Beast Evolution

Ray felt pain at the joints in his hands because he had been using them for too long, Jack launched another attack towards Ray and Ray jumped backward this time but the sword grazed his head.

Ray stretched his hands forward causing Jack to stop in his track.

"I surrender," Ray said.

"Huh! you what... surrender, why...I remember you were good In hand combat, what happened?" Jack snorted.

"You won, I surrendered because I couldn't beat you, that's all..." Ray said and turn around.

"Hey Leia, what happened... that's unlike Ray, he's the kind of guy who would challenge Jack again if he loses, but he just surrendered after taking a few hits," Ivan asked Leia.

"I don't know, maybe something is wrong" Leia acted surprised.

"I thought since you went to the capital with him you would know" Ivan looked at her suspiciously.

"M-Me... why would I know, I don't know anything," Leia said and quickly faced away.

"That concludes the first match, Jack qualified...and Ray has been eliminated" Sir Jake announced.

"Now unto the second match..."

'I still have to train a lot if I want to participate in the tournament, this is just a test and I couldn't even defeat Jack, my hands are sore from a few attacks' Ray sat down away from his friends to avoid questions.

'I haven't even looked at my stats in days, I don't even know if I'm making progress or not'

'Interface' Ray said inwardly.

Name: Ray

Race: Demi beast

Class: Mage (Darkness, Ice)

Level: 16(3,440/20,000)

Evolution crystal: (40/500)

Health: 300/300

Stamina: 120/150

Mana: 150/150

Strength:30[+]

Agility:70[+]

Dexterity:70[+]

Intelligence:65[+]

Vitality:70[+]

Free attribute point(s):[2]

Free skill(s) point(s);[1]

All stats -40% due to transformation

Skill(s): [Power punch] [Inspect] [Night vision][mana manipulation] [Transformation] [Mount] [Summon] [Void]

Spell(s): [Strong healing] [lesser regeneration] [Ice spear] [Ice dome] [Dark Bind]

Weapon: Blood spear

Weapon skill(s):[Ownership] [Blood swap] [Blood rage] [mastery]

Pet: Horned wolf (Silver)

Level: 10

Evolution: (30/100)

Health: 100/100

Strength: 20

Agility: 50

Defense: 10

'There's a large gap between my strength and my agility...for now all my focus will be on my strength'

Ray looked up as two people stepped up to start the next battle, and those people were Leia and Lily.

'This would be the best match-up I can ask for, I wonder who would win' Ray smiled excitingly.

Both girls held their wooden swords and got ready, Ray knew Leia was strong but Lily would definitely be stronger given she was able to climb to the top 15 when the ranking was still ongoing.

The tournament was just two weeks away, so the battle for who would participate in the tournament was already over, the three of them were supposed to participate but due to Ray's injury, the knights refused.

'Now that I think about it, the tournament is in two weeks and they gave me a month to recover, but only a week had passed since then'

'The senior knights didn't want me to participate from the beginning, I wouldn't tell them about it, maybe there is no need to tell them I want to participate'

'I mean, I can't even defeat Jack, I won't stand a chance against the upperclassmen'

*Bam*

Ray quickly looked up as he heard a sound, the duel had barely begun and both of the girls were already all over themselves.

Lily attacked Leia rapidly, unleashing slash after slash hoping to knock her down but Leia was like her equal.

To Ray, it felt like if this was a normal battle Lily would win, be time was not on her side.

She was using too much Ki along with the stamina to maintain that Ki, if she continues attacking relentlessly she would end up getting tired and eventually lose the match.

Ray was watching the match closely when the system dinged in his head.

Ray was surprised because he knew the system had never given him tasks except fighting and there was nothing here to fight except...

[Dark Energy detected]

Ray's eyes widen as he saw the system interface, he looked around and stood up abruptly, he was so shocked that he began to sweat immediately.

'Wait, what is this...this is the knight academy, and I'm in the school, there's no way an infected beast is here in the school, right'

Ray couldn't think straight, he couldn't walk out of training because Sir Jake wouldn't agree.

'If only Authur or Alfred were here, I would have told them immediately, they would have searched for the source, I can't stay here, I need to make something up'

Ray ran towards Sir Jake without looking at the fighters and Lily who jumped backward to avoid an attack from Leia crashed into Ray and both of them fell to the ground.

"Ouch, my hand..." Ray stood up and Lily quickly held his hands asking if he was alright.

"I'm fine, I need to go..." Ray said and quickly stood up.

Leia could see the urgency in Ray's eyes and wondered if something was wrong, Ray stood up and rush toward Jake without minding the battle he just interrupted.

"Why did you...is something wrong" Jake asked him.

"Sir I need to go" Ray quickly said.

"Why...'

"I forgot something, the senior knights told me to meet them for something important, I totally forgot" Ray quickly said.

'Ohh...that was why he was on the edge, I thought it was something more important' Leia sighed.

When she saw the look on Ray's face, she thought the academy was under attack, but now that he mentioned the reason she was relieved.

"Don't worry, I would tell them that I was the one responsible so you can be rest assured, there's no need to panic" Jake said as he looked at Ray.

Ray was sweating and the weather wasn't hot, so there was no reason for Ray to sweat, Jake thought he was just afraid of the senior knights that was why he was on edge.

"No Sir...I really need to go now" Ray said in a loud voice.

"Right Leia...what did the senior knights say they would if I don't visit them" Ray turned around and faced Leia, he quickly blinked his eyes for Leia to make an excuse for him.

"Uhmmm...the knights said...they wouldn't... allow Ray to participate in the tournament" Leia shouted that last part.

"Then you can go," Jake said and Ray ran outside like he was being chased by a cheetah.

'Wait, is something really wrong...we are in the knight academy, nothing is wrong, I'm just overthinking' Leia mumbled.

"You can continue..." Jake said to the girls.

"Why is he rushing, and the senior knights didn't say anything about punishing Ray, why did Leia lie, is something wrong..." Gabriel mumbled.

Ray ran outside of the building and looked around, a group of knights was training in the training ground, they were all middle-aged and they were training intensely, Ray didn't mind them and he ran forward a little.

"I'm sure it's not a beast, then why would the system give me that information, they must be something here" Ray muttered as he looked around.

Then he saw a knight at the side of one of the buildings, he couldn't see the knight's face because he was facing away, so he went close to the knight.

The knight was looking at something as Ray closed in, he wanted to call the knight but he decided to see what the knight was doing.

"So this is it, is this going to be enough" the knight muttered to himself.

[Dark Energy detected]

'Again'

Ray was going to walk past the knight like he was going somewhere so the knight wouldn't suspect him.

Ray walked past the knight and the knight flinched as Ray looked at him, he quickly hid something inside his pocket as Ray looked at him.

Ray bow his head to greet him and walked away normally, the knight looked around and also walked away.

'He was holding a small bottle, that same bottle used for putting potions, is a knight supposed to have that?'

'That guy is suspicious, I'm going to keep my eyes on him'

Ray had seen his face and he was going to find out what was in the potion bottle.

'Should I tell the senior knights about this...' Ray wondered.

'If it turns out to be nothing what would I say, the system had never failed me, but still I would refrain till I find out more'