When the sun rose in the sky a new day began, well I can only see the light that the matrix is releasing to show that a new day has begun. I am not really able to see the sun or even confirm that a real day has started, I have already given up on discovering or trying to mark the passage of time within the matrix.
Anyway, the test is reaching its climax, I just hope that after the end of it I'm whole, happy and it's possible that I passed the test. In the worst case I am expelled for being a negative influence and screwing up the test, but I don't believe I have a chance of suffering a worse fate, I don't believe any elf will try to kill me and be condemned by the examiners, Professor Frey would protect me against the other examiners.
But my rest night was short as well as the night of Ingredi and Hilda who was keeping us company, during one of the nights shifts I asked Ingredi's help to hide several explosive runes in the structure of the fort and for her to create some weak points for that she can tear down the walls of the fort or infiltrate the fort. By dawn I had only spent all of the runes that Ingredi and Hilda carried, I was very lucky that Hilda took the materials and the ready-made runes that were in my backpack, my weapons may have been learned, but I don't say why they learn my bag that there should only be trivialities when she was already in Hilda's possession.
I was able to plant several explosives in the inner structure of the fort, this was the first time during this test that I could really use my skills to the full, I even managed to implement the last improvement I made in the explosive's aria. I can now make a board explain that it won't be activated until it receives the specific command to explode.
It sounds like a simple change, but it isn't. It's really hard to do that, the runes on the explosive board have to be in full sync with the signal that must be projected by another rune array, this is something that can only be achieved when I've managed to replicate the frequency of a rune array that I did before.
The only real problem with my emergency plan is that if the signal doesn't reach the explosive rune plates they don't explode, even if they're shot by fire or by an impact they won't explode. I'm afraid that for some reason that elemental energy, mana or aura that might be in the air or the fort's structure already has might have the insulating effect and prevent the signal from checking into the explosives, I've run some tests before, but the number of energies mingling together in large quantities can have effects that I am not able to replicate myself.
The only real test for this type of item is its practical application, a part of min will be very annoyed if the fort we built is used against us, but another part of me that really wants to see this fort crumble and bury mine enemies, most of the students here are gray core fighters, so i believe neither one of them has a very high chance of dying because of my trap. If not one of the idiots is very unlucky, I believe I cannot be accused of killing or seriously injuring another student.
With everything ready, I joined Sindri and the others as the matrix lit up.
"You rested well, Ulric. Ready to recruit an army and crush all those who are loud enough to get in our way?"
"Good morning, everybody. I just hope the opposition isn't too great, we still have a little more than a quarter of the students who entered this test."
"But we just need to recruit a few dozen more so we can have half the students and then our position will be secure, Ulric."
"Vanessa is right, you have to think more positively."
"Don't forget that if we don't have a lot of power, we will become the best target for students who are still following the rules, to get out of the maze of rune matrices. This should be the first warning that will appear after we leave this matrix."
"You're being too pessimistic, by dawn you've hit your quota of being paranoid, Ulric. Now you must beat your share of being optimistic and of violence in crushing the elves, let's end the test before nightfall."
Hilda is already in the mood to end this test and I hope he is right.
"I believe we should stay here and wait for the elves to attack or more students arrive so when we leave the matrix our numbers will be large enough to intimidate the rest of the students and crush the elves."
Vanessa has her own plans and they tend to be violent because she is extremely frustrated because I forbade her to go see the ice warrior she has beaten up before, I don't want to give her a chance to have more fun like him and we all end up being further punished by the examiners. No matter how much leeway they may give a student, torturing another student must be completely outside of permissible activities or activities that examiners may pretend to ignore.
"Being excited is a good thing, but fighting the elves won't be easy. We need to attack them with all our might now and our best choice, in open field in a head-to-head confrontation we're going to have a hard time defeating them, so we're leaving with a group that allows us to have enough firepower to hurt the elves, but don't intimidate them into running away from the fight."
Looks like Sindri has a plan.
"I believe that if we can make a good first attack, we can hurt the elves to the point that even if they run away, they won't be able to fully recover. Only in this way will we be able to increase our chances of success, as they will have great difficulty replacing their equipment or their numbers they cannot strengthen or recover easily during the test, but our situation is exactly the opposite, our group may get stronger and when the other students hear that the elves have been defeated or injured in a confrontation against us more students will come to our side."
It sounds a little optimistic, but he's still betting on a concrete fact, if the elves lose the image of invincible to most students who might be thrilled to join for years out of fear of them, it's going to diminish a lot. It's a shame I doubt that Ryas's magic is that effective on the elves, although her shadow magic is mixed with her water element, Flora's fire has the light element, even though her characteristic is unknown it has to do with purification, I can't see how her magic isn't going to be a great defense for the elves against Ryas's magic.
Probably one will nullify the other, but that can only happen if they were on the same level which I doubt. Flora is famous for her strengths and great magical abilities it is more likely that Ryas' magic is a good defense against the white flames, but a bad attack against them.
"Is Ryas magic that strong?"
"I believe you are wondering how effective she would be against Flora, aren't you Ulric? Ryas can't defeat her head-on, but that's not the plan. We'll keep her occupied when Ryas targets the weaker and middle elves, without the base of their power the stronger ones will ultimately lose, there's no way they can fight so many enemies at once without running out of energy or getting hurt. "
"What really worries me Ulric, and if any other elf has a trick like Caliban's, Vonin told me that he released a golden aura through his body and momentarily increased his strength, if the other leaders had a card up their sleeve similar to fighting them will be very difficult. So far, we only have two big problems, Flora and Caliban, and I have a plan for both, but if we have stronger enemies, you'll have to deal with them because I'll already be fighting Caliban the golden asshole."
"So, it's my job to intercept and deal with the other two leaders or any elves that stand out?"
"Yes, but of course you should bring help to deal with them."
"A help is a bit mandatory, if you haven't noticed I'm a bit unarmed here. A borrowed weapon that isn't even a very good weapon to start with doesn't last long in a fight of this level"
"Let's see if we can find a better weapon for you, Ulric. We should find something that suits you along the way, but if we can't you should be able to improvise some moves, weren't you good at unarmed combat? "
"Being good at unarmed combat doesn't mean I'm a monk. If I'm going to fight a strong enemy without a weapon I'm going to be screwed."
"Small details, I'm sure you can handle one or two elves."
I feel that Sindri has very high expectations of me. That's going to be a problem.