Training Week Before the First Dungeon Practice

The training week to prepare for the first dungeon practice had begun. The lower-class mage students had gathered at the magic training grounds. Under Professor Lucas's instructions for a skills assessment, they were taking turns demonstrating their magic in front of him.

"Show me the magic you're most confident in first."

It was my turn.

"Yes. It's Magic Missile."

Confident or not, the only magic I could use right now was Magic Missile, the basic spell that every mage knew.

"Hmm... Well, that's fine. Go ahead."

Professor Lucas scribbled something down with his quill pen and pointed at a scarecrow target in the distance. I immediately prepared a Magic Missile. Naturally, it was a regular one without any stacking.

Bang!

It struck the scarecrow with a surprisingly loud noise for a single Magic Missile. Professor Lucas, who had gauged its approximate power through the magic tool connected to the scarecrow, looked slightly surprised.

"Your Magic Missile is excellent."

Even outside the lower class, my Magic Missile was genuinely powerful. It had been level 10 when I first enrolled, and now it was at level 11. Normally, once a skill reached double digits, its level rose incredibly slowly. But because I'd been spamming nothing but Magic Missile for the past month, it had gone up another level recently.

At this point, even accounting for my pathetic mana pool, the skill level was so high that my Magic Missile wouldn't lose out even when compared to the upper class.

"I'm curious about your other spells as well."

Professor Lucas looked at me with clear anticipation on his face. Unfortunately, I couldn't meet his expectations.

"I haven't learned any other magic yet."

"What? Ahem..."

As expected, Professor Lucas's expression quickly turned to disappointment. I thought I could hear other students whispering behind me. It made sense. It had only been a month since the academy semester started. Even in the lower class, most mage students were already starting to learn and train with other spells by now.

Things like the Magic Shield I'd used from a scroll, the next-tier attack spell Energy Pulse, or even Light, which was about the same difficulty as Magic Missile and illuminated the surroundings. Since we were in the lower class, we hadn't learned any elemental magic suited to our aptitudes yet, but it was definitely time to have mastered the basic non-elemental spells.

Professor Lucas looked deeply disappointed that a student who'd received his teachings for a whole month hadn't learned a single new spell.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"It's good to be solid on the basics, but you need to learn other magic too. You never know what might happen in a dungeon."

Professor Lucas scolded me in a stern tone. Then, as if revising his evaluation of me, he crossed out what he'd first written with sharp strokes and jotted down something new. I gave him a short reply and returned to my spot.

"He still only knows Magic Missile?"

"He's E-grade, isn't he? It's a miracle he even got in here."

As I walked back, I could hear the whispers that had been going on earlier. I'd heard them so often they were familiar by now, and I couldn't exactly disagree.

Still a one-trick pony with nothing but Magic Missile.

To learn new magic in this game system, I had to trigger an 'enlightenment.' Even if I failed, the more I attempted a new spell, the higher the chance of gaining enlightenment for it. But my mana was so pathetically low that the number of times I could even practice a new spell was severely limited.

Even with Magic Shield, I could only practice it five or six times at most in one go. Mana potions didn't restore mana instantly, and drinking too many in a short time built up resistance, slowing recovery even further. With such a tiny mana pool to begin with, there was a hard limit.

When I thought about eventually facing the Cult bastards, increasing my mana capacity was the top priority.

The easiest and fastest way was to absorb magic stones that dropped from dungeons. It hadn't been announced yet, but if I placed in the top five during this dungeon practice, I'd receive a magic stone as a prize.

I planned to take first place in this assignment together with Warren.

In the morning, each lower-class group received their individual assessments. In the afternoon, all the lower-class students gathered for practical training.

The training was very straightforward. Enter one of the indoor training rooms and defeat all the scarecrow monsters inside. Two randomly paired students would form a team, quickly take down the fake monsters, and come back out.

The monsters were just scarecrows, but illusion magic had been applied to make it feel more realistic. Still, this was only the first day of training week, and the difficulty was adjusted to the lower-class level, so even plain Magic Missile without stacking would be more than enough.

The only catch was that if Professor Lucas didn't approve your run, you'd have to retry until you passed. It was better to finish quickly and secure some personal training time.

It obviously couldn't compare to the real dungeon practice in the main game, but since training attitude was also factored into the assignment evaluation, doing well would help my chances of getting that magic stone.

Of course, I was confident no matter who I got paired with, but...

"Of all people, why did I get stuck with this guy?"

A real pain in the ass had been randomly assigned to my team. The guy paired with me this time was Alden. His class was Guardian, just like Glover before him, using a one-handed sword and shield. Within the lower class, he was considered fairly skilled.

As a proper tank class, he should have had good synergy with me, a mage, but...

"Don't get in my way and just stay back like a good little coward."

The problem was his rotten personality.

It was our turn. I stepped into the training room, grateful that I wouldn't actually have to enter a real dungeon with this guy.

The training room had been designed with a dark, eerie atmosphere to mimic a dungeon. Thick fog covered both sides, from which the prepared fake monsters would emerge in three separate waves.

"You're... not scared already, are you? Just trust me."

His voice was trembling. It seemed like Alden was the one who was actually scared ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stiff, yet he was still talking big to me.

Along with Professor Lucas's voice, I heard what sounded like doors opening on both sides. And soon after...

Creak. Skitter.

The first wave of monsters appeared.

"Hiiik...!"

Alden greeted the monsters with a bizarre shriek.

Frost Crawlers. A fancy name, but they were really just big frozen spiders. At their core, they were just scarecrows with illusions cast on them.

But this Alden guy looked like he'd frozen up the moment he saw the spiders. It would have been nice if he'd at least tank the front and take out one or two, but he wasn't moving at all. Even the mouth that had been running nonstop seemed to have frozen shut.

I immediately prepared a barrage of Magic Missiles. Thanks to Kael's trait, I could fire five shots in a row even without the stacking staff. The spiders weren't very fast because of their frozen nature.

Bang! Bang!

Treating it like target practice on moving objects, I steadily took them down one by one as they approached. They were the weakest monsters that would appear in the ice cave, and the difficulty had been lowered to match the lower-class level, so it was one-shot, one-kill. It was simply a matter of time.

"S-see? It's nothing. I didn't even need to step in. I left the easiest ones for you so you wouldn't fail to pass today."

His mouth was definitely alive and well. While I was the one destroying all the ice spiders, Alden had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just stood there doing nothing, yet he kept bragging loudly.

Personally, I hoped his bravado was sincere. It would make finishing this training faster and easier.

Kieek! Kyaaak!

The second wave of monsters appeared right after.

"Hwaaack...!"

Alden let out another bizarre scream. I could see his shield trembling in his hands. So much for "just trust me."

These were Frozen Specters. Grotesque bat-like monsters that resembled ghosts. They tried to scare their victims with eerie cries and appearances before sucking their blood. Of course, even these could be easily dealt with using my level 11 Magic Missile.

They were annoying to hit since they flew around, though.

While I prepared my Magic Missiles, Alden slowly crept backward step by step. Come to think of it, all the ice cave monsters looked somewhat scary regardless of how strong they actually were. The main purpose of this practice was probably to give new students their first dungeon experience and build up their courage.

But even so, a tank hiding behind a mage? I fired my Magic Missiles one after another, hoping Alden wouldn't piss himself.

Alden and I finished all three waves and came out of the room. Because Alden had been completely useless, it took longer than I'd expected, but we had safely defeated everything and exited.

Alden was standing next to me, putting every ounce of effort into maintaining a composed expression. Yeah. I know exactly what you did in there.

"This team still had one person who passed, at least."

At Professor Lucas's words, the students began whispering among themselves.

"As expected of Alden."

"Those things looked really scary. He must've cleared it in one go."

"Isn't he the first one today to pass on the first try?"

At the other students' comments, Alden's face turned bright red as he desperately tried to hide it.

"Kael, you may leave. You, go to the back of the line."

I bowed politely to Professor Lucas and moved aside. The lower-class students standing in the back line suddenly fell silent. They wore expressions that suggested they couldn't believe what the professor had just said.

But at the very end of the long line, someone was waving their hand excitedly. It was Dane, the only person in the lower class I was actually close with. He'd gone right before me, yet there he was, standing at the very back with a big grin on his face.

You're supposed to be one of the protagonist candidates like Warren, aren't you?

At Dane's carefree attitude, I could only shake my head internally as I left the training grounds. I needed to meet up with Warren and prepare something more helpful.