Aether Chronicles: Birth Of A Legend-Chapter 129: A Goblin Shaman? Wolf King?

After the last creatures dropped dead, he continued through the third floor, killing any Swamp Frog that it came across while gathering up all the monster materials that he would sell at the academy or Willowbank Village on Dark Day.

Later, Raegar found the fourth-floor entrance and descended into an ancient arena. As he stepped inside, the arena lit up, locking him in until he vanquished the boss. ''Looks like a shield is blocking me in here,'' he mumbled.

Seconds later, a Giant Forest Spider descended from the ceiling, crashing to the ground with a threatening hiss. Far from intimidated, he felt a surge of excitement, eager to battle the creature.

''Tier Two,'' he muttered, crouching down. ''Once I beat you, I can return to the dorm and get some rest after selling your core.''

No sooner had the words left his lips, he exploded forward, a blazing comet of raw Aether as he readied his weapons. The spider, caught off guard by his blinding speed, faltered, its legs twitching in confusion.

His hands flashed with magic, summoning his Hydra Blades, made from fire that roared into existence, heat warping the air. Raegar hurled the flaming blades in a deadly arc, targeting the spider's barbed legs, lunging toward him.

Raegar watched as the fiery blades sliced through the air, their trails illuminating the arena like a meteor shower. They struck true, severing the spider's forelimbs with a hiss of cauterized chitin.

The beast shrieked, a sound that shook the very pillars of the arena. It suddenly reared back, its remaining legs thrashing in fury. He skidded to a halt, his red eyes alight when realizing the boss wasn't dead.

''Not long now,'' he said, controlling the Hydra Blades that tore through more legs.

The beast tried to dodge the weapons by leaping into the air, trying to get into position to attack him once again. Raegar wasn't stupid and sent his blades flying upwards until they connected with its underside.

They burrowed through its exoskeleton, forcing blood to splatter everywhere as the Giant Forest Spider crashed into the ground in a heap. Afterward, he grabbed the Aether Core that dropped from the boss's body.

Raegar turned around only to see Elara, Zane, and Ranthar standing there smiling. The tiger woman exclaimed with a proud smile. ''I told you both! Little Blackwood would ace the Nightmare Forest.''

He chuckled at the suddenness of it all, but Ranthar the giant tiger man spoke up after putting his sword away. ''We'll return to the entrance, you can guide him back to the dorms before the last bell.''

Elara nodded as the two men walked toward the entrance. She suddenly hugged him with a pleased expression. ''It's good to see you listened to my advice. I'm impressed that you cleared this place so quickly.''

''Of course I did, it's helped me a lot,'' he replied honestly.

This made the older woman happy, she hugged him once again. ''Thank you, your father never listened to me, but I'm glad you learned well.''

After her words, the two followed Ranthar and Zane until the group left the dungeon, chatting about their experiences in the Nightmare Forest. The tigress was happy with what he accomplished on the first day, and Raegar could tell as her tail was swaying everywhere.

Moments later, they spotted the headmistress standing there with her arms crossed. She spoke while staring at him. ''Blackwood, what do you think you're doing? You haven't got your Academy Pass yet.''

''I wanted to try out my first dungeon, and being a Rank D adventurer, I could handle a Rank F one without an issue,'' he answered.

The headmistress narrowed her eyes briefly before sighing. ''Be cautious and don't overexert yourself,'' she warned.

''I'll be fine, just need to get some sleep,'' he replied as the older woman reluctantly nodded.

''No dungeons until next week,'' the headmistress instructed. ''Focus on settling in, diving can wait. For now, return to your dorm and get some rest, also sell the monster materials tomorrow.''

Raegaer agreed as she strode toward the other staff members. He and Elara continued toward the dorms, the tigress glanced at him. ''I may not be your Combat Professor now, but we can still train together if you're up for it, there's a training field in the back of the staff area that borders the Sirens Sea, beautiful view.''

''That sounds good to me,'' he answered as they got close to the Western Tower.

Once they arrived, Elara said her goodbyes and headed toward the professor's quarters, where the professors stayed. Raegar made his way to his dorm room, ignoring all the looks he was getting from the boys as he passed through the Common Room.

Ten minutes later, he stepped into the Lonely Corridor, which was silent. Soon enough, he entered his room, dismissing his armor with a thought. He slumped down and got comfortable as all the fighting took its toll on his body.

'Time to get some sleep and find out what my timetable is tomorrow,' he thought, growing tired.

He peered at the window, swallowed by the inky darkness of night. Then, glowing yellow eyes materialized, glaring back at him. A chill slithered down his spine, knowing those eyes belonged to a Tier Six monster.

Raegar knew they couldn't do anything thanks to being in the tower, making him laugh. He rolled over and fell asleep as the bed was extremely comfortable, sinking into the mattress, when a tapping noise was heard.

'Fuck that!' he internally exclaimed.

The next morning, the door started banging thanks to someone banging. Rune's voice boomed from the other side, catching him off guard. ''Rae! Wake up, we have to go get our timetables.''

''Argh, what the fuck?'' he mumbled. ''I'm getting up!''

Raegar climbed out of the bed, shaking his head, but the exhaustion was still lingering, and he replied to the giant boy. ''I'm coming, but stop shouting.''

After that, he put on his clothes and boots, stepping into the corridor, yawning as the tiredness was obvious. Once outside, Caspian and Rune were waiting. The black-haired boy chuckled. ''Shouldn't have gone to the dungeon last night, I heard you coming in later last night.''

He chuckled as the three walked upstairs, chatting about his fight in the Nightmare Forest, amazing them. Moments later, they arrived at the Common Room, where a horde of other boys were waiting for Professor Riverhold.

The three sat down just as Rune questioned with an excited gleam in his eyes. ''So what was the boss? A Goblin Shaman? Wolf King?''

Raegar shook his head, chuckling. ''A Giant Forest Spider, creepy thing. It was weak and died within seconds,'' he revealed.

They laughed, causing the nearby students to give them weird looks. Rune narrowed his eyes, prompting the boys to spin around. Following that, the older man stepped into the Commom Room holding a stack of papers.