CHAPTER 26 - Phase Three begins.

He wanted to tell Azyl about his thoughts and everything that had been going on in his mind for a long time. But he couldn't bring himself to speak out and explain it to him. He could not imagine how his friend would react if he were to ask him to give up at this point. For one, he felt that if he was to dissuade him now, when he had a great opportunity in his hand, Azyl would not believe him. He might even doubt his intentions. Woulf realized he still did not trust him a hundred percent to tell him about his thoughts. His cautiousness held him back even though his heart said that Azyl was not like that.

He had been waiting to get the right opportunity, but now it seemed that things were already going out of his control. With no move to make, he could only advise him right now to be careful and then tackle any problem that might come later.

"Hmm, this is a good chance, but you should be careful as well. After all, this is all too sudden and sounds too good to be true, right.?" Zewoulf replied to Azyl in his usual calm tone, hiding any clue to the mixture of emotions that were raging in his mind.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking as well. Though it is a good opportunity, it doesn't actually change what I was originally planning to do either. I am still gonna put my best effort in the third phase. This won't change my decision or make me suddenly want to put less effort." He replied with a smile.

'I wish you to put in less effort.' Woulf said in his mind.

"Yeah and I think it might be due to your performance during the first phase. You were really quick with that one." Zewoulf said with a smile. He could only now wait and see how things would pan out.

Once they were done with their lunch, most of the students went back to the training ground to wait for the next phase to begin. Azyl chose to take a quick nap in his room, while Zewoulf went to find Nigel.

They had been told that the task would have to do something with the beast forest. So he needed to find more information about that place from this senior who he was going to partner with.

Soon the waiting time was up and the professors called everyone to gather in the training ground. Woulf woke Azyl up in advance so that he wouldn't sleep away this time as well at a crucial moment. Right now, he was being briefed by Woulf about everything that he had learned about the forest.

"... Remember to be careful of wild beasts, even the kind that look harmless. The carnivores aren't the only ones that can hurt you, as even a docile animal would attack you if you agitate it. The task should not take a long time, so don't bother to conserve energy, but don't rush in blindly either. Also, the deeper you go, lower your visibility will be. This is because of all the mist that is around in the forest year long. The mist is formed due to some special plant which is blue in color and you can only find it in abundance in the deeper regions. And.." Before he could continue, he was cut off by Azyl.

"Okay, now you can stop. Too much information isn't good for me as well. Takes a lot of effort to process all that and put it to use you know. I am more used to relying on my instincts, so I should be fine with all that you have already told me. Now lets just get done with this. I can't wait to get back and sleep for twelve hours straight." He said as they arrived at the training ground.

Zewoulf could only smile wryly at his response. But he did not argue with him either. While he may not be able to trust him completely, he knew that Azyl was his best friend in that moment.

"Okay, but we won't be doing the task all together in this one either. Its going to be in batches of ten students this time. Anyways all the best, we should be starting soon so prepare yourself." Woulf replied, as they both got in the formation with their batch. Next, professor Akira came forward to once again explain to them about the details.

"This time, ten students will partake in the task at once. The objective is simple, find and retrieve this object from the forest. There will be ten of these hidden in the Beast forest, and you have to find one of them and bring it back. Remember that bringing back one counts as a pass, more than one means a better score. You are not allowed to enter the mid-region and only search in the outer region. Being cautious is advised as even though you will not encounter prana beasts in outer region, wild animals are still present. There is a time limit of twenty minutes after which everyone has to return no matter your result. Now I will call out the names of students who will go in the first batch."

Professor Akira waved a rectangular, tablet type of object for all students to view when he mentioned the objective of the task. Although it seemed a simple task, Azyl felt it would not be as simple as that, especially when he heard the professor emphasize that obtaining more than one tablet would mean a better result. On the other side of the grounds, he could see that the senior students were also being briefed about their tasks, but unlike them all the seniors were moving to enter the forest together.

It was then that Azyl noticed that his name had not been called out yet, like in other phases. When he raise his head to check out, he found that this time the students were being selected at random through a lot. Soon it was his turn to pull. He appeared in front of the pot that contained the lots and pulled a chit from it. Opening it, he saw the number thirty five written. Realizing that he was going to be in the last batch this time, he groaned inwardly.

"So when is your turn?" Zewoulf asked him as he stood beside him.

"Thirty-five, last batch I guess. I guess I'll have to wait long for my turn to come this time. Twenty minutes for each batch means I have around an hour to rest now. Well better than nothing." He replied, sounding a little down.

He had really been wanting to finish quick and then crash back in his bed at the dorm. But well...

"Ahahah, that's what is going through your head right now. I am in the first batch this time, so feel free to take a nap. I will wake you when your turn is up." Woulf patted him on the shoulder.

"Yeah, do your best." He waved his hand encouragingly. But Woulf knew that he was just asking him to quickly be done and not disturb his sleep now. Woulf laughed as he saw this, not finding it rude now that he was aware about his character better than before.

"I should be done quick with this one. Now how many should I get, five should be okay I guess. I can ambush others to grab theirs as well, so getting all ten won't be that difficult. No, I shouldn't do anything unnecessary and just grab those that I can find first and return quick." Zewoulf muttered under his breath as he walked away to gather with the other nine who would take part in the first batch.