The students at the front were mowing their way through the forest.

Every few meters or so, they were met with haunted trees which extended their branches and attacked them.

They'd either whip the students or wrap their branches around them to immobilize their movement.

The branches were many but not too sturdy. Knights could break through them after a struggling a bit thanks to body augmentation, while Mages' spells could easily cut through.

"Look at how ferociously the students are blasting their way through, excellent job on everyone's side.

The branches may be weak but there's many of them, the fact that everyone can cut through them is testament to their strength and talent!"

Mr Pewterschmidt announced with an ever enthusiastic voice.

The students were monitored in real time through the large screens filling the centre of the square.

At this moment, the screens panned on three individuals who were ahead of everybody else.

The front runner was no other than Ricard, followed by two other boys, one Knight and one Mage.

"Here we have our front runners, Ricard Burton, Eric Ead and Alfred Mason, each talents of incredible proportions.

Unsurprisingly, Ricard is ahead of everyone else. What with his talents as an Elemental Saint and the versatility of his spells, cutting through the branches with Water element and boosting his own speed with Air element."

The audience cheered when Ricard's image was brought up. if there was a popularity poll, he was sure to win it.

Just like Pewterschmidt said, Ricard was using Air element to boost his speed while killing his way through with Water element, a feat only an Elemental Saint was capable of, putting him ahead of everyone else.

"Worth mentioning is Alfred Mason's ferocious Fire offense, And Eric Ead's incredible speed and spearmanship courtesy of his mastery over the Air element!"

The person behind Ricard was a mage, a boy with a handsome face, tall and lean build and green eyes and black hair.

A detached look was plastered over his face, aligning well with his ferocity when using his spells, further accentuating his nickname as the Fireblaster.

He was followed closely by the third runner, Eric Ead.

He had blue eyes and black hair, not as handsome as Alfred, nor as tall, but he definitely had a better build, courtesy of the fact that he was a Knight.

His spearmanship was remarkable to say the least. his spear was enhanced by Air element, which cut through the branches like butter.

The audience was giddy with excitement as Pewterschmidt covered every noteworthy competitor, until they came to the last person.

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Every other participants had already passed this stage and were on their way to the next one, all except one.

Emil brandished his sword left and right, the more branches he cut the more that spawned.

To others, breaking through this stage was a simple task.

But to Emil who didn't have a powerful body or magic, it was as challenging as it could get.

"It seems like Emil Ashdown, the last participant remaining in the first stage is having a bit of trouble."

Emil was shown on the large screen, surrounded by dozens of thick and thin branches, some wrapping around his body and some attacking him.

Some of the spectators started laughing.

"Isn't that the number one trash in the academy's history?"

"Truly befitting of the title."

"Even a dog could pass this stage with their eyes closed, how the hell did he mess up so badly."

Emil, after struggling for a while, broke through the encirclement and retreated out of the forest.

"Huff, Huff, Zammit!"

He looked at the trees in frustration as he panted.

About one out of every ten tree was haunted. They'd go back to normal after their target was out of range so there was no way of identifying them.

If Emil wanted to pass, he either had to use brute force or somehow sneak past them.

He'd considered using his Fire Sword from the beginning, but he decided against it after weighing his options.

The Fire Sword drained a lot of his mana. If he used it in the first stage he wouldn't have enough mana for the later stages.

As he was reconsidering his options, and coming to the conclusions that his only option was his spell, he noticed something.

"What the..."

It was very subtle, barely noticeable if you observed them carefully enough.

Some trees were a shade darker than the others.

Emil got an idea, with one way to test it out.

He neared one of the darker trees and attacked it.

His sword though, was blocked by branches before his attack reached the tree.

Breaking out of the haunted tree's grasp, Emil attacked yet another dark tree, only to achieve the same result.

He was now sure of his conjecture.

Haunted trees did in fact look different from normal trees, he could identify and avoid them.

He was the only one to notice because he was the only one who bothered looking.

Everyone else was too busy blasting their way through and getting ahead of one another.

only Emil was left behind with no other choice but to figure out a way of getting past without using the standard methods.

Soon, he started making his way out of the forest by observing each tree and identifying them, avoiding the haunted ones in the process.

"Oh, what is Emil Ashdown doing? He's getting past the trees? And none of them seem to be attacking him!"

Pewterschmidt announced with much excitement in his voice.

The audience watched as Emil maneuvered his way out of the first stage.

"Huh, lucky bastard. He must've figured out a way to tell the normal trees from the haunted ones."

"It doesn't even matter, he's far behind. Everyone else already completed the second stage."

"Yeah, he either won't make it past the second stage or will do so when it's too late.

Let's see how much further his luck will persist."

Just like the spectators said, everyone had already completed the second stage. Emil spent too much time in the forest.

Elemental Golems were supposed to spawn and battle against each individual depending on their element.

But to everyone's surprise, no such event took place when Emil's turn came.

Emil looked around, he was the only one in the open grass field.

However, no Golems were spawning no matter how much further he moved in.

Doubt was written all over his face as he approached the third stage with nothing still happening.

Not just him, everyone spectating was in doubt, the announcer included.

"Oh my..."

Pewterschmidt wasn't sure what to say. No such event had taken place in the academy's history.

"It seems like the formation has malfunctioned, a rare phenomenon but definitely not outside of realms of possibility."

Nonetheless, he was a professional and was able to gather himself quickly.

His eyes darted towards the judges as the crowd started rumbling in protest.

"This is not fair!"

"Disqualify him!"

"He's cheating, there's no way the formation malfunctioned!"

The judges conversed along themselves for a few seconds before sending a look towards Pewterschmidt.

Understanding their meaning, Pewterschmidt spoke again.

"The race continues!"