First Stage

They arrived in the middle of what appeared to be a city, each team was scattered throughout the city by the teleportation. "Where are we?" Neo asked softly.

[This is the first stage of the Aenist Exams, it is a survival stage. You have to survive the upcoming wave of several assailants for a given duration in order to advance to the next stage]

Neo nodded slowly after seeing the message that appeared in front of him, the three of them went further into town cautious of their environment as they didn't know what to expect.

"Keep your eyes open." Vanessa spoke sharply, both Neo and Xenos nodded at her words as they moved.

[50:00]

The system displayed the time duration to Neo which indicated that the survival stage had officially begun.

Their movements stopped after hearing a large roar from all around the city. It sounded like several beasts had roared at once. Xenos smiled running forward swiftly and abandoning his teammates.

His reason for doing so was related to his abilities, in terms of favourable outcome Xenos was the center of it.

"H-hey!" Neo yelled out as Xenos left them.

"Tch, don't move for your own sake!." Vanessa yelled out to Neo running after Xenos. As she figured out that Neo had just awakened she regarded him as a drawback in this battle as he hadn't figured out his abilities. What's worst she felt like she shouldered a burden by protecting him in this stage.

"So much for team work." Neo sighed as he walked forward towards the direction his teammates ran off to.

[Recommended: Misdirection and Camouflage]

As a message with his camouflage skill appeared in front of him as a recommendation, Neo realized that something was headed towards him. Luckily for him, his body was properly trained for this skill and the memories of the previous host assassin techniques and skills were available to him.

He could remember exactly how he learnt it, he made use of the camouflage skill for stealth and leaped towards a building, he swiftly ran up the walls till he reached the roof. He had no time to marvel at the things he could do so he made sure to completely conceal his presence and crouched as he stared down at whatever approached him.

A few seconds past, the silhouette of a man beast approached the building Neo crouched on, it's body resembled that of a wolf except it stood on its two feet and it was 7foot tall. It took sniffs of the ground below him and recognized the scents of three humans.

"What kind of place is this?!" Neo exclaimed within his thoughts. The principal wasn't joking around when she said it was a fight for survival. The whole 373 teams went in with the assumption that they would have to survive against each other, but that wasn't the case.

As terrified as Neo was, he had no choice but to fight. He couldn't level up if he ran the other way. Using stealth he snuck up behind the wolf-beast, as he got close to it he neglected one thing. It was a wild animal with a keen sense of smell. It turned around swiftly after picking up the scent of a boy.

At that closing moment Neo realized he had been spotted, his fears were shut off like a switch that was flipped.

[You have learnt a new skill]

[The Assassins Instincts (level 1)]

The memories of the previous host assassination instincts rushed through his mind and kicked in forcing Neo to submit to it.

The wolf-beast saw nothing as it turned around, Neo utilized his skills in the shadows subconsciously moving swiftly and avoiding the wolf-beast sight.

The wolf-beast realized there was someone present and it growled, his mouth was drooling with saliva and it turned around picking up the scent of a boy once more. It found Neo standing in it's field of vision, he was silent, his hair covered his forehead and casted a shadow over his eyes and he had no expression on his face.

It growled loudly raising it's right hand in the air and it's claws were revealed. It swung it's claws down at the face of Neo, he tilted his neck to his left swiftly and avoided the claws of the wolf. Neo quickly stretched his right palm forward and placed it on the chest of the large Wolf-beast.

Electricity surged through his arm and into his palm as he built up the electric burst which blasted a large hole right through the wolf-beast's chest. The light from his electric burst was highly bright and everyone could see it including Zeno and Vanessa.

"Reo!" Vanessa exclaimed, she already caught up with Xenos who took down two E rank beasts. As they both saw the light they rushed back towards Neo after realizing the source of the light came from the direction Neo was in.

"Shit! you shouldn't have left him alone! He just awakened!" Xenos yelled at Vanessa who grunted, they never thought to assume that the light came from Neo himself instead they assumed the worst.

The wolf-beast slumped to the ground dead, Neo stood still with his head facing down at the ground as if he was controlled. A few seconds later he came to his senses.

"W-what happened.." He felt dizzy as he tried remembering what happened.

[You killed a C rank beast]

[You have gained 100XP]

[You have levelled up a skill]

[The Assassins Instincts>level 2)]

"A C rank beast?" Neo exclaimed looking at the dead body of the wolf beast.

It seemed the principal left out some key details which was very essential in passing the first stage.

"Reo!" Vanessa exclaimed as she caught a glimpse of Neo. He turned around and saw both Vanessa and Xenos approaching him quickly.

"Thank goodness your okay...wait, you're...okay?" Vanessa spoke in confusion as she looked at the dead beast at Neo's feet, she certainly wasn't expecting this.

"Okay that's offensive." Neo replied her softly before crouching to his knees, he examined the creature thoroughly. He got to his feet swiftly on realization with his eyes spread wide.

"Come on! I know what to do!" He exclaimed swiftly to his teammates and ran further into the city after the discovery he made, Vanessa and Xenos stared at him as they were still taken aback after seeing the hole in the wolf-beast's chest and pondered on how Neo defeated it.