Dungeon Raider System
Chapter 693 - 693: Study group Part 1

The students were afraid to follow Uriel inside the abandoned building and not without reason. The fact that it was still daytime should have alleviated their worries, but the effect was the opposite as they were able to see in detail the half crumbled building and the obvious aftermath of cryptid activity.

Rebuilding an entire city was a painstakingly slow endeavor, especially due to the lack in manpower. Because of that the buildings that could be renovated were the first ones while the ones that suffered structural integrity damage were simply condemned and marked for future demolition.

Such was the case of the abandoned building Uriel just walked in without even telling them the reason why he took them there.

"This looks like the perfect place to commit a crime." Scoundrel stuttered.

"A murder." Ashanti added.

Alice remained silent for a short while as he looked inside the building, then turned to their companions to reassure them. "It's safe." She said with confidence.

"Took you a while, next time please don't waste my time like this." Uriel grunted.

"Why did you bring us here?" Alice asked.

"Like I said before, I'm willing to help you, but it will do little good to you if you're expelled. Since you can't pay me with money you will have to do so with your labor."

"I told you this was a bad idea." Ashanti cried.

"What kind of labor?" Asked Alice with curiosity.

"You will fight against me. Consider this a training to hopefully become stronger and maybe with some luck It will also make you less naive. This way you will be less likely to be targeted by bullies and you won't get expelled so easily." Uriel explained glossing over the fact that he intended to get his payment in the form of the daily reward for his physical training.

"We can't win against you, we're only ascended." Scoundrel whined.

"And I refuse to participate in a three versus one fight," Alice shook her head, yet before Uriel had the chance to scold them a loud shot echoed inside the building. "Ashanti, what did you do!?"

"I just did what he said!" She defended herself in a shrill voice when she realized Uriel was nowhere to be seen. The three students placed their backs against each other in what could only be called as a 'herd instinct'.

"Where is he?" Scoundrel scanned his surroundings failing to spot Uriel anywhere.

"I can't see him." Alice flicked the light switch to no avail since the building wasn't connected to the power grid.

"I praise your initiative, but you should have waited for me to give the go." Uriel said from an unseen corner of the room while inwardly thanking the skill he learned from Nika, shadowcloak. He didn't want to use it against the students since it defeated the point of the exercise, but he didn't want to find how powerful her trait was on his own flesh.

"How did you survive that?" Ashanti asked unwittingly revealing that her intention had been to kill him.

"I'm not sure how strong your trait is, but it won't do any damage if you can't even aim properly," Uriel let out a sigh then gestured in a beckoning manner. "What are you waiting for? Begin!"

Realizing that Uriel wasn't an enemy she could underestimate Alice activated her trait and leapt forward attempting to open the fight with a fist. Instead of waiting for her to reach him, Uriel took impulse and slid on the floor passing beneath the inexperienced huntress who had jumped too high.

Uriel's target was obviously Ashanti since she had a long ranged weapon, but when he saw her standing by herself without even bothering to put her guard up Uriel knew it had to be a trap. Instead of rushing to take her down Uriel stopped in his tracks which allowed him to spot Scoundrel right as his stealth skill was cancelled.

"Dammit!" Scoundrel shouted after missing his mark, then closed his eyes and braced himself for impact.

"You two are out." Uriel informed them after a soft tap on the forehead, then turned to face Alice who had unceremoniously clashed against the wall but remained unscathed.

Despite her being scared of Uriel, she refused to give up just because her companions were defeated and she activated her trait once more, only this time she ran to meet Uriel instead of jumping. Needless to say, Uriel didn't expect much from Alice since she was obviously too inexperienced to be aware of basic concepts, such as hunters losing control over their movement if they leapt too high.

To end the fight quickly he threw a punch to Alice's face and another to her stomach in a movement that worked for him several times in the past, yet the outcome wasn't what he expected. A human's first instinct when receiving an attack was to cover their face and this movement allowed Uriel to land a body shot with ease, but somehow Alice managed to block both his fists.

Not just that she also countered with a high kick that landed perfectly on Uriel's ribs.

Unfortunately to her, the kick carried little strength and Uriel shrugged off the attack and tapped her in the forehead after coming back from his stupor.

"That wasn't half bad, how did you know?"

"I saw it," Alice said and continued only when it became clear that her answer wouldn't cut it. "It's my trait, I can see the past with one eye and the future with the other."

"A summoned weapon, invisibility and the ability to see in the future." Uriel fumbled, then inwardly thought. 'Taken by separate their traits are modest, but when put together they're quite overpowered.'

"So? Did we pass the test?" Alice asked.

"This wasn't a test, it's training." Uriel replied with a faint smile of satisfaction. He knew it was difficult that three inexperienced hunters could help him meet the requirements for his daily physical training reward, but now he knew that all it would take for them to do so was some teamwork. 'They passed the test.'