Chapter 79: Conan Vs A Hound
It didn’t take long for Conan to encounter his first obstacle of the test,
A beast.
The beast looked similar to a hound, but larger. The beast had glowing orange lines flowing through its entire body, it’s eyes were burning red and even it’s canines looked like crystals filled with lava.
The hound started growling the moment a target stopped just ahead of him.
Conan’s eyes immediately started glowing as he spotted the creature, and an interface appeared beside it.
{Scan successful, displaying target’s parameters.}
{Name: Lavafang Hound
Rank: C+
Mana Type: Fire
Threat Level: Low]
He looked at the interface before nodding, if the beast was only a C rank, then this shouldn’t take too long.
"Activate Ice Module," he commanded and another interface immediately popped up before him.
{Ice Module successfully activated.}
With the interface, came a change in Conan’s appearance.
The first was his hair that turned completely white from their previous brown, and then his eyes followed suit.
They suddenly became blue, instead of brown.
But the biggest change was the aura he released.
It was as if his mana had changed from an electrically charged one to a cold one.... which it had.
This was Alvíss’s greatest project, something that Project Apotheosis had attempted but failed even with the sheer amount of genius researchers they had.
They had been completely out done by a single mad genius, and that too without any unnecessary sacrifice.
But unlike the researchers of Project Apotheosis, Alvíss wasn’t the least bit interested in keeping his experimental subject human.
So maybe the reason why Project Apotheosis failed was because the researchs truly weren’t insane enough.
Anyway, Conan, though he looked like one, had ceased to be human from the moment he died first in Alvíss’s lab.
He was now similar to what was known as a cyborg on Earth, but at the same time not.
Alvíss had managed to create what he called the Nexus core, a core capable of holding all the attributes of mana without collapsing under the strain of conflicting attributes.
Something that, by all known laws of mana theory, should have been impossible.
And yet, the mad genius had managed to achieve it in just a week, by studying a mutating core.
The core didn’t just allow Conan to use an element without a spirit, it also allowed him to use all elements registered within it.
The only downside was the fact that he had to switch between modules to use abilities from each element.
But Alvíss didn’t mind at all, after all, this was only version 1.0, and he was certain that the upgrade might fix that issue and a couple others.
"Alright then, you overgrown puppy," Conan said as he looked at the hound, "come at me."
As if understanding his words, the hound immediately launched itself towards him, leaving a trail of lava behind.
But Conan made no attempt to move out of its way, instead, the moment the hound was within range, he lifted his hand and muttered.
[Ice Spear.]
A spear made entirely of ice immediately formed in his hand and he soon hurled it towards the approaching beast.
The hound watched the spear get closer by the second yet, it could not avoid it, after all, it was still mid lunge.
Fortunately for it, Conan’s throw was a bit off course, so the ice spear only pierced through its shoulder.
But the force of the impact knocked the hound off trajectory and sent it crashing violently into the ground a few meters away.
It let out a pained whimper as a layer of ice appeared where the spear hit, completely sealing the lavafang hound’s wound.
"I guess I still have to work on my aim," Conan muttered, he was aiming for the head instead.
The hound slowly stood back up, this time, looking at the prey with caution as it started limping around him.
GRRRRR!
The hound let out a threatening growl, baring its fangs at Conan as the lines on its body started glowing even brighter.
The ground beneath its feet suddenly started glowing red, becoming molten rock, but the hound didn’t seem affected by it.
The next second, it dashed forward again.
But this time it didn’t go straight for him, instead, it veered slightly to the side, and its claws dug into the now molten ground as it kicked up molten debris, trying to obscure his vision.
"Oh?" Conan’s eyes lit up slightly as he dodged to the side and the debris just passed by him, "you’ve got a bit of fight in you after all."
He curiously waited to see what the hound would do next, and he wasn’t disappointed.
The beast let out smoke from its mouth, still keeping its eyes on him, in case he made any sudden movements.
It only took a few seconds, but soon enough, the entire forest around them was covered in smoke, completely obscuring his vision.
"So that’s your plan," Conan muttered as he tried looking through the smoke, but even with his upgraded vision, he couldn’t see much through the smoke, "smart."
The next second, a glowing object object suddenly suddenly approached him at high speed, forcing him to dodge to the side.
But he realized too late that it was a trap, and a moment after, the hound burst through the smoke, its maw wide open and aimed at his head.
It was the perfect ambush, one that would’ve definitely caught most other candidates off guard.
Unfortunately for the hound, it was facing Conan.
Snap!
The creature’s jaw clamped shut, but Conan quickly moved out the way, narrowly escaping his head becoming the overgrown dog’s food.
"Let’s end this quickly," he muttered before lifting his hand again, but this time, instead of pointing it towards the hound, he lifted it to the sky.
The hound quickly recovered from its missed attack and the turned towards Conan again, cautiously looking at his lifted hand.
A single shard of ice left his palm and flew into the sky, and the Beast crouched low, waiting for the attack to come.
But after a few seconds of nothing happening, the hound pounced, its maw wide open and aimed at Conan’s head again.
But the moment it was close enough, Conan smiled and muttered, "[Ice Rain]."
The next second, shards of ice started raining from above,and although they started as small ones, they got bigger as the seconds passed.
All aimed towards the hound that was still mid lunge. It twisted its body mid-air, abandoning the attack entirely as it tried to retreat, but it was too late.
Shk! Shk! Shk!
Multiple ice shards rained down at it, creating more and more cuts on its body, forcing it back to the ground.
The beast let out a sharp, pained howl as its movements growing sluggish under the relentless barrage.
But said barrage was far from over.
A large spike of ice rained down from above, quickly impaling the hound that was too sluggish and injured to move.
The glow on the hound continued to get brighter, as some of the ice started melting, but it was all for naught.
The shard just kept raining down on it, and the large one that impaled it didn’t seem to be melting anytime soon.
Conan looked at the struggling beast for a while before commanding, [Ice Spike].
The spike piercing the hound suddenly started growing what seemed to be branches before exiting the hound’s body.
The moment that happened, the beast immediately stopped struggling and the orange glow around it slowly faded.
[Ding!]
The moment the life slipped completely out of the hound the small circular device meant to track their points suddenly let out a ding.
Conan glanced down at the small circular device in his hand as a faint screen projected out of it.
{Points Awarded: +30}
The screen then switched, displaying a new stat.
{Current Score: 30}
"Hmm," he let out as he looked at the score, wondering, "is this a good start?"
His goal was to show Adrian that he had gotten stronger and to do that, he definitely needed to out do every other candidate.
Besides, he had been informed that Isla might also be attending the academy, and in the highest class too.
So to ensure that he also ended up in the same class, he’d have to exceed expectations.
The projection disappeared soon after, leaving Conan alone with the quiet forest once more.
Well, quiet aside from the soft dripping sound of his melting ice.
"Let’s continue," he muttered as he looked up at the sky, getting a sense that something or someone was looking directly at him.
But his scanner couldn’t reach that far.
With a sigh, he picked a direction, but before he could move, he suddenly stopped and looked in a different direction.
"If you’re planning to ambush me," he said, as he put both his hands in his pocket, "you might want to work on canceling your mana better."
For a few seconds, it seemed as if he was talking to himself, but the next, someone stepped out from behind a tree.
"I guess I was just being sloppy," the newly arrived candidate said with a chuckle.
"What do you want?" Conan asked.
"Straight to the point I see," the student said, "what I want I quite simple,"
He then lifted his hand and pointed towards the circular magic tool in Conan’s hand before adding,
"Your magic tool, surrender it."