On the table, there was a light armor, which, according to the officer, was Tier-1. In reality, the armor looked more like a special suit made from beetle skin—completely black and sturdy. Only at the joints was the armor separated by a flexible navy-colored fabric. The armor also covered his legs, sparing Damon from wearing boots.
After putting on the armor and testing its mobility, he realized that despite its thickness of nearly two centimeters, the armor was incredibly light, and he could move freely in it. The armor also had heating and cooling systems, with the option of administering painkillers in critical situations.
"For a Tier-1 armor, which we don't know much about their rankings, it has some pretty good options..."
++ "Exactly... I can connect to it through the Soul-Gate and control the heating and cooling system. It also shows me the armor's resistance percentage. I'd love to know what kind of capabilities a level two or level three armor has..."
Damon stood in front of the wall behind the desk, looking through the weapons, searching for a Tang Dao or a Chinese saber. The wall was covered with weapons, and there were only about ten different types of swords.
Eventually, Damon managed to find a Tang Dao sword, which was the best choice for his Sword technique, and he attached it to his armor. The Tang Dao was designed simply—its blade, hilt, guard, and scabbard were all dark gray. The blade was one meter long, about three fingers wide, and perfectly straight.
Damon quickly placed the other equipment from the table into his backpack. Once fully equipped, he stared for a few seconds at the orange-colored teleporter.
The door marked the boundary between his old life and the exciting, dangerous one awaiting him. Once he stepped into the portal, there would be no turning back. Even the emergency exit button designed for the test participants wouldn't help much, becuase any danger that would threaten Damon's life would take less than thirty minutes to end it.
++ "I know we can do it... We're better than all of them. I'm stronger than their symbiotes, and we have the system, which means every enemy is just another step towards getting stronger..."
++ "...and none of them have a reason to survive and grow stronger like you do... and you have me."
+ "...and you have me."
Damon said this and, with his eyes closed, stepped into the teleporter.
Once again, he felt that sensation as if his body had turned liquid and was spiraling into a vortex. A second later, he found himself deep in a jungle.
As far as the eye could see, everything was green, and the sound of birds filled the air. Even though it was a week past autumn, the weather was incredibly warm. Without Damon saying a word, Asharaa activated the cooling system of his armor, and his body temperature quickly returned to normal
During these five days, Asharaa had stored a vast amount of information in her memory and the Soul-Gate, preparing herself for every possible situation—especially situations like now, when Soul-Gate's access to Galactic-Net was completely disrupted.
Damon, with his right hand ready to draw his sword, began heading east. After about an hour of walking without encountering any danger, Damon's nerves slowly began to calm, and the stress started to fade.
Everything in the jungle seemed normal and natural, at least according to Asharaa's information. Since Damon and, in general, none of the people from Fringe had ever been in a forest. He continued his journey in search of a drinkable water source, and after another hour of walking, everything remained quiet.
By the third hour, Damon came across a small river in the forest that seemed to stretch endlessly after his three-hour walk.
He quickly ran toward the river and began filling his water flask, which had a small screen that showed the water's contamination level and whether it could be purified.
Just as Damon stared impatiently at the flask, waiting for the results on whether the water was drinkable or not...
He heard the sound of a tree branch breaking. Turning toward the noise, he saw a woman with her sword raised, mid-swing, aimed at his head.
At that moment, Damon could only raise his hand and, with all his strength, throw himself backward.
But due to his slow reaction and the time wasted turning around to look at the sound, the tip of the sword cut through his armor and left a wound nearly a centimeter deep on his forearm.
Damon fell into the river, but ignoring the injury to his arm, he rolled back with all his might, distancing himself from the woman and drawing his sword.
The woman smirked.
"You were lucky the first time, human. Don't think that sword is going to help you... We don't have any enmity, but my husband and daughter are waiting for me in Talmeria, so don't think I won't kill you just because you're a kid who hasn't even lived a hundred years yet..."
Now, as Damon looked at her closely, he realized the woman was only human-like, not entirely human. She had large, almond-shaped, golden eyes, pointed ears—not as long as an elf's—and a more beautiful appearance than human standards.
The woman wasn't human. As she had said, she was a Talmerian, one of the enemies of the Empire, known for their expertise in a special type of magic called Lunn. According to what Damon had learned about the other empires during this time, Talmerians were a mix of elf and human blood.
From the records Damon had found with Asharaa's help, about seven thousand years ago, humans and elves had lived together on the planet Talmeria until a third race, a hybrid of human and elf, rose up. After a hundred years of war and the extinction of both the elf and human races, the new Empire was born.
Talmerians were superior to ordinary humans both physically and metaphysically. If it weren't for the symbiotes and the Ka energy available to humans, we would have been extinct at the hands of the Talmerians centuries ago.
Damon didn't respond, his eyes narrowing slightly as he watched the Talmerian woman's every movement, searching for a strategy in his mind.
As he backed away from the river, gripping his sword tighter, Asharaa spoke:
++ "Our only option is to use Herculean strength, Damon. We have to finish her off before our Ka runs out... There's no other way. If what's been recorded about their magic is true, fleeing would only get us killed sooner. Keep her close."
Damon shook his injured hand a few times, and after making sure it was still usable, he waited for the woman, who was moving toward him with impatience. As she crossed the river, the woman ran her palm across the width of her sword's blade and muttered to herself: *Alfero*.
The moment her hand reached the tip of the sword and passed it, the silver blade began to glow red, as though it had just been pulled from a furnace after hours of heating.
"Fu*k… looks like she figured out the weak point of the armor…"
Realizing this, Damon, without activating Herculean strength, quickly leaped forward and delivered a horizontal slash aimed at the woman's side.
The woman, completely calm and unhurried, watched the trajectory of Damon's sword and murmured: *Alvado tera*. Just ten centimeters from her side, Damon's sword came to a stop, as if an invisible hand made of air had grabbed the blade.
Just as Damon's attack was halted by the woman's spell, she swung her sword, now glowing red from the heat, downwards at Damon's head with incredible speed and precision.
Damon stared at the sword as his mind and Asharaa's worked at lightning speed, trying to find a way to either defend or escape...