Proud to be a Sheep
Act II: Chapter 9
So there I was, stepping into training like a new man— like I'd been cast as the next Batman. Moody, mysterious, a tad sweaty, or at least, a man who had recently stolen a magical syringe from his teammate's closet. Yesterday's little adventure helped clear my head, sure, but the real MVP was the Flicker, I was ready to abuse it like a kid with a cheat code. And, well, another helpful cheat code was obviously the syringe.
After Tan left, I did what any resourceful teammate would do: I paid Echo's room a quick, uninvited visit. Turns out he keeps those syringes in his closet, tucked away like they weren't the most powerful items in the house. Seriously, who does that? It's like leaving cookies out for Santa… except Santa's me, and I'm here to raid your magical drugs. Makes you wonder what else he's hiding in there.
Using Ayson's blood, I first drew using the properties of a wolf's skin to create a silver cloak. I then tried adding the Aswang's ability to turn invisible to the cloak, hoping for it to work.
I tried testing to see if I could add properties and abilities to the materials and drawings I made. If not, I'd have to activate the invisible properties of the Aswang as I drew, just like what I did to escape the bartender. This meant I'd have to draw blind, like drawing with a white-inked pen on a white sheet of paper…
Turns out, I could do both—make items invisible as I drew them or slap invisibility on after. Cool, right? Except it drained my mana faster than I drain my patience for small talk. I needed to figure out a way to make it work without ending up passed out mid-fight.
Thank God, I thought. It wasn't gonna take that long, so whatever little amount of mana I have should be enough. I sneaked into Echo's room that night, went through his window, and took some of the syringes. Once I got back to my room, I immediately injected myself with one like a junkie, and went to sleep, letting the syringe hit and do its thing.
I only took what seemed like 10 mL. The last time I willingly took the syringe, it was for my "Ayson expedition," I emptied it whole, injecting 30 mL into my arm. It took a while for the effects to hit, but once it did, it lasted from the afternoon I took it til' past midnight. Then I woke up depressed as fuck.
I remember the time in the truck, when the syringe hit directly into my nape. It immediately took effect. Maybe I should give it a shot, I thought. Thanks to my depressed state, pointing a needle at my throat was an easy feat. Stabbing it in, however, was completely a different matter. I've always been afraid of hurting myself, I could never do it, no matter how horrible I felt. I didn't know if I should be glad that I wouldn't allow myself to hurt myself, or disappointed I'd prefer to stay in a miserable situation.
You fucking selfish coward… You almost killed a man, you bastard, c'mon!
I closed my eyes, stopped thinking, and after what felt like an eternity of inner pep talks, I chickened out and jabbed it into my forearm instead. Success? Kinda. I just quickly swung my arm, stabbing my forearm. I couldn't do it. If only someone else would do it for me— or something… An idea popped into my head, but I saved it for later. It's fine, I told myself. I don't need the syringe to have its effects hit immediately right now, though having the ability to do it would be nice.
"You're doing good. Keep your focus on the item, then use the sensation you feel right now, and pull." Tan's been going out of his way to coach me on how to use Flicker properly. He had me working on mastering Flicker like my life depended on it. Spoiler: it kind of did.
Apparently, out of everyone in the squad, only Tan and Donald are able to use Flicker in a way that could not only teleport the wielder but also teleport an item to the wielder. That was why, during the raid tragedy against Tago, it was the two of them who held the stones. It was for retreat.
While in control of Flicker, or any spell stone for that matter, I should think of them as tools with a limited amount of battery. The battery being mana, and for other specific spells, sometimes other materials are needed to cast the spell. Flicker only requires mana, thankfully, but if I were to use something like Blood Oath, a spell that binds promises, both mana and a drop of the caster's blood would be needed in order to cast it.
Also, I'm currently focusing training on teleporting objects to me rather than teleporting myself somewhere. " My weapon's basically a glorified 3D pen, and without ink, I'm about as intimidating as a toddler with crayons. I need to be able to teleport ink to refill my pen as I fight." They all agreed, so they set a schedule for my training for the remaining 4 days, 3 if I don't include today. I created a battle plan, which I'm worried they might find morally or ethically unhealthy. I wouldn't disagree with them, but I want to win.
Combat training in the morning with Echo and Ember, and Flicker training in the afternoon with Tan. At night, they told me to rest, but I ignored that last part. Rest? Never heard of it. I spent my nights training in secret—drawing, brooding, and teleporting anything that wasn't bolted down. I'd rather train whatever I could, maybe even planning out a strategy. Speaking of strategy, I tested the waters of how fucked up they allowed me to be.
"Is it okay if I, like, stab my pen into someone and use their blood as ink? Saves me the trouble of self-harm." …Silence. A long, heavy silence. I was about to ask them about utilizing specific monsters' blood… But with how silent they are, I took a hint and didn't go through with it. I guess they didn't know what to say, until Tan, ever the diplomat, answered,
"Depends. Monsters we find outside while hunting are fine. But these are people, Etsuko. If they're civil, don't, but if they're from outside the city acting as beasts and are after your life, then sure. But kid, this is just an exam. There's no need to go out hunting, especially when the exam is just a few days away."
"Also, keep in mind, if you suck up too much blood from your target, you could kill them," Echo added.
"I get it. But let's keep the Dracula vibes to a minimum, yeah? I think there's no need for it. Besides, with how your training's going, you'd be able to beat any of them without a problem. You have the talent for it!" Ember finished. Wasn't she the one who was against me trying in the first place? Is she lying? Trying to cheer me up or fire me up?
Message received: no stabbing classmates. Noted. You guys wouldn't have let me do what I've done, would you? I fucked up. Big time. It's a good thing I didn't tell them shit. I only kept it a secret at first because of how morally upright Echo seemed, but I guess all of them are like that. What good people they are, but that comes with its own hindrances.
The final day of training arrived, and I no longer had to rely on Yellow Syringe to feel better. Shit felt too addicting. I had to stop. I told myself I wasn't going to take it unless I really needed to.
"Squads are ranked as follows in descending order!" Ember explained.
S > A > B > C > E > D > F. With F being the lowest, and S being the highest. The exam is done through a round-robin format. Each participant competes against every other participant, and the overall ranking is determined by the total points or wins accumulated throughout the tournament. It'll last until everyone's gotten to fight everyone. Each contestant will only be allowed to bring their artifact (if they have one), and pick one weapon given by the armory.
Those who lose the most will only be able to join squads that are ranked F and D, while those who win the most will be able to join squads that rank A and S. Tan's squad is ranked A; it was S before but with their recent defeat, they deranked. Apparently, it would've been worse if it wasn't for me.
"The squad leaders will also be like judges!" Ember added.
"Ah, right. The squad leaders will all be there preparing to recruit promising newbies, me included." Tan said. "We will evaluate each of you accordingly and pick the most suitable ones for our squad." So I could end up not being in a squad if no one recruits me? They're training me, but are they doing this to get me to join them afterward? I don't think I'm worth that much, this is almost like a scholarship… I couldn't help but overthink, but I think they registered my silence as worry, so Ember tried to comfort me,
"Don't worry. With your skills, you should be able to land in rank A easily."
"Ember's right. We were surprised by how good your reflexes are. The way you dodge reminds me of myself." Echo added.
I gave a light chuckle, feigning embarrassment. "Thanks!" I muttered. Sure, I could dodge punches like Neo in The Matrix, but I'm about as physically strong as a damp noodle. I'm both short and skinny, so I really had no muscle mass or power to count on. A smart twig, though, and that's what mattered. Brains over brawn, baby. I needed to be smart. Not only with the way I fight, but also the way I present myself, the way I speak, the way I move, and the way others perceive me. Speaking of brains, they didn't know about the buckets of extra-special ink I prepped. Let's just say, if things went south, I was ready to fight dirty. Really dirty.
After finishing the final day of training, the squad helped me fill in buckets of blood to teleport into the match. Little do they know, I added a few other inks in there, just for insurance. No one would expect an innocent twig to fight like a dirty dog.