Seeing that the spider was really dead, the three students were finally able to catch their breath. Unlike in their previous fight, losing in this battle would meant death. It was a grueling and fearful struggle. The spider's relentless attacks left them wounded and exhausted. They have all collapsed on the cave floor, forced to rest. The ground turned back to its original form. The big light that Cyrus summoned have started to dim. Adriana's shadow was back to normal.

"We should still be careful! We don't know if there are more of them!" Kron was breathing raggedly. He used up a lot of energy for using his abilities to the limit. From creating the tunnel to winning the fight.

Cyrus was coughing and laughing at the same time. He sustained the most injuries but their win seemed to overwhelm the pain that he was feeling. "Ha..Haha.. That was fun. The most fun I had in years."

"Fun? We could have died from that!" Adriana shouted as she stared at the ceiling but she can't hide the smile in her face. Having dealt the final blow made her ecstatic. After all, she fought hard even when her life was in danger.

"Kron! I have underestimated you. You are much better than I thought!" Cyrus was looking at him with awe. With some effort, he forced himself to sit from his lying position then took off his bag. He then took out three energy bars and threw the two to Adriana and Kron. "Take this. It would recover some of your energy."

Adriana caught the energy bar then sat up. She bit on its wrapper and pulled it open. "Are you sure that you are transported? You don't seem like one with how you use your abilities." Adriana said with a warped voice caused by her munching. "Anyway, thanks again!"

In the bulk of Kron's life, he was mostly cursed and ignored. His milder communications are one-way words of encouragement and concern. The best ones that helped him kept living was gratitude and recognition. But what he heard from both Cyrus and Adriana was probably the best sort of recognition he had heard. It was just something casual but he was praised for something he did. It might not be something special for others but for him, it was a great sort of motivation for his goal to change himself.

Kron's breathing has started to normalize as he also started to eat the snack that he got. "I think you two were actually more amazing."

"I know I am amazing," Cyrus straightened his back and smiled before pausing. He then gave a stern look at Kron. "but stop downplaying what you just did."

"If only Cyrus have some of your humility!" Adriana chuckled. She then smiled at Kron. "but he is right though. You really did great!"

Kron didn't really know how to handle the praises he received. He didn't think that getting praised would also be troublesome. Luckily, they really didn't have a lot of time to waste. After the group recovered some of their energy, they immediately started working for their current objective. They carefully approached the large crystals. They don't want to be ambushed again. Fortunately, they didn't see another spider.

"How does this things work? Is it like a prism?" Kron asked, walking around a crystal emitting green colored lights.

"I'm not so sure but from what I know they are more closer to living being like humans and plants." Adriana replied, stroking an orange crystal.

Adriana and Cyrus described the details they knew about the energy quartz to Kron. The crystals have some sort of natural magic that converts light energy to another form of light energy. It was not like a prism that just refracts the light. It was more similar to how humans breath or plants photosynthesize. But its natural magic was limited and once it runs out, the crystals are considered dead. When that happens, the crystals become just a colorless gem. An example of it was the one they saw on the pit that they had fallen.

"What should we do now? We don't even have a soil to plant it yet." Cyrus asked, looking at Kron as if waiting for his opinion.

Kron rubbed his chin, weighing his options. "I don't think we have enough time to find a special soil. Let's just use a normal one and try what effects the crystal could do with the seed."

"I agree. Let's break some of these crystals to smaller pieces." Adriana turned to Kron. "Its the purple and green energy quartz right?"

The team agreed to take out a number of crystal pieces before leaving. This place was not really safe for them to stay for long. What's more is that they only have a little more than half an hour left. The three moved through the cave with a steady speed. Their hearts filled with caution and anticipation. They wanted to check if the crystal was worth it as soon as possible. But soon, they saw the shimmering glimmer of daylight. The feeling of elation crept into their hearts as they dashed towards the light. Surprisingly, what they saw was a fork in the path. The light on the right was a bit dimmer while the one on the left was brighter but there were some shades of purple.

"What path should we take?" Adriana frowned, looking at the two paths.

"This one is brighter! The surface should be near!" Cyrus answered pointing at the left path, not wanting to waste anymore time.

With haste, the group immediately dashed towards the left path. Ahead on the path was a sharp left turn. But when they reached the bend, they were fraught with trepidation and worry. They saw a purple metallic wall. Yes. It was the underground part of the purple metallic wall surrounding the mega city of Azalaze. The problem was there was a huge hole in it. Someone or something must have dug through the ground and made a hole in the wall to prevent anyone from taking notice.

"Past this is outside the city right?" Kron remembered the beautiful but dangerous forest where the transported are dropped. "Isn't it dangerous outside?"

"You are lucky. We have never stepped outside the city. We are only allowed until we are deemed ready." Adriana looked towards Cyrus. Her worry was now replaced by her eagerness to see what is outside. "You know what I am thinking?"

"No need to say it. Let's check it out! We need to see where this leads to!" Cyrus smiled and rushed out.

Adriana followed. "Hurry up Kron!"

"Are you two insane? We were just in danger!" Kron shouted as he tried to catch up to the two, worried about them.

Curiosity took ahold of them as they strolled past the broken wall and exited towards the surface. What greeted them was a serene forest with lush greenery and dark brown soil brimming with energy. Cute little critters litter around and drinking on small ponds. There were creatures that look like squirrels, with size similar to cats, biting down weird looking nuts. The nuts are like a miniature bottle gourd with a sharp end. There were also rabbits that had longer limbs than the usual. It was like a hybrid between a kangaroo and a rabbit. Lastly are fluffy large rodents on the size of a capybara. They were only 20 to 30 meters away from the city's wall but the difference in the surroundings are quite outstanding.

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"So this is the outside! I know this place should be dangerous but it really doesn't look like it!" Cyrus was breathing the air as if he was meditating.

"Look at that! Its so cute!" Adriana was running around towards each creature, inspecting them. "Look at this one too!"

Even after seeing the wonderful scenery, Kron has not dropped down his caution even one bit. He had only one experience outside and it was not a good one. "Alright! We already saw what is in here. We should finish our task first before anything else."

Cyrus tapped Kron's back. "I know that the transported always had a harsh first day but that's before you guys awakened. You should chill a bit! I bet with what you showed us earlier, they would be nothing to you now."

"I also did hear that the creatures closer to the wall are not that dangerous." Adriana said, walking back towards the two. "but yeah! Let's finish our task first."

With the abundant amount of a well nourished soil, they just picked a random ground to dig. Cyrus took out the pot from his bag and placed the soil in it. Afterwards, he planted the seed with just the right depth. They then watered the pot. In just as little as a minute, a seedling sprouted from the pot. The school was not joking when they said that the seed was magically modified. The soil did probably contributed a lot too. Unfortunately, there was a limit on how much its modification could help it grow. After it grew to half a meter, there was no more significant changes. It seemed small but normally it would take months for this type of plant to grow this big.

"That's it? I thought this soil was good." Cyrus frowned, fiercely looking at the seedling as if waiting for it to grow further.

Adriana kneeled down, looking at the pot closer. "Okay. I know that I'm not that proficient with earth energy yet but believe me, this soil is much better than the ones that Sidir's group got!"

"We also still haven't tested if the crystal would have any effect." Kron smiled, he was actually already happy of the result. But with the crystals still not being used, he was getting more excited.

"Clang! Clang!" Suddenly, a loud sound of a large bell could be heard coming from the purple metallic walls. The bells were located in watchtowers in the walls that are spread evenly around. There were many rustling that could be heard from the forest. It was the sounds of people running.

"What is that sound?" Kron asked, looking at the tall watchtower from a far.

"Its the warning bells! Its rarely rung but it means an intruder or," Adriana paused. She could feel the disturbance in the air and the ground. "Its an environment or zone shift!"

Cyrus' lower mouth was vibrating with fear. "This is bad! Really bad! Cover yourself with your energy!"

The scenery around them was starting to change. The once vibrant forest was starting to wither and fade, as if its drained of its life force. The ground was turning into a sickly hue of black and gray. Black colored liquid was spitting out from the ground's crevices. The once cute little creatures were also mutating to grotesque abominations. The squirrels' eyes glowed red and it grew small wings on its back. The nuts they were previously biting have become a needle like weapons that they used to arm themselves. The rabbits suddenly stood up like humans. Their two front teeth lengthened and sharpened. Darkness covered their eyes and it grew larger as if they would be gouged out. The large rodents' hairs started to fall out, showing their body whose muscles started to grow. Their nails started to lengthen. The creatures were all looking at them with malice.

"We need to run! run fast!" Kron shouted, turning around. He knew that something bad could happen but not this bad. "Back to the tunnel!"

Adriana was about to run when he noticed Cyrus standing still. She took the pot from the ground and gave it to Cyrus. "Cyrus! Stop gawking! Take the pot and don't drop it!"

Cyrus was woken up from his haze. He has never felt this amount of fear before. He had always been confident and brave. "Sorry. Let's go." He ran away with Adriana back to the underground cave.

Even the underground was not safe from the zone shift, they were all turning black and large centipedes started to crawl out of them. Not one of them wanted to fight the creatures right now. They understood that each of them might be as dangerous as the spider from before. They just kept running until they reached the hole in the purple wall. They also noticed that the land within 10 meters from the wall was not changing. This means that the stable zone starts from 10 meters away from the wall and not just what is within it. The problem was that they were not sure if the creatures would stop chasing them after they passed through the wall.

"Faster Cyrus! They might still be behind!" Adriana shouted, looking behind her.

The two finally noticed that Cyrus has not perfectly recovered. His injury started to bleed again.

"Shit! They might catch up and we can't also let them get in! Many lives could be in danger." Kron was grinding his teeth. He then stopped. He needed to do something "The two of you go first. I'll block this place!"

"Ha... Ha... What are you saying... are you throwing your life?" Cyrus said while having a hard time breathing.

"Just go! I'll catch up to you two!" Kron confidently smiled at the two.

"Didn't you said that you believe in him! Just let him do something!" Adriana interjected, looking at Kron. "And Kron don't smile like that. Don't be giving death flags."

The two then continued onwards. Kron focused his aura towards the wall of gravel and rock on his left and right. He was using the last of his remaining energy. In just a few seconds, the wall around him was turning to sand. He didn't even care to think of something metallic since he was on a rush. Luckily, Adriana and Cyrus was already quite far. He wanted to collapse the tunnel. Seeing that the ground above him was starting to shake, he dashed away. He was able to achieve his goal, the tunnel was starting to collapse. He just needed to get away to safety.

He kept on running away but it seemed that he overdid the transformation. The collapse started a chain reaction and it even caused some of the rocks to roll down the cave. The dirt and dust are coming like an avalanche behind him. He was about to get caught when a sudden shadow tendril wrapped around him and pulled him away.

"Adriana!" Kron shouted Adriana as he was being yanked towards her.

"Don't shout! Keep on running!" Adriana said at Kron who arrived beside her. The two then resumed running. "What did you even do? Cyrus is waiting for us in the other exit."

"What are you doing here?" Kron asked, thinking that the two were already away.

"No thanks? This is my payback from earlier!" She then looked at Kron as she was running. "And I told you I don't like how you smiled from before." She laughed.

The two were able to reach the fork from before and the avalanche has also stopped just a few distance away from the fork. It was already completely blocked and it would be too hard for anyone to dig it out. They then proceeded to the other exit where Cyrus was waiting for them.

"Kron! Adriana!" Cyrus shouted. "I knew you two would be safe! So what did you do?"

"He was trying to collapse the tunnel and bury himself within it!" It was Adriana who answered, grinning at Kron.

"What? I was not! I just made a mistake!" Kron shouted, defending himself. "Anyway, we should now use the crystal! No more detours! We have wasted a lot of time!"

Adriana and Cyrus looked at each other then laughed. Kron can't believe that this 3 hours of class was so eventful and exhausting. Their task was just to grow a plant but it turned into some dangerous excursion. Still, he got to admit that he was actually having a lot of fun. Deep inside his heart, he was hoping that his future life would be more like this. The three actually have a lot they still want to talk about but they chose to leave it for later as they have a task to finish.

Cyrus proceeded to take out the crystal that they got. It was faintly glowing green from the sunlight. He placed it near the plant and they noticed that the plant was slowly growing again. He then brought out the purple crystal and exposed the plant on it too. The growth of the plant doubled. It was no longer a seedling. It was more than a meter, its trunk started to change to a sturdy one and it still didn't stop growing.

"Wait stop!" Adriana shouted, taking the crystals from Cyrus. She was afraid that the pot might not be able to hold it. "This should already be fine right?"

"Yeah! I think so!" Kron nodded, seeing the 2 meter plant from the small pot.

"But I still I wanted to try exposing it to my light energy!" Cyrus argued. He wanted to see if there would be a difference if they used the crystal with his light compared to the natural daylight.

As the team was currently on the edge of the city and the imitation forest, they needed to start going back to the meeting point as they need to travel quite a distance. Once they got closer to the meeting point, they saw the height of the plants of their classmates and they were surprised.