Archer dragged the upset Maeve into the room and closed the door behind them before turning to her. “Why are you so upset? I was waiting to ask you on a date when we saw each other again,” he honestly said.

The orange-haired girl bristled as she responded angrily, “It was meant to be me first! Not Eve or Aurelia, me!”

When she spoke, Archer instantly heard the jealousy seeping into her words and decided to cut this off. He stepped forward, stealing her soft, plump lips in a passionate kiss that surprised Maeve.

The Avaloch Princess returned the kiss before the two broke away. “I’m sorry. Jealousy overtook me, as I’ve never been on a date and really want to.”

Archer smiled when hearing this. “Why don’t we go on one after today’s fights? We can go get dinner and take a walk through the city?”

When Maeve heard this, a glowing expression appeared on her gorgeous face, and her grey eyes sparkled. “Can we?” she excitedly said. That would be amazing.”

He agreed with a nod before embracing the girl, who was smiling ear to ear. Afterward, the duo left the room only to have all eyes turning to him. Teuila teased with a giggle, ”No having sex in the room, Arch! But you’re lucky you just finished as your first to fight in the survival round.”

Archer chuckled as he said bye to the girls and stepped through the door leading to the arena. Five minutes later, he was standing on stage with twenty other boys and girls his age as they were being connected to the machine.

Archer swiftly identified Aurelia, Eveline, and the frosty Apollonia among his group. He smiled warmly at the trio, receiving reciprocated smiles from Aurelia and Eveline. However, the pink-haired girl shot him a disdainful glare, prompting a chuckle from Archer at her reaction.

That’s when he spotted a man approaching the nearby stage, stepping onto it, and talking to the group, ”Listen up, boys and girls. I’m Johnson Silverwind, the creator of the Mana Realm, a training simulation used across Thrylos by empires, kingdoms, and schools.”

Archer watched as Johnson studied the crowd before continuing, “Each of you will confront monsters beyond your wildest imagination in this challenge. Those who emerge victorious will advance to the next phase of the Knockout Stage, where one-on-one battles await—an event eagerly anticipated by the spectators.”

There weren’t any rules as they would be alone and the Mana Realm. Aside from the relentless onslaught of monsters, there seemed to be no significant drawbacks, apart from the fact that they had to shout surrender if they wanted to stop.

Afterward, Johnson instructed the assistants to start the survival round before telling everyone to sit on the supplied chairs while they entered the Mana Realm. Archer took a seat and glanced over at the girls, who cheered him on with enthusiastic shouts and wolf whistles, eliciting a smile from him.

Once everyone was settled, Archer heard some of the heartbeats of the other students panicking. Just as he looked around, his consciousness was sucked somewhere, and he reappeared in a canyon will high cliffs on both sides.

The land was a long strip stretched endlessly, and he felt the hot air on his skin, which baffled him. While standing there, a flash momentarily blinded him until he faded and messed with his eyesight.

His eyes had to adjust to the brightness; when his vision got used to it, he spotted a group of Goblins encircling him, but all Archer did was scan them to see what rank they were.

Goblin

Rank: F

‘Their weak,’ he internally mused. ‘Should be easy.’

After thinking, Archer cast Crown Of Stars, causing fourteen bright violet motes to appear above him before targeting the Goblins and shooting out smaller projectiles that took out the creatures in a wave of mana.

They kept coming, forcing Archer to fight using his claws, tail, and magic. With two quick swipes, he decapitated two goblins before launching a dozen Plasma Missiles that zoomed toward an incoming horde of creatures, creating chaos in the canyon as the bodies vanished once they were dead.

Archer was confused but remembered it was virtual reality, and he couldn’t loot their hearts. He continued fighting as he slaughtered the goblins. Once they stopped appearing, he checked his experience and realized he earned twenty experience per kill.

This information shocked and excited him, causing him to butcher the Goblins while laughing after he realized that the simulation was pulling in the world’s mana to create the monsters, allowing him to benefit from it.

He spent some time killing the Goblins before the Goblin Shamans appeared, and these creatures gave him fifty experience. When Archer killed the first one, the notification popped up, causing his excitement to grow, and he went on a greed-fueled slaughter.

The Goblins didn’t know what hit them, and even the Hobgoblins couldn’t stand a chance as he breathed his Dragon’s Breath at them. Archer watched as his violet flames washed over the monsters, causing them to vanish.

This continued until a bell started ringing, and a robotic voice said, ”Wave One defeated. Three minutes to rest before Wave Two begins.”

Archer took a seat and looked up to see passing clouds, as if he were in the real world, and thought it was a peaceful scene. Three minutes passed quickly, and he heard the roars of more monsters heading his way.

He looked up at spotted giant bears that resembled the short-

face bear from Earth’s history, which caught his interest.

Savage Jungle Bear

Rank G

‘These monsters are Rank G!’

Once he saw their rank, Archer started casting Plasma Missiles around him and summoned thousands of the violet plasma projectiles spinning on the spot before he sent them aiming at the heads of the monsters.

The spells zoomed off like bullets and slammed into most of the bears, causing them to collapse to the ground as they vanished. After his attack, Archer notices even more bears approaching him from behind.

He sighed, opting to confront the bears in close combat. The skirmish with the bears proved shorter than the goblins, given their smaller numbers. Nonetheless, by the end of the round, he became increasingly frustrated.

Archer battled with the monsters for ten rounds until the simulation spawned something that challenged him. There were massive, bigfoot-looking creatures that stood ten feet tall and made him look like a twig.

Without wasting any more time, he scanned them as they got close.

Jungle King

Rank B

When he saw this, Archer got excited, as they were strong, and charged toward them while readying his claws. He dodged the creature’s large fist with ease before lashing out with several slashes, bringing the monster to the ground.

Archer finished it with a blast to the back of the head as another two appeared, forcing him to use Blink to get out of the way. When dodging, he cast several Eldritch Blasts that killed one of the creatures and made the other stumble.

He took this chance and used Blink to appear on the shoulder of the Jungle King before plunging his tail into the monster’s head. This continued for a while as Archer battled with the giant gorillas.

By the time the round ended, he was winded and needed to sit down to catch his breath. He wondered what monster would be next but didn’t have long to wait as a swarm of large wasp-

looking creatures appeared above.

When he saw this, Archer quickly cast dozens of spells into the horde of insects, causing chaos as the Plasma Missiles detonated in the middle of them. The battle continued as he used the Cosmic Shield to defend himself while attacking.

____________________

The Girl’s POV

They watched as Archer battled with numerous people, and the other students dropped out one by one. Ella was the first to speak, ” He’s doing well, but if they send a Firewyrm or Sea Drake, it will be over.”

When the other girls heard this, they gazed at the half-elf, who explained that a Firewyrm is a dragon’s nemesis and will fight until the death as the history between the two races stretched back thousands of years.

Sera bristled as she heard the creature’s name, but Hemera told them that it was a wingless dragon that dwells in volcanos, building lakes, and anywhere it’s hot. The last sighting of one was hundreds of years ago during the Great War that engulfed Thrylos.

Once she had told them about the Firewyrms, Ella proceeded to enlighten them about the Sea Drakes, colossal serpent-like dragons that prowled the oceans and harbored a deep-seated animosity towards their airborne brethren.

As the discussion turned to these formidable creatures, Teuila grimly labeled them nightmares. Known for their proclivity for chaos, Sea Drakes were infamous for their brazen assaults on ships and coastal settlements, wreaking havoc wherever they roamed.

Their attacks were not driven by necessity but rather by a twisted sense of amusement, leaving destruction and devastation in their wake. When the girls heard that, shivers ran across their bodies.

But it was soon forgotten as Archer started fighting three dozen Wyverns that the Mana Realm sent against him. They all started cheering when noticing he was the last one left after Aurelia, Eveline and Apollonia were knocked out.

Once smiling at the three, everyone got back to the fight just as Archer threw one of the Wyverns toward the ground, causing a massive crash that angered the other monsters, who were silenced by a face full of Eldritch Blasts.

Updated from frewebnovl.