Chapter 30: Skyward Falcon (1/2)
”As for you,” Julian walked over slowly with a twisted smile on his face. His nose appeared hooked under his grin, giving a goblin-like appearance. ”You will be our scout, traveling all alone to bring back news. Your first mission is to go scout the lightning class out. Make sure you're not caught.” He said before walking away.
Traveling alone in the forest was suicidal. There was no need for scouts as the light from the pillars made sure that every class's location was known to the others.
Thus, people traveled in groups of two usually. Nikolai realized that the same thing happened in his past life and he was chased by an Earthen Bear. He only managed to flee at that time because he met the lightning heir.
Nikolai picked up his gun, which he got from the school again, and walked away slowly toward the purple light in the sky. He heard footsteps from behind him and found that Marcus was there.
”Let me accompany you,” Marcus said, with the serious expression of a proper servant. ”Lady Sira asked me to take care of you.”
”Thank you for the offer.” Nikolai walked away slowly. ”However, I don't need a babysitter. I'll take care of myself until the exam ends.”
Even though he made it seem as if he would just hide, Nikolai had no intention of doing so. The class battles weren't only about winning or losing, but also about performance. There would be separate points for individual performance such as leadership, cooperation, and also objective-oriented points.
He went into the forest, leaving Marcus behind filled with dissatisfaction, and ventured deep toward the Lightning Monolith. As soon as he felt like no one was watching him from his class, Nikolai changed directions and went toward the mountain in the distance.
This mountain was the only one in Rohan Academy's Forest. It oversaw the whole forest and a single monster lived on top. The monster was an intelligent one called the Skyward Falcon.
As he started climbing the mountain, Nikolai felt the wind currents change. The more that he walked upward, the more resistance he received.
Nonetheless, he preserved. After climbing half of the mountain and wasting half an hour, Nikolai changed route again. He followed a different trail over the mountain, going toward a cave.
He took out his dagger and gun, prepared for any monsters that would come out. When he went into the cave, he heard the sounds of battle behind him. The battle has begun.
The wind changed again and Nikolai shot a mana-infused bullet at the sphere of light as soon as it appeared. The wind firefly died before it could attack Nikolai.
It took him another few meters of looking before he found the ore. It shone bright green in the darkness, providing him with the necessary light to mine the ore.
He dug around it using his dagger until the giant ore fell. He looked at the liquid-like light inside it and infused his dagger with mana.
'Precise and slow.' He reminded himself as he began extracting the gem from within the ore. This required a high degree of dexterity and mana control, which Nikolai had thanks to his past life. Sweat beads appeared on his face as he worked.
The process was mentally exhausting and risky, as a simple mistake would make the ore blow up in his face. However, when he looked at the wind elemental gem in his hand, he felt like it was too easy.