Kalkin's POV:

Right now, I am sitting in the transport, it's kinda like army trucks I had seen in historical movies set around the time of 2030s, but it's different in the sense that it's far more spacious and bigger and rather than using petroleum which was I think a popular chemical back in 2030s, this utilizes ether stones and is enchanted with all types of protection magic and soundproof barriers than become active upon the Captain's approval and if I didn't mention they are fast a hell lot faster than those old mechanical junks of 2030.

The interior of a group's transport showcases how the company supports/sponsors them as well as the respective wealth of the team. Compared to my team's transport this one feels a lot more peaceful as if there is an order established and no one will dare to oppose it and I don't know why but it has a royal feel to it, probably due to Captain Paul belonging to the Aristocrat family and the 4 members of his team are children of his father's council of support. It's like as Captain Paul is grooming to become the Head of his Adam's Family, these 4 members are also grooming themselves to become the Council of Support in the future.

These people are :

1. Jacob Smith: The Aristocrat's Bodyguard and right-hand. He is a bit stoic and feels everything said by Paul is a command that he needs to follow till his death. He is the fighter(tank) of their group proficient in many hand-to-hand combat skills and I guess he was trained from a young age as a mercenary too.

2. Samantha Ruth: She handles the finance and budget of the group and in the future maybe the budget of Adam's Family. She likes Paul but cannot confront him. I think Paul likes her too but likes to play dumb to see her advances. She advances in the use of magic especially attributes alluded to natural surrounding like earth, wind, and fire. She is currently learning about water magic since it would greatly reduce the burden and time of searching for water on the upper floors.

3. Prashant Massey: He is like the jack of all trades. He like Paul is the Mana User of the group but is also proficient in the use of some strength-enhancing magic and hand-to-hand combat. He is the one out of the 4 that Paul trusts the most, probably due to him being the son of Paul's Dad Dave Adam's butler and he is currently grooming to become one himself in my opinion.

4. Marissa Holmes: She is the main healer of the group. Her job is mainly the healer but she can use other magic types too like ice magic and shadow magic, ya I know it seems, very different set of skills but it's not unusual since her family in the past used to carry out assassinations requests of Adam's family or were the 'shadow bodyguards' of various Heads of Adam's family. It is well-known fact that if a member of the Shadow family( Holmes is just one of the many Shadow families they are the ones that are quite public about their jobs and skills, the other Shadow families are relatively unknown and prefer to live in silence) support some Aristocrat, that means that Aristocrat is or will be a huge deal. The Holmes family is also one of the few Shadow Families that openly support an Aristocratic family or faction and if they are openly supporting Paul then he will become the head of Adam's family in the future. 

I think this is the reason why there is so much silence and order in this transport, unlike mine where it feels more dangerous than the dungeon itself. It's not like it's physically dangerous but my captain Samuel is always training and forcing us to train with him as well. I just don't understand how Captain Paul and Samuel became close friends.

Other members of this group are Nathan( the muscle head), Shreya( attack-type magician), Rena( attacker and axe-wielder),  Mapa( mana user), and Rebecca( Sword-master's disciple). These guys do not belong to any Aristocratic Family and are the commoners of the group. It's not like they're treated any differently, their pay rate and accessibility are the same as the rest of the group, it's just that their family didn't have any notable explorers till now so they are trying to establish their family names too.

It's an excellent team consisting of every type of attack and defense group. Despite Jacob being the sole tank of the team he is strong enough to handle Nathan, Shreya, and Rebecca at the same time and can also withstand mana attacks from Paul and Mapa combined.

Well I know one thing for sure Paul and Samuel are not like heirs of other aristocratic families, they are helpful, caring, and polite to commoners like me and Nathan who didn't have the wealth to learn different martial arts and fighting styles which were necessary to improve our future as the fighter of the respective groups, they shoulder our responsibility and sponsor our weapons and armors too when they need to be repaired and maintained otherwise we wouldn't be able to cope up with the increasingly dangerous dungeons.

Since some time is left till we reach the location, I am gonna sleep, see Nathan he is already snoring, this guy will die in the practice match today with Paul, I let out a devilish smile before dosing off myself.

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'Oye, Kalkin wake up we'll leave you here if you don't wake up" Nathan shouted from outside the transport. 

I came out slowly, half sleepish "don't shout, you muscle head," I said trying to re-collect my thoughts, " Ah! fuck, I need to run to my team's base, Hey Nathan, pass my Thank you to Paul and he saved me today, you guys best of luck, " I said as I was starting to run away.

"Don't go dying in the dungeon today, Kalkin, our fight is still not over," said Nathan smiling while fist-bumping me. I also couldn't hold my smile " You too" and I started running to my camp's meet-up point. 

Since Paul's team will be handling the upper grade of the level 3 dungeons, they were allowed to use the exclusive training hall for 3 days straight starting today to assess the level of their team and if possible upgrade any player's level in the meantime to properly prepare for the dungeon. Well, Knowing Paul, he is pretty meticulous and cautious when it comes to his team, unlike a Captain I know who leaves his teammate in the company's station to be carried by another team's transport! am I just dead weight to him? or am I equipment that he forgot and asked his friend to bring along with him?  

As I was thinking, I reached the meet-up point and was met with a fireball aimed at my face but luckily dodged it. "Hey! Sara, play ice-bat and Fireball with Nick somewhere else, I shouted with all my strength, knowing they both have the bad habit of getting pretty serious in this game."

Well, it was a plan that Captain Samuel came up with to increase their magic prowess, However, rather than telling them the method as a part of training, he uses it to earn money from the locals near the dungeons effectively creating a show, the by-product of which is that Sara and Nick's magic becomes strong. Well, it feels as if Captain Samuel allows us to intentionally create wildness in the group as if we are like circus animals and he is the ring leader. An image of the Evil Ring leader and innocent cubs( Sara and Nick) dancing as the Leader instructs them to, came to my mind and I just couldn't hold my laughter.

" What are you laughing about, king kong?", a woman about my age walked up to me. She is none other than the witch of our group( I mean technically she is not a witch but most of her spells involve inflicting damage on one's mind like controlling them, charming them, etc or something absolutely lethal), Diana. Well, it's her habit she acts all dangerous as if she has a dark side about her but frankly, she is just totally in love with the Captain, its kinda more on the perverted* side. Her family in the old times used to be like secret weapons of the kingdoms, kings, or members of opposite factions. Their task was to make their target smitten with them and when they would get close to them, they would either control them using magic or straight-forward poison them. The greatest thing about their poison is that it cannot be traced as soon as the victim dies the poison also evaporates from the body. Depending upon the order of the person they swore their loyalty to, that target can be slowly poisoned or have an immediate effect, they would also marry the target and have children if it meant completing the tasks. Thus, her family is ostracized and despised, despite being a part of Aristocratic families, and now, even though they claim to have let go of their old past, still, people find it difficult to trust them as most of their family still practice spells that have dark attributes. But she is someone I trust, it may seem difficult but on the inside, no one values the importance of friendship and comradeship more than her. And this is the very reason that she gets on my nerve as it's difficult to understand her if not for Captain Samuel I wouldn't have ever seen her soft side and now that she knows that I know she tries to act all the more tough and dark with me and it is frustrating cause I have to pretend the same way too otherwise she resolves to cast a headache spell on me and it hurts like hell for days. So here goes my acting :

" Nothing for you to be concerned about, 'b**ch' "She noticed my wordplay about how witch became b**ch, I sometimes don't get how I am such an intelligent person!

( ******That's not a joke Kalkin really thinks of himself as cool and intelligent-- a little side note for help from the author***********)

"Oh I get it you are seeing Sara and Nick and thinking about how you were also one of his circuses shows right during your first year here, ya I mean they are definitely far more gullible than you, you only took 8 months, and 5 days to realize this, right," she said smirking.

" What do you mean, I was never one of Captain's Jungle circus," I said not believing her even for a second!

" Oh! I guess you are dumber than I thought you were, and here I thought I was impressed by your intelligence" she said trying to hold back her laughter.

"He made you do his laundry for 8 months, made you a bait to attract monsters in the dungeon, and made you carry all the equipment and survival kits of the group"

"It was because I am a fighter, I need to train my muscles and he made me do laundry and other household chores because they are necessary exercises that help in stretching and strength management, and ......." As I kept talking, those scenarios started playing in my mind and I started sweating as realization struck me,...

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Diana's POV:

   Oh! poor Kalkin, that was the only thought that came to my mind, I can now see him sulking and pulling his hair out as if he lost all his senses. Well, it's his fault for being so clueless. Well, I just can't fathom the intelligence of my Captain, did I just call him my,.........

Oh! Captain, he is so cool, his face so stoic and calm, his body, his strong muscles, ...

I am feeling so hot! just by remembering his face!

 When he first met me and said " You from now on, you are mine ..... I trust you, let's ...... together" she started smiling and was totally lost in her thoughts.

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It wasn't like what Diana remembers, what the captain told her was "From now on, you are my* teammate and I want you to trust me as much as I trust you, let's keep working hard together"

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Captain Samuel's POV:

I could hear someone shouting outside my camp, his sound is familiar I went outside:

"Oye, Kalkin didn't I order you to report to me as soon as you came here, Paul already called and informed me about them reaching here at 9:30 in the morning, it's almost the time for dungeon exploration now!"

" And what happened to Diana, she is drooling and smiling and totally in her own thoughts"

" Can't you hear me, Kalkin, I am speaking to you"

"Captain, I will kill you, you made your work mule, take my fist of fury" shouted Kalkin as he leaped towards me with his fist glowing with power. 

"CALM DOWN, YOU IDIOT, and EVERYBODY GATHER HERE NOW" I shouted in anger as I punched Kalkin's head into the ground and made him unconscious.

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Kalkin's POV :

I could hear someone saying "So, this is our plan, we will divide into multiple groups, ......"

After some time:

Ah, where am I, ah! my head hurts I think I punched Captain or not, I slowly opened my eyes and saw that I was tied down and my team members were planning to separate into smaller groups?

"Oh! I see you are awake now Kalkin, so we are going with exploration plan C since this dungeon is like a maze and has several entry points, we are dividing ourselves into groups of 2, it's me and you, Sara and Nick, Diana and Nitin, Vidya and Prerna & finally Patrick and Lara.

"I am stuck with you again Captain, ahh! fine by me, today I will defeat you and finally show you my strength, I have the extra motivation today, I just found out you used me for fucking 8 months as your work mule!

"It took you f**king 3 years to find out but that's not the problem right now, we need to move fast we are already behind schedule because of you, it's already 10:45 we are inside the dungeon now! and one more thing,  you still cannot beat me you were unconscious for the whole 40 minutes by my punch I didn't even use my mana to punch you, thanks Nitin later for carrying you all the way to split up point! " said my Captain as he untied me and passed me my gloves and sword. I like to wield my 'deathonator' sword, actually, I am proficient in multiple forms of weapons, like short swords, long swords, flat swords, and even spears with both ends pointed and it was me who named my sword 'deathonator' cause it's an ultimate weapon, it takes the shape of whatever weapon I want to use but right now I am not strong enough to properly use that function so it's usually what my sword wants to fight as, today it's behaving like a heavy sword so that's how I will have to fight today like a tank and critical damage dealer.
My sword is actually a unique-grade weapon, I mean it's not a great weapon but different from other types, generally, weapons do not have a consciousness and allow the user to wield its power from the start and the amount of power it displays determines it's grade, the range is as follows along with the allotted grade to the weapon:

low(E)<mid-low(D-)<mid(D)<mid-high(D+)<high(C)<high-super(C+)< Great(B)<rare(A)< Special(S).

These are known grades, there are weapons that are even higher grades like S+, S++, or SS but anything above C+ is not possible to wield by adventurers like me who are still new to the dungeon world(it's my 1st year to have properly become an explorer, and 3 years since I became an adventurer)

My weapon classifies as 'unique', which means that it has a consciousness of its own but his grade is still C, it can go up to C+ if I apply some enhancements but that's his range, it can't go any higher and I have never ever met his consciousness so I don't know if it really has one or its just due to the fact that it can transform into multiple weapons that made the Graders think of it having a consciousness!

"Hey!, Captain how did you come up with this distribution of members? I often wonder how you picked us up from the training camps what was your thought? Unlike Captain Paul, who has his own Council and talented members, you picked us people who are like wildfire despite being the Head of your Powell Family?" I asked the captain since I am actually amazed by his knowledge and strategic planning.

"Well, I am actually amazed that you can think, " said Captain

This guy really knows how to get on my nerves but I still asked in a calm tone, why don't you tell me how you picked us up?

"Well, it was partly because no other team wanted you and partly due to the fact that I am confident in my abilities to raise your potential and make this team the strongest in the whole of Dungeon giants, we have counter to every possible situation, we can split and work independently doesn't matters if we split into groups of 2 or 4,  we can also work as a group, we can act as explorers as well have raw strength enough to take down dungeon bosses, we can perform rescue operations too, I mean our team is the whole package you know, we just need to strengthen ourselves to the max and then we will become the undefeatable," Samuel proclaimed proudly! There is no need to shout Captain we are the only 2 people here, even our team members have gone into the respective tunnels assigned to them.

"Oye, you idiot, don't try to act smart with me, we are also going in, whose fault it was in the first place that got delayed us, let's finish this exploration and meet with our teammates soon!" and then a message popped up on my status window: You have a new message from the team channel: it was the captain :

" Guys, all of you finish the exploration fast and then we all will have a party, keep up the hard work and let's show those company bastards how strong we are !!,"

"Well, I am right beside you captain, you don't need to message me," I said in a mocking tone.

"It's not for you, it's for the whole team, now show me some enthusiasm and let's clear up this goddamn dungeon and earn some money!" Captain cheered loudly!

Ah! man I can't understand his personality at all, at times he is so calm and intelligent but as soon as we start the missions he becomes so money hungry. Anyways, it's fine by me, cause I am anyhow excited to kill some monsters and become stronger!

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So this is how his team is divided :

Party 1 :

Captain Samuel Powell: Mana user, intelligence, and strategy is his forte. He is money minded but a reliable partner. He is somewhat of a genius when it comes to mana control and hand-to-hand combat, though he prefers not to fight at close range, he mostly uses his mana to form mana weapons which he can modify depending on the situation. He has high mana reserves. He used to be a part of Dungeon Giants--Branch Aaditya Empire--Assembly B--Team Alpha, but left to become the Captain of his own team. He is ambitious but cares deeply for his team.

Kalkin: Well, you readers must have pretty much guessed by now, Kalkin thinks of himself as cool and intelligent but it's actually the opposite. However, being around the captain for most of dungeon exploration and training he understands his actions better than anyone and they both have an unspoken understanding of each other's fighting style. One of his major talents is that he adapts quickly which is why Captain can execute his unconventional ideas easily. He is an excellent hand-to-hand combatant, proficient in the use of multiple weapons, he can also control mana to some extent but his control is very weak. He aims to become the strongest adventurer, stronger than Sir Jack Seinfeld, his model is Sir Jack. One of the secrets that he hasn't told anyone except Anaisha is that his younger sister actually suffers from the dungeon disease despite never ever being close to the dungeon, she is ill and he spends almost all the money he earns from dungeon exploration on her treatment. He cannot take her to a big hospital as the dungeon disease is very rare and doctors rather finding a cure for her will use her as a test subject to conduct experiments, which he heard when he once took his daughter there for a checkup. Thus, Anaisha takes care of his sister as she is a nurse. His weapon is his 'deathonator' which can take shapes of different weapons( but he still hasn't gained control of his weapon)

Party 2:

Sara: She comes from a normal family, her father was a mage and her mother was a normal person, she gained her father's fire attribute but her magic ability was thought to be weak. Samuel took her to his team because he realized that it's not that her magic is inherently weak she needs a proper cultivation environment. Her main weapon is her staff which allows her to channel her magic powers. She is mainly a fire-type mage. She has a cheerful personality and is very innovative in her techniques

Nick: He is Sara's natural enemy. He is an ice-type mage with immense potential according to Captain Samuel but cannot control his powers properly. He comes off as cold and stoic but it's actually the opposite, he actually gets scared to talk to people he doesn't know (one-of-a-kind introvert)

Party 3 :

Diana: We already know about her. She is a mage with mind-controlling and dark attributes. According to Samuel, she has a talent for dark magic but her inner desire to be with people makes her not want to use or learn her dark magic, as magic affects a person's nature and people who use dark magic are often evil or portrayed so.

Nitin: He is also a fighter that can use magic. He basically uses it to enhance his speed and other physical attributes, he can also use it on another person as well. Due to this he doesn't like training much but trains in order to defeat the Captain after personally witnessing Captain's raw strength. He mostly uses enhancing magic to increase his speed and swiftly kill the monsters in one go.

Party 4:

Vidya and Prerna: They are sisters and always work together. Well, Prerna is a necromancer and Vidya has holy magic/light magic. Prerna can store the souls of monsters and use them while Vidya can form contracts with some magical creatures which in turn allows her to use their powers too.

Party 5:

Patrick Lawrence: He is a very skilled and experienced adventurer. He is mainly a sword master and I think uses flash steps and concealing magic to hide his presence. A lethal combination. He used to be Captain's teacher and is very wise. Despite being the oldest in the group age-wise he is still far more strong than anyone else excluding Captain. Even Assembly A's Captain was his student once. So he is a big deal.

Lara Lawrence: She is Patrick's daughter and her youngest disciple. He is training her to finally take on the mantle of Sword Master so that he can enjoy a retired life. Her mother is our group's chief medic. Lara is also very dutiful and like her father enjoys the fine things in life.

--to be continued

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Hey guys, I hope you all are fine. Tell me how you all liked this chapter, in the next one I will explain a lot about dungeons, the setting, and what I mean by mana and magic so keep reading!

And also share it amongst your friends, and do not forget to like and comment!

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