Dungeon Towers
As I have said, in this world, there are 7 dungeon towers, each on one continent.
One way to enter the dungeon tower is through the tower entrance which is under the direct control of the central government and the other is ...through the portal.
Each continent has several portals that are connected to the dungeon tower of their respective continent.
All these portal entrances are also under the central government.
While the government permitted the use of these portals, there was a mandatory tax, along with a law requiring all discoveries and activities made within the dungeon tower to be reported.
It went without saying that the law is annoying and as such there are people who for quite valid reasons didn't like this law, as such, they used a different method for entering the dungeon tower.
It wasn't really a different method since they still used portals to enter the dungeon, just that, they used illegal means to do so.
Not every dungeon portal on the continent has been discovered just like hidden dungeons haven't been.
In other words, several dungeon tower portals exist throughout the continent that aren't under the central government, unreported portals, and unfound portals by the government. These portals are managed by underground organizations, criminals, and all.
Well, anyone who didn't report the portal location despite knowing about it is a criminal since the law states to report them right away upon the discovery.
At any rate, what I want to say is that there's one dungeon portal inside this academy, under the direct control of this academy.
As expected of the top academy of this continent. No other academy has a portal inside their academy, let alone access to it.
Anyone below the age of 18 is not allowed to enter the dungeon and any academy student couldn't do it.
But a student of Advanced Nurturing High School? Well, that's when things change.
This dungeon portal is accessible to second and third-year students.
Government and law be damned. This school allows it which means it's okay to enter.
Anyways, the point is, since the students of this academy from the second year are allowed to enter the dungeon, they need dungeon-related products.
After all, dungeons aren't some sort of picnic field trip, one could die in the dungeon, and that's why you need to prepare thoroughly for it.
As such, several products need to be delivered from outside this academy for dungeon-related activities.
So now, who do you think provides all the stuff useful in dungeons in this academy? Well, there isn't one such company, the academy has several collaborators and one such collaborator is Dungeon Deliveries.
If the name sounds a little familiar to you then it's because this was the place where I had bought stuff online before entering the hidden dungeon myself.
And now the person who had made the delivery for me was in front of me with something that I needed right this instant.
A vehicle.
"You son of a bitch." She hissed at me, it felt like the whole reason she stopped in front of me was to just cuss at me.
And I have no idea why she just cussed at me.
"He sure is" The hooded girl spoke in acknowledgment, nodding her head several times.
What the hell is wrong with these two?
"It looks like you took good care of yourself. You look ...more hands–better now." She spoke raising her eyebrows.
It seems like she remembered me as a sick guy.
Well, I had met her when I was vomiting buckets trying to control mana in my body and do some brain-tempering shit and all.
Shitty old days.
Shaking my head I began to speak.
"Could you help us? We need to go to the entrance ceremony on time and we are running kinda late"
"Hmm? Should I?" She put her index finger on her lips as she seemed to ponder.
No, what do you mean by should I? The fuck does that mean?
"Please, help us!" The shout came from beside me, from the hooded girl as she made a 90-degree bow.
"Girl, what are you doing!? You don't need to bow! Come, hop on, there's an empty seat beside me" The lady said without missing a beat, a bit taken aback by the hooded girl.
Good job, hooded girl.
"Your 90-degree bow worked. Great" I spoke while she glared at me and I shrugged.
Alright, time to board the truck.
Just as I was about to start moving, the lady spoke up.
"Dude, the girl I will allow. You? That's a different deal"
"Ptff. Deserves it." The chuckle came from the hooded girl.
Why?
Why does she seem to be snappy towards me?"
"What did I do?" I couldn't help but ask out loud.
"You fucking shut the door on my face in the middle of talking, you bastard. That's what you did" She spoke with a cracked smile her eyebrows twitching a little.
Oh...
Well well, if it isn't the consequence of my own action.
"This is my entrance ceremony, can't you like, let it go or something? I was sick back then."
Time to play the patient card and it seemed to work
"Hmm," She let out an unintelligible voice, looking to be pondering before she finally spoke up "Alright, say Please help me, big sis, if you say that, I will let you hop on," she said with a mischievous smile.
...
I
I
I couldn't help but be reminded of my big sister from my world, she also made me say Please whenever I asked her for any help with the same damned mischievous smile.
"Come on, it's not that hard to say, is it?" The lady spoke from her seat because of my silence.
Shaking my head, I began to speak as well.
"Please help me ...big sis"
Aw, fuck.
I knew it.
I hate this sentence, mostly because of my big sis.
"I ...like it. Even though your expression hasn't changed one bit, there's just something that looking at you right now is making me quite happy. Alright, add big sis every time you see me and talk to me that's the trade-off for helping you get to the entrance ceremony." There was ...a bitchy smile on her face.
"That is not what we agreed on" I couldn't help but retort.
"I changed my mind" She shrugged.
Damn...
"Fine, big sis. Just take us to the entrance ceremony" I agreed and she let out a giggle.
It's not like I am going to see her again.
Even if we do run into each other in the future, it would probably be something that I could count on the fingers of my hand.
In other words, not much significant.
"Great! Alrighty then, hoody girl, what's your name?" She asked in a cheery voice.
"Julianna"
"That's a lovely name. My name's Emmie. Alright, come up fast, take the seat beside me. As for you, Noah, you just go and sit on the top of the cargo."
"Why would I sit on the top of the cargo, can't I just squeeze in there? And how do you know my name?" I asked and she looked at me in silence.
...
Fuck.
"Why would I sit on the top of the cargo and how do you know my name, big sis"
The moment I said that she smiled and muttered good.
This is annoying.
"Well, I delivered at your address, so of course I know the name of the person who shut the door in my face." She shrugged before continuing "So, you wanna get sandwiched between two beauties? You are quite perverted"
Her smile was annoying.
"I never said anything about sitting in the middle of you two" I retorted.
"My... it's just the first day of school and you already have a crush on Julianna?" She snickered.
"Eww." Julianna let out a disgusted voice.
I feel the same.
"Aw, hell nah," I spoke shaking my head
Without saying anything else, I just started climbing on the top of the cargo.
Once I was up there, Emmie's voice reached me.
"Alright, buckle up. Since we are running late, I am gonna go full speed using a short cut"
I felt the vibrations running through my body as the engine of the mini cargo truck started.
"Understo--!"
Before I could finish my words, Emmie started driving at full speed in quite a literal sense.
I instinctively grabbed the edges of the cargo tightly to avoid falling off.
.
.
.
.
Can you imagine two people fucking suddenly start running and then jump on a mini cargo truck that is running full speed?
Like, how do you even chase something running that fast? But they did.
They fucking did.
This world was indeed different from mine. If you have a good enough rank, good enough to use mana or aura, you can pull such a feat off.
So, of course, why would the people from the main cast have any trouble pulling off such a feat?
And so, Aqua and Lisa were now both sitting on the top of the cargo trying to balance themselves with it...
"What!!? You two! You two little shitheads! Do you even realize the speed with which you just hoped!? Don't you know even a little physics!? The damned momentum must have put a dent in the cargo!! You bastards, you are both done for!" Emmie shouted from her driving seat while Lisa looked where she landed.
"Shit, it is dented"
On the other hand, Aqua was already on with his apologies.
"I apologize for the damages! I am sorry!"
I just looked up at the sky as I realized something.
Now Aqua unlike in the novel won't be late for the entrance ceremony and he won't be doing the community service and he won't encounter the people he did in the novel.
"We will pay for it!" Lisa shouted.
"We will!" Aqua agreed with her.
"Look, you brats it's not always about the money! You could have slipped while pulling that stunt!" Emmie shouted right back at them.
Since the wind was quite strong they had to shout to converse.
....Oh well, instead of the encounter he had in the novel, he encountered different people this time.
The novel will continue to keep changing since I don't plan on following the plot of the novel.
Whether it will be for the better or the worse... I don't know that.
I can't predict the future.
But since the world ended in the novel, I don't think there's anything worse that could happen.
With that thought, I slowly closed my eyes since the strong wind was hurting them quite a bit and simply waited for the destination to arrive.
.
.
.
.
Hopping off from the cargo and saying my thanks to Emmie, I started walking towards the Colosseum where the entrance ceremony was about to take place. There were about 15 minutes left before the entrance ceremony began.
Emmie really drove like some crazy bitch and as much as I hated to say it she was pretty good with it.
I ruffled my hair a little since they were a mess because of all the wind, not that I cared much about them.
Lisa and Aqua both getting their scolding from Emmie.
As for the hoody girl, Julianna, she was walking just a little behind me taking in the view and showing amazement, not just her, all the students were the same.
I couldn't blame them.
This shit looked straight outta some fantasy movie of some high quality.
The flagstone pathway beneath the feet stretched wide, bordered by lush greenery that looked too vibrant. Trees towering, as high as a 10-story building, formed a canopy over the edges of the path. I stuck to the shade, avoiding the sunlight that lit up the colosseum ahead.
The Colosseum? It was massive. Ridiculously massive. Its stone walls were covered in all sorts of intricate carvings—dragons locked in combat, ferocious monsters, warriors swinging swords, and scenes of magic that looked straight outta some epic cliched tale.
My entire surroundings were buzzing with excitement, the countless voices of others conversing with each other mixing with the roar of the beasts flying overhead, their wings casting shadows above us.
The sky wasn't just blue but rather a mix of colors, with bursts of vibrant sparks exploding, thanks to these flying beasts.
This shit's ridiculously over the top.
I mean, it's just a fucking entrance ceremony for the damned kids.
Passing through the massive archway entrance, the inside of the Colosseum finally came into my view.
And damn, shit looked like some sort of medieval setting.
A row of seats circled the arena, the entire colosseum divided into different sections, for first-years, second-years years, and third-years, teachers, and instructors.
Lots of students were already there, making sense since I had just made it in time.
The front seats were full view, as I sat down in the last row.
A simple matter of preference. Besides, I wasn't interested in whatever was gonna happen in the arena and if something fun really happened, I could just enhance my vision to get a better look at things.
Soon, the sound of a bell resounded throughout the arena signaling that it was time for the entrance ceremony to start.
And from there on, a ridiculous entrance ceremony began that made me realize, a fucking boring entrance ceremony in my world is much preferable to this shit.
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.
.
The entrance ceremony seemed to be hosted by our seniors, more accurately the student council.
It began with a stupid speech congratulating us on getting through the grueling entrance exam of this academy.
Then some ridiculous displays by our seniors, such as a few duels, some beasts, and some simply showing us beautiful magical scenery.
The shit went on for about an hour and finally, it seemed the ceremony was about to reach its conclusion as the headmaster of the academy, stood at the center of the colosseum, with all eyes on him, he began to speak.
"Once again, congratulations to each and every one of you for making it into the academy. Your hard work and dedication have earned you the right to sit here today. You should be proud of your accomplishment– proud to have earned your place at this prestigious academy among the hundreds of thousands of others who also gave the same exam as you but failed to secure their place here" He spoke and everyone listened carefully even though it was the same damn congratulations that we have been getting all this time, just in a roundabout way where he kinda tried to emphasis that we are in a prestigious academy.
Also, hard work and dedication alone don't earn one the right, you know? There's also the luck part.
The students who ended up arriving late due to traffic and weren't allowed to attend the exam, or students who fell ill or something on the day of the exam, or their loved one ended up in some sort of accident impacting their mental state during the exam.
But of course, we are gonna ignore such cases, that's what everyone does.
"But don't let your accomplishments turn into your arrogance. Don't become complacent just because you have managed to enter this academy because from here on out you all will have to work even harder, with more determination because if you don't, you won't be able to survive in this academy. You will be continuously tested, challenged to push yourself to your limits, and evaluated. I truly hope to see each and every one of you in the graduation ceremony, three years from now."
Geez, the geezer speaks a lot. I couldn't help but think so as everyone around me had a serious and tense expression which kinda softened after hearing his last sentence.
Then a guy came behind the headmaster, muttering something into his ear and the headmaster nodded.
"Ah, would you look at that? I've been talking for quite a while and seem to have lost track of time. My apologies if I've kept you too long."
Apology granted.
"With this, the entrance ceremony is concluded and your first test will begin"
His words sent a ripple through the first-year students while the second and third-year students chuckled watching the first-years reaction.
"Everyone, here's your first test. You have to reach your classrooms within the next 50 minutes. You are not allowed to use any vehicles, failing to do so will result in 3 demerit points. For every 10 demerit points you accumulate, you will lose one credit point. So, don't think about slacking off because the regular demerit points you will lose on failing to clear a test will be five. I am cutting some slack off to the first years since it's your first day. Well then, your time begins now" He said with a sinister smile on his face betraying the gentle demeanor that he had shown till now.
His words left the students in shock, disbelief, and confusion.
At first, it was silence but then upon seeing the second and third-years running, the first-year started to panic as they started to stumble their way out of their seats.
I sat at my seat watching the chaos that descended among the first-years.