Advancing Like Lightning

Inside an office, a woman was seated behind a desk and looking at the screens showing the applicants inside the VR test.

The woman was very beautiful, with long black hair that fell until her waist, and deep red eyes that seemed able to see through everything. Just a glance at her was enough to leave most men in a daze.

This beautiful woman was the current headmistress of Sanctuary's First.

Strangely, not many people knew about her identity. Two weeks ago, the headmaster was not her, but the previous headmaster suddenly resigned, and this woman appeared to replace him.

Obviously, such a sudden change made many people suspicious, but despite that, the woman's takeover over Sanctuary's First was very smooth. Almost nobody opposed her, and the few people that opposed her changed their opinions after just one night.

Such powerful means were enough to make the staff of Sanctuary's First awestruck and afraid.

Right now, this woman was watching the performance of the most outstanding applicants.

"Tierra Lorenz," A young woman behind the headmistress informed when she saw the screen that the headmistress was observing. "Tier-Four Awakened with the skills [Hawk Eye] and [Mana Weapon]. She is an exceptional archer. Right now, she is at the 53rd level."

The Headmistress nodded and looked at another screen, prompting the young woman to speak.

"Ley Pham. Tier three Awakened with the skill [Mind Shock]. Surprisingly, she has reached the 51st level, and none of her battles has lasted more than thirty seconds. Moreover, she was in second place in the written examination. One of the best seedlings in this batch."

The headmistress stared at Ley's screen for several seconds before moving her gaze to another screen.

"Theodore Riedel, tier four awakened with no skill registered. He is proficient in using the sword and relied on it to reach the 52nd level. Oh, he just advanced to the 53rd level."

Just like that, the headmistress continued looking at the screens and the young woman explained the background of the students that caught her interest. Finally, the headmistress's gaze moved to the two screens in the center.

"… Andrew Mattew, peak tier-four awakened with the skills [Physical Strengthening], [Domain], and [Limit Breakthrough]. Right now, he is at the fifty-sixth level, and he doesn't show signs of stopping. He should be the second strongest student in this batch. As for the strongest…"

The young woman stared at the screen next to Andrew's and her expression became solemn.

"Sylvia Quin, fifth tier, and there is no record of her skills. She is at the sixty-fourth level now, and she is the indisputable strongest student this time."

The headmistress nodded.

She did not find it strange. She knew Sylvia Quin's origins, and she knew that this girl's true capabilities were not something that the other students could compare to.

In fact, this girl was the reason she became the headmistress of Sanctuary's First.

Just then, another screen caught the headmistress's eye.

It was a screen slightly in the corner. It meant that this applicant was outstanding, but he was inferior to the most outstanding applicants.

"Who is he?" She asked.

The young woman was startled and quickly searched for him on her tablet.

"… Jane Walker, a third tier Awakened with two skills registered, [Lightning Seed] and [Physical Strengthening]. He reached level forty; however, he seems to have trouble defeating the boss of this level. Pretty good, however, he is a bit weaker than the top applicants."

"Really?" The headmistress raised an eyebrow and looked at the screen in interest. "Jane, huh. An interesting kind."

…

I was stuck in level forty.

The reason was simple, I did not have an effective means to attack the eagle.

The eagle's attack style was simple. It used wind blades to attack from the sky and never approached. It meant that I needed to use a long-range attack if I wanted to defeat it.

However, my only long-range attack was [Lightning Beam], but that was not a skill that I could use freely.

Using that skill put on a strong burden on my body, so even if I used it to defeat this eagle, what about the next level, and the level after that?

"Fuck." I cursed while avoiding a wind blade. "Damn, is there no way to force that eagle down!?"

At this rate, I will be eventually exhausted.

At that moment, the demon's voice sounded in my mind.

[Just use Lightning Beam.]

'… But, what about the next level then? If I use Lightning Beam against every eagle, I won't be able to last until level fifty.'

The demon sighed as though he was talking to an idiot. [Have you forgotten? This is a dreamland.]

I was stunned, but immediately, my eyes lit up.

Is it possible? Wait…

I closed my eyes briefly and focused. Then, I tried to see if I could manipulate the dreamland.

However, the dreamland was very solid. I felt as though I was trying to move a ten-ton piece of metal.

In the end, this dreamland was not mine. If I wanted to modify it, I needed to be strong enough to overpower the owner of the dreamland first.

But–

'This body is mine.'

The demon said it before. This dreamland was built by a strong consciousness that is acting as the host. That means that the environment and the monsters are created by this consciousness.

But if the owner of this dreamland is the host, I'm a guest.

I'm not really part of the dreamland. My body and the skills I use are created by my own consciousness.

In theory, I should be able to modify these aspects to my will. It should be possible to make myself one thousand times stronger and destroy this eagle with a flick of my finger.

However, that was impossible. My control over my consciousness was not at that level. In fact, even increasing my strength slightly was very hard.

But if I just wanted to heal my body–

With a thought, I enforced the idea that my wounds were healing.

Instantly, the wounds and the fatigue that I acquired during the battle against the eagle healed.

I opened my eyes with an expression of excitement.

"To think that it worked…"

At that moment, the eagle attacked again. But this time, I did not avoid the wind blade and instead cut it off with my spear.

Then, I fixed my eyes on the eagle.

"I'm going to enjoy this."

Lightning surged out of my body and flowed to my spear, creating countless arcs of lightning that ran throughout the spear shaft.

"[Lightning Beam]," I stated.

And a bluish ray of lightning pierced through the sky.