The Academy's Time Looper-Chapter 61: Reunion

Hearing a familiar voice sound from outside the bathroom, Athen grabbed the doorknob and immediately pulled the door open.

As the door swung open, Kai’s figure could be seen resting on the bed.

His hair was ruffled, his clothes were crumpled up with visible holes, and dirt stains covered his usually clean face.

Kai, however, did not notice Athen’s presence as he simply rolled under the covers of the blanket and closed his eyes.

Smiling, Athen walked up next to the bed and yanked the blanket off the bed, revealing Kai’s resting figure.

"Go take a shower or something."

As Athen’s voice sounded throughout the room, Kai’s eyes immediately flickered open as he jumped upward.

Making eye contact, Kai leaped out of the bed and sprinted towards Athen...however, there was no happy expression on his face.

Stopping a foot before Athen, he raised his hand, revealing his dirt-stained academy uniform, and yelled.

"No...no more. Do you know what I had to go through to get number one in that stupid damn exam!? I’m showering; then I’m sleeping! That’s it."

Without waiting for Athen’s response, Kai immediately walked away and entered the bathroom, letting the door slam shut behind him.

However, at that very moment, Athen suddenly recalled something.

"...the water."

If there was any water left after he left it on for so long, it would be a miracle.

But, by pure chance, if there was some water left...it was definitely not going to be hot.

Letting out a dry cough, Athen climbed down the ladder and entered the kitchen, opting to make a glass of warm tea.

"AHHH!"

"IT’S SO COLD!!!"

"I-I C-CAN’T TAKE IT!!!"

As Athen filled a glass with water from the sink, he tried his best to ignore the screams of agony in the background.

Sure, he had heard beggars desperately begging for food and water...but this was something else.

...

...

...

A couple of minutes later, two figures could be seen sitting across from each other with very different expressions.

The one whose hair was wet stared ahead with a furious expression, while the other simply looked out at the window, which revealed the night-black sky.

Sliding over a cup of warm tea to Kai, Athen watched him sip on it for a few seconds before finally asking.

"I’m assuming it went well."

A bit more calm now, Kai nodded his head before responding.

"Here’s what you need to know before I go to sleep."

"First and foremost, do not trust anyone."

"Everyone will start in the middle of the forest, and after a couple of minutes, the ’game’ will start."

"You and the other people in your selected group will be arranged in a circle around this gigantic statue, which stands in the exact middle of the forest."

"At the base of the statue, there will be dozens of large wooden chests, which have equipment and weapons inside for you to use."

Pausing for a few seconds, Kai made eye contact with Athen before continuing.

"In the first few seconds after the challenge started...over fifty people were eliminated."

"Make your choice wisely. If you rush to the middle to get weapons and armor from the chests, be prepared to fight for it."

"And...if you decide to just ignore the statue and run in the opposite direction, be prepared to hide. Fighting without a weapon...is impossible."

"In the environment...weapons reign supreme. Someone with a sword and no experience could easily defeat a weaponless me."

Seeing Athen nod and gesture for him to continue, Kai held out his palm before saying.

"The environment is pretty small...it’s about double the size of the plaza.

"If you manage to get far enough away from the middle, you’ll see that there’s also a plain that surrounds the forest. However, if you try to go any farther from there, you’ll be blocked off by a barrier."

"After the first few minutes of chaos where everyone fights for weapons, things cool down for about twelve hours."

"You can hide, run, sleep...do whatever you want for that time. Make sure to rest up."

"However, as soon as twelve hours are up, a change will occur."

"The barrier I mentioned earlier that prevents you from going past the plain...will start to close in."

"If you don’t realize this and the barrier goes past you, you’ll start to lose health until you’re eventually eliminated."

"I can’t tell how much it closes in per hour, but I can say at the end of the challenge, the only things left were the statue and a couple of feet around it."

Thinking for a moment and digesting Kai’s words, Athen sighed before muttering.

"So you’re saying...that there were over a hundred students grouped in that small area by the end of the challenge."

Shaking his head, Kai showed his first happy emotion as he grinned and replied.

"One hundred and fifty."

Standing up and pacing around the room while Kai continued drinking his tea, Athen asked.

"So...it’s basically a solo battle royale?"

Even living on the outskirts of the continent, Athen had heard about battle royale tournaments through newspapers and books.

Letting out a yawn, Kai fell back on his couch and laid down before replying.

"It doesn’t have to be solo. Anyway, I’ll tell you more tomorrow; I’m exhausted from...that."

Nodding his head, Athen climbed up to his loft before laying down on his bed and closing his eyes.

He probably wasn’t the only one receiving information about the artificial environment right now.

After all, according to Kai, there had been over a hundred and fifty other survivors to tell the tale.

...

...

...

As the sun shone through the glass windows and right onto the loft, Athen’s eyes fluttered open for a moment before immediately closing.

Raising his hands above his head and blocking the sunlight from hitting his face, Athen slowly sat up, leaning against the soft pillows of the bed. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Although this was already his second time waking up in this fairy-tale-like bed, he still didn’t quite believe it was real.

How could he?