[Promise River Academy]

  Shooting up from his bed Ingunn's head seared with pain. The memories from last night were hazy and distant at best. All he could remember was heating his food then it's blank from there on.

  Did I black out? What the hell happened to the spaghetti?

  Blinking from his room to the bottom of the stairs, he felt chills run down his spine. What had happened he needed to know.

  He dashed into the kitchen swinging open the microwave to see nothing, the fridge was just as empty.

  "What the hell is going on."

  Sitting at the table he couldn't wrap his mind around what had happened last night.

  Upstairs his phone rang, sighing Ingunn resigned from his search for answers, for now.

  Running through his morning routine he made his way to school.

  The school's entrance was cluttered with faculty and students alike, further into the building students separated into their cliques. Ingunn spotted Kam and Arti standing by the entrance catching them mid-conversation.

  "I still can't believe we completed a dungeon yesterday. MVP has to go to me; my manifestation skill is overpowered!"

  "Sure, whatever you say, you must work on your endurance after the skill. You are useless after its duration. We would've been screwed if it had a fire resistance. We can talk with Will later about other strategies."

  "Wassuuppp, how y'all feeling after that delve?"

  Kam dapped up Ingunn remarking, "I've felt worse, but I saw the oddest thing while I was passed out. It was like me but fully manifested not just my arms. I don't know how to explain it, but it was awesome.

  "His head is getting too big as if it wasn't huge already. Pay him no mind, how are you feeling though Ingunn that hit you took yesterday must've hurt like hell."

  "I woke up with this killer headache, I feel oddly refreshed though."

  Kam and Ingunn's phones rang, checking it was a message from Will in their group chat, "We might have a problem. There are registered delvers posted around the school."

  Relaying the message to Arti they made their way to class.

  At the front of the classroom, a lanky man with messy hair in a fitted black suit stood eyes scanning the room. His face locked in a grimace as if he were sick of being in this school.

  The boys tried their best to avoid the man's gaze directly as they took their seats.

  "That's Noah Roswitha aka [Joker's Shadow] a B-Rank Delver. If he's here [Sun Touched] is here too. You all are going to burn a hole through him if you keep staring so hard, so stop." whispered Will who looked as if he had seen a ghost.

  "What's the deal with you why are you so scared that they are here?" Asked Arti.

  The school bell rang as a short and pudgy man who was balding with a cheap toupee walked into the classroom.

  "Good morning class!"

  "Good morning Mr. Chedsdale."

  "As you all can see today is a special day. Mr. Roswitha or as you all better know the umm [Joker's Shadow] a B-Rank Delver from the Delvers Association is with us today. You all know that 10 years ago the great calamity known as the Raid of 100 Myths struck our world bringing chaos and destruction. Mr. Roswitha here was one of many key figures in quelling the invasion of monsters."

  "You give me too much praise Mr. Chedsdale, it was a combined effort of the Delvers Association and the various skilled Delvers who risked their lives to protect the next generation. I can even see that you have some hidden gems in your class, some that have experience with the system that others don't."

  "Well, that's good news maybe if any of you kids are lucky you can get a recommendation to join the Delvers Association from Mr. Roswitha. Do you all have any questions before we get to the main event of today?"

  A boy with scaly skin and a hefty tail wagging behind him spoke up, "Do we know where the system came from?"

  Roswitha calmly answered, "Around the time of the raid a foreign Goddess came and blessed us with the system as our primary source of defense against the monsters. So far she has been the only god we have come in contact with, and her apostle is here in the United States under government protection."

  Another student chimed in, "What happens if a dungeon is left open for too long I've seen different colored portals on TV what do they mean?"

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  "That's a good question; portals left unattended for around a week or longer will close the gap between our world and the world contained in the rift letting monsters freely cross into our world. For your second question, I believe Mr. Chedsdale has the infographic I provided."

  With a few clicks on his computer, the projector beamed to life. A list of colors ranging from grey to black with small descriptions by each color.

  "There are 6 types of dungeons all separated by rank, these correlate to what kind of delvers can participate in a dungeon delve. It goes as follows:

  Grey: E-Rank

  Green: D-Rank

  Yellow: C-Rank

  Orange: B-Rank

  Red: A-Rank

  Black: S-Rank

  Regarding black dungeons, the name of the island escapes me now but only one has been recorded in Korea."

  A knock on the door interrupted his long-winded speech. A large blonde woman crouched over peering through the door, with a group of students huddled behind her.

  With a sigh, Roswitha motioned the woman to come inside. Swinging the door open and squeezing her way through what she made look like a narrow doorway her warm energy raced through the room. A smile stretched across her face like a warm sun.

  'You done boring these kids to death? Did you even tell them about the main event yet? Well sorry if you didn't. You all are going to be going on your first delve into a dungeon today! If you do well today you can even become official E-ranks within the association!"

  The class roared with excitement, but Mr. Chedsdale quickly quieted them down.

  "Don't get too excited, you all will be turning in your history homework before you all go. Now if you don't wish to go, please raise your hand now.

  Not a single hand rose.

  "Looks like we have our answer lets get them dungeon ready."

  "Before you all leave my class today I want the math homework in the submission bin."

  "Shit, I forgot to do the homework!"

  "I guess you don't feel like the shit anymore do you know Kam."

  "Shut up Ingunn, I'll just turn it in late and get half credit."

  "You can't play around with your grades like this, delvers make good money but it's important to get your education too," said Arti as he slipped his homework into the bin.

  All the students passed the teacher turning in their homework except for Kam. Walking outside they were met with two more delvers in suits standing in lines.

  Sun walked to the front of the crowd of students and took a deep breath in.

  "I need you all to line up and be ready to explain your skills to the delvers so we can assign you a role and a proctor for this dungeon.

  Kam was the first of the boys to be questioned.

  "Could you tell me a bit about your skills, Kam was it?" asked the association worker.

  "Yea that's right. I only have one skill at the moment and it's a transformation skill that has a long cast time and heavy drawbacks at the moment, it allows me to transform into a pseudo-fire monster with claws of magma and brimstone. But outside of that, I'm in the boxing club of this school currently ranked number 1."

  "Pretty limited skill set but just the damage dealer we needed, you'll be on my team. My name is Evelina nice to meet you and you can head over to that bus over there."

  Kam grinned as he walked away shouting, "I'll show you just how overpowered I can be."

  Next was Arti.

  "You do look a bit different from your file but what are your skills?"

  "I have various totems I can summon to heal or buff my allies. But I currently can only use 4 a day."

  "A rare to see support skills this early, here take this card with my number so if you decide to join the Delvers Association you can jump straight into my squad. Supports are few and far between not to mention expensive, don't let the others know I scouted you. You can head over to Sun's bus over there. Good luck!"

  Slipping Arti a business card she pointed him the way towards Sun's bus and made her way to Will.

  "Wilfred pretty nasty string slap, you must be new to the bow. It's healed pretty nicely but there is still light bruising."

  "Yea, I never picked up a bow till after I was given the system. I don't have any special skills outside of tracking."

  "That's fine we usually get skills later on or train to perform skills without the system. Don't worry about being strong now just train hard and you will be just as strong as everyone else. You will go with Vico's team."

  "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

  Last but not least was Ingunn.

  "Ingunn am I saying that right? What skills do you have?"

  "The one and only. I've got a teleportation skill with two uses before they go on cool down. That's all I have for now, but I'm sure I'll have tons of cool skills waiting for me when I level up."

  "Oh, you sure are lively. Go with Roswitha I'm sure he'll LOVE you," she said with a slight giggle.

  "Whatever you say, I'll get to see this Joker's Shadow in action that has Will in a mood."

  Ingunn made his way onto the bus looking at the other students in his group.

  Standing up from his seat the scaled boy spoke up, "I know we all probably know each other since we are in the same school but I think it would be nice to get reacquainted since we all will be putting our lives in each other's hands. I'm Eszi the vanguard of the squad."

  "I don't know how any of you wouldn't know me but I'm Valarie, I'm a mage so I'll be a support." declared the girl with an afro puff and thick glasses.

  Valerie was one of Arti's friends but not the rest of the group's friends. Yes, they were jealous of him being friends with the girls, not just her but a whole roster of them, did they say it out loud; never.

  A boy with blonde hair and long ears with a faint glitter to him floated in the air.

  "Nice to meet everyone again, Lucius is the name. I'm a Damage dealer but can function as a support."

  "I guess I'm next, I'm Raja a support but I am a part of the boxing club so I can put up a good fight."

  He was known as the loser of the boxing club according to Kam who is currently 10-0 in his favor in sparring matches.

  "Guess it's finally my turn. I'm Ingunn I'm a sub-dps, I'm all for working as a team but don't get too attached I'm pretty skilled and already have a team of my own."

  Laughter erupted from the front of the bus as Sun couldn't contain herself any longer.

  "This kid is something, he's so sassy, good luck with him, Noah!"

  With a sigh, Roswitha stood at the front of the bus, "Yeah this will be interesting but one person forgot to introduce themselves. Desi you can't hide in the back of the bus."

  Sitting right behind Ingunn was a dark-haired kid with tattoos drawn across their arms.

  "Umm, my name is Desi. I'm a damage dealer who uses curses. Sorry, I was gonna say something but Ms. Sun startled me."

  "It's fine, we will now be on our way to GrassFox Plains. Eszi as the vanguard you will function as the squad leader understood?"

  "Yes sir," replied Eszi with a toothy grin.

  With that, they were off to their first dungeon.

  [GrassFox Plains- Entrance]

  [End]