Teras: the deadly game of cards

Adventurers' exam (Part 1)

A new day began, the weather was lovely, the whole town was in a good mood that day, the guards arrested the criminals that Teras fought yesterday, they were well-known looters of the area, Teras woke up, he wasn't aware that the tall man was watching him all night, Cromi woke up too, she excitingly hopped around the room, she was thirsting to go outside, so did Teras so he quickly got ready and left the room, he then went back to the quest center, he once again asked the same young girl at the bar

"What was I supposed to do again?"

"You have to find a guard and tell him to guide you to the exam's location"

he then thanked the girl and apologized for his forgetfulness and left the center, he then tried to find a local guard but couldn't, most of them had already taken a lot of other people to the exam, he then decided to go to his last resort, the entrance of the town, he quickly found a guard, unthankfully for him the guard was the same guard that he saw yesterday, the one that he blinded with the thief's gadget

"Hey sir, could you please take me to the exam area?"

he asked while trying to hide his face

"Of course my child, you just have to tell me your name to verify that you are part of the exam"

Teras hesitated but in the end, he went with it

"My name is Teras"

"Oh there you are, fine now follow me"

said the guard while checking a list of names, Teras did as he said, in the way to the test Teras was enjoying the view, a crystal clear water separated the town from the full of beautiful flower slope, there were a lot of children playing around the street and a lot of friendly cats around that the locals seem to take care of

'Such a peaceful town'

he thought

"Do you by any chance come from Thrisk?"

the guard asked, this question caught Teras off guard, and foolishly replied

"Yeah, I used to live there with a friend of mine, why do you ask?"

the question instantly was answered in his mind, it was a trap question, he thought, and he was right

"Do you happen to possess some sort of blinding device?"

the guard asked

"Let's not beat around the bush, you know that I'm the same guy as yesterday, as for your question yesterday, yes it was human blood, the blood belonged to a thief that attacked me on my way here, it was purely self-defense and nothing more"

he told to the guard

"I see, then why did you ran away?"

Teras answered humbly this time

"I panicked, I didn't know if you would have believed me, so naturally, I ran away"

the guard didn't say anything he just kept on walking, Teras did too, Teras was feeling awkward, the tense conversation that happened a minute ago transformed into a silent walking in a matter of seconds so he didn't really know how to react, he just endured the silent and kept on walking, eventually, they reached the area

"Go inside the building and tell them your name, also I will not report you to the guards, but I will tell you something you need to know, no murder is justified, even if it was self defend you had to stop him without killing him if you can't do that then don't call yourself an adventurer"

said the guard while leaving, Teras felt the same way he felt when the tall man said a similar thing about him, he didn't know if he agreed with him or not but the only certain thing was that he felt sad. In the end, Teras went inside and told a guard his name

"Go inside that room, the lesson is about to start"

Teras quickly entered the room, there were a lot of desks one behind another, most of them had been taken by people, some seemed like friends, others like complete strangers, Teras was seeking a desk that nobody had sat on it, he didn't really want to sit near someone that he didn't know, he didn't have a great experience with new people, he eventually found what he was looking for, he took a seat and waited for the teacher to enter then a random girl sat beside him

'what that hell? I was looking for a lonely spot but I guess in such a crowded room I can't really have my own desk'

Teras then noticed the girl, she was a beautiful dark-haired girl and yellow eyes, she seemed quite at the start but she was in fact the complete opposite of what Teras thought she was

"Hello what's your name? oh sorry where are my manners? my name is Cara how about yours?"

she seemed sweet so Teras answered

"My name is Teras, nice to meet you Cara"

he said while shaking her hand

"Woah I just noticed your eyes, they are red, they seem like they are fogged they are quite gloomy"

this comment annoyed Teras but he didn't show it

"Weird thing to say to someone you first meet but it's ok, you seem sociable, to be honest, I thought you would be a cold person"

"Well my friend told me the same when we first met, oh by the way my friend are those at the front desk"

she then pointed at the desk, 2 guys were sitting there, it was a tall buff guy with brown hair and a blonde guy with a good amount of muscles

"Are you a party of 3?"

Teras asked

"No, not yet but we are considering making a party when we get our approval"

Teras was thinking of asking them to join their party but he hesitated

'I have to find a good party I can't join to whoever is nice to me'

he thought, the teacher then entered the room, she was a tall woman with long brown hair and beautiful green eyes, the room went quiet, everyone sat down

"Welcome everyone to the adventurer's exam, the exam is a 3 week-long exam that trains you to become a great adventurer, we will teach you how to use mana, the power of cards, how to survive in the wild, and of course how to fight, you will live in a special adventurers guild owned area, this area will contain 2 dorms that you will live, the dorms are separated by gender, we will supply you with food for the first 5 days, then you will have to make food for yourselves, we will hold tests for you daily, if you perform well on them your score will raise, if any of you slack  then your score will go down, the students with the higher score will graduate the test and will be put into their deserved rank, lastly if you cause any damage to the property or injure one another you will be penalized, did you got all that? even if you didn't I will not repeat it, now follow me! I will take you to a station, and you will wait there until carriages come to pick you up and drop you off at the location of the dorms"

the teacher then started to walk to the exit and the students followed

"We better get moving"

Cara said to Teras

"Yeah! I agree but don't follow me, I want to ask the teacher a question"

Cara was curious about the question but she didn't ask, Teras then quickly ran in an attempt to get closer to the teacher but there were too many people, he couldn't pass through them, he then enhanced his legs and jumped above the students and landed in front of the teacher

"Oh? it seems someone can already use mana"

she said

"I wanted to ask you a question"

Teras said

"What's your question?"

"Are animals allowed?"

"hmm, I don't know since is the first time someone brought an animal with him but I guess it's fine as long as you make sure it doesn't annoy the others"

Teras was happy to hear that

"Thank you very much ugh.. what's your name ma'am?"

he asked her

"My name? I'm Recka, make sure you don't forget that"

'Her name is pretty familiar she also reminds me of someone'

he thought but didn't really think deeper than that, Recka then continued to walk in the direction of the station, they walked for some minutes and eventually reached the station, everyone tried to form groups, Teras was searching for Cara, since she was the only person he knew, as he was searching he heard a voice screaming

"Teraaaas!!!"

he turned around and to his surprise, Cara was jumping and waving her hands around in an attempt to capture his attention, Teras then ran towards her

"Cara there you are! I was searching for you"

"Me too, come with me I will introduce you to the others"

she said, she then grabbed Teras's hand and took him to the place where her friend had gathered, this embarrassed Teras a little because the 2 of them were sticking out from the crowd,  they had a lot of eyes on them

"There you are Cara this must be the person you have been talking about"

the buffed man asked

"Yea his name is Teras, Teras this is Har"

"It's nice meeting you"

"Yea me too"

the 2 men waved their hands

'Wait she said her friends were 2 people why are they 3 now?'

he thought as he noticed another girl besides the blond man, the man seemed angry

"So are you gonna introduce the others?"

he asked Cara

"oh yea sorry, the blondie is my childhood friend Ronie and the girl is a brand new person we just met, her name is Lia"

the girl was a short-haired girl with brown hair and brown eyes

"Nice to meet you guys I'm Teras"

Ronie seemed to ignore him but Lia greeted with pleasurer, Ronie's reaction seemed weird to Teras but he wasn't offended, the crew talked about their adventuring experience and got to know each other better, eventually some carriages came to pick up some people

"Move your asses! a carriage can hold up to 6 people so make sure you are enough people to leave"

Recka said to the students

"Guys let's take a carriage quickly, so we can reach the dorms first "

Cara told to them, they agreed so they quickly occupied a carriage, they told the driver to start so he did

"Nice now we will 100% be the first to arrive"

Cara said

"Does it really matter if we arrive first? I mean it's not like we have an advantage or something"

said Teras, he was then insulted by Ronie

"Are you stupid? we obviously have an advantage such as the bed picks , we can also scout the place, and much more, are you really trying to become an adventurer? since it seems like you lack the interest of discovery"

Teras was annoyed by his attitude

"This is true but you don't have to insult him"

said Lia

"And how are you again? Cara, I told you not to gather random people around"

Teras was in the verge of attacking him

"Calm down all of you, remember we are all friends"

said Har in an attempt to calm things down

"Friends? I don't even know these people and I'm forced to travel with them"

Ronie said

"Oh shut up, you keep on complaining, if you don't like us you could have told us from the start, I didn't come here just to have someone insulting me"

Teras said

"Oh then leave, nobody is forcing you to stay here"

Teras had enough, on top of that Cromi was about to wake up so to prevent that, he simply jumped out of the carriage and followed the path, he outran the carriage because he used mana enhancement to run faster, not so long after he reached the dorms, he then waited there for them to arrive, after some minutes they did

"Just because you can use mana doesn't mean you are better, once I learn how to use it I will easily beat you"

said Ronie

"Why are you even talking to me? you said you don't want to be near me"

Teras replied

"Come on guys don't act like that"

said Cara, they both ignored her, Teras then got up and walked away, he wanted to go to a more peaceful place, he couldn't stand Ronie, the only thing holding him back from attacking him is the penalty, half an hour passed and everyone got there safe

"Come here everyone you will now enter your dorms"

everyone gathered and went to their dorms, Teras waited for everyone to enter the dorm, he didn't want to see Ronie for a bit, but after some minutes he entered too, the room had a lot of lockers on the walls and a lot of beds too, he saw an unclaimed bed and claimed it, after some time Recka entered the building 

"So boys, I will tell you the same thing I told the girls, sleep early so you have energy for tomorrow and after you left your stuff in your lockers, then go to the launch area so you can enjoy your free lunch, that's all from me for now, see you there"

she told them, everyone slowly went outside, and so did Teras

"Hey hold it there"

said Ronie

"What the hell do you want from me again?"

Teras said, he then got punched in the face

"Agh, what the fuck is your problem you asshole?"

"It's simple, I don't like people like you, also don't ever talk to Cara"

"Oh I see how it is you bastard"

Teras enhanced his body with mana and then proceeded to beat up Ronie, he could hardly do anything to defend himself, the difference between a mana user and a non-mana user was great, but Teras didn't hold back either, he was pouring every single drop of mana on his fists so he could hurt Ronie as much as he could

"Stop you mother fucker, I will report you"

Ronie desperately tried to encourage Teras to stop, but he didn't, he kept hitting him until he passed out, his mind then cleared out

"What the hell did I just do?"

he said while looking at Ronie's bruised body

'I can still fix it'

he thought, he then preceded to heal him, it worked, his bruises slowly disappeared

'I have to hurry, so this doesn't seem suspicious'

Teras then rushed to the lunch area as if nothing happened, he ate alone, as he was eating his food Ronie walked up to him

"How did you do this? I don't have a single bruise, that's not possible"

"I healed you, now can you leave me alone"

"No, I have to apologize for my actions"

Ronie said

"Did I beat you a little too much?"

Teras said to him sarcastically

"No I'm completely fine, I just want to make up to you, to be honest, I thought you were an overconfident idiot that flirted with Cara, you see she is a pretty naïve girl, she fells in love with the wrong people easily, so that's why I'm overprotective with her"

Teras understood and accepted his apology, but it seemed kind of fishy so he didn't let down his guard, the 2 men then finished their food and headed back to the dorms, the sun was about to set, and they were slowly walking when they met the other people on their way back

"Hello guys"

said Ronie

"Wait didn't you have a huge fight, now you all buddy-buddy?"

Har asked

"You can say we made up"

Teras answered, Cara and Lia then accepted the situation, and they then went to the dorm so did the others, they decided to sleep really early because Recka told them, it was a good choice, and most of the students did the same thing, so slowly everyone fell asleep, the place went quiet

"Why did you run away from me?"

said the tall man while looking at the boy's dorm