What is a dungeon?

Even to this day no one has a concrete proof about what the dungeons actually are.

But about eighteen years after the dungeons started appearing, a Russian scientist proposed a theory that dungeons were the spontaneous occurrence of dimensions.

He penned, ‘the dungeons are constructed on the basis of dimensions which appear in the form of a pocket-dimension’.

People thought of his hypothesis as nothing less than crazy.

That a piece of a dimension appears in the form of a pocket dimension, which we started calling dungeon gates.

But the more they studied this supernatural phenomenon, the more certain they became, but there were still shadows of doubt.

But in the end they decided to accept the theory of ‘pocket dimension’ presented by the Russian scientist.

First it was only a theory, but the people couldn’t find or form any other theories or hypothesis about the dungeons, so in the end the World Union accepted the theory.

There are even in-depth studies about dungeon and why they occur.

Even in Lock there is an entire subject over the pocket dimensions and dungeon gates.

‘Not that I will study that subject, it’s just too much of a reckoning subject for a humble person like me.’

Jiwoo thought as he looked up at the sky. It was early dawn.

The sun had still not fully risen, but the dim light of the rising sun steadily started to envelop the world.

Jiwoo looked down at his hand and closed it into a fist.

‘I have all the time I need, slowly but surely, I’ll reach my old strength and even surpass my previous self.’ He thought as the sun started to rise from the horizon, enveloping the world in it’s bright light.

‘Today is the second day of the tournament, and today’s main event is the dungeon walk.’

“Haaa...”

But then Jiwoo heard someone taking deep breaths.

He snapped his head to his left and saw Jiyoung on the other side of the park.

She sat down on the bench, with her back facing Jiwoo. She was drinking water from her water-canteen.

Her jet black hair were beautifully tied in a ponytail and she wore the tracksuit allocated to the first years.

She looked beautiful.

Seeing this gave Jiwoo an idea.

He masked his presence completely so that Jiyoung wouldn’t be able to sense him approaching her.

He suppressed the mana inside him and began to approach Jiyoung from behind.

She simply sat on the bench, unaware that Jiwoo was moving closer to her.

The bushes and trees around Jiwoo helped quite a bit to mask his presence.

Now he only stood a few metres away from Jiyoung.

He ducked down and approached the bench.

After reaching the bench, he brought his face close to her left ear and then loudly shouted.

“Uwaaaa...”

“Hek!”

A weird noise escaped Jiyoung’s mouth as she shot up from the bench and almost stumbled on to the ground.

She placed her right hand over her left ear, then she turned around and looked at Jiwoo--who stood near the bench--, with her cold eyes.

“Hahaha, it was just a joke, a joke.”

Jiwoo extended both of his arms forward as he tried to control his laughter, but his lips trembled and he almost laughed again.

Jiyoung saw that it was Jiwoo. She turned around once again and didn’t face him for almost ten seconds.

But Jiwoo could tell she was embarrassed. He could see that her ears were bright red.

Then turning around, her face once again harboured the expressionlessness she always has over her face.

“I told you it was joke, a harmless prank.” Jiwoo sat down on the bench and spoke.

She ignored him and crossed her arms.

Then Jiwoo snapped his head sideways, as he felt the back of his hair stand from Jiyoung’s cold gaze.

“Aha... Good Morning.”

She once again ignored Jiwoo and walked towards the bench.

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She sat on the other side of the bench and crossed her legs.

“Ah ha... I’m sorry...”

Jiwoo placed his hand on the back of his head and apologised.

“It’s fine.” Jiyoung exclaimed.

Her eyes became a little less colder.

“How’s your shoulder?” Suddenly Jiyoung asked.

Jiwoo leaned back in to the bench and replied.

“After taking a potion and resting, my shoulder completely healed, not even a scratch was left.”

“Mhm...”

She nodded her head and then silence descended.

“I saw your match against Aogiri Ryuya, it was a good match.” He exclaimed.

She leaned back into the bench and spoke, “but I lost.”

“That’s true, but, it was a duel purely of swordsmanship and strength.” He added. “And if you had used your skills, you might have had a chance at beating him. That is if he had no trick up his own sleeve.”

She lifted her head and looked up at the sky.

“Can you give me your opinion on my match against him?” Jiyoung asked, her hazel eyes looking at the dimly-lit sky.

The reason Jiyoung had asked Jiwoo about such a thing was because, she thought Jiwoo wouldn’t lie to her and give her his honest opinion.

Ever since exiting the ‘Devil’s Whisper’ dungeon, Jiyoung had trained diligently, but, she still felt she wasn’t doing enough.

And having witnessed Jiwoo’s fight against a ranked demon, she knew that Jiwoo’s swordsmanship was outstanding, and even better than Aogiri Ryuya’s.

Jiwoo placed his hand over his chin and thought for a few seconds, before opening his mouth and speaking.

“If I have to be honest, Aogiri Ryuya had a better control over his sword and maneuvrability.” He continued. “Jiyoung, what I judged from seeing your match was that, you make too many unnecessary movements.”

Honestly, all Jiwoo could do was to help Jiyoung by giving her his honest opinion. But it entirely depends on her to take his advice or not.

To Jiyoung, Jiwoo had become someone trustworthy. Someone who had risked his life to save her and Jihoon inside the dungeon.

So she trusted his judgement.

“I see...” She calmly replied. But she was frustrated inside. Many may not know this, but, Jiyoung was really competitive since young.

And hearing Jiwoo’s response, she felt frustrated, but, she knew that being like this won’t do her any good.

Then once again silence enshrouded, both of them didn’t speak.

‘Huh, did the atmosphere become a little gloomy? You have done it now, you dick head.’ Jiwoo inwardly thought as he looked at Jiyoung.

“But I think you still have a lot of room to grow.” He said with a smile over his face. “Even I made a lot of mistakes when I started learning the sword.”

Hearing Jiwoo words, Jiyoung’s brows relaxed.

“You know, I once tried to do a horizontal slash and I moved my arm so fast that it got dislocated from the joint.” Jiwoo said as he looked in front of him.

The branches of the trees swayed with the soft breeze. Making the scenery look tranquil to the eye.

“Heh...” A chuckle escaped Jiyoung’s mouth.

“Oy, you think that’s funny.” He turned his head in Jiyoung’s direction and inclined his head.

A smile flashed across Jiyoung face as she opened her mouth and spoke.

“If you go around telling people about how you dislocated your arm, then anyone would laugh, you know.”

Jiwoo nodded his head in response. “You’re most certainly right.”

Then changing the subject Jiwoo asked.

“Well is Jihoon coming today?”

“He is, but... he said he would arrive a little late.” She replied. “What about Jihye? Is she coming?

A soft breeze blowed passed them as Jiwoo opened his mouth to reply.

“She said she won’t be able to.” Jiwoo turned his head towards Jiyoung and continued. “But she said she would watch the matches, so its best if you look cool Jiyoung.”

Jiyoung stood up from the bench and looked at Jiwoo.

“I could say the same to you.”

Then Jiwoo also stood up from the bench and both of them left the park.

***

“Everyone line up.”

The instructor shouted.

Hearing him, everyone present formed a straight line.

In front of the students stood a dungeon gate, which they all will enter shortly.

The dungeon was not high-ranked, the mana it exuded was only on the rank.

The Lock selected a dungeon which had a little difficulty to it. But also in the range where students could clear it.

“Aha, Instructor Griffin How come you are here?"

Jiwoo turned his head and saw that Adam had arrived and was now talking to Instructor James. Both of them stood in front of the line, close to the dungeon gate.

“I have been appointed to explain the rules,...”

He turned his head left to right--as if he was looking for someone.

Then he stopped his head and locked his eyes on Jiwoo, who stood in the middle of the line.

“... and to make sure nothing goes wrong.”

But Adam kept his gaze on Jiwoo.

‘Is that guy looking in my direction?’

Jiwoo snapped his head left to right, but after confirming that Adam’s line of sight was on him, he ducked his head down and tried to hide his face from Adam, without looking suspicious.

‘Haa... I knew it.’ He sighed as he inwardly exclaimed.

Jiwoo already knew that it was a risky move to do when fighting Thomas, as he already had two people in mind who could have seen what he had done.

‘And one of them was our little mana sensitive Death Sworn.’

But Jiwoo was sure that not even Adam was able to perfectly follow his movement.

Cough—!

With a dry cough, Adam pulled the attention of all the students towards him.

He held a tablet in his hand. He tapped on it once and a hologram came to life above in the air.

“Now I will explain the rules of the second main event of the tournament, ‘the dungeon walk’.”

Everyone gazed at Adam’s marvellous figure which stood close to the dungeon gate.

His shoulder length brunette hair, tied into a ponytail and his obsidian colour eyes perfectly complimenting his hair and sharp jawline.

He wore a white t-shirt with a black tie coupled with black trousers.

He basked under the sunlight as he lifted his head and looked up at the hologram.

“The rules are simple enough, you enter the dungeon and kill some monsters.”

Adam turned his gaze from the hologram and looked at the students and spoke.

“The watch you all have resting over your wrist’s, will work as a point-meter, and allocate you points when you kill a monster inside the dungeon.”

He looked through the swarm of students and continued.

“The more points you can accumulate and the faster you can exit the dungeon, is the main theme of today’s event.”

All of the students nodded their head in understanding.

‘But it’s not as simple as it seem.’ Jiwoo thought as he looked at the hologram which displayed the rules about the second main event.

“... The protection suit's you all are wearing are a little different, if the suit gets seventy percent damaged, then the mana crystals will spark and you will be left immobilised on the spot.”

Hearing Adam’s last words, the students looked apprehensive about being immobilised inside a dungeon.

“But... don’t be anxious, because inside the dungeon we have installed cameras, to monitor you all, and the second and third year students will be on standby inside the dungeon to help you if need arises, okay?”

Then Adam tapped over the tablet and the hologram disappeared.

“Then, good luck everyone.”

Following Adam’s words, he stepped to the side and the students started to enter the dungeon.

In front of the line stood, Aogiri Ryuya, Park Jiyoung, Han Shu-hui and the other top ten.

‘Well I guess all I can do now is to get a good score and not have my ass handed to me by some monster.’ Jiwoo thought as he stepped forward.

Walking up to the dungeon, Jiwoo looked at it with a keen eye.

The dungeon gate beautifully rippled as the pulse of mana from it looked majestic to the eye.

The dungeon gate mysteriously glowed with a blackish-blue colour as student after student stepped inside.

Soon Jiwoo stepped forward, Adam looked at Jiwoo from the edges of his eyes.

But Jiwoo ignored Adam’s gaze and stepped into the dungeon.

The gate rippled as the dungeon sucked Jiwoo inside.

‘Time to level up.’