Chapter 3: Royal Academy Entrance test II
Vice Principal George emphasized that people with power should protect the weaker ones. It was the type of speech that would be greatly appreciated by everyone, but Kyle would rather sleep instead of listening to this boring speech.
"As you all know, the entrance test is different every year. This year passing the first round is rather simple."
Vice Principal George then took out something from his pocket.
"You see this? Each of you will be given this small flag, and in a few minutes, all the participants will be teleported inside a special artificial dungeon created by the Royal Academy. You will have to run and reach the end of the dungeon without losing the flag."
"In the end, the top 1000 participants will pass the first round. There will be some monsters inside the dungeon, blocking your path. It's up to you to hunt them or avoid them but remember your true goal should be reaching the finish line first."
"Simple right?"
Announced George with a smile.
Kyle looked at the wide smile on the Vice Principal's face and cursed inwardly.
'When was the last time I ran so much, my stamina is almost non-existent. Just how am I going to reach the end of the dungeon?'
George explained that the participants could rob each other inside the dungeon. They can also work together to take out monsters. Basically, everything was fine as long as they reached the end of the dungeon without losing the flag.
Hearing George's words a lot of participants voiced their concern.
With a loud clap, George assured them that if they got seriously injured inside the dungeon, they would be teleported out but the participants teleporting out would directly fail the test.
Once George's explanation ended. Heavy tension emerged between the participants. Everyone stared at the others with a gaze filled with vigilance. It will be very likely that they will fight each other inside the dungeon.
However, not everyone was worried. Some participants with high agility found the first round rather easy.
George gazed at the kids and started floating on top of the Arena stage.
"Pick up the small flags present on the ground and be ready. In a while, everyone will be teleported inside the dungeon."
All the participants looked at him with awe and respect. Everyone wanted to one day achieve the same height as George.
Kyle looked at the Arena ground and saw thousands of flags present on the ground.
'I didn't notice them before.'
He bent down and picked up one of the flags.
Suddenly, without any warning, all the participants were sucked in by the force of the Teleportation Array present on the floor.
WHOOSH!
Kyle opened his eyes to see a rather different scenery from before. The environment inside the dungeon looked just like a forest but before he could enjoy the beautiful scenery, his stomach rumbled and he started throwing up everything he had eaten up until now.
In just a single day he used the Teleportation Array two times. He was able to hold it the first time, but now he felt like all of his organs would also be coming out from his mouth very soon.
Looking at Kyle some other participants wanted to throw up as well, but they restrained themselves.
After calming down, Kyle saw the straight narrow road present in front of him. It was surrounded by trees of various sizes.
He sighed and gazed at other participants passing by him. With a pale face, he approached a nearby shady tree to rest for a while because he was feeling very weak.
Minutes passed, and almost all the participants left the starting line. Some of the participants noticed Kyle sitting under a tree but they thought he was robbed and had given up on competing, that's why everyone ignored him.
Kyle finally stood up after 10 minutes of rest, feeling a little better. He looked at the empty road filled with only falling leaves of trees with a dark expression.
'They are so cruel, not even a single person extended their hand to help me.'
Kyle thought inwardly with a bitter expression. Seeing only leaves and dust around himself, he knew he was last. It was impossible to reach the finishing line on time. It seems his luck was rather bad today.
Without wasting any more time, Kyle started running along the straight road. Even though he was last, he was determined to at least reach the finish line.
'What face would I show my father if I can't even complete a simple race? Neon would mock me throughout my whole life!
Suddenly the scenario where Neon was mocking him passed through Kyle's eyes and his speed increased. The scenery inside the dungeon was beautiful with large trees and big mountains in the distance.
On his way, he did not encounter a single monster. It seems the monsters were already killed by the participants ahead of him. He felt disappointed because he had never seen a monster before. He wanted to at least see one during the first round because he knew this round was probably his last.
Half an hour later,
Kyle was out of breath, he panted heavily and struggled to calm his fast-beating heart.
"Fuck the determination! At this rate, I am not going to even reach the first half of the dungeon."
He cursed loudly and punched a nearby tree.
With a painful expression, Kyle hurriedly rubbed his hand.
"Ahh, what the heck! Is this thing made up of steel?"
Multiple leaves fell on his head, as he looked angrily at the large tree. If he just had a sword with him, he would cut this insolent tree into multiple pieces!
The only problem was he didn't have it because his sword was inside Neon's storage ring. Due to the First round starting so suddenly, he was unable to retrieve it.
"Huuu..."
Kyle took a deep breath to calm himself down and patted the tree truck slowly.
"You are rather lucky today."
Then he looked at the long road ahead of him with a dazed expression. This time rather than determination his eyes only contain uncertainty.
"It's impossible."
Kyle looked at the lush forest and without even thinking twice, he entered the forest.
"let's just head inside the forest to see a monster."
He wasn't worried that the monsters would be dangerous because the Vice Principal said they would be Teleported outside the dungeon the moment they got badly injured.
After walking for a while, Kyle frowned because he didn't even see a single monster. Not just monsters, he hadn't even seen a single living insect!
He was roaming around aimlessly when the ground beneath his feet trembled and a hole appeared on the ground.
Kyle panicked. He wanted to move away but it was too late.
"Ahhh..."
Meanwhile, in the middle of the dungeon, a fierce competition was going on among the other participants. Everyone was running with incredible speed, trying to overtake the others in front. Some of the wealthy participants even used skills to increase their speed.
["Fast movement"]
["Soft steps"]
["Haste"]
["large stride"]
As skills were hard to come by and very expensive, only a few were able to acquire them.
Sometime later, when they neared the finishing line. A lot of participants who were behind became anxious. They started attacking others.
After the first attack, there was a second one, and just like that the participants started throwing endless tides of attacks at each other.
One of the participants got injured due to a sudden attack. He glared at the one running beside him.
"You filthy bastard, how dare you attack me."
The other participant looked back with confusion.
"It was not me."
He tried to explain but the first participant didn't listen and directly attacked.
"Taste my 'Crushing sword strike' you bastard."
Similar scenes were unfolding everywhere. A lot of participants started to get injured and were teleported outside by the dungeon.
Far ahead of the chaotic scene, six to seven youths were running toward the finishing line. Among them, the four at the front were the most noticeable due to their gorgeous appearance.
The one running at the front suddenly stopped, he had dark blue hair and deep black eyes.
The youth looked above. A towering bear was standing not so far from him.
After he stopped, one more participant soon reached the place where he was standing.
The 2nd participant had golden hair and black eyes. He looked at the huge towering monster standing in front of him.
"What the... "
The blue-haired boy looked at the golden-haired boy with a serious expression.
"It's an (E-)-Rank monster."
While they were looking at the bear, two young girls reached the place where they were standing.
One of the girls had orange hair and black eyes. She was beautiful but her gaze was cold enough to freeze anyone who looked her way.
"Just how are we going to defeat it?"
All of them awakened their talent just a year ago, hardly reaching (F)-Rank. That's why fighting with an (E-)-Rank monster alone was impossible.
The other girl standing beside the orange-haired girl stepped forward with a frown. She had long blue hair and sea-blue eyes. She was even more beautiful than the orange-haired girl.
"It seems we have to combine our strength to defeat it, by the way, I am Mia and this is my friend Lara."
The blue-haired boy gazed at the girls with a nod and introduced himself.
"I am Alec."
The golden-haired boy looked at Alec.
"Carcel."
He took out a golden spear from his storage. Alec took out a sword. On the other hand, Lara took out a bow, while Mia was a mage.
On the blue planet, everyone could pick a profession after they awakened their talent.
The professions were mainly divided into two main categories. Warriors and Mages.
The warriors could choose to fight physically or they can select a weapon of their choice. They can only use the mana present within their bodies through weapons or the skills they learned. The weapon can be anything sword, spear, bow, mace, etc.
Meanwhile, mages were different from the warriors they could learn spells to manipulate the mana present within their bodies. That's why, unlike warriors who could only use the skills they had learned, mages were able to cast spells and use the natural elements without a skill.
No matter whether warriors or mages whenever they broke through the mana present within the atmosphere would seep inside their bodies and make them stronger.