Suri's eyebrows were now furrowed. He appeared frustrated and annoyed. He thought of how poorly organized the test was. Surely the Academy was not too understaffed? He had lots of patience but this was really grinding his gears.
At that moment, he suddenly felt a sharp pain on his buttocks that made him grunt. He lifted his left arm and looked towards his backside. There was a person smiling at him.
It was Aeon.
"Yo!"
"Yes, how may I help you?"
Aeon gave a hearty laugh before saying, "Dude, why are you so polite?"
Suri did not know how to respond. The small guy, Aeon, wasn't gloating about his win so he didn't get mad. He looked towards the front and attempted to read the list one more time.
Seeing that Suri had no plans on responding, Aeon said, "We're teammates. The other one is a person named Korona Arvent."
Suri peeled his eyes from the front and thought that it was quite a coincidence. He turned towards Aeon once more and asked, "You saw the list?"
"Sure did!"
"How are we supposed to find the other person?"
"Beats me."
The two shrugged at each other.
Bang!
A strong wind surged inside the room, silencing the crowd. Everybody subconsciously looked towards the administrator's table, the source of the gust. There, a person wearing a pair of glasses was standing near the table, his fist on it. Apparently, he was the one who banged on the table and stirred the gust of wind. A wind mage.
"Now that I caught, your attention, I suggest we do this in a more orderly fashion. Do you agree?"
The crowd looked at each other. Obviously, everyone was already frustrated and wanted to get on with the test. The guy wasn't all that charismatic. His words were curt, and it didn't sound respectful. However, since his method made the people there a lot more... civilized, none of them voiced any complaints.
"Maybe we can all be silent for a while and take turns in looking for our teammates," the wind mage said. He pointed at a random person near the list, "You, can you please read the names of your teammates out loud?"
The person nodded and mentioned two names. Amongst the crowd, two people raised their hands. After the other two confirmed that they really were in the same team, their team took a map from the table in front of the glasses guy then exited the room.
A simple method, but effective. It turns out, they only needed someone to organize and sort out the situation.
Aeon and Suri found Korona Arvent in no time.
She was also wearing a pair of glasses, like the wind magician. She was short, only a few inches above five feet. She looked thin and quite pale, her black hair flowed smoothly behind her back. Despite her petite appearance, according to her, she was already 20 years old and was the oldest among the three.
The three also took a map then exited the room.
Just like the administrator said, there were instructions behind the map.
Match start: 3:00 PM
Instructions: The team's starting point is indicated by a red dot on the map. Seventeen flags will be scattered around the forest. The goal is to have exactly one flag by 3:00 PM the following day. Teams that will have more than one will be disqualified. No killing.
The last sentence was particularly eye-catching, but it wasn't much of a concern.
No killing.
In this kind of exam, deaths are possible. However, it's not inevitable. Accidents may happen, but a bloodbath has never occurred in the second round of the 50-year-old exam across the entire continent.
Their goal was to secure a flag, not to eliminate enemies. If they faced off against other teams that they deemed undefeatable for them, they could give up their flag anytime and not engage in a skirmish. On the other hand, if they think that they can win, then they should stick to the plan of subduing or disabling, not killing.
This was a test that has been promoted for half a century. For sure, if someone didn't abide by its rules, this person would not leave the Academy grounds unscathed.
After seeing this particular rule, the participants would automatically limit their spell's power, and that's because of the Academy's deterrence.
Overall, killing benefited them less than losing a spot in the Academy. After all, even if they failed this exam, they still had a place in the military. The fact that they were able to get to the 2nd round of the exam already proved their qualification.
It wasn't an all-out war as the three expected. Aeon was hyped about the arrangement while Suri felt neutral about it.
Korona cutely counted her fingers, she appeared really panicked, "S...s...so only 51 mages will pass?"
"Appears so," Aeon calmly replied, "don't worry, we'll get one for sure."
"But if we get one, doesn't that mean we'll become targeted by the other 27 teams who don't have one?"
"I know! Fun, right?"
….
On the northern side of the forest.
A young man stood on a branch of a tall tree. He had one of his hands on the horizon and was squinting. The sky was clear and the sun was high up in the sky. It didn't take long for him to tell the time. After achieving his goal, he jumped down. Like a monkey, he jumped from one branch to another until he reached the ground.
"It's almost time," Aeon said to the rest of the team while patting the leaves off his jacket.
Earlier, after reading the instructions, the group dispersed. Since it wasn't specifically prohibited according to the instructions, they all went home and equipped themselves with their own weapons. Then, they regrouped on the spot marked on the map. The thick tree that Aeon climbed was also marked by the number 23, their team number, confirming their location.
A gigantic, pitch-black broadsword with a blood-red jewel on its hilt was now strapped on Suri's back. Even though it wasn't enchanted yet, it gave off heat that distorted the air near it. Being a fire mage, he wasn't bothered by it. He wore a short, black cloak with a red dragon on its back, and a pair of black pants and black boots.
Korona was carrying a white staff with a crescent moon on its tip. In the center of the crescent moon was a floating, blue jewel. She, too, was wearing a short cloak with an insignia on its back. However, hers was blue and had the insignia was a white turtle.
The equipment of the two highlighted their noble birth.
In contrast to all these, Aeon wore a plain, white shirt, a blue denim jacket, and a pair of pants. His weapon was a common dagger, forged by an unknown blacksmith.
The only common thing the three of them had was a small fanny pack that carried their food. The standard equipment for most mages.
Aeon eyed the two as if they were idiots. In the end, he could not resist reprimanding them, "Guys, I know your equipment are cool and all, but how are you going to run and chase on that?"
Embarrassed, Suri scratched his head, "Sorry, according to tradition, we need to have our insignias when we go to battle."
"Mn," Korona agreed.
Aeon shrugged. He couldn't understand these kinds of things. His father never bothered about formalities, so he didn't follow them as well.
Dong!
The sound of a gong permeated the air.
"Okay, that's the signal," Aeon said cheerfully. He was clearly excited about the competition.
Korona gripped her staff hard and told herself to work hard.
"Does everybody remember our plan?" Aeon asked.
"Get one flag then run for it."
Suri and Korona confidently responded. But now that they thought about it, wasn't this a plan for cowards?
And wasn't it too vague?!
Clearly, they have not thought about it earlier as they were too tensed. The two looked at each other then smiled crookedly. They had no more time to come up with another plan now so all they could do was go with it. When they saw Aeon start to move forward with a jog, they followed as well.
….
On the west side of the forest.
"Aren't we going to look for a flag, kid?" A bald man in his middle twenties asked. He was wearing lightweight armor, very suited for the current environment, and a pair of metal gauntlets. A young man with glasses sat beside him.
"We should…but not right now," the young man responded while reading a book, "Also, I have a name. It's Levi. Didn't you read the list?"
He was the wind magician from earlier. Just like Aeon, he wore a simple set of clothes. A white shirt and a pair of white pants. Both were very clean.
Annoyed by the young man's nonchalance, the bald man yelled, "Do you think I passed the first test by sitting around and counting ducks? No! I crushed the opponent with bru-"
A strong gust of wind pressed on the bald man and knocked him hard on the floor.
"With brute force?" Levi said while closing his book.
When did he cast that spell? I didn't notice!
Struggling to fight off the wind pressure, the bald man squirmed on the ground. He was now covered in dirt, but he did not seem to mind.
Levi crouched in front of the bald man and looked at him straight in the eyes as the latter tried, and failed, to break free from the wind's force. He smiled then said, "Samuel, right? I can also do brute force. However, let's say you get one flag."
Levi took a small pebble from the ground and put it in front of the bald man, Samuel, who was still lying on the ground.
"Let's say this pebble is you, with the flag you took. And these..." Levi took a handful of pebbles, "are the other teams without flags."
Without any warning, Levi threw the handful of pebbles on the one that portrayed Samuel and it was immediately covered by the others. Some also bounced from the ground and hit Samuel on the face, making him hiss.
"You'll get flattened," Levi said with an eerie grin.
"..."
Levi stopped grinning at Samuel before standing up.
The wind that pressed down on Samuel instantly disappeared. He was suffocated by the air pressure and had a hard time breathing. He glared at Levi while the latter walked towards a large rock with the number 41 on it.
Throughout the whole commotion, their third member, Selena, a young woman with fiery red hair and an amazing figure stood quietly on the side. She was looking at the map and paid absolutely no attention to her teammates' bicker. Having noticed Levi's intentions earlier, she started looking for a spot good for defending on the map.
"This seems to be a nice spot." Selena suddenly said while pointing at the map.
Levi, who just sat down, stood back up again. He approached Selena and also looked at the spot she was pointing at. He nodded then started walking north from their position. Selena followed promptly, not glancing, even once, towards Samuel's direction.
I will surely get my revenge on you, Samuel thought. Although he was clearly offended by Levi's actions, he still followed.
….