[Rank F Demon Beast eliminated.]
[Experience has been awarded.]
Rook sighed as he inhaled a deep breath, just as he had predicted. Today had been far more chaotic than yesterday, and judging from the number of corpses scattered around them, it seemed the forest had decided to make sure none of them got a peaceful second day.
Around him, the remaining Rank F Demon Beasts were collapsing one after another. They resembled two-legged dogs, standing nearly as tall as a human with elongated jaws, sharp claws, and dark fur covering their bodies. They had attacked the group in a pack, but after the battle with the Rank D Demon Beast, none of the participants were willing to underestimate anything anymore.
Rook looked around the battlefield while the others slowly lowered their weapons. Several of the creatures were still twitching, so the participants carefully checked each body before finally relaxing. Their clothes were covered in dirt and blood, and a few had minor wounds, but nobody had suffered anything serious.
Rook looked down at his own hands and flexed his fingers. His Health and Mana had recovered somewhat during the battle, and the experience notifications appearing before him were becoming increasingly frequent.
More importantly, something else had caught his attention.
Golden stones.
The Demon Beasts had been carrying them.
After searching through the bodies, the participants discovered that every member of the pack had been carrying one of the golden stones. By the time they finished searching, each person in their group had obtained one. Rook stared at the small stone in his hand for a moment before placing it away.
"So we finally got one each," Milo said as he sat down against a tree.
"Looks like it," Rook replied.
The group decided to take a short rest before continuing toward the gate. Nobody wanted to remain in the open for too long after discovering how unpredictable the forest could be, but they were exhausted enough that moving immediately would have been foolish.
Rook sat beneath a tree and closed his eyes for a moment, allowing his body to recover while the others checked their equipment and wounds.
The rest lasted only a few minutes before something suddenly landed in front of them.
The impact kicked up dust and leaves.
Everyone immediately stood.
Rook’s eyes narrowed as he recognized the person standing in the middle of the group.
Kael.
The swordsman slowly straightened himself, his red hair moving slightly in the wind as he looked around at the participants. Nobody lowered their weapons. After everything that had happened the previous day, his sudden appearance was enough to put everyone on edge.
Kael’s gaze eventually settled on Rook.
"What do you want?" Rook asked.
Surprisingly, Kael smirked.
"Don’t worry. I have enough golden stones." He glanced around at the group before casually continuing, "But I’m here for something else. Do you have food?"
Rook was caught completely off guard.
For several seconds, he simply stared at him.
"Food?"
"Yes."
Before Rook could say anything else, one of the female participants stepped forward and brought out a piece of cooked rabbit meat. She stretched it toward Kael without hesitation.
Rook glanced at her.
She merely shrugged.
"He’s also a member of Ashline, after all."
Kael smiled and accepted the meat.
"Thank you."
He immediately began eating, apparently having no problem devouring the food in front of everyone who had spent the previous day trying to figure out whether he was secretly planning to murder them. Rook stared at him with disbelief but eventually sat back down.
Sometime later, the entire group was resting again, now with Kael among them. The battlefield remained visible in the distance, with the bodies of the Demon Beasts scattered across the ruined ground. Kael had finished the rabbit meat and was now drinking water from a container Milo had handed him.
Rook stared at him.
’Does this dude have endless water somewhere?’
Milo had already given him water once before, and somehow had managed to give Kael another bottle without the slightest hesitation.
Rook still wasn’t particularly pleased about having him around. The others seemed to have accepted Kael remarkably quickly, especially considering that he had spent a large portion of the evaluation stealing golden stones from other participants and sending clones after anyone who resisted. What bothered Rook even more was that Kael hadn’t apologized.
Not even once.
Kael noticed Rook throwing another glance at him and smirked.
"I can assure you, I mean no harm. I just wanted to pass the evaluation, which I did."
Rook raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, by harming your fellow Ashline members. And the test is far from over. We still have a few hours."
Kael shrugged but didn’t say anything.
"Things happen, you know. You might end up as food for a demon before the evaluation ends. Who knows?"
Rook grinned, although he was only trying to scare him a little.
It didn’t work.
Kael simply smiled.
"You have such great humor. I’ve taken a liking to you."
Rook stared at him.
For perhaps the first time since meeting Kael, he genuinely didn’t know what to say.
"Well..." Rook stuttered before his irritation finally won. "I still hate your guts!"
Kael chuckled.
"Chill, bro. Don’t alert the demons."
Rook’s eye twitched.
He wasn’t sure whether Kael was genuinely this relaxed or simply enjoyed irritating people.
Eventually, the group finished resting and began moving again. The forest had become quieter as the afternoon progressed, but nobody trusted the silence anymore. They maintained their formation while keeping their eyes on the surrounding trees, ready to react if another Demon Beast appeared.
The short rest had helped Rook considerably. His Health and Mana had recovered a little, and the fights along the way had continued increasing his Experience. Every victory also gave him more confidence in his abilities, especially after the battle against the Rank D Demon Beast.
As they continued walking, Rook found himself moving beside Kael while the other participants willingly allowed the two of them to take the lead in deciding their route.
It wasn’t something Rook had expected.
Kael’s reputation as a prodigy had already established him as someone the others naturally respected, while Rook’s performance during the evaluation had created a reputation of its own. He had fought against Kael, destroyed his clones, survived a battle against a Rank D Demon Beast, and repeatedly demonstrated abilities that were far beyond what most people expected from an F-Rank Elementalist.
The others trusted their judgment.
Rook couldn’t deny that he enjoyed it.
He had never experienced anything like this before.
In his previous life, he had been someone people ignored, someone who constantly felt as though he was standing behind everyone else while watching their lives move forward. He had spent years carrying the weight of his failures and wondering what it would feel like to be someone capable of deciding his own path.
Now, people were listening to him.
They followed when he gave directions. They trusted his judgment when enemies appeared. Even Kael, despite his irritating personality, treated him as someone worth paying attention to.
Rook looked ahead at the forest.
Maybe hiding his true potential wasn’t such a good idea after all.
He had spent so much time pretending to be weaker than he actually was that he had almost forgotten what it felt like to simply use his strength without worrying about what other people might think.
For someone whose past life had been filled with shame and misery, this feeling was different.
He looked at his hands.
He was strong.
For the first time, Rook allowed himself to believe it.
He smiled.
And as the group continued toward the distant gate, he realized that he didn’t want to go back to being weak ever again.