Versatile System

Caroline led the way out of the main estate.

Trevor instinctively followed half a step behind.

He had expected her to lead him back to her room where the trained yesterday.

Instead, they cut across the mansion toward a secondary structure,that sat in silent opposition to the main mansion.

"This is my official training room," Caroline announced as the heavy, reinforced doors hissed open as pushed the doors open.

The space inside the hall was a blinding, absolute white.

The walls, floor, and ceiling were composed of a singular, seamless material that reflected no shadows, creating an eerie, sterile atmosphere.

"You can train anything you want about yourself here," Caroline said, her voice echoing slightly in the vastness.

"Whether it’s raw physical combat, the refinement of your essence, or your specific magic abilities." She moved toward a sleek console embedded in the wall.

With a casual tap, she input a sequence of commands. Almost immediately, the harsh white glare softened, bleeding into a deep, atmospheric violet that hummed with a low-frequency energy.

Trevor took a deep breath.

"Why is it like this? Why does the room have to be so... completely white?"

There was a hint of genuine helplessness in his tone

Caroline turned, a playful but sharp glint in her eyes.

"Well, this is obviously no normal room, Trevor. It’s a gigantic physical game simulator." Caroline said with a smile before continuing

"don’t worry just follow my lead. You’ll understand the weight of it soon enough."

With a smooth motion, she plucked two weapons from a rack that shimmered into existence.

She handed him a wooden sword, her smile still radiant.

Trevor stared at the wooden hilt, then at Caroline’s face, searching for a hint of mockery or deception.

Finding nothing but a burning excitement, he took the weapon surprising the question that seamed to rise on his mouth.

"If you can remember what we talked about yesterday,"

Caroline began, her voice turning serious, "there is no way to bridge the gap between where you are and where you need to be without experimentation. You have to experience the pressure."

Without another word, she turned toward the center of the hall. "Bingo," she called out, her voice clear and authoritative. "Please initiate a simulation of the Wanhan Dungeon in China."

A heavy silence followed, Then, a synthesized, melodic voice resonated from the walls.

"Request processed, Mistress. Initializing the Wanhan Sequence. Parameters: Standard D-Rank scaling."

Trevor’s eyes widened. He had read about Wanhan. It was a legendary anomaly—a dungeon that had existed for millions of years, defying every attempt at total clearance.

Despite being ranked as a D-Rank, it was famous for its thousands of unexplored levels and its unique mana-density rules.

To even see an exit, one had to manipulate the floors well enough.

Suddenly, the violet light fractured. Trevor felt the air pressure shift violently, thinning out until his lungs had to work twice as hard.

The hall, which was already larger than four football pitches combined. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

The sterile floor vanished, replaced by damp, jagged stone and the smell of ancient moss and wet earth.

a swirling portal manifested right in front of them. The simulation was so perfect that Trevor could see other explorers and hunters in the distance, locked in fierce duels or sprinting past with the frantic energy of people fighting for their lives.

The realism was staggering. Caroline gave him a silent nod of consent, and together, they dived into the shimmering veil of the portal.

The moment they crossed, a crimson timer ignited in the air, pulsing like a dying star.

> [CONGRATULATIONS ON MAKING IT INTO THE DUNGEON]

> [OBJECTIVE: REDUCE MANA DENSITY BY 1% WITHIN the allotted time.]

> [TIME REMAINING: 03:00:00]

> [WARNING: FAILURE TO CLEAR THE OBJECTIVE WILL RESULT IN PERMANENT LOCKDOWN. IN THE SIMULATION, THIS MEANS TOTAL NEURAL COLLAPSE—OR DEATH.]

Trevor turned to Caroline, his expression a chaotic mix of confusion and genuine shock.

"Death? Caroline, this is a game, right?"

She chuckled, a sound that lacked its usual softness.

"Well, you have to buckle up. This is a very realistic game, Trevor. Every failure here has a massive, crushing impact on our real-world bodies. "

Her grip on her sword tightened. "And one more thing: don’t use your essence. Not even a drop. The aim today is to improve your raw combat intuition, not to rely on your power."

Trevor nodded, his jaw setting in a firm line. He felt a surge of confidence; three hours felt like an eternity.

Suddenly A large goblin roared through the silence of the cavern. Trevor spun around, his wooden sword raised instinctively.

Towering above him was a creature that looked like it had been forged in a factory of nightmares. A floating description flared above its head:

> [F-RANK CREATURE]

> NAME: HAMMER GOBLIN]

On paper, an F-Rank battle was nothing. But Trevor knew that this was exactly why rookie hunters died—they underestimated the "weak." Caroline’s voice drifted to him, light but sharp:

"Don’t judge a book by its cover."

The creature was a goblin, green and slimy, but it was built like a heavyweight gladiator. It stood seven feet tall, with corded muscles and jagged spikes running down its massive arms.

It carried a stone hammer the size of a human torso in one hand and had a primitive bag strapped over its frame.

It didn’t lunge. It paced, its back hunched, its mouth wide open as it waited for a mistake.

Two more shadows detached themselves from the darkness—two more Hammer Goblins, their yellow eyes fixed on Trevor.

’This is only the first floor, yes it already feels like the last’ Trevor thought.

When Suddenly, the lead Goblin moved. With a roar, it lashed its arm forward, tossing the massive hammer directly at Trevor’s chest. The weapon whistled through the air with the speed of a projectile.

Trevor reacted just in time, diving low. The hammer missed his head by a mere two inches; he could actually feel the wind of its passage calmly brush against his hair.

As Trevor scrambled to reorganize his footing, he realized the horror of the weapon.

The hammer didn’t hit the ground; it began rolling in the air like a lethal, heavy boomerang, arching back toward the Goblin’s hand.

But the monster didn’t wait to catch it.

It jumped high into the air, meeting the hammer mid-flight. Its intent was singular and deadly.

With the weight of the stone and the momentum of the leap, it prepared to crush the human in front of it into the stone floor.