Rorik carefully picked up the vase to check its weight. The vase was about 35 cm long (~ 1 foot) and seemed pretty standard in all regards. At least it didn’t shatter upon the slightest touch.
"Harvey, Brad, try using Severed Seal on this and see what happens," Rorik said while still holding the vase. The two of them complied and used the card on the vase, yet nothing seemed to happen at all.
Rorik frowned, and then used Severed Seal himself as well, and only then did a soft, blue light cover the vase, indicating that a protective seal had formed around it.
Rorik gently knocked on the seal to test its strength and got a soft feedback from the card, letting him know just how much pressure the seal could handle.
"Alright, now stop. Nero, you try," Rorik said, deactivating his own card and eliminating the seal.
Nero targeted the case and activated the card yet, predictably, nothing happened. However, Nero felt a strange incompleteness, as if the card wasn’t acting up to its full capacity. Then Rorik used his card, and the same blue light appeared once more. Once again, Rorik knocked on the vase, but the feedback he got was the same.
"Alright, I think we’ve got the hang of this. Nero, you and Harvey maintain the seal on the vase while we go through the course. Since you’re stronger than us, Nero, I think it’s best you hold onto the vase as well," Rorik said, handing it over.
Nero accepted the vase, and did not speak much. He was focusing more on observing Rorik, and seeing how he led the team. The approached the starting line after which came a hundred meter plain path, after which was a tall wall, blocking off the view of whatever was behind.
"Brad, since you can move faster, you’ll be acting as our scout," Rorik said before they began. "The healing card, and the emphasis on all of us completing the course makes me think that we might face some kind of attack during the course."
Nero nodded. He had noticed that as well, but didn’t point it out because he didn’t want to interfere. Only if Rorik was making a severe mistake would Nero step in.
With the basic instructions given, the four of them lined up, and then started in a sprint. Brad set the pace, since he would be the first while the rest followed.
"Nero, Rising Platform," Rorik said right before they reached the wall. Nero, not wasting a moment, used the card but instead of starting the platform on the bottom, he created it halfway up, making it easier for the group to climb.
Brad, acting as the scout, leaped onto the platform and then jumped up quickly climbing to the top of the wall.
"It’s clear-" he began to say when something suddenly hit him in the chest, throwing him backwards off the wall. Since the group had been running behind him most of them found it hard to catch him, though Nero was able to react quick enough to catch him before he hit the ground.
"You okay?" Nero asked as he checked his body for injuries. There was no blood, so that was good, but he was clearly winded.
"It came so suddenly," Brad said, between coughs as he struggled to breathe. "I didn’t see it coming. I’m- I’m fine, I just need a moment to recover."
He pushed himself up on his own and seemed fine, but genuinely seemed a little shaken by the unexpected hit.
"Rorik, I think it’s best if I scout, while Brad stays at the back with the vase," Nero suggested.
Rorik hesitated for a moment, looking at Brad, but then nodded.
"Alright, go check what that attack was from. See if you can defend us, while we climb up," Rorik said as he stood in front of the wall, ready to give Nero a boost. While Nero didn’t necessarily need it, he didn’t waste time explaining. He handed over the vase, making sure he didn’t disable Severed Seal and then quickly climbed up over.
Beyond the wall was a steep slope heading downwards to a trench causing Nero to look down, yet the moment he did he detected something coming at him from a higher angle. Nero quickly dodged to the side, and then looked up to find three cards discreetly fixed onto a beam. Nero frowned. Had the cards been activated remotely? Remote card activation was an ability that only Ascendants had.
Nero didn’t see activation pins either, which were pins which could keep cards in a state of constant activation, though that wouldn’t make much sense either since the cards would need to be activated at a certain time.
While observing the cards, he sensed a stream of aether flowing towards one of the cards from somewhere behind it, and the card suddenly activated. Knowing where the attack was coming from made it easy for Nero to dodge the aetheric attack pretty easily.
"Come on up. There’s hidden cards attacking from up above, but the attacks are easy to detect if you pay attention," Nero said. Internally he noted that there was a lot he didn’t know about the Eldrim cards.
It didn’t make sense that his parents had never mentioned it before, unless of course even they didn’t know about it, or it was extremely confidential. But something like remote activation shouldn’t be confidential if it was being used in a test like this. That could only mean that this was a recent development.
Nero couldn’t help but think back to the ruins of Luminari. Could this be the result of their gains from the ruins? Wouldn’t that be too quick?
While the others climbed up, Nero noticed that the cards would not shoot straight ahead, but would always aim for one of them. The presence of these cards made things a little complicated, but this was also interesting.
Once the group was up, Nero continued to run forward, descending into the trench while watching out for any more traps.
The trench was narrow, meaning only one person could pass through it at a time, and for some reason, was filled with a pool of water that rose till the ankles.
Nero did not need to know the specifics to tell that the water was some kind of trap. Fortunately, water was not something he was afraid of.
Nero unleashed Frostburn, his blue flames filling the trench and rapidly cooling it down. It would only take a short while before the water froze. Just as he was observing the trench from its edge, watching for traps, he sensed a stream of aether gather behind him.
Without any hesitation Nero dodged, just in time to avoid another, hidden attack. This time, even though Nero had been looking out for cards, he’d missed the card hidden on the side of the slope. The only explanation was that it had been invisible until it unleashed an attack!
Nero no longer spent any time trying to figure out the mechanics of how the cards worked - he didn’t have the time!
"There’s traps on the sides, watch out," Nero called out to the others as they descended the slope, just in time too. Three more cards, which were invisible until they struck, launched attacks just as Nero warned the group.
Rorik and Harvey managed to dodge fine, but it was Brad who, ironically, moved too quickly in a panic to avoid the attacks and tripped towards the trench. Once again, Nero caught him.
"Careful," he said, helping him back up. Nero made a mental note to keep an eye on Brad. Whether it was because he was naturally careless, or because his injury was still affecting him, he was proving to be the weakest link of their team.
He wasn’t being critical of him, merely making an observation so that he could watch out for him.
"The trench was filled with water. I think we were supposed to use multiple Rising Platforms to cross it, but I just froze the water," Nero said. "I’ll go check out ahead, you guys be careful not to slip on the ice."
Nero jumped in the trench, his landing causing the ice beneath him to crack, but not shatter. Nero had dumped quite a lot of aether into his flame to make the water freeze quickly, so if it couldn’t even handle a single jump that would be quite disappointing.
Down in the trench, where no one could see his face, Nero frowned. They’d already spent four out of their twenty minutes and they’d barely gotten started with the course. He wasn’t exactly blaming Rorik for it, but things weren’t going great. It would seem like he needed to step things up a bit if he was going to finish the course in time.
Up above, Rorik took the vase from Brad, and held onto it himself, before deciding on a formation. Nero was up in front, followed by Brad and Harvey, and he would bring up the rear. Normally, the rear would be the safest spot, but in this challenge he expected that it would bring them some problems.