"Settle down." Ms. Varias clapped gathering everyone's attention. "It's just as I said. The top ten will receive a titanium alloy weapon of their choice while first place will get a High D-Rank Otrio Core of their choice on top of that. Now, enough of that. I will begin randomizing everyone by Position. You will only be fighting someone in your position."
With a smile on her face, Ms. Varias pressed another button on the remote and suddenly, the screen became a blur. Twenty seconds later, the screen stopped blurring and all the names could be seen once again. This time, each name was separated by versus symbol, and a weapon was labeled below each one. As Drew scanned the Scout column, he found his name but his weapon was something completely unexpected.
"What in the world..." Drew muttered under his breath in confusion.
Toilet paper. That was the weapon Drew had for today's physical exam.
"How the heck is this gonna work?" Drew panicked. "What am I going to do with a roll of toilet paper?"
Racking his brain together Drew tried to think of ways he could utilize a roll of toilet paper to defeat his opponent but he couldn't think of anything.
"Argh! Screw it, I'll just improvise." Drew resolved with immense amounts of frustration in his voice. "It'll come to me when it happens. Now, who's my opponent?"
Staring at the screen, Drew found his opponent to be a student from High-Class E, Remus Safarin with his weapon being a couple of batteries. Drew could only sigh.
"Well, if he has the Light Attribute the batteries will become an amplifier for him. I'm screwed."
And Drew was absolutely right.
With the students dismissed to pick up their weapons located in the bleachers of the arena, Drew found his roll of toilet paper to be adjacent to the lonely couple of batteries where the male student, his opponent, Remus Safarin picked it up. He was a Feline of Cheetah descent, his ears and hair gave it away pretty easily with those black spots. His eyes were pitch black with almost no white in them except for the glint that came from the light.
Noticing that the roll of toilet paper had been picked up, Remus turned his head to Drew who didn't look like anything special to him. From Drew's scent, he could tell Drew was an Avain and just a common Nightengale. Drew was a Low-Class student so his chances of beating Remus were not even fifty percent. At most twenty, Remus calculated in his head.
This would be a piece of cake. Remus thought. It's like a hunter chasing it's prey.
"Yo, little bird." Remus called getting Drew's attention. He hoped to taunt Drew right before the exam to make his victory assured.
"Hmm." Drew turned looking at Remus indifferently. Remus's taunt clearly failed. "Oh, you must be my opponent for today's exam."
Recovering from his shock, Remus held out his hand for Drew. Despite being a bit arrogant, Remus still had a sense of sportsmanship to him.
"Remus Safarin." He introduced, "and you-"
Sadly, Remus was terrible with names.
"Drew Li," Drew replied accepting Remus's hand. "I assume we're both Scouts?"
"That's right. For us scouts, it'll be a battle of speed and power. Do you agree, little bird?"
"We'll see," Drew cocked a grin. "I'll see you down in the arena."
Although Drew felt somewhat offended by Remus calling him a 'little bird', he wasn't exactly wrong. Nightengales, in their bird form, were rather small and their body size tended to reflect that. Drew was 175 cm which considered to be on the taller side for most Nightengales but it was still short in terms of most races in the Orion Alliance. Felines, especially those of Cheetah descent, were huge. Remus here was around 195 cm so Drew had to crane his head up to talk with him. Even though Remus was trying to be nice, he clearly was looking down on Drew. Was it because he was a Low-Class student or was it because Nightengales were a smaller, inferior, race compared to the proud Cheetahs? Or maybe both? Who knows? The mind was complicated.
As Drew headed back to the main arena, Ms. Varias had begun to speak.
"I will be randomly picking pairs to go up. You will have three minutes to defeat your opponent, you are permitted to use Otrio and once you are finished, you may do anything as long as you stay within the area until I dismiss you. Now, I will begin with the Casters."
With the click of a button on her remote, Ms. Varias circled around the screen, with her eyes closed, before landing on a random pair a second later. The pair that would be going against each other first was Wan and a guy named Felix Manchese from Mid-Class D.
"Wan Louis and Felix Manchese, please come forward. The rest, please clear out from the main arena. Sorry for calling everyone back here."
"Ugh, what a waste of time." One student complained as she walked back to the bleachers.
"Damn, why!" Another student whined, trudging away from the main arena.
Sighing to himself, Drew followed the other students back to the bleachers where he sat down in a random spot. None of his other friends were in the same testing area as him so he felt a little lonely that was, until, someone unexpected sat down next to him. It was his roommate he hasn't seen too frequently, Jay Crossford. Jay was a guy of few words. He never told anyone where he went or what he did. His trademark was his classic giant parka but today he wasn't wearing it so Drew could finally observe his full appearance. He was a Feline but Drew couldn't tell what descent he was but most likely, he was mixed blood. His black hair was flat and swept to the left side of his face slightly covering his blue eye. He wore a silver cross on his neck and a gold bangle on his right wrist both of them were accessories enhanced with Cores but they weren't high ranking from the looks of it. He was quiet, staring out on the arena at both Wan and Felix.
"It's rare that you would sit next to me. What's the occasion?"
"For the same reason as you." He said as his eyes fixated on the arena.
If that was the case, Drew decided to make conversation with him. He was bored and had no one to talk with anyway.
"What did you get as your weapon?"
"A toothpick. You?"
"Toilet paper."
"Funny." He responded a small smile curled onto his face.
"Let's make a bet, who do you think will win?"
"The guy with the metal staff. His strength and control over his Otrio are much finer than the girl with the fishing rod."
"I don't think so." Drew scoffed. "Even if your control is higher, it doesn't mean you know how to use the weapon. The point of this exam is adeptness and creativity."
"We'll see." He said as the three-minute countdown began.
Felix, the guy with the staff, charged towards Wan. Spinning the staff, he channeled his Otrio through it to enhance his weapon. Judging by the color of the Otrio, he must have a high affinity for the Fire Attribute. Unfortunately, this was a terrible match-up for him as Wan was a Siren with an affinity for the Water Attribute. Naturally, fire would lose in the scenario but Drew knew this because he already knew Wan, however, how she would win or if she could win was the question. On the other hand, Jay was under the impression that Wan was an Elf since Sirens were very closely related to Elfs but he didn't know that Wan was a Siren, thus he assumed Wan had a high affinity towards Earth or Light. Of course, it was hard to tell Elfs and Sirens apart since they look almost identical but what Jay obviously missed out on was the fact that Wan's hair was blue and Elfs don't have blue hair. Regardless, he thought that Felix would win.
In the arena, Wan clutched onto the handle on her fishing rod. She didn't move from her spot at all as if she was waiting for Felix to do something.
"Heh, that Caster must be scared. She hasn't moved a single inch from her spot." One guy commented.
"Well, she is up against a Mid-Class Student so the difference in power must be pretty large." A female student added.
But in the next moment, Wan made her move. Swinging the fishing rod, Wan let the string reel out as the hook latched onto the body of Felix's staff. Felix tugged as hard as he could to break away from the hook but his body felt sluggish as if he took half a bottle of sleeping pills. Glancing below him, he saw that a bright purple [Panel] had been cast right underneath his feet. It was Wan's [Poison] [Panel]. Since Felix was at a higher level than Wan, Wan's poison was not lethal enough to kill him but it could slow him down for a few seconds. With no time to waste, Wan took advantage of Felix's weakening condition and yanked the staff from Felix who was trying to muster up his Fire Otrio but couldn't at the moment.
This was another effect of Wan's poison [Panel] after she broke through Low E Class.
Besides slowing down her opponent's movements if they were a higher level than her, Wan's poison could temporarily block a person's Otrio flow. To be more precise, her 'poison' was a temporary Otrio clog. Her 'poison' was only lethal to those who were of lower or equal power to her but to anyone stronger, her poison can only block the flow of Otrio a person releases from their body.
>>>
Whenever a person utilizes their Otrio, they either expel the existing Otrio in their body or control the Otrio around them. The latter requires more precise control of Otrio while the former is much simpler. If the first method is like turning on and off a faucet, the second method is like controlling the flow of water that comes out of that faucet. However, the second method is just a step further of the first method. Wan's [Panels] all utilize the second method.
Even though she doesn't have an affinity for some Attributes, poison falls under the Dark Attribute, she is still able to utilize them through her [Panels] which draws Otrio from her surroundings. Her [Panels], created by her Otrio, acts as a container for the surrounding Otrio to gather into. Once it gathers, she releases it onto her target. The effective time of her [Panels] will vary depending on her target's willpower and Otrio level. If both are higher than her own, the effectiveness of her [Panels] decreases which is why people stronger than her can resist it better than those weaker than her.
Now let's talk about what happens when a person's Otrio is blocked.
If a person's Otrio circulation is cut off or slow down, like the way Wan's 'poison' works, it can weaken the body to the point where all damage done to it in the past resurges back into it. Think of it as recoil. One could say, without Otrio circulating throughout a person's body, it could lead to immediate death since all fatigue and injuries will resurge if Otrio never existed to repair and maintain the body. No matter whether a person's Otrio core is intact, broken, or not even formed, Otrio is what keeps a person alive. As a matter of fact, it is more important than the major organs in the body.
>>>
Due to Felix's strong willpower, he was able to break free of Wan's 'poison' a second later. Without giving Wan any time to dispose of his weapon, he grabbed onto his staff and channeled Fire Otrio through it once again. He was going to try and melt the hook on Wan's fishing reel. Noticing that her panel hadn't been too effective on Felix, Wan retracted her line, unhooking the hook from Felix's staff. Since she was just using an ordinary fishing rod, if she channeled her Otrio through the string and tried to extinguish the flames, her connection with the line could snap and she would've lost her main method of disarming Felix so Wan made a choice. A choice that would later become her greatest asset.
Reeling in the hook, Wan decided to close in on Felix who had now cast four fireballs around him utilizing [Clone]. [Clone] wasn't a rare Ability so it wasn't of any shock to anyone that Felix was able to utilize it but if he used it longer than his current duration which should be around five to ten seconds, it would cost him an additional 50-100 Krasos. However, that was enough time for Felix to attack. With a gesture of his metal staff, the fireballs flew towards Wan. She was only a few meters away from him.
"Caster's battling at close distance?" One guy commented before chuckling. "If it were against any other Position, that would be the equivalent of suicide. Since it's just two Casters, this should be entertaining."
Casters tend to have weaker physiques compared to other Positions since they are considered a Support Position but a benefit that comes along with them is that they have high power. The closer one was to a caster, the more powerful the Caster's attack will be on the person who gets hit. However, if someone manages to close in at point-blank on a Caster, it would usually mean death unless...
"You're in for a surprise," Drew muttered under his breath as he watched Wan make her next move.
As the fireballs rained in on Wan, Wan collapsed her fishing rod as she channeled Otrio down to her legs but it was very faint.
This was something anyone who knew how to use Otrio could do. It was called Basic Otrio Enhancement and it is a skill taught to everyone in Primary School. It allows a person to enhance their body with Otrio in a specific place while decreasing the chances of fatigue or pain. However, most people only learn it to the elementary level since it's not used too much even when one becomes a Genetic Warrior since a Genetic Warrior's physique is already stronger than an average person's but Wan had mastered it to the Intermediate Level.
Sidestepping out of the way, the fireballs missed Wan by mere centimeters. She was only a meter away from Felix who had begun to panic. Felix had never seen a Caster who could dodge his fireballs. Most Casters would protect themselves with an Otrio shield or block it with their Ability but never had he seen one bold enough to charge in. In his desperation to win he cast another fireball in front of him. He no longer cared about how to win 'creatively' he just wanted to overpower Wan.
Wan smirked as she extended the fishing rod.
"I saw that coming."
In the next moment, Wan planted the tip of the fishing rod to the side of the fireball's trajectory while bending it. With her small and light body, she swung her way out of the fireball's path, utilizing the fishing rod's flexibility to propel her out of the way, by a hair's breadth. It was as if she was pole vaulting but over a smaller height and distance. With the momentum, she gained Wan cast her line in midair, grabbing a hold of Felix's staff who was still in shock from that moment Wan dodged his fireball at close-range.
With his grip no longer strong on the staff, Wan yanked it out his hands, causing the staff to fly over to her. With her eyes on the target, Wan cast a [Freeze] [Panel] on the staff. The snowflake-shaped insignia of the [Panel] crystalizing the entire staff. Since the staff was heated with Felix's Fire Otrio if Wan froze it with her [Freeze][Panel], it would cause the metal to become brittle. Once the staff was frozen, Wan swung her arm up and slammed the staff right onto the ground causing it to shatter into a million pieces before landing far away from Felix. Her calves were cramping from trying to avoid all those fireballs. Her body was still to weak handle the strain on her body even after reinforcing it with Otrio.
Jay was astonished.
"Very clever of her to freeze the metal staff..."
The climax was over, it was now time for the falling action.
Now that Felix had no weapon, all he could really on were his Abilities and limited Otrio capacity. He had to use his trump card. With the last of his Otrio, Felix stomped on the ground causing his Fire Otrio to disperse throughout the arena. Flames erupted in the arena and with nowhere to go, Wan summoned an enormous water bubble which consumed over half her Otrio. It wasn't enough to extinguish the flames but it gave Wan enough area to stand as the flames engulfed the rest of the arena but they were closing in on her quickly as she saw the water from her bubble evaporate into steam. She only had a hundred Krasos left after creating that water bubble and with the distance between her and Felix, Felix would win if she stood around and did nothing despite running out of Otrio.
I have to end this now! Wan thought to herself as she channeled most of her Otrio into her legs.
Crouching down, Wan used the last of her energy in her legs to jump into the air before the flames overtook the area she was just standing in. With twenty Krasos remaining, Wan locked onto the exhausted Felix as she transferred her remaining Otrio to her arms. Clutching onto the rod tightly, Wan swung her arms back then swung them forward. The string quickly reeled out from the fishing rod as the hook caught onto Felix's pants. Felix, who had run out of energy couldn't move as he felt his body being jerked up into the air. Suddenly, he felt a dull pain in his Johnson and the hot air hitting the back of his gluteus maximus. The white fabric of his underwear stretching.
What Felix was experiencing was the world's most painful wedgie.
As he gracefully flew into the air, following the movement of Wan's fishing rod. Time seemed to slow down in the bleacher where all the male students felt their eggs beginning to tingle. Not in a good way.
"Press 'F' to pay respects."
Drew took off his messenger hat.
"Salute to our fallen comrade."
One girl sighed.
"The boys have gone 'nuts'."
"Was that a joke?"
Time seemed to move again and Felix had been thrown right onto the ground. The hook was still latched onto the stretchy white fabric. Felix didn't feel exhausted. All he felt was a dull pain in his groin that would cause him to become paranoid about fishing rods for the rest of his life.
