When Hugh opened his eyes from his deep sleep, he expected to see the same dark interior of the cave dome. He did not see that, but instead, a bright light filled his eyelids.
Hugh blinked as he tried to adjust his eyes from the different setting. He stretched his whole body as he felt refreshed as ever.
When he opened his eyes fully, what greeted him was a room full of mirrors. He could see himself repeating over and over again infinitely.
He looked around and recognized the place he was in. This was the shifting room from the Student Council Headquarters. This was the place where he accessed the dungeon.
He stood up and stretched his arms as he yawned. He did not know why he was transported back to this place, but he was thankful that it had returned him back.
He realized that he had been away from school for about a week. Any more missed days, and he would be in serious trouble for skipping classes.
He did not immediately get out of the shifting room as he felt like his body felt strange. He felt like something had rejuvenated him like a newborn baby.
He vaguely remembered hearing the notification from his system about his rank up to the D-rank. He tried to punch and the air, and sure enough, the crisp sound was stronger than ever.
He felt the difference in his whole body. He could exert more power, he could see things more clearly, and his skin felt harder than it was before.
All these symptoms were an indication of his rank-up. Hugh smiled as he shuffled his feet and performed shadow boxing. He could much more easily defeat the mole and the squirrel if he had this kind of power before.
He could not see any difference in his physicality, but all the difference seemed to be inside his body. Hugh was intoxicated with this feeling of being the strongest he ever felt.
Since his physical prowess became stronger, Hugh wondered if there were some other upgrades in his armor. He raised his hand and activated his armor to see if there were any differences.
As the brown and silver liquid filled his fist, Hugh felt the same as he was before, only stronger. His metal skin felt tougher than it was before, and his wooden muscles felt like they could explode with much more power.
Even though he felt this strength flowing through his fist, something was nagging at him. It felt like he had more capacity than before, but it was not about his cooldown or activation time.
Hugh followed his gut and raised his other arm. He took a big gulp and tried to activate his armor on his other arm. Like a sea of power, the armor filled his other fist and solidified into a mean weapon.
He looked at both of his hands with a sense of wonder and excitement. He had always felt limiting with only being able to use one limb at a time, but with this power-up, he would have much more offensive and defensive capabilities.
His weakness from before was his limited activation time and being a glass cannon. With a thirty-second time frame, he would be able to use his armor for the remainder of the fight.
Being able to use two limbs of armor simultaneously meant that he could attack his opponent while defending his critical parts.
Not to mention his eagle transformation and regular transformation, Hugh was now confident in standing his ground.
He looked at himself in the mirror and smiled. With a confident swagger, he stepped out of the shifting room.
————————
Two members of the Council Hands were guarding the room to the shifting room. They both seemed bored out of their mind, evidenced by their sleepy look and their lazy posture.
Their job was not exciting, and they only had to stand guard here for hours at a time. Of course, they found a way to relieve themselves of their boredom.
"Have you heard news of V?"
"No, I heard the council still have not found a clue yet."
They whispered their gossip as a way to elude their superiors of this unprofessional etiquette.
"The Student Council had a strict rule in talking about...V."
They both seemed apprehensive about speaking Veer's name. It appeared that the Student Council had put up an order that prevented gossip about Veer or else they would face punishment.
"Yeah, I wonder where he went. He disappeared for about a week now. It looks like V is afraid of us."
The other guard had something to respond, but he looked around the room to be sure. He did not want anyone hearing what he had to say.
"There is a rumor going on."
The other guard seemed intrigued and put his head closer to hear the guard's whisper.
"They say that the fat guy is the same person as V because they have both been away for one week."
The other guard heard this piece of gossip and nodded his head. It certainly seemed plausible from his perspective because it was too coincidental not to be true.
"Why don't they just arrest the fat guy?"
The other guard asked this question because if he were in charge, he would have arrested Hugh the first chance he got.
The guard heard his question and shook his head in disapproval. He seemed to know more about the situation than the other guard.
"That is just a rumor. Our superiors can't convict someone with baseless rumors."
After that conversation was a moment of silence. They knew that there were just mere guards, but they could not help but feel intrigued by this situation.
As far as they knew, they had not heard of something like this happening ever before. The mystery of Veer kept them up on their toes and let their curiosities run amok.
"Oh yeah, where did that fat guy go?"
The guard looked back at the shifting room as he answered the other guard.
"I heard he's in a dungeon."
The other guard heard the answer and his eyebrows furrowed. There was a sense of disbelief plastered all over his face.
"What?! As a first-year? Didn't I hear he was only F-rank?"
"Yeah, it's unbelievable too, but I heard this from credible sources. That's not even the most surprising part."
They lowered their heads further to try and keep their voices low. They had spoken too loud when they heard where Hugh went because it was too unbelievable.
"They say the fat guy bargained his way to be put on the dungeon voluntarily."
The other guard widened his eyes.
"And get this. They changed his dungeon location to the endless horizon."
The other guard blinked and remained speechless as he heard the words 'endless horizon.' He almost could not believe what the guard said because what the student council did was too terrible.
The endless horizon was dungeon filled with nothing but clouds on the floor. There was nothing there, devoid of any treasures nor materials. It was only an endless sea of clouds that led to nowhere.
There had been times of students getting lost and never seen again. Because there were no natural landmarks, it was easy to get lost without a clue in the world where to go.
The only way to exit the endless horizon was to stay in place at the dungeon's entrance. After a week, the dungeon would open again, and the students could go out safely.
Of course, it was not easy to stay in one place. There was a student who had survived inside the endless horizon, only to end up insane from the boredom and isolation.
It was an insanely hard dungeon, but the rewards were nothing. One could not gain anything from the endless sea of clouds even if they stayed there for one week.
The other guard shuddered as he thought about what would happen if he was in that place. He would probably end his misery before a week in isolation.
"So, does that mean the fat guy is dead?"
The guard nodded to his question. He thought it was extremely improbable for Hugh to get out safely. If he were to return somehow, he would have already lost his mind.
"Yeah, probably. For sure."
Just as the guard finished his sentence, the door to the shifting room slid wide open.