The New Bond

[When a dungeon is entered, the adventure should always be cautious. A dungeon can be reformed at any time by the core. So, any dungeon map should be taken with a grain of dust.

Another note is that some people believe that cores have sentience. That is not a proven fact, though, as it acts and appears to be more of a beast. More information is available in chapter 12, Cores. - What do dungeons do? Jola Relatum.]

Aster

Kat had been right. Everyone in every class was talking about the new dungeon, even people who didn’t want to go to it. I realized throughout each class that a new dungeon appearing was as major a deal as she had made it out to be. The talk about the dungeon didn't die down even as I walked into my last class of the day.

A new dungeon essentially meant that there was a new flow of resources that would come into the closest city. Coins, cores, Items, herbs. There was a chance for almost anything from a dungeon. I was sitting with Kat in the arena. Every student was talking or whispering about the dungeon, but it finally stopped, dying down as Herney walked in.

“I’m sure you all are curious about the events of yesterday and this morning.” That was the first thing he said. It earned several nods.

“The dungeon is real and is a grade two. Adventurers guild representatives and our own staff are currently exploring it. I had planned for at least a month of practice before a dungeon run, but as it stands, a chance like this doesn't come often, so there’s a high probability that you’ll be able to enter, with restrictions and rules.”

Several students cheered, and I pumped my fist with enthusiasm. We were going to be able to gain levels.

"As this is a grade two dungeon and you are all grade one and mostly in the lower ends of that requirement, there will be rules put in place for your safety, but it is still a dungeon, and things can happen. Because of that, all who will attend the dungeon will.be required to sign a form stating you understand the danger."

Shrugging, I switched my gaze and looked at Kat, one of my ears twitching. She turned to me, catching my look, and leaned closer, whispering. "Anything a student does that is deemed dangerous with the chance of major harm or even the loss of life requires a form to be signed so the school can't be held accountable if something happens. Some classes, like advanced alchemy, require you to sign the form before you begin. I was sort of surprised this class didn't have one."

That made sense to me. The academy wouldn't want to be held responsible for anything the student might do. I refocused on Herney as he kept talking.

"After the duels yesterday, I have a rough idea of everyone's abilities and where they stand. As most of you know, the dungeon usually allows a maximum of five people to enter at once. There are cases of more or less, but that isn't the case here. I have requested the help of some staff members and acquaintances in the adventures guild to help. As such, each group will consist of four students and one grade three or higher minder for the group."

Some of the students groaned at those words, and some even complained verbally. Herney raised his hand, silencing everyone with a look. His voice was firm and broked no disagreement on his following words.

"This is a requirement and will brook no argument. I know you don't want someone to gain part of the experience for each kill, but this is for safety. You may think that you're the best of the best because you're at this academy, but these people have been through multiple dungeons and are here to keep you alive."

Everyone had gone silent at that point, and Herney seemed satisfied as he pulled out a piece of paper.

"As for your groups, they were determined by shown skills and weapon usage. Each group will be given a corresponding letter. First is group A. The students are as follows.."

I was placed in group E with Kat, thankfully. Another student, a mage called Fernand, seemed enjoyable as well. He was dark-skinned and tall, almost as tall as Herney. His glasses and bright blue, almost glowing eyes gave him a look I expected out of all mages before I’d arrived in the city, except he was younger and lacked a beard.

Then, the last student was Wren Gerton, a person who immediately got on my wrong side by opening his mouth, something that even his blond hair and good looks couldn't fix.

"What are you? Did your mother breed with a mutt to create you?"

I didn't know what a mutt was, but the way he said it with a sneer had arrogance written all over it. The way his eyes sized me up with the sword on his hip, I had been tempted to launch myself at him, taking a step towards him, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me, and I could tell it was Kat’s. Still, I gave him the best glare I could. I didn’t want anyone talking about my mother like that.

"I want you to spend the rest of class getting to know your group and set up some kind of plan. Your minders will.be here tomorrow to get to know you." Herney said

Me and Kat exchanged a glance, but before either of us could speak, Fernand spoke up.

"Well, I guess I'll go first. I'm a force mage aiming to specialize in barriers and alchemy by the time I leave the academy." he rubbed the side of his head. "I know the two professions don't sound like they would mix well, but it's worked out so far."

I smiled at him. He was way better than Wren. I could see it being useful in specific ways, but it was aimed towards support. Kat spoke next, explaining her expertise with daggers and her flame attribute. When she finished, I opened my mouth to speak but was cut off by Wren, who spoke over me.

"I am Wren Gerton, a sword specialist of the Gerton house."

I rolled my eyes as he continued on and on. He said almost nothing about his class, speaking about his family. It continued for five whole minutes.

When he finally shut his mouth, I was able to get out what I was in a few short words, explaining I was good at ranged and had the ability to infuse frost affinity mana into my arrows. Giving a smile as I finished.

"Aster, well, it sounds like you have quite the classes, a mana ability, and party skill.

I jumped in surprise as I heard Henry's voice behind me turning around. How did all these people manage to sneak up on me? He looked over at the four of us and nodded.

"Your team lacks a front shield, but with how Mr.Wern performed, I think you should do fine for now."

Wren puffed out his chest, and I resisted the urge to laugh and scowl, but before I could complain about having him here, Herney continued. "I wanted to ask, yesterday you said you had a skill related to parties. Can you give me more details? Those skills tend to be rare and unique and differ greatly from each other."

I nodded my head, bringing up my character sheet and the skills. "I have two skills that work with each other to make a party. I've never used them before, but I can share the skills with you and try them out now? I offered

Herney pondered for a moment before he nodded. "Let's see the skills, and then let's see how they work. Better now than using them in the dungeon for the first time."

I sent over descriptions, reading over them quickly as well.

[Pack Bond - Allows for messages and view of current stats between party members, limited to 3500 feet. Grants the ability to know the innate direction of party members.]

[Pack Formation - Allows the creation of a Party limited to five. Increases shared experience in tasks completed with more than one party member.]

At the same time, I mentally activated both and blinked as a new screen appeared in front of me.

[Current Party]

[M1 - Aster - Level 32, All Info set to hidden.]

[M2 - None]

[M3 - None]

[M4 - None]

[M5 - None]

[Current Task: None]

[Current Task Bonus: +0 %]

I should have messed with the skill months ago, thinking about it, but there had been a lot I had to do. Still, I made a note to myself to test out every new skill I acquired from now on.

Turning to look up at Herney, I focused on adding him to the party, and a second later, I saw him appear in the party tab, and my eyes widened.

[Party Update: Herney "The Light Sword" Valorem - Level 168 - Added. All Info set to Hidden.]

[Party Update: Task Bonus: +3 %]

I looked up at him, and he shifted his focus from what must've been his screen to me smiling.

"This is quite the skill. I'd recommend adding your group now to get used to it."

I nodded, blinking as a new notification popped up stating that Herney had left the party.

"Good, now I will see to the rest of the groups. Be prepared when I make the rest of the announcements."

Whis his words spoken, Herney started to another group, surprising another person by walking up to him.

I turned to Kat, and she was giving me a raised eyebrow. "Well, come on, add me. I want to see what a party screen looks like."

I focused on adding her and then on the other two doing the same. Kat and Fernand accepted whatever message they got, but Wren rolled his eyes, saying, "I don't see why I need to be part of a party with lowborns all day. I'll join when we enter the dungeon if it's necessary."

I opened my mouth to tell him off with some words I’d learned in the city, but Kat cut me off, speaking over me.

“You’re just a fu-”

"That's fine by us. A group just needs to be able to work together. We don't need to be friends. Do your job, and we'll do ours." her voice held a tinge of anger.

Wren either ignored the tone of the remark or didn't catch it. He crossed his arms with a firm face and said, "That's fine by me. I don't even need a group like you to clear the dungeon. Just don't get in the way."

The group was quiet after that, and I looked over the party system, glad to have something to do. The skill had said something about sending messages, but I didn't feel anything like the bond to do so. Searching around for a minute, I was able to pull up an empty box by selecting a plus symbol at the bottom of the screen. Writing mentally was a bit weird, as every stray thought tried to write itself out.

Eventually, I was able to send a short message.

[PMS, Aster: Are we meant to have a plan for the dungeon?]

My message appeared in a purple box in the corner of my vision, and by the way, Kat and Fernand jumped slightly, and their gazes turned to me. I assumed it worked. I gave them a shrug and gestured to the air.

A moment later, an exclamation popped in the corner of my vision, and focusing on it resulted in a light orange-colored box appearing.

[PMS, Kat: Is this how this works?]

Then another.

[PMS, Kat: Woah, this will be useful.]

After her messages, another box appeared, this one yellowish-white.

[PMS, Fernand: This will indeed prove helpful. I will look into other party skills later. I'm curious how this task and task bonus work.]

I nodded, earning a weird look and scowl from Wren, and I was glad he’d not taken the offer. There was no way I was going to let him join now.

Turning away, I waited for Herney to speak. When he did, I listened half-heartedly as he explained that we'd be limited to the first floor and boss for our first visit. That earned complaints, but they didn't seem that bad. After all, from what I knew, not many got a chance to visit a dungeon this early and for free.

It was after we had split up after the class and I was walking with Kat that another notification appeared.

[Party Update: Fernand Dulkun has left the range of all party skills and chat.]

Huh, So the range was the same as the distance you could sense other members, probably. Thirty-five hundred feet was a decent distance for sure, but I wondered if there was a way to increase it. It was something I'd have to look into.

The rest of the day passed as usual, except for the excitement of finally being able to start a game of my own in the club. The table that we had been waiting on finally arrived yesterday, and the setup was done by Drekel. I was paired against Kat, with both of us being new, and found it fun if slow to start.

The next day went mostly the same as well, only really finding the enchantment class mildly difficult as we started to use a pen-like Item that took our mana, using it to burn and etch runes into metal. The Instructor said we were meant to learn another skill that would allow us to do it without the tool and would be aiding our initial skill, rune etching. At the end of the course, having forgotten the previous day, to my embarrassment, I showed him the runes I'd found on Umbra's band. He seemed surprised to see them, and after promising that I would only be trying to replicate them once we reached that section, he showed me what each one did. Most of them were reinforcement runes with additional runes to auto-clean and repair the band. All of them were harmless, just highly advanced.

There was also a change of pace in the Natural Magics course. Until today, we had just been meditating. Elder Trekum, however, had changed what we were doing now, having the entire class by having us try to keep our eyes open while meditating. The process proved extremely difficult. Every time I tried to use the skill to do so, my eyes would close on their own. It was a major struggle. I found myself leaving the class without being able to do so yet, but I had a small idea of how to go about it.

As I was making my way to the adventure course, I received another set of party messages.

[Party Update: Fernand Dulkun has entered the range of all party skills and chat.]

[Party Update: Kathleen “Kat” Tenar has entered the range of all party skills and chat.]

[PMS, Kat: We’re in the left corner of the arena. Fernand had some information on the party skill, and our minder is here.]

[PMS, Fernand: Thanks, I did find something exciting out, but I was hoping to make it a surprise.]

I didn't bother replying, having already walked into the arena, spotting my group now with another person there. She was tall, and I could immediately pick out that she was an elf by her ears. Dressed in loose white robes and her brown hair freely flowing halfway down her back, I had to admit she looked endearing. She was holding a wooden staff that she was leaning against and seemed relaxed. She turned to face me as I walked over and smiled, her light emerald-colored eyes holding curiosity but no rudeness.

I waved a hand, enjoying the way my tail started to say. "Hi! I'm Aster. I'm assuming you’re our minder for the dungeon?" I tilted my head briefly, looking around and spotting other people in staff uniforms or armor that weren't usually there. One was with each group.

"I am. My name is Ellysa, an old member of Herney’s party. I must say Herney's whole party had quite a chuckle when he explained what you had done with his summon." She laughed.

"Oh, It was just an idea I was curious about. All wolves really do seem to like food."

Ellysa gave a smile and then looked at all of us. "Now that everyone is here, I will fully introduce myself. I am Ellysa, a platinum-raked adventure or a grade five focused on healing. Although I can cast some offensive spells, Herney has made it clear that the Minders are only here to keep you safe, give recommendations, and call off the party if it gets too hard for your group or if something unexpected happens."

All of us nodded, even Wern.

"Excellent," Elyssa clasped her hands together, somehow the staff not moving, staying straight up, "then I just have a few questions to clear so I can understand what you know about dungeons. "First, who knows what a dungeon is?"

There was a pause as no one answered before Fernand spoke up. "That's not a fair question. No one really knows, but we use it to gain experience and items that are inside the dungeon. The most likely answer is that the system creates them for challenges for sentient races." He spoke as if he was reading from a book, and I eyed him curiously.

"Great answer and correct. The main answer I was looking for is why we use them. Perhaps I should have been more clear, but yes, we use them to level as it's a reliable place to find monsters and special items and resources. It's one reason if you look at a map, you'll notice cities and towns usually pop up around them." she tapped her hand on her staff and hummed as we all took in the information before she asked another question.

"Do any of you know why or how a dungeon is graded?"

I shook my head, and so did Kat. Fernand nodded and opened his mouth, but before he could speak. Wren spoke up, "They are based on what level the highest level creatures are at and the amount of floors the dungeon has."

"Very good, almost correct, but you missed one detail. Do you know what that is?" She turned her gaze to Fernand.

"The bosses. There is always one grade higher than the floor, and if the grade of the dungeon is two, then the second floor will have a grade-three boss," he answered after a moment of thought.

Elyssa smiled, a hint of her white teeth showing. "Correct! Every dungeon has a creature type: bugs, cold creatures, undead, and so on. What creature type is this dungeon?"

None of us has the answer to her disappointment. "You should always have an idea of what you’re going to fight. You don't want to bring the wrong weapon to a fight. What if all of the creatures spit acid or are venomous?"

She pulled out a paper from a pouch on her hip. "Even if the guild doesn't have ownership of the dungeon, they have made a report on it.'' She passed the paper to Fernand. "Read this and explain to your team what to expect."

He immediately started to scan over the paper. After only a minute of the rest of us waiting, he looked up mildly surprised and hesitated a minute before speaking, "The dungeon uses draconic monsters, traps, and puzzles. What does that even mean?"

"Dragon-like, don't expect to fight any dragons. Instead, monsters that have some of their abilities or attributes. Though on the latter floors, there might be something close to a dragon. With those out of the way, I want you three to prepare as best as possible. The academy is still in the process of setting up a teleportation circle, which should be done at the start of next week." Elyssa looked over the group of us and then nodded. "That should do for now."

I felt my ears droop as she finished her questions. I hadn't been able to answer any of the questions reliably. I really didn't know anything about dungeons.

A hand on my shoulder made me look up to see Kat, and she smiled before whispering.

"Look, you can show your worth like me when we're in the dungeon. I've seen you shoot. You're amazing with a bow." Her smile became devious as she continued, "And we'll have time to go to that party."

I tilted my head and then nodded slowly. I would be able to show off. I would have to make sure Roslin knew I was heading off to a dungeon as well. Umbra wouldn't be happy either, but I didn't want to fall behind in leveling, and I would get us some more cake before returning tonight. I smiled at the thought of more cake.

"Aster?" I blinked and looked over to Kat. She was giving me a weird look. Realizing that I zoned out, I blushed.

"Oh, um, sorry. I was just thinking of something. What did you say?"

Kat giggled. "I said, what armor do you have for the dungeon?"

"Armor? I don't have any."

"You have no armor, none at all?" Fernand asked skeptically, "Even after applying to a course that involves fighting beasts and monsters?"

Wren snorted. "Just what you'd expect from a lowborn."

I glared at him and crossed my arms defensively. "I've never needed any."

"You should look into getting some, at least, a form of light armor. Even pure mages wear something," Kat said, turning my attention to her. I reluctantly had to agree. I'd seen the armor the guards, riders, and others had worn, and with some of the beast Umbra described, it'd be a good idea to get some.

"I'll look into it." I finally said after a pause. By that, I meant I didn't want to get something I wouldn't be able to wear when I was with Umbra.

"Oh, there was also that party you wanted to talk about, Fernand?" I asked as I thought about it, wanting to also change the subject off of me partly.

"Yes, that.." Fernand cast a look at Wren meaningfully. "What about we talk about it after this course?"

I nodded, and after a small talk about the dungeon, we were free from the course. The three of us headed to the cafeteria and picked a table to sit at. Fernand wasted no time, even ignoring the food we picked up along the way to start speaking.

"That skill, or those skills you have, are rare. I went to the library. Apparently, party skills can be given to any class above rare, and some even work together like your two skills, granting the abilities of both skills. One in about fifty people with rare classes. In higher rarities, the skill type tends to be more common."

He took a breath, not having paused much in his explanation, and Kat took the time to butt in, glancing at me. "Well, it's obvious you have a rare class with your ears and still showing as human, but if the skill is that rare, shouldn't it be better to keep it hidden?"

Fernand shook his head. "No, well, it depends on what the party skill does. Every skill is unique to its class. That being said, your skill is really rare." He leaned in close. "Your skill grants a task and gives experience bonuses for the more people you have in your party when doing that task."

"Task? What are those, in this sense?" I spoke in the same low voice that Fernand had adopted.

"Well, it's like a quest but specific to a whole party, not just a person. The chances of that type of party ability is low to the point only a few dozen people in this city even have it."

Kat whistled, leaning back and taking a look around.

"So my skill can give a party quest, then? Is it really that big of a deal? What does a task even do?"

Fernand made a choking noise and stared at me. Kat snorted and gave me a pat on the head, something I didn't know how to feel about. "She's from a village that didn't have a lot of information."

"I'm right here, you know? How does it work?" I looked at Fernand.

"Well, it only works if it's a group goal and has some sort of difficulty. There's not really a way to start a task on purpose. It just happens. The book wasn't entirely clear, and the library here doesn't allow for taking books out of it. The part it was clear on was the rewards. Completing a task grants experience, items, weapons, really anything."

That meant we could get levels from doing something we were already doing. And the more people in the party, the higher the experience gained? It sounded a bit too good to be true, but I wasn't going to pass up on a way to get more experience.

"Hey, how about today we go shopping before you head back to your place? Look at the armor they have around?" Kat said after a bit more discussion on the skill.

Wanting to agree, I almost did so without thinking, but after a moment and some common sense, I shook my head. Umbra deserved my attention first.

"I can't, but we can tomorrow if you want. All three of us could? I think it'll be a good idea to get to know each other more before we head into the dungeon?"

They both agreed, and I left a little later, only stopping on the way to the tower to buy a few cakes of various flavors at a baking shop. To my surprise, Umbra wasn't in the courtyard when I got there. Pulling on our bond showed her in our room. What was strange was she didn't reply when I tried to speak to her. Was she upset that I hadn't said goodbye last time?

Opening the door, I planned to go straight to the room but was stopped by Roslin, who was coming down the stairs. She looked mildly annoyed and maybe even angry. I'd yet to see her angry before.

"Ah, there you are, Aster. Let's have a quick talk."

It wasn't a request. It was a statement. I wasn't going to do anything dumb, like ignoring her, so I followed her back down the stairs.