Chapter 55

The sun was already up when William opened his eyes, bright light pouring through the window and hitting him right in the face. He groaned and turned over, burying his face in the pillow.

"Ugh, seriously?" he muttered, trying to block out the light.

"You planning to sleep all day?" Kai’s voice came from across the room.

William cracked one eye open and saw his roommate already dressed and organizing some equipment on his desk. Actual combat equipment this time, not books.

"What time is it?" William asked, his voice muffled by the pillow.

"Early enough that we need to leave soon if we’re meeting Liam on time."

Right. The mysterious thing Liam wanted help with. William still had no idea what it actually was since Liam had been frustratingly vague about the whole situation.

William dragged himself out of bed and stretched, his back popping from sleeping in a weird position. He grabbed the first clean shirt he could find and started getting dressed properly.

"Do you even know what this is about?" William asked while strapping his sword to his belt.

"I’m supposed to be asking you that." Kai secured a pack to his back. "Bring your sword and probably some basic supplies. Food, water, that kind of thing."

That didn’t sound promising. William grabbed his own pack and started loading it with the essentials—water flask, some dried food from his stash, the medical kit Sara had given him weeks ago that he had never actually used.

"Ready?" Kai asked, already waiting by the door.

"Yeah, let’s go."

They left the dormitory and headed across campus. The grounds were quieter than usual for a Saturday morning, most students still asleep or just starting their day. The few people they passed looked half-awake, shuffling toward the dining hall or wandering around aimlessly.

The main gate came into view and William spotted Liam already there, leaning against the stone archway with his own pack and sword. He looked like he had been waiting for a while.

"You came," Liam said, pushing off the wall with a relieved expression. "I wasn’t completely sure you would."

"You asked," William said. "So what’s this actually about? You were pretty vague in your message."

Liam glanced around like he was checking if anyone was close enough to hear. "Let’s walk first. I’ll explain once we’re off campus."

They passed through the main gate and headed down the road leading away from the academy. The morning air was cool and fresh, the kind of temperature that would probably get warmer as the day went on.

"So," William said after they’d walked in silence for a few minutes. "Are you going to tell us what we’re doing or is this going to stay mysterious all day?"

Liam grinned slightly at that. "Alright, alright. So you know how the academy has those special training permits for advanced students? The ones that let you access controlled dungeon sites for practical experience?"

"Yeah," William said. He had heard about them but never really looked into getting one himself. Dungeons were dangerous and most students didn’t bother with them until third or fourth year.

"Well, I got permission to access one of the nearby dungeons this weekend," Liam continued. "It’s a low-level site and it’s not too dangerous, but it’s still good for practical combat training and essence beast experience. The problem is the permit requires a minimum group size of four people for safety reasons."

"And you’re at three right now," Kai observed.

"Exactly. I asked Adrian first but he’s busy with family obligations this weekend. Patricia had midterm prep she couldn’t skip. Devon’s sick with some essence pathway issue." Liam shrugged. "Everyone I asked was either busy or not interested in dungeon exploration."

"So we’re the backup plan," William said.

"More like the solution to my permit problem," Liam corrected. "But yeah, I know it’s last minute. If you’re not interested I can try to find someone else, though that’ll probably mean postponing until next weekend and—"

"We’re already here," William interrupted. "Might as well see it through. What kind of dungeon is it?"

Liam’s expression brightened. "It’s called the Verdant Hollow. It’s a natural dungeon formation that appeared about twenty years ago in the forest west of the academy. The entrance is stable and the interior is mapped, so it’s approved for student training. Mostly plant-based essence beasts and some minor environmental hazards."

"Plant-based doesn’t sound too threatening," William said.

"Don’t underestimate them," Liam warned. "Plant-type beasts can be just as dangerous as animal types. They’re usually slower but they make up for it with poison, environmental control, and ambush tactics."

They continued down the main road for about thirty minutes before Liam took them onto a smaller side path that led into the forest. The trees grew thicker here, the maintained road giving way to a dirt trail that looked like it saw regular use but wasn’t officially maintained.

"The dungeon entrance is about an hour from here," Liam explained while navigating around a fallen log. "The academy keeps the path clear enough for student access but they don’t advertise it too much. Don’t want first-years wandering in without supervision."

William could understand that. Dungeons were fundamentally different from normal combat training. The essence beasts inside respawned, the environment could shift unpredictably, and the concentrated essence made everything more dangerous than surface encounters.

They walked through the forest for a while, the morning sun filtering through the canopy above and creating scattered patches of light on the trail. Birds called from the trees and smaller animals rustled through the undergrowth, normal forest sounds that were actually kind of peaceful.

"So what’s the fourth person situation?" Kai asked. "You said we needed four minimum. We’re still at three."

"I sent a message to someone yesterday asking if they wanted to join," Liam said. "She said yes, so she should be meeting us at the dungeon entrance. I gave her directions and told her to be there by mid-morning."

"She?" William asked.

"Yeah, another academy student. Third-year from House Luminara." Liam ducked under a low branch. "Her name’s Astrid Valere. She’s done dungeon runs before so she knows what to expect."

William didn’t recognize the name, which wasn’t surprising given how many students attended the academy. But if she was a third-year with dungeon experience, she was probably competent enough to not be a liability.

They continued hiking through the forest, the trail becoming progressively less defined as they went deeper. The trees grew larger here, their trunks thick and ancient-looking, their canopy so dense that the ground below stayed in perpetual shade.

"The essence concentration is higher here," Kai observed, touching a tree trunk that showed faint crystalline patterns in its bark.

"We’re getting close to the dungeon," Liam explained. "Dungeons leak essence into the surrounding environment. That’s why the forest near dungeon entrances always looks different from normal areas."

William noticed what Liam meant. The plants around them were more vibrant and their colors looked more saturated. Flowers bloomed in the undergrowth despite it being past their normal season, and moss covered everything with an almost luminescent green.

After another twenty minutes of walking, the trail opened up into a small clearing. And standing in the center of the clearing, next to what looked like a large cave entrance built into a rocky hillside, were three people.

Two girls and one guy, all of them wearing academy uniforms and carrying weapons and packs. They looked up when Liam’s group entered the clearing.

"Liam!" one of the girls called out, waving. She was tall with dark red hair pulled into a high ponytail and an energetic expression. "You actually made it! We were starting to wonder if you’d gotten lost."

"Sorry we’re late," Liam said while approaching the group. "The trail took longer than I expected."

The red-haired girl turned her attention to William and Kai, her expression curious. "And you brought friends! Hi, I’m Astrid Valere. Third-year, House Luminara."

So that was the person Liam had invited. William examined her more carefully—she looked athletic and carried herself with the confidence of someone used to combat situations. Her sword was well-maintained and her equipment looked practical rather than decorative.

"William Cross," William introduced himself. "First-year, House Ascendant."

"Kai Wraith," Kai added. "Also first-year, Ascendant."

"First-years?" The guy in Astrid’s group raised an eyebrow. He was stocky with short brown hair and a skeptical expression. "Liam, you brought first-years to a dungeon run?"

"William’s on the Inter-Academy team," Liam said calmly. "And Kai’s competent. They’ll be fine."

The guy didn’t look entirely convinced but didn’t argue further.

"I’m Billy Brone, by the way," he said. "Third-year, House Arcturus. And this is Elena Rave."

He gestured to the second girl in their group. She was shorter than Astrid with light blonde hair and a quieter demeanor. She offered a polite nod but didn’t say anything.

"Second-year, House Valoris," Elena added when it became clear she needed to introduce herself.

William looked at the three of them and felt something off. He didn’t recognize any of these people from the novel. Not their names, not their faces, nothing. They had to be background characters, the kind that existed in the world but weren’t important enough for the original story to focus on.

"Wait," Astrid said, looking at Liam with confusion. "I thought you said this was going to be a four-person run? There’s six of us now."

"Is that a problem?" Liam asked.

"Not really? I mean, more people makes it safer I guess. I just wasn’t expecting to meet up with Marcus and Elena here." Astrid looked at the other two. "What are you guys doing here anyway?"

"Same thing you are, apparently," Marcus said. "Elena wanted dungeon experience and I offered to take her. We got our permit approved yesterday and were told to come here this morning."

"So we’ve got two separate groups with permits for the same dungeon on the same day," Astrid said, looking amused. "What are the odds?"

"The academy probably scheduled multiple groups to make good use of the dungeon access," Kai suggested. "It’s a controlled site, so they can monitor multiple teams at once."

"That makes sense." Astrid turned to look at the cave entrance behind her. "Well, since we’re all here anyway, want to just team up? Six people is better than two groups of three, and the dungeon’s big enough that we won’t be getting in each other’s way."

Liam looked at William and Kai. "You two okay with that?"

William shrugged. "Fine with me."

"Same," Kai said.

"Alright then," Liam said, turning back to Astrid. "We’re teaming up. You’ve done this dungeon before, right? Want to take point on explaining what to expect?"

"Sure!" Astrid’s enthusiasm was almost infectious. She gestured everyone to gather around while she pulled out a hand-drawn map from her pack.

"Okay, so the Verdant Hollow is what we call a stable natural dungeon. It formed naturally about twenty years ago and hasn’t shown any signs of instability since. The interior is divided into three main sections or ’floors’ if you want to think of it like that."

She pointed at the map, which showed a rough layout of interconnected chambers and passages.

"The first floor is mostly basic plant-type essence beasts. Vine Crawlers, Thorn Sprouts, that kind of thing. Nothing too dangerous if you’re careful. The second floor has stronger variants and some minor environmental hazards—poison spores, unstable ground, that sort of thing. The third floor is the deep section with the dungeon core and the strongest beasts."

"Are we going to the third floor?" Elena asked, her voice quiet.

"Probably not," Astrid said. "That area requires special permission and a faculty supervisor. We’ll stick to the first two floors, clear out some beasts, gather whatever essence materials we find, and be back out before evening."

"Sounds straightforward," Marcus said.

"It should be. The main things to watch out for are poison effects and ambush attacks. Plant beasts like to hide and strike when you’re distracted. Stay alert, work together, and we’ll be fine."

She folded the map and put it away, then turned to look at the cave entrance. The opening was large enough to walk through comfortably, but the interior was dark and the air coming from inside carried a strange earthy smell mixed with something sweet.

"Everyone ready?" Astrid asked, her hand moving to her sword.

The group murmured agreement, checking their weapons and equipment one last time.

"Then let’s go," Astrid said, and walked toward the dungeon entrance.

William followed with the others, stepping from the bright forest clearing into the dark cave mouth. The temperature dropped immediately, the air becoming cooler and heavier with essence. The walls of the cave glowed faintly with some kind of bioluminescent moss, providing just enough light to see by.

The passage sloped downward, leading deeper into the earth. William could hear water dripping somewhere in the distance and the faint rustling of movement that could have been wind or could have been something else entirely.

"Stay close," Liam said quietly. "Don’t wander off. If something attacks, call it out immediately."

They descended into the Verdant Hollow, leaving the surface world behind and entering the strange, dangerous realm of the dungeon.

William gripped his sword and kept his senses alert.

This was going to be interesting.

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