Solo Cultivating in Superhero Academy
Chapter 59: B ranked dungeon

Chapter 59: B ranked dungeon

The guide let out a long sigh of relief, deflating like a popped balloon. "Oh thank god. Thank god. Just look. Alright. Okay. Okay."

He turned around quickly. "Then come with us. Stay behind the group, no wandering off. Don’t touch anything that glows, breathes, or talks in Latin."

Elius followed silently.

As they walked together through the long steel corridors, Rockson nudged closer, flashing that familiar grin. "Yo, what did you do? And how’d you even find us? You dipped like a ghost."

Elius gave him a flat look. "Checked out the girls around campus. It was fun."

Rockson blinked. "You serious?"

"As for how I found you..." Elius took a deep breath, then smirked. "I smelled your chicken from a thousand miles away."

Rockson stopped walking.

"You what?"

Several students nearby burst into muffled laughter.

"No, seriously," one boy chuckled. "You said you tracked him by the smell of his chicken?"

Elius nodded.

Rockson opened his mouth to reply, but no words came. "I—how—man..."

Even some of the girls giggled now.

A lanky girl with yellow pigtails elbowed Rockson playfully. "Looks like you’re famous for more than your brains."

The group tried to stifle their laughter as they kept walking, shoulders shaking, smirking at Rockson’s reddening face.

The guide whipped around, annoyed. "What are you all grinning about, huh?"

"Nothing, sir," the students chorused quickly, straightening their backs.

They continued their journey deeper underground.

They passed dozens of dungeon gates—some tightly sealed, some flickering with energy, some with deep black fog swirling behind translucent walls.

F-ranked superheroes stood near some of the entrances, fully equipped in gear, scanning the rift energy or reading floating screens that showed incomplete stats.

"These," the guide said, gesturing to the locked rift entrances, "are your practical lessons."

The students paused to stare.

Each gate had a floating panel in front of it, showing sparse details:

[Rift #091] — "Crimson Mirage"

Location Type: Unknown

Estimated Threat: F+ to E-

Confirmed Phenomena: Blood mist, temperature drop, sound distortion

Warning: Rift walls unstable — entry in teams only

"Keep in mind," the guide said, "these stats aren’t accurate. Most of them are pulled from whatever data we can scavenge. Rift sensors, leaked energy, minor probes—but nothing solid. Still, better to know a lie than nothing at all."

"Doesn’t that make the lie dangerous?" someone asked.

The guide gave them a grim look. "Sometimes. But ignorance gets you killed faster. At least with lies, you know to doubt."

Suddenly, they turned a corner and found themselves face to face with a new group—men and women in pristine white lab coats, some carrying scanners, others holographic tablets.

All of them wore narrow visors over their eyes, and their fingers moved constantly over data streams.

The guide stopped and pointed. "Those are the Riftses."

He turned to the group and folded his arms. "They’re the reason any of you can even consider stepping into these deathtraps."

"The Riftses are the elite science and research division that studies these unexplored dungeons. They analyze ambient energies, particle breakdown, spatial frequencies, dimensional bleed patterns—you name it. They don’t fight. But without them, the unexplored rifts would stay forever unexplored."

He pointed at one Riftse waving a device that looked like a cross between a boomerang and a violin bow over a dungeon gate.

"They map out quantum distortions and measure gravitational ripples to try and guess what’s inside a rift. You see that girl?" He gestured toward a female Riftse who was frowning at a blinking red screen.

"She once identified the nesting grounds of a three-headed ether dragon before it could hatch and wipe out a training zone. But she’s also the same person who thought a certain rift contained ’slimes’ and it turned out to be a dimension made entirely of acidic serpents. You win some, you lose some."

"They use remote drones, mana pulses, memory dust, mythic samples, even dreams to formulate their data. Some of them sleep beside rifts for a week just to see if the rift whispers. And yes, some of them go insane from that."

The students were staring now.

"Their predictions? Not always accurate. But sometimes, their mistakes are the only warning you’ll ever get. If they say you might encounter mind-warping fog? Believe them. Bring anti-fog gear. Even if the fog turns out to be hallucinations, at least you’ll be half-prepared."

The guide exhaled and turned back to the group.

"So when you see one of them pacing in front of a rift muttering equations to themselves, don’t mock them. Don’t distract them. Don’t breathe too close. They’re what stand between this place and utter chaos."

Elius watched them quietly.

The Riftses moved like dancers in a strange science ritual.

Efficient, focused, endlessly scanning and recording and muttering to one another in whispers.

Elius would nod at them.

They were really hard workers.

Now, suddenly, as if something had caught up to him, he looked at the dungeon entrance again.

As the group of students continued moving forward through the vast underground corridors, Elius hung back, his footsteps slowing as something was eating his brain.

It was a decision.

Should he do it now?

Or should he do it later?

Elius would look ahead.

The others were chatting, joking, or just gawking at the massive dungeon gates.

The tour guide was already further ahead, explaining something else about dimensional fluctuations and training procedures.

No one noticed him pause in front of one particular gate—the one marked only with a string of numbers and a red exclamation mark.

His eyes narrowed.

Unexplored Rift #207.

A strange hum resonated from it.

Not mechanical.

Not magical in the superhero sense either. It was deeper—like a thrum from another world. It reminded him of the game.

Back in his old world, when he was playing the cultivation game with his friends, there was a way to check the danger level of the dungeon. It was actually quite simple.

A player like him or an immortal cultivator—would channel a small amount of spiritual Qi into the rift’s door.

If the rift was alive or active, it would respond with feedback.

Danger level.

Type.

Affinities.

Sometimes even hidden conditions.

It was a game mechanic, but it had saved countless virtual lives.

Now he stood in front of a real one.

And ever since awakening here, his system had mirrored that game’s interface.

The way it displayed stats, tracked party members, responded to his thoughts—it was all identical. He had never tried it on a rift.

Even the first dungeon he entered yesterday—where he fought Lava Scissor with his team, because he knew those rifts had already been checked.

Until now.

Elius raised his right hand. Quietly, slowly, he pressed his palm against the cool metal of the dungeon gate.

He drew a breath and pushed a sliver of his newly gained Qi into it.

HUMMMMMMM—

A deep resonance vibrated through his arm.

The gate shimmered faintly, and then—ding.

A translucent blue screen materialized in front of his eyes.

—

[Unexplored Dimensional Rift #207]

Danger Level: B-Rank

Designation: UNDERWATER TENTACLE

Dominant Element: Water / Biological Mutation

Notable Traits: Restricted air supply, pseudo-organic terrain, anomalous tendrils, predatory intent confirmed.

Warning: This rift far exceeds the recommended threshold for F-rank operatives.