“Yes.” I replied, I am quite nervous but I have trained for almost two years Earth time with these Powers and have practised them over and over again. I am ready for this.
Breathing in and out again to steady myself, Proctor Wellingpar waits for me to make the first move. Nodding my head at him I say aloud “Let's have a good fight.” as I bring my arms up into an orthodox boxing stance with hands near my head.
Proctor Wellingpar nods as well, guess he’s ready. I take a deep breath in and out, and in and OUT! I roar fire out using Elemental Avatar, the fire being moved to take up as much visibility as possible.
As the clear force wall I saw from before appears I bring up fingers together and create four Shadow Clones, as they poof into existence I again shoot fire. Two balls of fire are shot out from my left hand like a boxer’s punch but splash harmlessly against the wall.
The clones are split, two on each side of me, 1 and 2 on my right move to the right and also start throwing fire punches. 3 and 4 lean back with their arms stretched toward the mountain behind us.
Leaning back further so that they are on one leg they quickly move their arms forward and two beams of stone shoot out of the rock, I move my arms as they shoot over me, directing them into the force wall at speed.
They impact, the force of it shattering the force wall and stopping those pillars' momentum. Numbers 1 and 2 close in and start moving the gravel, forcing it to wrap around his legs as he tries to back up while 3 and 4 start launching beams of stone from the ground as they move forward.
The force wall tries to push up again but too many giant stone pillars impact it, despite the faces of the pillars being flat the force wall cracks under the strain of all that rock and stone and gaps appear in the wall.
I pull from the small river and a ring of water forms around me. As I bring it to wrap around Proctor Wellingpar he disappears. But I have 5 pairs of eyes, number 4 sees him teleport behind me and instantly poofs back into smoke. The memory of the teleport being sent to me immediately I kick back with my right foot, sending a pillar of stone toward him.
Taken by surprise the pillar impacts and smashes into his abdomen, the skin glowing a vibrant red from the impact. 1 through 3 launch themselves toward him by shooting pillars of rock from underneath them, riding them through the air for a short distance.
As they do this I spin on my remaining foot and kick again with my right foot, the water ring shoots out and coats him in water that quickly solidifies into ice, I direct the ice to form spikes on the inside. Scraping away at the red glowing barrier.
The ice takes on a red glow as the damage is done, I bring my right knee up and with it a pillar of stone erupts from the ground, impacting his chest and forcing the ice into his red glow barrier.
Suddenly a crack of stone can be heard, and the glow fades. I saw where you put that stone you were using with Lockness mate, one hard pillar impact against a barrier and the stone broke!
Surprised once again I notice up close that his eyes focus away from me toward the right, he teleports away again about 10 metres away to my right and moves to take out the gravel from his pocket.
Behind him smoke appears from his shadow and a large bear-like animal appears out of his view, standing upright on its hind legs and then falling down. Pushing Proctor Wellingpar down onto the ground, Wojtek may not have all its weight from when it was alive but it is a physical thing.
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Pushing down I reach out with Psychokinesis and pull my daggers out from my belt, three small daggers hover out of reach and pointed diagonally towards his head.
Smiling, the proctor teleports again next to me. “Well done, I must say I was not expecting some of those attacks.”
“I was not expecting it to be over this fast, did you make things easier for me than Lock?” I ask as I wave at Wojtek and the other clones, who either move back into shadow or poof back into smoke.
“Oh course, you have fewer Powers than Lockness. Fewer Powers mean less effective in a fight. But I will say not to be discouraged, you did quite well for yourself.”
Chuckling, I move the daggers back into their sheafs and we walk back toward the tunnel. Putting back the dagger belt we ride the elevator upstairs and are welcomed by a round of applause.
As with Lockness, each one there comes up and gives me handshakes and congratulations. “Nicely done there” copies Lockness “must say a body duplicate Power was not something I was expecting.”
“Thanks, Shadow Clone. It was quite difficult to master.” I copy back. With two grins we separate and I get more handshakes from the others, ending with Master Carson.
“Well done Michael, very well done. Wellingpar, what do you think?”
Wellingpar turns to me, “For Michael, taking into account just his fighting and style. Stetval Rank, Double C Rank. As for sub rank, well that is determined by the jobs he takes and the manner of their completion.”
“And for Lockness?”, “A well deserved Hasmagne Rank, or Triple C Rank as you call it Michael.” he replies addressing Lockness.
Lockness and I are standing a little away from each other but both of us start cheering, “Yes!”
After another round of applause we go over the different Powers we have separately with the Priest of Power, Wellingpar. It must get confusing with the two of them working together all the time.
As we alternate between talking with Wellingpar, we get some forms filled right there and then and before we know it both of us receive a wooden card, our Proof of ID. On it, it has our names, rank, sub rank and branch. We are officially Adventurers.
Once I hold my card I feel a weight off my shoulders, after nearly two earth years I am finally out of the worst of it. I am mostly safe, and that's enough for now.
Sitting down on one of the lounges I take a breath in and relax for a moment. I turn to Proctor Wellingpar and ask, “Hey, Wellingpar. For the exam, why not use monsters that we might be fighting against in the future to measure our combat effectiveness? Why people?”
“A good question” he replies, sipping a drink he got from somewhere. “It is generally frowned upon to kill or maim animals and even monsters just for exams. And besides, trying to kill or capture a person is quite difficult. If someone cannot even do so in an exam, they will never be able to do so in an actual fight.”
Nodding I reply “Yea I can understand that, also I’m thinking you’ve fast tracked me through it.”
“Well of course, normally it would be a longer probationary period and psychological evaluation but we can do that later.”
“Huh, cool. Well, I don’t know about you guys but let’s celebrate! Does anyone know a good place to grab an early celebratory lunch?”
Laughing Master Carson says, “Why not, everyone I think we can afford an early lunch. And I’m sure you might have more questions about being an Adventurer aside from our protection against the Institute.”
As we move back up onto the ground floor and out the main doors onto the street I see several blimps on the map. Institute members I suppose, but too little too late. I’m in the clear boys!
---
Taal - Institute Operative
Looks like they got to him first, the only reason they would all go out the front is if he’s already an Adventurer. Pulling out a crystal he speaks into it as he starts to walk away.
“He’s an Adventurer now, we can't get to him now. Call the teams back.”
“Sir will not like this progression.”
“I know, but this is the only thing we could have done. Unless he wants us to attack The Monster of Felworth himself.”