So It Starts

Just this morning when I went back into the forest, I found a severed thumb with a trail of blood followed by a forearm missing its hand.

It was nearly 5 kilometers in.

Only a few people know the fate of the team sent to gather information.

I don't even know plenty of specific details.

I'd hate to say this to anyone currently, but I think that the ghouls have the upper hand in almost every way.

It was just me and the air whistling over my shoulder.

Back in line I go.

The line was again to get back into the town through the central gate.

This time I was riding on a horse drawn cart.

Standard procedure for picking up bodies.

I made the rest in peace symbol with my hands.

Slowly but surely the line inched forwards.

As I neared the gate, a strange guy ran into view around the castle walls.

He was dragging a staff on the ground.

As he got near, I saw that the staff was really a few inches in the ground and it was burning a trail.

I was very close to the entrance when the guards stopped traffic to let the guy through.

In order to stop people from covering up the tracks, the personnel stationed at the gate had to assist by using borrowed wind manipulation.

"Holy Zenshit!

That is nasty, is that fish?" One of the guards shouted over the loud gathering of wind particles.

"I wouldn't say that,." I shouted back.

I looked over and shook my head.

He knew instantly and nodded back.

"Is it for the common one, or the classy one…?"

"I don't know who they were either, but once the science team IDs them, I would think then it will be someone else's job."

I went up to the entrance and showed my ID card.

"Hey, you're that guy!" Says the man sitting inside the reception post.

"And you're that guy." I replied.

"Don't you usually come here on foot?"

"Special delivery by my favorite caretaker."

"Whom?"

"The king."

"Interesting."

"Say, who is the guy who just ran around here with a staff?"

"He is part of the 1st."

"Oh buddy, did he even break a sweat?"

"No, I did not see."

"He is a nerd like me, I can tell you that shit right now."

"Yep, you're free to go homie…err, once I check the haul (according to the fucking protocoal)"

"I heard that."

He walked around to the back and peeked into the back.

"Jeez usss!

If that is what is left of them, I feel like they can all fit into one coffin."

"If they at least had any part of their head left, I would identify them on the spot with my skill."

"Hm, well just head across."

"Ciao."

"Yup, Adios."

Next I was tasked to find Rena Xinzhu.

When I picked her up, she did not speak a word.

She nodded to me, got on, and then nodded off.

Every now and then she would lean onto my shoulder and leave strands of her long hair on my pants.

Long silky dark strands with an occasional red strand.

She looks pretty chill and seems to gravitate towards me.

Strange; compared to her my skills and abilities all use different styles of weapon manipulation and soul transformation.

To me one side of her is cold as ice and the other is as warm as a dark spot on the sun.

She was definitely zoned out and was not down in her body.

She is so silent, not even her heart is beating… Wait a second!

wI elbowed her.

Then she woke up and looked at me.

I can quite literally hear her saying "WHAT THE ACTUAL F BRUHWTF BRUH" in her mind.

Also, "IF YOU FUKK'N TOUCH ME AGAIN I'LL SHOOT UR ASS**".

'You are insane, I did not do anything.' I thought.

She propped her legs up onto the front bar of the cart.

"You know I heard that." She softly voices.

"Shit, you heard that?"

I slipped my right hand into my pocket and clenched onto a knife.

Still with her eyes closed she says again, "You know I saw that."

"Shit, you saw that?"

"I am doing my part."

She went back into comatose and committed to not show signs of life.

When we stopped, it had been nearly an hour of navigating the town's tight roads in a cart; she patted down her gray skirt and pulled out some combat gloves from out of a shirt pocket.

"Once I get all of the details cleared out (such as identifying the body parts and how the person died), I would like you - ahem - the king will want you to bring unbearable grief and trauma by presenting it to their families."

She nodded.

"Watch out, in the lower class parts of town there are burglars and flat-'Rudians that would like to murk you and send your head in for cash."

I shouted over the rush hour foot traffic.

Then I heard a clopping noise.

A nose came by and nudged me.

Tuck had escaped again.

//#** AUTHOR'S NOTE: is it normal to put a flashback in a flashback?

Tuck, unlike other horses, he is is actively being smart and also tends to commit crimes.is a smart horse who uses his high level of intelligence to commit crimes.

When the final reports came in from the horse dealer, Tuck was removed from active service after killing multiple combat healers and medics who had a red cross armband on them.

But, he is loyal to me and I would never let that happen.

This time he returned with a bag of coins.

"Did you just troll someone?" I asked, amazed.

He dropped it on the ground and nodded.

"Right, who is it this time?"

He blinked twice.

"Drug dealers?

Again?"

I looked over to Rena, who was out cold on the carriage still with her legs propped up on the front bar.

She will do the next part after I am done.

I picked up the coins and tossed it at Rena.

"Tip from the king." I said.

"Alright." She replies.

After careful examination of what Ms. Xinzhu can accomplish, it is obvious that she can move both halves of her body individually like she is 2 different people.

She has achromatic eyes, purple and some sort of dark blue.

She also has black hair with red highlightsa red group of hair in it.

->

Name: Rena Xinzhu

Skills: Spirit, Swift Sword, Swift Blade, Offcenter, Conversational

Abilities: Sword–4, Ballistic Block, Block Shove, Knife-4, Dagger-5, Illusion off center, Red spear

<-< p>

It looks like Ms. Xinzhu has a lot of skills along with Conversational and an illusion skill called Offcenter. The Spirit skill is extremely suspicious, however.Spirit is sus, she can fit many skills, she has Spirit, she has conversational, and also has an illusion skill called Offcenter.

"Call Ned for me.

We are going to do some research before this first exam kicks off."

"Yes, she is half spirit.

If the spirit dies, the soul can still live.

As long as you only kill her once, she can still live and rest to regenerate the spirit,." Ned answered while reading an ancient textbook.

"Alright, so basically you have to kill her 2 times to kill her and if you don't she has infinite lives."

"That is pretty sick, and it sounds meta on the surface.

In reality it is a trait in the Nailan bloodline which branched off into sub- families."

"Right, it also takes a lot of energy to maintain life after birth.

So, it is rare in this family to survive birth."

"Unless she has strong control of the flow of blood.

'Spirit takes up the left side of theher flow which is going clockwise and the right side goes clockwise as well.

Maintaining this requires flow balance and also control of the heart to beat correctly.

The flows have to move independently of each other and blood will be pumped one side before the other.

Stopping the heart will result in even circulation, and 4 beats is required if trying to intake oxygen,'" Ned read.

"Without the correct flow timing, asphyxiation will follow with death and blood vessel implosion/explosion depending on where the two flows mix."

"So practically speaking, the spirit gains oxygen and extracts it.

Therefore no breathing is required.

But if the flow is broken, you have to manually inhale and exhale as usual.

If someone like this dies, it would be silent and no one knows."

"'They have to move blood to the brain which would stop entirely, and also their body will be in a state of nervous shock due to energy diffusion from contact point.

At minimum, about 0.3 amps escape throughout the body and the highest recorded case was 20 amps.

It burned the guy inside out and he died slowly and painfully, and he had to die twice.

It was very bad, during the autopsy he looked normal on the outside, but the pressure of escaping gasses of the vaporized liquids inside him made him explode and sent organs in all directions…

…"

"..."

"Yo, we need to try this on Rena."

"Sounds like fun, let's do it!"

Implicitly we were certain having an electric bomb going off inside you is bad.

Like a bomb that blows up themselves.

←→

The second part of the exam is the actual exam.

The first part of this part is the speed exam part.

Simple, you run a 400 meter dash.

Then an obstacle course.

Then you swim, hill slide, carry a 100 kilogram backpack, then you die peacefully.

While in the waiting room just next to the 400 meter dirt stretch which was near the southern end of the capital, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Have you ever been shot in the balls before?"

"The fuck you say?" I turned around.

"Oh nothing.

I am the pre-start healing specialist.

I see you still have some injuries."

"Say I have a question."

"What?"

"Are you a red dead killer?

I can see it in your eyes, the way you walk, and also the way you look at people."

"Well, I don't particularly like killing."

"No, you do."

->

Name: JayJay Cumulos

Skills: Eye of analysis, Swift Blade, Heal

Abilities: Blood input, Body input, X-ray analysis, Light Heal, Dark Heal, Stem Cell Acceleration, Bone Marrow Acceleration, Sword-3, Knife-5, Spear-3

"Well then"

The guy standing behind me is at least 4 inches shorter, but he looks like a support soldier.

Maybe even an artillery medic.

"Earlier while healing I noticed for the first time in my life that archers actually have the most muscular arms out of pretty much everyone.

Well pull strength is lethal in bows, you gotta watch out."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Well, you look like the only person I can talk to, because you are the most similar to me.

You want to not stay a person under the influence that makes you want to do nothing, and you want to change, but I suppose the world is not forgiving and you are thrown right into the middle of the fray with just a blink of an eye."

"Hmm, yeah, yeah.

Continue."

"It is scary how they only need 3 fingers to pull and some even use 2 when they forget they have a third.

One on top and two on bottom.

I just think that… if you take out the top finger, or the index finger, that would knock out a lot of their shooting skill."

"Welp, that helps thanx."

"And you are done.

No direct healing needed.

Oh yeah, you cannot pierce my mind with your skill."

"I tested and the results are showing.

Anyways thanks for the tips."

I shook his hand and he walked away.

I looked around and saw that all the archers are looking quite nervous about the speed test, but all the people that carry light weapons seem to be chill.

We were made to carry everything we have on throughout the test.

Chris said "fuck you" to everyone who comes overprepared.

Running sucks, but I can free run just fine.

Running is pure leg muscles, strides, and nothing else.

Free running is using momentum to carry you over obstacles – mass may even help if you know what you are doing.

I at least get to use my push daggers until we fight for the crowds entertainment.

The shade was the only respite we got from the sun today.

On the other side of the area was Ned.

He nodded to me and I nodded back.

According to ancient texts, rain means…death and sadness.

Even though it is freezing in the shade, the sun is beaming and it is nice and crispy outside.

But only the weak will complain about heat or chill.

"Heyo, Ivan Chuan."

"Who is it now?" I shrugged.

I turned around once again and this time it was Chris.

"So what do you think about the new harder entrance exam this year?" he laughed.

"What do you mean?"

"Since I bet my money if you win, I still have authority to make your life a living hell."

He was dressed in a coat with a hood over his head.

"Is that why you pissed me off to try and make me lose my composure, pressured me to take a random body carriage mission, set me up with a room next to the "rigged" stairs, and now…"

"We are now firing bolts at you while you are racing, good luck." He melodically and sarcastically mocked.

"...You SHIIIII—FUUUU–"

"Your brother is still dead."

"-UUUCK you, stop rubbing it in."

He laughed and disappeared into the crowd.

"Oh Broski, lend me a hand with this "GOAT of murder of kids" god damn!"

I crossed with an okay sign again towards the sky.

I know my brother would say:

"Deal with it."

I would say:

"This is my way of dealing with it."

I can hear him saying: "Look at this dude." from the skies above.

If he wasn't a faded memory or a person that blinks out of existence just like that.

I was in the middle of the pack. I am not slow like iron clad idiots, nor was I fast like the fuse on "someone that I know"'s temper.

But like a brick in water I sank into a pit of normies sprinting the stretch.

The uneven ground punished missteps while everything was a blur.

Rhythm…

Then a crossbow bolt came into vision.

Not unusual.

Expected.

Normal.

Common.

Average day.

I lowered my head and it whizzed past me.

Miss.

Another one, entered my vision.

Shit.

I tried to dodge but my foot caught a rock and I wiped out.

I still dodged the bolt, but I wiped out.

As soon as I started getting up again, more bolts started popping past me.

I got down and rolled then stood up before more were going to collide with me.

I slid hopped narrowly avoiding getting both feet taken out by an angry sharp stick.

I dashed towards the finish and reached the safezone.

I hid behind a supervisor to make sure that I was safe.

I dodged a dodgy environment through dodging the dodgeable dodgy dodge sticks.

Easy Peasy LEMON aww F**********!!!

Out of all of the people, maybe a few hundred, I placed in 306.

I hate this.

During the intermission period I practiced timelapse in small amounts.

I walked the forest perimeter, I took an hour long crap, and parkoured in the slums.

It wasn't until it was at the 5 o'clock sun that we did the obstacle course.

It was set up within an electrically lighted mansion.

Since electricity is a new invention, it was not great. There was a large paddlewheel which had a huge boiler room which used steam to generate electricity. Every now and then the lights would flicker and add to the uncertain "taste" of the mansion.

The paved road in front made with crushed gravel and oily tar made it look futuristic, but it took 10 years to be able to build this house.

All of these innovations were made by top researchers like Realae and others like Scotchfield or Plina.

Perfect.

I have not seen something quite like this.

Most electricity is used to power large buildings and light small rooms using low power.

A low hissing of the steam being released from a hole in the top of the boiler.

Two workers were there.

One brought quenching water and another fed coal to the hungry fire underneath.

A low rumbling of gasses and the rolling of a log, the whirring of magnets.

Still I stood with bitter confusion.

Why?

As if singling me out was the right course of action.

Why me?

Under the king's supervision.

I infer that maybe that Ki was sent on a mission to beat me up, show some power, then know them. Maybe Chris indeed did pair everyone up with the opposite gender to mask the fact he is trying to cram the 2 SAW users into one room.

Maybe he is singling me out because…I am a pawn in an operation.

Well then.

All just guesses, but Chris does do things with purpose.

My brain just works that way.

After all, I did think that the stairs were rigged.

Why me though?

I do have disappointing combat abilities out of anyone with fighting experience.

I can only do what I do with my push daggers; I can only beat those ghouls because they were practically farmers.

"Buddy, you have something on your back.

Hope it's not a spider."

I turned around and his voice was gone.

"CHRIS."

I affirmed.

His lackluster hiding skill still is subpar to his aptitude of slipping into an oblivious crowd.

No one knows he is the king until he puts up his facade and is conspicuous again.

Whenever there is wood block printed newspapers or letters about economics within eyesight, he would be rubbernecking on his royal mount like a normal person would.

He'd eavesdrop on information, like a spy, and do the same type of nonsense that a farmer would do.

In essence, he is an average joe tailed by a royal bandwagon.

There was a note on my back and it had one word on it: "Crossbow".

"'Bloody Stream' by Coda!

I am more screwed than an archimedes screw!"

I muttered.

Unless, I can do something about it.

Which I could.

I crumpled up the note like the trash it is… and shoved it in a pocket on my tan brown trousers.

A man wearing a pair of glasses trotted up to the front of the crowded groups and explained the course.

I did not listen.

So it starts.