The control room of the artificial copy of Arcadia Hunter Academy was filled with countless monitors and holographic images. Staff in white uniforms were running around the room busily, and the air was filled with an atmosphere of urgency and excitement. The man in charge, Senior Commander Faradi, a stern woman with black hair streaked with gray, barked out orders, her eyes darting between the monitors. "Alpha Team, add a fifth level of elemental challenges. Let's see how they deal with the sudden surge of fire elements. And connect to the audio, we need to hear their reactions." A technician responded, rapidly tapping the holo display. "Elemental levels increased, audio connected. Addition of fire element in progress." In the dungeon, students from the Arcadia Hunter Academy are struggling to cope with the challenges of the simulation. Yet, in the back of the control room, a young woman's hands were shaking as she clutched a small, black USB drive. Her name was Amelia, a talented but conflicted technician working at the heart of the Arcadia Hunter Academy control room. Gathering her courage, Amelia walked over to one of the central consoles. Her heartbeat quickened, her hands trembling slightly as she inserted the USB drive. The drive contained a program carefully designed to temporarily disrupt the simulation challenge, giving the students a chance to breathe. As she activated the program, subtle changes occurred in the control room. The monsters slowed down slightly, giving the students a chance to regroup and catch their breath. The fire elementals became easier to deal with, and the treemen and lizard monsters began to tire. Commander Faradi noticed something unusual on the screen. "What happened? Something's not right." She squinted at the monitor. Amelia knew she had to act quickly. She covered her actions by pretending to fix a minor technical glitch. "Just a minor system glitch, Commander," she stammered, her nervousness evident in her voice.
Another technician chimed in, trying to cover for Amelia. "The replica's simulated monster had a brief glitch. We're fixing it." Farady was a little skeptical, but time was running out, so she didn't pursue the matter. "Deal with it as soon as possible, and don't let anyone interfere during the test." Amelia breathed a sigh of relief. Her plan was successful for the time being. She silently repeated in her heart: "This is all for my son." However, what no one knew was that this system disturbance was the prelude to an impending disaster. The copy's security system began to flicker, and the simulated monsters gradually showed signs of violence, with the display screen showing that their eyes were emitting an ominous light. A storm was brewing, and chaos was waiting ahead. ...... After the battle, the scene in the dungeon changed just as I expected. The surrounding environment changed from hot to cold. 'Comparison of environment?' Whoosh The cold wind blew in their faces, and the team's vision was affected by the blizzard. Not so for me. I can see traces of magic in a blizzard, and can pick up tiny footprints left by monsters. 'Hmm... Considering the depth of the tracks and the intensity of the blizzard, I can tell that these monsters are large. However, they have been gone for some time.' Since we are in a snowy environment, the traces left by the monsters will soon be covered by new snow. 'They should be snow tigers.' On Earth, lions and tigers usually live in places close to the equator. However, in this world, there are many different evolutionary forms, and there are many similar monsters in the copy that evolved from tigers living in snowy environments. 'If that's the case, there should also be snow squirrels.' In the game, the practical test environment will keep changing, there will be no fixed environment, and I am somewhat familiar with this environment. Because this route is the one I chose when I first played through the game, but it is also one of the most difficult routes. "Alas...from hot to cold, why do they force us like this..." Byron sighed and tightened his clothes.
"Yeah... I thought the second environment would be hot as well, but they want us to give up this exam..." Leon responded, also clutching his clothes tightly. The two of them gave me angry looks from time to time, but they said nothing and did nothing. They were probably afraid of Irina because she seemed to be in a worse mood after defeating the boss. "Everyone, come closer." At this time, Irina called everyone to come closer and motioned for everyone to stand together. However, when she looked at me, her eyes seemed to tell me not to move forward at all. As everyone gathered around her, an orange circle appeared beneath her feet. "Huh? What is this?" Nora was the first to notice it and looked at the circle. "This will help you keep warm." Irina said proudly, and continued to move forward. With every step she took, the surrounding area moved, providing a warm climate to the people around her. The snow around her began to melt, and even the snowflakes in the air melted under the influence of the high temperature. She glanced at me from time to time, her eyes full of arrogance. She seemed to be showing off, or blaming me, but I didn't care. 'That's why it's so important to be prepared.' The coat I'm wearing now is doing just that. I bought it to prepare for the Forest of Time, and I've been keeping it on my bracelet. Thanks to it, I am not affected much now. Without this coat, I would be the first one to surrender because my body cannot bear the cold. My boots and trousers were provided by the college and are of fairly high quality, but it was the coat that made the difference. However, our time of peaceful walking in the storm is coming to an end, as the monsters are approaching. "Sure enough, it's the snow tiger and the snow squirrel." I thought to myself, sensing the presence of monsters. Although I couldn't see them, my enhanced perception was very sharp, now close to level three, far beyond the normal level. Just as I was thinking this, suddenly, a group of shadows appeared and surrounded us. "Monster!" Leon was the first to notice it. He shouted loudly to alert everyone. Whoosh Then, Irina quickly identified the approaching snow tiger and snow squirrel with her awareness of the surrounding magic fluctuations. "keep away." She didn't give any further instructions, but took the lead, with anger and a hint of resentment flashing in her eyes. 'She must be mad at not being able to deal with the lava dragons.' The Irina I knew in the game would definitely take her anger out on monsters, which is exactly what she is doing now. She swung her staff violently, summoning fire magic. Buzz! The flames burst forth, leaping through the frigid air, their heat contrasting sharply with the surrounding snowy landscape. “Gurgle…”
As if in response, a group of snow tigers appeared from the white environment, their white fur blending in with the surrounding snowy scenery. “Woo…” Snow squirrels shuttled through the trees, their eyes fixed on the intruders that broke into their territory. 'Hmm...13 snow squirrels and 5 snow tigers.' I counted them immediately and my arrows were ready to deal with any unexpected situation. "Go to hell." whoosh! She waved her hand and suddenly released a burst of fire towards the approaching snow tiger. "roar!" The scorching flames engulfed them, and the white fur provided no protection. The monsters were burned by the powerful fire magic and roared in pain. But she didn't calm down. At the same time, she directed her magic toward the trees where the snow squirrels were hiding. Whoosh! Squeak! The flames engulfed the branches, forcing the snow squirrels to reveal their true form. They tried to escape, but Irina's fierce attack did not give them any chance to escape. "What a powerful force." She was even more powerful than before, and her fire magic reduced all the monsters to ashes in a matter of seconds. It seemed that like me, she wasted no time. The other members of the team could only stare in amazement as Irina single-handedly dealt with the monster. Her control over the element of fire had reached perfection, and in this snowy environment, her power was unmatched. "Sure enough, students with odd rankings are different." There is a reason why she is ranked third, and now she is proving it. Although she failed to show her true ability when fighting against monsters with strong fire resistance before, the situation is different now. Almost all monsters here are weak to fire element resistance. Also, since the environment is filled with ice elements, it is much more difficult to use fire magic because their density is much lower. But this also further proves her talent. Even in this environment, she can still control the fire perfectly. When the last embers faded, the battle was over, and the monsters fell, leaving only their charred remains. Byron was eager to gain Irina's favor, so he took the opportunity to express his admiration: "It's incredible, Irina! Your control over fire is amazing. I've never seen such a powerful force." He immediately began to flatter her, but his words showed genuine admiration. I could tell that this time he really admired her. Nora followed suit. "Yeah, that's amazing!" Her eyes sparkled as she approached the corpse. "You killed 17 monsters in an instant." However, when Nora said this, I suddenly felt a chill. The number of monsters did not match what I counted just now. 'Did I calculate it wrong?' Suddenly, a monster jumped out from the burnt trees, revealing its tiny fangs and green liquid gushing out from between its teeth.
whoosh! "Quack!" It was a snow squirrel, but there was one difference. Unlike normal black eyes, this monster's eyes glowed bright red. 'Devil worshipper.' I immediately understood why this monster was different, as this is a common scenario in the game. Some monsters are affected by the spells of the demon followers and they go berserk. "Tsk...I didn't help you for nothing." 【Eye of Time】 After activating my skill, I felt the environment around me slow down instantly, and then I drew my bow and injected a large amount of mana into the arrow. whoosh! The moment I released the arrow, it flew out from my side immediately. Pierce! Splash! The arrow hit the monster in the air. “Chiu!” The monster let out a shrill scream and its body changed its trajectory in the air. Bang! It fell heavily to the ground, and its white skin gradually turned red. ...... "What is that?" Irina was the first to notice something was wrong. She looked towards the source of the sound and her eyes first turned to the monster. There, she saw the arrow piercing through the monster's body, the arrow spilling mana. Her eyes widened and turned in the direction of the arrow's trajectory. She looked from the fallen snow squirrel to Morse, who was holding the bow and arrow, his eyes focused. Her expression was a mixture of surprise and some complicated emotions. 'I missed a monster.' She was surprised that the monster was able to break through her perception and almost successfully sneak attack her. 'But...how did he find it?' What’s puzzling, however, isn’t that she missed the monster, but that Morse was able to detect it. Byron and Nora were also shocked by the accuracy and perception of Morse's arrow. The sudden appearance of the snow squirrel caught them off guard, and it was obviously Morse who saved the situation. "That's...amazing," Erica exclaimed, having no idea what was going on.
Irina regained her composure and nodded in approval. She and Morse briefly exchanged glances. She realized that it was his timely intervention that averted the impending danger. Irina's eyes flashed with pride, and she looked at Morse with a critical look. She didn't express her gratitude directly, but frowned. "Not bad." There was a hint of annoyance in her words. 'I don't know how he did it, but I don't owe this guy any favors.' "After we leave here, I will definitely settle this account with you. I will never owe you any favors." After saying this, she turned her head and started to move forward. "That would be best," Morse muttered, and then walked towards the body. "What did you say?" "I said I know, I'm not helping for nothing." "cut......" Irina pouted and walked ahead, while Morse walked towards the body and retrieved his arrow. boom! Just as the team continued walking for a short distance, they suddenly heard an explosion and screams coming from all around. "It looks like we've reached the boss's territory."