Orianna and her opponent were in a stalemate. With her current spirit, she could only cast her [Acidic Breath] three times in combat, meaning that if she lost these three attacks, she would lose unconditionally from arcane exhaustion.
Still, a single successful spell would suffice to melt steel, not to mention human flesh. The only problem was that the druid confronting her had turned into a wolf. It was a small wolf, probably not half as dangerous as the vine-controlling druid that Lewis had taken down, but it was a wild beast with human intellect nevertheless and she knew she would be wrong to underestimate it.
'As expected, he is not showing sign of helping me...', Orianna thought with a smile.
Lewis had tested her several times in the past month already. At first, she thought that the boy, who had unknowingly become the leader of the party unofficially due to his cunning and growth rate, had a grudge against her. But she eventually grew to understand that he was challenging her, challenging her to become stronger, to become worthy of being part of his team.
If she could not deal with a mere beginner rank druid...Then perhaps she was indeed not fit to be a Longlost.
'Just watch me...'
Orianna moved forward with her daggers. She was by no means a warrior, but months sparring with Lewis and Jorg had taught her basics of martial arts, basics that served as better foundations than most knights could ever hope to master.
Dodging the wolf's bite with speed, thanks to her bloodline-enhanced body, she managed to trade wounds for wounds. Bleeding accumulated on her body, but the wolf did not fare any better. Better still, she possessed a magical artefact [Tyria Ring], which allowed her to regenerate small wounds faster. It was even more powerful on her due to her natural regeneration being several times faster than regular humans thanks to the blood of acidic crocodiles flowing in her veins.
But...
This complacency and trust in her regeneration skills eventually got the better of her, as she fell into a trap the wolf had prepared for her. Her dagger missed the wolf and got suck into a tree. But it was not any tree, but a [Emerald tree], which was easy to pierce, but near impossible to retract due to its shell contracting. Beasts trapped onto the emerald tree's shell would starve and rot, eventually becoming nutrients for its roots.
The wolf bit her thigh, causing her to bleed profusely and fall on the ground. Giving up on her daggers, she was then thrown onto the ground, desperately keeping the wolf's maw from chopping her head off. Enduring the claws piercing her chest, rib and arms, she somehow managed to muster up courage and clarity to cast her one and only spell: [Acidic Breath].
The spell was weak and small, as her body was compeltely exhausted, but it sufficed to scare the wolf and hurt its face, which was being corroded. It howled in desperation, before starting to convulse. Not capable of standing up anymore, she crawled towards the beast, and plunged the third dagger she kept on her back into the wolf's throat. Seconds later, the wolf shifted back to its human, druidic form. The man was dead.
Just as she felt the relief of victory, Lewis approached her and splashed a hemostasis potion, or something that resembled it on her wound. The quality was bad, obviously, since he had neither the ingredients nor the training of a regular alchemist. But the potion still was very effective in stopping her bleeding.
Lewis did not look at her twice, though, as if she had barely fulfilled her duty. She could almost hear a sigh of disappointment, which made her bit her lips violently.
'I swear...I swear I am going to be stronger...I don't want to be seen as weak anymore...I can't tolerate it anymore...', she thought inwardly, as blood started to flow from her intense frustration.
Lewis, seeing and controlling the scene, smiled. This was this exact frustration that Orianna needed, if she ever wanted to become part of the Crimson Clan elite. Part of the Longlost Household, she had never managed to break through the intermediate realm in his past life, despite participating in hundreds of missions and working harder. The problem lied in her mindset, rather than talent alone. She lacked the greed, the unsatiable hunger for power that bloodline acolytes needed to fuel their growth. The feeling of desperation and inferiority complex he was building in her served that exact purpose.
Wrong? Immoral?
In this world, weakness was the greatest sin, and if she did not grow stronger, she would die in the incoming faction war with the Blue Wolf Mercenary Group.
But unknowingly, he was creating a monster...