"Denken, can you gauge his strength?"
Another squad lurking nearby conversed in hushed tones. This team was also a strong contender, with their main fighting force being the old man named Denken.
Having ascended to the position of Imperial Mage through power struggles, he was highly experienced and incredibly strong—practically a representative master of traditional mages.
"When he uses magic, I can faintly sense an aura like an abyss. We can't fight him. Change targets."
The girl with double buns in the squad, who was capable of rapid short-distance movement, felt a bit unwilling. She felt that with her abilities, she could easily snatch the birdcage in an instant and escape.
"Laufen, don't be reckless!"
Young mages were notoriously stubborn and rarely listened to advice. Zenith hadn't walked far before he saw a brown-haired girl with double buns appear beside him like she was using *Hiraishin*, only to have her movements interrupted by the petrification flower's effect. She faceplanted onto the ground with a heavy smack.
Zenith fell silent for a few seconds, then turned and walked away. *Where did this foolish kid come from? She actually dared to charge at me.*
The petrification flower spawned by magic didn't last forever. With the amount of mana Zenith had just infused, it would maintain its effect for about twelve hours.
Any longer and accidents might happen. It was just an exam, and since she didn't have any killing intent, he had no need to ruthlessly slaughter her.
"This is giving me serious Chunin Exam vibes from Naruto. What an absolute mess of a fight..."
Zenith looked down at the entire battlefield from mid-air. Fern, relying on her extraordinary mana-concealment abilities, had already successfully caught a Stille and was currently facing off against a green-haired mage.
But for most of the others, let alone catching the bird, just finding a Stille was a problem. It just goes to show that comparing yourself to others is a quick way to crush your ego; some people's abilities were simply too far from the level of a first-class mage.
Building a high platform right where he was, Zenith took up this arrogant center-stage position to watch the people below fight it out. If any blind fools dared to approach, he'd beat them up and toss them into a pile at the base of the platform.
Soon enough, anyone who still had the ability to move realized that Zenith was not someone to be trifled with, and they unanimously shifted their targets to other people.
Ability, luck, strategy, cooperation. When the sun set on the second day, the barrier in the sky naturally dissipated, bringing the exam to a close. With the end of the first round, three-quarters of the participating mages were directly eliminated, and those who died during the exam were left to sleep eternally in the forest.
When Zenith went underground to dig out his two teammates, the two bros were soaking their feet while eating snacks. One of them was even using fire magic to heat the water, making it more comfortable than a hot spring.
"No, seriously, you two are taking this a bit too far, aren't you? I was out there fighting for my life, and you guys are in here living it up? Want me to call a couple of hostesses for you while we're at it?"
The two of them crawled out of the water with sheepish smiles. "Boss, you've worked hard, boss! Don't worry, if you ever need us to go through hell and high water, just say the word!"
*What could you two scrubs possibly do?* But honestly, just staying put, not dragging him down, and not pulling any stunts was good enough. Zenith didn't ask for much. "After the exam is over, go report to Konoha in the southern part of the continent. Helping me promote the place will be enough of a favor."
These two only had the strength of a third-class mage at best. They leaned heavily toward what Zenith had mentioned before: opportunists who couldn't wait to try their luck the moment they got their admission tickets.
Most of these people didn't understand the cruelty of the first-class mage exam. As the certification for the highest-ranking mages on the entire continent, it wasn't something you could just easily grab.
There was a certain gap between the two exam phases, and the fragile alliances formed during this first round already seemed to be crumbling.
They were all temporary teammates; their mutual trust was nowhere near the level of entrusting their backs to one another.
A bright moon hung high in the sky. The sky in this alternate world was always brighter than in modern society; free from pollution, even the stars shone more brilliantly.
Zenith, Frieren, and Fern looked at the empty inn, each lost in their own thoughts. Zenith didn't have any particular opinions on the matter, but it was obvious that Fern was starting to get angry.
Her little boyfriend had gone out fooling around with someone else, and right now, they were probably either at a casino or a tavern. Sein was absolutely corrupting the youth, and he was definitely going to get a beating for it this time.
Himmel returned right on their heels. He couldn't help it; for the past two days of the exam, he had been wandering around the barrier, completely unable to get inside.
If you asked him to slash the barrier apart, that would be no problem, but sneaking in? That wasn't his area of expertise.
Himmel felt like he was in some kind of reality show where he was the only one suffering. Frieren hadn't stopped talking about "Himmel" lately. At worst, she'd die of embarrassment for a moment when his identity was revealed, but he was enduring genuine, literal torture right now.
Making their way to the tavern, they heard a chaotic ruckus inside before Sein walked out, clutching a massive lump on his head. Stark followed behind a puffed-up, furious Fern with a look of absolute despair, giving off the strong vibe of a husband who had sneaked out to play only to get caught red-handed by his wife.
Zenith shook his head, blocking out these messy thoughts, and quickly found an excuse to flee the ensuing bloodbath.
One look at Stark and you just knew he was going to grow up to be completely henpecked. As for Sein, he was a lost cause—drinking, gambling, and loving older women. It was a proud lineage of outstanding priests, exactly the same as Heiter in his youth.
Walking down the quiet streets, the surrounding cicada chirps gradually thinned out until there wasn't a single trace of noise left.
Zenith sighed and turned around, looking at the blonde elf walking behind him. Serie—or rather, the Serie who originally belonged to this timeline.
Her aura, the mana she exuded, her appearance—they were all completely identical, yet Zenith could tell at a glance that the person in front of him was not the one he knew.
Her eyes and her temperament. These weren't matters of energy, but the outward expression of a person's mindset and spirit. This Serie possessed an arrogant madness that looked down on the world and an absolutely overwhelming confidence.
One look and you could tell she had never been brutally beaten down by society, nor had she ever been educated by the Goddess. She carried herself with an attitude that said Heaven was number one, Earth was number two, and she was number three.
"You carry a very thick aura that belongs to me, but I am quite certain I have never met you. Care to enlighten me?"
It was phrased as a question, but her tone carried an undeniable sense of absolute authority.
Under this Serie's look of utter disbelief, Zenith walked over, ruffled her blonde hair, and casually flicked her long elf ear. "You'll find out in the future. Some things are still a bit too early for the current you."
Serie's brain short-circuited. Far away in Konoha, the Serie who was currently researching the Nether Star also had her brain short-circuit.
"Why are you adding weird memories to my head? You're being way too disrespectful to the past me, you bastard."
A terrible first impression was now carved into her brain, but fortunately, Serie could distinguish between the two. Time was truly a magical thing; changing the past could influence the future. Achieving absolute singularity across the timeline was still a long and arduous journey.
Serie carefully used magic to embed the Nether Star into an amulet, allowing the pure power of the Nether to flow through it.
"Strength, speed, resistance, flight, Wither, immortality... What a beautiful and powerful force. To think that a certain someone actually stuffed it in a sandwich and ate it... What an absolute waste of God's gifts."
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