As I saw the teams being made I also saw the sharp glints in many other leaders eyes. It showed how they would be willing to throw off their teammates at moment's notice to increase their chance to get one of the one thousand spots. Seeing these maleficent gazes, I decided I would have better chances alone.

Entering the river was like entering the frozen tundra on with nothing but shorts and a shirt. It was freezing at points in the river, where there was no, to little currents and small cubes of ice. I immediately felt the strain on my body and knew I only had at most three minutes to swim to the other shore otherwise I would drown as the cold sapped my strength away.

Luckily, it was so cold that few others crossed the river this same way. As the teams began pushing off their rafts into the river I was already half way across. I had actually practiced the last month for the entrance exam; I went out of the city and practiced swimming in the river in the warmest parts, that were barely above freezing my toes if I stayed too long.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

Having almost made it to the other side, I looked back and saw that many teams had almost caught up to me. What was surprising was the fewer numbers on the noble’s rafts and how few commoners rafts had gotten close to the cavern. It seemed that even if the rules stated not to endanger the life of other participants the nobles had found a loophole around this. If the noble’s team broke the commoners rafts as they were only a few feet of the shore, the commoners’ lives would not be endangered, only making it so that they would have to build another raft.

As I made it to the other shore I looked around and saw twelve rafts landing or in the process of landing.

There were around 60 participants running towards the looming

mouth of The Cavern of the Sun Bats.