Free Web NovelThat was not the kind of thing someone with a weak body could accomplish, no matter how clever their tactics or how lucky their strikes.
When it came to actual combat, his skills were nothing to scoff at, but the product of discipline maintained through years when he had every excuse to let himself grow soft and complacent.
His father might have ignored him, while his mother pampered him and while the servants feared him to the extent of helping him practice, through all of it, Lucuis had kept training, kept pushing himself, kept refining the techniques that made him more and more fearsome.
' The number of contestants we have spotted along the way has grown even more as we climb higher. ' he noted, his eyes scanning the slopes above and below them where other examinees could be seen struggling against the same pressure that pressed against his own group.
Some moved in small clusters like themselves, others crawled forward alone with grim determination, and a scattered few had simply stopped altogether, sitting or lying on the rocks with the defeated air of those who had finally accepted that they could go no further. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
Just from seeing all this, one could tell that this examination was not really that simple even if it appeared that way at a glance.
He inwardly bet that some of them had never expected for their physical bodies to be tested in this manner, nor had they assumed that the academy would care only about magical ability or intellectual prowess.
That mistake was definitely costing them dearly now, watching their chances of admission slip away while more physically prepared contestants continued climbing past them.
It made him wonder, not for the first time, just what sort of tests they would face at the academy itself if the entrance examination was already this demanding. Would every day be like this? Would every lesson push them to their limits and beyond?
Just thinking about it had his blood pumping at the prospect of real competition, genuine challenges that would force him to grow and adapt and become something more than he already was.
The thought of facing opponents who would not hold back, of tests that would demand everything he had and then demand more, of a future where he could prove himself against the best that the kingdom had to offer, it stirred something deep within him that had lain dormant for too long.
He rose to his feet with a spring in his step, the weariness that had been settling into his bones forgotten in the face of that burning anticipation.
"Alright, that's enough resting for now. Let's get moving again. We only have a few hours before sundown, and we've already covered two thirds of the distance. Just one third more and we'll be done with this stage."
But before anyone could respond to his call to continue, Gunter's suddenly spoke up. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"I am afraid you will have to leave me behind." The young baron's voice emerged, sounding very much exhausted, and stripped of all pretense and pride.
Back then he thought he could really make it after hearing Lucuis's speech, but right now, he realised how foolish he had been.
His body was currently drenched in sweat, his clothes clinging to his frame in a way that showed just how much he had been pushing himself to keep up with the others.
He was not faking it this time, that much was obvious to anyone who looked at him. The pressure had simply become too great for him to handle, and no amount of determination or encouragement could change that fundamental reality.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Lucuis turned to face him fully, his expression carrying a fierce conviction that brooked no room for argument. "I said we would all pass this test together, didn't i? There's no way I am going back on my word now, besides, we're so close to finishing." Lucuis said with a charismatic grin. The receding sunlight causing his figure to appear even more handsome.
"But I really can't take another step." Gunter's voice cracked slightly as he spoke, his legs shaking beneath him as if to demonstrate the truth of his words.
"I am not saying this because I want to give up. I am saying it because I physically cannot continue. If I try to go any further, I will only slow you down and make you fail as well, and I cannot let that happen after everything you guys have done for me."
"Then you do not need to take another step." Lucuis cut him off before he could say anything more, already walking toward the exhausted young man with a look of absolute certainty on his face.
Before Gunter could react, protest, argue or even understand what was happening, Lucuis reached down, hooked his arms under the baron's shoulders, and lifted him up onto his shoulders in a split second.
His movements were so fluid that the young baron only realised what had happened when he was safely atop his shoulders.
The instant that additional weight settled onto Lucuis's shoulders, he felt the pressure pressing down on him increase by at least twofold.
It was as if the mountain itself had noticed his defiance and refusal to accept its judgment about who could continue and who could not, and had decided to punish him for it.
The weight that had been manageable before suddenly became crushing, bearing down on him with enough force to make his knees threaten to buckle beneath him.
' Hehehe... So that's it!' He couldn't but laugh at such a thing, feeling very much amused by this.
' Guess this examination really isn't easy at all, no matter how you try to cheat it. The mountain doesn't care about at all. But only cares about who can endure, and apparently, it decided that carrying someone else counts as enduring twice as much.' thought Lucuis.
But even then, he did not put Gunter down. He didn't even consider it for a moment. Instead, he adjusted his grip slightly, found his balance beneath the increased weight.
A strange flame was currently burning deep in his heart, something that had nothing to do with magic or anything in the sense.
Right now, standing on this mountainside with the sun sinking toward the horizon and his friend draped across his shoulders
, he was beginning to feel that this second stage of the exam was finally starting to look like a real test.
