After a devastating walk filled with preposterous stories about him and that nine-tailed fox. He didn't need to think too hard to figure out who had created such tales, it was definitely her work.
'Just what did I do to deserve this? Wait.'
Once they reached the end of the hallway, Ray was finally able to separate from Tiana.
He and the other participants had arrives at a new room, labeled as the Simulation Room. But to call it a simple room was degrading. The "room" was enormous, with rows upon rows of several sleeping capsules that were standing straight, each with a number imprinted in it.
Once they arrived, they were also ordered to stand in a single line with their backs against the wall, in front of them a new instructor stood.
He was relatively short, with a bowl haircut and comically large round glasses.
"Hello there, possible new students! Due to Academy policy, I cannot reveal my name, but it is a pleasure to meet you. For now just know that I am the head of the Research Department, since you are all applying for the Hero Course I won't bother exposing to a lengthy explanation."
He took a break to adjust his glasses and clear some of the sweat that was rolling down his forehead. *
"As you should know, this is the Simulation Room, and where you will attend the Practical Test. As you should also know, you will be placed in the sleeping capsules and then sent to a virtual world to perform."
Trembling, he reached out for a projector and turned it on. A Hologram soon appeared demonstrating the objectives.
"You will be sent to a series of floating islands. At one end of the islands is a portal that will wake you up. At the other end is a special island where a virtual creature will be created for you to fight."
Some murmurs echoed on the large room.
"Take into account that every action that you make inside this virtual world will be evaluated by an instructor assigned to you. If you make a good decision you will be awarded points, but if you make bad decisions or break the rules of the test, points will be deducted from you.
"However, that is not to say that those are the only ways to gain points, otherwise some talented students might lack the points to get a good grade. So, across the islands there will be certain checkpoints that will have points to claim. Only a limited number of students can claim the points of a checkpoint, so be careful, as this could lead to conflict between your fellow participants."
The Hologram shifted to project the map of the islands. They were thirteen in total, each island had around five checkpoints, except two islands.
The first island, meant for the portal, and the last island, meant for the virtual creature.
On the first island, there was a single checkpoint. While on the last island there were at least fifty of them.
'They seem to be incentivating us to go towards the virtual creature.'
"Make note that the Practical Test has always put great emphasis in survival!"
'And yet they send us to the wolf's den. Odd'
"Now, as you can see this is a list of your names, next to them is the number of the capsule that you are supposed to use, now go, and good luck."
After that, he ran in an unknown direction, seemingly afraid of something.
Looking at the images, Ray soon found the one assigned to him and headed towards it.
The sleeping capsules had a simple design. They were cylindrical with their number of identification stamped on it.
As soon as Ray approached it, it opened without a sound, revealing its interior.
It was mostly white and seemed pretty comfortable, as expected of a device called "sleeping capsule".
Without ceremony, Ray entered and laid against the comfortable walls of the capsule, waiting for it to close by itself.
He didn't wait long, as the capsule shut close without a sound right after he entered.
It was dark inside there was no illumination nor an opening to see the outside, strangely enough, there was no lack of air inside, not that Ray had any trouble spending a few minutes without air.
Ray waited and waited. They seemed to be making sure that every participant was inside the capsules and there were no technic problems that they hadn't foreseen.
Soon, he started to feel sleepy.
Thanks to his new mental strength, courtesy of forcing his mind to link itself back with his body, he was able to remain awake for some time before deciding to lower his defenses when he realized that this was the way they used to start the simulation.
Before long, his mind started picking up signs that it was being manipulated.
Perception, senses and time perception.
Ray felt it all change before he found himself standing on his lonesome in a beach.
Or it would be a beach if there was an ocean, but instead the shores only had a never ending void ahead.
He looked around examining the island that he was in, before he could process entirely where he was, he received a mental notice.
As if new information was implanted in his brain.
Once again, he decided to not resist.
This was the eighth island.
It was perfectly round and around ten kilometers in diameter. It was seemingly shaped like a cone due to the tall mountain at the center, and like the other islands possessed five checkpoints. One in each cardinal direction, north, south, west and east, as well as the center of the island, at the peak of the mountain.
Ray looked at the direction of the mountain peak, where he noticed a certain peculiarity.
At the peak, a dim bluish green light was visible.
'Is it the checkpoint?'
Ray looked at the sun, considering the time of the day, the sun was now in the east. Looking around, Ray guessed that the eastern checkpoint was on the other side of the island, a few degrees to the right, which meant that the western checkpoint should be nearby.
However, there was no bluish green light nearby.
'It may be an optic illusion, a bait made by a creature, or something else completely unrelated to the checkpoints.'
Ray focused his gaze on the direction of the western checkpoint and ran.
He wasn't running at insane speeds, he wasn't even using his mana or aura, relying solely on his new body.
Although this body was hundred of times inferior to his original one, it was still a body made to house and being operated by a dragon, and not just any dragon, the King of Dragons.
His body was much more advanced than others and didn't need to use supernatural means to boost his speed.
It didn't take long to reach his destination.
The checkpoint was marked by a single device, carved into the sand. It was black with a red screen. As soon as Ray approached, it reacted.
«Participant Detected!»
«You are the first participant to reach this checkpoint! You receive 5 points!»
«The reward will be diminished! The Next participant to reach this particular checkpoint will receive 4 points!»
«Participant's Collected Points : 5»
'Interesting. The first people are the ones that receive the most points.'
Ray looked around, not finding signs of the other participants.
'I should get moving then.'
He decided to go towards the North checkpoint, traveling in a straight path. While others would normally prefer to traverse through the beach in a curved path, Ray was confident on his skills to not be bothered by the vegetation or the wild life.
So he ran. Ran at a constant speed.
Once again, he was not using any magic or aura enhancements to augment himself, limiting himself to travel with just his physical strength.
While running, he didn't find anything of note for a long time, that was, until he found an easily three meters tall tiger.
It was massive, for a normal animal.
However, it wasn't abnormal for beasts to have such size. Then gain, considering the size that he had before, ray didn't feel intimidated at all.
"Wow, there! I'm kinda in a hurry, so move aside."
The beast didn't move, instead, it started to growl and crouch slightly, preparing to attack.
"A cub?"
Younger beasts had a dampened survival instinct. For beasts, bloodline mattered more than personal talent, and that reflected in their Aura. When a young beast was born it instinctively felt the emotions of its parents through aura, this was normally used as a survival mechanism.
However, there were no parents around.
Reaching into his Dominion element, the power to command.
"Let's not waste time, you cannot feel my power, so you have no way to fight me."
Taking a deep breath, he commanded.
"Kill yourself."
The tiger stopped growling and raised its head. After that, it raised its paw and reinforced it paw with aura before swiping at its neck, killing itself.
"That was quick, should get going."