Rise of the Legendary Emperor

Chapter 180: Entering the dungeon

"The key"

An old man with a staff beside the guards asked Don and Arrora as Don showed his key.

Arrora noticed the life energy wrapping around the key and after a few seconds, the old man nodded.

"You may enter"

The guards opened the gate and let them in.

"Wear your ring like a chain"

Don removed his space ring from his finger and attached it to the silver chain on his chest as Arrora did the same.

Don saw a line of elders sitting on the stage while groups of three people standing at the ground. Some groups seemed to have their own fancy tents while others sat on comfy sofas made of life energy.

Fortunately for Don, he saw some groups standing at the far corner of the ground without mingling with rich looking groups.

While waiting for the event to start, Don noticed many familiar faces like Rosaline, Aster, Chase, Amara, and the youth who King Edward called Timothy and the Coldfield sibling.

"Are searching for someone?"

Arrora asked when she saw DOn seemed like searching for someone

"No"

She could swear that he seemed like searching for someone.

"Hey, did you know that the Cold Moon Palace has two keys?"

Some noble youth asked his friend as Don and Arrora couldn't help but overhear the conversation

"Yes, someone auctioned two keys not too long ago"

"Who would do such a thing? A single ancient artifact from the dungeon would be more valuable the amount that the key was sold"

DOn found a tint of mockery in the youth's voice 

"If you ask me, whoever sold that key made the right move, you won't know for sure that you can survive a day inside the dungeon let alone finding an ancient artifact and bringing it back"

"Then why are you entering?"

"What else? For glory and women"

"Can't argue with that"

Arrora raised her brows and shook her head

"I'm going to find a good spot inside the dungeon and I will stay there until it opens again, then I will return to the land of the living and have sex with a group of livelies in my kingdom like there's no tomorrow and they will do it happily since I will be a hero in their eyes"

The youths started to laugh probably dreaming about their return

"Quite a brilliant"

Don praised the youth but Arrora was surprised to hear him

"That's brilliant in your eyes? Your majesty"

Her eyes showed a tint of annoyance and irritation

"He's practical, the odds of him surviving the dungeon without searching for something is pretty great, he seems like he knows his capability and strength as well as his weakness.if he did what he said, he would be called as a hero in his kingdom, people would line up to marry their daughters to him and scheming misses would do anything for him "

"I find it gross and disgusting"

"It's not if I don't have any goals in my life, I would probably do the same too"

Don would often think that how it will be to live a normal life without those nightmares or anger or the drive to take revenge. A long time ago, he didn't want anything but a small house near a beautiful lake and a quiet life with someone who loves him. However now it seemed like an unreachable dream as he could never think of a happy ending for him.

Arrora noticed the flash of gloom appeared on his face for a moment 

"What will you do after reaching those goals of yours?"

"I don't know, if I survive that long, I'd love to think about that"

Arrora frowned

"What're you talking about? You're the most powerful person I know"

She spoke quietly as Don shook his head

"That doesn't mean I'm invincible"

Hearing Don, she glanced around to see if there is anyone looking at them and realizing that there's no one, she put her hand on Don's shoulder

"If someone wants to kill you, they have to go through me, don't forget that"

Don nodded at her as she took her hand away.

"And I need to ask you something?"

Don noticed she's looking at Amara's tent and already guessed her question

"You can but only if there's no witness around"

"Thank you, you're the best"

Arrora's male smile looked weird but Don didn't mind and continued to wait for the dungeon to open.

"Champions, step forward and form a line"

After waiting fifteen minutes or so, they heard a voice as they all moved forward and stood in a line.

On the stage, Don saw the man who called them was a middle-aged man with a short beard, and on his chest, he noticed the crest of the Cold Moon Palace and the people standing behind him had various crests on their chest.

"I'm Djeferson Baudelaire, the head of the Dungeon Keepers and most of you may know me as the sect leader of the Cold Moon Palace"

Few youths including Rosaline clapped as he continued

"The portal before you will open in a few minutes and before that, as your elder and the survivor of the last session, I'm obliged to give you some tips that might save your lives in there but before that"

Djeferson looked at the old man who asked the ancient key from Don at the gate came holding a tray.

"You're not allowed to enter the dungeon with your own space rings, so if you have one, remove it and place it on the tray along with the name of your next kin or a friend, you'll get it back when you return and if you didn't, we'll give the ring to the person you've mentioned"

Don noticed some of them removing and placing their space rings on the tray with a note as soon, the old man came before Don and Arrora.

"I don't have a space ring"

The old man didn't say anything but he felt a wave of energy scanning him for a moment.

The feeling disappeared as the old man nodded and walked past from Don to Arrora.

"Me too, I dont have one"

Unlike Don who faced the old man calm and cool, Arrora's heartbeat slightly increased when the old man looked at her but fortunately, the old man didn't find her space ring too.

Eventually, the old man had gone somewhere taking all the space rings as Djeferson spoke

"it's time for the last rule, we have already announced the age limit to enter the dungeon when we distributed the keys, if you're older than age twenty-eight, leave the area, or if you wish to try your luck, we dont give a damn because, the moment you step into the portal you'll die, horribly"

It was a common rule in most places that Don entered in the divine continent as only the youths were allowed to enter and many elders would try to enter along with the youths with the help of some potions and pills but most places with valuable treasures would have a safety mechanism to prevent those people.

Hearing Djeferson, it seemed like this place too has a safety mechanism to prevent the people who exceed the age limit from entering.

Surprisingly he saw no one leaving the ground while the old man who collected the space ring came back with new space rings.

"Take one"

The old man repeated the two words to everyone as each took a ring.

"Thank you"

After the last person took the ring, the old man disappeared to somewhere again.

"Now that we have taken care of the procedures, I can finally give you some advice, first, the space ring in your hand has only a limited amount of space, so use it wisely, take only what you absolutely need, personally I don't agree with giving a ring with a limited amount of space, but my colleagues felt that someone resourceful would clean out the dungeon without leaving the treasures to the future generations"

Arrora smiled inside because she knew that Don and Knight had the rings with enormous space, moreover, they had more space rings inside their rings.

" If you pursue the alchemy, don't take the battle-related items, in other words, don't be an idiot"

Some of them laughed, some of them looked grumpy hearing Djeferson.

"My next advice is, don't waste your time fighting with others inside, the dungeon is not a battleground. Stick with your companions, work with others because while you were wasting your time fighting, someone would use their time to fill their space ring with items and valuables"

Although the advice he had just given was a good one, Don knew that these arrogant people like Rosaline would never work together with others.

"I know some of you like to fight when the first chance you geet but know this, the dungeon would suppress your cultivation level to the master level, so if you're thinking of showing your battle prowess, think again"

Hearing Djeferson, Don got slightly irritated because they should have made these rules and restrictions public without keeping them as secrets till the last moments.

"The dungeon will stay open for a month of time from now but inside the dungeon, it will be only seven days and after seven days, you will be stuck inside it forever if you don't reach the final gate, inside your space ring,you'll find the compass pointing at the final gate and the timer, so don't lose them unless you want to stay inside"

Djeferson gave everyone a few moments to check their space rings while Don acted like he was checking it since he couldn't use life energy to open the space ring.

"And lastly, if you survive till the last day in the dungeon, you will get the chance to meet the representatives of the sects and academies in the empire, so if you're not a student and like to join one, you will have the chance to choose your fancied sect or an academy, if you survive that is "

Don wasn't interested in joining a sect as he had too much on his plate to play student.

Just as he finished talking, the portal gates started to vibrate and shake the ground beneath them.

"The portal is opening champions, I wish you all the best and may the great ones be with you inside, you may walk into the portal "