The days passed quickly after the incident, Teras tried multiple times to make a contract with god but when he got into the dark room he couldn't see anyone, it was like the god had left the place, after 5 tries he just gave up on it, Teras also took special classes by Recka, she taught him basic knowledge about the races of the world, Teras now has a basic understanding of every race, the humans, Humans are basic creatures with nothing special besides the fact that they can manipulate mana, next comes the elves, elves have a huge understanding of mana, they gained this knowledge by their ancestors, they basically have a greater mana pool out of every race, they also have the ability to communicate with lesser spirits and they can use those spirits for either battle or everyday work, the next race is the demons, they are the race that has the most negative reputation since their ancestors used to hunt the other races, demons have the greatest destructibility out of all the races, another race that Teras learned about was the race of the dwarfs, dwarfs can use mana to forge magical items, they are known as the best smiths and finally the race that has multiple branches is the beastmen race, they are a mix of humans and animals, beastmen have incredible fighting abilities and they are naturally good with weapons, nobody knows how exactly they came to be, but they seem to have a huge influence to humans, since they find them attractive, it wasn't a bad week for Teras if the fact that he killed a person was excluded, before he could realize it the day of the graduation exam came, every student slowly arrived at the camp for the last time, it was about time to get their results, Teras's friends arrived too, Teras tried to approach them, but it seemed that one particular member of the friend group avoided him

"Hey, what's wrong with Cara? She seems sad, has she not gotten over our fight?"

Teras asked Lia

"It seems that way, I tried to explain to her a million times that you are not mad at her but she doesn't want to listen"

Lia answered, this fact bothered Teras but he ignored it for now, he had more important things to worry about, Recka slowly gathered everyone on the field to announce those who passed, Teras left the group and went closer to Recka so he can hear the results, Teras saw Recka holding a long list, probably containing the names of the graduates

"YOU HEAR ME, EVERYBODY? I WILL NOW ANNOUNCE THE RESULTS!"

Recka scream so everyone could hear her

"HERE ARE THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO PASSED

Teras: PASSED

Har: PASSED

Ginsou: PASSED

Tyo: PASSED

Lia: PASSED

Cara: PASSED

Rokie: PASSED

Jog: PASSED

Nitki: PASSED

only nine of you managed to pass but don't feel depressed just yet, I have prepared a special challenge for everyone, in a bit a special guest will arrive, he is a well-known adventurer, you all will fight him and if he sees you are fit to become an adventurer he will grant you the title of one, and for those that passed, he will go a little harsher on you but if you satisfy him he will grant you the chance to ascend to silver rank from the start, are you ready everyone?"

Recka told them with excitement, everyone that didn't pass started to freak out, they were given a second chance at becoming an adventurer, and this time they were determined to take advantage of this last chance that was given to them

"Hey, Ms. Recka when will the guest arrive?"

A random student asked, Recka pointed at the road, and everyone's head turned in the direction of Recka's finger, they saw 4 carriages coming to the camp, when the first one arrived a maid came out of it, she then walked towards one of the 3 carriages she opened the door and a tall man in a coat came out, the man was hooded so no-one could recognize him, from the remaining carriages a group of guards emerged, the guards formed 2 separate lines around the man, the guards then announced the man's name

"We are summoned by our grand Jack, the one known as one of the members of the best party the world has ever seen, The crusaders of Mana, he is the one and only Tokkou Hatsu!"

the guards shouted in sync, everyone was left with a wide-open mouth

"Come on guys! I told you to make it quick, all the side knowledge is kind of useless"

Tokkou said in embarrassment, Teras quickly rushed to Tokkou

"HEY TOKKOU LONG TIME NO SEE!"

Teras told him, but before he could get closer to him the guards blocked him

"STAY BACK!!!"

they screamed, which terrified Teras since he was scared by their dragon-like armor

"Hey, guys calm down! He is not hostile, he is somebody I know"

Tokkou tried to tell them in order to calm them down

"Excuse us, sir!"

they guards said

"Now Teras how about we finish this test of yours first, it would be better if we had a talk later"

Tokkou told him, Teras agreed and left him alone, things then quickly progressed, everyone formed a line, and they took turns going against him, Tokkou easily took all of them, in most fights he hardly used his hands, he simply kicked the students around until they surrendered, those fights had a basic rule, don't get out of bounds or you lose, as long as they didn't go out of the line they could only lose by knock-out or by surrendering, Tokkou was annoyed about the comment he was overhearing from the girls, he constantly heard compliments about his looks it wasn't pleasant for him, after some matches Tokkou was beginning to feel bored

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'what's up with these people, I haven't fought a single person with actual skill, I most likely fail all of them if they continue like that, the only person that could entertain me is the devil child'

Tokkou thought, he really was on the verge of giving up on the others, until Har entered the field, he caught the attention of Tokkou since he was almost as tall as him

"What did your parents feed you, big guy?"

Tokkou asked him to tease him, Har was mad about this comment since he was insecure about his height

"I thought higher-class people like you knew how to respect others, but it seems like I was wrong"

Har replied, which sparked an emotion of happiness through Tokkou, he didn't expect him to become angry, but once the match started Har aggressively charged at Tokkou, he threw a powerful swing at him but Tokkou easily dodged it and struck back with a kick on the head, Har was shocked from the hit but quickly recovered, he then raised a block of rock and threw it at him, Tokkou didn't even use his power, for the first time on those matches he used his hands, he grabbed the cube and threw it back at him, the block smashed at Har's face and Tokkou followed up with straight kick on his head, the attack almost knocked Har out, the only reason that he kept his consciousness was because he had quickly enhanced his head with mana to prevent it from happening, Tokkou was impressed by his quick reaction speed

"Well, that was refreshing! Kid, you definitely have potential but you have to work on your tactics"

he told Har while he was on the ground, he couldn't let himself be disrespected like this, Tokkou treated him as if he had lost, Har was enraged by Tokkou's actions, so in a last attempt to hit him he launched a barrage of small rocks at him, Tokkou surprised everyone, instead of using his power he simply grabbed every single rock with his arms

"I give up!"

Har said, he was defeated, he couldn't continue fighting after what he saw

"Come on you spoiled the fun!"

Tokkou whined, Har slowly exited the field with a feeling of humiliation, after the fight Tokkou gave everyone a break so he could eat his breakfast, Tokkou's table was surrounded by guards, it was kind of awkward for the others, Teras and his friends picked a table, this time Cara was with them, the atmosphere was awkward between them

"Hey guys let's not be like this, don't let a stupid argument ruin our friendship, don't you remember after this we will form our group, Orion, so please try to make up"

Lia said, she tried to break the silence but it was in vain, nobody seemed to make the first move

"Why?"

Teras muttered, Cara looked at him confused

"Why did you run away from your problems? no problems can be fixed if you avoid them"

Teras said, Cara was confused

"What do you mean Teras? Are you implying that I knew about Ronie's problems and avoided them?"

Cara asked Teras with a voice calm voice that was full of rage

"No, I don't mean that, after he died, why did you avoid everyone? everybody was feeling the same as you but we all tried to fight it together but you... you just avoided everybody, why is that?"

Teras asked her, at that moment Cara was furious

"DO YOU THINK OUR PAIN IS EQUAL? I HAVE KNOWN HIM SINCE I WAS A CHILD, HE WAS MY MOST PRECIOUS FRIEND, YOU DON'T HAVE A SINGLE IDEA ABOUT HOW I FEEL SO STOP PRETENDING LIKE YOU HAVE OKAY? YOU ARE SICKENING ME!!!"

Cara screamed at him, everyone sitting at the lunch area had their eyes on them, Tokkou heard everything too, Cara then ran towards the place where Ronie died

"Come on guys! we have to follow her!"

Lia told them

"Why would we? She just keeps on making herself the victim, she has to stop it already, doesn't she reali..."

before he could finish the sentence Teras was slapped by Lia

"STOP ACTING LIKE A CHILD AND COME!!!"

Lia screamed, after a moment Teras came back to his senses

"Sorry..."

he said, the group then quickly ran behind her, and after a while, they reached the location of the fight, Cara was sitting down at the place where Ronie's body was exploded, the group then slowly approached Cara

"What do you want? leave me alone!"

she told them, Teras was sick of all this, he couldn't stand seeing everyone so depressed about Ronie's death, and he felt like all of them deserved to know the truth

"I killed him... Ronie was killed by me, he was corrupted and manipulated by an evil spirit, and the spirit took control of his body and almost killed Recka and me, in a last resort I used every single explosive I had to win, and I ended up killing him, I killed him without any sight of hesitation, and until this day I don't know if I had the option to save him but this doesn't change the fact that I killed him... SO YOU THINK I DON'T FEEL BAD? I MURDERED A FRIEND OF MINE AND I FELT NOTHING, YOU HEAR ME NOTHING!!!"

Teras said as he slowly started to break down, everyone was shocked by what they just heard

"So he didn't do this to himself?"

Cara asked with sadness in her voice, after what Teras said she charged at him, she threw him on the ground, and started punching him

"YOU MURDERER!!!"

she screamed over and over as she kept on hitting him, Teras didn't try to block, his nose had been broken by the punches, Lia and Har quickly pulled Cara away

"LET ME GO!!!"

Cara screamed, nobody noticed but Recka had just arrived

"Hey Teras why don't you tell them the full story?"

Recka told him, Teras didn't reply, he kept on looking at the sky while he blocked the blood from his nose

"You see guys Teras failed to mention that Ronie had gone completely insane before the spirit had corrupted him, he had planned to kill everyone here, with no exceptions, but Teras risked his life to save us all, so if I were you I would thank him instead of beating him up like that"

Recka told them, she was clearly angry, Cara took a moment to pause, and the others were shocked too

"Is she telling the truth Teras?"

Har asked, Teras didn't say anything but the answer was clear, and everyone knew it, even Cara, after a long silence Teras stood up and started to heal his nose, the bleeding had stopped

"See you at the camp"

Teras told them as he left, as he was leaving Cara broke down and started to apologize

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I 'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

Cara kept on apologizing while crying but Teras ignored it and left, nobody could say anything at the moment, the only thing they could do was stay silent, Teras eventually reached the camp, and Tokkou was waiting for him

"What happened kid?"

He asked

"It was nothing"

Teras replied, he avoided eye contact so he can hide his broken nose

"Well it didn't look like nothing to me, the girl really threw a tantrum back there"

Tokkou doubted his answer, Teras started to get mad

"Tokkou please this isn't the time, just leave me be for now"

Teras said as he was passing next to him, Tokkou grabbed him by his hand

"Would you mind telling me what's wrong before leaving?"

Tokkou insisted

"Let go of me Tokkou!"

Teras told him as he glared at him, Tokkou wasn't happy, he strengthened his grip

"I sent one of my men to observe what you do, you have killed 2 men up until this point and you are not even an adventurer, that's pretty pathetic for even you, the law tells me that I should arrest you right here and now but I'm giving you a chance, satisfy me in a fight and if you do then you are free to go, but if you don't, you will just end up in a cell, how does that sound like?"

Tokkou suggested to Teras

"What are you saying Tokkou are you out of your mind?"

Teras told him confused

"I don't know what image you have of me inside your head but to clarify it, we are not friends, we just happen to know each other through events, that's all, so don't think too highly of our relationship"

Tokkou told him, Teras then smiled with a terrifying smile

"Then I guess we have nothing else to talk about so let go of my arm"

Teras told him, Tokkou released him, shortly after Recka came back and the fights continued, the time for Teras was about to come

But what will he do when he is faced with an overwhelming force?