A'keal and the exploration team headed to Sprint-Front. A land solely owned by the Albertine royal family in the southern part of the fire dragon kingdom, also known as Ladrace.
The exploration team took 3 days to arrive at Spring-Front. A'keal witnessed the natural beauty of the place upon arrival. Greenery filled the landscape and streams of water could be seen. The land was rich in natural resources and mineral veins.
"I wish I could come here for my vocation," said one Knight
"Keep on wishing. It isn't every day we are able to come here. It has been the sole property of the royal family ever since the creation of the kingdom. This land can only be entered by permission from the royal family." An older Knight explained.
"Alright, everyone, let's set camp here and take the day off. "Don't wander off and be sure to be present tomorrow morning as we will head to the cave for exploration," said Tomen.
"Yes, sir!" everyone responded
During the night, A'keal was secretly training. The familiar feeling of an obstacle limiting his progress was felt as he swung his sword.
"Why can't I seem to pass the first rank dragon knight stage? My form should be good. Is the art that I'm using not compatible with me?" wondered A'keal while pondering.
As A'keal was practicing his sword techniques, he noticed a strange blue light coming from nearby. He quietly went to investigate the light.
Upon arriving, he saw a circle showing the same Fire Dragon king Emblems he saw when he had entered the throne room to meet his father. The circle was lighting up as if it was resonating with A'keal energy.
A'keal analyzed the circle and found it led to an unknown location. As he was about to explore this circle further, he heard his name being shouted.
"Prince A'keal! Are you here?" said Kael.
"Yes, I'm over here," said A'keal while urgently running back to where he was training.
"There you are, my prince. It's not good to stay up this late. We will need to get up early in the morning to start the mission assigned to us," said Kael.
A'keal responded, "Yes, I agree, let's go get some rest".
Morning came, and the exploration team lined up in their groups in formation. The group encountered a range of monsters as they approached the cave, including goblins, trolls, orcs, and snakes, varying in rank from 1 to 3. They were able to deal with all of them fairly easily, although some new Knights did get slightly injured.
"All right, let's keep moving forward. We will now be entering the cave. Please disperse with your group of 10," Tomen instructed.
The 5 groups all headed separate ways with their groups of 10. Once they entered the cave, they encountered another group of monsters. This time, the monsters were mostly from rank 2 intermediate to rank 3 intermediate.
While holding his sword to face the monsters, Kael said, "Prince A'keal, please stay back.".
Bang!
Kael, who was a 3rd rank Knight, swung his sword at the monster. For him, these monsters were no challenge. The other 8 teammates also attacked.
Seeing everyone else fight, A'keal resolved to aim for the weaker monster. That way, he can still contribute and get experience.
A'keal was intent on defeating the weaker monster. Suddenly a peak 3rd rank orc chief swung his one-sided iron orc at A'keal's back.
"Prince A'keal, behind you!" said Kael in a panic.
A'keal already knew the orc chief was behind him and laid out his Power suppressing formation. The golden chains strapped the Orc chief, and Kael was able to finish him off.
Hours later... After searching the whole cave, they entered a room with really rare minerals.
"Finally, after searching this long, we find something worthwhile," said Kael. The other members of the party nodded in agreement.
Out of the many rare minerals, one particularly stands out to A'keal. It was a red rock that had an ember emblem on it. Although this rock seemed to be the least valuable of all the minerals here, A'keal decided to keep it.
"Alright, let's report this to the vice-captain," said A'keal to the rest of the party.
Just as they were about to leave, the five people who had wanted to kill A'keal nodded to each other, signaling that their plan was about to begin.
Antagonists 1 and 2 quickly attack Kael, as he was the strongest in the group and is a hindrance. Although Kael was a peak 3rd rank Dragon Knight, facing 2 intermediate 3rd rank Dragon Knights wasn't an easy challenge.
"A'keal, go run to the vice-captain and report the situation," said Kael.
3 enemies rush to attack A'keal, but 2 of them are stopped by the 2 knights the king sent to protect him.
Only the weakest of the group, the last antagonist, a beginner 3rd rank, had succeeded in attacking A'keal. To defend himself, A'keal tried to use the power-suppressing formation on the fifth antagonist, only for him to dodge it.
"I've seen you use this formation many times. It would not work on me" said antagonist 5 arrogantly. He then proceeded to strike A'keal with a blow on his back.
A'keal almost fainted from the impact but persevered. He kept running to report back to the vice-captain. A guard sent by the king to protect A'keal had been injured by his opponent, allowing him to escape. This was in the direction in which A'keal was heading.
While escaping the cave, A'keal remembered the circle containing the fire dragon emblem he saw last night. He rushed to it and used his sword techniques to light it up. Immediately upon standing atop the circle this time, A'keal was transported to a small room illuminated by crystals.
The two people chasing A'keal searched for him, but couldn't find him. "Let's leave it. He's alone in this place full of monsters, he won't survive," said antagonist 3 while antagonist 5 agreed. So they left the area.
The injured A'keal passed out on the floor of the small room.