Starting his day Luke wore his casual clothes and headed downstairs for his breakfast. "Are you ready for your second test ? Not that you need to train for it." Liam shot a harsh remark towards Luke who gracefully had his meal. He put down his cutlery and gave Liam a deadly stare. Realizing his fault he tried to correct it ,"I mean that you're already talented enough to win without practicing." He tried to laugh this off and sensing the urgency of the situation Velair intervened ,"What he meant was that we know that we know that you'll do great son. Considering you already topped the theory." She stated with a slightly nervous chuckle.
Luke resumed with his meal beaming a big smile ,"Thanks mother. I took hope that this time it will be more challenging than the theory. Well I better be heading off. Goodbye." He said as he stood up then taking his leave. Before he left, Liam stated ,"Try to keep your head for this one. There are usually a lot of cases with this one and external help is allowed. But you should be able to cope and adapt with it." "I'll keep that in mind father." He said before leaving and went to his carriage. Stetson was waiting for him and the two soon departed off to school. 'According to Luke's memory,the second test unlike the first one was more proactive and required deadly skills when it comes to hunting. It's about hunting beasts and collecting their mana cores,the higher the grade of mana core ,the higher the points one would tally. Nothing too complicated.'
After his arrival along with the rest of the students with Elaine and Ciara being fashionably late as expected. Connor was on time with everyone now waiting at the hall for the second test to go underway. Everyone heard sharp reverberation echoing through the halls and they knew that it was Vanessa who was accompanied by the Scott. The two went to the podium and Scott took the initiative to start. "Welcome back students for the second test. As you all know unlike the first test this one focuses on your adaptability and quick wits out in the field. Such a test is meant to reflect on your combat prowess against wild beasts out in the wild." He paused as he looked at the students and seeing the anticipation evident in their eyes he pressed on further.
"The use of external artifacts is allowed in this segment and banding up as well. To increase your efficiency, it is advised that you work in groups but if you are not comfortable with this..." He paused for a second casting a quick glance at Luke before retracting "You are free to work alone. As for the site of hunting,it will be Thornbore forest" 'Use of artifacts. I wanted to use that new sword I got but I'll have to refrain as my other alias will be utilising it.'
Luke thought in his head and Scott stepped down giving room to Vanessa. "The point of this test will be accumulating mana cores from different beasts. Their cores are located next to their hearts so be careful when subduing and extracting them as a wrong mistake could result in the mana core to collapse and shatter." She continued ,"You are free to band together and form groups to help along if you encounter a problem. And remember students,it may be a competition but you are still students so should you find anyone in trouble,it is your duty to help them. Thank you."
The two teachers sat back looking at the students as they interacted with each other forming bands though few preferred their own company with Luke and Nigel fitting in this category. With that being settled,they then witnessed as the marble floor they stood on light up with a mystic purple aura and with the students aware of the array set up, they teleported from the academy to outside of Thornbore forest. "You are all aware of the test's records but to those who may have forgotten, I'll repeat it one. You have to go hunting taking mana cores from beasts and according to the rank you collect, it'll be acquainted to points. E rank is ten points per core, C is a hundred, B is a thousand points and if you are lucky enough to take down an A rank beast,you'll be rewarded a thousand points."
"All of you will be handed a small emergency beacon. Should you find any problem in there,just imbue mana into it and the teachers will be alerted to your location and save you. With that said,the test begins and will end in six hours time. Good luck." Vanessa advised her students before vanishing from her spot. Most of the students didn't blindly rush in as they first took their time to assess their situation and formulate a plan. Overtime they started making their way inwards the forest and the ones who hadn't left yet were Elaine and Luke. The teachers were still there but their auras were concealed as they oversaw the test. "Those two still haven't made their move." Scott said as he observed Luke and Elaine from above. "Well Elaine, I take it that you're waiting for someone." Luke inquired as he started performing some stretches.
Elaine pouted in disgust ,"I don't have to converse with such a disgusting person like yourself." Luke simply gave off a simple chuckle before he noted another batch of students from the academy were heading straight for them. They were led by Lawrence who gave a brief summary of what Vanessa gave and left and lastly the last batch of students arrived who appeared regularly casual. 'So the hierarchy is still observed.' Such a maneuver gave the aristocrat kids leeway to get a head start while the middle and lower classes would start much later. 'Fifteen minutes per batch huh.' Luke noted as he saw both classes trying to strategize. The game was rigged favouring the elite but he wasn't here to equalize the scales,rather he would tip them further disrupting it completely. Most students left the vicinity as they didn't want to be around Luke and Elaine for too long as the two naturally had a better leverage in life compared to them. And asking for a coalition was simply out of the question.
Luke having a deadly calm air around him and Elaine with her charming royal figure deterred the students from approaching them till they were once again alone together. "You're waiting for Bruce Goldeneye, aren't you?" Luke asked out of the blue. After the appearance of the Troll Devil in this forest it would be natural for a guard to be sent to keep an eye on the royal princess. Bruce made his appearance illusionised as a student and the duo delved into the forest leaving Luke alone at the outskirts of the forest. "Activate the omniscient perspective and give me a constant update on every single student."
[{Activating the Omniscient perspective}]
One of his countless broken abilities. It enabled him to see from all perspectives,from his to his enemies in battle though he only used it to sniff out rats and cowards making battling him even more of a challenge as he would always have Intel on the enemy with no restrictions.
[{Omniscient perspective activated}]
With this he saw the entire forest from a bird's eye look seeing every student. The skill was versatile enabling him to trace any treasures,see any illusions,descern traps,see the beasts and their respective ranks and more. "Let's get hunting. Hehehe." He lowly said as he charged into the forest. He intentionally avoided confronting any other students and quickly taking down beasts with ranks without attracting too much attention from the teachers above. "Show me the status of the top five students."
[{1st:Nigel with 790 points}]
[{2nd:Connor with 630 points}]
[{3rd:Host with 600 points}]
[{4th:Ciara with 570 points}]
[{5th: Roderick with 520 points}]
"Hmmm,time for some big plays. Notify me when Elaine pops up. Elaine had just started so it was a matter of time till she popped up and as for Nigel,it seemed he took his defeat in our duel a little too seriously." Luke assessed the situation as he took a little rest before resuming his slaughter. "Time to grow some distance."
*Three hours later*
[{Status update}]
Luke unlike before refrained from holding himself back too much and went on an endless slaughter killing whatever crossed his path. Though to avoid popping up on the radar,he would have to occasionally take breaks before resuming as he engaged C rank,D rank and twelve lower B rank monsters. A feat not successful by himself alone so he orchestrated traps making his progress more reasonable and quicker. He did run into some of the other students but he avoided any chatter with them whatsoever. He did save some of them but he would spare any talk and took the cores before he left. Some of the students wanted to fight back but knowing who he was made them reconsider. It reached a point where he would intentionally do this attracting resentment but he didn't care. "It's just a little bit of trolling." He said in his mind.
[{1st:Host with 12980 points}]
[{2nd:Connor with 9730 points}]
[{3rd:Nigel with 9680 points}]
[{4th: Elaine with 9230 points}]
[{5th:Ciara with 8810 points}]
"I could easily take on A ranks but to avoid suspicion..." Sure his figure was good enough but due to the forceful rest he had given himself,it would have been higher. "Time for some recruitment." He stated as he saw a small group in danger cornered by a pack of violent B rank silver mane wolves.
...
"Well done your highness." Bruce complimented Elaine who was heavily breathing as she clutched her sword with blood still dripping off of it. She extracted a small ring which filtered the mana core out of the lion's corpse without a shed of blood on it before placing it in her spatial ring. "We should rest before we proceed." He further commented as he noticed that she was worn out. He couldn't intervene or help Elaine with her test as it would be considered an irregularity so he could only shield her from stray students who had vile thoughts and guide her towards monsters that she could handle.
Bruce made a comfortable tent clearly aiming for luxury rather than survival. As they continued to recuperate,they had an unanticipated guest being Ciara who was equally exhausted. The two exchanged greetings and quickly got acquainted as the two briefed each other with what had occurred and their current standings."Wow Elaine,you have to be the highest in this contest." Ciara congratulated her but Elaine brushed it off ,"It's impressive but I'm still not satisfied. I'm planning on taking an A rank monster before I conclude. Having you helping out certainly would speed things up." Shortly after they had left the camp,they "coincidentally " ran into Connor who briefed them on his own progress which took the girls by surprise.
As most of the weaker beasts had been slain on the outskirts,they decided to venture deeper into the forest which was a significant risk but with Bruce on their side,the risk was lowered substantially.
...
"Will you quit your incessant whining Jasper. No one is coming to save us. We might as well call for help." A boy with gray hair,blue eyes and an arrogant attitude spoke referencing to another boy who stood behind him cowering in fear. This boy was named Carl. "But if we are able to pull this off then this could be highly advantageous to us." Carl told Jasper. "Hey you..." Carl said as he looked at a girl who had grey white hair, banal features with nothing over the top distinguishable about her who stood behind Carl with fear in her eyes. It was more of her acts where she shone as she, coming from the lower social class was able to secure the seventh position in the theory test surpassing even the middle class contenders save for one attracting a lot of attention. Due to her poor background,she decided to band up with students from the higher social classes as they had more resources and usually topped this section as having money or a good background was also a powerful and convenient skill.
As she banded with Carl who turned out to be a kid from Elaine's class and Jasper who had a lot of influence and connections in the middle class and he ranked sixth in the theory test surpassing her. He along with Carl were loaded with equipment for for the job. Despite having these two for company,she had been able to rack up 2850 points which was rather average with the cause being the two usually robbed her of her game. But here she was, about to face her demise and with Carl reluctant on calling for help,she was doomed. "We should have her distract the wolves as we make our escape." Jasper openly gave his remark making her heart skip a beat to such words.