The Mountain of Yore

The day finally came, this past week, I was doing nothing but training my Aura to hide my excitement.

Lawrence was undeniably excited as well as all he talked about for the past week was how his group mates were already planning many different strategies to further increase their chances of being the first one to successfully grab a crest.

The Airship was large, enough to accommodate the 120 First-Year Aura Students.

The only difference between this airship and the one in my old world was It used Mana as fuel, this was further evidence that the people in this world have better knowledge of Mana than in my past life.

We board the Airship and fly all the way to the Mountain of Yore,

The trip took less than an hour for us to arrive.

We slowly leave the Airship and we see that there are already tents and teachers in the area,

The area we landed in was the mouth of the forest with the dense trees.

"All right, find your group mates and we will start the briefing" Ms. Melinda's voice suddenly echoed throughout the area.

I look around to find my group mates and see them from afar.

I see Warren, Kyle, and Chris trying to talk to Mellissa but she just ignores them.

"Hey," I say as I approach them.

Kyle then glares at me, I glare back and he looks away.

"Hello"

I look at the one who was greeting me.

He bore black hair and brown eyes and had a similar physique to mine.

He also had a katana sheathed in his waist.

"The name is Warren" He offers me a handshake.

"Kayn," I say as I accept his handshake

"I'm Chris by the way" I look to the side and see a blond-haired man with brown eyes and an ax on his back.

I nod at him

"Alright, can I have your attention please"

We all look at Ms. Melinda standing on a pillar.

"The examination will start in a few minutes, there are 10 teachers that currently have a golden crest of the academy on them, they are already inside the forest, we have left directions and it is your task to successfully avoid the traps and be first to get the crest from them, don't worry you do not have to beat them, the only condition for them to give you a crest is if you are able to touch a part of their body."

"But there is a catch, each leader of your group will be given a silver crest of the academy, 5 Silver crest is equal to one golden crest, the more golden crest you have the higher your grade will be"

"We will then cast a Mana barrier to each and one of you if the barrier is broken then that means you have failed the examination, but worry not just because you failed, you won't get expelled"

"Talk with your group for 10 minutes and we will officially start the examination"

I look at Mellissa as she thinks of a plan.

"Me and Kayn will be at the front, Chris and Warren, you guys guard our sides, while Kyle you take care of our backs."

We nod at her and prepare to venture through the forest.

"Alright the time limit is 24 hours"

"The examination starts in one, two, THREE, GO!"

Hundreds of students then sprint inside the forest,

Our group was also one of them, we kept running and immediately felt that there were mana traps in the ground so we carefully weave through them as we ran.

Our whole group stayed in formation as we travel through the forest, but then we see two groups of students in front of us.

We immediately stop and look at them as they block our way.

"Hey, hey, do you guys really think that you can win, it's 10 to 5," He said to us with a smirk on his face.

"We can do this the easy way or the painful way" One of the other students then threaten us.

"They were probably waiting for us to come here to gang up on us, cowardly fools," I thought to myself.

Before we can answer though, 4 of them rushed to strike at us,

But before they can come any closer, Mellissa immediately swung a greater slash at them, two of the four students had their barrier broken and was knocked out.

The two other students managed to dodge it.

"Tsk" I hear Mellissa click her tongue

One of the two students who were able to dodge then fixed his posture and rushed again at us, he was wielding a great hammer.

I then see his aura enveloping his weapon and swung his great hammer at us.

I dodge and so did Mellissa.

"Warren, you take care of him"

Warren nods and proceeded to fight him.

I didn't have the luxury to watch though, as 2 other students who were wielding a katana and a scythe proceeded to 2 v 1 me.

I try my best to block their strikes and slashes, but some get through, luckily it wasn't enough to break my barrier.

I then notice them getting tired and I immediately know that this is my time to counter-attack.

I stopped blocking and started swinging, I easily broke through the guard of the katana user and quickly perform a greater slash at him, he couldn't react on time and was hit.

I hear the sound of his barrier shattering, the scythe user was able to dodge though, he quickly regains his composure and started to swing his scythe at me, I then felt his aura gathering inside him, I immediately know that he was preparing to perform a scythe art on me.

I prepare to dodge and before I could though, he was struck from behind by a spear, I hear his barrier-breaking and he fell to the ground in pain.

I look around and see that most of the 10 students were now unconscious on the ground with their barriers broken, there were only 3 students standing it was the two leaders of each group and the great hammer-wielding student.

I nod at Kyle and he nods back at me.

I then look at the two leaders as they fight Mellissa

They were both struggling as Mellissa did not even let them have time to breathe as she swung her longsword at them.

I look at Chris and Warren as they fight the hammer-wielding student.

They were clearly not having an easy time with him, I prepare my aura to perform a longsword art at him.

I then approach him from the side and swung my sword, the cut connected, and hear his barrier shattering then his scream of pain afterward, as he falls to the ground.

"Th-thanks" Warren looks at me as I see him breathing heavily.

Chris then sits on the ground to gather his strength

"He was stronger than he looked"

I then look at Mellissa as she remained unfazed throughout the whole ordeal keeping her face cold as ice, she was still fighting the two leaders but it didn't look like she needed any help.

The two leaders were noticeably getting tired as they both try to block Mellissa's strikes.

She then performs, not one but two consecutive greater slashes at them.

They lacked the strength to block both.

I was amazed it took a lot of skill and hard work to be able to do that.

They both fall to the ground and Mellissa checks their pockets.

She lets out a small smile as she takes two silver crests from them.

"Let us continue" She then ordered us

We nod and start to follow her.