Walking deeper in the forest, Bruce yawned with little to no caution. They've been walking for a while now...
In an effort to search for other teams, their leader proposed to run along wherever in hopes to find another team.
And everyone, surrendering to her plans, agreed without much of a thought. It was better than doing nothing at least.
Maybe it was the awkward silence, murky atmosphere, or fog, but Bruce felt extra sleepy with all of those conditions combined.
'... Doing nothing was better.'
Searching for other teams without some sort of strategy was obviously going to result in failure. He wondered why they even tried.
"I have a feeling we're close to them!"
Natasha and the others were unfazed by the failure and continued searching for traces of other teams determinedly.
Bruce almost stumbled.
Whether it was their optimism or copious amount of energy, he didn't quite share the same mood as them...
He grumbled. He shouldn't have rushed to master the skills overnight, now he was getting sleepy from a ten minute walk.
'... Forget it. The second shift, or the second fifteenth-minute mark should be around the corner by now.'
His only solace was that the second shift was starting soon. That meant they could finally have a substantial lead on where the other teams are...
'I hope the next team can sate my boredom, unlike Team 4 and 9.'
He wanted to test some things that he developed in his spare time.
Their clueless wandering wasn't entirely useless to him. While there was nothing to do, he played with his skills and technique.
He developed a few more methods for Martial Void and tinkered with some uses for Transcendent Mind.
Suffice to say, with Top-level Comprehension, it was as simple as doing elementary-level arithmetic.
'This ability is really OP... Perhaps this is the Cipher's way of compensating me for cruelly taking away those god-level gifts from the start.'
The more he uses Top-level Comprehension, the more he wants to master it as soon as possible.
But it was impossible.
Bruce shook his head. The condition was to make an evolutionary pathway from scratch... he lacked knowledge in that area.
He had to wait for a few more days, when the assessment arrives.
Only then can he try to master the skill.
While walking, he didn't forget to spread out his "sensor" for life force. Its range was awfully short but it was better than nothing.
Besides that, he was still thinking about his two remaining hidden skills. It was definitely not a sword related one, that was for sure.
Before Mikhail's team departed, he held the Flurry Sword and tried a few strokes with it but didn't unlock any sort of skill.
Along the way, he also tried it with Penguin's Bow and Arrow, Natasha's Black Scythe, and even the Grimoire.
... All of which ended in failures.
Bruce shrugged. It was unlikely he had a weapon type skill or talent, and even if he did, it was unlikely to be a conventional weapon.
"Let's stop. The fifteen minute mark is coming."
Natasha suddenly spoke, causing all of them to halt their steps.
Finally...
Bruce sighed in relief and glanced at Natasha quietly. He turned his gaze to the watch on his wrist, watching the clockhand tick and tock.
Like a lullaby, the clockhand's rotation rhythmically sounded...
Tick!
Tock...
Tick...
After a few minutes, the clockhand stopped at the fifteen minute mark.
Woosh!
Natasha immediately took out the map, and let everyone gather around in a circle. She put the map forward.
There were a lot of blue dots across the map, moving forward continously. Some went deeper while others seemingly stopped.
What that entailed, they weren't sure. They just focused on the area near them and tried finding for the nearest Hider team.
Bruce couldn't help but note that the amount of blue dots increased from one last time, and one of the blue dots shone brighter than the... others?
That's exactly right.
"Is it just me or is this one shining very bright?"
Penguin frowned, pointing at one particular blue dot. His eyes widened in surprise upon realizing something.
"This blue dot, wait, no... It's getting closer to us? It's targeting us!"
"Prepare your weapons, Penguin, Noah, and Bruce go to your positions. We haven't attempted a team formation yet, but we discussed it at least!"
Natasha shouted out strongly, commanding the team with determination. She swept her hands to the air and looked at their front.
The team was coming right through their front.
Her mind worked very fast. Considering that this team was chasing after them, then they likely had similar goals...
To rank at the top of the exam!
Although she didn't know why their signal shone brighter than others, she had a strong feeling that the team coming to them was strong.
Taking a deep breath, Natasha swept her gaze across the field. Both Noah and Penguin were at the backrow...
While Bruce stood in front of her, acting nonchalant and casual. A distant cold air surrounded him, but his eyes sparked with a rare trait of interest.
Natasha had always felt that Bruce was tired or didn't care enough, but this time, she felt it was different.
Different enough that it made her intrigued, excited and nervous. Her heart throbbed—gazing at his appearance with admiration—she was nervous.
"I'm counting on you." She murmured, not knowing it reached Bruce's ears. The latter was surprised and gave her a thumbs up.
Soon enough, their long-awaited challengers had arrived. Their arrival had shook the forest around them; causing a scorching hell and a frosty cold.
Something was coming, and they didn't hide their presence either.
Frosty spikes had erupted from the ground, like a thundering boom, causing several trees to fall to the ground pathetically.
Hard, sturdy ice had spread through the ground. It was as cold as the Northernmost climate, and as slippery as the ground ice skaters dance on.
It only took a few seconds—the whole field had turned into a palace of ice—this made everyone's eyes widened in disbelief.
This was more powerful than Maximilian's magic!
No, this wasn't possible by a pre-evolutionary... this was done by an artifact, but which one? The other team didn't give them the opportunity to think.
Scorching flames, as though a blazing hell, erupted around the field. It circled around them menacingly, like a demon's wrought of fury.
Seeing all this, Bruce suddenly smiled. He already had an idea who their challenger is this time... It was someone very interesting.
Soon, the team they were facing finally walked out from their front.
Led by a man with pale, gray hair and a pair of glasses. Hailing from the Gray Clan, Declan Gray carried himself with a quiet, regal esteem.
"It's you, Natasha's teammate..."
His gaze stopped at Bruce first before moving to the others. Whether that meant anything or not was unknown.
"Natasha's team. Interesting. I can let you off the hook, as long as you give me your Blue Cards. I'm warning you... none of you stand a chance."