I Can Devour Monsters' SSS Talents

The image changed, and hundreds of glowing points appeared on different islands.

”The first rule is simple; when you enter, everyone will be randomly scattered, there is no guarantee that you will appear next to your friends, teammates, or group members.” His eyes moved across the crowd for a moment.

”If all your power depends on having twenty people around you, today is a good time to understand that this itself is a weakness.”

Several eyes unconsciously moved toward Rodrick, everyone understood that the senior professor was directly referring to him.

But Rodrick did not even blink, he was simply sitting in his seat and looking at the platform with the same calm expression.

It was not clear whether he had taken the sentence personally or not, he did not show it and it was not clear what he was thinking about.

”Every participant starts with one hundred points.”

A large number appeared on the screen.

[Starting Points: 100]

”Defeating monsters, passing environmental trials, discovering special locations, finding hidden targets, collecting seals, and defeating other participants can increase your points.”

One of the students raised his hand.

”If we defeat another student, do we get all of their points?” the boy asked.

Silas tilted his head slightly.

”No. Only part of their points will be transferred, and the amount depends on how they were defeated, the difference in power, and the conditions of the fight.”

”And before some of you get excited, I have one piece of advice; if you think that the person who defeats the most people or monsters will definitely become first place, you should forget that idea right now.”

Lian thought about the sentence for a moment.

So points were not the entire result, or at least Silas did not want them to think that way and this test was not based on who defeated the most people.

It depended on how they defeated them, the academy wanted to see the students’ strategies.

The professor moved his hand, and a small silver seal appeared on the screen.

”Each of you will receive a protective seal when you enter, this seal is connected to the test’s monitoring system and will constantly check your physical and mental condition.”

A human figure appeared on the screen, an attack came close to its body and suddenly, before the attack hit, the body turned into light and disappeared.

”If the system detects that the next attack has a high chance of causing death, permanent disability, or irreversible damage, the seal will activate and you will immediately be pulled out of the realm.” Silas pushed his glasses up slightly.

”So you do not need to worry too much about killing your classmates.”

”Of course, I would prefer that you do not intentionally test how fast the seal works.”

The message was completely serious, the fights were real, the students could release more of their power without constantly being afraid of killing the other side.

For a test that was supposed to determine the best academy, this made a big difference.

Silas raised another finger.

”The next rule.”

This time, an island appeared on the screen, a monster appeared on it, then the image changed and a larger monster took its place.

”The realm itself will watch your performance and react to it.”

”What does that mean?” a girl asked loudly.

”It means you will find out soon enough.”

Unhappy sounds came from several people in the hall, some of them had guesses, but the others did not understand what the professor meant.

Lian, on the other hand, became a little interested, the test reacted to their performance and based on this man’s previous explanations, he could guess what was going on.

It meant that there was not going to be one fixed path for everyone.

The screen changed again, this time five islands much larger than the others stood out and a different symbol appeared on each one.

”After the first stage ends, five Royal Seals will become active on the five main islands.”

The names appeared one by one.

[Strength Seal]

[Spirit Seal]

[Speed Seal]

[Resistance Seal]

[Mana Seal]

”Each seal is protected by a guardian and simply reaching the island is not enough to get it.” Silas pointed toward the central upside-down mountain.

”At least three Royal Seals must reach the central gate for the path to the center to open.”

”Does each seal become locked to the person after they get it?” another student asked.

”No, you can steal it, take it from its owner, trade it, lend it to someone, or form an alliance to keep it. The test does not care how it reaches the center.”

This time, even more whispers spread through the hall, this single rule completely changed the second part of the test.

Individual power was not enough and an alliance might be necessary, and an alliance could end in betrayal, or the others could steal the seal from them.

With his large network, Rodrick could have a significant advantage in this stage.

But everyone would be scattered at the start, so he first had to find his people.

Lian looked toward Rodrick for a moment, the man was still calm, he was probably making the same calculation himself.

The image of the central mountain became larger and the golden crown at the top began to spin.

”When three seals reach the center, the main path will open and the crown will become available.”

This time, several people looked at the crown almost at the same time.

”So whoever takes the crown wins?” one of the students asked loudly, this was what everyone was thinking.

”I said the crown will become available.” The professor looked at him for several seconds and a faint smile returned to his face.

The student frowned and felt that this answer was not answering his question, and Silas did not add anything else.

Lian narrowed his eyes slightly at that moment, he had not answered the question, intentionally.

Kain beside him did not seem to pay attention to this part and was looking at the image of the crown with full focus.

The young Vorhelm also said nothing, he simply kept that sentence in his mind.

The professor allowed the whispers to continue for a few moments, then slowly clapped twice and the image of the islands disappeared.

”Now we get to the part that probably matters more to you than the rules, the rewards.”

The hall became almost completely quiet immediately.

”I finally have your attention.” A new screen lit up, and first, the general rewards appeared.

Students who finished the test with the required minimum points would receive more student points for the next year, their limit for accepted missions would increase, and they would gain access to better training halls and limited shopping credit for the academy store.

It was good, but no one was holding their breath for these, these were things they could also get with normal effort.

The screen changed.

Ranks fifty to eleven.

The right to choose one crafting or artifact evolution material from the public section of the store up to a certain limit, three months of free use of the advanced training halls, and priority for some academy missions.

Guilds and major families might hire them.

Then ranks ten to four.

One choice from the special section of the academy store.

The right to request the creation of one custom Rank A equipment with part of the cost paid by the academy.

Limited access to the skill book library.

And direct introduction to the support programs of several well-known guilds and they could choose one from the several guilds that offered them a position, of course, if they wanted to.

For the third-year students, this part was more important than the others.

The screen suddenly turned black, all the text disappeared, nothing was shown for a few seconds, and then another image slowly appeared on the screen.

First there was green light and then a plain, a plain so large that it continued all the way to the horizon.

Tall green grass moved under a gentle wind.

A clear river flowed through the plain and even through the image, the white stones at the bottom could be seen.

In the distance, huge trees with golden leaves stood above the surrounding forest.

White mountains could be seen on the horizon.

The sky was blue and clear, unlike the fog and strange color of the normal sky of the Ruined Realm and without the heavy and suffocating feeling that most areas of the Ruined Realm had.

Several large herbivorous creatures moved beside the river, but there was no sign of violence or chaos in the image.

This place almost did not look like the Ruined Realm, it looked more like an image of heaven.

There was only one thing that made them understand that this piece of heaven was not really heaven.

The sun in the sky ... the sun that looked nothing like normal suns ... it was almost like a Hollow sun.

Silas allowed everyone to look at it for a few seconds and then said.

”The top three ranks, in addition to all the previous rewards, will receive permission to enter the country’s newest stabilized area in the Ruined Realm.”

The name of the area appeared on the image, the Land of First Dawn.

This time, the reaction in the hall was completely different and the whispers turned into a real wave, even several guild representatives in the higher seats leaned forward.

”Are they joking?” Kain sat completely straight.

”This area is that important?” Lian looked at him.

”That’s right... You should not know where this place is, after all, it was discovered only a few months ago.”