Jay nervously turned around looking for any danger. He was heavily surprised by what had just happened. How was it possible that he was no longer in an illusion? His surroundings hadn’t changed at all!

Yet before he had much time to think about this a thick fog enveloped him, obscuring his vision. The spear in his hand was heavy, something he didn’t have to consider before now became a concern. After all, now he was limited by his own stamina and he had no idea what was hiding in the fog.

A dozen minutes passed, in this time he didn’t move anything other than his head which was steadily scanning his surroundings. The situation really was severe, his arms were already shaking a bit and he knew that there would be no way he would be able to keep his spear up for much longer. So after careful consideration, he changed his grip on the spear so he would be able to use it as a walking stick, this way at least it wouldn’t take long for him to wield a weapon if he got attacked.

When he started walking back towards the town, the sound of his steps were the only thing to be seen and the mist around him was the only thing he could see. He wasn’t sure if the village even existed but he would have to sleep at some point and he would rather sleep in a house that had a door that could be locked then in the open field where he could get attacked at any time.

Five long hours had passed before Jay had made his way back towards the town. First, he arrived a few kilometers to the west of the town but after following the mountain ridge he managed to make his way back.

Happy that the small town still existed he entered the gate vigilantly. The streets were empty and the few houses he checked were too, it seemed like the town was deserted.

Since he wasn’t sure of the time limit on the test or if there was some other objective he decided to first pass by the place he started at before checking the town hall, if he didn’t find anything then he would find a house to sleep in.

After arriving at the house he started at he noticed something odd, the painting that hung on his wall was no longer there, instead a white orb seemed to be embedded within the wall. He could faintly see a thick white mist within the orb but was unable to properly look at it. It seemed impossible to properly focus on the orb.

After hesitating for a good moment Jay grabbed his spear properly and stabbed towards the orb.

*CLANG*

A loud metallic sound erupted, it was clearly the sound of 2 weapons clashing, at the same time Jay jumped backward, narrowly avoiding a sword that was headed for his legs.

As he got his bearing he saw 2 figures in front of him. One of them seemed to have defended the glass orb from his strike, yet it was hard to see. Both figures seemed impossible to have a good look at, leave alone properly fight.

Jay nervously backed to the end of the room, he kept his spear in front of him and tried to use its length to keep the enemies at a distance

But this didn’t do all that much, soon the duo started attacking him, one of them seemed to have a spear and the other a sword, yet as he wasn’t able to see them properly he was unable to see where the attacks were coming from until the last moment, multiple times he was only able to avoid due to intuition.

It didn’t take long for the first cuts to appear on him, a few minutes passed before his hands were covered in small cuts and a few small cuts had appeared on his torso too. He was already getting tired despite the short duration of the fight, mentally he was nearing exhaustion and his reflexes would soon start slowing down.

At this point he knew he had to take out the trump card he managed to get earlier, so for a moment, he held the spear with a single hand as he quickly reached into his clothes, pulling out the red lava elemental's core. He quickly bit into his tongue and dropped some blood on the core, causing the oval rune atop it to glow red.

After this he kicked the red core behind the hazy attackers before flames started erupting from it, in just a few moments a 1-meter tall lava elemental stood behind the attackers.

| Mythical creature has been summoned, it will dissipate in 30 minutes |

As the system announcement came into his ears he couldn't help but let out a soft smile. Thanks to the light the elemental gave off he could attack more accurately by simply attacking the places that weren't brightened up. He was careful not to push the enemies back to much lest they would go behind the elemental once again rendering them hard to attack.

"Elemental, Attack the orb!"

After saying these words, all parties involved moved simultaneously.

The lava elemental attacked the misty orb, Jay attacked the figure the closest to the elemental as both the figures turned to the lava elemental to strike it.

In truth, it went way easier then he had previously expected. The elemental reached the orb first causing all the mist to immediately disperse. Just a moment later Jay's spear impaled the figure before him which became clear the instant the mist dispersed.

A 13-year-old girl was impaled on his spear, a tear escaped her eye and blood seeped from her mouth as she turned to look at her companion.

"NOOOOOO!!!"

A cry came from his right as he saw the other figure was a boy of similar age, Now holding a half-melted iron sword he recklessly swung it in Jay’s direction, his face twisted in a mix of anger and sadness.

Jay scoffed at the boy movements, his approach was unsteady and the way he gripped his weapon would make every swing take more effort then it should. Jay quickly jumped towards the boy grabbing him at his wrist with one hand while using the other to lift him off of the ground.

The boy’s look once again changed now looking at Jay terrified, the boy’s face was covered in a mixture of snot and tears as he dropped his sword to the ground.

“Better luck next time kid.” Jay said coldly as he threw the boy right into the lava elemental. The boy screamed for a second absolutely terrified before dying. There wouldn’t be a next time.

| Mission 2 completed: Survive. |

| Time spent: 0 days |

| Mission ranking: S+ |