Navigating the expanse of the pond emerged as a more formidable challenge than what Leo had initially anticipated.
Remarkably, only a mere fraction of approximately one in ten candidates, managed to traverse the full length of the pond utilizing their adept footwork, with the others failing spectacularly as they splashed face first into the water.
Even among those who succeeded, none received a score higher than 6-7 by the judges which baffled Leo who could not understand why there were marks being deducted.
In his view, everyone who crossed the pond managed to do it flawlessly as except creating the most minute ripples in the pond water for every step they skipped, they did nothing wrong.
Surprisingly, the most impressive performance to date was achieved by an unassuming assassin, whom Leo could have easily mistaken for a child, employing an unusual technique known as 'Hopping Steps.' as that approach garnered a commendable evaluation of 8 out of 10 from the judges.
It was a technique which was silent for sure. However nothing like the other footworks which focused on agility.
It was a relaxed footwork that could perhaps only work for individuals who had super lightweight bodies as if someone like Leo tried to imitate it, Leo was sure that he would end up in the pond.
As Leo observed each participant's attempt, he was bombarded with prompts urging him to copy their footwork using mimic, Nevertheless, Leo chose to abstain, harboring the desire to replicate only the most exemplary technique.
Initially, he harbored optimism about discovering an ideal model to copy from, given the lengthy queue before him. Yet, as time swiftly elapsed, the queue dwindled significantly, and no subsequent performance surpassed the 8 points scored by the kid.
Slowly, Leo began to lose hope and started to become desperate when suddenly a participant dropped the best performance of the entire competition.
That assassin's tag number was 1050 and she was one of the very few assassin's who did not have a mask on as one could make out from her facial features that she was a lady.
Extremely focused as she began to skip the steps, her movement was extremely nimble as at the peak of her movement speed she moved so fast that not even the slightest ripple could be seen on the pond.
Receiving an exquisite score of 9/10 from the judges, she quickly became the pack leader as Leo took no further chances and immediately copied her footwork.
[ System Notification: Do you wish to ' Mimic' the skill [ Silent Steps ] ?
Yes
No ]
[ You have successfully copied the skill [ Silent Steps ] ]
' Hell Yeah', Leo thought as from that point forward he closed his eyes and focused on recreating the movement of the lady assassin in his head.
Although he had copied her skill, it was still completely up to him to nail the execution for which he had to envision the movement of the lady and try to recreate it.
' One… Two…. Three…Four…' Leo counted in his head as he set a rhythm in his head for skipping the steps.
There were 21 steps in total and for 15 minutes straight, Leo hopped over them on a loop in his head, only opening his eyes when it was finally time for execution.
*Splash*
The participant in front of him failed on the seventh step and angrily splashed his hand against the water before waddling his way out.
" Next-" said the alliance leader as once the previous participant was out of the pond, Leo began his run-up and used mimic to duplicate the lady before him's movement.
' One.. Two… Three…' he thought as he jumped exactly how he had memorized and could not believe his eyes when he started to do it!
His heart beat wildly fast and his instincts went into hyperdrive as his mind constantly reminded him to not mess it up.
The state he was in currently was the same as someone who had just learnt how to juggle three balls and although they knew how to execute it, they could not believe that they were performing it correctly for an extended period of time.
Or how a footballer when juggling the ball felt nervous about not messing it up after juggling it for a long time.
He was constantly worried about messing it up, which was probably why his execution was not as smooth as that of the lady.
Nonetheless, Leo miraculously crossed the entire length of the pond without any steps sinking as he passed the first round albeit barely.
"Seven" The judges decided as although Leo did not get a 9 like the best assassin, he still got through to round two.
"And that's how you wing it…" Leo murmured to himself in excitement as he felt proud of his own performance.
However, as he took a few steps away from the testing arena, to make way for the next candidate, Leo felt a chill go down his spine as the girl without the mask who was the highest scorer was glaring holes at him.
Leo looked into her eyes for a second then raised his palms up as if asking 'What do you want?'
In response the lady pulled out a dagger from her Assassin belt and pointed it towards Leo while the other assassins who had also cleared the first exam looked at this exchange with excitement.
" How do you know the secret movement technique of the Mu clan?" The lady assassin asked in a sharp tone.
" I don't know any Mu clan" Leo replied in all honesty as he bumped shoulders with the lady and walked past her without displaying an ounce of fear.
The woman's facial expressions clearly showed that she very much itched to kill Leo, however, without knowing how he could replicate her family's secret technique she could not even risk to kill him.
Instead, she took a read of his identification number and decided to follow Leo around until the two could hold a conversation in private.