Alexis decided to go to the school's dungeon district. The building had several large signs with several stores located beside it. Some students purchased stores to sell the items gained from visiting the dungeons. Others were the academy's extra staff members.
His eyes trailed across a large sign reading 'beginner's guide to the dungeon.' Alexis found this sign fun because developers used this guide to explain the game's features to players when they bought the game.
___________
- Beginner's guide to the dungeon -
The academy's dungeon doesn't have many dangers, thanks to the barrier surrounding its dungeon. However, you can still get injured when not paying enough attention. Here are some tips to help your journey.
1) Always prepare at least one healing salve, one antidote, and one set of bandages per party member.
2) Remember to stay at dungeon levels you're able to complete with ease.
3) Remain polite towards other dungeon divers. We will not tolerate fights!
4) Remember to update your adventurer's pass at the front desk upon completing a floor.
5) ...
6) ...
_______
Alexis browsed the document, remembering how authentic it looked with his collector's edition of the game, which came with an 18+ figure of Alice dressed in her chapter 3 sorceress outfit. His face amused whilst approaching the guild's desk, several women sat serving the academies' dungeon divers.
His handsome looks, paired with his alluring smile, had garnered the attention of many older students. Only second and third-grade students visited the guild, as most first-year students had yet to learn combat techniques. Alexis felt that compared to others, he lacked not only the knowledge of fighting, having lived in a peaceful world but having never killed before.
"Greetings, welcome to the academy branch of the adventurer's guild! My name is Claire. How may I help you?"
Alexis observed the receptionist who served him. His eyes narrowed upon seeing her face. She looked to be around her mid-twenties, with short brown hair and amber eyes with a small beauty spot below her right eye.
Claire seemed to misunderstand, thinking the prince was interested in her as her face became blushed.
His rugged look seemed extra popular, which made him feel relaxed. In his previous world, he did many things he wasn't proud of during his younger years, finding himself alone and unqualified when trying to graduate from a small mobster.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Alexis. I want to enter the dungeon. What must I do to qualify?"
Alexis gave her a charming smile before waiting for her response, leaning his side against the desk. Unaware of how destructive his new wild look was to the women who'd finished a dangerous dungeon dive filled with hormones and adrenaline, debating how to ask him out.
"Mmm, first, I suggest you fill out the registration document. One moment, ahhh, here it is! Please complete this document. I can then assign your dungeon pass, which allows you not only to dive into the dungeon but to store currency and emergency items."
Alexis began completing the form she had given him. Listening to her words, he wondered about the consequence of losing it.
"What happens if someone loses the card? Wouldn't they lose their money and items?"
This question was one of the most common questions from newbies. Claire gave a light giggle towards his rookie answer. She curled her hair around her finger, opening her plump red lips to respond, ignoring the jealous-looking women beside her.
"Hehe, No. The card will bind with your body, becoming something like a spell. It can leave your body for identification. However, it will disappear once it parts away from you. Also, the storage function is disabled once it leaves your body."
Her hand tapped her right palm. With a flash of white light, her golden bracelet became a golden card that appeared in her hands. Although he couldn't see enough, Alexis knew it contained her status. Something important within the game's version of this world. The card disappeared once further than 10 centimetres from her body in a puff of smoke.
Alexis wondered whether the colour coding still matched his memory from the game. Claire seemed to detect his question, leaving him stunned.
"The colour of your card will change as you rank up, starting as the colour black when only a Rank G hunter. To upgrade, you must complete the first five floors and duel an F-ranked instructor. No matter how powerful or rich anybody is, nobody can skip ranks. Everyone has to take step by step, which the current headmistress decided."
Claire slid a document towards Alexis, his eyes trailing over the paper, taking the information.
___________
[Adventurer Colours and Ranks.]
Rank G - Black bracelet
Rank F - Grey bracelet
Rank E - White bracelet
Rank D - Bronze bracelet
Rank C - Silver bracelet
Rank B - Gold bracelet
Rank A - Platinum bracelet
_______________
Alexis knew there were levels above this rating. Once graduating, your rank would drop by one, compensating for the difference in difficulty between the academy's dungeon and actual dungeons in the real world. Mainly to protect the lives of newly graduating students from dying prematurely.
"Thanks for the information. I want to return the favour. How about I treat you to a meal and coffee once I reach rank F?"
The fortress's age was lower than a typical town because of its high casualty rate. Alexis's teeth sparkled, and Claire felt excited to be picked up by a younger boy. Since she was now in her thirties, most local men weren't very interested in her, probably because of the many youthful women attending the academy.
Claire grabbed the document she gave him one last time, scribbling some jumbled letters onto it. Alexis knew this was another feature of the adventurer bracelet. It was close to a smartphone. If you owned another person's bracelet id, phone calls were possible, although they cost one bronze for ten minutes. In the game, it was the easiest way to increase loyalty and affection levels.
"I'll be right back, Prince Alexis."
Her body disappeared into the back room, taking his registration document with her. Several starving female wolves became excited, planning to head towards him. Before they saw a fearsome figure, that woman was a third-year known for her violent temper. Several men were now impotent after trying to flirt with her.
The women shuddered, wishing their handsome and sexy prince would avoid her wrath.
The first thing Alexis noticed was the scent. Only one woman he knew towered over him and smelt of peaches. Oblivious to this, Alexis was planning his next move when suddenly a heavy weight hung over his shoulders, causing his body to drop downwards before thick arms supported his body.
She was Cynthia Ravenswood, the first princess of Thea The Emerald Plains, a country of beautiful fields known for its strong cavalry knights with a short but bloody history.
"Alex!! Did you miss your big sister?" Cynthia said.
Cynthia dropped more of her weight against Alexis. Since they were children, Alexis's mother was born in the Thean plains, initially a tiny city-state within the empire. It gradually became a vassal country blocking the bordering goblin empire. The emperor met Alexis' mother during the ceremony to crown Cynthia's grandfather, who would serve the Garland empire as king of The vassal kingdom Thea.
Eldred Van Garland became obsessed with Aleria blackwood, born from a small family of merchants within the vassal country of Thea. Eldred snatched her away when he returned to the empire, leaving her fiancé devastated, going to the east continent to one day seek revenge.
"Ah, Cynthia... I didn't know you were studying here. Are you doing well?"
Her body was highly toned yet maintained a feminine beauty, long silver hair draping over Alexis' chest a slightly darker shade than his, but beautiful nonetheless.
"Mmmm, my Alex is always the best! I'm doing fine. Just the usual flies keep following me around. So annoying!"
His shoulders quivered lightly, still not having completed the ritual to share status with Imra, as it required him to be level one. Her weight was almost too much for him to bear. His mind tried to divert her attention elsewhere.
"Cynthia... Those 'flies' are there to protect you from harm. What if one day you're unable to deal with everything alone?"
Her eyes, blue like the ocean, seemed to shine in joy, pushing her face closer to Alexis, their cheeks rubbing against one another, as she squished Alexis' face with her incredible strength caused by excessive enthusiasm.
"Alex, are you worried about your sister?...."
Cynthia's bracelet started ringing. Once she saw it was her mother's close friend, she realised it was time to run. Her arms gave Alexis one last squeeze. She ran into the distance, escaping from the old witch, who was far more robust than her.
"Let us meet again soon, Alex!!"
Alexis would get no time to breathe. As a meek Claire approached, holding a black card and handing it to him. His eyes looked over the details and felt relieved it was ultimately the same as in the game's interface.
__________________
Alexis Van Garland
Level: 0
Class: Summoner
Prince of the Garland Empire.
__________________
The card wrapped around his wrist, forming a bracelet which could now project the card whenever he willed it. Alexis gave a thankful smile to Claire, knowing it could usually take hours to register.
"It seems she rushed my card specifically. I'll have to reward her during our meal." Alexis thought.
-----
Several minutes later, Alexis was outside a large platform with a massive black monolith in the centre of the room with many strange engravings. The monolith had a completely different view from the game, far more detailed and defined.
Alexis wanted to get to business before the guide who helped beginners appeared. His fingers pressed against the figure representing the first floor. An ethereal light surrounded his body as he disappeared from the platform, leaving the guide to click his tongue at another overconfident newbie.
Alexis felt his vision narrow considerably. The surrounding walls were barely three people wide, and his nose could only smell the scent of wet dogs and damp soil and wet grass. Whether this was the dungeon being its separate space or the settings the academy chose, he prayed not to meet any spiders as his feet began proceeding forward.
Several metres ahead, there was a large patch of grass, tall enough to hide something.
*Rustle!*
Alexis saw something moving in the grass before him, raising his right hand again and summoning Imra. Thankfully, whilst inside the dungeon, a summoned demon wouldn't engage in needless chatter. Not sure if it would work in reality, he watched Imra materialise, giving him a deep bow before standing to his side.
"Master"
His deep voice interrupted her, seeing she wanted to continue speaking, probably to ask for an order.
"Imra, I want you to keep any enemies from approaching me. If you do well, I'll reward you later."
His excitement had grown too large to handle. When playing games, he'd always loved large spells like a certain warlocks Soul Fire spell, but his staple desired spells were those of the draining type, life drain, mana drain and mind flay. He hated the classes that owned them but loved those spells.
Alexis raised his left hand, which became shrouded in darkness. His veins pulsated with his half-opened hand feeling a suction forming within the centre.
He had started the spell but didn't know how to target the rabbit. Alexis felt extremely embarrassed as Imra stood in a martial art-like stance similar to Muay Thai. His mind started feeling panic. Would he embarrass himself in front of this woman?
"How? What do I do!? In the game, you press the button. How would I imagine..."
Alexis had an epiphany, remembering the NPC chatter that happened randomly whilst you idled while eating dinner or reading novels while taking a break. They mentioned imagination was the key to performing magic.
His mind pictured the rabbit shrouded in shadows as they began ripping the very life from the rabbit's unwilling body, with his eyes closed, missing the scene of his first proper spell.
The rabbit, trying to escape in panic, fell to the ground in despair, feeling crippling pain within its chest as black shadows continued corroding the rabbit's insides. Its life force began dwindling slowly, turning into an icy corpse.
Alexis felt pleasure equal to climax, not only physically but mentally. It seemed when killing with a drain. You could feel the actual EXP entering your body, giving a near orgasmic pleasure. His mental pleasure from casting a spell for the first time, feeling the chill of shadows and the rabbit's life force entering his hand, gave him the feeling of supreme power.
"Calm down, Alexis. Don't let the power high take over your head! These rabbits are just the weakest of weak rabbits. You still have more than several hundred death flags to conquer!"
Imra couldn't speak. However, her thoughts never stopped. She felt Alexis's extreme joy at being able to cast spells now. She, too, was happy. His growing strength meant his dying chances would be even lower now.
His excitement didn't cease as the pair continued to complete the first floor of the dungeon with no effort because this floor was a tutorial floor with only rabbits and no other enemy. After draining several rabbits, he watched a single punch from Imra cause the slightly larger boss rabbit to be simple explode into blood mist.
Alexis and Imra felt an intense pain fill their bodies from the levelling of zero to one, both falling to the ground beside each other, twitching intensely.