‘This kid sure is something.’
All of the so-called ‘experts’ observing the test couldn’t help but swallow their saliva. Darius had done something that had truly impressed them quite a bit.
‘There’s no doubt about it: he created a pseudo-Domain!’
Kylian, Donald, the emperor, James, Peter, Morgan, Katya, and all the other powerhouses saw exactly what had happened despite the debris clouding the view. Dust was nothing to their eyes. They watched with bated breath, curious to see the results of Darius’s actions.
Nothing complex had happened; it was actually quite simple to describe. Lara had landed on Darius’s hammer. She had had no clear view, but she had felt the hammer beneath her feet and quickly reacted. Unlike Darius, she lacked a Domain, but her perception was still far above the ordinary. Despite lacking any visibility, she had crouched in the air, preparing to land where she had been launched.
With a simple swing of his hammer, Darius had launched her directly toward the flag. Thanks to his incredible strength, her trip had only taken a couple of seconds. Before the dust had settled, she had already pulled the flag from the platform. They had succeeded!
…
Morgan and Ana were observing the test from their booth. Ana covered her mouth in surprise.
‘No wonder Master claimed he was not ordinary. To think he would create his own Domain so quickly. It was truly worth finding an Indomitable Class spirit for him and sneaking it into the exam. It was a lot of trouble, but this boy was worth it indeed.’
The elder’s, or rather Morgan’s, idea had been simple. Even before the test had begun, he had already planned out Darius’s path of development. Using his influence, he had thrown in a variant spirit with the Indomitable attribute into this test and assured that Darius would face it. Such spirits were incredibly rare and expensive, especially when they were at such a low level because any Dantian created from such a low-level creature could result in a foundation ability. Beginning Spiritknights would usually find high-level Dantians to contain too much energy, resulting in the occasional spontaneous combustion of a prodigy who overestimated their limits. Foundation abilities evolved and could integrate with other abilities, so their importance far outstripped others. Hence, a low-level Dantian to act as a foundational skill was incredibly valuable.
Many years ago, Morgan had received this spirit by chance as a gift. He had been intending to sell it away in order to make a small fortune, but watching Darius had rekindled the flames of his ambition.
‘There is no doubt about it! Indomitable was perfect for this boy!’
Morgan knew more about Indomitable than most due to his countless past experiences, so he was well aware of the requirements to create the optimal warrior.
‘A Spiritsmith with Indomitable from a high-class Dantian as their foundation ability!’
The idea excited the old man, making him feel young again. Ana looked sideways and smiled. At first, she had been skeptical. After all, how good could an unknown boy from the countryside be? How could he have the qualities her Master had wanted?
However, reality had proved her wrong. After seeing his data, watching the recordings of his feats, and seeing his performance first hand, she had no choice but to admit that Darius was made to be her master’s disciple!
She looked forward to seeing what the boy would next do. Nevertheless, there was no doubt that he would impress all observers, especially the test maker, herself. Ana had personally designed each test because Morgan was completely uninterested in mundane things like planning out battle tests. Thus, he had requested for Ana to assist him. Initially, she had been more than happy to oblige, and her mixture of skepticism and envy had resulted in these rounds of difficult tests. In the end, after looking over the stringent requirements, she had felt a bit of pity for Darius and had thus enticed the Princess to take part in order to help him out and help him she had.
‘He used her splendidly, but how will he react to what will happen now?’
Ana had a stoic face, but it did not fool her master. He knew that she had been a bit mischievous and designed these tests with a devilish mindset.
‘Meh, I will allow it. Now, boy, show me what you can do. The real challenge starts here!’
…
Due to the danger involved and their exact calculations, Darius and Lara had expected to be teleported out of the testing site the moment the test had finished, which had led to their rather risky plan. Contrary to their expectations, that did not happen. Instead, the duo received a message that put them on the backfoot.
“Test complete! Test 5 objective: Maintain possession of the flag for at least ten minutes. Begin!”
Lara’s face became pale when she heard the message. Currently, she was holding the flag, and she was the weakest organism in the arena. The vulture stared at her with a killing intent so intense that it almost felt tangible. With a screech, the bird dove straight at her!
Darius didn’t waste time and ran off in pursuit, trying to reach Lara first. He knew that Lara was in danger and that there was no way she could outrun the vulture. While they had labeled it as slow, that was only in comparison to other flying spirits of the same level. Even if Lara could outrun the bird, it could manipulate wind slashes as a long range attack. The situation was, without a doubt, not in her favor. Lara was about to run away when she heard Darius shout.
“Lara, run toward me quickly!”
Once again Lara went against her logical reasoning and sprinted toward Darius. She lurked at the edge of the valley of death; death’s shadow literally loomed above her, zooming toward her. With a single wrong step, she would fall. Despite knowing this, she still chose to trust Darius.
The vulture noticed her movements and slightly altered its course. Furious that it had been outsmarted, its anger had peaked.
Darius gripped the hammer in his right hand and concentrated. As he ran toward her, something odd occurred. Spiritual energy gathered over the open palm of his left hand. The energy was milky white and opaque. Any watching Spiritknight would be familiar with what was happening.
Morgan rushed out of his seat and looked on with bated breath. He was happy that Darius was finally using it. Ana smirked as she folded her arms. She thought, ‘So, this is your answer to my trap? It’s not bad.’
Darius calmed himself and focused because it was time to bring out his trump card. It was time to use the ability he had gained from the second Dantian!
