Jinyoung stared down the subway tunnel.

"We should go for it."

The team was silent. Hana didn't realize it, but they'd had this conversation before. More often as their graduation neared.

Dungeons appeared in a variety of places, but they're all similar in one respect. They all originate from a break. A point in time and space where monsters pass from another world to this one. The bigger the break, the worse the monsters. Weaker monsters usually make their way through, but they get pushed further from the break while the strongest stay close. That means the monsters get more powerful the further you go in.

But every rule has an exception. Monsters can grow stronger over time. They can kill players or other monsters and become more powerful themselves. A mid-boss. A monster that is more powerful than the others in its immediate area and commands its own group of weaker monsters. For unprepared teams, it can be a death sentence. But, it allows players to single out and fight stronger monsters.

Because of their difficulty, cadets and students at the Academy are banned from taking on mid-bosses. The risk was too great.

"No."

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Cyrus spoke softly, but his words landed heavily.

"We do this and Seah and Johann get to graduate at level 10. Just like us. Hana'll be level 4. Probably level 5 and she'll be leagues ahead of her classmates. And the two of us will-"

"No."

Jinyoung turned his hard gaze at Cyrus. Cyrus stared right back.

"You know we need this. More than anyone else, I need this."

Seah and Johann looked away while Hana bit her lip. They knew.

They knew that Cyrus and Jinyoung were at the top of their year, but tomorrow, it wouldn't matter.

The Academy was competitive. It was the top player preparatory program in the country. The waitlist was thousands of names long and there were only 100 graduates every year. In the past, graduates were scouted into guilds. Their fees were covered by sponsors and that head start gave them a chance to succeed in a violent world.

Things are different now. The number of players has grown and the Academy was a great place to learn, but they had competition. Now, you need one of two things to join a guild: gold or fame. And they had neither.

As Jinyoung spoke, Cyrus' expression darkened. More than usual.

"We do this and we’re the only cadets in the history of the Academy to take out a mid-boss. Heck, we’re the only No Class players to do it ever. It's an easy dungeon and-"

Cyrus narrowed his eyes and his voice went cold. "There's no such thing as an easy dungeon."