“Shiina.” Dusk called out as he entered the workshop. He was fully armed, but is also wearing a hooded cloak. “I’ll be going out for some time.”

“Fine… But bring a gift back for him.” She said, slightly unhappily, as she carried the little baby. Dusk walked over, and kissed the baby in the forehead.

“I’ll be back soon, young one.” He told the baby, who started to smile. “There should be a ton of updates at this point. Well, I shouldn’t waste much time.”

Both of them walked towards the warp room. Inside, there was about 40 [Two way portals], each moving him to a safe zone of a city. Shiina stood at the entrance, and waved her hand as Dusk activated one of the cards, and disappeared.

He silently stood in front of the quest board, reading through the quests. “Excuse me?” Suddenly someone lightly tapped his shoulder. He turned back, looking at the person who had did that. It was a young adventurer, who was fidgeting at this point. “Erm… I want to get a quest, but you are blocking it…”

“Sorry.” Dusk muttered and stepped to the side. As the person took the quest, Dusk rapidly read through it, “Dungeon clearing?”

“Erm… Yeah… I’m going to go with my friends, but it’s our first time…” He sighed and scratched his head, “I’m not sure what we would see inside too…”

“Well, that dungeon is B ranked.”

“I know… Erm… you are strong… right? Do you think you could help us?”

“Hm…” It was a good chance for Dusk. Being with unaware adventurers means that he could probably get some info safely and easily too. “Well, it isn’t like I have stuff to do now. Lead the way.”

“Ok, thanks!” He bowed, “I’m Roy, a level 37 Warrior.”

Dusk glanced at his level, which was at the hundreds, “Hawk, level 65 gladiator.”

“Wow! That’s high!” Roy said as he led Dusk outside to his friends. “Are you so strong that you can go ‘Whoosh’ and kill monsters?” He swung his hand is if he is waving a large stick while doing the sound effects.

Dusk laughed at those words, “Not really. My strength is quite low, in fact. I specialize in disabling and insta killing by attacking the heart.”

“Ah…” He was slightly disappointed, “Have you ever cleared dungeons?”

His thoughts returned to the SS rank dungeon near where he lived with Shiina, “Yeah. Highest I cleared was A ranked with a party, and B ranked solo.”

Roy nodded, and then saw his friends, a group of 3 people. He ran forwards while waving his hands, and shouted, “Heeeeyyy! Guys! I got the quest and someone to help out!”

Dusk saw a few annoyed faces when he said ‘someone’, but they quickly hid it as Dusk approached. “This is Hawk! He’s a level 65 Gladiator!” Dusk took off his hood, revealing a simple scarred face with spiky green hair.

Illusion devices are convenient, Dusk thought as he looked towards a wanted poster to the side, showing both him and Shiina.

“Wow. Level 65?” the first person, a woman in the twenties, having a fair proportion and short blonde hair, asked in awe, “My name is Jessica, level 38 Lancer!”

The second person shrugged indifferently, he wore the full armor of the clerics, and had a wand hooked on his belt. He stood slightly shorter than Dusk, and had silvery white hair, pulled to the sides. “A level 65 eh…Well, I’m a level 42 Priest, Chris. I’ll be in your care.”

The third person was least impressed, she wore a sorceress robe, and although she was shorter than Dusk, she stepped forwards, and looked at Dusk with annoyance, “Don’t think you’re so awesome here.”

Dusk simply smiled. “Sorry. I understand. May I know your name, kind lady?”

She smiled, as if she had won when Dusk apologized, in fact, Dusk was slightly surprised that she was satisfied with just that. She twirled, and introduced herself, “Miiko, level 52 Smasher.”

“Are you guys all ready?” Roy asked as the introductions came to an end.

“We were waiting for you.” The three replied.

“I was prepared before I came.” Dusk said.

“Ok, then let’s go! We need to go to the dungeon known as [Dead City]. We have to reach floor 15, and obtain a [Hell bone] from a [Hell skeleton]. [Dead city] is a rank B dungeon, and the quest is also B ranked.” He announced.

The three cheered, while Dusk raised an eyebrow, and asked, “B rank quest? Are you sure?”

Roy nodded and showed him the quest report. Indeed, the quest was B ranked. “Why?” He asked as Dusk scanned the quest.

“Well, sorry to surprise you with this, but the [Hell Skeleton] is not a normal monster. It’s the boss of the dungeon. Also, you can’t just snatch a bone off his body unless if you practice the dark arts, so you need to kill it.” Dusk explained. “Well, not much of a problem for me anyways. Shall we go?”

“Eh… If you say that it’s okay then there shouldn’t be a problem…” He said uncertainly, and nodded, “Yeah, it won’t be a problem. We have a priest too, well, let’s go!”

The three cheered at the words, and followed Roy, while Dusk simply shrugged and walked behind them.

After 6 hours of travelling, they reached the dungeon entrance. A few goblins tried to raid them during the journey, but none of them survived the attack, with Dusk rapidly killing 3 or 4 in a moment of time.

“We’re here!” Roy shouted. A few other adventurers who was camping outside the dungeon chuckled at Roy, but he ignored them. “Well, should we set camp here?”

Jessica and Miiko agreed, Dusk could go on, but Miiko and Chris were both tired. Especially Chris, who was wearing the cleric’s armor while training as a priest.

There are more priests opting for cloth armor these days, but some people still wear the cleric’s armor as tradition, or because they want the extra defense. Or the body building.

He sighed and pulled out a portable tent, activating it. It expanded into a basic small round tent, enough for just 2 people to squeeze into. “Tell me when you guys are ready.” Dusk muttered and entered the tent.

Then he heard a few exclamations about how awesome the portable tent is, but he ignored them and laid down, closing his eyes.

After an hour or so, someone tapped on the tent entrance, and he saw a shadow through the fire, placing down a plate outside. He opened the tent, and took the plate, thanking whoever that gave him that. He was prepared to consume his own rations, but having a hot meal was much better. He finished the light dinner, and set the plate outside the tent, before returning to his ‘sleep’.

At some point before the sun had rose, Dusk opened his eyes, and walked out smoothly, avoiding the plate on the ground. There were no monsters in the night, luckily, as Dusk activated a [Anti-mob] card. The 4 of them were sleeping in sleeping bags on the ground, near the fireplace that had burnt out some time ago. It seemed that none of them took guard, and simply slept calmly through the night.

They were quite lucky to find Dusk.

He went to the river, and cleaned himself by it. By the time he was done, the sun was already rising, and he returned. The 4 adventurers were still sleeping as he returned, but he simply sat down beside them, and waited.

It was two more hours before they woke up and was ready for dungeon clearing. They armed themselves, checking for missing items, and charged into the dungeon, with Dusk following them, amused.

“The dungeon is full of undead. Miiko focus on attacking, Chris, save some mana for heals, but you can attack them if you like. Jess, kill them from behind us, and I’ll be the main tank.” He said, slamming his hammer head down on the ground, and stepped on the head, “What about you, Hawk?”

“I’ll disable them if I could, but mainly I’ll take care of flanks. Always have a person or two who can look around in battle for other enemies.” Dusk said, and Roy nodded in understanding, “As expected from a pro. Let’s go!”

Dusk cheered weakly, and followed them.

The first floor was mainly empty, since two parties had come before them, but there was still a few skeleton warriors and a skeleton mage.

As they got close, the 4 nodded in silent agreement. Roy charged in, and shouted. A wave of force exploded from him, and struck the skeletons, annoying them.

Roy and Chris activated a buff each, and with the two buffs, Roy has an extra 30% and 24% damage resistance from both physical attacks and magical attacks. As he took a few attacks, he swung his hammer and countered, sending the skeletons staggering back.

Mikko concentrated, and a ball of light appeared on her index finger, she pointed at the skeletons, and shouted, “Linear ray!” And with that, a beam of light show out, piercing two skeletons, instantly killing one of them while the other had a burning rib.

The skeleton mage was casting, but Dusk quickly leapt over the skeletons and kicked the mage, following with a stomp on its skull, instantly killing it.

He smoothly retreated back, and continued looking around for other mobs.

Each time Jessica or Miiko attacked, a few skeleton died, and they swiftly cleared them while suffering minimal damage. In the sense that only Roy took a little damage.

“You guys are actually quite good.” Dusk gave them an honest compliment, and Miiko nodded, “Well, they are my subordinates.”

They ignored Miiko.

“Haha. We had been in the same group in our academy for some time.”

Dusk raised an eyebrow, “An academy?”

“Oh, you don’t know? Just last year, a person named Eiden founded the Altea’s Adventurer’s Academy. We’re actually students from the academy. Well, we’re having our break now, in fact.”

“Eiden…” The name was unfamiliar to him. (Note that Dusk had never asked for any names from Mel, Eiden and Gwen) “That’s a very interesting place. Could you explain more about it?”

“They continued walking as Chris explained, “Well, firstly, you need to be at least 9 years old to join the academy, and for a normal term of 9 years. It could be shorter if you skipped grades, or longer if you failed subjects. Each year has 3 terms, with 2 minor tests and a major test in the end of the year. If you’re wondering, although we are first years since the academy was founded just last year, we are in grade 24 now.”

“Also, we go by ranks inside the academy. Nobles are nothing inside.” Jessica giggled, “For example, we are S ranked students, which is as strong as a B ranked adventurer. And as S ranked students, we get a high allowance, and more freedom. Compare that to a F ranked student, who would have just enough extra to have a nice meal a week.”

Another wave of skeletons appeared, and the conversation stopped for a bit as they killed them.

“And the best thing is the teleport gates!” Jessica exclaimed.

“Teleport gates?”

“Well, the academy is far in the south, so it’s hard to reach, but there is a place where you can use to teleport to ALL the major towns in the world! In fact, it’s open to non-students too, for a price. Students can use it for free.” Miiko explained with a superior look.

“Which is why we are here at this time.”

Teleport gates… Did that boy steal is magic circles?

Well, it was his faults for leaving those notes with the old lady. (Reminder, Dusk doesn’t ask for names)

“Interesting… how are the teachers?” Dusk asked as he considered the facts.

“They’re awesome! They are really strong! There was once that an ogre was summoned into the school, and Professor Mel just charged straight towards it and burnt it into nothing!”

They casually wiped another wave of mobs. This time there was a zombie with them, but Dusk simply sliced it into pieces.

“And that!” Roy said as the battle ended, “That slashing skill that turned the zombie into nothing! That’s one of the skills our Master shown us! It was so awesome! The straw dummy just exploded like the zombie!”

“I see.” Dusk said, while hiding his annoyed face. Someone stole that skill from him. He isn’t impressed.

But he basically had an idea who founded the academy, and why.

They went down a few more floors while they told Dusk about their adventures in the academy, as they killed the monsters. Sometimes, monsters tried to ambush them, but Dusk pointed them out every single time he saw them, foiling the ambushes.

“Well, the final boss is just up ahead. Are you guys ready?” Dusk asked as he stopped the others. They double checked everything, and nodded, and then they went in.

“Kekekekekeke” The skeleton laughed as they entered, and instantly charged at them. It had a spiked ball and chain tied to its wrist, and it swing the ball at Dusk.

The others screamed in horror, but Dusk didn’t plan to die. A card burnt from Dusk’s sleeve, and a barrier appeared, diverting the ball upwards.

He then kicked the skeleton in the ribs, hard, forcing it to fly back. As it did, Dusk activated another card from his sleeve. [Gravity +++]. And the target was the ball.

It slammed into the ground while the skeleton was flying back, and with the extra weight, the arm detached while the body kept flying back.

The skeleton stood back up angrily, and pulled out a rib, holding it on his remaining hand. The other hand slowly crawled towards it, with the gravity effect wearing off.

“The first attack is done! Now go!” Dusk ordered, and the 4 instantly took their positions. Roy faced the skeleton head on, while Miiko was firing rays from the side. Jessica occasionally attacked from the other side, stabbing at the skeleton and sometimes piercing it with magical spears. Chris was beside Dusk who was observing the whole battlefield, and he had a heal spell ready.

“Roy, back!”

Following his orders perfectly, he stepped back a few steps. As he did so, the falled arm flew back with the ball, and it flew through the space where Roy was a few seconds ago. “Let me deal with the ball.”

As Roy retreated, Dusk dashed forwards. The skeleton laughed madly, and swung the ball at him, but Dusk was faster. He stepped into the skeleton, blocking the knife with his mechanical arm, and hopped over the skeleton, front flipping as he dodged the ball.

As he was above the skeleton, he grabbed the skull with his mechanical arm, threw it towards the other end of the room as he landed. The spiked ball flying above him as he ducked.

[Gravity +++]

The exact tactic worked again, and the skeleton was now at the other side of the room, with his hand on this side.

“Roy!”

“Roger that!” Roy dashed forwards and continued the battle as he pushed the skeleton back. Dusk went to the arm with the ball and chain, and stomped the arm a few times, but it simply continued crawling towards the Hell skeleton.

Even the arm of the skeleton is horribly durable.

And he turned back to the battle.

Just in time to see the skeleton breathe poison gas onto Roy.

“Roy, back off! Chris, use your strongest detoxify and heals on him! I’ll take the tank role!” Dusk shouted as he took over Roy, who was staggering and coughing. He fell down onto the ground even before reaching Chris.

The skeleton was madly laughing at this point. Dusk was annoyed that he forgot the trump card of the Hell Skeleton. A poison so strong that anyone without resistance would die within a minute. Luckily it could be weakened by even normal detoxify spells, and repeatedly casting the weak detoxify would eventually remove it. A stronger detoxify simply does it faster.

The skeleton tired to breath poison gas on Dusk, but he stopped it with a [Nullify] spell, which rapidly removed the poison from the air.

Dusk dodged a stab from the skeleton, and swung his blade at the left ankle of the skeleton. [Slow]

And within a moment, swung 4 more times at the exact same point.

The leg of the skeleton flew off, and it fell onto the ground. It was barely fazed by the attack though, and continued stabbing at Dusk while trying to get up. The arm flew from the side and attached back to the skeleton, but with Dusk stopping it from getting up, it couldn’t put any force behind the ball. In fact, it could hardly lift the ball while it was on the ground.

“Hawk, move!” Miiko shouted, and swung her staff vertically down, tapping the ground.

A beam of light appeared, and traveled forwards, onto the skeleton, and through it. Screams were heard from the skeleton, and when the beam disappeared, it shouted in rage at the Smasher and threw its ball and chain, with the arm, at the exhausted smasher.

She couldn’t move.

All she could do is stare at her death.

[Summon: Interceptor]

A few balls of light knocked into the ball, which caused its direction to change just so slightly.

And she survived, pissing herself.

[Space Blast]

And with an explosion, the skeleton was destroyed.

As Jessica went to console an ashamed Smasher, Roy went forwards while being held up by Chris, to pick up the remaining bones from the [Hell skeleton]. “Daaammmm we almost got wiped.” He said and laughed, “Thanks, Hawk, you saved us.”

Dusk shook his head, “My name isn’t Hawk.” He disabled the illusion device, causing both Chris and Roy to freeze in terror, “Dusk, level 107 Majesty and Gladiator.”

They stepped back a little, before Dusk reapplied the illusion, “Come on, we’re done.”

“Erm… Thanks…” Roy said, ashamed that he had feared his savior. Dusk simply smiled, and led the way back. This time, Dusk instantly destroyed the monsters as they appeared, and they reached the exit really soon.

“Stand here a bit.” Dusk said, and when they gathered, he activated the card on his hand. [Teleport]

The 4 were shocked when they were back in the town, and Dusk explained, “The teleport gate was my invention. Someone I knew probably used it without telling me. Well, I’ll have to go now.” Dusk smiled, “Thanks for the nice dungeon clearing session, and for updating me with info.”

“Er. You’re welcome.” Roy said, still ashamed at himself.

“Here, a small gift for you guys.” Dusk pulled out 4 cards, and gave them a card each. “The card can be used by applying mana into it. It’s a [Escape] card.” He then waved his hand, and left the surprised adventurers.

“”””Thanks for all your help!””””

As he walked into the alley, he muttered, “Academy, huh…”