Lucas' POV.
I braced myself for the usual crowd attraction as I made my way past a number of people.
''Hey, Is that not the Sword Blade's disciple?''
''The Sword Blade has a disciple?''
''Dude, are you sure you are alright in the head?''
'' What do you mean?''
''He's the SSS rank talent holder everyone is talking about''
''Wow!... I did not follow the press conference but I overheard some people talking about it... So it turns out he is also the disciple of the Sword Blade''
''As expected of a prodigy''
Not paying attention to the discussions and glances aimed at me, I quickly headed to the second floor of the awakening center through the elevator.
This was where the virtual reality tower of the academy was located. A group of more than 100 people stood before two large holographic screens, seemingly glued to whatever they were watching as heated discussions simultaneously broke out amongst them.
'' They must be watching the performance of someone in the virtual reality tower'' I mused as I strode past them, not in the least bit concerned about who they were talking about . I visited the VR tower for myself, not to involve myself in other people's business.
Frankly relieved that they failed to notice me due to their interest in whatever they were watching, I opened the door to the room where the virtual reality helmets were located.
The walls of the room boasted a pristine white complexion and the floor was layered in thick transparent glass. The room housed about 75 dark colored virtual reality helmets with about 50 each laying on a bed. As for the remaining 25, a number of people had them occupied.
I proceeded to lay on a bed, then I put on a virtual reality helmet.
[ Scanning complete, User Lucas Grimstone .... Choose tower floor to challenge.... User has decided to challenge floor 1, 2 and 3... 5,000 student credits fee will be deducted from the user's student account... Enjoy your journey, awakened]
'' Finally done with the initials'' I sighed impatiently, anticipating my first diving into the awakening center's virtual reality tower. My vision darkened for a second, and the next instance, I suddenly found myself in a dense forest full of ginormous trees.
The sky had assumed a pale blue complexion, and the strong warmth of the sun gave off a very familiar summer feel. I could feel everything as though I were in real life. My heartbeat, my breathing, the usual skin sensations of real life, everything...
'' As expected of a 100 percent simulation technology''. I wondered, quite marveled by the profoundness of this technology.
''No wonder a number of people lose the courage to challenge the virtual reality tower after facing traumatic deaths and extreme levels of pain during the challenges of the virtual reality tower. The pain they experience and the manner of deaths is so real and real life imitating that if one has a weak will, your mind can be scarred in real life'' I mused intriguingly, as I tried to familiarize myself with my surroundings.
Abruptly, a holographic interface appeared before me .
[Tower AI notice; Choose floor 1 difficulty mode... Difficulty mode A; Easy mode...Defeat 10 E rank daibolic sabretooth tigers in the next 2 hours. Reward... 500 student credits... Failure .... minus 600 student credits
Difficulty mode B; Intermediate mode...Defeat 16 E rank diabolic sabretooth tigers in 30 minutes. Reward... 1000 student credits.... Failure... minus 1600 student credits
Difficulty mode C; Hard mode.... Defeat 30 E rank diabolic sabretooth tigers in 5 minutes... Reward... 3000 student credits.... Failure... minus 3500 student credits]
I glanced at the interface and sucked in a breath of air. '' As expected of the famous virtual reality tower. There are even rewards and penalties for failing to challenge a floor... This is to deter people from challenging the floors of the tower with the intention of goofing around and not taking the challenges seriously.''
Without any hesitation, I proceeded to choose the hard mode difficulty option.
[Challenge begins, good luck].
I stood in the forest, awaiting the appearance of the sabretooth tigers.
My current location was one that naturally gave me the advantage over the fight that was to take place between the predators and I.
Suddenly, malign growls reverberated through the environs.
The vibrations of their growls would have probably caused an ordinary person to faint, however, I was no ordinary person. I was an awakened.
Suddenly, without even sparing me a moment, they appeared.... Thirty of them. I turned around to look around me . I was completely surrounded.... and ...shocked.
I had assumed that because these creatures could not utilize the agency of flight, I could perform some aerial movements with the aid of the dispersed trees as I keep a distance from them, whilst launching long ranged attacks, which is, the fame bullets from my Pyromancer's slug skill...
However, I was wrong.... I had to go all out... I had to utilize my flame maestro skill, because these creatures were too gigantic. A single one of them towered about 3.5 meters... There was no way I could evade them with the aid of the trees. I could only use the brute force of the flame maestro skill to eliminate them. I had initially decided to test the efficiency of my pyromancer's slug skill, however that was no longer necessary. I could not afford to lose any student credits....
I stood in the midst of the diabolic sabretooth tigers as they threw a deafening stare and slowly approached me with steady steps. I then made my decision, I would take the initiative to launch an attack on the beasts, in a way that would execute them all at the same time..
A notification from the AI feature of my ID slot popped up on my retina.
[Flame Maestro has been activated].
I concentrated blue flames around my right hand as I punched the ground before me with all the strength I could muster.
The blue flames spread quickly from the current location of the ground where I punched to a radius spanning where the savage beasts were.
Shsssssh...
The blue flames made contact with their feet, then spread to the upper parts of their bodies.
Growwwlll...
The towering monstrosities raged in pain, but the flames quickly executed it's death command.
I glanced at the conflagration of blue flames that performed a gruesome massacre before me.
Thump.... Thump... Thump..
The diabolic beasts slowly fell to the ground, causing it to vibrate... However ,under my command, the flames persisted in it's assault, until a few moments later, not even ashes of the beasts were seen...
They had been incinerated into nothing..
I felt goosebumps. I knew this was no large accomplishment...Well... Considering how strong I wanted to become, this result was pretty much.... average... However, it was not that... average... It was terrifying...
In a few seconds, probably about 50 seconds, I had defeated the E ranked 30 diabolic sabretooth tigers... Something an ordinary E rank awakened would have struggled with... Although they were not intelligent creatures and acted on instinct, making it easier to defeat them, about 30 of them could give any E rank awakened or E+ awakened a run for it...Let's not forget the fact that I defeated them in the hard difficulty mode..
However I had no room for pride... I was still not strong enough... I shook my head, ridding myself of my narcissistic thoughts...
I glanced at the notification that indicated that I had defeated the beasts and set a new record...
The 3000 student credits I was supposed to receive, had been increased by the AI system of the virtual reality tower to 4000.
I smiled, as I dissapeared from the first floor.