The First Legendary Beast Master

Later in the afternoon, Dana came to visit, accompanied by a white dragon from one of the Guilds they had agreed to work with on the Dungeon Project.

"Karl, I finally found you. We have found another suitable dungeon to test. This Guild believes that there is an obvious way to make the dungeon activate a hard mode, but they haven't been able to do it for lack of powerful members." She explained.

"Oh? That does sound fun.

Gentlemen, if you will excuse me, it appears that duty calls." Karl replied.

The Princes nodded. They were all aware of the Darklight Host's attempts to improve dungeons, and that there was an agreement in place that they would help other Guilds, and not just hog the gains all to themselves.

"A full day away from duties is a luxury. Go on and finish your tasks, we will enjoy the show until Regent Azov is also forced to return home." Prince Kopji replied.

Azov tried not to laugh. They were the duty that he had to attend to today. While most of the day was spent watching the fights and testing the arena's cooking, it was also a chance for him to build strong bonds with the next generation of leadership and renew their alliances so that he didn't have to do it by force after the Princes ascended to their respective thrones.

Even now that she was awake, Supreme Lady Matilda had her hands full taking care of anomalies and attempts to enter from the Immortal Realm, so it couldn't be her in charge of keeping the peace.

Not that it would be wise to let her try.

What the Chaos Dragon thought of as 'acceptable relations' between the various Royal Families and leaders were likely to be far from peaceful, or even moderately survivable for most of the population.

Karl followed Dana and the Cleric out of the meeting room, and then stopped in the lobby to get the details of their day.

"Alright, what are we up against? And what is the rest of our group?" He asked.

The Cleric looked a bit embarrassed. "We are the group. You see, we had one mercenary member call out last minute during our last run, and the Guild's tank decided to just do it without them.

When we entered, the Dungeon gave us a message. {Improper Group Size. Increase to 5 member dungeon?} That question mark made us think that there might actually be a setting for three people instead of four.

This is known to be a dungeon that can be done with either five or ten people, but as far as I know, nobody has ever tried it with three.

The Dungeon is a Fallen Seraphim Temple, and the difficulty of the bosses is not low.

When we went with four people, we had to skip one of the bosses because we didn't have the damage to be able to beat its enrage timer.

However, I am told that the two of you have exceptional damage output, and might be able to beat the bosses without a full group."

Dana smiled. "You know, this does sound fun. If three doesn't do it, I will come back tomorrow and see if it's a solo challenge."

Karl chuckled, and Dana stuck out her tongue at him. "Letting you go to a solo challenge hardly counts, does it? You'll show up with Rae, Tian and Cara, and just steamroll the place."

The Cleric laughed. "That's precisely why I wanted you two to come along with me. My Guild is sure that it's impossible, but we were all in the other dungeons that have been improved, so someone had to have done the hardest setting."

Karl gave him a curious look, and the dragon continued. "You see, that is the working theory of the blue and white dragons.

In order to improve the dungeon, and unlock the higher difficulty settings, someone first has to do the hardest mode achievement for that particular dungeon. Only then will it unlock.

Like with the five-level dungeon, someone must have done the fifth setting first."

Karl nodded in understanding. "Actually, there is a hidden sixth setting. It's complete overkill, and not for the faint of heart. That is what we had to do the first time to unlock the dungeon's options."

The cleric smiled. "See, my theory stands. Someone completed the highest mode challenge first. And, since you have an affinity for the Chaos Dragon, you also have an affinity for destabilizing the dungeon enough to make the options possible."

"That's sound logic. My highest grade physical skill is called the Chaos Dragon Constitution. I also use the Chaos Dragon as the foundation for my power matrix." Karl agreed.

"So, you're trying to comprehend the Fundamental Rule of Chaos?"

Karl shook his head. "No, I think that I will get Mana Manipulation fully comprehended first. But Chaos is also coming along well."

"Interesting. So, you are going for Mana Manipulation, which is more common for the Silver Dragons, but your Power Matrix is that of the Chaos Dragon? I wonder if that diversification is actually helpful? Or if it limits you somehow when you get close to advancement?

But I've gotten sidetracked. Let's go to the dungeon first. There is a travel portal not far from the arena, and it will take us right to our destination." The Cleric explained.

"I take it that the dungeon is not close?" Dana asked.

The cleric shook his head. "Not this time, unfortunately. The dungeon that we won is near the Shizdushel River, over sixty kilometres from here, and on the outskirts of what could be called the Zilaz Dungeon Region. But there is a portal only a hundred metres from it."

That really was out of the way. But there were hundreds of dungeons all around the shores of Lake Naraleddum, so it wasn't too surprising.

Karl nodded. "Alright, let's head to the dungeon, and then after the fight I can open a portal to take us back. Or Dana can. Either way, getting back is the easy part."

The Cleric smiled. "Perfect. I will lead the way."