Snatching

"Kanne, you idiot, don't treat Senior Li Yan like a child just because she's young."

Lawine gave Kanne a timely tap on the head, and Kanne puffed out his cheeks and stuck his tongue out at Lawine.

"You're just jealous of me, Lawine. It's clearly you who's afraid."

"What? I'm jealous of you? Of course I would! I just respect Senior Li Yan. He's even researching magic. I just really admire his research spirit, which is why I haven't been as reckless as you."

Lawine stood with her hands on her hips, neither of the two women willing to yield to the other, and began their daily quarrels and silly antics.

Li Yan covered her ears. These two pairs of clowns were indeed a bit difficult to deal with as teammates. As expected of the back door, the difficulty was exceptionally high.

"Stop arguing. If neither of you is willing to give in, let's just appoint a captain, and everyone will follow the captain's orders."

As Li Yan spoke, the two women stopped arguing and began to consider Li Yan suggestion. Indeed, if there were a team leader, everyone would not need to discuss things amongst themselves, and decisions could be made directly when problems arose.

"I agree, but as for who should be the captain, I definitely don't agree with Kanne being chosen."

Lawine glanced at Kanne's position and frowned as he spoke.

"I agree with the captain's proposal, but I do not agree with Lawine becoming captain."

Kanne glared back angrily, and the two women were clearly about to start arguing again.

"Alright, alright, I'll take the lead. You two, quiet down. Since we can't find the Stille using Mana detection, let's just follow the usual habits of Monsters and wait for them near water. They'll eventually come to drink."

Li Yan's suggestion to be the team leader was met with nods of agreement from the two girls after only a moment's hesitation. Their suggestion to wait at a place with water was indeed reasonable. And so, the three of them headed toward the largest water source in the forest.

Meanwhile, with the combined efforts of Frieren and Fern, the Stille was easily captured. Of course, they also encountered a formidable enemy who had their eyes on them.

"Hand over the Stille, and we can pretend we never saw you and let you leave safely."

Appearing before Fern, Frieren, and Edel was none other than Übel, who had murdered the examiner of the previous First-Class Mage Exam. As a Level 3 Mage, she was able to instantly kill First-Class Mage, demonstrating an unbelievable level of strength.

"We've chosen an opponent who includes Elf. I think we'd better be serious, since Elves are all ancient monsters who have lived for a very long time."

The unremarkable bespectacled man slightly adjusted his glasses; among the members of Frieren's team, he clearly only cared about Frieren.

"Old monster?"

Frieren frowned slightly, gripping her staff tightly. For a thousand years, no one had ever dared to call her an old monster to her face.

Fern swallowed hard. No one knew better than her the consequences of mocking Frieren as an old monster; at least everyone who had angered Frieren was already dead.

"Lanto the bespectacled man, if you find this troublesome, I'll take care of this old monster Elf."

Übel's face revealed a fighting spirit as she couldn't help but scrutinize Frieren closely. She could sense the powerful and wonderful Mana within Frieren's body.

The battle was about to begin, and Übel was the first to strike. He launched a cunning Cutting Magic at Edel, who was standing next to Frieren. Although he wanted to fight Frieren, Übel felt that taking down the weaker one first would give him a better chance of winning.

"Huh? A fight broke out? Someone caught the Stille so quickly? What a lucky bunch of young people."

Duncan, the oldest wizard among the candidates, is a Court Mage with enough power to rule the entire Kingdom. However, he is not participating in the First-Class Mage exam for greater power, but simply to obtain a spell to defeat his teacher.

"Aren't we going? After all, the Stille lives there."

Duncan's teammate Laufen, asked this question.

"No need. While there's still a chance to find the Stille, we should conserve our strength and Mana. After all, time is the most important thing."

Duncan revealed a shrewd smile; the First-Class Mage exam was far simpler than the cutthroat competition to become a court wizard.

At the largest lake in the forest, Li Yan, Kanne, and Lawine lay prone in the grass, waiting for the Stille to appear.

The midday sun was exceptionally intense. Li Yan felt that at this rate, she might be on fire before she even saw the Stille. And even if she did see it, there were still a bunch of lurking "snakes" around the lake.

"It's so hot, little brother Li Yan, would you like some ice?"

Kanne enthusiastically handed Li Yan a piece of ice, which was clearly Lawine's creation.

Watching the two women's actions, Li Yan felt a headache coming on. The Stille sensed the Mana around the lake and naturally wouldn't approach. Logically, Lawine should have known this.

"This was already frozen before it reached the lake; it didn't freeze when it arrived at the lake location."

Seemingly noticing the change in Li Yan's expression, Lawine explained softly.

"You two, you should have told me beforehand!"

Li Yan took the ice cube, and its cool sensation calmed his agitated heart. Perhaps because of the exceptionally hot weather, a Stille flew down from a distance, dozens of meters away from where Li Yan was lying in ambush.

"They're here! But they're quite far away."

Kanne shouted excitedly.

"Shh! I saw it, Kanne, don't make a fuss."

Lawine was about to make a move when he saw the Stille leisurely drinking water in the distance. The next second, Li Yan had already disappeared. Above the Stille, Li Yan ruthlessly grabbed the Stille by the neck and put it into the birdcage.

"Wow, amazing... I didn't expect Senior Li Yan to appear at the location of the Stille in just a moment."

Kanne's eyes widened, his face filled with disbelief.

"When did this happen...? That was so fast... It seems we've met a true senior."

Lawine bit her lower lip, utterly shocked by Li Yan's teleportation.

The instant he caught the Stille, Li Yan sensed several Mana fluctuations around the lake. A barrage of Normal Attack Magic came hurtling towards him. Faced with these magical attacks, Li Yan simply smiled and gave the middle finger. The next second, his body vanished without a trace. All the attacking examinees stared wide-eyed. This kind of magic was blatant cheating.

Li Yan, who instantly teleported back to Lawine and Kanne's location, didn't hesitate. He immediately pulled the two women and Spatial Movement again. After changing locations twice, Li Yan breathed a sigh of relief. With the Stille, he had essentially passed the first test. He refused to believe that anyone could take the Stille from him.