The media seemed to be blinded by the glory of the military and their so-called 'achievements', overlooking the pain and utter suffering that people like him were going through. If you couldn't hold your own weight, you were bound to struggle, and do so in silence.
"Your lazy police are the damn reason my parents are dead you moron!" Rhys loudly whispered, before storming off to his bathroom to shower and finish off his day.
He found it relaxing to have a nice, warm shower after a long day of training, and in mere minutes after entering his soft and cosy bed, he was fast asleep.
*****
The following morning came, and Rhys didn't spend a few minutes in bed like he would do usually. He woke up with vigour and energy, shooting out of his white sheets.
Today was the day of his first dungeon expedition.
He swiftly got ready for school and was off on his long walk to the facility.
It was about an hour walk from his house, and he better off using some other mode of transport. However, it was simply too expensive, and this was the only option available for him.
Following him was a special system panel.
[STATS]
[Level: 3]
[User: Rhys Arkwrighte]
[Titles: *NONE*]
[Strength (STR): 3]
[Speed (SPD): 2]
[Durability (DUR):3]
[Endurance (END): 4]
[HP: 14/14]
[XP: 188/400]
[MP: 13/13]
[Stat Upgrades: 0]
[Skills] [expand]
After more than a decade and a half of having his system, he was still merely level 3. A system of his rank made it nearly impossible for him to level-up through things like low max levels, massive XP requirements for level-ups and poorly rewarded quests.
He just shook his head, before swiping away the panel that vanished. As he walked, people continued their own strolls and just overlooked his floating system panels.
Arriving at his school complex, he arrived at a cube-like building near the entrance to the school. As he entered, it had a dark blue carpet and had a man at the register ahead of him, typing away with superhuman speed.
"Rhys Arkwrighte, here is your dungeon permit. Be safe and enjoy your journey." The man said monotonously, only giving him a mere glance.
He slid a piece of card to him over the register, which was a dungeon permit that stated his name, the dungeon that he was to enter, and a special number called his Dungeon ID. It was a unique identifier for a system user, in base36, which utilised numbers 0 – 9 and the alphabet from A – Z.
Literally a second later, he was onto his next student.
"Oh, greetings Bronson. I hope you have a great time at your dungeon!" The man stated, upon handing the student a similar-looking white card that he had given Rhys.
He was 6'4, bald, and looked muscular but also very lean. He had an A-Rank system and was one of the academy's most promising fighters. He also hailed from an affluent family, that had been blessed with great genetics for systems.
High-ranking systems ran in families, and it was clear that it ran in his.
'Two-faced idiot.' Rhys thought to himself, before turning away.
The hierarchy was everywhere around him, and there was nothing he could do to escape it.
He headed out of this building then headed to another, slightly larger structure. This was an armoury and training facility. It was about 5 stories high and incredibly wide, and inside he met his friends.
They were clad in various types of armour with different colours and shapes. The school had provided them with basic equipment to utilise to enter these dungeons. They did this in case students couldn't afford buying equipment themselves.
Rhys had settled on some dark gauntlets that had a hint of silver, along with a large, black breastplate that had elaborate shoulder pads with spikes coming out of them.
[ITEMS]
[Headwear:]
[*NONE*]
[*NO STAT BOOSTS*]
[Armour:]
[Basic Noir Metal Breastplate.]
[+1 DUR]
[Footwear:]
[*NONE*]
[*NO STAT BOOSTS*]
[Handwear:]
[Steel/Carbon-Fibre Gauntlets]
[+1 STR]
[Artefacts:]
[*NONE*]
[*NO STAT BOOSTS*]
They were all fastening their items tight and setting themselves up. His white-haired friend Lewis sharpened the daggers he was provided with, and then tightened the breastplate across his body.
Each student was given a free weapon and breastplate. Any other form of equipment was additional and had to be provided through their own means.
"Alright guys, you ready?" Lewis asked, sharpening his blade even more.
"Oh yeah, for sure." Lukas said, tying back his long, green hair.
"Let's go guys. They said the portal should be open in about an hour." Emmerich stated, walking ahead.
Beside him was one of Rhys' other friends, Raymondo. He was around 5'10, so slightly above average height, and had a short buzzcut with dark brown hair. He wielded a large metal staff, with a short but sharp blade on its tip.
Emmerich wore large, silver gauntlets, while Lukas wielded a large scythe that looked to be almost as tall as him. The blade attached was incredibly sharp and large, which allowed for deadly slashes and stabs.
The group, all with their dungeon permits, arrived at the entrance gates to their school.
Standing near the gate were the usual 3 guards, but also another soldier with an armoured SUV beside him.
"I'm looking for the leader of this dungeon party, Emmerich Bergmann." He stated, looking at the group.
"I' m right here." He stated, patting his black breastplate.
The soldier wore traditional military uniform, which was simple camo with a camo hat. Battle armour in modern days looked nothing like he was wearing and now resembled armour from the medieval times, far before even dungeons had appeared.
It was found that those styles of equipment worked much better with beast crystals.
*VRMM*
With a click of a key, the students entered the accommodating vehicle and were taken into the vibrant, green fields of Grelcis. They could see the towers of their school and Osegan getting smaller and smaller, until they were barely visible.
Soon enough, they arrived at the destination, which seemed to be a random location in some grassland. There were patches of farmland in the distance in places, and there was a slight breeze as they exited.
"The portal should be open very soon, be safe." The soldier stated, before entering the SUV and driving off once again.
The breeze didn't seem to be going in one direction, but almost all directions. It was almost not like the movement of wind but the release of energy. Soon, the wind became intense and blew out strands of grass in the process. The students stood firm and couldn't help but smile.
"Join my party guys! Let's do this!" Emmerich stated to his friends.
[Would you like to join User (Emmerich Bergmann)'s Party?]
[Party Joined!]
[Party Leader: Emmerich Bergmann]
As he said this, the panels of his friends immediately became visible to him. Now that they were in the same party, they could see various information about each other's systems.
VOOM!!
WHOOSH!!
There was a final blast of air and a dark black circle of energy spawned out of nothing. It enlarged and became a large vortex, that then opened to a new realm. They could see the towering green trees of a totally new dungeon, and they couldn't help but enter and explore.
Entering the dungeon portal, they looked around and took in the new air of the realm that they were in. The surroundings were quite quiet, and the portal continued to lightly swoosh and flow, giving off dark energy.
Voom!
The students then started to get enveloped in auras of various colours. Rhys enveloped in a translucent, sputtering aura of yellow mana. His aura barely cloaked his whole body and looked like a dying flame.
Emmerich's aura was a blood red and the largest of his friends, even relative to his size.
They entered further into this forest, that had dark oak trees that reached higher than even 50 metres in the air.
The leaves around them were impossibly still, and they felt excited but scared. They found it hard to see behind the large plants and bushes that surrounded them.
Arriving at a somewhat small opening, they all came to a stop upon seeing the rustling of a bush beside them.
Lewis held out one of his daggers, and Rhys lifted his fists. He readjusted his stance to try and emulate the stance that the entertainment fighter, Hektor, had used. He could feel it was imperfect, but that was the last of his worries right now.
"GRR!!" A beast growled under its breath, revealing itself.
It was an orc with large tusks that stood at about two metres. The other students were taken aback by its size but the only person that didn't seem fazed was Emmerich. The ogre wasn't just tall but incredibly muscular, standing at 350 pounds with burly arms and a round but muscular stomach. It was also clad in revolting armour that was covered in the fat from its previous victims' corpses.
Whoosh!
The orc charged forward and attempted to punch Emmerich. He blocked the incoming punch, and was sent sliding back, but Lewis sprung into action from beside him. He moved with immense speed and left a trail of white energy behind him from his mana cloak.
Slice!
He landed a swift slice across its quadricep, but received an elbow straight to his nose. The impact of the hit lifted him off his feet, but he rolled once and dug his daggers into the ground to bring himself to a stop.
Lukas dipped down and span around, swinging around his large scythe. Making a full revolution, he aimed high and for the orc's neck. However, it was aware of his attack and had stepped back, leaving his scythe to only collide with its oily shoulder plate.
Clank!
Sparks flew out as the two metal objects collided, and all the boy left was a shallow scratch across its body.
"Intense Impact!" Emmerich shouted, aiming forward.
He slammed forward his open palm, and landed right on the orc's chest. His attack launched the orc back, causing it to slide due to the explosive force behind it. Its confidence was wiped away along with its maniacal grin, and Emmerich stood firm against it.
"Come on guys! This thing's nothing against us!" Emmerich called out, making Rhys charge forward with newfound drive.