The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Planet Eleron)

(Training Field No.12- Unknown Location)

Sophie knelt down on the ground and curled up as she took in a few deep breaths. The bloodlust rushing through her body had not been sated.

Hunt… hunt… hunt…

Over and over those sinister words echoed through her mind and made the hybrid girl's eyes darken in colour.

"Breathe… remember… breathe… and… exhale…" Sophie whispered quietly.

She silently counted to twenty and focused on her breathing until those terrible urges gradually faded away.

Sophie reopened her eyes that were now their normal golden hue and felt a wave of exhaustion crash against her body.

The non-stop fighting for several hours and her use of qi intensive cultivation techniques had taken their toll.

The words on the holographic projection continued to shine down on the hybrid girl who felt a small tinge of satisfaction and pride.

[Congratulations! You have passed!]

Only a few dozen feet away was the oversized corpse of the monstrosity that she had killed using her venom.

It had been a tough fight, but Sophie felt relief knowing that she had not just survived for twenty minutes but also defeated the terrible foe.

One of the clowns in the stands snapped his fingers and all the identical versions of himself vanished as if they had never been there.

He floated above Sophie and looked down on her like a god staring at an ant.

The clown chuckled merrily as he stared at the hybrid girl with a strange glint in his eyes.

"You are truly impressive… daughter of Duke Peterlor… it is clear that your father should be very proud of his offspring," the clown hoarsely muttered.

"In a few hundred years' time… I look forward to seeing your feats… I wonder… how far can you go?"

The clown opened his right palm, and a small card flew out from between his fingertips. The card flew towards Sophie's direction and landed near her feet.

She picked up the small card and saw that it was completely blank except for a tiny smiley face painted on the top left corner of the card.

Sophie wasn't sure what to do with the card, so she placed it in her storage bag under the watchful eye of the floating clown.

"Consider that a gift…" the clown spoke in a more serious tone as his eyes seemed to stare at something through Sophie.

"It is not easy being a vessel… I know that all too well…"

Before Sophie could ask what he meant, the clown snapped his fingers and Sophie felt the space around her shatter.

Crack!

Space fractured like glass and the large, oversized tent that filled the room crumbled away to become nothing more than dust.

Sophie felt her body begin to dissolve into tiny light particles and knew that she was about to be teleported once more.

"Wait… how did you know I was a…" Sophie yelled loudly but the clown just waved at her with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

The last thing that Sophie saw was the clown mouthing the words 'good luck' before her vision faded away to darkness.

Sophie reopened her eyes to find herself standing in a plain white room with two wooden doors attached to the wall.

One of the doors had the symbol of a blazing sun painted in the middle of its outer surface while the other had a full crescent moon that glowed softly under the light.

Sophie recognised those symbols instantly since she had seen them a few hours earlier on the doors placed along the circumference of the dome.

What was it that Principal Malik had said?

Sophie furrowed her brows and remembered that the principal had mentioned that in order to complete the exam…

One needed to find an exit that corresponded to the symbol printed on the door that you were assigned to.

The door that she had entered had the symbol of a blazing sun painted on its exterior.

So, did that mean that this was the exit?

Sophie tried to use her foresight ability to peer into the future but the splitting headache that she received forced her to abandon that plan.

Clearly, she was spent.

The hybrid girl extended her senses and tried to detect if this room had any hidden dangers or threats.

Her danger sense did not alert her to any potential threats so hopefully her initial guess was correct, and this was the end of the exam.

Sophie didn't know what time it was since she had not been keeping track since the exam begun so she quickly powered on her wrist communicator.

"Hmm… five hours and thirty minutes have passed…" Sophie muttered quietly as she walked towards the door with the sun painted on it.

Sophie gripped the metallic handle and took a deep breath before turning it open. Beyond the door was the familiar sight of the training field.

The hybrid girl stepped out of the dome and looked around curiously as she saw that she had exited in the exact place where she had entered.

It felt good to be back.

Sophie checked her wrist communicator for any missed messages and saw that the group chat was fairly active.

Cleo: [Just finished the exam about ten minutes ago… I'm sitting in the far-left stand near the stairs]

Astrid: [Urgh… this anti-mage statue is kicking my ass! Hopefully this is the last fight because this oversized rock is getting on my nerves]

Qiana: [I've been out for three hours now… sorry that I'm now replying…]

Qiana: [I went home to wash the blood off my clothes…]

Speaking of clothes… Sophie looked down and realised that her battle suit was severely burnt and tattered.

Fortunately, none of the exposed areas were in sensitive places but Sophie hurriedly pulled a repair patch out of her storage bag.

She placed the white bundle on the corner of her clothes and the white smart threads automatically moved towards the damaged sections and repaired them.

It was just a temporary fix, but it would suit her needs for now.

Sophie waited until her clothes had fully been repaired before typing out a message in the group chat.

Sophie: [Hey! I just came out! Cleo I'm walking towards the far-left stand now… we can meet up and then go home together to celebrate!]

Cleo: [Celebrate? Is that what we're calling it now? wink wink :)]

Qiana: [Again… please flirt in your private chats… no one needs to know your plans for the evening…]

Sophie laughed and began to type out a response to Qiana's complaint as she walked towards Cleo's location.

It was a lovely day and as the warm rays of sunlight fell on her body…

Sophie felt at peace.