Veylan thought for a while why the president showed shock because of his name? He lost himself in thought for hours, it was getting dark again. He thought that the actual first exams start tomorrow. How pity!
Right when he lay in his bed, not being able to sleep, a bell rang. "All participants! We arrived at our first test. Please leave your rooms and come outside!" No one expected that! All participants are awake probably since over sixteen hours; this means they would all need to participate without any sleep. Veylan´s bad feeling came out true, he knew he was not going to sleep at least for the whole night, maybe even two nights.
The moment he stepped out he instantly knew what the challenge was, it's said that the first test is mostly a pure physical and willpower test.
It was so cold that most humans couldn't stay outside without much and thick clothing; they would maybe even die out of cold. Veylan stayed calm and serios like always. The mountain that was about ten thousand meters/thirty-two thousand feet high scared him, but he tried to stay calm.
An examiner who had the idea for the test began to explain the test and rules: "The exam can finally begin. As you guys already see, you need to climb this mountain, I've taken this mountain for a special reason; you don't need to climb. There are multiple ways to get up, you can climb if you want but I don't really would do that if I were one of you. To make it short, you need to get up the whole mountain in two nights, this night already counts as one. Hehe…and don't forget there aren´t other rules beside you are not allowed to use items that you brought here, hehe…good luck…" He left many in shock, no other clothing or other tools to get from the association.
It began almost immediately after.
Besides the obvious problems, like food, a place to rest and the cold; there was still another. Wild beasts. Unlike on earth there are only typical animals that are almost all known. This world is different. The association officially only knows about two percent of the whole nature! Besides that, they needed over three centuries for that and it is mainly only about the First and a little bit the second zone, almost nothing from the third one.
Only a few Hundred meters in and Veylan already tries to hide himself in his head to be distracted, he thought about his life. Lost in his thoughts he slipped off an edge, just one moment later he hung on a cliff, it was going down so far, he only saw black depths. He doesn't even know what he hangs on, but whatever it is, it is very slippery. "Is this it? Are all my previous hardships for nothing? No, thinking of this doesn't solves a thing!"
He tried as hard as possible to get up somehow, but his energy just got less and less. Suddenly, in the snowy and gloomy cliff from where he fell, a hand stretched out. Whoever this was, he saved him.
Veylan nearly died, the mysterious stranger brought him to a small cave and made a fire. Even though he nearly died from under temperature, he recovered quickly. "What is your name? I would really like to know who the guy is that saved my life."
The mysterious stranger was also his age, maybe even younger. "My name is Riven, I´ve heard you are Veylan, aren´t you?" After talking for a while, Riven had a suggestion "You seem okay, why don't we go together? Maybe next time you save my life?" That sentence made Veylan see something; Riven maybe could help him with his goal.
As they wanted to leave their cave, something blocked their entrance, a rock bear! They are near to a thousand meters/ three hundred feet, rock bears are less special there.
It ran towards them, they managed to dodge its sharp claws, but how often until one gets injured? They both surrounded the bear, Riven dodged its attack again, Veylan jumped on its back, trying to choke it or damage it with kick or punches, Veylan didn't knew that it was a rock bear, from outside it looks like a normal one because of its fur, he only injured his fists; punching against a rock would've been the same.
This shocked him badly, on his way to the exam he thought against many bears, even with bare hands, he never experienced something like this, to his luck Riven realized it: "It's a rock bear, it looks like normal bear, but under his fur its pure stone!"
Even though he was surprised he remembered something: "In the entrance of the cave there was a pickaxe, what is more effective against stone than that?" He told Riven about his plan, Veylan runs to take the pickaxe and Riven distracted the bear. Almost right after Veylan came back with the pickaxe he called to Riven "I got it!" But this distracted know Riven, he looked slightly at Veylan, just for such a short time.
Slash!
Riven got hit from the bears stone claws! The bear stood in front of Riven, ready to have a meal after a long time…
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Veylan got again on the bears' back and hit him four times with the pickaxe with his full strength. The boar fell at the ground, even though it was a stone bear fresh blood and parts of its brain fluted out its head, "Stone bear" Only meant its skin and overall, everything outside, inside it was a normal bear.
"Are you hurt?" He asked worried.
Riven jumped up, his face turning red from anger, gesturing like a grumpy cat "What? I almost died because of you! Be faster next time! Just wait! Back in the zeppelin I am going to beat you up with my pillow!" He screamed growling. Veylan smiled lightly and said: "Hehe…you are funny…"
After Riven´s heated moment they decided to finally continue.