Bloodcurdling killing intent drowned Leo Skyfang in a sea of blood and murder. It pulled and tugged at him, trying to bring him into the bottom pit of despair. Yet, he stood there unmoving. Like a ten ton weight in the middle of a tornado. It could not lift him much less drag him.
The Nano-Suit was not a regular Nano-Suit. It was custom-generated by the Yin-Yang Lake and tempered by his mysterious bloodline. It was like a shield that ignored everything for him. Like rain upon metal, the killing intent simply splashed off as soon as it landed. The giant looked on without shock, surprise, or awe, almost as though it had seen everything there was to see. The eyeballs spun as though calculating something and pondering and thinking.
A deafening voice that never spread beyond the private courtyard pressed down on him, yet it only succeeded in crushing the cement beneath his feet.
"This suit… is definitely magical. My Rogue Archetype's Compressor Method is usually more than enough to bend and squeeze most Nano-Suits"
Pause.
"Can you show me your Magician-Rogue Double Archetype Fireball Method again?"
As expected of a former military man, the ex-general used the full title of the method. He nodded and complied. The ex-general swung his halberd horizontally, splitting the fireball in two. The top half continued flying at him while the bottom half stayed low to the ground. The ex-general stomped on the bottom one which caused the top half to dissipate afterwards.
"The Rogue Archetype allows the Operator to control parts of a method for a short time, instead of individually. It's why the other half disappeared once its twin was taken care of. This is a common problem among Rogue Archetypes and goes away with discipline. The Magician Archetype's spells also benefit"
The ex-general took a breath as a strange aura covered the halberd. The aura replicated itself on the ex-general but shifted between 3 different colors. Red, blue, and green. It was as though the giant woke up as a pair of giant eyes cut off all paths of escape.
Sea of Fire.
Warrior Archetypes used feats.
Magician Archetypes used spells.
Rogue Archetypes used methods.
When Archetypes mixed and matched, the result was a masterful technique.
When all three Archetypes flowed together, it became a gruesome execution.
The ex-general was actually an Elite!
This was the information presented to him as golden text.
Inside the sea of fire, the flames were extremely intense and sucked all the air from the surroundings. His feet sunk into the flames and nothing he did was able to stop the descent. But he didn't panic. He realized that the sea was like an army of individual fireballs. The ex-general was not testing him but putting him through training.
He did not understand what an execution was but he recognized individuals spells within this sea of fire. They were held together by an invisible string that guided them as a whole. To amplify the effect, an overpowering feat was used.
As he reached out to touch the flames, a tingly sensation surged throughout his body. He could feel exactly how the ex-general performed this quasi-technique. By pushing spells and methods to their limits but not exceeding it, a quasi-technique where both overlapped and inherited the properties of one another would be born.
"Good eye! You've recognized what's happening. This is a quasi-technique. It is when two Archetypes are pushed to the limit, barely. A true technique would kill you no matter how much you struggled. It wouldn't overwhelm you instantly but cook you from the inside out"
"But this can't be considered a true Quasi-Technique either. This is but an illusion forged through countless, immeasurable battles. It is considered a form of intimidation. I've projected my blood lust which is just a tip of the iceberg"
Now come and show me what you've learned and apply it to your own arsenal.
Leo did not stay in 'Brawler' mode but switched to 'Sharpshooter' instead. This caused a bit of surprise in the ex-general who quickly regained composure. He felt like a mortal when he was a Brawler and more like a god when turning into a Sharpshooter. He gave up versatility but gained priceless information instead. Was it possible to combine the two operations?
He analyzed the schematics and realized that under normal conditions, Archetypes could not be expressed through mechanical contraptions. It had to be channeled through a living medium, the Operator. Sharpshooters were meant for normal civilians who could not become an Operator. The academy simply chose to keep both modes due to unknown reasons.
He played around with the system a little bit until he found a loophole. By directly interfacing his arm with the guns, the Nano-Suit fritzed out before it stopped stuttering. When he aimed his pistols at the ex-general, he found a couple of new settings.
[Element] Heat
[Severity] Great
[Type] Single Shot
When he pulled the trigger, he heard a groan. It came from the ex-general. A small hole had penetrated through the shoulder. There was no blood because the wound was already cauterized. The impact was instantaneous. It seemed like the ex-general was unable to dodge a bullet.
The sea of fire also unknowingly disappeared.
"This… this…"
Both brothers were shocked to the extreme. Was it a feat, spell, or method? They were unable to tell. He fired another shot. The ex-general touched his skin and felt the humidity. There was also 3 millimeter of skin that had been sliced off.
The giant was familiar with Sharpshooter. It was a civilian's preferred method of combat due to its long distance versatility. It was totally useless against Operators, let alone Specialists and Elites yet the ex-general was hit twice with no idea what happened and no chance to react.
'Could, could he be an ACE?'
Whatever an ACE was, the ex-general kept it to himself. Looking at Leo Skyfang, the giant took a deep breath before opening his mouth.
"I don't know how you did that but the training is over. It's unheard of for an Operator to hurt an Elite, yet here we are. I have to reassess the situation. Brother, please continue the assessment. Sir Leo, feel free to watch from the sidelines to enrich your knowledge on the process of rebirth and the training required"
With that, the ex-general opened up another sub-channel and left.
—
The Assessment was relatively trivial. It consisting of sparring sessions. Not all WMRs were created equal and it was nearly impossible to be utterly dominant. The Operators that stood out to Leo Skyfang were Jack Bearhug, Tiffany Blueclaw, and Tanya Swiftcrow. Jack was a Warrior Archetype who preferred brute strength. He could easily break giant boulders with a simple tap of his knuckles. Despite that, he had an odd fetish. He preferred fighting with metal balls. He would throw them and overwhelm his opponent with a quick barrage of attacks.
Tiffany Blueclaw was a Magician Archetype specializing in water spells. She preferred crowd control and infinitely stalling the opponent while her lightning spells electrocuted them into submission. Although she wasn't a Rogue, she was gifted with inhumane speeds.
Tanya Swiftcrow was a Rogue Archetype who was a master of execution. She could stop almost any projectile from reaching her and even redirect its path if she was quick enough. Due to the lack of any sub-affinities, she was compensated with godly levels of speed, significantly surpassing Tiffany.
These three were the cream of the crop of their respective camps. They would all occasionally looked at him, eyes eager to prove themselves. They didn't know why the head instructor suddenly pulled him away, but now that he was back, they could figure out why.
"Listen up. I won't stop you from challenge Leo, but be warned, the outcome won't be what you expect. It's possible your confidence could be shattered. I would just recommend you to ignore him"
Naturally, that had the opposite effect and stoked the competitive fire inside them. A round and chubby man named Henry was the first to step up. He was a Magician Archetype who used pressure spells to wear down his opponent. His pressure spells were so strong that he openly detailed them without fear.
He didn't have to accept, but he did anyways. The more he learned, the better prepared he would be in the future. Pressure sounded similar to Space so he might pick up inspiration. As the round man slammed his palms together, it felt like two invisible walls were suddenly closing in on him. He pushed them back with ease but when the man slammed his palms again, the invisible walls felt twice as heavy.
Then it was 4x, 8x, 16x, all the way to 256x. He was barely hanging when the pressure quadrupled. Right now it felt like all the breath was being squeezed out of him. He pushed and pushed but nothing worked. The chubby man was smiling, knowing that victory was within reach.