Mr. Ito starts his explainition about how dungeons work, not that he’s excited about it, but it is his job I guess.

“Okay, so as you all know, 5 years ago, right before the second Enlightenment, towers suddenly started popping up all over the world, seemingly at random. Humanity was cautious at first and didn’t dare touch or enter these towers, or at least, that was the case before the first great dungeon break or ‘Second Enlightenment”. Can anybody tell me why we call this event the Second Enlightenment?... Yes, you in the front.”

“Because the ‘First Enlightenment’ was already taken? Ha-ha!”

The auditorium bursts into laughter, it wasn’t even that funny…

*SIGH* “You’re not entirely wrong though, the ‘First Enlightenment’ marks the period in history when man replaced religion and faith with science and logic. Borrowing this naming scheme, the ‘Second Enlightenment’ marks the period in history when man replaced science and logic with magic and mana.”

Oh wow I never knew that. I mean the information is basically useless, but still, pretty interesting…

“Sorry for that short tangent, this isn’t a history lesson. *AHEM* These first couple of dungeon breaks were caused by man’s cowardice and indecisiveness. When a floor isn’t cleared or attempted for a while, mana accumulates and a dungeon break occurs, this results in the tower spewing fiends and monstrosities to the outside.”

The professor suddenly gets interrupted by some dude, I think he’s one of Kaori’s cronies.

“That’s the reason why Machia’s are so important right? I mean, to stop those dungeon breaks right? Humanity wouldn’t stand a change without them!”

This kid is really up his own ass huh? Well, what can you expect from one of Kaori’s followers.

“R-Right, Machias can indeed delay these dungeon breaks by clearing the current highest floor. Once they clear that floor however, the tower will grow and add another floor, unless of course, they have hit the ceiling.”

“W-What happens when someone hits the ceiling?”

“Raise your hand next time, this isn’t some liberal arts class! *AHEM* If a team of Machias clear a floor and the tower doesn’t grow, we say they have hit the ceiling of that tower. If this happens, the tower is deemed ‘safe’ by the government since no dungeon breaks can occur anymore. A safe tower will usually stick around for a year or two, before disappearing and creating a new dungeon elsewhere, we suspect the towers disappear due to mana saturation, but this theory hasn’t been tested yet.”

Fudo abruptly raises his hand, he looks… a bit angry?.

“Yes Fudo?”

“But Machia’s aren’t the only people defending us from dungeon breaks, are they?”

“N-No you’re right Fudo, although I wouldn’t exactly call it ‘defending’… Preventing dungeon breaks is of the utmost importance to humanity, they can destroy entire countries after all. That is why most safe havens also employ what’s called the: ‘for the good off many’ act.”

I never heart of this ‘act’ before, I don’t think they had it back in the Netherlands… Let’s ask Mr.Ito what it’s about:

“Yes Reo?”

“What exactly is this act professor?”

Fudo suddenly looks visibly upset, the professor also looks a bit uncomfortable.

“W-Well, some towers like the ‘undead tower’ in Tokyo are too difficult for current Machias to deal with, we already conquered 67 floors of this specific tower, but haven’t hit the ceiling yet. In order to prevent mana accumulation, we send a group of prisoners and volunteers to floor 68 every month or so. These people will then use up some of the mana on that floor while they ‘attempt’ to conquer it, thus preventing a dungeon break... Sadly once you ‘attempt’ a floor… You can’t back out anymore… Unfortunately these noble sacrifices are necessary until our high ranking Machia’s devise a floor conquering plan or grow stronger…”

An awkward silence filled the classroom, Mr. Ito quickly tried to change the subject.

“B-By the way, all towers are named after the type of fiends that dwell in them. For example the tower we will be conquering is a safe tower called the ‘goblin tower’, it has 6 floors and is a great tower for newbie Machia’s, albeit a bit more difficult than previous years…”

I… I don’t really agree with that ‘for the good of many’ act… But I also can’t think of any other solutions to prevent dungeon breaks from happening… Let’s instead just focus on the things I can do right now: growing stronger…

“Yes Kobe, what’s your question?”

“What will the wood [I] class be doing during the training camp of wood [II] and [III]?”

“Ah yes, the wood [I] class, the worst of the worst… You guys will have self-study until the date of your promotion-exam, which will take place when class [II] and [III] return from their dungeon practical.”

He pauses for a minute and looks around the room with disappointment before continuing his lecture.

“The promotion-exam can enroll you in the wood [II] class and consists of an oral and practical part. For the people participating in the dungeon practical; you can be promoted based on your performance and participation in the raid.”

Looks like I’ll need to focus on the promotion-exam for a while, I NEED to be promoted…

Lance suddenly taps me on the shoulder:

“Hey man, looks like we’ll be separated for a while. Don’t be too upset when they promote me to the bronze class, I won’t forget my friends when they finally recognize my talent and crown me as: Youngest genius ever.”

“Sure that could happen… Buuuuut I think it’s more likely we’ll both be in the wood [II] class after the promotion exam, but don’t worry, I won’t forget my friends, I’ll definitely help you get promoted during our next dungeon-practical.”

“Oh-ho-ho, feeling confident eh?”

*RING*

The school bell.

I shoot Lance a smug look and start packing my bags.

If I really want to make good on my boasting, I better start earning some money to buy cartridges for programming purposes…

Sadly, there’s only one woman I know that could help me make a lot of U-Coins in a short amount of time…. *GULP*