Competing II

As soon as the word 'Start!' was declared, the students sprung into action. They dashed into the Artificial Forest.

Where was the Artificial Forest exactly, you say?

The Artificial Forest was located outside academy island, it was on the north side of Octagram Island. It was a property solely owned by the academy, anyone other than the Octagram students or staff was prohibited to enter the forest.

How could the students go there, it was far from the campus, won't they be late and run out of time because the time limit was only 2 hours?

Why, of course, by using the warp gate, anything could happen. It was a world with magic and advanced technology, you remember?

The warp gate itself was located in the Wolf realm, where the student space–club buildings were located.

If someone here who had a <E> rank agility was to run at full speed, they could reach the warp gate in 5 minutes.

As we raced towards the warp gate, I couldn't help but notice the difference in agility stats among my group. Lio and Niah, with their <F> rank agility, were struggling to keep up, and I estimated it would take us 10 to 15 minutes to reach our destination.

In contrast, the high-rank students in the other group were helping their lower-ranked peers, carrying them or leading them by hand to fasten their pace.

For my group though, it looked like Ember and Enzo had no interest in doing that.

I caught up with Ember and Enzo, leaving Lio and Niah behind.

"Hey!" I shouted.

When they turned their attention slightly to me, I continued.

"You guys can go ahead and start hunting. I'll catch up with you later."

I gestured over my shoulder, indicating that I needed to wait for the other two.

"It would be better to turn on and share your real-time location with me."

Enzo nodded. Meanwhile, Ember quickly turned her attention ahead, slightly peeking at her Nova Watch.

As I slowed down to wait for Lio and Niah, Ember and Enzo disappeared from my sight.

"Zio…!"

Niah's naturally high-pitched voice, with its soprano-like quality, rang out in my ears as both Lio and Niah stopped before me, gasping for breath.

Seeing them like that, I couldn't help but smile, remembering my own struggles just a month ago.

"Let's take it slow from here," I said.

"But…!"

Niah shot up, her breath coming in ragged gasps, her P.E. uniform hugged her chest as it rose and fell with each heavy breath, her eyes fixed on me with determination.

The grey hoodie-type uniform she wore had red accents on the cuffs of the sleeves and the hem of the hoodie, adding a touch of sporty style to her appearance. I glanced down at my own uniform, which also had the same design and color as hers.

The uniform was made from a lightweight and breathable fabric, it was practical and comfortable, allowing for ease of movement during physical activities. The long pants, also in grey, reached down to our ankles and were made of the same material that ensured comfort during training sessions.

"It's fine. Just relax, they will get us points anyway."

"But, the individual points are…"

"You can worry about that later. The important part in this practice is the group points not individual points."

I looked at Lio who was in the same state as Niah.

"Don't you think so, Lio?"

He flinched at my question and spontaneously answered.

"Y-yes! I don't mind freebies!"

Eventually, Niah sighed and gave up. We kept it at a normal pace as we were running to the warp gate, not too slow nor not too fast.

Once we reached the Wolf realm, we headed straight to the warp gate and immediately found ourselves surrounded by trees once we teleported.

As we stepped into the Artificial Forest, I was taken aback by the astonishingly lifelike atmosphere. The air was thick with the earthy scent of pine, and a gentle breeze rustled through the leaves of the towering trees. The canopy above filtered the sunlight, casting dappled patterns on the forest floor, while the undergrowth was a lush carpet of ferns, moss, and wildflowers.

"This place is incredible!"

Niah exclaimed, her eyes wide with wonder.

Lio, who had been struck by the forest's scenery, spoke up.

"Yeah, I've never thought that 'Artificial Forest' would be like this. The trees, the air, everything feels so authentic," he said, emphasizing the word 'Artificial Forest'.

"Don't let it distract you from your goal, let's start hunting for points."

"Don't we need to regroup with Ember and Enzo first?" Niah asked.

"They are separated from each other, and our positions are far from each other. It'd be best if we start hunting first, collecting points, and who knows we might be regrouped by accident as we hunt."

They looked at each other, feeling rather anxious about my suggestion.

I understand where their anxiety came from. Before, they had rank 1 and rank 91 in their group, but now they were separated from them, leaving me–rank 911 as the highest rank in the group, and they thought that I wasn't as good as Ember and Enzo.

It was a bit hurting my feeling to have been doubted by someone. But, I didn't intend to back away. Just like Clara said, we needed to maintain the vibe in the group.

"It will be fine, trust me."

I put up my brightest smile to ensure them.

…

"Aim for its eyes."

Swoosh–!

Niah released her arrow after my instruction. The arrow cut through the air and hit the goblin's head deep.

Well, that was beyond my expectation. The reason I told her to aim for the eyes instead of the head was that I doubted her arrow could pierce it, but it seemed I was wrong about her.

Despite of being a Support, she was good with bow. Did she ever bothered with her role decision? Surely, she could ask the instructor if she want to change it.

"Good job!"

Lio and Niah exchanged a victorious high five, celebrating their successful hunt. Meanwhile, I looked at my Nova Watch to check the points we had collected.

After seemingly a half hour of exploring the forest, we added 5 group points from the four doll monsters we hunted. 3 goblins and a wolf beast. Also, in those hunts, I collected around 10 individual points.

My group was currently ranked third in the ranking, with a total of 23 points. The second rank group, 'Tigris-3', with a total of 25 points. And the first rank group, 'Draco-30', with a total of 34 points.

"I think it's time to regroup with Ember and Enzo."

Upon hearing that, Lio and Niah beamed me a smile and nodded excitedly.

Actually, the reason why I suggested regrouping was that I wanted to do something else.

All this time, I occasionally used my Pathfinding skill to trace the Dracolion, a monster that gave 10 points to the group that managed to subjugate them. Just recently, I used my Pathfinding skill for the third time and found its precise location.

I saw an image of the Dracolion fighting against a group of students. I had no idea which group they were in, but I couldn't miss the chance to steal the kill from them. It was a whole 10 group points, with a maximum of 20 individual points that one would get from contributing to the hunt and a solid 20 individual points for the one who did last hit and killed it.

Adding that to mine, I would get a total of 30 individual points effortlessly. Not to mention the point from the group…

I might be able to get around 100 merits in one go!

Looking at the hologram screen that popped up from my Nova Watch, there was a blue dot, indicating someone from my group was nearby.

The green arrow in the center of the map or compass screen was the indicator of my position, while the blue dots were my team members. Two dots with me was Lio and Niah. One dot slightly to the east from us, and another one far to the northwest.

According to the signal I got, it seemed like it was Enzo who was at the east. So, I headed there with Lio and Niah, but in the middle of the trip, I separated from them with the reason to meet Ember who was far from our current position.

They were hesitant at first of letting me go because they had not yet met with Enzo. When I told them that they would only need to just walk a few meters to meet him, they immediately ran off like scared cats.

Seeing them running frantically, I chuckled.

I turned around, stretched my body, and started coating my feet with mana. My limit on maintaining the mana coating before was 15 seconds, but now, as I mastered it little by little in a week, I could now maintain it for 25 seconds.

It might be not that much. But, another 10 seconds added to the duration were essential for just moving around.

I leaped into the nearby tree branch and stood on it, quickly making my way as I jumped from branch to branch like a ninja.

"Now, the thief game begins!"