Dan And Marcus were on their way to wherever Kayden was, travelling across the purple desert on foot. So far, they hadn't encountered anything that could be considered a threat, still, Marcus seemed to be more nervous than usual. From time to time, he would grab Dan's wrist tightly, forcing him to shake away the tight grip before turning to yell at him.
Neither of them knew how long they were walking, but it wasn't like they were getting tired either. They were both strong enough to trek like this for hours. What was bugging them was the fact that they had yet to spot the wolf boy anywhere. At this point, Dan was beginning to think that they teenager perhaps might have been killed and eaten by a random beast.
It wasn't until they had made it to the end of the desert, entering a different area, that they could spot beasts. However, there weren't just one of them. A few meters away, they could see over a dozen beasts surrounding a single individual. The individual, in turn, used his ability to kill of the remaining beast, finishing off the beast horde.
"So many beasts in such a short time. I'm impressed," the adventurer said, before proceeding to extract their Mana crystals. Using his ability, he was able to alter his speed, making himself as fast as someone having a speed ability. With it, he quickly moved from one dead body to another, digging out and placing the Mana cores away. It wasn't until he was done that he noticed two strangers staring at him.
Looking them up and down, he began to nodded his head. He could tell that these two were not adventurers. They didn't have any form of Adventurer's badge on them. Seeing as they were out here on their own, he assumed that they were just a couple juveniles trying to slay some beasts.
Not paying much attention to them, he decided to head back to his cave and pack up his remaining supplies. Since he had already gotten more than enough number of Mana cores, he decided that he would head back to where he came from. However, coming from the direction towards the cave, was a Werewolf.
Kayden had lost control long ago. Right now, what was coming towards them was just like any other beast. Seeing this creature once again, the Adventurer's eyes grew wide in excitement.
"I finally get to hunt this thing down!" the man yelled, curling his hands into fists. His eyes began to glow a bright blue, and Sparks began to form in his hands. The Sparks quickly grew, forming rings spiralling above his palms. Throwing both his hands forward, both of the circular lightning discs flew out, crisscrossing each other midair, before turning around and heading right for the furry beast below.
"No! Don't attack him! He's our friend!" Marcus yelled, running forward. Seeing what one of the two strangers was trying to do, the adventurer shot out a bolt of lightning at the body, sending his body into a state of shock. Although the attack wasn't lethal, it was enough to knock him out.
'Shit! This guy just took out Marcus with a single attack. And it didn't even look like he was trying!' Dan yelled in his head, beads if sweat forming on his face. 'What the heck am I supposed to do now?!' his eyes quickly darted towards the unconscious body on the floor, then at Kayden not too far away. At that moment, his mind went blank, and his body turned numb.
The lightning discs had struck Kayden on both sides of his body, delivering an intense amount of electricity to his body. He howled in pain, jumping high in the air. He shook his body aggressively, trying to get rid of whatever it was that was causing such pain. He was barely able to dodge the attack since he wasn't able to detect them in the first place. And now, he was at the mercy of the adventurer.
Kayden had eventually lost consciousness, followed by the pulses if electricity dissipating as well. Walking towards the unconscious body of the werewolf, the man produced a sword-shaped lightning bolt with his power, before lunging down at the unconscious body. Right as the blade was about to pierce his abdomen, the Adventurer's movements had suddenly stopped.
"Huh? What's going on?" Dan asked, confused. It was then that the environment they were in began to change. The burnt down trees and shrubs began to distort and turn to dust. A more familiar environment was coming to, and then, they found themselves standing at the centre of the Arena once again.
However, this time, Marcus was no longer unconscious, as he slowly opened his eyes, expecting to see glowing blue eyes staring at him. Instead, the first thing he saw was the sight of Kayden staggering on to his feet.
In all of this, it seemed as though he was the one that was affected the most. At one point, he had entered some sort of mode that made him act more ferral than usual. Moreover, he had taken more heavier attacks from the man, causing him to feel an intense level of pain. It was safe to say that today's lesson would leave a scar on the three of them.
While Kayden and Marcus were struggling to come back to reality, Dan just stood there like a statue, staring into space. Images of what had transpired minutes ago began to flash in his mind rapidly. The masked man had knocked Marcus out just like that, and Kayden was in so much pain. He didn't even know whether or not he actually cared about them or if he was just scared that he would've have been the one attacked instead.
Dan had heard of strong adventurers who travel to planets where beasts exist to hunt them down. He had never come across one before, much less someone so powerful. At the back of his mind, he would be reminded that this was all a simulation, a form of training, yet he couldn't bring himself to accept that. What he had just gone through wasn't training, but torture.
Suddenly, the sound of doors opening caught their attention, and stepping out of the room where the simulation devices were kept, was their instructor. She had a serious expression on her face as usual, as he cold gaze fell upon each and everyone of them.
"You all did well. Today's lesson is over," she said, before walking out of the Arena, leaving the three of them utterly dumbfounded. This was the first them she had ever praised their efforts. And even though her words came out cold and emotionless, it still meant something since they had come from her mouth.
Looking at each other, the first to leave the room was Kayden. He had had enough madness for one day and just wanted to head back to his dorm room and call it a night. The same could be said for Marcus and Dan, since they were both roommates in the first place, they decided to head back to their dorm room together.
'That simulation...' Kayden began to imagine everything that had happened. But not just that, his mind began to produce a while bunch of scenerios of what could have happened if all of it wasn't a simulation in the first place. If all of that was real, then Kayden would have already been dead.
On his way to his room, his body suddenly froze. He couldn't move a single muscle of his body. His eyes darted wide in shock, scanning the hallway to see if there was anyone around. However, he couldn't see anybody. This wasn't like Steve's ability that oy worked on his feet, this ability was able to affect most of his body, he was only barely able to move his eyes in the first place.
"Now, it's time you learnt some respect, first year," he heard a voice. He couldn't tell who or where it was coming from. But after hearing it, he had a feeling that it was familiar, that he had met this person before. It was at that point that he remembered what had happened yesterday during the beast weapons class. Although he was not in control, he was able to remember everything that had happened once he had regained his senses.
He had broken the sword that belong to that second year girl, causing her and that red-haired student to flare up in rage. Although he was able to somewhat over power her in state, she was still able to prove to him why there was an obvious difference between the first and second year students.
Kayden had been sent flying towards the wall, crashing into it and loosing consciousness, before waking up in his dorm room lying on his bed. In the midst of these thoughts, he had suddenly remembered something far more important, and sweat began to trickle down his face excessively.
'Shit! I still have to get to the beast weapons class before those instructors deal with me!'
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