Capítulo 40: Outworlder Labyrinth

Class for my fourth and final year at the Outworlder Academy went much the same as the last year, at least in the classrooms. In physical training, the instructors made sure to work us harder than before. A few lessons were repeats, but less of them than I expected. It helped that the Mortal Heaven was a much larger world than Earth, so History and Politics could simply cover different regions than last year. Of course, one of the repeat lessons was the one that introduced the Zodiacs, and the Zodiac Legacies.

At the end of the first week, Jue Zhu went to the Inner Treasury and bought the displayed 2,000 point Peak quality Spirit grade sword. None of us who'd been with him in the volcano dungeon could resist a trip to the training field to get an idea of what it could do. Shokoya's black-bladed sword was High quality, just one quality rank lower than it, so he was volunteered as Jue Zhu's partner for the exercise.

It left me concerned about getting a better sword myself. For me, the sword may have been a secondary weapon, but in the last three summers I'd gotten into quite a few situations where I wasn't able to rely on my bow. Fortunately, I'd had quite a few points built up, so that I was able to spend 1,000 on a Fair quality Spirit grade sword. Fair was the second quality rank for treasures, higher than Low, but lower than Medium, which was of course followed by High and Peak. Of course, even a Low quality weapon of Spirit grade was better than a Peak Earth grade.

There was one exception to the seniors not being given any information on where we'd be heading after the final exam, for our last summer. A week after the lesson where we got an extra free period because the juniors were to be taught about Crucible Island, the roles were reversed for a single lesson on where we were going.

"The final summer training location, in many ways, is not like the others," the Head Instructor began, "first, it is not actually a physical location within the Mortal Heaven. Rather, it is a sort of alternate world unto itself, what you might call a 'pocket dimension.' It is known as the Outworlder Labyrinth.

Second, there will not be a 'main camp'. Instead, all 100 graduating students will begin in different locations throughout the labyrinth. Neither will there be the usual distribution of distress totems. There will, however, be periodic and random opportunities to exchange monster parts for credits, and credits for helpful supplies. Your objective will be simply to reach one of a number of the labyrinth's exit points—although, in the case of those among you who vanquished the strongest magical beast of Crucible Island, there will of course be a chance—the first ever given in the Academy—to find the final piece of the Jade Ox Medallion.

No matter how well we prepare you for the world of cultivation, no matter how strong or talented you are compared to your peers, no matter how well connected you manage to become, there will always come times in the life of a cultivator where you will be able to rely only on yourself. Not even the Academy can truly prepare someone for such a time; all we can do is show you how ready or not you are. It was for this purpose that the Outworlder Labyrinth was created and instated as the Outworld Academy Graduation Field Exam.

Steel yourselves well over the next few weeks, for when you emerge from the labyrinth, it will no longer be as a mere student. The Dimension Governors will not be a name you can hide behind when you enter the greater Mortal Heaven—you may eventually earn a chance to join the faction proper, and so be able to, but entering your sects, you will effectively all have ordinary backgrounds. My advice is for you to go with caution, and seek opportunities to make connections that can protect you.

Of course, I expect high performances from you all on the written exam as well. The remainder of this period will be a study hall, so study hard!"

So, we still didn't really know what to expect, but we knew why we wouldn't be able to know what to expect…which wasn't much better. Qingling Mei in particular freaked out trying to prepare, since there wasn't a guarantee that she'd even reach her friends, or if they could even reach each other.

Not that anyone was totally calm, not even me. Even Jong, though he acted excited, was still pretty nervous. Even so, I had enough in me to maintain my streak as #1 in the Academy's written exams. It also helped that we decided to keep the arrangement we'd had last year with the Communication Stones. Most likely, even if we started on our own we'd be able to meet up before running into whatever magical beast guarded the last piece of the medallion.

I bought as many stat boosting pills as I could afford from the Inner Treasury, focusing on the Measures of Body, trying to shore up that relative weakness even if just a little. Unfortunately, I could only get one each after spending 1,000 before, and that wasn't enough to get those stats up to even a 1.1x multiplier equivalent, though the boost was at least not objectively small.

I got lost in my own head as we assembled, once again, with the rest of our year. Did the senior class last year look this nervous? There wasn't a lot of time to check, they went straight onto the teleport formation. The normal classes behind me definitely seem nervous, even scared. Was I just being oblivious last year or what?

It's just as well…most of us are going to separate after this. Except for Shokoya. He did tell me that the Head Instructor evaluating him as having a good chance at getting accepted to the Library, like I'm going for. As for Quan, last he said anything he's still trying to decide between the Rising Sun Monastery and Iron Tortoise Castle. A tough decision—he'd do well with the Monastery's body tempering, I think, but the Castle is a much higher rank. And if Ding and Lun are confident getting accepted by the Castle, I'm sure he could.

"Four years, and we're finally almost done with basically the tutorial area." Jong's voice broke through my thoughts. "Kinda makes me think about what a long haul we're really in."

"I mean, the idea that I can live much longer as a cultivator than in other types of environment settings was one of the big reasons I chose this," I said, "you're telling me you didn't factor it in at the time?"

"Not really," said Jong. He sounded slightly sheepish, which was a first that I'd heard from him, "though I guess being attracted to how long one can progress could count. There never has to be a dull moment in a world like this, that was the decider for me."

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