The exam ground was a sprawling forest with large white stones and ruined buildings seen from time to time.
Lilac moved like a blur, her movements precise as her senses caught the trails of beasts.
Although her memory was blurry, Lilac could feel her muscle memory acting up before she engaged in a battle.
It was strange—her head was fogged, but her claws knew exactly what to do.
Using mana enhancements on her catgirl strength, she barely had to reveal her Talent through abilities, fulfilling Rhen's desires."
Just a few minutes into the exam, Lilac had killed multiple E-rank beasts and three or four D-rank ones.
This brutal lady knew she was wasting energy on fodders and it would be better to conserve energy, but she not only wanted high points, she also wanted a high number of kills.
Her lips curled into a feral grin as blood sprayed – every kill only sharpened her hunger for the next.
'To become Master's favourite!'
- - -
If the exam grounds were divided into sections, there would be three.
The outer section held E–D rank beasts, the mid-section held D–C rank beasts and a few B-ranks, while the inner section held B–A ranks.
Nina had used her Talent and got ahead of most by reaching the mid-section.
She stood on a tree branch, her red eyes scouting the lands.
As time passed, other examinees reached nearby locations, either teaming up or going solo to take down beasts.
Her own strategy was simple: wait for people's guards to be low and steal the bands in the target's possession.
The disadvantage was that this would put a target on her back – maybe even prompting people to team up against her, but with her abilities, she was more than confident in her escaping skills.
This was how she had lived her life before meeting Rhen; it was the life of fearless lowlifes.
Nina squatted, the muscles in her legs bulging.
Looking forward, Nina took to air, kicked again mid air, and darted down to another location as she aimed for her first target.
Swiftfoot Hare Talent – Bounding Stride.
- - -
In a small grassy field amidst the trees.
Child-sized, stubby, horned rats with long teeth surrounded Einar.
Whispers of Oscar reached his ear, telling him where to aim.
Two horned rats, from Einar's front and back, jumped at him.
He fearlessly stood his ground, until he heard Oscar's voice.
"Squat and thrust to your right."
The two horned rats impaled themselves at the last moment, and Einar's sword stabbed into another rat that was about to lunge as well.
"Slam into it and retrieve your sword. Use any means possible to leave their range."
"Got it!" Without thinking much, Einar slammed his big body into the rat, releasing its weight on his sword.
More rats were about to corner him by blocking all his paths, but Einar didn't care about taking some damage to escape.
Immediately, dark blue masses of energy popped up in the field with a loud caw sound echoing.
The energy began birthing crows that formed a tornado that enveloped the remaining 14 rats.
The air split with shrill caws as a storm of black wings formed a canopy over the swarm.
Crow's Eye Talent – Hexing Cry.
Oscar, initially behind a tree, darted into the field, his mouth moving but the sound echoing beside Einar.
"I've pinpointed the weakest and strongest, and I know their weaknesses."
Waiting for the crows to scatter, Einar activated his sword enhancements and smiled.
"What are your orders?"
Following Oscar's planned out strategy, the duo took down the group of rats in a flash.
Oscar, the brains, worked seamlessly with the fearless but brute-strong Einar.
One thought, the other acted. Together, they were more dangerous than either could ever be alone.
This added 17 points to their pool, making it a total of 40 points.
Twenty minutes in, they had each made 20 points.
And most of all, Einar was not that injured, showing positive promise for this exam.
- - -
[Lilac has killed…]
[You have obtained a…]
[Lilac has killed…]
[You have obtained a…]
"Fucking hell, is there no way to mute this thing?"
Rhen had previously ignored it to keep tabs on Lilac, but now it was just annoying.
It was obvious Lilac was going wild somewhere out there.
[I'll mute it.] Zena said.
"For scraps' sake, thank you."
With nothing distracting him, he looked at the red headbands in his hand, labeled E and D.
Rhen had spent the first thirty minutes in the outer section.
Unlike in the past, where he set traps and created detailed strategies to take down beasts, Rhen was going head-on and didn't want to complicate things.
He was not like Oscar, who had natural intellectual skills, so he'd prefer to work on his battle skills first.
'Let Oscar play the brain. I'll stick to stabbing things'
He also didn't want to showcase much of his marginally upgraded Talent–not that there's much to show right now–and this reduced his fire power.
But now, Rhen was confident. His senses, his raw strength and even his fight skills were now ready.
'I need to hunt down C-rank beasts and a couple B-ranks at the same rate I was hunting the weaker ones. Adding the items from the stores, this should be doable.'
Rhen's only problem in this case was that he didn't know if there were that many beasts.
'Let's go find out.'
Unsheathing his daggers, Rhen spread ice on the surface of the blades, green veins of poison appearing.
He bought a High-grade combat enhancer potion, worth 7500 En. It improved physical stats by 50% and increased his pain resistance for an hour.
After tacitly drinking it, he set out and moved deeper into the mid section.
With both him and Zena using his senses, they covered more area efficiently, making it easier for him to detect beasts and gauge their rank.
As soon as Rhen saw his first C-rank, an ape that had landed, he used mana enhancements to strengthen his body.
He then moved like a blur, cutting off the beast's head in one swing.
Hot blood sprayed across his arm, the metallic scent hitting his nose.
Looking at the body, Rhen grinned sheepishly.
That was… crazy. Indescribably fun.
He looked up, seeing more blood red apes stare at him in surprise before turning to malice.
There were 2 more C-rank and 5 D-rank.They were all either similar size with Rhen or bigger.
They all roared at the same time making Rhen's ear drums vibrate and his mana flow disrupted.
Pain rattled his skull, but his grin only widened.
With a swing of his hand, Rhen's throwing knife cut through the air and another Ape fell.
"Your stun won't work," Rhen declared. Holding the dagger left in his hand, he said, "Come."
The apes attacked.
- - -
In the grim main hall of the cathedral lit up by display screens.
All eyes turned to Rhen after seeing how fast he was moving with raw strength. At least they think he was moving with raw strength.
"Is he dumb? You're not supposed to take that much Crimson Howlers head on – They have one of the best coordination beneath B-rank. It's meant to be a team task!"
"A team? A man with such strength doesn't need a team! Do you not see how he's moving?"
While some spoke, others watched, interested to see how Rhen was going to handle the teamwork of C-rank beasts alone.
Now sitting upright, Jake's master, Fangless muttered. "This child… he was not this strong. What happened that no one told me?"
Looking behind him, the man called the green-haired boy, Jake, and asked.
"Tell me what you know of him."