Kae

Dungeon Diver CH553

Every step I take closer to the light blue tear in space before me sends more high-pressure waves of gravity against my concealment barrier.

It makes me focus more and more of my physical and mental capacity on keeping the limiter stable, drowning everything out in the room.

The chatter of applicants behind me goes completely mute, even the two A-class guards by my sides fade out of my senses, and all I focus on is walking forward.

My foot hits the blue space, and it falls t...

Dungeon Diver CH552

More applicants come out from their resting rooms, and the doors close, sealing the rooms behind them one by one.

The last door to open and reveal its hunter is the one right next to me labeled [2].

Trax comes walking out with a slow stride.

His right arm and side are fully healed and regrown; however, there’s a large white scar on the side of his face.

He glares at me as he walks out, crackling with electricity, trying to show the entire room that the attack wasn’...

Dungeon Diver CH551

Pulses of water and healing magic flash behind me as I take Nat’s buffs down from their max to zero while giving her self-regeneration to instantly heal her fatigue.

Rodrigo’s voice yells out to the arena as the flame residue dissipates.

“That’s it! The winner of the entire 4th Stage tournament is Natalie Sterling of the Apex Region. You’ve now earned yourself a seat on the Association’s B-Class board, automatically receiving a B-Class hunter's ID, and have the choice ...

Dungeon Diver CH550

The tension in the air is impossible not to notice.

Both inside the viewing room above the stadium, and down below in the Regional Director’s viewing area too.

No one speaks a word, but their silence and wide eyed stares into the arena from everyone waiting to see what happens next says it all.

Two anomalies have shown themselves during this 4th stage of the exams.

This whole event is supposed to be a simple display of what the new talent from all 8 regions can do. 2024-06-30 23:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post

Dungeon Diver CH549

The other applicants in the smaller viewing area become restless as the match begins.

They whisper to each other about both of the hunters in the ring as the two-minute timer starts to count down.

Their comments are either guesses about whether the Flame Emperor's power is real or just some hidden artifact Natalie is using to scare her opponents.

Others comment on how well Emrie, the Bedrock applicant, fought in his last few matches.

The confusion and concern in the vo...

Dungeon Diver CH548

The instant the red gem is swallowed by my opponent, his eyes begin to glow the same crimson shade.

Next, the static yellow energy that surrounds his body shifts to the same shade of red.

It looks extremely disturbing, and even intimidating, but the odd thing is that I can’t sense any extra mana coming off of it.

However, with Ember’s warning fresh in my ear, now isn't the time to question whether it's dangerous or not to continue fighting him.

I jump back and avoi...

Dungeon Diver CH547

My yellow blades clash against his glowing sword of static energy, arcs of electricity filling the blue dome and shifting the color to an eerie light green visible to the audience.

Instead of being surprised like the last time he saw me move at this speed, his expression shifts to a wide smile, with a battle-crazed look in his eyes.

The clang of our blades echoes throughout the ring as we bounce off each other and zip through the air, colliding over ten times a second as more and ...

Dungeon Diver CH546

The fight between Ember and Callum starts off very standard.

Both of them taunt each other at the start, activating their fire and water magic and circling the ring a few times.

Both opponents have seen the other fight in this tournament multiple times already and know the strength levels are higher than any other competitors they’ve faced so far.

Callum takes out a massive spiked mace imbued with water magic, coating his whole body in a thick mana-imbued layer of blue fas...

Dungeon Diver CH545

The match starts, and I point my lightning daggers forward and wait for any sign of the applicant from the Phantom Region to activate their skill.

Every time this man disappeared in the previous matches, it was right after his opponent attacked.

I can feel his mana control, and it's nearing that of a level 700. I witnessed him defeat an opponent from the Vice Region stronger than himself in seconds.

I’m confident whatever skill he’s using will have no effect on me; howev...

Dungeon Diver CH544

All of the matches in the first round finish before the hour is up.

The rankings get closer to even as the matches go on, so many of the final battles are evenly matched and take up the entirety of the 2-minute timer.

Once the 33 vs. 34 match comes to an end with 33 winning in the last 10 seconds, the leaderboard screen shows up projected on the top of the blue mana dome.

There are 33 applicants left, so the scoreboard shifts and creates a brand new matchup between the two l...

Dungeon Diver CH543

Nat’s eyes widen once she hears a foreign voice in her head, but she takes in a gasp of air and I continue talking to her before too much time passes.

“I can grant you the power to win, but you’re going to have to put your full trust in me. Focus. To win this battle, you must visualize me as your leader and recite these words.”

Nat grits her teeth, conceptualizing the situation in slow motion, nodding while I tell her what to say. The words that travel through our link are...

Dungeon Diver CH542

Once the timer reaches five minutes remaining, I begin to feel the room around me shift and rotate. The ceiling lights up green with a new message telling all applicants to move to the front half of their rooms and equip all items necessary to fight.

I do as it says, and a wall comes out of the floor, cutting the room in half and leaving me staring at the silver door.

Soon after, the mana shielding around the front half of the room falls away, revealing heavy-duty glass imbued wit...

Dungeon Diver CH541

The list of rankings on the ceiling shifts around.

Some of the numbers above the silver doors in the room shift too, matching the hunters' updated rankings for those already inside.

Many applicants move up and down 1 or 2 slots as they’ve managed to squeeze in a few points past their fellow applicants.

I see Natalie’s score actually get worse, moving from [17] to [19], while Dane’s moves from [18] to [16], and Marcie shoots up the rankings all the way from [19] to [13]...

Dungeon Diver CH540

The team of Elites walks over to us like they own the place and completely ignore me, all staring at Natalie.

Trax yells again.

“You’re a disgrace! We should have never picked you up from the Veridian Region!”

He raises a fist, and lightning crackles around it.

His words interest me.

I assumed Nat was from the Apex Region, but it seems there’s some information I was lacking. My eyebrows raise as the water user puts his hand in front of the spiky-haired li...

Dungeon Diver CH539

Ember and I look at her cautiously, not answering. So, she elaborates.

“I’ve been to the Bedrock Region plenty of times for private missions. I’ve never seen hunters like you… Your stamina, mentality, even fighting instincts… something is up. That blue crystal that took videos of everything it saw, how’d you even get your hands on one of those? I’ve only ever seen association officials use those—”

There’s another long pause, however, this time I do reply while ...

Dungeon Diver CH538

It takes more than five extra minutes for the Apex Elites team to finish up this trial. According to Natalie, there's a more battle-equipped healer on their main squad. He is their tank with an extreme strength skill, but also has a similar healing ability that must have healed the mechanic in the same way Nat did to get a time like that.

However, their bit of lag time behind us must have been the need to allocate more hunters to defending the village from rogue monsters.

One team...

Dungeon Diver CH537

We all walk forward into the jungle environment through the silver door.

Once it clicks behind us, the exit disappears, and it feels like we’re inside a normal dungeon.

However, there are a few major differences.

Floating high in the sky is a visible timer now counting down from 55 minutes.

Below it is a large blue holographic text prompt.

[A Party of B-Class hunters failed to subjugate a dungeon break. They’ve been separated into multiple areas after splitti...

Dungeon Diver CH536

As I walk closer to the two of them, I realize there are plenty of other hunters surrounding them.

Ember is the one being approached the most. I overhear many of them trying to get him to join their team.

Upon closer inspection, I find that he has by far the lowest number still in this room; everyone else sub 30 has already formed a team and is behind a closed door.

Some ask Natalie to join as well, but many are fixated on Ember as he’s clearly a strong asset to their team...

Dungeon Diver CH535

“Well, if it was solely up to me, I wouldn’t be at these exams at all. I’m doing it for the safety and well-being of my home region.”

I raise an eyebrow at her words, and she continues.

“Every region has to enroll at least one applicant per year to stay in the good faith of the Association and continue receiving its aid and protection.”

It begins to make sense why none of the other strong hunters from that region are here. I recall seeing dozens of worthy applica...

Dungeon Diver CH534

We all walk over to the door as the knocking gets louder.

I reach forward and open it to see a low-level waiter holding the golden exit card that’s on the back of the door. He looks us over for a moment before speaking.

“Ray, Emrie, Natalie, right this way. Stage 1 of the exams will now begin. I wish you the best of luck.”

He slips the golden card into a small black box similar to the one I put my ID into when I first met one of the guards outside of this compound when...

Dungeon Diver CH533

Natalie begins to explain everything she knows about the B-Class exams while continuing to pace around the mana-dense air in the room.

She explains that most years, there are 12 people accepted as applicants that pass the exams. It’s very normal for the Apex region to take 4-6 of these slots, while the Veridian and Vice Region take the other 6 to 8 remaining.

All of these regions have submitted 12 applicants each, the maximum available.

None of the other regions hit the ma...

Dungeon Diver CH532

I shake my head and turn to Ember.

“Only 5 tokens for a 2-person suite. So we could have stopped after I won that first spin.”

Then, I turn back to the white-haired woman that continues to follow us through the room.

“Why should we trust you? You could easily sit by that table and earn 2 more tokens in no time at all if you wanted.”

I do another scan of her status to confirm what I saw before was true. She may have a unique healing skill, but she’s level 501,...

Dungeon Diver CH531

We walk through the room and I take in the scenes around me.

Many more bars and restaurants catch my eye, serving all kinds of food and drinks.

There are tables where people are sitting down playing cards, each player trying to hit numbers closest to 21 without going over while still beating the dealer.

I even pass a station where a man with long black curly hair sells circular rocks from three different bins.

Two hunters are sitting in front of him, trying to split op...

Dungeon Diver CH530

I look at the menu and all kinds of options are available for purchase.

There are about a dozen food and drink items on the top half of the menu written in green ink.

The middle half of the menu is written in yellow, and there are less than half as many items as the green.

Below this, there’s only one item written in red text. It’s a meal and drink combo.

Beside every option, [0 Tokens] is printed.

I look up at the woman and do a quick scan of her status to f...

Dungeon Diver CH529

As the transport magic fades, the white color in my vision stays.

The floor I’m standing on is made of large squares of glossy white humming mana shielding, and it’s far denser than any of the A-Grade shielding I’ve ever felt before in my life.

I turn my head left and right but see no one at all.

The only thing I see is an empty long stretching plane of mana shielding in every direction.

The sky above me is blue, but as far as I can see on the horizon, the floor ...

Dungeon Diver CH528

“We’re immediately greeted on the first floor by Bri, both surprised and impressed.

She takes us up to her workshop, and once I put up a hush barrier she finally speaks.

“I didn’t recognize your mana control signatures at all… You’re the only other person with these transport crystals, so I knew it was you… but still…”

She stares us up and down.

“These disguises are far more convincing than I even thought was possible…”

We step forward and...

Dungeon Diver CH527

We continue sparring following the same routine.

Ember calls out a level of mana control I need to hit, and I instantly change my strength output to match it.

During this whole process, I continuously have my All-Seeing Eye and natural perception released abnormally high.

Even if my perceived output is at level 100 mana control, I’m still scanning my surroundings and taking in as much data as I can from these matches at levels near my maximum output.

Over the next fe...

Dungeon Diver CH526

I crush a teleport crystal to bring Ember and myself back to the Crimson City.

It’s good to see the double that was working general surveillance is now farming the labyrinth for more fire containment stones and high B-Grade items now that the Soul Energy barrier is up.

The second double watches over the dungeons inside the barrier and keeps an eye on the population trading in the outer city housing some non-citizens outside the barrier too.

I delegate the third body double...

Dungeon Diver CH525

I nod, and Leo leads us down the hall past over half a dozen identical doors until he turns into another mana-shielded room just like the one we left.

Instead of being wide open like the last one, this room is split into two halves with the same high B-Grade mana shielding dividing it in the center.

There's a long bench and table on both sides of the wall and a clear section so both sides can see each other, with two silver metal cubes built into the wall on both sides of the glas...

Dungeon Diver CH524

I think about her proposal for a few seconds, remembering all of the unique remarks I’ve heard from Lith, the Bedrock director’s warning, and the tone of her words.

Even when doing an enemy detection scan of the surrounding settlements, the special perk of my mythic-grade enemy detection gives me a very clear video-like view of everyone within my mana control range.

There isn’t a single man in this jungle, I only sense women. Showing her my real face, or even an altered vers...