20 Dangerous Exam
*pant* *pant*
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"Run! Break away from each other!!"
Within a forest with familiar surroundings, Rudy was shouting to his friends as he ran with all his might alongside 3 other people.
They were the team he had formed during the Procurement exam this time around specifically for the smilodon hunt.
At first, everything had gone according to his plan as they'd successfully lure the smilodon out onto their trap and ambush it together.
However,
The raw power of the smilodon was way outside their estimation.
Although the beast was clearly wounded from the spike trap they'd set up, when they'd gathered to ambush it right after, the smilodon had still managed to make a wide swipe with his claws that knocked back and injured heavily 2 people from his group.
With just that one strike, the smilodon managed to turn the momentum around and forced their timing completely out of sync before starting his own counter-attack against their group.
*ROAR*
Actually, Rudy had somehow realized that this failure could not be attributed solely towards their underestimation of the beast's strength, but also because of their lack of coordination as a team.
Knowing the timing for the kill had been messed up, Rudy, as the interim leader of the group, had decisively ordered a retreat and was now running away from the enraged giant cat.
'Damn it...!'
"Separate!! We need to run in different directions! We'll immediately meet back up and provide support to the one being chased after we're on the clear!" He shouted once more.
""...Okay!"" With complicated emotions, his teammates responded to his suggestion one-by-one.
After hearing the affirmation from his group, Rudy didn't waste anymore time and quickly set up the timing for it,
"On three! one, two..."
"...Three!"
*SCREECH*
Following the cue, the four people who were being chased vehemently by the smilodon suddenly made the brakes at exactly the same time with each other.
The four didn't stop in place for too long before quickly breaking away and running in all the different directions indicated by their parallel running positions.
*tap* *tap* *tap*
"!!"
The smilodon was caught off-guard by their broken formation for but a split second before continuing his chase towards one of the running members.
*ROAR*
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Rudy ran towards the upper-right direction of his views without the time nor courage to look back even once.
*tap* *tap*
He kept on running without stopping until at some point, he realized that his surroundings had been getting quieter and quieter without the roaring sounds of the angry smilodon chasing after him like a nightmare.
*pant* *pant*
'Hah!! I'm... safe.'
"...I'm safe!" He almost shouted in excitement at the thought.
"I-I need to meet up with the rest of the group to look for the one being chased!"
"..."
"R-right! I need to look for them..."
Rudy kept saying the same stuff more than once, but his legs refused to budge for even an inch, barely keeping the strength to stand up.
'Dammit, come on!!!'
*SLAP*
*flap* *flap*
He slapped his trembling thighs loudly in frustration, causing the idling birds in his surroundings to fly away at the sound.
It took another moment for him to calm down by the time he'd realized he didn't know his exact location in the area.
He had gotten lost in that heat of the moment.
'Where am I...?'
And then,
*step* *step*
Before he could get his bearings straight, the small sound of multiple footsteps from a distance was suddenly caught by his ears, turning his attention in its direction.
'These steps... Humans! The other examinees?'
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"Now pay attention."
Inside a thick forest close to the designated exam area, Lyra and Claude were walking amongst the thickets as they officially started their first joint hunt together for the next month.
"In the 2nd Procurement Division, there're actually two different specialized departments that you can apply for, that is, the Hunters dept. and the Gatherers dept." Lyra started explaining things patiently while walking,
"With how diverse the flora and fauna are within Eden, not many can learn in-depth the habits of all those living dangers even if you dedicate your whole life for 'em, hence the needs for the two departments."
"But one can only be assigned to specific departments when he/she is officially a 2-star rank officer or above. For the rest of us, there weren't any need to be further divided since there're no inter-Sectoral missions we could apply for."
"For an unranked and 1-star rank officer, all you need to learn is the general knowledge of the ecosystems surrounding your Sector, get it?"
"Now, our hunt today is a native Grade-1 beast called the Crazed Lemur, what can you tell me about them?" She threw a question at Claude.
"Hm..."
"Crazed Lemurs. Just like the name, they are a type of Grade-1 primates with a watered down version of Crazed Mandrills's ability to enter the crazed state. Heating up muscles to achieve temporary burst of strength in their muscle springs." Claude, in turn, replied with the information he'd read about previously.
"Their most dangerous traits are their charging speed, and their tendency to not move alone."
"...Wow! Good job rookie! I'm telling you, I don't even know half of this stuff when I first started~" Lyra complimented Claude's answer spiritedly.
"Their habitat is rather close to the exam location, so I've read up on them before."
"Uwaah, how diligent..."
"But yes, you're absolutely right! What they lacked in defense, the Crazed Lemurs make up for with their strength and unity. So hunting them will take some specific measures and approaches different to typical Grade-1 beasts like the smilodon."
"Different people have different ways of course. What I'm trying to teach you is how a [Vigor] user could do it, you only got your shock spear on you so show me what ya got!"
"Alright. Should I go off on my own from here on?" Claude asked to confirm.
"Yep. Go do your thing and I'll follow from afar 'kay?" Lyra had a completely relaxed attitude, even giving a shooing gesture from behind.
"Understood." Claude nodded readily at the command.
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'Crazed Lemurs.'
'They are about half the size of an adult human man and almost always move in groups. So, I need to isolate one first as soon as I locate a pack.'
Claude started drawing up a rough plan in his head as he moved closer towards the approximate location of their habitat.
While moving, he had also readied his energy flow's mental image in his mind, so that he could coat himself at a moment's notice in the case of an ambush.
'This is a bit harder than I thought since I ultimately need to divide my attention with surveying the surroundings...'
Claude kept his visualization in sync with his actual energy flow as he moved, but because of that, he also had a harder time with staying alert and dividing his focus.
"Well, I just need to get used to this... Now, where are those lemurs?"
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A little ways away from Claude and Lyra's position.
Rudy, who didn't notice that he was already out of the exam's designated area, inadvertently followed the sound of footsteps he'd heard from the distance to try and rendezvous with the other examinees.
Although his current action was slightly driven by his fear of moving alone, Rudy still continued to walk forward cautiously without making the obvious mistake of showing his tracks.
*step*
He moved quietly, jumping from shadow to shadow be it trees or bushes, trying to reach the rhythmic steps of the people ahead that he's still hearing even now.
'The environment are getting more and more unfamiliar... Where are these people going??'
Before long, he too felt that something was not right with the direction he's heading towards.
'No, this can't be right... They're moving too fast!'
Although he's following with all his might, the relaxed walking steps of the individuals ahead far outpaced him who was probably the trainee with the best physics in the whole of Sector-07.
Which to him could only mean one thing.
'I screwed up...! Those footsteps are Rangers, not examinees!'
Rudy quickly understood that he was in a very precarious situation right now.
Judging by the unfamiliar environment around him, he was already too far away from the exam's designated area.
It'll be far too dangerous for a normal human like him who's uninitiated with any Bio-Contact as of now to walk back by himself to the designated exam area from the outside.
In the designated area, the ecosystem had been strictly controlled such that the most dangerous animal you can find was the Grade-1 Smilodon. However, the same thing could not be said for the area outside of it.
'Going back by myself is very dangerous for me... The only ones who can guarantee my safety out here are probably the people ahead who're most likely Rangers, but.'
Heading out to meet them would mean that he'd need to get even further away from the designated area even if it's technically the closer path to him.
The briefings he'd gotten before setting out for the exam had also told him that the further one went beyond the designated area, the more dangerous the environment would be in general.
"..."
Dangers behind and dangers ahead. Both have their own risks and disadvantages for the current him.
'Ugh...'
'...Dammit, I hope this is the right decision!!'
After another couple seconds of dillema, Rudy finally took another step forward, deciding to catch up with the people ahead of him to ask for help.
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10 meters, 20 meters...
He followed the footsteps sounds desperately, hoping he wouldn't get left too far behind and ended up walking himself to his death.
The closer he got towards the source, the less cautious he became, focusing more on reaching the people in front of him.
It was also because he had noticed since a while ago that the footsteps were no longer walking leisurely ever since they'd reached their current location.
One set of footsteps stopped a couple paces away from the other, while the other one's rhythm was slowly turning irregular, moving back-and-forth within a close proximity.
'They're hunting!'
Rudy saw a light of hope!
With the people ahead of him stopping in place and not going further into another area, it'll be more likely for them to escort the powerless him back towards the examination zone without directly eliminating him from the test.
Rudy trod silently towards the scene of what he thought was a hunt between a 2nd Division Ranger and a beast, which, of course wasn't actually too far off the mark.
And before long, he saw it.
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Inside the thick clearing with little to no sunlight passing through.
Claude was currently facing off against two relatively large-sized lemurs with smoke coming out of their limbs and joints.
'...As I thought, there're little to no chances in isolating just one of them away from the group.' He grimaced.
As he was just thinking that, one of the crazed lemur suddenly dashed towards him with its claws in breakneck speed.
*BOOM*
Even the more solid ground that it was standing on shook and cracked as the lemur reached Claude's side in less than a second.
Fortunately, Claude had seen the same pattern of movements a couple times during this battle. Even the timing, he had learned through trading it with a few scratches on his arms and cheeks.
'This again...!'
Claude swiftly dodged to the side with the help of the energy coatings on his legs to increase just slightly the reaction speed of his evasion.
After successfully dodging the deadly charge, he threw one knife at the other lemur to distract it from immediately supporting its kin as he turned his attention to the one that had just finished its charge.
'It's starting to get exhausted, it can't do consecutive dashes anymore!'
Claude had understood what Lyra was trying to teach him through this trial.
She was telling him that [Vigor] users didn't have explosive strength or speed to finish a fight with this sort of enemies quickly.
As such, a proficient [Vigor] user needed to learn to pull their enemies into their own pace during a fight, that is, a long term battle of stamina.
'Of course, this battle could be over far earlier if I had used that explosive technique... But there's no point in revealing such things to Lyra.'
Without waiting anymore for the exhausted lemur recover its state, Claude whipped out his standard issue shock spear from his back and made a clean slicing motion at it.
*SWISH*
The shock spear, although looked sleek and thin without any broad sides to it, still have the same double-edged bladed tip that could cut through woods with ease. It was not just made for piercing.
In one swift motion, the head of the charging lemur was lobbed off its shoulders, flying towards the shrubberies next to it.
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'!!'
Rudy who had been hiding since the first time he'd stepped foot into the combat scene was startled at not just the battle, but also the monkey-sized head flying towards his hiding place.
