Several meters above the sprawling wilderness, several disoriented applicants suddenly appeared and free-fell towards the ground. Many of them could not help but scream in panic as they fell.
Adam was no different from the other applicants, as he too did not expect the suddenness. His disoriented state quickly faded as his body adjusted to the new environment.
His eyes swiftly darted around him, noticing several others falling alongside him. They weren’t too far away and weren’t too close either. To his right was his backpack falling with him.
Adam was closing in on the crown of the surrounding trees. If he failed to react properly, his fall would be painful, potentially leaving him injured. His quick thoughts quickly catalogued what he perceived, a solution forming right away.
With a thought, he grabbed his backpack and swung it over his shoulders. The branch he had noticed and marked quickly came in view. It was thick enough to sustain his momentum without breaking immediately.
Adam tore through the leaves and weaker branches until he reached the chosen branch. He grabbed it and effortlessly executed a flyover move, cutting through more branches and leaves. He backflipped a few times, greatly reducing his momentum before falling back down. With a soft thud, Adam landed and crouched, cautiously looking around.
’I-I actually did that!’
Despite the cautious look on his face, Adam was beyond shocked. He never thought he could execute that move so cleanly. It was like he thought it, and his body made it work. There could only be one thing responsible.
’Titan Genesis...’
The physique didn’t just optimise his movements; it pushed his physical capabilities to the max. Adam’s racing heart soon calmed down enough for him to proceed. Once he confirmed there were no immediate dangers around, he scurried towards the stem of the tree, still crouching.
He needed time to think things over before he moved forward. Rushing would do him no good. ’From what the vice principal said, our objective is to survive for three days.’
Adam’s mind went over everything the vice principal said, soon realising there weren’t any clues or hints on how to achieve said objective. ’He only said to survive; not to fight or do anything else.’
’And the rations and water aren’t enough to last even one day. That means we’re supposed to secure food and water ourselves.’ The objective sounded simple enough, but the wilderness wasn’t a place to simply wander. ’My best bet is to avoid as many beasts and dangers as possible.’
Although he thought this way, Adam was mildly curious. He had never fought or killed a beast before, so he wanted to know how he’d fare against one. Would he freeze when he encountered one, or would he stand his ground and fight it? The thought stirred something within him.
And it went without saying. Adam knew instructors were on standby watching them. Should any applicant face life-threatening danger, they’d intervene.
Suddenly, his head turned to his left as a muffled boom shook the forest. Someone was already engaged in a fight. While carefully observing his surroundings for any danger, he made his way towards the fight.
***
Riley Ashford was one of the applicants who chose the same class-type and subtype as Adam. Riley was a one-of-a-kind girl with looks that rivalled supermodels with ease. She had grey-white hair tied in a high ponytail, and her eyes were the same hue as her hair, giving her an ethereal look.
For as long as she could remember, she had always been regarded as a prodigy surpassing even her eldest brother. She absorbed almost everything she was taught at an incredible rate.
Her combat skills were top-notch, trained since she could walk to be a deadly weapon. She was the definition of a perfect daughter, awakening two months before the academies opened admissions. Unfortunately, she could never become the family head, since only males inherited that position.
None of that mattered to her, however, as she never wanted to lead. That was why she chose the second class-type instead of the fourth type that had the highest number of elite heirs.
The second class-type was the most challenging, especially for those who wanted to dabble in everything. It was the perfect place for her, as it also had the least number of students. But there was one thing that class offered that the others didn’t.
Freedom.
From the very beginning, she only expected to see elite heirs choose that class, since the vast majority of the masses chose the first class type. Imagine her surprise when she saw Adam choose the same class type as her.
Riley was not the type to look down on others, or at least that was what she liked to believe. But the vast majority of people like Adam were not smart enough or knowledgeable enough to choose the most difficult class type.
She wasn’t being biased. It was simply statistics.
Unlike the masses, most of the powerful and elite families had insider information about the nature of the academy’s evaluation format.
And even if someone from Adam’s background did choose that class type, they could not pass the written exams. The questions were just too advanced for them. But from what she witnessed during the written exams, something told her that the boy was not so simple.
The way he carried himself with confidence was unlike what one would expect from someone like him. Riley had one simple wish for the evaluation: to come out as the top-performing applicant.
Her parents had promised her a storage ring should she come out as the highest-scoring applicant. Storage rings were rare and very expensive. So expensive that many people did not even know it existed. Even powerful families like hers had a hard time securing one.
The convenience that came with owning one could not be understated. And even if the storage ring had not been on the line, she would have still wanted to come out as the top applicant.
The prestige alone was worth it.
There was nothing she could do to Adam during the written exams, but the wilderness was different. Riley was not willing to leave anything to chance. She intended to eliminate Adam from the second evaluation.
The second evaluation had only one objective: to survive. She was smart enough to understand that surviving encompassed far more than just hiding and watching out for dangerous environments.
People could be just as dangerous as feral beasts, if not more. That was what the real world was all about. It was a lesson ingrained in her since childhood.
What she didn’t know was that her parents had made a bet with another family on whose child would come out as the highest-performing applicant.
Riley had caught a glimpse of Adam during their fall. When she landed, she flung her backpack over her back and rushed in Adam’s direction without hesitation. None of the other candidates mattered to her. In her eyes, only Adam was on her level.
She was confident in her survival skills, as it had been part of her syllabus growing up. And killing beasts was not new to her either, since she had two months to get used to her awakened affinity.
But her luck was bad.
She had covered more than half the distance when a beast lunged at her from the shadows. For a very brief moment, she froze, surprise flickering in her eyes. But she quickly recovered and leapt out of the way just in time.
’Tsk. I’m getting carried away.’
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