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Gram POV...
Spawning in, I hurtle towards the ground but flip midway and land on my feet. Certainly a unique way to enter... it seemed to spit me out at random in here.
I hear a sound of feet lading behind me. Turning around, I spot Pierce looking over at me. For a moment, his face looks creepily blank before he resumes his normal uninterested look.
"Is this your first time in a dungeon?" He asks, sidestepping. A second later, 3 of the others fall where he was standing.
"Yeah..." I say with a nod, looking towards the forest. Logically speaking, it makes sense to explore there first. "How about you?"
"Same here," For some reason, I feel like he's lying even though I have no reason to doubt him. "I was hoping we had someone experienced here..."
Huh... he doesn't even bother to ask the 3 others. I didn't talk with them a lot, but I remember them well enough. Marsh, a healer girl with black hair and green eyes. Stan, a fistfighter guy with brown hair and yellow eyes. Santana, a boy with ashy grey hair and almost white eyes... I think he's a mage.
"I guess I'll lead then," Pierce declares, looking forward and beginning to walk. Not like I care, but still.
He begins walking without waiting for anyone, as if he's expecting us to just follow... and we do. I set off as well, staying a foot back and looking to the side. I turn and look at our other teammates, hollering.
"C'mon!" I say, pointing towards Pierce. I shrug slightly, but keep going. "He's leading!"
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Arthur Ishviel POV...
We've been walking for a few minutes now... mainly in silence. We've seen nothing that's moved without us touching it yet. The forest is still dark inside, crowded and all. The tall and hostile trees tower above us, reminding us to keep away from touching the trees for too long.
"You know what would be really helpful right now?" I ask, looking forward as all of us walk. The thoughts are getting louder, telling me to run into the forest. "... A forest fire."
"..." Joshua just looks over at me, like my suggestion was much worse than Liz's suggestion... it wasn't. I, for one, think it was a great idea.
"That would probably be bad, though," Liz says, looking up for a second before looking back down.
"I know... that's kinda the point," I say, looking back for a moment. In the singular moment I looked away, I have stepped on something that feels... quite bad.
I look down at what it is. It's like the ground has opened up a mouth with sharp and pointy teeth, which also happen to be covered in all-natural, homegrown acid! My mouth widens slightly as I bite my lip. I lift my right foot up, my mouth spread in a slight and silent scream.
My foot is basically bleeding and raw, despite how little time I kept it inside the plant-mine. Most of my shoe is melted off and part of the skin on it is missing. I end up swinging my sword directly into a nearby tree out of pain reflex, causing the tree to jut a branch out in an attempt to stab my arm.
My arm now has about 2 inches of a tree into my bicep, ripping through the muscle. I get that I'm basically the lowest possible rank, but I'm getting beaten by scary grass and a damn tree! This... this feels worse than blight.
I will not scream in the forest, I will not scream in the forest, I will not scream in the forest-
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I awake in the nurse office bed. As it turns out, the barbs were venomous as well. Did... did I just get my ass kicked by the woods? My arm hurts so bad... so does my foot, but my arm is the main thing. If that's one of the lowest ranking dungeons, then what the hell are higher ranking dungeons???
I guess I should just try harder and get more experienced... or smarter. I went out like a lame background character. I stand up and get off the bed, hobbling out of the room. I'm never gonna live this one down.
I walk down the hall and act as if I'm not in pain with every step. Some older students are staring at me like I'm an alien... they look concerned. A blond boy, maybe in his 3rd year, approaches me.
"Hey... were you part of that freshman dungeon run?" He asks, tapping me on my shoulder.
"Yeah... why?" I ask, squinting slightly. It can't have been more than a few hours since we ended.
"Dude... did no one tell you?" He says, even though it's evident that I have not. "The dungeon mutated, man."
I kinda just stare at him for a second, like he's the one out of place right now. It's... what... huh?
"What... what exactly does that entail?" I ask, wanting to know whilst also saying it as eloquently as possible for some reason.
"Well..." He looks like he's questioning everything they're supposed to be teaching me. "A dungeon goes up in ranks when it mutates... meaning it's harder, get it?"
"Oh, yeah... that makes sense," I say, realizing I've been unfairly scammed out of my first dungeon. "Wait, that's bad."
"Yeah, obviously..." He responds, crossing his arms. He looks around before looking back at me. "What was it like?"
"Uhh... bad, I guess?" I say, shrugging slightly. I don't describe further and keep walking, not looking back at him.
He frowns slightly, but doesn't give chase. Maybe I'll get given money since I was endangered by the teachers. Seriously, this feels... like, extremely heavily preventable. What were the teachers even doing? Also, did the teachers ever help anyone stuck in traps?!? God, this is a train wreck.
I turn the corner and enter my room, closing the door behind me. Something feels... off. I kick off my shoes and sit on the bed. My journal on the table is a bit more to the right than I remember, but I'm probably imagining it.
Survival instincts gone, I decide to just go to sleep. I'm tired and recovering from my forest injuries. The dungeon would probably result in a series of settlements from the school... if this world had the law system of my last world.
Honestly, we'll probably just have a different teacher next week.
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