Acht wasn't really ready for the hunter exam. He intended to buy some necessities before it started and make sure he was prepared for all kinds of circumstances but that didn't mean he was in a bad situation now that he was brought to the exam while he was asleep.
He had most of his belongings in his spatial ring so he didn't really come here empty-handed. So, the only thing he had to do now was to complete the exam and show his worth to the supervisors.
Before leaving, he first took a look around him to see if he could find anything worthy to take or even a secret object to help him. But, no such thing was there and so he opened the door and left the room.
Outside, the place was dark, somehow even darker than the room inside. The only source of light was some torched hang-up on the wall. To his left was a closed-end with a big wall that seemed to stretch into the darkness above him and to his right was a path that seemed to be endless at first.
"Hmm, this place is similar to a dungeon." he muttered under his breath while standing still in front of the door. He didn't want to move out before he made sure nothing funny could happen.
Especially the left side of the corridor, it seemed suspicious to him. But, he didn't feel anything there so he walked out and went straight to the right path.
He was wearing the same clothes he went to sleep with and no shoes so he had to bear the rough and cold stone floor.
As he continued to walk, the only thing he could hear was his feet making a clapping sound with each step. He kept his mind fully alert and his eyes looked around.
*Swish*
Then, for just a split second, he heard a small clicking sound from a distance. It was very small and almost inaudible but it was more than enough to make Acht feel the danger that was coming from the darkness ahead of him. Immediately he moved to the side.
A split of a second later, 10 arrow-like objects appeared out of the darkness and passed him like a flash. They were flying at an almost impossible speed. He had never heard of a vow capable of making an arrow fly that fast.
'If I didn't hear the clicking sound. This could've been a lot more dangerous.' He thought as he looked behind him for a moment.
He waited for some time to see if something else could happen and then continued his walk.
A few minutes later, the same clicking sound reached his ears again. He stepped aside and then, 10 arrows flew to his side just like before. This time, however, one of the arrows shook slightly and made a change of direction to fly straight at Acht.
The boy was taken aback for a moment but he pulled his sword and deflected the arrow with the back of his word. The arrow fell down to the ground easily and stopped moving.
He then lifted the arrow to inspect it. Except for a blue pattern on the wooden part of the arrow, there was nothing else that made it stand out from a normal arrow.
"Arrows that follow their target, great." He rolled his eyes as he walked away while keeping extra attention to these new problematic arrows.
'I guess the difficulty will rise with each round.'
And his thoughts were right, when the next batch of arrows arrived, there were 12 of them with 2 of them following him.
It was still quite easy to parry but that didn't make him feel relieved since if he had to parry 20 or more arrows sometime later, it would be a pain in the ass.
The next round of arrows was composed of 10 normal arrows and 4 tracking arrows. Acht had to avoid one of them after deflecting 3 since his speed couldn't compare to the high number of these dangerous objects.
"At this rate, I will have to use my gift." He muttered under his breath. His reaction speed was simply lacking at this stage so he has no other solution.
With that, 30 minutes passed. Through that time, Acht had to deal with the rising number of arrows that became harder and harder to dodge and deflect. At some point, the number of tracking arrows became equal to the normal ones.
He looked at the upcoming barrage of arrows and had no choice but to use gravity to change their direction again. But, because of their high speed, some of them were able to reach him before gravity could make them fall down and he had to sidestep them at the last second.
It was quite hard but he was able to pull through fairly unscathed.
"This is exhausting." He said to himself while looking around him. There was a sea of arrows pinned to the ground around him. It looked like a deserted battlefield after a bloody battle.
Looking at this, Acht questioned the fact that beginners could survive this test. It didn't even seem to be the hardest one out of them since they started with it.
After that, for the next 10 minutes or so, he didn't see any other arrows. And 5 minutes after that, he saw a faint light in the distance. However, because of the extreme darkness around him, that faint light appeared more bright than ever.
He unconsciously accelerated his footsteps so he could reach them faster. When he was there, he found himself in what seemed like another section of the corridor. The place was somehow wider and with more free space to move. What was more important than that is what was ahead of him.
A good chunk of the room had some different tiles than the stone ones he had been walking on since the beginning. They were bigger in size and had a bright white color on them.
"Hmm?" Acht stayed silent for a while thinking about it. That's when something happened. The tiles suddenly changed color all at the same time. Some of them became green, while some became red.
The variation in color stayed like that for 3 seconds before it changed again randomly, between the two changes, there was one second where the tiles became totally white. Then 3 seconds later, it changed again and it kept changing endlessly. It clearly had a pattern.
Acht watched that happen for a while before approaching these tiles. Then, he picked up a piece of rock and threw it at one of the red tiles.
*Swish*
The moment the rock touched the tile, 3 huge and pointy spikes appeared in place of the red tile. These spikes looked so sharp and hard that they could easily kill a human.
"Interesting. Then, the green tiles should be safe." He threw one rock at the green tile to make sure of his theory and indeed, nothing happened when it touched it.
After seeing that, Acht fully understood what he had to do. His one problem though is still present.
"How long do these tiles stretch for?" He muttered as he peered into the distance.
No matter how hard he tried to see the end of these tiles, he couldn't. This meant that he had to at least walk on them for no less than 20 minutes.
It may look easy, but there is no guarantee that things won't change midway. They could decrease the time of the changement or even add more obstacles for him.
But, there was no point in staying in his place. So, he took a deep breath and waited for a good opportunity to start. He watched the patterns of colors carefully and tried to decipher the easiest route that would appear. He had nothing to rush for so he took his time.
Then, a few moments later, he saw the opportunity he was waiting for. The green tiles appeared near each other and one of them was even on the first step he had to take.
Without any hesitation, he ran as fast as he could and jumped on the first tile before moving to the next one as quickly as possible. He wanted to make good use of the 3 seconds he had before the colors changed again.
When 3 seconds passed, he had already made 15 meters into the room. Then, he stopped and waited for the next colors to appear. The tiles then turned white for a second.
"I only have a split of a second to react to the change of colors."
Then, he saw the tiles change colors and he moved immediately. He didn't have the leisure to think about what kind of color he needed to jump on. He made his instincts take control of his body and move him accordingly.
It was a test for his senses and reaction speed.
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