(In A Glass Room On The Last Floor Of The Professors' Building)
"Hmm..."
"What's the matter, Kylie?" asked a slightly older woman with black hair and freckles across her cheeks.
"Oh, Mrs. Wednesday... it's nothing much. The council just asked only me to compile the data for the first years." Kylie, a beautiful young woman with brown hair and dark orange eyes, looked up at Professor Wednesday.
Wednesday rested her slightly worn hand on her jaw. "You're Class B's homeroom teacher, so I assumed you'd be finished by now."
Kylie clicked her tongue loudly. "Don't get me started. Elizabeth was responsible for it, but since she's reached the peak of A-rank, she was exempted."
Just as Wednesday opened her mouth to speak, Professor Kelvin, the same rock-and-roll examiner, entered the general staff room. "You're still here, Kylie? I thought your class was leaving school today?"
"Oh hey, Kev. As you know, that witch refused to help me, so here I am, stuck doing all the work," Kylie exclaimed with an exasperated sigh.
"But isn't it just compiling student numbers and IDs? It shouldn't be that difficult," Wednesday remarked.
Kylie had expected them to say that, but what she had seen in the documents was unsettling, and the fact that the princess had reported a student barely two days in only added more weight.
'Who exactly is this Kaiser kid?' she wondered, then turned her gaze toward Kelvin.
"Kelvin, do you know anything about this Kaiser kid?" she asked.
After a moment, Kelvin shook his head. "No, there's only three pieces of information about him: one, he's incredibly handsome; two, he's manipulative; and lastly, he's said to be intelligent."
Kylie took a moment before replying. "I see, handsome and intelligent."
'I guess that explains how he managed to answer a question even I didn't know.' She flipped to the next page, which listed the students the council had their eyes on.
Matthew Von Silver, the undeniable genius of the century, with an ability that allowed him to borrow powers from the gods.
Then there was the Eldrian witch and saintess candidate, the anomaly, Anica Abraham.
Derick Hillman and Edo Ikenna, who were said to be on par with Matthew.
Cordelia Blackwood, Rachel Von Silver, and Amelia Reinhardt, considered the strongest females among the first-years.
Ivy Lies, the top alchemy student; Lee Jisoo, the queen of druids; and many other remarkable students.
'This year's freshers are just a collection of monsters placed in a single set.'
Kylie smiled, but even among the top twenty listed geniuses, one name stood out—an oddity that piqued the council's interest not only due to his exam results but also because, according to Lady Lisa, he had intentionally expelled a teacher by manipulating everyone—
Kaiser Vanguard, the irregular, and arguably the most brilliant among the first-years.
Beyond his brief display of intellect during the entrance exam, no one truly knew the extent of his abilities.
"If he's Charlotte's brother, he might surprise us," Kylie whispered.
'I'll be watching all of you, especially you, Kaiser Vanguard.' A mischievous smile curved her lips. 'Maybe I'll steal that witch's prized possession.'
-----
(Dungeon Class – Kai's POV)
"Haaa!!!"
I sighed deeply. It had already been thirty minutes since we'd been standing in front of the glowing gate.
At this point in the novel, gates were generally categorized into four types: blue gates, red gates, purple gates, and orange gates.
Sky-blue gates were those that hadn't been cleared yet, with minimal risk of a dungeon break.
In contrast, orange gates were the opposite—cleared gates, like the one before me.
Red gates, however, were blue gates with unreadable energy signatures. Once a mage entered to clear it, they became trapped until completion.
However, since the readings were inaccurate, the rank might also be wrong.
For instance, a supposed Tier Eight gate might turn out to be a Tier Seven or Six, making red gates extremely dangerous.
Finally, purple gates were those broken open by drifters that had inhabited them.
"Rank 73, Kaiser Vanguard—join group seven," the professor called.
It seemed the issue they were working on had finally been resolved, though I already knew what the problem was.
That's why, unlike the others, I brought extra supplies in a larger bag. To others, I might have looked foolish.
Though the gate before us was classified as an orange gate, it was in an unusual condition—most likely caused by our professor, Alya, who would go to any lengths to draw new students to the demonic side.
The first three weeks of the first year were a crucial scouting period for major organizations targeting students with potential.
The dungeon we were about to enter was called Nefertari, a special dungeon yet to be seen before, created as an experiment by the demonic humans to revive fallen gates.
It was also the ideal setup for both testing the gate and identifying students who were already succumbing to their evil urges.
That's why so many would die before the Deerheart case.
This raised the question, why didn't the school intervene sooner?
The gate had been designed so that time inside moved differently. By the time the projection showing the dungeon's interior activated, nearly ten students had already been corrupted or killed.
An additional three would perish before the gate could reopen.
All of this occurred within one hour in the real world, but three days inside the dungeon.
I rose from the floor and approached the instructor.
"Yes, sir."
The man simply pointed at a group of students, visibly disinterested in me, which, frankly, I preferred.
Who in their right mind would want a demonic priest's attention? Certainly not me.
I scanned the area, searching for the team he indicated among the many groups.
Eventually, my eyes landed on a group of only three students. Each team was supposed to have four members—five, ideally—but due to the rarity of healers, we had to make do without one.
Fortunately, I had made arrangements, borrowing some potions from Anica.
As a saintess, she could store divine blessings in potion flasks usable by mages, though they were significantly more expensive than standard alchemist potions.
As I examined the faces of my soon-to-be teammates, I felt both relief and annoyance. Two of the faces were familiar—one I got along with, the other… not so much.
Amelia sat on the floor, gracefully eating a sandwich, while a girl stood beside her, a sword at her waist.
And next to them—
"Joshua," I murmured.
Seeing me approach, Amelia leapt up, swallowed her food, and waved.
"Hey, looks like we're on the same team," I said, speaking first.
With a cheerful smile and her hands behind her back, she replied, "Yeah, I hope we do well."
Joshua scowled at me, but I couldn't care less about his expression. If anything, I had more reason to be upset.
And as I've said before, I'm not the type to let go of grudges—it's just not in my nature. Which meant before I cooperated with him, he'd be receiving a few beatings.
"Now that all the teams have been announced." The professor's voice was firm. If I didn't know the plot, no amount of proof would make me believe he was a demonic priest. "We will now depart."
I noticed his gaze shift from Matt's team to Derrick's, Ikenna's, and finally to mine—though it was directed at Amy, not me.
"Stand before the gate, mages. You will be deployed to different locations..." he explained. "The rules are simple: find your team, survive as long as you can without activating your badge, and the team with the most drifter cores wins."
Just as he said, the rules were easy to understand.
There were ten teams in total, and each cadet wore a badge on their tracksuit that recorded their scores, since only B-ranks and above could retrieve drifter cores from dungeons—which meant; something else was needed to gauge how much cores a cadet absorbed.
The onyx badge also monitored heart rate and vital signs. So if any cadet's readings went critical, the school would extract them.
If a cadet chose to withdraw, they could simply press the badge's stop button.
Red indicated danger, Blue a high score, Black nothing, and Gold was reserved for the top three.
An additional rule was also in place: if a student forced another to forfeit or stole someone's badge, they would gain that person's accumulated score, and so on.
"Now, without further delay, let the first dungeon training session begin."
All teams stood before the gate, and seconds later, we vanished.
Only a single voice echoed in my mind as darkness enveloped me:
[Hunter Kaiser Vanguard, Welcome to the Tier Six Dungeon: Nefertari]
[We Wish You Good Luck]