The teleport glow faded, and Adam's boots sank into damp soil. The forest around him was thick and humid, shadows clinging to the underbrush. The air carried the dense scent of moss and wet bark.
A low growl answered.
Something pushed through the bushes: a boar-like beast, easily one and a half meters tall, ether flickering beneath its hide. The moment its dull eyes locked onto him, it charged - branches snapping under its weight.
But layered beneath it was something else… an electric shiver of anticipation. Finally, a real fight - not Frank's psychopathic training sessions, not simulations.
He slipped into rhythm, ether flowing down his limbs like water through carved channels.
His fingers trembled for a fraction of a second - fear, instinctive and sharp before Tide Vein's rhythm washed it away.
When the beast barreled close enough for him to feel its heat, Adam stepped aside, a clean, unbroken motion. Tusks slashed the air where his chest had been a heartbeat before.
He didn't waste the opening.
Water shimmered up his forearm, spiraling with his pulse and striking the back of its neck - clean, fluid. The force hit like a crashing wave, snapping the spine from within.
The creature collapsed mid-stride, lifeless before it hit the ground.
Adam straightened, shaking droplets of ether-water from his fingers as they evaporated into wisps.
His exhale came out shaky despite the clean kill. "Okay… one down. I can do this," he muttered, more to steady himself than anything.
"Guess Frank was right." He murmured. "It really is just rhythm."
Memory hit him like a wave.
Frank's laugh echoed in his skull, annoyingly clear:
"Tide Vein ain't water magic, kid. It's rhythm. Lose it, and you'll be fish food."
Adam had groaned. "How do I not lose it then?"
"Your heart sets the beat. Your movement writes the song. Go off-beat, and the whole performance sucks. Simple, right?"
Simple. Sure.
If "simple" meant tanking a week's worth of Frank's "rhythm lessons." Adam shuddered. 'Don't want to think about that.'
His watch chimed.
[Rank 1 early beast killed. + 1 Point.]
A leaderboard appeared immediately afterward:
[1 — Mark (5)
2 — Ginevra (1)
3 — James (1)
…
19 — Adam (1)]
Eve stretched lazily in his mind.
"Ohhh, leaderboards too? This is going to be more entertaining than I thought."
"Can't you help? Maybe scout?" Adam asked hopefully.
"Nope. Your test, not mine." And just like that, she went quiet again.
Adam clicked his tongue as a small icon blinked beside his score.
Stream active. His POV was live.
Comments flickered briefly across the corner of his display:
[Viewer889]: Nice footwork!
Adam swallowed. His hands felt just a bit sweatier now.
[CombatCoach77]: Unrefined but instinctive. Good reaction speed.
[WhaleDonator]: That dodge was cleeeeean - sending 3 credits.
Eve snorted. "Relax. Remember? They can't see your face unless you authorize it. Right now, you're just 'Participant 19'."
"Comforting." Adam muttered. Being watched made the anxiety buzz hotter… but it also ignited competitiveness within him.
He knelt by the boar. One hand on its hide, he muttered a brief chant, then pierced into its chest cavity to retrieve the small, light-brown crystal nestled inside the heart. He wiped his hand on the grass.
A faint ripple of ether brushed the air above him. An eagle circling. Adam smirked. 'Perfect.'
He cast Bone Shard Volley - splinters shot skyward, taking the creature out mid-flight. Its body tumbled through branches and crashed a few meters away.
Another line of chat flickered:
[ElementAnalyst]: Both tech and spells? Is that even possible?
[MageTheoryNerd]: Yeah, not unprecedented. He just got crazy lucky with his awakening.
Adam felt a dart of nervous pride. Good. Let them guess wrong.
Adam approached and repeated the process: chant, crystal retrieved, hands cleaned, motion practiced now. Then his fingers blurred into hand signs, ether gathering at his feet.
A shadowy eagle appeared from the ground.
"Find the others," he commanded. "Signal me when you do."
The creature screeched once and took off into the sky.
Adam glanced at his watch.
He'd climbed to second place.
[Participants remaining: 3586]
[Time remaining: 3:57:43]
"Four hundred gone…" Adam muttered. "Guess Frank wasn't kidding about never letting my guard down."
A sharp screech echoed in his mind - the eagle's signal.
Adam's pulse quickened.
As he was about to move, a faint ping notified him:
[Your highlight clip "Boar Kill (SlowMo)" is trending.]
Adam winced. "Already? Seriously? Well... Time to get back to work."
He sprinted toward the eagle's signal, weaving through roots and brush. The deeper he went, the more claw marks carved through bark - long, jagged swipes that spoke of territory and hunger.
A few distant flashes flickered deeper in the woods - bursts of white light signaling teleportation. Someone had taken too much damage somewhere.
A reminder: the academy's safety spell would rip you out the moment death became too close. It didn't make the beasts any less terrifying. Just meant they didn't get to kill you, but they could still traumatize you with pain.
He slowed his pace, letting the forest narrow around him until he spotted them:
Four wolves, each slightly stronger than the earlier boar while still the same size, pelts rippling with faint ether currents as they prowled in a loose diamond formation.
'Feasible… but I need to drop one before they even smell me.'
Adam climbed a nearby tree, moving from branch to branch as silently as he could. The wolves padded beneath him, utterly unaware of the predator above.
His eyes locked onto the rear wolf.
'That one.'
He waited. Breath steady. Pulse quiet.
When the wolves passed directly under him, Adam let gravity take him.
The branch creaked - then snapped from the push.
The wolves turned at the noise, but it was too late.
Adam tucked his knees to his chest, twisting mid-fall. Ether surged through his blood vessels, joints softening and hardening in perfect rhythm - Tidal Guard activating a heartbeat before impact.
His feet hammered into the back of the wolf's neck. The ground shook. The wolf's skull flattened with a sickening crunch, flesh and fur exploding outward as brain matter sprayed across the dirt.
Adam landed in a crouch, knees absorbing the force like plunging into deep water instead of stone.
He muttered, "Thank you, Tidal Guard… my knees would've died first."
The beasts' snarl snapped his attention up. The other three wolves were ready - eyes glowing, fur bristling.
And just like that, the real fight began.
A familiar tightness gripped his chest - the instinct to run. But excitement surged through his veins. This was what he trained for.
The closest wolf lunged first, claws carving through the air. 'I can parry that.'
Adam stepped into the attack, blocking the paw and avoiding being sliced by claws.
The impact numbed his forearm through Tidal Guard; a dull ache bloomed beneath the ether-softened flesh.
A memory came-
Frank's voice echoing like a slap to the back of his head: "Don't block with bone! Let the strike sink, not shatter you!"Adam had returned home with a mountain of bruises that day. He almost missed that chaos. Almost.
Wolf number two barreled in, jaws snapping at Adam's right arm. 'Don't trade blows.' He jerked back just in time, slamming his heel into a root, kicking up dirt into the wolf's eyes before slipping past its lunge. The fangs closing where his wrist had been.
A third shape blurred behind him - Adam's instincts screamed. He pivoted, but his heel skidded on loose soil. 'Aqua Step.'
Mist burst from his soles, propelling him sideways in a liquid drift.
Just a slip, half a second - enough for the wolf's jaws to whisper past his cheek before it snapped shut, missing its target. 'That was too close. I need to create an opening if I want to end this fast.'
But they didn't slow down. The remaining wolves fanned out, circling him in flawless sync, paws silent, breaths synchronized. Predators born for pack kills.
Adam exhaled, steadying his heartbeat. 'They rely on instinct. I have to outsmart them.'
He flicked his wrists - hand signs sharp, controlled -
But nothing formed.
He repeated the motions twice more before the wolves were upon him.
The three wolves lunged as one - two for his arms, one for his throat.
Three Bone Shields cracked into existence, just large enough to intercept each strike.
Jaws smacked against bone; claws scraped uselessly. Momentum died. The wolves staggered. The shields began crumbling into shards.
Adam was already moving.
He stepped towards the wolf aiming for his throat, both fist and voice low:
"Even broken, your will persists."
His foot slammed into the dirt beneath the beast's snout - anchoring him.
"Rise once more-"
His uppercut snapped upward. The beast's neck ripped. Bone exposed. The wolf's lower jaw caved in.
"-I grant you a chance to fight."
The falling bone splinters from the shields obeyed - as if yanked by invisible strings, they shot forward in a burst, burying themselves deep inside another wolf's skull.
Both beasts, now dead, dropped without a sound.
The last wolf had lunged, desperate to defend its already fallen packmates - but Adam was ready for it.
A sidestep. A twist. The same brutal motion he used on the boar. A crack split the air.
The wolf didn't rise again.
Adam exhaled once… twice.
The forest fell silent around him, the three bodies cooling on the dirt. Then his watch vibrated - Not with a notification, but with hundreds of them.
The stream chat detonated.
[StreamChat // Public]
[Viewer735]: HOLY— DID HE JUST 3v1 THEM??
[CombatCoach77]: That footwork… that timing… who IS this kid?
[WhaleDonator]: TAKE MY CREDITS! I WANT MOREEE!
[MageDad]: That shield combo- At Rank 1?
[GoreLover]: I'm loving this kid! Gore of this level is rarely seen in tests!
On the global feed, the commentator nearly choked. "Participant Nineteen has- wait, replay that! Slow-motion - look at that dropkick, this kid has balls!"
Crowds in viewing halls roared. First-years stared, jaws dropped. Even a few instructors leaned closer to their screens, murmuring. Adam blinked, stunned.
"This many people are watching?"
Eve giggled. "You're trending. Again."
Another notification flashed: [Highlight: "Triple Wolf Execution (Frame-by-Frame)" is #1 on Combat Clips.]
His stomach twisted - part nerves, part pride, part disbelief. But before he could even breathe-
A deep, unnatural rumble shook the forest floor. Leaves shuddered. Birds scattered in a panicked frenzy. Even through the screen, viewers heard it - a thunderous, guttural sound that made microphones crackle.
The chat froze for a second… Then exploded in disbelief.
Adam turned slowly toward the sound - toward the treeline that was now… shifting. Moving.
Like something massive was pushing through it.
Adam's pulse picked up - not fear, not entirely. Something was coming for him. Something big.
And the whole city was watching.