Riley Mitch was the son of an aristocrat. His father served under the king of Astia as the mayor of Linette City, one of the smaller cities in the kingdom. 

As an aristocrat's son, he had always received what he wanted. Being a 'Young Master' had spoiled him quite a bit and he proved his talents amongst his peers by clearing the entrance test of the Sky Blaze Martial Academy. 

On the entrance exam day, he was jealous of the 4 people who were awarded scholarships. The scholarship in itself didn't matter to him who came from a prestigious family, but the recognition did. 

But he decided not to think about it much and continued with his training. He had also made friends amongst the other children of noble background.

As it is said that birds of the same flock fly together, the nobles amongst the first years had formed a small group. They followed Luke who belonged to the royal family. 

Luke was the son of the king's younger brother and so enjoyed a high status in the family. He carried the royal family's bloodline and was also a genius in cultivation like his brothers and sisters. 

He also knew some of the seniors in the academy and had good sources. Riley looked up to Luke and as instructed by his father, boot-licked him.

During the Virtual Test, he had made plans to tag along with his friends and pass the test. But, as luck would have it, he was ported to an area without anyone near him and soon became the food of a Silver Tiger. 

He had failed the test and was greatly depressed by his failure. When the results came in and he saw James was in the spotlight again, even getting a special mention by the headmaster, anger burned inside him. 

Jealousy turned into envy bringing hatred inside his heart. He knew James and his friend Gus, had a common background and this factor made him confident enough to pursue an attempt to harm both of them. 

He thought that the academy wouldn't care if two students with commoner backgrounds get hurt and even if he gets caught, he was confident that with his father's influence, he wouldn't suffer much. 

He saw them accepting missions and decided to accept one as well with his two friends - Blake and John. They too were jealous of James and with a bit of persuasion, they agreed to go with him. 

They had each taken a quest and had left for the forest as well. Inside the forest they went straight to the second layer and had began their search for the two. 

After a while, Blake caught the sounds of a battle occurring nearby and they followed the source quietly. Upon reaching, they saw a dead Fallow dear on the ground and lilies in James's hand. 

"Dammit we were too late. Looks like these guys got lucky and found their targets quickly. " said Blake. 

" It seems so. A fallow deer and those four petal leaves means two quests. Looks like they are already done with their missions and should be returning back now. " said John. 

Riley however, felt that something was wrong. After some though he said, 

" Hmm, this shouldn't be possible. I don't think that James will take the mission to kill a fallow deer. If he did it, then he is not worthy in my eyes anymore. "

" The Fallow Deer is simply too weak for those two. Since they have teamed up, it must be a more difficult mission. "

" If my guess is correct, then they came here for the lilies and the deer was not their mission. They must have just wanted to fight it" 

The other two could not help but nod as well as it seemed to be the most plausible explanation.

Seeing James and Gus return to a tree top instead of heading back, confirmed their thoughts. They went back and hid themselves. They knew the targets were near now and could be found easily. 

James lay on a branch with his hands behind his head, looking up at the stars in the sky. The sky had turned dark and their prey should appear sometime in the night. 

Gus was lying down as well on another branch close to James. Thoughts ran in their minds as they looked at the dark sky above. 

"Bro, what do you want to become in future? " said Gus. 

" Hm? Me? I want to become the strongest person in the world" said James. 

" Why? " 

" I've never thought about the why. It's just that my father desired to be the strongest at one point as well. He used to tell me stories of strong men who fought powerful beasts and overcame difficult trials."

" I used to get very excited and wished to be one of the greatest, having my own tales of me facing and overcoming powerful enemies. "

" I never believed in this dream of mine until I passed the academies entrance exam. It gave me hope that even I could be of the the top geniuses in the country and maybe the strongest someday. "

" Now, I really want to try and reach the peak of power that can be achievable through the martial way. "

" Wow, I am sure you will be someday bro"

"Haha, what about you? " asked James. 

" Me? Well I don't have such a big goal like you. You see I don't remember my mother as she died a few months after giving me birth. My old man took care of me since then. "

" All I wish now is to be strong and give my old man a peaceful life on retirement. I want to be strong enough so that he may never have to work again."

" I see him work in the mines and I know how tough it is. Due to previous wars, there are even some land mines hidden by spells and such in there which could blow up anytime when stepped on. "

" Luckily as a manager he doesn't have the more riskier job, but it's not the work I want him to continue doing. "

" Once I am strong enough and become some expert, I will have many ways to earn lots of money. He will never have to work again. " said Gus. 

" I am sure you will bro. " said James as he smiled and patted his back. 

" Hey I think we got really lucky with these lilies. Found them on our first try itself. " said James as he smelled the white flower. 

" Haha yeah we did. Pass me one too. " said Gus. 

About a hundred meters away, 3 students could be seen hiding in a bush. 

" What are they doing, sitting on a branch and waiting, while these dam flies don't stop with their biting. " said John. 

" Shh! I'm pretty sure they won't stay the night inside the forest unless they have an objective. They should make their move soon. " said Riley. 

" Aouuuuuuu" a wolf's howl was suddenly heard after a few minutes. 

" It's time" said James as he got up and dusted his back. 

" Yep! I've been tired lying down here for so long. Plus these dam flies are always buzzing around looking for a chance to bite. " said Gus. 

They jumped off the branch and left for the source of the sound. 

" Looks like they are making their move. Come let's go! " said Riley. 

The three left following the trail of James and Gus. 

" I think they took the Feral Wolf mission." said, Riley. 

"How can you be so sure about it? " asked Blake. 

" They moved when they heard the wolf's howl. Hey John, you took the same mission as well right? " asked Riley. 

" Yeah. Why? " asked John. 

" Hahaha. Looks like today even fate is on our side. Let's wait and steal their kill and injure then during the process, while they are fighting. That'll show them to keep their heads low. " said Riley as he gave off a menacing smile. 

The other two grinned at the idea and they swiftly followed behind. 

In a small clearing, a pack of feral wolves could be seen. They were tearing and swallowing the flesh of a dead beast they had hunted. These wolves were nocturnal in nature but did roam to hunt in the day as well. 

Amongst them was an unusually large wolf, larger than the others in the pack by at least a head. It's grey fur shined under the moonlight while blood dripped off its mouth giving a fearsome look. 

It was the early stage Azure realm Feral Wolf, which was also the leader of the pack. The Feral Wolf was a strong Azure realm beast unlike the Fallow Deer. 

They were one of the toughest early stage Azure realm beasts to hunt as they moved in packs. The pack comprised of feral wolves at the 4th stage of form realm. 

James and Gus were on top of tree, looking down at the pack, thinking of a way to fight them. 

" The wolf's pack has 5 others apart from itself. "

" It'll be extremely difficult to face them head on, with such numbers. " said James. 

Indeed the difficulty in hunting the Feral Wolf lied in the problem of numbers. With simultaneous attacks from such a number of wolves, it'll be very difficult to hunt them. 

As James and Gus planned their move, Riley and his two friends laid in waiting for a chance.

It was going to be a long night for each one of them. 

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Notes - Here is today's chapter! :) I received some feedback from some of the readers and their common request was for more characters, characters that were tending to the evil side. The reason being James winning the test earning accomplishment and jealousy amongst his peers. I thought of introducing such char in about after a few more chapters,but it made me realize that maybe the story was going all too goody goody. So I sat down and planned for a bit and wrote this chapter. 

Thank you for your feedback. It means a lot to me! I would encourage more feedback from you the readers in comments or through private messages. This will help me get some ideas that might be useful and you the readers a good chapter to read. 

I also got a feedback from a reader that some creatures don't have certain abilities in real life like the anaconda I mentioned before they don't have poison. It made me realize that such a query could be in the minds of many readers. 

To address this I'd like to say that it's a fantasy setting. A xianxia based story, there will be beasts with abilities that you don't see them having in real life. There can also be cross breed ones as well. As these beasts are from a different world with the power to use qi to perform certain abilities. 

That will be all. I post all my chapters as soon as I'm done writing them. So if you find any mistakes or have suggestions please do comment and inform me. Enjoy!

And thanks u all the novel has now over 10k total views! Almost 11k!:)