Shian bent his tall and muscular body near the forest wall, holding his breath, trying not to scare his prey away. With his trusty energy bow by his side, he intended on finishing the creature in one swift move as it would earn him the most points.
The shot had to be perfect. Releasing the arrow early would only injure the deer-like creature and make it flee. That was the last thing Shian wanted, as someone else would enjoy the fruits of his labour.
However, if he delayed the shot, the creature might easily dodge it. As if that wasn't enough, the Hirunas had a keen sense of hearing, which meant from the moment Shian pulled the bowstring, he would roughly have half a second before the Hiruna charged away.
'I can't take any chances,' Shian thought, 'It has to be a perfect strike.'
The tree behind Shian fluttered with the wind, catching the Hiruna's attention. Shian held his breath as the creature stared in his direction, as even the smallest amount of sound or movement would alert the prey.
After a second or two, content with his observation, the Hiruna returned to grazing the field. As it lowered his head, Shian sprung to action, releasing the arrow. The arrow whizzed past through the foliage of leaves and struck the Hiruna straight in the neck.
The creature collapsed as soon as the arrow struck. However, no blood dripped from its wound as it disappeared into nothingness.
"Alright, Shian, that's enough." The speaker buzzed as the forest disappeared, similar to the Hiruna.
Shian sighed before leaving the simulation chamber to look at his score. Despite giving his best, he ended up in the eleventh position.
'Damn it, I was too slow.' he sighed, his eyes didn't leave the scoreboard, 'I knew joining the Ghosts wouldn't be easy, but this is ridiculous!'
The scoreboard displayed the time taken by each applicant to kill a Hiruna. Although Shian only took 3.46 seconds, the ones above him took less than two seconds.
That said, dozens of them failed to clear the quest and were on their way back to being the mercenary they were before. Shian found a semblance of joy as he was able to qualify despite not ending up in the top ten ranks, as he expected.
Standing before him was a crowd like no other. Every mercenary affiliated with the Tower was present to test their mantle against the tests planned by the Ghost lieutenants.
Even the soldiers from Orion Empire were not an exception, just like the Gold Water mercs. Everyone wanted to have a part of the Ghosts' newfound success.
While countless others were still being tested, the doors leading to the corridor were flung open, and Reaper's trusted lieutenants walked in. However, everyone's attention was focused on the lady leading them.
Wearing a red tank top and black leggings hugging her waist, Anna was a sight to behold. Her beauty made jaws drop wherever she went, but her combat skills were equally astonishing.
After all, she had shown her skills to the applicants right before the selections began. It was to boost everyone's morale and show them the talent a combatant under the Ghosts should possess.
"Stare all you want, but do not dare to make a move on her." The man standing next to Shian mumbled, "The things she'd do to you will unlock a new kink within you and believe me, you won't like it."
Shian jumped back, surprised by the man's friendly demeanour and the weirdly close distance between them, "Who the heck are you?"
"Rodrick Krets, at your service," The man elegantly bowed before kissing Shian's hand.
"OI! Back off!"
With every passing moment, Shian's urge to kill Rodrick increased tenfolds. Who was the weird guy, and why the hell did the fucker have the urge to keep touching random people!?
"Is everything alright here?" Vimur approached them, and only then did Shian realise everyone's eyes were on him.
"Ugh, yes, sir! We were just- where the heck did he go?"
Shian pointed where Rodrick should've been, but there was no one there. Before Shian could say something, Anna joined them. Just by her expression, one could tell she was annoyed.
"What's wrong?" She asked Vimur.
"We got a daydreamer here," Vimur chuckled while pointing at Shian with his thumb, "No need to worry, though. I'll take care of everything here."
Anna nodded before heading to the next area where the mages were being tested. But not before scanning Shian from the corner of her eyes.
"Now then, those who managed to kill the Hiruna in less than five seconds, follow me." Vimur announced, "As for those that didn't, I would like to thank you for wasting your time. See ya!"
Vimur's words were met with silent hostility as the wound of not getting selected was already deep, and the rhino's words only rubbed salt in them.
Laihud promptly stomped on Vimur's feet before correcting him, "Please don't be discouraged. Even though you might have failed this time, the Ghosts will have more openings in the future! We'd love to see you again when the time comes! Thank you!"
As usual, the soft-spoken healer had a way with words. While delivering discouraging news, Laihud also gave them hope for the future. Just like that, Vimur's words were already forgotten, and the mercenaries left the room without a fuss.
As everyone left, Vimur's eyes were fixated on Shian's. The fucker hadn't turned his face away from Anna's direction, even though she was nowhere to be seen.
It was a usual occurrence for them, as Anna was a succubus, so random stares made sense. However, Vimur knew something was off with Shian. He couldn't pin it, but his gut was almost screaming that something was seriously wrong with the bastard.
'If the bastard had not scored well in the test, I'd have thrown him out without hesitation.' Vimur sighed, 'I believe I have to do something about him, and soon.'
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