Chương 70: The Second Day of Tests – Part 1/4

While Lirien recovered sitting on the stone bench, Marina was finishing her exercise with another team. Her group was struggling to deal with the large number of dummies rising from the ground. The team was disorganized and several members were already tired. When the situation started to worsen, Marina acted. She released a large amount of vapor around the base, creating a dense mist that greatly hindered the dummies' vision. This gave her teammates time to reorganize and protect the flag better.

When it was her turn to climb, Marina created a platform of vapor that helped the next teammate ascend faster and more safely. Her team finished the exercise with a good score, above average. Marina returned sweaty, her face slightly flushed, but she seemed satisfied with the result. She walked over to where Lirien was and sat beside her, offering her water bottle without saying a word. On the other side of the arena, Kuroe was participating in the last morning exercise.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Her team was quite aggressive but poorly coordinated. Instead of focusing on climbing quickly, Kuroe stayed at the base for almost the entire time. She used chaos runes on the ground, causing some of the dummies to attack each other or become confused. When it was finally her turn to climb, she applied runes to her own hands and feet, scaling the tower with speed and precision.

They finished the exercise with an above-average score. Kuroe returned in silence, as usual, but there was a faint satisfied gleam in her eyes. When all the teams finished the morning exercises, the candidates gathered again in the center of the courtyard. The sun was high and the heat had grown stronger. Many looked exhausted, but also relieved to have finished the first half of the day. Master Harlan walked between the groups, giving quick feedback. He stopped near Marina and said: — Your use of vapor was smart.

You helped the team without needing to be the center of attention. That's good. Marina simply nodded with a small smile, looking a little shy from the praise. On the other side, Joker was still leaning against the same stone pillar, watching the candidates with that same lazy expression. Harley approached him again, now holding a bottle of water. — The easy part is over — she commented, taking a sip of water. Joker glanced at the cloudy sky for a second and replied: — Yeah. The afternoon's going to be worse.

Harley smiled sideways, as if she had been expecting that. — Good. I was starting to think everything was too easy until now. The two stood in silence for a few seconds, looking at the rest of the candidates talking tiredly. The air felt heavier now. Because everyone could feel that the hardest part of the second day was still to come. End of Part 1/4 (continues in Part 1/5)