The Real Marooner?

"You mean you want to take a lower number?" Milosh looked at Miles with disappointment.

"There is someone else taking the madman test. He should arrive any minute." Miles smiled brightly and said.

"What?" Milosh looked at Miles with bewilderment and asked the Clerk standing nearby. "How many you said you dropped in the valley?"

"We dropped only one, and it was this young man." The clerk too was confused.

"He said the test was too easy for his taste, so he would walk from Unity to all the way here. He is stronger than me too, so I will take Number 2," Miles said.

On his third day in the valley, he was battling more than 10 monsters and two mutated animals. He was in quite a dire situation at the time and was even wounded from his abdomen. Just when he was about to succumb to death, lightning crackled in the air and saved him from the gates of death.

Miles couldn't see the person because of the illusion still preventing him from seeing or hearing, but from the image, Coin streamed, he noticed the man was not older than 18. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. Fair skin with a handsome face. He was wearing vermillion-colored armor with gold ornaments. A white cape was flapping behind him. He was holding a Guandao in his hand.

When Miles asked him if he was a student of the academy, he said, "I soon will be. I guess so will you? I will see you there."

Miles was impressed by his strength and calmness. Although from the way he acted, it was certain that he wasn't under the illusion, it was still a feat to act so calmly in the valley. Also, the way he killed the monsters with his lightning, he was so damn strong.

Milosh looked at Miles, then nodded. There was still some more time until the countdown ended, so he decided to wait.

Soon, there was only a minute left, but no one was coming. Miles looked at the gate anxiously. The man saved him, so he wanted to repay him, but if he was late, he was not sure if Milosh would accept him.

"Seems like he is not coming," Milosh said and shook his head. There were only 10 seconds left when a silhouette appeared in the distance. It was the same person Miles had seen but this time, instead of Coin's stream he was seeing with his own eyes.

He was still the same. Miles lost his armor and clothes while fighting, but the teen was still wearing the armor with a white cape. There was not even a speck of dust that could be seen. He was smiling brightly while carrying a giant leather sack. He was still slowly walking as if nothing could faze him.

"You only have 2 seconds left," Milosh shouted.

"WHAATT!" The teen who looked like wouldn't stop smiling even if the moon collapsed made a caricature face of surprise as lightning cracked on his body. In a second, he was inside the gates of the academy.

"Why have you chosen to walk from Unity instead of being dropped to the valley?" Milosh looked at the teen with a smile and asked.

"Valley seemed too easy to travel, so I wanted to try and see if I could walk all the way from Unity." The teen said with a bright smile. Girls in the group were already blushing.

"And, how long did it take?" Milosh asked.

"A month." The teen said with a frown, "3 weeks and 5 days. Hm." He nodded.

"Alright, This young man here is Number 1. He said you are more deserving to be the Number 1, what do you think?" Milosh said after he explained everything once again.

"I wonder. He is pretty strong too. He was battling dozens of monsters with his bare hands when I saw him. He didn't even use his superpower once." The teen said while holding his chin in thought.

"Because he doesn't have one," Milosh said with a smile.

"An Oafish?!" The teen showed that surprised face once again. "But, he is in Form-Rank?"

"Yeah, so what is your power?" Milosh asked.

"My superpower is Ukko Incarnation. Low-tier of Form-Rank. Heart Seed. I have used 3 Strengthening Serums." Teen said.

"YOU ARE—" One of the girls looked at the teen and exclaimed in shock.

"You are the Marooner, right!" The girl said as he looked at the teen. Miles turned to look at them and saw them pointing at the teen instead of him. He sighed in relief, but then it hit him. The teen was wearing vermillion armor, he had lightning powers and he was pretty strong too. Even Miles was suspecting him to be the Marooner.

"No, no I am not." Teen tried to explain but everyone was looking at him in admiration. "Not again." The teen sighed and squatted on the ground in depression.

"All right, since he wants to give Number 1, from now on you are the Number 1 and he is the Number 2. You will be shown your accommodations now, and after an hour a guide will introduce the rest of the academy.

"Before that—" Miles started as he kicked the leather sack he brought with him. "Can I exchange them for Merit Points? I didn't know the hunting rules, so I didn't collect walking dead and animal ears though." Miles said as he opened the sack. Inside, there were more than 200 hundred monster cores and orbs with different tiers. Students looked at him with surprise, while Milos grinned.

"Sure, a clerk will do the count and exchange it with Merit Points," Milosh said.

"Oh, we can do that? I have some too." Number 1 said as he put the leather sack he was carrying onto the ground. He opened the sack and there was at least twice the number of cores than Miles.

"Looks like the academy is as promised. Filled with beasts!" Miles thought in his heart and smiled.

******

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