Adrian returned to his suite and checked his datapad for the details of the test. The device responded instantly, projecting a hologram into the air above his palm. A rotating image of a black monster materialized, its body muscular and wrapped in dark fur.
Information unfolded beside the creature in structured layers, naming it a Shadow Panther and identifying it as a monster captured alive from the Eastern Wastelands three months prior.
Unlike the harmless simulations he had fought in training facilities, this beast carried the real killing instinct of a beast that had survived in the wild.
“Nocturnal predator, favors ambush tactics from elevated positions,” Adrian read, his eyes moving steadily across the file. “Primary weakness is light-based attacks, which can temporarily blind and disorient. Secondary vulnerable point located beneath the jaw.”
The anatomical breakdown revealed muscle density twice that of normal panthers, reinforced tendons, enhanced claws, and a skeletal structure adapted for sudden bursts of speed.
Its shadow-step ability allowed short-range teleportation through darkness, making conventional tracking nearly useless in low-light environments. Still, the Academy’s forest had been divided into several zones, and the file clearly mentioned the specific zone into which the Shadow Panther had been released, which made his task slightly easier.
It would not be a matter of searching an entire wilderness, but that advantage did not erase the danger. The beast still had the terrain, the shadows, and its natural instincts on its side.
Adrian closed the datapad and set it aside. His suite’s panoramic window showed the Academy’s forest sprawling beyond. The forest looked almost beautiful from this distance, but after reading the file, he could no longer see it as scenery. It was a hunting ground.
He moved toward the bed and lay down. Sleep came easily, as he expected the next day. Tomorrow would test everything his parents had taught him, and the first real battle of his life.
...
The next morning, Adrian stepped into the forest carrying the sword provided by the Academy. The weapon was simple but well-balanced, its edge reinforced enough to endure contact with monster hide.
He navigated deeper into the forest, moving toward the specific zone mentioned in the details on his datapad. Somewhere in this maze of trees, roots, shadows, and filtered sunlight, his target waited. A distant howl suddenly echoed through the canopy, stretching across the quiet forest like a warning from something unseen.
Adrian’s hand rested on the hilt of his sword. The weight felt inadequate against what lurked ahead, but it was all he had besides his magic.
The forest seemed to watch him as he advanced. Shadows danced between the trees, each one a potential threat that made his pulse quicken despite his controlled breathing. Leaves shifted without wind, branches creaked overhead, and the world around him felt alive with hidden attention.
Then he saw it: a flash of obsidian moving through the underbrush fifty meters ahead. The Shadow Panther had found him first.
Adrian immediately prepared his first spell.
The creature emerged from behind a massive oak, its amber eyes fixed on him with predatory focus. Muscles bulged beneath its dark fur as it crouched low.
Adrian’s fireball blazed to life in his palm, casting dancing shadows across the clearing. The panther’s pupils contracted into slits at the sudden brightness.
He hurled the spell forward. The fireball streaked through the air, trailing sparks and heat as it tore across the distance between them. The panther twisted aside with terrifying speed, and the spell scorched the bark of the tree where its head had been moments before. Then the beast vanished into shadow without making a sound.
“It is faster than the information indicated,” Adrian thought, spinning in a controlled circle as his eyes scanned every patch of darkness around him.
The first attack came from above. Claws raked down toward his skull as the panther materialized from the canopy’s shadows. Adrian threw himself sideways, feeling the sharp claws part the air where his neck had been. He rolled across the damp forest floor, came up running, and cast another fireball before the beast could vanish completely.
This one caught the creature’s flank as it landed. Its fur burned, and the panther snarled, but the wound was superficial. The beast skidded across the ground, claws digging trenches through soil and roots before it steadied itself.
Then it started circling him, its amber eyes gleaming with intelligence. This was not mindless aggression. It was studying his patterns, learning his rhythm, and waiting for weakness.
“You are smarter than I thought initially,” Adrian murmured, sweat beading on his forehead as he tracked its movement. His mana reserves, which were already low compared to trained Defenders, started dropping faster than expected.
The panther feinted left, then struck right. Adrian barely got his sword up in time to deflect claws that could have opened his throat. The impact sent vibrations up his arm, numbing his wrist and forcing his shoulder to absorb a pressure far beyond anything a simulation had ever delivered. Despite that, he pivoted his sword and slashed, but his blade cut only empty air.
“Shadow-step!” Adrian thought as the creature vanished again, leaving only the lingering scent of danger.
His breathing grew labored. Each spell cast drained precious mana, and his physical reserves burned just as fast. The training sword felt heavier with every exchange, and the forest seemed to press in closer around him, filling his vision with shifting shadows.
“This is what Father meant about real combat,” he realized. Simulations had never captured the bone-deep exhaustion of fighting for his life, the way every decision had to be made while lungs burned, muscles trembled, and the enemy waited for a single flawed movement.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
...
High in the branches above, Instructor Thorne watched the battle unfold with cool detachment. The Primal Method that the Vanguard Program followed was brutal, yes, but the Academy was not foolish enough to casually lose the strongest affinity users humanity had produced.
From the students’ point of view, they were struggling for their lives. But in truth, behind every step, instructors and Defenders watched silently, prepared to intervene before true death could claim them.
“He will exhaust himself within minutes at this rate,” Thorne muttered, his eyes tracking the panther’s movements with casual ease. “His physical combat techniques are good, but they are not enough against an E-Rank monster.”
Still, he made no move to interfere.
...
Adrian’s chest heaved as the panther circled him again. His mana reserves had dropped to dangerous levels, and his sword arm trembled from the constant deflections. He knew he had perhaps one more spell left in him before exhaustion claimed him completely. If that spell failed, his options would collapse rapidly.
“Come on then,” Adrian said, raising his palm and feeling the familiar heat gather there. But this time, something felt different.
The fireball formed as it always had, orange flames dancing in his grip. Yet as Adrian prepared to launch it, his mind touched something deeper, the fundamental structure of the spell itself. He saw it clearly now. There were more hidden inefficiencies inside the spell structure, tiny flaws in the mana rotation, loose formation edges that caused the energy to disperse on impact.
His father’s earlier explanation, his own first casting, and the pressure of imminent death all seemed to fuse together in one instant of perfect awareness.
The panther lunged from the shadows, claws extended for his throat. Adrian released the spell.
But this fireball did not tumble through the air like the others. It compressed as it flew, flames twisting into a focused spiral that glowed white-hot at its core. The outer fire tightened around the center, forming something closer to a burning drill than a simple projectile.
The concentrated flame struck the panther beneath the jaw, exactly where the file had marked its vulnerable point. The creature’s shriek echoed through the forest as the modified spell burned through fur and flesh alike.
Adrian watched the Shadow Panther collapse, its massive form hitting the ground with a heavy thud before going limp. For a moment, he simply stood there, hand still raised, the smell of scorched fur and burnt earth filling the clearing.
“This… this…” Adrian looked at his hands, his breath still rough from the battle. This was not a simple Fireball anymore. In the final moment, he had subconsciously fixed the hidden inefficiencies, changing the spell into something else.
“This should be at least E-Rank now!” Adrian thought with rising excitement. Back when he first cast the skill in the Blackwood estate, his mother had said the Fireball’s power signature was already near the E-Rank spectrum.
Now, after the pressure of real combat and the sudden correction of more hidden flaws within the spell’s structure, the power had increased even more. Adrian was certain this had crossed the threshold into a true E-Rank spell.
...
High above, Thorne’s composed mask cracked for the first time. His eyes tracked the fading magical signature with growing disbelief. “Impossible. That power reading…” His hand tightened around the branch beneath him. “He naturally pushed its rank up.”
If Adrian could do this in real time, under pressure, during his very first live monster hunt, then the implications were far greater than a single modified Fireball. Thorne’s mind churned rapidly as he processed the talent of the boy below him. He realized, with a strange certainty, that he might be watching the birth of a legend in front of him.
…
Across the forest, the others were also fighting their own battles.
Seraphina, standing atop a tree branch, had her eyes locked onto her target. A Thornback Boar was moving through the underbrush fifty meters away. The creature's hide bristled with poisonous spikes, each one capable of paralyzing prey with a single scratch.
She raised both hands skyward, feeling the power flow through her veins. The canopy above responded to her call, filtering natural sunlight into concentrated motes of energy.
"Solar Beam."
A lance of pure white light erupted downward, cutting through the boar's armored hide like it was paper. The creature collapsed without even a death cry.
Seraphina lowered her hands, breathing hard but victorious.
...
Kai pressed his back against an ancient oak, sweat streaming down his face. A Shadowmaw Wolf circled around him, its yellow eyes gleaming with hunger.
"Spatial Blink," Kai vanished from his spot and reappeared ten meters away. His mana reserves plummeted with each desperate teleportation.
Space manipulation demanded extreme mana that his current body couldn't provide. Each blink felt like tearing reality with his bare hands, crude and exhausting.
The wolf lunged at him. Kai blinked again, appearing behind the creature. His training sword found the gap between vertebrae, ending its life with a slash.
He slumped against a tree, completely drained but alive.
...
Marcus stood motionless as an Ironback Bear charged through the clearing, each footstep shaking the earth beneath them.
"Metal Hardening." His skin took on a dull grey sheen as iron particles in his blood responded to the spell. The bear's claws raked across his forearm, leaving scratches instead of gaping wounds.
His counterattack came swiftly. Enhanced fists struck with the weight of hammered steel, each blow denting the creature's natural armor until bone cracked beneath.
The bear fell with a thunderous crash. Marcus flexed his fingers, watching the metallic coating fade from his skin.
...
Elena exhaled slowly, her breath misting in the suddenly frigid air around her. The Flame Salamander hissed and retreated as frost spread across the ground beneath her feet.
"Ice Shard." Crystalline projectiles formed in the air around her, each one sharp enough to pierce the trees. The salamander's natural fire resistance couldn't entirely stop multiple shards.
The creature's flames sputtered, and it died in a few attacks.
Elena knelt beside the fallen salamander, touching its cooling scales. "Fire and ice are natural enemies, but I respect your strength."
...
Damon crouched in the shadows, watching the Razorclaw Lynx pace beneath the tree where he'd taken refuge. Purple veins pulsed beneath his skin as poison coursed through his system.
"Toxic Cloud." He exhaled a noxious green mist that drifted down toward his prey. The lynx's enhanced senses worked against it now, forcing it to inhale the concentrated toxins.
The creature stumbled, then collapsed as paralysis claimed its nervous system. Damon dropped from his perch and pressed two fingers to the lynx's neck, confirming its death. "This is too easy."
...
Lyra stood in the center of a small clearing, her eyes closed as she felt sound waves ripple through the forest around her. A Steelback Porcupine had launched a barrage of quills that now littered the ground at her feet.
"Sonic Pulse." Her voice carried a resonance that made the surrounding air vibrate. The porcupine staggered as the sound waves disrupted its inner ear.
Then a second pulse, perfectly tuned to the creature's natural frequency, shattered its equilibrium completely. It toppled sideways, unconscious before it hit the earth.
Lyra opened her eyes, studying the fallen creature. "Every living thing has a frequency. Find it, and you find their weakness."
...
As the last echoes of battle faded, the forest settled into an unnatural quiet. Seven prodigies had faced their first real-life battle and emerged victorious, each wielding only the barest fraction of their affinity’s true power.
Adrian cleaned his training sword on the Shadow Panther’s fur, his modified Fireball still burning in his memory. The spell was powerful now, but questions remained about how he had managed such innovation under pressure.
The unspoken truth lingered in the air. This had been a simple preliminary test, nothing more. The real challenges lay ahead in the Wastelands, where monsters would not hunt alone, where terrain would not be controlled by the Academy, and where victory would not come so easily.
