Entrance exam
Dungeon center
First floor, Lower level
5th August 285 A. G. M
When Eren opened his eyes, he wasn't surprised to find himself alone in what looked like a tunnel. The tunnel seemed to be part of a system of a cavern or maybe an underground chamber. There were rows of lanterns filled with glowing rocks lined up in a straight line. Eren took a deep breath and was struck by what happened. The air around him quivered, vibrating in a different range of colors. The air that he had breathed in had tasted like zinc. Eren had no idea what it meant. But he was sure that the color he saw around him was the flow of World energy within the atmosphere. He was surprised that even in a tight space like where he was, the flow of energy was denser and more visible than in the outside world. The Dungeon was a dangerous place. Mother Ruth had explained to him the differences between the Dungeon and the outside world. The major and most alarming difference was how the World energy behaved within the Dungeon. Eren didn't understand what she meant by it. But after experiencing the ambient energy in the real world and the one here, Eren finally understood. The Dungeon existed in some kind of alternate Dimension. He pressed the second button on his storage wristband and a projection of an hourglass that had begun to count down appeared. Damn it. He had two hours to get Mana cores and make it to the guild quarter by the time it was done counting. He brought up the map that would take him to the guild building and began to walk. As he thought, he had appeared somewhere within a tunnel and according to his map, the guild building was five blocks away from him. But then again, he was underground, and who knew what path he would have to take to get to the top? He just hoped that he would be able to get as many cores as he could… something flew out of the shadows and was going for his right arm. But Eren reacted fast. Time slowed down, and he moved away from the jaw as it closed. Eren took a fighting stance, his left leg placed further apart from his right leg, while his right arm faced up, vertical to his left leg, and his left arm vertical to his right leg. He faced the monster that had appeared. It was a humanoid reptilian creature, dressed in stained armor. He recognized it from the Bestiary books he had read. He was facing a Kobold. Kobolds were rare in the outside world, their kind was normally always found within the Dungeons. He read that the race spurned average good fighters and they were not smart enough to ever escape through a rift to the outside world. But they were good at one thing. Attacking in a pack. Eren sensed that this one was alone. Which was good for him. Unlike Mana crystal or Mana stone that could be gotten from digging the earth in a dungeon, Mana core can only be gotten from the core of a Mana beast after they have been killed. It was time for Eren to get his first one. He took another deep breath, focusing his breathing as he concentrated on manifesting his innate ability. And just like he practiced for two weeks, Eren was able to enhance his fist with power. It was fair to say that even though Mother Ruth had taught him the basics of various martial arts, Eren had practiced them to the point that he was able to improvise and combine each of them to suit his style of combat. And now that he could enhance his strength and speed, Eren was no longer the punk kid in high school who got into street fights. The Kobold raised his arm with the butcher knife and he couldn't help but smile. Eren's fist swung at the creature, but it tried to dodge, so Eren used one of the techniques that he had come up with. The attack was similar to the Mana cannon spell that Onyanko had used against him. Eren had gotten the idea behind his attack from that fight. A spherical shape of purple light formed around his fist just like it did for Onyanko, and then he let go of his hold on it. A beam of purple light shot out at amazing speed. The creature used his knife to shield itself but the light plowed right through it, shattering the iron knife into pieces. The Kobold's face shifted into shock, not understanding what kind of power that Eren had used. Eren smiled, relishing the power that he was showing. Two weeks he spent practicing to imitate that magic spell with his mana, and though it didn't have the same destructive power as Onyanko's Mana cannon, Eren was proud of it. Now all he had to do was get what he needed. If he wanted Mana core, the only way to get it was to kill the kobold. In the past, Eren had barely ever had the chance to classify what a monster was. He had read the bestiary and he knew that Mana beasts were intelligent creatures with the same level of sentience as humans and the other races. Some of them could even talk. So was he alright taking the life of an intelligent being? This was the question Eren was asking himself. Can he kill this living being to get what he wants? The Kobold turned around, about to take shelter within the shadows where it had come from. Eren sprinted after it, chasing it into the shadow. He stumbled into a different part of the tunnel, where large rocks were planted in certain areas. There were piles of bones scattered everywhere and Eren could sense the eyes on him. The Kobold had led him to where the rest of the pack had been waiting. They rose out of the boulders they had been hiding behind. They were well-dressed in armor, and some had crossbows. The Kobold that had run away, had equipped itself with a crossbow. It fired a large arrow at Eren, who stepped out of the direction of the arrow. He concentrated his aura within his legs and doubled the power of his muscles, which made him shoot forward with more momentum than normal. Eren raced across the room, dodging all the arrows, moving so nimbly and agile. He moved around so fast that most of the kobold could barely see his movement. It was so easy for him to move around as these creatures were slower than he had expected. After he was done dodging, he got engaged in a fight with a large Kobold with a broadsword. Eren's body swayed sideways, avoiding the swings of the blade that were coming at him. The creature was stronger and faster than the average human, but nowhere close enough to even match Eren's natural physical ability. And now that he was enhancing himself with his innate ability, his physical stats, especially his speed, were enough to classify him as superhuman. The Kobold warrior was getting pretty annoyed at how much of its attack Eren was slipping through. And then the Magical aura around it grew intense, and Eren felt the activation of Magical power. The broadsword glowed greenishly, Mana being channeled through it as the Kobold swung the blade at Eren's side. Eren simply used his left hand to block it, the power behind the attack barely flinched him though there was a trail of blood running down from where the sword had made contact with Eren's hand. The Kobold's face fell into shock and so did the rest of them. The excitement that had been on their face was gone, replaced by shock and fear. Eren gave his left hand a shove, and the sword shattered. The warrior fell, howling in fear. Eren drew his right hand backward, concentrating all his power, and then he swung his fist at the warrior's head then he stopped. His fist was so close to the monster's head, inches from finishing it off but Eren had seen something within its eyes. A feeling that he was familiar with. Fear. Eren wasn't sure if he could take it's life. He moved away from the creature. It was one thing trying to exorcize the Maleficiant, but this didn't feel right… The Kobold's reptilian face turned into a smirk as it rose from the ground and smashed Eren in the face. Eren flew backward and collapsed against the wall, blood pouring out of his mouth. Mana cannon. The kobold had used the magic spell to inflict real damage on Eren. He couldn't believe it. The Magic had allowed the creature to bypass Eren's natural toughness. It was the same as when the cockroach Maleficiant's attack had easily made a hole in Eren. Eren still didn't know much about his Mana, or what he could do with it. He only knew that with his innate ability, he could enhance all his physical abilities four times what they would be and that by combining his martial arts, he could become formidable. Right now he was not as powerful as he was when he fought that Maleficant. He could only channel like ten percent of all those powers he had released that day. That was why his version of the Mana cannon lacked the destructive power that Onyanko had displayed. The incredible strength and speed from that day had gone down, and with the low reserves of Mana within his body, channeling and using his mana to its fullest was difficult. Eren had tried practicing for weeks to perfect his Mana control to be able to handle his Mana flow. But even with all the weeks of training that he had, Eren had still not been able to maintain both his offensive and defensive power at the same time. That was why the Kobold's Mana cannon hurt like hell. He spat out more blood on the ground and came out of the hole his body had made. If Eren was using his Mana to strengthen himself as a typical Mage would do, that punch wouldn't have hurt him. But he guessed it was his fault for making the attack happen. He wiped his blood stain from his mouth, with a wild grin. The rest of the Kobolds jumped in joy at seeing Eren hurt and they began to descend on him. They moved swiftly in pairs, coming after Eren with knives and arrows. Eren jumped out of their way, increasing his speed a little as they all came at him. He loved seeing the purple lightning that formed when he increased his acceleration, dancing around them, evading all their attacks, none of them able to come close to him. He knew with his innate ability he could evade them all day, but Eren didn't have time for that. Why didn't I smash that warrior's face? Eren asked himself. He knew the reason why. When he had swung his fist at the Kobold, Eren had seen the fear in the creature's eyes. Real fear. Which reminded Eren that this wasn't a Maleficiant that he would be killing. No. It was one thing to kill something unnatural like the roach but the Kobold...they were just living their lives here in the Dungeon. Wouldn't it be like him killing innocent humans or the Lightfolks or the Beastfolks that lived in the Frostlands? Eren caught four arrows barehanded that were coming for him. The Kobolds had been motivated by seeing Eren bleed, but their excitement had dwindled due to their inability to harm him again. Eren slid to the hole in which he had entered the trap. He was wasting time. He looked at the hourglass and swore at how much time he had wasted. He had been here for like thirty minutes or so. He couldn't afford to waste time. He had to get as many Mana cores as he could. And hesitating here was not a good thing. He looked at each of the Kobolds in the face and sighed. He took in a deep breath to relax and concentrate. He had discovered that proper breathing exercises helped him to concentrate more on the mana within him. He let the energy flow, focusing it more on his fists and leg. And then he shot towards the big Kobold warrior and this time, Eren's fist made contact with the Kobold's face. The force of his fist on the creature's head sent it twisting around but that wasn't the end of it. There was a flow of aura within Eren's arm that went from his shoulder to his elbow and then to his fist, and then a splash of purple light, and the Kobold's head and his separated body went flying away by the explosive power of Eren's strike. Black blood splashed everywhere. The rest of them began shrieking in fear at their strongest warrior being defeated with just one punch. Eren smiled as he flexed his fist. His punch hadn't been an ordinary one. Long ago, Eren had learned to use the explosive power generated by his speed to deal extensive damage. Like the move he used on Onyanko, he was able to output the right amount of energy to increase the explosive power. This way he could deal twice the amount of damage than what he could do with a regular punch. It wasn't perfect and it was still rudimentary, but it was enough to deal with this pack of monsters. And Eren didn't hesitate this time as he leaped from the ground and onto the rest of them. Smashing them apart like they were nothing but cotton candy to him.
~
After five minutes of slaughtering the Kobold's pack, Eren stood in the middle of all their corpses, watching as it all disintegrated. Even their bones were gone, the only thing left behind was a glowing greenish shard. He picked up the one that came from the biggest Kobold and swore at it. He could sense the Mana within it and just as he had feared, the quality of the Mana within the stone was average. If he had to guess, he was sure the exam committee would prefer excellent quality Mana core to give good points. But Eren didn't complain. He had killed eleven kobolds, so that should be good. He wasted no time picking them up and storing them away in the band around his wrist. After that, he took a look around the site where he had killed the Kobolds.
"Sorry," Eren muttered. It was a do-or-die situation and Eren's dream was too great for him to give up over something like a moral or ethical reason. He left the area and returned to the tunnel. He brought up the map to see what path he should take. The exit out of the tunnel wasn't far and it didn't take long for him to reach it. Eren stopped walking as he got to the exit the map had led him to. According to the map, there was enough space beyond the exit, but Eren's Internal sight could feel something beyond that. Something terrifying and had nothing to do with the dense atmospheric energy. There was an Iron door in the way, and Eren broke it easily. He stepped into a large open space, with glowing green crystal on the ceiling. There was a field of tall and large boulders with glowing green crystals on them. Eren was walking on even one of them. The crystals grew from the insane energy environment, which was why they were very precious. But the crystals weren't what he needed to pass the exam. Eren's eyes finally landed on the presence that had bothered him before. And sitting on one of the boulders, like she had been waiting for Eren, was the Hunter from the outside world. Eren couldn't deny that he was surprised to see her here and now. He didn't know if she was gonna be part of the exam, and the instructor had said nothing about Hunters being involved. Or was that a secret thing? She was sitting there so nonchalantly, that her red eyes were fixed entirely on Eren.
"How did it feel killing them," She said.
"Why would you want to know," Eren said. He felt something for the Kobolds but regret at killing them was not one of the feelings he had.
"Don't tell me it was pity," She said. "Funny, seeing as they underestimated you because your Mana was lower than theirs." So even the Kobold had thought I would be easy prey because my Mana was weak.
"It's funny, you know," She said.
"What's funny," Eren said. She wasn't laughing so Eren couldn't understand what was so amusing to her.
"The Magical power that I sense from you," The Hunter said. "It almost feels familiar...and yet at the same time it doesn't." Eren hesitated. Could she know Alastor-
"Do you know any Alastor Kinsway," She said.
"What!" Eren said.
~
Reyna Greyron couldn't believe the assignment her inattentive Captain had assigned her. She didn't want to be here, in a dungeon center, observing a civilian while her Master was nowhere to be found. She looked down to the lower floor where all the test takers were stationed, around the large crystal that would open a rift to the dungeon. Rey took a look at Eren Walker, the boy she had bumped into outside. She wasn't sure if getting close to him like what she was doing was her Captain's idea of observing him, but Rey could not just stay still and do nothing. The boy was the last person to make contact with Master Alastor. If she wanted to find her Master, then she had to do something. Right next to him was another boy with white hair, brown skin, and golden eyes. She had glanced at him outside alongside Eren, but she hadn't paid attention to him. The boy's eyes lifted towards her making contact. For a moment, Reyna couldn't help but feel like she had been struck by lightning. The sensation was weird and unnerving, it felt like time had frozen, the space between them pulling her towards him. And then his friend grabbed his attention, breaking the connection between them. Though Rey felt disconcerted by what had happened, she made sure to keep any sign of disturbance from her face. She tried not to think about the weirdness that had transpired. After the announcer proclaimed the start of the test, Rey knew she had to make a move. After the crystal was activated, the light covering the entire candidates, Rey swiftly jumped into the light to be taken along into the rift. The portal took her from the inside of the center, inside the dungeon where she ended up in a field of large Mana crystal boulders. Reyna had taken a huge gamble because there was a chance that she might not have ended up in the same spot as Eren Walker. Fortunately for her, she could sense her target was not that far off, but between him and her was a nest of Kobolds. Rey decided to wait. He was going to come to her. So there was no point in getting involved in the fight. Instead, she could observe the boy from where she was. It had been weeks since Master Alastor had left to investigate who had broken into the Star King's Palace. The Sword King Alexander Kinsway, her Captain Commander, had informed Rey of her brother's mission and she had shown her the message that Master Alastor had sent her. He had discovered something strange in the nation of Haumea. From what her Master had sent, it had to do with an Irregularity. Alexander had given Rey the mission of going to Haumea to meet up with Master Alastor after they hadn't gotten any more info from him. Her investigation had led her to an Orphanage after she couldn't track down her Master. If it was a case of Irregularity, what did it have to do with the Star King and its missing grimoire, and why could she sense remnants of her Master's Magical power so close to the Orphanage? These were questions Rey had been asking herself. There was a feeling within Rey, a feeling she didn't want to put into words about her Master, about the mysterious events that had happened in the park not far from the Orphanage. Though it was weak, she had felt a Maleficant's presence. The imprint of the spirit had become attached to the land which was how she knew that something major had gone down. Her Master's Spiritual power was deeply entwined with the Maleficant's energy. She had tried to get records from the Hunter Division that was centered in Pele city that should have responded to the presence of the evil spirit. But that was when the situation had turned weirder. The Hunters office in the area had no records of them ever responding to a Maleficant. That night had been really quiet from the records she had gone through. She sensed no trace of lie or deceit from them but the park looked like it had been cleaned up. So if it wasn't the Hunters that had cleaned up the after-effects of a Maleficant's attack, who then? And what happened to her Master? The door to the field broke open, and Eren Walker entered the large open space. Rey had done her research on the boy. He was from the Atwell Orphanage, and from his school records, she had learned a little bit about him. From what she knew, Eren Walker had been a Mundane boy up until recently. And even though he could not cultivate, his unusual strength and speed had been quite the surprise. He got into lots of trouble, always fighting, always skipping school, and yet he had placed tenth in his year after graduating from public school. There was no doubt that the boy was smarter than he looked. Yet the records indicated that the boy was determined to become a Hunter. Without Spiritual power. But now Rey could sense the weak presence of Mana flow within the boy. For some reason, it was very weak compared to what Rey thought it should be. She was perplexed by the thought of her Master. How could this boy be an Irregular? His Awakened power was not what it was supposed to be for an Irregular. Rey had met two Irregulars in her life. And it was an experience she would never forget. These beings were monsters. True monsters with powers that could rival the gods. This Eren Walker showed no signs of it. Rey knew gifted Awakeners with more power than he was displaying. Hmm. Rey studied the boy and that was when she noticed the changes within him. The boy didn't seem to realize it but ever since he came into contact with the dense World Energy of this Dungeon, his soul core had been slowly expanding, his Mana circuits growing stronger. There was no doubt about it. The boy's core was passively siphoning World energy. The boy stood on the other side of the space, on top of the hill as Ambient energy gathered around him. His durability was strong if he could move so easily without using any sort of protection. Any average Mage or Mana warrior would have been squashed by the pressure of the World energy within this space which was why a support spell was essential. He had fought a pack of Kobolds by himself under this influence and came out on top. Maybe it wasn't too soon to say he was an Irregular, but Rey was prepared to find out for herself.
"How did it feel killing them," She asked Eren.
"Why would you want to know," Eren said. He felt something for the Kobolds but regret at killing them was not one of the feelings he had.
"Don't tell me it was pity," She said. "Funny, seeing as how they underestimated you because your Mana flow was weak." So even the Kobold had thought he would be easy prey because his Mana was low.
"It's funny, you know," She said.
"What's funny," Eren said. She wasn't laughing so Eren couldn't understand what was so amusing to her.
"The Magic that I sense from you," The Hunter said. "It almost feels familiar...and yet at the same time it doesn't." Eren hesitated. Could she know Alastor-
"Do you know Alastor Kinsway," Rey said as she stood up from where she was sitting. She bought out a pouch and took out a bunch of coins from it. She began flipping it in the air, waiting for the boy's answer.
"Alastor...you know Alastor..." Eren's danger sense flared up quite suddenly but it was too late for him to react. The hill that he had been standing on suddenly gave way, breaking apart as something had crashed on it. Eren was falling, alongside the other piles of rocks. The crash on the ground sent debris and dust but it was the pain that Eren felt in the crash that bothered him. He had surely broken some bones, but he was alright. What the hell had happened? He hadn't seen anything, and his body had been too slow to react to the danger he had felt. He glanced up at the Hunter. She was staring down at Eren from the hill where she stood. She was flipping more coins in the air, and Eren could see the bluish electric currents that were being emitted from her.
[Deadly Skill-Loretz cannon] She whispered her spell and the coins that she had been flipping, became charged with enough magnetic force that they shot straight at Eren like cannons. Eren's breathing was off, but he tried to concentrate on flowing his Mana within his legs. He jumped out of the way of the first blast, the explosion sent him flying against another rock. His back hurt. Fuck. His whole body was hurting from the fall. What the hell was going on? Why was a Hunter here? And why was she trying to kill him? She had spoken of Alastor as if she knew him. Was she attacking because she knew what he did? That he stole the power from Alastor at the last minute. Eren couldn't think of any reason why she would attack him. Or maybe...was it because they had bumped into each other? She was from the Great family according to Ash. So maybe she didn't like the idea of a nobody like Eren making contact with her and was teaching him a lesson. Either way, Eren knew that if he got hit with any of those coins, it was over for him. He could feel it, the electric charge in the air, and how the Mana around her felt magnetic. She had somehow charged those coins with enough electromagnetic force to throw them at Eren beyond the speed of sound, a speed that even Eren had never reached. Whatever technique she was using, she was firing those guns like a Railgun. This bitch was crazy. Eren quickly tried running away from her, getting as far as he could, but she didn't stop. She bounced off from where she was, bouncing off the sky like it was a surface. Sky walking. Ash had said it was a basic technique that any good Mage or Mana warrior could use. Eren still did not have the right Mana control skill to do that. Rey stopped in the air and raised her hands. She could sense the presence of a Magnetic field, and right now through her Mana which she had imbued throughout all the rocks and debris, Eren Walker had gotten magnetized from being in contact with them. She flexed her right arm at him and activated her second spell.
[Manna control skill-Divine catch} And just like that, Eren's body was pulled by some kind of force, dragging his body towards the Hunter. He couldn't do anything about it and he was powerless. She caught him by the back of his neck and then she swung him down on the ground. There was a blast of rocks and debris as Eren was left in the middle of a small crater. Every bone in his body was broken and he could feel them healing already.
"I have to say you're tougher than you look. Your Innate ability. The one you awakened. It must be the type that enhances all Physical abilities. Which includes your body's durability." She said. Innate ability. When one Awakens, it was said that during the journey of their cultivation, their body could manifest an ability based on one's physique. The purple light that Eren had manifested that night was the activation of his innate ability based on his body's Physique. Eren's Magic and Martial powers were too weak for an Intermediate rank, so he had focused on getting the hang of using his physical enhancement ability. "But it doesn't look like you've truly mastered it yet. You've hardly mastered anything. And you want to become a Hunter."
"What of it," Eren growled. He got up from the ground, his ring blade manifesting in his right arm. His broken bones had healed so he was ok standing up. But he wouldn't lie and say he hadn't used up more power than he had meant to. This exam was supposed to be a piece of cake. But now she was ruining it all. Eren was pissed off right now.
"Is that supposed to be an Enchanted blade?" Rey said. Eren couldn't see any sign of a grimoire around her, nor was there any sign of where it was supposed to be. All she had was the bag of coins that she used for her destructive attack. "I wonder what kind of abilities that blade gives you," Eren gritted his teeth in annoyance at this woman.
"Just fucking die," Eren swore. He summoned a burst of blue flames from the ring, the intense burning flames sprang up, and then he threw the chakram at Rey.
"Incredible," Rey whispered. Her Mana which had magnetized the boy had been canceled by the release of the boy's low-quantity Mana. Rey couldn't believe what she saw before her. But she shouldn't be surprised given what she knew. She had discovered the aftereffects of the Devil transference ritual at the park, and she knew that the only one crazy enough to do something like that would be her Master. In ancient times, the ritual was used to open the spiritual gates of people through an initiation process. The initiators barely survived the ritual. Currently, it was forbidden to use such means. But Master had performed it on this boy. He had done it and the boy survived it. And now Master was missing. Rey had no idea what was going on and how the boy had anything to do with it. But there was no denying that the boy was an Irregular.
"For an Irregular, your power isn't all that," Rey said as she activated a defensive spell. There was a glow of blue translucent light around her, which then seemed to immobilize the Ring blade. Rey thought of the Sword King, one of the other Irregulars that she had met apart from this boy. Her powers compared to the boy's were like comparing the Atlas Ocean to the Lakane rivers. The boy was nowhere close to anything like a true Irregular. She manifested a bolt of pure lightning within her fingers. The current of energy sparked around her, and the boy shifted back. She moved so quickly that Eren didn't even have time to see her. Something pushed against his throat, and he coughed out blood. Eren blinked, as his sight finally focused on the Hunter so close to him. He could hear her breath, her heart beating, and then she placed her left arm on his shoulder as she whispered something to him. Her right hand was shoved right into his chest, where his heart was supposed to be. He was sure that her fingers had gone through his chest and out of his back. Eren couldn't believe it. There had been nothing he could do against her speed and power. She had been too fast, even for him to react. So ridiculous. He, who prided himself on his speed. He had built his Martial art around the explosive power he could generate with his speed and strength. She had shattered that pride like it was just glass. And now he was about to die in this dungeon, achieving nothing.