"Hyena!" Ryan stared at the large hyena several meters in front of him.
This kind of beast was not particularly strong, an ordinary Blood Warrior Apprentice could deal with one alone as long as they didn't panic or allow themselves to be surrounded, and a lone hyena was especially easy to handle.
Whoosh!
The hyena suddenly rushed toward Ryan, but Ryan didn't dodge immediately. With his current strength and Medium Reflex Talent, the beast's movements were easy to follow, and his hand tightened around the monster-slaying saber.
Whoosh!
The saber flashed forward, and the charging hyena suddenly collapsed to the ground.
"Too weak!" Ryan shook his head.
He then collected the designated proof required by the trial, a large fang from the hyena, which could be exchanged for one point.
Hyenas were among the more common beasts living in the outer parts of this controlled wilderness area, most of them were not particularly dangerous when encountered alone, but packs were another matter entirely.
According to what one of the instructors had mentioned on the way here, Greyhaven's Blood Warriors had already cleared the region of the truly dangerous beasts before opening it for the trial, but even so, many ordinary predators had deliberately been left behind. After all, the purpose of the trial was actual combat experience, not simply walking through an empty forest.
In the blink of an eye, most of the day had passed, and night was beginning to fall.
"I didn't get much today." Ryan opened the bag carrying the designated beast materials and counted them carefully, altogether they were worth only twenty-three points.
For an average student, twenty-three points on the first day was already quite good, but it was far from enough to compete for the top three, and it might even be difficult to enter the top ten.
Ryan looked toward the darkening forest. Hunting at night was considerably more dangerous, because human eyesight was greatly restricted by darkness, while many beasts were far more comfortable moving through the wilderness at night. His Medium Reflex Talent would certainly help him react if something approached, but there was no reason to deliberately place himself at a disadvantage.
So he found a relatively safe position and stopped hunting for the night. As long as he remained alert to his surroundings, ordinary hyenas and similar beasts wouldn't pose too much of a threat.
Nothing happened throughout the night.
The next morning, after eating, Ryan continued hunting, and this time he began moving deeper into the controlled wilderness area.
The beasts closer to the entrance were generally weaker and worth very few points, but deeper inside, stronger beasts appeared more frequently, and hunting one of them could sometimes provide several times as many points as hunting the ordinary beasts of the outer region.
Most of the morning passed, and after another period of searching and fighting, Ryan finally stopped. He had already been moving continuously for quite some time and needed to recover some energy before continuing.
Ryan looked around, then climbed one of the larger trees nearby and settled onto a thick branch several meters above the ground, leaning against the trunk and quietly resting while the dense leaves concealed most of his body from below.
After some time, voices suddenly approached from the forest, and Ryan opened his eyes. Several students were passing beneath the tree, and none of them seemed to notice him.
"Did you hear about it?" One of them spoke in a lowered voice. "A pseudo-Rank 1 Fire Lion appeared deeper inside."
"What? Are you serious?" Another student sounded surprised.
"Of course, the news has already spread among some of the students farther inside, and I heard several people from First Martial Academy have already gone after it."
"Those guys move fast."
"Who wouldn't? That thing is worth five hundred points!"
Ryan's expression changed slightly, five hundred points?
The students beneath the tree continued walking.
"If they manage to take it down, the rankings are basically decided."
"Maybe, but it's a pseudo-Rank 1 beast, even those First Academy students won't have an easy time."
Their voices gradually disappeared into the distance, and Ryan remained sitting on the branch for a moment.
"A pseudo-Rank 1 Fire Lion..." He was genuinely surprised.
But what attracted his attention even more was the number he had just heard, five hundred points. He had spent most of the previous day hunting and had accumulated only twenty-three points, yet a single pseudo-Rank 1 beast was worth five hundred. In other words, if he could obtain the designated crimson mane tuft from that Fire Lion, first place in the trial would practically be within reach.
Ryan immediately stood up on the branch.