The pradavarian teams were beginning to fracture. The stronger, faster members were pushing ahead and abandoning their human teammates entirely. I watched as a lioness from one of the mixed teams literally kicked her human partner off a rope bridge yelling that he was "slowing her down."

Katherine and her pure-raptor team were completely consumed by the need to maintain their lead, clawing at anyone who came within ten feet of them. Kristi had broken away from the Firestorm entirely, trying to establish her own, personal dominance through sheer aggressive violence.

"The humans are getting left behind," Candace pointed out with a tongue click.

She was right. Every human student on the course had been abandoned by their pradavarian teammates, left behind as deadweight. They were clustering together in small, defensive groups, but they were clearly confused and had no idea what was happening to their partners.

The compulsion pressed against my mind again, stronger now. Part of me wanted to sprint ahead, to show all these pradavarians that a human could be first, could be the winner—

"Alec," Candace said urgently. "Your pupils are dilating. You sure you don't want me to unbind it?"

The pressure was incredible now, like having someone scream directly into my brain about how important it was to WIN, to be FIRST, to prove my SUPERIORITY—

"Do it," I gasped out, rubbing my head. "This thing is giving me a migraine now."

Candace's hands framed my face. "Unbind desire to compete," she murmured, and suddenly I could think clearly again as blessed relief flooded through my consciousness as the compulsion dissolved.

We were the only team still proceeding calmly through the course. Every other group was either fighting amongst themselves, racing ahead with manic intensity, or had already completed the circuit and started a second loop, driven by the desire to keep winning, to be faster, to be better.

I walked steadily toward the finish line, ignoring the rest of the students who all went for a second loop.

Professor Fern stood at the end of the track with that same villainous smile, watching the mayhem she'd created with obvious satisfaction.

"I'm done," I announced, stepping across the finish line banner that encouraged "KEEP GOING! ANOTHER LOOP AND VICTORY WILL BE YOURS!"

Professor Fern's burning eye fixed on me. "Are you, Mr. Foster? Truly done?"

"We're done," I confirmed, gesturing to Candace and Adelle beside me. "All three of us."

"Interesting." She tilted her head, studying our little group. "And you feel no desire to complete another circuit? To improve your time? To prove your superiority over your classmates?"

"Nah," I replied. "We came through the course. We reached the end. Mission accomplished."

Professor Fern was quiet for a long moment, her gaze shifting between the three of us and the madness still unfolding on the track behind us. Finally, she gestured to a maintenance shed beside the finish area.

"Have a seat and rest then," she said, snapping her fingers. Three magitek, folding chairs suddenly emerged out of the sandbar.

I settled into the metal chair, Candace curling up in her seat with her fluffy tail wrapped around her feet, while Adelle sprawled across her seat like a large, lazy feline, striped tail wagging. From this vantage point, we had a perfect view of the ongoing, escalating disaster.

The other teams were trapped in an endless loop, completing circuit after circuit with increasing desperation and violence. Katherine's team had now turned on each other, with Katherine and Kristi engaged in what looked like a genuine attempt to claw each other's eyes out. The mixed teams had completely collapsed, with pradavarians racing ahead while their human partners remained far, far behind.

Nessy's team was on their fourth lap, and all three of them looked genuinely unhinged. The owl was now using his staff to attack other students directly with flashing spells, while the fox had started firing warning shots to clear obstacles. Nessy herself was projecting continuous sonic howls and barks that were causing visible distress to anyone who got too close.

"You see it now, yes?" Professor Fern said. "The fundamental weakness of pradavarian nature. The desire to compete, to dominate. In a dungeon environment, these instincts can be exploited and turned against the delvers."

She gestured at the carnage. "Every one of these students is now trapped in a compulsion loop. They cannot stop competing because stopping feels like losing, and losing feels like death. The magic will keep them running until they collapse from exhaustion or injure each other severely enough that I'm forced to intervene."

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"So this was all a setup," Adelle said, though she didn't sound angry about it—more like professionally impressed.

"A demonstration," Professor Fern corrected. "The Superstore uses similar techniques. It presents you with sales, with limited-time offers, with the promise that you could have everything you want if you just keep shopping, keep spending, keep consuming, keep going deeper and deeper in, keep coming back."

"And the humans?" I asked, watching the abandoned students.

"Are collateral damage," Professor Fern said bluntly. "In a real dungeon situation, they would now be trapped without their pradavarian protection, easy prey for whatever monsters inhabit the locale. This is why mixed teams often fail, Mr. Foster. Not because humans are weak, but because pradavarians cannot resist the urge to abandon their packmates when their competitive instincts are triggered. Because without the human coordinator as its leader, the pack comes apart."

She turned that burning gaze on our little group. "Which makes your team rather unique. You resisted the compulsion through force of will, Miss Rhinehart neutralized it through her Binding skill, and Miss Dallia followed your orders despite her natural instincts. That level of coordination and trust is... rare. Have you already been in a legendary dungeon, perhaps?"

"We have," Addie grinned. "Multiple times."

Candace frowned at the boasting cheetah and nodded.

"Not me," I said, but for some reason some deep part of me felt that it was a lie.

The sounds of fighting from the track were getting louder. Someone was screaming—whether from pain or rage, I couldn't tell.

"How long are you going to let this go on?" I asked, watching Kristi and Katherine wrestling each other on the rope bridge.

"Until they learn," Professor Fern replied coldly.

A thunderous crash echoed across the field as the owl student brought his staff down on the lion girl's head with enough force to crack stone. Blood sprayed across the obstacles.

"I think we're at 'seriously injured,'" I commented.

"Prad skulls are tougher than human, Mr. Foster," Professor Fern commented. "She will live."

I frowned as the downed lion girl came up with a roar and attacked the owl boy, tearing his staff from his hands and kicking him into a muddy mire where a mud elemental got hold of the owl, nearly suffocating him.

"If you let them keep going we're going to end up missing next period and lunch," I commented.

"I have absolute authority from the principal to go overtime," Professor Fern said. "Other classes will be pushed back to tomorrow. Dungeon scenarios like Highway Sixty Nine do not end just because you're hungry, Mr. Foster."

I sighed.

She stared at me, sparks falling from her burning mane and then snapped her fingers. Tables emerged out of the sand. Masked attendants in butler and maid uniforms appeared from the school doors carrying lavish food on plates.

"Woo! Food!" Adler declared, instantly stuffing her mouth full of raw steaks.

Candace reached out towards the plates. I watched Professor Fern. Her eye burned bright, the functional half of her face was spreading in that malicious grin again.

"DON'T EAT IT!" I smacked the chicken leg in Candace's hand, stopping her from biting it.

"Wha..?" the silver fox blinked at me.

"You cheeky bastard!" I addressed the Instructor. "The food's poisoned isn't it?"

Professor Fern laughed.

Candace dropped the chicken. Adler stuffed food into her mouth without stopping, chugging offered drinks, her stomach filling rapidly, the silver dress she was wearing nearly ripping at the seams.

Candace and I watched the cheetah going at it like she was starving to death.

"No, not poison," I muttered. "Another… compulsion. Eating this food causes you to get hungrier? Right?"

"Maybe," Professor Fern smiled.

"Fucking hell," Candace walked over to Addie and grabbed her head from behind. "Unbind hunger!"

"Whaaa…" Adler frothed at the mouth. "Oh god. Why…" She grabbed her stomach and her eyes filled with tears. "So full. Ughhhh. Candyyyy… save me… send the foods outta my stomach into the Astral!"

"No," Candace said.

"Candyyyyy, come on, I'm going to explodeeeee," Addie cried. "Help me!"

"Are you going to stop jumping into obvious traps like a moron?" Candace asked.

"Ughhhh, whatever screw you, miss bossy fox," the cheetah returned to her seat, and burped loudly. She closed her eyes and immediately fell asleep.

I jumped off the chair, realising that I was feeling unnaturally drowsy. "What the fuck. The chairs are magically sabotaged too?!"

Professor Fern's villainous smile persisted.

"Unbind tiredness," Candace grabbed herself and me, glaring at Fern. "You know, I can do this all day, right?"

"Can you really? You already lost one teammate," Professor Fern simply shrugged. "I just need you to make a mistake and it'll be all over for your human captain."

The sandbar slowly grew hot, sunshine beating down. I wiped my forehead and looked up. The sun overhead blazed far too brightly for early September.

"You feel that?" I elbowed Candace.

"Yes," she growled, her eyes igniting. "Beerch got a massive Sun elemental pointed right at us from high up. Actually no… it's pointed at everyone on this damned track!"

"How does this class end?" I asked Professor Fern.

"Infinite dungeons don't end, Mr. Foster," she said simply. "They grind you down until you are dead."

She licked her lips with a look of malicious superiority, cooling runework flashing on her gray suit.

"Some of the students have guns," I said, watching as the panting fox pointed her gun at another student. "What if someone gets shot in the head?"

"Magnetic Elementals," the Instructor said.

I watched as the fox girl's gun was suddenly ripped out of her hand and flew off into a muddy pit.

"Noo! My pistol!" she cried out and dove into the mud where a mud elemental trapped her, making her thrash about and dragging her under.

Wiping sweat from my brow, feeling like I was in a sauna slowly being boiled alive, I pulled out the folded paper with the class schedule on it from my pocket.

The letters have rearranged themselves to state:

Period 1: Advanced Dungeoneering - Prof. Ignis L. Fern Period 2: Advanced Dungeoneering - Prof. Ignis L. Fern Period 3: Advanced Dungeoneering - Prof. Ignis L. Fern Period 4: Lunch courtesy of Prof. Ignis L. Fern Period 5: Advanced Dungeoneering - Prof. Ignis L. Fern Period 6: Advanced Dungeoneering - Prof. Ignis L. Fern Period 7: Advanced Dungeoneering - Prof. Ignis L. Fern Period ∞: Advanced Dungeoneering - Prof. Ignis L. Fern

Candace stared at the schedule, panting. "Fuck, how do we get out of Advanced Dungeoneering?!"

"One does not simply leave Advanced Dungeoneering," I deadpanned.

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