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 his composure. 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 glasses and had a smaller build. Nonetheless, 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 Class Teacher—Gater's class was lapping 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.

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

*Pew! Pew! Pew!*

The flame 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 played 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 exclaimed 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 were completely 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 can laze around!?" Rerth immediately shouted, flicking the pebbles toward those students.

"Ye--ouch!" A few exclaimed 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. historical

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, the large 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 of large opening on the second floor. It looked to be a lobby of sorts but had a sort 2 stair leading up to a heightened platform.

The platform housed a giant magical contraption, which looked confusing to even gaze at. A large 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 exclaimed as many of the students gazed in awe.

The classes hadn't ascended the short platform yet, but Lyrian saw that on it was a large circle outlined in the floor with black steel.

As the class entered it, it encapsulated 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 classmates 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 explain. Some students already began making plans 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 exclaimed.

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

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

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