Chapter 180: Macedonia Set

They sized up the newcomer, seeing his black hair and red eyes first thing, and they recognised one person who looked like this—Luke Kingsley.

Luke became the talk of the town among generations after his awakening, and the Victorian Guild knows him because his workshop gave them concern about competition, and he refused to compromise with their demands.

So, these hunters never expected that the student the Bureau had asked them to accommodate was Luke Kingsley.

Luke waved and said, "Hello! I’m the student the Bureau assigned to you. I hope we get along well."

Fiona stared at him with her purple eyes and said, "Hello, aren’t you Luke Kingsley?"

Troy’s expression became serious, and Drew, sitting in his wheelchair, was looking at Luke with interest, because they thought that an ordinary student who needed their protection would come, but they didn’t expect the Bureau to send Luke Kingsley instead.

Luke said, "Yes, I am Luke Kingsley. You may recognize me; I am the former heir to this city. And you?"

Drew introduced everyone: "I am Drew. This is my sister, Rey. The girl with gay hair is Fiona, and next to her is her fiancé, Troy."

From their introductions, Luke saw the hierarchical relationship within their group: Drew, even in his wheelchair, may be the leader; Fiona and Troy were closer; and Rey must be very loyal to her brother.

Luke was curious how a hunter in a wheelchair would enter a dungeon, but he didn’t ask for the time being.

At this moment, Luke felt he had seen them before and said, "Fiona Hitelock? Troy Tesla? You’re students from the Macedonia set at Montclair Academy! You graduated two years ago, right? I remember seeing your yearbook!"

Troy scoffed and said, "Yes, yes, we went to the same academy—unfortunately so, since Montclair Academy actually admitted a student who didn’t even have a beast—what a disgrace! Where did the Lesser-tier 5.0 admission standards go? Have the academy’s standards really dropped to this much?"

Fiona agreed with her boyfriend, saying, "That’s right! How can someone who awakened the ability to summon mere metal stay at Montclair Academy? And how did you get here? You’re the exiled son of the Kingsley family, aren’t you? Without family connections, how could you convince the Bureau to grant you this privilege? And what strength do you, a metal summoner, have to survive in a Gamma-level dungeon?"

"Don’t you know? I fight with my summoned beast armor," Luke replied.

"Haha! Beast armor? Humans wear beast armor?" Troy laughed. "You’d better get out of here, or I’ll report you to your family and tell them their exiled son is up to no good again!"

"Haven’t you two seen the news?" Rey whispered. "Luke Kingsley is now a legally independent individual, confirmed by the president himself. And he’s going to marry the president’s daughter, Scarlett Trump. Scarlett is a Mythic-grade summoner."

The atmosphere between suddenly became awkward.

Fiona and Troy gained a new understanding of Luke, and Rey remarked, "You two should pay more attention to the news before you speak."

Luke was surprised that a Victorian Guild member knew more about his private affairs than the two of them, but he didn’t want to explain, because he was there to explore the dungeon and his Second Class Beast Armor, not to argue with two Academy graduates.

"For my own safety’s sake," Luke said, "I have to ask you a question. Two years after graduation, most of you are still Bronze Hunters. Isn’t that strange? Are you really capable of entering a Gamma-grade dungeon? Bronze Hunters die easily in Gamma-grade dungeons, you know that."

Troy and Fiona became furious because they may tolerate Luke’s new social status (the president acknowledged him, and he was Scarlett Trump’s fiancé), but tolerating him didn’t mean they would accept any disdain for themselves.

"Who do you think you are?" Troy said. "Just because you’ve gained some social status doesn’t give you the right to look down on us!"

Fiona said, "Exactly! You’re still a mediocre summoner. What makes you think you can judge our strength? If you want to talk about strength, let us show you what a real summoner looks like!"

Troy agreed with his girlfriend. Then, with a dazzling light, they summoned their respective beasts.

Drew and Rey joined in without hesitation, summoning their own beasts as well.

Thus, in the abandoned botanical garden, the four hunters stood ready, their beasts surrounding them.

Luke came here to explore a dungeon, but before he even entered the dungeon, he was already facing four summoned beasts!

Troy’s beast was a jaguar, its fur all in dark spots, head, chest, legs, and back all covered in its beast armor, making it appear even more intimidating.

Fiona’s beast was an elephant so big, with thick limbs and a powerful trunk, but its armor was incomplete, with some parts exposed.

Drew’s beast was a long, slender snake with cold eyes, coiled beside his wheelchair, and it wore no armor.

Ray summoned a wolf with sharp fangs and a fierce gaze, and its body was covered in full armor, with all vital parts encased.

Troy’s jaguar and Drew’s snake are Greater-grade, higher tier beasts, while Fiona’s elephant and Rey’s wolf are Greater-grade too, but of lower tiers.

Their levels weren’t high, but they were decent for young hunters.

Fortunately, these beasts weren’t targeting Luke; they were summoned simply to show off, but even so, Luke would be able to defeat them if that were the case.

Luke observed the elephant and the snake, noting that their armor was either incomplete or nonexistent.

This wasn’t surprising, as most beast-armoring guilds only crafted armor for common-silhouette beasts like wolves, jaguars, and bears.

For beasts of unusual size, such as snakes, or enormous creatures like elephants, armor was more difficult to forge, even for the Victorian Guild.

Luke didn’t have this problem, as his system can forge armor for every kind of beast.

This might be another reason why the Victoria Guild wanted to close his workshop—because he can create what they cannot.

"Not bad," Luke said. "Your summons and your beasts are strong."

Then, he raised his right hand, and his gauntlet with oxblood markings and lava-like sheen appeared on his arm—the Second Class Hell Ape Gauntlet.

The four Victorian Guild hunters recognized it because the whole city had mocked Luke’s gauntlet as a lousy summon.

"While your beast is strong," Luke said, "this gauntlet itself is stronger than all four of them combined. Let me prove it?"

Drew was amused by Luke’s words, and Rey covered her mouth and giggled as well, thinking Luke was joking.

Troy, on the other hand, was half angry and half annoyed. He thought to himself, "This guy wants to compare that absurd piece of metal to four Greater-grade beasts?" He thought Luke was mad to say so.

Meanwhile, Fiona suspected Luke wasn’t lying since he was very confident.

"Forget it! Leave him here. We don’t have time for this nonsense!" Troy hollered.

But Fiona stopped him, saying to Luke, "Kingsley, we’ll give you a chance. We’ll let you come with us into the first phase of the dungeon. If you can kill at least ten monsters, you can continue; otherwise, we’ll beat you up with our beasts and throw you out!"

Luke suddenly burst into laughter, and Fiona asked him what he was laughing at. Luke said, "Nothing. Just ten monsters? Okay, deal!"

Having said that, he clenched his gauntlet-covered fists, and before anyone could speak, he turned and leaped into the dungeon, leaving the four hunters with mixed feelings.

However, since he had accepted the challenge so confidently, perhaps ten monsters wouldn’t be enough for him, so Fiona said, "Let’s go," and they followed behind him.

〖Warning: You are entering a Gamma-Rank Dungeon!〗

〖Objective: Defeat the Boss!〗

The dungeon was an alternate version of the botanical garden, more apocalyptic.

The garden had become a wilderness, with shattered glass everywhere, withered trees lying across the ground, and twisted vines entwining the wilderness.

Luke focused on his gauntlet and the information on it.

〖Second Class Hell Ape Gauntlet〗

〖Tier: Ancient-grade〗

〖Effect: Grants the wearer increased strength by 100,000%, Nascent of Karmic fire, and the will of the Hell Ape!〗

There have been some changes following the upgrade.

First, his strength boost has increased from 50,000% to 100,000%, meaning his strength has doubled.

It was already absurd before, and now it’s gotten even more absurd.

Second, he has gained the Karmic Fire, a special flame from the depths of Hell that punishes living beings according to their sins, karma, and deserved retribution.

Since the Hell Ape possesses this power, Luke can also use it by wearing its beast armor—though for now, it’s only beginning to show its potential, and the ability is still in its infancy.

Additionally, his existing Hell Ape skills have been enhanced, but their names remain unchanged; in other words, this upgrade simply boosted his skills without altering their names.

Luke sensed the power within his gauntlet and believed this upgrade was well worth it!