Skills Challenge (IV)

Chapter 24: Skills Challenge (IV)

Alex was in extreme despair, his skin extremely pale and colorless, yet his muscles, though not so many, were at their maximum capacity.

 At that moment his life passed through his eyes, but suddenly, he could hear how the wind made strange sounds as if it was being cut as if something was traveling at an incredibly fast speed.

 He turned to where Nova was, but he couldn't see him. All he could see was a red blur before it impacted with the cockroach doll's mouth.

 *Boom*

 A popping sound rang through the room again as the doll's head was burned and melted by the sheer heat of Nova's attack.

 And there stood Nova, with his outstretched hand pointing at the doll that no longer had a head, from his hand emitted a great heat capable of evaporating everything by the mere previous presence of the fireball, which he had already launched.

 'Will it be alive,' Nova thought in his mind, approaching the doll's body.

 He had a calm and serene expression on his face.

 His intention was not primarily to save Alex, after all, he is a stranger to him, he just wanted to destroy the dummy because it would be double points, he wanted to ensure the maximum score on the first test, even if it is the one that had the least relevance.

After all, he wasn't going to give up the chance for a perfect score, it would be too stupid of him.

 Saving Alex or not was secondary there was a strong possibility that from the explosion and the heat he had already been burned to death, as well as being crushed, dying silently.

 But as he got a little closer to the dummy, the chances of Alex being dead were reduced to zero... because he was alive.

 Alex had the bottom half of his body trapped in the great weight of the doll, staked down, while the other half of his body was not crushed, but outside breathing heavily.

 He still had a horrified expression, with his skin pale, almost as if circulating blood in his body, but at least now he looked relieved as well.

 Nova approached Alex calmly with slow steps.

 When he reached where he was, he crouched down a little.

 Alex, who had already noticed Nova's presence, smiled gratefully, now he wanted to kneel and thank Nova infinitely for saving him from the clutches of death.

 Although his strong instinct told him that his intention wasn't exactly to save him, that didn't hide the fact that he saved him from death, if Nova hadn't thrown the fireball, he would have possibly been crushed to death.

 "I see you're having trouble there," Nova commented with a frown as he looked at Alex's trapped lower half.

Alex nodded he had already broken several bones, not all of them because, with the last drop of Mana, he used it to create a barrier of rocks to cover his legs, although it was not enough to be completely protected, it was enough so that his legs were not completely broken.

 Nova didn't think much, when, with a single thought, he began to gather Mana.

 He imagined a wall of rocks protecting an army; it was as close as he could imagine, protecting. He had no thought of protecting Alex, so he had to force himself to imagine that thought.

 Soon after, a brown aura surrounded Nova, who only reached out in the direction of Alex's legs.

 "Earth Wall," he slowly uttered without any haste. By the next moment, a 5-foot high wall was rising, at the same time it also lifted the part of the doll's body where Alex's legs were trapped.

 Feeling free, Alex dragged his body away from the dummy.

 Nova, seeing that Alex was already far enough away from the dummy, stopped reaching out and also stopped thinking of a barrier. Instantly, the wall of earth disappeared into Mana particles.

 Turning back to the young man, Nova walked towards him again, this time not crouching down, but simply looking calmly at Alex, before walking away.

 "Walk, let's go to the next phase of the test," Nova commented, walking away.

 Alex at that point was confused, how do you leave if we don't even know where the door is? Everything is black, plus he can't even walk.

"You have passed the first challenge! Please pass the door!" a mechanical voice shouted in a way that seemed cheerful, at the same time a part of the wall slid apart in two, thus revealing a door that seemed to have nothing but darkness.

 Nova did not wait for Alex or even think about his condition, he simply walked towards the newly revealed door.

 At the same time, a myriad of thoughts ran through Nova's mind.

 'Alex is that NPC who died in the original story?', Nova thought, feeling tired by chance.

 Nova remembered rations such an event, in the original game, a young man named Alex would die in the first recruitment challenge.

 He was said to have a great talent but was killed before he managed to exploit it, plus they had a not-very-pleasant past.

 A slight smile appeared on Nova's face.

 He at first thought nothing of it when Alex introduced himself, but now, recalling briefly, the Alex from the game was also an earth element ability user, so there's a 99%, if not 100%, chance that he's that Alex.

 Honestly, he didn't care if he died or not, but now that he was alive, Nova was curious and happy about the plot change in the story, he wanted to know how things play out now with Alex alive and his supposed potential, plus maybe with this he could push that possible ending of the game further away.

 Thinking about it, Nova also remembered that in the original game never in the first challenge there were two subjects in the same room, this also encouraged Nova's curiosity as to why that changed.

 But currently, time is money. Passing through the door, Nova withdrew from the room.

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