abcnovels
Chapter 76 The Final Entrance Exam [5]
Chapter 76 The Final Entrance Exam [5]
*WOOSH*
The bald boy disappeared in a flash, leaving only a large gust of wind behind.
The other patients looked on with confusion, as the boy disappeared into the cover of the sea of trees.
However, they didn't dawdle absentmindedly for too long.
The group of examinees dashed into the forest in a frantic struggle to be the first one to enter.
Pushing, shoving and forcing others to the side to increase their chances of being the next person in.
At this point, they resembled more of a pack of wild animals than intelligent humans.
It seemed that the bald boy's speed put a certain pressure on their group to catch up with him.
Arvell shook his head at their barbaric behaviour, and slowly strode after them.
Tests like this weren't designed to rush through.
After all, they weren't measuring their speed, but the end coin count.
Even if they got in there first, they would need to still locate and acquire the coins.
Both of which would pose to be arduous tasks, to say the least.
Furthermore, exhausting himself right now would only leave him weakened later.
Instead of blowing through all of his energy haphazardly, Arvell would rather take a slow and steady approach.
After reaching the forest, Arvell could see countless students digging through dirt and shrubbery desperately looking for coins.
One of the examinee's eyes lit up, as he pulled out an iron coin from underneath a rock.
"I found one!"
The surrounding examinees looked at the student with envious gazes, while some even had a cold glint in their eyes.
'Haaa… Why announce it to the whole world? Enjoy being a target for all of the nearby examinees.'
Arvell sighed to himself and walked through the group, and headed deeper into the forest.
Arvell wasn't particularly concerned with sifting through mud and dirt to find an odd coin here and there.
No, what he wanted was far better.
Since there were various beasts across the 1st rank, there were bound to be a few at the late first rank.
Knowing the academy, they would probably reward students with higher coins if they managed to take down a late first-rank beast.
Naturally, they didn't expect them to do it in a head-on 1 on 1 fight, but by using teamwork or ingenuity.
If there were enough coins for a whole team, if Arvell monopolized it all for himself, he could just do something else during his time in the forest.
Like train for example.
Arvell walked up to a nearby tree, scaling it in a matter of seconds.
He suppressed his presence and began running through the treetops, keeping his eyes and ears peeled for any tell-tale signs of nearby beasts.
Since all of the examinees were thrust into the forest with little more than the clothes on their back, they were for the most part travelling light.
Not that it really affected Arvell due to his inventory skill either way though.
Running silently through the treetops without carrying any additional baggage was almost effortless for Arvell since he'd often practised this same feat while carrying weights on his back.
He didn't bother using temporal manipulation to speed up, since he was pretty fast either way.
'If only I could fly…'
Flying would have been a better option since it was faster, and his wings were aching after not using them in a while.
According to Lykos at least, when Arvell got more used to it, he'd be able to completely retract his wings, to the point where no one would notice anything by looking at his bare back, but as of right now Arvell was only able to shrink them in size a little and furl them around his back.
These wings functioned something like retractable limbs, like a certain superhero with retractable knuckle-claws, but Arvell wasn't yet able to fully retract them.
Instead, he was forced to fold them tightly against his back.
Moreover, he needed to keep it like that 24/7 to not arouse any suspicion.
Ever since he met Zen, apart from his daily baths with august he wasn't ever able to stretch his wings.
This bothered Arvell to no end.
Like he was forced to hold a really annoying posture.
He was able to somewhat tolerate it, due to his incredibly strong willpower and pain tolerance, but it was still annoying, to say the least.
He wasn't able to reveal his bare body to anyone either, so he couldn't use public baths, change in front of others in change rooms, or even swim with other people.
All situations Arvell would no doubt have to deal with in his school life.
It wasn't like Arvell hated his wings, however.
He'd actually gotten quite fond of flying, even practising some techniques for aerial combat.
The rush of wind on his face, the sight of the whole world beneath you…
That feeling of freedom, as if nothing could hold you…
They were all sensations that Arvell had begun to crave.
Feeling his thoughts drift he shook his head.
'I can always fly later, but right now the risk is not worth it. If one of the academy examiners or another student sees me with my outstretched wings… I'm finished.'
He kicked off of the branch he was standing on hard, sending himself soaring at a somewhat distant tree branch.
However, even that wasn't enough to make the jump.
Desperately reaching out, he barely managed to grab the tip of the branch.
Unfortunately, he felt his weight begin to cause the branch to snap.
In a desperate attempt, Arvell pulled himself with all of his upper body strength. He grabbed onto another branch from the same tree, with this one being a little more durable.
*SNAP*
Unfortunately, the branch that Arvell had originally grabbed broke off and fell to the soli-covered ground.
At least that's what should have happened, but it fell into a nearby bush.
*THUNK*
The bush shook a few times before a cry rang out.
*SCREEEE*
Author's note:
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