Chapter 694 - Taming the Fifth Year - Optional Paths - 3

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Chapter 694: Chapter 694 - Taming the Fifth Year - Optional Paths - 3 The forest base was very rocky. Tree roots were shallow, extending horizontally instead of deepening vertically. They created a dense network just beneath the surface, interweaving with the webs. But further down past the root layer... Only rock remained. The mole would take too long to advance through bedrock so hard, progress would be measured in centimeters per second rather than the meters they needed. But everything couldn’t be solid rock, right? And there were occasional tunnels, narrow and twisted things that suggested water or ancient beast passage. "This way," the leader pointed to one that seemed to go in the approximate direction they wanted. "It must connect eventually with softer ground." They entered with hopes of bypassing surface dangers. The tunnel was claustrophobic in ways that pressed on the mind. Barely wide enough for one person at a time, forcing a single line that stretched their formation dangerously thin. And dark, so dark that even with magical light they could barely see a few meters ahead, shadows swallowing illumination as if they were hungry living things. Someone put their hand on the wall to stabilize themselves during awkward navigation. The "rock" moved. The Stone Lurker awakened and ’split in half’, its body of animated mineral opening an enormous mouth. It was small, weak, barely low Iron in power. But its attack was unexpected, biting the student’s arm with force sufficient to bruise deeply and draw blood through punctured skin. "There are Rocktopi here!" "Just one," the leader dispatched it with several fused blows empowered by his Silver rank beast, stone body shattering into fragments. "Let’s continue." Three steps further, another Stone Lurker attacked from a different angle. Then another from the ceiling. And another from the floor. The tunnel was infested with them, perfect ambush terrain. And the problem wasn’t that they were strong or individually dangerous to Silver-rank students with proper defenses. The problem was they were very resistant to damage and you couldn’t distinguish them from normal rocks until they attacked, camouflage perfect down to texture and temperature. Every protrusion could be one. Every bump in the wall. Every irregular surface that caught the eye. The group advanced at a snail’s pace, preventively striking every rock they saw, wasting energy on false positives while the true Stone Lurkers waited mixed perfectly with their environment, patience unlimited. Of the weak Iron-rank monsters, they were the most annoying to deal with 1 on 1 by far. "This is impossible," someone growled after the tenth false alarm where smashed rock revealed only more rock beneath. "We’re wasting too much time." "So what?" the leader responded, frustration bleeding into anger that needed a target. "We go back up where we have no idea which way to turn?" Nobody had an answer to that question. They were trapped between equally bad options, every path forward presenting different but equivalent misery. ♢♢♢♢ Web Tunnels - Ren’s Group "Why don’t we go up top?" the hawk boy asked, looking toward where they could occasionally see light filtering from the canopy above, small yet tempting rays of brightness suggesting easier travel. "It would be faster, wouldn’t it?" Ren marked another section of wall with his glowing handprint before responding, not pausing his work to answer questions. "You can fly... and so you think you’d move quickly but..." he said, tone educational but distant in the way of someone explaining why you shouldn’t touch fire, "The canopy is dominated by fireflies and Scutigero Lances... You may know them as Myriapods spear-legs. The fireflies work in swarms like Shadow Stalkers, but instead of absorbing your energy they attack by combining their light attacks into concentrated rays. The Scutigeros live under almost all the leaves too, covering themselves from the light rays and attacking anything that touches the surface with legs that can pierce flesh easily." Klein observed, noticing how Ren explained without condescension or superiority, just matter-of-fact statements about ecosystem dangers. Specific knowledge again that textbooks never covered in sufficient detail. "And below?" asked the boy with an earth ant, curiosity overcoming his earlier nervousness. "Natural tunnels?" "Stone Lurkers," Ren continued advancing without breaking stride. "They infest the few tunnels that exist. They’re weak but difficult to distinguish from normal rocks until they attack. Advancing there would take triple the time because the bedrock is very hard and future progress with your tired ant and my tired Wolverine becomes impossible." "And the ecosystem to the left?" another member asked curiously, pointing vaguely in that direction. "I saw a clearing that way about twenty kilometers out when we just left the city." "Swamps," Ren responded simply, single word but carrying implications he didn’t elaborate. "Several hours of detour more than you think because spider webs also claim more territory when you go deeper there and reach the dry middle zone... And the swamps have their own problems too." Zhao smiled from behind, clearly enjoying how Ren cleared each question with interesting facts. The Strahlfang watcher, on the other hand, looked increasingly frustrated with each passing minute. What was there to point at as evidence of cheating? A student who knew things? That wasn’t cheating. That was simply... strangely comprehensive knowledge that couldn’t be explained by normal student experience. But expertise wasn’t against the rules, no matter how impossible it seemed for someone this young to possess it. ♢♢♢♢ Web Tunnels - Pursuing Group C "This is ridiculous," the group leader declared, staring at the white silk walls that extended endlessly in every direction, a maze without apparent pattern. "Why are we following tunnels like idiots when we can make our own path?" His tutor, an older man with experience in expeditions but clearly unfamiliar with this specific territory, frowned with a concern that experience had taught him to respect. "The tunnels have existed for a long time for a reason," he said carefully, choosing words that wouldn’t sound like direct interference. "I suggest you think more before acting..." "Because spiders like them," the leader interrupted with impatience born from youth and delusional certainty, dismissing wisdom he didn’t understand. "But we don’t like them... We can go straight through this and catch Patinder before he gets too far ahead." The watcher assigned to their group observed in silence, seeing the tutor’s concern but not intervening. It wasn’t his job to prevent bad decisions, only to document them and ensure the tutor didn’t help directly in ways that would violate evaluation rules. "What do you propose?" asked one of the team members, a boy with a fire beast whose hands were already glowing with anticipation of destruction.

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