This boy was one of the few participants that had caught his interest once he had reached the building where he took the Theory Test. Like before, Ray didn't sense anything extraordinary from the boy, except for that dark and dangerous presence living inside of him.
He had black hair and eyes, his face was marked by a few freckles as well as very dark eye bags. It seemed like he hadn't slept for a long time.
When Ray had first seen him, he had been muttering something. Ray had ignored such behavior, believing it to be just the boy being nervous, however, seeing his reaction now, he concluded that this boy was just a scaredy-cat.
"P-please, I swear I didn't mean to take the points. I was just stepping back to get away from your fight, and I stumbled upon it! I swear it was never my intention..."
The boy kept shouting and stuttering excuses, afraid that Ray and Mara were mad at him and would attack him. After seeing their power, who wouldn't get scared, huh?!
Both Mara and Ray kept silent. Besides the newcomer's weird fright of them and the genuine surprise they felt from seeing someone stealing their points, there was something else they were worried about.
'I didn't sense him.'
Both of them hadn't sensed the boy until the checkpoint blatantly revealed his location. A normal spectator could say that they were too focused on their fight to properly feel their surroundings and notice any third parties.
But that was only a sliver of truth.
Mara was incredibly sensitive to mana, in a place that had been completely contaminated with both her mana and her opponent's, any foreign mana would make itself known. And yet, she hadn't felt or seen anything.
Ray was even more sensible. His instincts as a dragon and with an experience of five hundred years, he had grown accustomed to check his surroundings while fighting, and he was quite good at multitasking. That was how he had noticed the checkpoint close by.
And yet, this boy was so close that merely retreating made him stumble upon it, but Ray hadn't sensed him?
It was not like concealing magic or magecraft were nonexistent it was just that it was rare to have one that allowed one to escape the senses of two of the most talented participants on the test, especially considering one of them was The Rex Draco!
"Who are you?"
"My name is Zillah Emrys, sir."
Zillah used quite the formal tone, afraid of insulting Ray, who had just asked his name, not ordered him to report some kind of mission.
'This kid really needs to chill, his attitude is making me feel weird.'
Ray had killed a lot of humans who had looked at him with the same expression Zillah was wearing right now, however, he never felt so much pity for any of them, if at all. After all, Ray was no longer dozens of meters tall with eyes larger than their bodies, nor could he roar anymore, there was no reason to fear him now, right?
"I'm Ray, and this is Mara. You don't have to worry since you managed to sneak past us, consider the bonus points as a reward for such an achievement, okay? There is no reason for us to attack you, it was our fault for not thinking that someone was going to go behind our backs."
That was a lie. Both Mara and Ray had been cautious, both trying to find the checkpoint but also being careful in case someone else entered the picture, but this should calm him down, right?
"A-ah! Thank you so much! Without these points I will surely fail the entrance exams, and if I fail, my mother is going to kill me!"
'Oh. So he is enrolling in one of the best academies in the world because he is afraid of his mother? Is everything he does decided by his fear?'
"I see. Mara, go ahead and take your bonus points."
"Are you sure? You were the one who won the battle."
"Don't sweat it. You deserved it. Compared to these points, we are both coming out with much more than that. You are stronger, and I got a good sparring partner for the future."
'Why is he being so nice?!'
A question that had been plaguing her mind ever since he started to teach her about the mysteries of flame magic and magic in general.
Why was he so eager to give her things? Could it be that he was interested in her?
Mara was no stranger to male attention and interest. Both her power and beauty attracted several accomplished men, although the former probably wouldn't seem that amazing to Ray, she thought.
'He probably is amazed by my appearance. Ah! All men are the same, just like you said, Mom. Does he think that some bonus points are going to win this lady's heart? I've received better gifts from high-standing individuals.'
Thinking she had figured out Ray's intentions, she walked towards the checkpoint, completely ignoring Zillah, with a new sense of pride, and collected her reward.
«Participant Detected!»
«You are the second participant to reach this checkpoint. You have received 20 points, 5 points were reduced from the original reward.»
Hearing the mechanical voice from the checkpoint, a content smile appeared on her face.
"Now it's your turn, Ray."
"Sure."
With a relaxed step, he approached the checkpoint and received his own bonus points.
«Participant Detected!»
«You are the third participant to reach this checkpoint. You have received 15 points, 5 points were reduced from the original reward.»
«You have now 35 total points»
With this, the three of them now had their points, and their trip to the first island had concluded. In the end, they were right to gamble, it turned out that every single island had the same fixed amount of points to provide: seventy-five. So, the island with the most checkpoints would be the one where they would provide less.
In a sense, this meant that if you failed one checkpoint, you could find another easily enough, however, the island with the most checkpoints was the last island where the monster resided.
This would attract several challengers as well as those who noticed the number of checkpoints on said island during the briefing. The number of participants that would end up there would overwhelm the amount of checkpoints, meaning that very early, those checkpoints would be left with no points to give.
As Ray, Mara, and Zillah were sighing in relief, as for them the test seemed to finally come to a conclusion, a sudden mechanical voice resounded around them.
«The Monster of the Final Island has been defeated!»
«The Practical Test has now concluded! Awakening Participants!»
Ray felt the same thing intruding on his mind as when he was forced to sleep to enter the test, however this time he knew that it was meant for him to wake up. Once again, he allowed the feeling to proceed.
Slowly, the world around him seemed to dissolve into darkness, or rather, darkness engulfed it? Regardless, it turned dark.
Soon, he found himself back at the capsule that had been assigned to him. Judging by the condition of his body, it seemed that only a few hours had passed by. That was to be expected, he had already felt the time dilation, so he was not that surprised.
He then got out of the capsule and looked around. Some other people were also getting out of their own capsules. Some of them looked frustrated, while others seemed just tired and glad that it was finally over. Of course, there were also the ones that seemed pretty confident in their performances.
Ray noted that some capsules were open, but there was no sign of their owners, most likely belonging to the ones that were 'killed' during the test.
Ring Ring
Several ringing sounds could be heard around the area, some of them a little more unique than others. This prompted the participants to look at their phones.
Ray did the same, only to find a notification of a message from the academy, alerting students to go in a certain direction.
Unbothered, he decided to follow the instructions and walk to his new destination.
The walk was weirdly dull. Perhaps because he technically had spent various days surviving and fighting in the last few hours, everything else seemed bored.
While walking amidst the crowd of participants, Ray noticed some familiar faces.
Cù Sith was surrounded by his barbarian people, they seemed to be arguing about something.
Mara was once again surrounded by people, however, she seemed a little distracted, constantly looking around, as if looking for someone.
Zillah was curled up against the wall, afraid of being trampled by the massive crowd.
The Amazon girl, Tiana, was surrounded by people eagerly talking about what she encountered during the last test.
The weird blond boy was surrounded by girls once again, a perpetual smile on his face.
Arianne, the Saintess, was walking surrounded by the group that she had formed in the Practical Test.
Besides them, Ray had also found her, the weirdo with golden hair and bright blue eyes. She was surrounded by people, but not in the same way the others were.
They stood at a certain distance from her, quietly whispering to each other. Reinforcing his ears, he attentively heard what they were talking about.
"She just appeared out of nowhere while everyone was about to die to that monster, and with just a few swings of her sword, it died. The feeling of her aura was so heavy that I couldn't tell it apart from the monster's."
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Author's Note: And the Practical Test is over! Now the Combat Test will start, which means we are close to finishing the first volume! It will mostly fighting so it will be great to practice my battle coreography. Hope you leave your opinions of it.
Check out my other Novel(Fanfic): Transmigrator Competition