The Ant Hill, a name bestowed upon the first dungeon to be discovered in nearly twenty years. The dungeon had one main entrance, but the tunnel forked before the first level, and forked several more times throughout the dungeon, with each tunnel being a different difficulty. However many adventures referred to this dungeon by another name, a gold mine. This was due to still undiscovered treasures still residing within these tunnels, even the C ranked tunnels held within them riches for the adventurers that couldn't go into the higher ranked tunnels. The effects of this new dungeon was that the surrounding area developed into a flourishing outpost practically overnight. Those who weren't adventurers were also prospering due to the large number of shops, taverns, inns, and even restaurants that opened up here and catered to the adventurers.

Due to all this, the Adventurers Guild took a new stance with this dungeon that had never been seen before to prevent accidents. The guild highly controlled and regulated the entrance, with guards not only at the entrance but at the first section where the tunnels forked, setting mandatory minimum party sizes that needed to be approved by the guild, and limiting how many parties could be inside the dungeon at any given time as well as limiting how long they could even be in the dungeon. And just in case there was an accident, or a party took longer than they were allowed, a team of highly trained top ranked adventurers was hired by the guild and kept on standby twenty four seven, to dive in and recover the parties.

Arthur and his party were on the recently worn down trail leading to the dungeon, the covers removed from both wagons so that everyone could see and the summer breeze could blow through.  As they got closer to the dungeon they began seeing more and more people, most riding horses or mana beasts, a few in wagons, and even fewer just walking.

As they reached the top of a hill they could see it, the dungeon, with what looked like a quickly built village market beside it, and a tent city around it. Curtis decided to ride Grawder in to add effect and make them look like a more serious party, riding beside the back wagon as he continued to flirt with Lilia.

A group of five adventurers all riding mana beasts was coming up on the opposing side, leaving the area. The lead adventurer was riding what looked like a large white leopard with tusks coming out of the sides of his mouth. As they got closer he took notice of Curtis, and had his beast make a powerful roar.

"Alright Grawder, let's see who's louder," Curtis said to his bond.

Grawder let out an even greater roar, causing the nearby birds to fly from their trees. The lead adventurer nodded with an approving smile, then hit his chest with his fist and extended it out towards Curtis. Curtis copied the gesture and their fists bumped in a sign of mutual respect. The other riders following gave respectful nods, while the rider in the back, a young woman with black hair and wearing a less than modest outfit that showed her stomach and cleavage smiled and blew him a kiss. Curtis smiled as he blushed a little, his eyes following the best they could without moving his head. Once she passed Curtis looked back to Lilia to see an annoyed look on her face before she turned away from him, and Kathyln glaring at him with a judgmental look.

"Would you look at all this," Elijah commented from behind Arthur. "I've heard this outpost has practically become self sufficient. The only things they bring in is food, that isn't meat, and metals. And those they could...shit, I'm not here," Elijah said suddenly as he dropped to the bottom of the wagon.

Arthur and Tess looked ahead to see another wagon coming opposite of them. They looked to be mostly dwarves, so it didn't make sense why Elijah was ducking down, until Arthur was slapped with a sense of realization when he saw the driver. She was a young dwarf about their age, with blonde hair and a short matching beard, and arms at least as big around as Arthur's head.

The young dwarf waved in greeting as they approached, to which Arthur and Tess did the same. Suddenly the girl became excited and pulled back on the reigns of the beasts pulling her wagon, bringing it to a stop.

"Excuse me, are you Princess Tessia, the student council President of Xyrus Academy?" The dwarf asked.

"Yes I am," Tess replied curiously.

The dwarf became even more excited. "My name is Helgarth, do you know a first year named Elijah Knight?"

"Yes, actually he's.." Tess replied before Arthur interrupted.

"Wait, the Helgarth? Elijah's childhood friend Helgarth?" Arthur asked, as Elijah began sweating while on the floor of the wagon.

Helgarth's smile grew as she gasped. "You know my Elijah and he's told you about me?"

"Why yes, he's my roommate at Xyrus and one of my best friends?" Arthur replied.

"What has he said about me?" Helgrath asked excitedly, as the memebers of her party groaned.

"Sorry I can't tell you that, code of best friends and all, but when he talks about you he has this look in his eye, and every time I see it, I know he's thinking of you," Arthur replied, as Elijah bit his lip and his face contorted in rage.

"Eeee," Helgrath squealed in delight.

"Helgrath come on, there are wagons lining up behind us," One of her party members complained.

"Ok ok," Helgrath replied. "It was lovely meeting you two, and I look forward to seeing you at Xyrus."

"Wait, why would you see us at Xyrus?" Tess asked.

"Don't tell Elijah, I want it to be a surprise. I've been accepted to Xyrus Academy. I'll be starting this upcoming school year," Helgrath replied excitedly. "Well bye, and Princess, if he's not your boyfriend you better make him. Otherwise if Elijah and I don't work out, I might go for him."

Arthur's eyes widened as the color drained from his face. "Sorry Helgrath, Arthur's all mine," Tess replied as she put her arm around Arthur and pulled him a little closer.

Helgrath smiled and waved goodbye as she drove her wagon away. Arthur whipped the reigns and his wagon started moving again as the color returned to his face, and he felt a small bloodlust behind him.

"Tess, can you take the reigns for a minute?" Arthur asked.

"Sure," Tess replied as she took the reigns from Arthur. "But wh..." Tess was suddenly interrupted by Elijah putting Arthur in a choke hold.

"You son of a! What the hell was that!?" Elijah cursed as he tried to choke Arthur out. Arthur was just laughing the entire time.

"Elijah what's wrong? She seems like such a nice girl, and clearly likes you," Tess asked, not really too concerned with Elijah trying to choke out her boyfriend.

"Long story, but let's just say I don't have the same perspective of beauty as dwarves my age," Elijah replied as he tried even harder to choke Arthur.

"Nice to see you two are still getting along," a familiar voice from behind commented.

Elijah released Arthur as they all turned around to see Jasmine in the back of the cart with a bag slung over her shoulder sitting beside Feyrith, who had remained quiet the entire time.

"Jasmine! What are you doing here?" Arthur asked, excited to see his friend and former mentor.

"Same as you it seems," Jasmine replied as she saw the four young adventurers in the wagon. "So it this your party?"

"About half, there are five more in the wagon behind us," Arthur replied. "Are the rest of the twin horns here too?"

"Yes. Do you think you all could help us out?" Jasmine asked.

"With what?" Elijah asked.

"There's a restriction on party size, no less than ten per party. We only have five, while you have nine," Jasmine replied.

"So you want our parties to team up for this dungeon?" Arthur asked.

"It's just a thought. Ultimately it's Helen's decision, but it's hard to find enough people with our party size," Jasmine replied.

"Why?" Arthur asked.

"There are lots of larger parties that only need one or two more to enter, and not many parties want to go beyond a total of ten, so they don't need to split the profits as much," Jasmine explained.

"I get it." Arthur then looked to Elijah, who nodded in agreement. "Sure we can team up, that is if Helen will allow it."

"I'm sure she will, especially since it's you, but don't you need to ask the rest of your party?" Jasmine asked.

"Well I'm in charge, and we all really came out for the experience. So what better way to get some experience than to team up with a group of veteran adventurers like the Twin Horns," Arthur replied.

Jasmine introduced herself to Feyrith, and directed Arthur to the outpost's stables. Stables were established at the outpost to hold the mana beasts for adventurers that were staying there for an extended period, and were owned by none other than Feyrith's uncle, so they weren't charged an additional fee to keep the skitters and wagons there on hold for when they were ready to leave. After dropping off the beasts and wagons, Jasmine grabbed her bag and proceeded to show them all to where the Twin Horns set up their camp.

It didn't take long to find their camp, which was near the outskirts of the outpost. There they saw five tents, and the remaining twin horn members sitting around a fire, with Durden looking like he was grilling some meat.

"I'm back, and look who I found," Jasmine announced as they arrived. Everyone looked, and their eyes lit up as smiles formed on everyone's faces as they saw Arthur right behind her.

"Hey everyone," Arthur greeted with a smile and wave.

"ARTHUR!" Angela squealed as she charged at Arthur and tackled him into a bear hug, burying his face between her large breasts. "How is it that you get cuter every time we see you!" Angela said as she swung Arthur back and forth like a rag doll.

The other four males in the party just watched with dark expressions as they found another reason to be jealous of Arthur.

"Excuse me," Claire said to Angela, causing her to stop swinging Arthur around. "As sure as I am that this is just a normal thing when you meet Arthur, his girlfriend, might not appreciate seeing him like this."

Angela released Arthur, allowing him to gasp for air as he stumbled back.

"Oh, are you his girlfriend?" Angela asked curiously.

"Oh no," Claire replied as she took a step back waved her hands out in front of her, then pointed to Tess. "That would be Tess."

"Ahhh, the cute elf from before!" Angela said excitedly then grabbed Tess in a bear hug and began to swing her around too. The only difference was that Tess saw this coming, and managed to jump up a little, keeping her face from being smothered. "I knew you two made a cute couple."

Durden then put a hand on Angela's shoulder, and she released Tess. "I'm sorry, I got a little over excited."

"So Arthur really is a ladies man," Adam commented with a smug smile. "Boy is your mom going to be mad."

"Why?" Arthur asked.

"Last time your dad said that you two were just friends, but I suspected you just didn't want to tell him you were dating yet. So I bet him one gold that you two were, so now he's got to pay up," Adam replied happily.

"Well, technically we were just friends then," Arthur replied.

"What?" Adam replied, not wanting to believe he actually lost.

"We only got into a relationship a little over a week ago," Tess stated.

"We haven't even been on a date yet," Arthur added.

"Well then maybe you should do that before you enter the dungeon. There are plenty of shops here that sell things other than weapons and supplies," Helen suggested.

"And a few places with some good food," Durden added.

"Really, well that sounds like a good plan. But back to that dungeon, I hear you guys can't go in due to your numbers," Arthur replied.

"That's right, and from my count, it looks like you're in the same position. Are you suggesting we team up?" Helen deduced.

"It's like you're reading my mind," Arthur replied with a smile.

"Great. Well how about we all introduce ourselves, and after lunch you and I go register for a dive," Helen suggested as she gestured for everyone to take a seat and join them.

After introductions, some lunch, and Claire hitting Theo in the ribs with the pommel of her sword for trying to hit on Angela, Arthur and Helen were walking through the outpost to the Adventurers Guild building. As they walked the ground began to shake.

"What's that? Earthquake? Mana beast?" Arthur asked.

"Nope," Helen replied with a chuckle, then pointed to a raised earth platform. "That would be the recovery team sparing. Do you want to check it out? It's pretty impressive to see them fight."

"These guys are supposed to all be top ranked adventurers, so they must be pretty strong to make quakes this powerful. Maybe watching them could give me some insight into developing my own magic," Arthur thought to himself. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to watch for a minute."

Arthur and Helen walked over and joined the crowd watching. People were cheering and making bets as two members of the recovery team exchanged blows. One had long blonde hair with a matching braided beard. His armor was mostly black leather with a steel chest plate and a helmet that looked like a set wings going back from the side, and a red cape flowing behind him. His weapons of choice were an ax and hammer, while his body sparked with lightning magic. His opponent was a hulk of a man. He looked a little taller than Durden, with a build similar to a bodybuilder. His armor reminded Arthur of a Roman gladiator, he carried a spiked mace and battle ax, and even though he wasn't showing off any magic, Arthur could see earth attribute mana swirling around him. Arthur had attempted to check their cores, but realized he couldn't, meaning they both had to be in the solid or light silver stage.

In an instant they charged forward. Both of their axes collided and held for a moment, before the blonde augmenter forced their axes down and hit his opponent in the face with his hammer. The larger man flew through the air, but caught himself and adjusted mid air before landing on his feet. He then raced forward, much faster than one would imagine for a man his size, then punched the blonde man in the face, sending him flying into a barrier. In that attack Arthur saw the large man's foot break into the ground during his last step, then as he delivered his punch, several small rocks started to float up. Thanks to his duel with Theo, Arthur realized there that the larger man was using gravity magic, however his ability to increase and decrease the gravity by so much in a split second was on a completely different level from Theo. The blonde augmenter then threw his hammer at the large man, who dodged it easily. Arthur shook his head at how foolish it was to just throw a weapon like that. Then the hammer hit the larger man in the back of the head, knocking him down, before returning to the blonde augmenters hand. Now Arthur was impressed, as the augmenter had used electromagnetism to control his hammers movements.

The duel lasted for another minute or two before the blonde augmenter was knocked out. Two more mages came out, one was wearing flashy red and gold armor but no weapon, while his opponent wore a more subdued dull metal armor with a blue cloak, and carried a circular shield with red and white rings and a blue star in the middle, along with a mace.

Arthur wanted to watch more, but he knew they had to register for their dive. Reluctantly Arthur and Helen left the duel and continued to the Adventurer Guild building, which reminded Arthur of a freight container from his old world, except that it was made of wood.

The small structure could not have been more simple. There were a set of double doors that were propped open, then straight ahead on the opposite end there was a desk shared by a man and woman who kept track of and scheduled the raids, and behind them was a door that led to an office for the outpost's guild manager.

Considering how the guild halls usually looked, Arthur could only imagine that this was just a temporary structure that would eventually be replaced, or perhaps removed when everyone calmed down.

The line to the desk moved rather steadily, but still took nearly thirty minutes to reach.

"Are you here to submit for a dive?" The woman behind the desk asked.

"That's right, and here's the form," Helen replied as she handed the paper. The paperwork was essentially just a list of everyone going on the dive, their ranking, and affinity.

"I'm sorry, but I need the affinity listed here," the woman said as she handed the paper back, and pointed to Arthur's name.

"Well the line wasn't long enough, so I just abbreviated," Arthur replied as he pushed her hand back.

"Young man four is not an abbreviation, it's a number," The woman replied with an annoyed tone.

"It's both if you're a quadra elemental," Arthur replied as he extended his hand, and all four elements swirled around.

The woman's eyes widened in disbelief. "Umm, ok. So, umm, who-who will be the party leader?" She asked as she tried to shake her shock.

"Hmm, you know we didn't discuss that," Helen said then looked to Arthur. "Since you brought the larger group, do you want to take charge?"

"No thanks, I'll concede to your experience this time," Arthur replied.

"You heard him," Helen said as she looked back to the woman. "Helen Shard will be leading this dive."

"Very good," said Kaspian as he walked out of the office.

"Kaspian? What are you doing here?" Arthur asked.

"This is just my turn in the rotation. All guild managers are expected to make it here eventually," Kaspian replied as he walked closer and took the submitted form. "Quite a large party, so many stick strictly to the ten minimum."

"That's not surprising," Helen commented.

"No, but it is a good thing for you," Kaspian replied.

"How so?" Arthur asked.

"Two days ago a party diving down into one of the A ranked tunnels uncovered another tunnel coming from the level three boss chamber. Since the evaluation team has left, I've been looking to find another party to dive down there and evaluate it for me, but all of these other teams are far too small. Yours on the other hand would fit perfectly. Of course you will be compensated by the guild for your services, along with anything you find down there."

"Arthur, can your team handle an A ranked dive?" Helen asked.

"I'd bet everything I've earned this summer that they could handle an AA ranked dive," Arthur replied confidently.

"Ok then, I guess we're going."