Preparations
Point Standings (Hour 4)
1. Han Jiwon – 327 pts
Vermillion Academy | Seed #1
2. Ren Yamada – 312 pts
Vermillion Academy | Seed #3
3. Clive Malloran – 298 pts
Obsidian Tar Hall | Seed #4
4. Osho – 285 pts
Bright Spark Academy | Seed #34
5. Eleanor Trost – 205 pts
Bright Spark Academy | Seed #2
6. Tarek Sulaiman – 198 pts
Northwind School of Beasts | Seed #6
7. Nari Hwa – 184 pts
Vermillion Academy | Seed #7
8. Sasha Irwim – 176 pts
Vermillion Academy | Seed #5
9. Alina Cress – 164 pts
Bright Spark Academy | Seed #11
10. Helga Miras – 158 pts
Southern Spire Academy | Seed #13
Osho stared up at the rankings and humd.
’There are quite a few outstanding people, I’m not gonna lie.’ He thought. He knew he could easily have ranked higher if he consciously sought out beasts and killed them, but he was pretty determined to take his friends along and gain points with them.
Also, he was sure that he’d win even with limited ti remaining.
He looked down at the dismantled corpse of the frog. It didn’t have much else that could assist them in their task besides its bones after they had taken the tongue out.
As for the tongue, it had lost so of its original durability after the frog died due to it no longer receiving a constant supply of Mana. But even then, it was still considerably durable, and Osho’s daggers had trouble cutting into them.
While they waited, the group replenished their Mana, with Osho needing to do so the most as he’d relied on his own Mana pool during the fight.
Roughly twenty minutes later, he opened his eyes.
"They are here." A few monts after he said that, Gale found his place on top of his head using his absurd speed, and shortly after, Kurt and Irene ca through the vegetation with Clyde and Inagi.
Both of them looked relatively unhard. There were a few tears in Kurt’s clothes, though, but nothing signifying any injuries.
As soon as they ca through, Kurt whistled.
"Not gonna lie, we did not expect to see you guys casually chilling next to the corpse of an Apprentice rank Beast. Aura Farming much?" He comnted, and the three rolled their eyes before getting up to et them.
"Good to see you’re alive." Sam spoke first.
"You say that like we’re at risk of dying." Irene pointed out, and the other girl just shrugged.
"As nice as it is to see your faces again, I’d rather we get to business. We’ve wasted enough ti as it is." Osho said, and everyone faced him.
He took a breath and started explaining.
"So, at the beginning of this exam, I ca across a swamp region containing a large group of Beasts along with an Adept rank Beast." Sam and Ellie weren’t surprised by the news, but this was news to Kurt and Irene.
"That was fast. How big is the group?" Kurt asked.
"It’s a congregation of Alligators, and there are a few dozen with a few Apprentice ranks mixed in." Sam exhaled at the information.
"That’s daunting." She admitted, and the group nodded in agreent.
"If it’s just the Adept rank, I’m confident we could beat it together. But as long as it has its subordinates, the battle will be a long one. Which is why I’ve been planning." He turned to Irene.
"I’m gonna need so poison from Inagi. And by so, I an a lot of poison from Inagi." He turned to Ellie.
"I’m gonna need you and Sugil to create several durable and long lances that don’t need your Mana to he sustained. Permanent constructs, basically." He turned to Sam.
"I’m gonna need your help with you and Blackie’s dark Affinity Mana." With that, he started explaining his plan to the group.
___
Ti passed within the testing area.
Other than Osho, there were many outstanding students making incredible plays that attracted the attention of the crowd. Many people rooted for who they believed would co out on top, and the forums went crazy whenever they noticed one of the students doing sothing amazing.
Those in the VIP lounge were also invested. Many of the individuals that ca from other Citadels took note of many examinees, relaying the information they got to people higher up that them.
It went without saying that the Blossom Citadel was seeing a surge in talents unlike anything it had ever witnessed before, and the effects were palpable as they perford in this exam.
’Gary’ viewed the ongoing examination with a cold detachnt.
Unlike everyone else, there was no excitent or surprise. Only frigid calculativeness.
It wasn’t just ’him’ as quite a few others scattered around also watched with this sa eerie distance. if one was able to look at them at the sa ti, they would notice that, strangely, their actions seed to be perfectly in sync. Every blink, every step, every head turn. It was as though they were the sa person...
Sothing else to note was that most of their attention was on a single screen.
The screen belonging to Osho.
Every now and then, the outer edges of their eyes would turn pitck black, conveniently when no one was looking at them, and the strangest thing would be the fact that all of these ’individuals’ were all people involved in the managent and the control of pretty much all the technological aspects of this Citadel.
They moved about, carrying out seemingly miscellaneous tasks, but one thing was certain.
They were waiting.
___
It took roughly an hour for Osho and his group to finish their preparations. They had gotten attacked a few tis by Beasts in the anti, but nothing particularly powerful that could threaten them much. Hence, they didn’t really get a lot of points in this period, causing their overall ranks to start falling, but that was also of little consequence to them.
"Alright, this should be everything." Osho mumbled as he looked at everything in front of them.
There were the poison bottles from before, each of them looked the sa, unsurprisingly, however, their contents had been changed a little.
Osho had Inagi mix in its poison with the acid. None of them knew how to create potions or perform alchemy, however, Osho knew enough about Mana and compatibility to know that the two poisons wouldn’t clash as their effects didn’t oppose each other. Inagi’s poison centered around necrosis while the poison from the Cobra was acid, so they were a but similar in many ways. Hence, they could be mixed.
The slightly tricky part ca from the assistance of Blackie. It’s been established that dark Affinity Mana is obscure and difficult to notice compared to other types of Mana. It was also considerably volatile in that it tended to eat up other types of Mana.
Osho wanted Blackie and Sam to infuse dark Mana into the poisons and cause them to gain the effect of obscurity, making them difficult to imdiately detect. Nothing overly complex, just enough to work.
The issue with this was the aforentioned volatility. Luckily, Blackie leaned more in the obscure aspect when it ca to dark Affinity Mana, allowing her and Sam to perform their task to a satisfactory level.
As such, they now had several bottles of poison that acted both as an acid and served to erode living tissue.
Then there was Ellie and sugil. The two of them had been hard at work, creating several crystalline lances. Each one was almost two ters long and quite sturdy, especially considering that each one was a permanent construct, so the two didn’t need to provide it with Mana to ensure they continued to exist.
It still took a lot of Mana to make each one, though, so they had to take breaks after every couple of lances they’re made. The lances were, unsurprisingly, very sharp and would be quite unwieldy to use in close combat, but that would be inconsequential as that wasn’t their purpose.
Then there was Kurt. He had been hard at work tending to the frog’s tongue and ensuring its usability.
Despite its incredible durability, the tongue was also quite flexible and stretchy. He had pretty much been cutting off the unnecessary parts and making a few adjustnts to its center area.
As for the purpose of this, well, Osho intended God them to use the tongue as a makeshift artillery battery with it firing the lances Ellie made as projectiles.
The adjustnts Kurt made ensured that the lances would be able to fit on the tongue now made string effectively and not just fly in a random direction when fired. Ellie had also made sure to make the lances suitable for flying in a straight line, allowing for better accuracy.
By the ti they’d finished, they had procured a sizeable array of items to use for this task of theirs.
"Alright, then." Osho exhaled.
"Is this how those big hunting groups feel whenever they gather together to hunt powerful Beasts above their levels?" Sam mused as she looked down at the items. It was a genuine thought as they all knew that when it ca to hunting powerful Beasts, large parties often made all sorts of preparations, not limited to things like traps and stationary constructs to deal damage at a distance.
"Probably. But we’ll find out if it’s enough. Is everyone ready?" Osho asked, and the group nodded. He smiled at stood.
"Well then. Let’s go.
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