In a dense jungle.

Lith was walking carefreely like before. He had no idea where to go and it has been thirty minutes since he was walking like this.

Feeling bored and having nothing to do, Lith decided to climb on top of the tall trees around him and jump from one tree to another and move forward. He climbed on top of the nearest tree and started jumping.

Lith crossed one tree after another and the breeze that hit him as he did so made him refreshed. His silver hair fluttered along with his academy uniform as he passed one tree after another.

"Hahahaha!" Lith laughed in excitement as he jumped trees.

'This feels so amazing! I can't even express it. I never would've been able to do such a thing back on Earth. This is such a nice feeling I am having. Hmm, if I ever were to write an instruction manual about what to do when you reincarnate into a magical world this would definitely be in that. Everyone should try this! Hahahaha!' Lith thought to himself as he jumped trees while laughing crazily both externally and internally in his mind.

He had actually not done many things in his thirteen years of life. All he did was spend time with his family, train in the training arena of the castle or roam around in the academy. It was only in this tournament that he was actually exploring places.

Lith's determination to drop out became stronger since he felt even more that the academy was just halting his growth. He would grow more if he actually explored the world on his own and it was basically useless to stay in the academy for a few more years.

Lith kept jumping trees and laughed in excitement while shoving aside any useless thoughts and enjoyed the moment.

A few minutes later, he stopped jumping and decided to go to the top of the tree he was at.

Reaching the top, Lith saw an incredible view of the dense jungle. Anywhere his eyes could look, he just saw the green leaves of the trees. And a few kilometers away, he assumed, there was a lake of some kind. He couldn't look past that point and felt something was blocking his view.

'This probably looks like the place I should be heading towards. Like, c'mon One doesn't need to be a genius to figure out that there's something fishy with the lake present ahead. I mean I literally cannot see anything past a certain point, there really must be something there. I should get going.' Lith thought to himself as he looked at the lake present ahead.

He extended his wings out and with the help of wind elemental energy around, he dashed towards the lake.

Reaching the shore of the lake, Lith saw the view in front of him to be dark. Behind him was a sunny day and lush green jungle, however, in front of him, it was dark. He couldn't see the end of the lake and it actually felt that he wasn't looking at a lake but at the sea. Had there not been trees surrounding the water body in front of him, Lith really would've mistaken it for a lake.

"What now? To go ahead or to avoid it?" Lith muttered.

He thought for a few seconds about what would be the best course of action for him.

'My curiosity to know more is killing me. Looking at the environment in front, if it was anyone who wasn't a creature of the night, they would surely be scared. But, to me, this dark and creepy environment is providing a sense of relaxation. It makes me want to explore and know more.' Lith thought.

Lith knew he couldn't speak out loud, for there were many people watching him. His new teacher, Emilia, had already informed him, Ralph, and Dennis about a few things that they needed to take care of beforehand. One of them was to never say anything extra while in the tournament as many would be watching them.

Lith took a deep breath and made up his mind to explore the place. This whole dimension was used for the tournament and since everyone in his batch were either Rank 1 or 2, Lith assumed that there shouldn't be anything more powerful than Rank 6 in the whole dimension.

It wouldn't make sense to have anything more powerful than that. It was just overkill. The students would die with just a single slap from someone of Rank 6 and above

He assumed that the academy wouldn't make a stupid move of hosting the tournament in some powerful dimension and thus felt that the place in front of him was safe for exploration.

Lith flew over the water of the lake, towards the dark fog that lay in front of him, blocking his view to see what was beyond.

...

Royal Castle, Nightingale.

On the rooftop of the castle, Lilith lay on a large bean bag with Lucy in her embrace. Lucy was having her back rested against her chest and there was a big screen fixed in mid-air in front of the two.

As usual, it was dark all around and it was currently daytime as the moon had a crimson hue on it.

The two were watching a teen on the screen. He was none other than Lith, who was flying over the lake and was rushing towards the fog.

"Mom, do you think that place is safe where little brother is heading towards?" Lucy looked up at her mother's face and asked.

Lilith caressed Lucy's hair and said, "who knows. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't."

Lilith knew that today was Lith's tournament and so did Lucy. Both got a text from him last night and were told that he may not be able to contact them for a few days.

Lilith of course wouldn't miss watching Lith participate in the tournament and there was no way she would watch alone by herself and leave Lucy alone. She brought Lucy along with her to the rooftop and using a bit of her power, she was able to put on the display whatever Lith was doing.

Lilith knew the answer to Lucy's question of whether the place was safe or not. However, she replied mysteriously to her so that she doesn't worry about it.

Lilith could easily see anything present anywhere in the whole world and the dimensions connected to it. It wasn't a difficult task for her and displaying whatever she was looking at also wasn't a difficult task.

Lucy looked at her mother in the eyes and stared for a good few seconds. Why is she saying things in such a mysterious way? Can she not just answer yes or no?

Lilith smiled as she saw Lucy looking at her. "Is something the matter, dear?" Lilith asked despite knowing why Lucy was looking at her like that.

"No." Lucy replied as she was at a loss for what to ask. She knew asking the same question again would lead to the same answers and there was no point in doing so. If her mother said things, she would do it in a straightforward manner and there was no need for her to be mysterious.

However, she didn't do it so there must be reasons for that. Understanding this, she shifted her gaze back to the screen in front of her and looked at the things Lith was doing.

Lilith chuckled looking at the reaction Lucy showed. She, instead of watching the screen in front of her, closed her eyes and watched another teen in the tournament.

The scene in front of her changed from Lith to a black-haired, black-eyed teen.

...

Dark Mist Mountain Range.

'Fast! I need to reach the flock fast!' Lucas thought to himself as he ran in the dark mist.

Any normal person would be carefully treading their steps if present in an environment where everything was dark and their vision was blocked. But Lucas was running in such an environment without a care.

A few minutes later, Lucas reached a no mist zone again in the Dark Mist Mountain Range. He halted in his steps and looked around.

This no mist zone was much bigger than the previous one where trees with grey and black colors were present. There were withered trees everywhere Lucas could see, below which wasn't ground by a dark swamp.

Lucas put up his guard and with the help of wind elements, walked slowly above the dark swamp without being in contact with it.

Lucas passed by many withered trees and finally stopped when he saw a small green sapling. He walked closer to it and squatted down when he reached it.

Lucas took out a potion from his ring and poured it whole on the sapling. After doing so, he rushed towards the north direction and didn't look back.

...

Royal Castle, Nightingale.

On the rooftop.

Lilith opened her eyes and smiled. She caressed Lucy's hair and looking at Lith on the screen in front of her, she thought to herself, 'Interesting. Memories sure help. My baby, how will you deal with this?'

...

On a glacier, a black-haired, black-eyed teen teleported out. He looked around and found nothing but ice and cold, gloomy weather.

"What is this area? I thought I would be sent out among some wild beasts and would have to fight them? Why no beasts? Is my luck that bad?" The teen said after noticing there to be no signs of life around.

He had no idea where to go and so started walking in a random direction. Walking for a few minutes, he started hearing noises.

"Moo!"

The teen heard a cow's moo as he neared the source of the noise. Crossing one glacier after another, the teen finally saw who or what was making the noise.

It was literally a cow!

"What? Why is there a cow here? The climate is so cold!" The teen yelled.

The cow's skin matched the snow around it and it seemed to be blending well with the surroundings. Had it not been for its black hooves, eyes, hair at the end of its tail, and horns, the cow would've totally camouflaged in the surroundings.

The cow looked at the teen as he came close to it. The cow also heard what the teen just said and turning its head to look at him, the cow mooed.

"Moo! Moo!"

The teen narrowed his eyes and looked at the cow in suspicion.

Did this cow just understand and respond to him?

"You can understand me?" The teen asked, still suspicious.

"Moo!" The cow nodded its head and mooed.

"Really?"

"Moo!" The cow nodded again.

"Meh. I don't believe you. You just look like a dumb cow." The teen shook his head and said.

"Moo!?" The cow mooed in disbelief. It couldn't believe that despite its high intelligence, the guy in front of him called it dumb.

"What? Didn't hear it properly? I said you look like a dumb cow." The teen said again.

"MOO!" The cow mooed in anger this time and charged towards the teen.

The teen chuckled after having successfully provoked the cow.

"Hehe. Stupid cow. Fell for my trap so easily."

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