~RING~RING!~

The final bell calling for students rang out, and the murmurs across the area began. The past week had been a blur as the Written Examinations finally ended in a storm of crumpled notes & sleepless nights.

The Academy's once bustling hallways were now quiet in the early morning hours, as all the freshmen were gathered in the Grand Assembly Plaza, a place far larger than any singular lecuture hall.

Today was the beginning of the true exam, the Monster Scape Practical. Thousands of freshmen stood under the golden sunrise that bled through the transparent dome above.

The sky itself seemed to hum in anticipation as a dozen shimmering runes flickered high overhead. The entire dome was laced with teleportation arrays.

Albedo stood near the front of the plaza, hands in his pockets, his sharp platinum hair gleaming beneath the morning light.

Around him stood the rest of the Myth Class, Lucian with his usual focused energy, Miranda serene and unreadable, Dorian yawning exaggeratedly, Lira stretching with feline grace, and Veronica quietly reviewing her mental map with her eyes closed.

There was also Zeus, who was just excited for the battles and William, whose gaze was locked onto Albedo and Lucian, eager to trample them under his boot.

However, around all of the Myth-Class students were people from the other classes, Elite, Standard, Bronze etc, many of them staring at the Myth Class, some with admiration, and others with barely veiled malice, eager to try and take them down to prove themselves.

Then the sound of heels on polished stone echoed, silencing the crowd as 'SHE' had finally arrived.

Raphaeline Cortezia, the Demon Princess, Headmistress of Zephyr Academy—strode onto the central stage in a flowing cloak of midnight silk.

Her violet hair was braided into a loose crown, her red eyes gleaming with cold amusement as her obsidian horns curved elegantly above her forehead. Her presence alone sent a ripple through the ambient mana. Even the wind seemed to hesitate.

She didn't need to speak loudly, her voice was magically projected, wrapping around every student like a velvet chain.

"I'll keep this quick. Freshmen, all of you are children of priviledge, talent and destiny."

The crowd held its breath.

"You stand before the gateway to power. The Monster Scape is more than a test. This is a place that will cut down the weaklings and sharpen the strong. Over the next seven days, you will face trials and tribulations from monsters, the land, and your fellow freshmen."

"Victory will be earned through adaptability, resourcefulness, cunning & raw strength. No supplies, no rules. Ally with others or go by yourself. Whatever works for you."

A few students gulped. Others smiled. She began pacing along the edge of the platform, her eyes scanning the crowd.

"Your goal? Survive. Hunt. Evolve. Kill. Every monster defeated earns points. Defeat another student, and you gain all their points, while theirs are locked in as their final score. Kill or be killed. Rise or fall."

The murmurs started again, growing louder, more chaotic.

"And remember…" she paused, flashing a faint smirk, her voice sharp and clear, "If you gather enough points, you may rise to Myth Class. You can replace those who currently wear the crown, if you have what it takes."

All eyes turned toward the Myth Class again. Albedo especially felt it, the weight of dozens, no, hundreds of glares all towards him, all showing different emotions.

Greed, Resentment and Challenge.

"Oh… and one more thing."

Raphaeline raised a single hand, her black-painted nails glowing with violet mana.

"Let the hunt… begin."

She snapped her fingers with a smirk and the world twisted, the runes all around the room flaring to life as the space shattered like glass.

Suddenly, the ground was gone. Albedo felt his stomach lurch as he, and every other student, was teleported into the sky.

A sky filled with clouds, miles above an enormous jungle island brimming with mountains, valleys, rivers, glowing flora, and monstrous roars that echoed from below.

The Monster Scape.

Wind screamed past his ears as gravity seized him. Students plummeted from every direction, thousands of bodies hurtling downward through the open blue like stars falling to war.

Below, the floating landmass of the Scape loomed, a savage Eden suspended in an isolated dimensional bubble. Trees towered above, rivers ran all throughout the forest, and Albedo could even spot winged beasts taking flight, already sensing their prey.

Albedo remained calm. He touched his waist, and the mana parachute crystal issued to each student flared to life.

With a sharp fwump, a glowing semi-transparent parachute burst open above him, slowing his descent dramatically. Others did the same, parachutes unfurling like a bloom of color across the sky.

Some students flailed, others panicked. One girl screamed as a passing wind elemental snatched her parachute cord, forcing her to deploy a defensive barrier mid-air to slow her fall.

Albedo's sharp gaze scanned the terrain below.

The island was far larger than he remembered from the Novel, but that made sense. Mere words couldn't possibly describe the vastness and level of detail of a real Magical Forest.

Dozens of biomes were clearly visible, magma ravines, storm plains, mana lakes, deep forests, frozen canyons. A living nightmare.

He glanced to his right, spotting Lucian who was falling far across from him, in the middle of many students from various classes, smirking as he was eager to battle.

Farther away, Miranda's parachute was already catching the air currents to drift toward a mana-rich forest. Veronica, precise and calculating, had deployed hers at the optimal height, heading toward a canyon likely filled with high-rank beast spawns.

Dorian, of course, was spinning wildly and screaming.

"WHY DIDN'T I STUDY SKYDIVING MAGIC?!"

Albedo rolled his eyes, focusing back on his trajectory.

The first stage of the Monster Scape had begun.

***

Albedo soon neared the grown, the air growing suffocatingly hotter as the wind carried a scent of burning sulfur and scorched stone.

He had landed in the Magma Biome.

Jagged cliffs jutted from the ground like ancient spires, and glowing rivers of lava snaked through the land like molten veins.

He could also spot geysers of steaming pressure hissing all around him. Albedo's boots finally hit the ground into a ledge of blackened stone, his knees bending to absorb the impact.

He cancelled the parachute and quickly took it all off of him, tossing it into a lava river to burn away while he looked around, sensing mana signatures flaring around him.

~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM!

One by one, glowing parachutes began dropping in rapid succession, dozens of them, their occupants crashing into the rocky terrain all around Albedo. He didn't flinch. Instead, he calmly brushed the soot from his sleeve.

He already knew what this was, an ambush

"Yo, Neverwinter," a voice sneered from above a ledge. A tall boy with shaggy brown hair stood there, arms crossed, a scar running from his chin to neck. "You're the top dog, right? Let's see if you live up to the hype."

Beside him, other students began stepping forward. Mages, swordsmen, summoners, even a few archers already nocking glowing mana-tipped arrows. All of them wore the colors of the Standard and Bronze Classes, likely allied just for this moment.

Lucian had also experienced this in the Novel, so Albedo wasn't surprised. In fact, he was sure that every student in Myth Class was currently experiencing something similar.

This was a common tactic, students who weren't strong enough to take down High Ranked students individually, but still had aspirations would gang up. However, even if they succeeded, they usually all just betrayed each-other, and get cleaned up by someone else.

There were nearly thirty of them. Albedo sighed, his breath steady as steam curled around his boots.

"You know," he murmured, slowly unfastening the top clasp of his uniform jacket, "I always wondered how many people would try this right off the bat."

"You're outnumbered," one of them shouted, "You might be strong, but this is thirty to one!"

"And?" Albedo asked, his tone flat, "You think numbers change anything?"

"Arrogant bastard, ATTACK!!"

~BOOM!~

The ground cracked as several melee students charged, spells lighting up the air behind them. Fireballs, ice lances, rock spears, lightning bolts, they came all at once, a storm of wild, uncontrolled mana hurled toward a single target.

Albedo's foot shifted an inch, raising his fingers as he casted a spell.

"Destructive Fire - Crimson Lash!"

A wave of deep crimson flame erupted from beneath his feet, coiling like a whip and slamming into the ground with violent precision.

The first line of charging students were instantly consumed, screaming as their barrier spells shattered in the face of his overwhelming elemental output.

~BOOM!~

With a simple wave, a trail of fire curled around his left arm. Then, with a sweeping motion, he dragged his foot in a crescent arc, launching a wide arc of pure destructive flame that incinerated incoming spells mid-air.

"Gah!"

"Shit! His mana's too!"

Three students raised defensive domes, only for them to melt like butter under a blowtorch as the flame wave crashed through them, sending their bodies flying backward with trails of smoke.

Each one disappeared in a pulse of light—teleported out of the Scape upon defeat.

Still more came, desperate to bring him down through sheer attrition, but it was a futile effort.

[ Crimson Bloom ]

Dozens of flame flowers burst into existence around him, hovering mid-air for a fraction of a second before they detonated in sync, each one a miniature explosion that cratered the nearby terrain.

A girl screamed as her summoned wolf was teleported out to safety before it was vaporized by Albedo, and a dual blade fighter tried to strike Albedo from behind, only for him to realize it was only a Mirage, being punched in the gut by Albedo's real body.

The boy coughed blood and vanished in a flash of white light.

"Is this all?" Albedo asked, his voice calm and cold as he walked forward through the smoke, fire curling around his shoulders like a cape of living destruction.

More spells flew at him. He flicked two fingers up and the ground answered.

[ Crimson Pillar ]

A column of fire erupted under a trio of attackers, sending them skyward before exploding in mid-air like fireworks. They were gone before they even hit the ground.

Only half a dozen remained now, visibly trembling.

"He's a monster...!"

"Retreat! RETREAT!"

~SNAP!~

Albedo raised his hand and a small crimson rune spun into life.

[ Ashbind ]

The spell detonated beneath the fleeing students, igniting the mana in their bodies and freezing their limbs in a binding matrix of flame. With a crack, the restraints shattered, but so did their composure.

They couldn't even scream before they vanished, telelported out and eliminated.

The area returned to silence as Albedo walked eastward.He hadn't even used Havoc and Ruin. There was no need, as this level of fodder didn't warrant drawing his Soul Weapon.

He checked his points tally.

His points tally glowed on his Student Token.

[ Current Score: 1,500 pts ]

[ Status: Active ]

[ Class Standing: Rank #1 ]

He smirked. Each Student began with 50 points, so he'd easily gained 1,500 already, and the hunt had only just begun.