The next day, Aether arrived at school. He was tired and out of breath when he made it to the gate. Lithia was here with Aether today, just as Aether promised Freya he would bring Lithia. Lithia was happy and excited to see Freya again, as she remembered that Freya was always carrying her and giving her head pats.
"You're excited, aren't you, Lithia? Make sure not to roam off again like last time. The Professor had to go and find you all on his own for an hour last time," Aether said, petting her head.
After Aether caught his breath, he heard his name being shouted somewhere. He looked around and noticed Freya was running toward him, yelling his name. After a few minutes, Freya caught up and had to catch her breath as well.
"Phew, hey there, Aether!" Freya said, and Lithia jumped onto Freya's shoulder, rubbing her head against Freya's cheeks. "Aww, good morning to you too, Lithia," Freya said as she took Lithia off her shoulder and started to hold her in her arms instead.
"Let's go to class, shall we?" Freya said as she was finally able to breathe normally again. Aether nodded and walked with her to class. As they were walking down the hall, Freya started to think about what today's lesson would be. Aether tried to think back to what the lesson was supposed to be today and remembered!
"I think we're actually supposed to be going on a dungeon expedition today. We're only exploring floors one to five, though, so it won't be that tough," Aether explained to Freya.
Freya gasped as an exciting idea popped into her head. "If we are, why don't we be partners for today's exploration?" Freya asked Aether. He thought for a moment and figured it wouldn't be too bad if Freya was his partner. She was also a mage and could help Aether take down any monsters that couldn't be hurt by physical attacks, so Aether agreed. Freya was super happy and jumped up and down.
After both of them arrived in Professor Viper's class, they sat down and waited for the lecture to begin. Ten minutes passed by, and everyone arrived and took their seats. The Professor walked in, quieted everyone down, and the room went silent.
"Good morning, students. Today's class assignment will be hell, so I better see you taking this seriously or you'll all die within mere seconds like the weaklings you are," Professor Viper said violently. He glared at Aether specifically for a couple of seconds before looking back at the board to explain the instructions.
"You will all pair into groups of two. I don't care who you pair up with, but no more than three. You will all go between floors one through five and come back after gathering a total of five hundred mana in your wands," Professor Viper explained, and everyone started to talk to each other, panicking that they had to.
When students take down a beast, a weird aura leaks out of them, and mages can store that aura inside their wands. That's how Professors can grade how well the students did during these exercises. Aether, of course, cannot store mana because he doesn't use a wand, so he does it another way: he collects the monster parts that drop, and it counts as points. But Lithia can also absorb the monster aura, though since almost all the Professors don't like Aether, they won't even count Lithia's collected aura.
"Also, this assignment is a total of a hundred points if you pass, but don't think I'll make this an easy assignment for you all. If you are in trouble, I will not help save you. You must make sure you stay alive. With that said, see you all at the entrance," Professor Viper explained as he laughed and walked out of the room.
Everyone was a bit scared knowing that Professor Viper wouldn't save them if they were in danger, and the fact that everyone had to gather a large amount of aura made it seem like it would take forever. But the one hundred points were worth it, so everyone was willing to go in and fight for the points.
Aether stood up, determined to pass this assignment. "Come on, Freya! Let's go get those points!" Aether said as he ran off, leaving Lithia in Freya's hands. "H-hey, wait up! Ugh..." Freya said as she picked up Lithia and ran toward where Aether was heading.
After a few minutes, everyone who wanted to participate showed up at the entrance of the cave, where Professor Viper was standing, waiting. "Ahh, good, you're all ready to embrace the dangers of a dungeon. Those who didn't come here ran away like cowards; that's not the way of a mage. Those who did come, well, I must honor your bravery. But let's really see how brave you are when you face monsters," Professor Viper grinned. He gestured for everyone to head in, and when it was time for Aether and Freya to enter the cave, Professor Viper stopped them. "Aether, you are to explore floors ten to twenty. If you collect any monster aura from the lower floors, then I will not accept it," Professor Viper grinned.
"H-hey, wait! Why? Those floors are dangerous, and I can't just—" but Aether was cut off. "I don't care. These are my instructions. You can do as asked, or you can fail this entire assignment with Freya," Professor Viper smiled evilly. He wanted to make things harder for Aether, not because he knew Aether was strong, but to make Aether's life a living hell.
Aether let out a sigh and decided to follow his instructions. Even if the lower floors were dangerous, Aether had faced many strong enemies on those floors, so it wouldn't be a problem. But Freya was Aether's concern, though he knew he could protect her, so it wouldn't be hard to keep tabs on her. Aether entered the cave with Freya and Lithia, and they walked down to the tenth floor. "Alright, let's make this quick, Freya, so we can get out of here. Back me up!" Aether yelled as he unsheathed his rapier from his waist and assumed a battle stance when a horde of monsters started to march toward him.
"W-wait, Aether! If you charge in, you'll—" but Freya was cut off. Aether, with lightning speed, dashed toward the horde and pierced through all of them easily. Aether flipped into the air and faced Freya. "Don't worry about me, Freya! Just support me with your magic, and we'll be fine!" Aether said quickly as he landed back down on the ground and started to hack and slash all the monsters down.
Freya pointed her wand toward the group of monsters and started to cast her earth spell. "Mother Earth, lend me your strength, take this!" Freya chanted as a magic circle appeared at the tip of her wand and launched sharp rocks toward the boars, piercing through their heads and main bodies. Within five minutes of fighting, Aether was bloodied from the monsters he had sliced and stabbed. A little tired, Aether and Freya wiped out the horde of boars and other types of monsters within ten minutes.
Aether let out a sigh and stood back up after he caught his breath. "Alright, absorb their aura, and I'll head back with the monster parts so we can earn those points. I just hope the others are alright, though," Aether said to Freya, and they both began to pick up the aura for points for the assignment.
On the fifth floor, Lucas and his lackeys were doing well slaying monsters like it was nothing, burning them with Lucas's fire magic. "Awesome, man! Let's hurry and absorb the aura," one of his friends said as the aura was being collected into their wands. For some reason, Lucas was angry; he looked toward the next entrance to get to the sixth floor and was frustrated that Aether was able to go down further in the dungeons. "I don't get it; why is that idiot able to go down to deeper floors while we're stuck here? What's so special about him?" Lucas yelled.
"Don't worry, that just means they're idiots making this assignment even harder," his lackey laughed out loud like a total nerd. Lucas angrily stomped toward the entrance to go down to the sixth floor. "H-hey, where are you going?!" his lackey asked. Lucas angrily said, "To the tenth floor. I'll show that piece of garbage I can do better than him!" Lucas yelled as he headed down to the tenth floor, where Aether was.
"Alright, that should be enough, Freya. Let's head back before more monsters start flooding in," Aether explained as he picked up the last valuable monster part. Freya nodded and collected the last bit of aura into her wand and followed Aether out.
Aether and Freya walked back up to the top of the cave together, and Freya questioned why Professor Viper would make them go down to deeper floors compared to the other students. Aether sighed and explained it was probably to make him suffer because Professor Viper knew Aether couldn't use strong magic or cast spells. Freya frowned and put her hand on his shoulder. "But you shouldn't be treated like that! That's just outright rude and messed up!" Freya complained for Aether, but Aether was okay with it and smiled. He told her it was normal for him for the Professors to be hard on him, except for Professor Lysander and the headmaster of the academy.
Twenty minutes later, Aether made it
the fifth floor, where all the other students were, Akira walked toward Aether and Freya and asked if they had seen Lucas. He mentioned that Lucas had been there for a moment but then vanished.
"I didn't see him. Are you sure he didn't just walk down to the lower floors?" Aether asked, but Akira shook his head in disagreement. "None of the other students saw him walk back up, and his lackeys are gone too..." Akira explained. Aether was surprised to see Akira concerned for Lucas, but Akira clarified that his worry stemmed from Professor Viper mentioning a possible boss enemy on floors six through ten. Aether and Freya were fortunate to have escaped before a boss could spawn.
Akira sighed and decided to give up, heading back to floor one to submit the aura he had gathered for points. Aether and Freya exchanged glances, and Freya asked, "You don't think Lucas would be brave enough to go to the lower floors, right?" She speculated about where Lucas could have gone. "But we walked up here, so there's no way we didn't see him just walk past us," Aether explained.
He reassured Freya not to stress about it and that they should return to the Professors. He reasoned that Lucas would probably show up, so they shouldn't worry too much; he was strong and hot-headed but not foolish enough to get himself killed.
After the two of them headed back up, almost all the students were present. Professor Viper took attendance and noticed that Lucas and his lackeys were missing. He asked everyone if they had seen Lucas and his friends, but no one knew, and the atmosphere turned serious.
Suddenly, someone emerged from the cave, bleeding and clutching his stomach where he was badly injured, but he kept pushing himself toward the exit of the dungeons. Everyone looked at the critically injured student, fear gripping them over what had happened. "L-Lucas... is in trouble... floor seven!" the male student gasped, coughing blood before collapsing to the ground.
"This is bad! Freya, take care of Lithia for me!" Aether quickly took action and ran back in to find Lucas. Freya reached out her hand, calling Aether's name, but he was already sprinting down to floor five. He heard faint screams and explosions deeper in the dungeons. "Damn it! I have to make it in time!" Aether thought, sweat forming on his forehead, anxious that Lucas might die from the stronger monsters on the lower floors.
Meanwhile, on the seventh floor, Lucas was on the ground, trying to crawl backward away from a massive minotaur threatening his life. Two of his other lackeys had been killed, leaving Lucas as the only one standing. Terrified, Lucas waved his wand, casting weak fire spells that had no effect on the minotaur. He pleaded with the beast to spare his life, but the minotaur raised its massive cleaver in the air. Lucas closed his eyes, preparing for the end.
Just as the minotaur swung down, Lucas heard a clashing sound. Slowly opening his eyes, he saw Aether had blocked the devastating swing, holding the minotaur's cleaver back from slicing him in half.
"A-Aether!? W-what are you doing here?!" Lucas stammered, his voice shaky, eyes wide in disbelief at Aether's timely intervention.