The Exalt Cultivation Fantasy

Act 1: Blue Ocean Pavilion - Chapter 158: The Three Waves of Constructs

After Oscar had blasted away one of the constructs, the other two quickly moved in unison, and they dashed in from both sides with Ein coating their tridents. On the side, Oscar focused his Ein and summoned his blue deer anima, it was bigger than before, and its antlers were longer with more protrusions. It had matured with Oscar and had grown.

'If just my blow isn't enough to destroy them past the armor, what about with this guy's antlers.' Oscar used 'Shattering Wave' again to blow back another construct before focusing on the last one.

His deer anima made a noise as it charged ahead with incredible speed, thanks to the boost of Ein focused on its hooves. Oscar was right beside it, keeping up with the Adamasreis on his feet. Their eyes stared ahead at the construct that stabbed ahead with its trident.

'Shattering Wave'

Oscar swung out with his buckler.

'Ein coated Antlers'

His deer anima bowed its head, brandishing its antler, which burned with overwhelming Ein through its branches. With the added boost of 'Ein Awaken', the Ein on the antlers condensed into a terrifying blow.

Their combined attack crashed into the trident, sending reverberations through its shaft to the stone construct. Its hands shattered into pieces, dropping the trident to the floor.

But the attack was not over. Oscar and his deer anima continued their singular attack, sending it straight into the stone construct's chest. The stone construct was blown into the air, turning into pieces of gravel that rained down on the room, leaving behind a pile of rock and a damaged piece of armor.

Inside the pile of gravel was a strange gold orb with cracks all over it, but then it shattered into dust. It was the artificial core of the construct. Now that it was destroyed, the construct had truly died in a sense.

"One down." Oscar heaved a sigh and focused on recovering. The 'Ein Awaken' was near its limits, and he had to regain his bearings. As he did, he saw the other two battered stone constructs making their way to him, not minding the cracks that spread over their bodies. "Constructs are amazing to move despite this amount of damage."

Oscar's deer anima charged ahead and bulldozed into the stone constructs without regard. It slammed its antlers with such force and Ein that it shattered the stone constructs into pieces. The artificial cores within the two were not destroyed but simply vanished.

The room let out a loud ring, and the banner above changed its wording to say, "Congratulations on finishing the first wave; you have earned 50 points. If you want, you can leave this room or continue."

A number began counting down from one minute, but Oscar remained still and recovered using Ein meditation. His deer anima remained by his side silently.

As the timer reached zero, the banner changed to say, "Wave Two will now start."

The gates opened again, but this time, three constructs came forth; they were slightly larger than before and had golden armor that included a helmet to cover their faces. But Oscar was not focused on these front-liners; he saw two other figures step out: one held a bow and an arrow of Ein at the ready while the other brandished two disk-like weapons, chakrams.

Oscar wiped off a drop of sweat on his brow and stared at the current setup. Two large golden constructs had shields and spears, while the other held a sword. He knew this was to deter him from reaching the ranged fighters, who stood at the far back.

"This is the second wave? Who came up with the trials? They're overdoing this." Oscar complained but wore a smile as he wanted to see how much stronger he had gotten.

He stepped forward with his deer anima.

…….

Ava Jones and Elder Dustin were in the monitoring room, watching over the students taking the exam through floating images from an observation spell. Ava Jones's eyes were mainly focused on the figure of Mary Jones, who was currently in an endurance trial.

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"That idiotic niece…." Ava Jones murmured.

Elder Dustin pretended not to hear but peered at the other images, looking over the other students fighting, resting, or moving about in the labyrinth without a clear direction. He looked surprised when he saw Oscar slamming his buckler and sending a stone construct flying.

"This boy is very strong. He doesn't seem to be at the peak of Greater Apprentice Exalt, but his power is astounding." Elder Dustin remarked with surprise.

Ava Jones turned away from Mary and looked on with Elder Dustin. Her eyes flashed with astonishment as the stone construct was cracked all over. "It wasn't enough to force the construct to submit, but it's pretty much near the point. One more push ought to do it."

Elder Dustin nodded and watched in interest as the other two constructs ran ahead. He saw Oscar's deer anima. "He's a Grade Four, yet this powerful. What is going on?"

Ava and Dustin were shocked again at Oscar blowing away another stone construct before he and the deer anima ran toward the last one. In horror, their eyes widened as they witnessed Oscar reduce the stone construct to pieces and shatter its artificial core.

"That's no good!" Elder Dustin exclaimed. "Why didn't the defense mechanism prop up in time? The artificial core should have been protected, at the very least. What is going on?!"

Elder Dustin cried in agony. He was the one who had created the artificial cores for the constructs, so each was like his child and used up a good amount of resources. Seeing his work being destroyed without any plausible theory sent him spiraling into sadness.

Ava Jones pondered. "Ein Awaken? The way his deer's antlers shone and concentrated the Ein looked like the extra focus brought about by Ein Awaken, plus some Ein was being absorbed as well. As far as I know, only the great scions of the noble families undergo the brutal endeavor to learn it early. Even I didn't do it."

"That still doesn't explain how the defense mechanism didn't work. It should be incredibly tough physically, beyond the means of a Greater Apprentice Exalt, and the mechanism should deflect the Ein." Elder Dustin was red in the face and seemed to grow more wrinkles. Ein Awaken was shocking, but something more unsettling destroyed the core.

He didn't know that Oscar was a Reis user and progressing in Adamsreis. The compounded effects of 'Shattering Wave' with his enormous physical power had destroyed the artificial core. Proper measures could have been taken, but no one could have expected Oscar to possess physical power that could overwhelm the artificial core.

"We can only pull the records and see who this student is." Ava Jones called in one of the attendants and told them to get the information on Oscar. "But this is unexpected. I wonder how far this Grade Four student will go."

…….

Oscar loosened his grip on the buckler and stared at the constructs. From the small openings in their armor, Oscar could see they weren't made of stone like the first wave but rather some kind of steel.

"The fabricators truly go all out for their creations." Oscar chuckled. Constructs were a strange blend of fabrication and alchemy. The fabricators built the bodies and weapons, and the alchemists provided the artificial cores, which were unique elixirs in a condensed crystal form.

Oscar could tell the constructs were constructed with great care, and as a fabricator, he felt a bit sad to destroy these works of art. "Sorry to your creators, but I have to get through."

"Let's go."

His deer anima stood on its hind legs and stomped its front legs on the floor, kicking off the ground in a burst of speed. Its trampling caused the reaction of the steel constructs as they quickly acted to respond. Behind it, Oscar dashed ahead and jumped onto its antlers.

Using the momentum from its explosive charge, the deer anima lifted its antlers and flung Oscar up into the air. Then it disappeared because Oscar canceled its summoning before the constructs could surround and stab it.

Oscar stared dead ahead at the two ranged constructs, who turned to look up at him in the air. They were about to shoot out their weapons, but Oscar was a step faster and threw out his buckler, holding onto it with the string.

The buckler flew in with incredible speed, but the bow construct was quick to respond and sidestepped it. Oscar pulled hard and redirected the buckler to swing in the direction of the bow construct. Like a python, the strings of the buckler wrapped around and bound the construct.

The chakram construct changed its target and threw the chakrams at the string, but the strings made from the Thousand Serpent sinew held strong, repelling the chakrams. Oscar scoffed at the attempt and pulled himself toward the bow construct.

"If it were a real person, they would have reacted faster and slipped away from the strings. It's a shame you're only a construct with that tough body." Oscar noticed the shields and sword constructs rushing toward him with a smile.

He pulled hard on his string and swung the bound bow construct like a makeshift metal ball. He brought it crashing against the chakrams and the melee constructs, forcing them back.

Oscar held onto the string, still keeping the bow construct bound, and stretched out his right arm. In mere moments, a steel spiral manifested to form a sharp drill covering his fist.

With his powers no longer as unstable and the grueling six months of training, his 'Steel Drill' became much more practical without the five-second downtime.

Oscar dashed ahead and combined his 'Steel Drill' with 'Shattering Wave' into a devastating strike toward the chakram construct. His deer anima manifested to cut off its retreat to the side.

Oscar's 'Steel Drill' impaled through the steel construct that could not defend itself, and the powers of 'Shattering Wave' broke it into pieces, including its artificial core.

"One down."

Somewhere in the monitoring room, a cry came from a crazed elder.