The jungle clearing fell into a heavy, suffocating silence.
Even the distant cries of monsters and the rustling of leaves seemed to fade into the background as the five students tightened their formation around Damon. The humid morning air hung thick between them, charged with tension, while the filtered sunlight that passed through the canopy above cast broken patches of light across the forest floor.
Damon stood calmly at the center of it all, his golden eyes slowly scanning the students who had surrounded him. For several long seconds, neither side moved.
Then one of the male students suddenly broke into laughter.
"Hahahaha… just look at the arrogance on his face," he said loudly, his voice dripping with contempt. "Even after being ambushed by five people he still stands there smiling like nothing happened."
His eyes narrowed as he stared at Damon.
"Just because we're commoners, huh?"
The female student standing among them spoke next, her voice much calmer but carrying the same hostility.
"I was actually skeptical about this whole plan at first," she admitted as her gaze fixed on Damon's expression. "But after seeing that smile on his face…"
Her lips tightened slightly.
"…I think we made the right decision."
Damon was still smiling at them.
But inside his head—
What?
What the hell are they talking about?
His thoughts stumbled for a moment as he tried to process the accusation.
I didn't even know they were commoners.
His eyes flickered briefly across their faces.
And what plan are they talking about?
The situation suddenly felt far more absurd than threatening.
Then Damon laughed.
A sharp, mocking laugh that cut through the tense silence of the clearing.
"Hah."
The moment he spoke again, the arrogance in his voice was unmistakable.
"What kind of plan could insects crawling at the bottom possibly come up with against me?" he asked mockingly.
His posture straightened slightly as he looked down his nose at them.
"Do you really think that just the five of you are enough to handle me?"
The reaction from the students was immediate.
Another male student stepped forward, his expression twisting with anger as Damon's words struck exactly where they were meant to.
"You think we're just five people?" he shouted.
His voice grew louder as he spoke.
"The entire commoner student body is working together!"
His finger pointed directly at Damon.
"We're making sure that you get eliminated today!"
His words carried the weight of the frustration that had clearly been building among the commoner students.
"To show the nobles that they can't keep oppressing us!"
The other students around him nodded, their anger feeding off each other.
"If one Damon can beat Lucian…"
His voice rose even higher.
"…then all of the commoners together will beat one Damon!"
Damon listened quietly as they spoke, his golden eyes moving from one student to the next while his mind worked quickly.
Tch.
Why am I the one who has to pay for whatever mess this body created before I arrived?
His gaze briefly dropped to the ground.
Well…
This body is mine now.
While the students were still focused on him, Damon casually shifted one step sideways toward a small stone lying nearby on the forest floor.
"Don't move!" the female student shouted immediately.
Damon stopped.
For half a second.
Then his leg snapped forward.
The stone launched off the ground like a bullet, shooting through the air toward the tree branch where the sniper was crouched.
At the exact same moment, Damon shouted loudly,
"Heaven-Shattering Resonance Surge!"
The effect was immediate.
The male students' eyes widened in alarm.
"Prepare yourselves!" one of them shouted urgently. "He's about to use his resonance!"
The group instinctively ducked as they braced for the incoming attack.
High in the tree, the sniper reacted just as quickly.
Her crossbow fired.
The arrow struck the flying stone midair.
"BOOM!"
The explosion shattered the rock instantly, scattering fragments of stone and dirt across the clearing. A dense cloud of dust spread outward, momentarily swallowing the entire battlefield in a haze of drifting debris.
For several seconds, the students remained crouched, waiting for the attack they believed was coming.
But nothing happened.
Slowly, cautiously, they raised their heads.
The dust began to settle.
And as the clearing became visible again, confusion spread across their faces.
"…Where is he?"
One of them turned in a slow circle.
"…Where is Damon?"
By the time the dust settled in the clearing, Damon was already far away.
He moved swiftly through the dense jungle, weaving between the towering trees and thick undergrowth with practiced efficiency. Branches brushed against his shoulders as he ran, and the damp soil beneath his boots barely slowed his pace as he slipped through the forest like a shadow disappearing into the wilderness.
But he was not running toward the location where the Manacron had warned of the incoming breach.
He was running in the opposite direction.
Damon's mind worked quickly as he moved, his sharp golden eyes scanning the forest ahead while his ears remained alert for any signs of pursuit.
There might be more people waiting there, he thought grimly.
The earlier ambush had already told him enough about the situation developing among the commoner students.
With this body and sneak attacks I can deal with one or two people.
But five or more…
He exhaled quietly while leaping over a fallen tree trunk.
That would be stupid.
Even with the advantages of this body, fighting a coordinated group without knowing his own resonance would be reckless. The exam had only just begun, and there was no reason for him to waste time and energy proving a pointless point.
Damon slowed slightly as he landed on a slope of soft soil before pushing forward again through a cluster of dense shrubs.
"Let's just find another breach," he muttered to himself.
The jungle stretched endlessly around him as he continued running deeper into the simulated world, his eyes constantly searching the surroundings for the next monster… or the next sign of mana instability.
***
Back in the academy auditorium, the massive monitoring chamber had grown far more animated than before.
Dozens of floating projection screens captured intense battles against monsters, while a few displayed the shimmering distortions of breaches that had already begun opening across the exam site.
The instructors stood among the glowing panels, their attention shifting constantly as they observed the unfolding chaos.
Suddenly, a familiar manic laugh echoed through the room.
"Hehehhahaha!"
Professor Valerian Vox waved his cane enthusiastically at one of the screens floating nearby.
"Come here, come here!" he called out to the others, barely containing his excitement. "This one is interesting!"
Miss Elowen and Instructor Garrick stepped closer.
The screen flickered briefly before zooming in on the scene unfolding inside one of the breaches.
The environment inside the breach looked nothing like the calm jungle outside. The space had twisted into a cavernous battlefield surrounded by jagged rock formations, where cracks in the ground leaked streams of molten fire that illuminated the entire area with a violent orange glow.
At the center of the chaos stood Khaira.
The beastwoman moved like a raging storm.
Her horns glowed faintly in the fiery light as she tore through the towering mini-boss monster that had emerged within the breach. The creature—a hulking beast covered in thick armor-like scales—swung its massive claws toward her, but Khaira didn't bother dodging properly.
She crashed forward instead.
Her fist slammed into the monster's side with explosive force, sending flames scattering across the cavern walls. The creature roared as it tried to retaliate, but Khaira was already moving again.
A powerful kick shattered one of its legs.
Before the beast could even recover, Khaira grabbed its horned head with both hands and drove it violently into the burning ground, the impact sending sparks and fire erupting through the air.
The entire breach filled with blazing light as the monster finally collapsed and dissolved into swirling particles.
Back in the auditorium, Valerian clapped his hands enthusiastically like a delighted child.
"Isn't it amazing?" he shouted excitedly. "Isn't it amazing?!"
"Hihihahahaha!"
Garrick, however, had already turned his attention to another screen.
For the first time that morning, a faint spark of interest appeared in his otherwise exhausted eyes.
"Look at that one," he muttered.
The screen shifted to another breach.
This one looked completely different.
Instead of fire and chaos, the environment resembled a rocky cavern, its walls uneven and jagged as massive stone pillars rose from the ground like natural fortifications. The air itself seemed strangely heavy, as though something invisible was pressing down on the space.
At the center of the cavern stood Lucian.
His posture remained calm, his sky-blue hair gently moving as faint energy pulsed around him.
Across from him stood the breach's mini-boss—a towering stone golem, its massive body carved from solid rock as glowing cracks of mana ran through its limbs.
The monster raised its arm to attack.
But before the blow could land—
The air around Lucian shifted.
The entire cavern seemed to tighten.
Invisible pressure filled the space, subtly bending the environment around him.
The golem's movement slowed.
Its massive arm trembled as though an unseen force had suddenly taken hold of its body.
Lucian stepped forward.
His movements were smooth and effortless.
The invisible control surrounding the battlefield crushed inward as the golem's body cracked under the pressure. Stone fragments splintered off its limbs before the entire monster collapsed inward like a crumbling statue.
The golem shattered completely.
Fragments of glowing stone dissolved into floating particles of light.
Lucian simply stood there as the breach cleared.
Back in the auditorium, Garrick stared at the screen quietly.
Across the vast spread of floating projection screens, similar scenes continued unfolding one after another. Some breaches were cleared by tightly coordinated groups of students working together, their combined attacks bringing down the miniature bosses with careful teamwork. Others fell to individuals who fought alone, relying purely on their own strength and skill to overwhelm the creatures inside.
On several screens, beastmen could be seen emerging from breaches laughing loudly, their triumphant roars echoing even through the magical projections as they celebrated their victories with the same wild enthusiasm they showed on the training grounds. In contrast, the elves treated their successes with quiet composure; when a breach collapsed behind them, they simply stepped out calmly as if the result had always been inevitable.
Watching the displays, Miss Elowen smiled warmly.
"Isn't it wonderful?" she said softly. "This year's students are incredibly capable. They're clearing breaches one after another."
Instructor Garrick, however, did not share the same excitement. He folded his arms and looked at the screens with his usual tired expression.
"Are they anything close to real breaches?" he replied bluntly. "This is nothing more than defeating a mini-boss inside a small environment with a few gimmicks. Apart from the core breaches, these are basically just fights against slightly stronger monsters."
Several instructors standing nearby nodded quietly at his assessment.
Even Miss Elowen gave a small acknowledging smile as the next wave of simulated breaches continued opening across the jungle world.
***
Deep inside the jungle, Damon pushed through another stretch of dense undergrowth, his boots crunching softly against the dry leaves scattered across the forest floor. The humid air clung to his skin, and thin beams of sunlight filtered through the tangled canopy above, casting shifting patches of light across the uneven ground.
Damon slowed his pace slightly, irritation creeping onto his face.
"Where the hell are all these breaches?" he muttered under his breath.
He stepped over a fallen branch and glanced once more at the navigation display hovering faintly above his Manacron, which stubbornly showed no new alerts.
Then suddenly—
"TRINGTRINGTRINGTRINGTRING!"
The sharp warning tone echoed loudly from his wrist.
Damon froze.
The Manacron screen lit up instantly as a holographic notification flashed before his eyes.
For a brief moment he simply stared at it.
Then a slow smile spread across his face.
Finally.