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She was wearing a silver ring on her index finger; it was plain, just silver without any jewels on it. However, its width was a little more than your normal rings and covered her whole proximal phalanx.

This was a magic item that was used for wireless communication. When charged with mana, the miniature runes inscribed on the ring—which were so small that they looked like the circuits on a circuit board—converted the user\'s mana into electromagnetic waves and then emits them on a custom wavelength that can be set by the user to have a private channel.

However, since the technology isn\'t perfected and is still in development, there are some flaws in it and the electromagnetic waves die out after a while, and you can only communicate via the rings within a hundred-meter radius.

Seiren channeled her mana into it and the ring dimly started glowing in aqua color as many small circuits made on the ring lit up. A beeping sound was sent by the ring to mark the start of the channel.

"Why the delay? You were not responding for quite a long time," Wynfir\'s voice said from the other side.

She tells him about what had happened and that they had seized communication to keep Zero from finding out their locations. Wynfir was not entirely happy about it, and his take was that they should\'ve informed him before going offline. But in the end, the matter was sorted out in a few minutes.

"Still, I\'m saying this again. He is probably stronger than you think, and I\'ve just witnessed that. He killed a pack of horned wolves in mere seconds, and the spells he used involved neither an incantation nor any magic circle. You should move carefully—"

She was in the middle of speaking when there was a buzzing sound bursting out of the ring, she could only guess what happened on the other side. After a second, what came was not Wynfir\'s voice.

"Who the fuck do you think you are to remind me to stay careful, huh? I wouldn\'t be doing this if I wasn\'t confident about my strength, and I am not so reckless as to go for an enemy without knowing anything about him. I know how he uses magic, it\'s ice, right? I\'ve seen him destroy my friend\'s life with it!

"What you have to do is inform me of his location and whereabouts, so behave like the little bitch you are and do what you\'re told!" it was Emmeric\'s voice, there was no doubting that.

Seiren clicked her tongue and clenched her fist, second by the second she kept clenching, and after a point blood started dripping down her hand as her nails dug themselves into her skin.

She was frustrated and brimming with anger. She hated being manipulated or controlled by others, and here Emmeric was just making her do that. Although, she wasn\'t an idiot. She knew that she had to bear with it if she had to see Zero die, thus she kept her anger canned within herself and was able to stop herself.

She knew she had to cooperate if she wanted the result she desired.

"He\'s headed toward the mountains," she said. "And it looks like he wants to get there as soon as possible. I don\'t know why, though. But he will likely travel during the night too."

"Hah, that bastard\'s walking toward his own grave then. There won\'t be many students in the mountains right now since the exam has only started, plus there will be many places to corner and ambush him. I don\'t know if we\'ll be that lucky, but if he travels at night, then all the better," Emmeric deduced from the other side.

"For now, keep your distance and keep giving me his latest locations and news of all his activities," he gave the final order and cut the call.

Seiren looked in the direction Zero had trailed off too. Not much time has passed, so they\'ll be able to get him soon enough. The three of them got up and left in the same direction; they moved while keeping their presence hidden.

***

The cape of the night had covered the sky by the time I reached the foot of the mountain. I\'d stopped to take multiple breaks and slayed all the monsters who came in my way, and now the moon was full in the sky.

From here on out, I started climbing the mountain. At first, the slope was normal and flat, but as I moved forward the climb started being more difficult as the surrounding territory changed and the ground tilted upward.

However, it wasn\'t too hard. The mountain was modified in a way that anyone could climb it if they knew the right way, this was probably the work of the academy to make sure that the students could at least get to the top where the hidden task is. Although they had added many ambushes too, like a fake footing which would lead to a fall if you set your foot on it.

After half an hour of climbing, I reached a straight, ninety-degree cliff. There was no way I could walk my way up there. But it wasn\'t much of a problem either.

It took me half an hour, but I used my elemental magic and created it for myself with ice. I could\'ve created a pillar and made it push me up as they do in anime, but unfortunately at my current level, I can\'t make something that big.

Finally, two hours after the cliff and a lot of wandering around, I found what I was looking for. In front of me was the mouth of a cave that led into the dark. This was the place where the hidden task was located.

I stepped inside the cave and wandered into the dark, after walking for a while the tunnel opened up into a wide section which, unlike the tunnel, was brimming with light.

In the middle of the section was a big lake that was filled with boiling lava, and that was the thing illuminating the cave. At the center of that lake was a circular stone platform that was only big enough for one person to stand.

The lake was big, and it was emitting a hell lot of heat. Trying to cross it by jumping to the other side would be suicide. Making a bridge of ice will probably not be a good idea either, since the lava will melt it instantly. And if I tried to put the ice in the lava, and ended up miscalculating the proportions, I\'d end up with an explosion.

That\'s why…

I turned around and by using elemental magic I created a thick wall of ice and blocked the entrance of the tunnel into this section. I made sure to make the wall of ice as thick as possible, in the end, it was so thick that you couldn\'t see on the other side.

After that, I turned back and used elemental magic again. This time using the earth element, I created a bridge over the lake. It started from one side and went upward in a curve, connected to the stone platform at the center.

Then I stepped on the bridge and made it over to the other side, jumping on the platform I stood in the middle. A magic circle that was inscribed on the platform activated as soon as I stepped on it.

"To complete this hidden task and acquire the item, you have to answer a question," a voice said, it came from below; from inside the magic circle.

This was the hidden quest, and if I answered wrong, then the platform would sink into the lava. I can\'t believe the academy didn\'t mention that. Though this quest was designed by loli_pop, so I guess it\'s his fault.

"What has four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?" the voice asked. And I cringed at the simplicity of the question.

Loli_pop thought that this was a "good idea", and the question was good enough. However, it still doesn\'t change the fact that this was the question asked by the Sphinx in the legend, and everyone knew the answer to that.

"The answer is the man. A Man, who crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two legs, and finally needs a cane in old age," I said.

"Correct. You have gained the right to acquire the item. Claim your reward."

A thin pillar rose from the center of the platform, and on top of it was kept a deep red crystal. I went and picked it up; it wasn\'t that heavy.

This was a magic crystal; all of the hidden task items were. That\'s how Leon was able to find all the hidden tasks so quickly. His system detected the mana these crystals radiated in the atmosphere.

I took the crystal with me and went back the way I came from.

***

Zero was walking inside the tunnel on his way out while tossing the red crystal in his right hand and his other hand was inside his pocket. He was around twenty meters away from the mouth of the cave when he suddenly came to a halt.

It was because some people were blocking his way. In front of him stood the figures of Emmeric and Wynfir, behind them, were Seiren, Alada, and Wrena. They were standing at the entrance of the cave.