(A/N Big thanks to everyone for the Power stones and Golden tickets, they mean a lot. As usual, please don't hesitate to comment or drop a review. ENJOY)

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Orion- 90 points Kaelen- 83 points Erevan- 80 points.

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Seris- 69 points.

Seris's eyes scanned through the rankings, her gaze lingering on the top spot.

"I could tell he was good, but it seems he's even better," she muttered, her feet passing through the rapidly fading individual beneath her.

Her gaze drifted lower to her own position.

'8th', she thought, clicking her tongue with dissatisfaction. Her current rank didn't please her.

As friendly and social as she might come off, Seris was pretty competitive and direct when she needed to be.

Although she knew Orion was destined to be the patriarch of the Chronos family and among their current group, he was the de facto leader if there was anything like that, she still didn't view him as her better.

"Maybe I made the wrong call by looking for shrines," She muttered, with a pout.

"Oh well, we still have three hours left and considering the safe zone his shrinking, there'd be more encounters and chances to get points." She said, trying to stay optimistic. But what she was avoiding saying and rang at the back of her mind was that this applied to her competitors too, and if she wasn't careful, she'd be easily left behind.

She channelled mana into her feet and continued, her senses alert for any nearby presence.

She'd been heading east, at least that was the direction the safe zone had been pushing her to, and the sparse terrain she was dropped in was gradually giving out to vegetation.

The once arid ground was slowly gaining life the further she moved.

She strained her eyes, looking further, and she could see the faint outline of a forest.

She considered going around it; the thought of fighting around obstacles bothered her, considering she wouldn't be the only one heading in, she was half sure it'd be teeming with ambushes, and she wasn't sure she could take that risk.

But going around the forest sounded equally unappealing, she didn't know how far North or South it stretched, and she couldn't waste more time, her goal was first after all.

A few minutes later, she had gotten to the entrance.

She took deep breaths and raised her guard to the highest and surged inward.

Setting aside the constant fear of being ambushed at any time, the running and traversing through the forest was exhilarating,

She channelled more mana and jumped on a nearby branch, before continuing, which gave her more visuals and falling from such height wasn't dangerous for her in the slightest.

She was about to take another step when she heard it, a faint crunch, the kind of sound made when stepping on dried leaves.

She stopped immediately and crouched, trying to pick out the direction. It was harder this time, but she detected it, and it was more than one, a group.

They weren't heading straight towards her direction, but she could tell that if she kept heading forward, they'd eventually meet. She could head towards them and deal with them on her terms or encounter them when she least expects.

'The former it is, ' she thought, changing directions.

While heading towards them, she calculated the risks in her head,

'Considering they've made it this far, they've likely amassed a large amount of points.' She thought.

And that was both good and bad news, the former because she could quickly boost the rankings if she defeated them and the latter because they could be strong. One on one, she feared nobody, at least not yet, but against a group, that was risky.

'I have to play it smart,' She thought, her mind working through ways to get her points.

'Firstly, observe,' She thought, her legs slowing down as she arrived near them.

She peered through the shades of a tree,

'Three girls, ' She noted, her eyes narrowing subtly.

She recognised one of them from her dorm, but not the last two, and she hadn't spoken to any of the three.

The first one was obviously the leader; she could read it in their steps and body language, her social skills weren't for nought after all.

She hadn't spoken to the first one for good reason; she was proud, not in the condescending way but in the silent brooding kind of way. Seris hadn't reached out to her even in the dorm; part of being social was knowing who and who not to approach.

She was very clearly the latter.

She trailed them, observing and searching for an opening.

For a trio of girls, they were strangely quiet and focused, which meant she couldn't use distractions.

The fact that they hadn't caught her was either because of her luck or because they just weren't skilled.

'Confrontation it is.' She thought, already tired of trailing them.

She turned her gaze forward and noticed a rock directly in their path,

'Considering the way they've been moving, they'll jump over the rock.' She thought with certainty.

She moved stealthily through the trees and waited for them close to the rock.

And as predicted, they vaulted over the rocks.

Seris wasted not a second before she exploded from her position, the mana in her legs providing her far more force than she could normally generate.

The leader was currently in her thoughts when she suddenly felt something slam into her temple. Her ears rang in distress, the pain and confusion threatening to overwhelm her.

Her vision swam, blurring. This was the first time she'd been hit with such force, but she fought it as best she could, trying her best to regain her bearing.

Her mind could perfectly comprehend the fact that she'd been ambushed, but that was where it ended; she couldn't even see who had assaulted her.

Before she could do anything, she felt her head being grabbed, before the said stone started growing larger in her vision and then blank, she was out.

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