The Battle Royal

Vale appeared once again in the air above all the students. He then waved his hand, and all students except for the remaining top 500 were teleported out of the arena.

Amden slightly raised his eyebrows in surprise as he witnessed this scene.

The first two teleportation —to move the students inside the forest and then to move them outside the spiritual forest— had been performed using rune formations.

But this time, what Vale used was a space-related technique. Considering how easily Vale managed to teleport thousands of students in one go, it became clear to Amden that this Vale Dilian was a talented space element user.

For Amden, the academy was becoming an even more exciting place.

Vale declared in a booming voice, "Congratulations to all of you. You are now officially part of the Star Sky Academy."

He continued, "Now that we are done with the first part of the entrance test, we will move to the second part."

"This part of the entrance test will determine the ranks- especially the top ten among you."

He chuckled and added, "Work hard to perform well. The top ten among you will receive great rewards from the Academy."

Hearing this, every student's face turned determined. All of the 500 students who had been selected were talented enough to rank in the top 500 among thousands of participants, but now they all wanted to snatch the top spot for themselves.

Vale continued, "This part will be divided into two stages."

"The first stage will involve a battle royale, " he continued and then nodded to a man behind him.

A small group of people instantly got to work and in short few minutes they used their earth affinity to create ten massive stages in the arena.

Vale continued with his instructions, "All of you will be divided into ten groups and placed on a stage. The last person standing on each stage will move on to the next stage of this second part."

He added, "Thereafter, these ten students will engage in a one-versus-one duel to determine the specific ranking. Now, jump onto the stages as per the number shown on your token."

Everyone gazed at their token and began moving to their designated stage.

Lucas was assigned to stage number one, Luna to stage number two, Leo to stage number three, Tim to stage number four, Alicia to stage number five, and so on.

The top ten candidates from the first part were placed on ten different stages, while the remaining students were placed randomly.

This arrangement was designed to ensure that the top ten of the beast hunt would not face a strong candidate among themselves and be eliminated in the battle royale.

And if a dark horse emerged from among the other students, they could only blame their bad luck.

Each of the 500 students quickly took their position on their respective stages.

With a loud echo of Vale's voice, "Start" the battle royale started.

Everyone was wary of making the first move; each one was extremely cautious. Even a strong candidate could be eliminated if they were attacked by a group. Strength, along with proper strategy, was required to win in this stage.

After a few more cautious moments, the attacks began, causing chaos and commotion on the stages. Most of the students grew anxious and panicked amid the chaos. Among them were a few who remained calm and composed, refraining from making unnecessary moves and focusing solely on their own safety—undoubtedly the top ten and a few other capable candidates.

The chaos continued for several minutes before the numbers were eventually reduced. On each stage, only a few students remained, and now it was time for the actual showdown.

On stage five, a red-haired girl was surrounded by eight other students.

She was extremely beautiful, and her long red hair flowed like fire.

She was none other than Alicia Talon, the rank 5 of the magical beast hunt.

The other eight had very cleanly concluded that if they were to have even a slight chance of entering the top ten, then Alicia had to be eliminated first.

Despite being surrounded by eight opponents, Alicia maintained a composed expression. She did not panic and she waited for these students to make their move.

Of these eight students, one was of E Rank, and the remaining seven were at peak F Rank.