Dame seemed to have figured out what this assessment was, and judging by his reaction, it wasn't something that they should look forward to. However, he also seemed to quickly change his tune as he turned to look at the others with a smile.
"Or it could be something completely different," Dame rubbed the back of his head. "There's no need to make a mountain out of a bug hill or whatever the saying is. If I spoke my mind, it might just cause you guys to panic for no reason and the others. If it is what I think it is, it's best to keep silent about it until we figure it out, since there's nothing we can do anyway."
This irked the other's but it wasn't as if they could force him to give the information over, no matter how much their curiosity wanted them to know.
After finishing his last sentence, Dame actually looked toward Raze because there maybe was one person that could change the outcome of the entire assessment with their powers, but that was if he chose to.
'For some reason, I think that might be a tall ask.' Dame thought.
The students observed the large empty room, wondering if they could find anything. Some of them even tried to use their skills and Qi to scale the side of the walls, reaching the top, but they had just touched the ceiling. When tapping above an echo was heard through the whole room. They quickly realized that the substance wasn't dirt either; it was made of a hard alloy. Most likely a material that students of their caliber were unable to break. Not that any of the students wanted to attempt it in the first place, worried that they would feel the wrath of those that were waiting on the outside.
The instructors and teachers had to be watching them from somewhere, at least that's what they hoped anyway.
After the students had finished exploring and finding out there was nothing but the three areas and a bunch of hallways, they were now coming to the conclusion of what the area was even set up for them to do.
Since there were twenty rooms for the students, they decided to enter the small lit-up rooms that were stacked side by side each other in rows.
"So, do you think these are seclusion rooms then?" one of the students asked.
"Most likely, they put us down here in a place with no distractions so we could solely focus on our martial arts. The center ring must be a place for us to practice against each other or foot techniques or something," another one suggested.
Many had come to the same conclusion, and so most of them started to enter the cube-like rooms and began to practice their martial arts or study their technique books just like they would do from the outside.
This was quite a common practice among academies and clans. When a warrior was at a high stage sometimes they would chose to go into seclusion themselves just to try and break through to the next stage. This became less likely as time went on and the introduction of power stones.
Just before Raze had entered his room, he could see the faint light shine from one of the others onto a student's face, and he witnessed a student with an eye patch, and it wasn't Liam.
'The two students from the library are in here as well,' Raze thought as he entered the small room. Rather than get straight to studying his book, he was looking at his surroundings, still trying to figure out just what this assessment was about. Why hadn't even the teachers said anything either?
'From the inside, the light only goes out of the room so far that the floor is dimly lit. Unless someone was standing right outside the door, it would be impossible to see them.'
In the rooms next to Raze, there were the others. Everyone was split apart due to the small size of the rooms, and with everything the way it was set up, he couldn't help but think that all of it was on purpose.
Regardless, rather than wasting time, Raze took out the book using his swift Dark Magic and placed it on the floor.
'The Dark Edge sword arts. I need to focus on learning the sword formations first and then use them with magic later. There are eight formations in general, and he only figured out how to add three with magic, what a strange guy,' Raze thought.
Once again, out from his back, Raze had brought out his ghost sword. One of the five swords he had obtained from the auction. Now four swords since one of them was destroyed in the fight against the White Faction Elder.
'The swords came in handy when going up against the Light Faction founder. None of them reacted to magic well, so I could only put a low-level enchantment on it, but I could put an enchantment on each of the swords to amplify its use.
'Then in certain situations use the ones I need the best.'
While down below ground, Raze thought of risking it, but in a confined space like so, if a portal break was to happen, what would happen to the students? Or maybe, they would all just think it was part of the assessment, so in a way, it was the perfect time.
'After what happened before, I need to start caring about myself more, but until I find out what this whole thing is about, I'll be cautious.'
Raze started to read the Dark Edge Sword arts. Reading the book in Alterian, it was music to his ears, and even the instruction of the swordsmanship itself was simple and easy for him to understand.
'The first sword Formation, Shadow bind formation. All of the formations they seem to hint at making the blade almost invisible to the human eye. Almost like an invisible strike, and it's best used in the shadows or darkness itself.
'Which is why it's called the Dark Edge Sword arts. As for the first technique, it seems like it's something that can be used to entangle or immobilize opponents.
'The Qi around the sword almost reaches out, wrapping around its opponent as strikes are made in the air. When adding magic to the formation, the magic is to envelop the sword, in wispy tendrils of magic, almost wrapping around the blade. The properties of the magic added to the strike will strengthen the effect of the binding on the opponent.'
Essentially, the skill from what Raze was reading had two names. The first, Shadow bind formation, if just used normally, if used with magic, the Magic Shadow Bind Strike. Due to the blade being almost invisible, the opponent wouldn't even know what hit them.
'These are the techniques left behind by the founder... they seem quite powerful.'
One by one, Raze read out all of the sword techniques' names, trying to get an idea of what he needed to learn. Just like with the three formations of the Devil's strike and the ten descending steps.
- Shadow Bind Formation
- Eclipse Strike Formation
- Nightmare Veil Formation
- Void Pulse Formation
- Phantom Edge Formation
- Dusk Wing Formation
- Abyssal Chant Formation
- Eternal Night Formation
'I wonder how long it will take me to learn all eight and just how strong this swordsmanship is.'
