(Day 166) Aprilis 11th, 12th year of the Dragon, Age of Enlightenment

I made sure there wasn’t anything else I missed then crossed the street to the entrance of the Adventurer's Guild. As I was making my way inside I noticed a group of five standing on the steps.

“We need one more…” I heard one of them say as I stepped into the hall”

“New recruits straight ahead,” a soldier by the door said to me.

I moved forward into a very short line and was immediately called forward

“Next!” an elderly woman snapped.

I stepped forward and said, “Here to join the guild”

“Of course, you are. Hold still”

“She pointed a wand at me, and her eyes dilated for a second then she called out, “Ron we got one for them, he’s level 104. He’s perfect for their party.”

Ron, the guy she’d been yelling at ran for the door I’d entered through

“Name?”

“Adamantadine”

“Class?”

“Monk”

“Well, Adamantadine it’s your lucky day. A group of adventurers wants to go into the dungeon, but they needed one more. If you’d like to go into the dungeon today we can make that happen” she said

“I wasn’t planning to but it sounds fun. What do I need to do?” I said.

“Membership is 1 gold. It can be paid now or from the treasure you find. Until the full one gold is paid though you cannot claim any treasure for yourself. So, if you don’t clear at least the first level, you probably won’t earn enough to pay off the debt. If you have the gold I’d suggest just paying it, that way I don’t have to send someone with you to tell the guards to watch for you when you exit, the guards don’t have to be bothered by looking for you as you exit, and I don’t have to be bothered waiting to do the paperwork waiting for you to pay me. How’s that sound?”

I put a gold and a silver on the desk and slid them across. My membership and a tip for finding a group for me so fast as I said, “Sound’s good, here you go.”

“You’re going to do just fine here Adamantadine. Welcome to the guild” she said as she pocketed the silver and placed the gold in a money drawer. Then she reached up under the desk and brought out a swirling black orb. “Please touch this.”

I reached out and touched it and felt a Mark appear on my left forearm. It was a 3” circle with an A in the center.

You have received the Mark of the Adventurer +10% to all treasure found in a Dungeon or Labyrinth. Improve your mark to increase its bonuses.

“Good enough. You don’t have to worry about paying taxes to the crown from the treasure you find. The 10% tax is automatically taken by the guild and the crown automatically takes their resident or nonresident taxes based on your papers. That’s all been automated by the Dungeon Master” She said as she pointed to the party coming up behind me “But now introductions are in order. The Armored fella there is Daranus. The female gnome is Chesarie. That sneaky-looking bloke as Thrum. The Ranger-looking fella is Xander and the last member of your party is your Cleric of Zeltar, Desari.”

Nodding to each as pointed them out I waited a second then said, “Daranus, Chesarie, Thrum, Xander, and Desari. I am Adamantadine a level 104 Monk. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Daranus said “Thanks again for joining our party, they wanted to make sure we had six because someone is concerned about something deeper in the Dungeon. We told them we were only doing the first level, but they would hear none of it. ‘You must have a full party.’ We have been a five-person party for just about forever. If this works out though, I guess we could become a six-person party”

“Well, if this works out tonight then sure, if I’m around I’d join you again, but going in please know that I have to head north in the near future so this might be my first and last dungeon dive for a bit,” I said

“Fair enough, thanks for telling us going in,” Daranus said.

“Enough talk let’s get to the Dungeon so we can get this party started,” Thrum said.

“Man’s got a point,” Daranus said as he started walking towards an alcove as everyone, including me followed him. As we came up to the alcove a magical portal opened and Daranus stepped through, followed by everyone else. As I stepped out of the portal I looked around, then up at the Obelisk. Daranus led us over to a cave entrance. As we came close to the entrance a Gnome came hurrying forward with a clipboard. “Hey Daranus, who you got with you, and what are your intentions?”

“The Daranus Six, need to add Adamantadine to my standard party list for this one. We are going into the Dungeon to clear level 1. We plan to return after that.” Daranus said

“Noted. Level one. Good luck!” the gnome said then went back to a table I noticed he’d been sitting at.

Daranus led us into the cave and I felt the tingle of a portal transit.

“Alright everyone, Thrum you have point, make sure we’re good. Xander, be ready with your bow. Chesarie you know what to do and Desari keep those battle chants coming once combat starts. We all love how they make our stamina and mana come back faster. Adamantadine, hey do you have a nickname?” he asked.

“Yep, it's Adam”

“Cool, okay Adam, for this first battle we’re going to do our normal thing. I want you to protect Chesarie and Desari. Anything gets close to them; you take it out. Otherwise, for this first fight, I want you to watch and think about how you can help. Afterward, we’ll talk about a more active role. Now just so you know, each level has between 5 and 7 encounters. The first level should go pretty quick though as most of the critters we’ll be fighting will only be level 100 or less. Okay Thrum, let’s get his party started.”

The first thing I did was turn off all of my prompts except warnings. I didn’t need the distraction and honestly didn’t believe there was anything here that I’d need to worry about. Was I starting to get numb to my power? I’d have to watch that. I also directed all earned experience that wasn’t coming from the Labyrinth to go to Thor. I needed to keep track of his leveling experience, so it was now time to start leveling Thor back home. Once that was done I did as requested and stayed near the mage and cleric. The 1st encounter consisted of nine panther-type creatures, though they were more like Sabretooth tigers. A couple had tried to flank the party. I analyzed them, to figure out what their hit points were, then utilized my unarmed combat skill to kill each cat. When the combat was over I was responsible for four kills.

The 2nd Encounter was dog-sized spiders. Between Chesarie’s spells and the rangers’ arrows, it wasn’t even a contest.

The 3rd Encounter was against giant huge boars. I’d thoroughly impressed the party when I struck a charging boar with enough force to stop it in its tracks and crushed its skull instantly killing it with a single punch.

The 4th Encounter was a single Bear, but it was about the size of a bus and had thousands of hit points. I’d let the party play with it for a good 10 seconds before I slipped up and punched it behind the ear with a strike that turned the creature’s brain to ooze.

The 5th Encounter had been five giant insects that resembled Praying Mantis. They’d been fast and Daranus had been hurt pretty bad so I stepped in to help. Five quick strikes led to five dead insects.

The 6th encounter had been an honest-to-god wyvern. Unlike the other monsters on this level, this one had been level 113 and by the expressions apparent on my fellow party members' faces, not supposed to be on this level.

“Wanna see something cool?” I whispered.

Daranus had come to understand just how lucky they’d been to be teamed up with me and said “Sure”

I activated stealth and was pleasantly surprised to find out that it did indeed make me disappear completely as the parties’ eyes widened, and their gazes glanced around frantically. Utilizing my new ability “Motionless Movement”, I moved over to the Wyvern until I could touch it then activated Death's Touch. The Wyvern disintegrated into dust.

The party rushed forward and Daranus asked “What did you do?”

“An ability I have, Comes in handy. Don’t use it too often because, well as you can see, there are no components to salvage.” I said.

“That’s okay Adam we’re not here for the components today, we’re here for the loot and experience,” Thrum said.

I looked thoughtful for a moment. Well, if that’s what you want I can get you the experience you need in relatively quick order. Are you all ready to be power leveled?” I asked.

Daranus said, ``I don't know what that means exactly but if it means getting loot and experience, sure.”

“Okay, let's loot this level really quick then head down,” I said.

The five spread out and went through to find shining orbs of fire floating above some of the dead monsters. When touched they dropped their treasure. Once the loot had been claimed they’d each earned 1 platinum 4 Gold and 2 Silver. That actually wasn’t a bad haul for just under an hour’s work. I, however, was going to speed things up a bit.