Reincarnated In A World Of Mana As A Mechanic-Chapter 39: Admission into the Star And Cross Institute

After escaping the Bloodthirsty Bear, the trials seemed to be a breeze to the trio with Ezekiel leading them.

He now made Laura factor in individuals who approached them as well, allowing him to avoid scenarios like what had occurred before.

Not to mention that there were other participants in the forest, who had unwillingly earned the ire of the Mana beasts released by the Institute. Ezekiel, and his friends, who moved forward with expert caution and stealth were disregarded by the beasts who sought the much louder and less troublesome participants.

Ezekiel suddenly paused as he and his friends shuttled forward, the siblings stopping by his side before glancing at him curiously. He snickered, catching the look in their eyes and explained. "Seems a high and mighty noble boy got into a bit of trouble."

Vahn and Yuri revealed smirks when they heard this, they instinctively wanted to see what was going on with the noble son, yet knew that they couldn’t make use of Ezekiel’s invention for such a childishly personal reason.

Yet who would have known that the teenager’s amethyst eyes brightened in delight as he chuckled. "Let’s go watch."

Yuri retorted exasperatedly. "You’re willing to risk the admission for something so childish?"

The mechanic responded, a shameless smile plastered across his face. "Childish? Well last I checked, I am a teenager, aren’t I?"

(You’re a grown man whose added age is well past 40.)

The shameless smile on his face seemed to shine brighter than the sun, even while Laura’s voice rang in his ear. ’And what’s wrong being a petty person. Plus, my past life doesn’t count. I look 16 therefore I am 16.’

With a twist of his body, Ezekiel bolted to the left. Sounds of shouts, battle cries and beastly roars became clearer as he approached his destination.

He and his friends finally stopped, hiding within the many branches of a tree and using its thick gathering of leaves to hide themselves.

Below them, the Bloodthirsty bear wreaked havoc among the participants, its thick, powerful limbs smashing into the ground multiple times, sometimes crushing an unlucky participant beneath its paws. Around it, participants darted between its attacks while launching spells and abilities in a chaotic formation. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Yuri spotted Edward among the participants, almost instantly, her voice carrying a note of disdain. "Looks like his lordship is having difficulties."

Edward stood at the edge of the clearing, his pristine robes now torn and stained with dirt and blood. His pretentious and arrogant aura had been broken just like the rib bones that burnt with heat within him as his body screamed bloody murder, wishing for nothing more than to rest.

His usual composed demeanor had cracked, revealing the frustrated, wounded and frightened noble beneath as he shouted orders at participants who seemed only marginally inclined to follow them.

"You incompetent fools!" Edward’s voice carried across the clearing. "Coordinate your attacks! I said coordinate!"

One of the participants he was addressing—a burly young man with earth magic—turned to glare at the noble. "And who made you leader? Just because daddy’s rich doesn’t mean—"

His words were cut short as the bear suddenly charged forward and engulfed the man into his stomach before its jaw clamped down, its terrifying force ripping off the man’s hand before swallowing the rest of him whole.

Edward’s face paled with fright as he felt a bit of red sticker liquid splatter onto his cheek. Gritting his teeth and forcing down the urge to puke, he quickly wiped off the blood with his leather vest before glaring at the other participants. "If you had followed my strategy from the beginning, we would have—"

"Your strategy?" A voice called from across the clearing. "You mean the one where you send everyone else to die while you stay safely in the back?"

The speaker was a tall girl with silver hair who appeared to be leading the only cooperating team among the multiple participants attacking the bear. Coating her fists were fiery auras that licked at her leather armor without burning the material.

Ezekiel stared curiously at the fiery fists while she rained blow after blow on the Bloodthirsty Bear, dealing a more significant amount of damage compared to the rest of the participants around her. He whispered lightly in surprise, seeing this. "Are there powerful elemental Talents like this?"

Laura’s voice chimed, filling the mechanic in with the necessary knowledge. (Talent B34 – Vulcan Fists. Its effects are as shown, allowing the Brawler to gain a fiery coated fist that deals a tremendous amount of elemental and physical damage. It has its limits though. Despite its high rank, any Mage can also easily simulate its power given enough time, which admittedly they wouldn’t have in a close ranged fight, but they’d expend less mana than she does anyways.)

The mechanic nodded in understanding. The Talent possessed a tremendous amount of power, but the mana needed for that kind of output would also be tremendous. Such power couldn’t possibly come for free.

Edward, caught burning red by the truth in her words, shot back in anger and embarrassment. "I am directing tactical operations based on superior knowledge and training!" His eyes grew bloodshot as he glared at the girl then at the bear. "Something you commoners wouldn’t understand! Just follow my orders and we’ll be able to take this beast down!"

Ezekiel clicked his tongue in wonder of the noble’s arrogance. "This guy’s ego really is sky breaking. I’m a much nicer noble compared to him, aren’t I?"

Vahn retorted immediately, his lips twitching as his friend’s words registered in his ears. "Nicer? I can’t count the amount of nobles back in Pytra that you ground to dust because you wanted their starls."

The mechanic’s eyes widened with mock shock. "What? I was merely gathering money for my research, those fellas were just nice enough to grant me such." He gave one more brand to the group of participants struggling, feasting his eyes on Edward’s reddened face before finally chuckling in satisfaction and facing his friends. "We can slip around while they’re keeping that thing busy."

Vahn and Yuri had nothing against his decision, they had wasted a bit of time to witness the noble son’s failure, and they weren’t affected at all with leaving the egotistic idiot behind without any help.

And it seemed there weren’t the only ones who thought to vacate the battlefield. Before he turned around, Ezekiel could easily note that multiple individuals, the silver haired girl included, had slowly but surely begun retreating step by step.

And as the poor noble that had gained the ire of the bear, Edward could only watch with undisguised anger and reluctance as he was left to fend off against the monster alone. "You freaking sons of....!"

Ezekiel couldn’t hear anything more at that point. Not that it bothered him anyway, he and his trio had already finally left the thick foliage all around them, welcoming the full sun as it kissed their skin while the air lost the leaf-like taste to it.

They had exited the first!

This discovery made the mechanic sigh in relief, knowing that he hadn’t led his companions down the wrong path. If they had so easily arrived here it meant either his method of cheating had been accepted by the examiners or they hadn’t even found out about it at all.

Either way, it was good news to Ezekiel, lifting a burden off his shoulders. He turned, flashing a cocky grin at his two friends to which they replied with rolling their eyes, yet the thankful smile plastered on their lips spoke volumes.

The mechanic soon noted that except another two, he was one of the first individuals in this end of the forest meaning that they had earned a particularly high position within the institute.

Glancing about and noticing the few humans that stood alongside him, Ezekiel walked forward, unwilling to focus on them before casting his gaze at the wall of trees everywhere. After all, there weren’t enough participants to call the trials over.

Soon more and more participants filled the plain fields, including the silver haired girl and her group of participants. Her sapphire colored eyes displayed a bit of surprise when she noticed Ezekiel and his friends leisurely resting atop the grass. The former had retrieved his devices by then, simply playing around with a self-made rubix cube.

Actually, practically every participant had the mechanic and his friends in their sights. After all, they were the only group which didn’t seem to be hurt in any way, nor did they seem tired or exhausted. This meant that they had basically strolled through the trial as if it was nothing.

Which meant that they had either a very perceptive Awakened in their group or a powerful Seer. The latter was more easily handled, but if it were the former then they would have to face a terrifying opponent.

"Congratulations to all participants who passed."

The familiar indifferent voice rang out just as the last student ran out of the forest, covered in injuries that bathed her in blood. Yet before she could even fall to the ground to rest, a bright silver light erupted from her and the other 99 participants in the clearing.

The trials were over. They were now students of the Star and Cross Institute.