"The second exam, will be the test of control," The instructor said. "The demons down there can sense soul force. If you happen upon a situation in which there's a demon too powerful for you or your team to handle, the ability to hide your soul force becomes a necessity. Anybody who can't do this, has never survived longer than a year down there, so I suggest leaving if you aren't capable,"
"That shouldn't be a problem for our dear Ryuma here. He doesn't have much to have to hide anyways," Diaga mocked. Him and his cronies laughed at the jab.
"During the combat section, do you want to handle those jackasses, or should I?" Toga asked.
"Let it go Toga. They're just trying to undermine any of my accomplishments," Ryuma said. He wasn't going to fall for Diaga's taunt. "That just means they know I'll be accomplished,"
"I know what you mean Ryuma, but if you keep letting them walk all over you, this shit will start to spread. You need to remind people why it was you were on top,"
"You don't think I know that? Don't worry about it; I have a plan," Ryuma said. The two silently glared at each other. Toga eventually closed his eyes which to Ryuma, was a sign of acceptance. "Thanks Toga. I appreciate the vote of confidence," Ryuma smirked.
The instructor turned towards his assistant and nodded his head. The assistant ran towards the entrance of the academy arena fields and put up a red barrier that was tall enough for an adult to pass through.
All the students looked in anticipation on what the test was going to be about. Ryuma was one of the few that was unfazed. To him, it didn't matter how they were going to shape the test, if it were a normal test, he knew he could pass it.
What flowed through his mind, however, was that if his first test was indeed somebody sabotaging his score, what was the chance that was the only test they tried to crash. There was a possibility that they'd do it again.
He looked all around at the students taking the test. Could it have been any of them? Sure there were some with clear motives. There could even have been some you wouldn't think to suspect at all. The idea that students knew how to achieve something as complicated as tampering with his soul force whilst everybody was looking was a ludicrous idea to begin with. Even if it were tampering with the stone itself, that was still outside the scope of their training.
Was it any of the staff? Certainly, there could be several things they could have done. Even though they had the opportunity, they lacked the motive the students would have had. Same problem, but in reverse. Still, they were far more likely to have been viable suspects than any student here.
What about… the High Edict watching them.
Ryuma's face grimaced. He fought the urge to look at the Edicts direction, less he's seen as disrespectful. Thinking on it, for an Edict to show up at an exam was already a rarity. There must have been a reason for it.
Ryuma took a deep breath. No, even that can't be right. Even if he was at the top of the class, he's still far beneath the notice of someone in the High Edict. Unless, he previously knew him, there was no reason to come here and sabotage a potentially good order member.
"For this next test!" The instructor shouted. All students paid close attention to what he was saying. "There's going to be gates around the school to test for control, agility, and stealth! Each gate you pass through is going to give you a red mark on your hand. If you so happen to drop your stealth, even for a moment, that mark will turn blue, which would mean an automatic zero for the duration of the test,"
The students looked around at each other. Some weren't as good in this field. There could be those wondering if they did good enough on the previous test to be able to pass with a lower-than-average score.
Ryuma could see what this was about. Not only did you have to keep hiding your soul presence, but to keep doing so throughout the course of the entire school. The more reckless you ran, the more likely you'd drop the stealth. This was an endurance test.
"If you go any longer than fifteen minutes, you're disqualified from the test. The average is ten, so any time faster than ten is bonus points,"
Bonus points!
"Alright," Ryuma smirked. Fixing his score back was going to be easier than he thought.
"The test will begin… now!" The instructor informed.
With zero hesitation, Ryuma made a mad dash for the gate.
"HA! THE DUMBASS WASN'T PAYING ATTENTION, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO MASK YOUR SOULFORCE FIRST!" Diaga shouted.
"Poor guy's so desperate to fix his score, he's going to ruin his only shot. Go hard or go home I guess," Another student chuckled.
Ryuma clapped his hands once and masked his presence. He ran through the gate and was given the red mark. He did a heavy turn and dashed towards the left side of the building. It didn't matter which direction one went if they passed through all the gates around the school right.
He was sprinting the entire time. The school was large. This was the trap of this test. Sprinting the whole time would build fatigue. The more fatigue you had, the more likely you were to drop control. The smart thing to do was to pace yourself as you ran. To Ryuma however, it was a waste of time. His level of control was so high, he could keep up his soul concentration on a subconscious level.
He was too far out of sight to see what the reaction of the rest of his classmates were at. Maybe now, they'd shut up by the time he got back.
He dashed through the gate and turned a corner. His speed was phenomenal. He soon had already made it towards another gate. Just like he previously thought, this test was easy.
He turned another corner keeping at the same pace, without a drop of control. He rinsed and repeated with every gate he came across, and every turn he made until he made it back towards the first gate.
He saw an outpouring of students coming out of the first gate astonished to already see him rounding back inside, Toga and the rest included.
"I told you I had a plan," Ryuma winked. Which only caused Toga to smirk.
"I can't with you,"
They passed each other and Ryuma ran into the entrance gate. "That's three minutes, twenty-seven seconds. Why, that's a new record," The instructor informed.
Ryuma stretched his muscles. There were a few straggler students still here, trying to concentrate on masking their soul force.
"I suggest you guy's hurry. Trying to run the school in ten minutes is no joke," Ryuma informed. This, coming from the guy who ran it in three and a half minutes.
Most of them finally got done masking and got to jogging. Finally, it got to a moment where Ryuma was the only one in the field.
He went over towards his favorite spot and kicked back. Finally, some peace and quiet. He at least had a five-minute window in which nobody was likely to show up. May as well enjoy it.
He closed his eyes and waited for the rest of the exam to be over. Once it reached the eight-minute mark, Ryuma opened one of his eyes. If he were to make a bet based off what he knew about the top spots, then the first person coming through that gate would be Nuna by a long shot.
Sure enough, eight-minutes and forty-four seconds in, Nuna came running into the entrance of the gate. She might not have had a lot of physical performance, but her amazing control must have given her a head start and kept her at a higher pace than everybody else.
The rest, however, would be much more difficult to predict the exact order. There were several factors that could come into play.
Nuna came over towards him, panting and out of breath. "Wow Ryuma! That was amazing. I can't believe you just did that,"
"You're one to talk. Few people can make it in the time span you just did," Ryuma complimented.
"Oh please. I nearly ruined myself trying to keep up with you. I swear that was a dumb idea,"
Ryuma smirked. "It's good to be risky sometimes. Just try not to overdo it,"
"Believe me. I'm just focusing on passing now," Nuna said. It got awkward with just the two of them.
Ryuma patted the ground right next to him. "Come, sit next to me,"
Nuna blushed and fiddled with her blonde hair. "Are you sure you want me to… I mean, I don't want there to be any misunderstandings or anything,"
"Of course I'm sure. I want to have a bet with you,"
Nuna blinked a few times. "A bet?"
"Yeah. I while ago, I bet that you'd be the first to come through that gate. Turns out, I was right. How about, we bet the order in which the higher ranked members come in. The one who gets the most right wins,"
Nuna put her finger on her mouth. She crouched down and got in his face. "Ok… but if I win, you have to listen to whatever request I give you. Ok?"
"Sure, that'll make things more interesting. You're on,"
Nuna sat down next to him and stared in the direction of the barrier. "Hurry and name your order before the first one show up,"
"Hmm… let's see. I guess I'd go with…"