The Gate Traveler

In the morning, I experimented with the snake meat for breakfast. I cut it into small cubes, seasoned it with paprika, garlic, and oregano, and then fried it up before adding it to an omelet. The first omelet was so good that I ended up cooking over two kilograms of meat with eggs. I knew it would disappear in no time. As I cooked, I seriously considered asking Lis to search for more of those scary snakes, regretting that I hadn’t neutralized the poison from the “damaged goods” snake. It didn’t matter that I personally had over 100 kilograms of this meat—it was just too good to pass up.

Breakfast was a hit, and Rue, not one to miss out, demanded even more meat. So, I cooked him his own giant steak, which he devoured with gusto.

After we finished eating, Lis leaned back, the air of a teacher settling around him as he prepared to impart some important knowledge. “Since this is your first dungeon, there are a few things you need to know,” he began, his tone serious but not overbearing.

Mahya, ever the mischievous one, leaned forward with a grin, clearly enjoying the moment as Lis continued. “The first and most important thing you should always remember is this: never, ever take the core of a regulated dungeon, no matter the circumstances. It’s a prison sentence in twenty percent of the worlds and a death sentence in the other eighty, regardless of their mana level.”

That caught my attention. “And what about wild dungeons?” I asked, curious where this was going.

Lis nodded, as if expecting the question. “Ah, well, that’s different. If you find a wild dungeon and manage to clear it, take everything. And when I say everything, I mean everything—rocks, trees, plants, whatever you find. Take it all.”

“Why?” I asked, not quite understanding the reasoning.

“Dungeons,” Lis explained patiently, “are not what they seem. They’re manifestations of mana. Everything you see inside a dungeon is essentially a construct of mana, and there are plenty of people who’d pay good money to take it off your hands. Earth Mages or Architects will buy the rocks; Wood Artisans, like Mahya here, will buy the wood; Enchanters or Magi-Blacksmiths will buy any metals you find; and Alchemists will snatch up the plants. Usually, nobody bothers with the monsters because they dissipate, but since you can harvest them into crystals, you literally take everything in your case.”

“Interesting,” I murmured, seeing the potential. “So in regulated dungeons, they tell you what you can and can’t take?”

“Exactly,” Lis confirmed. “Dungeons typically serve two purposes. The first is combat, whether for training or leveling up, and the second is resource harvesting. The purpose for which you book the dungeon run usually sets the price for entering. In some places, if you only want levels, you can find paid work clearing dungeons so the harvest teams can go to work.”

“What about selling a wild dungeon?” I asked, thinking about the possibilities.

Lis smiled slightly, a glint of approval in his eyes. “You have a few options. First, you can take everything, including the core, and collapse the dungeon. The core can be used or sold for a lot of money, but be careful—many people would kill for a core, so you need to be very cautious about how you go about selling it.”

“Your second option,” Mahya interjected playfully, as if she couldn’t resist chiming in, “is to clear the dungeon of materials but leave the core intact. You can then sell the dungeon’s location, typically at an adventurer’s guild. The price depends on how quickly the dungeon regenerates. If you return with the buyer and it’s already full again, the price will be higher. If it’s still empty and just beginning to regenerate, you’ll get less.”

“Another option,” Lis continued, nodding to Mahya, “is to sell the dungeon as it is, without going in. The value will depend on the quality of the harvested materials and the regeneration speed. And if you’re thinking long-term, like establishing a settlement, you could purchase the land around the dungeon before anyone else discovers it and start charging admission. Many Travelers have established kingdoms and dynasties this way.”

“Seriously, kingdoms?” I asked, half in disbelief.

Lis chuckled softly. “Yes, you’ll meet quite a few Traveler kings and queens. If they don’t have a specific reason to settle somewhere, they typically establish a kingdom or a school. Someday, when I tire of traveling, I plan to start a school somewhere.”

I shook my head with a laugh. “I can’t see myself as a king or a headmaster.”

“To each his own,” Lis replied, a faint smile playing on his lips as he continued his lecture. “Now, about clearing a dungeon. When you go in, you kill everything, because everything that moves inside is a monster. Even if it looks like a cute, fluffy bunny, it probably has razor-sharp teeth and wants to kill you. Even the tiniest ants might be venomous or have some nasty paralytic. The rule is simple: if it moves—it dies.”

He paused to let that sink in, then added, “After you clear a floor, make sure there isn’t a floor guardian. If there is, it means the dungeon has more than one floor, and you’ll need to kill it too. Once the floor is clear, start harvesting everything before moving on. Not all dungeons, but many, will close the passage back to previous floors, so if you didn’t clean it out, you won’t be able to go back.”

“Can’t I just leave and re-enter?” I asked.

“No,” Lis said, shaking his head. “The entrance portal won’t work until the dungeon regenerates.”

“Oh, sorry for interrupting.”

“It’s okay,” Lis reassured me with a patient smile. “If you don’t ask, you won’t know. As I was saying, clear a floor, clean it out, and then move on to the next. The difficulty level increases with each floor, and the jump is substantial, so be ready. When you reach the final floor, whether it’s the first or the tenth, there will be a final guardian protecting the core. This guardian is much stronger than anything you’ve encountered so far, and it won’t leave the core. Before confronting it, gather all necessary resources because once you defeat the guardian, the dungeon starts collapsing if you take the core. If you don’t, you can harvest after defeating the guardian.”

“When are we going in?” I asked, feeling both prepared and nervous.

Lis smiled, his enthusiasm clear. “Now is as good a time as any.”

We headed to the dungeon, and I must admit, the portal still looked scary as hell. As I stepped through, I felt that familiar force field sensation, like passing through a Gate. On the other side, there was an empty area bordered by trees, with a strange haze about three hundred meters out in every direction.

“What’s that haze?” I asked, puzzled by the sight.

“Mahya was right,” Lis said. “It’s a young dungeon, and that haze is the border of the pocket dimension. This dungeon is a baby. The core will probably be no bigger than five centimeters in diameter, and probably even smaller.”

“If it’s so young, why were there so many monsters outside?” I asked, trying to piece everything together.

“Nobody has cleared it yet,” Lis explained.

“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked, confused.

“Dungeons absorb mana and process it. They use the clean mana to create the objects you see around you, while the trash is used to create monsters. If the dungeon isn’t cleared regularly, the trash spills out to make room for more trash,” Lis said.

“A very colorful description,” I commented with a smirk.

“But very true,” Mahya said.

Lis surveyed the area and said, “I don’t feel like fighting in the trees. Rue, would you mind helping to bring the monsters to us?”

Rue gave him a side-eyed look, and Lis reassured him, “You don’t have to fight them; just go to the trees, and when they start chasing you, run back here.”

Rue trotted toward the trees and stood there, waiting. When nothing happened, he let out a loud howl. We saw some movement in the trees, and Rue started backing away slowly, then howled again. This time, a group of toothy cats jumped from the trees and charged toward him. Rue ran back to us and stopped beside me.

As the cats came running, Lis said, “Rue, try to kill as many as you can; you need the levels.”

The fight kicked off with Rue charging into the fray, taking on the cats as they poured out of the trees, soon joined by a few lizards. I stayed back, keeping a close eye on everyone, ready to jump in if things got out of hand. It wasn’t long before I heard Rue yelp—one cat had sunk its teeth into his leg. Without a second thought, I dashed over, stomping down hard on the cat’s head and quickly healing Rue’s wound.

As I was finishing up, a few more cats tried their luck, lunging at me with surprising speed. I didn’t hesitate, swinging my staff and batting them away like they were nothing, sending them flying toward Rue, who made quick work of them. We had a rhythm going—Rue was the powerhouse, and I was the cleanup crew, and together, we were an efficient team. I handled the immediate threats, and he disposed of them with precision. It was a smooth operation, and I couldn’t help but feel that, at this moment, we were perfectly in sync.

After about ten minutes, the onslaught stopped. There were no more cats, lizards, or anything else.

Lis looked at Rue, clearly impressed. “Your challenge was very effective. Want to give it another go?”

Rue walked back toward the trees, and I turned to Lis and Mahya. “Do either of you need healing?”

Mahya looked mildly offended. “From level two and three monsters? Don’t joke like that!”

“That’s their level?” I asked, surprised.

Lis chuckled. “Forgot to identify them again?”

I nodded sheepishly, and he just laughed.

Rue’s second attempt to draw out more monsters didn’t yield any results, so Lis said, “You can start on the monsters,” and began piling them in one spot. As I worked to encapsulate them into crystals, I noticed the process was harder than outside. The monsters dissipated much slower, forcing me to “help” them break down.

“Why are they dissipating slower?” I asked, curious.

“We’re in a dungeon,” Lis explained, as if that answered everything.

“So?”

“Monsters dissipate slower in a dungeon.”

“Why?”

“There are some theories, but no conclusive answer,” Lis said, his tone suggesting he’d heard this question many times before.

As I continued working, Rue paced back and forth in front of the trees, howling occasionally but with no success. Once I finished, we moved on to the trees, which Mahya inspected.

“Too young,” she said, shaking her head.

“So we’re not taking them?” I asked.

“Of course, we’ll take them,” Mahya said with a grin. “Remember what Lis said, we take everything. I just meant they’re too young for my project, but they’ll be perfect for staves, wands, enchanted arrows, and the like.”

It took us hours to cut down all the trees and gather the other plants. As I worked, I could sense their abundance of mana, and I understood Lis’s earlier statement that the dungeon’s interior wasn’t real. The plants, though they looked natural, were more like lumps of condensed nature mana. Lis and Mahya assured me they were highly valuable to alchemists, especially since they were pure.

We took everything—trees, plants, rocks, sticks, even fallen leaves—leaving nothing behind. Eventually, we spotted a small cave entrance. Lis insisted on doing one last sweep to ensure we had missed nothing, and after he returned, we entered the cave.

Inside, we found a larger cat prowling back and forth in front of a small gold ball hovering in the air at about knee height. The ball was even smaller than five centimeters—maybe three. This time, I remembered to use Identify on the cat.

 

Mordere Felidae Level 5

 

“Want to take care of it, Rue?” Lis asked, his voice calm.

Rue sprang into action, and within seconds, the cat was no more. I harvested its crystal, and then we all touched the core. A wooden ring materialized for each of us. I identified mine:

Fountain of Health +2% Constitution

 

I turned to Lis, feeling a bit underwhelmed. “This whole thing feels kind of… underwhelming. Was I expecting too much?”

“No,” Lis said. “This dungeon is too young—only a month or two old. We should have brought Lyura and let her clear it on her own. She’s the only one who could have really benefited from such a young dungeon.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, “judging by the mana level of this world, I was expecting a much bigger challenge.”

“Well,” Lis said, his teacher’s tone returning, “in six months, those cats would have been bigger than Rue.”

“That big of a difference?”

“Yes,” Lis confirmed. “This core started the size of a grain of sand. It processes mana and grows; as it grows, it can process more mana, and the monsters grow with it. In a world with this much mana, a core can reach this size in just a couple of months. In a medium-mana world, it would take at least a year.”

Lis carefully took the core and stored it, and I immediately felt a shift in the air. The surrounding mana became unstable. We stepped out of the cave and exited via the dungeon portal.

“If this was such a young dungeon, would I be able to feel a difference in an older one?” I asked, still processing everything I’d learned.

“If it’s open, you can judge by the size,” Lis explained. “If it’s more cave-like, it’s harder to tell.”

Well, at least now I could call myself a dungeoneer, and I’d ended up with a ridiculous amount of wood. The problem was that I had no clue what to do with it. I mean, what does one even do with this much wood? Build a fortress? Start a lumber business? The possibilities were endless, but honestly, I was just bewildered. One thing was certain, though—I definitely wouldn’t be running out of wood anytime soon.