A cold blizzard raged in the southern ends of the Dream Gate's Island. Paving the way through the wall of snow that increased each second, a single boy moved forward as if the terrain could barely faze him. He had a single cloth wrapped around his neck as he dragged an enormous greatsword on his back. His each breath caused a cloud of cold mist to appear in front of his mouth, but the boy's sparkling red eyes seemed to burn with a flame that even a blizzard could not hold against.

Luke Reese, the boy traveling through the blizzard, looked at the boulders and the few trees around him that were covered with snow. Closing in on one such boulder, he dusted the snow away from its surface and inspected it.

Four giant claw marks were embedded in the boulder, digging deep into it.

"Hmm, I'm getting closer," Luke muttered to himself and went on ahead. An exam with no clear objective, there were a few things it could mean, but only one possibility stood out the most to Luke.

There was simply no objective. It was an all-out survival game that the professors of Agriche had prepared for them.

It was a great way to test people in Luke's mind. An awakener's most important quality would definitely be their mindset. Great power in the hands of weak people would always lead to destruction, so how people chose to tackle this situation would reveal a lot about them.

For Luke himself, the best way to handle any Gate or Dungeon was simply to crush it completely.

"GRAAAAAAHHH!!!"

An earth-shattering roar spread through the mountains, shaking away even the falling snow.

With a smirk, Luke pulled out the greatsword from his back and grabbed it with both his hands. He spread his feet and lowered his center of gravity. With each breath, the air around him would come closer and closer until it felt like it was passing through him.

The space in front of him quaked as a gigantic four-meter tall monster came rushing in. The enormous monster with four limbs and a conical head had white fur all over it's body, assimilating with the snow all around.

"GRAH!!"

With another roar, the monster jumped right in front of the space Luke was standing at and swung two of the arms on its left and right.

Luke stepped back, still in stance, and easily avoided the blow from the Pine King.

Before the Pine King could lift its hands again, Luke's appearance revealed itself completely in front of the monster. Like a stream of water flowing through a meadow, Luke's enormous great sword half the size of the monster itself seemed to dance in the air as he swung it from the side and brought it toward the monster's left.

"[Sword Saint's Third Form: Raining Swords (D+)]"

The swing that was coming from the monster's left crashed into it on the top of its conical head. The Pine King stumbled ahead as Luke lifted his sword again. Each swing came gushing down on the Pine King like unceasing droplets of rain.

Luke's blade left many cuts on the Pine King before he took in a deep breath and jumped back. Not missing the opening, the Pine King smashed the ground in rage.

Spikes of snow raised up from the ground and rushed towards Luke.

The boy jumped to his side again and avoided the attack by the fraction of an inch. He rolled on his side as more and more spikes rose from the ground. Luke planted his feet on the ground and flipped on his back to further the distance between himself and the Pine King.

In the split second, the Pine King scooped up the snow on the ground into all four of its limbs and roared again, it's eyes fixed on Luke.

"I'll be ending this now," Luke muttered as he lowered his stance even further. He pulled his enormous greatsword flat in front of him, taking a thrusting stance with the sword.

The cold snow of the blizzard battered him, but Luke focused on stabilizing his breath, ignoring everything around him.

"GRAHH!!"

The monster screamed again and threw all the snowballs towards Luke. The snowballs shot through the air at a terrifying pace, pushing the air away as they sped towards the boy.

A single hit would blast him away. Yet, Luke Reese did not even attempt to dodge.

"[Sword Saint's Fifth Form:..."

The snowballs were a mere few feet away.

"... Boundless Sword (C-)]!!"

A glint of light flashed through the skies. Luke thrust the sword ahead.

A wave of aura emerged from the sword. A beam of light passed through the air and crashed into the Pine King.

"GRAH!"

The Pine King could barely scream as a gaping hole was formed into it's stomach. Blood gushed out from all directions from the wound as the Pine King fell limp into the snow.

At the same time, Luke let go of his blade and jumped to his side to dodge the snowballs, but was too late. One of the snowballs smashed in his shoulder and sent Luke flying back through the sky. He hit his back against a boulder and fell to the ground.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch. That hurts, that hurts..." Luke groaned in pain and slowly stood up, taking support on the boulder he had crashed into.

He limped over to his sword and lifted it again. Using the blade as a walking stick, the injured Luke slowly walked over to the Pine King's body and stabbed its heart.

-CRACK!

A crushing sound rang out in the air as a pink glow emerged from the Pine King's wound.

"There, magic stone destroyed."

Immediately after, the raging blizzard hitting against Luke's skin dwindled down before stopping completely.

The first milestone of the exam and the first cornerstone of the Dream Gate was seized by Luke Reese.

"Man... I'm cold."

With a sigh, Luke walked back down the hill.

***

Back in the rainforest, Ralph and Zachary were breaking open a coconut to take some water. The sweltering heat had covered both of them with sweat.

Ralph smashed the top of the coconut with the nut he had taken and broke open the husk, after doing the same for Zachary, the two of them brought it to their mouths and drank a sip.

-Shwaa

Just then, a shuffling sound rang out from the bushes behind them.