Chapter 135 The Duel Begins

Mako absorbed every single crystal that was inside his backpack which included the 25 medium-tier raw crystals of the Sabertooth Spiders, 28 high-tier raw crystals of the Terra Beetles, and the 18 high-tier crystals of the Cicada Snakes.

These crystals were only the ones that Mako had killed. There were still more crystals in Leon and Bill's backpacks, but Mako didn't dare touch them as he wanted to honor the promise he made to them that whoever kills that beast will own the crystal and since crystals were going to become an important resource, he didn't want to cheat his friends and absorb more crystals.

It was not like Mako needed more crystals because his energy pool was larger than it ever was and by a very big margin.

[Profile] ⓘ

[User: Mako Grey]

[Health: 500/500] ⓘ

[Energy: 4050/4050] ⓘ

[EXP: 60000/204800] ⓘ

[Account: 120 Bronze Tier Coins] ⓘ

[Level 12] ⓘ

[Strength: 35 (+45) ] ⓘ

[Agility: 40 (+35) ] ⓘ

[Perception: 50(+20)] ⓘ

[Intelligence: 30] ⓘ

[Mentality: 50] ⓘ

[Stamina: 30 (+25) ] ⓘ

[Charisma: Locked] ⓘ

[Fortitude: 50] ⓘ

[Attribute Points: 9] ⓘ

Mako's energy pool had more than doubled in size and it was all thanks to the high-tier crystals. The high-tier crystals gave a slightly better understanding of the ability they possessed and increased the progress bar more than medium-tier crystals. In addition to that, a single high-tier crystal was able to increase Mako's energy pool by 50 instead of 10 which was a great jump, but one that Mako didn't complain about in the slightest.

Alongside that, A new sub-tab had been unlocked under the profile tab which displayed all the different abilities that Mako was in the process of understanding or upgrading.

[Understandings] ⓘ

[Poison (Level 1): 62%]

[Lightning (Level 5): 11.2%]

[Earth(Level 1): 56%]

[Sound (Level 1): 27%]

What Mako found interesting was the fact that even though all the medium-tier crystals provided a 1% understanding of the abilities that were stored in them and high-tier crystals provided a 2% understanding of the abilities that were stored inside the, the rate at which Mako's progress bar increased was different for each ability.

Since Earth and Poison were considered at the same level in terms of abilities, both of them increment with 1% from a medium-tier crystal and two percent from a high-tier crystal; however, since Sound was considered a tier above Earth, it only gained an increment of 1.5% from a high-tier crystal.

The level of abilities also mattered because even though Lightning and Earth were at the same level since Mako's Lightning was in the progress of being upgraded to level 5 while he was learning the first level of Earth, he gained only 11.2% in Lightning while he gained 56% understanding in Earth even though he absorbed the same number of crystals.

Mako was quite intrigued about how the system calculated this exchange rate, but unfortunately, he was out of crystals so he would have to find out more about this later.

With his energy levels topped up and his understanding enhanced, Mako spent the rest of the night preparing for the upcoming fight. He checked the backpacks once again and saw that Erin had also left the combat knife that he gave her behind.

Mako was still skeptical as to how all four of his friends were able to be captured so easily and it was also weird that there were signs of resistance or fighting around the camp which would have been the case if they were taken by force. Mako knew the strength of his friends and he knew that they were strong enough to at least put up a fight.

This combined with the fact that they left their weapons and backpacks behind, made Mako think that maybe they were lured away somehow.

As the sun began to rise, Mako prepared himself to face Mikhail and rescue his friends. Mako had no doubt in his mind that the imposter that he had caught and this Mikhail fellow were associates, but he wanted to know what was so special about their group that he kept pursuing them.

First through the imposter Andrew who they saved from the burning hut, then using those hypnotized high-tier wolf beasts, and now somehow holding his friends hostage so that Mako would have no other choice but to accept the duel.

Something was definitely fishy about this because no sane cadet would go to such lengths just to deal with one group; however, Mako couldn't actually know the truth until he faced him.

So as soon as the first rays of the sun came through the shelter window, Mako stepped outside the shelter and started making his way toward the base of the west mountain where the duel was supposed to take place.

Prior to leaving, Mako used the drone to check the event log one more time to see if Mikhail was true to his word and still had not eliminated his friends or if he had lied and eliminated his friends already making it so that Mako was just walking into his trap.

Fortunately, it looked like Mikhail was true to his word as no such report of his friends being eliminated had appeared on the event log.

As Mako walked down the mountain at a relatively fast pace, he wasn't distracted by anything in his path at all. He didn't come across a single beast or cadet during his whole journey which was also quite odd because the mountain should have been booming with activity since the loot crate event was still active.

When he reached the designated spot, he saw a man standing in the open field, waiting for him. This was Mikhail. He was a tall and muscular man, with a face that looked like it had seen its fair share of battles. He had tall, broad shoulders and a muscular build.

He had short, light blonde hair and piercing blue eyes that seem to stare right through his opponent. His face was rugged and scarred, with a prominent jawline and a stern expression that gave the impression that he is not one to be trifled with. He was also wearing the same military uniform as Mako with a sheath attached to his belt.

The two men stared at each other for a few tense moments, neither one making a move.

"You wanted me, and now I am here! Where are my friends?" Mako said to Mikhail without a hint of fear in his voice.

Mikhail only smiled at Mako's question as he used his right pointer finger to direct Mako's attention toward the nearby tree.

Mako followed the direction of Mikhail's pointer finger and his eyes landed on his friends who were on their knees with blank expressions on their faces, staring at the sky with their faces covered in sweat.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM!?" Mako shouted as he tried to move toward his friends but was forced to stop dead in his tracks.

A female cadet and the imposter from before suddenly appeared from behind Bill and Iris' back and held a blade right next to their throat. Bill and Iris didn't even flinch as the girl cadet and the imposter did this which meant that they were in some sort of trance and couldn't register what was going on outside.

The girl cadet had long black hair and deep black eyes that had a hint of purple in them. She had a relatively small body but that didn't stop her woman parts from fully developing which she proudly displayed with a tight and half-buttoned-up shirt and makeshift shorts made from torn military pants.

She had a maniacal smile on her face as she said," Easy there, they are just getting their daily recommended dose of... FEAR!"

Mako was stunned by what he was hearing. He quickly used Analyze on the girl to find out what she was going on about and that was when he realized.

[Analyze]

[Profile: Natasha Wolf]

[Ability: Fear (Level 4), Speed (Level 3)] ⓘ

The girl whose name was Natasha had the fear ability. This was the reason why his friends were in a trance-like state, she must have put them in a dream where they were living through their worst fears again and again.

However, this was not the only instance that Mako had come across this type of ability. Mako thought back to the events that had taken place on the aircraft before jumping. Mako was going through the same exact thing where he could register anything and was being welled up by fear.

"You Bi***! It was you! You altered my mind while we were on the plane!" Mako shouted in anger toward Natasha who just kept smiling like a crazed woman.

Suddenly, Mako started hearing the sound of slow clapping coming from the front, he turned back to see that Mikhail was the one clapping.

"So you figured that part out, very good Mr. Grey." He said in a very deep Russian accent.

"So you must have also figured out that you have been our sole target ever since this test began!" Mikhail added as he stopped clapping.

"What..." Mako was about to say something but was completely cut off as Mikhail dashed in front of him in an instant.

The two boys were literally inches apart from one another. Mako was processing Mikhail's insane speed while Mikhail just stared right into Mako's eyes. After a second, Mikhail leaned forward and whispered something into Mako's ear.

"Greetings from El-Diablo," Mikhail whispered.