[Two Weeks Later]
Two weeks flew by so fast that the boys didn't even realize that tomorrow, the military was going to present in the school and they will transport them to the test site which in this case was a man-made island.
Over the two weeks, Mako decided to research where the island might be, but he came up with nothing as all "man-made" islands were those where rich people had built their mansions and resorts and were not a threatening place at all. The only logical idea, that Mako could come up with is that it was somewhere that restricted territory and not available to the public.
Mako was quite annoyed that his research skills were failing him here but what could he do when he was going up against the military? Of course, they would take the necessary steps to ensure that nobody got an unfair advantage and information was one of them.
Mako decided to accept that it was a lost cause and rather started to do research regarding some skills that might help him and Bill both survive on the island for who knows how long.
He got to know a lot of interesting stuff from a lot of very old sources as people really didn't need survival training or learn how to purify water. Humanity was not as technologically advanced overall as was predicted for their time, but they had progressed far enough that it was highly unlikely that someone was to find himself in a survival situation.
Mako learned about how to purify water because neither he nor Bill had the water ability which would make this a piece of cake to do. The water ability was the weakest out of the 5 elemental abilities simply because the user was powerless if they weren't near a source of water, but on the bright side it was one of the easiest abilities to learn which is why many people opted to learn it.
Next, He also learned to build shelters but that one was less important since Bill could make a shelter out of stone. He learned how to find north which could help him keep track of direction to make sure they would never miss a landmark or get lost.
During the weekend of the first week, Mako and Bill received the application form for the recruitment test which they filled out and sent back on the same day. The application form had all the rules printed on it and it clearly stated that the participants were not allowed to bring any pills or provisions of any kind or else they will be immediately disqualified.
Mako could bypass this with his inventory as he could store packed food and pills so that he wouldn't have to care about going hungry or being hurt. However, Mako wasn't in this test alone, he had Bill and also Leon to look after and he couldn't share with them any of the things he stored in his inventory because it will raise suspicion and expose his system which he didn't want.
He also couldn't leave his friends to stay hungry and hurt while he enjoyed the benefits of his system, which is why Mako decided that he won't use his inventory during the duration of this test and rely on his own ability and skills to succeed and go to the military camp with his friends.
During the two weeks, Mako put Bill through the same physical training as him which was set by the daily quests and they also sparred with one another trying to improve their fighting and skills.
Mako and Bill split up the four total fights that took place at that time so that each guy participated in two fights. They were able to win without too much trouble since all the fights were not high-level ones and were capped at level 4 ability users only. Mako could stand toe to toe with a level 4 ability user with relative ease and Bill was the same with his three abilities giving more versatility and a variety of skills.
They were able to make a decent buck off the fights and were able to go on one last shopping spree before the day finally arrived. However, this shopping session was much more controlled with each guy only purchasing one or two items.
Mako decided that he wanted a piece of armor as well. He decided to purchase some arm guards and a fire ability skill book that caught his attention. Bill, on the other hand, was searching for a sand ability skill book for quite some time and finally, he was able to find something that he could afford and use.
[High Tier Red Lizard Scale Arm Guard] ⓘ
[An arm guard forged from the crystal and scales of a Red Lizard found in (Unknown). A decent quality piece of armor forged by (Unknown)]
[Fortitude +20]
[Agility +5]
[Defense: 60]
[Passive skill: Blood Boost] ⓘ
[Blood Boost: When the arm guards come into contact with blood, The user receives a 5% boost in all stats as long as the blood remains fresh on the arm guards. Once the blood is wiped off or dried up, the boost will remain active for one minute before deactivating.]
[Once the passive skill has been used as no new blood is supplied, the skill goes on a cooldown timer of 120 minutes.]
(New!) Ability Skill Book: [(D-Tier) Flame Bullet] ⓘ (LEVEL 1)
[A decent attack from the Fire Elemental Skill Tree, that shoots small compact, and powerful bullets of fire at the target. To activate the skill, the user has to concentrate and condense their fire aura down to their fingertips. Once a sufficient amount of aura is condensed, the user can shoot out the fire bullets. Depending on how much aura is concentrated, the bullets can become more powerful, penetrate more, and deal more damage.]
[CAUTION: This is a highly risky skill as there is no limit to how much aura you condense into your fingertips. If the aura becomes too much for the user to handle the bullets can explode, and deal harm to the user.]
[Attack: Base: 120, Max: 200]
[Requirements: 40 Fortitude]
[Cost: Base: 350, Max: 600]
They were both great items as now Mako owned two power items and each held its own passive skill. Blood boost was quite nice and handy to have especially in a life-or-death situation where blood is easy to come by.
Secondly, he finally got his first usable D-tier ability skill, but this had a huge drawback to it as well. Mako had to experiment with how much aura he could condense in his fingers at his current stage because hurting himself during the test would be a massive blunder and might even cost them their opportunity.
For the last few days, Mako was doing just that, he was trying to gauge how much firepower he could comfortably produce without it backfiring on him.
Bill on the other hand was also working on a skill. He searched for several hours before he was able to find a low-tier sand ability skill but now he had learned it.
Ability Skill Book: [(E-Tier) Sand Spikes] ⓘ (LEVEL 1)
[A basic attack from the Sand Elemental Skill Tree, that shoots out spikes made of solidified sand from the ground toward the target. To activate the skill, the user has to concentrate the sand aura on their feet. Once the target has been selected by the user, spikes of sand will erupt from the ground beneath their feet and they will keep erupting where ever the target goes.]
[The user doesn't have to touch the ground with their hands in order to activate the skill. The skill will remain active for 10 seconds and will automatically keep following the target.]
[Attack: 25 per spike]
[Cost: 150 Energy]
Bill got a similar skill to the one he already had under the Earth Elemental skill tree which was Stone Spikes, but this was a far more advanced version of that skill.
Firstly, Stone Spikes caused Bill to be in an awkward position where he had to touch the ground with his hands for a couple of seconds for the skill to activate, and then the opponent could easily move from their original position making the Spikes ineffective as they could be easily dodged.
The Sand Spikes didn't have this kind of requirement as the opponent won't even realize that Bill was charging up an attack secondly, the Sand Spikes had the homing quality where they would chase the opponent down for the duration of the skill.
Both Mako and Bill were using their last day to perfect their new skills and upgrade any that were on the verge of moving to the next level.
Admittedly, eating leftover food daily was not the most healthy choice and both Mako and Bill were becoming quite sick of eating takeout. So as to reward themselves, Mako decided to whip up an Indian-style feast which was a nice change of pace.
Bill was stuffing his face full of delicious Biryani, Potato Cutlets, and Samosas. Both boys decided that it was best to take it easy and so they didn't practice in the evening and allowed their bodies to recover from being overworked so much.
"I think we are as ready as we'll ever be, I just hope that we will be able to secure a position in the top two hundred," Mako said as the feast was coming to an end.
"Don't worry, It will be alright. As how my father used to say, Hard work always pays off." Bill as he boosted both of their morales.
Tomorrow, the Recruitment Test begins!
