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When Jake first stepped through the gate to enter the dorm, he found himself in a circular room with eight exits leading into long hallways. Each hallway had nearly ten meters to the ceiling and was made of marble-like rock with bronze engravings and setpieces placed here and there. It looked damn good for dorms, that was for sure.

Many individuals went and came from the different hallways, walking towards the wall with gates on it or into the different hallways. No one took note of Jake as he stood there and tried to figure out where Reika’s room was.

Checking the address Reika had given him, he saw it said “4-121,” and it didn’t take long before he understood what it meant. Each hallway was numbered, and then each room also had a number. It was a simple system.

Going down the fourth hallway, Jake quickly found the right place. It also quickly became clear as he walked through the hallway that behind every door wasn’t actually a room but more like a small pre-set gateway. He also felt severe distortion of space, likely meaning that each chamber was spatially expanded. Which they would have to be considering there were only three or so meters between each door on both sides of the hallway, and with thousands of rooms in each of them, each room would be mega small if not for space magic.

Jake raised his token to the door and pressed the doorbell, so to say. A few seconds passed before it opened, revealing a large living room with Reika walking over to invite him in with a beastfolk woman behind her peeking curiously.

“Hey, glad you could make it,” Reika said with a smile as she invited Jake inside.

“I was beginning to think he wouldn’t come considering he said five minutes more than half an hour ago,” the beastfolk commented. Jake got a good look at her and saw that she had some kind of cat heritage. Very shiny golden fur too.

He was a bit surprised at the comment, though, as he looked at Reika. “Didn’t you say at least five minutes? I got the feeling you kind of wanted it to be more than five, so I stayed a bit longer and had a drink with a friend.”

“Ah, yeah, no worries,” Reika said, a bit embarrassed.

The beastfolk was about to speak up again as Reika cut in. “So, what brought you here, by the way? A meeting of some sort? What about?”

“Maybe we should talk more privately?” Jake asked, nodding towards the cat lady, who seemed very interested in their conversation.

“Alright,” Reika agreed without hesitation. The beastfolk didn’t protest but just shrugged and waved them off.

“Have fun!” she said with a suggestive grin.

Reika groaned and led Jake into her own personal room and closed the door behind her, activating the seal on it. Feeling they were isolated, Jake finally spoke freely. “So, how have you been enjoying being in the Order of the Malefic Viper so far?”

Okay, not the most pressing question, but Jake was interested. Reika came from quite a different culture and, contrarily to Jake, didn’t have a good buddy who also happened to be running the entire place. She had a far more raw experience without any real help, and Jake genuinely wanted to know how she was doing. The old swordsman had also asked him to check in with her, so it was only right.

“It has been… better than expected?” Reika answered. “Not to be insulting, but I had expected things to be far worse and even less professional if that makes sense? Everything feels above board. Well, ignoring the fact that there seem to be far fewer restrictions on everything compared to the old world. I also do not particularly enjoy the fact that I have had a dozen people so far try to sell me slaves or questionable organs and body parts clearly belonging to humanoids.”

“Does indeed have its issues, true,” Jake agreed.

“But overall, I find it incredibly generous that the Order gives so much and demands so little. I have been able to attend lessons with experts I could only ever dream of learning from. All I have given up in return is some labor by selling some things I crafted,” Reika continued. “I would think this entire setup was too good to be true if I didn’t experience it myself. I can only imagine how much better it is for you.”

“Well, glad to hear you are settling in nicely,” Jake smiled. “And the reason why I came today was actually to ask you if you wanted to participate in a mission with me and a few others, so that should earn you some more Academy Credits too. It is a dungeon run, and I have been asked to look for alchemists to join.”

Reika looked surprised when Jake pulled out the paper detailing the mission, but she instantly shook her head. “This one is designed for late D-grades… I am not quite there yet.”

“Eh, you are level 154; it should be fine. Your profession is late D-grade, right? That counts. The dungeon itself just requires the one entering to be D-tier, and all we will need of you is your alchemical knowledge,” Jake said. He was already pretty determined that if Reika didn’t wanna go, they would just do the dungeon as a three-person team as he didn’t want to spend time getting to learn and work with a stranger.

“Are you sure these other people would be fine with that?” she asked, concerned. “Who are they, by the way? Ones I know?”

“So far, it is me, Draskil, and Irin going,” Jake answered.

“Oh?” Reika exclaimed, surprised. “Irin? The succubus? How and why? I would assume she had already completed the dungeon or has she truly never done it before? And even if she hasn’t done it… why go now? She is not an alchemist as far as I know, nor a good fighter. At least not someone who would be useful with you and the Malefic Dragonkin around.”

“I was surprised too,” Jake answered, not sharing Draskil’s reason why he wanted to bring her along. “And I actually think your how and why are related. Why would she have gone before? The only reason now is because Draskil decided to ask her, probably just to not go alone or make her recruit alchemists to join or something.”

“Hm,” Reika answered, clearly a bit unsure. “So it will be the four of us? Sure I will be of help?”

“Why not? You have been focused on alchemy and were already pretty good before you went to the Order. I would rather work with you than some random,” Jake shrugged. “Draskil also doesn’t know shit about alchemy, so I would have to handle everything without you around, and that sounds like a bad and very tedious idea.”

“I see,” Reika said and nodded in confirmation, a bit more assured. “It would be my honor to attend then as long as all of you are fine with it.”

“Great, we go in three days” Jake smiled, not giving Reika time to comment on the short notice. Jake had also gotten short notice, so it wasn’t his fault. “Moving on… I see you made a friend?”

“Bastilla,” Reika nodded. “Yeah, we get along well. She is also an alchemist and rather talented. A bronze token like me, and I think she will upgrade to silver within a few years at most. Where she came from, no one really taught her anything making her progress fast after entering the Academy. She is a bit like myself in that regard, even if our methodologies vary widely. Her methods are far closer to yours than mine.”

Jake nodded as he got a brilliant idea. “Do you think she wants to come too?”

“Come to what?” Reika asked, genuinely confused.

“The dungeon.”

“I… would that be wise?” Reika muttered. “To bring along two bronze tokens… the disparity in the group will be massive.”

“Eh, it should be fine,” Jake brushed it off. “Just try to convince her to come so we fill the group. Not to brag, but I would probably be able to do most of the alchemy myself anyway, so I just need you two to help speed up things by pointing out obvious things I am too dumb to notice.”

Reika shook her head and smiled. “Fine, I’ll try. Anyway, you talked about a system event back on Earth?”

“Well, not on Earth,” Jake began. “It was in this giant space station of sorts, and I think it may even be a World Wonder…”

Jake began recounting the system event and how it had worked, Reika being very interested in the details. He also shared his brief conversation with the Sword Saint and let her know things were fine back on Earth. Reika herself began talking more about her experience in the Order, how she had felt incredibly insecure initially but had begun to find confidence again in her skills and talent, and how she had managed to get along with her roommates. Jake even told her of his bout with a C-grade – not because he wanted to brag or anything. He didn’t talk much about his trip with Carmen as he didn’t want to share the Runemaiden’s personal details.

It was a nice chat, and he ended up leaving a few hours later and headed back to his own residence. He got quite a few stares from Bastilla when he exited the room, and he saw that other people who shared the living space had also shown up to glare. Jake didn’t particularly mind as he headed home for some more alchemy and to prepare for the dungeon dive.

Jake got confirmation less than five minutes after returning to his residence that Bastilla was in the dungeon group. Didn’t take much convincing, it seemed. With a team assembled, Jake pinged Irin and let her know.

In what should not be a surprise at all, Irin didn’t even know Draskil had asked Jake and was more than pleased to hear he would come along. She also didn’t mind the two tag-alongs and sent over some more information on the dungeon to Jake, which he then also sent to Reika.

With everything done, Jake got back to work with his usual schedule as he waited for the dungeon run to begin.

Draskil and patience apparently didn’t go well together. Jake had barely gotten started on his alchemy when Irin pinged him again very apologetically. She explained that the second Draskil heard Jake had already found two other alchemists, he saw no reason to wait three more days as the wait was originally for Irin to find alchemists. So he wanted to go… now.

Others would perhaps get mad at this, but Jake’s response was a shrug and a quick call to Reika. Now, Reika liked to plan, and when she was asked to spontaneously go to a dungeon only hours after learning about it, she was hesitant, but her roommate Bastilla convinced her.

This is how the group of five ended up meeting only half an hour later within a large meeting room of sorts made for exactly this kind of thing. Draskil had been the first to arrive, impatiently sitting there waiting. Jake was second as he didn’t have better things to do – or, well, chose not to begin doing important things. Reika and Bastilla came a few minutes later, with Irin the last to arrive as she had to prepare some materials and ingredients they would need in the dungeon.

“Everyone is already here?” Irinixis asked with surprise after she stepped through the gate. “Well, that does make things simpler. I know it is on short notice, but has anyone managed to read the supplied material?”

Jake quickly scanned it before nodding, Reika also agreeing along with Bastilla, who looked weirdly out of it. Draskil was just staying mute as his tail moved back and forth impatiently. Jake noticed that Bastilla kept staring at Draskil, who didn’t even glance her way in return.

He also took note of how the one at the highest level present was Irin at level 193, followed closely by Draskil at 190. The dragonkin hadn’t gotten many levels recently, probably on purpose to strengthen his foundation before C-grade.

“Okay then… brief explanation only. The dungeon we are about to enter is made for late-to-peak D-tiers and features monsters above level 170 as challenges, up to and including a weak C-tier final optional boss. The dungeon itself contains nine floors total, all of which need to be cleared to battle the optional boss. Each floor has unique herbs, natural treasures, and materials one needs to obtain to craft a required product to pass the floor and move on to the next. All of these aforementioned things are guarded by monsters of various kinds, and often some materials from the monsters themselves are also required in the alchemical process. That is about all. Any questions?” Irin finished up.

“How long is it expected to take?” Reika asked. “Also, a pleasure to meet you. I am Reika from the Noboru Clan of Earth.”

“The pleasure is mine,” Irin nodded. “The expected duration is around two to three weeks total, but for this group, trying to go on any averages seems pointless. So the real answer is… I don’t know. Ah, but the maximum duration we can spend in there is four weeks before the dungeon itself collapses.”

Reika nodded at the answer, and Jake followed up with one of his own. “What kinds of monsters will we encounter?”

“Assorted ones. The floors tend to vary in affinity and design, meaning I once more cannot say. Besides the general design, I do not know the specific details. No one does due to how these dungeons work. It is only once inside things become clear,” Irin shook her head.

Jake nodded, guessing there was maybe some element of random generation going on? Either way, with that information, there was just one more thing to say.

Draskil stood up and stretched his wings as he smirked. “Then let’s just go and find out ourselves!”

In agreement, the party of two humans, one demon, one dragonkin, and one beastfolk headed out for their dungeon run.

Jake had at least prepared himself in the most important way for this run:

He hadn’t eaten breakfast for weeks and was ready for a feast.