"Sir, Mo. How are you?" A voice interrupted Xue Mo as he conversed with Lu Yao.
The one who asked was none other than Kyle, the group leader that he used to enter the town easily.
Silence
The deafening silence was the answer to the question Kyle asked. But, they didn't give up. Deckim who was the one able to take some words from Xue Mo before approached and said,
"Sir, Mo, you are also joining the Battle Mage Academy?" Deckim, as bubbly as ever asked in a clear and exciting voice. His hands trembled while his eyes shined, he was the epitome of what Xue Mo didn't like. Noisiness.
Xue Mo cringed inwardly for having to meet this noisy kid again. However, he knew that if he didn't answer, they would talk more instead of leaving. So, he replied.
"Yes, you should also be concentrating." His words exuded annoyance that he hid, eyes as uncaring as ever with a destitute tone to boot, anyone else would be repulsed and go away. Nevertheless, the people in front of him did the opposite as Axel, one of the silent two added. "Sir, Mo, thanks for being concerned about us!"
Axel's words caused another huge misunderstanding. Instead of getting the message and leaving, the other three's eyes widened as they gave Xue Mo looks of appreciation. The words of shooing that he said had become words of concern and encouragement in Axel's mouth.
'Ah, just my luck.' Xue Mo complained inwardly.
"We shall listen to Sir Mo's advice!" Lara, the city lord's daughter, was the one to finish and free Xue Mo from his predicament. Although Xue Mo didn't like it, he was happy to get rid of the small annoyances.
This interaction hadn't escaped the eyes of the city lord, the audience, or the other contestants. Other than the city lord, no one knew what happened between those five. Thus they got curious. They didn't know where this young man sprang out from, and that is why they were curious about him. After all, people are either interested or afraid of the unknown. From the looks of it, this group of people belonged to the first group.
Fortunately, the test stared right after, making the gazes concentrate on the first contestant.
The first examinee was a stout lean man with a trained figure, dressed in a loose green robe, giving him a scholarly look, he had a weird spherical shaped picture painted on a paper in his hand. Following the instructions that the city lord gave, he started.
"Amro Lockwood, twenty years of age. Mage." After introducing himself, a great commotion rang out around the plaza. People frantically started to discuss.
"So, this is the young man that the Lockwood family head paid an enormous amount of beast cores to get him the rune."
"Ay, I heard that he was the bastard of the family head. He doted on more than his siblings."
"I also heard that other than being his favorite child, the family head had also appointed him the future heir of the Lockwood family."
While people were talking and making a commotion, Xue Mo instead had been staring at the spherical rune in the man's hands.
'So, this is a rune!' Xue Mo's eyes fixated on the rune while his eyes started trying to decipher it. He had heard about runes from Lu Yao. Runes were consumable items; they could help attack, defend, support, and sometimes even heal. Although he didn't have enough info on them, Lu Yao had tried teaching him rune smithing as she called it. However, it seems that he didn't have an aptitude for it.
On the other hand, Lu Yao was a master rune smither. She could make a variety of runes with diverse effects and even combinations. Runes were just Mana liquified through specific methods and were able to be printed on paper, bodies, and other objects. Although there was more information about them, Lu Yao suggested that he first get ahold of the basics before learning more.
'Is this what a rune looks like?' While Xue Mo was examining the rune, he noticed that the rune seemed to have been poorly made, the shape wasn't complete, and the Mana emitted out of it seemed too low.
It was nothing like the art that Lu Yao described. It was his fault for comparing a Master Rune Smither with something made in a backward world like the Ash Expanse.
Waiting for his turn, he watched how the other examinees were doing in the hopes of learning something from them. After all, he was new to the ways of Magic and handling Mana. He didn't mind watching how other people were doing since; in the end, people gain enlightenment from unknown places. Xue Mo wasn't a narrow-minded man who believed himself to be the mightiest. He knew that no one is all-knowing, there is always something new to learn, someone new to learn from, and he wasn't ignorant to think because he had lived for so long that there is no one above him in knowledge.
Xue Mo wasn't a genius. He had gotten everything he had with hard-work. Although he couldn't deny that his personality and talent had played a role in his rise, he also knew that without the hard work he had put in, he couldn't have reached his previous prestige.
While looking around, he noticed that every participant had used different methods in their attacks. Different than him, they seemed more natural in their ways. Some used a concentrated Mana attack, while, others released multiple shots. No matter the form, Xue Mo saw them focus and utter some words before attacking. He decided to ask Lu Yao why later.
'Fine, I will go all out!' At first, Xue Mo wanted to take things slowly, but he got bored waiting for his turn. So, he decided to go all out to vent a little.
Unlike what people think, going all out and showing talent isn't something bad or stupid. It just depends on the person and how he decides to do it. Some could be dumb and show how high their attacking power is while also revealing their strongest attack. On the other hand, smart people like Xue Mo could just use the test that they were given and take it to the next level.
He would show them his external cultivation using the lowest amount of time, fastest speed, and a high enough attack power to surpass all the other examinees together. This way, he would show off, garner more attention, and have a higher ranking later. Yet, at the same time, he wouldn't have shown his true power, skills, or his Shadow Soul Pressure.
By the time Xue Mo's turn arrived, thirty minutes had passed. It took so much time because most examinees had to waste time preparing their attacks and chanting.
When Xue Mo's turn came, he felt Dio's gaze on him that he didn't even conceal. As if saying, 'Show me what you got.'
Tch
Xue Mo was annoyed, the gaze wasn't making him feel uncomfortable, but he saw the intent behind it. It wasn't good.
Ignoring the lingering look of Dio, he started making a small construct, and to not seem suspicious, he moved his mouth, uttering gibberish.
Before three seconds even passed a bright blue sphere materialized in his hands. The Players, the audience, and the judges all gasped. The power that the sphere emitted was completely different from what they had seen before, the speed that it was made at, was just as astonishing. Furthermore, the sphere looked perfectly stable.
Launching the sphere at the treestand, he saw how it took less than two seconds to hit the target, blowing it to smithereens before continuing forward and hitting the tree behind it. The sphere kept striking and destroying several trees before arriving at the fourth one. Following the tree's destruction, the blue orb had finally lost its power and dissipated.
Xue Mo stared at Dio, who had his mouth agape, eyes widened and looked at Xue Mo as if he was a monster calmly, noticing that Dio seemed to be in a trance he requested, "I would like to skip the third test."
He didn't ask, not to take the physical one or the second test. He directly asked to skip the third one, knowing that he didn't even know what the second and third tests were.
'What are you planning?' Dio started trying to analyze the man's thoughts that he couldn't see through, but after a while, he gave up.
Dio was looking for interesting things anyway, and one was just right in front of him, this made him happy, curious at what the young man wanted to do.
"No," Dio answered. He wanted to see what the young man will do. As he expected, the young man went silent. Yet, contrary to his expectation, the young man didn't agree or make a fuss. He looked at him and asked in a cold voice sending shivers down Dio and the others' spines.
"What if I take you down?" Xue Mo's question made Dio raise his brow, he didn't look down on the young man or his question, but he didn't believe that the young man could defeat him.
"If you could land one hit on me, I will allow you to skip all tests and even become a second-year student." Dio decided to comply with the young man and see where his confidence come from. Also, he was bored and what the young man suggested would be something fun, even if Xue Mo weren't able to land the hit, he would still allow him to skip the stages for giving him fun.
Seeing that Dio agreed, Xue Mo went ahead and put the metal bracers on to finish the test.
He curled his fist, making a punch before striking forward with half his strength. A resounding shockwave was emitted from his fist, making the surrounding people almost fly from their places before controlling themselves.
Right after that, the number on the bracelet started rising, in seconds it left the one and two digits, approaching the three digits but not stopping, only after it hit the four-digit number did it start slowing down. After a few more seconds, the numbers settled, stopping at an amount that made the people around gasp in surprise.
2894
If you consider that every 100 points on the bracelet are 0.1 points in the system stats, Xue Mo's attack might seem insignificant. However, compared to the other examinees, the result of Xue Mo's attack showed how big the difference is and how monstrous were his stats.
No one knew that Xue Mo's status as a Shadow Light Parasite had given him an advantage in terms of stats. At the same time, his age and experience had also increased his wisdom to unimaginable levels, compared to the puny people in this world; he was a powerhouse.
Dio was also surprised at the result. It made him think that the fight wouldn't be as dull as he thought it would be. Instead, he started getting excited, his face lit up, his eyes started burning with an urge to fight, and his hands trembled in excitement. Everyone could practically feel the Fighting intent oozing out of Dio, which made them excited. They might see a fight that they could never see usually. They would see how powerful a teacher at the Battle Mage Academy is.
Deciding to announce the results before their fight Dio announced,
"After sorting out the 10 participants, only five remained,
First place: Mo
Second place: Amro
Third Place: Kyle
Fourth Place: Lara
Fifth Place: Axel"
While the audience was happy with the result and cheering, a group of people wasn't. Instead, they were greaving while looking at the young man in the group that got excluded. He was the one who was most happy to get a chance to join the Battle Mage Academy, that man was Deckim.
They knew that the only reason he wasn't able to join was that Amro had a rune to help him. If his family didn't win the auction or the rune didn't help, they were sure that he could have gotten in. They didn't blame Xue Mo for taking his place. After all, without him, they wouldn't be alive at the moment.
"Congratulations to all those who passed. You have officially joined the Battle Mage Academy." Trevor, the city lord's words, surprised everyone. They understood before that there were more tests to get, and Xue Mo's words proved to them that there were at least three. What Trevor just said means that to join the Battle Mage Academy, only one test is needed.
"To be able to join the Battle Mage Academy, only the first test was needed," Dio explained. "The second and last tests only give you a higher chance to shine, get more teaching material, maybe even become the disciple of a mentor and receiving the teachings of a personal teacher."
Dio's words dawned on everyone, letting them finally understand what happened. At the same time, the Players who weren't able to get in cried even more miserably for wasting such a precious chance.
"Although, the first round had allowed you to join, don't slack off. How many opportunities and ranking you get now will smoothen your life later on.
Now, I will explain to you what the second trial entails.
You have all hunted monsters and magical beasts before. This trial won't be any different. I got with me several kinds of magical beasts with various degrees of danger. These beasts had formed a slightly about average intelligence higher than what you would find in the wild. Other than that, their levels are also high going about 20-40.
The larger amount of beasts that you kill and depending on their levels, you will get a proper ranking. These beasts that have been released all have a mark on their bodies that look like a star, making it easy to identify them." Dio had thoroughly explained the second trial and what are the requirements for passing, leaving no questions to be asked.
Dio had noticed that he was too monotonous in his speech, presenting a warm smile that surfaced when he finished talking, he added in a friendly voice.
"Don't be worried, although this test is hard, with heavy requirements that surpass your level. The gains you would get would exceed the danger, the path that would open would be brighter, and your courage would be tested, allowing you to gain a life and death experience that will be helpful tater." Dio's words calmed the raging turmoil in the students' hearts.
"I won't tell you what the next test is if you would like to know then come back!" Dio tried to be as encouraging as he can, but he also didn't want to give false hope, so he finished with,
"I won't lie to you and say that you are safe. You might die out there, and that's why I will give you your last chance. You can forfeit now. It isn't a cowardly act; your life is on the line after all! But, if you pass this hurdle and overcome your fear, you will accomplish great things later."
The remaining five started discussing and whispering to each other. The trio who passed looked at Amro and approached him. Although their relationship with Xue Mo wasn't about friendship, they believed that they were at least acquaintances.
What they didn't know is that he never cared about them. More so, he was the reason they almost died back then. Thinking that if they convinced Amro to join them, they could all work and pass the trial, unknowing that Xue Mo wouldn't even work with them.
Xue Mo waited for the City Lord or Dio to announce when the second trial will start.