"Urgh.."

A groan escaped my lips when I tried to stand using the nine tails fox statue as support.

Unsurprisingly, I had only been acting tough in front of Ryan and Lark.

My fingers were broken from when I had punched the spear. Even slightly moving my hand sent jolts of pain across my body.

My body was also not in any better shape.

To catch up to Lark and Ryan, I had no choice but to use almost all the status points I gained from killing Iota-rank boar into agility.

I had only allotted a single stat point into the const.i.tution for temporary pain relief.

Looking at the sword in my hand, I remembered Ryan and Lark"s faces as I left.

I bet they were thinking, "If only we hadn"t come in this direction."

But the moment they had ignored Lark"s unusually long sleep, their fates had been sealed.

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During my night shift, I had gone towards the guardian cliff as close as possible and dumped the corpse of the shadow fox I had.

I had asked for my shift to be last because at the daybreak the shadow foxes would be gathered at the guardian cliff"s base.

But it wouldn"t be the same when night came again. The shadow foxes would find the corpse and venture out to find the culprit.

This was the real reason I had given Ryan the shadow fox core.

No matter where they ran, they would be chased until the end of the exam.

To make sure they were asleep, I had wrung the blue berries from this guardian cliff into their water canteen.

Using them was a gamble. But I had nothing to lose. Either I bet everything to get those manuals or escaped empty-handed.

This was why they were already trapped when they ignored Lark"s prolonged sleep.

As for Ryan, I knew that he didn"t have any means to locate me. Slipping away was difficult only because of Lark"s stigma.

Yes, I knew about their stigmas. After all, they were characters that had some relevance in "Saga of Heroes", especially Ryan.

This was the real reason I knew they would backstab me.

And so I also knew how dangerous deceiving Ryan was. He was a genuine threat if he decided to come after me.

This made one think, couldn"t I have left shadow foxes to deal with them and they would never know my involvement?

Originally, that was the plan. I had no interest in making them I was behind their upcoming misery.

But I had to improvise when I saw Ryan"s greatsword. If they were eliminated, a shield would be formed around them until they were brought back.

So, I had to take the sword before that, which I did.

Then another question arises.

Lark had his thigh pierced while Ryan had absorbed the shadow fox core. One couldn"t move, while another would be targeted by shadow foxes even if the smell of blood vanished.

This meant that they couldn"t come after me now but what about future? Wasn"t I planning to not deal with them because of how dangerous it was?

The answer was to this surprisingly easy.

I just had to break their will. And make them think I could easily see through their plans.

Why did I act all edgy while hinting that I was behind everything?

I had to make them think that they were dancing on my palms and shake their mentality. They needed to think I had been controlling them since the beginning.

For this, I needed to make them aware of my plan, but I couldn"t explain it myself.

The impact they would feel after concluding on their own would be a thousand times more than telling it myself.

This was why I only hinted of my involvement with the ambush and let them continue their thoughts.

From here I didn"t need to do anything.

After all, when someone is backed into the corner they would always think of worst case scenario.

And I was sure I had succeeded.

How so?

Ryan never once asked me how did I deal with Iota-rank boar or how I escaped shadow foxes after killing them.

This means that he now unconsciously saw me as someone who was hiding his strength and always scheming.

I had made sure that both of them were physically and mentally incapable of coming after me, neither now nor in the future.

"Sigh…."

Ryan"s sword had caused me too much trouble.

=======

Greatsword [Common-rank]

A greatsword made by an unknown apprentice blacksmith. It has good durability. It has barely qualified as an artifact.

-Increases in weight proportional to Aura supplied.

=======

This sword itself wasn"t anything special, but with its ability, I had found a way to get the manuals.

[Time remaining: 35:13:55]

"It"s time."

I was lying near the fox statue on the cliff where I had landed on the first day. I climbed here using chains that had appeared in the morning.

"Cough..cough"

My whole body shook from pain when I stood up.

Still, I tried to focus and stood a little away from the platform upon which the nine tails status stood.

Placing the sword on the platform, I placed my hand above it and started supplying my Aura.

The sword sucked my Aura at an alarming pace, making me feel dizzy.

No matter how much it weighed, nothing changed when suddenly….

BOOOM-!

A large explosion happened in the direction of the volcano.

"About the time the protagonist did it."

Of course, the explosion had nothing to do with me.

GRRRR-!

The platform finally began sinking.

It kept sinking when it suddenly fell into the cliff.

BANG-!

A loud noise indicating that the platform had collided with the ground rang.

Looking inside the hole created by the platform, I waved my hand at the Enma-rank Shadow fox and shouted.

"There, I opened the gate for you. I also took the liberty of inviting a few guests for the inauguration ceremony."

Saying so, I ran for the snake guardian cliff.

What did I just do?

I used the platform to destroy the magic circle which was holding the Aether-rich air of Aether orb from escaping outside.

The falling platform had forced the Shadow fox to remove the orb from the stump, cutting the magic circle"s energy supply.

The thing that had bugged me most in that dome was the weird black ceiling. After thinking for a while, I concluded that it was the base of the platform.

Why?

Because the way to go inside the snake guardian cliff was through the statue on the cliff.

Although the fox statue didn"t have a way to go down, I was sure that the black plate was its base.

Now all the beasts which were at least peak Iota-rank would rush here. Naturally, the Sky Viper would also leave its cliff!

I just had to keep moving on the chains until I found the right cliff while the beast would fight over the Aether orb!

As I crawled on the chain, the pain made me remember the Iota-rank blood boar.

I knew it wasn"t my fault, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth.

The reason I never considered such a possibility wasn"t that it never occurred to me. But because the chances were impossibly small.

In the novel, it was heavily pointed out that every strong awakener in the first year had never teamed up with anybody during this exam. This fact had forced their first mission to become a team mission from solo.

Anyway, I was sure that only a handful of first years could cause the stampede alone. How unlucky was I to have one of them just near me?

On top of that, none of them should have any reason to hunt such weak boars when they could hunt beasts stronger than them to level up quickly!

"Forget it. I should be happy that I will be able to take those manuals and….."

For a moment I doubted my eyes, but shortly I sat on the chain and started laughing.

"Seriously? I know it has "Sky" in its name, but couldn"t it have gone through the ground?"

An enormous three-headed snake with bat-like wings was flying over the chains and coming in my direction.

The Sky Viper was gliding over the chain!

I closed my eyes and waited for it to come.

I had given up and was just waiting for the outcome.

There was nothing I could do now. My body was in pathetic condition because I fought an injured beginner Iota-rank beast and this thing was leagues above that.

Suddenly, a strong gale that almost threw me off blew.

I opened my eyes and looked around. Only to find Sky Viper far behind me!

It was already too far away and moving at an incredible pace.

"Haaah…"

I had thought this might be possible, but it still felt shocking.

The Sky Viper probably ignored me because, for it, Aether Orb was more important than dealing with a small fry.

With a deep sigh, I hurriedly began moving while trying to calm my heart.

***

I was standing in a dark cave.

It took me an hour to remember the correct pattern of rocks near the Snake statue to press and enter here.

The tunnel"s alt.i.tude kept decreasing as I walked until it finally opened in a large chamber.

It was similar to the dome in the previous cliff.

Ignoring everything, I walked to the center and stood before the stump made of roots. It was similar to the shadow fox"s one, but there was no Aether orb or magic circle.

I placed my hands above the stump and recited the words that I had painstakingly recalled.

"The only things left in this ruined world are the sorrows of past and the present that has devoured the future."

Then I looked down and saw my body turning into dust until it neared my eyes and I lost my vision.

***

VUPP-!

I regained my vision inside a dimly lit room.

There was a door behind me. It should teleport me to the edge of the island.

The room wasn"t very big. I could move from one corner to another in 7 strides.

In the middle of the room, three orbs of light were floating.

These three orbs were the reason I had gone through so much struggle.

"I finally got all thre-wait, three?"

Wasn"t it supposed to be two?

My hands, which were moving towards the orbs, stopped.

"Whatever. I"ll think about it later."

At this point, I was too tired to react to every new stimulus.

As my hands touched the orbs, they vanished, and three things dropped to the ground.

I picked the two books.

[You have obtained Ether manual. Would you like to use it?]

[You have obtained Legacy Art of the First King. Would you like to learn it?]

Looking at the two notifications, I sucked in cold air and then shouted in joy.

"I got them. Yes, finally got them!"

As I was crying tears of joy, I learned a new lesson "Look before you Speak".

[Confirmation affirmed. Beginning the process…..]

"No, wait I never said Ye-ARGHH!AFJASJKFBAJ!"

I kept shouting incomprehensible words before I lost consciousness due to overwhelming pain.

****

BEEP-! BEEP-!

"Argh.."

I groggily sat and looked around. I was in a small, dimly lit room.

BEEP-! BEEP-!

Then I looked at myself. I was covered with red paint and there was a large patch of dried paint of the same color under me.

"This smell. Is it bloo…"

My body shuddered as I remembered the pain I felt before losing consciousness.

BEEP-! BEEP-!

I was thankful that I had lost consciousness or I would have gone insane from the pain.

"sigh.. The memory was too weird."

BEEP-! BEEP-!

"Where is this sound coming from?"

I irritably muttered.

The constant beeping was getting on my nerves.

[Time Remaining: 00:00:00]

"…."

s.h.i.t!

The test had ended while I was unconscious.

I hurriedly picked the object from the ground and ran towards the doors.

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