Mantle of the Gods [LitRPG / Slow Burn / FTB Harem]

The room was so quiet you could hear everyone breathing.

After a few moments of silence, Jenne was the one who broke it.

"What do you mean every and rumor?" She studied the old man. "Wouldn't it be easy enough to verify for someone who is already here?"

Fooda held up his palms. "People say a lot of things, especially around here where most of the people are Mundane."

"What's up with that?" I cut into the conversation. "How are a bunch of people without Mantles able to live inside the Dungeon? Don't monsters attack or the Dungeon start absorbing the structures?"

"There are monsters out there." The golden man waved towards the back of the room. "But they're level one and never come close to the town." He scrunched up his brow. "Heard somebody say that there's a boss room somewhere, but nobody can find it." He snapped his fingers like he remembered something and turned to Jenne. "Also, a lot of the people like me that would be interested in a way to move from city to city don't have any way to leave."

I saw Jenne bristle as she forced her expression to remain neutral.

"Don't worry, I'm not after your coin." He laughed as he slapped his knee. "You missed the part about how the gates will shut down if I go near them?" The blonde man looked at me. "I couldn't leave even if I had a bag of those coins."

"Why did you come here then?" There was worry in Aelin's voice. "Isn't this like a prison for you?"

"It might look that way, and maybe it is." Fooda shrugged. "But the food is free and decent enough even if the bathrooms are holes in the ground." He winked. "Dungeon does clean them itself, so they don't stink too bad, but still smell too much to have one inside."

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Aelin giggled, but there wasn't much joy in it. I could tell she was worried about her friend.

The older man steepled his fingers. "Enough about me! Why are the four of you here? Shouldn't there be a lot more of you?"

"We just—"

"We're looking for Rix." I cut Jenne off. I shrugged when she glared at me. "He's a friend. No point in lying to him."

I could see her coming up with a list of reasons, but she held her tongue.

"The scary one?" Fooda let out an uncomfortable chuckle. "I never thought something two Tiers lower than me could give me the willies, and that girl is five!" His red eyes scanned us. "What happened to her?"

"She used to be in the Bronze Cobras." I ignored the growl coming from the stewing Caster. "We think they might've tried to grab her."

"Therus's bunch?" Fooda sighed. "Most outlaws are missing some irons, but dude should have been put down a while ago. Not many people would work with him either. The whole reason he stalled at Five was because he harvested any Fours that got close to him. Probably would have had a lot stronger gang too."

I winced at the reference to killing other Adventurers. While it was a good way to get yourself exiled at best, there was a group of outlaws that turned to killing other Adventurers to try to get through the fifties lull. Without an event floor to farm, the ten percent of experience that you got to steal when you killed another Adventurer was too easy for some to pass up. The problem was that once you got a PK mark on your Mantle, the Dispatchers wouldn't let you into the Dungeon. The only way in at that point would be to take over a Desolation and Sipher had controlled most of those that weren't owned by the Temple, Dispatchers, or a mercenary group. That was how the Bandit King had managed to take over so many of the outlaw groups. The draw of the Dungeon was just too strong for those with Mantles to ignore for long.

"Have you heard about her?" Oz brought me out of my musing.

Fooda shook his head. "If Therus was here, I wouldn't be. I heard a rumor about his gang sending someone for the auction, but there's supposed to be hundreds of groups here." He scrunched his brow. "Nothin higher than a Three though."

Part of me felt relief, but just as much concern replaced it. If this was a dead end, then we were even farther away from finding out what had happened to Rix and Pixie.