"They all left. It's just us now." Wall said blankly."The other guy who's supposed to monitor us is also very well hidden..." Josiah added.Most of the soldiers under test didn't begin moving at the spot; they had to take time to digest the situation first. It wasn't clear how they were supposed to descend."See that water all the way over there, filling the entire bottom area? It's sparkling. Looks cool right?""I bet it's highly toxic.""You bet…""…""Well…" Watt looked around. "Staying here won't amount to anything. I think I'm going to go and find some way out, good luck, Josiah." He left Josiah alone behind, following one of the downward spiral trails of the mount they were in.'I should probably do the same,' he thought.'It shouldn't be hard to climb down those mountains to approach the bottom. The problem is that the further down, the more I'm exposed to whatever mineral Watt said that was. I should probably strive to find the end which is closer to another end of the closest
Reeve was hanging on the cliff, being held only by Josiah's hand."Don't let go!! Please, pull me up!!" Reeve repeatedly shouted those words in a desperate manner."You sound way less cocky when you're on the verge of your life, huh?""Argh! My arm is getting numb!""Don't you dare let go you son of a…"It was somewhat fun seeing Reeve's eyes widen that much for some reason.'Stupid aristocrat. What do you think would happen to me if they knew some nine-year-old kid killed the nephew of the lieutenant during the final exam? Technically I'm allowed to, but in practice…' Josiah thought.Still… The weight was really too much for Josiah to deal with.It's true, he had lifted huge boulders for Lenny's cave in the forest. He had lifted stone tiles for an entire morning to help with the wall… But he always distributed the wight over all the muscles of his body. He never had to lift something from such an awkward angle using only one of his arms like that before.'I know! I'm going to use the
"At this rate, we're going to reach there in a blink of an eye," Watt commented when the sun rose again, after their first night."Yeah…" Josiah was still a bit sleepy."Hanging around in a pair is also good because we can just take turns on sleeping as we did. Let's go! We don't know exactly when they're coming back. If we can almost reach it today, we won't need to worry to be two of the thirty first ones after they arrive."Josiah was beaten. He used a lot of his rapier power when Reeve was hanging by the cliff, and after that, he had to use it several times, one for each attempt of placing the sword correctly above the floor from a distance.'My poor sword… It's all worn out. I should find a smith after this all ends…' Josiah thought, looking complacently to the blade of his mother's last gift.It took about half of the day using more and more his bloodbound power to build rope bridges until Josiah was all worn out and needed a rest. It was almost noon."Exhausting, huh?" Watt comm
With Watt's preparations, it was fairly easy not to miss the arrival of the examiners. Watt had brought a lot of useful equipment for the trip, unlike Josiah who had nothing but his equipment, and even on that he was missing, since he lost the dagger after throwing it at the talpig earlier.Watt had brought something whose function reminded Josiah of the 'binoculars' he had in his own world, but they were a fairly small apparatus, more like just a small lens on a cylinder. They waited, observing from the distance until they spot the men arriving and followed right after. They were the fifth and sixth people to arrive at the destination."I thought for sure we were gonna be the first ones…" Josiah said."I told you everybody would have the same idea."They waited a bit longer, close to an hour, and more participants arrived at the spot during the period. But no close to thirty. After this period of waiting the examiner finally pronounced himself:"That's it. These are the people who're
'Screw the test and the evaluation. Albo is in danger and his rescuer is nowhere in sight.' Josiah thought to himself. He couldn't stand watching his friend be pestered in that manner.'Ok. Think. If I try to draw its attention it's going to turn against me. But can I win…? No. My best chance is to climb on the block and help Albo kick it down. I'm going to silently climb on the other side.'Josiah rushed to the other side of the block and started.'Hang in there, Albo.'As an equipped human who trained in the army for eight months, the task was way easier for him, so he got up pretty quickly."Albo!""Dude! Help!" Luckily the scene was still the same. Albo was kicking the things' front while his hands were tied up, and the creature hadn't managed climbing up yet."Leave it to me!""Don't you dare! He's MY hostage!"Josiah heard.Right next to the block where they were standing, there was an even taller block. Josiah saw the owner of the voice above it, he was sitting down, watching t
"Oh, look! It's a gauntlet! This one is mine!""Hey, aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself? Who's the one who dealt with most of the thing?""My hostage. My monster. My business. My item.""Tell you what: since they are bound to the blood of someone who strikes it, wy don't we test whose blood it's bound to?"Reeve couldn't argue with that logic. If it wasn't bound to him, it'd be a useless item for him anyway.They did the test. And the gauntlet ended up with Reeve.'Damn it.' Josiah thought."Dude! Are you ok?" Albo appeared right behind him. He had descended his block and climbed up on the one Josiah was on."I'm ok. And you too seem fine. Go… I still need to find 'my' hostage.""I know where she is!" Albo exclaimed."Is it ok for the hostages to help the participants? I don't think so.""Relax. It was all against the rules to begin with, anyway. Do you know soldier Yvone? She must have misheard the instruction and hid some of the hostages who weren't their number in the beg
"What are you doing here!?""Shhh! They're going to hear you." She said.She smiled big and bright right after. Lenny started speaking on a low, whispered voice, trying not to be overheard:"I told you, I'm going to follow you wherever you go.""But… I'm in the army. I'm a soldier. And we are in the middle of a camp. If the sarg finds out…""Don't worry. Sargeant Koda knows me. He is also my Sargeant.""What?""After I found out you sacrificed yourself and enlisted for the sake of the people in the village… I followed suit. And did the same thing.""You did what!? Do you know what happens to child soldiers in the army?""Sshhh!"Josiah got closer to Lenny so that they could talk on a lower voice."I know what happens…" Lenny said, "That's why I don't want to stay in the village knowing you are a child in the army."'Silly girl. I'm not a regular child. You should have known better…' Josiah thought to himself."Anyway, why did you show up now of all times? You need to get out. We are in
"Good fight, pal." Watt pat on Josiah's back as he left the arena. "Now, watch the pro."'I better see this. Not only for Watt, but to see what he has prepared for me.' Josiah thought.The fight took place right after Josiah's. Watt's opponent was soldier Lawrence. A reserved man in his early twenties who didn't talk very much to anybody. Lawrence's weapon of choice was a crossbow.Meanwhile, Watt was carrying a small wooden weapon with some heavy ball tied to the edge. The ball seemed to be something that came out a morning star, but the whole weapon was far smaller and didn't pass the same dangerous vibe an actual morning star did.'I wonder what those are called…?'The whistling sound from the instructor started the fight. As soon as it started, Watt let his weapon purposely fall on the floor. A huge crater opened up and several pieces of compact soil fell all over the place in front of Watt's feet.'Such strength… But I bet he can't hit the opponent with that strength, otherwise, h