"Scion, do not, in any circumstances, stop to help anyone or anything during this chase," Gilmos advised.

I was already briefed about the rules and regulations of the campus by Saek and I was also told about the history of Scion when he attempted to do the entrance exam last year. Saek told me that honorifics were no longer allowed since "Honoring someone during a time of emergency takes a second or two which can already be used to save someone." I was still adjusting myself to that rule since I felt like I was dishonoring an aechean when I call them without an honorific. But I constantly remind myself of the wrath that Saek-s...Saek will give me once he caught me honoring someone.

Last year, Scion had experienced a great mortification from the first level of this entrance exam. The first level was having a Moo Moo dung in an expandable pouch by the waist as the person climbs up at a one hundred meter tall wall. This Moo Moo dung will get heavier and bigger as the person climbs. It will be a test of strength and endurance and unfortunately, Scion did not have that.

All the examiners were able to climb that 100 meter tall wall with the fastest record of being 5 minutes and 3 seconds by no other than Xiu —one of the trainees who was assigned to be a temporary security guard of Dekmuth. Scion could barely cover 10 meters while the others were already at the middle of the second level.

As for my own performance, I did not know how I performed. Before I even started, I have noticed that I was surrounded by a mixture of novices —those who were wearing the black expandable training suits— and the advanced beginners —those who were wearing the white version of their suits. The advanced beginners were giving me gazes which meant that they were waiting for something humorous. They must have expected that Scion's failure before shall be repeated and they must be concerned for Scion's well-being.

I shall not fail them. I shall make sure that I will clean Scion's name and make him fit to enter the training institution of the Paragons.

"Instructions are simple, climb this wall with that rock and you're done," Saek explained. "Also since you are a late enrollee, the advanced beginners who you were your 'supposed' batch mates agreed that it would only be fair that we give you a little more challenge," he added.

I watched as Dryp and Trux walked with a total of four cages in their possession. The cages trembled as the creatures inside them thrashed from wall to wall.

"We will release these dipteras when you have covered 50 meters of the wall. Be warned that these things are attracted to Moo Moo dung so they will do whatever it takes to get it from you. If you lose your dung, you will have no other choice but to come down and get another one from us and you will have to start all over again."

I heard snickers coming from the advanced beginners and some of the rookies. Gilmos and Typhi did not look pleased with this and I did not know how to feel about this seeing that I have never really experienced these kinds of challenges.

"Do you have any questions?" Saek asked me.

I swayed my head side to side and smiled at him. "I have none. I appreciate your patience for explaining this to me Saek." I then turned around and faced the majority of the snickering advanced beginners. "I also thank you for taking your time to plan this test for me. I'll have you know that I will not let your overworked bodies and minds be in vain."

I heard Gilmos chuckle and he nodded at me in approval. I turned around and waited for Saek's signal to start.

"By the way, I forgot, you have a time limit," Saek added. "The fastest is 5 minutes and 3 seconds so it's either beat that or get on top of there at the exact same time."

This will be indeed a challenge but I have a mission to fulfill for Scion. I was never good in working under pressure and I tend to work slower whenever Bish-ssu was watching me. But Scion  was doing his best in my place and it was only fair that I do my part for his sake.

"At the count of three Scion prepare yourself!" Saek declared. "1, 2, 3!"

I immediately grabbed a protruding artificial rock and began climbing. My system started to calculate the number of minutes that I will consume to climb this 100 meter wall and it gave me the result of: 2 minutes and 3 seconds.

2 minutes and 3 seconds were what I will consume if it weren't for the insects later on and the expanding dung hanging on my waist. I will expect that I shall consume more time. I could feel the dung getting heavier and bigger as I ascend but it wasn't big enough to slow me down when I finally covered 50 meters on the wall.

"1 minute and 1 second Scion, we will now release the dipteras!" Saek announced which made the audience cheer.

How kind of them. They were really supportive of me.

I heard a buzzing sound as I continued with my climb and a sudden shake to my expanding dung almost made me lose my grip on the rock.

These dipteras were of medium size. They were a quarter of me. They were two-winged insects with hairy thin legs.

I moved faster when I noticed that the dipteras were getting more aggressive and desperate to get the dung on my waist. The Moo Moo dung was now as big as these attacking insects.

"80 meters Scion!" I vaguely heard.

I have to climb 20 meters more.

I gripped tighter on the rocks because of the constant attack at the pouch on my waist. Their interference really took my time. The calculation of my system was 2 minutes and 3 seconds but I was already down to 4 minutes and 10 seconds.

I could finally get the glimpse of the top edge and I grinned widely at the thought of finally giving glory to Scion.

"4 minutes and 30 seconds Scion!"

I was almost there. Just a little more and-

The hook of the pouch broke and the buzzing noises dissipated when the dipteras chased the Moo Moo dung down. I gazed at the ground and pondered if I can still make it.

"Scion, come down and get your dung! It's not over yet!" Gilmos cheered on.

I still have 33 seconds...

I let go of my grip and descended fast to the ground. My landing made my system warn me of a 5% damage to my legs and feet. Murmurs created a mist of tension for all of us and Gilmos hooked another pouch on my waist.

"Don't give up do you hear me? It doesn't matter if you'll fail to get on top, your efforts and endurance out there shall be deliberated," he assured me.

I need to pass this level and to do so  I need 2 minutes and 3 seconds. I have less than 30 seconds.

Saek didn't say that leaping was prohibited right?

"Whenever you're ready!" Saek said.

Instead of walking forward like they all expected me to do, I began to run backwards. They all gave me strange gazes and confusion was clearly seen on Gilmos's and the other instructors' faces.

"Hey, what the heck are you doing you lowlife?!" Saek asked me. "You only have 25 seconds left!" he reminded me.

I wouldn't even make it if I used the same tactic.

"He's running away..." I heard an advanced beginner snicker.

I continued to gaze up and my system counted the distance that I was covering while I ran to see if it was equal to the length of the wall.

You have covered 55 meters in a span of 10 seconds...

With that update, I scurried forward with big steps and leaped spooning the leaves lying around upwards. My huge leap instantly made the dung heavier and bigger. My ticker rolled in a very alarming speed when my left hand wasn't able to grasp a rock on the wall but my right hand proved that it had more fortune.

I took a breath for a second and I rejoiced when I realized that my plan worked.

"Lowlife you only have 11 seconds left and you only covered 50 meters!" Saek spoke through his microphone. "Hey, what the-!"

"You can do it Scion!" Xiu's voice erupted from the microphone.

Xiu must be Scion's friend.

He was expecting success and Scion believed in me. 

I collected strength on my feet making my upper body weaken and limp against the wall. When my legs were tensed enough and strong enough, I used the rocks beneath my feet as stepping stones to soar one last time and instead of getting on top of the wall, I accidentally...went beyond it. I should have just started my leap at the base of the wall instead of running backwards and starting from there. The pressure of time must have made me panic.

"Oh no..." I murmured.

"YOU ARE SUCH A LOWLIFE!" I heard Saek scream.

I was extremely blessed by Kaisen to have been able to go beyond this wall. 

I fell to the other side of the wall where the next course will start and it was so nice of Typhi to wait for me at the other side with Trux holding a huge net to catch my form.

I finished this level with a record of 5 minutes and 2 seconds. I was a second earlier than Xiu.

After level one, they gave me a 5 minute rest before they made me proceed to level two. Level two was composed of going through a maze blindfolded and since my system had already mapped out the maze and the traps, I was able to venture through very smoothly.

The last level was a chase and instead of the examiners chasing and capturing an artificial pooch-puff, my goal was to avoid being caught by the rookies until I reach the finish line. I stood ahead of the group of rookies while Gilmos and Saek talked and while I waited, I felt someone wrap an arm around my neck and patted on my chest.

He was a lot shorter than me with a light blond hair and a very cheery face. "Do your best okay? I'm your number 1 fan!"

His support made me smile and immediately adore him. These people were really nice. "Thank you. I am very sorry for enrolling so late. This must have caused an inconvenience for you. Something had happened so I was not able to enroll early," I explained. I would like to clear Scion's name for anyone who was upset with him.

"It's no problem at all! We consider this as our day off from training and classes. Being a trainee is hard you know? Just make sure you do your best or else I'll get mad at you!" he laughed.

"Oi Hyuk Min, get back here and stop bugging the examiner," a rookie from the chasers called out. He was a tall guy with small eyes and slightly chubby cheeks.

"Come on Joeheonmae, I'm just making friends!" Hyuk Min whined.

Another one of the chasers with orange hair came up to Hyuk Min and pinched his ear. "Get back in place!" he snarled with a wicked grin on his lips.

"Owowowowow! Ki that hurts! I'll see you later Scion!"

I waved back at their moving bodies and faced in front when Saek cleared his throat. "We will give Scion a 10 seconds head start! Are you ready?" Saek asked me and before I can answer, he scoffed. "Of course you are, how can you not be ready you lowlife?!" he snarled at me before jabbing Trux at his side to pull the trigger of his weapon as the cue to start.

When the bullet was shot, I dashed in a quick speed. My legs were still wobbly from the leap earlier and from the damage because of jumping from a very high area so I was a little slow compared to earlier.

I counted to ten so that I know when I was finally being chased. The others weren't as fast as me but there were some who were quickly catching up.

SYSTEM OVERHEATING! SYSTEM OVERHEATING!

I need to hide and take a break.

My system gave me options for a hiding spot and once I passed the bridge, I kicked the poles that were keeping the bridge in place which gave my legs a damage of 6%. They were made of very solid metals and gems. The rookies who were at the other side abruptly stopped but some who were already mid half-way continued to chase me despite the collapsing bridge. I returned to running and got inside a green glittery swamp.

The air in here was thick and humid. I surveyed the area to see if anyone was still chasing after me and discovered that there were ten trainees at the back and five others already lurking around and who were ahead of me.

They were ahead of me when I was the one given the head start. 

I stealthily climbed up a tree and hid in its leaves. I then jumped from one tree to the other to get closer to those who got here first.

These guys weren't rookies.

I saw a trainee peeking out from behind a tree and saw the color of his suit. They were advanced beginners.

Ah, they must have wanted to join in the chase as well but I believe that only rookies were allowed.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? What if Gilmos and the other instructors found out?" one of them asked.

"They won't and just remember that the examinee is Scion. Will you really allow a sickly poor excuse of an aechean like him to join the Paragons? I think not. The world will be doomed if he does."

"Shh...shut up! He will be here anytime!" another one of them warned.

That was...really mean of them.

I feel very upset. Why did they think of such way of Scion? It was not his fault that he was born that way. He still deserved to be respected. They were very cruel to speak that way of him.

I clenched the branch of tree and heard a hiss from the said branch. It was a serpentes; a very long and huge serpentes which was part of the tree. The serpentes twisted with its tongue releasing another serpentes and another and another and with its jaw ready to engulf my head. I leaped down which alerted the ones hiding and their weapons were immediately pointed at me.

"Found you! You're not very good at hiding aren't you?" one of them laughed. The five of them surrounded me with their beams and I interpreted their threat as: Minimal

"That is very cruel of you to speak so lowly about Sc- about me," I said to them. "I am doing my best to become the best. You do not need to pull me down."

"Stop dreaming, you can never be a Paragon. Have you seen yourself one year ago? You were a laughingstock."

The five trainees from the ten behind me caught up and Joeheonmae and Ki were one of them.

"Just in time, here take him!" the previous one who was talking shoved me back.

"Advanced beginners? You aren't allowed here. This isn't in the mechanics of the game," Ki said.

"We're just making sure that the Paragons aren't infiltrated by weaklings."

Jooheonmae frowned at them. "The last time I checked, he beat Xiu's record. Who's the weakling?"

The speaker of the group of beginners scoffed. "That's just pure luck. Now stop being hardheaded and listen to those higher than you!"

This was getting out of hand. If they joined the advance beginners, I did not think I can get out of here without hurting anyone and I did not want to use violence.

Joeheonmae scoffed. "I dunno, what do you think Stugox?"

I stared at the stoic-faced tall man with dark short hair. He looked at the advanced beginners and then at me before walking to my side and placing his hand on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry, but doing so is unfair and is not how a Paragon should act," Stugox replied. His arm transformed into a very long sword and he swished it to his side.

Joeheonmae sauntered to my other side and placed his lips close to my ear.

 "We'll handle this. Get to that finish line."

I smiled widely at them and shook his hand vigorously. "Thank you very much. I will give you a massage later after all of this!"

Joeheonmae laughed. "Don't let your guard down! We're still your chasers! Now go!" 

=================================================================

A/N: Do you guys want to see the cast?