The Principal lets the silence stretch just long enough for it to become uncomfortable.
Then, just as a few over-eager—or maybe over-nervous—students begin hushed conversations, he continues.
“This portion of your exam,” he continues, “is not a test you can safely fail your way out of. It is a delve.”
The smile on my face doesn’t falter. This is what I’ve been looking forward to for months, and I can’t wait to begin.
The Headmistress floats forward at his side, bringing our attention to her.
“The reason we only allow highly trained individuals or experienced Delvers to join the academy is because of this very test. Even then, there are losses every year.”
She pauses to let that sink in.
The crowd around me shifts with unease, but nobody says a word anymore. Even my own party members wear serious expressions, their concerns clear.
“Soon, you will be assigned to one of two groups: Tier Zero and Tier One,” she says. “Once ready, you will be directed to step atop the teleportation platform within, which will assess your group.”
Her eyes flick to me and my group for a brief moment.
“The faculty will input yesterday’s exam results, and it will measure your team’s levels, roles, combat styles, and more,” she says, counting off on one hand. “Then it will relocate you to a dungeon deemed appropriate for your team.”
“Appropriate does not mean safe or easy,” the Principal interjects smoothly. “It means survivable for your team, so long as you work together.”
The Headmistress nods along before continuing. “Once you are transported, you will be on your own. There is no option to withdraw. To return, you must complete the dungeon, at which time the teleportation magic will reactivate and return you to us.”
My tail swishes behind me, betraying my anticipation. I’m almost giddy with the desire to rush forward and enter without any more preamble, but then the Principal speaks up once more.
“We cannot enter most Dungeons with you due to participant restrictions,” he says.
His gaze sweeps across us with cold certainty.
“Do not expect intervention. If you fail, there will be no second chance.”
I nod along, bouncing on the balls of my feet. Over the years as a Carrier, I’d seen countless over-eager newbie Delvers throw their lives away simply because they underestimated the Tunnels.
Still, even his warning doesn’t diminish my excitement.
“Tier Zero teams, please follow me into the Tunnels. Faculty is present below to provide any supplies you might need and assist in finding your teammates,” the Headmistress calls, waving at the Tunnel entrance before floating toward it.
The crowd around me shifts, the sound of footfalls overtaking the hushed murmurs as nearly half of the students begin making their way forward. Some are clearly hesitant, worry warring with resolve clearly on their faces.
I watch on as I let my thoughts wander.
I’m going to get some levels, finally!
I know I should be close to leveling up thanks to the bandits that attacked the train.
Speaking of, I hadn’t heard anything about them since making it to Theola. Then again, I hadn’t exactly gone out of my way to find out.
I decide to ask around once we get back.
If the fuckers are still around… well, I can wait.
My grin turns sharp, the idea settling into place in my mind.
Then I pause.
Maybe… I can bring Bella?
I glance back at her. Her face is set with grim determination, pink lips pressed into a thin line, brows furrowed. Where I feel eager, she looks ready.
She must feel my attention, because the next moment her scarlet gaze locks with my icy blue, and her expression softens, just a fraction.
For a split second, I worry my body will betray me again.
It doesn’t.
I give her a wave and a cheeky grin. She snorts, shaking her head before turning her attention back to the river of students filing into the tunnels.
Except now, she’s visibly more relaxed.
Hmm... yeah, if I still want to ask after my estrus... maybe she'll enjoy a bit of vengeance. And levels.
“You two seem awfully calm,” Seraphine says suddenly, her voice cutting cleanly through the murmur and footfalls of the crowd.
I glance over at her. She stands straight-backed and composed, spear resting lightly against her shoulder, her gaze sharp as she watches us. Nyx lingers close by her side, hood up, gaze flicking between exits, students, and faculty with quiet wariness.
I wonder, once more, how they know each other well enough to be so close without even a hint of discomfort. I know that Bella would bemoan my impropriety if I stood so close to her, so…
Ah, whatever.
“I’ve done this before,” I say, answering her veiled question. “Lots of times.”
She arches a brow at me. “Delves?”
I nod along, fishing my Delver badge from storage. I flip it between my fingers for a moment, letting the silvery gleam of its metal catch the light before tucking it away again.
“Mostly as a Carrier until recently. Not glamorous, but I learned fast.”
Nyx finally speaks, his voice low and even, roughened just enough to sound used, but not unkind.
“Still counts,” he says.
He’s taller than me, of course. Lean and narrow, but not slight. With his voice bringing my attention back to him, I realize that he has that odd kind of stillness that makes him easy to overlook until he moves.
His hood casts most of his face in shadow, but what little I can see is sharp-featured and unremarkable in a way that feels intentional. The enchanted mask hides everything else, its surface matte and unadorned.
Plain, even.
I blink at him, momentarily surprised by his sudden input. Then inspect his tag once more just to be sure he's not some super secret Tier Two assassin.
Human RogueLevel 81
Huh. I really need to find a way around peoples ability to hide in plain sight like that.
Then I grin and point at him. “He gets it.”
He nods, but doesn’t respond further, eyes already back to scanning the crowd.
“And you, Arabella?” she asks, shifting her attention.
Bella’s lips part into a wan smile. “My father was of a mind that I should experience firsthand what our citizenry experiences in order to understand their needs.”
“I see…” Seraphine says, trailing off into contemplative silence.
“Nuh uh,” I blurt, smashing through her introspection like a battering ram. “Your turn.”
She gives me a confused look, and I even manage to garner Nyx’s full attention once more.
“Have you delved before?” I ask, waving a hand encouragingly.
“Ah, I see,” she says, understanding flashing across her features, along with a slightly embarrassed blush. “No, I have not. My parents are firmly against it.”
I gape at her.
“You mean to tell me you got to your level without delving even once? How in the hells did you manage that?”
Her omnipresent stoic personality seems to shatter completely then, and she looks away, her blush deepening a shade. She mumbles something I can’t quite make out, but before I can even ask what she just said, Nyx speaks up once more.
“Her parents hired Delvers to bring monsters from the depths for us to train against and kill,” he says simply.
She gives him a withering glare, cheeks still burning.
He shrugs off her attention as if it’s nothing. “They need to know what experience we have, dear.”
She scowls. “Yes, but you didn’t need to make it sound like I’m a spoiled brat.”
That’s when it finally clicks for me.
He’d said ‘us’. He called her ‘dear’.
They’re a thing?!
For a moment, I want to beat some sense into Seraphine for wasting my time yesterday by not suggesting her partner as our fourth the moment she joined our party.
She releases a mighty huff of annoyance, then turns her narrow-eyed gaze on me.
“Yes, well, what he said. As you know, I am very well trained, but I don’t have experience fighting in the Tunnels themselves. Neither does my fool of a husband.”
“Husband?!” I hiss, completely failing to hide my indignation anymore.
Bella steps between us then, seemingly picking up on my urge to verbally tear the couple a new one.
“What is the highest level monster each of you has fought alone?” she asks, interrupting my tirade before I can even begin.
They each give me a skeptical look before answering.
“Level ninety-nine,” they say in sync.
My brow twitches with agitation.
Bella hums softly. “That will suffice.”
Bella then grills them for the next ten minutes, all while ignoring my petty grumbling at her back.
Then the Principal speaks again.
“Now that you’ve had time to find your teammates and discuss, I want a show of hands,” he says. “How many of you have ventured beyond the fifth layer?”
Several dozen hands rise, but in total it makes up less than a tenth of the students still present in the field. Bella included, to my surprise.
The Principal nods slowly, as if this confirms something he already knew.
“That is about as expected,” he says. “Though many of you know this in principle, it is important that you understand this: beyond the fifth layer, the Tunnels change.”
He lets his words hang for a moment.
“What were once caves may become forests. Plains. Oceans. Entire ecosystems, governed by rules that do not mirror those on the surface. Be prepared for this, as we cannot predict where you will be sent.”
A quiet ripple of unease moves through the students.
“Time, as well, becomes unreliable,” he continues calmly. “The deeper you descend, the slower it passes above. You may spend months below, only to return and find that mere weeks have gone by here.”
My stomach tightens at that. I knew about all of this, of course. I’d long since done my research on the Tunnels, even before the System Update.
It’s still nerve wracking to know that time itself is warped by the magics of the Tunnels.
“The deeper layers also expand,” he says. “What begins as manageable space grows vast. By the time you near layers with Tier Two monsters, you are no longer delving Tunnels or individual biomes. You are delving continents.”
That I didn’t know. For a moment I wonder why Cari never told me, then remember the many times I told her I didn’t care about anything beyond Tier One.
The odds of getting that deep into the Tunnels as a Faulted were so vanishingly slim as to not matter in the first place.
The headmistress emerges from the Tunnel entrance, her presence snapping my attention back to the moment.
“Tier One teams,” she calls. “Please follow me.”
My entire body shudders with anticipation and nerves, but I shove it all down in the next instant. Levels, Stats, and progress are just a few steps in front of me.
I step forward, one of the first people to move. My team falls in behind me without hesitation.
Inside, the air shifts immediately. The familiar pressure of ancient magic surrounds us, but instead of making me nervous, I feel comforted.
We descend a wide spiral stair carved directly into the glittering stone, trailing behind a few other teams that reached the entrance before us. The sound of boots echo softly as we go, the Headmistress leading the way.
At the bottom lies a massive outpost, more fortress than checkpoint. Gates seal off every tunnel mouth, thick metal reinforced with glowing runes etched so densely they blur together.
Every surface—the floor, walls, and even the ceiling—is carved with pale blue sigils, dense streams of mana flowing through them like veins. On the other side of the metal gates, there isn’t so much as a scratch or scorch mark.
Not a single hint of any tunnel dwellers attempting to break through.
Then my eyes are drawn to the center of the space, where two enormous stone platforms stand. Each are surrounded by faculty as the last two groups of Tier Zeros step onto them.
The platforms are the only things in the entire space that seem utterly mundane.
No runes. No engravings.
No visible magic or even mana at all.
I frown at them, confused, before the last teams vanish in a burst of light.
The mana that explodes from the platform washes across its surface in a dense surge, overwhelming in its purity… and for a split second, I’m no longer there.
I’m back in the Weave. The endless, echoing expanse of blue stretching in every direction endlessly. No up. No down. Just the feeling of everything, all at once, all around me.
And a voice, distant and familiar, calling my name, caressing my very being.
I suck in a sharp breath as Bella nudges my arm, grounding me.
The memory fades, and I can’t quite remember the details anymore. I try to hold onto it again, but an all too familiar headache rears its head at the attempt, and I let it go.
Gods dammit.
The faculty are gesturing for us to step forward, and I quickly start moving. Then pause and look around, searching for the delving supplies. Thankfully, I catch both Bella and Nyx holding large packs, each no doubt filled with food and camping gear.
Not that I actually need it, it’s just better to have more…
I’d spent weeks ensuring that my Starlight Bangle was stocked for a month long delve long before I left Bephis. But there was no guarantee that Seraphine, Nyx, or even Bella would have done the same.
I watch them tap away at the small metal tablets in their hands as they put in the results of yesterdays matches, but don’t feel any changes at all. Not even a wisp of mana is transferred from the tablet to the platform.
Are they pretending? Why would they…
Curiously, I reach out with Relic Whisperer and try to identify the platform.
The familiar pale blue window appears in my vision… then hesitates.
Just like when I tried to identify my Faen Oath Stone.
Once more it fills out, letter by letter, as if struggling to agree with itself, until it finally tells me what I’m looking at.
Or rather, it tells me almost nothing at all.
Fatebound Dias
Huh?
Before I can even begin to parse the implications of that name, the world vanishes in a flash of light.