The hall buzzed with noise after my spiritual power was measured, the air practically vibrating with excitement and tension.
"Silence!" the head invigilator roared, his voice echoing through the vast space. The crowd immediately fell quiet as a female invigilator stepped forward.
"As explained earlier," she began, her voice calm yet commanding, "the second test will take place in a created small dimension. Within this dimension, you will find leech spirits inhabiting a jungle terrain. This test focuses on teamwork and combat ability. Although leech spirits are the weakest type of wandering spirits, do not underestimate them. One alone cannot harm an ordinary human, but a pack can be lethal—even to the Awakened like you. While you cannot die in this test, your spiritual core can be severely damaged."
The hall hung onto her every word.
"Each participant must kill a total of 30 leech spirits to pass. Moreover," she continued, her lips curving into a knowing smile, "the top performer in this exam will be rewarded with an elixir and may even earn a Level 1 Trainee Badge. Others will begin from Level 0. So do not let the first test weigh you down—this second stage carries even greater weight. I wish you all the best."
With her speech finished, the atmosphere shifted. A new wave of motivation swept through the candidates. Those who had previously felt inferior now saw a fresh chance at redemption. Unfortunately for me, I was alone—Izana Company had only one recruit: me.
Despite my high spiritual energy, I had no spells, no talismans—only the sword Roger entrusted to Shizu for me. But that wouldn't stop me.
"Celestina, are you seriously letting that trash boy slide?" Endo muttered, irritation flashing across his face as he glared in my direction.
"I miscalculated," Celestina admitted, biting her nails in frustration. "But thinking about it— I don't think he has learnt how to use spells, or has talismans yet. Against a horde of leech spirits, he'll have to rely purely on physical combat. He might have shined earlier, but this test will expose his weaknesses."
"Celestina-sama is right," her lackeys chimed in, visibly relieved.
"In fact," one of them suggested slyly, "why don't we... mess with him a little? After all, the rules never said we couldn't interfere with others."
Celestina's eyes gleamed. "Good idea. To make sure he doesn't create any unexpected variables. We can't allow Izana to rise—no matter what."
"Yes ma!"
They all agreed fervently, bound by their loyalty.
"It would have been smarter to recruit him," Celestina muttered to herself, annoyed. "How did Izana even find someone like him? Tsk."
With the examinees set, the final test commenced.
We stepped through the portal into the exam grounds—a realistic recreation of a dense, misty jungle. Fog curled around towering trees, the sunlight barely penetrating the thick canopy. Despite knowing it was an artificial space, the authenticity stunned me.
I found myself alone in a clearing, the air heavy with moisture. I could sense no other examinees nearby. Moving cautiously, I tried to navigate toward lighter terrain.
Nana had suggested earlier that I join forces with her group, which seemed like a wise plan now. In theory, I knew how to fight leech spirits, but I'd never faced them in reality. Being alone greatly increased my chances of getting hurt.
Suddenly, a rustling sound behind me snapped me into action. I dodged forward instinctively—and turned to find dozens of leech spirits lunging toward me. I sidestepped right, my back now against a tree, only to see even more spirits closing in. Another disturbance—this time behind me—forced me to roll into the center of the horde.
They had surrounded me, their numbers forming a living dome. I couldn't even estimate how many there were—150? Maybe double.
"This got bad real fast," I muttered.
Sword in hand, I surveyed the swarm. Facing them directly wasn't the problem—I already had a plan thanks to the book I'd studied. The real threat was the toxic mist they emitted: Jigoku Gasu, or Hell Gas.
Hell-Born the general name for all creatures releases this gas, which causes uncontrollable emotional states. For ordinary humans, it forced intense emotional outbursts. For the Awakened, it induced paralyzing fear, mental disorientation—or even madness. That was why mental fortitude was emphasized so heavily in our training.
I could feel the gas already gnawing at my mind, rooting fear deep into my bones.
The leech spirits sensed my hesitation and began creeping closer.
But I struck first.
Embedding my spiritual energy into the sword, I slashed through them, cutting ten down instantly. My spiritual surge frightened the rest, and they scattered like cockroaches from light.
Leech spirits were the lowest of the Hell-Borns. Embedding spiritual energy into a weapon was enough to kill them. While spells and talismans made the job easier, they weren't necessary. They had no strong claws, no armored bodies—only speed, tentacles hands for strong grip, a circle mouth that looked like a vacuum and numbers to overwhelm prey. Awakened individuals like myself were their favorite targets, but ironically, they feared spiritual presences the most.
My strategy was simple: hide my aura, bait them, strike hard, then release my spiritual pressure to drive survivors away—repeating the cycle until I met the kill quota.
Ten minutes later, a ring of dead leech spirits surrounded me. Checking the device, we'd been given to track kills, I saw my count: 428.
Far above the minimum requirement.
Exhausted, I collapsed onto the ground with a heavy sigh. During the battle, I'd managed to move to better terrain. The few remaining leech spirits now avoided me entirely—no doubt because the stench of their dead companions clung to my clothes.
"Guess I'll rest a bit, then find Nana and her crew," I muttered.
Meanwhile, in the exam hall, the spectators were in uproar.
They could view our activities live, and the leaderboard flashed prominently:
Evergrey: 635 kills (1st place), Yuzuara: 555 kills (2nd place), Iroha: 500 kills (3rd place), Behemoth: 486 kills (4th place), and Izana (me): 428 kills (5th place)
The crowd buzzed with disbelief and excitement.
"That guy's amazing!"
"Only him but his already among the top five"
"Why's a foreign company leading?"
"What are Yuzuara and Iroha doing, letting a British company beat them on Japanese soil?"
"Isn't that the company with the girl who scored 50,000 in spiritual measurements?"
Amid the chatter, Shizu, accompanied by Chifuyu, sauntered over to Celestina, wearing a smug grin.
"Looks like my boy's outperforming your group, Celes," Shizu teased.
"The count just became 505 to 428," Celestina replied smoothly. "Impressive for him, but if you do the math logically, you'll see where these ends."
"Oh, make that 450 to 505 now," Shizu smirked, glancing at the updated leaderboard.
Celestina frowned, her eyes narrowing towards the screen showing the performance of the examinees.
"Still," she said with a hidden smile, "you might not want to get too comfortable, Shizu."
Shizu grabbed Celestina's collar, her smile dropping.
"What is the meaning of this Celestina!?" she demanded grabbing her by the collar.
"Shizu, calm down!" Chifuyu whispered urgently, trying to pull her away.
"Don't tell me to calm down when her little puppets are planning to attack Deluke!" Shizu snapped, shaking Chifuyu off.
"This is still an exam hall," Chifuyu hissed. "You'll just get yourself into trouble. You know we can always take it to the invigilators to complain"
"That would be a waste of time, they never said conflict was forbidden," Endo chimed in smugly.
Reluctantly, Shizu released Celestina.
"Oh, so you're trying to provoke him into retaliating?" she mused. "Good. Because if it's allowed...then you're the ones in trouble."
Her confident smirk stunned them all.
"What do you mean by that?" Celestina asked uneasily.
"That's cap!" Endo calls her bluff.
"Let's just watch and see," Shizu said, folding her arms and staring confidently at the screen—right as I made my encounter with the Iroha Company during the final moments of the exam.