Chapter 278 The Hunting Practice Begins!


    *Pant, pant, pant*


    *Thud, thud, thud*


    *Wheeze* "Help me! I''m dying!" A chubby boy shouted, running around the track with his whole body drenched in sweat.


    He woozily ran, trying to keep hisposure. The sweat from his forehead was now burning his eyes.


    A slimmer student next to him passed him in an instant. "C''mon, fatso! Can''t bully now, can ya''?" This slender kid remarked.


    He wore sses and had a smaller build. Nheless, he was still outperforming the chubby boy in this running experiment.


    Lyrian was running behind the two, watching their drama as he calmly jogged. He hadn''t even broken a sweat yet, and it had been 20 minutes of nonstop moving.


    Every student in both Rerth''s—and the other Hunting ss Teacher—Gater''s ss waspping around the training ground in the middle.


    "What did you say!? I''ll kill you, nerd!" The round boy said as his face turned red.


    "Haha!" The skinny kid turned around and started running backward. "Catch me if you can, idiot!"


    "Err..." The chubby boy grumbled under his breath, summoning fire magic into his palms.


    "me Scorch!" He suddenly shouted, hurling a st of fire toward the unexpected boy.


    *Pew! Pew! Pew!*


    The me that erupted out of the chubby boy''s palm was suddenly pierced through multiple times and dispersed by several quick-moving items of some sort.


    "Hey! You wanna get a detention or something!?" Rerth shouted from the middle of the track with a little anger beyond his voice.


    He yed with a few pebbles in his right hand.


    "Oh~" The chubby boy winced, quickly getting back to running as normal. "Shit... I forgot." He mumbled quietly.


    "Hahaha..." The slim kid teased silently, sticking his tongue out.


    "Alright, that''s enough! Everyone back to the center!" Rerth eximed after a few seconds, as everyone came to a stop.


    Most began walking to the center. Some were showered in sweat, their clothes wet, and some werepletely dry. Everyone else was somewhere in the middle.


    Apart from these students, some stayed on the track, putting their hands on their knees as they panted heavily.


    "Oi! Did I tell you that you canze around!?" Rerth immediately shouted, flicking the pebbles toward those students.


    "Ye--ouch!" A few eximed in pain before walking to the center.


    "Ah!"


    "K-!"


    "Shit! What was that!?" The chubby boy was struck right on his behind. He caressed his bum as he walked to the center with a slight limp.


    Even though everyone was slightly distracted, they all paid attention to Rerth, who demanded attention when he began to speak.


    His eagle-like eyes scanned through the crowd, mostly noticing the most vigorous-looking students.


    "You may be asking me, ''Why did you make us do that, teacher?''," Rerth made a high-pitched imitation voice, contrasting his usual rough tone, "Well, it''s simple! I wanted to see which one of you was a warrior! Which one of you was the fittest for this practice, and which one of you was going to be taking this seriously!"


    As he said this, many who were still leaning toward the floor straightened their back in an attempt to look more presentable. They felt slightly exposed, but rightfully so.


    "Now," Gator, the other teacher, began to speak, "Let''s begin the practice." He said, walking toward the entrance to the gym room with his hands clutched behind his back.


    The students quickly followed suit, walking behind the two teachers. They made it into the room, and then into the halls.


    Students began to converse with each other about the practice, some were excited, and others a bit more nervous.


    Lyrian was slightly intrigued to see exactly where the teachers were leading them. It wasn''t near the exit, but he knew that the dungeon would be outside, so he guessed that some sort of teleportation technology was going to be used.


    Although he had been there for many days, therge academy grounds still slightly puzzled him.


    He had yet to travel across all the floor and halls, but on top of that, this was only the outer academy. The inner academy was even bigger...


    Finally, they made it to some sort ofrge opening on the second floor. It looked to be a lobby of sorts but had a sort 2 stair leading up to a heightened tform.


    The tform housed a giant magical contraption, which looked confusing to even gaze at. Arge sphere made of white metal swirled in seemingly random directions in the middle of it all—powered by some sort of magic.


    "This is the Rift Gate of the outer academy. It''s in the middle if you want to know." Rerth eximed as many of the students gazed in awe.


    The sses hadn''t ascended the short tform yet, but Lyrian saw that on it was arge circle outlined in the floor with ck steel.


    As the ss entered it, it encapsted all of them without trouble. Still, it could hold double what was inside and be totally spacious.


    "Once this activity ends, the exam will begin automatically. Remember your ssmates if you haven''t already since they will be the ones that you must not stall." Rerth announced, walking over to a booth to the side of the room with a person inside.


    Gator continued, "Here are the main personal rules!" All of the students turned their heads to listen.


    "Both teams will enter the same dungeon, so expect contact. Beasts will be rampant, so don''t be haughty and rely on your team for help! They are your only lifeline."


    Students nodded along as the stern Gator continued to exin. Some students already began making ns before the practice even began.


    "You will collect beast materials, but remember that all beast materials only matter at the end of the practice, so keeping them is just as important as getting them."


    Before Gator could continue the next part, Rerth suddenly announced, "And listen to the next rules! They are the most important!" He yelled from the booth.


    Students prepared to hear Gator''s next words.


    "When I say keep your items... that doesn''t mean I''m telling you to not slip and drop them..." He paused, as a hint of excitement brewed in some students.


    This included Lyrian, who grinned on hearing those words. He knew what it meant.


    ''That means...'' He mused.


    "That means..." Gator eximed.


    "You can take items from the other team! Now, begin!"


    At that moment, a purple halo suddenly surrounded the circle the entire ss was in.


    In the span of a blink, Lyrian noticed that everything around him had changed out of nowhere...