Bright, a former Arcane military member who teaches at Steel Academy, one of the academies on Anchorage Island
Unlike Kryuger who is always strict. He looks very relaxed, even for a military veteran
With a lit cigarette in his hand, he begins to blow smoke from his mouth in front of the academics
FWUUUOOOOH!
The smoke spread, and began to disappear when it was almost near the academics
Kryuger who was still standing straight looking at the magic monitor, finally started to speak
Kryuger:" How many times have I told you? Don't smoke in front of academics, especially those from a higher class " he said to discipline Bright
Bright:" Sorry everyone " he said to the others
Then Bright began to advance, passing the group of academics, and stopped beside Kryuger who was still watching the monitor
Kryuger:" I thought you would be lazy to go up to the monitoring room " he said
Bright heard that chuckled a little at Kryuger's words, then exhaled a thin smoke
Bright:" I thought you would retire as a border guard in the western village. But it turns out you became a teacher at another academy "
Kryuger glanced a little
Kryuger:" Well. It can't be helped, it's my fate as a magic veteran "
They laughed softly. But the laughter sounded more like a burden that was lifted for a moment, not joy.
Bright stood beside him, looking at the screen. There was a group of 37 students walking through the crystal ruins including young faces like Luna, Lucius, Maria, and Zemo
Bright:" This group is interesting" he muttered while watching the monitor showing group 37
Kryuger:" Yes. Some of them have above average potential"
Bright:" And the others?" he asked with a grin
Kryuger raised his eyebrows slightly
Kryuger:" Depends. Whether they can survive or not"
Kryuger's answer told him a little that this group consisted of students who were above average. It could even be more than that
He knew about some of the students from the group, including Luna and Lucius
Luna who was one of the Great Families of the StarBlue region and the former leader of the previous StarBlue Alliance, the Selene family, and Lucius who was a prince of the Cryztolia kingdom. He knew about the relationship between the two nations
The two had a good relationship as leaders of regions that were close to each other. Even StarBlue also sent their people to help the kingdom of Cryztolia
But unfortunately, after Morpho Selene disappeared after the Vulpix Flower incident, internal tensions in the StarBlue region began to increase. Where there was a power struggle within the union, so that StarBlue began to rarely send their people anymore
Based on the many problems within the StarBlue region, there was one that slaughtered Bright himself.
Why was Morpho's daughter, Luna, expelled by her own union? That was something that made him a little curious about what she had been through all this time
But before he could think further, the quiet atmosphere of the room was interrupted by a noise from one of the central monitor sounds
SFX: "Warning. Anomaly Detection. Unknown Warp Door detected in the Crystal sector and the Deep sector"
The Arcane staff looked at each other. Kryuger immediately leaned forward, then ordered one of the staff to enlarge the visuals
Kryuger:" Enlarge the visuals!" he said firmly
Staff Steel:" Ready!"
The central monitor showed three warp doors that were not recognized by the rune system appeared after group 37 had defeated Salamander Rakan
Bright:" There are three unknown warp doors in the boss room? It doesn't make sense" While hissing
One of the staff pressed the console rune
Staff Steel:" There is no data on that door. The door is not even registered in the rune magic configuration. It is not even detected by the system. Its appearance is... instant"
Kryuger:" Who is in the Deep sector?" he said with a cold gaze turning to the monitor
The monitor showed that two groups of students had approached the door without stopping
Then then...
SFX: "WARP TRIGGERED"
The door lit up and the two groups were sucked in without resistance. Their visuals disappeared from the monitor.
They accidentally entered without knowing that the door would lead them to an unknown place
Staff:" Visual contact lost! Sensors can't reach their location!"
Kryuger immediately turned around
Kryuger:" Prepare an evacuation route. Cancel all dungeon practices. All groups are withdrawn now!"
Bright also joined in. He started stomping cigarette butts on the floor
Bright:" I'm coming. If the anomaly is The Hive's doing again, then someone must have brought them here"
Kryuger nodded and turned his body towards the officer
Kryuger:" Call the Steel Academy security team. Prepare the intervention team. I, Bright and the intervention team will enter the dungeon. Set up a locator beacon, and prepare the coordinates of the breakthrough point. Now!"
In an instant, the alarm sounded
SFX: "ALERT—ALL UNITS—DUNGEON PRACTICE CANCELLED. PLEASE GO TO THE SECURITY POINT!
Arcane troops in uniform from the Steel Academy began to enter the observation room. One of the guard commanders saluted
Arcane Commander: "We are at your disposal, sir"
Kryuger put his palm in the air, and purple magic particles began to gather into his signature weapon, a thin long sword charged with gravity.
Bright punched his own palm. The ground beneath him cracked, and from there, the rocky fragments came together to form large gloves on both hands, his signature weapon as an earth element controller
Kryuger then pointed his hands forward, appearing to be making a chant
From his hands, a magic circle appeared, and also from the front appeared a portal with purple magic
This was one of Kryuger's magic, magic that could create a teleportation portal through his gravity element that could form a space. Its name was Grav Portal
They stepped towards the Grav Portal accompanied by the gazes of the academics and staff. The gazes of awe, fear, and respect converged
***
(Wim's POV)
Group 49 and group 37 accidentally met each other in an unfamiliar Dungeon room
But for Wim, this was one of the contents of the Quest. The place where Lucius and Luna got their strength boosts in this quest
This large, protruding door was the goal of the Quest
In the game version, Lucius would get one of the crystal weapon magics, while Luna would get an Ice Grimoire that would increase the variety of her ice magic from inside the room
And why did Louisa and her group meet their group? The reason was because Louisa's group accidentally found a Warp door while hunting
This happened because Louisa was dissatisfied with her points after seeing her group's points ranked 8th among the other students
Louisa, in the game, has a competitive nature, which makes her not want to lose to anyone, even in anything
Considering she is a princess of the kingdom, it is natural for her
...
Some groups of 49 and 37 were chatting with each other
Zemo:" You guys... Why are you here?" he asked several people from group 49
Edward:" I don't know, but what I know is, we found a Warp door in our place. So we just went in"
Morian:" Wait... You guys found a Warp door"
Edward:" Yeah, that's it. " He answered while looking up a little
While the others were busy chatting with each other. Louisa was still checking and touching the large door in front of them
Judging from her face, it seemed that she was focused on finding a way to open the door. She was even checking a rune seal attached to the door. Hoping that by removing the rune seal, she would be able to open the closed door
Lucius:" So how is it? Do you know how to open the rune seal?"
Lucius who was watching Louisa from behind started asking while crossing his arms
Then Louisa nodded slightly
Louisa:" Yeah. I think this seal uses a Dwarf seal" She answered while looking at the seal
Lucius:" Dwarf huh...? " nodded in understanding
Then Lucius continued
Lucius:" Do you know how to open this seal"
In an instant, Louisa smiled thinly
Louisa:" Of course, who do you think I am" she said in a soft voice, but still giving her elegance
Louisa began to fiddle with the seal with her magic
Louisa:" When I was 7 years old, my father always sent several teachers from the Dwarf race to teach me Dwarf rune attribute magic" she continued
Meanwhile, Luna who was sitting reading a book on a giant rock next to the Dungeon room saw Wim and Art who came to her while waving their hands
Wim:" Yo"
For some reason, Luna replied with a wave of Wim's hand
Luna:' Eh... Why am I doing this' she thought
She herself was a little surprised and blushed with her behavior lately, so she finally looked back at her book
Wim who saw it, was a little confused by Luna's behavior this time. Didn't want to think more louder, he began to leave Luna alone. Followed by Art
Louisa who was still fiddling with the seal, managed to break the seal
Louisa: 'Success' happily
Krrrrrrrrrt...!
Then the door opened dramatically, kicking up some dust from the floor as it moved slowly
Behind the door, lay a large room that looked like a magic workshop with little lighting, and several Anti-Magic Stones that interfered with the flow of magical mana
All: "Whoaaa..."
The groups were amazed by the room inside. Because the room looked like an ancient Arcane workshop 300 years ago, with an aesthetic that resembled a medieval style
Then, Morian began to tell the others about something
Morian:" I've heard this story. In history 120 years ago there was a student from the Academy in Anchorage who once lived in the Gigan dungeon, but was never seen again during that time"
Edward:" Wait. Is that true? " he asked
Morian:" Well, it was written in history. Although there was something that had been censored by the higher-ups of Anchorage, such as his name, why did he choose to live in this dungeon, and the Academy he was in. It was still a secret, for some reason the higher-ups did it? "
During their exploration, the hair on Jue and Ken's necks stood up
Ken and Jue:" ....!? "
Ken who was a Beastman, and Jue could feel an unpleasant aura from their bodies
Fjin:" What's wrong? "
Ken:" I don't know, but I feel something who is stalking us. Do you feel it too? " while glancing at Jue
Jue:" Yeah, I feel it. It's just very difficult because there are many anti-magic stones here" he replied while observing every corner of the room that had probably been given an anti-magic stone
During their exploration, they often felt something following them, maybe even stalking them from behind the shadows of the room
Even though they didn't know anything, they had to continue their journey. Until they found two separate paths. Right path and also left path
Lucius who saw the two paths, began to turn his body towards Louisa
Lucius:" How about we divide the group for one path?"
Louisa:" Sounds pretty good "
Group 49 chose the path on the right side, while Group 37 took the path on the left side
On the right side, group 49 found a room that was most likely the Student's workplace
His workplace looked very messy and also dusty
Then they searched for items that they could possibly bring to get the points
Every drawer and cupboard they were not looking for items that they could bring
Fjin:" This is the Arcane Engineer's tool, look at this crystal hammer"
Fjon:" It's not like it's worthless at all"
Fjin:" None of your business"
Edward:" Gosh, there's a lot of dust here"
Jue:" Even the anti-magic stones here are more than I thought"
Meanwhile Wim and Art were looking for something, and found a tool like bracelet with a hook in front
Wim:" Bingo" with a happy feeling
Then Wim took the bracelet and wore it on his right wrist
A Notification has appeared
[You get a Grapple Mana equipment]
Grapple Mana is a magic tool with a function like a Grappling Hook that allows its user to pull enemies or hang up
With a tool like this, in the future Wim will have no trouble facing the next Quests
Meanwhile Bouna was seen checking a paper that looked like a Blueprint
Then she called Louisa
Bouna:" Louisa... You have to see this"
Louisa approached Bouna and saw the Blueprint on the table
Louisa:" This..."
There they saw an Automaton Blueprint that had the shape of a half-human half-horse with a spear as a weapon
But before they could digest it further. Suddenly a hysterical scream was heard from the left side
??? :" AAAGH !!"
It was Maria's voice
In an instant, Group 49 began to approach the left side, and saw a terrifying sight
Group 37 was hit by a mysterious automaton. Zemo was thrown into the wall until it cracked, Kael lay with a stab wound on his right shoulder, and an Automaton cornered them
The automaton had the shape of an armored human with half a horse underneath. Its red eyes glowed brightly
Louisa and Bouna had seen the shape of the automaton from the Blueprint
With a horse's body that allowed it to run faster, this automaton became a fear for its enemies in hit and run tactics
The automaton was called the Centaur Automaton