"I don't understand, Natasha-kun! What do you mean by that? What are we going to be doing now that boss's plan failed." Haruto said with worry toward Natasha who continued to maintain her smile.
"Don't worry, Haruto. Don't waste that brain of yours to figure out the situation cause it won't work. It is all way above you! The only thing that you need to know is that they think they have won, but instead, they are still going fall under my feet once my plans are complete!" Natasha replied with that same maniacal laugh.
**************
Away from Natasha and Haruto another group of cadets could be seen making their way toward the mountain. If one was to zoom out using a bird's eyes view and be able to observe everything that was happening in there from a place far above, they would be able to see that a new group of cadets which had on average 4 members could be with 3 kilometers of one another and all of these groups had only one target, the western mountain.
As the many groups of cadets continued to make their way toward the western mountain, they could feel a sense of excitement building up within them. They had already heard about the insane duel that had taken place near that area as the details of the event were public for live viewers.
Seeing the fight unfold in their eyes, almost everyone started to become wary of Mako thinking that he might be some kind of insane genius who they were better of not pissing off at all.
On the other hand, there were also insane people just like him who viewed him as competition and that they must crush him in order to surpass everyone and become the strongest fighter.
Mako too was one of these crazy individuals as he didn't really care about the rules of the tournament, but rather he would defend his honor and title against anyone who tried to attack him or his friends.
The main group had a huge head start in the race that they didn't even know they were a part of. It was a race between all the cadet groups actively moving toward reaching the top of the mountain and controlling everything that happens, basically controlling the loot crates that have spawned on top of the mountain because there were still many more to find.
The main group had just finished an intense fight and were casually walking back up the mountain toward the mountain. During the trip, Mako's personality completely changed from the person he was ten minutes ago as he was loud and talkative on the way back.
Mako began to share with the group the entire story of what had happened during the time when they were all hypnotized by Natasha, including his fight against Mikhail in detail which everyone was listening to with deep interest; however this time it was Leon who stopped moving all of a sudden.
The rest of the group immediately sensed that Leon must have noticed something great or had noticed danger up ahead, and fortunately, this time it happened to be the former as while casually walking past the same stream as before at a precise point, Leon was able to observe the reflection of purple light in his eyes.
Leon quickly tried to move his head again to try to find the exact spot again where he had observed the purple reflection and soon enough he found it. Judging from the fact that the stream was too shallow for anything to be buried underneath so the only logical place where the purple tier loot crate might be was...
Above!
Mako and Leon looked up at the exact same time and were quickly able to spot a purple-colored loot crate that was gracefully sitting upon the branches of both trees, distributing the weight equally and sitting stably on the top.
Bill used his strength to give a strong kick to one of the trees, shaking it violently and making it so that the crate would fall down. Iris used her water ability to safely catch the loot crate and cushion its landing on the ground.
Wasting no time at all, Leon took the initiative this time and opened the crate because this time he was hoping to find an item or weapon that would complement him too because up till now, the crates had been generous to Mako and Erin but had been ignoring Bill, Iris and him as they hadn't really scored something big up to this point.
He pressed the button on the top of the crate and pulled on the lever next to it to open the lid. The crate made the same small hissing sound as the lid was opened indicating the air-tight seal.
The contents of the crate were once again five small little black containers. The lid itself had a screen on the inside and on it was a display that explained what was inside each container.
The screen on the lid of the loot crate displayed:
[High Tier Healing Pills x 7]
[Self-Heating MRE x 5: Self-heating ready-to-eat meals that can provide instant and warm food during emergencies.]
[Water Purification Tablets x 20: A tablet that dissolves by itself and has the ability to completely purify one liter of contaminants and convert them into harmless by-products.]
[Grappling Hook x 5: A single-use compact and lightweight device that can be used to climb or descend buildings, cliffs, or other obstacles.]
[High Tier Blue Cheetah Leg Armor]
Most of the items were similar to the first purple tier loot crate that Mako had found with both of them giving them health, food, and water-related item that could ensure their survival.
However, this time the fourth container had a small launcher the shape of a person's palm with a tube on top that contained the actual launching mechanism. The launcher also came with 5 hooks that were attached with super strong new generation Kevlar rope that could easily support a person's weight despite being so thin.
It was a grappling hook launcher that a person could use to gain a height advantage in an instant.
Lastly, the fifth container revealed a beautiful pair of blue and silver leg armor. The silver part was extremely shiny while the blue part emulated real hide with cheetah spots.
Leon was over the moon as soon as he got just what he had been hoping for. No one else used their legs more than he did and now he finally got his hands on something that would obviously provide protection but also provide additional speed which was hinted from the name of the beast that was used to craft this piece of armor.
Leon turned towards the holographic screen to learn more about what types of boosts and skills the armor provided while Mako did the same using his Analyze skill.
[Analyze]
[High Tier Blue Cheetah Leg Armor] ⓘ
[A pair of leg armor forged from the crystal and hide of a Blue Cheetah found in (Unknown). An excellent quality piece of armor forged by (Unknown)]
[Fortitude +20]
[Agility +15]
[Defense: 70]
[Active Skill: Blue Dash] ⓘ
[Blue Dash: As the wearer continues to run around while wearing the Blue Cheetah Leg Armor, it continues to store and absorb bits of the kinetic energy of the wearer and store it inside the boots themselves.
There is a limit to how much kinetic energy can be stored inside the armor itself and once full, the spots on the hide part of the armor glow blue indicating that the kinetic energy has been absorbed to the maximum.
Once the user activates the active skill, all the stored-up kinetic energy inside the armor can be returned back to the wearer in an instant, temporarily increasing their agility.
The amount of increased agility varies from person to person and also depends upon skills and abilities they have that can complement the active skill itself.]
As a standard, A fully charged Blue Cheetah Leg Armor can elevate the agility of the wearer by about 30 points for the next 2 minutes.]
Leon was beyond ecstatic as he read through the description of his new piece of armor. His father had tried to get him to wear some pieces of armor before he left, but at that time, Leon still wanted to reject everything from his father and so he went into the test with no equipment.
'If Father hadn't forced me into learning those new abilities, we would have been completely toast at this point. I guess he really was just trying to look after me in the end,' Leon thought as he remembered his last meeting with his father before arriving at the military base.
'I think I am ready, Father! After I pass this test, I am going to give you the conversation you had been desperately wanting from me. I don't want to run away from the past anymore and I am ready to hear your side of the story!' Leon exclaimed in his mind.
He had never been this emotional in a long time and for some reason, it was very relieving for him to feel these emotions. It was almost overwhelming Leon at this point as a single tear could be seen forming in his eyes.
However, before anyone could notice, Leon quickly composed himself and put on the Blue Cheetah Leg Armor. Within an instant, he started feeling the effects of wearing such a good-quality piece of armor and for the first time in a long time, Leon had a genuine smile on his face as he quickly got up and dashed around to check their flexibility.
"Come on, everyone! I'll race you back to the shelter!" Leon shouted as he took a head start and bolted toward the shelter.
Not wanting to waste the opportunity to have a friendly challenge, everyone quickly followed suit and rushed after Leon to try and catch up to him.
