He fell deep into a strong transe and awoke in enigmatic air with nothing but a rectangular interface flickering before him.
[Would you like to visit Arena? Y/N]
'Arena?'
It sounded like some kind of battleground.
A place he could get stronger, designed by the system with a slower pass of time.
'Yes,' he inwardly said with triumphing curiosity and desperate thirst for a power boost.
The glistening screen immediately disappeared and his consciousness was dragged to another realm.
Dimension XY– a pocket dimension between two of the known dimensions.
He sped through the blaze of light which seemed more like a blinding tunnel with a never approaching end.
His motion abruptly halted and forsook him in the spacious surrounding with nothing at all but breathable air – not even gravity.
He floated around for a bit before sighting a brightly glowing threshold.
An isle.
It was rectangularly shaped with a pivoted base and a ring over and below which assumingly sponsored its flight.
Its sides were bordered by a selective dome and the innermost parts grided cubiting with an almost endless stretch.
It was a battleground
The Arena.
Max stroked his arm towards the Arena.
The second his foot made contact gravity immediately unveiled itself.
He looked around for a bit admiring the towering pillars and translucent floor.
Involuntary, his status popped up alongside another screen.
[Current status analysis]
[Synthesizing competent opponent]
[Opponent: Undead Variety]
[Defeat Level 3 Red Skeleton(20) and Purple Zombies(10)]
Almost immediately after the screen shut, the arena shook slightly and figures slowly ascended from the floor.
Coated in red light, but as soon as their entire body was in view, the light vanished and truly they were even more hideous and terrifying than Max had envisaged.
They slowly turned their heads towards him and crept slowly towards him.
For a second he took a step back.
Behind was an infinite void.
He couldn't run.
He summoned his miracle and ability book.
He forged a magical bullet and fired.
'What!'
The Zombie absorbed it almost immediately.
He fired some more even more rapidly and erraticly.
None seemed to deal any major damage.
Their regeneration ability was unmatched.
They closed in even closer.
He welded an energy wall and kept up frantically shooting.
The bullets weren't finishing them off, but at least it was slowing them down.
Though mostly bone and skin, they were relentless even for a Level 3.
Here mana wasn't directly tapped from his reserve he seemed to have an almost infinite supply lending him the aid to shoot with such inadequacies in judiciousness.
The skeletons were breaking and remaking.
Zombies absorbing and revolting.
Soon later, things got worse.
Somehow, the skeletons grew an inferno skull.
Its head was literally on fire.
It shot relentless fireballs at the feeble wall Max created sending cracks through it.
In a few seconds it all came crumbling down and vanished.
Even after the wall fell, they kept firing.
In those moments, Max wondered:
'Could I die in here.'
Two came right at him.
He wasn't in a posture to dodge or even to deflect it away.
It came and hit him hard.
[New Skill: Damage Transfer(10)]
[Damage space: 2/10]
He fell right on the ground unharmed.
'A skill!'
He immediately remembered his innate skill and summoned it.
Nothing.
[Anti-magic Locked]
'What the…'
He had to settle with what he had.
Even though he was quite elated about the fact of being able to absorb harm ten times he was intent on evading using up the storage space.
He lept in and delved courageously right into the core of the tumult.
He had infinite mana here, right?
Why not use it, while the offer lasts.
He landed in the centre of chaos and conjured and massive whip-like attack.
The carnage pleased him a bit as the minute Exp rise gave some satisfaction.
***
"Hey, wake up sleepy head," a familiar voice said while gently shaking him.
Mel.
He woke up and sat aright.
"A two hour session with me left you out cold. Men I'm good," he praised and he ensued with trading remarks.
He noticed that not much time had gone by compared to the time he spent, but in summary, he barely managed to avoid being him and still couldn't level up.
"This skill!", he groaned.
The next day.
The next day was packed. People from neighbouring towns gathered even more densely than two days ago.
Those two be awakened queued up as instructed.
Max and Chris stood in line while Mel cheered on from the crowd.
He noticed Mr Rhodes approaching and put up his hoody.
Luckily, he didn't notice him.
He walked up to the stage and gave a quick briefing before commencing the ceremony.
Pure bloods lined up beneath a booth.
Their queue wasn't nearly as long as the hybrids. Only about 20 of them were present and they all awoke.
Insect tamers, Demigods, Healer with all sorts of skills such as shapeshifting, mind control and many others.
Among the progodies, was one greater who despite his spectacular status composition finetuned it all with awakening three elements – Fire, shadow and void.
There were also a considerable amount of dual elememtalist and acknowledgable statues.
Generally, pure breeds were destined for greatness and we're sure to conquer the magic world while on the other hand, the hybrids…
As soon as he had concluded with the pure bloods he began packing up his equipment.
After that, he addressed the hybrids.
"Listen rascals. Orbs and serums are quite hard to come by now so here's what gonna happen. I'll be kind enough to let to still awaken but.."
He flicked a coin-like object with pounced unto the floor and turned into a swirling vortex.
"... you've gotta do it in there."
A dungeon.
The crowd sounded.
"So which one of you is willing to awaken," he muttered with a dubious smirk on his face.
The crowd stared at each other for a moment before a brave voice arose.
"I will."
Max stepped out and unveiled his hood.
"Oh, it's you."
He didn't expect anyone to actually be that devoted to awakening, which quite peeved him.
"Anyone else wanna die?"
"I do."
"I do too."
"I also."
More voices arose but still wasn't near a majority of the total queued.
Their courage stunned him but he wasn't too bothered cause the dungeon with end their frivolous lives before they even made it through the first wave.
"Here is what you need to know. There's a hard, difficult and hell mode dungeon randomly stored in here all with ranks ranging from triple S to A. All you have to do is survive for 12 hours and the system will pull you out. G#$_luck, you're gonna need it."
"Proceed," he said with an obviously feigned concerned gesture and wore a sarcastic grin.
They stared at the dungeon gate with its spins and turns.
Covering their fears they walked blindly with courage, ready to at least try to awaken.
Behind the troop was another boy.
After the rest entered, he remained.
"I hope you will do well."
"Don't worry, those monsters aren't a problem for me."
He too stepped in and the count began.