As they all arrived on the other side, they were greeted with a sight of a mountainous path inside a large forest.
"Is this Fashia?" Amelia asked, noticing the environment around them.
"Yes, welcome to Fashia," Professor Neyman said, as Amelia turned to see a huge camp where the people of the World Academy were staying.
"And this is your test site," Neyman said, signaling a guy to come near him.
"This man will take you to the dungeon entrance, but before that, I need to explain the rules of this test," Neyman said with a smile on his face.
"As you know, the dungeon you will be entering will be a Maze Type Dungeon," Neyman explained,
"So both the teams are supposed to enter at an interval of 5 minutes each."
This was crucial because the dungeon's starting point would change every five minutes.
Although the dungeon had four such starting points, only two teams were competing, so they didn't need to wait any longer than 5 minutes.
"The rules of this test are simple: don't execute any lethal attacks on the opposing team," Neyman cautioned.
"You can fight them at any point in the test, but don't take the fight too far," he added, ensuring everyone understood his point.
"You can use all sorts of tricks, but none of you can leave the dungeon before you secure the Medallion, which will be present in the Boss Room," Neyman explained.
"Can we use our artifacts?" Damian asked, since his shield was an artifact.
"Yes, artifacts are allowed," Neyman replied.
"Remember, this is a test, so make sure to work as a team," Neyman advised.
"We will monitor all of your performances and grade you accordingly," he added.
"Wait, wouldn't the team that enters first have an advantage over the team that goes in second?" Sam queried.
"Don't worry, we will give you tracking rings to ensure something like that doesn't happen," Neyman assured him.
"Any more questions?" Neyman asked. They all shook their heads in response.
"Well, this old man will go and rest. Best of luck to you guys," Neyman said as he turned to leave.
"Follow me, I will take you to the dungeon," the staff member stepped forward after Neyman ended his conversation.
On their way, except for Asher and Alyssa, all of them were observing the place they were in.
Although they were told it was Fashia, they didn't know where in Fashia they were, and the course of the race could be affected by that information.
"I hope we're not in the South of Fashia," Sam expressed with a frown.
"Why south?" Venessa asked.
"Although there aren't any deserts in the south of Fashia, if this is the south, we need to be careful about the plants around us," Damian explained.
"Some of them are very poisonous, and the terrains house many small beasts that share these characteristics as well."
Damian was aware of this because his brother Nate would always be engrossed in reading books that mentioned such things. By spending time with Nate in Soran, he had heard about these aspects numerous times.
As they were following the staff member, Asher was walking at the end, with Alyssa ahead of him, using her wheelchair to navigate.
The path to the dungeon had already been cleared by the World Academy, so Alyssa didn't have to use her magic to float.
After a few minutes, they arrived in front of a large Blue Gate Dungeon, where Kevin and his team were already waiting.
"Oh, they arrived before us," Damian remarked, observing Kevin's team. The tension in the air thickened when Kevin noticed Damian's mocking smirk.
Sam observed Damian's behavior and began to understand the kind of person Damian Seymour was. Damian was always nice with Asher and Amelia, but most people who interacted with him found him infuriating.
'Is he trying to provoke them?' Sam wondered.
Although Damian was essentially good-natured, his mischievous streak often led others to believe he wasn't that decent.
However, his reputation was still better than Asher's, who was avoided by almost every student in the World Academy. Even senior-year students didn't want to get involved with him.
"Okay, everyone is gathered here," Xander said, scanning the crowd.
"I assume that you all already know the rules of this test," he continued.
"This is a C Rank Dungeon, but we have placed the monsters of our choice with various traps inside, so don't try to predict the monsters based on the environment inside the dungeon," Xander warned.
"Both team leaders, step forward," Xander commanded as Kevin and Asher walked to the front.
They stood facing each other.
"Kevin Whiteheart's team will go first in 20 seconds from now," Xander declared, glancing at the timer on his wrist.
"Let's go," Elena commanded, striding towards the entrance of the dungeon. Eva followed her, while Ria cast a glare at Asher's team. Matthew was the only one who didn't care about such theatrics. He merely needed to follow Leonard's orders and give his best to ensure their team won.
He examined the amount of artifacts their team had and concluded that their chances of winning had significantly increased.
Apart from Eva, who had already received the artifact that her brother Reece had left for her, everyone was given artifacts from Kevin's sister, Raelyn Whiteheart. The spear that Kevin was holding was the same one he had won at the auction.
Matthew didn't know about Asher and his team, but he knew that Sam was only using a Rank C Spear, which he had purchased recently, and no other artifact.
"Damn, they're trying so hard to win," Damian said in a voice loud enough to carry. "Look at all those rings," he added in a mocking tone.
Amelia understood that Damian was trying to rile up their emotions before the match began, but she shook her head. 'He is enjoying this too much,' Amelia thought to herself.
Though she was confident, she didn't want to underestimate the others before securing a win.
Elena was about to retort, but they needed to enter the dungeon now.
"Remember, you cannot move until the ring we gave you lights up," Xander instructed as he watched Kevin's team enter the dungeon.
Kevin entered the dungeon, but he couldn't help but feel angry at Damian's mocking stare.
"They will regret their words," Kevin muttered as he turned back to look at his team.
His confidence came from the fact that more than half of his team had already reached D Rank.
Elena, Lishia, and Matthew had reached D Rank, with Kevin being the first to achieve it on his team.
"So, are we following the same plan?" Lishia asked, looking at Eva.
"Yeah, this is a race, so we just need to reach the final position first. It doesn't matter how," Eva replied with a smile.
They started discussing their strategy while outside the dungeon, Asher and his team were still waiting for their turn to enter.
Xander was talking with one of the instructors about the safety of the exam.
This time, they had taken extra steps to ensure the exams occurred safely, without any incidents. They were unaware, but Xander and Neyman had control over all areas within a 20 km radius of this dungeon, and security runes were placed to alert them if anything went awry.
The rumors about Zephyr had also reached the World Academy, but they didn't care much about it as the Elite families would handle it themselves.
"It's time," Xander told Asher.
"Enter with your team," he commanded as Asher stepped towards the dungeon entrance.
The rest of them followed, casually strolling towards the dungeon gate.
"The moment you enter, the test will begin, so don't waste any time or you will be left behind," Xander cautioned, watching as Asher and his team entered the dungeon.
Xander floated above the ground, observing the course from a higher vantage point. He decided to wait there and supervise the test himself.
He didn't need to worry about what was happening inside the dungeon as four professors were already there, monitoring the activities of the two teams.
Communicating with the outside world from inside the dungeon was impossible, with only a few artifacts possessing such capabilities.
So, four professors were sent inside the dungeon a lot earlier than the two teams, and they were going to grade the teams based on their performances.
Inside the dungeon,
"Professor Neyman worked hard for this," Arman commented, looking at the projection in front of him. Neyman used various runes and connected them in a way that allowed all the professors to monitor the teams simultaneously.
"Don't lose focus," Elsa reminded Arman.
"But aren't these traps too difficult for the first-years?" another professor asked.
"Well, given the talents we're dealing with, I think it's fine," a fourth professor replied.
As the four professors conversed, Asher moved inside the straight path that led them deeper into the dungeon.
'So they are monitoring us,' Asher noticed various runes, thanks to his incredibly high mana sense.
'Hungry....' A voice echoed in Asher's head.
'Don't worry. You will get your food,' Asher mentally replied.
It was the voice of Rifir.
He had already confirmed that Rifir would be completely invisible if he used his Perfect Conceal ability, and he planned to use this dungeon to feed his beast.
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