[Dungeon of Stories] 41 – New Portal Opens and visions through the Fog

As months began to pass in the Dungeon, the people began to realize that the new home they found themselves in was a strange dome, one with an impenetrable barrier that surrounded them, blocking them from going past the fog wall and exploring more. With seemingly no way through the fog wall, the Hunters circled around the Fog wall, taking multiple days to travel all the way around, only to find that this strange foggy wall completely surrounded the four biomes and the Ark. Some Hunters reportedly claimed to have saw something through the fog wall on occasion, but nothing concrete, leaving many to speculate what could be on the other side.

When six months passed since the last Monster Wave, many had grown content with their new lives, the Ark settlement expanding massively in size as more and more people found their ways into the Dungeon, either through luck or through the search parties Clair sent out through the portal to find food, bring in furniture, and trade. 

Despite what many thought, not everyone wanted to move into the Ark, some preferring to continue their lives in the IKEA, but despite those few number of people, most moved into the Ark, picking a class and starting their new lives. Many picked up some kind of trade class, such as Blacksmith, Farmer, Monster Breeder, Tailor, etc., leaving the Hunters to be the smallest in number, eventually even outnumbered by the town's [Guards].

With the Hunters constantly hunting in the outer biomes, now named the Hunting Fields, the Hunters found more secrets that were hidden away. It took time, but they found all of the other Ranger Stations, completing their associated quests and gaining new and even stranger equipment and blueprints that were seemingly random.

More Focuses were found and discovered, making them into a sort of rich luxury for trade in the Ark due to their sheer usefulness in daily life while the strange blueprints and 'engrams' were auctioned off or given straight to Ark for use. Upon the activation and securing of all the Ranger Stations, new FOBs were made, making these stations into way stations and safehouses for the Hunters, some even preferring to live out in these stations, rarely ever going back to the Ark unless needed.

Not many purchased these Engrams or blueprints, due to most of the items requiring something called 'Element' to craft or some other exotic material no one had encountered yet, leaving these blueprints to be more of a collectors item than anything, though it was noticed one somewhat crazy blacksmith made sure to get one of each of these Blueprints, apparently taking inspiration from what he could understand from these Engrams to craft strange machines, some staring to call him the 'Clockwork Mechanic.'

With the Hunters constantly clearing the Hunting Grounds, leaving only the strongest monsters, such as the Beast Lords, they had begun stagnating in their growth, with the highest Classer not even surpassing 125 in level, that Classer being Dr. Bright, who has been making the habit of disappearing into the Hunting Grounds, traveling alone while Jay stuck to the Ark, officially becoming the 'Guard Captain' though he did not have the exact class for such a thing.

There were also notices of Hunters going missing in the Frozen section of the Hunting Fields, leaving it as the most dangerous of the biomes so far, due to the relatively robust nature of the monsters that called the biome home, though the few hunters that went in and came out spoke stories of hearing a giant bird caw out in the distance as well as the sounds of screams, yelling and more. 

However, despite the gradual weakening of the Monsters due to the Hunters constantly culling their number, some who ventured out into the Hunting grounds, whether to chop some wood, hunt for food, or for some other reason, still died against the monsters. Only the Combat classes granted a user an advantage against a monster, their skills being suited for combat and not much else, while a trade class was more built for specific trades or ways of life. 

Despite this, some still tried to become Hunters, not willing to let their choices in classes dictate how they should live their lives. One of the notable figures who followed this belief was an older man named Biggs. No one knew Biggs's actual name due to his selective mutism, but those who knew the man from IKEA knew him as an overly friendly, if quiet, man who enjoyed cooking and had a jolly attitude towards life. 

Biggs was known to be one of the higher-leveled [Apsiring Chefs] of the Ark, but he stood out among them as being the only Chef who ventured out into the Hunting Fields, cooking utienceals and all, to gather fresh 'ingredients' in the forms of the Flora and Fauna that called the Hunting Grounds home. He was nearing level 100, making him one of the highest leveled classes across the Dungeon, and while a Chef, he was much weaker than a regular combat class, he had a large amount of Focus, Control, and Agility, making him exceptionally suited to particular style of combat, which he had become quite skilled at.

Throwing knives. Small, but sharp. Not too strong, but with accurate trhows, can easily cripple the target or slowly weaken them to the point they bleed to death and with his rather large amount of kitchen utincles, there were points in time when he turned a monster into a living pincoushin with how many knives were imbeded in their hides and flesh.

...

Kohl could see everything, all at once. He saw Bright traveling alone through the biomes, hunting down whatever high-level monsters he could find. He saw the bandits hunt down anyone who dared to enter the Arctic forest they called home and their leader, who was one of the top-level humans in the dungeon, but as he saw all of that, he looked out, past the fog wall and to Invictus. 

Invictus was nearing completion. The outline of the rather gigantic city, along with all of the underground structures and towering skyscrapers, was complete; all that remained were the details, and a majority of that was done.

What was not done was adding the monsters, the automated defense units, gear and items, and the 'Factory,' but that was not the most significant update Kohl had with his dungeon. He had finally reached the point of being able to open a second portal, and it was time to expand his reach past the IKEA and find more subjects to draw into the depths of his Dungeon, all he had to now, was cast the hook, and find a suitable dimension that could lure in a good number of new entities.