The forest surrounding the Lightning Griffon academy, the night before.
Since Linjos didn't need its help for the second exam, Scarlett the Scorpicore, Lord of the forest surrounding the White Griffon academy, had spent the last months performing its annual round of the Distar Marquisate.
The Scorpicore would look for magical beasts old and wise enough to be potential candidates for becoming Awakened ones, hence turning them into Monsters. Scarlett had no obligation to do such thing, it simply felt it was the right thing to do to keep the balance.
Magical beasts had a mortality rate incomparable with humans. Dying of old age for them was more a myth than a possibility. Humans kept growing in numbers and power instead.
(*) Strongest metal of the new world