The lightning shards covered the bodies of the puppets like the second layer of skin. Soon they exuded a bright blueish purple light as Eren activated them all at once.

Meanwhile, he pushed against the puppet’s hammer using his sword. And he used the recoil to move away from the puppet.

Boom!

The lightning shards were detonated all at once on the puppet before it could even try to get rid of them. A cluster of lightning bloomed where the hammer-wielding puppet stood.

When the lightning cluster cleared up, Eren saw that the hammer the puppet was holding was still intact. Its wielder’s body was fractured from various angles after being struck by lightning shards.

The hammer-wielding puppet’s ruby-red eyes stopped glowing as it kept on looking at Eren. In the next moment, it crashed to the ground.

Eren had managed to take care of one of the puppets just a minute into the fight.

Meanwhile, the puppets he had kept busy with his flying slashes got ready to attack him once again after successfully defending themselves. They screeched as they approached Eren using all their might.

Eren was about to move away from his position using his movement spell when he suddenly realized that he was getting dizzy. As if he had an extreme need to sleep.

‘That green gas!’

Eren clicked his tongue when he realized what was happening. His responses were getting dulled because of the green gas. So much so that he felt like he hadn’t slept in weeks.

Not only that. Eren also felt like his mana flow had been compromised, not allowing him to cast spells the way he wanted to. His casting time as well as the spell’s effects had been affected because of it.

“This… this is the first stage?”

Eren couldn’t believe the difficulty at which the testing grounds were conducting tests for him. The debuff he had been subjected to was enough for any normal ranker to rethink their decision to come to this place.

Blitz Heal

Alfem

Eren first cast the healing spell to relieve himself of the debuff. Since the debuff didn’t really harm his health, he knew the spell wouldn’t be as effective on him.

The spell could only expel the gas and its residue that had entered his system. But it could not get rid of the effect that his body was already subjected to.

Still, the effects of using the healing spell weren’t all in vain. Furthermore, it was not like Eren had to worry about running out of mana.

He followed his healing spell with his fire-element spell, casting two firebirds by his sides that soared in the sky before attacking the approaching puppets.

Boom!

The firebirds blew themselves up as soon as they made contact with their targets. The puppets who had been surrounded by flames tried to get their bearings. But alas, Eren just cast more firebirds and attacked them persistently.

He only stopped when he was sure with his mana sense that the puppets were beyond any repair. Their puppet bodies were destroyed only a few meters away from him.

“Not bad, not bad.”

The feminine voice spoke up. In the next moment, the remaining four puppets started approaching Eren. The latter has stress lines on his face as he prepares himself to face his new opponents.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Eren clashed with two of the puppets carrying a sword and spear. Meanwhile, he used a swarm of firebirds to handle the two remaining puppets. He kept them engaged while he dealt with the sword and spear-wielding puppets.

Eren released his flying slashes up close before charging up his gauntlets with his fire-element mana. He parried the attack that was initiated by the sword-wielding puppet before kicking it on his chest, forcing him to get away from him for the time being. He then approached the spear-wielding puppet and closed his distance with it.

The green gas had made it difficult for Eren to take advantage of his speed and agility. As a result, it took another few exchanges of weapon moves for Eren to breach the puppet’s defenses.

Eren generated force with his footwork and his guts to deliver an impactful punch. It was also charged with lightning-element mana. The runes on his Hex gauntlets lit up and allowed him to manifest the punch outward.

Alight. Swoosh. Punch.

The lightning-element punch was delivered to the puppet with a loud bang. The punch also manifested as a semi-transparent blue fist that stayed on the impacted region even after Eren had retracted his arms.

The punch did not allow the puppet to fly. It was forced to stay at its location and endure the full force of its attack. The attack quickly showed its effects.

The puppet’s chest was opened to reveal a gaping hole in his body. Something was shining inside the puppet’s body where his heart was.

Eren quickly understood what the shining yellow gem-looking thing was. This was the puppet core that was used to power and control the puppets.

He quickly inserted the hand he had punched the puppet with while it was stunning and yanked the puppet core out of its body. As a result, the puppet lost the light in its eyes and fell to the floor with a thud.

‘Don’t punch the target. Punch through the Target.’

Eren was reminded of another stray thought.

He took a long breath before casting a swarm of firebirds and lightning shards. He then combined the two by allowing the lightning shards to stick to the firebirds’ bodies.

He was planning to try a combo of Alfem and Blitz Shards. Firebirds flying around Eren suddenly got a makeover. Their fiery bodies were covered in lightning shards. It was as if the firebirds had suddenly grown lightning-element scales all over their bodies.

‘Three more.’

Eren said to himself as he controlled the swarm of firebirds all around him. In the next moment, his stacked combo spells attacked the remaining puppets all at once.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The three puppet bodies crashed on the ground when the firebirds were done colliding against them. The bodies disintegrated next before dispersing into thin air like the rest of the puppets.

Erne had cleared up the first stage of the test relatively easily.

Or so he thought.

“Excellent.”

The voice spoke to Eren once again. She seemed to be in a playful mood. Eren listened intently as she spoke her next words.

“So the starter is over. I see that you are not using the bear armor the way it was designed to. You are not a Hexer, are you?”

The voice asked with curiosity. But before Eren could answer, it verbally marched on.

“Hehe. Never mind. It’s not like this test is exclusively for Hexers anyway. The true test begins henceforth. I hope you are ready, Eren. Because this one’s going to hurt.”

The voice said and chuckled. Eren had a frown on his face but he didn’t reply with words. He just prepared himself for his next opponent.

Another array lit up on the ground not too far away from Eren and his new opponents appeared in front of him. There were only three puppets this time.

However, they were all mini giants. Boasting a stature of about 14 feet, the three puppets had humanoid shapes. Their limbs were not oddly shaped like the previous puppets. Also, they gave off more prominent mana signatures than the last puppets.

These puppets looked like real people. One of them was an elven lady with a crossbow in her hand. She lacked facial details. But she had prominent feminine features. She was also dressed in an adventurer’s outfit.

The second puppet was a man with a muscular frame and firm build. He had impressive biceps and a tattoo of a bear on his chest. He was carrying a big ax on his shoulders.

The third puppet was also a man who looked to be in his early 40s. He was carrying a heavy staff in one hand. And with the other hand, he was carrying a stopwatch.

These puppets had keen gazes in their eyes even when they shared the same eyes as the previous puppets. They looked at Eren menacingly as they waited for something or someone to send them orders.

Eren immediately knew that each of the three puppets was more powerful than the previous puppets put together. Their size had already made it difficult for Eren to think of a strategy to fight with them. It didn’t help that they looked more lively than the previous puppets.

‘Damn it. I hope they don’t come at me altogether.’

Eren retrieved his two axes from his storage. It was time to get serious. He didn’t have room to play around anymore.

“Brace yourself. They are going to attack you at once.”

When Eren heard that voice, he lost all hope of getting some breathing space. He spat in anger before tightening his grip around the two weapons.

“Don’t blame me if I wreck them beyond repair.”

Eren looked at the puppets menacingly before casting his movement spell. In the next moment, the three puppets and Eren disappeared from their positions.

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