Breakfast was over.
The examinees resumed their search for treasure.
Perhaps to encourage competition, the examiners wouldn't calculate the value of the items they found until the seventh day.
Until then, everyone had to guard the treasures they found themselves.
So protecting the things they found was also part of the exam.
Of course, besides those rushing all over the forest to hunt for treasure, there was another group with ulterior motives.
Maro had never imagined that simply cooking some grilled fish would make him the target of a group of people. Watching the examinees approach with twisted smiles, he took a deep breath, then turned and ran.
"Don't let that kid get away!"
"Grab him!"
"Our chances of passing this exam depend on him!"
As he ran, Maro shouted over his shoulder, "I'm not doing anything for you!"
He wasn't about to work for those obnoxious people who wanted to threaten and force him.
A knife flew at him from behind. Some instinct made Maro immediately dive and roll across the ground. The knife plunged straight into a tree trunk nearby.
Maro glanced at the grass and mud covering him, but didn't dare linger. He continued running deeper into the forest.
He remembered stumbling across enormous footprints and animal droppings in one spot while searching for treasure the day before.
There had to be a large magical beast nearby. If he could just reach that area...
Those people chasing him would stop wasting their time on him.
Of course, he'd be putting himself in danger, too.
But running away was something he was very good at.
There were so many examinees following him. Once the magical beast had eaten its fill, it wouldn't bother with him.
The odds of success were eighty percent. It was worth a shot.
The remaining twenty percent was the chance that the beast was in a violent mood, had no interest in eating, and simply wanted to kill everyone it saw.
Faster. He had to go faster.
The blond boy ran with his head down, while the group behind him chased relentlessly.
Above them all, Su Wu quietly watched the scene unfold.
According to the Six Eyes, if that monkey kept running, he would encounter three magical beasts in three minutes, each with enough life energy to overpower ten of him.
Judging by his very deliberate route, it almost seemed intentional.
Three minutes later, the group ran into three magical beasts.
They were brown bears five meters tall, as tall as two-story buildings. Unlike ordinary brown bears, each had a single horn growing from its forehead.
Let's call them Unicorn Bears for now.
The examinees chasing the blond boy immediately stopped when they saw the three Unicorn Bears.
"Over here!" Maro pulled a stone from his pocket and hurled it at one of the bears.
It barely hurt, but it was deeply insulting.
The Unicorn Bear saw the small, frail two-legged creature as having insulted it. It angrily raised its paw and swiped down hard.
Maro, the one who had provoked it, ran incredibly fast, nearly outpacing everyone else. From a distance, it looked as if the others were still chasing him.
But in reality... they were all just running for their lives.
"That guy really is different from how he seems." Su Wu sounded entirely unsurprised as he watched.
When he'd seen Maro, so weak and yet able to make it all the way to the airship, he'd guessed that Maro wasn't as simple as he looked.
Now it seemed that while he really was weak, he was pretty quick-witted.
After all, strength could be improved. Being stupid, barring some unexpected change, was usually a lifelong condition.
But Maro had miscalculated one thing—
The Unicorn Bears were unusually vindictive and had an exceptionally keen sense of smell.
Although the bears had indirectly killed several examinees while chasing Maro, the moment the others realized they were targeting him specifically, they scattered in every direction.
Maro, meanwhile, was chased for two hours.
Throughout those two hours, the bears always left him a little room to escape, as if they were deliberately toying with him.
At last, he was exhausted, his legs gave way, and he collapsed with a thud. His vision swam.
"Drip—" A foul-smelling liquid fell onto his face.
When his vision cleared, he saw a beast's mouth, its long tongue and sharp teeth, drool pouring down in a long, waterfall-like strand.
Was he going to... be eaten?!
The Unicorn Bear licked his face, but didn't start at his head. Instead, it pinned him firmly to the ground with one paw.
As if it wanted to torment him, it started eating from the bottom up.
That way, its victim would be forced to watch as their whole body was eaten away.
It was an inhuman torment, both physically and psychologically.
The Unicorn Bear's slightly pointed mouth opened. As if it wanted to savor every bite, it slowly nipped at Maro's right leg.
"Ah—" He cried out in pain.
With the bear's bite, a large chunk of his leg was gone, exposing the white bone beneath.
It hurt so much—!
It hurt so much!!!
"Save me—"
"Help!"
As the beast devoured him, the blond boy could no longer stay calm. He cried and screamed for help.
No one would save him.
Just like when his so-called brothers and sisters had beaten him up, not a single person had stepped in to stop them.
He would be eaten by the beast, becoming another skeleton in the forest.
He couldn't accept it...
The blond boy lay on the ground, his eyes dulled by pain as he stared blankly at the sky.
A figure stood in the empty sky.
"Do you want to ask me for help?" The boy crouched in midair, looking leisurely as he asked without much interest. His eyes and hair almost blended into the sky behind him.
As soon as he spoke, the Unicorn Bear stopped eating and warily watched what happened next.
Maro's lifeless eyes suddenly lit up, shining more brightly than ever.
"P-please... save me..." He reached out, trying to grasp the clouds floating above.
The White-haired boy landed lightly.
"Then I'll do a good deed for the day," he said, as black-and-blue energy spread over his right hand.
The Unicorn Bear raised its paw and swiped down hard.
Su Wu blocked the bear's paw with his left hand and slammed his right fist into its belly.
An impact invisible to ordinary people erupted where his fist met the bear's stomach.
The Unicorn Bear was knocked back three meters and crashed heavily to the ground.
He withdrew his fist and went over to Maro, standing beside him and looking down from above.
"You're a sorry sight." His icy blue eyes examined Maro's partly devoured right leg, then turned to his tear-streaked face.
"When you're not strong enough, any plan could get you killed."
"You still have a long way to go," he said coldly.
"Lord Hill..." Maro struggled to get up.
"I'm so glad I found you..." Tears filled his eyes as he smiled.
"After breakfast, I was going to come find you, but then all this happened. I thought I wouldn't get the chance..." He seemed to have endless things to say and kept talking.
"Find me?" Su Wu raised an eyebrow.
"Please let me follow you!" The blond boy knelt and bowed until his upper body touched the ground, head lowered in a deeply respectful prostration.
His body trembled slightly, and his breathing was ragged. It was hard to tell whether he was in agony or terrified of being rejected.
"I can wash your clothes, cook, and clean your lodgings. Please let me stay by your side." Head lowered, he did his best to sell himself.
Blood from his injured leg pooled on the ground as he made these movements.
"Oh, I see." Su Wu's tone was a little complicated.
So that was really what he'd wanted.
In that case, the whole business of deliberately waiting until the bear had bitten him before stepping in, just so Maro would experience the terror of death and feel indebted enough to willingly work for him, had been completely unnecessary.
Well, Maro hadn't died, and he was willing to work for him anyway.
Leaving the process aside, at least the result was right.
"I understand." Su Wu casually pulled a bag of medicine from his pack and tossed it in front of Maro.
"Use that. I don't want a cripple following me," he said dismissively.
Su Wu: scum.
Before you continue