“Alright, now please come with me, I’ll be the one who handles the first test,” said Nelcauf.

“Good luck,” said Telia.

Cain nodded in answer. “Could you take care of Beil while I’m doing the Trial?”

“Your otter? Sure,” Telia smiled.

“Thanks!” Cain then walked with Rugo and Nelcauf.

They went into a small room, the room had four tables with chairs, lined perfectly in a row. A large cupboard stood in front of the tables.

“Sit wherever you want,” said Nelcauf. “Does this remind you about school or academy?”

“Uhh… sorry, I didn't go to academy,” responded Cain.

“Neither do I, no such thing as school in my people,” said Rugo.

“Ho? Okay,” said Nelcauf, he smiled while nodding a couple of times.

Cain sat down in the right corner and Rugo sat in the left corner. Nelcauf took out a thick and big book from the cupboard. He handed a magical quill pen and a piece of paper to each of them.

“In this written test, I will read the questions, and you can write the answer on your respective paper. There are one hundred questions with five subjects, one subject for each twenty questions,” Nelcauf opened the book while standing in front of them.

“The subjects are; basic knowledge, survival knowledge, terrain knowledge, beast knowledge, and the last, leadership and tactic method. No cheating, and one glance to other’s paper will make you fail the first test. Any question?”

“No,” said Rugo.

Cain shook his head slowly.

“Alright, let’s begin,” Nelcauf started giving them the questions.

...

After an hour, Cain, Rugo and Nelcauf finally came out from the room.

“Memeip!” greeted Beil from the administration desk.

“Are you done!?” said Telia in surprise.

“Yeah, they’re done,” responded Nelcauf.

“That was fast!” said Telia with frowned brows.

“That was easy,” Rugo laughed.

They became the center of attention there. The Hunters looked at them curiously.

“Do you need to rest before the second test?” asked Nelcauf to Cain and Rugo.

“I’m good to go,” replied Cain.

“Me too, though my throat is a bit dry,” said Rugo.

“Ah, here,” Telia took out two cups of tea from behind the desk. “On the house,” she said.

“Thanks!” said Rugo, he one gulped the tea.

“Where are Mr. and Mrs. Rive?” asked Nelcauf to Telia.

Cain also drank the tea.

“They already went to the beach, preparing the second test,” answered Telia.

“I see,” said Nelcauf.

“Let me take care of the papers, you should take them to the beach,” said Telia.

“Hmm… alright,” Nelcauf handed Telia the papers. “Now, come with me, gentlemen.”

“Meip?” cried Beil.

“Stay here, I won’t be long,” said Cain to Beil.

They went to the beach by riding Guild’s carriage that Telia had prepared, Nelcauf took the reins as the coachman.

“Cain, do you know how strong Mercury Titanoboa is?” asked Rugo in the carriage.

“Hmm… pretty strong, it’s a rare beast with enormous size, solid scales, thick and tough muscle. It has holes around its body that constantly spouting mercury cloud. Also, it’s pointless to hurt its eyes because Mercury Titanoboa can regenerate its eyes instantly.” answered Cain.

“Hoo… interesting,” responded Rugo.

“Yeah, wouldn’t mind seeing one,” said Cain.

“You described Mercury Titanoboa’s strength very well, Cain,” said Nelcauf, “though if you see one, run away as fast as you can, it’s a dangerous beast.”

“Don’t worry, I’m about to face that dangerous beast’s slayers, I’m not planning to lose,” responded Cain confidently.

“That’s what I’m thinking too, Cain! Hahah!” Rugo laughed.

“Confidence, huh? It’s a good trait,” Nelcauf smiled warmly.

They arrived at the beach and continued on foot on the sandy beach, they went to a quiet area. After passing a huge rock formation, they arrived at a sightly cove.

“What a view!” said Rugo enthusiastically.

“Welcome to the Fallenking Cove!” shouted Daen. He stood in the middle of the cove with Halni. They wore decorated steel armor. Daen had a sword hanging on his waist with a round shield on his left arm. Halni had a whip on her waist.

No one else was there beside them. Cain, Rugo and Nelcauf walked towards Daen and Halni.

“There is a history about this place,” said Daen, “once, there was a king who was weak, in mind and body, he was controlled by his aide. He came to this cove alone to practice and meditate to the sound of the waves. It bore fruit, his training and meditation. He surprised the nobles in the kingdom. His martial arts rose unmatched, his calmness made him solve his kingdom problems with ease. Fearing his control would be unshackled, his aide invited the king to this cove at night, something to see he said. Here, the aide ambushed him with dozens of assassins. When the sun rose, only the king stood at this cove among the bodies of the assassins. But he suffered a fatal injury, he knew he couldn't make it back, then he accepted his fate to die slowly here, while watching the waves.”

“Then?” asked Rugo.

“Nothing, his kingdom is long gone,” said Daen while smiling.

“Enough with the story, honey,” said Halni, “We’ll do the second test here, are you ready?”

“Ready,” said Rugo.

“Me too, but who’s fighting who?” said Cain.

“We’ll choose it by flipping a coin,” said Daen. He took out a coin and gave it to Cain.

“This looks old,” said Cain when he inspected the coin.

The coin has a side with three layers of waves crashing against a rock, and the otherside was a flying eagle.

“Before you flip it, if you get the waves, you’ll fight me,” said Daen, “but if it’s the opposite, you’ll fight my wife.”

“Alright,” responded Cain.

“And whatever you get, Rugo will get the other side, is that clear?” asked Daen.

Cain nodded in answer.

“Flip it then,” said Rugo, he seemed eager to find out who was going to fight him.

Cain flipped the coin to the air and caught it with the back of his left hand when it fell. He got eagle side.

“Good, we are set, let’s begin!” said Rugo.

“Telia told you about the second test in detail?” asked Nelcauf to Cain and Rugo.

“Yeah, our lives is on the line, right?” responded Rugo.

“Correct, you can try to make them surrender or survive for ten minutes, the outcome depends on which method you complete this test. You can also quit in the middle of the test and failed the Gemstone Trial, understand?” said Nelcauf.

“Understood,” said Cain, he gave the coin back to Daen.

“Now, please get a space among yourselves, and don’t forget stray attack may interrupt other fighting group. If you die by it, then your awareness to your surrounding is questionable, keep focus on your foe, but never forget about your surrounding. Don’t forget not to interrupt your neighbor’s battle, you’ll fail the test if you do that,” said Nelcauf. “I will be the observer in this second test, I will not interfere in any kind of situation until the battle is over unless there's an outside force that meddles the battle.”

Cain went to the west side of the cove with Halni. Rugo and Daen went to the east side.

“I will use my utmost ability to test you in this Trial, so never blame me if you die, Cain,” said Halni.

“Thanks, I will do my best too,” replied Cain.

“By the way, you don't bring any weapon with you?” she asked.

“No, I’ll use my fist,” Cain cracked his fingers.

On the east side, Rugo and Daen stared each other.

“Good, I got you as my opponent, I feel you’re stronger than your wife,” said Rugo to Daen.

“Not really, my wife is the half reason we beat the Mercury Titanoboa, you can say we’re equally strong,” replied Daen.

“Is that so? Heh, nevermind that, I’ll get that Topaz rank today,” Rugo took out his crossbow and one of his khukris.

“I like your spirit, moasrahn!” Daen grinned. He unsheathed his sword and readied his shield.

“Okay! You may begin now!” shouted Nelcauf.

In an instant, Daen dashed forward with his sword pointing at Rugo. Rugo wanted to jump, but his anticipation was delayed because his feet were slowed down by the sand. Calmly, Rugo parried the thrust with his khukri.

“Not bad! You survived the first second!” said Daen.

“Huh, I’ll finish this before the time is up!” Rugo grinned. Their weapons clashed with each other.

“They have begun, what about us?” asked Cain.

Halni just smiled at Cain.

“!!!”

Cain dodged an explosion from where he stood. It wasn't an ordinary explosion, but a blob of green liquid explosion.

“Poison!?” Cain regained his stance.

“Oh? You catch on quick, it’s a great trait for a Hunter,” praised Halni.

“Poison arts and fire magic, huh?” Cain took a stance and smiled a little.

“My poison is quite potent, be careful, Cain,” Halni smiled.

“Thanks for the warning!” Cain dashed towards Halni.

“Trying to get close? No, you won’t!” Halni bombarded him with rapid explosion of poison.

Cain carefully avoided the explosion. “(Damn! It’s hard to get close! Her poison arts control is amazing!)” he thought.

“Poison arts? Interesting,” said Rugo when he glanced at Cain.

“She’s the best!” shouted Daen.

Rugo and Daen traded slash and blow, Rugo used his both khukris this time.

Rugo took a step backwards. “This is fun!” he said, “your swordsmanship is good, shame we only have 10 minutes to fight!”

“Then, show me how strong moasrahn really is!” Daen grinned.

“You asked for it!” replied Rugo with a roar. He threw his weapons, and pulled out his claws. “Thoars ha Jugrav!”

“Hoo? He took his claws out,” said Cain while dodging poison bolts from Halni.

Halni looked at Cain sharply. “(He’s been dodging my poison for two minutes, but i see no signs of fatigue!)” she thought.

She took out her whip and stopped her attack.

“Let’s see if you can keep dodging!” said Halni. She used her whip to attack Cain.

Cain dodged the whip, while closing in towards Halni.

“!!!”

Cain suddenly stepped backwards as jaws of fire erupted from the sand.

“Trap!? When did you put that?” asked Cain in surprise.

“If you’re wondering, no, I didn't put it before you come here,” Halni smiled.

“(She casted that magic trap when she was attacking me!? I didn’t even see her casted it! As expected of high ranking Hunter, I still need a lot to learn!)” thought Cain.

On the east side, Rugo dominated over Daen. His movement and strength were clearly above Daen.

“So, you are stronger when you’re not using your weapons, huh?” said Daen while parrying Rugo’s attack.

“My claws are weapon too!” Rugo spun and kicked Daen. Daen parried the kick with his shield. But he was sent backwards. Rugo leaped towards him while rolling in the air.

“Rraaaaghh!” Rugo swung down his right hand. His sharp claws met Daen’s shield.

“Ugh!?” Daen survived the attack, but Rugo ripped apart his shield, fortunately Rugo‘s claws did not touch Daen’s forearm.

Rugo’s attack did not end there, he spun and struck Daen with his elbow, clean to the chest. Daen was thrown and hit the sand.

“What!? No way! He made Daen fall to the ground!?” said Nelcauf in shock. “Don’t tell me that side too!?” he sharply traveled his eyes at Cain’s fight.

“Is that all you can do, Cain? Just dodging all my attacks?” shouted Halni.

“(It’s not that I can only dodge, but you really have no opening!)” thought Cain.

“Let’s end this!” Halni raised her left hand, dozens of poison bolts as big as a wine bottle formed around her. With a flick of her wrist, the poison bolts flew towards Cain.

Cain calmly moved his hands, he covered himself with curved stone walls. The poison bolts, being a liquid, had no match against his solid wall of stones. All the poison bolts were neutralized by the walls.

“Magic!?” Halni was surprised.

As Cain spread his hands, the stone walls moved, following his hands movement. He came out from the cover of stone walls. But as soon as he stepped out, Halni’s whip made its way to him.

Cain reacted by putting up his right hand. The whip caught his hand.

“So, you can use magic, huh?” said Halni, “earth magic… your control seems good.”

Cain smiled. “Thanks!” His hand was still on the grip of Halni’s whip.

“Too bad, should’ve used that sooner,” Halni smiled. “Because by the time I say this, the poison on my whip is already spreading on your forearm. In about five seconds, you’ll no longer be able to use your right arm, and it’ll continue to spread throughout your body.”

“…”

“But, don’t worry, you can surrender now and I will give you the antidote, shouldn't kill a good talent for the Hunter Guild, should I?”

“…” Cain just looked at her with a flat expression.

“Hmm…” Halni yanked her whip, trying to get a response. But her expression changed when she couldn't pull her whip. She expected Cain had lost control over his right arm because of the poison.

“Yeah, I’m not worried… and,” Cain took a stance as if he wanted to throw something. His left hand gripped the air, tighter and tighter. “You’re wide open!” shouted Cain. He threw a straight palm strike with his fingers bent touching the top of his palm. He threw the strike to Halni’s direction.

The sand was blown away as the invisible energy wave coming straight at Halni.

Halni calmly casted a fiery fire ball, she threw the ball straight.

The fire ball was blown away, it turned into a blazing flame before the energy swept it away.

“!!!” Halni’s eyes couldn’t believe it, she threw the whip away and crossed her arms to defend against it.

The energy wave hit so hard it threw Halni away. She bounced several times on the sand before her face kissed the sand.

Nelcauf’s mouth was wide open. “He… he threw her that far!?”

“Oh my Goddess!?” said Telia.

“Telia!? Why are you here!?” asked Nelcauf in confusion. He did not realize Tela appeared behind him because he was too shocked seeing the participants of the Gemstone Trial cornered The Slayers of Mercury Titanoboa.

“I- I was curious about them, but I didn't think they’re this strong!?” answered Telia. “Oh yeah! Look at these, Sir!” Telia handed Nelcauf two pieces of paper.

“What are these?”

“I checked their answers from the first test on my way here, and this is extraordinary, Sir! Both of them got a perfect score!”

“What!?”

“Not only that, Sir! They also added something we know nothing about on some of the answers, look here,” said Telia enthusiastically.

On Cain’s paper, there was an answer about ‘how to deal with Ferus Mosquito in winter?’

Cain answer was correct, that mosquito hibernated when winter came, so did not have to deal with it. But he wrote another sentence, ‘in summer, bring oranges, orange peels help repel mosquito’.

“Orange peels!? Realy??” said Nelcauf.

“Here,” said Telia, she pointed at Rugo’s paper.

“Number fifteen? Hmm… I believe the question was which parts of banana trees have uses? There are four parts as far as I know, the blossom, the fruits, the leaves and the stem… wait, the sap and the root can be used!?” said Nelcauf, “the root for helping with toothaches, and the sap to help stop bleeding!?” he was baffled

“We… We have to confirm all of these when we get back!” continued Nelcauf, “but first, we have to see these battles through the end.”

“What!?” Daen glanced at Halni, “he’s that strong!?”

“Oi, human, I know you worry about your wife, but you shouldn’t take your eyes off me,” said Rugo.

“Ah-hahaha, you’re right! Sorry, sorry,” Daen removed his dented upper armor. The armor tumbled on the sand. He also threw away his sword.

He revealed a muscular body with blue rolling waves tattoos all over his body.

On Cain’s side, Halni stood up while wiping her face. “Guh… you’re immune to my poison? Impossible… my poison is special, self taught concoction, it’s called Narvimurdja, only I know the treatment towards its immunity. And yet your body resisted my poison, could it be… absolute poison immunity!?”

Cain smiled. “Sort of,” he said.

“Young, strong, and strike hard when you find opponent’s gap. You have what it takes to become a great Hunter one day, Cain,” said Halni. “Interesting, I never thought I would use her to test you.”

A giant bird formed from thin air above Halni. Its six massive wings were burning, everytime it flapped its wings, drops of red poison fell to the sand. A sizzling sound was heard with evaporated smoke when the drops touched the sand.

The bird screeched while spreading its wings.

“Amazing! It’s Mordax Eagle!” said Cain.

“You know about my Spirit Beast? Knowledgeable too, huh?” said Halni in surprise.

Mordax Eagle was a very rare beast, a poisonous beast with a fiery flame burning on its wings. It was very aggressive and strong beast, it took four to six groups of seasoned Hunter to kill one.

“(She made that strong beast as her Spirit Beast, huh? And if I’m not mistaken, Mordax Eagle uses corrosive poison, too bad I’m not immune to corrosive type poison... and its body has high fire resistance,)” thought Cain.

“Heh, my wife is getting serious,” said Daen.

“You should too,” Rugo grinned.

Daen smiled, he clenched his fists and took a stance. His tattoos began to glow.

“Do you know what the king’s name from my story earlier is?” asked Daen. “It’s Vegaros Rive.”

“Hmm?” the king’s last name piqued Rugo’s interest.

“Yeah, he’s my ancestor,” said Daen, “and the coin, it based on the history of his kingdom, the wave side is from my ancestor’s martial arts, Raging Waves technique.”

“And the eagle side, it was from the traitorous aide, my ancestor,” said Halni to Cain. “My family has a tradition to always have Mordax Eagle as our Spirit Beasts.”

“Pretty funny isn’t it,” said Daen, “even our ancestors were enemy once, but here we are, as husband and wife.”

“Well, nothing is impossible,” responded Rugo. “So, your family is the ruler of this land?”

“Nah, as I said, that kingdom is long gone,” said Daen.

“Oops, I forgot,” said Rugo, “and I sense a constant and powerful energy coming out from you, is that your ancestor’s technique?”

“Yes, never crossed in my mind you’d corner me this far.”

“Great, more challenges mean more accomplishments I will get!” shouted Rugo.

He raised his right hand and pulled a red light that appeared above his palm. The sand was blown away because of the shockwave. He activated the Reaver magic.

“(What is that energy flow!? I’ve never seen something like that!)” thought Daen.

“That moasrahn! He’s using more energy than before!” Cain grinned at Rugo, he looked excited.

“Moasrahn is fascinating, isn't it?” said Halni, “I’m sure my husband can handle him.”

“Hmm… the time's almost up.” said Cain while taking off his coat and left glove. “Alright, y’all won’t be the only one who shows off your power!”

With a blazing blue flame, Azure Bone Gauntlet appeared from Cain’s left arm.

“Let see how strong that Mordax Eagle is!” Cain rushed towards Halni.

“Come, Daen! I have Topaz rank to get!” shouted Rugo.