Normally, when you rack up a lot of points at HAUT, the attitude of the other trainees changes.

Some look at you with admiration, some with jealousy. Some try to cozy up, while others mark you as their enemy.

And right now, every pair of eyes in the room was fixed on us—on me and on Gwangcheon—clearly designating us as the targets that had to be brought down.

Lumina shrank her shoulders, Meiling glared back with a “what are you staring at” look, and Seo Yui’s expression carried a faint trace of unease.

“……”

I glanced at Riyu.

He was still smirking, staff raised, pointing directly at me.

“Now, eyes back up here,” he said.

He lowered his staff and tapped a switch on the desk.

A hologram flickered to life behind him.

“These are your accumulated points as of today,” Riyu said, gesturing at the display.

The trainees’ faces hardened as they stared at the numbers.

“You’ll notice the gap. Over 150 points between first and second, more than 200 between first and sixth. By all rights, the top spot should already be decided.”

He wasn’t wrong.

What remained were the theory exam and the survival trial.

The written exam was scored individually, survival as a team.

In the game, even a first-place finish in survival wouldn’t close a 150-point gap.

But Riyu had just promised 100 points for survival alone.

“And here is this year’s dungeon survival scoring system.”

The screen shifted again.

You’ve got to be kidding me!

I nearly shot to my feet.

Compared to the game, the points had been multiplied several times over.

The trainees looked just as shocked.

“Nam Yein. You don’t look pleased.”

Riyu’s gaze locked on me.

“Something you’d like to say?”

Wouldn’t I. He’d just smacked me when I was already itching to complain.

I opened my mouth.

“The rewards for survival seem disproportionately high compared to other tasks. Has it always been like this?”

“No. Last year’s scoring wasn’t anything like this,” Riyu admitted without hesitation.

“Then why the sudden change?”

“Our duty is to provide a stage suited to your level,” he said with a grin.

“Without motivation, you won’t put your all into it. Now the underdogs have a chance to overturn the rankings, and the leaders must fight tooth and nail not to lose. None of you have shown your full strength yet. Isn’t that right?”

Tch.

I clenched my jaw to keep my face under control.

“This is the final challenge we’ve prepared for you. Throw your bodies into the fire, burn your souls dry. Do that, and you’ll walk away with more than just experience…”

The screen shifted once more.

“…but material rewards as well.”

I froze when I saw what appeared.

A silver bracelet etched with runes like something out of a fantasy game.

“What’s that?”

Zen’s voice rang out, echoed by other puzzled murmurs.

“This is the prize for the best team at HAUT,” Riyu declared.

“A unique-grade demonic relic: Overflowing Soul. It doubles your HP and MP recovery rate, with no cost whatsoever.”

The auditorium fell silent.

I studied their faces.

Every eye glimmered with hunger as they stared at the bracelet.

In the game, Overflowing Soul couldn’t be looted or crafted. It existed only as HAUT’s championship prize.

Yet Riyu called it a demonic relic, which means it must exist somewhere in the wilds or dungeons too.

Either way, it was one of my goals.

Doubling recovery with no drawbacks was a colossal advantage.

And it had another use as well. One way or another, I had to claim it.

Then Toby raised his hand.

“Yes, Toby Hobbes?”

“What about the prize for the top individual score?”

All attention shifted to Riyu.

“…Good question. I’ll show you that as well.”

He reached into his inventory.

Smoke-like haze coalesced, swirling until it solidified into an item—a ring radiating a red aura.

My Craftsman skill triggered as I looked at it, pulling up its status window.

[Twisted Possibility]

Level 30

A glimpse of the self that might have been.

“Phew.”

I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath. My muscles were tense just from reading it.

“This ring alters its wearer’s aptitude ranks,” Riyu explained.

Gasps and exclamations erupted across the hall, louder than when the bracelet was revealed.

“How exactly does it change them?” Maria asked, eyes wide.

Riyu’s smile widened.

“That you’ll only learn if you earn it. If you want to know, then give it your all tomorrow.”

He stowed the ring back into his inventory.

“That concludes my part. Commissioner Jang Jinseong will now explain the detailed rules of the survival trial.”

He strode out, and Jinseong stepped in as if substituting a player mid-game.

“As the chairman said, I’ll go over the rules in detail,” Jinseong announced.

The trainees listened in rapt silence. Even Zen and Rio were quiet.

That meddling old man…

The team battle earlier today had crushed everyone’s spirit.

I’d thought the ten-day survival would be easy with them so demoralized.

But Riyu had gone and lit the fire again, giving them hope they could overturn everything.

What a pain.

I thought back to the Ashen Plains.

Toby had rallied Magica and Ucheon to corner us.

This time, he’d surely use Crystal as the core, uniting everyone against us.

Four against twenty.

Even with our level advantage, we couldn’t take that lightly.

So be it.

I made up my mind.

What happened next wouldn’t be my fault.

It would be Riyu Homar’s—for feeding them poison wrapped in the mask of hope.

From Jang Jinseong’s explanation, the key rules of the survival trial were:

And the most important rule for us:

Just like in academy dungeon practicums—we’d be fighting with our actual equipment.

In HAUT’s dungeon survival, we were allowed to use the equipment we normally carried.

“Yeah, this is much better,” Seo Yui said, clad in a suit of armor that shimmered with a crimson aura.

“Even though it’s metal, it doesn’t feel bulky at all. It fits me like a second skin.”

“That’s right. Everything Yein makes always feels that way,” Lumina added with a bright smile.

She too wore crimson-tinted armor—a light set made of a mix of leather and metal, one of my creations.

“……”

Meiling said nothing, holding the brim of her oversized wizard’s hat with both hands, adjusting the angle.

“Hmph.”

She let go and smirked faintly, clearly satisfied.

I turned to scan the rest of the trainees. Everyone was wearing gear around the level 30 range.

The balance of rare-grade and magic-grade equipment varied by academy.

“Ooooh…”

I looked down.

Rio was crouched, examining the armor I was wearing.

And it wasn’t just him. The entire Ucheon squad crowded around us, unable to resist.

The others only stole glances, but Ucheon’s case was different.

Like sparrows unable to pass by a grain mill, students from an academy specialized in equipment simply couldn’t ignore gear like ours—or more precisely, gear I had forged.

“Yein, where did you get this? It’s not a demonic relic… looks handmade. And judging from the matching mana signatures across all your equipment… these are all works of that mysterious craftsman, aren’t they?”

I smiled faintly.

“That’s a secret.”

“Argh.”

Rio grimaced in frustration but didn’t press further.

“Alright, everyone, gather up!”

Abel’s voice rang out. He stood at the entrance of Bottle Island, the dungeon itself.

“Once you enter and declare the start, the timer begins.”

I shifted my gaze to him as he continued:

“If you want to quit midway, return to the entrance. If you’re in danger and need help, fire a signal flare. The committee or stationed hunters will come, though of course that’ll mean disqualification. Any final reports or questions before we begin?”

No one spoke. Abel smiled brightly.

“Good. Let’s go in.”

At his words, all of us stepped into Bottle Island.

Inside, the first thing we saw were people.

Every member of the HAUT committee was present—including Jang Jinseong and even Riyu Homar himself.

There were also hunters, their combat gear marked with yellow armbands.

So those must be the overseers Jinseong mentioned. There aren’t many here… which means the rest are already spread across the island.

I tilted my head back.

A sky as blue as one you’d see on a holiday island, dotted with white clouds. And scattered across it, countless drones hovered in the air.

“Then, Chairman, if you would,” Jinseong said.

Riyu planted his staff before us.

“Now begins the final trial of HAUT—Dungeon Survival.”

He raised his staff toward the sky.

Above us, the drones arranged themselves into glowing digits.

[240:00:00]

“I hope to see you all return without incident.”

He thrust his staff upward, releasing a burst of blue mana. At the same time, the drones shifted, and the 240-hour countdown began ticking down.

“Let’s move!”

I shouted, clambering onto Seo Yui’s back.

Our squad immediately sprinted toward the island’s center.

I held onto Seo Yui’s shoulder and glanced behind us.

Every other team was chasing after us.

‘During this task, interference, combat, and cooperation between squads are permitted.’

Jinseong’s words echoed in my mind.

Just as expected—five teams, all against us.

“Meiling. Start it.”

I gave the order from Seo Yui’s back.

Meiling scowled but raised her staff.

We skidded to a stop around her. She began chanting, and a massive fireball took shape.

“Whoa!?”

“Scatter!”

Shouts of panic rose behind us.

Meiling unleashed the Inferno Orb.

Kwoooom!!

A pillar of fire erupted, waves of heat blasting across the field.

This is what happens when you plant false hope in them. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have chased us this recklessly.

I watched the towering column of flame rise into the sky, my expression cold.

(End of Chapter)