The weapons I forge are absolutely flawless.

Felix gripped the sword called Absolute Blade tightly in his hand, his joy overflowing, and tears unexpectedly streamed down his face, catching Vina off guard.

“Stop it for a second,” Viner grabbed Felix’s shoulders and shook him violently. “I promised to build you a real masterpiece before you graduate, not some cheap knock-off. Stop crying, what kind of man cries like that?”

"Okay, don't cry anymore." Felix took a deep breath, wiped his face, and tried to calm himself down.

Although her eyes were still slightly red, making her look somewhat pitiful, she had at least managed to stop the tears.

He is a boy, he is a boy, he is a boy.

Wiener reminded himself of this three times.

"I was originally planning to surprise you with it before we entered the dungeon, but I thought about it and decided against it. I'll give it to you earlier so you can get used to the new weapon. This sword will last you a long time."

Even among third-year students, not everyone can equip themselves with C-rank weapons.

The unbreakable Absolute Blade, Jade Blade, is more than enough to pair with a first-year student like Felix.

“I will cherish it,” Felix promised.

"That's enough. Weapons are not as important as people. Don't do anything stupid like putting yourself in danger for a weapon."

"If it's broken, fix it; if it's cracked, replace it. Don't act like you can't afford it."

With that, Vena tossed a mask to Felix.

"We'll be among the first to enter the underground city at seven o'clock tomorrow morning."

......

The next morning, the sky was just beginning to lighten.

The dormitory area was also immersed in tranquility.

It is common knowledge that alchemy students can only stay up late and never get up early.

However, there are still two outliers.

Despite the agreed meeting time of seven o'clock, Venere woke up earlier than usual.

Since he was already awake, he didn't intend to waste any more time and prepared to wake Felix up so they could set off early.

But to his surprise, as soon as he opened the door, he found that someone had been waiting for him for a long time.

"Vina, over here!" Felix, sporting an unfamiliar face, waved to Vina.

Although the alchemical mask cannot change the body shape, the voice and appearance are completely different.

This saved Venere the trouble of calling for help.

"...Then let's set off."

Venus also put on the alchemical mask, giving herself an ordinary-looking face.

This is the face he spent ten minutes sculpting during the evening.

"We're not used to seeing Viner like this. If you threw her into a crowd, you probably wouldn't be able to find her."

Felix commented.

This sentence did remind Wiener.

Even with his face obscured, Felix's unique presence was still hard to conceal, somewhat like burying one's head in the sand.

Fortunately, he was prepared.

"Put it on." Viner took a gray trench coat that could cover his whole body out of his backpack and handed it to Felix without waiting for a reply.

"Uh... okay. But do we really need to go this far, making exploring dungeons feel like we're thieves?"

Felix, somewhat exasperated at being forced to wear a trench coat because of his loose tongue, muttered a question.

Wiener, who had been leading the way, stopped and turned to look at Felix after hearing the question.

Have you ever heard of the Black Forest Theory?

Chapter 59 Teleportation Array No. 3

The dangers within the dungeon come not only from monsters and the endless traps.

It also stems from competition among humans themselves.

If a rare material is discovered by several parties at the same time, there is absolutely no reason to give it away.

At this moment, classmates have become rivals.

If the conflict escalates and the two sides become enemies, that would be undesirable.

The idea of ​​wearing an alchemical mask to conceal one's appearance stemmed from this consideration.

Everyone should preserve their last shred of dignity. Matters within the dungeon should be resolved within the dungeon. Even if someone recognizes another, pretend you don't. Once you're out, you can still be good classmates.

After a brief explanation from Wiener, Felix understood and naturally had no further objections.

......

The main teleportation array leading to the dungeon is located at the southernmost part of the academy.

The teleportation array is composed of overlapping rings of magic-patterned stone slabs, each magic pattern shimmering with a faint, eerie light.

At the center of the array, a slightly raised circular platform is inlaid with a crystal-clear red gemstone, which provides energy for the teleportation array to operate.

The air above the teleportation platform was distorted, forming a faint vortex.

Viner and Felix were standing in front of the teleportation array, waiting for the instructor on duty to give them final confirmation.

"New students?" Rupert was clearly surprised after checking their student cards.

While the large alchemy backpack and alchemy mask are standard equipment, they are designed for experienced dungeon hunters.

It's rare to see freshmen who are willing to invest so much and prepare so thoroughly.

He'd seen this before. The five freshmen who had agreed to team up couldn't even gather a single summoning stone; they had to rely entirely on luck to get into the teleportation array.

As a result, the five people were dropped to different teleportation points, and their attempt to form a team ended up being a complete waste.

“Yes.” Viner nodded in agreement, then asked, “I heard that new students entering the dungeon for the first time can receive an escape stone for free.”

“That’s right, these are for both of you.” Rupert handed the two fist-sized red crystals to them, and before leaving, he couldn’t help but joke, “Take good care of them, and don’t accidentally crush them.”

As long as the escape stone leaves the user's mark, it can teleport the user to the main teleportation array outside the dungeon entrance when crushed, making it an essential item for exploring dungeons.

The only downside is that it's quite expensive as a consumable.

If you use up the free escape stone, you'll need to pay 50 credits for each one afterward.

Moreover, this item only guarantees that a person can escape from the dungeon; apart from the clothing worn close to the body, all other external items such as weapons and backpacks cannot be taken away.

Therefore, unless it's an emergency, it's best to leave the dungeon through the exit teleportation array.

"Thank you for reminding me." Vena put the escape stone into his pocket.

“Then we can go in once we're ready. You should have a summoning stone ready, right?” Rupert reminded him.

Wiener took two blue crystals out of his coat pocket, showed them to Rupert, and then gave one to Felix.

After stretching their limbs, they stepped into the vortex together. Then, a beam of light enveloped them, and their figures disappeared into the teleportation array.

This was the first time Vena had ever used a teleportation array, so she couldn't help but feel a bit curious.

Apart from being momentarily blinded by a bright light, I experienced no discomfort.

When she opened her eyes again, Vena was already in the teleportation array on the first floor of the dungeon.

The layout is similar to the main teleportation array, but it is far smaller in scale.

Outside the teleportation array, a large circular area was formed by stone blocks and wooden fences, and the area inside the circle was the safe zone.

"I really don't know who came up with the name 'Dungeon'."

After assessing the situation, Wiener couldn't help but make a comment.

When you think of dungeons, you usually picture underground, dark, and damp places.

But once I actually set foot on this land, I realized that it wasn't like that at all.

Above him were not caves and thick stone walls, but an endless sky.

Mountains and rivers, plains and plateaus.

Who would have thought that the true nature of the dungeon would be a small plane?

“I heard he was the first hero,” Felix replied.

"That's okay."

The terrain of each level in the dungeon changes randomly every month, rendering regular maps meaningless; you can only rely on coordinates to determine your location.

Regardless of how the terrain changes, the coordinates of the six teleportation arrays remain unchanged, providing a fundamental guarantee for dungeon exploration.

Students exploring the dungeon for the first time usually proceed cautiously, using the area around the teleportation array they first enter as their exploration zone, and finally choosing the nearest exit teleportation point as their exit point.

However, the efficiency of activating only one teleportation array per exploration is clearly insufficient for Wiener.

If it takes this long to reach the first level, when will we ever reach the third level?

Having done her homework in advance, Viner already knew the coordinates of all the teleportation arrays on the first floor by heart.

Once he determined that he was currently at the No. 3 entrance teleportation array, he instantly planned out several routes in his mind.

"This way," Viner called out.

“Hmm.” Felix followed closely behind.

There were no roads in the world originally, but as more people walked on them, they became roads.

This statement is quite fitting for the context of the dungeon.

The reason for delaying the opening of the dungeon until today is to avoid new players encountering terrain changes on their first exploration of the dungeon; it was deliberately scheduled to open after the changes.

As the first two people from the newly replaced Venus to enter the dungeon, they truly experienced the feeling of pioneering a new world.

"Creak, creak—"

Dozens of slow-moving skeletons blocked the way, their empty eye sockets flickering with ghostly fire, sending chills down one's spine.

Some carried embroidered swords that they didn't know where they came from, while others simply picked up parts of other companions' bodies to use as weapons.

These skeletons weren't moving fast. Although they startled me when they suddenly emerged from the ground, getting rid of them wasn't difficult.

Unfortunately, someone disagreed.

"Snapped!"

Felix wielded his spear, each strike accompanied by the cracking sound of bones breaking. His movements were like those of a dragon, and he single-handedly entangled the vast majority of the skeletons.

When facing creatures that are nothing but bones, blunt weapons can cause far more damage than sharp weapons.

He simply enjoys using a sword; he doesn't enjoy making himself uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, some people will make things difficult for him.

"It's tough."

Wiener wasn't just a passive observer.

However, the problem lies in insufficient output, making it difficult to generate effective output.

Having been nurtured by magic in the dungeon, these skeletons, though seemingly brittle, are actually as hard as iron.

If you don't know the proper technique and rashly hack at the skeleton with your sword, your weapon will probably break in no time.

But isn't that just a coincidence?

Viner happened to have a sword that was incredibly sturdy, neither dulling nor breaking.

"Sword Technique - Fierce Strike!"

Since a normal attack can't break its defense, then use a sword technique on it!

Snapped!

The skeleton soldier who was entangled with Vina just a second ago was instantly smashed to pieces, turning into a pile of scattered bone fragments.

P.S.: Thanks to Reikai Izayoi and Honghonghuohuohuanghuanghuo for their monthly ticket support, hehe XD.