Chapter 24: The Second Round Assessment
At the stage where first round assessment took place all the people on the viewing platform are looking the stage. Now the stage is not empty. There is projection of a forest like place on the stage. This is the projection of the testing grounds. All the people here are spectating the assessment. A backward place like Starwood city cannot get this type of high-level equipment. Sam's guess is right. Nobody is responsible for this in Starwood city. All the formations and the Equipment all over the academy are arranged by the royal family itself. The education in the whole western continent takes priority among other aspects. That is the reason the royal family arranged this kind of facilities for the academy even in the backward country.
Inside the testing ground. Sam finally stabilized from the after effects of the teleportation. Then he stood up and climbed a tall tree near him to get a clear view around him. Sam didn't see any beasts or other candidates near him. Judging from the view, he seemed to be appeared in a particularly isolated location. Sam climbed down, picked a direction and started walking. He is pretty care free.
After walking for a half an hour, Sam finally had a reaction from the bronze token in his pocket. He immediately became vigilant and jumped of to a nearby tree and hid behind the leaves. After a few minutes, he saw a pair walking towards his direction as they talked.
"Didn't I tell you? We are going in the right direction. Didn't we feel the reaction from our badge. There is definitely someone here." A male voice can be heard.
"I still doubt this is the right direction. I think we should have gone to the opposite direction instead." Another male said. After a few seconds, two people came into Sam's view. They are wearing identical clothing. They belong to the Heart field family. Sam immediately felt amused as soon as he identified their identities. Sam immediately jumped down the tree. When two people saw, Sam suddenly appearing in front of them, they immediately drew their swords and took a fighting stance.
"Who are you?" One of the two pointed his sword towards Sam and asked vigilantly. Sam gave an evil smirk and didn't reply. He suddenly made his move. Sam immediately disappeared form his position only leaving after images and immediately went behind the person in the left. Then he immediately punched the person below his ribs. The person gasped for air as he dropped his sword and immediately collapsed on the ground trying to reduce his pain. He is a second level Acolyte warrior and his strength is not weak by any means. But he felt himself quite weak before Sam's monstrous punch.
The one on the right immediately reacted and swung his sword at Sam, but all he hit was an after image created by Sam. Suddenly, he felt some one poked at his back. He immediately swung his sword but he hit nothing but air.
*Pah*
He then stinging pain on his face. He was slapped. But when he turned towards where the slap came from, he saw nothing. Then he suddenly felt someone poking at his throat. When he looked down, he felt a finger pointed at his throat from behind. When he immediately reacted to catch the person, he caught nothing but air.
Suddenly, he felt chills along his spine and he broke out in cold sweat. Only one thought came into his mind. 'If other party wanted him dead. He would become a corpse.' The other party had touched him so many times. But he couldn't even see him. Then he immediately dropped his sword and raised his hands. He gave up fighting this guy. This guy is an absolute nightmare. But he felt unwilling. He can't give up just after little more than half an hour of the assessment. So, he spoke.
"I surrender. We are not a match for you. Can you let us go? We are from Heart field family. If you let us go now. We will remember this favour." He said as looked around but he found no one. Meanwhile, the one who was knocked down earlier also stood up and picked his sword. He is looking around vigilantly. They both are waiting for reply anxiously.
Meanwhile at the viewing platforms. All the spectators are watching various candidates battling. Suddenly, someone from the Heart field family noticed their two candidates meeting up and walking together. He smiled. The rest of the people also looked at it and cursed under their breath for the luck of the heart field family. Then they saw someone appearing suddenly in front of the two candidates and initiated an attack.
"Wow, what speed?"
"Yeah, he is so fast."
"They can't even see him. He is practically toying with them."
"Look that guy gave up. Tch. So much for a noble descendant."
"I think they he is negotiating."
All kinds of comments came from the spectators. The head of the heart field family has a weird expression on his face as he looked at his family candidates being toyed with by someone. Leonard from the Greyhound family saw this scene and started sweating. Even he can't follow Sam's movements. All the families are watching this battle with interest.
"Please leave us now. We will definitely repay the favour." The candidate from the heart field family pleaded again. Suddenly, he felt a slap across his face. This time the slap is much stronger and he was immediately sent flying. After landing on the ground he spat out some blood and a tooth fell down from his mouth. He immediately took out his bronze token from his pocket and broke it. He immediately appeared at the viewing platform and sighed in relief.
The other guy who looked at his companion's state he immediately gave up fighting and was also about to break his token. But then suddenly a hand caught his arm with great strength. Then he looked at the person who stopped him. He saw handsome young man wearing black. His handsome face has an arrogant smirk and his eyes are filled with a mischievous light. He then took out a folded paper and shoved it into that person's hands and said. "Bring this to your family head." Then he let go of his arm.
The candidate from the heart field family took the letter and immediately broke his token. He was also transported to the viewing platforms. He stabilized himself and looked around. There is only one more person and that is his companion. The first two candidates to be eliminated are actually from the Heart field family. This is a great shame. Then he looked towards the heart field family's viewing platform and seeing the gloomy expressions from his family members he looked down in shame. Then he remembered the letter and then walked towards the viewing platform timidly. When he passed the letter to the Family head, he almost pissed his pants from the family head's look.
The family head took the letter. He knew who passed the letter as he was watching the whole time. He read the letter and immediately frowned after seeing the content.
"Hello Family head of the Heart field family. This is from the humble one who was once blessed with the presence of the representatives of the heart field family at my river side mansion. On the account of sending someone to congratulate me on the very same night I bought the mansion through the auction. I humbly beseech you to accept my repayment this way. Don't worry, this is not the end. If I meet the other people from your family, I will treat them with utmost care. – Sam."
As soon as he read the letter, his grip tightened on the hand rest. *Snap* the hand rest broke and everyone looked at him. But his is completely focused on the letter and particularly the words 'River side mansion'. He clearly understood why the young man toyed with the candidates of his family. But that didn't make him any less angry. He is even more furious. A junior at the Acolyte stage is slapping face. He is angry. All the other noble families are watching him with curious looks. They want to see what is in the letter. But the family head of the heart family clearly didn't have any intention of showing them and diverted his attention to the projection.
"Seems like the younger generation of the heart field family is getting weaker and weaker. It is only half an hour and two of five are eliminated." Someone from the crimson flame family said with a mocking tone. The heart field family head didn't reply and just looked at the project.
Everyone also turned towards the projection. Now battles started in many regions as the candidates got closer. A young man particularly caught the attention of the spectators.
"The handsome is a genius. If you guys go away now. I will not pursue it any further." The young man said. This is none other than Shawn. He is surrounded by three people. These candidates came from different places and formed a temporary alliance. So, they can a little longer. When they heard his words, one of the three immediately attacked. Suddenly, Shawn made some hand seals and chanted something. Then the soil beneath the three candidates became soft as the three of them got struck in it.
"Didn't I tell you I am a genius? You guys didn't listen. Now, you better quit yourselves or I will make you suffer." As soon as he finished the three of them felt their bodies sinking in to the ground slowly. They immediately took their tokens and they were all vanished.
"I am so awesome." Shawn spoke with a grin as he started walking again.
All the spectators in the viewing platforms looked at him in awe.
"Not bad" One of them said.
"It seems that we have a few good seeds to nurture." Someone from the Starwood academy said. the others also nodded. Then a screen appeared suddenly beside the projection of the testing grounds.
"They finally encountered some beasts." Someone said. The screen is the quite large and a list of names can be seen on it with some numbers beside them. This is the ranking list. It shows the points of the candidates who are hunting the beasts.
"Look there, near the lake." One of the spectators exclaimed. Near the lake a young man with a sword is fighting with a bunch of snake type beasts. This is none other than jack. There are around 10 beasts of first level around him. His name is on the top of the list right now.
By the time he was finished, he has 12 points beside his name. "He is not bad."
"Yes, his sword play is good." Spectators all commented. Soon, names started to appear on the list. All of them are mostly candidates from the noble families.
Sam is right now in middle of climbing a tall tree. He just encountered the tree, which seemed to be tallest among the nearby tree. When he finally climbed the tree, he got a clear view of surroundings. He saw several candidates battling with beasts. It seems to be that no one is interested in eliminating others. Rather they all are interested in acc.u.mulating more points. Sam looked around and saw a pack of hyenas near a small hill. There seemed to be a lot of them. The hyenas are red in colour. These are Blood hyenas. Sam immediately recognised them and all of them are one of the cruellest animals in the wild. They grow their strength from consuming the blood of others. The pack is filled with level 1 and level 2 beasts of initial stage there is one level 2 middle stage also. Sam felt that he hit a jackpot looking at them. He immediately climbed down and used his light energy to move faster. Sam named this technique as 'Phantom steps.' Sam used his phantom steps to get near the hill.
Just as Sam was a few meters away from the hill, he sensed his bronze token has reaction. Someone was nearby. Sam immediately moved towards the direction that signal is coming and hid behind a tree. He saw a group of people in a crimson red battle attire. They were five people in total. They are all the candidates in the Crimson flame family. Sam immediately recognised them because of the red flame crest on their armour. He gave an evil smirk.
The five candidates are in a defensive battle formation as they observed their surroundings vigilantly. In the centre is a young man with the battle attire, who seemed to be the young master of the Crimson flame family. With an evil smile came out of his hiding and stood in front of them. All of them looked at him vigilantly as the young man questioned.
"You? Aren't you the friend of Freya?" The young master asked. Sam was a bit surprised as he looked at him but it only stayed for a second. He just stood there and smiled silently. Seeing that Sam is in silence. The young master continued.
"I am Carter of the Crimson flame family. Freya is my cousin. Since, you are friend of her, I will let you leave if, you handover all the fire spirit stones you have with you." Sam still didn't reply.
At the viewing platforms
"This young man is in trouble."
"Yeah, its his bad luck to encounter the Crimson flame family group. Even though he is strong how can he win 1 vs 5."
"What are you even talking about? Carter alone is enough for beating him. Why do we need to gang up? Carter is already at 4th stage acolyte mage. The young man will be defeated in a single blow." Someone from the Crimson flame family said. He is sitting on the other side of the Family head.
"Carl, since you are so confident, why don't we make a bet?" Philip said to the young man who just spoke.
"What do you want to bet on?" Carl asked.
"All five of your people will be eliminated by that guy alone." Philip said.
"Really? You are so confident in him? I will accept your bet then. What is the wager?" Carl replied in a confident tone.
"How about 5000 spirit stones?" Philip asked. Hearing that amount everyone looked at him with interest. Even the Family head of the Crimson flame family looked at Philip. Carl hesitated on hearing the Big amount.
"Don't chicken out now." Philip said again.
"Who is chickening out? I am in." Carl said and immediately looked at the battle. Philip also looked at the battle. So, does all the spectators.
Meanwhile near the hill.
Carter is growing impatient as Sam didn't reply. He then immediately said. "Don't blame me now."
As he said that all five of them surrounded Sam, and three of them including the Carter started making hand seals. While the other two wielded their sabres as they lunged towards Sam.
Sam kept his smile as three fire balls and two Sabres came to him from all side. Sam didn't move at all and just circulated his spiritual energy as Golden flames covered him and devoured the three fire balls completely. He spread his hands at the same time and caught the two sabre wielding hands at the same time.
As the smoke cleared out, all the five people saw is Sam's handsome face with an evil smile without even moving a bit.
All the spectators at the viewing platforms are also stunned.
Sam slowly started twisting the hands he caught. The two warriors loosened their sabres. Both of them are at Level 2 Acolytes, but now they are like children facing an a.d.u.l.t.
*Crack*
Cracking sounds appeared as slowly twisted their hands. He soon broke their hands and threw them away. They started holding their hands and wallowing in pain. Sam then slowly looked towards the two other Acolyte mages as he raised his hands.
Spiritual energy started gathering in his hands in form of sphere. Both of them wanted to get away as they sensed the danger, but their legs felt so heavy all of a sudden. Sam then slowly looked at Carter and said slowly.
"I was just going in search for a prey. But who would have thought the Prey itself will come looking for me?" Sam said coldly.
"Prey?" Carter was furious.
"Yes, you are my juicy and delicious prey." Sam said coldly and as soon as he finished. The spiritual energy in his hands suddenly turned into giant golden fire balls as he launched them on to the two mages. Both of them were sent flying as their armours and clothing turned into ashes.