Free Web NovelChapter 15: Going in Solo
Some students laughed nervously.
Others had their confidence drained.
Luke could even hear a girl near him start to hyperventilate.
The professor gave the students a moment to process his words.
"I do not say this to scare you, but to warn you. Neither the academy nor the rifts care about your pride or the family you come from. You will not be evaluated on just your strength, but also teamwork and ingenuity. You all better grab a weapon, retreat if things go bad, and don’t waste mana trying to show off."
Watching the professor’s stoic expression, Luke couldn’t help but respect the danger awaiting him. It didn’t shake his confidence, instead it helped him calm his fear.
"That is it for class, we are running a shortened schedule due to the practical. I wish you all luck, you’ll need it."
Just like that the professor walked off the stage and exited the lecture hall.
The room erupted into conversation. People panicked to their friends, hyped themselves up, and even tried to find people to team up with.
Luke didn’t care about any of that and quietly left the lecture hall, heading towards his next class.
The rest of the classes were about the same as the first.
Each professor brought up a different statistic in hopes of scaring the students, for what reason, Luke didn’t know, but he watched it work time and time again.
Even Valeria joined in on the action. She mentioned how there had never been a case of a student who had comprehended a spell, dying in a rift during the practical. Luke couldn’t tell if this was an attempt to console him or fearmonger his fellow students, but it seemed to have both effects.
By the time the students were walking towards the Practical Magic Usage building, almost every student had lost their smug grin; replaced by nervous teeth grinding and nail biting.
The walk seemed to drag on for an eternity before they finally reached the large metal stadium-like building. Inside was a large practice facility. There were rows of weapons, ranges with dummies for target practice, and even a track to work on physical endurance.
Students funneled up the small ramps, leading to rows of bleachers. The silence was palpable as everyone quietly found a seat.
After the last few students trickled into the stands, a woman in athletic wear walked out onto the practice field, along with several other academy personnel.
"Can everybody hear me?" The woman called out.
The students all nodded their heads.
"Good. Your practical will start shortly. There isn’t going to be a grand speech or anything, in a moment you all will be able to form teams. Once you have your team, you may grab a weapon from one of the racks. Then head to the exit over there and grab one of the video transmitting crystals. If you fail to do so, you will be legally banned from entering any rift for as long as you live. After that continue through the exit and follow the path to the rift park. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Professor." The entire student body chanted in unison.
"Good. You all may begin."
Luke, along with every other student, got out of his seat. Luke didn’t have a single friend in the academy, let alone an acquaintance, so he walked past everyone and grabbed a spear from the wooden rack.
He noticed several groups had already reached the exit and were excitedly talking strategy. The walk across the field felt impossibly long, and the butterflies in his stomach certainly didn’t make it feel any shorter.
When he reached the exit, Luke picked up a little crystal from inside a wooden bucket, it had a little clip on the back for him to pin it to his chest. Luke did just that as he walked back outside and followed the stone path leading to a large warehouse-looking building.
Students weren’t allowed past this point until after they completed the practical, after that students could apply to enter the rifts in the rift park.
He walked past multiple groups who stood off the pathway strategizing. The walk was longer than expected with it taking almost five minutes to reach the rift park.
In front of the entrance were two ladies holding clipboards.
"Name." The lady on the left asked him.
"Lucius Kreuger."
He watched as she flipped multiple pages, before tracing the paper with her finger.
"Ah, you are assigned to rift 687. Do you have a party?"
Luke slung the spear over his shoulders, resting his arms around it.
"Nope, I’m going in solo."
The lady seemed a bit shocked when he said it, but quickly recovered.
"I see. Well, best of luck to you. There are people waiting inside. Tell them your rift number and they will point you in the right direction."
Luke nodded, before walking into the entrance.
He walked down a short hallway, before turning a corner and seeing hundreds of rifts floating above the floor. Each one was a different shape and color, but their sizes were relatively equal.
Each looked like a tear in space, inside was just flickering black void.
Luke walked into the rift park, finding there to be multiple men in suits. Behind them were signs that listed numbers in increments of 100’s. He walked over to the man standing by the 600 sign.
"I’ve been assigned number 687."
The man nodded and looked through his list.
"You will be that way. All the required information for the rift is on the podium in front of it."
Luke watched as the man pointed to the far side of the rift park, before the man returned his gaze to the students entering behind Luke.
Following directions, Luke walked around hundreds of rifts. During the walk, he stopped to look at a few of the podiums, finding that most of the rift contained normal beast type monsters like wolves or moles.
Around him, groups nervously walked into their assigned rifts.
His rift was near the back, surrounded by similar sized rifts. Luke couldn’t help but notice the weird cracks that surrounded the rift, almost like a hole in glass. Rifts were known to be connected to random space on the other side, but the more he analyzed the rift the more it looked like a tear in space itself.
But none of these thoughts would help him survive.
Luke stopped before the podium.
Cave Type Rift - F-Rank
Enemies: Spitter Spiders
Spiders shoot a hard mucus-like substance at explorers. The mucus causes a slight burning sensation but does not have an actual effect. Recommended to keep a close distance to spiders when fighting.
’Perfect, not only do I get a rift with spiders, but I also need to be close range. Out of all the F-Rank monsters, I got probably the only one that has a long range attack. Just my luck.’
