Chapter 114 - Epilogue: A Time Where One Will Rejoice At The Return Of A Lifeless Body

Rehearsal class also had another name other than the class of lunatics. It was the class of commoners. It was named that way, because everyone attending the class was a commoner.

However, "The class of commoners" also had a negative connotation amongst the Nobles.

Commoners had no titles, which means they had nothing on themselves other than their life. Nobles, in the other hand, had titles, prestige, territory, assets, and many things on them.

If they died, they would leave so many things behind, unlike commoners. Due to this, in their opinion, commoners equals to lunatics. Because they had nothing on them, they weren't afraid of death.

While the students of Rehearsal class were indeed not afraid of death, all of them were irrefutably talented. Talented Mages could easily flourish. Therefore, all of them had wealth that exceeded a Baron's. The only thing they didn't have was a title.

"Since we got a new student today, let's introduce ourself one by one. Also, I want to add another thing to you, Basil." Alcott looked at Basil. "Our class is opened for all years." Alcott paused to see Basil's reaction.

When Alcott saw none, he was about to open his mouth. However, Cray beat him to it. "Therefore, all of us are your seniors. But, you don't have to worry about that! We don't care about seniority in this class." Cray smiled brightly while looking at Basil.

"Kuhum!" Cray flinched, then turned his head to Alcott. "This is the twenty third time I warn you to not interrupt me when I am about to speak for the last three months, Cray." Alcott looked at Cray neutrally, and Cray could only scratch his head awkwardly.

Alcott turned his gaze to Basil. "You may have noticed by now, there is no first year student other than you, Basil. However, like what Cray said, you don't need to worry about seniority. We don't care about such a thing here." Basil nodded faintly.

"Very well, introduce yourself to the new student."

Alcott motioned the frontmost student to stand. It was a 19 year old girl with long dark blue hair tied in a ponytail. She had a sharp jaw, unblemished bright skin, and a height of 171 centimeters.

Turning her body toward Basil, she faced him stoically. "I am Monica, a commoner, and a Fourth Circle Mage. A pleasure to meet you." Then, she sat back down.

"Monica doesn't like to talk very much," Iliana whispered to Basil.

The student beside Monica stood up, and faced Basil's direction. It was a 20 year old girl with long dark grey hair tied in a twin tail. She stood at 160 centimeters tall — a fairly dainty stature — and a quite childish facial features.

She smiled brightly at Basil. "Hello, I am Missy, a commoner, and a Fourth Circle Mage. I love cookies and chocolates! You can invite me anytime to eat them, and I will definitely come! Oh, also a pleasure to meet you, Basil!" She exclaimed in hype.

"Missy is the complete opposite of Monica. She is very talkative and bright," Iliana whispered to Basil.

Basil merely hummed faintly, and focused his attention to the next student. It was a 21 year old young man with light green hair. He had an attractive face, but a neutral expression. Standing at 178 centimeters tall, he had a lithe stature.

Facing Basil, he looked at him neutrally. "My name is Litton. It's a pleasure to meet you." He said it in an emotionless voice. Then, without care, he sat back down.

"Litton is the male version of Monica," Iliana whispered to Basil.

"He didn't say his level of mastery."

"Well, it's not compulsory in the first place. Many commoners say that just so they could be respected." Iliana shrugged.

Like what Iliana said, a commoner essentially had a lower status than Nobles. Even if one was a Mage, as long as one didn't have any title of Nobility, one wouldn't get recognized.

Therefore, commoners often stated their level of mastery to tell everyone how superior they were compared to others, whenever they introduced themselves. It was all for the sake of being recognized.

Upon seeing Litton sat himself back, Cray was eager to introduce himself. However, even before he managed to stand himself up, Alcott beat him to it.

"Very well. The introduction is done."

"What?! I haven't introduced myself yet, Professor Alcott!"

"Shut your hole, Cray! You have done it 15 minutes ago." Alcott was referring to the time before he had entered the lecture room.

"What?! Does that even count?! This is ludicrous!"

While Cray was whining about how unfair the situation was, Iliana was once again whispering to Basil. "You may have already noticed it. But, Cray is the male version of Missy. He doesn't like cookies and chocolates though."

Basil glanced at Iliana from the corner of his eyes. He could see her smiling. Unconsciously, a faint smile adorned Basil's face. He had heard many things about this bunch of students a lot from Iliana in his past life. Iliana liked them a lot.

Unfortunately, not even one of them could live past 25. An expedition had been conducted right before graduation, and an unexpected thing had happened. None of them had survived, beside Iliana.

She had hold onto the guilt for a quite long time in his past life. Basil didn't actually know the unexpected thing that had caused their death in the past. However, he was sure this time would be different.

With that being said, he didn't take Rehearsal class to save these kids. He needed a reason to go to a secluded place, far away from the Magic Institute. He needed that to improve his Cultivation.

By taking Rehearsal class, he would be assigned to an Expedition or a Subjugation, which required him to go far away from the Magic Institute. That way, he would have the chance to improve his Cultivation without attracting unnecessary attention.

"There will be an Exploration in three days. Three people are needed. Who wants to jump in?" Alcott gazed at his students.

Whitney raised his hand. "Where is it, Professor Alcott?"

"It's thirty kilometers away from BA-32. There is a recently found unexplored Dungeon there."

"BA-32? Is it the one close to Lone Mountain?" At Basil's question, everyone turned to him. "How did you know?" Alcott was surprised.

The news of the Dungeon's emergence wasn't even released yet. There should be only few people know about.

"My family owns a hotel in Raneil Barony." Basil was referring to Danzel.

Alcott nodded his head. "I see. Rumour spreads faster than happiness indeed."

Basil frowned lightly, before raising his hand. "I will take part in the Exploration." Once again, everyone's eyes turned to him. "You got the spirit, Basil!" Cray loudly exclaimed. "Very well. I will be joining too, Professor Alcott!"

Alcott sighed in exasperation. Compared to Subjugation and Expedition, Exploration was pretty much harmless. However, considering Cray's personality, anything could be life-threatening. Therefore, he couldn't let Cray go without any supervision.

Iliana, who understood Alcott's dilemma, was about to raise her hand. However, Whitney beat her to it.

"I will join them too, Professor."

"Very well." Alcott sighed in relief. "I hope you can guide Basil well, Whitney."

"Leave him to me, Professor. I won't let him die on me!" Whitney beat his chest confidently.

"Hey, what about me? You guys have me too, you know?" Cray stared at Alcott brightly.

Whitney opened his mouth instead. "Well..." Motioning with his hand, he said, "You are a little... You know...?"

"A little what?"

"... Unstable?"

Cray blinked his eyes, before frowning. Whitney was watching Cray's reaction carefully. Contrary to his expectation, Cray didn't explode like usual.

"I guess I am..." Cray scratched his head. Looking at Basil, he said, "I can't risk your life after all. It's been a long time since we get a new friend!"

Everyone sighed in relief. They were glad Cray was self-conscious. Still, if he was aware of his recklessness, why didn't he act more careful?!

With that, the class started.

...

Dungeon was originally a jail for Kinslayers in the Age of Chaos. As the name suggested, Kinslayers were people who killed another human, while the population was at all time low.

Dungeon was made to imprison and torture them to inflict the same suffering those people they had killed had felt.

Unfortunately, as it was still in the Age of Chaos, the world was still infested with Demons from the Obelisks. Once the Demons found about the underground Dungeon, they made it as their base, and worked together with the people entrapped inside.

Being full of vengeance after being captured, the Kinslayers became even more eager to hunt people. Due to this reason, many Dungeons were destroyed in the past, and the undestroyed ones were hidden from the world.

Starting from a hundred years ago, people started to find the lost Dungeons, either out of coincidence or natural phenomenon. Being the curious people they were, Mages and Knights alike were crazy about exploring it.

Thus, the term of Exploration was born.

"Woohoo! We are finally departing!" Cray shouted enthusiastically.

Whitney chuckled. "You are being loud Cray. Can't you be like Basil?" Whitney motioned his eyes to Basil.

Basil was leaning his body on a wall, with Deacon on his shoulder.

"No way! He is too steady. He didn't even cry when Carter's parents retrieve his body!" Cray shook his hand frantically.

"Well... I guess he is better than you, who was faking your cry." Whitney smiled wryly.

"Hey, that was a genuine tears!"

While Whitney and Cray went back and forth with their bantering, Basil was focusing on his thought. It had been three days since he had accepted the offer to go to an Exploration, and he had used those three days to prepare everything he would need.

He was thinking about the Dungeon he was about to go to.

Death Howl Dungeon.

It was located not far from Lone Mountain, the place where the dying Yamata no Orochi had lived. Death Howl wasn't actually a Dungeon.

It was a connector to the Obelisk of Goap, the one that would experience an Outbreak soon.

His mind instantly replied the scene where Carter's father cried at his son's lifeless body. War was already close, and the similar scene would happen everywhere.

War is such a cruel and unique thing. In times of normal a son bury their father, while in times of war, a father bury their son.

The upcoming war would be worse. There was no guarantee a father could even have their son's body to bury.

The upcoming war would be a time where one would rejoice at the return of a lifeless body.