Hell Mode: Volume 3, page 5
Carlova scratched his head and shrugged his shoulders. Apparently he had been transferred to this post for the next three years on Krena’s account.
So, the Guild makes arrangements like this too. I heard that it’s supposed to be independent of the kingdom, but what about the Five Continent Alliance? If the Guild obliged a transfer request like this, that means they’re at least cooperative, right?
Allen thought back to the courteous attitude of the Guild staff who had handled their adventurer card registration.
“Me being your homeroom teacher means that I’m responsible for you now. I also teach swordsmanship, so if you’ve got a sword fighting Talent, I’ll see ya in your practicals.”
Carlova then went on to give a simple rundown of the coming year’s curriculum. The students would have general education classes in the morning, while practical lessons geared toward developing their respective Talents were during the afternoon. That meant spear training for Spear Users, sword training for Swordsmen, and so on and so forth. He then passed out copies of a parchment that listed instructors and training grounds by Talent.
“Ah, that’s right. You’ll have end-of-semester exams in July and February. If you make lower than a forty, you fail. Make sure you study.” Carlova looked around. “You. You’re Allen, right?”
Hm? He knows of me? Well, I guess it’s hard to mistake black hair. “Yes, sir.”
“Apparently your exam score broke records. You made history. Good on you.”
“I’m sorry?”
The entire class turned around to look at Allen, who was sitting in the back.
“Don’t you go studying all by yourself. If you wanna graduate with the rest of your class, you better spend some time teaching your friends too.”
Uh...he’s talking about Krena, isn’t he? Hold on, so they did pad her grades to make sure she got in?!
Krena, who was sitting next to Allen, gave him a look of pure respect. She clearly did not catch the implication behind what the teacher had said.
“O-Of course, sir. I’ll do my best.”
“Good. Now, as I’m sure most of you have caught on, there are serfs, commoners, and nobles together in this class. Your social statuses may be different, but here at the Academy, you’re all students. So, drop the formal speech when talking with each other. Learn to get along.”
In this school, both aristocratic students lording their nobility over others and commoners or serfs acting obsequious would be reprimanded. The class, which had been quietly listening until now, burst into a low buzz of whispers.
Cecil was currently sitting behind Allen. Without turning around, he said to her, “So, Cecil, looks like we’re to drop the formalities.”
The way Allen immediately complied without any hesitation whatsoever left Cecil at a complete loss for words. Her silence prompted Allen to ask, “Hm? What’s the matter, Cecil?”
Krena joined in.“What’s wrong, Cecil?”
“Eurgh!”
Upon being repeatedly addressed without a title, Cecil leaped up without warning and snaked her arms around Allen’s neck into a choke hold.
“How can you switch to speaking to me so casually that easily, Allen?! Does this mean you haven’t been mentally respecting me all this time?!”
“Huh?! Ughh...”
Th-This is a self-defense move she learned at the mansion, isn’t it? It’s just like her to suddenly use it without warning. Th-This is pretty rough. C’mon, do your thing, Endurance. I know you can do a lot better than this.
Although Allen had leveled up and raised his Endurance, he had a feeling the stat was not quite pulling its weight in his everyday life. In fact, he thought Attack also seemed somewhat low; perhaps this was an effect to prevent stats interfering with normal life.
“Go on, say it. What have you been calling me inside your mind all this time? Just ‘Cecil,’ right?” Cecil whispered furiously.
Carefully choosing his words, Allen forced his words out through the chokehold. “It’s been ‘Lady Cecil,’ o-of course. How could you suspect otherwise? I respect you from the bottom of my heart every moment of every single day. It truly pains my heart that the school is forcing me to do this.”
Carlova cleared his throat and said wryly, “Uh, you two back there. I know I said to get along, but I didn’t mean for you to get that close...”
＊ ＊ ＊
When Carlova finished explaining everything, the class moved to the auditorium where the entrance ceremony would be held. This school had, among other buildings, several auditoriums and open squares, all of which were remarkably spacious. The students from the second and third years were also present at the ceremony, both groups wearing slightly different uniforms. As it turned out, the design changed with every year.
Allen had not seen the Hero or the headmaster, who had mentioned the Sovereign of Spirits or some such, since exam day. He figured that they would summon him or seek him out of their own accord if they needed him for anything.
One thing that Allen had learned from the Appraisal Ceremony was that the Hero was in Normal Mode. Furthermore, the headmaster, who had supposedly seen the Appraisal results of tens of thousands of students, had never seen anyone with all their stats ranked “E.” In other words, it was highly likely that Allen was the only person in this world who was in Hell Mode.
And with that, classes began. The first course was called Monster Studies, which started off covering the ecology and behaviors of goblins and orcs. It was truly a class befitting a fantasy world. The teacher went on passionately about each monster’s weaknesses, how to kill them, and what to watch out for while fighting them.
Afternoon classes were based on each student’s Talent. Naturally, there was no Summoner course. When Allen consulted Carlova, he was told there was no curriculum by which he would be tested, so he was free to join whichever class he was interested in. He decided to check all of them out, starting with swordsmanship and magic. There were classes only four days each week, which Allen thought was a rather leisurely schedule.
The morning of the fifth day, Allen and his friends departed bright and early to head to their very first dungeon. As they were still Rank E adventurers, they could only choose a Rank C dungeon. As they approached the entrance, they saw a whole line of adventurers already out front. Apparently it would get crowded at this hour. Some groups were pulling carts loaded with their luggage. In contrast, Allen and his friends had all their hands free, thanks to the Storage function of his grimoire.
“It’s the dungeon!” Krena exclaimed excitedly.
“It sure is!” Allen replied, the grin on his face equally as dazzling as hers.
Cecil stared at them in turn. “What do the two of you look so happy for?!”
Dogora, as usual, merely looked on in silence.
This looks like a three-story building...which seems quite short, considering the lady at the Guild said that Rank C dungeons usually have four to six floors. That’s a rather awkward height if the dungeon is going up...so does that mean it’s underground?
After a while, it was finally the No-life Gamers’ turn in line.
“You appear to be students. Do you have your adventurer cards with you?” the staff member on duty asked, to which all four children then produced their cards. He nodded and said, “Looks like you’ve got yourselves proper equipment too. That’s good. You be careful in there.”
All together, it had cost two hundred gold to gear everyone up. A hundred went toward a mithril ax and greatsword—Krena had gotten really excited at seeing the giant sword—leaving the remaining hundred for Cecil’s Ancient Wood Wand and three sets of protective gear. Now, Allen only had two hundred gold remaining.
Allen told the staff member, “It’s our first time here today. Do we just go straight in?”
“Oh, first time! In that case, go to Room 205. You can ask all your questions there.”
“Y-Yes, sir. Understood.”
“Room 205”? What, is this actually an apartment building and not a dungeon? And what does he mean by “ask questions”?
Allen had figured that they would be fine with adequate gear and a general idea of the strength of the monsters they would encounter. As it turned out, however, there was more that he had yet to learn.
The second floor was accessible both by stairs and by ramp. Allen and his friends followed behind another group that was pulling a cart along. When they reached the landing, they walked down the corridor until they found the door labeled “205.” They pushed their way inside and, to their surprise, found a cube roughly a meter across floating in midair in the middle of the room. It was blinking red, green, yellow, and other colors while giving off soft mechanical clicks.
“Please close the door after you come in,” said a robotic voice like the kind featured in older anime.
Krena jumped and exclaimed, “Whoa, it talked!”
The group obediently closed the door after themselves and gathered before the cube.
“Please present your adventurer cards.”
There was no point in staying surprised, so Allen held out his card, prompting his friends to follow suit.
“Rank E adventurer Allen, Rank E adventurer Krena, Rank E adventurer Cecil, and Rank E adventurer Dogora. Is this correct?”
“Yes,” Allen said on behalf of his party.
“Welcome to this Rank C dungeon. I am General Dungeon Operating System C205.”
Interesting. Still haven’t the faintest idea how this works, but it sure is a fancy setup.
“Do we enter the dungeon from this room?”
“That is correct. I will transport you to the dungeon, which is in a separate dimension.”
“A separate dimension? You mean the dungeon’s on a different server?”
In Allen’s previous life, he had often played games hosted on multiple servers that players could freely move between. For example, if a certain town, hunting area, or dungeon was particularly crowded, players could access the same area through a different server. This term suddenly popping up in Allen’s mind gave him the uncanny feeling of living within a computer game in person.
“A server, is it? I’m afraid that word is not in my data bank.”
“I see. Don’t worry about it; I only meant to say that I understand the thing about different dimensions. Please send us to the dungeon, then.”
“Understood. However, according to your adventurer cards, this seems to be your first time entering a dungeon. Would you like me to give you a brief explanation beforehand?”
Since I’m here with everyone else, I probably ought to listen, just in case there are things I should know.
“Yes, please.”
As Allen and GDOS C205 continued their conversation, Krena watched excitedly while Cecil visibly struggled to understand how he could talk with a cube as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
“The dimension you are sent to changes depending on who you are with and the number of the room you are entering from. Other adventurers will be unable to follow you. This also means help cannot arrive, so please prepare thoroughly beforehand.”
“That sounds exactly like going to separate servers! More like, these are instanced dungeons!” So I can use my Summons as much as I want! Thank you so much, gods!
“S-Seriously, what’s been with you all this time?!”
“Do you not get it, Cecil?! The cube is saying everyone’s playing on different servers! Different instances!”
“Oh no... I’ve always thought you were a bit strange, but it looks like you’ve gone completely mad...”
Allen then continued to ask a few more questions, such as how to return, whether they needed to watch out for traps, how to head to different floors, and what the conditions for clearing the dungeon were. As it turned out, the boss of a Rank C dungeon was, as could be expected, a Rank C monster. Aside from the boss, all other monsters within were either Rank E or D.
When the cube finished explaining, Allen asked it to go ahead and send them to the dungeon. It wished them luck and obliged.
All at once, the appearance of the room shifted. Its size remained the same and C205 was still there, but a path had opened up.
“Is that the entrance to the dungeon?” Krena asked.
“Most likely,” Dogora answered, hefting his ax.
“All right, everyone,” Allen said. “Let’s go.”
Everyone nodded, then stepped out into the dungeon.
＊ ＊ ＊
The party of four proceeded through the first floor of the dungeon while taking care to remain in formation. Krena and Dogora led the way, Cecil stayed in the middle, and Allen brought up the rear. They had discussed and worked out this formation at their base beforehand.
Soon, they came upon a fork in the road.
“Which way do we go?” Cecil asked.
“The right leads to a dead end. Let’s take the left,” Allen replied. This is quite the labyrinth, even though it’s just a Rank C dungeon.
The moment they had stepped inside, Allen had sent out four Bird Es ahead for scouting. Thanks to them, the group could confidently push ahead without worry of getting lost.
Krena, who did not quite get what was going on, cried, “Allen’s amazing!”
This specific dungeon was composed of lots of small rooms connected by winding passages. In order to head to the next floor, they had to find the cube managing the floor and have it teleport them. Just like with armored ant nests, Allen was currently creating a map of this dungeon floor. He wanted to find the shortest way through.
“Let’s only fight monsters when we’ve got no other choice and ignore the treasure chests altogether,” Allen suggested. “We’re better off prioritizing clearing three Rank C dungeons so we can enter Rank B dungeons as soon as possible.”
The cube had told them that some treasure chests were actually monsters in disguise, while others could fire arrows or spray poison when opened. No one in this party knew how to disable traps, and drops from chests in Rank C dungeons were likely nothing impressive anyway. Given all this, Allen decided to just pass everything by. Everyone indicated their agreement.
There were several things Allen wanted to accomplish in these dungeons. He wanted to raise his and his friends’ levels, of course, plus earn some cash and magic stones. However, the monsters in Rank C dungeons were so weak that trying to earn money or levels from them would be just plain inefficient. Furthermore, he wanted to get his hands on an MP Recovery Ring, which could, supposedly, only drop from a Rank A dungeon boss. As he had no idea which specific dungeon, he wanted to earn the right to challenge the Rank A dungeons as quickly as possible. This would also widen the range of monsters the party could encounter. For all these reasons, he was now focusing solely on completing speedruns of Rank C dungeons.
All right, let’s first take a good look at everyone’s Statuses.
Allen looked through his grimoire while walking on. The moment the party had been registered, he had gained the ability to see his party members’ info.
* * *
Name: Krena
Age: 12
Class: Sword Lord
Level: 21
HP: 880
MP: 330
Attack: 880
Endurance: 620
Agility: 595
Intelligence: 350
Luck: 415
Skills: Sword Lord {1}, Slash {1}, Sword Mastery {5}
Extra Skill: Limit Break
XP: 2,850/3,000
Skill Levels
Sword Lord: 1
Slash: 1
* * *
Skill Experience
Slash: 0/10Name: Cecil Granvelle
Age: 12
Class: Wizardess
Level: 1
HP: 25
MP: 25
Attack: 10
Endurance: 16
Agility: 16
Intelligence: 30
Luck: 16
Skills: Wizardry {1}, Fire Magic {1}, Sparring {2}
Extra Skill: Petit Meteor
XP: 0/10
Skill Levels
Wizardry: 1
Fire Magic: 1
* * *
Skill Experience
Fire Magic: 10/10Name: Dogora
Age: 12
Class: Ax User
Level: 21
HP: 464
MP: 248
Attack: 610
Endurance: 404
Agility: 258
Intelligence: 170
Luck: 276
Skills: War Ax {1}, Full Might {1}, Ax Mastery {4}
Extra Skill: Heart and Soul
XP: 2,850/3,000
Skill Levels
War Ax: 1
Full Might: 1
Skill Experience
Full Might: 0/10
* * *
Allen had long finished analyzing his companions’ Statuses. First, as he had deduced, all classes had a fundamental skill tied to their class, the equivalent of what Summoning was to him. He personally called these “class skills.” For Krena, this would be Sword Lord, whereas for Cecil, it would be Wizardry.
Although Cecil had earned some Skill XP, her skill had yet to level up. The magic tutor had said that in order to use more powerful magic, one had to overcome Trials of the Gods. Allen planned on observing her Status to figure out exactly how base level and skill level were connected.
Why Krena and Dogora’s skill levels had remained at Lvl. 1 was likely because they had not expended their MP at all during their playing knight sessions. It could also be said that, until now, they had not been in an environment where they could use their skills.
Allen had shown everyone his grimoire. When he told Krena she had a skill named Slash, she had said she thought she could somehow imagine it. Allen was hoping that everyone’s afternoon classes would help them activate their skills.
“Cecil, slime up ahead.”
“I see it. Fireball!”
Even while in the middle of thought, Allen was still scouting ahead. When the slime he had spotted earlier came into sight, Cecil attacked it with her magic.
