Madam Froxen was very pleased to see us yesterday. I’m sure she will be able to craft something incredible for Flavia out of the Fanged Whitemane Wolf’s Tail. Narias was walking to school in the morning by himself.

After the visit to Growla Ferpaw’s shop, the group went to visit Madam Froxen’s store as well. The white fox shop owner was thrilled to see them again, especially Narias. And when students uncovered the reason behind their visit, Norella Froxen was more than willing to help them out. The day was coming to an end, unfortunately, so there wasn’t much time for pleasantries. Madam Froxen had one of her assistants take Flavia’s measurements and said the outfit will be ready in four days time.

Good thing we created the Money Bank, otherwise we would’ve scrambled to come up with the payment. Narias felt relieved on that part. The students could see the benefit of putting money aside first hand. Right, Ileena said she will go register for another Magic Dungeon run today. I must say, we are getting better. If I knew where the boss monster on the second floor was, I would’ve suggested going for it, but finding that Lightning Gem was great too. It should help strengthen Ileena’s magic. All we need to do now is to explore the second floor of the dungeon until we find where the boss monster is. I can’t wait to go to the Magic Dungeon again, but for now, let’s have fun during the classes today.

Narias was looking forward to attending his classes again. He loved going to the Magic Dungeon, but differently from some other students, he loved studying too. However, more and more classes were shifting from theory to practical training. The morning part before the long lunch break would include studying in the auditorium while the other half of the day would be based around practical training. Narias and his friends agreed to meet at the student cafeteria during lunch to discuss their plans going forward. He wasn’t the first one to arrive, but wasn’t the last one either.

“Hello, Ileena, Nicky, Growly.” Narias greeted his friends.

“Hello, Narias,” Ileena was feeling more comfortable with giving him a kiss on a cheek in public now.

“Hi,” Growly was as talkative as he always was.

“Hi, Narias. You look in a good mood today,” Nicky noticed it.

“Ah, yeah. I missed going to classes,” he admitted.

“It’s good to be you, Narias,” Nicky giggled.

“Studying is useful,” Growly commented, which almost sounded like he was reprimanding Nicky of something.

“Yes, I know. I promise I’ll study more,” Nicky pouted her lips, a mild blush jumping on her cheeks.

“So, did you manage to register us for another dungeon run, Ileena?” Narias asked before starting eating his food.

“Yes, we got a slot for Friday next week,” she informed.

“Friday next week?” Narias gasped.

“Yes, they said there are a lot of runs planned and a lot of teachers are busy too. Must be because of the upcoming Magic Power Games,” Ileena had a drink from her cup after telling him about it.

“Right, hmm…” Narias had a drink from his cup too, but then pondered about something.

“What’s on your mind, Narias?” Ileena became curious, seeing him lost in thoughts.

“We have enough club members now to participate in the Field Battle Competition,” he said.

“Oh, yes. I was thinking about it too,” Ileena didn’t hide her intentions.

“Competition? Sounds cool,” Growly seemed to be in favor of it as well.

“Yo’, guys.” But before anyone else could say anything, Flavia appeared next to their table. She was holding a tray with her food. “What’s happening?”

“Hi, Flavia. We were just talking about the upcoming Magic Power Games. It sounds like our club is planning to participate in the Field Battle Competition,” Nicky told her.

“Field Battle Competition? I want to participate too. Hi, Narias,” Flavia sat down on the other side next to her boyfriend and then gave him a kiss.

“Hi, Flavia. How were your classes?” Narias smiled at her.

“Good and… hard,” Flavia frowned in a cute manner. “That’s right, did you register us for another dungeon run, Ileena?”

“Yes, but it’s only for the next Friday,” Ileena informed.

“Only next Friday? Bummer, I wanted to go there as soon as possible,” Flavia was a little disappointed. “Hey, where’s Emilia and Vivia? Do they know about the Magic Dungeon exploration?”

“Emilia said she had something to do and said she will eat later. I haven’t seen Vivia today,” Ileena said.

“Ok, cool. Anyway, I’m hungry,” Flavia turned her attention to the food in front of her.

“Let’s meet at our club place after the classes to discuss our future plans, including the upcoming Magic Power Games,” Ileena suggested.

“I might be late a little,” Narias informed. “We have an extended class with Instructor Dreknor today, so I might be held up.”

“Hey, that’s right. I have two classes one after another with Miss Alifur after lunch too. Should be fun,” Flavia was looking forward to it.

Emilia or Vivia didn’t show up at the cafeteria during the lunch break, but that didn’t matter. Ileena expected them to show up at the student club after classes anyway. After lunch was over, everyone went to attend their remaining classes.

“Welcome to my class, little hatchlings!” Ranga Dreknor greeted the students in his usual manner. “I hope all of you had a nice meal and are full of energy, because we will have a special training today. I have some assistance with me and I’ll explain everything in a minute, but first, form groups of five and be quick about it.”

Group of five, huh? Another Field Battle Competition practise or… Narias wanted to think it will be the same training like the last time they had, but Instructor Dreknor had three more people next to him which made Narias wonder about it.

“Hey, buddy, we’ll be in the same team again, right?” Stefan showed up a second after the teacher told them to form groups.

Right, he probably thought the same thing I did. Narias had a hunch why Stefan wanted to group with him.

“Oh, and Brian will join too,” Stefan added before Narias could answer him.

“Yeah, I guess…” it wasn’t a big deal to Narias. He figured he’ll have to do his best like he always does.

“I’d like to join your group too… if you don’t mind that is?” Lilna came to ask too.

“Not at all, welcome,” Narias smiled at her.

They were one more person short, but Narias didn’t have to go look for another person, because she came to join them on her own this time.

“Hi, Flamiris. Do you want to join our group again?” Narias greeted her politely.

“Humph…” Flamiris simply brushed her hair away, making it catch a fiery glow as it floated a short second in the air before gently landing behind her left shoulder.

“Eh? Flamiris? But…” Stefan wasn’t as pleased to see Flamiris as Narias was.

“But what? You have a problem with that?” Flamiris raised her voice, glaring at Stefan.

“N… no… but don’t expect I will pair up with you,” Stefan mustered his manliness to respond back.

“Yeah, me neither,” Brian added, throwing one hand to the side.

“Humph, you two would only get in my way anyway,” Flamiris scoffed at them, before throwing another stare at Lilna next.

“Ah, hi…” Lilna tried to smile politely.

I guess Flamiris and I are on the attack again. Narias let out a deep sigh.

“Alright, it seems you have already formed the groups. Each group will be assigned a Guide and be given instructions about the exercise. Do your best or else!” Ranga announced in a loud voice with a smirk.

A Guide? That made Narias raise an eyebrow.

“You five, come with me,” Ranga came to pick up Narias’s group. The teacher stayed silent until they reached the seating area where they had a bunch of backpacks stacked. “Take one each. We’re moving out right away.”

“Moving out? But… where?” Brian, as well as the other students were confused.

“We’re going to the Magic Dungeon, of course. Grrr…” Instructor Dreknor told them with the biggest grin ever.

“Huuuh? To the Magic Dungeon?” Stefan exclaimed. “But I thought we’ll be having a Field Battle Competition practise match again.”

“When did I say that?” Ranga turned back to face him again. “I said we will be having a special training today, didn’t I?”

“Aah… yes, but… I didn’t expect for us to go to the Magic Dungeon. I’m… not prepared…” Stefan was trying to come up with an excuse.

“And what do you think these are?” The teacher asked Stefan in a stern voice, pointing at the backpacks and making him shiver. “Each backpack contains enough supplies to last a whole day, give or take. All of them are the same, so it doesn’t matter which one you pick.”

“But why are we going to the Magic Dungeon instead of having a class?” Brian asked.

“We are having a class. Today’s class is a practical training in the Magic Dungeon. You’ll be judged by how well you do. Now stop wasting the time and choose a backpack,” Ranga raised his voice.

It wasn’t only Narias’s group who was going into the Magic Dungeon. The whole class was going to the dungeon. Other teams had Guides assigned to them as well. The students picked up their backpacks and the whole class met at the entrance of the Magic Dungeon.

“Here we are,” Ranga turned to the whole class gathered inside the main cave room of the dungeon. “Some of you might wonder why we are here today. Simple reason is to for you to gain more experience exploring the Magic Dungeon. Another reason is, with more and more students going into the Magic Dungeon, you are bound to meet other teams during your own run sooner or later. We have our own exploration rules as people, but the Magic Dungeon has its own rules as well. One of them is, the dungeon doesn’t allow more than six people engage the boss monster or else it goes berserk and becomes unkillable.”

“However,” Instructor Dreknor continued. “That doesn’t mean more than one team cannot progress throughout the dungeon floor at the same time. That leads us to today’s main lesson, you need to learn to deal or cooperate with other teams while exploring the dungeon. No team is obligated to join with another, but it is prohibited for any teams to fight for whatever reason inside the Magic Dungeon. Also, I am not expecting you to reach, or kill, the boss monster on the current floor, but the team that makes the biggest progress will be rewarded by the academy. And just so you know, no team is allowed to go to the second floor of the Magic Dungeon even if they manage to kill the boss monster. Understood?”

The students had no choice but to say ‘yes’.

“Good. Now, send one person from each team to draw which path you take,” Ranga had slips of paper prepared for the teams to decide which path they will go. As so it happened, Stefan drew number two which meant their team will go through the second from the left path.

We got the second from the left path? Oh, that’s the path we went last time. Should we go for the Fanged Whitemane Wolf? With the supplies we have, we should be able to do it, but we’d have to rush through the cave rooms. Not sure if it’ll work with my current group, however, but I guess I could at least let them know. Narias was thinking if they could get to the boss monster’s room with the time and the supplies they have.

“Hey, I wanted to-“ Narias was about to say something but was interrupted by Stefan, Brian and Flamiris arguing among themselves.

“You are too reckless to be the leader of this group. I’m definitely not following you, Flamiris,” Brian told her.

“And what makes you think that you’re fit to be the leader? Eh?” Flamiris scoffed at him.

“At least I can trust Brian to not blast me with his spell like you almost did during the match last time, Flamiris,” Stefan joined Brian’s side.

“That’s because you got in my way. If you used at least one tenth of your little brain back then, you would’ve realized what our opponents were about to do. I saved your ass back then,” Flamiris pointed her finger at Stefan.

“I would’ve been fine without you interfering,” Stefan shot back at her.

“You both are idiots. No way I am trusting you leading our group. You’ll get us lost in no time,” Flamiris was getting more and more annoyed.

I guess I’ll keep quiet after all. Narias decided to stay silent in the end.

“I wouldn’t mind you leading our group, Narias,” Lilna suddenly told him.

“Ah, thanks, but I don’t think the other team members will want to listen to what I have to say,” Narias didn’t want to get into the argument however.

“Are you done arguing yet?” Instructor Dreknor has lost his patience finally.

“Apologies, Instructor Dreknor, but I cannot trust Flamiris leading our group,” Brian told the teacher.

“These two numbskulls don’t know what they are talking about. Neither of them is fit to lead the group,” Flamiris had her own opinion about Brian and Stefan.

“Is that so? Then how about you have someone else lead the group entirely?” Ranga suggested, throwing a quick glance to where Narias and Lilna were standing.

“Ah, so sorry, but I would rather not,” Lilna said with a smile. “But Narias could. He was leading the group during our dungeon exploration test and he did great.”

“Well, I don’t know about that,” Narias had his doubts about leading his current group.

“Hey, Brian and I could lead this group easily. As they say, two heads are better than one,” Stefan suddenly suggested. It didn’t look like the two of them wanted to give up the leadership position.

Or so the saying goes, but… Narias could agree with the saying, but he had no idea how good Brian and Stefan were in terms of dungeon exploration.

“I don’t mind for Brian and Stefan leading our group,” Narias didn’t want to argue and a little dungeon exploration was better than none at all.

“Tch… whatever,” Flamiris turned to face away after crossing her arms in front of her.

“Alright, follow our lead. Stefan and I will be at the front,” Brian motioned with his hand.

“You better not get us lost,” Flamiris squinted her eyes but followed the two boys.

Wait, what about the party’s formation? And how do we divide the loot we find? Oh, man… Narias shook his head.

“How about I stay behind and watch out for the Dungeon Crawlers like the last time I did?” Lilna asked Narias.

“Oh, yeah,” Narias agreed. “How about I stay behind with you as well? It might be difficult for you to do it alone.”

“Yes, thank you, Narias,” Lilna smiled happily.