After a few days, the day of the Moltimania Test came upon the new students of the military academy. The day where the students start constructing their future for the next three months. On such an important day, all the teachers overseeing the newly admitted students and the students who're about to enter the Moltimania for the first time would gather in the stadium.

The teachers would then make speeches to the students, advising and encouraging the frail and nervous lambs. Yes, this is the holy ground where relationships filled with camaraderie and mutual respect are formed-

"YOU SACKS OF SH&TS ARE NOTHING!!!"

...The favorite teacher, Mr. Pedago, attempts to rally the student population while standing on the stage.

"You're all stupid enough to think that you should treat the quest-givers within the Moltimania with respect and serve them with the best you've got, right!? Well, let me tell you that it's the quickest way to crippling yourself! They don't give a RAT'S GIANT A$% about how you perform in your chosen 'Unique Quests'! You'll still be given the same quality aspects as the other guy, who punched the quest-givers themselves, received!"

'...Why does he keep saying stuff we were repeatedly told about?'

'No idea, maybe he's just that hopeless to try to sound smart.'

'I think he's really desperate to be next-in-line for the head teacher position.'

'This is just sad to watch...'

Perhaps because of hearing these whispers, Mr. Pedago shook his pudgy belly and flicked his head back in an attempt to intimidate the rowdy students. Alas, this has only attracted attention to his shining, oily balding spot. The surrounding messy blonde hair has only accentuated this spot.

He yelled, "What's most important is the number of quests you desperately squirm to complete and the number of Unique Skills you obtain as a result! So don't be stupid and waste any more time than the bare minimum! Not like my warning is going to do much good."

He then stood straight, put his hand on his chest, looked up into the air with misty eyes, and said, "No matter how I try to help you thick-headed freaks, many of you are only peasants. Only prestigious personages with noble bloodlines, like me, can truly comprehend the weight and experience behind my advice-"

"I-I can't do this anymore!"

A certain girl suddenly could no longer stop herself. How could she continue to stay silent as her peers just stand around and poke fun at her mature and awe-inspiring teacher? There's no way she could let this go on-

"Hahahahahahahaha! Th-that bald spot! Hehehehe! It's even more shiny now!"

As it turns out, when Mr. Pedago straightened out his posture, his bald spot caught more light coming down from the ceiling's enchanted metal light fixtures. This has made his already oily bald spot and dirty blonde hair surrounding it look like a bright sunflower altogether. The sunflower contrasted well with his pretentious expression that always managed to make the students who looked at him to be uncomfortable.

With the girl's statement as the signal, the rest of the student population let out a deluge of laughter that drowned the rest of the now pitiful teacher's speech. His face became bright red in anger and definitely had no part of embarrassment within it. He looked to his fellow colleagues for help, but he despaired at how they were trying to desperately hide their laughter in vain; no matter how they try to cover their mouths, their shaking shoulders and awkward postures betrayed their true thoughts.

In the face of reality genuine betrayal, a tidal wave of insults in all varieties threatened to spill out of his mouth. However, with his impeccable control of his behavior, trained by his arduous lessons with his incorrigible students, he managed to keep it within himself. He MUST gain positive attention in his bid for the head teacher's successor position, not get the unwanted attention of the city's government. He NEEDS to take back control-!

“Look! His face has gone red!”

“The ugly sunflower has bloomed in red!”

“““HAHAHAHAHAHAHahahahahaha!!!”””

Perhaps seeing that the schadenfreude entertainment has gone on for too long, one of the other teachers stepped up and said, “Okay, okay! Settle down, now! As Mr. Pedago has said, speed is key! Just demand your desired unique quests from the NPCs with threats and blackmail. Afterwards, just do the bare minimum to complete these quests in the shortest time possible.”

After the professional teacher’s intervention, the laughter finally settled down amongst the students and teachers. Mr. Pedago recovered during this brief respite and ended the explanation, “Remember! Although we can access the Moltimania's entry and extraction of all you thick-headed imbeciles, we are unable to control the Moltimania's contents itself! Therefore, you all will encounter various forms of technology, the main reason behind the first downfall of humanity! Do NOT incorporate technology into your Mindscapes! Otherwise, you'll cripple yourself from being as powerful and reputable as me!"

'With this, they'll surely listen to my advice and support me as the next head teacher!'

What he failed to notice was the enormous amount of the students with sneering and doubtful expressions on their faces. Due to his last statement, these students were tempted to do the opposite and assimilate technology into their Mindscapes. However, Mr. Pedago wasn't the only one who warned them, but numerous teachers, priests, nobles, and other figures of authority warned them against integrating technology into their Mindscapes.

A prevalent belief came about after the founding of Finisten Kingdom, suggesting that the first downfall of humanity happened because technology was ineffective against monsters and useless in general. At first, the people rejected this notion. However, the question, "How did the Race of Technology, our first civilization, fall then?", continuously weighed in on everybody's thoughts. Over time, this belief gained enough support to be referred as the 'Anti-Tech Movement' and convinced the rulers to embrace this movement and implement it as a nationwide educational policy half-a-century ago. As a result, technology is despised and heavily discouraged in all of the kingdom's military academies.

Only a very few students would choose to test technology and do the opposite of Mr. Pedago's warnings. One of those daring students happened to be Alternis. After Mr. Pedago's 'Shining Red Sunflower' incident, were given a 30-minute break to prepare for their upcoming and long-awaited Moltimania Test. Since their three-month venture inside its virtual world would forever decide their futures, the students were understandably uneasy. Even Alternis, who chose to go against the flow and prepared for it as best as he could, was secretly nervous.

He was in a nearby restroom, washing his face at the sink. Afterwards, he looked up at the mirror and stared at his reflection. His brown hair adorned his average face and black eyes. Despite implementing a hardcore training method for a month, there were no dark circles around his eyes. Ending his training sessions with meditation before sleeping always helped him recover for the new day. If he increases his meditation capabilities to a high enough level, he may be able to completely replace sleep with meditation. But for now, it's time to focus on his future-defining ceremony.

He left the restroom and walked down the decrepit hallways leading to one of the many rooms with the Moltimanias. As he got closer to the destination, there were more students around himself, all heading to the same destination. After a few minutes, he reached the Moltimania Facilities just in time to see a kid inside a black steel-like capsule disappearing into a cluster of small bright fragments.

The teacher-in-charge took note of it on his clipboard and said, "Alright, the girl was successfully transported into Moltimania's virtual environment. Everyone else, please check in with me and find an empty Moltimania to enter and activate! If anyone is afraid of coming into harm, do not worry! The Moltimania environment for Tier 0s is harmless! If you happen to get injured or even die, the Moltimania will help you recover or revive quickly respectively! Just focus on obtaining your aspects!"

After checking in, Alternis went to a nearby Moltimania, opened the capsule's door and stepped inside. After turning around and closing the door, he looked through the door's glass window and watched the other kids do the same; some were in a hurry with tense faces, others were lackadaisical about it and were laughing in their conversations with each other.

That was when he heard an artificial, synthetic voice.

After waiting for a couple of minutes, the voice was heard once more.

He finally witnesses the results of his month's worth of hardwork.

After looking at his status, he was finally relieved and began letting out tears of joy. It had not been easy. He could've just given up on his ridiculous experiment and develop at a relaxing pace; leave the serious work for later, in the Moltimania test. He would've only achieved a stat average of 13-15 like many other classmates if he had chosen the easy path. There were countless times that he was tempted to mingle with his peers and play games with each other. Now, he can find solace in the fact that he has ultimately proven his plan to be viable. Even if his experiment fails, his training will let him keep up with his fellow students. If his experiment is a success, the ramifications will change the landscape of the world itself.

However, the more successful he becomes, the more attention he'll attract, both good and bad. Even so, he won't stop now. Instead, he'll continue to pursue the truth, become stronger for it, and experience the world beyond the kingdom's walls. He won't settle for the crumbs the nobility and their leeches will deign to give out

As the light gradually consumes his vision he makes an oath to himself and even to Goddess Shahria: He will grasp his own happiness, no matter who tries to stand in his way.