Lith felt a white brilliance in front of his eyes. He close his eyes and then opened it again after a few seconds but he did it slowly. He looked around and found himself in a forest. He thought
‘It seems, I need to survive here. What a bad place to be in. Sigh, should I continue with my act or should I try to fight it out for survival?’
He fell in a dilemma. If he was to act innocent and pure, he would die here. He knew resurrection was possible but if he died here, his mom and big sister would be sad and also angry at the academy and his mom may even burn it down. He didn’t want to take his chances. He then had an idea. He thought
‘I wouldn’t fight nor would I try to get in contact with any strong creature. I would simply hide and wait it out for 100 days or maybe sleep? Idk but I definitely should not come into contact with strong creatures and fight them and reveal my abilities. Hmm, I’ll probably fight some low rank beasts and eat them and survive for 100 days.
Got it! I’ll act gullible and innocent in front of people or intelligent creatures and I would act tough and strong in front of beasts or creatures who merely live on their instincts. Yes, it may work. I can hopefully create an image which would state me as a person who can definitely survive in the wild but a person who cannot live properly and needs training to survive in this scheming and treacherous world.
This definitely would ensure that my innocent act stays and would also show how strong I am to others. Fuck, I am a genius, ain’t I?’
Lith after his little talk with himself in his mind, started moving into the forest. He was on lookout and was observing every possible sign of life here. His observation skills were top notch and it wasn’t too difficult for him to avoid beasts. These beats in this forests were all low rank or rather, they have to be low rank or the children might die without even having a chance to fight back. There was no point on having super strong beasts present here as it would only result in either the children tearing their slip and going out or dying.
Lith knew this fact and also, such low rank beasts who ran on nothing but their instincts were easy to observe. He could see claw marks, fur, footprints, faeces and many other such things of these low rank beasts easily. He could therefore very easily predict where they would be present and so, could hide well. There was no need for him to be in trouble and surviving 100 days seemed very easy to him.
Lith while moving through the dense forest, found many edible plants and low rank beasts. He hunted them and stored them in his pouch. He then went near a cave which was located below a big cliff. This place seemed safe to Lith and he went near a big tree in front of the cave and carved it’s insides to have a little space to stay.
He wasn’t foolish enough to use the cave as any beast could come there anytime. A tree was a good choice as it would not attract any attention to anyone. The tree was pretty big. It’s girth was big enough for Lith to carve a small room in it. He could sleep, sit and could even cook inside.
Lith casted a basic spell called ‘Move’. It was a spell which could move Earth, fire, water or wind to anywhere he wanted at a limited radius and the size of the radius would increase as his own magical rank increases. This spell was very easy to use. One only needed to feel the Element in the surrounding that they wanted to move and the spell would do it for them.
Lith casted the spell and felt the Earth element and with it’s help, he removed a little bit of soil from the ground and shifted it to the tree bark. He then shaped the soil into a furnace and used water and fire to make it rigid and sturdy enough to hold utensils and not break by excess heat from the fire.
This was a simple stove that he made to cook food. He casted many wind move spell on the area near the stove so that the aroma of the food was not spread in the surroundings, thereby alerting the beasts.
He cooked food and drank water by casting a water spell and then slept.
The days passed just like that. No mishaps occurred in this low level forest and Lith was basically doing nothing but hunting, eating and sleeping. He would choose a different tree after a few days and would always avoid the beasts. Because of Lucy’s training, he was very tough and he could even survive in high level forests, not to mention this low level one. This difficulty to survive in this forest could be considered as E rank.
It was not too high for rank 1s nor too low. Lith was a rank 2 and he could even fight a rank 5 easily. This test was nothing but wasting his precious time for him. He nevertheless, did the monotonous routine everyday. Hunt, eat and sleep. That was it for him.
Days passed just like that and there weren’t any problems that occurred to Lith. He, due to his superior observational skills, didn’t even meet one strong beast. He didn’t even need to unleash too much of his abilities to hunt either. He was proficient in spear and he would directly kill a small beast with it and hunt it for food everyday.
100 days went without a hitch and Lith was teleported to the test room from where he entered the dimensional gate. He saw the same man and the man looked at him with a happy smile and said in a gentle tone
“Congratulations. You have passed this test. The examination is almost done. You would now need to wait until the Combat Examination begins after all the examinees have taken these four initial tests like you. That would be done in 15 days and you would then fight with other candidates and ensure your final standing in this year’s entrance test.
The combat examination is more of a tournament than an exam. There would be many rounds and you only need to be in the top 10,000 to finally ensure your admittance in the academy. But, the higher your rank in it, the more benefits you would get in the academy as well as it would decide in what class you will be in.
Please wait until further notice. You may exit through the door on your right and you’ll be teleported to the place you were previously teleported from. Goodluck for your tournament and have a nice day.”
The examiner explained to Lith and Lith nodded his head. Lith listened intently to everything and nodded from time to time. Finally after the examiner finished, he ran to the exit but before going there, he turned back and said shyly
“T-thankyou, s-sir.”
And then ran back into the exit. The examiner chuckled at his behaviour and got back to work.
…..
Inside the Principal’s office.
“I didn’t expect him to perform so well in all his tests. Looking at his innocent nature, I thought he would panick and instantly tear the slip and end the survival exam but who would’ve thought he was so observational. He merely hid from all the beasts and stayed there for 100 days. His perseverance is very good. To do nothing but a monotonous routine of hunting, eating and sleeping, this is not easy.
Well, he seems a nice kid. Everything about him is good except for his innocent nature. Well, can’t blame him or anyone else. He is only thirteen. He is very small and his maturity matches his age. Nobody should be blaming him for it either.
I hope he does well in the Combat Examination. His admittance in the academy is confirmed but I’ll decide about his protection once the combat examination is over. I hope you do well, dear Lith.”
Emilia sat behind the desk and said to herself. She was watching Lith all this time.
She found Lith to not only be cute and pure but also intelligent and tough. The only flaw she found in him was that he was very green. Though it was a flaw, it only made a much more better impression of him in Emilia’s eyes. Though this could be improved. The academy was a place meant to shape the children and no one was without flaws that got admission in it.
She had some plans regarding his protection but then she delayed it once again. She would wait and see his combat ability in the tournament first.
She shut the screen off and slumped on the table and slept. It was an exhausting day for her and she now wanted to relax.
…..
Inside a hotel in Lenz City.
A black haired, blue eyed boy was sitting on a bed and opposite to him was a man who looked very domineering but looked the same. They were both sitting silently and looking at the badge on the boy’s chest. This had been going on for an hour and half.
After the previous conversation between the father-son duo, the place fell silent. They both didn’t talk and only waited quietly. A few seconds later,The boy vanished from the spot. The man looked at the empty spot in front of him and muttered
“Let’s see what surprise you were talking about, Liam.”
…..
Liam felt a white brilliance and he had to close his eyes due to that. He soon opened it again a few seconds later and found himself in front of a metallic door. He looked around and found many kids. He didn’t know the number of kids there were as anywhere he looked, he found nothing but kids of different races.
Suddenly, everyone heard a monotonous voice
“Examinee number 1, enter the metallic door.”
Liam heard it and walked forward to the metallic door. After he entered, the monotonous voice rang outside again
“Examinee number 2, enter the metallic door.”
The kid with registration number as 2 went inside.
The students who were standing all felt a ticking noise coming from their badges as it started ticking non stop.
It was not only them, the students all over the Lenz city felt the ticking noise. The number 0 examinee was taking the exam for an hour and a half and their badges were silent the whole time but now it had started ticking a lot.
Although everyone in Lenz city and also in front of the metallic door was surprised by this ticking, they knew the reason for it.
It was a rule in the academy as the examination process would officially only start for everyone when the first examinee has completed his examination process. Only the first examinee was called on the academy grounds alone and had to go through the exams. After he was done, a whole batch of students would be teleported at once. The number may go in thousands.
So the badges would tick nonstop until all the candidates outside the metallic gate have went inside to start their examination.
Why was this the case every year? It was merely a simple ritual done by the academy to make the students ready to take the exam.
If a group of kids were directly teleported without any notice, it would create a little bit of panick among them. So, each year, one student takes the exam first and by this, the other students would know that the examination has started and it could be their turn anytime, so they ready themselves.
It was a simple and effective ritual by the academy. This was the reason why everyone wanted to be first as they would get a bit of fame even before they did anything in the academy.