[Lifespan Remaining: 8 days, 12 hours, 27 minutes.]
Noct slept like a baby. Actually, he couldn’t remember the last time he had slept a full eight hours in the past month.
But from the somewhat empty camp, it seemed like everyone else was too. Workers and guards were still going around, but it was definitely a lot less crowded than before.
Noct noticed a group of scouts preparing to head out to the northern zone, so at least Instructor Klein had listened to him to some extent.
Though when he woke up, Noct realized that Alice was already gone, while the other two were sound asleep in their beds.
Deciding to approach one of the guards, he confirmed once again. "Where’s Instructor Klein?"
"He left through the western entrance with one of the candidates," the man nodded. "The girl with dark blue hair on your team, I think."
’So it matches...’
"What about the other groups? Did anyone depart?"
The guard shook his head. "I’m not sure...I heard that Group 11 left through the southern gate. I guess you can go ask the field chef, he’s usually making food by that gate anyways."
Noct thanked him and headed toward the southern gate. And before he even saw the chef, the smell of food hit his nose first.
"Good morning, Lord Noct."
"Morning. Have you seen Group Eleven?"
The cook replied, nudging his head at the gate entrance near him. "They collected their provisions and left. Wanted to make up for yesterday, from what I overheard."
Noct looked toward the path leading beyond the southern gate which led to low hills and scattered gravestones. From all the paths, that was the one that led back to Rexford, and was supposedly the safest.
’Good. They actually listened.’
He had been half-expecting Gareth to do something stupid just to prove him wrong. Apparently, even that boy understood when to swallow his pride.
Alice was with Klein and Group Eleven had gone south. The key was secure, and Klein had agreed to restrict access to the northern black zone. Noct was beginning to feel ridiculous checking everyone’s whereabouts, but he knew that he was the only one who could stop this disaster.
Now, Noct could turn his attention to the next pressing issue—actually passing the examination.
Dragging along both Finn and Annie through the eastern gate, Noct realized that the entire place was quite easy pickings. If he remembered correctly, Group Twelve was the only group that went here, and they only restricted themselves to the yellow zone.
So if he pushed to the red zone and maybe tried to look for stronger monsters, they would have a better chance of placing first. But the further east they went, the softer the ground became.
Dry soil became dark mud gradually, and soon, shallow pools stretched between the graves. Some of the headstones sunk so far that only their tips remained visible above the water. He even saw some coffins floaing above the surface, their wood completedly rotted through.
"Please tell me we’re not wading through that..." Finn complained as his foot began sinking.
"No," Noct shook his head. "We’re gonna make them come to us."
***
The first few encounters were simple.
Annie secured wires between the trees while Finn established a barrier across the narrow strip of firm ground they had chosen. Noct then drew the nearby undead toward them using a flashy flame or light spell to catch their attention.
The creatures stumbled through the mud, caught themselves on the wires, and piled against Finn’s barrier. By the time they managed to get around it, Noct’s spells were already waiting.
Fire proved especially effective, as the shambling corpses burned readily despite their soaked clothes. The creeping roots that occasionally reached for their ankles proved even more of a hassle for them as they began to catch on fire.
Once they reached the red zone, their pace slowed as the undead became faster and stronger. Some even wore rusted armor covered with vines, but still, they burned all the same.
Noct knew that he had grown far too comfortable relying on Sylpheed. With her assistance, he could easily overwhelm the enemies ahead of him. Noct could probably disguise her to an extent, but other instructors as well as more keen-eyed students would expose him for sure.
So...all he could do was get stronger by himself.
〔Skill Upgraded: Fire Magic [★]→[★★]〕
[Burning Arrow has been added to Known Spells.]
Fire compressed into the outstretched palm above his head as Noct tried to shape it into the most effective shape to pierce through their thick armor. And just as a line was beginning to form...
"O flame, gather upon my command and pierce through!"
?Ars Flare — Ardens Sagittaire?
The arrow launched from his hand and pierced straight through the group of undead approaching, causing them to drop to the ground with a single touch.
Noct grinned at the sight. It was hard controlling the spell at first, as learning an entirely new spell was way different than pressing a button on a keyboard. But surprisingly, it was quite intuitive, as all he needed to do was simply "will it to existence".
Was this the benefit of being a genius?
He picked up the last few cores as the sun was about to reach its apex before taking a count of everything they’ve hunted. Officially, the other two knew that they had around 85 cores. But in reality, he had been secretly sending [Fae Regalia] around the swamp, defeating and extracting whatever he could.
[Lifespan Remaining: 10 days, 16 hours, 27 minutes.]
’Not a bad haul...’
Finn looked at their combined amount with amazement. "I never thought we would have so much! With the fifteen we have at base, we’re at a hundred!"
"I told you we should go to the red zone. Those who don’t venture or risk anything, don’t reap any of the rewards," Noct simply shrugged.
Still controlling both wind swords and casting spells at the same time had split his attention and brought upon intense mental strain. So Noct decided that they should return to camp earlier than usual.
But by the time he reached camp, Noct realized the guards were moving around frantically while the attendants were trying their best to keep operations running normally to distract the other candidates from noticing.
’Something’s wrong...’