Direction

"Here we go again… I do hope no one has to die this time. Or at least not have it start a chain reaction were even more die after… But we shall see. 800 meters was it? I guess imagining myself with a circle around, that indicates a student free area, would make most sense, since they could be in any direction… I don't know if they are hostile, or even their class… Class 3 might hold a grudge because we robbed them of their position, but that's just speculation and even if it could just as well be directed at class 1 since they were the ones who disqualified them in the first place. I don't think professor Reed said anything about a time limit, which is weird… But these exams seem to last for about three to four days on average, so I should keep that in mind. Normally my goal would be to find Yuki, but I wouldn't know how I should make myself noticeable without getting the attention of everyone… Although it wouldn't matter much once Yuki and I are together… But let's not get ahead of ourselves… A resort. I'm guessing this is an island, hence the earlier mentioned natural barriers being the ocean. If so, a resort that has access to clean drinking water would not be at the beach, but more in the middle of the island, near a river or lake. But maybe they can just filter salt and everything through magic, I wouldn't know… Already miss Yuki for her knowledge in that area. But what to do. I will move land inward, and try to reach the center of the island. I could just go in a random direction, but that would take to much time. Orientation in moments such as these is crucial. The first instinct of many would be to use the sun, but thst doesn't help at all because you're not searching for a direction or even try to build a compass. The first thing one should do is identify the kind of island you are on. Most people think all islands were volcanos once, but this is only true for some of them. Though if this is one, that would be good because they obviously have a volcano in their center, or close to it. Moving upwards is therefore also moving towards the center, in general. You can check this by looking at the plants. Diverse ones usually mean that you are more centered. Same with insects, as they tend to be gathered in the island center as well.There are multiple ways to tell if you are on a volcanic island or not. The easiest one is to look at the stones. The ones with holes, that are lighter than they look are a good sign. If the volcano is active, there are other signs that are more obvious like vents in the air or certain smells. The kind of plants that grow are also a clue, but you need to know how to distinguish them for that, so without knowledge in the area you should focus on the smell and rocks."

He looked around the rocks on the ground for a bit, and sure enough, light rocks with holes. Since time was of the essence, he took it as sufficient evidence to conclude that the island he was on was indeed volcanic. Even though there was no immediate way uphill, after walking in a random direction in a straight line, he noticed going downhill and turned the exact opposite way. Now on the right track, he would use the highest point to navigate further.

Meanwhile Yuki on Yuki's side…

"Argh, fuck you, Reed! Fuck you, you day ruining horrible person! Who's idea was it to have everyone start separately?!"

She yelled as she swung her sword repeatedly into a tree. After a couple of minutes she calmed herself down and thought about a plan to reach Yamato and ensure his safety. Her first idea was to fly up and search from the sky, but that was of course prohibited. She then thought about starting a fire, the bigger the better so he would find her, not caring about nature or the wildlife in the slightest. But maybe she wouldn't find him in time after it spread to a larger area and the fire would be a danger to him, so she wouldn't do that either. The exam area seemed too large for her mana detection as well, not to mention that Yamato did not have any mana in the first place to detect. But the absence of mana in a place would therefore indicate him being in that area, if it would have the required range, which it did not.

"Urgh… this sucks… This place is massive too… He said no one is closer than 800 meters to each other? Without Satoshi, Jessica and Jack we are 42 students in total. But with Andrew and Lily we are 44 meaning… This place is at least 25 km² big! I'm guessing this is an island, cause, duh. That's like, a medium island but still! At least if you factor in that no one spawned on the beack, which would be an unfair advantage for orientation and getting water, cause you'd just have to walk along the beach to find a river leading into the ocean. Otherwise more 24,5 but whatever. I would gladly search every millimeter to find you, Master! But I don't have time, since there are so many dangers around… Guide me, Master… So we can reunite and pass together. Just us!"

Still a little lost, she decided to climb a tree to get a better look. Although she couldn't see much, she did see past a view branches what appeared to be the peak of a mountain. Not having any better destination, she decided to walk towards the mountain and just hope for the best.

Meanwhile Yamato had already reached the base of the central mountain of the island. As he left the last bit of jungle, there was a single flower which caught his attention. It had all the colors of the rainbow, as if someone dipped it into them and ten blossoms pointed down like an umbrella for the stem. Fascinated by its beauty and uniqueness, Yamato was about to pick it up, but stopped himself. After all, colorful things were often poisonous in nature. Though flowers in general were not, he decided not to take risks. But as fate would have it, his decision barely mattered, as a strong wind blew a single blossom of the flower onto his face, and then off into the sky. Mere moments after that, the flower crumbled away and was carried by the now softer wind into the sky. He was only able to catch a single blossom and put it into his pocke. He continued to climb up the mountain. By now he could already see a bit of shore at the horizon, which only confirmed that it was in fact an island. A little higher now, maybe 700 meters, Yamato could see pretty far across the island. But still, no building in sight. He assumed it would theoretically be big enough to fit all students, which would make it pretty big and wasy to spot, even over such distances. Maybe it was on the opposite side of the mountain, which would be frustrating since he would have to climb all the way down and then up the other side. But what choice did he have? He climbed back down again, which took him at least another hour, which was a little longer than what it took him to climb up. To his surprise, when he reached the bottom again, there were to guys waiting for him, smiling and waving. He had never seen them before.

"Hello, friend! Did you find anything up there?"

"Uh… No? And who are you?"

"Oh, forgive us! How rude to no introduce ourselves first. I'm Franklin."

"And I am George. We are from class 2! Ah… 3 now. But no hard feelings. We don't care that much about the competitive aspect of this school. We are happy you could rank up though."

"Uh-huh… I'm Yamato. If you don't care about that stuff, why don't you just leave the exam? There is no penalty, and I can imagine doing stuff that's more fun that this right now."

"Oh, well, it's not that deep really. Is it not a fun opportunity, to be out here and explore a jungle together? I imagine we won't do this everyday."

"Huh… I guess."

"Would you mind if we tag along? You seem to know what you are doing. We were a little lost and if you'd help us at least until we found our class, that would be great!"

"I suppose I could do that… But not for free."

"Uhm… You want money?"

"No. You see how I climbed up there?"

"Yes. Very impressive, I might add!"

"You need to do that on the opposite side and tell me what you see. You're looking for a building, obviously."

"Oh, if that's all, sure! You must be exhausted, and it seems fair that we share this task."

"I agree!"

"Great… I will wait down here then."

"It might take a while though… Are you sure you will be alright?"

"I will be fine, thanks. Have fun."

"Thank you!"

They enthusiastically started climbing the other side, after they walked around the base, which took another two hours. They did not walk completely around, but it would be sufficient to see everything Yamato was unable to before from the other side. While he waited, Yamato wondered if everyone in class 2 was like them. They seemed sincere, even though their attitude was rather suspicious. As they reached a height from which they could see far enough, Yamato hey came down again to report.

"There was nothing, sorry."

"Hm… Okay. That complicates things… "

"Oh no…"

"But it's alright."

"Phew."

"…"

Yamato was already getting irritated by, in his words, those two clowns. He would be able to tell if they were lying to him, which made it only more obnoxious to be around them since everything about them seemed genuinely sincere.