The other participants murmurs multiplied tenfold after Mason made it clear that the exams was now all about survival.
The principal cleared her throat into the megaphone, and the hall fell into an immediate silence.
"That's right, Mass elimination is the method we are adopting to achieve our desired number. The elimination will be decided in the first phase of the exams, however before that you are to all split into teams of two within the next five minutes. Once the time limit is elapsed, whoever hasn't found a partner will be automatically eliminated."
As she declared, she left, leaving the whole hall sunk in the uproar that ensued. The whole participants searched thoroughly for capable partners.
"Hey Mason, are you down to be my partner?" With respect lingering in his voice, Neo requested for his aid.
"Sure I guess, I mean I really don't have much of a choice."
"Much of a choice? Look around." Neo gestured with his thumbs to the left, only to see several individuals charging toward him. They were part of the crowd who had witnessed his display of power against Lady Kaori.
"Oh... Shit."
They all surrounded him, each asking the same question over and over again. "Will you be my partner?"
As the selection continued, three figures watched from a secluded room above the hall. Two were women, one of them the principal, and the third was a man.
"Looks like someone's famous." The man, Leon Montclair—one of the academy's recruiters—spoke, his eyes fixed intently on Mason.
"Popularity is irrelevant if you cannot prove yourself worthy of it." The other woman, his sister, Lillian Montclair replied.
"Oh? Aren't you the one that recommended he takes the exams regardless of how low his rank is?"
"Don't be silly." She crossed her arms, her brows furrowed as she focused solely on Mason. "Simply dodging can only get you so far, his reaction time is commendable, but without the ability to produce an offense to match, he's just another useless D-rank support type."
"I guess you're right, what do you think principal Selena?"
As the two recruiters turned to the principal for her response, they found her eyes locked on Mason. She dared not to blink.
Her gaze held the fierce intensity of a predator that had finally cornered its prey after days of pursuit, the more she stared at him, she could feel her body temperature rising, getting hotter and hotter.
"Principal Selena." Another call from Lillian jolted her back to reality, and she broke the concentrated gaze she kept on him.
"Sorry, you're right, there's definitely something about that boy." She looked down at him again, her gaze steady and unyielding. "Something I can't seem to get my head around."
"Sorry, but I already got myself a partner."
Mason spoke, his gaze shifting to Neo, who chuckled awkwardly under the weight of the crowd's glare. Anyone who had seen Neo's power knew, to survive this stage, having Mason as a partner was their best bet.
As the crowd left to find other partners, Neo approached him. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean I might only be a burden to you."
"You sound like you're not confident in your abilities."
"That's because I'm just a D-rank caster with the ability to manipulate flames, but the highest I can do is to just conjure up an ordinary burst of flames."
"Seriously? Damn, but nevertheless, we can still be partners." Despite his lack in power, Mason refused to back down on his beliefs.
Before the time limit elapsed, a total of 670 were formed.
"Okay time's up. Now that you've all paired together, let the first phase of the exams begin!"
[You will be transported to the first stage in 00:59]
As she declared, a translucent screen materialized in each and every one of the participants field of vision.
'Transported?' He thought.
[Transporting in 3..2..1]
SWOOSH!
In the blink of an eye, the entire 2,010 participants disappeared without a trace, leaving the halls empty as the time limit for their transportation elapsed.
They arrived in the middle of what appeared to be a torn apart city, buildings shattered and half destroyed, an absolute deserted land. Each team was scattered throughout the city by the teleportation.
'System, where are we?'
[This is the first stage of the exams, a survival stage. You have to survive the upcoming wave of magical beasts for a given duration in order to advance to the next stage.]
On receiving the notifications of the first stage, they all nodded in affirmation, the two of them went further into town cautious of their environment as they didn't know what to expect.
"Keep your eyes open." Masin spoke sharply, Neo nodded in response as they moved.
[30:00]
In their line of vision, a translucent screen displayed the time duration which indicated that the survival stage had officially begun.
Their movements came to a sudden stop after perceiving a large roar from all around the city. It sounded like several beasts had roared at once.
As soon as Neo heard this, his legs began trembling from the roars that echoed all around him. "What was that!?"
His eyes scanned the battlefield like a sensor, the louder the roar got, the more terrified he became.
"I can't do this!" Scared out his wits, he ran away into the distance, hoping to create a distance between him and the beasts that approached.
"H-hey!" Mason yelled out as Neo left him, in an attempt to save himself from the beast that approached.
"Damn it." He chased after him, only to be stopped by a sudden notification from the system.
[Hostile intentions detected!]
The system flashed a warning, and he immediately sensed something was coming his way. Without a second thought, he sprinted behind a large piece of rubble from a collapsed building, seeking cover from it.
A few second after hiding, the silhouette of a man-beast slowly approached the chunk of building Mason hid behind, it's body resembled that of a wolf except it stood on its two feet and was 7foot tall. It took sniffs of the ground below him and recognized the scents of two humans.
'What kind of place is this?!' He thought to himself, the principal wasn't kidding when she said it was a fight for survival. All 670 teams entered thinking they'd have to face off against one another, but that wasn't the reality.
As terrified as he was, he had no choice but to fight. Running, like Neo, wouldn't help him level up. He crept forward, using the shattered remnants of the building for cover. Each step brought him closer, until he could summon Lycan's Fangs with a silent, steady breath.
However, he had overlooked one crucial detail—it was a wild animal, and its sense of smell was razor-sharp.
At that moment, he could feeling a violent aura choking him and he instantly realized the difference in power between this wolf and Lycan. But that didn't stop him, as the wolf-beast turned to confront him, he immediately stabbed the twin daggers into the beast's chest.
[Target is at a higher level than (Lycan's Fangs)]
[Target is immune to the paralysis]
[Paralysis Effect cancelled]
Crippled by disbelief, Mason's gaze faltered as he watched the beast raise its jagged claws into the air. In that instant, a crushing sense of dread washed over him, as if an unstoppable force loomed just above his head.
But just as the beast's claws came crashing down, the fears that had gripped him flickered out, as if a switch had been flipped.
[Skill (Bloodlust Of The Assassin) has been activated]