--
"Ugh, this again."
"We're here. This time, I swear..."
"Here we go."
"Please, bro. Please!"
"I have to pass. I can't repeat another year! No way!"
TJ can hear the mutterings of his classmates, specifically the repeaters, since he's nearby. Hearing them, he couldn't help but think that
'Right, they've been here before. Is this where they failed? '
Their reactions were somewhat muted but real. They glared at the VR pods like they owed them a gruesome debt.
Come to think of it, maybe they do. If they truly failed at this stage, then it makes sense why they're reacting this way.
It was then that Mr. Eden's voice cut through their hushed discussions.
"These are VR pods," he said. "Some of you can recognize them, others can't. Regardless, it doesn't matter; you're all in the same boat anyway. Whether you recognize them or not, all of you will be lying down on those pods."
"Once it's on, your consciousness will be transported to a virtual reality dungeon."
"In that dungeon, you will be fighting mobs. You'll receive a quest upon arriving there. Your task is to complete that quest. Your time limit is six hours. Once that's over, whether you've completed the quest or not, your session will be terminated and you'll be brought back to reality."
"Just to remind you, you can die in there. The monsters spawned in there are programmed to harm and kill you when given the chance. Now, while you won't actually die in reality, you'd still feel what it's like if it happened. Of course, the pain too. If you're hurt in there, you would really feel it."
"Not in a 1:1 ratio, though. The pain threshold is fixed at 30%; it's set that low under the consideration of your age and your professional rank. We won't change that no matter what you say, so don't even think about it."
"I'd give you another 30 minutes to prepare yourselves. If you don't feel strong enough and don't want to embarrass yourself in front of your classmates, feel free to ignore this and go home."
"However, know that if you do that, your score will be 0, and you'd definitely repeat another year, regardless of how high your scores were during the prior exams to this."
"No hard feelings from me. If anything, you're doing me a favor by not forcing me to care about your well-being."
"But should you decide to stay behind, there's no going back. Once I tell you to go in, you will go in; it'll be too late to retreat by then. Regardless of your reason or wanting to back out at the last possible moment, I won't care. I've given you enough time to consider, and it's you who didn't take it."
"Like it or not, I'm shoving you up in there, and you'll participate. Don't say I didn't warn you. Am I clear?" Mr. Eden sternly asked.
"Sir, yes, sir," the students replied in unison.
"Alright, the 30 minutes starts now."
Just then, a large holographic countdown timer flashed above the room, indicating how much time they had left before the start of the practicals.
Mr. Eden turned to the bulky central computer in the middle of the room and began typing away. One by one, the systems in the room lit up and became active.
Meanwhile, the students coped under pressure on their own terms. Having them wait might've been a bad idea because now, some of them were starting to second-guess themselves.
Even the repeaters were feeling the same.
Speaking of the repeaters, some of their classmates approached them, hoping to get some additional information about the VR dungeon they're about to enter. But regardless of their attitude when approaching them, the repeaters remained silent, much to the dismay of their classmates.
'Get real! Why would we tell you? 'Is what they seem to want to say. And honestly, nobody could really blame them for that.
And so, after what seemed to be the longest 30 minutes of their life, Mr. Eden finally faced them again and told them:
"Alright, brats! Ready or not, you're doing this. Go and choose a pod. Push the green button and lie down inside. Don't make me do it for you; I can't guarantee that I'll be painless."
With that threat, the students scrambled to the pods, choosing one for themselves.
As they moved, TJ walked between Lily and Sieg, and with a low voice, he told them:
"Don't be in a hurry to leave the VR Dungeon once you've finished the quest. If you can stay, stay. Hunt more monsters down."
TJ didn't talk to them again after that; he wasn't even sure if they heard him properly because he spoke too softly.
He picked a pod and went inside. He got comfortable and took deep breaths to prepare himself.
"Can everybody hear me?"
"..."
"Good. Now, I'm going to activate the terminal. Soon, you'll see a system message appearing from the glass asking you whether to enter the VR Dungeon or not."
"Obviously, you will. But you're going to have to vocalize your permission. Say 'Yes,' then you'd blank out for a bit. Shortly after that, you'd arrive at the VR Dungeon."
"Once you're there, wait. You'll be given a quest and additional instructions. You're on your own from there."
"If you're good, then we'd see each other six hours later. Alright, I've said everything I need to say. Get comfortable."
Then, moments later, a system message flashed past his vision, asking:
Enter the VR Dungeon? ]
"Yes," TJ answered after Mr. Eden told them what to do.
His consciousness blanked out for a bit. When it returned, he found himself standing in the middle of a beautiful prairie. He looked up and saw the virtual world filling out before his eyes.
He was by himself, as Mr. Eden stated, but that hardly mattered. TJ was distracted by the realism of this world; he couldn't even tell the difference.
It's so different from the Dream Echo Battlefield.
The sense of awe and wonder he felt only lasted for a short time. Once it cleared, TJ began lubing up his joints by stretching.
A message icon flashed past his vision, but he decisively ignored it. That was an indicator that he had an unread message that's probably important, but he didn't care.
'I've got six hours. I'm not in a hurry,' TJ thought to himself.
And so, he took his time. He stretched and got familiar with his virtual body. And this turned out to be the right call because not even a minute later, he already discovered a difference.
"My body's a bit sluggish," he muttered. "My thoughts flow faster than my body could move. Good thing I noticed."
TJ could tell the difference due to his familiarity with his own body. This happened because the VR pod they used was an older version. It can't sync everything perfectly. The more modern versions could, but not this one.
The fact that he couldn't hear the voices in his head might be an additional factor too.
Without the voices distracting him, TJ could concentrate and focus more effortlessly. He didn't have to defend against his own thoughts constantly. And because of that, naturally, his thoughts and reaction speed will flow more smoothly.
Sadly, his physical body moves a beat slower. If it could, then there was literally nothing for him to be worried about for this exam.
Fortunately he discovered it now instead of mid-fight; otherwise it would've been troublesome and might have caused him to fail.
TJ knew that there's nothing he could do to fix this. So, instead of complaining, he thought that he might as well learn how to live with this; the sooner, the better.
He took out his weapons, including Hotshot, because yes, she came with him here, and he paid attention to how they felt as he used them in this world.
About 15 minutes later, maybe more, TJ sighed and thought, 'This will do. No point in trying to improve it any longer; I'll just be wasting time.'
Now that his blood runs hot, he stood up and finally opened the message he got. The message said:
**
[Final Exam Quest]: Defeat the monsters of the VR Dungeon.
Slime (0/1)
Goblin (0/1)
Kobold (0/1)
Tiger (0/1)
Polar Bear (0/1)
All 5 at once (0/5)
**
Whistles!
"Talk about variety," he muttered before minimizing the message.
In total, his quest was to defeat 10 monsters. 1 of each at a time, then all 5 at once.
Before doing anything, TJ once again looked around at his surroundings. The prairie was large and flat. The dense flora and fauna were quite a distance away from where he was.
TJ had a lot of room to maneuver, but there wasn't much for him to use to hide.
Squinting, he could almost see an invisible wall from a distance. The light reflected weirdly upon it, which was the only reason why he even noticed it in the first place. And coincidentally, that wall just happens to be at the zone where the flora and fauna began.
"Which means I can't go there, huh? I'm limited to this open field? Alright. So be it."
Then, his gaze shifted, and another system message flashed past his face, asking:
[Summon the Slime?]
"Yes."