Rufus took a moment before he understood what his master was trying to say.

After realizing this, he looked around and decided not to team up with his friends...

​​

'Master Reiji wanted to show an overwhelming performance against the Evil Beast... It means that anyone who will be on my team wouldn't look really well...'

Before he was invited by his friend, he found two random trainees and decided to invite them.

He knows the top trainees within this tower and remembered that the two were consecutively top 19 and 20 on the previous evaluation...

"Himilco, Sidon... Are you still missing a member? I can be your teammate..."

The two young men looked at Rufus in surprise... They know this crazy Arcanist that doesn't possess a single Arcana at the moment...

"What can you do? Your magic item might hinder us..." Himilco probed since fighting as a team is different. They have to understand their abilities so they won't pull each other.

Sidon nodded after hearing his friend's question. He didn't really mind who their teammate is but they have to ensure that they won't obstruct their Arcane Magic from killing the lynx.

As far as they know, the Nightmare Lynx has a bunch of skills that involve dark magic... They have to quickly end the beast and not allow it from casting various Arcane.

"Don't worry, I'll only use this sword and use some passive skills..." Rufus answered after his master's instructions...

"Is that so? Good luck..." Himilco replied. His expression didn't change but deep inside he was trying not to laugh at this young man...

Rufus has good dagger skills when he still has his Arcana two years ago. However, his combat skills have already dropped in the past years and he became very dependent on Magic Items...

He shouldn't be able to wield a sword like an expert and fight a strong Nightmare Lynx...

'I guess he just wants to easily pass the first part of the evaluation so he wanted our help...' Sidon realized Rufus's plans but he didn't mind it.

Rufus is a pitiful genius Arcanist who suffered a huge setback after he failed the Awakening Process of his Arcana...

His powerful dagger before has become broken pieces of useless metal and everyone within the tower became aware of it...

Although there is a handful of Arcana that are being destroyed during the Awakening Process, Rufus's case was different due to its nature...

He has prepared so much for that Awakening and he even bought a lot of expensive materials to ensure that his dagger wouldn't be destroyed even if he failed...

He purchased an eye of a pulse snake, a luxury protection potion, and even collected a few Cliff Cumin from the Dormant Precipice that was said to help in controlling the Spiritual Energy from bursting out of control...

Unfortunately, even with all this protection, his dagger was still shattered.

It was due to the Arcana's sudden changes...

'Rufus... My wielder...' The dagger Arcana suddenly talked within his mind...

It appears to have literally awakened! Not just awakening of its hidden skills!

Rufus told the Arcanists supervising the Awakening Process that the dagger seemed to possess a mind on its own as it tried talking to him...

No one believed him until the Arcana was destroyed...

At the very least, a few were still quite curious about his madness and asked him what truly happened...

The young man decided to share his experience as they might be able to help him fix his now broken weapon...

He explained that before the final moment of the Arcana, the dagger seemed to be trying to hold a conversation with him...

But not even five seconds had passed and the Arcana started breaking... It appears to be unable to hold the formation of its consciousness as it shattered into pieces...

"Alright... Just don't hold us back."

Sidon coldly said to Rufus after seeing the wooden sword on his back...

The latter only smiled at him.

"If everyone has formed a team already... We can now begin."

The supervising Arcanists then instructed them to enter the arena where they will fight the Nightmare Lynx.

The seventh floor has five of these Combat Arenas where a crowd can watch from the sidelines.

After a few moments, five groups who are quite excited about completing the evaluation volunteered to go first... On the other hand, a few groups were quite wary of this Evil Beast and decided to gather information first... Rufus's group is one of them.

"Interesting… The top three decided to team up?"

"Well, their performance this time doesn't really matter… They just joined this evaluation for formality…"

"I see. I guess they just want to finish this as quickly as possible."

The trainees talked about the group with three beautiful girls. They were all eighteen years old with a charming appearance and they could easily attract the young Arcanists in the crowd.

'Rufus… Those three girls are the strongest trainees?' Reiji asked after seeing the girls.

They were similarly wearing the black robe of trainees but the most eye-catching thing from them was their weapon-type Arcana.

A crimson two-handed battle axe, a golden mace, and a long silver lance…

'That's correct, Master Reiji. Their weapons were all Unique-Rank Arcana and I heard that they have equipment-type Epic-Rank Arcana with them… Their family bought it from the neighboring country.' Rufus explained as he looked at the three extremely rich girls.

'Oh… They must be really strong.'

'Of course, they are… However, if not for their Epic-Rank Arcana, I might be able to contend against them before.' Rufus muttered as he was confident with his skills prior to the destruction of his Arcana.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sound of chains being removed was heard by the crowd…

Currently, they are seeing all the five groups in their own arena as they waited for the Nightmare Lynx to appear.

Rufus and most of the trainees focused on the group of girls as they wanted to see the current gap between their strength…

Clank!

As soon as the door separating the girls and the lynx opened, they immediately burst with enormous Spiritual Energy…

Whoosh!

As they prepared to launch an assault on the beast, they saw a shadow passing over their heads as they felt that the surroundings turned completely dark…

"It's not a simple smokescreen… We can't remove this easily."

"Flame Vortex!" The lance being held by one of the girls was suddenly enveloped by fire to give them some light.

However, it doesn't seem to be enough as the other two cast their Arcane Magic.

"Focus Energy…"

"Beaming Ward!"

These two abilities weren't from their Arcana but their Magic Items… It provided enough light for them to see the Nightmare Lynx.

However, it already finished casting another powerful Arcane Magic…

Whom~

"It's petrification!"

Everyone was shocked.

They can see all the battles taking place and they realized why they were allowed to watch their battles, apparently, all five Nightmare Lynx have different fighting styles!

It doesn't matter whether they saw their fight right now as the Nightmare Lynx that they'll fight against would be a different beast…

As a matter of fact, watching them right now might just cloud their judgment later on.

After all, what they are seeing right now is completely weird…

There is Nightmare Lynx that can use Night Room and Petrification. The other Lynx only uses claw techniques, another one uses Fire and Ice Arcane Magic, there is even one with a ghost-like ability… Lastly, there is an unfortunate group that was matched with a Nightmare Lynx with a cloning ability… They are now facing 10 evil beasts and are barely holding on.

Not just the crowd, even Reiji was astounded by the evil beast's power… They are like facing different beasts, it was quite overwhelming…

'What wrong with this cheat-like beast?' Reiji asked Rufus…

'Master, I don't know as well. Nightmare Lynx is not supposed to be this strong. I only know that they have good agility and mastery of Arcane Magic… but not like this. They must be a special case…'

As Rufus was explaining, they heard some whispering beside him.

"Himilco… Did we make a bad decision teaming up with him?' Sidon whispered to his friend. They are referring to Rufus that joined their group.

They realized that the beasts were quite troublesome and Rufus may not be able to help them in the fight.

If they teamed up with a stronger Arcanist, they won't have to worry at all.

Rufus can hear them but didn't mind it.

Haa~

Himilco sighed as he thought for a moment.

"Let's just do our best… At most, we can use him as a bait…"

"Oh… I didn't think of that. Let's just do that then." Sidon nodded at his friend's quick thinking.

Using someone as bait might be a good idea against an unpredictable beast like this.

After they thought of a plan, they relaxed a little and watched the battle with a smirk on their faces.

"We give up!"

The group facing the lynx with cloning ability couldn't take it anymore as they concede after five minutes…

They failed the first evaluation but they still have a chance at the second and third part so they are still not losing hope.

Bang!

After almost fifteen minutes of battle, the group of three beautiful girls finally defeated the Nightmare Lynx with petrification ability... Although they almost exhausted all of their Spiritual Energy, they still did well and were applauded by the crowd.