A Villain's POV
Chapter 29: Into the forest

Chapter 29: Into the forest

While Raze was busy thinking, the teacher had already walked in and briefed the students on what they would be doing first, and it was exactly as Raze had thought—the survival.

The teacher also informed them that the first years would take a certain portion of the forest, and the second years would take another portion.

Each student was to also enter with their ID card, as the only way to give up mid-survival was by activating something that had been installed into the ID card system for just this preliminary.

All the student had to do was infuse the card with mana and the intention to give up, and immediately, a teacher would come to him and help him out of the forest.

The teacher said all the students should head to the designated points for their year, and another teacher would be there waiting for them.

The first years and the second years trooped out after the last announcement and headed to where they were asked to—the edges of the forest.

Raze reached the forest. He stood like all the first years, watching the forest. They couldn’t stay at the outskirts and would have to make it more than two kilometers inside before the test really started.

Even if they wanted to stay at the outskirts, the forest had limited resources, and eating would be hard or finding anything to eat would be hard.

The teacher finally arrived, a burly-looking man with big glasses. He walked to the front of the students with a big bag in hand, placed the bag on the ground, and looked at the students.

"Inside this bag are strip bangles with a crystal touchscreen on them. Now, accessing something like this would be really hard for first years like you, but now, you need it for the survival and other competitions going forward.

"This bangle on your hand will tell you when you have gone deep enough for it to start counting your two-day duration."

He bent down and took one out. The strip looked like it was made out of leather, and there was a small rectangular crystal screen.

"The screen on this will show you your time and also some other things like your heart rate and other statuses to make sure that you can watch yourself and not allow yourself to die.

"But that is not all. The strip also has a space inside—it was crafted by some of our best spatial mages. With only a thought, you can access the contents of what is inside.

"Everyone has been given a fair game inside to ensure that they have equal chances of survival. Inside is a sword, a short blade, a blanket, a wand, one bottle of water, and one emergency ration.

"You are also advised to place your ID cards into it for safekeeping because if you lose it, you will have to find your way out of the forest.

"If everyone understands, head forward and get your strip. Your preliminary starts now," the man said and opened the bag wide, allowing the students to start picking and rushing toward the forest.

Raze didn’t move, though, and that was because Joel was yet to meet him. Joel spotted Raze from afar and ran up to him.

"Raze," he called out, but his tone was respectful.

"Stop that already. You and I are classmates—act like we are friends," Raze said without even looking at Joel. Now that Joel was here, he could finally get moving.

"Follow me," he said and started walking. He reached the bag and picked up a strip.

For this exam, he knew the route that Alex would be following, and he knew that the route would clash with one commoner group on the second day. Raze wanted to use that to start his mission.

It was a really simple but effective plan—he had to make that group think that someone from Alex’s group stole resources that they gathered from them.

Raze walked into the forest, and Joel walked behind him. He walked in straight, not deviating at all. He was not going to start chasing Alex yet—he wanted to hunt beasts and see how much he leveled up from fighting beasts.

As he thought about fighting beasts, he recalled that there were a lot of stat points that he was yet to assign.

He pulled up the system interface to immediately get to that.

Name: Raze

Race: Human

Magical Affinities: Space

Mana: 1000

EXP: 300/400

SP: 50

Level: 4

Strength: 11

Dexterity: 10

Speed: 11

Constitution: 11

Intelligence: 15

Free stat points: 8

He had eight stat points, so he decided to put them where he was lacking the most first to make them square up.

He added 2 to his dexterity first, and after that, he added one to all the other stats. He was left with just 2 stat points, and he left that for emergencies.

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 12

Speed: 12

Constitution: 12

Intelligence: 16

Free stat points: 2

It all didn’t look like much, but comparing it to where he came from and where he was now, it was a big difference.

"So what’s your plan for here?" Joel asked from behind Raze.

"Hmm, the plan is to survive, though I plan to fight a few beasts, maybe find a rank one," Raze replied.

Joel heard that and immediately ran to Raze’s front. "Wait, wait, a rank one beast? We should run when we see one—they would kill us," Joel said.

"Your input was not asked. If you want to make it out of here, just follow what I say, and if you don’t, well, you can leave me. I’ll still be heading that way," Raze said and walked past Joel.

Joel paused. He considered his decision in this place, let out a sigh of giving up, and continued following Raze. If he truly wanted a chance at winning now, Raze was truly his only option.

"At least tell me that if it is too strong for you, you will run and not fight," Joel asked.

"Your input was not asked for," Raze said.