Volt let out a bitter laugh. "Teacher… honestly, I can't remember much else. The only thing burned into my mind is that face dropping down on me, and that freezing cold afterward. Being trapped like that… I still don't know how I'd react if I faced it again."

Alfred spoke calmly, "You need time to recover. Your case was special. The Man-Faced Demon Spider is extremely rare and powerful. Even at the hundred-year level, it can hunt thousand-year soul beasts. Dying to it is not shameful."

He paused, then added, "But remember this. The moment you encounter something beyond your ability, press the exit button immediately. This time, your real body was already put at risk."

Teacher… consoling someone?

The others were secretly stunned.

"Thank you, teacher," Volt said quietly.

Alfred turned to Lily. "You."

Lily stood up smoothly. "The spirit ascension platform feels like a real ancient forest. I liked it very much. Combat with soul beasts is extremely realistic. I couldn't find any difference from real battles."

"That's all?" Alfred frowned slightly.

Lily nodded.

"Then tell me," Alfred continued, eyes sharp, "how did you find Ray?"

Lily froze.

"By chance," she said after a pause.

"Chance?" Alfred narrowed his eyes. "Raziel Phoenix meeting Ray could be considered coincidence. He ran blindly and they weren't far apart to begin with. But you were far away. The moment you encountered the Crystal Bear, you fled in Ray's direction. And when Ray moved, you adjusted your path accordingly. That isn't luck."

Lily fell silent.

Ray stared at her in shock. You could track me?

After a brief pause, Lily finally spoke. "I have a way to mark my teammates using elemental control. With that marker, I can locate them. I believed staying close to Ray was the safest choice, so I prioritized finding him."

"I see," Alfred said without pressing further. "Raziel Phoenix."

Raziel Phoenix straightened. "I enjoyed it too. Hunting soul beasts in that environment is exhilarating. Forest terrain suits Agility System Soul Masters, and survival improves as speed improves."

His expression grew serious. "The final fight against the Green Wolves was especially valuable. I'd learned the theory of attrition battles before, but this was the first time I truly experienced one. I learned how critical it is to avoid fatal injuries and protect vital areas."

Finally, all eyes turned to Ray.

Ray hesitated briefly, then spoke. "We were very lucky to kill the thousand-year Crystal Bear. If we'd made even one mistake, we would have been wiped out. Even though I knew it was virtual, everything felt real. The pain, the pressure… I couldn't treat it like training anymore."

He continued, voice steady. "Battling real soul beasts is extremely helpful for improving combat ability. And I think our biggest takeaway is teamwork. Only by cooperating better can we face stronger enemies in the future."

Alfred nodded slightly.

"If I were to grade you," he said evenly, "Barbara, zero points. Volt, one point. Lily, five points. Raziel Phoenix, five points. Ray… four points."

Barbara and Volt expected their scores.

But Ray's made them both jolt.

Ray had killed both the hundred-year Horned Dragon and the thousand-year Crystal Bear. Without him, Raziel Phoenix and Lily wouldn't have lasted long at all.

"Ray," Alfred said, locking eyes with him. "Do you know why your score is lower than theirs?"

Ray lowered his head, thinking carefully. Slowly, clarity emerged.

"Lily coordinated our attacks perfectly. Without her elemental control, we couldn't have killed the Crystal Bear. Raziel Phoenix risked his life to protect me from the wolves."

Alfred nodded, then corrected him. "Not entirely. If Lily hadn't caught you when you were crystallized, you would have shattered. Even in a virtual environment, the aftermath would have been dangerous."

He continued, "Raziel Phoenix's higher score isn't because he saved you, but because of his knowledge. You lost points because you were crystallized after killing the Crystal Bear. If you had known its traits, you would have anticipated the death explosion."

"The Crystal Bear releases crystallizing soul power upon death. The stronger it is, the wider the radius. You didn't know this. That ignorance almost cost you dearly."

The classroom fell silent.

Knowledge, judgment, teamwork.

Power alone was never enough.

"If you had killed the thousand-year Crystal Bear without being crystallized," Alfred said coolly, "then neither Raziel Phoenix nor Lily would have needed to put themselves in danger for your sake. The three of you would have had no trouble dealing with the pack of wolves afterward. Their sacrifices were caused by your mistake."

Those words struck Ray as ice water poured straight over his head.

Only moments ago, he had been quietly proud of the battle's outcome. Now that pride shattered completely.

That's right…

If this had been a real battlefield, my mistake would've dragged the entire team down. They would've died because of me.

How could that ever be called a victory?

Alfred continued in the same indifferent tone, each word cutting with precision. "You lack knowledge. Your understanding of soul beasts is insufficient. Do not think that because soul beasts are rarer today, studying them is meaningless. On the contrary, deep knowledge of soul beasts is essential."

"Research shows that more than ninety percent of soul skills originated from soul beasts. To understand soul beasts is to understand your enemies and, in many cases, your own abilities. It directly increases your chances of survival in the spirit ascension platform."

His gaze swept across the class. "You should all understand by now. The longer you survive inside, the greater the rewards. And all of you are still very far from the end of this path."

Ray's joy over his spirit soul's evolution vanished completely.

Because of my ignorance… Lily and Raziel Phoenix paid the price.

The bitterness in his chest spread like frost.

"In today's lesson," Alfred said, "we'll analyze the soul beasts you encountered yesterday. Their traits, habits, and abilities at different cultivation levels."

A sudden chill slid down Ray's neck. He flinched and turned his head, only to see Lily giving him a calm nod.

That small gesture was like cold water poured over his heart, instantly clearing his thoughts.

"Thanks," Ray whispered.

From that day onward, the atmosphere in class zero changed completely.

After their experience in the spirit ascension platform, the five students threw themselves into studying with frightening enthusiasm. Alfred no longer needed to push them. Even Barbara quietly let go of his resentment toward Ray's trio. Guilt, reflection, and a burning desire to improve replaced everything else.

At night, Ray and Volt continued their dual cultivation, connected by a strand of Silverfalls Vine. As expected, cultivating together was faster than alone. After Ray's spirit soul evolution, his cultivation speed increased noticeably, and the gap between him and the others narrowed at a visible pace.

Though overtaking them in such a short time was impossible, he was no longer lagging far behind.

Life became busy, exhausting, and deeply fulfilling.

On weekdays, Ray studied and cultivated at the academy. On rest days, he went to the Blacksmith Association to train under Nigel.

Nigel might have looked gentle, but as a teacher, he was ruthless. Compared to him, even Gilbert seemed lenient. After a full day of forging, Ray was often more exhausted than after an entire week of classes.

Yet under that merciless guidance, Ray could clearly feel his forging skills improving.

Nigel didn't rush him into Spirit Forging. Instead, he focused on reinforcing Ray's foundation and correcting even the smallest flaws. A single imperfect movement meant repeating it again and again until it became flawless.

A perfect foundation.

Ray had never truly understood its importance before. He was already a third-rank blacksmith, after all. But after a month under Nigel, he was stunned to discover that he could complete third-rank Thousand Refinement commissions nearly ten percent faster.

That was when it clicked.

The essence of a perfect foundation was eliminating wasted motion.

A perfect hammer strike delivered full force. A flawed one wasted strength. One strike didn't matter, but how many strikes went into a Thousand Refinement? Hundreds. Thousands. If every strike were perfect, the difference was enormous.

When Ray shared this realization, Nigel smiled for the first time since accepting him as a disciple. He explained that the true difference between Thousand Refinements lay in the number of strikes used. Fewer strikes meant greater refinement. Efficiency was the true mark of a blacksmith's skill.

From then on, Ray trained with even greater diligence.

Entering the spirit ascension platform once a week became mandatory for class zero. This time, they acted with extreme caution, only engaging soul beasts after careful planning.

Still, caution alone didn't guarantee success.

Luck mattered too.

Once, Ray was unlucky enough to encounter an extremely agile thousand-year soul beast the moment he entered. Before he could react, he was badly injured and forced to withdraw almost instantly.

In the blink of an eye, the first term drew to a close.

"Teacher," Ray asked one day, surprised, "do we still need to take a final exam?"

The other four shared the same expression.

This wasn't arrogance. It was confidence born from transformation.

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