Chapter 73 The Final Entrance Exam [2]

"A beast-infested forest? But we're just kids!"

"I barely managed to finish forming my mana core just yesterday!"

"No… Why didn't I leave with the earlier group?!"

A chorus of murmurs erupted among the students, expressing their confusion at the shocking revelation.

Professor Orina decided to give them a moment to let the information sink in.

'Sigh… as expected, they fell into a panic. Even last year's group wasn't this bad, a few initially panicked, but not all of them. I wonder just how many people can pass this year?'

A certain silver-haired boy watched this play out with a dumbfounded face.

'Lykos… I just got a nice warm bed and a roof above my head, right? So…Why the hell am I being deported off into the wilderness again?'

Lykos honestly didn't know how to respond, so he just tried to change the topic.

'Isn't it a great day outside?'

'It is… I wouldn't want to spend the night outside though.'

Only for the conversation to go right back to where it started.

'Sigh… It'll be fine, think about it like this. You survived on your own for 5 months, what's another few days?'

'Still…'

'Let's just be happy they won't ask you to show off your magic while holding onto a magic measuring orb. If anything, you'd probably find this kind of test far easier to do.'

Understanding the truth behind Lykos's words, Arvell nodded his head.

'Makes sense.'

After giving the students a few moments to come to grips with the information, she raised her hand, prompting them to all stop talking.

"The examination will be conducted in a small forest, only several kilometres east of Karsia. The objective of this examination is for you to collect small coins that have been placed throughout the forest, either being hidden, or attached to various beasts."

"The purpose of this exam is to see how you would react thrown into a situation where you would need to fight to survive."

Arvell snorted to himself when he heard this.

These people here probably had no idea what it was like to really like to fight with their lives on the line.

Furthermore, since there was no way the academy would send a bunch of entrance examinees to their deaths, without offering them some kind of protection.

"There is no need to be so tense. All beasts stronger than the 1st rank have been removed from the forest, furthermore, each of you will also be given an enchanted artifact that will alert one of the exam proctors to your location."

Professor Orfina pulled out a small crest with a winged sword from her pocket.

"All you need to do is break this crest, and someone will head to your location shortly."

Many of the students breathed out sighs of relief.

However, this only left one question, how did students die in the past?

If there were so many fail-safes, it didn't make sense for so many students to die there in the past.

Since practically everyone in the room was thinking the same thing, it was quite obvious to Professor Orfina what they were collectively worried about.

"The main reason people ended up dying was due to their own stupidity and dumb pride. These idiots tried to play hero and didn't call for help. After all, asking for help will naturally fail you. I'm going to give you all one piece of advice."

"Don't be these kids. Even if you can't get accepted, it doesn't matter. You can do other things with your life. Don't just throw it away your life for a chance to get into a school, especially when there are other academies you can attend."

Some of the students in the audience nodded their heads, finding that her words made sense.

"One last thing, while competition among students is okay, torturing, sexually assaulting, threatening, or upright killing students will not be tolerated. Anyone charged with any one of these offences will be punished severely."

Arvell found the entire event to be nothing more than a child-proofed version of his earlier struggles.

In the past, Arvell wished he could have a convenient safety net like this.

Especially during the times he was chased by beasts countless times stronger than him or had to fight for his life.

This could hardly be considered 'surviving in the wilderness', but Arvell was sure that he had to face this kind of situation before meeting Lykos, he would have reacted in a similar fashion.

Professor Orfina spent another 10 minutes ironing out the details for the examination, before letting the examinees out of the building, where a series of coaches were already waiting for them.

"Go find a carriage and get in, it fits 4 per carriage, so you'll have to sit next to a few others." Professor Orfina's voice yelled from behind them.

Arvell walked past the students and stepped into an empty carriage, where he sat down and closed his eyes.

Only a few minutes passed before, a bald, yet somewhat toned boy walked over to the carriage.

Putting his hand onto the door in an attempt to open it, the boy accidentally pulled the whole carriage door right off.

*CRACK*

"Ah… Was I supposed to push this one?"

Hearing the loud commotion next to him, Arvell was jolted awake.

However seeing a bald boy holding the carriage door in his right hand, Arvell was immensely perplexed.

The boy was holding a carriage door as if it were completely weightless

'Is this some kind of body-strengthening magic?'

"I'll fix it."

The boy moved the door back to where it was but held it on a slant, so it couldn't fit properly.

He began pushing hard enough that even more cracks appeared on the door of the carriage, until it snapped into 3 pieces, while also further damaging the carriage.

"Ah…"

Arvell watched the boy with a dumbfounded expression.

'What the hell is this strength? More importantly…

How did he ever pass the written examination?'