Just as Austin had readied his bow, a voice was heard:
"Test requirements shall be said from now on, please focus."
The voice was unemotional as if it were programmed A.I.
"Since the contestant desires to challenge for the other 2 participants, the program has selected a matching test to be conducted."
"The said contestant is to survive the coming onslaught till the last enemies drop."
"Each enemy called upon will be within the participant's cultivation. In this case, all the enemies will be origin level 3."
"The number of enemies will increase in each round."
"There would be a 5-minute break between each round. In case of failure, the test would be deemed as a fail."
"According to the calculations of this program, your current survival rate is 0.0001%. Knowing this, do you still wish to proceed?"
Hearing all the information, my resolve shook a bit. But thinking of all my plans and the new family I received, I maintained my stance.
"Yes."
"Then I wish you the best."
After that, the location where I stood started to change, and I ended up in a barren land. There was no end to it. Turning around, I saw my sisters on the floor. I then looked at my status:
[
Name: Austin Lionheart
Sex: Male
Age: 11
Species: Human
Looks 9/10 (not bad; you can live with just your looks)
Talent: 9/10 (not bad; you are improving)
Note: Hidden Bloodline (locked)
Titles: The manipulator, lady's man, peeping tom, yandere collector, young master, spank master
Power: Origin level 3
Total Points: 250,000
Partners Conquered: None
]
Well, it looks like I got a new title: "spank master." Looks like playing with Olivia does have its merits. I chuckled a bit at it.
Then I searched my spatial ring and took out the quiver containing my arrows. I can produce mana-based arrows with the bow, but the mana consumption would be more. While I placed the quiver on my back, I went towards my sisters who were now looking at me like I was some kind of alien.
Coming close to them, I placed a small barrier device given to me by Eleanor. Keeping it close to them, I activated it, and an invisible barrier surrounded them. This should stop an attack from even an origin level 10.
Seeing that they were safe within it, I sighed.
"The test would begin in 10 seconds. Please prepare yourself."
Hearing that, I readied my position by standing in front of them and then took out a pill and swallowed it:
[
Item: No Pain And Only Gain
Description: An item made by the tribe of Markos to help their younger generations go through their brutal training.
Uses: By ingesting it, your pain-receiving node would be switched off for about 2 hours.
▪︎You can get beaten up as much as you like.
Cost: 1000
]
What? Are you gonna look down on me for avoiding pain? Well, I ain't no masochist. Why would I like to feel pain? Seeing that this is an SSS-level difficulty, I am pretty sure that I would be beaten up a lot. I am not like those protagonists who yell into battle without thinking. Why feel the pain when you can avoid it? It's not like I am going to win an award for it or anything.
While I was simply wasting time thinking, the bell for the test rang. As soon as it did, two figures started to form in front of me. Both of them looked like a human, but their facial features were nonexistent. Both of them radiated the aura of an origin level 3.
As soon as they arrived, they started to run towards me. Both of them seemed to be unarmed, but I didn't let my guard down because of it. Taking an arrow out of my quiver, I quickly placed it in my bow. Passing a bit of my mana into it, I fired the first arrow, followed by two others behind it.
The humanoid in the front dodged the first arrow, but the first arrow changed direction, aiming for the 2nd humanoid. The 2nd humanoid barely avoided it but, in doing so, ended up covering the blind spot of the 1st humanoid and vice versa.
Without both of them being able to respond, the 2nd and the 3rd arrow silently hit their heart, killing them. After that, both of them started to disintegrate, leaving three arrows.
I quickly pulled the three arrows back into the quiver and turned around and gave my now-stunned sisters a huge smile.
While outside in the viewing room, there was pin-drop silence after watching the first battle. The moment all of them had entered the room, a screen had appeared showing what was happening inside the historic world.
They had seen the scene of Austin placing the barrier and taking down 2 origin level 3 warriors with ease. Seeing this, everyone except for Grace was stunned.
"Au-Austin is an origin level 3 bowman?!!"
It was the Emperor who spoke first, breaking the silence in the room. After that, a heated discussion broke out among the people gathered there.
"Did you know about this?"
Bruce spoke to Grace with a solemn tone. Grace sighed and responded.
"I did. Austin had actually formed his plate at the age of 8, and along with it, he was taken as the personal disciple of The Bow Empress."
Each word spoken by Grace brought a huge shock to the people in the room. While Grace spoke, the Emperor turned silent, as if in deep thought.
"I see, that's why I always felt a different feeling from him. To think we had such a monstrous talent in our Empire."
Bruce spoke with happiness, jealousy, and sadness: happy that the Empire had such a talent, jealous that the Bow Empress found him first, and sad that the talent might not live to its end.
While they were speaking, five minutes passed, and the 2nd round began. Austin looked towards the four new humanoids forming in front of him. Among them, two of them looked the same as the first one, but the other two had swords in their hand—weapons!
'Looks like each round will only get harder.'
I took a deep breath to bring down my raging heart, and then I took three arrows directly from my quiver and placed them on the bow.
As soon as the bell rang for the match, each of the figures started to move towards me. I raised the bow and fired all three arrows at once. As if determined, each of the arrows knocked against each other, changing directions.
The 1st arrow flew towards the 1st humanoid, who raised its sword to deflect it. But before it could, the 1st arrow changed its direction, heading to the 4th unarmed humanoid. Before the 4th humanoid could react, the arrow exploded, causing the rest to scatter.
But at that time, the 2nd arrow arrived in front of the 2nd armed humanoid, who slashed its sword at the arrow. The arrow passed through, hitting the 3rd unarmed humanoid, killing it with one strike.
Now only two of the sword-wielding humanoids remained. Just when the peace was about to come, the 3rd arrow arrived in between them, which exploded, causing smoke. As the two humanoids were within the smoke, I moved directly toward them and threw a small mana bomb within it, which exploded, killing both of them.
But I had no happiness, only extreme seriousness. The fight must have seemed easy, but only I knew the planning required. If the 2nd round is like this, then how would the rest be?