Rik Witt peered at the whiteboard in front of him, silently begging the terms and phrases to make sense. He only had one more question to answer, but he had never been good at monster studies, or anything else for that matter. The teacher, a tall blonde woman who was in her early thirties, gave him a stern glare. Class had ended an hour ago, and she had places she'd rather be, but she vowed to never leave until all of her students understood the lesson.
"And look where that promise has gotten you, Leia!" She fumed to herself, mentally cursing herself and the boy for the situation. She sighed and readjusted her glasses, and walked over to the scrawny and miserable boy.
"So what's the hold up?" She asked, in her sweetest tone.
"I don't know. It's just not making sense! Why do we have to know about monster mating habits anyway?!" Rik whined, his nasal voice immediately grating on her nerves.
"Because they're less guarded when they're horny." She said flatly, dropping her sweet persona instantly. It had been like this for the entire year, and Leia's patience was at an end. She knew Rik wasn't stupid, as he always managed to barely pass whatever tests or assignments she handed out, but his learning curve was much to slow for her liking.
"Oh. That makes sense." Rik said sheepishly, jotting it down as quickly as he could, ignoring her glare as best he could. He sighed. When she said it like that, it made perfect sense. But with so many seemingly complex and extra terms, like incubation habits, protective tendency, and so many more, Rik just got lost in the words.
He closed his notebook, the final term written down correctly, and packed up and left in a hurry, quickly thanking Professor Leia for her indispensable help. She gave him a curt nod and chilling smile, so Rik left without saying another word.
It was cold outside, as it often was, and the school yard was mostly empty. The girls track team jogged past on the other side of the yard, and a few other students peppered the yard, either talking or wandering around aimlessly. Everyone else was inside, and Rik envied them slightly. He was much too weak to be allowed to join any of the combat clubs, and none of the support clubs wanted him either, thanks to him not having any aptitude for their skills either.
Rik left the school yard and headed for the wide mouth of the dungeon system. He got to the entrance and flashed his student identification card at the terminal, and headed down quickly. He came to a crossroads, each one with a glowing sign above them, one pink and the other blue. Rik went down the blue path, and came to a large steel door. He flashed his identification card at the terminal, and the door hissed open slowly. The room was massive, being a full sixty meters across and thirty meters long. Yet, despite the size of the room, it was still a very cramped space, as over a dozen rows of lockers filled the room.
Rik strolled to the end of the very last row at the farthest side of the room, and deposited his school bag in the locker, trading it out for a small bag that he slung over his shoulder, a light piece of leather armor and a shortsword that he strapped to his waist.
Most people would use their ability to fight the monster that inhabited the dungeon, but he'd quickly round that a simple shortsword of dubious quality was better than anything his ability could produce.
Rik sighed again. Months of constant failure had dampened his spirit, and he looked down at his hands resentfully. They were too scrawny, and his fingers were too long to use the shortsword properly. His mouth turned up in a bitter sneer as he walked towards the dungeon door.
The door leading from the locker rooms to the dungeon was heavy, and was nearly impossible to push when he first started going to the dungeon, Rik was able to easily push the door open now. The motion activated lights flashed on as he stepped into the cool and damp dungeon.
Well, it wasn't exactly a dungeon, as no prisoners had ever been kept down here. It was an underground cave system, who's ecosystem defied logic and human reason, or so he'd heard. He'd heard stories of the bizarre floor system, with swamps on one level and a desert on the next. Rik, however, hadn't seen them.
He'd only ever seen the first floor, which was a damp and cool cave, naturally lit by bioluminescent plants and animals. There were many stalagmites, stubby cones of stone that were often a few feet tall and almost always a foot thick. Rik had come to appreciate them, as they often made good hiding spots.
"
None of his numbers went above ten, and his ability was simply ranked at 'E', the lowest possible ranking. Even the name "Hill of Defeat" was pessimistic. Rik shook his head and took a deep breath. While another failure was likely, Rik had learned through his few years of failure that he would eventually grow in response to his efforts.
After all, strength wasn't gained in a day. He looked down and secured the sword to his waist and tightened the leather plate across his chest. Next, he quickly ran an inventory of his bag. Everything was there, his bandages, a small package of food and water, and finally two small vials of liquid, one green and the other blue.
Without further ado, he steeled his nerves, and stepped out into the dungeon.
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Name: Rik Witt
Level: 01
Experience: 80
(To next level: 20)
Strength: 8 (E-)
Agility: 9 (E-)
Constitution: 10 (E-)
Stamina: 10 (E-)
Ability: Hill of Defeat/Effect: ??? (E)