Leonel was shocked by the result.
If he was honest with himself, he believed that he had already done about as well as anyone could. However, reality was cruel.
It wasn't just King Arthur that performed better than he did. Following him, whether it was Pope Margrave, Modred, or Peirce, each of them gained a perfect evaluation. What truly embarrassed Leonel was that there were even two demons who hadn't benefited from Minor Openings that managed to gain Perfect evaluations as well.
Before those two demons stepped forward, Leonel had thought it was due to the fact he was at a disadvantage. After all, while other beneficiaries of Minor Openings didn't have to worry about anything other than their weapon, Leonel had to balance his powerful bow with his weak arrows.
However, after observing for a while longer, Leonel realized that things weren't so simple. If two demons with normal weapons could succeed then there had to be a problem with him.
Had he been too conservative? But Leonel really couldn't think of a way for him to have been more aggressive.
As Leonel was realizing that matters wouldn't be as simple as he thought, the shock only continued to grow.
After the two demons passed with Perfect evaluations, Supreme Monet stepped forward and received yet another.
This time, Leonel wasn't the only one who was shocked either.
Monet used a whip. But, it was clear by its quality that she too was just another regular participant of these trials.
However, where she distinguished herself was in the fact that while Leonel had to unlock his Force wielding abilities, Monet didn't!
Raging flames surged out from her body and coated her whip, making her every strike easily worth tens of times that of another. In the end, she shattered the protective shield around the metallic beast in less than ten minutes, setting a new record.
Toward such a display, Leonel couldn't help but frown. It seemed he had begun to take some things for granted. He couldn't afford to lose his focus chasing after dreams when there was very real danger right before him. He still wasn't aware if Monet would be on his side or not.
His first priority was to survive. Only if that was possible would he give his everything to master the Four Seasons Realm with his bow.
'As expected, these trial grounds can't restrict abilities. Just like I can use mine freely, so can Monet. I had originally assumed that no one in Camelot or in Modred's Demon Army had abilities, but what if it's not that they don't, but that it's rare?'
Leonel began to silently inspect the two demons. It wasn't long before he understood just where their specialties lied.
'They have inborn natural strength. It seems that the abilities those of this Mythological Zones have aren't as broad and varied as ones from back on Earth, but it's possible for rare variations like this to occur…'
Leonel didn't dare to casually inspect King Arthur with his Internal Sight, but he believed that if he did, King Arthur might very well have such special inborn strength as well. Coupling that with the fact he had Excalibur and everything would make sense.
The only questionable one was Modred. She should have been in a similar position to Leonel, only being able to rely on long ranged attacks from weak spells. Her situation was not much different from his own. Yet, she still managed to gain a Perfect evaluation.
Ultimately, though their situations were similar, they still differed by one major point. While Modred's wand could amplify the strength of her 'weak' spells, it was difficult for Leonel's bow to do the same for his arrows, at least not by the same measure.
Leonel grew more serious the more he thought. It seemed he had fallen a step behind. There were already seven people with better evaluations than him.
It was fine for Monet and the two demons for now since they didn't get the initial boost of skill points Leonel did. At most, they were on par with him with all of them having received seven total skill points. But, if things continued like this, Leonel would only fall further behind.
In addition, if Leonel couldn't perform better, he doubted that he would ever earn enough skill points to trade for the Fall, Winter, Summer and Spring Embryos, let alone the fusion of them all. To make matters worse… not everyone had gone yet, who knew if there were other monsters waiting in the wings.
Now that Leonel thought about it, the others that had entered this Zone with him also had abilities that wouldn't be restricted.
As though to confirm Leonel's worries, Big Buddha and Violet Rain went up one after another. Big Buddha seemed to have gained large gloves for his hands from the weapon selection round while Violet Rain had chosen a sword. Both of their battles were without suspense.
AS though even this wasn't enough, after many had gone, Little Nana was the last to go up.
Leonel frowned when he saw her. Compared to the shy little girl she had been when he last saw her, she seemed somewhat even more reserved and … scared?
Leonel's initial thought was that she had been scared by the trial. After all, she was only a teenage girl and younger than even the young Leonel by several years, didn't it make sense if she was scared?
However, when she used her bind ability and then easily dispatched the metallic beast to the point of breaking Monet's record, Leonel realized that her fear wasn't toward the beast, but rather toward turning back to approach… Pope Margrave?
Leonel's frown deepened. Could the death of the other Adurna family members be related to the Pope?
But this didn't make any sense. Why would the Pope kill them all but Little Nana? And, if he did do so, why would he allow Little Nana to enter these trial grounds? Shouldn't he be like King Arthur, doing everything in his power to stop her from entering?
The more Leonel thought about it, the more confused he seemed to become.
Just when he wanted to see if it was possible to communicate with the little girl directly, a familiar voice sounded.
<Trial 1 has been completed>
<Milestone Reached: 10 participants have earned Star Points>
<Trial 2 has been postponed, Elimination Round commencing>
<Elimination Goal: 10>
The small grey platforms began to rumble.
<First Elimination Round — Begin!>