The entire year group stood together huddled near the gate of the North district, rucksacks in hand, ready to go and waiting. An ex-adventurer and now teacher, Professor Gillot, was the lead teacher for our trip to the Arcadian ruins. She was probably one of the only teachers I knew - aside from Headmaster Saundont - that was an adventurer in the past. So, I felt comfortable having someone like her to rely on.
“Settle down children, your parents will be here soon,” Professor Gillot said. She flailed her arms as she tried to control the large group of students.
I stood within a triangle with Chrollo and Leo as we let our bags rest on the floor in the middle. We wore our training kits - like all the other students - however, the school had also provided us with some over-layered clothes that would keep us warm when we ventured out.
“I can’t lie, I'm kind of nervous,” Leo said,
“As you should be,” Chrollo replied, “The ruins are no place for a snowflake, you might just melt.” He joked.
“You're right, only brainless maniacs with a death wish seeking glory and fame belong there. Sounds like the perfect place for you Chrollo, wouldn't you agree?” Leo said with a smirk.
“Very funny.”
I turned around to see the next set of carriages on the tram line approach. “Guys, I think that’s them,” I exclaimed, slightly excited to see my father. With that being said, all the students began to surround the entrance of the north district in hopes to see their parents and give them a farewell before we left for the ruins.
We all split and went our separate ways through the crowd to find our parents. I looked through the heads of students blocking my vision until I saw the familiar black uniform decorated with green highlights that the Boldwick elixir company used.
My father stepped out of his carriage and made his way over to my direction, following the sound of my voice as I called out his name within the crowd.
“Elex!” he exclaimed, arms wide open as he embraced me with a hug. “How have you been?” he asked.
“It’s been great, Father,” I replied, “I missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too, Elex,” he said while releasing me. “This place really is something. It’s hard to believe it’s a school”
I laughed, “It’s been an entire year and I still feel that way.” I said.
“Your grandfather and grandmother wanted me to send their regards. They apologize that they couldn’t make it themselves, but your grandmother decided to stay back and assist your grandfather with his plans on expanding the company.” Father said.
“That’s fine, let them know I’m doing well when you return.”
“So, are you ready? The ruins are no joke Elex, even if you’re only going to be within a Gala, the dungeons there shouldn’t be taken lightly.”
“I’ll be fine Father,” I stressed, “don’t doubt my power.”
“Oh, forgive me, I forgot who I was talking to. I didn't realize you were so well experienced with the ruins.” He said sarcastically as we both laughed. “Say, Elex. Why are you standing alone? Don’t tell me you haven’t made any friends.”
“Quite the opposite actually,” I said, turning around to spot my friends. After a short while of looking around, I could see Chrollo standing further back behind the crowd . . . alone. Had his parents not come to see him off? Well, to be fair, the demon continent was a long journey from here, I suppose they just couldn’t make the trip. Although, he did look somewhat lonely watching other people speaking with their families. Albeit he wasn’t the only one.
“Chrollo!” I called out, grabbing his attention as we approached him. “Dad, this is one of my friends, Chrollo.”
“Wow, who’s this handsome young man,” My father said,
“Thank you, sir” Chrollo smiled slightly embarrassed.
“I hope Elex hasn't brought you too much trouble, he happens to allow his weird tendencies let loose when he gets excited.”
“What?” I said shocked.
“Ahh, it’s alright, sir. Your son is quite the special case, but I am able to handle his awkwardness.”
I watched as they both chuckled together at their small joke. “I never knew you were a comedian,” I said to Chrollo.
“Well then I guess you never knew me” he replied with a smirk.
“Is that them?” A female voice said, grabbing our attention.
“Yes, Mother,” Leo said. “Guys, these are my parents. Mother, father, this is Chrollo and Elex”
“Oh, Leopold, don’t worry about that, we can introduce ourselves.” Mrs. Hurston said.
I looked at Chrollo in the side of my eye to see if he picked up on what Leo’s mother had called him. He did.
My father stepped forward, “Hello, my name is Raja Vinspear, Elex’s father.” he said shaking the hand of Leo’s father. Our parents entered idle chatter as Leo came to join us again.
“Leopold?” Chrollo said.
“Shut up”
“Hey, come on, Chrollo, give Leopold a break,” I said, breaking into laughter. Leo stared at us looking slightly annoyed. Despite his wit, it seemed he couldn’t think of anything to say as a rebuttal.
After some time of talking and meeting with Leo’s family, all of the parents had to leave before we made our way to the ruins.
“Students,” Professor Gillot called out ”follow my lead as we make our way off of the main school grounds.” She said, beginning to lead us from the entrance of the north district to its opposite end, which had a large staircase, similar to the one that leads up to the school in the south district.
Once we descended the stairs, we entered the forest section of the island the school rested on. We traveled in a large line, Chrollo and Leo walked on either of my sides and we spoke amongst ourselves as we did so.
“Have you guys ever been to the ruins before?” Leo asked as we trotted through grass and sticks.
“No, this would be my first time,” I replied. After all, we were still kids. What would we be doing in the ruins at such a young age?
“I have,” Chrollo said, “once.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Yes. I went with my older sister three years ago when I was eleven.” He said, “We weren't doing anything dangerous, she was just showing me around.”
“Your sisters an adventurer?”
“Well, she was an aspiring one,” He replied.
“What happened?” Leo asked.
He seemed ever so slightly hesitant to answer. I had spent enough time with Chrollo to pick up on some of his mannerisms. I doubt Leo caught on, but I didn’t miss his minor pause, “New opportunities came up,” he said, “bigger opportunities.”
“Well good for her,” I commended, “I hope she’s doing well with whatever she has now.”
Chrollo didn’t say anything.
“Have you ever been to the ruins Leo?” I asked.
“No, unfortunately not. However, my father is a scientist, and I have seen many of the things he has studied, such as rocks, crystals, flowers, and liquids that all came from the ruins before.”
“Did you see anything of interest?”
“What wasn’t?” he scoffed, “However, he showed me a certain type of stone once, it was black in color, and it’s the same material that’s used for Arc stone readers and Affinity translator devices.”
“What was so special about it?” Chrollo asked.
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“Well, he said that when he took the same stone to the lab, he was able to dissociate it into a powdered form, and realized that its properties were somewhat similar to the air within the atmosphere. Kind of how mana resides within the air, the only difference being that this had taken physical form,” He said, “And let’s not ignore the way that it reacts to mana.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well for one, when we use Affinity translators and Arc stone readers, all we need to do is insert our own mana within the devices and it shows us what we want to see on their displays. However, when he tried applying mana to the powder form, he told me there was no reaction. That probably sounds kind of boring, but the truth is we know very little about the material in the first place.”
“No, that is pretty interesting to be fair,” Chrollo said, “What’s the name of the stone?”
“I think it was called Lidrithul,” Leo said.
All the talk of the ruins was getting me excited to be there. In all honesty, my nervousness was on par with my eagerness. They battled against each other to create some sort of nauseating feeling in my chest. A feeling that increased my adrenalin levels but also made me want to take cover and hide. The only way to calm myself was to reach our final destination.
As the group continued to walk through the forest, we descended into a cave near the cliff edge of the island. As we traversed through the mana-lit cavern, we came across a teleportation gate.
“I thought there was only one teleportation gate on the school grounds,” I said to Chrollo.
“I thought so too,” he replied.
Professor Gillot stopped as she approached the arched structure. She walked to the side where she placed her hand on a small stone altar that opened up shortly after and revealed a communication device.
“We’re here,” she said whilst infusing her mana into the now glowing stone.
The arched teleportation gate’s hollow interior began to distort the air, and slowly bright colours and lights were mixing the air within it. The gate gradually began to take form and show us the entryway into the Gala of the ruins.
“Alright Second years, follow me as we enter. Please stay within our group until we reach our campsite!” Professor Gillot shouted across the cavern.
As she turned to enter, we followed promptly two at a time. Leo moved in front to stand next to someone else, while Chrollo stayed by my side. When we traveled through the gate, we came out into a spacious room filled with many people covered in armor, carrying huge bags, weapons, equipment, and everything of the like. When I looked to the side, there were multiple games all standing in a line where everyone was coming from.
As we walked on, we passed what seemed to be a check-in section and entered straight through to the main Gala after Professor Gillot spoke with a man up front. I had an idea in mind of what the Gala would look like, but I never expected what I actually saw. It was like an entire underground city. Up high the entire area was illuminated with sapphire glowing crystals while down below on the ground was covered with stalls and shops selling weapons, food, elixirs and even hiring services for assistance.
We continued to walk past multiple corridors and areas where people traveled down with signs above their entrances such as the words Alpha, Beta, Epsilon, Lota and Kappa.
“What do you think those words mean?” I asked Chrollo.
“It’s the names for the different difficulty levels of dungeons in that area. So for example, a D-class adventurer would usually enter Beta dungeons, while higher-class adventurers may go to Epsilon or Lota”
“Which one did your sister go through when she was an adventurer?”
“She was an S-class adventurer, so she usually went into Kappa dungeons, but most of the time, she usually entered the main Arcadian ruins instead of using the dungeons in Gala’s. The dungeons you can find in the main ruins are on a much wider spectrum than they are in Gala’s, and there aren’t any signs telling you their difficulty, you simply have to go in blind.”
“How thrilling,” Leo said looking back at us. “So it’s out of the frying pan and into the unknown?”
“That’s the risk of being an adventurer,” Chrollo said.
As we approached an area that was somewhat vacant from the main market area, we were given separate tents to set up for our stay here. We would be camping in the ruins for our entire stay here which wasn’t something so uncommon among adventurers. As we were setting up our tents Professor Gillot stood in the middle of us and began to speak loudly grabbing the attention of everyone present.
“Welcome, first years, to the Arcadia. If you didn’t already know, my name is Professor Gillot, and I will be the head teacher leading this year in the Gala. Now, to keep things plain and simple, I will briefly explain what we plan to do here this year. The school has bought thirsty dungeons specifically for our use. Your goal will be to complete one of those dungeons within the year.” she said.
The class murmured at her words, some slightly excited while others seemed to be nervous.
“All of you will be split up into groups and the other teachers including myself will watch over your progress throughout the year. However, right now, I will lead us all through a trail dungeon to prepare you for your own. We will begin in twenty minutes.” Professor Gillot finished.
I made my way back to my tent to set up my sleeping bag and make everything in order. The corner I had set up my tent was next to Leo and Chrollo’s, so we spoke idly amongst ourselves as the time went by.
A small stream of water passed through the earth of the ground near where we stayed, giving the place a natural feeling. The sound of the water trickled through the entire area that our year group had set up camp, and went further down through the Gala into places we had not been yet.
‘The place really is amazing’ I thought. I knew that what we would be experiencing would only be the tip of the iceberg, but I still couldn't contain my excitement. I found it interesting that other adventuring groups had set up camp not far from where we were, whilst others came in along with us, some left as we arrived.
“You guys ready to go?” I said as I approached Chrollo talking to Leo by his tent. The rest of the students were beginning to gather around the professors who stood near the edge of our camp. We joined them promptly and Professor Gillot began to lead the group back through the Gala to the section where the large pathways with signs above their entrances were.
She then proceeded to enter the area that had the words Beta above it, and we followed her in line. Onlookers of adventurers, traders, sellers, and the like watched us as we traversed the rocky corridors of the Gala.
We eventually came to a stop, as the Professor was seen talking and greeting someone up at the front of our group. He then began to glance at us and shortly led us toward our next destination.
“Hello everyone,” he said. “My name is Thomas and I will be your guide through the tutorial of the dungeons.”
He led us into a smaller area, separated from the main space of the Beta section, and began to explain to us what we might encounter in our Dungeons.
“First and foremost, I just want to say that the Dungeons are not something to be taken lightly. As someone who is and who has been an acting guide in the ruins for many years now, I know that the main cause for fatality lies in the overconfidence of the adventurer.” He said looking around at all of us.
‘So I keep being told’ I thought.’
“You may have been expecting me to take you through a dungeon and show you what to expect, however, the truth is that the dungeons always differ from one another. Of course, there are general things that you can predict to encounter. However, the actual specificity of the challenges to move on is what makes them so unique from one another. So all I can do is help you prepare the basics.” He finished, taking a seat on a protruding piece of stone in one corner.
“Firstly, regular adventuring parties typically have fewer members - unlike the large groups you will be forming - who specify in certain roles. For example, you have the main attack units, main defense, sensory unit, healers, translators, and navigators. Of course, you guys won’t need to follow such strict patterns since you will be in large numbers, but the knowledge is useful nonetheless. I do advise you though, to have certain people focusing on certain aspects they think will be most beneficial to your group’s progress. If you think your ability to pick up foreign mana signatures is up to standard, then naturally you should focus on keeping your party members alert on what is happening. Or, if you think that you have the ability to keep track of your footsteps and have a rough idea of the area you are in, then maybe you should focus on being the navigator.”
“What about the translators, most of us only speak one language?” Someone asked within the group.
“No worries, that’s what we have these for,” he said reaching into a bag next to him, and pulling out multiple sheets of paper. He took one and handed it to the child who spoke, and then he placed the rest within the bag and gave it to Professor Gillot.
“That sheet has all the basic translations of words and hieroglyphics you will encounter in these dungeons. You should know, that along with the main Arcadian ruins and the dungeons within it and within the Galas, there are strange letters and hieroglyphics from an ancient language. Luckily, over the years we have been able to vaguely translate the meaning of some of these words and some adventurers today spend their entire careers trying to decipher and learn more of this language.” he said.
“I’ve heard of that before,” Leo whispered to me as the guide kept talking. “I’m pretty sure they call the language Axomian. It’s extremely old and dates back further than our oldest history books record.”
“Really?”
“Or, at least that’s what I’ve heard.”
“Finally” Thomas the guide continued, “there will be multiple creatures luring within the dungeons. Though you should be wary of all of them, the main ones to look out for are Mongrels. They are blind creatures that usually stay idle in motion within large packs, that is until they hear sound. I’m sure you have already heard of them before, as they are typically weak on their own, but it’s their numbers that make them a threat. Fortunately for their blindness, you will most likely see them before they notice you, however, due to their acute listening senses, they will most definitely hear you before you hear them. and need I remind you, they move fast. So make sure whoever is acting as a sensory unit stays sharp. Mongrels emit an easily detectable mana signature, and even if you weren’t able to sense that, I’m sure you be able to smell the stench the release from their bodies.” He finished.
He got up from his seat, and said “Shall we head to your dungeons now?” To the professors.
“No,” Professor Gillot replied, “They will begin in two days, I want to give them time to settle in and prepare with the groups we will split them into.”
“No problem, just let me know when you’re ready to go. And kids, if anyone has any further questions, you will usually be able to find me in the food area of the market,” he said before making his way out.
“Alright, second years” Professor Gillot yelled, grabbing our attention. “We will head back to our campsite and settle in for the rest of the day. You will be split into your groups tomorrow, and then the following day you will enter your dungeon with your group members.” She said, starting to head back to the exit.
“What’s wrong Leopold, you look a bit scared?” Chrollo teased Leo as we walked back.
“Scared? All you see is fear, Chrollo, but for me? I'm simply on high alert. After all, I'd be a fool not too, this place isn't exactly my preffered realm."
“You know, I don’t think you need to be scared about entering the dungeon Leo,” I said, “With how big your brain is, I don’t think you head will fit through the gate.”
We laughed together as we approached our tents. Having idle banter with my friends was something I will never miss in the future. They help me cool my nerves and make me feel like I have a family away from my real relatives. They were like my brothers, that was the feeling I got when around them.
Despite we had not actually done a lot during the day, it had felt very long and tiresome, so I decided to go to sleep in my tent for an early night. I held myself tight and comfortable as I lay inside my puffy sleeping back. Thoughts of adventure rose upon my mind, as I let it drift off and take me away into a dream of fantasy.