Chapter 256: The First Rest

The giant, bloodshot eyeball finally stopped rolling.

For several agonizing seconds, nobody dared to breathe.

The battlefield was a disaster zone. The illusion forest had collapsed into nothingness, leaving behind a shattered sky that flaked off in dull, fading shards of light. Deep craters scarred the earth, surrounded by charred branches, slick pools of black blood, and monster remnants dissolving into gray mist.

Right in the middle of the wreckage stood Silas.

His bright pink hair fluttered in the dying embers of energy, one hand casually gripping his Saber-tooth Wolf Fang dagger while the other rested on his hip. He looked around at the devastation, grinned, and wiped a speck of soot off his cheek.

"Well. That was fun."

Crickets.

A few meters off, Alpha stood staring at him with a deadpan, unreadable expression. Damien’s jaw was practically on the floor. Neil sat sprawled in the dirt like a popped balloon, while Chloe simply covered her face with one hand and sighed.

Beside her, Peter Green clung to Salmoa Freda’s shoulder mostly just to keep his knees from buckling.

The surviving substitutes looked less like elite fighters and more like shell-shocked survivors of a walking natural disaster that happened to wear a school uniform.

Then the tower’s voice rattled through the air, booming from everywhere at once.

[STAGE THREE COMPLETE!]

[ALL HOSTILE ENTITIES ELIMINATED!]

[ILLUSION DOMAIN DESTROYED.]

[CALCULATING PERFORMANCE...]

The ground vibrated as a soft, golden light welled up beneath them, wrapping around every surviving student. It filtered through their skin, instantly checking for fractures, exhaustion, and depleted mana reserves.

Silas felt a wave of soothing warmth spread through his chest. The dull ache in his muscles vanished. The ugly purple bruises faded into smooth skin, and even the tiny cuts on his fingers sealed up without a scar.

[EMERGENCY RECOVERY PROTOCOL ACTIVATED!]

[MANA, STAMINA, AND MINOR INJURIES RESTORED.]

Silas flexed his fingers, staring at his palms in disbelief. "Free healing? Okay, I’m starting to like this tower."

[VALECREST ACADEMY AND NORTH PANTHEON ACADEMY HAVE CLEARED THE STAGE.]

[PREPARING TRANSFER.]

"Huh? North Pantheon? Wha-"

The golden light flared violently, swallowing the ruined forest whole. Silas felt the stomach-churning sensation of weightlessness as the world went blindingly white. A second later, he landed softly.

He cracked one eye open. He wasn’t on hard dirt anymore- he was lying on an actual bed. Fresh white sheets, a thick duvet, a plush pillow, and a small nightstand beside him.

He sat up, patting the mattress with both hands.

"A bed. An honest-to-god bed."

The room was massive, clearly designed to house a full squad. Beds lined the walls, alongside a dining table, a kitchenette, a bathroom, and a massive floor-to-ceiling window showcasing a serene, artificial blue sky.

There were no monsters, no traps, and definitely no screaming.

Silas narrowed his eyes. "This feels like a setup."

The front door burst open, and Neil stumbled in, face-planting straight onto the nearest mattress. "I am never standing up again."

"You said that after Stage Two," Silas pointed out.

"This time I mean it."

Damien trudged in next, looking completely drained despite the recovery spell, followed by Peter, Salmoa, Victor, Natalia, Darren, and Christian. They all shuffled inside like they had aged twenty years in a single afternoon.

Alpha walked in last. He looked composed as always, but his shoulders were slightly slumped, and his sharp eyes carried a rare, heavy fatigue.

Silas pointed a finger. "Look! Even Alpha’s tired!"

Alpha glanced over, deadpan. "Because I am tired."

Silence fell over the room.

Neil slowly lifted his face out of his pillow. "Did he just admit human vulnerability?"

"Someone get a camera," Damien muttered.

Alpha’s eyes narrowed. "Try it and see what happens."

Damien immediately lay flat on his back, staring at the ceiling.

Chloe walked in carrying several bottled drinks, setting them on the dining table before collapsing into a chair. "Everyone needs to rest. We don’t know how much time we have before the next round."

As if answering her, a soft chime rang overhead.

[REST PERIOD INITIATED. DURATION: 24 HOURS.]

Neil raised a trembling finger. "Twenty-four hours? As in... we can actually sleep?"

"Yes, Neil," Chloe said softly. "We can sleep."

Tears genuinely welled up in Neil’s eyes as he buried his face back into the bedding.

"No patrols?" Peter asked, dropping heavily into a chair.

"No monsters?" Salmoa added.

"No surprise ambushes?" Victor eyed the ceiling suspiciously.

"No battle," Chloe confirmed. "Just rest."

The collective relief in the room was almost physical. For the first time since entering the competition, nobody had to grip a weapon, check a perimeter, or wait for the next alarm to blow out their eardrums.

Silas pulled his blanket up. "Honestly, this feels illegal. Fighting nonstop for days and then just... stopping? It’s a trap."

"It’s a rest period, Silas," Chloe sighed.

"Same thing." Silas swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Chloe asked.

"To raid the kitchen."

"You literally just fought an A-Rank monster."

"Which works up an appetite."

"You were kicking a giant eyeball like a soccer ball!"

"And it was very cardio-intensive!"

Silas disappeared into the kitchenette. A second later, a victorious yell echoed out: "WE HAVE FOOD!"

That instantly mobilized the room.

The shelves were stocked with cooked meals, fresh fruit, warm bread, and real juice. Within minutes, the heavy silence of the room dissolved into normal, human chaos. They ate like scavengers, complaining loudly about the tower’s ridiculous design, arguing over kill counts, and laughing off near-death experiences.

An hour later, the high wore off, and exhaustion reclaimed the room.

Silas had commandeered the main couch, stretched out sideways with his head unceremoniously plopped into Chloe’s lap.

"You are heavy," she complained, though she didn’t push him off.

"I am a recovering warrior," Silas muttered, closing his eyes. "This is therapeutic."

Alpha sat on the floor nearby, resting his back against the couch frame with his eyes closed.

Damien was half-asleep at the table, while Neil was already snoring loudly from his bed.

Silas stared lazily at the ceiling. For days, he had been running through forests, destroying monsters, and pushing through adrenaline-fueled chaos. He’d completely forgotten what it felt like to just sit still.

Chloe’s fingers moved gently through his pink hair, absently untangling a smudge of ash. "Go to sleep, Silas."

"Not tired," he mumbled, his voice already dropping into a slow drift.

"Right. Of course not."

Within thirty seconds, his breathing evened out into a deep sleep.

Alpha opened one eye from his spot on the floor. "He fell asleep instantly."

"He spent three hours playing dodgeball with a giant monster," Alicia murmured from the table. "I’m surprised he’s still breathing."

Outside their pristine suite, the dark machinery of the tower continued to shift and clank, moving entire academies across invisible platforms to prepare for whatever horrors came next. But inside, the room was warm, safe, and entirely quiet.

[TIME REMAINING: 23 HOURS, 41 MINUTES.]

Somewhere high above them, a grand announcement broadcast the start of Stage Four preparations. Silas didn’t hear a single word of it... Not as if he cared.