The examination for survival had suddenly turned into a competition to see who could hunt this Ashton person first. Some were after the additional points they could receive by eliminating him. While the rest of them were worried about what would happen if they encountered him.
It was safe to say that none of them wanted to get eliminated and letting Ashton do as he pleased, was something they could not risk. For all they knew, Ashton might already be preying on them and could eliminate them at any given moment.
But that wasn't the only reason for their hostility. Ashton had just eliminated a group of nobles, which left the rest of the nobles enraged. They have heard about the Bismark name and knew it very well that it belonged to the half-sister of the current prince.
It went without saying that the Mistress did not have a good reputation among the spoiled noble brats. She was detested by everyone in the noble families, except a few who were close to her. Since Ashton shared the same last name as her, the young masters were quick to decipher identity and came to an agreement amongst themselves...
"We will eliminate him first. Let's put everything else on hold." One of the nobles announced to the fifty or so noble who had gathered there, "Although it's a shame not all of the purebloods shares the same view as us. I can understand their perspective. Qualifying the examination is important as well."
This young man was named Lucas Wring, the sole heir of the Wring family who had friendly relation with the Marcellos. Whose family members Ashton had just eliminated. His waist-length white hair was proof that he had not lost a battle in a long time as according to their family tradition, the Wring never cut their hair off until and unless someone defeated them in battle.
At least that was what the others believed. The Wrings were truly a despicable family. They never lost a battle before not because of their strength or valour, but simply because they never fought with anyone.
Instead, they use to manipulate others into doing their dirty work for them. To them, nothing mattered as long as they were able to achieve what they wanted and Lucas was no different from his ancestors.
Having been gifted in the art of speech, Lucas was someone who could turn a villain into a hero and vice versa just by inciting the crowd around him. That was the reason why other nobles on the same level of strength as them, rarely if ever went against them.
No one could mess with them unless they had the overwhelming strength to destroy their entire family. But anyone who had the strength to do so never bothered with the kinds of them. After all, why would someone waste a missile to kill an ant?
Either way, Lucas was successfully able to incite the crowd to hunt Ashton. However, he himself had no intention of participating in the hunt. He was a master of manipulation but when it came to fighting, he was much weaker than any of them.
Thus by making others waste their time looking for Ashton, he had cleared himself a path to earn the points that those fifty nobles would have earned on their own. In other words, while these nobles would be busy hunting Ashton, Lucas would be looking for alternate ways to gain points and qualify for the exam.
On top of that, since his family was close to the Marcellos, no one would ever question him for doing this. In the eyes of the others, he was a true friend who simply wanted to avenge his fallen comrades.
The nobles who did not answer his call for help knew very well that Lucas had an alternate motive. So, rather than wasting their time on nonsensical things they decided to focus on the competition itself.
'Fools... all of them are a bunch of fools and nothing more.' Lucas could barely conceal his grin behind his mask of innocence, 'However, I am thankful for their foolishness. If it hadn't been for their gullibility, I was surely not going to pass this survival exam. Hehe.'
"Alright then, listen up!" Lucas roared at the top of his lungs, "Let's divide ourselves into groups of five. That way we will have enough strength to confront him and cover the maximum area as well. Are there any questions?"
All of them shook their heads in unison.
"Alright then, let's hunt him down!"
***
Meanwhile, on the other side of the map, Ashton had blended himself in with the surrounding. His blindness was slowly wearing off. Since the item did not belong to the examination, its effects were slow to disappear, unlike the curse he got affected by after opening the chest.
'At least I got some of my vision back.' Ashton thought, 'It will still be a problem if I encounter another trio like before.'
In his state, he was worried if he would be able to fight two examinees simultaneously, let alone three. However, his problems didn't end there. He couldn't stay in one spot for long as once 15 minutes passed, the rest of the examinees would get informed of his location.
Thus not only he was forced to fight in a state of partial blindness, but he had to run and hide as well. It almost felt as if someone was plotting against him. First, Nathan was suspiciously allowed to use forbidden items and then the announcement after eliminating him practically screwed him over.
Moreover, none of these things was mentioned in the 'rulebook' that was fed into their watches. To say that Ashton was pissed would have been an understatement. At first, he thought the director would be fair with her treatment of everyone. But hell, he was wrong.
'Oh, she's fair alright. But only to those fcking nobles!' Ashton cursed the director, 'If things keep going on like this, I might have to use the other genes as well.... but for now let's keep it as a last resort.'