Slash!

Merlin leapt into the air, spun around, and slashed at a six-meter-long snake with his Primordium daggers.

He landed cleanly on the monster's body, twirling both daggers in his hands.

"This is the tenth level-six monster I've killed," he whispered, glancing at the ranking board on his tablet.

Displayed there was his name and the total points he had accumulated so far: 12,000 points.

"Tsk... This test is really easy. I wonder if I'm too strong to take it, or if something else is going on," he muttered with a long sigh.

It wasn't arrogance. The monsters on this island were genuinely weak.

Level-six monsters had their strength reduced by thirty percent, level-five by fifteen percent, and level-four by five percent.

Because of that, Merlin, who was already strong enough to fight level-six monsters from the start, felt everything was far too easy and lacked any real challenge.

He checked the rankings below his name. The position beneath him had changed from Luvis to Crystal.

Crystal had overtaken Luvis by a clear gap, accumulating 10,000 points, while Luvis had only 9,000.

Luna stood in fourth place with 8,500 points, followed closely by Nerixa at 8,100.

All the students were fiercely competitive, and watching the rankings shift was strangely satisfying.

After all, only the top ten would be acknowledged by the academy as truly talented.

Merlin scanned the list again and noticed Lucius in twelfth place.

"3,500 points? This kid is pretty fast," he whispered.

Suddenly, Julius's points jumped by a thousand in the next second, pushing him up to tenth place.

Merlin narrowed his eyes, suspicion flickering across his face. "That increase is too much, isn't it? A thousand points in just a few seconds?"

Defeating a level-six monster only granted five hundred points.

An increase of a thousand points in such a short time meant that Lucius had defeated two level-six monsters at once.

It wasn't that Merlin was belittling him, but the situation felt strange and unreasonable.

He himself could easily defeat a level-six monster, yet fighting two at the same time would still take a considerable amount of time.

Lucius was clearly weaker than him. Pulling that off should have been impossible.

Then, the second rule of the test came back to him: "Students are allowed to kill each other to earn points."

"So that's how it is… Now it makes sense," Merlin chuckled softly. "Given Lucius's cruel and rule-breaking nature, it's not surprising."

He shook his head and turned his attention away from the ranking board.

"Well, I don't care. As long as he doesn't bother me, I won't go looking for trouble."

With that, he leaped into the air and vanished like a gust of wind.

…

"Hah… Hah… Hah…"

In the dense mountain forest, Monica ran, her breath coming out in ragged gasps.

She glanced back and saw two or three elf students chasing her relentlessly.

"Hahaha! It's useless, Monica! Today, we're going to kill you and take your points!" One of them shouted excitedly.

"Yes! Don't even try to run! It's all pointless! If you give up now, we'll kill you in a gentler way! Stop right there!" another said coldly.

Monica, however, was completely unfazed. She pushed herself forward, forcing her body through dense trees and massive roots that blocked her path.

"I… I can't get caught! I want to stay in this academy! I have to prove my worth to her!" she muttered through clenched teeth.

The image of an extremely beautiful adult woman surfaced in her mind.

She couldn't make her angry again. She had to prove that she was worthy.

Fueled by that determination, her strength surged, and her movements grew faster until the three elf boys behind her began to struggle to keep up.

"Damn it! Keep chasing her! Don't let her escape. If she gets away, the two princesses will kill us," one of them said in a heavy voice.

The other two nodded and forced their tired bodies to keep chasing her.

Ten minutes later—

"Hah… hah…"

Hidden among the massive roots of a giant tree, Monica leaned back, panting heavily.

Sweat covered her face, and exhaustion was clearly visible in her eyes.

"They… shouldn't be able to… find me," she whispered weakly.

She wiped the sweat from her face and let out a shaky sigh of relief.

Monica didn't understand why the three boys were chasing her. Before this, they had always been polite toward her.

Could it be that Tina and Tita had sent them?

The moment the thought crossed her mind, everything seemed to fall into place.

Anger rose within her, but she forced herself to suppress it before it could consume her.

Monica reached into her pocket and pulled out a tablet. About six hours ago, she had somehow found it wedged among the rocks near a stream.

Since it functioned the same way as the one in her room, she had no trouble using it.

When she opened the leaderboard, she saw her name in ninth place with 5,700 points.

"Thank goodness I managed to gather this many points. Even if I don't make the top ten, I won't be expelled," she whispered in relief.

She didn't care about the championship.

As long as she could survive and continue studying at the academy, that was more than enough.

Monica scanned the top five and saw a name that always appeared in her dreams—Merlin.

"Thirteen thousand points? Merlin is incredible," she muttered in awe.

Her round eyes shone with admiration and idolization.

She knew Merlin was strong, but she never expected him to be this overwhelming—far beyond the other so-called geniuses.

"If only I could be like him… Mother wouldn't hate me so much," she whispered weakly.

The next second, she shook her head and slapped her cheeks.

"I can't think like that! If I want to become strong, I have to overcome my fear!"

Once she felt a little steadier, Monica tucked the tablet away and slowly stood up.

"Well then, let's start the hunt. They should be gone by now."

She was about to step outside when a faint voice suddenly reached her ears.

"Did you find her?"

"No, I didn't find her."

"Damn… this is so annoying! If only I hadn't talked so much earlier and just killed her, all her points would've been ours."

"Don't dwell on it. What matters now is finding her. Killing her is the same as killing several level-six monsters. I don't know how that girl got so many points, but we have to take them."

The voices gradually faded into the distance, and Monica swallowed nervously.

"Are they really gone?" she wondered silently.

She waited a few more minutes, making sure everything was truly safe.

Once she was certain, she stepped outside—only for a head to suddenly appear above her, grinning widely.

"Hehehe… found you…"

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