Chapter 6: 6-Dungeons, Healers, and a bookworm

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After Avan entered his very first dungeon, he looked at the murals on the left and right walls with great interest, which did not reveal any further essential details. Unless one interpreted more into the fight scenes and postures, which were represented here by something similar to monks.

Without finding any runes or anything else of interest, he set off and walked forward with confident steps echoing through the hallway. A torch was no longer necessary, thanks to the dim blue lighting of the dungeon.

 

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"They messed it up, Adrian! All of it! The goblins were all killed by an unknown adventurer that seemingly stumbled over our little experiment! He even rescued one of the captives reporting all of it right now to the local adventurer guild here in Cyntha! We need to flee before they connect the missing pieces and kill us!" One of Adrian's lackeys shouted while running into their underground hideout, quite out of breath.

Adrian already imagined how he could feed the screamer to his beloved monsters for his lack of subservience until he realized what he just said.

"You dumbass! Stop shouting and explain yourself, or I swear I will feed you to one of my breeds. What do you mean our goblins were killed, and more importantly, by whom?! You better explain yourself instead of blowing our cover with your screaming!" Adrian hissed to his subordinate, who was still recovering from running.

Panting, his lackey tried to explain it again much more accurately, now with fear of his own life.

The monster breeder listened carefully, this time to what had happened and who had thwarted his plans.

Hearing that a useless low-level boy had supposedly not only interrupted his goblin experiments but even slaughtered his subjects sent him into a rage.

Enraged, Adrian grabbed the neck of the unfortunate messenger and crushing his neck within seconds until only a lifeless body dangled between his fingers.

Heedlessly, he threw the corpse of his former lackey into the corner to his wolfhounds, which immediately fought over their new food.

Rushing out of hiding, Adrian went to his co-conspirators to deal with the matter immediately. It was unacceptable that such interference in his territory here in Cyntha would go unpunished.

The boy's whereabouts were probably unknown. He had not yet entered Cyntha, which left him only one other person to vent his displeasure. The surviving fox girl called Yue.

How he would enjoy it, by first torturing her to get all the information he needed, and then use her in a new experiment.

 

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Meanwhile, Avan was walking toward an archway at the end of the entrance passage. His mind was on his latest discovery of mana in and around him. He simply wanted to distract himself now that the whole situation with these goblins was solved.

Just before he reached the end of the passage, he spied out of the corner of his eye a gap on the right side just large enough for a person to squeeze in.

With renewed fascination, he strolled toward the gap, the archway immediately forgotten.

This SHOULD be big enough for a fully-grown human to squeeze through.

And... I can see something at the end of the gap, but it's not as illuminated as the dungeon corridor. Well, never mind. This looks like a passage that wasn't meant to be. I wonder what's in here?

Squeezing through the gap, he soon stood in front of a less impressive door than that of the dungeon entrance. The room itself was lit, but only very slight and in a yellow color. The only thing that resembled the dungeon doors were some similar runes spread over the whole door. Whoever made this place their own had studied the runes more profoundly.

He wondered if the runes were specific and could only be found here in this dungeon or if there was a general rune language in this world. Or maybe a rune language but with different accents or levels of difficulty.

Without thinking much about it, Avan walked toward the door and placed his right hand in the middle. Just as he had done before, his mana flowed into the door, but nothing happened beyond the glow visibly increasing.

With a frown, he wondered what could be different here. The trick with the mana infusion was probably not enough, obviously. As he had done in front of the dungeon, Avan sat down on the narrow floor before the rune door to take a deep breath. Meditation and calmer thoughts could help him here.

Once back at the core of his soul, he noticed nothing unusual. His own mana and the mana of the surrounding area were continuously felt, even in the ground at his feet and in the stones around him. What he could feel was a bronze vein deeper inside the left stone wall.

Suddenly, he did notice a difference: he could see behind the door with his perception aura. This was not possible with the dungeon double doors. There he sensed a bare white marble floor, bookshelves filled with hundreds of intact but also decaying books, a stone table, and long decayed wooden furniture, which lay crumbled on the floor.

But what stood out most were two circular runes on the inside of the door, which gave him a different feeling. Without really thinking further about it, Avan tried to let mana flow into the upper rune simply because it felt right. Except for the fact that the rune ate his mana only too gladly, nothing else happened. However, during the same attempt with the second, lower rune, a soft rumbling sound could be heard in the walls.

The door swung open inward with a loud noise of an airtight seal breaking as if no air had entered for hundreds of years.

Avan hurried to stand up quickly before the door might slam again automatically.

He was through the door with quick steps and stood amazed in the hall that opened up before him. The hall was easily fifty meters in diameter and full of bookshelves, all over two meters high. The vast majority of the books were eaten away by age or had fallen into disrepair, but some bookshelves had remarkably withstood. And their books, too. A faint runic glow could be seen around these specific bookshelves, which were maybe why they were still intact.

Walking around the big stone table in the middle of the room, Avan looked around while touching the different shelves and book covers. He was never a big fan of nonfiction books back in his world but surprisingly found himself interested in the books in this room.

After reaching the other side of the room, where the most books were in better order, he heard the stone door slowly closing again. Pah, who cares. The cat is out of the bag anyway.

While the front door was closing itself, Avan found something wondrous and new opening in front of him at the opposite side of the library room.

There had been a hidden door that only opened when the entrance door was closed. Should be some kind of security measure to prevent someone from rushing through both doors in a few seconds.

With renewed interest, he opened the new door in front of him and peered inside. It was a small, long unused room with a smaller stone table, a matching stone chair, a stone shelf on the right, and a stone bed with a soft kind of moss on the wall on the left.

Immediately he went to the stone shelf, which should undoubtedly accommodate other and more important books than those that were to be found in the anteroom. With such an extra security measure, something special had to be kept here. There were two books left on the shelf. The books Avan took were not in the least old-looking and were of a much higher quality. With both books in his arms, he went back out into the large and better-lit room. The lighting here consisted of large decorations and runes chained together, which resulted in a beautiful and round pattern that reminded him of an illuminated starry sky.

Delighted, he sat down at the only remaining stone chair, took out one of his [Golden Meaple] fruit, and ate it with pleasure. Remembering his still empty water flask and facepalming himself for his stupidity, he promised to quickly check out these two books and afterward going back to the surface to refill his flask. He couldn't survive without water.

Placing the first book in front of him, a high-quality leather-bound one, he started to read the first page.

It described a secret order of healers, the Order of Akkalon, for sure based on the name of this very dungeon in which he was currently.

However, some of the sentences were already faded and illegible, which is why he was sometimes only able to guess what could have been described on the corresponding pages.

In general, this book was a diary of one of the teachers of the order of Akkalon. It described, at least on the remaining decipherable pages, the training of new acolytes and the conditions for attaining the healing class, acolyte of Akkalon. The order was described as battle monks, who fought monsters while extraordinarily skillful with their own healing and healing people in need.

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Avan remembered the corridor directly behind the dungeon entrance, which described various fighting stances and fighting scenes of multiple monks.

Did these monks belong to the order of Akkalon, too?

Maybe he could take a closer look at the fighting style and try to learn it.

According to the teacher's diary, mastering these fighting stances was one of the two prerequisites for unlocking this special healing class.

The other requirement was to know oneself physically and mentally well enough, which resulted in the need to know the biology of the body and the biology of the soul within with the help of meditation.

He still hasn't got the skill, as mentioned in the diary. After refilling his water flask, he should first learn the fighting stances in the hallway and acquire the meditation skill.

According to the book, meditation enabled a regeneration of health, mana and stamina more rapidly than natural. The higher the level of the meditation skill, the more and the faster someone could replenish their resources.

It seems like this Dungeon, the tower of Akkalon, was indeed used as a training facility to nurture new and promising aspirants, as Avan had assumed already.

Avan quickly reached the end of the readable pages and sighed. Now he could only devote himself to the second book.

What a shame. I wanted to know more about the order's teachings and how their daily life looked like, even just the daily training days. He mused.

The second book turned out, amongst other things, to be a list of the teacher's possessions. Mentioned inside the book were the personal combat staff, robe, and other lesser things he had possessed. He probably didn't have much, except for the bare essentials. The books in the library were also listed alphabetically in a kind of glossary. Since the vast majority of books were likely to have succumbed to the ravages of time anyway, this list was unfortunately no longer of great value for Avan.

The staff, the robe, and the currency, which the monk had called his own, would be more than welcome, especially since the current clothes didn't really fit him.

Maybe he could find better equipment in the depths of the tower. Although the name, Tower of Akkalon, was definitely misleading here, the building stretched underground instead of going upward like a tower.

Pocketing both books and glancing at the bookshelves containing the other books, Avan walked back to the entrance to lay his hand on the opening rune.

Suddenly and out of nowhere, a voice called out to him.

"Hello, young sir, could you please leave these books here? The library books are not intended to be taken away and must remain in these rooms. Please refrain from stealing books. Otherwise, I will have to use force to prevent you from doing so. I would like to avoid all violence because I am not a friend of such an act. Many Thanks."

Startled and surprised, Avan jumped back immediately and changed into a fighting stance. After a few seconds and looking around, he couldn't locate an enemy or the source of the voice.

"Eeeehm ... Hello? Who's there?" He asks into the room, kind of embarrassed because of talking to empty air.

"Well, well, well. You have no manners, young sir. You always introduce yourself first. Haven't you learned that as a youngling? It's disappointing what seems to have become of people." The voice from the unknown answers again, with a hint of disappointment.

Avan, looking again for the source of the voice, apologizes.

"Of course, I apologize. My name is Avan Leaf. I'm... from further away and not from the area. However, it is also rude not to look the other person in the eye when you are talking, don't you think so, too?"

Suddenly you could hear a suppressed laugh in the room. A being suddenly appears in front of Avan.

"Oh boy, oh boy, I haven't had this kind of fun in a long time. You were fooled so easily. May I introduce myself? I am the Bookworm of the local and unique secret library of Akkalon." Says a worm to him in a very casual way while bowing to Avan.

First snickering and then loud laughing, Avan points his finger at the worm and dropped in a laughing fit on the floor. To be precise and honest, the [Bookworm] didn't look like any ordinary worm you would meet outside. He had a small mustache with a mouth beneath, eyebrows, and two eyes. He even wore a scholar's hat.

"You... ha-haahaaa-haahahahaha... you are called Bookworm?! FOR REAL?! Muahahaha! And the-the bowing! Hahahahaha..." Avan laughing out loud. The [Bookworm] watched the man with increasing displeasure as he made even more fun of him.

Avan just couldn't suppress his laugher while seeing such a ridiculous character. After he had laughed enough, he slowly calmed down but could not prevent a giggle and a short laugh when he looked at the [Bookworm] .

"Welp, sorry! H-h-ha-ha... It... is... just soooo... funny, you know? Cmon, don't be mad at me. Don't worry, be happy... H-h-ha ha...!" He half apologized to the worm.

"Okaaaay, no seriously... Sorry, I had my laugh now. Thank you, mate. Do you really live here, by the way?"

The [Bookworm] , still not convinced, just shook his head at Avans antics.

"Great, then I'm still good enough for a good laugh these days, right?" It sighs. "And to answer your question. Yes, I live here. For over eight hundred years now, to be precise. And no, you are the first visitor in over five hundred years." It explains sourly. "I was bound with a magical contract to watch over these halls and to guide young acolytes in helping them gain the healer class of Akkalon. If you would stop insulting me, maybe I would help you, too. If you ask me nicely. But for now, I am offended and will withdraw. Perhaps I'll be in the mood again later, who knows. And there is still a ban on stealing no books!" He stares daggers at Avan and just vanishes in thin air.

Now somewhat ashamed of the being, Avan bows slightly and mumbles an "excuse me" in the room while he puts the two books back on the stone table. After a brief thought, he decided to leave some of the contents of his backpack, such as other items of clothing and the bow and arrows as well. To have more space for provisions, such as some new berries, he could dry.

With a slightly lighter backpack, Avan cautiously opens the closed door again and walks out into the dungeon.

Soon back out into the clearing in front of the cave, he glanced at the burned-down pyre and what had occurred here.

With darker thoughts, he starts to walk back in the direction of Cyntha, where he had seen a small creek before. Reaching the stream a few minutes later without any difficulties, he refills his water flask and drinks some water directly from the moving river to fill some water into the flask.

The fresh water inside the flask should be enough until tomorrow, I think.

He sighed and watched the sunset at the horizon.

And now the second day is coming to an end.

While walking back, he starts to identify edible berries all around him, as he begins to hunt for the vegetables and fruits of this world, which were, of course, perceived by his identify skill. The berries reminded him of black raspberries and a little sweetness of cherries. Soon he was in front of the cave entrance in less than an hour, this time with a full backpack of food.

Shortly after he relieved himself, he went back into the dungeon below to start his first exercises of the day.

Avan tried to understand the numerous postures and imitated them with moderate success while standing in front of the murals.

After another two hours of uninterrupted practices with trial and error, Avan slowly understood the fighting stances a little better and decided to put his head down. The moss bed in the back room of the library was a welcome place for him. It wasn't the most comfortable, but it was definitely better than sleeping outside on the stone or forest floor. And it was above all, surprisingly, neither cold nor too warm.

After reviewing the day with his mind, he finally fell asleep, and so the second day in this new world ended.

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