CHAPTER 27 - A Cool Weapon.

Soon, an hour had passed.

Zewoulf woke Azyl up ten minutes before his chance came. His friend could never awaken from his slumber on his own, hence Woulf had to keep a constant eye on him. He had a strange feeling that sleeping had a better recovery effect on Azyl than compared to normal people. He had only noticed this because of his frequent interactions. It was like a passive, hidden talent.

It was also why he was fine with him sleeping off at anytime, as he knew Azyl would feel fully refreshed whenever he woke up.

"So, anything I should be mindful of in this task? And what was your score?" Azyl asked Woulf as he got up from his position. Now that it would be his turn soon, there was a sense of excitement and nervousness coursing through him.

"The students are also allowed to bring a weapon with them, in case it is required. You can choose one from the rack right there. Other than that, it was an easy task. I was able to find four tablets on my own and snatched two more from a brawl that took place while we were all returning. Yeah, remember that on the way back, there will be students who try to snatch from you or you can do the same." Zewoulf calmly told him about his experience as they waited for the third batch of students to return. Up till now, Zewoulf was definitely the only one who performed drastically better compared to others.

His ranking was definitely going to be at the top when the initiation was over.

One thing that was unknown till now was - what task the seniors were doing as they had still not returned. Woulf said that when it was his turn, Nigel had turned up to help him with finding one of the tablets. He had in return asked him some miscellaneous questions about the position of other students that he had observed in the forest till now, which Woulf had answered to his best. Honestly, he felt this was another case of a deal that was too good. But it was over now, so he could not keep bothering on it.

"A weapon huh? Is there a shield to grab? That should make an excellent weapon. Even better if there is like an armor to protect all of my body, I would not have to worry about getting mauled then." Azyl asked.

Zewoulf laughed in amusement when he heard this. Other than him, no one else would think of a shield as a convenient weapon. A shield was only useful in the hands of an able bodied and strong person after all.

"I think there was a shield, but you need to first confirm that it is suitable for you. If it's too heavy, then it would only be a burden for you, so keep this in mind." He advised him.

Azyl nodded, walking towards the rack which held weapons that students could use. At a close look, one could see that the weapons were rusty and worn out. Clearly, they had been used a lot. He thought it was pointless to even give them weapons, if they were of no use.

"The academy knows they are of no use. They do not expect any scuffle to take place inside the forest. Till now, nothing of the sort has taken place either." Zewoulf said from his side, speaking his thoughts.

"Then why even bother giving us weapons?"

"I wouldn't know. But if I had to make a guess, I think they are giving us a choice. It's up to us to decide whether we want to carry one. They have not taught us to use to weapons yet, so even if we come to face a beast in the forest, it would only prove to be a trouble. But the same situation when facing another student could be different. This is also why I think these weapons are blunt. So that students don't get injured severely" He explained his thoughts.

The academy was not expecting any situation of a beast interfering with the test, but they would not stop the students from fighting each other.

Azyl nodded in understanding and then turned his head to search through the rack. He found a big, round shield that was placed on the lowest rack. From the looks alone, he could tell that it was a heavy weapon, not fit for his frail body. He hated to perform physical exertion and even though he had been putting up with the combat classes till now, his fitness was nowhere enough to lift a shield like that. Still to fulfill his curiosity, he went and tried picking it up.

"Eeaahh." He heaved as he barely held the shield. Immediately, he put it down. If he were to choose this, it was doubtful if he could even walk to the forest in the time span of twenty minutes.

"You might want to try another one." Zewoulf said from his side, even while he tried to hold his laughter, looking at all the effort Azyl put in lifting that shield. Until now, no one had chosen to use that.

Azyl nodded as he looked at the shelf of weapon to see if any weapon looked cool to him.

He did not have any knowledge of using weapons. Anything he knew about their uses was what he could make from their shapes. In the combat classes, they had only taught them moves for self defense and hand-to-hand combat. He decided to get a weapon that looked awesome to him, while also keeping in mind that it should not be like the shield, where he could not even lift it.

Thoroughly glancing through the shelves, he finally sighed as he could not see any weapon that suited his description. Giving up on this thought, he turned to Zewoulf to help him select one for himself. At least he seemed to have a better knowledge about them, he felt.

"Just take this light saber with you. You can at swing it around in a frenzy to defend, if anyone tries coming after you. If you do encounter danger, leave the weapon and do your best to run away." Zewoulf calmly spoke to him.

He was already clear about most of the aspects of this test now, so he was sure of what he had just told him. The Academy did not place the weapons with any intention of them to be used by the students properly. They were just a burden on the students, both physically and psychologically. The only thing he was doubtful about was the task that the senior students had been given. He felt they may have headed to the deeper region of the forest. But he also had a thought that they were monitoring the batch that was performing their third phase. Maybe they were also the ones who handled the safety of the students in a scenario where things went wrong.

Azyl nodded as he went to pick a saber that felt the best in his grip. Finally, having selected a weapon, he now only had to wait for students from the third batch to return. There were two minutes left before his turn and he was ready to perform to his best capability to get into the elemental class.