Aravel

Chapter 12

Time: 2 hours before the individual exam was over.

By this time, most of the students have already exceeded the 200-point mark. From now on, things were only going to get tougher.

As the jewels disappeared right after they were picked up and converted into points, the number of jewels left significantly decreased to the point that it was beginning to take forever just to find them. At this point, many small groups had formed and students were working together to help distribute their points evenly. A few groups of students had already moved on to battling the monsters and finding challenges to increase their point count. Yuuji's group was a good example of a larger group of students who came together and completed the examination together.

However, that did not mean that there were no longer students who moved individually. A few of them remained, especially those who preferred solo movements like Rena. While this might prove difficult later on when the free for all began, it could also mean that they would not be involved in large scale fights when huge groups clash with one another. Barely any student had dropped out of the exam yet, so that mean everyone was capable one way or another.

"Hmm... 300, 310..." Shoko mumbled to herself as she slit the throat of the goblin in front of her. "And that makes 320."

Currently, Shoko was also one of the few who moved on her own. Determined to complete the examination without relying on others for help even if it meant she couldn't complete challenges worth 50 points and above, she flicked the goblin blood from her sword before advancing forward.

The forest area had already shrunk thrice in the past hour, making the outside region no longer accessible. While the forest was still very huge in terms of how far the students could explore, Shoko was beginning to realize the effects already. She found herself encountering more traces of battle or people passing by ever since the 1 hour had passed, meaning that she was going to have to move away from where she currently was if she wanted to gain some ground.

While 500 points sounded like a simple thing before the examination began, everyone was starting to realize how hard this was in reality. Due to the large influx of activity going on all over the place, it was normal to consider that lesser points were able to be obtained moving forward. No one took the pace of how fast points were depleting into account when the event began, hence why compared to the start, the points gained on average were increasing at a decreasing rate. Jewels were harder to find with more monsters starting to spawn around the area, leaving the students with no choice but to fight. Only the really lucky ones were able to cap out their jewel point limit at 400, otherwise most people would be left around 200 or so.

Shoko continued running through the forest swiftly. She stopped occasionally to take a few short breaks and recheck her position on the map. By now, she had already circled the entire outer border once as though making a perimeter check. It took her quite a bit of effort to do so, but it was no surprise that she could due to her natural attribute as a fox. Much like elves, foxkins had great mobility while moving around in forest areas due to their nimble appearance and powerful legs. Not to mention she had her excellent sense of smell to aid her ears, Shoko pretty much had the situation under control unless she somehow managed to miss an ambush.

Coming along yet another slightly disturbed area, it showed clear signs of battle done by a group of students. Based on the way that the ground had scorched marks along with cut marks on the trees, Shoko inferred a group of roughly 5 students made their way through here after defeating a bigger pack of monsters and headed deeper into the forest, moving straight to the centre of the circle. Due to the increased rate of monsters spawning, it was now common to find weaker monsters moving in larger packs, hence why it made the battle that happened where Shoko was look a lot more dramatic than it should be.