Chapter 98 - Gathering Treasures In The Dungeon
-----
"The Dungeon you will be visiting for this test is named the Crimson Jewel Caves. It is a large D-Rank Dungeon for all of you to explore and find the Treasures. Please make sure to be prepared, and whenever there is any conflict, try to not damage your classmates as much, keep the battles friendly," said the teacher.
The students felt pressured when they knew that the Dungeon was going to be D-Rank.
Although they could not really do anything to change this, they were reassured by the teacher that the dungeon had been cleaned many times in the week, and only had very few monsters.
Noah thanked that the dungeon was going to be D-Rank, just as he was C-Rank.
This was because Hunters could not enter Dungeons that were two ranks below them.
For example, Noah was a C-Rank Hunter now, and could only enter D-Rank Dungeons or the ones above his Rank.
This was because whenever a strong hunter entered a very weak dungeon, the dungeon itself would begin to fragment and fall apart.
However, this only happened with Dungeons below B-Rank, as even S-Rank Hunters could enter B-Rank Dungeons due to their greater energy and power, giving the dungeons the power to sustain them.
Alongside this, Hunters that entered lower rank dungeons than their ranks would not receive any cores from the monsters they killed.
And because the restrictions to enter Dungeons were so strict, a company couldn't employ hunters of all Ranks to grind Cores all the time so they could have a large supply of them in stock.
Any dungeon below B-Rank that was maintained within the City was merely there to extract resources and help those of lower ranks to grow stronger because it was completely possible to erase them all by any high-ranked hunter.
Due to these restrictions, high-rank Hunters couldn't grind low-rank cores and make a large group of people grow stronger.
And alongside this, the Government kept most of all the cores sold, so rich people could not buy them in bulks and become S-Rank instantaneously.
It was known that the government used these cores to make promising people with powerful skills into B-Rank or A-Rank immediately, converting them into strong soldiers to defend the Sectors they belonged to.
…And this was one of the primary goals of the Military School, to find talented and strong low ranked hunters, brainwash them, and feed them cores so they can become very strong soldiers.
However, only Noah and his group had kind of figured such intentions, as most of the other kids were left in the blue…
After a few minutes of preparations, all the students began to form groups and then walked out of classes, being given similar equipment to previous times, although Noah and his group took some, they were not going to use them at all…
As each party began to enter one by one into the Dungeon, they quickly dispersed as they began to look for the Treasures.
Noah and his group, which were still qualified as the 'useless bunch' ended entering the last, as all other groups had already gone deep into the caves.
Noah had already assumed that based on this, they would end up fighting at least some groups of students, and depending on who they were, he would let them live or not…
Although there could also be the possibility of turning them into Vampiric beings, Noah had lost such interest for now.
Noah's sight immediately changed as he entered the large caves.
The caves were made of a reddish stone, and were enormous, being at least 40 meters tall, perhaps just as tall as the caves where they fought against the Bats.
What made this dungeon special were the red-colored crystals that adorned everywhere.
These crystals were precious materials, being D-Rank Magic Crystals which the owners of the dungeon, the government, extracted daily.
And because they grew in a dungeon, they regenerated very fast after a few days, ready to be extracted again to feed on the large energy that the high-tech city required to function properly.
Although Noah had considered farming these crystals, he thought that it was not worth the hassle and that if he wanted he could grind even better materials in a C-Rank Dungeon that they will be visiting tonight.
"This place is quite beautiful…" said Arthur.
"Indeed, the rest crystals illuminate the caves and give them a mysterious red glow…" said Timassa.
"It is kind of romantic…" said Iris.
"Romantic?" asked Noah while raising an eyebrow, they could only see these things as materials… What was so romantic about this?
"Ah, I mean, the atmosphere… and the colors! Come on, as Vampires, wouldn't we be attracted to the red color?" asked Iris.
"Perhaps… Indeed, it is quite… panoramic," said Noah, he did not agree with Iris, but decided to agree to make her a bit happy.
The party marched through the caves, exploring the unknown, the darkness within, and the several sections and secret passages all around.
Thanks to Jon's Clairvoyance, it was easy for everyone to guide themselves around, and after just one hour, they immediately found two Treasures lying around inside secret passages and rooms.
The monsters were almost non-existent, just as the teacher said, but they were also incredibly slow.
Such monsters were only one type, Crystal Golems.
Crystal Golems were strong and had enormous resilience, but were incredibly slow, and even E-Rank Students were able to run away from them very easily.
Especially because whenever one appeared, they would groan very loudly and slowly.
Due to them, this place was very good for tests, as even the monsters were slow and not a complete threat if their numbers were as reduced as of now.
Sadly, these golems did not have blood, so they could not become Blood Servants.
However, they still counted as monsters for Noah's Blood Servant Skill, so their corpses could remain for 24 hours!
With such a thing, Noah decided to save these golem pieces inside the Dimensional Storage Rings, as he could use them as magic materials later before the 24 hours happened.
As the party explored around, they finally found a third Treasure and celebrated by taking a small break.
"Phew, nothing better than drinking some iced tea~," said Iris.
"And these Bento Boxes are very good, the lunch is still warm…" said Arthur.
"I did them for everyone taking into consideration your favorite foods," said Timassa.
"You even know that I like those tiny tomatoes…" said Jon shyly.
"Of course, it is my duty as a maid to know everyone's likings and make delicious food based on that… All of you are also my friends, so it is just my pleasure to make you happy," said Timassa.
"Uwah! Timassa, we don't deserve you!" said Iris as she hugged Timassa.
"Indeed, Timassa is way too good for us…" said Arthur.
As everyone enjoyed a quick lunch, Noah noticed the lurking presence of a group approaching them…
"Jon…" said Noah.
"Yes, I can see them… It is a group of six… Eh? No, there are many other groups, three? They are all about to gather in here, although they seem to have been pursuing each other…" said Jon.
"Oh? So they are not coming for us but to beat each other?" asked Noah.
"And three groups to boot?!" asked Iris.
Suddenly, one of the groups of six students entered in a hurry, as they noticed Noah and the rest resting in the ground and leisurely eating lunch…
"Eh?! Oh! It's those useless guys… Why are they having lunch?!" asked one of the group members, named Luciliano, a blonde man with brown eyes carrying a black sword.
"What the fuck? We hit a jack pot here! Look, they got three treasures!" said another guy similar to him within Luciliano's group, a shorty with green hair and aquamarine eyes named Verto, who carried a sharp, green-colored spear.
"I told you that it was a bad idea to go around with the treasures like this, Noah-sama…" said Arthur.
"Oh? Not at all, this was what I wanted, if they can see us carrying them, it means that they will try to take them away from us… And look, they are not from any family, we can simply slaughter them… About time, I wanted some Blood Servants," said Noah nonchalantly through Telepathy, as he smiled back at Luciliano and Verto with a smile.
"Sure thing, friend, come and grab them," he said.
"Oh? Quite the bold bastard…" said Luciliano.
"We are going to put you in your place! Just because you won that other test doesn't mean you get to be so cocky… Useless!" roared Verto.
-----