As soon as the cymbal was struck, Qi Ling dashed into the obstacle course, running even faster than Octane, who watched, awestruck. She glided through the terrain like there weren't any obstacles at all, swinging past the monkey bars and lightly jumping from pillar to pillar in the next section with ease.
In an instant, she had caught up to Finn and continued going, smoothly and elegantly overcoming everything that stood in her way like a figure skater in an arena.
"Finn!" Iris called out. "Use your wings!"
'What? But I've never used them before…' Finn thought, hesitating somewhat.
"Channel your mana into your back and control it using your back muscles!" She instructed.
Finn hesitated a bit, but decided to just listen. After all, if he learned how to use these wings, it would come in useful later down the line as well.
Taking a deep breath, he stopped running and poured his Oculus mana into the two black wings on his back. Instantly, he felt them spread and activate. He clenched his back muscles and was immediately lifted into the air, then relaxed the muscles and contracted them once more to fly forward.
Now, his speed was on par with Qi Ling's, but she was still slightly ahead. Taking the time to activate the wings let her pass him, but not by much.
"Use bursts of flapping to go faster, Finn!" Iris shouted, watching on anxiously. "You're on course right now, so just keep going straight!"
Finn did as told, though it was quite hard to control, especially since he was blind. He did indeed go faster, but his body began swerving left and right in the air since he used more pressure on one side than the other.
Then, suddenly, he was sent spiraling towards his right, on a direct collision course with Qi Ling. Her eyes widened a bit at seeing this, but she didn't dodge despite having the chance to.
"Ngh-!" Finn crashed into Qi Ling and the two of them were sent flying off course into the forest, disappearing from the sight of the others.
"Finn!"
"Senior sister!"
The two separate teams hurriedly rushed after them, but little did they know, Qi Ling had meant for this to happen…
"Agh…" Finn groaned and tried to get up from the ground, but there appeared to be something pinning him down.
More accurately… someone was riding on his waist and pressing down on his chest, not letting him escape.
"…?"
"… I would recommend not moving if I were you."
Finn recognized the quiet voice to be Qi Ling's and froze as he felt the cold metal of a knife on his throat, pressed down just hard enough to not draw blood.
"… What is the meaning of this?"
"Tell me. Who… or should I say, 'what'… are you?"
"My name is Finn Thresher. 18, male. D-Class Hunter. Squadron 154, Phantom Slayer Corps."
"Don't play dumb with me," Qi Ling cut in coldly, deep purple eyes dark and piercing, overshadowed by her long blue hair. "You aren't human. That much is for sure."
"…" Finn was concerned about how she figured it out, but right now, he needed to find a way out of this situation.
After some silence, he suddenly activated his Stormbringer Angelica.
"…!" Qi Ling quickly jumped away from the incredible amount of lightning emitting from his body as Finn got to his feet.
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"I dislike people threatening me," Finn said calmly, a blue aura around him.
"How is this possible…" Qi Ling muttered in shock, eyes widened. "Your lightning… it's even stronger than the patriarch's…"
"You are welcome to try and attack me again, but… although I don't want any bloodshed if I can help it since you will be an important fighting force for this upcoming operation, if you come at me once more, I won't just walk away."
"…" Qi Ling bit her bottom lip and tried to think of a solution.
'This guy… he's actually stronger than me. Even though he's blind, if we were to fight, I would probably lose. And since he appears to be insistent on not revealing anything… I can only make the most out of this situation.'
"Fine," she said after some hesitation. "I won't attack you again, but I want you to answer me one thing."
Finn furrowed his brows. "What?"
"… Are you on my side?"
"If you mean whether I want to kill Ghosts or not, yes."
"… Hm. I suppose that is the best I can get for now," Qi Ling said with a sigh. "As long as you aren't my enemy, I won't question you any further."
With these words, she turned around and walked away back to the others. Finn followed, with an expression as neutral as ever.
'In this world, there are no eternal relationships. One day, we may become enemies. When that happens… even if you want to question me, you won't be able to.'
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In the end, the obstacle course race was declared a tie.
"Master, if I may ask…" Fanatic raised his hand, speaking up as Jim was busy cleaning the obstacles up.
"Hm?" He raised an eyebrow.
"What was the purpose of this obstacle course activity? I can't help but feel it has nothing to do with Baron Hunting…"
"Ah, I was just about ta explain that," Jim chuckled, straightening up and turning around to face them. "Ya see, Barons live in somethin' we call 'Dungeons'. They have different floors and bloody mechanics to them, but most have some sort o' parkour and bloody jumpin' sections, judgin' from personal experience."
"Is there no way to skip past such puzzles and go straight to the Baron itself?" Octane asked. "That would be a lot simpler."
"Hah! I wish it were that easy, kid." Jim laughed boldly. "These bloody Dungeons are protected by the Baron's paracausal energy. We have ta beat it the proper way — there are no shortcuts."
"Huh, I see…"
In the afternoon, the young Hunters did some more agility training and teamwork practice. Their actual firepower wasn't a concern — but the teamwork was. Even after several hours of team-building activities like an escape room simulation and the famous egg drop, the two separate groups of Squadron 154 and the Big Five just appeared to run into conflict at every turn.
Pang Zi and Fanatic seemed to fully hate one another, and the two groups had very different methods of doing things. The Big Five were extremely aggressive and liked to experiment hands-on, while Squadron 154 was more passive and preferred to use theory and logical analysis before trying anything.
Before they knew it, the sun had set and night rolled around. They returned to the cafeteria for dinner together, none of them speaking much. Even Jim, who was usually talkative and cheery, appeared to be bummed out at just how badly these two groups cooperate.
But right after stepping through the door to the cafeteria, they found Elder Hua standing there, as if waiting for them. Her eyes widened a bit when she spotted them,
"Oh, you're finally here…" She sighed in relief, unfolding her arms. "It's an emergency — the patriarch needs you all to go see him. Right now."