NOVPUB"Go!!" One of the twin elders commanded and almost immediately...
—whoosh
—woosh
—woosh
The recruits in the top 10 flashed forward, and dived directly into the pool.
"Wooo" Leon felt a subtle cooling roll down his hair follicles and into his pores. The pool was cold, but not in an uncomfortable way. It felt like a refreshing bath after a long day of work.
It was brimming with mana so, of course, it had its own special feel unique to it.
(Down we go)
Leon thought to himself, then he proceeded to dive down deeper into the pool.
—woosh
The first set of people, he passed by, were the lather 30 of the top 50 recruits.
They were at layer 2. They didn’t have some sort of shelter in here, and even with the water breathing pill given to them by the twin elders. they still had to occasionally go up the pool to receive some fresh air.
(Deeper)
Leon continued swimming down, the deeper he went, the more the concentration of mana he felt. Mana was ethereal, it didn’t just exist in the air. It existed everywhere, but in this particular pool It was very much abundant.
(There they are)
To the side, Leon could see the top 20, but they were only 8, apparently the elders had deemed that ghost face, and the blade Demon were in too much of a bad state to enter the pool at the moment.
Leon had smashed ghost face’s head in and Ember had burnt the blade Demon to a crisp, and both were receiving medical care up above.
(Wow, this place is huge)
Leon thought to himself, at the top of the pool, it looked medium in size, but the deeper Leon went the more it expanded. Now what was in front of him was a water body with no bounds as far as he could see.
(It’s over there….)
Soon, Leon noticed several reefs poking out from the abssy that was this pool’s seabed. They were massive in size and were covered with the most beautiful pearls and array of colors he had ever seen. It was a unique sight to behold.
Leon then proceeds to swim toward the bottom of the reefs.
At a particular distance from Leon, Ember could be seen looking at Leon as he descended down to the bottom of the reefs. She had on her face, a look of annoyance, but not one directed at Leon.
She was annoyed at herself. Leon had shown her up again, and he did it with nothing but brute strength. Her flashy spell was nothing and fire was nothing.
(I need to get stronger)
Ember said in her mind.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Meanwhile, Leon, who had swum deeper into the pool, stopped in front of one of the reefs. He then squeezed himself through a hole at the side and successfully entered the Reef.
It was tight and crampy, but soon Leon got the hang of swimming inside, at least until he came upon a small underwater cave air pocket.
This was his destination.
"Huuuu" Leon took in a large breath of air when he finally emerged from the water into and underwater cave.
"Hmmm, this is good" Leon said to himself. The cave was compact with enough space for movement and was packed with food and fresh water.
Small caves like these would be where the recruits in the top 10 would be spending the 5 days of tempering in. So the company made sure it was comfortable and livable.
Here, they would be exposed to rich and abundant mana from within the pool, and it would allow them to relax while doing so, as the water was not a place where humans could survive forever.
Naturally, this wasn’t the case for Leon. This was not a place of comprehension for Leon, this was a hunting camp. While the rest stayed here, he would go lower than the fourth level and try to absorb or capture some monsters.
To that effect, he needed to get ready. Leon began pulling out some equipment, like bait, his dagger, and a bundle of ropes. Last but not the least, Leon brought out a small box.
—click
He opened it and within, were about 40 blue pills shining with magical light. These were water breathing pills. Their main function was to allow individuals to breath underwater for a period of time, this was one of the many innovations of the mages.
He had specifically gotten them for his mission, He would need a lot of them before proceeding with his plan, after all, unlike the rest that could stay in these underwater caves and comprehened mana. He would need to go out and actively search for opportunities.
"Let’s begin" Leon said to himself before taking in a large breath of air.
—plooop
Then he directly dived back into the water
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Above the pool.
"Do you think they’ll be any miracles this time around?" on a massive feast table, several High-ranking members of the faceless mercenary company sat having the time of their life.
"Ah? How would I know? You brought the promising ones this time around" at the helm of the table, the great mage said.
Even though he would like to take the credits for Ember, she was after all still half moon’s daughter. He only helped that find her" potential" as for Leon, he didn’t really know much about him, so it would be far-fetched to say he would break through to level 2 down there. But he did have one of the most promising matches.
"Hehe, a win for one is a win for all. We are all family at the end of the day." half moon’s family has been a part of the faceless machinery company for generations.
Even though they were relatively weak now, with him as the strongest. He was every much as loyal to them as he had always been.
"Yes.....you’re right" the great mage nodded while staring at the pool with worry, he had informed them that the pool was safe to use for the tempering event. But deep down, he knew something wasn’t right.
He just couldn’t place his finger on it. Maybe it was because they had done too many events lately, or perhaps it was something else.....
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Inside the pool, Leon could be seen swimming in a large area devoid of anything except water.
"Hiss"
From his side, a pitch-black snake hissed at him. This was his pet Levi, he had been here for about 15 minutes, and there was no sign of creatures here. The place was just too big and he couldn’t find any.
"Hisss" Levi hissed at Leon again.
(Hm, what do you want?)
Leon looked to him and asked. Levi was unable to speak, but for some reason it seemed to understand whatever Leon said in his mind or out loud. That was how Leon used him to sneak attack ghost face. 𝔫𝖔𝔳𝔭𝔲𝔟.𝖈𝔬𝔪
"Hissssss"
Seeing that it had gotten Leon’s attention, Levi proceeded to swim away in a particular direction.
(Ahhh?)
Leon was shocked by this behavior. Levi was a bit of a body hug, and would not let him go no matter what. But it was taking the initiative to move now? What did that mean?
Leon didn’t have any time to think it’s through though, he only cautiously followed behind it slowly, until.....
They came upon a fish the size of a shopping cart swimming causally in the pool. For 15 minutes, Leon was not able to find a single creature. But just now Levi was able to do so.
(Is it because you’re a beast yourself, Or what?)
Leon thought to himself, the abilities of this snake eluded Leon tiil now. But he was starting to understand It little by little. For example, it seemed to be able to use negative, and life-energy. Just like Leon.
And now, it was showing a serious sensitivity to creatures. This was a good outcome for this situation.
(Let’s get to work) Leon thought before pulling out an oddly shaped eel.
Bait
In front of him was what they called a mana modified finwraith. These creatures had the capability to store life-energy and evolve, but with some meddling by the mages they were turned into mana storage cans.
They would take in large amounts of mana , store and develop them. and due to their nature, they would give birth before trying to evolve. Eventually, they would fail in their evolution and give back the mana they had developed to the pool. While creating more of their kind to recreate this vicious circle.
This was the peak of cruelty, and the price to pay for human innovations.
Leon had studied them when he found out about the tempering event, and created a well detailed plan. Even though these finwraiths were mana cans, they still contained a bulk load of life-energy.
This was Leon’s goal.
"BloodSerpent work: life devourer"
Leon activated the life devourer spell and went directly for the finwraith with his dagger. Most of them were at beginner to peak level 1 and were relatively easy for him to pick off.
At the same time, deep underneath the pool, a man shaped statue could be observed. Around it, a slow, but rhythmical beating of the heart emitted.
