Chapter 14: Dungeon

Ethan and Lila returned to their dorm only long enough to change.

He came out in a plain black hoodie and dark jeans. It was practical, simple, and easy to move in. Lila emerged a minute later in a fitted black jumpsuit that was zipped up to her chest, wearing a pair of black fingerless gloves and her hair tied back in a ponytail.

His gaze moved from her face to the material and noted that it looked denser than normal fabric.

Lila caught his eyes and smiled. "You like what you see?"

Ethan stayed silent. He didn’t have an answer to that...

"It’s a fireproof jumpsuit" she said, "My ability tends to burn my clothes if I use it too long. This suit makes sure it doesn’t happen."

Ethan remained silent. She had the tendency to burn her clothes if she used her ability for a long period of time. He didn’t know that she was capable of doing that.

It seemed that Flame Affinity was stronger than he thought...

Lila’s mouth curved, her smile widening. "You were imagining me without it just now, weren’t you?"

Ethan blinked, realising that he had been staring too long.

"I was imagining the part where your uniform catches fire in a Dungeon and becomes a problem," he answered flatly. "No one wants to see a naked shooting star..."

She turned, angling her backside in a very suggestive manner... "Oh~ you’d like to see that won’t you?"

"You love teasing me don’t you?" Ethan asked in a deadpan.

Lila went towards the door as she opened it. "Come on, we have to get going. There’s no time to waste on your fantasies."

Ethan’s eyebrow twitched. "Fuck you."

She just laughed, and Ethan sighed as he followed behind...

***

They walked to the auditorium with the rest of the assigned students, and when they reached, almost no one was still in uniform.

The students were dressed in either reinforced jackets, fitted combat pants, light armor plates, or full body armor. Everyone had changed for the field test. The usual sea of identical blue had been replaced by whatever each student thought would help them survive a Dungeon.

Ethan looked around, and his gaze landed on a girl standing alone near the side wall.

She had red hair, a still posture and wore a plain black coat over dark clothes while keeping a clear distance from everyone else.

His gaze lingered, and When her red eyes met with his, there was no surprise in it. She already knew who he was, and so did he...

Nora Voss, an A rank Blood Craft user.

Another person with a restricted class like his was standing a few feet away from him.

Her eyes lingered for a moment, and Ethan noticed they flat expression it carried. Ethan looked away and made a quiet rule in his mind: Don’t get close.

Or at least, any closer than necessary...

Crane’s voice cut through the low noise as she gave the final instructions.

"Today’s group will enter the Dungeon, the remaining students go tomorrow. You will operate under instructor supervision at all times and restricted ability users remain under direct observation from me."

A few heads turned in Ethan’s direction. He ignored them but also noticed that no one looked towards Nora.

That in itself was odd...

"The transportation will be handled by Professor Holt." Crane gestured to a thin man in a coat. "His spatial ability will place us at the designated entry point. Once inside, you will receive your specific assignment. Questions will wait until we arrive."

Holt stepped forward, raised one hand, and the air warped as a shimmering oval opened in front of them.

"In groups of five," Crane ordered. "Move."

Ethan and Lila crossed the threshold with the third group. The sensation was brief, they felt pressure for a moment then weightlessness, then solid ground underfoot again.

They stood on a wide stone platform cut into the side of a low ridge. In front of them rose the Dungeon entrance: a massive, irregular arch of rock with faint blue light slowly coursing across it.

The air smelled of ozone and ash, and Ethan could feel chills the closer they came to the entrance.

Beyond the arch, it looked like there was nothing there. Like they could see the other side of the archway.

Other groups finished arriving and crane waited until the last student stepped through, then faced them.

"This Dungeon formed during the Mana Apocalypse twenty years ago," she began. "There is a theory that when the mana density of the world spiked beyond containment, a phenomenon known as the Rupture occurred, causing existing space to tear, birthing New spaces—spaces you know as Dungeons. Most were sealed or stabilized, while some remain active."

She pointed at the arch.

"This is one of the stable ones, though monsters spawn continuously inside, it is regularly cleared to avoid one of the beasts to cross over. The deeper you go, the higher the average rank. Upper layers produce mostly Slave, Mid layers begin producing Devils, an the deepest sections are capable of generating Monarch-class threats, though those are rare and heavily monitored."

A few students shifted uneasily as they heard it.

"The Agency maintains this site for training and resource extraction," Crane continued. "One of the primary materials taken from the upper layers is Aetherite. It forms in thin veins along the walls and in small clusters on the floors of the first layers. Aetherite has many uses, but we mostly use it to study mana flow. Your assignment today is simple: each group will recover a minimum of three stable Aetherite samples and return them intact. You will not push past the designatedlayer boundary without permission to avoid casualties should any one of you encounter something that is above your capabilities."

She let her gaze move across the students, lingering briefly on Ethan and then on Nora Voss.

"Restricted ability users will be stationed with me and demonstrate control in real conditions. That is part of the assessment. Any loss of control will be dealt with immediately. Am I clear?"

A chorus of affirmation answered her.

"Groups will now begin entering. Stay close and do not chase fleeing monsters beyond visual range. Do not engage anything that registers above C-rank without support. Move."