Amid the swelling applause, Dark and Virt slipped down the aisles on either side and returned to their respective seats.
The truth was, the two of them really had delivered an excellent demonstration.
One showing the positive side, the other the negative — together they had laid bare the two key points one needed to keep in mind during a Silent Duel.
Professor Jones followed up by walking through, in thorough detail, the problems both had revealed in their duel.
The students gradually shifted their focus from the duel demonstration itself to absorbing the knowledge being imparted.
The Silent Duel demonstration had ended faster than any of them had anticipated, but that, it seemed, was the very essence of the Silent Duel — settling matters in a noiseless environment through short, swift, and decisive means.
Although they had no use for it just yet, once they were granted permission to venture into dungeon adventures in the future, the Silent Duel would become an important mainstay for them whenever disputes needed to be resolved within the dungeon.
Once Virt was settled back in his seat, Robert couldn't help speaking up: "Don't be discouraged. Dark's Magic Guide Spirits are just absurdly overpowered. I really thought you were going to cave and pull out the 'Holy Sword Spell.'"
Virt gave an awkward little laugh and replied, "How could I use the 'Holy Sword Spell' in an in-class demonstration? I really am still no match for him at the moment, but as long as I keep working at it, I'll catch up."
Robert clenched his fist and offered encouragement: "Of course I believe in you. After all, Professor Medea did say it herself — you're a future Hero!"
Virt let out a sigh and muttered under his breath, "A future Hero… It's not like you can become a Hero just by sitting around… The dungeon, huh? I hear the upperclassmen all source their core materials from inside the dungeon…"
Robert: "What was that?"
Virt: "No, it's nothing."
...
Back in his seat, Dark exchanged a few easy whispered words with Diana before turning his attention back to the lesson.
He had already grasped the essentials of the Silent Duel in broad strokes.
Aside from the "silence" element, the defining feature of the Silent Duel was that a one-star Magic Guide Spirit served as the stand-in for the Magic Sphere.
And one-star Magic Guide Spirits were typically very weak — so if the spirit summoned happened to possess an area-of-effect AOE Ultimate Move, you could easily take it down in a single turn.
Alternatively, you could opt for a high-speed, assassin-type Magic Guide Spirit, sidestep the head-on confrontation entirely, and simply assassinate that one-star Magic Guide Spirit — all in all, that was another perfectly viable line of thinking.
In a duel paced this quickly, spending large amounts of time on summoning high-star Magic Guide Spirits was decidedly inadvisable.
At the same time, this also indirectly avoided the excessive commotion that summoning high-star Magic Guide Spirits would inevitably cause.
On top of that…
Before engaging in a Silent Duel, it was best to communicate with your Magic Guide Spirits beforehand, letting them understand the mode and rules of this kind of duel so that they could act on their own initiative the moment they were summoned.
A normal Magic Guide Spirit might only possess an intelligence level of 2.0, but they still had the baseline intellect to comprehend commands, which made it entirely possible to pre-set tactics with them.
So a Silent Duel was, in essence, a deployment of forces built around tactics that had been arranged in advance — the Magic Guide user summoned the Magic Guide Spirits, the Magic Guide Spirits acted according to those tactics, and a result emerged at the end. It was a direct collision of tactic against tactic.
...
The Dueling Class came to an end while the young Magic Guide users were still left wanting more.
Some of them had very nearly forgotten that what came next was the dungeon adventure.
That was just how irresistibly engaging an interesting class could be.
But the moment the dismissal bell rang, the students' mental gears seemed to shift in an instant, and they grew giddy with excitement all over again.
The dungeon was an exceptionally important part of the academy, sitting right there from the day they had enrolled. If any of them claimed not to be curious about it, that would surely be a lie.
At moments like these.
Reason would tell them: the dungeon is dangerous, and Professor Nini is unreliable.
But emotion would tell them: the dungeon is fascinating, and adventure is thrilling.
What's more, they had already put in two months of Monster Studies, which meant they had at least some familiarity with the monsters that lived inside the dungeon.
And every single one of them was carrying a complete set of Magic Guide Cards.
A few students were even secretly fantasizing about stepping forward bravely upon encountering a monster, hunting it down in the role of a proper adventurer!
If they actually managed to take down a monster on their very first adventure, that might well become a feat they could brag about for the rest of their lives.
In any case, in accordance with Professor Nini's notification, a sizable portion of the students made a beeline straight for the gathering point at the Castle's entrance, every one of their faces written all over with excitement.
As for their Dueling Class textbooks… those, of course, were entrusted to the smaller portion of students who would be passing by the dormitories on the way.
Dark found himself with Diana's and Rose's textbooks in his arms. He magnanimously accepted both of their requests and headed back to the dormitory at an unhurried pace.
Once he reached the dormitory, he set the textbooks down, then wrapped his already-prepared multi-tier lunchbox in a picnic tablecloth, loaded the now-emptied backpack with more bottles of apple juice and Cow Grass juice, brought along paper and pen for note-taking, a sketchbook for drawing from life, and an assortment of small odds and ends for survival purposes.
Of these, the most important was a specially-made "Mana Needle" designed for dungeon use.
The magnetic field inside the dungeon was chaotic, making compasses unusable.
But at the entrance to every floor there was a special magical marker, and by using the "Mana Needle" to record the magical signature of that marker, one could keep tabs on the direction of the entrance at all times.
It was a major treasure for finding one's way around inside the dungeon.
Generally speaking, every party that entered the dungeon for an adventure would bring along a map-keeper with a decent sense of direction.
If one truly did get lost, then the only recourse was to actively trigger what was known as the "Dungeon Escape Device," a kind of Secret Realm Escape Device.
The thing was, that little gadget was a touch on the pricey side…
"I wonder if Professor Nini has prepared any Dungeon Escape Devices for us?"
Even as he was thinking it over, Dark picked out a palm-sized book and slipped it into his backpack — something to pass the time during lunch.
Once everything was ready, only then did he turn around and address the Magic Guide Spirits who were craning their necks in eager anticipation: "So then, who would like to come along with me?"
The Magic Guide Spirits glanced at the small but stuffed backpack on his back, and they instantly grasped his little scheme.
Even so, the excitement of being able to accompany their master still outweighed any displeasure at having to lug the backpack around.
"Mii——"
Sylveon was the first to raise a feeler.
But Dark shook his head, indicating that she didn't qualify.
Sylveon's little face immediately fell into a crestfallen expression.
And once her application had failed, Little Eevee — who had been just as eager to give it a shot — also couldn't help shrinking her little paws back.
On the other side, those for whom a backpack would clearly be inconvenient — Shuckle, Drifloon, Popplio, Trash Slime, and the like — all backed off as well.
Among the remaining Magic Guide Spirits, the corner of Gatomon's mouth ticked up in a curve that she could barely conceal.
Then she quietly took half a step forward, making herself stand out a little more: pick me, pick me!
"Hatcha!"
"Mooo…"
But who would have guessed — Hawlucha and Miltank both abruptly thrust up a wing and a hoof respectively, slapping their own chests to signal that they were perfectly up to the task.
As for DemiDevimon, it perched up high on the bird stand, observing it all with cool detachment.
Moments like these were when he felt proud of the advantages that came with being a familiar.
At last, just as it seemed Dark was about to pick one of Hawlucha and Miltank, Gatomon couldn't hold back any longer and raised her hand, blurting out: "Me!"
Dark turned to her with a smile and said quickly, "Then Gatomon it is."
In truth, he had wanted to choose Gatomon from the very start.
But as a Magic Guide user well-versed in education, he understood deeply the principle of holding the bowl of water level.
Besides, carrying the backpack truly was a thankless chore.
If a Magic Guide Spirit volunteered for it, well — that was even better.
The other Magic Guide Spirits felt a pang of regret, but Gatomon really did have a sort of "big-sister" presence in Room 201.
If she had been the one chosen, they could only accept it with willing hearts.
Dark had a thorough read on the inner thoughts of his Magic Guide Spirits.
After that, he recalled all of the remaining Magic Guide Spirits back into their Magic Guide Cards, then with grave seriousness slotted [Paradise] into his card pouch as well.
With this "Dungeon Half-Day Trip," no one knew what they might run into, so bringing [Paradise] along would be the more prudent choice.
On top of that, he also had an inkling to make good use of the evolved form of "Trash Slime" — "Greed Slime I."
Ever since he had used "[Greed II]" to evolve "Trash Slime" into "Greed Slime I," Dark hadn't had much occasion to use its Ultimate Move — "Treasure Scent."
If he could find an opportunity to put it to use, he might just turn up an unexpected windfall.
...
Clearly, even Dark couldn't quite escape spinning out a few extra fantasies about this dungeon adventure.
...
Once he had secured the card pouch, he personally slung the well-stuffed little backpack over Gatomon's shoulders, then beckoned to DemiDevimon and handed it the multi-tier lunchbox wrapped in the picnic tablecloth.
DemiDevimon caught the lunchbox and beat its wings, taking up a position floating to Gatomon's upper left.
Dark looked at this one familiar and one Magic Guide Spirit with satisfaction, then said: "Right then — let's go."
But no sooner had the words left his mouth than a strange sense of déjà vu suddenly surfaced in his mind.
This particular scene — hadn't he seen it somewhere before?
...
Maintaining the mana drain of a four-star Magic Guide Spirit over an extended period was, for Dark Demon — whose mana recovery rate surpassed the limits of human capability — a rather trivial affair.
Dark tucked Gatomon's Magic Guide Card up his sleeve, replenishing her mana constantly through skin contact.
And DemiDevimon, being a familiar, didn't even require any mana replenishment to move about freely.
With his two Magic Guide Spirits in tow, he soon arrived at the Castle's gate.
"Dark, you're finally here."
The moment Diana and Rose spotted him, their eyes lit up and they came jogging over.
Dark gave the pair of them a once-over and noticed that, while the two girls were still in their school uniforms, they had each added cute little accessories in subtle places — a perfect reflection of the anticipation in their hearts for this "spring outing."
And their shared backpack, sure enough, was perched on Diana's back.
That backpack of hers, crammed full of food and drinks, was probably at least twice the weight of Dark's.
But Diana carried it as if it weighed nothing at all…
At moments like these, one couldn't help but marvel — truly worthy of being called the Bear of the Kingdom.
Diana cast a slightly envious glance at Dark's Gatomon, her lips pouting as she said, "If only I had that much mana too."
Rose grasped her hand and said with a grin, "Don't be envious. Your mana is already plenty strong. And if you're really going to envy something, it should be Dark's familiar. My rabbit at home, at most, can only deliver a letter."
Diana muttered, "My bear-cat at home can serve as a hugging pillow."
...
Dark had always been a bit of an attention-magnet.
The moment he showed up, the young Magic Guide users would, to varying degrees, sneak a glance in his direction.
After that, their gazes were drawn to the two Magic Guide Spirits — one white, one black — at his side.
And then, in everyone's mind, it was as if a box had been pried open all at once — sudden enlightenment!
Gatomon's presence wasn't something they could replicate.
But DemiDevimon's presence — that was something they could completely emulate.
And so, one by one, the students began summoning their own familiars too.
Within the academy, since the school rules explicitly forbade students from summoning their familiars in the corridors (though this was frequently ignored), people who routinely made use of their familiars the way Dark did were actually rather rare.
Now, as familiars were summoned out one after another, the remaining space among the crowd was filled up in an instant.
With that, the atmosphere grew livelier still.
Dark observed his classmates' familiars with no small amount of wonder.
Familiars tended to be small in stature as a rule, but there were always exceptions.
The students' familiars came in every variety imaginable, dazzling to behold.
Suddenly his gaze shifted, and he saw that Virt and Robert had also summoned out their respective familiars.
It had been so long since he had seen them that he had almost forgotten what either familiar looked like.
Virt's familiar was a knee-high Minotaur — small as it might appear at a glance, it seemed to possess all the requisite strength nonetheless.
Probably because Virt's own forged Magic Guide Spirit Cards already included spirits such as the "Troll," the "Two-Headed Ogre," and the "Goblin Warrior," his initial aversion to the Minotaur — a demon-species creature — had gradually faded.
He was slowly becoming able to look upon his own familiar with composure.
It was just that this little minotaur was simply too short — with the backpack on, it could drag straight along the ground.
Robert's familiar, meanwhile, was a round-headed, round-faced robot, with multi-function arms that could produce all manner of tools, and tank-tread wheels for its lower half. It looked extremely useful.
The two of them hung their backpacks off this robot familiar's body, looking thoroughly relieved of any burden.
...
"Ding-ling-ling!"
When the class bell rang at ten o'clock sharp, Professor Nini — who had long since arrived — had each of the House representatives confirm the headcount, then announced excitedly: "Now then, you'd all best listen well to what I tell you, and don't go running about wildly inside the dungeon. Oh, and House representatives, come on up here a moment — I've borrowed a batch of Dungeon Escape Devices, and I want every single person to put one on their wrist."
"So Professor Nini didn't forget about the Dungeon Escape Devices after all — but what's this 'borrowed' business?"
Dark couldn't help being momentarily stunned.
"Don't tell me these Dungeon Escape Devices have to be handed back in after the adventure is over?"
Watching the visible look of heartache that flickered across Professor Nini's face, Dark had a strong feeling that, yes, that was exactly the case…
This batch of Dungeon Escape Devices had very likely been rented by Professor Nini herself, using her own credit points.
As a professor, that was genuinely embarrassing…
The acting Noble House representative was a girl who often sat in the front row. She enlisted a few students to help her, and quickly distributed the Dungeon Escape Devices.
Once one was in Dark's hand, he examined it closely.
The Dungeon Escape Device was shaped like a wristwatch, designed to be worn on the wrist.
Above the watch-shaped portion was a small cover, the kind that could be opened with just a bit of force.
The material of the cover itself didn't seem all that sturdy either — it could be smashed open without too much difficulty.
Once the cover was open, you could see a button inside, which was obviously the manual trigger.
It could be triggered passively, and also actively.
It could be triggered by mana, and also triggered by hand.
These were the defining features of the Dungeon Escape Device.
But surely there wouldn't be any need to use it, right?
____
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