Chapter 9: The Monk and the Mountain
The next morning, Ran woke up feeling like a completely new person.
He stretched his arms, and his joints gave a satisfying pop. Because he had awakened a Mythical-tier soul and reached Level 10, his physical body had undergone a massive upgrade overnight. His muscles felt tighter, his breathing was deeper, and he felt a faint, powerful hum of dark energy resting peacefully in his chest.
"I have to be careful," Ran muttered to himself, looking in the cracked bathroom mirror. "If I let even a drop of Chaos energy leak out, the instructor will immediately detect it."
He spent five minutes practicing deep breathing, visualizing a heavy iron box closing around the dark energy in his chest. Once he was sure his aura felt perfectly normal and boring, he grabbed his backpack and headed to Aetheria High School.
When Ran walked through the massive iron gates, he immediately spotted Ken and Leo sitting on a stone bench near the fountain.
"Ran!" Leo shouted, jumping up. "You actually came!"
"Of course I came," Ran laughed, walking over. "Why wouldn't I?"
"I'm not dropping out," Ran smiled, patting his friends on the back. "Besides, I want to see what kind of crazy test they throw at us today."
The three friends walked into the main school building, but instead of heading to the indoor gym, a loudspeaker directed all remaining seniors to the outdoor track field.
When they arrived, the students were already lining up. But the atmosphere was completely different from yesterday. Instructor Hara and her terrifying bat were nowhere to be seen.
Instead, a single man stood in the center of the grass field.
He wore simple, flowing orange robes, looking exactly like an ancient monk. He was bald, barefoot, and had a calm, incredibly peaceful smile on his face. He didn't have a weapon, and he didn't have a giant monster floating behind him.
But as the students gathered around him, Ran immediately noticed something terrifying.
Instructor Hara's Level 50 pressure felt like a heavy weight pressing down on your shoulders. But this monk's pressure was entirely different. It didn't push down on you. It felt like standing at the bottom of the deepest ocean. It was a suffocating, boundless energy that made you realize just how small you were.
"Level one hundred," Ran thought to himself, his eyes widening slightly. "He's a true Master."
The monk brought his hands together and bowed politely to the students.
"Good morning, young Awakeners," the monk said. His voice was soft, yet it somehow echoed perfectly in every single student's ears, as if he were whispering directly next to them. "I am Master Kael. Yesterday, Instructor Hara tested your ability to use tools. But a weapon is useless if the body holding it cannot move. Today, I will test your physical movements and your natural survival instincts."
Master Kael smiled gently. "Because of the nature of my test, this grass field will not be enough. Please, follow me."
The monk turned and walked toward the far end of the field. Waiting for them on the grass was a massive, sleek silver aircraft.
In this era, human technology had advancedko right alongside magic. The aircraft looked like a cross between a modern military jet and a small spaceship. It had no wheels; it simply hovered silently a few inches above the ground, held up by glowing blue anti-gravity thrusters.
"Whoa," Leo whispered, his eyes sparkling. "I've never been on a hover-jet before!"
The students nervously boarded the ship, taking their seats along the metal benches inside. The engines hummed with a low vibration, and within seconds, they were lifting into the sky.
Looking out the large glass windows, Ran watched the sprawling layout of Glory City shrink beneath them. The jet flew straight toward the massive, rocky mountain range that sat behind the school. Near the top of the largest mountain, a massive flat area had been artificially cleared out.
"Look down there!" a girl near the window shouted, pointing a shaking finger.
Ran leaned over to look. In the middle of the cleared mountain plateau was a wide, square dirt arena. It was surrounded by a thick, thirty-foot-tall metal fence to keep whatever was inside from getting out. Scattered all across the dirt were giant boulders, creating a natural, rocky maze.
But it wasn't the rocks that made the students turn pale. It was the monsters roaming around inside the cage.
As the jet landed smoothly just outside the metal fence, the doors opened. The students slowly filed out, stepping up to the metal bars to get a closer look.
"Are those... rats?" Ken swallowed hard, taking a step back.
Inside the arena were dozens of giant, muscular rats. But they didn't crawl on four legs. They were easily half the size of a grown human, standing entirely upright on thick, powerful back legs, almost like kangaroos. Their front arms were incredibly thick and covered in coarse brown fur. They glared at the students through the metal fence, their eyes glowing a vicious, blood-red.
"These are Pac Rats," Master Kael said calmly, stepping to the front of the group. "They are a unique variant of monster. Unlike wolves or tigers, they do not fight with their teeth first. They prefer to punch and kick. A single punch from a Pac Rat carries enough force to shatter a normal human's ribs."
Several students gasped. A few girls whimpered, and even Victor Alfonso looked a little nervous. These weren't basic slime monsters you could poke with a stick; these were brutal, brawling beasts.
Master Kael's peaceful face suddenly turned serious. He didn't shout, but his Level 100 aura slightly flared, commanding absolute attention.
"You are Awakeners," Master Kael said. "You have awakened your souls to fight for humanity. Out there in the real world, the monsters will not hesitate to rip you apart. If you cannot face a caged rat, you have no business calling yourself a warrior. If you are too afraid, you can get back on the jet now. But if you walk away, you will be expelled from this academy immediately."
Nobody moved. The fear of being expelled and ruining their lives was stronger than the fear of the rats.
"Good," Master Kael nodded, his peaceful smile returning. "Here are the rules. You will all enter the arena together. It will be chaos. Your goal is simply to survive for ten minutes. Every successful dodge, and every solid attack you land, is counted as a point. If you get knocked down and a rat goes in for the kill, I will step in and save you. But the moment I save you, your test is over, and your score is locked."
Master Kael reached into his orange robes and pulled out a small, beautifully carved wooden box. He flipped it open.
Resting on a soft velvet cushion were three glowing green pills.
"The top three students with the highest points today will receive a Rare grade Medicinal Pill," Master Kael announced. "These pills can heal broken bones and internal bleeding in a matter of seconds."
Ran narrowed his eyes in thought. Yesterday, Hara gave out pills for mental focus. Today, Kael was giving out pills for physical healing. The school was secretly arming the top students with expensive survival gear before graduation.
I must get into the top three, Ran thought to himself. With his Level 10 stats and Mythical soul, he could easily slaughter every rat in the cage and take first place. But if he did that, Kael would definitely interrogate him.
I need to secure third place again, Ran decided. It's the only way to get the pill without looking like a monster.
Master Kael walked over to the heavy metal gate and pulled the latch. The gate squeaked open. He stepped inside the caged arena first.
Instantly, the heavy, suffocating pressure of his Level 100 aura exploded outward.
The vicious Pac Rats instantly froze. Sensing the terrifying, god-like powerhouse that had just entered their territory, the giant rats completely lost their fighting spirit. They whimpered and scrambled away, huddling together at the far edges of the arena, desperately scratching at the metal fences as they tried to escape.
"Now, get inside and prove yourselves!" Master Kael commanded.
The students nervously walked through the open gate, stepping into the dirt arena. Behind them, the silver jet silently lifted off and flew a safe distance away to avoid the upcoming battle.
As soon as the last student was inside, Master Kael locked the gate. Then, with an effortless, gravity-defying leap, the monk jumped thirty feet straight up into the air, landing perfectly balanced on top of a tall stone pillar outside the fence to observe.
The moment Master Kael's heavy pressure vanished from the arena, the fear disappeared from the Pac Rats' red eyes.
They stopped scratching at the fences. They slowly turned around, realizing the god was gone, leaving only a large group of soft, terrified teenagers trapped inside with them.
The rats bared their sharp teeth, raised their muscular fists, and charged.