Chapter 18: The Puzzle
Seeing Bono easily defeat Tucker, everyone couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive, they understood that the previous two rounds of testing were just warm-ups, and the real fierce competition would start from this round. Although the instructors did not stipulate the number of people to be eliminated, everyone knew at this time that the number of people who would enter the next round would not be eighteen. After a moment's pause, the crowd dispersed in a very tacit manner, and ran to the second floor, the cellar, or some rooms on either side.
Bale is no exception, although he believes in his own strength, but he will not fight unnecessarily because of this confidence. He hid in the room in the right hall on the second floor, took out the bamboo tube, and carefully felt the faint breath before, trying to find its pattern.
As time passed, Bell found that although the elements on the surface of the bamboo tube were constantly circulating, they would bypass the place where they met his fingers. He thought for a while, and then slightly released some of the elements in his body at his fingertips, but the circulation speed of the surface elements actually slowed down.
"I see, the instructors are just playing a little trick. The corners of Bell's mouth slowly lifted.
Since ancient times, people who practice martial arts have never stopped exploring the life energy of Yuan. Once upon a time, fighting between living beings was largely based on brute force, and the thin and weak were often at a loss for nothing, and could only be humbled in a lower position. Until a thin doctor came along and while healing a sick person, he discovered that there was an energy in the human body that could be released by condensing at a certain point. So at a critical juncture, the doctor tried to add this unleashed energy to his attacks and defenses, and actually defeated the bandits who were much stronger than him at the time.
From that time on, the thin man seemed to break through the dawn and see the sunrise, and this way of practicing martial arts was handed down, and this energy was named Yuan. Later, due to the difference in race, two factions were slowly formed. One faction inherited the battle style of supremacy of strength, freeing Yuan on his own hands, feet, and even weapons, while the other faction strengthened his own perception and became a magician by feeling the natural elements around him, and the era of "sword and magic" began.
Bell recalled what the bear had said to him when he was a child, and at the same time slowly condensed the yuan in his body to the tips of his fingers, and fought with the yuan circulating on the surface of the bamboo tube. Of course, such an attack is not as violent as the previous fight with Cassidy, but the release is carefully controlled, and if it is slightly overdone, it will end up like Bono.
Two faint breaths slowly wrestled with each other, and Bell's expression was as focused as a house cat staring at a mouse hole. As the breath circulating on the surface of the bamboo tube slowly faded, a crack appeared on the "poof" ground, and then it was divided into two halves, and a note fell out.
"It's done!" Bell secretly smug, and the little test of meta control was passed. Unexpectedly, when he looked at the note, he was dumbfounded.
Great knight, when two holy swords in your hand pass through the northern sky, the hidden evil will be revealed to the world.
What kind of magic spell is this? Or is it a guessing game? Bell was stunned, and finally opened the bamboo tube, only to get such an incoherent note.
At this moment, Bell suddenly felt someone approaching, and suddenly looked up to find Dona looking timidly at the door.
"What's wrong with you?" Bell asked Dona like this.
"I ...... I got the second order. Donna muttered.
"That's amazing, my good Donna, are you here to tell me how to get the second order?" Bell immediately got up, smiling lewdly as if a fishmonger had met a wealthy guest before closing his stall in the evening.
"No...... Yes...... Nor is it ...... I ......" Dona waved her hand and stood aside with a red face.
"Haha, there's nothing to be embarrassed about about helping others, and helping each other is also one of the spirit of chivalry, isn't it?" Bell said in an "atmospheric" manner, "By the way, what's your first command?"
Donna blushed and tried to say something incoherently, but found that she had not expressed anything, so she simply handed the note to Bell.
Only through the monstrous wind and waves, you can see what you are looking for. "Okay, well, I admit defeat, such an unfathomable spell, I'm afraid that I will directly split this mansion if I pronounce it, and the old man Rett will have to beat me up when he jumps out of the ground, so leave it to you magicians!" Bell spread his hands and returned the note to Dona.
"It's not that difficult. Dona froze and explained, "The first command describes the objects in this castle, as long as you find the corresponding object according to the content of the note, you can get the second command!"
"Huh?" Bell's eyes lit up, "Dona is so smart, why didn't I think of it?" he spread out his note again, ignoring Donna on the side, and immersed himself in research.
Two Holy Swords...... Northern Skyrim ...... Objects in the castle...... I want to think about it...... From the moment he entered the door, he saw that it was ...... "That's right!" Bell patted his head, got up and rushed to the interlayer.
Aren't the two holy swords just two hands on the clock face? and the slashing across the northern sky refers to ...... Facing the pendulum clock placed on the floor, Bell turned the hour and minute hands towards twelve o'clock. When the two hands coincide, a bird pops out of the clock face with a second bamboo tube in its mouth.
"Found it!" Excited, Bell felt the breath on the bamboo tube again, trying to get the second command. Suddenly, with his sensitive sense of touch, he felt a gust of hot wind coming from behind him.
"Dare to sneak up on me!" Bell reacted quickly, dodging the attack with a sideways roll, and when he saw the man behind him, he hesitated for a moment and gave up the counterattack.
"Donna, what are you doing?" another fireball flew in, and Bell dodged again, looking a little embarrassed.
"Right...... Sorry! but...... My second command is to take your belt!" With that, Dona unleashed a series of magic spells to launch a fierce attack on Bell.
"Your second order is to take my belongings?" No wonder Dona told Bell how to get the second order, originally to take advantage of him to let his guard down, but the kind-hearted Dona is not good at fraud, and the slight hesitation still gave Bell time to react.
"Wait!" Bell said to Dona with his hands held high, "I don't want to fight you, to be honest, there are only two hours left, do you think you'll succeed?"
When Donna learns that the second order is to take Bell's belt, she knows that she has little chance of winning, so she reluctantly comes up with a clumsy little plan to try her luck. And the successive attacks that followed were mostly out of panic because the ploy did not succeed.
Donna knew that the second command was almost impossible to complete, but when she heard that Bell had no intention of fighting, she also put away her magic, but still nervously held her staff to Bell, which made him feel a little funny.
"Take it easy, Dona, let me see what the second command in my hand says. Bell attacked the bamboo tube again.
With a "snap", the second bamboo tube also cracked, and Bell picked up the note with a smile. But when he saw the content above, his pupils instantly contracted, and his originally relaxed expression suddenly became as serious as Dona.
Please take Neobono's gloves.
What's going on with this round of testing? Is it making us rob each other of each other's things? The two men were about the same level of strength, and a fight with Bono wouldn't intimidate him, but because of that, it would be nearly impossible to take his gloves with the remaining two hours.
"What's your order?" Donna asked cautiously, seeing Bell standing still.
"Hey, see for yourself!" At this time, Bell didn't want to entangle with Dona too much, so he gave Donna the note in his hand.
"Ahh......h Is this round of testing ......?"
There was a "boom", and just as Bell and Dona were surprised by the content of the third round of testing, there was a loud bang, and they saw a figure flying towards them and landing heavily on the ground.
When the two of them looked at it, it turned out to be Richie from the magic department who was foaming at the mouth and fell to the ground, while Garley ran down from the second floor in a rage.
"This guy broke the bamboo tube himself, and he actually learned from Bono to get my idea!" Gary saw that it was Bell and Dona, and said to them, "What are you doing?
"Found it, but it's a bit of a hassle......" Bell said helplessly, pushing Richie, who was lying on the ground, to the side.
"Oh, I haven't found it yet, look what the first command says!" said Garay, spreading his note to the two of them.
Real gold is not afraid of fire.
"This round of testing is really weird, what does it mean to tell me a well-known truth?" said Garay, scratching his head.
"It means you take a torch and burn yourself to see if it's a piece of gold, but your elm head should burn pretty quickly. Bell teased.
"Hey, you still have the heart to quarrel at this time, and I don't think you're much better. Garay had no intention of arguing with him, so he sat aside with a bitter gourd face, and watched the rest of the students running up and down, as if they had discovered something, and he was even more distressed.
"Okay, well, we've all encountered quite a problem, in that case, let's take a look at Garay's second command. Dona said, "Your note should be a reference to the menorah." ”
In the second room of the left hall on the second floor, the three found a burning candle, but it was more than two meters high.
"You mean, the second order is hidden in this candle, and at this length, it will take half a day to burn, right?" said Garay, puzzled.
"It's not that hard, Donna can use fire magic to speed it up," Bell said, "but be careful of the bamboo tube inside, it's more fragile than tofu!"
"I'll try!" With the help of Donna's fire magic, the candle quickly burned in half, while she carefully controlled the flame so as not to damage the bamboo tube that appeared at any time.
After a few more moments, a bamboo tube was finally revealed intact, carefully protected by Dona and not damaged by the heat.
At this time, the sound of fighting gradually came from outside the room, and presumably some of the other students also received corresponding instructions and began to act.
Just when Garay opened the bamboo tube and unfolded the second command, Bell was suddenly stunned, like a lightning bolt flashed in his mind, he raised his head to look at the two, and said word by word: "We have all fallen into the trap of the instructor, and there is no need to fight at all in this round!!