Arrival

[Days Remaining: 73]

After a few days of travelling James was at his wit's end. From Mary constantly fussing over him because she felt terrible, to Daniel continually bothering him with random conversations, he was starting to get tired of it.

"We're almost there, a few hours more at most."

This single sentence was like the sweetest music James had ever heard; he would finally be able to be rid of the two pests that had been lingering around him.

"James, one thing I forgot to tell you before. There's a reward for passing the exam, and the higher you score, the better the reward. Just keep that in mind when taking the exam."

Joshua really was like a mind reader when he said this, James had initially been planning on trying to get an average score on his tests. With his memory being so good he would be able to tell whether his answer was right or not. He could work out a pretty accurate score for himself and then manipulate his answers to get the mark he wanted.

James didn't want to call any unwanted attention to himself; he hadn't yet fully developed all the power he wanted so didn't want to take any unneeded risks. But it was entirely different when he heard there was a reward, that was the one thing he was lacking, incentive. Knowing that he could potentially get something that could aid in increasing his abilities, or possibly his research into magical circuitry he couldn't wait to take the test.

"I will do my best, I promise!"

Seeing the glint of greed in James' eye, Joshua knew that he had successfully motivated James to get the highest score possible on his exam. If there was one thing everyone wanted to do it was show off their abilities, Joshua just needed to give James a reason to.

"I believe you; I look forward to seeing your grade."

After a few more hours of walking through the forest and James zipping around to collect ingredients for medicine and to farm Exp from killing animals, the group approached a clearing at the base of a mountain.

"We've arrived."

"Where is the academy Mr Garrett, I don't see anything?"

"The academy is technically on the other side of the mountain; it's built into a basin between mountains, it really is a marvel when you see it for the first time. Alright, follow me, you will see it soon."

After walking along the side of the mountain they came across some guards next to a hole in the mountain, it seemed that the gap would lead them to the academy on the other side. James could sense that the land in the tunnel was moved and reinforced using magic, he didn't dare to tamper with it though as it might collapse the tube. The last thing he wanted to do was climb a mountain.

'System, what's my Exp now?'

[Exp: 347]

'What! How many animals did I kill?'

[Host killed 175 animals awarded 1-3 Exp per kill randomly.]

'Holy shit, I went on a massacre and didn't even realise, I was just killing the animals when they appear, that's insane. I won't kill any more animals for a while before this forest loses all wildlife because of me.

On another note, how much Exp is needed for the next upgrades?'

[Total cost of upgrade to C- rank host and system: 354 Exp

177 Exp for Host

177 Exp For System]

'You've got to be shitting me.'

"Everyone, I'll be back in a few minutes, if you need to then go in without me, if not then wait here, I won't be long."

Leaving this sentence behind James dashed back into the forest.

[+1 Exp

+3 Exp

+3 Exp

+1 Exp]

"Okay, sorry about that. Is everyone ready to go in now?"

"What was that about James, we literally spoke about this exact thing a few days ago!"

"I'm sorry, I really needed to pee, I couldn't hold it anymore."

"Well next time just say that!"

After reprimanding James Joshua turned back to the guards in front of the tunnel.

"Hello, we are the group from Angaria here for the entrance exam. Here are our passes."

"Alright, head through. When you get to the other end, someone will be there to guide you to the exam hall."

"Thank you for your help. Okay everyone, let's go."

The group headed through the earth tunnel, even though it was carved out of the ground the walls were smooth and showed no sign of having been dug out.

Lanterns were hanging from the ceiling of the tunnel every few hundred meters, after inspecting one of them James realised that they were slowly drawing in fire energy from their surroundings, they would never go out until they had used all of the elemental particles in the surrounding area or they were put out.

'I would say it's a waste of energy, but whoever made this tunnel is probably past the point of having to absorb the elemental particles from their surroundings.

If they did have to, then it would probably have taken them hundreds of years just to dig out the tunnel. They probably have a way to absorb large amounts of the element.

Which reminds me, I still don't have an easy way to replenish the earth energy. At least I will have some time to figure out how to most effectively recharge the crystals while I study here.'

After walking for a few minutes they reached the end of the tunnel, what he saw when he left the tunnel left James mesmerised, it was more beautiful than anything he had ever seen on Earth.

Surrounding him on every side were mountains that reached up to the clouds, and on all of these mountain faces, there were stunning stone constructs sticking out. It was like a castle had been built in a ring all the way across the mountain face. It connected end to end and climbed up layer by layer.

At the bottom of the basin, there was a large flat area of stone, in that area, countless people were tinkering with various circuits or even full machines. James looked at one of them that was nearby and realised it was built following the design of a bird. Unfortunately, the creator had decided to use iron to make the body of the bird, without a massive amount of propulsion there was no way he was going to be able to make it fly.

"Welcome, which city are you from?"

"We are from Angaria, they are here for the entrance examination."

"I see, please follow me to the exam area."

When the people in the surrounding area heard that this group of youths was from the city of Angaria they all began to keep their distance; there was one boy who was approaching the group who had straight up turned around and walked away.

Apparently, there was something wrong with Angaria that James hadn't been told about.