Grayfield: Gears

It was at that moment that everyone knew, the train exploding right below them, the entrance exam had started.

The tram that William and Theodore were one fell down to the cliff and into a forest.

William reacted quickly, grabbing Theodore’s clothes he dragged both him and himself out of the falling tram.

The two of them landed at a small platform by the side of the cliff. After making sure that both him and Theodore are safe, William stood up and looked down at the Tram that fell down the cliff.

William grimaced as he saw the tram down below, by now it had already crashed to the ground. He was worried that some of the people inside were hurt and he needed to see whether they needed help or not.

Right beside William was Theodore, who after recovering from the brief shock from the explosion also stood up and looked down at the falls tram.

Theodore grimaced as he looked at the damaged tram.

“You think anyone is all right after that fall?” Theodoe asked as he looked down at the tram.

William shakes his head, “I doubt it.”

“Well, that’s reassuring.” Theodore said as he looked down.

The tram that fell down at the ground made a large and noticeable crater that was easily seen by the two of them. The tram down below lit up in flames as the two of them looked down.

William and Theodore looked at the tram that was currently burning up in flames.

That was until two unknown figures suddenly moved out of the burning tram and ran away.

“Did you see them just now?!?” Theodore as he looked down in shock.

“Yeah but I couldn't see them properly.” William said as he looked down at the tram below and resolved himself. “I’m going down there to check whether there are still people inside of there.” he said.

Theodore nodded, “Sure I’ll keep watch and make sure that something doesn't creep up on you.” he said as he grabbed his rifle and used his scope to see any possible enemy down below.

Theodore looked down to the crashed crater and also knew that he needed to get more ammunition just by the fact that it was going to be a long day.

“I don’t see anything dangerous down there yet.” Theodore said.

William nods, “Good.” he says

Theodore then stood up and grabbed something from his bag and tossed it at William.

William grabbed what Theodore threw at him and looked at it. It was a small rectangular box with a small antenna on it, it also had a single button on it.

“What’s this?” William asked, as he looked at the strange device.

“Consider it a communication box, or what I call a radio. It allows people to communicate with each other even at long distances.” Theodore explained. “Just press that button there and talk to it, and I will hear what you say back to me. Do you understand?”

William nodded. “Thanks, I appreciate it.” he said as he placed the radio in his pocket.

William also overhears Theodore talking to himself about upgrading the radio that would allow it to be placed on them instead of it being held by them.

Theodore nodded, “Also, can you do me a favor.”

William looks at him for a moment, “Sure, what is it?”

“I need you to also go down there and get my case. If my hunch is right, then today’s going to be a long and exhausting day.” Theodore said.

“What’s inside of the case?” William asked, curiously.

“Ammunition, lots of it.”

William nods, he kinda gets why Theodore needs ammunition, him using a ranged weapon requires him to have a constant supply of ammunition to stay effective while fighting.

Theodore checked his rifle as he checked his rifle's ammunition and looked down at the crashed crater.

“Don’t thank me yet.” Theodore said as he looked down. “Be careful.”

William nods as he looks at Theodore. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” he said as he moved down at the ledge and slowly descended down to the crashed crater that the tram made.

As William slowly descended down at the tram, by now the fire that had previously engulfed fire at the entire tram was now smaller.

William was glad as this made it so that he could check where Theodore’s case was. He hopes that finding the case wouldn't take him that long.

Then suddenly, the radio that William was given to him by Theodore suddenly lit up as Theodore’s voice came out of it.

“Hello, is this thing working?” Theodore asked through the radio.

William, hearing him, decides to respond back. Listening to Theodore’s instruction earlier he pressed the button on the radio and spoke through it.

“Your radio is working just fine.” William responds back.

Theodore quickly responds back as his voice comes out of the radio.

“That’s wonderful,” Theodore said, “Also, have you found my case yet? And do you see anyone there?”

William shakes his head as he pressed the radio again as he walked towards the compartment of the tram. “No, not yet at least. I’m currently going to try and find where your case is.”

William walked to the tram and quickly checked one of the compartments in the tram, no luck. William went to the next tram and saw that it was also not there.

‘Well, third times the charm.’ William thought.

Then suddenly, Theodore’s voice came through the radio once again. “William, You’ve got company right behind you.” he says.

William nods. “Thanks, I appreciate it.'' He said as he turned around and looked at the enemies that were coming towards him.

The monsters that were coming towards him were giant spiders, the silicon versions to be exact. Pure white body, blood red eyes, and sharp mandibles. The spiders looked at William like they wanted him dead.

All of the spiders all appeared as they all patiently circled William, 13 in total.

William took a deep breath in before exhaling and entering a stance.

One of the spider’s lunged at William, with one of its legs aimed at William, ready to pierce his skin.

And for a moment, everything slowed down. To William, it was as if the whole world slowed down and was in slow motion.

William closed his eyes as he breathed in before exhaling. William then smiled as he dodged the spider and countered back by drawing out his daggers and lodging one of them into the spider’s skull.

Now that one of their fellow spiders has lunged and attacked William, only to be killed by him, the others followed suit and began to lunge at him.

William began to dodge the flurry of spider lunges at him as he was able to kill one more spider, when it lunged at him. William retaliated by decapitating the spider.

Kicking himself off of the spider’s head to dodge an attack right behind him and look at what happened to the two spiders that clashed at each other, William smiled.

Then WIlliam used a small bit of his wind magic to propel himself down at the two spiders with speeds that rivaled a tornado. With both of his arms raised, William brought down both of his blades at the spiders.

As William reached the ground, he quickly checked his surroundings as there are still nine more spiders left to kill before he searches again for Theodore’s case.

He quickly stood up as he dodged another lunge by a spider, then another and another. As William was dodging the attacks sent to him by the spiders. Theodore was looking down using his scope to see what was going on.

Theodore saw that he was still dodging the spiders continually. Deciding to help William, he aimed down at one of the spiders and fired.

“BANG!!!”

Theodore’s rifle rang out in a deafening bang, killing a spider that tried to lunge at him.

William smiled as his friend helped him, dodging another spider by moving down and using one of his blades to stab at the spider's belly and move down its body.

At the same time, Theodore was also rather busy, since he knew that he had a limited supply of bullets at the moment. The bullets on his hand would be the only bullet that he would have until William until William got his case.

Not good on Theodore’s side as he has currently 30 bullets on hand and he has to make each of the bullets count.

‘Ok five left.’

Wiilliam dodged another two more spiders as he countered each attack. Now there were only three left and he looked at the three remaining spiders.

The three remaining spiders looked at William with a burning hatred. Not that their stares affect him that much anyway.

Wanting to finish fighting the three remaining spiders, William charged 3at the three remaining spiders as he used his wind to group all three of the spiders up together and toss all three up high as Theodore shot, the bullet piercing all three spiders.

William smiled as he pressed the radio, “Nice shot, Theodore.”

“Thanks, but just call me Theo instead of Theodore.” Theodore responded.

“Are you sure?” William asked.

“Yep.” Theodore responded. “You should go and find my case and check whether or not there are still people there.”

William nods. “I hear you loud and clear.”

William began to search for the third compartment, as he was searching for the third compartment, he saw a small envelope on the ground.

Walking towards it and picking it up. William checked it if someone owns it, turning it around, William saw that the envelope belongs to Wilhelm’s

William also saw that the envelope was meant for him and everyone that were partaking in the exam.

“What’s with the envelope?” Theodore asked through as he looked down at William.

“I dunno, but it says it for all of us taking the exam.” William said as he opened it. “Well, one way to find out.”

Opening the envelope William saw a small flat magic crystal inside and a small letter saying to use his magic on it.

Following the instructions laid out on the paper, William used his magic on the flat magic crystal. THe crystal lit up as it slowly began to make some noise, William began to worry and think about a way to stop the crystal until Wilhelm’s voice came through.

‘If you are reading this, then congratulations. You have just survived the beginning phase of your entrance exam. To pass you have two choices, one you should go and search for the evacuation site and leave the forest. Or Eliminate your prime targets in the entrance exam. A Queen silicon spider, we have recently been having problems about this specific colony, your mission is to eliminate it.’

William blinked for a few moments as he processed what Wilhelm said, either he goes to the evacuation site or eliminates the queen silicon spider.

Tuning to the radio William asked, “Did you hear all of that?”

“Yeah, I heard it all. What should you do?” Theodore asked.

William sighed, “Well, first we should go and find your case. Then we would discuss which decision we should go with.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Theodore said.

Checking the insides of the case, William smiles to himself as he sees that the inside of the case is filled with ammunition and other equipment.

“Did you find my case already?” Theodore asked through his radio.

William nods, “Yeah, I found it.” he says through the radio.

“That’s wonderful!” Theodore reponds, “Also, I’m going down now, I’ll see you down there.”

William nodded as he placed the case onto the ground and waited patiently for Theodore to arrive. He also made sure to keep watch and make sure that he wasn't ambushed by any other monster out there.

Theodore eventually was able to come down and meet up with William who was patiently waiting for him.

“It’s nice to see you, Where’s my case?” Theodore said as he looked at William.

Willim pointed to where the case was. “Right there,” he said.

Theoore went to his case and opened it and grinned. His case was filled with nothing but pure ammunition galore. Looking inside of his case, he grabbed enough ammunition to last him an entire week.

Theoore also grabbed some other pieces of equipment in his case, namely modified weapon parts and medical supplies.

“Are you done?” William asked as he stood up and looked at Theodore.

Theodore nodded. “Yeah, I am.’ He said as he crossed his arms and looked at William. “So… What do you want to do?”

“I was actually planning on asking you that.” Willaim said as he looked at him, “But I have a plan if you asked me, I plan for us to go in there and deal with that Queen silicon spider Professor Wilhelm was talking about in the letter.”

Theodore looked at William for a few moments, “... You plan for us to go after a large monster.” he said.

William nodded, “Yeah, It may seem a bit stupid but I think that fighting and dealing with that spider is far more dangerous and needs to be dealt with.” he said.

Theodore looked at him, “You do know that, we could just go to the evacuation site and pass right.”

“We could do something as boring as that or do something crazy to the point that our names are going to undoubtedly be put inside of the Hunter course, whether our teacher wanted it to or not.” William said as he looked at Theodore, “So… Are you in?”

Theodore looked at William for a few moments as he processed what William said. In a way, he did make sense, if he and William are able to deal with the queen silicon spider they would undoubtedly be recognised as incredibly good students.

“If we beat that queen spider.”

“Don’t worry too much Theodore. We got this in the bag.”

“Whatever you say boss.” Theodore said as he looked at William, “Alright, where are we going.”

“To the forest right there.” William said as he pointed at a forest in front of them both.

Theodore nodded as he and William left the tram and ran towards the forest. He hopes that he made the right choice… Who was he kidding, he is going to like this.

————————————————————————————

“Hmmm, Interesting.” Wilhelm said as he stood there right on top of the tram listening and looking at both William and Theodore.

Right now, he was completely invisible from them, along with the fact that he was also hiding his magic and making it harder for other people to sense he was.

Wilhelm traced his hand on a bracelet that he was currently wearing, it was because of this bracelet he was able to become completely invisible. He really needs to thank Gunther later once all of this is over. That bracelet just made his job easier that's for sure.

Wilhelm looked at where both William and Theodore were standing earlier, from what he had already seen, the two of them were already working together really well, provided they could improve.

But… That's to be expected in students. They would improve with the right guidance.

It was not only William and Theodore who were able to impress him, earlier he saw two students that protected each other and made sure to protect as many fellow students as they could.

The desire to protect. Something that is needed in order to become a great hunter. Wilhelm was going to have a field day with this current generation.

Huh, is this what headmaster Eisen felt when he saw him and his friends train all those years ago.

Shaking his head and focusing back to what was happening in the current, from what he was able to see, this current generation is full of people who have the skill to be great hunters.

And if he remembers correctly, two of those students are the black and blonde haired students that were also participating in this exam..

Wilhelm began to slowly walk into the forest, excited at the fact that he was going to see whether his future students are going to be able to eliminate the queen silicon spider.

All he has to do is make sure that all of his future students are able to handle fighting that large spider.

————————————————————————————

By now, both Wiliam and Theodore were running across the forest as they searched for silicon spiders.

‘So!” Theodore shouted as he jumped. “How do you know where the queen silicon spider is?” He asked.

“When the trees start having silk and silicon.” William responds as he looks at them.

Theodore nods as he somewhat understands what WIlliam was saying. The town of them were currently running towards where the queen silicon spider currently is at. Looking back to what was in front of him he saw that there was something happening right in front of him.

As the two of them were closer, Theodore and William saw several students surrounded by hostile monsters.

“Wild Monster!” William said. “Theodoere take a shot!”

“On It!”

Theodore raised his rifle as he aimed and fired, hitting the target right at the back.

The monster fell down to the floor as it was hit in the head with a single bullet.

“What was that?!?” One of the people who were surrounded said.

William was able to reach them as he raised his dual blades and struck a wild monster right behind it and quickly killed it.

As the monster fell into the ground as its lifeless body moved slightly due to muscle memory. William mentally hid a grimace as he looked at the dead wild monster.

Theodore was also able to arrive in time. Firing several shots at the other monsters. As the monsters fell from his shots, a monster charged at one person within the crowd and landed hit on him,

Seeing this, Theodore aimed his rifle at the monster. The monster launched several attacks on the other people, William intervened as he blocked the monster's attack.

“Theo! Now!”

Theodore quickly nodded as he shot the monster straight in the eye. As the monster fell onto the ground, Theodore quickly went to the injured people there.

As he came closer to them, he saw that many of them were already heavily injured. Knowing that his knowledge in medicine and treatment is not enough, Theodore resolved himself to make sure that it doesn't get fatal.

As he grabbed several bandages from his bag, Theodore saw a light from behind him as he and William looked at the injured people.

“Wha-”

The necklace that many of the injured students were wearing started to glow before they envelope all of them as they all disappeared.

“... D-did you see what happened?”

“Y-yeah, I think so.” William said as he looked utterly bewildered at what he had just seen.

As both William and Theodore looked on with bewilderment and shock at what happened to all of the students. Wilhelm watched the two with careful and calculating eyes.

With the bracelet that allows him to be invisible, Wilhelm silently said as he looked at the two. By now he was following the two of them and carefully watching them as they conversed with each other.

“What do you think happened?” WIlliam asked.

“I dunno, their necklaces suddenly started to glow, and before we knew it, they disappeared.” Theodore said as he talked with William.

Wilhelm chuckled at the two’s confusion. Looking back down to the two of them, he decided to inform them of his presence and clarify to them some information.

Taking off his bracelet, the light that was hiding him from them disappeared. The two of them didn’t seem to notice him.

Wilhelm sighed to himself as he looked at the two of them with some disappointment.

‘It seems that despite their apparent skill and talent, they still need to improve on some aspects.’

Wilhelm shakes his head, the two of them still have a lot to learn before the two of them can be considered hunter level. But for right, the two of them are improving at their own pace, and he was alright with that.

————————————————————————————

“I’m telling you, it has got to be something about that necklace that glowed.” Theodore said as he gestured at the place where the injured people were located.

“And how are you so sure about that?” William asked.

“Because I said so,” Theodore responds. “Look! I know a lot about equipment to know that there are plenty of reasons as to why… or how it happened.”

William looked at him, dumbfounded. “I don’t get it.”

“Me neither,” Theodore sighed as he looked at WIlliam. ‘But look, I have a basic theory as to what happened. I believe that these necklaces were enhanced with space magic that allowed people to be teleported to somewhere. As to where that place is, I don’t know.”

William nodded. “That does make sense. But I thought space magic is all about gravity and stuff.”

Theodore noded. “Yeah, I can see why you're confused about space and gravity magic stuff. I was too when I was studying the matter a while back.” Theodore said as he rubbed the back of his head. “ Allow me to simplify, Space magic allows the user to either reduce or increase the ‘space’ between two objects or two places. Gravity magic came about when someone changed some of the rules to make it so that it allows them to increase or decrease the gravitational pull of the world on a person.”

William tilted his head. “And how does that help me understand it?”

“Nevermind.” Theodore shakes his head as he looks at them. “All I'm saying is that these items are enhanced with magic so that whatever happens to them, such as getting a severe injury, they would be able to be teleported out of this place. Do you understand that?”

William weakly nods. “Yeah… I think.”

As the two of them were talking a clapping was heard right above the two of them.

Reacting on instinct. William and Theodore aimed their weapons at what was clapping at them. The two of them were able to see that above one of the trees was none other than Wilhelm as he was clapping at the two of them.

“I have to say, I am impressed with the two of you.” he said.

‘though the two of you could easily improve.’ Wilhelm thought to himself, but he decided that he shouldn't mention it to the two of them.

“Why are you here?” William asked as he dropped his weapon and looked at him.

Seeing William drop his weapon, Theodore also dropped his rifle and looked at him.

“Oh nothing, just making sure that none of the attendees in this entrance exam don't die. Is that too much to ask?’ Wilhelm responded sarcastically.

“Is that all?” WIlhelm asked.

“No, I am also here to congratulate Theodore here in guessing what the purpose of those necklaces are.” Wilhelm said. “Another thing, there’s another person here you know.”

At the same time, there was a loud roar behind William and Theodore.

Wilhelm and Theodore immediately looked behind them to see a massive pure white spider with red highlights, it had fangs sharper than a knife.

William and Theodore prepared themselves to fight whatever that thing was.

Wilhelm calmly looked at the two of his potential students.

“Good luck.” Wilhelm said. “The two of you should know that if the two of you are going to eliminate the queen silicon spider, expect to fight a fair number of those things.” he calmly stated as he slowly backed away.

Theodore looked at the large spider as he had his finger at the trigger and aimed at the spider.

“What’s the plan?” he asked.

“Beating and killing that thing.” William responds.

Before Wilhelm leaves the two of them, he decides to give the two of them one last piece of advice.

“Here’s a piece of advice, aim for the joints and avoid the silk and use fire.” he advises.