Beginnings - 2

For a moment the world stilled, the talk that resounded through the test area had stopped. And with a mere glare of the principle.

She had the look of a librarian, the glasses, the hard frown, and even just a book strapped to her side perpetually. But what stilled the crowd was the wave of her arm.

The sleeve of her dress waved in the air with it, and it stilled everyone. Even the examiners. She was that powerful. 

A peak that I could not help but admire.

"I greet those that are taking this test, to the people that have consistently practiced, have taken their lectures to heart. To those I can say nothing more than good luck, but to those that have done nothing but slide off of talent then I will say one more thing. Fail."

With that last cryptic message she took her leave, the click and clack of her heels echoing through the room. All until naught but the most perceptive of the students could hear her.

It was then that a man, one of the examiners took the stage. 

His eyes scanned around before he addressed us all.

…

…

…

The gist of it was that the test would take place in an already conquered dungeon, where the boss and miniboss had already been taken out. What is left were only the stragglers.

"But I warn you, do not take them lightly because of their status, do so and you will die."

The rest was general rules, such as no harming another student beyond mere scuffles as we will be monitored. Other than that it was just the rules on scoring and points.

The gist was that for every core we took from the monsters we would gain one point, these points will be cashed in at the end of the test, three days later.

And with that everything had been explained, the hard rules and the soft. Anything else was left unspoken as we hurried to our places. To the entrances we would take.

"Good Luck…" It was a whisper, one that I could barely hear. But it was clear enough for me to know who had said it.

Emilia, alongside me she was the top scorer for anything sans combat. Well she had top score in combat too, but in theory she and I were king and queen. No one else could score higher than us.

But even then, that good luck…

A small smile lit my face at the attention. It was the only nice thing that anyone had ever said to me, even if it was only empty.

I took a deep breath, one last look to the backs of others and then to the swirling portal that stood to the front of me. I took one last final step and my vision swirled.

Like some sort of delusion I found myself in a place of complete white.

[10%]

I blinked once more and the white was gone from my vision. Replaced by a plains. Filled with grass and dirt. And nothing more.

Instantly I was on guard. Years of work and reflexes synthesized together into an instinct, honed to the best of human ability.

My ears strained for any noise it could take. But there was nothing, nothing but the small breeze of wind and the ruffling of grass.

But then, within a second, I heard it, the crunch of grass upon heavy boots.

I stood to the side, my body already small as it was, huddled even smaller and with a glare at whatever was before me.

I took one, two, three deep breaths and leaped to the side, just time to dodge the stap of a crude spear. Made out of wood and stone.

It was nothing that by itself would hurt me. But the slight coating of blue, it signified a hue of mana that clung to it.

And so I raised my shield only to chop down onto the grain of the wood. It shattered under my strength and split into thousands of peaces.

I took one last look at the mug of my opponent, green skin, an ugly face that only a mother could love, and a short stature.

It was a goblin.

I suppressed the lectures that brought forth ideas to my mind and instead raised my sword and chopped down. A fountain of blood showered me. 

I choked down my disgust and took a deep breath, my first kill. One of many.

[20%]

"Yo!" I turned as fast as I could, my eyes set into a glare as I took stock of the person in front of me.

It was one of the aforementioned slackers. He was set in slacks and barely any chest armor. Not that I was any better but that was for the reason that I could not afford it.

But just judging by the work of art his sword was it was easy to tell that he was quite well off, it meant a complete contempt for the rules of war.

I just sighed and ignored him, merely giving the bare minimum of greetings before I swept the goblin I had just killed to the ground and got to work butchering it for its core.

"You gonna ignore me?" 

I did and pretty soon I had found the core.

"That's pretty big and you got it right at the start, it might be good to follow you." He smiled and I could not resist anymore.

I turned around and set him down with a glare.

"Woah" He backed off, "No need to be so hostile, I just want to get to know such a beauty."

I had never mentioned my appearance had I, hmm… yeah, I had not. But now was the best time to do that.

As for me, I was not what one would call masculine, I was actually quite feminine, cursed with looks that would make even a girl jealous. Golden hair that cascaded down in beautiful curls, a face and smile that girls would kill for.

But all that did was annoy me. As idiots like this thought me to be a girl and hit on me, only to find out and start a campaign against me.

How those ended so fast I did not know and neither did I want to know.

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A/N: For those that want to know what he looks like, check the comment.