Rekindled Hope

Ms. Joselyn really thought that he was dead, and the chances of survival were very low.

It happened right in front of her, the aspirant, Xander got plunged  from a high altitude and rammed onto the ground followed by a loud crashing sound. Surviving that kind of fall is hard to believe for an aspiring aspirant such as him.

Reading his biography earlier, she found that Xander has no enhancement records.

Chances are, he died from the crash or was in a bad state because of that.

Even if he somehow got lucky and cushioned the fall, and could still move and run, the beast horde is right behind him. Because of that, Ms. Joselyn tries to keep a low expectation of him surviving and coming back safely.

Additionally, due to that, Ms. Joselyn wanted to help Casper understand this.

Giving him proper encouragement so that he wouldn't blame himself, as well as lowering his expectations of Xander coming back alive would help him deal with the grief if the worst happened and Xander was really dead.

In her point of view, she already considered Xander as dead. 

However, it seems that Ms. Joselyn stands corrected as the scoreboard that monitored the detected points that the aspirants could gain from killing beasts shows that Xander's point experienced a change.

Obviously, this shows that Xander is indeed still alive down there.

Ms. Joselyn smiled lightly before she turned around and strode toward the depressing pair.

"What's with this atmosphere? Aren't the two of you two pessimistic?"

Upon hearing her voice bombarding them with questions from the side, Casper and Mira were surprised for a second. Both remained silent before averting their gazes away to sigh dejectedly, not having the appetite to answer or do anything other than wait.

Shaking her head, Ms. Joselyn then continues, "Casper, look at the scoreboard"

"Eh...? Instructor, can you leave me alone, please? I want to be alone" Casper replied.

However, Ms. Joselyn insisted which made him obliged.

Casper stood up and headed over to the scoreboard to see what Ms. Joselyn was trying to show him. But in the next second, his eyes flared open completely when he saw Xander's points were increasing a couple of times.

Rubbing his eyes repeatedly, he takes a look again to check the scoreboard.

"Wait, doesn't this mean..."

"Yes, your friend, Xander is still alive. He's fighting some beasts right now"

"I knew it! I knew that he could survive that!"

Like a little kid who was given candy for the first time, Casper jumped and punched the fist excitedly, his eyes sparkled with a peculiar light. It was the news that he waited for a long time, able to ease his anxious mind.

Ms. Joselyn smiled when she saw Casper smile albeit secretly.

"Don't get too excited, the beast horde still hasn't passed yet" She reprimanded lightly.

In response, Casper turned his head towards her, "Instructor, what causes the beast horde?"

"At this point, it's hard to determine what the cause of the beast horde is. However, we can rule out that it was not caused by a territorial dispute or natural migration since the beasts are varying and we keep track of that. So that leaves a beast that managed to evolve and become a dominant leader, an external threat, or simply a natural phenomenon" Ms. Joselyn explained clearly.

Determining the cause of a beast horde is quite hard.

Albeit the inhabitants of Planet Sion 2T are quite studied and developed, it still requires a thorough investigation to determine the cause of this beast horde. With the ongoing war, the military wouldn't put this much thought.

Since it's a beast horde and the casualties are not high, they won't investigate.

Casper nodded his head repeatedly, this was the first time for him to see an actual beast horde happening. But it was clear that he was more relaxed than before, he now knew that Alex was not dead.

"Oh, I forgot to ask you. Did something happen to your squad?" Ms. Joselyn asked.

Finding that Casper is looking at her, asking for her to elaborate, she then continues. "Except for Xander who was unfortunate to get caught by the beast, what happened to your other squad members? Malik is one of the promising candidates, what happened to him?"

"O- Oh, you mean that..." Casper smiled awkwardly, trying to keep a straight face.

Remembering the fate that Malik and the others suffered from the Type-2 Beast hand that was lured by Alex himself to get back at them, he could only smile in response, it still haunted his mind until now.

Telling Ms. Joselyn for what it is would only bring trouble to Alex, so he decided to lie.

Coming up with a lie is not that hard in this scenario.

It was not Alex directly that killed them, so it's hard to trace it back to him.

"We got ambushed by a Type-2 Beast with Bio-mimicry talent. Three of us died including Malik, while me and Xander managed to barely defeat it" Casper said, hiding a single detail that he would never tell her and brought it to his grave.

Alex is his benefactor, he couldn't possibly screw him up.

On top of that, he was also there, and he would be a suspect too if Ms. Joselyn knew.

Upon hearing this Ms. Joselyn was surprised, a Type-2 Beast with Bio-mimicry talent is one of the deadliest beasts in Planet Sion 2T. It's unfortunate for them to encounter that beast, and natural that the squad takes some losses.

"Quite unfortunate, we lost a candidate with potential" Ms. Joselyn shakes her head.

Feeling a little bit nervous about talking about this conversation, Casper thought of something to say but found himself staring at the scoreboard again. Something changed but he missed it.

However, in the next second, his eyes widened in surprise.

"Mira! Come here!" Casper turned towards Mira sitting in the distance and called her.

Due to being in the same position, worrying for their friends who were abandoned and still on the planet, the two of them talked a little bit and exchanged their names. It's safe to say that the two of them became acquainted.

Pausing for a moment, Mira hesitantly approaches.

Casper then quickly pointed at the scoreboard excitedly, a huge smile on his face.

"Look! I think your friend, Natalia's score went up just now!"

"R- Really? She's alive?!"

...

Meanwhile, Alex finished killing the Black Spotted Hyenas with relative ease.

Carcasses of the hyenas were scattered around him, each having a couple of stabbing wounds that eventually took their lives. It made quite a bloody scene, the thick snow was now tainted with the crimson color.

Scanning his eyes around, his attention then landed on the last Black Spotted Hyena.

A whimper came out of its mouth, seeing that the others were dead.

However, it didn't choose to follow its instinct and run.

Instead, the Black Spotted Hyena pounced forward rigorously, baring its fangs and claws. Alex flipped the bloodied knife in his hand into a reverse grip, when the moment was right, he held the hyena back with his left hand on its neck.

Moving decisively, he stabbed the hyena from below, right on its chin.

Splash!

One thrust is all it takes for the hyena's eyes to become dull and lifeless, toppling dead.

Thud!

[Type-1 beast killed, you have obtained 10 points!]

Alex straightened his back before he nodded his head, he then gazed up to look at the main spaceship that was in a low atmosphere. 'At least with this, the instructors would know that me and Natalia are still alive here'

Glancing at his hands, he clenched them a couple of times to feel his strength.

'Nice. Last night, I was nearing the middle rank of the Mage realm which made killing these Type-1 Beasts easier. I now could defeat them with only a knife' Alex pondered, nodding his head in satisfaction at his improvement. 'But this is not enough'

Meditating throughout the night and eating the remaining heart completely pays off.

It made him closer to achieving a small breakthrough.

In the world of mages, each major realm generally consists of three small realms.

Early, middle, and upper are the small realms. On the other hand, there are eight major realms to classify a mage which are Apprentice, Mage, True Mage, Sorcerer, Magus, Grand Magus, Magi King, and lastly, Divine Celestial.

A newly established mage would need to expand their connections first.

Only when the size of their connections to the Null Star becomes adequate that they reach the True Mage realm, exponentially increasing their mana capacity and also the power output of their spells.

Upon gaining the Nexus Mark, he instantly shot to the Mage realm.

A day's worth of training surprisingly made him near the next small realm, he could feel that circulating his mana became more efficient, causing this fast improvement that he was even shocked himself.

'Maybe being abandoned for a couple of days here is not a bad idea...'

Realizing that he could start his hunt to gain more beast hearts that he could use to train, Alex smiled as this tragedy provided him with an opportunity instead. If he played it right, he could use this chance to become way stronger.

It's not an everyday thing to have an endless supply of beasts.

Roar!

While he was dwelling inside his mind, a roar could be heard from the side.

Alex glanced to his right and found Natalia was also fighting a couple of Black Spotted Hyenas. She was capable of defending herself using her gloves that could cloak her hand with energy, manifesting a form of a Psi-blade.

Just like he expected, Natalia is skillful and able to move her body flexibly in a fight.

Compared to his fighting style, Natalia adopted a smoother one, leaving only small gashes but repeatedly until the Black Spotted Hyenas were too weak to fight back whereas Alex always aimed for their vital spots for a kill.

Likewise, Natalia finished taking care of three hyenas on her own.

Natalia exhaled in a controlled manner before she turned to look at Alex, she then smiled and approached, "I thought that in our batch, I already know all of the promising aspirants. Seems like I missed you, seeing that you have 813 physical points"

"Hmm...?" Alex frowned when he heard this, he was confused more than worried.

Finding that Alex was puzzled, Natalia explained "Oh, I'm wearing Visionators right now," She pointed at her eyes, rhyming with mechanical lights upon closer inspection. "It's the newest model, so I don't need to touch you to assess your physical points"

Upon hearing this, Alex could only smile wryly, 'I should've been more careful'

'Seems like I'll need to learn suppression spell first, it would be bad if someone with Visionators like Natalia could see my physical points improving as I become stronger. In the Hyperion Empire, this will make me stick out like a sore thumb...'