Mental Trial
When the countdown ended, Rakna immediately shot forward with Artzpul, his wings leaving a silver trail behind him. Within a few seconds, he had already lost sight of the two disks.
As expected, just like the first Trial, he was slightly overqualified. Even more so after leveling up nine times and scavenging the Dreorins.
Rakna followed the path delimited by the Trial and single-mindedly flew at full speed until he saw a red line with a banner of the same color floating above it. It would only take a few seconds to reach it but what happened next nearly made him fear for his life.
The barriers suddenly deformed and built an obstacle in his path.
'Wha…?!' His soul core warned his entire body of the danger as he flapped his wings in the opposite direction as hard as he could. His feathers released even more silver mist as he slowed down and stopped right in front of the rectangular barrier.
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❮◈❯ Flight has leveled up! ❮◈❯
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Rakna placed his four paws on it with a sigh and fell to the ground after losing his momentum. He looked up afterward and watched the obstacle being retracted inside the barrier.
"If I hadn't stopped in time, my head would've been crushed like a watermelon," he muttered with a dispassionate tone and Pronos shuddered at the thought. "Was this a trap for flying contestants?"
After that small incident, Rakna folded his wings and leisurely ran to the goal. He looked over his shoulder and saw the disks dematerialize in the distance as a System window came up.
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❮ ◈ ❯
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You have reached the end line. You have passed the Race Trial!
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First Plateau: 2/3 Trials Completed.
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❮ ◈ ❯
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Right after, the path of light and the barriers dissolved as well, and the landscape returned to how it was before. "Well, only one left," Rakna remarked and his ears twitched as he heard noises coming from his left.
His gaze sharpened and he wordlessly released his Aura. A wave of fire then swallowed him whole but he simply ignored it. His Aura fended off the flames as if they were nothing and its cold nature seemed to be a perfect counter as well.
When the stream of flames died down, he looked around him and counted an entire horde of odd lizard-like monsters. They had a horn protruding from their head and spiky scales. After a quick appraisal, he learned that they were called Fire Basilisks, a variant of monster commonly seen in the System and which only came out a night.
Rakna turned back into a therian and frowned as the effects of The Harvester hit him. His vision blurred and switched to a semi-Xray one. The pulsing veins and hearts of the basilisks were bared to him.
The attraction one more time didn't feel as strong as Aquila and it was also weaker than the Dreorins but there was something different about it compared to both. The 'color' was brighter and more spread across the creature's body.
'Seems like I need to learn more about this skill,' Rakna thought and turned Sonata into a glaive. He then activated his Intimidation which, coupled with his Aura, forced the basilisks to hesitate.
Pronos took that as a sign to initiate the battle and jumped off before growing python-sized and breathe out a concentrated jet of acidic poison. The targeted fear-stricken basilisk couldn't evade in time and was hit by the poison right in the head.
The lizard screamed in pain as its scales melted and a poisonous fog entered its nostrils. That had been the first victim of a one-sided slaughter followed up by Rakna who summoned flying short spears with Star Make and impaled several basilisks with them while beheading another one with Sonata.
After the effects of the initial Intimidation wore off, those who were the farthest away from Rakna or Pronos inhaled until their bellies bloated and released several waves of flames. But even with so many of them stacked on top of each other, Pronos and Rakna still were able to survive through it with nothing but their Aura and natural defense; both of them were already too strong for these monsters to handle.
After a short minute or two, the twenty or so basilisks were lying dead on the ground. Rakna tore open their chests with terrifying calm and ate their hearts. The moment he bit into it, he noticed that the taste was completely different.
It was at least ten times better than what he had tasted until now and it recovered more mana and stamina than he had expected. As Rakna licked the blood on his fingers, his mind went back to something he had seen when he unlocked the Luquila gene.
"Compatibility… This may point to the fact that my harvest is more compatible with… reptiles perhaps? But then again, it could be related to my currently integrated genomes," Rakna supposed as he collected the drops and the Talys. "Wolves don't hunt lizards as far as I know but they might have been preys for Luquilas instead."
After finishing eating the hearts, he had gained a few new decimals of attributes and had easily recovered whatever energy he had used in the fight. He glanced at the basilisks' body and mused before putting them inside his ring. It's not like he couldn't and their description did say that their hide and scales were decently valuable.
Rakna looked at the arrow pointing at the final Trial and shrugged. "Why not. It can only be taken alone anyway. I could always do it first and inform the others later," he muttered and turned into a wolf. "Get on, little guy."
Pronos nodded and wrapped himself around his master's neck after shrinking. Rakna gently wagged his wings then shot off into the sky with a burst of mana.
After a dozen minutes, he arrived at the location of the third Trial. But, much to his confusion, the arrow was pointing directly at a small wooden house in the middle of a peaceful meadow.
He landed near the front door and shapeshifted before knocking on it. After waiting and receiving no response, he tried to open the door only for it to open on its own right as his hand was about to touch the handle.
He scowled as the door creaked and gave him a view of the house's interior. It was very dark; a detail that would have probably been the same even during the day since the windows were obstructed by thick curtains.
The entrance led to a living room where a fireplace was the only source of light and where a silhouette sat on a chair half-illuminated by the flames' glow.
Rakna slowly entered with Fabled Sight active and his Aura set to its lowest visibility along with his Reinforcement pumping his muscles. If he remembered correctly, this should be the Mental Trial. It didn't sound like a Trial that would require him to fight but he could never be too cautious.
He stared at the back of the silhouette sitting a few meters in front of him and after a few seconds, the voice of an elderly woman sounded.
"Welcome, young wolf. Could you close the door? Do not worry, this is not a trap."
Rakna scowled before shutting the door behind him. He trusted his instinct with his life and for now, nothing seemed to be screaming danger at him. He then walked to a side of the room where he would be able to see the appearance of the obscured individual.
As her voice hinted, she was quite old-looking and Rakna would have honestly pegged her to be close to a hundred years old. But he also didn't know the average lifespan in the System so he couldn't make a guess.
The old woman chuckled at the taciturn observation he was doing of her. "I see that you are the fear-less and cautious types combined. I will cut to the chase then. I'm Flegra, the monitor of the First Plateau's Mental Trial."
"The monitor?" Rakna repeated.
"Yes, I have been so ever since light first shone on this land."
Rakna's eyes widened. "Are you insinuating… that you're as old as the System itself?" He had every right to be shocked since that would imply she was at least 3 000 years old.
Flegra chuckled before nodding. "I'm getting old, aren't I? I pass my days sitting here, welcoming Hosts every year and guiding them through the Trial. In all honesty, the day I began still feels like yesterday. Now, young wolf, are you ready to take the Trial?"
"What will it be about?"
"Mental Trials come in many forms. They test qualities such as your willpower, your wisdom, your memory, your wittiness, your ability to discern truths and lies… My Trial will be composed of three questions that you will have to answer. I will decide at the end if you have passed or not."
Rakna raised an eyebrow at that and listlessly leaned against the wall. "Then start."
The old woman smiled before lifting one finger. "First question; what does one plus one make?"
"…pardon?" He blurted out.
"I only require you to answer the question, young wolf."
Rakna blinked several times before opening his mouth tentatively, "2?"
Flegra nodded without a change to her expression and lifted a second finger. "Second question; if I were to attack you right now, what would you do?"
Rakna didn't know what to make of this Trial at this point. He thought about it but no matter how hard he tried; he didn't find any sort of hidden meaning in any of her words. So, he just answered honestly, "I would run."
She seemed to be pleased with that answer as her smile widened. She then raised a third finger.
"Last question; can you swim?"
"Yes... What do y-!?"
Before he could finish, he was suddenly hit by drowsiness and a crippling headache. He held his hand to his temple and his pupils dilated and contracted several times continuously.
When his vision somewhat returned to him, his lower body was submerged in water and the sky was overtaken by a storm. He looked around with a cold look and became aware that Pronos was nowhere to be seen.
He tried to freeze the water with his magic but his mana didn't appear to be responding to him and after a while, the waves became stronger and the color of the water darkened.
He stiffened when he recognized the color that was starting to mix with the water. His ears then picked up a bizarrely loud sound coming from behind him. He slowly turned his head and looked at the source from the corner of his eyes.
He completely froze in place when he saw what it was; a large tide of gushing crimson blood loomed over his head and before he knew, it engulfed him. His breath left his lungs and his mind was invaded with voices and images.
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'"'P...oo..!..b…lood!… we… ke… up….. TALK!'"'
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His eyes started flashing from purple to red and rage took control of his body. He transformed into a werewolf and roared with all of his strength. An icy aura erupted from his body and pushed the blood away. He continued to howl and the aura gradually turned red.
As he was about to lose all control, a wave of soul power emerged from his body and shattered the world around him. He instantly came back to his senses inside Flegra's house and panted.
He instantly made sure to inspect his surroundings with Fabled Sight whilst stirring all of the soul power he could muster. The first thing he noticed was that he had turned into a werewolf and ripped the clothes he was wearing in the process.
Other than that, he saw the cheerless expression on the old woman's face and Pronos who was standing a few meters away from him. The little snake was watching him with a worried look as his body steamed for an unknown reason. Rakna also noted that the wooden floor under him was charred black and that the temperature in the house was considerably higher than before.
"You made it back," Flegra said with a solemn expression and he shot her a glare. It visibly didn't affect her as she continued, "Please, calm down. I will explain what happened."