Green turned to face the path ahead of her and found that this time it was split into four. Each tunnel had a contestant's name on it. *Um, is this a trap? Do I just pick my name?* While Green debated internally, she was already running down her marked tunnel. *No I've wasted too much time on indecision already. *
As Green continued deeper the vines got thicker blocking out what little light could enter. The floor seemed to become smoother and Green was loosing track of the walls as they slowly expanded. Green started spreading her mana throughout the air in the room trying to get an indication of what was coming for her.
Green continued like this for around thirty seconds. Eyes closed and senses spread out trying to garner any additional details she could from her limited mana control. *Why didn't I train this more? I know I'm not a mage but this is important. What am I su-* In that instant Green felt something approaching her.
Throwing her eyes open in panic she was blinded by the now brightly lit corridor. Placing her hands in front of her to protect herself from whatever it was flying towards her Green struggled to regain vision.
The rushing of air and a large object flew past Green. As her eyes started to focus, she could see a second thing flying towards her. *Ooh, I wish I had basic healing for my eyes.* As her vision cleared, she came across a strange sight. It was a series of interlocked grey vines with a human cut out rushing towards her.
It was posed with its arms and legs outstretched in a star shape with the feet firmly planted on the ground and fast approaching. Green glanced behind her and saw a similar shape racing away from her though this one was had the legs together and arms facing up to make a box shape.
*Wait so does that mean?* Instead of standing in the correct pose like a normal person Green started sprinting towards the wall once again. Just before it made contact with her she tucked into a ball and flew through the centre making use of the large torso section.
Green repeated her tactic with the next three walls completely ignoring the increasingly elaborate poses she was requested to do and simply jumped through them all. The final one, that was supposed to be a challenge was just what she had been doing the whole time. A small gap around chest height she would have needed to bunch up for.
After Green cleared the final wall the vines that made up the room's walls and ceiling thinned significantly allowing natural light to flow in again. Green looked around to find herself standing in front of a truly exceptional number of spinning blades.
*That… that's a lot of blades, I mean, I guess it isn't really that many blades compared to my parents, and that one time Nixilei designed the obstacle course…* Green looked worriedly at the well of ten thousand blades set up on rotating stands that would require someone to dance and weave their way through the whole thing.
Green took a deep breath to steady herself and caught a whiff of Kirin berry poison. *That really takes me back, Thyme even has Kirin berry poison? I wonder if he really did design my parents' old obstacle courses…* Taking a break to look around further Green nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw John beside her.
*How in the name of the endless storm did he get here.*
"Apoligies ma'am didn't mean to startle you" said John nodding his head slightly towards Green.
"Um, eh um" Green stammered.
"Now, don't worry too much, I ain't that scary am I?" asked John. Sadly though his words did nothing to calm Green down.
So she decided to charge into the whirling forest of blades. Infinitely preferable to social interaction and much less likely to get someone like her killed. Green activated as many enchantments across her entire outfit.
Green wove through each blade like a dancer, up down bending backwards and forwards it was a surreal sight. She'd thought to just jump over the blades but she had found that they simply continued upwards and there was limited space for her to leap from once she left the ground.
As Green approached the end of the sea of blades she found a large wall simply churning blades forward, looking less like a trap and more like a grinder. There were perhaps more blades in this one segment alone then in the rest of the trap combined so densely packed was the contraption that lay ahead of her.
*This doesn't look nice. Isn't this super rude? Why would anyone do this? Who makes it through that safety?* Well I mean I can but that just isn't fair to anyone else. Green took a deep breath and dismissed her enchantments. Dodging the few blades that targeted her space wasn't too bad as there was less just before the wall.
Green gathered her mana into the most compact form she could manage. Pushing it towards her back compressing it further and further. Faint wings appeared for everyone to see, a shame there wasn't anyone to see the splendid sight. After a minute of constant dodging and compressing of mana Green blurred, this time not just slightly but her whole body seemed to break apart as she stood there.
Green leapt through the blades. Swords and daggers cut into Green leaving long marks that… did basically nothing. She was almost entirely unaffected. As Green stepped out of the contraption she found herself back on stage again. Immediately releasing her mana she stood tall confident in her success… on the outside
I'm so tired… I need to go take a nap… but Nixilei won't let me during the contest… hmm I can probably lay on Gareth, I bit she won't complain about that right? I mean it's fine right? Green's façade of pride and confidence was broken when she heard a grating sound from behind her. She sprinted over to hide behind the nearest thing, which happened to be Thyme, who simply smiled down at her and looked to the blade wall.
It was opening up slowly to reveal Clive covered in a few cuts pulling on a massive leaver. He walked through the opening and collapsed. Shortly afterwards John and Grace followed him through.
*There was a lever! I didn't need to waste all my mana!?* Green wanted to go sleep for the rest of the week. The stress was too much for her. In her panic she had missed one of several extremely obvious levers to allow for the opening of the blade wall.
"Congratulations" boomed Thyme though he intentionally projected his voice away from Green "You've all completed my obstacle course. Green has come first and received this rounds point for speed. She also managed to take the unintended route for quite a few obstacles but isn't it more fun this way? I hoped everyone enjoyed watching"
Green paled as she looked around and spotted a giant projector that was currently zoomed in on her face. *Everything is fine. This is fine… I look fine. Gareth help please…* Green felt a hand on her shoulder and was very happy to find out it belonged to Gareth who took her into a hug.
"Good job" he said.
Green let herself melt into his arms. *I am tired. Sleepy time.*
"You can't sleep just yet Green" boomed Thyme "The tournament is just beginning"
Thyme swiped his hand and the obstacle course collapsed in an instant. The ground rapidly absorbing the structure as if it was never there in the first place.
"We get to spin the wheel again!" said Thyme "Would our current first place leader like to do the honours"
Green rapidly shook her head from the safety of Gareth's arms who was slowly bringing her back to the team. Anything that wanted her to leave was not something she wanted to do.
"Well, boooo then" said Thyme "Guess I'll just have to spin it. I mean, the other three are all about to collapse from poison… hmmm guess I should so something about that"
Thyme waved his hand a hundreds, thousands of shining green lights flew out. They went towards every scout, including Green. As they touched her skin she felt like she'd just had a full nights rest… which of course meant it was still time to go back to sleep as she hadn't had her morning nap yet.
While Green was trying to do her best sleeping princess impression Thyme struck the wheel once again. "Around and around the wheel it goes, where she stops, I still know. Perhaps I should make a worse wheel next time"
No one was really paying attention though. They all knew it would take too long. And for Green she was enjoying a nice place to rest. What could she possibly have to worry about.
"And the winner for this rounds contestants is…. Scouts! Again!"