Chapter 5 — The Second Day

So, yeah, mom got mad, but we didn’t have any homeschooling books or anything and the governor sent an email to all the parents telling them exactly what would happen if they pulled their kids out of mandated classes on an election year.

The gothic towers loomed over my mom’s sedan she folded her arms and muttered, “I’m voting her out of office, I swear it.”

“It’s okay, mom.” I said in a soft voice. “It was kinda cool.”

Her eyes snapped to mine, but I stepped outside before she could change her mind. I walked across the street and the moment my feet the spot where the grass became cobblestones, my shirt and jeans transformed into the leather armor I wore yesterday.

My mom‘s knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. She exited the car and walked up next to me. Her clothes didn’t transform. When I pointed my wristband towards her it read, “Non-participant. Cannot enter the games until the current instance winner is crowned.”

Mom read my wristband and gave me a worried look. “Are you sure you want to do this? Who cares if the governor wants to bring the police—”

“It’s okay, mom.” I smiled and looked at the medieval gates and turrets. “I feel fine, and this might be fun.”

Ten minutes later, I realized to my horror that this wouldn’t all be fun. Our California History class now met in a stone tower with torches on the walls and an ancient altar for the teacher’s desk. Mr. Dalton had even transformed into a goat-headed person, but his dull monotone hadn’t changed, and the early years of the Gold Rush were as boring as ever.

Luke and Maria joined me as on my way to PE class. Luke’s morning had been similar to mine, but Maria’s first period science class had taught her about magic spells. After that class, she said she might want to specialize in a mage skills.

I was about to ask what she meant when we entered the gym.

The basketball court was gone, replaced by tall grass. The bleachers had changed into jungle trees that broke up the sunlight beaming down from outside. I couldn’t see a roof, but something about this weird jungle gymnasium still felt walled in.

A note was pinned to a tree where our lockers used to be. It was from Dr. Byrd, or I guess it was “Mr. Creepy Lich Skeleton Person” now.

“Prepare ourselves?” Luke scooted to the back of our class after reading the note. “Prepare for what?”

“Luke!” I shouted. “Haven’t you ever seen a movie? You can’t ask a question like that or—”

A roar shook the jungle trees around us. Ripe rambutan fruit plopped to the ground. A hulking shadow appeared between the mossy treetrunks.

So, it turns out lions are a lot scarier when they’re not at the zoo and there are no big bars or plexiglass windows separating you from their huge teeth. Oh, and the fact that this lion also had a scorpion tail didn’t help. The scorpio-lion jumped out of the trees and collided with one of the students who was still reading the notes.

The student stayed upright, stunned, as all his armor and wristband came loose and collapsed under the beast’s weight. His wristband flickered with the message, “DISQUALIFIED - 994 REMAINING” before going dark. A dagger, a few potions, and a blue amulet exploded out of the wristband and hovered over the floor.

The lion tried to seize the student in his huge jaws, but its sharp teeth passed harmlessly through the student who just rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall. The beast rounded on the rest of us who were still in the game.

From over my shoulder, Maria shouted and extended her hands toward the scorpio-lion. A ribbon of pure red light zipped past our stunned class and smashed into the its nose. The lion flickered like a broken projector and all our wristbands beeped, “Basic Manticore - Health 85%.”

Maria clapped her hands and started readying another strike. She looked at us, “You goofballs read the note. Let’s take this thing down.”

“Maria... this is cra—” Luke started, but another beam of light rocketed from her fingers and knocked the Manticore on its side. It’s form grew staticky like an old TV as it recovered and snarled at us. Then, it pounced!

Luke and I dove out of the way while Maria spun like a matador.

The Manticore’s huge paws came within inches of Maria’s armor, but she stayed below it. How had she done that? I pointed at her and my wristband read:

“Character: Maria K.

—Visible Buffs:

—[2:04] Blur Potion - Agility boost +10

—Type: Elven Mage

—Level: 3

<Cast an inspection-type skill for more details>

Woah. How had Maria already ranked up to level three? And she had some sort of dodge boost. She was always gutsy, but with power-ups like that, no wonder she’d started blasting spells.

Luke stared at the Manticore from behind Maria’s shoulder. “I think you’ve finally gone crazy, Maria.”

She laughed and started spinning her fingers into what I guessed must be another spell. The lion part of the creature let out another huge roar. Half the class had formed up behind a glowing sphere of silver light, while some of the others held up spears. I looked between Maria and the rest of our PE class. I had to do something.

I dashed for the dagger still glowing on the floor where the student that got disqualified dropped it. The moment my fingers wrapped around the pommel, a message flashed up on my wristband:

“Rogue’s Dagger: Level 2 - Deals 3-5 damage per hit. Critically strikes from stealth or on a surprise attack.”

The Manticore circled Maria, apparently wanting to disqualify the magician shooting fireballs first. It didn’t see me creep up behind its huge flank.

The creature smelled like sweat and fur, and it’s scorpion tail twitched feet above my head. I really hoped that three to five damage actually meant something when it came to Manticores.

I swung the dagger, and the creature flickered, a red bar over it’s head shrunk to 20%. My wristband flashed red and the words “Critical strike” zipped across the screen.

The lion roared and raised a huge paw over my head to strike.

I ducked that attack, but a moment later, a scorpion tail dripping with black poison zipped straight for my face.

Well, doing this dungeon school thing had been fun. I guessed I’d have to go back to normal classes if the Manticore zeroed out my HP.

Maria’s hands glowed as another red beam slammed into the lion’s mane.

With it’s stinger inches from my cheek the Manticore flickered, and burst into a volcano of items.

Two armor-aura amulets clattered to the ground in front the students who’d put up the shield, a wizard staff practically landed in Maria’s outstretched hand, and a few other items scattered across the floor.

Everyone’s wristbands lit up with the words. “LEVEL UP.”

Hats appeared on people’s heads and armor on their shoulders and knees as everyone equipped their new rewards. A rogue’s lootbox appeared in my inventory, but I didn’t have time yet to open it.

A bell echoed through the trees.

Maria clapped Luke and I on the shoulders and steered us toward the exit. “That’s lunch.”

I followed Maria in a daze, still processing the fact that I’d just defeated a Manticore for PE class. We joined the crowd to the cafeteria, and were soon overwhelmed by the clank of armor and swords and magical rings and amulets. Everyone looked different and had some unique gear.

Luke lined up for Pizza in the cafeteria, which pretty much looked like normal, when a notification popped up on my wristband. “Perception check success - stealth unmasked.”

My eyes flicked to a service door leading to the stairway down to the school’s basement. The door looked like it was opening on its own. But a moment later, the figure of a Gnoll Warrior flickered in and out of view.

Wait! Why would Dylan use a spell to hide a trip to the basement? There was nothing in the basement but dusty books and the old projector machines. But with the school transformed, would it even be the basement anymore?

From inside the cafeteria, Luke waved at me and pointed out that there was still some pepperoni left, my favorite, but I had to know what Dylan was up to. He knew more about Dungeon Royale than any of us. It had been his number one game of all time even before he’d transformed the school. He probably knew lots of secrets we didn’t.

Keeping close to the walls, I left the cafeteria to follow Dylan into the school’s basement, or um... dungeon.