《Dungeon of the Divine Goddess》


 Chapter 1

    In the small village known to many as Olyres, sun rays awoke the villagers signifying another day of hard work. It sat underneath a large mountain, believed to be guarding the people from danger.


    Summer was approaching, as the bugs had started to come out, and the crops were flourishing.


    Atop the mountain, wasa boy in his teens, lazily dazing on a hammock, swinging between two trees. His snores could be heard from a mile away, and was easily recognizable by everyone in the village.


    Fumbling in his sleep, he eventually fell over. Of course, the hammock was still unstable. It was something he had only just created the night before.


    "Ouch..."


    The boy stood up, dusting himself off from the dirt that caught on his shirt. He had messy black hair, and light blue eyes, similar tothe color of the sky. Wearing a plain attire made of wool, he really had no attachment nor care to his outfit.


    He gazed across the vast world from the mountain. It was a colorful and magical place. From here, he could see his village, forests, rivers, and lakes everywhere. In the distance was the town known as Remedi, where the world-famous ''dungeon'' was located. It was everyone''s dream to able to enter that town. A world hidden with treasures and riches was what drove the world to try their best and getting stronger to one day exploring the dungeon.


    However, this did not matter for the boy. He was content with his life if he could sleep as much as he wanted.


    Soon after, he heard footsteps approching. Turning around, he could see two figures approaching up the mountain. Squinting, he still couldn''t make out who they were, but he had a vague idea.


    "Faul! What are you still doing up here?" One of the two said, panting in fatigue.


    "Oh, it''s you two." [Faul]


    They were both Faul''s friends, always hanging around each other from birth.


    One of them was a short girl named Iona, who was very passionateabout many things and open-minded. She had a caring personality, but could get overwhelming at times.


    The other was an older boy named Varus. He was rather laid-back to his friends, however worked very hard in order to get stronger and bring prosperity to his family.


    Each of them were all around the same age of 15, the time when their magical powers would soon awaken. At that age, everyone would take a test in the town of Remedi, in order to determine if they were worthy to explore the almighty dungeon.


    "Geez, all you do is sleep all day! Have you forgotten what time of the month it is?" [Iona]


    Faul thought about it. Seconds had passed. He had something in mind, but he didn''t dare to say it. This was something to be talked about in private, with another women! Not out herein the open!


    "Aren''t you going to say something? Why are you looking at me like that?" [Iona]


    "Oh, no..." [Varus] After being with them for several years, he knew exactly what was going to unfold within the next few minutes.


    "Co- Could you be on your.. p-" [Faul]


    Faul was quickly greeted with a jab to the stomach. "Ow!"


    "That''s what you get for saying something so insensitive!" [Iona]


    Faul held on to his stomach in pain. "What is this, some sort of terrible cliche novel?" He muttered as he winked at the sky.


    The two others were confused at his actions.


    "What are you talking about?" [Varus]


    "Huh? Oh, nothing. Don''t worry about that. Anyways, what are you guys doing here? I''m trying to sleep." [Faul]


    Iona and Varus looked at each other in dissapointment. This guy was hopeless...


    "Don''t you remember that we''re supposed to take the Dungeon Test in three days? We have a carriage here in order to bring us to Remedi!" [Varus]


    A realization came quickly to Faul. So that''s what it was! He had no care for this test, so it was natural that he didn''t keep up with the news. Every year, during the beginning of summertime, was the Dungeon Test. According to the rumors, it was a difficult test with very high standards. Only about 5% of the applicants made it in each year.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    "Ah, that." [Faul]


    He had completely forgotten about it.


    "Quickly, let''s go!" [Iona]


    She grabbed Faul by the hand and began running down to the base of the mountain, to the village. Varus was right behind them.


    When they finally arrived, an old man came to greet them. Alongside him were nine other people, who were also there to take the test. The old man approached Faul and his group and looked into the distance, as if he were remembering a distinct memory.


    "So you are finally here. Get in line." [Old Man]


    The three of them went towards the other nine, who were also people they all recognized for being together throughout the many years.


    "Ahem. I shall now start. You are all here, at the age of fifteen, in order to take the Dungeon Test. Many have attempted this test, and only a select few have madeit through. Even if you do not, however! Do not bring shame to the village of Olyres! Try your best, and bring glory to this small village! I believe in all of you, as the elder of this village." [Elder]


    "Yes, sir!" shouted all of them in unison.


    As everyone of them got on personalized carriages, Faul decided to rush back to his house and bring a special item with him. His trusted pillow! He had received it as a child, however, he had always felt like this pillow was peculiar, simply because it couldn''t even be compared to others. It was really that soft!


    They each got on the carriages, and at the orders of the village elder, they were sent off to head to Remedi.


    "After 15 years, it''s finally here, huh..." [Faul]


    He gazed out the window, looking at the bright sun and the surrounding horizon. The view was spectacular. After a bit of looking around, he grew tired eventually. The trip would take at least a day and a half. Sleeping for a little bit wouldn''t harm anyone.


    Faul set up his bed carefully and slept like a log, until the next day.


    -24 hours later-


    With a crash, Faul woke up. The carriage had stopped moving? What happened? In a rush, he opened the doors, revealing a large griffon with flamed wings. In front of it, several other carriages had been destroyed!


    Screams and explosions rung in his ears. Where was Varus and Iona?


    "Over here!" A familiar voice yelled.


    Faul turned his head around. Iona was peaking out a large rock, and Varus was behind her, safe with the other nine villagers and the carriage riders. He felt instantly relieved. At least they were safe.


    He rushed to them, in order to not be seen by the beast.


    "I never thought I''d see one of these in my life!" One of the carriage riders screamed. Faul took a closer look at his face.Who was this guy supposed to be?


    "This is a Winged Flamebeast.. They should only be within the depths of the dungeon, how was it able to get all the way out here?! We''re dead... Only an S-rank could have a chance at taking down one of these!" [Carriage rider]


    All the villagers looked at him in shock. An S-rank? Within the dungeon, explorers were divided into ranks. To others, S-ranks were a legendary existence. Every one of them were extremely powerful in their own way, bringing great contributions to humanity. There were only sixout of the millions that had entered the dungeon.


    If what the organizer said was true, then they were all most definitely going to die here! There was no way to escape, once they left the rock the Flamebeast would definitely see them.


    "Someone! Save us, please!" screamed one of the villagers.


    Faul stood there the entire time, silent. He had a plan, but was this a good idea? He thought to himself. Probably not, but if he didn''t, then everyone else would die.


    "Tch!" [Faul]


    He left the group and began running towards the beast.


    The organizer yelled in desperation, "What are you doing?!? Do you have a deathwish? Get back here, immediately!" As he was about to rush out, two hands grabbed him by the shoulder. It was Varus and Iona.


    "Let him do his thing! Faul isn''t brave enough to risk himself without a plan. He won''t die here!" [Varus]


    "W- what are you talking about.. This kid is going to get destroyed in an instant! Don''t you guys care?! Even an S-rank would have a tough time against this thing!" [Organizer]


    While the two were arguing, Faul was being very cautious. He didn''t even know if his plan would work. It was to distract the beast by running to the opposite direction and trying to guide it as far as possible from the others.


    For someone like Faul, this plan was very stupid. However, ever since they were young, he had always been the most fit one in his village, even if he slept all day. He had no idea how, but it was worth a shot, in order to save the others!


    "Hey, over here!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.


    The Flamebeast met his eyes, and immediately changed his focus towards him. Good! So far, it was going according to plan. Faul ran as fast as humanly possible, however the Winged Flamebeast catching up was inevitable. It was a magical beast known to be extremely fast!


    The organizer muttered "It''s no use.. That kid''s a goner... Once he''s dead, the Flamebeast will come back for us!"


    Varus and Iona looked into the distance. Although they believed in Faul, they still had concerns. He wouldn''t actually die, right?


    Faulhad managed to dodge most of its attacks and led the beast to the edge of a cliff, out of view from the others. There was no longer anywhere run. He was definitely going to die here! His life flashed before him as the Flamebeast charged at him, and all he could dowas stick his hands out in a futile attempt to defend himself.


    A large cross shape came out from his hands, and the Flamebeast gave out a large shriek as it was cut into pieces, followed by nothing but silence.


    He couldn''t believe it. In front of him lay the beast, reduced to shreds.


    "Ah."

 Chapter 2

    Faul had no idea what to do. The Flamebeast was right in front of him, reduced to shreds. What happened to him? All he could remember was a bright cross.


    As he was examining the Flamebeast, he could hear footsteps rushing towards him. He assumed it was probably the others, who came to check up on him.


    In front of the group was the carriage driver, followed closely by Varus and Iona and the others.


    "Are you alright?!" [Carriage Driver]


    When they finally arrived in front of the Flamebeast, they were all shocked. The mighty beast that was terrorizing them earlier had now been cut into pieces, not moving an inch. It was obviously dead. The only person they saw here was Faul. Could it be...?


    "By any chance.. were you the one who did this?" [Carriage Driver]


    Faul had no idea how to respond. However, since he did not want to be bothered about it, he realized that it was in his best benifit to not reveal what happened.


    "Um.. no, it wasn''t me. Someone flashed by and killed it in a instant..." [Faul]


    Everyone there was perplexed. Who was that person who was able to kill this Flamebeast? Even an S-rank would have to take at least a couple minutes fighting it, even with their absurd strength.


    The carriage driver thought about it. If someone really was here and killed the beast that quickly, but still hadn''t collected the remains, that means they had probably left. It was no use trying to bother an S-rank about it.


    "Alright. At least it''s good that you''re safe. Men! Take the remains of the Flamebeast! We taking this back to Remedi with us to report it to the higher ups!" [Carriage Driver]


    "Yes, sir!" [Other carriage drivers]


    As the rest were hard at work trying to repair the broken carriages and healing some wounds of the others, Faul was busy thinking. The thing that came out of him was unusually. He had never seen anything like it before. Was this perhaps magic?


    He decided to test it out. Walking into a nearby forest, he found an open area, with an old tree in the middle. It looked worn out. Someone had been here already.


    Faul decided to pay it no mind. He held out his hands again, and tried to focus all his energy into it.


    Nothing happened.


    Stratching his head, Faul was very confused. What happened last time that he managed to pull off something so powerful? Were there certain conditions to it?


    He decided to try another time.


    Slowly holding up his hands, he pointed them towards the tree. However, he was interrupted by a small rustling in the nearby bushes. Someone was approaching.


    Varus and Iona popped out from behind him.


    "Oh, it''s you two." [Faul]


    The two of them were tired. Of course, it had been a dangerous and long day.


    "We were worried about you, man! What kind of stupid plan was that?" [Varus]


    "Ha ha, sorry about that!" [Faul]


    He really had no excuse. It was a futile attempt to escape, but it managed to work out in the end, so he wasn''t too bothered by it.


    "Do you realize how worried we were about you?!" [Iona]


    She was angry. That was to be given. A close friend of hers was about to die, and that was something they all feared.


    "Yes, but it''s all good now. Anyways, how''s the repairs going? Think we''ll make it in time for the test?" [Faul]


    During the time they had left the village, they were expected to get there in about a day and a half, with another day to spare within Remedi, to explore the area and meet with the locals. However, they had lost a lot of time, due to the incident with the Winged Flamebeast. No one knew how long it would take to finish repairing the carriages.


    They were hoping to make it there barely on time at best.


    "It''s going at a steady pace. We''re expected to finish everything by night and leaving then." [Varus]


    "That''s good. At least we''ll still be able to leave, huh?" [Faul]


    Faul looked up in the sky. Something was nagging him, but he still had no idea what it was. There was no point worrying about it now. After everything that happened, he was tired. He could finally take a break now.


    "Well, I''m going to sleep now. Goodnight." [Faul]


    Iona were stanring at him in disbelief. This guy was about to die just a few minutes ago! Was sleep really that appealing?


    "Goodnight? Isn''t it still noon?" [Varus]


    "Well... whatever. I''m still going to sleep. Wake me up when we''re supposed to go!" [Faul]


    This guy was hopeless.


    "Alright, we''ll be out there helping the others if you need us." [Iona]


    As they left, Faul walked around the area, looking for a suitable place to sleep. After five minutes or so, he found a large amount of trees next to each other, creating a perfect bed.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    He climbed to the top of the tree, and began setting up. This was perfect! Faul decided to bring back his pillow with him. While he walked back, he marked some trees with rocks that he left behind so he wouldn''t get lost when he came back.


    Walking back to the carriages, he met up with the others who were hard at work helping out with the carriages.


    Faul felt bad about it, since he was the only one doing nothing. He helped out for half an hour, moving around different pieces of the carriage and that was the extent. At least he had done something. That counted, right? He finally got to his carriage and took the pillow.


    It took a while to get back to the trees where he was going to sleep,but eventually he made it. After a bit of fumbling and messing around with the branches, Faul finally got comfortable and slept soundly.


    -10 Hours Later-


    A shove off the trees he was sleeping on woke him up. He could probably guess who it was.Two figures standing above him confrimed it.


    "Urgh... Is it time already?" [Faul]


    "Yup.. Get up and eat something, we''re about to leave soon. If we don''t, we''ll definitely be late for the test." [Varus]


    "I''m not that hungry... I can probably just munch on an apple during the ride or something, that''ll be enough." [Faul]


    "Suit yourself. Come on, let''s go!" [Iona]


    Faul drowzily got up and staggered a bit before moving. He stood up a bit too quickly, and now his vision was hazy. He quickly got over it and began following the two towards the caravans.


    There, sat everyone else, preparing for a long trip through the night. If everything went well this time, they would be able to make it to Remedi by noon tomorrow, leaving a couple hours to spare before the test. As Faul looked around, he could clearly see the excitement in everyone''s eyes. They were all psyched up for the upcoming trial, looming before them.


    As a while, everything was ready. All the villagers got into their respectives carriages and left for Remedi.


    While everyone was probably sleeping, Faul was wide awake. Maybe itwasn''tsuch a good idea to sleep during the day? However, it didn''t matter much to him. He could sleep at any time, and anywhere, and he was proud of that fact.


    Faul looked out the window and admired the scenery. It passed by in the blink of an eye as the carriage continued on. For some reason, the ride was very stable, and not shaking as much as he thought it might have.


    He began to think, back to the incident with the Flamed Wingbeast. How was he able to summon forth that much power? For now, it remained a mystery, but he thought that tomorrow might bring him some answers, during the Dungeon Test.


    Looking at his hands, he realized that something might be special about him. Just a maybe. But those were questions to be answered another day, in the future. There was no point worrying about it now. For now, he just wanted to sleep the night away!


    -The Next Day-


    Sun rays hit the face of Faul, and he calmly woke up. The carriage was still moving, but he had no idea for far they went in that period of time.


    He looked out the window and saw several others doing the same. They greeted each other good morning before looking at what was ahead of them.


    A couple hundred meters in front of them was the famed Remedi. They finally arrived!


    As they approached, they could hear the shouts of the citizens, chatting about. It was a huge city, in the shape of a circle. When they got near the gates, they were stopped by the guards.


    "On what business brings you here today?" [Guard]


    "Are you seriously asking that? We have twelve kids here to take the Dungeon Test. That''s pretty much the main event every year!" [Carriage Driver]


    The guard quickly scanned through all the carriages. He nodded his head.


    "All right. Go ahead." [Guard]


    The group headed through the southern gates, and was navigating through the large crowds of people walking around. It seems that most of the other applicants of the test were already here, enjoying their last few moments around town before it started. It was something that they also had planned, however weren''t able to, due to the attack of the Flamebeast.


    They hurried towards the main area where they took the test, east of the dungeon. Over there was plenty of other carriages and an enormous amount of people talking loudly. Some were nervous, while others were excited.


    The carriages made its way over to the parking area, and dropped off all twelve kids.


    "Behave yourselves. You guys got lucky meeting that Flamebeast, so maybe you''ll get lucky again and pass this test! Ha ha! Well, good luck to you kids. We''ve got another job coming up soon." [Carriage Driver]


    All the carriage drivers hopped on their rides and left. Faul and his friends looked through the crowd. There were a lot of big shots this time around. Several high rankers within the dungeon came out to watch, and all kinds of applicants. Royals, Villagers, and even some beastmen!


    "Silence!"


    An unknown voice swam through the ears of everyone in the crowd. The area immediately became quiet. They all looked up to see where the voice came from.


    "Over here!"


    Standing there was a tall woman. She was beautiful, with flowing blonde hair and green eyes. Behind her were several bodyguards. It was slightly excessive, however therewas always the possibility of danger at any time.


    "I am Larci Deus Van! However, you shall alladress me as Larci for today!" [Larci]


    "Now, as am I''m sure, you are all curious as to what this test is about! And right now, I will explain it to you guys. I won''t say it twice, so pay attention!" [Larci]


    The crowd was murmuring about as a couple of her assistants brought out a huge board, with drawings on them.


    "This test is composed of three different parts! An aptitude test, an application test, and a dungeon clearing test! Each test will eliminate roughly a quarter of the applicants consecutively, so stay on your toes. The aptitude test will be a scan of your potential to use magic. If you have even the slightest bit, you qualify for the next test! If you don''t, well, you''re going back home!" [Larci]


    Plenty of the applicants groaned at this. Whether they''re magical powers had manifested yet were entirely unknown to them at this point, therefore they could only hope in their wildest dreams that they made it.


    Faul was carefully paying attention, for once in his life. He had used magic before, right? So he should be able to qualify at the very least.


    She continued on with her explanation.


    "That test will be done in private, for safety reasons. We wouldn''t want someone malicious to know your abilities and use it against you, haha! Moving on is the application test. Here, everyone will be pitted against a double horned orc, a common enemy in the earlier parts of the second floor.Although that sounds weak, an ordinary human without magic wouldbe destroyed to bits by a single touch! So make sure you''re giving it your all!" [Larci]


    This test was absurd! Fighting a double horned orc? That was simply unheard of in the previous test. It seems that too many people had made it through last time, so they were trying to close the distance between those who were truly worthy and others who made it purely by chance.


    At this point, a lot of people in the crowd were chatting about the danger that was before them. Several applicants considered dropping out.


    "Silence! How many of you fools don''t understand that?" [Larci]


    Once again, the talking stopped immediately. They could feel the frustration in her voice.


    "Finally, I can talk peacefully again. The last test consists of actual dungeon exploration! It will be a race with a one hour time limit. Those who can get to the end of the first floor within that time will be considered a new addition to the dungeon explorers! If you were able to defeat a double horned orc, this should be easy for you, but we still have to test you guys on your navigation skills. That is all! If you have any questions, please ask right now!" [Larci]


    No one had the need to raise their hands. They were all paying close attention to her words, and were getting ready for the first test already.


    "No one? All right, then... Let the tests begin!"

 Chapter 3

    Faul had no idea what to expect for the first test. It seemed that there were a large amount of tents laying around, and applicants were expected to go into them.However, the amount of tents were definitely not enough to accomodate for the thousands of attendees, so they were all forced go form a proper line and wait for their turn.


    Due to him not rushing immediately, he had been near the end of his line, so he felt quite annoyed by that fact. At best, he''d have to be here for at least another hour or so. He looked around for his friends, Varus and Iona. It seemed that they were already both at the front of their tents.


    He decided that it wasn''t worth it to stay in line for such a long time, so he searched for a neaby bench to sleep on, in order to kill time before looking for a shorter line.


    As he was getting comfortable sleeping under his trusty pillow, someone immediately snatched itfrom under his head.


    Faul looked at the person in shock. His pillow!


    Above him stood what seemed to be a boy, wearing extremely fancy clothing. Was he a noble? His hair was short, but in the style of a girl. What was his barber doing? Faul felt bad for him.


    "Why is a commoner like you sleeping here? Have you no respect!? Filthy trash, leave immediately." [Noble]


    This guy was starting to piss him off.All he wanted to do was sleep, and now this extremely stereotypical noble came out of nowhere to bother him! He had heard bad news about their attidudes before, but he never took them to heart.


    The noble looked at his pillow in disgust.


    "You sleep with this thing? It''s absolutely gros-" [Noble]


    However, he was quickly met with a punch to the face.


    "Argh!" [Noble]


    Faul was now standing up, looming over the person he had just punched.


    "Give it back, please." [Faul]


    He was holding his hands out in expectance.He just wanted some peace!


    The noble was on the floor, with his hand to his face. No one had ever hurt him before! Not even his parents! Who was this commoner that would dare to do so!


    At this point, Faul and the noble had stirred up quite the crowd. They had all seen Faul punch him, but no one felt bad. Previously, this was the same noble who was making fun of the others as well due to their birthright. Instead, they all took joy in his suffering, though they didn''t say anything since he was still a noble, after all.


    Faul walked up to the noble and stood in front of his face. He grabbed his shirt by the collar and stared at him straight in the eye.


    The noble was blushing at hisactions. What was he going to do to him?


    But from Faul''s perspective, he had no idea what was going on. Why was he blushing? It was probably because he had embarassed him in front of a large crowd. Or could it be...


    "Don''t worry, I''m not into guys." [Faul]


    The noble stared at him in disbelief. This commonerhad no idea what was going on! Feeling immensely shamed, the noble dropped Faul''s pillow, got up, and left as fast as he could.


    "What''s that kid''s problem?" [Faul]


    Hetook back his pillow and walked away to a nearby tent whose line was almost done. Everyone around them who had seen what happened was confused. They couldn''t hear what he said.


    -Inside the Tent (Five Minutes Later)-


    It was finally Faul''s turn. He had waited in line for quite a while already. Remembering the incident a couple of minutes ago with the noble, he clenched his fists. There were still people who acted that way in this day and age. Hopefully he would never have to come across him again.


    In front of him was a middle aged man in a magician''s robe, sitting in front of a crystal ball.


    "Please, take a seat." [Man]


    Faul took a seat and looked around. This placed was very mysterious. What seemed to be drawings of magic circles littered the room, all glowing slightly.


    "Now, are you ready? I shall explain. This crystal will determine whether or not you are able to use magic. The brighter it glows, the stronger your affinity, and the color will tell us what element you are suited to using. Place your hands on it and it should work." [Man]


    Slowly lifting his hands, he approached the crystal ball carefully.


    Once he got close, Faul could see a small glimmer of light within the ball. So he had passed! That was a relief. He took a breathto relax himself and put his both his handson the crystal ball.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    It was a grayish and green light, shining so bright that it blinded their eyes.


    "Urgh!" [Man]


    The man had never seen anything like this before. He had been an examiner for several years, but he had never seen someone with this much potential. This kid was on par with the S-ranks! No, maybe even better! He definitely had to report this to the king.


    Faul let go of the ball. Due to the bright light, hehad his eyes closed, so he couldn''tsee exactly what had happened during that moment.


    "So, um... Did I pass?" [Faul]


    The man was still in shock at the display that had just occured.


    "Oh, uh, yeah." [Man]


    He was still trying to recover from witnessing it, and took a short pause to get back on track.


    "Ahem. So it seems that you possess the power of wind. Since you qualify, I shall give you a crash course on how to use it properly. You''ll learn more about it at the academy that each explorer is admitted in, so if you have any questions, hold them for now." [Man]


    "Why didn''t you guys just explain this to all of us when we were listening to Larci?" [Faul]


    "That''s something we considered. However, if someone who didn''t qualify learned how to use magic and spread the information outside of Remedi, that could be problematic." [Man]


    It was true. Although most countries had treaties, there were still malicious people who wanted to bring trouble due to personal grudges.


    "Now I''ll explain. In our heart, we have something called an Mana Exert Line, otherwise abbreviated as a ''MEL''. It is believed that this is part of our body is what has direct control over our mana flow." [Man]


    Faul tried to feelthe MEL in his heart. As expected, he didn''t feel anything. The man looked at Faul humorously. Every applicant who had done the test tried to do the same thing, however it wasn''t that easy.


    "It takes time to get used to it, you''ll know much more about it soon." [Man]


    Faul nodded. It seemed that magic was much more complicated than he originally thought.


    "To use magic, you must feel that line inside and direct to wherever you release your magic. It is also possible for your magic to maintain a physical form like a sword for a very brief moment, although it requires large amounts of mana. If you excessively use up all your magic, you could suffer serious injuries!" [Man]


    So that''s what it was. Thinking back on the incident with the Winged Flamebeast, he recalled something similar to what was being explained here.


    "That''s about it. The second test already started so go on ahead! We''re in a bit of a rush for tomorrow." [Man]


    Faul walked out of the tent. It seemed that everyone had finished their first test, and about a quarter of the people here this morning had already left. That''s right! What about Varus and Iona?


    As he was walking around, he heard shouts and screams. It was coming from the people fighting the double horned orcs in the second test.


    He walked towards the sounds and wound up in a large field. He saw both Varus and Iona finishing up their fights. That noble from earlier had also just finished their test. Theywere all very beat-up, but it seems that they made it pass this round. Theboth of his friends saw Faul and walked up to him.


    "So, did you pass the first one?" [Varus]


    "You better not have failed! We''ve already had six people that went home already." [Iona]


    Faul was shocked. Six people? That was half of them from Olyres!


    "Kuh... Yeah I passed the first test. How about this one? Is it hard?" [Faul]


    "Hard? I almost died!" [Iona]


    Even though they were pretty beat-up, Faul still knew they were strong. There was no way that a qualifying test would have given themthat much trouble. Was a double horned orc really that powerful?


    "Faul, just make sure to not get touched by him, and try to use your magic power. That''s the only possible way to fight them. We were careless and got scratched, which led us to this. Some others were killed. It wasn''t a good sight. These orcs are pretty slow in the first place, so it shouldn''t be too difficult for you. We have to go back to the healing area. We''ll come back to watch you later." [Varus]


    "All right, thanks." [Faul]


    "Good luck!" [Iona]


    They both left to get treatment from the staff. Meanwhile, Faul waited for a chance to fight. A difficult path was ahead of him.


    Curious, he looked at the previous fighters who had attempted to fight. Plenty of them were full of injuries, and some in critical condition. Were the qualifications to enter the dungeon really that high?


    "Hey, you!" [???]


    Faul turned towards the voice.


    It was one of the examiners, pointing at him.


    "Yes?" [Faul]


    "We have an open spot here. Are you ready to go?" [Examiner]


    He decided that he might as well. Varus and Iona wouldn''t be able to come back in time to watch him, but someone else might take that spot soon.


    "All right. Are there any rules?" [Faul]


    "You just have to kill the orc while not leaving the lines. Any method is allowed. You arenot allowed to receive help from anyoneoutside the lines." [Examiner]


    Faul examined the area. It was approximately a ten by ten meter square. In the middle was a sleeping orc, seemingly unable to move. Apparently the examiners did something to the orcs beforehand. You could tell that the person who was here before him had a rough time, as there were blood patches all over the place.


    He was nervous.


    "... I''m ready." [Faul]


    "Okay, get in. Once you''re inside, we''llwake up the orc. Prepare yourself, you don''t want to end up teared to shreds, like the others." [Staff]


    As Faul walked in the square, he waited for the orc to wake up. It took a while, as theexaminer was being extremely careful. Once it looked as if the orc was about to wake up, he immediately ran away.


    By now, the orc was fully awake. They were simple creatures, who would attack the person closest to them. Because of that trait, they''re used as guinea pigs for testing.


    The double horned orc noticed Faul immediately, and started rushing towards him.


    Faul quickly put uphis right hand in front of him. In an instant, he tried to sense his MEL and form a ball of magic in his palm. Although he had tried this before in the tent and failed, he could always dodge and try again, since the orc was slow. But if he took too long, he might die. It was worth the risk, he thought to himself.


    He felt the sensation from his heart spread to his hand and a small bolt was forming.


    This was it!


    He fired the bolt, and in the span of the next few seconds, a large beam shot from his palm and exploded a nearby building.


    The only thing remaining on the stage was him, anda headless orc.