The Author's POV

"1...2...3...8...15...23...47...53"

Counting the students present in the line designated for the ranked students, the professor quickly scribbled something onto the tablet in his hand, and lightly mumbled to himself

"...that's a significant increase compared to last year's batch"

Nodding his head in satisfaction, putting the tablet away, in a stern tone, the professor spoke up.

"Alright, all of the 53 students in the level difficulty, please listen up."

"As I have already explained the rules before, I won't go into too much detail with regards to what you need to do. However, I do have to remind you that you will all be sent to the same dungeon at the same time. Meaning that, yes, you can cooperate with one another..."

"We won't stop you from collaborating with someone since, in real dungeons, such situations often occur."

Pausing slightly, the professor squinted his eyes and his voice turned serious

"...and yes, with the fact that you can collaborate with the other students, it also means that you can also interfere with another persons' progress. After all, the person who reaches first also gets an additional bonus point."

"So, not only do you have to watch out for the monsters inside of the dungeon, but you also have to watch out for the people next to you."

Pausing and glancing at all of the students before him, smirking slightly, the professor said

"You better watch out...in dungeons, no rules exist. What may seem like your teammate moments before can quickly turn and backstab you when you least expect it...such situations aren't very rare occurrences inside of dungeons"

With dungeons being places that had no cameras, situations where your ally would betray you as soon as the chance presented itself wouldn't be all that surprising. Especially if something tempted them into doing so-

As the professor's words flowed through everyone's ears, all the students present took a step away from the person near them. Their eyes were full of vigilance.

Human greed was boundless...You never know what would happen if you weren't alert.

Glancing at the students who were now wary of each other, a satisfied smile appeared on the professor's face.

"Enough of that. I'm going to go brief the other students now. You have five minutes to prepare yourselves...if you're planning on choosing a teammate you better choose yours carefully...bye now"

Finished with what he wanted to say, turning off his tablet, the professor headed towards the next group.

Watching the professor leave, with his arms crossed, Arnold glanced at the students beside him.

Immediately disdain appeared on his face. None of them were worthy of teaming up with him.

...in fact, he didn't need to team up with anyone. Arnold was confident no one would be able to beat him.

That's how confident he was in his abilities.

To him. No one was a competitor.

As he was looking at the students, Arnold's eyes soon paused on a certain individual.

Snorting to himself, Arnold couldn't help but clench his fists.

to think that bug has also

student he had previously disdained had reached a similar level to his in a mere

young master Jin

Time was almost up...

young master Jin's odd behavior. He

vent out his bad mood, nor was he spoken to as if he was

treated him like an

couldn't help but feel

Acknowledged.

how the current Arnold

felt that the current Jin had finally

hard work had finally

now finally treated him like someone who was worthy of following

in the distance, Arnold couldn't help but recall

how Jin wanted

Yes...

been acknowledged, he must

down, washing his clothes, to cleaning up

to do anything that was asked of

at Ren in the distance,

pay a price for offending someone you shouldn't

...

"Hmmm?"

noticed a

bothered to check who they

already focused on what was to

the novel, this dungeon was located in a cave-like setting, meaning that there wasn't much

visibility inside of

of what was to come. With Kevin being rank, the level of difficulty was on a much harder level. Though I didn't know the full layout of the dungeon as I never dwelled too deeply into it,

...this was good.

thinking about what else I could

think drifting steps would definitely give me an edge compared

to

a monster, I would

meant that I would lose a lot of momentum every time I killed a

noted that drifting steps was still not in the minor realm

...This further complicated things.

wasn't confident in my written score. With me having

score

killing monsters wasn't an

What do I do?

pay attention

of my thoughts was

will automatically be transported towards your designated post. At the entrance of the dungeon, there will be another instructor that will give you some equipment and another short briefing on what to do and what

student present, the professor's tone