Inside the place, filled with countless monitors and holograms, people with white uniforms were running all around the room. The air buzzed with urgency and excitement as the control room of the artificial dungeon at Arcadia Hunter Academy brimmed with activity.
Head of the personnel, Senior Faraday, a stern woman with gray streaks in her dark hair, barked out orders, her eyes darting across the monitors.
“Team Alpha, increase the elemental challenges on Level Five. Let’s see how they handle a sudden surge of fire elementals. And patch into the audio feed; we need to hear their reactions.”
A technician responded, tapping away at a holographic display. “Elemental levels increased. Audio feed connected. Proceeding with the fire elemental surge.”
Down in the dungeon, students of Arcadia Hunter Academy were battling their way through simulated challenges.
However, behind the place, a young woman’s hands were shaking as she clutched a small, dark-looking USB drive. Her name was Amelia, a brilliant but conflicted young technician working at the heart of the Arcadia Hunter Academy’s control room.
Summoning her courage, Amelia approached one of the central control consoles. Her heart raced as she inserted the USB drive, her hands trembling. The drive contained a carefully crafted program designed to temporarily disrupt the simulated challenges, providing the students with a much-needed respite.
As she activated the program, a subtle change rippled through the control room. The monstrous adversaries slowed down slightly, giving the students a chance to regroup and catch their breaths. The fire elementals became more manageable, and the tree and lizard creatures exhibited signs of fatigue.
Commander Faraday noticed the anomaly on her screen. “What’s going on? Something’s not right,” she demanded, her gaze narrowing at the monitors.
Amelia knew she had to act quickly. She subtly masked her actions by pretending to fix an unrelated technical glitch. “It’s a minor system hiccup, Commander,” she stammered, her voice betraying her anxiety.
A fellow technician chimed in, trying to cover for Amelia. “Just a momentary glitch in the dungeon’s AI. We’re resolving it.”
Faraday, still suspicious but pressed for time, relented. “Handle it swiftly. We can’t afford any disruptions during the testing.”
Amelia breathed a sigh of relief, her plan temporarily successful. She repeated her silent mantra, “This is all for my son.” She knew she had just taken the first step in a battle for change within the Academy.
Unbeknownst to everyone, the disruption in the system was only a prelude to what loomed ahead. The dungeon’s safeguards were flickering, and the simulated monsters were beginning to show signs of a berserk frenzy, their pixelated eyes glowing ominously. The storm was brewing, and chaos was on the horizon.
*****
After the fight with the monster was over, the scenery of the dungeon changed just as I had expected.
The surroundings turned from a hot one to a scene filled with blue marks all over.
‘Contrasting Scene, huh?’
HOWL
The cold wind blew through the team’s face as our vision was slightly burdened by the storm of snow around.
Of course, that wasn’t completely the case for me. I could see the traces of mana even in the storm and could pick up the small marks left by the monsters around us.
‘Hmm….Considering the depth of the footprints and the storm, I can say those monsters are quite big. However, some time had passed after they left.’
Since we were in a place where it was snowing, the traces left on the ground would soon be covered by the monsters.
‘They must be Snow Tigers.’
On Earth, Lions and tigers were animals habituated in places close to the equator. However, in this world, there were countless different evolutions, and in dungeons, there were monsters like this, who evolved from Tigers in a snowy environment.
‘If this is the case, there should be Snow Squirrels as well.’
In the game, the environment of this practical exam would continuously change, and there wasn’t a fixed one, but I was slightly familiar with this one.
It was because this one was the route I took in my first playthrough, and that was one of the hardest ones.
“Sigh…..From hot to cold, why are they trying to push us like that….” Byron spoke with a sigh as he clung to his clothes.
“I know, right…..I thought the second environment would also be hot, but they really want us to give up this time….” Leon replied, as he also clenched on his clothes.
These two had been throwing glances at me from time to time with annoyance, but they didn’t say anything, and neither did they do. They were probably afraid of Irina since she looked like she was in more of a bad mood after the boss.
‘This is why preparing for everything is important.’
“Everyone, come closer.”
At that moment, Irina called as she gestured for everyone to come together. However, when she looked at me, her eyes were saying I shouldn’t even dare to take one step.
As everyone gathered around her, suddenly, underneath her feet, a small circle of orange color appeared.
“Hmm? It is warm?” Nora was the first one to notice as she looked at the circle.
“This will help you stay warm in this place,”? Irina said with a proud tone as she continued to move forward. With each step she had taken, the zone around her also moved continuously, supplying the people around with warm temperatures.
The snow around her was melting; even the snow in the air was melting thanks to the high temperature.
From time to time, she threw a gaze at me, filled with arrogance. It was like she was trying to show off or maybe reprimand me, but I didn’t care.
I was doing quite fine.
The coat I was wearing right now was doing its work as it was supposed to. I got this one in order to use it in the Chrono Groove, and it was staying on my bracelet.
And thanks to that, now I was quite warm walking around leisurely. If not, I would be the first one to surrender since my body wouldn’t be able to stand this cold.
My boots and pants were all supplied by the academy, so they were already high quality, but the coat was doing wonders.
However, our peaceful walk under the storm was soon about to reach its end since the monsters were on the way.
‘Just as expected. Snow Tigers and Snow Squirrels.’
I thought to myself, sensing the presence of monsters. Even though I couldn’t directly see them, my increased intuition was doing quite well. It was now on the border of rank three and was above average.
And just as I thought about that, suddenly, a bunch of shadows appeared around the party.
“Monsters!” The first one to notice was Leon, as he shouted in order to alert everyone.
-SWOOSH
And immediately, Irina, attuned to the mana around her, quickly identified the approaching Snow Tigers and Snow Squirrels.
“Stay away.”
Without waiting for further instruction, Irina took charge, her eyes blazing with irritation and slight anger.
‘She must be angry that she couldn’t deal with the Lesser Magma Wyrm.’
The Irina I knew from the game would certainly take her anger out of monsters, and that was exactly what she did.
She thrust her staff forward, summoning her fire magic.
SWIRL!
Flames erupted, dancing in the cold air, their warmth a stark contrast to the snowy surroundings.
“Grrrrr…”
As if on cue, a group of Snow Tigers emerged from the snowy surroundings, their white fur blending in with the landscape.
“Quaaaa…..”
The Snow Squirrels scurried among the trees, their eyes fixed on the intruders in their territory.
‘Hmm….13 squirrels and five Snow Tigers, huh?’
I counted the numbers immediately, as my boy was ready if something unusual happened.
“Die.”
SWOOSH!
With a sweeping motion, she directed a surge of fire toward the approaching Snow Tigers.
“ROOOOAAAAR!”
The intense heat engulfed them, their white fur providing no protection. The monsters roared in agony as they were incinerated by the powerful fire magic.
However, she had yet to finish her massacre.
Simultaneously, she channeled her magic towards the trees where the Snow Squirrels had hidden.
SWOOSH! CREAK!
The fiery inferno engulfed the branches, forcing the creatures out into the open. Their attempts to escape were futile as Irina’s relentless assault left them no room to evade.
‘What a strong power.’
She was even stronger than before as her fire magic simply scorched every monster in seconds. It seems just like me, she was not wasting her time either.
The rest of the team could only watch in awe as Irina single-handedly dispatched the monsters. Her control over the element of fire was masterful, and in this snowy environment, her power was unmatched.
‘As expected. The single-digit rankers are surely different.’
There was a reason why she was ranked third in the academy, and now she was proving that. She might not have been able to showcase her talents while fighting with fire-resilient monsters before, but things were different now since almost all of the monsters here were weak to fire elements.
Of course, since the environment was filled with water psions, it was a lot harder to use the fire psions since their density was a lot lower.
But that added more credit to her talent since she flawlessly manipulated fire even in such conditions.
As the last embers faded, the battle was over. The monsters lay defeated, leaving only charred remnants in their wake.
Byron, eager to gain favor, seized the moment to voice his admiration. “Incredible, Irina! Your control over fire is truly remarkable. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
He immediately started flattering her, but even his words were flatter. I could see the genuine appreciation in them. It was clear that he was really impressed this time.
Nora also chimed in, offering her praise as well. “Yeah, seriously. That was amazing! You made short work of them. I knew you were amazing before already, but I guess you are an Emberheart for a reason.” Her eyes were twinkling as she approached the corpses. “You have killed 17 monsters already.” 𝑜𝑣𝐞xt.𝗇t
However, the moment Nora spoke those words, I suddenly got chills on my body. The number of monsters didn’t match the one I counted.
‘Don’t tell me.’
Not long after, a monster jumped from the flames that were burning the trees; its small fangs wide open, green liquid pouring from there.
SWOOSH!
“Quaaaaa!”
It was a Snow Squirrel; however, one thing was different. Rather than normal black eyes, the monster’s eyes were shining bright red.
‘Demon Followers.’
I immediately understood the reason why this monster was different, as this was a common scene in the game. There were monsters that were affected by the spells of demon followers. They would become berserk, but as the price, they would be stronger.
‘Tch….. You better pay me, you woman.’
Eyes of Hourglass.
After activating my skill, I felt the time slowing around me for a second, and following that, I simply aimed my bow, putting a good amount of mana into the arrow.
SWISH!
As I released the arrow, it went past me immediately.
PIERCE! SPURT!
And stabbed the monster in the air.
“Queeeeck!”
The monster let out a hearty scream with its trajectory changing in the air.
THUD
It fell to the ground, and the pure color of white slowly turned into red.
********
“What was that?”
The first one to notice something was amiss was Irina as she looked into the source of the noise. Her gaze first shifted to the monster.
There, she probably saw the arrow stab the monster from its body, overflowing with mana.
Her eyes widened as she followed the trajectory of the arrow. Her gaze shifted from the fallen Snow Squirrel to Astron, who stood calmly, bow in hand, eyes focused.
There was a mix of surprise and something else in her expression.
‘I missed one monster.
She was surprised at the fact that this monster was able to breach her senses and almost landed a sneak attack on her.
‘But, how was he able to notice it.’
However, the difference thing was not the fact that she had missed it but rather the fact that Astron was able to sense it.
Byron and Nora were equally astonished by the accuracy and efficiency of Astron’s shot. The Snow Squirrel’s sudden appearance had caught them off guard, and it was clear that Astron had saved the day.
“That was… amazing,” Erika exclaimed as she looked into the squirrel. She had no idea.
Irina, regaining her composure, nodded in acknowledgment. There was a brief moment of eye contact between her and Astron. She recognized the timely intervention and the potential danger that had been averted.
There was a hint of pride in Irina’s eyes as she looked at Astron with her gaze squinting. She didn’t openly express gratitude but rather frowned. “Not bad,” she remarked, but her voice contained irritably.
‘I don’t know how he did it, but I will never owe this guy anything.’
“After we leave this place, I’ll make sure to settle the score with you so no debt remains here.” With those words, she turned her head back as she started walking once again.
“Good to know,” Astron mumbled as he started walking to the corpse.
“What did you say?”
“I said it was good to know. I didn’t do it for free either.”
“Tch….”
Clicking her tongue, Irina walked forward while Astron simply reached the corpse and purged his arrow back.
BOOM!
And just as the group walked a little more, suddenly, they heard the voice of something exploding as well as the sounds of shouts all around.
“I guess we reached the boss monster.”