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nThe few minute drive into the city felt long and tedious as I kept glancing back at the tall magic tower.

n“What’s wrong?” Cy suddenly asked me as we soon exited the sight of the not so nostalgic massive tower.

nTreyni also seemed a bit intrigued as she perked up her ears.

nShe was probably the only one who knew I had a problem with that tower but decided not to ask out of respect for me.

n“I don’t know… I just don’t like massive towers, that’s all,” I replied before glancing out the window of the bus.

nNew York wasn’t all that different from Amlas, as it had giant buildings, cars, streets, sidewalks, people, adventures, shops… well, I guess it doesn’t have a massive moat surrounding it.

nSoon, we arrived at a pretty sweet hotel, and we were told to split up into trios, but with our respective gender since the boys and girls were going to be separated.

nSo, Cy and I immediately paired up, but then we had one last slot, which we filled with a boy with black hair, similar to Cy.

nHe was from the sword class, but since we were already leaving for the dungeon, Cy shoved his dueling thoughts for later.

nAs we walked and talked with him to the dungeon, we began to slowly figure out a few things that caused us to smile deviously.

n“So, let me get this straight… You have a crush on Treyni, right?” Cy asked with a smug smile that just said everything that needed to be said.

n“Shhhh! Don’t say that out loud!” He shouted in a whispering voice.

n“Oh, my bad,” Cy immediately responded but then glanced at me with a smug smirk.

n“Yes, I know what you’re thinking,” I replied with the same mirrored, smug smirk that said everything that needed to be said.

nAs we continued our long trek with all our equipment, mostly borrowed from the school, I noticed a few things that made me frown.

nThe sight of rich kids glaring at each other showed the foul relationship between each other’s families, but that might not just be a rivalry.

nAs I was towards the back of the large group, I noticed that fights were mostly the end result, but in order to save face, the guards held them back.

nHmmmmm… Is it not only Amlas? Maybe these are the families supporting the other families in Amlas? It could be both… wait, no, of course, it’s both.

nOf course, they want to use this war for their own benefits and maybe take down a few opposing families with each other.

n“This war… Is going to be much bigger than I initially thought,” I muttered before catching up with the group.

n…

n“Interesting…”

n.

nYou have entered The Dungeon: Dire Wolf Slums

nRecommended Level: 3

n.

nIt was a D-rank dungeon, but probably the weakest one out of all the D-rank dungeons because it was basically filled with normal animals.

nA dire wolf is a regular wolf with sharper claws and a bit more bloodlust, so it was the perfect chance to hone your fear-suppressing capabilities.

nI doubt the teachers will let us get severely hurt, but scaring the kids a bit by having the wolves jump on them will teach them a good lesson about activate combat.

n“Has anybody here gained XP?!” The teacher for the Sword Theory class suddenly asks.

nAs expected, nobody raised their hands.

n“Really? I thought some of the richer kids would’ve had privileges,” He chuckled a bit before glancing at these supposed rich kids.

n“Teacher! Check the internet once in a while!”

n“Yeah! Do your research before you ask anything!”

nHe received a few batterings due to his slip-up in words, and I thought he deserved it as it was pretty much known everywhere that nobody gets special privileges now.

nBefore maybe forty or so years ago, rich kids might’ve been able to bribe their way in or possibly buy one of the dungeons, but that isn’t how it works now.

nThe government has locked down on these possibilities, which is also to help delay the war until they’re ready to possibly help shut it down as quickly as possible.

nThey don’t have nearly enough money or manpower, so delaying it is the best they can do.

n“Alright! Alright! I get it!” He shouts before letting the Spear Theory teacher, who I thought was much more mature, take over.

n“We’re going to be splitting up into four groups now, but make sure to stay in your trios. You three will always stick together, and if you lose one of your members, punishments will be put in place,”

n“Yes, sir!” We all shouted.

n“Alright, I’ll split the groups up. You kids just mentally prepare yourselves… Also! This is for a grade!”

n“HUH!?” Everybody collectively shouted as we thought this was a fun and dainty field trip with which we could have some fun.

nI guess this is more encouragement.

nAfter about half an hour, my group and I were making our way deeper into the dungeon that we had all to ourselves.

nWalking through such an easy dungeon was nice, but I could tell the others were definitely nervous as a few trails of lingering bloodlust nipped at our necks.

nI think it was just myself and Cy who weren’t really nervous…

n“Okay, everyone, stop here. We’ll set up camp and make sure not to stray farther into the woods,” The supervisor, a woman specializing in Sword Theory, spoke up.

nThe format of this dungeon was a ghostly and spooky forest that had dire wolves peeking around every corner.

nAs we all finished setting up the campfire and seats made of logs, I noticed the black-haired boy was puking in the distance.

n“You good?”

n“N-No… How are you fine? My nerves are killing me,” He muttered before standing up and chucking a breath mint in his mouth.

nOh, he already expected this.

nI laughed silently to myself for a few seconds before strolling back to where Cy was.

nLet’s see… four… five… that should be doable. Well, let’s just wait for the supervisor to take command.

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