Two young men were walking together in the academy corridors, captivating the looks of every body passing by them.
One with red hair and striking purple eyes. He was tall, and extremely handsome. He was also the academy's prodigy, known throughout the academy as one of the greatest talents ever seen.
The other had long black hair and crimson red eyes, he was the same height as the boy next to him, and a lot more handsome. He looked like the embodiment of beauty in the eyes of all looking. He was wearing a weird necklace with an eye on it over his uniform.
"William, Where the hell did you get this necklace?"
"It's a family heirloom."
"Why did you begin wearing it now then?"
William didn't bother to respond.
Today was a very special day, it was the day of their first real dungeon experience!
Cadets will be sent in pairs into the dungeon, where they would fight—completely alone against monsters which could very will cripple them, or even kill them.
Was this stupid?
Yes, it very much was. But come on, this world is a fantasy novel, if the academy wasn't stupid and careless, then there would be no plot.
In the original novel, Ethan was paired up with the original female lead, Ella, as he didn't choose anyone to be paired up with. It was supposed to be the first major event, where he would save Ella from death, and it will kickstart the romance between them.
But now, me and Ethan already partnered up, so there would be no romance for Ethan.
Ethan noticed that William seemed very tense.
"You good?"
"Hm? Yeah, yeah. I am fine"
"You don't look fine."
"Just a bit nervous."
Ethan chuckled, then flexed his arm.
"Don't worry Will, I will protect you!"
"Fuck off."
They both laughed, and that seemed to ease William a bit.
They kept chatting until they reached the classroom and took their seats. Mr Oliver entered a few minutes later and started briefing the cadets about what they will be facing.
"Good luck, all of you."
Mr Oliver said, right before he snapped his fingers.
***
After Mr Oliver snapped his fingers, William and Ethan found themselves sitting in a dimly lit corridor, with torches lit on ancient walls. they were now wearing all black, skin tight bodysuits, that didn't hinder their movements whatsoever!
"Where are we?"
Ethan asked.
"Obviously a dungeon you idiot."
"I know it's a dungeon, but what is it supposed to be."
"It seems like a castle or something."
Ethan nodded and they began to look around.
"Ethan, come look over here."
Ethan came to find a pile of bones and armor in a corner.
"Well, looks like it really is a castle."
After finishing looking around, they started making their way down the corridor.
It was a few minutes before they finally encountered their first monster, it was a skeleton knight, standing nearly 7 feet tall, and wearing a suit of metal armor, with a helmet, a blue flame coming out of it's visor. It also was holding a sword in it's hands.
As soon as it noticed the two,the skeleton knight charged at Ethan, sword raised high, and an insane speed, invisible to a normal human.
Although the speed, With a swift movement, Ethan parried the strike, pushing the blade aside. A testament to the potential of his psychic abilities. In the same fluid motion, he kicked the knight back.
William didn't hesitate, taking aim with precision. His shots rang out—three perfect hits to the knight's visor. The blue flame flickered and died. The knight collapsed in a pile of bones, lifeless.
"Check for a core."
William told Ethan, as he was the nearest to the 'body'.
Today, the cadets mission wasn't just to reach the end of the dungeon, they were also required to collect monster cores, which drop whenever you kill a monster, the duo with the largest amount of cores gets a prize.
Ethan rifled through the remains of the skeleton knight, pulling out the core just as William approached.
"Found it. Actually, where are we going to store it?"
William looked dumbfounded at the question.
"Weren't you supposed to have the pouch?"
"Pouch? What pouch?"
"Oh, for fuck's sake man."
William sighed while facepalming.
"No but seriously, no one told me about the pouch!"
"Just... Shut up, let's continue."
Ethan and William kept going through the corridor, fighting plenty of skeleton knights along the way, suffering no injuries, just showing how much they complimented each other. But, unfortunately leaving many monster cores behind as they had no way of storing them, thanks to Ethan.
They kept going untill they reach a massive door, a really massive door, one they couldn't see the top of.
"Guess that's the boss room."
William said.
"Yep, you ready?"
"Yeah, let's go."
Ethan pushed the door open, which despite it's giant size, opened pretty easily.
The room was, ominous, to say the least. It was large, and had torches all along it's walls, lighting it up. At the back, there were steps leading to a large, black throne. An empty large black throne.
"Isn't there supposed to be so—"
"DUCK!"
Ethan screamed at William, and William immediately ducked down.
*Swoosh*
A sword sliced right were his neck was supposed to be.
"What was that?!"
William asked, still on the ground
"I don't have a clue!"
They both were seemingly panicking, as they were being attacked by an enemy they couldn't see.
William's heart was pounding so hard, almost like it wanted to burst through his chest, Ethan was the same, if not worse because of his psychic abilities.
'This was NOT in the main novel!'
William thought inwardly.
"On your right!"
Ethan screamed, snapping William out of his thoughts, he jumped forward, toppling to the ground as a result.
"That thing, it's messing with our perception."
William said while struggling to get up.
"It seems so."
That thing attacked them a few more, each time Ethan warning before the attack came. They seemed to be stuck in a very sticky situation, as they couldn't even sense the enemy they were being attacked by, let alone attack it back.
"What do we do?"
"I have no id— BEHIND!"
William jumped to the right, dodging the attack.
"Why the hell is it only attacking me!"
Ethan didn't respond, seemingly in deep thought.
"I have a plan, but you have to trust me on this."
"That doesn't sound very reassuring."
"Next time I tell you where it's going to attack, instead of dodging it, shoot at it."
Ethan himself didn't seem very convinced about his plan.
"Huh? And what if it doesn't work."
"Well then, we are both dead anyways."
Honestly, that plan made sense. Between Ethan's warning and the attack is a few second interval, and it the enemy is not showing itself, only using sneak attacks, chances are it has no defense. It was a huge gamble, but one they had to take.
But even despite all that, William was still terrified about the plan.
They kept waiting, tense, but ready to attack at any moment.
Until, that moment finally came.
"Infront of y—"
*Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang*
William started shooting. A sound rang out, proof that the bullets hit something. Then, the sword that was coming towards him stopped in it's track, and fell to the ground. With it a pile of bones and armor.
"Holy shit, it actually worked!"
Ethan was ecstatic, while William just collapsed to the ground, still holding the gun probably from the shock of his near death experience. After Ethan's adrenaline rush wore out, he also collapsed.
After a few minutes of silence, with both of them lying, catching their breath, one of them spoke out.
"I just remembered something funny."
It was William.
"What?"
"We weren't even supposed to enter the boss room."
They both just started laughing for a while, shacking off all the panick they have felt.
"Hey Will."
"What?"
"Thank you"
William was confused.
"What for?"
"For being my friend, my first ever true friend. All my life, people either avoided me, or tried to take advantage of me because of my talents, at first, it started by the kids my age when I was in kindergarten calling me weird because of my hair and eyes, in middle school, I was relentlessly bullied and I used to come back home to my mother, telling her all about it while crying."
William was silent, watching Ethan tell his life story with a sad look appearing on his face as soon as he mentioned his mother.
"She used to tell me that I shouldn't worry, and that when I awaken, I am going to have talent so good, that everyone will want to be my friend.
And I did awaken with great talent, the greatest talent in history perhaps, a talent so great that when I awakened and my Mana core formed, an explosion occured, demolishing my home and killing all my family in the process.
After that, I was taken care of by my grandparents, although they showered me with love and affection, I still can't feel happy with myself, knowing that because of me, my parents died. Because of me, my little sister couldn't live and become a great hero, like she always wished."
"It's not your fault, Ethan."
William sympathized deeply with his friend, as he also held himself accountable for his parents and sister's death. So he could understand what he was going through.
"Yeah that's what everyone says, but enough about my past, let's check the loot the boss dropped!"
In am attempt to fix the soured mood, Ethan, got up, and started walking towards the pile of bones while wiping the tears that began forming on his eyes, although he looked relieved to have finally vented out to somebody. He picked up what looked like an ancient book on the ground.
William also got up and started walking behind him
"Oh, would you look at that, it dropped a sk—"
*Bang**Bang**Bang*
Ethan's body collapsed to the ground.
William kept looking at the body, with his gun still pointed to where Ethan's head was positioned, with an emotionless look.
*Shing*
A translucent screen appeared Infront of William.
『 ﹃
Congratulations!
You've successfully completed your
Awakening challenge!
﹄ 』