Lucas was still checking out the other contestants when suddenly a higher willpower forced its way through his body, not just once, but multiple times. It was so fast it didn't even take a second, but it still made him freeze on the spot.
'What the fuck was that?'
'Pure willpower from them.'
'So a Rank 3 can just slaughter all of us if he just focussed his willpower?'
'And we worked so hard to just try and survive in a Rank 2's pressure. If they are bothered at any point and unleash it, everyone here is dead.'
Lucas was terrified of the power that a Rank 3 contained, he wondered what kind of might a Rank 5 or 6 could have. It was better to just try and forget about it so he could focus. If he ever got to that point, he would enjoy it, but for now, he needed growth.
"Now that everyone has had the time to check out the rewards it's time to see what you all came here for. The competition this time will be a lot more special than normal! We received a gift from the Royalty, an island which can bend the laws of time. One day spend on the island is about one hour in this place.
We have decided that you all will have to survive on that island for 5 days! But this is no mere camping trip! In order to secure a winning spot, you'll have to collect tokens during those 5 days."
Kael pulled out a little slate from nowhere and waved it around. "If you find a token, push it against this slate and you'll have earned it. At the very end the person with the most tokens wins the biggest prize.
Before you all get excited, be aware that monsters roam the island and also contain tokens. Stronger monsters contain more tokens, and for the truly brave of you, there's a Rank 2 monster on the island. If you manage to defeat it, you'll get a special token, which you can use to trade for special rewards.
Besides this slate, everyone will get an emergency jade. Crushing it in your hands will transport you back here."
Kael waved his hand around and a bunch of slates and jades started to float to each and every student. The Blue Fire Academy were the very last ones to receive their items, it might've not mattered, but it was more to annoy Dean than anything.
Grabbing the slate and jade Lucas could already tell how things would go.
'How much do you wanna bet that those slates can also be consumed into another slate.'
'Nothing, because that's exactly the case. Most of our students haven't seen a monster, but some nobles did. The director telling us we need to stick together wasn't just for protection against monsters.'
'But to protect us from the real issue at hand.'
Lucas knew exactly what would happen. Traitors would be born during this competition, and he was wondering if he had to join them. Sad thing is, he wasn't strong enough to join up with the other Rank 2's and dominate the entire island, he would have to find another way.
"Before we send you all off, there's one final thing we want to announce. This is how the island looks."
Kael snapped his fingers and a projection of an island showed up in light. Six pillars of light started to come out of certain places.
"The island contains six pools of elemental energy, they all surround the center, which incidentally, is a volcano. But be careful, every pool is protected, so don't go rushing in without a plan.
For those of you itching to get to the next Rank, just a cup should get you over the threshold, if you take a single drop too much, your core might explode! So be careful of what you're doing. Now that I said everything I wanted to, have the other directors any comments?"
Kael invited the others, but most didn't have anything to say. It was more part of the procedure than anything. Rarely did the other directors intervene.
"If there aren't any additional comments I'll just leave a tiny hint before we start. When you enter the portal to the island, you will be randomly transported. Also, I suggest making big moves in the beginning, since the longer you stay on the island, the harder it will be.
That's all. Open the portals!"
The directors all turned around and started to create a portal for their students. Entering it now would bring them to the island they had only seen for a few seconds that was filled with monsters and things worse than that.
Lucas stared at the director with a grave look, it seemed the director was taking his time creating the portal. Every director wanted to time their portals so that everyone got the same chances. They all noticed that Dean was slower than usual, but they just thought that it was because he was old;
There wasn't much time, Lucas pushed his way forward in order to be one of the first to enter the portal. Asta was right behind him with the same determination.
Pushing his way forward he arrived at the front next to Eliot and Matheo. They only looked at each other before focussing on the portal again.
"Great idea to get to the front, if a single hour here is a day in there, wasting a single minute could spell a huge difference in knowledge.", Asta was glad to have followed Lucas, he knew right away what they were aiming for.
The director looked down and was glad to see the best variables were standing in front. The portal opened up and everyone started to rush in. Lucas wanted to inspect it, but he knew it wasn't time for that, so he jumped into it right when he could. Getting a small but significant head start on the others.
The nausea was there again, this time he knew what was about to come and prepared himself. He immediately activated the spell he prepared before entering, removing his presence entirely.
'Eleven's spell is wonderful.'
'Only issue is that it doesn't hide killing intent.'
'Indeed, Eleven was capable of killing with it on since he was trained to do so.'
'Whenever we kill something or someone we just need to act like we're stepping on an ant. Not actively trying to kill, but knowing that it won't survive.'
'That's going to take forever, especially with you.'
Lucas spread his willpower all around him, he couldn't sense anything special. So he looked around to see where he ended up.
Bushes, grass, a few small animals making their nest in the tress. A clean blue sky can be seen between the crowns of the trees that stood tall. With his presence hidden he felt comfortable enough to take his time to take in the environment.
'Let's get going, we have a lot of work to do.'
Lucas moved forward towards the volcano. He couldn't actually see the base or the top, but the big plume of smoke told him enough. He wasn't being greedy with his willpower, letting it run wild until he spotted something.
His willpower was purely decided by his will, so the more determined he was, the longer it would hold out. If he got disinterested or bored, it would retract itself.
'A wolf?'
'Looks normal, doesn't seem to have anything magical going on.'
Like Lucas though, it was just a normal wolf, yet he still couldn't feel safe. He grabbed his sword and sneak attacked its side. Fueling a small bolt into the sword, the wolf died instantly.
'A normal wolf? Why?'
Lucas felt a vibration in his pocket, taking it out the slate he found it pulling towards the corpse of the wolf. Bringing the slate closer made it light up for a second before dimming again. The vibration stopped and a 1 appeared on the slate.
'So even normal animals count as monsters?'
'Could we just kill a beehive and get a head start?'
Following his intuition he looked for an ant hill, a beehive, a nest of insects, but after killing them all, the vibration didn't appear. After a few more experiments, he found that only beings that have the capacity to kill were seen as token holders.
'What a waste.'
'At least we got some rabbit. Should make a good distraction.'
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The forest held many unknowns, the plants and trees might've looked normal, but nobody knew what kind of things could happen. Every school had some powerhouses that could survive in most places. Sadly there were also those that didn't know any better.
Novi was one of those, a noble from a pretty wealthy house, but that made him live isolated away from any kind of harm. The worst thing he experienced were his disappointed parents. That's why he was making sure to perform well during this competition to win their trust back. He had been wandering around untill he found someone, not wanting to be left alone.
"Novi! I'm glad I found you.", Lou exclaimed, her voice echoing with relief as they reunited amidst the wilderness. Novi, equally pleased to be in familiar company, marveled at their luck.
"Lou?", she was a girl he had been great friends with. "To find each other so fast, we must've been lucky."
"Then I'm glad that the Goddess is on our side! Do you know where we are?"
"Aha, I have just the thing."
Novi had to make sure to succeed, so he pulled out the resources he had and managed to get a map of the island from one of the teachers.
"I have a map of the island.", Novi took out a map from a ring he had on his fingers, one of the artifacts he bought at a high price.
"So where are we?", Lou looked around and couldn't see anything but trees and foliage.
"Uh....somewhere here? Wait, no, that's not..."
"Let's look around for a vantage point.", both started to look around until they spotted a plume of smoke in the air.
"Is that the volcano?", Novi wasn't sure what he was seeing, it could've just been a fire somewhere for all he knew.
"It must be, then if we follow the trail...then the volcano is there, show me the map again!"
They searched the map again and knew where the volvano was. Only issue was that they didn't know where the wind came from. Luckily, Lou was a perceptive person and knew a spell to figure out where they were.
"Great, now to make our way to one of the pools of energy. Which one do you need?", Novi was estatic he found Lou, since he would've been lost, even with a map.
"I need the wind pool, but if this map is correct we'll need to walk around the entire island."
"Then we better get started, the water pool is on the way there. So let's take a break there!"
And so they went on their way towards the pools of elemental energy. On their way they found a few monsters and shared their tokens equally. Time passed faster than they thought and night was about to fall.
"How strange, we still haven't seen anyone else. I thought we would encounter another student by now.", Novi was glad he was with someone he liked, but he didn't mind a bit more protection.
"Novi! I sense something approaching!", Lou was someone very perceptive and agile. She was responsible for calling out anything that stood out.
"Another wolf?", Novi chuckled as he prepared his sword. He was a noble and knew all too well what the advantages were of artifacts, but he had already placed his funds into something else. Still, a normal sword was more than enough to take care of a simple wolf.
"No, there's a magical response!", Lou activated her Magic Vision and could see something approaching her. It was around the height of a normal wolf, yet her senses were warning her.
"Then prepare the defenses.", Novi wasn't the smartest or the strongest, he was an average mage at best, if we exclude the commoners of course. Novi chanted to create a shield of wind and pure mana. It was great to deflect and handle a few attacks.
Lou chanted her own version and awaited the monster approaching them.
The low growls took over every other noise in the area, crickets didn't dare to make a sound as the wolf slowly moved forward.
"What in the..?", Lou couldn't believe her eyes. The wolf had weird spiraling horns and it's teeth and nails looked similar. The nails seemed to twist and turn, almost piercing it's own foot. The eyes were red and filled with rage.
"Kill it!", Novi was scared out of his mind, but his survival instinct made him react the fastest. He rushed towards the wolf. Slashing down, the wolf moved it's head slightly, making the horns take the hit.
CLANG
Novi bounced back from the recail, giving Lou enough room to fire a wind blade. The wolf normally didn't have any magical abilities, yet now, the muscles contracted and pushed the wolf forwards towards Lou. The wind blad slashed the wolf head on, drawing blood.
Seeing the strange wolf run towards her she summoned shields on top of shields. The wolf clawed and bit all it wanted but couldn't break the shields in the slightest, giving Lou some breathing space.
Novi rushed over and tried to swing his sword again. This time, he aimed for the wolf's back, plunging his sword deep into its flesh. The wolf let out a deafening howl of pain, but Novi didn't relent. With a swift, decisive motion, he severed the creature's spine, ending its life and bringing an eerie silence back to the forest.
"What the hell was that?!", Lou was still scared and was glad her shields were strong enough to stop the monstrous wolf.
"I don't know, it looks like it mutated somehow, I don't recognize these horns though. They look like a part of the wolf, but also not. Lou, are there any others in the area?"
Lou closed her eyes and spread her willpower thin but far, trying to find another being capable of hurting them. She shook her head, "No, nothing except some small animals."
"So we're safe. We should probably rest here."
"Yeah.", Lou waved her hand to remove her shields, they were strong but made her unable to move when the shields were active. Her legs begged her to sit down and take a rest, her mind was also still filled with the image of the wolf rampaging against her shields. The look the wolf had was something she had never seen before.
"I'll go grab some branches so we can make a fire.", Novi had never camped before but knew the basics on how to make a fire. Not with sticks and stones of course, but as long as he had some branches he could make a tiny campfire with magic.