Aethernea : Soulbound [Book 1]

Episode 97 - The Purge

Previously:

The day of the practical exams is finally here. Kiel enters the 4th floor of Replica Dungeon to take the exam. The Replica Dungeon transports him to a large arena where his exam will be taking place. He has 9 opponents and 30 minutes. The more people that he defeats and the longer he stays undefeated, the higher would be his score. The examiners give the participants 5 minutes to prepare for the exam.

* * *

After the five minutes were up, the bars sealing the exit slowly lifted, giving Kiel a clear view of the arena in front of him. There was a large hourglass embedded into the wall of the arena right opposite of his exit. Kiel assumed that when all the sand passed through the hourglass that would signal the end of his exam.

Other than the large hourglass, the walls of the arena contained other exits with rising bars, just like his. The other participants of the exams were surely behind those bars.

The examiners have not explained exactly who Kiel would be fighting. From their words, one could infer that Kiel would be fighting other Muni exam participants.

And in a way, that was the truth - he would be fighting Replicas of the previous exam participants.

Elaru had told him that the Replica Dungeon would pick nine opponents with different levels of abilities. Therefore, there would be both weak people and strong people among the participants. Based on previous data, there should be four participants who had achieved a result of 15 points or higher in their exams.

Those are the ones he should be wary of.

Out of all the people in this world inside the Replica Dungeon, besides the examiners, Kiel would be the only actual person. All others were just flawed copies of the original - mere Replicas.

The Replica Dungeon would remember every exam participant it had ever hosted, allowing it to Replicate them in the future. Perhaps Kiel would run into someone who had taken a battle exam 20 years ago, or perhaps he would run into someone who had taken it a year ago. Perhaps, a year from now, the new batch of examinees would be forced to fight a Replica of Kiel Rroda.

The thought that inside this world there might exist another him was unsettling, to say the least.

* * *

(Yesterday, Black Pearl Restaurant)

"We are not going to the arena today. Today, you have..." Elaru slammed a thick book onto the table, smiling sweetly. "...some last-minute cramming to do."

"What is that?" Kiel looked skeptically at the huge book.

"Two days ago, I visited the D.I. and asked them to compile a list of all previous participants which:

1. took the Muni exam in the last 30 years,

2. had chosen a battle related exam,

3. had achieved 15 points or higher.

I asked them to provide info on their fighting style and tips on defeating them. This report cost me a fortune, you better memorize it well."

Looking at the thick book that looked as if it had over 400 pages, Kiel's face fell.

"You want me to memorize a 400-page book in a single day?!"

Elaru shook her head. "No, not memorize but analyze. Find those that are a threat and remember how to deal with them."

* * *

(Present)

As Kiel exited the small waiting room, he hoped that the four, strong people that the Replica Dungeon chose for him would be among the ones whose details he managed to memorize.