On their eighth day in the forest, Xiao Lin and the others finally had heavy expressions on their faces. However, that was anticipated. No matter what, the academy would never send them to an examination they could pass easily just by eating and drinking every day.
However, the final goal of the examination was just to survive for thirty days. It was fine as long as they survived for thirty days. They did not need to kill anything, which was why after Xiao Lin said how vicious that beast was, the rest of them did not hesitate to retreat.
“Since the beast did not chase us, it should be fine if we don’t go out of our way to provoke it.” The short-haired woman voiced her opinion to see if the rest of them agreed.
Everyone exchanged glances, but their gazes all finally fell on Xiao Lin’s body. From the situation last night, they admitted that they would not be able to defeat that beast. Even if the mysterious monster had some amazing treasure with it, it still was not at the level they could handle. The only one with the ability to obtain it would be their monitor.
“Monitor, you’re already at Bronze rank. Can’t you deal with that monster?” someone asked.
“It’s hard to say.” Xiao Lin did not give a firm answer. The doubts in his mind were not less than the rest of them. He remembered his conversation with the president before the examination.
The president had said that it was a ‘normal’ monthly examination. An examination at the normal difficulties would not have questions that were impossible to answer, and monsters that were too strong for the other students would never appear. Otherwise, it would not be an examination... It would just be a slaughter.
The difficult part of the examination actually lay in the gathering of information. Xiao Lin knew nothing of that monster, and since this examination did not provide any benefits in terms of reports, he suddenly had a moment of realization. It was possible that the examination was testing their ability to gather information, such as the weaknesses of beasts.
The camp they had stayed in last night had been completely destroyed by the violent winds, and everyone was worried about the possibility of being attacked again. So, after they collected all their things, everyone decided to continue moving. The weather was not bad that day, so it seemed like the violent winds from the night before were just a nightmare.
They had failed to hunt anything that day as well, and everyone started to speculate if the appearance of that monster had caused the other beasts to go into hiding.
Xiao Lin was also working hard testing his left arm. It did not seem like there were any injuries on the surface, but he still could not feel anything. Since the goal of the examination was just to survive, they could only walk around without a goal like headless chickens, and they would basically not stay at the same place for too long.
Just like that, three days had passed since they encountered that monster. The three days passed by peacefully. They did not encounter other classmates, but they did not meet that monster either.
Of course, the others were quite positive, and felt that they were lucky to not encounter any trouble. It was not bad passing the time like that, but Xiao Lin could feel something was wrong in his heart.
It was too quiet.
It was supposed to be a forest filled with life, and they should basically be encountering various beasts and animals every day, but ever since that night, it was as if only the seven of them were left in the world. They continued to not find anything to hunt for the three days, and even though they did not lack in fruits, it seemed that everyone failed to eat their fill.
Xiao Lin had tried entering meditation under his Miracle state a few times, and the conclusions were shocking. Within the range he could detect, other than the seven of them who were alive, there were no traces of life at all. Forget the signs of life, he could not even find any death aura that represented the death of other living creatures.
In his meditative world, all that was left was an empty, black universe. That was something that had never happened before. Xiao Lin could not think of a world that had no signs of life at all. Even the strangest place he had gone to before, the Final Lands, at least had piles and piles of skeletal soldiers.
Xiao Lin was not the only one who sensed it, as the two women had also felt the strange phenomenon when they entered meditation, and they quickly told the others of the matter. Even those who did not learn any magic understood how strange it was.
After half a semester of intense training, no one was the same clueless person they were when they entered the academy anymore. Yet, even so, that inexplicable phenomenon still caused them to feel a sense of horror. They were not scared of facing powerful enemies or beasts, nor were they scared of a battle to the death, since that would just cost them ten years of their life, but that sort of mental torture was too hard to handle.
Xiao Lin finally decided to let the group stop moving because there was no reason to keep moving on in the forest that had no trace of life. He needed to quickly find a way, or at least an appropriate explanation.
The others were voicing their own views. Lu Renjia and the others were of the opinion that it was due to the appearance of that strange monster. It was possible that the monster had a strange power that could swallow or reject other life forms. It was possible the beast was silently observing them, like a hunter stalking its prey. Once they were exhausted, the beast would unleash its final attack.
That was the most obvious possibility, and Xiao Lin did not reject it. However, his heart seemed to tell him that it was not that simple, though he knew that relying on himself to think about it would yield no results.
Xiao Lin once again entered his meditative world. Everything in the world had a life, so the three basic energies should always be present. That was a law in Planet Norma. No matter where they were, as long as they were still on Planet Norma, that law needed to be obeyed, unless there was someone who could change the laws of the area. However, that would at least take someone of Legend rank. That floating fish might be a bit stronger than usual, but Xiao Lin did not believe it would have that ability.
The two girls also entered the meditative world, but their Intelligence attributes and meditative ranks were quite far away from Xiao Lin’s, and the distance only widened when Xiao Lin activated his Miracle state to focus his attributes on Intelligence, so they could not perceive anything at all when they were meditating.
Xiao Lin might have focused on close combat in his studies, but he had never neglected his Basic Meditation Classes. He would always find the time to go to a meditation room every week. Now, his meditation rank had already exceeded the basic ranks, and was already in novice territory. After activating Miracle, Xiao Lin basically lost himself in meditation. In his meditative world, within that wide universe, everything was pitch-black, yet Xiao Lin suddenly felt like something was being hidden.
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