Meanwhile, in another Biome, the heat was absolutely unrelenting. Even the air was shimmering with exhaustion, bending in the distance like a mirage.

It was as if the land itself was trying to disappear from the cruelty of the blazing sun. Jagged dunes rolled across the landscape like waves frozen in time.

There were no plants, no shelter, just endless golden sand occasionally broken by sun-bleached stone and the skeletal remains of beasts long perished.

Lucian stood atop one of the tallest dunes, his black coat whipping lightly in the wind, his eyes narrowed against the glare of the twin suns above. Sweat beaded at his brow, but his breathing was steady, his posture relaxed.

There were no trees to hide behind, no shadows to take refuge in. Everything here was exposure, pure, brutal, and honest. A land not for those who relied on tricks or spells. Here, strength and steel ruled.

Perfect for a combat hungry student like him. He crouched slightly, one hand brushing against the handle of the blade at his waist as his instincts flared, sensing monsters coming on the way.

~RUMBLE~RUMBLE!~

The echo of rumbles boomed closer and closer to him as he sensed the creatures drawing nearer. From beneath the sand, the dunes finally rippled.

~BOOM!~

Then, in a sudden eruption, the ground exploded upward.

Six Sand Striders - massive arachnid-like creatures with chitinous bodies and claws large enough to split boulders, burst free of the earth with a hiss.

Their black shells shimmered in the light, coated with desert mana that protected them from heat and dulled physical force.

"Finally, I thought I'd need to wait all day," Lucian said with a smile on his lips, immediately moving.

In an instant, he was gone from the top of the dune, blasted forward like a thunderclap of compressed force.

~BOOM!~

He reappeared mid-air, directly above one of the beasts. His mana surged, not as fire or lightning, but as a current through his veins, sharpening every cell in his body.

With a single, clean draw, he slashed down.

The blade moved like a line of moonlight, silent but devastating.

~BOOM~CRACK!~

The Strider below had its skull cleaved in two, its armored carapace offering no resistance as its body immediately began to fall to the ground lifelessly.

All the while, Lucian was already spinning in the air, heading onto the next target.

Another one of the Striders landed beside him, jaws snapping at his legs to devour him whole, but Lucian didn't land.

Instead, he used a subtle burst of mana from the soles of his feet to air-step, launching himself sideways mid-air. The technique was inefficient for long-distance flight, but for rapid micro-movements? Flawless.

He zipped between two of the creatures, blade outstretched in a horizontal sweep, and their legs buckled beneath them, tendons severed in a blink.

One tried to flank him with a pincer strike, but Lucian twisted, letting the blade return to its sheath for a half-second.

Then,

Flash Draw.

The blade flashed forward, faster than the eye could follow. A clean, perpendicular cut formed across the creature's frontal plate.

A beat passed, then its entire head slid off its body, signifying the death of the beasts. The remaining three beasts hesitated, staring at him and circling him, taking on a more tactical approach.

They leapt at once, a synchronized pincer assault designed to crush prey from all sides. Lucian closed his eyes.

His body blurred into motion, a spiral of precision and elegance.

[ Flowing Blade Dance - Form Three: Desert Requiem ]

The air sang as his sword arced in wide crescents and tight thrusts, each movement drawing from his core and accelerating with mana-enhanced power.

One lost its legs, another its thorax, and the third found its body pierced through by a strike so clean that its body remained upright for two seconds before falling into halves.

A storm of sand rose around him, blood hissing against the burning ground.

Lucian finally slowed, letting the momentum dissipate. His blade returned to its sheath with a soft click.

Six monsters, all defeated in less than ten seconds.

[ +600 Points Earned. ]

[ Current Score: 1,450 pts. ]

He glanced down at the token clipped to his waist. He wasn't top rank, not yet, he had seen Albedo's point total and was just flabbergasted. How did that guy do it so easily? He didn't know how, Albedo was still so mysterious to all of them.

However, that didn't mean he lost his confidence, once he was ready, he'd confront Albedo. Win or lose, he'd try his hardest to push Albedo to his absolute limit.

"Hhm?" Lucian tilted his head, turning to the west where he sensed movement. However, this time it wasn't monsters, it was humans.

He leapt again, darting across the sand like a shadow cast by a falling star, using mana footwork to minimize friction and maximize speed. He landed on a cliff edge, overlooking a craggy canyon filled with collapsed ruins and old desert bones.

There, five students had cornered two others, Standard Class by the look of them. The five aggressors were armed and ready, mockingly circling the pair.

"We just want your points," one said, twirling a bladed whip. "You're not gonna last in here anyway, right?"

Lucian didn't speak. He just saw another group of free points, so he quickly dropped down from the cliff like a thunderbolt.

~BANG!~

The floor in the canyon cracked beneath the force of his descent, sand and debris kicking up all around.

All eyes immediately turned towards him, especially the one using the whip, who blinked, "Who?"

Before he could even react, Lucian had already flashed forward.

[ Flash Step ]

The whip fell in two pieces, then the wielder's arm. The student screamed before vanishing in a burst of light, teleported out from defeat, the others could barely comprehend how he was defeated.

The others stumbled back.

"Wait - hold on!"

Lucian tilted his head, "No."

[ Flowing Blade Dance - Form Two: Tempest Spiral ]

He launched into them like a hurricane of silver steel. The second attacker barely had time to raise a shield before Lucian was already behind him, having rebounded off the canyon wall.

A single backward thrust sent the student sprawling, and another flash of light followed.

Two more tried to coordinate, one throwing spells, the other attempting to strike while Lucian dodged.

But he didn't dodge, instead advancing, which was unexpected to the attackers. He cut the spells mid-flight, scattering mana into dust, and swept his blade up in a perfect diagonal, forcing the attacker's sword into the air before planting a palm against their chest and releasing a concussive mana burst.

[ Pulse Step ]

The impact launched the student into the canyon wall. He didn't rise, immediately being teleported out while the last one tried to run away.

Lucian didn't chase him, just raising and pointing a finger at the runner's back, gathering and compressing mana towards his fingertip and shot the mana forward in a tight needle.

The fleeing student vanished upon contact.

[ +1,250 Points Earned. ]

[ Current Score: 2,700 pts. ]

Lucian turned to the two cornered students, now gawking at him in stunned silence. He offered them a nod, "Stay out of sight. Move east. There's a ridge line that'll keep you under the sandstorms."

They nodded shakily. One even bowed.

Lucian vanished before they could say more, running throughout the desert.

"Just wait Albedo, I'm coming for you,"

***

Meanwhile, in a Frost Biome.

The air was brittle. Every single breath crystallized into a cloud of frost, while snow crunched underfoot. The entire landscape was painted in tones of white and steel-blue, quiet and deadly.

Inside the Biome, William was walking, wearing a navy-blue coat adorned with the Frost Family Crest, frost mana radiated from his body and froze the very air around him.

Kaden was at his side, following William like a devoted hound to his master, as expected of William's #1 lackey.

A group of students, four of them, watched from behind a frozen pine ridge, whispering among themselves.

"That's William Frost."

"The Son of Duke Frost....should we?"

"He's alone. If we ambush him, we might,"

They never got the chance to finish the thought.

~CRACK!~

A lance of pure ice shot through the ridge like a lightning bolt, almost impaling two of the students through the chest. They disappeared instantly in twin flashes of white light.

William lowered his hand, not even glancing toward the defeat.

"Fools."

The third and fourth students broke into a sprint, running in opposite directions, terror propelling them.

"Should I handle them?" Kaden asked, stepping forward.

William shook his head. "No need."

He raised a hand and twisted his fingers, forming a slow, deliberate circle in the air. Frost coalesced around the motion.

[ Icelock Dome ]

A translucent dome of frost manifested over the forest clearing, sealing the remaining students within. The temperature plummeted. The snow turned to frozen stone. The air refused to move.

The third student slipped as the frost crept up his legs, screaming as his lower body froze solid. The fourth tried to blast the dome with fire magic, but the flames died the moment they touched the air, snuffed out by the sheer density of cold mana.

William appeared in front of him without a sound.

The student raised his hands, "W-Wait! I...."

William didn't wait.

[ Glacier Rend ]

A blade of mana-infused ice erupted from beneath the snow, slicing towards the student's torso rapidly. Just before it hit, the Academy's last second defensive measures appeared, blocking the attack and teleporting the boy away.

The dome shattered behind them like fragile glass, and the Frost Biome was silent once again.

Kaden clapped, almost mockingly, "Four more crushed under your boot. You're going to make the rankings look like a royal bloodline soon, Will."

William didn't answer at first. He checked his token.

[Current Score: 3,100 pts.]

Still not first.

He narrowed his eyes.

"Albedo Neverwinter is at 5,200..." William muttered, "And Lucian is at 2,700."

Kaden smirked. "I saw where they landed after the transfer. Lucian went to the Desert Biome. That hothead never stops swinging."

"And Albedo?" William asked coldly.

"Magma Biome," Kaden replied, his smile widening.

William folded his arms. "Then the center will be their path."

He turned toward the horizon, where icy winds gave way to a misty, distant jungle, the Rainforest Biome, a lush labyrinth that connected all the others.

"That's where we'll meet," William said, voice like frozen steel, "Where the real hunt begins."