Chapter 227: Elsewhere on the Island (2)
[Calyra’s POV]
[Grid Location: G10]
Flying high above the river, Calyra slowly descended toward the ground, her body carried effortlessly through the [Fly] spell. Her white hair swayed gently in the cold breeze, while the crystal atop her staff still glowed with the fading traces of her mana.
Below her stood two colossal River Mawlurkers, Wretched-Ranked Voidspawns whose serpentine bodies stretched more than 20 meters in length.
During their fight, they had been ferocious predators. Now, they stood utterly motionless, transformed into towering statues of crystal-clear ice.
Before touching the ground, Calyra calmly raised her staff once more.
[Magic Missile].
A dozen pale blue circles bloomed into existence around her, each no larger than a dinner plate. Without the slightest hesitation, they erupted forward.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The barrage struck both frozen giants in rapid succession.
Cracks spread across the ice-covered bodies in an instant before racing through every inch of the frozen statues.
With a thunderous burst, the towering statues shattered into countless pieces. Chunks of ice and frozen flesh scattered in every direction, while glittering shards rained onto the riverbank.
The echoes slowly faded.
Her teammates simply stared in awe, some even cheering her from the sidelines.
Calyra paid no attention to them.
She remained watching, scanning among the avalanche of falling debris, carefully tracing each tumbling fragment.
Then, something caught her eye.
A tiny glimmer.
It twinkled amidst the falling ice, reflecting the pale sunlight.
The corners of her lips slightly lifted.
"Found them," she murmured quietly.
The faint smile on Calyra’s face faded.
Without descending any further, the space around her distorted.
She cast [Blink].
Her figure vanished from the sky.
In the next instant, she appeared in midair beside one of the glittering Voidshards as it tumbled among the falling debris. Outstretching her hand, she caught the crystal before it could reach the ground.
[Blink].
She disappeared again, teleporting next to the other shard.
[Blink].
Calyra reappeared beside her squad, landing lightly upon the riverbank as though the series of teleportations had been nothing more than a simple spell for her.
With a flick of her wrist, she tossed both Voidshards toward one of her teammates.
"Here."
Leyd hurriedly caught the crystals.
"Also... get ready," Calyra said, her gaze already drifting back toward the river. "A few more of them will come soon. It seems we’ve attracted several."
Her words immediately erased the excitement lingering among the group. Everyone instinctively turned toward the river.
The current looked peaceful.
After a brief silence, Leyd glanced at Calyra and sighed. "Haaa so there are more of them to come. Anyway, why are we staying here on the first day again?"
Calyra walked toward the riverbank unbotheredly, stopping only a few meters from the flowing water. Her ocean blue eyes swept across its surface, peering far beneath the current.
"Because," she answered without looking back, "this river is their nest. Countless Voidspawns are lurking beneath these waters."
She tightened her grip around her staff.
"And as long as there are waters nearby..."
Her voice turned even colder.
"I, too, will have the advantage."
*****
[Silvena’s POV]
[Grid Location: H2]
A brisk wind swept across the rolling hills of Sector H2, bending the field of green grass into gentle waves that swayed toward the eastern cliffs. A narrow river wound through the landscape before disappearing farther south.
There, Silvena found what she had been looking for: a pristine white flag standing alone atop the slope of a hill.
Its silver pole stood nearly three meters tall, firmly planted into the earth as the cloth fluttered proudly in the wind. Embroidered upon its surface was the crest of Velthia Academy — a majestic three-tiered spire rising from the pages of an open book.
Silvena stepped forward without hesitation.
Resting one hand against the pole, she raised the other and pressed her bracelet against its surface. Then, she channeled her mana through the bracelet before spreading into the flag.
Moments later, its color slowly shifted until the entire banner became a deep royal purple.
The occupation was complete.
Silvena inspected her bracelet.
[Silvena’s Points: 0 Pts]
[Squad’s Points: 140 Pts]
A grin spread across Diel’s face. "Haha... I can’t believe it. The exam’s only been going for an hour, and we already found a flag."
Corwin studied the newly claimed purple banner before shifting his attention to his squad leader.
"How did you know it was here?"
Silvena struck a thoughtful pose, putting her hand under her chin before a smug grin formed on her lips.
"Call it a hunch."
She glanced at the newly captured flag.
"That said, now we just need to hide this thing."
Neyla blinked before looking up at the towering pole.
"But how are we going to do that?" she asked. "Moving this thing is so heavy. I think we’d need at least three people with B-Rank Strength just to carry it."
"There is no need to worry about that," Silvena said with a confident smile. "Honestly, we don’t have to move it at all to hide it."
She reached into her dimensional storage, causing a folded piece of dark fabric to appear in her hand.
[Shroudcloth].
It was one of the items Ruvian had insisted on buying before the Vazrun Island examination.
Back then, he had refused to explain why he wanted it. He had only claimed it would prove useful during the exam. Although puzzled, Silvena had purchased several for herself as well, trusting there was a reason behind his suggestion.
Now...
Who would have thought it would be used like this?
’That damn oracle...’
Silvena clicked her tongue inwardly.
’How dare he keep half of the important rules of the test to himself? Hmph!’
It was true that Ruvian had already helped her a lot with feeding her information. He had revealed some part of the examination’s rules several days ahead and even informed her of her starting location long before the academy announced it.
That information alone had given her squad an enormous advantage, and she knew she should have been grateful for it.
Even so, it still irritated her.
If he already knew this much, then he clearly knew even more. Yet he stubbornly refused to tell her everything.
Though, what Silvena did not know was that Ruvian had expected this outcome from the very beginning.
He already knew Silvena would buy every item he recommended, even without an explanation. After all, she was far too smart to ignore someone who had repeatedly proven his "future sight."
Even though it was a lie...
But more importantly, having her trust him was fine, but becoming blindly dependent on her Blessing or his lies was not.
That could potentially become a problem in the future.
Ruvian doesn’t want that.
So instead of spoon-feeding her everything, he left enough clues for her to connect the dots herself. If she couldn’t figure out something this simple, then she had bigger problems than the examination.
Because the last thing he wanted was for Silvena to start treating his fake-ass future sight as the answer to every problem.
That was why, for this examination, Ruvian wanted Silvena to rely on herself as much as possible while still giving her just enough help to secure a place in the top 10. (+750PP)
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[Chapter 227: Elsewhere on the Island (2)]
Plot Points= 15,255
