Chapter 154: Exploring the Surroundings

That day, no one wanted to accept that they had failed, so they decided to at least stay another day and see what would happen.

Magna also didn’t share what he was thinking about the trial with anyone except Matrim. ℴ

"That actually makes sense." Matrim, sitting on the ground in the hut, answered with a thoughtful expression.

The fact that he had fallen into such a deep sleep that he wasn’t able to wake up until sunrise had been really strange.

So, the idea that the trial was about resisting sleep made perfect sense to him.

"You also said this place is a training ground as much as it is a trial."

Magna kept giving him reasons to believe that they hadn’t actually failed.

"So it might actually be meant to train us to increase our resistance to sleep and pain."

Matrim, who also didn’t want to accept that he had failed, was inclined to believe him anyway, his eyes suddenly starting to shine.

"You’re right." He got up with his spirit restored and said excitedly, "If we just stay awake all night, it would make us pass, right? Let’s do it."

Magna wanted to say it was still just a thought, a possibility, but seeing his excitement, he didn’t want to break it and agreed with him.

"Yeah. It’ll be just a long night, but we can do it." Magna was sure he could endure not only one day but even a whole week without sleep, given his high stats.

Still thinking there might be some tricks at the place meant to force them to sleep at night, he suggested, "To prepare for any unexpected situation, we need to find a way to keep ourselves awake."

Matrim had a good idea for that.

"Let’s go find some food. It’s a good way to pass the time."

It really was a good idea, since Magna also wanted to explore the surroundings while he was still very interested in the animals and vegetables growing around the area, which apparently had very high nutritional value.

When they left the hut, they saw that no one was outside.

Magna checked the surroundings with his presence detection and found that some of the others were inside their huts, while some huts were empty.

Either those boys had thought they failed and decided to leave, or they had gone out to look for food like them.

He especially checked the Drakon guy’s hut. The boy was still inside, seemingly sitting motionless.

Once he was sure the boy had no intention of coming outside, Magna started walking away from the settlement.

The place was in the middle of a forested area, surrounded by trees, but it was nothing like the Black Forest near the Winterborne Estate.

The trees here were much more spread out, with wide gaps between them and plenty of open space beneath their branches, allowing sunlight to reach almost every part of the ground.

There were patches of grass scattered across the area, but most of the ground was covered in dry, hard soil mixed with loose rocks and patches of bare stone.

The settlement was actually located near the top of a small mountain, which explained why the terrain was so rocky and dry.

The higher elevation also meant that the temperature changed drastically between day and night. The sun could make the mountain surprisingly hot during the day, while the lack of heat retained by the dry, rocky ground made the nights considerably colder.

"There are a few kinds of animals living near here. My favorite is the underground squirrels," Matrim said, walking along the rocky, uneven path.

Magna had already started noticing the creatures whose presence he could sense around them, watching birds perched on tree branches and small animals darting between the rocks before hiding again.

Surprisingly, there were no large animals like deer or gazelles. Even after circling the entire area around the settlement, he couldn’t see or feel a single one.

There were also a few places where edible plants and fruits grew, such as the tops of some trees and between the rocks. Some of the strange plants even had edible roots.

Although Magna didn’t recognize any of them, since all the books he had read so far were mostly about mana-rich fruits and plants, Matrim was quite knowledgeable about them and collected every edible plant and fruit he found.

He even gave Magna information about anything interesting whenever he found something.

"This is called false myrtle." He pointed at the shiny, black-looking berries growing on a bush between the rocks and explained, "Don’t be fooled by how delicious they look. If you eat even one, you won’t be able to go to the bathroom for the next week."

It was indeed a deadly fruit. Magna made a mental note never to eat one of these.

Apart from fruits and vegetables, they also hunted a few small animals.

The animals weren’t anything fantastic-looking either, even reminding Magna of ordinary squirrels, mice, and other small animals. They only had slight evolutionary differences caused by this different environment, such as longer and wider ears, more agile legs, longer claws, and so on.

This time, Magna took the task of hunting himself, deciding to use his new artifacts for the job.

He shifted his ice pistol into a small dagger and threw it at the animals hiding between the rocks, hitting them with ease and perfect accuracy.

"You have good aim." Matrim praised him after seeing that he not only had great strength and close-combat talent, but was also good with throwing weapons.

He also looked quite surprised seeing Magna’s artifacts, advising him not to show them off too much, since they could attract the attention of greedy people.

Magna nodded, since he was aware of that too. He had only wanted to see Matrim’s reaction to the artifacts.

He wanted to get a general idea of their value by showing them to a rich kid, and judging by his reaction, he understood that even among the higher echelons, these artifacts were certainly considered rare.

Understanding once again just how valuable the gifts Celeste and Titus had given him truly were, he couldn’t help but think about them.

’I wonder if they are alright. ’

Knowing there was an impending war they were preparing for was quite worrying.