Lucian was up before dawn. Leaving Aria asleep, he pulled Holon aside with a strict set of instructions: keep an eye on her and report the slightest issue immediately. He made it absolute—if an emergency happened, he would drop whatever he was doing and open a gate to return the second he got the call.

The tiny demon snapped a crisp salute.

"YES, MASTER!"

And with that, Lucian left.

...

..

.

A few hours later...

At the border of the Forbidden Forest, around two hundred students stood gathered, representing the distinct dress codes of five different academies.

Standing directly in front of them were five academy professors. Out of them, Lucian only recognized Professor Kael. He did not know the other four yet they had auras so imposing that their presence alone spoke volumes about their strength and authority.

Standing beside Professor Kael was a female professor draped in a deep blue glowing robe, her posture radiating pure strictness. On the other side, another woman in dark leather combat gear casually flipped a small blade in her hand, her demeanor relaxed yet sharp. Next to them stood a bulky, giant of a man clad in heavy crimson armor, his mere presence was suffocating. And finally, the last male professor stood with an arrogant posture, chin raised high, surveying the crowd with such contempt that it was as if he saw them all as nothing more than insects beneath his boot.

The average students stared at the five professors in awe and wonder. Thus, among the crowd, True prodigies could feel it clearly — these five were True Rank monsters and It was an unspoken fact that if any one of them wanted to, they could easily handle the entire class alone.

All the students already knew that this upcoming practical exam wouldn’t be easy. Yet among the crowd of two hundreds, murmurs began to spread when their eyes shifted away from the professors and landed on what stood directly behind them — There, at the treeline of the forest, a giant, pitch-dark cavern entrance gaped open. The darkness inside the nether dungeon mouth was so thick that trying to guess what lay hidden within was utterly impossible.

Scanning the area with his eyes, Lucian muttered inwardly, 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Guess Master isn’t going to be participating as an instructor inside the dungeon...

He let out an anxious sigh.

"LISTEN UP, YOU DAMN MAGGOTS!"

A thunderous, booming voice erupted across the entire area, instantly silencing all the chatter among the students. That voice belonged to that bulky, muscle-headed professor who came forward in front. The badge on his broad chest clearly read ’Sovereign Monolith Academy’, and his rough, dominating stance made it crystal clear — he wasn’t going to tolerate any nonsense.

"My name is Magnus. And I absolutely cannot stand hearing those whispers you are all making so — shut it right now and listen carefully, because I will not be repeating myself again. You got that, you little pests?"

Magnus jabbed his thumb back toward the dark dungeon entrance, drawing everyone’s attention as his voice boomed again.

Your first task is simple — Form teams of six and get inside this dungeon! It’s called the ’Wall of Play’. Once your first trial begins, all you need to do is cross the wall. I don’t give a damn how you do that — just do it if you don’t want to fall behind. once you clear that layer, push deeper toward the second floor as fast as you can!"

Magnus’s face lit up with excitement as he opened his mouth to share the next detail.

"On the second floor, your task gets even simpler! One of us five instructors will be waiting for you there. Use your teamwork to beat us... snatch our, this badge... and move on to the third floor!"

He paused as his grin widening more.

"And now about the third floor — that one is the easiest! There’s just one Boss Monster waiting for you. Kill it, rip out its core, and you’ll see a gate on the far side. Cross it and claim first place. Piece of cake!"

As he delivered that last line, Magnus’s face stretched into a wide, innocent smile — as if, in his mind, this really was just a fun little game.

However, the faces of all the students standing there had turned pale. They grimaced in stunned silence, staring at the maniac professor and all thinking the exact same thing — Has he lost his goddamn mind?

Beat the instructors and then fight a boss monster? It became painfully clear — this man was completely insane.

Breaking the heavy silence, Professor Kael stepped forward. Without changing his expression, he grabbed Magnus by the collar of his coat and yanked him back with a sharp tug. Then, letting out a long sigh, he barked out the final instruction in a low, thundering voice:

"Why the hell are you all standing around like a bunch of bricks?! You have exactly 15 minutes! Form your teams of six and get moving!"

Immediately, all the students scramble into action. Those who already had intel about the exam had pre-formed their groups and were now rushing to register their team names.

Lucian stood alongside Sera and Elira, waiting for Lyria, Zeri, and Kaelen to arrive.

Several students from other academies noticed Elira and Sera’s strong presence and began approaching them.

"Umm... Miss Frostviel, would you like to join our—"

"Nope."

"Greetings, Miss Ashenblade. I am the prodigy of the House of Ashgar, and I—"

"No, sorry. I have already teamed up..."

"Hello... Elira Frostviel, we know your — "

"Nope."

Despite Lucian standing right next to them, it was as if he was completely invisible. Every single person just blatantly ignored his existence and only tried to recruit the two girls.

Sometimes it really hurts, man... not getting noticed at all, Lucian sighed inwardly.

Elira shifted slightly closer to Lucian, coldly rejecting everyone who approached. Sera noticed Elira’s detached, blunt way of turning people down and leaned in close, whispering near her ear.

"Hey, can’t you reject them a little more nicely? You know these people could cause problems for us inside the dungeon..."

"I am perfectly capable of handling all of them," Elira replied smoothly with one eye shut — deadpan as she glanced at Sera’s pure chubby face.

"Or perhaps... you still doubt your own skills, even after all that intense training with Miss Myra?"

Sera’s whole face turned into an ugly mess of twitches.

This little...

Right at that moment, a group from Sovereign Monolith Academy started heading toward Lucian. Leading them was the top prodigy Zenith Korr, with the heavily armored Viktor Ashford by his side. And finally — walking right along with them... was Adrian Valemont.

Lucian’s stepbrother.