"And with this, the final phase of the exam for the warrior class commences!"
Lucien was standing in front of a massive forest, owned entirely by the Lumen Academy, prepared for the exam.
Students were handed basic weapons of their choice and were sent to different starting points of the massive forest.
The exam was starting, and Lucien was warming up.
Bang!
A loud bang reverberated throughout the area, as Lucien started walking carefully not to chime the bell.
He wanted to just hold the bell's clapper so it would not chime, but he knew he couldn't.
He had no doubt that the bells had some form of device attached that would log everything that happened in it.
In Lucien's opinion, this test was designed to test the survival skills of students.
In real spirit-infested forests, one gotta be careful and silent, as not to alert any predators that might be lurking around, and this test was trying to simulate something similar.
There was no rush here.
But God had other plans here, as he spotted something right at the beginning.
A tripedal, dark-brown body of flesh with bony features was slowly crawling over a tree trunk, its color helping it camouflage better.
'Recruit class beast.' Lucien thought, sneaking up ahead with measured steps, careful not to let the bell chime or alert the beast.
One should always hold as much of the upper hand over another as one can.
He unsheathed his sword and slowly snuck up to the beast by hiding behind one tree to another.
As he reached the beast, he waved his hands.
The beast remained immobile, which meant the beast didn't have a multi-directional field of vision.
He picked up a stone and threw it on the other side.
Rustle!
The beast was alerted and looked to the other side.
There was nothing, but suddenly it felt the air behind its head whistling.
Danger!
But before it could even escape or be ready to fight, it was already too late.
Chime!
A bell chime sounded, as a sword sliced through its neck, decapitating it before it even realized.
Chime!
Another chime.
Probably due to it coming back to the resting position.
Haah!
Lucien sighed, looking at the corpse of the beast.
He needed the beast core to show that he had indeed slain the beast.
The beast core of a spirit beast was often right below their necks, which was why it was recommended to decapitate it clean from the neck, so it's easier to extract the core.
Squelch!
He stabbed his sword into that bloody flesh and pried the core out.
A shiny blue marble with a considerable amount of spirit energy.
Wasting no time there, he put the core in the pouch provided by the academy and started walking forward.
For a good few minutes, he walked silently with no luck in finding anything whatsoever.
The main goal of this test was to steal other students' bells instead, since they had more points than any available beast, which was why Lucien was moving to the side, hoping he would come across any.
A few minutes later, Lucien found a thrown wrapper on the ground, most likely by another candidate.
But he couldn't decipher where the guy could have gone.
His best bet was that he went deeper into the forest to slay a few beasts, so he went in.
Suddenly, his instincts blared an alarm, making him make a sudden drift forward.
Bam!
Just as he left his spot, a hexapodal spirit beast, shaped like a praying mantis, but the size of an adult human, landed there with a huge gash in the ground from its massive forelimbs.
'Adept class.' Lucien mumbled, taking up his fight stance.
He was serious this time, because if that attack had landed on him, he would've lost a part of his body.
His bell had already chimed thrice in his attempt to flee, and now, the mantis-like beast was charging at him yet again.
He wanted to stay still, but this was no time to preserve his points.
This wasn't a Recruit class beast, it was an Adept class.
He charged at it, too, dodging its initial attack using the basic footwork taught by Megan.
If he wanted, he could use his previous life's technique too, but there was a chance that someone was watching him, apart from just Arthur.
He would take it slowly and act like he was slowly learning it.
Clank!
As he dodged the attack, he countered immediately.
Clank!
'Holy Shit!' The skin was tough.
His sword was only able to pierce it an inch deep.
'This beast is almost at the verge of breaking through into the Elite realm.'
There was a strange resistance inside the beast's body, which made it slower to pull out.
Screech!
Slash!
Just as he was able to pull out his sword, the beast screamed in pain and had already attacked.
'Shit!'
He immediately threw his sword behind, and then,
Shing!
He suddenly vanished from his spot and reappeared where his sword was.
'Already making me use Arenox's ability.'
When an individual reaches the Adept realm, they finally have enough spirit energy reserve to use spells.
And since Lucien had received Arenox's abilities and its corresponding knowledge, he was able to learn the first skillset it had to offer.
Mirrorstep.
He could essentially teleport to any reflective surface present in his field of vision, as long as his spirit energy reserves allowed him to.
There was also a range limit, which was currently merely 10 meters, since he had just broken through.
That was why he threw his sword and then teleported to it.
Chime!
It had already been several chimes, and he was losing points at a rapid rate.
He needed to finish this fast.
The beast was confused for a split second, and Lucien wasted no time, launching himself as soon as he landed.
The chitin was hard, and to not waste any more time on it, Lucien aimed at the very same wound that he had just created
Squelch!
He stabbed his sword in the very same wound he had created, making the beast go into a frenzy.
It screeched, swinging its arms crazily, trying to attack Lucien, but every time, Lucien effortlessly dodged it and stabbed his sword deeper and deeper into its body.
Blood was spraying out everywhere, and the beast was losing control over its own body due to the pain.
Taking advantage of this complete chaos, Lucien pulled out his sword and immediately aimed for its neck.
But just as he was about to pierce it,
Swish!
An arrow came straight towards him and he retracted his hands.
The arrow pierced the beast's neck.
"Who goes there?"