'Akashvani, What is Demonic Plant's weakness'
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*slash... swish... thud*
'What-? Are you for real?', a frown appeared on Vikram's face as he repeatedly swung his sword to parry the vine attacks that were only getting intense.
Akashvani not knowing anything was equal to Vikram not having read about the Demonic Plant in the novel.
'This is my first monster fight, and you have already disappointed me!', he complained to the dead author in his mind.
However, more than the authenticity of the novel, the problem currently hounding Vikram was that the monster wasn't even using its full strength and he was easily being pushed back by the relentless assault of 10s of vines.
*hiss...*
One of the pollen from the monster landed upon Vikram's hand and his skin suddenly started burning as if a drop of acid was poured on him. Although the pollen were light and Vikram could use his parry skills to blow them away, some still made their way to Vikram.
"Ugh!", he groaned in pain but got back to defending right away. He was not even getting enough time to defend himself due to regenerating vines that reappeared within a second of being cut down.
He scanned his environment, but to his misfortune, it was just a long empty white hall with only walls and a flaccid cage.
*buzz...*
His eyes fell upon the cage behind the Demonic Plant and his eyes went ablaze with optimism. Although the floor around the Demonic Plant and all the walls were charred due to toxic pollen, the cage was surprisingly unharmed without as much as a speck on it.
"Is the cage immune to this acid-like pollen?"
"It must be, otherwise the monster would have simply melted the cage and escaped."
Vikram knew what he had to do next. As he parried the monster's attack, he slowly inched himself around the monster and reached the cage.
As he stared at the base of the cage on the ground a self-deprecating dry smile appeared on his face. "To have to rely on such cheap tricks for a weak monster, Oh the mighty have fallen...", he muttered.
Had his body listened to his commands well, he could have used the walls to parkour around the Demonic Plant and reach the monster's flowery head - the area with the least amount of pollen - and landed a decisive blow, but right now, he could only dream of such complicated maneuvers due to his body not executing his commands properly.
"This is turning out to be more troublesome that I first thought...", he quickly picked up the square base of the cage that was about 1 meter wide and slashed at the center of the metal plate with his Prana laid sword to make a small hole.
"Although this shield is crap, my sword seems good", he said while holding the metal plate and suddenly jumped towards the plant monster.
The metal plate covered most of Vikram's body from the pollen, but his fingers holding the shield still had to take a lot of burn from the other side.
When he was only a couple of meters away, using his own running speed as the centrifugal force, he spun in a clockwise direction and threw his shield at the monster as if to throw a shot-put.
It took the monster a second to realize what had happened, but it quickly retracted his vines in order to guard against the incoming metal plate aimed at his flowery head.
*thud... * As the vines took hold of the metal plate and the monster lost sight of the young Shika, Vikram bent downwards, as if to squat, and in one swift motion jumped over the metal plate and the smoke of pollen. *whoosh...*
*slash... swoosh... screech*
After a number of quick motions mid-air and a couple of heart-shattering screeches, the pollen suddenly start to dissipate and what was left in the middle of a large hall was a 5'8 Vikram standing atop the Demonic Plant with his sword lodged directly on the purple flower.
[ … Shika Exam - Stage 1: Completed. The score will be revealed after all the tests have been completed
"Huh-? What!"
*whirr... crackle...scraaaacccckkkkk*
Just as Vikram heard the robotic voice telling him about the exam's completion, Vikram suddenly felt goosebumps rise all over his body as sand-like particles, just like the monster's pollen, started to leak from the pores of his skin.
"What-!! What is happening! Ugh!!", Vikram groaned in pain as he observed the small pollen-like particles leak out of his body and enter the body of the dead monster.
[ Detected a Spirit-level monster fragment ]
[ Akashik Parasites are absorbing the monster fragment]
"What-! Wait! NO NO NO! Don't eat that monster corpse~"
*****
{ 5:00 PM | Outer Area, Zone Y }
Amidst the rumbling sound of the battleship, a group of four Shika candidates were taking in an inaudible whisper as if they were planning to hijack the plane.
"I heard that this time it won't be a seize battle, but instead a group survival..."
"Oh, I heard something similar from my brother too."
"They say apparently some high-level Shika's from other zones have come to recruit young Shikas this time around and this battle was specifically designed to test our abilities as per their request"
...
'Dammit, not only did I lose a D+ monster carcass, but these Akashik parasites are also leaving and entering my body as if I'm running a shelter home for homeless'
Vikram wasn't the least bit interested in what his teammates were talking about but instead worried about how to handle his situation which seemed to get worse by the hours.
Although Vikram already knew that he couldn't control gene power because a part of Avi's "will" still remained inside his body, after his test, he was also coming to terms with the fact that even his Gene Pool was behaving erratically on its own.
'I really need to know who is controlling these Parasites. Is it Avi's remnant will? or is it something else?'
He was in a really precarious situation, not only was he already troubled by Avi's influence on his psychology and physiology; even his gene pool was acting on its own instincts without Vikram's control.
'What will happen if the Akashik parasites come for me next?', he had seen how the Akashik parasites had devoured the 7' Demonic Plant's carcass without leaving a single leaf behind; it genuinely frightened Vikram.
"My skill called [Adaptation] definitely came from the mutation [Dystopian Resident], it makes sense that an inhabitant of a dystopian world will have an ability skilled in adapting to different environments..."
Vikram had already postulated that much about his mutation. He knew from his rank that it wasn't simply a resident-class mutation that people of Diaspora were used to and was quite different. His physique was C-rank already and even his gene transformation rate was faster than normal people.
"...And, [Viral Thought] must have come from [Akashik Parasite]. The gene pool itself is strange but on top of it, I don't think either of Avi's parents had an Entomologist or Virologist mutations to let Avi awaken parasite-related abilities..."
Every Shika was born with his base mutation and only later on in his cultivation journey, would a Shika kill monsters of higher level and extract their genes and add it to their gene pool to gain more abilities.
But Vikram had already gained a Gene pool when he awakened without killing a monster. He earlier believed it to be a result of his transmigration, but right now he had a different theory.
'What if [Akashik Parasite] gene is something that came from the tentacle-like monster inside the meteor fragment and not because of my transmigration?'
'I really need to investigate this as soon as possible. What if those parasites attack Casper or Maya when I'm around them!'
Vikram was unable to see the irony as he was caring for people he had zero relationships with.
*****
The ship was moving at a height where the whole Zone Y was like a single mole on the face of the planet. Vikram still drowning in his problems started pondering about the upcoming test.
'I have to survive the Dandi forest for 3 days and 2 nights and reach the finish location with these three Shikas', three veins suddenly popped up on Vikram's forehead.
He gave an analyzing look to his teammates who were still discussing their survival plan without including him.
Although Vikram was used to being ostracized and ignored because of his identity as second-heir to the Empire's throne, that was only until he had joined the Military. Just two days ago, the whole continent was licking his a*s and now these children were acting as if he was air.
'What irony?', a chuckle escaped Vikram's laugh at his condition, 'No matter where I go, I only find these semi-villains acting all tough... *sigh*'
"Bastard, what are you looking at?", someone exclaimed at Vikram who was looking at the group lost in his own thoughts and hadn't realized that he had been staring.
He was a 22-year-old Shika candidate who had continuously failed to obtain the license for 5 straight years. He was more of a failure than the worst rejected candidate of the Empire's army.
"Nothing. I'm sorry, please don't mind me", Vikram apologized in a flat tone which angered the guy even more.
"What-? What kind of an attitude is that to be talking to your team leader?", he exclaimed.
"Team leader?", even Vikram was confused.
"We just decided that since I am the most experienced in the team, I'll be leading the team into the Dandi forest", he explained.
"Oh!", Vikram made an expression of surprise, "So you mean, since you have taken this exam more than 15 times in the last 5 years, you are the most knowledgeable! Great! makes sense", sarcasm was abundant in Vikram's tone as he praised Basil.
Team leader Basil had his face and ears turning red in anger at the blatant insult by a lowly resident, "You! How dare you-"
"Oye, apologize right now. It was unanimously decided that he should lead this team. If you have a problem with it, then leave our team and go survive on your own...", a guy no older than 19 spoke up in defense of his team leader.
The guy named Akram was the boot-licker of the group and he didn't miss a beat to start licking his team leader's a*s the moment he was decided.
"Whatever! Do what you want. I can survive fine on my own...", Vikram curtly replied. He didn't believe that he needed the 3 weak teammates to go through the second test.
Except for the girl who hadn't spoken to him, his other teammate were openly showing their hostility. It was not because that the girl had a good opinion of Vikram either, she simply didn't want to waste her precious words on a lowlife like him.
"What dumb kids! People like you are the first to die in these stories...", Vikram muttered in an inaudible low voice. The rumbling sound of the Plane got louder and it started to descent in the middle of the Dandi forest.
'I just hope it is not a disaster like the last test', Vikram sighed heavily as he remembered how many candidates from the last test had died or gotten seriously injured because of Association letting out D-rank monsters for E-rank Shika beginners to defeat in a one-on-one fight.