"Now, who still want to take the exam?" He added, after giving the crowd a time to properly digest his words.
This time, there are only tens of people who raised their hands. The rest were still very brave despite the shock earlier. They didn't want to give up just because of this. If they really quit then it would be over for them. They wouldn't be able to participate again if they do that. They will try even at the expense of being crippled. At least we tried, they comforted.
Ferrell naturally know what they were thinking so he didn't stop them. Since many of them wants to court death then they couldn't blame him, right? It was their choice in the first place.
"The exam is actually quite simple. All of you will enter an illusory magical artifact where monsters roamed through the land. There are strong and weak monsters inside. As long as you kill monsters, you will be given a point. The top 50 people with the highest point will naturally become pass the test. By the way, you're not allowed to kill a participant there.
"However, there is a twist. You can transfer your points to a participant with just a thought. What was more there are only exactly 1000 monsters in that place. We will be giving you 6 hours time limit.
"That's all. You can team up with other parties if you want."
After Ferrell finished his speech, Alzer frowned. He felt that this test was quite troublesome. There are only 1000 monsters within the illusory world. What was more is that some of the points that could be obtained were either low and high. Since Ferrell said that killing a participant is not allowed, that means he couldn't obtain points by eliminating his opponents. This exam has become a race against other examinees. A person that was spawned in a location where there were only few monsters will fall the exam. This is why Alzer thought this exam as very troublesome. He needed to rely on luck just to pass. If he didn't have any luck, then it's game over for him.
"Since all of you finally understand the rules. I declare the exam starts now "
Soon after the Vice Headmaster said it, a mysterious blue light wrapped on the crowd. Suddenly, Alzer's surrounding turned blurred. A few moments later, he found himself standing within a forest full of exceedingly huge tree.
"Hmm… Illusory world eh?"
Alzer was not unfamiliar with Illusory magical artifact as he have one in his past life. There are variety of illusory magical artifact. Some of them could be used to an individual. Some of them were like this, being able to create an illusory world. And some of them could only fool the senses of people. The illusory magical artifact that he had was the latter.
Alzer scanned the place and saw that there are no living beings nearby. He frowned and started to move. However, even after 30 minutes he still haven't found any monsters. He had already looked in all directions.
"Could it be… the place I was at didn't have any monsters?"
If that's the case then Alzer has a rotten luck. He was so sure that in this 30 minutes, many participants had already killed monsters and earned points. That was when he suddenly noticed a glow on his wrist.
It was a tattoo with ancient patterns. An idea struck him and manipulated his mana to enter the tattoo. A screen of light appeared in front of him. There, he could names of people with their rankings. He scrolled through the list and saw his name at the bottom. While he was not the lowest, he knew that his current situation is pretty fucked up. If he still didn'tt obtain any points, then there's no chance to pass this exam.
"Eh?" Alzer suddenly noticed two buttons at lower left corner. Two of them were white while the other was black. He tapped the first button and it suddenly became black, while the black button became white. He immediately understood what happened. It seems that the black button indicates that it was the current section.
Meanwhile, the screen of light changed, turning into a map full of red dots. There was a blue dot at the northwest direction. If he was not wrong, that would be his position. And the moving red dots were the position of other participants.
'Hmm…? Wait a minute. There is size difference between red dots. Does that mean those big red circles were actually people with higher points. And people with a size like mine didn't even have a single point.
Now that I think about it, all of them seems flocking in group. If I'm not wrong then they already realized that establishing a group will make their chance to pass become higher.'
In just short 30 minutes, there was already a huge development in situation. It seems that killing a monster will only make his rank higher. He wouldn't even be able to make it to top 200 even if he use all his strength. It seems he needed to use his intelligence if he wanted to pass this test.
Alzer rubbed his chin and sank in deep thought. A few minutes later, he already made a plan but this one is full of flaw. He decided to go to the place full of people so that he could gather information. As the saying goes, "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." He needed information about his opponents and the situation if he wanted to win. Just seeing the map was insufficient. Thinking of that, Alzer finally began to move.
***
An hour had passed since then and finally reached his destination. Here he could see many people formed in groups. He could see the vast majority negotiating with opposite groups.
Alzer let out a sigh and sat at the nearby tree. Even after now, he didn't have a single bit of points. From northwest to the center of the map, he only found monster corpses and not living ones. It was obvious that he didn't stood a chance in this exam if he continued like this.
"Eh? Isn't that Prince Charles?"
Suddenly, one of the participants nearby exclaimed. Hearing those words, the crowd turned their heads and saw a group of people with a golden haired man leading the group. It was the same as the one who spoke with the vice headmaster earlier outside the illusory world. Alzer didn't noticed it earlier but now that he think about it, it was indeed Prince Charles, the young brother of Almond. He didn't expect that the future changed again.
In his previous life, Prince Charles trained to be the next Divine Commander. His talent was unparalled too. In fact, he's even more talented than his older brother, Almond. Unfortunately, he died by sacrificing himself while fighting against a monster wave. As far as he know, this man was a very righteous person. He'll not hesitate to help anyone on need. His personality was unlike the other royal members. However, it was also this personality that he died before blooming. Alzer had just met him thrice in his past. He didn't expect he'll meet him here in a completely different place.
At the same time as Alzer think this, he narrowed his and felt he was a perfect pawn for his plan. "Alright, you'll be my chess piece then."