"I guess he's one of those that haven't noticed." The woman with orange hair says. "The direction in which this exam is going."
"Seems like it." The person with short brown hair says. "This exam won't last long enough for them to need a settlement."
"Most of them have noticed." Another woman with long violet hair and eyes says. "This exam is meant to encourage Squires to eliminate each other which is why the point reward is higher for taking down a Squire instead of a Djinn. There isn't an infinite number of them, so they have all started hunting each other. The exam will finish when only one Squire remains. Building a settlement is pointless in this exam. The best choice to make is to hunt other Squires, especially those with a high number of points."
"Hmm..." the person at the end of the table makes
"Could it be that you understand the intentions of this Squire?" The orange-haired woman asks
He shakes his head
"I have no idea." The man says. "However, maybe this child sees something that we don't."
"What could he be thinking?" The man thought
Back in the forest, Adam looks pridefully at the small hut he built with leaves and wood. Next to the hut was an area in which he placed a few fish that he cut in the small river behind the hut. Adam takes a fish and starts to cut it then cooks it and eats. Adam takes his sword in his hand and looks to the side. He closes his eyes
"Something entered my Sensus zone. Animal?" Adam thought. "No. Human? No. It feels... hot but at the same time cold, murky... and... dangerous. It can only be one thing."
Adam opens his eyes
"'A Djinn." He says while looking at the location in which he sensed the Djinn. "Should I take care of it? If you consider the rules of the exam, the best choice would be to avoid it and fight other Squires."
Adam gets up and starts running toward the Djinn. He suddenly stops as something passes right by his face. A cut appears on his right cheek; he then looks at what it was that was thrown at him and sees a sword lodged in a tree next to him.
"I missed?" Someone says
"I was barely able to dodge it." Adam thought surprised. "Sensus can only sense things that are alive which is why something like a sword that isn't alive can't be felt."
Adam turns his head to see who threw the sword at him
"Huh?" The Squire says when he sees Adam. "I thought I caught a big fish since it was heading for the Djinn, turns out it was the defect."
The Squire was sitting on a branch of a tree near Adam. He had wild chestnut brown hair and eyes. He had a scar under his right eye, on his dark brown cheek
"Why the hell are you up there?" Adam says while looking at the Squire
The Squire jumps down from the tree and lands on the ground
"The forest, the trees, and nature. I love those things." He says while touching the tree he just came down from with his palm. "You see, I used to live outside of the tower in a forest with animals. I was raised by a lot of animals. Well, mainly by lions but there were some others that I was close with."
"I'm not asking for your story." Adam says while grabbing the sword that's lodged in the tree. "What do you want?"
Adam pulls out the sword and points it at the Squire
"Relax." The Squire says with his hands raised. "I thought you were prey, so I threw that at you. My bad!"
"Prey?" Adam says. "Do I look like an animal, dumbass?"
"Animal?" He says
He then suddenly burst out laughing
"What's so funny?" Adam asks while walking away from him
"I wasn't talking about animals." The Squire says while wiping a tear away. "I was talking about other Squires. Those that are worth fighting, those guys are my prey. For example, that kid called Noah Leoneo."
Adam twitches
"Unfortunately, you don't qualify as prey for me. You're just not worth hunting." the Squire says while smiling at Adam. "I'll be kind and let you leave."
A sword passes right by the Squire's eyes and lodges itself into the tree behind him. The Squire opens his eyes and looks at Adam who is glaring at him
"Try and say that again." Adam says while glaring at him with anger
The Squire lets out a wild smile full of happiness
"What's this!?" The Squire thought. "My instinct is telling me that he is worthy prey! How come my instincts weren't able to pick up his strength? Wait... No way. Could it be because he wasn't interested in me!"
The Squire grabs the sword lodged and points it at Adam
"I acknowledge you as prey." He says with a smile while getting ready to attack. "Now, it's time to hunt."
The Squire dashes toward Adam who quickly grabs his sword and blocks the attack
"YOU'RE FAST!!!" The Squire yells with enjoyment
Adam pushes him back with nothing but brute strength. The Squire slides backward and stops before hitting a tree
"YOU'RE CRAZY STRONG TOO!!!" He yells again with a wide smile
Adam looks at the side where he felt the Djinn
"It's on the move." Adam thought. "I don't have the time to deal with this crazy guy, but I can already tell that he won't leave me alone."
The Squire leaps toward Adam with his sword raised. He swings it down, but Adam dodges it by backing away. As soon as his sword touches the ground, the Squire raises his sword to stab Adam and actually manages to stab Adam in his stomach
"Damn it." Adam says with an eye closed due to pain
Adam quickly backs away from the Squire and puts his hand on his wound
"He was faster than I thought." Adam thought while pressing on his wound
The Squire continues and dashes at Adam. This time, as soon as he gets close to him, Adam swings his sword horizontally and injures the Squire's lower abdomen. Adam then raises his sword and swings it down, but the Squire quickly moves back before it hits him. He then quickly stabs towards Adam's shoulder; however, Adam draws his shoulder back and tries to stab the Squire in the chest. In the end, the two end up stabbing each other
"Are you crazy?" Adam asks with a frown. "You didn't even try to dodge."
"HAHAHAHA!!! WHY WOULD I DODGE IT WHEN I KNEW IT WASN'T GOING TO BE FATAL!?!?!" The young boy yells. "SOMETIMES YOU'VE GOT TO BE READY TO LOSE SOMETHING WHILE HUNTING GREAT PREY!!!"
The Squire was right. Because he had stretched the arm he was using to stab Adam forward, the side of the chest Adam was trying to stab was too drawn back. In the end, Adam ended up stabbing the Squire's shoulder. The two stare at each other without making a move then, since Adam was stabbed deeper than he stabbed, he backs away. Smokes start coming out of Adam's first inflicted wound, he then takes his hands off the wound and reveals the wound closing itself. The Squire stares at the wound closing itself
"What the hell?" He says with widened eyes. "How are you doing this?"
"I just heal faster than others." Adam says while looking at his injured shoulder
"It's not as deep as I thought." Adam thought. "It should start healing in a few minutes and finish after a minute or two."
"His wound has already healed." The young Squire thought. "How is this possible? Well... It's not that important. I guess there's only one way to defeat him. Inflicting a fatal wound or inflicting multiple ones quickly."
"YOU MIGHT BE THE BEST PREY IN THIS WHOLE EXAM!!!" The Squire yells with his head tilted to the side with a wide smile
Adam closes his eyes, inhales, and exhales. He moves his body toward the side while keeping his sword toward the Squire. The Squire smirks and starts running and throws his sword at Adam. Shocked by the sudden irrational move, Adam clumsily blocks the sword, the Squire quickly swings his opened-up fist like an animal would do, with his finger looking like claws
"I DON'T NEED SOMETHING LIKE A SWORD!!! I AM A BEAST AFTER ALL!!!" The Squire yells as he swings down toward Adam's face
Adam lodges his sword in the ground, uses the handle as support, spins and kicks the Squire in the sides with the back of his foot. The Squire lands on the ground and starts coughing violently
"My... ribs!" He struggles to say between coughs
The Squire looks at Adam while coughing
"How *coughs* were you even able to move like that?" He says while struggling to breathe. "Even *coughs* *coughs* I wouldn't *winces* be able *winces*to move like that?"
Adam grabs his sword and starts moving towards the Squire. He stops before him and raises his sword
"I just moved instinctively." Adam says with his head above the body of the Squire
The Squire smiles and Adam stabs him. At the same time, pillar of light appears and teleports the Squire away.
"I ended up using a lot of arcane energy while fighting him." Adam says while looking forward in the direction he feels the Djinn. "That bastard was stronger than Noah. Well, the Noah that I fought during the Leo duel."
In another place, still within the forest, Noah was facing some squires by himself. He dodges a sword that is swung at him and backs away. In front of him were four Squire's all with their sword drawn at him.
"What is the meaning of this?" Noah says with a frown. "Do you not have any honor as future knights?"
"I am not a knight yet." One of them says with a smirk
"If we can't eliminate you, then becoming a knight will be a lot harder." Another says
Noah raises his sword
"Fine." He says while staring at them. "I'll take you all on."
The four of them dash at him at the same time with their sword raised in the air. The first one swings his sword but Noah dodges by moving backward. He then pushes him toward the second one and cuts down the third one before he manages to swing. The fourth one tries to stab Noah, but Noah uses his sword to block his attack. The first one then tries to attack Noah from the back, but Noah lets go of his sword and lowers himself. He rolls back but the second one is already in front of him ready to cut him down. Noah grabs his hand, takes his sword out of it, and stabs him. The first and third one look at each other and then nods. The two ran toward him by using the trees as covers.
"Sensus." Noah uses
After using Sensus and discovering the location of both Squires. He runs to the left side and meets the first one. He stabs him but at the same time gets stabbed in the leg. The Squire looks at him with a smile. Behind Noah, the fourth one appears ready to cut him down. Noah lowers himself and uses a leg sweep to make him fall. He then quickly gets up and raises his sword in the air
"Cra-" the Squire says when he sees Noah above him
Noah swings his sword down and eliminates him. A pillar of light appears and teleports the last Squire that Noah eliminated. He puts his sword back in its sheath and takes out the stuck in his leg, then he starts walking forward
"Where are you, Adam?" Noah says with a frown. "You better not get eliminated before I do it."
Somewhere else in the forest, with Eve and the girl. The two are them were walking together but stop before a pond
"Do you think there are some fish in there?" The girl says with her mouth-watering
"There's only one way to know." Eve says while taking her boots off
The girl does the same and they both walk into the pond and start to look for fish.
"By the way, you never told me your name." Eve says while looking for fish
She looks at Eve with wide-open eyes
"I forgot to introduce myself?" She asks with surprise
Eve looks at her with disbelief
"You did." She answers
The girl approaches Eve and extends her hand towards her. A gesture with the meaning of shaking Eve's hand
"My name is Merena." She says with a smile. "Merena Rex Leonum."
Eve takes her hand and shakes it
"I am Evelyn." She says with a smile. "Evelyn Leoneo."
To be continued