299 Advancing to the Twenty-Second Floor
“The same applies to fights where we have to handle multiple opponents. Cynrik constantly moves freely around the entire battlefield, using his stealth skills and maneuverability to dispatch any potential threats to the party before we become hindered by them.”
Pausing for a second, Benny considered how to explain Brance’s role in battle.
“In contrast, Brance reacts quickly and confronts everything in our path, giving us the confidence to continue no matter how tired we are because we know he will always be there when we need him to be.”
Drawing his sword and turning his body to face the frozen creatures across the room, Benny tossed a thankful smile to Yennifer before speaking.
“Thank you, Teacher Yennifer, you have allowed me to see where I falter; it won’t happen again. I admit I think a bit too much when fighting, and it’s because the Jetlensr Brothers’ have given me that gift. I panic when they aren’t around, and I only have myself to rely on. I need to do what Big Bro Cyn always says and react, not think. I’ve done it in the past, but only because it was the only way to win.
“I admit I have been taking this trial too lightly, so once again, thank you for showing me this.” Spinning his Estoc around, Benny brought it up and rested its blade against the top of his shield while crouching down.
Looking back at Yennifer one more time, Benny had a single request for her before she started the battle back up.
“Teacher, can you allow me to take the same trial as the others? I don’t feel right having an easier path, and even though I cant earn a perfect clear anymore, I need the combat experience.”
|” Very well, Student Benjamin, I shall do as you request. But be careful; there are many more opponents to fight against.”|
“Yes, Ma’am!”
Suddenly, Benny watched as the ten creatures vanished, and a single cloud of particles appeared in its place along with a chain of notifications that popped up in his vision.
|Welcome to Floor Twenty-One. As a challenger who is above Tier-1, the difficulty for this Floor and the final one has increased dramatically.|
|Originally, since the First Obelisk is meant to be a trial for new students who haven’t achieved Second Tier, the challenge on this Floor was supposed to be a unified battle against 10 Peak Tier-1 opponents. However, an errata has been put in place, and necessary adjustments have been made.|
|Hensforth, the enemies on this Floor will come in waves, with the starting wave only having one randomly generated Creature and the 10th and final Wave having 10, for a total of 56 Peak Tier-1 opponents.|
|The challenger will only be allowed a 30-second break between each Wave, and the Next Wave will immediately begin after the break is finished.|
|Wave One is now beginning. Spawning One Creature at Random.|
|Wave One Opponent, Peak Tier-1 ViperBite.|
With that notification, Benny jumped into battle and began walking through all of his opponents in the early Waves until, like everyone else, he had reached Wave:10.
—
Back in her Realm, Yennifer pressed a few buttons on her Commandship style chair while carefully watching Benny’s fights. Unknown to him, or even the other members of MyrkLys, she had been casually manipulating time within the Obelisk so that Gabby, Selene, and Benny could keep up with how quickly Cynrik and Brance were clearing each challenge. From the beginning, the brothers were the only ones climbing each Floor at matching speeds, thus their ability to stay in contact with the Mind link.
“It’s almost time; I wonder how that ruffian Geralt will react once he finds out these kids blasted past his previous record, fufu.” Yennifer thought aloud as she remembered what seemed like yesterday when a young Tier-1 teenage boy with short white hair aggressively barreled through every challenge.
Smiling lovingly as the memory surfaced in her mind, Yennifer began typing away on a virtual keyboard, sending a message to the once young ruffian who grew up into the Headmaster of VSFA. Once she finished, she moved on to slowing down the time differential between the separate realms for each member of MyrkLys, allowing her some extra time to make necessary changes to the final Floor, Floor Twenty-Two.
—
Outside the First Obelisk, in the Headmaster’s office, Geralt rested with his head on his arms. It had been a highly stressful couple of days, starting with the meeting with Cynrik and then the subsequent breach in security. Thanks to those events, he had been swamped double and triple-checking the security teams and every staff member on file. Yet even after the deep dive, he had yet to come up with any moles.
So after running on no sleep and stressing his mind to its full extent, Geralt had finally laid his head down for a short nap, but just as he did, his Watcet began vibrating as he received a message from Yennifer, the Obelisk AI.
Groaning loudly and massaging his temples, Geralt sat up and opened the message.
|”My dear Geralt, it’s your Mother. I just wanted to let you know that the children you sent into the Obelisk, the members of MyrkLys, have broken the standard procedure by entering the First Obelisk at Tier-2, causing me to adjust the trials for Floors Twenty-One and Twenty-Two; heavily.”|
The first message caused Geralt to stiffen and jump up from his seat in panic.
‘Those knuckleheads jumped into the First Obelisk? I thought they wouldn’t be stupid enough to do it and would just enter from the Second; that was what Ivar had me convinced he was planning. By entering the First, he has upset the balance! Wait, I should have predicted this; the greedy little runt is after benefits!’
Slashing out at the air on the opposite side of the desk, Geralt opened up a Spatial Crack and stepped through while reading the second message from Yennifer.
|”Ragnarsson Brothers and Gabriella Sanford are on their way to completing the trials with perfect scores; however, Selene Nilsson and Benjamin Sanford have already been eliminated. All five are in the process of clearing the Advanced Challenge on Floor Twenty-One, the very same one I made for you back then. Awww, you were so cute back then, constantly asking your Mommy for help but look at you now. A grown man in his 50s who refuses to come to see his Mother, woe is me. ˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅ )‧º·˚”|
Clicking his tongue as he walked up to the First Obelisk and entered unnoticed by the students, Geralt disappeared into a flash of particles before reassembling in the same room as the beautiful Yennifer, who was in the process of fake crying into her hands.
|”Boo hoo, my only son hates his poor old Mother. He never visits and demands I continue this trial for his students. Boo hoo.”|
Walking up beside Yennifer, heaving a tired sigh and rubbing her back tenderly, Geralt couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret. Even though she had been in this AI form his entire life, she was indeed his birth Mother, although the story was complicated.
“Sorry, Mom, things have been hectic at the academy; it’s taking too much of my time and consideration; I apologize for not showing up more often.” Offering a few words, Geralt continued trying to appease Yennifer, who was smiling under the delicate and dainty hands covering her face.
|” *Sniffle* it’s okay, honey; your dearest Mother knows you are busy, and even if she gets lonely sometimes, your father does come to keep me company often.”|
Reaching back and holding his hand before planting a kiss on the top, Yennifer beamed up at Geralt, and the image of him growing up flashed through her mind momentarily. Smiling proudly at the man the boy had grown to become, Yennifer patted the back of his hand twice and turned to face the five large monitors in front of her chair.
|”You sent me quite an interesting bunch this time. The two brothers are exceptionally gifted for their age. The older brother is quick-witted and strikes without hesitation, which is an excellent trait to have as an Assassin. His adaptability to any situation has him easily beating all the records and times you made so many years ago. I do wish, however, that he wasn’t so damn reckless. He nearly killed himself virtually and in reality with a mishap due to an Affinity Gem that didn’t settle well with his Codex.”|
Flicking her wrist and moving Cynrik’s screen to the side, Yennifer ignored her son’s physical reaction to the news about Cynrik and moved to Brance.
|”The younger brother is exceptional for different reasons. Although he struggled a bit early on, he was able to create a new and unique Affinity Skill, which is clever in its own right. Although not as quick to adapt as his Brother, Student Björn has heart and worked his way through each Floor and the Wave Challenge methodically.”|
Geralt nodded as he watched the scenes of Brance swapping weapons from his Greatsword to a katana before executing an absurd nine-hit combination.
|”Student Benjamin struggled quite a bit, but after a little tutoring session, he is back on track. Initially, he was the only member of the group who was in the process of taking the standard Floor Twenty-One challenge; however, after speaking with him and clarifying a few things, he requested to be given the same treatment as the rest of his Faction. Since then, he has been working his way through the Waves and is about to finish the final one.”|
As he watched the footage of Garrison’s apparent “favorite” struggling before eventually finding his cadence, Geralt smirked before looking away and at Selene’s Screen.
|”Student Selene was in a different situation than the others. Since she had already entered previously and was unable to compete for a Perfect Clear, she spent all of her time this attempt working on her new fighting style. It’s clear that she was originally trained as an Assassin but has since earned a Unique Class; while I cant delve into its name, as you can see, it is a very different fighting style. Instead of working to clear the challenges quickly, she has been taking her time and using her opponents as a whetstone to flesh out her new techniques and abilities.”|
|”And then there’s Student Gabriella, who is easily the most impressive of the batch. Unlike the two brothers, she doesn’t have any overly powerful offensive skills, yet it took minimal effort for her to storm through her foes. The way she switches between Psychic Affinity Skills and well-timed precise Crossbow shots is something I never expected to see from someone so young.”|
Waving her hand and noticing that all five members had concluded Wave: 10, Yennifer brought up two event descriptions for her son to examine.
|”Their performance has forced me into making one of these two choices for the Twenty-Second Floor, and since you are their Headmaster, I will leave it up to you which one we move forward with.”|
Yennifer fell silent and watched Geralt’s face change through various emotions, ranging from confusion to disbelief. Eventually, he heaved a sigh, One option was the same Wave formation he had to complete, where there would be Twenty waves, but it was the same pattern as the previous Floor. Then there was the second option, which would showcase just how good these kids were, so without further ado, he went ahead and motioned for his Mother to go with the newly drafted custom challenge.
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