***
The Departure Day.
Monarch Linga Building Hall
Linga Island.
There are six dorms divided into three Arcana and three Rune dorms. One dorm housed about 15 people, bringing the total number of students from the two classes to 90.
It was a large number, but the selection for entry into the Monarch Academy was very strict. Each class only accepted 15 people, which meant only 30 students were accepted as academy students.
As per the regulations, today was the day of departure for all candidates. They gathered in the main hall to await the presence of the Academy's Young Elders. He would be in charge of holding the First Exam for all students.
Morgan kept an eye on the area behind him, ensuring all Tan's dorm students had fully arrived. Morgan's eyes also saw the figure of the beast-tamer girl, even though it was difficult for Morgan to see her for six days.
'Where did she go during these six days? Did her strength increase as well?" Morgan asked himself.
She was in the second group with Jared as the leader, the girl known as Hilda. However, none of them knew where the girl came from.
"Welcome to the new students," greeted the academy's magus professor, who people called Elder Diron.
All students shifted their focus to stare ahead at the figure of a man dressed in a long, white, gold-patterned uniform. The strands of his robe were very long, forming the tail of the uniform.
Not only that, the man seemed to be standing in the sky without the help of any magic. An ancient magic circle appeared behind the Diron elder's back, white in color and rotating clockwise. What was interesting about it was the single gemstone that kept spinning in the magic circle's rotation.
'What? Young Sage?' asked Morgan, inwardly surprised.
"Today is an important day for all of you. After this opening, you will have an instructor who will become your guardian," Diron pointed downwards.
Morgan stared straight ahead. There were six instructors with gold-patterned black uniforms strapped to their bodies. Of the six, four were male and two were female.
The guardian instructor who would accompany Tan Dorm was a woman. The woman in the gold-patterned black uniform approached Morgan, introducing herself.
"Morgan. You are the student leader of the Tan Dorm. I'm Beatrice," greeted Beatrice, with the young face of a 27-year-old woman.
The young man before Beatrice gasped with widened eyes. Beatrice's face was familiar to him.
'Beatrice? Ah! She's one of the five suspected subordinates of the Child of Crown group. I have to be careful of her,' said Morgan.
Morgan narrowed his eyes as he heard Beatrice's name spoken by the woman ahead of him. The name matched what appeared on the mission sheet, as did her photo and title. Morgan smiled, pretending to cover his true identity.
"I hope we can work well together, Morgan," Beatrice replied, kindly patting Morgan's right shoulder.
"I'm sure I can work well with you, Instructor Beatrice," Morgan replied, bowing his head.
"Just call me Beatrice, Morgan."
"The instructor will assist you during the three exams. If you have questions about this, you can ask your instructor," Diron explained.
"Alright. There's no need to waste time; we'll leave for the main island soon." Diron turned around and stretched his hand forward. A magic circle was created before his palm with a stream of magic directed towards the floor.
People continued to watch the magic. Not long after, the pattern of the hall floor began to glow white. Several small circles on the floor moved and lifted up; about 20 small circles were hovering.
Beatrice told the students in Tan Dorm to get on the stone circles because they helped take them to the main island. Morgan and the others followed her lead.
Once everyone was ready, Diron and the students, accompanied by the instructors, began to depart, flying through the entrance hall. Some looked scared and trembling, as they never expected the departure to be as scary as it was.
"Ms. Beatrice," Morgan called out, to which Beatrice immediately responded by turning her head to the side.
"As written in the new student handbook. The first test is a test to collect the plates. How many plates are actually available during the exam?" Morgan asked.
"The plates are found on the monsters' bodies or buried in hidden caves. The number of monsters increases yearly, and the number of plates is likely to increase," Beatrice explained.
"So, the exact number of plates can't be confirmed yet, huh?" asked Morgan, to which Beatrice responded with a nod.
"According to the regulations of the First Exam, each dorm will get 20 plates for free, as provided by the academy. The winner of this exam is the group that manages to collect more plates within one month," Beatrice explained.
"And the requirement for the rune class to pass the exam is to be in the top 20 of the plate count rankings and leave the forest within a certain time," Beatrice added.
"What if there are many rune groups in the top 20 rankings?" asked Morgan.
"Then they will fight for the ticket to the academy. We only accept five groups to pass," Beatrice emphasized.
'If someone is weak in their magic, then this exam is truly a nightmare for them,' said Morgan.
"Anything is allowed; even attacking other groups to get their plates is fine," said Beatrice.
'Hmm... this is becoming a life and death battle,' Morgan explained to himself.
"Then what about the extra prizes?" asked Morgan, curious.
"A dormitory with a 50% successful group rate is the rule. At least to get the extra prize, three of the five groups must be ranked in the top 10 with the highest number of plates," added Beatrice.
Beatrice smiled as she stared straight ahead, watching the forest area that would become the new students' battleground.
"Forget about the extra prizes. You novice students won't be able to compete with the Arcana student group," Beatrice explained.
"Every year, the Arcana group always dominates the top 10 rankings. The Rune student group's best achievement is 15th place," Beatrice continued.
'Is it really that hard for students from the Rune class to be competitive?" asked Morgan.
"No!" insisted Morgan, drawing Beatrice's attention.
"The group from Tan Dormitory will get an extra prize. I'm sure of it," insisted Morgan.
Beatrice heard Morgan's enthusiastic and confident words, then laughed softly in response to Morgan's words.
'Hmm... ignorant. Just surviving is good enough. Now, you're aiming for an extra prize? You're really in the wrong place, Morgan,' Beatrice said to herself.
"Alright. I look forward to it, Morgan."
The speed of the stone circle stopped at different places. The stone circle carrying Diron seemed to have stopped in the center. Morgan looked to the right and left, watching Jared in different positions.
'They scrambled the positions of each group. Is it possible to prevent strong teamwork at the beginning of the fight?' Morgan asked himself.
"Right now, you have arrived at the Colossal Forest. This is your exam site. You will be here for one-month collecting plates to pass," explained Diron.
A black pouch and three watches seemed to float before Morgan. Morgan squinted, so curious about the function of those two objects.
"In front of you. There is a black pouch to hold your plate. Inside, the academy has put 20 plates according to the rules," Diron explained.
Morgan picked up the black pouch and saw that the contents looked black. Lilia and Albert were shocked, thinking that their group had been cheated. However, Morgan halted them and told them the black pouch was a magic bag.
"You can put anything into it, whether it's food, gems, monster essence, or plate. The number is unlimited, so you don't have to worry," Diron explained, relieving the worries of the rune class students.
"Every week, the academy will send you a supply of food and drink. However, the amount is limited. That's why you must learn to hunt and survive in the forest for this first exam," Diron added.
Not only explaining the technicalities while the students were in the forest, Diron also explained other things to the students, one of which was related to the winner's requirements.
In this exam, Arcana and Rune classes are not separated from each other. However, the requirements for qualifying each class were different. Morgan found a chance to trick the rules, which might help his group later.
"Then, please fight and compete. Take good care of yourselves, and I will be waiting for you at the Gate of Glory next month," Diron said, moving his hand to send the stone circle down into the forest.
Beatrice seemed to separate from the rest of the stone circle. She said goodbye to Morgan, saying she would help Morgan and the other group of students from Tan Dorm if they needed help.
Morgan's group finally landed in the forest. The landing site was quite close to a stream, with food supplies likely plentiful there.
"Use these watches," Morgan explained, handing two watches to Lilia and Albert.
They immediately put on the watches, as a notification panel spontaneously appeared on top of the watch, displaying several menus and the watch user's identity page.
[Synchronization with user energy]
[Host detected]
[Name: Morgan Romarich]
[Activating System]
[Welcome to First Exam, Candidate Morgan]
[Time: 29:23:59:59]
The countdown began, displaying days, hours, minutes, and seconds. According to the exam rules, students only have 30 days before the exam is declared over.
[Menu!]
[Profile]
[Abilities]
[Rank]
[Maps]
[Friends]
[Storage]
The storage menu will not appear for Lilia and Albert because the system detects them as regular members. However, Morgan had the storage menu panel because he was the group leader.
"AAAKH!"
Loud screams began to echo in the forest, sending chills down Lilia's spine. Albert and Morgan instantly went on full alert, the screams coming from the east of the forest.
"Looks like the fight has started there," Morgan explained.
"Come on, we need to find shelter for the moment."