◆Rank 3◆
A brief break was given after the second round of testing. They were allowed to go take a shower and change clothes if they so wished. It was also encouraged to eat a quick lunch during this time, since they probably wouldn’t get another chance until dinner. Jaid hadn’t really gotten much stickiness on her besides her shoes so she didn’t feel the need to clean, but certainly took the lunch opportunity.
After their break was done, they met up again at the north exit to the compound. The fact that there was a north exit was a bit surprising, since as far as Jaid could tell, it was virtually never used. Nachi led them on a march over one of the smaller mountains to the base of a bigger one on the other side. It was obvious that they easily could have just gone around the base once they’d crossed it, but the trainer probably used it as an excuse to make them exercise.
Carved into the side of this mountain was a trench that went all the way to the top. It was surprisingly wide and could allow a large crowd to walk up it comfortably. There were also what appeared to be several rest locations in outcrops along the way. Jaid couldn’t quite put it together. It seemed like a lot of work just to make it easier to go up the mountain. A simple trail would have sufficed.
At the base of the trench was a corral similar to what would be used to fence in animals. Right next to the mountain entrance was a rack full of mannequins. For the life of her, Jaid couldn’t guess where this was going. The lube log had been obvious, well at least the general idea. Maybe a monster lived at the top of the mountain and the trench and corral was to keep it contained? It was her best guess, so she’d just have to wait for the explanation.
“Alright, I think it’ll be best to just show you guys this test myself,” Nachi grabbed one of the mannequins off the rack and started running up the mountain. It was hard to see her after a few minutes but they could still see a speck steadily move up the trench until it reached the top.
Jaid was still confused. The purpose of the test was now obvious. It served as a test of endurance along with proving you could get someone to safety. To Jaid though, it seemed easier than the last two. Maybe her opinion was skewed as a Fiend, and it’d be much harder for the Lessers and hellish for the human. Perhaps it was more to weed them out, or Fiends had increased difficulty somehow.
Tize’s phone suddenly rang, and he pulled it out, confused. Nachi was calling him, and he put it on speaker after talking to her for a brief second. “Alright folks, you saw what I just did and now you have to do the same,” Nachi announced to everyone. “Get a mannequin to the top. Easy. Except not really. There’s one more piece of chaos to this test which you all should see at any moment.”
On cue there was a rumbling tumbling down the mountain. A giant boulder barreled down the trench. The crowd rushed out of the way, but Gatrim’s pride didn’t let him run. He attempted to stop the boulder with a stab but was bowled over as if Nachi was picking up a spare.
Laughter from the phone died down after a few seconds, and she continued with the explanation. “Get a mannequin to the top,” she repeated. “But there will be boulders raining down on you periodically. Do whatever you need to stop them, or you can hide in the outcrops off to the side and let them pass.”
“If either you or the mannequin do a little free-fall down the mountain, you have to start over. This test will end when I get bored, so don’t take too long. There is a stipulation to those of you with Curses, too. You cannot use your powers on the mannequins if your power doesn’t work on living beings. This is supposed to be a real person you’re helping. That means you, Roque.”
“Don’t think I’ll run out of boulders either. These things are self-replenishing.” To give credence, the nearby boulder suddenly shrunk down to the size of a small ball and a propeller popped out of it. The ball then flew itself back up to the top of the mountain.
“Alrighty, get ready to start. Oh, and one last thing. Anyone who makes it up here early I’ll let throw rocks down at the rest of you. Go!” The phone beeped when the call ended.
Mayhem ensued as everyone started scrambling around, most heading for the mannequins. The more informed among them, however, were all staring at Itsy. She had a gleam in her eye, and it was obvious why. A silent pact was formed as Jaid, Tize, and a few others all went to intercept her but she plowed right through them. Itsy grabbed a mannequin by its face and raced up the trench—the poor doll swinging wildly in her grip.
Kaizu, in either a brilliant or unbearably stupid move, launched her chain at Itsy, wrapping it around her leg. She grabbed a mannequin on the way as she was forcefully yanked up the mountain behind the stampeding beast. It would certainly hurt like zjik, but it was an easy win if she could hold on.
Jaid pitied those who hurried in after her, knowing what was coming. While everyone was allowed and expected to attempt this test at the same time, she was more than happy to wait her turn and let as many as possible go ahead of her. Her patience paid off, and an avalanche of boulders blasted out of the entrance, sweeping half of the participants with them.
Now that the overzealousness of boulders had hopefully worn off, Jaid entered the trench. She was never really eager to use her Curse since it served as an inescapable reminder of what she’d become, but couldn’t deny its usefulness in this situation. Any advantage she could get, she’d take.
The main Jaid was holding the mannequin, similar to how she’d carried Tize last night. It had unwittingly and coincidentally served as good practice for this. While she could be careless with it like Itsy and several others had, maybe she’d get bonus points for treating it with care and dignity.
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There were two rows of Jaids in front of her. The back row was walking normally, but they were holding the legs of the front row. The front row was walking on their hands with their feet resting on the shoulders of the row behind them. This created a human ramp that hopefully the boulders would glide right over. They were clearly not actual boulders—hollow on the inside—or they’d just be crushed.
One came for her to test, and it went better than expected. Perhaps it was the high velocity or the inherent bounciness of the boulders, but they glided right over her. The clones didn’t feel much discomfort either. Their senses were shared, and pain was multiplied. If the five of them in front got injured, that’d be five times the pain.
Thankfully, this experience would be nothing for her and it almost felt like cheating. She felt really bad for those she started to pass. Gatrim was cowering in one of the off-shoots, but regrew his prideful bravery the moment he saw her. At one point, Jaid was pretty sure she saw Niloy and Rezin smooshed together against a boulder as it flew over her.
She reached the top without much further hassle. The shared workout with her clones had been tiresome, but she was used to such experiences. Her idea to use them like this had even come from a past drill she’d been forced to do. The drill itself still made no sense to her, but couldn’t complain now that it had come in handy.
The spy was one of the first to the top, surprised that more hadn’t finished since she’d started so late. Itsy and Kaizu had obviously passed, as had another Fiend and Lesser. Kaizu simply sat in boredom while Itsy chucked a boulder down as soon as a new one flew to her, having run out of whatever stockpile they started with.
Chorus was there as well, and a very artsy triangular shaped dresser was chained to their wrist. While it’d be a terrible and nonfunctional piece of furniture, they’d had a similar idea to make a ramp. Their upper torso was covered in armor as well.
“I’m normally the one blocking things with my body. Thanks for the shield, Jaid.” She whirled around to find Tize directly behind her. How long had he been there? That bastard must have been using her ramp to his advantage the whole time. Nachi only smiled when Jaid glanced over in annoyance.
Roque was the next to complete the trial after them. He turned around, and a piece of paper shredded to bits in front of him. Several boulders suddenly spawned and began their rapid descent, many screams from below followed shortly after.
A few more trickled in, but there was a long gap between finishers. Nachi was obviously reaching the end of her interest when a whole group showed up. Gatrim, Niloy, Rezin, and Crucion were all clinging to each other as one entity. Jaid figured that they’d used their combined mass to deflect the boulders.
Nachi jogged over to them fuming and wagging her finger, but no words came out. They hadn’t broken any issued rules. And while it may not be in the spirit of the test, they all accomplished their mission. After throwing a mute tantrum for a bit longer, she stomped away.
That was the end of her leniency since she ended the test a moment later. Two more Lessers and a Fiend failed that trial. Nachi informed them that the human element would be replaced with an automatic boulder chucker, so the test could be retried anytime. It was also mentioned that the site would probably be used for training again in the future.
[Rank 3 Results]
Passed: Gatrim, Niloy, Tize, Chorus, Kaizu, Roque, Itsy, Jaid, Rezin, Crucion
Failed:
Once the third test was done, all passers and failures alike were forced to jog back to the compound. They took the trail around the base of the mountain this time instead of over it. Upon their return, the dead-on-his-feet Crucion was released to return to his usual duties. Nachi promised, no, threatened that he’d receive personal training from her later.
The rest were taken to a group training session at the gym. It was fairly basic stuff, just lifting weights and using machines, far less intense than what Jaid had experienced yesterday. Nachi explained that she was just trying to get them into the mindset of what would be a good routine and that the difficulty would be ramped up later—tailoring it to each individual's needs.
“That’s it for training today,” Nachi called the group over. “For those of you who’ve failed a test so far, you get the night off. Relax and get some rest, you’ll be training your asses off tomorrow while everyone else is testing.”
“For the rest of you, we’re taking a break for dinner. I recommend you gorge yourselves since you may not eat a good meal again for a while. We’ll be leaving from the front gate right when the sun sets. I won’t be telling you exactly when that is, so figure it out for yourselves. If you’re late, you fail.”
“It’s still a decent chunk of time, so do what you can with it. Get changed if you want. You can wear your combat gear for this next test if you like. I recommend getting something warm to wear if you’re a Lesser. It’ll be getting cold tonight. Maybe take a nap.”
Before they were dismissed, someone asked for information on the remainder of the tests. “Well that’d ruin the surprise,” Nachi smirked as she refused. “Almost none of you will make it past rank 8 though, so I suppose there’s no harm in telling you the parameters there. For rank 9, you have to beat a 2nd-tier monster. The original plan was top-tier but those are just too hard to find. Even 2nd-tier may take a while.”
“For rank 10, you have to beat another rank 10. This currently includes Drim, Phon, Kada, and Xard. Rusa will probably be there soon too. She’s currently at rank 9. For reference, we ran all of these tests using Rusa as a test-subject. Her underdeveloped body just isn’t capable of beating one of the others yet. You’re allowed to pick whoever you want to fight, so choose carefully.”
“Oh, and to get rank 8, you have to beat me in a fight. That’s why most of you will be stuck there forever.” Jaid could understand the struggle for ranks 9 and 10, but she really couldn’t see how Nachi would be much of an issue. While Jaid disliked Fiends, the power difference between them and Lessers was laughable. They’d have to be very inexperienced to lose in a one-on-one match.
“Here for your personal training then, Drim?” Nachi greeted him as the others started to clear out. Jaid had stayed behind a few extra minutes to try to be helpful and clean up. Just as she was about to pass the threshold to the exit, she jumped in surprise. Drim’s body had slammed against the wall next to her and slumped to the floor, already battered and bruised. She looked back at Nachi, not a scratch on her. Maybe it wouldn’t be so easy after all.