How To Survive A Calamity

Victor leaped off the twisting branch of a tall tree in the ashen forest, the sound of his fall broken by the scattered dry ash coloured leaves. He had an arrow knocked against the string of his bow.

"I think that's the last of them?"

"Are you certain?" The voice of the one who responded belonged to Deandra who directed Victor a look.

And then Chelsea slumped over her knees as her spear rolled to the ground and she sighed.

"Oh thank heavens. It's over!"

The group had continued to challenge the simulation of the Ashen forest for the rest of the days of the week left until the time of the exercise. They had slain near countless Monster reflections, reaching new heights in skill and experience in the act.

The simulation chamber was incredible.

In merely three days, it felt almost like the naive cadets of yesterday had become veterans.

But of course reality was much more crueler and colder than any pale imitation. At the end of it all, the Simulation Chamber, yet, only replicated, at minimum, almost a vague ninety seven percent of whatever it was imitating. And this was to various levels of challenges and difficulties.

But it was also undeniable that the cadets of Deandra's groups had matured and strengthened their individual strengths, and overall group performance.

Their formations have been much more solidly restructured, and each member had grown accustomed to the abilities and nature of their teammates. At least good enough to trust their backs to one another.

For the most part. Stay connected via empire

Meanwhile, Victor continued to be a pain in the arse.

A vast patch of land was made a morbid graveyard of slain monster, corpses sprawled all over.

Don, Trise, Deandra — all of the cadets of the group were heaving and exhausted.

"Hahh...hahhh... I'm almost out of Mana."

"...Hahhh, me too.."

Don and Trise respectively felt a massive blow to their Mana reserves.

As a Psychic who disregarded universal and natural laws to bend aspects forcefully to his will without any coherent sense, Don exhausted slightly twice the amount of Mana any regular Mage would on simple spells. And he didn't have much to begin with.

As someone believed to be blessed with talent and Awakened as a Supernatural ability holder, Don had almost barely never invested extensive training in his body and abilities.

Most of the time he just had his family deliver to him skill books and Monster cores, and Items.

Battle Mages, as well, were individuals also considered slightly unique Awakened. Battle Mages were different from most other types of Mages, in the sense that the idea of a Mage was an Awakened who stood at the back line and supported from behind with long range spells and boosts.

Battle Mages on the other hand could execute key martial prowess in battle and close combat, while also skillfully using Magic and spells on the frontline.

At times, they were often mistaken and compared to Aura users because of the level of dexterity displayed in close combat.

As such, the types of spells usually suited to Battle Mages were slightly different and considered a level and amount of Mana that could be startling at times.

Same could be said about Deandra, she to felt the tug in her reserve — although she handled it with more composure than Trise and Don.

Regardless, the continuous use and engagement of their Cores continuously over the course of the last few days had managed to improve their perseverance and reserves slightly with time.

As for the Aura users of the group. Aura was fundamentally more denser than Mana, and the power levels and ranks of Aura users was more or less determined by the density of the Aura.

Since low ranked Aura users rarely could execute powerful bursts of attacks on par with spells, and mostly focused on body refinement, enhancement and body purity, Aura wasn't as easily expended or exhausted, at least, not on the same level as Mana users that burned through reserves like gas.

Victor, for one, was a clear example. Actually, he had barely even used even a bit of his thick liquid aura. And that was only during subtle imperceptible moments when the monster being faced looked troublesome for the current level of the group.

He would execute a partial form of his art, Armament, which had risen an entire level in proficiency over the last year, to imbue a very minute fraction of his aura into his bow.

As always, his skills and talents in Aura and Ether manipulation were almost incomparable to other cadets his age, and only continued to passively develop over time due to his physique and Ether Blessing attribute.

When Victor used Aura at such a level, none of his group members, not a single one of them would notice.

But to Victor, it wasn't much of a feat he felt all that proud of. It was something he could in his sleep, so Victor hadn't acknowledged his innate talent as a skillful Aura user, who was still only lacking better experience.

He'd just imbue his arrow with a blank look and pull his bow.

Since Victor was often at the backline, or scouting from above in the trees, he hadn't expended as much stamina and strength as the others who were fighting on the frontline.

So Victor was more or less fine. No, considering he did 'nothing', he was a hundred percent, with a well topped up Aura core and full stamina.

To the others, it looked almost like Victor hadn't even participated, and such a thought irked Don but he decided to keep to himself.

For now.

Deandra glanced at her exhausted teammates, sheathed her sword and nodded in satisfaction.

Then she looked up at the dark greyish blue, lightless sky, and said, her voice was clear and direct.

"End sequence."

The next moment, like a button or switch had been flipped, the entire 'world' surrounding them....began to crumble.

The area of destruction and confrontation scattered with the dismembered and charred corpses of Monsters vanished. The shattered, fragmented moon hanging in the lightless sky dissolved into fine particles, appearing as only a distant dream, strangely.

The Ashen forest...the simulation was unraveling finally.

It dissolved into illusionary white blocks, and further broke down into scattering particles that quickly vanished like illusionary dust.

A backdrop of pure white and only white appeared to replace the crumbling world.

The true form of the Simulation Chamber had been revealed.

A vast hall of tall and wide white walls and spotless wide white floor, with a domed white ceiling revealed itself.

On closer inspection to the walls or floor, very small and almost tiny blueish white and silver veins ran across the surface in complex patterns, like some circuit.

That was indeed what it was — a wide complex Mana circuit controlling various aspects, rules and laws governing the system of the Simulation Chamber.

With a considerable amount of energy — Mana or Aether poured into it, these complex Circuits could designate and recreate near almost anything to near perfection.

When Victor saw the true form of the Simulation Chamber reveal itself, he felt a small shaky breath leave his lips.

As the reflection of the Ashen forest vanished, so did the cold and eerie feeling the simulated world of the Dungeon. It felt like an invisible weight had been lifted off their shoulders, feeling their lungs with relief.

Indeed, there was mental strain to the mind when using the chamber, since all perceptions were influenced by it.

With the simulation over, so was the putrid smell of blood and charred flesh. In fact, every small scratches and wounds on the bodies of the cadets had also been erased, as those were also simulated reflections which teased the mind to feel the pain when struck by an attack.

It took a little while to adjust even to the sudden change in the weight of the air.

-Clap! -Clap -Clap!

A middle aged man wearing a dark uniform appeared, stepping into the vast Chamber from the only entrance and exit. He had short greying hair and a small moustache. His palms struck each other as he clapped his way towards the cadets.

Next to him was a much younger seeming -- though still middle aged as well — woman in a lab coat holding what resembled a wide tablet.

"Commendably done. As expected of some of the finest cadets of the academy. Yet again, you have exceeded the record of your previous immersion. It's a far cry from how you all were only a few days ago when you first came here."

"Instructor Wells."

Deandra stepped up to salute the approaching middle aged man, yet another instructor called Wells, who was in charge of the Simulation Chamber.

He was the same person to have granted Deandra limited permission to use the immersive nature of the Simulation Chamber for a period of time in a day.

One of the numerous privileges the second ranked cadet enjoyed.

Victor shot Deandra an envious glare from the side.

Meanwhile, the Instructor continued, his assistant with him.

"This is still a far cry from the unpredictable nature of a Dungeon, but with this little experience gathered these last few days, I'm sure you and your group members will do well enough for the exercise at the very least. You have done well, watching you young ones develop yourselves earnestly was enjoyable."

"Thank you, Instructor. But i still feel this isn't enough. The criteria of the exercise still hasn't been revealed yet." Deandra responded.

The Instructor wearing a uniform laughed and walked up to her.

"No, i think this is fine. There's no longer any time before the Exercise. Rather than spend the rest of it working all of your cores off..." He looked between Deandra, and then at the other cadets.

Exhaustion, and yet determination outlined the the outlay of their faces.

... Exempt for Victor who seemed like he wanted to to go home.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"...Why not have the next day off instead. Your members will have to be in full shape for the exercise in time don't you think. And besides, you all have worked hard enough to earn it. Well, it's all dependent on what you're group leader says though." Instructor Wells added and chuckled at the end.

Deandra looked a little unsatisfied at first. But then she pondered the instructor's words and advice, turned around to face her teammates, and sighed.

"Fine then."

It was also tactical to raise morale.