When Damon exited out of the portal, he was drenched in sweat from the sudden encounter. He couldn’t believe what had happened just now. That being had said a ominous phrase which could be interpreted in many ways. Before Damon could start attempting to decipher what the being had said, a loud voice could be heard.

“Move out of the way boy We got more students coming, so get out of the way unless you want someone crashing into you the moment they walk out of the portal”

Damon apologized to Nick, and started walking towards where the majority of students were located.

“Damon, this place looks awesome! I can’t wait to explore it!”

Leon’s voice could be heard as he ran up to him. He guided Damon towards the other kids, but Damon was lost in thought.

Did he not notice that I took longer than usual to teleport? What the heck is going on here!? Does no one care?

None of the students or teachers noticed anything unusual, it was as if time had been paused just for him inside the space during the teleportation. He couldn't think any more on the topic though, because his eyes widened at the scene all around him. The beauty of the abandoned dragon’s cave shocked Damon out of his gloomy mood.

The roof was about 25m above ground, and it was curved in a dome like figure. There were many crystal stalactites hanging down giving off vibrant glows. These crystals looked like oversized gems that could be sold for a lot of money. Also, they were so big that 10 students could fit inside of it if it had an opening. The walls were smooth and glowed similarly to the stalactites. The ground was no exception, it was flat, with no rock intrusions or holes. Best of all, everything was shining with a purple hue, 10 times brighter than the colour of the portal.

Damon scanned his eyes around as he walked closer towards the group of students. There were many doorways large enough that a dragon could pass through that led deeper into the cave. These passageways were not as bright as this center room, but still not completely dark either. The room Damon was standing in was about the size of the training hall that Damon had seen a few days ago. If one was standing in the center of this room, they could see everything that was visible due to there being no obstacles at all blocking their line of sight.

Damon kept on walking in a slow pace with Leon in tow.

What are those kids looking at? Is it something that interesting?

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As Damon got closer, he started to gag from a horrible smell. It smelled like a toilet that had been used over 100 times, but not flushed once. Damon and Leon started coughing which was what all the other students of Class-S and Class-A were doing. Everyone stood in a circle around something, and as Damon moved closer, he could hear many whispers and cries of fear. There was a pool of a red substance that could be seen on the ground, and when it finally came in view, what everyone was looking at was….

A dead body.

The students were staring at it in awe, fascination, and disgust. Some of the girls even turned around and ran towards the teachers, telling them about the body. Damon examined the body, seemingly with a blank expression, but he was trying to mask the fear in his eyes..

What could’ve happened? Could it be?

Damon didn’t care for the body, it was already dead, but he feared for his safety now. The teachers and announced that the cave was perfectly safe, but a dead body comes out of nowhere! The man lying on the ground had a hole where his heart should've been. It was a clean stab, granting instant death to the man. He was wearing a guard uniform, which probably meant that he was patrolling before he was killed. All the blood was dry, which meant that the killers were probably long gone, but Damon’s heart couldn't be put at ease.

If those guys are the same guys---I will need to be very careful in this cave. I don’t wanna end up like that poor guard over there.

Leon reacted way more wildly than Damon. He clutched his stomach like he was about to throw up from the mere sight of the blood. He was definitely not looking like his cheerful self. Right before Leon was going to puke, Damon turned his head away with his hand plugging his nose, and spotted Dan and Nick running towards them with a few girls beside them.

Dan and Nick finally arrived on the scene. They had worried looks on their faces as they fished their phones from their pockets. They called someone and motioned for the students to go back to the center of the room, away from the horrific corpse. Everyone listened and headed towards the middle of the room.

Damon could hear two particular girls talking to his left. One was blonde and the other had purple hair. Damon’s mood turned even worse when he started to make out what they were saying.

“Why is our trip time wasted on that old dude. He wasn’t even anyone important, only a lowly commoner, so why is our time being wasted like this?” argued Rachel.

“I agree, our families didn’t pay a huge sum of money so that we could stand around watching a dead commoner be dragged away.” replied Siena in a less angry tone than Rachel.

Rachel looked around as if she making sure no one was watching. Before her eyes could land on Damon spying on their conversation, he turned around as if minding his own business. When he heard Siena and Rachel resuming their conversation, he went back to the same stance as before. Facing the girl’s direction, but not looking directly at them. He could still hear fine with his ears though, and there were one or two students blocking Damon from their line of sight.

Damon’s ears perked up when he heard what Rachel had whispered carefully. Damon could barely hear her words, but he could get the gist of it.

Siena had looked at Rachel with a smile on her face. She nodded her head as if agreeing to something and the two started to sneak away from the other classes towards a large doorway behind the teachers.

Damon’s guess was right on. He was astonished that they were brave enough to explore the cave on their own even though there was definite proof on the ground that it was dangerous. Damon made a split second decision before Siena and Rachel could disappear from his sight. He looked at Leon, but he was too busy kneeled over on the ground, puking his stomach out that Damon decided not to bring him along.

I’ll be fine by myself. If I run into trouble, I can just run away as fast as possible.

Damon walked stealthily behind the girls without them or anyone else noticing. Just like that, the three students split off from their respective classes. Two trying to tour the magnificent dragon’s cave, and one oblivious to the mess he was getting himself into.