Death Mage with an SS-Rank Talent

As days went by and Aaron slowly increased his strength, he started to use some items from his storage for his parents. When he gave them, they protested first, but in the end, they ended up taking them to use for themselves.

These were all the items that he gained either through Jay or from the tournaments that he won, before everything changed due to the attacks from cults. If not, more resources could have been earned from the tournaments that should have been held.

Even the annual tournament between academies was scrapped.

Though there were first-year students available, there were not enough staff to organise and conduct the activities.

To conduct the tournament, a lot of staff were needed. It was not just to organise but also to protect the participants from certain death during the trials.

It would be one thing if a student dies inside a dungeon, which hasn't happened in the controlled dungeons in a long time or in the wild where dangers lurk everywhere, but if they went missing during a tournament, that would be a bad image for the alliance.

So, the year's tournament was scrapped. Instead of that, more tournaments were held in the academy itself. This way, there would be less danger from external threats, and the chances of someone entering the tournament area and causing massive destruction would be reduced.

If an alliance tournament were held, it would be done publicly, and there is a high chance that someone could slip by, either during the initial round to eliminate more students at the same time or during the final round, where there would be a chance for them to cause civilian casualties.

With how things were going, even the capital didn't have enough security to guarantee that no one would be harmed.

So, the alliance just scrapped the tournament for the year, and of course, that worked in Dusk Academy's favour.

The headmaster was worried that they might not be able to keep their second rank this time, and with the possibility of Sword Academy trying to harm their students, as a form of revenge for what happened in the previous year.

With the cancellation, the previous year's ranks were taken for resource allocation, which Sword Academy has protested against, but there was nothing they could do about that.

Even though the tournaments increased, the resources gained were slightly reduced. As the war dragged on, the resources required increased, and the treasury was slowly draining.

Everywhere, the resources are in short supply.

Even Jay started finding it difficult to find resources to trade, slowing down his progress.

"I need to find ways to get my hands on resources that can help my parents soon. I feel that the cults might make their move sooner rather than later. The war extended for a long time. I don't think that they can sustain the war for too long, unless they want to self-destruct, but before they stop the war, they would certainly make a few attacks that would be remembered forever, like someone who destroyed their plans", Aaron thought to himself.

He was right about that.

The cults would definitely make moves that can be remembered for a long time.

"It looks like I need to find dungeons outside, but I don't know if there are any. Whatever that was near should have already fallen into the hands of one of the organisations", Aaron muttered to himself.

"Even if that is the case, I should check the surroundings and see if there are any dungeons. If there are, I can exchange with one of those organisations for the resources I need or the chance to earn those resources", Aaron decided.

To find a dungeon, he even took a day's leave.

---

With the day off, Aaron went outside the city walls.

He has never done that in his life. Well, he went outside, but he was inside a train when that happened. Sure, in other cities, he did, but while in Rock City, he never ventured outside of the walls that protected the city from external threats.

This was his first time, leaving Rock City like this and exploring the forest outside.

Aaron entered the forest area and started to explore. Near the walls, he encountered a few hunters, who reduced as he went farther from the city walls.

"I should use Perception instead of just relying on the Vision", Aaron thought.

He started to make use of his high perception value and began examining the surroundings thoroughly.

He chose to use perception because it is a better tool for finding hidden items. If any dungeons appeared on the surface, in a visible area, they should have already been claimed by someone else long ago.

So, the possibility of finding a dungeon is very unlikely.

As it is, he needed to check hidden areas to see if there were dungeons tucked away from open areas. Those are the only chances of finding one.

After searching for more than an hour, he finally felt something.

"Looks like I found something", Aaron muttered as he turned towards the area from where he felt the sensation.

When he arrived at the area, he only saw tall shrubs, but he could feel a small crevice hidden in those shrubs. He quickly made his way towards the crevice, but at the same time made sure that he didn't make any footprints.

If there is really a dungeon, he needs to keep it a secret until he can make a deal with the other party. Until then, it needs to be a secret. No one can know it.

He entered the crevice, which was long and narrow, but big enough for him to pass. After walking uncomfortably for five minutes, he appeared in an opening.

It was then he saw what was present in the cave.

"Wait, are those two portals?" Aaron was surprised by what he was seeing at the moment.

Dungeons don't form near each other, unless someone placed them nearby. Even then, there would be a sufficient distance from each other, so that energy from one dungeon wouldn't affect the other one.

Here, there were two portals, close by, which means two portals, and definitely a natural formation. Aaron has never heard or read about such formations.

"Maybe they are so rare that no one has found them, or found them kept to themselves, or restricted access", Aaron thought of three possibilities.

There are other possibilities, a mix of all or the ones who were found dead, but that second one would be less likely, as someone should have seen and collected the dungeons.

"Well, it doesn't matter. There are two dungeons. It means double the profits for me", Aaron chuckled to himself.

"Hahaha, as I thought, those hidden and special attributes come in handy, more than one thinks. Max Luck surely making its best", he smiled internally, afraid that if he laughed too loudly, he could attract attention from forest monsters or hunters nearby.

There is no guarantee that whatever sounds he makes wouldn't be heard by others if they were near the shrubs. If anyone hears, they would definitely check it out, especially if it were other humans.

Two dungeons, that's a lot of wealth, and they might believe that silencing Aaron is not wrong. They may fail, but it could create a lot of problems later on.

Who knows who those humans are connected to?

Also, Aaron read in books that there are methods to track someone's killer, if they had anything related to the person killed.

In situations like this, how could he prove that he was the one who found the dungeons, and they tried to steal from him?

There was no way to say what happened between them. If he could have evidence to prove his innocence or others' guilt, then he wouldn't mind killing the guilty party.

Since that is not possible, without making any sounds, Aaron quickly entered the dungeon.