Noah, Leonel, Argos and Emery stood out among the many participants who stood atop one of the 3 platforms. Everyone knew who they were after all, a team that was composed of students who took the first five positions on the rankings was bound to attract a lot of attention. So it wasn't really surprising to anyone that they had successfully passed the screening stage of the competition.
The first platform which was filled with Year one students featured 25 teams which amounted to 100 participants. The second platform which consisted of Year two students had 10 teams which amounted to 40 participants. This made sense as it reduced the chances of they and the Year ones encountering each other.
The amount of Year threes was much smaller, only consisting of 5 teams and amounting to 20 people. Yet each of those participants emitted a foreboding aura that prevented any student from the other platforms from even glancing at them.
The chatter occurring among the students immediately stopped the moment a figure appeared, suspended in the air above them. They could easily recognize her as the Vice Principal of the Soaring Star Academy, Emilia Wright.
She glanced down at the 160 students below her and spoke. "I'm sure all of you already know all there is to know about the Inter-Year Competition and its stages. So I'll get straight to it, you all will be immediately sent to the Dimensional realm where you will undergo the first stage. Good luck." She rose her hand and released her Essence into the air, it then surrounded the students and caused ripples in the space around them. The next moment they all disappeared, officially starting the competition.
Noah and his team appeared in a small clearing. And before them was a forest that seemed to span multiple miles. Other teams also appeared beside them but the 4 had already dashed forward into the forest. They held no fear of someone attacking while their back was turned to them since fighting was forbidden.
Noah's eyes brightened significantly, an indication of his Soul skill's activation. His eyes scanned the vast forest, ignoring the Essence signatures emanating from Beasts and other competitors and focused on unique signatures that entered his senses. "There." He crouched slightly, assuming a stance in air while both Essence and Blood Essence circulated within him. 'Dual Circulation: Draconic Flicker.'
The muscles on his legs tensed, strengthened by the flow of Blood Essence flowing through them. His silver Essence surged, coating his feet to form clawed feet that radiated a silver color.
Noah touched the ground, only to disappear and reappear a few meters away, dodging the tree before him and moving forward with a speed, his Essence created clawed feet sinking into the ground and exiting to sending across an incredible distance, almost leaving the others eating dust. The only person who seemed to be able to keep up was Emery, who coated his body with his Umbra Essence as he moved with an eerily silent speed, not even ruffling any leafs that he passed by.
Argos and Leonel seemed to be surprised at the frightening speed that their two teammates were displaying but, in the end, they shook off the oppression they felt. They weren't Agility type Battlesoul masters like those two and they knew the time to showcase the improvements they had made while training in the academy later.
Noah suddenly paused before assuming a stance and unsheathing his Void Fang. His Essence surged as he swung out with his Void Slash. A tree a few meters in front of him suddenly featured a clean slash that cut it in two, with the upper body falling to the ground with a thud.
He then appeared before the tree and picked up the hexagonal silver token that floated in the air above the cut tree. The transmigrator grabbed it, feeling it's incredibly weak structure yet wasn't deceived. That weak structure had managed to survive his attack after all.
But he didn't put much importance to that and placed it in his World ring. "I can sense about 20 tokens which aren't in the vicinity of other teams, of course I can't be sure if there are teams, who can properly hide their Essence signatures, are around some of them.
Leonel simply shrugged. "There's no need for us to be bothered. We'll just retreat if they have already gotten their hands on the tokens. Fighting isn't allowed anyways."
Argos nodded. "With your eyes and Emery's teleportation, we should be able to get most of the tokens even if we meet up with other teams."
Noah and Emery agreed with their line of thought. The former then informed the rest of the locations where he could locate undiscovered tokens. Then the four moved forward, making their way through the disorienting forest and collecting tokens that they could find.
This continued until Noah suddenly noticed a team headed towards their position. Well not exactly towards them but towards their destination. Realizing they were also after the token he and his team had set their eyes on, he narrowed his eyes.
He suddenly circulated his Essence and executed Flicker, appearing before a huge boulder and slashing at it, slicing the large stone in two and revealing the token hidden within it. His Essence then revolved, reusing the wasted portion of the energy as he attacked once more, coating his sword with 400 kilograms of force with the aid of Gravity Force and executed Void Slash.
The ground a few meters before him suddenly concaved, forming a rift in the ground that stopped the arriving group who were surprised by the attack that had disrupted their movement. The four newcomers looked forward to see the cause of the event occurring before them.
They instantly recognized the silver haired teen holding onto a hexagonal token while falling to the ground. He was a year below them and one of the strongest ones in his year too.
Noah also stared at the four, acknowledging the Adept Stage strength they all possessed before turning around and disappearing from their view.
The Year twos clicked their tongue, knowing they couldn't chase after him. They could only focus on locating and pocuring another token before the time given for the first stage of the exam ended.