Oracle went back to his study after he gave the mic to Richard. He sat in his chair, and in front of him, a pile of papers lay on his wooden table. He took out some sheets of paper and tapped them on the table, making them all align perfectly. These papers were, in fact, the papers of every single student of the new batch. He looked into all of the papers and sighed,"Looks like we got a lot of nobles in this batch. Firstly, we got the heir to the throne of the Elven Kingdom, Grato. Then here we have the 4th prince of Atlantisa, Davier, who is known as a genius. We also got the 3rd prince of Vontrea, Astra, who is taken very lightly and considered as a person who won't win the fight for the throne and is regarded as a maniac who killed his own mother at a young age. We got the Dwarven Kingdom Duke's first son, Ronnie, and finally, the mage who is already a 4-star at the age of 16—the mage known as the true genius, Hito. He got popular when he awakened at the young age of 9."
Awakening was a term given to people who unlocked their invisible ability—Mana, Aura, Vea, and Sto. Normally, people awaken at the age of 18, and only a few people awaken before the age of 18. Those who do are considered geniuses.
Oracle set the paper down onto his table."Let's see how strong these heirs are against normal commoners or let's see if they will be below people."He brought out a feather with ink on it and wrote something on a piece of paper.
Swing, Astra killed another slime using his sword."That's the 3rd one."
The selection began a few minutes ago, and Astra tried killing as many beasts as he could, but unfortunately for him, there were barely any beasts near him. And if there were any, Astra was bad at hiding his presence, so he would get caught by the slimes and goblins and run away from them.
"I have to be calm and decrease my presence."He could only think of one way to do it. He sat down on the ground and calmed his breathing, making him more calm."If I jump on those trees, I can scout better and have a higher chance of the beast not hearing me."
He smiled and jumped up, grabbing a branch of a tree. He then climbed on top of the tree.
On the other side of the forest.
"Water needle."A beautiful needle made of water formed in the young man's hand. Then, in an instant, he released the needle. It flew with incredible speed, making the nearby grass move from the air produced by its speed. The needle then pierced the orc's head. Blood spilled from its head, which had a massive hole in it. The deceased orc's body fell onto the ground, leaving the young man with more points.
"Well, I guess I'll get some more points before finding a place to sleep in," he spoke while looking at a screen in front of him, which wrote that he accumulated over 56 points. The tall young man had sharp blue eyes with black hair and a sharp jawline. He had no staff on him and just went into the test without a weapon.He got confused,"What's that? This isn't a feeling of an imaginary beast. Did my mana feel wrong?"He thought for a bit,"No, that can't be true."He walked in the direction where he felt an anomaly.
"Only 24?"Astra sat on a tree, looking at his points."I have to kill other monsters instead of slimes, which are only worth 3 points. Rather, I have to kill an orc worth 8 points or somehow find an orb worth 10 points."
CRASH!The tree he stood on shook a bit."What was that??"He heard a huge crash from a distance."I shouldn't be going there, but why not?"He went in the direction of the huge crash.
"Hey, that's mine!"A boy with a staff in his hand spoke while standing on guard."I found it first, so it's mine!"An elf spoke with a bow in his hand, ready to shoot another shot.
From a nearby tree, Astra saw both Davier and Grato fight each other in an area where trees were broken down, mostly caused by the fight they were having."Why are those two fighting?"He looked around them."Oh, so they found an orb."A beautiful magical orb lay near a stone, and in front of it, both nobles were fighting—one with a bow and the other with an artificial staff imbued with mana.
Grato shot the arrow towards Davier. He made the ground below him rise, blocking the arrow. He then threw the shield towards the elf. The elf jumped up, dodging the wall, and shot out another three arrows towards the mage. Both fighters were so caught up in the fight that it gave enough time for Astra to jump into the battlefield and grab the orb which lay on the ground.
'That was easy enough, now I just have to get out without being noticed.'
Swish!Both an arrow and some stones flew with great speed toward him. He noticed and dodged the stones, but the arrow pierced a part of his ear, letting blood run down his face.'Well, I'm in a bad situation.'Astra turned his gaze to see that both nobles were looking at him, holding their weapons toward him.
"What do you think you're doing, you little thief?"one of them spoke, getting ready to shoot another arrow.
Astra looked toward them."That could have killed me, you know."
"Shut up and give me the orb, commoner."Davier threw a big ball made of rock toward him.
"Well, you fuckers are hostile."He took out his sword and sliced the rock in half, making both halves fall to the ground with a crash sound.
He ran his hand through his hair and gazed at both of them, his golden eyes piercing them."Me, a commoner?"He grinned.
Grato shot out an arrow toward him, but unfortunately for him, Astra parried it with ease.
"You've got fast reactions, Vontrea."
"Well, that's a nice compliment, Elfian."
Now Astra found himself in front of two of the strongest people in his age group.'Well, looks like I have to use a great technique.'
He stood in an attacking stance, then gave out immense pressure onto both of them, making them both become worried and ready for an attack. Astra then looked to the side, making both of them follow him and do it too, but they noticed nothing there and turned back in an instant to find Astra not there.'Where did he go?'Both of them thought the same thing and looked around. They then saw Astra running away with the orb, and without another thought, Grato sprinted toward him, while Davier took the ground below him and shot it toward Astra, making him go faster than both of them combined.
In a few seconds, Davier caught up to Astra, making him stand in place. He jumped off the rock and pointed his staff at Astra's neck. This small stop was enough to make Grato catch up to them.
"I didn't expect the pride prince of the Vontrea kingdom to run away like a coward."
Astra looked at him with a grin,"It's not running away, it's called repositioning."
He spun around with his sword in his hand, making the other two jump back to dodge the blow. He then ran toward Grato to attack him but instead got sent flying by a ball of rock, making him crash into another larger rock, making both the rocks crash and releasing a lot of smoke covering the area where he fell.
"Hey elf, let's work together and defeat him, then let's fight."
Grato shook his head, agreeing to team up with Davier. Then both of them looked toward the smoke which was settling down. Both of them got ready to fight, but unfortunately for them, no one was laying there—just a big puddle of rubble laying on the ground.
"Looks like I got away."Astra ran while holding onto his chest.'But one of my ribs got broken when I got hit by that stone midair, but at least I prevented more injury by cutting the larger rock before crashing into it.'He sighed,'If Father found out that I ran away from battle not once but twice, he would exile me, he believes in the Vontrea pride too much.'He sighed again.
Guddug-guddug guddug-guddug!A beast ran immensely and crashed into Astra, making him fly back into a tree.
Astra coughed some blood out.'What was that?'He held the area where his head struck the tree and looked in front of him to see what hit him.After seeing what was in front of him, his eyes got dark."Why is something like that here in the exam?"