For several hours, Cynrik floated in the same position, and although his mind was still active, his body was unmoving aside from the calm bobbing motion that came along with being in zero gravity.
Over these few rest hours, he went through the intricate process of creating Runic Diagrams and broke it down into a simple method that he could abus…utilize at any time. This entailed transposing the Diagram and each of the Runes forming the symbol into a basic language not unlike what he would have used in computer programming.
Putting meaning behind each of the squiggly lines took time, and even after working on it for around five hours, he still hadn't transposed even 1/100th of the Runes forming the basic [Fireball] skill. Still, progress was progress, and although it would take months or even years, Cynrik was ok with the snail's pace if it meant later on down the line, he could freely create new Diagrams without much effort.
He had several reasons for doing so, one of which was completely unrealistic. If he could somehow decipher the most common runes used in Diagrams, in theory, he would be able to observe his opponents and know every skill they had in their toolbox—giving him yet another advantage over his enemies.
Taking things one step further, once he knew how to read a Diagram, he needed to observe when the Runes in question lit up with Mana, and he could respond with proper countermeasures.
[Hey, where are you?]
Cynrik's eyes snapped open as his train of thought was broken by Brance's voice in his head.
[Shadow Realm, how long have I been gone?] Cynrik asked as he righted himself and looked up toward the real world above.
[Er, I slept for about seven hours, depending on when you left, it should be roughly the same amount of time. What have you been doing all this time? I hope you got some sleep.] Sitting up in his tent, Brance extricated himself from Gabby's koala grasp and left his tent before performing a few stretches.
[Sleep, not really; I did get some rest, though. I spent most of this time working on some stuff; here, check out the fruit of my labor.] Expelling a jet of flames from his feet, Cynrik shot up and out of the Shadow Realm.
Upon landing beside Brance, he sent over the description of his UTBB, causing his brother to nearly fall over out of surprise by what he read.
[What the fuck is this shit? In other circumstances, I would call this an overpowered knockoff of my WD, but I doubt that without burning my entire Mana Pool, I would be able to do as much damage as this thing could.] However, when Brance got to the part about what the skill could do to him as a Light Affinity User, he frowned deeply, causing creases on his forehead.
[Is this your response… how petty of you.] Clenching his fist and resisting the urge to backhand his older brother, Brance sighed and continued his morning stretches.
[Oh come on, how is it fair that you can have a move that has an effect which only targets me, but when I make a similar one, I BECOME THE BAD GUY?] Joining his brother in the morning stretches, Cynrik complained while feeling wronged.
[You are the Bad Guy, lest we forget who set a hotel filled with helpless children on fire.] Rolling his eyes, Brance moved from stretching to push-ups.
[One time, one freaking time years ago, it's not like anyone was hurt, and they served their purpose as a distraction. Plus, Tobs sent our asses right back to that hotel to save them.] With a snort, Cynrik moved on from stretches to push-ups, then sit-ups.
For the next thirty minutes, the brothers moved in unison from one exercise to the next, and before long, the other members of MyrkLys roused from slumber and joined them.
No one said a word aside from morning greetings, they had been doing the same routine for years, and it was a well-known fact that if anyone messed up, Cynrik would get annoyed and start scolding.
Around an hour later, everyone began working on mastering the use of skills, with guidance from both Cynrik and Brance, until like clockwork, there was a knock on the large steel door leading out of the Arena, indicating that Instructor Garrison and the team Nanny had arrived.
With a wave of his hand, Cynrik indicated everyone should wrap up their morning training and clean up their sleeping arrangements.
The members of MyrkLys moved as a unit, dismantling their tents and cleaning the area of any trash from late-night snacking while Cynrik made his way to the door, got close to the intercom, and put on a silly grin before pressing the call button.
"Whooo isss it?" He chirped annoyingly.
"Open up, you little punk; you know damn well who it is." The voice of a very annoyed and sleepy Garrison came through the speakers positioned around the Arena.
"How do I know it's you and not some spy?"
"Do I have to call the Headmaster and have him give me remote access to the door, or will you keep playing around? We only have three hours before we need to head over to the portal, and you haven't spent any time working on your coordination with Kurza."
BANG BANG BANG
Instructor Garrison slammed his fist against the door several times as he spoke.
"Bah, party pooper, why is it all of you meatheads live to spoil my fun," Cynrik mumbled as he tapped the card key against the intercom to unlock the door.
When the door opened, both Instructor Garrison and Kurza let out a sigh of relief and entered the Arena only to find Cynrik had moved back toward the bleachers and was twirling an ejected hidden blade around his hand.
"I assume you guys got some sleep, unlike that knucklehead playing with a knife, right?" Looking between the members of MyrkLys, who seemed well rested and ready to go, then toward Cynrik, whose dark circles could make even a raccoon envious, Instructor Garrison had to take a deep breath to calm down.
"Oi, I got some rest too; I totally didn't stay up all night working on my experiments." Fumbling with the hidden blade, Cynrik was forced to catch it and put it back into his Assassin's tool, leaving the other members of MyrkLys to answer with a chorus of "Yes."
"Good, I won't interfere too much, but I want you all to run drills with Kurza; although time is short, there is still enough to bring him up to speed on your basic battle formations. He is pretty good at adapting, but I still feel it is vital that he gets a little experience in before we leave."
"Yeah, yeah, hey Instructor, question. You said portal earlier. Does that mean we don't have a long vehicular trip ahead of us?" Waving his hand dismissively at Garrison's words, Cynrik cut in before the Instructor could continue issuing orders to his team.
"Sigh, yes, I mentioned the portal. Since there is quite a bit of distance between where you will be competing and VSFA, we will take the school teleportation system to our destination. Under normal circumstances, we would take buses; however, SOMEONE was determined to wait till the last minute to have his group Evo to Tier-3, so we get to be extravagant and burn the Headmaster's hard-earned money for instant arrival."
"Once we get to our destination, you will be introduced to the other two Teams representing our academy, followed by the Opening Ceremonies. After that, you will be shown to your lodgings for the weekend, and before you ask, guys and gals will be separated, so NO, you can't bunk together. However, you will have rooms across the hall from each other." As if predicting Cynrik's following words, Instructor Garrison added the last part of his statement before Cynrik could interrupt.
"Tsk, I wasn't going to ask that. It is common sense that the lodgings would be separate; I was going to ask about the opening ceremonies." Rolling his eyes and feeling that Garrison was more "pent up" than him, Cynrik changed the topic.
"Eh, they aren't that big of a deal, but I want you all on your best behavior. The moment you step foot in the Arena, hundreds of cameras will be pointed in your direction. Please do not, and I repeat, DO NOT act out. You will be representing VSFA, so be on your best behavior Ivar." Garrison narrowed his eyes and directed a fierce glare at Cynrik, causing him to recoil.
"Oi, why are you singling me out here?"
"Obviously, because you are the biggest troublemaker I have ever met."
"Here Here," Brance shouted while showing his support for the Instructor.
"I second that Here Here," Benny added.
"Yep yep, Big Bro Ivar is a troublemaker for sure." Gabby chimed in with a smile as she latched on to Brance's massive arm like a monkey.
"Indeed, Big Bro Ivar has a knack for causing trouble…." Melody mumbled softly, earning a glare from Cynrik.
"Tsk, my Darling doesn't cause trouble; it's more like he attracts it; there's a difference." Hopping up onto the bleachers beside Cynrik, even Selene joined in on the teasing.
"Traitors, the fucking lot of you. How can you slander my glorious name so quickly? Have I not been disciplining you lot hard enough…hm? Maybe I should issue more homework in the future." Smacking his lips loudly, Cynrik narrowed his eyes and examined the members of his party.
"Who? Ivar, Nah, my Big Brother would never cause trouble, right Gabby?" Brance was the first to change his tune.
"Of course, our Big Bro Ivar is the smartest and most kind of MyrkLys; he would never cause trouble." Nodding her head like a bobblehead doll, Gabby complimented Cynrik heavily.
"Nope, not Big Bro Ivar; he is too good of a person to cause trouble." With fear in her eyes, Melody stepped closer to Benny; however, his following words caused her to abandon her boyfriend for the safety of Brance.
"Ehhh, why are you guys lying? We all know if anyone is bound to cause trouble, it will be Big Bro Ivar; he's practically a magnet for it."
"Tsk, tsk, Benny Boi, you done goofed this time." No sooner did the words leave Selene's mouth was Benny sent hurtling across the Arena as Cynrik drop-kicked him ruthlessly with all his might.
"Unbelievable, fucking unbelievable. KNOCK OFF THE BULLSHIT AND GET TO WORK. DAMN IT!" Throwing his hands up to catch Benny as he whizzed by, Instructor Garrison shouted angrily, causing everyone, Cynrik included, to fall in line.
-This series is exclusively published on WebNovel if you are reading it anywhere else...You Wrong, Fam. PS Check out the Discord, https://discord.gg/dcxKNJEMwg-
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