Inside a lush forest, a flash of golden light reveals a man in a white robe, his sword strapped to his hip.
"So this is the starting point of this tree… pretty green if I say."
I look around for a second and close my eyes and focus. All my senses are highlighted as my perception starts to spread.
I can feel a ridiculously large number of trees. Every patch of the ground where the rays of the sun are hitting and every single living organism big or small. In the radius of a kilometer everything is bare to me..
splash!... bubble!... gurgle!...
"Finally a source of water."
As I find my target I open my eyes and dash in its direction.
Crack!
The ground cracks beneath my feet as I charge.
Shaaa!
With terrifying speed, I cover a distance of a kilometre in just a second.
After I stop in front of my eyes I see a clear transparent river flowing to its destination.
"Now it's time to wash myself up. Although I don't like to bathe, doing it once in a while to refresh myself is not a bad thing."
So I take my white robe off and put the Escalon beside it and I enter the river to bathe.
Splash!
"Puah! Wow, the water is so cold." I smile, "It's just perfect to refresh."
I rest with half of my body below my waist dipping in the river. Then I turn my head up and look at the sky.
It is blue just as a normal sky would be while there are a few clouds here and there.
"That sky above is a fake but… I can't deny it looks better than the original for some reason."
I look at one of my resonators and with a flash of light a glass bottle with alcohol appears in my hand.
Pah! Spit!
Using my mouth I cork it open and spit the wooden cork away. Then I take it closer to my mouth for a sip.
Gulp!
"Gross… It's so bitter how can someone drink this?"
I look at the bottle of alcohol with disdain. I want to throw it away but I don't want to spoil nature. So I just drink it all and throw the bottle in my inventory.
"Ha ha ha I am never going to drink this crap again. Well at least for training one's willpower this stuff is not bad."
I then began to relax while soaking. But that is short-lived. A purple flash of light appears on the other side of the river and a woman pops up.
She has exceptionally long, voluminous cyan-blue hair that flows past her waist in dramatic, wave-like locks. Her eyes match her hair a piercing, glowing light blue accentuated by sharp, dark eyeliner and long lashes.
She has pale, porcelain-like skin that contrasts sharply with her vibrant hair and dark accents. She wears a form-fitting, floor-length white gown with a plunging neckline.
A delicate silver floral crown or headpiece rests on her brow. Several thin silver chains draped with small gemstones wrap around her waist and hips.
She wears a sheer, gauzy white shawl or cape that billows out behind her.
The woman looks at her surroundings. She doesn't have a frightened look as one expects from someone dropped in the middle of a forest. But her eyes are curiously scanning everything.
Then her eyes fall on the half-soaked naked body of Elite. Her face turns red as she screams.
"Kyaaa!"
Her voice is so loud that it scares the birds as they fly away.
"Stop shouting. You are so damn loud."
The girl closes her mouth and turns around.
"What are you doing? Why are you naked in the middle of a forest?"
"I am bathing, of course, can't you see?" I say as if it is obvious. "And I should be upset while I was bathing you popped up."
"That.. that.."
As he was about to say something we were interrupted.
{Hey there small buds}
Suddenly I hear a voice and look into the sky. Small drones in the air are spreading an announcement all over the forest.
{You must be wondering why you are hearing this broadcast. That is because the number of pioneers in the given test sites has reached a thousand.}
Small drones in the air spread the announcement all over the forest.
Shaa shaa tak!
Somewhere far away a shirtless man with red hair stops over a tree branch; he puts his spear on his shoulder and grins.
"Finally this boring test is about to start."
On the other side, a girl with half-white and black hair emerges from the shadows as she listens to the announcement.
"Hoho it's time to hunt."
{You may be wondering who I am. So I will tell you. My name is Dory, your test examiner and I am going to reveal the exam.}
Everyone turned their focus to the drones and began to listen seriously to the announcement.
{The test is very simple to survive. For the next 72 hours or three days, all you have to do is survive and pass the test. And also don't forget to kill the monsters you will get credits for every monster you kill, which will help you if you pass the test.}
"Just surviving that's easy. The forest is so big that I can just hide in a corner. Three days will pass in a flash. And for the monsters, there are a thousand people here I can just join a large group and we can hunt together and look after each other."
Pfft!
Listening to that blue-haired girl I can't help but laugh out loud. This caused her to look at me but she instantly turned away.
"Why are you laughing?"
"Well didn't anyone teach you not jump to conclusions without listening to the whole thing?"
"What?"
"Just keep your ears open and let him finish."
{But just surviving would be too easy don't you think? So the twist is you can also end the test early by reducing the number of pioneers to a hundred}
The blue haired girl in front of me turned pale as the announcement continued.
{And you will also be rewarded with all the points of the pioneer you kill. Well, that is all for now good luck passing this test.}
With this the test starts and drones disappear leaving the pioneers wary and distrustful toward each other.
Pak!
In a certain somewhere in the forest, a green arrow flashes with incredible speed and pierces through the heart of a two-meter-tall muscular monster with green skin and boar-like faces.
A girl with vibrant, fiery red hair styled with choppy bangs lands softly on the ground with a bow in her hand.
She looks at the dead orc with her golden yellow eyes and turns away. Soon she reached a place filled with the smell of blood.
The bodies of an entire colony are lying dead on the ground sliced with a very sharp sword. Judging by the wounds they were all killed in a single swing of a sword.
The red-haired girl walks for some time and then kneels in front of a mountain of orc corpses.
"Princess, I have cleared the area."
On top of the corpse mountain stands a girl with white hair tied back in a high ponytail. That flows down her back in wavy, thick locks.
She wears a varsity-style jacket with a black torso and white sleeves. There are striped ribbed cuffs at the wrists and waist.
And with it, she is wearing dark, form-fitting athletic shorts and white mid-calf socks with black stripes at the top.
She has a slender but athletic build with
a katana-like sword tied to her waist. She is standing with her back towards the red-haired girl.
"Let's go Ivara… to our next target."
"As you wish, princess."
At the side of the river, I laugh as I hear the full announcement.
"I knew it. There is no way the test is going to be something that everyone can pass."
"How can you still laugh? You know how many are going to die." The girl says to me.
I look at her with pity and say.
"Well first of all let's exchange names. My name is Elite and yours?"
She is surprised by the sudden introduction. But she regains her composure and introduces herself.
"My name is Rowena Thorne, you can just call me Rona."
I nod and get up from the water. She is startled by my sudden action as she flinches.
I smile as I find her amusing. I take clothes from the resonator and put them on. A leather tunic on my upper body that is reinforced with dark straps and buckles.
Black leather pants along with brown shoes. I look at the red cloak in my hand and put it on.
Flutter!
It flutters with the wind and I look at it with satisfaction and lastly, I strap Escalon to my waist.
"Now I am ready to go."
I turn around and look at Rona as she is standing, facing her back at me. I step forward in a single step. I cross the river and reach the opposite side.
"Hey."
She turns around and creates distance between us.
"How did you…"
She says but she pauses mid-sentence. I smile and say.
"You need those credits right?"
She comes to her senses and nods.
"Then let's go and get them."
Without waiting for her response I started walking. She thinks for a second and decides to follow me.