บท 12: Chapter 12. Break time, bonus game
"Woah, you were amazing, Sir Isaac! I didn't notice that hint about the real doors at all," Bam said while innocently smiling at Isaac.
"I just got lucky." Isaac faintly smiled.
As the three left the testing room, Bam looked relieved and happy while Isaac was relieved and satisfied.
Only Khun's expression was dark as he walked in the back.
'Don't try to always solve everything by yourself.'
'Don't forget to rely on your teammates. Don't overthink things.'
Han Sung's words reverberated in Khun's ears. And it felt as if it was a jab aimed straight at his incompetence.
'Damn it! Why didn't I see the clues?' Khun cursed at himself inwardly.
He was supposed to be the brains of the team. He was supposed to be the smartest.
In other words, not noticing the clues that Isaac noticed was his failure.
'I was so useless…'
He also didn't quite like this test, but the truth remained that he was simply useless.
The hint outside in regard to the differences between the timing of when the various teams finished, and the subtle world play in the Test Administrator's words… They were both very simple, but he failed to notice both.
If not for Isaac, who noticed them at a glance, he might have even missed them!
His intelligence, which he was an asset that he was always the most proud of, turned out to be useless here.
At this rate, did Isaac even need him?
Thinking this at the back of his mind, Khun slowly turned to expressionlessly look at Isaac who followed a guide robot to lead them to the gathering room.
"What's up?" Isaac asked with a light smile as he noticed Khun's strange gaze.
Khun shook his head and formed a small smile. "Nothing. I only thought that I was quite useless during this test. You basically solved it yourself."
Bam smiled a little, as if tacitly agreeing because he also felt quite useless.
[Yeah, you did great, Master! I guess that's why you're the Master.]
"Well, I got lucky…" Isaac shrugged.
In truth, he was a little happy that he noticed the hint in Yu Han Sung's words about 'real doors' because it was something that he had come up completely on his own; he didn't rely on his manhwa knowledge for this.
However, he still felt that it was a lucky find - because he already had a strong clue that they could open any door, he had the leisure to think about things like that.
But he still felt that he certainly needed people like Khun.
Isaac placed a hand on Khun's shoulder and told him with a small smile, "I got lucky this time, but I'll need you in the future. We're a team."
"Hm?... Sure! I'll show you guys just what I can do!" Khun smirked.
However, it was clear to him that Isaac was only polite.
'I'll have to do better on the next test.' Khun secretly squeezed his fists.
…
Inside the gathering room, Isaac's team picked a random bench and sat down together.
Soon after, Isaac noticed Shibisu walking toward them.
After approaching the group, Shibisu raised his hand at Isaac with a friendly smile. "Hey, Isaac! I knew that you would all pass! Haha."
"And you passed as well." Isaac smiled. Both his hands held precious weapons, so he simply smiled in a greeting.
Shibisu placed his hands at his hips and said, "Yeah, that test wasn't too hard. And after I noticed you watch how long the other teams took to finish their tests, it made things even easier, haha!"
"Haha, I had a feeling that you're a sharp guy," Isaac casually replied.
And Shibisu touched the back of his head in embarrassment, saying, "Haha, I'm a pretty normal guy…"
Isaac slightly smiled. Strength wise, Shibisu indeed was not exceptional at all; he was even weak. Even so, he seemed to be an important character in the story and had a good head on his shoulders.
Shibisu turned toward the other two sitting next to Isaac and said, "By the way, my name is Shibisu. I already know Isaac, but I'm not too familiar with you two."
"My name is Khun Aguero Agnes, I'm from the Khun family." Khun smiled courtly as he stood up and extended his hand to Shibisu, staring at him with a look of superiority.
With a somewhat nervous smile, Shibisu shook Khun's hand. "Haha, nice to meet you…"
After that, Bam also meekly extended his own hand. "I'm Bam, the Twenty-Fifth Bam. Nice to meet you."
"Yeah, I remember you, lucky guy." Shibisu chuckled as he shook Bam's hand. "It's amazing for someone who looks so ordinary to make it up here. It seems you're quite special."
Bam smiled sheepishly. "No… not really. It's all thanks to my teammates."
"The humblest ones turn out to be the scariest, haha."
After some more small talk, Shibisu returned to his own team.
When this happened, Isaac focused on the Clarent in his right hand, with Mordred's spirit inside.
Isaac thought of something and asked, 'Saber, how much energy did it cost you to ignite on the first floor?'
[Ah, about that. It didn't cost me any energy. Because... it doesn't seem as if I have any energy reserves or anything.]
'What? You have no energy reserves?' Isaac was surprised and confused.
[Yeah… That's how it is, Master. I only felt a little tired after igniting. I could probably keep blasting off Noble Phantasms several more times until I become exhausted.]
"Eh? What?"
Isaac thought about it. As far as he remembered, Yuri's special weapon that she used against Karaka had a limit of being able to ignite only once a day. Didn't it mean that it had a limit on its energy reserves?…
Or did he remember or understand something incorrectly?
Mordred continued, [By the way, Clarent and Clarent Blood Arthur are both far stronger now, but I don't think we can bring out their full power even if we work together.]
'I see… So basically, as we grow stronger, the strength of Clarent's ignition will increase, right?' Isaac summarized.
[Yep, that's how it seems to be. Clarent… Is a weapon that focuses and amplifies magical energy. The more you put in, the more you get out!]
'Hmm…' Isaac entered a deep thought.
He previously thought that Clarent as an Ignition Weapon would have a limited energy supply and a capped level of power, but it wasn't like that.
Clarent's ignition had an inherent base level of power based on Mordred's strength and then it can be increased depending on his own strength.
'This is much better. Rather than being a trump card while I'm weak, Clarent is a growing weapon and will be helpful to me even at a high level.'
At this time, the ignition that he did on the First Floor already seemed to have surpassed Mordred's usual Clarent Blood Arthur from the time of the war. At his current level, he can at least use it to crack Headon's Ball just like the Black March.
As time passed, eventually all teams finished participating in the test and assistant Yellowy announced a 30-minute break.
The break time was rather uneventful. The three in Isaac's team didn't talk much, but as they all silently sat together, Isaac could still see that the atmosphere was rather comfortable.
During the break, Isaac tried to explore some more mysteries of his powers inside the Tower and also secretly chatted with Mordred.
At one point, Mordred said, [Hey, Master… So we didn't have a good chance to talk about it before, but what was it that really happened after the final fight? You… used a wish to bring me back, did you?]
Before this, when they appeared inside a weird underground space still before being summoned to the First Floor, Isaac only had a chance to say that their situation should be because of the wish he made, but that's all he told her.
'... Yes, it seemed to be a part of my wish. I feel that… I wanted to bring you back,' Isaac said honestly with a small smile.
[Master…] Mordred said in emotion.
Isaac faintly smiled. He felt it was the truth.
Mordred, although quite childish, reckless and sometimes stupid, had taught him to be more honest with himself and was his first and only friend.
Concentrating on his connection to Mordred, Isaac continued, 'Well, I don't know if it's what you wanted. All of this happened very suddenly. Even I was surprised that this is what happened.'
[No, Master, it's okay. I already figured things out during the war, so I didn't care about the wish anymore… So, thank you. Thank you for wishing to have me around.]
As Mordred said the last words with a sniff as if she was about to cry, it caused Isaac's eyes to slightly glaze over.
He knew that Mordred had traumas related to her 'father' whom she admired not having any expectations of her; he happened to see it in his dreams. As such, she should have been happy that someone wanted her around and wanted to rely on her.
[Hey, Master. This Tower seems like an interesting place. Since we're already here, let's crush those tests!]
'... Yeah.'
During the break continued, Isaac took this chance to observe some of the Regulars in the room using his 'Instinct A' skill.
Instinct was primarily a skill used for combat to predict the enemy's attacks. It didn't give him precise data like some kind of game system, but he could still use it to roughly feel out the threat level and the physical ability of the Regulars around him.
Firstly, he already saw Khun as someone who was not a threat at all - he was far stronger than Bam, who appeared as an ordinary person, but was not a threat.
For Hatsu and Rak, they were similar to Khun.
The only person here that made Isaac feel a level of threat was Anak. She still seemed significantly weaker than him, but she couldn't be ignored.
She already gave him the feeling of a weak-ranked Servant like the Assassin he saw during the war. The other Regulars seemed only slightly superhuman, but Anak was on another level, and this didn't even include the strength of her weapon.
'It's the effect of Jahad's Blood on her body, huh?'
Thinking this, Isaac then asked Mordred, 'Saber, how do you think we would fair against a Ranker?'
[A Ranker? Like that Pikachu or crossdresser guy?]
'Yeah.'
Mordred spoke in a complicated tone: [You know, Master, it's hard to say. People here don't have any Magical Energy, so it's difficult to judge their level. What my gut tells me is that they are physically strong, I can say that... But if it was just that, we might be able to beat them. But they still give me a bad feeling. It's better not to try it.]
'Well, okay.' Isaac couldn't imagine a Ranker not using Shinsoo to fight, so just looking at their body didn't seem like a good measurement of their strength.
[And with that Yuri girl, there is no chance at all. Seriously, Master, just that woman's body seems like it's Divine Construct grade.]
'Okay.'
Isaac also wondered whether he could kill a Ranker with Clarent Blood Arthur, but ultimately had no way to know.
…
As the break was slowly reaching the end, Khun stood up and excused himself to visit the bathroom.
Isaac noted how Khun's bag seemed much lighter in his hand afterwards, but he kept it to himself.
At one point, the electric door slid open as Lero Ro entered the room with the assistant Yellowy at the side.
"Did you have enough rest, Regulars? I'm so happy to see you again!" Lero Ro spoke up with an excited expression.
"Oh! Mr. Lero Ro!" Bam smiled when he saw the Ranker he had a good impression of.
Lero Ro smiled as he raised his finger. "I came here… with very good news."
"Good news?" one of the Regulars asked.
"Yeah! I talked with the Test Director before I came here and he told us to give you a bonus game!"
At that, Shibisu raised his hand as he politely said, "I'm sorry, but I don't think it's in our best interest to take more tests than necessary."
"I'm sorry to hear that, but the bonus game has nothing to do with the tests. It is up to each team to choose whether to play the bonus game or not. There is no penalty if you decide not to."
As Lero Ro clarified, he managed to calm down some of the more cautious teams.
Lero Ro then continued, "But the winner of the bonus game gets to pass the final test of this floor. They get the right to go straight to the next floor."
Hearing those words, the Regulars looked at Lero Ro with interest.
Among them, only Isaac was indifferent.
"Gets to pass to the next floor? Then what about the remaining tests?" Khun asked, appearing moved.
"They don't have to take them," Lero Ro replied.
And the crowd of Regulars seemed to be very intrigued as they began reacting.
"Wow... that's a huge advantage!"
"It is a big chance…"
"But that luck to move on to the next floor goes to only one team…"
'Is skipping a free month of training under Rankers really an advantage for those who would pass anyway?' Isaac thought inwardly.
"So, what is the bonus game?" someone asked.
At the last comment, Lero Ro spoke up, "This game is called the 'Crown Game'. I will explain the details to you when we get to the game spot."
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