Jaws dropped; experience-boosting equipment was extremely rare. Though the one rewarded by the school would probably only boost by three percent at most, it was still as valuable as some of the cheaper rare equipment.
One person let out a supportive roar, and soon many followed. Besides teaching about how to become a hunter, the school also tried to instill pride into every student. It was to unify and to motivate.
Now, everybody was yelling in need of glory and in greed of money.
Following the speech, nearly everybody was given a bag of supplies. The only reason it was 'nearly' was because Cassian was excluded.
"I am so sorry," Mr. Hill took a sarcastic tone, "It seems we are one short."
Cassian was fine without the bag; it mainly included food and some survival tools. Some of the monsters in the dungeon were edible, and he had no need to sleep with his pseudo skill taking care of his physical fatigue.
"Don't you think the school should compensate me somehow?"
Whenever the school did not get what it wanted, they tried to force him to compensate, so it should be fine the other way around.
"Who do you think you are to ask for compensation from our generous school?" Mr. Hill immediately rebuked.
The students then threw in their support; their pride was crushing him. They likely thought that nothing could be wrong with the school.
Classes began to enter the dungeon, parties holding hands. People are randomly teleported somewhere in the dungeon when entering, and if you do not make physical contact, you will be separated.
Cassian's class, E-3, was called up at the very end.
Parties entered the portal one by one.
Cassian forced himself past the other groups, fearing that if he was last, then the school would even refuse his entry to the dungeon.
He came face-to-face with the portal.
It reminded him of his awakening. That day, he was both nervous and confident.
However, now he could only feel emptiness. There was no excitement in entering the dungeon; everybody else had grins up to their ears. He participated only to get stronger, not to fulfill his fantasies or dreams.
Without hesitation past that thought, he entered the portal. He could immediately feel his body spinning around in circles.
Entering a portal was supposed to make one feel sick, but Cassian was beyond that point. He had experienced much worse.
At first, all he could see was red, but suddenly, with a pop of white in his vision, he was face down in some grass.
After picking himself up, he searched his surroundings calmly. He was in the middle of a clearing surrounded by a forest. Nothing was particularly out of the norm, and the only interesting thing in his sight was the trees.
Without hesitation, he started walking towards the forest. Compared to others, he could be a lot more reckless in his hunting. He already knew that nothing in the dungeon could kill him. Even the boss would fail.
All he had to do was endlessly hunt for experience, reap any benefits that could be reaped, and level up what could be leveled up.
It was not long after that he faced his first monster, a willow wolf. Based on the information from his teacher, normal willow wolves are usually between levels one and five.
After confirming the wolf's existence, a red bar appeared over its head.
Willow Wolf - Level 3 - Health 112/112
Cassian's eyes stared, focusing, and trying to force himself to feel some sense of danger.
Monsters are usually supposed to be dangerous.
While humans convert five health points for every point in constitution, normal monsters convert ten. Additionally, monsters start with higher stats than humans.
In this way, it is usually wise for people to party up to confront monsters. If your synergy is good enough, you can fight larger groups or higher-level monsters and gain more experience.
Little of this applied to Cassian; no matter what level the monster was, it was only a matter of time to defeat it.
Cassian approached slowly, but the wolf perked its ears and faced his direction. Its eyes locked onto him, and he expected himself to feel some type of fear.
Only two hours ago he was being devoured by a pack of wolves, yet this one felt different. He felt no sense of evil in the wolf, which calmed him.
The wolf dashed right towards him, and in only two seconds, they were already face to face. Since he was prepared for it, he got the first attack. He slashed his sword down while activating sword slash.
It would let him deal the most damage. With the combination of his swordsmanship passive, sword slash, and his sword's damage increase, he would be able to deal a high bout of damage.
-21.55
The number appeared above the wolf in red. Its health bar decreased by about a fifth. This was much more damage than an E-rank should be able to deal in one strike.
Their numbers should not vary much from the initial tests. That meant that it would take a normal E-rank about eleven attacks just to kill one.
He would only take a little more than five.
Combat continued, and the wolf became more cautious after it was hit, but still could not overcome its bloodthirsty nature.
It once again pounced at him, but he dodged out of the way and made another slash.
-21.55
Its health was now at 68.9.
The wolf kept eye contact with him, even while circling him, their eyes never left each other.
The wolf lowered itself closer to the ground; it was not a sign of obedience, but a sign that the wolf was completely serious.
If an animal is closer to the ground, it can touch the ground more easily. This allows it to make rapid adjustments and move even faster than normal with a lower center of gravity.
Humans can do this as well, but it takes a lot of practice. The wolves have instincts from survival, but humans are left to rot in safety.