Everything outside was covered in snow, reflecting the sunrise’s light. As soon as he woke up, the Apprentice Mage made himself a cup of coffee and changed into his outside clothes. He then went out to the center of the campus, to the enchanted obelisk.

There were already a few people there, standing and talking around it. One of them looked to the side and waved as they saw him approach. They were the twins, third-years like Emil, and a couple of the small group of people he was actually friends with.

“Hey Emil, how have you been doing?”

“Eh, you know. Guess winter came a little early, huh?” he replied, his breath visible in the air. “But Markus, I thought you and Tifanny would have left by now for the break?”

“Ah, well, the thing is, I didn’t exactly do too well in one of my exams. So the folks back home want me to stay here and take some extra classes with a tutor before the next quarter begins.” Markus looked over at his twin sister. “Tiff did well, but she wanted to stay here and help me out. How about you?”

“In the same boat, more or less. Just here to see what the rankings are for Summoning levels,” Emil said as he placed a hand onto the obelisk. The marble engravings etched into it glowed and began to shift around in its surface. Markus looked at them as well, and when they settled into place, he let out a whistle.

“Woah, I knew we had some smart people in our class, but that’s actually just kind of crazy. I didn’t even know it was possible to reach Master Summoning by just your third year.”

The stone showed a list of the top ten highest leveled students in their year. The highest was Master Summoning and already at level three in it. In fifth place, was someone at Expert Summoning level six. Emil manipulated the obelisk again, to reveal where his exact spot was in the rankings.

#51) Emil Prodit: Intermediate Summoning Level 5

He still had five more levels to go until he reached the Adept tier. Then it would still take a full ten to just reach level one of Expert. And only then did he have a shot of being in the top ten, much less the top five. And that too was assuming that even if he did achieve that miraculous feat of growth, the rankings wouldn’t change in that time.

“Yeah… I thought that even the top people were still in the lower levels of Expert,” Emil finally responded, after a deep breath. “Anyway, it was good to see you guys around. Hopefully your studying goes well,” he quickly said before he began to walk away. The twins exchanged a glance, and Markus rushed ahead to catch back up with Emil.

“Dude, listen,” Markus began, placing a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I… I saw how you placed in this quarter’s exams. I know you don’t like getting handouts from others, but can you hear me out, just for a second?” he asked. Emil turned around, and quietly nodded.

“Okay, you looked at Summoning because that’s what you want to get better at, right? You’re already better than me at it, by a long shot, so I can’t personally help you there. But there might be a way. There’s been a rumor apparently going around, I overheard a couple of guys talking about it in the library a few days ago. I didn’t think too much about it, but it might be something you could need. Supposedly, some of the richer kids have been paying people to go into dungeons, and bring them back any loot they find.”

“Wait,” Emil interjected. “I think I know where you’re going with this. Isn’t that super risky? To get any magic skill books beyond the basics, don’t you need to delve into the more dangerous dungeons? I heard that it’s practically impossible to get anything above Intermediate without going somewhere that requires a couple dozen people working together.”

“Yep, but money makes the world turn, as the old saying goes. But here’s the thing. The more times a dungeon gets cleared, the higher up its danger level goes. If given enough time, the danger resets back down to safe levels, but the loot remains the same until someone clears it again. So there’s always that chance of getting the really good stuff risk-free, before anyone else can.”

“I mean, yes, that’s technically true. But Markus, every dungeon’s danger level is pretty tightly controlled by whatever guild is closest to it. Even if I got the right paperwork done and get approved to go in one, just hypothetically. There’s no way I would luck out like that.”

“Ah, you see, that’s the fun part. You haven’t heard some of the latest news from the archaeology department, huh? They’ve actually managed to excavate some old dungeons. And get this, even after years of inactivity, they’re still fully functional. Three more have already been found in just the last few weeks alone, all around the same region. If you can go along with one of the next expeditions, then you could walk in and grab whatever items you need before anyone finds out.”

“That’s… that’s actually not a bad idea.” Emil scratched his chin. “The chances of finding a skill book or scroll that matches what I would need is low… but not zero. Compared to chances of me getting to a high enough level before the next quarterly exams, it’s actually possible. Any clue of when the next one is?”

“I’m not sure, you’ll need to head to their department for that. But if you can, I would go as soon as possible. At the very least, they’ll probably do a big one during the break, while the students have the free time needed. So now’s the time to ask if you can join, before it’s too late.”

“Then I’ll head over there right now. Thank you Markus, you have no idea how much I appreciate this. I owe you, big time.”

“Nah man, don’t worry about it. I’m just passing information along to a friend that needs it. That’s what friends are for, right? But if you really wanna thank me though, just bring back a couple of souvenirs. I’ve always wanted to have a relic hanging on a wall, for a cool look.” The two of them shook hands.

“That, I can do.”

With that, they parted ways. With a smile on his face, Emil quickly made the walk to the archaeology building. It was on the far end of the academy grounds, so he assumed it would be open by the time he got there. It wasn’t a department he interacted with too much, so Emil wasn’t quite sure how hard it would actually be to join their expeditions. But he was more than willing to fill whatever paperwork it took or do anything else that they would require of him.

Markus was proven correct, in that Emil needed to hurry. The next expedition would be leaving in three days. So to get approval to join, he would need to rush through the papers and get the documents submitted to the right offices. So factoring in the time needed for an official to actually look at and approve them, just doing it now was already the last minute.

But quickly and diligently he worked. The Apprentice Mage rushed to sign every safety form and ran between buildings across the academy grounds to submit everything. He had left his dormitory during sunrise, by the time he finally finished, it was already well past noon.

After that, he went back to his dorm, took a shower, and collapsed onto his bed. After so much running around, Emil was hungry, but his legs refused to do any more work. So while he would be skipping lunch by taking a nap, he could at least still go to the cafeteria later for an early dinner.

It was now evening. He had just finished eating dinner, and was now back in his dorm room. With nothing else to do, Emil paced around, chewing on the nail of his thumb. There was no guarantee that he would actually be approved for permission to join the expedition. As part of the forms he had filled out, he had explained that it was his belief that it could be a good practical study in arcane theory and history.

But with his recent grades, even that reasoning might not be enough to get him approved for such an extracurricular activity. Especially since it was in a field that he normally had little to do with. So if Emil was denied the school’s permission to go, what was his plan B? There was always the chance that he could simply pretend to be away on vacation and sneak after them.

But then what would he do after that? In that scenario, there would be people all over the expedition site. So if anyone saw him and knew he wasn’t supposed to be there, then he already knew he would get into a world of trouble. That by itself would be grounds for an early expulsion from the academy.

Emil paused, and looked down at his thumb. He had already completed chewed down the nail. He shook his head, and forced himself to sit down on the edge of his bed. Worrying wouldn’t help anything. All he could do now was wait and see what would happen. If it didn’t work out, he still had the entire rest of the break to figure out what else he could do and try instead.

He got off the bed, and went to his closet. At the very least, he could go ahead and start to pack now. If nothing else, keeping his hands busy would potentially help clear the nerves out of his mind.