The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

After their reintroduction, Oscar and Mary charged at each other. Oscar left his deer anima behind to settle this himself. He saw that Mary's condition was terrible, and this would be her last stand.

He saw Mary pour out the last of her Ein into a 'Lightning Edge' around her spear and thrust it as fast as possible. However, the Prinstyct had read through her intent.

Oscar dodged and punched his buckler right onto Mary's stomach.

Mary's face was twisted in pain, and the remaining blood in her throat splurted out. But her brown eyes locked onto Oscar.

A kick flew toward Oscar, but he blocked it with an elbow.

"Sorry, but I'm ending this." Oscar tightened his fist and punched upward.

With the incoming uppercut, Mary sighed as her eyes lowered with a small smile. "It can't be helped."

Oscar's powerful fist banged against her chin, knocking her head backward, sending her eyes spinning around and numbing her brain.

"Good fight," Mary murmured as her vision finally blacked out, and her body fell to the rubble of stone tiles.

Oscar stared at Mary for a moment. She was as strong as Frederick, who went on a rampage of missions during his isolation and trained with Emily. It was the product of intense training beyond what one would normally do; it was a shame that she ran into him.

"Examinee #9 is the winner. You win 250 points from your opponent." The woman elder flickered her wrist, and Oscar's scroll shone with the changes. His score was now at 1600 points.

Mary's points were down to 450. It made her drop all the way to last place. This, coupled with the time needed to gain consciousness and heal, might have ruined her chances.

"With that, you shall be teleported back to where you were, so you can continue to follow clues. Mary Jones will be teleported elsewhere when she awakens."

That was the other negative of losing. The forceful relocation from their original positions also ruined the flow of the clues they were following. The losers had to make a fresh start in their new places.

If someone kept running into someone and constantly losing, they would never make it out of the labyrinth.

"May I take a short break to recover?" Oscar asked the woman elder. He felt he was only fifty percent ready.

The woman elder nodded, "You may."

Oscar sat down and closed his eyes in Ein meditation. 'Steel Drill' was a harsh spell that drained a lot from him like Mary's 'Thunderclad'. He used it sparingly against the wave trial for that reason.

After a session, Oscar was about eighty percent recovered. He stood up and stared at Mary, who was still knocked out, before looking up. "Please take me back."

A teleportation formation formed in the corner of the room; it shone brightly, making Oscar squint his eyes.

"Please step on the formation."

Oscar moved onto the formation, and the light began to swirl. He felt the same nauseating feeling as he suddenly found himself back in the part of the labyrinth he came from. His face was pale with sweat.

"Do people just get used to it?" Oscar sighed and looked around. The previous clue he received told him to go downstairs. There was the room Mary had come from, which meant it was certainly a trial. However, Oscar's eyes locked on another door at the end of the hallway.

This door was gilded gold and had a sign saying, 'Safe Zone'. Oscar felt a wash of relief, and he checked the time, seeing that it was approaching nighttime. The scroll also put him in first place with 1600 points, with the second place having 1200 points.

"Should I go to sleep and sprint in a rush tomorrow or do as many as possible right now?" Oscar weighed his options. He soon reached an answer and walked toward the safe zone. "I have done a wave trial, an illusion trial, and fought against a fellow student. Even if my body is ready, I must be wary of burning out."

There was also the inhibitor in his ear, and overdoing it too much might make the release of it worse. With the opening of the golden doors, a large meadow revealed itself. There was a small house in a grassy field with a pond and river.

"They really overdid it." Oscar chuckled and was thankful for this little break. Looking around, he saw other houses and other entrances. "Seems like numerous others could make their way in. But there's no way they would allow for a fight in here or a duel to trigger."

Though with the eccentricity of the Pavilion, Oscar thought it might be the opposite case. He went inside the closest house and checked out the room. The house was quite simple, with a bathroom, a small bed, a table, and a food supply.

Oscar sat by the table and gorged down the food; the use of Adamasreis made him ravenous for sustenance. In a short time, the large mound of food was wiped clean; Oscar patted his stomach in satisfaction.

The lights of the wide meadow room were dimming to represent the night settling in. Oscar decided to step outside with a chair and a book and sat down by the pond, humming as he read.

Occasionally, the scroll in his pocket would light up with the updates on the examinees' scores. Oscar seldom checked it to see if his placement would change. His original placement was in first place with 1600 points, but now he had been pushed down to second by someone with 1700 points.

"That's to be expected, but would they be able to maintain this pace?" Oscar pondered at the other scores and saw that Mary's number five had moved to 600 points. "It's been a few hours, and she's already back. Perhaps I should fight harder to knock out the next opponent for a longer time."

During the battle with Mary Jones, his fist was simple and not as destructive as he usually did. Mary's unyielding and desperate display had struck a chord with him, and he decided to give her a better chance to climb back up.

"I don't know her that well, but I can tell what she was going through. It was a good fight. Isn't that, partner?" Oscar looked at his deer anima that was prancing around the meadows. He had let it out to get some air outside his stuffy inner world.

The deer anima groaned in response.

…….

"He's just resting. Not a bad choice. He's gained quite an advantage at the start with his easy passing of the illusion and three waves." Elder Dustin stroked his beard. "He understands there is a whole week and a half to gather points. The other students seem too eager and could tire themselves out too much."

The other images showed the other students fighting in their respective trials. Some were progressing slowly with deliberation, while others went wild in a rush to finish.

"Most haven't even found safe zones yet; if they don't get the proper rest and food, their performance will surely drop." Ava Jones said while looking at Mary, kneeling on the floor, breathing heavily. But Mary was smiling while there was wreckage behind her.

'In that fight against number five(Oscar), you fought well, but you were not his match. Yet, why did you smile despite losing? I haven't seen you smile like that toward your parents or me in a while, so what happened?'

Ava Jones watched her niece with her brows scrunched up. She felt discouraged that her beloved niece was more accepting of a stranger rather than her own family.

'She refuses to talk to me and worries us constantly. What was the difference?'

In her eyes, Mary seemed more talkative and energetic when talking with Oscar. Ava Jones felt a tinge of jealousy as she frowned at Oscar, who was relaxing by the pond. Then she caught sight of something interesting.

Her lips curved up in a smile, and she thought this was perfect.

"Oh-ho, this will be interesting." Elder Dustin noticed the same thing as Ava Jones. "What were the rules for the safe zone?"

"It's a place with no trials and provides housing and food. It's a haven where people can rest." Ava Jones said with a hint of interest. "However, if the examinees come to the same safe zone, and certain conditions are met, the event will begin."

…….

Oscar was resting on the chair, flipping through a book. He couldn't let Celestina get ahead of him in the series while he was busy with the exams. The safe zone's light was getting dimmer, making it harder to read.

"Seems I have to call it here. And right at the climax as well, but I should get some sleep. I need to remove this inhibitor as well." Oscar was excited to go to sleep because he had been through grueling training with very little sleeping time.

Suddenly, one of the entrances to the safe zone opened, invoking Oscar's cautiousness. His eyes turned toward the entrance and narrowed when a slender figure came through.

She had wavy red hair, not as red as Isabella's, with a wing hairpin on the side. Her arms lifted high with fingers locked together as she stretched her back, showing her alluring figure. When she finished with a hum of relief, her green eyes widened in shock when she saw Oscar staring at her.

"You!" The girl was Serena Fulgir, who initially argued with Mary Jones. Her face flushed red, and she gazed at Oscar hatefully for staring unwarranted.

Oscar took out his buckler, which he placed at the side, and stood up. He said, "Want to fight?"