Lined up across a grass field was a class of students, dressed in their gym clothes and a few pieces of safety gear that acted as armor. Standing before them was their instructor, Mr. Killian. He still had a sword over his shoulder, staring down at the kids casually.

"Okay, now listen up!" he shouted, gaining all of their attention. "Here's your first assignment for gym," he swung the sword down to his feet, stabbing the earth's flesh to make it stand on its own.

He raised his hand up to point at the forest behind him, "Your task is to get as many points in this tree-fest as possible. Winner gets a prize."

The explanation was lackluster, the kids exchanging confused glances to make sure they were all on the same page. A timid student to raise his hand in concern, "Mr. Killian, is this not the Neverend Forest?"

The old man's usual tired gaze crept into a deeper frown, ignorant towards the worries of his student. "That's right. And?" he shrugged nonchalantly, leaning against the sword.

Lysian thought for a moment, thinking back to the instructor's words. If they were in the Neverend Forest, and were tasked to 'receive points,' that could only result to one thing.

He then raised his hand as well, unsure of his inference, "By 'points,' you don't mean...?"

Mr. Killian's face grew dark, a sinister smile plastered over it. "Right," he chuckled, "Let me re-explain it for any dummies out there who didn't catch my drift."

He used the same thumb that pointed at the forest to now drag it across his neck, "Your task is to slaughter as many monsters as possible. The bigger the game, the more points you'll earn."

The Neverend Forest was located quite far from the main campus. It was in a more remote area around the outskirts of the capital, infamous for its unique breeds of monsters. The area was so vast that you could get lost if you immersed yourself within the territory. One could say that it was never-ending. But that wasn't the reason why it was bestowed with its name.

It was due to the constant amount of mobs that spawned there, how creatures continued to crawl out no matter how many of them were killed. The deeper you went, the more there were. The more you killed, the greater the numbers seemed to increase. The whole forest was eerie, as if it were cursed.

Due to the dangers, there was a magic barricade cast around the shallow part of the greenery for the students to explore. Around the entrance of the forest lurked plenty of lower-ranked monsters, easy enough for even a child to kill.

Krazor lifted his hand up, having the same indifferent expression as Mr. Killian. "What's the prize, old man?" he inquired, intrigued by the newly added genre of competition.

Mr. Killian furrowed at him, his sharp eyes glowering down at him. "Krazor," he warned with a growl, "Do you and your dimwitted friend share the same brain cell?"

Krazor clamped his mouth shut in reflection before opening it again, "My bad, Mr. Killian." He still had a haughty attitude, but it wasn't something the man wasn't used to.

The two were related, Krazor being Mr. Killian's nephew. It seemed like they were quite close with each other, seeing how Krazor was referring to him casually before.

The instructor then went back to ponder about the question he had asked. "The prize?" Mr. Killian grumbled, maintaining his patience from Krazor's recent display of sass.

"You gotta win to find out," he chafed, revealing his sharp canine through his cocky smile.

The students groaned in dread, not excited at the idea of handling monsters. Many of them lacked experience, let alone swordsmanship. Amongst the downers was someone who had a different attitude. It was a dark skinned male student, his ears perking up at the mention of mystery. His fists clenched against his sword handle, his thoughts unable to be detected as his expression remained neutral underneath his dark blue locks.

"Enough of your complaining," Mr. Killian exclaimed, picking up his sword out of the dirt. "I'm aware you're all bummed that you can't sit on your asses all day, but this is vital if you ever want to make it past the great Lanthus's age."

He then added, "Remember. Don't venture out past the restricted area, and flee if you think your life is in danger."

Then, with a gravelly voice, his expression grew bleak, "Don't pick fights you can't win."

And with that, the crowd dispersed. Confident students already darted their way in, disappearing past the bushes around the outskirts. Only the hesitant stayed behind, one of them being Lysian. He pondered over the field for a moment, trying to dig deep into his memory.

He placed a hand over his chin, 'I remember reading about Neverend, so I know a few species of monsters that live around here.'

The most common monster that was rarely considered a threat were 'werebits.' They were mammals that often took the monstrous form of a rabbit or other similar forest animals of size. Their limbs were stronger, bigger, and had sharper rabid features compared to the mammals of origin.

'Those should be simple enough to hunt down, and at least give me a few points so I don't get docked for not participating. Like last time...' Lysian sighed, now thankful that he had at least a plan in mind.

He carefully made his way into the forest, his treads light. Lurking far behind him was another student, their caramel eyes watching him enter the zone.

Even though everyone was released at the same time, he barely encountered anybody at all. Lysian wondered just how far the barricade was, and what defined the 'shallow' part of Neverend. He frowned as questions continued to pour into his head. But he quickly decided to shake them off, figuring that it was distracting him from the task at hand. He had to focus.

As he escaped his thoughts, his ears caught the rustles from a nearby bush. Lysian gripped onto his sword tightly, the nervous thumping in his chest overriding his senses. Lifting his sword, he prepared to get into position, expecting to see a monster jump out and attack him.

Instead, he was met with a small bunny that hopped out past the greenery. Lysian let out a sigh of relief, immediately lowering his weapon once the potential threat revealed itself.

"Phew! It was just a rabbit," he closed his eyes, feeling the tension from earlier release from his shoulders. "Huh? Rabbit?" he echoed his own words, slowly opening his eyes again.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

What he had thought was an innocent little creature now reappeared in his vision as a vicious monster — a werebit. It was now larger than it had been before, almost the size of a fully grown dog.

Lysian yelped out in fear, watching it launch out at him. "Gaah!" he exclaimed, shifting his weight to the side to evade its attack.

The werebit's claws dug into the earth, preventing itself from sliding across any further from its leap. It bared its fangs at him, a high-pitched snarl buzzing out from its snout to display its hostility.

Even though Lysian knew he had to kill it for class participation points, he encountered a moment where he had forgotten all that he had ever been taught.

With another hiss, the werebit lunged itself right back into Lysian once more. Lysian brought his sword out diagonally to block its jaws from locking onto him. He swung his sword back, flinging the beast off of his weapon and onto the floor.

The werebit's body slammed into the ground, quickly bouncing back up onto its feet.

The sight worried Lysian, gradually losing confidence in himself. 'Who the hell said that even a child could kill this damn thing?' he shouted in his head, his internal thoughts sobbing in distress.

The werebit squealed, its buck teeth growing closer and closer to Lysian. Right when he was about to swing, the sound of an arrow was shot. Lysian gasped, watching the rabbit monster's skull get pierced through.

His eyes flickered over to where it came from, seeing a pair of heads poke through the bushes. It was Truman and Krazor, the brunette being responsible for the kill as he was the one carrying a bow.

"Score! Hey, did you catch that, Krazor?!" he hyped himself, climbing out of the shrubs to fetch his game.

He didn't even stop to acknowledge Lysian, his gloved hands sweeping up past the grass blades to grab the carcass.

"Hey! What gives? That was my kill," Lysian frowned. He was upset that they were the first group that he had to see.

"Nuh-uh. You see this, Faithstone?" Truman rose the werebit's scruff up, showing off the limp body, "Who's arrow is this? Yeah, that's right. Mine. Therefore, it's my werebit."

Lysian's eyebrow twitched, finding the duo's unwavering attitudes towards him frustrating. "Are you serious?" he scoffed in disbelief, peering past them to see the large bag Krazor had been carrying.

He assumed that what was inside was what they had already earned together, which increased the bitterness in his mouth. "It doesn't look like you guys need anymore. You're already milking the place dry," he shoved a finger in their direction, gesturing over at the dragging sack.

Krazor shrugged, opening up the bag for his friend to use, "It's a shame, Faithstone. Maybe if you knew a thing or two about swordsmanship, you wouldn't be struggling so hard." It seemed like they saw him earlier, making the boy glow pink.

Truman hollered in response, sneering over at Lysian before tossing the dead werebit in. Being reminded of how much he was lacking infuriated Lysian, but he kept the words he wanted to say to himself. He knew it would be for naught if he tried to talk to the pair.

At that moment, he felt powerless. He knew that even if he attempted to defend himself, he did not have the backing to follow through with it. Lysian clenched his fist in vexation, watching them laugh it off like a couple of clowns.

Past the greenery were shadows. But further was a silhouette of something much more grand. Snaps of branches could be heard, smaller critters rushing out from the bushes to dart over to the opposite direction.

It was then when Lysian noticed that something felt off, his hands relaxing once his vision gained clarity. "Guys?..." he took a step back in fear, gazing up at something he had never seen before in his life.

It only took a moment for the two boys to get the memo, turning their heads around behind them to see what Lysian was looking at.

Standing at eight feet was a large reptilian monster, scaled with what looked like dulled jades. It was equipped with a ravenous jaw, its gums coated with a speckled pattern of dried crimson. Its webbed talons dug into the ground, digging its limbs down to release a thunderous roar over their heads.

It was a Reptant Giant, a breed of lizard that were often mistaken for dragons. They dwelled on land deep inside forests, usually residing in caves to avoid other creatures. It left Lysian wondering what it was doing so close to the surface of the Neverend Forest.

The three boys failed to cushion the noise, their ears ringing as a result. Once the reptile finished its wail, it chuffed through its slit nostrils from their stunned responses.

The students exchanged mutual glances at one another, drawing to a silent agreement.

"Run!"

Krazor and Truman received a head start, as they were much lighter on their feet. They brushed past Lysian, bumping into him as they raced past the bushes.

Lysian nearly tumbled back, his knees slightly weak from the fear he felt in his chest. "These bastards..." he grumbled to himself, taking one more glance at the tall monster before following after.

Lysian felt the adrenaline pulsate throughout his body, pushing his legs to carry himself as fast as he could to catch up with his peers. Krazor doubled back as he had heard the loud stomps of the reptile behind them. Once he caught sight of Lysian, he let out an exasperated sigh, "Why the hell are you following us, Faithstone?!"

"Why can't I?! Surely it's chasing us now because you two were so obnoxiously loud. It came from your direction!" he retorted, already running out of breath.

Krazor clicked his tongue, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Can't you use magic or something to get rid of it?"

Lysian looked away in guilt, reluctantly replying back to him, "I... I can't!"

"It's fine! Just blind it with light or something, anything!"

"No, that's not...! What I'm trying to say is that..." It was something that he thought he'd ever confess himself to his peers, but his mind was so much in a panic that he had blurted it out. "I can't use magic!"

The two looked back at Lysian in shock, "What?!"

The boys exclaimed in surprise as the reptile waved a hand down over at them, ducking their heads from the swoop it made across the lush branches. As much as Krazor wanted to interrogate Lysian about what he had meant, he knew that he was unable to have that conversation here.

"Ugh, whatever, Faithstone! Let's split up!" Krazor barked, pointing up at the forked path up ahead.

Krazor went right, Truman went left, while Lysian ventured down the middle.

He took a glance back to see that out of the trio, the reptile had chose him as his target. "Agh, seriously?!" he groaned, already winded from running more than he was used to.

Now that he was alone, he was feeling less sure of his chances of survival. "Gah!" His body collided against a tree, feeling the impact push him down to the ground.

He tilted his head up, taken aback by the plant's girth and the roots that were sprouted underneath. Its branches stretched wide and high, covering lengths-worth of sky above.

There was a strange atmosphere to it, almost briefly snatching Lysian's attention away.

An echoed roar forced him back into reality, shaking his head to see that the monster was already a few feet behind him. Lysian hitched his breath, his neck hurting from how often he had been straining it.

Now that he was cornered, he figured he'd have to pick up a fight. But he was so exhausted from the exercise, that he had no strength to lift himself up.

'No... This can't be...' His gaze trembled at the sight of the monster, its shape towering over him. The Reptant Giant bellowed over Lysian's posture, webs of its saliva decorating the roots of the trunk behind him.

From the background, a dark-skinned student sat up over the trees. He had a good view of what was going on below, watching the monster raise a limb in attempts to immobilize its prey. He hesitated to engage himself with the conflict, wondering if it was too late to save him now.

Before the boy could contemplate any further, a flash of blue light from Lysian's direction pierced through the trees. It illuminated so brightly that it could blind anyone nearby. The boy shielded himself from the radiation's impact, squinting his eyes shut as a rush of wind coursed through his hair.

Once the light died out, then fell silence. Worried, the boy hopped down off the branch, unsheathing a dagger from his waist. He was surprised to see the Reptant Giant, confused as to why it was remaining still.

It didn't move or blink, almost as if it were dead. The boy poked at it with his weapon, seeing that its shadow slowly began to tilt. His caramel eyes flickered up, startled to see it gradually drop to the forest floor with a dust of debris on impact.

The boy coughed, waving the dirt away from his face. Once the monster collapsed, Lysian finally came into view. He was unconscious directly underneath where the Reptant Giant had been standing.

In a rush, the boy dropped down to his knees to check on his condition, holding a finger over his pulse.

It was beating, but at a steady rate. It seemed as though he had passed out. The boy frowned, glancing over at the blue mana particles that began to dissipate around the area.

"What the hell just happened?..." he muttered.