The sky above was clear and completely peaceful, allowing the rays of the sun to gently fall on the leaves of the forest below.
Which was a major contrast to what was happening below the trees.
"Why the hell did I trust that crazy woman?" Nox said as he abruptly changed directions just in time of whatever was chasing him to crash into one of the trees.
When the test started, he found himself alone in a relatively dense part of the forest with no other candidates around, so he summoned the gauntlet from his inventory and put it on, since the test said nothing about not bringing an extra solar tech.
His plan was simple, learn how to control his SE, activate the gauntlets and boots, before trying to face any Eclipsed.
According to Astra, if he was able to absorb it without a core, then he should be able to control it without one.
Well, that plan was thrown out the window when a low growl was heard behind him.
Stiffly, he turned around only to be faced with a seven feet tall Eclipsed, it was looking directly at him...well, looking wasn't exactly the word, since it had no eyes, but Nox knew that the creature knew exactly where he was.
But that wasn't the most surprising part, because soon, his watch let out a ding as it scanned the creature.
[Eclipsed Encountered
Rank: Tier 1
Points:20]
"The hell," Nox let out, "in what world does that look like a tier one?"
Well, his thoughts were justified since, as stated before, tier one Eclipsed didn't grow past the size of a house cat, so how the hell did this qualify as one?
The answer to his question never came as he was forced to barrel roll out of the way as the Eclipsed lunged at him.
The creature's claws wiped a tree cleanly off, sending barks flying, it turned to its target, expecting it to retaliate, but instead Nox was now a distance away from it.
There was no way in hell he was going to stand and fight that thing without SE. The Solar tech he had in hand were merely decorations without SE.
Plus he wasn't combat trained to face that thing, he was just slightly agile and maybe a bit acrobatic but that was it.
And that's exactly how he ended up running and dodging for his life, but despite all the running, he didn't feel the least bit tired, which meant subconsciously, he was using SE.
Unfortunately for him, the slightest focus on his SE flow was all the Eclipsed needed.
Before Nox could react, one of the creature's limbs slammed into him sending him flying towards one of the trees.
His back slammed into the tree and the impact caused the tree to rattle before he fell to the ground.
"F—fuck...." He let out as the pain hit him,he felt that a bone or two were definitely out of place.
The Eclipsed wasn't about to allow him to recover as it lunged again, its claws aiming to turn him to kebab.
Nox threw himself sideways, barely avoiding the attack as he felt the claws rip a piece of his combat uniform and in turn creating a cut on his skin.
The claw slammed into the ground, raising a cloud of dust, but he had long moved out of the way.
"I guess running won't work," he muttered as he stood back up, spitting a mouthful of blood.
That much was obvious, the creature was a lot faster than him, so running from it would be futile.
So it's either he somehow used his solar energy or he just gave up on the test, and there was no way he was giving up on this test.
Besides the fact that Astra promised to keep him as a lab rat if he failed, becoming a Solar Knight has always been his dream, so there was no way he was going to give up this chance.
So that left him with the former as an option, figure out how to actively use his SE.
The adrenaline in his system was atan all time high as the creature turned to him.
"Come at me, then."
Those.... We're not the right selection of words for someone who had no way of fighting back.
The Eclipsed hurled itself at him but thanks to the adrenaline...or so he thought, Nox was able to move out of the way just in time.
This continued for a while longer, with him dodging and the creature slamming into tree after tree.
This went on until Nox suddenly felt something moving within him, it almost felt like a tingling sensation flowing all the way towards his hands and feet.
He looked down at his gauntleted hands before looking back at the Eclipsed who, at this point was tired of this pest's incessant dodging, it was now slowly circling him, looking for an opening and it soon found it, the prey was distracted.
So it lunged again ready to turn him into Eclipsed snack.
Nox, still distracted by the feeling, muttered, "please work."
He finally raised his head, only to be faced with a wide open maw aimed directly at his head.
Time seemed to slow to a stop, literally, and Nox could see in clear detail, the creature's entire mouth.
If he had a mirror, he would've noticed that his golden eyes were now producing a glow, not the subtle one from before, but a fully noticable one.
"This....is Solar Energy?" He muttered as he experienced the energy coursing through his body.
He tried taking a step away from the creature and the next thing he knew, he was severe meters away.
Time resumed its normal flow and the Eclipsed crashed into his previous position. It stood back up, confused as it spotted its prey so far from it.
One moment it was sure that the prey would comfortably be in its belly, the next, it had suddenly disappeared and was now meters away.
"Holy hell," Nox let out as he looked around, "d-did I just teleport?"
One moment he was trying to take a step away from the creature, the next, everything was blurry and he was now here.
"T-this is fucking incredible," he said as he looked down at the gauntlets.
The SE pathways were now glowing, indicating that Solar Energy was now flowing through them.
He then turned to the creature before him and raised his first before saying, "alright then, come at me."