2026-02-09 08:15:53The principal's words caused the students to murmur among themselves.
As the murmurs grew louder, the principal slammed his hand on the podium, making everyone jump. “Quiet!” he thundered.
The principal’s eyes were fierce.
Seeing that everyone was silent, he continued.
“For those who don’t know, Elyria is a revolutionary virtual game that aids in cognitive development. It’s another world entirely.”
Everyone was quiet, all eyes fixed on the principal.
Michael thought silently to himself.
What did the principal mean by “another world entirely”?
The principal continued, his voice serious.
“The government and the developers have revealed that there are no NPCs in the game, including the monsters.”
The crowd erupted into shocked murmurs and gasps. Students looked at each other in disbelief, their eyes wide with wonder.
Michael’s mind was racing.
“So that monster wasn’t an NPC?” he thought.
“Then what was it? A player?” Michael became confused.
Were NPCs humans too?
“What kind of game is this?” he wondered.
The principal raised his hands, trying to quiet the crowd. “Please, let me continue. This is important.”
But the students were too stunned to listen. They were all talking at once, trying to make sense of the revelation.
Most of them were already playing the game.
“No NPCs? What does that mean?”
“Is it just players then?”
“But what about the monsters?”
Michael just sat there, his eyes fixed on the principal, waiting for more answers.
But the more he thought about it, the more questions he had.
What was Elyria really?
He looked at the bracelet on his wrist, almost wondering aloud.
The hammer sounded three times again, echoing through the hall and silencing the crowd.
The principal surveyed the room, ensuring everyone’s attention was focused on him before continuing.
“It’s normal for you not to know,” he said, “because this game was originally created for military training.”
The students exchanged curious glances.
“But,” the principal continued, “the government has decided to make it open and free for all after a recent development, which they say they will reveal when the time is right. However, they emphasized that everyone’s participation in the game is paramount.”
The room remained silent as students processed this unexpected turn of events.
What kind of development could have prompted the government to open the game to everyone?
And why was participation so crucial?
Michael felt his curiosity hadn’t been this piqued in a long time.
Just as the principal was about to continue, a student’s voice rang out.
“Excuse me, sir! What about the monsters? Are they players too?”
The principal’s eyes scanned the room, locating the student who had asked the question. He paused for a moment before responding.
“Ah, yes. The monsters. That’s a good question. According to the government, the monsters are not players.”
The student pressed on. “Then what are they?”
The principal hesitated, clearing his throat before responding.
“They… are not players, at least not in the classical sense. When discussing our world, they are not players, but… they might just… might… be real monsters.”
The class fell into an uproar again, students shouting and screaming in shock and disbelief.
Michael’s mind went blank.
“What? Real monsters?”
In the midst of the chaos, a pretty girl stood up, her eyes sparkling with anger.
“It isn’t a game, is it?” she asked loudly. “It seems like the government knows nothing about it. Two weeks of testing? What a joke!”
Her words added fuel to the fire, and the room erupted into even more chaos.
Students were screaming, shouting, and demanding answers. The principal tried to regain control, but it was no use. The hall was in pandemonium.
The hammer struck five times, echoing through the hall and slowly silencing the noise.
The principal’s voice boomed through the room.
“Everyone calm down. You are correct—we are uninformed. But rest assured that ELYRIA is a game.”
“Like you, I have many questions, but I was instructed to reveal this bit of information.”
He paused, surveying the room before continuing.
“As for the monsters, those are among the things the government promised to reveal to us when the time is right.”
The students exchanged glances, still trying to process everything.
The principal’s expression turned serious.
“But there is something more important than the monsters that you have to know.”
His eyes swept across the students.
“Who among you has gone to the Ground of Awakening?” he asked.
Almost everyone raised their hands.
Michael was shocked that so many people were already actively playing the game.
Even Victor raised his hand.
“Good,” the principal said, nodding. “Now, I must tell you something important. The powers you awaken on the Ground of Awakening are not based on the game, but on your own constitution and frame of mind.”
This is not a game, Michael thought.
He remembered how the band could magically sink into his body and emerge at will.
There was currently no technology like that.
If he could, he wouldn’t play this game.
What kind of game awakened powers based on your real self?
The principal paused again, ensuring everyone was listening.
“It’s your talent, your innate abilities, that cause the powers you awaken. Not the game, but your own potential.”
“That is why when you log out of Elyria, you discover that the bracelet is inside you instead of on your wrist,” he continued.
The hall fell silent again, but this time it was a stunned silence.
Students looked at each other in disbelief.
Some began to mutter among themselves.
“This sounds more like science fiction than a virtual reality game…”
Others whispered, “Innate abilities? Talents?”
The principal’s expression turned grave, his eyes solemn.
“Yes, you might have guessed it already. When you enter the game, it’s not just your consciousness that enters… a part of your soul does too.”
The hall fell silent once more.
Students exchanged horrified glances, their minds struggling to comprehend his words.
The weight of his statement was immense.
The principal continued solemnly.
“So, though it seems safe, it is advised that when you die in the game, you remain logged out for five straight days so your damaged spirit can recover. Each death in Elyria is like a death in the real world—the pain is real, and it might even be felt in the real world after logging out.”
“And also, the penalty of death might be more than just a five-day log-out period. But this is the safest measure the government can ensure for everyone, because this game is of utmost importance to you and the world at large—their words, not mine.”
The hall was silent. The students’ faces were pale and worried.
“Damn it, I thought they said the game was safe,” Alex, who had been quiet for a long time, couldn’t help but swear.
“If you hadn’t said anything just now, I would have thought you were dead,” Michael said with a wry smile.
He knew how hard it was for Alex to stay quiet when things were this heated.
“This game sounds risky,” Alex said, unable to hide the growing unease he felt from the principal’s words.
“Very risky,” Michael replied, deep in thought.
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187.
The explosion swallowed the battlefield.For several seconds, nobody could see anything.Dust and shattered stone filled the valley, while the protective barriers around the arena flickered dangerously beneath the force of the collision.Then something changed.The darkness came first.It spread from the centre of the battlefield in complete silence, swallowing the dust, the broken ground and even the light around it.One of the older cultivators slowly stood."What is that?"Nobody answered.The darkness continued expanding until the entire valley seemed to have fallen into night.Even the sky above them appeared dim.Inside that darkness, Micheal stood alone.His golden sword had disappeared.His entire body was surrounded by black shadows that moved like living creatures, wrapping around his arms, legs and shoulders before slowly spreading across the battlefield.But there was something else.Something far more terrifying.The aura coming from Micheal had changed.It was no longer
186.
The dark aura surrounding Jack suddenly became heavier.It rolled across the battlefield like smoke, crawling over his arms and shoulders before gathering around his body in thick strands.Micheal watched carefully.Whatever Jack had been holding back was finally coming out.The spectators felt it too.The conversations around the arena gradually died until the entire valley became almost completely silent.Jack lowered his body slightly.Then he disappeared.Micheal's eyes sharpened.He swung his sword.CLANG!Jack's fist collided with the flat of the golden blade, and the force of the impact pushed Micheal several metres backward.Before Micheal could stabilize himself, Jack was already there again.A second punch came toward his chest.Micheal twisted aside.The fist missed him by a narrow margin, but the pressure behind it still tore through his clothes and left a shallow wound across his side.Micheal immediately retaliated.His golden sword swept horizontally toward Jack's neck.
185.
The decision to move the fight outside Central City had been made almost immediately.There was simply no arena inside the city capable of withstanding a battle between two high-tier Platinum cultivators.Even the largest stadiums in Central City had their limits, and nobody wanted to discover what would happen if Micheal and Jack decided to stop holding back in the middle of a populated area.So a special battlefield was prepared several hundred kilometres outside the city.It was an enormous artificial valley surrounded by mountains, with layers of reinforced barriers installed around the perimeter. The ground itself had been strengthened using materials capable of resisting attacks from Platinum-level cultivators, while several observation platforms had been constructed high above the battlefield for spectators.Even then, nobody could guarantee that the barriers would survive.Three days later, the valley was packed.People had travelled from different regions of Elyria just to wi
184. HIGH TIER.
A year was a long time.Long enough for people to forget how weak Green Winners had once been.The guild that had once struggled to survive against established organizations had become something entirely different.Its headquarters had expanded several times, new training grounds had been built around the original compound, and the guild's name had become familiar throughout the higher ranks of Elyria.Green Winners no longer needed to introduce themselves.Other guilds already knew who they were.They had fought and had won.And whenever another guild underestimated them, they usually regretted it.During that year, Green Winners had swallowed up several smaller guilds and even forced one of the established high-ranking guilds to retreat after a series of brutal clashes.Their numbers and resources had grown.Most importantly, their strongest members had grown.There were now several Gold-level cultivators within the guild, something that would have been almost impossible to imagine
183. ONE YEAR.
The Platinum demon took another step toward Micheal.The shattered street groaned beneath its weight as countless smaller demons continued pouring out of the cracks surrounding the city. Every passing second made the battlefield more chaotic. Missiles streaked across the night sky, helicopters circled overhead, and the sound of collapsing buildings mixed with the desperate cries of civilians still trapped beneath the rubble.Micheal tightened his grip on his sword.He had fought many difficult battles inside Elyria, but this was different.Every mistake here carried a real price.There was no resurrection.No second chance.The Platinum demon slowly raised its hand.Before it could move...A voice drifted calmly across the battlefield."That's enough." The voice wasn't loud.Yet somehow...Everyone heard it.The Platinum demon froze.Ryuu stopped in the middle of his swing.Even the roaring monsters instinctively turned toward the same direction.Nathan stood quietly on the roof of a d
182. BATTLE ON EARTH.
The smile on the demon's face had barely faded when the street beneath everyone's feet exploded.BOOM!Chunks of asphalt were hurled dozens of metres into the air as one crack became ten, then a hundred, spreading through the entire intersection like a spider's web.The earth shook violently.And then a series of explosions followed. Sewer covers shot into the sky, smashing through windows and crashing into nearby buildings.A deep growl echoed from below, it wasn't one voice.It was hundreds.The next moment, black claws burst through the fractured streets.One after another, creatures began climbing out of the darkness beneath the city.Some resembled enormous wolves covered in black scales, others walked on two legs with crimson skin and curved horns.Several had four arms, each ending in razor-sharp claws.Their eyes glowed with the same cold golden light.Nobody even dared to move. Even the soldiers who had arrived with heavy weapons could only stare.This wasn't an attack.It
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