The last few days, an unspoken competition had begun between Bel’s party and the Pink group. There was a leaderboard at the mana cores’ shop, displaying the top three parties who collected the most during the week. Only a slight margin separated them from the other group and they were about to close the gap.

  “[Corpuscle],” Bel said. Multiple orbs of light spawned and she directed them right in front of the monsters’ eyes. They got partially blinded, making their movements more predictable.

  Talented as ever, Cayn summoned his chains, binding every monster in the area in one fell swoop. She remembered the first time she saw those chains, they were but a legend before she witnessed them. Only the [Archpriest] of a legendary party could conjure them until Cayn popped out of nowhere. That’s also when she asked him to join her party, or rather force him by being more than obnoxious.

  They collected five more mana cores and hurried to the shop to settle the score. The shopkeeper was in the back, Bel could see him putting mana cores in a cauldron, to smelt them and probably make mana potions out of them.

  “Sorry for the wait,” the shopkeeper said. “Five big mana cores, what a haul, yet again!”

  “Yeah, we are amazing like that,” Bel said.

  “That makes you higher than the other party, you’ve been going at it a lot. Is this some friendly competition between Pink tribe people?”

  She didn’t know how to answer him. Astor was definitely doing it for the money. Cayn probably didn’t mind, as long as he helped out the poor animals. As for Bel? Probably out of pettiness, to prove that she was better than them and therefore a real Pink. “Sure, let’s say that,” she answered.

  “Well, I hope you continue, my business has been flourishing,” he said. “That said, the size of the mana cores is abnormal.”

  “It shouldn't be that big, right?”

  “Yes, it has been increasing in size those last few days. I’ve told the authorities about it and they’ve been investigating, they found something but I probably should keep the secret, for business purposes.”

  Interesting.

  Astor bought some mana potions while at it, sparing no words. Just one of those days of low social interactions. They went on their day and saluted the shopkeeper properly before leaving.

  Further away, Cayn shared his mind, “Could it be a World Boss?”

  “What could be?” Bel asked.

  “The mana influx.”

  Perhaps, the previous one was an aberration with the biggest mana core recorded in history; it could announce another one.

  “What do you think, blue-eyes?” she asked Astor.

  “Maybe.”

  “Let’s check out?”

  They agreed, not like they had anything better to do.

  Outside, near the top of the mountain, were a lot of small dragons and their riders. Most transported two persons. They must be cabs rather than couriers. The clients were equipped, so they were adventurers. What could prompt a huge amount of adventurers coming by dragons?

  “Should we ask someone?” Cayn suggested.

  Bel bumped into the first adventurer and asked right away, “What’s going on?”

  “We discovered a dungeon,” they answered.

  Dungeons were apparitions caused by mana influx. It would become an entity known as “dungeon core.” Unlike monsters and their mana cores, it’d grow a feeble consciousness and take possession of a defined area. The dungeon core would then corrupt animals and make monsters obeying their orders. They’d sometimes get out of the dungeon when the resources grew thinner.

  Bel didn’t really want to confront a dungeon, it was a big hassle and she had bad experiences with them. She didn’t need to convince her teammates to not go though, they agreed pretty easily.

  They went back to the inn. Bel on the watchout for the other Pinks. She hadn’t seen any of them since last time and wanted to keep it that way. They booked a room upstairs to rest in. Cayn went downstairs to buy some meals. Astor laid on one of the three beds, curling himself into a ball with the blanket.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Bel worried, “Are you ok?”

  No answer. Right, low social interactions days.

  “Just roll on yourself if you’re ok.”

  He rolled on himself like a cat. Kinda cute.

  “Can I ask you why you’re feeling down?”

  “I just saw someone I didn’t like today.”

  Astor had reasons to hide his face. Bel didn’t know them, but it definitely had to do with his mood.

  She humored a bit to lighten his mind, timing it perfectly for Cayn’s arrival, as she heard him coming up, “Happens to me too when I see Cayn.”

  “What did you just say about me?” he said, opening the door.

  “Nothing, right blue-eyes?”

  Astor rolled.

  “Why did you just roll? Am I missing something?”

  “It’s between me and Astor, butt out.”

  Cayn stared at her with contempt, probably wanting to lash out on her for her language again. She liked these kinds of banter. It was fun. She knew Cayn wasn’t being strict for real, he was too much of a sweetheart.

  The trio spent the rest of the day fooling around, just relaxing and profiting from life. It’s moments like that Bel liked so much. Nothing about accomplishment, nothing about pride, nothing but pure camaraderie. If only her life was always like that, unlike when she was a child, when things were harsher. If she met Astor and Cayn earlier, what would her life be like? Full of memorable moments, that’s for sure… if only she wasn’t born in the Pink tribe. If only.

  ***

  Bel and her father kept the secret as long as possible. Not having a title wasn’t the end of the world, everyone except the Pink tribe and exceptions had none. In fact, it was the norm. He reassured her, telling her that she will have a title one day, and even if she didn’t it’d be fine anyways.

  They would still see an [Appraiser] when they could. There was no harm doing so. But what they didn’t think about was that one of them would rat out.

  Words got away, going from one mouth to another’s ears and so on. It spread out like fire. And before they could even react, the whole tribe was aware.

  At first, most thought it was some sort of mistake; it had to be. The elders knock on their home, asking various questions, trying to figure out what was happening. Was the System changing its mind upon them? Were they not the preferred ones anymore? It took months before they gave up on Bel’s case. That’s when the nightmare truly started.

  ***

  “Wake up.”

  She opened her eyes, it was Cayn. “What?”

  “I am going for some errands, keep an eye on Astor for me.”

  “Sure thing.” She cleaned her face with her blanket and watched Cayn go.

  Astor was sound asleep, still curled up. Bel touched the light-crystals to light her side of the room. She got up and did her morning workout routine. Had to stay in shape. Her belly growled, she would have loved to go downstairs and pick up a breakfast from the [Chef] but really didn’t want to see the Pinks’ faces. She grabbed a snack out of her inventory instead.

  Their room was pretty small, it was basically just a cave with a door and basic furniture. The Second Land had only this inn, as it was basically the size of a mini-city. It was made specifically for adventurers, so it made sense. They could live in other inhabitants’ houses if they wanted to, just like they did with the Ovid guy. It could make it easier to avoid that one group. Yes, the shop to sell mana cores would be further away then, but whatever. Bel sighed. Couldn’t they be gone already?

  Cayn came back with a lot of food, he was kinda babysitting Astor and her, now that she thought about it. Was she becoming one of those people that couldn’t face their own fears? She didn’t want to become a burden for her party, but she had her own reasons too…

  “Should we wake him up?” Cayn asked her.

  “Let him rest.”

  They started eating without him.

  “How is it outside?”

  “There are more adventurers than normal. They must be gathering the finest to quickly conquer this dungeon.”

  “Is it that big of a deal?”

  “I heard some of them saying that it was an abnormal dungeon. Something about the monsters being too docile, animal-like.”

  “That’s weird, is it the dungeon core’s will or something like that?”

  “What else?”

  “Right, right. At least the monsters aren’t going to get out of the dungeon and attack everything, huh.”

  “I do hope not.”

  Astor got out of his slumber, blanket still on him. He joined them to eat.

  “Good morning,” Cayn said, smiling.

  Bel continued. “Mornin’.”

  Astor nodded and ate in silence. Deep down, Bel was a bit worried about him, but she also knew that he was strong and resilient. It was no time to underestimate him, everyone had bad days, even Bel.

  They packed things up and readied for yet another day of grinding. Bel put a hood on, to hide the color of her hair. Just in case. And as they went downstairs, a lot of noise rose up.

  Adventurers were all gathered around a poster. “Call to all adventurers, a new dungeon has been discovered. Please join the expedition to conquer it.” Coordination and requirements were written alongside it.