Hearing Zac's words, Quinn wanted to outright refuse whatever type of proposal was about to be made. It was clear they were up to no good and what reason did they have to go along with their little game.
"Just get out of here before I…"
Just then, a person from Quinn's right side stood in front of him.
"Sounds interesting, what do you have in mind?" Before Quinn could even reject their offer, Fex had chimed in at the last second. The word game had interested him greatly, besides they had already finished their shopping and explored the area. Other than going back to their hotel room to rest, there was nothing they could really do.
Fex didn't care about the results of the events and wasn't taking part in them, so this might have been the only bit of fun he would be able to experience.
"Since you guys seem more confident then your usual low levels, I thought this might interest you." Zac and the group started to walk off, and Fex followed without a second thought. The others looked at each other and shrugged thier shoulders, deciding to go along.
"Don't worry, they can't really do much, and you can always refuse," Sam said.
After following Zac and his group for a while, they were eventually led to the game section of the platform. It looked like he really did mean they would play a game and it wasn't a metaphor for something else. The stall they stopped at had several different booths that were open for the outside public to see.
Inside the booths was what looked like an old fashioned training machine. It was a standard upright thick pole made of metal. The pole was split up into 6 different sections, and each one had another pole sticking out of it.
Quinn watched one of the students carefully. A digital countdown appeared above his head, 3…2..1.. When the timer reaches 0, a buzzing sound was heard.
[Game, started. level 3]
The metal pole started to twist the different sections of its body. However, not all of the sections moved in the same direction. The very top section twisted and the pole from the top was now coming towards the students head from the left side. At the same time, the bottom section of the pole had twisted in the opposite direction. Making the extended pole attack from the right side.
At the same time, the student lifted his left hand and right leg, blocking both of the attacks. The pole twisted again and continued to twist and turn to allow attacks to come from all different directions aiming for the student's body. That's when Quinn also noticed, there was a small ring where the student was standing.
'I see, so he has to block all the attacks without stepping out of the ring.' Quinn thought. 'The higher the level, the faster and more varied the attacks.'
"My suggestion is we bet that beast armour of yours by playing the game." Said Zac." Each person here will count as a life for our team. The first person will start at level one and keep going up until they are eliminated, then the next person from the team will start from the level they have left off, then whichever team finishes on a higher level wins." Zac explained.
With this type of game it was best to allow the most skilled person to go last. The reason for this is because the person was able to watch how the one before them failed. They could get a sense of timing for the machine as well as witness the varied attack patterns.
"You're team only has four people, so one of you can go twice." Said Zac. "The reason for choosing this game is because it requires us not to use our abilities. I didn't want to pick something where we would clearly be the winner. This will just be a test of reflexes and quick thinking on your feet."
"I don't like it," Vorden said. "I don't have a problem with the game, I mean I think anyone of us here will be able to beat your whole team. The problem is, what's in it for us. We gain nothing from this bet, as the beast gear is rightfully Quinn's in the first place."
While watching Sam speak, he was amazed at how much confidence Vorden had. He didn't stutter when speaking in front of these higher levels, and when pointing to his teammates, it seemed like he was genuine when he said, he thought anyone of them would be able to beat them in the game.
"I thought you might say that, of course, I wouldn't just be putting up nothing on our side." Zac, reached is not the bag of one of his fellow teammates and pulled out a beast crystal. It was slightly clear in colour and after Quinn used the inspect skill he was able to tell it was an intermediate beast crystal.
[Lythey Intermediate beast crystal]
[Compatible with an item from the shop]
After using his inspect skill though, another message that he hadn't seen before had appeared. After selecting the message, the system immediately took him to his shop showing him a single short sword. One of the swords in his shop required this very crystal to be crafted.
The weapons from Quinn's shop were of higher quality than one could find on the market place. The problem was, nearly all of the weapons on it required him to gather specific items to create them. As he was still a student, he was unable to go travelling to other beast planets to hunt for these things.
For now he decided he would just leave it for the future, after he had left the school. Coming across one of the materials to create a weapon was a golden opportunity for him.
"We'll play your little game." Quinn said.
"Excellent," Zac replied, not doubting for a second they were going to lose.
Outside of the arena on the bottom floor, Leo stood outside. He had just come from the underground area after checking on the participating students. The real reason why he was there though was to check on Peter. He had a hand in helping the students during the matter with Truedream.
There was a chance that using their strange and strict methods, the military would find out he was also involved in the case. He wasn;t worried, but at the same time he had to prepare for the worst.
'Originally, there was one, and now there are three.' Leo thought.
He was thinking of the strange auras that he had sensed. At first, it was only Quinn, later Peter's aura had changed and then a third student had arrived with the same aura. With his ability, he could tell they weren't human, or at least not fully or not the same.
'The military might be stepping on their toes in something they can't handle.' Leo had a hunch, that if these people weren't really human, and they were basically going to publicly execute one of their kind. Then just maybe they would come and try save him, or at a later date, these actions could cause a lot of trouble, possibly even another war.
The human race couldn't handle fighting the Dalki and another Unknown entity. If it came to it, maybe the better decision would be for him to save Peter himself.
From just underneath Leo's belt, he had a small pouch where he pulled out a small little flask. It was the one that had been found at the last portal expedition. He still didn't know who it belonged to, but he did know it was a strange and powerful item.
The aura surrounding it was similar to his own weapons. For a simple flask to be made out of high-quality beast material would be a waste. It had to be something special, he thought.
Thinking that he might have missed something, or a special use for the flask. Unscrew the lid from the top of the flask. The contents inside the flask remained the same, as Leo didn't want to throw it away.
He swirled it around looking at the red liquid inside.
"That's definitely blood, I wonder if all of this is linked somehow?"
As he said those words, the sounds of footsteps rushing towards him was heard. Leo Quickly activated his ability, allowing him to cover a wider range. After doing this, he was even more worried than before. For some reason, the figures aura seemed to be masked.
He could still see the figure, but it seems like whatever was heading in his direction was able to suppress it. Eventually the footsteps slowed and now he could get a clearer view on it. Seeing it had a human-like shape, Leo calmed down a little but was still prepared for anything.
The figure was now in front of Leo, but of course, Leo could only tell someone was there and not what they looked like.
"Where did you get that flask?" A female voice said.
*****
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