"A challenge?" we all questioned him both confused and a little lost.
"Yeah.... just a fun game." Paul smiled.
"Okay." We all hesitantly agreed, looking at each other a little puzzled.
"Yeah, show me what you've learned." He smiled at us taking a few steps back. "So here's the challenge," He said opening a portal pulling out a small-sized red gem. "So this is a magical item called a gem of spell storing, it allows the owner to store up to three spells into it, to be used later. Or it can also absorb one spell if it's empty." Paul smiled. "Now I'll keep a hold of it in my right hand." He said placing the gem into his right hand to show us. "So the challenge is, if anyone of you can get this gem off me, you can keep it." Paul smiled.
"Really?... as if we have a chance," I replied to him utterly unconvinced we even had a chance.
"I'll make it fair of course, I won't be allowed to hurt you guys and I'll restrict my movements and abilities so it's not impossible." He smiled like he was gonna enjoy this.
"You're on!" Daisy said instantly rushing into Paul with her weapon in hand.
"Ohh, you've become a lot faster!" Paul smiled at Daisy taking a step aside to avoid her first strike completely along with several strikes that followed.
Without warning two arrows flew straight towards him from Grace's bow. "This might be a little fun!" Grace smiled. Learning from her previous practice matches, Paul dodged the first shot and caught the second arrow with his left hand that instantly burst into rapidly growing thorns that began growing all over his body entangling him.
"Impressive!" Paul smiled as Daisy went for another swing at Paul with her maul while he was entangled.
In an instant, Paul dissipated into dense grey smoke like some weird fog, as Daisy's Maul swung through the smoke with no sign of Paul.
"He's in a Gas form!" Helen yelled as she lifts her staff causing dense swirling wind trying to pull Paul into a central location.
"Well spotted!" Paul smiled as the smog began to coalesce and reappeared again.
Jay quickly tried shooting off a blue firebolt at Paul hoping he couldn't react in time. "Nice try." Paul smiled as two duplicates of him appeared beside him in front of the firebolt absorbing it completely. Paul Began to suddenly multiply creating innumerable copies of himself.
"I'll smell him out!" Helen said quickly transforming into a wolf and began to sniff into the air.
"That would have worked if they were illusions." Paul's clones chuckled as Daisy went to strike one making it dissipate into smoke.
"They all smell the same!" Helen said changing back into her human form.
"Well just have to find the right one!" Grace said launching a glowing arrow into the air that suddenly burst into hundreds of raining arrows on top of Paul. despite dissipating several clones he kept on multiplying at a rate that none of us could keep up with.
"This is no use... we'll never find the real one!" Daisy yelled as she let out a fiery wave from her body destroying several copies around her.
"There's gotta be something...." Helen smiled as she began to sprout roots all over the ground popping several copies.
With zero ideas I took a shot in the dark closing my eyes trying to ignore everyone else. A warm comforting feeling emanated in the air off to the side above all his clones. Could that be him? "He's up there!" I yelled pointing in the air at an empty space I felt that weird sensation.
Helen quickly responded by casting a spell unleashing a flurry of small glowing particles like a wave of glitter that suddenly began to illuminate a human figure. "What the hell?" Paul replied in shock as his form landed and began to run as all his copies began to evaporate.
With a point of his wand, Jay shot a scorching ray making Paul stop exactly in his tracks to avoid it the ray barely missing him by a few inches, making an opening for Daisy to strike him in the back. "It's over! I've got you!" Daisy yelled in excitement as she swung her maul straight into Paul with all the might she can muster, along with the bright bolts of lightning she usually calls along with her strikes kicking up a heap of sand and smoke.
"Not bad you've gotten a lot stronger!" Paul smiled with joy and admiration holding her maul with his bare hands as his form began to reveal itself from its invisibility, his arm still letting off smoke and steam from the bolts that follow Daisy's strikes.
Grace let loose another arrow aimed straight at Paul's head without any concern for his safety. With a big pull, he quickly pulled Daisy closer, turning her towards us with an arm around her neck and the other arm restrained behind her back narrowly making the arrow miss the both of them.
"What you gonna do now?... surely you won't risk injuring a friend." Paul grinned shouting towards us.
"You can at least fight him off a bit!" Jay yelled at Daisy.
"He's stronger than he looks!" Daisy yelled back but looked like she wants even trying to struggle against him.
"This is useless he's way above our capabilities, we can't even land a hit on him, and he effortlessly blocked Daisy's attack with his bare hand with no sign of harm," I whispered to Jay and Helen.
"You're right... even when I predicted his movements he just stopped in an instant making me miss." Jay agreed'
"I don't think we can win this challenge.." Helen grimly admitted defeat watching Grace still trying to find an opening to hit Paul despite him using Daisy as a human shield.
"Knowing Paul this is some sort of lesson or test or something. I don't think beating him a fight is a solution, we need to think outside the box." I explained to everyone knowing how Paul operates.
"What's outside the box?" They both whispered back a little confused.
"It means something out of the ordinary," I answered.
"Ohh then maybe subterfuge?" Jay suggested casting a spell to make two copies of himself and began running into Paul.
"Commendable effort, but not quite what I'm trying to teach." Paul smiled giving Daisy a gentle push into Jay making them both collide into each other like he could tell which one was the real one.
"Sorry!" Daisy apologized to Jay as both his images disappeared.
Grace let loose another two arrows aimed at Paul's head, dodging the first shot with just a tilt of his head letting it narrowly graze past him. As expected he caught the second arrow with his free hand and chucked it back at Grace with even more speed narrowly missing Grace cutting a few strands of her long black hair.
"It was so fast I didn't even get a chance to dodge it....." Grace uttered in complete shock and fear.
"Come on guys..... there's a lesson to be learned here." Paul smiled shouting to us egging us on to solve his puzzle.
"I got it!" Helen and I simultaneously smiled at the same time replying to him.
"What would you trade for it?" We both asked him simultaneously.
Paul instantly straightened and smiled with joy. "Well done!" Paul smiled walking up to us and pulled out Helen's hand dropping the gem into it.
"Really?" We all looked at him totally surprised it was that simple.
"Remember this lesson," Paul smiled, "Fighting isn't the only solution for situations, sometimes an easy conversation or bartering could achieve what you need." Paul smiled explaining it to everyone.
"So you didn't want us to get it off you physically?" Daisy questioned looking a little disheartened she didn't solve it.
"Well I would have been surprised if you all overpowered me, but that was very unlikely," Paul smiled, "How every the intuitive use of your abilities and spells were very impressive. I can feel you all will become very strong students." Paul nodded to each of us with a very joyful smile.
"How can you tell?" Jay questioned him.
"Because the way you all used your spells and abilities trying to counter me was impressively fast and using them in special ways to achieve a certain goal is one of the foundations of a great student." Paul smiled.
"Mr. Paul, how were you able to completely mask your smell?" Helen questioned curiously.
"Ahh great questions, the 'illusions' I made are actually real copies although very weak and evaporates in one hit, but the reason you couldn't smell me is that they all smell look speak and feel like me exactly." Paul smiled.
"And my mirror images?" Jay questioned.
"Well like when we went to the Vancliff Estate, I am very acute when sensing Arcanum, I was able to sense the real you just by your Arcanum levels." Paul smiled.
"Did I hurt you?" Daisy asked reaching out to heal his arm.
"A little, overall not too much but I'm very impressed with how strong you've become. Anna told me you were able to hurt the Demon empowered Rank A student. You have grown so much since we last met." Paul smiled giving her a pat on the head like a father proud of his child's growth.
"Anyways, let's wrap up training for today." Paul smiled clapping his hands together, "It's not gonna be long before we'll be unable to teach you guys new things." Paul smiled.
"Really?" Grace asked unconvinced.
"Well not really, but..... let's put it this way, sometimes life lessons and real-life experiences are the best teachers." Paul smiled giving Grace a respectful nod.