Hera glanced at the notification again, making sure she wasn't missing any part of the instruction. As simple as it sounded, she wouldn't put past Mr. Greyson to try to sneak something on the explanation of what she was about to do.
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Beginning the simulation.
To complete it, defeat the monster leader at the end of the cave.
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Behind her, there was only a solid dirt wall. This should be the start of the cave. Looking back at the tunnel under the notification, Hera paused for a moment. One could argue that this was one of the ends of the cave. So maybe she was the monster she had to defeat?
It could be, but at the same time, she felt like that would be too much. Mr. Greyson was very clear on the fact that one of the tests was to beat their previous score. However, doing so should be a whole event for the teacher. Or at least, that's what Hera felt. In the end, she decided to assume the end of the cave was on the opposite side, not here.
Thinking about the games she used to play. Hera crouched down and activated her [Hide] skill. She had no idea what was in front of her, and there was no way she could simply run through here. Making herself harder to see was the most basic thing she could do.
Hera kept walking through the cavern. Someone meticulously placed each torch on the wall there. One on the left, 50 steps later, one to the right. It was too precise to have been made by a living thing. Even if they were following a pattern, there would be small imperfections. Variations in how high, or how it leaned to one side.
She could argue that construction sites could have this kind of precision, but this was supposed to be a dungeon. A place inhabited by monsters. If that were the case, things shouldn't be this well organized. Not to mention, the light was too similar.
Each torch was the classic stick with a burning cloth type. If that wasn't bad enough, their shafts were the same. Down to the very grain of the wood. And almost to prove that this was really a simulation, each flicker, each spark that came from the flames was the same. All the torches emitted a light that changed in perfect sync with all others.
If Hera hadn't paid attention to this kind of thing, the similarities between the patterns, Hera would struggle to believe she was in a simulation. Everything else was too real. The feel of the rocks on the wall, the stale warm air she was breathing, even the light echoing sounds. Every part of her body told her that this place was real. She needed to constantly remind herself that this was a simulation to calm her nerves.
Then again, that didn't help all that much. What was the point of thinking this was a simulation? In the end, she still could die if she were careless.
She had been walking for almost an hour when she finally noticed something different. A few meters in front of her, the path split. Hera stopped and tried to find any indications on where she should go. There were no markings, no air, and no noise coming from the tunnels.
How was she supposed to know? Guessing? Was she missing some obvious clue?
Hera stepped back and tried to use two other skills [Observe] and [Inspect] but to no avail. She looked at the tunnels and back towards where she came. The path she took had some twists, but no hard turns. She could see five torches behind her. All of them following the same pattern right then left.
Looking back at the split tunnel, she searched for torches on the two paths. Both of them had torches inside. One in the left of the tunnel, and the other on the right.
With a frown, Hera looked back once again and saw that the last torch was on the right. To keep the pattern, she would need to go to the tunnel with the torch on the left. Yet, before rushing in, she considered if there was anything else. Maybe a mark on the floor, a different pattern on the walls, anything.
She even tried looking at her tablet, but the map only showed the path she took, and the torches had no distinguishing marks that she could see.
Feeling that this could be the only answer. She activated her [Hide] skill again, since it had deactivated once she stopped focusing on it, and walked towards the tunnel that had the torch on the left. Hera kept walking for another twenty minutes until the tunnel changed into a large open room.
Carefully, she peeked out of the tunnel. The first thing she noticed is that this room had different lighting. Instead of torches, round glowing rocks stuck to the ceiling as if they were lamps. That gave the whole area a light blue glow. The tunnel led to a large coliseum like area. Surrounding it were some holes in the walls protected by thick iron bars.
In the middle of the room, there was a small humanoid creature. It had the face of a dog, thick grey fur, but small arms and legs. It also held a wooden shield and a mace. While looking at the creature Hera activated [Observe].
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Young Kobold (Simulation)
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She remembered reading about those creatures in the guild's archives. They were intelligent and had a tribal society. Vicious when in groups but easily scared when alone. There was also something else. She remembered that those creatures had a weakness to fire. Or was it a resistance?
Hera tried to move a bit closer without getting out of her hiding spot in the tunnel and activated [Inspect]
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Young Kobold (Simulation)
Humanoid - Canine - Manufactured
A humanoid dog that lives inside the MAZE. They travel in packs and have a tribal society where the strongest one is the leader. Sharing traits with wolfs, the elders lead the tribe.
Aggressive when cornered or starved, these creatures show signs of higher intelligence and willingness to work with humans.
They have a deep hatred of fire.
The simulated version shares the instincts of its real counterpart, but not its intelligence. The version created by the simulation is weaker than the ones that live inside the MAZE.
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Hera wasn't able to finish reading the information her skill gave her. When she was about halfway through it, she heard a growl coming from the monster.
Mentally dismissing the window, Hera saw the Kobold running towards her, waving its mace. She glanced back at the tunnel. If she ran, it would eventually lead to a dead end. Not to mention the noise could attract whatever was on the other side.
Having no other choice, Hera charged toward the monster. She hit the kobold's shield with her shoulder, trying to push it back. At the same time, she raised her handaxe to block the mace. Despite being resolute, she took too long to make the decision. The result was a lack of momentum, which caused her tackle to be nowhere near as effective. The creature didn't budge with her tackle.
The mace hit the handaxe, making it flying off Hera's hand. The impact was strong enough to make her fall to the side. Not missing a beat, the monster swung down its shield, aiming for the recruit's head.
Hera rolled to the side until she hit the wall of the arena. The mace struck the ground, making a loud sound. Grasping the sword in her left hand, she leaped to her feet.
Using her back leg to push herself away from the wall, Hera tried a jumping slash at the kobold. In response, the creature raised its shield to block the attack. Splinters went flying off after the impact, but the shield was still in one piece.
Ducking to the left as soon as she landed, Hera went to pick up her handaxe while the monster still had the shield blocking his vision. She grabbed the weapon and ran past the kobold, reaching the center of the arena. She looked around, searching for another way out, but there was only the tunnel she came from.
The creature barked at Hera, drops of saliva flying off its mouth. Every single one of its teeth looked sharp and yellow even under this blue light. If she got bitten, it would be bad. Yet, the kobold didn't charge at the woman. It just stared at her.
Hera took this opportunity to try to come up with a plan. She had only one skill that might help in a fight, but it was a Hail Mary.
She looked at the creature. The mace was in his left hand, while the shield was in its right hand. The shield was also big, it covered almost half of the creature. Similar to the aspis that Leo used during the training. Even if it protected the monster, it would still be tough to move around with something like that.
Walking to the side, Hera tried to gauge the speed at which the kobold could turn. She started slowing and then increased her speed. Just as she expected, the monster had some trouble turning. Not too much, but at least some that could give her a chance. Hera dashed to the right and tried to move towards its blind spot.
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It seemed to have some trouble to follow her. With a smile, Hera moved closer to strike it. When she was in range to strike, the creature dropped the shield, showing it already had the mace mid-swing. Hera's eyes went wide. She tried to stop her movement to evade, but it was too late. Before she could move away, the mace struck her on the shoulder, sending the woman tumbling to the side.
Everything went white. It hurt so much Hera couldn't think. She blinked a few times, trying to focus her eyes. The kobold wasn't leaving any time to rest. Charging again towards the woman, it barked over and over again. The noise being a mixture of angry snarls and triumphant howls.
Seeing the creature run towards her, Hera panicked. She crawled away, trying to flee, but it took more effort than she was expecting to get up. Her arm was still numb from the pain. The sword was on the ground, but she couldn't care less about that right now.
Finally getting up, Hera ran to the side. Closely followed by the kobold. She grabbed her handaxe with both hands and stopped abruptly. With a batter stance, she waited for the kobold to get closer.
The monster crouched down and lunged at the recruit with its mouth wide open. The monster going for a bite instead of still using its weapons. Hera swung the handaxe hoping to hit the kobold. The creature had no way to maneuver in the air, and the weapon caught it on the side of its head.
Hera's balance was off during the attack and, thanks to the momentum, the creature fell on top of her, making her collapse to the ground. She pushed the monster away and, for the first time, noticed the blood coming out of its wound.
Hera stared at the pool of blood forming near the creature's head. The blood was covering small rocks and pebbles, which made it look like there were vermin swimming in a pond of red viscous liquid.
She wanted to turn away out of sheer disgust, but before that she saw the kobold's eye. It was almost halfway out of the creature's skull, the yellow of it mixing with the red, giving it a sickly pus-filled orange tint, it reminded her of a rotting pumpkin.
Hera quickly turned away from it, throwing up in the corner of the wall.
She had killed something.
That thing was alive, and she killed it. She had taken the life of a living thing. Through the corner of her eye, she saw a small flicker coming from the tunnel. Hera turned her head and stared at the torch that was on the path.
The torches that always follow the same pattern. This wasn't real. It was just a simulation. Just like the monster.
But...
As an explorer, she would have to kill things. Even if she decided to be a crafter or a researcher. Killing monsters was part of the job. She had to get used to it.
Hera kneeled beside the monster and forced herself to look at the wound on the side of its head. Seeing part of the bone exposed, she turned her head away.
"No... Hera, you need to get used to it." She told herself and stared at the wound again. Focusing on the exposed flesh, the red stained fur, the chipped bone, the eye still dangling. She forced herself to take in every gruesome aspect of the view.
Fighting the urge to vomit again, she engraved the slash in her mind. There was a reason she was here, she needed to get over this. When she finally had enough, she turned her head away once again.
"I helped on a farm before. This shouldn't be making me sick," Hera mumbled to herself, remembering the summers her mother shipped her to a ranch.
Thinking about what she was doing here, Hera realized one thing. She had beaten the boss of the cave, right? The test was over. She should leave now. Or at least, there should be a notification somewhere, telling her what to do next.
Looking around for a notification, Hera failed to notice the kobold twitch. In a quick motion, it pushed itself from the ground and bit down on the recruit's wrist.
Hera screamed in pain and started to punch and kick the monster, trying to make it stop. The creature, however, seemed to not be bothered by the attacks. Its jaws tightening even more around Hera's arm.
Feeling a warm liquid wrap around the bite, Hera fumbled after her handaxe or her sword. Both weapons were now on the ground. It took way too long for her to find one and start hitting the kobold's neck with the blade over and over. More blood came gushing out of it. Only when the axe cut through half of its neck, the creature finally stop moving.
Hera still had to pry its jaws open to remove her arm from it. When she was finally done, she could see that her left hand was completely covered in blood. Feeling a bit dizzy, Hera tried to cut a piece of her clothing, trying to tie up her arm so she wouldn't bleed out.
She sat down far away from the kobold's corpse than she was before and tried to rest a bit. This time the test had to be over. Maybe there was a problem or something with the simulation. Hera picked the keychain that Mr. Greyson gave to all of them and stared at it for a while.
Maybe the test wasn't over, and if she pressed it now, she would have failed. But maybe she would risk herself too much by staying here. Mr. Greyson said that we could get really hurt.
Before she could reach a decision, the bars in one of the holes on the wall started to move. Surprised, Hera kept staring in shock at what she was seeing.
Five kobolds exited the hole. Four had the same features as the one she just fought. They were exact copies, going down to the maces and shields. The last one, on the other hand, was bigger. It was taller than her, had a thick black fur, red eyes, muscular body and held a rusted longsword in one hand.
Hera activated [Observe] more out of shock than anything.
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Young Kobold (Simulation)
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Young Kobold (Simulation)
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Young Kobold (Simulation)
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Young Kobold (Simulation)
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Kobold Trainer - Leader (Simulation)
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She had to kill that?!
Hera instantly pressed the button on the keychain. But nothing happened. She kept pressing the button desperately while the kobolds looked at their fallen brethren. They howled in pain, and the faces snapped at Hera, growling loudly.
Hera looked at the tunnel she had come from and ran towards it. Leaving behind the weapons and focusing on getting away. Each step sent a shockwave of pain through her bleeding arm. Yet that was nothing compared to the barks of the kobolds in pursuit.
Hera kept running with everything she had. Hearing the loud noises the creatures were making getting closer and closer. She saw the tunnel get wider, and she remembered that the path had split before this part.
She bolted towards the larger area and made a U-turn, diving into the tunnel she hadn't taken. The creatures kept barking, still close at her heels.
Hera kept running, hoping there was something that she could do to save herself. She stepped forward, and her foot sank deeper into the ground. A small clank sound coming from her right followed that. She looked in that direction in time to see a small flash of metal heading towards her.
A dozen arrows fired from the wall. Four ended up hitting Hera in her chest, arm and leg. She fell to the ground in pain. Having trouble catching her breath, Hera looked down and saw that one of the arrows sank deep where her lungs would be. The other one was sticking out of her stomach.
The kobolds were still running towards her. Hera tried to crawl away. Tears running down her face.
"I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die."
She kept saying those words over and over while pushing the button desperately.
The kobold stopped barking and moved closer, making a circle around Hera. The leader gave Hera a malicious grin, and all the monsters opened their mouths.
"I don't wanna die."
Before closing her eyes, the last thing Hera saw, were the kobolds about to devour her.
She kept waiting to feel the bites, but nothing happened. Opening her eyes slowly, Hera noticed she wasn't in the cave anymore.
She was back in the white room. Her wounds were gone, and she was in her normal clothing. Looking around, searching for something that confirmed the cave was real when she saw a notification above a pearly white doorway.
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Test over, please exit the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hera stumbled over towards the doorway, still trying to understand what had just happened.
When the door opened, she was back in the auditorium. A few other recruits seemed to be back already. Percy was sitting at the corner staring at the air. Isabel was hugging her legs, and Wallace sobbed quietly.
Mr. Greyson stared at Hera and said softly
"Take a seat, lassie, when everyone is back, Ah have a few things to say."
Hera sat down, still trying to understand. Was that all a simulation? But the pain felt so real. She stared at her arm, the one the kobold had bitten. There were no markings, no scars, and no lingering pain.
After some time, other recruits exited the simulation. Alex was pale and kept rubbing her neck. Bonnie had a serious expression, but her eyes were red and swollen. Anaya seemed to be fine, but when her friends reached out, she snapped at them. Leo was one of the last ones to leave the simulation. He seemed to be fine, just angry. He sat down beside Hera without saying a word.
The last recruit to leave the simulation was Blue.
The girl stepped out, saw the class, turned to the teacher and said.
"Can I try again?"
Mr. Greyson seemed a bit taken aback, but quickly regained his composure and shook his head.
"Not today, lassie, have a seat."
Hera kept staring at the girl. Why would someone be willing to go through that again?
The teacher deactivated the doorway, making it vanish. The whole room seemed to be more relaxed after that.
"The reason I gave ye all this test was to show ye that the MAZE is not a game. When ye go there, fighting for yer life will be a regular thing. It doesn't matter which role ye choose. Ah want ye all to understand that. It's no shame in being scared to lose yer life. The button was just a way to have ye feel what the real deal is like. To see how ye will act when all safety nets are off. Not for me to see, but for ye to see that. Many people go through life without knowing how they will act in a dangerous situation. Now ye know."
The teacher came down from the stage and sat on its edge, staying closer to the recruits.
"Ye must have heard that today the Guild has more explorers than ever. But that's a bunch of bull crap. Our numbers are even smaller than after the Devil Hunt. Our world is too comfortable, very few people are willing to risk yer life to explore someplace like the MAZE. And most of the people who are willing, are not a part of the Guild. If after the test ye still want to be an explorer, that's fine, and if ye are afraid."
The teacher stared at the recruits, focusing on the ones that seemed to have a harder time dealing with the test.
"That's ok too. No one is forcing ye to be an explorer. If ye want to give up now, ye can still work in the guild. There are many jobs, maybe one will be to yer liking. Ye don't have to make a choice now, but those who already chosen not to enter the MAZE are free to go. Ye don't need to spent the rest of the month here for something ye already know ye won't do."
Mr. Greyson barely finished his sentence when Mark got up and left the auditorium without saying a word. A few moments later, Wallace and Isabel did the same.
"If ye still haven't decided, take yer time. Enjoy the rest of the weekend and rest. If ye give up now, but change yer mind later, ye can start the training again, although Ah think there is a fee in that case. But nothing too pricey, like the level up. Go home, rest and think about what ye want to do with yer life. If ye come to class on Monday, we keep going with the training. If not, no hard feeling and Ah wish ye all the best."
The class stayed silent for a while. The recruits taking in what the teacher had just said. Hera herself didn't know what to think. On one hand, she understood why the test worked like this. On another, she felt it was too much. More than that, she didn't want to see those creatures again. Suddenly the door opened, and Mark walked entered in a hurry.
Seeing the entire room stare at him, he said, "Sorry, I really needed to go to the bathroom. What did I miss?"
Cutting the tension that way made even the teacher start laughing.
"Dammit, laddie. How do ye don't have a hidden skill for that?"
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