Riven made his way to the guild. He managed to get in, and the entire place was crowded with people. He didn't bother with anyone, though, as he already knew the procedure to getting into a dungeon.
The first step was getting to the counter and getting a permit and a map from the guild. When a dungeon was found, only a select group of people could release permits, and the guild was one.
The map was simply for him to get to the dungeon faster, without having any detours or losing his way.
He got to the back of the long line and slowly waited his turn. As he stood there, he could hear the cacophony of different discussions all over the place, people saying this or that about what they would be doing in the dungeon.
He didn't pay much attention to it, though. He slowly made his way to the front of the line after waiting for a very long time.
He stood in front of the lady and showed his ID card. She took it safely, confirmed he was from the guild first.
"The dungeon permit is five copper coins, and plus the map that is six," she said, speaking in haste in order to get work done faster.
He handed the coins to her immediately, and she pulled out a slip of paper and the map. He grabbed both of them and walked out of the line, heading out.
"Hey kid, that slip might be a waste for you. Don't go dying in the dungeon, okay?" A man from his line spoke, his voice sounding like he had gravel in his throat.
Riven didn't pay attention to the man, though. He continued walking. He already knew that people would look down at him because of the fact that he was still a kid.
The man saw this and took it as pride. This little brat had the audacity to ignore him. He frowned, making sure to remember Riven whenever he saw him.
Riven walked out of the guild and immediately started heading for the forest. He made his way through the crowded street and through the gates of the town.
The path was littered with different parties and adventurers heading in the same direction as him. He even began to feel the extra coin for the map was useless, but that thought changed after they got into the forest and he could barely see anyone.
He held up the map and the permit. The permit was made on thick paper with the stamp of the guild right on it.
The map showed the direction he was to head in from where he entered. He had to read the whole map himself and be careful not to get lost.
Luckily, after walking for half an hour, he made it. He saw a clearing in the distance, with adventurers gathered around, stalls standing, selling different items to the adventurers.
And then there was the dungeon, a mighty stone door connected to a cave. In the story, dungeons appeared in a very unusual way, and their logos were crazy.
It spawned like an ancient structure that had always been there, when in reality it had not been there. Riven remembered a wiki that gave an explanation to the working of the dungeons.
The dungeons were ancient structures that existed on a parallel wavelength, overlapping the exact same location in this world—like an alternate dimension anchored to a fixed point. When certain conditions were met, that dimension briefly collides with this one, causing the dungeon to materialize in this reality.
But only Riven had this information. The people of this world simply believed it as a magically natural occurrence. They have tried to explain it, but with no progress—not until late into the story.
Riven headed to the gates. The men and women selling in stalls called out to him, trying to get him to buy what they had to sell, but Riven didn't pay attention, until one thing caught his eyes.
Spatial bags, made of leather. They could carry twice their size and they were relatively cheap. He could store the things he gets inside the bag.
He turned to the stall and walked up to the man that was selling.
"How much for a spatial bag?" he asked.
The man saw that Riven was a kid. His eyes shined with a sinister light as he called the price, "This bag costs forty copper coins."
Riven frowned immediately when he heard the price. This man was trying to extort him.
'This bag costs only ten. Calling forty because I am a kid is diabolical.'
"You think I don't know the price of the bag? Did you really think you could bully a kid into buying at such an exorbitant price?
You will sell it to me at the right price or I'll shout and let everyone know you want to extort a kid, and that will probably have your stall closed down.
I hate fuckers like you that cheat people out of their own money," Riven said, his eyes cold as he stared at the man.
The man was stunned by Riven's reaction. He didn't expect that this kid would be something else. He looked around in urgency to be sure that no one was watching, because if he did what he said he would do, his work would get shut down for sure.
"Fine, fine kid. You can take the bag for free, please just don't cause a scene for me," the man pleaded.
'What a joke. A real con artist would have done better. This one just gave up,' Riven thought. He took one of the bags and pulled out ten copper coins and placed it on the counter.
"I don't want your free gifts," he said and walked away.
After getting the bag, the next thing he needed was some food. He didn't know how long he would be inside, and also, a source of light, just in case.