"You—there! You just received an archetype?"
A man was walking toward Alexander, a smile brightly lighting up his face as he approached.
The supple clothes he wore were one with the wind, he looked like an ancient Greek noble, the robe he wore bright white, outlined in gold.
His ears each had about five earrings each, and his fingers had as many rings. Necklaces, bracelets—all made of gold, yet they didn't burden his image, each piece delicately thin and refined.
One would easily be lost in the amount of shiny jewelry, yet his eyes were the most captivating part: magic circles pulsated, like a heartbeat in his eyes.
Every second a circle appeared, rotating clockwise, before fading out.
The man jumped from the last step that led to the Adventurer's Guild, onto the sidewalk where Alexander stood.
"Who… are you?" asked Alexander.
"Sunder," he replied, doing a deep bow with his arms raised.
"Are you with Gilded Order?" he asked.
"They don't have a monopoly on gold. I'm the leader of Last Age."
He tried scrubbing his memory to recall anything about them, but couldn't come up with anything.
"We're the 49th Guild," added Sunder, after seeing the confusion.
"Oh—pretty good," said Alexander, raising his eyebrows.
Considering there's hundreds of guilds, being in the two digits is impressive.
Alexander gazed around, noticing a lot more people were looking his way.
While Sunder was the only one around him on the sidewalk, the many guilds that had arrived waited around while chatting, some of them intensely looking their way.
"You wonder why they keep looking here, huh?" said Sunder.
"Yeah."
"You don't notice it, you're still level 0. You're however summoning a portal, right now. It looks like a kind of hole that's absorbing energy."
"A portal? Why would I summon a portal? I just received an archetype—"
"—No need to panic, it's quite normal, you just awakened an archetype so you don't control it properly. You also saved the time of calling the adventurer's guild, you're right in front of it. Do you know what happens next?"
Alexander's concerned gaze swept the area once more, unable to see anything out of the ordinary.
"Are you sure—"
"—100% sure," cut Sunder.
Sunder stepped closer, laying a hand on his shoulder.
"Listen, you received an archetype. That means you now have your own personal dungeon, which we call an 'Inner Path'. Those dungeons aren't like the normal ones we find around, they're only accessible through you. They're a key element to getting stronger as a Dungeon Runner."
Alexander frowned, taking in the information that the man volunteered.
He could see behind him someone running down the stairs that lead to the guild. The man wore a black suit and had a exhausted look on his face, which contrasted the urgency in his eyes.
Once he arrived, he barely took a second to breathe, folded in half while holding his knees.
"You—portal—inside…" he started.
Sunder slapped the man's back with a chuckle.
"Come-on, john! You can see that it's too late! The portal is almost here already."
John's hands pummeled his knees.
"Always making me work overtime…" said John under his breath.
"Sorry, what's happening?" asked Alexander.
"Well, it depends on you, Alexander. Do you want to become a Dungeon Runner?" said Sunder.
Do I want to? I've been waiting for it ever since portals started appearing two years ago.
Alexander firmly nodded, his heart beating faster.
Clearly happy about the response, Sunder continued.
"It's simple: You can't be a Dungeon Runner unless you receive a class. To continue and live normally, you would need to remain at your current level: 0. If you want to become a Dungeon Runner, you need to reach level 1. The only way is to go through your inner path's first level."
Sunder slapped John's back once more, a playful tone filled his words.
"This guy here will try and help find people willing to help you! Inner paths can be accessed by others if you let them. Unlike normal dungeons they scale with the amount of people in it, so it's only worth it to get help early-on, eventually you'll be going through it alone, like we all are."
John loudly exhaled. "Yes, yes…"
Alexander frowned once more.
Everything was happening so fast he could barely keep up, his mind was racing.
Minutes ago he was on his way home, and now he needed to go through a portal to become a Dungeon Runner?
Is that how it happened for my father as well?
He could remember a moment, before his father officially became one of the first Dungeon Runners, when he disappeared for about a week.
"What's an 'inner path' like?" asked Alexander, his eyes almost glistening.
"Depends on the class—"
A shockwave interrupted Sunder's words, space visibly distorted rippling from a single black dot levitating above the sidewalk further ahead.
Once the ripple stopped, the black dot imploded in itself and disappeared from sight, the only thing one could see was where it used to be as it looked like heat deformed the air around it.
After a single second, it expanded in a quick burst, pushing Alexander one step back.
He tried his best to not lose his balance, refusing to take his eyes off it.
His clothes were fluttering in the wind while a constant stream of air emanated from the portal.
It was just a tall vertical slit, it was pitch-black and about a centimeter large.
It slightly opened, through it squirmed out tendrils that wriggled themselves around the slit, slowly forcing it open.
The slit became larger and larger, as more tendrils twisted around it and held it open.
The tendrils looked like tentacles, they were black with bulges along them. Once the black slit had become a large rectangle, big enough to let someone through, all the protrusions on the tendrils opened at once.
They were eyes, frantically looking left and right.
Alexander could feel a welcoming presence coming from the opened portal, as if something was calling him, inviting him in.
So, my inner path's on the other side?
He took a step forward instinctively, but was quickly stopped by Sunder's raised arm, who slowly shoved Alexander behind him.
"I just wanted to look closer," said Alexander.
Sunder didn't respond, his hand firmly holding Alexander's arm.
"What? Is it dangerous to get close?" he asked.
Sunder slightly turned his head to look at him.
Alexander's arm was getting numb, from how tightly Sunder held him.
"What's wrong with you? Could you let go?!"
Completely ignoring him, Sunder's voice resounded loudly in the street.
"If one of you take one step closer I'll blow your brains out."
Alexander blinked a few times, his gaze finally leaving the portal and its tendrils.
Everyone was standing eerily still.
Midas and his guild were all closer, their weapons drawn and pointed toward them, glowing as if ready to strike.
The other guilds had all taken a fighting stance as well. Sleeping Giants were now suddenly standing up, yet they were the only ones with no weapons out and without any sort of stance.
Midas's foot slid a few centimeters forward, a rotating magic circle instantly appeared under him. The moment it did, in a blink everyone else in Gilded Order took a step.
The moment they did, like a trail of dust, more circles appeared under everyone that moved, rotating even faster.
Midas didn't even turn his head to address his guild members. "Don't."
The pulsating magic circles in Sunder's eyes were going faster, a lot faster. They spun so fast—and in so many layers—they looked like glowing rings of white light.
It was impossible to discern any runes one could've seen before, his eyes glowing like a thousand suns.
Sunder's joyful expression had left for a serious one, while maintaining his grasp on Alexander's arm.