Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Garden Zone 7
Dawn broke over the English countryside.
Garden Zone 7 stretched before them like a miniature wilderness — dense forest, rocky terrain, a thin river cutting through the eastern edge, open meadows choked with tall grass. The zone was enclosed by high mana-barrier walls, and tracking crystals embedded in the gate archway logged every kill made by every applicant.
Thirty applicants stood at the entrance. The examination coordinator stood on a raised platform beside the gate, her Mid Core Realm presence pressing down on them like a weight.
"The rules are simple," she said. "Fifteen F-rank beasts. Four hours. The tracking crystals will verify your kills. Return to this gate before time expires or you forfeit. Killing another applicant means immediate disqualification and arrest."
She paused, her eyes sweeping the group.
"Begin."
The gate opened.
Lucian moved.
He entered the zone. His Blood Sense expanded the moment he crossed the threshold, mapping every living signature within range. F-rank beasts were small, weak, their life forces flickering like dying candles. They were scattered throughout the zone in clusters of three to seven.
Twelve o’clock. Eight signatures. Two o’clock. Five signatures. Straight ahead through the trees. Six signatures.
He drew the Sword of Aikis and headed for the nearest cluster.
Clara entered behind him, veering left toward the western forest. She could feel the beasts out there — not with Blood Sense, but with the heightened perception that came with vampirism. Her ears caught the rustle of movement in the undergrowth. Her nose caught the musky, animal stink of the mutated creatures.
She found her first beast within three minutes.
A F-rank mutated wolf. Small, mangy, its yellow eyes burning with feral hunger. It lunged at her from behind a fallen log, jaws snapping.
Clara sidestepped and drove an ice lance through its skull.
Schlick.
The body dropped. The tracking crystal in her pocket hummed once.
One.
She moved deeper into the trees.
Ryan entered and immediately went still.
His Critical Mind ability activated, processing the zone layout, beast distribution patterns, and optimal kill routes with mechanical precision.
Seventeen beasts in the northern quadrant. Scattered, not clustered. Inefficient to hunt one by one.
He pulled ice from the air and formed a lance. Then he looked at the terrain — the river, the rocks, the dense undergrowth.
Ice is slippery. If I freeze the riverbank near the watering hole, the beasts that come to drink will lose their footing. Then I pick them off while they’re down.
He moved toward the river.
Rose stood at the gate for a full minute after everyone else had entered.
Her hands were shaking.
Fifteen beasts. I can’t kill anything. My ability is a shield. A wall. A barrier. How am I supposed to—
A F-rank beast — a mutated boar the size of a large dog — wandered too close to the gate, drawn by her scent. It snorted and lowered its head to charge.
Rose raised her hands on instinct.
A green barrier materialized in front of her. The boar slammed into it headfirst and knocked itself unconscious. Its skull cracked against the unyielding Aegis shield.
Rose stared at the unconscious beast.
I didn’t kill it. I need to KILL it.
She looked at her hands. At the barrier holding the unconscious boar.
Slowly, carefully, she contracted the shield.
The barrier shrank. Smaller. Tighter. The boar’s eyes snapped open — it was waking up — but the shield was already around its neck, pressing inward.
Crack.
The boar went limp.
Rose stared at the body.
One.
She was going to be here for four hours.
Julian tore through Garden Zone 7 like a thunderstorm given human form.
Lightning crackled around his fists as he sprinted through the forest, finding beast clusters and destroying them in seconds. A bolt through the skull. A chain of electricity through three beasts lined up in a row. An explosion of voltage that charred an entire pack.
His laughter echoed through the trees.
BOOM. CRACK. SIZZLE.
"Too easy!" he shouted to no one in particular. "Is this really the best the academy has to offer?"
He killed his fifteenth beast in twenty-two minutes and strolled back to the gate with forty minutes still on the clock. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed, watching other applicants stumble out of the zone with bloody clothes and exhausted expressions.
When Clara emerged at the two-hour mark, covered in beast blood and breathing hard, Julian smirked.
"Two hours? Impressive for someone who should be in the Support Department."
Clara didn’t look at him. She walked past without a word.
Julian’s smirk faded.
Elena Vasquez killed her beasts the way she did everything else — quietly.
She moved through the shadows of Garden Zone 7 like a ghost, her C-Rank Shadow Manipulation letting her blend with the darkness. Beasts never saw her coming. A shadow blade across the throat. A suffocating cloud of darkness over the muzzle. A silent takedown from behind.
She finished in an hour and forty minutes and left the zone without speaking to anyone.
But as she passed Lucian — who was just entering the forest after spending time helping Rose locate and trap beasts through subtle Light Pulse signals through the trees — her dark eyes lingered on him for a long moment.
Something about him is wrong. His movements are too efficient. Too precise. Like he’s seeing things the rest of us can’t.
She filed the observation away and kept walking.
Lucian found Rose in the southern meadow, struggling.
She had nine kills. Six more to go. But her method was exhausting — trapping beasts in barriers and crushing them slowly while they thrashed and screamed. Each kill took ten to fifteen minutes. She was covered in scratches, her mana was draining, and she was fighting back tears.
Lucian appeared beside her silently.
"Need help?"
Rose jumped. "Lucian! You can’t be— the exam is individual—"
"I’m not killing anything for you." He pointed toward a cluster of beasts grazing near the tree line. "I’m just going to flush them toward you. What you do with them is your business."
He raised his hand.
"Light Pulse."
The blinding flash detonated in the meadow. The beasts shrieked and stampeded — and ran directly toward the only source of cover they could find.
Rose’s barriers.
Thud. Thud. CRACK. Thud.
One by one, the panicked beasts crashed into her shields and knocked themselves unconscious. One by one, she crushed the barriers around their necks.
Crack. Crack. Crack. Crack. Crack. Crack.
Fifteen.
Rose collapsed to her knees in the blood-soaked grass, breathing hard.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"Save it for when we’re out of the zone," Lucian said, already walking away before anyone could see them together.
The results were posted that evening.
All thirty applicants passed.
Julian Renard: 22 minutes. Fastest time. Academy-wide #1 for the combat exam.
Elena Vasquez: 1 hour 40 minutes. Efficient. Clean.
Lucian Grimaud: 2 hours 5 minutes. Impressive for Late Neophyte. Several examiners noted his precise, economical combat style.
Clara Duncan: 2 hours 12 minutes. Strong performance. Her ice control was praised.
Ryan Duncan: 3 hours 8 minutes. Slowest passing time. But the examiners added a note: "Low combat power but exceptional tactical thinking. Used environmental manipulation to create kill zones. Recommended for Research Department with combat supplementary training."
Rose Chevalier: 3 hours 47 minutes. The examiners wrote: "Purely defensive ability. Zero offensive capability. Only passed due to creativity and persistence. Requires significant combat supplementation. Support Department placement recommended."
The department assignments were posted alongside the results.
Lucian Grimaud — Combat Department, Elite Track, Rank #8
Clara Duncan — Combat Department, Elite Track, Rank #12
Ryan Duncan — Research Department, Elite Track, Rank #1
Rose Chevalier — Support Department, Standard Track, Rank #134
Rose stared at her placement for a long time.
Clara put a hand on her shoulder.
"We’ll figure it out."
Rose nodded slowly.
