The days passed quickly after the incident, Teras tried multiple times to make a contract with God but when he got into the dark room he couldn't see anyone, it was like the god had left the place, after 5 tries he just gave up on it
Teras also took special classes, Recka taught him basic knowledge about the races of the world, Teras now has a basic understanding of every race, the humans, Humans are basic creatures with nothing special besides the fact that they can manipulate mana, next comes the elves, elves have a huge understanding of mana, they gained this knowledge by their ancestors, they basically have a greater mana pool out of every race, they also have the ability to use mana in ways only they can, the next race is the demons, they are the race that has the most negative reputation since their ancestors used to hunt the other races, demons have the greatest destructibility out of all the races
Another race that Teras learned about was the race of the dwarfs, dwarfs can use mana to forge magical items, they are known as the best smiths and finally the race that has multiple branches is the beastmen race, they are a mix of humans and animals, beastmen have incredible fighting abilities and they are naturally good with weapons, nobody knows how exactly they came to be, but they seem to have a huge influence to humans, since they find them attractiv
It wasn't a bad week for Teras if the fact that he killed a person was excluded, before he could realize it the day of the graduation exam came, every student slowly arrived at the camp for the last time, it was about time to get their results, Teras's friends arrived too, Teras tried to approach them, but it seemed that one particular member of the friend group avoided him
"Hey, what's wrong with Cara? She seems sad, has she not gotten over our fight?" Teras asked Lia
"It seems that way, I tried to explain to her a million times that you are not mad at her but she doesn't want to listen" Lia answered
This fact bothered Teras but he ignored it for now, he had more important things to worry about, Recka slowly gathered everyone on the field to announce those who passed, Teras left the group and went closer to Recka so he can hear the results, Teras saw Recka holding a long list, probably containing the names of the graduates
"YOU HEAR ME, EVERYBODY? I WILL NOW ANNOUNCE THE RESULTS!" Recka scream so everyone could hear her
"HERE ARE THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO PASSED
Teras: PASSED
Har: PASSED
Ginsou: PASSED
Tyo: PASSED
Lia: PASSED
Cara: PASSED
Rokie: PASSED
Jog: PASSED
Nitki: PASSED
Only nine of you managed to pass but don't feel depressed just yet, I have prepared a special challenge for everyone, in a bit a special guest will arrive, he is a well-known adventurer, you all will fight him and if he sees you are fit to become an adventurer he will grant you the title of one, and for those that passed, he will go a little harsher on you but if you satisfy him he will grant you the chance to ascend to silver rank from the start, are you ready everyone?" Recka told them with excitement
Everyone that didn't pass started to freak out, they were given a second chance at becoming an adventurer, and this time they were determined to take advantage of this last chance that was given to them
"Hey, Ms. Recka when will the guest arrive?" A random student asked
Recka pointed at the road, and everyone's head turned in the direction of Recka's finger, they saw 4 carriages coming to the camp, when the first one arrived a maid came out of it, she then walked towards one of the 3 carriages she opened the door and a tall man in a coat came out, the man was hooded so no-one could recognize him, from the remaining carriages a group of guards emerged, the guards formed 2 separate lines around the man, the guards then announced the man's name
"We are summoned by our Grand Jack, the one known as one of the members of the best party the world has ever seen, The crusaders of Mana, he is the one and only Tokkou Astralis!"
The guards shouted in sync, everyone was left with a wide-open mouth
"Come on guys! I told you to make it quick, all the side knowledge is kind of useless" Tokkou said in embarrassment
Teras quickly rushed to Tokkou
"HEY TOKKOU LONG TIME NO SEE!" Teras told him
But before he could get closer to him the guards blocked him
"STAY BACK!!!" They screamed, which terrified Teras since he was scared by their dragon-like armor
"Hey, guys calm down! He is not hostile, he is somebody I know" Tokkou tried to tell them in order to calm them down
"Excuse us, sir!" The guards said
"Now Teras how about we finish this test of yours first, it would be better if we had a talk later" Tokkou told him
Teras agreed and left him alone, things then quickly progressed, everyone formed a line, and they took turns going against him, Tokkou easily took all of them, in most fights he hardly used his hands, he simply kicked the students around until they surrendered, those fights had a basic rule
Don't get out of bounds or you lose, as long as they didn't go out of the line they could only lose by knock-out or by surrendering, Tokkou was annoyed about the comment he was overhearing from the girls, he constantly heard compliments about his looks it wasn't pleasant for him, after some matches Tokkou was beginning to feel bored
'What's wrong with these people, I haven't fought a single person with actual skill, I most likely fail all of them if they continue like that, the only person that could entertain me is the devil child' Tokkou thought
He really was on the verge of giving up on the others, until Har entered the field, he caught the attention of Tokkou since he was almost as tall as him
"What did your parents feed you, big guy?" Tokkou asked him to tease him
Har was mad about this comment since he was insecure about his height
"I thought higher-class people like you knew how to respect others, but it seems like I was wrong" Har replied
Which sparked an emotion of happiness through Tokkou, he didn't expect him to become angry, but once the match started Har aggressively charged at Tokkou, he threw a powerful swing at him but Tokkou easily dodged it and struck back with a kick on the head
Har was shocked from the hit but quickly recovered, he then raised a block of rock and threw it at him, Tokkou didn't even use his power, for the first time on those matches he used his hands, he grabbed the cube and threw it back at him, the block smashed at Har's face and Tokkou followed up with straight kick on his head
The attack almost knocked Har out, the only reason that he kept his consciousness was because he had quickly enhanced his head with mana to prevent it from happening, Tokkou was impressed by his quick reaction speed
"Well, that was refreshing! Kid, you definitely have potential but you have to work on your tactics" Tokkou told Har while he was on the ground
He couldn't let himself be disrespected like this, Tokkou treated him as if he had lost, Har was enraged by Tokkou's actions, so in a last attempt to hit him he launched a barrage of small rocks at him, Tokkou surprised everyone, instead of using his power he simply grabbed every single rock with his arms
"I give up!" Har said
He was defeated, he couldn't continue fighting after what he saw
"Come on you spoiled the fun!" Tokkou whined
Har slowly exited the field with a feeling of humiliation, after the fight Tokkou gave everyone a break so he could eat his breakfast, Tokkou's table was surrounded by guards, it was kind of awkward for the others, Teras and his friends picked a table, this time Cara was with them, the atmosphere was awkward between them
"Hey guys let's not be like this, don't let a stupid argument ruin our friendship, don't you remember after this we will form our group, Orion, so please try to make up" Lia said
She tried to break the silence but it was in vain, nobody seemed to make the first move
"Why?" Teras muttered
Cara looked at him confused
"Why did you run away from your problems? No problems can be fixed if you avoid them" Teras said
"What do you mean Teras? Are you implying that I knew about Ronie's problems and avoided them?" Cara asked Teras with a voice calm voice that was full of rage
"No, I don't mean that, after he died, why did you avoid everyone? Everybody was feeling the same as you but we all tried to fight it together but you... You just avoided everybody, why is that?" Teras asked her
At that moment Cara was furious
"Do you think our pain is equal? I have known him since I was a child, he was my most precious friend. You don't have a single idea about how I feel, so stop pretending like you do, okay? You're sickening me!" Cara yelled at him
Everyone sitting at the lunch area had their eyes on them, Tokkou heard everything too, Cara then ran towards the place where Ronie died
"Come on guys! we have to follow her!" Lia told them
"Why would we? She just keeps on making herself the victim, she has to stop it already, doesn't she reali..."
Before he could finish the sentence Teras was slapped by Lia
"STOP ACTING LIKE A CHILD AND COME!!!" Lia demanded
After a moment Teras came back to his senses
"Sorry..." He said
The group then quickly ran behind her, and after a while, they reached the location of the fight, Cara was sitting down at the place where Ronie's body was exploded, the group then slowly approached Cara
"What do you want? Leave me alone!" She told them
Teras was sick of all this, he couldn't stand seeing everyone so depressed about Ronie's death, and he felt like all of them deserved to know the truth
"I killed him... Ronie was killed by me, he was corrupted and manipulated by an evil spirit, and the spirit took control of his body and almost killed Recka and me, in a last resort I used every single explosive I had to win, and I ended up killing him, I killed him without any sight of hesitation, and until this day I don't know if I had the option to save him but this doesn't change the fact that I killed him... I murdered a friend of mine without feeling anything... That's what's troubling me the most, sorry for taking my frustration out on you!" Teras said as he bowed his head to Cara
Everyone was shocked by what they just heard
"Nothing you say... But you come here everyday even dropping some flowers, don't be too mean to yourself Teras, after all we didn't have a choice in the matter!" Har said as he pointed at the many small flowers a bit further away than all the other flowers surrounding the grave
"I only knew him for a month so I can't say that I feel immense sadness for him but it was an unfair loss and one that certainly could be prevented if we all noticed the signs earlier, but what's done is done, we can't turn back in time and we certainly can't bring dead people back to life, so let's move on, for Ronie's sake too" Lia said as she held Cara's arms
"You guys... Thank you... I am the worst..." Cara was barely able to speak, her crying made it quite difficult to
Words couldn't describe this feeling better than tears so that's what Cara did, she cried and cried until she couldn't anymore, that's when she lifted her head to look at Teras
"Teras you were right! I have been acting like a kid, but the crybaby Cara is no more! Together as a party let's show to the world what we are made of and never let anything like this to happen ever again!" Cara said as she extended her hand
Teras took her hand and shook it
"I'm looking forward to this future with all of you!" Teras said with a serious expression on his face
The four of them paid their respects one last time at Ronie's grave and returned to the camp, where they would shortly face Tokkou, a foe like no other
...
"What happened kid?" Tokkou asked as he saw Teras walk back with an expression on his face that is certainly better than what he had thus far
"It's nothing" Teras replied casually
"Well it doesn't look like nothing to me, the girl really threw a tantrum back there" Tokkou doubted his answer
Teras thought for a bit before laughing lightly
"Oh that? Yeah we got over it so you don't got to worry about this!" Teras said as he was passing next to him
Tokkou grabbed him by his hand
"Would you mind telling me what's wrong before leaving?" Tokkou insisted
"Let go of me Tokkou!" Teras told him as he glared at him
Tokkou wasn't happy, he strengthened his grip
"I sent one of my men to observe what you do, you have killed 3 men up until this point and you are not even an adventurer, I understand that taking a human life isn't so easy, especially when it a matter of life or death since you don't even get to choose! So if something is troubling you Teras please, feel free to speak to me, I ain't here just for the money you know!" Tokkou told him with a rather sad look on his face
"I appreciate you for lending me a helping hand but it's about time I can manage things on my own, wouldn't you say? After all I become an adventurer in a bit, I can't rely on the big strong guy all the time" Teras told him with a smile
"I don't know what image you have of me inside your head but to clarify it, we are not friends, we just happen to know each other through events, that's all, so don't think too highly of our relationship" Tokkou told him with a smile to match his, he made sure to show his sarcasm by making a goofy face right at the end of his speech
"Then I guess we have nothing else to talk about so let go of my arm" Teras told him
Tokkou released him, shortly after Recka came back and the fights continued, the time for Teras was about to come