Inside The Dungeon

Dungeons were categorized into two types.

The non-regulated and the regulated types of dungeons.

Non-regulated dungeons can be mostly found outside of cities. They were dungeons that were either too dangerous for the hunters and hence could not be conquered, or dungeons that had recently popped up or descended.

Regulated dungeons, on the other hand, were mostly controlled by some major forces. They were dungeons that had already been mapped out and conquered. Most of them exist inside the cities or in controllable areas outside of the cities.

At this moment, the world outside of cities was still very dangerous. In fact, even in cities, dungeons would still pop up without warning, anywhere, and at any time.

But compared to cities, the danger in the wild was very rampant.

From time to time, non-regulated dungeons would send out beasts to the real world, hence the need to send hunters inside to constantly kill the beasts inside and regulate them.

From what he knew from the internet, the outside world was basically like a living hell, even for strong summoners.

According to the history of this world, from the moment the dungeons descended, it took more than ten years for all of humanity to retreat to one corner of the world where the descent of dungeons was not very frequent before they managed to stabilize themselves.

It was only a few years later that they managed to fight back and constantly conquered low-level dungeons, progressing from there. 

Now, he heard that humanity had slowly begun to fight back, and some even started to conquer back the areas that were once lost to the beasts that came out of non-regulated dungeons.

Seeing a dungeon, the source of terror in the world, in person for the first time in his life, Lucas could not help but clench his fist in excitement and nervousness.

The dungeon entrance was unlike anything he had seen before.

It looks like a semi-translucent vortex suspended in the air. It looks like a whirlpool made of swirling currents of air, constantly in motion but never moving from its spot.

This was what they called the dungeon and, at the same time, the portal to another world.

The portal distorts light, creating an almost mirage-like effect, as if the space around it were bending and warping. It was purplish-black in color, looking devious, sinister, and, at the same time, mysterious.

The dungeons, after being conquered, will be classified into various classes according to the level of danger they pose.

From the information he knew, this school-regulated dungeon was classified as a Class C dungeon. 

It was a high-level dungeon with the strength of beasts inside ranging from Iron Star 1 to Silver Star 3.

With such a setting, it should have been impossible to let the newly awakened students wander inside.

However, the school-regulated dungeon was a special case among C-Class dungeons as it was divided into three parts: the Outer, Inner and the Core areas. 

Strong beasts generally just roam around the Inner and Core areas, so students who only want to gain experience can still boldly enter and gain experience points as long as they do not wander around the two dangerous areas.

This was also the reason why the 'ownership' of the dungeon was highly contested and was even put up for auction before it was obtained by the Starlight Academy owner, Mr. Starlight.

Starlight Academy was also considered pretty popular due to the existence of this special C-Class dungeon.

After Teacher Julian approached the receptionist and informed her of the situation, they were finally told to fall in line and enter the dungeon one by one.

As an Unranked Grade awakener, Lucas was naturally cast aside and was the last one to enter the dungeon, with Hector and his circle of friends being the first to enter along with Teacher Julian.

As he stepped into the vortex, Lucas felt his consciousness spin a few revolutions per second before he felt that he had landed softly on flat ground.

The urge to puke then overtook his mind; fortunately, he managed to control himself in time and was finally able to overcome the dizziness he experienced. 

Even so, he still felt weak and could not help but kneel down on the ground to recover himself for a few seconds.

He looked around and noticed that most of his classmates were actually puking their guts out. 

After some observation, he realized that those who overcame the urge to puke were basically those who awakened to Bronze Grade and above. 

Of course, not all of them managed to do so. 

For example, he saw Anjie, a Bronze Grade awakener, belching her guts out a few meters away from Hector and his group. Hector has an ugly expression as he turns his back away from her.

Teacher Julian, on the other hand, seemed calm.

A few minutes later, the other second-year students were also transported inside the dungeon. The same situation appeared, so this was obviously not an isolated case.

This was a pretty normal situation for those who entered a dungeon for the first few times.

A few minutes later, seeing that everyone had already calmed down, Teacher Julian finally nodded his head and said, "Alright, now that you have already experienced the thrill of being a dungeon diver firsthand, it's time for you to form groups and kill some beasts to gain experience."

"We have already discussed the situation before, so I won't repeat myself. There is no requirement this time around. As long as you receive even the tiniest bit of experience points, then I will be happy and proud of your achievement. This is just the last reminder: stay in the Outer area; do not attack a beast recklessly if you do not recognize it; and lastly, prepare thoroughly before attacking a beast."

"After you've formed your teams, you can set out on your own; just be sure to come back to this area, the Safe Area, before the twenty-four-hour limit is up."

Every person can only stay inside a dungeon for twenty-four hours straight. After that, if they do not go out, they will be ejected forcefully, and they will receive penalties like injuries and not be able to enter any kind of dungeon again for a set period of time. This rule applies even to the strongest summoner out there.

After saying his words, Teacher Julian did not concern himself about his students anymore and allowed them to do as they pleased.

After he left, the students immediately grouped themselves into a maximum number of five.

The friends automatically teamed up with each other, while the others chose to cling to those who awakened good beasts and high-grade grimoires.

As the only Unranked Grimoire awakener in the whole class, Lucas was automatically disregarded by everyone else.

Those who happened to turn to look in his direction would even look away in an instant, as if afraid that they would be contaminated by his weakness.

Lucas, on the other hand, did not mind their actions.

In truth, after he obtained the skill last night, he was already confident and had already planned to go alone. Even if Teacher Julian forced him to group with others, he already planned to break away from the team and go solo.

Doing so has a lot of advantages, especially for someone like him who only has an Unawakened Grade Grimoire.

Lower-grade grimoires naturally earn fewer experience points than others. And if he teamed up with someone else, his experience points would be further deducted based on his contribution.

Last night, he had already planned to go solo.

The current situation just made his life easier.

Ignoring the gaze of others, Lucas went to one corner and inspected the contents of his bag.

This bag was quite full at the moment, with a lot of contents such as food, medicine, and other basic necessities necessary for survival inside a dungeon. 

Dungeon survival was one of their subjects, so he was quite an expert in such preparations.

Aside from that, there was also a basic map of the outer area of the dungeon so that he wouldn't get lost while inside.

His mother and father had also prepared a set of leather armor for him.

According to them, this was what his father and mother had bought for him as a present for his grimoire awakening ceremony.

Lucas had already donned it, and on his waist was also a small knife made of normal metal, enough to cut some things if he needed to.

After confirming that he was thoroughly prepared, Lucas took one last look at his classmates before he walked out of the Safe Area.

At that moment, Teacher Julian, who saw his departure, could only shake his head in regret and disappointment.

Like many others, he had also lost hope for Lucas. There was nothing he could do anymore. Lucas' fate was already decided the moment he awakened his grimoire.

Meanwhile, after moving for almost a kilometer away from the Safe Area, Lucas took out his grimoire and immediately summoned the Gentle Dog.

New information also popped up on the blank part of the first page of the grimoire.