Aether stabbed at Liam but Liam grabbed his arm with both of his hands and threw him over his shoulder. Aether was slammed to the ground on his back.

“How many times are you going to get your ass handed to you?” the pig said. He was bored watching these two spar for multiple days now.

Aether ignored the pig and got up. He stabbed and swung his dagger at Liam multiple times but Liam dodged them swiftly. “Your movements are quick” Liam said. He caught Aether’s arm and twisted it this time. He took Aether’s dagger and held his arm behind his back while keeping his dagger at his throat. “but you are too predictable.”

“Urgh” Aether grunted. Both of them could use their bodies after about a month. They had sparred and trained together multiple times but Aether lost every time. Despite the doctor’s advice to not use their bodies extensively, they kept sparring.

Aether panted heavily. He sat down and drank a bit of water. His previously white clothes were stained with sweat and dirt. Liam on the other hand was only sweating a little bit.

Aether was dejected at losing to Liam every time but at least he had made him sweat a bit. Before he wasn’t able to make Liam break a sweat. “You are quite strong for a middle staged Pereth.” Liam said.

“Well, apparently it isn’t enough to beat you.” Aether said. Aether had learnt quite a lot of things in the two months he had spent with Liam. The people in this world referred to levels with specific names. For example, when you are at Pereth stage, it means that you are between level 20 to 29 . People in this world weren't familiar with the concept of levels.

“You can still get a lot stronger.” Liam said. "I know I will." Aether said. They were on the roof of the medical centre and were enjoying the wind as a woman suddenly burst the door open.

“Both of you are required to come downstairs.” She said. She was the nurse that was supposed to take care of Liam and Aether. ‘Finally, these two nuisances can leave. Ah~ It’ll be so peaceful from now on' Lucy thought. She was new at the medical centre and still wasn’t used to working in the centre. Patients like Liam and Aether hadn’t made it any easier for her.

“Why are you smiling today? It’s creepy.” Aether said. ‘This woman always has an annoyed or irritated face, why is she so happy today?’

“You!” Lucy exclaimed. Her face twisted in anger but she remembered that a nurse shouldn’t behave in such a manner. She took a deep breath in and puffed out, calming down and reminded herself that these two would leave soon. “Follow me, you’ll know soon enough.” She said, putting a smile back on her face again.

Aether and Liam walked back to the room and saw the doctor. The doctor sighed at them. “You two were sparring again?” the doctor was tired of telling them not to but they wouldn’t listen to him. “Both of you are getting discharged today.” He said.

“Aether are you sure you want to get discharged today?” he asked. “Yes” Aether replied. “I have some work today.”

“You’re applying to the academy of Eleftheria as well?” the doctor asked.

“Huh? How did you know? Aether said. The doctor laughed, “More than five thousand young people from all over the continent apply every year.”

“Five thousand?!” Aether exclaimed. “Yes. But that is not the surprising part. Only 200 of them are selected.” The doctor said.

“200?” Aether asked. He realized it wasn’t going to be easy if he wanted to join Eleftheria. He walked to the reception where he had to pay his bills. “You have to pay a gold coin sir.” The receptionist said.

“A gold coin? You are kidding right?” Aether said. “No sir, you stayed in the hospital for two months, along with the food and medicine you consumed, it will cost you exactly a gold coin.” The receptionist said.

Aether had robbed two gold coins from Zhang Wei. He had planned to use it to pay back Mrs. Roose but he had lost a gold coin during the fight. He had only one gold coin and if he paid it right now, he would be broke again.

“What about Liam? Why shouldn’t he pay?” Aether asked. He noticed that they had let Liam go without taking any money. “He is part of the public defence, the kingdom will pay for his bills."

Aether gave the gold coin he had to the receptionist. He didn’t let go of the coin for a solid 3 minutes before the receptionist managed to take the coin by force.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Aether left the medical centre dejectedly. “You have no time to sulk. The entrance exam is today and we must get in that academy no matter what.” The pig said.

“I know, I know.” He said. “It’s a good thing that Eleftheria doesn’t require a payment to study. We wouldn’t be able to pay it anyway thanks to your luck.” The pig said.

“Shut up little pig. Let’s just go to the academy right now.” Aether said. When they reached the academy, they saw hordes of people get into it. Aether got in the horde and showed his identity card before entering the huge academy.

He had obtained the identity card when some officers had come to interrogate him while he was still at the medical centre. When they realised that Aether didn’t have an Identification card on him, they decided to make one for him.

When he entered, he found himself in a large ground filled with people. People glanced at him, he was wearing his hospital clothes which were stained with dirt and he had a pig on his shoulders. A young teenager thought when he saw Aether- ‘Well, he isn’t the only lowlife that had come to try out his luck.’

The ground they were in was surrounded by huge buildings from three sides and had the entrance gate on one side. Opposite to the entrance gate was the largest building. It had a balcony on the top most floor. The buildings were painted with light blue and white. There was a beautiful fountain at the centre of the ground.

Everyone waited in the ground as they talked with each other. Aether didn’t have anyone to talk to, neither did anyone want to talk to him, so he stood in his place waiting for something to happen. People even made sure to avoid him.

Right at the time when the sun was over his head, a noise sounded around the whole ground. “TAK TAK TAK”. It silenced most of the people. “Silence!” someone shouted, which silenced the rest of the people who were still talking. The entrance gate closed as the people who tried to get in were forced back outside.

"Looks like time's up for anyone who wants to get in now." Aether said.

A person was standing at the balcony of the biggest building now. He had white hair and a light stubble. He was also wearing a glass with round frames.

He tightened his hand to a fist, as a magic circle appeared on his hand. There were many incomprehensible scriptures written within the circle. “Ahem!” he cleared his throat. “Welcome to our academy everyone. My name is Siarchas, the headmaster of Eleftheria. ” He said with a smile on his face. His voice was heard all round the ground clearly. It was probably because of the magic he had used.

“I am happy to see that many people have turned up this year as well. The ones who have come for the forging classes please move to the right, the ones who have come for the magic and martial art classes please move to your left.”

Compared to the people who had turned up, only a few moved to the right. Almost all of them moved to the left. “There will be people who will come soon and guide you to your particular tests. I wish the best of luck to everyone.”

Everyone clapped as the headmaster retreated into the top most floor. The place was crowded with public defence officers. They guided the people who had come to take the tests to an circular staircase that took them to an underground corridor situated inside of the huge building to their left. People followed and entered another place filled with magic lights. Aether also followed the group.

Soon they entered an underground field. There was a person who was standing on an elevated stage. He wore a blue shirt with blue pants. He had a brown vest with a black colour headband.

“So many people this year as well.” He murmured to himself. “Listen up kids; this is your last chance to be a pussy, turn back and run away.” He said.

Not even a single person wanted to go away now.

“Being a pussy isn’t always bad.” He said. “Last year more than four thousand had major injuries , only a few end up with minor injuries. Arms sliced off, legs detached, going into a vegetative state. You name it, we had the injury. Breaking bones was a simple injury.”

The atmosphere became a little stifle. “Uhh.. pig, can we just go and try another academy?” Aether asked. He was a little demotivated right now. Every single person in the underground space was at least level 30. He had rarely seen any level 20’s in this place.

Except Aether, very few were having second thoughts. Every single one of them knew the risk before they had arrived.

“No.” the pig declined Aether. “If you want to get stronger as fast as possible, you must get into this academy.” He said. One thing the pig had realized by now was that the talent of the current generation was out of proportions. Level 50 warriors were dropping out of nowhere. Level 40 warriors were everywhere and reaching level 30 was as easy as pie. It was totally different than what he had imagined. This just made his objective even tougher.

The examiner on the stage sighed. He hadn’t been able to make a single one of them give up this year. It was the same every year.

“You don’t have to worry about your lives. There are multiple officers here to intervene if anyone is in danger of losing lives…..”

They were a few cheers and everyone smiled happily thinking they wouldn’t be losing their lives at the very least. Even Aether breathed a sigh of relief, although he didn’t think that things were going to be that easy.

‘Fools’ the examiner thought. “This year you will have the labyrinth course. After that there will be a test of your will and a display of strength. Based on your performance 150 contestants will be accepted. If you are saved by any officer, you will be disqualified automatically. If you wish to quit, raise your hands during the labyrinth course, the officers will guide you out.”

"150? I thought it was 200." Aether said. "The other 50 seats must be reserved for the forging students."the pig said.

“That’s it, head towards the door on your right.” He said as he pointed towards a huge white door.

“That must take a lot of effort to clean.” Aether said. The door was fucking humongous. It was 40 meters tall and 30 meters wide. It was made out of a pure white substance.

All of them head towards the door as it opened. Surprisingly, it didn’t cause any noise while it did. Once they entered, they were divided into ten groups. Each group entered into a different corridor. They walked for a little bit before arriving at a place with huge chainsaws.

The whole place was lit with magical lights. Aether looked at the huge chain saws as they started rotating and creating loud noises.

“A labyrinth is a huge structure that has only one path in it. You must use all your power to clear the obstacles and stay on the path till the finish line. The first 600 contestants who cross the finish line first will be qualified. Others will be disqualified.” A person said. He addressed to all the contestants.

“The race will start in two minutes, please be ready.” He said.

Even though they were separated into 10 groups there were till more than four hundred people in Aether’s group. The labyrinth was huge but it still wasn’t enough to properly accommodate 400 people.

“3! 2! 1!” the examiner said. Aether puffed in air as his heart rate sped up. “Boom!” the examiner burst a ball in his hand to create a loud noise. Everyone rushed to the giant chain saws as soon as they heard the sound.

The race had begun.