Dande Delitri

But the same woman burst from the stairs and said to the loud man, "Lod, leave them alone. Welcome, I am headmistress Dande Delitri. Which one of you is trying to join? The boy?"

"Yes."

"Alright. Follow."

Zeeth nodded to Linda and headed into the school, following the woman. She said, "Bardstrems School of Practical Magic and Arts boasts over eighty percent of our teachers from prestigious schools and backgrounds, we have over thirty students who have won National Scholars Awards, and numerous prizes and awards that our staff and students have won for their contributions to the world and their studies. We are also one of the most funded schools on the continent, and possibly the world. I'm sure you will find anything you need here, that is if you get accepted."

"That's the hope." One of the doors he walked past shut itself and they both looked at it. 'How the hell do I control Natural Assistance? Just stop thinking? But it seems to work on my subconscious mind.'

"Just up these stairs is my office."

She rushed up the stairs, speeding up as she went. He noticed her brown hair tied into a tight bun on her head and ten blue, sapphire rings on her hand, one for each finger. She nearly pushed him into her room, slammed the door, and asked in an icy and dead voice, "what the hell do you want?"

He looked at her bewildered. "What?"

She sighed, "Don't play dumb. Who sent you? What kind of assistance do you have? We're in my domain, I will kill you here."

"...what?"

She looked at a picture frame on her desk and said, "you… don't know?"

"Don't know what?!"

"Oh, dear lord. How does this happen? How about you have a seat? I have some… heavy information."

Zeeth sat in one of the large, plushy chairs in her room.

"Those flowers and the door closing, that was you, right? Some form of assistance from a greater being."

"Uuhh…"

"That's alright. You can tell me, I promise not to tell others. You see," she interlaced her fingers and took off all her rings at once. A frost developed over her fingers, spreading all around her body and freezing the entire room shut, covering everything in a layer of transparent, blue ice. "I have something similar. The Frost Giant God's Assistance. A passive skill that I can't control, frost just exudes from my body. Without those rings, they just come out unwillingly."

The blue rings all became red when they hit the table, clattering like the die that sent him here.

"Unfortunately, I have some terrible news about gaining this skill." she sat down, "You've been unwillingly dragged into a game of cat and mouse, dragons and humans. There are others in this world who have been blessed with an Assistance skill by some Deity and they hunt each other for dominance."

"I thought only Deities did that with each other?"

"They do. But many of them have grown old and tired of their constant fighting, so they grant weaker beings power to fight and watch them fight. Deities, in general, are not great beings. I believe one of their requirements to being a Deity is to prove how heartless they are. Although, there is no doubt that there are many who change their minds or are put in a situation where they have to be nice, but it's very uncommon."

"How many have you killed?"

"15," she replied almost instantly. "15 other Assistance holders and plenty of nosy people."

"That was… you have no hesitation."

"No. I don't. And I'm not afraid to do it again." She carefully put the rings back and crossed her fingers, "I find the best way to prevent death is to intimidate my opponents away.

So, you really are here to join the school, then?"

"Yes. I had no clue the game even existed and I just want to learn here."

She opened a drawer, pulled out a ring, and said, "First of all, wear this. Hand it back to me when you leave."

It was a thick, silver ring with the inside black and covered in glitter. Her eyebrows furrowed. "You need to hide your Assistance skills. I don't want my school swarming with killers."

[Mana Dampening Ring. 50% Mana Disruption Stone, 50% steel.

Limits abilities by 50%.]

"Oh, thanks."

"Don't thank me, put it on. It's enough to stop the ability from showing."

"How come you have ten?"

"That's for me to know. Did you have a plan for joining the school? Any classes or teachers you want?"

"I want to join the Special Class S. I heard they had the most unique and innovative class."

"That class? You better have the guts for it. It's the most dangerous class here. It's only for the people who can't be categorized into our other specialization classes but are still excellent at what they do in their individual skills." she stopped and asked, "Is this, by any chance, related to Gorn Wilbur?"

"No. Who is that?"

"Ah, haha! Nothing, just a student of ours who went to that class before. Give me your name and ID and I'll administer the test. You must pass the test with the ring on since that is how you will be attending school for the rest of the year. Even if you can't, you can attend our regular classes, or I would be more than happy to write a glowing recommendation for you to send elsewhere."

"No, I want that class. By the way, Gorn, that name sounds familiar. Could I know a little more about him? Maybe he was a childhood friend of mine."

"Oh, uh. Not much to tell. He was an outstanding student here. He was in that class because his acting and hiding skills were outstanding and we didn't have any classes for that so we set him there with other students like him. Nothing else, he left a while ago and we haven't heard much about him since. Now, about your abilities, what can you tell me? Why should you go to that class?"

'I guess she doesn't want anyone knowing a student possibly deserted them. Or maybe even died.'

"My name is Weld Mith, here are my documents," he handed her everything Linda gave him, "and For one thing, I have the Assistance skill. But that doesn't seem to help."

"Yes, it doesn't. It's a rare and amazing skill to have, without even trying, with just your mind, things can just happen for you, and it's very convenient, I've survived many times from frost developing behind me to trip or trap someone who nearly got me and it's undoubtedly a sign of someone strong or lucky."

'Or both,' he thought.

"But it doesn't necessarily mean you are special. Or even strong for that matter. A god could have just fallen in love with you for your looks. Although," she looked at his protruding belly and large head, "that's- unlikely."

"Hey!"

"I'm sure you're strong, you just can't use that as a qualification. What else have you got?"

"What about being a tamer?"

"Oh," she leaned forward, "those are rare. Show me what you got."

He checked to make sure the ice still kept the door locked and secretly slipped out Gul. Glowing gems and greystone covered its body like armor and it pulsed up and down, revealing the light cracks around it like a heart covered in protection. Gul slept, steadily inhaling and exhaling. "I have about four more."

"All like this?"

"Not exactly, they each have their own skills, but they are about as strong."

"That is fascinating. What is it? It looks like a slime but- different."

"It's a slime with rock attributes."

"Incredible. You might get along really well with our new teacher, Mr.Wistiga Letant. he's currently doing some study on slimes and you might be interested."

Far away, in Jarlon, a group of eight experienced hunters gathered in front of Kelle and Will in a brightly lit building decorated in magic books and protective circles. Will, now a strong, muscular man from all his previous work, yelled, "HUNTERS! We thank you all for gathering here! Your achievements as hunters for this great nation have been noticed and today, they will be rewarded! We have gathered the most experienced and powerful hunters we have at our arsenal to finally take on the Darkone Dungeon!"

Kelle said, "thank you for answering my summons and offering yourself for such a difficult task. Your reward is these new, state-of-the-art wands. Compressed to fit in one hand and still has the power of a full staff. They can also be attached to any magic weapons using the New Style Circles."

The hunters stood still, keeping a stoic face, but she saw their relaxed bodies bounce in excitement. "And 20,000 Styrs to each person that will be sent to their families upon arrival at the dungeon."

She saw their eyes focus even more and knew how motivated they were to fight hard now.

Zeeth created five rock spikes, trapping the beast running at him. Five professors wrote on their clipboards.

"Your results will be available to you tomorrow. For now, you may stay in our dormitory."

Zeeth was led to an old cylindrical building covered in moss and vines. A few people looked at him when he went in, carrying his large gold coffin and dirty robe but most people simply ignored him as he slipped into a room.

"No one else lives here," a teacher told him, "this is where we keep possible transfers so it is a little small, sorry for the inconvenience. But when you are sorted, you will get somewhere bigger and more permanent."

"Thank you."

'Transfers, huh? Then Dirt was here too?'

The door closed and he began searching the entire room for any signs of Dirt. but even after using Animo and Mana waves, nothing substantial could be found. 'That's to be expected. A master of hiding and secrets would hide his tracks well.'

He plunged his face into Alba the Slime like a jiggly pillow. Inside, he could faintly make out the dark image of an altar as he watched from above. On the sides, Sinistram and Iustus raised their hands and sent them crashing down, lightning striking the altar. The image hazed away and he could no longer see anything other than the transparent blue body.

The eight hunters gathered in front of a small, pitch-black hole. The darkness disconcerted them, causing them to wobble a little, like standing near a roaring beast. They each pulled out their wand and sent orbs of light down the hole. But once the light crossed the rocky threshold, all of it was swallowed and didn't show anything.

"Light test has failed. As usual. Let's head in."

One woman, Black Empress, standing near the entrance stooped down and picked up a black cloth. "Guys, there's a cloth here."

She held it up for everyone to see and shouted, "there's someone down there! They must've slipped in!"

"Let's go!"

Kelle watched them hop in one by one, the hole was only large enough for one person at a time. She told her, "allow me."

She took the cloth and put it in her hands. "I know someone who can use this fabric to find out who fell in. take half in case you ever need it."

She opened her hands and showed the fabric split in two, ripped evenly with her telekinesis. Black Empress took half from her hand, that closed around her own, to her surprise. Kelle whispered to her, "do the Vasaleum proud, okay?"

"Yes, Councilwoman Kelle."

She hopped in after the rest. Kelle walked into a teleporter, thinking, 'how am I supposed to contact Karsil, though? He's the only person I know that can reverse time and that Dwarf is always traveling around.

Karsil sat next to Afir and Balc working on a map.

"If you want, Balc said, "I can implement a working compass into the map and allow it to widen or change depending on what we want."

"Faber, this map works just fine. We don't need you to tamper with everything." Afir said.

"We've already uncovered fifty more bases but the end is nowhere in sight. Those little bastards are too widespread. Stealing my artifacts to make their own disgusting backwater versions." Karsil banged his fist on the tree. When he lifted his fist, the wood was smoothed, compressed for hardness, and polished by his dwarf sweat, putting a shiny layer that didn't go away.

"They're stealing all of our artifacts. Every single one of the siblings." Balc said, "even Droz's weird creations."

Drozrenaz, one of the five devil kings, sneezed and shouted, "Balc! Stop talking about me! If only I could curse her too… now, where were we? Finding and killing everything."

"We still need to find who killed that dragon a year ago." another king said.

"Yes, I have good news about that." another king said, his spiky head moved forward, "his name is Zeeth. I know nothing else, but he is becoming quite a name in human places. They say he scared away a dragon, or at least a dragon-level threat exactly in the path where we sent our dragon. He's making a name for himself so it won't take long before we find him. He seems to enjoy the fame."

"Then everything we need to discuss has been dealt with." Droz said, "I need to find an old accomplice of mine and curse her."

"Have fun. Be careful with those, we don't want you losing an arm."

"Haha, yeah! Like that Sixth King of ours. Died trying to curse someone, how pitiful."

"You know that won't happen. See you all for our next calamity." Droz slid out, stretched himself, and yelled, "Balc, you're dead!"

One kick and he flew out of his cave, knocking Leprics left and right.

Zeeth left his room and began inspecting everyone in the dorm, staring at them and their clothing.

'No, too short… too skinny… too… unlikely.'

He was comparing their body dimensions to the information God provided him and ruled out anyone who had dimensions smaller than Dirt. he wrote everything God told him about Dirt in a paper in English so no one else could read it and memorized the easiest dimensions. Even with his small patches of memory, his English was enough to use properly. Anyone with larger dimensions could work since the suit could add any amount of size.

Dirt was a strangely skinny man, so not many were ruled out for that, but he was slightly tall and had large feet so that helped. He had five names in his list for possible Dirt contenders but no evidence yet. As he walked, people stared back at him but he didn't notice as he was too focused on reading the information. People began whispering and pointing. He was staring at a tall woman holding a book, reading about how tall she was. She grimaced and tried to hide, causing a much larger man to come from her side and approach Zeeth.