Maze part 1

"!?"

The bright light from his feet blinded him.

A teleportation circle!?

WHOOOOSH!

He felt a familiar sense of loss for a split second before appearing in a dimly lit area.

Three paths stood in his presence, leading to the unknown.

He was surrounded by tall stone walls that easily reached a hundred metres.

As he came to his senses he noticed that he wasn't the only one that was present within these stone walls.

There were three other people who were with him. All with different and distinct Traits as well.

One was a short man with burly muscles a Dwarf, another was a lady with fox ears and a big tail, a for kin and finally the one who had the most unusual and powerful presence out of all the people presence was a human who had gleaming blonde hair and crimson red eyes.

"Hello-!"

Before Liam could introduce himself to the people around him, a loud announcement echoed throughout the dimly lit area.

"The first task for the exam is to have all of you navigate your way out of the maze. The earlier you finish, the higher your score will be, so do your best. The people who fail to escape from the maze in three hours will be kicked out of the Academy. Oh don't even think about climbing the walls, because some of you might get struck by lightning and we placed some monsters around as obstacles, so have fun with those as well."

The announcer was none other than Olivia Montague, the teacher that gave a small speech before all of them got transported in the maze.

After hearing the announcement, the dwarf and the fox kin started to visibly panic.

Liam guessed that two of his companions were never thrown into a sudden predicament such as this, especially when their admission to the academy was clearly in the line.

Liam also never heard of the exams before, he thought that getting an invitation or a recommendation from the Academy was enough for them to actually get a pass to become a student.

Liam was already used to getting forced into a predicament. His master would throw him into unexpected situations that almost always caused him his life, so a simple test like this wasn't going to easily faze him.

Though, one thing bothered him greatly and it was the blonde haired man with crimson eyes was also unfazed by the situation, rather, to Liam, he seemed to radiate an aura of absolute confidence and power, similar to an aura he felt whenever he saw his master, but weaker.

Liam ultimately decided to introduce each other first and team up, knowing that there were monsters roaming around the maze. It was best to take it easy and navigate the maze together for maximum efficiency and safety, so he took a step forward and broke the silence between the group.

"Hey everyone, I just wanted to introduce myself. Miss Olivia disrupted me before I could, so how about we team up, so we can easily get through this-!"

WHOOOSH!

Before Liam could finish talking, the blonde haired teen with crimson eyes darted to one of the paths in the maze and disappeared from the trio's view.

What the hell is going on today????

Liam and his two other companions were left speechless at their speedy companion.

"Hahahaha, anyways as I said earlier, my name is Liam Grace. How about teaming up to get out of here?" said Liam as he awkwardly laughs.

******

Theo's POV

"Sorry, Liam. As much as I want to get to know you. I have a bet to fulfil against Selene"

Theo sped through the maze without hesitation. He already knew the way to the exit after all. He didn't want Selene, who got teleported closer to the exit, if the story goes in the intended direction, get to the exit before him.

Even if he was at a disadvantage in terms of distance, he wanted to get first place to cement himself as the victor of their bet. 

Usually this was where the player would meet the other protagonist in earnest, with the exception of Selene and Theo situation, and acquire the new something new in the menu, the Affection menu, where the player can access the favorability of other main characters and side characters the player has interacted with.

As the academy exam starts, Theo would be paired up with Liam and Selene would be paired up with a certain female main character. 

It was the start where the game gets increasingly bigger and more options would be given to the player to suit their playstyle.

Getting to know and getting along with other main characters was a must in the game. 

Without them growing or them not being in your party means the end of the world, so increasing the favorability of the other main characters always remains a priority for every single player.

There is also the fact that increasing the favorability of any main character also makes them automatically do their own side quests more frequently and persuading them to be permanently in your party becomes easier as well.

All the players that made it past the Prologue enjoyed the Favorability system in the game and especially to the players who loved a bit of romance in their game as well.

Liam especially was one of the best characters to start with if you ever want to see a lot of different kinds of romance.

He wasn't called the "Love Magnet" for a reason.

Theo was leisurely dashing through the maze until familiar figures popped up on the next turn he took

"It's been a while since I've seen you guys"

More than dozen kobolds with leather armour and a variety of rusted weapons barred his path to his intended goal.

Kobold Knights, all within the intermediate tier realm.

Usually a group of students would tackle this obstacle in the game.

All of the bipedal monsters drooled and growled at Theo, who was hastily dashing towards them.

Defeating the kobolds with the main character you were with would raise the favorability metre by a decent margin, making it easier for the player to have more interactions with that certain character in the future.

Usually It would take at least three Adept tier individuals to barge through the pack of kobolds unscathed, to continue the main task of escaping the maze with enough energy to pass.

Dealing with the Kobolds of this number alone, even for a genius, would normally exhaust their stamina and potentially fail the exam for their overconfidence, but Theo was different.

He was a prodigy like none other, a peak Astute tier Holy knight.

A dozen intermediate tier monsters were just a bunch of wooden poles that were in his way, a small obstacle that he would pass to attain his victory from his eternal rival.

Theo summoned Dawn, which glinted at the dimly lit room, as it radiated a golden aura that transformed into enchanting flames.

Before the Kobolds could even take a step forward and react, Theo swung his blade with great momentum.

WHOOOOOSH!*

The dimly lit maze turned day from the flames that launched from Theo's sword, burning every kobold in its wake.

Not even a second passed and all of the kobolds already turned into nothing but ash.

Such was the power of Theo, even a peak Astute tier individual wouldn't come close in displaying such a casual show of power.

Theo ran past the remains of what was left of the Kobolds without a single sweat down his face and smiled as he hoped that Selene would struggle more at the challenge that was ahead of her.

******

Liam POV

WHOOOOOSH!*

A fight!?

"I'm going ahead! I'll go check things out ahead!"

After giving a heads up to his two companions, Liam darted forward in a blinding speed, leaving the other two in the dust.

Liam had an inkling that the culprit of the noise was their companion that sprang ahead of them.

Is that guy in trouble?

Liam was always a man that helped those in front of him.

He doubted that the person that left them would be in trouble because of the sheer speed they ran and the powerful aura they radiated would face trouble, but it was better safe than sorry, so Liam ran with urgency with his spear on hand, ready to confront any foe that would pop up in any corner.

After a few seconds of full sprinting, he finally turned to the corner to where the noise came from.

"What the hell happened here?"

He momentarily paused and walked towards the battle scene.

Liam could tell with a glance that the fight, rather the slaughter only took a moment to end everything.

"Hahahaha, so this was what Master meant that I would meet three other people that were definitely as strong or stronger than me in the academy, who were around my age"

Liam simply laughed dryly as he stared at what remained of the monsters that his fellow companion slayed.

He knew because pieces of kobold fur lay strewn across the ground and some pieces of what seemed to be broken and burnt armour.

Liam was at the start of the Astute tier and he knew from his well developed observation skills that he learned through tooth and nail from his master that Liam would need to use a fourth of his power to enact such a feat, which was already way stronger than the normal Astute tier individual.

Liam looked ahead and imagined what the scene was like in front of him.

"Looks like I still have a long way to go as you said, Master"

Liam was starting to believe in the corner of his head that he was the strongest within his peers, but this became a sign to him that he was simply arrogant and naive to think that his Master was making stories up to push him further.

He apologised to his Master in his heart as he imagined how he'd approach the person that massacred more than a dozen of Kobolds in a second.