Alex swiftly moved on the branches of the surrounding trees, quickly approaching the clearing. When he got to the last few branches before he was exposed to the fighters and the other hiding students, he leapt into the sky.

    WHOOSH!

    CRACK!

    The force with which he leapt from the branch shattered it as he swiftly ascended to a height of 50,000 feet above ground. The staff he carried on his back was now in his right hand, in its spear form. From the height he reached in the sky, he could see the small clearing with the students momentarily frozen.

    With a form ready to throw a spear, Alex decided to go all out for once. He narrowed his eyes on the one-horned and with a small breath he let out, released the spear with all his might.

    ........

    Victor was still hard-pressed to defend against the attacks of the group when they all heard a loud crack coming from close by. It was loud enough to draw the attention of all the hiding students and before they realized it, they noticed a small figure high up in the sky.

    "Who''s that?" One of the hiding students muttered to himself as he squinted his eyes to get a better look at the figure.

    The fighting had momentarily stopped as they all looked up at the small figure, wondering who that was and how they were able to reach such heights. However, their thoughts were cut short when they noticed something briefly reflecting the light from the sun and then heard a loud whipping sound, followed by...

    BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

    ....

    ''Alex, oh, Alex... They made the mistake of sending a wolf into a sheep''s den. And this is no ordinary wolf, but an alpha wolf.'' Ross found his own thought process amusing. Yes, with numbers, even the strongest could be overwhelmed, but that was only if they were able to surround him and cut off his escape route.

    ......

    "I think we made an error including that boy." An instructor commented in the teacher''s lounge. Just like the students, they had their own space where they could watch and take note of well-performing students.

    However, the performance of most students was subpar at best. Of course, there were exceptions, but compared to the numbers, they only made up a small percentage.

    Right now, the instructors were watching as Alex caused a massive explosion that turned everything dark. Find your next read on empire

    ''No shit!'' Instructor Horvey had the urge to exclaim but kept that to himself. From the start, Alex''s physical strength was leagues above all the first years, but for some reason, his level remained stagnant.

    "Yeah, but there''s nothing we can do now. The criterion was low-level students must partake in this filtering stage, there was no consideration for their physical power."

    Normally, mana level equals strength as the more you increase your level, the stronger you get. But for some reason, Alex was the only exception to this rule and while they didn''t know if his physical strength had increased over the course of the year, his instructor had his suspicions, and seeing this attack right now, he finally had a definite answer.

    The strength Alex displayed had long surpassed what he revealed during his awakening. He was solidly in the ranks of a low-tier Class E hunter, purely from his physical power.

    ''Just what exactly did you experience in that cosmic mana wave?'' Instructor Horvey''s curiosity had never been so peaked. Now more than ever, he was itching to find out what made him different. Because if he could show strength like that without the corresponding level, then what is to say how strong he would become when he had the actual corresponding level?

    For now, they must sit through this battle royale and hope Alex doesn''t eliminate everyone so quickly.