All two hundred Summoners and Spiritual Guardians took a deep breath. They were standing in a large open circular area. Trees and dense vegetation surrounded them, making it clear they were in the middle of a massive forest.
When they looked down at the ground, they noticed lots of small circular inscriptions. They looked like the escape runes from the academy's training zones — all you had to do was step inside and use a bit of ring power to go back. Only the ring could activate them, so having those inscriptions there wasn't a problem.
Everyone spent five seconds quietly observing the place.
Darian focused on the people, and that's when he noticed a few Summoners surrounded by a thick red aura. That aura appeared when one used the power of the ring (Chapter 10 for the colors of the auras of each ring level).
These were the elite — people who could fully use that power — and they were clearly activating some kind of blessing.
He thought about what he'd read in the library. Blessings could create random, unique powers, sometimes even capable of distorting reality. But not all were that complicated — some just made the elements work in your favor.
The most popular one among tanks was called the Blessing of the Earth King. For fighters, it was the Blessing of the Sky Shooter.
They were popular because they were simple and easy to use. But the real reason was that they gave the user a way to feel everything around them through the earth or air. It was just a secondary effect and had limited range, but incredibly useful.
Of course, there were more complex blessings that could also scan areas. All those elites were using something like that.
It took less than three seconds before they all started running in one direction. Their groups followed right after. They'd teamed up with that in mind — only one of them needed that kind of sensing ability.
One third of the crowd was gone just like that. Then the rest of the groups began to move, more cautiously, picking paths by instinct.
'Our Summoner badge has a tracker,' Niara said telepathically. 'The academy always knows where we are. We're all required to carry it. That way, if someone dies, they can check who was nearby and investigate.'
Darian understood. It was a flawed way to prevent murder, but the point of the test wasn't to be easy.
Niara snorted and spread her wings. With a leap, she shot into the air, flying off in a random direction. Since there was no map or obvious clues, Darian just let her instincts guide them.
The massive forest stretched out below.
Darian thought through the possibilities as they flew for several minutes. Wandering around looking for Rainbow Lilies in a forest this size, with no clue where they might grow, was not a winning strategy. He needed a way to find a bunch fast.
Suddenly, he felt something far off in the distance.
He and Niara noticed it at the same time — way out on the horizon, a few small figures were flying away at high speed. They'd clearly spotted them and were fleeing.
Niara scoffed. "Weaklings."
'That's it! Head that way,' Darian ordered.
Niara didn't understand, but her wings flapped hard.
Feeling the wind and space twist with every wingbeat, Darian said, 'Because of your bloodline, all normal flying beasts feel danger and panic just by seeing you. Them running is our opportunity.'
Niara was just as powerful in the sky as she was on the ground. She flew fast, and before long, they could clearly see the creatures. They were three common beasts, kind of like Earth's eagles... but with five-meter wingspans and entirely red.
Darian took a deep breath, then confirmed something excitedly. He focused, and his body started glowing, his feathers taking on a faint green tint.
Those beasts weren't even close to powerful, but they were still magical creatures. When they flew, they could subtly manipulate the weak wind element around them.
The elements across hundreds of kilometers were all connected — like an ocean. And those beasts were like massive ships moving through it. Darian could feel the disturbances in that "ocean" even without seeing them or being close.
'You can slow down. Stay far enough back that it's impossible for them to see or sense us. I can still track them,' Darian said, and Niara nodded.
As they kept flying, the distance between them and the beasts grew even more. Soon they were separated by dozens of kilometers — way too far for those creatures, or any normal person, to notice them.
Niara had no idea where to go, since they weren't flying in a straight line. But Darian pointed the way and told her when to turn.
She was stunned. Simple elemental blessings used for tracking had very well-known ranges. Those elite kids could barely sense beyond one kilometer around them. Even someone with two or three rings would find what Darian was doing impossible.
After two hours, Darian told her to land on a mountain.
'They've arrived, but they're probably on high alert. Best to hit them by surprise,' he muttered softly.
Niara turned to him with a confused look. Darian didn't need to focus anymore, so he explained:
'The Elder said this planet is overrun by Demonic Beasts. Because they're smart, in places like this, all the normal beasts get dominated. The wild works in a simple way — if you're not strong enough, you either submit or disappear.'
She nodded, understanding the logic.
'So, thanks to your oppressive bloodline and their lack of intelligence, all these beasts instinctively panic and run to the safest place they can find. In other words, they go back to their masters — where the Demonic Beasts live.' Darian finished with a slight smile.
All of that came from the book. He also knew that Divine and Demonic Beasts were intelligent and could be really organized. They didn't just wander around in the wild — they made homes with others of their kind in strategic locations. Sometimes, they even built small cities.
"If you know where they live, then... are you planning to... kill them?" Niara asked, tense.
The goal of the test was to gather a medicinal herb called Rainbow Lily. If even the academy saw it as valuable, Demonic Beasts probably treated it like a divine treasure. It was obvious they'd have collected a bunch over time and stored them at home.
Niara wasn't dumb — she got the idea quickly, so what they were planning to do seemed clear.
Darian sighed. 'Of course not. You hate people who treat beasts like disposable tools, right?'
Niara looked him in the eyes and nodded, relieved.
Darian didn't like that kind of thing either. Back on Earth, he'd been treated like trash by outsiders, so he learned to value others. He promised to stop running, to give it his all to survive and grow strong — but he wouldn't do anything he hated or thought was wrong... at least, he'd try.
'We're gonna do something real unique here. The goal's to get first place in this test. We don't have time to talk things out with them, so... we'll just subdue them,' he said with a small smile.
Darian waited another hour — just long enough for the Demonic Beasts to feel sure the common beasts weren't being followed.
Those birds were pretty dumb, just driven by survival instincts. If they'd been Demonic Beasts, they would've created a fake trail to hide where their race and family lived. But even dumb, those birds still had strong senses. They'd know if anyone was tailing them.
That's why Darian's method was supposed to be impossible — he was ridiculously far away and still managed to follow them.
The location was still inside the forest, but this part had lots of spaced-out mountains. In a naturally strategic spot, six mountains were almost perfectly lined up in a circle.
At the center was a big green area, with a river running through it. It was like a natural fortress, with only two land entrances. From the air, the mountains blocked the view, and there were all kinds of beasts guarding the peaks.
The residents were all from one clan and race of Demonic Beasts, living alongside a bunch of common beasts that helped each other out.
The Demonic Beasts were over six meters long and looked like massive, terrifying wolves. Their bodies were covered in pitch-black fur so thick it looked like it swallowed the light around them.
Then, suddenly, everything changed.
All those wolves felt their hearts pounding like war drums, and their instincts screamed in alarm.
Thousands of them ran and gathered in the middle of the place, clearly spooked.
Everyone in that region turned their eyes to the sky.
There, they saw a female figure covered in radiant green scales. Her scales shone like stars, radiating a terrifying aura. She beat her wings gently high above, watching everyone below with those hypnotic amber eyes.