Dungeon Raider System

Uriel followed Cassandra back to the army's headquarters, barely keeping himself from shouting in excitement. Despite knowing how potentially dangerous an ancient cemetery could be inside a dungeon, the anticipation of researching original remains from people of old times was too much for him.

"You still haven't told me what do you think?" Cassandra spoke as though she was reading from a script, one that may have been whispered inside her head by Lieutenant Iris who remained at a distance to give them enough space to be comfortable.

"I can't say much without an on site investigation, but judging from the earring you showed me I'd say it belonged to a confederate soldiers. The arrowheads may be even older, but it's also possible that they're from the same era. I've heard that some people still made their own arrows before the arrival, some were meant to hunt while others were just meant to be souvenirs." Uriel explained.

"Ah, uh... right." Cassandra nodded awkwardly.

"Why are you stuttering all of a sudden?" Uriel asked, thinking that maybe it ran in the family, but Cassandra shook her head.

"It's nothing. By the way, since you will be taking part in a military investigation, you will have to wear the uniform."

"Fine, as long as I can wear this hat." Uriel tipped Jon's fedora hat. Although he didn't know exactly how he felt about Jon since the dichotomy between him being the most renowned archaeologist in history, but also an absolute jerk, he did appreciate the hat for its value.

Be it as a memento of the holy rank hunter who died defending the city or of the reputable archaeologist that wrote the books that inspired Uriel to follow that career path.

"General Sword, the Masons are giving us trouble again." Mayhem rushed in short steps to inform Cassandra.

"What's the situation this time?" Cassandra let out a dejected sigh.

"Same as before, it seems no matter how many times we asked them to stop charging us a fee for crossing the bridges, they won't accept it. They only let us pass when they're outmatched and they're starting to become more daring."

"How selfish can they be!? We helped them through the first world and we're still giving them daily rations."

"It seems they don't need them anymore. All they need to do is charge more for crossing the bridges and threaten with destroying them if they don't get paid. Should we destroy them?" Mayhem's fist were covered with sparkles as tiny explosions surrounded them, making Uriel realize how much better she got at controlling her trait, but also of how violent she could be.

"I'm sorry Uriel, I'll have to leave you on your own. Take Mayhem and a few more with you, the place I told you about is located in one of the few islands we've encountered that are connected to the ground."

"I'll take Tate and a few of your more academically inclined soldiers if you don't mind. I'm not expecting a fight." Choosing Tate over Mayhem made the smile fade from her face, but it was Cassandra who tried to change his mind.

"Didn't you hear what I just said? The Masons started but as nothing but a few hunters with earth elemental manipulation traits put together, but when their leader..."

"All I have to do is pay them." Uriel said with a smirk, subtly reminding Cassandra of the time where he fed an entire island with his trait. To him, it was better taking someone loyal to the bone that would carry out his commands, rather than a former wannabe trickster who loved violence and chaos.

It wasn't Uriel's first time on the army's camp and he was able to make his way to the barracks where he looked for Sergeant Tate and got dressed. Needless to say, after their previous encounter Tate was way more polite than the first time they met, not only because Uriel outranked him but also because of a sense of respect after finding out how much Uriel had done for the flag he loved so much.

"I'm ready to serve the flag under your command, Sir!" Tate performed a flawless salute as soon as he came back with the candidates.

Uriel wasn't much into wearing an army uniform, but he did enjoy the perks that came with the insignia and although he wasn't versed in current military etiquette, he did know a lot about soldier discipline in all the cultures of the past. One thing they all had in common was the unbreakable chain of command, something that gave Uriel the possibility to perform tasks he couldn't before.

Because of how confident Uriel was in the chain of command and how excited he was for being able to study an ancient cemetery this time he just went with Tate suggestion instead of hand picking the members of his crew.

"They're all corporals." Uriel voiced out once he noticed the oddity of Tate's candidates.

"You mentioned you preferred wits over brawn, Sir." Tate replied and Uriel nodded.

***

Although the fact that the army found some ancient remains in a floating island remained a secret, the existence of that island was made public as it was one of the few islands that was connected to the ground. Contrary to its similes, this particular island wasn't warm to the touch and wasn't filled with hot air.

From the distance, it looked like nothing out of the ordinary, in fact, in the distance it looked like a pile of earth someone left behind after digging a hole with a shovel. Nevertheless, it was impossible to tell it was connected to the ground because of the dense fog that covered its base.

Uriel couldn't keep his eyes from the earthen tip that crowned the fog which caused him to walk by two hunters who were guarding the bridge to one of the contiguous islands, one that unfortunately they needed to cross in order to reach their destination.

"Where do you think you're going?" One of the hunters asked with an authoritative tone of voice. Speaking like that to a lieutenant could already be considered a felony, but he felt confident due to the fact that the only thing that separated Uriel from the seemingly bottomless depths was the bridge they just built.

"Oh, the toll... right. Tate, pay the man." Uriel ordered trying to skimp on paying on his own pocket unless it was absolutely necessary, then continued walking as though nothing happened.

"For the love of the flag, why would the lieutenant let someone speak to him like that? If I was a lieutenant..." One of the soldiers started speaking.

"You're not and it's better if you quit running your mouth, you don't have the first clue of who our lieutenant is." Tate growled. In spites of him being just a sergeant, he had the build and the demeanor of a true soldier and his deep voice alone was enough to make them fall in line.

"I take it you don't know how to handle archaeological sites, just plant these posts to make a yellow tape perimeter around every find. It doesn't matter if you think it's insignificant, even a twig on the ground might be an arrowshaft or a primitive tool." Uriel said as he proceeded to set up his own tent.

"Let me help you, Sir." The same soldier who ran his mouth before came closer rubbing both his hands. His career on the military was just beginning and he had yet to find the right boots to lick in order to climb up.

"Didn't you hear me? Start setting up the perimeters and don't bother me unless it's something important."

"Something like what? You just said anything could be important." Another corporal asked.

"Then let me sleep unless you get attacked by one of the corpses you may find." Uriel tipped over his hat to cover his face and proceeded to fall asleep within seconds. This was, of course, due to how exhausted he was after not being able to sleep for so long due to the annoying low battery warnings he received.

It was only thanks to ransacking Fermi's workshop that his smartphone was now full of charge and he finally had some peace of mind, something he didn't want to spoil unnecessarily.

Granted, he was more than excited to study the site, but after studying late for so many years Uriel learned that it was better to wake up late and refreshed rather than waking up early and half assed.

The corporals, albeit inexperienced in the field of archaeology, did a pretty good job setting up the perimeters. They all were among the few hunters that chose to follow a military career after acquiring their traits, but all of them graduated from college. The oldest corporal graduated as a biochemist, a field that didn't share much with archaeology but required strict laboratory guidelines.

Contrary to him, the other two followed careers in humanities. Which is actually why they joined the military as finding a job in such fields was just as hard as it was to be expected when most of the government resources went straight to science. However, the only female corporal in the group not only followed humanities but she was also an archaeologist.