“Wow so I wasn’t dreaming, I got some really rare Avatars yesterday!” Jin said to himself as he quickly navigated through the school, towards the library. There were many unanswered questions he had that suddenly piqued his interest. Especially what the evil dark figure that he encountered previously said, he mentioned that he wanted the Avatar of the dungeon. What is a dungeon?

He wasn’t really a hardworking student so the history teacher was astounded to see him walking through the door. The history teacher was even more stunned to see Jin approach him directly with questions. Kids these days only care about the strongest Avatars and what neat feats that could accomplish with the help of Avatars.

“Teacher Yen, what are dungeons? Do they contain Legendary Avatars?” Jin asked straightforwardly in an excited manner.

“Dungeons? Legendary Avatars? Where did you hear about such things?” Teacher Yen said with surprise. This was not something a young kid like Jin should know.

“Oh a traveling customer at my family’s restaurant told me about it.” Jin quickly made up a lie. Besides no one would believe him if he talked about the events of the previous day anyways.

“Well alright, pull up a seat beside me little Jin. Where do I begin… as you know there are different types of Avatars. The two main differentiation is whether they are an Avatar of a Hero, meaning if they are human or if they are an Avatar of a Creature, meaning beings other than humans. An Avatar of a Hero is usually rarer to come by because it requires us to reach a certain level in our cultivation. Rank D is the lowest you have to be to condense your spirit into an artifact.” Yen explained.

“Ah I see.” Jin said as he thought about it. Most people have Avatars of Rank F beasts and not humans, he always wondered why that is.

“A Legendary Avatar is a title bestowed to great heroes in the past. They are rumored to be rank A and above. I’ve never seen one myself but I heard there are some in the capital of the kingdom. They are termed “Legendary” because these humans have all created legends of their own during the time they were alive. Another title on par with Legendary Avatars is Mythical Avatars. Mythical Avatars are from creatures who have similarly reached the pinnacle of their cultivation. These Avatars are termed “Mythical” because such creatures are extremely rare to come by. Dragons, Phoenix, Giants, and such are so rare, most only know them from myths. Why do we make this distinction Jin?”

“Human are weaker than creatures?” Jin took a guess.

“Generally yes. Even if we are in the same rank as a beast, our bodies will always be more frail than giants and dragons. Hero Avatars are easier for you to assimilate with. You can tap into their powers and wisdom far easier than Creature Avatars. The benefits from learning of their experience is priceless, they can pass down their skills to you. As for Creature Avatars, you generally get more physical strength and their unique abilities they were born with. That’s why a great warrior would have both types.”

Jin just nodded intently and listened on.

“Now where does a dungeon come into play you say? A dungeon is a magical space that a high ranking human or creature can create the moment they die and become an Avatar. Dungeons are mysterious places that defies common sense. The rules of the dungeon is all created by the Avatar it came from. It is meant as a test for those who are worthy and lucky enough to receive the Avatar. As you know, Avatars bind for life and in most cases they perish with their owner. Dungeons are extremely hard to come by, only those near the level of Legendary and Mythical Avatars can create them.”

“So most Avatars from dungeons are rank A and above?” Jin gasped.

“Not really, Rank B beasts can create a small dungeon as well. The difference between the qualities of the dungeons can be distinguished by the size of the dungeon and its entrances. Now you might be wondering how you would chance upon a dungeon and the answer is luck. It seems that dungeons created by Avatars are in another dimension all together. The entrances to that dungeon would appear randomly throughout the world. Until the dungeon is conquered, the entrances will open indefinitely. As you can imagine, the competition for that Avatar would be fierce since people across the world would participate! Long ago in our neighboring city, the Frozen Fire Lotus, a dungeon entrance appeared near it. People from all over the kingdom came to try it out.”

“Who cleared it?” Jin asked curiously.

“Not sure but definitely no one from the entrance by the Frozen Fire Lotus. So many people died in their pursuit to get that Avatar. One word of advice Jin, never enter a dungeon! Once you enter it, you cannot leave. Some people have spent decades trapped in there. Only after the Avatar has been obtained will the dungeon disappear and its participants sent out from the entrances they came from.” Yen warned sternly. However, dungeon entrances are rare to come by so he didn’t suspect Jin already gone through one already.

“You probably won’t chance upon a dungeon in your lifetime but you might enter an instance or a tomb. Instances are created by Rank D Avatars, they are similar to a dungeon except that there’s only one entrance near where the Avatar died. The lord of our city has conquered one such instance, that’s why our city is ranked D. If you are successful enough, maybe you will be qualified to enter a tomb. Tombs are generally created by Rank C Avatars. They have more entrances than an instance but still near where the Avatar perished.”

“How can you tell the rank of an Avatar?” Jin asked curiously.

“Well there’s a measuring devices that experts who battle use to gauge each other’s strength. You should ask the Avatar combat teacher Henghin about that though.” Teacher Yen replied. “Now don’t you get weird ideas, lots of adventurers lose their life over trying to get a high ranked Avatar. Remember, once you are dead then all you’ve done is for naught. The Avatars you’ve accumulated will usually die with you too. The lord of our city has a D+ ranked Avatar but paid a hefty price for it…”

Jin’s face has transformed into that of amazement, his mind had slowly drifted off towards the countless possibilities opened up for him. He always dreamed of getting a great Avatar to travel the world and see its wonders. Since one can only have eleven Avatars in their lifetime, he wanted each of the Avatars to be special. Teacher Yen could see Jin’s giddy face and knew he had lost him in his lecture but Jin’s only twelve, Yen couldn’t blame him so he gently sent him off his way.