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Chapter 23: It’s Been Awhile [2] .... Arthur’s origin skill wasn’t particularly useful-at least, not in the conventional sense; for one, it took a long time before any of its effect actually began to show, and also it took a chunk of essence on top of that. But of course, everything Arthur had took a lot of essence to use. The Origin Skill: Perception Change was one that allowed him to alter the perception of the target or targets. The ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses. Arthur could alter this with enough time. Time that if he was in a battle he wouldn’t have enough to spare. It wasn’t a true illusion, though many people mistaked it for that. He was only changing the way people perceived their surrounding. The Origin Skill as a skill bound to him still had a long to go. While it wouldn’t evolve into full-blown hypnosis, it would surely grow into something more powerful. .... Arthur coughed out water, trying to get every last bit of the salt out of his system. His clothes were completely soaked, which was surprising considering they had chosen to use aa raft. However, to no one’s surprise, they were quickly brought down by a girl with long range skills. She had practically thrown everything at them, destroying the raft. Though, she was unable to eliminate either of them and retreated, knowing fully well that she couldn’t risk a full-blown confrontation with either. "Remind me." Arthur muttered, dragging himself up a tree root. "Why I thought this was a good idea?" "...." The boy didn’t say anything to answer. He was in a much better state than Arthur considering that he could swim. "We just had to get shot down, that girl better hope I don’t find her." Despite his claims, Art had no idea on where she could be, the vision of someone at R3 wasn’t groundbreaking. He was only able to make out her figure and deduced it was a girl. "Here." Arthur said. Then, without warning, he unclipped one of the three balls he had stolen and clipped to his belt, and threw it at the boy. The boy managed to catch, although he fumbled with it for a few seconds. "Hold onto it and it should register to you." Arthur said. The applicant quickly clipped it into his belt. "Thank you, sir." He said. Perhaps, he was getting a little teary from it. Or perhaps, it was the droplets of water on his face. "If you want to rank in the top ten, you better go rack up more eliminations." Arthur advised without looking at him. The boy stared at the newly acquired ball, and back at Arthur before sprinting in the direction of the forest. When he was gone, Arthur let out a breath. "To think that there would be people so dumb in this world." He sighed for the umpteenth time today. The applicant that he had ordered to help him hadn’t even bothered to question why Arthur, someone who had eliminated his group, was so generous. That too, he also knew who Art really was. He just assumed that since he had done his part of the deal, Arthur would do exactly that. And while that was exactly what Arthur had done, even giving a generous bonus, the boy hadn’t even stopped to question if there was a catch. "I guess that’s why I prefer having Lucien as my servant." He murmured before getting up. After all, Lucien was a much more cautious companion who almost made it seem like he could die at anytime if he wasn’t careful. He brushed the sand that had stuck to his skin off and went down to the shoreline. Movement. Arthur could see several figures swimming towards the island he was currently on. His eyes narrowed at the sight. ’Perhaps taking that raft wasn’t all that a bad idea.’ He mused. Suddenly, his lips curved slightly as he watched the figures very slowly become bigger. Arthur activated one of his skills. He stretched his hand, the essence pooling into his fingertips. ’Since I’m trying to conserve essence, I’ll only use one.’ A familiar warmth gathered there, one that he had come to associate with bullying people and destruction. A spark flared as he clapped his hands. Arthur opened his hands, slowly forming a makeshift bow made of flames. Then came the arrow. He squinted down the shoreline, his eyes following the erratic movement of the swimmers. He didn’t even bother aiming properly. The arrow shot in the direction of the wind before plunging in the water beside them. Steam erupted instantly as a cloud of heat and salt erupted, spreading across the waves. Arthur could barely see their form as they panicked and tried to avoid it, but while it did feel oddly satisfying to rain fire arrows at people as they crossed the sea, his essence reserves wasn’t exactly looking too good so he decided to stop. He had wasted about half of his reserves and the exam wasn’t even halfway done. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦 That too, and the fact that some of the people there were people he had asked politely for their balls, it wouldn’t be fair if he were to eliminate them as that would essentially break the terms of their agreements. "Sometimes, I wonder if I’m the one in the wrong, if I’m the half as bad as everyone makes me out to be." He paused. "Nah.... but soon I’ll be." He turned away from the shoreline, brushing a strand of wet hair out of his face. Behind him, the sea hissed and simmered where the flames had struck, as if it quietly agreed with him. Or at least, that was what Arthur believed to be the case as he moved in the direction of where he believed his next kill would be. It took him a few minutes of aimless wandering through the trees to find it. But.... he found his next target soon enough. A short girl who looked hopelessly lost. The best part? She had all three balls on her, all of them without a single scratch. Even Arthur who had stolen several of them and generally tried to avoid fighting wherever possible, still had several cracks on one of the balls he had stolen. ’She doesn’t even seem to be focused.’ He mused. Well, it just meant she would be easier to take down so Arthur wasn’t complaining. He silently summoned his True Soul Weapon, the blade materializing in his grip almost instantly. Then, before the pressure of his essence could leak into the air he leaped from the tree branch. His blade came down in a clean arc towards the girl below. -Clang! The sound of steel clashing against steel rang out sharply, sparks scattered in the air as Arthur’s attack was halted mid-swing. He landed lightly, his eyes narrowing as his sword was stopped by another sword. The girl scrambled away in shock, clearly having no idea of what saved her life. But Arthur didn’t even look at her, his gaze narrowed at the person who had blocked his sword strike. It wasn’t that his sword skills had been one that had been honed through countless hours. He didn’t wake up everyday with the singular purpose of refining his sword art. Neither was he baffled that someone had managed to block the overwhelming intensity of his True Soul Weapon. No. He was just annoyed. Annoyed that someone had gotten in his way. Maybe he felt a little bit betrayed too, but just a little bit. Someone he knew. "Kaiser." He said. "Arthur." The other smiled faintly as he spoke. Of course it had to be him, the same one who had walked past him as an equal just a few days ago. To be honest, Arthur had forgotten about him, with his mind preoccupied on his plans to avoid and if it was unavoidable possibly defeat anyone he encountered. Of course, his plan didn’t extend to Lucien. He sighed yet again. An awkward silence settled between the two weapon holders as they stared each other down. "It’s been awhile." Arthur finally said, breaking the silence. "It’s been a few days, definitely not awhile." Kaiser clarified. Arthur just shrugged at the answer. "So.... let’s cut to the chase, why did you stop me from eliminating her?" He asked, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly. Despite the respect he had for Kaiser, if he got the wrong answer he would waste no time in making sure the boy got eliminated. Though the boy was handsome, since he wasn’t a member of the main cast he wouldn’t be too strong. Kaiser too shrugged. "I don’t know to be honest, I just thought it would be a better way to get your attention." ’God help me.’ Art prayed internally. "Are you here to kill- I mean eliminate me or not?" "No. I’m here to offer you a proposition." "And what is it?" "Help me eliminate the top ranker in the written exams."