Silver tried to look for a path to the dummy, but no matter where he looked, there was some kind of trap that would stop him.
'Even if there was a clear path, It would just mean there's a trap I failed to notice.'
"Allright kid: no magic is allowed. I will give you a hint though, the best way to approach the problem is taking it one step at a time. Now then, I'll leave you to it for the rest of the day, so if you manage to complete it, come find me." Shino gave Silver a light pat on the back before walking out of the room, leaving him to navigate this course.
"Thanks, I guess." Silver knew he could easily get by using his shadows, but that would ruin the point of this course. His best guess was that this course was meant to teach him how to deal with both predictable and unforeseeable dangers.
'Hmm, if it's like that, then maybe it's easier to imagine each trap as a monster. She did say to take one step at a time, so maybe I just need to run at it and deal with each trap as it comes. Silver considered just running the obstacle course the entire day, but he wanted to get the most out of this course.
It was a great chance to practise his movements, especially in his newly evolved body, as it was quite the jump.
Mentally preparing himself for what was to come, Silver took a step forwards once he was ready. As soon as he entered the course, he instantly felt that he had stepped on a pressure plate. Before he was able to react, a padded bat came flying from the roof, hitting him back into the wall.
"Argh!" He was hurt more by the wall than the trap, which came at a speed he didn't even think possible for one. It wasn't beyond his ability to react, but the unpredictability of the unknown made it hard to respond properly.
'She wasn't lying about taking it one step at a time.' Getting up from the ground, Silver approached the course again, this time much more prepared.
Taking the same step, the trap once again flung itself at him. Silver stepped to the side, yet his step also took him a little more forwards, stepping onto another plate. Looking around for anything that might be coming his way, he was surprised that nothing seemed to be happening.
However, suddenly the ground underneath him shot up, launching him back into the wall.
"A goddamn springboard!" Silver's excitement for this course was slowly turning into frustration since, at this rate, he would be launched into the wall a couple hundred times before making it.
'Okay, okay, maybe I am too slow; I am with the intelligence squad, so efficiency is key.' Silver shook his head and thought of a different approach.
Sprinting at the course, he dodged the first two traps quickly, but as soon as he took his next step forwards, another springboard came up from the ground in front of him, smacking him right in the face.
"Fuck!!!!!" Silver screamed out, now angry at the course for smacking him again all the way back to the start.
'Wait, that was the first time I swore... It feels kind of nice though. No wonder Mother does it, I just hope she doesn't mind me saying this stuff as well now.' Silver became self-aware of his actions and how he was changing.
'Ahhh, that doesn't matter now; I need to get through this damn course.' Silver had barely made any progress, not even reaching the traps he could see.
'Alright, come on, no more being smacked back to the start.' Silver collected himself and tried once again to run through. Swiftly dodging the foam bat and avoiding the springboards, he was now in new territory.
Silver heard the next trap activating, sounding like a taut string being let go as if it were an arrow being shot. Recognising the sound, he dodged out of the way on pure instinct, and as he did, an arrow the size of a tree flew by. The arrow itself had a blunt tip so as not to kill him, but what surprised him was that the arrow seemingly disappeared when it hit the edge of the course.
'That's handy.' However, this slight distraction would be his downfall as another arrow was shot, only this time from his side.
ραΠdαsΝοvεl ƈοm 'Shit!' He had moved in such a way that all his weight was on one foot, making it impossible to dodge without getting hit. Silver tried to kick himself in a different direction, but the arrow was too fast and impacted the side of his ribs.
Luckily some magic seemed to be at play, as the blow itself did not hurt as much as it should. Hitting the wall once again, Silver dragged himself back up and to the start of the course. He tried to see if he could enter through the side, but there was a one-way barrier preventing him.
'At least I dodged one.' Trying to cope with the fact that he managed to dodge one arrow gave him a bit of hope that he could do this. It was already apparent that he needed to work on his footwork in order to not end up in a situation like that.
"Again!" Entering the course again, Silver paid much more attention to his footwork, learning how to be lighter on his feet.
Reaching the arrow section again, this time it was much easier to navigate past the arrows. Listening for the sound cues of where the arrows were coming from, Silver was able to preemptively move. However, as he got deeper, two arrows were fired at once. To make things even more complicated, the previous traps he encountered have now also made their return.
A padded bat came flying towards his head, while two arrows were directly aimed at his back and ribs.
'Crap, what am I meant to do?! Think Silver, think!.' Being stuck in thought over what to do, Silver lost his brief chance to escape, the result of which was yet another defeat. After being smacked in the face by the padded bat first, Silver was launched to the start once again.
"Damnit, at least I made progress." Silver did not feel as frustrated this time; he had managed to adapt and progress further than ever before. The sense of fulfilment outweighed the feeling of annoyance at being sent back.
'How did I fail that time?' Pondering what occurred, Silver tried to figure out what stopped him from progressing. He knew he could easily think of a way to dodge it now that he has the time, but what about the next set of traps?
'Urghhh, I don't know; let's try again and see if I can figure it out.' Silver couldn't think of why he failed and could only conclude that he just didn't have enough time to react. With the traps not being deadly, it was easy to memorise the course after each try.
Attempting the course again, Silver returned to the same point and was able to duck down the slope to avoid all the traps. Making another step forwards, the springboards made their return, this time launching Silver into the air while arrows fired.
"How the hell am I meant to dodge this?" Silver looked around for anything that could help. From the corner of his eye, he noticed a rope positioned just in his blind spot. Without thinking, he grabbed the rope, avoiding the arrows that would have punched him back to the start.
Swinging off the rope to the ground, a new trap finally came into play.
'Can you even call this a trap?' Silver witnessed human-shaped golems with four arms swinging around padded bats. Arrows were also fired at him, only this time they were much smaller and greater in numbers.
'Shit!' Silver narrowly dodged the arrows, yet as he danced around them, the golems were quick to approach. Swinging the bats at a speed that was almost unreadable, Silver slid across the ground into a springboard trap, which caused him to be launched out of the course.
*
<Just outside the training room>
"He has got some guts for just running at it constantly." A male who sat at a desk observing Silver was quite impressed with his will.
"Well, no one other than Shino has gotten past the halfway point, so it's commendable that he is slowly making progress." A woman who sat behind the man was also impressed.
"Indeed, although I don't know how he will do once he reaches the traps that will actually pose a threat."
"Well, if he is like us, he will stop when he reaches that point."
"You know the whole point of this course is to mentally train you with non-lethal traps for the first half. By the time you reach the real traps, there will be no difficulty in dodging them. Now, how would you like to join him and finish that training you quit halfway through?" Shino had made a surprise appearance in between the two slacking members, threatening to throw them in the course as well.
"No Ma'am!" In unison, the two got back to work, monitoring the course and making sure nothing went wrong.
"Good." Shino chuckled and looked through the window to see how Silver was doing before leaving again.
'Elaina, your judgement of character is never wrong.'
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