Chương 2: Dungeon Student

Please excuse the shortest chapter in the book. The Grand Frame's ranking system is unfortunately not a topic that has a great deal of depth. To be clear, the list of ranks is simple. It is divided into two groups of five. The first group consists of elemental ranks. Starting off at the base of Iron, mages can advance through Silver, Gold, Adamantine, until they reach Mithril. Beyond this point, the mage is said to be on the path of apotheosis, which is why the second group consists of the ascension ranks.

After Mithril, a mage becomes Exalted. They then proceed through Titan, Primordial, Empyrean, before finally reaching the pinnacle of the Grand Frame's assignations—Transcendent. Basics of Ranks History of the Grand Frame High Academ Silver L. Ryland's Glyph of Perception wasn't just Inscribed on his hand to warn him about other presences. He was also using it as a Subglyph on [Translocate]. Essentially, it was there to warn about the nature of the rift's target location.

This nature included, among other things, the presence—or impending presence—of other entities. Living beings he'd need to interact with or be wary of or ensure he didn't accidentally slice in half with his rift. Of course, there was a certain "level" up to which life was detected by the Subglyph of Perception. Ryland couldn't reasonably note every germ floating in the air or every blade of grass he might step on.

But it was enough to stop him from quashing random bugs and anything bigger, which was usually sufficient. As such, when Ryland stepped through his rift, he received an immediate alert that something was coming. A simple confirmation of what the Glyph of Perception in its Inscribed form had indicated earlier. The boy arrived with a simple spell burning next to him. A Tier [2] [Pyrelight] acted like a candle to light up the area around him, giving him a strange painterly appearance in the dungeon's dimness.

Ah, right. Where Ryland didn't have any problems seeing thanks to his Inscribed Glyphs and naturally superior eyesight, the same wouldn't be true for everyone else. And then the boy asked a rather funny question. Funny, because Ryland had thought it would be some monstrous denizen of the dungeon. Not a gangly, bespectacled youth who couldn't have been more than thirteen or fourteen.

"Do I truly look like a denizen of this dungeon?" Ryland asked with genuine curiosity. The boy blinked at Ryland. Ryland deliberated carefully for a moment, then tried blinking back in sequence. Blinks and pauses were an archaic form of communication, but timelessly effective. When he had first started journeying through the Realms, he had been surprised to discover just how prevalent that specific form of nonverbal communication was. Although, hand signs were still the superior method.

Right now, however, the boy's meaning escaped Ryland. Too many blinks in too short a time, and then the pauses went on for far too long… Oh. The boy wasn't trying to tell Ryland something. Or rather, the only thing he was trying to communicate was the fact that he was surprised. By what, though? Well, there was the obvious fact of Ryland's presence, of course. But even beyond that, he pondered what it was about his returned question thathad caused confusion. It had surely been phrased in a clear-cut manner. Unless…

He had noted that the boy's dialect had been a little off. While Ryland had recognized the clear Androvian, there were certain qualities about it which were different from the local language he was used to. Which in turn meant the version of Androvian that Ryland was speaking had to be off to the boy in turn. It made sense. Ryland hadn't been to the Realm of Vyrd, much less in the nation of Androvia, for centuries now.

No doubt the years had shaped and changed language in ways Ryland didn't even have the faintest clue about. He almost shuddered imagining what sort of slang could have become popular now.

"If you're not a dungeon monster…" The boy looked away, eyes moving rapidly as his thoughts were clearly awhirl.

"Then, do you know why there are no dungeon monsters?"

"Possibly," Ryland said.

"But to be truly sure, we would need to find and interrogate one of the dungeon denizens, though they aren't usually very talkative as far as I'm aware. For all we know, they could have all gone on holiday." The boy stared at him.

"It was a joke," Ryland reassured. If anything, that just made him stare even harder. Ah. Right. Ryland's journeys tended to be on the more reclusive side, so his social skills had a tendency to deteriorate over time. He was forced to rebuild them later, of course, like a shanty after a hurricane. Only to get pummelled into disrepair when he went wandering all over again. Ah, well. At the very least, it kept him on his toes.

"I shouldn't have been able to run all this way by myself but I didn't face any obstacles whatsoever," the boy said. His navy robes were a bit too big on him and his unruly hair flapped as he gesticulated vigorously.

"Wait no, that doesn't matter. We—no, you still need to get out of here. This is a Gold-ranked dungeon!"

"Ah, so dungeons have ranks here too?" Ryland asked.

"Interesting. Are you Gold-ranked, then? But no, you only just stated you shouldn't have been able to come this far on your lonesome. Which suggests you're weaker. Hmm, allow me to guess. Are you perhaps Silver-ranked?" At least, he assumed the next lower rank before Gold was Silver. That seemed natural. Ryland would need to learn the entire list of ranks. Maybe his new young companion would be happy to enlighten him. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

Although… he admittedly wasn't looking rather happy at the moment. Mostly, he just looked puzzled.

"Of course the Grand Frame ranks everything. And no…" He flushed.

"I'm not Gold-ranked. Y et. I'm still just an Iron-ranked." He frowned from behind his glasses.

"The only reason a student from the academy made it this far is because the dungeon seems… suppressed?"

"Academy?" Ryland asked brightly. That patch on the boy's chest was looking familiar.

"Arcoryx, yes?" That got him a weird look, along with the nod.

"Are you Gold-ranked? Uh, sir?" Apparently, hurried though he might be, he was trying to remember his manners. What a nice lad.

"I am not Gold-ranked yet either," Ryland said, very dejectedly. That got him an even weirder look.

"Then what in the world are you doing here?"

"Well, if you must know." Ryland cleared his throat and took a deep breath, then spoke quickly.

"I hail from Realm twenty-two—oh, sorry. You probably know of it as Sederth. Or, I suppose you might not know since it's not in the Accords. Anyway, I found the piece of myself I was seeking there and managed to stop the meteor strike it had called down. Now, with that done, I rifted here to Vyrd, in search of more pieces before they cause grievous—" The boy politely interrupted with a cough into his fist. He had a somewhat blank, confused look on his face. Maybe Ryland had been speaking a bit too fast.

"I'm sorry sir, but I really need to get going." There were hints of a pitying look on his face, one that the boy was clearly trying to unsuccessfully hide. Ryland wasn't quite sure what that was supposed to me— Ah. The boy thought Ryland was certifiably insane. It was a reasonable conclusion, all things told. He spoke oddly, he was present somewhere he wasn't supposed to be, and his mannerisms were probably extremely weird to someone who hadn't been a social pariah for several decades straight.

From most perspectives, someone like Ryland would appear as, if not a dodgy fellow, then at least someone who had lost a few of his mental faculties. Someone who had lost his way and wandered into a surprisingly harmless dungeon.

"Are you seeking something?" Ryland asked.

"The dungeon's treasure, perhaps? Of course, if you must go, please don't remain here merely on my account. Although, I'd still recommend against being too hasty. Deliberation is important, after all." Credit to the boy, he didn't once interrupt Ryland despite having stated earlier that he had to leave.

"I'm looking for… I am looking for a treasure. My cat. He got lost in the dungeon and I'm trying to find him before something bad happens to him." A pang of sorrow wormed up from Ryland's guts. His Glyph of Perception hadn't sensed any other living creatures save for this boy. Which meant that… No. Not necessarily. The dungeon had barely picked up the living denizens within as they were most likely suppressed, as the boy put it. Maintaining a low profile on purpose.

This suggested that the boy's cat might very well be too suppressed to detect as well.

"Since the dungeon is in a subdued state," Ryland said encouragingly.

"We can hope that your cat is fine too." He had smiled brightly as he had said so, nodding to further impress the hope he felt. Unfortunately, the boy didn't see it that way at all.

"I…" His face screwed up, guilt flashing in his bespectacled eyes.

"I shouldn't have let it come to something like this. It's all my fault. I need to find him."

"And I'm sure you—""I'm sorry, sir, but I really do have to go." He turned, throwing his next words over his shoulder.

"Please leave this place as soon as you can. I'm sure you'll be fine. The dungeon is inactive, after all, for whatever reason. All the better for me, I guess." He began hurrying away.

"My name's Viren, by the way. I'll see you outside, sir!" The boy left before Ryland could say anything further. He hadn't even bothered to wait for any offers of help. Understandable. Since Ryland was an unknown and potentially deranged quantity, the boy—Viren—didn't really have a great deal of reason to trust him. At least when it came to matters that required a good deal of competence. Such as finding a cat before it came to any harm within a dungeon.

It felt a mite rude to leave Ryland like that, but then, he had seemed stressed out of his young mind at the end there. The poor boy was probably in a right state. A good thing that the dungeon was essentially defunct, so they should all be safe. Nevertheless, having tried to explain himself, Ryland was of the belief that he was owed a bit of time and explanation in turn. This Grand Frame sounded fascinating.

He had learned many names for many systems across the Realms, so he was left questioning just how grand this Grand Frame actually was. [WARNING: Anomalous ascension detected Consequence evaluated. Ascension of entity has broken all reasonable rate expectations. Entity's anomalous, spatiotemporal properties have taken advantage of current architecture. RESTRICTION: Entity now restricted from any further achievements associated with breaking established temporal records. CORRECTION: In return, Entity's experience towards new ranks has been doubled.] Ryland stared at the new blue screen from the system. No, the Grand Frame, as Viren had called it. Had it… Had it just stopped him from ever earning time-record-breaking achievements ever again? That was exactly what it read like. Ryland wasn't particularly disappointed. If anything, getting a constant stream of notifications about doing this or that faster than anyone on Vyrd ever had would grow old in about two days at best.

He had only gotten one other achievement so far, but he suspected there was a wide variety of them out there, so he'd be forgetting about this restriction soon enough. Not that he had room to complain what with his experience gain apparently getting a boost. It also made him wonder if anyone else had ever grown so fast that the Grand Frame had very overtly said that was enough. Honestly, that felt like an incredible achievement on its own. Still. Ryland was suffering a bit of whiplash.

First Viren and his missing cat, now the Grand Frame setting down very exacting rules about his progress. Had the system actually waited until his conversation with Viren had ended before thrusting that glowing window at him? That seemed far too respectful. Far too aware. He had so many questions. So many things he'd like to figure out once things had calmed down a bit. But that was it. With his little diversion now done, he needed to get going. Assuaging his curiosity could come later.

Intrigued though Ryland was as to the rest of Viren's circumstance and the changes in Vyrd he was unfamiliar with, he had come to this dungeon with a goal in mind. It wouldn't do to remain distracted from said goal for too long. Right now, he was traversing a weird little dungeon. If he tarried too long, he'd be sliding down the throat of another Calamity. Plus, the boy would be fine. As they had both realized, the dungeon had chosen to remain cautious.

It didn't matter to Ryland either way, but it was a nice boon for Viren. So, Ryland resumed his business. The next magic Ryland called up was his Glyph of Questing. New magic burned into the air, a brand of power impressing itself upon reality. Less curls, more lines, save for the primary circle that made the Glyph look a little bit like a compass. The tapered top of the Glyph pointed in the exact direction Ryland needed to go, so he resumed his journey.

A Glyph of Questing, especially one that was at Tier [21] like Ryland's, would always point to whatever it was that the caster sought. It didn't matter how unattainable or how far away the target seemed. For instance, Ryland had set his to seek out the heart of the dungeon, its core, and his Glyph pointed in the direction he had to go. Ryland noted more evidence of the dungeon's supposed suppression as he kept walking. He passed by an area littered with holes where something should have come shooting out.

A suspiciously long hallway stretched off into the distance, one that was perfect for a boulder to run through and squish unwary delvers. It actually made Ryland frown. Were mundane traps really the kind of thing he even wanted a dungeon born from a piece of himself to contain? Actually, why did he even care about what it held when it was likely going to end up getting destroyed by the time he was done here? The real issue was the way Ryland was forced to turn around every now and then.

His Glyph kept switching the direction it pointed in every few minutes. Ryland had known trying to use his rifts would be pointless because the location of the dungeon's core wouldn't stay the same for long. But the core's movement brought with it a realization he arrived at rather belatedly. If it was moving, then it wasn't really suppressed or subdued any longer, was it? There was a slight shiver in the air as he got moving, the slightest of tremors rippling across the walls and the floor.

Without Ryland's keen senses, thanks to his Inscribed Glyph of Proprioception, he probably wouldn't have felt it. But he had. And it didn't bode well. Not for Viren and his cat, if the dungeon was waking up. It seemed Ryland would need to hurry.