Unbelievably, nothing out of the ordinary happened. They were attacked by monsters rather frequently, but the intensity was nowhere near enough to be called abnormal. If anything, it was surprisingly tame.

Lev was not convinced. His bloodshot eyes scanned the horizon every waking moment, never letting his guard down. Lethargy and frayed nerves stacked up to a point that Beatrice even forced him to sleep at times.

When the walls of Windkeep became visible in the distance, Lev passed out from relief.

He was jolted out of his long sleep when the carts stopped and voices reached him. A Master took in his sleepy face and Beatrice's relaxed posture for a moment before moving on. They were waved in without much fanfare after that.

A small argument of Lev trying not take the money from the families ensued, but he was no match for the combined request from the two couples. He stored in the silver in his ring and just followed Beatrice as they went deeper into the city.

"Should I ask?" she glanced at him after a few minutes of wandering.

"Better off not knowing."

She nodded and went silent. They made their way to the hunters guild, where the quest was easily cleared before Lev inquired about the platinum dungeons.

"I'm sorry, hunter, but they are exclusively for platinum hunters. I cannot share any more about it."

Beatrice stifled her chuckles behind him as Lev scratched the back of his head. "Listen, I don't think you realize that I am the winner of last tournament's solo combat and monster hunt. Whoever these platinum hunters are, I can clear the dungeon better than all of them."

She didn't bat an eye. "I did recognize you actually since I watched it all live. Regardless, rules are rules."

Defeated and humiliated, Lev dragged his feet to the sitting area in the hall. Beatrice followed quietly, trying not to rub it in.

"I'm gonna sneak in," Lev declared.

"No you're not," Beatrice immediately refuted.

"Oh, okay. Let's go try our luck somewhere else, then. Life would've been so much easier if Hakim was here."

Her eyebrows rose at the casual mention. With a theatrical sigh, she just got up and tailed him when Lev started marching with purpose. They ascended to the next floor. Knocking twice on the guildmaster's office door, he waited.

Less than five seconds later, the doors opened, revealing… Hakim.

"I GREET THE EXALTED!" Beatrice quickly bowed, her voice an octave higher than usual. Lev did the same after his mind caught up.

"Rise," Hakim said after a second. "Come on in."

They entered, one casually and the other quaking in her boots. Lev debated asking her to wait outside, but she was already inside. How was he supposed to know that Hakim was actually present? Lev was expecting a replacement.

"Permission to sit?" Lev took the lead since Beatrice was too timid to converse with the guildmaster.

Hakim merely waved him to take a seat. "What brings you here, hunter Lev?"

"Access to platinum dungeons."

A platinum badge suddenly appeared on the table. Lev replaced it with his gold one, storing the new version in his ring. The gold badge vanished.

Beatrice's eyes were the size of apples at the casual exchange. With her jaw dropped, she looked comically frozen in shock, contemplating the meaning of life and why her choices had led her to an Exalted's office.

"Is that all?" Hakim questioned in his gravely voice.

Lev straightened. "There is one more thing," he glanced at Beatrice. "I want to take her into the dungeons as well."

Hakim leaned back in his chair and scanned Beatrice, who didn't dare glance up at him.

"The aura mage from Grand Strategist Wayne's side. Reports spoke of her resigning after a near-lethal incident and leaving with a barrier mage to Windkeep."

Lev stayed quiet, knowing it wasn't his place to speak before Hakim asked him to.

"What happened?"

And so he explained it all in detail. How he owed her a great debt and wanted to see her evolve in a few years while carving out a piece of life for herself in these lands. Beatrice slowly found her bearings in the meantime, still not speaking but breathing easier. Being exposed to strong auras for the first time was always rough.

Hakim nodded once Lev finished speaking. "I approve of you helping her along like this, but the downsides don't need to be mentioned to someone like you who cares about acquiring all the possible strength. So tell me, what do you have planned?"

"I have two questions before that."

"Go on."

"How long do raids last, and how often do they happen?"

Hakim didn't have to pause to think. "For casual delvers who aren't aiming for excellence but only to evolve, they happen once every 35-50 days. Those who are striving for the best delve once every two weeks or so. Try not to bother the latter. Their team compositions are best designed to delve platinum dungeons. Raids last for three to seven days, depending on the strength of those delving."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Thirty-five to fifty days…" Lev wondered out loud. "If I accompany one group with Beatrice, it leaves me ample time to solo clear it again. Is this instance time the same?"

"No, it cycles once every six hours, but that shouldn't matter," Hakim supplied.

"It doesn't," Lev agreed. He glanced at Beatrice, who was looking at Lev as if he hadn't grown not just one but three heads.

"Oh, and how many teams participate in each?"

"Usually five, four if they are elites."

"… That's the plan, then."

"It is sound," Hakim said after a few seconds of silence. "But your new friend here seems to disagree."

"I'll talk to her," Lev chuckled. "How can I convince the person guarding the dungeon to let me in solo and her with me when going in with teams? She doesn't have a badge."

Hakim snapped his fingers once, almost scaring the soul out of Beatrice. Not even ten seconds later, a carrier entered the room and bowed.

"Inform the caretakers of the platinum dungeons that these two are allowed to enter whenever," the guildmaster commanded in a voice that reverberated through the room. A visible shiver ran through the poor wind mage's body who scrambled to fulfill the order.

Wow, Lev blinked twice, still hearing the order echoing in his mind. I would've never wanted to see Hakim again if he had talked to me like that during our first meeting.

"Is there anything else?"

Lev nodded. "One last thing. Where's Sherron?"

"Clearing the dreadwoods."

Left unsaid was that his arrival had roused that hell.

Goddamit.

Lev got up and bowed his head. With Beatrice in tow, he left the guild and made his way to his favorite spot, the park. It was rather empty that day, which meant his usual spot under a particular tree was devoid of any other humans.

Without a care in the world, he sat down and leaned against the trunk. Beatrice hesitated for a moment before doing the same. A sound ward covered them soon after.

"I don't think I can keep quiet any longer, Lev," she began, genuinely distressed. "Do you have a death wish? Why on Monarch were you addressing him so casually!?"

Lev held up his hands. "Now, now. I'm not suicidal. Trust me, he intimidates me more than anyone else, but he has developed a… tolerance for my behavior. You should see how I treat other Exalted and similarly strong people."

"… Huh? Who?"

"Oh, you know, the scary Galvanic Sniper and the Flame Legion. I know them quite well."

He finally decided to be serious when Beatrice started to become twitchy due to confusion and concern. Lev had no idea she was that worried.

****

"Let me get this straight," she asked, now much better after some proper backstory. "Those three not only raised you, but they also oversaw your class selection?"

"Yep."

"And, YOU HAVE A WISDOM BOOST!?"

Lev winced and looked around. Nobody was within earshot or anywhere close.

"Can you not say it out loud?" he spoke, slightly irritated. "The ward isn't all-powerful."

"Sorry," she sheepishly grinned. "Can't blame me, though. How the fuck did you get your hands on that? And why tell me when nobody else knows?"

"Hakim knows, and so do all the important humans. It's just that the information is not public, so please keep it to yourself."

She nodded seriously, though Lev wasn't worried in the first place. "That doesn't answer my question."

"Because you already knew," he rolled his eyes. "I'm not dumb."

Beatrice coughed, suddenly embarrassed. "I, uh, had a hunch."

"You had far more than a 'hunch' with the number of people you've buffed over the years."

"Okay, FINE," she huffed. "I knew immediately. There. Happy now?"

Lev laughed. "It was you who refused to admit it, not me."

She hmphed and looked away. The urge to poke her puffed-up cheek was strong, but they weren't that close, and neither did Lev wish to be.

"Are you certain you can clear them solo?" she eventually asked. Her soft eyes betrayed the concern for his safety.

"Nope," Lev bluntly replied. "Which is why I will accompany you with other teams first to scout the dungeon."

"… You made that deal without even knowing?"

"It was less a deal and more an official endorsement. Hakim was already aware of my plans, but they needed his stamp of approval for me to be allowed anywhere near the dungeons."

"No wonder it went so smoothly," she muttered, enlightened. "No sane person would let you go through with that otherwise."

"Hmm," Lev grinned. "Hey, what do you think my class can do?"

"Is that supposed to be a trick question? Besides that armor of yours, you can use mana slash and explosive projectiles."

His grin widened.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"You will see."

It could do so much more than that.

****

"Listen up!" the Master rogue, Umbrina, clapped loudly once, garnering the attention of everyone present.

Five teams, plus Lev and Beatrice, had gathered to tackle one of the two dungeons. It was necessary to be accompanied by a Master guardian, as losing platinum hunters simply couldn't be allowed.

"Since there are six new faces here today," the woman's gaze roamed over Lev and Beatrice, along with another team of four. "Let me give you a rundown of how we will proceed."

She stood up straighter, her impressive aura rolling out to show just how serious she was. "If you need help with something, you come to me. If you find anything out of the ordinary, you inform me first. If you see any harvestable resources, stay away and let me know before you stupidly get yourself poisoned. If you need healing, I have high-quality potions on me to deal with anything the dungeon can cause. We will decide if you should be healed by one of our two healers or if we need to use a potion on the spot."

"The formation in which we advance will be decided by the roles of the newcomers. Introduce yourselves one by one."

Lev waited for his turn while paying attention to the other new team. Two warriors and two mages was their composition, pretty balanced overall.

"Aura mage with an advanced barrier skill," Beatrice introduced herself. She had evolved Mana Barrier twice but hadn't had a chance to utilize the skill with Lev so far. The only time she had used it was to show Lev and to conduct some testing, where he found the skill to be only marginally weaker than his own enchanted barriers.

The Master rogue looked at him. "Barrier mage with long-range attacks and other basic things barriers can do."

"It's not about what barrier mages can do but what you are best at."

Lev answered directly then. "My class focuses entirely on long-range attacks. I can help you in a bind with enchanted walls or floating shields, but they are not my specialty."

"That's better," the rogue nodded. "We enter in fifteen minutes, prepare whatever you need to."

Saying that, she waved him and Beatrice to the side. Taking the hint, they separated from the rest of the gathering and waited for her to approach.

"I don't know why you're underplaying your abilities to this degree," the rogue spoke once a sound ward covered them. "Even if I didn't know you were the two-time winner of the recent tournament, a single look at your untamed aura would tell me that you're just shy of being as strong as a newly evolved Master."

He and Beatrice shared a glance as the Master continued. "Don't take it in a bad way. Everyone has their reasons, but I don't want to take any unnecessary risks."

"You don't have to worry about that," Lev interjected. "If things get serious, I will not hold back. Nobody will be dying under my watch."

The rogue smirked lightly. "That's my job, boy, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have a helping hand."

Ten minutes later, they were all gathered around the dungeon portal that pulsed with power. It felt close to overflowing, which made him curious just how high that bar was for the dungeon in front of him as opposed to gold dungeons.

Since neither their rogue guardian nor the Master warrior caretaker of the dungeon was worried, he put the thought out of his mind. The dungeon was probably far from full of mana still, since he was used to seeing only lower ranked portals.

"Remember," the rogue looked at all of them. "The sturdiest enter first. Do not rush."

She then turned around and entered the portal ahead of everyone else, starting Lev's first platinum dungeon delve.

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