Chapter 304: Tests
The three instructors stepped forward, looking at the hundreds of participants.
"Please don’t blame us, okay?" Instructor Cleo waved her hand while activating her power.
Auric’s expression turned solemn. She was actually one of the rarest unique-element users because her power had reached Rank 5.
There were only a small number of people with unique elements who managed to reach Rank 5, but there was no record of a single person with a unique element reaching Rank 6.
Then again, her ability was extremely useful, so the country might have helped her reach that level.
When she activated her power, Auric could feel the gravity growing stronger.
Everyone still maintained their poker face, as they had no problem withstanding this much power.
Auric glanced at Katarina and Ellia. Both of them looked fine. They even looked back as if they wanted to tell him that this pressure was nothing.
Auric just smiled because Instructor Ascott unleashed his wind this time. The pressure on them doubled all of a sudden. In addition, the gale was strong enough to make their bodies sway if they weren’t careful.
"Kh..." Some people were already struggling to stand.
Auric could feel that his weight had just tripled, but his physique was strong enough to withstand it. In fact, everyone should be able to withstand it.
The real test came from the third instructor.
Instructor Colt unleashed his killing intent.
"!!!" Auric was startled at first but soon smiled, finally realizing the essence of this test. The pressure from the first two instructors should be manageable for everyone.
However, they were actually distractions. Once their bodies were under pressure, the killing intent began to creep into their hearts.
Instructor Colt looked as if he had grown bigger, glaring at them as if he were an apex predator.
Some people instantly shivered the moment the killing intent hit them. The killing intent continued to rise.
"This guy... He’s like a killing machine. How many living beings has he killed? He has killed not only beasts but also a lot of humans." Lindwurm narrowed his eyes.
’It looks like he’s getting serious.’ Auric licked his lips. ’My killing intent won’t ever reach this level... maybe.’
"True. You rarely killed beasts and humans." Lindwurm nodded. "But it’s fine that way. Too much killing might end up harming your body... unless you have a unique element that is related to killing or the killing intent itself."
’I don’t really like to fight unless it’s necessary.’ Auric continued talking to Lindwurm as he felt more and more pressure.
"Haaa! Nooo!" The first person finally dropped to the ground. He was horrified, not only because of the killing intent, but also because of his failure.
And he wasn’t the only one. One by one, the students dropped to the ground, unable to resist the killing intent any longer.
"Khhh!"
"I’m not going down!"
"I can still hold on!"
"Haaaaaa!"
People started getting more and more desperate.
"It looks like there are plenty of talented people this time." Instructor Cleo smiled.
"Not yet. I’m going to raise the killing intent to another level." Instructor Colt narrowed his eyes. As he said this, the killing intent erupted.
Those who were barely hanging on failed immediately. Just a single eruption caused thirty people to drop to the ground at the same time. Fifty more fell to their knees over the next ten seconds.
Auric’s face remained calm. The killing intent was one of the most interesting things on his mind. Unlike energy, he couldn’t see the killing intent.
So, while the others remained calm or maintained their poker faces, Auric was the only person to actually look around as if he was searching for something.
"Look at that. It looks like someone is distracted." Instructor Ascott noticed Auric’s movements.
"I have seen his file. Auric Elfe." Instructor Cleo nodded.
"Why is he looking like that? Does he have autism?" Instructor Colt asked.
"I don’t know whether he is autistic or has some kind of condition, but he might be the country’s ace for this training program." Instructor Cleo shook her head. "Ask Jacob for more details."
"Tsk. This is boring, so I guess I should increase it a bit more."
"Don’t traumatize the students."
"I know the limit." Instructor Colt raised the killing intent to the maximum level he was allowed to use.
It was quite powerful, so people were dropping to the ground left and right. Still, the students had done a lot to reach this point, so they didn’t intend to give up just because of this.
They were resisting the killing intent as best they could.
Still, there were students who withstood the killing intent as if it were nothing. They ignored the killing intent as though it had never existed at all.
Once their will became firm, even in the face of death, these students wouldn’t tremble.
Ellia and Katarina were among those students. Ellia couldn’t care less about death itself, considering she had become accustomed to it. After all, she would ’die’ if she failed to reach her goal. In order to avoid becoming a puppet of the family, she would resist anything in her path.
Katarina, on the other hand, had been living a very dangerous life as a spy. She might still be a student, but she had also carried out a lot of jobs for the family.
As for Auric, he continued to look around as if the killing intent didn’t exist. For Auric, death was only natural. He would die sooner or later. Even if someone killed him, he wouldn’t particularly mind.
Auric never relied on luck. In fact, he would feel ashamed if luck ended up saving his life.
After all, that meant his preparations were inadequate. If he thought more, if he made a better decision, and so on... there were a lot of ifs, but that also showed why he would feel ashamed to rely on luck for his life.
If he died, it simply meant he had lacked preparation. He had taken many lives, so it was only natural that someone wanted him dead as well. It was merely the consequence of his actions.
This was also the reason Auric could be the cruelest person if he needed to be in order to uphold his principles.
In a way, Instructor Cleo was right. A genius usually has a certain level of eccentricity. They approached life differently than the others.
Auric focused more on his curiosity than on whether he was going to live.
He wasn’t originally like this, but after reprogramming his mind, killing intent was simply one of the ’spices’ in his life. He might have to thank Maya, as she was the one who helped him with his training in killing intent.
With the students continuously resisting, the test itself took over an hour to finish.
"That’s enough!" Sera raised her hand, signaling the end of the first test. "The number has been reduced by half. Congratulations to those who have survived. Now, I will explain the second test.
"All you need to do is go around the city and make sure to keep calm and look around to find the bead. Once you scan it with your phone, you pass and can return to this place.
"Once 150 students have found their beads, there will be a green firework shot to the sky. Those who fail to find a bead will be eliminated. Those who pass will have to return to this place within thirty minutes. Understood?!"
All of them turned serious. They obviously didn’t intend to lose this time. They needed to find their bead sooner than anyone else.
"Since all of you understand, you may begin!"
"!!!" The students turned and started running outside the university.
"I’m first!"
"I’m going to find it!"
"I’m going to survive."
Even Katarina and Ellia were ready to leave.
"I’m going." Ellia waved her hand. "Take care."
"Yep!" Auric smiled, while Katarina asked, "You’re not going?"
"I will be fine. You should go."
"Okay then." Katarina nodded, having some suspicion. After all, there were still some people who had actually remained. They were looking at Auric.
"Auric, these guys..." Lindwurm gasped as he realized what they were after.
’Yep. It’s time to run!’ Auric grinned. As Lindwurm expected, the moment Auric started running, those people chased after him.
"After him!"
"He found all those artifacts during the hunting event. He should be able to find the beads as well!"
"Oohhhh!"
The three instructors were dumbfounded. They never thought that there would be students this shameless.
"Is this all right?" Instructor Cleo asked.
Supervisor Jacob nodded. "Yeah. There is no such rule, so he needs to get away from them. Well, it shouldn’t be a problem for him. I’m more worried that he will end up causing another mess this time. Please, let him be one of the first ten people to find the beads..."
"You don’t want to watch him fight?"
"No, absolutely not. I’m not protective of him. I just don’t want him to cause any more problems." Supervisor Jacob shook his head helplessly. "It’s going to be annoying if he makes a mess. I’ve been meticulously planning all these tests so that we can measure their talents while making sure that guy can’t cause any trouble!"
"You’ve worked hard." Instructor Colt chuckled.
"The president asked me to do it directly. I had no choice." Supervisor Jacob sighed. "He’s the only student who cannot fail this exam..."
"Oh!"
Little did Jacob know, Auric had already lost his pursuers quickly with his space element and Lindwurm’s observation.
Auric was already standing on top of the buildings, looking at the entire area.
Spreading his arms, Auric smiled. His eyes could see far more than anyone could imagine. The beads themselves contained energy, so it was easy for Auric to spot them.
With his evolved eyes, he could simply follow the energy trail as though he were a dog following a scent.
The exam itself didn’t take too long because the students were searching in a frenzy. They might not destroy anything, but they had become a spectacle for the civilians to watch.
In just three hours, the firework was launched into the sky, signifying the end of the exam.
"NOOO!"
"That was the bead. I couldn’t even get to it!"
A lot of students were crying. The success was in front of their eyes, but they were simply too late.
"Yo, Ellia. You got it?" Katarina asked with a smile.
Ellia nodded politely. "I ranked fourth."
"For real? I got ninth place." Katarina sighed. "I was unlucky this time. Where is Auric? With his senses, shouldn’t he have been back by now?"
"Ugh... Knowing him..." Ellia glanced away.
"Yo!"
Ellia and Katarina thought it was Auric, but when they turned around, they found Vera instead.
"I managed to get fifth place. What are your ranks?! Let’s compare." Vera smirked, showing her own green bead.
"Congratulations. You’re above me." Katarina applauded, while Ellia simply stated, "Congrats, you’re below me."
"What?! You are fourth?"
"Heh." Ellia scoffed. "You probably want to challenge Clarice as well. That means I’ll be first."
"No way. I’m going to challenge her first. We didn’t have an agreement before this." Vera protested. "Ah, by the way, where is Auric? I’m not planning to do it, but my family asked me to seduce him here."
"You won’t be able to seduce him." Ellia shook her head.
"An order is an order. Succeed or not, he’s the one who caused this mess. Besides, if I can’t, do you think you can, Ellia?" Vera snorted.
"No, I’m not talking about our competition right now."
"Huh? Then what?"
"I’m talking about the mess Auric has created this time." Ellia sighed.
"Mess..." Vera looked around. "Did he cause something again?"
"Definitely." Katarina nodded. "I mean, look. He’s back."
Both Vera and Ellia turned to the entrance and saw Auric approaching with a handbag. There were about two hundred beads inside it.
The others obviously noticed Auric’s return. They could see the beads’ shapes within the bag.
They were supposed to find only one bead and return. However, Auric actually took his time to find hundreds of beads.
"Oi, guys. I’m back!" Auric waved with an innocent smile. He was merely acting according to his principles.
The guys who chased after him wanted to ruin his chances of stealing the beads from him. After all, they could snatch the beads before he could scan them.
So, Auric repaid them by simply finding all the beads in the area so that the students who followed him wouldn’t be able to get a single bead.
Katarina simply clapped with a wide smile. "Isn’t it great? He’s enjoying himself."
"Have you been corrupted by him?"