CHAPTER 23: FINAL DAY TRIAL (1)

Chapter 23 – Final Day Trial (1)

The soft crackle of embers echoed faintly through the tunnel.

Michael Willson stirred, blinking open his eyes to see the faint orange glow of his campfire dying down to embers. The walls of the cave still smelled of wolf fur and blood — remnants of the Ferin Pack he had massacred and claimed this place from.

He stretched his arms slowly, back stiff from resting on uneven stone.

"...Final day begins."

’ Yes Today is the last day of survival Trial’

His voice was low, barely above a murmur, but it carried through the hollow cave like a whisper of steel.

Yesterday’s memory flickered through his mind. The scene of Leon Lionheart saving Selena Veylan played vividly, though he hadn’t interfered.

Michael frowned, rubbing his temples.

"That event... should’ve happened today."

He leaned back against the stone wall, crossing his arms, eyes narrowing.

"But it happened yesterday. A day earlier."

The crackle of the dying fire seemed to answer him with eerie silence.

"...Butterfly effect. The timeline isn’t fixed. Even though this world follows the game’s events, my presence... my actions... are accelerating or shifting them."

He sighed, fingers running through his dark hair, his eyes sharpening.

"That means every step I take ripples forward. I can’t depend on memory alone. The script’s gone loose."

A grin tugged at his lips, though it wasn’t one of joy. More like a predator savoring an evolving hunt.

"...What a headache. This makes things both easier... and far more dangerous."

Michael sat cross-legged in the wolf den, fingers tapping on the smooth glass surface of his smartwatch.

Click.

The familiar holographic screen flickered to life, blue light casting shadows against the jagged cave walls.

[Academy Survival Module v1.8]

Functions:

• Real-Time Ranking Display

• Vital Signs Tracker

• 3D Terrain Mapping (locked)

• Inventory Capacity: 2 cubic meters

• Emergency Beacon (1 use)

His eyes lingered on the last two lines.

A smile, faint but sharp, tugged at his lips.

"Two cubic meters of storage space... in a wristwatch."

For common students, this was revolutionary. They saw it as a "miracle gift" from the Academy — a symbol of how advanced the Crimson family’s research had become.

But Michael knew better.

Space Affinity.

The entire function was a crude imitation of the true thing. To him, it wasn’t a miracle — it was a reminder.

The Vice Principal, Sophia Emberheart, was the mastermind behind this invention. A woman with genuine Space affinity, one of the rarest attributes in existence. But unlike Michael, she hadn’t reached instinctive mastery. She had used theory, calculations, and runic arrays to create something the Academy could mass-produce.

He leaned back against the cold cave wall, fingers drumming on the steel rim of the watch.

Sophia must know. She saw the cracks in the air when I fought the Ferin Wolves. The small distortions... they weren’t normal frost magic. She’ll connect the dots sooner or later.

His jaw tightened.

And if the Principal joins in on that suspicion...

He pictured Herald Crimson’s piercing gaze from the surveillance room, the way the old man observed him without a word.

Michael exhaled slowly, steam forming in the cave.

"What a headache..."

The watch wasn’t just a gift. It was a leash. A method for the Academy to monitor them, to track their every move, their kills, their growth.

And in his case, it was a magnifying glass, revealing anomalies he desperately wanted to keep hidden.

Michael opened the inventory tab. Inside floated the neat, simplified icons of his supplies: dried rations, vials of water, spare cloth, wolf pelts, and a dagger taken from a fallen cadet.

Convenient, he admitted. No more hauling sacks, no risk of spoilage. A normal student would be overjoyed.

But then his expression cooled.

"If I rely too much on this... I’ll grow soft. The watch can be broken. Taken. Jammed. And if the Academy decides, they can restrict it with a single command."

That was the truth no one else wanted to acknowledge.

The watch wasn’t theirs. It belonged to the Academy.

Every function, every privilege, was on loan.

And Michael hated relying on leashes.

He closed his eyes briefly, recalling the sensation when his frost attack warped during the wolf battle.

The way the world folded around him. The way his blade cut not just flesh, but space itself.

That... was true Space affinity.

It dwarfed the watch’s storage trick. To him, the "2 cubic meters" was laughable. He could sense instinctively that his affinity held infinite horizons.

But that was precisely why it was dangerous.

If the Academy suspected he was ahead of Sophia Emberheart herself in this field, they would stop treating him like a student. They would dissect him politically, academically, perhaps even literally.

Michael flicked the hologram shut, the watch dimming to black.

He rubbed his temple, muttering softly.

"Use it. But don’t trust it."

His gaze sharpened, reflecting the cold glimmer of determination.

"One day, when my control over space reaches its peak... I’ll throw this Academy-made toy away."

The wolf den fell silent again, broken only by the faint drip of water.

He tapped again, bringing up the holographic rankings.

The display flickered into existence:

#1. Michael Willson – 17,260 pts

#2. Leon Lionheart – 16,110 pts

#3. Edric William – 15,730 pts

#4. Selena Veylan – 15,340 pts

#5. Lyra Braveheart – 15,110 pts

#6. Aiden Stromfang – 14,920 pts

#7. Chris Blackthorn – 13,670 pts

#8. Aurelia Miller – 12,780 pts

#9. Maria Frostheart – 12,640 pts

#10. Zack Sunwood – 12,470 pts

Michael’s reflection glimmered faintly against the hologram.

"...Still first." A small smile curved his lips.

But his gaze hardened almost immediately.

"Leon’s catching up. Fast."

He tapped the edge of the watch lightly, as if testing its weight.

"Edric too... That bastard won’t sit quietly while I’m ahead of him. And Selena, Lyra, even Aiden... none of them are slacking."

His eyes lingered on Leon’s name.

"Leon Lionheart... protagonist to the bone. He’ll notice me sooner or later. Not with hostility, but with... acknowledgment."

Michael’s reflection glimmers faintly over the hologram. His lips curve into a faint smile, but his eyes remain cold.

’Still first. For now. But the hunters are circling. Leon with his story. Edric with his pride. Selena with her stubborn will. Lyra with her chaos. Even the weak ones... they all dream of reaching this spot.’

His hand tightens into a fist, the hologram trembling faintly.

’But number one isn’t a dream. It’s mine. And I won’t let anyone take it. Not Leon, not Edric, not anyone.’

Michael’s smirk faded.

"That’s just as troublesome."

Michael crouched at the cave’s mouth, elbows on his knees, eyes fixed on the silver line of the river glistening in the distance.

"The Swallow Sharks..." he murmured, the name alone heavy with predatory weight.

In the game, they were a nightmare. Not because of their rank—D-class monsters were already dangerous enough—but because of the environment. The river was their domain. Once you entered, you weren’t fighting on land anymore. You were trespassing into an execution ground.

He remembered it clearly. Not from his own runs, but from watching hours of gameplay when he still lived in his old world.

A faint smirk tugged at Michael’s lips.

"It was ArkDawn, wasn’t it?"

ArkDawn, a mid-tier streamer at the time. Not particularly famous, but dedicated. He was known for one thing: completing hidden quests that others dismissed as impossible.

One day, ArkDawn had attempted a punishment quest on the Academy Island — hunting the Swallow Sharks.

Michael chuckled dryly.

"He raged for days trying to kill them... called the devs sadists for dropping sharks into a student exam zone."

Back then, ArkDawn was restricted. His level was forcibly scaled down to E-rank stats for that quest. His audience spammed chat with ’throw in the towel’ and ’waste of time’. But the man was stubborn.

Michael leaned back against the stone, eyes half-lidded, as his memory pieced together the details.

ArkDawn tried everything:

Luring the sharks to the riverbank → they dragged him in instead.

Fire bombs to boil the water → too much mana, useless.

Poison arrows → they dissolved on contact.

For nearly a week, he threw himself at the problem. His chat laughed, donations rolled in purely to see him suffer.

And then... a breakthrough.

"Not through killing... through crippling."

ArkDawn noticed that the Swallow Sharks had a quirk. Their skin naturally repelled toxins. But if the river itself was contaminated, they couldn’t resist.

Michael’s expression darkened as he muttered the list like a recipe:

Loltical Flower – a rare herb with paralytic pollen, usually hidden under shade near wetlands.

Shadow Wolf’s Nail – an alchemical catalyst, needed to bind the flower’s toxins into water.

Venous Viper’s Skin – the most crucial. Its scales contained enzymes that dissolved resistances.

"When mixed with water, boiled, and poured back into the river..." Michael whispered,

"...it created the debuff: [Poisonous Water]."

He could almost see the game notification in his mind:

[Poisonous Water: All aquatic creatures in contact suffer -70% to physical and magical stats for 10 minutes.]

The chat had gone insane back then. Donations flooded in. ArkDawn’s name trended because he had found a method no one thought possible.

"But he was restricted..." Michael muttered, eyes narrowing.

That was the cruel part. The quest locked him at E-rank. Even with the sharks weakened, fighting them was a death sentence. ArkDawn barely survived by luring a single one to shallow waters, then using guerrilla tactics.

It took him six hours to kill one. Six hours, and three deaths.

And yet... he succeeded.

Michael’s lips curved faintly.

"That madman paved the way. And now, I’ll use his discovery... properly."

Unlike ArkDawn, Michael wasn’t shackled to E-rank restrictions. His stats, his mastery, and his instincts were sharper. More efficient.

"Ten minutes of weakness is all I need."