High above the sky, Sylutia spread her arms slightly, letting the air currents carry her into the distance.
When she reached a certain point, the airflow gradually weakened, allowing her to move freely and walk through the sky.
The rune etched into the chapter page during her advancement included 'Levitation,' so she could cast this type of spell without needing to construct it separately or occupy a card slot.
After adjusting her posture, she let herself drift downward with the wind, her gaze surveying the desolate wilderness below.
After the war ended, all the named powerful monsters in the western region—those above the Fifth Tier—had been eliminated. What remained now were mostly scattered across the vast mountains.
Looking at the map, the entire western mountain range was equivalent to the total area of thirty Regas Kingdoms. The range for this trial occupied roughly one-third of that, meaning about ten Regas Kingdoms in area.
Although the area was substantial, considering the region's barren resources, if they wanted to meet each apprentice's target, they would need approximately eight thousand Third-Tier monsters in total. Upon a moment's thought, it was clear this region absolutely did not have that many monsters. According to Regas's data, every area the size of a Regas Kingdom produced roughly one hundred Third-Tier monsters. This region would have only about a thousand Third-Tier monsters, and that was under ideal conditions.
If that were truly the case, then out of the seventy-six people in their cohort, perhaps only three to five could complete the target.
Sylutia slowly descended onto a large tree on the mountain, her feet resting on a horizontal branch as she continued to think.
Even if monsters spawned frequently and densely in this area, at most ten to fifteen people could complete the target.
Was it possible that when designing the target, the academy already knew that only a small number of people would succeed? No, no, Sylutia thought to herself.
If she were designing and leading this trial, she certainly wouldn't do it this way. A minority's success and the vast majority's destined failure wouldn't serve any educational purpose—it would only make people feel hopeless about an unattainable goal and eventually give up.
So why did the academy arrange it this way? Were they truly hoping to let most apprentices fail as a wake-up call?
Such a teaching method was far too outdated and wouldn't leave a deep impression on anyone.
A gray-goose-sized bird took shape in Sylutia's hand, flying toward the forest ahead. Soon, a massive roaring monster burst out from within, its body about four meters tall, covered in long, earth-yellow bristles.
Then, the gray goose bird controlled by Sylutia circled back and forth, looking for openings to attack, endlessly irritating the roaring monster.
Afterward, it let out a deafening roar. The spreading sound waves toppled dozens of large trees, snapping them in half. If a Third-Tier knight faced it, such a roar would deafen them, leaving them dizzy and nauseous, unable to fight.
But in terms of strength, it was sufficient. Sylutia's gaze locked onto the roaring monster as it leaped above the forest trees, its body fully exposed in the air.
At that moment, Sylutia raised her right hand, aimed the mechanical crossbow at the figure, and pulled the trigger.
A silver swift star shot forth in an instant, piercing through the roaring monster, sending a spray of blood flying.
Then, the monster fell mid-leap, crashing to the ground, dying without any struggle.
Afterward, Sylutia leisurely walked over, retrieved the bird perched on the roaring monster's corpse, and had it coil back into a silken ribbon around her wrist.
Looking at the dead roaring monster, the girl inspected it again and shook her head slightly.
This monster had very few valuable materials. Aside from its sturdy flesh, the only somewhat useful part was the long bristles covering its body. However, stripping such a large amount of bristles would take a lot of time, and the quality could barely be considered Third Tier 'Good.' It also emitted the monster's dirty, foul stench, forcing her to cover her nose and mouth.
Not very useful. But should she just throw it away entirely? She felt that would be wasteful.
Then Sylutia suddenly remembered the Evil Eye she had summoned. Wasn't this a good opportunity to feed it? The corpse could also serve as material for summoning sacrifices without needing to pay anything extra.
Making up her mind, Sylutia took out the stone slab, cleared a patch of ground beneath her, and activated the summoning array.
Soon, the massive gray-blue Evil Eye slowly materialized in the air, gradually solidifying into a physical form.
After descending, the Evil Eye moved its eyeball nimbly in the air, its pupil looking down at the girl below. Receiving her signal, it pounced, swallowing the roaring monster's corpse in one gulp.
After feeding the Evil Eye, Sylutia had it fly up to continue searching for targets.
With the Fourth-Tier Evil Eye's superior vision, Sylutia quickly found the next monster that needed dealing with and headed in that direction.
Half an hour later.
A massive boar with six tusks was cleaved in half amid blazing electric light, the air filled with the scent of roasted meat.
Cutting off and storing the tusks, Sylutia handed the remaining corpse over to the Evil Eye to devour. Once everything was done, she repeated the process again—having the Evil Eye search, then collecting the corpses.
In just the first day, Sylutia had taken down four monsters above the Third Tier.
Over the following days, she maintained a record of five to six kills per day. If nothing unexpected happened, she would complete her target in half a month.
After experiencing the battle with the Blood Clan nobles before, Sylutia felt no interest or pressure in fighting within the Third Tier anymore. It was like playing cards—when you could win no matter what card you played, there was no challenge or surprise, making things gradually become boring and dull.
She decided to find something to do, checking on how the other apprentices were doing.
Several gray-goose-like birds rose from beside her, spiraling up, then shooting into the sky, turning into tiny black dots as they surveyed the scenery below.
Through the Sensory Link Technique, Sylutia could see the apprentices' battles with monsters below through these gray geese.
Overall, the members of Tetis College were exceptionally talented, showing no fear of fighting one-on-one with the monsters here. However, they often took a very long time to find a Third-Tier monster's trail. This search process consumed nearly ninety percent of their time.
If this continued, it wouldn't end perfectly. With those two professors here, the assessment shouldn't be this crude.
So, how could most of the apprentices meet their targets?
After defeating another monster, Sylutia found the answer.
She hovered in midair, looking down at the shimmering, mirage-like region below. This area had been partially overlapped and affected by the Shadow World, producing traces of Distortion Aspect energy.
Furthermore, through these overlapping links, some monsters had crossed through this region, traveling from the Shadow World to the surface continents.
No wonder various factions and organizations on the continent all had the duty to monitor and protect their regions from being eroded by the Shadow World.
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