Chapter 1: Defect
The soft crunch of footsteps echoed across the ground. A large group of students marched back to their transports. Their shoulders were slumped, their breathing ragged, and their clothes soaked in sweat. Groans and complaints resounded as the teenagers whined about the experience.
"It's so damn hot! There isn't even any air conditioning! This field trip sucks!"
"I know, right? We didn't even see any monsters, just drones! BOOORING!"
"What can you expect? This dungeon has been closed for over twenty years."
The figure leading the group suddenly halted. She glared at the students as she placed her hands on her hips. A flag fluttered from her back, marking her as Crestfall Academy's Class 1 accompanying teacher.
"Students! Please keep such comments to yourselves! While it may be lackluster now, this place was one of the first dungeons to have ever opened!" Ms. Potts glared at her group, silencing them with her intensity.
"The future is built on the backs of the present! As the next generation, you all must be familiar with dungeons even if you do not wish to become Breakers! Why, I remember back when I was a student, we didn't even have dungeons. Then they simply appeared!"
As Ms. Potts began to recount excerpts from her life fervently, the students once again groaned to each other. At the back, a pair of students chuckled at the sudden lecture. One of them fiddled with his glasses as he joked to the other.
"Haha, they should have just kept their mouths shut. Once Ms. Potts starts reminiscing, she never shuts up. Right, Elian?"
"Don't be like that, Ned. It is an interesting story. Could you imagine how hard it would be to fight the monsters without Talents? We should appreciate the first generation. They were the ones to discover Talents," Elian countered.
Just then a voice aggressively interjected, "Ha! Figured the defect would be interested in the first generation! Back then you would have been considered normal!"