The four of them had stunned expressions before Marcus, the tough-looking apprentice pounced at him. Probably trying to tackle him down to make opening for the rest.

But before Marcus could even lunge properly he was forced back as he clutched his chest in confusion. He tried lifting his head up but his whole body grew heavy, Marcus tried to breath but couldn't, he couldn't see anything properly the world spinning around him and then he fell down with a thud.

"Marcus!!"

The rest of them, didn't understand what happened. Well, that is only natural, the power difference between normal humans and the Vigor core realm was too vast.

Esdras just gave him a punch but that was more than enough, actually Marcus was pretty tough as he didn't faint on the spot.

"Relax he's alive, he's just takin a nap."

Esdras chuckled, to the horror of the apprentices. Seeing this reaction he frowned, he took care to hold back after all.historical

"G-get him!" Ethan shout and didn't wait for the others to respond as he fired an Air blast and three a dagger right behind it.

The other two followed suit and launched a Fire bolt and a Water whip simultaneously. Coordinated attacks that would otherwise do the trick, or at least buy time against a powerful opponent.

However. The attacks hit Esdras head-on but there was not even a scratch on his face. No, even his robes were not disturbed, and he had an exasperated expression the whole time.

Esdras was not just a 'powerful opponent' he was an overwhelming being to these people.

"Are you done?"

Aaron was suddenly bathed in cold sweat and the other two looked at him with the same panic. In fact after casting those spells they planned to escape immediately.

However, they didn't know when, but there was a powerful invisible force tying them down, almost plastering them to the ground.

'Is-is this the mana suppression of a high level mage?'

Aaron suddenly began to think of the only logical and viable answer to the current circumstances. Unfortunately, it also filled his heart with despair.

'Why would a high-level mage pretend to be an apprentice during the Rite of passage? Just to mess with us. Is it fun for him to do this to us? Damn it.'

Mana suppression, could only be done if there was a massive difference in power between the two parties, so Aaron suspected that Esdras was a great mage.

Naturally, this was not mana suppression but telekinesis, unfortunately they had no way of knowing something like that.

Everyone of them had a dark expression, as they could feel that their lives were now hanging by a thread. They could not help but blame fate and hate themselves. It was the worst bout of bad luck they had ever experienced.

It was unfair.

What was only a few short moments felt like years to them, as if time itself has ground to a halt.

In their eyes, the image of the handsome and young apprentice, who was no different than them a moment ago, has now transformed into an unimaginable figure that had left countless years, and was toying with their lives for fun.

Esdras who was about to fix the misunderstanding was stupefied as he noticed the surge in Negative energy and chose to remain silent.

This silence served only to increase the tension in the air and make the three apprentices's speculations go wild.

Esdras was shouting with joy on the inside but he had an indifferent cold look on the outside as if the whole world was just that meaningless to him.

After a while things calmed down and the Negative energy surge slowed down again.

'Tsk'

"Now then.. what should I do with the lot of you? Trash that tried to do dark deeds in the dead of night, and to a fellow apprentice of all people."

Aaron and the others suddenly fell down as the mysterious force holding them in place vanished.

"Sir, sir please! We learned our lesson. We didn't recognize you, forgive us."

However Marcus spoke his true thoughts in this untimely situation, "why would a higher-up pretend to be an apprentice during the Rite of passage?! That's against the rules!"

"Moron! Shut your trap!" Lily glared at Marcus as if she wanted nothing more that to kill him right now.

"There is a misunderstanding.. I didn't lie, I am really an apprentice like the rest of you." Esdras frowned and corrected the misunderstanding.

The three of them nodded but he could see that they didn't believe him, he didn't bother explaining himself further. He didn't care anymore.

"Anyway get out of here before I kill all of you. It's a good, though cowardly tactic, next time you should honestly attack and argue less."

Esdras decided to let them go, well, it was less his decision and more of something he had no choice but to do. Despite this being allowed, Esdras received a warning from Meeralah.

The death toll of apprentices during the defense of fort Kuzdin against the warlocks caused too many casualties.

So he negotiated with Meeralah and decided that he could kill only five apprentices. Esdras was fine with that, he wasn't planning to go on a slaughter spree just because he could.

He couldn't waste three of his kills so uselessly on these guys, he needed them for some special individuals.

"We won't do this again, thank you my lord for letting us go."

The three of them then woke Marcus up and explained the situation to him while leaving.

Esdras nodded to himself, he expected them to ask for their supplies but they were at least smarter than they seemed.

From this encounter one could easily see just how messed up the situation in the Rite of passage was.

What Aaron said in the beginning was true, if the apprentices could overcome their petty disputes and work together their survival rates would skyrocket.

Forget about working together, if they could at least not harm each other then it will create a different situation entirely.

But, human nature was not so easily denied. In fact the Rite of passage was designed to put stress and anxiety on the apprentices intentionally. From this perspective, it was doing its job very well.

It's just that he wasn't sure that this type of exam was really necessary although he wasn't an expert in this regard, he was of the opinion, that the test was too deadly for people who have not experienced the real world to be put suddenly in such a compromising and dangerous situation it was bound to lead to an expected results.

Esdras woke up at dawn, feeling refreshed and ready for the day ahead. He quickly got dressed in his armor and grabbed his trusty sword before heading out into the forest.

As he walked through the dense trees, he heard rustling in the bushes nearby. Esdras immediately drew his sword and prepared for battle.

Out of nowhere, a group of zombies appeared, their eyes glowing red with hunger. They were armed with rusty swords and shields, but Esdras was not intimidated.

He charged towards them, swinging his sword with precision and skill. The zombies tried to strike back, but their attacks were clumsy and slow compared to Esdras' lightning-fast movements.

With each swing of his sword, Esdras cut down another zombie until they were all defeated. But there was no time to rest as more monsters appeared on the horizon.

This time it was a group of skeletons armed with bows and arrows. They fired at Esdras from a distance while he dodged their attacks with ease.

Esdras closed in on them quickly, using his shield to deflect any incoming arrows while striking back with deadly accuracy. One by one, the skeletons fell until there were none left standing.

[+ 116 EXP]

Victorious, Esdras took a moment to catch his breath before continuing on his journey through the forest.

Today was the day he was going to meet up with Tara as he felt the spiritual mana mark he left on a mana stone with her for this purpose.

It only worked because his spirituality was special thanks to the Negative energy. Esdras discovered that he could use this method when he signed the contract with Meeralah.

It was convenient, instead of going around searching aimlessly. He also gave one each to Celine and David, he was confident in their skills but this was an unpredictable test after all.

He altered each one so that he could tell the difference between each one. Although the plain was a big zone, his senses were not powerful enough to cover it, and he could only faintly tell the general locations of Celine and David.

****

"Goddamn this fly!"

Sam, red-faced cursed loudly in rage and tried to smack the annoying fly away. He couldn't stand this stale air for any longer, the dead twisted trees around him drove him mad with disgust.

They were unlucky and were dropped in the edge of the southwestern side of the plain. This side was crawling with undead and had no water, no fruits or anything that could be considered food.

They went through their supplies quickly yesterday thinking that they could just hunt something. But.. they couldn't eat undead now could they?

So today, everyone was grumbling and in a shitty mood. Worst of all he could hear some of the underlings whispering about him when they thought he wasn't nearby.

"If it was Robert.."

'If it was Robert?'

That was the most annoying thing Sam had to hear ever since Robert went to join the Maze legion. As if Robert could somehow solve everything by himself!

Didn't they know? He was the boss now!

Sam was tired of explaining that so he decided to show them that he was better by his actions!

First he was going to get out of here and into the swamp at least, there should be some regular monsters there and some water too. Or.. some fellow apprentices down on their luck.