Liam POV
Liam and his two other companions had been following traces of battle that Theo left behind as a guide towards the exit, seeing that they hadn't met a dead end.
Liam also had an inkling that following their companion that left them would lead them to passing the first exam.
They also didn't need to fight which made Liam's two other companions at ease, knowing that they didn't need to place themselves in danger and forced to pit against the monsters.
There were also traces of destroyed traps and obstacles every three minutes or so, so if Liam and his group noticed there hadn't been a single destroyed obstacle, they would turn back and find another way until they found something dead or destroyed.
Liam sensed that the original way through the maze was to sense the flow of mana in the air and the path with the most potent would be the right way, but that was time consuming, because a person needs to pause in place for a couple of minutes before taking the right turn, so simply following their blonde companion's traces was far easier than the former method
"Whoever that blonde human was, he's definitely one of the strongest candidates to get first place this year. Here I thought I was a genius..... The world really is wide."
The dwarf said distraught.
The fox kin nodded in agreement and spoke in a similar tone
"Yeah, it frustrates me that I'm just getting carried by our blonde human companion, but at the same time, happy that I'll get a higher rank just following his trail."
The dwarf nodded with a wry smile at the Fox kin's comment.
"How about you, Liam, What do you think of the blonde human?"
Liam expected the conversation to head this way, so he answered truthfully with a slightly grave tone.
"Strong, immensely so, that I think that if all three of us fight him together, we'll give him a good fight, but ultimately lose in the end."
Liam's two other companions became more distraught at his conjecture, but soon after that Liam patted both of their backs in and spoke in a bright and encouraging tone.
"Come on guys, don't be depressed. We came to the academy to get stronger, not brood about being weaker. Cheer up, we'll get into his level soon enough as long as we give thrice our efforts."
Two, who became distraught, brightened up at Liam's words.
"Your right, Liam. I was too hard on myself. I should focus on myself rather than other's strength" The dwarf said as he clenched his right fist with fire in his eyes.
"Yeah! Being down won't help me. You're such a nice guy Liam!"
Liam hearing the 180 attitude from his companions made him smile and motivated to get stronger as well.
I'll definitely surpass that guy no matter what. I don't know your name, but I'm not the type to be quiet and let someone my age be stronger than me!
The fire in Liam's heart burnt brighter as he visualised what kind of training he'd do after the exams were finally finished.
Plus, this was only the first exam, there were other exams that delve into other areas of strength, so he might still potentially nab the first place or at least tighten the gap between him and his blonde companion.
As they traverse through the maze, feeling that they were about to be close to their destination, they stumbled upon a surprise that went beyond what their blonde companion left behind.
What they discovered was an Elf? who observed the traces of battle on the corridor of the maze.
The Elf, noticing the presence of other people, glanced at them and waved her hand with a small smile.
"Yo" the elf casually greeted.
Liam snapped out of his daze and responded back to the Elf's greeting.
"Uh, Hi"
Silence ensued once more as all four of the people's presence were still at awe with what they had just witnessed.
Liam then glanced at the pretty elf and asked her a question.
"Did you do this?"
The elf shook her head.
"No, It was done by a blonde human a few minutes ago."
Liam, hearing the Elf's reply, lowered his head, confirming the theory in his mind.
"Tell me that this isn't normal." The fox kin said in awe
"How could someone our age do something like this?" the dwarf muttered with the same reaction as the fox kin.
There were long gashes on the wall, burnt craters on the floor and traces of dozens of defeated monsters were scattered across the pathway and all of it was apparently done by someone in the same age as them.
How could they not be surprised?
******
Liana POV
BOOM!
What's that!?
Liana with her superior hearing sensed a battle that was ensuing far in front of her.
"Is it the Obsidian human?"
The reason for her theory was because her spirit who was guiding her through the maze was also pointing at the direction where the commotion was and Liana also met multiple traces of battle left behind the obsidian lady, so she thought that she finally caught up to her.
"Guide me, oh wind!"
Wind swept through her surroundings, boosting her forward and increasing her speed by an exponential pace.
She also enhanced her legs with mana, bolstering her speed even further.
This was a testament to why Elves were masters of the hunt, because with stacked up buffs using mana and spirits, they could easily outrun anyone in the same tier with minimal effort.
Though maintaining her current speed usually uses a lot of mana and mental energy for the spirits, she was keen on seeing how her mysterious obsidian companion fought.
The sound of fighting became louder and louder as she got closer with her wind spirit guiding her to the direction of the fight.
What she sensed sent shivers down her spine.
This amount of mana is... astonishing..... is this a boss monster? How could the instructors pit us against a peak Astute tier monster!?
She knew that the exams were brutal, especially for people around her age. She had heard a lot of stories from students living in Union academy as the adopted daughter of the headmaster that the exams were brutal for even the top geniuses of the world, but she never heard of monsters in an exam that exceeded the lower half of the Astute tier.
What changed their minds? I heard that our batch was by far one of, if not the most talented year since the making of the Academy.... Maybe that's why.
She had heard rumours that her year was one filled with genius monsters that the world has never seen before, but she didn't expect the Academy to be so unfair, because normal students participating in the exams are guaranteed to fail because of this.
Last corner.
As soon as Liana turned the corner she was met with a golden light that flashed before her eyes.
BOOM!
AWOOO!
A blonde haired human with a sword wrapped in golden aura had swung his sword towards a skeletal wolf in a flashing speed, destroying the wolf in the process, leaving almost no remains, burning most of what the sword touched.
Liana almost couldn't see the sword being swung as well, which frightened her to a great degree.
Another wolf, but with a different form of a flaming one, pounced at the back after the Blonde human delivered a final blow at the skeletal pup.
Sadly for the fire wolf, the intuition of the blonde human was way above to what it expected.
Shing!*
With a natural and swift movement, the blonde human simply reversed, gripped his sword and stabbed the pouncing wolf through its head, ending its life and disappearing into ashes.
"Tsk, If only I wasn't saving 'Sacrifice' I would have easily done this way sooner..."
After muttering something Liana couldn't understand, the blonde human sprinted towards the opposite direction from where she stood.
Liana deduced that the blonde human was heading straight to the end of the maze.
After the human disappeared from her sight, she slowly approached the battleground where the blonde human fought.
She looked at the destruction and corpses of what the human left behind.
She could only furrow her eyebrows and shake her head in frustration at what she just witnessed
"Monster" Liana mutters
Liana witnessed something she couldn't believe.
A person of her age was at the peak of Astute.
It was absurd and she felt that all of the time she trained was futile after witnessing the power of the blonde human.
But disappointment and despair was far from clutching her mind, rather a growing determination was rising up within her soul that screamed that she could definitely catch up to what she just witnessed or even surpassed it.
Looks like I was too lazy. Thank you for the wake up call, Blonde human.
After a few seconds of hyping herself up she felt three presences that approached her position.
She glanced back and saw one fox kin, one dwarf and a human with orange hair, who were all in awe at the scene.
You guys didn't even see the real stuff.
She smirked internally and waved her hand towards them.
"Yo"
That was the first time that Liana Starborne and Liam Grace met.
******
"Oh, two more destinies finally met once more! Hohohoho! I can't wait for their growth!"
Lisa laughed as she sipped tea inside an inn in a busy city as she stared at the evening sky.