One by one, each of the students was called by the Great Heroes. Eventually, it got to the point where only Aiharas squad hadn’t been called yet by their mentors. Andrius had left the heroes hall earlier, stating that he needed to pay a visit to the princess, however when he passed by Aihara and the others, she noticed a slight glimpse of scepticism on Andrius face.

  It seemed like despite him laughing off the fact that he was the only one who hadn’t gotten a disciple for his class — he was hiding his true thoughts. While Aihara drifted slowly off, suddenly Iwamotos name was called. The boy exhaled and looked at the rest of them. “That’s my cue, I suppose.”

  “Stay safe my guy.” Kida stated and Iwamoto nodded lightly. The trio watched him run over to the Great Hero who had called him. After Iwamoto, Kida was the next called – his caller happened to be a woman dressed in robes which looked like they were weaved together from leaves and sticks – though it was difficult to tell from afar.

  Kida turned to look at Aihara and Sasaki. “Stay safe you two.” Sasaki nodded in response and smiled, crossing her arms. “We should be saying to you～”

  Kida laughed lightly, before throwing one last gaze at Aihara and then leaving. After he left the two girls, Sasaki sighed. “After we split up, we should try and figure out a way to tell someone about what happened in that hall.” She whispered to Aihara, who looked at her surprised.

  “U-Uhm… but…”

  “I get it, you’re afraid of that woman – but even then, her actions seem to have been ones that were made based on personal beliefs, especially after seeing that mountain of a man, Sir Andrius.” Sasaki explained a bit. Aihara looked unsure at first, however before she got the chance to say anything back, Sasakis name was called by an older man — who was dressed in black and white clothes, with what appeared to be a religious symbol hanging from his neck.

  Most likely a ‘Priest’ of some sort. Sasaki looked at Aihara with a smile. “Stay safe Ai!”

  Ai…? Before Aihara got the chance to question the nickname, the lively girl ran off over to the elderly man, leaving Aihara the last one to be called. The girl looked down nervously.

  She fell into her own thoughts for a bit — just thinking over everything that had happened. They were summoned to a different world, immediately witnessed injustice happen against a man and then were taken through what appeared to be a medieval style castle. At this point, Aihara couldn’t help but pray that all of this was just a bad dream.

  That she was just dreaming.

  It was all… a bit much to digest at once.

  Then, her name was called loudly. “Aihara Rikako.”

  She looked up, looking around to see who had called her. She managed to spot her caller – who happened to be a tall man, dressed in Armour that looked worn and used - definitely a sign of him having gone through many battles before.

  Gulp.

  Aihara nervously walked over to the armoured man. When she made it close enough to be face to face with the man, she looked up at him into his black eyes. The man was on the older side, with short, slicked back grey hair and a very faint grey beard forming under his chin. Across his face, went a large scar – which definitely was a significant showing of the man's experience in battle.

  And at the same time…

  It made Aihara worry a bit. The man was quite large in terms of his build and height and that scar was not at all small – in fact, it was quite large. It made her mind race thinking about what could have possibly inflicted that scar.

  After a small bit of silence, the man uncrossed his arms and lightly placed his right hand onto Aiharas shoulder, before breaking his cold expression and looking more like a gentle, kind grandfather, especially how he knelt before her a bit.

  “Nice to meet you, Lady Aihara. My name is Earl Lyma and I will be your trainer from this day on. I will teach you all you need to know about being a knight and how to use the most of your class.” The man's voice was surprisingly gentle. It kind of reminded Aihara of her own grandfather's voice…

  The girl, though still slightly nervous, nodded with a determined smile across her face. “R-Right!”

  The man laughed, standing back up. “No need to be so tense.”

  Afterwards, Oscar walked out in front of them all, followed by his own student, who Aihara immediately recognised.

  Kihara Kazuki — a guy who in their class, always was the quiet one. He excelled at studies and often appeared to be cold on the outside, however, Aihara knew that it was just a face. He, in fact, was quite different than his rather cold exterior sold him. He was quite awkward and jolly, as well as kind and got embarrassed easily. A while back, Kazuki had stood up for Aihara while she was getting harassed by some unsavory men.

  Which also brought up another point – though he looked scrawny and a man who couldn’t even hurt a fly if he tried, Kazuki was surprisingly strong. Really strong.

  “I guess it’s no wonder he is a ‘Dragon Knight’...” Aihara exhaled.

  “Alright, now that you’ve all been sorted to your mentors, the next thing is to start preparing for your training. Each of you will live with your mentors and will train personally under them.” Oscar began announcing, before adjusting his glasses a bit. “Do note that each of us have a different method when it comes to training. And please, do not be afraid to ask for anything or vent your troubles to your mentors, especially if it’s about your training. We are here to help you feel safe and at home, while providing the best training we can offer in the kingdom.”

  The man placed his right hand on his chest and shot all of us a gentle smile. Then, he cleared his throat and placed his arms behind his back. “Alright, now — My friends — you may take your students back to your own accommodations and allow them to get comfortable. Remember, training may only begin tomorrow.”

  The others nodded in an understanding gesture. Oscar turned around and then shot his gaze back at us all. “Good. Then, I wish all of you luck in your training and I will see you all in a week, at the celebratory dinner.”

  After Oscar said that, he gestured to Kazuki to follow him, before his helmet flew into his hands. The two of them turned to leave, with the large gates they had gone through to enter the Heroes Hall opening for them after Oscar placed his hand on it, like Andrius had done when they came here.

  Before he disappeared, Kazuki threw a gaze back over at Aihara, smiling gently, before catching up to his mentor.

  Once Oscar and Kazuki were no longer noticeable, everyone else began to leave as well – each one through their own way. I threw a nervous and stressed look over at Kida, Iwamoto and Sasaki – wondering whether they’d really be fine. Earl lightly patted her on her back, bringing Aiharas attention to him.

  “Come along now Lady Aihara. The faster we get back to my home, the faster we can get you settled in.” The man gave Aihara a gentle smile. Aihara looked a bit taken back at first, before shaking her head and smiling back at Earl and nodding. Afterwards, the two of them left towards a different door, which was located at the back of the hall – which Earl pushed gently open before throwing a look over at the other individuals who were also walking over to this door.

  It was a woman dressed in similar armour to Earl, only his armour was white and gold, as well as had no signs of damage. The woman wearing the armour also appeared to be much younger than Earl, with almost gold coloured hair, which was caught in a small ponytail.

  “Ah Lady Sarah, I see you’re using my secret entrance again.” Earl said with a sarcastic tone.

  “Please Earl, the entrance is not so secret and you know it.” The woman said back to the elder man. Next to Sarah was Kagawa Raito — the class ‘Mr.Perfect’.

  “Tell me, will you immediately head back home?”

  Sarah shook her head lightly. “First I have to drop by the church as they need me for something.”

  “I see, well, I could lead your student to our home if you don’t mind?”

  Our home? Aihara looked a bit surprised. This elderly man who was her mentor and that stunning beauty in white and gold armour… lived together?

  Sarah chuckled at the man's request.

  “I appreciate the consideration, but I’ll pass. I want to show Sir Raito around a bit myself.” Earl nodded lightly.

  “I see.” The man exhaled and gently smiled. “Then, I suppose I’ll see you at home.”

  Sarah nodded back. Earl then turned back to Aihara. “Come along now.”

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  “R-Right!” Aihara quickly followed after Earl, exiting through the door, before turning left and walking over to where a large, black stallion was resting. Throwing a look back, Aihara watched Raito and the woman named ‘Sarah’ leave the other way after closing the door they all had exited through. She hadn’t expected this, however it seemed like she would be not only living with Raito under one roof, but possibly even training together with him – since their mentors lived together.

  She couldn’t help but feel a bit… anxious.

  Earl hopped onto the black stallion after it stood up, before extending his hand to Aihara. “Come on, I’ll help.” Aihara nodded.

  “T-Thank you…” She gently took the old man's hand. Earl easily pulled Aihara onto the horse, seating her down behind him. Afterwards, he gave her a gentle smile. “Hold on tight to me Lady Aihara, the road won’t be smoothest.”

  “Right..!” Aihara wrapped her arms around Earl's waist. The elder man then exhaled before getting the horse riled up and turning it around, before whipping the leashes in his hands and causing the horse to run down a dirt path.

  The Great Labyrinth – Floor 50.

  Jack, Araneida and Sallow all slowly moved through the rocky, uneven terrain of the cave they were in. Sallow was leading the way for the rest of them, having promised to bring them to the exit to the next floor of the dungeon.

  After Sallow was tamed, Jack had taken a small breather, before setting out onto the road with Sallow and Araneida. From there, Jack asked for a small explanation about the place they were in, to which Sallow had explained a bit about the ‘Great Labyrinth’ that Jack had found himself in.

  ‘The Great Labyrinth’ was the largest dungeon in the world, located at the center of it and being the one place that neither the humans nor the dead had managed to conquer. The Dungeon sprawled across over fifty floors, with them all currently being at the deepest point in the dungeon – Floor Fifty. The deeper you went into the Great Labyrinth, the more dangerous and powerful the monsters grew.

  Now, of course, it had begged the question of How the hell are you all surviving down here then? From Jack, to which Sallow explained that Floor Fifty, despite being the deepest floor, was the anomaly of the Labyrinth. The only powerful monster within this floor was its ‘Guardian’ — which was located at the entrance to this floor. Apparently the guardian was so powerful, that it had single handedly wiped out all of the powerful monsters that had once inhabited this floor, before settling down by the entrance — basically making it impossible for anyone to leave or enter.

  This, alongside with its usually calm demeanor, meant that beings such as Sallows tribe were able to blossom and grow, as there weren't any ultra powerful predators they needed to avoid. At most, they had to be wary of other intelligent creatures down here — such as the Green Goblin tribe that Sallow at one point was allies with.

  The three of them moved through the cave-like environment for a while, before eventually settling down to rest behind some larger rock formations. Araneida had left Jack and Sallow and went looking for something to eat, while Jack was simply browsing through his system menu – looking mostly at his skills.

  Sallow brought over some scrap wood and clothes he had found nearby, dropping them in between him and Jack, before crouching down and beginning to set up a quick campfire. Jack lifted his eyes up from the menu window in front of him.

  “Got anything to light a campfire?”

  Sallow nodded. “Even though it may not appear, I have access to some low power fire magic. It’s not that strong, but it should be enough to light us a campfire for a bit.”

  Jack didn’t say anything in response to Sallow's reply and simply watched the Grey Goblin slowly set up the place for the campfire — placing some small rocks around the scrap wood and clothes he had brought. Looking back over at his menu window, Jack's eyes drifted down at the skill he had gained when he tamed Sallow.

  ‘Leaders Transformation’ — It sounded similar to that whole ‘Monarch Transformation’ that Sallow had activated during the battle between them both. Jack scratched his chin a bit. “If only there was a way for me to see what a skill does…”

  Right as Jack thought about this, the menu window in front of him changed from displaying his status, to displaying a completely different window, which caught Jack off guard.

  [ INFORMATION ]

  Select a Skill to learn more about.

  [Interpreter]; [Combat Experience]; [Battle Hungry];

  [Spider Venom]; [Leaders Transformation]; [Taming];

  [Animal Body]

  [ INFORMATION ]

  “...Well, would you look at that? Guess I should fiddle around with this whole ‘system’ more often.” Jack thought, before reaching his right hand out towards the window and gently pressing onto the ‘Leaders Transformation’ skill.

  The window once again changed, this time, to a smaller one which displayed the information about the skill Jack had just clicked on.

  Bingo.

  [ INFORMATION ]

  Leaders Transformation - Unique Skill

  Activation cost: 0

  A Skill that allows the user to create a strong exterior armour around their body as well enhances the users senses and stats. Additionally, while active, the skill makes the user immune to instant death abilities.

  Limitation; Consumes magical energy while the skill is active.

  When the user runs out of magical energy, the skill is deactivated.

  [ INFORMATION ]

  “I see…” Jack sighed lightly to himself. The skill was most definitely similar to what he had observed from Sallow during the fight, however this version seemed to be ever so slightly different. While Sallows version was active, Jack felt an immense pressure that fell onto him and while he ignored it at the time, the skill had also seemingly tried to lower his stats by around fifteen percent — which hadn’t worked out due to Jacks stat boosts from ‘Combat Experience’ and ‘Battle Hungry’.

  The skill also seemed like it would come in handy at some point – the only drawback was that it was going to drain Jack's magical energy while it was active. “Good thing I didn’t neglect investing stat points in magical energy.”

  The man exhaled.

  Shortly afterwards, Sallow managed to ignite the quick campfire before Araneida returned to the duo, dragging with her a large wolf-like monster. The spider dropped the dead monster's body by the campfire and let out a happy, cheerful squeal. Jack looked at the dead body and smiled, getting up and walking over to Araneida, patting the small monster on the head.

  “Good job Araneida.” The spider looked joyous. Sallow walked over to the dead wolf corpse and picked it up, examining it. Then, his eyes moved over to Jack.

  “My Lord, may I cook this beast over the fire?”

  Jack looked at Sallow a bit alarmed. “Isn’t it a monster? Is it safe to eat?” Sallow nodded lightly. “It is – as long as it is properly prepared and cooked. Do not worry, I know how to prepare these things to make them safe for consumption.”

  Jack looked a bit sceptical at first, however exhaled lightly after a moment and looked at Sallow with a gentle expression. “Then I anticipate to see what you can master up with that.”

  “Do not worry my Lord – I shall not disappoint you.” After Sallow affirmed this, he plopped the dead wolf's body onto a more flat rock surface. Then, he lifted his right hand up, his fingers extending a bit and turning more sharp. Then, Sallow sliced into the wolf — opening up its stomach and beginning to clear out the organs inside.

  Sizzle, sizzle…

  The wolf meat that Sallow had extracted from the monster corpse lightly cooked over the fire that the Grey Goblin had set up earlier. Araneida was enjoying eating away at some raw pieces of the wolf meat, as well as devouring the not safe to consume wolfs organs, which Sallow had stated to be ‘poisonous’ no matter how they were prepared.

  Jack and Sallow watched the wolf meat lighty sizzle above the campfire — the scent from it being a bit hypnotising. When Jack thought about it - how long has it been since he ate? Even though it most likely wasn’t that long since he had arrived to this labyrinth, it felt like it had been days that he’s wandered in this place non-stop.

  And ever since he had arrived here, he hadn’t felt either hungry or even exhausted that much – almost like his body had been adapted or given some special buffs that allowed him to go longer without food.

  Sallow picked up one of the sticks on which the wolf meat was skewered on, before smelling it a bit and examining it. Then, he handed it to Jack. “Here my Lord. You should eat.”

  Jack smiled. “Thanks.” He took the wolf meat skewer, before examining the meat on it. It definitely looked well cooked and if you handed it to any random person without context, chances were that they wouldn’t be able to tell that this had come from a wolf, let alone a monster. Most people would have probably assumed it was just pork or beef. Shrugging a bit, Jack sunk his teeth into the meat.

  Immediately – the strong flavour struck him like a truck.

  Even though the meat was simple in looks and had absolutely no seasoning, like he was used to back in his original world, it had such a rich taste that it felt unreal. The meat was tender, juicy and had this well achieved balance between being ever so slightly sour and salty.

  It also tasted a bit spicy – like he had thrown pepper on it. “It’s… quite good actually.” Jack was a bit taken back. Sallow snickered.

  “Direwolf meat is unique in the sense that it becomes better tasting the older the direwolf is. While yeah, their organs are poisonous unless you use special magic, their meat can be considered a delicacy.” Sallow picked up a different skewer of wolf meat, lightly blowing it. “Or at least, it was called a delicacy in my tribe.” He quickly took a large bite of the crisped wolf meat.

  Jack eyed Sallow a bit, before continuing his meal.

  Araneida finished up eating her raw meat and the organs of the wolf, before turning around and skittering over to Jack. The spider looked up at the man with a satisfied expression. “Was it delicious?” Jack asked, smiling. Araneida nodded enthuastically.

  “I hadn’t mentioned it before, but an Armoured White Spider is rare to come by. I wonder, where did you find one, my Lord?” Sallow commented, having finished his meat skewer.

  Jack eyed Sallow, before eyeing Araneida and reaching his left hand down to her, lightly scratching the side of the spider's head, which it seemed to enjoy. “She had tried to attack me while I was exploring, so I decided to go after her. I backed her into a corner, where I could tell she was very much afraid of me and while initially I thought about killing her, I decided to instead use it as an opportunity to try out my power as a tamer.”

  Jack explained, before giving the rest of his skewer to the spider, who, after lightly sniffing it like a dog, downed the meat on the stick. “I suppose she was a test guinea pig for me.”

  “I see…” Sallow commented, looking down at the spider who was happily eating the meat she had gotten from Jack.

  The Grey Goblin remained silent for a bit, before exhaling and picking up the last three remaining meat skewers, handing one to Jack and dropping the other onto the ground for Araneida. “We should finish up eating and then put out the campfire. Here, it’s better to be on the move as much as possible.”

  Jack nodded in response to Sallows' statement. “Got it.” They then proceeded to eat the last of the cooked direwolf meat, while the campfires faint crackles and light smoke rose into the air.

  From above, a shadowy figure watched the trio. “...Interesting.”

  Once the campfire had been put out and the meat eaten, the trio hit the road again, Sallow leading Jack and Araneida further into the cave. It wasn’t long after they started moving again, when they then encountered their first enemies — a large pack of what looked to be slimes.

  The small, round and slightly transparent creatures noticed the three of them and immediately charged at them. Jack snickered, unsheathing his shortsword, bringing it up to his face. “Genuflect.”

  From the dagger, a dark aura began to emit, before a wave of energy was sent towards the large horde of slimes.

  [ NOTIFICATION ]

  Grey Kings Slasher has successfully inflicted ‘Frightened’ on the targets.

  -20% to all their stats.

  [ NOTIFICATION ]

  “Easy pickings now.” Jack thought, before splitting off of Araneida and Sallow, beginning to tear through the large horde of slimes with ease – slicing, slashing and ripping apart the small creatures.

  [ ALERT ]

  You have levelled up.

  24 > 25

  [ ALERT ]

  …

  [ ALERT ]

  You have levelled up.

  25 > 26

  [ ALERT ]

  …

  [ ALERT ]

  You have levelled up.

  26 > 27

  [ ALERT ]