Aurelia's power display stunned me speechless. Gratitude swelled within me, a wave I hadn't even noticed until it crashed over. Instead of obsessing over my creation, I simply basked in her presence.
The barrier around me dissolved, and Jasper lay unmoving, He looked more dead than alive. My injuries, before that demon form of Jasper, was gone as if they'd never been. Seeing Aurelia she just stood there, eyes fixed on Jasper, lost in a moment of reflection.
Knowing her well, I could almost hear her internal debate: "This demon, even after taking that pill, showed a flicker of sympathy. Is it right to kill someone who still harbors human emotions?" Her descent into vulnerability had gifted her with empathy, an emotion rarely experienced by such an overpowered character. In her position, she was likely the most isolated soul on earth.
She was a prodigy who felt disconnected from the world. She lost her parents at a young age and awakened her powers early on. The association took her in to teach her proper morals and education before she could be tainted by evil. Now, she lives her life as a hero, protecting others not by choice but by necessity. However, in her mind, she has nothing and is the loneliest person on earth. She is both strong and weak - strong on the outside but weak on the inside.
Snapping out of her contemplation, she marched towards me, finger pointed like a lightning rod. "You!" her voice boomed, echoing in the stillness. "Be grateful I showed up to save your sorry butt!" Arms crossed, she scanned the area, a hint of paranoia clinging to her like a bad smell despite the whole hero complex thing. One of her quirks – a complete lack of direction.
"Oh, uh, yeah! Thanks a bunch, um, Golden Mask!" I knew mentioning her real name would raise eyebrows, but in this world, powers were basically calling cards. Aurelia, the world-famous "Celestial One," wielder of light and The divine Sorceress. Though, was I imagining those pointy ears? Did I maybe add some elfiness writing her character description?
My words seemed to melt the frost a little.
"Yes! Yes! Just as you should be!" But the warmth didn't last long.
"Now, to repay your debt... you'll be my assistant for costing me a month's salary on a stupid bet!" She shrugged, a smug grin plastered on her face. Me? Not exactly thrilled.
"Excuse me?" I played dumb, buying time to figure out this sudden curveball.
"You heard me! Assistant duty!" Her finger stabbed accusingly as I sat there, bewildered.
"Ah, no." My reply was quick and firm.
"WHY NOT?" she screeched, like a kid denied candy.
"Well, saving people isn't exactly a paid service, and you're strong enough to handle yourself. Why would I be your assistant when you're old enough to look after yourself?"
Undeterred, she kept pushing. "Come on! It's easy! Plus, I saved you, so a little help is only fair." Her confident grin couldn't hide the flimsy logic I saw right through.
In my mind, I couldn't help but think she was a bit of an idiot. Saving me didn't automatically entitle her to my assistance, and I had no intention of becoming her assistant, especially in repaying her lost salary from a bet.
did she even need an assistant anyway? I paused for a moment to think.
Oh. Right.
Her high-maintenance tendencies explained it all. Before I could voice my revelation, the mood shifted. Staff, recognizing their hero, swarmed the scene. Duty calling, she reluctantly excused herself, but not before shooting me a look that said, "This isn't over."
I slipped away unnoticed, the doors closing silently behind me. The woman in white remained, unfazed by the drama.
"Welcome to Dawnblades 1st Place Rewards Section! Let me scan your player data," she chirped, a bemused smile playing on her lips.
***
[Pinnacle Academy Male Dorm Rooms]
The commentator's booming voice echoed through the speakers, amplifying the electrifying buzz in the student lounge.
- Oh!!!! It's an absolute upset! the little archer has conquered the giant of the D-League! Unbelievable he knocked him out with his fist! he is not just your ordinary archer!
The students in the dorm room erupted into cheers and exclamations, sharing a collective sense of awe and disbelief at the unexpected turn of events. Jan and Bazz absorbed the commentator's words, their attention fully captivated by the unfolding spectacle on the screen.
Jan turned to Bazz, his eyes reflecting amazement. "That Shadow Writer guy is amazing. Don't you think, Bazz?"
Bazz nodded, but his voice lacked the usual enthusiasm. "Yeah, I guess." His gaze, downcast to the floor, hinted at a darker mood. Jan recognized the shadow lingering over him – the memory of his recent defeat against Shadow Writer in the league.
As the cheers continued around them, a subtle wave of embarrassment and melancholy washed over Bazz. The memory of his recent defeat against Shadow Writer in the league lingered in his mind, casting a shadow over the excitement of the current match. Despite the lively atmosphere in the dorm room, Bazz couldn't shake the tinge of depression that accompanied thoughts of his past performance.
As the tournament concluded, the buzz of conversation filled the room. Students exchanged thoughts and opinions on the match, discussing bets and speculating on the identity of the skilled archer. Jan and Bazz found themselves drawn into the ongoing chatter.
"I had my money on Jasper, can't believe he lost to an archer," one student lamented, shaking his head.
"But that archer's skills were crazy! Knocked out the giant with his bare fists. Did anyone catch his name?" another chimed in.
The whispers started swirling like smoke signals. "Rumor has it, he's from our academy, maybe even the Pinnacle!"
"No way! Who could it be? A top-tier archer in our own grade?"
This mention of a skilled bow user sparked a thought train in Jan and Bazz. They mentally flipped through their classmates, searching for a possible match.
"Jae Yoona?" Jan suggested, remembering her impressive archery skills.
"Nah, doubt it," Bazz countered. "Shadow Writer's a dude, and Jae Yoona's all about pure archery, from what I've seen." He paused, then added with a playful smirk, "Unless... she pulled some sneaky disguise to throw everyone off."
Jan chuckled, dismissing the outlandish theory. "Then who? Rel? He uses a crossbow, and last time you told me, Rachel wiped the floor with him during their one-on-ones. I heard he got lucky once or twice, but..."
_________________
ACK CHOOOOOOOOO!
hmm, I feel like I'm under the weather when I'm walking through the corridors here.
_________________
Bazz chuckled again. "True enough. And speaking of sloppy,I caught a glimpse of him during the matches, let's just say there was zero finesse."
Suddenly, a realization dawned on them like a sunrise. "Wait... what about Derrick Song?" Jan gasped.
Bazz's eyes widened. "Ooo, now that's a hot take. Top student in the second year, aces everything, record-breaker in dungeon clears..."
A silent understanding passed between them. Derrick Song, the unlikely candidate, suddenly seemed like a real possibility.
***
The following day...
[Pinnacle First Years Male Dorm Residency]
[Monday, 7:30 AM...]
BEEP!, BEEP!, BEEP!
ARGHH!
I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock and quickly checked the time. After brushing my teeth, taking a shower, getting dressed, and having cereal with crunchy nuts for breakfast, I looked out the window and saw students leaving their dorms for classes.
Today was a special day because I found Merk, the hidden merchant at the darkest side of Dawnsblade arena, after the tournament. I gave him the Stone of Suspicious Light, which was a light attribute amplifier, even though I had no use for it since I had no way of using light. In return, he restored my lifespan and gave me a special item: a cloak of invisibility that looked like an ordinary black robe.
Curious to see how it worked, I tried on the cloak and a system notification popped up.
Fwang!
[The following item -> [Grade 2 [???] Cloak of Invisibility - Condition: Very Good - [...] - ] Has special functions inside of them would you like to use 50 PPP to know these functions?]
So the invisibility cloak has special functions? well, it wouldn't hurt not to know what these are so I paid 50 PPP for the information for these functions.
[You are now the rightful owner of [???] - Invisibility Cloak, which comes with the following functions:
1. The Manual Cloak of Invisibility allows you to activate or deactivate the cloak on command. For example, if you say "Cloak on," the parts of the cloak covering you will disappear, and if you say "Cloak off," it will immediately reveal itself.
2. The cloak can also change its appearance. For instance, if you want a full robe, you can request it by saying "Cloak, turn into a robe for me, please," and the cloak will transform accordingly.
3. The enchantment function is permanently applied to the cloak, regardless of how you use it.]
I think this cloak would be my best friend in terms of clothing, it's a special item for me. I held the cloak and wore it around my school clothing. I said, 'Cloak on but don't make any of my clothing disappear, and only you hide within the confines of invisibility.'
wang!
Suddenly, I heard a weird warping sound coming from my cloak and it fully obeyed my command. As I looked in the mirror, my clothing looked perfectly normal. Another plus to this cloak was that it felt so lightweight despite having enchantments on it. Niceeee this thing is incredible. Oh, the many uses I had for you would go beyond the creativity of my imagination! And with that, I left for class...
"Good morning, class. As you know, today marks our first class assignment. You had a full week to prepare for this moment, and many of you emailed me questions regarding this assignment. I will now let you in on what this assignment is." Kolek spoke up on the podium, displaying diagrams of our assignment.
"To answer the first obvious question, our assignment is dungeon subjugation. We will be going out as a class in the Team IDS station to a dungeon owned by Pinnacle Academy. The level we are subjugating is a C-Class dungeon. The purpose of this is not to destroy the central crystal of the main dungeon system but to see how fast you can clear these dungeons as a group."
"Now, to answer the final part of this assignment prep, these are the teams."
[Alert! Your request for a mix of teams has taken effect.]
[1st Year's Assignment: Dungeon teams]
[Team: 1]
[Jan Ates /Louise Vilerion]
[Valencia Freya / Rel Laurence]
[Team: 2]
[Camilia Diana / Lyra Anett]
[Bazz Wong / Pedro [...] ]
[Team: 3]
[Noah Davies / Lin [...] ]
[Danny [...] / Ray [...] ]
[Team 4:]
[Miya Takeo / Jae Yoona]
[Alice Elizabeth / Josh [...] ]
Team 5: [...], Team 6: [...], Team: 7 [...],
...
I stared at the holographic display, my eyes stuck on Team 1. The words seemed like a blur to me and I had felt lost in thought about how I thought: Oh! today's gonna be a good day! but I could feel the seat feel uncomfortable warm.
I took a deep breath in and muttered to myself "I'm finished..."
***
[Pinnacle Academy: Land Owned Dungeon located around the east coast]
Kolek's instructions resonated through the clearing as we gathered. "Alright class, the dungeons we are at have already been checked and secured. There are no boss monsters in this dungeon so these monsters you encounter are at best C class tier. I've placed flags at the end of each cave. Your task is simple – bring them back to me ASAP, and that will mark your time split for the end of your assignment. This is a group assignment, so contribution rates are disregarded in this matter."
As we stood in our groups I positioned myself next to Jan to avoid any conflict with the now-Grumpy Valencia and Louise who seemed to be more frustrated that he had no one to compete with. He seemed to be holding his arms crossed muttering "How is this possible?" Louise needed to see a therapist or something this guy does have a loose screw.
but I couldn't help but feel someone intently staring at me with boiling anger. So I hid myself behind Jan so I could at least avoid this Valencia the Grinch.
The cave entrance loomed ahead, and the uneasy silence between us was almost suffocating. Jan tried to lighten the mood and spoke up first. "So, Uh should we get going now?"
Louise shot him a withering glance. "Shut up, as if I'm going to follow you." Louise scoffed at Jan trying to provoke him.
Valencia, her expression neutral, intervened, "Louise. Let's go and move on forth."
I nervously looked towards Valencia who spoke, sensing the simmering dirt given the look she gave me right now I thought it was best if I just followed them from behind and not do anything. apart from that, we got on moving through into the dungeon.
After crossing the threshold, a strange sensation overcame us. The world seemed to warp and twist for a brief moment before stabilizing. Kolek's holographic projection reappeared, addressing us once more.
"As you enter, remember that the spatial distortion will separate you into your original groups. Each team will face its own set of challenges within a designated pocket dimension. Time flows differently in each, so coordination is key."
The entrance greeted us with a stone archway that broke the many paths of the dungeon off into multiple sections. Dim torches flickered along the walls, casting elongated shadows that danced with every breath of air.
The air within the dungeon carried a musty scent, a blend of damp earth and the remain oder of dead monsters slain previously by last year students. As we ventured deeper, the temperature dropped slightly, a subtle reminder that we had crossed the threshold into a realm untouched by the sun's warmth.
The tunnel branched into various paths, and each one had monsters that resided deep within the cave.
"So the path breaks off from here. I assume we could just split off and go into a path of our own to find the flag much faster-"
"Let's not do that. I think we should just try and stick together so that we could clear the monsters much quicker." Jan cut off Valencia's suggestion trying to consider teamwork first before anything.
but it seemed to work since Valencia was thinking for a moment as she put her hand on her chin.
"Like I said I'm not-"
"Louise..." Valencia shot Louise a look that quickly put him back into his place. He seemed to hesitate just a bit at just a glance at her and Louise was silenced with just a single word.
Jan looked at me amazed with Valencia shushing Louise up and I just stared at him like nothing happened.
"Let's get moving." Valencia signaled us to move down the middle.
As we continued down into the deeper end of the cave I wondered if the presence of Valencia made things much easier in keeping Louise and Jan together. after all, I recalled writing a few chapters about them not being able to get along during the dungeon assignment so I guess I was lucky enough to get someone like her to stick the two of the idiots together.
Since the place isn't entirely owned by Pinnacle they shared the dungeon with Sifters Foundation, one of the main organizations for cult activity. After seeing Jasper with an already-developed DM Dopper it's scary thinking about how early it was to already have the drug developed earlier in the story.
RWAK, RWAK!
The cave was filled with strange sounds as we were stopped by monsters that flooded our path. An ominous energy filled the air as distorted and grotesque creatures emerged from the shadows.
There were about a hundred of them, including goblins, trolls, and ogres, blocking our way through the cave.
Valencia unsheathed her Katana, which shone brightly as she imbued aura into her blade. "Let's get this over with," she said.
Louise brought out his polearm axe and stood up straight with his weapon on the ground, saying "tch, don't hold me back."
Jan only replied with a generous nod, smiling as he pulled the Longsword out from his back.
I stood behind the front three, realizing that I was nowhere near their level of strength or skill I would only get in their way. But I felt pure joy seeing them come to life from the thoughts and ideas of my imagination.
GAR!
As the monsters began charging full force, Valencia stepped forward as the silhouettes of monsters appeared.
Before the first monster could reach, she spun, a silver blur radiating waves of her Azure Aura. A goblin, claws bared, stumbled back as Valencia's foot sent it sprawling across the cavern floor. Two trolls, lumbering behemoths with eyes like glowing embers, charged. Valencia sidestepped their ponderous swings, her blade singing a whispered song as it disarmed one, then the other, the azure glow momentarily blinding them as their weapons clattered uselessly across the stone.
She moved with the fluidity of a windblown leaf, each strike precise and imbued with her Aura. A kick, imbued with the force of a rushing torrent, sent another attacker flying into the darkness. Her blade, a brush dipped in liquid sapphire, traced intricate patterns in the air, deflecting claws, severing tendons, whispering death with each graceful arc.
The cavern, a gaping maw, pulsed with the guttural symphony of snarling monsters. Jan surveyed the scene with chilling calm. His sword, humming with his energy, sang a whispered promise of retribution. He wouldn't waste time on theatrics; these creatures deserved respect, but not courtesy.
Jan who took after Valencia's onslaught continued. The first goblin tasted cold steel as his blade, a blur in the dim light, carved a crimson line across its throat. Two more lunged, claws bared, but Jan, his Eyes of Adaptation granting him preternatural perception, pirouetted on the balls of his feet. His sword, a shimmering arc, deflected their attacks connecting his blade to the throats of his opponents.
RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE,
An ogre, twice Jan's height and with eyes like smouldering embers, roared and charged. Its club, a knotted tree trunk, aimed for Jan's head. He didn't flinch. Instead, he parried the blow, as the club crashed harmlessly into the cavern ceiling.
In a flash, he was behind the beast, his sword slashing across its hamstrings. The ogre roared in pain, stumbling back, giving Jan A final, elegant thrust to the heart sending the monstrous brute crashing to the floor, its roars dissolving into a gurgling sigh.
From another end to the wave, a whirlwind of molten gold and emerald erupted. Louise brandished his polearm axe with the unwavering confidence of a sun god. The axe head, a crescent of polished steel, pulsed with a searing crimson glow, whispering promises of fiery annihilation.
Louise didn't struggle. He didn't need to.
Goblins, quick and twitchy, skittered around him, claws like needles against his boots. He met them with a flick of his wrist, the crimson blade of his axe singing a silent song as it dipped and twirled, leaving streaks of unlife in its wake.
A troll, a mountain of bone and drool, charged him, club swinging like a drunken battering ram. Louise sidestepped, the haft whistling harmlessly past his ear. In the blink of an eye, the axe reversed, finding its mark in the troll's fleshy neck. Pure Flame, an echo of another realm, erupted from the wound, consuming the creature from within. The troll roared, a wet gurgle, before collapsing in a smoldering heap.
Ogres, hulking and brutish, lumbered forward, eyes like embers in the gloom. Louise didn't falter. His axe, a crimson pendulum, arced through the air, cleaving one ogre's skull in two, spraying gore like macabre confetti. Another charged, its club aimed for his chest. Louise spun, the axe meeting the blow with a thunderous clang. The force sent the ogre reeling, and before it could recover, the crimson blade found its mark, carving a fiery furrow across its belly.
He moved with the precision of a predator, each strike calculated, each movement effortless. The cavern floor became a canvas of gore and ash, painted by the strokes of his deadly dance. His eyes, like burning embers, held no hint of fear, only the cold thrill of mastery. Goblins twitched underfoot, trolls smouldered on the ground, and ogres lay broken and still.
The dust cleared the aftermath, as Jan, Louise, and Valencia stood there having not broken a sweat, there wasn't a doubt in my mind about them losing at all.
Me? I just stood there a silent observer caught in the beauty written from the depths of my novel.
This was their battle, after all, This was supposed to happen anyway. Yet, a bitter ache gnawed at my gut, the feeling of helplessness kinda made me feel guilty. maybe I should have done something and joined the fight, but there was no need to.
"useless..."
Valencia, a whisper of Golden hair and storm-cloud eyes, kept her distance. In her silence, I felt the sting of unspoken judgment, aimed at how much I contributed to that battle. I don't blame her since she obviously despises the useless types of people and here I am standing out as being more useless than a cover for a Nokia phone haha.
Valencia spoke up first, shattering the stillness with a voice like tempered steel, aimed not at everyone. "Let's go," she boomed, the word a command, not an invitation. "I'm sure everyone would've been done by now." No room for debate, no space for anything else. This was a future leader after all.
Jan, a mask of weariness put the blade back into his back as we all began walking and turned to me. "Those monsters didn't feel like C-class monsters?" he rumbled, the warmth in his voice reaching his eyes.
"hmm maybe you're right." I didn't hesitate to agree with Jan, Since his instincts were right on point about them not being C-Class as they were actually C-high class monsters but they were way to strong not to recognize that."
Jan seemed to feel relived, as if I understood what he meant "Hey, Rel," he asked, "Did you happen to be at the Dawnblades arena event on the weekend?" His smile reached his eyes, as he asked politely.
"Ah, Yes. But I was only there to watch the matches." I said quickly after thinking of a reasonable response.
however, the cave seemed to have. A tremor, a whisper at first, escalated into a violent roar. The floor bucked and twisted, a monstrous serpent writhing beneath our feet. Panic clawed at my throat as walls groaned and stalactites danced a deadly ballet.
Valencia, darted away, a falling shard missing her by a hair's breadth. Louise, reflexes honed like his axe, rolled right, the earth-spitting rock just shy of his outstretched hand.
But me? A sudden hand shoved me aside, the force of his push sending us both sprawling. Dust coated my vision, the taste of fear thick on my tongue. When it cleared, my heart stuttered to a stop.
The path, carved into the side of the cavern, was no more. Valencia was right next to me and I realized that we were now split up just how the story originally went.