After leaving the dungeon, Draven looked at Silas for the first time to check what realm he had reached. At the early levels people usually jump several levels at once because they only need a small amount of experience.
But when he saw Silas, he became confused. He asked, "Silas? Why did you only reach level one?"
Silas looked even more confused. "Isn't that normal? I just gained experience and reached level one."
Draven shook his head. "No, I don't mean it like that. I'm asking why you only reached level one. Didn't you clear this dungeon by yourself? You should have gotten around a thousand experience points or more. To reach level two you only need two hundred, and for level three you need three hundred. So you should be at least level four by now, shouldn't you?"
Silas shook his head. "No. I'm pretty sure I need a thousand experience points to reach level two."
Draven's eyes widened in disbelief. He didn't know why Silas needed that much, but then he remembered he had never met a magic swordsman before. Maybe it was normal for them to need more experience.
He said, "I know a few more E-rank dungeons. Do you want to go? Some of them are high-tier E-rank. From your performance I'd guess you could handle even a low-level D-rank, so E-ranks will be easy for you."
Silas's face lit up. "Of course! I was going to ask you for more dungeons. Hehe, let's go."
Draven smiled. He could see Silas getting more comfortable with him the longer they spent together. He led Silas to the next dungeon.
This one was bigger than the previous, but the color was still purple. The vortex was about twenty-five feet across, swirling steadily in front of them.
Silas looked around, confused. "Why don't we see anyone else? Aren't there anyone who wants to raid a dungeon?"
Draven shook his head. "There are plenty of people who want to raid for the benefits. But the Imperium has a rule ; every citizen has to mark a dungeon with their academy or Imperium token so no one else can claim it later."
"The places I brought you to were already marked by me, so that's why there's no one here. If we go to C-rank or higher, we'll meet other teams because those can't be marked."
Silas nodded. Then they both stepped into the purple vortex.
This time, when they stepped into the cave, a chill ran down Silas's spine. He could feel the darkness pressing in around them.
He called his lightning element to brighten the surroundings, but what the light revealed made his blood run cold. The walls and ceiling were draped in webs ; countless, thick strands layered over each other. And moving through them were maybe a thousand black spiders, levels five to ten. Dark venom spiders, a high-tier E-rank monster. Their venom sacs were valuable ingredients for certain medicines.
Draven said, "Same rule. If you want me to step in, give me a signal."
Silas was already smiling. He looked at Draven and nodded. This time he didn't draw his sword or use any fancy footwork. He raised his hands, and two beautiful magic circles of lightning bloomed in his palms. Arcs cracked around him, and Draven watched with growing admiration.
Silas could use this magic, but it was high levelits power could reach up to twenty levels above his own. He could copy skills, but they wouldn't exceed that twenty-level cap. With his current mana, he could only cast this technique twice.
The spiders sensed the gathering lightning and screeched in annoyance. They attacked at once, spitting venom, but the level-two human slipped past every strike, ignoring their venom as if it weren't there. He lifted his hands and manifested a huge lightning cloud overhead. Thick blue bolts descended, one after another, slamming into the webs and the swarm below.
Draven stared at the arcs with a flash of horror. At his level he could judge the strength accurately. "Level twenty-two," he murmured. "At least twenty levels higher than him. How did he do that…" He glanced at Silas, whose face was bright with excitement.
Thousands of spiders died in the onslaught. Notifications chimed in Silas's mind, one after another, until a new message appeared.
[Ding! Congratulations host for killing 1237 black venom spiders. Gained 9432 experience points.]
[Ding! Congratulations host for reaching level 5. Gained 150 free points to allocate.]
A surge of unknown power rolled through Silas's body and settled in his core. He reached level five. In his mind he said, "Allocate twenty points each to strength, stamina, and agility, and the rest to mana." He still didn't know what the intelligence stat was for, and it was already at one hundred, so he left it alone.
He opened his status.
[Silas Valerius
Class: Author (Unique Hidden Class)
Strength: 73 + 20
Agility: 57 + 20
Stamina: 43 + 20
Mana: 77 + 90
Intelligence: 100
Free points: 0
Experience points: 432]
Silas turned back to Draven. Draven grabbed his shoulders with both hands.
"Silas! You're not a magic swordsman, are you? You just used level twenty-two magic. No one can skip twenty levels and cast a spell like that."
Silas understood immediately. He hadn't wanted to hide anything from Draven. Draven was different ,he'd known Silas could use both sword and magic and had never told anyone, even warning him to keep it quiet.
He met Draven's eyes. "You're right. I'm not a magic swordsman."
"Then you know your class?" Draven asked.
Silas nodded. "Yes. The class I got when I turned nineteen is called Author."
"Author?" Draven frowned. "I've never heard of it."
"It's a unique hidden class," Silas said seriously. "Only one in existence."
Draven went still. His grip tightened. "Silas, how many people know? Tell me you haven't told anyone."
Silas felt Draven's tension. "No. You're the only one I've told. No one else knows."
"Remember," Draven said, urgent. "Never reveal your class to anyone. And don't use that power over twenty levels unless it's absolutely necessary."
Silas nodded. "Don't worry. I won't use it normally."
Draven let out a breath and released him. Silas gave him a gentle smile.
"Can we go to the boss room now?" he asked.
Draven nodded. They walked to the boss door together. Silas pushed the stone door open.
The moment they stepped inside, a thick strand of web shot toward them. Silas didn't have time to dodge, Draven moved first, pulling Silas tight against him and slipping out of the attack's path.
Silas felt the warmth of Draven's body and the steady thump of his heartbeat. Warm breath brushed his ear. His own heart hammered, and his ears turned red. For a second he forgot they were in a boss room, until a sharp screech cut through the air.
"Screeeeeekkk…"
Silas looked up. The boss waited , a level seventeen giant black venom spider, poised for its next strike. Draven set him down.
"You just used that power," Draven said. "Can you handle this alone?"
Silas smiled at the spider. "Before, it would've been a tough fight. Now that I'm level five, I can use that power two more times."
He didn't wait. Space magic circled his left hand, lightning crackled in his right. Draven watched the space circle with keen interest; space magic was rare this was only the second time he'd seen someone use it.
Silas locked the giant spider in place with the space constraint. The spider couldn't move. Then he dropped the same level twenty-two lightning onto it. The bolt fell, the spider screamed, and it died in seconds. Where it had been, two venom sacs much larger than the ones from the smaller spiders appeared, along with two long fangs.
He stored the materials in his space pouch and searched the boss room. After about ten minutes he found a treasure chest, bigger than the last and covered in old webs. He pried it open. Inside were 678 gold coins, 1,364 silver, and 2,365 bronze. He swept everything into his pouch and walked back to Draven.
A beautiful vortex opened in front of them. Together they stepped through and left the dungeon.
The giant spider only yielded about 2400 experience points, not nearly enough to reach level six, which required a total of 5000.
"Silas, let's head back for today," Draven said gently. "Tomorrow is your first class at the academy. I'll take you out another day."
Silas nodded. Although he could still fight, he knew his stamina wasn't strong enough to last until dawn and then get through a full day of classes.
They ran back towards the academy, and fifteen minutes later, they slipped through the secret passage. Draven walked him all the way to his dorm room.
"So," Draven said, his voice soft. "When can we meet again?"
Silas could feel the longing in his tone and see it in his eyes. "Let's meet during lunch," he suggested. He'd gotten Draven's contact info a while ago. "I'll message you after my class is over."
A huge, unrestrained smile spread across Draven's face, making him look younger. He said goodbye to Silas and then vanished into the shadows.
Silas entered his dorm room as silently as he could, but the moment the door clicked shut, the lights flickered on. Two figures were waiting for him, arms folded across their chests.
"Where did you go this late at night, Silas?" Jacob asked, frowning. He'd woken up in the middle of the night to find Silas's bed empty, so he had woken Rhys, and they'd been waiting ever since.
Rhys's tone was testing. "Did you go to meet your boyfriend?"
"What boyfriend?" Silas snapped back automatically. "I went to a dungeon with Draven."
Jacob's eyes bulged. "A dungeon? You went to a dungeon? With Instructor Draven?"
Rhys sneered. "What instructor? For him, he's his pursuer. Or you could say, his future boyfriend."
Silas's face turned bright red. He couldn't deny the feelings he had for Draven, but Jacob just looked at him in horror.
"You melted the Ice Prince?" Jacob asked, his voice full of awe. "You know everyone in the academy calls him that because he never lets anyone get close enough without them feeling a chill in their blood."
Embarrassed, Silas mumbled, "It's not actually like that… we're just good friends."
Before he could finish, Rhys cut him off. "Stop! Stop right there. Anyone can see he's pursuing you. Only you can't see the obvious." He waved a dismissive hand. "Now, leave that part and tell us what monsters you fought today."
Jacob also leaned in, his eyes eager.
So Silas told them everything , everything except the level twenty-two spell and the truth about his class. He recounted how he'd used lightning to kill the horned hares and the black venom spiders, and he told them exactly how much treasure he'd collected from the chests.