Liam had reached the other side of the room as soon as Lady Arachne reached zero and said start. He then spun around and looked at Noxi who had kept his eyes on him the entire time. Liam had noticed the man didn’t move an inch. He wasn’t too close to the pedestal, but at the same time he wasn’t too far. When Liam got close enough he would have to get a better idea how far he was in case he needed to use the item he had.
He took in a deep breath, chanted the words Calm the Storm within his mind, and slowly let the breath out. As soon as he felt his body start to relax he turned to the corner of the room to his left and slowly walked towards it, allowing the thin wall that came out from the wall closest to it to block any prying eyes.
As soon as he entered the dark area, he activated his Veil of Shadows. He felt the coldness that came with the shadows washing over him, completely covering him from head to toe. He waited a few seconds before slowly walking out from the cover of the darken corner and the thin wall.
He slowly moved his arms in a wave to see if the man was able to see him. He knew Noxi was higher in level, skills, and abilities so he had believed the man would be able to see through his stealth. However, the man didn’t react. He wasn’t sure if he was pretending to not see him or if he really couldn’t.
Unsure of which it was, Liam decided to approach this as if the man could see him but was pretending so he could set up a surprise attack. He slowly moved towards the nearest box. As Liam reached this metal box, he crouched down and studied Noxi before deciding to move again.
Liam noticed the man was scanning the room. He looked almost like he was…unsure of where Liam was at. This made Liam believe that he was setting him up. Maybe by acting like this he believed Liam would make a mistake and try rushing. If Liam was an amateur and never had experience in these kind of situations before then he probably would do that.
Memories flashed through Liam’s mind as he stood there. When Earth started going to shit, there were times he had to sneak into places to steal food for him and others. Of course, back then he didn’t have magical abilities like he did now, but he had to learn how to get pass people without them knowing he was there. He wasn’t proud of what he had to do, but it was literally do that or starve.
I should have made items I could throw to create diversions. Liam internally kicked himself. No use worrying about that now. He was about to start to make his way to the next box, but as he placed a hand down on the edge of the box, he felt his fingers slip through what he thought a side would be.
Confused, he slowly looked at the side of the box and noticed there was no side. Not only that, but there were small round objects inside of it. As slowly and carefully as he could, Liam grabbed a couple of the round objects and pulled them out to get a better look at them. They had a bit of weight to them and felt smooth. When he got a better look at them he realized they were metal balls.
He looked at the other metal boxes and realized they too had a side opened facing different directions. He didn’t notice that earlier and wondered if they opened because the test had started. He shook his head. Trying to think about that right now would only waste time.
A smile formed on Liam’s face as he looked back at the metal balls in his hands and added a new part to his strategy. He could use these to create diversions as he proceeded to the pedestal. He had an ability he was going to use thanks to the bonuses he gets from using this form through Spirit Weave, but he wanted to save that for the right moment. Not only that, but one of his most recent creations could be used here as well, but like that ability, he needed to save it for the right moment.
Liam got to his knees and crouched as low as he could. He counted how many metal balls were in the crate and thought about the best way to do this. He couldn’t use all of them since it would eventually reveal where he was if he stayed in one spot too long. He couldn’t carry all of them with him either in case they clinked together as he walked and revealed his location.
Liam looked at Noxi once more and watched as the man turned his head towards the wall to his left. The one closest to Liam. Feeling like this was the best time, Liam aimed for a box that was a bit farther up, but closer to the wall opposite of him. The path was clear without any obstacles. As slowly and cautiously as he could, Liam rolled the metal ball.
To Liam’s surprise, as the ball rolled across the ground no noise was made. This both made Liam happy and a little worried. He thought the ball would have made at slight a bit of noise since the ground wasn’t exactly soft and the ball felt like it was made out of metal.
A new thought suddenly popped into his mind as he watched the silent ball roll. What if there was some noise cancellation magic on the ball? Was there such a magic? Will the ball make any noise if it hit the metal crate he aimed for?
These thoughts started running through his mind as he started thinking of another strategy in case this one failed. However, his worries were for naught. As soon as the metal ball lightly collided against the wall of the metal box, a sudden hollow ping echoed.
Liam was happy the ball made a noise, but then tensed as Noxi spun his attention right towards the location and chanted, “Venom Shot.”
A dark purplish green orb the size of a baseball shot from his right hand and flew towards the crate. As soon as the venomous orb slammed against it, Liam heard the sound of hissing and bubbling. He saw a white puff of smoke rise up as the metal box started to melt.
Liam gulped as he thought, Note to self…don’t get hit by that poison. He looked back at Noxi once more and saw he was trying hard to scan for him around the area the poison had struck. Taking this as a good time to move, Liam slowly made his way a bit farther up and to the right. As soon as he made it to the next box, He dropped down and rolled a metal ball towards the closest box behind the one Noxi had struck.
As soon as the metal ball hit the metal side of the box, Noxi quickly reacted with another Venom Shot. Liam made his move towards the next box closest to him. This one was almost touching the wall. As soon as he made it, he tried to feel around the box for the hole. He mentally cursed himself as he realized there wasn’t one.
Of course, not all the boxes would have a hole with distracting metal balls in them. Because that wouldn’t be fair. Liam mocked internally.
Before he tried to move again, he heard Noxi say something.
“I’ll admit that this is a first for me. I don’t know how you’re doing it, but I will find you,” Noxi stated. Then, almost as if he decided on something, he reached an arm out, palm up, and said, “Anemone…help me find him.”
Confused on what the masked man was doing, Liam continued to stare at him. A second later, a flash of light poured out from within the sleeve of his outreached hand. After the flash disappeared, the sleeve suddenly bulged as if something big had filled it.
Another second later and a black scaled head with neon green eyes peeked out from the end of the sleeve. A tongue flickered out and bounced up and down a few times before slipping back into its mouth. As the tongue did this, the head continued to escape the sleeve as the neck and the rest of its body slithered out.
It had black and dark purple scales, neon green spikes that curved and ran down its back and no legs. The size of this snake’s body confused Liam. It was not only really long, but also wide enough that it could eat a small to medium sized dog.
How was he able to hide that snake and why didn’t the sleeve of his shirt burst? Liam asked himself as he looked perplexed. He assessed it to get a better idea of what this snake was.
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“Spiked Noxious Pit Viper. 25,234/25,234 HP. 19,788/19,788 MP. Level – 59. Tamed Beast.”
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First off, fuck that health and mana. Secondly, a level fifty-nine fucking tamed beast? Liam swore mentally. Even though Liam was both irritated and a bit frightened at looking at the creature’s health and mana, he was happy to get one of his questions answered. If it was a tamed beast then he was hiding the creature by way of tattoo.
He remembered that’s how Ariyana was able to travel with Barty the Albino Crocolisk. The only way she was able to hide that creature, after taming it, was thanks to an ability the field of magic gave her. That ability turned her tamed creature into a tattoo on her body that she could use to summon and hide the creature.
He wanted to think about his other concern, but moved on as he watched the snake peek its head up and look around the area. The creature had moved a bit aways from its tamer and now more in the middle of the front area of the room. Noxi was scanning and looking in the opposite direction of his snake companion, using the advantage he just created to keep an eye out for any signs of movement.
Liam’s body tensed up a bit as the snake’s gaze stopped in the direction of where Liam was at and thought the snake was able to see him. His body quickly relaxed as the creature’s eyes moved on.
After a couple of seconds had passed and they weren’t able to find any hints, Noxi ordered, “Anemone, it seems that the little kitten can hide really well. I think we should try and flush it out. What do you think?”
Liam cringed at the unwanted nickname Lady Arachne had used earlier. That cringe turned into concern as he watched the head of the snake bob in a manner that looked like it was agreeing with him. He then felt his blood freeze as a small portion of its body swelled up and slowly worked its way towards its mouth.
Liam activated his Mana Sight and saw a bright purplish green color not outlining the entire snake, but rather the area that was swollen. The light followed the bulge of the body as well as it slowly worked its way up. As soon as it reached its head, the snake opened its mouth and spewed out a fog of purplish green smoke.
The fog rushed out and worked its way around the boxes and crates around it in the open areas. At first the thick fog rolled across the floor, however after a small bit of time it had started to rise.
Luckily for Liam the fog wasn’t near him. He was to the far right and a bit ahead of the area of where the fog had rolled out and rose from. However, that small bit of relief had disappeared as soon as he noticed a bit of the fog start to slowly creep its way behind the snake.
Shit! I need to get that snake to stop spewing that fog. Liam internally panicked. He then debated on what he needed to do before finally deciding to use his other plans. It’s a bit early to use them, but it looks like I don’t have any choice.
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“Any bets on how this will go?” Orchid asked as she stared out into the test room.
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All three watched as Liam walked over to the back of the room and turned around to look at Noxi. They were both excited to see what this apprentice of the Wild Card would show them, but also didn’t want to have too high of expectations. While it was exciting to have such a promising applicant, they knew he was too under leveled and unknowledgeable of this world.
Most of the new applicants’ levels that took these tests were mid to late twenties. Those were the weaker ones. Having one who was either around or below ten was never heard of. That’s why he piqued their interest. It wasn’t just the fact he was able to become an apprentice of the Wild Card, but also the fact that he was told to join right after leaving the Tutorial Area. They wanted to know what he saw in him.
Silent Saboteur let out a short chuckle. “Are you sure you want to make a bet against me?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Orchid asked with a frown.
“What it means is, don’t you still owe me for the last bet you lost against me?” Silent Saboteur clarified.
Orchid was about to comment back, but stopped as Lady Arachne stated with both curiosity and slight, “What is he doing?”
Both Orchid and Silent Saboteur looked at her before looking back out the window. They had just caught him walking behind the thin wall over by the corner.
A second had passed before Silent Saboteur guessed, “Do you think he is going with the stealth approach? While it would be the best route to go, he must know it is futile against his opponent.”
“You say that while forgetting how new he is here. I think he doesn’t really know what all of our races are yet?” Tantalizing Orchid commented. Then with a scoff she added, “It’s not like our races are well know as it is since we’re looked down upon as lesser much like the half-breeds.”
Lady Arachne ignored Orchid’s last comment. While she was right about many of the Beast-kins weren’t fans of what they were, it was also true that many only knew of the well popular Beast-kin races. But that didn’t matter here. What mattered was ability, skill, technique, and knowledge.
She knew he wasn’t aware he would have to go up against them during these tests, but he should have at least studied up on the races of their kind. If he didn’t then he was about to be in for a big surprise. Not many strategies would work against Noxi thanks to his race.
While a head on attack would be futile, so would trying to use any type of Stealth. Noxi’s race was a Snake-folk Beast-kin. Many believed the Snake-folks were a sub-species of the Dargon-kins. No one currently alive knows for sure. His race has two very unique racial trait unlike most other Beast-kins. One is the fact they can create poison within themselves, making their blood poisonous or even their bite, if they focused and cultivated it well over the years. The other is they can switch their vision to infrared whenever they wanted to. That was why he was the best choice to run this test. He would be able to see anyone using stealth since they couldn’t hide their body heat.
“Hm…Is Noxi alright?” Silent Saboteur suddenly asked sounding confused.
His sudden question brought Lady Arachne out of her thoughts. She turned her attention onto her second in command and noticed he looked…confused. This made her confused. The way he was looking around the room made it seemed like he wasn’t able to see where the young man was at.
“Can he not see the boy?” Orchid questioned as she looked at her two companions.
“That’s a dumb question,” Lady Arachne stated. “Clearly he would be able to.”
“So then is he acting like he can’t see him?” Orchid asked, still not sure if the man was able to.
“I have not known Tranquil Noxitanous to act or pretend when it comes to this test before,” Silent Saboteur commented. “I would not expect him to start now regardless of the applicants age.”
The portly man was right. Lady Arachne knew Noxi hated acting when it came to tests. Many who tried the stealth route in this test always ended up getting shot with… A sudden ping echoed from the box closest to the window. Lady Arachne watched as Noxi threw a Venom Shot in the direction where the sound came from. Shortly after that happened, another sound echoed from a metal box close to it.
Lady Arachne let out a disappointed sigh as Noxi shot out another Venom Shot. “See, there was no way he was pretending. He was probably waiting for the right moment to strike.”
As she turned to look at the other two, she noticed Silent Saboteur raise a hand to the bottom of his mask almost like he was thinking of something he couldn’t quite grasp. Before she could ask what was on his mind, he stated, “I’ll agree that he wasn’t pretending, but I’ll have to disagree with the second part. I don’t think he was waiting for the right moment to strike.”
Lady Arachne raised a brow as she asked, “What do you mean?”
“The speed of Noxi’s chanting and spell work is miles higher than this young man’s reflexes should be. There is absolutely no way he would be able to dodge or miss the attack,” Silent Saboteur said in a matter of fact way.
Lady Arachne nodded her head in agreement.
“So, knowing that…I am quite puzzled,” Silent Saboteur started back up again. His curiosity in his voice. He had both women wanting to know what it was he was puzzled about. He didn’t keep them waiting as he asked, “I mean…if he was waiting to strike then he would have landed his Venom Shot on the boy already and the test would be over...right?”
Both women swiftly turned their attention back into the room. They looked at the two areas where Noxi’s Venom Shot had landed and started melting the area around it. Besides the boxes and the flooring, they didn’t see anything else. They didn’t see anyone there.
Lady Arachne’s eyes widened as she realized what this meant. However, she quickly squashed the thought. Before she could voice a different opinion Orchid said, “Maybe he did get hit and backed off to try and mediate the damage caused?”
“I would normally agree with you, but he is too under leveled to be able to get out of the way and only take a small bit of damage,” Silent Saboteur argued. He then pointed a finger at Noxi and added, “Besides, he still looks like he’s unsure where the boy is to me.”
Frowning, both women looked back at Noxi and saw the man turn his head from side to side looking like he was still trying to find the young man. This greatly confused Lady Arachne, she couldn’t understand why Noxi was acting like he couldn’t find him. Now that she thought about it she couldn’t pinpoint the exact location of the little kitten herself.
He was a low level with barely any experience in this world. He was as fresh out of the Tutorial Area as most of the recent arrivals so his level in any kind of stealth should be under twenty. That meant it would be easy to spot the glaring issues any higher leveled person could see.
Her confusion grew even more as she and the others heard Noxi say this next part. “I’ll admit that this is a first for me. I don’t know how you’re doing it, but I will find you.” Everyone then watched as he reached an arm out, palm up, and added, “Anemone…help me find him.”
“Is he really going to use Anemone?” Orchid questioned with some shock in her voice.
“Isn’t that a bit much for a test?” Silent Saboteur asked, sounding a little concerned.
Lady Arachne stared at Noxi as the tamed snake started to slither out from the sleeve of his shirt. She had to agree with the pudgy man. Having that snake come out was a bit overkill. Albeit, if the snake used any of her abilities.
Maybe he really couldn’t find the little kitten? Is that why he asked for his snake to come out? She then noticed the man’s body language as she looked back at him. She could tell he was feeling irritated. If he was irritated then he was irritated about one thing. And that was the fact he really couldn’t find the young man.
His next words proved what she thought was right. While most wouldn’t be able to tell, she was able to. She was able to hear the irritation in his voice as he asked the snake, “Anemone, it seems that the little kitten can hide really well. I think we should try and flush it out. What do you think?”
The three then watched as the snake began channeling her mana to charge up an attack. As the snake was pushing up the fog it was creating inside of its belly, Lady Arachne’s attention was brought to an area of the room where a faint flash flickered in and out. It happened so fast she wasn’t entirely sure if something had happened.
She then turned her focus back on the snake as a fog of poison rolled out of her mouth and onto the ground. She then heard Silent Saboteur state, “Get the antidote and anti-poison gear ready. The moment that fog hits the young man we need to rush out there and get him to drink it, so he doesn’t die right then and there.”
Orchid didn’t say anything. Instead, she made her way to the back of the room where a cabinet was and started grabbing everything they needed. Lady Arachne didn’t take her eyes off of the room. She watched as the fog pushed out forward until it couldn’t anymore. Majority of the front room was covered in it like an early foggy morning as the poisonous cloud started to rise.
Orchid had made her way back and started handing out the supplies she was asked to grab. Lady Arachne received the items but didn’t do anything with them. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but the area where the fog had covered didn’t have any movement.
This didn’t escape Silent Saboteur either as he commented, “I don’t see him. Do you?”
“No, I…,” Lady Arachne started to say, but stopped as something brought her attention back to that one spot she thought a flash of dim light had appear at. A surprised yet excited expression grew on here face as a dark silhouette had faintly appeared against the wall on the other side of the room.
While like the flickering flash, the shadow shaped figure against the wall had disappeared as quickly as it came. What came next made everyone in the room confused, excited, and then puzzled as to how this young man had something not many in the world had.
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Liam prepared himself mentally as he readied himself to use an ability he hadn’t in a few days. He noticed the poisonous fog start to slowly make its way closer to his area, but then pushed the thought away. He then turned his focus onto the area of where Noxi stood. Not wanting to channel any Shadow Mana to help give the spell a boost as well as possibly giving his location away, Liam activated it ability.
A raven black and wispy silhouette suddenly emerged from behind Noxi. Caught off guard, both Noxi and Anemone swiftly turned around and attacked the figure. Anemone, who was a bit farther away from her master and the intruder, coiled back and used the moment of the lunge to throw her body as close to them as possible. Noxi’s reaction led him to use Venom Shot once more.
The orb of concentrated poison landed true against the dark silhouette. The second after that the snake was seen flying forward to strike the person’s throat. However, as soon as her fangs and body reached the figure, nothing happened. The snake phased through the entire body, leaving behind a trail of black smoke.
Noxi was worried at first, but then grew confused as he noticed the figure wasn’t in pain from the attack. The liquid that started to roll off the attacker’s body while bubbling and hissing. The worry that Noxi had quickly turned to confusion as he watched this new person not react at all. As he studied the body he quickly understood why he wasn’t able to locate the young man. However, he discovered it a second too late as a sudden crash of glass came from above. Right above his head.
As he looked up, he watched a tidal wave of thick raven black smoke rushed down right on top of him. To add to the black smoke, Noxi also felt a sudden pressure push down on him. Both he and his snake looked at each right before their sight went dark.
Liam knew his combination of using Shadow Double and Weak Crushing Dark Fog would give him a few seconds to move. While one of the effects that Weak Crushing Dark Fog gave, the Whispers from Beyond, wouldn’t activate since the man was wearing a gas mask, he knew it would be helpful just for the fog that could be used as a smoke screen alone.
As soon as the thick fog covered the entire ten foot radius around both Noxi and his snake, Liam sprinted as fast as he could towards the pedestal. The moment he entered a sprint, he felt the shadows that were hugging him dissipate.
He wanted to get to the pedestal as fast as he could. However, after taking four really big steps he his Danger Sense suddenly flare up all over his left side. Liam noticed a metal box right by his right foot. This one didn’t have any openings that he could see. Thinking this would work, Liam lifted his right foot up and pressed it against the side of the metal box, hoping it would not move due to the momentum and his weight being carried.
Thanking Eri, Liam came to an abrupt halt as his knee bent. As soon as he felt he was ready, Liam pressed out with his foot. This caused him to stop going forward and instead go backwards. He did this just in time right as a Venom Shot landed right where the box he used as knockback board was.
He then noticed the black fog start to lift and disappear. Revealing the whereabouts of the two opponents. To Liam’s major surprise, Anemone was already in the air flying right towards him. Behind her was Noxi readying another Venom Shot.
Internally panicking, Liam used Shadow step to dodge both incoming attacks. Noxi and the snake were both confused as the orb of poison and the snake flew right through Liam causing his body to explode into a puff of black smoke.
As Noxi stared confusedly, he felt a sudden presence appear right behind him. He pulled out a bone metal sword with dark green bone spikes in small sections of the blade portion from his inventory and swung it around.
Each section that a bone spike suddenly stretched out, elongating the blade, and swiped the area that he felt Liam’s presence was at. However, the blade had struck nothing but air as it whipped around like a snake. He had thought the young man would have tried attacking his back or tried to run towards the pedestal. Instead, Liam had crouched down as soon as he appeared behind Noxi.
As soon as the boned whip-like sword fully passed over his head, Liam pushed off the ground and ran towards the pedestal. After taking a few steps, he pushed his lower half forward and leaned back as far as he could so he could slide across the floor. The blade swung over his body the moment he had gotten parallel with the floor. Once more, after the blade finished sailing across the air above him, Liam pushed himself back up.
He was making guesses at this point of where and when Noxi would strike as he jumped to his left then right as the blade struck each spot he once was at. Noxi did this once more before Liam was a couple feet away from the pedestal. However, as soon as he was almost in arms reach of the pedestal, he felt his Danger sense not only flare up along his back, but also along his entire right side. It was Anemone.
Liam used Shadow Step as soon as he could right for the spot behind the snake, causing both the snake and the blade to strike nothing but black smoke. Cursing himself, Noxi turned his focus back on Liam and was about to strike once more, but then stopped. Liam’s hand had touched the box on the pedestal.
“Test finished,” Lady Arachne suddenly called out. A mixture of surprise and excitement filled her.