Chapter 25 - Seto's Marvels Part 3

"Enough talk. Tomorrow is the fourth trial. Open the box and each of you take a flag. They are used for formation barriers. As for you, Karen, I'm giving you a rank D mana stone. Use it sparingly, as you can't replenish it," Elder Wu said. "It's good that you saw the lad. Tomorrow, you must travel in teams of five. I overheard the guards who are bringing materials into the hunting grounds. That boy there should be your fifth member. Best approach him now and ask him. That way, you spend less time trying to find a member and more time hunting demonic cores."

"I'll do it," Bakura grinned and left their table. "Hi there. My name is Bakura. Nice to meet you."

"Agemo," the other boy nodded in greeting as he finished his food and drank more tea. "Can I help you?"

"You know about the fourth trial tomorrow, right? The one about going into the royal hunting grounds and collecting demonic cores? Well, Elder Wu, the elder over there at my table, overheard the guards. Participants must form a team of five in order to be eligible. We already have four members, one of them a mage. We'd like to ask you to be our fifth member," Bakura asked, bowing his head respectfully.

"It's a group trial? I see. Very well. Thank you. I will join your group," Agemo said after considering the boy's words.

"Great. Jasper’s the dark brown-haired kid with curls over there. Karen’s our mage, the girl with the blonde hair and green eyes. She’ll be my girlfriend one day," Bakura smirked. "I’m the funny orange-haired kid with spiky hair, and the light brown-haired girl is Kairi. Once the fourth trial starts, we'll meet up and start killing magical beasts. I'd be careful, though. I've seen some of the participants in the other mazes. Some of them fight dirty and kill for pleasure. You watch our back, and we’ll watch yours. Killing them is up to you. We won't help you chase someone running for their lives, though, if it endangers the group."

"Sounds fair," Agemo nodded, and they shook hands.

"See you tomorrow, then," Bakura waved and left to join the others, while Agemo paid the bill and left.

"What did he say?" Jasper asked.

"He’s down. He’ll join our group. The guy’s name is Agemo," Bakura grinned and made a V-sign at them. "Told ya I could do it."

"He’s not bad. I thought he'd blow it with his attitude," Maximus whispered to Karen.

"He was acting. I'm afraid Agemo will leave once Bakura starts acting reckless and shows his true nature," Karen whispered back.

"Try to recruit the boy for our academy. It is the best academy in the east and superior to Sky Angel Academy," Elder Wu nodded. "No doubt the boy will consider joining an academy or martial arts sect at the age of thirteen. He looks about your age. I've no doubt he will go far and become one of the sixty-four tournament contestants."

"Yes, Elder Wu," the four recruits said and enjoyed their meal as the hostesses arrived with their food.

Agemo arrived at a secluded training ground a few yards away from the dormitories as night fell. He was curious to test the Sentinel Bow. As for the stone talisman, he kept it in his pocket in case it could detect elemental essence nearby in the future. He admired the Sentinel Bow. It was indeed very strange. It was shaped like a recurve bow but had no strings. The main body was made of vermillion metal of unknown origin. Nearing the ends of the bow, the image of a lion turtle was carved on the top and on the bottom.

"Let’s see how it works," Agemo thought as he placed his hand where he imagined the bowstring would be.

A shining vermillion bowstring appeared, and Agemo was able to grasp it as he pulled it back with his right hand. The ground shook around him as an unprecedented amount of power seemed to emanate from the arrow. Unsure of what would happen, he pointed it at the sky. As soon as he released it, space seemed to crack as a huge beam of light burst into the sky. Agemo fell back in shock, crashing into the ground.

"Oh shit. Oh shit," Agemo cursed as he stared at the bow. "It felt so powerful. Godlike. Space broke around the arrow's path! What madman would sell this off for two hundred thousand gold coins? Wait a minute. If people could only fire it once a year, why do I feel like I can draw it again?"

Agemo imagined where the bowstring was and poured spirit energy into it again as he made a stance. As he moved his hand, he let go of the Sentinel Bow in shock as his hand grasped the red bowstring. He was right! The archer from legend must not have been human at all! Maybe it was a magical beast in humanoid form or a demi-human due to an accident while absorbing spirit energy from a demonic core?

Still, the spirit energy consumption was huge. He thought he might have enough spirit energy to shoot about five arrows. He immediately bound the Sentinel Bow to him by dripping some blood onto it. The lion turtles carved on the bow transformed. The image on the top took on the form of the White Ocean Tiger spirit.

Excited, he looked at the bottom carving and saw that it had also changed. It was the image of a half-metal mask that covered his nose down, resembling a fanged mask. The sides of the metal mask were the color of stone, while the middle part that covered the nose and mouth was sand-colored. Four canine fangs were present on the corners of the mask, the color of vermillion.

"So it’s an armor spirit," Agemo laughed as he put the bow away. "It really is an armor spirit. Would’ve liked a full helm, but a fanged mask works. Maybe it’s the influence of the first spirit? Still, at least I know now. The Sentinel Bow was definitely not a waste. I have a long-range weapon now. My enemies and prey won’t be able to escape my wrath. I should only use the Sentinel Bow if I'm trying to cover my escape. Yeah. That’s right."

Agemo returned to his room and began cultivating the following morning at dawn. He sighed as the red sun slowly shrank and took shape. He knew what it was going to look like, but not the name of the spirit. Since he had bound the Sentinel Bow, he could now see vermillion energy within his body. It truly was a divine weapon, to be sure. He now had two energy fluctuations in his body: the red demonic spirit energy and the mysterious vermillion energy.

Having a second type of energy flowing in a person's body wasn’t a bad thing unless the energies were incompatible. Some of the true Archon methods required two types of energy within one's body and gave tips on how to acquire them. The original spirit energy would represent earth, the body would represent man, and the second energy would represent heaven. Combining heaven and earth into man was the path to a true Archon.

However, Agemo decided he would not bind another artifact as powerful as the Sentinel Bow and risk it. Some people had eight types of energies within their bodies and did not suffer at all. Others only got one more, and they died a horrible death as their veins imploded one by one until their arteries burst, killing them. He told Meng Ce about everything that had happened the day before. Meng Ce was shocked, pleased, suspicious, and then pleased again.

"You got two great items from the auction house and formed a party," Meng Ce smiled. "While I am suspicious about this Seto character, he did help you. Leave the wraiths aside until you know more about them. This Sentinel Bow is quite the find. I also agree that you should never bind another artifact like it. You're really lucky it didn’t kill you when you decided to bind it to yourself. The fourth trial starts soon. I'll be watching from the stadium. Good luck."