"Curfew in ten minutes! Go to sleep before or in ten minutes and get a good rest, remember you're tests have yet to conclude, some of you may not have gained much points today but you can always work harder the next day! You still have two days before the exam concludes so you have all the chance to rise up the ranks now start packing you're utensils!" An instructor shouted, all attention was on the instructor, the students quickly packed their equipments and utensils ready to go their tents.
For the whole night the group ate and conversed before walking back to their own tents right before curfew, as 10 PM rolled around the whole camp was silent with occasional instructors walked around as patrol for the night.
But the allotted time Nico had he hadn't let it go to waste and cultivated the surrounding mana, with how weak he is currently he's afraid he'd get into trouble once inside the forest.
***
Sitting on a steel chair right by the side of the medical instructor Jenny ate her fill, with a coat on her back to deter the cold wind she drank a newly brewed coffee.
Blew...
Slight gusts of wind and mana almost unnoticeable but with plenty of experience she saw it was rushing to one of the tents.
Through the small gap in between the entrance of the tent Nico purposely opened it for the mana to sip inside the tent to avoid the tent from swaying wildly.
With improved eyesight she saw through the gap and got a glimpse of Nico cultivating the surrounding mana, she giggled, "You're a hard working one aren't you."
***
...
Early morning, the sun has partially ascended with the set up lights by the academy put off meaning the only light source is the sun.
Inhale...
"Ha... Waking up stress free is really nice, it's been awhile since I've felt this feeling..." Nico stretched both his arms and legs while looking around his surrounding, he breathed the fresh air giving him a fresh feeling.
'Status' He checked his mana stat after a full night of cultivation.
[Mana: 14160]
He lightly nodded, "Good, good..." Nico mumbled happy with his progress. He peeked at his storage ring on the index finger on his right hand he saw a wide array of basic weapons, basic weapons made with the most basic materials allocated to them by the academy to ensure fairness during the examination.
Storage rings are basically rings that have a certain type of crystal embedded on them, these types of crystals are able to contain anything inside them like a pocket dimension, the amount the crystals are able to contain varies highly depending on it's tier.
Because of how useful these storage rings were in terms of carrying items it was instantly popular and sought after.
He took out a spear, it was a very basic spear with no design but was very well polished, sharp and sturdy, it may have been a spear made with basic materials but by no means was it made poorly in fact, it was at the peak of it's tier.
He spun it around with his right hand and practiced thrusting with it, from all the thrusting it created almost unnoticeable ripples in the air, "I love spears..." Saying this Nico rubbed the spears handle on his cheeks, one would imagine to receive splinters but with how well built it was, it was as smooth as jade.
Exiting from the medical tent instructor Jenny noticed Nico rubbing the spear's handle on his cheeks.
"Nico Viccia rumoured to be the weakest student with barely any talent, realising he had barely any talent he felt unmotivated and barely had any growth, it was impossible for someone like him to stay in this academy, his father used a favour the dean owed him for Nico to enter..." Gradually her tone was filled with disdain, she gnashed her teeth and clenched her hands.
"I hated lazy people like him." She scoffed, but she calmed herself by inhaling and exhaling, "But... ever since he was brought in to the medical tent... He somehow... Changed... In a good way." She had a complicated expression, she was happy and suspicious at the same time.
"I should be happy that my students are working hard..."
***
Yawn... Mei woke up, his tent was on the left of Nico, he waved his hand towards Nico.
"Good morning... Already working early in the morning huh? This is the first time I'd seen you like this, well it's a good thing, just keep it up... But I'm still going to be stronger." Mei said in a boastful tone, he raised his chin and puffed his chest, Nico chuckled, "Give me one year, I'll definitely beat you." Mei could see the seriousness in Nico's tone making him ecstatic.
"Heh." Mei was stunned for a second, a slight pause, then he spoke, "Good luck..." Mei said in a serious tone, a tear of joy dripped from one of his eyes, his cousin younger cousin was always bullied and is a laughingstock by the first years, all due to his terrible talent and weak physical and mana score.
Classified as tier 1 on both the physical combat index and mana amount index, for a noble of his stature he was weaker than ever ordinary students.
...
8 AM in the centre of the camp, the campfire has been put out and the students gathered around and formed columns of their groups.
In the front a few instructors stood while the others have scattered, "For the last day of this year's combat exam, due to some incidents we've asked the academy for extra instructors to monitor you all, with this we hope there won't be anymore incidents."
"If you are in a tight situation safety is your first priority, but all I have to remind you is never leave a member behind!" His loud roar made every student stiffen, the students gulped and breathed heavily.
The next second his tone returned to it's natural friendly aura, the students were even more frightened, "Same rules, only stay within the outer perimeter of the forest of Lym, you aren't authorized to wander into different areas and are only allowed to hunt inside the forest of Lym, no fighting or stealing from other groups, you may only use the tier one equipment provided by the academy, no armor allowed."
"The instructions are also still the same, for every monster cores, herbs or anything that's on the list that you brought back, your group will receive a certain amount of points depending on it's tier, quality and condition, you have up until late afternoon to return... you may start..." After the last three words the groups quickly scattered while some were still planning a strategy.
While the other groups have scattered elsewhere Nico's group have entered the outer perimeter of the forest. "I've thought all night about this... I got plan..." Mei faced his group members and they all huddled up to hear their leader's plan.