95 The Practical Exam (4)

'Left shoulder.'

I ducked down and to the right as the Dark Jaguar lunged at me. My actions caused the beast to fly over me, and while it was in that moment of vulnerability, I punched upward with all of my might, including the use of Genesis Liquid. My fist connected easily, but I could tell that, even with the brute strength of Coal Class Genesis Liquid, it alone wouldn't be enough.

I took a step back and let the jaguar fall to the ground. It was covered in a skin-tight metallic-looking yet plastic-feeling black wrapper. That was it's Magic Art, Darkened Armor. Before, I was able to just barely get through Spiravit's Fire Armor, even though he was in the Coal Class. But this Wild Beast was only in Stone Class, at the apex maybe, but still in Stone Class nonetheless. The big difference though was that the Dark Branch had a much higher affinity toward defense than the Fire Branch, and affinity created a huge difference. So huge that a Stone Class Magic Art that was meant for defense has more effect than a Coal Class one that isn't. If anything, it shows how important it is to play to your strengths.

The Dark Branch was affiliated much more with defense and movement while having some investigative properties as well. And since this jaguar was a part of the Dark Branch, I didn't have much of a chance of taking it down just using normal means. So I gave up on not using any Fruits until I fought the Wild Beast Medisma prepared for me and started the process of using a Fruit. I teleported a Fruit that, while similar looking to my Crossbow Bolt Fruit, had some differences, into my stomach. A more abrasive power than the Dirt Class equivalent ever gave me spread throughout my body, following the same route as it always did.

A big difference between this Fruit and my last was that instead of resting in my hand, it spread across my entire right arm, and the power I felt in the arm was much greater than it was when it went into my palm before, proving the strength of the move I was about to use. I pulled back my arm, and when I did, three audible sounds similar to a lock being unlocked popped from my arm. Once my arm was pulled all the way back, as if I were holding back a colossal bowstring, I could feel my arm shaking from the tension.

Then I let go.

My arm, pushed by the pure force of the Fruit, rocketed forward, narrowly not sending me to the ground with the excess energy released. In the middle of this process, a large beam exited from my fist. This beam of stone moved extremely quickly and ended up squiring the unsuspecting jaguar in its stomach, nailing it into the earth.

After regaining my balance, I took a step back and took a look at my handiwork. Sticking through the armor and flesh of the Dark Jaguar was a stone crossbow bolt that was about three-quarters my height and had a circumference the size of my forearm. I took a second to make sure that the Wild Beast was dead before taking a step back. I stuck my arm outward, facing the giant crossbow bolt, and then pulled back. When I began pulling back, as if a rope were attaching my arm and the bolt, it flew back to my arm. Once it made contact it just calmly phased into my body without much fuss.

Now that the bolt was gone, I dug my hand into the jaguar's body and pulled out its heart. The heart was as black as night except for the two horizontal white lines that went across it. I put the heart in my Duranian before going over the fight I just had, and more specifically, the usage of my Fruit, 'It took me about one and half seconds to get the bolt fully out of my body and into the jaguar... that isn't quick enough. In a life-and-death situation, I'll die. And if not from that, then I'll die trying to pull it back. But I suppose it does make sense. If there wasn't a hard strain on your body when in a new Class, then Physique Techniques wouldn't be a thing. Before my week of cultivating, I was only able to use it after five seconds of struggling, so this is a big improvement.'

The Bed Crossbow Bolt Fruit.

This was one of the two options I had when upgrading my Crossbow Bolt Fruit, the other being the Repeating Crossbow Bolt Fruit. I chose the former. The Repeating Crossbow Bolt Fruit upgraded the strength of the bolt somewhat, but its main focus was on how you got multiple shots in one Fruit, allowing you to go back in forth with each arm you had. But the Bed Crossbow Bolt Fruit made a giant transformation to the attack power, which was something that I was currently more interested in.

Of course, the Fruit came with a downside. Along with it being extremely difficult to use with my current ability, I had to pull the bolt back into my body. If I didn't do that within thirty seconds, then the Fruit would backfire and force its way back to me, but this time without the ability to phase inside of me. However, once I used the Physique Technique enough, it would become an incredible attacking force for me. It was only the beginning phase that would be difficult.

And unfortunately, I didn't have the time or the resources to consider making the Repeater Crossbow Bolt Fruit in case I needed it. I actually only had the materials for the Bed Crossbow Bolt Fruit because when I inserted the "USB", into the tree and selected that option, it opened up with a hatch that had all the necessary materials for me to Crossbreed it into existence. And that process was a nightmare all on its own.

Not only was I inexperienced in Crossbreeding, but the process felt so arbitrary and volatile that I often found myself making a mistake. I'd have to place a spring halfway deep into the ground one second, and then move it ten meters into the sky the next; doing that with the constant mental pressure of supplying Genesis Liquid made for an incredibly difficult process. Luckily for me, I had a video detailing how to do it and tips and tricks to use while doing it, so by the second day, I was able to finally produce my first Stone Class Fruit. When I think about doing that entire process without the Arrow Fertilization Fruit, it almost makes me sick. That Fruit was the sole reason why it didn't become a weeklong process because of its ability to make up for three mistakes that I made in the process.

It was a difficult ability, but I'd only get better at it as time went on, so I wasn't too worked up about it. The more difficult task was brainstorming the new attacks I could make with the upgraded Fruit and my other prize. That, practicing the Martial Art given to me, and working out with the Physique Technique I had made up my entire week. And now I was here.

I hid inside a bush before entering my Duranian and counted up the total amount of points I had so far, 'I have a total of 64 points. 4 of those come from Dirt Class Wild Beasts with the rest comprising of Stone Class ones. It has only been about two to three hours as well, so I'm probably at the top of the leaderboard right now. Hmmm, I think I've hunted enough normal Wild Beasts to give the audience an arbitrary idea of my strength... Then I suppose it's about time for me to start the true battle of these midterms.'

I got out of the bush I was crouching in and looked around a bit until I found an opening through the thick ceiling of flora. I reached into my robe and was about to pull something out when I heard the sound of someone walking toward me. I immediately canceled my movements and turned toward the origin of the sound while jumping away from it. But once my vision centered in, I wasn't able to see anything.

This confirmed my suspicions. The footsteps sounded like those of a human, and if it were a Wild Beast then they would either not have to ability to hide away from my sight, or wouldn't bother to as I would be at the same or lower than their Class. So this had to be a student. I scoured my brain, looking for something that made sense, and eventually a memory resurfaced in my mind. My posture loosened and I said out loud, "You found me quickly than I thought you would."

Once I said that, a voice along with a body that was phasing into existence from a nearby tree introduced themselves to me, "In all honesty, I expected it to take longer as well, but I just got a bit lucky and was close enough to hear a loud boom. I followed it and then found you digging into a Wild Beast's corpse."

By the time he finished his thought, his body had become fully visible: Who else would it be besides Spiravit? To be honest, this was a bit upsetting to me. The chances of me getting the Video Device off of him became a lot lower since he showed up before I planned for him to. Originally I wanted him to be attracted by the sounds of me fighting the 2nd half Coal Class Wild Beast, as that would be the time he would be most distracted, but that wasn't possible now. The odds of me leaving him alive were rapidly decreasing.

I kept this thought inside of my head, not letting it show in my movements or my facial expression, and said to him, "Let me guess. You want me to hand over the points I have gathered? And then what; help you get more points?"

Spiravit nodded his head up and down, "You seem to catch on fast. We already made a deal right, so there's no need to go back on it now. Go ahead, I look forward to seeing the collection of Wild Beasts you have gathered up until this point."

I narrowed my brows and put my hand out in front of me, gesturing for him to slow down, "Wait. Before I do this. Where is your side of the bargain?"

Spiravit clapped his hands together and said in an act of remembrance, "Oh yes that's right. But... you still have to fulfill the other half of the agreement, correct? Hmmm... Alright. How about this? You give your half of the exchange and I give you half of mine." As he said this, he put his hand into his half-robe and pulled out the same "Video Device" he showed me earlier.

He then opened his poisoned mouth and continued to spew his narrative to me, "Alright, we'll do it like this. You give me the points you've already gathered, and then I'll give you my Video Device. It won't have the video because I've already stored that in a Projector Device a bit ago and it's far from me right now, but you can think of it as insurance. You should know how valuable that device is to the Nima family. It's an heirloom straight from my great-grandmother, I'd be a fool to give it up."

I shrugged my shoulders, seemingly accepting his proposal, and took out all of the body parts I stole from the multitude of kills I garnered from my Duranian, placing them on the ground for Spiravit to see. He counted them out loud, and after a couple of minutes of identifying the Wild Beasts, he said out loud, "Damn, 55 points!?"

I pointed at the lung of the Dark Lion I killed a bit ago and said, "Well, actually it's 64 points. That lung is spotted with black and yellow spots, which is an attribute of a Stone Class Dark Lion."

He just shook his head at me while closely observing the lung in front of him, "No... You must be mistaken. A Stone Class Dark Lion's lungs are striped black and yellow, the Dirt Class variety has them spotted- Pueh!"

Suddenly, as he lifted his head to tell me this, I kicked his chin in and sent him flying through the jungle before his velocity hit a dead stop upon striking a thick tree. After he got over the pain of the kick I gave him, he looked up at me and gnashed his teeth, "What's wrong with you?!"

In response to his spasm of words, I casually walked toward him and said, "I just suddenly realized I don't want to hand over my points to you."

Spiravit's face turned concave in confusion as he said to me, "What is it?! If you wanted the Video Device first you only had to tell me! We're making a fair transaction! You're simply being ridiculous!"

I continued my gentle walk, and without an infliction in my voice said, "Oh, you mean this?" I pulled out the fake Video Device that I snagged off of him just before I kicked him and showed it off, "Is giving me this crap what you call a "fair transaction?" To add to the nature of my words, I crushed it in my hands and, as it was made from wood and paint, it cracked before exploding into shards of wood.

Once he saw my action, the anger on his face faded away and he slowly stood up while saying to me, "So what if I lied about it? I was only doing that so that it would make things easier for both you and me, I thought you were smart enough to see that. If this is how you're going to be, then I'm done trying to be polite."

He opened his arms wide and, while giving me a wide, crooked smile, exclaimed to me, "I own you Quis!!! I could make just one move, and your entire life would be over! I am the one who holds the cards right now! It doesn't matter how strong you are, as long as I have that video, you can't lay a finger on me! Did your brain also take a hit during your kidnapping? I'm blackmailing you Quis!! I'm saying to you that you will follow my orders or you will die! Do you understand now? This situation isn't one where you have a choice. Do as I say, or suffer the consequences!"

Poor Spiravit.

Maybe this was his way of trying to raise his self-confidence high enough to believe he was better than me, or maybe he was trying to intimidate me, perhaps it's both. But the fact of the matter is that once he told me that the video was on a Projector Device, and not on his current self, his fate was sealed.

He was going to die here today.