Chapter 8: The Art Of Scavenging
In Nexaria, the primary way of levelling up was through constant grind in dungeons. It was pretty simple: you enter a dungeon, find monsters to kill, take their loot and get out.
Once outside, you could either sell the goods or keep them for yourself. Either way, the loot would come in handy and was a bonus for killing the monsters, but the primary objective remained the same: gaining levels.
After all, the higher one's level was, the stronger they were, and one often had access to a plethora of skills unless one had a singular skill-focused class such as an Analyst.
While the workings of a dungeon were pretty simple, getting alive out of one was a challenging task. Even if one survived the monsters within the dungeon, there were other dangers one had to consider.
But to understand that, one had to be aware of different participants in a dungeon.
First came the Divers. These were the 'official' participants allowed inside a dungeon through legal means, either by paying a fee or being commissioned for specific quests, such as exploration or subjugation.
Porters were the group that followed the Divers inside the dungeon. While they lack combat capabilities, they more than make it up in other sectors, primarily resource management and as an information broker.
As long as the Porters were with the Divers, the latter did not have to worry about anything other than fighting the dungeon monsters. Before dying, this was the role Adrian primarily filled for his guildmates.
In rare cases, there would be another support unit following the Divers called Extractors. Their expertise was in uncovering rare resources and minerals in some dungeons.
Their contributions mainly extended beyond combat, adding an economic dimension to dungeon exploration. These units were responsible for making the most out of a venture inside the dungeon, and they were so important that not every guild had access to such units.
Unfortunately, not everyone who enters a dungeon has pure intentions, and that's when Invaders and Plunderers come into the picture.