Chapter 65: Crystal Forest Part - 1

After reaching the entrance to the forest where the dungeon was located, Noir closed his eyes, let his Draconic Senses expand, and couldn’t sense any monsters nearby; it was as if they didn’t exist.

He found it a bit strange because, based on his experience, a higher concentration of mana should mean more monsters. Was this a phenomenon caused by the dungeon? Or had the adventurers cleared the area for safety reasons?

Although the young dragon was more inclined to believe the first option, since he didn’t know for sure, he didn’t give it much thought. The important thing was that... he was about to enter a dungeon!

Dungeon! Important things need to be said twice. Anyway, Noir had read a whole bunch of novels on this topic, so his curiosity was through the roof.

Were they the same as always—go in, kill monsters, and destroy the core? Or were they simpler—explore a hallway with traps and such?

The young black dragon shook his head, pushing those thoughts aside; high expectations weren’t the best idea, because they led to disappointment.

They continued. The roots surrounding it hung down from gigantic trees and disappeared underground, as if the entire forest had decided to protect that place.

Not long after, they reached the entrance, where two guild workers were sitting at a wooden table. They looked bored and tired.

One of them barely looked up when Arlene and Noir arrived; Noir had been flying ever since they’d been able to—he avoided walking as much as possible.

Arlene walked over to them and handed them the permit to enter the dungeon. The worker looked at it calmly and then stamped it in the lower corner.

"All right, you can go in," he said, waving his hand with a hint of annoyance, and then added, "Remember the main rule."

Arlene tilted her head slightly.

"Don’t stray from the group."

The man shook his head slowly; his gaze turned toward the vast entrance to the dungeon.

"Don’t look back after you cross."

Noir frowned at what he was being told; he was going to enter a dungeon to update a map, but what he was hearing sounded like something entirely different.

’Maybe it’s just my imagination.’ The young dragon decided to ignore it for the time being because he wasn’t entirely convinced.

"Why?" Arlene asked.

The guild worker leaned back in his chair, looking uninterested. "Because what’s left behind... isn’t always the entrance anymore."

The young black dragon smiled. That piqued his curiosity even more, and whatever little concern he had felt vanished. His mood changed quite quickly.

Without saying another word, he entered the dark cave, and with every step, the air grew heavier. The mana was steadily increasing.

It wasn’t an unpleasant sensation. It was... like slowly submerging yourself underwater.

Even though he had night vision, Noir couldn’t see a thing, as if something were completely blocking his view—and his senses as well. This made his body tense up slightly, since it was the first time he’d ever experienced this.

In total darkness, as if it were absorbing even the light from outside.

Arlene took a deep breath.

"Ready?

Noir nodded.

"Yes."

Uki responded with a little bark.

The golden sphere began to glow softly.

And then they kept moving forward; for a moment, nothing happened—there were no explosions or blinding flashes of light.

It was just... the world changed.

Noir felt the pressure of the mana disappear completely.

The air grew much colder. A soft sound, like the tinkling of thousands of tiny bells, reached his ears.

The young black dragon slowly opened his eyes and found himself no longer in the cave; instead, a vast forest stretched out before him.

But the strange thing was that none of the trees were made of wood; the trunks looked as if they had been carved from enormous blocks of transparent glass with faint shades of green and brown.

Inside them, streams of bluish light flowed slowly, as if liquid stars had replaced the sap.

The leaves weren’t really leaves either. Thousands of tiny, crystalline scales grew on the branches. Every time a breeze swept through the forest... the whole place began to sing.

It wasn’t a loud sound.

It was a melody.

It was so beautiful that for a few seconds, no one could speak. The ground was covered with completely white grass. Each blade was a tiny, translucent filament that reflected the sky.

And the sky... didn’t exist.

Huge shards of glass, as big as mountains, floated above their heads. They spun slowly in a deep blue void.

There was no sun.

There was no moon.

Only those gigantic formations illuminated the forest with a soft, otherworldly light.

Noir remained completely still. His eyes scanned every corner, and his Draconic Senses tried to make sense of the place.

They found absolutely nothing familiar. Not a single mana current functioned as it did in the outside world.

It was... another world.

Noir let out a little chuckle, and a smile slowly spread across her face.

"Well... this really is a dungeon."

Arlene slowly unfolded the old map the guild had given her.

Noir approached out of curiosity.

The path drawn on the map was supposed to continue straight for several hundred meters before reaching the first crystal lake.

He looked up.

In front of them... There was no trail. Just a vast, crystal-clear forest that blocked their path. And according to the map, the forest wasn’t supposed to be at the entrance, but on the third level.

The discrepancy between the map and what they were seeing was too great.

Arlene frowned and muttered.

"... This shouldn’t be happening. Dungeons don’t change that much; they have minor changes, like in the paths and such, but for a level to change this much... it’s strange."

Noir didn’t say anything; he remained silent. He had nothing to contribute. After all, this is his first time in a dungeon, and he can’t draw on his knowledge of novels.

Arlene let out a sigh:

"I’ll make a note of the changes."

As she began to correct the map, Noir scanned the forest with his Draconic Senses.

Everything still seemed strange to him. The mana continued to behave as it always had; it flowed among the trees, rising on the crystal trunks and descending along the roots.

As if the entire forest were breathing.

Then...

Something caught his attention.