[OP: ]
On the small sky island, the examinees were thrown down without any care of the consequences.
They were nobles and royals of different kingdoms, nations, and empires, but the way those people treated them the same as the other lowly commoners were unacceptable!
They wanted to sue the academy with all their hearts, but that was only their thoughts for a while.
Most of them understood this exam was the real thing, so they had to get good grades and not just pass to enter that academy.
They were better than others, after all. The pedigree they had could never even be compared to the many lowly and fake nobles.
And they had physical, magical, and financial power too, so they either went into the forest as soon as the wind stopped them, landed on the outskirts to check the whole situation, or started gathering manpower with their connections and resources.
Many people teamed up as it wasn't against the rules and many of them roamed the island solo.
There were things they can get from this island and they had to find them if they wanted to increase their scores on the exam.
So, most of them were in the search of these so-called treasures.
And many did find the treasures in the form of either natural resources like rare flowers, fruits, rocks, and herbs or in the form of treasure chests.
But, these treasure chests were mostly guarded by strong monsters that many of them couldn't possibly handle all by themselves.
There sure were exceptions like the twelve prodigies and a few raising stars but for even the nobles and royals, the task of handling a creature of (Green) rank or above was something impossible for now.
Those who had entered the forest and had run into such powerful creatures were already in a bad situation. And the creatures were nothing less than real so even facing them was a task even many adventurers couldn't handle.
Though, those who actually knew the true powers of the real creatures shown through these lifelike illusions could clearly say that the ones on that island were nothing close to the real thing.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtTheir test was just to enter the academy, so there was no way they would use the real monsters. But It would be different in the academy exams of course. It was difficult and varied from every higher-ranking class one took.
Anyway, the monsters in the outer part of the jungle were mostly normal, unranked, and (Red) ranked beasts. And it increased as one ventured toward the center of the island.
There were monsters one would commonly see if they have seen the quests of any adventurer association quest board.
They were common, and though weak, their appraisal skills were showing them the same data as the stat data of original creatures.
It was fine that many of them had the appraisal skills but those who didn't and had jumped deeper inside the forest were mostly now facing the monsters stronger than they could handle.
And even though many battles were going on inside the forest, the people on the outskirts were in a relatively better state.
But these outskirts weren't calm either as there were many people on the island now, and they had suddenly heard the instructions that all of them will have to survive three days on that island.
Though they said that one can quit anytime by just jumping off the island and it wouldn't actually affect their result of whether they would be accepted in the academy or not, none has done something like that till now.
But they knew they would have to survive… and because of the obvious reasons, their storage devices weren't working anymore.
So all they had would be the food in their storage skill spaces, or the food from the forest before them.
It would be difficult for them to just survive here and that was the reason many of them wouldn't make it past the third day.
The psychological pressure, especially for the nobles and royals who have never experienced something like that in their lifetime, was going to be more than the physical one.
But still, they were rich people with good skills, so they had enough to sustain for three days. Actually, some had more, so they were 'sharing' with others on the island.
Many were actually with pure intentions, too. But, as nature's rule, they were in a higher position, and every action was counted in points, so there were many doing their own business on the outskirts of the island.
Many stronger and more knowledgeable ones even went into the forest, gathered materials, and were selling food to the arrogant, desperate nobles.
The whole sandy outskirts of the island were cheerful. At least better than the deadly forest.
It had already driven out many examinees. Many of them were even strong ones.
Their battles had been good, too. And some of them might even pass with just that much, but the battles that were the candy of every examination grading panel member were the battles of the twelve prodigies and the raising unknowns.
The twelve prodigies. They were the twelve young ones of the golden era, the most potential leading figures of the near future.
They all were amazing on their own, but every one of them, for sure, was exceptionally strong.
The Carla of Heliox used her blades to clear out the enemies, sometimes using many blades to defeat a strong foe and gain the treasures.
Alfred, the youngest magician to reach a realm that most of the mages work their entire lives but can't surpass. He was famous, and his exceptional mind was something even the elders praised.
His use of his true magic, made with pure magical calculations, was a sight to behold. And it was so strong that not a single monster could withstand more than three of his spells, even though they all were (tier-2) usual spells.
The imperial prince Claudius and princess Isabella of the Roxana empire were also the same, and their strength that carried a unique spark had attracted a lot more attention than predicted.
Prince Claudius was a magic swordsman, and he lived up to his profession as he used the destructive series light attribute magic and his rough swordplay.
Princess Isabella didn't even have to lift a finger as she just walked through the forest normally with her strong, <Intermediate> rank spirits as they used their powers to defeat even the strong creatures as if it was a simple game.
She was the youngest elementalist to have contracted with a <Advanced> fire spirit, but she had a high affinity with fire, water, and wind, so she wished to contract a <Advanced> rank wind, and water spirit, too.
But, she had hit her current limit of six basic, three intermediate, and one advanced spirit, which was absurd in itself, as even the normal high elementalist could only ever have six to seven contracts with lower spirits.
Maybe her natural talent and high affinity with [Arcana] played a role, but she sure was amazing.
And so was the Xlor the origin flame spearman, Drowslotm the Elf magician of green magic, Hide the Wizard of charming water, Mia Knives the Alchemist of silver, Deleon Necrom the Summoner of slimes, Luna Sabestion the Witch of the blizzard, Newtine the magic engineer of the mech, and Janet Vionna, the harsh critique that possessed a unique origin skill related to compositions.
She wasn't physically strong, so she didn't kill any monsters that hindered her. She just told them to go play somewhere else… and the creatures, the illusions, actually obeyed her 'request'.
They all were fascinating and there were unexpected ones aside from them that caught many eyes on the grading panel. And one of them was now going to face a strong opponent so their eyes were on the screens that showed a part of the inner forest, with a boy with dull black hair and sandy gold eyes, the new member of Heliox, and the useless prince of Roxana.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThe two people were being carried around by the strong boy, who defeated all the monsters that came in their paths with such speed that not even the general examination graders were able to understand. But now, his opponent was different.
On the screen just beside this one, there appeared a giant red bull with three horns, his body strong and his size frightening.
The bull was walking towards the group of three and the boy had already noticed its presence, so he had stopped their march.
…
Chry, as he stood in the small open area, had a calm expression as he looked at the front.
Zoe and prince Alph also stopped as they had already known something was coming.
It didn't take long but after the small rustling of the bushes, trees would be the better word to compare its size, but a strong (Blue) ranked creature (Three horned red bull) was now standing before them, his eyes bloody red as he saw the prince in a red cape before him.
It was the trigger stimulus for their kind, so the enraged bull released hot steam of vapor from his nostrils, his whole body glowing up with a red glow that made the entire atmosphere boil.
The bull was enraged, his three horns were pointing towards the three of them, and as it took its stance for the attack, Chry called out his EFMW.
The shape he molded his formless weapon into was naturally a rapier. And even while facing the bull, he had no evidence of fear, tension, or doubt on his face.
-Mooooooooah!
The bull, enraged by the trigger color, roared and scratched the ground with his frontal right leg, his black horn burning with fire as red as his body, and as it happened, Chry was also finished taking his traditional rapier sword stance. But he didn't need any buildup as the red bull.
"[Flashlight]"
He said something in a low voice, but the observers only saw the movements of his lips.
"Low output."
-ZAP!
The bull shot forward and at the same time, a flashing yellow light blinded many screens that showed the fight in this particular area.
The light was sudden and strange and the next moment when they could see the place again… the fight had ended.