Standing outside on the edge of the Academy campus that bordered a forest were thirty students who were all preparing to take their second exam. Behind said forest was the mountain range that Zion recognized from the map.
"You all will be tested on how many mana beasts you hunt, what level the mana beasts are, and how efficiently you hunt them. You will bring back their cores in these bags that will be handed out. The quicker you are, the more points you will get.
However, being quick and not efficient will cost you points. The whole point of this is to see how you handle being in danger." After speaking, the teacher called on five students to start.
Each student stepped in front of the forest, which was sectioned off for the exam. Three of them were commoners and they were visibly shaken up, scared to face what lies beyond the safety of the academy.
The other two, while nervous, managed to calm their nerves and prepared themselves for the test.
"Begin!" At the teacher's words, the five students rushed off into the forest.
"How do you think they'll do?" Lidia was no stranger to combat, so she could assume how the students would perform based on their body language.
"The nervous three will definitely fail. As for the other two, I think they'll barely do good enough." Lidia nodded at Zion's words as she had the same thought process.
"What about you?" She asked
"Me? Well, this is nothing. I can kill every mana beast there with a swipe of my hand. They're no stronger than tier three anyway."
Mana beasts were ranked from Tier 1 to 11. Each tier equaled a cultivation level. So a Beginner stage cultivator would be equivalent to a tier 2 mana beast.
"Tsk, must be nice." A girl grumbled under her breath. She had long black hair and black eyes. Her body was toned as if she trained in martial arts for years, but that didn't take away the appeal her body gave off.
Zion turned to the girl, tilting his head in confusion. He noticed that it was someone he recognized, a commoner named Alice. She was the hardest-working person he knew who attended the academy. Unfortunately, she hated nobles, which included him.
He gave her a smile and looked away, which only ticked her off.
Lidia was not so pleased by her words. Her hands were already sizzling with fire magic and she was ready to strike the woman down. "Are you just going to let her get away with that?"
"Lidia, there are some things you just don't bother entertaining. And I'm sure she didn't mean any harm with her remark." After Zion said this, the test for the first group of students ended, and as he predicted, the timid three failed and the other two barely passed.
Eventually, it was time for Zion, Lidia, and Alice to take their test. Many students before them had passed while most had failed or barely managed to get a passing grade.
Zion casually strolled to the middle of his sectioned area, sensing all the mana beasts around him. As someone in the Expert Stage, the strongest mana beast, which was a measly tier-3 beast, was nothing to him.
"Let's try what I practiced yesterday morning, shall we?" Feeling the mana in the air, he focused, closing his eyes. He charged his mana field with lightning, then connected it to the mana in the air, electrifying it.
With a quick draw of his blade, Zion sliced through the air, tearing the wind apart as lightning trailed behind his sword, and just like yesterday, an explosion of lightning struck every mana beast in the area killing it instantly.
"Damn, I'm good." He sheathed his sword and went to collect the cores.
On Lidia's side, she easily dealt with her enemies as she was in the Advanced stage. Her fire magic blasted through the bodies of the mana beasts and dealt with the strongest ones there, only needing to put in some effort.
Alice was having the hardest time out of the three of them. She managed to fend off against the weaker mana beast, but when it came to the stronger ones, not so much.
She was riddled with cuts and bruises, but her determination didn't stop her from completing her task.
Powering through her injuries and pain, she took to fighting against the stronger mana beasts, killing them but taking damage as well. Every time she cut one down, she was injured, but she managed to hold on and eventually pass the test.
"Zion? You're done already?" Walking out of the forest with a bag full of beast cores, Lidia came out, fixing her hair. Zion was waiting for her and they walked together.
"Yup, finished in like, ten seconds. No lie." He wasn't joking, and the 7 of those seconds was simply him walking.
"Why am I not surprised." Lidia laughed.
Alice also came out, and a trail of blood followed behind her. Students looked on in horror, seeing how she was all banged up.
The teacher accepted her cores and told her to head to the infirmary before the next exam started.
Nodding her head, she left, but not before glancing at Zion and Lidia then turning back around, biting her lip in frustration.
The final test was a battle against the instructors themselves. The students were obviously nervous, more nervous than fighting against mana beasts.
Names were called, many failed, some barely passed, while others succeeded with flying colors. The entire area was filled with a mixed bag of emotions.
Some celebrated their victory in impressing the instructors they were paired with, while others sat dead on the floor, bawling their eyes out as they had not managed to catch the eyes of the teachers.
"Alice is doing very well." Currently, Alice is taking her exam and fighting against an instructor like everyone else. Coming from a common background, it wasn't expected for Alice to perform spectacularly, not just her, but all commoners who didn't have connections.
But surprisingly, Alice did better than most of the nobles there. Every attack of her sword was precise, there were no wasted movements, her focus was immaculate, and her determination was higher than anyone else.
"She's gotten better over the past two years."
Looking at the way she dodged, parried, countered, and moved her body, you could tell she had some form of formal training. However, her training consisted of physical training, not mana, as you could tell that her mana didn't match the skill she had, only being in the beginner stage.
After doing very well, the instructor stopped their battle and congratulated her. Alice, instead of beaming with joy, nodded and bowed before exiting the arena where the battle took place.
"Lidia Brightburn." Her name was called