After hearing what Richard had said earlier, the other youths fell silent in their place, hesitant to volunteer for the upcoming Dungeon trials.

Raphael was initially hesitant because he was afraid that he would only die in vain if he took part in the Dungeon trial. But as Simon continued to stare at him intently, Raphael couldn't help but raise his trembling hand to volunteer.

“Finally, there were those who volunteered. You who raised hand, come here,” shouted Richard calling for Raphael who was in the back row.

Not far from Raphael's position, Simon smirked when he saw Raphael come forward while lowering his head. Then, Simon and his friends also raised their hands, they were already planning to take part in this dungeon trial.

Richard was not too surprised when he saw Simon's group come straight forward, he knew that Simon was one of the youths who had the strongest magic in their orphanage.

Sensing that many people were starting to walk behind him, Raphael glanced slightly behind him and found Simon and his gang there. Instantly Raphael gulped roughly, feeling that something bad would happen to him when he was in the Dungeon.

He doesn’t know what Simon is really planning, Raphael can only pray in his heart that he won't die when he enters the Dungeon later. Raphael quickened his pace to avoid Simon and his friends.

However, it was just wishful thinking because Simon quickly embraced Raphael from behind, and then Raphael heard a whisper from Simon that made the hairs on his neck goosebumps in fear.

"I look forward to your action in the Dungeon, prepare to save your life, loser." Simon hissed near Raphael's ear, then grinned evilly which made Raphael tremble in fear.

For the rest of the meeting Raphael was silent as he lowered his head, he felt restless and uneasy as Richard explained about this Dungeon trial. Not a single word of Richard was caught by Raphael, he could only focus himself on Simon's previous words.

“The people from Crimson will be picking up the ten of you in three days, so prepare your things and don't forget to prepare yourselves too.” Richard finally finished his sentence and immediately ordered them to disperse.

“Besides Raphael being allowed to go, you wait here I have something to tell you," continued Richard, pointing at Raphael to stay in the backyard.

Raphael just realized when Richard called his name to stay there, he was immediately shocked and panicked not knowing what to do. “Will I be scolded again? How should I do? could Mr. Richard have seen me daydreaming,” Raphael thought as his eyes twitched in panic when he looked up at Richard.

Raphael glimpsed a glint of glare from Simon who waltzed away from the backyard of their orphanage. Raphael could only pretend not to see Simon's gaze and focus on Richard.

Making sure the others had left, Richard turned to Raphael and said, “Are you sure you want to take this trial, Raphael?” The reason was, Richard was not sure about Raphael, considering that the young man was one of the weakest among the youths in their orphanage.

Raphael was only slightly stronger than ordinary people who didn't have magic, so one could say he was no different from ordinary humans. Therefore Richard confirmed back to Raphael regarding his participation in the Dungeon exam this time.

What Richard was afraid of was that Raphael might die in the Dungeon and he didn't want that to happen because the people in the city center would give their orphanage the punishment if anyone died in the Dungeon.

Even though death in dungeons was a common thing, many young men were just about to start their journey in the Kingdom. Their first step, of course, was to pass the trial of this Dungeon.

"Yes, Mr Richard. If I want to get out from here, I have to take this trial,” replied Raphael while glancing at Richard timidly, he knew what Richard was worried about, but he had no other choice but to join this Dungeon trial.

Richard took a deep breath, “Then it's up to you, just don't die there, don't cause unnecessary trouble for us. You can go back,” Richard replied immediately telling Raphael to leave.

Raphael bowed slightly towards Richard before deciding to leave Richard. Raphael quickly stepped back into his room to calm himself who had been under a lot of pressure today.

But, before Raphael had time to hide himself in his room, he was already blocked in a quiet hallway inside the orphanage. Raphael had a bad feeling when he saw the group of people ten steps in front of him, he tried to get past the people.

Suddenly, Raphael's collar was grabbed from behind, making his breath catch from the grip. With difficulty Raphael tried to glance at who did this to him and he found it was Simon.

"Si-mon, pl-please let me go," said Raphael while trying to reach Simon's hand that was pulling him from behind, it was really hard to breathe right now.

"Look guys, this loser has now dared to talk back to me," said Raphael, grinning evilly at Raphael, instead of letting go of his grip, he tightened his grip even more.

Raphael tried as hard as he could to suck in oxygen as he felt his chest tighten because he was having trouble breathing because of what Simon had done to him.

Seeing Raphael who was already dying as if he was about to die, Simon with great strength threw Raphael's body against the wall near them. There was a strong thud after that, Raphael who was hit hard by the wall felt like half his life had been blown away.

Immediately Raphael spits out fresh blood after his back hit the wall hard, Simon just laughed out loud seeing what happened to Raphael.

"I'm not sure you have magic, at least use your magic to protect yourself, idiot!" Simon slowly walked closer to Raphael, then bent down to whisper to the young man, “I can assure you, that you will die this time, so prepare yourself, loser.”

Raphael looked at the departure of Simon and his other friends with blurry vision, he was still coughing in pain, the traces of blood on the corners of his lips were getting more visible, and Raphael's current appearance was very pathetic.

Not a single day was quiet, unpleasant things like this always happened to him. It's not just Simon and his gang who act like this to Raphael, even the caretakers of the orphanage treat him not so well, they only think about their own lives, without the slightest empathy for the abandoned children in this orphanage.

There was no one who cared about Raphael in this world, from the start he was alone with no one to help him out of this suffocating darkness.