Making Progress

Dan and Marcus could see where it was they were heading to on the map which was given to them by the Guild Master. However, after travelling for a while across the desert, Dan was beginning to look dull and sluggish as he began dragging his feet along the sand. His expression resembled that of frustration as he began shaking his fists aggressively.

"I wonder how far Kayden had gone on his own? Hey, do you think that he might already be there?" Marcus asked, turning to face his classmate. "You don't look so good. Dan, what's going on with you?" he asked, concerned. Dan turned his head to look at Marcus, his eyes wide in furry.

"Are you mad?! How could you ask me such a question when you already know what's wrong?! We're out here, in the middle of the freaking desert crawling with dangerous beasts everywhere because we're looking for some idiot wanting a death wish!"

Marcus took a step back in fright. He had never seen Dan ask so rashly before. Normally, he looked more calm and collected than the others. However, this display had made him realize just how dire the situation was that they were in.

Meanwhile, Kayden had just drank the Mana potion, bringing his Mana up by five hundred. It may not have been much, but it still was enough to allow his injuries to fully heal. He didn't have enough to sustain his transformation for a while, so he decided that he would head out of the cave, but not before taking what he hoped would be useful from the cave.

There wasn't much stuff that the adventurer had left behind to begin with. Other than a few empty glass bottles, and scraps of food, there wasn't anything he saw that could be useful to him.

'I guess I'll just have to leave empty-handed,' he thought, stepping towards the entrance of the cave. He looked in every direction, hoping that there wasn't a beast in the area, before walking out. He wasn't sure if he could find his way back to the town with the way he was. He was barely strong enough to even transform to grant himself the insane speed he was capable of.

While thinking about this, he soon began to pick up on a scent. Thanks to his enhanced sense of smell, he was able to pick up on all sorts of odours around him. However, concentrating hard enough, he could tell that the scent was from a human. But, he also noticed that there were other strong scents surrounding it. These might have been beasts close by.

Kayden decided to head out anyway, further reminding himself that none of this was real. He had been trekking for a while, and not a single beast had been spotted. His Mana was slowly rising up as well, but he didn't know how long it would take till he would even reach the forest which had been burnt down.

'This whole simulation is shit! Just what do they want to achieve by putting us through trauma?! Do they expect us to become strong enough to defend against the Shales?! Do they really think that this is what we need in order to learn how to survive?!' he yelled internally, his walk turning into a sprint.

'These guys at the military are nothing but assholes! Ever single one of them are nothing but devils that want us to suffer! And even the students! All they care about is climbing ranks! They have no idea what people like me have to go through everyday!'

Images of his family back at home flashed through his mind. Seeing the smiles on their faces, it made him begin to shed tears. Moreover, a distant memory, something he never thought would resurface, had flashed through his mind, causing him to loose his senses once more. His body began to change, and he began sprinting as fast as he usually would across the terrain.

Somewhere inside the Arena, their instructor was watching everything that was happening in the simulation through a large screen. Although she wasn't alone. The man who was responsible for the simulation was present as well. He would constantly push buttons while flipping switches as well. He seemed quite invested in what he was doing. The same could be said for the instructor as well.

'That kid... it seems like whenever he's angry, his form gives him an extra boost in power. That's quite remarkable. I guess the other instructors did the right thing in wanting to learn more about him. Now, even I'm interested in learning more about what this kid can do,' she thought to herself.

While all of this was going on, the other students were busy having their class with the other instructors back at the abilities class. While Zain had won his match against his opponent, the other students had done so as well. However, while some were still having their matches, the red-haired student couldn't stop thinking about something.

In the world today, most people were out able to hold one ability at a time. The known exception to this rule was those who had the Mystery Class ability that allowed them to copy abilities. Zain had never heard of a student whose ability tended to shift from the Razor Class to the Tracker Class and vice-versa.

This student he had fought against was named Jake, and his ability tended to either be the same with Zain, or teleportation. The instructors were also intrigued upon learning this, so much so that he was made to take part in both classes, depending on which ability he could use at certain points in time.

Also, Zain was struggling to learn a technique called Mana Control. Although the teachers had oy started teaching this technique today, he wanted to learn and master it as soon as possible.

The adventurer had made it to his desired location for hunting beasts. It wasn't too far away from the cave. In fact, it was the very same forest that had been destroyed not too long ago. Thanks to the constant noise being produced from before, more beasts had been attracted to the area, and we're quickly making their way towards the cave before the man had met up with them halfway there.

"Today must be my lucky day," he said, as he charged his hands with lightning, shooting them at the beasts. This adventurer seemed quite strong, being able to easily kill so many beasts in one day. He looked confident as he had set them all ablaze. However, more could be seen coming from not too far away.

He proceeded to charge up more attacks, killing off more beasts that were coming his way. After a while of constant killing, it appeared like the stream of beasts was coming to an end. Noticing this, the man charged up one last attack, and killed off the remaining beasts heading his way.

Once the flames had settled, he then went on to harvest the beasts' Mana cores before heading further out to hunt more beasts. Although he had harvested many, he wouldn't have to worry about how he would carry them, as all adventurers were given special items called spatial rings which were capable of storing items such as Mana cores in them amongst other things.

Seeing as the area around the cave was free from any form of threat, the man decided to head further out and even into the desert to hunt down more Scorpanions and other beasts such as the Dark Wing.

Dan and Marcus were being cautious as they travelled through the desert, not wanting to stumble upon another one of those beasts that resembled a serpent. Marcus couldn't stop fidgeting as he would occasionally grab onto Dan's wrist from time to time the moment he hears some strange noise.

"Let go of me, creep!" Dan shouted, shaking his wrist violently, trying to shake off the strong grip Marcus had on him. The student would eventually let go but not before bursting into tears and falling onto the sand.

He was scared, but so was Dan. They were on their own in this vast expanse of land where beasts roamed freely. They could already imagine something shooting out of the sand and devouring them the next second.

However, not wanting to spend too much time in one place, Dan decided to keep on walking on his own, not caring whether Marcus would follow him. Seeing this, Marcus quickly got back to his feet, chasing after Dan who now seemed to be walking a little faster than he was before. Meanwhile, Kayden was running as fast as he could across the area, making his way back to the desert.

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