11 Entrance Exam Part 4

Elder Sun waved Carter and Nick over, the two approached cautiously before doing their best to copy the trainer's bow exactly.

Chuckling, Elder Sun said, "Don't worry about the formalities, I'm Elder Sun of the Temple of Thought. Usually, skilled Acolytes manage the next stage of the tests however given how quickly you finished the first part I will be administrating it."

"No, no." A voice suddenly said, and another massive plume of sand was kicked up as another Elder dropped from the sky in the training area. Carrying a massive broadsword on his back, the Elder looked at Nick greedily. "I think I'll be taking that one, he and I have an affinity."

The 2nd Elder disappeared with Nick before Carter even knew what'd happened.

Elder Sun sighed heavily, shaking his head in disgust as he watched the other Elder fly away. "Still have no manners I see." Looking back at Carter, he couldn't help but chuckle at his state. Waving a hand, the Elder Sun caused the sand that'd covered Carter from head to toe to fall off him gently before motioning for Carter to sit down in front of him.

"I guess it'll just be the two of us then." Elder Sun said with a smile on his face as he pulled a tea set out of thin air and made two cups. "Please, have a drink."

Carter drank a sip and felt his entire body shake as it relaxed completely and the fatigue of staying awake for the past 14 days completely disappeared.

-> +1 Willpower

-> +10 Fame

Carter nearly dropped the cup when he saw that message, but managed to hold on and sipped carefully and slowly, savoring the entire drink.

"That," Elder Sun said with a smile, "is your reward for finishing the first test so quickly. I happened to have come across some blessed water many years back and have been saving it for such an occasion."

Carter bowed to Elder Sun again, this time out of thanks instead of respect.

"Don't worry about that." Elder Sun said, twirling his beard with a smile. "Now that you've had your reward it is time to tell you about the 2nd test. Do you have a weapon that you prefer to use?"

"No, I prefer to Hand to Hand combat." Carter said.

"Good!" Elder Sun laughed jubilantly, "The 2nd part of the test will be to comprehend the 1st layer of the Art of Thoughts. Usually we give people a month, but since you've arrived early you'll have a month and a half. I'll come here every morning at 6 AM and show you the first movement, how much of it you can comprehend will be up to you."

Elder Sun handed Carter an old, beaten up book and took a step. The world seemed to shrink and in that single step he'd disappeared completely from sight.

Another trainer dressed in white appeared then, sitting outside the sand pit. "You are not allowed to leave the sand pit, I will deliver two meals a day to you. Good luck." The trainer disappeared.

Carter's stomach growled, and he instantly forgot his excitement for finally receiving a martial art! He hadn't had a real meal in over two weeks and even though the trainer had only delivered the simplest of porridges to eat, Carter dug in like a maniac. In seconds Carter managed to eat the entire bowl somehow without spilling a single drop.

"Ah, that was good." Carter said as he patted his belly contentedly and closed his eyes for a minute to savor the feeling. Taking a deep breath, Carter took the book out of his storage bag and appraised it.

-> 1st Layer of Art of Thoughts (Complete)

-> Item Description: This is a training manual for the 1st Layer of the Art of Thoughts.

-> Item Requirements: 20 Constitution, 10 Intelligence, 10 Willpower

-> Comprehension: (0%)

"No wonder!" Carter exclaimed, realizing that the reason the school had forced everyone to go through the hellish training was to see if possible students could comprehend the martial art. It made sense, those who comprehended the martial art would be groomed to join the Temple while those who couldn't would give the temple hundreds and thousands of gold coins for training to become a Wizard.

Smiling to himself, Carter opened the book and began to read.

"The Art of Thoughts is a method of using mana to reinforce your body and create Internal Power. The First Layer of the Art of Thoughts is focused on reinforcing and strengthening your body. It can temporarily raise your Strength and Agility attributes when in use."

Carter's jaw dropped as he read. This kind of manual was considered a legendary item at the beginning of the game, Carter didn't get one until he had upgraded his class three times and was awarded one by the King of Tolman for services granted. It'd instantly increased his strength and been one of the reasons he'd become one of the top players in the game. Of course, that'd been an entire manual, not just the first layer. No wonder the Temple of Thought was so famous!

Carter read through the book 5 times to maks sure that he'd completely memorized the manual. In the 1st Layer of the Art of Thoughts you channel mana into your body and moved it around through a set of 15 movements that when mastered becomes a martial art that allows you to fight barehanded against monsters!

Putting the book back into his storage bag, Carter slowly walked to the middle of the sand pit while visualizing the entire set of movements. Taking a deep breath, Carter gathered his mana and began. Halfway through the first movement he messed up and the backlash slammed into him.

"Fuck that hurt!" Carter yelled, coughing a bit of blood and noticing that he'd lost 20 HP.

Closing his eyes, Carter went visualized what he'd done and compared it with the book and realized that his right hand had moved too fast and the angle of his left leg had been off by a few degrees. Reopening his eyes, Carter started again making it past the spot where he'd messed up and going for another second before the backlash slammed into him again and he lost another 20 HP.

"This is gonna take a while." Carter thought as he coughed up some blood before closing his eyes to visualize once again.

Inside Elder Sun's villa he played chess with Elder Kuhn. While Elder Sun looked elegant the other Elder looked like a Barbarian. He was wearing black pants and a jacket open in the middle to show off a chest full of scars.

"He figured it out in less than a minute." Elder Kuhn said in admiration as he set a piece down. The two of them had split their consciousness to watch over Carter and Nick as they began the test. They wouldn't be very good exam proctors if they just ignored their subjects after all.

"Why did you go after the the Marshal boy?" Elder Sun asked Elder Kuhn.

"His dad came to visit a month ago, apparently the boy extremely talented with the broadsword and has an aptitude for the Barbarian lifestyle. He asked me to keep an on him as a favor for an old friend."

"The Rapier is willing to let his son be a barbarian? That is surprising." Elder Sun said with a smile which only grew larger as he watched Carter work through another error. "At this rate he'll finish the first movement in a couple hours!"

At that point, the trainer that'd followed Carter and Nick arrived with a written report and 10 minutes of video that covered the highlights of the training.

"Yep, definitely a barbarian!" The two laughed as they watched the trainer drag Nick from the dorms. 10 minutes later, the two had stopped laughing as they looked at each other in amazement. Neither of them could believe that the two had purposefully decided to run without shoes, with each step tearing into their feet and drawing blood as they pushed themselves to the limit. No wonder they'd managed to complete the first test in less than 15 days.

"Maybe we need to tell the Abbot." Elder Sun said.

"Not yet." Elder Kuhn said as he watched Nick trying to train in the altered version of the Art of Thoughts that favored barbarian battle tactics. "Let's see how well they complete the 2nd test."