ShadowBound: The Need For Power-Chapter 600: The Center Point
After dispatching the Dire Lynx, Liam returned to his northern path, eyes scanning the forest as he pressed forward toward the center point. The journey was far from simple; the forest itself seemed alive with resistance, throwing obstacle after obstacle in his path. Uneven terrain tore at his boots, gnarled roots sought to trip him, and fallen logs forced him to leap or vault with precision. But above all, it was the wildlife that turned the forest into a living gauntlet.
As he moved deeper, Liam found himself pursued and challenged repeatedly. Giant Spineback Vipers slithered through the underbrush and swung from the branches above, their eyes gleaming with predatory intent. A pack of jackals emerged, circling and testing his defenses with coordinated attacks. Other creatures—smaller, territorial, or startled by his presence—reacted violently, forcing Liam to fight or evade on instinct alone.
The Vipers proved the most formidable challenge. Their domain was a dense portion of the forest, almost like a rainforest growth, where every branch overhead and every crevice in the roots concealed their silent bodies. To continue north, Liam had no choice but to confront them directly. He weaved through the tangle of foliage, ducking under sweeping strikes, dodging venomous lunges, and countering where an opening presented itself. Every movement required precision, agility, and a heightened awareness of their lethal fangs. Several bites found their mark, puncturing skin and injecting venom, but Liam’s mastery of flame myst allowed him to purge the toxins quickly, keeping him moving without faltering.
Though battered and scratched from relentless attacks, Liam emerged from the Vipers’ territory determined, each wound a reminder of the forest’s unforgiving nature. The obstacles had been grueling, but somehow, navigating through venomous serpents, nimble jackals, and other predators brought a perverse sense of exhilaration. Each challenge sharpened his instincts, tested his adaptability, and reminded him why the evaluation demanded more than mere speed or endurance—it required mastery of body, mind, and Myst restraint.
Hours passed as he threaded through the wild, pushing past fatigue, pain, and the forest’s endless intricacies. The sun had long crossed its zenith and dipped toward the horizon by the time Liam finally broke through the last stretch of dense trees, entering the vast clearing that marked the center point. He allowed himself a moment to crouch, one arm resting on his knees while the other steadied him against the ground. Steady, deliberate inhales and exhales eased the tension in his chest, muscles pulsing from exertion but still under his control.
Once his breathing normalized, Liam lifted his head and surveyed the clearing with sharp attention. He wasn’t the first to arrive, just as he had suspected. Despite the forest’s many obstacles and the feral wildlife that were set to test them all, it didn’t mean they all went through the same challenges on their way to the center point.
Scanning the clearing, Liam recognized familiar faces—roughly ten other students, scattered and making their own way toward recovery. Notably absent, however, were his friends, which drew neither worry nor irritation. But one absence caught him off guard: Charlotte.
’Did she run into something challenging enough to slow her down this much?’ he wondered, the thought tinged with surprise more than concern.
Charlotte’s absence struck him because she was, without question, the most attuned to the wild among them. Her connection to the forest, her instinctual understanding of its creatures, and her sheer agility set her apart. She was the one person Liam could have bet on to reach the center point first, ahead of anyone else, perhaps even before he arrived. In his mind, this forest was essentially her playground, a realm she navigated with near-perfect intuition.
He let out a quiet, almost amused scoff and exhaled calmly, the edges of a smile tugging at his lips.
’Well,’ he thought, ’no matter how familiar she is with all this, even she has her limits.’
As he kept this in mind, Liam decided to find a place to sit, somewhere he could settle and wait for the rest of his peers to arrive so that the trial could officially be considered complete.
Rising from his crouch, he made his way toward a sturdy tree with low-hanging branches, intending to rest in its shade. Just as he neared it, a sudden rustle of leaves broke the relative quiet, drawing his attention to a spot a few paces away to his side.
Turning his head, Liam caught sight of a white-haired boy with neatly trimmed side fades. The boy hunched over, clutching his knees as he panted heavily, his training attire torn in multiple places and cuts marring his body, including a long gash across his cheek. Steadying his gaze, Liam recognized him immediately. It was Asher.
Asher took deep, steadying breaths, gradually regaining his rhythm. When he finally looked up, he noticed the gathering of other students already present in the clearing, though it hardly seemed to bother him. What occupied his mind most was whether the dark-haired boy with the irritating crimson eyes had arrived at the center point before he did.
"Tsk," Asher clicked his tongue, his gaze sweeping over the others. "To think that bastard would let these damn losers reach this place first ahead of him. Heck, even I let some of them get here before me." He frowned as he studied his peers, noticing that while some looked battered, though not as much like him, others appeared relatively unscathed.
"Did we even go through the same trial?" he muttered to himself, straightening slightly.
After a moment, he dismissed the thought and began to turn, searching for a spot to sit, when his eyes fell on Liam standing nearby, staring at him with that characteristic blank gaze of his.
"The hell!" Asher exclaimed, taken aback by the sight. "How long have you been there?!"
"Since you arrived," Liam answered calmly, his voice even and unbothered.
Asher’s mouth opened slightly in surprise as he observed Liam more carefully, realizing they were essentially in the same physical state—scratched, bruised, and fatigued but intact.
"You got here before the others?" Asher asked, gesturing toward the rest of their peers.
"No, I got here about five minutes ago. They were here before me," Liam replied evenly, his expression unchanged.
Asher frowned slightly, still processing the information as he steadied himself and glanced back toward the others. "I see... guess they had it easy," he muttered under his breath.
"Probably, but I don’t actually care," Liam said, moving to sit beneath the tree he had chosen.
Asher’s eyes lingered on him, irritation flickering across his face. The fact that Liam had arrived slightly ahead of him gnawed at his composure, and he made his way to a nearby tree, choosing to sit almost within Liam’s line of sight.
The two settled into their respective spots, watching the clearing as more students arrived. Doing so, Liam cast a brief side glance at Asher before looking away, his expression still neutral.
"Ran into wildlife?" he asked evenly, his tone blunt.
"Yeah, an Ashen Wolf and a few reptiles," Asher replied calmly, returning a side glance. "You?" he added, curiosity creeping into his otherwise composed tone.
"Yeah, a Dire Lynx and a few other headaches," Liam said simply, his voice measured and devoid of exaggeration.
The two lapsed into silence for a few moments as their attention remained fixed on the arrival of their peers, the quiet between them filled only with the subtle sounds of the forest.
"Think they encountered wild animals too?" Asher asked after a while, his voice low and even. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
Liam remained silent for a moment, considering the question as he steady the others. "Yes... and probably not," he finally replied. "They might have come across some animals that they could simply avoid, continuing the trial without disruption. Or perhaps they didn’t encounter any wildlife at all, focusing solely on the terrain and obstacles laid out by the academy."
Asher observed the other students for a while, nodding subtly as he considered Liam’s words.
From there, the two boys settled into a rhythm of quiet companionship, occasionally exchanging brief, measured conversations about the trials they had endured, discussing the challenges, the wildlife, and the paths they had taken. For the most part, however, they simply waited, their eyes scanning the clearing and noting the steady trickle of peers arriving to complete the trial.
After nearly an hour or two had passed, the last of the students trickled into the clearing, their bodies battered, clothes torn, and expressions weary from the relentless trial. Just as the final few reached the designated center points, the familiar, authoritative voice of Sir Kaelen echoed through the clearing, declaring the trial to be officially over.
Before that news could land completely, portal had appeared once again to the students back to the academy.
It was during this transitional moment that Liam and Asher, along with their friends who had arrived a little later, learned a surprising revelation. Charlotte, the one person everyone had assumed had not made it to the center point at all, had actually reached there before anyone else. Her absence from the clearing had been explained by her decision to take a short nap in one of the sturdy trees surrounding the area, resting her body after the grueling journey.
