Chapter 71
Chapter 73 Shock
Translated by: Naervon
"Your name is..... " Simon looked at the name list on the desk, then smiled and said
"Elena is it? I will now give out the challenge."
As his words fell, the stage hands brought a few items up to the stage with extreme caution and care, as if they were handling a deadly snake that was ready to bite at the slightest shake, then Simon said
"In front of you is a pot of Heaven’s Rot Flower, and deep within the soil there is a crystal ball. There is a seed of the Heaven’s Rot inside that crystal. Your task is to remove the seed out of the crystal while keeping the Heaven’s Rot Flower alive.
Hearing this challenge, a few who knew of the flower gasped at this difficulty. Outcries that this was way too hard and purposefully targeting this beautiful and graceful lady, of course, you have to ignore the fact that most of these complaints came from guys.
Elena’s brows furrowed with concentration, and felt some resent towards Simon, because this challenge compared to the ones given to other people was obviously not of the same difficulty. Elena felt like her challenge was at least 10 times harder than the other ones.
Tyre also frowned at hearing this from his spot below the stage, and looked towards Simon with a unkind gaze.
"This old coot, he must have found out that Elena is an elf." Tyre muttered to himself, reasoning that the chances of encountering such a targeted challenge is too low to be reasonable.
And it was also at this moment, LongTu contact Tyre with her specter stone from outside the stage area.
"Hey, Tyre? I am guessing that old man Simon has already discovered Elena’s ident.i.ty."
"That’s what I think also, but why does he not reveal it."
"I think that’s because he doesn’t want to cause an uproar, or maybe he just want to have her to himself, after all, wind elves are always a hot commodity to some men."
"He’s already this old, you sure he can even do anything with that withered thing? Also why are you telling me this?" Tyre almost dropped the specter stone from his riled up feelings, but calmed down and then said once more
"But I still have a feeling… wait where are you at the moment? Why is it so noisy?"
"Me?" LongTu held the spector stone and looked at the two meter radius of respectful no-man zone surrounding her inside the crowd, and answered
"Oh, I’m just watching you guys from outside the stage area, but the citizens of Gabriel Continent are really nice, they generously gave me a nice and empty spot as soon as I arrived."
"..... are you sure that’s not because of your fist?" Tyre finished and shook his head, then continued
"I feel that not only Simon, but all the other judges know Elena’s an elf as well, but they didn’t reveal this, so Simon did not want to be the first one to do this."
"So to make the little elf quit, Simon pulled out the hardest challenge for her?"
"That’s what I am guessing."
"Then in that case, your plans of getting into Avalon might not succeed."
"As long
"What’s the problem, Miss Elena?" Seeing Elena not moving a muscle, Simon let out his warmest smile, causing enough creases on his face to make it resemble a Crysthanamum flower 【tl: aka a.n.u.s】. But this smile did not let the wind elf calm down, and the 9 other girls behind her all frowned, for they are also considering how to tackle this difficult challenge, but just like Elena, they got stuck.
"To retrieve the seed from the crystal without letting the flower die or wilt..."
Elena muttered
"But the Heaven’s Rot Flower is extremely sensitive, and as soon as the roots get disturbed it wilts, and the crystal is right beneath the roots……."
"The crystal is also very hard, so if I use strength art, it will definitely shake the soil and cause the flower to wilt……."
*What to do, what should I do*
This was Elena’s first time being in front of so many humans, and her heart was in a state of rapid panic. In this state, even the simplest of problems is a challenge to think through, let alone something as challenging as this.
Simon kept his smile from behind the judge’s desk, and even the other judges were all looking at him and knew that this was an almost impossible challenge, but the one targeted is an elf after all, and they really didn’t want a precious recommendation to fall into the hands of a non-human, so Simon playing the bad guy here fit their wishes as well.
"What to do, what to do.. …. ……." Elena looked at the flower, with her head in a mess and thinking of random stuff. Tyre promised her that she can leave as soon as the compet.i.tion ends, but if she didn’t even pa.s.s the second round how can she bear to leave! Even though she’s far away from the Elven Empire, she would still feel shame for losing face here.
"But, what do I do, how do I prevent the flower from wilting……." Elena suddenly stopped, and her eyes gradually settled down on the flower in front of her, and uttered something
"Wait...."
She suddenly recalled what Tyre was telling her inside the hotel earlier
"Sire, I’ve always felt that all those human mannerism and social connections are way to complicated. Even though I can gradually fit into this society, but there is not need for me to learn this much right?"
"Hmm... how should i put this." Tyre rubbed his chin for a while and answered
"You only need to know that all thing originate from profit and gains, so if you consider everything from a benefit prospective, then it shouldn’t be that complicated."
"Benefit?"
"That’s right, humans have social connections because that way they can receive help and benefits from each other, and manners can help build a better impression when meeting new people. Taking it a step further, even wars are fought for the sake of benefit and gains. Putting it this way, do you understand?"
"Nope...."
(Deep Breathing)"...Okay let’s start from manners again."
Elena recalled that conversation and her brain suddenly cleared, and her eyes shone with a gleam. She looked at the flower and muttered
"Simplify the complicated, break down the problem and make it easier."
The few judges felt the change of att.i.tude from the elf and all turned their attention towards the elf, and even Simon stopped smiling. Simon has seen this look before, those eyes, that gleam, its something only a huge discovery or happiness can bring to people.
"Simplify.. … yes!" As if a bolt of lightning struck through her thoughts, her body suddenly started moving. She raised the pot carefully with her right hand and made a clawing motion with her left hand.
Everyone watching was confused by her actions, and they all wanted to know what she wanted to do. Even the judges started to frown. According to Simon, in order to take out the seed, one must continuously heal the flower with the healing art, and then cast purifying art and help numb the roots’ sensitivity, and then use agility art x3 or higher to accurately penetrate the soil and reach the crystal. Then, the person has to then use strength art x2 or higher to break open the crystal and immediately cast crystalline art to protect the roots from being shocked by the vibrations from the crystal shattering. To make it worst, all this has to be down in under 5 seconds, or else it would fail.
But Elena’s following action left all of them dumbfounded. They saw her raise the pot with her right hand over her head, then cast an agility art to her left hand and suddenly made a small hole on the bottom of the pot.
"WHAT!!!!!" Simon couldn’t resist yelling out, and even the other judges bulged out their eyes in astonishment. The crowd below the stage was also left clueless as to what happened, but then Elena easily took out the crystal from the small hole she made to the bottom of the pot. The crystal came out with ease, as it was quite deep and way under the network of roots above it.
Elena put the pot back and then used basic fireball to melt a small hole in the crystal and shook the seed out of it. She took a deep breath and smiled at the crowd below and announced in her voice
"I got it!"