Chapter 42: Subterranean Burrows

Every single examinee exhibited at least a tinge of fear as they faced the maw of darkness threatening to swallow them whole.

It was a threat. Not only for their safety, but their ability to use their Psions and their Martial Manuals. No light, means no power.

But not only was Eren not surprised. He wasn’t scared either.

"Welcome to the Subterranean Burrows!" Kaiser said, drifting back to focus on the task at hand. Psions empowered his voice to ensure clarity amongst all the panicked cries and terrified screamings in the gymnasium.

"Below, you’ll find yourself in a dark tunnel devoid of any natural light. You’ll have to navigate through the maze and find yourself a Concrete Wall for you to break.

Punch through it, and you will succeed to the next round of the exams.

If you haven’t accomplished that mission by the end of the day, you will have failed the License Exam."

It was at this point that few of the brave examinees eventually found the courage to let go of the chairs that were preventing their fall.

Magnus dived downwards headfirst into the deep, dark unknown. After him, the monk let himself fall naturally. Some others followed suit.

They were the ones who had caught on to the hidden meaning of Kaiser’s words.

"As some of you may have already guessed, there are only a few concrete blocks for you to find. There are almost a thousand of you now. But there are only five hundred blocks hidden in the Subterranean Burrows. Good luck."

Motivated by his words, the rest of the examinees finally took the plunge and descended into the unknown darkness. They didn’t want to be the last ones to find a concrete block.

One by one, they let go of their grip, descending into the darkness with the last vestiges of the light leaving them down below.

It was at this point that the entire bleacher section was in a completely vertical position. The only ones who had yet to plunge into the darkness was Eren, and a few of the examinees who seemed completely terrified of the darkness down below.

Celeste stayed behind too, though she didn’t look to be that terrified of the dark.

Eren held onto the railing of his seat, letting him keep anchored sideways.

He looked towards Kaiser, and Kaiser looked towards him.

"You said ’we’."

Kaiser smiled, before nodding at Eren’s statement. "I did."

The First Test Proctor. That was Kaiser’s official title. It implied that he was the only one in charge of managing the assessment of the Primal Strike.

If there were others, they would have introduced themselves from the very start.

So, why ’we’? Eren noticed that discrepancy immediately.

"The results of this test will be important to your future as Awakeners," Kaiser replied. "It’s not just about passing the test. It’s about how well you pass it."

Eren narrowed his eyes as he considered Kaiser’s words. The possibility of surveillance in the Subterranean Burrows grew ever so slightly higher.

Not a surprise. Even in sects, senior cultivators always watched from the sidelines in search for potential talents. Those they deemed worthy, they took as their personal students.

Was this the same thing?

"Any other questions? This will be the last time you’ll have the chance before you descend into the darkness," Kaiser said, his voice imbued with a tinge of humor.

"What are the obstacles in the tunnels?" he asked Kaiser.

"The maze will contain pitfalls and traps that will challenge your mastery of the Primal Strike. Pillars will appear unexpectedly, knocking unfortunate examinees off guard. Plenty more obstacles will come. I won’t spoil the surprise."

Hearing this, Celeste immediately asked another question. She hung on vertically on her seat, just like Eren.

"How will we use our Primal Strike if it’s completely dark?"

Kaiser took out something from his pocket. A mushroom with a thin stem and a bulbous cap that glowed incandescently.

"These grow throughout the Subterranean Burrows. You can pick one up from the ground. Break its stem, and the mushroom will provide illumination around you for an entire minute."

Celeste looked like she wanted to ask more, but Kaiser held his hand upwards.

"That’s enough of a clue," he said. "Time to see the darkness."

And with a swipe, a sudden force pulled at Eren and Celeste downwards, letting them plummet into the darkness along with the other examinees.

>>>

>>>

>>>

Eren felt himself tumbling down into the depths of the darkness, not knowing which way was up or down. He can’t get disoriented. It’s a long way down and he didn’t have any Martial Manuals intended for defense. If he landed on his neck, his journey would be over before it even truly began.

He focused on his feet.

A Lower Proficiency Mastery in the Primal Strike meant that he could only perform his punch in a set form.

But the good thing about practicing the stance thousands upon thousands of times meant that he could perform it even as he tumbled through the darkness aimlessly.

It didn’t take long before he felt roots spread underneath his feet. They writhed and twisted in search of stable ground. Eventually, they found it. Gravity became his one and only guide. And it led him to understand his position relative to the floor.

And using that instinct, he tucked his own legs and rotated his own body from an upside down position, just in time as he landed onto the ground.

He landed awkwardly. The impact buckled his knees and compressed his feet.

His instincts took over and he was able to roll away and mitigate the damage from the height difference.

Beside him, Celeste landed gracefully. Like a cat thrown from a high distance, she landed on all fours.

Around them was a dark cavern. Lit only by sparse mushroom lights growing on the edges where the ground met the walls.

Their luminance could barely even let them see past a few meters beyond them.

Oh, and they weren’t alone. In front of Eren was the body of an examinee. Beneath their buried head was a puddle of their blood, still warm, still leaking from the source.