dungeon. When they walked inside the broken doorway, a notification appeared.

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You have entered the Wooly Plains Dungeon

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The tunnel continued for a few meters, going up until it reached an opening that led outside the mountain. Naka, Silah, Sevaris, and the humans stepped outside the tunnel and stopped. They all looked up with big smiles on their faces. Hera and Blue followed behind. The dungeon was, in fact, an extensive grassland at the foot of a mountain with some small hills and bushes spread around. The plains were completely surrounded by several mountains, with the largest one being the one they just came out of. Sunlight caressed the faces of the team, coming from a beautiful blue sky without a single cloud in sight.

"This never gets old," Silah smiled.

"I wish I could see this sky every day," Sevaris said.

"That's enough. Let's get to work," Naka said after a few moments basking under the sun, "Team 2 go north, team three go south. Team 1, we go east."

As they started walking, a notification appeared in front of everyone.

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You have entered the Wooly Plains

Dungeon Quest

Find and defeat the king of the Wooly Plains.

First-time rewards: Random Wool, 10 000 gold.

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"That's not a bad amount of gold," Blue said.

"Yeah. I mean, it's not great, but it's not bad either," Hera nodded.

"Avoid making noise. The sheep are easily startled," Naka commanded.

The group walked for a few minutes, taking in the sights and the sun. The smell of grass and morning dew filled their noses. When the first sheep appeared, Hera activated her [Observe]

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Wooly Sheep – Level 6 – (Wool Affinity)

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"It's just level 6, and it has wool affinity," Hera said.

"Affinity? What is that?" Silah asked.

"It's what type of magic or element they can use," Hera explained.

"Those don't have any kind of magic," Naka said.

"It's not necessarily magic. It can be just what its attacks or defense lean towards," Hera explained.

"Yeah yeah, sure. How about we leave that one to you two then," Naka rolled her eyes.

"Fine. Ready Blue?" Hera asked.

"Yeah, I'm itching to fight these things," Blue started walking towards the Wooly Sheep.

Naka turned to Silah and Sevaris, "We stay behind. Let's see what they can do."