“Welcome back from your vacation! Now, after a whole day of pointless lessons in English and semi-pointless Physics lessons, let’s talk about one of the mysteries of the world, Dungeons.” Jonathan said, looking up to the S-Class Students of the first years.

It had been a week since the ICT, and the students revelled in the chance to rest and just recharge themselves for the third term of the school year, and Jonathan of course.

“Dungeons? Uh… are those like in the games?” Kazuya asked, thinking to his conversation with Liza over RPG’s and power levelling.

“Maybe, maybe not. Here’s the thing, Dungeons are unique and operate under their own rules, so some might be like in games, others might be different, but know that this is real life, Dungeons are dangerous.” Jonathan warned firstly, and the S-Class students nodded in agreement.

No one noted Liza curling into herself at the topic.

“Dungeons are the only real proof we have to the existence of Angels and Demons, the Fae of Light and Darkness respectively, the oldest race known.” Jonathan said, motioning to the board as he wrote the term as a header, Dungeons.

“Now moving on from that bit of knowledge, it’s to the aspects of Dungeons. Dungeons can be quite obvious or hard to find, but they always possess a sort of warning to let you know what it is.” Jonathan added the word ‘warning’ underneath the heading.

“Dungeons are… think of them as tests, in a way that is what they are. Dungeons test those who enter them in numerous ways, from fighting to knowledge or even morals.” Jonathan said, adding the word ‘test’ to the board.

“Huh… so if they are tests, do you get something for completing it?” Vince asked, twirling a pen between his fingers as he spoke.

He didn’t catch Jade staring at his fingers in confusion before she had her own attempts at the twirling of a pen. Her attempts were less successful.

“Well that depends on whether you meet the criteria for the Dungeon. The Dungeon might have requirements such as ‘be under five Stars’ or ‘enter alone’. If these requirements are not followed, no reward would be given, even if you completed the Dungeon.” Jonathan stated, adding the note about requirements to the board.

“And if one completes the Dungeon while following the requirements, they get a reward of some kind?” Leah asked after a moment of thought, and Kazuya smiled at that.

Leah was a bit more confident ever since the ICT, having fought against other students to stay a student, and being acknowledged by the strongest A-Class student, Leah was speaking up a bit more… little by little of course.

Rome was not built in a day.

“Yes, though the rewards differ from Dungeon to Dungeon, there are all sorts of rewards, some Dungeons give weaponry and armour, a spell of some kind, or perhaps even increasing your strength to the point you gain a Star.” That last bit drew wide eyes.

Until now, the students had never heard of a case where someone artificially grew in strength, though there was a bit of research into a drug that momentarily raised power, a permanent form of that did not sound possible until now.

“Wow, maybe we should go look for one?” Edward joked, only to feel tense, following the sensation to see he was being glared at by Liza.

A rarity given how her expressions usually ranged from neutral to contentment and mild annoyance.

“Don’t joke about that.” Liza warned, and Edward nodded quickly to show that he got the message, not wanting to get the stronger Sage mad with him.

“Liza is right, don’t joke about looking for Dungeons… Dungeons are dangerous, and after entering one you either win or die.” Jonathan warned, getting nervous looks from the class bar Liza.

“Dungeons are dangerous even to stronger Sages, a Dungeon with a three Star requirement might even kill a four Star Sage that entered… Liza would know, as she was in one once before.” Everyone looked to Liza, who unlike normally wasn’t seated on Kazuya’s lap, instead at her own desk as she looked to its surface.

“Liza, unlike the rest of you, entered a Dungeon, a few months before her thirteenth birthday if the headmaster was being correct.” Liza nodded minutely at the statement, showing her admittance to the fact.

“It was a dangerous situation, and Liza happened to meet the requirements for the Dungeon and somehow completed it. She still won’t say what exactly happened inside there.”

Kazuya reached out, placing a hand on Liza’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort the girl that was always there for him (even when he wanted some space) and Liza looked to him with a small smile in thanks.

Kazuya looked away after that, not having expected the destructive force of that smile.

“Ahem, ignoring their flirting, the result of Liza entering the Dungeon was that she gained a Star in strength, becoming a two Star Sage, almost a three Star, and becoming one near the end of last year.” Jonathan admitted, and Liza nodded, a bit more comfortable with the knowledge that Kazuya was near.

Really, how the two weren’t a couple was anyone’s guess.

“So Liza knows the dangers, and that is why she is warning you. Don’t take Dungeon’s lightly, for all that they give amazing rewards, their dangers are equally ‘amazing’.” Jonathan’s sarcasm was strong, but they all understood what he was trying to say, the danger matched the reward.

“Dungeons are… fair…” Liza whispered for a moment, still heard across the class as she nodded to herself.

“Yes, Dungeons are dangerous, and one can always die inside them… but there is always a way to survive, even with the bare minimum, the requirements.” Liza warned, and after deciphering her meaning-

“What Liza is saying is that the requirements given by the Dungeon can be considered the bare minimum of what you need to overcome a Dungeon.” Kazuya explained for Vince, Tony and Leah who were all confused on what the shorter girl meant.

“I wouldn’t know, as I’ve never been in a Dungeon, but the words of someone who completed one can probably be trusted in relation to them.” Jonathan said dryly as he looked back to the board.

“Continuing on with the explanation of Dungeons, Dungeons were created by Angels and Demons to hold lost artefacts and other things… why they made tests to get those things, we don’t know, maybe it was part of their culture as a way of training younger Angels and Demons?” Jonathan shrugged, showing that he was also lost on it.

“The thing is, from an estimate, we can assume that the two Fae Races were around seven thousand years ago, but six thousand years ago they were not, sometime during that period they vanished.” Jonathan admitted, writing a certain term on the board.

“We refer to this time as the Lost Millennium, as after this time, humans and the other Fae Races seemed to flourish, though separately, with the Fae keeping themselves hidden from we humans until three hundred years ago.” It was a complicated thing, but during that Lost Millennium, the Angels and Demons vanished, and the current inhabitants of the world appeared.

“Wait, that was a bit off topic… bringing it back, this fact about the Lost Millennium means that the Dungeons are all at minimum six thousand or so years old, and not only that, but Dungeons also have strange effects on their surroundings.” Jonathan said, writing another word on the board.

“We refer to this effect as an Overflow. An Overflow is when the surrounding area gets changed as if a Dungeon was being turned inside out.” Jonathan said, getting odd looks.

“Sir… does that mean that… the surroundings of a Dungeon reflect the inside?” Tony asked, taking moments to focus his thoughts before he spoke out.

Tony, like Leah, was acting a bit more confidently since the ICT, but unlike Leah he still had problems with his speech, sometimes he just spoke too quickly to be understood, so he was actually consciously slowing down how fast he spoke.

It resulted in this halting speech, but it was better than the alternative, and no one faulted Tony on it.

“To an extent, the amount of time it takes for a Dungeon to Overflow is different, there have been cases where Dungeons maintain a slow Overflow for years, or even a case where a Dungeon rapidly did so in three days. So you might not even notice the Overflow if it’s so slow.” Jonathan admitted, and they understood, it was like watching grass grow, a mind-numbingly boring activity for all but some Wood-Sages.

“But, I wonder, can any of you guess what happens once a Dungeon is finished with its Overflow?” Jonathan’s question was met with confused glances as the S-Class students looked to each other for answers.

It seemed that no one had anything, though Liza kept quiet due to her prior knowledge of the topic, until Vince raised his hand.

“Sir, isn’t it… a Mystic Zone?” Vince’s question, drew a smirk and nod from Jonathan as he drew an arrow on the board connecting the word Dungeon to the words Mystic Zone.

“Exactly right Vince. A Mystic Zone, a place where living creatures become Mystic Beasts, is what happens when a Dungeon Overflows completely.” Jonathan said with a nod.

“Upon completing the Overflow, the Dungeon vanishes, and in its place a Mystic Zone of varying size appears. Do you all remember the three most known Mystic Zones?” Jonathan’s question was met with a raised hand by Kazuya.

“The most known ones are the Soviet Tundra, the Sahara, and the Changbai Mountain in China. There are estimations that there are even larger Mystic Zones if we count the ones in the ocean, and areas far removed from the mainland such as the Americas.” A scary thought really.

As Kazuya said the largest and most known Mystic Zones were the entire Sahara Desert, the Soviet Tundra, and the Changbai Mountain Forest in China… but that was ‘most known’.

The ocean was a terrifying place with the strongest gathering of Mystic Beasts known to Sages, with a minimum of five confirmed Ten Star Mystic Beasts, probably more given the size of the ocean.

Crossing such a dangerous place, by boat, surrounded by water, was all but impossible for all but the strongest Water Sages, long voyages were out of reach to all but perhaps the Water King Kai Lanakila.

As such, there was very little known about the landmasses across the ocean, only through hearsay from the Water King, Light King and a few others did most know that there were three continents not yet explored, with the known ones being Africa, Europe and Asia.

Those other continents were dubbed ‘North America’ ‘South America’ and ‘Australia’ and there were a few pioneers who ventured into those places…

Not much news back other than the dangers of the area, to the extent that it was now accepted that only Sages of six Stars minimum could dare enter such areas, and only in groups.

“Now, the Overflow of a Dungeon results in a Mystic Zone of indeterminate size, multiple Dungeons having overlapping Overflows would result in a much larger Mystic Zone, this is what we believe to be the cause of such huge Mystic Zones such as the mentioned ones.” Jonathan added as Edward raised his hand in question.

“Yes noble-brat?” It wasn’t that often that Jonathan called them brats anymore, but once in a while a resurgence of the term appeared.

“Sir, could those Mystic Zones also be because we don’t live in those areas, so we’d never find the Dungeons… and now that we explore a bit more, we instead find Mystic Zones?” Edward’s question, in hindsight made sense, and Jonathan nodded in agreement.

“There are no concrete explanations, but that could actually describe why Mystic Zones are removed from human or Fae habitats, we’d try our best to get rid of said Dungeon, and then no Mystic Zones would appear around a civilized area.” Jonathan’s claim was met with acceptance, as it did in fact make sense.

“Dungeons are typically cleared by much higher ranked Sages, and even Kings even attack Dungeons on occasion, despite no rewards being given for it…” Jonathan took a moment to yawn, no one in the S-Class dared to say a word about it though, Jonathan had a way of making the teens just accept what he did.

“Anyway, Dungeons are something you might encounter, so long as you survive to five or six Stars you’ll definitely encounter one in your life… though whether or not you ever clear a Dungeon and get the reward is another question, it’s hard to find people like that, in fact, other than Liza, I only know of my wife and the Headmaster who completed Dungeons.” That was a high rank group right there, and the other six members of the class looked to Liza with wide eyes.

“Think of it this way, there is no case of someone clearing a Dungeon and getting the reward, and later not being known. Dungeon Clearers have something about them that separates them from Sages who never break the barrier of five Stars.” Jonathan looked at Liza with a smirk, and they all got the idea, Liza was definitely going to be powerful.

“I can’t truly stop all of you from going into a Dungeon while matching the requirements, but I will remind you to think about it. It’s a yes or no situation, you either survive or die.” Jonathan said, leaning over his desk as he looked over his seven students.

“I have no doubt that you are all in fact talented for your age, even among those of the same Stars you’d probably be in the top fifty Sages across the world. But even then, it’s an uncertainty, don’t throw away your life for something which might not even work out.” Jonathan warned as the final bell rang, class ending.

The S-Class students all waited for each other to finish packing their bags before they left, moving towards the trains to go back to Berlin.

While going there, they found themselves in a slightly awkward situation.

“…” the silence was nigh deafening inside the S-Class train, as the first years found themselves seated near the second and third years.

The second year S-Class possessed seven students, more than the third years and the same as the firsts, and almost all of them seemed to have issue with the third years, though they’d occasionally send a glare towards the first years, Liza in particular.

“So then a Sage apparently manipulated the entire train, tossing out all the Rogues, later some members of the Enforcers came to take them away, but man, you have to be very good with control to do something like that.” Well, the silence would have been deafening had Bobby not ignored the tension completely.

The Tyrant of Elem High did not care for such complicated social issues.

“Bobby, while that is definitely an interesting topic, especially for you since you also use the Metal element, I’m thinking that now isn’t the time to really be talking about it.” Yusuf warned with an amiable smile, the three other members of the S-Class third years looking at the second years with smiles that did not quite reach their eyes…

Well, Kim, the rank four of the third years, was glaring back. She wasn’t exactly shy about showing her distaste for others.

“Oh no, continue the conversation, it seems quite interesting…” the top ranked of the second years, Julian Benjamin, glared forward at Bobby in particular after speaking out against Yusuf.

“Thanks, it’s nice to know you find bounty hunting as interesting as I do, thinking about being one?” Julian’s face pulled into a sneer as Bobby didn’t catch the sarcasm.

“I was being…” Julian clicked his teeth as his mouth shut, not willing to continue trying to convey his annoyance with the older Sage.

“Ah, you’re still a bit angry at me for beating you at last year’s School Wide Tourney? Come on man, why don’t you just move past that?” Bobby finally realized something was a bit wrong as he leaned forward to look at Julian in the eyes.

“Well I suppose I can’t, knowing that you ruined any chance I had of being the strongest Sage of this school.” Julian glared at the strongest Sage at Elem high with near hatred in his eyes.

“…” Kazuya was sending glances at Yusuf to try and get an explanation, only to suddenly find the voice of Yusuf in his ears…

And no one except the other first years noticing what was happening with Yusuf speaking.

“I suppose you seven are a bit curious as to what’s happening here? Well... if you recall, we are third years, they are second years, last year was their first year at this school.” Apparently Yusuf was using his Wind manipulation to somehow make only select people hear his voice, though it was a bit distorted in exchange.

“And well… Bobby only lost at the school wide tourney in his first year. He was the champion of his second year, and to become champion he had to steamroll over everyone else.” Yusuf sent a glance to Julian at that moment.

“Julian was the top ranked student of the first years at the time, and yet he saw his senior placing champion after defeating him, and well… Bobby is an unrealistic person to aspire to.”

Kazuya got the idea of what was going on at that exact moment.

“Essentially, Julian attempted to train and overtake Bobby in some way, however the next time Julian challenged Bobby to a spar… well, Bobby didn’t remember Julian.” Kazuya struggled to show no signs of what he had already expected.

Bobby didn’t remember those who did not interest him… and some, like Julian, would take that personally, when in fact Bobby didn’t mean any insult by it.

It didn’t make it any less rude, but Kazuya at least understood that Bobby was like that… Julian was one of those people who couldn’t really deal with it.

“And not only that, but you seem to have overlooked me as a challenge to look at the first years, really?” Julian’s glare swapped over to Liza especially, and Liza just didn’t care.

Mostly because she was, at current, rubbing her cheeks against Kazuya’s shoulder in an attempt to find a comfortable position to sleep.

“Wait, them? I don’t really think they’d be a challenge to me at current, though maybe in the future… I’m sure you’d also be a challenge… what’s your name again?” Bobby’s question just drew more glares from the second years as the first years palmed their faces.

Really, Bobby was a nice guy, but he wasn’t doing himself any favours with forgetting people who are weaker… It would be much better if he could actually remember some people.

“And that’s just it. You can’t even remember the name of someone you’ve fought.” Julian glared at Bobby, who shrugged in response.

“I can’t remember everyone, I like fighting and if I remembered the name of everyone I’ve ever fought then I’d run out of memory space.” Bobby said with a shrug as Julian stood from his seat, only being held back by his fellow second years.

“That’s your excuse? That you’d struggle to remember others? For you, it might be nothing, winning is natural to you, but to those you face…” Julian sat back down, glaring at Bobby one more time before pulling out his phone to look at that instead.

“How will you treat those who die facing you… you might forget those you kill, but they’ll obviously never forget you.” No one said anything, knowing all too well that it was a possibility, a bad one.

Indeed, Sages killed each other when one considered Rogue Sages, not only that but dying before turning thirty was not that rare for Sages fresh from the Academies…

Death was a very real part of the life of Sages, and the idea that Bobby might not even remember those who he’d kill was…

“…I don’t think they’ll forget me… and I don’t think I’ll forget them. Fighting here, in a school, and it is fun. I can cut loose and compete against my fellow students. But that’s very different from a battle to the death. I have the state of mind to know the difference, and assign relevant importance to each.” Bobby said after a moment of thought, raising his head to look at Julian.

“I know that my odd habit of forgetting people’s names is mean, but do I not remember that I have fought you?” Julian’s eyes widened a bit at that, realizing that yes, Bobby did remember.

“In a fight, names and faces are secondary to what is happening for me. I can’t remember your name, but I remember you. Challenging me. I won, but you fought well for a first year at the time.” At this point, the first years were beginning to feel awkward simply being in the same carriage as the other years…

But the S-Class train had only one carriage because there would never be more than thirty S-Class students at a time.

‘We should have gotten on later…’ was the thought going through the minds of the first year students, with the exception of Liza who was still asleep.

“…That is a slight condolence, but I will still challenge you, until I defeat you.” Julian warned, his glare lessening slightly as Bobby leaned back with a shrug.

“Maybe you will defeat me, maybe you won’t… all I can say is that the gap in our strengths won’t always be as wide.” Bobby spoke with the knowledge of a four Star Sage there.

Increasing your strength in Stars was difficult, it required constant improvement until eventually something just… clicks, into place, and you find yourself much stronger than before.

It was instinctual to know that you had increased in strength, and given that two Stars was the minimum requirement to enter an Academy, all the students already knew the feeling.

Bobby, having achieved four Stars towards the end of his second year, found himself stagnating since then, only making slight increases in strength as he clawed his way towards the fifth Star.

Remember, the difference between each Star is essentially ten times the strength of the previous. But if you improve at the same rate constantly, then each Star would take ten times the time to gain.

There were discrepancies such as Liza or Bobby who grew stronger faster than others, or Kazuya who needed more strength than others to increase in Stars, but it was a general rule of thumb.

If Bobby and Julian were the same level Star-wise, the fight might have been a bit more equal…

“Maybe so, but I’m not willing to wait too long.” Julian admitted with a smirk as the train pulled into the Berlin-Elem High station, and he left with his fellow classmates.

“…Is the tension gone yet?” Vince asked rhetorically as Bobby chuckled a booming laugh.

The result of said laugh was Liza doing an odd sort of half jump from her position of sleep, looking around with wide eyes before glaring at Bobby.

“…Sorry.” Bobby had the presence of mind to apologize as Liza did a tiny nod, not even seeming to notice her arms reach out to hook onto Kazuya… and when he stood, she just went up with him, defaulting into her koala manoeuvre.

“You’re right though, that was a bit tense, glad they bought my act.” Bobby admitted with a grin, making the first years look at him in questioning.

“Oh I knew they had issue with me, the whole talk about the train incident was to bring whatever the problem was out to the front. I mean, how am I supposed to know what I did to make them mad at me when everyone in the school either has issues with me or is my friend?” Bobby admitted with a grumble as the first years realized that they were all friends with Bobby to an extent.

“Bobby, remember, you’re also a person who doesn’t inspire confidence in your intelligence.” Yusuf reminded with a smirk, getting a roll of the eyes from Bobby.

“Maybe I am odd, but I am not stupid… most of the time, admittedly. Still, I hope you guys are also working hard like that guy.” Bobby said with a thumb towards the door the second years left out of.

While Bobby signalled this, the other third years left, though not without Kim stopping to say something to Yusuf before walking off with a blush.

Kazuya was detecting a whiff of ‘ship’.

“I mean, the SWT’s are coming up in a bit less than three months, and you all are still two Stars… three Stars is the minimum if you want to get anywhere in that.” Bobby reminded as he followed after Yusuf.

“Yes, Bobby is right, without three Stars, I’m afraid you would all just be prey to your upperclassmen… such as us.” Yusuf said with a predatory grin, directed squarely at Leah.

He hadn’t forgotten her request about his mother’s technique, the Atmospheric Lock, and it looked like he was actually looking forward to her challenge.

And while she was nervous about facing the possible second strongest third year, she managed to hold the gaze of the Maestro.

“…Maybe you will all be ready in time…” Yusuf said as his grin died down into his usual peaceful smile, walking away with Bobby as the first years exited the carriage…

They really did need to reach the next level of strength… hopefully no surprises would occur on their way to being strong.

Cut to the next morning-

“So… I’m three Stars now.”

This, this was a surprise to everyone. A good one though.