She took a few whiffs, her eyes narrowing. "It’s poison... I think the rabbit meat was poisoned."
"Oh?" Raelis tilted his head. "If that’s the case, do you have some sort of poison immunity?"
Alice nodded slowly. "I used to ingest all sorts of poisons when I was little. I’m immune to most poisons, up to Grade 6. What about you?"
"My flame filters out the toxins," Rael replied with a chuckle, then glanced at his passed-out teammates. "Do you know how to make an antidote?"
"No need," Alice said, munching on her rabbit. "It seems like the exam overseers played a prank on us. This is like sleeping medicine in comparison to actual poisons. They should be awake soon."
She seems interesting... It’d be nice to have someone like her on my side, Raelis thought as he picked up the lizardman’s spear and removed the blade tip.
He used his hands to rip off a piece of tree bark, some sap, and leaves, then combined it all.
In the end, he was left with one barely functioning dagger. But alas, it was better than nothing.
"Want me to make you a pair of daggers?" Alice asked, amused. "I’m good at crafting, especially from the items I can find out in the wild."
"Really? I’ll take you up on that offer then," Raelis replied with a smile.
Just as he was about to hand over the makeshift weapon he had made, she raised her hand.
"No need, there are better materials," Alice said.
A smirk formed on her face as she glanced toward Ajax, who just so happened to be wearing silver gloves.
"Haha... yeah, good idea," Raelis remarked with an equally mischievous smirk.
The two took Ajax’s silver gloves off and used Raelis’s flames to smelt them, with Alice shaping the molten metal using her Earth magic.
After they were done, he let Alice take the lead.
She crouched down, brushing her fingers along the dirt. Moments later, the earth responded, shaping itself into molds for two daggers.
Alice heaved a deep breath, then poured the molten silver into them.
But not before shooting him a quick look.
"Can you leave? You’re distracting me," she asked flatly.
He shrugged and walked off.
Raelis knew how blacksmiths and all those people operated, so for the sake of getting a usable weapon, he’d let her be.
In the meantime, he wanted to scout out the area more thoroughly.
He sprinted along the trees, his steps not making any sound.
It didn’t take long for him to find a single Grade 9 Mana Beast. It was an oversized boar with extremely sharp black tusks, hence the name, Black Tusk Boar.
He watched it with interest, and of course, to him, they weren’t that powerful, but to others...
"AAAAAH! Fucking kill it!" the boy screamed as he flailed his sword around.
But before his teammates could help him, he was crushed.
They were immediately frozen in fear, and one of them tried to escape.
Yet they didn’t get far before the Black Tusk Boar caught up to them and killed them as well.
It reacted most to people who moved, so the three who stayed were safe.
At least for the time being.
One of the girls raised her staff as a sharp wind blade began forming in the air.
It shot out, heading straight toward the Black Tusk Boar.
But almost like it had no power at all, it dissipated on impact.
The boar was noticeably angered as it dashed toward her, ready to kill her.
Her teammates seized this chance to run away, leaving her behind.
And it seemed like it worked, as the boar’s attention was fully placed onto her.
She closed her eyes, accepting her fate.
But even as her heartbeat mirrored the passing seconds, the pain never came.
And when she finally reopened her eyes, she was met face to face with Raelis, who was holding the boar’s charred head in his palm.
"Hey." Raelis waved. "I hope you don’t mind me stealing your kill. I couldn’t help but notice you were having some trouble."
"Sniff... thank you..." Tears streamed down the girl’s cheeks as she clenched her fists, looking in the distance.
"Seems like they ran off. What are you going to do about it?" Raelis asked calmly. "Will you forgive them for abandoning you, or will you go and take revenge?"
"I... I’ll..." The girl’s lips trembled as she met his gaze. "C-Can you help me find them?"
"No." Raelis flat-out denied. "I have some other business to attend to."
"Oh..." The girl slowly nodded in understanding, yet he could tell she was disappointed.
But he wasn’t planning on babysitting each of these candidates.
They were here of their own free will, and he’d merely play the part of the devil on their shoulders to instigate some fights.
After all, he wanted to save his strength for what came next.
A Grade 6 Mana Beast, Raelis mused. I only managed to kill one because it was weakened, and I snuck up from behind... still, a kill is a kill.
But in this case, the Grade 6 Mana Beast was going to wipe out a majority of the candidates here, so the least he could do was make sure they were all gathered together to have a better chance at winning.
And instigating fights was one such option he decided on.
The girl wiped her tears, then with a look of resolve, she ran after one of the candidates who ran away.
Alright... job is done, Raelis whistled to himself as he threw the boar’s head away and picked up its body.
With that, he ran back to their campsite with the boar on his shoulder, and when he finally arrived, he was met with quite a peculiar sight.
The daggers Alice had been making, which had looked incredibly rough before, were now spotless.
They had a long curve to them that seemed nearly identical to the daggers he had broken.
Even more surprising, the daggers appeared to be of better quality.
Alice spotted him and tossed the daggers over.
He caught them and held them firmly in his hands.
He was immediately surprised by how comfortable the grip felt. The weight was perfect, too.
"These are amazing..." Raelis muttered in awe.
Alice let out a chuckle.
"They should be good enough to last until the end of this exam..." she trailed off, turning to their teammates.
"Looks like they’re about to wake up. What do you say we search for a good location to settle down for tonight?" Alice suggested.
He nodded, a faint smile appearing on his face.
"That’s what I had in mind as well," Raelis said, fiddling his new daggers as he looked to the sky.
But it’s not like we’re going to sleep tonight...