17 Exam Day

It was the exam day.

It was a good day, the clear sapphire sky had a misty clouds drifting on the face of the majestic sun. The groups of students were found waiting on a wide grassy clearing, it stretched out like a sea to the horizons.

The clearing was blotted by a broad, thick forest, encompassing a circular area upon the land, the forest was like an island since it was lonely on the landscape. The distance for their exam spot was pretty far from the academy. However it didn't bother them since they were brought here by teleportation.

There were about ten groups in total, and they will play tag inside the forest, but it was somewhat different in a usual sense.

In every group were five members, one of the members have to choose a member who will wear the flag, and then the rest of the team will defend the flag bearer, since the rest of the teams will steal each others flag.

Once the flag is taken from the flag bearer the entire team will lose. The goal for the exam was to test their cooperation and ingenuity, they were allowed to use spells as long as it won't directly harm their targets.

In order for a team to win, one team should survive until the end.

Don stood confidently while Radmun and his friends were uneasy.

"I'll be the flag bearer." Don said as he tucked his arms inside his pockets.

Don was ignored since Radmun and his friends were busy staring upon their competitors. Especially one team stood up the most, it was a group that were built from the top students of their class.

Especially One of the group was Zara (Currently the first Pillar), she had a fierce look, her blond long hair swayed on the breeze, she was known to be the best in the entire class. Skylar (Currently the third Pillar), he wore a dark blue robe, he had a jet black spiky hair, he had a calm and playful eyes. His posture was composed, he was one of the best since he also one of the best candidate to become a Pillar. And with the group, Levan (Currently the second Pillar) displayed a haughty grin upon Radmun.

Radmun got startled, he sneered back and didn't want to lose a battle of stares. When he got sick of staring at Levan, he turned himself to Don, he jolted Don's shoulders. "Hey Don, do we have a chance? Look me in the eye." Radmun said concerned.

Don gasped in irritation. "Shut up for a moment, I'm thinking."

Radmun stepped backwards, he then dropped on his knees to the grasses with a disappointed sigh. "If I fail another time, I might get dropped from the academy, we're only allowed to get three failures after all." He said.

If possible, he wanted to beat Levan and showed him who's boss, it would alleviate the humiliation he incurred yesterday. But it seems even entering the top seven was impossible, and those that were below the seventh rank will fail. Which meant only three will fail, and Radmun was being on the lower ranks.

His friends were more worried. "Radmun if you say that, I would even lose more hope."

Radmun shouted in frustration. "Fine, we can do this just believe in me and Don." He said.

When Radmun gazed again at Levan, he was more annoyed and his face were simmered in red. Levan made a gesture of sliding his finger on his neck. Radmun rose his middle finger, afterwards he whirled around and trudged towards Don.

"Hey Don, you have a plan right?" Radmun said with a restless face.

Don nodded, he gestured to the team to move their heads closer. "Yeah, listen to me very closely, I could guarantee you that we can reach the second place. But the first place depends on how you will follow every detail of my plan. First let's talk about the basics, the mindset of most teams are obviously they would follow the rules. They would defend, and sometimes attack. " He then lifted the edge of his lips. "But we're not gonna do that, we're gonna hide until we're gonna fight the mainboss."

Radmun gulped and motioned his lips towards the top team. "I know who you're referring to."

Don nodded as he chuckled. "Well, I'm not a fool that I would underestimate them. Once the game starts we will have an additional rules, hiding under the ground and going outside the forest will be forbidden."

One of Radmun's friends had a curious look. "So how do we hide?"

Don turned his head to the forest. "We're going to be one with the forest and hold still, we're going to show ourselves once those guys are done with everyone else." Don keenly laid his eyes upon the top team.

Their advisor lent them a red flag, which they sticked infront of Don's school uniform, right on his chest, it was attached precariously, even a weak pull could snatch the flag from his body. However he had no time to complain when the other teams were on the same situation.

They were accompanied by their teachers to take their starting point on the forest, everyone's position was spread out across the woods as to avoid an early conflict and give them preparations.

If the flag was taken from their body, a sound would permeate the forest, asking for the failed group to retreat.

Right now they were inside the forest, they were given five minutes to prepare and after the blare of the horn, they would officially start.

Don smirked. "Okay, let's do this."

When the exam started the entire woods was a ruckus, the students with their group displayed their flashy magic skills.

One group had their flag bearer on the middle, the one on the sides fired their magic against the second group, they fought together until one flag was snatched. The horns blared resounding throughout the woods, the first team whose flag got taken fell into sullen, and retreated in defeat.

As times flows the horns blared one after another.

The one who took the led was expectedly the top team, which was led by Zara herself, her body was coated with crackling electricity, she ran all by herself away from her team. After spotting an enemy team, she trampled them down effortlessly and stole their flag.

Then the echoing noise of the horn blared.

One after another they were being taken out, they counted there were about four left along with Don's group. Their team was underneath the tall grasses, their bodies were wrapped with leaves that they could be mistaken as a bush. They would like to remain still until one was left on the battle field. One of Radmun's friends used his magic to weave them a camo suit hewn from leaves.

With the suits, the five of them sat still like they were part of the forest, they scanned the environment with their eyes wide open, then a group passed by through them, luckily they weren't seen.

One snickered quietly. "In this way we can reach the second place easily."

Then Radmun felt the ground was agitating, he alerted the team. "Hey move away!"

The team jumped away and a spiky rocks emerged from the ground, it could have pierced them had they stayed. They landed and revealed themselves in the open.

One team came into view, luckily it wasn't the top team that they were being cautious of.

Don's group faced an enemy team, the enemy team mused them, seeing their bodies was covered with thick cloak of leaves. Their bodies and faces were hidden like they were a swamp monster.

"Woah pretty smart, but unfortunately I can sense you with my earth magic, so which one of you is the flag bearer?" A girl of the enemy team said.

One guy stepped forward with a grin. "Let's just strip them naked."

Upon sensing an incoming battle, Don's team turned tails, they dipped into the forest and went deeper. Redmun wanted to fight them but after a quick recall from Don's plans, he had to follow every inkling of it.

The enemy group had a hard time tracking them since they were blending in nicely with the forest. They continued their pursuit, cutting straight across the woods. Until at some point they lost Don's team, they were confused, as they ambled around seeking for them.

"Oh man, I think we lost them."

"They can't be that far find them." Said another.

Then a horn blared, after noticing the sound they realized there were only about three teams left.

In a flash, ice were crawling across the woods, it passed through the team and everyone of them were incased under the solid, glazed ice. Misty air billowed out from the coldness, it froze everything on the area turing the environment white as though it was winter. The team was petrified and only their eyes underneath the ice shell can move.

Skylar came into their view, his team walked casually behind him, he approached the flag bearer of the enemy team. The enemy flag bearer was frozen and taking the flag was a walk in the park. Skylar reached out on his icy body, he tugged the flag away from his frozen chest, then the horns blared.

The ice quickly melted as Skylar undid his spell, it released the students and they coughed hard afterwards.

Skylar smiled as he threw the flag away. "It seems one more to go."

Levan had a confident grin as he grunted. "I never expected those fools to last this long."

Somewhere nearby, Radmun fired an arrow above the sky, it glowed bright, hoping it would lure the last team, it was the final battle after all. Five of them stood still on the open, they were silent as their senses were on a high alert.

Then as far as their eyes can see five of the top teams came into their sight, they were casually gaiting towards them as though taking them lightly.

When the five top teams got close enough they stood still, they assessed Don's team first. "I never thought you would announce your location yourselves." Levan said.

Zara and Mardon stepped forward, Mardon was a composed burly tall man, his expression stiff and limbs were brimming with strength. "You guys stand back, we'll handle this." Zara said.

Levan sighed. "I could beat them all alone."

"Tsk, you're taking us too lightly." Radmun said.

Zara was covered in electricity, "Flash Dash!" She casted, then afterwards she whizzed towards them like a comet and stopped when she got close. Zara jabbed a one person's gut, causing him to get flung.

Mardon charged as well, and stripped one guy naked, upon noticing he wasn't the flag bearer he went towards the other one.

The other three observed several distance away with lax behavior, upon noticing it was under their control they let their guards down. Levan went to a trunk and sat still, while Skylar stood infront of their flag bearer, not too close not too far.

Zara and Mardon trampled the men, stripped their camos naked until only two were left. Three of them groaned in pain as they got trampled like weeds.

"Damn it." Radmun said, he fired his arrow upon her. But Zara dodged and vanished only to reappear behind him. Zara smacked his back, which sent Radmun flying.

She glared upon the last person standing. Ha! Found your flag bearer." Zara said.

She charged with a smirk and then when she came close, she ripped his cloak to shreds. However her eyes widened when she noticed it was a human made of slime. "What the-?"

Don smirked in the darkness.

A knife coming from the deep forest zipped close to Skylar.

"Swap!" Don said.

In a sudden Don emerged and transferred to the position of the knife, he then threw another knife this time flying towards their flag bearer.

Skylar and Levan got alarmed, Skylar instantly froze Don with a whisk of his arm, "Ice shell!", and Don was incased inside the ice. Don couldn't move and was frozen, luckily he threw his knife on time.

Levan stomped his foot and a wall of rock slowly rose infront of their flag bearer. But it was their misfortune since Don's knife were almost there. "Swap!" He said.

And when Don reappeared close to the flag bearer, he screamed and snatched the flag off his chest.

Don landed and rolled unto the ground, he then quickly stood back up on his knees, he displayed their flag as he casted his smirk, he dropped it down declaring his victory. Radmun and his friends then cheered for him. The horn blared.

Skylar gave an amused laugh. "Damn it, you got us good."

Zara and her team had an agaped mouth. "Impossible." She said.

Don sat still as he chuckled.

Radmun gasped in relief and recalled Don's plans before the exam started.

"Listen, carve me hole inside this trunk and I will hide here until we are down to the last group. I need to hide here close to the border since there are mages that can sense someones presence. Don't forget that everyone of you will have to wear a leaf suit, people will think that we are just trying to hide, but in reality it is to cover my replacement. You can summon a slime right? Have it replace me while I'm hiding, in that way they won't suspect a thing. Also once we are down to the last group, don't forget to fire a signal so I can know your location."

Radmun had a worried look. "But won't you be defenseless in that way?"

Don smiled. "Don't worry, just make sure you distract Zara it will ensure our victory."