3 years at military academy quickly passed, and Chrome made great strides in power.

Not even a week after the first dungeon hunting, Riernel successfully applied for another time slot. This time, the diving proceeded smoothly, and without having to divide the monsters among an entire class, everyone in the group successfully obtained rank 2. Chrome was a little disappointed, however, because he found out that once his Necromancer class reached rank 2, he was no longer able to hunt rank 1 monsters for experience, even when the experience was going to the Dark Paladin class. In general, people cannot gain experience for hunting those with a lower rank, but Chrome was hopeful that with two classes, he would be an exception. He was not.

Fortunately, there was good news with his rank up as well. Along with his increased stats, Chrome was able to successfully summon Vay’s brother: Vader. Vader’s class was Blood Moon Talon, a DEX-based fighter that sacrificed durability for high dodging and strong damage dealing capabilities. Vader was well-built and moved gracefully and dangerously, but unlike Tybalt who reminded Chrome of a panther, Vader reminded Chrome of a hawk. Whenever Chrome saw him, his face was always covered by a black mask, and his black hair was cut short military style. His outfit was similarly black and was light leather armor that allowed him ease of movement. In reality, the only indication of color on his clothes was a yellow family crest on his left chest, but even that was usually hidden with an adjustable flap. He carried a single katana on his back, but Chrome has seen him in action enough to know that Vader is able to unsheath the blade with extreme speed when needed.

In the third month of the first year, in the combat practice class, Zom introduced team combat exercises where groups of 5 would face each other. Even without Chrome and his undead, the talents and abilities of his four roommates were far above their classmates. With Chrome, the fights were completely one-sided. As such, by the end of the first year, when Chrome had reached the middle levels of rank 3 and was capable of summoning two more powerful undead (albeit temporarily), Zom had Chrome split off into his own team and pitted Chrome against his 4 roommates often. Fortunately, they still had the occasional dungeon dive together, so the relationship between all of them remained close.

The first (or third depending on if Vay and Vader count) undead he summoned was a Lesser Dullahan named Argon. Argon was a beast of a man (or more accurately, armor). He stood 2 meters tall, and his arms were thick like logs, while his legs were even thicker. He wielded a giant broadsword masterfully, but he usually kept it on his back, and against lesser enemies, only needed his gauntlets. The head, or helmet, was of course not there, but Chrome had a gauge for Argon’s personality through how he constantly laughed in a deep, bone-rattling chuckle. It was a little disconcerting at first to hear his voice and turn to see nothing but air where his head should be, but Chrome eventually got used to it. Chrome, for his part, was grateful for Argon: the armor had the class of Scarlet Titan, a formidable and resilient melee-based class. The tanky nature of Argon was exactly what his undead-only team needed.

The second undead he summoned was a Lesser Lich named Adela. Adela was, as one might expect, was a mage when she was alive. Her previous class was nothing spectacular, and she didn’t disclose it, but the transition from life to death ended up giving her the class Dark Caster which, similar to Vader’s class, was a glass cannon except magic based. Despite being only a skeleton, she managed to contend for the title for “most unique” among Chrome’s undead. She wore a royal, dark purple gown that had silver highlights, and even though she didn’t have eyes, they were instead balls of blue flame, she wore a single monocle. Being a skeleton, she, of course, did not have hair, but she always wore a witch’s hat and complained about ‘hat hair’. When asked why she didn’t just take the hat off, she said that she needed to protect her fair skin from the sun. Being a skeleton, she, of course, did not have skin.

Argon and Adela were also limited to Chrome’s level, and while they expressed some dissatisfaction at the restraints, they were also grateful for the opportunity to serve Chrome and grow stronger in the future.

By the end of the second year, Chrome had reached the peak of 4th rank for both of his classes, being only several levels away from reaching the 5th rank. Although the dungeon had a 5th floor, the actual number of 5th rank monsters was sparse, thus creating an artificial bottleneck. As such, even though his friends had already obtained the 5th rank of their classes, they weren’t too far ahead. More importantly, the 4th rank gave him four additional passives (two for each class), and it was at this moment that Chrome realized how broken having two classes was.

Previously, while having two classes allowed him to effectively have double the stat points, the distribution was split among his CON and INT/WIS stats, so the effect of each class on the other was limited. However, one of the additional passives that the Dark Paladin class had, while great by itself, was ridiculously powerful when combined with Necromancer: the rank 4 passive Dark Soul gave Chrome increased MP regeneration, and effectively doubled Chrome’s capacity to summon and maintain undead. Conversely, the rank 4 Necromancer passive Pseudo-Undead Body, allowed Chrome to use his empowering spells on himself, increasing his close combat potential greatly. In other words, not only was having two classes great due to their combination (which Chrome already knew), but the individual classes themselves were empowered.

In regards to his undead, he found that the best way to maintain combat readiness while still having mana was to keep 3 of his undead permanently by his side, and when needed, he would summon the 4th. He usually kept Vay, Vader, and Argon by his side, because a skeleton was a tell-tale sign of a necromancer (while Argon, the dullahan, could potentially be passed off as a golem). From his War Tactics, Leadership, and Politics course, he knew that the element of surprise, no matter how small, could spell the difference between victory or defeat.

By the end of the third year, Chrome had not only reached rank 5 with both classes, but he even managed to gain 10 levels in Necromancer. Rank 5 was special, because this was the definitive moment that the rank 6 classes and the rank 7 classes began to separate. More specifically, while his friends were only able to empower their current skills, Chrome was able to learn an entirely new skill, giving him an edge in combat. Truly, from 3 years ago, Chrome had made large strides in ability.

“Dark Sword!” Chrome conjured a blade of dark energy above him and threw it at Riernel who promptly dodged.

Currently, Chrome was getting some last-minute practice inside the dungeon before the military academy graduation. He couldn’t use his Dark Paladin class in public, so in order to use it, he always had to go inside the dungeon. The form of his practice was usually a spar with one of his undead or roommates or a group fight between his undead and his roommates. Today, it was the former, and he practiced with Riernel. Or to be more accurate, Riernel and Celene. Usually, in order to make up for the additional stats and skills that Chrome had, Celene buffed and healed the designated sparring partner. She also served as the healer and moderator for the fights in order to prevent excessive wounds.

“War song!” Celene shouted, renewing the buffs on her brother.

With the increased stats, Riernel put more distance between them while constantly throwing chantless wind blades at the advancing paladin before him. Chrome conjured another dark sword, but this time, he grabbed it and began slicing through the oncoming blades, all the while advancing. Unfortunately, he was advancing too slow, and the prince had enough time to use his third active skill: Tornado.

Riernel stopped 10 meters away from Chrome and lifted both hands above his head. Magic circles surrounded his hands, and he grasped at something in the air before pulling. Immediately two large magic circles appeared diagonally behind Chrome and two miniature cyclones erupted forwards. While the power of the skill was decreased due to being underground, the force was still something to be reckoned with, and Chrome immediately moved to dodge to the side. Unfortunately, as soon as he was about to move, Riernel moved closer and with a blast of wind from another active skill, pushed Chrome directly into the oncoming storm. The winds engulfed him.

The prince stood there for a few seconds, looking at the storm trying to find Chrome. After a while with no indication from his friend, he raised his hand and was about to calm the winds and signal Celene to come forward and heal Chrome. Just as his hand came up however, he suddenly felt a sense of danger, and trusting his instincts, he jumped to the left. As soon as he did, a pitch-black rectangular prism with thorns piercing its sides suddenly appeared where he just stood. He swiftly looked forward, and in the now-dying storm, he could see an inky half-spherical ball and recognized it as Chrome’s shield active. The sphere dissolved revealing the smiling and unscathed form of his friend. The prince smiled back.

“Time!” Just as they were about to resume their fight, Celene interrupted, and almost immediately, the two young men dropped their fighting stances, and began to talk about the recent spar.

“Wow, I didn’t know you could use your Warding Blast skill like that. Pushing me into the two tornados was ingenious!” Chrome was honestly surprised at the move. Warding Blast is usually a defensive move, pushing enemies away from the user. However, Riernel managed to use that to his advantage offensively.

“Haha, thanks. I actually got the idea from one of your spars with Tybalt when I saw you conjure a Dark Shield to cover your fist and meet his attack head on.”

Chrome remembered the moment and was a little embarrassed when Riernel mentioned it. At the time, Tybalt had actually surprised Chrome by attacking from an unexpected direction, and on instinct, Chrome tried to act defensively by actively intercepting the attack - it just so happened that his defensive act was interpreted as use of his defensive skill offensively. He just chuckled, and awkwardly scratched his head at the praise.

“Come on, guys, we need to get going in order to make the graduation ceremony.” Thankfully, Celene stopped the conversation before it got more awkward for Chrome, and the trio walked out of the dungeon and proceeded to the arena where the ceremony would take place. On the way, they met their other roommates and Chrome’s undead. The group shuffled into the arena, where they found the usually bare stadium transformed into a pseudo-celebratory area. Namely, rows of chairs were lined up before a slightly elevated podium where the general stood in formal attire. Despite how funny it was to see the general in slight discomfort from not wearing his usual militaristic garb, the group knew better than to externally show it, and they quietly moved to pre-assigned seats.

The rest of the class slowly trickled in, and soon, all seats were occupied. At this time, the general moved to address the class.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning, sir!” The class stood up and answered in unison. Zom nodded his head, and the group returned to their seats.

“Today is a special day. It marks the end of three years since you have arrived at this academy. In that time, you all have grown tremendously, becoming rank 5 elites from the rank 1 dredges you were before. Now, it is the time to repay the country for the help it has provided you in growing. Be warned! You may have tasted blood with the dungeon monsters previously, but the battlefield is a whole nother world. Be strong. Be vigilant. Stay alive. I hope to see you all in the future. Now, we welcome his majesty Emperor Galeforce the 7th for the final send off.”

Chrome blinked. This was a surprise. He never expected to be able to see the emperor in the graduation ceremony. There was a restless excitement, a simmering fire, in the crowd at the thought of seeing the country’s leader, but when the emperor finally appeared, it was like a bucket of cold water was poured over everyone’s heads. Or more specifically, the liveliness was subdued by the grand aura of his majesty.

Chrome had never felt anything like it. As soon as Emperor Galeforce entered the arena, it became harder to breath. The mana in his body felt turgid and refused to move. His limbs felt more heavy. He hunched over his knees and began to sweat under the pressure. If Chrome wasn’t already sitting, he would have fallen to the ground already. Chrome looked around and saw that almost everyone was affected in the same way, even the emperor’s blood children and his own undead. The only one not so pressured was Zom who was still standing on the stage, but upon closer observation, Chrome could see a bead of sweat slowly roll down the side of his face.

Chrome recalled a lesson he learned in his Leadership, War Tactics, and Politics class. Upon each rank, a person enters a higher plane of existence. This change is not reflected in the status page, but if the level of existence between two people differs by too much, then the lower existence feels the burden and is suppressed. The level of existence between a rank 1 and a rank 2 is small, and the difference between ranks grows as the ranks increase. Usually, the rank difference is slight and only barely noticeable - a sense of unease, awe, paranoia, etc. The lesson was concluded with a single statement: if rank 5 and below is the earth, then rank 6 is the bridge, and rank 7 is heaven.

Many students had scoffed at the description. When the students first met Zom, who they now know to be a rank 6 combatant, the general had restrained his presence to minimally affect them, but even if he didn’t, it would have at most given them a short fright. Some of the students even had rank 6 parents (Tybalt and Joan among them), so they were familiar with the rank 6 pressure. Rank 7 could not be that different.

But now they know. This … this is rank 7. The feeling of being submerged deep underwater and being helpless against the being before them. Rank 6 may be able to resist, but rank 5 and below are ants under the giant’s feet. And then as sudden as the feeling of drowning came, it was gone.

Chrome reflexily took a few deep gulps of clean, beautiful air before looking up. Before them stood a man of above average height with high cheekbones and a deep piercing gaze. His hair was white and came down to rest on the sides of his face where they framed his lips that were set in a firm line detailing his stern personality. He wore noble yellow robes that floated just above the ground, and the side of the cloth was decorated with a flying, golden dragon.

“Congratulations, new graduates.” Chrome jumped in surprise. His voice seemed to be right next to him even though he was on the podium.

“In these 3 years, you have grown strong. However, as the general said, do not be complacent. Any rank 7 master could destroy your entire class on a whim, as I just demonstrated.” Even though he did not actually make a move, no one could refute his claim.

“However, do not fear, for together, you are powerful. If you have a 5* class, then you can become rank 5 so as to let the rank 6s fight unhindered. If you have a 6* class, then you can resist a rank 7 at rank 6 and with enough numbers you can even overcome them. If 2 don’t work, then use 4. If 4 don’t work, use 8. If 8 don’t work, use 16! And if you have a 7* class…” Chrome felt as though the emperor was looking right at him. “Then you can become a master of the battlefield yourself.”

Chrome felt his blood boil in excitement.

“Become stronger! Repeat after me - serve the nation!”

“Serve the nation!” The students were all impassioned and yelled with vigor.

The emperor revealed a small smile at the passion of the graduates. “Good. Now come and receive your military assignments. This will be your place of growth and success for the next 2 years”.

As his peers walked up one by one to receive their military assignment, Chrome was excited to see what the future held for him.