They were watching Soverick's performance on the obstacle course.
"How is this even possible?" Shaston asked in disbelief.
"I don't know what to say, sister. He seems to be a level above extraordinary genius." Came the reply.
Shaston snorted. "That's an understatement. He is practically godly. His ability to make observations, learn and make adjustments are top-notch. It is beyond what is capable for kids his age and level."
It was the will clone's turn to snort. "If you know all of that, then why ask me? We both watched him beat the first choke point in 22 tries, in a day. He took what was supposed to take hundreds of tries and at least months of effort. He took it all and he achieved it in a day, a single day."
The Will clone was laughing hysterically by the end of her speech.
"It shouldn't be a surprise, we should have expected it. If we consider that he has broken all the records for every training he underwent, this should not come as a shock to us. But I expected more, you know. What happened to the wind and the other little traps? He just swept through the entire thing."
The first choke point, also the forest obstacle is made up of smaller challenges that might not be easily noticed. There are other enemies apart from the vines, the trees, the titan frogs, and the blood wasp. They are the obscure challenges. The integrity of the ground beneath the feet of the challenger will change occasionally to mess up their stability. There is the occasional sun glare which they use to blind the challenger's eyes. High-intensity sunlight will pass through the dense tree covers and just happen to land on the eyes of the participants.
Those that still rely on their eyes will find it difficult to pass. Even if they don't, a bright light shown on the eyes should stun them for a while and make them make mistakes. Then there is the wind manipulation meant to change the scent in the air so that those that rely on their nose and taste will also be handicapped.
They also took advantage of the lack of light on the ground to hide attacks and ambush the challengers. Most of the frog attacks occur from areas hidden in darkness. Numerous other little things like a trick of the light and the small, slippery bug on the tree bark that you just happened to step on.
These little nuisances were meant to remove bad habits and to force the challengers to adapt to new hardships. They combine with the obvious obstacles to make the forest choke point a nightmare. The fact that they will have to start the current choke point from the beginning over and over again will force the challengers to quit. Only those with persistence and overwhelming determination will be able to continue in the face of constant adversity and failure to emerge stronger for it.
It was all a carefully prepared challenge, meant to take at least half a year of constant effort to finish. The kids weren't even supposed to beat the titan frog attacks. They were supposed to continue trying though. So the frog attacks will weaken after they have put unrelenting effort. But Soverick just blew through the whole thing.
"How did he even resolve the attacks from the titan frogs? I was so sure they were going to stump him real hard. The first encounter is usually the most hilarious. It's like he saw through the entire thing. Has he awakened his eye? That might explain the ease at which he completed it." Shaston said.
The Will clone shook its head. "While I would say that that's impossible for someone at the vitality core stage to awaken a divine ability. His records have shown that he was born with awakened eyes. But it didn't activate. Or at least his eyes didn't glow with the tell-tale sign that he is using it. I am inclined to think he didn't use it because if he did, he might have been able to complete it in 4 tries. He also wouldn't make those hilarious mistakes."
"I can't wait to know what his eyes are capable of. The records show that it has something to do with perception. It had better be perception or he won't be able to learn my legacy. Speaking of hilarious mistakes..."
The Will clone grinned. "Already on it. Cutting out the hilarious fails and adding it to our collection."
"Nice." Shaston pumped her tiny fist and cackled evilly. "My hoard of secret weapons will increase in number."
She keeps a record of the failures of each challenger. Publicly, it is meant for their yearbook when they graduate. But secretly the directors of the academy have been keeping them to blackmail the challengers. Maybe not to blackmail them exactly, more like to embarrass them. When the challengers reach great heights, these few precious moments of their funny failure will be a blot on their pride. It is a tradition that has been enforced by generations of directors.
"We can use it to blackmail Soverick if he refuses to take your legacy in the future. Too bad we didn't get a lot more dirt on him. We still have more chances though."
Shaston shook her head. "It won't work on him. It will cause the opposite effect. If we make it known, then people will know he made a mockery of our obstacle course. We don't want that."
The will clone nodded. "You're right. But won't people know that during his award ceremony and through his records?"
"We can't help with those, but we mustn't add more avenues for him to ridicule our curriculum."
"The way he just blazed through is totally unnatural."
"It is natural. We saw him get better and better at it. He is just too outstanding. That's why he must inherit my legacy." Shaston's cute face scrumped up.
Back in Soverick's training room.
He rested for a few minutes before deciding to prepare. There were no trees, so he couldn't make spears or shields. The only things he had in this grassy safe zone are grass and stones.
"So it's just me and my faithful buckler." He said as he examined the only buckler remaining. He had lost one when his other hand was coerced to detach with a part of his chest.
"Let's see what this is about first."
Then he left the safe zone. He wanted to do the usual thing he always does in an unknown environment. Sneak around and acquire information. But the droning sound of wings caught him unawares.
"No way." He exclaimed and began to run.
He was genuinely surprised. He thought he had escaped from the blood wasps and they had become a thing of the past since he reached the next safe zone. It seems he was wrong. The blood wasps didn't disappear. They had been waiting just behind his safe zone for him. They began the chase as soon as he came out.
They ran into a grassy plain dotted with small mountains here and there. He had a bad feeling about those rocks but he couldn't point out what was wrong with them. He decided not to get near them. The bug wasps are already enough to stump him, he didn't need more to be added to his plate.
'Is this what the next stage is going to be about, trying to escape from these stubborn bugs?' He thought as he ran in circles to throw off his pursuers. He could keep them at bay as long as he didn't run in a straight line.
Then things got worse. The first mountain he passed by began to shake. It rumbled and rocks tumbled down the mountain as it lifted itself.
"Of course not. It can't be so easy." He complained as he watched the mountain dislodge to reveal a rock person.
"This is very bad. It's someone from the rock tribe. They are sentient. Maybe I can talk them off. But I don't know their language and the range of my divine sense isn't that far. I'm screwed this time."
The rock person sat on the ground. It was more than 100 meters tall even sitting down. It is completely made up of rocks. It has two arms, two legs, a torso, and a head, all made of rocks.
It rubbed what can be considered its eyes and groaned. It loved to sleep and something woke it up. It located the source of the disturbance immediately. The sleep waker was a tiny thing running around. It just had to make the tiny thing stop running and it can get back to its sleep. Simple enough plan, easy to execute, and foolproof.
So it grabbed some rocks and mashed them together with its giant hands. It held the resulting giant ball of rocks in one arm. Then it swung that arm in the direction of the sleep waker and released the rocks at it. That should snuff out the disturbance.
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