“Hey, wait up. You guys are killing me.” Senna shouted to us, almost out of breath.

With the recent rumors of us getting our provisional license, everyone was scrambling to get hours in for not only studying but training as well. If we proved our ability through decision-making, understanding of navigation and fighting. We can get the first license that will allow me to become an explorer. Even though I may enter whenever I want, I made a promise to Allan to only enter once I have the license. Recounting my experience with the most recent trial I wasn’t too worried about my fighting capabilities, I was far from the strongest among our class but I was confident I could hold my own, well unless you consider me breaking the first ring, but I had no intention of using that unless I needed to.

It was also why the training areas I would usually find myself alone in were more crowded than usual. Senna and Lyria were here as well, doing laps alongside me.

 

Senna had begged me for a long time to train with her and, by honoring that promise, I took her along with me. I expected her to breeze through my routine, not to be drenched in sweat half dead only after 10 laps around the stadium. I always thought I had bad stamina, but this bewildered even me.

“No wonder you can’t use magical arts. Poor thing.” Lyria said mockingly.

After finding out Senna had been training with me, Lyria was adamant about joining in. I didn’t know why, though. Something about not wanting me to pick up after Senna was the first reason she gave. When I asked what that meant, she flicked her hair and said.

“Atsumi, you are still young. You should be around girls like me who are reserved and elegant. Not that vulgar yokai.”

 

I was fourteen, which I thought was plenty of age. To others, I’m still a child and that’s fine, but both Lyria and Senna were only two years older than me.    

 

Senna returned an icy glare before staggering over to the edge of the pitch to sit. As much as I hated to admit it, Lyria was right, unlike magic that relies almost on your fate soul and how well your body handles mana. Being able to use mana and Qi simultaneously requires you to be in tune with your body, and that can’t be done if you don’t know a martial art. Well, I thought that was her issue at first, until we started training together.

As a yokai, Senna already had the bare minimum to handle mana with little worry, but it was like she had never properly exercised in her entire life. Forget about martial arts. She needed to get fit first.

“Its fine. We can take a break for now.” I said, before taking a seat next to her. “But we won’t sit around doing nothing.”

 

I then pulled her arm and guided her to sit down. 

“I want you to meditate, but don’t focus on your mana. Just focus on everything related to your body itself. The breeze against your hair, the beating of your heart, and the air filling your lungs. Focus on nothing else and just listen to the inner workings of your body.”

She sighed and followed along, her breath still somewhat ragged.

“Do this for about half an hour. After that, I want you to do ten more laps while trying your best to keep a steady breath.” 

Her eyes shot open in disbelief as those words escaped my lips. A “you can’t be serious,” face stared back at me.

“You want to learn that magical art, right?” I said in response.

 

She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes once again. I sat next to her and monitored her progress while Lyria continued her own routine, occasionally glancing in our direction. It was then I spotted someone I hadn’t seen in a while. 

They put the girls and boys in separate classes and dorms, but I didn’t think about why they did so until now. Because of this, I didn’t get to see Tim or any of the other guys from the trial. I reached for my chest to feel for the artifact I had been holding on to these past few months. Apart from that strange vibration in the mana that surrounded him, his appearance always gave me this strange feeling. Like a stranger you have met for the first time, you know for a fact you have never met before, but they seem to resemble someone you know. No matter how hard you try to connect the dots or try to figure out who among your peers they resemble, you can’t seem to put your finger on it.

“Continue what you are doing Senna, I’ll be right back.” I said, getting up.

 

He was busy doing his own exercises when I saw him and thought now would be the best time to return it. Sadly, the pearl on the crown of the ring had cracked, and it didn’t seem that it worked anymore. So I wanted to apologize and pay back whatever I owed. Hopefully, it wasn’t too expensive.

“Hello. Your name was Enan, right? Do you remember me, by any chance?” I said as I approached.

Sweat rolling off his face, he got to his knees. “Hey. I do, in fact.” 

Not wanting to disturb him for too long, I got straight to the point.

“Thank you again for your help during the trial, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn’t have been able to pass.”

“No worries.” He replied.

I held out the items for him, which prompted a confused look from him.

“So remember that artifact you gave me? I think I broke it. I wanted to apologize for that and I will pay for it if that’s necessary.”

He gave me a light chuckle before standing up. “That’s fine. I don’t really need it. Also, the pearl is a one time use item, so it’s not like it’s of value to me.You can keep the ring itself if you want. Think of it as my gift for passing.”

“No, I can’t accept this.” I said, surprised he would even consider that.

“Really, I insist, honestly I thought you would have thrown it away by now. I’m happy that you at least kept it.” He said with a smile.

“Are you sure? I only kept it because it felt disrespectful to throw it away.”

“I’m sure.”

 “I see. Thank you.” I said before bowing’. “I’ll get going now.”

 Feeling somewhat strange and not knowing what else to say, I returned to where Senna was sitting. Lyria, who saw the whole interaction, was slightly grinning.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked.

Her smile got even wider as she turned to look away. “Oh, no reason.”

Things continued on as normal for a few more minutes until there was a sudden increase in chatter throughout the pitch. People seemed excited about something, while others seemed anxious. Unsure what was going on, I looked over my shoulder towards the entrance, where the talking was at its loudest. It didn’t take long for the information to move from the entrance towards where we sat.

The provisional license exam was just announced. I looked at Lyria, who was curious as well.

“Why don’t we go check it out?” She said.

They hung five documents on a notice board, each containing the details of the exams for each year. Turns out it was going to be more practical than I expected.

Provisional license exam for class of year 1

The exam will take place within a domain provided by the administration. An area of 25 square Kilometers will be designated for the 258 participants.

No maps will be provided.

Candidates are to be entered alone and no teams can be formed.

Objective:

You must use your understanding of navigation, hunting, and resource management to find and eliminate cryptids, which will be called bounties. Each person will have their own bounties, but some will overlap, meaning you will have to compete with others to acquire all of your bounties. Cryptids will range from class 1 to class 3.

Cryptids are ranked under thirteen classes, class 1 being the weakest and class 13 being the strongest. For reference, the sentinel was close to being a class 5. They measured each subsequent class to be five times stronger than the previous.

Once you have collected all your bounties a prompt will show up to have you submit your completed bounty list at a specific location. A time limit of 48 hours will be allotted. You must acquire all bounties within this time limit in order to pass. 

Exams will begin at 12pm on the 173rd Sol cycle. Please ensure you arrive before the starting time, as any late comers will automatically fail.

Good-luck to all the participants

Administration-

“Seems simple enough.” Lyria said. 

Sol 173rd cycle, that was about two weeks from the announcement date. So there was more than enough time to prepare. 

I returned to the pitch where Senna was now starting the other phase of our little exercise. Realizing I had been neglecting my own for a while, I joined her, giving her a slight nod of approval.

“Maybe I can convince her to do two extra laps.” I thought.