"Woah, you really have a sword?"
Someone I assume is going to be one of my roommates is staring at me with round eyes. You'd think it's his first time seeing a weapon. He continues:
"I received a message from the school telling me we had an adventurer in the dorm, but I didn't really believe it. So they just let you bring that thing in the building?"
"It's not like I have any other place where I can leave it, so yes, it's staying here with me. If there's an invasion nearby, you'll be glad that I have my weapon on hand, too."
He slaps his fist on his palm.
"That's right! We can never be too careful, so it's good to have an armed adventurer in the dorm!"
A head pops up from behind the sofa. Looks like someone was already there and making himself comfortable. He responds:
"I don't like the idea of having a weapon like that here. Let's agree that, unless something exceptional happens, the sword stays in its scabbard and in your room."
I nod. That seems like a fair expectation.
The first one who talked to me extends his hand towards me.
"My name's Andrew, and this is a childhood friend of mine. His name's Cal."
I shake his hand while waving to Cal, who's still sitting on the sofa.
"I'm Matt, nice to meet you both."
The dormitory is structured around a central living area containing a small living room and a dining table. There's no kitchen, likely because they expect us to buy food at the cafeteria or from nearby restaurants, but we still have a small fridge in a corner.
Connected to this central room are four small bedrooms. Andrew and Cal already picked theirs, so I open one of the doors leading to an unoccupied room and start unpacking.
It contains a simple bed, a desk, and some storage space for clothes. We're allowed to bring in our own furniture, but since I was travelling by train, I stuck with the standard offering.
Classes don't start until next week, so I figure I might as well make use of the time I have on my hands to familiarize myself with the city's adventuring scene. I grew up in a small town, so when a dungeon appeared nearby, it'd often be the same people from neighbouring towns showing up to clear it, with city adventurers coming in when the level was too high for us to handle. Most adventurers live in cities, and most dungeons appear in or near cities, so things must be quite a bit different here. I should still be able to accept contracts to make money while I attend university.
I grab my sword, attach the scabbard to my belt, and leave the dormitory without a word to my roommates who seem to be watching television right now.
After walking for a bit, I lean against a wall and grab my phone, opening the dungeon-tracking app. Looks like the city currently has four dungeons open and waiting to be cleared, but all of them have a team scheduled already. As I start reading the reports on the dungeons, I get an alert. One of the teams is missing someone to enter their dungeon, and are requesting help from an independent adventurer.
I open the request and verify the details. Level 10 dungeon, I can get there in half an hour on foot. Joining a team on my first day here is probably the best way to make some connections with local adventurers, so I hit the alert and send a message to the team leader, letting them know I can join. I immediately receive a response telling me to come over. I guess they didn't take the time to check my profile, but I'm not going to complain. My level is lower than the dungeon's, after all, and some teams simply refuse to take the risk associated with bringing in lower-level adventurers.
28 minutes later, I arrive at the team's gathering point. The person who seems to be the leader runs towards me while waving.
"You must be Matt, the adventurer I invited to join us."
"That's me! I'm surprised you didn't take the time to check my level and all that before inviting me."
"My party's level averages around 30, so a level 10 dungeon is no issue even if someone weaker comes with us. I looked you up after and you fall within the allowed level range, so we're not worried."
They must have accepted for me to join them just to hit the party size requirement to attempt the dungeon. Some time ago, high-level parties started splitting into smaller groups to clear easier dungeons, which caused the level of adventurers to start stagnating. To avoid this becoming too much of an issue, a law was passed requiring strict adherence to minimum party sizes, since even when accompanying higher-level adventurers in easy dungeons, we can still grow stronger. This put an end to the stagnation of our level without upsetting high-level parties too much.
I nod to indicate that I understand the situation.
The leader pats my shoulder before saying:
"With a bit of luck, you'll gain a level or two from this. It's almost time to go in, so prepare yourself."
The dungeon appears to be some kind of swamp-like area. Thick rain is falling on us. Thanks to the rest of the party being much higher level than the dungeon, we've been breezing through, but we can't let our guard down.
Red clouds loom over us. I remember learning that, in the early days of dungeon exploration and clearing, people thought they were literal gates to Hell because of the color of the sky here. While that idea has mostly been left behind, I know that some religious groups still claim that adventurers are fighting against the forces of darkness sent to our world by the Devil.
The party leader is currently burying a device that will disrupt the flow of magic in the dungeon, closing it. A dungeon clear generally consist of getting to the center of the area as fast as possible, burying the device, and then leaving before activating it, but some parties go out of their way to collect resources while they're in there. I saw a few members of the party gathering plants and tree bark between our encounters with monsters.
While I wait for the leader to be done, I hear a noise behind me. I quickly turn, my weapon ready to intercept whatever might be coming my way. A few adventurers nearby noticed my reaction and are ready to fight as well. After a short wait, I see a crude arrow coming towards my head. A quick sword movement takes care of it, but strange fish-like creatures holding makeshift tridents are now coming out running (or swimming?) of the water.
"Sahuagins!"
One of the adventurer shouts, grabbing the attention of the whole party. Like the other monsters we met here, they're lower level than the party, but higher level than me. I have to be careful.
I manage to block a few strikes aimed at me. On the last hit, I push the trident away, creating an opening to strike. I start focusing my magical power in my arms and legs to increase my speed and power... but I hit the wall I can never seem to get over again. I know I have more power, but it's just outside of my reach, just a bit too far for my fingers to grab. I need to go just a little farther, but I'm at my limit.
The sahuagin dodges my strike, but is immediately impaled by a nearby Lance Fighter. He looks quickly at me before saying:
"Now's not the time to lose control over your magical energy. Stay focused."
I nod and turn towards my next opponent.
The heavy rain slowly washes the dark blue blood from my sword's blade. Everyone survived, and I managed to make myself useful despite my limitations. I'm looking at my left hand, trying to focus energy in it, but that familiar sensation that something is wrong manifests itself again. Why can't I access the rest of my power? Is this something all adventurers go through? I've never heard anyone talk about it before.
"The device is set, let's get out of here."
The party leader gets up and grabs his weapon. If we make it to the barrier, we'll have cleared the dungeon.
On the way back, the Lance Fighter who helped me earlier comes and talks to me:
"Hey, I noticed you were struggling during that battle. Is anything the matter?"
"Well... My level is a lot lower than yours, so maybe it's just that?"
"No, I mean that the flow of magical power in your body seems disturbed by something. I saw you trying to focus on your speed and strength, but the energy flowing through you just started going haywire in the process and you lost a lot of focus just before attempting the strike. I've seen people lose control of their power because they got distracted and things like that, but something about your situation felt... abnormal to me."
"You can see the flow of magic in my body?"
"Yeah. It's a talent few people have, but we can estimate a person's, or even a monster's, level by looking at how the power flows within them."
He points at himself with a smug smile while continuing:
"People like me are a major asset in adventuring parties. I can tell if a monster is a boss with just a glance."
"That's really impressive! And you're saying there's something abnormal with the way my energy flows through me?"
"Yeah. It's hard to describe, but I'm getting the impression that something's interfering with your control. It's the first time I see this though, so I don't really have any idea what it could mean."
"Still, thanks for letting me know. Ah, my name's Matt, by the way."
"I'm Michael, a pleasure to meet you."
We finally reach the barrier, which appears red on this side. One of the group's healers, a young woman in white clothes, channels magical power through her hand to open a hole in the barrier. At the same time, the party leader activates the disruptor we left behind, causing a large beam of light to burst upward near the center of the dungeon. One-by-one, we leave through the gap in the barrier, making our way back to the city we're more familiar with.
A few minutes after leaving, the large blue barrier starts collapsing, indicating that the dungeon has been successfully cleared. The party members congratulate each other as the leader walks towards me.
"Good job today. You fought well for a level 8. I'll send you your cut as soon as the materials we gathered are processed. I hope to see you around."
I smile and nod before leaving.
I cleared my first dungeon in the big city, and I made a few contacts along the way. If Michael is right, there's something disrupting the flow of magical power in my body, so if I figure out what it is and how to get rid of it, I might be able to keep leveling up.
As I'm walking back towards the dormitory under the watchful gaze of the setting sun, I hear screams in the distance. I start running towards them, and eventually reach a large dungeon. If I'm not mistaken, this is the level 41 dungeon. But why is the barrier cracking like that?
I grab my sword, uncertain of what to expect. Other adventurers started positioning themselves around the barrier while civilians run away.
The cracks keep getting bigger. Do we have an invasion coming? But an adventuring group was supposed to take care of the dungeon.
The barrier finally shatters, revealing a group of large, green-skinned humanoids holding the dead bodies of a bunch of adventurers high up for all to see.
