As envious as the two brothers were of their friend, this thought unfortunately could not last for long.
Seeing that all the students were gathered, Professor Pertina addressed the group.
"Well, now that you're all back safe and sound, we'll be on our way as well.
But I must say... I'm a little disappointed. You all haven't managed to level up yet. Normally we would be moving on to the second level by now, but since you're all still so far behind, we probably won't be able to do that until tomorrow.
I'm not angry or anything -I'm sure you're all doing your best- but I am slightly disappointed. Most of you old guys would be on the second floor by now. You guys, however, are... well... slower.
But let's not worry about it. Let's just enjoy the time." And with that, Professor Pertina finished her short speech and the class headed off to the dungeons.
They walked. once again. all the way to the dungeons. This was also a kind of training. Leg time, or at least a little.
When they arrived, the various parties immediately formed. These also wanted to go directly toward the dungeons. And in the same order as always. That is, Hiroki's party was also among those who first entered one of the dungeons. But after just a few steps, they were stopped.
"Hey! Stop right there, we have something important to discuss."
Hearing this, they flinched and immediately stopped. They slowly turned around and spied Professor Pertina.
They were confused. Why did she want them to stay here? What was she supposed to discuss with them? What could be so important?
This and much more was going through the minds of the group.
They were afraid. By them, of course, we mean Aiko and Eichi. Hiroki and Gaia were not afraid, of course. They were just playing the game.
Aiko was even excited inside and was looking forward to the coming event.
Professor Pertina did not wait for their reactions and simply said, "Follow me!"
They did as commanded and followed their professor.
They followed her all the way back again. They stopped where the parties that were not allowed into the Dungeon were taking a break.
Professor Pertina ordered them to wait for a moment. So did Hiroki and his friends. Meanwhile, Professor Pertina went to another party that was waiting. She explained to them that due to a spontaneous emergency at Hiroki's party, their dungeon was now free. Therefore, this party was now allowed to enter. The students were surprised and immediately, full of verve, looked for their equipment. Shortly thereafter, they went into the dungeon.
Now Professor Pertina ordered the others to follow her again. They went to a somewhat secluded place in the meadow. Professor Pertina wanted to make sure that their conversation would not be overheard by anyone.
When they found a good spot, she suddenly said.
"Sit down on the ground."
So they did. Professor Pertina, however, remained standing. This immediately made her seem more dominant and stronger in the group. It was a psychological trick. But it is not so important.
She now asked the group.
"Do you actually know why we are here right now?"
No one could answer her. They didn't know what they had done wrong. Eichi, however, had a suspicion. He was afraid that Professor Pertina had somehow overheard that they were already on the second floor.
"No? No one can tell me?" She had already expected the group to remain silent. That made her grin.
"You guys want me to show you a really cool thing?" It was a rhetorical question. She would show them either way.
Professor Pertina raised her left hand. There she was wearing a bracelet. This bracelet had very strong similarities to the bracelet that the students had received. However, this bracelet had a red, ruby-like, crystal embedded in the center. In truth, this was a crystal that was very commonly used for magic objects.
She infused a little mana into the stone, and beautifully it began to glow. All of a sudden, three, hologram-like windows appeared. They looked very similar to the [Satus Window], however, these were visible to all.
"Shall I tell you what this is?" Once again, Professor Pertina didn't give them time to answer and immediately continued talking.
"As you may have learned, if you've been paying attention in class, the number of monsters that can be on the same floor of a dungeon is limited. If one dies, a new monster will appear after a short cooldown. Because of this, dungeons are always balanced. So there can be no real anomalies.
This very useful principle has been taken advantage of in these dungeons and this beautiful bracelet has been created. By inserting a very potent mana crystal into each dungeon, it is hereby possible to always see how many monsters are per floor." She paused for a moment.
But now Eichi had already understood everything. His worst fear had come true. Professor Pertina knew that they had entered the second floor. But now she continued again, interrupting Eichi's thoughts.
"You know what's funny? Today, as well as yesterday, I saw goblins from the second floor die. And this while you were in the dungeon." Now she became a bit more serious.
"I thought I had made myself clear. Only the first floor and by no means further. You know, I hope, that I can get you kicked out of the academy for this?"
Eichi, as well as Aiko did not know how to react. Therefore, Eichi sincerely hoped that Hiroki would solve this mess with his powers. However, it seemed that he had other plans. Because the latter suddenly leaned forward and began to say loudly.
"I ask for a reprimand. We have entered the second floor. But it wasn't my fault." He now pointed to his two friends,
"They put me up to it. They said that the slimes were too easy and that they wanted to fight stronger monsters. I was against it from the beginning. But they wouldn't give me their ear."
Aiko and Eichi were speechless. Where does Hiroki get off playing innocent like that?
Professor Pertina believed him, of course, and her anger was now directed at the two brothers.
"So that's how it was. I figured something like that."
Aiko and Eichi looked each other in the eye. They absolutely had to assuage their professor's anger. Otherwise, they would most likely be kicked out of the academy. But what were they going to tell her? Aiko decided that he would tell her the truth. At least part of it.
[AN: Thank you for reading the chapter. If you want to support my work, feel free to add this novel to your library and leave a comment/review. It would help me a lot ^-^]