After defeating Cù Sith, Ray had asked him about the checkpoints and their positions.
Cù didn't have much information about that, though.
One of the members of his group had accidentally triggered one of the checkpoints and received a total of four points. According to the checkpoint, he was the second participant to receive a reward from that checkpoint. Therefore, the initial reward was five points.
Besides that, they knew that after a few minutes of running up north from where they had been fighting, there was a checkpoint.
So Ray ran. Not very fast, he didn't want to attract any more attention, after all. It didn't take long until he finally reached the checkpoint.
«Participant Detected!»
«You are the third participant to reach this checkpoint. Because two participants reached here before, two points were deducted from the original reward.»
«You have received 3 bonus points. You now have 17 bonus points!»
'This makes two out of five checkpoints with an initial reward of five points, should I move to another island to keep confirming things.'
It was already possible to assume that this island's checkpoints were all with an initial reward of five points, therefore the total number of bonus points this island could offer is 75.
He was still not sure if this was a confirmation that all islands were limited to that number of points or if it was only a coincidence. He needed to go to another island to confirm that.
'The question now is, do I go to the next island, the tenth or do I go to the previous island, the seventh?'
If he went to the tenth and it was only a coincidence and the total of bonus points in an island increased, then going to the last island was the way.
However, if the total of bonus points an island could offer was the same in all thirteen islands then the first island would be the one with the most initial points in its single checkpoint.
Right now he was on the ninth island, there were only three islands between him and the last island. Two, if he went to the tenth. However, if he was wrong and the total of points was equal, then he would be eight islands apart from the first island.
Between him and the first island, there are seven islands. Five, if he went to the seventh island. However, if he was right and the total of points increased, then he would be only five islands apart from the last island.
'The seventh island it is. Even if I'm right, then I would be still closer than if I was wrong and went into the tenth island.'
Reaching that conclusion, he went to search for the magic circle that served to transport one person to another island.
It didn't take that long, the magic circle still limited the light green hue that seemed to be seen all across the island.
'It must be on purpose.'
Without wasting much time, he sent himself to the previous island, the eighth island, where he had been previously. Luckily, the point where he was sent was not that far away from the magic circle that was atop the mountain.
So, he once again made his way up there in order to travel towards the seventh island.
It was not that hard either, most participants seemed to focus on surviving, instead of going from island to island.
So, he reached the seventh island without any problems.
The seventh island was unlike the ninth island and much more similar to the eighth.
It was filled with green plains and hills. There were no dense forests or any trees insight actually. In the distance, he was able to notice the presence of several people in the distance.
In such an open area, it is hard not to be noticed.
On the seventh island, the checkpoints were scattered randomly in a similar way as the ninth island. However, this one was much easier to travel in, as the ground was quite solid instead of the hard-to-traverse sand plains of the ninth.
Ray looked around and chose a direction before running off. There was no need to waste time, even in a setting of survival, plain islands might be safer to traverse as there is no place for predators to hide, there is also no place for you to hide in, and well is a lack of resources. Therefore, regardless of Ray's strategy, staying on such an island was not viable.
So he ran, not in the same way he had been running before. He was being careful in order to not catch unwanted attention. Not that he was afraid of anyone, but it would be troublesome to be delayed by a group of troublemakers.
He tried his best to keep up his speed without making a mess. It was relatively easy due to his control over mana, but because of his habits as a dragon to not care about the opinion of others, it was hard to be careful.
Nevertheless, he was able to find a checkpoint without catching any attention.
«Participant Detected!»
«You are the third participant to reach this checkpoint. Because two participants reached here before, two points were deducted from the original reward.»
«You have received 3 bonus points. You have now 20 bonus points!»
'So the initial bonus points was five here as well, huh?'
The results seem to be pointing towards the option that every island had a limit of 75 points. However there was still the option that every checkpoint had a limit of 5 points and therefore the last island, which had the greater amount of checkpoints would be the one with the most points.
'I will continue to explore.'
Ray decided to do that. If at least three checkpoints had the initial reward of five points, then this exam would be decided on a gamble. The details of the gamble were simple. What did it matter, the amount of checkpoints? Or the amount of points an island could offer?
A gamble that could send Ray in the direction of the first island or the last island, eleven islands apart.
'This exam is quite surprising.'
The academy probably placed these clues in order to force the smarter students into making a gamble. They either decided on the first or the last island. The less smart and the less attentive would go towards the last island to defeat the beast. However, the smarter students who would notice the problem with the bonus points would be forced to make a choice.
A few hours later, Ray was forced to make that exact choice.
"The first or the last."
He had found two more checkpoints, all with the initial bonus points at five. He had received 2 points in one and just 1 point in the other. He now had 23 bonus points.
Because of that, Ray was now forced to make that gamble. It was something that only by reaching one of those two that he could confirm. Were all the checkpoints limited to the initial 5 points or was the limit set on the number of points an island could give?
If it was the former, then the islands with the most checkpoints would be able to offer the most points. If it was the latter then the island with the fewer checkpoints would have the most initial points, being basically a treasure.
Normally, a student would choose the option they were closer to, in this case, the last island.
However, people who chose the first island would be completely focused on that one checkpoint, a tumultuous and desperate fight between mages and knights.
'It sounds so interesting.'
At this point, Ray was not that worried about his score. The actions he took were already directed to his survival, they may not be conventional, but his methods worked for him.
So at the moment, he was only participating for the bonus points, that he may not have, depending on the gamble results.
Right after he woke up he had told Astra that he believed that he wouldn't be surprised by the academy on the Practical Test, however, it turned out in a very different way.
As it went now, Ray was having fun. He needed to go from island to island in search of evidence that supported his theories. That fight with Cù Sith was pretty fun as well. The thrill of making such a gamble made him a shiver of excitement.
So he decided to go to the first island. Not only because the people that would go there to get to the checkpoint would definitely be interesting, considering they had made the same choice as him, but also because the existence of a single checkpoint meant that several people would fight against each other in a chaotic free-for-all.
He wanted in.
Reaching that conclusion, he decided to search for the magic circle that would send him to the sixth island. It wasn't hard to find really. This island, because it had such plain terrain, meant that everything could be easily spotted.
Because this island was mostly grass plains, it meant that in order to survive the participants would have to go to another island. Therefore, most participants were also headed for the magic circle, therefore the location was easy to spot.
'Let's go have fun.'
Ray shot forward in the direction of the magic circle.