Chapter 16
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The scene was transported to a large dome-like structure. The pure white background gave the impression of an infinite space within the room. However, if one pays attention to the detail, one could notice the end of the room.
Three person was present inside the room.
"Sis, must we really do this?"
Jake had a bitter smile on his face as he opened his mouth. The spar wasn't the reason for his bitter smile. It was the status windows that showed up before him as he used the skill, <Inspect>.
==
Name: Ethel Atkins
Age: 27
Job: Swordsman
Level: 9
Strength: 40
Dexterity: 40
Constitution : 40
Perception: 40
Magic: 10
Potential: SSS
Void Magic Constitution: Unable to store magic in her body.
Evaluation: Exceptional Hunter
==
Void Magic Constitution.
The term was not foreign to him. Jake has met someone with the same constitution in Aestes. There was no need for him to click on the name to understand its effect.
The constitution created a hole within one's body at birth. The hole acted like a black hole at a specific foreign substance which invaded the body. In this case, that substance was <Mana> or magic power.
In short, the constitution prevents the owner to amass magic power within one's body. The magic power one was born with was not included since it was not considered as a 'foreign' substance.
Magic power of 10 was a huge figure, living up to her potential of SSS.
Jake didn't know what kind of past did Ethel had in this version of Earth. How did she raise all stats except the magic to its limits? How young was she when she achieved such feats?
Unlimited questions started to revolve around his head.
"Yes"
Ethel threw one of the two shinais in her hands towards Jake and took a fighting pose. In Jake's evaluation, that pose was perfect without an opening to strike.
Jake caught the shinai and sighed. He thought that the spar was pointless since he had more stats and technique.
"I'm ready."
Jake and Ethel exchanged a glance and look at the last person within the room. Kana understood the gaze and raised her hands. In truth, she was feeling uncomfortable with the current situation. 'This… I think it's my fault.'
However, she didn't let it affect the match between the pair of brother and sister.
"Ready…"
Jake finally made his fighting pose. It was not because he took it seriously, but to respect Ethel's wishes and strength.
"Start!"
The shout was accompanied by the fall of Kana's hand. However, no one moved a muscle. Kana, who was not a swordsman, doesn't understand the situation but still held her breath. The air surrounding the two was tensed, carrying an oppressing feeling.
Jake was perplexed by the current situation. He never imagined Ethel to have such a domineering aura and composure while fighting. In such a situation, he made his first mistake.
"You're open!"
Ethel disappeared from her previous location and reappeared behind Jake. The was only one thing inside Jake's head as he used his fastest reflexes to defend against the attack.
'Fast!'
TOK
The two shinais clashed against each other. The force behind the shinai managed to push the unprepared Jake backward a few steps. In a panic, he jumped back to increase the distance and regain his footing.
"What's wrong? Is this all you've got?"
Ethel's long blonde hair was fluttering at the moment. It was probably due to the wind she created as she moved at a rapid speed.
"You just caught me unprepared!"
This time, it was Jake's turn to launch a surprise attack. He did the exact same thing as Ethel as he reappears behind her.
However, the result was different.
The slash cut through thin air as Ethel disappeared in front of Jake's eyes. There was no time to think as he felt a presence right above him.
It was a bit embarrassing for Jake to lose against Ethel, whose stats were much lower than him. As a result, he started to manipulate his mana.
A blue glow appeared beneath Jake's feet as he moved while parrying Ethel's attack. In addition, he also manipulates his mana towards his eyes.
[You have performed the skill <Mana Manipulation>]
[Registering skill…]
Jake has no time to check the notification he got as he focused on the fight.
With his enhanced sight, he finally realized the reason for Ethel's speed and heavy attack. Her condition was the same as his current condition. Parts of her body was covered with a similar colored glow but a lot dimmer. The glow sometimes flickered as if about to disappear at any moment.
The moment the attack was finished, the glow was nowhere to be seen, revealing a normal Ethel.
Once again, Jake was forced to widened the distance to overcome the shock in his heart.
"Sis… you… can actually manipulate it to that degree!"
"…"
Actually, the shock in Ethel's heart was definitely not less than what Jake is currently feeling. She saw Jake using <Mana Manipulation>, which she acquired through great difficulty when she was young. As far as she knew, Jake has only started fighting more than a month ago.
For Ethel, the conclusion was simple. Like her, his brother was also a genius. She accidentally let out a sincere smile for an instant.
"Jake, I'm going to end this."
"That's what I'm about to say."
Jake didn't dare to be careless as he manipulates his mana to the maximum. The blue light covered his entire body as he moved at incredible speed towards Ethel.
Different from Jake's blue light, Ethel's body was covered by a flickering white glow. However, it didn't show any sign of extinguishing as she rushed towards Jake.
The two figure crossed each other in extreme speed, causing Kana to have no idea what happened during the exchange. She could only guess the results on the expression of the two.
Jake had a bitter expression on his face as he turned towards his sister while Ethel's face was as cold as always. However, there is one definitive proof to determine the result.
Ethel's shinai was no longer in its original condition. The shinai was almost broken in two by a great force. The only thing holding the shinai together was the fiber from its material. Just some more force would be enough to sever the shinai completely.
Jake was frustrated.
[Swordsman talk with their swords]
It seems that the sentence was true. At the last exchange, Jake could feel Ethel's feeling. To be honest, it was a mix of complicated feelings.
Worry. Excitement. Relieve. Envy. Happy. But there is one last emotion which was hidden deep beneath the strike. It was sadness. 'Why…?' Jake couldn't understand.
"As promised I will give you the permission."
Ethel exited the workshop after the statement. Her face showed no change in expression as she walked out, leaving Jake and Kana inside the <Sparing Room>.
*
A week passed in the blink of an eye. The three members of <Silver Wings> finally arrived at the site of the <Mysterious Well>.
"We're here."
The first thing they saw was a long line located near a medium sized well nearby. The place was located deep inside a mountain as there is no skyscraper to block the beautiful view of nature.
The roof of the wheel, where the pulley was originally located was removed for easier access to the dungeon. The line from before ended right before the well, where a long table was placed to welcome the <Hunters>.
The group approached the end of the line and waited. Their turn came after a long wait. A normal person without stats enhancement would be dead tired just from waiting in the line. Fortunately, it was not the case for Jake's group.
"Good afternoon, we want to register for the exploration team."
"For how many people?"
"Three"
The attendant seems to be a bit busy as she didn't raise her head to meet Jake's before handing him three pieces of paper. The paper had a clear title of <Association Contract> in the top middle part. The rest was just a list of the agreement and a small place for Jake to sign.
The clauses are written was actually simple.
=====
1. The association won't take any responsibilities for anything that happens inside the dungeon.
2. Volunteers must give a detailed report after the successfully conquering the dungeon.
3. The association will offer an equivalent reward based on the report given.
======
The contract was to prevent <Hunters> with bad intention from receiving any rewards from the association. However, Jake was sure that there is a big loophole in the contract. It was the fact that the value of the information will be assessed by the association. This will most likely cause a disagreement to happen between the <Hunters> and the association.
"Jake, we're done here."
"Okay, I'll be right there."
The three gave the contract to the attendant and walked towards the well. The well was actually pretty big, enough for three adults to enter simultaneously. The bottom of the well was pitch black, Jake couldn't even see its bottom using his enhanced eyesight.
"I'll go first."
Roger was the one who volunteered to jump first. Lee followed behind under the watchful gaze of Jake, who encourage him that everything will be okay. Finally, Jake jumped down the well and entered the dungeon.
The process of entering a dungeon differs for each. Last time, Jake entered the dungeon naturally without any discomfort. However, it was different for this dungeon.
The moment he entered the well, his stomach felt like shaking, causing him to feel a bit nausea. The view in front of him started to distort, forcing him to close his eyes. There is a sharp pain in his head as well.
The next instant, the pain faded along the discomfort in his stomach. However, the entry of the dungeon was the worst case scenario for Jake at this point.
'Shit!'
The characteristic of the entry was the same as a certain dungeon. The dungeon was known as a <Warp Dunngeon>. The reason was that there is a warping mechanism at the entrance. The mechanism will activate when someone entered the dungeon.
The effect of the mechanism was to teleport every individual to a different starting point. For most, the starting point may vary between 4 to 5 points. If you're lucky, it might also go down to 3 points, giving a party a greater probability in meeting each other inside the dungeon.
The first thing Jake did was to examine his surrounding. As expected, people are starting to cause a fuss to find their missing teammates. Jake had no intention to help as they would probably realize the nature of the dungeon by themselves.
His first priority was to find Lee and Roger within the crowd. He silently prayed that he will find at least one of them in the same starting point. However, that expectation was soon crushed.
Jake couldn't find Lee or Roger after looking around for half an hour.
"Damn! Let's just hope that they're at least together."
The only good news was that he gave both of them some items for survival in case they got separated. It was in the form of a potion. They were not any normal potion. In fact, the potion he gave them contained a great power of fire and ice.
One of them was called <Flare Grenade>, which will explode 5 seconds after someone inserts a small amount of mana. The second was <Frost Grenade>, which will freeze the surrounding with similar activation method. He also gave them some mana potion just in case.
In any case, Jake had some method which allows him to locate both of them.
"Sylphy"
"Yes, Master"
"Can you tell me the location of Lee and Roger?"
"Please wait a moment…"
This method was one of the features of the system. The <Silver Pass> was planted with a microchip with a lot of features and one of them was a GPS function, which allows Jake to locate his guild members easily. However, he was bound to be disappointed.
"I'm sorry, Master. There is something interfering with the connection. At the moment, I can only scan within the radius of 250m from Master's current location."
This time, Jake's face turned serious. He didn't expect the system to fail at this important point. However, he soon accepted the fact and was prepared to move out when he caught a familiar figure.
The figure was wearing long jeans and a T-shirt for easy movement. The T-shirt was a unique one as it has a small black hoodie attached to its back. The hoodie was currently up, blocking the figure's face from Jake's view.
However, the figure made one small mistake as she stared at Jake for too long and gained his attention. One quick moved was enough for Jake to see the face under the hoodie using his enhanced eyesight.
The figure knew that she has been caught and her heart skipped a bit before trying to move out of her current position. It was too late. Jake has already arrived behind her and patted her shoulder in a friendly but scary manner. His face was filled with a smile that was not quite a smile.
"Kana~~ Why are you here?~~"
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The scene was transported to a large dome-like structure. The pure white background gave the impression of an infinite space within the room. However, if one pays attention to the detail, one could notice the end of the room.
Three person was present inside the room.
"Sis, must we really do this?"
Jake had a bitter smile on his face as he opened his mouth. The spar wasn't the reason for his bitter smile. It was the status windows that showed up before him as he used the skill, <Inspect>.
==
Name: Ethel Atkins
Age: 27
Job: Swordsman
Level: 9
Strength: 40
Dexterity: 40
Constitution : 40
Perception: 40
Magic: 10
Potential: SSS
Void Magic Constitution: Unable to store magic in her body.
Evaluation: Exceptional Hunter
==
Void Magic Constitution.
The term was not foreign to him. Jake has met someone with the same constitution in Aestes. There was no need for him to click on the name to understand its effect.
The constitution created a hole within one's body at birth. The hole acted like a black hole at a specific foreign substance which invaded the body. In this case, that substance was <Mana> or magic power.
In short, the constitution prevents the owner to amass magic power within one's body. The magic power one was born with was not included since it was not considered as a 'foreign' substance.
Magic power of 10 was a huge figure, living up to her potential of SSS.
Jake didn't know what kind of past did Ethel had in this version of Earth. How did she raise all stats except the magic to its limits? How young was she when she achieved such feats?
Unlimited questions started to revolve around his head.
"Yes"
Ethel threw one of the two shinais in her hands towards Jake and took a fighting pose. In Jake's evaluation, that pose was perfect without an opening to strike.
Jake caught the shinai and sighed. He thought that the spar was pointless since he had more stats and technique.
"I'm ready."
Jake and Ethel exchanged a glance and look at the last person within the room. Kana understood the gaze and raised her hands. In truth, she was feeling uncomfortable with the current situation. 'This… I think it's my fault.'
However, she didn't let it affect the match between the pair of brother and sister.
"Ready…"
Jake finally made his fighting pose. It was not because he took it seriously, but to respect Ethel's wishes and strength.
"Start!"
The shout was accompanied by the fall of Kana's hand. However, no one moved a muscle. Kana, who was not a swordsman, doesn't understand the situation but still held her breath. The air surrounding the two was tensed, carrying an oppressing feeling.
Jake was perplexed by the current situation. He never imagined Ethel to have such a domineering aura and composure while fighting. In such a situation, he made his first mistake.
"You're open!"
Ethel disappeared from her previous location and reappeared behind Jake. The was only one thing inside Jake's head as he used his fastest reflexes to defend against the attack.
'Fast!'
TOK
The two shinais clashed against each other. The force behind the shinai managed to push the unprepared Jake backward a few steps. In a panic, he jumped back to increase the distance and regain his footing.
"What's wrong? Is this all you've got?"
Ethel's long blonde hair was fluttering at the moment. It was probably due to the wind she created as she moved at a rapid speed.
"You just caught me unprepared!"
This time, it was Jake's turn to launch a surprise attack. He did the exact same thing as Ethel as he reappears behind her.
However, the result was different.
The slash cut through thin air as Ethel disappeared in front of Jake's eyes. There was no time to think as he felt a presence right above him.
It was a bit embarrassing for Jake to lose against Ethel, whose stats were much lower than him. As a result, he started to manipulate his mana.
A blue glow appeared beneath Jake's feet as he moved while parrying Ethel's attack. In addition, he also manipulates his mana towards his eyes.
[You have performed the skill <Mana Manipulation>]
[Registering skill…]
Jake has no time to check the notification he got as he focused on the fight.
With his enhanced sight, he finally realized the reason for Ethel's speed and heavy attack. Her condition was the same as his current condition. Parts of her body was covered with a similar colored glow but a lot dimmer. The glow sometimes flickered as if about to disappear at any moment.
The moment the attack was finished, the glow was nowhere to be seen, revealing a normal Ethel.
Once again, Jake was forced to widened the distance to overcome the shock in his heart.
"Sis… you… can actually manipulate it to that degree!"
"…"
Actually, the shock in Ethel's heart was definitely not less than what Jake is currently feeling. She saw Jake using <Mana Manipulation>, which she acquired through great difficulty when she was young. As far as she knew, Jake has only started fighting more than a month ago.
For Ethel, the conclusion was simple. Like her, his brother was also a genius. She accidentally let out a sincere smile for an instant.
"Jake, I'm going to end this."
"That's what I'm about to say."
Jake didn't dare to be careless as he manipulates his mana to the maximum. The blue light covered his entire body as he moved at incredible speed towards Ethel.
Different from Jake's blue light, Ethel's body was covered by a flickering white glow. However, it didn't show any sign of extinguishing as she rushed towards Jake.
The two figure crossed each other in extreme speed, causing Kana to have no idea what happened during the exchange. She could only guess the results on the expression of the two.
Jake had a bitter expression on his face as he turned towards his sister while Ethel's face was as cold as always. However, there is one definitive proof to determine the result.
Ethel's shinai was no longer in its original condition. The shinai was almost broken in two by a great force. The only thing holding the shinai together was the fiber from its material. Just some more force would be enough to sever the shinai completely.
Jake was frustrated.
[Swordsman talk with their swords]
It seems that the sentence was true. At the last exchange, Jake could feel Ethel's feeling. To be honest, it was a mix of complicated feelings.
Worry. Excitement. Relieve. Envy. Happy. But there is one last emotion which was hidden deep beneath the strike. It was sadness. 'Why…?' Jake couldn't understand.
"As promised I will give you the permission."
Ethel exited the workshop after the statement. Her face showed no change in expression as she walked out, leaving Jake and Kana inside the <Sparing Room>.
*
A week passed in the blink of an eye. The three members of <Silver Wings> finally arrived at the site of the <Mysterious Well>.
"We're here."
The first thing they saw was a long line located near a medium sized well nearby. The place was located deep inside a mountain as there is no skyscraper to block the beautiful view of nature.
The roof of the wheel, where the pulley was originally located was removed for easier access to the dungeon. The line from before ended right before the well, where a long table was placed to welcome the <Hunters>.
The group approached the end of the line and waited. Their turn came after a long wait. A normal person without stats enhancement would be dead tired just from waiting in the line. Fortunately, it was not the case for Jake's group.
"Good afternoon, we want to register for the exploration team."
"For how many people?"
"Three"
The attendant seems to be a bit busy as she didn't raise her head to meet Jake's before handing him three pieces of paper. The paper had a clear title of <Association Contract> in the top middle part. The rest was just a list of the agreement and a small place for Jake to sign.
The clauses are written was actually simple.
=====
1. The association won't take any responsibilities for anything that happens inside the dungeon.
2. Volunteers must give a detailed report after the successfully conquering the dungeon.
3. The association will offer an equivalent reward based on the report given.
======
The contract was to prevent <Hunters> with bad intention from receiving any rewards from the association. However, Jake was sure that there is a big loophole in the contract. It was the fact that the value of the information will be assessed by the association. This will most likely cause a disagreement to happen between the <Hunters> and the association.
"Jake, we're done here."
"Okay, I'll be right there."
The three gave the contract to the attendant and walked towards the well. The well was actually pretty big, enough for three adults to enter simultaneously. The bottom of the well was pitch black, Jake couldn't even see its bottom using his enhanced eyesight.
"I'll go first."
Roger was the one who volunteered to jump first. Lee followed behind under the watchful gaze of Jake, who encourage him that everything will be okay. Finally, Jake jumped down the well and entered the dungeon.
The process of entering a dungeon differs for each. Last time, Jake entered the dungeon naturally without any discomfort. However, it was different for this dungeon.
The moment he entered the well, his stomach felt like shaking, causing him to feel a bit nausea. The view in front of him started to distort, forcing him to close his eyes. There is a sharp pain in his head as well.
The next instant, the pain faded along the discomfort in his stomach. However, the entry of the dungeon was the worst case scenario for Jake at this point.
'Shit!'
The characteristic of the entry was the same as a certain dungeon. The dungeon was known as a <Warp Dunngeon>. The reason was that there is a warping mechanism at the entrance. The mechanism will activate when someone entered the dungeon.
The effect of the mechanism was to teleport every individual to a different starting point. For most, the starting point may vary between 4 to 5 points. If you're lucky, it might also go down to 3 points, giving a party a greater probability in meeting each other inside the dungeon.
The first thing Jake did was to examine his surrounding. As expected, people are starting to cause a fuss to find their missing teammates. Jake had no intention to help as they would probably realize the nature of the dungeon by themselves.
His first priority was to find Lee and Roger within the crowd. He silently prayed that he will find at least one of them in the same starting point. However, that expectation was soon crushed.
Jake couldn't find Lee or Roger after looking around for half an hour.
"Damn! Let's just hope that they're at least together."
The only good news was that he gave both of them some items for survival in case they got separated. It was in the form of a potion. They were not any normal potion. In fact, the potion he gave them contained a great power of fire and ice.
One of them was called <Flare Grenade>, which will explode 5 seconds after someone inserts a small amount of mana. The second was <Frost Grenade>, which will freeze the surrounding with similar activation method. He also gave them some mana potion just in case.
In any case, Jake had some method which allows him to locate both of them.
"Sylphy"
"Yes, Master"
"Can you tell me the location of Lee and Roger?"
"Please wait a moment…"
This method was one of the features of the system. The <Silver Pass> was planted with a microchip with a lot of features and one of them was a GPS function, which allows Jake to locate his guild members easily. However, he was bound to be disappointed.
"I'm sorry, Master. There is something interfering with the connection. At the moment, I can only scan within the radius of 250m from Master's current location."
This time, Jake's face turned serious. He didn't expect the system to fail at this important point. However, he soon accepted the fact and was prepared to move out when he caught a familiar figure.
The figure was wearing long jeans and a T-shirt for easy movement. The T-shirt was a unique one as it has a small black hoodie attached to its back. The hoodie was currently up, blocking the figure's face from Jake's view.
However, the figure made one small mistake as she stared at Jake for too long and gained his attention. One quick moved was enough for Jake to see the face under the hoodie using his enhanced eyesight.
The figure knew that she has been caught and her heart skipped a bit before trying to move out of her current position. It was too late. Jake has already arrived behind her and patted her shoulder in a friendly but scary manner. His face was filled with a smile that was not quite a smile.
"Kana~~ Why are you here?~~"
The scene was transported to a large dome-like structure. The pure white background gave the impression of an infinite space within the room. However, if one pays attention to the detail, one could notice the end of the room.Three person was present inside the room."Sis, must we really do this?"Jake had a bitter smile on his face as he opened his mouth. The spar wasn't the reason for his bitter smile. It was the status windows that showed up before him as he used the skill, Inspect.==Name: Ethel AtkinsAge: 27Job: SwordsmanLevel: 9Strength: 40Dexterity: 40Constitution : 40Perception: 40Magic: 10Potential: SSSVoid Magic Constitution: Unable to store magic in her body.Evaluation: Exceptional Hunter==Void Magic Constitution.The term was not foreign to him. Jake has met someone with the same constitution in Aestes. There was no need for him to click on the name to understand its effect.The constitution created a hole within one's body at birth. The hole acted like a black hole at a specific foreign substance which invaded the body. In this case, that substance was Mana or magic power.In short, the constitution prevents the owner to amass magic power within one's body. The magic power one was born with was not included since it was not considered as a 'foreign' substance.Magic power of 10 was a huge figure, living up to her potential of SSS.Jake didn't know what kind of past did Ethel had in this version of Earth. How did she raise all stats except the magic to its limits? How young was she when she achieved such feats?Unlimited questions started to revolve around his head."Yes"Ethel threw one of the two shinais in her hands towards Jake and took a fighting pose. In Jake's evaluation, that pose was perfect without an opening to strike.Jake caught the shinai and sighed. He thought that the spar was pointless since he had more stats and technique."I'm ready."Jake and Ethel exchanged a glance and look at the last person within the room. Kana understood the gaze and raised her hands. In truth, she was feeling uncomfortable with the current situation. 'This I think it's my fault.'However, she didn't let it affect the match between the pair of brother and sister."Ready"Jake finally made his fighting pose. It was not because he took it seriously, but to respect Ethel's wishes and strength."Start!"The shout was accompanied by the fall of Kana's hand. However, no one moved a muscle. Kana, who was not a swordsman, doesn't understand the situation but still held her breath. The air surrounding the two was tensed, carrying an oppressing feeling.Jake was perplexed by the current situation. He never imagined Ethel to have such a domineering aura and composure while fighting. In such a situation, he made his first mistake."You're open!"Ethel disappeared from her previous location and reappeared behind Jake. The was only one thing inside Jake's head as he used his fastest reflexes to defend against the attack.'Fast!'TOKThe two shinais clashed against each other. The force behind the shinai managed to push the unprepared Jake backward a few steps. In a panic, he jumped back to increase the distance and regain his footing."What's wrong? Is this all you've got?"Ethel's long blonde hair was fluttering at the moment. It was probably due to the wind she created as she moved at a rapid speed."You just caught me unprepared!"This time, it was Jake's turn to launch a surprise attack. He did the exact same thing as Ethel as he reappears behind her.However, the result was different.The slash cut through thin air as Ethel disappeared in front of Jake's eyes. There was no time to think as he felt a presence right above him.It was a bit embarrassing for Jake to lose against Ethel, whose stats were much lower than him. As a result, he started to manipulate his mana.A blue glow appeared beneath Jake's feet as he moved while parrying Ethel's attack. In addition, he also manipulates his mana towards his eyes.You have performed the skill Mana ManipulationRegistering skillJake has no time to check the notification he got as he focused on the fight.With his enhanced sight, he finally realized the reason for Ethel's speed and heavy attack. Her condition was the same as his current condition. Parts of her body was covered with a similar colored glow but a lot dimmer. The glow sometimes flickered as if about to disappear at any moment.The moment the attack was finished, the glow was nowhere to be seen, revealing a normal Ethel.Once again, Jake was forced to widened the distance to overcome the shock in his heart."Sis you can actually manipulate it to that degree!"""Actually, the shock in Ethel's heart was definitely not less than what Jake is currently feeling. She saw Jake using Mana Manipulation, which she acquired through great difficulty when she was young. As far as she knew, Jake has only started fighting more than a month ago.For Ethel, the conclusion was simple. Like her, his brother was also a genius. She accidentally let out a sincere smile for an instant."Jake, I'm going to end this.""That's what I'm about to say."Jake didn't dare to be careless as he manipulates his mana to the maximum. The blue light covered his entire body as he moved at incredible speed towards Ethel.Different from Jake's blue light, Ethel's body was covered by a flickering white glow. However, it didn't show any sign of extinguishing as she rushed towards Jake.The two figure crossed each other in extreme speed, causing Kana to have no idea what happened during the exchange. She could only guess the results on the expression of the two.Jake had a bitter expression on his face as he turned towards his sister while Ethel's face was as cold as always. However, there is one definitive proof to determine the result.Ethel's shinai was no longer in its original condition. The shinai was almost broken in two by a great force. The only thing holding the shinai together was the fiber from its material. Just some more force would be enough to sever the shinai completely.Jake was frustrated.Swordsman talk with their swordsIt seems that the sentence was true. At the last exchange, Jake could feel Ethel's feeling. To be honest, it was a mix of complicated feelings.Worry. Excitement. Relieve. Envy. Happy. But there is one last emotion which was hidden deep beneath the strike. It was sadness. 'Why?' Jake couldn't understand."As promised I will give you the permission."Ethel exited the workshop after the statement. Her face showed no change in expression as she walked out, leaving Jake and Kana inside the Sparing Room.*A week passed in the blink of an eye. The three members of Silver Wings finally arrived at the site of the Mysterious Well."We're here."The first thing they saw was a long line located near a medium sized well nearby. The place was located deep inside a mountain as there is no skyscraper to block the beautiful view of nature.The roof of the wheel, where the pulley was originally located was removed for easier access to the dungeon. The line from before ended right before the well, where a long table was placed to welcome the Hunters.The group approached the end of the line and waited. Their turn came after a long wait. A normal person without stats enhancement would be dead tired just from waiting in the line. Fortunately, it was not the case for Jake's group."Good afternoon, we want to register for the exploration team.""For how many people?""Three"The attendant seems to be a bit busy as she didn't raise her head to meet Jake's before handing him three pieces of paper. The paper had a clear title of Association Contract in the top middle part. The rest was just a list of the agreement and a small place for Jake to sign.The clauses are written was actually simple.=====1. The association won't take any responsibilities for anything that happens inside the dungeon.2. Volunteers must give a detailed report after the successfully conquering the dungeon.3. The association will offer an equivalent reward based on the report given.======The contract was to prevent Hunters with bad intention from receiving any rewards from the association. However, Jake was sure that there is a big loophole in the contract. It was the fact that the value of the information will be assessed by the association. This will most likely cause a disagreement to happen between the Hunters and the association."Jake, we're done here.""Okay, I'll be right there."The three gave the contract to the attendant and walked towards the well. The well was actually pretty big, enough for three adults to enter simultaneously. The bottom of the well was pitch black, Jake couldn't even see its bottom using his enhanced eyesight."I'll go first."Roger was the one who volunteered to jump first. Lee followed behind under the watchful gaze of Jake, who encourage him that everything will be okay. Finally, Jake jumped down the well and entered the dungeon.The process of entering a dungeon differs for each. Last time, Jake entered the dungeon naturally without any discomfort. However, it was different for this dungeon.The moment he entered the well, his stomach felt like shaking, causing him to feel a bit nausea. The view in front of him started to distort, forcing him to close his eyes. There is a sharp pain in his head as well.The next instant, the pain faded along the discomfort in his stomach. However, the entry of the dungeon was the worst case scenario for Jake at this point.'Shit!'The characteristic of the entry was the same as a certain dungeon. The dungeon was known as a Warp Dunngeon. The reason was that there is a warping mechanism at the entrance. The mechanism will activate when someone entered the dungeon.The effect of the mechanism was to teleport every individual to a different starting point. For most, the starting point may vary between 4 to 5 points. If you're lucky, it might also go down to 3 points, giving a party a greater probability in meeting each other inside the dungeon.The first thing Jake did was to examine his surrounding. As expected, people are starting to cause a fuss to find their missing teammates. Jake had no intention to help as they would probably realize the nature of the dungeon by themselves.His first priority was to find Lee and Roger within the crowd. He silently prayed that he will find at least one of them in the same starting point. However, that expectation was soon crushed.Jake couldn't find Lee or Roger after looking around for half an hour."Damn! Let's just hope that they're at least together."The only good news was that he gave both of them some items for survival in case they got separated. It was in the form of a potion. They were not any normal potion. In fact, the potion he gave them contained a great power of fire and ice.One of them was called Flare Grenade, which will explode 5 seconds after someone inserts a small amount of mana. The second was Frost Grenade, which will freeze the surrounding with similar activation method. He also gave them some mana potion just in case.In any case, Jake had some method which allows him to locate both of them."Sylphy""Yes, Master""Can you tell me the location of Lee and Roger?""Please wait a moment"This method was one of the features of the system. The Silver Pass was planted with a microchip with a lot of features and one of them was a GPS function, which allows Jake to locate his guild members easily. However, he was bound to be disappointed."I'm sorry, Master. There is something interfering with the connection. At the moment, I can only scan within the radius of 250m from Master's current location."This time, Jake's face turned serious. He didn't expect the system to fail at this important point. However, he soon accepted the fact and was prepared to move out when he caught a familiar figure.The figure was wearing long jeans and a T-shirt for easy movement. The T-shirt was a unique one as it has a small black hoodie attached to its back. The hoodie was currently up, blocking the figure's face from Jake's view.However, the figure made one small mistake as she stared at Jake for too long and gained his attention. One quick moved was enough for Jake to see the face under the hoodie using his enhanced eyesight.The figure knew that she has been caught and her heart skipped a bit before trying to move out of her current position. It was too late. Jake has already arrived behind her and patted her shoulder in a friendly but scary manner. His face was filled with a smile that was not quite a smile."Kana~~ Why are you here?~~"
