The Start Of An Adventure

The ride wasn't as long as expected. What made the time spent on the bus deem to be slow was the lecture they received while on the bus. Their coach was a man of a massive vertical stature. His body was sculpted similar to a lean body builder. It is more than obvious that the coach has been through rigorous training to obtain such a herculean physique.

"Alright. So as I have been informing you for the last 4 weeks, we are on our way to venture through an Open Dungeon Gate."

This world has been riddled with tears in spacetime known as Gates. Typically, they are portals that lead to an entirely different dimension that may be considered as a parallel universe.

These portals have three archetypes; Open, Closed, Conditional. These types differentiate depending on the environment. There are also 5 colors that categorize the dungeons by difficulty.

Gray

Cyan

Blue

Violet

Crimson

Black

Gray is the easiest dungeon one could encounter. They've mainly been recorded as closed dungeons that are relatively small. Only having the length of three american football fields.

Black is incomprehensible to map due to it mainly being a gate that leads to Interdimensional Invasion.

It is said that gates are created via the consciousness of the universe reacting to unique influences. And Earth was supposedly the heart of the universe. Thus, the gates frequently open on Earth. The concepts humanity created, their ideation of reality spontaneously produces an energy that breeds love into the universe. Their discovery of mathematics, Fictional Stories such as Bleach, Soul Land, and Dragon Ball, all of these give rise to the universes consciousness. Unfortunately, the consequence of their creativity of the universe's awareness is the creation of gates. And while this maybe the case for most gates, there are also exceptions. There are gates that are forged via the connection between other universes. And thus, invasions occur. May it be sentient monsters that gain spatio-temporal magic or a futuristic extraterrestrial race that holds technology capable of interdimensional travel. Gates will form regardless. One mustn't confuse Interdimensional Invasions with the generality of black gates. While they are not exclusive, they are also not mutually inclusive.

Open Gates are like open world RPGs. While their difficulty varies, they are all constantly available due to their nature. As if an American touch down on Vietnam, Open Gates are akin to such traversal. You're simply venturing into another domain.

"But I will not be guiding you guys into the Gate nor will I be supervising you. Today is a survival exercise so you will have two days to complete the objective." As he spoke, the assistant coach passed out the Return Crystals to each student.

"All you have to do is find a dungeon and clear it. Make sure to bring back the dungeon core as proof of your success."

Time passed on the bus. They arrived at their destination war ready. Kitted in light leather yet durable armor with the weapon of their choosing. They hop off the bus and enter their designated groups. "Before you set off onto your adventure, you shall be put into groups of four. These groups compliment each other's strengths and weaknesses and this they go as followed; Brett, Caroline, Caesar, John, you're on teams." He called out the teams by names.

"Joan, Carlton, Sean, Moe, you're a team. And "And lastly Kain, Henry, Marco, and Titan, you're a team. That should be all, any questions!?" No one really had anything on their mind that they needed to ask. Except, for the smallest amongst them all.

"Yes, Titan?"

"I'd like to know, will there be a leader for each team?" Titan pondered.

"That will be a choice made by you and your teammates. Anymore questions?" He looked around and only saw one hand being raised yet again. The coach sighed. "Yes, Titan?"

"What kind of biome will we be venturing into?" Curious, he only wondered yet the answer was kept close.

"I will not be informing you of the environment you shall be hunting in because that would decrease the efficiency of this survival exercise. Anymore questions?" Coach's eyes gazed at a singular hand yet again. "No one? GOOD!! Now, the crystals you were given on the bus is your key into the Gate and out of the gate. The white crystal you were given will send you all to a different portion of the gate. The purple crystal is used to send you back. After that, it is up to you to come back safely. If you find yourself in a pinch and your survivability rate decreases, I want you to take out the Purple Return Crystal and crush it. Doing that will transport you outside the Gate and back here. Now ARE YOU READY SOLDIERS!!!!"

Titan meekly raised his hand. "Um... Sir I don't thi-"

Whilst all the other students stood at attention and responded readily. "SIR YES SIR!!"

"Then you may proceed into the Gate. I hope you all make it back safe. See you on the other side." The coach bid them farewell as a well to indirectly tell them the test has started.

The sound of thick glass shattering reverberates through the vicinity. Repeatedly, the students one by one and some simultaneously crushed the White Return Crystal.

"Titan!!" A girl called out to him. His head turns 180° to see who it was. The one smiling at him joyfully was none other than Joan. "You better pass, NERD." Soon after, she disappeared.

A light tint of pink flushed his cheeks. He opened his satchel to take out a bracelet of his. It had the appearance of a wrist sized silver colored ring. He equipped a black ring on his left ring finger. Both items had a small reminiscent aura of Mana dormant inside them.

"Hm? The kid brought equipment? Looks like he's determined to pass." The coach thought. "Titan! Your team already left! Hurry up and crush the crystal already!" He demanded Titan.

He slightly twitched at the command as Titan grabbed the crystal. His hand gripped the crystal but to no avail. There was not a crack or a sliver of evidence that the crystal was damaged by the pressure he applied.His fingers press onto the crystal to push it downward into his palm with enough force to attempt to destroy it. Yet nothing happened. The kid groaned in frustration as he attempted to break the item with two hands placing them between his palms. A trial that ends in failure. Both hands were useless. "FUCKING BREAK!!!" His muscles and veins were visible due to the difficulty of destroying the crystal.

"....." The Assistant Coach, Raina who was silent this entire time watched Titan struggle to destroy the same crystal that the other students broke with one hand. "I still can't believe this kid has a hero class when a D Ranked Hunter can destroy a portable Return Crystal with one hand." This line of thinking wasn't in the wrong slightest. You wouldn't believe that a kid with anorexia would become a bodybuilder would you??

He threw it onto the ground and levitates his foot over the crystal. Crashing down on the crystal his foot cracks it. Titan noticed the coaches were still here and waved at them nervously as the crystal shattered under. "Sorry-" before he could speak, he vanished.

The Coach outline a cross from his forehead to both of his shoulders and lastly downward to his abdominal region. "Let God guide that child back to us safely."

"That's if he makes it back." Raina mumbled under her breath.

He nudged her. "Watch your mouth. The life of a hero is the future of humanity. No matter how miniscule that maybe."

Raina lowers her head to his response. "My apologies, sir."

"Don't worry about it. I can't blame you anyways. For now, let's order some food while we wait for them." The Coach pulled out his phone that was disproportionately smaller than his muscular hands.

"Ooh!! Are you ordering from DroneDash!!" Raina wondered with her eyes lighting up.

"Obviously." As he tapped on the DroneDash app Coach gets a notification from the Global Hunter Protection Service.

"Warning!!! Nearby Magnitude 12 Spacetime Distortions Detected. All units standby." - The Notification.

"Shit!" His phone goes black and he slips the phone in his pocket.

Raina noticed the visible distraught on Coach's face. "What's wrong!?"

"I got an Invasion Notice. Go grab the back up crystals. We have to bring the kids back."

"On it." Raina dashed toward the bus.

"What great timing this is." Coach was worried. Not for the world but for this generation of heroes.