While talking with Tsu'ro, Luna was able to find out why he was passed out on the road like that. He was supposed to send a message to「Rückstau」, the place they were currently located in.
Rückstau was a city that had no particular defining traits. It does have the title「The Second City after Brackwater.」The residents were all hospitable to travelers though. They also loved to help the less fortunate. Even the place they were in right now was provided by a Sheep-horned woman named Maria.
That was why the goblin elder of Tsu'ro's village had decided to seek aid from them. As for the message that he was supposed to send was the fact that a「Dungeon」opened in the middle of their village.
Luna was internally shocked at this news and curiosity filled her eyes that she didn't even see Noel coming back with a paper bag full of freshly baked bread. Strange though, it wasn't early morning anymore.
He had even silently pulled a chair for himself and also perked his ears t listen to the young goblin's story.
"So Tsu'ro-kun, what did the Dungeon's entrance look like? Depending on it, it can help us make the needed preparations if we want to start a Siege." Luna advised Tsu'ro.
"We'll also need to write this down if you want to submit a report to the City Lord." Noel also added in.
Tsu'ro was a naive little goblin, so naive that the reason he was passed out on the dirt road was that a traveler that passed by had told him that rocks were edible. Instead of actually trying to eat the rock he accidentally let it fall on his head, thus making him pass out.
Anyway, he believed the words of his saviors and then started describing the Dungeon.
"Umm... Let's see... The Dungeon was pure black in color and it had skulls with blue flames in front of its entrance that was blocked by dark grey steel iron bars."
"It was a tower and seemed to have at least 50 floors--"
""TOWER?!""
Tsu'ro wasn't able to continue when both Luna and Noel screamed at the same time with obvious excitement and fervor in their voices. They even leaned forward and their eyes seemed as if they wanted to drill a hole into the poor goblin's face.
"Uh, yes... It was indeed a tower."
Both Luna and Noel leaned back into their wooden chairs. People who weren't that knowledgeable about Dungeons would be confused as to why the two were so excited. Dungeons had distinct types. The main ones were「Enviromental(friendly)」,「Cave」and「Tower.」They were also categorized with「Easy」,「Medium」and「Hard」depending on the difficulty of the dungeon.
For Cave Dungeons, how many rooms there were. For Tower Dungeons, how many floors they were and as for Environmental(friendly) Dungeons, how large it was.
Environmental(friendly) Dungeons naturally come about when corrupt soul energy in the environment clusters together and transforms all the vegetation and animal life. Straightforward enough. Field Bosses exist in these kinds of dungeons and are usually the boss of the fiends.
Cave Dungeons were basically Environmental(friendly) Dungeons but in caves! And loads of different kinds of rooms form and the fiends inside will probably power up. There's also a Dungeon Boss that would be waiting in the innermost room of the dungeon.
Once it was beaten, the dungeon would then be「Conquered」and the victor would receive awards because of their feat. As for what kind of awards, that depends on the dungeon's rank.
As for Tower Dungeons... They were extremely rare and happened the same way the previous two materialize with a certain twist. They will have a set amount of floors and will have a「Floor Boss」every ten floors and the Dungeon Boss would be waiting on the topmost floor of the dungeon.
If a person defeats the Dungeon Boss, they will be able to receive「Ownership」of the Dungeon. Yeah, that's right, OWNERSHIP OF A DUNGEON.
Although that only happens when the person makes the Dungeon Boss submit and follow them voluntarily. Sure that was obviously hard but if you succeed you get an extra house and if you don't, you still get the Conquer reward.
If the person that conquered a tower was from the Mid Plane conquered a Tower its name would end up changing into「Spire」, if they were conquered by someone from the Demon Plane, it would then change into「Devil Spire.」She had hypothesized that it was probably due to Demon usually having corrupt soul energy while the other race in the other planes didn't.
And Dungeons don't form in the Celestial Plane. People say it's because, quote on quote, 'are free from corruption and mortal sins.' But challengers would usually forget that Dungeons could be owned due to it being so difficult.
And for the little naive goblin that was gullible enough to try and eat a rock... Of course, he wouldn't know this.
"Tsu'ro-kun, how about we assist you instead?"
"Hmm?"
"You see, Ts'ro-kun. Both I and my brother are skilled mercenaries that were originally traveling to the Capital when we stumbled upon you." Luna started telling half-truths to persuade Tsu'ro.
"And hearing your plight, we just had to help you. You also don't have to worry about any fees, just let us explore the dungeon." Noel even smoothly cooperated.
After a few more rounds of persuasion tactics, Tsu'ro had finally revealed the location of the dungeon.
And Dungeon Conquering we go!
I felt really lazy when coming up with dungeon ranking systems. Their names as well but I knew it would be essential to the plot.
*Sigh...*