Chapter 35: The Blue Plum Blossoms (Part 1)

"How long does it take to broadcast a single crash site?" 

"Well there's a lot happening right now, they're probably trying to locate which student- ah there it is." 

The image on one of the screens in the air suddenly changed to show the area in the forest where Julius had crashed. It was through the image displayed that they saw Julius standing coldly, staring down at something.

"Number 378, again? Didn't I tell you not to broadcast someone more interesting!?" 

It was the same man with the fattest silhouette who complained first. 

"No, this is interesting." Another silhouette interrupted.

As the camera panned down, it showed Julius what Julius was staring down at. There were two separate candidates, collapsed on the floor in front of him. They were knocked out clean.

"What!?" 

Because of the noise the man with the fat silhouette had made everyone's attention was diverted to the screen which showed Julius. 

During this time Julius had crouched down to grab the candidates' chest tags. Right before grabbing the tags however, he stopped and muttered something quietly.

"Don't do that, Nightmare… there's no need to torture them." 

There was a bit of confusion throughout the room, no one knew what those words meant. 

Upon removing the tags, they beeped red before a bright light enveloped them and the two knocked out candidates. 

Within a second, both the candidates and tags had disappeared. At the same time, Julius's chest tag flashed green twice, with the number 2 appearing below it. 

"Ah, so that's how it works… that's useful." Julius muttered before yawning. 

After that, he began to look around for something. On the tree, his eyes caught sight of a tiny gecko. He gazed at the gecko and it stared back, right at him.

The entire room began to look at the screen with amusement. He was staring right at them. 

"He found one of the cameras."

In a silent gesture, he raised his hand towards the lizard and closed it. In that moment, the camera cut off and instead showed static.

"He cut the camera off on his end…"

"Looks like he doesn't want to be watched."

"But how did he figure out we were watching him?"

"It looks like there was more to him than I thought." Muttered the man with the fat silhouette as he recognised his mistake.

The opinion on Number 378 had completely shifted. He had gained the interest of many in the room. 

At the far end of the table, the silhouette of a man who had not spoken a single word could be seen grinning. 

"Number 378… looks like this year we have another interesting candidate." 

-

-

-

Julius stared at the corpse of the gecko that he had killed. The feeling of being watched had disappeared.

'Looks like I was right… that gecko was probably someone's control through an ability… the question is, who was watching me? Was it another candidate or…?'

After thinking about it for a few seconds, Julius sighed.

"Haa… who cares, let's make another slingshot. I've got eight more candidates to catch." 

So far the rewards from completing quests have been very useful, so of course he would go to such lengths to complete another.

Unfortunately, Julius hadn't receive any experience points from beating the candidates in the fight. It proved that even the only way to gain experience would be from killing another being. 

Julius didn't feel compelled to kill the candidates who had not wrong or hurt him in any way, all for some experience points. Meaning he could only grow from this exam if he capitalized on the quest or killed monsters. 

'Still… I wonder how many experience points I'd get from killing someone…' 

Julius shook his head before slamming his palms on his cheeks, causing them to redden.

'Ah, that's not good… If I start thinking like that there will be no going back… let's think of something else.'

He glanced at his health and energy.

[HP: 70%] 

[Energy: 73%]

"I should be able to survive catapulting myself a few more times… I just need to angle it a little higher so I'm not dragged forward by the moment like last time." He convinced himself before searching for some suitable trees.

-

"I need some water…" Lyra narrowed her eyes.

She was sat by a tree, catching her breath whilst exhausted from her sprint. 

"Hey, do you have any water?" She asked before looking up at the figure suspended in the air in front of her."I broke out into a sprint from the start, I knew I should've jogged."

The figure was that of a girl. She had threads wrapped around her arms and legs, preventing her from moving. 

[Thread Manipulation: Restrictive Coffin.]

"You bitch… how could I possibly have any water? Serves you right." 

Lyra got up, furrowing her brows. 

"Bitch? What's with that attitude, you're the one who attacked me." She responded as she walked up to the girl. 

"Just wait until I break free from these threads. I'm gonna rip that-" 

The girl was interrupted as Lyra took off her chest tag.

"Wai-" 

A surge of light enveloped her and she disappeared before she could say anything else. Meanwhile, Lyra's chest tag flashed green once, and the number '1' appeared below her number, [380].

"Haa… what a rude lady." Lyra sighed before looking off into the distance. "Julius and Ruby will be fine… But I can't help but feel worried about Ava…" 

Lyra got back to running after catching her breath; if anything, she had to find Ava before any other candidates did. 

She was worried but it wasn't because Ava was weak. Lyra who had grown up with Ava and had gone on many expeditions with her, knew her abilities better than anyone. 

Ava was insanely strong, far stronger than Lyra and not in any way inferior to Julius or Ruby. The problem lied however, with her ability.

"If she uses her ability… things could get bad…"

-

Ava ran across the forest, avoiding the vines as she traversed past the trees. Not once had she stopped to take a break. 

She moved fast, in terms of physical prowess and stamina, she excelled compared to the other candidates in the exam. Among the few who were leading, she was one of them.

Although she had encountered monsters on her journey, she was not slowed by them. She dealt with them effortlessly, blowing past them and slicing their heads off with her steel sword in one motion.

She seemed impossible to stop until-

*Swoosh!*

An unexpected swing came from her sides, forcing her to parry. From the collision, she slid to the side, causing her to stop. 

She turned to the source of the swing, only to find a tall skinny swordsman with long brown hair tied back in a pony-tail. As he was much taller than her, he had a clear advantage in terms of reach.

"You move fast for someone who's not using an ability. I thought I wouldn't be able to catch you- Whoa, I hadn't noticed earlier but you're gorgeous… instead of fighting, why don't we team up?" He grinned. 

Lyra returned his grin with a cold stare. Although her face was expressionless, you could tell from the air around her that she wanted nothing to do with him.

"Not interested. Get into your stance… or you'll die."