Novel Full Chapter 160: The Divine Academy’s Examination Event [1]
Chapter 160: Chapter 160: The Divine Academy’s Examination Event [1]
Ding!
[You are currently in the “Lightwood Plains”]
The moment the event officially began, this notification appeared before every participant inside the domain.
Leon and Celeste received it just like the tens of thousands of other players scattered across the vast landscape.
Leon glanced around while the message slowly faded away.
“I’m guessing this domain is pretty big,” Leon said while observing the horizon in the distance. “And since the event doesn’t end until only one hundred players remain, this might take a while.”
Celeste followed his gaze across the plains.
There was no visible boundary anywhere around them.
Leon also assumed the domain contained multiple zone.
If the entire examination happened inside a single zone, the event would probably end too quickly with nearly sixty thousand players fighting each other at the same time.
His objective was simple: he needed to survive until only one hundred people remained.
But beyond that… He wanted the highest score.
Fwoosh!
Right at that moment, Leon noticed a group of players not too far away from them. There were around seven of them, all running together as if they had already formed a small temporary team.
A wide smile appeared on Leon’s face.
The group also spotted Leon and Celeste almost immediately.
Instead of avoiding them, they rushed forward.
Clearly, they believed the two of them would be easy targets.
Leon simply raised his staff calmly, “Perfect.”
Powerful Fireball!
A massive ball of blazing flames appeared at the tip of his staff, growing rapidly in size before he launched it straight toward the approaching group.
The players reacted quickly.
Some tried to dodge. Others activated defensive skills.
But none of it mattered.
BOOM!
The explosion from the fireball engulfed the entire group instantly.
Flames erupted across the plains, and when the smoke finally cleared, none of the seven players remained standing.
They had all been eliminated.
Ding!
[You have gained 7 Points.]
Another notification followed immediately.
[You are currently in first place.]
“Heh.”
Leon lowered his staff with a satisfied expression.
At the start of the event, most players were running around desperately trying to find safer positions rather than actively fighting.
The opening moments of the examination were actually one of the most dangerous periods.
With this many participants moving around at once, being ambushed from behind or attacked by multiple enemies was extremely common.
And Leon quickly experienced that himself.
Slash! Clang!
A sharp blade suddenly appeared beside his neck as an assassin emerged from stealth and swung his dagger toward him.
The weapon struck Leon directly. Yet nothing happened.
“Huh?”
The assassin froze.
He was around Level 65, and from his perspective, Leon looked like an easy target at Level 59.
But the attack hadn’t even scratched him.
Before the assassin could react again—
SLASH!
Leon moved instantly.
His sword flashed through the air and cut the assassin in half with a single clean strike.
The attacker vanished into golden particles as the elimination registered.
Celeste frowned slightly.
“Hey,” she complained, “leave some of them for me. I don’t want to rank low either.”
Leon chuckled faintly at her reaction.
The fight had barely started, yet the eliminations were already happening everywhere.
Curious, Leon quickly glanced at the participant counter displayed in the corner of his vision.
[Players Left: 55,739]
In just one minute, more than 2,000 players had already been eliminated.
The speed of the event was honestly terrifying.
But there were still tens of thousands remaining.
Leon and Celeste began moving across the plains, attacking any player who came close enough to threaten them.
Points were awarded for each elimination, but aside from that, they didn’t receive any additional rewards.
Which made sense. This wasn’t a real battlefield.
Defeated players would simply revive back in Divine Academy City.
After roughly ten minutes of moving through the Lightwood Plains, the environment around them began to shift.
The ground slowly sloped downward, and large rocky formations started appearing ahead.
Ding!
[You have entered the “Canyon of Death”]
“Damn,” Leon muttered while observing the terrain.
The wide plains had now turned into a narrow canyon surrounded by tall stone cliffs on both sides.
The pathways twisted and curved in many directions, creating countless hiding spots and blind corners.
It was immediately obvious what this area was designed for: hiding.
Leon could already see several players rushing into the canyon ahead of them.
’Seems like a perfect place to hide while waiting for things to calm down’, Leon thought.
But hiding wasn’t his plan. He raised his staff again.
Storm of Lightning! Crack!
Bolts of lightning rained down violently.
The players trying to hide didn’t even have time to escape before the attack struck them.
In seconds, they were gone.
Leon’s abilities were simply too powerful.
His [Spirit] and [Strength] attributes were already extremely high, and with the additional bonuses from his [Master of Elements] sub-talent, his spells were devastating.
“I think many players who’ve done this event multiple times already know about all these zones,” Leon said as they continued moving deeper into the canyon. “So we should probably find an area that’s better for fighting.”
Celeste nodded. She had been thinking the same thing.
The two of them continued traveling through the Canyon of Death for nearly half an hour, defeating several groups of players along the way.
Eventually, they reached another transition point.
Ding!
[You have entered the “Divine Jungle”]
The scenery changed dramatically.
Towering trees surrounded them in every direction.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves in scattered rays while dense bushes and vines covered the ground.
“This place is perfect for ambushes,” Leon said while scanning the environment carefully. “The domain really is designed well for this event.”
Each zone clearly served a different purpose.
The Lightwood Plains encouraged open combat.
The Canyon of Death offered hiding spots.
And now the Divine Jungle was ideal for stealth attacks.
Leon was actually curious about what other areas might exist beyond this one.
But before exploring further, they had another goal.
“Alright, we check out the next one,” Leon said, “But it’s the last, we need to try and hunt as many players as possible.”
Celeste nodded again.
The two of them stepped deeper into the jungle.
And then—
Fwoosh!
Several arrows suddenly shot through the air toward them from multiple directions.
Leon reacted instantly.
“Heh.”
Slash! Slash!
His sword moved so quickly that the arrows were deflected before they could reach him or Celeste.
The arrows fell harmlessly to the ground.
Then, from behind the surrounding trees, numerous figures emerged.
There were at least thirty players.
“Did we get them?” one of them asked nervously.
“I… don’t think so.”
They looked forward.
Leon and Celeste were still standing there completely unharmed.
“Oh.”
The group immediately raised their weapons again, preparing to attack once more.
But Celeste stepped forward.
“Pyra,” she called with a smile. “Your turn.”
“Kyu!”
The small phoenix flapped its wings and soared upward.
A second later—
Torrent of Flames!
A massive pillar of fire erupted from Pyra, spreading across the jungle like a blazing storm.
The flames engulfed nearly the entire ambush group.
Most of them were eliminated instantly.
The few survivors who managed to escape the flames were quickly finished off by Leon’s attacks.
Within seconds, the ambush had completely failed.
Celeste giggled softly while patting Pyra.
“I’m still surprised Pyra is this strong at level two,” Leon admitted while watching the phoenix return to Celeste’s shoulder. “Once she evolves… she’ll be terrifying.”
“Hehe~” Celeste laughed. “It looks like I get the points whenever she defeats someone.”
“That makes sense,” Leon explained. “She’s your pet, so the system counts it as your elimination.”
While speaking, Leon opened the ranking panel to check the standings.
Only the top ten players were displayed, since they were the ones eligible for additional rewards.
—
[Examination Ranking:]
[1. Celestial: 194 Points]
[2. DemonBeast: 153 Points]
[3. UndyingPhoenix: 137 Points]
[4. MightyElf: 128 Points]
[5. LasagnaCat: 127 Points]
[6. RulerOfVines: 122 Points]
…
—
Leon studied the list carefully.
The players appearing on the ranking had already eliminated an incredible number of opponents.
Together, the top ten had removed well over 1,500 participants during the first forty minutes of the examination.
But the event had only just begun.
Leon shifted his gaze toward the participant counter again.
[Players Left: 47,342]
Even after all the fighting so far, tens of thousands of players were still competing.
Which meant there was still a very long battle ahead. And many more eliminations to come.