In the forest of monsters, there seemed to be a circular barrier of darkness that surrounded the third-degree beast’s territory.

Many students had already seen the barrier after walking through the second-degree beast region.

There was a theory proposed by a certain deep thinker.

It stated that in any given population that was graded on its capabilities; 20% would be above average, 60% would have an average performance...

And 20% would be below average.

This would go on to be proven true using several experiments throughout different case scenarios and time periods.

In the case of this exam however; the thing being graded was your overall combat ability.

Every single person taking the exam was at least somewhat familiar with fighting.

Hence, of the candidates that had come into contact with the strange barrier, none had ventured through it.

The idea of risking the exam of their lives for a few extra points just wasn't appealing.

Besides, most people couldn't even handle a third-degree beast in the first place.

It was a better strategy to stay within the second-degree region and hunt for points there.

A person in the second-degree zone had just cut down a large ape-like monster, flicking off the blood on their blade before returning it to its sheath.

She was a girl of around 15 years old, with short black hair and grey eyes. She carried what seemed to be a katana on her hip.

The sheath was black with a red ribbon close to the handle. Its silver blade gleamed in the sunlight, and a dark handle was being gripped as its wielder walked through the forest.

She scanned the environment, wary of potential surprise attacks. That black barrier was too suspicious to stay nearby.

So, she would hunt in the second-degree zone for as long as possible.

Her clothes were obscured from sight by a black cloak. Her features hidden by the cloak's hood.

When she did fight, and her cloak shifted, wrist guards could be seen on her hands, black in color as well.

She would seem strange to anyone that would come across her. Her black theme seemed to be deliberate with everything she wore.

Thank Soreus that she hadn't met anybody yet.

She had always preferred the solitary life anyway. People brought their problems with them.

Catering to other people's needs didn't really appeal to her.

As she passed a huge tree, she heard a large volume of air being displaced. Like something big was moving very fast.

She quickly dodged out of the way, rolling on the grass and turning to face whatever had caused her alarm.

She saw an ape-like beast towering at 5 meters in height. It had red fur covering most of its body.

It had massive arms at least 4 times the size of her waist, its hands were wide and strong.

It could probably crush a giant boulder with the way it moved.

'Second degree beasts are truly impressive creatures.' She mused.

She had never seen them before. Or rather she had seen them but never identified them.

Whenever she required real combat experience, she would go into a death zone that had monsters in it.

Hunting them was a daunting task at first. The hard part wasn't the fight itself.

She wasn't one to brag, but she was fairly strong.

Even in this exam she wasn't afraid of the beasts at all. Her main concern lay with the other participants.

No, the difficult part was accurately gauging a beast's strength. One wrong move could see her facing a fifth-degree beast.

One she wasn't confident she could escape from.

It wasn't like she had some device that allowed her to check the details of any living thing she came into contact with...

BANG!

She was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of the Ape charging at her.

The collision its feet made with the ground made booms that echoed for yards.

As it rushed towards her, she lowered her center of gravity into a quick draw stance.

'Even though I said they were strong…'

She drew her sword once the ape came within striking distance, slashing through its arms and its neck at once.

The ape's body tumbled forward past the girl and landed on the forest floor with a thud.

The girl whipped her sword around, splashing the ape's blood in a half-circle to her right.

She slid the sword into the sheath, holding the handle by her side to make sure it was fastened to her waist.

She walked off heading to her next kill.