Awareness

Just after Emile left the labryinth Blood entered. Meanwhile, Emile trudged to the edge of the gates and leaned his shoulder against the wall.

Slowly sliding down, Emile dropped onto his knees and began to rest. Just as his consciousness was fading, however, a sharp pain attacked his back.

"You weren't going to take these out?" Willow asked, prying the last arrow from Emile's back.

Emile's lips parted and a soft, weak voice replied, "Honestly, I thought they vanished when Pyra sent me back."

"When they're lodged inside of you they're considered to be a part of you so Pyra can't forcibly destroy them," Willow explained, "how was it?"

"It was okay—" Emile forced a smile, "it was the stone statues that got me."

"The stone statues?" Willow repeated.

"Yeah, the three samurai looking guys. They were relentless with their arrows."

"Three of them…" Willow muttered to herself, "how interesting."

"What?" Emile asked, noticing Willow's contemplation.

"I'm just curious as to your trials—" Willow stated, "Pyra determines what to summon based on the individual, so most people end up fighting something different. The only similar trials are the first three because they're the easiest."

"So Blood's going to encounter different beasts?" Emile asked, wanting to clarify.

"Blood should definitely encounter something different. You two have a very different fighting style."

"How does Pyra determine what to summon?" Emile asked, "What are the factors?"

"I don't know—" Willow replied to Emile's disappointment, "she was created by the first king. He told her what to do, but if I had to guess she probably observes your first three matches, determines what your skills are, such as what you need to improve, and then summons accordingly."

"Tell me about your trials," Willow asked, sliding down the wall to sit beside Emile.

At the same time, Roy walked over and slid down the wall as well, interested in the trials to come.

Emile discussed his experience starting with the slime. He detailed his skirimishes as much as he could, even including the fact that the slime was able to catch his blade and stop it.

He went over the fight with the python, both of them, and detailed exaclty why he decided to fight it twice. When he mentioned getting bit by the snake and the feeling of it's venom melting his veins, Willow revealed a surprised expression.

According to her, the Infernas Python is the strongest Late Enlightened beast. Some people in Black Gates even considered it a quasi-perfected creature since it's scales were unusually tough and it's venom was ridiculously potent.

Looking back on his fight, Emile agreed that it's scales were tougher than not, but the strength of its venom felt appropriate to him. For one thing, the venom didn't contain any paralyzing properties that stunned Emile or prevented him from continuing to fight the snake.

Also, it's venom didn't contain any hallucinogenics or mind numbing properties. From Emile's perspective, the pythons venom was strictly painful and pain was something warriors had to overcome.

"Do people usually die after being bit?" Emile asked.

"Chosen and Enlightened people die within a day. Some Late Enlightened people die, but the pain will continue for a week while others manage to recover. From Perfected onward the venom isn't deadly, but the pain lingers for a couple of days."

"And most people are Enlightened," Emile sighed.

"Yeah."

From there, Emile finally detailed the match against the three statues: the changing of the environment, the coordination of his opponents, and their ability to shift between close and long range combat.

The only thing Emile wasn't sure of was the statue's abilities. As Perfected beings they're bound to have some powerful ability lying in wake, but Emile never saw them utilize anything like that.

They dominated him purely with their physical capability, they shot arrows and hit him in the chest. At the end of the day, it wasn't a particularly flashy fight.

After hearing about his loss, Willow understood immediately what Pyra was doing:

"You can't multitask."

"I can multitask," Emile argued.

"Not under pressure—" Willow doubled down, "I mean it makes sense, most of your combat experience is against a single foe. At least during the time I've been with you, you usually fight duels."

"…" Emile didn't reply.

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing, you are a healer after all, you don't have a Gift to rely on to help you fight. But I think I'm right, you lack awareness. You fight with your eyes, it's nothing to be ashamed of, just a beginner's habit."

"So what? Is Pyra going to turn off the lights for my next trial?" Emile asked jokingly.

"She might—" Willow shrugged, "it takes a long time to rely on your other senses and the best way—"

"Is high-stress situations," Emile finished for Willow.

"Basically," she agreed.

Emile heaved heavily, the exhaustion was already flushed from his body due to his Gift, but he was mentally exhausted; tired from the anxiety and the stress that peaked and dropped over and over during the course of his first training attempt.

All things considered, though, Emile felt pretty good about his first attempt. He wasn't able to defeat a Perfected opponent, meaning his combat ability lies within high-ranking Enlightened, but nevertheless that's an entire jump from his actual rank.

Although Blood is really the only person who knows, Emile is sure Willow has her suspicions, but he's still a Chosen. To be a Chosen and be able to contend with Perfected beings, what Emile was doing was incredible.

As his eyelids grew heavier and his breath weakened, Emile dreamed of his second awakening.

If he can jump a whole rank as a Chosen, how strong will he be as an Enlightened?