"I see, so this is the highest area of this mountain..."
While standing in the air, Liam glanced at the snow-covered area with a look of
contemplation on his face.
"Yeah, I was thinking that it would take a few days, but you already cleared all the areas in a matter of minutes..."
Themes appeared beside Liam at that moment and sighed while thinking about Liam's speed of progress.
"Well, I can't possibly let you go back so early; otherwise, the other evaluators will laugh at me for being bad at creating evaluation test, so..."
Themes waved his hand, and a giant summoning circle appeared on the snow.
A giant python with white scales and red eyes appeared from the summoning circle.
"Ah, Ardi, sorry to disturb you, but you need to keep this kiddo accompanied in combat for a day or two; you gotta delay some time..."
Liam frowned as he heard those words and glanced at the white python with a serious look.
'What kind of summoned best is that... This is the first time I've seen something that gives off such an ominous aura...'
Although Liam didn't want to stay in this place long, he can't argue with an SS-ranker over this matter.
Themes can change the content of the evaluation test according to his wishes, and thus, Liam has no way of complaining about it.
He has already climbed nearly the whole mountain, but only this small, snowy area is left. 'This snake is going to block my way up, it seems... then I have no choice but to fight it...' The snake named Ardi nodded his head at Themes in agreement, but then asked,
"Er, is it really okay to use my powers against such a young kid?"
Themes shook his head and replied,
"Don't underestimate him; he's a 'Genius'; he cleared the test too fast! That's why I need to delay him!"
"Ugh, I was an idiot to underestimate the member of a team that won the supreme tournament... should have made a more difficult test..."
Themes rubbed his temples and waved his hand at Ardi,
"Go now; just don't go all out; control your power, and it should be fine..."
The snake nodded his head and slithered in front of Liam, blocking the way.
"Kiddo, don't blame me for blocking the path; it's just that you are too good, so we gotta make some changes to accommodate a genius like you..."
Liam rolled his eyes at those words and replied,
"No worries... I also wanted to test out my newly improved strength. I will take you as the test subject; don't blame me later for being too overbearing..."
Ardi laughed a bit at Liam's words and said,
"ahaha, you are an amusing kid... to think someone will treat me as a test subject someday. The human race really is quite amusing... Good then, let's do it..."
[Serpent Glare: Petrified Killing Aura!]
A dense killing intent suddenly appeared and put massive pressure on Liam. Liam's eyes widened in shock, and his legs sank in the snow from the pressure of that massive aura.
'Such insane killing intent, my body feels like it's been petrified... I see, it's a debuff type skill, and this snake likely doesn't have much combat ability of its own...'
'No wonder it felt like I had never seen this type of beast; this beast is an auxiliary type and can put strong debuffs on the enemy just by existing on the battlefield...'
The very moment Ardi appeared, it already put a 'confusion' debuff on Liam, causing him to get confused about Ardi's identity.
'This would have worked earlier, but now I have a perfect counter to unusual abilities like these...'
Instead of getting afraid of the dense killing intent, a smirk appeared on Liam's face. [Mana Field!]
Liam has seen Link and Rio use their respective legendary skills in combat, so he knows a little bit about how to use his mana field more effectively.
He directly condensed his mana field, and instead of expanding it on a larger area, he focused it all on his own body.
This not only formed an extremely strong mana shield on his body, it directly countered the killing intent's suppression, and Liam broke out of the petrified state.
"hoh, no wonder Themes dared to say that you are a genius, although I only used half of my power to think you are already able to resist a debuff cast by an S rank summon beast..."
Even Ardi couldn't help but look at Liam with shocked eyes.
As an SS-ranker's summoned beast, Ardi is smart and can even talk like a normal intelligent creature; thus, he could understand why Themes would choose him to stop Liam.
Ardi isn't proficient at combat or barrier techniques.
The only reason Themes chose to summon him is because he's adept at casting debuffs.
"You have found a way to counter my debuffs? How amusing... Let's see how strong of a
debuff you can withstand..."
[Serpent's bane: Slowness!]
[Serpent's bane: Dizzy!]
This time, Ardi used more power in his debuffs.
As Liam has just recently awakened 'Mana Field', his control over it is very poor; it's so weak that resisting these debuffs alone needs him to use all his mental strength.
'Sh*t! My control over this skill is too low; even if I don't run out of mana, I will definitely get mentally exhausted sooner or later if I try to maintain such a strong skill for long...'
Using a skill not only needs mana but also good mental control over it; otherwise, its power weakens considerably. This is why all awakeners train hard to improve their control over their
skills.
Liam has only just awakened his 'Mana Field', and this skill has extremely high demands; just using it once or twice will put immense burden on Liam's mind.
And now that he has to use it to counter these debuffs, he's getting exhausted fast.
'Now I understand why Link always says that Rio's control over his 'Sword Intent' is insanely strong... That guy can even use his 'sword intent' like a hand warmer!'
Liam is having difficulty maintaining this skill for a few seconds, and the mental stress is insane, but Rio uses his legendary skill like it's some kind of random convenience item.
Only after you have learned a legendary skill yourself can you understand how insane Rio's 'sword intent' actually is.
It's so strong that comparing it to Liam and Link's legendary skills is like insulting its power.
'Ugh, my head is getting dizzy-'
Liam was not only affected by the 'dizzy' debuff; he was already mentally exhausted by the continuous use of 'Mana Field'; thus, he fainted on the spot when he reached his limit.
Upon witnessing Liam fall onto the snow, Ardi shook his head and said,
"Er... It seems I used a bit too much strength... But this kid really is strong; he was able to withstand my 80 percent debuff for quite a few seconds... That's already very impressive..." Ardi was already in shock, and if he had seen Rio, he would have undoubtedly fainted from a
heart attack.
Rio is literally immune to debuffs as he has a triple-layered defense that consists of sword intent, an imperfect sword heart, and true immunity.
Ardi's worldview would have instantly crumbled if he had witnessed Rio dismiss his debuffs
as insignificant.
Fortunately for him, Rio isn't taking this test.
...
Ardi glanced at Themes and said,
"Isn't it quite a bad idea to delay a genius like him just for your own face value... Once he
grows up, he will kick you're a*s for today..."
After hearing those words, Themes scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment, saying,
"Er... yeah, I shouldn't delay him much; I guess I will let him go as soon as he wakes up..."
Ardi shook his head and said,
"Idiot, don't wait for him to wake up; go and send him back from the place you kidnapped
him from..."
Themes glared at Ardi and said,
"I didn't kidnap him! Don't make me sound like a criminal! I was taking orders from the king,
you know!"
Ardi sighed at those words and said,
"The dragon king can just shrug his shoulders and say that he didn't give the order... In the end, you will be considered the culprit because you were the one who did the work..." Themes's expression turned solemn at those words.
"Ahem... I-I guess it's time I return him back to the dragon palace then... It wouldn't be a
good idea-"
Before Themes could finish his words, Liam's voice sounded in his ears.
"No! I want to train more with this snake of yours; he seems like the perfect training partner
to improve my control over the skill..."
Both Themes and Ardi were shocked by the fact that Liam had suddenly woken up at some point and was now looking at Ardi with an excited look on his face.
"You see, I am quite behind my two dear friends in terms of skill control, so I will appreciate
it if you can help me with it..."
After hearing those words, a smirk appeared on Themes's face.
"HEH, I knew it! This kid is a genius!!"
Liam has already passed the test, so he can now use his summoned beast to heal himself and
endure Ardi's debuffs again and again to improve his control over the mana field.
Ardi's debuffs kept causing Liam to faint, but he didn't give up at all.
He kept persisting for three days straight and eventually ended up collapsing from extreme
mental exhaustion.
But in this test, Liam proved himself.
Liam didn't want to expose Ellie and wanted to protect her.
The fact that he awakened a legendary skill just to hide Ellie is proof of his determination to
protect her.
In this test, not only did he gain a legendary skill, he even improved his control by doing that
intense training.
After those three days, he was sent back to the dragon palace to rest.
...
Author's Notes.
Yo! It's your beloved author here!
How long do you think it will take for Liam to catch up to Rio's control level?
(Tell me your thoughts in the comments.)
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story.
Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.