Chapter 4: Lily Adams (3)

15 Crispember 2314

Lily's POV

TRRING TRRING

The blaring alarm on my phone rudely awakened me yet again, reminding me that whoever decided that early rising is a good thing should end up in the 19th level of hell.

Even though there is a strong desire in me to sleep continuously, unfortunately for me, and for everyone who hates waking up early in the morning, I do not have any leeway to do so.

Today is the day of the Practical Examination for our First Mid-Sem. It will be held 500 km to the west of Aroa City, in the outskirts of Ouroboros Forest, known for its expansive width and being one of the biggest forests in the continent, Eusia. This forest houses many deadly monsters and animals ranging from F to S Ranks.

...

(Flashback of Theory Exam)

Monsters are creatures that have gone crazy due to the presence of mana in the environment. Animals, on the other hand, still retain their sanity.

All monsters are born with a core inside their body, while there are animals that are not born with a core.

For example, Fire Wolves are a type of monsters who have a mana core inside their hearts. Human Beings are a type of animal who do not have cores inside them.

.

There have been many beings who have mutated due to the presence of mana in the environment. For example, vampirical humans, elven humans, etc. Although they are categorized as humans, their powers are similar to these creatures according to the fantasy creatures' theory of the age past.

.

1,000 years ago, suddenly mana manifested on Earth resulting in mayhem.

Although it is labeled as the time of a new beginning, that era is also known as the darkness of humanity. Many atrocities were committed by fellow humans against one another. Ugliness ran rampant, yet that was the time when true beauty shone as well. Heroes were born, villains were born; heroes protected, villains killed; heroes lost, villains won; heroes won, and finally, villains lost.

When finally, humanity came out of the ditch and looked at the blue sky filled with beauty, they were thrown abruptly into a garbage-filled with blood, bodies, and flesh.

800 years ago, vampires emerged from the darkness and wreaked havoc throughout humanity. However, humanity fought fiercely, and after 100 years, a stalemate was reached. Unfortunately, humanity lost control of one of the two continents, Ausica.

.

In this world, there are three continents – Eusia, ruled by humans; Ausica, ruled by vampires; and Antia, a forbidden land on the south pole, filled with ice-type monsters. In its center is a black and red haze about which nothing is known except that it suddenly and without notice came into existence 700 years ago.

In the land of Antia, even 3 SSS Rank, 9 SS Rank, and 28 S Rank humans died, while 5 SSS Rank, 14 SS Rank, and 57 S Rank vampires perished. Only because of that incident, humans and vampires reached a stalemate.

.

950 years ago, around the year - 1360, when the presence of mana forcefully made everything in the world evolve, each and every being sensed a tremor deep within themselves. A screen materialized in front of everyone, displaying their very information. The screen also conveyed that it is a system only for those who have mana in them. What all see is a status page that only they can view by using a small part of mana to see it.

.

900 years ago, around the year - 1400, when the craze about the presence of mana subsided a bit, a distortion in space was sensed by a space mage. After staying near the distortion for a few days, a spherical portal came into existence, marking the beginning of the existence of dungeons.

The portals came in varying colors: blue, red, white, black, and colorful (more than one color), representing different types of dungeons according to their color. These types included normal, limit, hidden, exception, and legacy dungeons, respectively.

The normal type of dungeon remains even after it is cleared unless the mana required to access it is exhausted. If the dungeon is not cleared, monsters will emerge from it upon sensing the flow of mana.

The limit type of dungeon imposes an entry limitation, which is entirely random. The limit can only be discerned with a special artifact known as the revelation lens, bestowed upon a hero within one of the hidden dungeons. Unlike normal dungeons, this one never disappears, and only one can enter it. To exit the dungeon, one must completely clear it to disrupt the flow of mana. Various theories exist regarding the method to escape these limit dungeons, but unfortunately, none have proven successful thus far, with the results remaining unknown.

A hidden dungeon does not necessarily mean that the dungeon is hidden, but rather that nothing is known about it. It manifests without any prior notice, and only in this type of dungeon are the challenger(s) awarded something upon completion of the quests given by the system. In a hidden dungeon, there are two outcomes: clearing it or dying inside it. Regardless of the outcome, the hidden dungeon vanishes.

Legacy dungeons are essentially legacies, and only those who are qualified can enter them. Not much is known about them, except that whoever acquires the legacy becomes extremely powerful, either immediately or in the future. The moment one has acquired the legacy, the portal vanishes. However, there are times when the portal vanishes even if no one has obtained the legacy, further solidifying the theory of the existence of other fantasy beings not on this planet.

The exception dungeon is named so because, unlike other dungeons where challengers enter, monsters are the only ones who come out. When all monsters are killed, the Boss Monster emerges. If it is defeated within 24 hours, the dungeon closes. However, if the boss monster is not defeated within that time frame, monsters continue to emerge endlessly until the boss is eventually defeated.

There has never been a time when two portals have manifested nearby each other, perhaps due to disruptions in mana, spatial fluctuations, or possibly both reasons.

(Flashback ends)

…

Ouroboros Forest came into existence due to an SS Rank Black Portal manifesting right in the middle of the forest. It took one week to kill the boss monster, and in that time frame, hundreds of S Rank monsters had already emerged. This incident occurred 80 years ago, and during that fight, 5 S Rank and 1 SS Rank individuals lost their lives.

Well, the Mid-Sem did cover many topics from all of the subjects, and it was a breeze for me. Again, thank you, Eidetic Memory.

***

"Is everyone prepared enough?" Iselia asked for the eighth time, clearly showing that she is nervous, as it will be their first time venturing inside the domain of predators without any protection.

"For the love of God, Iselia, we have prepared enough, so can you please remain silent?" Maria exclaimed in annoyance.

Well, if someone is feeling nervous and they are being shown excessive nervousness, at first, people will sympathize. However, if it goes beyond patience, anyone will feel annoyance. I would have felt it as well if not for the fact that Iselia is the one who is saying it; aww, I just wanna cuddle her.

"Uuu, sorry Mary, but I am feeling nervous. Just thinking about something going wrong, I am feeling anxious enough, my legs are turning jelly," Iselia teared up a bit. Crap, I cannot control myself.

I moved towards her, hugged her, pushed her head onto my chest, and just patted this delicious girl's head, all the while regretting the fact that it is happening outside, right in front of everyone. If only I was inside my or her room, all alone, then-

"Mmm, phew, Lily, what are you doing?" After escaping from my grasp, Iselia asked in bewilderment while blushing.

Damn, she escaped. If only I was stronger.

"Nothing, just trying to ease your nervousness," I said, all the while missing her warmth.

"It doesn't look like that to me," she said in suspicion, glaring at my breasts, which were bigger than hers.

"Hmm? Want me to cuddle you again?" I asked in anticipation, already spreading my arms apart to welcome her into my embrace, if possible, till eternity.

"No," she declared, turning her head away with a red face.

"Attention, students." A loud voice reached us, and upon looking, we found the Head of the first years – Annalise Maritime standing 100 meters away from the entrance to the forest.

"You, the first years, are going to hunt inside the forest, and your targets are already decided based on your team's average strength, which will be sent to your team leaders' ids in a few minutes. The top 1000 students from the second and third years are chosen as your guardians, who will save you in case of any accidents. But do not rely on them to save your lives, as this is a test for you all, not of your seniors. Once you have taken down your targets, you all are ordered to return here. In 5 hours, the exam will be declared over, and whoever is not here will be termed as missing, after which a search party will be sent, but they will only search for 1 hour. Still missing students will be declared dead, and no one cares for the dead. So, take care of yourself and pay attention to time, as it is better to fail than die. Now, in five minutes, you will be ordered to go inside." She said sternly, but anyone can guess she actually cared about us.

PING

Upon hearing the chime for notification, Glenn – our team leader, immediately checked his phone. "Our target is an E Rank Fiery Lightning Kangaroo, and we are supposed to hunt 5 of them," he said in all seriousness. As he, Bruce, and Rajesh are the only ones who are E Rank, while Alice, Maria, Iselia, and I are F Rank, and I am exceptionally weak.

"Sigh~ we will do what we can do, and if we cannot pass, then it doesn't really matter even if we fail," Alice said with a frown on her face.

Well, what can we do? Only if I was not weak, then our chances of passing could have been higher.

"Thank goodness I have frost serpent's poison with me; with it, we can pass," Bruce exclaimed joyfully while checking his ring, leaving us in pleasant surprise.

"If you had it, then you should have said so sooner," I said to him lightly while smiling softly outside and jumping happily inside.

For some reason, he turned his head away from me, leaving me puzzled.

"Team 891 to 900 head inside."

After hearing the instructor calling for 10 teams, among which our team is also included, we all headed inside and walked cautiously towards the North-West, towards the location where Fiery Lightning Kangaroos are said to live.

After 3 kms, suddenly I felt pain at the back of my neck, like getting pierced by a syringe, and then I blacked out.