The God System

Abel and Mary were currently walking towards the Magician's Guild, and Mary looked even more beautiful from last night, drawing stares from passersby. A few braver ones even approached her trying to get her number, but they gave up once Mary held onto Abel's arm.

"So Mary, did you pass the test?" Abel asked looking down at Mary, who was about a foot and a half shorter than him.

Mary pouted as she said "Of course I did! You don't believe I could pass?"

"I never doubted you being able to pass, it was just you looked so sad yesterday, so I jumped to conclusions," Abel said

"That was about something else, but don't worry about it, it isn't important anymore," Mary said hugging his arm in happiness.

Mary had a difficult expression on her face as she said slowly "Abel..."

"Hmm?"

"Erm...I...Was just wondering- but if you don't want to tell me...I was just curious because..." Mary began to stutter.

"Spit it out Mary, why are you nervous? I would never get mad at you for anything." He said ruffling her hair.

Mary nodded and took a deep breath before saying "Who- Who is Catherine?"

Abel was stunned for a second and unconsciously stopped walking. Mary began to shiver thinking he would get mad like in her illusion, but that did not happen he just turned to look at her as he said with a sort of fervor in his eyes "Where did you learn about her from?"

"Well...you see...I was taking the Magician's Guild test, and I was placed in an illusion where I heard her name..." Mary said

"Did it tell you where she is?" Abel asked excitedly

"No. It only said her name and the receptionist lady that the illusion draws its creation from my memories, but I've never heard of Catherine before." Mary explained.

Abel's face dropped and he looked disappointed. "Catherine...She was my previous lover. But she had passed away."

"Oh...Sorry for your loss" Mary said as she hugged Abel trying to give him some sort of comfort.

Abel forced a smile and patted Mary as he said "Let's get going"

---

Abel dropped Mary off at the Magician's Guild so she could start to research about the crystal ball that he saw in Avery's Trinket shop.

He wanted to go back to the adventurer's Guild so he could ask more about what the receptionist had requested of him yesterday.

He walked inside and saw the same receptionist as yesterday and she looked up to him and smiled as she quickly ended her transaction with the current adventurer before motioning Abel with her eyes to follow him.

She led him into the back room, and they sat down, in a different room this time, and she offered him some tea, which he accepted.

"So I just had some questions about the quest you wanted me to complete" Able began

The woman nodded motioning him to continue. "So, first is why do you pick F-Rank adventurers to do this? Shouldn't you want stronger adventurers to complete this just in case something dangerous pops up?" Abel was confused as to why they would pick low-rank adventurers to do something where not even the Adventurer's Guild knew how dangerous it was.

"Well, Most the time it is not that dangerous when they first appear." and then she thought to herself 'And if it is, we would rather have low-rank adventurers die than higher ranked ones, so you guys are like the scouts'.

Abel smirked when she said that most of the time it's not dangerous as he himself knew that they could become extremely dangerous extremely fast.

"Okay that makes sense, but I was wondering if we are the only ones being sent out to investigate?"

"Of course not. We send multiple teams, so if some fail we can still have someone to bring the news back to us and provide information we can use" she explained.

Abel nodded and said, "Do you want us just to investigate, or do you want us to destroy it?"

"Don't destroy it, because these can be good sources of income. It's like a mine, where we can keep diving inside and collecting ores, where we can sell elsewhere. Not to mention the crystals that drop are a very valuable source of income"

Crystals? Abel thought, and as if seeing his curiosity she said "When a monster that specifically is spawned inside a dungeon is killed, then they drop a crystal, which is used by magicians, or blacksmiths for creating weapons and armor, or other valuable items. Even nobility waste them to make jewelry" She said the last bit with contempt.

Abel nodded and said, "Is there a time limit?"

She shook her head and said "There is none, but we will only pay you for information that is new to us. We won't pay you for information a previous team has already gathered. So I suggest you complete it fast, or you won't get anything. And the payment is dependent on how valuable the information is."

Able nodded as he said "What is this dungeon called? Delphi Dungeon?"

She shook her head and said "No, one of the adventurer teams that went said that the inside was similar to a forest, so we decided that it will be called the Forest of Horrors"

Abel's eyes widened and he was stunned because he did not think that in the little time he was here that someone had already gone inside his dungeon when he was away.

Thinking that his shock was because he wouldn't get paid she explained: "The adventurer team only looked inside and did not dive deep because their team was unprepared."

Abel let out a small sigh of relief, and a sense of urgency was placed on his shoulders. "Well, thank you for your time, I will be leaving now"

She smiled and shook his hand saying "Well, good luck to you!"