After spending a lot of the day healing his wounds using Internal energy, Daron finally began to think about the beast, trying to brainstorm with Sirious.
'So, care to explain everything you know about the beast?' he asked Sirious.
[In summary, the magical beast was not a naturally born magical beast. Most likely, it was created by a mage. The method of creation is unknown, but due to the fact that it was 'created', it possessed many faults in its very nature.]
[One of them is that it has incredibly low intelligence even for a Rank 1 magical beast, which was why it would allow live creatures to enter its mouth rather than killing it first before eating it.]
'Another example of this would be the fact that it had almost 0 resistance to spells and other attacks!' Daron exclaimed, thinking he understood everything.
[Possibly. However, it is more likely that this magical beast was created to be in such a way.]
'Huh? You aren't suggesting that a mage is actually nearby, watching over us, and only sent over this thing as a form of testing?'
[Yes. Although it is quite difficult to quantise this prediction, but it should have around 35 to 60% chance of being accurate.]
'Damn…' Daron thought to himself, but then felt like it was only natural. The organisations were spending so much on just bringing the newcomers to them, naturally, it was not just to waste time. However, they also would not want all of their newcomers to just die. Therefore, they were likely to set up challenges along the way on purpose, to not only weed out the ones who were too weak, but also train the newcomers without losing too many.
'Alright, if that is the case, there is no need for me to act up on my own, I should allow the others to also experience this.'
Just when he was thinking such, Doug came in.
"My dinner?" Daron asked with sparkling eyes, since he was very hungry after using Internal energy to recover from his wounds.
"Yes." Doug just nodded, left the food on Daron's lap, before leaving.
'Seriously, what is wrong with this guy?' While thinking about this, Daron ate his dinner, just like how he ate his lunch.
'Ah, the luxury of being injured… Daron thought to himself.'
The next morning, Daron woke up and went to have breakfast since he was fully healed. However, the atmosphere was incredibly heavy. Looking at everyone present, Daron only sighed but did not say anything, since he had a feeling about what they were thinking.
'Many of them should be thinking about wanting to return home to their parents, some of them might be scared about monsters like that one, while the rest should be worried that I might bully them.'
This time, again, just like last time, the ship began shaking. However, this time, everyone was a lot calmer.
Without Daron having to say anything, they formed up, waiting for Daron to come along with them.
"You guys go ahead, and try to kill it. If anything happens, I'll come, but it should not have too much resistance to magic, or blades, so as long as Rudolf takes the first hit, everything should be fine as long as all of you focus on hitting it."
…
Once everyone was gone, Daron looked around, then looked up, and then down, before taking in a deep breath.
"Mr. mage? Where are you?"
However, there was no response. But this did not discourage Daron, who continued to look in every direction unhurriedly, while speaking.
"I know you are here. The thing outside belongs to you right? Respected mage, I mean no harm, I was just wondering if you are from Phoenix college?"
After nearly 30 seconds of no replies, the air suddenly dropped by a few degrees, as a cockroach appeared from under one of the tables and looked straight at Daron.
Seeing this, and feeling the mana coming from the cockroach, Daron gave it a solemn bow of respect. Of course, he would not use a knight's solute, which might give away the fact that he knew how to use Internal energy.
"Kid, I'm rather curious now… how did you know I was there?"
"Uhm…" Daron behaved rather cautiously, since although the old man was also a Rank 1 mage, he was his teacher after all and would do no harm to him. This mage, on the other hand, did not have any connection to him, and could do anything,
"Speak fast. I do not like wasting time." The cold voice said.
"Yes! The Rank 2 beast yesterday was very odd. After thinking about it for a long time, I figured out that unlike even Rank 1 beasts, this Rank 2 flying beast had 0 resistance to Internal Energy and Mana, and was incredibly weak. Furthermore, its blood had become saturated with mana, both of which led me to the conclusion that it was 'made' rather than born. Since no other attack happened for the rest of the day, I guessed that this was all a trial by the Phoenix College to test is newcomers."
The cockroach remain silent for some time, but then spoke once more.
"Good perception. But that does not explain why you called out to me?" it asked in a confused voice.
'Ack, obviously it does not. You asked me a different question. Why would I answer this while answering a different question!' Daron roared in his heart, but put up a smile on his face.
"I would like to ask you more about what could happen while we are halted for 2 weeks at the teleportation array."
"That's it?"
"If you could also tell me more about everything related to the organisations, that would also be great, but I'm sure that Mr. mage is a very busy person, and so this little one does not dare to take up too much time." Daron said while clearly trying to flatter the mage, to prevent him from bursting into a rage for some random reasons.
"Let me just inform you that flattery, is something that most mages hate the most, since it it basically a waste of time. Just directly tell me."
"I'm too scared to…" Daron sighed and responded truthfully.
"See? Wasn't that much faster!"