Hell Difficulty Tutorial
Chapter 619 – Professor Feran

I look around what used to be my room. All the furniture, all my belongings, even some of my more personal items, are gone. Before I can start to miss them, I remind myself that they should be back once everything resets, and shrug it off.

A variation of alarm rings, the molten rock glows orange, and heat fills one of the holes bored into the tower. Impressively, some of the arrays have been totally destroyed, even those I would have thought would be more durable.

I let a good part of my mind examine it while a small remainder pulls the remaining heat in as I search for some serviceable clothes.

There’s nothing left of my room, but I notice a hole opening into my neighbor's room further down. I step through it, break the already scorched cabinet, and find two somewhat unburned pieces of clothing: light brown pants and a long-sleeved black shirt, which I put on. They fit me well enough and, thankfully, do not appear to be women's clothing.

I check my reflection in the cracked mirror nearby, wipe my face with my sleeve, and brush my hair back.

Keeping my mana calm and hidden under the surface as much as possible, I enter my room again and step out into the hallway with my hands in the air.

Three guards stand there, joined by two Professors, and I can feel the pressure of the main array of the Academy, fully activated and ready. Each of these people feels at a level similar to mine.

Without struggle, I follow them as they lead me away.

An hour later, I find myself in the training hall, said to be able to withstand anyone below Champion level. As rumored, it lies deep underground and stretches at least half a mile in every direction. The inner walls are perfectly smooth and white. There are no arrays or inscriptions, and I can’t even see the entrance anymore.

Inside, there’s nothing but two wooden chairs. I sit on one, and the Vice Director sits on the other.

Her mana is partially released, and arrays are quickly built around us, most of which I’ve never even seen before. I cannot even examine them because of the bracelets on my arms and the metal loop placed on my head like a crown. Both are made of light gray metal and do an excellent job of suppressing me.

Other than the Vice Director, there is the Primordial Energies professor, that demon with short white hair and unusually calm mannerisms. The next one is, I guess, the main security officer, both standing behind the Vice Director.

Sitting there, she adjusts her wide-brimmed, pointy hat and says, “So, you were poisoned, cursed, or some such thing, and the only way you could keep yourself alive was by using your passive along with, as you put it, 'a shitload of thermal energy,' which caused all the damage to Academy property.”

“Yes,” I confirm.

“Feran, what do you think?” she asks, turning to the demon.

The man takes a moment to answer, and I sense him examining me before he responds in the same clear, calm manner.

“I noticed remnants of thermal energy at the site. I have also been observing him since we arrived, and I do not believe him to be lying.”

“Understood.” The Vice Director looks at me again and seems to think deeply before deciding. “I am inclined to believe you, Assistant Professor Gwyn, but at the same time, you have caused a lot of damage to the Academy’s property and its arrays, not to mention how much risk the students and employees in the area were exposed to.”

I try to say something, but she gestures for me to stay quiet. “Yes, I understand that your reaction was only natural given the risk to your life, and the kind of attack you were subjected to forced you to deploy extensive measures. But as unfair as it might seem, I cannot allow you to stay in the Academy at the moment, even if only for the optics.”

“So, I’m fired?”

She nods. “You could say that. However, I’ll need to ask you to stay here for seven more days while we conduct deeper examinations and possibly present you with further questions.”

“Ask me? So I get to refuse?”

“Yes. But if you refuse, we will do it by force.”

“Sounds good. I’ll stay.”

“Thank you for your understanding.”

After that, all three of them leave through a door that opens on one side of the smooth surface. Before passing through, the demon professor looks at me one more time.

Then the door closes, and I am left alone.

The first day, I start exercising out of sheer boredom, jogging around my cell, doing pushups, bodyweight squats, and such. It is funny how, in just a few hours, I’ve gotten so bored, all because I can’t train the way I usually do.

With the thing on top of my head as if it had been glued to it and the bracelets on my arms, my physical stats are restricted, and so is my mana flow, even my primordial energies have been restrained for the most part.

All three of these items are works of art. They’re beautifully made, and that beauty is beaten only by the intricate ways they’ve been set to deal with me. Some sort of disruption, likely somewhat based on void energy and mana interference. I guess that because it is the only thing I currently estimate capable of disrupting mana and primordial energies, but it doesn't really feel all that powerful. Maybe it relies more on mana-based disruption, and the storage of void energy only supports it?

No one comes to visit me, and I only send a few messages in the Community. Out of boredom, I switch over to the Easy difficulty’s chat. Largely out of frustration and boredom, I use all of my time there talking to the Easy difficulty guys who are also on the 8th floor.

Funnily enough, they’re also in the Academy, but they are all students. Their floor quest is simple: pass an exam that proves they are ready to graduate.

While some from the Easy difficulty who trained and leveled properly on the previous floors could pass it on the first day, others chose to spend weeks or even months in the Academy, especially the younger attendees.

Potato (Easy, Royals) - Noname, should I continue to call you Noname, or can we use your real name?

Noname (Hell, Group 4) - Your nickname sounds familiar. You must have annoyed me somehow if I remember it. What did you do?

Potato (Easy, Royals) - You’ll burn me to a crisp or drop an island on me if I tell you.

Noname (Hell, Group 4) - How would I even go about that? You’ll probably be done with the tutorial before the third tournament starts.

Potato (Easy, Royals) - They say your first priority after returning to Earth won’t be rebuilding your life so much as settling old grudges.

Catsarebetterthandogs (Easy, The Guardians) - Yes, that! Word is you have a list ready for when we get back to Earth.

Catsarebetterthandogs (Easy, The Guardians) - Noname, just beat him up, this guy is a dick. Use that skill of yours to pull a meteor down on his head, please.

Noname (Hell, Group 4) - You, be silent, I don't like your name. And you, Potato, just tell me, damn it.

Potato (Easy, Royals) - I asked you if you knew what ligma was the first time you came to the Community here.

Noname (Hell, Group 4) - That’s not even that bad. What kind of monster do you guys take me for?

Potato (Easy, Royals) - I do not want to say.

Noname (Hell, Group 4) - Okay. Let's forget about that for now, but from now on, you have to start every sentence while I am in the Community with "I’m sorry." I can also tell you some tricks for mana.

Potato (Easy, Royals) - I’m sorry! Thank you, that would be great!

I can be quite nice when I want to be.

On the second day, I am finally able to partially move the mana inside my body, just a tiny bit. I also continue doing my mental exercises with the impossible shapes, choosing the Möbius strip as a starting point.

I modify them slightly so that they can be used to train mana control, like I’ve been doing with the mana orbs. The difference is that I will never be able to materialize them. The other three shapes simply cannot exist in the material world. I think. They’ll always remain a simulation in my mind, created to torture me and force my brain to work in ways it probably shouldn’t.

No one visits me today either.

I’ve been giving it some thought, and I don’t think it’s very likely that whatever tried to kill me would be the same thing that killed the Champion. There’s just no way. As normal as Champions might seem when they’re just walking around with their powers restricted, each one is a monster in their own way.

All of my Community's daily limit went into arguing with the twins, who came up with a modification to one of my weaker evil orbs, to allow them to do some sort of tandem training.

We can’t bring ourselves to agree on some parts of it, and later, even Sophie and Min-Jae join in, turning the conversation into a long, drawn out argument.

On the third day, I finally get a feel for it.

Something clacks, and one of the bracelets falls off.

On the fourth day, I pull the metal loop thing from my head. On the same day, I create [Mana Crown] over my head and start storing mana there while breaking the bracelets and the metal crown to examine them more closely.

I wait.

On the fifth day, I get a visitor. It is the thirteenth day of the loop when the demon Professor enters alone and closes the door behind him. He shows no surprise upon seeing me sitting in the exact middle of the huge training hall, looking over the broken pieces of the restriction items.

He walks casually for nearly ten minutes before getting close enough for me to hear without raising his voice or using other means of voice amplification. He doesn’t hurry at all.

"I would like to extend an apology for leaving you here without any communication. Just a day after you were put here, Champion Dion was found dead on the Academy grounds," Primordial Energies Professor, Feran, says.

"I am surprised the Academy still stands," I note, not even lifting my head from the broken pieces.

He takes a step closer, the sound barely echoing in the huge room.

"It’s not the sort of thing we understand either," he confirms. As always, when I hear him, he uses that soothing, controlled, and very undemon-like voice. "Champion Dion was considered to be one of the five strongest Champions on the planet, and he was close to being fully combat-oriented. He was very perceptive as well. Him dying like this should be impossible, even if the Absolute himself was involved."

"I heard rumors about a weapon the Absolute had left to someone, something capable of killing even a Champion," I say, listening to his steps and following their vibrations.

"Weapons like that are mere rumors. Students like to spread it to entertain themselves. No such thing could ever exist."

"There were some texts in the library, and I overheard some of the Assistant Professors talking about it," I mention, remembering the information Tess and others dug up.

A few more steps and he’s standing a mere few steps away.

"Oh, please don’t misunderstand. I’m sure there are powerful weapons in circulation that were made by our Absolute. Some people think of him as a bit of a nut or a weirdo, but even for him, to create something like that should be impossible."

"I see," I say, and look up from the pieces for the first time, and make eye contact with the Professor.

He meets my gaze and looks at me.

Finally, I stand up, brush off my pants, kick the pieces away, and take a few steps closer. There are only three steps between us now.

"The others don’t know you’re here?" I ask.

"They do not," he confirms.

"I see," I say, slowly rolling up the sleeves of my black shirt to my elbows. Then I partially lift the seal on Ignition Heart, and thermal energy floods my body. I adjust the setting on my Kinetic Mana Heart, and most of my mana shifts into kinetic energy.

Ever since he entered the room, I’ve been sensing his heartbeat and intent. I sensed it too when he left with the head of security and the Vice Director. Maybe I even sensed it the first time I met him back in the first loop.

And finally, he decides to drop that annoying mask.

He takes off his jacket, leaving himself standing there in a long-sleeved shirt and vest. His red eyes shine brighter than ever as he runs his fingers through his hair, brushing it away from his face and forehead.

The way he looks at me reveals the expression I’ve been waiting for since the beginning.

"If you wanted to fight, you should’ve just fucking said so, stupid demon."