The walls were covered in tally marks, lines layered over one another to mark the days, but that was what White didn’t understand.

This showed one thing:

She had been here with him, this entire time, each day for 2 weeks and 3 days, keeping count.

Why would she do such a thing?

"That’s irrelevant."

She said to him, throwing away the cigarette.

"Come. I’ll get you a guide. They will help you implement in the academy."

She said, turning to a part of the wall, and knocking thrice.

GRUUUUM!

A heavy sound followed as the wall opened to the side, and a face appeared at the other end.

A guard.

"Sir Noringuard."

He greeted, bowing to the crimson-haired woman.

That action made White raise an eyebrow.

She was obviously a woman, so why was she being referred to as Sir?

"This way, Feisty."

She called to White, who stepped out of the place.

His face faintly crossed that of the guard, whose expression for a second had awe in it.

’Maybe it’s his first time seeing a handsome young man.’

_______

"So...caves, huh?"

White mused, looking before him.

It was an endless area of mountains all stacked together with runes coating their surfaces.

Inside these mountains, others like him could be seen coming in and out, as doors opened on the surfaces of these mountains, opening and closing.

"Yes. Caves. That’ll be the place you spend your years, well, unless you managed to rake up enough points to live up there..."

The guide assigned to him said, and White turned to him, noticing his fingers were pointed up.

It made him turn his neck up, and his eyes widened.

High above him, something like glass stretched across the sky, yet it was transparent.

Through it, he could see another world that felt utterly removed from the world below, as heaven separated from earth.

It reminded him of Xtremecyber’s towering castles, but these were different, vast structures of glass, carved with crimson runes that pulsed with an otherworldly glow.

For unknown reasons, the sight of these runes made White’s heart pound in desire.

"What is up there?"

He asked, placing a hand on his chest to calm his excited heart.

"The best of the best."

The guide replied.

"Do you see those rocks at the far side?"

He asked, pointing to the far end of the mountainous area.

In this place, there were barely any runes carved upon the mountain surface, and moss could be seen growing across.

"You can stay in one of those, and I’ll advise you to go through the academy manual first once you get in."

He said, and in the next moment turned back and walked away.

This left only White, who looked forward quietly for some time before sighing.

Still, he stepped forward, finding his way across the mountainous path and finally appearing before the moss-filled walls.

Picking up one random place, he only needed to touch once before the runes on its surface glowed and a part of the mountain rolled away.

The inside made White’s expression plummet.

He had thought this would be one of those things whose outside looked bad, but the inside would be incredibly good.

...he was wrong.

The inside of the mountain was more or less barren.

There was nothing inside, just a mattress on the ground, with no bed, of course, nor was there a pillow.

No sofa, no TV, and no light.

The little illumination came from some runes carved upon the wall, and the lights didn’t glow white but red.

There was a door to the side, and White checked it out.

There, he found the bathroom a bit better.

A small pool of water flowed continuously, with a toilet at the far side.

Those were the two things in the bathroom.

"They really are brutal here..."

White mused, looking at the space.

Back in Xtremecyber, they had been given an entire room and parlor apartment properly designed, and here he got what one could only describe as a prison.

Even real-life prisons weren’t this harsh.

Still, he recognized there were two things he could do:

Sulk about it or read the manuals he’d been given and find a way to get out of this situation.

And speaking of the manuals he’d been given, White turned to the bag that they had given him.

Opening it up, he found three things.

The first two were grimoire-like books.

The first’s cover was crimson colored, and on it were the words, Aether Beyonder Operation Manual.

The second grimoire was larger and heavier.

On it were the simple words, yet they sent a ripple through White’s heart.

Otherworld Dream.

It said simply.

He reined in his excitement to immediately dive in, turning to the last object.

It was a familiar object: a runic watch, but it wasn’t in the shape of a watch.

It was a collar, seemingly to be worn on the neck.

White didn’t like it at all; the thought conjured the image of a dog in his mind.

He threw it aside, turning to the Operation Manual.

Calmly going through it, his eyes remained focused for exactly three hours before he dropped the book, exhaling out loud, whilst collapsing onto his back.

Now, he understood more of what was going on and could narrow it down to two things he needed to focus on.

"First, he had to put on the collar."

It was akin to being given the runic watch and the phone back in Xtremecyber.

Without it, he couldn’t even be called a student, nor could he access the basic things students had.

With that, he brought it up, and after much cursing, he finally put it around his neck.

Surprisingly, the collar didn’t last; it crumbled into ash, leaving a faint rune behind, an O-shaped mark wrapped around White’s throat.

What followed next left him speechless. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

A blue light appeared at the corner of his gaze, and then a panel appeared.

"What the...A system!?"