Chapter 206: Sandman (1/2)

Arthur found a high tree that he sat on and took out food from his subspace. These meals have been stored when they were hot, so they were always delightful to eat.

He ate his crispy chicken sandwich. This chicken was fed mana-rich plants so its meat didn't differ much from the monster's meat and it was a lot tastier.

As he ate his lunch, he overlooked the many students that were struggling to form groups, construct camps, and fight against monsters.

'Emma, Oliver, Ellen, Amelia,' Arthur tried to remember who else was taking this exam, but he wasn't sure. After all, he didn't know a lot of people at his age to begin with.

He hasn't met Emma and Amelia yet, so he hoped they did well, albeit for different reasons. He didn't think Amelia was his friend and he wasn't particularly fond of her, but he had invested some time and effort into her so he would be happy to see her pass.

As for him passing the exam, Arthur wasn't that worried. The only worrisome thing is that he shows too much of his strength. He didn't know if this place was watched and he had already shown outstanding physical strength.

He can just teleport into the ruins and steal the crystals or simply have Ruki dive in to get them for him. In both ways, he would reveal abnormal abilities. He had already revealed his shadow and hoped it would be taken as a scouting skill.

This island was truly huge. After eating his lunch, Arthur traveled across the forest until he reached the end of it. Weirdly enough, he found a desert.

It was the first time that he was in such a landscape and the fact that an island had this variety made it more believable that this space was controlled by someone.

Arthur started running across the drylands looking for monsters to hunt. As the sand shifted, Arthur stopped in his tracks as a giant scorpion appeared.

The scorpion attacked with its tail but Arthur simply used his Restrain rune before killing it. His new rune was extremely useful against ordinary monsters that couldn't break through it.

[Perception has increased by 1.]

Despite being of the peak-mid-tier, this monster gave him a single point only. This proved to say that he was getting less from this tier since got stronger.

Arthur used his detection rune and searched along the desert for monsters. However, it seemed most of them were hiding as the scorpion was.

That's why he directed his range toward the underground and found several monsters moving in the sand. There were giant worms, scorpions, sandmen, lizards, and other monsters that he couldn't identify by their outline.

A sense of déjà vu struck him when he found the roots of the underlying structure. As he extended his range, he sensed the existence of a building that was buried beneath the sand.

'Is it another set of ruins?' Arthur pondered and decided to go there. He couldn't showcase his real powers in the middle of the forest but with how buried this place was, he might slip unnoticed.

He reached the structure after an hour and a half of running. The sand made it harder to run so it had taken him a while. Along the way, he hunted another scorpion and a stone golem and gained perception and stamina respectively.

Arthur looked at the inclined entrance in front of him as he sensed the mana overflowing from within it. The sand fell in a curtain once he stepped on it and peeked inside.

It was pitch dark with only a small hill of sand that had the light illuminating it. The rest of it was so dark that Arthur couldn't see it.

'Is it a large space?' Arthur squinted his eyes.

If there were nearby walls, then there would be a reflection of light that he can pick up with his perception. With that in mind, Arthur used his detection rune.

After making sure that there was no immediate danger, Arthur jumped and felt the air rush past his face. He landed on the sand lightly and looked around in caution.

Even though he had already used detection, he couldn't be overconfident. After all, Rae has managed to slip by his detection more than once.

He was standing in the middle of a giant hall. The entrance he had fallen from was a window that had been broken. Arthur looked around the hall and realized that it was mostly covered with sand.