“Who is the ocean, and who am I? Perhaps only on the day after the apocalypse will I find the answer.”
Crunch, crunch. Li Yue walked along the muddy path, her figure draped in a cloak. The occasional snapping of branches beneath her feet and the pitter-patter of rain on leaves were the only sounds in her world. Here, aside from the eternal downpour and the endless stretches of trees, she had yet to see another living soul.
“The books said that water elemental creatures are everywhere in the mud, and that there are frogs that crackle with lightning... but I haven't seen a single one. How strange...” Li Yue muttered. Her cloak shielded her from most of the rain, the water sliding off the edges without soaking the fabric in the slightest.
Though this was a magical effect, in Li Yue’s fragmented understanding, she felt that the other world had clothes that could achieve this without magic. However, she couldn't recall the specifics. The erosion of those memories seemed quite severe; every time she tried to remember, the images only grew more blurred.
She continued down the muddy road. The peaceful environment didn't make her lower her dual guns; she had to stay alert for creatures that might ambush her, as well as other students.
She pulled out a magical letter that recorded her score. In the center of the parchment, the gold embossed number read “0.” This meant she hadn't earned any points by killing monsters or defeating other teams.
The cloak she wore and the protective vest underneath were inscribed with special magic by the academy. They could sense incoming damage to protect the wearer and also served as a small teleportation formation to send them to a designated management area for candidates.
She let out a long sigh. She didn't feel tired or hungry, nor much of anything else—except for a nagging sense of dread at the prospect of failing her exam. She looked around, noting that even the aura of living beings seemed to have vanished from the area.
“Why aren't there any wild beasts or magic beasts? It’s so weird...” Li Yue murmured as she pushed deeper into the forest. Her current location was the outermost layer, the Rainstorm Swamp. The further in one went, the stronger the monsters became, and the more unique the terrain would be.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Rainstorm Swamp, several senior students who had already grouped up were currently exhausted from running. The number of elemental creatures around them was increasing, gradually leaving them feeling overwhelmed.
“Why are there so many monsters here? How can one area hold this many? Even at the limit of the environment's carrying capacity, this shouldn't be possible...” one man said, throwing an ice spear that pierced a frog discharging lightning in the distance.
“Maybe they fled here from another area. Perhaps a powerful high level monster appeared and made them feel their lives were at risk.”
“Tsk, if this keeps up, we’ll collapse on Snow Peak Mountain from mana exhaustion before we even reach the Storm Eye to hunt high point monsters!” a man wielding a longsword roared. His aura surged, knocking back several nearby monsters as he led the group deeper.
“I wonder if the monsters at the Frozen Lake are as terrifying as the professors said. Let’s just take it one step at a time.” A magic user riding a staff cast a speed buff on the group, and they struggled forward, dodging monsters as they went.
Inside the academy, in a quiet garden, several professors watched the “eyes” scattered throughout the Silent Forest—spherical magical constructs formed from blue arrays. They watched with amazement as the students battled the monsters.
“The environment of the Silent Forest becomes more extreme the deeper you go. I hope nothing goes wrong. The ‘King’ who rules this place is proud and aloof; I’m surprised he agreed to this so readily this time.”
“It might be because of the Church. Lately, the Church’s interference in academy affairs has been increasing. As a descendant of the Divine Lord they revere, the ‘King’ would likely grant them that much face.” Stephenson smiled and casually sketched a figure between a lizard and a dragon on a piece of paper to show the others.
“Have any of you noticed that the intensity of combat in these few sectors is significantly higher than in the surrounding ring?” one professor pointed to the bottommost section of the circular forest.
“Could something have appeared that caused the monsters there to flee in all directions, causing a sudden spike in monster density in the adjacent areas?” another professor suggested. “For instance, a spell that amplifies one’s presence to scare off monsters.”
“It’s a possibility. Looking at the mana fluctuations in the area, there are no large monsters present.” Black’s gaze remained as calm as ever. Not far away, “Kurong” Ishtar was still watering the plants in her garden. She occasionally glanced up at the projection of the forest in the center, appearing largely indifferent.
“This year’s exam is truly intense!” a professor said excitedly. “Wait, a student has already entered Frost Valley. How can they be so fast? Did they not fight? Check her points!”
“Zero points?! How is that possible!”
Exclamations of surprise echoed through the garden. Black looked at the blurred figure and frowned.
To scare monsters into fleeing like that, one would need either a specific spell or a naturally radiating pressure. I never taught her that kind of chant...
At this scale, they must have felt a crisis of survival and voluntarily surrendered their habitat to a more powerful being... but how is that possible...
“This exam is so boring...” Li Yue let out a long sigh. A blast of intense cold air hit her face, and the falling rain gradually turned into ice crystals. The weather was beginning to shift. The surrounding vegetation slowly transitioned into conifers, and while her visibility increased, there was still no sign of any living creature.
She exhaled, and a puff of white mist drifted into the air. Aside from a slight chill, she felt nothing.
Thus, Li Yue became the first person to emerge from the Rainstorm Swamp.
Rate on N.U.
