Chapter 2 – Knowledge is Key

The next morning, our entire class assembled at the training grounds, a large open area on the castle's premises, as per the orders of Her Highness Alicia. Unsurprisingly, making young adults get up at very early hours for training made for stellar morale. Me and Merlin were fine, since I suspected we would be dragged out of our beds earlier than we're used to, so we went to sleep early. The last time I went to sleep around ten in the evening must have been when I was like nine or ten years old. It has truly been a long while.

Most of my classmates, however, had a haggard look, dark circles under their eyes and barely managed to stay on their feet, wobbling in place. Some of the boys looked to be on cloud nine, despite their tired appearances though. They probably gave in to their maid's temptation or even sought them themselves.

After a few minutes of waiting, general Bakecria and head magician Maddo walked into the training grounds, followed by two knights and two mages. The general and head magician walked up onto a wooden podium, while the knights and mages took positions in front of it. The general cleared his throat and his loud and oppressive voice brought all of my half-asleep classmates to full attention.

"Today, we will explain to you how active skills, passive skills and magics work and then teach you the very basics necessary for combat. For the non-combat classes, such as healers and production classes, His Holiness pope Simian should arrive shortly to take you to a separate area once we cover the basics of martial arts skills and magic."

When the general was done speaking, the head magician Maddo stepped forward.

"We'll begin with explaining magic, as it's theory is a bit simpler than skills. Magic is divided into three types, the first is Common Magic, the second is Basic Magic and the third and last is Advanced Magic. Common Magic is innately very easy to acquire and all classes can obtain it. Common Magic refers to [Lifestyle Magic], which lacks any offensive capabilities but makes everyday chores much simpler to complete, and [Null Magic], which does have great offensive capabilities, though it largely depends on the MAG stat of the person wielding it. Its purpose is mainly to give mages more utility on higher levels once their MAG stat grows bigger. Unfortunately, it's rather uninteresting if you're not a mage. Both [Lifestyle Magic] and [Null Magic] consist of five tiers."

The head magician turned around and raised his hand, aiming his palm at a scarecrow outfitted with an iron chestplate at the back of the podium. He muttered something I couldn't hear from this distance and a transparent magic circle appeared in front of his palm. Uh, I call it transparent, but I guess it's be more accurate to say that only the outlines of the shapes inside the magic circle were highlighted in white. Imagine cutting a thin white ring out of a sheet of paper, it looked something like that.

The space in front of the magic circle deformed and wobbled, similar to how air looks from a distance on a hot day, and took on a greyish hue. The wobbly greyish space then shot forward and hit the scarecrow square in the chest. This created a hole the size of a head in the scarecrow's chestplate, utterly pulverizing it and making it fall back from the force of whatever hit it.

The head magician turned back to us and placed his hands behind his back.

"This was a first tier [Null Magic] spell, Magic Bullet. As you can see, even a weak spell like this can become quite deadly when used by a person with a sufficiently high enough MAG stat. Though, [Null Magic] isn't exactly all that great for offense, as I've stated earlier. Next up, Basic Magic includes [Fire Magic], [Lightning Magic], [Water Magic], [Frost Magic], [Wind Magic], [Sound Magic], [Earth Magic] and [Transmutation Magic]. Basic magics consist of ten tiers each, but most mages don't achieve higher than rank five in their lifetime. Hell, those with only a [Rare] class might struggle with reaching tier four. Some people with great classes may reach rank six in one or two magics if they have a unique skill that synergizes with their class, but that's about it. I myself can use [Fire Magic], [Lightning Magic] and [Transmutation Magic] up to tier six, but I've never heard about anyone having more than that, at least among mortals."

The head magician turned to the toppled scarecrow once more and raised his hand in the same manner as before. He muttered something I couldn't hear, again, and a light purple magic circle appeared in front of his palm. A bolt of lightning shot out of the magic circle and pierced the scarecrow, burning black holes into every spot the lightning touched. If a person got hit by that, I'm pretty sure not even the best doctors from Earth would be of much help.

"That was a tier three lightning magic, Lightning Scar. As you can see, it boasts much greater offensive capabilities than [Null Magic] not only because the spells of the same tier tend to be stronger, but also because of secondary effects like burns. Lastly, Advanced Magic consists of [Light Magic], [Holy Magic], [Dark Magic], [Necromancy Magic], [Support Magic], [Barrier Magic] and [Spirit Magic]. These magics consist of eight tiers, but people achieving tier five in these is rarer than people that have achieved tier six in Basic Magic. Most reach tier four and are unable to go above that, but even for that you need to have at least an [Epic] class. [Rare] classes will usually only reach tier two, some might get up to tier four if they reach level 100. I myself have only [Necromancy Magic], [Support Magic] and [Barrier Magic], so I'm afraid I won't be showing you any demonstrations."

The head magician returned back to his original stance, with his arms behind his back.

"All magic requires some casting time before it activates. We call that period a spell chant or just chant for short. The casting time depends on the tier of the spell and the skills you have, as some can help lower the casting time. As for how you become able to use higher tiers, the answer is simply by leveling up and increasing your MAG stat. This is all for my explanation about magic, as it's far easier to understand in theory but much harder to use in practice, as compared to martial arts skills. If any of you have any questions, please speak up."

A girl raised her hand, if I remember correctly she's one of the people placed under the cleric department.

"Um, is there not anything like healing magic?"

"Ah, excellent question. Healing spells are under [Holy Magic]. While [Holy Magic] does have some offensive capabilities, they are limited and in battle effective only against undead."

Upon the mention of undead, my classmates started whispering amongst each other in hushed tones, anxiety creeping onto their faces. Don't tell me they really thought they'd be able to live like nobles in a castle without as having to face whatever dangers we might face out there? As is customary for a fantasy world, monsters existed in this world. I and Mark- I mean Merlin were already more than mentally prepared for the existence of monsters, but I guess normal high school students wouldn't take too greatly to their existence.

"What are you all getting so scared about? It's just a bunch of bones! Did you already forget the amazing blessings we all received? We have nothing to fear!"

Simon's voice reassured everyone and their gazes eventually transformed from anxiety into determination to survive. Both the general and the head magician smiled at Simon's ability to quickly boost everyone's morale. Head Magician Maddo then exchanged positions with the general, whose very presence made everyone focus on him in a matter of seconds without even muttering a word.

"I shall now explain what we call martial arts skills. This definition doesn't exist within the system officially, but classifying them separately makes it much easier to understand this specific collection of skills. There is far too many of them to explain them in detail, but there are three types. One of these types is in the active skills. It often follows a [-Weapon Type- Arts] naming style, such as [Blade Arts]. These work in a very similar manner to magic, where with each skill level, you can use more moves. If you have [Blade Arts LV. 1], you can use two moves, but if you have [Blade Arts LV. 2] you can use four moves. The advantage these martial arts skills have over magic is that they are instantaneous and do not require a chant, but they are very limited in range if you don't have the [Aura] skill and they are practically just pure offense with no utility. All have ten levels and you increase their levels by increasing your [–Weapon Type– Proficiency], which is one of the two passive skills. Proficiency skills are the only skills that don't use levels but use percentage instead and with every 10% in a proficiency skill, you gain 1 level in the martial arts skill of the same weapon type. For example, I have [Sword Proficiency 78%], which gives me [Blade Arts LV. 7]. The last martial arts related skill is a passive one, and they are very straightforward. They are called mastery skills and the higher their level, the more your attacks will hurt with the weapon of the same name as the skill. What's special about these is that the bonus doubles each time, starting at 1% on [-Weapon- Mastery LV. 1]. For example, [Sword Mastery LV. 5] would give you a 16% bonus strength when attacking with swords, but [Sword Mastery LV. 6] would give you a 32% strength bonus."

I stood with my mouth half agape, trying to process the absolute truckload of information dumped on us. Sure, if one thinks about it slowly, it's a rather simple process of 'this skill affects this skill that lets you use more special attacks and that skill just gives bonus damage' but goddamn, they weren't kidding when they said the theory behind them is far more difficult than magic. With magic, it's quite literally 'more MAG stat = good,' simple enough. Also, if the increase is a geometric sequence where every subsequent number is multiplied by 2, doesn't that mean at level 10 it would reach 512% bonus strength?

<Correct, Master.>

Sera chimed in with a confirmation, meaning my calculations were correct. I was already starting to have a small headache, trying to imagine just how utterly unbalanced this system was, but hey, that's life I guess. The strong prey on the weak.

The general turned his eyes away from us to the entrance to the training grounds. When I turned my head to see what caught the general's attention, I saw a bald man with a long grey beard walking with calm steps towards our group.

"Your Holiness Pope Simian, I see you've arrived."

"Hoho. That I have"

The old man stroked his beard as he walked closer.

"This person is His Holiness the Pope, Simian Sarsha."

The general stepped back and gave the spotlight to the pope.

"It is an honor to meet the heroes who shall save our kingdom. As duke Bakecria introduced me, I am the pope of the Bavendian church, the national religion of Hosefelia. Now then, let us not dawdle. I would ask those designated as production classes and healers to accompany me. For the production classes, special equipment is required in order to bring out their full potential and healers will receive a specialized course on how to utilize their spells in the most effective way."

At his request, the eight people who were assigned to the cleric yesterday gathered in front of the pope and then left with him. Once they were gone, the head magician Maddo and general Bakecria stepped off the podium.

"Vanguards, please step to the left of the podium and mages, please step to the right of the podium. Divide into two groups of the same size."

Us vanguards split into two groups of five and the mages split into a group of five and a group of six.

Quick pop quiz, do you know who I got thrown into a group with? You guessed it, it's Simon.

"Try to keep up, useless trash, otherwise I'll have to give you special care and help you catch up. Aren't I such a good friend, making time to personally teach you so you can keep up with us? Hahahaha!"

The hostility oozing out of him made want to put on a raincoat with how disgusting it felt. Seriously, how can someone be this petty for this long just because we kicked him out of our roleplaying tabletop group for being insufferable?

I smiled and tried my best to not punch him in the face in order to play the role of the weakling. If they figured I actually managed to hurt someone with double my supposed stats, it would definitely arouse suspicion.

Our group would be taught by general Bakecria himself, no doubt because of Simon being here. Oh boy, this is going to be infuriating

○○○

During the first day we were told to choose our preferred weapons we would train with and were taught some basics on how to handle such weapons. I deliberated between a sword and a glaive. A sword for its staple place in fantasy and the glaive because it was far cooler than a spear, albeit harder to use and master. In the end, I chose the glaive. I'd get absolutely destroyed whenever we'd spar if I used a sword if I wanted to keep up the weakling pretense. With a glaive, I'd at least have reach advantage and manage to fend off incoming attacks to an extent.

In the following days, we were trained on how to use our weapons and taught common formations, how to synergize with the rearguards and occasionally sparred amongst each other. Naturally, Simon challenged me every chance he got and I naturally 'tried' to fight back, occasionally blocking a few attacks, but ultimately, I'd always lose. So far, it seemed nobody caught onto the fact that I managed to level up a few more times and was actually a lot stronger than Simon, even though he seemed to have also leveled up from stepping on some bugs during training.

"Ha!"

I watched as the edge of a wooden sword approached my right shoulder. I 'hastily' and 'clumsily' brought up my wooden glaive in order to intercept the sword. When our weapons collided, I stepped back and grunted to show that I was being pushed back, which 'broke' my stance.

"Got you! |Slash|!"

Simon didn't let go of that opportunity and swung from overhead, intending to end this with a decisive martial arts strike. Now, even if I am much stronger than him, getting hit from the combined force of a legendary class, gravity and a skill would still hurt and do a lot of damage, so I opted on instead messily evading the attack altogether. I jumped away, falling on the ground and the spot where I stood moments before was slightly dented from Simon's attack. If I didn't dodge, that could have definitely at least broken some of my bones, mythical class or not.

Seeing I managed to evade, he quickly rushed at me and whacked my head with his wooden sword. Since he wasn't using any skills now, I decided to just take the it.

"Ack!"

The strike was enough to make me scream out as some of my blood splashed on the ground, a lengthy cut now adorning the left side of my forehead. While this also hurt like a bitch, it was still a hit that had no skills or gravity added onto it, making it far less deadly.

"Stop! Simon wins!"

If this were a real fight, I probably would have died, or at least gotten knocked unconscious if I was wearing a helmet. The general thus declared Simon the winner of our spar, ending this annoying circus.

Simon smiled contently and walked off to chat with his entourage. I staggered to my feet and went to one of the clerics to get healed, as has become routine these past few days where Simon challenged me and I let him pummel me until I bled and lost. I've thought about whacking him back more times than I could count, but held myself back.

"Back again?"

"I'm afraid so."

I've gotten a bit close to one of the clerics. No surprises there, with how many times I've now had to be healed after Simon beat me up. I saw Mar- Merlin sitting in one of the spectator chairs. He thankfully managed to avoid any sparring, since mages wouldn't have access to any spells until they leveled up a bit. He had a much easier time hiding his powers thanks to that.

James, the other person who most likely had a mythical class, didn't suffer much thanks to the protection of his twin sister and her friends. I and Merlin haven't tried talking to him yet, since we didn't really talk even back on Earth. It might just be me being paranoid, but unless I was certain he managed to undo the stuff put on us when we were summoned, it was too risky talking to him. The risk of being exposed, however small, was simply far too dangerous.

While I was getting my wounds healed, I thought back to the past few days. Once our training and sparring was over, we'd get an hour of free time and then go learn about the monsters we might end up encountering. I and Merlin also managed to get into the library and learn about this world, other nations and to a limited extent about the nations on other continents too. This continent, Eidrea, was home to humans, elves, dark elves, dragonoids, dwarves and giants and was the second biggest continent.

Eidrea was split into two landmasses, connected by a thin pass in the north of the continent. The eastern and bigger part was mainly populated by elves in the south, humans in the north-west and east and the isolationist dragonoids in the north. The smaller western part was mainly populated by elves in the east, dwarves and giants in the west and dark elves in the south.

Elves were, for once the biggest racists, discriminating against just about everyone that was not an elf. Because of this, the humans in the east were very isolated form the rest of the continent, as to the north they were blocked by the dragonoids, who didn't like foreigners much, and to the south they were blocked by the elves, who'd most likely give them hell for not being elves. If they wanted to trade with the giants and dwarves to the west, they'd have to do so by travelling around the entire continent on a ship, but that just took too much time and yielded too little results, so almost nobody attempted it.

Sania, the smallest continent, was home to a dozen of beastfolk tribes that made up the only nation found on Sania, the Alafetian United Tribes. The last and biggest continent was known as Ripia and was home to people known as infernals. Infernals was just a wider classification along the lines of humanoid or avian, so there wasn't that deep a meaning to it. The races that comprised the infernals were arachne, imps, oni, vampires, succubi, capras and argonians.

With the exception of arachne and vampires, all infernals had horns. Arachne were very similar to humans, with the only distinction being that they usually have more than two eyes, their sclera is pitch-black and prefer living in dark places. Imps have two small horns and thin tails of the same color as their horns. Oni have horns growing out of their foreheads, ranging from one single horn to six horns. Vampires are just as I know them, a staple fantasy race with fangs that likes drinking blood. Succubi have sheep-like horns, small bat-like wings, short and pointy ears and thin tails. Capras, from what I've read about them, are quite literally goat people. They have ram-like or goat-like horns and prefer living in rocky and mountainous areas. Argnonians have mostly straight and pointy horns and pointy ears, though shorter than elf ears.

The library had very limited information about the races living on other continents, mostly talking about the appearance of each race. The individual beastfolk tribes weren't even mentioned by names or appearances, all we could learn about them was that there was a total of thirteen beastfolk tribes. The most important thing we learned in the library was that all nations had a unified currency system. I have absolutely no clue how they managed to do that. From what we could gather, apparently, the currency they all use was older than every nation, older than recorded history. It worked and made trade between nations easy, so nobody bothered with changing it.

Today, however, instead of telling us training was over and ordering us to go wash up and to eat something, the general walked onto the podium.

"O Heroes, your progress is truly extraordinary and brings me great joy. As such, I and head magician Maddo have decided on having you experience your first real combat tomorrow. We will head to an F-rank dungeon not far from the capital. Further information will be given to you before entering the dungeon. Once we return, we'll perform a Status Crystal check to evaluate your individual progress. The most outstanding of you will receive benefits such as larger rooms, fancier meals and preferential treatment when it comes to choosing equipment and weapons."

My blood ran cold at the mention of a Status Crystal check and my mind started racing, thinking of how to get out of this less than ideal situation. The general said we'd be going to a dungeon, but what exactly are dungeons in this world like in the first place? We have gotten no information about them in the past few days, and I don't remember reading anything about them in the library either. Thinking I had nothing to lose by asking, I raised my head.

"Oh, Philip, you have a question? Speak up."

Despite the fact that I was 'weak', the general took a bit of a liking to me for my serious attitude while training, so his opinion of me was rather cordial.

"Yes, um, what are dungeons, exactly?"

The general's eyes shot wide open as he came to the realization we received no lessons on dungeons. The head magician, standing next to him, also looked as if the realization of the century dawned upon him.

"Right, you guys don't have those in your world. They are such common knowledge here that the possibility of you not knowing them completely escaped us. Giar, if you would."

The head magician nodded at the general's invitation.

"Dungeons are naturally formed underground structures that are filled with monsters, though calling them inorganic organisms might be more accurate. Dungeons feed on mana. On the mana of whatever corpse is within them, to be more exact. They cannot absorb mana from a living being, but they can do so from a corpse. So, in order to attract food, dungeons developed a bait system, giving out rewards if the dungeon is cleared. Within the deepest parts of a dungeon is the dungeon core, a pitch-black crystal that holds all the absorbed mana. The mana within the dungeon core determines the rank of the dungeon, which then affects the strength of the monsters the dungeon creates and the number of floors the dungeon has. If a person manages to clear a dungeon by eliminating the core guardian, a powerful monster, and touching the dungeon core, the dungeon grants a portion of its absorbed mana to the clearer in the form of XP, items and on rare occasions with a skill. Once the rewards for clearing the dungeon are given, the dungeon will forcefully teleport you to its entrance."

The head magician stopped his explanation at that and an idea started taking form.

"What happens if a dungeon isn't cleared?"

"If dungeons aren't regularly cleared and they grow their rank, a dungeon break might occur where all of the monsters rush out of the dungeon and wreak havoc on their surroundings. As such, it is necessary to regularly clear dungeons."

"In that case, wouldn't it be better to simply destroy the dungeon?"

"People have tried, but nobody ever found a way to destroy a dungeon. The walls and dungeon core are protected from all attacks, making it impossible to damage them."

"You said the dungeons create monsters. Are these any different from naturally occurring monsters?"

"Yes and no. There are no differences in appearance or strength, but dungeon monsters cannot be harvested for materials. Their bodies dissolve into mana once slain, returning the energy back to the dungeon which allows it to create another monster after a period of time."

I was now certain that dungeons are a part of the system. After all, the ability to teleport someone without having a consciousness and being invulnerable to all damage sound like things granted from the system, and since Sera is capable of partially interacting with the system...

'Sera, do you think you could alter where the dungeon teleports us if we clear it?'

<I am not certain by how much I'll be able to modify the teleportation exit point, but it is feasible.>

'Great! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with this! We might just be able to get the hell out of here before our statuses are revealed! Get fucked, Simon! I won't have to tolerate your egotistical crap anymore! Hahahaha!'

The joy I felt at the moment surpassed anything I've felt before. I'm slightly worried about how James will fare, but he's not our responsibility. I'll write him a note and tell him to read it once he levels up, but that's as far my help will go.

The general then explained we would all be accompanied by a knight to ensure we were able to safely level up and that we would have to create groups of two to five people. I snuck off to talk with Merlin to tell him about my plan on how to escape tomorrow and to also create our dungeon diving group of two whole people. Well, if anyone is assigned to us because we both have only [Common] rarity classes, we'll have to silence them, no hard feelings. Can't have our escape be discovered on day 1, I'd like for confusion and panic to spread to give us at least a few days head start.

○○○

The next morning, we were led to a bunch of carriages that would take us to the dungeon we'd be tasked to level up and gain battle experience in. The groups were all finalized yesterday at the training grounds, and thankfully, nobody else was forced to join our group, bar the knight that would guide and watch over us within the dungeon, meaning we'd only have to deal with the knight.

The carriages took us out of the castle, letting us take a proper look at the capital of Hosefelia, Shroury, for the first time. I gazed at the distinctly medieval buildings of stone and wood. The cobble roads made the carriages rattle slightly, making the ride the tiniest bit uncomfortable. Though, I must admit, the streets are far cleaner than I would've expected for a medieval city, most likely thanks to the existence of magic. After all, in [Lifestyle Magic], there is a spell called Clean, and it does precisely what you'd think it does. Sweat, grime, grease, oil, mud, everything gets cleaned, making hygiene rather easy in this world.

As for why there were no feces being thrown out the windows as you'd expect in medieval times, that was because this world, or at least most big cities, had a functioning sewage system thanks to the existence of magic.

By the time I stopped musing about how convenient everything is with magic, we were far away from the city and standing in front of the entrance to the F- rank dungeon, Shroury Anthill.

I got off the carriage and strapped the simple iron glaive onto my back. Merlin also got off and was looking at empty air, probably checking something in his status window. Leaving him to his devices, I started looking for James. It didn't take me long, since we weren't that big of a group to begin with. Twenty-nine students, eight knights, one for each group, and general Bakecria.

"Hey, James! And girls."

I ran up to him and greeted the three girls he was in a group with, which were his twin sister Sarah and her best friends, Elizabeth and Evelynn.

"Oh, Philip, what's up?"

"Nothing much, just wanted to wish you good luck as a fellow bottom-tier class, though I guess you don't have much to fear with these three looking over you, eh?"

I jokingly nudged him with my elbow.

"Haha, guess not. Well, I wish you and Mark good luck as well."

"I wish you two good luck as well. And if you struggle too much, do not fear and try to look for us, we'll help you to the best of our abilities."

Sarah chimed in, hoping to somehow help us out within the dungeon, even if her ways to help us at the training grounds are limited because of Simon.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it. Oh, right!"

I rummaged through my pants' pockets and pulled out a piece of paper.

"Here, read this immediately once you level up, alright? Remember, don't look at the notifications that might pop up when you level up, read this first. Got it?"

I pressed the piece of paper into James' hand and strongly cautioned him to ignore the notifications he'll receive once he levels up, in the case he is in the same situation as me and Merlin.

"Uh, sure?"

"Remember, do not look at the messages first!"

With that, I left his group and came back to Merlin. I'm sure I looked as some kind of weirdo, but with the little I knew about James, he'd probably heed my warning, since he knew I wasn't one to play around when things got serious. I'm not sure how he might avoid getting exposed as a [Mythical] class at the Status Crystal check if he has one, but that part is on him to figure out. We need to save our necks first and foremost.

"Alright, everyone! Listen up!"

The general's loud voice spread like wave. When he was certain everyone focused on him, he continued talking.

"You will now each be assigned a knight for your group to keep watch over you, guide you and protect you in unforeseen circumstances. As we've explained yesterday, you will now be going inside a dungeon called Shroury Anthill, but because the production jobs weren't present and I don't know what information exactly they received, I shall explain everything again."

The general sat down on a nearby rock and set aside his sword.

"The monsters you will encounter within the dungeon are F-rank giant ants, with the E-rank giant ant queen waiting in the guardian room. They are aggressive and dangerous, but nowhere near as numerous as normal ants. Always move as a group, because the ants also always move in groups of three to five. Now, as for your goal, reaching level 5 and getting used to combat are your priorities. No need to rush, we won't be able to make it back for lunch anyway, so we have brought some provisions with us. Though, the latecomers might find all the provisions we brought already consumed if they take too much time, but such is life! Hahahaha! Once you have a knight accompanying your group, you're free to move out."

Leaning back on the rock and closing his eyes, the general left it up to us when we'd like to start. Of course, he also didn't forget to rouse everyone's competitive spirit by threatening us with the possibility of not having lunch, accompanied by a lion's laugh.

As I rolled my eyes, I spotted a young man, maybe in his early twenties, approaching me and Merlin. He had blonde, messy hair, piercing red yes and a handsome face. Just one look at him was enough to tell us he was from a noble family.

"Nice to meet you two, I'm Clive Alsaar. I may be young, but I promise my skills and strength are both top of the line!"

The young knight, Clive, gave us a beaming smile and extended his hand towards us. I gripped it back in greeting and we introduced ourselves back.

"Likewise, it's nice to meet you, Mr. Clive. I'm Philip."

"Mark."

Though if he checked our status windows, those names would no longer be correct. But the people of Hosefelia have no need to know that. In fact, it's better for us if they don't know that.

"Oh, just call me Clive. I may be the heir of a count, but I'm not the family head just yet, so please, treat me as you would a friend. Your identity as heroes is more than enough to allow us to speak comfortably with each other.

"Well, if you say so, I'll take you up on that offer then, Clive."

"Mm, much better!"

We chatted with Clive for a while longer, intending to enter the dungeon as the last group. Our reason was that we'd mostly stay in the back anyway, due to our unfortunate classes, and we didn't want to be a bother to anyone else along the way. Naturally, that was just an excuse. Thanks to Merlin's [Map], we'd be aware of the everyone's position within the dungeon, meaning it would be a cinch for us to avoid running into anyone else while also making a beeline for the lower floors.

Because this was an F-rank dungeon, it only had around five floors, but each floor was still built like a maze, which meant you could easily run in circles if you didn't have a map of the place. Our plan was to make our way to a lower floor and then get rid of Clive in a surprise attack. It could be seen as something cruel, as he might genuinely be unaware of the fact that there were curses placed on us, but we're unwilling to compromise our chance at escape. Even if it means leaving corpses in our wake, we will attain our freedom and grow stronger, outside of this nation's sight and control.

When it was only us left outside, we also entered the dungeon. Our chance at freedom. Our first battle. The beginning of our struggle to untangle ourselves from the sinister puppet strings spreading through this nation. The start of our adventure.