After giving every student an hour to choose their beast gear, the class was led to an arena where they would be fighting the magic beast. Mrs. Bates walked to the front of the class and gathered everyone's attention,

“Today, you all will be fighting a shadow wolf. The shadow wolf is a rank 1 beast known for its agility and stealth. They have a natural resistance to physical attacks, so make sure to not waste mana,” she said. “Like I said before, you have 5 minutes to do what you can to the beast. If things get out of hand and I perceive you to be in danger, I will step in.”

Wolf type beasts were the most common beasts found near the border of the Audun Wastelands and Xanthos. Shadow wolves, being seen the most at night and in caves, were numerous and weak, making them perfect for practice. Soon after the explanation was given, everyone entered the arena and took a seat.

“Brodin Averborne, you are first.” Mrs. Bates said.

Brodin stood up and made his way to the stage with strong resolve and determination in his eyes. One's future can be changed greatly depending on their results here, so no risks were to be taken. When Brodin arrived at the stage, he immediately entered a fighting stance. Soon after, the gates in front of him opened and a 1.5 meter tall black wolf with bright blue eyes came running out. The wolf was running at least 70kph before it arrived before Brodin and went in for a bite. Brodin skillfully dodged the strike and sent a mana infused chop to the neck of the wolf, holding nothing back. Just before the chop reached the wolf, it crouched down and changed its trajectory back to Brodin. Brodin similarly had to change the direction of his chop and attempted to parry the oncoming attack, but due to the sudden change in direction, the parry was weak but sufficed.

Brodin immediately retreated slightly to catch his breath. Although the beast was strong, it was a peak apprentice soldier at best. Brodin already captured the timing of the beast and moved in again. Brodin arrived before the wolf and swept its legs out, followed by an elbow to the jaw. The attack slightly stunned the wolf, giving Brodin more opportunities to attack. After a flurry of attacks, the shadow wolf fell to the ground lifeless. The beast was a perfect showcase of a student's skill due to its agility, forcing the student into hand to hand combat.

Mrs. Bates quickly charted down the results and announced,

“Good work, Brodin. You killed the shadow wolf in 1:38, and showed great discipline as well as patience. You should be proud.” She said with a smile. Brodin quickly left the stage and went back down to sit. The rest of the class looked on in awe at how skillfully he took down the wolf.

“Is this what a peak soldier is capable of?”

“Amazing, it was all so smooth and calculated.”

None of the proceeding fights went as smoothly or well as Brodins, but that is to be expected. Afterall, he is one of only 6 peak soldiers in their school. The twelve following fights were done by students with an average Harbinger score of 60, and they all took at least 3 minutes and not without injuries.

After the thirteenth fight finished, Alexs’ name was called. He went down to the stage and recalled everything he saw from the previous fights. This could be considered an advantage of going later on, as you could see other students of similar skill levels deal with the same beast. However, the teachers wouldn’t necessarily grade you on time and the like. They paid more attention to positioning, timing and efficiency. After entering a fighting stance, the gates opened and the shadow wolf came running out.

Due to the nature of fighting against an agility based beast like the shadow wolf, Alex would not be using the chains. Unlike the previous wolves, this one did zigzag movements while charging towards Alex. Alex did not get flustered and kept his feet moving and continued tracking the wolf. When the wolf was only a few meters from Alex, it dashed towards his left shoulder. Alex moved out of the way and set a kick to the wolf’s stomach and sent it flying backwards. Blood spewed from the wolf's mouth and Alex charged into the wolf. The wolf sent a swipe to Alexs’ head, and Alex ducked underneath it and moved under the wolf and sent a powerful uppercut. A loud crack was heard and the wolf tactfully retreated, it’s jaw hanging and about to fall off. The wolf’s eyes were burning with determination and its muscles flexed, the ground slightly cracking beneath it. It dashed at Alex with speeds over 100kpm, going in for the kill. Alex panicked slightly upon seeing this and immediately sent black mana to his fist and launched a blind attack forward.

“Shit, it went berserk!” Mrs. Bates exclaimed as she ran as fast as she could to Alex’s location. Some of the more intelligent beasts could enter a berserk mode when they were near death, and there would be an exponential growth in strength that varied from beast to beast. Luckily for Alex, the beast before him was did not have an extremely effective berserk so he wouldn’t die before Mrs. Bates got there.

However, just before the wolf bit down on Alex, a loud bang was heard. A smoke cloud covered the stage and everyone looked on, wondering what happened. When the smoke cleared, Alex was seen still standing with a very broken arm, and the shadow wolf was… blown to smithereens. Blood was everywhere, and the only recognizable part of the wolf was its pelt. Soon after the dust cleared, Alex collapsed to the ground.

“Get a medic NOW”