The moment Caelum stepped out of the light, a cool gust of air greeted him—carrying with it the scent of damp earth and wild foliage. When his vision cleared, he found himself surrounded by towering trees whose crowns blotted out the sky. The ground was soft beneath his boots, blanketed with moss and strange blue fungi that pulsed faintly in the shadows.
He looked down at the obsidian plague resting in his palm, then raised his eyes to take in the endless expanse of greenery. "A forest again," he muttered with a faint, almost boyish grin. "Guess the world likes putting me among trees."
The breeze shifted. The air here was alive—dense, humming with unseen forces that brushed against his senses like whispers. The deeper he breathed, the more it filled him, threading through his veins and lighting up the quiet hunger inside him.
"We just have to survive a day?" he murmured, turning the plague between his fingers. "No problem."
Yet even as he said that, the forest seemed to hum with danger. His instincts prickled. The aura of this place was thicker, heavier than the one he'd spent weeks in before. This forest isn't peaceful—it's hiding teeth.
He glanced around again, scanning with a faint pulse of his senses. Nothing—no footsteps, no movement close by. "Didn't see Elias or Seren," he said softly. "Didn't really look either. I'm sure they've seen me though… Let's just not meet here. It'll ruin my day."
A wry smile tugged at his lips. Then, as if returning to a natural state, he walked over to a massive tree whose trunk was wide enough to house a small hut. With practiced ease, he climbed until he found a nook formed by intertwining branches. He patted the bark affectionately.
"Shield me," he whispered.
The tree responded—its leaves rustled as if sighing, and branches slowly curved inward, forming a protective shell around him. With that, he activated his camouflage, leaned back, and closed his eyes. Within moments, he was asleep—utterly unbothered, even as chaos brewed below.
---
Outside the forest, the entire scene played across massive crystalline screens suspended above the evaluation grounds. The evaluators, officials, and spectators watched from their seats with bated breath.
The forest test had begun.
All across the projection, students battled beasts, set up traps, and formed shaky alliances. Some had already fallen—either forced to withdraw or carried off by the forest's inhabitants.
And in the midst of all that… one boy was sleeping.
V leaned forward in his seat, jaw tightening. "That brat decided to sleep?" His voice cut through the quiet murmur of the observation chamber.
A nearby instructor chuckled nervously. "Perhaps he's… conserving energy?"
"Or perhaps he's mocking the exam." V's golden eyes narrowed at the projection, focusing on Caelum's still form. "Let's see how long he keeps that attitude when the forest starts moving."
---
Hours passed.
Monsters prowled the undergrowth. Spells lit up the canopy like brief flashes of lightning. Some students screamed, others fought with desperate valor. Yet Caelum remained undisturbed, breathing steadily, completely out of sync with the madness below.
As the twenty-four-hour mark drew near, exhaustion began to settle across the participants. Some surrendered. Others dragged themselves to safer spots, wounded but alive. The fights grew more brutal, more frantic.
And just then—Caelum stirred.
He yawned, stretched, and sat up lazily, his hair falling across his eyes. "Morning already?" he murmured as if he'd only taken a short nap instead of sleeping through an ordeal.
Dropping down from the tree, he brushed off the bark from his sleeves and looked around. The forest was eerily silent now, but he could feel eyes—many eyes—watching from unseen corners. His hunger gnawed faintly, but he resisted the urge to hunt.
"Someone's watching," he muttered. "Probably everyone."
He smiled faintly, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Better not give them any reason to link me to anything strange. Being called a monster before the results come out wouldn't look good on the record."
He started walking, passing shattered stones, burned patches of ground, and blood-stained leaves. Occasionally he heard distant clashes or roars echoing through the trees, but they didn't bother him.
When the timer hovered around an hour left, he exhaled slowly. "Why am I not being surrounded yet? My luck's either divine or suspicious."
As he decided to rest for the remaining minutes, a soft chittering broke the silence. He froze. The sound multiplied—a familiar, unpleasant rhythm like countless nails tapping against bark.
Then they appeared.
Spiders.
Huge, black, and glistening with venom, their eyes shimmered with eerie intelligence as they crawled from the shadows, surrounding the clearing.
Caelum blinked once, then laughed softly. "Ha. Who knew you bastards would show up here too?" He raised a hand lazily. "Look, I've got a thing for you guys. No hard feelings, yeah?"
The spiders didn't attack. They stared for a moment longer… then began to back away. One by one, they retreated, vanishing into the foliage with alarming speed until the clearing was empty again.
Caelum stood there in silence.
"...Did I go too far?" he muttered, scratching his head with a faintly sheepish expression.
Somewhere in the viewing chamber, V's eyes narrowed, the golden glow in them deepening.
"That energy again," he said quietly. "Just what are you, Caelum?"