After some time traversing the innumerable flights of stairs on his way out of the academy, Lucius was immediately greeted by the bustling activity of Delta City. He was intrigued by it all. The smell, the noise, and even the mildly chaotic way other people were going about their own business. He'd been going out to buy some necessities like clothes and food from time to time with the gold he'd been earning recently, but he still wasn't that used to seeing such a sight.

The experience might be new to him, but he sure as hell would take the sense of unfamiliarity over being stuck in Askanar Castle any day.

...

"Five of these please."

"You got it! Anything else?"

"No, that's it. Thank you."

"Alrighty then. Come back anytime, young sir!"

After storing a few dried rations he'd just bought from the General Store's shopkeeper, Lucius walked out with a small backpack in tow that was already filled with several outdoor utilities and medicinal supplies he'd bought from Margraves. The kind of stuff he read marauders would bring. After all, if he was going out for the first time in months and into dangerous grounds to fight some dangerous creatures, he'd rather be safe than sorry.

I would have preferred to been warned at least a day ahead of this, but no matter. This will surely help me raise my stats, not to mention the number of items I can gain from both the quest and as loot from the aberrants. I only need a little bit of gold to buy that spellbook too.

QUEST LOG

The quest [Aberrant Cleanup] has been given to you by [Nonyx Katherine].

Objective: Slay 10 aberrants in the Vlaria Forest.

Progress: 0/10

Time Limit: None

Grade: E

Rewards: [300] Gold

EXP Given: 500

"That's a lot of exp. And gold too," Lucius said as he stared wide-eyed at the prompt. He had never seen so many rewards in a prompt before even with all the odd jobs he had taken as a Student Agent. Even Maritess, as generous as she was, hadn't given him anywhere close to three hundred gold even with all of the quest rewards he'd received from her ever since he started helping her with her chores. Three hundred gold was just two hundred shy of being able to purchase a low-rarity Spellstone. Not a bad haul for an 'easy job', or at least Katherine told him it would be.

His preparations now complete, he waited by the city gates while watching people come and go. Most of the ones leaving were equipment merchants seldom accompanied by a party of marauders, he noticed, all of whom were probably eager to find a much better opportunity selling their product in the nearest Ferrian city they could find. The city of Renegar if he had to guess, as it was just several hours to the north. Good thinking on their part. After all, compared to any human and Ferrian kingdoms, the five cities of Alavaria were about as peaceful as can be currently. Not much business to be had here for the more opportunistic equipment merchants.

"Heya, Lucy! You waitin' long?"

"Not at all," Hearing a lively cadence and unerringly loud tone that was all too familiar to him, Lucius turned around and greeted Tissette with a grin. "Good afternoon to you, Tiz."

Tissette cam over to him like an excited puppy--her eight eyes round and gleaming. "So Master Katherine finally decided to take some drastic measures with you, huh?"

"I guess," Lucius replied in a casual tone. He trusted Tissette, but he didn't plan on revealing too much about their training arrangement or if it was going to be a usual thing since Katherine herself told him not to. Tissette knowing that he would be temporarily taken under her master's wing could distract her, Katherine said. Only the gods know what could happen if he accidentally revealed something Katherine didn't want him to, especially to her star pupil. A week of hellish training, he guessed. Either way, just imagining it gave him goosebumps. As much as he loved training, he didn't love it that much.

"It's pretty weird though. I've never seen her do this for any student, like, ever. I mean, she does pick out some outstanding students from time to time and, no offense Lucy, but you're not exactly what she'd call outstanding," Tissette said with a wry smile. "What do you think?"

"I think you're thinking too much about it," Lucius replied, not too sure of himself as he tried to imitate Tissette's casual tone, but failed. "She sent me on a quest with you because I asked her to. I wanted to catch up to you guys since I seem to have fallen behind in terms of levels. Just doing odd jobs for a few exp just isn't enough if I wanted to be in acceptable shape for my first Labyrinth Dive."

"Really? That's...bold of you. Even I wouldn't come to her with a request just like that," Tissette muttered as she looked at him with a genuine look of concern. "Even so, she must've thought you needed some serious help if she's willing to do this."

"Well, you're not wrong. At this rate, I'd probably be killed by a slime if I entered the Labyrinth the way I am now."

"True, true." Tissette nodded, not even bothering to deny his words. At least she was honest. "Oh well, shall we go then? We've got a lot of exp to feed you after all. Ooh, this is gonna be fun!"

"Me? Shouldn't it be both--"

"Aw, come on Lucy it ain't much. We're friends, aren't we? Plus since it's your first time doin' this and you have barely any combat experience, we're hunting in a low-level area today. With how fairly high my level is right now I have no use for fodders, y'know? It's all yours," Tissette said before hooking her arms around Lucius and dragging him along with a bounce on her every step. "Now, let's go!"

"Hey, what're you--" Lucius paused as soon as he saw the warm, pleasant smile on the girl's face. At that moment, he knew that there was no way he'd be able to change her mind. Somehow, at that moment, he didn't feel the smile slowly lining his own lips. He simply trudged onwards, allowing himself to be carried along by Tissette who exuded her usual contagiously bright enthusiasm, seemingly unaware of just how her 'small' gesture of friendship meant to him.

...

"Long time no see, lad. How's the academy treating you?"

"Good, Captain Rek," Lucius said as he regarded the huge, husky Ferrian with a slight bow. "How about you? Not too much activity in the borders I hope?"

"Right! There were some aberrant attacks here and there, but nothing we can't handle. Don't hope for the lack of activity too much though. We're actually getting bored out here, aren't we boys?!" Rek laughed loudly along with the other soldiers before patting him on the back. He winced and braced himself out of instinct, but surprisingly, he wasn't thrown off balance as bad as last time. "Oh, someone's been improving his Corpus, I see. Well done!"

"Thanks," Lucius said a curt nod, not letting even a hint of pride show on his face since Tissette would have definitely teased him for it.

"So he gets a warm greeting and I don't?" Tissette cut into their conversation with an obviously forced frown, tapping her foot on the ground 'impatiently'.

As expected, Rek didn't buy it either. With a similarly fake-looking expression of cluelessness, the captain said, "Wait, who are you again?"

"Oh, whatever old man. Just admit you're glad to see me too and we'll be off," Tissette said, rolling her eyes with a hint of a smile on her lips.

"In that case, you two would never be off," Rek smirked. "Where are you going anyway?

Tissette smirked back before throwing a playful punch that simply bounced off of Rek's arm. "Hunting."

Rek's expression turned upside down before pointing at him. "A little bit early for this one, don't you think?"

"Eh, we won't go too far out. Just some Nihil-class, a few Inferus if we're lucky enough to encounter one he could manage and we're back to the academy."

Rek stared at him and Tissette for a while, seemingly reluctant, but eventually, the big-bodied Ferrian sighed and said, "If you say so. Be careful out there, Oh, and remember, if you ever see a Vulgaris, you--"

Groooahhh!

The captain's supposed warning was interrupted by a loud, deafening howl that shook Lucius to his core. His heart pumped faster than it ever did before, as he had never heard something so loud and hair-raising such as that. It was horrible. Much horrible than the thunder that roared in the worst storm he had ever experienced even, and that was the closest thing he could think of that could even compare to it.

"Boys!" Rek shouted, snapping everyone, including him, to attention. He, Tissette, and the soldiers looked at the captain with much anticipation before they finally got the answer that came with a loud, booming voice that was almost as deafening as the noise from earlier. "We got ourselves another one!"

"YEAH!"

"Say what?!"

"HELL YEAH, SIR!"

Rek bellowed with laughter before running into one of the rooms in the outpost and retrieving a massive, double-bladed greataxe that towered over Lucius. The captain looked at him and Tissette and smiled. "You two are in for a treat. It's been some time since me and my men got some decent exercise."

Lucius raised a brow but stayed silent as he turned to look at Tissette who was practically bouncing with excitement herself. Something's about to happen, apparently.

...

Before he knew it, Lucius found himself running along with a large group of soldiers led by Rek, although he made sure to hang around as far as he could behind them. Whatever they were about to do, he was certain that he couldn't be a part of.

And then, he saw it. Just beyond the woods, a fair distance from the outpost was the greatest, most terrifying creature he had ever seen. The aberrant had one eye at the center of its somewhat concave head, bisected vertically by a thin, red iris. It stood about as tall as ten fully grown men and had two legs both ending with five curved claws, and a curved, muscular left arm that made it look almost humanoid if it weren't for its dark, scaled skin that seemed damaged and jagged all over. Not only that, but he also noticed that what was left of its left arm was nothing but a stump--still healing and covered by fresh scabs. It was clear that the Providence of Pandora wasn't quite done working its magic on the wound yet.

"It's the same one that got away before, captain!" one soldier shouted before joining the others and surrounding the monster in a neat rank and file.

"Yeah, I can see that. Must've come back for revenge!" Rek said, his smile stretching from ear to ear with rabid delight as the creature singled him out at first sight and roared his way. "Oh, I like this one. I never knew these things kept grudges!"

Neither did Lucius, but the monster's grudge against Rek, nor their backstory wasn't exactly his primary concern at the moment, no. Instead, what caught his attention was the prompt that was floating right above its head--a sight that gave him chills as soon as he caught it.

Dreadnaught

Vita: 100%

Aberrant Rank: Vulgaris

• Knight Slayer

• Unrelenting Giant

• Human Killer

Exp Given: 345,740

Items Dropped:

Common - 50%

Uncommon - 25%

Rare - 15%

Unique - 10%

"V-Vulgaris!" Lucius exclaimed silently as he stood half in awe and half in fear of the aberrant before him who once again howled before charging at Rek and his soldiers--the earth below trembling ever-so-slightly with its every step.