Bennett let out a sigh as he ate his lunch, which consisted of mostly beef and fish, along with some other meats, along with a decent amount of fruit. He somehow ate more than Luna, to his sister’s surprise, along with Luna’s. After a little bit of this, his sister poked his shoulder.
“I’ve never seen you eat this much before, Ben,” she said. “Any special occasion?”
“If you count Maya being angry at me, then I guess.”
Yelena snorted. “You brought that upon you.”
Bennett frowned at her. “Objectively false. She caused the problem. She got angry at the problem she caused- ow.”
The annoyed Maya poked him again, which, as usual, felt as uncomfortable as usual. Yelena snorted as Luna swiped some of his fish as if he wouldn’t notice. Bennett shook his head, continuing to eat.
Yelena seemed to realize something at that moment and frowned. “What exactly do we do during the weekend?” She muttered.
Ulayla, who’d, as usual, raised her hand. Humoring her, Bennett responded, “Yes, Ulayla? What is your suggestion?”
Ulayla flapped her wings excitedly. “You could go down to the Capital City. It’s not that far, and has some pretty nice things to buy.”
Both Bennett and Yelena scrunched up their faces and Luna shrank into Bennett’s side. “We’re broke,” the twins muttered.
“Completely and-” Yelena started.
“-Utterly broke. We literally spent all our funds on the exam itself.”
Tyreese flicked a pea at Bennett’s forehead. “Aren’t you nobles? I would think you’d have some money in the bank.”
“I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it, but we’re only nobles by technicality. Our dad is a noble, not that we’ve ever seen him,” Bennett said.
“And we didn’t really live a life full of luxury,” Yelena continued.
Luna waved a tentacle in response, trying to be noticed.
Tyreese, after looking at them for a few moments, shrugged. “Oh. Well, I guess you don’t have to go- OW! Would you NOT?!” Tyreese snapped at Mia, who was glaring at him.
“Stop talking.”
“Oh, shut up. You’re not an abusive mother,” he mumbled.
Bennett rolled his eyes. “Well, he’s right. We’re probably not gonna go.”
Ulayla deflated. “Oh. But… I wanted to-”
Yelena poked Bennett’s cheek and he blinked at her, confused. She glared at him for a few moments, but he wasn’t sure what was going on. Bennett looked back at Tyreese, who suddenly seemed to be musing about something. “I mean… I think I can lend you some money… if you want to go.”
What. Is. Happening? Bennett thought, trying to ignore Mia’s pointed glare at him.
“Are you sure? I mean, I don’t want to-”
“Of course we’ll go!” Yelena said, pushing Bennett’s head down.
Ulayla perked up again. “Really?!”
Yelena nodded, grinding her fist into Bennett’s head. Bennett, still confused, muttered, “Yeah… I guess we are.”
Ulayla flapped her wings excitedly as Bennett looked over at Luna, who shrugged at him while swiping more of his fish. He gave her an exasperated look before shaking his head.
***
Luna, unsatisfied with her current control over the container of water in front of her, glared.
It’s just easier to control my own water. Why is she making me do this?
With an annoyed wave of her hand, she lifted the water out of the bin and brought it over to her. The girl who spoke slower than a slug watched her curiously as Luna, already bored, simply began to shape the water like it was some sort of putty. For a few moments she shaped it until it looked vaguely like Bennett. After looking at it for a few seconds, she shook her head and lumped it back up, shaping it again until it looked more like Yelena.
…I like the Bennett one better, now that I think about it.
After deciding this, she continued to make a few more figures of Bennett, completely forgetting about the girl watching her, ignoring the scribbling of notes.
~~~
“Man, that was exceptionally boring,” Bennett mumbled. “At least it’s free time now-”
“-and we can do something fun now,” Yelena continued.
The twins nodded in unison. “Yeah, yeah,” they said together.
Jennifer looked at them from in front curiously while Tyreese just stared. “You two really do live on the same wavelength, huh? Crazy.”
Jennifer wound her fingers through her hair nodding slightly. Yelena stared at her before looking back at Bennett and Luna, then groaned.
“You’re actually kidding me, right? You-” Yelena started before shaking her head vigorously. “Oh, I’ll deal with it later,” she muttered to Jennifer.
Jennifer tilted her head, confused, but seemed to mildly accept it. Luna, hadn’t really noticed this as she played with her hair and Bennett stared out the windows they passed by them, looking down at the courtyard.
“Huh… I never realized how large the courtyard actually was…” Bennett muttered. “Though, to be fair, I haven’t really been over there yet-”
Luna pulled on his shirt and he frowned. “I mean, I guess we could go over- Why are you looking at me like that, ‘Lena?”
“Don’t ‘Lena’ me, you dense idiot,” Yelena snapped. “You understand everything but the most important things.”
Tyreese nodded. “Agreed.”
Bennett watched the two of them walk off before looking down at Luna, who shoved a tart into her mouth. “What is with them? Just because I don’t feel like going on a date with Ulayla…”
Huh. Maybe he’s not as dense as I thought…
“Plus, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t even like me in that way. She’s just a nice person-”
Nevermind. I don’t know why I had any hope for him… Wait, what if I were to ask him out? Would he be this dense as well? Luna looked at his face in disappointment. You know what… probably. It’s Bennett after all.
Luna poked Benentt’s cheek and he blinked at her. “Am I not right? Anyways, I wonder what’s for dinner today… though there’s still three hours left until then… Want to go down to the courtyard?”
Luna was about to nod, but suddenly looked down with a strange feeling in her gut. Bennett, seemingly noticing something as well, looked out the window.
“Wha-” He trailed off, seemingly surprised. Luna looked at him and he shook his head in disbelief. “Maya just spoke again.”
***
What? What are you talking about?
Maya seemed to be trying to warn him about something, but he couldn’t understand a word she was saying other than the fact she was hungry (of course) and…
Wait. Dungeon? What does a Dungeon have to do with the courtyard-
Bennett suddenly felt a searing pain in his left eye as something began writhing within it. He barely kept himself from yelling in pain and instead fell over, almost smashing his head against the glass.
Luna shrieked as he nearly dropped her, but somehow managed to set her down. With the sound of a gunshot, his sister was next to him, most likely having used Burst to launch herself towards him.
“Ben, what happened?!” she practically squeaked. “Why’s your eye bleeding?! What-”
Bennett suddenly was tuned out from the world as the pain suddenly stopped and everything and one seemed to freeze. In front of him stood the form of a girl with blood red hair and eyes. She looked down at him with an expression that seemed cold, but… something else was there.
She suddenly leaned down and an annoyed expression of what he could only assume was the face of a princess was right in front of him.
“Hurry up and feed me.”
Bennett blinked and the world suddenly went back into normal speed, the girl gone. Yelena was still over him, but his eye wasn’t bleeding anymore. Strangely enough, there wasn’t even any blood, when, not even a moment ago, there was blood everywhere.
“- is going- huh? Wait, where’d the blood go?” Yelena finished, suddenly confused. “Wha-”
Bennett blinked, his mind elsewhere. What… was that? She sounded like… Maya? But- ow, crap, my eye hurts.
Bennett removed his hand from his eye to find not even a trace of blood on it. Stranger, though, was the weird red and yellow pulsing veins in his hand-
Suddenly, the entire area was flooded with lights of different colors. Bennett grit his teeth and attempted to close his eyes to block out the lights, but it only seemed to make it worse. Bennett groaned.
“What the hell is this?” he muttered.
“What’s what?” Yelena demanded, seeming to be in even more of a panic. “Bennett, what’s wrong?”
Before he could continue, a voice seemed to speak in his ear.
Maya? What-
Command… the lights? Wha-
Bennett shivered. I command the lights to stop?
The lights suddenly stopped and Bennett’s vision went back to normal unexpectedly. Surprised, he looked up at his sister, who stopped right as she was about to say something, seemingly choking on her own words. Bennett frowned and looked over to Tyreese, who seemed to be in a state of shock as well.
“Uh… I’m fine now? Why do you look like that-?”
Luna, who had been watching the entire exchange, looked at him as if she’d seen a ghost, her hair a muted blue.
Well, that’s not uplifting. What could possibly be-
Bennett, looking into the glass window, froze in place as he looked into his own eyes. One iris, like usual, was the normal sea green, but the other… was blood red, just like Maya’s. He stood there for a moment before he kept back a sigh.
“Well, damn it-”
Bennett froze as he looked outside, remembering what Maya had said moments before.
“Dungeon…”
Yelena touched Bennett’s shoulder lightly, clearly apprehensive. “Bennett… is there something wrong? Why’d your eye…” she trailed off, following his gaze.
Bennett frowned. “Something… is wrong. I don’t know what, but Maya said something to me. About a Dungeon opening. And seeing as the professors are out there… I don’t think it’s out of the question.”
Tyreese moved next to Bennett and looked out the window. “In the courtyard? That should be impossible though.”
Hey, weird eye, can I see the lights-?
Immediately as he thought this, his eyes were nearly seared with blinding colors, and he hissed in pain as his brain was overloaded with things he was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to see. Not even a moment later, the world froze once again and he saw red hair flowing in front of him, falling from behind his head. He saw a pair of hands cover his eyes as a voice spoke again
“You’re fighting me. Don’t. Just accept it. It’ll make it simpler to understand. Just focus on what you need to see. Not the unnecessary things. Forget about everything. Listen to the elements’ speech to you.”
The world started up again, and, unquestioningly, he looked towards the field.
I don’t really understand how to do that… but I kinda don’t want my brain to explode. So, forget, He thought through the mental pain.
He closed his eyes, let out a breath, and cleared his mind, ignoring his sister’s complaints and worries, the voices of people who were trying to speak to him…
Bennett opened his eyes and looked over to the courtyard, which was filled with a dark abyss of elements he didn’t quite understand. They swirled under the huge area, as if trying to open something up. They were a Chasm of destruction, of something that wanted to kill them all. But it couldn’t do it directly. It-
Bennett’s understanding was interrupted as Yelena slapped her across the back of the head and his face smashed into the glass, shattering it, Yelena’s hand smoking with flames.
Everything suddenly stopped as he realized what happened before he groaned. He pulled a shard of glass out of his cheek before turning to his sister, who glared at him, looking both scared and furious with him.
Neither of them spoke, just standing there and watching one another. Then Bennett felt someone pull on his shirt and he looked down at Luna, who’s expression he couldn’t read, but… he could feel a deep sense of terror and worry in her.
Right… they should know. I’ve been completely caught up in my tunnel vision that I didn’t even consider speaking.
Bennett finally sighed. “Maya did this,” he said simply.
Yelena closed her eyes before letting out a breath. “And?”
“I shouldn’t be completely ignoring you just because I think something is more important than explaining that in the moment.”
“And?”
“A Dungeon is about to open up beneath the school.”
“And- Wait, what?” Yelena, knocked out of her rhythm, blinked in confusion.
Bennett held back a smirk and pointed outside. “There’s something dark right below the courtyard. I don’t really understand what it is, but Maya recognises it as a Dungeon. I’m not sure why it’s there, but it’s about to open up.”
Yelena waved her hands in confusion before grabbing his arms. “Bennett, that's the least important part right now. Are you okay?”
“Do I like fried rice?” he countered.
Yelena blinked, confused, and Tyreese and Luna’s expressions mirrored it. “I mean, yeah, you love it, but what does-”
“There’s your answer. I’m… okay, to say the least. I’m not so sure about the school though-”
Before he finished, the entire school shook and Bennett nearly fell over, but grabbed Luna and his sister by reflex.
No really?!
***
Being a Professor came with its ups and downs. One upside was being able to work with all the animals she wanted, including elemental beasts, though, to be fair, that was kinda part of her job as the Beast Studies Professor. However, one major downside was when all the beasts decided to go berserk and she had to round them all up.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake! Get the hell back here, you damned lion!” she yelled at the Lightning Lioness, who had blasted off into the side of the school, roaring at the courtyard.
The Professor stared for a few moments before she managed to jump onto the thing’s back and lasso it back to its area, which took FAR too much effort and FAR too much time, at least in her opinion. Finally, she was able to round up the rascal into her enclosure, which she didn’t do too often, but, when she had to, it was obviously necessary. However…
“What is happening over there? Is that the First Years’ Combat Professor? What’s he doing in the courtyard looking all imposing for? And is that Ms Angry Lightning Porcupine? What’s she doing?”
As if he’d heard her, the Professor slightly tilted his head towards her before scowling and looking back at the ground.
Ah. Typical.
Before she could yell at him, she suddenly felt a huge burst of MP, even to her, explode from below the Courtyard and, all around her, the Elemental Beasts roared in what she could only assume was defiance before the ground seemed to open into what she could only describe as a dark abyss…
___
Warning! The Dungeon of the Abyss has opened.
This is a direct opening to the farthest reaches of the Abyss, where none should go. Due to this, the Voidborn Abyssal Prince has been called to close-
___
! Error !
The Beastkeeper flinched at the unfamiliar System text in front of her.
Wha… that’s not our System. What… is that?
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
***
That’s… my System, Juli thought, staring at the text in front of her.
! Error !
Abyssal Prince _______________ (Jason Andromeda) is indisposed! Searching… Closer candidate identified.
Do you consent to having your name shared?
Juli, speaking without thought, said, “Of course not.”
___
Voidborn Abyssal Princess ______________ has been called to close the Dungeon. If this is not completed within 3 months, Dungeon will Break, releasing Abyssal Beasts. As the Academy is currently not under the Goddess of Ice’s protection, the Academy has been sealed from the outside.
Time Left : 2 : 29 : 23 : 59 : 58
___
After reading this, she sighed. What just happened? And why did my old System seemingly interfere? Of course Jay is indisposed! He’s gods know how far away and probably struggling to live right now. The System has probably already Integrated him, along with Leah. I hope they’re okay, though.
But… I have to close this Dungeon? Why? I’ve never even been in one-!
! Error !
Additional Eligibility detected!
…Huh?
___
Three new Candidates have been found to have the Ability to close the Dungeon!
Candidates :
Bennett Yasmine
Yelena Yasmine
Luna
___
“What?”
***
“Heh?” Bennett muttered. “Me and Sis, too? Why?”
Yelena, also seeing the newest System announcement, was baffled as he was. “Even Luna?”
Luna, however, didn’t find it surprising. In fact, she was mildly intrigued, as, for her, it’d listed her name as Cthulhu. But, more annoyingly-
(I sense something amiss,) Cthuhlu said in Luna’s head. (That System interfered. I’m sure you sensed it, child.)
Why are you here?! I thought you were supposed to be sleeping! Not wide awake! Luna complained.
(Well, the other System awoke me. I still feel the need to destroy it.)
Of course.
Luna looked up at Bennett, who still seemed a bit out of it, trying to avoid looking at the red eye. However, she couldn’t throw off the feeling that it was familiar in a way. Something just struck her as… wrong, in a familiar way. As if she was related to it in some way.
He looked down at her suddenly before smiling weakly. “I still have no clue what- Huh?”
He seemed a bit confused as the red eye’s iris seemed to focus in on her.
Wait… Elemental Sight?! She thought in a panic. I’m technically an Elemental, but he doesn’t know that.
In a state of panic again, she pulled her presence inwards as far as she could, making sure that it was nearly impossible to see, only being in the very center of her, as her Core.
Can he see my Core?! The way that eye focused on me… It could See! I felt it watching!
Bennett shook his head and the Eye stopped focusing on her and she suddenly felt far less exposed. She could tell from his thoughts that his mind was in a bit of pain, but, thankfully, he hadn’t noticed anything amiss with Luna. She wanted to try and soothe the pain, but…
As usual, she was too small.
Luna felt a small amount of amusement slip through Cthulhu’s facade of complete calm and she mentally pointed all her attention onto the annoying presence. It seemed to completely ignore her, which annoyed Luna even further.
You-!
Bennett suddenly seemed to choke on something as he looked away from her and out the window. She tried to look out the window and what she saw was a wall.
Luna tried to keep herself from hopping up like a child, instead using two tentacles to lift herself off the ground to look.
(Oh. That’s not good.)
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I think that’s quite obvious to anybody.
Cthulhu seemed to be thinking about something, detached from the world apparently. Luna, glad she wasn’t talking, thought about this herself. First of all, how in the name of… me, I guess, did a hole to the Abyss open up. Isn’t the idiot God of Space supposed to be watching over the barrier between the normal plane of existence and the Abyssal Planes- oh. Wasn’t he converted by the other System as well? Well then… I’m surprised it didn’t happen earlier then.
Luna looked up at Bennett, who was still taller than her, which was mildly annoying, but acceptable. He looked at her once again, but this time looking a bit queasy.
“Can I… not do this?” he muttered, looking away from the window.
Luna almost wanted to nod in agreement, but instead frowned. Wait… it mentioned an Abyssal Princess. And there’s only one Abyssal that I could possibly assume is nearby…
(Ah… I see now. That’s how it is, is it now, Ancient Goddess of Death,) Cthulhu said.
This is her work? Luna inquired.
(Obviously. She must know the fate of this world and isn’t under the System’s control. However she sent the girl here, I cannot explain. But she must be important enough to be here.)
Well, she’s obviously the Voidborn byssal Princess, which, in of itself, is slightly interesting. It must mean that Voidlings have finally interacted with the Abyssals, bless them and their loner souls.
(...Voidlings aside, we both know the real consequences of this specific Dungeon Breaking.)
Yes.
Luna, bathing in the fact that she actually sounded like a Goddess for once (at least in her thoughts. She certainly didn’t look like one), knew that this specific Dungeon was special, which may have something to do with its core. From what she knew about Dungeon Cores (at least before that System showed up), was that it spawned beasts, which treated the core as if it was their mother. Most Dungeon spaces were physical, or resided in the Void, a place with infinite space and no sense of time. You could be in the Void for a day and come out and 10 thousand years had passed, or 10 thousand years in the Void was a day (There might have been a correlation there, now that she thought about it).
More importantly, however, was Breaking. Normally, when a Dungeon’s Mana Levels were kept in check, usually by those little Adventurer pesks that seemed to always pray for her to heal them when they were about to die, a Dungeon would be fine to exist. However, when a Dungeon isn’t emptied after a certain time, or its Mana Levels rose too high, it would Break, which was a nice way to say all hell broke loose. The entrance to the Dungeon would break open and the Core would start sucking up all the latent Mana in the area to churn out beasts that would completely ravage the nearby areas, killing everything they could. The only way it would be stopped was breaking the core. Of course, there were controlled Breaks, such as to harvest the Cores, but that wasn’t done too often.
Then, there were Dungeons of the Abyss, which were much, much worse. They connected directly to places in the Abyss that were filled with Abyssal Beasts, which were many times more destructive, and literally absorbed everything they could, as to grow stronger. They always ended in extreme devastation and, once, Cthulhu had to intervene to destroy a particularly powerful Abyssal Beast, which resulted in far more damage than she’d originally expected, not that defeating it was any problem. It practically cowered in her presence-
Suffice to say, they were disasters that the Gods tried to prevent, but there was yet more, which, to her, was the most interesting. The relation between Abyssal Dungeons and their Dungeon Cores… But Luna couldn’t exactly recall-
(Abyss Dungeon Cores, unlike normal Dungeon Cores, are created due to a break in the boundaries between the Mortal Plane and the Deep Abyss Planes, which leaks into cores and creates Abyssal Dungeon Cores, which, obviously, isn’t a good thing. Normally, Abyssals would deal with it before it became a problem. But, this far out and deep, I doubt there are any who can make it in any reasonable timeframe. The most obvious problem with said Cores, if they are converted, is that they start spawning Abyss Beasts.)
Huh. Why couldn’t I remember this? Speaking of remembering-
(Aren't there more important things to worry about?)
Luna jolted right before the person behind them spoke.
“So? Why the hell are you supposed to be the ones to clear the dungeon?” Reah Justyce snapped.
***
Bennett had to keep himself from groaning, as he was mildly annoyed at the fact that she seemed to always appear out of literally nowhere. He turned to her, forgetting about his eye for a moment, and grumbled, “How am I supposed to know? Ask the System or whatever-”
Before he finished his sentence, Reah grabbed his jaw and pulled him towards her, despite his momentary struggle. He finally remembered about his red eye and froze in place as he stared at her, unimpressed. For a long few moments, she just studied it, before scowling.
“Of course you did something dumb. What else is it with you?” she muttered, pushing him away. “What now? Did you somehow summon this Dungeon?”
Bennett slightly taken aback, blinked in bewilderment. “Wha- how could I possibly summon an entire damn Dungeon? I’ve never even seen one!”
“Well, you suddenly have an eye that’s obviously unnatural, and you seem to do all sorts of unexpected things, which annoys me to no end,” Reah huffed. “But whatever. Even if that eye has no relation to the Dungeon, I’m still going to be suspicious of you.”
Bennett, trying to not say something idiotic, sighed. “Aren’t you suspicious of everyone who isn’t you?”
Reah narrowed her eyes at him and he felt his new eye react by focusing in on her. He covered it, and felt a slight tinge of annoyance from Maya. Reah turned around, stood there for a moment, then began walking off.
“Yes. I am. Anyways, be outside in an hour. Might as well bring your sister.”
Bennett and Yelena looked at one another in confusion. “Uh… why?”
She looked back at him for a moment before shrugging, a very scary grin spreading across her face. “It’s about time you got a Class.”
Bennett shivered, not reassured in the slightest, looked at his sister in horror, who’s expression mirrored his.
Tyreese, who clearly was monumentally confused, blinked at the twins, then at the leaving Reah, then at the twins. Finally, he shrugged. “Well, y’all have fun. I’m just gonna go to the dorm and have an existential crisis, bye-bye.”
The twins watched Tyreese leave before looking at one another. The two seemed to have a silent conversation, though Bennett wasn’t sure what he and his sister were even trying to convey. Then, she sighed.
“Should I go get my sword?” Yelena asked, sounding defeated.
Bennett, debating on whether or not he should not actually go and follow her orders before groaning. “Might as well.”
~~~
Bennett tried not to flinch at the Combat Professor’s flat stare as he looked at him, only now realizing he was slightly taller than the Professor. It didn’t help that Yelena was only an two to three inches shorter than Bennett-
“You want to get these two Classes… from Abyssal Beasts, which we have literally no information on? They could be overwhelming powerhouses, for all we know.”
Juli, who’d found them at some point and decided to follow Bennett and Yelena down to the Dungeon entrance, snorted in a very un-Juli fashion. “No. They’re actually quite cute once you get used to them and don’t feed them live food.”
The Combat Professor, who was clearly already in a bad mood, glared at her. “And you know this how?”
“I just do. And- oh, there’s one right there,” she suddenly said, looking behind the large man curiously, showing more emotion in that moment than Bennett could have ever expected from her. Her face then lit up in recognition, surprising both Bennett and Yelena, along with the Professor as she rushed over to it, a large smile on her face.
Behind the Combat professor was a dark… rabbit looking creature with a long horn. It barely had any time to react to Juli, who scooped it off the ground and held it out at arms length, studying it.
He was about to Scan it when she exclaimed, “An Abyss Unirabbit! I’ve seen their Void counterparts, but they’re unnecessarily aggressive, but the Abyss ones are just so much cuter, albeit probably immensely more dangerous to anyone but me.”
She kept mumbling to herself as Bennett looked at Yelena in bewilderment, who shrugged. “I mean, it can’t be that big of a deal-”
Juli spun around with an uncharacteristic pout on her face. “Of course it’s a big deal Hylla; both you and Jay don’t ever-” Juli’s face suddenly went blank as she stared at Bennett and Yelena, uncomprehending. Then her face went back to her usual monotone. “Oh. Forget about it.”
Luna, who was sitting in her usual place, looked at Juli with something akin to a cross between sadness and understanding. Meanwhile, Juli patted the rabbit’s horn, which it pushed into her lovingly before tossing the thing into the dark hole, which it seemed happy enough to go into.
She sighed. “Really… it’s not just a Dungeon, huh?” she said quietly. She then turned to the Combat Professor as if nothing had happened. “This isn’t just a Dungeon entrance, but an entrance to the Abyssal Planes, where time is mildly warped, due to its proximity to the Void. It’s not just going to let Dungeon Beasts out, but innocent and curious Abyssal and Void Beasts. It’s easy to tell the difference between Dungeon Abyssal Beast and natural Abyssal Beasts, seeing as the natural ones are a bit more docile. If any natural ones come out, just keep them from going anywhere they shouldn’t until I can deal with them.”
The Professor gave her a strange look for a long few moments before nodding and looking back at the hole with a mild interest. Juli then looked at Yelena, Bennett, and Luna, who all looked confused. She watched them for a moment before her head snapped to the side as something else crawled out of the hole. The ground below it erupted, skewering its skull, the body dissolving into a dark mist before Bennett could get a good look. Juli huffed, but otherwise didn’t really acknowledge it. The Combat Professor nodded in what he could only assume was affirmation.
I definitely don’t want to get on her bad side, Bennett decided, trying to not look like he hadn’t even been able to see what had just tried to crawl out. Bennett saw Yelena narrow her eyes at Juli, but wasn’t able to get anything out before Reah spoke.
“I was going to get these… three? Why is the child here? You know what, whatever,” Reah muttered. “I was going to get these three to kill those things for Levels. They’re only Level 1, 2, and… I actually don’t know what Level the child is at-”
Reah narrowly dodged a tentacle from Luna, mildly surprised at the speed of it. “Sure. Whatever.”
Juli looked at Reah like she was crazy. “Are you under the description of medically unhinged? Insane, to be blunt? They absorb Mana- MP, I mean, and its attributes. If it ate Bennett or Yelena, from what I can understand, we’ll have an Abyss Beast that can use Hellfire or Bennett’s weird Blood Lightning.”
“Thanks,” Bennett muttered. “Very flattering.”
Reah snorted. “And you think I’m dumb enough to let that happen?”
Yelena gave the Battlemage a strange look. “I’m sure that you’d do it on purpose, seeing how much you hate Bennett.”
“Correct.”
The Combat professor seemed to not really care about the students behind them as Yelena, Juli, and Reah began to argue. Bennett looked at Luna hopelessly and she patted his cheek reassuringly.
“Thanks, Lu. Now- oh hey, is that one of the Abyss Beasts that we can kill?” He asked himself.
Luna looked over at what he’d noticed, but before she could respond, the dark shadow raced across the ground faster than Bennett had expected, going directly for-
Half a second later, there was the charred remains of the Abyssal Beast that had been about to try to rip Yelena’s head from her shoulders, still twitching from the Bloodbolt he’d thrown. He then lifted it off the ground before twisting the neck of the hyena-looking thing, which dissolved.
___
You have killed [Unknown Abyssal Beast : Dungeon Variant] - Level 7.
Applied EXP boosts:
5 Levels Above : +50%
Dungeon Bonus : +25%
Abyssal Defeat : +50%
First Abyssal Defeat : +75%
+1 Level (+53% Overflow)
+3 Unaligned Stat Points
Loot Beast?
___
Bennett mentally accepted the request and watched the arrangement of guts and bones fall in front of him before bending down to study them, going into his hunting mode, which Yelena liked to call it.
“I wonder what these are worth…” he muttered, picking up a random vial of what he could assume was blood. “Damn, I forgot to buy the Appraisal Skill Scroll.”
He then realized he was still at the Academy and was holding Luna, who was also looking curiously at the arrangement of materials on the ground. He shook his head before looking over to his sister, who’s hand was outspread, but she now looked slightly miffed, as Bennett had already killed the thing.
She leaned closer to him.
“How many?” she demanded.
“Just one. But that’s only because it was Level 7,” he responded, pulling up his Status.
__
Status
Name : Bennett “Yasmine”
Race : Human
Class : None
HP : 100% | MP : 100%
Level : 3 | EXP : 53%
Soul Bond : Luna (23%)
Alignment : Lightning / Blood
Weapon : Maya
Stats
Strength - 8
Endurance - 11
Vitality - 13
Dexterity - 12
Mind - 7
Intelligence - 9
Points to allocate - 3
Skills
Scan - Level 3, Flicker - Level 3, Knife Fighting - Level 3, Sword Fighting - Level 1, Lightning Strike - Level 3, Rapid Reconstruction - Level 4, Bloodbolt - Level 4, Hitch-hiker - Level 3, Bolt (Spell) - Level 1, Scythe Mastery (Limited) - Level 7, Blood Spike - Level 5, Blood Manipulation - Level 6
Bonuses
Blood Damage Increase - 154% (Maya - 100%, Skills - 54%)
Bleeding Damage Increase - 158% (Maya - 100%, Skills - 58%)
Lightning Damage Reduction - 20% (Skill - 20%)
Scythe Damage Increase - 210% (Skill - 210%)
Opponent Blood Flow Increase - 35% (When wielding Scythe or Maya : Skill - 35%)
Movement Speed Increase - 70% (When wielding Scythe or Maya : Skill - 70%)
Blood Production Increase : 440% (Maya - 80%, Skill - 360%)
Universal Damage Bonus - 50% (Bond - 50%)
Skill Effectiveness Increase - 50% (Bond - 50%)
___
After a moment of consideration, he put two points into Strength and another into Vitality, namely since he knew he’d probably need it, due to Maya. After doing this, he picked up a vial of blood and studied it for a moment.
Despite Maya’s love for blood, I can’t imagine she’d want this-
Just as he thought about it, Maya suddenly sprang into action, pulling herself out of him, grabbing half the blood vials, including the one in his hand, before seemingly crushing them before going back into his arm. He took a look at her Level to see it had jumped up by 25%, bringing her to 30%.
Bennett was then reminded that there was still someone else there as Reah looked at him in annoyance. “Seriously? I never said to start, but I guess we’ll be here for a bit… at least Level 5 should be fine…” she uncharacteristically began to trail off under her breath, seemingly doing math in her head. “Right, Dungeons have multipliers to EXP based on the Dungeon Difficulty. What does it say?”
Bennett blinked. “Uh… +100%? But there’s also an ‘Abyssal Defeat’ multiplier, which is another +50%-”
“Interesting, now shuddup so I can think,” she snapped, pushing Bennett away. “If you see something, kill it. Tell me when you get to Level 5.”
Bennett frowned. “But, seeing how slow they’re coming out… neither of us are going to get to that point until past midnight!”
As Reah looked at him again, he felt a chill as she grinned at him. “Exactly.”
I have decided: One day, I will throw her through a few walls. I do not care, Bennett thought. Putting this thought into a mental bank, he let out a groan.
~~~
Bennett nearly immediately fell asleep when he dropped face-first onto his bed, but managed to stay awake long enough so Luna could finish up doing her nightly routine. During this, he finally checked his status again.
___
Status
Name : Bennett “Yasmine”
Race : Human (90%) - ??? (10%)
Class : None
HP : 100% | MP : 100%
Level : 5 | EXP : 50%
Soul Bond : Luna (19%)
Alignment : Lightning / Blood
Weapon : Maya
Stats
Strength - 12
Endurance - 13
Vitality - 16
Dexterity - 12
Mind - 7
Intelligence - 9
Skills
Scan - Level 3, Flicker - Level 3, Knife Fighting - Level 3, Sword Fighting - Level 1, Lightning Strike - Level 3, Rapid Reconstruction - Level 4, Bloodbolt - Level 4, Hitch-hiker - Level 3, Bolt (Spell) - Level 1, Scythe Mastery (Limited) - Level 7, Blood Spike - Level 5, Blood Manipulation - Level 6
Bonuses
Blood Damage Increase - 154% (Maya - 100%, Skills - 54%)
Bleeding Damage Increase - 158% (Maya - 100%, Skills - 58%)
Lightning Damage Reduction - 20% (Skill - 20%)
Scythe Damage Increase - 210% (Skill - 210%)
Opponent Blood Flow Increase - 35% (When wielding Scythe or Maya : Skill - 35%)
Movement Speed Increase - 70% (When wielding Scythe or Maya : Skill - 70%)
Blood Production Increase : 440% (Maya - 80%, Skill - 360%)
Universal Damage Bonus - 50% (Bond - 50%)
Skill Effectiveness Increase - 50% (Bond - 50%)
___
He sighed aloud. After the Level 7 Abyssal Beast, there were only those that were about his Level or only one higher, and the same was for Yelena, so she wasn't much better off than him. However, they did end up with a lot of materials, before they gave them to a Professor, who happened to be the Appraiser for some sort of student shop, who even sold them small Dimensional Bags for about 20 silver each, which made up only a small portion of their gains, mostly due to the rarity of the materials.
But, there was also something else that Bennett had noticed, but it was a bit inexplicable. There were some times that larger Abyss Beasts would come out of the hole, but Before either Bennett or Yelena had the chance to react, Juli would yell at the thing before it was fully out of the hole and it would seemingly freeze in what he could only describe as terror before it scurried back into the hole, no matter how large it was. Of course there were some particularly bold ones that would dash at her, but she’d simply kick them a few times before they scurried away.
Bennett sighed, but before he could think about it more, he heard his door open and the small form of Luna entered before she closed the door behind her. He sat up as she hopped onto the bed before looking up at him.
“Hm? What’s wrong, Lu?” he asked her as he felt her emotions, shifting from exhaustion to worry, along with a few that he didn’t really understand.
She shifted herself onto her knees and poked right below his left eye, his new red one. He blinked at her before sighing, looking up into space.
“Yeah, I don’t exactly understand it either. It kinda just… appeared, with Maya telling me I might need it. Very cryptic, I know,” he responded as she gave him a confused expression at the last part. “I’m not entirely sure, but I think it lets me see aligned MP? Like how you’re full of Water MP. Though, you look a bit different from Sis, since she only has MP somewhere in the center of her chest, I think. I’m not entirely sure what that means…”
A mild sense of panic arose from Luna, but she seemed to stuff it down immediately, shaking her head. Bennett patted her head, trying to comfort her. She let out a sigh and fell back, looking just as exhausted as him as she laid on the bed.
He stifled a laugh before laying down as well. “Oh yeah, I’m pretty sure there’s no way we’ll be going to the city. That’s a bit of a bummer, isn’t it?”
Luna gave agreement, but he also sensed hints of relief and confusion. But, before he could question it, he felt her curl up against his side and relax, falling asleep in seconds. He shook his head before patting her forehead.
“G’night then, Lu,” he mumbled, letting himself relax and fall asleep in moments.
***
Luna opened her eyes to the sea. She could smell the salt in the air, hear the sounds of waves hitting a nearby shore. She could also hear what she only assumed was a child playing in the sand.
Cthulhu let out a sigh of relief. She knew that her ______ was having fun, and that was the only thing that really mattered, especially in that moment. Cthulhu had originally thought that a few years wouldn’t feel that long, but after ______, she realized she was completely wrong.
Cthulhu sat up and looked at the young girl playing in the sand, her red hair soaked and her eyes… strangely blank.
“____, are you okay?” she attempted to call, but no sound came out of her mouth. In fact, she seemed to be drifting further away from the shore. From her memories. From something she refused to remember.
No. There’s nothing there. There’s nothing to even refuse to remember.
That couldn’t be right. Who was that small girl then?
Nobody. She doesn’t even exist. She never did.
Why is she so familiar? Almost like family?
You have no family. Why would you think-?
“Mommy? Where are you? Why are you going again?” a small voice whimpered. “Why… please come back.”
There’s nobody speaking.
“Mommy? Can you come home now? I wanna… show you my sand castle.”
You don’t have a child. What could possibly make you think that?
“Why… are you leaving me again… Mommy?”
The girl looked up at Cthulhu and Luna, her eyes empty. There were no eyes in their sockets. Blood poured from her chest, staining the ocean red. Cthulhu froze in place as chains wrapped around her mind once again, sealing the fragment away with a burning pain.
“...Home…?”
The ocean around Cthulhu exploded as she tried to get back to her _____… Her what? Why couldn’t she remember? She had to get to the child though. She had to. She couldn’t abandon a child.
But, you did, didn’t you?
Cthulhu froze, knowing, deep in her soul, that the voice… was right.