The Mission Hall is a place for everyone to take on missions, it is located not too far from the girls' and boys' dorms. It was located at the core area between the seven departments as it is one of the busiest places in the whole academy. Here, students can take on missions, tasks with various degrees of difficulty, to hone themselves, experiment with new methods, or earn some resources.
Naturally, as there are all sorts of students with various needs, cultivation base, and backgrounds, it is separated into two levels. The first floor is for rank 0 Apprentice, whereas the second floor is for rank 1 Officials.
When Mordred entered the Mission Hall early in the morning, there was already a swarm of students who lined up to take on missions. The counter was full, it was the busiest time of the day. Yet, that does not kill the enthusiasm of the students, including Mordred. The staff are highly efficient. The only reason why the Mission Hall looks crowded is because of the constant stream of new students.
He lined up in a random line and he was served less than five minutes later.
“May I have your student ID, please?” The Hall’s staff is a beautiful black-haired feline-beastman with huge cat ears. Her mature figure was attenuated by the staff uniform.
Mordred passed on his ID card, the staff tapped it onto a device.
“I see, this is your first time entering the Mission Hall. I shall give you a brief introduction.” She led Mordred into a small private room after calling in a replacement.
“The Mission Hall is made to replicate the function of the Hunter Association, so the missions that you can take will have the same format, but slightly altered to groom students. As of now, there are eighteen types of mission, such as hunting, delivery, refinement, assistance, protection, guard duty, and so on.” She paused, she opened a guidebook, and showed it to Mordred, “Satoru, was it? What are your interests or specialties? It’s dangerous for first-year students to take on missions outside of their scope of abilities, so I might be able to help you choose your best mission.”
Mordred flipped open the guidebook as he answered, “I want to get used to fighting with my magic gun while collecting fire-path resources.”
“I see.” The staff nodded, she took a tablet and began interacting with it. “Are you okay with dimensional travel?”
Mordred acted as if he was surprised, “I need to travel to other dimensions?”
“Calm down. The Academy has a lot of students, and it is inefficient to travel far just to get some practical experience. Still, it is important to get some real-world experience, so the Academy has opened up extradimensional resource points to groom new students. These resource points are small dimensions, also known as planes, that have been altered specifically for this endeavor. Do you have any experience in extradimensional travel?”
“No.”
“Then, I suggest listening to Lord Mage Seiza’s lecture on extradimensional travel when you have some time, but for now, since the threat level is no higher than 3, it should be fine.” She flipped the tablet and revealed some of the available missions that matched his desire. The choice was very accessible, and the information was comprehensive. There are details about the location, the possible resources, the possibility of encountering what kind of creatures, danger levels, the reward of the mission, et cetera.
However, since he is just a first-year student with early-stage rank 0 cultivation who has just enrolled in the Academy and is taking his first mission, there are no options for missions in areas with danger level 4+. The Royal Academy houses elites amongst elites, but you have to have a proven track record before being allowed to take on missions beyond your capacity.
Nevertheless, he eventually found something that fit his criteria. “I want to take on this mission.”
Flipping the tablet and reading the content, the staff confirmed, “It’ll be a < Gathering > mission, your objective is to collect 50 stalks of Ashen Grey Flower in the Volcanic Zone #21. The mission duration is two days, but you can submit a completion as soon as you have the requested mission objective.” She tapped a few times onto the tablet and swiped Mordred’s ID card. “For this mission, you are authorized to enter the resource point Volcanic Zone #21 for two days.”
After passing the card back to Mordred’s hand, the staff asked once more. “The Gate Hall is not too far from the Mission Hall. Do you need some more assistance?”
“No need.” Mordred stood up and left the room under her guidance. He already knows the location of the Gate Hall as it is the second busiest location for the academy.
Arriving at the Gate Hall, it was as he had expected, students ranging from first to fifth year come and from the facility. Some 4th years and later students are already rank 1 Officials, so they have the second floor for themselves, but the first floor is still jam-packed with students old and new alike.
“Satoru, is that you?” Mordred heard someone call his name as he lined up for the Dimensional Gate that leads to fire-path zones.
“Hmm?” Mordred scanned the man, “Nagata, what are you doing here?”
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He replied. “I want to move my body by killing some goblins in Forest Zone #14. What about you?”
“Volcanic Zone #21.” He pointed at the rifle on his back, “And collecting some resources for magic bullets.”
“Alright,” Nagata waved, “Take care, let’s hunt in difficulty 4+ areas later…”
Mordred didn’t mind Nagata’s attitude, who came and went with the wind. At the very least, he didn’t waste his time indulging in sex. His attention shifted from the departing Nagata to his line. On the edge of the queue, there is an elevator which was guarded by some staff. They checked Mordred’s ID card briefly before being allowed to enter the basement.
The Gate Hall doesn’t hold any Gate that allows one to directly proceed to their destination, instead, it housed a myriad of gates that led towards artificial dimensions, Secret Planes, that contained a myriad of other gates leading towards their destination. In other words, this Secret Plane is a buffer zone in case something goes wrong with the destination plane.
Reaching the basement, he immediately went to queue to the Gate that led towards a fire-path Secret Plane. The Gate itself is huge, it has a radius of at least four meters. A copious amount of red arcane runes laced the gate’s metallic body, it was both a product of magic and machinery. An additional group of staff proceeded with the security procedures before allowing Mordred and a group of other students to pass through.
After he went through the gate with all the other students in his group, he found himself in a new environment. As soon as he realized it, his stomach churned, the content forcefully trying to escape his body. Accompanied by a maestro of belching sound, Mordred saw that he wasn’t the only one who puked his guts out.
“Are you okay?” An academy staff in their signature business suit asked as they offered a wiping cloth.
“What happened?” a first-year student next to Mordred inquired to the staff. “Why do I feel sick?”
“The difference of dimensional laws…” The staff began to elaborate. “The main world’s dimensional laws are complete and comprehensive, allowing the existence of rank 6 Sovereigns of any path to roam freely. However, this Secret Plane is designed as a buffer zone, like a transit that allows you to get used to dimensional traveling. It has a lower upper limit compared to the main world. If rank 3 non-fire-path cultivators entered this dimension, the whole Secret Plane would slowly take damage but rank 0 apprentice wouldn’t have any problem after they get used to the shock. In any case, have you felt like the temperature of this base is much hotter than the Gate Hall?”
Mordred scanned the area. The Secret Plane’s interior is very similar to a high-tech facility with a stainless steel floor and walls. The ambient light of the whole area is reddish-orange, with the average temperature significantly higher than the Gate Hall, but being a fire-path Bloodline Warlock, immersing himself in a hotter environment is not only beneficial but is also more comfortable.
“Yes… I feel like I can breathe easier…” the student muttered in realization.
“That’s because this world is specifically attuned for fire-path cultivators. As long as you’re rank 1 or below, you’ll receive some level of amplification.” The staff then put his hand on that student’s shoulder. “Please follow Lord Mage Seiza’s lesson next time, her topics include dimensional shock, a phenomenon that occurs like the one that you’re experiencing right now.”
“R- right!” The student continued to get scolded, while Mordred simply stood up after the discomfort subsided and left the group of clueless students. He had already known the difference in dimensional laws would have some effect on people.
When someone from a world with profound dimensional laws went to a world with shallow laws, they would suffer some level of lightheadedness or faint, as if the ‘air’ that they breathe suddenly becomes thin. The side effects might vary, but the common ones are lightheadedness, dimensional shock, sickness, nausea, and others. In extreme cases, some of their methods like spells and martial arts might not work at all, since the laws of the new world couldn’t cater to it.
For instance, Morgen World’s dimensional allows the temperature below - 273 degrees Celsius. However, this Secret Plane’s laws are attuned to fire-path, and its ice-path laws are extremely shallow. Here, the absolute zero is around -120 degrees Celsius. Any ice-path method that decreases the temperature below that threshold simply hits the limit. However, if a high-rank cultivator forcefully performs any action that reduces the temperature to below -120 degrees, then there’s a risk of the dimensional laws collapsing.
The same couldn’t be said the same when someone from a ‘lower world’, a world with shallow dimensional laws, came into a ‘higher world’, a world with more profound laws. They wouldn’t suddenly become strong.
No, cultivation doesn’t work like that.
At first, they would need to get used to the difference of laws before they can even replicate what they can do in the lower world.
For example, if someone were to be born and raised in this fire-path Secret Plane, when they went over to Morgen World, they would suffer from countless problems. The gravity of Morgen World is far heavier than the Secret Plane’s, which means if they were too weak, just merely arriving on the main world would grind their bones. In addition, the ice-path laws of Morgen world are far more profound than the Secret Plane’s, resulting in so many contradictions in their spells and causing them to fail, and so on.
Considering this is his nth time performing dimensional travel, his truesoul is strong enough to shrug away the effect of dimensional shock despite having a weak cultivation base. But it’d be too suspicious if he didn’t suffer from dimensional shock the first time ‘Satoru’ went to another world.
As Mordred traveled through the winding corridors, he found himself amongst a stream of people. Due to the advanced crowd engineering philosophy used in the design of this Secret Plane, the sight of countless numbers of people doesn’t make this place look crowded. The existence of moving walkways like the ones present in airports also helped him reach his destination faster.
“Satoru?” When he arrived, a staff guarding the Gate marked with Volcanic Zone #21 read the information on the holo screen after tapping Mordred’s ID card. He then eyed Mordred’s apparel, “This is your first time, but it seems like you’re fully prepared. Do you have any questions that you want to know about Volcanic Zone #21?”
“I have prepared everything.” He pointed at the rifle on his back.
“Well, despite having a danger level of 3, with that +3 artifact, you should be able to roam free without much of an issue.” He offered a potion that would alleviate the symptoms of dimensional shock since the difference of dimensional laws would be more intense, which Mordred agreed and drank that vial without delay
Then, the gate churned with power, and he was allowed to enter.