Morning inside Xyrrhal was strange.
There was no sun.
No natural light.
Yet the chamber wasn't completely dark.
Shura Sitting near the edge of the platform.
Watching the massive knight statue.
Behind him, students still slept.
Lior opened his eyes quietly.
He had never truly slept.
"Anyone want to take a bath?" he asked casually.
The boys immediately shot up.
"YES."
The girls blinked.
"Where?" Clara asked cautiously.
Lior stood.
"Follow me."
He led them along a side staircase carved into the inner wall of the ruin.
They crossed a narrow stone bridge leading to an outer cliff ledge.
Below—
Steam rose from a natural basin carved into the rock.
A warm underground river flowed through a shallow section before disappearing into a dark tunnel.
Luna blinked.
"It's warm."
"Geothermal current beneath the mountain," Lior replied.
He pointed to the stone bridge dividing the pool naturally into two sections.
"We use this as separation."
Students
"Good."
Before anyone else reacted—
Shura and Adrian had already jumped.
Fully clothed.
Straight into the water.
SPLASH.
Luna closed her eyes.
They resurfaced laughing.
"Warm!"
"Perfect temperature!"
Then Shura noticed something.
"There's a tunnel!"
Steam drifted over a narrow water passage leading into darkness.
Adrian grinned.
"Race."
Lior's voice cut sharply.
"You'll die. You can't reach the other side."
But they were already swimming.
Through the tunnel.
Ignoring him.
Lior sighed.
"These brats."
Then—
He jumped.
But not normally.
He propelled himself forward with a controlled Viora dash, slicing through the water like an arrow.
Before leaving, he lifted a massive stone slab from the side of the cliff—
And tossed it upright near the girls' side of the spring.
"Use this as cover."
Luna blinked.
Steam thickened.
The tunnel narrowed.
Water grew deeper.
Breathing became harder.
Shura and Adrian swam fast.
Too fast.
The tunnel curved upward slightly.
But the air pocket they expected—
Didn't come.
Their strokes slowed.
Shura's lungs burned.
Adrian's movements lost rhythm.
They looked at each other.
No words.
Just understanding.
This was stupid.
Shura's chest tightened.
My lungs are about to burst.
Adrian tried to smirk underwater.
Nah. Mine will first.
They were both wrong.
Neither wanted to stop.
Neither wanted to lose.
They pushed further.
Then—
Darkness deepened.
No air.
Vision fading.
For the first time—
Real fear.
Adrian's hand twitched slightly.
Shura's body began sinking.
Then—
A force grabbed both of their collars.
And yanked them backward violently.
Lior.
He pulled them up through a narrow hidden air shaft they had missed.
They broke surface.
Gasping violently.
Coughing.
Laughing and choking at the same time.
"HAHA—"
"COUGH—"
Lior stared at them.
"You cannot reach the other side from here."
He pointed upward.
"There's a carved air path halfway."
They blinked.
They hadn't seen it.
Lior's tone softened slightly.
"You both would have died."
Adrian coughed again.
"…Still almost won."
Shura wheezed.
"…No. We both lost."
Adrian smirked faintly.
"Still worth dying together instead of alone."
Shura stared at him.
Lior dragged them back to a side rock ledge.
"You two stay here."
Shura crossed his arms dramatically.
Adrian rolled his eyes.
"Stop."
Lior took a rope from his pack.
And tied them both to a rock column.
Securely.
Shura gasped.
"Betrayal!"
"Discipline," Lior corrected calmly.
"I'll return with another entrance."
He jumped back into the water and disappeared.
And for a moment—
They saw it.
A scar.
Deep.
Something torn.
Across his back—
Like something had tried to take him apart… and failed halfway.
Shura's expression didn't change—
But his eyes sharpened.
Lior resurfaced near the spring.
Students were finishing bathing.
Clara raised an eyebrow.
"Where are they?"
"Tied."
Luna nodded approvingly.
"Good."
As they dressed and prepared to move toward the proper underground entrance—
Yura asked quietly,
"Miss Luna… who built Xyrrhal?"
Luna walked slowly beside them.
"No one knows."
"Not even the Empress?"
Students exchanged uneasy glances.
"Before centralized kingdoms."
Students frowned.
"Then how did they build something this advanced?"
Luna looked toward the towering inner castle.
"That is the mystery."
She continued calmly.
"Some scholars believe it was a convergence point."
"For what?" another student asked.
"For minds."
She touched one of the stone walls gently.
"Thinkers."
"One theory suggests," Luna continued, "that Xyrrhal wasn't meant to defend the world."
"It was meant to test who should lead it."
The group went quiet.
Lior stopped briefly.
"And that theory," he added, "is why the Presence evaluates before it attacks."
Students swallowed.
"So it's not evil?"
...
Shura stared at the ceiling.
"Why is it never completely dark here?"
"Maybe we adapted."
Shura frowned.
"To darkness?"
"To this world."
Then went silent.
Then Adrian smirked slightly.
"…By the way."
"What?"
"I reached further than you."
Shura turned slowly.
"We both almost died."
"Still counts."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
They both started laughing again.
Footsteps echoed from the tunnel.
Lior appeared.
Behind him—
The rest of the students.
Students stared at the tied duo.
"…They look like captured monsters."
Shura gasped.
"Unfair comparison!"
Lior untied them.
"From here, we proceed through the carved underground corridor."
He looked at everyone.
"This is the true entrance."
The tunnel behind him sloped downward.
Stone walls carved deliberately.
Symbols etched faintly along the sides.
Warm air rising from below.
Shura's eyes sharpened again.
Adrian adjusted his blade.
Luna observed the carvings carefully.
The Presence felt closer here.
And as they stepped into the deeper passage—
The warmth faded slightly.
Replaced by something else.
Expectation.
Xyrrhal was no longer testing recklessness.
Now—