Lucien slowly tightened his grip around the core and putting it in his spatial bag, before smiling coldly.

His rank and should be slightly above him so that gave him the confidence of believing he could beat the guy. "If you want it..." dark mana slowly flickered around him once more, "...then come get it."

The guy standing before Lucien smirked lazily while rolling his shoulders, his confidence clearly coming from more than just his strength. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

His yellow eyes glowed faintly as he stared directly at Lucien, analyzing him carefully and seeing the should energy around him, it was not heavenly at all because it was red.

"Interesting..." he muttered before chuckling softly. "One of my unique abilities allows me to see the ranks of others. That’s the reason robbing people during this exam has been so easy." He lifted his spatial bag carelessly while grinning. "Why waste time hunting dangerous beasts when weaker students can gather the cores for me instead?"

Lucien looked at him expressionlessly while dark mana flickered faintly around his fingers. The young man’s grin slowly widened as his eyes narrowed.

"But you...your rank is strange." His expression shifted into disbelief. "You actually passed the Holy Academy exam despite having Dominion alignment hidden inside you. I honestly don’t know what kind of monster you are."

"And I don’t know how you passed given the fact that your heart is really corrupted you narcissist." Lucien’s said bluntly, but the young man only laughed.

"Still," he continued confidently, "It was actually surprising to me that I passed, but whatever I can tell you’re weaker than me. Whatever secret you’re hiding doesn’t matter if you die before using it."

Lucien tilted his head slightly before smiling coldly. "You’re welcome to test that theory mr." His mana slowly spread around him as his crimson eye glowed faintly. "I’ll burn you so badly that you’ll regret not choosing hell while you still had the chance."

The guy smirked arrogantly and was about to move, but suddenly, RUMBLE!!!

The entire forest shook violently. Both of them instantly looked upward as the sky slowly turned pitch black, not from clouds but as if reality itself was being swallowed by darkness.

Cracks of black magic spread through the air like shattered glass before enormous waves of dark energy descended from above and expanded endlessly.

Within seconds, a gigantic black barrier covered the entire Beast Realm. Students everywhere began screaming in panic.

"What is happening?!"

"The portal disappeared!"

"We’re trapped!"

The barrier pulsed with terrifying dark mana that sealed the entire examination area completely. Nobody inside could escape, and nobody outside could enter.

The young man frowned seriously for the first time. "What the hell is this...?"

Lucien remained silent while staring upward. Even he couldn’t understand what kind of power could create a barrier this massive.

Then suddenly, the young man vanished. Lucien’s instincts screamed instantly as he twisted his body sideways.

BOOOOM!!!

A blade of compressed wind slashed past his neck and destroyed everything behind him, cutting through dozens of trees effortlessly. The young man reappeared several meters away with a grin on his face.

"Getting distracted during battle?" he mocked. "That’s pathetic."

A glowing magic circle rotated beneath his feet as violent mana gathered around him. "That’s cheating I wasn’t even ready!"

"My name is Evank but when you spell backwards it becomes ’knave’ which is actually my nickname because I’m actually a knave."

"Stage Three Spell: Tempest Severance."

Lucien narrowed his eyes slightly. In this world, magical spells were divided into five stages according to their complexity and destructive power.

Stage One Spells were called Initiate Spells, basic beginner magic with simple mana flow.

Stage Two Spells were Advanced Spells, techniques with stronger mana compression and better control.

Stage Three Spells were Noble Spells, dangerous abilities capable of overwhelming ordinary priests and destroying large battlefields.

Stage Four Spells were known as Cataclysm Spells, powers capable of wiping out cities.

And finally, Stage Five Spells were Divine Spells, forbidden techniques said to distort reality itself and usable only by godlike beings.

Evank smiled arrogantly. "Scared now?"

Lucien smirked slightly. "Not really."

BOOOOM!!!

The two instantly clashed, Evank fought aggressively from the very beginning, constantly unleashing powerful Stage Three Spells that tore apart the battlefield.

Massive wind blades shredded the forest while compressed lightning spears exploded around Lucien repeatedly. The ground cracked apart beneath every collision while shockwaves blasted through the trees endlessly.

Yet despite the overwhelming attacks, Lucien only used Stage Two Spells. Not because he lacked stronger magic, but because he was conserving mana.

"Shadow Bind." Dark chains erupted from the ground and shot toward the young man, but spinning wind currents instantly shattered them apart.

"Holy Flame Burst!" White flames exploded forward, forcing the guy named Evank backward before he immediately counterattacked.

"Cyclone Burial!" A gigantic vortex descended from above and tore through the forest violently. Lucien instantly used Celestial Step repeatedly to dodge while floating across the battlefield at high speed.

The young man laughed loudly during the fight. "You’re weaker than me in rank! Why are you still standing?!"

Lucien wiped blood from the corner of his mouth before smiling coldly. "Because unlike you..." dark mana slowly leaked around him, "...I actually know how to fight."

Suddenly, he vanished. The young man’s eyes widened, too fast. Lucien appeared directly before him.

"Black Pulse."

BOOOOOM!!!

A compressed explosion of dark mana slammed directly into Evank chest and launched him violently through multiple trees. Before he could recover, dark chains erupted from the ground instantly.

"Shadow Chains." The chains wrapped around his body tightly.

"What the hell?!" the young man shouted while struggling violently.

Lucien’s eyes glowed faintly.

*Skill Extraction Activated.*

The chains suddenly absorbed glowing energy directly from the young man’s body.

"AAGHHH!" New information flooded Lucien’s mind instantly.

*Unique Skill Acquired: Rank Vision and void call(can only summon stage three learnt spells).*

Lucien smirked faintly while Evank stared at him in horror. "What are you doing to me?!"

Lucien ignored the question completely and walked toward him calmly. "Hand over your spatial bag."

The young man’s expression twisted with anger and humiliation. "You expect me to surrender to someone beneath my rank?" he spat, with blood and bruises on his face.

Lucien’s face remained emotionless. "I’ll have to kill you to get it."

Suddenly, the Evank laughed bitterly before slamming his own mana directly into his heart. "Id rather kill myself than let you kill me." Blood exploded from his mouth. His body collapsed lifelessly onto the ground.

Lucien stared at the corpse silently for a few seconds before sighing. "Well your spatial bag isn’t dying with you."

He removed the bag from the corpse’s pocket before checking inside. His eyes widened slightly. "Two Calamity Beast cores...and three Earth-shattering beasts." he had the rank vision now and it’s effective on cores too.

Lucien honestly didn’t care how the idiot obtained them. He dumped everything valuable into his own spatial bag before throwing the empty bag away carelessly. But soon his attention returned toward the gigantic black barrier covering the sky.

"What exactly is going on...?" Then suddenly, a girl screamed somewhere in the distance.

"HELP—!"

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