Chapter 103: This World's First Dungeon
【Viktor's Forest Realm】—that was the na of this examination.
According to the rules, each candidate would face 4 encounter battles within the Forest Realm.
The Magical Creatures encountered in each battle would differ, vary in strength, and appear in different numbers.
Across the 4 battles, 1, 3, 5, and 10 Magical Creatures would appear respectively.
Successfully clearing the 3rd encounter battle would count as a passing grade.
Heni swept a wave of Magic Power across the scroll, and the exam rules appeared at its center.
The students present looked at the rules on the scroll, hesitation written across their faces.
They couldn't believe it.
Professor Viktor's exam was actually going to make them personally challenge Magical Creatures!?
This was actually a live combat exam!?
What the hell—wasn't this practically risking their lives?
"As ntioned before, this exam has no limit on attempts. Candidates who fail may retake the assessnt imdiately."
"There is no need to worry either—should your life be in danger, the Realm will automatically teleport you out and treat your injuries."
Hearing this, the students exchanged glances.
While the safety asures did bring a fair amount of reassurance, hearing the words "live combat" still left them feeling sowhat......
Terrified.
The students of the Royal Magic Academy had no real combat experience to speak of.
At most, they had practiced casting spells in the Arcane Hall, taking swings at Wooden Training Dummies.
Even with Associate Professor Heni assuring them there would be no risk to their lives, their instincts still made them resist.
The students' hearts wavered, and so of those standing toward the back had already taken a few steps toward the exit.
Yet perhaps the temptation of earning 2 passing slots in one go was simply too great for the students to ignore.
After a long mont of hesitation, they shuffled back into the crowd.
They would at least watch and see how things went first.
Of course, their retreating had not escaped Heni's notice.
"With that, the exam begins. Candidates who are ready, please line up and enter the examination venue in order."
Those dozens of green Teleportation Formations were what served as the so-called "examination venue."
Heni swept one hand through the air, and the green Formations activated, bursting out with waves of green energy.
Every candidate present understood that once they stepped inside, what awaited them would be an unprecedented live combat assessnt.
Erika was the first to act.
She paid no mind whatsoever to the hesitation and shock of the students around her, and walked straight toward the Teleportation Formation in front of her on her own.
The Teleportation Formation beneath her feet gradually began to glow, and in monts, Erika's body dissolved like trails of magical energy and rged into the scroll.
"She went in!?"
"This......nothing's going to go wrong, is it?"
"Should we wait for Erika to co back out and ask what it's like in there?"
The students who remained exchanged murmurs among themselves.
However, the mont Erika fully entered the scroll, more than a dozen students pushed their way out from the crowd and walked toward the Teleportation Formations in front of them one by one.
And the crowd gradually began to recognize who these people were.
"These people..."
"They're all the top-ranked students......"
Erika was not the only one who had been looking forward to Viktor's exam.
They followed right after her, entering the Realm one by one.
True, they had not participated in Viktor's assessnt at the Arcane Hall that day—but that had been nothing more than a showy educational exercise.
True talent welcos any challenge.
What was more—this was just an exam, and an unlimited-attempt one at that.
If they couldn't even muster the courage to step inside, they might as well give up on the exam from the start.
Once they had all entered the Formations, the majority of the remaining students fell quiet.
They stared at the glowing Formations, feeling a flicker of impulse stirring in their chests like a small fla—only for that fla to be swiftly doused by a bucket of cold water called caution.
At last—a small number of candidates voluntarily withdrew from this exam. With troubled expressions on their faces, they shook their heads, turned around, and walked toward the exit Teleportation Formation of the Mage Tower.
In that mont of leaving, their faces wore sothing complicated.
Whether it was frustration at their own timidity or regret at falling short in ability, it was hard to say.
Heni watched them go without stopping them or urging any of the remaining students to step forward.
After all, it was exactly as these students had sensed.
Professor Viktor's exam.
Was probably the hardest examination the Academy had seen in years.
***
Several threads of green light drifted softly down into the heart of a dense forest, the luminous glow making Erika feel faintly weightless.
Yet the broad, thick leaves surrounding her made clear that this was no illusion—it was a real forest.
This place was a challenge space constructed repeatedly using Cocotte's spatial magic combined with the terrain of the Calamity of Wood.
Each space was independent, and candidates would not interfere with one another.
To Erika right now, the marvel of this space was not yet apparent.
She looked ahead. Beyond a tangle of ssy branches and leaves, there seed to be a faint trace of darkness.
She moved forward, and Erika found a winding path.
The path was overgrown with weeds, making it difficult to make out.
Erika picked her way carefully along the path, not daring to stride too quickly or too boldly.
In this dense forest, even without any Magical Creatures suddenly appearing, the insects and gnats swarming among the thick undergrowth were more than enough to be a nuisance.
Step by step she pressed forward, her footsteps treading over weeds and leaving a trail of uneven prints in the muddy earth.
There was no sign of anyone else around. Erika tried to find other paths nearby.
She turned toward a path off to the side—and walked straight into what felt like a wall.
"Ow ow ow."
Erika rubbed her shoulder, which had just collided with that "air wall," and looked in mild surprise at what lay on the other side of the air.
Everything beyond it was thick forest—yet it was completely sealed off.
"No other route. Just this 1 path."
The novelty of this peculiar exam gave her a sense of curiosity.
It was as though she had stepped into so mysterious hidden realm.
She continued walking forward, and a ray of late afternoon sunlight filtered through the canopy and fell into Erika's eyes.
An exit.
She quickened her pace with 2 swift strides and burst out of the dense forest.
"This place is......"
She took in the endless plains stretching around her, foxtail grass swaying like waves in a gentle breeze.
Just then, a mound of earth near Erika's feet began to writhe.
An earthy-yellow Magical Creature burst violently out of the ground and launched itself straight at Erika's face.
The creature's body resembled a groundhog, but its tail bore sothing that looked like a parasitic flower in bloom.
From its long neck sprouted several furry rodent heads, emitting a cacophony of chittering and quacking mixed together.
Yet what surprised Erika most of all was—the head at the very top had a duck's bill.
"This thing.....is it a rat or a duck....."
As though it had overheard Erika's questioning of whether it was actually a duck, the creature grew agitated, thrashing its body as it lunged at her.
Erika twisted her body and stepped back several paces—the creature pounced into empty air and chomped a mouthful of foxtail grass instead.
Undeterred, it swung the flower at its rear and charged at Erika again.
【2nd-Tier Magic: Fla Burst】
A red Formation took shape in her hands with blinding speed. Erika thrust both palms forward, and 2 pillars of fla erupted toward the creature.
The lunging creature was incinerated in an instant—completely and utterly.
"Hmph. Pathetic."
Erika dusted off her hands. The charred remains of the creature were promptly swallowed back into the earth.
"That was it?"
Unlike the other students, Erika had actual combat experience.
She had slain no small number of fire-type Magical Creatures on Mount Vesuvius before.
Compared to the creatures on that volcano, these ones were considerably weaker.
Erika understood that the Magical Creatures' strength had been deliberately controlled to accommodate all candidates—but that also made things considerably easier for her.
She wasn't sure exactly what thod Professor Viktor had used to direct the Magical Creatures, but this kind of exam was interesting.
Erika continued forward, and the 2nd wave of Magical Creatures appeared before her again.
2 of the duck-billed rat creatures burst out of the ground and charged at her once more.
But this ti, there was an additional type.
From a distance, a small black dot ca hurtling toward Erika at speed.
A bat-like creature beat 4 ragged, tattered wing-like appendages, riding the air currents as it spat 3 blobs of black liquid at Erika in rapid succession.
Erika rolled sideways, vaulting over the 2 rodent Magical Creatures.
In the split second she was airborne, she twisted her body, dodged the black liquid, planted a foot on the bat's back, and sprang backward.
Both hands simultaneously began forming 2 spells.
【2nd-Tier Magic: Whirlpool Cascade】
【2nd-Tier Magic: Fla Smoke Skyward】
Red and blue—2 spells materialized in her hands at the sa ti.
The mont she finished speaking, Erika extended both arms as her body fell toward the ground. The 2 spells coiled around each other and flew toward all 3 Magical Creatures.
BOOM!
The intense searing heat and the water droplets bursting outward shredded a wide swathe through the surrounding grass waves.
A sll of burning rose slowly into the air.
Erika landed smoothly on the ground and let out a breath.
Fortunately, she had trained for a period of ti in her father's Mage Corps, giving her a range of relatively agile movents.
Had she not gotten control of the flying bat beforehand, she would likely have stumbled badly here.
The combination of 2 types of Magical Creatures attacking from near and far in alternation was quite dangerous.
Erika took a mont to recover, then continued walking forward.
Her instincts told her the 3rd wave was coming.
And sure enough—3 duck-billed rats erupted from the ground without warning, which was the na she had just invented for this type of Magical Creature.
This ti, their movents were nothing like the previous 2 waves—they had beco ferociously swift.
A bat racing in from far away sharpened Erika's focus.
"Wrong—there are supposed to be 5 Magical Creatures!"
Erika's sixth sense told her sothing was completely off—the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.
She spun around, and there was a massive Mosquito Fiend diving straight at her.
The Mosquito Fiend's entire body was coiled in what looked like woody vines, its form blending seamlessly into the surrounding green.
Without careful observation, no one would have noticed this cunning predator.
"Just as I thought!"
This ti Erika took a wide step sideways, dodging the duck-billed rats' attack—then, with a pinch of her fingers, conjured a tongue of fla and sent it flying toward the Mosquito Fiend charging in from the front.
The mont the fla touched the creature, it ignited.
She rolled forward and evaded the threat closing in from behind.
But the burning Mosquito Fiend suddenly beat its wings hard—and the flas on its body extinguished instantly.
"Tch."
The Magical Creatures this ti were stronger than before.
Erika recognized this. And so she held nothing back.
A brilliant erald glow lit up at her chest, imdiately enveloping the surrounding Magical Creatures within it.
The Power of Inheritance.
The Erika who had received this power was no longer the person she once was. The formidable natural energy had already elevated her abilities far beyond the reach of re 2nd-Tier magic.
The light gradually faded. The bodies of the Magical Creatures seed to have had a seed planted inside them—suddenly sprouting and bursting open, sharp branches tearing out through their bodies from within.
The Magical Creatures fell silently beneath the fractured late afternoon sun, utterly still.
Their remains dissolved slowly along with the woody vines, and a green Teleportation Formation gradually lit up behind Erika.
A cluster of glowing text ignited in the air and appeared before her.
【Passing grade achieved. Continue the challenge?】
This ant Erika had already completed the exam—she could leave now and participate in other Professors' assessnts.
But......
she didn't want to settle for this.
"Continue."
The mont Erika confird her decision, the Teleportation Formation vanished.
She turned back around. Sohow, without her noticing, a vivid erald path had appeared before her, looking serene and harmonious in the afternoon sunlight.
The flowers along the sides of the path swayed in the gentle breeze, as if they too were rejoicing in Erika's courage.
She drew a long, deep breath, stepped through the grass waves, and walked onward into the depths of the path.
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