The streets were filled with booths and stalls selling goods from around the world. The Castalix Kingdom was built upon the abandoned ruins of the once Souldew Village, destroyed long ago by the wrath of the Demigod of Reason.
Only his mother survived, given that she's once his mother, and spared her by making her the queen of a new empire led by the followers of reason itself.
But these followers were trained in magic. Magic is a gift to them, finding the reason they had it, and learned it was a thing gifted by the Gods themselves.
They wewere devotedollowers in that sense, training their magic day and night, becoming "Sages" of the Reason Demigod and soon helped make the settlement to be knknowns the Castalixs. Soon to be known as the CaCastalixingdom.
***
Ashter walked, despite being of royal descent, he was the son of the woman from long ago, who birthed two children, one of which already had a path in the form of trade, venturing many lands for riches before coming back here to aid in his mother's pursuits of building the kingdom. Through his connections, the man gained a significant amount of resources through said connections. Invited miners, builders, and others to build the kingdom from the ground up.
It took a long while b,ut it finally came to pass. The first manor and buildings were occupied and slowly but surely made the kingdom they now stand on.
But magic soon was honed. As time went on, people realized magic wasn't some demonic essence made by the beasts that roam b,ut soon accepted the gift and created spells.
Spells to make towering buildings, it revolutionized the world.
Great mages were made, and other kingdoms tried to destroy them, but their defenses were too strong.
But that led to a rise of mages from all across the world. The Castalix kingdom was known for titspassive nature, making indestructible barriers to keep them safe.
Before you knew it, people began to rise in power. Some tried to attack but failed.
Until one mage brought order, or more so...
The Demigod of Reason. Bringing enlightenment and knowledge to others, the young boy allowed others to have his secrets, and in return, never touched the kingdom again.
Even now, that very demigod rests in a temple deep underground. Their thirst for knowledge and the reason behind all things made them a rare sight when they come up to roam the kingdom. Sometimes even hundreds of years pass and thinks that a few hours past.
But as they witnessed the death of their mother, they soon recognized that their sense of time will forever be warped. Like the elves of this world. Intelligent creatures with long pointy ears and a long lifespan.
Ashter was one of these elves. Sporting the same pointy ears, his skin was a big darker than the normal paler elves and he had dark brown skin and green eyes. He definitely fits the bill of a beautiful elf but had the appearance of a noticeable human, making him half elf, half human.
Or more so a quarter elf as it grandmother was the elf in question.
Due to this, he had a great understanding of magic as elves are atuned to it, but a shorter lifespan than more due to the dilution in blood.
Elves tend to live around 10,000 years, but he as a hybrid lives around 2,000 years at average. The science behind elves are still a mystery even to the Demigod of Reason, a man who uses their nature like powers to spread their roots to the world. Some say that the demigod naps in a specially made pod that allows them to rest AND explore the world, continuing his late mother's work that started about a thousand years ago.
***
Ashter soon finds himself in a building, people talk, others get job offerings to major guilds, some even escort others.
"Ah, Ashter. Welcome back." Spoke a women, as Ashter places down a bag of stones, shining with mana,
"These are the stones he requested." He explained, as these stones are mana packed ores, that can be used to forge weapons, or uncommonly, jewelry.
"Perfect! Seems high quality too, did you enter the Forgotten Mines?" She wondered,
"Yes." He explained, as he was a elf capable of utilizing magic, and his favorite are the fire based ones.
"Impressive! Usually more experienced adventurers can enter those mines without a issue." She explained, counting the stones, measuring their purity, etc.
"..." Ashter however looked at a board. A adventurer has one of six rankings, F, E, D, C, B, and A. The highest, A, has three tiers to it before hitting S. Only ten appear every decade or so, and it's hard to get a "tier" or a "+" as that requires you to single handily face a high ranking dungeon that appears via entrances built by magic itself.
In ancient times, these things were EVERYWHERE, and since nobody monitored them, the monsters from within came out. Elves weren't from this world originally either, making Ashter's ancestor, the elves, otherworldly beings. Their passive nature and desire to live caused them to enter many kingdoms and offered peace treaties, even giving their daughters for marriage. Beautiful they were, despite their allien look, their eyes having no lids, their faces covered in small dots like freckles, their skin glows under moonlight, their hair was long and silky like a wave of water, and their ears too were a appearance many found awe inspiring. But as elves evolved, their more elegant appearance adapted to the climate and environment, becoming, not less elegant, but definitely more human like. Even now, the more general full blooded elf has silky hair, their freckles are gone, their eyes had lids to protect them from the sun, but they had a affinity for magic. Their understanding of it was immense even before entering the world. When gaining a education it only became better.
Elves also appeared after magic was accepted since then. Over a thousand years ago. But they also contributed to the rise of magical tools such as staffs, conduits, etc.
Back with Ashter...
"You wish to go dungeon diving?" Spoke the woman, handing him a pouch of coins,
"Yes. I have been developing more uses of my magic, so I want to test it out." He explained,
"The dungeon has a strike policy on solo venturing. Since you're of the C Rank, you can only solo venture in E and D Rank dungeons." She explained, as it takes a LOT of experience and skill to even venture into into a dungeon. Enough times is what's needed to boost your rank.
But doing so in a dungeon of your "experience" is a nono. The Demigod of Reason knows the limits and arrogance of mortals, so they placed those laws for that specific reason.
"Right." Ashter forgot such laws, as he asked,
"Is there a team willing to help me out?" He wondered, as she looked at a book, or more so the papers for team requests.
"... Many have their mages, but some might be..." She calls out,
"Justice Party, you here?" She calls out, as while others chat, a man comes up. He had two swords strapped to his sides, and a decently tall stature. Below six feet Ashter would like to assume.
"You called us?" Spoke the man, his armor bent in some places, it was worn out and had seen better days.
"This man wants to join you on your raids. He's a C Rank Mage utilizing fire magics." She explained, as the man nodded,
"We are made up of a few melee class fighters. I am Janus, the leader of the Justice Party." Janus introduced himself,
"Ashter, pleasure to be working with you." Ashter responds, as...
"Everyone, we have our fifth member!" Spoke Janus,
""A mage?" Spoke...
"You're a healer?" Spoke Ashter and a woman, her hair long and black, her eyes are yellow with the clothing of divine design. White and golden, she looked like a female priesst. On her neck is a necklace that has a gem flattered on her chest, a shining jewel radiating a magical power.
"Seems it's true, magic users have more keen senses than the normal person." Spoke Janus, chuckling even.
"This is our tank, Lukas."
"Sup." Lukas puts up a few fingers, his arms crossed. He was a HUGE man, bigger than Janus,
"Then here's our Beast Tamer, Fran." Janus introduced another, a girl who is seen besides a unique wolf like beast,
"Hey." She said, "chill" in a sense, her hair was tied in a ponytail and her body slightly scarred,
"A Beast Tamer..." Ashter looked, as Beast Tamers fight alongside beasts and uses their power in their physical form for combat. There's a maximum of five beasts someone can tame BUT their profession is hard to maintain due to the money needed to keep their beasts happy.
"Lola, our healer." Janus introduced Lola,
"Hello." She bows a bit,
"The name is Ashter." Ashter bows back,
Janus, Lukas, Fran, and Lola.
The Justice Party.
"Perfect!" The clerk smiled,
"Ashter here is a mage who utilizes fire magic and is a C Class Adventurer much like you four. So please do not expect nothing less from him." The clerk was fond of Ashter, as he was there talking about his day and vise versa, of which she gained many good news about the outside world as she amongst others are far too busy in the guild.
The Adventurers Guild. Made about a hundred years after magic was finally accepted as the norm in the world.
***
As the Justice Party walk to their dungeon provided to them, Lola said,
"I noticed you have pointy ears. Are you a elf?" Lola wondered, causing the others to take notice of her remark,
"Oh." Ashter touches said ears, they weren't LONG long but half the length of normal elf ears.
"Y-Yeah, my grandmother is a elf." His grandmother is still alive living in the Grove, a land inhabited by elves. Some live in kingdoms, but not all, and Ashter just so happen to get the directions to find her from her personal messenger, a unique bird who gave Ashter the map to the Grove.
A land filled with elves, it's a magical world where elves first came out of dungeons formed via caves. These dungeons seem to give birth to such creatures like the elves. But with proper cultivation the Grove was born. A field type dungeon in a sense.
***
Soon they are at a dungeon, the cave normal as per the dungeon's looks. As Janus looked at it...
"Seems we got the right one." He explained,
"?" Ashter was confused, how did he know...
"Hm?" Fran however noticed the confusion on Ashter's face. Throughout his time as a Adventurer, he was guided and shown where the dungeon is. But this time... Others figured it out just as quickly.
"Janus was once a scout in another party. So he has a decent understanding of dungeons and has a eye for what is in them." She smiled, as Ashter nodded,
"Rouf!" But the beast barked,
"Hehe, and my little Tari can tell too. Flyhounds are pretty awesome." She pets the Flyhound.
Flyhounds, dog like creatures with fly-like traits. It had four eyes, the fluffy body of a dog, and small fly wings.
"Uh huh..." But Ashter steps a bit away, a bit freaked out by the Flyhound due to him not seeing such beast.
"Alright, remember. This dungeon is said to have sand like monsters. Worms, lizards, spiders, even scorpions. Make sure you're prepared for one hell of a sting." Janus explained, as the group nodded, soon walking into the dungeon, prepared for the raid.