As the pain slowly fades away under the effect of the healer's magic, I sit up and look at the adventurers around me. Michael approaches, a fist on his chest, and bows before saying:
"Despite my accusations, you chose to risk your life to protect us from a wyvern. I would like to thank you, and let you know that my suspicions about you have been put to rest. Your power may be mysterious, but you seem intent on using it for good."
The party leader also approaches, adding:
"Words cannot begin to express my gratitude to you, Matt. I don't know if you're hiding your true power from the NAA, considering that your file still says you're level 8, but we're willing to cover for you if that's the case."
Right, I hadn't really thought about the consequences of showing other adventurers that I'm very obviously not level 8 anymore. But then again, the only reason my file still has me at my old level is that aetherologists can't detect my true power. I wasn't particularly trying to hide.
However, revealing details about me might cause some unwanted waves. They're still looking for Aurora, and telling them about a level 8 who shot all the way up to somewhere between 60 and 70 might get me entangled into that mess. Additionally, I would much rather gain a deeper understanding of the nature of this power, and ideally confirm whether it really is borrowed or not, before I let more people know about it. If I was to show up to their office and say "I don't actually understand anything about my own strength", they might insist that I go through some tests. At worst, they might even contain me under the fear that I could be dangerous or lose control.
"Until I understand my own power better, I would rather not have to deal with the NAA."
"Of course. I promise that we will all keep this to ourselves for the time being. We owe you that much, at least."
The rest of the party nods in agreement. Looks like I'm safe for a bit longer.
Someone throws a cape on me before saying:
"Now that we're clear on that, how about you cover your body?"
Ah, right, I'm almost naked right now.
I make my way back to the dormitory, carefully opening the door to make sure to not wake up anyone. However, as I expected, Andrew and Anthony are both still up. I can feel Cal's energy in his room, behind the closed door, but that doesn't tell me if he's actually sleeping or not.
"Hey, what happened to your clothes?"
From the dining table, Anthony is looking at me with a puzzled look.
"Ah, you know, occupational hazard."
He looks even more confused, but I don't intend to tell him about how a wyvern tried to vaporize me.
I make my way to my room, close the door, and change into my pajamas. If my clothes keep getting destroyed like this, I'm going to have to go shopping soon.
I grab my toothbrush and head to the bathroom for my evening ritual.
The next day, I find myself sleeping until it's past noon. I get up and see that Anthony is in his room, watching something on his laptop again. The other two must be gone to class.
I grab some leftovers from the fridge and start eating while thinking about my situation.
I now know that I appear as a monster to people who can sense magical energy. While I managed to clear things up with Michael, there's no telling which way the next misunderstanding will go. If I was to meet an adventurer in the streets, they could assume I'm here because of an invasion and attack me.
Similarly, I'm not the only part-time adventurer in this university. One of the others might be able to sense my non-human power and react violently while I'm walking around the campus. I would much rather not find myself in such a situation.
I know it's possible to conceal one's energy, since that ability is a requirement for anyone who wants to pick up the Assassin class, but I don't have the first clue on how to go about it. It'd probably come off as rather strange if I just sent a message to an Assassin asking for tips on how to hide myself. They'd just assume I'm up to no good.
I take a sip of milk, then scratch my chin. I haven't shaved in a few days and it's starting to show. I should take care of that before I head to class.
I get up and head to the bathroom. I take a moment to look at my reflection in the mirror.
Despite everything I went through, my body hasn't changed. "Aurora" had long hair covered in flames and eyes entirely filled with gold, but I still have my short black hair and the green eyes I inherited from my mother. Despite my physical strength having greatly increased since I awakened the power that was sleeping within me, my muscles are still relatively small. They're well-defined though, so I still look capable, but in the end it's magic that determines how strong we are much more than muscle mass.
Some injuries that feel like they should have left scars behind didn't seem to leave any lasting marks on my body, probably because of how quickly I seem to heal now. All of my old scars are still there and clearly visible, though. Most of them are rather small, so I guess I should be grateful that I won't end up with anything disfiguring in the near future.
With my inspection done, I grab my razor and get to work.
I attend my class in the afternoon. This one seems to specifically be about adventurers and how they use their magic. A part of the course is dedicated to powers that scientists have determined to theoretically be possible but that no adventurer actually managed to use, so I'm looking forward to that.
The example given in the first class is the ability to collapse a dungeon. Considering the way disruptors work, it should theoretically be possible for an adventurer to unleash a wave of energy from within a dungeon that causes it to collapse, but no one ever managed to find a way to actually focus their energy in that way. Such a power would allow for faster response times when dungeon appear and to save money on disruptors.
As I'm heading back to the dormitory after class, I get an alert on my phone. Looks like a dungeon is going to appear nearby within the next few hours, so I need to move away.
I open the map and see that it's projected to form over one or possibly two university buildings. The dormitory is outside the danger zone, so I'll stick to my original plan and head there.
It always takes a few day before adventurers are allowed to enter a new dungeon, since a specialized team has to enter it first and estimate its possible levels from within. For safety reasons, the level officially applied to a dungeon is always the highest estimate they got, but sometimes, the readings are wrong and accidents happen. Despite the NAA's best efforts, adventuring remains a dangerous profession.
I guess the classes that would normally have taken place in the affected buildings will be cancelled. I'll have to keep an eye on my emails to see if I'm getting some extra free time this week.
As I enter the dormitory, Andrew, Cal, and even Anthony are discussing the alert we all received. Seeing me enter, Andrew turns towards me and asks:
"Matt! Are we really safe here or do we need to move out for tonight?"
"The dungeon-tracking app says that the dorm is completely outside of the dangerous area. We can stay here without worries."
Andrew lets out a sigh of relief, but Cal and Anthony still appear to be worried. Cal speaks first:
"What about the possibility of an invasion? Wouldn't it be safer to get away from here, just in case?"
"Yeah, obviously. Invasions are always a risk near dungeons. If you want to be completely safe, getting as far from them as possible is one approach, but invasions take multiple days for monsters to set up. Considering how disruptive this dungeon is, I expect it will be granted higher priority and be cleared soon."
Cal seems to be thinking about it, but Anthony simply says, in a slightly panicked tone:
"I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight."
To which Andrew responds:
"You don't even sleep at night, so why would that be a problem?"
Anthony seems a bit embarrassed by the remark but doesn't add anything. In an attempt to make everyone feel better, I simply say:
"If anything happens, I'll make sure to keep you and the rest of the students here safe. I am an adventurer after all!"
With the atmosphere now relaxed a bit, we all go back to our usual activities.
I'm watching some videos on my laptop while keeping an eye on the dungeon-tracking app so I can be notified of when the dungeon appears. The dormitory's windows point in the opposite direction to where the dungeon is planned to appear, so I wouldn't be able to see it.
An update is added to the map marker indicating the location of the dungeon. It would seem that it could now appear at any moment, and is certain to appear within an hour.
Out of curiosity, I extend the range at which I can detect magic power and focus in the direction of the dungeon. It's mostly to see if I can reach that far, but making sure the buildings are empty would be nice.
The buildings in question are just out of the range I can comfortably reach, so I have to focus and spend some energy to extend it just a bit further. I obviously can't feel the buildings themselves since they're not magical, but I manage to get an idea of where everything is by finding the energy of people who are clearly adventurers and who seem to be there to prevent people from entering the buildings. I can't detect anything behind them, so the area must have been evacuated properly.
Hold on. I detect a very faint magical power high up in the air... No, it's not in the air, it's inside the building. Considering how little magic there is, this must be a civilian. What are they doing there?
I can tell from the speed at which the small mass of magic is moving that this person is running, but they're multiple floors high, and the dungeon could appear at any moment. Someone is in serious danger.
Suddenly, I lose trace of that person, while the larger magical masses on the ground start quickly running away. At the same time, my phone vibrates. I check it and see that the dungeon has appeared.
Which means that a civilian is now stuck inside.
