Chapter 86
Flange Orphanage, City: Three Prongs Fork, Republic of Shantu, Continent: Barat, the Year 2030, Planet: Grimoire
When the exhibitions ended, and the various categorized activities began, Grifton noticed a distinct change in demeanor. Earlier, catcalling and jeering stopped utterly. Finally, he would be able to showcase his skills properly.
"So, what is coming first?" Amberlyn frowned as she scanned the listings. "Why do they have mere basics first?"
Grifton shrugged. "If the basics cannot be mastered properly with appropriate control simultaneously, all problems can occur." Why did she seem unaware of that kind of problem? Grifton found it rather entertaining. As they watched the individuals demonstrate the basics, it became obvious that some students had become lazy.
Grifton shook his head. When it came to his turn, he walked down without worry. He heard his cousins following behind him at a discreet distance. They went to their designated test sites as soon as they reached the arena.
Grifton listened to the instructions without comment. "Now you can begin, the official stated with a waved flag.
Grifton started by creating a basic circle and sketching shapes within and outside of it. The operator checked it. "Good, now make the secondary encirclements. You're doing the simplest ones first, remember?"
Grifton merely grunted and started making a border of more elaborate versions of the ones within the circle. He watched the operator check it no sooner than finishing and exiting the potential danger zone. "Okay, now activate it properly."
When Grifton's eyebrows rose slightly. "How exactly am I supposed to do it?" He wasn't about to take any chances.
The operator remembered the altered regulations and was harassed with contempt. "With whatever...method you can use without difficulties." His lip curled when he spoke.
This individual made this scenario as tricky as possible for anyone who didn't use speech or gestures. Where had they found this disdainful turkey?
"Fine," Grifton didn't use speech or hand gestures. Instead, he flicked the fingers of his left hand. He simply used only necessary words.
"Fire,"
"Water,"
"Earth,"
Murmurs of shock erupted when he created a mockup of the local topography.
"Wind,"
"Ice,"
"Lightning,"
"Thunder,"
Grifton recreated some of the storms that often rampaged through the area.
There were whistles of appreciation and clapping.
"Movement of people and creatures," Grifton murmured. "Show the daily activities of laborers," This was risky because it meant showing his knowledge of activities beyond the Orphanage grounds.
Sure enough, there were gasps of amazement as movement and activity exploded around the mockup. Various routines of businesses, animals, and people coming and going were shown.
After a few minutes, Grifton muttered. "Dismiss."
Everything disintegrated, and the arena's ground returned to normal. He bowed politely to the operator. "What else must I show?"
The operator was nonplussed because, so far, it was nothing like he'd expected to see. Exasperated, he snapped, " Basic outdoor chores, chopping wood, hauling water, for example."
Grifton inclined his head. "Very well." Once more, he recreated a stump, nearby logs of decent size, and a well. Then, Grifton combined his magic with the psychic ability of kinesis. As he did so, water began appearing in buckets carefully set aside, and an axe began neatly chopping the wood in precise sizes and lengths.
"That's enough," the operator growled. You've passed," he informed Grifton tersely. For some reason, he was angered that he couldn't fail any of them.
"As you've ordered," Grifton carefully dispersed the water all around to nearby troughs. As for the wood, he set it aside so it wouldn't hinder any future students in the competition. Grifton figured others would need it to cut as well for something else.
When Grifton regrouped with his cousins, Calico commented. "Well, you've proved that you are all support material."
Grifton smiled. "All they wanted was for me to do the bare minimum of basics, so I did as I was told." He'd followed the rules. There was no reason for anyone to get huffy about his actions.
Amberlyn was disturbed about something else. "That operator seemed to have it out for anyone who didn't use the previous mandated rules." She shook her head. "I thought he was going to manifest a cane a few times to strike you and others."
"Yeah, what is up with that?" Marlayne growled. "He almost grabbed me twice but stopped when a security officer appeared."
Calico exhaled. "I don't like those individuals," when Grifton and the other two looked at him in confusion, Calico clarified, "The operators, I'm not worried about the security." He was frowning as he thought about what happened before.
Grifton grimaced. "Well, you see, those operators were the worst offenders when it came to beating up the failed participants." He shrugged when the trio gaped at him in horrified shock. "When they were presiding over the exams," A sigh escaped him when he recalled the past exams and shuddered. "We would and could expect fatalities occurring on the arena grounds."
Marlayne was furious. "Why weren't they ever reported?" She demanded.
Grifton shook his head grimly. "They were." The result wasn't pleasant to recall either. "Those individuals who were deemed the snitches disappeared permanently." That was why he hadn't gone through official channels when reporting. "If they were found, they were dead." That was the only reason he hadn't wound up dead as others had.
Amberlyn was in shock. "So that is why you didn't give us detailed information when writing letters?"
Grifton inclined his head. "They're ready to ensure that any potentially confidential information wouldn't leak." He confirmed. "Though why letters from orphans to cousins or acquaintances would be viewed as containing sensitive information, I'm not entirely sure."
In retrospect, Grifton understood what was going on. It was no doubt just a measure of control to ensure that the operators could maintain their superiority. They used their power to maintain control over the students, specifically those who had no influence and could dispose of them at any time.
Grifton didn't doubt that it was that type of intimidation that ensured many students just left without continuing their education. As a result, they chose to eke out a living on the streets, wherever they could peddle innate talent where it would be appreciated.
"What a forsaken future awaited them in the past." Amberlyn sighed. "So that is what you saw happening for yourself?"
Grifton glanced at them. "Yes, if nothing had changed when it did, I was well on my way to winding up on the streets." He shrugged, unwilling to spin lies about his bleak prospects.
Granted, he now had a somewhat better future for him, but Grifton wasn't entirely sure how things would go. Therefore, he was going to reserve his opinion about this situation until he saw what shook him.
"Hmm, we're going to be doing magical combat now." Calico watched in bemusement. "No pairings, just straight one versus one duels?" He grimaced. "It doesn't consider that many are only support and very basic at that."
Grifton shrugged. "If that hasn't changed, then we may well witness fatalities." This was a gruesome prospect but not shocking to him at all. He'd watched this happen far too many times already. Well, I suppose we should see who we're up against."
His cousins nodded and headed to the posting of the newly adjusted ranks and the individuals being sectioned off. They observed the lists with scowls on their faces.
Calico was displeased. "Unbelievable, so we're still stuck going against the other residents of the Orphanage."
Marlayne nodded. "It seems there are more than anyone else right now." She seemed surprised.
"Maybe this is a way to weed out those who might suffer worse defeats later against the other institutes." Amberlyn was sizing up the competition. "Over fifty percent of the other institutes' competitors were already eliminated." She looked rather shocked.
"Yep, that stands to reason." Grifton wasn't too surprised to see who he was facing off. "Oh, just my luck." He was going against Dennison, that pasty-faced bastard who always picked on him. Well, Grifton wasn't going to be disadvantaged this time.
"This won't be like in the past, right?" Amberlyn's reminder made Grifton nod.
"That's right. This time, I have an advantage I didn't possess before." While he could enunciate clearly and gesture properly, Grifton was still a bit slow when speaking. "I'll just take my time so that I don't freeze when someone goes against me, which I've faced in the past." He refused to go down in humiliation as he had in the past.
All four headed to their assigned duel grounds. This time, the arena had raised platforms. Grifton looked around his location. It wasn't the most ideal of locations, he noticed. It was the smallest of twenty-four that were placed all around the inner portion of the arena. Would this competition really last all seven days in this area? He found that rather dubious, to say the least.
"So, you're finally showing your face to all of us, huh?" Dennison sneered as he shoved greasy blond dreadlocks from his pale, watery green eyes. "You're just wasting your time, scum." He had a pasty complexion that also had acne scars all over it from constantly picking at them.
Wow, nothing about his trash personality had changed from the last time they had a confrontation. If anything, it worsened with the altered rankings. Grifton sighed as he tuned out the kid's bitching at him.
"I don't know how you cheated earlier, but I will permanently damage you no matter what I have to do." Dennison clearly felt insulted that he had to stand there across from Grifton. "You're a waste of flesh and bones and should've been feeding the worms by now."
Sour grapes, much? Grifton yawned as he waited for everyone else to get into positions on their platforms. He wasn't bothering to respond to Dennison because getting defensive wasn't worth the effort.
Dennison scowled as he stared at Grifton. "I hope you don't think you'll win this." He was taller than Grifton by a good two feet and was beefy, already turning to fat.
People thought this type of creep was handsome? In a rich, pathetic bully type of scenario, Grifton supposed. "Whatever," He watched the operator from a corner of his eye. He already had an idea of what to do about Dennison's quirks. It stood to reason that he might change his usual approach by altering the rules. However, Grifton was taking a wait-and-see viewpoint in this case. He didn't want Dennison getting a grappling hold on him, which would also break his ribs and other bones.