The Anomaly's Path

Three days passed faster than I realized.

I spent most of them in the Primus Tower, working on the Third Form of my sword art and refining my mana control. The written exams were finally over, and the practical were right in front of us. With the theory out of the way, there was nothing left to do but train and wait for the hammer to drop.

Outside, the rest of the academy was quieter now.

Most of the electives had wrapped up over the last couple of days. The remaining students who still had papers were dragging themselves through the halls like hollow ghosts, while everyone else kept to themselves, retreating to their dorms or preparing for the practical exams.

On the morning of the fourth day, a sharp vibration against my left wrist broke the early silence of my room.

I raised my arm. The blue light of my mana watch flickered on, flashing a message across the small screen:

[Attention: All first-year students. The practical midterm will take place in the underground Virtual Reality Chambers. Combat gear will be provided on-site. Do not be late, or you will be expelled on the spot.]

I read the text twice, letting the words settle in.

Virtual Reality Chambers, I thought, letting out a short, quiet breath. So that’s how they’re doing it.

I’d heard about the VR chambers before. They were massive, heavily warded underground facilities built directly beneath the central administrative tower, designed specifically for large-scale combat simulations. The academy used them when throwing hundreds of students into active terrain wasn’t an option.

I had never stepped foot inside one myself.

Back in my old life, before I ever woke up in this world, VR capsules were just something you read about in novels or played in games. Even with how far tech had come, nobody had built anything like this. But here in Aetheris, it wasn’t fiction anymore. It was real.

I’d actually used something similar back when I entered the Path Trial at the Celestial estate, but that pod was built for a different purpose. That one was essentially a high-end life-support shell—a protective system designed to keep my physical body alive and fed while my soul traveled into the trial realm.

These academy pods were something else entirely. They were built to replicate real Gates and active disaster zones, translating physical feedback, mana pressure, and actual pain straight into your mind.

I tossed my coat over my shoulder, pulled my dark academy uniform on, and hooked the buttons along the front.

Passing the mirror near the door, I paused for a second to brush my hair back with my fingers. It had grown out a bit over the last few months, not long enough to get in the way during a fight, but definitely past the clean-cut short crop I started the term with.

I actually liked it better this way.

Leaving my room on the upper floor of the Primus Tower, I headed down the ground hall.

Roan and Alice were already standing near the main entrance, waiting by the archway. Roan had his hands jammed into his pockets, leaning casually against the wall, while Alice was leaning against the opposite pillar, her wild crimson hair pulled back into a high tail.

”Ah... finally you came. Shall we go now?” Alice said, stepping out as I reached the floor.

”Sorry about that. Let’s go,” I said, catching up to them as we pushed through the doors into the morning chill.

She nodded and started moving.

Roan fell into step beside us, letting out a dry breath. ”Honestly, I’m just glad the written papers are done. I don’t care what’s waiting underground, anything is better than sitting in that exam hall for another three hours.”

”Yeah, but that doesn’t mean today’s test will be easy,” I sighed. ”Knowing Morgana, you can’t expect anything simple. You all know how crazy that woman is.”

Roan groaned, dragging a hand down his face. ”Ugh, bro, don’t remind me. Just thinking about her setups makes me feel sick already.”

I couldn’t help but smile at his misery as we kept walking down the quiet path.

_

The walkways weren’t completely empty, but the usual morning noise was gone.

People walked in small, tense groups, keeping their voices low. You couldn’t walk down a single path without noticing how much emptier the campus felt compared to the start of the term.

The Gate attack three months ago had shattered any illusion that this place was just a prestigious school, and the steady stream of dropouts ever since had left every class looking thin. Nobody was laughing today.

Everyone knew what was waiting underground.

We reached the base of the central spire and took the wide stairs leading down into the earth, heading straight for the lower levels where the combat facilities were built. At the bottom of the long descent, iron doors stood open as armored academy guards unsealed the protective wards, letting the crowd of first-years filter inside.

The room was huge, a round, cold vault built from polished stone and reinforced with thick bands of black iron.

Lined up across the vast floor in neat rows were nearly three hundred smooth, capsule-shaped metal pods. Their glass covers glowed with a soft, steady light. Glowing rune circuits ran across the floor like veins, feeding ambient mana straight into a central station raised at the far end of the room.

Standing on that platform were the faculty members.

Vice President Helene Draven stood at the front of the platform, her dark coat buttoned to the neck as her cold gaze swept over the crowd. Beside her, Professor Valerio kept his arms crossed, watching Class Fortis fall into line.

Near the main control panel, Professor Zane adjusted the rune lines with sharp, quick movements, while Professor Dain stood beside him, checking the mana feeds and pod systems to make sure everything ran smoothly.

Over with Class Audax, Professor Eleanor stood tall, her silver hair spilling over her robes as she watched her students with quiet authority.

And right at the edge of the platform stood Professor Morgana.

”Everyone, form up by class,” Morgana’s voice rang through the hall, cold and sharp enough to silence the whole room in a second.

Nobody hesitated. The first-years moved at once, falling into their class lines in front of the pods.

I took my place at the head of Class Ascendant and scanned our ranks. Thirty-eight students. That was all we had left out of the fifty we started with.

To my left, Arthur stood at the head of Class Veritas; their group still had around forty-two students, looking disciplined and calm. Next to them was Cordelia leading Class Audax with roughly forty-one students remaining.

And at the far end stood Riven, leading Class Fortis — a class that had taken the absolute worst of the Gate attack and the dropouts that followed. They sat lower on the board by a single point below us, their numbers battered down to roughly thirty-eight as well.

”Listen closely,” Morgana said, her dark eyes pinning every student in the room.

”You are looking at the Virtual Reality Pods. For the next several hours, your minds and mana signatures will be sent into the same battle simulation. Your real bodies will stay here, safe under our watch. But inside that simulation, every blow, every spell, and every drop of blood will feel completely real.”

A low whisper broke out among the back rows. A sharp glare from Helene silenced the room instantly.

”Some of you think this test is unfair,” Morgana continued, her voice cold and empty of warmth. ”Some of you look at your class lists and complain that other classes have stronger rankers, or that you were dealt a bad hand. Let me kill that delusion right now. The real world does not care about fairness. Neither do Gates.”

She stepped closer to the edge of the platform and rested both hands on her cane.

”Each class will be dropped into a completely separate, unique environment with different terrain and different dangers. But the overall threat level is the same across all four groups. You are facing a scenario equal to a Grade 4 Gate. Monsters will range from Grade 3 Common up to Grade 5 Commanders, ending with a Master Low boss deep at the core.”

She paused, her gaze cutting through the ranks like a blade.

”You have all faced monsters before. You faced them during your entrance trials. You cleared them during field evaluations. And three months ago, you survived a nightmare that tore this campus apart. Killing beasts alone is not what this test is about.”

Silence hung heavy over the vault as everyone waited for her next words.

”Three months ago, what almost got many of you killed was a total lack of teamwork. You fought as individuals. You panicked. You scattered. Today, being a lone hero will get your whole class failed. Your goal is not just to clear the gate fast. You will be tasked with protecting civilian groups and holding defensive lines under active pressure. If a class rushes straight for the boss and clears the Gate in record time, but lets the civilians or their own teammates get slaughtered, their overall score will be affected.”

Her voice turned sharp as she gave the final warning: ”You do not pass this test as individuals. Your class leaders will command you, but every single one of you is responsible for keeping the line intact. If your class falls apart, you all fail together.”

I narrowed my eyes slightly, listening to her words.

So that’s what she meant before, I thought. Strength alone won’t score points today. If I run off to hunt the boss while my teammates get overwhelmed, the whole score will be affected. We fail together or we pass together.

”You will put on the academy combat gear placed beside your capsules,” Morgana instructed. ”It will carry your real-world physical ranks and mana affinities into the simulation without changing them.”

She gestured toward the open capsules. ”Step into your pods. Lie down. The system will handle the rest.”

We didn’t hesitate.

I walked over to the pod assigned to me at the front of Class Ascendant’s row, sat down inside the metal shell, and lay back against the dark cushion. The glass cover slid down smoothly and quietly, sealing me inside and shutting out all the noise from the vault.

A faint hum vibrated through the pod. A clear blue screen lit up right in front of my eyes. A flat, automated voice echoed through the capsule:

[LINKING MANA SIGNATURE...]

[USER IDENTIFIED: LEO VON CELESTIAL — PRIMUS OF CLASS ASCENDANT]

[AFFINITIES DETECTED: LIGHTNING / SPACE / FLAME]

[RANK CONFIRMED: MASTER MID]

[MATCHING VITAL SIGNATURE... 100% SUCCESSFUL]

[SETTING UP SENSORY FEEDBACK... PAIN LEVEL SET TO 95% REALISM.]

[LOADING INSTANCE: FROZEN RUINS.]

[CONNECTING CLASS ASCENDANT STUDENTS... 38/38 CONNECTED.]

[STARTING DEPLOYMENT IN... 3... 2... 1...]

The dark inside of the capsule dissolved into a blinding flash of white light. The hum of the machines faded, replaced instantly by the howling, bitter bite of a freezing wind.

My vision cleared.

I stood on the edge of a cliff, my boots sinking into the fresh snow. Below us, half-buried under a heavy, howling snowstorm, lay a huge, ruined mountain village. The freezing air hit my lungs instantly, sharp and biting, making the simulation feel disturbingly real.

Beside me, one by one, thirty-seven figures appeared in the freezing cold.