I walked through the rainforest with Flappy Bird following closely behind. He was wearing a white tracksuit with a short sword hanging from the right of his waist. I was leading the way, pushing away the overgrowth of leaves and vines draping down from the branches, my eyes scouting in all directions.

Since we were going to be stuck here for two days, finding shelter would be integral as well.

{!!} Something from behind.

The worst part was not knowing the objective of the exam. The uncertainty put us in a tight spot.

"Hey..." the Flappy Bird called out to me from behind. "What if the objective is to reduce the numbers, huh? Won't you say it's a fair guess?" He pulled his sword out from its scabbard on his waist and raised it next to my neck.

"I don't, actually."

An important personal goal here was to not stand-out too much. The more popular I got, the more my movements will be restricted. If this exam wasn't being broadcasted all over the city, I would've kicked his ass right here and now. But they had already seen my quick wit up there, I best maintain that facade.

Grabbing the blade of his short sword with one hand, I raised the other one above my head in surrender.

He tightened his grip on the blade, but I spoke up right then.

"Flappy Bird. You have to be careful." I pulled the short sword away from my neck and turned around. "This is a Gate. The same kind of Gate that has been bothering our world for the last two hundred years."

Pushing the blade further down, I walked closer to him. "It's not you or me. It's the dungeon that's our enemy."

In a flash, I pushed him to my right and turned towards the space on the left. From the cover of the woods behind, two Gnolls jumped up from both sides at once. I grabbed the Gnoll's hand and pushed it above myself. Leaning against the ground, I brought the Gnoll above me and kicked it behind.

At the same time, Flappy Bird behind me parried the other Gnoll's club and slashed its neck in one go.

"Other one too!"

He turned with a snap at my word. Seeing the Gnoll I had kicked away fall against the ground and try to get back up, he brandished his sword and stabbed the Gnoll in the chest, killing it right there.

I got off the ground myself and dusted my hands and clothes. Flappy Bird turned back with a scowl on his face. "What, you are so weak you can't take on a Gnoll? How did I get threatened by you!"

This guy is too full of himself.

"[Dark Degrade (E-)]"

"MM!!" Flappy Bird flailed his arms and feet around as I robbed him of all his senses. This was the last of my dark awakening skills. All of them were meant to be minor skills at the base level affecting people just once, but with my S-ranked [Expertise], they became quite deadly. I used a skill on him just to teach him a quick lesson.

With my company unable to hear and see, I could freely talk to the system. "Good job telling me about the Gnolls."

The system's pointer was not for the Flappy Bird. I could tell he was about to attack me easily and the system knew that, so he warned me of the next threat that was the Gnolls.

{Of course! Aren't I useful? Right?!}

"Yes, yes. Good work."

{So, host. Are you going to stick to Dark Awakening skills for the rest of the exam?}

I nodded at the system's words and inspected the body of the Gnolls for any magic stones. As expected, there was nothing.

{You're really sticking with the whole don't stand out thing, huh?}

"You saw the records too, right? All the books we went over yesterday had a scary amount of detail on the top 100. I definitely can't afford that." I said while prying off the club of one Gnoll. "My strength will be cultivated in the darkness, not in open sight. If I use all my skills I'll stand out quite a bit."

{Right. So, are you using that club?}

"Definitely. I can use a quick weapon for my weakling disguise." It was possible to bring in weapons on our own. It is usually impossible to carry weapons through the Portal Station unless you were a licensed Awakener, but Agriche's entrance exams were definitely one exception.

Standing up again. I flicked my fingers and dismissed the Dark Degrade on the Flappy Bird. Ahhh, my mana!

"HEY! What was that for!!"

"I was just giving you a chance to cool down, Flappy Bird. Now, shut it, will you?"

"My name is not Flappy Bird, bastard!" Flappy Bird stomped his feet against the ground and grunted at me. "I am Zachary Ainsworth. Do you even know who I am?!"

"Yeah, Zachary Ainsomething. You just said it."

"Ainsworth! Remember it if I just said it!!"

I shook my head and patted his shoulders. "Anyway, Zachy Bird. Are you going to cooperate with me, or not? Even if the objective is to dwindle the numbers, do you think either of us can survive on our own?"

I should scam him too.

Zachy Bird averted his gaze and clicked his tongue.

"Right?" I said. "I am almost sure the objective is to clear the Dream Gate. Though the Clear Conditions change, that objective has come around at least 37 times before."

"How do you know that?"

"I studied. It's a win-win situation for us. Let's just cooperate."

Zachy Bird had already shown me that he could fight well enough. He could protect me well while I am acting weak. And also, even if it is an exam, I do feel a little bad for him. If I could help someone else succeed as well, what was bad with that?

"Fine. You win." Zachy sighed and placed his sword back into the scabbard hanging from his waist. "If it comes to it, I won't hesitate to make you lose, ok?"

"Definitely." I smiled at him. "I'll do the same."

***

In a wide well-lit room, many projections floated around on the extensively wide table in the center. Teachers from the Agriche Academy sat in the chairs around the table with pens and tablets in their hands as they observed the event going on. A comms was set up in the back of the room with direct updates flowing in from the team of teachers placed inside the Dream Gate, ready to respond to any emergency that may rise up.

Sitting at the head of the table was a slightly old teacher with messy streaks of white flowing through his long brown hair and beard. With a hand on his chin, he was observing the Entrance Exam in the Dream Gate himself. It was the chief examiner, Don Brocious.

"Professor, who did you put your money on?" One of the senior professors next to him asked. "There are quite a few good talents, yes? Is it the son of the seventh-ranked hunter, or the daughter of Exise family? They are both the top contenders for the first rank."

"Well yes, there are those two kids." Professor Brocious said. Then he pointed at the screen the furthest from him, showing a young kid walking through the blizzard in the south. "But I bet my money on him."

"That orphanage kid? What's special about him?"

"Huhu, I am sure. He will rank first. By an overwhelming amount that is. Best change your bet, professor."

The professor looked at his watch and searched his bet again. At the very bottom of the list, right below the name Ralph Rubinstein, was that orphanage kid.

"Luke Reese..."