Chapter 7 — A New Science

Even with my speed power-ups, the bell rang way before I could get any pizza. My stomach rumbled, but I hardly noticed as we all filed into Miss Libby’s classroom with clanking armor and buzzing magic trinkets. Dylan already sat in his chair at the back of the class.

Sweat slid down my neck as I looked around. Would we have to fight another monster or something for science class? Maybe it’d be some weird mix of test tubes and the frog we’d started dissecting—a tub-a-frog!

Miss Libby tossed her battle axe beside her desk and held up our “Discovering Chemistry” textbook and called out, “No spells or battle-cry’s please. We continue today on page fifty eight on valence electrons.”

A groan echoed through the room, and even Alyssa, the best student frowned before putting away her icicle wand and flipping open her book. Miss Libby’s voice boomed over the class. The whole room cringed and covered their ears, apparently her barbarian class had given her a bit of extra volume.

“Oh, it’s just my magnify ability. Stop cringing.” Miss Libby snapped at us. “Now atoms that have missing valence...”

I used the science book to shield my face from Miss Libby’s gaze as I tried watch Dylan. With all the noise and lights and musky smells coming from my magical classmates... and teacher, I’d lost sight of him.

He sat in his normal spot at the back of class staring at the ceiling in boredom with his hands in his pockets. Miss Libby droned on, and he hardly even seemed to move. Then, my wristband buzzed:

>> Inspect Target?

— +2 Rogue’s Insight

— -1 Distracted

— 73% success chance

I confirmed that I wanted to inspect Dylan, and suddenly my eyes jerked downward and pointed at his ankles. Confused, I tried to regain control over my face, but a moment later, I saw it. Dropping out of the bottom leg of his chainmail pants were the little spheres that Dr. Byrd had given him.

The moment a sphere touched the ground, it zipped quickly toward the far corner of the room. No one noticed as another snapped to the ground and went for the opposite wall.

A little smile played at the corner of Dylan’s lips. It wouldn’t be long before he triggered whatever he was planning.

I raised my hand.

Miss Libby narrowed her eyes at me. “Yes?”

“Miss, um Dylan is—”

“I think I’ve had quite enough of you and Dylan for a lifetime.” She made an exasperated motion toward her battle axe and talked even louder. “So co-valent bonds...”

Dylan grinned at me from the back of the room, and I quickly hunched over my wristband searching my skills for any shield spells, dodge abilities, or anything to prepare for what was coming.

My rogue class didn’t have much defense at my current level beyond just slipping out of sight quickly. I could cross-build into a cleric class if I needed to shield from something, but...

Something popped at the front of class. More pops issued from each of the walls in quick succession. Little fairies the same fluorescent colors as the spheres rose from tiny puffs of smoke, and each one of them lifted a little blowgun. Miss Libby let out a long-suffering sigh.

THREAT: FAIRY IN A BOTTLE [Relic] - LVL 8

— Spawns ten fairies who are hostile to all entities except the summoner

— Fairies have 10+5/lvl HP and 4+2/lvl Attack

— Poison applies vulnerability to affected targets

— 30ft area of effect—persistent

Something rushed passed my ear, and I saw a little dart with a red feather bury itself in Maura’s neck. Her HP dropped to zero, and the world “DISQUALIFIED” flashed over her head before all her gear clattered to the floor.

“Please ignore this!” Miss Libby shouted. “Just allow yourself get disqualified and we can move on with our lesson!”

Not today. I slammed the multiclass button on my wristband and applied my new cleric’s shield spell just in time. A few little darts pinged the air just in front of me, and fell away harmlessly. The blue sphere surrounding me started flickering and I ducked under my desk before anything could hit. I didn’t doubt that with the poison debuff and that much damage it wouldn’t take much to disqualify me.

Something clinked sharply. Alyssa stood on her desk and pointed her ice wand at another fairy. An ice cube froze around the creature, and it tinkled to the floor.

Darts flew at her, but she held up a glowing ruby ring and the projectiles slowed in midair like she was bending time. Man, I guessed Alyssa was good at all her studies including the magic ones. A moment later, she dashed out the door and into the hallway.

Other students battled the creatures, and a few just kept taking notes on Miss Libby’s lecture even if they hadn’t been disqualified. I guess they didn’t care much about Dungeon Royale. A stray dart disqualified one of them and only a few common starting items appeared next to their backpack before the student was back in their normal clothes taking notes about valence electrons.

Like them, Miss Libby ignored the creatures and let herself lose HP to any random dart that flew her way. A moment later, the world “DISQUALIFIED” flashed over her head, and her voice returned to normal. “Ah, finally,” She smiled and continued her lecture.

It might be simpler for some people to ignore the school’s transformation, but I was staying in the game as long as I could. This AI dungeon thing was giving me super-strength and other powers in the real world, and the longer I stayed in the game, I might just become a hero in real life. I could stop bullies and jerks like Dylan with a flick of my wrist. I just needed to not get disqualified first.

I crawled on my belly toward the hallway that Alyssa had escaped into. Just as I reached the door, I looked at Dylan’s desk. He was laughing as our friends got disqualified. All the fairies completely ignored him.

My wristband registered that I was looking at him, and his stats flickered to life just in front of me.

Character: Dylan K.

—Type: Gnoll Grunt

—Level: 7

<Cast an inspection-type skill for more details>

Wait? He was already level seven? Even if he’d had only magical training classes all day, that’d be insanely hard to get. Then, what Dr. Byrd had told him came back to mind. He was leveling up faster by disqualifying his classmates.

Not cool!

I triggered my stealth ability and before I realized it, I stood between Dylan and the door to the hallway. My steps slowed, I could sneak attack Dylan and knock him out of the game too. Most of the fairies were defeated or contained now, but half of the class had been disqualified because of him.

Dylan deserved disqualification, and I could be the one to kick him out of the game.

I turned away from the hallway exit and tiptoed toward Dylan’s exposed back. Would my level 2 Rogue dagger deal enough damage? Then my wristband buzzed.

<Notice>

A higher level character has detected you.

Stealth broken.

Stealth buffs nullified.

<End Notice>

Dylan stared right at me. My mouth fell open and I stumbled backward as he raised his Gnoll Basher weapon. “Geez Sam, I didn’t realize you were dumb enough to try and attack a level seven character.”

“You... you disqualified half of our class. That’s—”

“That’s how battle royales work, Sam.” Dylan lifted his basher. “And you don’t even realize that if the dungeon finds a single winner, they’ll keep their powers forever. I’ll be stronger, smarter, faster, and luckier than everyone forever, and you’ll just be you.”

He started to swing and even though I new it wouldn’t hurt, I cringed, just hoping I’d have enough HP left to get to safety before I was disqualified.

“Young man!” Miss Libby wasn’t in her barbarian form, but her shout was loud anyway. Dylan froze. Miss Libby stalked over and lifted her chin. “I don’t care whether you’re in this game or not, you will comport yourself in a respectful fashion to your fellow students in my classroom, is that clear?”

Dylan bent his head. “Yes, Miss Libby”

Then, she turned to me, and I nodded as well.

Her jaw set, she glowered at us and pointed to the hallway. “The Principal’s Office both of you.”