41 Goal

Me and Ian found a very good spot to hide for the night, it was inside a junkyard full of cars, shelves, and a lot of other things, all very big which would hide us very well.

"Why are we even hiding?" Ian asked.

"Do not be stupid" I answered.

"Okay, I get it, because of the monsters, but wouldn't it be better if we find our group first?"

"It would, but we are on different teams, and we both have no idea where they are, so for now, it's better to hide and wait for the night to pass"

I finally managed to make him quiet, "Do you have food with you?"

Ian nodded, "I have a bit of water, chips and some canned food"

"Good, find a good spot here" I told him.

"And where are you going?"

"Guaranteeing that we are protected"

I walked away from Ian and started wandering through that junkyard. I walked towards the entrance of the place and marked the gate with my magic, then I moved some cars and trucks towards the gate to block the entrance.

Then I moved through the whole place, marking some places with my magic.

This is just for me to be safe, although I hope I wouldn't need to use it, and I'm glad that Exchange has no limit for marking it, although there are some rules for marking.

There are two types of marks, the nameless mark, and the designated marks.

Nameless marks are marks which are invisible. I can switch myself with anything through the nameless marks, but I can only switch myself through this mark. But this does not apply to objects and people. With other objects and people other than myself, I need to configure to use the designated marks.

With the designated mark, I need to designate a symbol or a number to the marks.

For example, if I mark my sword, my sword will become '1', then I mark my knife, that knife will become '2', and I can only switch '1' with '2' and vice versa, and if I mark a third object it will become '3', but I can't switch '3' with '2' or '1'.

To switch other objects with '3' I will need to mark a fourth object, '4' and then I'll be able to switch. And it goes on that way, '1' with '2', '3' with '4', and so on. It's basically infinite since I can mark as much as I want.

It's a little more complicated than that, because it's not only numbers but also symbols. But it's basically that.

I finished marking the place. And returned to Ian, he found a good place, it's like a cave, but created with rusty cars. And  there I found him creating a bonfire outside of that little car cave.

"Don't do that," I said.

"Why not?" he asked, ignoring me and continuing with his action.

"We'll become easy targets"

"Monsters are only attracted to mana, a bonfire won't attract them"

"And what about other students?"

"I'll use concealment magic to conceal the smoke, although the smell will remain"

Look at that.

"You are not that stupid" I said as I sat and leaned on a rusty car.

"I wonder what do you think of me"

Nothing much, but that's entirely your fault.

"Well, anyway, are you going to tell me why you were in such a hurry to hide?" Ian asked.

"Because of the monsters"

He scoffed, "There's no way you're worried about a few beasts"

He just scoffed? That guy, he's getting more and more bold.

"It's the truth, there are a some monsters that I don't want to encounter, especially now at night"

"You talk as if you know every monster inside this world"

As he said that, I glanced at him with a serious expression, and he added, dumbfounded, "God, you totally know it"

"It's impossible to know that…" I paused, looking for a good excuse, so I lied, "It's just that I stumbled upon some monsters that it's better if we don't encounter them ever again."

Ian seemed a bit scary, I don't know why, "What kind of monsters"

"Grade 5 monsters"

He was shocked, and it was natural, most of the first years are between grade 8 and 7, a grade 5 monster is in the least, 2 whole grades above us, it's simply too strong.

"And you fought them?"

This guy still thinks I can fight grade 5 monsters? I was simply lucky with the basilisk, he should have thought of that.

"No, I was lucky and with my magic it was easy to escape" I lied once again.

"Which monsters?" 

"I saw three, Hidden Worm, White Whale, and the Serpent"

There's also the Night Wolf and the Colossus, but I don't want to scare him too much tonight.

"I thought this was a competition between teams, why are such beasts here as well?" Ian asked.

Since he's on the Sky people's team, it will be good if I tell him, then he can help me later on.

"I don't think this is a simple exam, there must be a deeper meaning and goal in all this"

Confused, he asked me, "What do you mean by that?"

"World academy is known for being the only place where this type of events doesn't happen, a place that only exists to nurture the next generation of ascenders, and yet we are here, in a competition exam, that doesn't seem right"

"Talking like that, you may be right, I never thought about that"

Ian is someone who grew up in a normal school, where people idolize ascenders as celebrities, and he thinks of them as one. But I need to make him realize that this is not the case here.

"And remember what Selina told us, we must do what ascenders do" I added.

"Very vague I would say"

"Yeah, but considering that she's a teacher of World academy, her words are related to what World academy stands for, to protect humanity and fight monsters, so our goal here must be the same"

"Then why make us fight ourselves?"

"I don't know" 

I do know, but that's something that one must learn the hard way, if not it would be a lesson without any meaning behind it.

As he finished preparing the fire, I got up, "I'll keep watch, rest for now"

"Let me first, you already saved me earlier" He said trying to get up.

But I kicked his leg which was still injured by the knife, and he fell to the ground.

"You can't even dodge a simply knife, just stay here and rest"

"That's unfair, I'll sleep for a few hours, then wake me up and I'll keep watch for you to sleep as well"

I stared at him for a couple of seconds, and then said, "Fine"

Then I left and started wandering through the place, focusing on my senses. As I walked I saw the moon in the sky.

"It's night huh, it means the Night Wolf is hunting"

Following my words, I heard a loud howl coming from the horizon, and as the howl ended, I started feeling countless presences of beasts coming towards the junkyard.

"It seems I won't be able to sleep"