Refusing to lose the opportunity, Asa sprang from her location and unearthed the Mana Crystal from a metal tile that covered it.
'I got it! I got one!' She squealed excitedly within her.
She unconsciously let out a smile, hugging the object with unexplainable passion.
It was her first win, after all.
Still, Asa couldn't understand one thing.
She was certain the man knew fully well where the Mana Crystal was. Even as she dashed to its location, she could see him gazing at the spot with a curious expression on his face..
Yet…
'W-why?'
… Why didn't he take the Mana Crystal.
She looked at him and saw a distant gaze reflected in his blue eyes. His expression was of a somewhat distant sadness, but he also looked slightly hopeful.
Asa was stunned, but it was more than that… she was inspired.
The strange man's melancholy, even as he looked away and began walking in another direction, resonated deep within her heart. His entire aura was philosophical.
'He… left the Mana Crystal for me…'
No, that wasn't all there was to it.
Had this been a part of his plan all along? Was this entire show all for her to learn the valuable lesson of humility and to never overestimate herself?
Asa felt it was too far-fetched, there must be a more plausible explanation. However, the fact that the man always discovered the Mana Crystals she was on the verge of finding showed that there was indeed a connection.
'But, now that I've learned humility and have learned to do some self introspection, he has finally decided to leave me be?'
It seemed crazy, but Asa couldn't think of any other logical conclusion.
The only expression that flooded her heart, after settling for the sole rational explanation she could come up with, was gratitude.
'Thank you…' She knew not his name, but Asa owed her life—her entire future as an Adventurer to the man's benevolence and philosophical wisdom.
After completely internalizing this, the girl resumed her hunt for more Mana Crystals. She was behind the others, after all.
****************************************
"Time up." Gerund's booming voice stopped the Mana Crystal hunt that had been going on for about thirty minutes.
'Yes! About time!' I heaved a sigh of relief, already extremely tired as a result of exerting myself too much.
"All of you gather in a row."
We all obeyed the scarily buff Examination Supervisor/Instructor.
It was weird that he was handling this alone, but since he was most likely a big deal among the Adventurers, he was definitely more than capable to carry this out.
"Now, to calculate your scores based on how many Mana Crystals you collected…"
Gerund made us drop our Crystals in front of us, and we had a joint assessment.
'Jeez, couldn't they do like a private judging session…' I was a bit insecure about the number of crystals I was able to collect.
"Liebert, 4 Mana Crystals. That equals four Points."
Gerund was calculating our scores from the left to the right. I was standing at the far right so I was definitely going to be the final candidate to be scored .
It was an advantage to be the last candidate to be assessed, because it provided me with enough room for me to check out the Mana Crystals of everyone else. This would help me realize how bad I sucked, if I lost.
'Uh?'
I was shell shocked and before I could regain my composure, Gerund's voice echoed in the air again.
"Desir, 6 Mana Crystals. Six Points."
I was still recovering from my shock when another person's score was mentioned.
"Gu, 0 Mana Crystals. Zero Points."
The guy in question was a barbarian that had even more muscle mass than Gerund. He also had tattoos all over his body, so I assumed he was from a very strong clan or something.
'But zero? What the heck? Did this guy even try at all?'
Sure, I wasn't one to talk, but still…
"Asa, 9 Mana Crystals. Nine Points." Gerund mentioned the girl who was right beside me.
I was extremely surprised by the huge number she managed to obtain, but for a different reason.
I wasn't underestimating or anything. No, it was the opposite, actually.
'Even after I… how did she get so many?!' It was a mystery, but this Asa girl seemed too impressive to be a newbie.
Why was someone like her taking the exam? I couldn't complain though. After all, without her presence, I would have been in quite the pickle.
"Finally, Sam… 12 Mana Crystals. Twelve Points."
Hell yeah! That's right.
I got the highest score out of everyone in the room.
If someone had told me this thirty minutes ago, I would have thought it was a terrible joke, but surprisingly I actually managed to pull it off.
Well, if I'm being honest, it wasn't exactly 'me' that did the job.
'I used my Skill [Five Seconds Rule] to look into the future. Anytime someone found a Mana Crystal five seconds in the future, I would see the location of their prize and immediately retrieve it for myself.'
That was it! That was the trick I used to ensure I didn't flop the Search Examination.
My focus was initially random, but since the Asa girl was the first to discover a Mana Crystal, I sort of became fixated on her because she seemed like my best chance to achieve stellar results.
I had to admit, the girl was crazy good.
It was amazing how she kept finding Mana Crystal after Mana Crystal.
Of course, I was always one step ahead and ended up taking them all.
However, by the time I racked up to seven Mana Crystals, I began to notice something…
I had actually observed it before, but I was so focused on the future that I lost track of the present. However, at that point, it was too glaring to ignore.
The aspiring Adventurer, Asa… was looking at me fixatedly.
The passion with which she stared scared the shit out of me.
'Has she noticed what I'm doing? Oh, shit! I'm in trouble! Damn!!!' Fear of what would happen if I was caught cheating assailed me.
Whether it would constitute cheating or not was the least of my concerns. My mind nearly exploded when I considered what Sarah and Byron would say if they heard the news.
The Hero… cheating in a simple Adventurer Assessment.
I gulped nervously, realizing how ruined my image could have become.
Due to the anxiety I was experiencing from being so worried, I lost control for a second and shivered a little, while under her gaze.
'Let's just pretend nothing happened…'
Fortunately, that seemed to work.
The girl looked away from me, and the next time I activated my [Five Seconds Rule] Skill, figuring out where she would find the next Mana Crystal, I decided not to risk it any further.
It was better for me to find another host to leech on.
And exactly that I did.
Unfortunately, none were as good as Asa. After I cut myself off from her, I could only obtain five more Mana Crystals from two different targets.
The last guy—Gu—scared me, so I didn't even bother with him.
Ultimately, I ended up with twelve. Not bad, to be honest.
'At least I passed. That's all that matters… Whew!'