NOVPUBSeeing the smile on Half-moon’s face, the great mage, Damien couldn’t help but smirk. This guy was confident because he wasn’t very knowledgeable about ghost face.
The only rumors he had heard were the ones the great mage allowed him to hear. But his depths were more deeper than he thought. Ghost face was his latest project, he was a soundless assassin, able to move without being detected by even the most keen ear. In fact, the great mage couldn’t even remember the last time he heard the kid speak.
He was that good. To test his stealth and precision, the great mage had given him an impossible, A ranked mission. Kill a level 2 warlock, and surprisingly, he succeeded. Although this warlock was weakened before the attack, it was still impressive.
Apart from Ember and one other, he didn’t think anyone here could face off against ghost face.
"Okay, let’s see what your boy can do" the great mage said before melting back into his seat.
"Begin" in the middle of the cave, one of the twin elders commanded. And almost immediately, ghost face disappeared from Leon’s line of sight.
"Ahhh" Leon’s lumisight Eyes danced inside his faceless mask trying to pinpoint ghostface’s location, but, with every dash and side step, he was able to avoid Leon’s gaze.
The person wasn’t only silent, he was fast.
"Okay let’s try this" Leon, seeing this didn’t work, stretched his hand forward and conjured.
"Wind work: Wind arrows"
Leon activated the Wind arrow spell, and about 50 arrows appeared and shot out simultaneously in different directions. This was a game of luck, the guy was essentially invisible at this point, but if Leon could just get him to make a mistake.....
Unfortunately, this didn’t work either.
"What a great use of speed and stealth," Leon praised, the kid had essential turned himself into a ghost, it felt like he was moving in his space, Leon couldn’t hone in on his sound or his figure, And the funny thing was, apart from Leon, everyone else could see him.
"Your boy is done for" the great mage shook his head. Leon was just shooting out arrows randomly, what kind of strategy was that? Had Half-moon gone stupid overnight? This kid wasn’t a talent at all.
Half moon too was surprised. He didn’t expect such a lackluster performance from Leon. Ember had told him how Leon and a member of the waterway family ended the life of a level 2 warlock, so he naturally believed he had a thing or two up his sleeve, but this was just disappointing.
"That’s the end of that I guess" the great mage shook his head as he watched ghost face approach Leon’s back slowly while dodging arrows and remaining out of sight.
The fight was over, there was no recovery for Leon, at least that was what he thought, but once ghost face reached Leon.
"Hissss!!!!"
The sound of hissing suddenly caught him off guard as a black snake appeared from out of nowhere and bite ghost face on the hand.
"Got you" Leon smirked. Ghost face didn’t know that Leon had a little companion by his side all this while, who was looking directly at him.
—woop
Before ghost face could react to this sudden change, Leon grabbed him by the shirt and threw a punch directly at his face.
—Boom
The strike landed, forcing him to involuntarily move back from pain. But of course, Leon didn’t relent because as soon as he landed he was received with a volley of punches falling from nowhere, causing him to fall on his butt.
—Boom!!!
—Boom
—Boom
This was cruel, Leon only focused on punching him in the face. Bloodying not only his nose but his eyes also. His faceless mask was soon soaked with blood.
—Boom
—Boom
—Boom
It was brutal, this didn’t even look like a match, they were both at the peak of level 1 and Leon seemed like was just trying to disfigure ghost face. Wasn’t he afraid of the great mage’s anger?
The contestants and elders looked over to the great mage and saw his stupefied expression.....he couldn’t believe it, this guy was beating up ghost face. However, his face didn’t remain like this for long, it soon turned from shock to amusement, then into an uncontrollable laughter.
"Hahahahahahhahahahahhahaha"
The whole crowd was shocked. The great mage was laughing at his student being beaten so badly? What kind of temperament was that?
"Hehe, I told you he would surprise you…" Half-moon chimed in. Although for a minute there he was skeptical, he still believed in Leon. Someone who could get his arrogant daughter to sit up and work hard couldn’t be some weakling.
Of course, he didn’t expect Leon to win like that, a hand to hand? That was the first time he had seen that in here.
"Okay, okay, you’ve made your point" one of the twin elders wrapped Leon up from ghost face with a chain. At this point, his mask had been torn up at several points and some parts of his face were showing.
"Winner!!" The twin elders announced Leon as the winner. No one knew who he was apart from seeing him hanging out with Ember, but he had appeared and completely dominated one of their strongest fighters.
"That was hilarious" the great mage commented, the kid ghost face prided himself on his ability to remain untouched in any battle. He was ever silent and moody, carrying the aura of a being lonely at the top, but In truth he was a massive edge lord
He was lucky that the great mage didn’t give him a beating himself. So when Leon set him straight with a very ordinary tactic, the great mage was happy and couldn’t help but mock his own student.
"He-he, you’re going to scar your student for life" Half-moon shook his head. The great mage was a loose cannon behind his airs, he didn’t really care for the opinions of others.
"Whatever" the great mage said.
Meanwhile, he stared at Leon with intrigue. He could feel something that no one here could.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
"The top ten have been determined, congratulations" one of the twin elders praised and congratulated. There was no particular order in the top 10 so they were just grouped as the top 10.
"Some of you will be approached after this by your respective factions for further benefits, please do not feel obligated to accept, as you know the deeper you go, the more restrictions" the twin elders said.
Normally, the factions would recognize talent and propose better benefits, but of course, this meant more commitments, the company didn’t encourage it, but let it slide as both parties would have to agree.
"Badur, come over" Half-moon gestured for Leon to approach. He had left the main bench to speak to him.
"Here, this location has been preserved. when you get down there, just swim over." Half-moon presented Leon with a leather parchment which contained the mapping of an area under the pool.
He didn’t even bother asking Leon to enter a deeper level of commitment to the virtan faction because he already knew what the answer would be.
Leon prided his freedom more than anything.
"Now, let’s begin, first layer go on in" one of the twin elders commanded.
Then, the vail that separated the top 50 from the rest was lifted and about 40 participants among then rushed through and went direct into the pool. But they didn’t dive in, only floating at the top of the pool.
"Next" the elder raised his hand and commanded again.
This time, 30 of the guys in the top 50 who had failed the gravity test walked forward. They popped a purple pill in their mouths and proceeded to go into the pool. But unlike those that went before them. These guys dived into the water.
Down to the second layer.
Next were those in the top 20 that couldn’t make it, and finally the ones in the top 10.
"You guys will be going down to the fourth layer, there you’ll have a Reef with air pockets where you can absorb energy, at most you are allowed to stay for 5 days. But please do not go lower than the fourth layer. I know the rumors of a 5th layer existing has you all pumped....." The great mage directed the top 10
"But, I can assure you, what would await you there would be death." The great mage then went on to explain that there were monsters below the 4th level that would effortlessly kill them if they went there...
He had to warn them, least they get themselves killed. His advice was well received among the recruits, expect one person.
Leon.
The whole reason he was here in the first place was for the monsters, he was a warlock, mana couldn’t help him breakthrough. What he needed was life-energy, and what better source of life-energy existed apart from those from monsters and beast?
