The next morning arrived not with sunlight, but with sirens.
A piercing tone rang through every dorm, jolting Lyle awake. He shot up, instantly alert. Dex, across the room, fell out of bed with a thud.
"Wh-what the hell is that?!"
"Cadets, report to the training yard in full uniform. Ten minutes," came Commander Sorrell's voice over the loudspeaker, cold and sharp as steel.
Ten minutes later, the entire first-year class stood in formation in the lower yard, armored and confused. The morning mist clung low to the ground, making the floating fortress feel like it was suspended in a dream—or a nightmare.
Commander Sorrell paced in front of them.
"Today marks your first step into the real world. You will enter a dungeon. Not a simulation. A live field. Controlled, but not safe."
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
A real dungeon? Most cadets didn't enter one until their third term—after months of training.
"You will go in as teams of three. Each team must retrieve a mana crystal from the dungeon core and return alive. Those who fail…" He paused. "Will be classified accordingly."
> 'Classified accordingly'? Lyle thought. Probably means labeled weak or expendable.
The commander began reading off team assignments.
"Team 6: Kael Umbrix, Torran Zane, Elira Vael…"
"Team 9: Dex Trenmor, Ari Valen… Lyle Greenbottle."
Lyle blinked. Wait—Ari?
He glanced toward her in the line. She didn't even turn his way.
Dex waved nervously, clearly realizing this wasn't just another class exercise.
---
They were escorted into a long chamber carved from blackstone. Arcane doors buzzed with containment seals.
Instructor Halven, a pale man with cold eyes, gestured toward the gate. "Dungeon 4-C. Minor variant zone. Low-to-mid-tier beasts. High mana saturation."
He looked them over.
"You enter together. You leave together. Or you don't leave at all."
The gate flashed. Blue light rippled across the frame—and then it opened.
Lyle stepped through last, gripping the hidden book tight under his cloak.
---
Inside the Dungeon
The air changed instantly. The world inside the gate was colder, darker. Trees with veins of glowing red stretched over the cracked forest floor. The sky above was no sky—just swirling gray mist.
Ari led, blade drawn. Dex had a small wand that shook slightly in his grip.
Lyle pulled his cloak tight and let the system activate silently.
> [Dungeon Environment Detected]
Mana Density: 4.2x Normal
Spell Efficiency Boost: +15%
Caution: Rogue mana patterns ahead
They moved cautiously through the dead woods. Ari's eyes constantly scanned, and Lyle noticed how quiet she was—not just silent, but intentionally careful. She wasn't just some research noble girl. She'd trained for this.
A rustle.
A low growl.
The brush exploded.
Three beasts leapt out—wolf-like creatures with black fur and glowing mouths.
Ari slashed at one, steel singing through the air.
Dex screamed and flung a potion. It exploded mid-air in a puff of green fog, doing absolutely nothing.
The third beast lunged straight for Lyle.
He didn't hesitate.
He lifted his hand and whispered, "Arcane Bolt."
The spell formed faster this time—tighter, cleaner.
The bolt slammed into the beast's chest, sending it flying into a tree. Dead.
Ari stopped mid-swing and glanced at him.
"You... didn't chant."
Lyle froze. Damn. He let that slip.
"It's… a new technique," he muttered.
She didn't press further. But her eyes lingered on him a bit longer this time.
---
Twenty minutes later, they reached the dungeon's core chamber.
The mana crystal hovered in the center, pulsing with unstable energy.
But something was wrong.
The room was already torn open, the pedestal half-destroyed.
"What the…" Dex whispered.
There were footprints. Not beast prints—boots.
Human.
Ari cursed softly. "Someone broke protocol and entered before us."
Suddenly—
A ripple of air.
A figure stepped from the shadows.
A masked man in dark armor, completely silent. But even from a distance, Lyle felt it—killing intent.
And then a voice in his mind.
> [Danger: Hostile Rogue Mage Detected]
Recommendation: Evade or Eliminate]
The man raised a hand, forming a glyph in mid-air.
A spell.
Ari shouted, "GET BACK!"
Too late.
The spell fired.
And everything exploded.