Chapter 8: Barrier
Winston felt his head spinning. Seeing two weapons of such a caliber that they could elicit such a profound power in the surroundings waves in the same hallway was particularly baffling.
Is such a level of strength common place? He thought grimly. And so, the urge to rapidly act and progress in Sequence arose in his mind.
Just as he was thinking, a small commotion at the other side of the hallway overtook his attention.
It seemed to be a fight between two of the contestants, one of which had had his arm badly wounded by the other party, and now was asking for 'compensation'.
Winston and his teammates looked on in silence.
To the side, he heard Zarhan speak.
"What idiots." He shook his head.
As Winston was about to say something, a resounding voice boomed in the hall.
"I believe everyone was prompted to cease all sorts of fighting. It seems people don't take the words of a test administrator seriously." Said the voice, the source of which was a tall man standing right before the hallway that led to some unknown place.
The man stood at a height of 2 meters, with his hair a light colour of blond with bright golden eyes. His eyes held two black spots under them and his body was somewhat muscular, even clearly showing under his clothes.
He wore a white lab coat with black trousers and gloves of the same colour.
"My name is Lero ro, your test administrator. Nice to meet chu~" the tall man said. Winston cringed inwardly at the display.
At the far side, the two people who were fighting stopped, their attention riveted to the enigmatic man who had just arrived.
"Test administrator? That means he's a ranker?" One of them asked dumbfoundedly.
Ranker? Winston thought.
"That's right." Lero ro smiled.
The regular who had been making trouble backed off, making remarks like 'only letting you go because the ranker is here!'
With that sorted, the ranker spoke again.
"Then! Attention all regulars! First of all congratulations to everyone that has passed the test!" He continued.
"Before we move on to the next, there will be a short pretest that would be conducted by me!"
As his words landed, a wave of displeasure coursed through the crowd. All the regulars present publicly expressed their dissatisfaction, lampooning incessantly about not getting any rest and the rankers not having any patience.
Seeing this, Lero ro put his hands up.
"Now now, don't worry! The pretest is very simply. In fact, I wouldn't even classify it as a pretest. It's more like a chore than anything.
"Another thing to mention is that fact that anyone that cannot make it through this test would not be eligible to partake in the next one. In essence, this is another elimination test!"
The gossip among the regulars started again, this time, even louder.
"Then!" The ranker didn't care. He ignored then and stretched his hand out.
"Let us begin!" With a shout, a transparent blue ball of water appeared in his hands.
Without anyone having the appropriate time to react, the ball exploded into a mountain's worth of water, pushing away everyone in a glorious tsunami like wave.
Winston's eyes widened as he saw the display. Their team stood at mostly at the deep edge of the hall, meaning that the waves failed to reach them.
The water splashed around in the air for a moment, pushing out the regulars to the back of the hall, crowding the otherwise open space.
Winston felt the entire display eerily familiar. That's right! It was the same waves that he had looked at whenever he activated Spirit vision!
"Is this Shinsu?"
"Shinsu?
"Help!"
"Waaaaa!"
A wave of surprise swept over the crowd of regulars. Winston didn't miss the short exchange of the word 'shinsu'.
"That right. It's shinsu." The test administrator spoke, prompting Winston to listen in carefully. "I compressed the shinsu to make a barrier and pushed you all out."
"Shinsu exists everywhere in the tower. It is what allows us to breathe and drink water. Without shinsu, nothing would exist.
"Shinsu can allow one to have limitless power and glory, propelling people to the height of rankers." He continued speaking, as if a man of god was preaching a sermon to the uneducated and unenlightened masses.
"However, some people even use shinsu as a murder weapon. It can be used to break an arm and do all sorts of miracles. But there are some that aren't able to deal with it well...
"Such people are not appropriate to be contestants in the tower."
Lero ro pointed to the veil of water in front.
"Anyone that can pass through this veil won't have any adverse reactions to shinsu as well. In other words, they pass the test. If all the team members pass through, the team is considered to have passed. And those who don't fail." He smiled "Then good luck regulars!"
"Wait!" Someone within the regulars yelled.
"What if a single person within the team can't pass through?"
"Isn't it obvious? The entire team fails." Lero ro said tersly.
Winston eyes widened. He sneaked a glance at Amon near him.
Damn. What I suspected has come to fruition. We may not be able to pass through this.
The regulars screamed at the ranker, talking about how unfair such a setting was. The ranker ignored them for a moment before he spoke up again.
"What do you think is the most crucial thing to climb the tower?" He said. Feeling the silence permeate the entire hall, he smiled.
"It's luck.
"The luck of having a strong body, the luck of being smart, the luck of being rich. The luck of saving a teammate, the luck of escaping from death. The only reason you're here right now, is because you're lucky." He spread out his arms.
"And here you say it's unfair to base the test on luck? Stop your mindless blabbering and take the test you regulars." He said, quieting down finally.
"Goddammit!" Zarhan angrily slammed his foot on the floor, his eyes glancing at Amon in a not so subtle fashion. Amon, who was more an concerned about the test looked down at his feet.
"Now what? What are we gonna do?" He asked him.
As Winston was about to speak, a meek voice came from the other side of the veil.
"U-um... excuse me, Mr. Lero ro." The voice spoke.
The eyes of almost every regulars in the hall turned to the small boy that currently stood alone at the other side of the veil.
"Um... I wasn't pushed back. Do I go back and re enter?" The boy asked the test administrator.
Lero ro glared at the boy, who shivered.
"I-i'm sorry! I'll go back and re enter!" He said.
"That won't be necessary." Before he could move, he was stopped by lero ro.
"Perhaps it was a mistake on my part but this is also your luck. You pass." He said.
Hearing his words, many regulars expressed their dissatisfaction but it all fell on deaf ears.
Winston glared at the boy, more specifically, his weapon.
That boy is in no way ordinary. Such a weapon with such overwhelming power... what was it called? Shinsu? Winston shook his head and looked forward.
He glanced at Amon again and began to rock his head, trying to think of a way to pass.
Winston did not doubt himself to pass through.
The moment the ranker had pushed the water out, he had activated five or more seconds to analyze the veil. The waves weren't as tumultuous as they were on the first floor where he had taken Headon's test.
He could keep his spirit vision going indefinitely, but the presence of the weapons, with their gigantic wave hurricane messed with his vision, making it practically harder to see anything useful. It was not a matter of not being able to, just a matter of displeasure at the presence of the two weapons.
"U-um!" Amon said at the side.
"Don't worry, Mr. Winston! Mr. Zarhan! I swear I will pass this test!" He said, his eyes filled with determination.
Winston looked at him, finding his little bout of motivation heart warming.
Unfortunately, motivation isn't going to get us anywhere. He thought.
Then, he began to walk towards the veil.
"Oh? Going already?" Zarhan asked behind him.
"You guys come behind me." He said simply.
As of right now, he could not see any way that could enable him to help Amon, even if he wanted to do so.
All he could do was hope that he had what it takes.
Winston passed through the veil without problems, barely feeling a breeze.
To him, it did not feel at all like he had walked through a filter meant to provide restriction to the regulars.
Walking cleanly through the veil, just after the green skinned girl, Winston looked back at the veil.
Zarhan held his spear and also walked to the barrier.
Then, stepping forward, he also moved through the 5 foot width barrier without issue. After walking through, he too looked back to the figure of their last teammate, who had yet to pass through the barrier.
Amon steeled himself and walked forward as well.
First, he poked the barrier with his finger. It offered no real resistance. However, when he tried to push his entire hand through it, it became solid and inertial, something like a non-newtonian fluid, getting more solid when more force is applied.
Crack!
The shinsu barrier cracked with energy as Amon's hand was pushed back.
Amon winced a bit. He looked at Winston and Zarhan who were both standing on the other side of the barrier.
Winston gestured for him to come over as well, as did Zarhan in a more vocal way.
"C'mon! What are ye waiting for?!" He said holding his spear above himself.
Amon tried again, yet he could not break through the barrier.
After about 5 tries from Amon, about 20% percent of the regulars had already crossed over, with more and more trying their own attempt.
Between this, a regular was creating quite a ruckus on the other side, which made the ranker, Lero ro teach then a lesson.
Eventually, Winston who had been giving Amon motivation from the other side of the barrier sighed and sat down onto the stairs.
With a serious glare, he looked at Amon who was desperately trying to cross the barrier.
Is it really no good? Winston looked at his feet in contemplation.
Zarhan took a seat beside him.
"What do we do now?"
"Wait for our deaths I suppose." Winston said, a chuckle escaping his lips as he remembered the first few volumes of the second book of Lord of Mysteries.
"What? Are you retarded?! Why would we die?! You didn't damage your brain while fighting down there did you?!" Zarhan yelled into his ear.
Just for that, Winston could not help but contemplate how his enigmatic teammate would fair as a beyonder of the Red Priest pathway.
Zarhan clicked his tongue.
"Tch! Just great! I have a retard and a useless man child on my team!"
Winston's head popped a vein.
"Would you shut up. I'm trying to think you useless brute." Winston said calmly.
"Huh?! You shut the hell up!" Zarhan yelled in frustration.
Calm down! Winston yelled in his heart, calming himself down.
He held his head, trying to muffle out the shouts that Zarhan was directing right at him.
Why did I choose this guy as a teammate! He lampooned inwardly.
~~~
At the other side of the barrier, Amon, watching his teammates eventually sit down in frustration clenched his fists and gnashed his teeth together.
Am I really so useless? He thought to himself.
Just then, a flood of visions appeared in his mind. Vistas of his time in the outer tower, scrounging for food and spending his days stealing and living off of thievery.
And eventually, the visions of blood came to cover them all.
No! He yelled in his mind. That will not happen again!
With that thought, he plastered his body right onto the shinsu barrier.
The barrier offered resistance, pushing him back.
Come on! Push through! Beyond the barrier, Winston glanced at the barrier, only so see Amon face planted on the other side. And just a tiny bit, his face was somewhat pushing through.
Winston's fate lit up in hope.
Amon pushed with his entire being, using his legs and hips to the limit.
And so, pass he shall.
Bam!
Amon fell onto the ground on the other side, bruising his nose in the process.
Winston and Zarhan got up, both rushing to the man.
"Good job kid!" Zarhan yelled.
"Way to go!" Winston also expressed his excitement.
Amon smiled at his two teammates.
"I made it!" He cheered.
~~~
A/N: *Puts on Monocle* "Praise the Fool!"
Give me your stones!
Weekly Power Status
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