The black-haired young man stood up and announced in a soft voice. "The na's Devin, Rank 1, I'm good at sneaking and fighting with daggers." He plopped back down.
The twins were up next, the boy stood first, while the girl tried to hide behind him. "My na is Lloyd, and this is my sister, Rita. We're both Rank 1. I can use a spear pretty well, and my sister is a good shot with her bow." He looked around nervously for a second before sitting back down.
The elf girl was the next to stand. She spoke in a quiet, almost emotionless voice. "Call Tal. Rank 2." She gestured to the armored figure. "This is jimanethial, an earth spirit."
"A pact mage?" Philona broke in. "Take note class. Mages of any kind are a valuable commodity in the guild, and pact mage's are second only to true summoner and healers in terms of demand." She turned to look at Tal, "I suspect that you will have a large number of party invitations once your abilities are known."
Tal simply nodded in return, seemingly unconcerned, before sitting down again.
Philona continued, "Much like Summoners, Pact Mages are able to control spirits and otherworldly entities to fight for them. The only major difference is that pact mage's tend to have fewer and less powerful servants, but are also able to use magic independent of their minions. If you get a chance to work with one in the future, consider yourself lucky."
There was a brief mont of silence as she motioned to the next student.
"I guess that ans I'm up," the dog beastman said while jumping to his feet. "I'm Brenden, and although I'm only a Rank 1, I'm really close to getting Rank 2. You can leave the front line to , because I'm sturdy and good with a sword." He announced proudly, a goofy grin plastered across his face.
"Yes, thank you for that." The instructor comnted dryly before looking over at Mike.
Sighing, he stood and delivered the short speech he'd been ntally rehearsing. "My na is Michael, but you all can call Mike. I'm Rank 3. In terms of combat skills, I usually use a combination of swordsmanship and elental magic. I'm best at fire magic, but I can use water and healing as well."
There was a brief silence in which all the other students simply stared at him. Even the elf started looking at him with interest, although Mike could have been imagining it.
"So you are capable of using elental healing?" Philona pressed.
"Yes..." Mike answered hesitantly. He wasn't complete sure of the origins of his skill, but judging from the explanation on magic he had received from Morris, it likely fell under Elental Magic.
She frowned in consideration for a mont before considering, "As an Iron Ranked Adventurer, this course should be optional to you. Are you still interested in attending? While I won't force you to, I can waive the tuition fee if you agree to provide healing services to the students free of charge for the duration of the session."
Mike had planned on attending anyway, and hadn't even known there was a tuition fee, so he readily agreed. "I'm new here, and I feel that the class could be beneficial, so I'd like to participate."
"Very well. Class you should all consider yourselves lucky. Not only will you have a chance to watch a pact mage in action, but you can rely on an elental healer for support."
She started pacing around the room, in a full on lecture mode.
"For those of you who are unaware, elental healing is the rarest type of healing. While practitioners of the skill tend to lack the versatility of their Arcane, Divine, or Pact counterparts, no other mage can achieve the sa feats of healing. Highly skilled elental healers have been known to heal fatal wounds in seconds, cure deadly diseases and poisons, and even regenerate lost limbs."
The majority of the group was now looking at Mike with sothing close to awe.
"That's so cool! Can you teach ?" Brenden asked enthusiastically.
Philona cut in sharply. "Not only is that likely impossible, since elental healing is uncommon skill associated with only a few rare classes, but it would take far too much ti even if you did have the talent to learn it."
She looked at the now subdued beastman for a mont before continuing. "Now, if you will all follow , we'll start heading down to the dungeon. In the an ti I will explain a little bit about how the dungeon works."
She opened another door on the opposite side of the one the all entered by and led the group down a long staircase, speaking all the while.
"The Wyrport Dungeon was discovered underneath the city centuries ago. Many believe that the death of the Great Wyrm Tempestus in the area we now refer to as Wyrmrest Lake led to the creation of the dungeon as the Wyrm's power suffused the region. Whether this is true or not, the dungeon nevertheless features a large number of draconically influenced monsters."
As the group reached the bottom of the stairs, she led them through another hallway. "These sa monsters are a large part of what drives the local economy, and dungeon delving adventurers play a major role in that. Now, how many of you are familiar with how dungeons work?"
Tal was the only one to raise her hand. Philona nodded before continuing.
"Dungeons are essentially multilayered pocket dinsions that form in areas of concentrated mana. While each one is unique, they all follow a few basic rules."
She held up three fingers and started counting them off.
"First and foremost, each party or solo adventurer that enters through the dungeon portal will encounter a fresh, unexplored dungeon the first ti they delve. Secondly, the progress you make exploring the dungeon is sohow tracked by the dungeon itself. Every ti you clear a floor another portal appears, allowing delvers to jump right back into their exploration after leaving and returning. Thirdly, the creatures found in the dungeon are all magically created, lack basic intelligence, and leave concentrated mana cores behind. These mana cores are a valuable commodity used in the creation of magic items, so the guild is willing to purchase them for a reasonable price."
The group arrived a large, locked door. Philona opened it with an ornate-looking key without pausing her lecture.
"There are a few other things to keep in mind. Monsters get stronger the deeper you go. Treasure chests with valuable items and materials appear seemingly at random. Every floor has so type of elite monster that delvers are required to defeat before they can advance to the next. In the event a delver is successful in clearing all floors of the dungeon, they are awarded a special item or unique skill. This probably all sounds a little too good to be true."
She stopped and looked seriously at the group.
"Well, it is. So will tell you that dungeons are a blessing of the system, designed to help delvers beco stronger."
She paused, letting her gaze linger for a mont on Mike. "I'm here to tell you that dungeons are not your ally, and if you let your guard down while delving, it could an the death of you or your party mbers."
She made sure to look each student in the eye before continuing, directing them into a large chamber. A shimring doorway of energy could be seen along one wall. Dozens of adventurers were entering and exiting this doorway seeming to travel to and from a large tunnel, which Mike figured was the main entrance.
"Before we enter the dungeon, we will need to register as a party to avoid being split up. Thankfully dungeons recognize parties ford through the guild, so this is a relatively easy process. Simply form a circle and place your guild marked hands in the center."
Mike rested his hand on top of Philona's and the rest of the group followed suit.
The instructor announced, "Register party: Philona's Students." The guild marks on each of their hands flashed.
"Now we are all considered part of the sa party, so we will all arrive at the first floor of the dungeon together. As a veteran delver, I would ordinarily be starting much deeper, but, since the majority of the party is new to this dungeon, we will start at the beginning. When you are ready, follow ."
She walked up to the glowing doorway and stepped through. Mike noticed that the rest of the group was feeling hesitant, so he decided to make the first move and followed the instructor. Passing though the portal felt like being enveloped in cold, silken sheets for a brief mont before he was on the other side.
He found himself in a stone cavern. For so reason the walls themselves seed to be emitting a faint light. It wasn't quite enough light for him to be comfortable with it, but it was more than enough to see by. While he walked over to Philona to wait for the rest of the group, he couldn't help but marvel at a world in which such a convenient thing as dungeons occurred naturally.
After a few minutes the rest of the group joined them. Mike noticed that the humans all looked nervous, while Tal remained aloof, and Brenden looked excited.
"Welco to the first layer of the Wyrport Dungeon. The goal of today's exercise is to give you all so practical experience in fighting dungeon monsters, identify so common mistakes made by new delvers, and defeat the first floor boss. Are there any questions?"
A panicked looking Lloyd raised his hand, "Are we really fighting the boss? Aren't they a lot stronger than the rest of the monsters on the floor?"
"That's true, but don't be concerned. I have defeated the first floor boss on nurous occasions, and I have every confidence that today will be no different."
She motioned for the group to follow her. "The most common monsters on the first layer are kobolds. They look like a cross between a dog and a humanoid lizard, and are a little shorter than . Most are skinny, and relatively weak. Typically, on this floor, they appear as single individuals, or at most, a pair. So, I want to see each of you take down a kobold before we move on to the boss. Devin, you're up first."
The dark haired boy nodded, and as Mike watched, he seed to blur into the shadows becoming almost unnoticeable. Devin slid into the corridor ahead of them, and as soon as Philona gave the go ahead the group followed.
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