Near where they were deposited, the trio found the town's gates and quickly made their way in. They had discussed heading out into the forest, but in the end, they all felt it was best to get a firsthand idea of the town and not rely solely on the provided information.

  Entering the town from the northeastern corner gate, the party was surprised to see farms and farm animals within the town walls. Even more odd was the fact that the town didn’t smell like crap from all the animals, and after feeling the enchantment wash over them, they realized the entire place had a cleaning enchantment. The prospect wasn’t an odd one since they knew many cities that used such magic, and instead, it was a nice familiarity that helped put them slightly at ease.

  As far as the rest of the town went, well, it all looked like a town they could find out in the world. There were slight differences in the architecture, but none of them were experts in construction to know if the method of building was different than usual.

  Something that helped put the party even more at ease was seeing the various adventurers and other explorers well at ease. There was a trickle of people entering and leaving the town, some moving hurriedly as if they had somewhere to be, while others walked relaxed, talking to their friends.

  The party was still slightly on edge since the feeling of being in someone’s domain had only grown stronger, but considering everything around them radiated this power, it was quickly fading into the background.

  Slowly making their way to the center of the town, the party kept admiring the fact that they were essentially in another spatial dimension. It was not something new to them, but it was undoubtedly the first time that things looked so normal. The people in the town went about their daily tasks, and like the other explorers, some were relaxed and happy to enjoy the day, while others moved about with a sense of urgency.

  Of course, that brought the party’s attention to the time. From what researchers had gathered from the dungeon, time within it and out of it moved in sync. So, though the dungeon was in its own spatial fold, if they spent months within, it would also mean the same amount of time had gone outside. Furthermore, this fact indicated that the dungeon shared a much more intimate connection to the outside world, unlike other dimensional spaces that usually operated according to their own rules.

  More importantly, the trio liked knowing that they wouldn’t get lost in time as the time within the dungeon and out of it ran differently. Such a thing put them in a better headspace, knowing they were more firmly grounded in reality than not, and that they didn’t need to worry about keeping too much track of any time-related issues.

  Happy to walk and watch their surroundings, the trio made their way through the entire town. They had yet to speak with anyone, wanting to get a lay of the land first. They first arrived at the town’s center, which featured a circular, stone-paved area with a large water fountain. From what they gathered, that was the town square, which also held the mayor's office and inn.

  The mayor's office was a large, L-shaped building with a prominent bell tower, while the inn, The Explorer’s Retreat, was a substantial, multi-story structure. The inn had a few explorers coming in and out, but the trio wasn’t yet convinced of the need for an inn when adventurers could teleport out and stay in one out in the real world. Meanwhile, the mayor’s office had a line of adventurers heading inside.

  From what the party had been told, the dungeon had certain areas dedicated to the teleporters. Something that had apparently changed since it first opened due to congestion and teleportation issues. Essentially, people had tried to teleport at the same time using a multitude of teleporters, and it had gone rather poorly.

  Dan remembered that issue, one that he hadn’t thought about until people began getting randomly dropped off all around his dungeon or simply switching locations with other people using the teleporters. The whole thing had people panicking at the time as people began spiraling, thinking they were stuck in his dungeon. For Dan, it had been a very interesting experience as he was on the other side of one of those anime where people got stuck in video games or in other worlds. In the end, it had been easily fixed by adjusting the system. It had defaulted to teleporting people randomly after Dan had failed to provide instructions for when too many people tried to teleport simultaneously. Also, he spawned in more hosts to dictate teleportation times and, more importantly, ended up deciding that maybe it was best for him to set up proper designated areas for teleportation.

  After visiting the town square, the party proceeded to the market area, which they found underwhelming, as there weren’t many magical items for sale. In fact, that was the norm for most of the town. They checked out the tavern, The Mug Thrower, which got its name from its barkeep, who was in the middle of throwing a mug of ale at someone across the tavern. The ale in the tavern was decent enough, and they had been surprised to find that the place had strong enough drinks to affect rankers. Also, it was during this part of their journey that they remembered that everything in the dungeon was paid for with mana. They also realized that was one of the reasons people were using the inn. After all, why pay gold when you can just pay mana?

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  Things dropped in excitement after the inn; the trio visited a few other minor shops. There was a small alchemy seller who sold some basic, mundane medicines. They also visited a leather shop, the smithy, and the lumber yard. Throughout their walk, the party had grown increasingly at ease with every passing minute, even though they knew it was all a ruse. Thankfully, even then, Adriana had calmed down, her worry about the dungeon finally passing, allowing her to revert to her usual, more outgoing self. Of course, it was also that very thing that led them to test the knowledge they had been given, as she approached a random human in town.

  “Hey there, sir,” Adriana called sweetly.

  “Hello! Is there something I can do for you?”

  “Well, I am new in town, and I was wondering if you could help me out?” As Adriana spoke, her two companions didn’t fail to notice that the man showed no reaction to her. In fact, no one in the town had stared, gawked, or tried to hit her up throughout their walk. Okay, adventurers had definitely gawked, but no actual villager had even registered Adriana, at least no more than anything else.

  If it had been dwarves, elves, and a few other humanoids, then Alexion and Arctur could have believed it since nonhumans had some level of resistance, and even then, only so much. Heck, they all knew Arctur himself, despite his ancestry, still found Adriana alluring. So, when not even humans had any reaction to the oddball of ancestry that was their friend, something was definitely off.

  For her part, Adriana had enjoyed not receiving the attention, yet at the same time, she still craved it. It wasn’t her fault; it was just something that was part of her, and she tried to fight it. Honestly, she missed being little. During those years, her powers had been suppressed, and she had been yet another child, but when she had turned 15, things had gotten worse. Luckily, the law and her parents protected and stopped her from doing anything, but after the last nine years of her curse, it had become exhausting. So, she knew it was stupid, but if the dungeon’s people were truly not affected by her, she felt like it might become her new favorite spot.

  “Sure, what is it that you need help with?” The plain man answered, not a hint of lust in the man's entire person.

  “Well, we heard some folks needed help around here, and I was wondering if you could point us in the right direction? Also, I heard that you guys are trapped here, so blink twice if you need our help.”

  Then, as expected yet unexpected, and without missing a beat, the man answered cheerfully.

  “I can definitely help you with that! My friend Rob is a fisherman, and he wants to know if some adventurers would be willing to escort him down to the lake. You can also speak with our Captain of the Guard; I hear he is trying to recruit some folk to scout out an issue with some goblins. If goblins aren’t your thing, our local alchemist is always happy to pay adventurers who help her collect a few herbs. Just let me know if any of that interests you, and I can point you in the right direction!”

  The man glossed right over Adriana's second statement, which was confirmation enough, but they still wanted to keep pushing. They had all been informed of the issue with the town's people and knew pretty much everyone who entered attempted what they were attempting, but it was something they had to do.

  “Hmm, it does sound like quite a few people need our help. Say, have you ever left this town before? Alexion asked.

  “Well, of course, I have laddie. What do you think? That we are trapped in some kind of endless space operated by an Eldritch God or something!” The man answered jokingly, his face breaking into a big, innocent smile. That particular line had been chosen directly by Dan to scare off adventurers, and, as always, it worked like a charm.

  Hearing the man and seeing his innocent grin, the trio felt unnerved, like the truth they had been seeking had just been revealed. Suddenly, it felt like they were trapped in the maw of a god and were without escape. Then rationality came back, and they remembered that pretty much everyone else had gotten a similar line. It was evident from the information they had access to that the town was not a typical town.

  Throughout the few months the dungeon had been open, researchers and explorers generally realized that the town’s people followed a certain pattern. People never seemed to advance and were effectively somewhat in a loop. Things could change within their days as they had different interactions, but there were some boundaries they just couldn’t overcome. Additionally, whatever mind-altering effects were happening to adventurers were happening to the people in town, but in a worse fashion, since they refused to acknowledge certain things, like the guy had just done. More importantly, the dungeon had been around for long enough for fights to break out, and though there had been a few casualties, the dead never stayed dead for long. It was like the monsters in the dungeon, which apparently came in an endless supply.

  Of course, unlike the monsters, killing people came with consequences, often with the guards stepping in or the individuals in question being expelled. The thing was that, despite all the oddities, clear rules were in place, and people could discuss certain things. Even more important, no gods or other powerful people stopped their D Rankers from entering the dungeon, so no one could complain about it too much. After all, if the Gods, S Rankers, or Demi-Gods were under the control of some powerful entity, what chance would a bunch of low rankers have?

  So, like everyone before them had done, the trio was forced to accept that they couldn’t do anything and shouldn’t bother questioning things too much. As such, they decided to go help an alchemist and promptly got a notification.

  ?? Crystal Notice ??

  ?? Quest ??

  Would you like to accept the Quest: Speak with the Alchemist?

  Yes or No.

  ??