The Imperial academy was one of the most prestigious academies in the Ishgar empire which was located at the center of the Jurojin continent, its reputation was built on the strenght of a single woman whose power had shaken the foundation of the entire mortal realm. The academy itself occupied an entire island located at the center of the continent, its massive structure was built on a stretch of land which was over 1m acres large, a location befitting its reputation.
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The carriage Riku and Mio had entered stopped them at a port, the carriage rider explained to them that past that point was the academies borders and only the academy specialized ferries were allowed access into the aquatic region.
The two thanked the man for the information before procedding to look for one of the specialized ferry. After asking around, they were taking to the place where the academy owned boats were kept, the academy had dedicated one of their ferries specially for the participants of the exams to use, that specific ferry was going to take them to the place where the exams would be held. The two boarded the ferry which departed soon after.
Two hours went by before the massive stretch of land the academy was located in came into view, the ferry stopped at a sea bed on the island before off loading its passengers.
Riku and Mio came down from the ferry and looked around, the number of people participating in this exam was massive. At first, the two had thought that the only participants participating in the exams were the ones who had boarded the ferry with them, but looking at the large amount of people present and the number of ferries which were coming from other places, the two knew that this exam was going to be a lot more competitive than they had expected.
The other ferries arrived and soon a man came out from the forest close to the sea bed. The man had long flowing white beards and wore simple white robes, he stood calmly with his hands behind his back as he observed the participants who had gathered for the exams.
"Why are they always this much?"
The man asked to no one in particular, he then looked at the forest from which he came from before looking back at the participants.
"First one thousand people to make it to the other side of this forest pass the first phase of the exams..."
He then walked around a little to get a better look at the participants before continuing
"Use any means to make sure that you are part of the first one thousand and note that killing your opponent is not prohibited once you enter the forest, that's all, you may begin"
Once the man ended his speech, all the participants dashed into the forest. The forest was very thick but due to the number of people entering it at the same time, all the participants could easily spot and attack each other, spells and attacks flew everywhere as explosions became a frequent thing.
Riku and Mio ran into the forest with everybody else, but instead of just going straight, they decided to take a detour and follow another route completely separating them from the other participants. Riku looked towards their goal and saw a large floating hologram, on it were some figures which were displayed.
Number of participants left: 9746/10000
Number of participants passed: 0/1000
Riku was shocked, the number of people who entered this forest were ten thousand but almost three thousand had died, he couldn't even begin to imagine what had happened that claimed so many peoples life in such a short time.
Riku now understood that they needed to be careful in this exams, there were a lot of people who had no problem with taking their fellow human beings life, he and Mio began progressing towards their destination, they knew that they wouldn't be able to avoid fighting but it was better to wait until every other person was worn out before engaging in any kind of battle.
Before the exam started, Riku had used the inspect skill which was one of the most basic techniques available and realised that although not the weakest, he and Mio were not considered strong at all. Riku himself was a level 9 special elite while Mio was a level 7 advanced grade, the other participants ranged from level 19 to level 6. There was an age restriction of 15 years which made it so that the participants had levels that were close to each other.
The other participants were not the only thing they needed to be careful about, the forest was also crawling with monsters, and although they were low leveled, they could still pose a threat to the participants if they were not careful.
Riku and Mio had encountered three of such monsters already. The first one was a snake like creature, it was level 5 and an elite grade, nothing too much for the two to handle. The second one was a bear like monster, its level was equally low and although it was a special elite, Riku was able to handle it with relative ease.
The third one was the one they just encountered, since they took a different route from the others, they didn't have the numbers advantage to scare of these beasts. This one was a bird type monster, it was level 7 but the thing that made this one especially powerful was the fact that it was a rare elite grade.
Although it was just one grade higher than Riku, the difference of that one grade was enough to render him completely useless. He couldn't keep up with the beast's attacks, and since he had to protect Mio he couldn't flee either, stuck between a rock and a hard place, Riku had no other option than to fight.
This beast was especially fast, it had sparks of lightning surrounding it, and its extremely sharp claws made it easy for it to damage Riku. Riku put his sword in front of him to parry the birds attacks, it was the best he could do since fighting this monster was beyond his capabilities. Mio was even more useless, she couldn't seem to land a hit even after casting a lot of her spells, first of all, she was the same level as the bird who was a rare elite grade while she was an advanced grade, the difference in strenght was clear for all to see.
*Boom!*
A massive fist struck the body of the bird sending it flying a great distance away. Riku looked at where the fist came from and saw a man falling from the sky. The man wore a white temple robe and high sandals, he was young but old enough to be called a father.
The man landed in front of the two and surveyed the surroundings, after confirming that it was safe, the man then gave the two participants his attention.
"We are sorry for the inconvenience, this forest isn't supposed to have rare elite grade monsters in it"
The man explained. Riku used his inspect skill on the man and found out that apart from his name, he couldn't see the other details.
"Don't bother with the inspect skill, it won't work when someone is over twenty levels higher than the user"
The man had obviously sensed their attempt.
"Okay then, I will leave you all to continue your exams, just remember to prioritize your life over the exam, even if you fail you can come back next time but if you die, then that's it"
The man then vanished as mysteriously as he came.
Riku didn't duel on the matter for too long, since the bird had already been taken care of, he led Mio and began to head towards their goal.