After they were seated inside, Steve closed the door and sat across from them, quietly opening the pages on his clipboard. Dennis looked around; the room they were in was a glass-enclosed mezzanine overlooking the entire gym. A massive console was attached to the wall directly in front of and below the window, providing a view of the whole field inside the gym. That console was used to display and adjust the difficulty levels of the hyper-realistic holographic simulations and to transform the gym floor into a holographic arena.
Dennis looked back at Steve, who sat relaxed with his legs crossed on the sofa as he read, though his forehead was clearly furrowed, his eyebrows met in the middle, and his jaw was set tight, lost in serious thought. The room was deathly silent, save for a low hum vibrating behind the glass windows surrounding them. After a few moments of silence, Steve finished reading and looked at Dennis, Daisy, Gary, and Olivia sitting before him.
"Before we talk, let's watch the recording of the exercise we just finished," Steve said.
Steve grabbed a remote from the coffee table and pressed it. Instantly, all the glass windows turned into screens showing the simulated battle from an overhead perspective, from start to finish. It was clear as day: Dennis roared as he activated his War Cry skill, and every student around him standing in the middle of the intersection was immediately enveloped in a red aura that swirled up from the bottom, covering each individual like fire. The students then fanned out into the four streets—north, south, east, and west—to hold off the enemy assault.
Steve zoomed in on Dennis at the very front alongside Gary, with Daisy and Olivia right behind them, leading the others toward the south. They immediately suppressed the incoming enemies as a team of just four initially, until the other teams joined them. The four of them watched the exercise play out until finally, Dennis's War Cry reached its time limit three minutes later. At that moment, only Dennis's team and the other teams with him held their ground and pushed back against the thousands of Crawlers in the south—but in the other lanes, every team was completely wiped out once Dennis's War Cry wore off.
What was truly amazing was that every Crawler from the other lanes gathered in the south, and their team, along with the others, finished them all off until only one minute remained on the clock, making it look like a total massacre. This happened because they didn't realize at all that the Crawlers coming at them were from the other directions; everyone, including Dennis, assumed the Crawlers were from their own lane and were endless because the goal was simply to survive.
Dennis, Daisy, Gary, and Olivia went silent after watching the entire footage to the end.
"How is that possible? I did feel like the enemies were endless... but did we really kill that many?" Gary asked.
"That's exactly why I wanted to talk to you," Steve replied while glancing at Dennis.
Immediately, Gary and Olivia looked at Dennis. Even Daisy looked over while wrapping her arms around Dennis's, while Dennis just squeezed his hands together and looked down.
"What did you do, Den?" Gary asked, breaking the silence.
"I... I didn't do anything," Dennis answered hesitantly with his head bowed.
"Is that so? Alright then, I'll show you another clip. Take a look," Steve said, pressing his remote again.
This time, the window display showed the battle from a close-up range. Dennis watched the footage; their fight was seen from above, close enough but also far enough away that everything was visible in detail. Dennis could see himself going on a rampage, killing dozens of enemies with every strike, but that wasn't what stunned him. It was clear on the screen that Daisy, who was always beside him, looked like she was being hit by a glitch—sometimes disappearing, sometimes appearing, and sometimes blurring. Dennis squinted his eyes and immediately turned pale. What he saw wasn't a glitch; it was Daisy switching forms with incredible speed.
One moment she was a Dhampir firing hundreds of blood bullets with her pistols, the next she was an Elf firing a gatling gun with laser-like rounds. One moment she was a Half-Orc who lunged forward, sent hundreds of enemies flying in all directions, and the next she was a Half-Dragon shooting fire like a flamethrower.
One moment she was a Cat Beastman teleporting here and there, wiping out the Crawler army with some kind of bombs, and finally, she became a figure like a Grim Reaper who dragged the Crawler army into the ground. All of this was done in a flash, invisible to the camera so it looked like a glitch—except to Dennis, who saw it clearly.
"Gulp."
Dennis swallowed hard; he immediately went pale and stood there dazed, his jaw practically dropping to the floor. Slowly, he glanced toward Daisy, who sat next to him looking proud because, in her eyes, what she saw was Dennis in action beside her, even though she herself looked like a glitch.
Dennis's question about how he could reach level 10 so easily was answered instantly: as it turned out, his seven wives residing in one body were truly working without exception to make him stronger. Naturally, Steve stopped the footage the moment he saw Dennis's expression. After that, he leaned forward and stared at Dennis intensely.
"Then... care to explain? Your power is clearly way above average. Those Crawlers were obviously no match for you, even though they far outnumbered you," Steve said.
Gary and Olivia immediately turned to Dennis, their faces full of questions but also showing a hint of relief that Dennis was on their team. Meanwhile, Daisy stared at Dennis with pride and a wide smile. Dennis himself stayed silent, sweat pouring down his face and his heart hammering in his chest. On one hand, he wanted to say that he wasn't the one who wiped out all those Crawlers—it was Daisy.
But on the other hand, he wondered what would happen to Daisy if he told the truth. He didn't want to steal Daisy's credit, but he also wanted to protect her since he didn't know how many people were aware of her condition. That's why he remained silent, unable to answer quickly as he weighed every possibility.
After a few moments of silence while trying to avoid Steve's piercing gaze, Dennis finally lifted his head and looked back at Steve.
"I... I don't know. My body just moved on its own. I don't know what my power is yet; I haven't checked with the Hunter Guild," Dennis said, which was half-true.
"Hmm... that makes sense. It says here you just experienced your awakening and haven't had the chance to get checked. Fine, I'll write a letter of recommendation to the Guild so you can be evaluated. You have a great chance of becoming a Hunter and defending this city," Steve said seriously.
"Alright, sir. Thank you," Dennis replied, feeling a bit relieved that Steve buying his words.
After that, Steve began to explain his actual reason for bringing the four of them in to talk. He said he would be registering the four of them as a single team—the school's core team—to represent the school as hunters and in competitions against other schools. Dennis felt an immediate wave of relief as the topic finally shifted, and he simply kept nodding along.
Then, "bum," Daisy, looking absolutely thrilled, suddenly hugged Dennis so tightly that her entire body was pressed against him. Meanwhile, Gary and Olivia just kept nodding with thin smiles on their faces as they listened to Steve's future plans for the four of them. Dennis could only smile and squeeze Daisy's hand where it was pressed against his arm, but in his head, his mind were racing.
"I have to ask Daisy later at home... we need to have a serious talk about this," Dennis said to himself while listening to Steve's plans for their future.
***
After being grilled inside the room for 30 minutes, they were finally released and allowed to head back to their dorms or apartments. While walking down the corridor, Gary, who was walking beside Dennis, gave him a hard slap on the back.
"Alright, we're a team now. Let's do our best, partner," Gary said with a smile.
"O... Okay, thanks... partner," Dennis replied hesitantly.
"The core team, huh... but isn't the core team usually six people, like our seniors?" Olivia asked, sounding confused.
"We're only just getting registered; maybe they haven't found the other two yet," Daisy answered.
"Yep, exactly. If I had to choose, we should get Jason and his wife Kimberly... both of them are sharpshooters. we're lacking long-range, right?" Gary said.
"Oh... that's true. I agree," Daisy added.
"We should just try to suggest it; after all, they're in the same track as us anyway, right," Olivia added.
"Wait a second... if Jason and Kimberly join... that means the five most popular students in our grade will be on one team... and then there's me? Man, it feels like I don't belong here... this is so awkward... why can't I just be on a team with Daisy? She's seven people and every one of them is a cheat... ugh... this makes me not want to come to school anymore," Dennis muttered in his heart, his self-confidence vanishing in an instant.