Dungeon Dive (1)

When we arrived at the campus, I immediately noticed that the atmosphere was different than usual.

Many students had expressions mixed with excitement and nervousness. All of them were freshmen looking forward to their first dungeon dive.

Although dungeons were a disaster that caused thousands of deaths every year, they were also a place filled with adventures and riches. For Awakened, who wielded powers beyond normal humans, dungeons were a place they longed for.

It was even more so for the young and inexperienced freshmen of Sanctuary's First. Although they were Awakened, only a handful of them had experienced dungeons before, so this would be their first experience with a dungeon for most of them.

However, unlike the excitement of most freshmen, the students in class 1 were not that excited.

Unlike normal students, class 1 was made up of the ten best students during the entrance examination. Just like Sylvia, Andrew, and I, several of them had experienced dungeons before.

Only Ley seemed a bit nervous, but she calmed down when I patted her head and grabbed her hand.

When it was time for the class to start, teacher Javier entered the classroom.

"It looks like everybody is here. Excellent. Follow me, I'll take you to the dungeon you'll be entering today."

We nodded and followed the teacher.

The teacher led us to the innermost part of Sanctuary's First. On the way, we passed through several check-ins to confirm our identities before allowing us to continue.

The strict security measures were due to the importance of the place where we were going.

Sanctuary's First's two dungeons.

According to hearsay, Sanctuary's First was built in this place due to these two dungeons. Both of these dungeons were of the stable kind. The main characteristic of this kind of dungeon was that their space was stable, so the risk of the dungeon overflowing was virtually null.

After Sanctuary's First was built, these two dungeons were used as a place to train the students. They were one of the reasons Sanctuary's First was considered the best Awakened college across the 103 districts.

After walking for around twenty minutes, we finally arrived at the place where the entrance of the dungeon was located.

As soon as we arrived, two members of the student assembly walked to us and handed us an agreement we needed to sign. They also checked us briefly to see that nobody of us was unwell or in bad condition before entering the dungeon.

At that moment, I saw Jazmine walking toward me.

"Jane, can you come with me a moment?"

I quickly nodded and followed her.

"Did anything happen?" I asked.

Jazmine nodded.

"I just got some leads on Gerona's case that I need to tell you."

I immediately put on a serious expression.

"What did you discover?" 

Jazmine took out a document and handed it to me.

I glanced at it and saw that it was a list containing the names of dozens of students. I did not see many familiar names in the list, only two.

Gerona and her friend, Irene.

I also noticed that most of the names in the list had an X beside them.

A frown appeared on my face.

"What is it?"

"A list of the students who showed sudden and remarkable growth in the last three months. There is a total of fifty-six names there. Moreover, all the names with an x are students who the teachers suspected suffered from bullying, a sense of inferiority, or depression."

My expression immediately changed.

So many!?

According to our guess, Gerona's attempt to suicide and coma were related to her sudden increase in strength, and that sudden increase in strength may be related to the negative emotions she was feeling.

But now, Jazmine brought me a list with fifty-six students in the same circumstances.

I put on a solemn gaze.

"Have you talked to them?" I asked.

"Not yet." Jazmine shook her head. "I just got the list last night. I plan to start investigating today. Hopefully, it can lead me to some significant leads."

"I see… Can I go with you?"

"I was hoping you could help me." Jazmine chuckled and nodded. "Let's talk after the dungeon dive. I'll see if I can discover anything else in the meantime."

"Understood."

"Good luck today."

I thanked her and returned with my classmates.

However, my expression was noticeably more solemn than before.

Unlike Jazmine, I knew that Gerona's strange behavior and coma were related to the actions of a 'piece', a fragment of the demon in my mind. 

If all these students had been affected, then the situation was much graver than I expected.

"Brother, are you alright?" Ley asked when she saw my pensive expression.

I cleared my mind and smiled at my little sister to not worry her.

"Don't worry, I was just thinking about something Jazmine told me."

By this point, the rest of the freshmen had arrived. A total of one thousand students were standing in front of the entrance of the dungeon.

Just then, Teacher Sol appeared in front of us.

"It looks like everybody is here." She started talking. "I think all of you know, but you are just about to enter a dungeon. Before that, I will explain a couple of things."

"Firstly, the dungeon you will be entering is called Lizard Swamp. It's a low-difficulty dungeon with no monsters above the fourth tier. Even so, there is still a certain amount of danger in the dungeon. You should not worry, though. The entire dungeon is filled with cameras filming every corner of the dungeon, and there is a group of teachers constantly observing the situation. If any student is in danger, a teacher will immediately go to the rescue." She explained.

"Also, every student will receive a bracelet like the one I have in my hand." Teacher Sol raised a bracelet and showed it to us. "If you feel you are in danger, you can break this bracelet and a teacher will immediately go to help you, however, it will lower your evaluation greatly."

"Your goal inside this dungeon is to hunt as many monsters as possible. Hunting tier zero monsters will award you one point, tier one monsters two points, tier two monsters three points, tier three monsters five points, and tier four monsters ten points. Your score in this dungeon dive will be counted as an achievement and will influence your final score of the semester.

"Finally, the ten best students will receive a small reward from the academy, so you can look forward to it. Any questions?" She asked.

A student I did not know raised his hand.

"Teacher, can we team up?"

Teacher Sol nodded.

"You can, however, the points will go to the person who lands the last hit, so it's not a good idea. Also, you will be sent to a random location when you enter the dungeon. It won't be easy to meet up with your friends inside. Any other question?"

The students looked at each other, but nobody spoke up.

Teacher Sol nodded.

"Very well. Good luck. I hope you enjoy this experience."

Just like that, the first dungeon dive started.