Chapter 24: Black market [4]   Arriving in front of another metal door that seemed more secure and robust than the one that led to the black market, I knocked once.

-Bam!

On the right side of the door, a small compartment opened up to which I placed my black card.

-Voom!

As soon as I placed my card, green light emerged from the bottom of the compartment enveloping my card.

-Diiii

A couple of seconds after the green light disappeared, I heard the sound of a ring coming from the compartment indicating to me that the scan was complete.

Taking my card back, the metal door started rumbling before slowly opening up.

-Vam!

Entering the building, I was instantly stunned.

A luxuriously decorated hall, where at the front stood a stunning reception counter made of a mixture of wood and marble. Various receptionists tended the guest from behind the counter, and a faint citrusy smell lingered in the air.

Because Kevin had never been here in the novel, it was also my first time knowing how this place looked like.

Words couldn't even come close to describe how a place actually looked like in real life, as things such as the smell, the sounds, and the atmosphere always tended to be hard to conceptualize in words. You could get a general idea of how a place looked like, but it would never be the same as in real life. Every time I came to a new place, I became speechless on how different the place was compared to what I had written.

In this case, even though I had no idea how this place would look like, I was still momentarily overwhelmed by this place's grandeur.

It resembled a palace created for the king of an empire.

Clean white marble floor, silky red carpets, gold-coated lamps, neatly sculpted desks, this place had everything.

This was what true luxury looked like.

Arriving at the front desk of the reception, I went towards a clerk on the right side of the reception desk.

"Welcome to {Dungeon seekers} how may we help you?"

"I'm looking to enter a dungeon"

Smiling at my reply, the receptionist took a small tablet out and presented it to me.

"These are all the available dungeons that we have at the moment"

Scrolling through the tablet I could see a large list of dungeons.

Each dungeon had a red and green circle around them, indicating whether they were available or not.

Each dungeon had a limit on how many people could enter, and if the limit was not respected the dungeon would destabilize resulting in a potential desync.

A desync was essentially a phenomenon where a dungeon would lose its connection with the demon world.

Once a dungeon lost its connection to the demon world, it essentially became a void dungeon. Which was a dungeon that led to nowhere.

Since {Dungeon seekers} knew this, they made sure that the limit was never broken by always leaving one slot open.

"We currently have three operating G rank dungeons, 6 F-rank dungeons, 18 D-rank dungeons, 11 C-rank dungeons, 13 B-rank dungeons, and lastly 4 A-rank dungeons"

Seeing the endless amount of dungeons available, I was left speechless

The number of dungeons they were hiding was enough to make people wonder how the government still hasn't done anything.

Actually considering their wealth and influence, even if the central government wanted to do something I doubt they'd be able to hurt {Dunegone seekers}. That was unless they wanted to start a full-blown war, which no one desired.

Taking the tablet, I quickly went through the list for F-rank dungeons.

========================================

- F-rank : [Kurus barracks]

Description; Directly spawns contractor inside of demon army barracks.

Price; 15% of contractor loot + Entrance fee of 500 U

- F-rank : [Blood sea]

Description; Directly spawns contractor in an oceanic environment filled with bloodthirsty sea creatures.

Price; 15% of contractor loot + Entrance fee of 500 U

- F-rank : [Red Desolation]

Description; Directly spawns contractors in desert-like terrain that is scarce in water and food sources.

Price; 11% of contractor loot + Entrance fee of 500 U

- F-rank : [Miasma mountains]

Description; Directly spawns contractor on top of the high mountain range covered with highly toxic miasma.

Price; 8% of contractor loot + Entrance fee of 500 U

- F-rank : [Forest of greed]

Description; Directly spawns contractors inside a forest that tempts preys by creating illusions of their innermost desire.

Price; 17% of contractor loot + Entrance fee of 500 U

- F-rank : [Earth's wrath]

Description; Directly spawns contractor near a volcanic area, where temperatures can reach as high as 100 degrees celsius.

Price; 13% of contractor loot + Entrance fee of 500 U

========================================

Hmm…what should I choose

Seeing the list of F-ranked dungeons, I monetarily paused to think about which one to choose out of all of them.

[Blood sea] was out of the question as I didn't bring any waterproof equipment with me.

[Miasma mountains] was simply too dangerous, and I didn't have poison resistance potions with me.

[Forest of greed] had a 17% clause, where I would have to pay 17% of all profits gained from the dungeon. That was a tad bit too high for my standards.

So that was also out of the question.

This leaves me with [Earth's wrath], [Red desolation], and [Kurus Barracs]

Looking alternatively at the three options before me, after contemplating for a while I decided to go with [Red desolation].

It had the lowest contractor clause of 11% and the food and water shortage should pose no problem to me who has just bought a dimensional bracelet.

"I will go with [Red desolation]"

"Very well, here's a contract you will need to sign before we can finalize our deal"

Handing me a three-page long contract, I patiently looked through the contents.

In short.

Before entering a dungeon they will check the equipment that I will bring inside so that no misunderstandings can arise when I exit the dungeon and report my gains.

When exiting a dungeon the staff will do a strict check on the items and things I will bring out so that no false reports were made when paying the contractor clause.

A 500 U entrance fee was to be paid upfront, accompanied by a 1000 U deposit.

The maximum time a person could stay inside of a dungeon was 30 days.

If the person did not come out by the designated time, a specialized squad will directly enter the dungeon and forcefully drag you out.

Lastly, the contractor could, in case of emergencies, call for a support team that will come as soon as possible to aid them if they were in any danger.

The result of calling a support team resulted in the loss of the deposit.

Seeing the content, I nodded satisfactorily and signed it.

There was nothing that I was particularly against.

They were rules that tried to be as fair as possible.

"Thank you very much"

Smiling, the receptionist took the paper and we finalized the payment.

"Please follow me"

After I paid a total of 1500 U, deposit + entrance fee, I was escorted to a large waiting room.

[Guest 5077684 -- Gate 756]

Looking at the piece of paper that I had received once I completed the payment, I neatly folded it and placed it in my pocket.

This was my dungeon ticket, better not lose it.

Inside the room, there were several individuals, who just like me, were waiting to enter the dungeon.

Several waiters were walking and serving food and drinks to the people present inside of the waiting room.

Glancing around for a couple of seconds, I went towards a secluded area that had fewer people and sat down.

If I said I wasn't nervous, I'd be lying.

So far, my first week in this world has been smooth sailing.

Aside from a few ups and downs here and there in the academy, everything that I wanted to achieve I achieved.

The [Keiki style] the [Seed of limit], even the VR test was successful as I managed to complete the extra task.

Everything that I wanted to accomplish was completed flawlessly.

But that meant nothing.

'Don't let the achievements get to your head.'

I repeatedly told myself, as I was just about to enter the dungeon.

My small achievements shouldn't be something that I should take to heart.

I shouldn't become arrogant. Just because everything was going my way didn't mean that everything else was going to be smooth-sailing.

Facing the dungeon, which I had never been to before, I should never let my guard down.

No matter how well things were going for me, a slight mistake could cost me my life.

Arrogance was the best recipe for failure.

As I was self-reflecting, I tried adjusting my mindset.

When going inside of a dungeon, where there was a high mortality rate, one must not go in there thinking that everything would be alright and no danger would befall them.

That was not called confidence, it was called stupidity.

In the face of potential danger, one must humble themselves and make sure to give it their all so that one doesn't get caught off-guard.

"Guest 5077684 please step forward"

Hearing my number, I stood up and went towards the person who called for my name.

Wearing a nice black butler outfit, like most of the male employees working here, the man led me towards a large door.

-Di! Di! Di! Di! Di! Di!

-Shaaaa!

Just before we entered the door, the employee pressed 6 keycodes on the lock of the door and then proceeded to scan his eye.

-Klang!

After a brief pause, the door opened by itself allowing me to see what was behind it.

"!!"

I was instantly left speechless.

I was so overwhelmed by the scenery before me that no word escaped from my mouth.

An enormous hall, that extended so far that I couldn't even catch sight of the other side, was before me.

Keep in mind that my stats, compared to before were much better, which meant my vision drastically improved alongside my stat improvement, and yet I still couldn't see the ending of this place.

That was just how enormous this place was!

Moreover, that wasn't what left me flabbergasted.

It was the fact that in the hall there were warp gates everywhere!

A warp gate was a teleportation device that allowed a person to teleport to a given coordinate.

It was similar to a dungeon gate, but unlike dungeon gates, where the location was fixed, a warp gate coordinates could be changed.

Walking around, and seeing the towering warp gates that were as tall as a house, I felt like an ant.

Besides the gates, there were white-clothed individuals with masks that covered their whole faces. Their masks reminded me of the 'Black Panther' back in my previous world. But compared to his black mask theirs was white.

After walking for 10 minutes, I was finally able to see my designated gate.

]

"Oh hey, Edward!"

Standing in front of the gate, a blonde middle-aged man who had a cigarette in his mouth waved towards the person escorting me.

His long hair which was tied in a ponytail, and his short untrimmed beard made him look like an unemployed adult who was in the middle of his mid-life crisis.

"Yes"

Giving a simple nod to the middle-aged man, the man who escorted me here, Edward, turned around and prepared to leave.

"As quiet as usual huh?"

Seeing Edward leave with no response, the middle-aged man gave up and looked at me.

"So you're the one who wants to enter the dungeon?"

"Yes"

"Sigh, just when I thought I had the day off"

-pchhhh

Throwing the cigarette on the ground, the middle-aged man stepped on it.

"Alright, follow me"

Walking with his hands in his pockets, the middle-aged man grumbled as he walked towards the gate.

"Timothy1, Timothy 2, I've got a guest here, so open the gate"

"…"

"…"

"Ah fine!"

Taking out a card from his pocket, the middle-aged man handed it to the two people in white clothes who were blocking the gate.

Taking out a small box, one of the white guards swiped the card, and when the box flashed green he stepped to the side.

"Bye Timothy1, Timorth2, don't miss me too much while I'm gone"

Waving at two white guards, the middle-aged man stepped into the gate and beckoned me to follow.

Stepping on the gate, the middle-aged man took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it up.

Looking at me who was confused, the middle-aged man spoke with a grin.

"Don't worry they're always like this. They're just shy"

"uh, sure"

'I'm pretty sure they were not shy. They just didn't want to talk to you.'

I retorted in my head without showing it on my face.

Soon, as the warp gate lit up, I felt my body slowly lift up from the ground. Then I saw my body turn into particles and shortly after I started losing all my senses.

It first started with my vision, then my hearing, and slowly all my remaining senses.

-Vam!