Exam (6)

Having accepted Caligo's offer, the two young men followed him down the new passageway. They walked for what felt like an unbelievable amount of time, and they wondered as to where exactly they were going and why on Mundus did such a waste of money even exist? Well Imran the apparent son of the merchant was thinking that, while Cyrus was just considering the level of skill and amount of time would be required to create such a passage.

Caligo, in a rare helpful streak said "The tunnels were created as a way to run away in case the city fell to outside invasion, there is a network connecting every major important building to the outside world."

Such a helpful hint was somewhat shocking to the two, as his character thus far was not exactly the warmest. Correctly predicting the reactions of the two, Caligo said "I thought I might as well satiate your curiosity as soon you will have no time to think of anything really" to which he ended with an ominous laugh. Soon they reached their destination, after travelling through the dull gray tunnel for what seemed to be an unending amount of time causing everything to just appear as one gray blur. They walked through another hidden door, which brought them into a room that smelled of sweat and blood. The room itself was small in width but quite long, with a long bench on one side and a pile of assorted weapons chained to the wall to the right of the bench. In front of the bench was a wide large metal gate that had a small door in it, which was locked tight at the moment. Although it appeared to Cyrus that the gate itself could also be raised in its entirety instead of using the door.

"Welcome to the Faleria, the second largest amphitheater in the Empire. Well, specifically welcome to one of the rooms that gladiators stay in before either dying horribly or making it out barely alive only to continue their eternal damnation the next day" said Caligo in what could be construed as a somewhat cheery tone. "The only difference being that today, you will be the ones tested instead of gladiators. As to what will be testing you…well I don't know." Shrugging Caligo walked to the small locked gate before unlocking it, stepping through it, then locking it from behind.

"Well good luck and I guess don't die. You can always cry out for someone to save you, I think. But the moment you do the test is over and you will have to be content to how you score. Other than that, try to last as long as you can" said Caligo as he chuckled while walking away.

The two who were left behind stood there with their jaws open, thrown off by the fact they were now suddenly in a death game. Cyrus recovered fast, as he was more shocked by the manner in which Caligo acted as he was starting to be convinced all mages eventually became extremely sadistic by default.

"So, uh.." paused Cyrus as he already forgot Imran's name as he has yet to find a reason to mark it as important.

"Imran" said he.

"Right Imran, in the case we have to fight together we should quickly discuss our strengths and weaknesses in combat, assuming you will be participating that is" said Cyrus

"I will, don't worry about that. Cost benefit analysis, simple merchant terms but they are words I live by. Until the cost outweighs the benefit I won't change my course" stated Imran matter of fact-ly as he took a seat.

"Good, then I will go first since I suggested it. I am of dual proficiency, Mors and Vita. My Vita domain only contains self-supportive and detection spells at the moment but I have been learning a high level personal spell recently that I was lucky enough to come across. Its powerful but the chances I pull it off are only slightly above a coin toss. As for my Mors domain, I have plenty of utility that I can apply to myself but not you unless you want to slowly die of course. I can handle shortswords fairly well when it comes to defensive measures, offense leaves much to be desired. I am skilled at throwing knives..Good at tracking and scouting, I know how to hunt various Brutum…"

"Hold on" interrupted Imran, "You can do all of that? As in, do it well not just half ass it?" asked Imran incredulously, looking at Cyrus as if he were a monster. Cyrus just simply nodded, as to him he had not even begun to learn half of the skills he wanted to really learn with most of what he has known so far such as sword fighting and knife throwing to be mere cheap tricks.

"All right I will just consider you an all rounder then, makes things easier. My domains are Aero and Terra, with my focus on Terra and Aero being my supportive domain. I only know a few basic spells I learned from buying information, but I do have two decent personal spells that I have sunk all my time in. The first is what I used to detect that professor, it's a fast detection spell that works on anything touching or in the ground. The second spell is sand manipulation, if there is suitable terrain I can create sand and use it as if it were my own limbs. As of now its not very powerful, but I can use it as a way to easily blind enemies and create fast traps. As for martial arts, I know close combat techniques for self-defense and like any citizen of the Empire I can use any type of spear."

Cyrus took in the information and thought for a moment before saying, "It seems the natural positions for us would be me in the frontline and you in the back supporting me. If anything comes up that I can not handle then you can delay or trap them for me or if too many enemies come you can separate them while I take them on one by one."

Liking the simple, quick, but effective plan Imran agreed. Seeing his plan being agreed to, Cyrus was inwardly relieved as he thought "Phew, good thing he accepted it. If this works like how I think it will this will be the first time I ever cooperate with a peer instead of an overpowered mentor, I am both incredibly anxious and also excited… I would think that I would not be this nervous and uncertain though, is it because he is a peer instead of someone of an older generation? How odd." As he was pondering about the psychological implications of what he was currently feeling, a large man walked over to the gate in front of them.

Without even needing to take more than a moment to guess, Cyrus knew he was dealing with a member of the Legionaries as he was by now very familiar with what they wore and how they looked. In front of him was a hulking mass of steel, almost the same size as the Unas and his two brothers when they were in full gear.

"I have been asked to assist in your test for today. If you are about to die, tell me and I will help. If you do not then you will die." He then unlocked the small gate for them and beckoned them to follow him. As they were leaving, he turned around and threw a sack to both of the two following him. "Here are your things we confiscated at the start of the test, you may use whatever is in there and whatever you can procure in the arena"

Glad to have their items back, the both of them quickly equipped themselves with their own armaments quickly. Cyrus brought out his mask and short sword, tying the latter on his belt while putting the former on. While Imran simply produced a type of spear, a Glaive. Cyrus knew about the weapon as it was one of the few modern technologies that he was keenly aware of thanks to his curiosity, as it was a fairly new type of spear that sacrificed some of its thrusting power for a strong cutting power. It could cut superbly like a sword, but still thrust decently like a spear while still maintaining light weight and amazing reach. After pulling out his Glaive, Imran then equipped two leather gloves of which a small rune could be seen on in. When he noticed that Cyrus was looking intently at the runes, curious as to what effect they had, he bragged

"You noticed the runes eh? Cost me a fortune, in fact, it cost me everything I owned. You could say that my entire life up to now was just to buy these gloves but was it worth it. Normally you would not even be able to buy this on the market as items with runes on them are usually done through closed door deals instead. Lucked out on this one, worth every bit of gold." Said Imran gleefully has he droned on about various complex information only people familiar with commerce would know.

"He has been extremely open with me randomly, a far difference from when he barely gave me a look when we first sized another up. The change.. from the moment I was mentioned as a wastelander his attitude changed to a positive one. Another change… when I explained my skillset, he warmed up even more. Aha, a merchant indeed. He sees me as a worthy investment…" thought Cyrus pragmatically, now having donned his mask.

"The amount of information I miss when my emotions are clouding things, how annoying" thought Cyrus irritably, "Either way, this kid is useful. If its not too much trouble I suppose I can keep him alive and so long as I remain a worthy investment he should remain a 'loyal' tool for me…"