Jareth lapsed into a stunned silence as he processed what Esta had said while calculating his chances of survival.
Meanwhile, Esta focused on her show as though she weren't the one who had disclosed the shocking information.
'Looks like I must go, because I've two violet portals in mine. Maybe if I see the mental stimulation, I might find a solution to my problem without revealing it to anybody. Besides, what am I scared of? I should be among the cream of the crop of Awakened arcanists,' Jareth pondered.
Inhaling deeply, Jareth said to Esta, who was focusing on her show, "I'll join."
She shifted her gaze to him, staring at him in silence for a brief moment.
Finally, she responded, "Unexpected answer. Since you've decided to participate, you have two days to get prepared, but for a smart arcanist, you've only one day to settle yourself—tomorrow. Then the second day for a good rest to keep your body at its peak for the third day."
Jareth nodded thoughtfully.
Then her gaze returned to her show, her hand dipping into her popcorn.
Jareth sat in silence and watched with her, but his mind was flitting through what he needed.
'To increase my chances of survival, I will need good armor and Rank 2 healing potions. Those are the vital things, right? But Rank 2 armors are really expensive, and I only have 24,000 aures. Looks like tomorrow will be hectic.'
A few minutes later, Jareth, still feeling a bit dizzy, went back to bed.
The next day, he woke up very early at 6:30 AM, but to his shock, everybody had left the house.
'The sun is barely out. Do they have a separate clock? Well, I can't blame the girls because they have a test, but what about Esta? She must be a workaholic. No wonder she hates lazy leeches. '
Shaking his head, he dressed in a tracksuit and went to the smithing abode street, where he bought a portable binocular before leaving for the ruined estate.
When he got there, the sun was already bathing the ruined place with its warm radiance.
However, as Jareth was dashing from the outer estate toward the inner estate, he noticed many arcanists along the way—something he had barely seen the last time. He could also hear distant roars and shrieks, echoing louder than before.
Upon reaching the boundary, Jareth received the shock of his life. Many young arcanists were packed around the boundary, actively hunting beasts by turn. The beasts were slowly being pushed back.
When the beasts rushed forward, they were met with a barrage of spells and weapons. Roars blared from all corners.
The numbers of arcanists made his heart sink.
'Is it because of the test?' he quickly came up with the answer, deducing from their young faces. 'But how did they all spawn here in one night? Is there a teleportation magic?'
Thinking up to this point, Jareth felt confused.
He quickly climbed the tall building beside him and peered at the crowd from above.
Soon, he realized it wasn't only the paved path in front of him; other paved paths had camping arcanists.
Each team took turns rushing into the horde, performed about a minute of quick kills, and returned for the next group.
Some returned injured, but they quickly gulped down a healing potion.
Peering through his binoculars, Jareth could see the insanity and bloodthirstiness in the eyes of the beasts, but they still didn't rush forward.
'What is stopping them? Yesterday, I remember some actually came out but quickly returned. Well, that's not my objective today.'
Jareth climbed down and approached the young arcanists.
He walked up to a guy at the forefront, who had all his attention on the horde ahead. Jareth presumed he was the leader, as he was giving each team signals when it was their turn, and he had a large space around him.
When Jareth was about five steps from him, he snapped his head toward Jareth.
The tall boy had a smooth white face that looked almost pale, with ice-blue hair and brows, sharp blue eyes, and matching ice-blue armor.
If Alven was the dashing type that attracts people, then this boy had a chilling air about him that keeps people away.
However, Jareth wasn't intimidated, as he had met his share of people with oppressive atmospheres.
"Hello, how is your day going?"
"Fine," he answered curtly, his eyes lingering a bit on Jareth's tracksuit.
"You see, I came here and saw how you're coordinating these attacks, and I must confess, it's really top-notch. Please, can I join?" Jareth spoke fluidly.
"No," came the curt reply. He turned and signaled the next group.
"Hey, don't be like—"
The boy abruptly spun, pulling his sword from the scabbard.
Jareth retreated in an instant.
"Okay. No need to be feisty," he replied with raised hands and slowly backtracked.
The boy returned his sword to his scabbard and turned to the horde.
Jareth went into the distance and climbed onto a tall roof, gazing at the other groups as he pondered, 'Should I join them? Although they are uncoordinated, they don't look like they would complain…'
But his thoughts trailed off when he considered another situation.
'I should not be here only for cores and corpses, but to feel the level of my strength in preparation for the test. I've to go deeper for higher levels of Rank 2.'
Thinking up to that point, Jareth jumped down and dashed into the alley, weaving between buildings until he halted on the flat roof of a tall building.
Although he had gone deep, he was closer to the boundary than the center of the ruin estate. He reason being that this vicinity won't have a very high level of Rank 2 beasts.
He had long realized that when he was in the tower, the level of beasts was clearly distinguished from Rank 2, but being an inexperienced Awakened arcanist, where the difference in levels wasn't too large, had caused misjudgment.
Lying flat, he surveyed the area with binoculars.
He spotted a few arcanists swiftly killing a beast and quickly vanishing into alleys or buildings. But some buildings obstructed his vision.
Even though the deeper part didn't have a jam-packed horde of beasts, they weren't too far from each other, so he didn't hunt recklessly.
He continued searching for an appropriate target, switching between tall roofs.
Suddenly, waves of deafening roars resounded through the estate. More deafening roars erupted, like an insane congregation of beasts.
Turning back, he used the binoculars to view the area where he had heard the roars—the boundary.
He saw the beast horde rushing out at the young arcanists, and he wasn't surprised, as he had seen the maddened gleam in their eyes. They were merely withholding their wrath for reasons unknown to him.
The arcanists at the boundary escaped helter-skelter.
But what Jareth didn't expect was that many beasts from the inner estate rushed out, leaving the remainder alone.
A few minutes after they left, arcanists hidden in the inner estate went into a hunting frenzy. He even saw many solo arcanists battling beasts. Some even occurred not too far from him.
'A 1v1 situation?'
Jareth's binoculars narrowed in on many beasts.
He quickly slid down and dashed toward his first target—a white bear.