By the time Asn was 15, Aria was 205. They were still in the top css in their year, but Asn remained low key and was pced 3rd in css. Aria was, of course, ranked first and was a prodigy, well loved and respected by all. They were openly friends and competitors by now, though they didn't look close publicly. They acted more like the official Elven princess and one of her half-elf subjects

  He had now grown to 6 feet tall, the same height as Aria. Asn was muscur, yet lean and quite good looking, whereas Aria looked gorgeous as usual as she never ages. But they were of simir height now and looked more compatible

  They still met in private, only Asn had now shown her one of his shadow abilities, the ability to enter the shadows, and he regurly brings her into the shadow realm to make love

  She never questioned his abilities as both of them learned many different types of magic in the Academy, and Asn frequented the library often, learning all kinds of magic. This was a gift that he got from his mother, who was a infamous sorcerer.

  His close friend Anvi, was not very versatile and only ranked 12th in css. She was an expert in her lightning magic, and had learned some fme magic, but only with Asn's help. And a little bit of water magic. She leaned these to help her craft better, but that was it. Asn thought that she had the ability to learn more, but she wasn't interested

  She was a genius inventor and craftsman, and even the elven craftsman in the city loved her. She freely used her fire magic to manipute the furnace, and her water magic to quench her creations, but she still only used her lightning for battle. She would have ranked higher in css if only she bothered to learn other types of magic. So her exam results were limited

  --

  Today, they were going for the 3rd year school examination in the Dark Forest. This was one of the exams where it was a survival course, rigged with traps and beasts as they competed to get points and several check points along the way to the top of the mountain

  After 3 years of simply learning magic in the Academy, this was the first test that allowed the students to use their powers openly, and in a realistic scenario

  Although this was a test, the chances of serious injury or death was very real indeed and every student was given a "escape stone" where they would crush a stone that immediately teleports them to where the lecturers were

  Since the opening ceremony, this was the second time the students have seen Professor Dumbledalf attending. Only perhaps Aria had seem him more times since her parents, King Aldair and Queen Luna had visited the Academy once a year ago.

  They had visited Aria, and checked up on all the Elven and Half-Elven kids studying there, including Asn and all the other elves in different years. Queen Luna smiled at Asn, noticing how tall and handsome he's grown

  There were 400 kids participating. And the task was simple, hunt as many beasts and demonic creatures as they could within 3 days and collect their cores, which would be calcuted for their score. They were not allowed to go past a certain fenced area of the forest. But that was it. The whistle was blown and all the kids started running into the forest while the many lecturers stayed by a rge kehouse by the ke, which was the starting and ending point

  --

  Asn walked calmly through the forest, losing sight of everybody else

  He wasn't in any hurry since it was a three day test, and the Dark Forest was known to have plenty of beasts and demonic creatures

  Sounds of battle was taking pce all around, and a sound of lightning crashing signified Anvi fighting nearby

  A group of monkeylike creatures rushed out towards him with fangs bared, and Asn shot fireballs at them burning them to ash and leaving their cores

  "At least I don't have to dig them out of their skulls" he thought to himself

  He bent over to pick two up and another few flew into his hand as he kept them in a pouch

  "Fancy meeting you here" a beautiful voice sounded

  "Aimee" Asn said, knowing who she was without looking. She was the st person he wanted to meet

  She was a beautiful blonde Vi, a magical nymph-like magical being and second in ranking, above him and just below Aria

  He never really knew her as Aria always warns him in private about her, as she tries to flirt with him often. But she literally flirts with all the guys and was the crush of many guys, possibly as many as Aria

  She was a beauty, wearing literal see through clothes all the time, although it somehow hid her private areas

  She was magically very powerful, and her racial magics alone allowed her life transfer, animal communication, hypnotism, shapeshifting, storm manipution, super strength, durability and speed. On top of that she was quite gifted in learning new magic too

  "I've always liked you. Why do you keep ignoring me? Is it the princess?" Aimee asked as she approached him

  He felt his will literally weakening as she got close to him, rubbing her body on his arm

  "She is a a high elven princess, you know. You stand no chance with her. But with me..." she said as she suddenly inserted her hand into his pants and felt his growing snake

  "Oh! How exciting" she said as she felt his enormous cock

  She drew out her hand, covered in his pre-cum, and licked it

  She suddenly frowned

  "You... you've already done it with her? How can that be?" Aimee suddenly said and looked sad

  "Please Aimee.." Asn said softly

  "I... I understand. I'm too te. You're linked with her already" she said and looked him deep in his eyes, his face inches from hers

  Suddenly, she kissed him

  "I wanted you. But it's not meant to be" she sighed and started walking off

  "Wait.. Aimee" Asn called out

  "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone. Tell Aria that she's a lucky girl" Aimee said and disappeared into the forest

  Just then, Asn snapped out of it. Was he hypnotized? Or was there a natural charm on her, making her attract all men?

  --

  He walked around for another 2 hours, killing several minor creatures, but nothing worth boasting about yet. The other students were far in front of him and possibly had already hunted far more prized creatures

  He walked and discovered one of his cssmates, Tom, hiding behind a tree. He looked and all around several other cssmates were hiding as well

  "What is going on?" Asn asked

  Tom pced his finger to his lips and pointed ahead. Beyond the trees there was a rge orc vilge the gate guarded by two orc guards and two orcs guarded a watchtower just behind the gate. The students seemed to have teamed up to attack the orcs and was waiting for a signal

  Suddenly, Aria flew into the air and shot two wind bdes, killing the two orcs on the tower, and before the guards at the gate could react, the students all started attacking!

  One of the guards managed to blow his horn before being killed by his cssmate Bolton, the padin in training, who then killed the other guard

  "Damn it, Bolton. You were too slow" Aria scolded as she nded next to him

  "I'm sorry Aria. He was faster than I anticipated" Bolton said as Anvi rushed past them and smashed her hammer to the ground, creating an earthquake.

  The other students rushed in and started fighting with the orcs, who were already alerted

  Orcs were killed and several students were injured. Some were healed by Bolton, while the more serious injured were teleported back to the kehouse

  Suddenly a rge orc shaman exited the chieftain's house and started firing rapidfire fireballs at the students

  Asn's eyebrow raised. Was this like his father, commanding the high orcs?

  Aria, Anvi and several of the students who could control fire started deflecting the fireballs, but they were struggling as the fireballs hit and exploded with such high impact. The tide turned to favor the orcs as the students were forced back

  "This won't do. Lets see how good this guy is" Asn thought

  The next barrage of fireballs suddenly floated in the air and gathered together as one rge fireball

  The student's got scared and started fleeing

  But surprisingly the orc shaman was startled too

  Asn walked out of the forest holding his mithril staff Cursed

  "Asn!" Anvi called happily. Aria turned and look, and was relieved

  Asn pointed at the orc chieftain and the fireball suddenly crashed into him, causing to scream as the fire consumed him

  The battle tide turned yet again as the students turned and faced the orcs again, who had been demoralized

  As he walked past, he pressed a button on Cursed, and a bde shot out as he used it to chop two orc's head off

  He stopped right next to the Princess and smiled

  "I hope you agree, this one is mine, correct?" Asn said as he opened his hand and the orc shaman and the other two orc's mana cores floated into his hand

  "Yes. Er.. thank you" Aria said. She couldn't act familiar to him, but she wished she could "reward" him right now

  --

  The group sat around a campfire after the battle

  Aria was surrounded by a rge group of students, both guys who were interested, and girls who admired her

  She couldn't spent time with Asn, who sat next to Anvi, who was his best friend.

  "Going already? There's strength in numbers. You should spend the night in the camp" Anvi said

  "The best hunting will be at night, Anvi. I don't want to miss out" Asn smiled

  He gave her a fistbump and gave Aria a wave before he left the camp

  Aria looked at him and gave him a sad smile. She wasn't going to be able to spend time with him anyway

  She will "make it up" to him when they returned to the Academy anyway, now that he has shown her his shadow hiding ability