The sun had barely begun its crawl across the sky.
Mist clung low over the rugged terrain beyond Nalanda Academy's walls — a savage expanse of hills, tangled forests, jagged cliffs, and rushing rivers. The Trial Grounds. A place designed to kill your hesitation, or kill you altogether.
Hundreds of first-year students stood assembled at the edge, their faces a mix of excitement, tension, and concealed fear. Each wore a reinforced combat-ready uniform of deep navy trimmed with silver — enchantments woven subtly into the fabric. Every student held a basic survival kit: rations for three days, a half-filled canteen, a flimsy map barely showing the landscape, and a single basic weapon matched to their starting affinity.
Hovering high above them was a colossal mana screen, casting a pale blue glow over the field. It displayed the day's test in burning golden letters:
---
Trial: Survival of the Fittest
Duration: 72 Hours
Objective: Survive inside the Trial Grounds.
Rewards: Credits based on combat, mission completions, discoveries.
Rules:
Killing is forbidden.
Defeating, robbing, humiliating, and sabotaging? Entirely allowed.
Cowardice and failure = Credit penalty.
Zero credits = Expulsion.
---
A sharp thud echoed.
Gorath Ironsoul stepped onto a raised stone platform. His arms crossed, eyes glinting with cruel amusement. He looked over the students like a war general surveying fresh conscripts.
> "Listen up, cubs!" he growled, voice cutting through the morning fog.
"In there, beasts will hunt you. So will your precious 'friends.'"
A few students exchanged nervous glances.
> "Some of you think sticking together will keep you safe?"
"Ha! Foolish. Trust breaks faster than bones at Sovereign Academy."
His voice thundered now, shaking the stones beneath their feet.
> "Now RUN. SURVIVE. EARN YOUR PLACE."
> "THE GATES — OPEN!"
---
CLANK. SCREEEECH.
The towering steel gates creaked open with a mechanical roar, revealing the wild terrain beyond.
Chaos erupted.
Students surged forward like a broken dam, some screaming battle cries, others already scanning for weaklings to prey upon. Dozens banded into makeshift groups, already trying to form alliances. Others bolted into the woods like hunted prey.
Screams, shouts, laughter. A pack of wolves loosed into the wilderness.
And amidst it all, one figure moved differently.
Lucien Arkanveil.
Hands in pockets, gaze bored, pace calm. He stepped forward like a man entering a library, not a battlefield.
Some sneered at his pace.
> "Tch. Arrogant bastard. He's dead meat by nightfall."
> "Yeah, let's see how long that attitude lasts."
Already, chaos had its victims.
A thin boy tripped at the edge of the field — another snatched his bag, kicked him to the mud. A nervous girl tried hiding behind a boulder — two students cornered her, stole her supplies, and pushed her away laughing.
This was Nalanda Academy's mercy.
---
Lucien stopped at the edge, scanning the terrain with slow precision.
To the west — groups forming. Safe zones. Easy prey.
To the east — an open field and scattered rivers. Too visible.
South — the largest cluster of weaker students. Predictable.
Then, his eyes locked north.
A jagged cliffside loomed, leading into shadowed mountains veiled in mist. Beast territory. Unexplored. Untamed. Deadly.
Perfect.
> (Lucien, thinking:)
"Strength isn't numbers. It's control.
Crowds bring panic. Panic breeds mistakes."
He turned north and began climbing without a word.
---
Behind him, students pointed, laughed.
> "Look! He's heading straight for the death zone!"
"Hahaha! That dumb noble's gonna get torn apart!"
"Better for us. One less rival."
Lucien didn't look back. Didn't even twitch.
---
Meanwhile, inside the massive observation tent…
Floating screens showed different parts of the Trial Grounds from aerial and rune-bound surveillance.
Teachers, instructors, and several top faculty sat in silence, watching.
Selena Vermillion's silver brows furrowed. Her crimson eyes narrowed at a group of students burning a tree for no reason.
> "Children with fire. Dangerous combination."
Fenrir Blackmane let out a wolf-like snort, arms crossed.
> "Some already bleeding? Hmph. At least they're learning."
Leon Dobhal sipped tea calmly, watching a clever group surround a mana beast using distraction tactics.
> "Schemes are already forming. Good."
Then one screen shifted — showing Lucien.
Calm. Alone. Heading toward a part of the map labeled 'Caution Zone: Beast Density Extreme'.
Gorath leaned forward.
A small smirk tugged at his lips.
> "One to watch…" he rumbled.
---
Back Inside the Trial Grounds
The trees grew darker. The winds colder. The silence… heavier.
And then—
A roar ripped through the woods.
Far away, a monstrous creature burst from the underbrush — four meters tall, horns like spears, red eyes like blood-lit coals. Students screamed. A fireball missed. Panic exploded.
The beast charged.
---
But in a different part of the forest…
Lucien stood still, surrounded by broken stone and thorny vines.
Across from him stood another monster.
Even larger. Seven meters tall. Fanged jaws. Mana dripping from its claws. A real apex predator.
Lucien's lips curved ever so slightly.
His palm opened.
Crack.
Mana surged, his magic roaring to life — elegant, precise, deadly.
> (Lucien, calm, cold:)