“Next!”
Onno decided to step up to the plate as he felt confident in his ability to run away for a minute. “4th realm skeletal structuring, 2nd stage.”
“Can’t buy your way out of this beating, little guy. Then again, I suppose you can always run home to your daddy after and beg him to solve your issues.” Slick was rubbing his thumb over his index finger to mock Onno’s wealth.
“What would a poor scrap know about ‘buying’ anything? I mean look at you, I couldn't even sell you as junk in a second-hand store,” Onno’s mouth was firing on all cylinders. He may not be a strong fighter but one should never challenge a true businessman such as him to a battle of words.
Meanwhile, Slick’s gears were starting to literally grind. Teng and Rud had always asked him to rouse the examinees' fighting spirit to see how well they could maintain composure, but so rarely had anyone ever verbally fought back. Between Mr. Mosquito and Mr. Moneybags, Slick was really starting to dislike the foul mouths on these new hopefuls.
“The trial will start in three, two, one, BEGIN!” Teng felt the need to once again hastily start the trial before Slick truly went off the handles.
“Doppelbänger!”
Onno figured it would be in his best interest to act first before the overly-agitated robo made his move. Onno’s back looked as though it were made of a goop like substance and, from the goop, out jumped a direct copy of himself.
Doppelbänger was an art of the ‘clone aspect’ which came under the illusion pillar. It creates an identical clone of the user that comes with an explosive trick up its sleeve. The explosion type depends on what other pillars the creator is capable of utilising. This means that not only do you not know which body is going to explode, you never know what kind of problem you’re going to have to deal with until it’s too late. It just so happened that Onno used variety cultivation and was well versed in numerous different pillars. This slowed his cultivation compared to others, and he was only at 4th realm skeletal structuring 2nd stage because of it, but he was really difficult to pin down even if someone had a higher cultivation. Onno could consistently maintain an elemental advantage over just about anyone and he was by far the most adaptable cultivator in the room.
Slick decided to take the fist-first approach and disregarded the potential explosion. As far he was concerned, it was a fifty-fifty chance. Even if it went wrong, so what? A poxy little explosion wouldn’t dent his frame. Even though he’d suppressed his cultivation, the results of body tempering, for a robo anyway, weren’t as easy to intentionally lower like cultivation base was. If his body truly matched his lowered cultivation, then he would have already been beaten senseless by Li Li. “Eeny meeny miny moe!” Slick wasn’t going to try and deduce real from fake without mana, so he resorted to what was ‘clearly’ the superior decision making method and ran after the furthest ‘Onno’ from his current position. Slick’s fist sunk into a weird, goopy substance before everything in his vision went white as snow.
Crackle
Slick had chosen wrong and his oh-so generous reward was for him to be encased in ice from head to toe. Maybe Onno couldn’t damage him, but he could definitely freeze him in place and waste his time.
Slick couldn’t feel pain, heat, cold, or just about anything really, but he was slowly becoming more and more fed up with all these silly little tricks he was having to deal with today. He was really starting to wish he could use mana right about now. Wasn’t this just bullying? This year’s test takers were far too good compared to every other year when it came to under-handed games and stunts like this. The only person he even came close to stopping was Li Li; and, even then, he took a bullet to the head and was made to look like a fool for his troubles, and that’s not even including the curtain and pillar trick he’d fallen for too. Was everyone else going to be like this as well? At least with Li Li he could vent his frustrations and physically hit something, this was just mean! He wanted a raise! Or at least to not have to pay for the damn wall! Slick shook violently in the ice, making cracks appear one after another until eventually the ice shattered.
“What’s wrong hobo-robo, why aren’t you chasing me? Did you get cold feet?” Onno was cupping his hands around his mouth and jeering at Slick from the other end of the platform.
I wonder if this will be the year that I accidentally kill a participant, Slick wondered. Instead of immediately chasing after Onno, Slick stopped and took a deep breath. Robos couldn't actually breathe, but he certainly ‘felt’ at least a little calmer. He only had enough time left to cross the platform and attack Onno once so he at least wanted to give this little shit a run for his money. Slick took slow steps at first which, bit by bit, became a jog before finally fully breaking out into a sprint. When he finally got close enough to Onno, he lowered and slightly twisted his body and flung himself towards Onno while spinning. Slick stuck out his fist to launch a corkscrew attack and secretly rejoiced when he started feeling confident Onno could no longer dodge the incoming punch.
Splash
Sizzle
Fuck! This job sucks, Slick thought. Really? Acid? Really? A jet of dark green liquid spewed out from the second Doppelbänger, utterly drenching Slick. Steam was rising off his metalwork and the colour of his frame was slowly staining green. “Tsk, that’ll take at least a week to get out,” he complained under his breath.
On the side of the platform where the ice doppelbänger had been detonated previously, light was bending around a point in space. Eventually Onno stepped out of the refracted light and took a bow. No-one ever said he could only make one doppelbänger at a time! While he was creating them, he used an invisibility art of the ‘optical aspect’ called ‘Shed No Light’ which allowed the user to bend light to their whim and could be activated silently. He replaced himself with the second Doppelbänger flawlessly and was almost completely undetectable without using mana.
It didn’t help that Slick was unaware Doppelbängers could speak and function like regular humans; they could even fight and use other arts if the caster was well enough versed in the art. When the second Doppelbänger called him a ‘hobo robo’, he made the false assumption that it was definitely the real Onno speaking. Slick never had a chance at all. He was upset at having been blown up twice, but he was more upset at having been led all around the damn platform like he was chasing a carrot on a stick. It was unbearably humiliating having to walk all the way back to the centre of the platform.
“Congratulations Onno, you’ve passed and are now a member of the sect!” Teng gave the usual cheer and applause as Onno stood to the side.
“Next” Slick called out in a voice that, if you listened close enough, carried a hint of shame and agitation. Please let it be someone I can punch, please let it be someone I can punch, please let it be someone I can punch, Slick prayed.
Aejaz was currently using his personal treasure, ‘Concealed Serpent’, the amulet he had gotten from the Chen Clan, to hide behind Ares. Ares was unable to go as he was currently fulfilling his unwritten obligation to pet Appa. There was no way in hell Appa was going anywhere right now and giving up on this current state of bliss it was in just yet. This left the Lightning and Water Duo, both of whom looked very much punch-able to Slick.
Now that everyone’s eyes were on the Duo, everyone came to the realisation that these two actually looked quite similar to each other. They weren’t relatives as far as anyone knew, but if they said they were then no one would doubt it. There wasn’t much to say about their looks as they were both practically the definition of average and forgettable. Hell, even their names were forgettable and no one present could remember either of them even if their lives depended on it. They had only really shown anything notable when they worked together to make the net and later defend their tokens as a pair. In fact, it was far easier to remember them as the Lightning-Water Duo than it was to remember their names individually.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Up until now, it seemed as though they had been discussing something during the previous turns. When they realised none of the other three were going up, they nodded at one another and played rock, paper, scissors to determine who would go first. After one of the two won, everyone promptly realised they had no idea whether it was the Lightning or Water Guy heading over to face Slick. They couldn’t even remember which of the two had won their first rock, paper, scissor duel in the previous trial.
“4th realm meridian expansion, 3rd stage.”
“Bloody hell, even your voice is dull and forgettable. Are you hoping you can make enemies and then bore them to death by blending in with the crowd until they lose interest?”
The guy sighed plainly. “Rude.”
Slick was at a loss for words. This person hadn’t reacted at all. He didn’t sigh out of exasperation, it sounded more like he was completely uninterested in everything that was happening around him. His entire demeanour reminded Slick of everyday wage-slaves that just wanted to get the job done, go home, sleep, and do it all again the next day like a happy little cog in the wheel. Slick found that no description other than one as simple as ‘cultivator’ fit this person. He was nothing more, nothing less. There were millions like him and that was all there really was to it. There was nothing else to say. For every one person that stood out from the crowd, there had to be a crowd. This was a guy who would definitely be a part of the crowd.
“Uhh, start? I guess?” Even Teng and Rud were flabbergasted at how ordinary this person was.
Slick shook his head to recover from his daze and stepped toward the person in front of him. The person jumped back and formed a bow and arrow made from water.
It was the Water Guy! Although it didn’t really make any difference whatsoever as they were both going to have to go up eventually, at least everyone’s curiosity was sated.
“Vortex!”
A unique art! The irony! This was the first time Ares had ever seen one and, judging by the faces of those around him, this would be a first for the other participants too. Ares could tell this was an art of the ‘flow aspect’ thanks to the complex shaping of the magic.
The arrow was fired from the bow, straight and true, and left a trail of floating water as it flew. The arrow itself flew in a spiralling motion, moving in a circular pattern that progressively shrunk.
Zzzzzzzzzzz
The arrow smacked into Slick’s raised arms and continued to drill into them, slowly pushing him back.
The Water Guy took out a tiny worm-shaped bolt of electricity and threw it into the water trail his arrow had left. This is what the Water-Lightning Duo were discussing earlier. They were creating mini magic tools for each other to help in the test. Direct interference was obviously a no-go but one-time use magics were perfectly fine as long as they weren’t made by someone with an absurdly high cultivation realm as that would be too much. If you were allowed to use treasures that were within reason, then why not allow this too? This was their game plan for passing the test! Individually they would have struggled greatly but, this way, they could still make use of their synergistic pillars and help one another from the side-lines. It was basically set in stone that the Lightning Guy was going to use water magics prepared by the Water Guy in his fight too.
The water trail started to retract itself in order to keep the arrowhead spinning, bringing the lightning worm with it. As the trail reached the back of the arrow, it started to form a conical shape that was expanding outward. When the trail had finally fully formed a cone, and the lightning had passed through the arrow in its entirety, the arrow stopped rotating. This brief respite confused Slick but he kept his guard up. As quickly as it stopped, the arrow started rotating again but, this time, it was both quicker and spinning in the opposite direction. Slick felt a weird force of attraction that dragged him straight into the arrow. The electrical water arrow’s cone had now burst, fragmented and been propelled forward alongside the arrow causing a massive explosion. Water sprayed out in every direction and electricity was still occasionally crackling through the air.
Slick waved away some of the residual, lingering water vapour and noticed a miniscule nick in his arms. Seriously?! Of all the people to have finally injured Slick after six whole years of testing, it had to be this guy? Even Teng and Rud were amazed. That truly was an incredibly strong combination. If those two worked together more in the future, they could probably achieve great things in the cultivation world.
Teng was even momentarily tempted to stop the trial and just let those two pass automatically. There was still a chance for them to fail after all and they were far weaker when separated from one another. Wasn’t this method of testing not conducive to displaying their true talents? The sect would seriously be losing out on a powerful duo if either of them failed. Teng glanced over at Rud who shook his head.
Rud knew what Teng was thinking, but they still needed to prove their worth on their own. There was no guarantee these two would be able to do absolutely everything together in the future. Inner and core disciple tests? Nope. Tournaments? Nope. What if they were separated one day? They still needed a baseline level of competency without one another to survive in the world of cultivation. Even if most of their individual power was the result of borrowing magic from one another, that much was acceptable as that would still be within the realm of acting ‘solo’. Using magic in this fashion would be allowed in tournaments and disciple promotion tests so they needed to show this was a viable method for them to still function as individuals rather than as a constant pair. Of course, Rud was also hoping they would pass, but he wasn’t willing to give them the easy way out.
Slick charged at the Water Guy and threw a simple punch. Although part of Slick really wanted this guy to pass too, he wouldn’t go any easier on him. The punch was far too quick to dodge. Perhaps due to Slick’s pent-up frustration over the last few rounds or his disorderly state of mind after receiving an injury, the punch was far heavier than any he had previously thrown.
Water Guy didn’t have enough time to finish preparations for the next water art just yet and was forced to accept the incoming pain-train. He twisted his body so that his left arm would take the brunt of the impact and his chest and dominant arm could stay safe.
Crack
“Agh!” Water Guy let out a short yelp. Unfortunately, Water Guy hadn’t given much thought to which pocket he had put his token in earlier. The token was in his left pocket, away from his dominant hand, which made it harder to protect. Slick grabbed toward it, forcing Water Guy to pick it up with his limp, broken arm. Water Guy gritted his teeth and winced in pain just from grabbing the token. He moved his wrist and lifted the token slightly before bringing the wrist back down as fast as he could, throwing the token at his own rib cage.
“Aqua Anatomy!”
Slick’s hand glided past the token as he hadn’t expected it to be absorbed into Water Guy’s body. Hiding the token somewhere out of reach wasn’t allowed in the test for obvious reasons, but this particular scenario was fair game.
Water Guy had lost all physical form and had instead become a somewhat humanoid blob of water thanks to this flow aspect art. The token could be seen drifting through his stomach region and out the other side, straight into his right hand.
The token technically wasn’t hidden and could have very well have been taken if Slick had stuck his hand in the body of water. Slick wasn’t prepared for this though and had aimed toward Water Guy’s pocket. There was no real way for Slick to hurt Water Guy anymore without mana thanks to this art, but he could still take the token!
As for why Water Guy hadn’t used this art earlier, ‘Aqua Anatomy’ was an art that took some time to prepare. Water Guy didn’t plan on ‘cheating’ like Dirk had done with his blood chains by preparing the art in advance, so he had to suffer a bit first. Water Guy jumped back and made some space.
Slick only had time for one more attack so he followed after him and reached for the token, this time paying attention to its movements.
Water Guy once again threw the token into his body.
“The same trick won’t work twice!” Slick shouted.
But who said it was the same trick? The token was in his right hand this time, which allowed him to pull off a little stunt. Water Guy wore a spatial ring on his right hand and, stored in it, were the two one-off magics he received from Lightning Guy. He had already used the worm bolt. This time around, he’d taken out a small yellow pellet and hid it behind the token. When the token and pellet were thrown into his body, they both started to rotate until the pellet was at the forefront and the token was behind it. A ludicrous amount of light shone out from the pellet, blinding everyone other than Rud and Teng in the hall. The pellet was a ball of light that would bewilder and fluster enemies who were caught off-guard, like a pocket flashbang. The light wasn’t originally supposed to be this bright though. Because it was used inside of Water Guy’s water body, he was able to create a small infinite loop, using mana to bend and reflect the light repeatedly to infinitely generate energy. The release of that energy was bright beyond reason and just further served to show how good a duo Lightning and Water Guy would make. With that much light, there was no way in hell Slick could see even a centimetre in front of him, let alone follow the token’s movements. Water Guy simply morphed his body into a wave and sped away.
“Congratulations… On passing the test splendidly and becoming a disciple.” Teng gave praise in an attempt to hide the fact he had forgotten this person’s name.
Rud was getting a little fidgety. He too had forgotten this guy’s name! How was this even possible? Rud had a memory spanning hundreds of years, the nature of his job demanded it. He knew, by heart, the names of every single person that had ever been a disciple of the sect since he himself joined. Could he seriously not remember this one person’s name? He opened up the Vermillion Record that he had used to jot down everyone’s identity earlier, flicking straight to the page he had put Water Guy’s name on. The irony of being able to remember the specific page but not the name of the person on it was certainly not lost on him either. When Rud finally saw the name, he just looked at it plainly. No eyes were narrowed or widened. There was nothing to say. It was just a really plain name. Rud sighed as he closed the book.
When one’s cultivation reached the mental accumulation realm, it became possible to send mental messages without needing to speak aloud. After Rud closed the book, Teng sent him a mental message asking about Water Guy’s name as he too was curious.
Rud suddenly looked visually shocked. How could this be!? How is this possible!? Rud was practically screaming internally.
He had already forgotten the name.
Is this some kind of curse!? Rud thought.
Both witches and wizards existed in this world and so too did curses. The ‘curse aspect’ came under the runemancy open pillar. It focused on arts that would leave permanent effects unless removed by an equally powerful runemancer. Rud couldn’t fathom how it could be possible for him to have already forgotten his name again unless a curse was somehow involved. Rud was somewhat well-versed in the runemancy pillar and gave Water Guy a quick inspection only to find nothing. Absolutely nothing! Never in Rud’s life had he ever met someone so forgettable! Or, well, maybe he had and he just didn’t remember them...