“…This battle suit is way too tight.”

“Right? I thought I was the only one who felt that way.”

“Why did the academy suddenly change the battle suits anyway?”

A few students were talking amongst themselves as we all stood around.

The mana evaluation test concluded with my unexpectedly high mana quality, and the dungeon experience test was next.

Not going to lie, it had been a long time since I had entered a dungeon.

I had been busy either protecting my classmates or earning more money, which left me little time to explore.

Additionally, dungeons weren’t necessarily the best way to make money, so I focused on hunting high-ranking demon beasts instead.

I even participated in a competition while hiding my face, all to obtain more high-ranking demon beast cores.

Thinking back, it was during that time that I received the title of “Moonlight Swordsman.”

I don’t really get where they got the “Moonlight” part from, but I appreciated the title nonetheless. It’s a title that isn’t exactly important for me… but for someone else.

Someone very special.

“Ahem!”

I snapped back to reality as Eleonora, the Headmistress, stepped forward to explain the dungeon test.

“Now that everyone is here, let’s keep this simple. In front of you is a portal to a B-rank unexplored dungeon, which means its territory is unknown.”

“Your task will be to explore the dungeon and gather as much information as you can, including details about the monsters and strategies for clearing it.”

“The group of students, or the individual student, who collects the most vital information will receive a perfect grade. As for the others, grades will be assigned based on the information they provide.”

Eleonora finally finished explaining about the test.

She also didn’t forget to steal a glance at me.

“Before anyone enters, please register your group here,” she announced, snapping her fingers to make a large board appear.

With that, the first group of students wrote their names on the board, and their names shimmered lightly before a small device materialized in their hands.

“This device is a recognition system designed to help you gather information about the specified monsters. Simply place a small amount of blood on it, and it will automatically identify the species. However, for the other details, you’ll need to write them down yourself.”

“Once you have registered your groups, you can enter the dungeon directly.

“Good luck!”

As soon as those words echoed, chaos erupted as the students rushed toward the board. They were clearly very competitive against each other.

However, I wasn’t really waiting for anything.

I couldn’t care less about this test, and I only participated in the mana evaluation because revealing my results would be more than enough for me to skip the remaining tests.

As for my rank… I could simply switch my ranks with anyone during the dueling season.

So, yeah…

One by one, groups entered the dungeon, leaving me completely alone. Surprisingly, no one invited me to join their group.

Quite stupid, right?

Lucas’s group was among the first to enter the dungeon. Before stepping through the portal, he shot me a glance.

“And you… what are you doing here?”

An unfamiliar voice reached my ears, causing me to turn my head to the right.

There stood a beautiful woman with tanned skin and black hair, her menacing green eyes fixed on me.

Two swords hung at her waist, and that was enough for me to know her identity.

“Ah… goddamn it.”

It was Zeva, the absolutely crazy instructor.

Fucking hell.

“Mhm?” she raised an eyebrow in surprise.

‘Fuck.’

Did I say that out loud?

“Aren’t you entering the portal?” she asked casually, her hands resting on her hips near her sword, her head tilted slightly.

I knew avoiding this conversation was impossible, so after a bit of hesitation, I answered.

“…Not really.”

She tilted her head even more, a curious glint in her eyes.

“May I ask why?”

My eyes narrowed at her words.

Do you have to be so curious about everything?

“My mana evaluation went great enough that I don’t need to bother with this test.”

Her eyes widened in surprise at my words.

“Mana evaluation…? How come?” she muttered to herself.

I close my eyes and let out a deep sigh, ignoring her. I was thinking about how to spend my time before the next exam.

But suddenly…

My instincts kicked in.

Clang!

Tsshhhh!

Before I knew it, I was sent sliding back a few meters as I barely managed to block her sudden strike.

“As I thought so,” she uttered with a thoughtful expression.

She had her sword drawn now, pointing it directly at me with a smirk creeping onto her face.

“How could a strong swordsman like you take the mana evaluation instead of the aura evaluation?”

Her lips curled into a wicked smile.

Oh… hell no.

Not this.

Anything but this…..

“Interesting…!” she said with a strange gleam in her green eyes.

And before I could react, she was already charging toward me.

Fuck.

.

.

.

.

.

(Lucas’s POV)

“Iris, did you register the remaining monsters?”

“Yeah, looks like they’re a variant of the lizard species,” Iris replied softly, looking at the device in her hands.

“Mhm… Great,” I nodded, feeling a little more at ease.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly so far.

We’d run into a few unusual monsters, but nothing that really posed a threat. Up until now, they’d all either been variations of lizards or snakes, nothing too strange.

The dungeon itself, though, was another story.

The entire place felt… off.

The air was thick with humidity, and water droplets constantly splashed down from the shimmering crystals in the ceiling.

It was definitely an unknown dungeon—none of these monsters were familiar to me, or to anyone in the group, for that matter.

“Guys, look!” Maya suddenly shouted, pointing excitedly ahead.

Our attention snapped to the spot she was pointing at—a small lake in the distance, its waters sparkling under the light.

Rose immediately rushed over, her curiosity piqued and knelt beside the water to dip her fingers in.

“It’s potable water… strange,” she spoke.

“Potable water?” I asked, walking up beside her.

I scooped up a handful of the water and brought it to my lips.

“…It really is,” I said in surprise, tasting the fresh, clean water.

I had a pretty high resistance to poison, so I wasn’t worried about it being tainted or even poisoned, but still—this was unexpected.

“I know!” Maya jumped in, grinning.

“Let’s take a bath!”

“A bath…?” Even Ella seemed to be seriously considering it.

However, soon their gazes shifted to me, and I felt a shiver run down my spine…

“Ah, I’ll continue exploring…”

I quickly added, raising my hands defensively as I backed away.

Before they could say anything more, I casually took a few steps back. But as soon as I was a few meters away, I felt a barrier spring up around the lake.

These girls…

I sighed with a deep smile.

If only… I could take a small peek… Heh.

“No! Control yourself!” I muttered to myself, tapping my cheek twice to knock myself out of those thoughts.

“I should take a look around…”

I started walking around the area, making sure there was no one around to disturb their bath time.

I looked around for anything else of interest… and sure enough, I spotted something in the distance.

“Oh… one of those lizard monsters.”

There, a small group of green creatures, each holding a spear and wearing light armor, were coming towards me.

They had that same ugly, reptilian look, and their green eyes locked onto mine immediately.

GWWWIISSSH!

The group roared loudly as they started running toward me, their spears prepared to strike. Each step they took made a ‘quack’ sound on the wet floor due to their scales.

And so…

Rumble!

『 Lightning Series: Lightning Bolt! (✦ 2nd-Level Spell ✦)』

“Guaaghh…”

They died in a single strike.

Despite being B-rank monsters, they were surprisingly weak against lightning. I had tested this before, but at first, it was just a stroke of luck.

Now, however, I’m completely certain of it.

So, I entered the information into the device, noting that those lizard species were weak against lightning, along with a brief description that Iris had forgotten to include.

“Great… if we keep going like this, we should be able to get the perfect score…”

But then, my thoughts drifted.

“I’m just not entirely sure about Aestrea, though.”

As I walked through the portal, I glanced over at him. Aestrea looked completely uninterested in the whole thing.

He was just sitting off to the side, looking bored, almost as if he didn’t care about the test at all.

The shock of his mana quality being revealed was immense. I never expected him to possess such a strong mana quality.

Even Rose looked as if her jaw might drop to the floor when the results were announced.

God, it was so funny!

“Well, everything is fine for now, so let’s keep it that way,” I thought.

However, at that very moment, I felt my heart sink.

“This feeling… it’s so familiar…..”

Whenever this sensation occurred, something terrible was always about to happen—

—BOOM!

The dungeon began to crumble; debris fell to the ground, dust swirled around, and rocks shattered as they dropped.

“Shit… is this really happening right now?”

“A dungeon upgrade…”

“That means…”

“The other students are in danger!”

“I need to act quickly!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep