117 Automaton

Chalice consulted and told his plans to the higher-ups of Z-Company and they had an argument for a while.

Recently, Chalice felt that he was guarding an empty shell. It wasn't the same before where the aircraft felt like it was something filled with unknown treasures.

His instincts never failed him before, so due to this, he had to change his plans. His strength had stagnated in the recent years as  he could no longer do anything to increase his power and unaware of what to do next as he doesn't have a mentor strong enough to guide him.

Also, the higher-ups of the Z-Company doesn't want to fully help him anymore. There were some internal changes within the structure of the organization as the people who was fully supporting his back before was no longer in position and was replaced by younger officials.

This made Chalice realized that he was becoming unfamiliar with the organization.

But due to the help provided by the organization when he was still starting his path in magic, his loyalty didn't waiver. He reported his plans to them and asked permission to be assigned elsewhere as the value of this relic site seems to have lessened. He wanted to be involved in the northern continent's forces and let others handle the defense in this island.

Unfortunately, it seems like the Z-Company had even become more cautious of him after he asked permission for this. Instead of approval he received a mission to participate in an experiment.

"What? You want to test those to me? I heard that there was a high fatality rate on those experiments." Chalice frowned after hearing the request of one of the researchers from Shaman's Hex Faction. The man looked to be in his fifties as he tried to entice Chalice in participating on the experiment.

"You are different, you are one of the strongest magicians out there. Your degree of immunity to this experiment is much higher than the others. We have made calculations that your physique is suitable for this enhancements. Also, there's already a level of success when we tried it to others but they just can't control the new strength they received. They were unable to properly control or utilize them to avoid harming themselves. But we know that you can do this..."

"How would you know? What if there's any mistakes? That project you have wasn't even as long as the Cryptic Link." Chalice questioned him and shook his head as he wasn't convinced.

"We will compensate you. But if this succeeded, you can just imagine the further increase in strength that you would receive." The man still tried to lure Chalice. He was aware about Chalice's stagnated strength so he was clinging in the hopes of recruiting him by providing more power. But to change Chalice's mind was difficult.

"I will still not agree on this. This is not the reason that I contacted you people." Chalice wanted to say more but the man seem to start changing his approach to him.

"Why? You're still unable to tell? This is the future, this is the path for the 6th gen! The creation of Human Mana Artifact! Your strength will not improve in the northern continent and we can't have you move away yet. Also, we still have some plans within this southern continent and your presence would be needed." The man seriously said in the end as he took a heavy breath.

Chalice was getting unhappy with the man he was speaking with. At the very least, the man's words still indicates his importance to the organization and he would surely not be killed within the experimentation.

'What 6th gen? You just wanted to test my body if I could endure being ingrained by those magic structure orbs.' Chalice thought.

"No, it's too dangerous. I don't need your experiments to improve my physique or even my power. I will seek my own path."

Chalice remained in his stance as another argument with the researcher happened. This time, Chalice could no longer take it.

***

Hector's ability to adapt in the situation was very impressive. He learned the weakness of the automaton and used this chance to immobilize the automaton.

As soon as the automaton's leg was petrified.  It would be much easier for him to finish it.

However, since he had used elemental-based Mana attack, the automaton should now use an elemental base as well. He had to be careful but he knew that he already won this fight after landing the petrification spell.

Hector followed up with another quick-casting magic spell. But just like what he thought, the automaton was fully prepared. It easily cast Stone Wall to block its front and as Hector tried to use a more diverse attack, it just cast Water Sphere Prison to defend attacks from all sides.

The magician didn't falter as he waited for a few minutes for an opportunity and thanks to his patience, after 6 minutes of waiting, a chance occurred. This wasn't something that luckily appeared but planned. It was due to the petrification he placed before, which have corrosive effects.

Unfortunately, the effects can be delayed depending on the victim's Mana usage. So Hector didn't give a chance for the automaton to gather enough Mana and focus on removing the petrification he cast. With all his means and preparation, it successfully lead in this situation.

"That Weak Petrification is really effective against non-living objects. The corrosion was enough to deal with the structure of the automaton." Hector said after defeating the  automaton and completely immobilizing them.

This battle made everyone realize the delay that the automaton does whenever it switches its programmed battle style. The next contestants that have noticed this, took note of it quickly as they prepared themselves for their upcoming fight.

But it seems that the Montego team doesn't have plans on copying Hector's strategy.

Hector had clearly dominated the round and was given praise by the audience and acknowledged by his teammates. Kyla especially went and congratulated her teammate.

Of course, Kyla was also inspired by Hector's strategy and would like to use it on her own but with different battle style. She wasn't good enough to use the Red Dragon Staff and she had never tried multicasting eight Mana-based attacks before. Although there's already a magic structure that would guide her to cast, it would still be challenging if she'll do it the first time so she'd rather use familiar Mana Artifacts.

The third round occurred and it was Nyla's turn in Zairus side. Nyla hadn't use Hector's method of using mana-based attack to throw-off the automaton and have a chance to land a quick elemental spell. The reason was simple, the automation had changed it's pattern for some reason and became a bit more cautious and not so aggressive unlike in the first match. In this round of battle, no one has defeated the automaton but everyone were been able to last for fifteen minutes.

The Montego's team was still curiously using Vampiric Staff  which even feels like it was getting more difficult for their student. The announcers were tired to comment about it and had only say a few things. The announcers had instead highlighted Maja's Priscilla, a female second-year student.

She has a tanned skin and short black hair. Her bangs was clipped to her left to make sure that it would not affect her vision. During the whole battle, her eyes seems to see through the automaton's attack as she played with it within the whole fifteen minutes. It feels like the girl was warming up with the automaton as a partner.

Wallace had returned after meeting Yumi and noticed Priscilla's semblance with his third-year senior, Mei. It made him quite curious.

As the third round ended and the fourth round started, they all realized the automaton's strange behavior. It took them this fourth battle just to learn that the automatons were actually capable of learning.

"Isn't this very tough?"

"That's right, what will happen to the last participant. They would definitely fight the strongest automaton."

"What a bad luck. Too bad that no one knows aside from the organizers about the secret of this match."

"Yes, if they were aware of the rules of automaton at the very beginning, they would've been very careful on this. And the strongest student might be placed on the 6th round instead."

It was a disaster, all the participants except Montego's team had struggled to fight against enemy. They had barely held on and the battle which Aria fought was very difficult as she was almost defeated. She had only luckily lasted long because she revealed her Mana Affinity that reached the level of Inducement Control. At least on this time, Kyla learned how to take advantage of having high affinity in a battle.

"They are too strong... What a bad luck, I should've fought first. That Avery was lucky." Aria grumbled as she regretted giving up her chance to fight on the first round. It was because Avery said that she just wanted to fight first for their sake as she kindly asked them to find the automaton's weakness during her fight so it would be easier for next participant.

Vanessa looked at her best friend, patted her back and comforted her.

"That's alright. Just imagine Kyla's luck." Due to the rules of the competition. The submitted line up before the round can no longer be changed. So Kyla have to fight the sixth round even if Vanessa was willing to exchange the round with her.