After they settled in to sleep, Kyren found himself again in the same nightmare. This time, he saw Patricia running for her life. Kyren recognized the place as the path to Sand Hills Town. He felt a surge of worry, fearing that this nightmare might reflect reality and that Patricia was truly in danger after leaving Arramaya City. As Kyren attempted to help Patricia, he suddenly fell into an unimaginable, endless void. In a matter of seconds, he was snapped back, thinking he had woken up. However, he found himself in the same scenario, it was the members of the Heart Blade Guild being tortured, but the difference between the previous one, The one doing the torturing was the Vice Leader of the AL Guild, his face twisted with sinister intent. Kyren watched in horror as he burned the Heart Blade Guild members alive. Just like before, Kyren found himself tied to a chair, unable to move or even speak as the girl reenacted the scene, walking towards him with purpose.

"AAAAAAAAAAAARGGHHHHH!" Kyren's piercing scream shattered the silence, jolting Hiro awake from his slumber.

Hiro shot up, scanning their humble abode for any signs of danger. "Kyren, what's going on?"

Breathless and shaken, Kyren struggled to compose himself. "Hiro, my nightmares are getting worse."

Hiro's concern deepened as he approached his friend. "Kyren, take deep breaths. We'll figure this out."

Desperation etched into Kyren's voice as he spoke. "Hiro, is there any way we can contact Patricia? I had a terrible dream about her, and it felt so real. It was as if something had happened to her after she left us in the city. I'm really worried."

Hiro's brow furrowed with worry, but he remained steadfast. "We can't reach her, Kyren. We just have to trust that she's safe. She's resilient, and we have to hold onto that."

As Hiro opened the window, the first rays of sunlight streamed in, casting a comforting glow into the room. "Let's focus on our goal here, Kyren. We'll find a way through this."

Though still plagued by uncertainty, Kyren nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're right."

After a few minutes, Kyren and Hiro finally went to their classroom as usual. As they expected, their room was really the least priority compared to other sections. It was like an unfinished room with dirty and destroyed furniture. They found plenty of seats available to choose from. They saw Zeeha, their section leader, looking like she hadn't had enough sleep and appeared stressed. After they picked a seat, they waited for the proctor to instruct them.

After a couple of hours, Kyren looked to the side and noticed that the classroom had become chaotic after all the Section 16 students had arrived. The section was divided into four groups. The majority of the section belonged to one group, led by a guy named Calir, an imp race about 25 years of age, who acted like the leader, gathering about 30 students. The second group resembled the first one, but it was led by Sparoo, an demon race about the same age as Kyren and Hiro, gathering around 10 to 15 students. They didn't interfere with Calir's group, but Kyren felt like Calir was also avoiding Sparoo. The third group consisted of Zeeha's group with only two students, and the last group comprised Kyren and Hiro.

"Hiro, looks like we don't have a proctor either. This is bad..." Kyren said, his voice filled with concern.

Hiro looked confused. "Why is this happening?" His question was interrupted when, after a couple of hours had passed, the door of their room finally opened. All eyes in the room turned towards the person entering, expecting to see their proctor. They were shocked to see their dorm caretaker, holding a cigarette and a list of papers, walking in the front.

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"Is that our proctor, Kyren?" Hiro asked, his voice tinged with uncertainty.

"I don't know. Maybe he is, maybe not. Let's wait and see what he says," Kyren replied.

The dorm caretaker began to speak, hesitating as he didn't seem to know what to say. "So..." he started. "There's a shortage of proctors assigned to your batch, and I'm in charge of all of you until you either move to another section or fail."

"What are you going to teach us?" one student asked.

The caretaker scratched his head. "That's the question! What am I going to teach all of you? I don't know," he continued. "In fact, we are all just waiting for all of you to fail or get lucky enough to move to another section because none of you are expected to pass."

Calir threw a fireball blast at the caretaker, nearly hitting him. "Don't disrespect me! Watch your words!" he warned angrily.

"Okay, okay. I see you're strong. I'm out of here. Do what you want," the caretaker hastily replied, rushing to exit the room.

...

"Come on, Hiro, let's leave here," Kyren urged.

"Where are we going?" Hiro asked, perplexed.

"Hiro, listen. We're on our own in this. It's just another survival challenge. I know it's unfair, but we need to self-train and learn. Come with me. I know something that will help us," Kyren replied, beginning to walk out and gently pushing Hiro along. However, they were interrupted when a student summoned a wall of stone through the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" the student who summoned the wall demanded, a sneer on his face.

"We're just going back to our dormitory. The class is dismissed," Kyren explained.

"Who said the class is dismissed?" Calir interjected.

"Our proctor walked out," Kyren responded.

"That's not our teacher. I'm the ruler here," Calir declared, his entire group nodding in agreement.

"What are we going to do then?" Kyren inquired.

"We will have our own challenges here. For today's challenge, I'll pick two people to fight to the death... and your buddy is one of the ones I've chosen. He's staring at me like he has something to prove," Calir announced, noticing Hiro's evident frustration.

"We will not..." Kyren began, but Hiro interrupted him, asking, "Who am I going to fight against?"

"You're brave. I'll give you a favor. Pick anyone here to fight with you," Calir offered.

Hiro scanned the room, his eyes darting from one person to another. He made eye contact with Zeeha and the other two human races, but it was clear that Zeeha didn't want to fight. Kyren noticed Hiro's hesitation and understood that Hiro would have a hard time choosing between Zeeha or the other two opponents. He knew that they were the only five human students there, and they were all girls. Hiro's personality wouldn't allow him to harm them.

"What's the matter? Brave little human, can't decide?" Calir taunted, his voice dripping with mockery, while the rest of the students joined in, trying to make fun of Hiro.

"Nah, I've decided," Hiro declared boldly, his voice cutting through the tension in the room. He pointed his finger directly at Calir, shocking everyone present, especially Kyren. "I'll pick you. Fight me," he challenged, his determination evident in his gaze.

"What, Hiro? No!" Kyren exclaimed, desperately trying to change Hiro's decision. "Hiro, I think we're no match for him right now. He's better than us," Kyren whispered urgently.

Hiro looked into Kyren's eyes, trying to convey something urgent, but Kyren couldn't quite grasp the full meaning behind the hint.

...

Meanwhile, Calir felt a twinge of disrespect at Hiro's decision, interpreting it as Hiro underestimating him.

"Are you sure about that?" Calir's light mood shifted to seriousness.

Hiro, determined not to back down, retorted, "Is my finger not pointing at you?" He tried to inject a touch of sarcasm into his statement.

Calir burst out in anger, releasing a large amount of fire that began to swirl around him ominously. "It's too late to regret what you said, boy," he growled, his voice laced with fury. Other students scrambled to move to the sides, seeking refuge from the scorching heat emanating from Calir's flames. The room temperature soared, making it feel like they were trapped in the depths of hell. Panic spread among the students as they desperately tried to escape the inferno.