Ten days passed by quickly.
Alex was fully prepared for the Hunt.
He had received a sword as a gift from his beloved wife.
The name of the sword was Outclasser. It was an artifact that can enhance the damage and effectiveness of the attack.
For a magical swordsman, this sword was quite good.
Alex had formed a three-man team with Riya and Jeremy. The prideful conceited Joey had decided to raid alone and prove wrong to others.
If a guy wanted to commit suicide what could Alex do?
Warrior and Mage were a good combination and before departing, Alex had put a tracking spell on Jeremy and Riya.
Before the day of departure, Alex got a letter from Yvonne wishing him good luck.
There was a merchant route nearby Gawaffin which supplied resources to the militia and in case of any trouble, Yvonne had advised him to seek out their help.
"She is a tsundere, trying to maintain indifference and playing hard to get but cares for others from the bottom of their heart."
...
The dense canopy forest was guarded by Gawffin Stronghold where 14,000 men were stationed guarding the place.
The place was quite dangerous and previously there have been many cases of Monster outbreaks.
All the security of the Gawaffin stronghold and the village area surrounding the place comes under the military garrisons and the place wasn't under any noble's control.
The raiding place was 100km from the stronghold nearby a small village named Bark Village where the students were stationed.
Before the beginning of each season, a team was sent to take down the monsters to keep them in check.
And Zenith Academy students had to do this job.
After a journey of three and half hours, they arrived at the entrance of Leaf Village which was not as crowded as Alex expected.
The village was quite deserted and very few people stayed there after a monster outbreak.
Professor Neon took over his class and said"Each one of you will be given a bracelet."
"The bracelet will record your kills and give points which would be recorded. This watch will only record monsters killed by you. By the end of three days. The one who scored the highest points will win."
"If you encounter trouble and want to withdraw, tap on that red button which will send a distress signal to us and we will try to reach you as soon as possible."
"Don't be greedy for some meagre points and lose your lives. This whole operation is done to let you have a real-life experience."
Alex, Riya and Jeremy with the other students gathered at the border of the green zone and waited for the signal.
A Professor appeared out of thin air and said to them"The Monster Hunt Course will officially begin now! Good Luck and stay safe"
"Oh Yeah!"
"Let's go!"
"I will crush everyone."
The students cheered loudly before scattering toward the vast wilderness of the forest in groups.
Alex let others take the lead. He wasn't in a hurry.
He planned to let Jeremy temper himself and gain some practical experience which he lacks mostly. The only thing Jeremy was good at presently was being a meat shield who can take some blows.
He wanted to be the sharpest sword but his posture and stance on the sword were so poor that even Alex considered himself better when he started.
Alex even tried to persuade him to give up on using the sword and use his hands and feet to fight but the dimwit was dead set on wielding a sword even though he lacked basics.
After getting beaten around all day, Jeremy was too lazy to focus in class and mostly dozed off in class.
Alex stared at Riya who gave a brief nod and disappeared from the spot.
Jeremy has already seen it a couple of times but he still cannot get used to Riya popping out and vanishing here and there out of nowhere.
"Jeremy, have you hunted any monsters before? How did you perform in Monster Hunt previously?" Alex asked him as they travelled through the wilderness.
"It was hard for me to get into a group and after some bad experiences, we were finally able to survive the three days. I wasn't able to kill a monster myself but I had fought with many." Jeremy spoke proudly.
"Why don't you tell the truth that you were abandoned and beaten by a monster until your group sneaked in and killed the prey?"
"Huh! How did you know? Are you also a fortune teller?"Jeremy asked with a curious expression.
"I can even predict the death of people. Do you want to know?"Alex spoke with a smirk.
Jeremy swallowed his saliva seeing Alex's frightening gaze and shook his head.
"There is a monster ahead!" Alex muttered and shot a spell.
Even before Jeremy could react, he heard the sound of an explosion along with pieces of meat scattering in the air.
Alex looked at his watch and his points that were at zero had increased to 10.
"A squire rank gives just 10 points," Alex spoke with a sigh.
"I don't know about others but Disciple rank gives a hundred and Master rank gives a thousand," Jeremy informed.
Alex rubbed his chin"Will the watch count points if I kill a human?"
Jeremy's whole body shivered and he took a step back.
"I am not talking about killing but I will change my mind if you think about weird things," Alex said nonchalantly, signalling that he can kill people with the back of his hand.
"Now, stop gawking at me and get to work," Alex shouted and pushed Jeremy forward.
Jeremy saw a huge horned boar staring at him fiercely.
"You will be my prey." Jeremy roared and ran toward him while swinging the sword in his hands.
Alex, who observed closely at the encounter, flinched back a little as he heard a painful scream.
"Aaaaaahhh!"
A figure covering a semi-circle crashed with a tree.
At the end of round 1
Horned Boar:1 Point
Jeremy:0
