"How was it like you had eyes in the back of your head? You dodged the moment I swung my axe. Did you learn [Blind Fighting]? And how did you coordinate so quickly? Did you train beforehand just to ambush me?"
Barrett smiled, unoffended, and simply pointed to the back of his neck.
Ola leaned closer and saw a flat... bug attached to the skin at the back of Barrett's neck.
"This is..."
"A 'treasure' bestowed by our lord," Barrett said, lowering his voice.
"During the exercise, the five of us could 'hear' one another's thoughts. I could 'see' what the scout under my command saw. We didn't need to speak or use hand signals. We didn't even need to exchange a glance to know what to do."
Ola froze, the hand gripping Barrett's collar unconsciously loosening.
Only after thinking it over for a long time did Ola finally understand how they had lost.
Their equipment might have seemed better, but this had never been a fair fight!
The five of them hadn't been facing five enemies at all, but a monster with five pairs of hands, five pairs of feet, and ten eyes!
After hearing Barrett and Ola's reports in the meeting room, Veylin nodded.
The Hive Matrix had proven even more powerful in actual combat than he had expected.
"Ola, Barrett," Veylin said.
"Yes, my lord!" Both immediately stood ramrod straight.
"Choose ten subordinates each. They will become the first soldiers equipped with Hive Terminals."
"Yes!"
Ola and Barrett roared in unison, their eyes alight with the excitement of warriors about to receive peerless swords.
The Ring-Shaped Potion Garden.
Leo was in an excellent mood.
With the Origin Society's funding, his already considerable talent had recently allowed him to advance smoothly to a second-level mage.
At that