I retrieved my student ID and walked towards the door beside the receptionist desk. I walked through a corridor before arriving at a grand hall.
On my left and right were the doors, beside the other receptionists’ desks.
They all led to the same destination.
At the centre of the grand hall were seven raised platforms made of a steel-like material, with intricate arrays of magical circles inscribed upon them.
They were teleportation circles, designed to transport students to the dungeon.
The entire hall was illuminated by a bright, white light emanating from the high ceiling and the corners of the walls.
I climbed onto a platform.
After five seconds, a feminine voice rang in my ears.
"Please designate your location?"
"Zone 2," I responded.
First-year students were only allowed to enter designated sections: Zone 1 and Zone 2.
The former contained more manageable tasks and weak magical creatures, designed to train an early or mid-stage Rank One Awakener. And the latter were significantly handled by late-stage Rank One Awakeners to mid-stage Rank Two Awakeners.
I had heard rumours that deep within Zone 2, there were mid-stage Rank Two magical beasts with powerful talents and bloodlines rivalling the strength of a late-stage Rank Two Awakeners.
There were also late-stage Rank Two magical beasts, that are hidden even deeper.
Gathering information about these magical creatures before planning and dealing with them was part of their training, so the task list did not include an in-depth profile of their abilities.
It was only possible to know the difficulty of these magical creatures through the rewards. The more merit points were assigned, the more dangerous they were.
That was the general rule of thumb.
This was why the recommendation to form a team before tackling such a task couldn’t be underestimated.
Only the Magus Class: the Summoner and the Beastmater Paths were exempted from this rule.
I learnt that it was a grey area for the Mage path.
Despite requiring one of the highest numbers of Spirit Veins to awaken, earning itself the strongest Path above all other paths, only a few Mages, who possessed powerful talents and attributes, were strong enough to single-handedly venture into Zone 1 and Zone 2 at the earlier stages.
They were called monsters among geniuses.
An average mage must train to use the abundant mana within their bodies to prevent unnecessary accidents. Their foundational building was much more rigorous and addressed several more serious matters than the other Paths.
After they had solidified their foundations, from Rank Two upwards, they became a force to be reckoned with. Even a Summoner or a Beastmaster would struggle against a Mage of the same rank.
They became aberrants of the Class system.
This was why the dungeon exploration rules were less strict on the Magus Class Awakeners.
Fortunately, the zones were divided across the Paths. Only Zone 3 and the upper zones that were inaccessible to the first-year students.
Luckily, we won’t have to encounter each other.
At the moment, my only focus was on surviving the Magical Swordsman Classes.
"Teleportation will begin in ten seconds."
The dungeons were rumoured to be sealed within a secret space. This was like a pocket dimension hidden within a separate space from ours.
I remembered reading somewhere that the second-generation headmaster of the Grand Avalon Academy created the existing separate space of the dungeon.
One of the requirements was that one needed to be of the Magus Class. I didn’t know what rank an awakener needed to advance before they could create a pocket dimension, but I knew it was either the Sixth rank or above.
For now, that was too far for me to focus on.
Before then, students ventured out of the fortress to hunt down magical creatures or use the training facilities provided by the fortress, like other academies do, to gain experience.
However, this often led to numerous issues, resulting in disputes due to conflicting interests, and only a few returned if they encountered danger, or, in the worst-case scenario, none at all. fr\(e)ew(e)b.(n)o (v)(e)l.com
As the ten seconds elapsed, a bright light shone from the stage, temporarily blinding me and disorienting my senses.
The light soon vanished.
My vision was restored.
I raised my hand to shield my eyes from the bright sun shining down from above.
I still stood atop the platform, but my surroundings had changed.
I was now at the centre of a dense, verdant forest teeming with life.
I could sense the various sounds of numerous wild beasts and magical creatures from a distance.
I stepped down from the platform and swiftly darted into the forest.
I needed to summon Felix in a much secure location than in the open, to avoid being seen and arousing suspicion.
Back at the Dungeon Hall,
Three young men, dressed in their combat uniforms with a sword hanging by their side and a storage back hooked on the other side, spoke and chuckled with one another as they walked through the revolving door.
If Ezekiel were here, he would remember that one was the person he had fought with earlier today.
It was none other than Jaran.
One of the young men, with blonde hair tied in a ponytail tail noticed Jaran’s gloomy expression and said, "Hey, are you still thinking about him? Haven’t we already arrived at a logical conclusion that the Worst One’s sudden strength increase is due to an elixir, probably one excavated from a dungeon to increase his strength?"
"We might not know what the downsides are, but the fact that he had kept it a secret and only revealed it at a time like that meant that it could put him at a disadvantage if exposed."
His gaze became sharp as he placed his hands at the back of his head.
"Knowing the Worst One’s reputation, he likely hadn’t gotten such a special elixir on his own; it was probably gifted to him by the descendants of the Zahara Clan. It’s for this reason that they might have chosen to act now to eliminate him."