Treasure Hunt

"Agh... Treasure Hunt?" Ethan muttered, looking at the golden feather.

He reached out his hand, trying to touch it, but the feather easily dodged, not allowing Ethan to do so no matter how much he tried.

Then, Ethan put his palm to his chest and looked up at Angel. He hadn't given up on his goal, not yet, but as soon as he had the chance he would unleash his desire for revenge.

"Right now I have no choice but to follow the rules, right? Besides, treasure can't be a bad thing, can it?" Ethan smirked, rising to his feet.

At the same moment, the feather trembled slightly and headed forward. It moved quickly, but as soon as the feather moved about ten meters away, it stopped.

Ethan took a step and the feather moved forward slightly.

"I see... Before we begin to play the game, we need to know its rules, right? Well, that's not a bad start." Ethan smirked before walking out of the room.

One last glance at Lea. His eyes grew deeper and darker for a moment.

Step. Step. Step.

Ethan followed the feather, pacing the empty corridor. As the second Trial began, the shouts of people stopped, and there was silence. However, it was just the calm before the storm.

[Time remaining 27:55!]

'Hmm, I only have half an hour...' Ethan pondered, 'Perhaps I should hurry up, but before that, I need to take care of my safety.'

Ethan quickly jogged into the technical department, passing through several doors well hidden from the eyes of the academy's students. Feather tried to show him that this was the wrong way, but Ethan was unstoppable.

"Here we go." Ethan smirked, stopping in front of an unremarkable gray door with a red triangular sign.

Behind the door was all the necessary arsenal for emergencies. It was certainly far from police station level, but it was far better than simple sports equipment.

Ethan pulled the special gloves of thick black leather over his hands and with a sharp blow smashed the glass lid behind which was a red fire axe.

"Maybe it's not enough against monsters like that centipede, but it's quite good against humans, right?" Ethan ran his finger along the sharp blade of the axe.

[Time remaining 23:47!]

Ethan glanced at the golden feather, nodded slightly, then took a deep breath and rushed forward. The feather could move much faster than him, so even though Ethan was running at the limit, the feather always kept a certain distance between them.

After a while Ethan ran out of breath, stopping in the middle of the corridor.

He was breathing heavily, trying to recover faster. Ethan was not a professional athlete, but he was in pretty good physical shape for an 18-year-old.

Suddenly, a golden glint appeared at the end of the aisle, then a feather flew out from the corner and a round silhouette appeared that moved behind it with difficulty.

"Agh... Agh... Agh... I can't take it anymore..." The chubby student with glasses muttered while breathing heavily. Like Ethan, he ran after the feather, but his stamina was only enough for a few meters.

Ethan looked at the student intently.

'Hmm... Oh, I know him. Jorn Holso, A-Class. Possesses excellent knowledge, but an absolute disaster in physical performance.' Ethan thought for a moment before heading towards Jorn.

Jorn didn't notice Ethan, but as soon as he fixed his glasses and took a deep breath he saw a tall silhouette walking towards him.

"What...? Ethan... Ethan Mercer, is that really you...?" Jorn was surprised.

"Yeah." Ethan nodded, "Today's a tough day, isn't it? Instead of one exam, we got something bigger."

Then, Jorn noticed the axe in Ethan's hands. Jorn flinched and backed up against the wall, moving as far away from Ethan as possible, not wanting to get any closer to him.

Ethan realized this.

"Hey, you don't have to be afraid of me. I'm not going to attack you or anyone else. I just figured it was worth having a weapon in case any monsters showed up." Ethan smiled, trying to look as friendly as possible.

"M-Monsters...?" Jorn muttered uncertainly.

"Exactly. You saw that huge centipede, didn't you?"

Jorn nodded quickly several times.

"When there are creatures like that around you can't stay unarmed. Look." Ethan ran his finger along the blade of the axe, "See? No blood, it's completely clean."

Jorn looked at the axe several times, then at Ethan. He was terrified of the whole situation and afraid of almost everything.

"Ugh..." Jorn took a deep breath, "Sorry, I'm glad I met someone from your class."

Ethan nodded, then he headed forward, approaching Jorn.

When there was less than ten meters between them, their golden feathers began to swirl chaotically around them.

"What, what's going on!" Jorn exclaimed in panic.

"I don't know, but I doubt it's anything good." Ethan frowned, clutching the axe tightly in his hand.

[Two feathers have met!]

[Opportunity created!]

[Participants are determined!]

A mechanical voice resounded in their heads, and flashes appeared in front of them. A stone seal with four slots fell on Ethan's hands, one was occupied by a golden coin.

Jorn's seal fell to the floor as he was too cowardly to catch it.

[Treasure Seal (1 of 4 coins)

A treasure hunt can't go by without coins, that's obvious! The more coins you collect the greater the reward when you reach your treasure. However, you need to find some courage to do this.

The more flaws the worse, but sometimes a certain amount of minuses can be a plus]

'Hmm? Courage? Minuses...?' Ethan tilted his head in a confusion.

Then, he felt an unusual weakness throughout his body, he wasn't in pain or anything, but he felt as if he was seriously ill.

[Gold Coin (1): Level 1 Stamina Debuff]

'Oh... That's interesting.' Ethan internally muttered, clenching and unclenching his fist. Even such a simple action had become a bit more difficult for him.

"Agh?! What's happening to me!!!" Jorn shouted with a frightened face.

He waved his hands in front of him, but it looked strange as he seemed to be subjected to some hidden force. His hands were moving as if in slow motion.

'Stamina and speed... Surely there's also strength, as well as something else.' Ethan thought, nodded slightly, and approached Jorn.

The first few steps felt heavy, as if he weighed one and a half times as much, but gradually he got used to it.

"Stay away from me! I'll defend myself!"

"Shut up." Ethan said coldly.

For a while Jorn actually quieted up, he didn't expect Ethan to do that.

"Agh, just calm down and give me the coin." Ethan sighed while shaking his head.

"What?" Jorn frowned, like an offended child, "I knew you couldn't be trusted!"

'Damn... What a whiner he is after all... Well, good for me.' Ethan thought inwardly before showing the Treasure Seal to Jorn.

Jorn flinched.

"Look. Every coin will make you weaker, that's obviously a disadvantage, not an advantage. I think it's extremely obvious." Ethan said in a cold tone.

"But...! This way I can get a better reward!" Jorn waved his hand.

Ethan frowned with a sharp glint passing through his eyes.

"You're thinking primitively. Haven't you realized yet that everything here is subject to certain rules? Yeah, the reward will definitely be better if you collect all the coins, but do you really think you're going to end up with a chest of gold and not a dangerous monster you have to defeat first to get your treasure?"

Jorn fell silent, and his eyes went wide. Ethan could be wrong, neither of them knew for sure, but his theory was not unfounded.

"I want to believe you... However, then why do you want to take my coin?! There's clearly something wrong here!" Jorn was wary, he didn't believe Ethan was only doing this because he was being kind.

Ethan shrugged nonchalantly.

"I'm just confident in my physique. Anyway, we don't have much time, so make up your mind. Either you give me the coin and take your treasure safely, or someone else will take it from you and most likely that someone won't be as kind as me." Ethan waved his hand, showing mild irritation.

Jorn's eyes were running from side to side. He was having trouble getting up the stairs, so with more coins he was unlikely to be able to move at all.

"Fine! I agree!" Jorn exclaimed. In fact, Ethan's offer was the best he could hope for.

"Good." Ethan nodded quietly.

Jorn pulled a coin from his seal and handed it to Ethan.

"See you later." Ethan waved, walking away and following his feather.

Jorn watched Ethan's hand move slowly and sighed in relief, then he effortlessly continued on his way.

"Well, that turned out to be harder than I thought. The coin effect is actually strong." Ethan muttered, looking at his hand.

Then, Ethan's face changed dramatically, as his eyes narrowed and the corners of his mouth went up to form a devious grin as if a plan to take over the world had just appeared in his head.

[Gold Coin (1): Level 1 Stamina Buff]

[Gold Coin (2): Level 1 Speed Buff]

"Hahaha. It was easier than I thought." Ethan chuckled evilly, then he glanced at the feather and looked around.

"I need two more coins, where would I go? Oh... I know." Ethan gripped the axe tighter.