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"Damn it! Dead again!"

"Those abominable half-human, half-birds are really ruthless!"

Derek complained as soon as he woke up to his dome.

He too had been forcibly taken into these trial grounds and was forced to face hordes of undead.

At first, he panicked and didn’t know what to do. He got so spooked during his first night that he died. He thought that he would really die, only to wake up inside the dome soon after, making him think that he had just experienced a dream.

It wasn’t until the third day that he started to calm down and decided to explore his spawn area to search for clues about this place. And that’s when he learned what was happening.

He stopped thinking about escaping then and began trying to make do with what he has.

Things got better when his parents managed to reach out to him through the world system. They’re in constant contact now, so Derek has completely stabilized, and now, he’s giving it his all in his training.

Derek was ecstatic when he found out that his practice speed was 3× faster here. Although it’s too bad that he had to find it out through his parents, it’s still much better that he now knows about it instead of staying ignorant of the blessings he currently has.

That’s when he really began giving it his all. And because of this, he had reached mid-stage marrow cleansing soon. This was an incredible speed, and he knows it; everybody does. It would’ve taken him half a year to make this much progress, even with his talent.

Derek managed to buy the experience boost a couple of times. He couldn’t make it permanent, though, since his luck was bad and this place was really challenging, but it’s still better than nothing.

As for the Sky Archon Pieces? He never forced it. Sure, he managed to collect all five in some days, but most of the time, he fails. It’s nothing to him.

It’s those Undead Sky Archons that really made his life miserable. They were too fast and too perceptive. They could see through his movements even from a mile away while flying at incredible speeds.

They easily killed him more than any zombies at some point, and Derek had only ever managed to kill one so far. One. And that’s due to sheer dumb luck, too.

Derek was unlike those geniuses who could easily gain points to start researching if Sky Archon Arts could be translated to martial arts. He’s not that smart. He never was, and he would never pretend to be, either.

He spends his points to buy necessities to make his life just a bit more comfortable here. He figured that he might as well do it since he’s going to be here for a while.

Other than that, he’s saving up to buy the experience boost whenever he can. Like others in his position, he wants that to be active permanently, but it’s hard, so he could only do his best.

Derek also learned that it wasn’t just him.

Jules, Kaycee, Jen, and, of course, Ren, too, were taken. In fact, there were so many others aside from them. Those who had been taken here amounted to hundreds easily since the target was the entire human race.

Amongst the people he knew, there was one guy he knew would effortlessly thrive in a place like this, and that is Ren.

That dude has balls of steel and an unwavering composure. On top of his absurdly powerful physique, this place would be paradise for him.

Derek wasn’t one to dwell on comparisons, but Ren should be experiencing the maximum benefit this place could offer thanks to his personality and discipline.

It’s this idea that kept him going. After all, he didn’t want to get left behind. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Jen would be complaining a lot and probably die a lot before learning how to adjust. Jules will start off scared and terrified, but he will be fine. And Kaycee had always been dependable and perceptive; she’d do just fine here.

Although the Green Tea Party essentially disbanded at this point, Derek still fondly remembers them. It hasn’t been that long, yes, but it’s all the same anyway.

Maybe once they’re out of here, some things will change back home for the better.

But that’s a matter for the future. Right now, he needs rest.

Dying feels horrible as always.

**

"I can’t...they’re too fast."

"Are they supposed to be unkillable? No, that shouldn’t be."

"But they’re too strong. How am I supposed to deal with them?"

Lily bit her rosy lips in frustration after waking up in her dome.

Inwardly, she lamented that she lost half of the points she earned again. And upon checking, she fell a little over a hundred points away from buying the next Sky Archon Art she wanted to study.

Had she been able to clear the previous night, she would’ve had more than enough points to buy that technique and enough for another extension for her experience boost. The current one only has two nights left.

Lily let out a groan of frustration. She then stood up, dusted herself off, and went to her camp.

She was headed for the makeshift bathroom immediately to clean herself. Having the warm water course through her body and cleanse the filth away made her sigh in comfort.

At the very least, she has this.

She was initially worried that she’d have a difficult time here, but she managed somehow. In fact, she thinks that this was much better than being stuck to her room and being forced to always observe everything she does.

Those eyes can’t follow her here. They can’t judge her and compare her to another person here.

Moreover, the fact that she had been chosen to be here instead of them proved that their criticisms about her were always wrong.

Somehow, that made her feel vindicated.

She did feel a little bad for thinking that she prefers this place instead of home. But knowing how stressed she always felt back home, could anybody really blame her?

Hell, she even thinks that two years was a little short. If there’s a way to extend that up to three years, that would be cool.

"It would’ve been better if Sieg was here, too. Maybe this place could’ve changed his fate."

Once again, her thoughts flew over and recalled the face of the young man that constantly haunted her dreams.

She couldn’t help but feel like Sieg would flourish here. He could really use the 3× training speed; 6× would even be better.

If he could train here for two years, with how diligent he was, he could easily cross the gap with those who consistently mocked him. If he managed to return from this place, he would have his confidence back, and maybe he wouldn’t look as terrible and stressed as he always was nowadays.

She even feels like this kind of opportunity should be given to those that are less fortunate instead of the lucky ones.

Alas, she’s not the one who made this rule. She can’t bargain with that person either because they’re long dead. Even if she could, she absolutely has qualifications to do so.

But since she was chosen to be here, that means that Aria was here too.

The thought of her caused her to feel a little bit bitter.

Knowing how talented, bold, and resourceful that girl was, Lily was sure that Aria was absolutely thriving here. She might become even stronger once they all return from here.

She’s talented, smart, and everything Lily wished she ever was and more. No wonder why Sieg was smitten with her.

Lily knew that even if she were able to give up her chance to be here and give to Sieg instead, all she’d receive from him would be his gratitude, one that he’d absolutely do his best to repay in his own way in the future.

Sieg would never look at her the same way he does with Aria.

She sighed for the nth time since arriving here.

This was exhausting. She doesn’t understand why her mind was constantly disturbed by thoughts of Sieg. She thought it was just a crush, but the more time passed, the more she thought that it was something more.

Was she developing some sort of obsession?

It’s too bad that Marek wasn’t here to stop her from spiraling down.

Speaking of Marek, he should be here too, right?

She knew that Marek was just an online persona. It’s not his real name. But Lily never even once defeated Marek in their online duels. If he’s that strong and talented, there’s no way he’d be exempt from this, right?

Marek must be somewhere out there, possibly thriving just as well as Aria does. Maybe even better.

But unlike with Aria, Lily was geniunely comforted at the thought that Marek was doing well here. Whoever that guy is, there’s no way he’d collapse in a situation like this.

’I wish I could talk to them. But I can’t.’ Lily felt that it was pity.

After sighing yet another time, she finished her bath and changed into a more comfortable set of clothes. She did her best to clear her thoughts so she could get some actual sleep.