The simulation rooms of the Royal Academy of Albion were an interesting product of arcane technology. Through the utilisation of the theory of spatial manipulation, which had been realized by a genius long ago, spaces that were much larger on the inside than the outside could be created not just through the use of magic by mages, but also through magical technology by people inherently incapable of magic.
Powered by Essence Energy and activated through the use of a set grafted code, these spaces were able to simulate entire worlds within them. They provided a personal place to train as well as to simulate how Veils worked, which were essentially pocket worlds Pathfinders were sent to explore and clear, without having to risk environmental destruction or fatal casualties.
It was still quite expensive to maintain, which was why this technology had yet to be used to solve housing problems. But it had certainly revolutionized the way students trained in their respective schools, as well as the testing of new and potentially dangerous magical technologies.
And sure enough, this simulation room had been designated for exactly five people to be teleported into, the first of them being Marilyn Althorn, who appeared in a brief flash of light.
“Woah…”
She observed her surroundings, and the simulated environment seemed to be some sort of desert. It felt so real to her that she could feel the wind blowing and the heat of the false sun. It was reminiscent of those in the wild west movies Marilyn knew about in her past life.
Then…
Notice: Tome System Updated
"Hm?” Marilyn would open the device up that she had stored previously in her backpocket.
The Tome itself appeared like a collapsible holographic phone, which could be used for many things as mentioned previously. Aside from being the main device used to identify a user's raw attributes, communications, or even entertainment, it could also be used for these kinds of tasks; quest giving.
[= Main Objective: Seek and get the simulation crystal in order to complete the trial. =]
“Crystal…?”
“Hey there! Glad we can actually be teammates for this!”
“Eep-!”
Marilyn was startled by a voice greeting her. She quickly turned around to see who's with her, but it seemed fine, it's just Elysia.
“It's you! I’m glad for that at least.” She said in response.
“Really now? You're happy to see me, hmm~?” Elysia replied, as energetic as ever as she leaned forward teasing Marilyn.
“Y-yeah! I am, I really am. Won't know what to do if I don't encounter any of the people I know…”
“And why is that?” Another voice, a female one. It's Cecilia.
“I-I feel inadequate for becoming a leader, that's all.”
“You know you don't need to do that, right? So why worry?” Cecilia seemed to have settled down a bit in terms of her tone of voice towards Marilyn.
And Marilyn had noticed that just recently, saying, “More of an anxiety induced thought process, probably?”
Cecilia just stared at her in utter confusion. It also caused Marilyn to be confused, but the princess just sighed in the end. “I really can't understand why you can be such an anxious person, at all.”
“Well hopefully you’re all getting along still, even if for this moment.” Another voice said, this time it's a male. “After all, teamwork is needed here, correct?”
Stolen novel; please report.
“Adrian!” Both Marilyn and Elysia exclaimed. Cecilia herself turned towards him too.
“The one and only! So, you guys got the objectives?” He said, showing his tome as well, the text that's written in it being the same mission they're about to do.
“Yep, we all got it, Addy!” Elysia said in response.
“Can't really believe that all of us are here, is it just me or are we being set up somehow?” Cecilia would comment as the group conversed.
“I don't really think so, we’re all randomly selected, or am I wrong?” Marilyn replied, “I mean-”
“Ah fiddlesticks, he’s here!” Elysia interrupted her, catching the attention of all the others.
“The hell was that line you said to me just now!?” A blonde cowboy appeared before them, rather upset, “You sound like an old timer y’know that!?”
“I don't care and I like saying it, now leave before you ruin the moment we're having!” Elysia retorted.
“Y-you’re Vincent, right?” But Marilyn decided to interfere, before things got worse.
“Huh? Whaddya want?” And his tone of voice changed to something a bit more hostile, the moment she said those words.
It caused Marilyn to back off a little at the intimidation display. In fact, it made her a bit more timid and seemingly defenceless.
“Tsk, you're a no-can-do.” He said, shouldering his shotgun, his posture carrying a nonchalant attitude. “If my tone towards you scared you this much, why bother being here?”
His glare at her, it was unnaturally hostile. She wanted to try and question him why he seemed to hate her this much, but she couldn't. She somehow knew it would lead to further hostilities. The other three people around her certainly knew that, and Vincent certainly did too.
Which was why…
“Is that all you’re offering?” Adrian stepped in between them, his left arm extended to block him from ever approaching Marilyn, planned to or not. “Why do you even want to immediately judge a person you just met a few hours ago?”
Adrian's expression turned from soft to something more serious, his stare clashing against the taller man before him. Cecilia and Elysia’s attention all turned towards the two young men before them, and Marilyn could only watch as she gripped the shaft of her magic staff tight.
Vincent scoffed, “Isn't it obvious? This girl's selfish as all hell yet she can’t stand up for even that, and you're here defending her.” His gaze then focused on her, ignoring Adrian. “Isn’t that right, Marilyn Althorn?”
“What are you-”
She tried to speak up, only to be interrupted, “Those eyes, you're a hypocrite. You want to be strong, right? You wanna be useful so people can rely on you, like all the people here. That's fine by me, I entered this school for the sake of becoming recognised too. But your attitude towards yourself…is that what a strong person would do?” He said to her, no cocky smile, it's a genuine critique.
Marilyn could only stay silent. He was not exactly wrong, she did have that sort of issue. But she did have bouts of confidence, and she was much more active now than in her past life.
However, he didn't know that. And in spite of the lacking context of why she was this way, he was still right about her. She was still weak, subpar at best, and her confidence was all but a facade that-
“That is enough, we can discuss this later. Focus on our current task at hand, please.” Adrian halted her train of thought, his hand that blocked the path between her and Vincent how retracted.
Vincent clicked his tongue, “Fine.”
Adrian turned towards the girl, a gentle smile present upon his face. It was a silent gesture, basically saying that she was safe with him, and that things would be alright.
She responded with a small smile as well, and her tightened grip at her magic staff loosened. She would walk towards the two girls afterwards, calming herself down.
And to break the silence…
“So! What's the game plan here, Mr. Leader?” Elysia decided to catch their attention with those words.
“Hm? That's certainly a new one! But let's see…” Adrian opened up his scroll and looked at the mission objective.
And as he murmured to himself, Cecilia decided to get closer to the white haired girl, walking towards her.
She leaned into her ear, whispering to her. “Once you're free and willing, talk to me.”
Marilyn was a bit startled by that, but nodded. “I’ll think about it.”
“Looks like there's nothing telling us what to do here, except to get the simulation crystal…” Adrian would say to himself, before turning towards the others, “I guess we should just go ahead and explo-”
A thunderous roar caught them all by surprise. The five of them looked to the skies above, as a massive shadow loomed over them and darkened the skies. The gust of wind was intense to them, and Marilyn stumbled before regaining her footing, shock drowning her.
A massive shadowy dragon, far larger than the one she had encountered when she was a child. A three-headed phantom beast with two tails, with an eye colour that could be mistaken as pure blood. Counting the length of its tail, the creature's length could be determined as approximately 90 metres long, with a wingspan easily exceeding 200 metres just by a glance.
Truly, a ferocious beast, followed by a pack of flying creatures that while small compared to it were still larger than a bear, acting as its personal army.
“The school wants us to slay that…?” Cecilia commented, a bit nervous.
“No…it wants us to get the crystal.” Adrian said, pointing at the dragon as it orbited the sky around them, after it had passed by. “It's located in the middle of that thing’s second head it seems, we just have to get it off.”
“Heh, good eye.” Vincent said to him.
“Uhuhh…we still have to fight it, though.” The princess responded in turn.
“Welp! No time to waste, right?” Elysia said too, turning to Marilyn.
And with a confident smile, to which Vincent had ignored, Marilyn nodded, “Let's get that crystal.”