Chapter 37

Chapter 37

We ate as much as we could but there was still a good amount of food left on the table.

After lounging around for another 30 minutes or so we finally got up and paid the bill.

Rei motioned us towards the city center again.

"Let's go check out the Dungeon Hub. We don't have too much time before we have to catch the last train back home. One or two hours should be enough to get a feel for how the capital's dungeons work.

I got up and looked at her.

"Makes sense, I can't do a serious raid on a full stomach like this anyways. I'm curious how it works here, I haven't seen a single dungeon. I thought they'd be more out in the open, how do hunters even find places to raid around here? What's this Dungeon Hub place?"

Rei smiled.

"You'll see, it's where most of the public dungeons in Vice City are located."

I nodded accepting the fact she wouldn't tell me yet and started following her through the crowds of people in the busy market.

It was still mind blowing how many people were in a single area. I'm not used to this big city life just yet.

About 20 minutes later we walked past the mall area and made our way even further into the city's center.

The large silver towers were getting taller and the streets were getting narrower.

We eventually came across a large black tower.

It stood out from the buildings surrounding it and there were many people entering and exiting from the large open front doors.

Rei started walking towards the entrance. Maria and I followed without saying a word.

The inside of the tower was black as well, there were no windows or lights but oddly enough it was very bright inside. I could see perfectly.

There were 4 sets of escalators in front of us that lead down to a lower level. I assumed the tower went up at first, but I guess there's more underground.

Each escalator had black stairs and grey glass walls that went up to about waist height on other side.

The 4 sets of moving stairways were labeled:

[E Class Dungeons]

[D Class Dungeons]

[C Class Dungeons]

[B Class Dungeons]

Each of them had a security guard that scanned IDs in front of them before anyone could go down.

There was an escalator in the distance near the back of the building as well. It went upwards and had 4 guards in front of it. No one was approaching that stairway, I couldn't make out the writing on the sign above it.

Rei continued to walked towards the far left stairway.

"Alright, let's take the E Class escalator so we can all check it out."

Maria and I nodded, this is what I was thinking too.

The crowds of people were mostly all going to the same place as us.

Over 75% were headed down to the E Class Dungeons.

20% were scanning their IDs to enter the D Class dungeons.

The remaining 5% were headed towards the C class dungeons.

I didn't see a single person go down the B class escalator.

We scanned our licenses and boarded the moving stairs. I looked downwards and couldn't even see the end. There were just hundreds of heads bobbing up and down.

After a full 3 minutes or so we finally got to the bottom. We must have gone 100m underground.

I couldn't believe my eyes at first.

"So this is the Vice City Dungeon Hub."

I grinned.

There was a wide open area that looked like a stretched out subway system.

I could see a large digital sign that had dozens of dungeon names with estimates on how long it would take to get to each of them.

Another large sign had a map of Vice City with exact locations pin pointing each dungeon entrance.

"Schreeeech"

On either side of the large platform area a train took hunters to and from all of the E Class dungeons in Vice City.

It's a pretty well though out system. I'm impressed.

She got behind the Ogre and I saw the light blue mist glow bright from behind the beast.

"Shinnnnnggg"

Moments later the monster stopped moving.

Maria came running out from behind it. I couldn't quite see the whole attack, but it seems like she landed a clean hit on its back.

As she came around the front side, the Ogre let out a cry as the blue mist engulfed its body. It turned completely to ice in front of my eyes.

Maria grinned and took another slash at the monster from the front this time. It shattered into tiny ice fragments.

It was an impressive feat. She really does have some strong ice magic.

*Clap *Clap *Clap

I slowly clapped and walked over to her.

"You've improved a lot! That was an impressive take down."

Maria blushed and smiled.

"Thanks! These Ogres aren't too hard for me anyways. I am level 63 now!"

I raised an eyebrow.

"You're level 63? Moving up in the world I see. You'll catch up to me soon at this rate."

We both laughed.

Maria collected a mana crystal from the disappearing fragments of Ogre that were left by our feet.

We roamed around the dungeon for another hour or so. Maria showed me some of her new moves and I showed off a bit too.

Rei followed, but I could tell she was getting bored. Eventually she spoke up.

"Hey I don't want to kill your fun, but we've already done a lot today. I wanted to show you the dungeons before it got too late, we don't have much time to actually hunt."

Maria and I nodded taking the hint.

"We have to catch the train back soon or we'll be stuck in Vice City tonight."

We made our way back to the exit and took the train back to the main Dungeon Hub. It was short, but sweet. I'm glad we got to check it out.

"Thanks for taking us out today Rei, I appreciate you showing us around!"

She nodded.

"My pleasure. I had a relaxing day off. I'm glad you got to see the city."

We made our way back up the escalator and headed to the main train station that would bring us back home.

"Hey, uh. Rei. If I wanted to stay in the city for a little while where could I go? Is there a hotel or something you know of?"

Rei grinned.

"So the city really has you hooked?"

"Well, I just think it'd be a waste to leave now. There's so many dungeons here. I'd like to stay for a few days and really check this place out. It may seem spontaneous, but I think it's the right move."

Maria looked up at me.

"I think that's a great idea! You don't have school or anything holding you back right now. Stay in the city!"

Maria's immediate support made me happy. Rei nodded and pointed.

"If you head in that direction for about 1km you'll get to a more residential area. There are many hotels you can stay in."

I nodded.

"Thanks!"

Rei nodded back.

"No problem. Some time in the city will make you much stronger, maybe we can spar for real when you come back."

"Haha, I'd hope so. Let Jack know I'll be back in a week or two max. I know he wanted to talk to me about something before I left. It's just going to have to wait a little longer I guess."

"Okay, I'll let him know."

"Great."

I waved off Maria and Rei. They had to catch the next train very soon.

That was out of the blue, but this feels right.

There's so much opportunity here... I can't leave yet.