In the next few days, Akhil and Donner visited Sam.

Akhil and Sam are okay, they don't have exactly great friendship, but they did spend some time together and he was also the person Sam was wary of besides Noah. Akhil has always been on his own. He never teamed up with anyone.

And he is also proficient in beast taming. Most important of all, he is taken care of by Sun Wukong. Sam would be an idiot to think that any guy that God-sponsored is not a tough nut to crack.

However, their relationship is still amiable and Sam hoped it would stay well.

On the other hand, Donner's situation is still as awkward as ever. The attempt he made on Sam all those years ago, is still haunting him like crazy. The rest of the players are not as friendly to him and he didn't want to be associated with Dayus who always had handouts.

So, this put him in a weird situation.

And even weirder is that Sam was the only one who stayed a bit nice to him. So, he was glad that Sam gave him a warning about the Hub. Even without Sam asking, he directly promised that he will never anything related to hub to anyone.

After that was done, it was soon time to go to the Pseudo hell.

Sam was looking forward to it for a long time.

It has been delayed because the players hadn't come to the Academy realm, which is kind of a bitch move, but he had to wait because he couldn't get even with the gods. Not yet.

All the candidates eligible for it were gathered. It was mostly Sam and his friends except for White and Bronte. In the tournament just one of his friends had to step back and let Philip win. It was Saber Monarch.

With Noah's involvement, they had to give away one of the top ten spots. At that time, it didn't matter much. If he had known that something like Pseudo hell existed and top ten is the way, he would have definitely wrestled to get Saber Monarch a spot on that roster.

Still, Saber Monarch was fine.

"I had seen my hell in that maze for a long time. I don't think I need another one.

" Was what he said. Sam did promise him that he will compensate with an equally good training.

He of course agreed with glee.

Once everyone gathered, the Dean of the Zeus Academy finally came.

"Hello, nice to meet you all. Let's not waste any time. I am sure all of you are way too excited to try this. So, I will get straight to the point and give you the notes that you need to take.

"

He didn't expect the students to greet him back, so he didn't even give them a chance and just continued on with the rules.

"As many of you might have learned from your Academies, the pseudo hell is based on the concept of Hell's purification or Hell's refinement.

It was an age-old practice that was followed by cultivators thousands of years ago….

"

He went on to explain the Hell's refinement a bit and continued.

"Pseudo hell was designed to simulate a similar experience.

When you are inside, you will find a foreign energy trying to corrupt your body. At least, you will feel that way. However, it was actually the energy extracted from the blood of Divine Beasts that specialize in having strong bodies.

That aura is good for your nourishment of physical body.

The more you accumulate it, the stronger your body will feel after the refinement is complete. Of course, as that energy accumulates, you will have a hard time using his divine energy and spiritual energy.

And when you accumulate enough, you wouldn't be able to use your energies and will have to rely purely on your physical strength.

After more accumulation, even that will not be enough.

Apart from this energy, there is also a hint of hell's actual corruption mixed in. Along with the nourishing energy this will also accumulate, but a miniscule amount with no side effects.

This will help you refine both your body and soul.

The moment, you are unable to fight inside and lose consciousness, you will be transported outside.

"

He paused a bit and let the students digest the information.

"Now, I will tell you what you have to fight.

"

Everyone paused and waited in anticipation.

"You are going to fight your past. Every single sin you have committed, taking lives, destroying people, causing harm, to animals, to people, whatever living creature that you have hurt either physically or emotionally, you will have to face it again.

In actual hell's refinement, these will be formed by the hell's corrupt energy, however here, they are mostly virtual projections conjured up of the nourishment aura.

You need to fight as much as you and accumulate as much aura as you can.

And don't worry about lasting longer than your peers. The amount of time you spend there and the amount of energy you accumulate are not necessarily proportional. There were times when someone spent an hour but accumulated more than someone who spent a day.

It all depends on how accepting you are of that sin and how decisive you are of erasing it and how much your sin you have destroyed in there.

I hope everyone understood. If you have any questions, this is the time to ask.

"

Sam didn't raise his hand. Neither his friends nor White. But Bronte had a bunch of questions. He even felt a bit embarrassed for asking so much, when the rest of his peers are completely oblivious to this.

"One more thing before you go..

" Dean continued his tirade.

"This pocket dimension doesn't just belong to our Academy realm. It is one of the vaster realms that we needed numbers to conquer and for that reason, we had to share it with some of the Olympian powers.

God Hades who made the dimension was generous enough and gave two entrances. One to us in the realm and the other that allows people from the Olympian powers to enter.

Since the pocket dimension is opening, the other side will send some of their people as well. Their quota is less so there would only be a few people, some even powerful than you.

They will not cause you any trouble, I hope you can extend the same courtesy to them as well.

"

The last sentence was clearly directed at Sam. Dean looked dead in his eyes when saying it. Sam rolled his eyes.

Even though he would like to kill every last Olympian follower, he knew when to pick his fights. This is for his friends. Not time for him to take care of his personal grudges. Of course, if the others really do try to make a move, he couldn't be blamed for just playing along, right?

After the long speech that almost made everyone feel sleepy, the dean finally led them to the pocket dimension. It was out of the city and they had to fly deep into the forest before they arrived at a valley that didn't look like it belonged in that lush forest that surrounded it.

The valley looked like the manifestation of death. It exuded the death energy like it was hell itself. The stench coming from it was unbearable for the students.

Except Sam. His vampire bloodline riled up inside his body as if it found its long-lost sweetheart.

Sam calmed himself down and followed the Dean who led the way. There is not a single living thing in that vast valley.

Not a single blade of grass. Everyone is vigilant about the death energy corrosion. Even at their cultivation levels, it was that bad.

Soon, they arrived at the deepest part of the valley and there a young man sat on a chair with a book in his hands. He is still a Grade 2 student by his cultivation level. It is a bit surprising seeing that they let someone as weak as him be a guard.

The young man looked at the group and smiled. As he already expected the question to pop in their minds, he said.

"The pocket dimension wouldn't allow anyone above Grade 1 to enter. Even if the higher grades came and get me, they couldn't do much about entering the dimension. As for the lower ones, I can stop them.

"

"What if a higher grade person accompanies the lower grade person?

" Philip is the one who asked.

The young man didn't take offense and just smiled.

"Even then, all I have to do is kill the lower-grade students. All it takes is one hit and I don't even have to be the one to land it.

"

The rest of the students felt a bit puzzled. Sam said.

"Traps.

"

They came to the realization.

"You are one of the select few who realized it. You must be Sam.

"