The Entrance to the Forest,
This was the final day of the survival training. Almost all the student parties had returned. The clearing buzzed with excited chatter, the crowd bustling as everyone shared stories of their exploits.
"I heard Alaric and his party actually beat a magical beast! He wiped out an entire Dire Wolf pack and its leader, a Silver Wolf!" a Blackstone student bragged loudly to his friends.
"Forget that," another student, this one from Highcrest, chimed in, looking up with admiration at a new addition to the gathering. "The Ice Queen, Seraphina, she took down two magical beasts, I heard. I saw a trail of ice and blood wherever she went. She's definitely getting first place."
A large ranking board had been erected, its twenty spots currently all filled. Arthur scanned the names but didn't recognize most of them. It seemed only a few teams had officially submitted their spoils so far. When all parties turned in the beast cores and other valuable items they'd collected, they would be ranked based on a pre-assigned point system.
A line was already forming before a long table where several instructors, including Madam Thorne, were meticulously counting the beast cores students poured out from their collection pouches.
"So! How'd you do?" A familiar, cheerful voice came from behind him.
Arthur turned, a faint smile touching his lips. "Not bad, Orion. What about you?" he chuckled.
Orion grinned from ear to ear, his blue hair catching the morning light. "I don't think I can compete against those two monsters," he said, jerking his head towards where the crowd was thickest around the top contenders, "but I did pretty good. I think I'll make the top ten, at least." He shrugged, but the excitement was clear in his eyes and voice.
"It's too bad you couldn't join us," Orion sighed, his expression momentarily wistful. "If you had, I really think we could have aimed for the top three."
"Don't you think you're praising your friend a bit too much, Orion?" A harsh, condescending voice cut in. From the side, a blonde youth swaggered forward.
Arthur's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the newcomer.
"He went in alone, didn't he?" the boy, Ethan, sneered, looking Arthur up and down dismissively. "If he has any points at all, I'd be surprised."
"Don't go too far, Ethan," Orion retorted, his friendly expression darkening. "You wouldn't last a second in an actual fight against him."
Ethan just shrugged, waving a dismissive hand at Orion. But behind his arrogant facade, Arthur wasn't the least bit concerned by the taunt.
"Alright," Arthur said, his voice calm, a small smile playing on his lips. "How about a bet then?"
Ethan paused, looking genuinely surprised that Arthur had spoken back, and with such confidence.
"A bet?" He laughed, a short, barking sound. "What could you possibly have that's even worth anything?"
"This." Arthur reached into his pocket and brought out a small, rough green crystal. It was one of the mana crystal shards he'd collected from the cave.
Immediately, Ethan's eyes widened, a flicker of greed unmistakable within them. Mana crystals, even small shards, were valuable.
"What's the bet?" Ethan asked, his tone suddenly more serious.
"Simple." Arthur's smile didn't waver. "If I score higher than your team, I get your team's entire reward from this training. If not, then you get this crystal shard."
"Hah! You're on! But how do I know you won't just renege on your word when you lose? Let's ask a teac—"
Before Ethan could finish his sentence, his voice cracked and died in his throat. His eyes, moments before filled with arrogance, now trembled with a sudden, inexplicable fear.
Arthur, noticing the abrupt change in Ethan's demeanor, turned.
"Looks like we meet again, young man." The old man from the Citadel of Fate, the one who had overseen the start of the survival training, had appeared silently behind Arthur, as quiet and sudden as a ghost.
"My Lord!" Arthur immediately bowed his head slightly, no longer surprised by the old man's uncanny ability to appear out of nowhere.
"It seems the two of you are in an interesting predicament," the old man said, his gaze shifting to Ethan, a faint, knowing smile on his lips. "I can act as the guarantor for this wager, if you wish, boy."
"W-we would be honored, My Lord," Ethan stammered, his earlier bravado completely gone, quickly doling out the pleasantries.
"Good then." The old man's voice was soft, yet carried an undeniable authority. "I will ensure the winner receives their due reward after all scores have been assessed." Then, his figure seemed to shimmer in the morning light before vanishing as silently and suddenly as he had arrived.
Orion, Arthur, and Ethan were left standing still for a stunned second before Ethan broke the silence with a nervous, slightly forced laugh.
"Well, looks like I'm getting myself a mana crystal shard after all. Thanks for the gift, Greymark." He shot Arthur a smug look. "Orion, let's go submit our haul." He swaggered off towards the submission table.
Orion shook his head, looking at Arthur with concern. "We did really well, Arthur. Our team scored high. Why did you have to be so impulsive and make a bet like that?"
"Don't worry about it," Arthur said with a calm smile. "Just go ahead and submit your scores."
Orion and Ethan walked to the line, which moved swiftly. Soon, it was their team's turn. Orion stepped forward and presented a small, drawstring pouch – the standard issue for collecting beast cores.
He poured its contents onto the collection table. Core after core, mostly from common forest beasts but a good number nonetheless, rolled out.
The instructor at the table, a stern-faced man Arthur didn't recognize, nodded with mild surprise at the quantity.
Then, the large ranking board behind the instructor flickered, names and numbers shifting.
Sixth Place - Team Orion - 72 Points
Arthur smiled faintly at the display. Orion's team had done well. But then, his eyes darted to the left, focusing on the boy with pitch-black hair and an arrogant set to his jaw, who was next in line: Alaric. The air around the submission table seemed to grow tense. Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch.
It was Alaric's turn. Based on the chatter Arthur had already heard, there was no doubt Alaric would be aiming for, and likely securing, either first or second place.
Alaric unfastened a much larger pouch from his belt and, with a confident smirk, upended it. Hundreds of small, thumb-sized crystals, beast cores of varying quality, poured out in a glittering cascade, surprising even the seasoned instructor.
On the raised platform where the academy heads were seated, even they, who had remained largely indifferent to the submissions of other students, leaned forward, paying close attention. The old man from the Citadel was there too, his expression unreadable.
In just a couple of seconds, the leaderboard flashed again, names shuffling dramatically.
At the very top, highlighted in shimmering gold, Arthur saw Alaric's name. To its right, his score: 238 Points.
Each common wild beast was worth a single point. Minor magical beasts were five or ten. A Silver Wolf, the pack leader Alaric had supposedly defeated, would be worth at least twenty, maybe more. To get over two hundred points in just seven days was an astonishing feat.
Arthur clenched his fists, a familiar fire igniting within him.
The crowd around him erupted into a clamor, a mixture of awed gasps and excited shouts.
The leaderboard continued to update as other teams submitted, but no one came even close to Alaric's commanding lead.
But it looked like that was about to change.
Arthur saw the crowd go silent once more, a hush falling as a new figure approached the table. It was Seraphina Vayne's turn.
When Arthur laid his eyes on her, he almost gasped. The rumors, it seemed, hadn't done her justice. The "Ice Queen" of Highcrest was, in a word, breathtaking.
She had striking, ice-blue hair that flowed like a silken waterfall to her waist, and sparkling sapphire eyes to match. Her skin seemed to possess an almost luminous quality in the morning light, translucent and flawless like polished jade. As she moved, there was an ethereal grace about her that made it seem as if a fairy had descended to earth. All eyes were glued to her.
Behind her walked her party members. One of them, a burly boy almost a head taller than Seraphina, carried their team's spoils in a pouch roughly the same impressive size as Alaric's.
He stepped forward and poured the contents onto the table. Another cascade of crystals flowed out, the quantity appearing to nearly match what Alaric's team had produced.
A minute later, the rankings changed once more. Arthur stared at the board, a flicker of amusement in his eyes.
First Place - Alaric Valewyn - 238 Points
Second Place - Seraphina Vayne - 235 Points
"What a pity for her," Arthur murmured, shaking his head slightly. So close.
Slowly, he started making his way towards the now much shorter line. It moved quickly, and soon it was his turn. Around him, it seemed that almost everyone else was done submitting; he was one of the last few.
On the platform, the old man from the Citadel paused in his quiet conversation with one of the headmasters, his gaze turning to Arthur. When their eyes met, the old man offered a subtle, almost imperceptible smile and a slight nod.
Arthur took a deep breath and took out his own collection pouch. It was not nearly as large as those carried by Alaric's or Seraphina's teams, but as he poured out its contents, the instructor in front of him glanced up, his eyes widening in shock.
Around him as well, some of the remaining commotion died down as students caught sight of his haul.
"Who is this guy?" Whispers spread through the nearby onlookers.
"Good job, young man! Where is your party?" The instructor nodded, impressed, then tapped a large crystal ball on the table beside him. It glowed faintly; this was clearly the magical device that controlled the ranking board.
"I… I don't have a party, sir," Arthur said clearly. "I entered alone."
The commotion around him instantly got louder, morphing into expressions of disbelief.
"No party? How did he manage to get so many cores alone? Some of those look like they're from tougher beasts too!"
"Good job indeed," the instructor repeated, giving Arthur a longer, more appraising look before beckoning for the next, and likely final, student.
On the ranking board, Arthur watched as his name appeared and slowly climbed up the ranks, passing team after team, before finally settling.
Eighth Place - Arthur Greymark - 84 Points.