Discovering A Treasure Trove

'tricksters…' He fumed and continued his ascent while slashing any pterodactyl that obstructed him till he reached the top with three minutes, forty eight seconds left.

The girl with the gas mask and some others finished too before the time elapsed.

"….and the time is up!!"

Those of them who couldn't make it to the top started lamenting and crying because they knew that they would be taken back to the human world.

"Hey" Susan said breathlessly to Steve with a smile on her face, he couldn't help but notice the gap in between her front incisors that made her look twice as pretty whenever she smiled.

'Why was she hiding such a pretty face behind a mask?' He thought before replying, "Hi"

"Thanks for your help earlier, I wouldn't have made it without you"

"It's nothing, you're welcome"

"So… I'm Susan Shaw, nice to meet you"

Steve noticed that her syllables were evenly stressed and her intonation sounded almost musical to the ears.

"Well met, I'm Steven…. Steven Heracles"

"Okay Steven, I hope we get along well" 

She said to him and flashed one of those attractive smiles

"Yeah" He said and shook his head softly as he turned away with a flustered smile on his face.

After the test….

Williams called out the ranks of the contestants, Lloyd was the highest in all the groups with a record time of 9.08 minutes, Anna came second with a record time of 9.52 minutes and Billy came third with a record time of 10.10 minutes. 

In this test, 50 contestants didn't pass thereby leaving 330 contestants for the second test.

After calling out the ranks, the contestants began to troop back to their dorms.

Susan chatted enthusiastically with Steve as they walked back making Trygve a little bit jealous, when they stopped talking, Trygve took the initiative…..

"Brother…" Trygve started

"I'm not your brother" Steve said quietly, he walked in between Susan and Trygve with the latter on his left side and the former on his right side.

"Whatever man… who's the chick?" He whispered as he tilted his head in Susan's direction

"I rescued her"

"What!?" Trygve whispered fiercely in surprise, "Are you a superhero or what? Why are you rescuing your opponents? This is a competition for crying out loud!!"

"I know" Steve replied, his voice still calm and quiet, "The test was unfair for her, she has breathing problems so if I allowed her to fail, she would never have gotten the chance to show off her skills…..she didn't ask to be born with breathing issues"

Trygve just shook his head and continued walking, "Well….if you say so, so what was your rank?"

"Hehe" Steve chuckled as he scratched his hair, "248th, what about you?"

"Simppp…I was 60th" Trygve laughed as he made fun of Steve.

....

Before they arrived at the dorms, they crossed a path that had thick bushes and trees by the side. The bushes were dark because the trees didn't allow sunlight to reach the ground, it looked very scary.

But as Steve was passing with Susan and Trygve beside him, he saw something white and shiny glittering in the distance inside the dark forest. His curiosity kicked in and he wanted to check it out so he asked Trygve…..

"Hey Trygve"

"Yes" He turned his head to look at Steve, his thick blonde hair swishing as his head moved.

"Do you see anything over there" Steve said as he pointed to the place where the light was coming from.

Trygve turned to look in the direction where Steve pointed and shifted his thick hair that blocked his face to reveal a pair of beautiful vibrant blue eyes.

'The beautiful ones always hide their beauty….first Susan, now Trygve'

He thought as he was taken aback by Trygve's aesthetic and effeminate eye color.

"Nope, did you see something?" Trygve turned back to him, his hair landing carelessly over his eyes

"No, never mind" Steve said and began to walk into the forest

"Heracles….Where are you going?" Trygve asked him as he was about to step out of the pathway

"Where are you going Steve? That forest is scary, you shouldn't go there alone" Susan chipped in, the worry evident in her voice.

"I'll be back before nighttime guys, see you later guys" Steven said and ran into the forest before anyone could stop him.

….

He followed the white light till he came to a small circular piece of flat land surrounded by trees. The ground was bare as not even a single piece of grass could be found on it, it was covered with white sand that glittered as a result of the sunlight that shone on it from the purple sun above.

"Hmmm….I wonder how I was able to see this Sand's reflection all the way from the pathway" Steve bent down and touched the sand.

"!" 

He was shocked as he realized that the sands on the ground there were filled with pure mana energy, if he cultivated here, he could reach his body's limit in a matter of weeks because the area was very rich in energy.

"Wow…how come no one has discovered this place since?, I won't have any problem leveling up my Mana if I cultivate here. This .... is a big discovery" He said as he sat down with his legs crossed and began to cultivate his mana.

Cultivation felt so refreshing for Steve as he sat down there, lost in the pleasures of Mana energy that flowed through his veins, every minute, every second that went by made Steve feel stronger by the moment, the power was just too exhilarating. He had a satisfactory smile on his face as his body was awash in white energy that seemed to increase in intensity as time went by. 

Suddenly, something clicked inside him and he felt like his insides would turn upside down as every part of his body suddenly started vibrating, he felt an excruciating pain in his abdomen and he screamed as he arched his head backward with the pain spreading throughout his body.

"What's going on? Have I overdone it? Is this what I get for been too greedy?….argh, the pain is so much….somebody help me!!" He screamed in his head as the pain worsened instead of abating.

Just when it seemed like he would lose consciousness, the pain stopped and Steve slumped on the ground panting harshly, his body was drenched in sweat and his clothes stuck to his body.

"What the hell was that?" Steve said aloud to nobody in particular

"You just transcended" A voice behind him said

"Huh? Who's there?" Steve jumped and turned in the direction of the voice. 

He didn't really need to do that because the smoothness of the voice could've given the speaker away.

It was grand master Joaquin.

"Oh… it's just you" Steve said and breathed a sigh of relief

"Congrats on your transcendence, you're now a Level three Mana swordsman" 

Joaquin said simply as he walked around Steve, "You're lucky to have found a place to help you level up. I'll admit even I didn't notice this treasure trove"

"All contestants please make sure you are in your dormitories, it is bedtime… I repeat all contestants please make sure you are in your dormitories, it is bedtime" The voice of the umpire resonated around the contestants arena.

"What? It's dark already!" Steve said as it fully dawned on him that he had spent more than six hours there.

"Later Gator" He said to Joaquin and ran off.

Steve dashed away back to the dorm as fast as he could leaving a cloud of dust in Joaquin's face due to how fast he moved.

"Truly….your growth is scary" Joaquin said to himself and turned to leave.

Tristan was floating over the forest when Steve ran out, he scoffed as he saw the young man race to the dormitories.

"Waste your energy, you won't still win the sword…I promise you" Tristan said as he stared at the fading trail of dust that followed Steve to the dormitory doors.

....

The next morning….

Steven woke up feeling invigorated, his muscles tingled excitedly as he stretched himself.

He smiled inwardly as he remembered the events of the previous day, he was now a level three Mana swordsman.

"Where did you go to yesterday?" Trygve asked with a stern voice

Steve stiffened, turned to him and smiled slyly before saying, "Nothing much, just training"

Trygve didn't believe him but he didn't argue further.

After freshening up, Steve tucked the book of the fiend Slayer Litanies under his arm and left the room, he would have his breakfast at the cafeteria and head to the forest afterwards for his cultivation.

But as he stepped out of his door he heard the umpire's voice

"Contestant number five hundred, Steven Heracles has earned a strike for violating the curfew last night. Two strikes left till disqualification"