"Please hand us your academy card."

The man at the entrance was built like a brick wall, wearing a professional uniform that looked reinforced for combat.

Moon did not even slow down his walk as he reached into his pocket and flicked his black card toward the guard as if he was used to this already.

The man caught it with two fingers, scanned it and then turned his expectant gaze toward Verso.

Verso, however, was currently miles away.

In his mind was playing a chaotic loop of the incident that happened at the shop and the terrifying realization that he had accidentally made an enemy of the most dangerous girl in his generation.

’There goes my simple life... I’m going to be found floating in a gutter within the week.’

"Hey, scum! You want us to wait here the entire day?" Moon’s voice cut through his spiraling thoughts like a blade.

Verso snapped his head up, blinking as he realized the guard was still staring at him, his hand held out patiently.

"Ah, I’m sorry about that." Verso said, fumbling with his own pocket.

He pulled out the black card with the shimmering gold phoenix design — the same one that doubled as his room key for the Star Complex.

He handed it over, expecting a quick scan and a return but instead, the man simply nodded and tucked both cards into a secure slot on his belt.

Looking towards Moon he saw that the red eyed boy did not seem to care, already walking toward the gate.

’It seems like we only get them back once we are out of the dungeon.’ Verso thought as he started following Moon close behind.

It made sense from a safety perspective. If a student did not return to claim their card, the academy would know exactly who was missing and which dungeon they had entered.

Soon, the pair were standing a few meters away from a blue, shimmering tear in the fabric of space.

The air around it felt heavy and damp, vibrating with a low hum that set Verso’s teeth on edge.

Unlike the system realms, which did not require the use of portals, the real world portals looked like a weird glitch in reality.

"So, what dungeon is this?" Verso asked curiously.

During the entire ride from the commercial district, he had been too stuck up on the Alice Incident to even ask where they were going.

"This is the Whispering Swamp," Moon said, as his tone shifted into something more serious.

"I recommend you put on any armor that you have right now. You would hate to get bit by the things that live in there."

Verso watched as Moon closed his eyes. A flash of dark mana swirled around the noble, and in an instant, he was covered in a suit of matte black leather armor. It looked flexible but tough, etched with faint runes that suggested that the armor had high resistance to piercing damage.

Seeing Moon — the guy who was usually reckless when it came to fighting — acting this cautiously sent a ripple of genuine concern through Verso.

If a reckless noble like Moon was gearing up properly, the Whispering Swamp was probably no walk in the park.

’But the only armor I have is...’ Verso’s thought trailed off.

He didn’t own some standard leather or plate armor beast soul.

The only beast soul in his inventory capable of manifesting as a defensive set was the Sea Serpent. He hesitated, glancing at Moon’s back. Was it a smart move to show off an Elite tier summon as armor?

’There’s no way he should be able to tell the difference between a high end Mutant soul and an Elite one just by looking at it’s manifested form.’ Verso decided, his survival instinct winning out over his desire for secrecy.

There was no way he was entering a swamp full of venomous creatures without a layer of protection.

He closed his eyes and channeled his mana into the Sea Serpent’s soul, selecting to manifest it in its Scale Armor form.

Instantly, his entire body was engulfed in a brilliant, sapphire blue light.

It was flashy... far flashier than he intended.

When the light finally dimmed, he was covered from neck to toe in thousands of tiny, shimmering scales. They were perfectly combined into a material that felt as light as leather and did not hinder his movements.

Every time he shifted his weight, the scales caught the light making it look beautiful.

"Ooo, fancy armor, scum!" Moon let out a sharp cackle, turning around to look at Verso.

The noble boy did not look impressed at all, instead he looked like he was about to die from laughter.

"What are you going to do now? Perform a musical for the snakes? You look like a damn pop star in that getup."

’This fucker... I don’t have anything else to use!’ Verso’s face flushed red as he looked down at his glittering sapphire scales.

"It has high resistance. Just shut up and tell me what we’re hunting."

Moon was still chuckling, wiping a tear from his eye as they approached the blue portal.

A swamp was a massive ecosystem which meant that they could not just walk in and hope for the best. They needed a proper target for their hunt.

"Oh, nothing much," Moon said with a casual shrug.

"There’s a colony of Elite Pythons that live a little deeper into the dungeon. They are pretty good for core mana and useful as a summon. But aside from them, I want to bag a few Mutant Centipedes. I heard their soul manifestation is a poisoned dagger, and I need a new backup weapon."

Verso froze mid step, his foot hovering inches from the portal’s edge.

’This fucker! He did not tell me we were going elite hunting!’

"Hey-"

Verso reached out, but it was too late. Moon had already stepped through the shimmering tear, his silhouette dissolving into the blue light as he nonchalantly entered the dungeon.

"Fuck..." Verso whispered, staring at the portal with a look of pure dread.

He did not really care about the pythons. He did not even feel that worried about the elite hunting part.

He looked at the swirling blue mana and felt a phantom sensation of a hundred tiny legs crawling up his spine.

"How do I tell him I am deathly scared of centipedes?"

With a weary sigh and a prayer that the shimmering sapphire scales were thick enough to keep the bugs out, Verso stepped forward and vanished into the Whispering Swamp gate.