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We talked more and more with Evelyn, spending the next hour conversing with her about everything the Academy could offer. Eventually, we reached the topic of Dungeons, which was the thing I was the most interested.
"Yes, after the first week there's going to be Dungeon Exploration right away. The faster the students get accustomed to dungeons the better." Evelyn said. "Stronghold City sports a variety of Dungeons, up to 20! They go all the way from F Rank to B Rank! You all will start with F Rank for now though, as you need to get accustomed to fighting monsters first."
"Uhh… we've already fought a ton." Said Erika.
"Demons too, like hundreds." Said Chris.
"We also fought hundreds of undead, and a necromancer…" Eric sighed, recalling Ellergest's passing.
"Yeah, we are more than experienced for F Rank Dungeons, can't we enter higher ranked ones?" Elizabeth asked.
"Y-You are?!" Evelyn suddenly rechecked a magic book she had, which held information about us. "I can't believe I didn't even read this about you kids… By the Holy Spirits! I see why commoners like you were invited to Stronghold city now! And you are… You're an Invoker?!" Evelyn looked at me in shock.
"Actually I already Ranked Up to Two Star Summoner." I said.
"U-Unbelievable…" Evelyn muttered. "This must be wrong, Summoners are-"
POOF!
I quickly summoned several Familiars, Fenrirs, Orcus, Spores, and even one of my newest D Rank Familiar Summons, a Red Wyvern.
"ROOOARRR!"
The Wyvern roared mostly to show off. Evelyn almost jumped off her seat as she saw all the beasts, the roar almost made her scream. She was certainly strong enough to kill all of them if she wanted, but she was caught off guard.
"There's no way I could have so many Spirits, right? These are familiars, weaker spirits which summoners can summon at larger quantities." I said with a smile. I had no intentions of hiding my powers anyways. "They sport a variety of skills; some can even produce healing items and each one I summon also boosts my stats."
"Incredible…" Evelyn muttered. "I-I've been assigned to such a group of prodigies?! The little ol' me?!"
She was freaking out over the responsibility of taking care of all of us, we really meant trouble in the long run by how talented we were, especially my own Talent as a Summoner…
Well, whatever.
At the end, she calmed down and continued answering our questions.
"I'm sorry, even if you are as strong as you've shown me to be… We cannot go against the rules and do as we please. But you'll be assigned to a higher ranked test once the other teaches see you're capable! So in those first dungeon explorations, make sure to get the best scores!" Evelyn said. "And if you are successful students, I may get promoted and even get a raise in my pay… It is a win-win!"
She suddenly turned extremely greedy looking. This woman had so many facets that it was hard to have a proper idea of her actual nature and character as a person.
When everything was done, we quickly decided to go back to our rooms and slept calmly, preparing our resolve for what was to come.
…
"Mwuh… Papa, good morning…"
The next morning, I was woken up by Saphira who was napping over my chest.
"You're finally awake! We must be getting closer to Stronghold by now…"
Naturally, Eleanora was sleeping at my left side as well.
"Indeed Master!"
And of course, Hendrick was sleeping at my right side of the bed- Wait, what?!
"Get off here!"
I kicked him out of the bed, Hendrick quickly began to apologize.
"I'm sorry! I just wanted to warm up a bit-"
"Ugh, just don't do it again, you've got the whole Spirit Realm to call home!"
"Okay, I am very sorry!"
"Sigh…"
He wasn't even sorry; it was obvious he was just laughing internally. He's known for being quite the jester within the rest of my allies. Anyways, to prevent this next time, I'll make sure to just chain him inside my Spirit Realm.
"Sigh… If it wasn't because you upgraded my weapon I would had gotten way angrier." I sighed.
"Ohohoh! Talking about that, Master, I've improved upon this recipe." Said Hendrick, suddenly giving me a bottle of holy water.
"Eh?"
I looked at the bottle which was the one I crated using Instant Creation from the Alchemy Recipe Book Skill… and then I looked at the Holy Potion Jack and Seth gave to me.
The one Hendrick improved was only slightly less quality than the one Jack and Seth gifted to me… Incredible.
"Y-You've made this run of the mill holy water into such a high quality?!" I asked. "How?"
"It was very easy with the materials at hand! Skill Levels are also very useful! Stacking two Alchemy Skills creates more effects than you think, my lord." Hendrick seemed to be prideful of his improvement.
"Amazing… Then improve upon the bombs too." I said with a smile.
"With pleasure! I live to do alchemy!" Hendrick seemed motivated.
I let him borrow the Lesser Elixir Ring that Eric gifted to me so he could use its abilities, as he began doing alchemy inside of my Spirit Realm while I packed up my things, Evelyn was calling.
"Blake! Are you awake? We are about to land! Hurry!"
"Alright…"
I quickly walked outside the room while being half-sleep, finding the rest of my party there. We quickly walked outside the airship in a hurry, as Evelyn led us outside.
And Stronghold City was… it was like nothing we had ever seen before in this world.
An enormous city, with many airships flying everywhere, from all around the world.
Tall buildings with over six floors, over a million inhabitants, most likely.
And over twenty enormous buildings surrounding the city's walls, all emanating a large quantity of Mana, Dungeons!
This is… the city of my dreams already! The variety of exported materials, shops, food, and dungeons at my disposal was phenomenal.
"Woow, this damn city's so big!" Chris said.
"So many people…" Eric said in surprise.
"Ugh, I am nervous…" Elizabeth sighed.
"This is honestly incredible, I never thought cities could get this massive." Erdrich commented.
"So cool! Look Blake, the dungeons!" Erika pointed out.
"Yeah, I saw them." I nodded.
Evelyn smiled, crossing her arms as she presented the City to us.
"Welcome to Stronghold City, students. This is where you'll all be shaped into proper Spirit Masters."
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