Hell Difficulty Tutorial - Book 4

by Cerim

Chapter 296 - Rebellious phase

Darren warned me before to be careful approaching the Bastion. Apparently, some of its old defenses still work and are powerful enough to kill higher-leveled monsters and humans. There is even a rumor that it once defended against a Veil Guardian. Yup, there are multiple Veil Guardians, and the one that kicked my ass is just one of many.

Well, before this floor ends, I will pay him a visit, so it's fine. I'm totally not pissed off, nope. I'm totally not bottling it under my [Focus]. I'm totally fine.

Anyway, [Focus] is totally the best skill.

I place another mana projectile and, with Vega in hand, I jump to the side. A barrier I create deflects the attack, and I disrupt another one. I sense another presence under my feet, as it gets closer, I stomp, releasing a burst of kinetic energy from my feet.

[You have defeated Corpseeater - lvl 99]

[You have defeated Corpseeater - lvl 89]

I manipulate my mana slowly so Vega can watch, and surround us in it. It radiates gently around us, as I make sure to keep it from hurting my disciple. I form the mana I’ve released into a set of armor twice my height, lifting us into the air, and suspending us in the chest of the armor. I haven't had an opportunity to show off my mana mech until now. I encompass it in my [Mana Domain] and control it with [Mana Manipulation].

I don't even use [Infusion], even at this level it should be enough. I move us, using an arm to grab the monster, which spews an acid-like substance at us, slightly corroding the mana.

Then I send a signal to the hand, and it closes, crushing the monster.

[You have defeated Poisoneater - lvl 123]

Another poisonous attack lands on the chest of the armor but doesn't manage to reach Vega or me. I take a few steps, moving to intercept a monster that reminds me of a horribly mutated frog with six thin limbs.

The brave monster doesn't run. Either too proud or dumb to bother, it keeps spewing its acid onto my armor, corroding some of the mana and creating some sort of vapor. It continues to do so even as I lift a leg, and its final attack collides with the sole of my oversized boot.

Then I stomp on the monster, its blood splattering the surroundings.

[You have defeated Poisoneater - lvl 113]

"Minion, if you ever do what this monster just did, I will be extremely disappointed."

"I'm not that dumb!" she states indignantly, as I dissolve the armor surrounding us after dispersing the poisonous vapor with kinetic energy.

"So, what would you do?"

"I would run away! And then track you to your camp, and wait for you to sleep."

Nice! Killing a powerful opponent in their sleep. A classic.

Vega continues, "If I were that monster I would use that poison to poison master's food!"

Huh? That's a bit...

"Or I would poison master while he bathed or examined a new item."

"Okay, okay, let's stop here."

"Sure!" The scary half-demon turns her attention back to her heart and the mana stone in her hands.

I place another mana projectile nearby, bringing the total to a hundred.

Once again, another annoying monster appears nearby, and once again, my curiosity compels me to meet it. The monster in question is as tall as me, with long limbs, and a thin scaled body. Yet it’s the monster’s head that stands out most, gazing at me with five eyes and saliva dripping from the rows of pointed teeth filling its oversized mouth.

[Skillreaver - lvl 152]

The creepy monster continues to observe, each of its eyes trained on me, big and red with snake-like pupils at their centers.

I feel its mana reach toward me, trying to get through my mantle and reaching for my disciple.

I disrupt both attempts with ease, but then, curiosity overwhelms me, and I weaken my mantle.

Slowly, something touches me, and I observe as it searches for something. Clearly, it's the monster's skill.

Then the touch disappears, and the monster starts radiating mana, blue armor surrounding it. Something akin to the [Armament]. Skill I used to have before [Regalia].

Wordlessly, the monster charges at me, and before it takes two steps, I create a mana orb and launch it at the monster. The orb pierces through the armor and the monster's head, exiting on the other side.

[You have defeated Skillreaver - lvl 152]

Nice, another douche of a monster copying skills.

Taking a few steps, I stop in front of the body and examine the monster a moment before leaving it and heading towards the Bastion. I try to stay covert, reducing my mana signature as much as I can while covering for my silly disciple as well. I even try to stay out of sight as much as possible, using the patch of forest to get closer.

Even though I knew the Bastion was massive, it feels even bigger up close. I can already see the small figures of humans, mostly on the walls surrounding the fallen Skyward Bastion.

Getting ready, I send a signal to one of the mana projectiles I left behind, and it shoots toward the city.

It doesn't contain any energy; and neither do the others, it's just slightly compressed mana.

As it flies through the air, I watch its trajectory, and when it reaches the Bastion, a small hexagonal barrier appears to block it. It also causes a few of the guards to start looking around. The signal is sent into the area from somewhere in the middle of the city. It searches for mana signatures, and I avoid detection.

Then I activate five projectiles at once, each of them shooting towards the city. Just like before, a small hexagonal barrier as tall as me appears in front of each of the projectiles and blocks it, disappearing right after.

I see, so it's like Virelia’s setup. A barrier with thousands of segments that only activate when blocking an attack. Inactive for the most part to save mana.

I launch twenty more projectiles all at once, and this time I observe with my trait as the projectiles touch something akin to a dense web of mana, triggering the barriers.

All of the projectiles get blocked once more, and I notice a few humans hurriedly moving on the walls. They are shouting something, probably, and a few more detections are sent into the area.

I send 50 projectiles at once and watch as they clash against hexagonal barriers.

To be honest, it's a nice view as they light up one after another, often only for a split second to block the attack. This system is extremely accurate.

More humans appear on the wall, to my amusement, their movements display growing panic and stress.

Damn, that only makes me want to continue.

I shoot three attacks. Each a second apart, each of them aimed at the same spot.

Once they get detected, I release the rest of the projectiles, directing them all at the same spot as well, and once again they get blocked. But this time it seems like my attacks passed a bit closer to the city, if only slightly.

Three more detection waves wash over me, and like ants, dozens of humans rush onto the walls, skills active and searching for the attacker.

“They seem angry,” Vega seems to notice as well.

“It's fine,” I tell her as I watch them grouping up, getting ready to send small groups of scouts into the area, “Nina said they have items that allow them to enter the Bastion, so we have to lure some of them out.”

“Isn't master trying to be nicer? We could move closer and ask them to let us in…”

“Minion, leave thinking to me.”

“I'm Vega, not minion. I think master just wanted to test their barrier and bully them but screwed up.”

“It's a scientifically confirmed fact that minions don't have the ability to think for themselves. That's why they should listen to their master.”

“That's not true! I know master just wants to be an asshole!”

“You are not allowed to use the word 'asshole' starting now, minion.”

“Asshole.”

What? Is she getting into a rebellious phase?

“Asshole.” She repeats.

“Do not…”

“Asshole asshole asshole.” Her red eyes seem to challenge me.

“Minion, you screwed up.”

“I'm Vega, first disciple to Nathaniel Gwyn, my only master. I am not a minion! I will be calling master an asshole if the master continues to call me a minion!”

That's it, this surely is the rebellious phase I heard so much about. But I think the little half-demon underestimates how petty I can be. Oh boy, she has no idea.

“Sure, minion, go ahead.” I highlight the word 'minion' strongly.

“Will do so, asshole master!” And the little red-eyed half-demon returns my gaze, both of us full of determination.

We spend a few hours going around the Bastion and waiting, yet even then no one leaves the fallen sky island.

My plan has failed, dang it.

I straight up refuse to look at my disciple and force her to practice more. While waiting, I also push her into a fight against a few weaker monsters. Her kinetic barrier skill seems somewhat decent and works a lot like [Redistribution]. The disadvantage is that it only works against physical attacks, so we are working on that.

There are multiple quests for me to fulfill. Not the least of which being the floor quest.

Floor quest:
Raise and protect your disciple

Rewards:
???
Skill upgrade token
5000 Shards
100 stat points
Trait strengthening token

And plenty of side quests:

Side quest: Find out what happened to this world

Reward: 5000 shards

Side quest: Locate the mirror

Reward: ???

Side quest: Avoid the sleeping Calamity

Reward: Survival

Side quest: Find out what’s causing the high mana levels in the Valley

Reward: Mid-epic piece of equipment

Side quest: Reach the Bastion

Reward: Food and water supplies

Side quest: Reach level 250

Reward: Body upgrade

Maybe I can find more information about what exactly happened. I have some ideas and I got plenty of hints in the Sanctuary, but that’s not enough for the system, so that’s going to take a bit longer. The mirror is in the Valley, I can deal with it after going there.

I will also try to avoid the sleeping Calamity. The first on the list is the Veil Guardian. Some suspicious sleeping Calamity can wait.

Mid-epic equipment will be nice too. They cost around 5 thousand shards or more, so that's telling of how dangerous the Valley is. Maybe the sleeping Calamity is there?

As for the Bastion, looking at it from up close, I really want to examine it. Like the bunker that made up the Sanctuary, it is a remnant of the past. If less obsolete than an abandoned bunker. The circuits made of crystal covering the entire bottom of the fallen flying island interest me. Oh, and how many facilities might there be? Maybe they’ll be even better for crafting and enchanting than the Sanctuary’s.

My hopes of sneaking in have failed. I wanted to use the items that allow the residents to pass through the detection field without triggering an attack, but they don't leave.

Sneaking inside on my own could be somewhat possible with my eyes and [Resonance], but after examining it for a while, I'm sure I would trigger a trap or two. I don't think I would be able to sneak Vega in either.

Even shooting a mana orb with an anchor placed on it won't work.

The Skyhold Bastion seems really advanced with plenty of surprises. Built by the Enchanter Guild that created the Veil long ago. Should we wait and hope they forget about the attack and then try to gain entry in the usual, if annoying fashion even though dealing with so many people would piss me off?

Did I screw up just because I didn't want to deal with people?

Nah, it's the extroverts who are wrong.

“Asshole's disciple, we will try to get inside in the usual way.”

“I'm not a minio…” she looks up at me, “what did you call me?”

“For every day you don’t lose concentration and keep watch over your surroundings, I will call you Vega for a day,” I tell her instead of answering.

Her big red eyes expand even more, and she gulps.

“In exchange, if you fail, I will call you minion, and you can't complain or call me an asshole,” I expand on it, “I mean, you can refuse if you don’t think you can. I will understand if you are scared and don't believe in your…”

“I will do it!”

Ha, so easy to deal with! You are still way too young to compare to Nathaniel Gwyn!

“But if I catch master losing his concentration because of some inscription or item, you have to call me Vega and I can ask you for something!”

Huh?

I glance towards the Bastion which is most likely full of wonder and remember the times I lost track of my surroundings.

This could be a bit dangerous.

A smug smile appears on my minion’s face, “I understand if my master is scared.”

Chapter 297 - Sneaky mode

Is Vega taking too many cues from me? Sure, I’ve noticed her copying a bit of my behavior, but this is… too much.

Maybe it's her demon part? Demons seem to be obsessed with strong hearts and beings. Maybe she sees these things in me and instinctively tries to emulate me. No matter what she went through or how she behaves at times, she is still just a kid, so it makes sense.

Well, whatever, another thing for future Nathaniel to deal with. He’s done nothing so far, well he couldn't really, so he can deal with this at least. Screw you, future Nathaniel, I bet you will be an even bigger weirdo.

With Vega in my arms and mana flowing under my skin, I head towards the Bastion.

Sneaky Mode is on once again, the same one I used against Nina and Darren. Yup, I'm once again just another normal guy with a totally normal mana.

POV Vega

As always, the master's heart beats strong and calmly. He is not scared at all, not even when so many humans look at him and scream at us to stop. His heart doesn't even react. It's just one calm, confident beat after another.

I look up to him and, as always, he wears the expression he puts on when we’re with others. It's colder, and his eyes look different. It's hard to notice, but I’ve learned how!

While he talks with some weak human, I continue to send my senses into our surroundings. I can't sense it, but I'm sure the master is trying to catch me hesitating.

I'm sure of it!

I will do the same. My master can get distracted when he finds an interesting item or gets an idea to improve his skills.

It's fun, and I'm thankful to the master. I’ve never gotten to play like this before. Even if I fail, I won't get hurt, and I won't go hungry. The master is just that kind.

One of the humans asks, “Someone attacked the Bastion just a few hours ago, do you know anything?”

Even though this human is so weak, he looks down on my master. I think the only reason he’s so brave is because he has so many people backing him up, but I want master to show him his place.

“Attack? We just got here. A few hours ago, we were still scouting to avoid all the monsters. Maybe one of them attacked?” he replies. His pretty eyes show not an ounce of hesitation.

“Sure you did,” the man snorts, “where are you from?”

“I came from the Sanctuary. Do you know Darren or Nina? They were both here in the Bastion, ten years ago. I have a few items to trade and I left some food back in camp for trading.”

“Their names sound familiar, but I can't remember everyone. Okay, you said your name is Nathaniel, right? We’ll send you to customs, you will pay for your stay in the Bastion and you will get a three-day pass. After that, you will either leave or go through customs again. According to your behavior or usefulness, we will decide what to do with you.”

“Thanks, sir, that sounds very reasonable.”

“I think so too,” the man answers and turns to one of his men.

When I look at my master, he’s still releasing mana in that weird way. It's hard for me to describe, but it feels very scary. It shows how amazingly good at controlling mana the master is. He did it before too, while talking with the human flesh-eaters, Nina and Darren, and now the master is doing it again.

I'm not sure why the master calls it Sneaky Mode when I can see how much it scares some of the humans, but there must be a deep meaning behind it.

Master is smart and powerful and I want to be like him. I'm already trying to learn Sneaky Mode but it's so difficult.

"Sneaky Mode successful," Master whispers as we pass through the gate, and I nod and smile.

It's so much fun being around master.

Well, that was easier than expected. Some of the guards with better mana senses seemed a bit scared, so maybe the attack from before made them a bit nervous. Not my problem anyway; their commander can deal with it.

As for entering the Bastion, I expected them to be more careful given that they don't know me at all. But maybe they have some other defenses for dealing with stronger people if they should try to start a fight. Maybe the defenses did drive off one of the Veil Guardians years ago. Better be careful while I'm here with Vega.

I also force myself not to examine the barrier. If it works even a bit like the Veil, it could detect my touch and cause me trouble.

But at least I completed the quest and can now get some food and water. Not like I need them, but I could sell them.

"Touch this stone; it will measure your physical stats and mana," the man accompanying me through the gate points at the stone. He says somewhat respectfully.

There are a few more men around us, and all of them are ready. The stone they are pointing at is embedded in the wall and perfectly flush. It looks like it's made from transparent white glass.

Let's be careful. I need to control my mana a bit. Okay, maybe a lot, not just a bit. It seems like people over level 200 are usually the ones who survived the war, and survivors rarely reach that level because of the Veil so I can try to act like someone born after the war.

When my hand touches the stone, I quickly grab a hold of my mana and cycle it, letting as little as possible pass into the stone.

"Strength is at around 100," one of the men says after checking some item in his hands.

"That's low for a traveler," another one answers.

"Dexterity is at a similar level," the first man reads again.

"Man, you are brave, leaving the safe zones with such low stats," the man writing it down giggles, "how are his other stats?"

"Constitution is around 250."

I continue to control my mana and, rather than fear being caught, I'm curious to find out if I can hide it from this item. And I can’t help but wonder how it works. Items like this always interest me. Its inscriptions are interesting and the way it examines my body is someth...

"Master failed; you stopped watching your surroundings," Vega whispers.

Huh? In shock, I realize that she is right and my concentration slips a little more.

"Your mana stat is…"

A rift appears in the air, and a man steps out. He is tall, well-dressed, and wears a light confident smile on his lips. His hair is brown and wavy, growing down to his shoulders, and has a well-kept mustache.

"Greetings, brave guards," he says with a friendly smile.

"The Butler!" the guards immediately ignore me and turn to the man, bowing their heads.

"It's fine, no need to be so formal," he takes a few steps towards the man with the item that showed the results of the test and grabs it from his hands.

He does something to it and then returns it, "You may continue with his registration, and after that, I will take care of our guest. Procedures are important," he smiles.

His clothes are neat and fitting. Suit-like and nice brown in color. Meanwhile, the guards are wearing something that I identified as mostly low-grade rare armor. Simple, but covering most of their bodies.

"Yes sir!" the man takes the tablet-like item and continues, "Mana stat is at around 170. The overall level is estimated to be 150, registering Nathaniel Gwyn as a level 3 threat. The pass will last exactly three days starting now. The price will be…"

"You can put the price of their entrance on my tab."

"The price will be paid by Sir Butler at a later date. Am I correct in thinking that Mister Gwyn will receive his entrance token from Sir Butler personally?" he asks carefully, and the Butler nods, "Now then if you allow me to measure your companion."

At that, I let them take Vega off my hands and look towards the Butler.

The man greets me with a nod while he patiently waits for our registration to finish. When it's done, Vega seems to be disappointed by being registered as a level 1 threat.

When we start walking deeper into the Bastion, the Butler walks by my side.

"Did I screw up?" I ask him.

"It's hard to trick an essence probe, Mister Gwyn," he smiles.

In front of us, the Bastion opens up.

The streets are tilted as are the buildings because of how the island has fallen. But they are clean, and there are people everywhere. Every single one of them looks well fed and groomed, even though we seem to be in the poorer parts of the Bastion. They go about their day, trading, joking, meeting, and working. I can hear a blacksmith nearby, I sense an enchanter. There are even training facilities, not unlike schools.

It's a city nestled within the remains of a previous civilization.

"Mister Gwyn, would you like to join me and Madame Housekeeper tonight? We won't be taking too much of your time," the man asks.

"Yes, we can do that." I agree, my curiosity piqued.

The man bows slightly and hands me entrance tokens for Vega and me, "Thank you, I will send someone to the place where you decide to stay. Have a nice rest of the day." He turns to Vega, "Miss Vega," he adds.

[Phase Ranger - lvl ??]

So at least 20 levels higher than me, but probably not much more.

Butler, Housekeeper, such strange titles. What's next? Gardener, Tutor, Maid, Valet?

"So how do you like everything so far, Vega?" I ask her.

The moment I do so, she tries really, really hard to hide her smile. I lost, and I can accept it. I just got so enthralled by the item measuring me that I stopped scouting my surroundings. Even though I’ve complained about Vega doing the same so often.

Well, it's just one day, and my dear minion will surely slip up after that, and I will have my revenge.

"He called me miss! No one ever calls me miss!"

"That's good, but don't trust him just because of that. He is probably very dangerous." You just can't trust anyone with such a majestic mustache. It should be criminal, rocking a mustache like that and still looking so good.

"I don't! I only trust master."

"Good."

I’m already drained by all the people walking through the streets, so I ask an older woman for a place to find lodging. Then I spend five minutes answering her questions. Stuff like, "We didn't get a mana courier or traveling merchants, is the wilderness getting dangerous? Oh, The Sanctuary, how is it nowadays? Who is this cute little girl? Are you married, young man, I have a daughter…"

Things like that.

In the end, she shows me a kind of symbol that people draw on their houses when they want to offer a room for the night, and so we walk through the streets, searching for one. I pass by a few because I don't like the location, but deeper in the city, I find a nice one. In one of the original towers.

The moment we enter it, I know it will probably be expensive, but I don't mind that much. The inside is big without being empty and it feels nice and cozy. There are mana stones all around for heating, inactive, and ready to be used when needed.

People here are generally better clothed than those outside, and even average levels are slightly higher. Most of them seem like they know how to fight.

We reach the bar where a woman glances at me, "Token," she says simply.

I take our entrance tokens and put them on the table.

She examines them, "Entrance token, three days. So you two are new to the Bastion. Are the roads as bad as they say?"

Huh? Not really. Just a few level-two-hundred monsters and mostly lower-level ones. But such an answer would probably get an annoying level of attention.

"Even worse than what you heard. Monsters are everywhere," I complain. "We barely made it here."

The woman nods solemnly, "Damned monsters. It's been years since the courier guild was able to get any rare spices to the Bastion, and people keep asking for them," she sighs. "Single room, two beds?"

"Yes, with a nice view if you have any."

"What can you pay?"

"Plenty, what do you prefer? It's my first time in the Bastion."

"Oh really, welcome. If anyone talks shit, forgive them; we are not too used to travelers. As for the payment, an uncommon item, a higher end mana stone, a piece of conductive crystal or rare metal ore, even some rare monster parts."

"Would this be ok?" I place one of the worst mana stones that I have in front of her, which I’ve inscribed to radiate heat.

"Oh, a heating stone, and it’s really well made. Probably from before the war, people nowadays are rarely capable of this," she glances at me. "This single stone is too much, but I can give you one of the rooms on the highest floor and add dinners and breakfast, and a few baths. Sounds good?"

"Sure," something tells me that she might be scamming me a little, but it's not like I mind.

It also seems to tell her something about me, being willing to part with such a valuable item, and her behavior seems a bit more respectful.

"Fabian, get your ass over here and take this good sir to room four, and make sure they get some food delivered to them."

Led by a young boy, we walk upstairs and receive a mana stone to unlock the door, and we enter the room.

There is a rug on the floor and two beds, a big one and a smaller one in the corner. The furniture is nice, if simple, and the room is a little worn but it’s well-kept and clean.

I let Vega examine a mirror on the wall and open the balcony. There is a flower pot with a smaller tree and two chairs next to a small table. The view doesn’t face the middle of the city, where the higher towers and buildings are. Rather it faces the outside. It overlooks the smaller buildings and all the people below.

I can see the small wall surrounding the city and the nature outside of it. When I look to the left, I can see most of one of the mountains that surround the city. At least I'm lucky enough to find places with a nice view.

After returning to the room, I jump into the bed.

"Minio… Vega, tell me why being around so many people drains me."

"Maybe it is Bambi's curse, master!"

"Maybe. But I don't want much. A place to become stronger, and level up my skills and stats. Some interesting items to play with and places to explore. Most of the time people are an inconvenience, especially when they decide to bother me."

"Even me?" She asks as she climbs onto the bed and lays next to me.

"Nah, you’re fine."

"I see!" she smiles happily. "But I couldn't notice it at all. Master is really good at talking with people."

"Silly disciple, there are two kinds of people. The ones that become stronger the more time they spend with other people. Then those that grow weaker when they have to socialize and then need to recharge their energy. I'm the latter."

"Maybe there are passive skills or traits for that."

I just poke my cheeky disciple and when she jumps from the bed to examine the room I go through the system shop.

Just in case.

Chapter 298 - What is Pairing

We’re training as night falls when a knock at the door breaks my focus. As I come to a stopping point, I poke Vega and head towards the door. I open it to find a man standing there, neatly dressed and presenting us with two sets of clothes on hangers.

“Your clothes, Mister Gwyn, Miss Vega,” he hands them to me as if there were no chance of refusal, “I shall wait outside and escort you to your appointment with Sir Butler and Lady Housekeeper.”

After that, he closes the door and waits outside.

Me and Vega look at each other. Our clothes are more or less clean, and we even took baths, so that shouldn’t be a problem.

I’m about to toss them aside and head out as I am when I notice Vega’s bright eyed gaze, directed at the pretty yellow dress meant for her. Even at a glance, I can tell that it will fit her well.

With a sigh, I hand her the clothes. Just for tonight, I will humor my silly disciple. She is constantly training, beyond even my expectations. So yup, it's a reward for that, nothing else.

“Do you know how to put them on?”

She looks confused, so I take a moment to explain and then send her to the other room so she can put them on.

Meanwhile, I examine mine. It’s basically a simplified version of the elegant suit I wore to the auction on the fourth floor. The clothes are woven from a thin cloth with a slight amount of give, making for an extremely comfortable fit. They are light gray with a black vest underneath and a touch of golden embroidery. Even the shoes are black and trimmed in gold.

Well, I’ll just wear them tonight and sell them afterward.

After getting ready, I wait for Vega, and she exits the room a moment later, her movements awkward and shy.

She wears a pretty yellow dress with a hint of white trim. It’s a simple style made from quality materials. The outfit complements her light brown hair and makes her red eyes even more striking while complimenting her tiny black horns. She is also wearing a new pair of shoes. They look sleek and comfortable while perfectly matching the dress.

I mean, Biscuit is clearly the cutest being that ever entered the tutorial, but Vega is cute in her own way.

“Come here,” I tap on one of the stools, and the little half-demon climbs onto it.

I take a few steps, grab a brush from the dresser, and start brushing her hair. At the first touch, Vega freezes, and I sense her kinetic demon heart starts beating wildly, but after a moment, she realizes what's happening. Still tense, she allows me to continue.

“I used to brush my sister’s hair. She always acted like she didn’t need it, but she liked it anyway,” I tell Vega. “One time I annoyed her, and she forced me to learn all kinds of ways to tie her hair and style it.”

I set the brush aside and grab another, taking care not to pull her hair.

“What kind of person is master’s sister? Is she like you?”

“Like me?” I take a moment to think about it, “I think so? But she is a few years older than me… and more decisive… and stubborn.”

“She sounds like a strong person.”

“Yes, she is.”

“Is master scared of her?”

That almost makes me laugh. Vic would sooner set the world ablaze than hurt those she cares about. Without responding, I use my hands to style Vega’s hair. It doesn’t even reach her shoulders, so there is not much I can do.

“We are done. Time to head out. As I said before, always stay near me, you can stop scanning the area and probing people. It might be considered rude. Do not touch anything or anyone, and do not attack anyone. You are Vega, I'm Nathaniel. We are travelers and we stopped by the Sanctuary, as we’re headed north. According to the map, there should be a few more bunkers and survivors. We did not attack the Bastion, we are not heading towards the Valley. We never saw a group of deer and did not kill them.”

“Yes!”

“Good, let's go then,” I open the door, and the man leads us outside.

We pass through the streets without haste. The man takes the lead with his hands folded behind his back, and the people on the street seem to recognize him. The streets are empty, and even when we meet someone, that person quickly clears the way, and not even the guards bother to stop us.

Eventually, we reach an inner wall that is thrice my height, and the gate opens for us, revealing a beautiful garden and a sidewalk made of beautiful white stone, framed by vibrant green grass. All well lit by a soft light shining from lamps placed along our path.

Following the sidewalk, we move uphill, heading towards yet another wall made of the same kind of stone as the sidewalk and covered in beautiful murals. A vibrant blend of blues, greens, and yellows. The figures depict everything from fights, and floating islands, to exotic places and animals.

Even though there is so much of it, it doesn't feel like any of it’s too much or out of place; each of the paintings is placed perfectly to create the intended effect.

The next gate isn't even guarded and opens to reveal a straight road leading to the manor at the center. The manor itself has several walls made entirely from glass, a red roof made of some sort of stone, and a multitude of light blue crystalline pillars. There are a few more buildings off to the sides, each different from the last.

“This is as far as I will be going, please enjoy your evening Miss Vega, Mister Gwyn,” the servant that led us here bows and leaves, the sound of his steps filling the otherwise quiet night.

“Vega, doesn't he feel like a douchebag to you?” I ask my disciple while watching the man leave.

“Yes, like a douchebag!” she then hesitates, “What does douchebag mean?”

“It means an obnoxious, offensive, or disgusting person. But I'm not sure if that poor man deserves to be called that,” a woman exits the manor we’ve been guided to. “It's nice to meet you Miss Vega, Mister Gwyn,” she says with the slightest hint of a smile and bow.

The woman is as tall as me, with a slim figure, and moves with an energetic sort of grace. She has wavy black hair and violet eyes complemented by her pale blue dress. She doesn’t seem to be armed, and yet she displays confidence on par with the Butler.

“I'm the Housekeeper, allow me to welcome you to the Bastion. Shall we head inside?”

[Ethereal Duelist - lvl ??]

“Sure,” I answer simply, but the woman doesn’t seem insulted and moves first.

Each of her movements is sharp and dangerous, like those of someone accustomed to fighting using their body, which her class confirms.

So the Butler is a ranged class, and the Housekeeper is close range. If it comes to a fight, I will have to use barriers to defend while I fight the woman. The two of them are probably 20-30 levels higher than me, so it feels like it should be manageable, the only problems are Vega and whatever defenses they have on hand.

The man with the criminally majestic mustache is already inside and greets us as well, as they lead us to the table. All of it feels extremely pretentious and boring. I was never the type to care about this kind of stuff, but I go with it for now.

After taking my seat at the table, Vega moves to my right, while the housekeeper is opposite of me, and the Butler to my left.

At least the food is good and safe to eat.

In the middle of the dinner, the conversation finally starts.

“I have noticed the signature of an item when you entered the Bastion, Mister Gwyn,” the Butler starts, “Tens of years ago, we gifted a similar item to Darren’s predecessor. A silver collar.” The man pokes a piece of meat and puts it into his mouth. Each of his movements is smooth and elegant, even the way he sits.

“Interesting story. I found something similar, I think then it was on… cattle I met by chance.”

“Cattle, you say. I wonder what happened to it.”

“Me too. I just set it free after taking the collar.” I take my glass, and while drinking, I make sure to slurp slightly.

The man doesn't react to the provocation.

Vega copies me instantly and she starts slurping from her glass, just much louder than me. That makes every one of us look at her, and she blushes and quickly looks down at the table.

“That cattle probably had owners; I wonder what could happen to them. Such cattle can be really dangerous,” the Butler continues.

“I wonder that too,” I say.

"I see. Well, to change the subject, I have noticed a blade…”

The Housekeeper finally joins the conversation, “Damn it, Butler, your eloquent behavior sometimes makes me want to punch you in the face,” she sighs and turns from the man to me, “I'm a warrior, and unlike my colleague here, I'm not patient enough for these conversations, and it’s only taken me a second to guess you aren’t either.”

I lift my glass towards the woman and take a sip.

That makes her smile. She is still sitting there elegantly. Her shoulders peeking from her pale blue dress, displaying her body as the deadly weapon it is, yet she throws a part of that mask away.

“That Voidsteel blade you have can be only from one being, so I wonder. Did you acquire it by chance or did you earn it?”

Nothing has changed, but something tells me the way I answer the question is extremely important.

Well, I don't think they will answer all of my questions, so let's make an offer to ensure at least a few of them get answered.

“You can ask three questions, and I will ask three. You can decide not to answer, and I may as well, but we will try to answer three questions for everyone. Does that sound reasonable?” I offer.

This time it's the Butler who answers, “That much would be appreciated. And please forgive my colleague; she is perfectly capable of behaving herself but tends to slip up. A holdover from a time when she was but a simple brute."

“Come on, Butler, our guest doesn't care, even the kid is getting bored. Plus, he isn't from here; there is no need for decorum.”

“I understand, Housekeeper, I will keep decorum, but you shall behave a bit less… proper to please our guest. As for our first question, Mister Gwyn, I repeat, where did you get that Voidsteel blade? If you give us a longer answer instead of a simple one, we will be more considerate in answering your questions.”

“I fought the Veil Guardian in the city near the Sanctuary. I was able to sever the guardian's arm and take the blade. The monster is still alive, but I will change that in the future.”

“Ha! I told you, Butler! You didn't trust me, but I know men like him. Just looking at him, I can tell that he didn't just steal it or find it!”

The Butler looks at the Housekeeper for a moment, almost disappointed by her inelegant behavior before turning to me.

As he speaks, I watch his mustache move. It's like a living being, “The Veil Guardians are powerful opponents, so allow me to congratulate you on your skill or luck, Mister Gwyn. I believe it was a tough fight.”

[Focus - lvl 45 > Focus - lvl 46]

“A little bit,” I nod. “It's my turn, so I want to ask. What happened to lead to all of this?” I may as well try to get those 5 thousand shards.

The two of them exchange glances but do not ask anything; instead, it's the Housekeeper who answers, “The Gardener could know more, but there is a bit I can answer. The simple version is that 120 years ago, we got Paired with another planet, and through that connection of planets…”

“Wait a moment, can you explain what Pairing is?”

“Would you like to ask that as your first question instead?”

“Yes.”

She nods and looks at the Butler, who adjusts his clothes and straightens up, “The Pairing is an event brought about by the system. We’re not sure how it happens, it could be random, maybe there’s an entity overseeing it all, or perhaps it's some kind of natural process. During the Pairing, two planets are connected, and once the Pairing starts, it takes years for them to fully Pair. Sometimes it is just a few years; in other cases, it's decades or centuries. The speed of the Pairing is influenced by the natives of each planet.”

He moves a plate away from him and wipes away an invisible speck of dust before fixing his sleeve.

“Usually, each of the planets has a being called Absolute, and the Pairing speeds up when one of the Absolutes dies. There might be unlucky planets that get paired without an Absolute, but that's rare. So once there’s only one Absolute remaining, there are usually no enemy forces capable of killing the other, and the planet that still has one tends to win if you want to call it that. The winning planet then grows stronger and bigger after absorbing the other planet.”

I have dozens of questions, but he stops there, his expression knowing what is going through my head, “This one is a free answer to show our goodwill, Mister Gwyn. You might lack information about our planet, but it went through a Pairing long ago; that's why we have information about it, and currently, the second Pairing is still in progress.”

Chapter 299 - Entering the Valley

“I will ask the second question,” the Housekeeper puts her elbows on the table and uses her hands to support her chin, “You are powerful, but you don't seem to be from the generation from before the war. So, what are you, or where are you from?”

“I can't answer that question,” I say simply.

“Thanks for being honest, then another one. What are you doing in the Bastion?”

“Honestly, nothing too interesting. I intend to learn a bit more about what happened before the war and what led to all of this. I want to explore the Bastion, mostly out of curiosity. I currently have no intention of causing trouble or starting any fights here.”

She gestures, and I ask, “What happened to the world, other than pairing, with the Veil?”

The Butler answers, “The Gardener knows more, but from what little we know, the Enchanters Guild created the Veil to give us an advantage during the Pairing. Something got screwed up, and the Veil turned against us and the monsters.”

His answer is simple, mirroring my own. I would like to ask them how old they are if they come from before the war. Why are they so sure that strong people must have lived through the war? More about the guild. Who is the Gardener? There are so many questions I want to ask, but there’s a reason I only offered 3 questions, I am almost certain they wouldn't answer more so at least I got three.

Unfortunately, even these answers are not enough to finish the side quest. I have only one question left. I can try to ask about the sleeping Calamity and the Valley; those interest me the most.

In the end, I ask, “What do you know about the Valley?”

The woman glances at the mustache man, and he answers once again, “The Valley is the Valley, as the name says. It's a location shrouded in mist constantly, and the immense mana radiation prevents examination from afar. We’ve sent multiple expeditions, but they rarely return, and when they do, it's at a high price and the reports always mention a powerful monster that resides there. The Valley could have been a clash between two Champions or perhaps the monster caused it when it took over. That or it’s one of the bunkers they used to work on the Veil.”

Well, I should have expected that answer. Everyone here seems to be satisfied with hiding in the city, they certainly don’t seem too curious about their world.

“The last question is, how old are you?” the Housekeeper asks. She is smiling and examining me carefully. Just like with the previous questions, she gauges my reactions and seems capable of catching me in a lie, that I'm sure of.

It’s a smart question and tricky besides, it will give her plenty of information about me.

“Twenty-one,” I answer, “no, scratch that. Twenty-two,” I correct myself. I entered the tutorial nearly a year ago, so I did “celebrate” my twenty-second birthday without even realizing it.

The silence that fills the room quickly becomes uncomfortable, and her eyes seem to be trying to drill holes in me.

“Twenty-two,” she whispers. “He is not lying,” the Housekeeper says, looking over at the Butler.

Both of them look at me. As they do, I notice Vega stealing snacks, thinking we are distracted. They see it too but pretend not to, and the Housekeeper even smiles gently at my silly disciple.

The questions are done, and the food is eaten, and the mood changes. It comes slowly, almost unnoticeably, but tension sneaks into the room, gradually building up until even Vega notices it. She doesn't even know why, but she moves closer to me, fear slipping into her gaze even as she tries to maintain a neutral expression.

“So, what is the result of our conversation? Are we going to fight, or will you leave me to do my business?”

The Butler doesn't react, but the Housekeeper smiles, sweeping a lock of her wavy black hair away from her face, her violet eyes giving me her full attention. I see her glance at the Voidsteel cutter at my waist. The woman either wants the weapon or wants to fight me.

“What if we decided that you put the Bastion and its people at risk and that we should mitigate that risk? We’ve had some terrible experiences with travelers like you,” The Housekeeper smiles at Vega. The mana that has lazily swirled around her body until now is being pulled towards her until I can't sense even a speck of mana radiating from her. Being used to power her body as she prepares to charge.

Even the Butler places a few anchor-like things all over the room and even far outside, most likely for his rift.

“Well, if you decide to be hostile, I will fight back, obviously,” I answer them.

My trait activates, a golden circle surrounding my pupils, and the energies I’ve been generating with the Thermokinetic heart swirl inside me. They threaten to escape, to explode and obliterate everyone and anything in their way.

The Butler says calmly, “Housekeeper, calm down, please.”

But she ignores him, her eyes wide open, muscles moving under her skin, “So what if we use that little girl to pressure you? You seem to care…”

She cuts off and lifts her arm to her face. That forearm blocks the kinetic energy from the anchor I placed near her head. Instead of her head exploding, the forearm takes the attack, purple mana shining at the place of impact.

“Heh, I guess my joke was too…” Her body is thrown to the side by an explosion emanating from another anchor I’ve placed nearby.

Purple mana shines around her body, and she’s taken no damage at all.

“Okay, okay, I get it…” another explosion, this time much stronger, throws her even further away, messing up her clothes. Yet she doesn't fall and lands elegantly on her feet and stands up swiftly, “Message received.”

“You kind of deserved that,” the Butler sighs and then turns to me, “She likes awkward jokes like that, so please forgive her, Mister Gwyn. We obviously will not harm your disciple without reason."

“Come on, Butler, even given a reason, I wouldn't hurt such a cutie. Just look at her!” The Housekeeper sits in her chair as if nothing happened and points at Vega, who keeps glancing between me and the woman.

I wonder if it's normal for all these people to be such weirdos. Is it the levels or old age that makes people like that, or is it the tutorial making these floors more spicy for all of us?

“Well, I guess the dinner is over, so we will be leaving,” I tell them, ready for anything.

I have noticed the barrier around this place, and that would give them an advantage in the event of a fight. I’ve also noticed more guards nearby and one more person at a similar level to them. But I'm not worried.

My mana rumbles just under my skin, a Mana Reservoir long neglected. Thermal and kinetic energy roar inside two orbs I created and hid inside of my body before we entered the city. Even Vega can be evacuated through [Tether] to an anchor I’ve placed in the city, given the barrier won’t allow me to connect to the outside.

I might even want them to pick a fight, at least a little. I want to lower the effects of [Focus] and fight to forget about the Veil Guardian.

Just a little step, just a single attack aimed at Vega or me, and we can start.

When it does not come, I'm almost disappointed. The Butler only nods and then stands up, hands behind his back, and leads me towards the exit. The Housekeeper stays behind, her eyes on my back the entire time as we leave.

Just before we get back to the normal streets, the Butler tells me, “Mister Gwyn, next time, please refrain from such threatening actions. We prefer to act with civility and avoid violence, but we will not run from a challenge. Please count today as a show of our goodwill.”

He bows and then, as slowly as ever, walks back to the Housekeeper.

Yup, before this floor ends, I will pay these guys one more visit. A very eventful visit where I will show them what I think of their “show of goodwill.”

“Master?”

“Yes?”

“I think they might be even bigger assholes than you.”

Kids, they grow up so fast. Anyway, that's why I usually let others deal with people.

“Why do you think that, Vega?” As I ask her, she smiles so widely that her eyes create a thin line. Oh my, does she like being called Vega so much?

“The woman was nicer, but the man… I don't like him. I don't know why.”

Walking through nearly empty streets, I slow my steps to her level, “It's because she hid her feelings less, meanwhile the man kept restraining himself. It's usually better to know what you're against, even if it's something bad, meanwhile, you can't be sure with people like Mr. Moustache.”

“I see! Is master going to beat them up later?”

“Yes, but first we need to leave the Bastion and head to the Valley. They keep watching us, and even the barrier around the city is changing so maybe they want to trap us here. Remember, no matter how nice people act they could be a step away from stabbing you in the back. So, we will leave for a while and come back later.”

The barrier surrounding the fallen bastion makes me nervous. Even with my eyes and [Resonance], I'm not sure if I could do anything about it while taking care of Vega.

So we spend a few hours moving between shops. Even given the late hour, plenty of them are still open.

As we pass through more and more of them, I start to realize one thing. The items there aren’t very rare, no matter how high-end the shop or blacksmith we visit. Some of them even refuse to deal with us when they notice that we're not “citizens” as they say and only have a 3-day entrance token.

The control the leadership here has over its facilities is impressive. Blacksmiths, clothes shops, food shops, a small guild for explorers, expedition planners, and more. Everything is deeply controlled, and we need to be authorized to use their services to the fullest.

Looking back at the Bastion far behind us, I finish off the last of the monsters that had surrounded us.

[You have defeated Poisoneater- lvl 123]

[Lvl 218 > Lvl 219]

I watch as Vega deals with one at a much lower level. She saw me dealing with stronger ones, so she knows what sort of attacks to expect and dodges them.

The daring half-demon even allows a few physical strikes to land to test her class skill. A bit of that kinetic energy gets repelled by the barrier the skill affords her, and another part gets stored in her Kinetic storage.

It's still way too early for her to use her heart with her skills, but she will get there.

Name: Nathaniel Gwyn

Difficulty: Hell

Floor: 5 - Mentorship

Time left until forced return: 4y 27d 16h 2m 6s

Traits (2/3): Mana Circuit 1/3, Mana Wavelength Iris 0/3

I check the timer, and I have a week left with Vega and 27 days until the tournament. That's it if there isn't something else. The time limit feels way too short for anyone who can’t fly or who isn’t as strong as me. Perhaps the floor will continue even after the disciple returns to their world.

It's hard to describe, but even though I’ve decided to put more emphasis on my growth, I enjoy the time I’ve spent with my disciple. I keep putting off the test to see if she is just a fake or from the real world. I will do it just before the end of the quest.

But now, let's check the Valley.

“Vega, come here,” I gesture, and she quickly comes rushing after killing the monster.

I pull one of the most valuable mana stones I have out of my pocket and hand it to her, “This is a failsafe and will protect you in the event we get separated.”

Her eyes expand, and she takes it and quickly starts examining it.

Like me, indeed.

The mana stone I gave her contains one of the most complex inscriptions I’ve made so far. Unlike my botched attempts at whatever I was doing in the Sanctuary, I’ve improved my inscriptions quite a bit. The stone is upper rare and just a tiny step away from an epic item.

Its function is simple. It will protect her against high levels of ambient mana so it doesn't fry her brain. Of course, I will keep her near me and constantly protect her myself, but this is just in case.

I have spent plenty of time working on it and learned a lot. It works by attracting mana to it like a vortex and then pushing it away - like when the black mana dominates the surrounding mana.

After a few tests, I can consider it a success, and the quality of the stone helps a lot.

“Thank you, master, I will make sure to protect it!”

“Sure, sure,” I tell her, as she lifts her arms, and as many times before, I lift her to my chest.

I shift the bags on my back and create a barrier around us that is ready to activate at full power anytime.

Part of my mana goes into [Resonance], and I start heading towards the Valley. Moving through the air, we quickly close the distance, and with every mile, the mana filling the air grows heavier.

Up in the air, I can see the entire Valley stretched out before me, covered in mist and mana so dense that one could almost see it with normal eyes. Surrounded by tall mountains and hills, it almost looks like they were placed to block anything there from getting out.

I notice that Vega has trouble breathing and compress my mana a bit more and radiate more of it to power my skills. Her breathing returns to normal, and I fly closer.

The Valley, even as far as it is, is eerily quiet, nestled down there.

Flying becomes more difficult, as the surrounding mana disrupts my concentration. Logically it shouldn't affect me or my kinetic energy at all, yet it does, and I'm forced to land.

I almost make a mistake and activate my trait, and only stop myself at the last second, realizing how big a mistake it could be. The trait allows me to see mana waves and collect more information on anything mana-based. Just the sheer amount of mana and information here would likely tear my brain apart.

Instead, I strengthen the barrier around us.

Each step is harder than the one before, and it takes a while for us to reach the entrance to the valley. The wall of mist seems to separate everything inside from the outer world. It looks like a literal smooth wall.

Just a few steps and we will be inside.

I check the amount of kinetic and thermal energy I’ve collected. I examine my full Mana Reservoir. I test my skills, and all of them are working. The voidsteel slicer is still at my waist. Even the mana stones I’ve inscribed and prepared for just in case are in my pockets, ready to be used. There are circuits drawn with mana conductive paint on my arms and legs and even some lower quality lines on my chest.

As ready as I can be, I take a step with Vega in my arms.

The moment we pass through the wall of mist, the view ahead clears. The Valley is much bigger than it seemed from outside, though it’s still surrounded by mist and mountains that seem to scrape the sky.

In front of us is, as far as I can see, a forest, some hills, and a few lakes, and there, far in the distance, a being sleeps. A being much bigger than anything I’ve seen up till now. It has a snake-like body, long and slim, covered in beautiful light green scales. The monster has six legs too, each of them slim and nimble-looking.

The head lays on the ground, eyes closed, and each breath shakes the trees below. Were it to rear up, the monster would be as tall as a skyscraper.

[Gaiathra - lvl ???]

I guess I don't have to look for the sleeping Calamity anymore.

Chapter 300 - I like it here

Even though the monster’s sleeping so far away, I cover Vega's mouth with my hand. It's irrational and straight-up silly. There is no way the monster could be woken up so easily. It's just that there is still that little “what if?”

This six-legged serpentine napping noodle has three question marks. That means that it's probably over level 300, and I'm pretty sure it's closer to 400 just based on its appearance. So, the warning from the system makes much more sense now.

I ignore Vega's shock and carry her into the forest. The napping noodle is what? Two or three dozen miles away? The space within the Valley is bigger than it appears from the outside, so exploring it will probably be fine.

According to the information Nina gave me, there should be a Mirror and a few bunkers that would have been used by people in high positions. So it’s my goal to find information about the Veil and finish the quest.

And then, I want to find the Mirror, it’s supposed to be some kind of powerful artifact. I hope it's a higher rarity than epic. Someone from easy difficulty would probably want to choke me to death if they heard me say it. Those poor guys are extremely happy when they see low rare items.

“Master, maybe…”

I interrupt my silly disciple, “It's fine. It's taking a nap.”

“N-nap…” Vega gulps.

The pressure within the Valley is even stronger than outside, and I finally identify the source of that mana. It's Gaiathra sleeping over there and something else near the monster. The monster isn’t using any kind of skill, no barrier, nothing of the sort. It's just the sleeping monster’s mana seeping out of its body.

I won't even try to lie, I'm jealous. Just how many thousands or tens of thousands of points in mana is that?

Gradually, I also realize something.

My goal is to become stronger than that monster, and with the way I go about it when I get to its level, I will have much more mana. Damn, can I even pack so much of it inside of my tiny body? And damn, how cool it would be to stand against such a giant and be able to release multiple times more mana while facing it.

I push us higher into the air and land on one of the thicker branches with a view of the sleeping Gaiathra. Is it at the rank of Champion? My theory always was that a Champion is either at three question marks, or greater, probably.

For example, Tristan and Keiron, the Champions from the second floor, were capable of destroying multiple continents and killing millions, tens of millions of people in a matter of hours.

The monster in front of us feels strong, terrifyingly strong, yet I hesitate to think of it as a Champion. Maybe I have to change my thinking a bit; maybe Champions are all over level 450.

That also creates a question. Just how fucking strong was Lissandra? I mean, sure, she devoured the mana of an entire planet and destroyed it all with a single skill. It's just that I keep forgetting that. Then there was the Saint Absolute from the third floor, and she must have been at a similar level.

“Master, you were dozing off for a second,” Vega pulls on my clothes.

“Did I? But I’m still watching our surroundings, so don't worry.”

“Me too! Were you thinking about something interesting?”

“Yes. I like to sort things in my mind once in a while. But anyway, are you having any trouble with the pressure?”

She shakes her head, “Master's barrier blocks it all. I just have to stay close and continue training [Mana Manipulation], [Concentration], and try to learn Mana Cycling!”

I wonder if the others have such hard-working disciples.

Sensing an attack, I take a step and drop from the tree which crumbles in its entirety and gets pushed to the ground as if stepped on by an invisible giant. Another similar attack begins to form over me, but I move quickly.

“Hold on, there are more of them,” I tell Vega.

I continue to run between the trees as they explode behind us, each attack leaving deep craters in the ground. Even after dodging a dozen of them I still can’t reach the attacker, the air in front of me shivers. A big maw full of teeth appears from thin air to snap at Vega.

Before it can reach her, I shoot a cone of kinetic energy at it, and the monster goes flying through the forest, breaking through trees. Then I send a dozen mana projectiles I create shoot towards where it flew, piercing trees and sending chunks of earth flying as they strike. Yet no notification comes.

A barrier forms behind my back and deflects a rain of stones flying towards us, some of them are bigger than my body. They explode and grind against the barrier which ripples in response, sending dust and rubble into the air.

I create a javelin, quickly making it denser, before boosting it with kinetic energy and launching it in the direction of the stone volley.

[You have defeated Terraclaw - lvl 191]

I avoid another attack just before it crushes the place where I stood with invisible force and finally manage to reach the monster that’s been spamming them.

[Giant Troll - lvl 199]

The monster is easily five times my height. An old friend from the 1st floor.

A dozen javelins form around me and float in the air as I infuse each of them with thermal energy. The pale blue mana begins to shine with the brilliant golden luster of thermal energy. Five of the javelins shoot after the troll as he activates the marks on its skin, and they start glowing, preparing to defend.

The sixth one takes off behind me, piercing through the head of the monster with a big maw full of teeth that attacked me before.

[You have defeated Phantom Lindworm - lvl 204]

I examine its dead body for a short moment. It looks like a big snake with two legs and the scales have a similar green color to the giant one sleeping far ahead. Then I detonate the body with more kinetic energy, blasting it to pieces.

Turning back to the Giant Troll, I watch as five javelins crash against its skin, the flames concentrated into a small point at the tip of the javelins. Each of them pierces the monster, the flames bursting through the other side, drawing a loud roar out of it as the gravity field increases.

The trees in a bigger and bigger area tilt and break, crashing to the ground with the bulk of the pressure directed at me.

Before the attack can reach me, I use an anchor I placed on one of the javelins impaling the monster and begin sending even more thermal energy through.

Flames envelop the monster, and it starts thrashing around as it rapidly burns alive and crashes down. Pieces of its limbs charring and falling apart as it does so.

Without even a moment to look around, I feel the presence of a hundred or more monsters. A big flock of eyeballs as big as a volleyball with two wings each. They locate us quickly, immediately pressing in on us with various attacks.

Mental attacks which I block for both of us. Disrupting attacks that fail against my barrier and laser-like projectiles shooting from the middle of the eyeballs. Each of these melts and burns anything it touches to dust.

Tying an anchor to one of my projectiles, I shoot it towards the monsters, and then I send an attack through as I fend off their attempts to disrupt it.

A shockwave erupts in the middle of the flying group of monsters, a hundred or so monsters cooperate to push against the burst of kinetic energy. They disrupt, they create a barrier, and together they resist.

How curious.

I send a stronger wave, and they do it again, though they struggle more this time and have to stop attacking. Their panic is most noticeable in the movements of their small wings.

Before I can send a tricolored bomb through, a quick movement flashes at the corner of my vision, and an owl as big as a car passes through. Two of the flying eyeballs in its beak and a few more in its talons.

The group of flying monsters quickly changes their direction, running away, and I watch the owl leave with its prey.

[Dread Owl - lvl ??]

The white owl is extremely quiet as it flies, and there is no mana I could sense from it.

Well, it looks like the sleepy danger noodle isn't the only dangerous monster here. We should be careful of the owl as well.

Before I can even finish the thought, a snake emerges from the forest and strikes like lightning, its fangs burrowing into the owl mid-flight.

The white owl screeches, flapping its wings to no avail. The snake pulls the flying raptor into the forest, and after a second, the screeches stop with a wet cracking noise.

I think I like it here.

Just an hour later, Vega and I are standing on a branch in a big tree, looking down on hundreds of bison, each the size of a bus as they amble towards a lake, sipping on water as the largest keeps watch. The chonky boy is a few levels higher than me, but even that won’t help.

A long maw with sharp teeth snaps up from under the water, and a scaly body flashes into view as a crocodile pulls one of the Bison under the water.

Blood flows to the surface, and the bubbles of air slowly disappear.

Even the leader of the bison doesn't seem to care, almost as if it had been expected.

A javelin over my shoulder reaches the breaking point, tricolored mana turning bright white, and I launch it at the herd.

The leader bobs, and a few of them separate, layering barriers in front of them, even adding some stones into it. Another group even moves some of the lake's water, a compressed burst of it meeting with my barrier.

That's when the javelin pierces through multiple barriers and then explodes.

The resulting heatwave sets the nearby vegetation ablaze, and vaporizes a large quantity of water, even causing the lake to boil.

The following shockwave throws a dozen or so Bison into the air, some even fly towards the lake at which point the crocodile snatches them, tearing chunks out of the ground and pulling up trees in the process.

[You have defeated Guardian Bison - lvl 178]

[You have defeated Guardian Bison - lvl 148]

[You have defeated Guardian Bison - lvl 171]

[You have defeated Guardian Bison - lvl 139]

…

[Lvl 219 > Lvl 220]

I notice Vega shooting a tiny mana orb boosted by her kinetic energy. Seeing the chaos going there, it's almost cute observing her attack.

Then the implosion of my attack resolves. Air rushing back to the center of the javelin’s explosion, pulling the monsters, debris, and water toward it, and compressing it all into a tight sphere.

Bones break, monsters scream, notifications sound.

Using the opportunity, the croc gets out of the water, a big muscular body covered in scales, mana covering its skin in a barrier as it starts fighting against the head Bison. They seem to be just fine after my attack and are clearly more physically oriented.

Well, another attack it is.

Five javelins form above my head, and I push more mana into them. Compressing it, squeezing it to make them as deadly as possible.

Even while dealing with extreme mana density here and defending me and Vega, I can do it. My reservoir is still untouched, and even though I'm taking a big chunk of my mana, I know it will regenerate quickly.

When the javelins start turning bright white, both of the monsters down there stop fighting, and turn to me. The Bison seems especially hateful for some unknown reason.

The croc, surprisingly quick on the uptake, starts heading back towards the lake, and the Bison charges at me.

But I boost all of the javelins with kinetic energy, and they disappear, hitting the monsters and the ground around them.

Strengthening our barrier, even I opt to fly in the opposite direction, and even then, I get caught in the shockwave and heatwave, parts of the forest catch flame and trees get pulled from their roots.

[You have defeated Two-Headed Snake - lvl 150]

[You have defeated Guardian Bison - lvl 171]

[You have defeated Phantom Lindworm - lvl 191]

[You have defeated Phantom Lindworm - lvl 161]

...

Plenty of other monsters die in the aftereffect, but there are two notifications I'm waiting for.

[You have defeated Guardian Bison - lvl 235]

[You have defeated Goliath Crocodile - lvl 229]

There are no level-ups, but that’s fine. I feel as if the stress that’s been collecting inside me for quite some time has started to dissipate. I feel as if it's easier to breathe now. It's not perfect, I still have Vega to protect so I can't let go and lower my [Focus], but even this is an improvement.

Just a nice step towards a happier Nat.

It's not like I don't like training or playing with inscriptions and items, but it's been too long since I got to enjoy such a nice hunting ground, and I plan to use it as much as possible with the time remaining before Vega gets sent back.

“What?” I ask Vega, who is looking at me with her big red eyes.

“I also want to learn how to do that.”

Oh? Does she like my tricolored bombs? She is still far from ready, and I think a more reasonable person wouldn't even consider teaching such a young kid something like that. But I'm not reasonable, and neither is my disciple.

“Don't worry, I have a few ideas about how you might be able to do something similar with the help of your heart,” I've been thinking about it for a while.

Her eyes become even bigger, and I can hear her heart beat faster. She is MY disciple, isn't she? Nathaniel Gwyn's first disciple, the half-demon Vega.

Before this ends, we will come up with a few rather destructive uses for mana and kinetic energy.

Chapter 301 - Bullying Ashenwolf

A day has passed. Vega is progressing well with her skills, and we even found some low-level monsters for her to fight. Most of them are younglings being protected by their herds. So I’ve been taking care of the more troublesome members of the group and letting my pocket half-demon deal with the rest.

The fights are dangerous of course, even young monsters can be surprisingly strong in this environment. Maybe the weaker ones just tend to die quickly.

As for me, I'm loving it. I would like this place even more if I didn't have to take care of Vega and could lurk about on my own. It kind of reminds me of the 1st floor, where death could be waiting behind any of the trees, a forest full of deadly monsters. Yes, the 1st floor was the first place I really felt alive, being forced to fight for my life or die.

Now that I think about it, maybe I'm not all that normal either, maybe it's not just the rest of group 4. But then I remember Lily's happy smile as I suggested that she cut off her limbs and store them for sacrifice, and I quickly dismiss the thought. I am the normal one here.

I notice a presence sneaking closer and activate one of my anchors, sending a thermal burst through.

A small part of the forest explodes in sky-high flames, and even here I feel a bit of heat.

[You have defeated Battle Kobold - lvl 201]

[Lvl 221 > Lvl 222]

I turn my attention back to Vega, who is fighting a level thirty-one Kobold. The monster is multiple times taller than her, it looks like a bipedal lizard with dark brown scales.

The fight has been dragging on for a while already, and I think she could have ended it some time ago, but my disciple keeps trying to use kinetic energy during the fight. Her heart keeps beating, her [Kinetic Barrier] helping to absorb the recoil. As I keep my [Mana Domain] around her and am extremely careful to do so.

Unlike the monsters native to these parts, Vega isn't used to these high mana levels. Hell, even I have trouble functioning normally without using my skills to compensate. I don't want to see what it would do to her.

[Mana Domain - lvl 33 > Mana Domain - lvl 34]

Oh, nice, that's something.

Vega, frustrated at her inability to shoot the monster with kinetic energy, just uses it to push her body to the side before closing the distance with another burst. Her dagger flashes, stabbing multiple times into the monster's chest.

She lands on her feet, as the Kobold sends her flying with a well timed punch, her barrier absorbing most of the impact. She pushes herself up again, stabbing for the neck and using her left arm to fend off the monster’s gnashing teeth.

The kobold tries to tear through the [Kinetic Barrier] covering her forearm, but the life disappears from his eyes before he can.

Knowing the mood my disciple is most likely in, I don't say anything and give her time to calm down.

More presences start closing in from all sides, and I send explosions through a few more anchors and grab Vega. Then, while the forest burns behind us, I push us into the air and quickly head for one of the smaller mountains.

Keeping our flight as short as possible, I land and then continue running on my feet, strengthening my body. But, just like before, even this is enough, and several flying monsters start circling the area, searching for us.

I hide our presence, and when I find an opening in the side of the mountain, I head towards it, and pushing through for a few seconds, I enter the cave. A thermal orb flies in the air, lighting the area, and the monster that seems extremely surprised to see us as it wakes.

[Ashenwolf - lvl 149]

The monstrous wolf isn't even that big; his eyes are at the level of mine. His fur is gray, and his eyes are light gray.

Somehow I find the monster pretty and cute. Just a poor fella, awoken from its nap by intruders.

I use [Redistribution] to hold its movement, while the wolf tries to radiate some fire-based attack, but I absorb the heat, storing it in the thermal orb I'm using to light the cave. Then I disrupt its attempts to use a reinforcement skill and thwart a few more of its attempts. I let Vega go, and she starts looking between me and the wolf.

Yup, that's me, the Bully. I'm totally bullying the poor guy and will continue to do so for a few more minutes, at least until the monster can catch its breath after its escape attempts. There doesn’t seem to be much mana left in the wolf, and its eyes change. The monster has recognized the difference between us and expects death. Yet it stands proud.

The wolf reminds me of the Crimsonwolf Tess and I fought on the 1st floor. Back then, I felt something like respect for the white wolf that caused us so much trouble and inspired the creation of one of my first skills.

I take a few steps and stop an arm's reach away from the monster, continuing to hold its movement with my skill. His eyes meet mine, its growling fills the cave.

Then I pet him.

The wolf's fur is nice and soft, and his body radiates a comfortable heat, it probably has something to do with his fire skills. As I continue to caress his head, I feel renewed attempts to escape, but there is no way he will be able to. Using my position as victor, I step closer and continue. It feels nice, and the confused, yet angry wolf is still cute.

Sure, it is almost a level 150 monster that would kill me given the opportunity. But now its life is in my hands, and I want to pet it. It might be because I miss Biscuit, but I even boop the wolf's snout a few times. It's nice and cold, but it just can't compare to Biscuit's, so I stop.

“Wanna pet it, Vega?” I ask my disciple. Yup, I lost our bet again. Losing concentration when we found ruins of a building, and I found weird inscriptions on it.

I’m starting to think that maybe our bet wasn't such a good idea.

Vega doesn't even bother asking if it's safe nor does she hesitate. Nope, she just moves towards the wolf which stands there, frozen in place, and climbs on his back.

“It's so soft and warm!” she says happily, her mood improving. She moves closer to the wolf's head, which is almost as big as she is.

Yet the little half-demon isn't scared at all. She seems to trust me fully and taps the top of the majestic wolf's head, “Can we keep him?”

“It would be annoying, just pet him if you want, and we will leave in ten minutes.”

She is disappointed but then continues to snuggle the wolf for ten minutes. Then, as we are leaving, I release the monster, and he almost falls, his body now no longer restrained by my skills. He doesn't even attempt to attack me, just stands there, his hackles rising, its deep growl filling the cave once more. I throw him a piece of deer meat I dried and exit.

Taking Vega into my arms, I jump off the mountain, boosting us only slightly to avoid colliding with the cliff. After ten seconds of freefall, I absorb our momentum, gently landing on a branch of one of the bigger trees.

A few dozen miles ahead of us lies the sleeping Calamity, and I wonder how much closer I can get to it safely. We’ve already shortened the distance by a third, so theoretically, we could reach it in a few days if we wanted to. But something tells me that wouldn't be a good idea.

So I once again check the map I got from Darren, the one with information on the Mirror. Obviously, the map is terrible. The Valley it depicts is much smaller, and some of the mountains are missing, but I can use it as a rough estimation, and, going by that, the Mirror should be nearby.

It takes an entire day. Meanwhile, Vega levels up a few times, and her usage of kinetic energy has improved to what I think is an acceptable degree. We only have 5 days left, so I tell her to practice creating mana orbs and I start explaining the logic behind my tricolored orbs. She has a skill similar to [Focus], so she should be capable of doing something similar. Even if she can’t do it right away, she can always fill them with kinetic energy instead.

That day, we also got attacked by a snake as thick as a car. The monster moves extremely quickly, spewing acid at all times, and even radiates a form of mana I can't fully block. It causes me to become lightheaded and makes it more difficult to keep up my external use of mana. It's unable to pierce my Mantle, but the slithering moving debuff of a monster is extremely annoying.

I run between the trees, as they topple behind us. Dodging to the side, a long patch of the forest in front of us gets covered in green acid which starts to melt the trees.

A dozen of my mana projectiles trash the forest behind us, but the snake avoids them all, and as it moves, more trees fall.

A few monsters attack from the sky only to be hit by the debuff, slowed down, and then either snatched from the air or melted in green acid.

I create a few layers of barriers, and acid lands on them, slowly corroding them, forcing me to use more mana and let the attack drip down.

The thermal orb floating near me shoots a laser-like concentrated thermal attack, cutting trees apart with a smooth burned cut. It slashes against the snake as well, causing deep burns and filling the area with a loud hiss.

I create anchors near the monster, but they get disconnected from me by the field the snake constantly generates.

Vega has already passed out and starts breathing heavily, even through the barriers I’ve wrapped her in.

Pushing us further away, three tricolored bombs explode next to the snake, but I only see its long body slithering like a blur away from the explosions.

[Redistribution] fails to grasp the monster, and it never gets close enough to enter the reach of my kinetic attacks, and it avoids my ranged ones, detecting them as they take flight. Yet another asshole picking on me and taking advantage of the fact that I can't fight properly with Vega in my arms. And yet another fella to add to my ever-growing list of beings that have pissed me off on this floor.

When my [Perception] locates the tunnels below us and a path heading there, I lure the monster further away, dodging the attacks.

Then I create hundreds of mana projectiles, each of them an orb the size of a golf ball. Thermal energy floods into each one of them, and I start my bombardment of the snake. They shoot off like rounds from a minigun, hundreds of them in just a few seconds, obliterating a big patch of the forest, some of them even manage to hit and burn the annoying snake.

The monster hisses, an even more concentrated acid attack shooting towards us, splashing against my barrier. I keep the barriers supplied with mana and even use [Infusion] to infuse them with [Resonance], and gradually the acid slides down, melting the earth, stones, and trees underneath.

Meanwhile, the snake leaves, and the annoying field it was generating goes with it.

I check on Vega, and she seems to be feverish, and the little half-demon is still unconscious. Carefully, I use my mana to push the barely noticeable remains of the snake's aura away, and her breathing calms down.

Then I spend a bit of time testing my skills on the green acid that was left behind. The effect it has on [Resonance], how it clashes with kinetic or thermal energy. The amount of mana I need to use for [Regalia] to resist it. All that good stuff.

But one good thing comes from the snake’s attack.

Its acid melts a big chunk of the stone off of one of the hills, revealing the entrance to a crude tunnel that’s been shielded by the material around it. That allows my senses to reach inside, and I send them through the tunnel, slowly creating a map in my mind.

Then I find something interesting deep inside the tunnel.

A massive circular iron door not unlike the ones back at the Sanctuary.

Checking the map in the mana stone and the area, I manage to conclude that we’ve located the resting place of the Mirror. Whatever it is.

Chapter 302 - Thank you, minion

Only when I stop in front of the giant iron door do I realize how different it is from the ones that lead into the Sanctuary.

This one feels much more powerful if that is the right word to use. There are inscriptions meant to take any mana that touches the door and use it to strengthen their defenses. Even the material itself is different. The iron is shinier, without a single speck of rust or damage.

Given the information I have, I would say that while the Sanctuary is an old abandoned bunker from before the war, this one is newer. Built using newer technologies and more up to date knowledge. Even the stone around the door has been strengthened, laced with veins of inscribed iron.

This seems like it will take a while, so I leave for a moment to block the entrance that was melted by the acid attack, I try to shield it as it was before, and then return to the door.

I take a blanket, lay it out on the ground, and set Vega on top of it, placing multiple layers of defense around her. I even add a few more mana stones inscribed to protect against the mana radiation that is so ever-present in the Valley. Then I activate my trait and touch the door, only to immediately let go, my eyes closed and pain drumming inside my head.

Yeah, this will take a bit longer than expected.

One day later, I already feel like throwing an all-out attack against the door.

None of it makes sense! How the heck is a normal Hell difficulty enjoyer supposed to get inside? Is there another way? Knowing the system, there probably is. No, knowing the system, there 100% are different ways to get inside. And most of them are probably much simpler.

BUT.

That doesn't matter for shit. This is a clear challenge. A test of my skills, and there is no way I will stop now. 5th floor Nathaniel won't back out, otherwise 6th floor Nathaniel will remember it and laugh at such a weak show of determination.

Nope, I will open this goddamn door. It is not even powered by mana, so its defensive capabilities are dramatically reduced. For what I know, it's 50-90% easier to unlock it now compared to if it was supplied with mana. Thankfully, the core of the Bunker, either a mana crystal or mana stone, seems to have been drained. Yet, here I am, angry at the door.

“Master, I leveled up my [Mana Manipulation]!”

At least Vega seems to be happy. She woke up a few hours after we reached the door and after examining the area, she went to training.

Yes, I'm curious, but I won’t forget my role as her master. There are 4 days remaining, so I spend half of my time with the door and the other half training Vega. We spar, I pressure her, she trains her heart.

Over and over again, she gets hurt by me, forcing her to train harder and more. At this point I'm surprised she doesn't hate me. I keep watching for that. A hint of growing hatred towards me, a desire for revenge. Yet there is none.

“Vega, do you not hate me?” I ask, taking a break from the door.

Hearing my serious tone, she takes her time to answer, “No,” she says simply.

“That's it?”

“Yes. I do not hate master.”

Such a silly minion.

“I will be disrupting your mana. Do not even try to fight against it outside of your body. Try to keep the mana under your skin active to strengthen your body or send it to your heart,” I tell her.

“Yes!”

Splitting my mind into two parts, I turn to the door while the other one trains Vega.

One more day passes when I finally decide to do what I’ve been avoiding for a long time.

With a bit over three days remaining, I take a break from deciphering the door. I take two clean pieces of cloth from the bag along with a sweet fruity drink stored in a bottle with inscriptions meant to keep the contents cold. I also take out some sweets. All the things from the 4th floor.

Then I turn to Vega and ask, “Will you eat with me, Vega?”

A pure expression of shock appears on her face, and her heart palpates, beating weirdly. Revealing her surprise and shock. A big tear starts rolling down her cheek as I sit on the ground, the pieces of cloth marking our places, and I wait.

“Master… this… do you know… I,” she blubbers, and I wait.

Of course, I know. This custom, this gesture seems to be reserved for people you either like, respect, or want to build a relationship with. Vega, up until now, hasn’t had the opportunity to do this before the 5th floor, she probably only ever got to see other people doing this.

Then she tried it with me, and I still remember how happy she was that day. That day and every day after that. No matter how many times I accepted, she smiled just as happily as the first time.

But until now, it’s always come from her. Her show of goodwill, a desire for a relationship with her master. So it's no surprise that she might react this way if I were to return the gesture.

“I don't remember my disciple being such a crybaby,” I mutter.

She quickly blinks and wipes her eyes back and forth with her sleeve, “I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.”

Vega then quickly sits down and, unlike many times before, she seems nervous as I take out food and drink for us. I take my time and carefully split the items between the two of us. Then we eat in silence, though I watch with amusement, as she nibbles on the sweets, and drinks the chilled fruit drink.

Even though she is so much smaller, she eats more than me and doesn't even seem to notice that I barely touch it, carefully sliding it towards her.

The less food remains, the more sour my mood becomes, and that weird feeling fills my chest. When all the food is gone, she looks towards me, flashing me a giant smile that makes me want to pull on her horns.

“Vega,” I start carefully, “I will say a few words, can you repeat them after me?”

She tilts her head, curious, but then she nods, “Sure, master!”

“Pairing.”

“Pairing,” she repeats.

My throat feels a bit dry, so I take a sip and take a deep breath.

“Tutorial,” I say.

“Tutorial,” she repeats.

“5th floor.”

“5th floor,” she repeats.

“Floor quest.”

“Floor quest,” she repeats.

I open my mouth and then close it, only to open it again, “Hell difficulty tutorial, group 4, Noname, Savant, Beyond, Side quest, Train and protect disciple, shards, System shop.”

“Hell difficulty tutorial, group 4, Noname, Savant, Beyond, Side Quest, Train and protect disciple, shards, System shop,” she repeats perfectly.

“That's enough.”

“Master, are you…” Vega pauses and then shakes her head. Instead, she smiles, “Did I do well?”

“Yes, you did. Thank you, Vega.”

POV Lily Chen

"Master, you keep staring into the air. Are you checking the community?"

I look at my disciple and, seeing no reason to lie, I nod, "Yes. Nathaniel is there, talking with Savant." I notice that my disciple is displeased by that.

He is wearing the same clothes he wore when I met him for the first time. Even though he can't be more than 7 or 8 years old, his clothes remind me of a formal black suit, clean. He wears them proudly, and his bearing is the same.

It's adorable to see someone so young behave like that, but he takes it so seriously I can't laugh at him. Apparently, his father is a Champion candidate and will reach that rank in a few years, something Pallius, my disciple, is extremely proud of.

"You don't like that I'm talking with Nathaniel?" I tease him. It's fun because his reactions are cute. A kid pretending to be an adult.

“From what you’ve told me master, the man called Nathaniel is unstable and unreliable. Master is wasting time on him. I will get my father to locate your planet and will find you after your tutorial ends. I promise to take care of you.”

Finally, I laugh a bit, unable to hold back, "Pallius. Just tell me more about the Pairing, Tutorial, and the system, and I will think about it."

“I'm not dumb, master,” he shakes his head, “I will do so only if you promise to become my Shadow.” He mentions the title of some, probably, important position.

What would Nat do with such a stubborn kid?

I take a step closer, pinch his nose and shake it a bit.

Pallius seems extremely surprised, and at a loss for words, his eyes big as saucers. His face reddens, and his eyes change color from yellow to light blue, and his hair mimics that. Pallius isn't human. His eyes and hair confirm that, as do the small wings growing from his back.

But there is something to it, I think, as I let go of his nose and watch as he steps back. Nat might be onto something!

Still red, Pallius shouts, wings on his back moving erratically, “Master! Don’t do that!”

“Yes, yes. But Pallius, your fingers are still missing, can’t you regenerate them quicker?”

He fixes his suit, and his hair and eyes change to a more neutral orange color, “It’s not that easy. Not everyone is as much of a genius as you are. I swear, master, you are dumb, you don’t realize how exceptional your healing skill is.”

“Don’t worry, we will get you there as well.”

I don’t know if the system is cruel or kind, but Pallius and I are similar. Ever since he told me about how lonely he feels with his busy father or how much pressure weighs on him, I can’t help but pity him a bit. But only a bit, he always gets ashamed and angry when I try to be nicer. So silly.

“What do you think? Should we head to the Bastion or the Valley?” I ask him.

“We have only a few days before I return to my world, so maybe the Valley? After I come back, we can go on a longer expedition, master.”

“So reliable,” I ruffle his hair as it returns to its pale blue shade.

“Master! Stop that! My father is a Champion candidate, and I’m not some kid to be subjected to this kind of childish and undignified treatment!”

“Sure, sure, Pallius.”

He doesn’t push my hand away and looks at me, “Master, just become my Shadow. And stop thinking of that Nathaniel guy. He is weak, and he doesn’t value you as much as I would. You even said he left you!”

“Don’t worry, minion, I will deal with Nathaniel on the next floor.”

“M-minion?”

“Oh yes, Nathaniel said in the Community that he calls his disciple that. Apparently, his disciple likes it a lot. So I will be calling you minion as well.”

“T-that evil man!”

I smile at him, and then, while we walk, I continue trying to use [Reconstruction] on the remains of the heart of the Fallen Hero. Even after a few weeks, it's still in pieces and It’s extremely hard to work with, but I think I'm onto something.

Three days remain until Vega returns to the real world.

Real world.

A real disciple, from the real world. Not a fake, not a shadow of someone long dead. A real half-demon that’s become my disciple.

I might have become softer, and I totally blame it on the [Focus] that blocks most of my… violent tendencies, and other stuff. But I'm… happy, I think. So for rewards, I push my disciple more, and slowly she becomes stronger and stronger.

I could go out and level her more, but that's not what I want. What I want is to create a great base for her that she can build on. Show her what's possible and the rest is up to her.

And then, when the tutorial is over, I will find her and her world. She will be around 10 years old by the time the tutorial ends for me. Maybe even older as I'm not sure how long it will take to find coordinates to her world or how difficult it will be to travel there.

But I will do it.

I have also decided to spend one more day trying to open the door. If I don't by then, we will leave with 2 days remaining, if something doesn't change. That should be enough time to deal with the annoying acid snake, get some revenge on the Bastion jerks, stomp the Veil Guardian into the ground, and maybe even check on the Sanctuary.

It's not that I'm worried about the people there; I'm just curious about what they decided. That's one of the reasons I left Darren, Nina, and others alive. I really wonder how these people will deal with the knowledge of what they were eating. I'm also curious what Irvin, the source of that meat, did. Did he kill Darren? Did he stay down there, or did he leave to meet his daughter?

While I’m thinking of that, something clicks.

In the deep silence of the underground, it sounds deafening, and then in the light of my thermal orb, I see the door shift slightly. Just a tiny bit, creating an opening just wide enough for a human to push through.

That makes me stop and once again examine what I was doing, and after a minute, I'm absolutely sure I didn't do anything that would cause it to unlock.

Should I close it?

I shake my head. Whatever. It could be the system unlocking them; it’s set to unlock for participants on some schedule, or there is something inside that opened it.

Who the hell knows?

“Vega, take your stuff; we are going in.”

I can hear movement behind me and her small feet tap against the floor as she moves quickly and packs up everything. When it's done, we enter the bunker, me going first.

Foolishly, I try to open the door more, but it doesn't move. It doesn't move even as I use mana or as I strengthen my body. Not even the tiniest bit.

To be honest, it scares me a bit and also makes me want to take it with me to the 6th floor to examine what the heck is with them.

The tunnel we enter doesn't have any inscriptions on the walls, and it's perfectly shielded against my mana and senses. When I try to send my mana through the wall, it reflects back inside the tunnel.

After we’ve been walking for ten minutes, I start realizing how long the hallway is. All we can see is the same tunnel anywhere we look. There are no doors, no rooms, no markings. The only proof of us moving ahead is the shrinking door behind us.

Oh, and also two anchors, one near the door and another one outside. Plus, a few mana threads that will warn me the moment the door moves even the tiniest bit.

I also hold Vega's hand, so I can teleport us both. Her possibly getting hurt by the teleportation sounds like a better option than being locked here. Just in case.

Ten minutes later, the area finally changes. The tunnel widens, and we pass through a few more iron doors, which are open. Each of our steps echoes through this otherwise quiet and dark place, and dust flies into the air. The air becomes stale in this perfectly empty bunker, devoid of anything that hasn’t been bolted down.

We pass by filtration plants, we pass by an enchanting facility. We pass by a forge as big as a two-story building.

There is a room full of shelves covered in dried-up plants that turn to dust when I touch them.

Another room is as big as a football stadium, filled with thousands of seats. The walls have been painted in a pale blue color and there’s a podium with a few paintings, barely visible behind it.

We eventually reach the core, a circular room with stairs running along the sides and heading down. When I send my thermal orb down there, I realize that it is as deep as a skyscraper for sure.

A single crystal goes through the middle of this room. It brilliantly reflects the light, perfect and beautiful. The biggest mana crystal I've ever seen. The core of this place.

A few more rooms later, we finally reach a much smaller one. It's barely as big as the room I used to live in with my sister. In that room, stands a simple mirror. It has no frame and it's hovering in the air, just a bit over the floor.

I take a few steps and watch our reflections inside of it. Both of us are a bit dirty and our clothes are not in a good state. Then I read the information that appears.

The Mirror is an item.

Yup, an item with a higher rarity than epic has finally appeared.

Chapter 303 - Remember what I taught you

Duplicating Mirror (Arcane) - This mirror can replicate any object up to its rarity, vanishing after a single use. Its power offers a unique opportunity for duplication, but with the caveat of its irreplaceable nature, making its selection a critical decision.

Okay, I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this.

“Train for a bit,” I give another mana stone to Vega and turn to the mirror.

So, the next level of rarity after epic is arcane, and this mirror can duplicate any item up to arcane rarity. The unfortunate thing is that I don't think there is anything of that rarity I could get my hands on on this floor.

Maybe I should try moving it and take it to the next floor with me. I bet some opportunities would arise there. The mirror itself is a bit taller than me and as wide as my unfurled arms, so it wouldn't be such a big problem.

I touch it carefully and then try to move it. It won’t move. I use [Tether]. I use [Mana Domain]. I strengthen my body, I use mana arms. I try to push it with kinetic energy. Just like the door, the goddamn mirror won’t budge.

With a sigh, I sit in front of it and think while looking at my reflection.

Should I duplicate the Voidsteel slicer? It's well within the higher grades of epic rarity, and I bet most people in Hell difficulty would kill for it. Yet, I still can't help but feel something akin to regret, feeling it would be a waste.

I examine the mirror a bit longer.

These are some of the most delicate and tiny inscriptions I’ve seen up until now. It's hard to even perceive them, and I have no fucking idea how they work or what they do. The mirror itself could be made from glass or from a thin piece of heavily polished metal. Heck, for all I know, maybe it's just a reflective turd from a Calamity rank monster.

Also, the mirror quest says this.

Side quest: Locate the mirror

Reward: ???

It most likely means that whatever I copy will be my reward, that could be the reason for the question marks.

I wonder if I could duplicate Biscuit if he was here. Just the thought of two future Absolutes by my side fills me with bliss. Or maybe… I pause my thoughts here, the gears in my head spinning.

Maybe… would that work?

Probably? Logically it could work, the description doesn't exclude it.

Oh my.

I quickly check the timer until Vega returns to her world, and it says almost three days.

Too little time.

Slightly annoyed, I return to examining the item in front of me.

When the timer reaches 3 days, I get a new pop up from the system.

Congratulations, you have protected your disciple and raised their level. In three days, you will be offered a choice. You can proceed to the next floor or remain on the 5th floor for another three weeks as the danger gradually increases.

If you choose to stay, in 3 days, your disciple will return to their world for a week. Subsequently, they'll return to the 5th floor for the two additional weeks.

While the master-disciple relationship is crucial, it isn't enforced by the system.

Your choice will be respected, free from penalties should you decide to proceed to the next floor.

After reading the message, I open the Community to curse at my group members for not letting me know. Any message with even the tiniest hint of these choices gets censored.

That probably explains why they haven’t said anything, but it’s still annoying, and while Biscuit shouts something about the food, I proceed to bully the others.

The timer slowly ticks down, and when our time is almost up, I put a stop to our training and let her rest. She also seems to realize our time together is coming to a close, so it's hard for her to focus.

I’ve already prepared a small bag for her. We worked together to make it look old and dirty-looking, the same with her clothes. We hid a few mana stones, and she refused to give up any of the items I’ve given her, carefully storing them in a hidden compartment within the bag.

There is still a chance that someone might notice any decent items she’s carrying, and her low level might put a target on her back instead of helping her.

So, I won’t give her any powerful items. I also refrain from leaving any inscriptions on her skin with paint, nor do I give her any mana stones containing warrior enhancements. I decided at the beginning of the 5th floor, that I’d be careful not to help her too much, that I’d let her grow on her own. I have decided to trust in the training I’ve given her and to have faith in her own abilities.

One moment I think I'm doing the right thing, and another, I want to buy her an epic item or give her piles of valuables. It's annoying, it's difficult, and I'm not used to these feelings.

The fact that the system is even giving me two options is interesting in its own way. It makes a certain kind of sense. You can send your disciple away for a week, back to the moment before their death. The disciple will either die or survive based on their training. Then the disciple can use what they learned in their world and return a week later to give feedback and learn more.

Yes, the system said the relationship between master and disciple is important, and it was shown often by titles such as Champion's disciple or Absolute's disciple. But it's weirdly nice of the system to offer such an option.

It could just as easily end up being a disadvantage as anyone who chooses the first option will start on the 6th floor 3 weeks early. But it might equal the chance to spend 1 week on the 5th floor without disciple and examine it.

For me, it's perfect, more than perfect.

There is the mirror and my idea to use it. There is the Bastion, the Sanctuary, Veil Guardian, acidic danger noodle, and the sleeping giga-danger noodle.

I like that a lot and not just because I get to spend more time with this silly half-demon.

Damn it.

That's how they get you, they act all cute, innocent, and weak. They need protection, they imitate, and get close to you. Then before you know it, you are attached. Even disciples are dangerous here.

While looking at the way she nervously steps from foot to foot, I also think about how she compares to me from the 1st floor.

Her level is higher, her skill levels are higher, and she has a lot of knowledge I didn't, all specially prepared for her and her build.

She is strong, and I'm sure she could take on most of the members of group 4 from the 1st floor. Somehow, I still don’t think I would lose if we fought. Vega is wild, and she is the type that will scratch and bite when pushed into a corner. She is a fighter. But Nat from the 1st floor was even wilder. Someone who would sacrifice his limbs, and his body without hesitation just to get a nice hit in.

Now that I think about it, I did something similar to my leg not long ago, so maybe that’s not a good comparison. There is no way I'm as dumb as the me from a year ago, nope.

“Master,” Vega moves closer and then sticks her head out for me.

For a moment, I stand there confused, and then hesitantly, I grab her tiny black horn and shake her head.

She giggles, clearly enjoying it.

Then she opens her hand, and a nearly transparent mana orb floats out. I can sense the kinetic energy inside. The orb floats slowly and heads outside the room, where it receives a signal from Vega, and its surface shrinks, compressing the kinetic energy inside. Following that, the kinetic energy pushes against it, expands, and tears the orb apart in a small explosion.

Its damage is small, even smaller than if she had used her body. But it's a first step, and my disciple seems happy. Very happy.

"Good job," I say as I pull on her horn and gently shake her head.

I do realize how much our relationship has changed, and how our treatment of each other has evolved. Why is it so easy to let my guard down in front of someone Iike her?

I get down on my knees, carefully wrap my arms around her and pull her into a hug.

At first, she freezes, her small body barely moving, her heart beating like a scared little animal.

When I'm about to let her go, thinking I might have misunderstood, she puts her arms around me and hugs me back. She holds me with all the strength in her tiny arms, her head burrows into my neck and her pointy horns poke the bottom of my chin.

She refuses to let go for a long time, and when she does, she looks at the ground awkwardly.

“Remember what I taught you, okay? Stay safe, and I will see you in a week.”

Still refusing to meet my gaze, “Will do, master, so wait for me,”

“Sure.”

“Will you really be here when I return?”

“Yes.”

“You won't… leave me?”

“You should know me better after the last few weeks.” As the time moves closer, I notice her becoming more and more nervous, but she will be fine. She is strong.

Finally, the countdown ends, and Vega looks towards a spot in the air. From the way her eyes move, the object she is looking at is as big as a door. It reminds me too much of Myrra, unable to see the entrance to the 5th floor. In the same way I can't see the portal leading to her world. It’s surprisingly disturbing.

“Minion, my punishment has ended, so I don't have to call you by your name anymore,” I say as she takes a step.

She turns to me and after a moment of hesitation a smile appears on her face, “Master is dumb, same as me. I'll be back, and you'll call me Vega again!”

Without saying anything else, she passes through the invisible portal, and a new message pops up.

Congratulations on protecting your disciple. According to how your disciple does, you will receive ??? after leaving the Floor.

Would you like to continue to the 6th floor or stay on the 5th floor?

Warning! If you decide to stay on the 5th floor, you will have to wait a week until your disciple is summoned back. Then you will have to protect your disciple for another 2 weeks in harsher conditions! If your disciple dies you will fail your floor quest, and receive severe punishment.

Warning! If you decide to enter the 6th floor, your connection to your disciple will be severed. Your disciple can also choose to sever the connection between you. If the connection is cut, you will lose opportunities.

Choose wisely!

“Why are you giving us options out of nowhere,” I mumble. “The more floors we pass, the more informative and nice you are.”

The system doesn't answer, as always, and I just close the windows after deciding to stay.

Overall, I like it. There is so much to do and so many quests to complete, and without Vega… I weaken the hold [Focus] has on some of my emotions, and my mood changes.

Now that she is gone, it feels like that bit of warmth, the flame I had to protect, is gone too, and I can go back to my usual self.

While looking in the mirror, I take out conductive paint and start drawing on my forehead, around my eyes, and on every free spot on my head. It takes a while, but I try to do it as precisely as possible. After that, I paint even more across the rest of my body. That takes even longer.

When everything is ready, a small orb of mana forms nearby, quickly compressed, focused to a much smaller size turning to black mana. The familiar pressure threatens to take over my mana, but I just pull it into my hand, absorbing it into my body through the inscriptions as they disappear.

I take a part of that mana and use it to strengthen my body. The black mana flows through my circuits, and my healing passive activates as well. I generate even more heat and send it towards my head. Then I take another portion of black mana and use it to [Focus], and at the same time, I activate my trait while looking at the mirror.

The colors disappear, and the world slows down to a crawl. My thoughts spin wildly. My immensely strengthened [Focus] works in tandem with Mana Wavelength Iris, sorting and processing collected information.

I’ve wondered what my specialty is for a while now. Is it my Primordial energies? My mana projectiles? Multiple kinds of bombs? Disrupting opponents' mana? The redistribution of absorbed energies? There are plenty of powerful options in front of me, and my build certainly fits the phrase jack of all trades, master of none.

But there is something I was thinking of.

The world I see through my enhanced eyes is beautiful, so full of information and options. Here it’s even possible to get a peek at the arcane grade item in front of me. I see the inscriptions, and with this comes the tiniest bit of understanding.

My eyes are powerful, it's a really strong trait, and in combination with [Focus] to process the information and with black mana to power it all, this may allow me to become a master of many skills instead of settling for a partial understanding of them.

I won't give up on any of my skills to specialize in one, no, I will keep them all, and all of them will become powerful enough to be considered specializations. I will drag my body, bleeding, and broken, until I reach that goal.

The black mana is finally spent, leaving me with the after-effects. My vision blurs, my head spins, and I'm barely capable of controlling my mana well enough to generate thermal energy.

Huddled up in the corner of the room, I clench my fists, waiting for the aftereffects to fade.

I have seen it, and it seems that my plan will be possible. I may have found a really fun use for this mirror.

Let's see what the system has to say.

Chapter 304 - Using the Mirror

It takes me almost an entire day, and I use the rest of the mana conductive paint, applying it to the mirror, floor, and my body. I even etch inscriptions into my skin. Lastly, I also melt down some of the metals I’m carrying to add to it all. When it's all done, I sit there, eating some food and enjoying the rest of my chilled drink.

While I’m waiting for my body to recover from my overuse of my eyes, I open the community.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - test test!

Sset (Hell, group 4) - you missed two days.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - I was busy. Is everyone ok?

Sset (Hell, group 4) - yes, but NotAaron’s disciple died and he was moved to the next floor.

Oh.

Sset (Hell, group 4) - his brother followed him, so he’s not alone.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - that sucks.

Grumpy (Hell, group 4) - he was really shocked, I hope they will be ok.

TheStrongestOne (Hell, group 4) - it all was going so well, and then...

The rest of his message is censored, and I guess a few more after that.

Sset (Hell, group 4) - The other news is that Gareth and WhiteWing have finally entered the 5th floor as well. They lost two members at the end of the 4th floor, in the battle against the First One. One more died from one of the other groups.

Brainiac (Hell, WhiteWing) - hey guys, yeah. The ant couldn’t damage Gareth or the others around him, so he went after our ranged players. He was too quick for us to do anything. Fucking insect.

Brainiac (Hell, WhiteWing) - it’s good to see that you guys are okay. Oh, Noname, Gareth wants you to speak with him sometime. But now I have to attend to my disciple, so later.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - later, take care.

My message feels awkward, even to me, but it is what it is. I was never good at this kind of thing.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - I will be a bit busy for the next few days, so don’t be surprised if I don’t join.

Grumpy (Hell, group 4) - be careful! Your passive sucks.

Lily seizes the opportunity to poke fun at my passive and demands that I remove it. We bicker for a while before I close the window and return my full attention to the mirror.

It’s time.

My eyes activate, and black mana from the orb seeps into my body. I force it under my control and forcefully calm my quickly beating heart. Then I take a step towards the mirror and activate it in concert with the inscriptions I’ve made.

I feel the arcane item react, its mana reaching out to me, as it attempts to find something to duplicate.

I can’t change the way it works or its function, nor can I do anything too big. No, I still have a long way to go before I get to that point. Instead, I give it a slight poke. Just a tiny bit, I mess with the inscription and help it find the object I want it to duplicate.

That object is me.

The weirdest feeling flows through my body. It's as if someone is examining me so deeply that they must know every nook and corner of my being. The entirety of my body and mind are being scanned. And I allow it to happen.

Warning! The Duplicating Mirror is being utilized in an unintended manner. This use does not align with the tutorial's intended purpose. Small changes have been applied.

A chosen object for duplication will not be permanent, a time limit and restrictions have been applied.

The window disappears, and I take a step back, and my reflection takes a step forward at the same time.

A leg steps onto the floor, and as the mirror cracks and disintegrates into shining particles, another me enters the room, his clothes disappearing along with the items he had on him.

My eyes meet his. I’ve thought of it often, and I expected to be able to read him, but I can’t. I guess there is a difference between reading other people and myself.

“Fuck, that's creepy,” he says, stealing the words from my mouth, and proceeds to take some clothes from the floor. He is acting casually, but I know that he is thinking, and I even feel him circulating thermal and kinetic energy through his body.

“Access to Community and system shop and floor quests?” I ask.

“Cut off.”

“Status, skills?”

“All the same. Fuck, this is creepy,” he repeats again, “I think I understand why people always want to punch your face in.”

“Our face… your face… or my face, whatever. And they’re just jealous,” I say, “try activating your trait for a moment.”

Before he complains, I activate mine as well, and with a sigh, he does just that. I can still see his brown and gray eyes, but there is a golden circle around the pupils.

“Good, at least it is as cool-looking as I thought,” he says what I'm thinking again.

When he is finally clothed, I ask him, “So you don’t think that you are original?”

“Obviously, I do not,” he says, as his expression changes slightly.

I don’t even have to ask what he’s thinking. He is me, and I know what I would do, and he knows I know given that I was thinking about it before I used the mirror. So it’s still fresh in his memory.

Clonthaniel stretches, he’s already deactivated his trait, but Primordial energies are still collecting inside his body. The way he moves his body is unnerving, and the way he’s looking around is even more so.

“Damn, I really want to punch you,” I say.

“Right? It’s the same for me. Anyway, three weeks, right?”

“Yeah, I don’t think the system will let you enter the 6th floor or even let you exist for too long. We already fucked up the mirror, and there are limitations in place.”

“That’s true. I’m pretty sure I have 2-3 weeks at most. It's this feeling… I have you to thank for that.” He doesn’t smile, taking a step closer instead, and I let him.

Both of us face each other.

Yes. He will help me, we will both improve our skills and train together. He will do it because it’s the only logical way to think. But at the same time, he hates me, because he is fake and he will disappear, while I’m the real one.

In the time given to him, he will try everything he can to stay alive, even attempt to take over and replace me.

Clonthaniel takes some food from the bag, after taking a bite, he says, “Best food I EVER ate.”

Okay, that was a good one. Let's ignore the fact I already had this joke planned out during the preparations.

As if on cue, both of us sit on the ground, opposite each other.

I gesture at him, and he nods, creating an orb from black mana and making it float between us. Both of us activate [Mana Domain], reaching towards it while activating a few more skills and our eyes.

Two of us should be able to come up with a better way to handle the black mana, right? His incentive is the need to improve so he can trick the system or replace me. For the next few weeks, we have the same goal: to improve as much as possible and as quickly as possible. I could use the mirror for my stats, maybe even a trait or something else. But I believe that because of the rarity of the item, there would be a time limit.

This way I can learn a lot from our cooperation, something that will stay with me no matter what.

Let's just be careful not to get killed by him. That would be awkward.

We both use [Resonance] and we don't even need to match the frequencies of our mana. They are already the same. We are the same being.

Then, together we surround the black mana with our domains and try to dominate it.

“Veil guardian is mine,” I tell him.

“Hell no, I’ll kill that bitch."

“Don't you have better things to do? Make a personality imprint or something?”

“As if I could replicate my mind perfectly within a few weeks. I won't be able to create an imprint that would 100% be me.”

“So what, you want to prolong your life and wait here in hopes Cockroachsandra will find you on this floor? Everyone got their own instance of the 5th floor.”

“Blah blah, you talk like I haven’t thought of that. And why are you so talkative,” Clonthaniel asks.

“I mean, there is no need to hide anything, you already know it all. Don't you agree that's weird?” I ask.

“Duh, you know what pisses me off? I still remember that it was my decision to use the mirror like this. I know what brought me there. I know the plan and what I expected from it. Part of me even thinks it was me who made the decision, so I can't be too angry. But the longer I'm my own being, the more I differ from you and the more I want to jump at your throat.”

“If you do and somehow succeed in killing me or get me killed by summoning Veil Guardians, or the sleeping danger noodle, you will probably disappear too.”

“Yes, but you know what? If I come to the conclusion that I will disappear no matter what I try, I will be taking you down with me,” he says. As always, he says it calmly, and I can see his [Focus] working. His face is emotionless, yet this is what he’s saying.

Up until now, I haven’t realized how disturbing it feels. I mean, I had some idea, but seeing it? Seeing him move, look around, talk? There is this uncanny valley kind of feeling, seeing my reflection in the mirror become its own being.

“You just keep saying things I already thought before using the mirror,” I shrug, “anyway, why is your left arm pale?” I ask.

“Because I'm a perfect copy, isn't it simple? You should be asking why your left arm is still pale no matter how many times it gets hurt and you restore it. Theoretically, it should become normal again, right?”

“Do you think Lily did something to ensure it will remain pale forever? She marked us?”

“Would you be surprised? That girl is bonkers. Did you notice how little she’s spoken to you in the Community lately? Before she was much more talkative and cheery. I bet she’s pissed off that you left the group at the end of the 4th floor.”

“She must be busy with her disciple; that's why,” I retort.

“Even you don't believe that. Dude, if you meet her on the next floor, she will beat you up.”

“As if I’d let her. And why the fuck are you speaking like this? You made all these decisions too.”

“You are the original, asshole, as Biscuit would say. Damn, I hope I get to see that silly corgi. Anyway, it's kind of refreshing to talk about it. Group 4 is a bunch of weirdos, aren't they? I mean, even Isabella.”

I shift on the ground to make myself more comfortable and lean against the wall, “Who knows what will become of her as she grows up in the tutorial. Plus, she’s got that ancient bloodline Noodle.”

“It's fine, Noodle is cute too, so I don't mind if he becomes the devourer of worlds or something.” Clonthaniel shakes his head, “Tess is scary too with her antimatter cannon sniping. Can you imagine her in a few years? She might be able to snipe people from orbit.”

I snort, “People? She will be obliterating small cities from there. But damn, I'm still jealous of Sophie's Manipulation.”

Clonthaniel smiles slightly. Both of us have relaxed the control [Focus] has over our emotions as we use most of the skill to manage the preparations we’re making to the inside of our bodies.

He continues, “I know how hard you’ve tried to evolve your [Mana Manipulation] into [Manipulation]. Too bad you failed.”

“Yes, yes, you failed, we failed. Damn, this is annoying. Anyway, I’m almost done, and you?”

“The same. I will be going first.”

“Hell no,” I say.

“Then I won’t be helping.”

I look at him as he says that, and I don’t even need to read him to confirm that. I know what I would have done, “I want to punch you,” I say instead.

“That means you want to punch yourself.” He stands up and moves closer.

He sits with his back to me, and I put my hands on his back and let my mana flow through his skin. His mantle and natural defenses are gone, he’s lowered them, and our mana is the same, so it passes easily. It's almost disturbing how easily.

Well, it's time to make a new construct, and this one will be even more powerful than I wanted it to be. I wonder how far I can push it with two of me working in tandem.

This is going to be scary.

Chapter 305 - No preparations, no surprise attacks

Clonthaniel is skilled, very much so. I watch the way he moves his mana through his body. He uses [Regalia] to create a core exactly in the middle of his chest behind the ribs.

Together we compress it, and it's easy. It's so damn easy. Having someone to spot for me makes it easier to prevent the orb from turning into a shining bomb, ready to explode, or into an orb of black mana, so we can push it further.

He notices this as well, and without saying anything, he scratches the initial plan, and we increase the size of the orb and compress it further.

The sheer amount of mana we manage to compress is enough to evaporate a city block or a small mountain, and we continue even beyond that. Giving our all to make it happen. He relies on me, and I rely on him, and both of us know that if we screw up we will disappear in an awesome and deadly explosion.

Then while I hold the orb stable, he starts working on pathways. He creates connections to his heart, redirects some circuits, and adds new ones. Our biggest inspirations for this construct are Mana Reservoir, the passive allowing me to store three times my mana, Mana Cycling, the technique I learned from the cockroach-like Absolute, and lastly, my experience from creating my Thermokinetic Mana Heart.

So this new one better be juicy.

I let him know that I need help, and he takes a moment to stop inscribing the inside of his body and helps me keep the orb under control. Instead, I extend my senses to examine the work he has done, then I continue where he left off, connecting pathways to the core, surrounding it with dozens of connections to his heart.

Then a new idea forms in my head and I create a tiny orb in his chest and inscribe the idea on that.

My intent comes through, and he looks at the plans inscribed on the tiny orb, before nodding.

I let the orb with plans to dissolve and repurpose that mana to create another web around the orb. This one will do the work of the Mana Overload Absorption passive. In case the orb overloads, it will take some of the excess energy and disperse it through the body preventing it from exploding.

Carefully, we then connect it all to the Regulator. Then we spend almost ten hours going over it all, over and over again. We make some small changes, we add some twists.

We even manage to catch a small mistake that would have blown him away about a minute after activation, by our estimation.

Little things like that.

But what excites me most are all the possibilities. If this all works the way it should, it will open up so many options for the future, and this will be the next tiny step forward.

One mind isn’t enough, so we work together to carefully awaken the construct, and when mana fills all the pathways, I can finally let go. It takes me a minute to calm down, just now realizing how much this took from me.

Clonthaniel then turns around, “Everything’s fine so far.”

“Description?” I ask.

“You will see when you get it.”

“What a dick.”

“Yup.”

“Fuck, I want to punch you,” I tell him.

“Yes, yes,” he stands up and removes two pieces of clean cloth from our pack.

Don't tell me he’s…

He sets two pieces of cloth in front of us and some food off to the side.

“So let's rest before starting on your construct. Will you eat with me, Nathaniel?” Clonthaniel lowers his [Focus], and his face settles into a creepy smile.

I appreciate the lame joke, but somehow that makes me want to punch him even more than if he made the statement without emotion.

Another ten or so hours later, we finish creating my construct, and I let mana flow through until it activates.

A notification pops up.

Congratulations, you have created your fifth Construct. The name will be kept as such and will be shown in the status under active skills and over passive skills. Well done!

Vortex Core (construct)

The Vortex Core is useful for energy conservation, holding swirling Primordial Kinetic and Thermal energies within its confines. It is ready to unleash these forces at the user's will. It remains dormant until needed, ensuring that the user has access to stored energies.

“Is it any good?” I ask Clonthaniel, who is already practicing his inscriptions. He is on a bit of a time limit, so he is extremely motivated.

“Fucking good,” he says simply and then ignores me.

Well, I should have expected something like that. I redirect part of my mana to my Thermokinetic heart and start generating thermal energy. Thermokinetic heart, using the heart as a medium, transforms my mana. Then I can easily store some of that energy in my Vortex Core.

Even now, I think Mana Reservoir is probably my strongest passive. So, what could be better than having something similar for Primordial energies?

The Vortex Core will store them, and the vortex will spin them inside me, compressing them somewhat. The spinning itself works like Mana Cycling allowing me to store more or keep it from leaking. With a few upgrades, it could be possible to make the vortex more prominent, allowing me to compress them more or combine the two.

Later, I may even be able to add a storage for mana. I could even do it now, but I rarely use all of my mana, so larger quantities of Primordial energy will be more useful. It also solves the issue of needing to sacrifice part of my [Focus] to keep the thermal or kinetic orb nearby.

The question is, how much energy is the core able to store? I don't expect it to be as strong as my epic passive and store something crazy like three times my mana. But damn, even half of that would be crazy good.

So there I sit, constantly sending thermal energy to the core. After some time, I change the setting on the regulator and set more of my mana to work on it. I also generate kinetic energy and mix that in as well. The kinetic and thermal energies spin together, but they do not mix. The golden color of thermal energy, distinct from the translucence of kinetic energy.

It stores the amount I would expect and I would be extremely happy with that alone. But then it continues. The orb we compressed, enlarged, and improved easily allowing it to do so.

When the failsafe we created activates and cuts off the energies flowing into the core, I examine the amount. Isn't that enough to blow away a few buildings with ease?

Should I maybe try hunting the sleeping noodle? With so much…

“Yeah, fighting the sleeping noodle is a bad idea,” the clone says.

When I look at him, he continues, “I thought of it the moment I saw the amount of energy I could store, and if you think about it, I'm currently 10 or so hours older when it comes to the new construct. So I have more experience. Maybe I should call you minion.”

“Maybe I should call you an asshole.”

“Anyway, I thought of it, and the snake is probably somewhere between 330-400. So, it’s a bad idea. You just need to remember how the Guardian, with a level under 300 fucked you up.”

“Us.”

“You. I'm barely 1 day old. A minor. So, grandpa Nathaniel, you should help me. I’ve thought about it. Creating a perfect personality imprint is impossible. Both of us know how difficult it is given that we could only leave that trash behind on the 4th floor. But maybe we could find something in this bunker. Later we can even try to check the Veil. But first, you should check the system shop to see if…”

“It's there, I already checked.”

“And?”

“You will see when you get it,” payback for refusing to give me the description of the construct.

He just looks at me without saying anything.

“Fuck, the way you look at me creeps me out,” I say.

“Yes, yes, so?”

“There are arcane grade items and passives.”

“Prices?”

“100,000 shards for an arcane item, 200,000 shards for an arcane passive.”

“Well, fuck, that's like 25 times the price of epic stuff. Epic items and passives are 20 times more than rare. So what? Rarity after arcane will be 30 times more than arcane? 3 million shards for items and 6 million for passives?”

“Most likely, but can you imagine an arcane Mana Reservoir?” I tell him.

Clonthaniel closes his mouth, and I can see his gears spinning.

Yes, just how much mana would a passive like that be able to store? It makes me wonder if there is a limit to my epic Reservoir. Logically thinking, it shouldn't be able to go on forever, right? Tripling my mana, even if I was a much higher level than I am, that shouldn't be possible for a passive that may be useless to me then.

“I’m going to deal with the Veil Guardian, and when I return, we can either examine this place or go to the Bastion.”

“Sure,” he agrees, far too easily.

Like me, he remembers the Guardian, but the moment he became my duplicate, the moment he had a time limit before disappearing, his priorities changed. He currently wants different things than I do. I want to finish the quests, improve my skills, and deal with my enemies while working with him on some other stuff. His goals are to come up with a way to survive, and damn, I'm sure he hates me; I'm sure I would hate being in that situation.

Given the opportunity, if he could gain anything from it, I know he would kill me, and he will try the moment he decides he can't survive. I'm also sure he is already working on plans. But I'm the same.

As more time passes, the more different he will become from me. It's simple logic, really. Everyone changes according to their environment. But at the same time, it feels comfortable. I don’t need to hide anything, he knows everything about me, and I know about him. Both of us can lower our [Focus], and it doesn't even feel unnerving. It's a fascinating experience.

I give him one last look, as he sits in the dark room working on inscriptions with a mana stone.

Then I take the Voidsteel slicer and, boosting my body, exit the bunker, hiding the entrance behind me. I boost myself into the air and burn the flying enemies waiting to attack me and fly out of the Valley.

The moment I pass through the mist-like barrier, the constant pressure on my mana disappears. It feels as if a weight has disappeared from my body, and my mana moves quickly again. It's extremely refreshing.

Pushing myself high into the air, I reach into my core and use kinetic energy to move myself toward the city where I fought the guardian. Without Vega, the flight is much quicker; the country under me nearly blurs.

Holding the Voidsteel slicer in my hand and all that mana and energies inside my body, I land on the road between multiple skyscraper-like buildings. Two javelins over my shoulders compress and grow heavier while I search for the monster.

It doesn't take long, barely an hour, and I locate the Veil Guardian. The monster is there, it hasn’t noticed me yet. He moves like he’s searching for something. His right arm is still missing, it hasn’t been restored. His face is still messed up, blinded in one eye. Yet even with all these wounds, the monster moves with confidence. Each step is that of a hunter, a predator.

I let my [Focus] weaken even further and let all those emotions flow inside me.

My hand shakes holding the blade, and my breaths are quick and panicked. I feel fear.

I still remember the monster biting into my leg in an attempt to eat me alive like it did to the other humans from before. I remember the quiet hours as I lay there under the rubble, my body broken and bleeding out. Hoping the monster had left, but too scared to heal myself lest that bring it back.

All of that is there, but there is also an anger that surfaces as well. A pride and deep hatred of the monster that stepped on it. Even knowing that I should reactivate it, I keep [Focus] down. The longer I look at the monster, the more my plans change.

Then, something inside me snaps, and I launch the javelins. Not at the guardian, but to the opposite side. I let all the mana I’ve been collecting seep into the area, and I grab all of the kinetic and thermal energy my core holds, I grab and release it behind me.

The resulting shockwave tears chunks out of the road, and topples buildings, sending them flying as if caught in a hurricane. After that, all the stored thermal energy explodes as well, melting the structures and roads alike. Scorching the air and flickering as golden flames blaze through the surroundings.

The monster obviously notices and turns to me. It doesn't rush me like before, but the gaze in its single red eye is the same. Deep hatred and anger directed at me.

With my stored mana and energies gone, there is only one thing remaining.

I redirect a thin thread of kinetic energy toward my face and explode it in front of my eye, blinding it.

The monster takes a step towards me, and I take a step towards it.

Then I put the blade into my left hand and cut off my right arm at the shoulder. I watch the blood spurt as the severed limb falls to the ground. As it lies there in the middle of the road, I think it feels somehow funny.

A burst of kinetic energy explodes from me, vaporizing my severed arm.

My next step is much more confident and lighter. My face breaks into a smile.

It feels so right. No hiding behind my skill, no emotions being pushed away. Just me and all the fear I feel overwritten by other emotions instead of being pushed to the back. There is me and the monster. No preparations, no surprise attacks, no stored mana or energies.

The same amount of limbs, the same amount of eyes.

The Guardian opposite of me slows its steps, hesitation evident in its movement until it stops.

I charge first, blood dripping from my destroyed eye and the stump of my arm. No mana leaves my body. Voidsteel blades meet, and I absorb the kinetic energy of the impact and don't budge at all.

That energy flows into my body, strengthening me even further as I move to the guardian’s blind side. It’s a small advantage because of all the senses it has besides sight, but even that little helps.

The guardian moves faster than me, our blades meet multiple times, and each time I’m barely able to block it.

There is fear, filling me each time the monster moves, and as I feel gravity increasing my weight, trying to push me down.

Each attack is easier to block than the last, even though I'm getting slower and the monster moves quicker. I read its movements, I sync with its rhythm, and I absorb all the impact.

The swings of the guardian make a terrifying noise that reverberates through the air while I move slower, accepting the strikes with the blade in my hand. There is blood seeping from my hand as I squeeze the raw metal where the handle should be.

As the fight drags on, I grow more accustomed to its attacks and better able to read the monster's moves. Using kinetic energy in bursts to make my body quicker becomes easier, and I'm finally able to disrupt the gravity magic attempting to slow me down.

I become quicker, I dodge attacks, and I start pushing the guardian.

And with that comes disappointment. The monster is clearly weakened from before. Its body is wounded, and slower, and even its skills are weaker. It’s still a terrifying enemy, and yet it’s lacking.

A swing of my blade severs one of the monster's legs, and I step to the side as its swing destroys the building behind me.

I want to fight more, I want to feel this fear and all these feelings. This rage and excitement. But this weakened monster in front of me isn't capable of satisfying those emotions.

My passives resist the strain I’m putting on my body, and I move quicker, and my next slash sends the guardian's head flying.

[You have defeated Veil Guardian - lvl 289]

[Lvl 222 > Lvl 224]

I disrupt the signal from the body to the Veil.

Not yet.

Then I look down at the corpse.

I expected satisfying revenge, yet I found what could only be a broken toy. But not all is lost. There is one enemy that will test me, that will get the best out of me before this floor ends. An opponent that I'm absolutely sure is much more terrifying than the one I just killed.

The one that is waiting for me by the bunker in the Valley.

After grabbing the monster's arm with the blade I lift off and finally let my passive heal my wounds as I fly. [Focus] snaps back into place, and my head clears off when I reach the Valley.

I pass through the wall of mist, and the immense pressure of mana welcomes me like before. Then I freeze.

The Gaiathra, the giant sleeping Calamity with a snake body and six legs, has moved. The calamity still sleeps, but now its body has shifted.

But most impressive is the miles upon miles of destroyed forest, obliterated, leveled to the ground without anything left standing. Even a few of the hills and mountains that stood nearby are gone.

Clonthaniel? What did you do while I was gone?

Chapter 306 - I woke it up

I get into the bunker where I find the asshole in the room with the core as he examines the giant mana crystal pillar. As I enter, I feel his senses touch me, and he turns his attention to me.

“Again…” he stares at my missing arm and my eye that is close to being healed, “do you even realize how much we tend to lose limbs? It can't be normal at this point. Is it Bambi's curse?”

“What have you done?”

“Just try to think about it; you could build five of us with the limbs you’ve lost. Actually, do you think it could work? If Lily helped...”

“It's not that many. And maybe? What have you done?”

“It is a lot. We are the only reason Lily’s been able to level up her healing skill so quickly; we boosted her. And I did nothing wrong.”

“The sleeping noodle moved,” I say.

“Yup. I woke it up.”

He did what to the three-question-mark monster?

“Damn, it is fun to tease you like that. I know how you will react, and most of the time I can even predict the exact words you’re going to say, yet it's still funny. Like a game, trying to predict a coin flip."

I can't even say much, it really does sound fun, “So, want to show off?”

“Oh, you know me well.” He gestures at me and leads me to another room. “I already toured the bunker, and it's mostly useless, as is to be expected. At this point, I bet it’s the system making things more difficult. All the data has been deleted, the facilities are destroyed and it’s beyond my abilities to make them work. At the moment it's just a cool place to store the mirror. Obviously you’re free to check it out, you will surely find a lot to inspire you here along with a few tidbits of knowledge.”

We enter the auditorium, and he boosts his body and sits on the podium, and I follow, taking a seat in the front row.

He explains, “Do you remember that annoying acid serpent and the weird aura snake?”

Oh my, he did not do that.

“Yes, I did that!”

Fuck.

“Yup, fuck.” Clonthaniel seems to be having fun, “I was thinking, you know. This bunker’s sole purpose was to store the mirror, so how can we learn what happened here? Surely not the Sanctuary and even the Bastion seems to be lacking. Then I remembered that there was a quest to avoid waking up the sleeping Calamity. Why? No one would go close to it anyway, right?”

He swings his legs, as he uses a thermal orb floating between us to light the huge room and its rows upon rows of empty seats.

“It's a bit of a stretch, but I wanted to find out if there was some kind of facility or bunker near the sleeping noodle,” he adds with a dramatic pause, “And there is! The problem is that I couldn't get inside. So, I found the acid snake asshole, left some marks on him, and imitated his mana. Then I used a few bombs mixed with his acid to attack the noodle. You probably saw the outside, but the big boy wasn't happy at all.”

“Damn, I would have loved to see that.”

Clonthaniel nods, “Cool as heck. Anyway, the asshole snake is gone. The danger noodle moved a bit, which allowed me to place a few anchors through a crack in the entrance he’s been sleeping on. I already sent a few monsters through one of the anchors, and it hasn’t woken him up, so we can go in a bit.”

“So, you are hoping something inside will help you?”

“Yup, the natives here created the Veil, so they will surely have some nice stuff in their databases. And that place seems to be one of the facilities they used to work on the Veil. Even Butler assumed there might be a facility like that in the Valley.”

At first, I wanted to trash-talk him for taking such a risk, but then I took notice of my missing arm. Ehm, maybe let's stay quiet about that for a bit.

It also confirms that we are slowly becoming more and more different. His goals are different than mine, so he’s thinking about different things, and practicing other skills.

It's fascinating to watch, and when I think about it now, most of the things he did make sense, and I totally can see myself doing the same in his situation.

“By the way, healing with our passive is quicker when you use thermal energy from the Vortex Core,” I tell him.

“Sounds good. Will you give me one of the Voidsteel blades?” he looks at the new one that I just got.

Without hesitation, I throw it to him, and he grabs it.

I know both of us are thinking of the same thing at that moment.

“Let's practice controlling black mana. We can spend a day or two on it." I suggest. "After that, we can go to the Bastion, get some mana conductive paint, and maybe a few more useful items. After we come back here, we can enter the bunker under the Calamity,”

“That much is reasonable. Also, I want you to help me with the core of this bunker for half a day. I think I found a few interesting things, and two sets of eyes might be better than one.”

“Okay.”

Without any other words, we get to it.

A day passes, we do not sleep, and the black mana orb constantly hums in the air, fighting against us.

“It just keeps being annoying,” Clonthaniel complains. “If we lose even a bit of concentration it starts pulling all our mana in.”

“I thought giving it a different shape would help, but right now it seems that the only thing that weakens the effect is absorbing it into our body.”

“It might be because of our passives, hell, maybe the Mantle is helping or maybe it’s our Mana Circuits.”

“Mana Circuit sounds more reasonable, maybe it’s our passives. Upgrading our Mana Circuits might help.”

“Well, it's not like we’re going to be upgrading our eyes; they’re hard enough to deal with already.”

I nod, “Do you still think there might be hidden grades to active skills and traits?”

“For sure, we already have confirmation when it comes to active skills given that there are skills like [Disintegration], and what did the guy from hard difficulty have? Water blast or some bullshit. If that doesn't confirm hidden grades for skills then nothing does.”

“I don't even remember his name, C something. Well, it would be cool if Mana Wavelength Iris was rare. Even though I still liked the Arcane Skeletal Framework. Could be an amazing trait.”

“Yeah, Vortex Core was an attempt to copy it, but I bet the trait would be amazing.”

Both of us stop at once and send the black mana orb to the corner of the room, where it will crumble on its own once we stop supplying it with mana.

As I stand up, I ask, “So, what did you want to do with the core of this bunker?”

“I want to try activating it for a moment. The two of us should be able to if we use Mana Reservoir as well,” he says, to my surprise, and he noticed it. “You wouldn't believe how mana-hungry that thing is. How the heck did they even power it?”

“Champion?” I ask while we walk there.

“If I was a Champion, I would tell them to fuck off if they kept asking me to recharge their bunker.”

“True,” I agree. “Maybe they absorbed ambient mana and used that to power stuff. But I still think Champions could be the answer.”

“Why?”

“Money. Imagine being a Champion and every once in a while they come to your house. You fill some mana stone for them, and they use it to send mana to the core. You get paid a shitload of money, and you can spend your time doing Champion stuff. If there were a few dozen Champions that would probably make it less irritating to boot. Or imagine your Absolute ordering you to do it.”

“Yeah, but I bet the owners of this place wouldn't like that much. You know, engineers or enchanters would certainly try to automate this to save themselves the headache.”

As we theorize, it feels natural, and the ideas we throw at each other sound reasonable. But I do remember that I'm just talking to myself, and to an extent I just find it funny. It's such a weird feeling to talk, and agree with myself.

As we reach the high ceilinged room with the large mana crystal, we reach the control panel.

Duplicaniel shows me where to place the anchor, and we do so. Then we prepare for a while, and when it's all ready, mana bursts forth from both of us.

Our body reserves, our Mana Reservoir, all of it rushes to the anchor placed on the mana crystal. In waves, our mana rushes inside, filling it, powering it, and the crystal, as wide as a car and tall as a skyscraper, starts glowing ever so slightly.

My role is to control our mana and make sure it flows to the right places, while Clonthaniel bridges inscriptions and collects information.

We push even harder, and a hum fills the room and the lights on the walls flicker on for a moment. Until Clonthaniel redirects that mana and cuts off the lighting to avoid wasting it.

His eyes glow with a golden circle around the pupil, his hand on the panel. And I do the same, even though it strains me, just in case, as I follow his lead and look through the information he’s accessing.

He knows I’m suspicious of him but he doesn't complain when I do.

It takes only a few minutes before our mana drops to a dangerous level, and once we stop finding anything new, we cut off the connection. My Mana Reservoir is nearly empty, and my body mana starts filling it back up.

As we shake off the aftereffects, we let our bodies heal.

“I mean, there’s some nice stuff for a future evil lair—inscriptions, ideas, information on materials, all that stuff—but I want more,” he complains.

“It might be part of the system. It likes to feed us information slowly, so maybe this bunker only contained the mirror and information on the creation of the core and future base.”

“That could be it. Hopefully, there will be more under the danger noodle. Anyway, do your stuff, and I will do mine. We can try playing with black mana after we’ve had a bit of rest, and then head to the Bastion.”

“How long will your anchors last down there?”

“Three to four days.”

I leave the room on my own afterward, I walk through the bunker. It's cold, it's dark, and my steps echo in the empty rooms. I examine them with curiosity. There’s weird architecture, and broken inscriptions all over the place. Along with a few pieces of furniture and some other items that got left behind.

In time I come to the massive forge, it’s amazing that something like this could rival the size of a small building. The inscriptions have been broken here as well, so I can't activate it without fixing some things. But I still take some time to look things over and examine it.

Sure, my crafting skills are far from optimal. Especially when it comes to creating something new. But I could just have someone else take care of it, and inscribe what they make. Or I will learn it when I get bored.

Observing and marking down as many details as possible using a mana stone, I go from room to room. I do the same thing in each of them.

I try to learn as much as possible and write it down.

After a few hours, I’ve come to realize that my duplicate was right. Even though this place is fascinating, it is as empty as its interior. Instead, I spend time training my skills and examining my newest construct, Vortex Core.

So far, it's been an amazing addition, and I'm extremely happy with it. I’m happy with the amount of thermal and kinetic energy it can hold and it’s certainly much more than I would be able to do on my own.

“Status,” I say.

Name: Nathaniel Gwyn
Difficulty: Hell
Floor: 5 - Mentorship
Time left until forced return: 4y 18d 10h 11m 36s
Traits (2/3): Mana Circuit 1/3, Mana Wavelength Iris 0/3

Lvl 224
Strength: 109
Dexterity: 107
Constitution: 263
Mana (Stage 1/3 - Vast Mana): 874 + 874
Primary Class: Focused Channeler (Epic)
Sub-class: [Initiate of Pride]

Active skills:
Focus - Lvl 46
Mana Manipulation - Lvl 46
Perception - Lvl 42
Redistribution - Lvl 43
Resonance - Lvl 42
Mana Domain - Lvl 33
Tether - Lvl 29
Regalia - Lvl 19
Infusion - Lvl 24

Constructs:
Reinforcement (Construct)
Thermokinetic Mana Heart (Construct)
Mana Regulator (Construct)
Mana Sovereignty Mantle (Construct)
Vortex Core (Construct)

Passive skills:
Mana-Fortified Resilience (rare)
Mana Reservoir (epic)
Arcane Resilience (epic)
Phoenix Embrace (epic)
Mana Overload Absorption (epic)

Tokens:
Beyond Difficulty entrance token

Shards: 11,892

Not wanting to push things further, I stand up and head towards my duplicate. The guy is annoying as heck, but we can test things together that would otherwise tear my body apart. Even then, I'm sure he’s already planning something, even though he won’t share it.

I'm also extremely curious, so I let him cook. But the question is if I should let him cook.

Well, anyway, I still have this collar I took from Ir… Ir, something guy. Cattle guy? Soylent green producer?

Null Collar (Epic): Actively disrupts the wearer's magical attempts and skills, using absorbed mana to diminish both magical potency and physical vitality.

There is a bit to learn from it that could improve our disruption of mana or even create a similar lasting effect without items. Using [Tether] to anchor that sort of disrupting stuff to someone could work. Hell, I already used [Tether] to “glue” a black mana dagger to the First One, and [Tether] seems to be a better skill than I initially thought. It even managed to ignore my black mana, at least partially.

Is it because it's a spatial skill? Probably? Who knows. Oh, and fuck the system.

Anyway, let's test some stuff and head out to the Bastion. I bet there will be some more interesting things and maybe we can get a few more honest answers.

Chapter 307 - Attack on the Bastion

The Bastion in front of us feels different now, and I only need to activate my eyes for a split second to notice that.

“These assholes,” the Duplicaniel next to me complains.

I agree.

The field around the city has changed and it feels much more threatening. Still, I’ve decided to give them a chance, and, after gesturing to the copy of the handsome young man next to me, we teleport to the gate.

Getting closer, the detection field catches us and sends a signal and a barrier around the city activates. The guards quickly take positions on the walls. So, we stand there for a while, waiting for someone to appear.

The person who finally does is the Butler with his majestic mustache, “I would like to apologize, Mister Gwyn... Gwyns... but you are no longer welcome here,” he says suavely from the wall.

“The reason?” I ask, noticing him looking at my damaged arm.

He also keeps glancing between me and… me. The Butler doesn’t let his surprise show, probably because it would kill him to be so inelegant.

“We have received more information from the Sanctuary and the city nearby. After going through it all, we have decided to restrict your access here. I hope you will understand and behave accordingly.”

That’s when Clonthaniel shoots a mana javelin right towards the Butler. It doesn’t connect as one of the small hexagonal barrier segments activates.

Even then the Butler doesn’t seem bothered, “This time I will let it pass, but I would…”

I shoot a mana javelin, and it activates another segment.

Damn, am I so easily influenced by other people? That surely must be it.

“Butler, as I said before, I have no reason to hurt anyone in the city. There are just some things I need and want to ask about,” I tell him.

“I apologize, the decision is final.” Then, to keep his dignity, he leaves, and three more javelins from Clonthaniel light up the barrier.

“What are you, a child?” I ask him.

He turns his eyes to me and shrugs, “I'm on a time limit here, and that guy isn’t even real, so I'm going into the city. Are you staying behind?” he asks, even though he knows my answer.

Then a ball of mana concentrates above the city, emitting what seems to be a highly concentrated shockwave.

We jump away, and the stones where we stood crumble.

A few quick attacks from the defense of the city follow in quick succession until we both teleport to anchors we left further away.

“Damn, they are not even taking us seriously, using such a weak-ass attack,” Duplicaniel is already forming an orb of black mana over his shoulder, and then he forces it to stretch into the shape of a javelin. “I attack and defend, you get us in.”

“Yes, yes,” I sigh, a hundred simple mana javelins forming behind me, and I use [Infusion] to fill each one of them with thermal energy from the Vortex core.

The duplicate attacks and the both of us watch with curiosity as the black mana javelin sails towards the barrier, with our trait active. It crashes into a segment and immediately devours it, and then a dozen more as they appear one after another.

The black mana devours it all and then stops, hovering over the city. While the guards panic, the automatic defenses activate more segments close by, trying to stop it, yet they feed it even more mana. The flashes of mana are quickly absorbed by the black mana and can be seen even from this distance.

It's amusing to watch.

Then I move a hundred javelins behind me, and each of them bursts into motion in the span of a few seconds. Like tracer ammunition from a minigun.

My attack crashes into the weakened barrier, Each of them hitting the same segment and slowly pushing through. They reach further and further inside the city until one of them passes through the barrier and flies right over the buildings, the last few following.

The anchor on the last shot javelin activates, and I put a hand on my duplicate and both of us appear in the air over the buildings.

Uglier me immediately forms an orb made of black mana and pushes it into the air, where it absorbs a dozen or so attacks targeting our position.

Sending my [Mana Domain] as far ahead as I can, I again put my hand on the duplicate, and we teleport again and then again. After each teleport, we leave a black orb in our wake where it devours any mana based attacks that were directed at us.

Finally appearing in front of the gate leading to the estate where we had dinner with the Housekeeper and the Butler, I touch the door and disrupt the mana within. After we enter, I even close the door behind us and start walking towards the buildings.

“So far, so good,” the duplicate says while both of us use [Regalia] and tank a few more attacks heading our way.

“Did you notice the places where [Perception] can't enter?” I ask.

He nods, “Wanna bet they have another guy down there with boxes full of severed limbs?”

“I'm saying no. They mentioned Gardener before, so maybe they’re all vegans.”

“Oh.. that's true,” the uglier me agrees.

“Mister Gwyn… Gwyns. Was this really necessary?” Asks the Butler as he appears from a rift in the air.

He is still wearing the same fancy clothes, but there are a few brilliant mana stones on his person. One in the middle of his chest, one on his back, another on each of his shoulders, a bit over his knees. My duplicate and I activate our eyes at the same time, examining it all.

“Some sort of armor and strengthening,” I wonder.

“Quite good mana batteries too, one of them may be upper epic grade,” my duplicate adds.

“See, Butler, that man isn't even taking this seriously,” the Housekeeper states as exits the house. She is wearing a simple pale blue dress still, her black wavy hair falling over her shoulders. The only addition is a thin and deadly-looking blade in her hand.

The metal of that blade is something I recognize very well. Voidsteel, the same metal that makes up the blades of the Veil Guardian.

“Housekeeper, just kill one of them, and we will take one for questioning. The Armourer will deal with those annoying black orbs.” The man then turns to me, “Let's kill this one.”

Wow, that's rude. The more annoying thing is that I can almost see how much fun the duplicate is having.

“They know their stuff,” he teases me. “The useless one will die.” Not saying more, he disappears, teleporting close to the Butler, who disappears with my duplicate following him and dodging the beam-like attacks the Butler sends his way.

That leaves me alone with the Housekeeper, who takes a battle stance, ignoring the clothes she is wearing. There are no tattoos on her skin, no mana radiating from her body, and no armor or equipment other than the rapier in her hand.

Unable to avoid her at my normal speed, I teleport just in time to watch her attack pierce through where I stood.

Before she can charge me again, the anchor I left there explodes in golden flames only to be blocked by the purple mana seeping from her skin.

The Housekeeper charges me again, and the moment I teleport, she alters her path to avoid any anchors I’ve left behind.

Curious, I don't bother to dodge her next attack and opt to stack barriers in front of myself instead.

The black-haired woman destroys each of them easily with the weapon in her hand, before swinging it three more times, splitting the three javelins I’ve sent her way.

Observing her nimble movements, I float in the air and start shooting projectile after projectile at her. Mana javelins, orbs, and projectiles infused with thermal or kinetic energy.

Surprisingly, it doesn't seem to bother her at all; the rapier in her hand cuts through most of my attacks, and the moment it does, the attack loses its effect. It’s probably some skill, I mean my attack should deal some damage even after being cut apart.

“I had hoped you would be a bit… more fun to fight. Instead, you just fight like every other boring mage,” she shakes her head. She then proceeds to cut apart a few of the anchors I’ve been stealthily placing, something that surprised me a bit.

Does she think her taunting would work? Make me fight her up close?

I land on the ground.

Well, she is right.

She is an opponent I believe I can deal with, even in her preferred style of combat, and it's always fun to crush people like that.

The Housekeeper charges at me, only to be met with a flamethrower-like stream of golden flames that I’ve infused with [Resonance].

She slices away at them, but the constant flames ignore her weird skill, and she starts dodging, purple mana flickering over her skin to protect her from the heat. As she jumps around in an attempt to rush me, while my flames leave the air shuddering in their wake, melting the sidewalk and burning trees, in the process.

While the woman gets closer and closer, I narrow the flame, condensing it into a laser as thick as my finger by the end. As extraordinarily athletic as she is, she dodges it all and manages to reach me, at which point I strike at her with a burst of kinetic energy.

Purple mana flickers over her skin again, and she pushes through, her muscles contracting under her skin.

Her rapier slashes at my neck, only to be met with a Voidsteel slicer, barely so. I redirect more mana to strengthening my body and fend off her attacks while being pushed back. The armor forms around my body, and I make it grow bigger until it's twice my height.

Attacks slash against transparent limbs made of mana, yet now that it is connected to me and under my domain, it doesn't get affected by her skill, and it's her who starts avoiding me.

For the first time, I also use kinetic energy stored in my Vortex Core to power the movement of the mecha style armor. It speeds up my movements and makes manipulating it easier while lending more force to my attacks.

She does a backflip and before jumping back a few times, she stops, looking up at me surrounded by all my mana.

“Are we going to take things a bit more seriously?” I ask.

The woman in front of me is stronger than she lets on, stronger than the Butler, and the both of us are still holding back somewhat.

“Why not,” she smiles as her eyes become a darker shade of purple.

The Housekeeper charges me, seeming to appear in front of me, her weapon aimed at my chest.

In a split second, my armor shrinks becoming skin-tight, surrounding my body with all that extremely compressed mana.

The rapier stabs at my chest, unable to pierce further. Collecting all the energy of her attack, I barely manage to hold it before quickly releasing it in her direction.

She dodges, but a huge chunk of the area behind her explodes, the kinetic energy tearing the building and the garden apart.

Once again, she attacks, each of her steps cracking the ground under her feet, her black hair flowing behind her.

Two more attacks crash into my armor, and I absorb each one of them, immediately launching the absorbed kinetic energy at her, which she dodges. Then she stabs again, and this time it's different; that weird skill of hers won’t allow me to collect kinetic energy, and instead part of my armor loses its mana, disappearing into particles.

I deflect her next attack with my own blade, to cover the missing section of armor, a clang sounding as two voidsteel blades clash.

I’m observing the entire exchange with my Mana Wavelength eyes, yet I still can’t figure out what her skill is doing. With a sigh, I give up and decide to stop holding back.

Mana and kinetic energy seep into my body, and my speed dramatically increases. The armor around me disappears, and I mirror the woman across from me, stopping my mana from leaking from my body, and face her with only a blade in my hand.

Our slashes tear up the ground and damage the buildings surrounding us. The vibrations resonate through the surroundings as our blades meet, reducing the closest objects to dust. And I keep speeding up.

The Housekeeper starts having a harder and harder time facing me, and I start placing anchors, using the fact that she has no time to destroy them to attack her from behind her back.

My technique is worse. No matter how much I’ve trained on Earth, I can't compare to someone with over 100 years of experience. But what I'm lacking, I make up for in speed, boosted by mana and kinetic energy.

Now that I’ve completed this test as well, I stop and, to her surprise, launch a burst of kinetic energy at her. Though Instead of flying through the wall she perfectly deflects the attack, her purple mana absorbing most of the impact.

That's when my duplicate lands next to me and throws the Butler on the ground. Still alive and breathing, but with a wound on his head.

“Stop playing with your food,” he complains.

“There is a lot to learn; she is really good at strengthening her body, and I like her skills,” I reply.

The Housekeeper fixes her dress, not a scratch on her and she’s seemingly unworried. Then she notices the Butler lying on the ground and, looking at his face, her surprise multiplies.

“You didn't,” she says, almost in shock.

I look where she is looking and notice that the left half of the majestic mustache is missing. Gone, reduced to atoms.

Both of us look at my duplicate, who shrugs his shoulders, “I did not,” he says.

A look of confusion appears on the Housekeeper's face.

“I found him like that,” the duplicate lies shamelessly.

Chapter 308 - Power source

“I think we might have a complicated situation on our hands,” the Housekeeper moves a strand of hair off her face.

Does she have a body that tough? Is she strengthening it? Does she have healing? I don’t think she will answer me if I ask, and what the heck is that weird skill of hers? It has some disruptive properties, but there is something else as well.

Should I get angry at my duplicate for ruining my learning opportunity?

“There is nothing complicated about this,” Clonthaniel answers, “Me and my buddy over here kinda have you guys in the palms of our hands. I don’t think you have anyone capable of facing us, and even your “oh so amazing barrier” proved useless. Us choosing not to nuke this city is proof enough of our ‘’good will’,” he says mirroring the Butler’s words as we were leaving.

That only gets a laugh out of the woman. A loud, amused laugh. Like an adult dealing with a child. “So, why don’t we go out of the city and fight properly? It would be…”

I ignore her and turn to my duplicate, “I have located it.”

The duplicate lets go of the Butler, kicks him with the tip of his shoe, and puts his hand on my shoulder.

The Housekeeper charges us, but before she reaches us, we teleport toward the anchor I placed deep inside the Bastion.

“What a clingy woman,” the duplicate complains. “Was her skill really that much fun?”

“Yup. She wasn't very versatile, she mostly strengthened her body, and she was really tough and quick, but she did it really really well. One of her skills seemed similar to [Disruption], but it worked against any attack I tried, mana-based or not. It also didn’t seem to cost her that much mana, it was super efficient.”

I take a step, and we start walking through a circular tunnel with a flat bottom, through which we sense a source of mana while leaving some nasty traps behind us.

“That’s it?” Duplicaniel asks.

“She also used some skill that allowed her to cut anything apart. Flames, mana, stone. Yes, yes, I know she has a Voidsteel blade, but it wasn't just that. Every attack she cut apart seemed to lose its effect.”

“Maybe I should fight her too.”

“We have a bit of time,” I agree.

Exiting the tunnel, we find ourselves surrounded by vegetation. The room is a half sphere and it’s big enough to take probably 20 percent of the Bastion’s base; it's just that big.

The walls are covered in terraces, filled with plants and trees bearing fruits and simple vegetables.

Even the floor is fully covered in grass and plants. Colorful, vibrant. The air smells nice, and there is even a soft wind blowing.

“Did you know that if you grow a tree in a room, it tends to be weak and often falls under its weight?” A short man with a shaved head and wearing simple clothes says making his presence known.

He continues, “The reason is simple. There is no wind. The wind blowing against the tree forces it to struggle and grow its roots deeper and stronger. Trees grown inside don't have that.” He smiles, it's almost a friendly smile. Almost.

“You must be the Armorer guy,” the duplicate says in an effort to poke fun at him.

“Yes, I’m the Armorer,” he nods seriously.

I can see the confusion on Clonthaniels face.

Before he says anything, the man continues, “Of course, I’m not the Armorer, I am the Gardener, you dipshit.” The man turns to me, “Are you the more reasonable one here?”

I really really want to throw in some lame joke, just to be included, but in the end, give up and nod.

“Good, as I said, I’m the Gardener, and I really have no interest in you kids fighting. So, will you please remove the traps you left in the tunnel before the Housekeeper triggers them all just to test them?”

I do just that, and a moment later, the duplicate does as well.

“Thank you,” the Gardener bows his head slightly and gestures for us to follow.

I already feel another conversation coming on. Damn, I really miss Tess. She would be much better at this.

Reaching the small summer house, we sit there and wait. The feeling of the wind blowing is nice, and the crystal producing the light is amazing. It even seems to produce heat and without looking, I would find it hard to distinguish it from the sun.

While we wait, the small man starts sending his mana to a series of tiny low-quality mana stones. He uses them to trigger watering or to make them radiate heat for the plants. Some bigger stones even generate wind, as they sit on pillars riddled with dozens of holes for the generated wind to flow through.

And all of that is powered by something even deeper underneath us.

I notice that Duplicaniel is looking there as well, and so I wonder, what powers a place as big as the Bastion? I really want to find out.

“Please, stay a bit longer, and I will try to explain everything I can,” the Gardener takes his attention off… well, gardening.

“Five minutes,” Clonthaniel says, mirroring my thoughts.

A minute later, the Housekeeper joins us along with the Butler who is already awake. The man is still missing half of his majestic mustache, and still doesn't show any reaction as he sits there, the picture of elegance. As if all of this were planned. The Housekeeper does the same.

The Gardener slaps his hands together, “So, I like what you did a few days ago. We asked you three questions, and you asked us three questions. So why don't we continue that?”

“To slow us down so the Armorer can prepare countermeasures?” I ask, somehow amused.

“Yes.” The Gardener nods.

“Sounds good,” I agree. “Tell me about the Bastion,” I ask. That’s my first question.

The Gardener looks at the Butler who straightens in his chair before starting, “The Bastion is a Skyhold Bastion, category three, meaning we were allowed military-grade upgrades from the Enchanter Guild. It was privately owned by Lord Lothain and used as his summer house.”

The Housekeeper already seems to be dozing off, but I can feel her sharp senses on me.

The Butler looks around and, after a dramatic pause, he continues, “Me, the Housekeeper, the Gardener, and the Armorer used to be servants of Lord Lothain. The Gardener took care of food, the Armorer used to be a low ranking member of the Enchanters’ Guild and took care of our defenses. The Housekeeper worked with the other servants, making sure the Bastion ran smoothly, while I was in charge of the guards.”

“Butler, shorter answers please,” the Gardener says gently.

“Savages,” the Butler complains and reaches to touch his mustache, only for his hand to freeze mid-air, remembering he is missing half of it. He puts his hand down and continues, “Simply, thanks to our tendency to fly in places where the Veil wasn't so dense, we were one of the last to fall. Before we got destroyed, the Veil turned its attention to monsters, and by extension to the forces of the planet Paired with us.”

Not giving us a chance to react, the Housekeeper asks, “Are you drifters, mercenaries, are you from another planet?”

I shake my head, "I can say that we are not from the paired planet, nor are we mercenaries fighting in this war. Drifters would probably fit us the most.”

“What powers the Bastion?” the duplicate asks.

I don't even mind as it's the question I would ask as well. So, while I wait for an answer, I fight against the pressure slowly closing in on me. And my duplicate. It's almost unnoticeable, preparations to face us. Most likely the work of the Armorer with the help of some built in defensive mechanisms. It’s slowly trying to analyze us and stealthily disarm us.

I find it fascinating, so I let it happen.

“Lord Lothain,” the Housekeeper answers this time.

Oh boy, are all people of this planet like this?

“I assume it's not voluntary,” I ask.

“It's not,” the Housekeeper smiles.

“This planet is full of weirdos. Instead of catching some animal and healing it to create food, they become cannibals. Then, instead of finding something else to power the city, they use their boss to do that. I mean, maybe he is a douchebag, and maybe he deserves it, but damn, you guys have a problem,” the duplicate just says straight up.

The Gardener opens his mouth to ask something, but finally, by extending my domain in one direction, I pierce through defenses and place an anchor. I put my hand on my duplicate, and teleport us.

He looks around the dark room we appear in and sends a disrupting wave toward anchor-like things in the air that the Butler uses to create rifts.

The pressure from the defensive mechanism on us increases, and I know if we stayed just a bit longer, it would have become dangerous, even for the two of us. That's how much I think of their barrier.

As before, the pressure tries to locate us, but down here, its reach is weaker; the rooms are either shielded or excluded from the system of the base.

While my duplicate keeps disrupting the Butler's attempt to open a rift, we head toward the source of all this energy.

There are no doors at all, no entrance other than the Butler's rift or teleportation. I find that really amusing, and seeing how eagerly my duplicate disrupts rifts, I think he agrees.

“Do we think the same? Checking the core of the Bastion, maybe a bit of fighting with the Housekeeper, testing how much we can handle the Armorer and the barrier, and then we bail after stealing some mana conductive paint and other materials?”

I nod, “Sounds about right. Would be nice if they stopped trying to kill us or kidnap us, but we can’t have everything. And how can you trust the people that did this to their lord.”

We enter the central room where the mana crystal, working as the core of the Bastion, its power source, is. There, tied to the crystal, is a man. He seems older but he is muscular, and his clothes and hair are well-kept. A sense of authority seems to radiate from his face, the dignity of a person used to ordering people around.

And he is dead, his body is missing beneath the ribs. Belly, hips, legs, everything is gone. The rest is tied to a crystal, with the spine which extends a bit further beneath the ribs, the white bone feeling unnatural.

Yet, still, the heart of the man beats slowly but powerfully, each beat sending a pulse of mana into the mana crystal which glows in sync.

“What do you think, used to be level 300, maybe 350 at most?” I ask.

“Probably something like that, but there is no way chumps like them killed him.”

“Maybe there were more of them, and only they survived, or they killed him in his sleep?”

“Or he fell down the stairs.”

Both of us move closer, and without even looking, I know that his eyes are active, our minds trying to collect that immense amount of information. To avoid aftereffects, we both turn them off right after.

“Oi, I just thought of something,” I start. “I, we, have plenty of mana, right? Our hearts generate a lot of it, much more than someone at our level should. So…”

The duplicate understands where I'm going, “Okay, let's hide it a bit better to not end up as some creepy mana battery.”

“Sneaky mode will help.”

“Sneaky mode is perfect for that.”

“True,” I agree and look around. “Did you find anything interesting?”

“Nothing we don’t know about or aren’t working on already, but man, is the Butler angry. He keeps trying to teleport in.”

“It makes sense now, why they tried so hard to distract us from getting here,” I step closer to examine what remains of the owner of this Skyhold Bastion when I feel a movement behind my back.

Armor forms around my body, and I throw a burst of kinetic energy behind me, only for it to be absorbed as the armor is disrupted.

For a short moment, something holds my movements, and in slow motion, I watch as my duplicate tries to put a silver collar around my neck.

Mana under my skin moves, tearing it from inside and forming into a spike that stabs into the duplicate's hand. Right after, I change the frequency of my kinetic energy, and a short concentrated burst sends him a few steps back as he is unable to absorb it quickly.

I send some thermal energy to the wound I created, and it starts healing.

“Well, I had to try,” he says shamelessly.

“The null collar is still on me,” I say.

“Yup, I found this one here and hid it from you. Anyway, you can't really blame me.”

“That’s true, but I can fucking kill you for trying to do so.”

“You can try,” he says, returning my gaze.

Later, I will deal with him later. There is too much to be gained from our cooperation, and it's not like I didn’t expect this behavior.

“So, what was the plan?” I ask and start examining the Lord again, "Isn't it too soon for confrontation?

“That's why I gave it a try right now, and it turned out successful. It really caught you by surprise. The plan was to stop you from using mana, getting you under my control, and come up with a way to either inscribe myself into your mind, kill you, and take over your body. I didn't think of it that far.”

I pause, “That’s a good idea, it is probably much easier to use my body and try to replace my mind, rather than creating an entire personality imprint from scratch.”

“Right? Anyway, that clingy woman, the Housekeeper, is digging a tunnel down there, and the Armorer seems to be trying something as well, so let's hurry.” He passes by me and burrows his hand into the chest of the dead man in front of us and pulls out the still-beating heart which continues to do so even outside of the man’s chest.

The amount of mana it generates seems equivalent to the entirety of mine with the Mana Reservoir included.

In my duplicate’s place, I disrupt the Butler’s attempts to create a rift. They become much more aggressive, and I can feel the desperation coming from him, the Housekeeper as she digs, and even from the Armorer.

“I will keep the heart going and our defenses up. I should be able to do it for ten or fifteen minutes before the heart needs to go back into the chest. So you will have to do the talking.”

“Sounds good, let's get ourselves some nice stuff and more information. Something tells me they will be more willing to cooperate now.”

Chapter 309 - Together

Both of us reappear in the summer house. The Housekeeper and Butler are gone, and only the Gardener remains. His expression is anything but nice, and it sours even more as he notices the beating heart in my duplicate's hand. The one my duplicate is keeping beating with kinetic energy and careful manipulation of his mana.

“This will be the third time I’ve had to speak with you guys, so how about you call the other two and the Armorer here.”

The Gardener is quick to understand, and it’s barely ten seconds before the Butler and the Housekeeper return.

Both of them seem ready to jump us, but they stop when the Gardener gestures for them to. “Mister Gwyn, I really hope you realize what…”

I gesture to him with a finger over my lips, and he quickly shuts up.

That almost makes me want to smile, “So, I have had enough of you guys acting like dicks. Sure, at least my friend over here deserved that, and I might sound like a hypocrite, but whatever, right?”

The three of them remain quiet.

Oh boy, this is getting fun. They acted so high and mighty, so prideful, and now?

“Anyway, we have around 15 minutes during which my buddy will keep the heart beating. So after the Armorer joins us, I will ask a few questions, and you guys will answer. If you lie or hide anything, the heart goes boom; if you take too long, the heart goes boom; if you attack us…” I gesture to them.

“...The heart goes boom,” The Butler answers.

“That’s my guy. Anyway, Housekeeper. I like your sword, will you gift it to me?” I look at her.

She stares at me for a short moment, and then on her face, a smile blossoms, “Sure, Mister Gwyn,” she says and takes a few steps closer and carefully hands me her rapier, like a knight offering the rapier to his lord.

Quickly, I examine the weapon.

Voidsteel Rapier (Epic): Echoing the qualities of the Voidsteel Slicer, this rapier is crafted from the vibration-absorbing Voidsteel, ensuring extreme sharpness and precision. The durability and cutting capability of the Voidsteel make the Rapier nearly indestructible, allowing it to effortlessly penetrate almost any defense.

The weapon is beautiful, made of the same metal mine as those my duplicate and I wield, yet unlike our rough blades which lack handles, the rapier has been delicately made, entirely from Voidsteel, right down to the handle and guard.

“Thanks,” I fix the rapier to my belt while the Housekeeper smiles even more and quietly sits back in her spot. "Butler, my friend, why don't you go to the city and bring me as much mana conductive paint and metals as you can? You can add some mana stones too. Nothing too unreasonable, but don't be cheap."

Without a word, the Butler disappears through his rift, and everyone is quiet until the Armorer appears. An extremely thin, yet tall man with messy hair. I sense from him multiple items that seem to be connected to the defensive mechanism of the Bastion, even now they are working.

“Before you start, I hate to tell you that the amount of mana within the defensive system is still enough to kill both of you a dozen times over,” he says. His voice is quiet, almost a whisper.

“Wouldn’t that destroy the heart?”

“It’s probably more durable than the two of you,” the Armorer says in his quiet voice.

“Why don’t you try?”

“...”

“I thought so. Anyway, we have what, twelve minutes?” I turn to the duplicate, and he nods. “So let’s start. I don’t care who tells me, but what is the cause of the high mana levels in the Valley? And please, don't lie to me this time,” I ask after reading one of the Side quests.

The Armorer answers in his whispering voice, “It’s the location of one of the facilities that kickstarted the Veil. A high-ranking member of the Enchanter’s Guild used to own it. The mana levels are being caused by the broken core radiating mana.”

“Even after over 100 years?” I ask, unable to help but feel shocked.

“Yes,” the thin tall man nods. “The Veil required exceptional amounts of mana to start. Three most important facilities were powered by our Absolute, while some of our Champions powered the less important ones.”

The notification pops up.

Congratulations. You have completed a side quest. You can now pick one from the offered mid-epic grade items!

“Are your Absolute and Champions dead?” I ask.

“Our Absolute is surely dead. There might be some Champions somewhere, but we don’t know.”

That's when the Butler returns with a bag full of the items I required. With a nod, I take it from him, unable to take my eyes off the missing section of his mustache.

“How about the enemy? Their Absolute and Champions?” I ask.

“I do not know, and neither do the others.”

I turn to my duplicate, “What do you think?”

“He is not lying.”

“I agree,” I nod and turn back to them. “What is the Gaiathra doing in the Valley?”

“We do not know.”

“What do you know about the tutorial?”

The moment I ask that question, their faces become blank. Even more surprisingly, it seems to affect my duplicate slightly. It's just the shortest moment, but I notice him blank out before returning to normal and watching the frozen group in front of us.

Interesting. So asking about the Pairing is fine, but the tutorial is still taboo.

“What did you ask?” the Gardener questions, slightly confused.

“Nothing, anyway, so what happened to this world,” I ask a question for the quest that would give me 5 thousand shards, “what happened to the Veil?”

Three of them turn to the Gardener, who shakes his head. “Even the Lord didn't know much. We were in one of his retreats, celebrating the start of the Veil when our connection was cut off. Since then, we haven’t received any messages from the court or guilds. The areas we tried to move to were too dangerous—constant explosions, immense mana radiation, etc.”

His eyes cloud over, a memory flashing behind them. “Then the Veil Guardians, Veilshriekers, and even stronger monsters started hunting every human they could. One after another, Skyhold Bastions and the cities within the Lord’s territory fell, and people hid in the Sanctuaries we had built long ago. We were attacked as well, and found ourselves fighting a group of Veil Guardians, our Bastion crashed to the ground. We’ve stayed here ever since. Thankfully, the Veil has turned its attention elsewhere.”

“Ask him what happened to their boss,” my duplicate jumps into the conversation before focusing back on keeping the heart beating.

“Someone killed him,” the Butler says simply. “The day before that happened, the Lord wanted to evict most people from the Bastion as the core was getting weaker and wasn’t able to support everyone.”

“He could supply the mana on his own, couldn’t he?” I ask.

“Our Lord did that for a week and then said it was too annoying a chore and that we should send people away instead.” The Housekeeper snorts.

What a guy.

“Housekeeper, please avoid talking about the Lord in such a tone,” the Butler warns her.

“He asked me if it was possible to use people to power the core so he could make the Bastion float again. He said he missed the view.” The Armorer adds.

“He told me to stop planting plants that made food for everyone and instead asked to turn the garden into a forest where he could read there once in a while.” Says the Gardener piling on.

Oh boy, “So who killed him?” I ask.

“We do not know,” the Butler says as he shakes his head, “but it was probably one of us, Mister Gwyn.” He then pauses and adds, “He also asked me to reduce the amount of people in the city so he could use the extra water for fountains.”

“We should go,” I tell the clone.

He probably hears my tone and immediately throws the heart at the Housekeeper, and both of us teleport upwards. The defensive mechanism that was about to tear us apart misses, and we appear on top of the city.

Immediately, the barrier starts shrinking, the pressure increasing, and barriers forming around us. My eyes activate, and [Resonance] as well, but when I try to teleport or move, I'm unable to.

Armor forms around my body, and short sharp pulses of mana crash against my barrier while I try to get away.

I slash with the Voidsteel rapier against it, but it passes through, the pressure increasing even more.

Who could know that the systems still had so much energy?

A mana projectile buries itself in my side, piercing through the barrier I’ve made, and even though it breaks in the process, the remaining piece still pierces me.

Flames flare up around me, filled with disrupting mana, melting the grip their skills had on me while healing me, and for a moment, I pierce through with my domain. I make a short teleport towards my duplicate, and then I once more find myself under their restrictions.

“Heh, maybe we were too cocky. It's good we left, fighting four of them while under this much pressure could be dangerous,” the duplicate reads my thoughts.

“Dangerous, but possible. You could’ve taken the heart with you. We could learn a thing or two,” I complain as our mana flows around us.

“It would’ve died soon, and then it would just be a piece of flesh. That's something for Lily, not us,” he snorts.

Our mana surrounds us, working in tandem, our skills working together. [Resonance] activates, powered by both of us this time, and our Mana Wavelength Iris has been activated. Our combined effort tears apart the restrictions that have been placed on us and pushes against the Bastion’s defenses. My duplicate maintains the opening, while I place an anchor far away.

[Tether] activates, and I teleport us away.

[Tether - lvl 29 > Tether - lvl 30]

[Resonance - lvl 42 > Resonance - lvl 43]

We repeat the process a few more times and stop only when we are far away from the Bastion and there is no one to be seen.

Then, while we are healing our bodies, I empty my Vortex core throwing the store of kinetic energy at my duplicate.

The energy tears a huge chunk out of the forest. I hear the system notify me of the deaths of several monsters that happened to be in the area, stones as big as cars are flung into the distance, trees break under the pressure, and the earth is rent, leaving us standing on the edge of a crater.

Even through all of that, my duplicate is merely pushed back by a few steps. Deep wounds cover his body, blood flows, and a smile appears in the corners of his mouth. His eyes are activated and putting a strain on him. But he endures it all through the skills both of us share.

Then, while looking at me, he asks, “For the attempt with the collar?”

“For the attempt with the collar,” I confirm.

“Before this floor ends, we will talk,” he smiles, the effect of his [Focus] lowering for a moment.

“Yes,” I confirm.

I can't wait.

POV Aaron Dalton

When I reach Dennis, he is sitting on a stone, an empty expression on his face.

"Dennis," I call to him, and he doesn't answer.

He’s cut off our [Connection], and I can't feel his mind. I can't feel our connection.

"Dennis," I try to say as gently as I can and put my hand on his shoulder. My brother, who is usually so brave and cheerful, looks up at me with tears in his eyes.

"She is dead, Aaron, she died just like that. It's all my fault, I shouldn't..."

I don't let him finish and just hug him, "It will be ok, I'm here."

"It's all my fault," he repeats between sobs, "I'm fucking useless. Trash. I..."

"It's ok," I repeat.

It breaks my heart to see him like this, but I have no choice but to let it happen. Still, I have to keep an eye on our surroundings. Just from reading the floor quest, the 6th floor seems to be dangerous.

"Aaron. You left your disciple. You shouldn't have, you shouldn't…"

To that, I grab his shoulder and force him to look at me. "Did you forget our promise?"

"I..."

"Did you?!" I raise my voice.

"I did not," he shakes his head.

"Then tell me, who is the most important?"

"I don't have to say that."

"Tell me!" I scream. My disciple returned to his world, and even though everyone from our group decided to stay behind and wait for our disciples to return, I couldn't. I don't like it, but it was an easy decision.

"You and I are more important, Aaron."

At that, I hug him again. "Yes, you and me, brother. No one else matters as much. Not Kim, not Tess, Maya, or Isabella. You and I are all that matters and we’ll take care of each other. Like we always did, it doesn't matter if we’re on Earth or in the tutorial."

"You and I."

"Yes, you and I. Together. Now allow me to connect to you before I punch you."

It feels weird seeing him so down, but when we finally connect, I tear through his weak mental defenses and connect to him. His emotions and flashes of his memories flow to me, restoring the connection we’ve grown so accustomed to.

I feel tears roll from my eyes as I feel what he felt when his disciple died, but I refuse to shy away and I will help him shoulder the burden. I share his feelings, and between us, his pain lessens.

(Together,) I squeeze his shoulder.

(Together,) he repeats, returning to a more normal state as I share in his emotions.

Chapter 310 - So much to loot

I stare at the spot where a mana crystal wide as a bus and tall as a skyscraper used to stand and turn to my duplicate. “So it disappeared.”

“Yup,” he answers.

“It just disappeared while leaving behind traces as if someone had used the skill called [Tether].”

“Yup,” he repeats.

Well, it looks like someone is cooking. Be it for our confrontation or something else. But it's not like I haven’t been doing the same, so I can’t really complain. On the contrary, I'm curious. Our thought process is very nearly the same, but as our environment affects us, we come up with different methods and think of different skills. Him being on a tight time limit has changed him in ways that are hard for me to imagine.

“Well, anyway, I want to resume our attempts to power [Focus] with black mana with our trait active. It could help you too.” I say.

“We can do that for today. Tomorrow we should go to the bunker under the Sleeping Noodle. My anchor is already weakening.”

“Yes. I need to deal with some stuff. In one hour?”

“Okay.” He teleports, and I'm left alone looking at the empty spot.

With a snort, I teleport as well, appearing in one of the rooms that seems to have housed someone in a high position. The furniture is gone, and there is nothing of real interest, but I like the colors and the way ornaments light the room when I run mana through them.

“I want to pick my reward for the side quest,” I say.

Congratulations on completing the side quest! You can now pick one mid-epic item from the offered options.

Silentstep Tunic (Epic):

Crafted from the silk of a mythical spider, the tunic is as durable as it is light. It can easily be concealed under everyday clothing and offers protection against both physical and magical attacks. The tunic's unique fabric absorbs sound, making the wearer's movements silent and hard to detect.

Amulet of Whispering Winds (Epic):

This amulet holds a fragment of the eternal wind within its core. It allows the wearer to communicate with others across vast distances. By whispering into the amulet, the message is carried on the wind, reaching its intended recipient with a whisper only they can hear.

Mirage Bead (Epic):

This bead can be activated to cast an intricate illusion around the user, making them appear as someone else for a few hours. The illusion is complete with visual, auditory, and even tactile elements, making it incredibly difficult to see through, though it is possible with enough skill. After use, the bead turns to sand.

Starfall Pebble (Epic):

A small, unassuming stone that holds a fragment of a fallen star's core. When thrown against a hard surface, it unleashes a devastating explosion of kinetic energy. The pebble is consumed in the process, making it a powerful single-use weapon.

Heart of the Phoenix Emblem (Epic):

Worn directly over the heart, this emblem can be used to bring the wearer back from the brink of death, engulfing them in flames that heal but do not burn. This power can be called upon three times, after which the emblem fades.

Titan's Backbone (Epic):

Inscribed along the spine, this tattoo grants the wearer the indomitable endurance of a titan, enabling them to withstand any attack without faltering. This titanic resilience is available three times.

There are some really nice options. I like the tunic, and it could increase my defenses, but who needs more defenses when I can kill my opponent quicker?

Amulet of Whispering Winds? Why would I want to talk to people?

Mirage Bead is single-use, so the effect is probably capable of deceiving people of an even higher level than me. The twins will probably be capable of that in the future.

Pebble? I can make my own. Probably not as strong, but that’s ok.

Then we get to the emblem and tattoo, and I like them both. Having the failsafe of the emblem to bring me back from the brink of death would be reassuring. It could probably restore even my worst wounds and restore limbs.

But!

I like Titan's Backbone a bit more. It's simple. When activated, it should allow me to do whatever I want with black mana. Well, probably up to a limit. I still remember how the black mana orb cracked a high tier epic weapon on the 4th floor. But even that might be fine, even though the tattoo is mid-epic, its uses are limited, so these uses might be stronger than the performance of an upper epic item.

Its tier could be due to the limited number of uses. Logically, right?

“I pick Titan's Backbone.”

Then I wait while I feel the burning sensation on my back. As always, when the system does something, I try to observe, but as usual, I'm not capable of doing so. I can't feel any presence doing it. I can't sense where the mana doing it is coming from. It just happens. It's disturbing as always.

The timer says I have four days left until Vega comes back, and so far, she seems to be alive. There have been no notifications saying otherwise.

Stretching a bit and trying to examine the tattoo on my back, I stand up and head towards my duplicate. Mana compressed by [Focus] won't master itself and training with the Duplicate helps me to save weeks, if not months.

There are lines painted on mine and Clonthaniel's foreheads. A few more on our arms. We even made something we call a Focus crown.

It's more akin to wreaths, and one of each sits on our heads. The lovingly named Focus Crown is made of thin, wire-like threads of conductive metals we melted and covered in mana stones.

Being as ugly as it is, we don't mention it too often, but we’ve put a lot of effort into the inscriptions, each one designed to lessen the aftereffects of using black mana to power our [Focus]. Unfortunately, the "crowns" are upper rare at most, we are still unable to create epic items from scratch.

Our mana is topped up, our Vortex Cores are full. The thermokinetic heart is strong and ready. I have a voidsteel slicer on my waist as well as the voidsteel rapier the Housekeeper gifted to me. Meanwhile, Clonthaniel only has a voidsteel slicer, such a loser.

Neither of us is wearing any armor. I still haven’t gotten used to wearing armor even after I’ve had opportunities to try good armor. I just don't like the feeling of restriction it gives me, and it doesn't feel as versatile as my skills. That might be the reason I get hurt so often, but that's something to think about another day.

No words are needed, and once my duplicate puts his hand on my shoulder, I let his [Tether] take us to the anchor while leaving multiple anchors behind.

We appear in darkness, but neither of us creates light. Instead defensive skills activate, and [Perception] scans the area.

There is no imminent danger, so both of us form a thermal orb that starts letting out gentle golden light and floats higher, illuminating the cave we find ourselves in.

Drawing our weapons, we follow the only available path, a tunnel leading downward. As things tend to be in these places, it is extremely quiet, and the only thing we hear is the sound of our own steps. The air is stale, and the walls are wet, with drops of water falling to the floor.

We do not rush, maintaining a normal walking speed, while enjoying the tension in the air.

As we go deeper, we pass through an iron door. Of the same type as the one leading to the bunker, we are currently staying in. The door that was impossible for me to move or open. Yet here it is, mangled, crumpled, and torn apart in places. Thermal orbs light the area, creating shadows that make the door look even more ominous.

The tunnels we pass through slowly become wider, the rock replaced by walls made of smooth stone and iron. But even these are damaged. Craters cover the walls, melted debris is scattered about, and there are gaping holes in places with extremely smooth edges. There’s all sorts of damage all over the place.

I change the setting on my Regulator and devote more of my mana to strengthening my body through Reinforcement.

Soon, the mana density starts increasing. The Valley is already full of extremely dense mana that we’re constantly having to defend against. Less powerful individuals even die there just from that. Even so, it increases even more and forces me to strengthen my Mantle and give more of my attention to the [Resonance] I'm using to deal with it.

The further we go, the more damaged the tunnels are. Fallen pieces of ceiling, torn off in uneven chunks. An entire side of the wall melted into a heap of cooled slag.

And the pressure increases even further.

Then we find the first corpse. It's extremely well-preserved. Either it’s fresh or more likely it was someone with a body powerful enough to look like that even after being dead for a hundred or so years.

We spend a bit of time examining it. We look at broken equipment, search pockets, and try to find a wound. But we can’t find anything. The man died just like that, without any outward or internal signs we could find as to why.

In the end, I touch it and send it back to the bunker through [Tether].

A minute later, we find more corpses grouped together. This time they all show signs of the passage of time, but their clothes seem new. Each of the men and women is wearing beautiful robes covered in dozens of mana stones. Some of the mana stones are as small as my pinkie nail, woven into clothes, creating a series of defensive fields. Others are larger, set in necklaces, bracelets, and earrings.

Each one is densely inscribed and has some function, some of which I can’t quite understand.

One of the corpses, a woman, is wearing a bracelet with a big mana stone that seems to be something like a key. After a short discussion, we cut off the arm with the bracelet just in case the key needs DNA to activate, like when the orbital base on the 4th floor would only respond to Myrra. Then we send all the corpses and items away through [Tether].

As the pressure keeps increasing, we are forced to combine our forces to create a field around us. We walk close to each other, Mana Wavelength Iris activating once in a while just for a fraction of a second. The ever-present mana makes our abuse of our eyes extremely painful even with our preparations.

The world I see with my trait is packed to the brim with mana that hangs like mist flowing in waves all around us, resonating with each other and reflecting off the walls. Tiny particles permeate the air, falling like snow and swirling in places as if they were caught in a vortex.

Finally, more rooms start appearing, each of them has a door and most of them seem to have been labeled with markings that likely describe their use. Some of them even have panels that seem to be security interfaces. We examine a few of them, and it takes us a while to figure out how to use the key bracelet with the arm we cut off. The woman seems to have been pretty high up given her level of access.

Even after a hundred years or more, the doors still move smoothly and quietly, barely making a hiss as air equalizes between the rooms.

There are facilities, but most of them seem to be in a perfectly operational state. For example, there’s an enchanting facility better than anything I’ve seen up till now. Full of tools and materials. Conductive metals like arcanadium, ingots of endurium, compressed pieces of voidsteel, and many more I can’t even identify a purpose for.

The enchanting facility is also full of half-finished items. Swords imbued with mana stones waiting to be inscribed. Spears made of endurium waiting to be sharpened through some mysterious process. Robes on tables with tens of mana stones ready to be conjoined in a working web of inscriptions. A crown made of a mysterious metal waiting for mana stones to be placed in its settings.

Dozens of items, most of them of upper rare rarity even in their unfinished state.

The system shop is willing to pay more for items we craft by ourselves. When you buy an item from the system shop and sell it back, you get 50%. If you get an item from the floor and sell it to the system, you get 10-20% of its value. But if you craft an item from materials you gathered on that floor, you get 50% of the item’s value.

Looking at the sheer amount of items and materials, some of them have the potential to be made into epic-grade items, I can only imagine how many shards I should be capable of hoarding after using all of this. And this is only the start. The first good facility we’ve found and there are probably quite a few more, judging by the sheer size of the place.

So this is one of the Enchanter’s Guild’s bunkers, one of the places they used to instate the Veil, and with a core that could only have been recharged by one of the Champions, it seems even they were willing to work for the Enchanter Guild.

We send some items and materials back to the bunker we came from and then place multiple anchors within.

Even in the short time we’ve spent here, I can feel my body's reserves dwindling, and I have already dipped into my mana reservoir. It's shocking how much I need to use to hold off the pressure and how much mana it costs even with my stats.

“We have to return as soon as possible,” my duplicate says.

And I can't help but agree as we teleport away to recharge our mana before we come back.

There is so much to explore and loot.

Chapter 311 - Do you think he is alive?

Back in our bunker, Clonthaniel immediately takes some of the inscribed mana stones and starts examining them. The pressure here is much lower than it was in the bunker we left, and it feels like a ton of weight was lifted from our shoulders; only now do I realize how taxing it was.

I take a moment to check the anchor I left behind there, and it seems to be holding up, though it is dissolving quicker than the usual anchors. Even then, we have plenty of time before it will disappear.

"We have about three days before Vega returns; after that, it’s going to be more difficult to go back," I say to my duplicate.

"Speak for yourself. I like Vega and all, but I currently have more urgent issues to attend to, so I will continue to explore the place. You can babysit our cute minion."

"Too bad you won't get that deep without both of us working together. You won't even be able to reach the enchanting facility."

That makes him pause. "I will inscribe some mana stones to help with that."

"Sure."

"Fuck. Okay, we have three days, so let's hurry. We don't have to sleep for a few days, and it should be plenty of time to explore the place. We can also send anything useful back here and continue."

"Sounds good," I reply before opening the Beyond community while I examine one of the mysterious ingots we recovered.

Noname - Gareth, you wanted to speak to me.

It only takes about thirty minutes for him to notice my message. Like the others from Hell difficulty he’s grown accustomed to checking as often as possible, for one second at a time.

Gareth - Thanks for finding time for me, my friend. I should have a few minutes before my disciple runs into danger again. You probably heard about the deaths of two of our members.

Noname - Yes. Did you change your mind regarding your approach?

Gareth - I know you and I are of different minds when it comes to things like this, but I respect your opinion and even Savant's. And no, I haven’t changed my mind, and neither has anyone else from WhiteWing. What happened was unfortunate, but every one of us did our best.

Noname - So what did you want to talk about?

This time it takes a minute for him to answer.

Gareth - You would probably prefer that I be direct, so I will. I hope for your cooperation during the tournament. I tried to say more, but the system blocked the messages.

Noname - can't promise anything without knowing more.

Gareth - I understand that, my friend. I just want you to think about it. In the end, it's not just the tutorial we have to deal with. We also need to think about what comes after, and some things are better dealt with as soon as possible.

Noname - I usually let Sset deal with that stuff, you can talk to her.

Nice try, evil man pretending to be a paragon of justice. Trying to get me to deal with people more than absolutely necessary? Not today.

Grumpy - Noname! My disciple loves being called a minion. ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

Noname - Hello Grumpy, I told you! But be careful. Minions might be cute, but they are tricky creatures.

Grumpy - Will do! By the way, why does number 1 in Beyond never talk? >_<

Noname - Probably going for the mysterious stranger aesthetic. Anyway, I'm going to check other Communities, so later.

I disconnect and check on my duplicate. As before, he sits nearby and continues to examine the mana stones in the robe. I also notice that he pokes some of the corpses with a sword made of mana, probably trying to find out how much power remains in their bodies.

"How’s it coming?" I ask, out of curiosity, as I rise.

He looks at me, then back to the man with the perfectly preserved body. "This guy is something else. I can barely pierce his skin, and the sword gets stuck in his muscles."

I watch as Duplicaniel uses [Resonance] to strengthen the blade of mana. Then, in a show of force, he stabs it into the leg of the corpse. The blade pierces the skin and then stops as if he had hit a rock.

Oh my, isn't that interesting?

"I don't think the guy was a Champion, so maybe he’s somewhere in the ballpark of a danger noodle?"

"That's what I would like to know. It could be someone with a level around 300, with a significant investment in constitution. That or he had some kind of defensive trait," he answers, taking another stab at the corpse.

"Tried voidsteel?"

"Same result," he says. "How the hell did someone like that die?"

"Food allergy?"

"Or he bit his tongue. Unfortunately, the dude doesn't have anything that would help us identify him. No mana stones, no keys matching the others we found. Even the items are all broken, to the point it’s hard to say what they even were. Yet his body isn't damaged at all."

"I don't think someone like that would die from the mana pressure down there."

"I agree. It just pisses me off not knowing."

The duplicate complains and annoys me for the same reason. I'm just that curious. Who was this man, what level was he, and what happened to him? I find all these questions to be fascinating.

I let my uglier self play and open the Community once more.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Channeler?

FoodFood (Hell, group 4) - Asshole!

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Hello to you, buddy!

FoodFood (Hell, group 4) - Asshole!

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Sorry, I miss you too!

FoodFood (Hell, group 4) - Food food food!

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Oh, you mean the Sanctuary? Yeah, I hope you didn't eat anything.

FoodFood (Hell, group 4) - Asshole!

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Good boy! I got some deer jerky to share with you when I get back!

FoodFood (Hell, group 4) - Food.

Channeler (Easy, Steakhouse) - The hell, Noname, what are you doing to our chat and how can you understand anything Biscuit says?

Maria (Easy, AFK) - I don't mind! Biscuit is cute! I totally want to see him in the tournament. I just hope the others will go easy on him. I don't want him to get hurt.

I remember the purple mana bomb I saw Biscuit create when they fought the Fallen Hero.

Sure, let's worry about our future Absolute.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - How is your mana, Channeler?

Out of the Easy difficulty, he seems to be the only reasonable one.

Channeler (Easy, Steakhouse) - It's difficult! The techniques you told me about are way too hard, Noname!

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Just keep trying.

Channeler (Easy, Steakhouse) - I will, but what the hell is wrong with you? It's impossible to keep this up all the time.

Sami (Easy, AFK) - You don't have to listen to that guy. I bet he lies to look stronger. He said most of his skills are over level 30, but that's impossible. He must be bullshitting.

I check my skills.

Active skills:

Focus - Lvl 46

Mana Manipulation - Lvl 46

Perception - Lvl 41

Redistribution - Lvl 43

Resonance - Lvl 43

Mana Domain - Lvl 34

Tether - Lvl 30

Regalia - Lvl 19

Infusion - Lvl 25

I just make sure to remember the guy's name. I think he said something like that before. Then, after giving a few pieces of advice to my guinea pig… Channeler, I close the window.

My duplicate is looking at the corpse of the man we were unable to damage.

He seems to be thinking the same thing as me, "Do you think he is alive or can be brought back?" he asks.

That suspicion has only grown in me since we brought him here, and it’s been on my mind while I’ve been chatting with the others. Is it possible for someone of that level to pull that off? Turning off his heart while relying on the strength of his body to keep him alive without rotting away? Perhaps there’s something we’re missing.

I think it is, and that's what worries me.

"Let's send him away," I recommend.

My duplicate is already heading towards the body and puts his hand on the man. I can feel him activating [Tether].

The body doesn't move.

"Well fuck," the duplicate uses more mana, and when I reach him, I resonate with his skill and supply it with more power.

The body doesn't move.

"Well fuck," I say, and a barely noticeable heartbeat emanates from the man, as his body’s natural barrier reasserts itself making it surprisingly difficult to teleport him.

Both of us get the same idea and quickly get null collars. The one I got from the man under the Sanctuary and the one my duplicate found in the Bastion.

"Just in case?" I ask.

The duplicate nods, and we place both of the collars around the man's neck.

His heart beats again, and I see inscriptions power up, the effect of the collar activates. Then a text flickers into existence over his head.

[Forged Fury - lvl ???]

The small wounds we caused while trying to damage him close in a blink, and through kinetic energy, I can feel the powerful beats of his heart.

Two silver collars around his neck light up even more, allowing him to keep his constitution while lowering his other attributes, and then the man opens his eyes.

He moves his brown hair from his face, and his strikingly blue eyes calmly look at me and then at my duplicate, and then he turns back to me. I immediately realize that he’s somehow identified that my duplicate is… well, a duplicate.

Without saying a word, he stands up in a single smooth movement and dusts off his clothes. The collars around his neck shine even more, but the man doesn't seem to be bothered at all. He stretches slightly and calmly looks around, ignoring my duplicate and me holding our weapons, our mana ready.

"Take it off," he asks simply, pointing to the collars, his voice dismissing the idea that we might refuse.

Is he bluffing? Seeing his level, he should be between 300 to 450, so he’s not a Champion and he’s far from being an Absolute. The collars are only epic grade, so I would be surprised if they could hold him much longer than a few hours.

If he is level 300, it could be possible for me to fight him if I surprise him, hell, maybe even a bit higher if I work with my duplicate.

But then there is that thought in the back of my mind. The man is wearing clothes unlike the luxurious robes of the others we found. His clothes are made of durable materials but they’re simple and focused on functionality. Craftsman's clothes. There were no weapons among the damaged equipment he did hold.

And then there is his class name.

Without further hesitation, I take a step and, touching the Null Collars, I unlock them one after the other. The entire time the slightly taller man stares at me with his pale blue eyes.

When the collars are gone, his fist moves, and he punches my face. Even though I'm expecting the attack, I'm incapable of dodging it. The blow doesn’t seem to have been very strong, and I only need to take a half step back.

"That's for the collars," the man says. "The next time…"

Mana rushes through my body, entirely focused on strengthening it, and then I punch the man in return.

He also staggers backward, a flash of surprise appearing on his confident face.

As he opens his mouth to say something, I punch him again, and he staggers a half step back.

My mana radiates from my body, and I'm ready to fight or disappear at any moment, yet the man doesn't seem to be threatening us. Our eyes meet, and he just nods shortly. Then he turns around, passes by my duplicate, and heads deeper into the bunker.

Me and Notnathaniel exchange glances and follow the man.

He walks confidently even without light and without hesitation finds the control room where he approaches the central panel.

As I have many times before, he sends a bit of his mana into it and looks at it for a moment. To my surprise, he does something, and a pillar as thick as my arm slides out from the floor next to his leg. On top of that pillar sits a perfectly round mana crystal. The Forged Fury touches it and sends just a bit of mana into it before it slides back onto the floor, and he returns to the control panel.

Right after, the room lights up in a way I and my duplicate were unable to pull off no matter how much mana we ran through the core. Well, before the duplicate stole it or something.

Nearby one of the walls cracks, a crack forms into the perfect shape of a door. The cracked section of stone topples, likely weighing a ton or more.

And the man heads inside as if he owns the place.

Chapter 312 - Veil Ignition Station

As it turns out, the hidden section contains a massive number of shelves, packed full of items. There are dozens, no, hundreds of mana stones. There are big crates full of food. A massive tank containing water. There are rooms with beds and utility rooms.

Clothes, weapons, armor, the supplies here would make it possible to survive for years without ever needing to leave. But these rooms are empty, everything perfectly preserved and untouched.

Then there is another panel and a mana crystal two times my height, which is likely a reserve core.

The man once again channels his mana through it, and I observe as he does. His reserves do not seem to be that big. He is moving it skillfully too, but it feels different from the way I do it. It's hard to describe.

"So 99 years have passed," he mumbles and then turns back to us, "You, how old are you?"

"We’re from after the war, 22," Clonthaniel answers instead.

The man glances at him. "I asked the original, not the duplicate," he says simply and turns his gaze to me, "What even went through your mind to use one of the duplicating items that way? They were never intended for use on living beings."

He doesn't even wait for the answer and continues examining the core that seems to have some information stored in it.

"So that's how it is..."

After a few minutes, he takes a step away from the crystal, and it loses its light, "I need to know what you found in the Veil Ignition Station number five where I was."

The way he asks sounds like he is expecting an answer, like someone accustomed to authority.

"Nope," both me and my duplicate say at once.

"I see." Not saying more, he walks towards us, then instead of attacking, he passes by and, after taking a few steps, exits the hidden room.

He fires off a strange form of scan, and then he heads towards the room we used to store the items we got from the bunker he referred to as The Veil Ignition station.

Like two kids, we follow and observe what he does while questions run through my mind.

The man takes a few ingots of metal and other stuff we got from the bunker and heads to a different room. He doesn't seem to mind us following him and ignores us as he finds the facility that we identified as a forge. There is a house-sized forge with multiple openings. It looks too simple, though I did learn some time ago that it’s more of a shell for the more complex components inside.

Blowers, openings for fuel, leads for molten metal, and much more.

The man sends his senses through it again and activates one of the crystals, before throwing it into one of the openings, and with that done, manipulates the panel. It's broken, and the man examines and then ignores it.

Rolling his sleeves up to his elbows, he touches some sort of emblem on the inside of his forearms, and the heat starts radiating from him in waves. It crashes into the room, melting the surface of the tables, and when it reaches us, we absorb it as thermal energy which we store in our Vortex Core.

Right after, he redirects all of the heat he’s generated through an opening in the forge and concentrates it within. As the massive forge heats up, inscriptions light up across its surface, surprisingly some of the blowers even seem to be working as they distribute the heat along the underside of the apparatus.

With our eyes, we can watch as the heat is concentrated even further, and the man positions a table in the area and does something to keep it from melting. Then he throws some metals on the surface where they melt almost immediately.

Without worry, he steps closer, his powerful body ignoring the heat, and begins to shape the metal with his mana while adding components to create some sort of alloy.

“Do you remember that movie where they kidnapped the dude and kept him in a cave, while he built an iron suit and escaped while fighting off his kidnappers?” the duplicate asks. “Do you think that’s his plan? Are we going to let him?”

“Do you want to stop him?”

“Not really, the stuff he’s doing is cool as heck, especially the way he uses his mana. It seems to work better than using those clunky arms.”

“I tried my best back then, okay? And they still ended up being rare. So, blacksmith?”

“Probably? Maybe he just has a powerful body and a non-combat class. Maybe that's why he hasn’t attacked us.”

Activating our trait once in a while, we watch and learn from the man. It takes a few hours that we could’ve used to train, but neither of us bothers to leave. The things we’re seeing now are fascinating and should be useful in the future.

When it's done, the man touches emblems on his forearms again, and the heat dies off. What fascinates me is that the emblems used his mana and something else to create heat. But the man's mana reserves aren't that big, and he shouldn't be capable of keeping them up for so long.

Taking a few steps, he stops in front of me and offers me red-hot items he’s holding in his hands without care.

“In exchange for your help and answers,” he says simply.

Mana Radiation Absorption Rods (epic): Long, slender rods that can be placed around areas of high mana radiation to absorb and contain it. They reduce overall levels and make the area safer for short-term exposure.

Quickly, I take the three rods from his hands, absorbing the heat so they do not burn me. “Ask away.”

“The same question as before.”

“We wanted to have a look at the place you called The Veil Ignition Station, all we knew was that it was one of the stations they used to create the Veil. There we found a number of corpses, some of them were wearing robes covered in dozens of inscriptions and mana stones. We found you as well. At first, we thought you were dead, so we brought you here to examine. Then you woke up,” I answer.

“How does it look out there?”

“From what we found, the second Pairing happened and you guys fought the other planet for twenty years. Then, around a hundred years ago, the Enchanters Guild created a Veil that was supposed to encompass the entire planet and defend the cities. It was supposed to defend against invaders. Something went wrong, the Veil turned against you and killed the majority of humans, then before it finished, it started fighting the invaders. Your Absolute is probably dead as are the Champions unless they happen to be hiding somewhere. People outside rarely seem to reach level 200, probably because The Veil’s defensive mechanism seems to hunt them. Most of the survivors live in bunkers from before the war or in remnants like the Bastions. Most of them know very little regarding the war.”

I pause after a long answer and then look at him, “That's what you get for the rods.”

“Quite expensive.”

I nod in agreement.

“You can ask me something.” He gestures.

Oh. I like it.

“What are the emblems on your forearms?”

For the first time, he smiles ever so slightly. “What a thing to ask out of so many possible questions. They are emblems created and gifted to me by our Absolute. What is the Enchanter Guild doing?”

“We have no information on that. What I just told you is most of what we know.”

“So the Veil Ignition Station still has a broken core and mana radiation makes it difficult to reach the central components?” He asks.

“Yes, we were only able to stay there for so long. Is it dangerous even to you? Don't you have a powerful body?”

"As if something like that would help against radiation caused by that grade of broken core. Champion Niall spent weeks filling it with her dynamic mana."

“How did you survive?” I ask my question.

“A single-use defensive emblem from the Absolute,” he says.

“How many emblems did you even get from that Absolute?” the duplicate asks.

“A few,” the man answers. “Bring me the null collars you used before, I will smelt them into items to help with the mana radiation, then we can head back to the station.” Not even waiting for an answer he heads away.

“It was always our plan to return, but when he says it that way I kind of want to refuse just to piss him off,” the duplicate sighs.

But the man doesn’t hear him, already activating the emblems he was gifted by his Absolute and heating up the forge.

The decision wasn’t that difficult, and we handed over both of the null collars. In exchange, he created three simple epic pendants meant to take in some of the ambient mana radiation and redirect it.

What’s interesting is that the man rarely uses inscriptions, he doesn’t bother unless he has to. Most of the effects of the items he creates are a product of the combination of materials in his alloys.

Is it possible that he isn’t that good of an enchanter? Enchanting requires a specialized set of skills, so it's possible that he is not. As for me, I’m quite lucky that most of the ways that I go about controlling mana also allow me to create inscriptions.

In preparation for our return to the Veil Ignition Station, the man collects a few more of the items we recovered. He takes what he needs, and seeing the corpses in beautiful robes we brought back, he turns to us, waiting.

My duplicate and I exchange a look, having the same thought. We could leave him here and go by ourselves. We have rods, pendants, and even our skills. But at the same time, the man seems useful, even though he’s not very talkative and seems to expect obedience and respect.

I make a final decision, and he reduces his natural defenses, as I place my hand on his shoulder and teleport us to the station. The duplicate follows, reappearing between us.

The man looks at us and then at the severed arm and the bracelet I’m holding. His expression betrays that the arm belonged to someone he used to know. Yet he doesn’t show much in the way of emotion and takes a few steps, stabbing two of the epic rods in the direction of the source of the mana radiation and a third on the opposite side.

Almost immediately, the mana radiation lessens, and his weird senses reach out into the area.

“The radiation is even worse than I thought,” he says simply. Then he takes a few pieces of metal and ingots and heads towards the corner of the room and the small forge.

Emblems on his forearms activate, and he starts working again. Looking at the way he works, he’s probably making more rods to absorb the Mana Radiation.

My duplicate is already at work as well, grabbing some of the more valuable mana stones and doing whatever he does lately.

I, meanwhile, grab a few upper-rare spears made of white metal. The spears are complete, beautifully crafted, sharpened, and ready for use. The only thing missing is the empty mana stones imbued near the blades. All of the weapons are ready for inscriptions. There are even circuits made of conductive metals leading from the mana stone through the weapon.

Surrounding one of the spears with my [Mana Domain], I activate [Infusion] and then use [Mana Manipulation] and [Resonance], all while under the influence of [Focus].

I work on creating the best item possible for me given that I lack the skill to do this kind of thing on my own, but what I can do is create inscriptions, enchantments, or whatever the official term happens to be. I'm good at that, and a lot of my skills help me with that.

I could use my eyes for a better result, but not here. It would be too much surrounded by all this mana radiation.

So, I get to work, and time starts passing while I work. Nearly immediately, I lose two of the weapons to my mistakes, and then three more. But I do not stop and do not hesitate. If someone saw me using upper rare weapons as fodder, they would be mad, but they are just things to me. Useful items, yes, but never worth more than my life or too important to be sacrificed.

The items can be separated from me, they can be destroyed, they can be stolen. My personal power, and the knowledge I gain, will stay with me no matter what.

So, I waste even more of them, even getting a look from the man, but I ignore him and continue in my experiment. And then, after hours, my effort is rewarded, and I create the first epic item.

It's not entirely my creation, but I can say that I did a part of the work. A big part.

That makes me happy, even if it is only low epic.

Kinetic Pulse Spear (epic): A spear that accumulates kinetic energy and magnifies the force behind each strike. Movements and thrusts charge the spear, allowing the wielder to release highly concentrated kinetic blasts.

“I want to sell it,” I say immediately.

Do you really want to sell the following item for 1900 shards?

Kinetic Pulse Spear (epic)

Yes/No

I confirm and then check my shards.

Shards: 13,792

Two some odd days until Vega comes back, and then two weeks until the end of the floor. I wonder how much I will make.

Chapter 313 - A Newcomer's Welcome

“You spend half a day ruining a dozen perfectly prepared items and you crafted that?” the weird three-question mark man says, looking over my shoulder, several rods in his arms.

“It came out pretty good,” I say in my defense.

The look he gives me tells me he probably doesn’t agree, and then he asks, “Did you send the weapon away through your skill? It felt different this time.”

I just shrug. There is no sense in explaining; the system will censor it all and make the man go blank.

“So what is your plan?” I ask him.

Seeing that I don’t intend to answer, he doesn’t push, “First, we proceed to my workshop where I can make some better items. Then we will head towards the control room.”

“Not to the core?” I ask.

“Not unless you have a death wish.”

Then, before I can answer, he places three more rods and turns to me once the mana radiation lessens further. He hands me one of the unused spears near me, “Do it again.”

I decide to play along and do just that. My skills activate, and I start over again.

Then I feel a slap on the back of my head. My body is strengthened, my mana regulator turning a big part of my mana pool into reinforcement, yet it still makes me flinch.

Before I punch the man, he says, “Try it again, and don’t be in such a rush to change the item. Examine the pre-prepared pathways and feel the intent of the person that created that spear.”

He just snorts as he watches me glare at him, “You can try to punch me later if you want to. So?”

Instead of fighting, I send my senses through the item and get to examining it.

“The item you hold is something someone spent hours to create. They spent their mana to do so. They thought about how they wanted this item to look. The materials, rare or not, were carefully picked and smelted in an effort to realize their fullest potential. For all of that to happen, they had to study lifetimes of research authored by our predecessors and distributed by our teachers, a lot of people had to search for the materials, and a place had to be created to make it all happen.” He continues to observe my attempts. “So the least you can do is to pay a little bit of respect to the item in your hands, no matter how minuscule it might look to you.”

“I don’t agree,” I say, pausing my work on the item.

“Explain,” he asks me with interest.

“Items aren’t important. It doesn’t matter if they’re epic, rare, arcane, or something higher. Sure, it’s fine to use them, to hold them, or even be in awe of them. Maybe they’re useful, or maybe you learn something from them, but that’s it. You can’t rely on them too much or they’ll slow your growth. You can’t tiptoe around them, worried about damaging them because someone put effort into creating them.”

“That’s a very cynical way to look at it, but it also says a lot about you.”

“Sure.” I send my senses through the unfinished spear and examine it. “You told me to think about the intent of the creator of this weapon. But all I can see are useless pathways. The spear is pre-prepared so it constantly pulls bits of the user’s mana to sharpen the blade. Sending more should cause it to extend and become even sharper.”

My skills activate, and I scratch some of the prepared pathways, change others, and straight up block some more. “Like this, the finished item would become low epic at most and prioritize ease of use and reducing wear.”

The pathways I inscribe are much uglier, harsher, and more direct. They use more mana and require more from the user.

I turn to the man. “It's an item prepared to be pampered. A spear used by someone who prefers ease of use and looks over functionality. Someone who rarely bothers with combat. It's a toy, not a weapon.”

The inscriptions I create are more taxing to use but they allow more mana through. They allow the item to take damage over time. It's like removing fail-safes, even at the cost of the weapon’s lifespan.

I don't do it this way to improve the item’s rarity and price in a shop. No, I would do it this way even if I intended to use it or to give it to someone else.

Weapons are tools.

I pause for a while and turn to the man again. He returns my gaze and then nods. It's not in agreement but in understanding. Then he turns back, and I continue what I'm doing.

Multiple hours later when the weapon is ready, I sell it, gaining 2,200 more shards. Right after, my duplicate and I send a few more items to the bunker and wait for the man to finish his work before moving deeper into the station.

Meanwhile, our round of the tutorial has gained a new Beyond explorer.

Beyond 6/10 > Beyond 7/10

Gareth - woah, a new one has joined us, hello friend!

Tacita - (;-_-)ノ

Great, another troll.

Gareth - hello, Tacita, I'm Gareth, and I hope we get along!

Tacita - ʅ(°_°)ʃ

Grumpy - ♡＼(￣▽￣)／♡ !!!

Tacita - (☉_☉)

Grumpy - ʕっ•ᴥ•ʔっ

Tacita - ╭(°ロ°”)╯

After that, the messages end, and I’m left wondering what the hell just happened.

The used-to-be-dead man finally finishes his work and puts a chestplate on. The metal is still red-hot, but he ignores the heat, and it doesn't even touch his clothes. Once again, I notice a distinct lack of enchantments.

Then he hands us a few more rods, and we grab the ones we placed and head deeper into the bunker, following the man.

“Maybe we should at least ask him for his name,” I tell my duplicate.

“We can call him Bob.”

“That's what we called the arcane archer from the 4th floor. Maybe Dave?”

“Dave sounds good. Are your anchors still on his skin?”

I nod, “Two of them. I don't think I would be able to teleport him, but I could slow him down, and we could run. Other than his high constitution, he doesn't seem that strong. Maybe he is just the Absolute's personal blacksmith or something.”

Duplicate agrees, “At least two emblems from the Absolute, and the way he talks. Dave probably used to be an important person. He kind of reminds me of Cael.”

“I think all craftsmen are like that.” I cut off when Dave stops and places the iron rods in the hallway and one on the opposite side.

Then he turns to one of the doors and channels his mana into a mana stone set just over the frame.

Nothing happens, so he repeats it again and again.

He seems surprised, so he examines them and then, with a sigh, turns to me. “Please give me my wife's arm and bracelet,” he says.

It takes a moment for me to realize what he means by that, and I look at the severed arm we were using for unlocking the door and then at the man.

He shows no emotion and when I hand him the arm he takes it and a moment later the door opens.

He returns the arm without me asking, and enters the room, places the rods and while my duplicate and I examine his workshop, he heads to a mana crystal in the corner of the room.

The room is massive, even bigger than the enchanting facility we came from. But this workshop is an unorganized mess. There are tons of materials scattered about, dried-up trees, suits of armor three times my size, chunks of stone as big as cars, and mana crystals.

There is no system that I understand to it but at the same time it feels cozier than the organized layout of the other facility.

“You two, come here,” he gestures to us, and after exchanging looks, both of us head to him.

He points at the pillar made of mana crystal. “Can you activate it? It should be connected to the core. The core is leaking and that’s what’s causing the current mana levels, but this crystal should still be getting some mana."

I don't bother asking him why he doesn't do it himself and only slightly examine it, but I don't find anything. So while my duplicate keeps watch, I delve deeper, using my skills to examine it and finally recognize the problem.

“It's physically cut off from the core and the system of this station. Probably some kind of manually initiated failsafe or something,” I explain.

He sighs as if he had expected this but hoped to avoid it, and then examines the rods we are using, “We have an hour or two before these rods become useless, and then a similar amount of time before the amulets fail. You can grab whatever you want, and I will point out some things I need you to move to the place you call the bunker.”

“Isn't that your workshop? Why would you give us these things?” the duplicate asks.

“Just do what I said.” The man we’ve decided to call Dave then ignores us and starts creating a pile of items he wants to bring with him.

As if planned, we step out of his workshop towards the rods he placed. As he said, they seem to be weakening, and a quick examination reveals some sort of corrosion on them.

Our [Mana Domain] activates, along with [Resonance] as we use [Infusion] to make the process even more seamless.

Then we take a step and pass by the rods.

Immediately, the pressure assaults us. It feels as if the mana crashes against us in a series of rhythmic waves, attempting to pass through our domain and Mantle.

It's incredible.

Even after a hundred years, the core of this Veil Ignition Station is still releasing so much mana. A core filled by Champion Niall, as Dave said.

Leaving anchors behind the rods, we take a few more steps, making sure the amulets the man gave us don’t interfere, all in order to test our skills.

It all feels a bit like [Dawn], the skill Champion Tristan, used while being manipulated by the Mind Mage emperor, at the end of the second floor. A skill powered by The Sword of Aeons, the greatest mana battery in that world. And with that, he alone wiped out nearly all of humanity on his planet.

[Mana Domain - lvl 34 > Mana Domain - lvl 35]

[Infusion - lvl 24 > Infusion - lvl 25]

Then, after giving our all for a moment we find ourselves pushed back behind the rods.

Returning back to the workshop, he welcomes us, and his weird senses examine our activated skills.

“So, you even have a Domain-class skill,” he notes and then points at the pile. “With the help of this, I can prepare something better so we can head deeper.”

“What is a Domain-class skill?” I ask, ignoring his items. When he gives me the look, I add, “We will move your things if you answer.”

Dave almost seems like he wants to ask something but decides against it, “I keep forgetting how little you know. Within the many classes of skills, there are domain-type skills. If mastered properly, they can be some of the most terrifying. For learning more, find yourselves a disciple, candidate, or Champion. Now move these.”

He doesn't say anything else and looks in the direction of the core of the station.

After that, we take our time, we examine the place, and move items until our mana takes a big hit. We also head back and examine some of the rooms that are further from the core. There, we find more corpses, even corpses of the monsters my Duplicate sent through to find out if the Gaiathra would notice them. The monsters are as dead as the humans we find.

The man seems to recognize some of the humans and when he kneels down in front of the corpse of a little girl, we leave him alone.

Soon, we feel heat fill the tunnels as he activates his emblems, and when he rejoins us, nothing remains of the bodies.

We return to the bastion, and I hand him the severed arm and bracelet.

He stares at it for a moment. I just wait patiently until he grabs it. After taking off the bracelet, he heads to the pile where we put other corpses, ready to examine them.

My clone and I leave to do our stuff, and soon flames light the tunnels of the Bunker as well.

Chapter 314 - The Minion's Return

Just a bit over two days have passed, and I am sitting in the branches of one of the bigger trees surrounding the bunker.

At this point the monsters almost seem to avoid me, the place seems to have been recognized as my territory after my short expeditions to level up. I have to go further and further to hunt now, but I make the effort every once in a while.

Over the past two days, I’ve been working with a few of the higher tier unfinished items, converting them into epics. Leaving me 5,600 shards richer after selling them to the shop. Then I sold piles of materials, mana stones, and some of the weird robes. Anything I had in excess or lacked a use for.

That alone has gained me another 3,800 shards. And that's us going through the Veil Ignition Station twice given that we haven’t gone back since we returned, supposedly Dave is still preparing some important stuff.

My current number of shards is 25,392. The cheapest arcane items start at 100,000 and the cheapest arcane passives aren’t available for less than 200,000, it seems so expensive. Gaining either of them on this floor seems like it will be impossible.

So what am I doing out here?

Waiting for my minion, obviously.

Why outside?

I want to get to her before my Duplicate can turn her against me. We can't have that, and I'm sure he would try.

I escaped while he was watching Dave like a hawk. My duplicate doesn't have the benefit of a counter, he doesn't have access to the quest interface, system shop, or any other system functions. So he can only estimate when she will return, and I did my best to confuse him. I even left an orb in the Bunker to imitate my mana signature while I escaped in secret.

Congratulations! Your disciple will now return to the 5th floor! Bear in mind that you have to keep your disciple alive for two weeks longer. The environment on the 5th floor will become much more dangerous during that time!

And here she is.

Vega carefully emerges from an invisible portal. There she is, just beneath the tree I’m sitting in.

Just then, her senses pulse into the area like sonar, and her heartbeat accelerates as her skills activate. She envelops her dagger in pale blue mana and lowers her stance. I don’t even bother trying to hide as her senses touch me. She lifts her face, and her ruby-like eyes meet mine from below.

A giant smile blooms on her face, “Master!” she shouts.

“You have stopped scanning your area. That's a day of me calling you minion, and you can't complain.”

It's hard to describe the relief I feel. And seeing someone be so happy just to see me is still weird. I land beside her only for my tiny minion to immediately hug me.

“It's fine! Master can call me minion!” she embraces me with the full force her small frame can manage.

I lift her into my arms where she rests against my chest, listening to my heart.

“I’m glad to see you well, Vega,” I say, pulling her closer, and she nods with a smile.

Then I feel the orb down in the bunker disappear and someone trying to reconnect to the anchor I used to get here. But that person finds themselves unable to do so as I expected that and removed the connection with black mana.

“Okay, minion, now listen, this is serious,” I say. Setting her on the ground and kneeling in front of her. “There is a guy that looks like me and acts like me. But that person cannot be trusted no matter what!”

“Looks like master?” Vega asks.

In the distance, I feel an explosion of kinetic energy, and a figure lifts high into the air. Quickly followed by waves of mana scanning the area for us, but my pre-prepared barrier activates, and I hide us for a bit longer.

“Yes, but you have only one master, right? You wouldn't turn against me?”

“I would not!”

“Good disciple,” I caress her hair and poke her cute pointy horn. “He probably isn't a bad guy and won't hurt you, but don't get tricked, okay? It's a test.”

“A test from master,” her eyes wide. “I’ll do my best!”

Right after that, my duplicate descends on us, absorbing the kinetic energy of his landing without causing any shockwaves. “You asshole! You are trying to turn my precious Vega against me!” he immediately complains.

My minion, wary, starts flicking her eyes between me and him. “T-two of them,” she mumbles.

“Vega, come to your master. I want a hug!” the creep says, but surprisingly, Vega seems to hesitate, her eyes rapidly flicking between us.

Wow, does she really want to be called Vega so badly?

“I can't!” she says finally and moves behind me.

“You lost, loser,” I put my hand on Vega’s head and turn to him. “You are scaring MY disciple, so calm down.”

“Oh come on, that's straight-up evil. I just want to poke those tiny pointy horns. I’m not asking for much. I'm stressed too, you know!”

“Go and hug Dave or something.”

“Does Dave look like master too?” Vega asks innocently from behind me.

“You are confusing our poor minion you asshole original, just look.” The duplicate moves close and leans to look at Vega behind my back, who returns his gaze with her curious ruby eyes.

“Is this part of Bambi’s curse?” she asks.

“As if, it's him being a smartass. Come on, one hug,” he turns to me.

“Aren't you too… well, weird?” I ask.

“You can take it easy. I’m going to disappear in a week or two, so I need my ESM.“

“ESM?”

“Emotional Support Minion! When we upgrade our Mantle, you can go first, and I’ll help you create a stronger epic item so you can get more shards.”

“Sure, deal. Vega, you can call this man Uncle Nathaniel but never call him master, okay?” I then let go of her, and before she can complain, my duplicate grabs her and hugs her.

“S-stop. Let me go!” My minion squeaks while trying to push him away, but she can’t really do anything.

Somehow it reminds me of that time I petted the poor Ashenwolf after waking him up in his cave. I wonder how that guy is doing.

“So, how is the progress?” I ask.

“Almost done, but we will have to decide what to do with the minion before heading to the station again. And did you ask her yet?” he pinches her nose, pulls her horn, and when he finally lets her go, my minion rushes to me.

She grabs my clothes and kicks me in the shin before hiding behind my back, “Traitor!”

“Anyway, minion, did you try to ask the questions I told you to ask?” I ask.

After fixing her hair and clothes a bit and while pouting, she looks up at me, “Yes, I did! But the people I asked didn’t know much.”

“Oh, how did you end up asking them?” The Duplicate creates a chair from mana and sits down.

Seeing that, Vega gulps. “I will answer if you create one for me as well!” she tries somewhat sneakily.

Knowing she would answer even without it, the Duplicate still creates one, and then we watch as Vega plops down and tries to sit in a similar lazy manner as my duplicate.

So cute.

“I made them talk after…” She lifts her fists and swings them a few times, clearly gesturing at what she did to the guys.

Oh my. That's my disciple.

“I did what master told me, I found someone who had hurt me and put on the mask master bought. Then I hid my mana as much as possible and changed the way I moved. The mask changed my voice, and then I kept asking!”

The mask she mentioned is the only valuable item I sent with her. A rare mask that has some sort of confusion against weak minded individuals and changes the voice.

“But master. I remember that man hitting me every time I passed by his inn, but he was really weak now. I think I'm the strongest one in our village too!”

“You can beat everyone when you become even stronger. Right now, they could hire someone to kill you, so be patient.”

“Right! So I asked the question, but he didn’t know anything about the tutorial. He only said something about our predecessors, long long ago, going through the tutorial. Only the chosen ones entered and gained great power. He called them First Generation.”

“Huh, that makes sense. But isn’t that interesting?” the Duplicate mumbles. “Did he tell you if the tutorial repeated again?”

“I didn’t ask, I’m sorry uncle!”

“It’s fine,” I answer instead and turn to the duplicate. “So the system takes a bunch of people from a planet and puts them through the tutorial. The survivors return and become the so-called First Generation?”

He speaks in turn, expanding on the thought, “After that, more people from the planet join the system, but without the advantages of people who went through the tutorial?”

“Or could it be that only descendants of people who went through the tutorial get the ability to interact with the system?”

“That doesn’t make any sense. We saw a lot of people with levels on the floors. There wasn’t anyone without a class.”

“They may have gone through the tutorial tens of thousands of years ago, perhaps the descendants of the first generation replaced those who couldn’t access the system.”

He ponders, “That feels off, I like the theory that people from the tutorial return to Earth, and then slowly other people from Earth start awakening and joining the system. Maybe it is all even caused by mana leaking from the people who return to Earth.”

I turn to Vega and ask, “Did he know anything else about the First Generation?”

“Nothing!”

The duplicate sighs, “So if we are right, there are 10 rounds of the tutorial. We are in the 5th round. Every round of the tutorial contains four difficulties, and each difficulty has 10 groups. 2000 people to split into ten groups in easy, a thousand in normal, 500 for hard, and 250 for hell. Overall that’s,” he counts, “3750 people for each round. If we are right and there will be 10 rounds, that’s 37,500 people in the tutorial.”

I continue, “Out of them, how many will survive? 20,000 people in Easy difficulty so maybe 10-15 thousand of them? Out of 10,000 in Normal, probably around 6 to 8 thousand, out of 5,000 in Hard, probably two thousand? And out of 2,500 in Hell what? Somewhere between 100 and 500, maybe 100 of them enter Beyond, and what, maybe 10-20 survive?”

“The tutorial does become harder as floors pass and plenty of people might decide to stay on one of the nicer floors. Someone from Hard difficulty who gets to a higher floor might become stronger than someone from hell who decided to stay on the 4th floor.”

“That’s true. Minion, any info on your Absolute or Champions?”

“They knew nothing! I even bent the hand he used to hit me just like you showed me, master, but he said nothing.”

“Pairing?”

“Nothing!”

“System shop outside of the tutorial?”

“They didn’t know about it! They said there is no such thing.”

“At what levels do primary class upgrades happen?”

“He was only level 40, he got only the 1st one and didn’t know.”

The duplicate looks at her, “Wow, our cute Vega beat up someone 10 levels higher. Is this how proud parents feel?”

Both of us ignore him, and I continue to ask a few more questions, but Vega doesn’t have any answers. But that is to be expected, looking at the small village where she lives.

“Good job, minion, you did well.”

“Thank you, master!”

After turning to my duplicate, I lift one of my eyebrows, and he sighs, “As promised, you get the Mantle upgrade first, and I will help you create a better epic item.”

The chair made with [Regalia] disappears as he stands in a smooth motion and turns to Vega, “I’m glad you made it back safely, disciple,” he says.

To that, Vega thinks for a moment, then smiles, giving him a nod.

Observing him carefully, I notice a hint of relief in his eyes. Even though he hasn’t shown it very much, he is happy to even get that much. Our minion is just that precious a little thing.

As we head back to the bunker, both of us notice that the Mana Radiation has started to become worse, and monsters from all parts of the Valley are fighting and moving erratically.

And the Veil becomes just a bit more visible hanging in the air, just a tiny bit, but almost enough to be able to see it with the naked eye.

The system didn’t joke, and as it said, the difficulty will gradually increase.

Chapter 315 - Screw you

Dave looks at me; it's still disturbing how easily he can recognize who the duplicate is. Then he looks at my duplicate and then at Vega, who looks up at him with interest. Having two of us by her side, she doesn’t seem to be worried at all.

“Master, how should I address this man?” she asks.

I look at the man we even now call Dave, and he doesn’t even bother answering and just turns around, heading back to his provisional workshop.

Indeed, what to call him? The duplicate is uncle already, “Maybe mister?” I offer.

“Sure! Is this man another of master’s minions, like uncle?”

My duplicate interrupts, “Vega, I’m not a minion and will never be. Actually, I'm currently stronger than him, you can hear my heart, right?”

“Yes I can, but it doesn't feel stronger!”

I let them talk and follow Dave, pushing through the heat being released by his emblems, absorbing most of it with [Redistribution] and turning it into kinetic energy which I use to strengthen my body. It's better than releasing it, and my core is already full.

“Sometimes I think everything is a game for you,” Dave says while the metal in front of him swirls, mixing and separating while forming into difficult shapes as he wills it into form.

“It’s probably one of my skills, allowing me to filter out my emotions,” I answer and jump onto the table nearby, examining the process. He doesn’t seem to mind anymore than the times before, and I could even swear he likes having someone who shows so much interest in his craft.

“That makes sense. Concentration class skills tend to be like that,” he moves his hand, releasing more heat, melting an ingot of heat resistant metal, even more so than endurium.

I know because I tried to melt it too. It also sold for a nice chunk to the system shop.

“Are concentration type skills that bad?” I ask curiously.

“They are useful, and the people who use them tend to be amazing in whatever they do. On the other hand, they often feel less human compared to others,” the metal in front of him forms a sphere and then starts to swirl, mixing everything together.

He continues, “At a higher level of the skill, their users feel… inhuman.”

Separating a bit of molten metal, he throws it to me where I release my mana and make it semi-materialize, keeping the molten metal in the air like he does. To prevent the metal from cooling off, I reach into my Vortex core and release the heat of my golden thermal energy.

We’ve already tried it a few times before, so this time I take care not to release too much heat and even let my eyes activate in combination with [Focus], while I try to limit their effect on my mana and the molten metal it surrounds.

“Sometimes I think it's unfair that someone like you has Primordial thermal energy,” he says to my surprise.

“Why?” I ask, moving the heat around the molten metal and using my mana to try to form it.

“Jealousy, I would say.” The flames from his emblem try to push against my thermal energy.

Without compressing my thermal energy further, his flames seem to blaze hotter and more confidently. Yet, there is some beauty to my golden thermal energy as it swirls around, devouring his flames the moment he loses any degree of concentration around the edges.

“In the future, do not show anyone your Primordial energy if you don’t have to. The same goes for your eyes.”

“Even my eyes?” I push bits of his flames away and absorb the heat to boost my thermal energy. The metal ball in front of me elongates as I try to form it into the shape of a dagger. An ugly-ass dagger at that.

“Wavelength-type eye traits are very rare. There were once entire noble families who only maintained their position in court because one of their predecessors had a powerful Wavelength eye. They were marrying away their daughters into other families hoping to re-awaken this trait.”

“Don’t humans only get 3 traits?”

“Yes, but those you’re born with don't count against that number.”

The dagger I was trying to create melts when I use too much heat, and I start over.

Taking advantage of the man’s good mood, I ask, “Can you tell me about the First Generation?”

When he looks, I think that I may have pushed too far, and annoyed him with my questions, but after examining the molten metal I'm working on, he sighs.

Then a blank expression overtakes his face, and it reverts back.

After returning to his senses the man seems surprised and almost ruins his project, but he quickly takes over and continues to work.

It seems like the system is still censoring the information about the First Generation, and I have no hope of learning more from the natives currently. Maybe on higher floors? Or I can try to get information from newcomers to the tutorial, like Vega.

“Why do you want to reach the station’s core so badly?” I finally ask the question I’ve been pondering for so long.

“My name is Nevan.”

“Thanks for telling me, my name is Nathaniel.”

He nods in acknowledgment. “I don’t know what else to do.” His voice lacks emotion. This is the look of a man who’s woken up after a hundred years only to find his wife and daughter dead and his world is in tatters.

It's hard to imagine what he is going through.

“Why do you want to get to the core?” Nevan asks me in exchange.

For a moment, I ponder my response. “I want to learn what happened. I want to see the place where it all went down. I hope to improve my skills in the process and find a useful item or two.”

He snorts, “At least you’re honest.”

“But I meant it. More than a desire for trinkets, mana stones, and useful metals, I want to learn.” As I put my motives into words, he turns his head to me, while the metal, now in the shape of a helmet, hangs in the air.

I continue, “I’m curious. I want to know more about the Veil. How did they create it, and how does it work? I want to know how they screwed up and what happened 100 years ago. I want to know why so many people talk about the Enchanter Guild as if they were deities. I want to know all these answers and I want to see the wonders you guys created so long ago.”

“Apparently, nothing good. You know what’s the worst thing about it? We were winning.” He stops and the heat around him disappears. “We were goddamn winning. Our Absolute was so powerful, he alone was enough to take out most of the enemy forces. Then there were Champions directly under his command. We would have survived this pairing and won.”

Nevan grabs the helmet he’s created and flicks it with the tip of his finger.

A single crisp tone fills the room, hanging in the air, for what feels like an eternity.

“But that wasn’t enough. The Enchanter Guild seized the opportunity to push the Veil Ignition ahead of schedule. They worried that the Pairing might end and the people’s support would go with it. Think of our children, they said.” He flicks the helmet again and then gestures for me to continue.

I move my thermal energy and continue molding the melted alloy he created.

“And we went along with it all. Drunk on our own power and confidence and amazed by the miracles they had created, we allowed this to happen and this is our reward." He stops, "Slow down and even out your thermal energy. There is no need to push so quickly, move slower, and let the dagger cool off a bit before you continue.”

The dagger I'm shaping with mana now is better than any of my previous attempts. I absorb the heat at the places he indicates, allowing the alloy to cool while evening things out on the whole.

The combination of [Mana Domain] with [Redistribution] allows me to make detailed manipulations. While [Infusion] makes it easier to heat the more solid components. Sometimes I even infuse the piece with threads of mana for more delicate control.

When my trait finally deactivates and my concentration weakens, I finish the process.

The result is still ugly, the blade is dull, but one part still excites me. The mana-conductive metal that was part of the alloy is perfectly spread throughout the weapon mimicking basic inscriptions. It's lacking, but it's a first step.

“I’m jealous of people like you,” Nevan repeats his earlier statement. “But I can’t bring myself to hate you.”

I wonder what expression I'm making for him to say that.

The moment I leave the room, Vega rushes to me, followed by my duplicate who even now is etching inscriptions into a mana stone. Something he does practically nonstop.

“Master! Uncle isn’t that bad, he asked me to eat with him and gave me tasty food!”

Before I answer, the duplicate pokes, “Maybe I can become your master instead. I know more about inscriptions than this weirdo, and I promise to only ever call you Vega.”

“No!” Vega immediately answers and then passes by me approaching Nevan’s workstation.

Before she can move any further, I grab her with [Redistribution]. “It's dangerous in there.”

It would be dangerous for someone with such a low level to get too close to that level of heat. Nevan’s emblems release that much.

"Ok!" She replies when I let go. "Master, I want to train more. I want to become much stronger. When I return, I will go to a bigger village. Or I might even try to hunt some gray lizards to see if they really are all that tasty."

"No worries, we have two weeks, so we’ll make sure to help you level up a bit and work on your skills too."

"Mana chair too?"

"No mana chair."

"Oh…"

"More explosive kinetic orbs and better body strengthening."

"Yes! Oh, and master, the uncle said you lost another limb, has the curse gotten worse?"

As an answer, I grab one of her pointy horns and shake her head while turning to Duplicaniel, "You are ruining my minion."

"Vega is not a minion." They say, almost in unison.

"This attempt is so cheap," I tell him.

"Hey, if it works, it works. Anyway, I need your help with some mana inscriptions. I want to test something."

"Any good progress?"

"Only shitty progress, I’ve spent the past week in almost constant attempts to create a personality imprint, but I'm not even close damnit. It feels like I haven’t even started. I knew Lissandra was a monster, but this is too much."

"Is Lissandra a minion too?" Vega asks curiously.

"Maybe one day," I say.

"Ha!" The duplicate just stretches. "If the personality imprint plan fails, as it most likely will, I can do something like what we did for Myrra. I'm not sure it worked, but hey, I might as well try."

"But there is a problem with that," I point out while caressing Vega's head.

Huh, maybe he was really onto something with Vega being an ESM; I really do feel my stress dissipating.

"Yes," he agrees. "The system has already reacted to my status as a duplicate, so the rules will probably be a bit more strict. There is also a chance that because every attendee has their own instance, it will work differently. And even if it worked with Myrra, it may have countermeasures in place this time."

"How about trying to make yourself a tutorial attendee?"

"I used the fingers you so graciously gave me, and tried to work on something, but I just don't know. Lissandra has partial status as a tutorial attendee because she regrew from Hadwin and I'm entirely your duplicate, yet the system hasn’t reacted. I tried to think of a way you could help, but I just can't come up with anything."

"What about returning to Vega’s world with her?"

At that, Vega's red eyes grow even larger, shining from under her light brown hair.

"While I was eating with her, I tried to look into it, but I have no connection to her. The problem also has to do with my lifespan. Just moving away from the tutorial wouldn't fix it."

"Now that you mention it, I think it may have been a dick move to duplicate myself." I ponder.

"Only now?" he snorts. "What's annoying is that I can't be mad at you since I made the decision. But hey, let's strengthen the Mantle and try inscribing a mana stone."

"Sure."

It’s hours later, and we sit opposite each other. Nevan is still working, and Vega is sleeping, her head resting on my leg.

The improvements to The Mantle were a success.

Mana Sovereignty Mantle: A protective mantle seamlessly integrated with the user's mana heart and body. Solely designed to prevent external influences from disrupting or hijacking the user's mana flow.

The name and description haven’t changed at all as I’ve made no attempt to change the effect. Instead of trying to be fancy, I just wanted to strengthen one simple thing. To prevent someone from keeping me from using mana. Well, at least inside my body. And even though the description hasn’t changed, I can easily notice that it's improved.

While we rest, and eat some food while Vega is sleeping, the duplicate keeps looking at me.

"So?" I ask.

"You haven’t stopped watching out for Vega, not even for a second ever since she’s returned."

I decide to stay quiet.

"The entire time she was with me, you kept watching her, keeping the anchor you placed on her skin active and ready. Even as you worked with Nevan."

"Just say it."

With his emotionless face, he continues, "Ever since you duplicated yourself, you were worried about Vega’s return. Doesn't that say a lot about you?"

He looks at Vega, who is peacefully sleeping, "You still think there might be a chance you would use Vega to stay alive if you were in my shoes. You aren't sure, but you think you might use her or even sacrifice her just to stay alive. From sheer desperation and as the last possible option and because you still remember how you behaved on the 1st Floor."

In the silence, broken only by the soft breathing of my disciple, I caress her head gently. At that, she snuggles closer to me.

The duplicate leans and rests against the wall, as always his mana is constantly moving, "You aren't sure what you would do if you were in my situation, but I am. I already know the answer to that question. But I won't tell you. Screw you, and figure it out on your own."

"I really want to punch you sometimes."

"You and I are the same."

"Yes."

Chapter 316 - The first one in thousands of years

Each of us gets another pendant. We put on the chest plates made of silvery metal streaked with copper. Nevan even threw something together for Vega, and she’s been much nicer to him since. My minion might be easily influenced by gifts and shows of goodwill.

I watch as she spins around, looking at her reflection in one of the steel panels lining the walls of the facility.

Even Nevan has a soft smile on his face, watching the little half-demon girl being happy.

At least she accepted only after asking him multiple times if it was for free and he didn’t want anything in exchange.

“I’m going outside for a moment, something destroyed one of my anchors,” the duplicate says and disappears at the same moment.

A few seconds later, he returns. “Two Veil Guardians sniffing around,” he says simply.

So that's it? Is a normal Hell difficulty person supposed to be hiding now, or should they be capable of taking on the Veil Guardians? Or were we expected to join a group like the Bastion in an effort to survive the remaining two weeks with disciples?

“We could fight them together,” I offer.

“Probably, but we’ve already prepared for a trip to the station. Wanna bet something would go wrong if we went to fight?”

“That's true. Well, let's follow the plan.” I wave at Nevan, “Ready?”

“Yes.”

“Take as much as you can; we might not be able to return.”

After taking a moment to look at me, he nods and quickly does just that.

“Vega,” I say, “you will stay by my side the entire time, and by that I mean the entire time, okay?”

“Yes, master!” the little half-demon agrees without complaint.

But just in case, I give her my pendant. Then I take a few rods and some of the other things our personal blacksmith, alloyist, whatever he is, prepared for us.

When we reappear in the station, the mana pressure immediately increases, and I observe Vega. Thankfully, she doesn't seem to notice the pressure, and can only feel the difference through her scanning. Even now, she is curiously observing it, her red eyes wide open.

Nevan, who is fully armored, even going so far as to wear a helmet, heads in first, and we quickly pass his workshop, stopping only so he can grab a few small items. I also quickly sell a few more items, getting a quick 680 shards.

The hallway stretches farther than I had expected, and it gradually becomes clear that the pressure is emanating from somewhere on the right where the core must be.

At a crossroads, Nevan turns left and leaves three rods between us and the core, alleviating the pressure somewhat.

The next stop is yet another facility. This one is in disarray, the damage is as extensive here as it was at the entrance. Deep scratches dominate the metal walls, sections of the floor have been melted, and the ceiling has partially collapsed. Mana stones have been strewn about the room. Most of them have been destroyed, though some are still whole. There are dozens, in all colors and sizes, and none of them have been inscribed.

“One of my friends used to study mana crystals here, and he was using them to make mana stones in his spare time.” Nevan enters the room and touches one of the walls, and a signal pulses out from the point of contact, and a crack appears there, revealing the entrance to a smaller room.

There, in what seems to have been a panic room, lies the unrecognizable corpse of a man. But for Nevan, just a look at his bracelet is confirmation enough.

The man’s corpse is surrounded by empty bottles, and food packaging, and seems to have created a makeshift bed in the corner.

But the most interesting part is the mana crystals littering the room, some of which have clearly been converted into mana stones. The man, unwilling or unable to exit the room, spent his final days and weeks working. He did something he enjoyed up until the end either to take his mind off his situation or maintain his grip on reality.

I look at Nevan who is still looking at the corpse.

“Oh, Orryn, I can only hope that you did not suffer.” Stepping inside, he cradles what remains of the man and lies him on the bed in the corner. He takes a few mana stones from the ground and hands them to me, “They will be more useful to you than to me.”

I examine them, noting that, like those in the previous room, they haven’t been inscribed. They are, for the most part, just beautiful mana stones ready for inscription, with the exception of the few that are epic grade. Meanwhile, the ones in the prior room were rare at best.

The duplicate also takes a share, as does Vega.

At the same time as me, the duplicate takes one and starts turning it into storage he starts filling with Primordial energies, something akin to what I did on the 4th floor to attack the Colony.

“Are you fine?” I ask Vega.

“I think I am, but I feel dizzy when examining the area around me.”

“You can stop using your senses for a while.”

She does just that, and I set one of my anchors on her skin, just in case. I [Tether] it to her body, I'm much higher level than her, so it’s not hard.

Room by room, we pass through the station. We find more corpses and more damaged facilities, and I start to wonder if Nevan doesn't have a skill like [Focus]. The man keeps recognizing colleagues or friends all over the place, yet he continues ahead with the determination of a man with nothing to lose.

As the hallway widens, Nevan places a few more rods and throws some fist-sized iron cubes on the floor, and we enter the big circular room.

“Control room,” he says simply.

Out of every place we passed by, this one has suffered the most damage, and it’s the nature of the damage that surprises me. It’s like someone just evaporated everything in a big sphere, leaving behind smooth edges. And this repeats over and over.

The tables are gone, control panels too, and pieces of the wall as well. On the ground, we find pieces of gray bodies filled with blue veins and even pieces of voidsteel slicers.

It looks like our friends, Veil Guardians or a higher grade of them, visited this place long ago.

Vega and I both collect pieces of voidsteel either to keep for ourselves or to sell later. Even while doing so, she practices moving mana in the way I told her, and she keeps a kinetic orb floating near her.

Nevan is examining what remains, trying to get a panel to pop up from the floor and attempting to locate hidden rooms, while my duplicate goes about examining the rooms nearby.

“Do you have any idea what could’ve caused this?” I ask him.

“Some of the attacks were the work of the head guard, and I recognize a few as the work of some of the Lords that were staying here. As for the one that destroyed the panels, I have my suspicions, but I'm not sure. But either by coincidence or intent, they destroyed the controls.”

“Any backup?”

He nods, “But they’re closer to the core.”

“Let me examine the rooms around for a bit, and we can head there. Anything interesting?”

Nevan gestures, “This way, you can find the dining room; your duplicate went there. There you will find a Guard station that probably has some armor or weapons left in stock. Nearby, through a hallway, is a research center that will probably interest you the most. They were exploring methods of inscribing fabrics, creating highly conductive mana threads, and experimenting with the smallest possible mana stones for inscriptions.”

“Thanks, fifteen minutes?”

“That much shouldn’t be a problem for our equipment.”

“Minion, let's go.”

“To the dining room?”

I grab and pull her horn while she tries to kick me, and then we head towards the research center.

POV Duplicate of Nathaniel Gwyn

I’m sitting in a chair while I wait. As I do, I prod the leg of one of the corpses with my foot.

It's a long-dead woman, some of her hair has fallen out, and her shriveled face is frozen in an expression of sheer pain. As many did, she clearly died from mana radiation that must have been even stronger 100 years ago.

While waiting, I strengthen the field around me, making sure it’s blocking all the sounds and mana other than mine. Not like I think that is required, but just to be safe. The original douchebag can be perceptive sometimes, but right now, he’s too busy, enamored by all these mysteries to check on me. Hell, I would’ve liked to do the same.

Finally, the corpse’s eyes move, they’re still lifeless and disgusting, but they turn to me nonetheless.

Even though they shouldn't be making any sounds, the mouth moves and its words fill the room, “I see you haven't forgotten me, unfortunate one.”

“Yes, yes. A week ago you told me you would tell me about a way to survive when Vega came back, so?”

“So direct. You don't have to hurry. We’ve got ourselves some time to discuss.”

Well, I wouldn't normally cooperate with an extremely suspicious being I met a few times in Beyond and once on the 4th floor when it took over Arcane Archer Bob. But it's not like I have many options.

“If you want to talk so much, tell me why would you help me.”

The mouth of the corpse moves as if to make a smile and it makes her look even more creepy.

“To pass time,” it says.

“So mysterious and cool. What is this method of survival you mentioned?”

“It's not all that difficult, unfortunate one. You just need to kill your original’s disciple. Once she dies, I can move her 'status' to you, and you will be returned to her world instead. With her status and a little bit of influence from my side, your status as a temporary duplicate will disappear.”

“I see. No.”

“Are you sure?” the voice sounds playful. “If you are worried about your conscience, you don't have to kill her. But you just don't have to help either. You left your mark on the sleeping Gaiathra, right? What if you just happened to activate it by mistake and weren’t here when the monster attacked? Accidents happen.”

When I don’t answer, the being seems even more amused, the mouth of the corpse moving into a smile much too wide for its anatomy.

The old skin of the corner of its lips tears, and the jaw moves lower in a creepy gesture.

“You might think you won't now, but are you sure you won’t change your mind when you’ve only got a day left? Don't you want to survive? What is some little girl you’ve only known for a few weeks in comparison to that?”

Even though it can't use its powers, the air in the dining room starts feeling colder.

“Just a small accident, after that you would be sent to explore her world. You can try to become its Absolute if you wish. You can fight and train as much as you want. A whole new planet for you to explore. As a bonus, your original would be punished for failing his Floor quest. Isn't that beautiful?”

“You are a really stupid motherfucker, aren't you? I said no.”

The corpse moves and as it stands up, its limbs let out a cracking noise until the long-dead woman’s head stops just in front of my face. “You already refused my help once, do not repeat that mistake. Without me, you will perish.”

“Even if I die, I won't regret it,” as I say this, I feel confident in this conviction.

The dumb original might not realize it yet, he is bad at dealing with his feelings, but he’s the same. Neither of us would be able to hurt Vega like that. Never. It would mean betraying our friend and in that moment, we would be no better than the person we hate the most in the world.

“I think the subclass of Pride really fits you. It's perfect for delusional people like you,” the being giggles, and finally, the woman's jaw falls off. At that, it only tilts its head and then steps back. “I will ask you the same question a day before you disappear. I'm already excited to hear your answer.”

So he is not the Ruler of Pride.

Well, let's try to get more info at least, “Why are you even here? There must be hundreds or thousands of tutorials going on, why this one? Because of Lissandra and her escape from the second floor?”

The corpse crumbles, but the words continue, amusement dripping from every single one, “Absolutes going rogue once in a while isn't that rare. Even though what Eladore's Absolute Lissandra is doing is extremely interesting, it is not enough to catch my interest. No, you, Absolute Lissandra, and the other attendees of this instance are only a way I amuse myself.”

The next words only sound in my head, the corpse unmoving, (What brought me to this tutorial is someone else. It's the man who started the tutorial in Beyond. The first one in thousands of years.)

Chapter 317 - The cracked core

1,050 shards, that's how much I’ve gotten from selling the stuff from the research center. Obviously, I keep the best items and data. Even then, that leaves me with just over 27 thousand shards. At that point, I decided to buy another epic passive.

Sure, I could save my shards and advance my plan to build a repertoire of rare passives, and try to learn a thing or two, but with what's happening around me, that might not be such a good idea.

The Veil Guardians have been sniffing around, the Veil itself is acting weird, and my duplicate has been cooking something up. I mean, I have [Tether] too, but how the heck did he teleport a giant mana crystal from the bunker like that, and where did he send it?

“Master, another one!” Vega rushes closer and hands me a few small mana stones. After examining them, if they aren't useful, I sell them as well, getting a few more shards.

“Good job, minion, did you keep any for yourself?”

“I’ve done exactly as master said. I’ve already started practicing.”

“Good, keep doing that. You can push yourself harder, I will step in if you lose control.”

“It's hard with all of the items the mister gave me and all this mana floating around, but I will try.”

As she goes back to her training, I open the system shop and look at the passive I’ve been eyeing.

Cognitive Fortress (Epic) - Bestows upon the user a remarkable capacity for sustained mental engagement. This passive bolsters the user's cognitive stamina to extraordinary levels, helping them endure prolonged periods of intense cognitive activity.

It's a bit expensive, just over 15 thousand shards. With epic passives starting at 8 thousand, this is probably one of the better ones. If there are hidden low, mid, and upper ratings like I think there are, then this one is probably in the upper tier, maybe high mid.

My current passives are as follows:

Mana-Fortified Resilience (rare)

Mana Reservoir (epic)

Arcane Resilience (epic)

Phoenix Embrace (epic)

Mana Overload Absorption (epic)

The rare passive isn’t even worth speaking of at this point. Mana Reservoir is my current favorite.

Arcane Resilience says it reduces the physical toll of casting. Through testing, I’ve learned that it refers to my tendency to overload my brain and eyes, though not so much as it protects my body from my ever-growing stat imbalance.

Then there is the beautiful passive skill known as Phoenix Embrace, granted this will surely lead to a lot of trash-talk from Lily and she’ll likely demand that I sell it.

I won't, I love it.

Mana Overload Absorption is like Arcane Resilience, though it works differently.

So, Cognitive Fortress should help me deal with the strain my eyes subject me to. My new trait is powerful and difficult to handle, even now. And that's good. The more dangerous it is to me, the more dangerous it should be to others.

Or something like that.

It should also help with my attempts to power [Focus] and my other skills with the black mana, even if it doesn’t do as much as the other two.

Okay, let's buy it.

I buy Cognitive Fortress and confirm, and watch with a touch of sadness as over 15 thousand shards disappear.

For the next few minutes, I focus on resisting the burning sensation that courses through me. It feels like someone has set my head ablaze from the inside, but I refuse to let it show as I continue observing Vega’s training.

Then, as we are leaving, I even sell some tables that are basically enchanting tables. It doesn't get me that many shards, but after spending so much on my new passive, I intend to sell anything that isn't nailed down. Even if it is, I mean to remove it and sell it. I don't care if it's only worth 1 shard. Hell, I would sell the entire station if I could.

“So, Minion, how was the week back in your village?” I ask while waiting for the pain to abate.

It takes her a moment to refocus from the mana stone she was observing and look up at me with her ruby-like eyes.

“I appeared at the same place I disappeared from. I then tracked and killed the monster that was hunting me before! Master, it was so weak I can't believe I was so scared back then, I even cried while running.”

“It's fine to be scared, minion. It helps us survive.”

“But master isn't scared. You even block your fear,” she tilts her head.

“Only a little and less of late. Sometimes I enjoy the feeling of fear, minion. It makes the fights more fun.”

“Master is weird.”

“Yup.”

“So I killed the monster and then returned to the village. I spent the first few days much as I did before, I didn't let anything slip and kept hiding and observing different people’s strengths. A few times I went to hunt in the forest too. Then a few days before returning, I masked myself and started asking questions.”

I'm trying to imagine my silly minion beating a bunch of old men and find the thought amusing. Even she is smiling at the memory. Vega swings her arms, acting out the way she dealt with the men, and describes how she made them talk and where she kicked them.

She thanks me for teaching her the kick and describes how scared some of the men were while adding things they did to her before she became my disciple.

As amused as I am by her antics, I'm also angry. I can’t help but think that if I were there, those people would have ended up much worse.

Hurting someone like me is fine, but hurting a kid? Trying to inflict so much trauma on someone as curious and cheerful as Vega here?

I'm glad I became her master. I'm glad I showed her a way out so she can stay as beautiful as she is.

I also remember the conversation I had with my duplicate and as I listen to Vega telling me her story, I come to the answer.

There is no way I would be able to hurt Vega like that. Yes, I will push her to become stronger and it might even hurt, but every time it will be for her good, and I will be sure she’s ready. But I will never hurt her the way others did.

My duplicate realized it before me and seems to have had some fun teasing me like that. Such an asshole. Biscuit truly is the greatest to realize it so quickly and keep calling me, us, out like that.

“Vega, one day I will introduce you to Biscuit. I think you would like each other.”

“Is Biscuit also one of your minions?”

“Not everyone is my minion, you silly disciple.” I pinch her horn and shake her head. “You guys probably won't meet in the tutorial, but after I get out I will find your planet. It will take some years so be patient, okay? Until then become as powerful as you can so I don’t have to be ashamed in front of Biscuit.”

“I might be even stronger than master after that much time,” she says with a cheeky smile. “And then you will be my minion!”

Look at her.

“If you do, that’s fine. I’ll even call you Master Vega and ask you to teach me,” I say and watch as her eyes become dreamy and I lean closer, continuing in a whisper. “Just imagine that. Master Vega and her lowly minion Nathaniel. Your heart even more powerful than mine and then it would be me following you around, begging you to teach me.”

Her eyes widen even more, and I can see how much she would like that.

In the end, I stand up, the pain of acquiring the passive nearly gone. “So give it your best, but be careful, okay?”

“Will do, master!”

I look through a few more rooms, and I'm once again amazed by how much work has been put into this station. The walls have all been shielded, and optimized for extreme durability yet they still have a decent aesthetic to them. There are drains set into the floor in some facilities in case of toxic spillage or flooding.

Air filtration devices are all over the place and some of the things they’ve done with inscriptions remain a mystery to me even now. I can imagine myself spending months down here, trying to learn as much as possible.

Well, I might have better opportunities on higher floors. So I just examine the most interesting things and keep the best items while selling the rest and then head back into the destroyed control room where Duplicaniel and Nevan are already waiting.

“Out of curiosity, I jumped to the bunker we were using,” my duplicate says. “It's already been overrun by monsters and the doors are wide open so we’ll have to change our base.”

“So, plan B.”

“So it seems. I brought back a few items from the bunker, and you can do as you like with them. Consider it a show of my goodwill,” he teases.

“I had hoped that we could stay here. I don’t think they can pass by Gaiathra that easily, but there is the issue with the mana radiation.”

While I grab some items from the pile and sell them, my duplicate continues,“ We have a few hours, maybe six at most with all the stuff we have and maybe half of that if we move closer to the core. Am I right?” he turns to Nevan.

“Longer. I’ve still got items that I haven’t used yet,” the man answers. “Keep the girl close; we’re heading deeper.”

Then he leads the way, wearing a full set of items he made of a mix of metals. He grabs rods as well; his mana seeps through his chestplate. There are no inscriptions; it's just the alloy reacting to his mana by vibrating at an extremely weird frequency, and that greatly strengthens the effect.

Step after step, we trail behind him as the mana around us increases.

Even with all the protections we have, I feel pressure and channel more mana into the barrier I’ve placed around Vega and myself. To reduce my expenditure, I pick Vega up into my arms where she nestles her ear against my chest and listens to my heart.

As we pass through the next zone, the sheer amount of mana seems to be causing effects beyond the pressure. Some colors seem to have altered their vibrancy. Red, blue, and yellow grow much more vibrant, while others grow flat.

We notice the iron walls curve, looking more like waves frozen mid-movement rather than straight sheets of metal.

For a short time, all sound disappears, replaced by the impossibly loud beating of our hearts. I'm even able to differentiate whose heart is whose.

Then it stops, and as we continue, the air starts to look misty.

All of the epic rods crack and wear off, only to be thrown away, and Nevan uses even more of his mana to strengthen the effect of his chestplate, reinforcing the barrier around us. At this point, I'm sure the piece he made is a mere step away from arcane. The most he could do in the time given to him.

We pass through holes that have been torn in the walls and melted doors, and eventually enter a large circular room. Yellow and purple colors become much more vibrant and a pillar radiates light in the otherwise dark room.

It's much simpler than expected and much smaller.

The bunker we left did have a mana crystal to hold mana, and that crystal was as tall as a smaller skyscraper. This room is the size of a small apartment, and as expected, there is a mana stone in the center.

It is a clear white color, and inside of it, yellow and purple mana swirls lazily, and just the sheer pressure makes my disciple pass out, and I strengthen the barrier around her even more, reaching into my reservoir to do so.

Looking at the mana stone, I'm once again reminded that it has been leaking mana for a hundred years already. It's hard to imagine the sheer force it had to have in the beginning. The mana stone itself looks like a transparent crystalline pillar with mana swirling inside. It is only as tall as me, yet even someone with my level of experience can see how amazing it is.

The mana crystal from the bunker, even though hundreds of times bigger, can't compare to this. Not even close.

But there is a problem with it.

Lodged inside the core is an ax, leaving a crack, through which, that immense mana can seep.

Holding the ax, there is a burned corpse, a skeleton with bits of flesh hanging off of it. Half of the head is missing, the place where the heart would be is nothing but a big hole. Someone made sure the attacker was dead though they were too late, the damage had already been done.

A chuckle erupts out of nowhere, and I look at Nevan, who unbelievingly stares at the corpse.

Finally, more emotion appears on his face. The pain of finding the world in this state, the pain from seeing his dead wife and daughter. All of it surfaces as he weakens his concentration type skill.

“The ax that destroyed the core was made by Champion Niall and I,” he says as mana radiates from him, bits of metal floating into the air from his bags. “And this man is my father, one of our youngest Champions. He was the only one on this planet with a body strong enough to endure the destruction of a core of this grade. Having even this little left shows how strong his body used to be,” he smiles deprecatingly.

Then he points to burned marks on the floor, “This is where the core’s explosion burned Champion Niall’s first disciple. I can feel alloy melted into the floor from the armor I made for her.” He points at another spot, “Champion candidate Igred, I made a bracelet for him,” another spot, “Champion candidate Norret, I made a brooch for her, she gave me a design to follow, made by her 5-year-old daughter,” another spot, “vice guild master of Black Hand Jeal asked me for a dagger and I still remember how drunk he got while celebrating and constantly thanking me.” He points out more and more spots.

The emblems on his forearms activate and even in such intense mana radiation, he starts melting the pieces of metal floating around him, creating yet another alloy.

Then the armor on his chest also disconnects and starts melting under his emblem, the mana radiation immediately attacking the man.

At that moment, his face becomes clear. “I had hoped that my father would be alive as you said there might be some Champions left. I hoped for something. But this?” He gestures around. “I have nothing left. I'm tired after 20 years of losing my friends. I never wanted to hold my wife’s or my daughter’s dead body. I never wanted to see my father like that, it doesn’t matter if he was a traitor or if he tried to stop the ignition.”

Half of the alloy he creates moves towards the crystal where it surrounds the crack, causing the ax to fall out and crumble alongside the body of his father.

Nevan's body shows damage everywhere I look, even with as durable as he is. “I wish you had never brought me out of here and allowed me to wake up, Nathaniel.”

His metal surrounds the crack fully and the mana radiation weakens and continues to weaken even more. Though too late for Nevan.

“But don’t pity me; I’ve been dying ever since I awoke. You just find out what happened, learn from our mistakes, and never repeat them.” A big chunk of the alloy he made moves towards me and lands at my feet. “And take this, it’s an alloy I’ve created after my entire life of research.”

“You know you could just leave. You could join other survivors,” I say to the dying man.

“I could, but I have decided otherwise.”

I can do nothing in the face of his determination. “I will respect your decision then, Nevan. Can I do anything for you before you die?”

“Please burn my body with the Primordial energy you possess. You don’t need to do anything else.”

“I will.”

He smiles gratefully, and after a minute, he dies. Just a short moment without his equipment was enough. That and a hundred of years of lying down here in this radiation.

Maybe he could be saved; there are two healers on this floor, and even though they are of much lower level, they could help.

Yet, it was all his decision. To throw away his concentration type skill and allow his feelings to overtake him. The man was unwilling to live on alone.

I wish I could say I understand, but I do not.

In his place, I would hold on to my life and kill every single person who dared to hurt my dear ones before I would die. And I would not stop until their bodies lay at my feet.

My eyes activate and even though there is still so much mana in the air, the pressure remains manageable. I watch as the mana that until now continued to leak through the crack only seeps out slightly, the ring of multicolored mass blocking the crack caused by the axe.

Then there is the chunk of molten metal alloy he left to me along with the heavily damaged great ax that cracked the core. They’re both pretty high grade, yet it all feels a bit sour.

Chapter 318 - Plan B

Arcanite Alloy (Arcane) Arcanite Alloy is a meticulously engineered blend of a dozen metals, each chosen for its unique resonance with arcane energies. This alloy was designed to amplify magical powers. Despite the complexity of its creation, items forged from Arcanite Alloy will be durable and capable of channeling immense magical forces.

Flamebearer (Arcane, Damaged) Flamebearer held dominion over fire, with a mere swing capable of igniting the horizon. This ax’s blaze once burned with immense fury. Despite the damage and its weakened flames, moments of intense heat surge through its blade, offering a glimpse into its fiery past.

Both the alloy and the ax are great items. The alloy is a chunk of metal that I might be able to smelt in the future. But for that, I will need more experience, much more. Either that or I need to find someone to do it for me. If I tried now, it could just end up wasting it and leaving me with a mere rare grade weapon, and I may wind up ruining the careful mix of metals in the process.

Then there is the ax. It's half my height with a single blade, made from black metal covered in a web of red glowing inscriptions.

Its performance seems to be comparable to an epic weapon at the moment, and the damage is very much visible. Perhaps it can be fixed and restored to its former arcane status.

“It doesn’t seem quite as strong as Peacemaker,” the duplicate states while holding it and swinging it. “Do you think the Peacemaker was a grade higher than arcane?”

“Most likely. How long do you think Nevan’s patch job will last?”

“If we are lucky, then it could last until the end of the floor. But we know the system so it will probably be a week at most just to mess with us. The alloy he used seems to be a bit different from that chunk he left to you.”

I nod, already putting it away. I’ll have to be careful not to let him steal it.

Duplicaniel knows what I'm thinking but doesn't seem to mind. Instead, he holds the ax, and I allow him to keep it.

Then while he’s examining the remains of the youngest Champion this planet had to offer, Nevan's father, I look towards the burned patch of the floor where the man’s body used to be.

“Master?” Vega says, awakening me from brooding as she slowly regains consciousness.

“Just take it slowly,” I tell her.

Just in case, I gave her the remaining pendants, but so far the mana levels seem much more bearable. It will probably take months until they return to normal, but that is to be expected after 100 years of irradiation.

“Where is mister Nevan?”

For a moment, I think of lying but then decide against it. Rather than my protection, Vega needs to learn about the kind of world we live in.

“He died,” I tell her.

“Did master kill him?”

“I did not.”

“Was mister hurt, is that why?”

“You could say that. But it wasn't just a physical wound. He had a skill like ours. But in the end, he decided to stop using it and didn’t think he had anything left to live for.”

“You didn’t stop him, master?” she asks curiously.

“I didn’t; it was his decision.”

“Even if it was dumb?” her head tilts in confusion.

“I’m sure he didn’t do it without thinking. He must have been considering it ever since he woke up.”

“But that doesn’t make it a good decision,” she declares. “Master should have stopped him.”

“It was his decision, minion, and I didn’t know him, and…”

She interrupts me, “But master, you don’t get to know people if they die. And not everyone is as smart as us, master. People are weak.” Vega nods confidently.

“Doing that would step on his pride, minion,” I defend myself. “He was old enough to decide, and he did have his reasons.”

“Weak people should just listen to me or master,” she declares.

At that, I pinch her horn. Such a cheeky little thing.

So I ask her, “His family died, and he saw their corpses. So, minion, what would you do if you found me dead?”

“I think I would be sad,” she answers.

At this point my duplicate joins us, “And what would you do after that, Vega?”

The little half-demon looks between me and him. “I would find who did that and kill them.” Her red eyes seem threatening now. “I would tear them limb from limb and hold their beating heart in my hand. I would wait until they fully understood how weak they were by comparison. Only after that would I kill them.”

I look at the duplicate, “You can't put this one on me. I didn’t raise her like that.”

Still in shock, the duplicate nods, “She is half demon, isn't she?”

“Yes, I am!” Vega says happily jumping on her feet and goes to examine the core.

“Part of me wants her to stop being like that but part of me thinks it will be better for her survival,” I inform my duplicate.

He seems to agree and while looking at Vega, he says, “You were right before. I think we can use [Tether] to bridge this core with the Bastion to power it.”

“I told you, it makes sense and that skill is surprisingly good. Better than I expected when I got it.”

“Sure, sure, Mr. Perfect. The question is, will we be able to get those four assholes to help us?”

I shrug, “We will use force if they don’t.” I glance at Vega who’s tapping on the core with her fingers, “The Valley will become too dangerous for us to stay here, and with the help of those four assholes, we may be able to make the Bastion fly again. Plus, with as much mana as this core contains, the defenses should be much stronger.”

“You don't have to persuade me. The sleeping noodle above us is troublesome enough and we don't know how it will react to the patched core. We may have another problem if we can’t bridge the cores.”

I had already thought of that, “We don't have to keep it up the entire time. We can fill the core of the Bastion as much as it allows us. That should be easy with [Resonance] and a few other skills.”

The duplicate's senses keep examining the damaged ax in his hand, and I can see the gears spinning, “It's a shame we can't move the core. But with the sheer amount of mana it’s holding it’s impossible.”

“Did you think of using the black orb?” I ask him.

“Are you dumb?” he complains. “We’ve already established that it would be a terrible, terrible, terrible idea to use the black orb in all this mana radiation.”

“No, no,” I shake my head, “I meant after we move enough mana to the Bastion's core. What if we cooperate a bit and remove the patch Nevan left? It would mean more of his fancy alloy, and we could leave the black orb behind. It could be enough to deal with the sleeping noodle.”

“You say that, but you have no idea what’s going to happen. Wanna bet it just pisses him off and gives him a reason to hunt us?” he snorts and stands up. “I’ll look around a bit more. Take a peek at what remains of Nevan's father. The dude must have been durable as heck when he was alive. I bet most of his traits were geared towards that.”

As he leaves, I can only think about how it only makes me want to create the black orb even more. What terrifying thing would it turn into after absorbing so much mana from the core?

Would it even be capable of doing that? Maybe? Theoretically, it shouldn't be able to, as the orb won’t use nearly as much mana as the core contains, so the sheer amount should overwhelm it.

But there is also a chance that the black orb is just the start and absorbing more mana would gradually strengthen it instead of crumbling it.

Damn, I really want to try.

I stop in front of the remains of Nevan's father. He became a champion not long before death, yet he still had the strongest body out of all the natives of this planet.

Nevan said that he had probably been a traitor, judging by the amount of damage he caused, but I have to wonder, is that really it? What if he was a good man, trying to prevent the Veil’s activation at all costs, even at the cost of the lives of his family and friends in the station?

Isn't it sad for a man like Nevan to die with those thoughts? He was so talented, a blacksmith, gifted for his ability to create alloys. An amazing variety of alloys for any situation that functioned by virtue of carefully crafted combinations of metals, without needing inscriptions. I think Nevan was a genius in his field, capable as he was of creating low and mid grade arcane weapons even with Champion Niall’s help.

Yes, he was human in the end. Valued as he was by the Absolute of this planet. Despite the fact that he had a concentration skill he couldn’t handle his own emotions. But was he really as weak as Vega said, or is it just hard for me to imagine fighting for tens of years and losing friends one after another? Creating weapons for them, only so they can leave, never to return.

However, I don't think I will end up like that.

No, I'm confident I will never end up like that.

Cutting off my thoughts there, I lean lower to look at the charred body, its head, and heart purposefully destroyed. Denying the man any chance to heal.

At my level of skill, I can't understand properly what made his body so powerful, and what the traits did.

Looking at the charred place where, with a concerted effort, we burned Nevan's body, I sigh. Even after death and with the diffused mana, and his body's weakened state, this will be extremely difficult.

“Sorry, Nevan,” I say, and after spending a big chunk of my mana to send through the blade, I slice away at the thin pieces of charred flesh remaining on his right hand. The hand that held the ax and the one that bears the most damage.

Spending more mana than I would like given our current situation, I'm able to get the finger bone from the pointing finger and store it. I also notice that the pinkie is missing, likely taken by my duplicate.

POV Isabella Martinez

“Seneca, don't get too far away from me! Sophie, Tess, and Nathaniel keep telling me to be careful during the last two weeks. Do you know how annoying it is?” I complain to my cute disciple.

Seneca looks up to me. As she should, my disciple is shorter than me, but I'm still jealous of her hair. It’s short and blue and floats in the air, like flames. I want mine to look like that too.

“Master, don't worry, I will protect you if anything happens!”

That’s dumb! Is she dumber than Soph?

“Even Nathaniel said it would be dangerous! If he said that, it must be true. And no, I will protect you, as always. You are too young and dumb.”

“I'm as old as you, master! And Noodle’s the one who saved our lives twice already!”

I want to be angry at her, but I just can't. She’s too cute, and her floating hair is so pretty. Do I need a trait to get something like that?

Sensing emotion from Noodle who’s currently twined around my arm, I look at him.

“Why are you getting so cocky, Noodle!”

Another emotion.

“Yes, you did once or twice, but I also protected you and Seneca.”

He swirls, and his green eyes keep looking at me. Noodle is very smart, and he is also getting too cocky.

I'm the master here!

“Noodle, I will tell Biscuit,” I tell him.

Immediately he swirls erratically and snuggles closer to me. His face moves closer, and I can feel his tongue flicking close to my cheek. It tickles, and I laugh.

He always acts like that when I threaten him with Biscuit.

Then I turn to Seneca, “And you! I will keep calling you minion if you don't listen!” I add.

To prevent Seneca from saying something dumb, I issue an order to my party, “Let's hurry, the Veil Guardian isn't that far behind, and we have to get to the Bastion! The Housekeeper will let us in, even if the silly Butler complains! And Noodle, eat all our mana so they can't track us, okay?”

Through my [Empathy], I feel his agreement, and then we hurry towards the Bastion.

Chapter 319 - It's free

Sset (Hell, group 4) - most of us are already holed up in the Bastion.

Tess tries to say more but most of it gets filtered. The system doesn't let the message pass. Nothing about it being safe for the last two weeks, in fact, we can’t even say anything about the extra two weeks.

We can't even tell WhiteWing about the extended duration of the floor should they decide to stay. But they should be able to figure it out. They can estimate when we left the 4th floor and then realize that we’ve already exceeded the original 3 weeks.

Probably.

They just need to be a bit smart about it.

TheStrongestOne (Hell, group 4) - I'm there.

Izzy (Hell, group 4) - I'm close.

Soph (Hell, group 4) - Izzy, be careful, please.

Izzy (Hell, group 4) - don't be dumb, Soph.

Knight (Hell, group 4) - yeah, don't be dumb, Soph!

Maya piles on, and I watch for a moment as they bicker.

FoodFood (Hell, group 4) - food!

Noname (Hell, group 4) - good job, Biscuit.

Sset (Hell, group 4) - The Guild and IDK groups have also entered the 5th floor. It seems like they haven’t lost anyone.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - so The Guild has 6 members and IDK has 4?

BenDover (Hell, IDK) - you bet! The 4th floor was quite easy. Did you guys kill Lorven to get his epic dagger as well?

Bard (Hell, IDK) - are you sure you want to reveal your equipment?

BenDover (Hell, IDK) - it's fine. By the way, Noname, I was able to evolve my skill. You wouldn't believe how easy it was to kill the lynthari matriarch with it.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - you will have to show me during the tournament.

BenDover (Hell, IDK) - I will. Trust me, I will show you, heh. It doesn't matter how much mana you have.

Lovable as always.

Knight (Hell, group 4) - BenDover, I think you are full of it. I bet you waited until Lorven betrayed her to kill the matriarch. Or maybe you were working with him and killed him when you had no more use for him?

BenDover (Hell, IDK) - Think about it on your own.

I turn off the Community and focus on the results of my efforts and the contributions of my duplicate.

We spent a day mapping the pathways the core uses to distribute mana through the Veil Ignition Station. Most of them have been damaged and mana barely passes through. Some failsafe mechanisms are probably sending the bare minimum of mana to keep the systems running while keeping most of it in storage. But Clonthaniel and I found one pathway in a fairly good state and worked together to create our strongest [Tether] yet. I even gained a level in the skill.

Also resting, the duplicate turns to me, "It's amazing how well we can use [Resonance] to combine our powers, must be because we share the same base."

"What, do you want us to combine our minds too?"

He playfully shoots a wave of kinetic energy strong enough to blow the head off someone at level 150. I redirect it just as playfully, sending my own cone of kinetic energy at him.

"You know very well I would never do that and neither would you. Combining the two of us would be like both of us dying, only to be replaced with a third. Or one of us devouring the other," he says as he absorbs my attack. "Just dying would be better."

I check on Vega before asking, "Are you really considering that?"

For a moment, he looks at me, and nods, "Yup. I mean it was the most expected result even before I decided to use the mirror, so it's fine, somewhat. I mean I hate it and I really want to punch you, but I know my goal when using the mirror was to strengthen you as much as possible and to learn new things."

As always, there is a mana stone in his hands that he keeps trying to inscribe and create a perfect imprint, but the task is too much.

"I even got contacted by that douchebag from Beyond's first and second trials. We also met his intent on the 4th floor. He told me to kill Vega so he could transfer her status, that’s what he called it, to me. Would you believe that?"

After learning this new information, I give myself a moment to take it all in. But I don't have to think much longer. The duplicate surely issued a polite refusal, knowing him.

"Damn, I expected a bit of anger or for you to threaten me in an attempt to protect Vega," he complains after seeing my lack of reaction.

"You wouldn't hurt her."

"Just a few days ago, you weren't sure, weirdo." He shoots another blast of kinetic energy at me, "Anyway, I think that intent was placed here by one of the Rulers. If we are right, Rulers are even more powerful than Absolutes, and there are 14 of them. One for each Radiance and Blight."

"That sounds logical, there should only be a single Ruler for each Blight and Radiance. Having more wouldn't feel right. So the intent isn’t the Ruler of Greed as he already told us that it's the Ruler of Greed running the tutorial, either that or they’ve taken a huge degree of interest in it."

He nods. "From what I can tell, it seems like Rulers have some amount of control over the system or at least the tutorial. The intent from Beyond can't influence the tutorial too much, either because it just can't or because it's intent only. But it can surely see and hear what's happening in here. Oh, by the way, fuck you bitch, I know you are listening," my duplicate says and gestures to the air.

A friendly gesture meant for the nosy intent.

The duplicate continues, "I also asked why it cares so much about our round of the tutorial. Earth should have been through multiple rounds as should the other planets. Hundreds or thousands of tutorials all going on at once, yet it’s watching this one."

"Maybe that Ruler is powerful enough to leave dozens of intents to watch a lot of tutorials. Plus, there is an escaped Absolute here."

The mana stone in his hands glows as more of his mana rushes in, creating inscriptions, "That's true, that's what I thought and I asked about that. Apparently, Absolutes going wild is rare but it’s not that rare. What caught that fucker's interest the most is our number one Beyond explorer."

Oho?

I straighten up, giving full attention to our conversation. This is getting more interesting.

"It looks like the man in question started off in the Beyond like we did in Hell. The first person to do so in millennia. And it seems like that asshole finds that rather interesting. I wouldn't be surprised if more intents of Rulers appear all over the place. Watching that Beyond dude and messing with poor us in their spare time while he sleeps or whatever. All so they are not bored."

So very interesting.

It piques my interest even more. Of course, I’ve always been curious about our 1st Beyond explorer. Someone who had entered even before second place, Savant, and third place, me. And of course, I did have a theory that maybe, just maybe, that person started in Beyond.

But having it confirmed?

"So he started in 3 Beyond trials? Or he skipped trials and went to Beyond whatever it is? Or he started in a trial and then went to Hell floor and continued the trial 4 months later?"

"Hell if I know." My duplicate seems to be curious as well, I can see it on him. "I would say he either started in Beyond or had different trials from us."

"I'm inclined to agree, but damn."

"Yeah, damn."

"Another guy to beat up. It's nice that the list keeps getting longer." I'm not even that worried, just curious. Just what kind of man is that person, to catch the interest of the intent of someone so powerful?

I really want to see and I really want to meet him. Just how much would I be able to learn from fighting someone like that?

Having sold anything not nailed down and taking anything of interest like metals, weapons, and armor I want to inscribe and sell, that's a lot of things to carry around.

I mean, really a lot.

Instead of pulling them, I just transport them through my anchors, though each teleport does cost quite a lot, to the point where I have to ask my duplicate to help so I don't have to use Mana Reservoir. In exchange, as his reward, he gets to carry Vega.

I'm not jealous at all. I'm happy. I sold 16 thousand shards worth of items. The sheer amount is staggering given that the system shop only pays 10-20% of the item’s value if I haven’t actively worked on it.

So, the value of the mana stones, enchanting tables, metals, robes, and crafting materials were 5-10 times more than what I sold them for. And I still have a lot of the best things on me.

Something tells me that maybe I wasn't supposed to reach, and loot, the Veil Ignition Station.

What I regret is being unable to find out more about the place given the decimation of the main and auxiliary control rooms. There were no records to be found, as usual.

Is it doing this on purpose? Is the system an extrovert? Is it trying to force me to talk to people to learn what happened and finish the side quests?

Killing a few monsters and avoiding two Veil Guardians with the combined efforts of my duplicate and myself, we reach the Bastion.

It takes longer than it should, but when the view opens, I notice that some of the walls have been damaged and even the barrier surrounding the palace feels weaker. It's getting darker, and I can see that even lights that once served to light the streets are now activated sparingly. All in an effort to save as much energy as possible.

Killing more monsters on our way, we reach the place only to be welcomed by the Butler. The man has shaved the remaining half of his mustache, and his clothes are different now. They are not as elegant and serve a more functional purpose, and I can sense multiple items on him.

"Mister Gwyn, another Mister Gwyn, and Miss Vega, can I ask you to leave?" he says in the same tone. It seems that his ways can’t be changed, even by their current situation.

"Ehm, no?" I start off.

He sighs, "Did you not cause enough trouble? You got what you wanted, so please show just a grain of restraint and leave."

"Butler!" Vega shouts cheerily, and the man turns to her, "You look better without the mustache!"

The man looks at her, at me, and then back at her, "Thank you, Miss Vega."

The little half-demon only nods and puts her head back on the chest of my duplicate, her social batteries most likely already empty.

"See, you should thank me for getting rid of your mustache. I did it to help you," My duplicate can't help but poke.

"That's why I let Tess deal with people, you are a disgrace," I tell him.

He doesn't even seem to disagree but continues to talk to the Butler, "We know about a way to power the Bastion. Lots of mana."

"We are not interested, Mister Gwyn. I thank you for your offer, but we already…" he freezes mid-word and looks back towards the Bastion. An expression of sheer surprise appears on his face, the elegant mask cracking to be replaced by anger, "What have you done?" he asks.

"I left an anchor on the heart of your good ol' Lord when I was keeping it alive. To be honest, Butler, I'm disappointed none of you noticed even though I tried really hard to hide it. Anyway, I just sent a wad of energy through and exploded it."

The duplicate seems proud even with our usual expression and the Butler seems like he is about to jump down and choke him to death.

Unbothered, Duplicaniel continues, "So, about our offer to power your Bastion with a lot of mana. Sounds good, right? It's free, I promise."

Chapter 320 - Magnificent mind

Unsurprisingly, they let us in.

Unsurprisingly, they seem to be pissed off.

Unsurprisingly, my duplicate doesn't care.

I watch with amusement as he bathes in the glares of the Butler, and Housekeeper who has joined our party.

Both of us are escorted through the Bastion, on the shortest route to the room where we met them for the first time. Getting there, we find that it still lies in ruins, a testament to the short clash between the Housekeeper and I.

The tall and thin Armorer is already awaiting our arrival, alongside the Gardener.

"We have only half a day until the barrier runs out of mana, along with the rest of the systems," the Armorer says in his quiet, whispering voice.

With Vega in his arms, my duplicate just shrugs, and even I find myself wanting to punch him in the face for some reason. My minion seems to be enjoying the show as well. She is half-demon, isn't she? Such a show of arrogance and power would be something she would appreciate.

Indeed, I'm the most normal one here.

While they talk, I plop down and sate my curiosity by watching them. All four of the natives seem to be holding back their emotions, but there is still a hint of panic in their expressions.

"There is no way it's that easy to transfer so much mana, it would tear you apart," the Armorer complains after he hears Plan B.

"It's fine, we have some decent skills, and we’ll be working together with that lazy asshole over there," my duplicate responds.

So rude.

"Even then, it will take hours and hours of preparation to make it all work. You have no idea how many settings need to be changed. I will also need a sample of mana from the core you mentioned."

"Sure," the duplicate reaches into the anchor we have placed on one of the least damaged circuits.

Unable to contain it fully for a short moment, a wave-like mass of mana explodes from him, even pushing the Armorer a few steps back.

I reach out and resonate with him, and together we close the anchor.

Cursing under his breath, the Armorer gestures to the Butler, and both of them disappear through a rift to make their preparations.

Left behind with the two remaining members of their small group, I find the Housekeeper standing in front of me. She is smiling, but her eyes are dangerous. Even now, she is still wearing the same light dress with the same skirt ending just over her knees, her shoulders bared.

"I like the rapier you have; will you give it to me?" she asks shamelessly.

"It's a gift from someone very precious to me. I don't know if I can just…" I start before she cuts me off. She just reaches out and takes it off my belt.

For some reason, I can’t help but find this amusing, especially as she starts checking the weapon for any sort of damage before cleaning it.

The Butler appears again, and my duplicate follows him, alongside Vega, to whom I gesture my assent, as the Gardener brings up the rear.

Once they’ve left me alone with the Housekeeper we spend the next two hours in silence. I can feel her gaze on me, but I just continue my training.

When I feel a sharp pulse of mana wash over the Bastion we stand up and head back towards the city walls. Neither of us is talking, even as we come to a lookout at the top of one of the higher walls. There, in the distance, stands two Veil Guardians, looking towards the Bastion.

"They must have followed you," the Housekeeper blames me.

"Probably," I agree.

"I can call the Butler for support, and we can…"

“They’re already connected to the Veil.”

“That's not very good.”

“I agree.” I leave a tiny orb and anchor near her, “If they move any closer, just destroy the orb, and I will be back.”

After that, I teleport a few times after locating my duplicate and the Armorer. I find them gathered in the core chamber alongside Vega and the Butler.

When I enter and reach the core, the Lord's body is already gone, now useless. Instead, my duplicate is discussing with the Armorer.

“It won't work, the core of this Skyhold Bastion is heavily standardized, and we’ve only ever made slight adjustments to meet our needs over time. The amount of mana it can contain is measured in…” the Armorer says in his calm, whispering voice.

“It will be fine, I'm good with inscriptions.”

“Your inscriptions are far from adequate. I can already point out five twists and three wasteful lines on the ones you’ve already inscribed.”

“Hey, if it works, it works.”

While they discuss, Vega moves closer to me, keeping her distance from the others. “Master, they like us even less than before,” she says somewhat happily.

“How does it make you feel?” I ask her with some curiosity.

“They hate master and uncle, but they’re still willing to cooperate despite being scared. Because master is stronger than them.”

“Is being stronger that important?”

“Yes. It's the best!”

My disciple indeed. “Good job, minion!”

“What did I do?” she asks confused, but I'm already standing next to the Armorer and the duplicate.

“We have two Veil Guardians outside of the Bastion, and they are already connected to the Veil,” I tell them.

The Armorer turns to me, “Standard procedure. They were once powerful humans twisted into their current forms by the Veil. The Veil Guardians' main objective is to locate places like Skyhold Bastion or find strong survivors and then pass that information along.”

“So, not good?”

“Yes, Mister Gwyn, not good.”

“Hey, original weirdo, help me over here with inscriptions. That scrawny man is too scared to do anything.”

Immediately the Armorer complains, “I have to say it again, but the way you are using inscriptions is extremely primitive, it’s taxing on the materials and the user.”

“Hey, if it works, it works,” I say to him and join Vega's uncle.

It takes a few seconds, but it's enough for me to grasp his intent, and ignoring the rest of the room, I join in. My mana resonates with his, and we etch and paint inscriptions on the core itself and the floor around it. Together we create an anchor and use [Tether] to gradually connect it with the one we left in the Ignition Station.

At this point, I activate Mana Wavelength Iris and take over, my new passive allowing me to handle more strain than my duplicate.

This time he uses [Resonance] to connect to me, and we combine our [Mana Domains], using [Infusion] and [Mana Manipulation] to handle it all.

Lastly, I put our beloved creation, the single use, ugly Focus crown on my head, and create a black orb of highly compressed mana, both of us working to keep it under control.

“Ready?” I ask.

“Go for it.”

[Focus] activates, and I take the black mana into my body, using it to power the skill.

The world around me slows as my brain processes all of the information my eyes are feeding me, and that's when I activate [Tether] and [Redistribution]. The inscriptions glow radiantly. The ones we’ve painted, and the ones we’ve etched, as a trickle of mana flows from the Ignition Station's core to be filtered through my skills. And I, slowly, increase the opening's size, allowing more and more mana to pass through.

Quickly, the amount blossoms into a powerful stream that I struggle to keep under control. My duplicate is helping me by activating inscriptions and quickly adjusting our mistakes, and even the Armorer and the Butler seem to be helping us in the background.

And like that the core of the Bastion lights up, more and more mana filling it, the audible hum sounding in the room.

It's easy.

It's so damn easy with all of our preparations, and my duplicate’s assistance, so in excitement, I widen the opening, and like a wave, much more mana flows through.

The process speeds up even more. Yet still, it's not difficult.

I'm using so many skills, I'm handling black mana, I'm handling my eyes. I'm even making sure Vega is out of danger. Even then, it's possible with black mana powering my [Focus].

The world feels slow, I have plenty of time to react every time something breaks or cracks. And my inexperience is supported by my ability to improvise and handle it all while we work.

Should I let even more mana flow through?

“Enough!”

Should I open the pathway wide open and let the entirety of the core fill up? It could be fun.

“Stop!”

I bet I could handle it. The Bastion might break, and its core might be damaged. But I could do it. I can endure that amount of mana flowing through.

“That's enough,” my duplicate disrupts my skills and forcibly pulls me away from the core, and only then do I come back to my senses. All the sounds my skill allowed me to ignore come rushing in and with them, useless information like the state of my body, pain, and other useless things.

The black mana disappears, and my passive activates, fed by the Vortex Core, and taking a few steps, I plop down on one of the tables. My body hurts, my head hurts, and I realize I can't see. But my mind is fine. Either thanks to my new passive or the results of our training.

“Close your eyelids; your eyes have been burned out. You don't want Vega to see you like this,” my duplicate says, and then I can sense him moving towards Vega and pulling her somewhere else.

I do as he told me and use more thermal energy from the Vortex Core. Then I examine the damage.

Damn.

Well, it could be worse.

“How can you be capable of channeling so much mana? You should be dead, reduced to a mass of burned pathways inside a charred body,” the Armorer says.

I can hear the curiosity in his voice, maybe even bordering on fascination.

He continues, “You bear a magnificent mind to handle it all effortlessly. Your body is extremely conductive too, and your eyes... it's been so long since I’ve seen such a powerful trait. Has it already been strengthened? Once, twice?”

Sensing his presence with [Perception], I release a bit of kinetic energy and push him further away from me.

“So, how is the core?” I ask.

“Full to the brim,” he doesn't seem to mind but I can still feel his gaze on me. “I already started the sequence to take off, and the Butler went to use communication systems to warn the citizens.”

“Flying already?”

“Yes, in the past few days, the Veil has become much more active in this area, and two Veil Guardians outside are bad news. We have to leave. But I want to show you something first. Can you transport both of us to the Housekeeper?”

Feeling thermal energy healing my wounds and making sure Vega is safe with my duplicate, I push myself off the table and onto my feet.

I almost stagger but I'm able to control my battered body and keep myself standing.

My duplicate seems to be in a similar, if a bit better state, so there is no way I will be acting all hurt where that weirdo can see.

Pushing through, I put my hand on the Armorer and teleport us to the anchor I left on the wall. Appearing on the other side, a sharp pain flashes through my head, and with my eyes still closed, I turn towards the direction where the Housekeeper is standing.

“Fuck, you look like shit. I like that,” she says immediately.

“Housekeeper, please, your language,” the Armorer says in a quiet voice.

“Fuck you too. We are at full attention, and there will be a lot of fighting fairly soon. You know what that means. I'm taking over.”

“All of us know the rules, Housekeeper.”

“Good, do we have enough juice to deal with these two jerks?”

“More than enough.”

I'm still unable to see. It seems that because of my trait, my eyes are taking longer to heal than they would’ve if I didn't have my Mana Wavelength Iris. But I can use my other senses, and at that moment, I feel an immense wave of mana rush into the barrier and the walls.

It spins, it twists, it hums, and I feel multiple segments of the barrier grouping up and creating a delicate shape that collects and directs all of that mana. That mana spins there, bounces, and clashes multiple threads against each other. All of that concentrates it even further, and the spinning circle gains even more speed.

At this point, the noise of it reminds me of a sling spinning at terrifying speed.

Suddenly, the Butler appears from a rift to stand at my side.

“Focus on the one to the left,” the Housekeeper barks at the Armorer who has taken control of the barrier. “Butler, I want you to grab the voidsteel blades afterward.”

There is no hesitation in her voice, and it seems to be well placed. The rays being emitted from the segments of the barrier roar through the air as if they were tearing it apart. In a fraction of a second, the rays hit their target.

The Butler disappears, and a second later, he reappears. I can sense two red-hot, and undamaged voidsteel blades on his person.

“The second one has escaped,” the Armorer says.

“We expected as much. Continue our preparations for lift off. We will head to the Sanctuary and then move further south,” the Housekeeper orders.

Well, it looks like I will get to see what happened to Darren and Nina after all.

However, and more importantly, let's see how this thing flies.

Chapter 321 - Not bad

I notice a presence coming closer, and take my eyes off the chunk of molten metal hovering in front of me and look towards the door.

"What?" I ask, annoyed; it just started getting interesting!

The butler returns my gaze and, after looking around the room, he sighs, "Mister Gwyn, I would like to ask you, once again, to please minimize damage to the rooms."

What is he even talking about? I’ve only melted a few bricks and metal plates with my thermal energy. Isn't it their fault for having such faulty protections on their facilities?

"The Armorer keeps complaining about the increased heat signature triggering alarms that he has to turn off."

"Good, it will keep him sharp. I think he’s been getting lazy over the last three days. So, what is it? Are we approaching the Sanctuary already?"

"It is as you say, Mister Gwyn. The Housekeeper has told me to invite you to join us on the walls. You might be inclined to agree to help us push against the Veil forces on the ground. She said she doesn’t want to waste the mana in the core, but I suspect you know her true motivations."

"Sure, I will be there soon."

After that, he leaves, and I look at the chunk of metal floating there. It’s one of my experiments with one of the many metals I got from the Veil Ignition Station. I had decided to devote the past few days to experimentation, and I’ve only left when something broke in this Bastion that hadn’t flown in almost a hundred years.

And damn, can it fly.

I still remember everything so vibrantly, when we lifted off. I even took Vega, and we watched the Skyhold Bastion from afar, to get a better view, as it slowly rose into the air. Shaking, and crumbling in places, as people screamed, and waves of mana flooded through the inscriptions prepared by the Enchanter Guild so long ago.

Just the sight of such a huge city rising into the air, hundreds of buildings, towers even, along with the surrounding walls was a truly amazing experience. I thought I knew what to expect, but when that huge mass just floated, I couldn’t help but be amazed.

Yup, I will totally try to replicate this sometime in the future. Maybe I can bully some of the people from Hard difficulty into working for me and helping with the construction. I should be able to handle a few of them.

After the Bastion lifted off, my duplicate connected to the anchor in the Ignition Station to feed a trickle of mana to the Bastion's core, refilling what we’ve spent. Even that much isn't strictly necessary as the sheer amount of mana in the core should last through weeks of flying, even while using the barrier and weapons, but we did, just in case.

Storing the metal away, I extend my domain, place an anchor at the edge of it, and teleport. I repeat this until I reach the section of the wall where the others have gathered.

As I arrive, I look over the edge, and observe the vast forest below and the mountains in the distance, noting that we're floating well above their peaks. Even the clouds seem to be so close, just a bit higher and I might be able to touch them. And I love it.

What I don’t love so much is the way the Veil has become even more visible in the sky. It’s already gotten to the point where I can see it without my mana sense or my trait, and soon enough, even people without good mana sensitivity will be able to see it as well.

The Veil is made up of hundreds, and thousands of lines encompassing the entire planet. Like pathways and inscriptions hanging in the air. And even after spending the last few weeks here, I have no fucking idea how they did it. It annoys me.

"One Veil Guardian nearby and a few hundred veilshriekers," the Housekeeper states, breaking the silence.

"We will take care of the Veil Guardian," my duplicate says, appearing nearby.

"Shouldn't you be working on your plan to keep yourself alive?" I ask.

"It's almost done. Now I just need granny healer or soylent healer."

"That’s such a terrible name for the guy."

"I know, I just couldn't come up with anything better."

Even as he says that I can tell that his mood has improved. "Are your preparations going well?"

He nods, taking a few steps and looking over the wall, "It's not perfect, but it should work. I just need a tiny bit of help from the annoying big guy. He’s looking for something entertaining to do while he stalks the first Beyonder, so I’m going to try something."

"Sounds good. For now, let's bully the Veil Guardian."

Not even waiting for the Housekeeper, he jumps off the wall and I follow, the barrier lets us pass thanks to the identification bracelets on our wrists.

The Housekeeper jumps right behind us, and when we stop our fall and float in the air, she continues to fall, in fact, she does something to increase the speed of her fall.

She crashes into the ground like a meteor, her purple mana exploding into the surroundings, and she emerges from the small crater, undamaged. The monsters that survived her crash immediately attack her.

That's when the Veil Guardian that’s been keeping an eye on the Bastion and communicating with the Veil decides to attack. My duplicate appears in his way, armor surrounding his body. Their voidsteel blades collide, producing a clear ring. They connect dozens of times before the Guardian's jump ends and he lands on the ground.

The two of us approach him, wearing the same armor and wielding the same weapons.

The Veil Guardian increases the gravity in the area, as he growls and charges at me, only to be shot in the back of the head with a thin, concentrated cone of kinetic energy. The monster turns midstep, and that's when I do the same, releasing a thin stream of kinetic energy from my Vortex core, throwing the monster into the air.

At that point, the Guardian increases its own weight and quickly lands, before lowering its posture and swinging the blades on the end of its arms.

The forest falls apart around us, trees falling to the ground cleanly cut, as we jump over and dodge a series of attacks we track with our senses.

My duplicate's heart beats, and he uses kinetic energy to power his armor, effortlessly pushing through the enhanced gravity and closing the distance.

Another exchange later, the Guardian staggers back bearing a gash across its chest, and my concentrated stream of golden flames crashes into the blade it’s using to protect itself. More mana flows into the voidsteel blade, and the monster swings its arm, cutting through the attack, only to be hit by a compressed javelin filled with kinetic energy.

The monster staggers again, and more javelins slam into it one after the other. Some are filled with thermal energy, others with kinetic, and some are merely highly compressed mana.

For the next ten minutes, we test our skills against the monster, looking for weaknesses and learning what kinds of attacks it has trouble with. The guardian tries to fight back, but every time it pushes one of us, the other takes advantage, so in the end, it's not even a challenge.

"It could be an enjoyable 1v1, but after learning its skills and how it fights, it's not that fun anymore. It isn't really that smart either," My duplicate says, finally taking the opportunity to bring out Flame Bearer, the heavily damaged arcane grade ax.

Together we use [Redistribution], and the monster becomes unable to move at all with our combined effort. Well, more of my effort as I activate my trait to pierce through its protective field.

The black ax lights up with glowing red inscriptions, thermal energy dancing across the blade. The weapon seems to strengthen the flames, and even this far away, I can feel the heat radiating from the ax. Trees burst into flame in a circle around us, scorching the air.

"As expected, even damaged, this weapon still qualifies as an upper epic," as my duplicate swings the ax, and in front of him, a huge patch of trees gets washed away by the flames, crumbling to ash in moments.

"The ax is doing most of the heavy lifting, and I only need to feed it thermal energy. It seems to work with mana as well, after converting it into fire, but it's more efficient with thermal energy, and the effect is stronger," he says taking a step towards the Veil Guardian.

At that moment, all the heat disappears from the area, pulled into the blade of the ax as its color shifts. There is no heat for me to sense, and even the blade itself feels ice cold. Then my duplicate swings, burying the ax in the monster’s flesh.

The Veil Guardian’s body erupts in a short burst of flames, reducing it to a charred husk in a single attack.

[You have defeated Veil Guardian - lvl 291]

[Lvl 227 > Lvl 228]

"That took most of the thermal energy in my Vortex Core, but the resulting damage seems to have been highly concentrated," my duplicate states while examining the weapon. After that, he disappears to help the Housekeeper finish off the veilshriekers.

I, on the other hand, return to the Bastion seeking Vega. I have noticed a few lower-level veilshriekers; it's time for her to level up.

Vega dodges to the side with a graceful leap and leaps into the air, higher than normal, boosted by her kinetic energy. At this point, the hiding veilshrieker she failed to detect crashes into her, trying to tear her apart.

I watch as the monster's attacks fail to pierce Vega's [Kinetic Barrier] and she siphons off bits of the attack's kinetic force to fuel her passive.

Crashing to the ground with the monster, she coats her weapon with mana, extending the blade, and stabs it into the monster's side. She then pulls her legs to her chest and kicks the monster off her. Acting quickly, she throws the dagger, giving it a boost with kinetic energy, lodging it deep inside the monster's head.

This time, she senses the presence behind her and ducks under the swing, a dagger made of mana forms in her hand, and she uses it to stab the monster repeatedly, as she absorbs its attacks with her barrier.

Not bad, if I do say so myself.

Vega fights while I keep the stronger monsters out of her path. We don't have much time, and in the past few days, it's been hard to find weaker monsters, so we need to make the best of this opportunity. There is no need for much feedback either. Unlike me, who likes to switch between ranged and close-range attacks, Vega prefers fighting at close range.

She relies on her barrier and her kinetic energy to give her short bursts of power. Using her heart and passive to generate and store kinetic energy, it doesn't seem like all that bad an idea.

Seeing that she is at the last monster, she forms a small orb of mana, and I feel her transfer kinetic energy into it. She ducks, jumps backward, and slings the orb in between the last two veilshriekers, where it explodes, tearing a sizable chunk out of both monsters.

With one last push from her remaining kinetic energy, she boosts herself at the monsters with the dagger in hand.

"Your handling of kinetic energy is good, but your mana control is lacking, minion," I say as she hobbles over to me, her senses scanning the area.

"I know, but master’s the one who’s weird; mana isn’t that easy to control."

"That’s just because you use your kinetic energy too much, minion. When we return to the Bastion, I want you to stop training kinetic energy for a week and focus on mana. You can't even create a proper barrier, and your mana weapons are a disgrace."

"I don't need a mana barrier, master! I can use [Kinetic Barrier]!"

"What about mana-based attacks? What if someone uses fire or lightning?"

"I…"

"Yes? You?"

"I will train with mana more."

"Good, I will show you some basic inscriptions and give you some mana stones with relevant information. When you return to your world, you can try inscribing weapons and make a lot of money."

That seems to catch her interest now, "A lot of money?"

"A shitload of money Minion."

"Shitload of money!" she shouts happily.

"Language. You are ruining the girl," the Housekeeper joins in, followed by my duplicate. Neither of them appears to have been wounded.

Immediately, Vega's expression changes, and her face becomes even less readable, like she does any time anyone else is around. My cute minion still has issues with trusting others.

"I got a message from The Butler; someone called Nina has contacted us on the open channel. It seems like they are under attack." the Housekeeper says.

The moment she says that a side quest pops up.

Side quest: Help the survivors in the Sanctuary.

Reward: 1000 shards.

Some time ago, I would have been happy, but now, when I have almost 30 thousand shards, it doesn't seem that much.

"I need the granny and that healer guy," my duplicate says, turning to face me.

Knowing my duplicate, he will repay me if I help, and that's not so bad. I have a few ideas that won't work without him, and he might refuse otherwise or ask for something in return.

"Minion," I say reaching out to her, and she lifts her arms so I can carry her against my chest.

Once there, she nestles in like a little animal, and the familiar sensation of her pointy horns poking my chin makes itself known.

"The three of us will take the lead, you guys can follow us," I tell the Housekeeper, as we lift off.

Chapter 322 - What an insane bastard

POV Nina

One after another, our lines break down. Hundreds of veilshriekers are pushing through, even at the cost of their lives. Every time one dies, two more climb over its body, and shriek with a hatred that makes the guards shudder.

It reaches the point where we finally have to stop in the clearing in front of the iron door to the Sanctuary.

(Housekeeper, how long are you going to be? We’re in trouble here! The moment the first veilshrieker sees the door to the Sanctuary, he’s going to send a signal to the Veil and summon the Guardians.)

It doesn't take long to get an answer, but even then, it feels like forever. After long hours of fighting, my mana and stamina are starting to flag.

(They should be there any moment. Got to go, we have company as well, just hold on!)

The connection cuts off, and I fight the desire to smash the device in my hand.

And then, just when I'm about to swap out with a tired squad mate, two figures appear in the air. There is no mana radiating from their forms, no wings, no other energy I could sense. They just float there as if they were standing on solid ground and letting everything else move around them. There is no jerking, no movement from side to side.

Just two figures floating in the air, unaffected by any outside force.

One of them disappears, and a split second later, brilliant golden flames erupt into the air from somewhere within the horde, while the other figure slowly lands next to me. The man who calls himself Nathaniel.

He is holding a little girl in his arm, his disciple, and I can’t help but be relieved to see the calm expression that never seems to leave his face.

Without any buildup or movement of mana, a stream of golden flames erupts from him as well, flooding the pathways between rocks and melting stones along with the monsters within the passage.

The heat doesn’t touch me or any of the men standing near him, all of it devoted to destroying monsters that die so easily that it makes our prior struggle seem pointless.

“No monster can see the entrance to the Sanctuary, otherwise they'll summon the Veil Guardians,” I warn him as I allow myself to relax.

“Huh? Really?” his flames disappear, and his eyes examine me, a spark of interest dancing within.

Then he says something to his disciple and sets her down. Right after, he disappears, and when he appears again, he holds a veilshrieker by its neck, the monster struggling and trying to attack. Nathaniel then lifts the monster up and forces it to look at the door leading to the Sanctuary.

Immediately the monster freezes and lets out a screech that I had yet to hear from them. A pulse of mana washes over us, and Nathaniel does nothing to stop it. The next moment, the monster's head disappears in a burst of golden flames, and its dead body falls to the ground.

“What have you done?!” I can only ask with horror.

Another man appears out of thin air, an exact copy of the man that has doomed us all.

“I noticed the signal; you let it pass on purpose?” the newcomer asks.

“Yes, it seems like the veilshriekers are programmed to send the signal to the Veil the moment they locate the bunker. It should summon the Veil Guardian.”

“Only one? Two would be better.”

What the fuck are they talking about?!

“If it's two, I will move the minion back to the Bastion, and we can split them. If it's one, you will stay and keep her safe.”

“Sure,” the second Nathaniel says and turns to me. “Hey Nina, where is the healer guy? I have stuff I want to talk with him about.”

“You… you!”

The growl deeper than any I have heard before fills the area, and a monster lands in the middle of the clearing. Just the pressure of the monster’s mana nearly forces me to my knees, and the look in its eyes is something I'm sure I will take to my grave.

Before I can even scream, a barrier stronger than any I've ever felt surrounds us, and one of the Nathaniels appears in front of the monster.

He leaves a crater in the ground as he strikes the monster, sending it flying through the air, causing it to disappear in the blink of an eye, as its powerful body crashes through solid stone.

Then armor forms around his body, simple and functional, though there is a regal kind of beauty to it.

He walks towards the monsters with a complete lack of urgency, cloaked in mana, like a king in his mantle.

I'm really thankful to Nina for telling me. I almost killed all of the veilshriekers before I even learned they could summon a Veil Guardian.

The creature’s attack crashes into me, and I can feel the air escaping from my lungs as I bulldoze through tons upon tons of rock.

Damn, I barely saw that one.

I strengthen my armor even more, just in time to absorb another attack which still sends me flying through the air.

Lately, I’ve had a hard time trying to level [Regalia], so I'm not infusing it with kinetic energy to absorb the damage, nor am I using a voidsteel blade. The only things I intend to use in this fight are weapons and armor I can make with my own mana.

Just [Focus], [Regalia], [Mana Manipulation], and [Mana Domain] condensed until it hugs my body and armor. Oh, and I did use [Redistribution] and [Infusion] to pack as much mana into my armor and weapons as possible.

Okay, maybe it isn't the only skill I’m using, but it's the main one, and I’m only really using the others to supplement its effects.

My armor is a darker shade of blue this time and streaks of purple and light blue flow across the surface, and my weapon is no different. I don't push further, instead, I focus on improving the mana density and weight.

[Regalia - lvl 21 > Regalia - lvl 22]

I form a shield around my left forearm and block the next attack, though the Veil Guardian’s voidsteel still manages to cut through and bite into my flesh.

I dodge another swing, and repair my shield, reducing the size, and condensing the mana within.

The result is the same, the blade cuts off a piece of the shield, and another swing cuts my sword apart. The Veil Guardian kicks out, sending me flying, and as I sail through the air, I dissolve my shield while flying through the air from the kick of the Veil Guardian and reform the sword in my hand into a long spear that I point in front of me.

The Veil Guardian closes the distance in an instant, one blade arm cutting the spear apart and the other one burrowing into the stone near my head. The armor surrounding my knee extends into a spike, and I jam it into the monster’s flesh, the gravity around me immediately increasing.

I deactivate a few of my skills and resonate my mana, getting rid of the slowing effect, dodging another attack, and shrugging off its attempts at disrupting my mana.

Running to the side, the monster dodges a barrage of compressed mana javelins that I left in the air, waiting to be triggered. Each of my attacks pierces deep into the ground.

Close-range fighting seems to be counterproductive. My [Regalia] just isn't at a level to handle voidsteel weapons. Instead, I put distance between us and more javelins form around me, each boosted by kinetic energy from my Vortex Core.

Their speed is just enough to catch the monster, and they do manage to pierce through its skin, wounding it in the process.

I disrupt the Guardian’s signal to the Veil.

My duplicate was right. Knowing what to look for and mainly being able to deal with the monster’s jamming ability and its gravity field makes the fight almost easy. I just need to avoid its quick attacks, but even that’s a simple matter with [Tether], even as the monster tries to get rid of it.

In the interest of advancing my plan, I fire off a barrage of mana projectiles, destroying larger and larger chunks of the landscape in the process. It takes a bit longer and I almost get cut apart multiple times, but I do gradually manage to kill the monster.

The reward is two level ups and another level in [Regalia]. Not bad at all.

After salvaging the voidsteel slicers, epic weapons in their own right, from the corpse, I sell them to the system shop. Each one lands me just over 700 shards, leaving me with more than 30 thousand shards in total. It could've been 45 thousand if I hadn't bought my newest epic passive, but hey, with the way it allows my mind to handle the strain of my trait, it's more than worth it. Now I need something similar for my weak body.

Nope, no stats in constitution. That's for weaklings. Real mana enjoyers have their bodies broken after the simplest uses of their mana and then complain. Or they wind up coughing up blood because their bodies can’t handle the strain, before saying something along the lines of, “Good job, you made me use 10% of my mana.”

Okay, maybe that doesn't sound as cool as I thought.

Also, my good mood seems to be showing. It seems like soloing the Veil Guardian was just that satisfying. I'm level 230, and he was just over 290, so that's good, I think.

When I teleport back after placing a few anchors, I find Nina in conversation with my duplicate, and when she sees me, it almost looks like her eyes are going to fall out.

Good, finally some appreciation.

“Master! Good job! That monster was scary.”

Oh, minion as well, is this my lucky day?

“Thanks, Vega,” in a good mood, I decide to call her by the name I gave her, and the reward is the smile she gives me, her good ol' master.

“So, how does it look?” I ask my duplicate.

“Granny and her father Irvin are both alive and in the Sanctuary. Everyone seems to be prepared to evacuate, so we just need the Armorer to land somewhere close and get people in while we do some fighting.”

“Having both healers alive seems like it would be better for your plan,” I mention, and he nods. Then I turn to Nina, “Where is Darren?”

I know her answer from her expression, but then she says, “He was killed along with a few of his weaker men. As punishment. The stronger ones are used for dangerous missions.”

It’s hard to read the exact emotion on her face, but she does seem to hate me, at least a little.

“For feeding human meat to people?” I ask. “Why are you alive then?” I do not try to be sensitive about it.

“Ask our new leaders,” her eyes meet mine, and I decide to return her gaze.

I ask her, “Do you hate me?”

“That’s a dumb fucking question.”

“Did your father curse me in the end?”

“The most fucked-up thing is that he didn’t. Even as they executed him, he just let it all happen. My father did it all for the people and took their sins on himself. He understood their, and your decision.”

“He was always too dumb and caring. He should have just let these people die.” Granny says as she exits the Sanctuary, pausing to spit on the ground.

[Vitalist - lvl 103]

That doesn't seem to make Nina happy. “I would fucking beat your ass if I could,” she says.

“Sure you would,” the old woman giggles and then spots me and my duplicate, her eyes ticking between us.

She even takes a few steps closer and examines us with her mana.

At which point she sighs, “What an insane bastard you are.” That's all she says.

So very charming.

Meanwhile, more people flood out of the Sanctuary, each one carrying as many things as they can, scared and looking around with big eyes. They pass by us on either side, gathering in individual groups in the clearing after getting the all clear from the scouts and their new leaders. Within the group, there's at least one man I know.

[Lifebloom Weaver - lvl 216]

He is even 10 levels higher than the last time I met him. Irvin, the guy they kept locked in the tunnels under the Sanctuary to serve as a food supply. Willingly at first, and in the end against his will. But he seems much better now.

His beard and hair have been well groomed, and he is wearing clean clothes, but the biggest change lies in his expression. It's not quite as crazed as it was before, even though some trauma remains. But now, he seems more reliable, even happy. If that's the right word to use.

My duplicate seems to be even more happy to see him. He puts on our “friendly” expression and reaches into our very small reservoir of social energy.

Amused, I watch as he greets the man and granny, as he subtly compliments them, though it’s still somewhat awkward, and then just says it, probably too annoyed to wait longer, “So, I need your guys' help. I want to transfer one of my eyes into my cute disciple over there. I just need a bit of healing and some other stuff. Of course, I will help you in exchange, with anything else you might need. Even that weirdo over there,” he points at me, “is willing to help out.”

Indeed, even though his chances for survival are low, my duplicate is not going to take it lying down. No, he is cooking.

And I'm too fascinated to stop him.

Chapter 323 - A week remains

The plan my duplicate came up with is to give Vega one of his eyes, which will most likely give her a weaker version of our Mana Wavelength Iris. Of course, that's not the entire plan.

The duplicate has more experience with inscriptions than me and he’s come to the conclusion that placing an inscription in his eye and giving it to Vega might be the best course of action. It might work better than trying to inscribe some random mana stone or other material, and we do have a lot of experience with creating constructs.

Of course, the problem is that he can't create a personality imprint. Even after weeks of practice, he’s not even close. That's how difficult it is.

So his plan is to have the asshole from Beyond, the bored intent, help him with that.

Giving his eye to Vega is also part of the plan as she will leave the tutorial fairly soon. Outside of the tutorial, it should be safer for him than inside where he would be constantly worried about getting deleted while crossing the floors.

It's an interesting plan, and I don’t fully understand how the heck this could be the best idea he could come up with. But he has spent a lot of time thinking and theorizing, so there must be something to it.

He is a smart guy, even if he is slightly mad.

However, one last piece of the puzzle remains, getting that asshole intent to help store his personality imprint in the eye that he wants to give Vega. When I questioned him, my duplicate would only say that he knew where to push. The intent seems to be bored, so we might be able to broker some kind of bet or deal.

I won’t try to stop him, I’ve already determined that it won't put Vega in danger. Worst case, my duplicate fails, and Vega gets a weaker version of my trait. I’m certain that she can inherit my trait the same way Min-Jae did with the eye we got on the 4th floor.

As I’m thinking all of this through, I float in the air and watch as tens of people from the Sanctuary rush into the Bastion which has settled nearby, crushing a small hill in the process.

In the distance, a burst of mana explodes, marking the Housekeeper’s battle against a big group of veilshriekers. Meanwhile, my duplicate is fighting a group of veilbinders in the air, a flying variation of those monsters. Even though they are human-like they have two sets of creepy wings instead of arms and their legs are fused into a single tail, limb, thing with a spike at the end.

I, on the other hand, have a dozen or so highly compressed projectiles floating beside me, and shoot them when needed. Sometimes I infuse them with kinetic energy, sometimes with thermal, or I just compress them further, making them extremely durable so that I can launch them at mach speed. It's something I'm quickly getting better at.

Under my barrage, no monsters manage to reach the people boarding the Bastion, and I even level up once.

Lvl 231

Strength: 111

Dexterity: 109

Constitution: 266

Mana (Stage 1/3 - Vast Mana): 897 + 897

When everyone is aboard with everything they could take, I watch as a pulse of mana is sent through the Bastion’s barrier and rushes to the bottom. A shockwave erupts from the flying island’s underside, and the massive inscriptions covering the bottom light up.

With a dull humming noise, the Bastion floats into the air, and I watch as it rises.

I don't think this will ever get old, watching this huge mass just float there. How the hell would something like this ever get old? Just imagine an island the size of a small city floating into the air. Imagine the sheer weight of it all. And then watch it float there as if it were as light as a balloon.

Having dealt with all the monsters I wanted to fight, I fly over to the Housekeeper, and float above her position, before releasing a compressed jet of flame as thick as my finger, piercing the monsters ahead of me, cutting them apart, and leaving behind a series of burnt, even chunks. I sweep it across the area, putting an end to the remaining monsters before landing beside her.

She lowers her defenses, allowing me to touch her shoulder, and teleport us back to the anchor I left on the Bastion, my duplicate appearing at our side at the same time.

The Housekeeper brushes her hair from her face, she has the same smile on her face that she always does anytime she fights. But even now, the Housekeeper doesn't seem like she’s been pushed to her limit and gotten to fight all out.

When she leaves, I turn to my duplicate, and we resonate our mana around us, creating a barrier that makes it impossible for anyone to eavesdrop on our conversation.

"The Bastion's Barrier has changed slightly again," I tell him.

"The Armorer just doesn't want to give up," my duplicate says while looking around.

"Well, let's continue acting like we haven’t noticed. That guy thinks he’s sneaky and he just doesn't like us, and if he is in on it, the others probably are."

"The Housekeeper doesn't seem like it, but the Butler and the Gardener could join him just to fuck us over."

"That’s likely," I agree. "Well, in the worst case, we will kill him. I don't like how creepily he looks at me."

"He’s been that way ever since you burned your eyes out transferring mana to the core. 'Magnificent mind,' is that what he said? Maybe he wants to dissect you."

"He is free to try. If he does, I’ll get rid of him, and we’ll take over the Bastion. But it's nice to have him to drive it around and fend off attacks so we can do our thing."

"It's not very long until the end of the floor, so let's hold off," my duplicate says seeming to agree with me. "I’m going to meet up with the granny and Irvin. They seemed like they would be inclined to help, but I will ask for more details and continue my work on the eye."

"When do you mean to contact the intent?"

"It said it would talk to me one day before I disappear to offer me the option to kill Vega again, so I’m going to ask then. Anyway, I’m going to keep practicing. I’ll help you inscribe another weapon at night in exchange for some help later."

"Sure," I say, and the moment I do, my duplicate disappears, and I detect him joining Vega, who approaches him as well.

For a while, I stand on the wall and watch the constant barrage of attacks assaulting the barrier as the Bastion floats through the air. The attacks in question originate from a horde of flying monsters between level 100 and two hundred.

None of the attacks damage the barrier at all, and their only reward is a rebuke from a series of sharp beams that proceeds to tear through the monsters with ease. Even the Veil Guardian I see watching us from a distance doesn't bother to attack as it continues to trail us.

The fully powered, floating Bastion is formidable enough to deal with these monsters. Even after a hundred years have passed, leaving some of its functions broken and mechanisms damaged.

That makes me wonder what could have been able to take it down at its prime with its Lord, a man over level 300, defending it.

A few days have passed, and my handling of black mana is getting better and better, and I'm increasingly satisfied with the purchase of my new epic passive.

I am also going through the upper rare items I took from the Veil Ignition Station and finishing their inscriptions, turning them into epic weapons which I then proceed to sell.

By working with my duplicate, we’ve even managed to make a few mid bordering on upper epic grade items out of them.

Back on the 4th floor, I turned two epic items into an upper epic, but that was with the help of that floor’s Craft Guild. A lot of help. It seems like I'm still a ways off from being able to make epic items all on my own, but I will get there.

Just looking at the damaged arcane ax that belonged to Nevan's father humbles me a lot. The weapon, no matter how damaged, is something that I can’t help but admire, and it shows how much there is left to learn. And arcane weapons probably aren't even the peak.

Rather than demoralizing me; it awakens my competitive spirit.

Even on Earth, I used to excel at anything I put my mind to. It didn’t matter if other kids were more talented or had better opportunities. I have always put more thought into it, always been more deliberate, and I’ve always trained more aggressively. I possess a hunger that more talented people often lack.

And if I meet someone with talent at the level of genius and hunger equal to mine?

Well, in that case, I will push even more. I will risk my life. I will sacrifice my limbs. I will hurt, and I will bleed. People may call me crazy. But I will push even further.

Savant? That weirdo who started in Beyond? Who cares?

It will be me coming out on top.

A week remains, and I have sold everything I can sell. Metal ingots, lower-quality alloys, any mana stones I can’t use, and much more. I sold any items I couldn't inscribe and inscribed all I could. I went through the Bastion and sneakily sold a lot of items from their storages.

All of this has gained me enough shards to get to 49,725.

My duplicate and I also hunted a few more Veil Guardians, and I sold a few of my voidsteel blades.

As we’ve been returning to the Bastion after our hunts, I’ve noticed the way the Butler and the Housekeeper look at us change. Their behavior has changed as well.

The Housekeeper seems more interested, and I notice her keeping a hand close to her weapon every time I pass by.

The Butler keeps one rift open at all times so he can activate it quickly.

The Gardener spends most of his time in his garden, where he has plenty of defensive mechanisms.

The Armorer seems to be more and more interested day by day. I feel his gaze on my back. I feel his senses within the floating island as he keeps observing me. The little bit of cooperation we did have seems like a house of cards, each side ready to collapse. Them against me, the duplicate, and Vega.

Caught in between us are Granny the Vitalist, her father Irvin, and Nina.

Nina seems to hate me, but she doesn't dare do anything. I think it is part of knowing she wouldn't be able to do anything and partially she also realizes that it was largely her father's fault.

The granny and Irvin spend a lot of time with Vega and the duplicate. They theorize, discuss, and plan.

Vega seems to be excited at the thought of getting a new eye, but that eye could disappear the moment my duplicate disappears as well. It just sounds like something the system would do.

So in the end, it relies a lot on the intent and whether or not my duplicate can amuse it enough to broker a deal. The logic is that even the intent probably can’t save my duplicate without giving him some more permanent “status,” and on this floor, that means me or Vega.

I won't agree. No matter how much I might consider it to be a bit of my fault or even if I pitied him or regretted it. I won't do it.

As for Vega, the duplicate won't do it.

In the end, the plan is simple. The eye being a body part makes the duplicate hope it will be less susceptible to erasure than a mana stone. He also said he found it easier to work with. It is a piece of his body with mana circuits and bearing his passives and mana.

I don't understand it fully, but he’s spent more time thinking about it, so I can’t argue. Something tells me that he hopes that even if he fails, he might be able to get the intent to ensure that Vega can keep his eye. One last gift to our disciple.

Just in case, we will also keep Vega's original eye. It would be unfortunate if the duplicate failed and Vega ended up without an eye.

That's where the two healers will help. They also seem to be planning to weaken the eye further so it will awaken gradually. Mana Wavelength Iris is a powerful trait, and we don't want our minion to melt her brain by using it too soon.

Overall, things go well. I progress with black mana, and my handling of my eyes improves. I made a lot of shards. And Vega is getting stronger by the day.

But it all feels off, and I don't think this floor will end well for my duplicate. No matter how much he plans, trains, and hopes. He was put in a shitty situation, and the only way out seems to be killing me or Vega and striking a deal with someone he can’t even trust.

I have gained a lot thanks to our cooperation, and I thought I knew what I would feel if it came to this, but… this is a shitty way to feel.

That's when I also decide to never do anything like this again.

And I'm sorry.

I won't say it out loud, and I don't think I need to. I'm sure he knows.

Chapter 324 - Truth about the Veil

“Master?”

“Yes, Vega?”

“Now we’re even more alike!” my minion says, with a smile. Her left eye has been replaced with my duplicate's, and he now sits nearby, his eyes, making use of his passive to regenerate it and heal the wound.

Meanwhile, both of Vega's eyes are still red. Even after the duplicate gave her his gray eye, it briefly retained its color, before being overtaken by Vega’s beautiful red. There is only a hint of a golden circle around the pupil.

I wonder if it's because of her demon heritage or because it came from my duplicate. Either way, after examining it, it seems to be working. Vega now possesses a weakened version of Mana Wavelength Iris.

Even if it's not as strong as mine, it should be of use to her in the future, and if their plan works, it should carry the duplicate out of the tutorial.

For now, my duplicate is maintaining a connection to the eye with [Tether], the eye itself is heavily inscribed. Even though the personality imprint is imperfect, it should serve as a base in the case that the sliver of intent decides to complete it.

His best hope is to go to Vega’s world and then, one day when she becomes stronger, find someone who could restore his body from the eye. He’s also carrying a high-quality mana stone with my best attempt at creating a personality imprint. A slightly improved version of the one I left with Myrra on the 4th Floor.

We don’t know if it will work and, if so, how this floor will react to having multiple instances, one for each attendee. But it doesn’t hurt to try.

Creating a big barrier around our group, I turn to Irvin, the man who was used as livestock, “I wanted to ask before, but what exactly happened with the Veil?”

“Why do you think I would know or be willing to tell someone as crazy as you or your duplicate? Do you even realize how big a risk you took with that little girl?”

Vega doesn’t seem to like his question, so I answer before she can, “I had hoped the Armorer would know more, but it seems like he was little more than a small fry, so he doesn't know much. You, on the other hand, are quite high-level for a healer, and I have learned that healers are very, very sought after.”

Even though he seems to be doing better than he was when I freed him, he still seems to have a bit of a wild streak. He even twitches every time he sees a sharp blade or anything that reminds him of a collar.

“Does it all even matter? Just curse the people responsible; they do not deserve more.”

Rather than responding, I look at him and wait.

At some point, his daughter, who still looks older than him, starts cursing at me and telling me to leave him alone, at which point he gives her a soft, loving look. The expression of a father watching his young daughter do something cute.

“It's fine, thanks for worrying, my dear,” he says shortly and caresses her gray hair.

When he turns to me, his expression grows serious, “All of us thought the Enchanter’s Guild had created the Veil on their own. They had done similar things before, some were even capable of defending an entire city, but an entire planet? It was something else.”

Even his posture is the same, his feet up on the chair with his knees pulled to his chest, just like when I found him.

In contrast, his voice is calm, as he remembers, “I used to work in the main headquarters of the Enchanter’s Guild. You might think I was in a position of authority, but even at my level, I was little more than low level personnel. They were just that powerful. It didn’t matter what it was, but they always had to have the best, so obviously, they often collaborated with the leader of the Healers Guild.” He laughs shortly.

“I saw her perform a healing for one of the high ranking members once. She just entered the room, and their entire family immediately grew ten to twenty years younger. That one second paid for her new Skyhold Bastion. Can you imagine that?”

Taking a short pause, he continues, “She died, one of the first. The Veil went after healers, leaders, and anyone with access to our defensive systems. At first, we thought the enemy had infiltrated the Veil and used it against us. Then we thought it was a traitor, a rogue Champion seizing an opportunity. Some blamed our Absolute, but if he wished to, he could have taken over the planet even without the Veil.”

“Are Absolutes that powerful in comparison to others?” I ask.

“They are called Absolutes; how could they not be powerful?

“Okay, so what caused the Veil to go rogue”, my duplicate interrupts, “and how the hell did the Absolute die if he was so powerful?”

Irvin glances at him and then at his own hands, “The Veil was never the creation of the Enchanter’s Guild. I still remember Champion Niall screaming at the remaining leaders of the Enchanter’s Guild before she evaporated them into nothingness. The Enchanter’s Guild either bought or found an egg of a powerful divine beast. It was passed through the guild for decades, and then when it hatched, they took care of it and experimented on it. The beast possessed a domain type skill they had never seen before and an extraordinarily powerful mind.”

From this point, it's not hard to guess what happened, but I still listen to him and everyone else does as well. His daughter, Vega, my duplicate, and even Nina, who somehow ended up here with us.

In a solemn voice, Irvin recounts what happened, “They experimented on the beast. They made it stronger and used its skills. I don't know the details, but you can imagine that it wasn't so simple. In the end, only the brain and heart of the beast remained, kept in the biggest Skyhold Bastion that ever existed. Surrounded by enchantments powerful enough to slow down an Absolute. Surrounded by the most powerful members of the Enchanter’s Guild. They even hired a Champion to work for them alone along with multiple Champion candidates. There they combined enchantments, metals, and mana stones, with the beast's flesh to create an abomination that shouldn't have existed. And they used it as the core of the Veil.”

“Did your Absolute not notice this?” the duplicate asks.

“I don't know. He either did not notice, did not care, or he was working with them before it got out of control. Any of these options can be seen as a failure on his part.”

Irvin continues, “Champion Niall said that the beast had contacted the planet that was pairing with us. Desperate to be freed even in such a state, and the other planet losing the fight, incapable of dealing with our Absolute, cooperated. Both sides struck at once, and on that day, our Absolute fell. Before he died he took down the Skyhold Bastion where they held the beast. He died, but he also mortally wounded their Absolute, damaged the Veil, and destroyed an entire continent up north, which became a wasteland. There, his body lies.”

Congratulations, you have completed a side quest.

Reward: 5000 shards

After listening to Irvin’s words, I can only feel awe, thinking of the man who stood as this planet's Absolute. He might have failed to contain the Veil for some reason, but even then, he didn't take it lying down. Destroying a continent? Damaging the Veil? Mortally wounding the enemy Absolute? All of it after being surprised and betrayed?

What a terrifying being.

I wonder how he compares to Lissandra in her full power. Or to the Saint who had been dead for thousands of years on the 3rd Floor, yet even her body was enough to spread a form of Decay that wiped out most of the life on the planet.

“What was your Absolute’s name?” I ask.

“Tassian. He didn't belong to any noble family nor was he the disciple of any Champion. He took the rank of Champion by his own power and then went even further,” Irvin says, the admiration evident in his voice.

“Our previous Absolute gave up his title and passed it to Tassian without even trying to defend it. That's how powerful Tassian was even as a Champion.”

“Can't there be two Absolutes at once?” I wonder about that. A long time ago, on the second floor, I had heard that there were two Absolutes before Lissandra killed one.

“Each planet can only have only one Absolute; that's a fact,” Irvin says confidently.

Was I wrong? Did Lissandra kill an invading Absolute, or is Irvin missing something? Perhaps what I heard was referring to an Absolute candidate trying to take her seat.

Deciding to try system censorship, I ask, “How does one become an Absolute, what does it mean, and are there any advantages or changes?”

As expected, then I watch as blank expressions appear on the faces of every native, and Vega looks at them, confused. I gesture for her to ignore it for now.

Then I change the frequency of the resonating field that I keep around me to counter the Armorer's attempts at spying and something more sinister. It's getting more and more annoying, and at this point, he must have realized that I know.

But I still hold myself back; I'd rather spend my remaining days on this floor training Vega and practicing rather than flying the Bastion. And even now, this place is safer than the outside world.

A few days remain, and my duplicate, Vega, and I have convened in a simple room.

Keeping a black orb floating near me, I observe as Vega once again tells the duplicate how powerful her heart will become. After inheriting his eye, bound; to awaken slowly with time, she has been much more friendly towards him. Him sharing my appearance probably helps as well.

I can't not notice that the duplicate seems happy about it. My little minion is just that lovable. She is smug, she is bratty at times, and she is getting more rebellious as she spends more time with us. But in the end, she’s still my minion.

Minion is cold to other people, she always keeps an eye on the exits of the room and keeps up her senses looking for any attack, and her barrier is always poised for activation. She won’t let anyone, other than my duplicate or I touch her either.

And her curious and cheery personality only shines through every once in a while, only others to catch a glimpse.

I purposely avoid listening to their conversation. I use my skills to filter that out and focus on maintaining the barrier around us.

It's already been a few days since we last saw the Armorer and the Butler.

The shield around the Bastion is under constant barrage, and Veil Guardians appear multiple times a day and have to be dealt with by either me or my duplicate. The core also starts losing more and more mana. At this rate, it won't last much longer.

Leaving for a few hours at a time, me and the duplicate made all the preparations needed. I’ve gained all I can from this floor, and I don’t want to be too greedy anyway. Keeping Vega alive is my priority.

I watch as Vega hugs my duplicate with tears in her eyes. She says something while crying and my duplicate smiles at her.

It's extremely weird to see myself smiling that way, and unlike other people, it's hard for me to read. Is it a happy smile? A sad smile? Is it fake?

My duplicate says something in return, and Vega squeezes him harder, right after giving him a little peck on the cheek, and his next expression is easy to read. Sheer surprise, though pleasant.

He ruffles her hair and pinches her tiny nose, then he looks at me.

When I nod, he extremely carefully teleports Vega outside of the Bastion, and I resonate with his mana, allowing him to pass through the Bastion´s barrier. He disappears to hide Vega in the safe place we have prepared.

Then I activate my trait, and keeping the black orb near me, I teleport to the room where the Armorer is hiding.

Immediately, dozens of powerful attacks assault me, the pressure from the Bastion, shockwaves, mana attacks, physical attacks, all of it enough to kill a Veil Guardian.

The black orb absorbs all the mana attacks thrown at me, and I block the physical ones with the multi-layered spherical barriers I prepared. Then, before the attacks can continue, I send out a wave of mana, much stronger with my eyes reading the frequencies, disrupting the mana in the room.

The extremely thin Armorer sits near the core, with multiple tubes connecting his body to the core and inscriptions covering his skin.

“I just needed a few more minutes and I would get you,” he hisses at me in his quiet voice.

“I know.”

After that, I use a voidsteel slicer and cut off his head, the blade strengthened by my skill cutting through his attempts at defense.

The notification about the kill rings, and satisfied with that, I teleport outside of the room where the Housekeeper stands leaning against the wall.

We just exchange a glance, there are no words said, but the understanding comes through.

For the last time, I observe Irvin, who is there with his daughter, the two of them finding joy in each other's company. I observe Nina, who probably hates me more than anyone else in the world, training even as the Bastion faces more and more attacks while trying to escape to the north where it will be safer.

The Butler in his room detects my probing and shields against it. Yet, I still notice that he was standing in front of the mirror observing his growing mustache. Even then, his clothes are in a rough state as the man barely has any time to rest, helping anyone he can. He is a kind man.

And the Gardener, deep in his garden, taking over the Bastion's defenses now open to me, no threat at all.

Such a weird bunch of people I have met on this floor.

I teleport outside and fly for a while at my top speed. It takes a bit, but in the end, I stop and land on top of the first skyscraper I visited in the ruined city, with a poisoned Vega in tow, looking for a healer. There we found the old granny, who is now with her father.

There my duplicate is waiting for me, his mana surrounding his body in waves and crashing against me.

No words are needed between us. He has his own plan, but I will give him the opportunity to defeat me and rewrite my mind.

I owe him that much.

So let's fight and give it our best.

He activates orbs he’s placed all over the city, and dozens of buildings immediately start crashing down in deafening explosions, at the same time, he reaches to absorb the kinetic energy of all that falling material.

I reach towards the Veil and touch it. The Veil is more visible than ever, even without mana. Upon detecting my touch, ten presences appear almost immediately. Ten Veil Guardians reacting to my touch and rushing towards us.

The duplicate attacks me, our mana clashes in the air and reverberates.

Chapter 325 - What an opponent to face

I activate my Titan's Backbone tattoo, and one out of the epic item’s three uses disappears. My eyes activate as well, and it’s with these preparations that I finally absorb the black orb of mana.

Immediately afterward the world slows down, my thoughts accelerating. Even with all the information I'm taking, I can barely feel the added strain.

I activate traps that I placed days ago, and a dozen extremely compressed javelins erupt from every direction, speeding towards my duplicate, each one creating a sonic boom.

The air around the duplicate vibrates as he uses all the collected kinetic energy to tear the weapons apart.

At the same time, two thin streams of extremely compressed thermal energy burst from him, sweeping across the city, cutting skyscrapers apart, and stopping just an arm's reach away from me.

I absorb their heat and redirect it at the Veil Guardian that’s been sneaking up on me, incinerating half of its body, yet the monster continues to press the attack.

Three Veil Guardians have ganged up on my duplicate, and he throws them away with a strong blast of kinetic energy.

At the same time, golden flames surround me and the duplicate, roaring through the air like a giant snake coiling around the two of us. Anything the golden flame touches gets melted or incinerated as my duplicate and I fight for control, power pouring from our Vortex Cores.

The air shudders from the heat, stone, and metal melting and dripping onto the street below as the flames burn hotter and hotter as we combine them.

Two Veil Guardians try to push through, only to be cremated despite their durability. Two notifications ring out informing us of the kills, as their voidsteel slicers fall to the street.

The duplicate lifts the damaged arcane ax into the air and channels his thermal energy through it, further strengthening his golden flames, and a giant wave crashes against me.

I don't even blink, as my eyes read everything, and I absorb all of this information, the knowledge strengthened by my own experience manipulating thermal primordial energy.

Redirecting the flames, I spin them around me, adding even more of my own power. I reach into my reservoir and send more mana through my heart, generating even greater flames, and straining my mind to keep it all under control.

Like a tornado of golden fire, the flames spin with us in the center, expanding and setting the ruined city ablaze.

The ever-present vegetation turns to ash, the stone glows, and the last remaining pieces of glass crack.

More Veil Guardians die just from getting too close, they’re not even a distraction anymore, faced with the combined flames of my duplicate and I.

And we're still fighting for control, and the flames wash over us in turns, only to be redirected each time.

When the last Veil Guardian dies, and the signal is sent to the Veil, we barely take notice and relinquish control of the flames, allowing them to seep into the city, turning it into a burning hell.

I activate another one of my traps, firing more compressed javelins at my duplicate, from the other side of the ruined city.

He redirects them with a forearm coated in an extremely dense variation of barrier. He also takes the opportunity to activate a few of the traps he’s placed, and an immense amount of mana seeps into the air, flowing through inscriptions in the stones nearby, hitting me with a strong jamming attack, a clear attempt to disrupt my mana.

It's the strongest jamming attack I’ve ever felt, each of the sources emits a different frequency with a staggering amount of mana to back it up. At that moment, the duplicate closes the distance, swinging down with his ax.

I quickly learn that I won’t be able to absorb heat from the ax, so I try to push my body aside with kinetic energy, but he absorbs it, nearly matching my reaction speed.

Yet I’m still just a little bit quicker, and I strengthen my body with the full force of my mana and dash to the side, through the molten ground and debris surrounding us.

Then the duplicate's signature disappears, and the only thing that remains where he stood is a small black orb, absorbing the mana hanging in the air, preventing me from tracking him. I sense a strong burst of mana from elsewhere in the city before another erupts high above me.

There he floats, a calm expression on his face. Around him, six tricolored orbs float, and he launches them all at me, the orbs becoming a blur of mana, screaming as they pass through the air.

One of six orbs bursts far too soon, revealing its real state. Instead of a tricolored orb, its inside is filled with disrupting mana. When it bursts, I find myself unable to teleport and my external senses quickly become as unreliable as my eyes in this storm.

Countering it, my mind goes into overdrive and to fight against the five remaining orbs, I push my mana into a single one, concentrating it even further, turning that single orb black and launching it at the deadly projectiles.

My duplicate appears behind me, I don't have any idea how. I sensed nothing.

Our eyes meet, we’re both using Mana Wavelength Iris and we grasp each other with a burst of [Redistribution], altering the frequency each preventing the other from moving.

To counter my enhanced processing speed my duplicate radiates more and more mana, depleting dozens of mana batteries in the process. Then, while looking at me, he also touches the Veil, much more intensely than I did before.

I watch him smile as a huge section of the Veil over us changes, mana enveloping the city. The Veil reforms, a long purple tear splits the sky, and an arm pushes through, followed by three more.

The monster plummets through, crashing to the ground and even though it is only three times taller than me, it leaves a massive crater.

[Veil Weaver - lvl ???]

The duplicate disappears as the monster pounces, landing where he stood and attacks me. As the monster attacks, My duplicate launches a compressed mana javelin, and it crashes into the ground next to me, exploding into golden flames.

Realizing that I won’t get another option, I use Titan's Backbone tattoo again, feeling the first use start to run out, and I absorb more black mana, strengthening my [Focus].

In slow motion, I watch as the monster's fist swings toward me and golden flames burst forth from the javelin.

The entirety of my Vortex Core explodes, concentrated into a reverberating cone of compressed kinetic energy, damaging one of the monster’s four arms.

Golden flames burn my body, but at the same time, they activate my passive slowly healing the burns. Even then, the flames are stronger than my passive so damage starts to accumulate before I can absorb their heat.

My anchors get disrupted, so instead, I form a barrier in front of me, layered multiple times, and mana rushes through my body, strengthening it even further.

Even so, I get thrown again, sending my blood spurting into the air and my body rolling across the ground before I absorb the momentum of my movement.

Before I can do anything else, the monster reaches towards me, still standing so far away. Even though my natural barrier and construct should stop it, I feel my body pulled towards it, the strongest feat of telekinesis I’ve ever felt.

I fly through the air right towards it and barely identify the effect on me with my trait and disrupt it, stopping halfway.

The Veil Weaver moves two of its hands and the buildings to my sides crumble and fall, moving with all the speed of a bullet train and heading straight for me.

Locating my duplicate, I shoot a tricolored orb at him and push through the disrupting effect, creating an anchor far away and teleporting to it.

I watch the place where I stood get crushed, compressed, and totally obliterated. Huge chunks of stone and metal creating a giant ball of compressed material. The Veil Weaver tries to do the same to me and I feel pressure attempting to squeeze my body. To counter this I constantly radiate disrupting mana, stopping the attack by sacrificing a large chunk of my mana reserves.

The monster is strong, stronger than a Veil Guardian.

The Veil Weaver, unable to grasp me through my constantly resonating field, decides to track my duplicate.

It tears free another huge chunk of the city, toppling buildings as if a giant stepped on them. Through all that debris, a tricolored bomb hurtles at the monster, only to stop an arm's reach away as it gets torn apart by its telekinesis.

I sense movement above me and monsters pour from the rift in the Veil. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of veilshriekers passing through and falling to the ground.

The shrieks of an immense number of monsters mix with the sound of destruction caused by the extreme telekinesis. The Veil Weaver doesn’t seem to care, and its attacks kill hundreds of veilshriekers as it tries to catch my duplicate.

[Focus - lvl 47 > Focus - lvl 48]

[Perception - lvl 42 > Perception - lvl 43]

[Tether - lvl 34 > Tether - lvl 35]

I’ve finally managed to analyze the way my duplicate has been creating such sneaky anchors, and my domain expands as I place multiple of them. Even then some get destroyed by telekinesis, but others do manage to reach my duplicate.

Then, when my duplicate gets thrown away by a blast of force from the monster, I teleport behind him and grab the ax, cutting off his hand and teleporting away with the weapon.

“You’re such a dick,” he complains, looking at me standing on one of the buildings. Thermal energy already rushes through his body, slowly regenerating his hand.

“I wonder who summoned that asshole here to get me distracted.”

Without a speck of regret, he shrugs, “You did it first with Guardians.”

Both of us have a smile on our faces. I can hear the loud beating of our Thermokinetic hearts, fueling them with any mana not held by Mana Cycling, we’ve tapped into our Mana Reservoirs, we’re finally using all the inscriptions we’ve made, and leveraging all our preparations, making us stronger than ever before.

We teleport multiple times, the Veil Weaver swings its four arms, each swing tears buildings apart, compressing them, and throwing huge chunks at us. All while tens of thousands of veilshriekers scream, attacking us with deep hatred.

Large parts of the city are gone, the others are burning.

It may as well be hell.

With no need for words, my duplicate and I join forces, our Mana Reservoirs nearly emptying, all our mana rushing to our hearts, transmuting it into kinetic energy. The sheer amount feels impossible to control even with all our preparations, and yet there are two of us.

He slips; I cover him, I slip; he takes over.

We gather more and more kinetic energy, and then we start changing its frequency. A high pitch audibly reverberates through the air, and the two of us stand in the epicenter, as the waves of kinetic energy start crashing into the area.

Everything they touch vibrates and dissolves into dust.

We receive thousands of notifications informing us of the dying veilshriekers.

Our kinetic energy crashes into the impossible amount of debris being thrown by the monster. The huge chunks are impossibly condensed into extremely dense projectiles. The Veil Weaver lifts up an entire small city's worth of material high into the air blocking out the sky and sending it at us like meteors, some of which even manage to break the sound barrier.

Yet waves of our kinetic energy continue to reverberate into the area, clearing bigger and bigger parts of the city around us, leaving a smooth surface, leaving behind material reduced to fine sand.

The monster is strong, and it’s pushing, no, forcing us to use everything we have, as our skills level up. The notifications ring.

It's fun.

A single mistake and I'm dead, we are dead. If either of us stumbles we both die, neither one of us has any chance of surviving alone. But right now, together, we are stronger than the monster.

Our combined assault finally lands, Halted for a moment by the Veil Weaver’s telekinetic barrier as the monster holds all four of its arms in front of it, palms facing outward. The invisible forces clash, sending shockwaves through the ruined city damaging it further.

I take over, pushing my eyes to function to a higher degree, and rapidly change the frequency of our attack until one of the beast’s arms explodes.

Then another one.

The monster stumbles, losing control for a moment and its body gets torn apart immediately, with barely anything left behind.

[You have defeated Veil Weaver- lvl 329]

[Lvl 234 > Lvl 237]

I lift the ax in my hand, absorbing a laser thin stream of thermal energy shot by the duplicate. Teleporting towards him, I swing the ax, releasing the stored energy and melting the ground under his feet as he dodges.

When I try to teleport again, he disrupts the attempt, and a great multitude of projectiles crash into my barrier.

He opens his mouth, and I immediately tilt my head to the side; as an orb that I couldn’t detect until that moment, erupts from his gullet, leaving a deep, and bloody gash across my temple.

His voidsteel slicer and the ax in my hand collide with each other, as our primordial energies roil in the air, seeking an opportunity to lash out.

I also open my mouth, and the mana orb I’ve been compressing buries itself into his forearm he lifts to protect his chest.

A mana stone somewhere on his person activates, and I disrupt most of the attack, though the invisible blade of mana still manages to carve into my side.

There isn't a single veilshrieker left alive. A full third of the city has been reduced to ruins, and the piles of debris from the buildings have either collapsed into dust or been set ablaze in great, burning, heaps.

I release a burst of kinetic energy from my feet, obscuring his view with the resulting dust cloud. At the same time, I create a fake mana signature to my right, taking inspiration from the twins. When I do reach his position I lash out with my blade, yet my weapon passes through empty air, as the fake signature disappears. It would appear that he had the same idea.

Armor forms on my back, slowing down the voidsteel slicer just enough for me to parry with my own before it can bite into my flesh.

Up close, both of us create dozens of mana projectiles, barely an arm's reach from each other. The projectiles burst forth, boosted by our kinetic energy, as we bombard each other. For the most part they either wind up disrupted or deflected by small sections of barrier, only ever active for a fraction of a second.

As the power from my tattoo and the black mana slowly begins to fade, I push ahead, letting him stab my thigh with his weapon, and in return, I swing my ax with both hands, dropping my voidsteel slicer.

He tries to teleport, but I disrupt the attempt, bringing the ax forward with the full force of my body, only for the ax to clash with his blade, held in his remaining hand.

The ax buries itself in his shoulder as I redirect it at the last possible moment.

Breathless, we stand there facing each other, our mana clashing even now, as we disrupt each other's attacks, and our primordial energies explode through the air before being absorbed.

I know if either of us pushes any further, it will be a fight to the death, but I won't step back. He will either give up, or one of us will die.

That's it.

The tattoo's effect disappears, taking the black mana with it, the aftereffects dragging at me even though the tattoo has alleviated the worst of it. My mind feels sluggish, the world feels empty, and even the mana around me begins to feel less vibrant than before.

I channel more and more of my thermal energy through the ax, heating the head embedded in his shoulder, and pushing through his attempts to absorb the thermal energy that heals him, even as it burns him.

"Fuck, you are dumb," he curses and takes a step back, letting go of the voidsteel slicer impaling my leg, and my ax pulls free of his wound.

I allow him to use his thermal energy to heal his wounds, with no interference.

Slowly, we begin to devote more of our [Focus] to dampening our emotions rather than maintaining the function of our skills. The world regains more of its colors and sounds come rushing back in.

The air has been scorched, and motes of dust that once made up buildings begin to drift on the currents of air generated by the fires raging in the distance, but I take a deep breath.

Then I breathe out slowly.

I live.

"Good luck," I tell my duplicate.

He stands there, covered in wounds, cuts, and burns. Inscriptions depleted, mana stones cracked, and batteries drained. His eyesight has been blurred by his abuse of his trait. His hand is missing, and his leg seems to be broken. Yet, he stands proudly, and even now, he feels more dangerous than the monster we killed together. What an opponent.

“I will see you when you come to Vega’s planet,” he says simply, and then he leaves to put his other plan into action.

With the little mana I have left, I make way for Vega’s position, on my way avoiding all the monsters while my mana slowly replenishes.

Along the way, I take a moment to stop by a few places, to recover some mana batteries I stashed away, just in case our fight made it this far. I absorb the mana stored inside and repeat the process with a few batteries filled with kinetic and thermal energy. I have plenty, and by the time I reach the place, my reserves are in a much better state.

Once I’m within range of my anchor, I connect to it and teleport to Vega’s side, appearing in the darkness.

This is one of the old bunkers we have found while moving around. The bunker is fairly similar to the Sanctuary, though it is much smaller, and every entrance has been destroyed and covered by tons of rock and stone. The only way inside is via teleportation, and we had to extend [Mana Domain] to the limit in a single direction to place the anchors.

Vega lifts her eyes up from the mana stone in her hands and smiles at me with a mix of joy and sadness.

“Will he be okay, master?” she asks quietly.

At that moment, I decide not to answer.

Chapter 326 - I lied

While down in the closed-off bunker, I walk from room to room, controlling air filtration systems powered by my mana through the anchors I’ve placed near them.

Making them work wasn't all that difficult, just a bit annoying given that the bunker’s core is broken and the room containing it has been buried under several tons of stone.

Yet, even though this place has been cut off from the outside, I’ve set thermal orbs all throughout the compound, producing a bright yet gentle light. The filtration system hums gently in the background, but otherwise, it's eerily quiet.

The only other sound comes from my minion and I, searching the various rooms whenever we get bored. That and our race to pack in as much training as we can.

I have decided to spend the remaining few days here, rather than going outside, where who knows what is happening. I'm also taking the opportunity to acquaint myself with the skills that leveled up during the fight with my duplicate. I’ve got a lot of work to do on that front.

Maybe I could be raising my level, or focus on leveling up my skills. I could be fighting any number of powerful opponents, yet every time I look at Vega, I hesitate. She is strong, but she’s returning to her world soon, and I won't be able to help her anymore. So I need to hold back and train her.

I’m not used to this sort of selfless thinking, and I’m reminded of how attached I’ve grown to this smug little half-demon. This silly minion of mine.

“Master! [Mana Manipulation] leveled up again!” Vega shouts as she comes rushing from somewhere behind me.

“Good job, minion,” I answer, and she smiles, happy to receive even this small praise, and returns her focus to the mana stone in her hand.

It all helps her to take her mind off my duplicate. They got close in the days we spent together.

Looking at her, I probe her mana with my senses, and she allows my senses to pierce through her natural barrier, something else she’s gotten used to.

I observe her left eye, the one she received from the duplicate, and I can still sense his anchor connected to it, even now making small changes as he continues to improve his inscriptions.

For a while, I examine the web of delicate pathways, they represent something he’s only been able to do as a result of his collaboration and experiments with the healers from the Sanctuary. He’s spent most of his time working on this, but I’ve spent mine polishing different skills, so I still don't fully understand it. And yet, even I can tell that this won’t be enough.

I head back to the room where I’ve stored most of my things. Looted items from the bunkers, station, and bastion. Items I’ve had since the 4th floor and the auction. There’s plenty here.

Then there is also a small tube that holds Vega's original eye. Something we have kept in case the duplicate fails and the eye he gave to Vega disappears. Irvin also put a mark on the eye. Waiting for the slightest bit of mana to activate it. At that point, the mark will release a dose of healing mana to help reconnect the eye.

I wonder when Lily will reach that level.

One day remains when others start sending messages in the Community.

Sset (Hell, group 4) - Stay safe, Noname, I’ll see you on the next floor.

TheStrongestOne (Hell, group 4) - I learned a lot, and I can't wait to show you, Noname!

Grumpy (Hell, group 4) - I hope you didn't forget the promise we made!

FoodFood (Hell, group 4) - food!

Izzy (Hell, group 4) - I will see you soon, dumb Noname!

I pick up a few messages, and then they disappear, and group 4 enters the 6th floor.

They got to the 5th floor a day earlier than me, so it's not really all that surprising. Now, they’ve left to join the twins, one of which sacrificed his chance at some extra time with his disciple to follow his brother, who lost his.

So that's it. The floor is ending soon, after that, we won’t have much time on the 6th floor before the tournament starts.

What I don't like is that I won't be able to do the 3rd Beyond trial before the tournament; the timing just won’t allow for it with the time left on my cooldown.

That could be interesting, I think Savant should be able to fit the 3rd trial in. It could also cause Savant to miss the tournament. The 1st trial took one day, and the 2nd trial took one week.

So there is a high chance that Savant postpones the 3rd trial until the end of the tournament rather than risk missing it. That's what I would do.

Keeping my mind busy, I find Vega and sit with her, watching her train and observing her eye.

POV Duplicate of Nathaniel Gwyn

Well, that's it, I guess. I did as much as I could, and the personality imprint I’ve been trying to make is impossible as of now. The work I’ve done up until now is so terrible I would rather wipe it than let it stay in my minion's eye.

Over the past few days, more plans have failed, and my last ray of hope lies in imperfect personality imprints, something more like the signatures my original created. There are five of them, one on me, one is with the original, and three more have been scattered across the 5th floor.

So it's time for the last resort.

I poke the head at my feet with my shoe, “Come on, I know you are lurking around.”

A quiet laugh sounds from the cut-off head of the veil shrieker, and eyes open up, “So did you decide to accept my proposal, oh, unfortunate one?”

“You know very well I did not.”

“I might or might not know. The tutorial does grant its attendees some degree of privacy,” the mouth moves, but it is not at all in sync with the words. It doesn’t even need to move its mouth to speak.

“Hurting Vega is out of the question.”

“I understand, so, what would you like?” Its tone of voice speaks to the cruel pleasure it takes in my current situation.

“Help me to inscribe my personality into the eye of my original's disciple.”

“It's amusing how much tamer you are now, unfortunate one,” the mouth moves in a soundless laugh. “What’s in it for me?”

“After getting my body back, I would be…”

“No.”

“No?”

“Yes, no. You are not worth the investment. Outside of the tutorial, I already have multiple Vessels and beings that serve me; you can't hope to touch any of them.”

“I see, in such a case, how about a bet?”

The mouth of the head closes, and eyes turn right at me, nearly radiating amusement, “Tell me more, unfortunate one.”

“I will kill Gaiathra on my own. I know you don't give a fuck about me, but my success would be amusing enough, right? Might be a nice way to kill time before you return to your stalking.”

“Gaiathra is level 367, meanwhile, you are over 130 levels lower. Do you even realize the sheer difference in your status?”

“Won't that make it more interesting?” I know I don't have much time remaining; I already feel my body starting to weaken. As the system said before, the mirror wasn't meant to be used like this, and my body is only temporary.

So even if I fail, why not end it with a bang?

“You have made preparations,” the Ruler’s intent muses, he’s probably checking now.

“A few, but that shouldn’t change much, right?”

“Why not, I always love watching bugs like you realize where they belong. Entertain me then, and I will help you.” After that, the head stops moving and the intent is gone, yet I'm sure I'm being watched.

I kick the head, sending it flying, and then straighten up.

This asshole might be lying, but that doesn’t change much. I don’t think I can kill my original, and I don’t want to merge with him. I’m my own being. I won’t be reduced to mere memories, leaving my personality in shreds.

Deep breath in and out.

I can do this.

Taking a few steps, I pass through the barrier into the Valley where not a single presence can be felt as if the monsters had been wiped from existence.

Only a single one remains, standing tall and looking at me.

[Gaiathra- lvl ???]

At its feet, is a big hole, revealing the ruins of the Veil Ignition Station.

I guess the big danger noodle didn’t like us stopping the mana radiation it was sleeping over.

But now the core has been revealed, Nevan’s alloy patch is gone now and the core is radiating more mana than ever before. All to the giant monster's liking.

The big yellow eyes turn to me as the snake whips around on its six nimble legs.

I only have one chance, and I’ll need to go all out. A single series of attacks with as much power as I can muster. Prolonged combat won’t favor me.

My eyes activate, the inscriptions I etched into my skin shine, and black mana seeps into my body in greater amounts than ever before. The amount is sufficient to destroy this body beyond any possibility of repair, yet I refuse to hesitate.

I launch a javelin into the air over Gaiathra with an anchor tied to it. Then I connect to the anchor inscribed into a mana stone I left near the core. Its mana signature either too low, or weak for the monster to care.

Yet the monster notices me when I appear near the core. Simultaneously, the mana radiation from the core crashes against me in waves and almost instantly destroys the epic pendant Nevan crafted for us.

But even that short moment is enough, and a black mana orb forms near me, growing stronger until it's consumed half of the mana in my body.

I activate the anchor on the javelin as it passes over the monster's head and appear in the air above the six-legged snake.

The monster ignores me, curiously staring at the black mana orb that is rapidly devouring the immense quantity of mana leaking from the core.

A massive tongue flickers as Gaiathra tastes the mana leaking from the core and seeping into the black orb that continues to maintain its size, even now. The orb devours and dominates the mana around it, strengthening itself further before pulling on the mana radiating from the monster itself.

Oh, and Gaiathra doesn’t like it.

Its yellow eyes shine, and corroding mana seeps through the earth and surrounds the orb.

To the monster's surprise, that gets absorbed as well, devoured, taken over, and pulled inside of the orb that has begun to feel increasingly terrifying.

A staggering amount of mana surrounds one of the monster's six legs, creating a barrier around it. The monster swings it, hitting the orb and sending it flying away, even out of the Valley.

Then, the monster turns its head towards me with a speed that feels unnatural for something as big.

But I'm already all set with my preparations. The orb plan has failed, so it's time for plan C.

I lift my left arm towards the air and towards the anchor I can still feel high up there. Then I use a skill my original will never be able to use. He doesn’t have the right state of mind to understand, I’ve grown used to the thought of dying over the past few weeks.

He may never even consider trying to learn the skill, hell, he might never be in the same situation as me.

But I can do it. I haven't tried it before, but I know I can.

“[Sacrifice],” I call.

My left arm disappears in its entirety.

I need to follow the traditions, don't I?

Notifications arrive as the skill levels up, and I use it again, my left leg disappearing as well, and a crazy amount of mana flows through me.

The barrier I create blocks the monster’s “playful” attack, nearly draining me of everything I just gained and then some.

The mana batteries I had on me are empty, and I reach through my domain and place an anchor right over the six-legged snake, and then use [Tether], connecting two anchors. One on a physical object high up, and the other is positioned just over Gaiathra.

Then, as iron pulled to a magnet, the object I’ve held floating high in the air gets pulled downward at a speed that continues to increase as I feed the skill with more mana.

Gaiathra senses it but still sees me as an annoyance at most, it just shoots another attack at me, this time a bit stronger.

[Sacrifice] activates, and my hair disappears, my right leg as well, along with a few fingers from my right hand, my last remaining limb. Even then I barely block the attack.

The third attack Gaiathra throws at me is much more serious, and keeping [Tether] on, I do something even Lily was unwilling to do.

I sacrifice my memories.

The first ten years of my life disappear, and the barrier that blocks the attack still cracks, and all over my body, corrosive wounds start appearing, eating away my flesh.

At the same time, it's finally here. The skyscraper-sized mana crystal that I took from the bunker. Later, after examining the Bastion’s levitation, I placed it high in the air, and currently, it's falling at a high speed to the spot right over the snake.

Best of all, it's filled to the brim with a terrifying blend of my mana, thermal, and kinetic energy. Like a meteor, it streaks through the air, shining with golden thermal energy, transparent kinetic, and pale blue mana swirling inside.

Gaiathra tries to move, and 11 more years of my memories disappear.

[Redistribution] activates, allowing me, for a split second, to grasp this powerful monster.

When the skyscraper-sized crystal crashes into Gaiathra, I use the last dregs of my mana to teleport to an anchor far outside of the Valley.

And then I teleport again, sacrificing some of my useless organs to do so.

Without any limbs and with black mana and life seeping out of me, I appear on top of one of the cliffs, leaning against the stone at my back.

I watch as, far in the distance beautiful lights fill the sky, shining against the bottom of the clouds.

Between my attack, the shattered core of the Veil Ignition Station, and the sheer pressure from the explosion the clouds part, blown away by the force. I can feel the shockwave even from this distance, followed by a burst of wind and thunder.

A few more seconds pass before the notification I’ve been waiting for finally goes off after a few more seconds, and a chuckle escapes my mouth.

Thermal energy flows through my body, and I examine my mind, looking at what remains. The things that I subconsciously didn't sacrifice.

My mom and sister are there, something I wouldn't be able to sacrifice. But more faces pop up to my surprise. A girl with red eyes, a cute corgi, a silly blonde, an occasionally terrifying black haired girl, a troubled young boy looking up to me, and more.

People I barely know, yet somehow they are still here, my subconscious mind not wanting to give up on them.

(Not in a million years would I expect someone like you to be able to awaken a skill like [Sacrifice],) the voice of the intent sounds in my mind.

I blink a few times, barely able to keep myself awake, my heart beating slower and slower, as my life seeps out of me.

“Our deal,” I say.

(You showed me something really fun, so consider me entertained, oh unfortunate one.)

I use [Sacrifice] again, and one of my eyes disappears, just to keep my heart beating for a bit longer.

(But I lied,) the intent says.

The voice continues to sound in my head, (I wouldn’t even be able to give you the status of your original's disciple. I just wanted to see you kill her,) the voice sounds coldly amused.

(You have rejected me, and for that, you will die.) The voice says.

Well, I guess that's it. I gave it my all, I defeated an extremely powerful enemy and learned a thing or two about myself. It's not such a bad way to go.

This past year in the tutorial was fun even though it was sad at times.

“Fuck you.” I manage to say.

(So fun. This is what I will do next. In a day, the little girl you call Vega will return to her world, and I will ensure that someone is waiting for her. I can't touch the original yet, but the disciple should be fine. I can’t wait to see how he reacts when he finds out.)

I think I may have only felt the rage I feel now, once in my entire life.

My heart beats strongly, and I'm about to stand up before I realize I have no limbs.

“Do not fucking dare,” I hiss through clenched teeth, feeling blood fill my mouth.

(Oh, but I will, so…)

(You will not,) another voice sounds. This one I can't grasp, unable to identify if it's a man or woman, hell I can’t even guess its age. Yet, at the same time, it sounds powerful.

Very powerful.

(Greed!) the intent hisses.

(He will not touch disciple Vega, nor will he interfere on her planet.) These words are directed at me, ignoring the intent.

Hearing them, I feel myself calm down, and as I do so, my heart finally skips a beat, and the world drains of its color.

The intent says something to the Ruler of Greed, but it feels like a tiny dog barking at a wolf. And I know, at that moment, that he won't be able to do anything to Vega.

I feel a smile appear on my lips, and before everything turns dark, I hear that voice again, (Keeping you alive would be against the rules, but I can let her keep your eye.)

My mind wanders off as the last whisper fills my ears.

(You've been strong, you can let go now.)

Chapter 327 - I'm back

I observe as all of the inscriptions inside Vega's eye disappear one after another. All the work the duplicate put into it is gone, along with his [Tether].

Surprisingly, his eye stays. For a moment, a golden circle appears around her pupil before it disappears, leaving her eye bloody red again. Yet, I can sense that it's the same eye that once belonged to my duplicate, the one containing our weakened trait.

The little half-demon senses the change as well, and for a moment, it looks like she's going to cry, but she holds it back and just comes to sit beside me. Without asking, she leans against me, and I put my arm around her.

“He asked me not to cry if he failed,” she says quietly.

“Did he?”

“Yes. He told me to grow strong and kick your ass sometime in the future.”

“That sounds like him. Do you feel like crying?” I ask her.

She nods, “But I promised I wouldn’t. He wouldn’t want that.”

“Bullshit,” I say, and she looks up to me. I continue, “I know for a fact, that he would be happy knowing someone had cried for him.”

I put my hand on her head and gently stroke her hair.

When she burrows her face into my chest and her body starts shaking, I continue to hold her.

An hour remains until the end of the floor when my minion asks, “Master, you still owe me for losing our bet.”

“Yes, I do. What would you like?”

“I want to know why you named me Vega. You said there was a meaning to it.”

“Who is Vega? I know only minion.”

At that, she smiles but only slightly, her mood still not back to her usual self. She pokes me, looking up at me with her big eyes.

“There are tens of constellations in the night sky where I'm from, and one of them is the northern constellation of Lyra. It's one of the smaller ones. The brightest star in that constellation is called Vega.” I grab her horn, but do not shake her head; I just prod the point with the tip of my finger.

“The tutorial is a small place, in the end, one of many. Just like the innumerable constellations, there are a number of tutorials. But in this small place, this small patch of sky, I found you,” I say, despite my embarrassment.

In my head, it never sounded so… cheesy. Still, I can’t regret telling her. To me, Vega shines brightly with her curious and cheery personality, despite her flaws. But saying it out loud just doesn’t feel right to me.

“I hope you’re happy because I’m not going to repeat myself, minion.” I need to assert my dominance to preserve my sense of masculinity.

In response, her smile widens a bit, she doesn't even poke any fun at me.

Our remaining hour on this floor passes just like that. My silly disciple has decided to cling to me, and I can feel the warmth of her small body against mine. Her heart is beating strongly. I hold her hand, and I paint a series of simple, single use, inscriptions on her forearm, they’ll be there to help her improve her mana weapons when she needs them.

This time around I’ll give her a few extra items, but nothing higher than a rare grade. Epic items seem to be exceedingly valuable even though I tend to find so many of them. Over the course of this floor and after having visited the Hard difficulty community, I have learned that out of all of them, barely anyone has access to epic grade items.

Giving one to Vega at her level could bring too much attention to her. I also think she’ll be better off if she learns how to survive without relying on items. She already has a weakened version of my trait, waiting to awaken as she grows stronger. Hopefully.

I listen as she tells me about her plans, and how she’s a little worried about having to rely on herself again. She tells me how much she will miss me and forces me to promise, for the tenth time, that I will find her when I get out of the tutorial.

Lastly, I give her a small piece of weird metal that reacts weirdly to kinetic energy. It's something I got from the auction on the 4th floor, and now it feels like so long ago.

Vega has decided to rely mainly on her kinetic energy, so she might have a better use for it. It will also force her to continuously examine it and search for anyone who might know something about it.

I figured I’d give her something like a quest since she seems to be lost at the moment.

Finally, I notice her glancing at something I can't see, and I know the portal to her world is there.

As I stand up, she lets go of me somewhat reluctantly and quickly collects the few things she is taking with her.

“Will you miss me, master?”

“I will.”

“You really will?”

“Yes.”

A few short steps and she hugs me again, “I don’t think you’re quite the asshole you like to say you are. Master is really kind, but he’s also really hurting,” the last words she nearly whispers.

Looking up at me with her red eyes glowing, she gestures to me to lean lower and when I do so, she gives me a quick peck on my cheek.

“When we meet next time, I’ll just call you Vega. So try to stay alive until then, okay?” I call to her as she takes steps toward the portal.

She gives me one last short glance, “I always liked it when master called me minion.” She says, with one last cheeky smile, and then she disappears.

Congratulations! You've successfully completed the 5th floor's main quest in the fifth round of the tutorial for Hell difficulty. An entrance to the 6th floor has been created.

I place an anchor near the portal to the 6th floor and extend my [Mana Domain], placing another outside where I emerge.

Right away, I sense strong mana radiation everywhere, and the Veil seems to be burning in the sky with veil monsters all over the place. Killing the ones that get too close, I lift off and head towards the Valley.

Then, I notice a mana signature hanging in the air, and change direction, heading towards a cliff with a good view of the area.

There, at the top, I find what remains of my duplicate.

Inside his body near the chest, I detect a hint of his mana. Pushing my emotions away, I pull a tiny mana stone out of his remains. When I probe it with my senses, I find that it’s a collection of simple notes. What few sentences my duplicate could manage to inscribe in his last moments.

Intent is bigger fucker than thought. Never trust. Wanted to kill Vega. Liar.

Ruler of Greed helped. Saved Vega. Payback?

Black mana scarier than thought.

I could kill you back then. I was stronger.

Apologize to mom. Hug Victoria for me. Be nicer to others. Fucking call them friends, at least in your head. Boop Biscuit´s nose.

Remember me once in a while.

Thermal energy flows from my core, and the golden flames slowly envelop him, burning off what remains. Then I destroy the small mana stone after making sure I remember every single word.

Flying once again towards the Valley, I sense a black mana orb nearby. It's much stronger and filled with much more mana than ever before. It continuously devours any mana that comes by, and it might be only me, but it feels like it’s slowly, very very slowly, starting to pull in the ambient mana around it. I don't even have to think about what could have caused it to grow like that. Only the core of the Ignition Station would have been enough.

Finally, in the Valley, or what remains of it, I find a giant crater. Its immense size and the damaged area are hard to comprehend. Whatever my duplicate did, the explosion of the core and Gaiathra combined caused all of this. For a moment, I imagine the consequences on Earth if anyone capable of something like this arrived with proper preparations.

Otherwise, there doesn't seem to be anything too useful. Gaiathra’s bones are scattered everywhere, but since I already have a Champion's bone, these don't appeal to me at all.

So, I head back, and when I teleport back inside the hiding place, I collect everything I want. Then, I accept the reward for one of the previous quests, and a lot of food and water appear in front of me, which I also take.

With all these items, I pass through the entrance without any more hesitation.

Congratulations! You have cleared the 5th floor of the Hell difficulty tutorial. Welcome to the 6th floor: Astral Prison.

You have acquired:

Skill combination token

Skill upgrade token

5000 Shards

100 stat points

Trait strengthening token

I invest 100 stat points into mana and check my status

Name: Nathaniel Gwyn
Difficulty: Hell
Floor: 6 - Astral Prison
Time left until forced return: 4y 0d 13h 22m 51s
Traits (2/3): Mana Circuit 1/3, Mana Wavelength Iris 0/3

Lvl 237
Strength: 113
Dexterity: 110
Constitution: 268
Mana (Stage 1/3 - Vast Mana): 1015 + 1015

Primary Class: Focused Channeler (Epic)
Sub-class: [Initiate of Pride]

Active skills:
Focus - Lvl 48
Mana Manipulation - Lvl 47
Perception - Lvl 43
Redistribution - Lvl 45
Resonance - Lvl 45
Mana Domain - Lvl 36
Tether - Lvl 35
Regalia - Lvl 23
Infusion - Lvl 28

Constructs:
Reinforcement (Construct)
Thermokinetic Mana Heart (Construct)
Mana Regulator (Construct)
Mana Sovereignty Mantle (Construct)
Vortex Core (Construct)

Passive skills:
Mana Reservoir (epic)
Arcane Resilience (epic)
Phoenix Embrace (epic)
Mana Overload Absorption (epic)
Cognitive Fortress (epic)

Titan's Backbone (epic) 1/3

Tokens:
Beyond Difficulty entrance token

Shards: 59,725

Well, it seems like the system rewarded me with a skill combination token for that Floor's main quest, the reward that used to be ???.

“I want to sell skill upgrade token.”

Do you really want to sell the following item for 5000 shards?

Skill upgrade token

Yes/No

I confirm and my shards increase to 64,725.

It's a nice thing to have, for sure.

Then I take a better look at the place I’ve ended up, the floor known as the Astral Prison.

It's dark, the only light coming from the surprisingly bright stars. It is also totally barren. There are no trees, no vegetation, no signs of water. Just dark, rocky terrain with a lot of pointy mountains scattered about the place. In comparison to the post-apocalyptic world overgrown by vibrant vegetation, this place feels almost depressing.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - I'm here.

Sset (Hell, group 4) - That's good. I will have Izzy launch a bunch of bright orbs every few minutes. Try to track us. Other than the twins, we are all here.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Will do.

I close the community and check the floor quest.

Floor quest:

Escape Astral Prison

Rewards:

???

Epic-grade passive skill

5000 Shards

Increased daily Community limit

Communication with your disciple for 10 minutes

Send a single item to your disciple (up to a rare grade)

Once again the floor quest has turned out to be the last thing I would have expected, as have the rewards. It seems like the system is slowly limiting the amount of shards we can receive as a reward. It's either that or the last two are expensive. There are no more stat increases anymore and once again there is a question mark in place of a reward.

Is it so the system can make them more personalized? That could be it. But given the mood I'm in right now the last two rewards are what interest me the most. Fuck, the end of a floor always leaves me like this.

I sit down on the rocky ground and sigh, looking at the starry sky. Even this barren area has some beauty to it, and never in my life have I seen such big stars, much less so clearly. In one part of the sky, I can even see what appears to be a purple nebula. This night sky is beautiful.

“Use trait strengthening token on Mana Circuit,” I say, and I allow the pain that follows to take my mind off these useless thoughts. Filled with this burning sensation, I stare at the night sky.

I could have strengthened my Mana Wavelength Iris, but I haven't even mastered them properly yet, and strengthening them could be a bad idea, stripping me of all the effort I put into being able to use them as much as I do. I’m also hoping that strengthening my Mana Circuits will help me deal with my other traits and my ever-increasing Mana. So that I can continue to ignore constitution.

Who needs to worry about the attribute imbalance at this point? For sure not me, that's for future Nathaniel to deal with.

Regardless, with my body still burning, I push myself up to my feet and then lift myself into the air, looking for Isabella's orbs. There are no monsters, no wind, and no signs of civilization as far as I can see. Though the air does feel chilly, surprisingly chilly.

Sending thermal energy through my body, I hold myself in that spot for a moment, turning around, before changing my position a few times. I move in a spiral, slowly getting further from my point of origin, looking for that signal.

When I finally notice it, I start moving, pulling my items with me. It's not as much as when I entered the 5th Floor, but there are a few rather large bags.

As I approach, I trigger a web of extremely delicate mana and it sends a signal somewhere. That trigger causes a swarm of some kind of mana constructs to fly toward me in a threatening manner. They’re basically a number of small orbs with inscriptions in them, bearing an obvious connection to their owner.

Well, it seems like Sophie may have learned a thing or two.

As my altitude drops, I finally manage to spot group 4, they’re all sitting in a circle around a bright blue flame orb, which radiates a soft blue light and heat.

Tess is already standing, with a long spear in her hand and a smile on her face. I'm sure she saw me long before the others could. Her blonde hair is shorter than it was before, but she somehow looks even more confident.

Min-Jae is at her side, looking around, searching for me. He seems… older now, it's hard to describe. He just straight-up looks more mature.

Maya, who has remained seated, yawns and says something to Sophie, who just shakes her head, in spite of her smile. Both of the girls, even in this situation, are ready for anything, but they trust the others to keep watch.

Everyone seems to be happy, to be with people who’ve shared their experiences, to finally have the chance to share it all.

I feel Izzy trying to connect to me with [Empathy] and I let her, curious to learn what kind of feelings she’ll pick up from me.

(Food!) I hear Biscuit shout and even with [Focus] active, I feel a smile climb onto my lips.

When I land, Lily charges me with a few surprisingly quick steps and stops an arm's reach away from me. For a moment, I expect a slap or hug, but instead, she stands there as if waiting for me to say something.

I look to Tess for help, but she just stands there smiling at me, and beside her, stands Izzy wiping her eyes.

Back on the 1st Floor, I thought more of myself and basically ignored most of the others, ready to toss them aside. Yet, over and over again, they held their hands out to me, despite my terrible personality.

I don’t understand why; maybe they were trying to hide behind someone stronger, maybe they’re broken like me. Maybe they are just straight-up weird.

Why would you even want to befriend someone like me? I wouldn't do that. Yet somehow, we wound up like this, and I remember the words left behind by my duplicate.

For the first time in a long time, I have people I want to call friends, I guess.

“I'm back,” I say.

Chapter 328 - 6th Floor

“No,” I say, responding to Maya, who is currently holding my damaged arcane ax.

“Come on, I’ll buy you something from the system shop worth 10 thousand shards.”

“Fifty thousand.”

“How the fuck would I even get fifty thousand shards? Ask in three to five more floors if I'm lucky.”

“Forty-nine thousand,” I prod.

At that, Maya grabs a small stone from the ground, throws it at me, and smiles before continuing to examine the ax.

I continue to pet Biscuit. Ever since I found them, he’s refused to leave my side and lays in my lap while I sit against the wall of the cliff we’ve chosen to shelter our camp. Not that I mind, the best doggo of the 6th floor deserves all the pets I can give. It's hard to believe I’ve been able to cope without him for so many weeks.

Sure, Vega is a great ESM, but there is something hard to explain when I pet this silly corgi or boop his cold nose.

Damn, I’ve missed him.

“Nat! You killed a Veil Guardian all on your own?” Min-Jae interrupts, eyes wide, in anticipation of an exciting story.

Biscuit woofs, either at him or at me for stopping petting, so I continue.

“A few. I brought a few voidsteel blades with me, so later we’ll see if we can’t get someone to make something out of them for you. By the way, you need to spend some more time training your [Telekinesis] and [Gravity Well]. I saw some scary stuff they should be able to replicate.”

“Oh, me too. I saw a Veil Guardian using strong gravity attacks against the Bastion. The Housekeeper nearly died when he focused it on her. But the guardian didn't use telekinesis or anything similar.”

I nod, “There was one more monster. I saw it wave its hand and destroy an entire city. It tore down skyscrapers like they were nothing and kept throwing building-sized projectiles at me. Scary stuff.”

The boy continues to listen as I describe a bit more of what the Veil Weaver did. Back then, I don't think I would have had a chance unless I could cooperate with my duplicate.

“What about you, Tess? Did you kill a Veil Guardian?” I ask her.

“Two of them on my own and one with the help of the Bastion,” she says. “I just needed to keep my crown charged and set some preparations in place. Then I’d just shoot them from really far away. Sophie was able to kill two of them. She even controlled one for a while.”

Sophie looks up from Izzy leaning against her, “I only controlled it for a few seconds. The Veil didn't like that at all, and it nearly killed me but the Butler and others killed it before it could finish the job.”

“That was dumb Sophie,” Izzy mumbles.

Noodle is there as well, coiled around her arm. I can tell that he’s looking at me, he’s probably hungry for my mana, but a single glance at Biscuit in my lap makes him stop. I can’t help but wonder how these two managed to establish their pecking order.

“During our last day on the Floor, I killed five,” Lily says.

Most of the eyes in the group turn to her.

Of course, it wouldn’t be that hard for her. She probably boosted herself with [Sacrifice] and she has the most powerful damage skill out of anyone in group 4, she would kill them. Her level is also getting rather close to 200, but it's still scary to think that she might be able to pull that off.

Well, it's scary, but she is our scary crazy healer, so that's fine.

The others also managed to kill a Veil Guardian but they always had assistance from the Bastion itself or the four assholes running the place, mostly the Housekeeper or the Butler.

The only people who managed to kill them on their own, whether they took them on in a straight up fight or by setting ambushes and traps, are those in Beyond. Well, other than Sophie, who I think would also do well. It's just that she already used an upgrade token, and she’s unwilling to leave Isabella for so long. Well, it's not like she needs Beyond rewards with her [Manipulation].

Of course, I killed the most Veil Guardians. My duplicate and I hunted them at every opportunity not to mention the ones I fought on my own.

But group 4 is as scary as ever.

“So Biscuit, how was your disciple?”

(Friend!)

“Oh, you liked him?”

(Food.)

“I agree. Disciples should be respectful towards their masters.”

(Food food!)

“Totally.”

(Asshole?)

“Oh no, my disciple was great.”

(Food?)

“I think it's close but you are just a tiny bit cuter than her.”

At that, he just woofs but continues wagging his short tail from side to side. Cute little rascal, I wonder how strong he got and what his disciple looked like.

“Have you guys found any monsters on this floor?” I ask.

“A few,” Tess answers me. “They don’t seem to be active at night, and they only really come out during the day. They’re all level 150 and over, and many of them rank in the two hundreds. But we know how it goes, there will always be stronger variants.”

This is such a weird setup. Isn't night usually more dangerous, shouldn’t that be when all the dangerous animals leave their hidey holes?

“Do we have any other info on the floor, what about news from the twins?”

Tess moves closer and Sophie takes over, keeping watch with her web of mana and the swarm of mana constructs.

I was able to grab one so I examine it while I listen to the others. Sophie doesn't seem to mind even though she rolled her eyes. I like how different our approach to mana can be, there is still so much to be learned.

Taking a seat next to Maya, Tess explains, “The twins are being held by the master of the Black Tower. They’ve tried to escape multiple times, but they were caught and punished…” She narrows her eyes and her expression changes, “Apparently the second in command marked them and they’re using that to track the twins.”

I don't like that either, “We will locate them and get them out.”

“We will, but carefully. Apparently, the master of the Black Tower used to be a Champion’s disciple before he was sent to Astral Prison. So far we don't know his level, but the twins have placed their estimate somewhere around 300.”

“It doesn't matter.”

Tess smiles, “I thought you would say that, Nat. As you said, it doesn't matter. We will get Aaron and Dennis back, and we’ll punish anyone who’s hurt them. I think everyone here is up for that.” She looks around.

Surprisingly, the rest of the group seems to agree with Tess. I think as time passes, the people of group 4 are beginning to bond.

“We probably won't be able to do it before the tournament, we only have fifteen hours until it starts,” I note.

“That's true,” Tess agrees with me. “We still don't know how the tournament works, but hopefully, it will allow us to come together and plan everything out without Community censorship and time limits. As for the rest of this floor, we have only bits of information from Aaron and Dennis. Apparently, it's a prison as the name implies. The entire moon serves as a dumping ground for the criminals, from multiple planets, and they’re left to fight amongst themselves or die of starvation.”

“Are there any guards?” I ask.

“We don’t know.”

“You said the twins are being kept by people from the black tower and this Black Tower has a master who presides over its functions, what is it?”

“The prisoners on this moon have created several groups in order to survive. Black Tower is one of them.”

Nothing about this floor has been what I expected.

The last floor was probably meant to illustrate the dangers of tampering with creation. Its whole purpose was to show us a world that fell at the hands of the Enchanter Guild who, in their hubris, enslaved a young divine beast. It also gave us a chance to learn more about the Pairing, enchanting, and the dangers of mana radiation.

So what is this one about? We have to escape, but how? Is it supposed to teach us about portals between planets and planetary defenses? Are we going to find something like the orbital base from the 4th floor? What about spaceships?

Well, I’m sure we will learn as the floor progresses, but currently, we’ve got the tournament looming on the horizon. After that, I will be able to enter the 3rd Beyond trial, and we need to free the twins.

Things here really refuse to get boring.

“Nat.”

I look at Lily who’s clearly the one who called out to me and take note of her hesitation.

“Did you miss m…us?” she asks in the end. For a moment she even looks vulnerable.

Lily must have grown up like Min-Jae, though she looks a bit calmer now, but of course, her separation anxiety still seems to bother her.

“Lily, don’t bully Nat, you know…” Min-Jae starts.

“Yes,” I say simply.

Multiple pairs of eyes turn to me and I slowly return each gaze. Briefly, I meet their eyes. “Yes,” I repeat.

“Fuck, how can you say that with such a straight face? Someone might fall for…” Maya mumbles quietly, looking up from the damaged arcane ax she’s been babying.

Isabella tries to connect to my feelings but I disrupt her attempt. Then I reach out and pinch Lily’s nose and shake her head slightly.

It's nice to be back.

“So, my eye totally got stronger with me, Nat!” Min-Jae happily reports. “All these waves I’ve been seeing are gravitational in nature. Look what I can do.”

He rushes and his eye shines slightly and I feel a weird burst of mana emanate from his body. Then he touches a rock as big as he is and the rock flies into the air.

Both of us stare at it as it continues to fly higher and higher, “I can do this to monsters and people too. Of course, the stronger the monster is, the harder I have to work to get through their natural barrier. At a certain point, it just won’t work no matter how much mana I spend if the monster is too strong. But when it comes to weaker monsters and objects…” a single pulse of mana is all he needs to lift a dozen similarly sized stones into the air.

“I can do that to weaker monsters even without needing to touch them, but when I touch them it works better.”

As we watch the stones he sent flying about half a mile into the air before they plummet, I start imagining what would happen if he did that to monsters or people incapable of flying or landing safely.

“Can you send them into orbit?” I ask.

Right away he steps up and he turns to me with even higher excitement, “I knew you would understand, Nat! I just thought of it a few days ago, but you figured it out immediately!” he says, speaking faster, happy to share it all.

He continues, “Right now I can’t, but I’m sure I’ll be able to in the future. Just imagine sending monsters to orbit or launching them into space. Or I could lift them into the air and let them crash to the ground.”

“Tess, Nat is at it again and Kim is getting riled up,” Maya calls from somewhere nearby.

“Min-Jae, my boy. Why would you stop there? Imagine if you could lift a rock as big as a building into the air and then increase its gravity and send it crashing into your enemies. Or perhaps you don’t use a building, maybe you use high density metal projectiles, the sheer kinetic energy behind it would be terrifying. Did you hear about kinetic bombardment?”

“I did not!”

“I saw it on TV, it was some old army project. Tungsten rods or some such. As tall as telephone poles and probably as thick as Biscuit.”

A woof sounds from somewhere nearby.

“They wanted to put these rods in orbit with satellites and then send them crashing to the ground, using gravity alone. Supposedly they would reach speeds as high as Mach 8 and deal as much damage as a small nuclear bomb.”

“Isn’t that overkill, Nat?”

“You have to think big. With your gravity skill and telekinesis, you might be able to do it even without putting them into orbit.”

“I will think about it. You really like using your surroundings to fight. Whether you’re using gravity, falling rain, or wind to generate kinetic energy or absorbing it from pre-charged orbs, I’ve noticed that.”

Well, he is not wrong, “It gives me more firepower quicker. I told this to my disciple as well, but you should always try to gain an advantage, don't bother trying to fight honorably. That's an idiot’s game. But now I need to accept one of my rewards. Tess, will you keep watch?”

“Sure, enjoy.”

Thankful, I move away from the group somewhat, filter out their conversations, and accept my skill combination token.

You have used an active skill combination token. Please pick two skills from the following that you would like to combine.

Warning! Combining two skills will reduce the level of the acquired skill.

Warning! Combining incompatible skills may result in worse skills.

Warning! After combining these skills, it will be extremely difficult to reacquire the skills used in the resulting combination.

List of available skills to combine:

Mana Manipulation - Lvl 47
Perception - Lvl 43
Tether - Lvl 35
Regalia - Lvl 23
Infusion - Lvl 28

Five skills available. [Focus], [Redistribution], [Resonance], and [Mana Domain] are not here at all.

I once again wonder if they are skills that are unavailable to combine or if they are higher tiered than the active skill combination token. If there even is something like hidden rarities as I’ve taken to thinking of late.

[Mana Manipulation] with [Perception]

[Mana Manipulation] with [Tether]

[Mana Manipulation] with [Regalia]

[Mana Manipulation] with [Infusion]

[Perception] with [Tether]

[Perception] with [Regalia]

[Perception] with [Infusion]

[Tether] with [Regalia]

[Tether] with [Infusion]

[Regalia] with [Infusion]

Well, the last time I didn't even consider using [Mana Manipulation] given the way I relied on it, but this time I’ll keep it on the menu, I think I should be fine, even without it.

Let's consider our options.

Chapter 329 - Brilliant idea

[Mana Manipulation] with [Perception]

This combination could create something akin to my Mana Wavelength Iris, so this is most likely a pass for now. It could be great, but I already have my trait, which is more than good enough for that.

[Mana Manipulation] with [Tether]

Sounds interesting, but I really like [Tether], and I still don’t think I’ve explored it properly. So, this one is also a pass.

[Mana Manipulation] with [Regalia]

This one sounds the most interesting so far. I will think about it.

[Mana Manipulation] with [Infusion]

This is one to seriously consider, though I suspect that it’ll just create a stronger, more mana-focused version of [Regalia]. Or maybe it will allow me to infuse mana more easily? In higher amounts? Like an improved version of my former skill [Mana Surge]?

It's not very enticing.

[Perception] with [Tether]

Also most likely a pass because I want to keep [Tether].

[Perception] with [Regalia]

This one is a straight-up weird combination, and I can imagine a worse skill coming out of it.

[Perception] with [Infusion]

Better [Infusion] maybe, a higher version of it? Though that could end badly as well.

[Tether] with [Regalia]

It could be interesting, but once again, nope.

[Tether] with [Infusion]

Also nope.

[Regalia] with [Infusion]

And once again we have something truly interesting.

So, in the end, it's either [Mana Manipulation] with [Regalia] or [Regalia] with [Infusion]. Either seems to be a good option.

Would the first option make a more controllable version of [Regalia], so perhaps the second will make a stronger version of it?

These options seem fairly similar. When I did this before, I gave up [Mana Infusion] and got [Infusion] in exchange. It would be cool if it came out the same, and I could get [Manipulation] instead of [Mana Manipulation], but unfortunately, I don't think that will happen. I just don't have the same kind of talent as Sophie, in the same way, it's hard for me to do healing. I’ve even tried to get other forms of Primordial energy, especially Tess’s lightning, but I have failed.

Now that reminds me of something.

Tess combined her [Lightning Armor] with [Lightning Manipulation] and got [Storm Crown]. Does that mean that if I combine [Regalia] and [Mana Manipulation], I’ll wind up with something similar? That could be cool.

At this point, I can manipulate mana pretty well on my own, and the skill mostly serves as a definitive numerical value for my skill level. Losing the skill would, of course, be noticeable, but I’m confident that I could adapt within a few weeks.

That's what I like about this. With all the things I’ve done, I should have a dozen more skills, but for some reason, the system doesn't give them out quite so easily. Though that also means that I can do some stuff without having the skills, so that's cool.

The system is clearly a mess, it’s highly situational and individualized, given the way the rules change slightly from person to person.

Well, let's hope things work out like they did for Tess. It might also force me to improve my manipulation of mana without the skill.

“I want to combine [Mana Manipulation] with [Regalia].”

Congratulations, you have successfully combined [Mana Manipulation] and [Regalia]! A new skill has been created.

You have acquired [Mana Crown].

[Mana Crown - lvl 0 > Mana Crown - lvl 9]

I'm sure Tess back then got it to level 2, so at least that's something. But it also irks me a bit. Tess got her crown earlier than I did. Does that mean I'm behind? Is my new skill stronger than her crown? It better be, Tess is just as competitive as me when it comes down to it.

First, let's check my mana. As I use Mana Cycling, I quickly notice a difference. It's not horrible, but it's there, and it's quite noticeable.

Well, it's time to get back to the grind. Getting a skill back seems nearly impossible, even with the system warning of that during my use of the first skill combination token, but that's fine. Only casuals from other difficulties rely on skills; I will learn on my own, yup.

Let's check the new skill then.

As it activates, I feel a big chunk of my mana move and then form a halo over my head made of pale blue mana. Gradually, that halo hovering over my head expands a bit and changes shape, taking the form of a simple crown.

I notice Tess glancing at me as she mouths, “I got it first.”

Tsk.

Focusing on my new skill, I examine its functions and effects. So far as I can tell, it's basically an empty mana reservoir similar to the version that Tess has, though hers stores lightning.

It's not unlike the orbs I’ve been filling with my mana and Primordial energies, but unlike the orbs, the crown's reservoir seems to be massive and optimized for mana. Of course, the question is how much I can fill it without destabilizing the whole thing. It's also more stable than the orbs, so filling it and keeping it running should be easier.

As I examine it more, I notice that controlling my mana seems to be a bit easier now, as if the crown is filling the gap left by [Mana Manipulation] while I have it active. The same goes for [Regalia], I'm still able to create armor and weapons at the same level as before without any extra effort.

More testing is needed to see the difference between the old skills and the current one. But there is something that interests me more. I want to see how the crown interacts with my Mana Wavelength Iris and the black mana.

I activate my eyes, and there is a small difference. It's hard to explain, but it's as if the crown has made them easier to control. It's like it’s dominating the mana and anything related to it.

It's not a very big difference, just a tiny bit, and I can't help but be a bit disappointed. But it's fine, my strengthened Mana Circuit has already helped with my eyes a lot, and my passives are doing their part as well. The problem probably lies with the low level of the skill as well. My eyes are a powerful trait so they might require more.

Now then, black mana.

I activate [Focus] and, with the help of [Redistribution] and [Infusion], I fill the pale blue orb with a lot of mana and continue to compress it. It's a bit harder now without [Mana Manipulation], but nothing I can’t fix with some training.

When a golf ball sized black orb forms over my palm, I get a bit more attention from group 4, but too curious, I ignore them and continue.

What I notice right away is that [Mana Crown] is reacting to the black mana. The crown and black mana seem to be at war with each other.

Then I get a brilliant idea.

Should I? It could be dangerous.

No, I'm sure it WILL be dangerous.

But I really want to try.

“I will be right back,” I quickly tell the others and push myself far away.

When I land, I’m surrounded by the same darkness as before, lit only by the beautiful bright stars overhead complemented by the giant purple nebula that takes up a third of the sky. Under that night sky, I use the method I learned in collaboration with my duplicate on the fifth floor to dominate a small amount of the black mana. It's harder to do it outside of my body, without my passives and circuits to help, but I activate my eyes and push through.

Then, slowly, carefully, I take that dominated small part of mana into my crown.

In a blink, the blue crown hovering over my head turns pitch black.

Then I start losing control over it. At first gradually, but it keeps getting harder to control faster and faster.

I fight the process, giving my all.

[Mana Crown - lvl 9 > Mana Crown - lvl 10]

[Mana Crown - lvl 10 > Mana Crown - lvl 11]

[Mana Crown - lvl 11 > Mana Crown - lvl 12]

[Mana Crown - lvl 12 > Mana Crown - lvl 13]

[Mana Crown - lvl 13 > Mana Crown - lvl 14]

[Mana Crown - lvl 14 > Mana Crown - lvl 15]

But no matter how much I try, how much pressure my construct or passives work against it, the crown turned black judges me unworthy to control its power… for now. The black crown reaches into my body and starts absorbing my mana in defiance of my attempts to stop it, once again slowly, but then quicker.

[Mana Crown - lvl 15 > Mana Crown - lvl 16]

It slows for a moment but then speeds up again and when I decide to try to cancel the skill, it refuses to listen, akin to how black mana behaves, just much more strong-willed now.

My body's mana is gone, all of that big mana pool taken against my will by this unholy abomination over my head.

With nearly suicidal fascination, I watch as it even reaches into my Mana Reservoir and starts emptying that as well.

How the fuck is this even possible.

So interesting.

I quickly tie an anchor to a mana orb, shoot it toward the others, and then fly further and further away from them, even teleporting through anchors multiple times.

When I finally stop, I find myself really far away from where I started and I’ve depleted most of the mana in my reservoir, but I finally manage to remove the crown from my head and throw it away.

[Mana Crown - lvl 16 > Mana Crown - lvl 17]

It tries to reach me, to take the rest of my mana from my reservoir, but I move further away, and it seems like the crown can't move on its own. It just hovers there eerily, slowly spinning. The connection it had to me disappears and as if unable to maintain its properties without me, it finally stops, without any mana left for it to absorb.

Damn, what a terrifying thing.

I love it.

The way it absorbs mana is scary and it doesn't even feel like its real power, just a side effect created by its combination with black mana.

Well, I can observe it a bit longer. If it's like a black orbs, it will start crumbling after being deprived of mana for a while. Well, with as much as it did absorb, it will take a while, but…

The black crown shifts through a series of colors in quick succession. From black to pale blue to darker. Streaks of light blue appear, quickly joined by purple streaks. Then the crown turns bright white.

And as terror-struck as I am fascinated, I watch it all happen.

Then I teleport away as quickly as I can.

I land next to group 4 once more, only for them to pepper me with questions, I turn in the direction of the crown. Wondering if we’re far enough away. I flew a pretty good way out, didn’t I?

A bright white light appears on the horizon. At first, it is the size of a fireplace, then it quickly grows larger as the crown releases all the mana it has collected, unable to maintain its shape without its connection to me.

There is no way that’s going to reach us, right?

The light becomes brighter and I check my mana stat.

Mana (Stage 1/3 - Vast Mana): 1015 + 1015

Then I remember that my Mana Reservoir basically triples that amount.

I reach into said Mana Reservoir and move the rest of my mana, creating a pointy barrier in front of us that should divert most of the explosion, though we will still take some of the impact.

“I might need some help here,” I call to the others.

There must be something in my voice because they immediately rush to join me in my efforts. Everyone who can, moves to reinforce, creating barriers of their own or using support skills. Sophie even shows off her manipulation of the earth forming a sizable mass of rocks into a wall in front of us, which she proceeds to strengthen with her web.

The horizon turns bright white and then a light flashes, illuminating a huge area around us, turning the night into the brightest day. Every stone, every inch of the cliff face looks like someone is shining a massive flashlight across its surface.

Then the heat follows and even as far away as we are the heat wave crashes into us, slamming into Sophie’s rock wall and baking the stone. The shockwave follows next and I feel pressure against my barrier and pieces of the wall crumble, while some of the weaker barriers the others made start to flicker.

All of this is followed by the deafening roar of the explosion, just before the Mana Radiation hits us. Similar to what I felt back in the Veil Ignition Station, next to the cracked core. It’s not nearly as strong and it’s not dangerous to anyone here, but it's there and I can feel it hanging in the air.

Lastly, with Mana Radiation arrives a weak field, which seems to be an attempt at disrupting mana. It's weak and barely noticeable, but with my experience, I can sense it.

Gradually, the light and the heat dissipate and we lower our barriers after making sure that it's safe.

We were so far away, and yet this happened. Could I do that on my own, by compressing mana into an orb? I don't think so. I wouldn't be able to keep that much mana under my control or collect it quickly enough.

Could I do that with the help of items, perhaps some epic mana stones filled with my mana? Probably yes, but I would need help to create such an item, like when the Craft Guild on the 4th floor helped me create the ant obliterator. But even then it wasn’t this potent. There was some Mana Radiation, but it was even weaker than what happened here and there was no disruptive wave following that. I mean it was almost like an EMP.

And that’s not even what it's meant for, it was just a side effect of losing control of a combination of two incompatible or exceedingly compatible things.

I love it.

“Who wants to check the crater?” I turn to Group 4.

Huh, why are they giving me those expressions? Aren't they curious?

Chapter 330 - Start of the 1st tournament

POV Tess Hansen

Nat and the others stand around the crater created by his skills. “A small accident”, he calls it. Kim and Lily are following close behind, though I notice that he seems to be a bit disappointed.

“I thought it would be a bigger explosion. Was most of the mana wasted? Or is it…” he mumbles under his breath.

Well, it's Nat, so I'm not even surprised, as I observe the crater and remember the explosion and how far away we were when we felt its effect.

Could I have created something like this? Probably not, I mostly focus on increasing single-target damage, that's why I picked the Potency mana upgrade. Nat could probably do similar damage to a single target, but I believe that mine is stronger; it's just that his skills and their applications are… exotic.

As I watch Lily and Kim follow him like little ducklings, I can't help but smile. It feels nice for the group to be together once more.

“That's a nice smile,” Maya says as she stands by my side.

“Thanks,” I say, smiling at her as well. “It's nice to have the band all together, well, most of us.”

“Dennis and Aaron will be back soon, and then it is group 4 at full power once again. After months,” Maya sighs and looks at Biscuit as he floats around Isabella, who, with a serious expression, tells him that she could create a crater like this as well.

“Yes, and when they get back, it'll be us against the world once again,” I say.

“Heh, so silly.”

“I know, right? So what do you think of this?” I ask, gesturing at Nat.

“The crater or the guy?”

“The guy. Things like the crater are old hat at this point, and they come as a package with him.” As I say that, I declare the space around Maya and me as mine, preventing our conversation from leaking out.

He notices right away as I create the field, and a golden light flashes in his eyes before he turns back to Kim and continues to explain something.

“He seems a bit more approachable. Even his expression is softer when he talks to the others,” Maya says.

“So, it’s not just me.”

“You know him better, so what do you think?”

I take a moment to think about the answer, “Nat is… well, his upbringing has been a bit difficult, so he likes to close himself off and keep to himself. I think having to take care of his disciple on the 5th floor has helped him realize a few things.”

“I can imagine that with the way the system chose our disciples. Mine was way too similar to me, Tess; it was almost scary. As if I was seeing myself as a kid. How was yours?”

“Mine was the same. It was like looking in a mirror, but I'm happy for that. It made me realize how cute I used to be and how well I've grown,” with a smile, I poke her side and then dodge her playful attack.

I continue, “As for our walking bomb, I'm happy to see him like this. You might laugh at me, but I think out of all of us, he might be the most normal person here.”

Maya shoots a few small mana projectiles at me, and I evaporate them with my lightning.

Unbelieving, she lifts her eyebrow, “I know he keeps saying that, but Tess, you at least, should know better than to fall for it. The guy is bonkers. But now then, do you still have that snack you stole from the Butler? I will trade you a few rare-grade mana stones for it.”

I partially filter out Min-Jae’s and Lily’s conversation and examine the crater once more.

How is it so small!

From the way the shockwave hit us, I expected the damage to be bigger. There was no implosion either.

Did most of it get sent upward? Is the rock here more durable? Was there too much mana for an implosion to occur, maybe it was the lack of negative pressure?

The smaller crater could also be because it was just compressed mana without any skill infusions or instructions. That could be it.

As for the crown and black mana, I’ve already thought about what went wrong. It's highly likely that the crown should dominate mana, maybe even the black stuff; it's just that the level is too low or, maybe I used too much mana when I created the black orb. Both of these problems seem to be similar in nature so in the future, they could probably work pretty nicely together.

Imagine a crown infused with black mana absorbing the mana from the attacks being thrown at me and filtered through the crown to change the frequency so that I can use said mana. Later on I might be able to use the crown as a medium to absorb ambient mana.

I already have a few ideas, inspired by the ethercrystal shortsword I got from that guy, Elydor. I wish I could meet him one more time… to talk.

The combination won’t be viable for a while yet. Pushing black mana into the crown gave it easier access to my own mana. It continued to absorb my mana even through the Mantle and my natural barrier, it usually wouldn’t be capable of that, at least not at this level.

Then it even absorbed mana from my Mana Reservoir and I find that highly interesting. Very, very interesting.

Damn, this shit is going to be good. I just need some training and levels.

That's when Lily moves closer and pokes my side.

I don't let her know, but I carefully strengthen my body and even then I feel it. Once again, I'm reminded of the physical power of the muscle heads in group 4. The heretics that didn't go full mana.

“You said you missed us, did you mean me as well?” she asks carefully.

But I can see where she’s going. She knows the answer but wants to hear me say it out loud. I don't mind all that much, it's not that difficult to say, but something in the way this petite girl looks at me makes me want to tease her.

“Oh, yes, I missed Biscuit,” I answer before turning around, and heading to the bottom of the crater.

“H-hey!” she shouts and quickly follows me, nearly immediately appearing by my side with a quick movement.

Did she use [Sacrifice] or is it her own strength?

“So you said you upgraded your Constitution?” I say changing the subject.

She pouts for a moment, but happy even for that conversation she answers, “Yes! It will make my body much tougher. But the main reason is that the stronger the body I have, the more I get from [Sacrifice].”

Lily is still somewhat awkward. We haven’t seen each other in weeks so it will take a bit to get as comfortable around each other as before, but it's also fun to see her struggle.

Am I the bully here? Am I the asshole as Earth's future Absolute declared so long ago and my first minion confirmed?

“Any improvements to your usage of the skill or [Reconstruction]?”

Her eyes shine at the opportunity and she gestures for me to look.

She uses her skill and slowly her face changes, her nose becomes a bit longer, her cheeks sharper and even the shape of her eyes changes. Her lips grow bigger and her chin moves too.

In the end, there is a small but clear resemblance to Tess.

“I can reconstruct my body and face a bit. Though I don't know how to change the color of my hair, yet, but I will get there,” she declares proudly.

Is she using such a top-notch skill to do magical plastic surgery? Did she spend her time on the 5th floor learning that? What the heck? If she is going to waste such a great healing skill like that she should give it to me!

“All those small changes taught me a much greater degree of control. I leveled so much!” She says quickly after seeing my expression.

Oh, that makes a bit more sense.

“And look!” Without any hesitation, she rolls up her sleeve, and a dagger made of gray mana forms in her hand, just before she cuts her arm off at the elbow.

The gray mana in the dagger then lashes out at the arm as it passes, disintegrating it. Min-Jae, standing nearby, pauses whatever he was doing and has an expression I can understand.

I watch as with visible speed, Lily’s arm grows back. She doesn't use [Sacrifice], it's just her healing skill, and it only takes her a few seconds.

The petite girl smiles cutely, “I can control [Disintegration] a bit more, and if I want, I can ensure anything the skill touches becomes more difficult or nearly impossible to heal. Well, it's not like I need it that much. Usually, when I hit something with [Disintegration], it dies, so anti-healing isn’t needed.”

“Hehe, I see.”

“That’s cool, right?”

“Very cool, Miss Lily! And yes, I missed you as well.”

“Oh,” a slight blush appears on her face. “Nice try!” she giggles. “But I’m still mad at you for leaving me alone. I can understand, Tess explained it to me, but I can't help it!”

Should I deploy the hug strat? She is weak against it. But somehow, that feels cheap, “That’s fine with me. Let's just give it time, and we will see.”

After a short silence, she answers, “Yes, let's do that.”

It looks like the 5th floor helped her. She seems to have calmed down a bit and she’s not as clingy. That’s good to see.

(Food!) a message sounds in our heads.

“We’re coming,” I shout back and gesture for Lily and Min-Jae to follow me.

As we get out, we rejoin the others who already made a small circle around Isabella’s fire orb, taking out food and water.

Tess starts talking first, “We now don't need as much food or water as we did on Earth, hell we can last days without it, but let's be careful. It seems like food is going to be scarce here, that is if we don't want to eat the monsters, and most of them don't seem very tasty. As for water, we haven’t found any yet, so let's go over our reserves.”

“Water shouldn't be a problem.” I show Tess my epic water bottle. It's filled with multiple swimming pools worth of water that I filtered in the Sanctuary.

Hearing my explanation, she says. “See if you can use it. The system might have blocked its use.”

When I do so, it works just fine.

“Great, so the water won't be a problem, and with the food we have, we should be able to last comfortably for multiple weeks.”

(Food!)

“A week or two less if we have to feed Biscuit as well,” Min-Jae jokes, and I’m sure he gets called an asshole for that by our cute doggo. Deservedly so.

Biscuit wobbles on his short legs in front of me. His expression gives the impression that he’s asking if I can believe such rude behavior, and then he climbs into my lap. There, I sneakily feed him a few small pieces of the dried deer meat I made on the 5th Floor.

Slowly, hours pass, and the tournament is coming closer. Everyone takes a few hours of sleep while others keep watch, and stories are told.

We joke, we tease each other, and we fight over whose disciple is stronger or cuter. We theorize about how we will find them or get the coordinates to their worlds.

Even in the cold area and lit by light from the stars only, it feels somewhat cozy.

Biscuit's small body is comfortably warm and heavier than before. Lily is sneaking and moving closer to me. Maya teases Min-Jae, and Sophie refuses to leave Isabella's side. Noodle seems to be annoyed by that but doesn't show any aggression towards her. Smart small danger noodle.

But the happiest of all seems to be Tess. She is quiet most of the time, but she has that smile on her lips as her golden hair seems to shine in the starlight.

So we wait, and then the notification finally comes.

Congratulations on your 1st year in the tutorial!

The tournament preparations have been concluded.

During the duration of the tournament of the 5th round of the tutorial, all Floor quests will be put on hold.

The tournament will have a 7-day duration, and you can decide to participate or not.

More information will be given after entering the tournament floor.

Would you like to participate in the 1st tournament of the 5th round of the Earth's tutorial?

Yes/No

“Does it mean side quests can still be done?” Sophie asks. “Or maybe it will pause the floor fully, and all natives and monsters will disappear?”

“It's possible that side quests will still be available for people who decide not to enter the tournament,” Tess joins in. “That would mean that the system will either block the progression of Floor quests or remove the natives or places you need to visit for them. It should be capable of that.”

“The seven-day duration is interesting as well,” I say, adding my piece. “That probably means there will be one long event or we’ll have multiple events.”

Min-Jae asks, “Do you think there will be any duels or will it be something else? What if we aren’t able to meet each other, and only see each other during the duels?”

“In that case, I want to apologize ahead of time. I won't hold back,” Tess says, smiling brightly.

Please decide in the following 30 seconds if you would like to join the tournament.

“Someone's impatient,” Sophie sighs and then grabs Isabella's hand. “In case we get split, try to find me, okay? I will be using our signal if that happens.”

“I have Noodle; I will be safe, Soph!”

“First place is mine,” I tell Tess.

“We shall see,” she says, returning my gaze.

The time ticks down, and with a small bag of a few important items and a damaged arcane ax in my hand, I click yes. The rest of the things stay on this floor, buried deep underground and hidden to be retrieved when we come back.

I don't even feel the effects of the teleportation and find myself in a different place. The bright sun makes me squint my eyes.

Around me, I hear small birds sing, the sky is beautifully blue, and the gentle breeze moves through the leaves of the trees all around me. The air smells like summer.

Then I sense a presence behind me.

Mana rushes through my already strengthened body, and I swing the ax in my hand, ready to redirect it if needed.

As my body tilts, my shifting point of view reveals a thin girl with messy brown hair and lively eyes.

She ducks under the ax and tries to stab me with the dagger in her hand. It's a playful move, but extremely quick.

Kinetic energy explodes into the area around me, and sensing that, she aborts the attack. With an even higher speed and three nimble jumps, she moves behind just out of reach. In the process, she easily dodges the few small orbs I launch at her.

Then there she stands, her lively eyes observing me. There is no text over her head, identifying her as one of the other tutorial attendees.

But just the way she hid her mana from me is scary. I couldn't feel it until she was nearly touching me. Even now, as I look at her, she is barely different from the tree next to her when it comes to sensing her presence. And that speed.

“Who are you?” I ask.

Lowering her guard, she just shrugs her shoulders. Then she lifts up one of her fingers gesturing for me to wait and nimbly moves towards one of the bushes and breaks off a small thin branch.

She takes a few steps closer, not worried at all, and draws into the dirt on the ground.

(;-_-)ノ

Haaa, is no one here normal?

“Tacita?” I ask.

She nods energetically, happy for my guess, her brown hair bouncing around her head as she does so.

The tournament is a competitive base, but also an opportunity to meet your fellow tutorial attendees.

In one day the events will start, until then please enter the common area.

There are no monsters or natives, allowing other tutorial attendees to get to know each other.

Death is impossible on the tournament floor.

Enjoy your first tournament!

I look at the woman next to me who is still reading the notification. She is the first Beyonder I’ve met other than Tess and Lily, so I'm curious. So far she is the same as she was in the Community and refuses to talk. She only uses emoticons.

My theory that I'm the most normal here is getting stronger even as I meet more and more people.

“I'm Noname, you may have seen me talking in the Beyond community.”

She nods a few times and does some hand signs. Sign language? Is she mute?

Seeing my expression, she just smiles weakly, as if not expecting me to understand.

Well, it doesn't matter that much. The tournament has finally started and even though it's not what I expected, I feel myself getting excited.

I can't wait to see people from Hell and other difficulties.

POV Tess Hansen

We got split again. At this point it’s starting to get annoying how often the tutorial does this.

“Hello friend, my name is Gareth. I'm happy to finally see someone outside of my group,” the man in front of me smiles friendilly.

He is tall, muscular, and has a face that seems like the kind you see on superheroes. The man is wearing full plate armor made of silver metal. I don't see any weapons on him, but the armor itself feels like it’s at least mid epic grade.

“Hello Gareth, I'm Sset, we’ve spoken.”

“Oh, a fellow Beyond explorer!” he says excitedly. “It's nice to finally meet you. I hope we get along!” he says energetically and with a smile.

Right away I know Nathaniel is going to hate this guy.

POV Lily Chen

The man in front of me doesn't move. Even his expression is neutral. But the way he stands makes me put my guard up.

Even though he is missing his right arm judging by the empty sleeve where it once was, he feels very dangerous. And there is a beautiful sword on his hip. The sword is broken, and half of the blade’s missing, yet he’s still carrying it.

His face is calm, even pretty, he has a small birthmark under the left corner of his left eye. He has long black hair tied into a ponytail and very light green eyes.

“Are you a healer?” he asks.

How does he know that?

“And if I am?”

“Then I will ask you to restore my arm. If you are capable of that, I'm willing to offer a trade.” He pauses, his eyes observing me, “Are you his healer? Grumpy?”

I get ready to use [Sacrifice], “Savant?”

His expression changes and he nods.

Chapter 331 - Channeler

I decide to land rather than fly any further, and once I have I proceed to walk uphill towards some buildings I saw when I was flying earlier. Tacita seems to be amazed by my ability to fly and even claps for me when I land.

As we walk, she seems to become a bit more comfortable, neither of us making any attempt to speak. That makes me realize that I may have found a kindred spirit, a fellow introvert.

We take the time to enjoy the nice weather and the pretty forest as we pass by. Even the sound of the birds is calming, It reminds me of Earth. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this floor was made specifically to resemble Earth.

As I’ve been checking the tournament status, I’ve noticed something interesting.

Participants in the tournament:

Easy difficulty - 1290

Normal difficulty - 802

Hard Difficulty - 231

Hell difficulty - 31

Beyond - 6

When I compare it to the numbers I saw the last time, I come to the conclusion that a few people from Hell difficulty are missing, a few scores of people from Easy and Normal difficulty are not here, and only one person is missing from Beyond. Tess, Lily, Tacita, and I are here and Savant and Gareth aren’t likely to skip out. So the 1st Beyonder probably decided not to join.

I find that interesting and wonder what kind of reason he could have.

Tacita catches my attention and gestures to me in sign language, then points in a direction.

When I search the area with my senses, I notice a presence belonging to a couple of people who seem to have mana signatures on the weaker end of the scale. Unfortunately, it seems like I’ll be meeting more people before I can regroup with the others and let them deal with it.

Still, I'm curious, so I head in their direction, followed by the thin young woman.

I take notice as she moves extremely quietly. She makes not a single sound as she walks, releasing no mana at all. She’s even suppressing her heat signature and I can't sense her heartbeat either. It's as if she is not there. And that fascinates me.

“Hello!” Shouts a blonde man with gentle brown eyes, waving at us with a smile as he rushes to meet us as another man follows behind him. “What do you think of the tournament? Seems promising, doesn't it?” he inquires.

I don’t respond and Tacita doesn’t seem to be any more forthcoming than I, and upon seeing this he chuckles nervously. The young man is extremely handsome. By that, I mean supermodel level handsome. Like damn, isn't it illegal for a man to look like that? He could easily work as a model or an actor.

Good for him.

It pisses me off. Should I bully him?

“I'm Channeler from Easy difficulty and this is Oren from Normal difficulty!”

Oh… damn.

“I'm Noname from Hell and this is Tacita, also from Hell.”

“Noname!” his eyes widen and he takes a few steps closer and his bearing changes a bit. Like a chameleon, he adapts to his surroundings and he almost seems to shift his behavior specifically to deal with me.

I’ve spoken to Channeler the most out of anyone else from Easy difficulty, and from what he’s said, he’s been putting as many points into mana as he can get away with. Of course, not to the same extent as me, but even that small fact serves to raise my esteem for him by multiple degrees over the majority of the others.

In a calmer voice, he continues, “It’s such a coincidence to meet you here. I want to thank you for all the advice you’ve given me. I appreciate it and I'm happy to meet a kindred spirit,” he smirks and reaches out to me with his right hand.

I grab and shake the offered hand, “It's fine.”

“As you say! But damn, you two from Hell difficulty are really good at hiding your mana, I can't sense it at all!”

I decide not to complain about his awkward attempts at probing our mana. It's not smooth at all, and the feeling is more reminiscent of a lash from a wet towel than a subtle probe.

"Don’t mind Tacita, she doesn't like to talk," I tell him when I see he is looking toward her.

Quickly understanding, he nods, "Noted. Though Noname, you’re fairly close to what I was imagining. Though I did expect you to be missing more pieces from the way Grumpy trashed your passive in the Community."

"Grumpy likes to joke." For the moment, I’ve decided to avoid pushing for any more information. I want to ask for his level, skill levels, and a lot of other things like the rarity of gear and such. But I kind of like the guy, though I only really know him from the Community, and it would be rude to ask such personal questions about his power level.

I’ll find someone to ask later. There is no need to hurry with a whole free day before the events start. And Channeler seems useful, really useful. He seems to be extroverted, but he seems to have a knack for reading people and adjusting his behavior.

A high-level extrovert class like Tess.

He could be useful in the future. Especially with his face. People tend to be more trusting of a person with spades of confidence and a pretty face. I will have to point him out to Tess.

As we walk, he continues the conversation, never too much, just a simple sentence here and there. Even Tacita seems comfortable, and the other guy whose name I’ve already forgotten is trailing behind.

"I wonder what the events will be like. There’ll be duels for sure. Surely someone from Hell is going to win. Or maybe we’ll be separated by difficulty."

"There’ll probably be events for each difficulty as well, it wouldn't be fair if the system put someone from Easy difficulty against someone from Hell."

He nods, "That's true. I wonder how many Easy difficulty people you would need to beat one of you from Hell."

Then he asks about mana, and I find myself talking a bit more, it's certainly a subject that I enjoy. So I give him advice and explain some things. Honestly, it feels almost like explaining things to Vega all over again, and in honor of my good mood, I also give him a small mana stone with inscriptions for training.

"But that's a rare grade mana stone, are you sure you want to give it to me?" Channeler asks carefully.

"Just take it, It would sell for a few shards at most. It's almost not worth it."

"What do you mean it’s not worth it? Do you know how rare items like this are in Easy?" He pauses, seeing my expression, "I can only guess you don’t. I can tell you that I’ve only ever seen one a few times, and I don't think anyone from Easy has a rare grade weapon or armor."

"But it's only 200 shards to buy in the system shop," I note.

"Noname, I have 150 shards and I’ve been saving up ever since we started the tutorial."

I check my shards.

Shards: 64,725

Am I rich?

"Okay, let's make a deal. If we meet people, you make sure they don’t annoy me, and I’ll buy you some rare gear before the tournament ends. You can even pick something in upper rare grade."

He stays quiet for a while and then quietly asks, "There are more grades within the rare grade?"

That poor guy. "Yes, there are low, mid, and upper grades within each grade. It doesn’t matter if it's rare, epic, or arcane."

"A-arcane? Epic?"

Oh boy.

"Ignore that for now. I will give you a rare grade item if you tell me what level..."

"I'm level 43! My highest level skill is level 8, it’s one of the highest in my group! I have three active skills and two passives!" He seems to be proud, even happy at the level he reached.

I stop him before he can continue. If he continues, I will only pity him more. "Okay, that's enough. Here, take this," out of my bag I take a low rare amulet that creates a barrier around the user.

Channeler just stares at it as he holds it in his hand. It's as if he can't believe I actually did it, and his eyes move as he keeps reading the description.

Under his nose, he smiles weakly, "Of course, the economy is different for people from Hell. Thank you," he says when he lifts his eyes up.

This time his voice is calmer and even his expression changes, "Noname, I wonder, are you looking for a colleague? Once we get out of the tutorial."

Oh? Interesting character, is he not?

"I will introduce you to Sset; she deals with things like this," I say, deciding to dump him on Tess. It might add a bit of work to her plate, but I will make sure to pay her back. I always do.

"Thank you." Channeler smiles, and I look away. It should be illegal for men to be so handsome. I don't consider myself bad-looking, but this?

I glance at him again, and he still has a small smile on his lips. His blonde hair is messy, but with his face, even that looks good. The lighting is perfect as well as if he were framed in time, waiting for someone to take a photo to put on a fashion magazine.

It pisses me off. Should I take the amulet I gave him?

"Let's go," I order.

Then I take the lead, with Channeler right behind and the other guy from Normal difficulty nearby. Tacita follows at the tail, stopping from time to time, to enjoy the breeze with closed eyes, only to rejoin us with a few nimble steps.

A Dexterity build? Maybe some kind of assassin judging by how subdued her presence is. I just hope she doesn't have an invisibility skill; that would be too much. My plan to declare invisibility illegal is still in effect. Anyone who uses one will be punished, and monsters with Phantom in their name will be killed on sight.

As we move closer, more people join our group, each welcomed in turn by Channeler, who seems to have great social skills and a never-ending well of energy. He is friendly, but not too nosy, and sometimes even mentions that I'm from Hell difficulty, which seems to take care of anyone who might become a problem.

Yup, I need to tell Tess to hire him; this guy will make a great shield… face of… Well, of whatever we need. Maybe Tess will decide to found a guild when we return to Earth. Maybe she’ll even take over a country or two. Channeler, as of now, seems like the perfect person to be our public face. Handsome people sure have it easy.

That's also when we meet the first people from Hard difficulty. Two guys in decent-looking armor.

When Channeler talks to them, they laugh at him and push him away before he mentions this growing group of people has members from Hell.

"Nice picnic you guys have here. But aren't you too friendly, walking around and holding hands?" one of them laughs. "This is a tournament, for fuck’s sake, so fucking act like it!"

His other friend smirks like a man who’s used to throwing his weight around. Coincidentally they stop near Tacita, who has her eyes closed, enjoying the sun's warmth on her face. When they enter her reach, she opens her eyes and tilts her head curiously.

"What are you looking at, scrawny? Want to get punched in the face?" he steps closer, reaching his hand to put it on her shoulder. "People with weak presence like you should..."

Before he says anything else, Tacita's hand moves like a flash; only I seem to be able to follow the motion, and even then barely so.

The surprised man staggers back and opens his mouth to shout something. Instead of words, bloody foam escapes his mouth, and he just now realizes there is a dagger embedded in his neck and grabs it. In sheer horror, his eyes expand.

The guy with him shouts and moves to attack, but Tacita's hand flashes again, and he falls to the ground. Surprised, he looks behind himself to find his legs severed right below the knee.

As they start screaming, Tacita turns to me and shrugs. Then she takes a swift step and pulls the dagger from the man's neck. While the man twitches and thrashes around, she wipes most of the blood from the blade on his clothes before putting it away.

With interest, I watch as the wound starts healing at a high speed. The wound on his neck closes in a matter of seconds, and he quickly regains color in his face. The man keeps holding his neck, looking at Tacita with a terrified expression and gasping for breath.

So it looks like there is something to the statement that it's impossible to die here, but is it really? It seems like you can wound people. So what if you cut off a head or explode their entire body?

The other man watches as his severed legs crumble to dust, leaving part of his pants and his shoes on the ground. From his wounds, a new pair of legs start to grow in a matter of seconds.

When I look at people from Easy and Normal difficulty, they seem to be even more scared than the two men from Hard difficulty.

I turn to Channeler, "Let's continue. I want to rejoin my group in the common area."

Chapter 332 - Common area

By the time we reach the common area, our group consists of a hundred or so people. Channeler, meanwhile, proves himself to be even more reliable than I expected and manages to keep anyone from bothering me. He’s either seen through my personality or he's scared of somebody pissing off Tacita and I.

At one point, I hear a weird noise from above, and when I look up, I see a drone flying by.

The heck?

Without thinking, I push myself up and fly towards it, and stop to observe it.

It's a drone from Earth, that much I can tell. It’s on the larger side and probably represents an investment of a few thousand dollars. As it floats there, making its unmistakable noise, its camera moves and looks right at me. The drone then moves up and down as if I’ve startled the operator, and then the camera looks down under my feet and then back up at me.

I am willing to bet 10,000 shards that the owner is someone from Easy difficulty. Those guys seem to have the easiest time. What's next? A helicopter? A yacht? I wouldn't be surprised.

So, I snatch the drone, land, and turn it upside down, which causes the propellers to stop spinning. The camera continues to move and look around.

“You can fly?” Channeler asks, welcoming me with a shocked expression on his face.

“A bit. Can you carry this? I will give you an uncommon item,” I offer.

“Will do, boss!” the handsome man says, immediately taking the drone with a big smile.

As we pass through the tree line and enter the clearing on top of the mountain, the view opens up to reveal hundreds of people already moving around.

The clearing is massive, encompassing a few dozen grassy hills, both small and large. There are plenty of buildings. Some are small, and others are a bit bigger, and not unlike towers in their construction. Perhaps they’re meant to be a place for us to sleep between events?

There are more things of note, but just seeing the sheer amount of people having conversations around us is starting to tire me out. They talk, and some even proceed to fight, flashes of mana erupting into the air. Someone screams, and I hear a baby crying nearby. Did a baby somehow find their way into the tutorial, or did somebody give birth in the tutorial?

It's all weird. Even though they are all real people from Earth right now, they don't feel all that different from the natives.

I examine that feeling a bit more but have to stop when I notice a car in the distance.

A goddamn jeep with solar panels on its roof. And next to it are two more off road vehicles with solar panels plastered over the body. They are worn and slightly damaged, but they still seem to be fully operational.

What the actual fuck. How did they even get here with those hills?

As I probe the area with my senses and head toward the signatures representing my group, only Channeler and Tacita follow.

Passing through the people, I hear music playing nearby, either from a smartphone or a stereo. It all makes sense given that the other difficulties seem to be much safer. Some people probably made it into the tutorial while they were camping and got to keep all their gear. Some probably even got teleported while they were in a shop and took a big chunk of it with them.

It's just that for us from Hell, we have nothing left from Earth. No clothes, no phones, not even rings. All of it was either damaged, destroyed, lost, or had to be left behind. Yet there are people with cars, drones, solar panels, and smartphones.

I even notice an older guy moving around with a camera and recording everything. He is wearing clothes similar to the ones I saw on the second floor, and there is a sword on his hip. But he’s holding a goddamn modern camera.

Deciding I've had enough, I push further, but after a few steps, I stop and backtrack. My head slowly turns to the right, and there I see a young woman holding a chocolate bar and carefully opening it while talking to the people around her, all of them seemingly from the same group.

I take a few steps and enter their camp, which immediately gets their interest, and a few of them stand up, mana rushing through their bodies.

They are so weak.

"What do you…"

"I will trade a rare item for that chocolate," I say straight away.

"What?"

"Two rare items, and even more if you have anything else I want."

Channeler stares at me with an expression that is almost funny, but I put my attention on the woman. "So?" I ask.

"Are you serious?" the older man with a beard answers instead of her and moves closer. I identify their group as either Normal difficulty or Easy. Hmm, maybe I could go up to an epic item for trade. I'm totally willing to do that. I still have a few smaller epic items I didn't sell to the shop, so I wouldn't be losing much. I can sell these items for 1500-2000 shards each at most.

In answer to his question, I nod, and their group quickly puts their heads together, and a passionate conversation ensues. It takes a minute, and slowly they become louder, arguing.

When the man turns back to me, he says, "We can trade you three bars. One of them has melted, another is past its expiration date, and the last one has a small hole in the package. We also have a pack of marshmallows, two bottles of soda, and a package of crackers. Those are in perfect state."

Sounds good for a start, but I will get more; let's just flash some of my riches, "Okay, what do you want?"

He seems to be thinking for a while, but before he can say anything, shouting erupts behind us, "That's my drone! Can you…"

Without turning, I use [Redistribution] to grab hold of the man shouting about the drone along with the rest of his group. Each of them freezes mid-movement, unable to talk or move, though I allow them to blink and breathe.

"So?" I say, nudging the man.

He looks between the newcomers and me and gulps, "At least a few rare items. I don't think you will find that many of them…" he tries to apologize for the high price.

But I’ve already stopped listening, and I take five rare items from my bag. One pendant, two mana stones with interesting defensive inscriptions. Then a dagger I’ve been researching and a ring that provides the wearer with a weak disruptive attack.

"Here," I say, handing him the items.

His group moves closer, all of them excitedly reading the descriptions. They barely hide how happy they are with the items and hand me all the promised items, even adding an extra package of gummy bears.

Saying goodbye, I turn to the drone man and release him from my skill’s hold, causing him to stagger.

After a bit of silence, he just asks, "Can I have my drone back? Please."

I gesture to Channeler, who hands him the drone, and after exchanging a glance with Channeler, he asks instead of me, "Now that you have your drone back, I wonder, do you have any more items from Earth? Sweets, other technology, drinks, foods. My boss over here is willing to trade. He pays in rare items and might offer even more if what you have is worth it!"

With fascination, I watch as Channeler quickly assesses the situation and slips into his new role. Under his social skills and innocent handsome face, the nervous drone owner quickly calms down, and his eyes start glowing with greed as he thinks about what he could trade.

Group 4 can wait. Baller Nat is going to buy some stuff.

It takes a few hours longer. During that time, Channeler finds two of his friends from Easy difficulty and sends them to scout with the promise of rare items as payment.

While they go through the place, I stand off to the side and observe the people there. There are hundreds of them scattered about. People from every difficulty from Hell to Easy.

There are small fights, there are celebrations, and a number of them just take advantage of the opportunity to speak with each other, no one’s gotten too aggressive yet. I also notice groups of people from higher difficulties moving about, to break up the fights in an attempt to establish some degree of order.

It's all fascinating to watch.

Channeler, walking next to me, stops anyone who tries to engage me in conversation, and even Tacita seems content to follow us, enjoying the shield that is the man from Easy difficulty.

I do not talk to her, and that seems to make her more comfortable, and I don't mind. I do keep a tentative eye on her though, I’m still curious about her skills and levels. She’s made it into Beyond as well, and her short clash with those men only provided me with more questions.

So, we move from place to place, and I use my bag full of valuables to buy a few more things. A smartphone with a number of songs on it and a small solar panel I can use to charge it, the most expensive of them all. Then there are the sodas, processed foods, and sweets from Earth.

Someone offered to sell me a Jeep as well, but I have no need for it. At the moment, I'm sure most of group 4 can move at speeds higher than that car.

There is also a short conflict when a few guys from Normal difficulty attempt to make similar trades and try to interfere with mine.

Wanting to test them, I only use mana to strengthen my body a bit, and after a short clash, they find themselves on the ground, with broken legs. Their wounds heal quickly, and I learn nothing of note from them.

So, I take over and lead us to my companions, and gradually we reach a nice spot on the edge of the common area. There below a set of nice trees in comfy-looking grass, sit the members of Group 4.

“You’re late, Noname,” Tess welcomes me.

“I come bearing gifts,” I gesture at the things being carried by the guys from Easy difficulty.

They set them on the grass and stand there awkwardly. The poor guys are too shy to ask for their promised rewards! Either that or they are too scared.

“Good job, boys.” I take two rare items from my bag and present them with them.

They look at it for a moment and rush away while thanking me.

When I turn to Channeler, I notice that he is looking at group 4. Oh, I guess I haven’t introduced them yet.

“Sset, this is Channeler, he is super useful. We have to hire him sometime in the future if we have the opportunity.” As I say this, I gesture for Biscuit to come closer.

“Is he a model or something?” Maya asks, staring at the guy.

“I wanted to ask that too! Noname didn’t tell me the girls from group 4 were so beautiful!”

Half expecting the girls to react with annoyance, I look up. Instead, most of them seem to have an interesting expression on their face, happy for the compliment.

If anybody less handsome said that, it would be extremely cheesy. Yet from this guy, it's been taken at face value.

The world is indeed, not fair.

“Biscuit, look what I bought.” While he sniffs near the bags, I take out a small package with a can of high-quality dog food. Just looking at it, I can guess that it's probably more expensive than what most people usually eat on Earth.

At first, I'm worried he won't like it, but to my surprise, he sniffs a few times and then starts nibbling on it, letting out cute wet noises as he devours the ground meat paste.

I sit there for a few seconds, listen to those noises, and enjoy a great ASMR experience. Then I pet him and stand up, heading over to the pair of blonde boys sitting nearby.

Aaron and Dennis have old clothes that are dirty and filled with holes, hell, they can barely be called rags. Dozens of wounds, burns, cuts, and bruises cover their bodies. The kind of things that would usually get taken care of by their natural healing.

I notice a mark on their forearms that seems to affect their natural regeneration, and the system doesn't heal the wounds caused before entering the tournament.

“Is there a reason why Lily didn’t heal you?” I ask them.

Aaron answers, “If we return with healed wounds, they will punish us even more and start asking who healed us and how we removed the mark,” he shrugs.

“They?”

“Black Tower. The vice guild master didn’t like that we tried to escape a few times and likes to… to do this. His mark stops natural healing, and he will notice if we remove it.”

“I see.”

“I wanted to heal them, but Tess said it would cause more problems. I hate it, but we still don’t know where they are on the 6th floor.” Lily says as she approaches.

“We also asked her not to heal us, so don’t blame her,” Dennis looks at me, his blue eyes smiling even with the wounds covering his body.

Dennis' disciple died. Aaron followed him to the 6th floor so that he wouldn’t be there alone, and then they got treated like this by a piece of sentient trash. Looks like I’m going to be busy after the tournament and someone will be very dead.

“I’m glad you two are otherwise ok. When we return to the 6th floor, we will find you. So just hold on until then.”

The two of them exchange a glance.

“We already have a plan, but we won’t mind the chance to fuck the guy up a little bit more with your help,” Dennis smiles brightly.

“Just that guy? The entire Black Tower is going in the trash,” I say.

“Even better! Maybe we can try to blow it up,” Aaron laughs as if he thinks I'm joking. So silly.

But anyway, “Have a welcoming gift.” I say, handing a snack to each of them. “I’m glad you are safe and… I’m sorry about your disciple, Dennis.”

After spending time with Vega, I have a hard time imagining how I would feel if she died, so the poor boy must have felt terrible.

He thanks me, somewhat taken aback, and then I move around Group 4, giving time to everyone in the group.

Biscuit, done with his food, floats over to me and boops my nose with his front paw. Isabella hugs me, and some of the other members are already stuffing their faces by the time I return to Tess.

“For you,” I tell Tess, handing her chocolate. “You like milk chocolate, right?”

“I would hug you for that, but Lily would get mad,” she says, accepting my offering and putting it away.

“I would not!” Lily protests, sulking nearby.

“In that case,” Tess says, swiftly moving closer and throwing her arms around me for a short hug, with a mischievous look on her face the entire time as she looks at Lily.

She quickly takes a step back after a second. “Anyway, Channeler left to find his group, so you had better pay him back later and throw in some extra. I would like to keep him around.”

“Planning to take over the world when we get back to Earth?”

“Just a few places with nice weather where our group can go on holidays. Will you help me with that?”

“If it's not too annoying. Just point me at anyone you need to be beaten,” I answer, I even mean it.

“Sounds good! Anyway, was that girl following you who I think she is?”

“Yes, that was Tacita.”

To my answer, Tess nods, and Lily becomes curious, looking for the girl who’s already snuck off somewhere.

“I met Gareth, and Lily here bumped into Savant.”

Right away, I turn to Lily, who is looking up at me with a smile. “I healed his right arm in exchange for this.” The petite healer shows me a mana stone with an extreme amount of data inscribed inside, “It’s from the 2nd floor. Research notes on the use of regeneration-class skills, made by Champion Tristan and his disciple Hella, who was a healer.”

Oh, the guy who, according to the Floor quest, destroyed the world with the Sword of Aeons, the strongest mana battery in the world, and his unique skill [Dawn]. But how did Savant get his hands on it?

Lily smiles brightly yet somewhat shyly, “It’s useless to me; I'm already a good healer! But I got it for you; I know you have been trying to get an active healing skill or something similar. Savant asked me to regenerate his arm in exchange for this and I refused at first. Then he said I should agree and give the mana stone to you. He must have seen me complaining about your weak passive in the Community.”

Damn, has she been scammed by that guy already?

Still thankful, I take the stone and decide to pay her back later.

“But Nat, if you fight him, be a bit careful. We fought, and I lost. Of course, it was only because I wasn't fully serious; I didn’t want to kill him!” she says defending herself and gesturing wildly, before slumping down and sighing, “But I got angry during the fight and used [Disintegration] on a reflex. He let it hit him and…”

That’s where I stop her, “No need to say more. I don’t want to know.” Even this is a big hint, and learning more would take some fun out of it. I would be able to prepare, and I might become able to win just because of that fact. But I don’t want to.

That guy has been someone I’ve wanted to fight for a long time, I’m always wondering which of us is stronger. And now, hearing that he resisted [Disintegration], I feel my hopes rising even further. This tournament will be fun.

Chapter 333 - Events for the 1st tournament

"So, as I said, I recommend buying a Detachment token and using it to remove your skill's upgrade. At least for your main skill." I say.

"That shit costs a thousand shards. I’m not paying that to weaken my skill," Maya says, looking up from the smartphone I bought, just to complain.

Then, having said what she wanted to say, she switches to the next song, and from the speaker of the phone, a cheery Japanese pop song starts playing, "Damn, I wish so much I could download something else."

Tess takes the phone from Maya's hand and increases the volume with a lively expression on her face, "I love it!"

When Maya tries to take the phone back, a red and white spark of lightning hits Maya's hand.

That gives me an idea, "Do you think you could charge electronics with your lightning?" I ask Tess.

"Nat… it's Primordial lightning, and I don't think that's how electronics work."

"Not with that attitude."

Aaron jumps into our conversation, "How much did it all cost you?"

"Twenty rare items, I think? Give or take," I answer.

"Damn, how many shards do you have?"

"A bit over 60 thousand."

"Oh, 6 thousand, not bad at all…"

"60 thousand."

"6 thousand?"

"Sixty."

"Sixty?"

"Sixty."

(Food!)

"Sixty fucking thousand shards?"

"Sixty-four fucking thousand shards," I say.

The expressions of everyone around are extremely amusing to watch, and I feel my energy refilling. Vega would call me an asshole, but I'm sure she would be proud of her rich master.

"Won't you be able to buy an arcane item soon?" Min-Jae moves closer, looking at me while, as always, a dozen balls float around him as he practices.

"Nope, I'm saving for a passive."

"If you have so many, you should just give me that damaged ax…" Maya tries.

"No."

"Fuck," she deflates.

I still have to study it. Later, I might even try to fix it. I'm curious what a low arcane item is capable of at its full power.

(Food?)

"If you really want it, I can give it to you, Biscuit," I answer honestly.

At that, he burrows his head into my chest, and I continue to pet him. Such a good snuggly boy. The best doggo of the sixth… no, the best doggo of the tournament floor!

(Food.)

"Thank you, I’ll hold onto it. If you decide you want it, just ask."

The others ignore our conversation, seemingly used to it already.

"So, what kind of person was Tacita?" Tess asks.

"Very quick, high dexterity. She also doesn't hesitate to attack and snaps back easily. I think she has some kind of skills or traits helping her hide her mana signature, and she is hard to detect. Assassin type, for sure over level 200."

"Sounds fun. Gareth, Savant, and her are probably the only ones capable of causing us any trouble." Tess muses, "The others from Hell difficulty shouldn't be too difficult to deal with, even though I'm surprised the First Beyonder isn't here."

She already knows about most of the things I’ve learned on the 5th floor, along with everyone else in our group.

My willingness to share seemed to surprise them a bit, but since then, they’ve opened up as well, sharing as much as they could to help us put it all together. Between the Pairing, the Floors, and the things they’ve been through.

"You met Gareth, right Tess? Tell us about him." Lily asks.

"He’s pretty much the same as he is in the Community. He is friendly and non-threatening, but I think he is a healer. As for his disposition towards self-healing vs healing others, I couldn't tell. His Constitution also seemed to be pretty high. He didn't move quickly, nor did I feel that much strength from him. His mana was fairly normal as well."

“So, a paladin build, perhaps a paladin of justice?” Aaron jokes.

“Or some kind of templar! Maybe he’s rounded out his skills with some disruptive attacks on the side,” Dennis adds smartly.

Tess just gives them a short look and a small smile, “I also met a few people from Hard difficulty. Samuel and some others from a group called Legion. They’re made up of soldiers and the people who follow them. You talked to them too, Nat.”

“I remember the guy. He seemed interested in speaking to people from Hell difficulty. Something about our responsibilities after we return to Earth.”

Tess nods, “Yes, that one. It looks like he took it seriously. He and his group have been moving all over the place, stopping fights and trying to recruit people, but I don’t know how successful he’s going to be.”

“And how many nationalities have you noticed? I don’t think Tacita is from America, and Channeler is probably from Canada. A few of the people from Normal and Easy difficulty were even from Europe or Asia.”

“Gareth is from Germany, even though his family is from Britain, they moved there when he was little.” Seeing my expression, she just shrugs. “He was really talkative. I also met a few smaller groups from South Korea and a bigger one from India.”

“We met a few guys from Japan and Poland, but most people seem to be from North America,” Aaron says.

Maya throws a piece of chocolate into her mouth and says, “I met a few guys from Texas.” She smirks, “They did have a lot of guns. Apparently, they got summoned while they were at a shooting range.”

“I don’t think guns are going to cause us much trouble,” Min-Jae says, seemingly excited at the thought.

Even then, I can’t help but agree with him. At this point, I don’t even think jets, tanks, or missiles could do much to anyone from Hell difficulty. It's a fun thought. It could still be dangerous with a surprise attack using armor piercing ammo, so maybe it's something to test out later.

“I saw a few women with a couple of babies, they can’t have been older than a few months,” Sophie says.

“That’s so damn dumb,” Maya shakes her head, “but I guess people from Easy difficulty would be like that. From what I saw, it's a game for most of them, and they’re rarely over level 40.”

“I did talk with a few from Normal difficulty.” Sophie says, carefully moving Noodle so that Isabella doesn’t jostle him. In response, the white snake thankfully flickers his tongue. “People from Normal seem to be close to level 80, and apparently, people from Hard are a bit higher than that. But everyone seems to be slowing down their leveling.”

“With people from Hell being close to 150, and rare cases reaching closer to 200, there is quite a difference,” Tess breaks off another piece of chocolate and offers a piece to Min-Jae who’s sitting nearby, and he takes it thankfully.

“What level do you think we will be when we get out?” the young Korean boy asks.

Sophie answers, “I don’t think anyone will get to Champion rank, we’re probably a good way off from that. But I can imagine people from Hell and Beyond reaching somewhere within the range of 350 and 400 or close to it. People from Hard, anywhere from 200 to 300. Normal, 100-150, leaving Easy at 100 at the most.”

“I wonder how big a difference there is between someone at level 250 from Hell vs someone from Hard,” Lily asks. “I saw one healer from Hard difficulty. She was healing people in exchange for items. She wasn’t even able to regenerate limbs. Even Nathaniel's pathetic healing passive is better.”

“The difference will be massive. We have better skills, we have better classes, and passives of a higher grade. I wouldn’t be surprised if we even get better traits. Plus, our skills are much higher in level,” I say, chipping in. “I'm willing to bet that I would have been able to beat a level 150 in Hard difficulty pretty easily at level 75.”

While we talk, I watch as the majority of the things I just bought slowly disappear, but today I don’t really mind. When they hesitate, I even open them on my own, and the bottles of sweet fizzy soda move around the group. Everyone seems to be smiling more than usual, even more than when we looted the kitchen in the manor back on the 3rd floor.

Isabella wakes up to the crackling of a pack of chips, proceeds to stuff her cheeks and moves closer to me while Sophie and Tess joke about the country we should take over when we get back to Earth. Apparently, the weather and the quality of food are the most important factors.

“Can I?” Izzy asks, moving closer as she looks at me.

I nod, and then I feel her [Empathy] connect to me.

Curious, I observe her expression, and the 11-year-old girl smiles at me, her green eyes shining brightly.

When she disconnects, she puts her arms around me in a hug and then pats my back, “You are much prettier than you were on the 1st Floor.”

“Really?”

“Yes!” she confirms, acting all smart. “It’s still not perfect, but very very slowly, you’re starting to feel like a hero.”

That amuses me even more, and she seems to notice that even without her skill.

“It’s not funny! I saw it on the internet. Some old guy said that Heroes are not born; they are made, and to me, you’re starting to look like a hero! You saved Soph and helped us so many times.” She explains.

Such a silly girl. One day I really want to see her interact with Vega.

Instead of responding to something so outrageous, I caress her head, almost trying to pull her non-existing horns, something I got used to doing.

“How was Seneca?” I ask her.

A mistake, I realize quickly, as Izzy spends the next two hours telling me about her adventures on the 5th floor and the time she spent with Seneca, her disciple.

It would be fine if she shared interesting information, but Izzy doesn’t know about the Veil, the Ignition Stations, the Champions, and natives. She mostly talks about her adventures and fights, about teaching her disciple, and other silly things. But being in a surprisingly good mood, I decide to let her talk for tonight while I sit back and listen.

At some point, the boys join as well, and Izzy gets Dennis to talk about his disciple who died.

Such cruelty surprises me, yet Izzy keeps asking with her childish honesty, seeming to have some hidden plan in mind. Aaron tries to stop her a few times, but she manages to talk over him with a fast stream of words each time, and slowly Dennis opens up.

He talks about his time on the 5th floor. How he was scared, how he was annoyed with his disciple, and how, as he slowly opened up, they started building a relationship.

He talks about their adventures and all the silly things. In detail, he talks about the time they found a hill with a beautiful view. He talks about getting scared by a tiny animal in the middle of the night.

Then he gets to the point when his disciple dies, and even though it feels cruel, Izzy keeps asking. And Dennis talks. When he cries, the little girl moves closer, taking his bigger hands into her smaller ones.

Isabella asks again, she makes him talk more and share it all. She doesn’t even use her skill to share his emotions with us, but it’s all out in the open for us to see.

No one talks over him, no one minds his tears; instead, people offer their support and listen to the quiet words he has to say.

That’s how we learn about his disciple, a young human girl called Draya with whom he spent such a short, yet impactful time.

By the time the night comes, Dennis seems as if a weight has fallen from his shoulders, and he hugs Isabella for a long time, whispering quiet words of thanks.

During the night, two of us keep watch while the others sleep. And one of those keeping watch happens to be me.

The place we’ve chosen to stay is a bit higher than the plain where the buildings and people are, and I watch the lights down there with abject fascination.

Every single person there is a real person from Earth, not a native of the floor. It’s still a weird feeling.

I listen as some cheer, celebrating late into the night, and making contact with others. Over two thousand people, are all in the same situation. They share information, they trade.

Of course, there are some fights, flames light up the sky, projectiles fly, and mana blazes up, but never anything too serious, they’re just small conflicts aiming to establish a pecking order.

Even then, a small group of stronger mana signatures moves to the conflict, stopping it and building up recognition early. People devoted to taking on that role even after returning to Earth.

I wonder if they are truly selfless or if it's just a cold calculating move with the hope of saving work and time later.

When morning comes, half a day remains until the 1st event, but we finally get a notification from the system with the schedule.

Events for the 1st tournament of the 5th round of the Earth tutorial have been decided. They are as follows:

1st event - The Survival Domain

2nd event - The Siege of Aether Keep

3rd event - Avatar Confrontation

4th event - The Arena

5th event - Chronicle of the Past

The first event will start in 12 hours. More information will be shared soon.

Chapter 334 - WhiteWing

“So, the events are Battle Royale, Tower Defense, Raid Bosses, Duels, and whatever the last event is,” Dennis declares confidently.

“You and your theories. Just wait a few hours, and the event will start,” Maya stretches, and we continue to walk between the buildings and the camps people have set up.

We’ve already found a house with a nice view to stay in, and Aaron, Sophie, and Izzy have stayed behind to watch over our things. The rest of us have decided to look around and gather some more information.

I secretly hope to meet BenDover and Sami, the guys from the Hell and Easy difficulty Communities. Finding them among so many people could be challenging, but a man can dream, right?

At some point, Tacita joins us as well. She appears out of nowhere, walking with our group, and scaring a few of our members when they notice her.

After I tell Lily who she is, Lily rushes to her and stops an arm's reach away, “I'm Grumpy! I can heal you! Na… Noname said you can't talk, and I'm a healer; I should be able to do it easily.”

At that, Tacita shakes her head.

“I don’t want anything for it; it’s really simple, and it doesn’t even hurt,” Lily then reaches her hand to touch the slim girl and stops, with a dagger held at her neck.

Quickly the mood changes, and the smile disappears from Lily’s face.

“Take that dagger away before I tear your arm off,” our healer says calmly.

For a moment, she and Tacita look at each other before the mute girl smiles brightly and takes the dagger away.

To that, Lily calms down and says, “Sorry for trying to heal you without your consent.”

Tacita lifts her hands in the air, seemingly gesturing that it's okay, and she gives a single short pat on Lily’s shoulder. Her mood improves even more when Lily gives her a piece of candy from my hunt.

Watching this exchange, I'm once more validated in my belief that I'm the most normal person here.

Also, as we walk, I'm validated that Biscuit is the most handsome boy in this round of the tutorial. We see some animals, and some of them even feel somewhat strong. A white cat, a crow following a man from Hard difficulty, a big pitbull. We even see some monsters. A horse with six legs, a bird with a wingspan more than twice my length, And a pack of six weasel-like creatures.

When Biscuit approaches them, seemingly out of curiosity, and then the animals and monsters start screeching out of pure fear. They tremble and don’t even try to run; instead, they step back and cower, growling quietly.

Each time, Biscuit just looks at them and then leaves.

It seems to disturb some of Group 4’s members, but I'm only proud. His greatness is showing even now.

“Did you notice that field?” I ask Sophie.

“Yes, and to be honest, it's trash,” she says. “I can sense that multiple people collaborated on it, and it’s likely that they’re all from Hell difficulty.”

And I agree with her. The field covering the clearing is pretty weird. It’s nothing like Veil and it’s not even comparable to the barrier protecting the Bastion. The field in question is basically some sort of mana detector, meant to detect emissions over a certain level and send a signal and location to the creators.

“It’s probably Gareth,” Tess joins. “He said he was going to speak with Samuel, and that he felt like he had a point. So they, 're probably using it to police this place.”

We give her a questioning look, and she sighs, “Gareth told me before, like I said, he’s very talkative.”

“Well, it's not like it is hard for them to take care of a few people. From what I've seen, I could deal with tens, maybe hundreds of Easy or Normal difficulty people fairly easily, and I could probably handle a good number of people from Hard as well,” Maya says.

The way she underestimates her powers feels weird. I myself am sure that I could wipe out everyone from Hard difficulty even if all 200 some odd people joined forces against me.

Following Tess, we reach a spot where a large group of powerful individuals have gathered. I can feel that much from their mana signatures. I switch to Sneaky Mode and observe like I used to back on the fifth floor.

The central part of this clearing is occupied by a huge white spacious tent with multiple open entrances. The inside seems to be well illuminated though it’s shielded from anything that might overwhelm the eye. It seems cozy, and the tent is big enough to fit a hundred or so people.

“Sset, my friend. I’m glad you made it,” a man says as he emerges from the tent, seeming to be the strongest in the group.

He seems to be around 40 years old, though he’s muscular and fit. There is a friendly smile on his face, and his jaw is probably sharp enough to cut glass.

The next thing I notice is the beautiful silver armor he is wearing. The armor looks heavy, made of thick plates of metal, and yet the man moves naturally.

“Hello Gareth, these are Noname, Grumpy, Knight, StrongestOne, and NotAaron.”

The man’s eyes turn to me as he examines me for a moment, and then he smiles. “I’m happy to meet you as well, Noname and Grumpy. It’s always nice to see my fellow Beyond explorers. I also welcome you, Knight, StrongestOne, and NotAaron. Jakub and Maximillian seemed to speak with you quite often, and I’m sure they would be glad to meet you when they return.”

I once again have to remind myself that Jakub and Maximillian are Lootenant and Brainiac from the community. Gareth surely loves to continue to doxx everyone he meets. What a guy.

When he stops in front of me, I observe him and the hand he offers. He is doing it all so naturally, with a big smile on his face. I already feel his extrovert passive leeching off my reserves of social energy.

“I would like us all to be friends, Noname,” he says, pushing his hand even closer.

In the end, I shake hands with him just to make it stop, and he turns his attention to other members of group 4. He quickly greets everyone, gives out compliments, and asks about their experiences. And he does it all as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

What a monster.

When he moves to Biscuit, I expect our future animal overlord to growl at the man. Biscuit is really good when it comes to judging characters, and Gareth seems like a clear-cut B-movie villain pretending to be a paladin of justice. All so he can reveal himself as the villain in the final act.

But to my surprise, Biscuit barks softly and lets the man pet him a bit.

I… I don’t understand. As I start to use black mana to power [Focus] and think things over, Gareth turns to us all, “In the past few hours, the system has unlocked a number of buildings near the center of the common area.”

“Anything interesting?” Tess, sits opposite Gareth in a similarly comfortable position, as the rest of us plop down beside them.

At this point, it's our extrovert against theirs, and I focus on listening.

“There are living quarters with plenty of rooms. They seem to be more luxurious than the ones on the edge, but they require payment in shards per night. The more expensive ones can run as high as several hundred shards per night. Some houses come with facilities for enchanting, smithing, and other basic needs. You can also rent more specialized facilities independently, without the house.”

Good, as it should be. A few hundred shards per night? I was worried the system lost its way. Being reminded that the system is a scamming asshole is always nice. Later, I will fly over to check the buildings and prices. It might be worth it to shell out a few shards as long as the view is nice.

Gareth continues, “There are also facilities that can be unlocked. These facilities provide access to basic metals and materials at a better price than the system shop. People from Hell or Hard difficulty have already made deals and combined shards to unlock facilities and purchase materials.”

“You can put your shards together?” Min-Jae asks, surprised.

“Oh, sorry for the confusion! It’s more like one person will pay for one day, another one for another day, and a third one might buy materials while they try to balance the expenditure.”

“That’s all good. So the system is giving us a chance to craft and smith items for the tournament, maybe even an opportunity to fix and create items to bring with us after the tournament?”

“Yes,” Gareth agrees. Even sitting there in his silver armor, he looks somewhat majestic. “There is also a tournament variation of the system shop that only allows items created, with materials from local shops to be auctioned off and sold to tournament participants.”

“How big a cut does the system take for the item sold?” I ask.

“How did you know the system takes a cut?” Gareth turns to me, surprised. “Did you already know about this?”

Knew it! System, you greedy little shit. Is it because the Ruler of Greed has something to do with you, or are you just set like that?

“I guessed from my experience with the system,” I respond.

“That makes sense, but nice catch. As you said, the system takes a 10% cut, which isn’t that bad considering the reduced cost of materials.”

I detect two presences moving closer, and two men enter the tent. One of them is slim and short with messy brown hair and seems to be somewhere around the twins' age. The other appears to be somewhere around my age, maybe a bit younger, and he enters with a smile on his face.

The smiling red-haired man turns to us. “Group 4, the biggest Hell difficulty maniacs!” he declares.

“Maximillian, please, be nice to our guests,” Gareth says softly.

“Don't worry, Gary, they’ve heard worse from me! I’m Brainiac, and this must be the best doggo of the… what is it now? The best doggo of the tournament floor? That’s what you guys have been calling him, right?” he moves and squats in front of Biscuit, offering him a hand for Biscuit to sniff.

Then I sense an exchange between them, and Brainiac, real name Maximillian, stands up, shouting, “He really talks!”

“Hello,” the boy with brown messy hair says, as he moves in with a friendly smile.

“Which one of you is Noname? I wanna see the legendary mana maniac.” Brainiac looks around, then following the looks of others, he stops at me.

He takes a few steps, “So, all the things I said before, I was joking, you know that, right? No hard feelings.” When he offers me his hand, I can't sense any ill intent or dishonesty in his actions.

Taking another big blow to my social energy, I stand up and shake his hand. “It’s fine.”

“So, how much mana do you have?” he asks curiously. “Six, seven hundred?”

I check.

Mana (Stage 1/3 - Vast Mana): 1015 + 1015

So I nod, “Something like that.”

“Max, it’s rude to ask about that,” with a sigh, Lootenant moves closer and pulls his red-haired friend away, “I apologize for Max. He's a good guy but he can be annoying sometimes.”

“That’s okay.” Tess says, standing up with a smile on her lips, “I’m Sset, it's nice to meet you in the flesh, Brainiac and Lootenant, or would you prefer Maximillian and Jakub?”

It’s amusing to see the two young men react to the pretty, tall, and blonde Tess. Lootenant seems to even blush, and Brainiac is taken aback, his eyes moving up and down Tess's figure.

With interest, I wait to see how long Tess will let him continue before she zaps him, but unfortunately, it doesn't get to that point.

Tess introduces Lily, Min-Jae, Dennis, and Maya.

Unsurprisingly, the young men are happy to meet the other boys given the way they spoke in the Community, and they get sucked into a conversation like old friends.

“Tsk, I wanted to see Tess zap him,” Maya says, moving her chair next to mine.

“Me too,” I murmur in agreement.

“Want to bail and check out the houses they mentioned? Tess can take care of the rest,” she offers.

“You just want to find a nice house and have me pay for it.”

“Yes I do,” Maya agrees shamelessly. “You are rich, and it might make you more attractive in my eyes. Don't you want to look reliable and capable in the eyes of a pretty young woman?”

Well, Maya used to be a professional trainer, and after her time in the tutorial, her body has become even more athletic and she’s not wrong, she could easily be called pretty, between her dark skin, wavy black hair, and dark brown eyes, but.

“The ax is now 55 thousand shards.”

“Fuck, why! You said 49 thousand before.”

“I need to make more money to seem more capable, apparently.” I stand up. “Take Dennis, and we’ll head over. He can connect to Aaron and tell the others to move in.”

Before I can change my mind, she quickly exchanges a few words with Tess and pulls Dennis away from the group, and we head outside and deeper into the center of the common area.

The deeper we go, the nicer the houses are. The common area isn't exactly flat; there are a few small hills with houses at the top. Some houses even seem to have been built into those smaller hills. The common area is massive.

Walking through streets made of cobblestone and passing by beautiful houses, we reach the center of the plaza, at which point I take the opportunity to look around.

Finding a house that I like, I head there; it's on the smaller side with a workshop nearby. The house sits at the top of a hill that is shielded on one side by a forest, leaving the front of the house as the only part facing the rest of the place. And by being at the top of the highest hill in the area, it offers a nice view of the town.

As we approach, a barrier stops us, and a message pops up.

Would you like to rent Forest Edge Retreat and the accompanying facilities?

500 shards/day

Well, it looks like Gareth wasn’t joking.

“Yes, I want to pay for the entire length of the tournament.”

Would you like to pay 3000 shards to rent the Forest Edge Retreat and the accompanying facilities?

Yes/No

I confirm, and the shards disappear. After that, the barrier disappears, and Dennis sends a message to the others to move in.

“How much?” Maya asks curiously.

“Three thousand for the full duration of the tournament.”

“Damn,” she gasps.

Unlike her, I don't mind. Opening the tournament system shop and checking items and their prices, I already know I will get my shards back with plenty of extra.

About ten hours remain until the start of the 1st event, so that's plenty of time to cook up something nice.

Chapter 335 - [Restriction]

The first thing I bought was a bar of some random metal, which is floating in front of me now, held there by the mana I’ve surrounded it with. To that end, I'm using my crown to increase my level of control. At the same time, I'm releasing thermal energy and melting it, allowing me to mold it into the shape of a dagger. All things I’ve learned from Nevan.

I would like to use better materials or even kinetic energy to pummel the metal more or experiment with alloys, but that’s currently out of my reach. Those are goals for the future. For now, my goal is to create a rare item and sell it through the tournament’s auction system.

The materials must be bought from the tournament shop as well, but their prices aren't very high, which of course means that the quality isn't all that high either, but it should be enough for me to make some rare items.

I allow the dagger to settle on the facility’s worktable and take a moment to look over at Isabella and Sophie, who are experimenting in the corner. The sisters seem to be having fun together. Isabella creates flames which Sophie helps her shape and they use the resulting effects in an attempt to mimic my techniques.

It was Isabella's idea and the mind manipulator, Sophie “siscon” Martinez, of course, agreed.

“Flames need to be more even at the edges and slightly hotter in the center,” I warn her for the fifth time.

“I know. You told me already!” the little girl complains.

Turning back to my dagger, I absorb the rest of its heat, accelerating the cooling process, and observe the results.

It's made of simple gray metal with a core composed of a more conductive metal, creating rough pathways, connected to a mana stone embedded in the metal dagger. The dagger is entirely made of metal. If someone has a problem with that, they can modify it later.

I spend a few more minutes sharpening it, heating up sections of the blade, and hitting it with small bursts of kinetic energy.

The result is ugly as sin but it should be functional enough.

Manabound Stiletto (rare) - This dagger is bound with mana, sharpening its edge as mana passes through. It can slightly disrupt magical armor or barriers.

Should be fine for now.

“I want to sell this and the other five daggers I made.”

To be able to sell the items in the tournament shop, register as a seller. Please, pick your alias.

Huh? This again?

For a moment, I think of just using Noname, but then I change my mind and pick a different name.

Would you like to register as "Fuckyouintentbitch"?

“Yes,” I confirm. I hope that the stalker is watching. This one is for you, Duplicaniel. I know you would have appreciated it.

Congratulations, you have been registered as “Fuckyouintentbitch”, you can now offer items made by you for sale.

What starting price do you wish to set for Manabound Stiletto (rare)?

The low rare items are usually 200 shards outside of the tournament. As for this one, it did cost me around 50 shards worth of materials.

“150 shards,” I say, and then set the same price for the other 5 daggers I made and then close the window.

I should get a 600 shards net profit if they sell for the price I'm asking. If someone bids more, my profit will be better. After the 1st event, I plan to make a few more to while away time here and make some shards. Others can have fun with people.

Next, I move closer to where Isabella and Sophie are experimenting and observe the process. I don't say anything but watch.

Sophie is still using her [Manipulation] to help Izzy control her flames while her little sister tries to copy the techniques she saw me using. They are practicing on a piece of metal I brought here from the 6th Floor. The result can't be sold in the tournament shop, but it's good for practice.

Curious, I observe Isabella's blue flames and try to compare them to my golden ones. As of now, I still haven't gotten what the exact difference is between flames made with thermal primordial energy and normal ones so I'm curious.

Could it be that I still haven’t seen the true power of thermal energy? Are there any steps I’ve missed? Is the difference great or small?

Isabella's flames are the result of her [Pyrokinesis] and they are beautifully blue, with no hint of another color no matter how strong she makes them. With her subclass, Kindness, she can even control them. It's to the extent that she can burn the monsters in a big area while her flames don’t hurt anyone she doesn't want them to. Not even heat touches them.

I'm also fairly sure that her subclass strengthens her [Empathy].

When she makes a mistake and more than the intended amount of flames leaks from her, I absorb some so she won't destroy their project. Then I depart while holding blue flames over the palm of my hand and observing them, leaving the sisters to experiment.

Entering the house, I meet Brainiac, Lootenant, and the boys in the living room.

The red-haired Brainiac shouts, “Nice place, Noname! I always knew you were rich.”

“Yes, yes,” I wave at him and continue to the next room.

I can’t help but overhear the conversation behind me as he speaks to Dennis, “To be honest, I thought he would be leaking mana all over the place but he seems… normal? Was he just trolling us with all that mana stuff?”

Escaping the range of his extrovert debuff zone, I plop into a chair seated next to a big window with a nice view. Outside the window, Lily and Maya seem to be having a light sparring match, while conserving mana before the 1st event. Even then, they move with surprising agility, both the healer and the athletic Maya.

Once again, I'm reminded that I'm in big trouble if I lose control of my mana. Even with my Active Tempering, their physical stats are just that much higher than mine. Especially Lily, who’s upgraded her Constitution and still puts a lot into physical stats. There is also the weird thing she’s been doing to slowly strengthen her muscles and bones.

“Aren’t you going to spar?” I ask, looking at Tess, who’s sitting nearby, reading some papers.

I notice that her haircut has changed once again. Her back length blonde hair has been woven into a neat braid. She seems to enjoy changing it up every now and then.

“I have no time,” she says, gesturing at the papers. “We are exchanging information with Gareth. Oh, did you know there are only 31 people here from Hell difficulty? 10 from Gareth's group WhiteWing, 4 from IDK, 9 from our group, Tacita who is apparently alone in her group, Savant who is also alone in his group, and 6 from TheGuild. So 7 people decided not to join. The ones that never engaged with the Community.”

“We are also missing the 1st Beyonder guy, remember that.”

“I do, it's hard to forget the guy.”

“I wanted to fight him.”

Tess sighs, “Of course, you did. But don't worry, you still have Savant, Tacita, and Gareth. Oh, and there’s Lily and I too so be careful.” She smiles before looking back at the papers. “We tried to share more information about the 6th and 5th floor with Gareth's WhiteWing but the system censored the words, muted them.”

“Well, no surprise there.”

“Yes. We tried to set ciphers, we tried telepathy, and we tried to hint or write the information down. But the system is adapting and censoring the words no matter what we try. Even when we tried to leak information by 'mistake' or allow them to barely hear from a distance.”

“Have you tried anything like sign language?”

“Yes, the system even blocked that.”

So very annoying. Before I can say anything we get a new system message.

The 1st event - The Survival Domain will start in 1 hour!

In one hour everyone will be transferred to a randomly selected map, all difficulties will participate together. The terrain will be picked from those within the system’s database.

You will be facing the environment, other competitors from the 5th round of the tutorial, and a shrinking domain.

The 1st event will take place over the course of 5 hours, and the contenders will be rewarded according to their performance and final proximity to the center of the domain.

Note: You can't restore your mana or stamina during the duration of the event.

Note: No equipment is permitted to be brought inside the Survival Domain.

Note: There will be items of different rarities randomly placed within the domain to be used during the event. The items are:

1 low arcane grade item

10 low epic grade items

50 low rare grade items

100 uncommon grade items

500 common grade items

Note: You can use [Restriction] for this and the remaining events.

Placing [Restriction] allows you to restrict your status to the state from the end of a certain floor you decide. You may break this [Restriction], but doing so after accepting it will be counted as a loss and you will be immediately removed from the event.

To place [Restriction] you need to call out to what Floor level you want to limit your status. The stricter [Restriction] you impose upon yourself, the larger the improvement in your rewards.

“Fuuuuck, is the rarity after epic called arcane? How crazy must those items be?” Brainiac shouts from the living room.

Well, it seems like everyone got the message.

“What do you think?” I ask Tess who seems to be reading the notification again.

“I like the part with [Restriction].”

I knew she would like that. “What if you restrict yourself to your power level of the 3rd Floor and someone like me chooses to stay on the 5th or 6th Floor level?” I ask.

“That makes it risky and fun, doesn’t it?” she smirks.

“Oh yeah, it does,” I agree.

This is fun. Being able to put a [Restriction] on myself could make even a fight against lower difficulty people fun while also giving out better rewards. For example, Gareth and his group are in the middle of the 5th floor and Savant is at its end, so the members of group 4, having made it to the 6th floor, with rewards from the 5th floor should have an advantage.

But with [Restriction] in the mix?

“Dennis, you were right, it's a Battle Royale,” I call out to Dennis who’s sitting with the other boys in the living room.

“Told you!” he shouts back.

“Aren’t you worried about your mana running out?” Tess looks at me with interest.

“With my reserves, I should have the advantage against anyone with less than me.”

“That’s true,” she nods. “So what if you meet someone from Beyond or someone from our group?”

“No holding back,” I answer simply.

“Maybe I’ll throw something your way when I spot you,” she muses with a cheeky smile, “should be easy enough.”

“Are you sure you want to risk missing with your pitiful mana reserves?”

“We will see about that,” she declares.

Now that I think about it, a good number of people will probably group up to survive until the end and last the full 5 hours before fighting among themselves. I could ask Tess now, but somehow I don’t feel like it, seeing how competitively she’s been looking at me.

Well, I'm sure it won’t be so easy for her to snipe me in a crowd of almost two thousand people. The map will surely be massive.

With a few minutes remaining, group 4 reaches the center of the common area. There are lots of pretty trees planted to create plenty of shaded retreats surrounded by flowers and benches. There is even a fountain and a small lake nearby with their own seating. It’s massive.

There are people everywhere, excitedly checking the timer. It almost feels like some kind of celebration.

I wonder what the mood will be like after the 1st event? Will fighting each other sour the mood? Will they be the same after seeing what people from other difficulties are capable of? I’ve already noticed but Easy and Normal difficulty are fairly soft. I can tell just from the way they look at me or how cluelessly they move around, without paying attention. They’re either incompetent or the lack of danger hasn’t made the effort necessary.

They grill outside, they drink, and they trade. There are even a few babies barely a few months old. I saw them fight among themselves too, but being under level 50 for Easy or 100 for Normal, they are not that strong. They seem even weaker when I consider group 4's power during that period.

In ten seconds, you will be moved to the 1st Event's area!

The countdown starts and I look around, meeting the eyes of the others in group 4. I even notice Gareth as he waves at me.

Quickly averting his gaze, I notice another man looking at me and turn to him.

The man has a slim face and pale green eyes. His long black hair is tied into a ponytail that rests on his back. Under his left eye, there is a beauty mark. He doesn't avert his gaze and my eyes meet his.

I feel my mana rouse up and my heart pumps Primordial Energies through my body. Instinctively, I feel myself collecting my mana.

That man is dangerous.

You will be transferred to The Survival Domain. You have three seconds to place [Restriction] if you wish to do so.

I watch as he mouths a few words, and I do the same.

“4th Floor [Restriction],” I call in tandem with him.

Then both of us disappear together with 2,355 more people, and the 1st event of the tournament starts.

Chapter 336 - Start of the 1st event

Flashback Savant - 1st Floor

“We will throw that cripple to the goblins!”

“You can't do that! Are you even human!?”

“Shut up if you don’t want to find yourself being thrown to them instead. There is no way he will survive the remaining duration of the Floor quest, so he can at least help us this way.”

“We shouldn’t…”

“Just close your goddamn eyes if you don’t want to see it! And you remaining dickheads better keep quiet or I will fuck you up!”

I watch as the rest of our group does just that and no one else tries to voice a different opinion. When he turns to me, he isn’t even smiling. He is scared. No, he is terrified, even more than he lets show.

“Hear that, cripple? In the next attack, you will hold the monsters back so we can run.” He looks briefly at the stick I’m using to walk after I lost my prosthetic leg in one of the previous attacks.

My classmates, my professors, everyone avoids my gaze when I look at them.

“Sure. I’ll do it.”

I feel [Restriction] envelop me and it's a disgusting feeling. My stats are lowered and my skills are as well. There is that feeling of resistance when I try to access skills I didn’t have on the 4th Floor. The resistance feels like it would be easy enough to push through, but that would mean breaking [Restriction] and I don’t want that.

My level has only been reduced by 20, but a good number of my skills have been reduced to a much lower level and my base mana is at 782 instead of over 1000. It's still good enough to deal with anyone who chooses to attack me.

Most importantly, my Thermokinetic Mana Heart has been downgraded. Vortex Core is also gone and with it, the improvements to my Mantle. The Cognitive Fortress and Mana Overload Absorption are gone too, and my healing passive is capped at its rare version.

Annoying, but very doable.

But one thing amuses me. It looks like this event is better for people who went for Amplification instead of Regeneration. Regenerating mana or stamina seems to be impossible here so the builds that rely on a small mana pool with quick regeneration are at a disadvantage.

Amplification is indeed superior as I knew so long ago. Small pewpew builds can only shake in fear.

I look around and find myself standing in the middle of a big plain. There are mountains in one direction, and in another is a black wall of clouds with lightning flashing inside that seems to be moving fairly quickly, passing through areas and devouring anything inside. In another direction, the white towers of a small city dominate the sky, and in the last direction is a forest with trees that seem to reach the clouds.

A warning from [Perception], a flash of lightning, and I push my body away with kinetic energy to dodge the attacks. It happens again, and I continue running, strengthening my body as efficiently as possible.

Watching the direction the attacks come from, I start to predict their trajectory which doesn’t seem to change once they leave the caster and I avoid them without wasting mana.

Of course, I can’t see the attacker, but that white and red lightning is unmistakable.

Tess's barrage of attacks is aggressive, she’s infused the rocks she’s shooting at me with her primordial lightning, damaging the area around me. However, they’re only intended to confuse me and make me let my guard down. A real attack will follow the moment I do.

I expand my domain and focus on using [Perception] while I jump behind the huge rock nearby.

More than sure that Tess is capable of piercing it, I keep my attention up aware of the possibility of her trying to reposition. At long-range, Tess has always had an advantage over me, especially now when I can’t afford to waste my mana in some ill-advised attempt to catch her. I’m also not sure what kind of [Restriction] she’s put on herself, if any.

My senses sharpen, looking for any sense of danger, and I feel my heartbeat quicken even when I’m not using it to generate any energy.

It’s exciting. It’s thrilling.

Looking to the side, I watch the black wall of lightning move closer and closer to my position, the thunder roaring and the lightning tearing anything it reaches. There is also a new notification window, and I check it for a moment.

FoodFood (Hell, 6th) ⟶ LightAbove (Normal, 6th)

Is this the kill feed? And damn, Biscuit, did that guy try to kidnap you because he thought you were cute, and give you the opportunity to kill him mercilessly?

Good boy!

I watch as more notifications appear and the number of people inside seems to decrease quickly, barely a few minutes in.

2210 / 2357

Finally, the storm reaches the place somewhere between me and Tess, and I move from the rock and run toward the city I can see in the distance.

A terrifying piercing noise reaches me and I rush mana through my body, creating a barrier around my forearm while launching myself away.

Yet still, the thrown shield boosted by [Psychokinesis] and covered in Primordial lightning strikes the barrier, sending me spinning, and following it a stone crashes into my chest, the sheer force sending me rolling over the ground.

Damn it, Tess! That’s not how you use a shield! How the hell did you find an item so quickly?

The attack stops, and I hear a small explosion from Tess’s direction, either someone’s attacking her or the storm’s forced her to move.

I use more kinetic energy, moving towards the city. A bruise is already forming on my chest and I’m sure at least one rib is cracked. Between trying to conserve mana and being surprised by [Restriction], I wasn’t able to strengthen my body quickly enough.

While on my way, I grab the shield she attacked me with. It's already crumpled, useless, just a common grade item, so I throw it away.

Reaching the gate, a pathetic excuse for a fireball comes right at me, and I don’t even bother absorbing its heat and disrupt it with a little bit of mana.

Quickly detecting its origin, I shoot an orb toward the attacker.

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Potato (Easy, 5th)

The name sounds familiar, but I don’t know why. But 5th in the name probably indicates the level of their [Restriction].

Pushing myself up, I check the body that is already turning into particles, but I don’t find any items and head deeper inside the city.

Down on the street, three men are fighting each other, ice-based attacks crashing against hastily constructed barriers, and projectiles made out of stone erupt like they were launched from a shotgun.

I create three small mana orbs and spin them around my body. To save mana, I make them move faster before slinging them.

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ George (Easy, 7th)

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ IsThisHell (Normal, 5th)

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Cheesus (Normal, 6th)

This is getting fun!

Curious, I say, “Leaderboard.”

A new window pops out.

1st (40 pts) - Grumpy

2nd (26 pts) - Savant

3rd (22 pts) - Sset

4th (18 pts) - FoodFood

5th (15 pts) - Brainiac

6th (12 pts) - BenDover

7th (11 pts) - GoodBoy

8th (9 pts) - Tacita

9th (6 pts) - Noname

Okay, first, what the fuck, Lily. Second, I really like it; it's almost like a game.

So, I "killed" 4 people, 2 from Easy and 2 from Normal. The points are probably different for each difficulty, so does it mean Easy is 1 point, Normal is 2 points? That would fit.

But the requirement for winning this event is to survive for 5 hours and be as close as possible to the center of the Survival Domain, and I know where that center is. It's marked by a tall pillar of bright white light that reaches and pierces the sky. I can also see the barrier far off in the distance. It's hard to say if it's shrinking, but it’s either started the process or it will in time.

Detecting another presence, I move, and see another man sneaking into the city. He is sending detection waves into the surroundings, and I look at the text over his head.

ManaShallPrevail (Normal, 6th)

Damn, I like the name, but I'm sorry, buddy.

Once again, I shoot a dense mana projectile, and it reaches his head, about to pierce it.

I curiously watch as the orb disappears just a millimeter before killing the man, and his body immediately turns into particles, teleporting him outside.

So that's how the system deals with that kind of wound. The attacks that just hurt will most likely pass and cause damage that won't be healed by the system during events, and any attacks that would kill are negated, and the target is disqualified.

A few more presences appear on the edge of my detection, and I start hiding my mana, using Mana Cycling as I move over the roofs.

With just a few more jumps and careful boosts, I move behind one of the chimneys of a medieval style city. A few roofs down, a group of 5 men have gathered, two of them from Hard difficulty and three from Normal, discussing something energetically.

The leader is holding a bow that seems to be around rare grade and keeps watch. He stands in the center sending waves of mana outward to scan the area.

They are a bit secretive, but to me, he may as well be shouting in my ear.

How the heck is he even from Hard difficulty with scans like that?

I get ready for combat and reach past them, placing a [Tether] in the middle of their group, expecting them to react before I send an attack through.

They do not try to disrupt it. Even when the man's scans washes over the anchor, he doesn't seem to notice it.

They don't sense anything even as I send a strong pulse of thermal energy through, causing it to explode in the middle of their group, killing them all and destroying a chunk of the building.

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ GigaChad (Hard, 6th)

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Toastmaster (Hard, 5th)

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ MidnightM (Normal, 6th)

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Bobby (Normal, 5th)

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Ellie (Normal, 6th)

My points increase to 22.

So, Easy for 1, Normal for 2, and Hard for 5. And I still can't see rewards for positions, so maybe they’re just personalized according to performance? That seems likely.

I take the damaged bow out from under the debris, and it is in fact rare quality. Useless to me, so I just place it in the middle of the clearing to make it seem like a drop, and then I place an anchor near it, all while making everything as covert as possible.

For the following thirty minutes, I watch a constant stream of people moving into and through the city. A large number of them detect the bow and head straight for it after scanning the area. I'm almost disappointed by how terrible their scans are.

After killing the 3rd group trying to take the bow and hunting two more groups passing through the city, I decide to change location.

People here seem to be from Easy and Normal mostly, and there’s rarely anyone higher, and I’m tired of that.

With a pulse, I destroy the bow and head out of the city, entering the grassy land where I limit my output even more while sending my scans out even further.

1st (84 pts) - Sset

2nd (68 pts) - Savant

3rd (61 pts) - Grumpy

The top three are being led by Tess; it's obvious that she would have a nice advantage here because of her skills. I, meanwhile, am 5th with 49 points.

I check the total again, to find that it’s been reduced significantly since the last time I checked.

1819 / 2357

As I approach the field, I detect a presence that feels different from any other I’ve felt until now.

Hiding my mana and carefully placing anchors, I move closer, and on the edge of the forest, I watch two women passing by, both of them holding items and both from Hard difficulty. But there is someone else who interests me more.

A man crouching at the top of a small tree the women are passing under. He has a shortsword barely as long as his forearm but he holds it more like a dagger.

One of the women seems to notice something and quickly looks up but before her eyes meet the man, the air around him flickers, and, like a chameleon, he camouflages with the area. Even his presence disappears, in a manner resembling Tacita’s, though it’s significantly inferior.

The woman, confused, squints her eyes, but then pokes her friend, and both of them rush away.

Most likely saving mana, the man, who seems like he’s about 30 years old, cancels his skill and appears again, this time with a cruel smile on his face.

BenDover (Hell, 5th) reads the text over his head.

My very good friend from the Community. One of the people I’ve most wanted to meet. I still remember the numerous insults he directed at my family and then at me. I also recall how he mocked Eris and Myrra later, boasting gleefully about helping to kill them both.

The blade of the shortsword he’s holding is coated in a sickly yellow substance, something that feels like a combination of poison and disruption, and he becomes invisible again. At this point, I'm willing to bet his class has Phantom in the name.

It's like the asshole is actively trying to make me hate him even more.

Chapter 337 - Silent Strike

Well, it seems like my buddy BenDover over here finally made it to the 5th floor. He doesn't even seem like he can detect the presence of my anchors.

I'm long since used to my opponents disrupting them or detecting them and that makes me wonder if it's less common than I thought. Is that not how it usually goes? Have the opponents I’ve been facing just been that good?

Curious, I put an anchor in front of him as he takes a step to follow and kill the women and that's when he finally notices it. He squints his eyes and then to my surprise, he turns around and starts running away, even activating that camouflage skill of his.

Huh?

Before following him, I create two javelins, fill them with a decent amount of thermal energy, and then boost them with kinetic, shooting them at the women.

One of them blocks the javelin intended for her and the other one tries to run away, dodging hers, but the javelins explode into golden flames.

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Momo (Hard, 5th)

The other woman starts running away, even dodging the third javelin I shoot but then runs into an anchor and a burst of kinetic energy finishes her off.

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Emmmmmm (Hard, 5th)

Then I use the anchors I placed to follow BenDover, easily tracking his location despite his attempts to hide it. To be honest, I would be quite disappointed if I was unable to do so. I put a lot of effort into being able to track invisible opponents.

I find him standing in the middle of a clearing filled to the brim with his traps, almost like my anchors, but worse.

“I know it's you, Noname! I saw the notifications. Show yourself, you dick!” he shouts.

Things like this feel more satisfying up close and personal so I enter the clearing without trying to hide, using part of my mana to strengthen my body.

BenDover is around 30 years old. He has a short pointy beard and creepy eyes. He isn't all that tall but his shoulders are wide. The sword he’s holding is coated in sickly yellow mana.

“Finally, I…” he doesn't even finish the sentence before he launches an attack at me from behind, clearly trying to surprise me.

An acid-like attack splashes against my barrier and sizzles on the surface, unable to penetrate it, even with the attack's weak disruptive properties. A light flashes, blinding me for a split second, and when I can finally see again the man is gone and his traps as well.

With a sigh, I enter the clearing, and boosting my body I turn around, grabbing the invisible man by his neck. My other hand grabs the arm holding the sword he was trying to stab me with.

He opens his mouth and tries to spit yellow acid in my eyes, only for it to be blocked by a small barrier, then five needle-like mana projectiles strike at my back only to be stopped by [Redistribution].

I disrupt his mana and break his arm, taking his sword. Then I let go and punch him in the face, using more mana to match his speed in defiance of his higher base stats.

When he staggers back I send kinetic energy to the anchor behind him, sending him stumbling back towards me and I punch him again, breaking his nose.

With interest, I take notice of the systems refusal to heal the wounds for now. So it seems like they only heal in the common area, not during the events. That makes sense.

He curses, dodging my next attack and I sense he is boosting his body to increase his Dexterity. So I disrupt his mana, falling back on a tactic I experienced fairly often until I made the Mantle.

His attacks slow, and I punch him again, then kick his crotch, making him… well, bend over, and my knee hits his face, further breaking his nose.

“I remember you said something funny about my parents,” I note.

Without giving him the opportunity to talk, I slow his movement with [Redistribution] and then pierce his side with the sword I took from him.

Even then, he somehow manages to concentrate enough to create a blue mana dagger and stab at me at the same time as my shadow moves, trying to grab me and slow me down.

Just a short pulse of disrupting mana ends both of his attempts, and I knee his face again, sending him to the ground where he groans. He is constantly trying to strengthen his body or activate his skill, but I'm disrupting it all with [Resonance].

When I squat over him and grab him by his hair, he tries to say something, but it's hard to understand with his torn lips and broken teeth.

I look at his face, which is a bloody mess. “I do not believe you were able to deal with the Matriarch or Myrra on the 4th floor."

Without letting him say more, I create a small orb filled with kinetic energy over the palm of my hand, and grabbing it with my fingers I push the orb into his mouth.

When I kick him away, I call out one more warning, “I will find you in the common area,” and then I let the orb in his mouth explode.

As before, the system doesn't let it happen, and the man just turns into mana particles, being transferred outside.

It seems like the system was prepared for this kind of attack as well and really doesn't want participants to die. After seeing it in the works I guess I can do some hardcore training later.

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ BenDover (Hell, 5th)

My points increase to 69, which is nice, but seeing the black wall of the storm, I decide to move away, heading towards the white pillar of light.

I jump behind the tree and shoot a javelin toward a group of hiding people, barely missing the head of a man from Hard difficulty.

His group launches a barrage of attacks at me. Rocks, pale blue mana projectiles, and even some decent fire orbs. At the same time, three more move to my right, trying to encircle me while others keep me busy. I send more kinetic energy to the orb I anchored to my core, making it spin faster around me.

When the first woman with a sword and shield rushes at me, I sling it against her where it crashes into her shield, releasing the golden flames stored inside.

Right after, I rush her, absorbing those flames and reusing them in a thin stream of flame that envelops another man.

Strengthening my body, I grab an ax that the third one swings at me, disrupting the mana coating the blade. My kick breaks through his mana armor, causing him to crash into a comrade who’s wielding a shield. I activate the anchor I placed on his chest while kicking him, and golden flames envelop both of them.

Absorbing flames from the man I burned first, I grab him and use his body to block a barrage of attacks and shoot a javelin with an anchor tied to it toward the salvo’s origin.

When I appear behind the trio, they notice it, turning around, but I teleport again, appearing near another anchor in front of them. A thin cone of kinetic energy kills the man who launched so many mana projectiles.

The fire mage envelops herself in flames and rushes at me in hand-to-hand combat, only for the flames to die off as I absorb them. A sword forms in my hand, and I cut her down and transform it into a shield, absorbing a barrage of stone attacks.

I lift my leg and stomp, sending kinetic energy into the ground under me putting a stop to the man's attack.

He turns to run away, but two of my javelins pierce him in quick succession.

Scanning the area with a wave of mana, I relax slightly and force myself to calm down.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Slowly.

Now repeat.

I have to hold myself back to keep from letting go and embarking on a rampage. I'm enjoying this event way too much.

There are so many people with so many different skills, mostly in groups I have to deal with on my own. I have to do it while conserving my mana and stamina and I still have to get used to my reduced stats. All while avoiding Tess sniping me out of nowhere or Tacita popping out from behind a corner.

“Leaderboard,” I say.

1st (168 pts) - Sset

2nd (139 pts) - Noname

3rd (136 pts) - Savant

4th (91 pts) - Grumpy

5th (84 pts) - Brainiac

Of course, that silly blonde still holds the 1st spot. With her [Farsight], she just needs to locate easy or Normal difficulty people to kill with minimal mana and from a large distance. But Brainiac surprises me. I didn't expect him to climb so high up. Lily better be careful too and avoid wasting her mana if she wants to be in a good state at the end.

It makes me happy that Min-Jae made the ranking, currently at the 8th spot, followed by Biscuit in the 9th.

Four hours remain and half of the original number of people remain, just over 1200.

That's also when the barrier, which has been stationary up till now, shrinks for the first time. The barrier seems to be composed of a mass of solid red energy, only allowing light to pass and finally shrinking at the speed of a top runner once exactly 1 hour has passed.

It's eerie to watch it approach at such high speed, especially when looking at the massive area it covers.

At the same time, it starts raining, the raindrops themselves seem to contain a bit of mana. Not enough to cause damage, but enough to make detection class skills more difficult to use as the droplets splash and burst, generating noise in the form of stray mana.

I [Focus] and filter out bits of useless information and the colors around me lose some of their vibrancy as the rain falls, drenching me immediately.

The black wall of clouds expands and the lightning can be heard constantly, its strikes reverberating in the air and the flashes of light serving to light the area.

Indeed, the system is good at setting the mood because a party of 6 men exits the line of trees seeming to have tracked me.

Gareth (Hell, 5th)

Brainiac (Hell, 5th)

Lootenant (Hell, 5th)

Mari (Hell, 5th)

Ghast (Hell, 5th)

Pumpkin (Hell, 5th)

Yeah, this seems about right.

“Noname, are you dumb? You guys are on the 6th floor so why did you place such a heavy [Restriction]?” Brainiac asks the moment they spot me.

“Because I wanted to. Are you guys cheating? How the hell have you gathered so many members of your group so quickly?”

The redheaded guy who seems to be the most talkative member of the group just smiles and shrugs, “Power of friendship!”

“I hope you don’t hold this against us,” Gareth stands in front of the others.

A blue suit of armor surrounds him and he places some sort of mark on the other members of his group.

I make an experimental attempt to disrupt that connection but it holds strong. Either my skill isn’t high enough, I need more mana, or it's just impossible to disrupt.

“Basic formation,” Gareth says simply.

Brainiac immediately moves to the back followed by two others. Meanwhile, Gareth heads in first, two more members by his side. Mari, a woman with a dagger and a sword in her hands, and the man called Pumpkin with mana collecting in his fists, elbows, knees, and shins.

I know I should keep my distance, maybe even fly high into the air and bombard them with ranged attacks. That style of fighting always seemed to be the best option. But as always, I make the decision to stay at medium range, and the reason is simple.

It's more challenging and fun that way.

The first one to attack is Brainiac, and he shoots projectiles that I can't see and can barely sense.

To dodge, I tilt my head, and three sharp projectiles miss me, cutting through the air while the thunder roars as the black wall of clouds moves closer. The projectiles behind me seem to disappear, their presence weakens, and they turn to attack me again, in an attempt to keep me from noticing them.

Acting as if I haven’t seen them, I create a dozen projectiles of my own, spinning them around my body, and when Pumpkin attacks me with his mana infused limbs, I dodge to the side, and Brainiac's projectiles disappear before they can injure his teammate.

I launch my projectiles, and the mark Gareth placed on him glows, and silver hexagonal barrier the size of my fist appears to block them.

The woman with a sword and a dagger senses my burst of kinetic energy and blocks it, and the projectile aimed at her is blocked by a silver barrier.

I infuse my golden flames with disruptive mana, and the darkening area around us lights up, the raindrops evaporating as the flames envelop the man attacking me with his fire. The silver barrier surrounds him, and more and more mana rushes into it in an attempt to fight the disrupting properties of my flames.

Even though I know I just need to keep it up for a bit longer to get through, I stop and dodge a few more invisible and hardly noticeable attacks from Brainiac, and then an even smaller one from behind me.

“Damn, you are the first one to notice that one!” he shouts.

He falters in surprise as I shoot a javelin at him, boosted by kinetic energy that gets barely blocked by Lootenant who’s staying close to him. The javelin just changes its direction mid-flight and heads to some kind of weird orb Lootenant dropped all over the place and hits it instead.

Without time to examine the interesting skill more, I boost my body further, dodging Mari, who’s clearly surprised by my sudden increase in speed and cut through her dagger and sword with a dagger coated in [Resonance].

The man named Pumpkin launches an attack from behind, but I just shoot a blast of kinetic energy at him that even now gets blocked by a silver barrier, and I disrupt Brainiac's attacks.

In a smooth movement, I dodge Mari's kick, and the dagger in my hand extends and turns into a spear which I burrow into her shoulder, spilling her blood.

Before I can send thermal energy into her through the spear, she disappears, Gareth taking her place, my spear embedded in his shoulder.

A silver light flashes and my barrier blocks it, throwing me away.

I absorb my inertia mid-air, confusing Pumpkin, and his attack misses. Boosting my body, I stab my spear into his leg, but again, he disappears, Gareth taking his place as well. The man in transparent blue armor grabs my spear, and with impressive strength, pulls me closer.

I disrupt a few more attacks from Brainiac, this time needing to use more mana as he seems to be trying to get through my mana jamming, and a mace made of silver mana similar to his barriers forms in Gareth's hand.

It clashes against my dagger, and I send more resonating mana through it, carving the mace apart to the man's surprise, and stabbing the dagger into his chest.

He disappears, and Brainiac appears where he was, and a barrage of extremely quick attacks clashes against me, cutting into my flesh twice before I disrupt them.

Brainiac is smiling, but I do not attack him. Instead, I use the anchor I placed on the dagger I left in Gareth’s chest and appear in front of the man who, like me, has made it into Beyond. His wounds have already healed, and his armor strengthens itself even further.

I open my mouth, and a tricolored orb just turning bright crashes into him, and then I teleport away despite his attempts to stop it.

Appearing in the air, I look down at the ground, expecting the explosion. Instead of that, a silver barrier surrounds my orb, and with a grunt from Gareth, it disappears, the explosion of white light, shockwave, heatwave, and following implosion tearing the forest nearby apart.

No words pass between them, but they seem to be communicating. And this time, I really regret this limitation of not being able to restore my mana. I want to fight. I want to throw my all against them.

But I can't. I have placed a limitation upon myself and there are still four hours remaining. There is Tess, there is Lily, and Tacita, and most importantly, there is Savant.

I check my reserves and close to 20% of my body mana seems to be missing already.

My frustration increases even more when the man that was just standing next to Brainiac shoots a lightning spear at me, and I’ve sensed him charging it the whole time. He even placed a mark on me that seems to serve as a beacon for the powerful charged attack made of white lightning. Something I let happen out of curiosity.

Instead of dodging or using a black orb to absorb it, I just cover the back of my hand in a barrier of disrupting mana, and with a dismissive gesture, I disrupt the attack.

“Fucking monster! You’re under a restriction, so act like it!” Brainiac shouts at me.

“Behind you,” I call back at him.

“As if I would fall for that…” in the middle of the sentence, he stops and throws dozens of slashing projectiles into the area.

No matter that Tacita dodges them all, a calm expression on her face the entire time. She dodges and parries attacks thrown at her. Lightning and Lootenant's weird orbs either disrupted or flicked away.

When a silver barrier surrounds Brainiac, a wild smile appears on her lips, and her arm moves in a blur. She attacks dozens of times, the mana-coated dagger in her hand tearing through the barrier and turning Brainiac into particles of mana with one last slash that would have separated his body from his head.

One of the reasons why I'm up here is because I noticed her sneaking closer.

The rain continues to fall down, making her messy brown hair wet and stick to her face. Wordlessly, she catches my gaze, and she waves at me with squinted eyes and a smile.

The message is simple.

You are not safe there.

Tacita (Hell, 4th)

Chapter 338 - Natural enemy

Out of every member of Hell difficulty or person that got into Beyond, there is one I respect more than any other. You wouldn’t be wrong to say that’s because of the degree of the advantage they would hold if we fought.

I don't know Savant's skills yet, but it's not him. It isn't even Lily despite the fact that she has the most powerful damage oriented skill I've seen so far. It's not even Tess with her extremely long-range and powerful attacks. And it's not Gareth with his barriers and weird form of teleportation.

No, the person that worries me more than any of them is Tacita.

Even now, I'm not sure if I noticed her because she wanted me to, she's just that good at hiding her presence. And her speed does tell me one thing. Tacita is similar to me, a person who also puts most of their stats into a single attribute, and her favored stat is Dexterity.

I'm Mana-oriented and because of what I do, my reactions will never be as quick as someone who goes full into body strengthening. I can reinforce my body with mana, I can boost my strength, and make myself faster with kinetic energy.

But someone like her will always be my natural enemy. The main reason being that, in close quarters, unless I was already reinforcing my body as much as possible, I wouldn't be able to react if she decided to kill me.

It's a weakness, and I already have multiple plans for dealing with it. But for now, there are going to be situations in which I have no chance against Tacita.

I watch as she lashes out at the lightning mage that once stood next to Brainiac and jumps back and to the side, her feet moving nimbly, as she dances around his attacks. Leaping, bobbing, and weaving as drops of rain cling to her skin..

Mari and Pumpkin try to rush her while Gareth and Lootenant keep an eye on me.

So as I’m floating there, I create two orbs at my side and fill them with mana until they’re on the brink of becoming unstable.

As I do that I sow the ground with a barrage of normal mana projectiles, tying anchors to three of them. The first orb explodes through an anchor I managed to place between Tacita and the lightning mage, who, unlike the stabby brunette, dies.

Gareth creates a barrier around the rest of the group, but, being closest to the explosion, the lightning mage's barrier is unable to resist the implosion and breaks. Tacita, meanwhile, just opts to outrun the explosion.

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Ghast (Hell, 5th)

Tacita doesn't seem to like that and grabs a stone from the ground, her arm a blur as she throws it at me. The stone crashes against my barrier with a surprising amount of force, and she changes her target to Lootenant, the raindrops seeming to burst outward as she moves at incredible speed.

Mari and Pumpkin actually manage to stand in her way for a moment, keeping pace with her, though I do notice that their bodies seem to be radiating a silver aura, which flares up to create barriers and heal their wounds as needed.

Gareth blocks my second tri-colored orb, once again surrounding it with a silver barrier before sending it to the same spot as before. I wonder if he placed some sort of mark there.

Using the third anchor, I appear on the ground near Gareth, kinetic energy exploding from me, only to be absorbed by his barriers. I send disrupting mana at him right after followed by a blast of golden flames, and yet he reforms his barriers each time, successfully blocking the attacks.

I sidestep a swing of his mace, causing it to crash into the ground and send chunks of muddy earth into the air.

Thunder roars in our ears, and the wind grows stronger as the wall of black clouds moves closer and closer, blotting out all other sounds. The rain also grows in intensity, further obscuring my mana sight with the mana-filled droplets.

Gareth stops holding back, and his blue armor turns silver, and a silver crown appears floating over his head. The hexagonal segments of his barrier orbit his form, and his mace shines brighter as he charges me. Each of his swings bears disrupting properties, and the marks he placed on his party shine brighter, surrounding them in that same silver light.

Twelve sections of his hexagonal barrier move around him, forming larger ones to block my flames or splitting into a multitude of smaller ones to address heavy barrages. Though sometimes they stick to his armor, strengthening some parts further.

The man negates most of my attacks, to my great annoyance, and I feel my frustration rise more and more, and my plan to limit my mana expenditure disappears from my head.

Once Mari joins him, blades made of oscillating mana in hand, I have had enough. A black orb forms in front of my chest, and all of their eyes turn towards it, surprised by the unnerving feeling.

A blast of kinetic energy from behind Gareth pushes him towards it, and silver and black mana clash.

Following the clash, the black orb of mana manages to absorb a few sections of his silver barrier. Gareth moves to block it, though his weapon and crown flicker as the orb sucks in more and more.

When he finally lets go of his weapon and moves back, pieces of his armor are missing, eaten away by black mana, and half of the hexagonal barrier is gone.

Mari is also dead, an anchor placed near her head having reduced her into particles of mana.

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Mari (Hell, 5th)

With the mana in my body reduced even more, I float into the air and fire one last projectile at Lootenant.

Gareth finally manages to retake control of his abilities and blocks my attacks by surrounding the man with a barrier, but at the same time, Tacita passes by Lootenant's traps, activating a few along the way, while avoiding their effects and finishing the man.

Then, like me, she takes the opportunity to disappear into the forest as the gradually approaching storm ravages the area.

The first bolt of lightning lands next to us. It evaporates a good chunk of a car-sized rock nearby, causing it to crumble into dust, leaving a small crater in the ground. The wind blows into me, leaving me feeling like I got hit by a truck, and I decide I do not want to get into that storm.

Using more and more mana, I push my body through the air, leaving the thunder and lightning behind me. I remain high in the air, placing multiple anchors along the ground.

When Gareth and the rest of his group exit the storm, a thermal explosion envelops them, and a rain of compressed mana javelins rains across the ground. When the flames disappear, pushed away by a wave of silver mana, Gareth and the last member of his group stand there free of damage, his barrier having tanked a bolt of lightning from the storm, the ground exploding around them, and the mud and rocks that erupted into the air.

Tsk.

Unwilling to waste more of my mana on a tanky target, I boost myself further, floating away when I catch a familiar mana signature behind me. Looking back, I see a figure floating just on the edge of the storm. And that figure's head bears a crown made of lightning, brighter and twice as big as before.

The woman's blonde hair floats around her, shining in a beautiful golden color.

I form a barrier to block a bolt of white lightning that Tess redirected from the storm, and while I don’t take any damage it does manage to push me further away.

“Are you only hunting me?” I shout at her.

There is no way she can hear it through all the thunder, but she seems to understand and smirks.

Text reading Sset (Hell, 4th) floats above her head, along with the [Restriction] she’s placed herself.

High in the air on the edge of the storm, Tess and I face each other, and I feel my decision from before crumble and disappear. The hold I've kept on my mana weakens and it floods into my body for the first time since the start of the event.

Gareth far beneath us, Tacita sneaking around, Savant waiting somewhere nearby. All of these concerns disappear, pushed far, into the back of my mind.

I [Focus], and [Regalia] surrounds my body, quickly infused with [Resonance]. A shockwave explodes around me, pushing the droplets away, and I charge into the storm.

Tess moves her hand, and two white lightning bolts created within the storm change their course and crash into my body.

I’ve already seen them striking multiple times and I know what to do. My armor tanks most of the damage and resonating mana tears apart the rest while I absorb the generated heat, collecting it inside my body.

Seeing what I'm doing, Tess assaults me with a pulse of [Psychokinesis], slowing me down while pushing herself further away, so that she can maintain her advantage.

Dodging to the side, I avoid another bolt of lightning, a few mana arrows filled with thermal energy shine as they pass through the storm, evaporating rain in the process.

Tess lowers her altitude, tearing a few of the smaller trees and rocks from the ground with her skill before throwing them at me.

I dodge through the air, taking a few more lightning strikes and constantly firing projectiles at her, forcing her to reposition in an attempt to distract her.

The crown over her head shines brightly, its mana forming lightning projectiles that wait at her side, these ones formed of the usual red and white lightning. Tess launches them at me, making them move much quicker than the ones from the storm, and forcing them to change direction mid-air.

Placing an anchor further ahead, I teleport past them repeating the process a few times, and reach Tess.

The crown over her head disappears, turning into lightning armor that surrounds her body, and clashes with my [Regalia].

Each of our clashes causes a small shockwave, creating a pulsating sphere devoid of the ever present rain as the escaping energy forces the raindrops away.

I bombard her with mana projectiles at close range, boosted by kinetic energy, and it’s impossible for her to block them all, so she tanks most of them, responding in kind with the lightning that constantly flickers around her.

A few lightning bolts get pulled from the storm, hitting her body and strengthening her armor as I pressure her.

I teleport, but the moment I appear, a lightning projectile crashes into my armored forearm, so I try again, only to get the same result. Clearly, Tess is reading and predicting my placement of the anchors.

Finally having generated enough, my armor changes, my golden thermal energy filling it, heat radiating from me. Boosted by kinetic energy, I advance on Tess, the raw power of my flight better at this level, and after a short clash, I grab her arm.

Tess, having expected that, pulls three white lightning bolts toward us, damaging my armor and further strengthening hers.

Her lightning and my thermal energy rage against each other. The lightning piercing through the armor damages me, but my temporarily rare passive heals my wounds with the sheer amount of heat I’ve surrounded myself with.

My heart beats harder and harder as I barely hold on, avoiding her close range lightning projectiles and enduring the bolts she calls down from the storm. But I hold, and looking at Tess, I can’t help but smile as well.

With a strong pulse, more energy collects inside of me as I'm ready to push through, but then Tess slashes with her free arm. Not against me, but against her own hand. She cuts it off, leaving me holding the hand she’s infused with all of her lightning.

Pushing further away from me, much less Primordial lightning surrounding her, she calls, “I learned it from you!”

Her severed hand shines even brighter in my hand, and when I let go, it moves and grabs me instead, creeping me out even more than the astounding amount of lightning collected within.

It acts like a lightning rod, leaving me feeling like the storm has been concentrated on me, and me alone, as I find a dozen lightning bolts heading in my direction.

My eyes activate for a split second, and I disrupt the hand’s mana, quickly deactivating the eyes afterward. I tear the hand apart with [Resonance] and watch as all the white lightning passes by, reverberating the air.

When I look around, Tess is gone.

You silly blonde. What are you, a gray lizard? Leaving your limbs behind like that.

Checking, I find that I’ve managed to spend ten to twenty percent of the mana left in my body.

Forcing it back under my control, I fly out of the storm.

Three hours remain, and the rain stops as if it’s been cut off. The air grows colder, the water from the rain starts freezing over, and heavy snow starts to fall, quickly covering the trees and the ground.

Walking through another post-apocalyptic city, I listen to the snow compressing under my feet, tracing the footsteps in front of me.

The barrier shrinks once more, and even fewer people remain.

980 / 2357

A few of the slots on the leaderboard have changed as well:

1st (193 pts) - Sset

2nd (172 pts) - Noname

3rd (169 pts) - Savant

4th (168 pts) - Tacita

5th (124 pts) - Grumpy

Sensing a trap ahead, I avoid it and move to a rooftop where I disrupt a few mana sensing triggers and find a group of ten people, most of them seem to be from Hard difficulty. One of them holds an epic weapon, an ax made of ethercrystal, a transparent white crystal capable of absorbing mana.

A few well-placed anchors go unnoticed and half of them die before they are able to defend themselves. They activate defensive shields but a wave of disrupting mana crashes against them, negating the shields before a highly compressed barrage of javelins finishes the job, destroying part of the roof and their fortifications.

I take a short moment to check the leaderboard and savor the feeling of seeing myself in the first place. It's hard to find large groups of people from higher difficulties.

Amid the falling snow, I examine the rare and uncommon items that were in their possession, collecting a defensive amulet with a single use of a spherical barrier remaining, and pick up the epic ax.

Ethercrystal War Axe (Epic): Crafted from Ethercrystal, this war ax absorbs part of any mana it touches. Each attack channels the absorbed mana to momentarily increase the user's physical strength.

I test the feel of the ax in my hand, swinging it a few times to get used to the heft. I used to have a similar sword and the ax could help me conserve some of the mana I would otherwise be using to strengthen my body.

While on watch, I check the notifications.

Sset (Hell, 4th) ⟶ TheStrongestOne (Hell, 5th)

Damn, Tess. Did group 4 do anything to piss you off? Did I do anything to you?

And a few more.

Savant (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Gareth (Hell, 5th)

Savant (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Pumpkin (Hell, 5th)

Detecting something that feels like tunnels under the ground, I place an anchor, teleporting below while keeping my eyes on the notifications.

FoodFood (Hell, 6th) ⟶ Two (Normal, 5th)

FoodFood (Hell, 6th) ⟶ One (Normal, 5th)

FoodFood (Hell, 6th) ⟶ Sami (Easy, 6th)

FoodFood (Hell, 6th) ⟶ Eve (Normal, 5th)

FoodFood (Hell, 6th) ⟶ Overlord (Easy, 5th)

FoodFood (Hell, 6th) ⟶ Snowman (Easy, 4th)

…

And the notifications continue, proclaiming the names of almost two dozen participants who’ve been defeated.

Biscuit, what the heck did you even do? Did they anger you? It might be awkward back in the common area if you scare them too much.

Anyway, clearly the best doggo of the tournament floor, no, the best doggo of the 1st event and Survival Domain!

I start heading towards an area containing multiple presences, I trigger a few alarms on purpose, and when I exit the tunnel and enter a big underground area a dozen people are there, weapons out and mana ready.

Quickly I locate two epic items and two people from Hell difficulty, respectively from group 8, TheGuild.

AnotherOneHere (Hell, 5th)

Swordmaster (Hell, 5th)

In the shadowy darkness of the tunnels, golden thermal energy surrounds me and I take a step towards them.

Chapter 339 - 6 / 2357

I have been thinking lately, and my build is a big mess, to say it gently. Sure, I have a lot of skills, but no matter how hard I try to master them all, it's impossible, and not often does each of the skills shine. They are all pretty situational and often countered by stronger or more skilled opponents.

Sure, I'm extremely versatile, and I can switch up the way I fight, but at least to me, it feels lacking. Currently, I would say I'm at my strongest against multitudes of weaker opponents. The amount of mana and multiple skills I can use are good for bombardment and large-scale damage.

When it comes to fighting a single, strong opponent, they can almost always pull off some kind of counter, forcing me to try to either surprise my opponent or overwhelm them with the sheer amount of bullshit I can throw at them.

It's not bad, not really. I did it all with the future in mind. I'm building a strong base to build upon, picking my own unique way. But until then, it will be a pain in the ass at times.

I dodge a slash from a Hell difficulty man called Swordmaster, and his next attack slips across my armor while he blocks my swing.

He jumps back a few times, and AnotherOneHere does something that changes gravity; causing it to pull me up toward the ceiling, rather than the ground.

Surrounding myself with a barrier made of [Regalia], I tank a barrage of ranged attacks launched by people from Hard and Normal difficulty, as I take a moment to examine the skill disrupting my relative gravity before disrupting it.

I fire off three projectiles in quick succession, each tied to an anchor, and teleport to one as they land.

My ax burrows into the leg of a man who attacked me with a bothersome form of shadow magic. Taking care not to kill him, I absorb some of his mana through the ax, allowing the weapon to strengthen me.

I teleport again leaving a thermal orb in my place, the orb explodes, reducing the injured man into particles and wounding Swordmaster in the process, who quickly changes direction and rushes me again.

Before AnotherOneHere's gravity skill can slow me down again, I disrupt it and burrow the ax into another man. Then I teleport again leaving another thermal orb in my place. This time it doesn't manage to explode before being covered by a shield of rock emerging from the floor.

Making distance between us, I send a small tri-colored orb through the anchor, allowing it to explode within the room, the explosion strengthened by its confinement. Dust and rocks fall from the ceiling, shaking the walls and pieces crumble down while the men and women shout.

Four more people from Hard and Normal die, leaving 7 people.

I set up another barrier, deflecting a barrage of attacks that move much quicker thanks to a liberal application of gravity magic by AnotherOneHere.

When I teleport back inside the room, Swordmaster is already there, with a strange form of mana surrounding an epic sword that he holds with the confidence of an expert.

It pierces through my armor and stops only after I add [Resonance] to the mix. His movement accelerates, the same weird mana moves to his feet as he kicks at me, causing the same kind of damage to my armor.

He dodges a projectile I send his way, quickening his movements even more before burrowing his knee into my chest plate and then jumps back, tilting his head to avoid a cone of kinetic energy.

Swordmaster's sword cuts through my flames, and even without armor, his body resists the heat as he attacks me.

When I teleport, he locates me surprisingly quickly, getting used to my style.

I feel a pull on my body, as gravity changes once more in an attempt to slow me down and he seizes the opportunity, as his sword shines even brighter as he slashes towards my neck.

My [Redistribution] at full power stops him for a moment. The pulse of disrupting mana makes him stagger in surprise as his enhancements disappear, and a sudden blast of kinetic energy tears a large chunk out of his arm. Yet the man still manages to avoid the worst of it.

Before I can follow up, the rock I’m standing on turns into mud, imprisoning my feet, as a golem-like creature as tall as me climbs up from the ground, reaching toward me.

When the golem grabs my armor, I find myself unable to teleport, the last anchor disrupted. I’m honestly surprised it took them so long to get around to that.

More mana radiates from my body, the armor around me expanding and surrounding me leaving me twice my normal height and towering over the golem.

With a single kick, I send the golem flying toward its creator, before returning to my normal size and teleporting to an anchor I left on the golem. A few teleports and kinetic blasts later, only two men from Hell difficulty remain, as my body is strengthened by the effect of the ax.

“Noname, you're on the 6th floor, right?” AnotherOneHere asks as I face the remaining duo.

Seeing no reason to be rude, I nod; the man has been rather polite in the Community.

Swordmaster, with his sword on his shoulder, gives me a look before shrugging and nodding towards his group member, “We always knew group 4 wasn’t exactly normal.”

“It's still disappointing to see such a difference between people from Hell.” Finishing his preparations, AnotherOneHere raises his hands and claps.

The sides of the room I'm standing in tear apart, huge pieces of rock heading towards me in an attempt to crush me between them.

They expect me to teleport, so I create an anchor and activate it halfway. Then, instead of teleporting, I send a tricolored orb that I’ve been forming in my mouth. It explodes the moment Swordmaster reaches the anchor.

I, meanwhile, create a barrier around myself, mitigating any damage from the rocks and the explosion that takes out Swordmaster. The poor guy was too incompatible with my fighting style and my skills made countering him simple enough.

AnotherOneHere uses his gravity skill, slightly compressing a portion of the explosion and redirecting it. Wounded and exhausted he rests against the wall, breathing heavily.

When my axe cuts into his leg, he looks up at me, “That's cold as fuck,” he breathes out as the axe starts absorbing his mana to strengthen my body.

“There are a few more people not that far over us. I will go after them right away, so I need to save a bit of mana,” I respond.

He laughs unbelievably and shakes his head, "Well, good luck then."

I nod, "Thank you."

A few moments later, he turns into particles when the system judges that he’s started to die.

Only then do I allow myself to crack my mask and breathe out in a long, shaky breath. Then I concentrate and examine a few of the smaller wounds Swordmaster managed to inflict that are still healing at a slower rate than they should. These guys did have quite a few decent skills; they weren't Hell difficulty for nothing.

I lift Swordmaster’s sword from the ground. An epic item with the effect of making wounds slower to heal the more mana is used to power it while increasing its cutting force as well.

I decide to keep it along with my ax and proceed to look for the second epic item. It is a small ring that served as a consumable type of item, bearing three activations that would heal its bearer. All uses were probably gone even before the fight.

In the future, I will have to get cooking with Lily and create my own version of an item with a similar effect as the ring.

When two hours remain, the weather changes again. The snow disappears, and earthquakes ravage the area while the barrier shrinks again, evaporating anything that touches it.

Moving to the middle of the Survival Domain, I fight more people.

I encounter a group from Easy difficulty that has somehow managed to survive until now, though they quickly surrender.

Another is a group from Normal difficulty that tries to fight back only to be flabbergasted even as I use the slightest amount of the mana generated by my body. Their attacks can’t even reach me, and most of the time, just the strength of my body boosted by the ax’s effect is enough to do the job.

People from Hard are a bit more difficult to deal with and always move in bigger groups, sometimes they even travel with one or two remaining members of Hell difficulty. Fights against them are always enjoyable. Their skills are better, their stats higher, and their traits are more interesting. I examine them and take note of the way they make use of their skills, but in the end, even they find themselves defeated with a blend of skills that always surprise them.

I, like a few others, have been through Beyond trials. Even if others could've gone, they have decided to not use the upgrade token that way or failed to fulfill the other requirements. So there’s as much difference between me and a person from Hard difficulty as there is between me and most other people from Hell.

I still haven’t touched my Mana Reservoir containing three times the mana produced by my body, so I tap it to increase my speed towards the middle of the domain.

One hour remains, and the barrier is slowly and surely shrinking from the size of a large city to who knows what ending point.

In the distance, I see the lightning flicker and the terrifying sound of Tess's projectiles and then a new notification.

Tacita (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Sset (Hell, 4th)

I feel a disturbing gray mana move to my right, an explosion of it, and another notification.

Savant (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Grumpy (Hell, 5th)

Savant (Hell, 4th) ⟶ FoodFood (Hell, 6th)

That already makes me the last remaining survivor from group 4 other than Sophie, who is God knows where. I can only feel the ghost of her presence in the web of mana constructs she’s left behind.

6 / 2357

We have a much smaller leaderboard now.

1st (431 pts) - Noname

2nd (375 pts) - Savant

3rd (333 pts) - Tacita

4th (256 pts) - Soph

5th (167 pts) - Bard

6th (1 pts) - Adam

A man with black hair tied into a ponytail and green eyes jumps up and lands on the roof opposite mine. He’s wearing a simple-looking glove over his right hand that radiates an extraordinary amount of strength, even when not in use.

“I guess you found the arcane item?” I ask him.

“Yes, I had hoped to find it earlier and get more points, but even so, the timing is fitting. It uses a lot of mana, so you would probably like it better, though,” he answers.

Interrupting our conversation, a man stumbles to the top of the roof.

Bard (Hell, 5th)

He’s missing an arm and he does something to his body to keep himself from bleeding out. Just looking at his state, I guess he won’t be able to last much longer.

Looking at me and Savant he staggers and stops. Then he sighs, “Fucking corgi, tore my arm off. He was so goddamn cute…”

Before he can say more, Tacita appears behind his back at a speed unique to her, epic dagger in her hand slashing down and turning the man into particles. Tacita then stands there and sweeps her messy brown hair from her eyes. Her lively eyes meet mine and Savant's.

Tacita (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Bard (Hell, 5th)

Other than Sophie, one last man remains. The one with a single point. A member of Gareth’s group. He walks up the stairs to the top of the building and reaches the roof after opening the creaking iron door.

Adam (Hell, 5th)

The blonde sixty year old looking man with long wavy hair is in a pristine state, wearing something akin to a suit. He holds no weapon and there isn’t a single mark on his body. Either he’s avoided fighting or he’s just been hiding up until now. But it's clear that he’s barely used any stamina or mana, unlike the rest of us.

The man in the suit turns to Savant, “Hey youngster, wanna get rid of that glove and make things fair?”

“No.”

“Understandable.”

A silence ensues and all of us stand there nearly feeling awkward, no one wanting to be the first to face the arcane item.

“Hey, really, let's get rid of that…” I try to say as well.

“No.”

Damn it, “Do you not want to fight properly? Using an arcane item is cheap as fuck.”

“I will fight one versus one during the duels. I know you would gladly use the glove as well.”

Well, he is not wrong. Unlike him, I would’ve probably used it a minute ago.

“So why don’t you attack?” I ask him.

“Your friend is still sneaking around. She keeps trying to get into my mind and the glove requires a lot of concentration.”

This time the man in the suit asks, sensing an opportunity “So you can't defend against her and use the glove at the same time?”

“There is only one way for you to find out.” Then his expression changes and his mana flows into the glove, “Found you,” he says simply and moves his hand as if swatting away a fly.

The part of the city he gestured towards explodes in a single yet impressive show of telekinesis, destroying multiple buildings and a big part of the street.

Savant (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Soph (Hell, 5th)

The moment Sophie dies, the web and constructs that she’s been planting all over the place all head for Savant, in a last act of revenge.

Tacita disappears.

A purple circle forms behind Adam's back.

And I reach into my Mana Reservoir, as all that mana floods my body. There is no more hesitation, no more conserving mana, and with an ax and a sword in my hands, black mana seeps into my body and my eyes activate.

Less than thirty minutes remain, but I don’t think I will be able to last more than a minute before the system judges I'm dead.

Should be enough.

Chapter 340 - It's MY mana

With my eyes activated and strengthening and pummeling my body, I jump from building to building, prepared for Tacita to attack me.

Even then, Savant doesn't use the arcane glove and stands there, his mana surrounding his body as he fights the aftereffects of Sophie's skill.

Two tri-colored orbs shoot at him, one of them disappearing the moment it enters his reach, the other one redirected at Adam. The man in the suit repositions before the orb explodes, sending a shockwave and heat into the area. Purple mana flickers around Adam's body as he does so.

Keeping an eye on Savant, I try to find out what happened to the second orb, but it's gone.

Where did it go? I can't sense anything.

Like a flash, Tacita appears near Savant, a dagger in her hand slashing down only for her to freeze on the spot as he squeezes his hand into a fist, using the arcane weapon.

Unbothered, Tacita's presence becomes even fainter, and she disappears from the spot where she stood. A big chunk of the building implodes into a small spot as Savant fully closes his gloved hand into a fist.

Purple mana erupts from Adam, moving like water and crashing against Savant in huge waves. The air flickers under its influence, and the pressure of his weird skill grinds the building around Savant to dust.

Without even using his weapon, Savant does something, and even though the attack continues, it doesn't touch him at all. Then he moves his hand, and all the anchors I've placed disappear.

Tacita, who attacks him again, is thrown away, into the empty city, while Adam is sent crashing to the ground surrounded by his purple mana.

With my mana around me like a brilliant flame, I endure it all, floating in the same spot in space. My eyes are bleeding as I read his movements and tactics. My domain expands even further, and Savant´s domain pushes against mine, a gentle orange light radiating from him.

Within my domain, my mana becomes easier to manipulate, and within his, mana radiation slowly ramps up, attempting to crush me.

I know that skill. It's hard to forget. The skill that Champion Tristan, controlled by the mind mage Emperor, used to wipe out his world.

[Dawn]

In my domain, dozens of mana projectiles form a constant barrage to harry the man. Weaker ones disappear within his domain, and the stronger ones disappear an arm's reach in front of him because of his other skill.

Tacita moves to attack him again, but Savant, while defending against me, sends a pulse of telekinesis from the glove. The brown-haired woman tilts her body, taking damage and spinning around before lowering her posture to avoid another attack. Her body moves even quicker than before.

Before he can attack her, I push against him with my domain, [Redistribution] and [Resonance] at full power crash against his body, trying to stop his movement and disrupt his mana as I read its flow.

But all of it is pointless in attempting to match the arcane item. His hand moves and a big chunk of his mana disappears with it.

The air reverberates, and I layer barriers in front of me when a huge area surrounding him explodes, all the buildings blown away as if by a powerful wind. Another pulse sends all dust away, revealing Savant standing on an untouched building and tons of debris floating around him.

Tacita is there already, her knife embedded in his side and pointed at his heart, yet she is unable to push deeper, her movement arrested in the same way as the debris, at a high cost to Savant's mana.

He looks at her, the arcane weapon glowing. “How?” he asks almost curiously.

I bet if Tacita could move, she would just shrug.

Then he squeezes his fist and she disappears, turning into particles, unable to escape this time. Her dagger glows once more before that, damaging her target further, making him stagger and spit out some blood.

Immediately after, even wounded, Savant moves, lifting his hand with the glove in front of him. A javelin made of black mana stops an arm's reach in front of him.

He tries to absorb it like he did with the attacks from before, but it doesn't work. It did cost me a lot of focus and damage to my body to make that javelin in my current restricted state, so what will he do now?

With curiosity, I watch as he looks at the javelin and then at me.

Then a gray mana I know so well emerges from somewhere within him to war against the javelin.

When black mana and [Disintegration] meet, they clash for a short moment, and then [Disintegration] destroys part of the black mana javelin before the skill weakens enough for the remaining black mana to absorb it.

Seeing that, Savant tries to absorb what remains but is unsuccessful.

Having a good idea at this point what his skills are, I put my body and mana into overdrive. My attacks strike him once more, a barrage of thermal energy, kinetic energy, or pure mana constantly assaulting him and destroying the building he stands on. Adding to the mix, orbs filled with disrupting mana pop near him, pressuring him to keep up his domain and waste his mana.

Adam and his wave-like purple mana shoot into the area, crashing over it and pressuring Savant even more. And the entire time, I keep collecting mana inside my body.

This isn't all, I know.

Savant uses another chunk of his mana, and the glove on his hand glows, destroying more buildings and throwing the debris at Adam. The circle behind his back changes, and the purple mana surrounds him, defending against all that. Adam seems to be confident and he still has big reserves, so he will last longer than Savant, I’m sure of that.

That's when one of my small black orbs crashes into his purple barrier, touching it and immediately starting to absorb it. Unable to stop it his defenses are sucked away, the barrier crumples, and the debris compresses on him.

Another orb explodes inside of his barrier.

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Adam (Hell, 5th)

2 / 2357

The rooftop explodes under my feet as I use my strengthened body and a push of kinetic energy to fly in a circle, rows of buildings crashing behind me caused by the arcane weapon Savant wields.

When he stops his attack, I examine my body.

That's not good at all. But it could be worse, I guess. Looking at it, the system will consider me dead in ten to thirty seconds, maybe?

“Not enough mana for the glove?” I call to Savant.

“It's more fitting for obstinate people like you. It uses quite a bit.” He sweeps some hair from his face, and his domain skill shrinks even more.

He is not capable of resisting my [Mana Domain], infused with [Resonance] and powered by a steady stream of mana from my Mana Reservoir.

Another of my compressed javelins crashes against him, only to disappear to god knows where. A skill similar to the one the last king had on the 3rd Floor.

Increasing pressure with my domain, I place anchors closer to him to distract him and charge ahead, squeezing the ax and sword in my hands.

When I teleport, he moves his hand and activates the glove once more and all three of my anchors are damaged by telekinesis. But I don't use any of them and just reappear on the same spot.

When he lifts his arm towards me, I'm already in front of him, and telekinesis crashes against my crossed weapons, as I launch a few projectiles at him.

As the epic weapons crumple and crack, I let go and teleport to one of the projectiles I had tied an anchor to.

Losing control over the black mana, I force it out of my body into the shape of a black dagger, and my vision blurs out as my eyes finally deactivate, unable to keep them up.

Sounds come rushing in as my mind loses hold over [Focus], and with a last stumble, I stab the dagger into the forearm wearing the glove.

His absorption skill activates, trying to get rid of the black mana or send his mana to the glove, but the black dagger absorbs it all and starts sucking in more.

Decisively, mana takes shape in the palm of his other hand, and he cuts off his arm at the elbow. An orange light shines around him, and he is blown away instead of getting killed by the kinetic energy I was able to collect.

Once he’s further away, he stops, blood dripping from his arm. Looking at him, I reach down and take the glove off his severed arm and put it on my hand.

The moment I do so, I feel something eating at my hand, and I quickly identify the skill.

I intentionally destabilize kinetic energy inside of my body, blowing off my hand with the glove on.

I watch as [Disintegration] eats up my hand inside of the glove, and I laugh shortly. “Well, that was kind of stupid of me. But I really wanted to try that glove.”

When I turn to him, he stands there wordlessly, his [Dawn] defending him against my attacks. His eyes calm and sharp, calculating, observing my every movement, and that annoying skill of his flickers in the air, ready to drive me back.

I glance at the black dagger that’s already turned into a black orb, floating there, trying to absorb any mana that comes close, eating at both of our domains. I don't think I can play it safely and try to pressure him from a distance until he is out of mana. He will probably be able to last that long.

Ten seconds at most remain, and my body will crumble. I would die, but the system won't let me; instead, it will send me away. So, let's be stupid and check how far the 4th-floor me could be pushed before dying.

All the mana I was releasing up until now gets pulled towards me like into a vortex, and [Focus] activates once more, forcing my trait to activate as well.

One of my eyes loses its sight, and the other one is blurry, and I feel more wounds opening across my body. Then I reach out to all my remaining mana, all around me and in my domain, to pull it…

I stop.

“You poisoned my mana.”

“So you have noticed. However, it doesn't matter, you are done anyway. You won't be able to control your mana anymore.”

Me? Done?

Because you decided that?

It's MY mana.

POV Tess Hansen

As always, when pushed to the corner, Nathaniel becomes the most dangerous. At the point where there is only a sliver of his life remaining, he throws all his failsafes away and becomes like a dangerous animal.

He was always like this. Even when he got ganged up on by a group of boys who called him the brother of a murderer, he fought back. And then, when they pushed him to the point of losing, pummeled, and bleeding, he started biting, scratching, and fighting dirty.

Just a few fights like that were enough. Even if he lost, the boys just became too scared, and decided that it wasn’t worth the attempt anymore. That, and the fact that Nat hunted them when they were alone, beating them to the point where they were always moving in groups.

Even now, he has the same expression as we watch him on a giant screen in the common area. The screen that allows people who left the Survival Domain to watch what's happening inside.

Nathaniel says, “You have poisoned my mana,” and Savant answers.

Even knowing that, the poisoned mana, his mana, continues to rush back into his body, his other eye losing sight, and wounds savaging his body.

When he charges this time, the leg he uses to leap breaks in a dozen spots, turning into a floppy sack of shattered bone made of skin.

He moves quicker than even Tacita did, destroying his body in the process. Yet, somehow, he’s still capable enough to use that black mana of his to pull this off without immediately killing himself.

We can't die during the tournament, but being able to push yourself to the point where you know you will die requires a special kind of mind.

When he crashes into Savant, the man, surprised, has time only to tilt his body and avoid most of the attack. Both of them roll on the ground, and in Nat's arm, a nail made of black mana forms; he stabs it into the arm that Savant uses to cover his eye.

The nail absorbs Savant's attempt to push Nathaniel away, and Nathaniel smashes his head down, breaking Savant's nose, and blood spills.

Savant dodges another attack, his arm still somehow coated in pale blue mana; he stabs into Nathaniel's side.

In exchange, Nathaniel stabs the exposed jagged bone that's left of his exploded hand and forearm into Savant's neck. He has a cold expression on his face as he does so.

The entire time their domains clash, Nathaniel's easily overpowering Savant's, as his mana radiates from his body, forcing the other man to shrink his domain more and more until it’s barely covering his body. And anything outside of it is destroyed immediately.

Heat, vibrations, and mana itself move around, trying to tear Savant apart, only stopped by the gentle orange light surrounding him. But it's clear he won't last much longer.

Unfortunately, neither will Nathaniel.

Savant observes him calmly, and when Nathaniel attacks him, he blocks the strike and stabs Nathaniel again.

Ignoring that precise mortal wound another black nail forms in Nathaniel's hand, and with a swing, he stabs it down towards Savant's eyes. In the middle of that movement, his body turns into shiny particles, and he disappears.

Silence fills the common area, no one says anything, and everyone is staring at the screen.

While holding his palm on his strongly bleeding neck, Savant stands up and looks at the spot where Nat disappeared. For a short moment, he stares there, the meaning of that look is hard to decipher.

The winner of the first event has been decided.

The air next to our group wavers, and Nat appears, outside of the Survival Domain. He is fully healed, his clothes fixed as well, and his mana restored to the levels before the event started.

Nathaniel blinks a few times, looking around with wild eyes, ready to attack. Mana radiates off him in waves that wash over the common area, causing some people from lower difficulties to throw up and others to faint.

I watch him, curious what expression he intends to put on, but his expression just returns to his usual neutral face and his mana disappears as if it never existed, barely a whisper.

“I will get the fucker during the duels,” he declares simply.

Even with his hard-to-read face, I can tell how dissatisfied he is.

Then he turns around, passing by the groups of people and heading towards our house. Dozens of people flee from his path, some looking at him like some kind of demon.

Chapter 341 - Better than a stick

Congratulations, you have placed 2nd in the 1st event - Survival Domain and you have also reached 1st place in points collected - 441 pts.

You can exchange your points for shards. 1 point = 5 shards.

The reward for placing 2nd overall is 3 thousand shards.

You may, either, receive the shards and choose one of three rewards, or forfeit them to choose from a selection of higher quality rewards.

I close my eyes and lean back in the massive armchair I’ve claimed for myself and moved to the terrace, offering a decent-ish view of the common area and the houses on the grassy hills surrounding it.

So 2nd place it is.

Tsk.

If he hadn’t gotten that goddamn arcane item if he hadn’t absorbed a bit of Lily's [Disintegration]...

And what the heck even is that skill and how long can he store the absorbed skills? I'm pretty sure his skill does something like that after seeing it at work.

So is that asshole storing the tri-colored orbs I shot at him? How much mana does it require to store them? What's the name of the skill? How the heck does he have [Dawn] and the mana stone from Tristan that he gave to Lily?

Did he get chummy with Champion Tristan back on the second floor?

Biscuit! I need emotional support. I'm frustrated!

As if he heard me, the best doggo of all tournament floors comes floating my way to land in my lap. He also got defeated so he is quiet and just rests on my lap while I boop his nose a few times and then pet him.

“We will get our revenge in the other events,” I whisper to him.

He woofs in agreement and I focus back on the notifications.

Should I try to gain as many shards as possible or try for better rewards? The rewards seem to be personalized so improving them in exchange for a few shards could be well worth it. I can also make shards by selling items in the tournament shop and it's not like a few thousand shards are going to do very much for me.

“Biscuit, shards, or better rewards?”

(Food.) He says cleverly before closing his eyes again, stretching, and continuing to rest.

Cute.

Rewards it is.

You have decided to not receive your shards. Please pick one of the three following rewards:

Epic grade passive skill

Epic grade item

Summon disciple (24h)

Looking at the rewards, the passive and the item, must at least be mid-grade if not upper grade, to be listed here, but I'm not even thinking of them.

“Give me the last one.”

The window disappears and my slowly souring mood immediately improves. The item is called a disciple summoning, not a minion summoning token but I can live with that.

Grabbing Biscuit and holding him to my chest, I stand up and head towards the living room where the others are. A lively conversation immediately cuts off, leaving me staring down a number of awkward looks.

Are they worried about my mood because I lost… because that asshole cheated and got 1st place?

“I'm fine, like I said, I’ll get that dick in the other events. But more importantly. Tess, get Channeler and see if he can’t find frozen pizza or someone who can cook pizza for us. I'm offering an epic item for that.”

I let the stream of questions pass, already planning.

The 1st day was a free day without an event so now after the second day and first event, 5 full days and 4 events remain. If the events take as much time as the 1st, that leaves us with one more free day, probably before the last event to let us rest.

I need to confirm, but if I'm right, that will be the day I introduce my very first minion to group 4.

Flashback Savant - 1st Floor

They fight the small green monsters and I watch as a few of them die, pierced by the primitive weapons.

The wounds caused by their weapons are severe, of the sort that would kill them anyway without access to antibiotics and modern surgery. There are already a few people with high fever and sepsis from earlier attacks.

As they scream and cry, I do not pity them. They left me to die.

It's a reasonable decision, without my prosthesis I can't move as quickly as them and would only slow them down. That much is confirmed even now as three goblins surround me, two grunts and a shaman. All the warriors went after the group.

I watch as a shaman comes closer and even though it’s smaller than me, it smiles in glee, fire flickering in the palm of its hand before forming into a small orb.

It's captivating. I know it's possible thanks to the existence of something called mana, but that doesn't explain much. Is this some kind of technology so advanced that I can only describe it as magic, or is it just a force we don’t understand yet?

And why is my group so slow to adapt to its presence?

When the shaman pulls me down by my hair and reaches to push the flame orb into my eye, his guards snicker. The flame is about to touch me and I can feel its heat scorching my skin. I use my skill and absorb it.

Seeing it disappear, the shaman squawks and I move a bit of the mana I got from the system and burrow my middle and index fingers into the shaman's eye as deep as I can. The length of my fingers should be enough to reach the monster's brain, judging from its size.

When the body starts twitching, one of the remaining goblins charges at me. It moves at a speed comparable to other goblins of the same level. It also opens with the same kind of attack, aiming at the middle of my body below the rib cage.

I avoid it and throw my body forward, crashing against the little green monster, both of us falling to the ground. The monster's body feels tougher than I expected and it attacks, biting my neck and scratching at my arms. While it does so, I find the dagger on its belt. It’s still in the same place I saw it before the attack.

As I grab the dagger, I intend to slide the blade in between its ribs and stab it in the heart but change my mind, unsure of the anatomy. Instead, I burrow the dagger into the underside of the monster’s jaw.

The other goblin only seems to have a dagger, so as expected, it moves closer and jumps on my back. They often use their bodies first when they’re enraged by the deaths of their clanmates.

Before the second goblin stabs me, I use my skill and release the flame I absorbed from the shaman, striking the attacking monster in the face.

While it thrashes and screams on the ground, I crawl closer and stab it in the neck a few times with the dagger I stole.

I level up and my skills do as well.

Crawling back to the corpse of the shaman, I take a dagger and burrow it into the monster's leg, cutting, slashing, and tearing through the flesh and tendons until I sever it at the knee.

I invest stat points into mana, then take the severed leg and place it on my stump. The length isn't perfect, but my leg ends somewhere in the middle of the shin, and the shaman's under the knee so it should be comparable to my normal leg.

Then I use my skill and observe as my body absorbs the monster's leg into mine.

It looks awful, a thin green leg connected to my skin, they have smaller feet, with no shoes, or hair. Even as I stand up, it's hard to keep my balance.

But it's better than a stick.

Congratulations, your items have been sold through the tournament shop! You have gained 1120 shards. Ten percent will be taken by the system.

And there it is. Taxes at last, indeed one of life’s certainties.

But even then, the revenue isn't bad. I offered 6 items at an asking price of 150 shards a piece and received closer to 200 for each, that’s what I’d pay for a low tier rare item in the system shop. Did they like my items that much? I’ll have to look into it.

With net profit being around 800 shards, it's not that bad for a few hours, but damn, I miss the ease of looting the Veil Ignition Station.

After crafting five more items, I put them in the shop as well. Two daggers, one small shield, a spear, and a short sword. Each is a rare grade item, but it's hard to say if they’re low or mid grade. All I know is they are ugly as hell and sold by Fuckyouintentbitch. But the effects are nice.

I set the starting prices a bit higher now, 160 for the daggers and shield, and 170 for the spear and sword, and I set the auction’s duration at 3 hours.

Satisfied with that, I stretch, but now that I'm done, an annoying thought about the result of the 1st event comes rushing back. So I try to think about something else for a bit. It's fine, my time will come.

Once outside the facility, I meet Lily in the garden, currently throwing her gray mana at the poor trees.

“Are we fighting the trees?” I ask her.

She doesn’t seem to be amused, “I hate that Savant was able to absorb my skill; it shouldn’t be possible.”

I agree with her. His skill didn't absorb my black mana, but it succeeded with her [Disintegration]. The interesting thing is that the system allowed it even though he put the same [Restriction] on himself as Lily. So his skill must be quite good.

More to think about. I already have plans to properly experiment with the black mana. My current immortality has given me some amazing opportunities, and after seeing that it really is impossible to die here and that my body and mana will be restored after the event, I can do just that.

“He probably had to use a shitload of mana for his skill to be able to absorb yours. Maybe his skill is just higher level than [Disintegration], or perhaps it has some means of countering yours to some degree,” I tell her.

“Or maybe I’ve just grown overconfident. I kept leveling my other skills and somehow thought [Disintegration] would remain powerful.”

“That’s also an option. But your skill is capable of damaging someone a hundred levels higher, with a high constitution, so it's not just that. But as you said, a bit of leveling won’t hurt.”

“And you? Are you ok?”

[Focus - lvl 48 > Focus - lvl 49]

“It’s okay,” I pinch Lily’s nose. “By the way, I’m going to introduce you to someone important to me in a few days.”

As I say it, Lily seems to start panicking, “Someone important?” she whispers.

“Yes, you’ll like her.”

“H-her?”

“Yup, anyway, I’m going to train on my own for a bit, so later.” Before she can say anything, I teleport to one of my anchors and fly for a while, reaching a clearing in the forest without anyone nearby.

Checking my surroundings once more, I then move my mana to test something I’ve wanted to do since the start of the event.

A pale blue orb forms over my palm, quickly changing its color multiple times until it's pitch black. But unlike the event where I was restricted, I can control the black mana quite comfortably.

I let it seep into my body and use it to power [Focus]. Then, as the world slows around me, I create a bigger one than before, using quite a bit of the mana in my body.

In this state that feels so addictive, I let that black mana permeate me, and this time I feel the pressure. It makes it much more difficult to control as black mana inside of my body reaches a certain amount, but I pay it no mind.

Ignoring the pressure and wounds, I let it all seep in and then use it to power a different skill.

[Mana Domain]

Immediately my domain expands, and then more, and again. The size is unlike any I’ve used before.

Observing it with fascination, I try to understand and learn as much as possible before I lose control. The black mana inside of my body threatens to slip, and even controlling the mana I used to power my [Focus] has become much more difficult.

Through the domain, I sense the mana of every being within it. It feels like I should be able to do even more, but as I make the attempt, the world blacks out, and I die.

I died…Confused, I look around, still in the same place, though my skills have been deactivated and after checking, a chunk of my mana is missing.

The feeling is extremely disturbing even though I quickly reactivate [Focus], this time powered by normal mana.

It takes a few moments to calm my beating heart as I replay what just happened.

Well, that's a good start. The system didn't let me die, which can only mean one thing.

Let's try it again.

First, to see how black mana reacts with my other skills and then to learn how much I can control it. I have a lot of time before the 2nd event starts.

Chapter 342 - (¬_¬)

[Perception] powered by black mana isn't that special, or at least it’s not at my skill level. I'm not as good at using that skill as I am at using [Focus], so black mana makes it, well, more perceptive. I still prefer my eye trait, but it's not terrible and could be used to improve my scans.

I might even be able to locate Tacita right now and quite easily at that, but it's kind of hard to control. I died three times before I got any actual results.

The second skill I’ve decided to test is [Resonance], mostly for the bits that used to be [Oscillation] rather than [Disruption].

[Resonance] powered by black mana easily tears through the trees and rocks in front of me, it covers quite a large area as well. It's like using highly concentrated, high-frequency kinetic energy but it feels sharper.

Knowing I can't die, I can afford to be less careful, intending to learn even from the way my body gets damaged. I died twice before getting the result I wanted from the skill.

I also try to use [Resonance] with a burst of black mana to send a massive disrupting wave, as big as I can make it, and after examining it I'm almost sure it hit everyone within the common area. It’s almost like a wide range EMP for mana.

With that one pulse, the black mana I used for the skill is gone. It took up a lot of it, but the area is huge so I’m satisfied.

So what if it scared a few people and messed up the web the others from Hell and the Hard difficulty people have been constructing over the common area? It’s a price I'm willing to pay.

Next, I decide not to test it on more skills. The event is still a bit off, but I need to get there with my mana topped out.

For the last test with black mana, I create a big amount and send it through my body, in a manner similar to my Reinforcement and body strengthening. And I observe it the entire time, without activating my healing passive even as my body takes damage, my bones and muscles strengthened by mana while it puts them through an immense amount of strain at the same time.

I move that mana to certain parts, like to my feet or arms, and attempt independently strengthening them. Then I manipulate mana to create a black dagger before reabsorbing it.

Each of these attempts would be extremely dangerous given that a single spike can tear my organs and mind apart, but here I'm not that worried.

Congratulations, you have acquired a new skill!

[Mana Manipulation]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 0 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 38]

Huh? What?

Confused, I ignore the black mana for a moment and check my status and the skill is there.

I’ve reacquired one of my original skills.

Didn't the system say it would be extremely difficult to get the skill back? And I was already getting used to training without it, and why the heck is it so high level? The other skills I’ve gained are mostly in the single digits.

Is it because I had it before, and more importantly, does that mean I can use [Mana Manipulation] in another skill combination? Is that even allowed? If so then maybe, in the future when I use it for another skill combination, I can get it back again.

This is a total scam!

It's still surprising, but I can’t complain. It must mean that I have a great talent when it comes to mana, right? Hehe.

I notice that my body is starting to take too much damage, and overjoyed over the new skill, I send kinetic energy into my brain and blow off my head. I die again, my body returning to its normal state.

From testing, I know that if I had waited any longer the system would have restored me to my wounded state even if I wasn’t dead. I'm still not sure what the exact time limit is, but it's something that can be found out with a bit of testing.

After "reviving", the first thing I see is Tacita squatting in front of me and looking at me in a way that I can’t quite describe. Is it amazement? Admiration? Did she stalk me and see me testing the black mana and dying?

She lifts her pointer finger close to her temple and makes a circular movement while looking at me.

Oh, come on! Everyone normal would do that! You can't die here, so it's not a problem to destroy your body a few times.

“I'm normal. That was entirely reasonable,” I protest.

She blinks a few times and then gestures at the ground where she quickly draws something with her finger.

(¬_¬)

“I'm normal.”

She wipes it off and pats my shoulder once before drawing again.

(ಠ_ಠ)

“Did you come here just to make fun of me?”

Tacita shakes her head.

“Do you want something from me?”

A short nod.

“What is it?”

(>^_^)> ☆･ﾟ*･｡ﾟ

There is NO WAY she is more normal than me.

“Explosion?”

She nods excitedly a few times but then gestures to indicate that I’ve missed something.

“Do you want me to cause an explosion?”

Tacita shakes her head.

“Did you find me because of an explosion?”

She shakes her head again.

Hmm, this is a fun game so I plop on the ground opposite of her and think.

“Did you maybe feel my disrupting wave?”

(＾▽＾)

Carefully, she touches her shirt which I now realize is black.

Oh.

“You want to see my black orb?”

(＾▽＾)

“What do I get in exchange?” I ask.

To my surprise, she thinks about it for a while, and seriously at that. Then she pulls out a small brooch in the shape of a leaf and puts it on the ground.

Examining it, I learn that it's an epic item with two uses left. Each of these uses increases dexterity by 200 points for 10 seconds. It's the first time I’ve seen an item like this and can’t help but think about how scary someone like Tacita would be with something like this.

I wonder how she deals with the attribute imbalance I'm sure she’s experiencing. Without enough Constitution, each of her quick movements likely threatens to tear her apart. Is it some trait? Epic passives? Active skills? There are plenty of options.

The item is nice, but I would rather try to build a good relationship with her. That would be much more valuable.

“I was joking, I’ll show you for free. Just don't attack me or my group without a good reason.”

Tacita looks at me and then seems to be thinking about it for a while.

A minute passes like that.

Then she looks at me again, into my eyes and I return her gaze. She smiles gently and gestures with her hand.

Maybe.

"That's enough."

She takes the brooch and gestures at me impatiently.

I reach out and compress mana into a smaller orb that quickly turns black, as I am already used to the process. She watches it all with fascination like an excited little girl finding a new toy.

Her hands move in sign language, but she quickly remembers I do not understand and then points at the orb while looking at me with a question.

“Yes, you can.”

Tacita nods quickly and a barrier forms on her skin as she reaches her finger towards the black mana orb. It starts absorbing her mana the moment it enters her range.

At this point, I know showing her this will help her understand my black orb a bit better and maybe even learn how to counter it.

But I also know she realizes that, and yet I'm still showing it to her. That much should help her form a better image of me. After all, I’m the guy who showed her his secret weapon even though he didn't have to. Obviously, just that won't turn her into a friend or anything, but just a little bit, just a first step is enough, and to me, Tacita looks like someone worth keeping close. Well, maybe not too close.

I lean against the tree with my back and observe her as she continues to examine the orb. She changes her barrier, she tries to move her hand so quickly I can't even track it, probably trying to figure out if she can stop the orb from absorbing her mana by moving quickly enough.

She pokes it with a mana-coated dagger as well.

It's like she is a curious cat playing with a new toy.

In the end, she seems to be satisfied and stands up. Looking at me, she shows a thumbs-up.

The heck.

Then after waving her hand, she runs away at a speed that would probably look like teleportation to someone with worse senses.

I head back to our house when a notification informs me that all the weapons I put into the shop have been sold. After the system takes its cut, I get 1200 shards. Plenty more than I was asking.

Something seems to be amiss here. Why would they sell for so much? Looking at the price, people from Normal and Hard should be the only ones buying them, but with what they bought them for they could've gotten items from the system shop instead.

Very suspicious.

When I reach the house, Channeler is there as well. Unlike before, he is wearing much nicer clothes and he is slightly tidied up which makes him even more handsome.

Again, the hell. It should be illegal for a man to look like that.

“Noname! I trained using the stone you gave me. It's amazing! Someone from Hard even tried to steal it from me.”

Oh boy. “Did he get it?”

“Nope! Sset saw it and zapped him and the group who was trying to help him.” He moves closer and continues in a whisper. “Sset is scary. A few of the guys from Hard difficulty cried and begged her to stop, but she was like: ‘Channeler is with Group 4.’ So goddamn cool, I tell you!”

Oh nice, now even Tess is spreading Group 4's name to other participants. But I'm curious about where she’s going with this.

“Good, if someone bothers you just tell us. It should be easy enough to deal with them.”

“Will do, boss! By the way, did you hear about that creep selling rare items?”

Huh, creep? I know multiple people registered as sellers and I even saw some rare items in the tournament shop, but who could have caught enough interest by now for anyone to be talking about them?

“Anything interesting?” I ask.

“Yup! He made a few rare items and was selling them at a ridiculously low price! I'm friends with some of the guys from Normal difficulty and they’ve already started talking about it. They say his weapons are being sold at the price of a low rare item with the performance of a mid rare! Apparently, not many people have realized their value yet.”

Heh, what a loser, getting scammed already.

Channeler continues, “The items are ugly as hell and sometimes they’re hard to hold and the shape’s all wrong.”

Wait a moment.

He laughs shortly, “The guys complained a lot about them being ugly, but the performance and effects are amazing for such a high grade so they’ve been selling like hotcakes. I even heard some were trading them in for other, more valuable items with crafters from Hard difficulty who wanted to examine them."

Please no.

Channeler explodes into laughter, “But best of all is the guy's name. Everyone calls him Tent Creep who apparently wants to… well, you know… Anyway, if you see any tent you better avoid it.”

T-That's not it!

I try to correct him, “Isn't his name 'Fuck You Intent Bitch'? I think I saw it.”

Channeler just shrugs, “What even is “intent”? Anyway, they don't care. Since the name has caught on, they’re likely to keep using it,” he smirks. “Obviously no one will make fun of him to his face. It would be dumb to make fun of someone with that level of skill!”

“Yes, that would be really stupid.”

“Maybe you could buy some of his stuff, creep or not.”

“Yes, maybe. Hehe, such a stupid name.”

“Right? I have to go to Soph. Gareth and others are getting annoyed by the web she is setting up around the common area. It interferes with, and has apparently been taking over, parts of their own web. They’ve already sent Brainiac to talk to her, but apparently, he’s just been messing around with the other members of your group.”

Group 4 indeed, everyone seems to like stirring trouble.

“Sure, I think she is in the workshop with her sister, you can check there.”

“Thanks, I’ll see you later, boss!”

As he leaves, I watch him for a bit longer. It’s nice that his behavior in regards to me hasn’t changed much after the end of the 1st event, unlike some of the others.

When I enter the house, I find Tess alone in the smaller living room with all the furniture floating in the air.

“Tent Creep!” she shouts by way of greeting.

“Oh, come on.” In quick succession, I shoot a few mana orbs at her, and she destroys them with her lightning.

“If you want, I can find out who started it, and you can have a talk with the guy. But that would reveal your secret identity as Tent Creep, and they would laugh behind your back. Or you can keep it secret.”

“Let's keep it a secret.”

“Sure! By the way, flying is much harder than you make it look. Other than you, Kim, and I, I’ve only seen two guys flying briefly. Maybe there are a few more, but they are all terrible in comparison to you.”

That improves my mood, and I know she said it on purpose. Such a cheeky blonde.

“They just don't practice enough. I wanted to ask you something.” I move closer and sit in the armchair that starts floating with me on it under the influence of her skill. “You went pretty hard on group 4 during the 1st event, is there a reason for that?”

Tess attacked me the moment she saw me, and then again. I also heard she poked at the others and defeated Min-Jae. It's weird to me, considering she was the one who wanted to create this atmosphere of camaraderie, yet instead of grouping up during the event she went off alone, even attacked a few of the members of our group.

Slowly, the items float back to the floor along with Tess, who ends up on the couch opposite me.

“I attacked you because I thought it would be fun and I knew you wouldn’t mind.” When she looks at me, I nod and after a short smile, she continues, “I poked the others to remind them that it's not just you who’s stronger than them in Group 4. I want them to know I'm here as well and they should not forget that.”

“Want to be their mom?”

“Actually, that might not be so inaccurate.” A plate with snacks floats over to me, and I grab one before it floats to Tess who takes some as well. “I want us to be friends, but at the same time, I took on the role of leader for the most part so I need to remind them once in a while. As for Kim, I defeated him because he’s getting cocky, Nathaniel. I saw how harshly he was treating some guys from the Hard difficulty. It was getting awfully close to bullying.”

“Just that?”

“Of course, that alone wouldn't be enough, it's just that since he got his new eye, he’s been getting more and more confident. Kim is still young and he doesn't know what to do with it, so he takes joy in lording his strength over others. But lately, he’s been pushing it.”

“I could look into it,” I offer. Having Min-Jae act cocky and overconfident could cause him some trouble in the future, so I could help with that.

“That would be great, just please don’t be too cruel. I will talk with him too so you can do it later.”

“Sure. That’s fine.” I gesture and head back out.

Chapter 343 - Start of the 2nd event

The 2nd event - The Siege of Aether Keep will be starting in 1 hour!

In 1 hour, everyone will be transferred to the Aether Keep.

All difficulties will participate in the same instance.

You will be facing a gradually increasing number of enemies trying to destroy Aether Keep. The numbers and strength of the attackers will grow over the duration of the event. You will have 5 hours to prepare your defenses and then 5 hours to defend Aether Keep.

Participants will be rewarded according to their performance during the defense.

Note: You can leave the event at any time you want.

Note: Cooperation with natives from Aether Keep and with participants of the tournament is required and fighting among defenders, be it tutorial attendees or natives, may decrease your points.

Note: You can use [Restriction] for this event.

Well, the event seems interesting. The only thing I dislike is the part about not fighting other participants, but it says that there “may” be a punishment. So maybe a bit of infighting is allowed? It also makes me wonder who or what the attackers are and what kind of place Aether Keep will be.

There doesn’t seem to be any restriction on mana or stamina regen, I can’t help but like that part and I have to wonder if I should set a [Restriction]. Placing one might increase my rewards, but not placing one would give me more options for defending the place, which might work out better in the end.

The question is how difficult the second event is going to be. If it's easy and I placed no [Restriction], it could end up being overkill and earn fewer points.

If it's difficult and I placed one, I may regret it, and find myself hamstrung during the defense.

Well, I’ll have to leave that to future Nat. He can decide a few seconds before the event starts.

Closing the window, I open another and put three items up for auction. Each one quickly made and apparently, according to the assholes who give me funny names, graded at mid rare. So this time I set the starting price for each one at 300 shards and set the time of the auction to 30 minutes. Let's see how they do.

As I did before the 1st event, I create a small orb inside my body and start filling it with my mana, trying to smuggle it in again.

Entering the house, I find everyone already inside, spread out over the living room. The most notable is Biscuit who is facing Noodle in a staring contest.

The white snake feels a bit stronger now. Did one of our animal overlords have a breakthrough in his training and is trying to fight for the position of Absolute?

Well, in the end, it doesn't matter. Biscuit doesn't even release any mana, just looks at Noodle with his usual silly expression. The one that makes him look like he is smiling with his tongue slightly sticking out.

Even that is enough and Noodle lowers his head and leaves in a clear state of defeat.

(Asshole,) sounds proudly through everyone’s mind as Biscuit announces his victory.

That makes the introverted snake lower his head even more and burrow under the blankets on the couch.

It might seem harsh, but Biscuit is cute so he can do anything he wants.

"Yoo, can you lend me the ax for the event?" Maya asks shamelessly as the fight between two animal overlords is over.

"One thousand shards per hour."

She blinks a few times staring at me.

"You can’t afford to buy it so a subscription might be a good idea. Even if it’s damaged, it's an arcane item. It performs at the level of a mid to upper epic item and sometimes even a bit higher."

"I heard you were offering an epic item to find someone to help you make a good pizza in a few days. We are teammates, right? You can be nice to me too."

I shake my head, "That pizza is for my precious minion. She deserves it."

I still remember Vega asking me about my food, and now that I have a token that will allow me to summon her for a day, there is no way I wouldn't prepare a nice welcome for her. While the 5th floor wasn’t all that long ago and it's only been a few days since I saw her, this is too good an opportunity to waste, given that we are currently in the middle of a somewhat safe tournament.

Maybe I could let her fight some of the people from Easy and Normal difficulty. I kind of wonder how my minion would do.

"Can I become your minion too?" Maya tries again.

I ignore her and pick up Biscuit from the floor, setting him in my lap and grab his lolling pink tongue, pulling it gently.

Shaking his head, he woofs at me and calls me an asshole.

In exchange, I pull his whiskers and whisper, "I’m going to introduce you to someone in a few days."

(Asshole?)

"No, she isn't an asshole like me." I boop his nose.

(Food?)

"No."

(Food food?)

"Hell no. It's a friend."

(Friend?)

"Yes."

He tilts his head as if thinking and then looks at me.

(Food!)

Goddamnit Biscuit, can’t you at least try to be normal.

"Any plans for the 2nd event?" I ask Maya.

"Tess is talking to Gareth. Dennis, Aaron, and Sophie managed to set up some kind of telepathic conversation web or something, so we are waiting," Maya answers.

"I heard Gareth complained about Sophie’s web?" I turn to Izzy, who is still trying to make Noodle come out from under the blankets.

"Soph kept talking about how bad their web is and they refused to fix it. So she created her own with Dennis and Aaron and then started taking over parts of the other web when they complained about it," Izzy sounds somewhat proud.

That makes me wonder if I shouldn’t create a third web and take over both of them.

"Soph can be spiteful if she wants. One guy told her to keep her mouth shut and let them work when she tried to help with their web," Maya giggles. She seems to be enjoying the situation a lot.

I get a notification and ignore Maya to check it out.

Congratulations, all of the items you put into the auction were sold off for 1500 shards. After the system takes 10%, you will receive 1350 shards!

Congratulations, you are currently the 1st in the crafter rankings of the tournament shop.

Rankings:

1st - Fuckyouintentbitch

2nd - Miwa

3rd - Adam

4th - Jonathan

5th - Athena

Okay, 1st. The asking price I set was 300 for each of the 3 items, so how the heck did they all get sold for around 500 each? They were only rare items and apparently ugly even with their decent performance. There is something very suspicious here going on. I need to up my prices for sure.

I’m curious about the rankings too. Do they exist to give those with crafting classes the chance to earn some nice rewards too even if they don’t place in the events? Very interesting.

Around thirty minutes remain ‘till the start of the event when Brainiac and Lootenant return, led by our three boys. They are a rowdy crowd, but the moment Brainiac and Lootenant see me they shut up.

"What?" I ask the red-haired boy who is looking at me.

"How did you sense my attack? Only the most powerful natives have managed that up until now." His behavior is slightly different from before too.

"I’m not helping the party who attacks a single guy six versus one."

"Oh, come on! How the hell did you even fly? You were restricted to your stats on the 4th Floor, were you already flying back then? What is your level? By the way, Adam wants to talk with you, he is a bit annoyed at the fact you killed him while he was fighting Savant."

“Adam can go hide somewhere just like he did in the event.”

“Right? I complained to Gary but he didn’t seem to mind. Apparently, that’s just how Adam is.”

Min-Jae also joins in, “I warned you that you should look out for Noname during the event.”

To that, Brainiac gestures widely, “Who would trust that!? I know he’s in Beyond, and he keeps gushing about mana in the Community. But then you meet him and he barely talks and acts like a cat looking down on us poor humans. He doesn’t leak any mana at all. I’ve got nothing against that, Noname,” He adds quickly, “Then you meet him in the event and he just does all this weird shit. And at the end of the event, it looks like he’s gonna start biting pieces off Savant before he dies. Then once it’s all over he loses control of his mana and 357 people from Easy difficulty pass out and 106 more from Normal puke up everything they ate in the past half year and everyone from Hard difficulty with decent mana sensitivity gets scared shitless.”

Is… is he complimenting me?

“Noname,” Brainiac moves even closer, “people are already betting on the result of the duels. Most of the main bets are between you and Savant, a lot of people have money on Tacita. But I’m betting on you.”

“Launch,” I say.

“Huh?” Brainiac asks, confused.

His rambling has put me in a better mood, so I may as well throw him a bone, “The moment you shoot your invisible projectiles you move a lot of mana that makes it super obvious when you will shoot them. I can even read the trajectory that way. Then, the projectiles themselves are unstable and leak mana which makes them more apparent. I recommend using half of the mana you are currently using and focusing on making them more dense. If you’re fighting other humans you can make them a quarter the size, they’re too big as is.”

“Noname!” he shouts happily. “You have to train me! I can trade you some items worth a few hundred shards per lesson.”

Huh? He thinks that's enough?

“It’ll be at least 1000 shards per hour-long lesson. And that’s heavily discounted already.” I answer. That much should make it worth it.

“Fuck man, that’s too much.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

Brainiac seems to be thinking, “I can get a few guys and we can split the cost. I bet after the 1st event there are plenty who would be willing to join.”

“Four thousand shards worth for group lessons. Five thousand if it’s over 5 people. Ten thousand if it’s over 10 people.”

“What?”

What does he mean by what? There is no way I’m going to let a bunch of people drain all of my energy if I don’t have to. Sure, I can endure it for a while, but only for the right price.

Now that I think about it, if I do well during the other events I might ask more. I wonder if there are actually people who would be willing to do that.

“Come on, Max, leave Noname alone,” Lootenant jumps in, pulling the red-haired Brainiac away.

As Brainiac gets dragged away to the other room, he keeps shouting that I'm a scammer or some other nonsense.

With less than ten minutes left on the clock, everyone else returns and Brainiac and Lootenant leave to rejoin their group.

While I continue to prod and poke at Sophie and the twins' web, Tess and the others have some sort of important meeting which I half listen to. I spend my remaining minutes thinking about what kind of [Restriction] I should set, or if it is even necessary.

In ten seconds you will be moved to the location of the 2nd Event!

The message finally sounds and the final countdown starts. 3, 2, 1,...

You will be transferred to the Aether Keep. You have three seconds to place a [Restriction] if you wish to do so.

Everyone else disappears, followed by me.

Entering the area of the second event I look around. All two thousand tutorial participants are spread out across a massive courtyard, surrounded by a tall wall.

Off to one side is a mountain rising into the sky with windows carved into its faces. Telling me that the mountain's insides are filled with rooms and buildings. There are also more walls like the one currently surrounding us.

The air here is slightly colder and the clouds almost seem to be close enough to touch.

I give myself some time to examine the place. It's simple, yet its architecture gives off the impression of old strength and power, and there are rough and fascinating mana-powered inscriptions.

Interestingly, there are thousands of humans all around. Both armored and not. Each one scrambling to prepare the defenses. A dozen well-dressed men with guards following them are heading toward the participants whereupon they start explaining the situation.

Well, it seems like we won’t be defending this place alone.

Looking around I spot and check in on a few people.

Gareth (Hell, 4th)

Sset (Hell, 4th)

Grumpy (Hell, 4th)

Tacita (Hell, 5th)

And then there is also this guy.

Savant (Hell, 3rd)

I see. I think I know his reasoning and I had the same thought. The event has all of the tournament attendees participate and even calls for cooperation. It’s very logical to assume that the event will be somewhat made to reflect that fact. Forgoing a restriction would probably be overkill and far from worth it.

But, the system isn’t always logical.

The system is an asshole.

That’s why the text the others see over my head reads thusly.

Noname (Hell, 6th)

And as far as I can see it’s the highest out of any Hell difficulty participant.

Chapter 344 - A low price to pay

Welcome to the 2nd event, the Siege of the Aether Keep. You now have 5 hours for preparations. Cooperation with other participants and natives is preferred, and doing otherwise will lead to a deduction in points.

After 5 hours, the attack will start. The attack itself will last 5 hours with a gradual increase in difficulty.

The longer you defend, the better your rewards will be.

Enjoy the second event!

After a few minutes of just looking around, I look for Tess and move towards her. Unlike me, the blonde started talking with people and natives the moment we arrived here. Scary.

“I think you made a mistake,” Tess tells me when she moves closer, reading the text over my head.

I see, the poor blonde is still underestimating the system. But she will learn, she’s a smart girl.

“Don't look at me with that patronizing look in your eyes,” Tess complains.

“How are the natives?” I ask her, changing the subject.

“We’ve already tested a few things. They’re like the natives of the other floors with more restrictions. As if their only purpose is to defend Aether Keep. To their minds, we are reinforcements sent by one of their Champions. We were able to gain their cooperation by telling them their Champion instructed us to take command. Gareth and Samuel are already speaking with them and collecting information.”

“Sounds interesting, so what are we defending?”

“Aether Keep is a bastion carved into an extremely tall mountain as you can see. You can do a fly over later and learn more. As for the reason, there seems to be a deposit of arcanadium and other materials in this area.”

Before I can say anything, she interrupts, “Yes, we already sent people to find out if we can take it out of the event. We’re locked out of the system and tournament shops, same as the 1st event. I did ask a few guys to go and try to craft some stuff with the materials. Maybe that could help us smuggle out some materials, but I don’t think the system is going to let that slide.”

That’s such a shame. “Anything you want me to do?”

"Maybe set up some traps for now. You’ll know what to do." Having said her piece, she leaves to live her busy life as an extrovert.

I, meanwhile, continue to fill the orb inside my body with mana. I could do it with my crown, but I still don't want Savant to see it. Flying a bit up, I locate someone else instead of scouting, and when I land, I find my good friend waiting there.

BenDover (Hell, 4th)

Surrounded by the rest of his 4-man squad from group 2, IDK, he is as charming as always, welcoming me without any fear. He is even smiling. One of the members of his group I know. The man called Bard, he actually managed to survive quite a while in the 1st event.

“You said you would find me after the event, did you change your mind? It won’t be quite so easy now,” BenDover smirks.

Huh?

Oh. I remember now, I told him I'd find him after the event, right? But then I got distracted by my experiments with black mana and crafting, and I forgot. But seeing him up close now quickly reminds me why I wanted to do it.

“I forgot,” I say simply.

“Sure. I will be waiting,” he smirks and waves at me with a dagger in his hand, the same one that Lorven guy had on the 4th floor. I remember it being quite a decent epic item.

I don’t like it. It feels like he is looking down at me because it's impossible to die during the tournament.

His teammate tries to calm him down, but he just pushes him away and fearlessly takes a step closer to me, “You keep looking at me that way like you want to do something. But you won’t do shit. The event…”

Using my much higher mana reserve, I grab and hold him with [Redistribution], preventing him from moving or speaking. Without an active [Restriction], I manage it easily, especially with the amount of mana I can use.

“When I feel like it, I will find you in the common area,” I say simply and then a concentrated blast of kinetic energy hits him, the system turning him into particles and sending him away.

You have killed one of your fellow defenders.

100 points have been deducted from your score as punishment.

Current score: -100

A low price to pay to ruin that guy’s day.

“Any problems?” I turn to Bard.

“Would it matter even if I had any?” he sighs. “Just go and do your stuff. We don’t have to fight now that he’s gone.”

Poor guy, having to deal with that asshole because he’s stuck clearing Floors with him.

“Later then,” I say, waving to him before flying off.

For a moment, I consider being petty and taking down Savant, but in the end, I decide against it. That would give the impression that I'm scared of him and need to slow him down. That would be okay with nearly anyone else, but that guy is going down even without resorting to that. Plus there is no need to be an asshole.

Yet.

Flying high above in circles, I examine the area. It looks pretty much like I expected. The mountain in question is a lot taller than Mount Everest though the slope isn’t all that steep and there are multiple roads winding up the face, and framing the mountain’s wide base.

At least I think it's taller; I've never seen Mount Everest with my own eyes, so who knows? It just feels tall and imposing.

The Aether Keep stands at the top, surrounded by a series of three tall walls, with a huge empty plane behind each. After the last wall, there are buildings and structures carved into the mountain itself. All of this has been strengthened with mana and made out of materials tougher than anything known on Earth.

The architecture is simple and rough, but it gives off an impression of power and impenetrability. I also take notice of a three-layered barrier. Each layer encompassed by a wall. Reminding me of the Bastion on the 5th floor.

Flying a bit further at my top speed, no message pops out and the system doesn't try to stop me, meaning I can probably abandon the event and fly around. But even flying so far, I don't see any enemies, meaning, either the system is going to spawn them at the beginning of the attack or that they have some means of teleportation.

Now that I don’t have to conserve mana, I fly back at the same high speed.

I could activate the crown and use it as storage for my mana, but I'm not sure if I want to at the moment. The others would see it and try to analyze it the same way I'm analyzing them. Especially Savant with that clinical examining look he turns on everyone.

Then there’s that huge screen in the common area. Even if everyone dies and leaves the event, they would still be able to watch from the common area. But how much does that even matter?

When I land, the surrounding participants cut their conversations short, as everyone takes care to avoid getting in my way.

It seems that slowly, the attendees from Normal and Easy difficulties are realizing the difference in power between themselves and the participants from higher difficulties. I can see it in the way they glance around and tense up when someone stronger approaches.

Unsurprisingly, some stronger guys seem to be enjoying it and there is a bit of bullying going on. Currently nothing too bad, but knowing human nature it will only become worse.

Of course, it's nothing too prevalent; most people just want to compete and enjoy the event with others who are stuck in the same situation. But even a single guy from Hard difficulty could mess up the day for everyone else.

“I'm with group 4! So knock it off,” someone says calmly.

Recognizing the voice, I head that way and find Channeler facing down two other men and a woman. They feel weak to me, but they’re probably from the lower floors of Hard difficulty.

I get ready to step in, but to my surprise, even the mention of group 4’s involvement is enough to defuse things.

“Fuck, okay, okay, man! We are leaving, it's our bad, okay? Just don’t tell on us.”

“It’s fine! Everyone makes mistakes,” Channeler smiles. “But please, apologize to him.”

With interest, I watch as they do just that, all three of them.

Then standing by the side, I listen to them as they pass by.

The woman pokes the man, “I thought you were a tough guy and you guys are getting scared of them just mentioning some random group?”

“Shut up, Karen! They have that fucking lightning maniac. She would zap your ass off if she heard you or worse throw you to their dog.”

“A fucking dog? How…” their voices weaken as they walk out of my range.

“Noname!” Channeler notices me and comes rushing with a bright smile. “I used your group’s name like Sset told me to, again,” he says, looking somewhat ashamed. “I know it works, but it feels… you know.” He shrugs.

“It’s fine, but what was that all about? What is Sset even doing?”

“Oh, that? She’s butting heads with Gareth. He and Samuel want to play sheriff and keep the strong from bullying the weak. They set up webs in the common area and have been defusing fights.” He looks around and moves closer.

Channeler continues in a quieter voice, “Sset told me she doesn’t like it. She and Soph favor a different approach, something along the lines of: if anyone fucks around they get put down and the others step in line out of fear.” He smiles. “Normally it wouldn’t work, people would get pissed and push back, but Sset is very strong and Soph’s web is already much better than anything Gareth and Samuel’s people could put together.”

How fun. Infighting and conflicting ideals! Tess seems to be cooking something up and Sophie’s involved too.

“So what’s her plan?” I ask. It’s a bit weird but I did tell Tess to do anything she wants and then point me at anyone who complains. After all, that’s the least I can do.

“Sset has been using your name to scare people into compliance and when anyone does anything too serious she personally beats the shit out of them. No matter what difficulty they are. With Sophie’s web, she gets to the troublemakers quicker than Gareth. She’s also been throwing Group 4’s name around in the process.”

Oh, so she’s been doing some brand building.

That sounds like a lot of annoying work, but if that’s what she wants to do then she’s free to do it. If Gareth and the others complain I will still be by her side. It would be fun to see Group 4 fighting against the opposition. Even though Tess, Lily, and I could probably handle a combined attack from most of Hell difficulty. Probably.

“Well, see you later,” I say, waving to Channeler as I lift off, locating and flying towards Tess and the others.

On the way I spot and stop by Tacita who’s leaning against a tree, watching the arguing group from a distance. She waves shortly and without a word, I plop down on the wall nearby, also observing them from a distance.

Gareth and Adam stand opposite Tess, Maya, and Sophie, discussing something. Behind them stands Samuel. He’s from Hard difficulty, a marine or something. His posture is straight and his clothes are well-kept. A sword as big as he is tall hangs from his back, though its weight doesn’t seem to bother him.

(Food?)

Biscuit moves closer with his wobbly step. He notices Tacita near me and stops. Then he sniffs at her and throws a confused look my way.

(Food!)

I guess he couldn't smell her? What an interesting skill or trait she has.

“It’s fine,” I say as I lift him from the ground and set him in my lap.

Tacita doesn't react and glances at the best doggo of the second event. It's really hard to tell, but I could swear it seemed like she wanted to take a step forward and try to pet him.

I wait for her to gesture at me, but she holds back and returns to observing the others.

Well, it's her loss.

Maya also notices me and moves closer, handing me the damaged arcane ax I left in her care, and just waves at Tacita who ignores her. Rather than attempting further communication, she pokes Biscuit in the rump at which the doggo perks up and woofs at her a few times.

Ignoring his frustration, Maya pokes him a few more times while Biscuit twists in my lap. Thankfully, he’s patient with dumb people and deigns not to punish her for the offense.

Maya then glances at the text over my head, “I wonder who’s right, you with no [Restriction] or Savant with the most severe [Restriction] out of Hell difficulty.”

She pauses and looks at me, “Can you create a barrier around us? So no one can listen.”

I do just that and she continues, “Tess will be busy for the next few hours, dealing with the natives, arranging the defenses, and hammering things out with Gareth. She told me to ask you to make a show during the event.” Maya gives me a serious look, “No holding back. Go all out and make sure that even people from Hell difficulty are scared shitless.”

Chapter 345 - Why do you care?

I stop and look at her for a moment, and she actually seems to be serious. Tess probably wants to cement Group 4’s strength in the minds of everyone here, whether they’re from Easy or Beyond.

I take a moment to ensure that the barrier around us is still functioning before I note, “I would be showing my hand before the duels. Tacita, Savant, and Gareth would see all of my skills and other abilities.”

“Yes,” Maya agrees. “Tess already considered that. She knew you would object so she told me to ask: Why do you care if they see? You’re on a higher floor than any of them so just fuck them up anyway.”

Those two sentences from Tess, despite coming from Maya, make me think for a while, and though Maya continues to speak, I filter it out.

Yes, Tacita might counter me. Yes, Savant’s full abilities are still a mystery, but why should that stop me? I used to be more cocky and confident.

It’s as if I’ve placed them all on the same level as me. Even if it’s true, I shouldn't be thinking like that; I should be an arrogant piece of shit. My subclass is Pride, isn’t it?

“Okay,” I respond, “I’ll do it.”

Tess must have realized it as well, even during the 1st event when I was conserving my mana for the final confrontation. So now that silly blonde is pushing me where she thinks I want to be.

She really is good at reading people, isn’t she?

I activate my [Mana Crown], and when it appears over my head, I redirect all the mana I’ve been collecting in the orb into the crown. Storing it there is much more stable and puts less strain on my body.

Even then, the empty space inside the crown barely fills. What a scary mana battery this skill makes.

I make my Thermokinetic Mana Heart compress the mana it generates as much as it can and redirect the stream of generated mana into the crown. My body’s store of mana is full, and my reservoir is full too, so all newly generated mana will flow into the crown. In five hours, a nice amount should be generated.

My Vortex Core is also full, compressed Primordial Energies swirling inside of it.

That is amusing enough. The Armorer said as much on the 5th Floor. My body is extremely mana-conductive. All thanks to my Mana Circuit, my passives, and my constructs. It's almost as if I'm turning myself into a mana battery, the rest of my body serving as a conduit to direct and shape that mana, right down to my second trait.

Let's just try not to end up like Armorer's former Lord, imprisoned and used as a mana supply.

“I'm gonna go prepare then. See you later.” I wave to Maya and carefully set Biscuit down.

The best doggo decides to do his own thing and wobbles on his way as he follows Maya away.

Tacita is observing me with her lively eyes, still leaning against the tree, brown hair falling over her forehead. Her eyes flicker towards my crown a few times and I watch the thoughts flash behind her gaze. As if she’s already picturing our confrontation in her mind. I can tell, I’ve done the same so many times already.

“Do you think you can take me down?” I ask her.

She pauses for a moment, though it’s only a short one. Tacita smiles brightly, her eyes squinting into a dangerous gaze.

“I see.” There is no need for more words.

Even as I walk away, I start already preparing ideas on how to best use my mana here.

I like the idea of using the ethercrystals they mine here. With a few good inscriptions, I could probably turn the entire mine into a bomb. But the quest is to defend the place’ not blow it up, unfortunately.

Or I could turn myself into a bomb, in a bid inspired by Lissandra’s actions at the end of the second floor. The system would surely keep me alive.

The problem with that is that I don’t want a permanent construct like that, and I don’t know if the system will remove it. Any alterations I make to my body during the event will probably stay even after I leave.

We’ve already learned that it’s probably impossible to level a skill during an event, though they tend to level up at the end of the event as if the experience were being collected and applied in the common area.

There is also the fact that after I left the 1st event, my body was fully restored and my mana was returned to the state it was in before the event, but would that happen to the constructs made during the event? Especially now when I don’t have a [Restriction] active?

Well, let’s not risk it and go with a single-use method; it will be a bit more difficult without mana conductive paint, but it should still be manageable.

“Mind if I join you?” Lily asks, as she nimbly rushes to my side, leaving the others to their discussion.

Grumpy (Hell, 4th)

“As long as you don’t distract me too much, sure.”

“Are you saying I'm distracting?” she shoves me playfully, a smile on her face.

I have a feeling of déjà vu. I'm sure she said that same sentence a long time ago, but this time it feels different. It feels more like a joke rather than her being pushy.

“Yes yes, by the way, do you want my left arm? You could use it for [Sacrifice] later. After you restore it, we can find out how much it costs and how long it takes to regenerate your mana before the attack starts to find out if it’s worth it,” I offer.

With her being restricted, my arm could give her an impressive boost. And who knows, maybe this will count towards my points.

“Sure!” the petite healer answers without hesitation.

I might have offered it, but please, at least pretend to be a bit shocked and hesitant.

“Are inscriptions difficult?” Lily asks as we sit at the edge of the outermost wall with our feet hanging over the edge.

A massive clearing is stretched out beneath us, descending from our position. Despite the chilly air, the view of the surrounding mountains and valleys is breathtaking. It just has that sort of rough untouched natural beauty.

All of it is so big, so unreal. Alien even. “Most of the time I just go by feeling while remembering the things that didn't work before,” I answer her.

“But isn’t that boring?”

“Is your plastic surgery skill boring?”

“It’s not plastic surgery!” she pouts. “I did it to improve my fine control. But I think I know what you’re getting at.”

“Simple as that. Do you like any of this, Lily?” I ask curiously.

Even while engaging in conversation, I make sure to keep filling my crown with mana and continue to inscribe a thin layer of my skin with pathways. I do it in this way so I can just use [Resonance] to scratch a thin layer of my skin, and make it all disappear. Or even if I just focus my healing passive there.

“This event or overall?” Lily asks.

“Overall.”

“I love it, Nat.” Lily smiles while looking at the giant mountains that fill our surroundings, swinging her dangling feet, “It doesn't matter how much it hurts or how sad it gets at times, I wouldn’t change any of it.”

Curious, I observe her and devote a bit more attention to our conversation, “What do you like so much about it?”

She opens her mouth to say something but quickly closes it.

She looks at me for a second and smiles as if she’s changed her mind about something, “I like that I’m not alone more than anything. I like that I’m not weak anymore and I like being useful. I’m changing, Nat, I’m not how I used to be and it’s scary at times.”

Quietly waiting, I let her think and I listen.

“I’m not talking about the stats, or the skills, and traits. What I mean is that I’m not the same person I was on Earth and I think the old Lily would be scared of me. But at the same time, she would also be happy for me. I think I’ve improved a lot thanks to the others.”

“Most of it was probably thanks to Biscuit.”

That makes her laugh out loud. “Yes, Biscuit did more work than anyone else. Seriously though, most of it is Tess, she’s like my friend, leader, and mom all combined into one.”

“She does a lot. You guys should help her and show her how grateful you are, at least once in a while. No matter how she acts, it’s difficult for her too.”

“Yeah, I think Maya noticed it first. Though Sophie realized it a bit later. They’ve become really good friends. I’m the one who’s slow when it comes to stuff like this.” Leaning back, she sighs. “I think I’ll have enough mana to restore your arm again and replenish it before the attack starts.”

I nod and, lowering my defenses, coat my hand in resonating mana and cut off my arm at the shoulder, putting it on the wall next to the other.

Lily touches me right after, her healing mana closing the wound and slowly regrowing my arm. She can do it faster, but she’s either taking things slow to conserve as much mana as she can or for the opportunity to touch me longer. Either could be true.

I bet it’s the second option.

To break the silence, I challenge her, “Guess what my subclass is.”

“Pride.”

“Close enough, you can try…”

“Pride.”

Dang it.

“Nat, it’s quite obvious and I think most of the group knows. But I think it suits you. I know pride is generally viewed in a negative light, but yours is comforting. It’s like you have this unshakable confidence in yourself. I often find myself being jealous of you. How easily you seem to deal with situations and events that bother me for days.”

She’s restored my arm up to the elbow by the time she continues, “For example, that thing with Tent Creep, I know I would be cringing for days, but you already seem to be over…”

She stops as I pinch her nose and shake her head, and a playful laugh escapes from her lips.

“For the future Ruler of Lust, you really are quite the comedian, Miss Lily.”

“One day I will have to beat the crap out of Aaron for coming up with that. But you can try to guess my subclass too. Do you think you can do it?”

“Wrath,” I respond, much to her surprise.

Seeing her expression, I must have hit the nail on the head.

“How?”

“I guessed what you would pick back then. We spoke and you told me you wanted to learn to control your skills. I did have two more guesses but that one seemed like the most likely option and you just confirmed it.”

After a minute of silence, she asks quietly, “Was it the right decision?”

“It was a decision you made on your own, that’s all that matters. You just have to do your best to follow through.” I stand up and stretch. “We humans have to try hard to avoid being left behind by our future animal overlords. Biscuit and Noodle are here and ready to take over the moment we show the slightest bit of weakness so do your best.”

“What?” she blinks, confused.

Oh, I don’t think I’ve shared that part of my theory with the others. Well, I’ll have to do that at some point in the future, slowly to avoid scaring them off.

“I’ll explain later. I want to go and place a few traps, but I’ll be back before the attack starts.”

“I’ll pass that on to Tess… and our future animal overlords,” she says carefully.

Sometimes people don't appreciate me as much as they should.

Waving at her, I jump over the edge and fly away from the walls.

The traps will be simple. A number of anchors inscribed into mana stones to make them last longer and keep more of them active than I could with my skill alone.

Obviously, I won't be using my materials and mana stones. I bet the natives have some nice stuff stashed away somewhere. Sharing is caring, isn’t it?

I can also string up some extremely dense, hair-thin threads of mana across the terrain; that would be nice too. Running into one could cut an enemy apart before they ever realized what was happening, and the amount of mana is minuscule. I’ll need to find out how long they can last and how strong I can make them.

There are a few more surprises after that too. Maybe I can prepare an avalanche or something that Min-Jae can help along with his gravity magic.

There’s the question of whether or not I should be using these traps in the first place. I might just wait it out and join the fight near the end when everything seems lost. That could look cool; I bet Biscuit would be proud of me, and it would give me the opportunity to do something flashy.

Anyway, whoever does attack will receive a warm welcome.

Chapter 346 - That maniac

By the time I return, thirty minutes remain until the attack, I spot Tess next to the rest of group 4; everyone else is already gone. As I land beside her, she seems tired.

So, even the extrovert class can take damage from prolonged exposure to another extrovert’s leech aura.

“Don't look at me like that, Nat, it pisses me off. I swear some people are straight-up stupid.”

“Surely you mean Gareth. Has he already revealed his true colors?”

“Gareth is fine, he’s probably the most reasonable goddamn person in Hell difficulty believe it or not. Group 4 included,” she sighs. “Savant keeps calling Gareth disgusting and then leaves to do his own thing while calling you dumb for not using [Restriction].”

“Well, his face is stupid.”

“Then there’s Tacita. Anytime I try to ask her for anything she just draws her emoticons and shrugs. By the way, good job killing BenDover, the others from his group refuse to cooperate.”

“I can go smack them around if you like.”

“Please don't.”

“Okay. What about the natives?”

“They’re mostly ok. According to them, we’ve been sent here by their Champion to help with the defense so they mostly listen. The one with the highest level is close to three question marks, and the others are level 200 and below. There are a few civilians, but we’ve sent them to hide in the mines. We’ll probably be rewarded based on how many natives survive and how much damage the mines take.”

“Did they know anything about the Pairing, the 1st Generation, or the Tutorial?”

“Nothing, they feel more like machines, they’re not quite as human as the residents of the other floors.”

“And the attackers?”

“Tens of thousands of monsters controlled by a neighboring kingdom that specializes in taming and controlling of armies of monsters.”

“Damn, Sophie's in for a treat.”

Tess nods, “She’s already setting up her web with the twins. If you have any free time, try to make some improvements. How’s your crown?”

“It's as full as it’s going to get, but it would take days, not hours to completely fill it.”

She points at her own [Storm Crown] that floats over her head, “It’s the same for me, but it’s nice to have some preparation time and this event seems to be more fitting for those of us who focus more on regeneration rather than amplification.”

It’s hard for me to abide by such heresy but I may as well let it slide, this time, “Do you still want me to go all out?”

“Yes. Blow up the mountain, burn the valley, and just do your thing. I want to scare the others a bit. Samuel’s too cocky for my taste. He keeps forgetting how much more powerful people from Hell difficulty are compared to his group from Hard difficulty. It should also make Gareth more cooperative since he seems to think that his group can deal with anything, so prove him wrong and you’ll make things a lot easier for me.”

So interesting. “Are you planning to take over?” I ask her.

She looks at me for a moment and sighs, “I wanted to take it easy and delegate a bit. But Gareth is too soft. I mean, even that could work, he and his group are powerful enough but it's painful to watch how slowly he’s been moving. Meanwhile, Samuel’s trying to recruit us all into the army so we can serve the greater good the moment we step out of the tutorial.”

“Anyone else?”

“A few guys from Hard difficulty but they’re too weak to mess with anyone from Hell difficulty. Group 3 with your friend BenDover seems like they just want to leech off the others and group 8 with AnotherOneHere and Swordmaster showed a degree of interest before the 1st event. Apparently, you kicked their collective asses and they’ve been mostly neutral since.”

“It sounds like you’ve been super busy, but Tess, what do you want out of this? You know we can easily ignore all this and focus on our own group. Between us, we’ll be fine no matter what happens here or after the tutorial.”

“I agree.” She gestures for me to come closer while she creates a field around us to prevent anyone from listening in on our conversation. “But you’re too antisocial, Nat. Sure, we can make it out on our own and threaten people with [Disintegration] and whatever fucked up bomb you develop by then. That would be doable, but things become much simpler if we can get a few more guys on our side. What if the other rounds end with one person at the helm? What if we return to Earth and someone else has already seized control? Some of us could die if it came to this.”

“It annoys me that you’re right.”

“Yeah, me too. I just want to make a place for our group so we can stay together and bring our families with us. But for now, let's make some connections. Do you mind?”

I shrug, “Not really. Just ask and I’ll do what I can, I know I make you deal with a lot of annoying stuff so that's the least I can do.”

“You are reliable as always, Nat. Do your thing and I’ll do mine. I can’t help but notice that Tacita seems to like you if we can call it that. She ignores me, so maybe try to get her on our side. That girl is scary. Don't take it personally but if you don’t pull something out of your sleeve she will be the one winning the duels.”

“Yeah, I know, but have some faith in me, I already have some ideas to work on. By the way, what the fuck is Izzy doing?” I point at the 11-year-old girl sitting on the stairs with Noodle coiled around her.

There’s some kind of weird construct floating over her head that seems to be manipulating the light around her in some weird way, and two blue flame orbs float at her side. They’re as big as basketballs and I can feel their heat increasing.

“Oh, that was Sophie's idea. She did some mumbo jumbo and manipulated the light, and air around Izzy to work like a magnifying glass. Izzy can absorb heat like you but in her case, it’s easier to take it from natural sources while you can take yours from skills. So she’s charging it up.”

Oi, I'm jealous now. I know I shouldn’t be since my skill still seems to be stronger, but I can't help it after seeing Izzy’s new shiny toy.

“I’m going to hang around a bit, I’ll join you before the attacks start,” I tell Tess, already on my way over to Izzy.

Tess waves me off as if she had expected that response, she has a look on her face, almost like someone having to deal with a silly child, but I decide to let it go.

As I stop in front of Izzy, she opens her eyes and shouts, “Stupid Noname!”

“Yes yes, so what has Sophie prepared for you?” I point at the construct hanging above her head.

“I don't know, but it makes the sun warmer and I can absorb all of the extra heat.”

Well, warmer is an understatement. I’m fairly sure that if Izzy wasn’t absorbing the excess heat the concentrated light would be melting through the stairs right now. It would certainly be more than enough to burn a normal human alive. However Sophie’s construct is also very fragile, I’m sure it’s ready to crumble at the slightest touch. It’s also connected to her web and seems to be receiving power from it. The mana cost to maintain it isn’t very high either, it’s honestly pretty efficient.

Maybe I should sit down with Sophie and the twins when I find some time. Lately, they’ve been cooking up some really nice stuff.

“And what is Noodle doing?” I look at the pearl-white snake with green eyes. The beast with an ancient bloodline or something.

“Noodle eats mana.”

“I know that; he’s always done that. Has he become any stronger, or gained any new abilities? What else can he do?”

Izzy starts thinking and then adds, “Noodle sleeps a lot too!”

I exchange a glance with the aforementioned danger noodle, and he flicks his tongue at me.

So eating and sleeping. What a life.

I'm jealous. Not even joking.

POV Sophie Martinez

“That maniac is at it again!” Aaron says out of nowhere, and I look up from the table where the three of us have been drawing our web.

By maniac, he can mean only one person. With a sigh, I connect to our web, and he’s right, the maniac is there. He’s going through the entire web of extremely delicate mana pathways I created as if it's nothing. He’s reading them at a speed that still shocks me, even now. How does he do that?

“Shhh, he might hear you,” Dennis says quickly and turns to me. “Should we try to push him out?”

“Just let him be, he’s done it before. He’ll get bored eventually,” I turn back to the table.

“But how does he do it? We are using [Connection] so we can cooperate, and he just cuts in. Oh, wow look! He made a change!”

“He’s infusing his mana into our web, though he’s not connected to it. I could spend more time on defenses, but there is no need for that now. And it’s okay, he’s creating a backdoor so he can connect to our web more easily next time.”

Dennis takes a moment to connect to the web and observe what the maniac is doing, “I wonder if it would be the same if we hadn’t restricted ourselves.”

“Yes, it would,” I respond. “Focus on your work. Though that does remind me, you guys are getting better at this, you should speak to him after the event. Maybe you can learn the coordinates from him and sell them at ten thousand shards a pop. He’ll probably want a portion, but you can still earn a decent amount.”

“A few thousand shards is nice, but after hearing how much he has, it feels depressing,” Dennis sighs and connects to my current project to help me with it.

The skill he shares with his brother is a boon when it comes to connecting the smaller webs of my design. Both of them have already acquired [Mana Manipulation], and I’ve agreed to teach them a bit.

I am just happy that they don’t blame me for failing to fight the First One back then. I wouldn’t blame them, and they were angry, but after what happened to Aaron's disciple on the 5th and to them on the 6th, they’ve opened up a bit. Things here are complicated.

It’s a new experience for me as well, but for now, I think I’ll go along with Tess’s plans. It's not so bad, and most importantly, Izzy seems to be having fun. She’s finally stopped pestering me about befriending the others.

Her [Empathy] is something else, it makes for a really scary skill, and my precious little sister is slowly growing up. Surrounded by danger she shines so painfully bright, constantly reminding me how much I love her.

The same is true for the twins; I can see the constant messages they exchange and the care they show for each other.

“So what do you think?” I ask them as they examine my preparations.

“We probably won’t be able to finish it before the attack starts, but somewhere in the middle, we should be able to convert your webs into a single unit for a short moment. The communication part is easy.”

“That much should be fine; Gareth and his group's pathetic web can fuck off.”

“Yeah, fuck off Gareth!” the twins smile happily, “Our skills work well together. Maybe we can be the psyops unit of group 4.”

“Tess will be the leader, and Lily will be our healer, Biscuit and Noodle will be the mascots. Izzy, well we’ll come up with something for her to do, and Kim can be long-range artillery with Tess while Maya tanks for us.”

“How about the maniac?” I ask curiously.

“He’s the person we call when we need to blow shit up.”

Chapter 347 - Still considered human?

Unlike the 1st event, we haven’t been stripped of our items. In my case, I brought a voidsteel blade, the damaged arcane ax, and a few smaller things. The axe's performance can't compare to the glove Savant used, and I'm jealous.

Savant was restricted and, in my opinion, had pathetic mana reserves. Yet the glove still did such impressive damage. That's why I rushed to put it on. If I had gotten the glove instead of him, I'm sure I would’ve torn the others apart in that event.

Damn, and that glove was only low arcane. So what does that make my ax? Low, mid, or upper? Nevan was really skilled and he collaborated with Champion Niall to make it, so maybe mid? And how high is the difference between the mid and the other tier? Surely it’s a wider gap than one would see when comparing rare or epic items.

I heft the ax in my hand. It feels heavy but not overly so, and it's warm even though I haven’t fed it any mana. Its inner flame pulsates slowly like a beating heart.

During this event, I’ve decided to channel most of the thermal energy stored in my Vortex Core through the ax to put it through its paces.

The inscriptions on my skin are also going well, and the crown over my head holds quite a nice amount of mana at the moment. It also seems that I’ll have no trouble keeping the crown active indefinitely. It does require a bit of mana for upkeep, but it's barely noticeable and my regeneration easily covers the cost.

Of course, the crown will require a bit more mana if I use it more heavily, but it'll be well worth it.

I’ve also been trying to infuse it with my other energies, but it doesn’t seem to work. It only accepts mana. Thermal and kinetic energy refuse to enter at all. It is in the name though, so I can't be too mad.

During this event, I could send black mana to it, the way I did when I first got the skill, but even back then it felt like the explosion wasn't as strong as it could be. It was just the after-effects of two things clashing, and the resulting explosion was highly wasteful.

So tricolored bombs? I can make a lot of them. I could just use mana to power the ax? A few black mana orbs could fuck up any enemies that happen to use mana. Or I could burn them; thermal energy is reliable for large-scale damage. Maybe I could power [Redistribution] with black mana and absorb all the heat in an area, freezing the occupying enemies, well that or I could just immobilize them.

As I pass a group of the other participants one of the guys from Easy difficulty quickly jumps out of my way, apologizing as he rushes to avoid me.

There are whispers and people are glancing at me. It’s something we’ve all had to deal with to some extent. The people from Easy difficulty are slowly beginning to realize the true difference between them and the higher difficulties. I’ve already overheard some of them questioning whether or not we can still be called humans. It's an interesting thought.

Am I still considered human? Do I care?

Some people seem to enjoy the rise in status while others seem to be worried by the prospect. Both positions are understandable. And it will be even worse when the tutorial ends and we encounter normal humans once more. Even now, there have been accidents caused by people from higher difficulties interacting with low level individuals.

A single hug can crush someone with a weaker body. Accidentally releasing a bit too much mana. The heat from a skill can burn people. These things happen.

People from Hell difficulty seem to do a better job controlling their powers, while it seems that those from Hard difficulty have a harder time. And people seem to realize it, every single one of the 31 people from Hell is being tiptoed around.

There are men offering their services as assistants. People trying to make connections. Groups asking us to intervene because of the power we hold.

Lily, who’s clearly the strongest healer in Hell difficulty, has it the worst, a constant stream of people have been coming to her with old wounds, asking, begging, and offering to pay for her services. They want their limbs restored, or their hair regrown, or their scars healed and pain relieved.

They keep asking and asking. Even if there are over two thousand people and most of them are reasonable, there’s also a group of people that are shameless. Even brave enough to ignore the difference in strength, wanting to take advantage of our kind hearted Lily.

It annoys me, they’re doing it right now; when they should be focusing on the event with mere minutes remaining ‘till the start. But healers are sought after and this is just the start.

Some people want their youth back, it's mostly meant as a joke, or at least I hope it is, but I don’t think it’s going to stay that way. We’ve seen it and looking at Lily’s talent I actually think it will be possible for her, later. Just a few hundred more levels and making some normal human feel and look decades younger should be easy. Hell, there were people who lived thousands of years being kept alive by the dead Saint’s aura.

At her full power, the Saint Absolute was probably capable of holding that aura over entire cities, making its citizens almost immortal beings. Something like that is hard to fully grasp.

What would a power like that cause on Earth? Even if it was much weaker? Lily would become nobility instantly. One of the most powerful and important people on the planet.

I saw other healers too, mainly Gareth who can heal with his aura-like silver light. Even he is not at her level, not even close. His healing is much slower and more gradual.

Reaching the top of the wide stairway, most of the “leaders” are already present, and Gareth is arguing with Savant.

I observe for a while and, even now Savant seems to be a loner. Untrusting of others, only here to hear their plan to inform his own. But I notice an interesting item on him. A beautiful sword with half a blade. It's broken cleanly and yet even so, he wears it at his waist.

What is it?

When I try to extremely carefully send my mana there, a field around it detects it and pushes my senses away. A weaker version of [Dawn], meaning that Savant had learned the skill even before the third floor or at least sometime during it.

He stops talking to Gareth and without a speck of doubt turns his eyes to me. Did he trace it back to me or was it a guess?

Calling Gareth and his way of dealing with things disgusting, he turns around and leaves with a clinical look on his face. It's like he is dissecting everyone he looks at.

I could go bully him, learn more about this sword he values so much, or perhaps as revenge for the 1st event. But that just feels cheap. Plus, I'm sure he would just leave the event rather than sit there and let me.

The others don’t antagonize him either. Even if he has the strongest restriction right now, he was also in Beyond before any of us. He also climbs the Floors alone. No one underestimates him. And neither do I.

From the end of the first event, it felt like I should be able to fuck him up fairly easily. My domain is equal to or just slightly weaker than his, but with my reserves, I could just wait and brutally overpower him.

But I saw his expression during our last clash. He knows it and the same as me, he’s planning countermeasures. He now sees my crown and more of my abilities.

But who cares? Prideful and cocky, Nathaniel is back. That guy is going down no matter what. Well, at least as long as I don't get matched with Tacita—that could be a bit problematic, to be honest.

“How much time do we have left?” I ask when I rejoin the group, slightly to the side.

“Five minutes,” Tess answers simply.

Curious, I check her crown and she lets me do it. She has a fairly decent amount of Primordial lightning squared away. And a few javelins hanging in the air behind her, two of them epic. At this point, she has no problem making items like that float without a noticeable drain to her mana reserves.

Maybe I should do something like that, it looks cool.

Biscuit wobbles in at that point and for a moment I imagine him with some sort of crown of his own. I really like that idea. The corgi would look great. But knowing him, he’s going to copy me without my interference.

We decide to make some last-minute changes. The groups that intend to cooperate with our little alliance will man the first wall and the field between it and the second. The plan is based around the theory that the difficulty being easiest at the start will provide an opportunity for those from the lower difficulties to score some points.

Currently, they are in place, their mana painfully slow to activate, and their skills at the ready. A lot of them seem to be taking this as a fun and friendly competition while they do their best to ignore the other difficulties. Some uncooperative groups are also on the walls, with their goal to gain as many points as possible.

The natives move about, following the orders of their leaders. Men and women in armor. Their levels rarely exceed a hundred, only a few manage to break two hundred, and only a single individual has a level approaching three hundred.

There is no notification as the five hours of preparation give way to defense. Just the earth shaking and far down the mountain, the ground begins to bulge out, and pieces of stone and dirt explode into the air. Revealing a deep dark hole and a head poking out.

An ant.

This one is smaller than the bus-sized monstrosities I remember. It's probably only as big as Biscuit. Almost a cute little thing. Almost. But the reaction is unsurprising.

In group 4 alone, most of us are wearing murderous expressions, and they are not the only ones. Some of the other participants from Hell difficulty are the same. Our hatred for the species seems to be unanimous.

So as the ant rushes out and behind him hundreds more ants start climbing out, they are close to abandoning our plans and attacking right away. Not caring that the monsters are only level thirty at most.

There is no invisible connection connecting them all, no hive mind. These ones seem much more normal, communicating only with pheromones.

“We are sticking to the plan,” Tess says simply and I can sense one of the twins connecting to the web and sending communications to the leaders of each group.

Tess has a cold expression on her face as she says this, unlike many others. But just that seems to be enough and most of the people seem to calm down.

Someday I will have to learn how she communicates with them. I know Tess is scary at times, but she’s wound the others around her finger too quickly. Is she using Lily, Sophie, and I as threats?

Well, let's check something first.

I use one of the anchors I’ve maintained with the help of a mana stone and appear on the spot closest to the hole in the ground which continues to spew forth ants.

The monsters notice me right away, dozens of them crawling my way while shooting acid at me. I just form a suit of armor around my body and ignore them while burning the ones that make contact.

I pass through them to reach the hole, before squatting and looking down the bore as the monsters surround me.

As the attacks crash all around me, I send my senses into the hole, seeking its origin. I would go down myself, but it's not very wide, and I refuse to crawl through there.

My senses detect thousands more monsters, most of them around level thirty or a bit higher. I do not detect anyone controlling them, not even another kind of monster.

For a moment, I think of creating an antomic bomb and throwing it in but decide against it. It would make Tess look silly, having others not attack while I do this as her group member.

Sure, it would be funny and satisfying, but... actually, just a tiny bomb wouldn't hurt anyone, right?

(Nat, if you do what I think you want to, I will stop keeping these people from bothering you,) I hear through the connection Sophie and the twins set up.

(All the people?) I ask.

(Do you think you’re being left alone just because you went a bit wild during the first event? Tons of people wanted to talk to you. People rich outside of the tutorial, asslickers, people who wanted to become your disciple, or the ones that wanted to befriend you. There were also plenty of pretty young women and even a few men. I kept them all back.)

Well, I was a bit surprised that I wasn’t being bothered more.

Disappointed, I use my anchor and reappear next to her. She just nods and smiles imperceptibly. Standing there tall and proud in her armor, her golden hair fluttering and crown floating over her head, Tess really looks regal and reliable as always.

“I will rely on you to run interference from here on.”

She nods, “It's my pleasure. Let's just watch the kids play, and when the stronger ones pop out, you can do your thing. And Nat, be flashy when you do so.”

That much was obvious, wasn’t it?

“I have a good idea, you’re going to like it.” As I say so I get rid of all the traps I placed. All the anchors, all the threads, everything.

The others can have some fun comparing themselves to each other. Then after they’re done I will show them something really nice.

Chapter 348 - Under attack

I wave at Tess and leave the wall, heading to the generator that powers the barrier.

There I grab one of the natives by the shoulders, “Soldier! I have noticed that this part of the wall and defense is damaged. You are a scribe here to make sure it works smoothly, right? Explain the process to me so I can relay it further to our leadership.”

Confused, the man looks around, trying to get anyone to help, but there is only me.

“We do not call ourselves soldiers, sir, but I will sir!” he answers in the end. “If you move over here, you can see the hidden control panel. You said there is a problem with it?”

“Yes, the enemy is attempting to disrupt the barrier on the first wall.”

“That would be terrible! Let's quickly confirm everything’s working as it should.”

“That’s a good idea, soldier!”

“I'm not a soldier, sir. Please, right this way.”

The barrier is a much rougher version of the barrier the Bastion on the 5th floor had, so I don't spend much time checking it out. I just take note of some interesting ways they deal with this kind of construct, it will be useful in the future.

I leave, appearing back on the 1st wall. Not even one hour out of five has passed and as I look down the mountain, it all seems to be under control.

Yup, just thousands of level thirty, corgi-sized ants.

They are under the wall, nibbling on it at places while the lower difficulty participants shower them with attacks. Some of them do have some mildly interesting skills like hot water, a weak variation of hypnosis, some wider area sleep debuff, and snow attacks that seem nearly useless.

Then there are traditional mana projectiles, fire and ice attacks, some kind of shadowy nonsense, weak variations of lightning, gravity, and telekinesis. Most of the people from Easy difficulty seem to be using their weapons as a crutch. Either as a focus for their mana or as damage amplifiers.

So far, the atmosphere is light and people laugh, joke, and smile as they compete to slay as many of the little monsters as possible. They find this easy as the ants struggle to climb the wall because of the barrier coating its surface.

Do they really think it’s all going to be this easy? Actually, that may be what they’re thinking. The weirdos.

I just continue to fill my crown and observe it while doing so. I haven’t tested it properly yet and looking at it, it's still pale blue. From what I know, my mana changes colors the denser it is. I'm not sure if it's the same for the others as it tends to change under the influence of skills, passives, and traits. I’ve seen plenty of variation, that’s for sure.

For me, it's pale blue, followed by dark blue. As I push further it starts to develop pale blue streaks and beyond that, some of the streaks turn purple. And then it goes boom.

The crown is still at the light blue stage, hungrily devouring my mana. At this point, I start thinking this thing might be even scarier than my Mana Reservoir.

Moving a bit further from the others, I put my damaged arcane ax on my lap and send my senses inside it with the support of multiple skills.

During the tournament, I saw what an arcane weapon did in Savant’s hands. The guy doesn’t even have all that big a mana reserve and yet the weapon did such a great deal of damage and was even able to ignore natural barriers to some extent and have enough power to spare to hold people in place.

What would someone like me be capable of doing with that glove? With my mana reserves? I would easily win the 1st event, I believe.

So here I have a weapon of similar or maybe even higher rank. The glove was low arcane, meanwhile, the ax could be mid arcane at its peak. Even now, damaged as it is, it’s at least upper epic in terms of power.

My goal is simple: to bring it up to par with a low arcane artifact, at least for a little while. It probably won’t be anywhere near full power, but it should be more than enough to pull off the kind of flashy stuff Tess wants to see. And I will gladly oblige.

Mostly because I think it sounds like fun. But also to show others how dumb they were to restrict themselves. Tacita’s the only one who stands out, either she has the least severe [Restriction] or she hasn’t made it to the 6th floor yet. She probably hasn’t made it, but I can’t be sure.

As I observe the ax, it's the same as before. A myriad of twisting lines, and things I can barely perceive even as I use [Mana Domain] supported by [Mana Crown] and my Mana Wavelength Iris.

The interesting part is that I can't change these lines. I can't scratch them out as I could with other weapons. I can't connect new lines to them. I'm just not at the point where I would be capable of doing that with an arcane weapon.

Well, maybe that's not fully accurate. If I used a lot of mana, at full force, I should be capable of making it happen. The problem is that I lack the control required to do it properly and would probably just fuck things up instead.

So the plan is simple. I will try to make use of my [Infusion] and recreate the missing lines. I won't even be etching them into the ax, rather I’m going to try to make a temporary connection, using thin threads of mana infused throughout the weapon in an attempt to reconnect the damaged parts.

My lines will be much weaker than the ones engraved in the weapon. They won't be able to bear the output the weapon requires. Well, not for long. If I do a good job, I should be able to use the weapon for a few seconds. Something between 5 to 30? It's really hard to say currently as I have no idea about the true power of the weapon.

Janky, just the way I like it.

A thin hand touches the blade of the ax, a presence I never felt until she got too close. It's obvious who it is.

When I look up, her lively eyes observe me and the ax from a veil of messy brown hair.

“110 thousand shards for the ax. Two thousand shards if you want to use it for one hour. I do not offer subscriptions to use during the events,” I tell her. The more I observe the ax, the more I like it. Not for my personal use like the other weapons, but just for the opportunity to learn from it. So the prices have doubled.

Tacita points at the damaged part of the blade and gestures at me.

“Yes, it's damaged, but 100 thousand is for the cheapest low arcane weapons. This is more likely mid-grade.”

She stops her gestures and pokes the ax a few more times. A gentle pulse of her mana rushes from her finger and through the surface of the weapon. Then she just shrugs and plops down on the grass, her back resting on the wall nearby.

After ten minutes, when I take a break from my work, I ask, “Are you waiting for stronger monsters too?”

A nod.

“Me too. I think others are being dumb if they think the system isn’t going to throw some kind of bullshit at us. The increased rewards for the restrictions aren’t going to be worth it.”

Tacita energetically nods again, her hair flying around her head. Then she taps her temple a few times and smiles.

Thirty more minutes pass.

“Do you not like Tess?” I ask.

She looks up at me, thinking for a while.

A gesture with her hand.

“Not really?”

A nod.

“Yeah, Tess is scary.”

Another nod.

“It shouldn't be that easy for someone to deal with people.”

Two quick nods.

Escaping Isabella’s clutches, Noodle also appears nearby. I notice him sensing my mana and he quickly changes direction and rushes towards me at high speed. His tongue flicking towards my mana. Even from where I am, I can sense him absorbing tiny bits of the mana I release into the area around me for threat detection.

The amounts of that mana are incredibly small and even most people from Hell difficulty can't sense it. Yet here’s Noodle nomming away at it.

When he gets closer, he freezes. Slowly his head turns to the right and he spots Tacita. He stares at her as if surprised by the fact he couldn't sense her up until now, nor even see her as she sits stock still and has probably managed to hide her heat somehow.

He quickly slithers towards me and then stops a short distance away, waiting.

“You can come.”

Once I give him permission the polite snake moves closer and gently coils around my arm, his head resting on my shoulder looking and following my gaze. Carefully, I release a bit of my mana which he starts absorbing.

Separating part of my mind, I observe as he absorbs mana, and with another part, I send senses towards the first wall.

Most of the folks from Easy difficulty are already starting to get low on mana, resting to the side, and groups from Normal difficulty are replacing them. Even now, an hour in, no monster has even reached the top of the wall; the barrier feels weaker, but it’s still going strong.

So far, I’ve only sensed a few stronger attacks, mostly from bored people from Hard difficulty.

There is also a new kind of monster now. Spiders averaging around level 50. They emerge from the same holes as the ants, several having opened since last I checked. The ants and spiders do not fight each other, attacking together instead. They throw themselves against the barrier and sacrifice their lives to weaken it even a bit further.

So far, it seems to be working; as the mana from the batteries powering the barrier is slowly exhausted.

When exactly one hour has passed, the mood changes and the battle comes to a pause as the earth starts to shake.

Curious, I fly up, but something grabs my feet. When I look down, I see Tacita holding onto my feet, hanging in the air to get a better view.

I pause mid air and look down at her.

She looks at me.

“What the fuck.”

A shrug.

With a sigh, I fly us both higher and look beyond the first wall. As I scan the area another hole opens, much bigger than the others. Much, much bigger. From the hole, emerges a lizard-like monster, rising with slow, lazy movements, as it tears through earth and stone, before stomping and shaking to shed the rubble.

The monster has orange eyes with vertically slit pupils and a snake like head, with a body covered in gray scales. It stands on four thick legs, and its tail is long and very thin at the end. It almost reminds me of a Komodo dragon.

[Quake Serpent - lvl ???]

It doesn't feel as strong as the Gaiathra I saw in the Valley, much weaker actually, so maybe it just entered into the range of three question marks. Level 300 and some change perhaps?

It's earlier than I expected, but I can say that I was right. I would love to see Tess's and Savants' expressions right now.

The monster takes a few steps, killing hundreds of ants and spiders as it does so. Then a rumbling pulse of sound emerges from its body and appears to move through its strong legs and into the ground. The earth around it explodes, causing thousands of the small monsters to die, as the earth shakes. They eventually reach the wall, immediately cracking the surface.

It repeats, the barrier weakening even further as chunks of stone come loose and take some of our people with them. They either die from the fall or get killed by the monsters that continue to attack even as they are dying of the same damage.

Finally, screams fill the area, as people start to realize that the wall has been lost and rush to abandon the post.

Looking at the giant lizard, I have a single thought.

I can take it on easily.

Chapter 349 - Have fun

At some point, Tacita lets go of my feet and lands nimbly like a cat, running somewhere else already with her incredible speed.

I look at Noodle, who is still coiled around my arm, "Why aren't you that big?" I ask, gesturing at the giant lizard. Noodle seems to understand and flicks his tongue a few times rather than answering.

Okay, you’re cute, so you can keep your secrets. But remember good ol' Nat who fed you his mana when you’re the size of a skyscraper.

I take a moment to locate our leadership and push myself over to them, a cacophony of frantic discussion assailing me as I land.

“Yes, I can fight it, but I believe it would cost me my life or render me useless afterward,” a man clad in simple armor says. The highest level native I’ve seen, the one approaching level three hundred.

“How is it possible for there to be such a strong monster? This event was supposed to be inclusive of all the difficulties, this just doesn't make any sense,” Samuel asks, looking around confused.

Oh, but it does.

I meet Tess's gaze, and whisper, “I was right.”

The system is an asshole.

Tess doesn't react, in that way so common to the uninitiated, faced with someone wiser in the ways of the world.

I was right.

“Noname, do you think you can take it? You don’t have any restrictions,” Brainiac asks, he and his group close to Gareth.

“Who knows.”

For the first time, Savant joins the conversation, “There is surely a way around it. The system is usually fair, so it wouldn’t have done this without giving us a way to deal with it.”

Oh? So that's how he sees the system?

“Maybe that guy is meant to take care of the lizard?” Maya gestures toward the strongest native knight.

“Maybe.” Tess pauses, listening to an invisible voice, and then continues, "Dennis says the monster stopped attacking after it broke the 1st wall, and more of the stronger monsters are approaching the second.”

“Maybe it's just here to break the walls? A mechanic by the system?” Brainiac wonders, “Or it is on cooldown and needs some time to recharge its ability to break the walls and barriers.”

“This is not a game, Max,” Gareth says.

“Oh, come on, Gary, even these natives are nothing like the ones on the standard floors. This feels extremely gamey. We just need to CC the lizard when it tries to destroy another wall. Or we can try to kill it before that?”

“CC?” Gareth asks, but Brainiac ignores him and continues speaking to the others.

Through the Connection the twins have prepared for group 4, I send a message, (I'm sure the lizard isn't the end. I’m going to lay low until the end, either that or I’ll do something flashy when you guys flunk out.)

(You don't want to help?) Aaron asks, somewhat surprised.

Instead of me, Tess answers, (Just let him do his thing. This is a nice opportunity for us to develop some teamwork.)

A number of messages are exchanged, but I’m already lifting off, as I feel Savant's piercing gaze settle on me.

I head deeper into the fortress, even beyond the first wall, and there I sit on top of the tower, my legs dangling over the edge with a view of the remaining two walls and the one that was destroyed.

Even from this distance, I can see the lizard lying near the rubble of the 1st wall and waiting. Maybe Brainiac really is right, or perhaps the lizard is there as a challenge for the stronger participants and will move either to face them or destroy the walls.

Just as before, thousands of monsters, ants, and spiders proceed to scuttle across the debris. These ones are slightly bigger, and their levels are starting to get closer and closer to 100.

I watch as they catch up with groups of stragglers from Easy and Normal that failed to escape quickly enough. The groups face them while pulling back with support from Hard difficulty.

A single spider the size of a motorcycle catches up to five of the weaker members, and I have fun watching as they face him with their might. There is something enthralling about seeing a group of people facing down an opponent stronger than themselves.

They are giving it their all, bleeding, screaming, using the last bits of their mana. There is no escape as the monsters surround them, and they are scared of dying, not having tasted it yet. So, they fight, giving it their all.

When the spider dies, impaled on one of their spears, they seem proud. The fear they felt until now is replaced by the elation of victory.

The feeling fades as a group of bigger ants reaches them, turning them into shiny particles as they disappear from the event.

Similar sights are happening all over.

One group is swallowed by a larger group of monsters as they try to aid the others. A lone woman surrounded by yellow flames fights an entire group of monsters. The group running and barely escaping to the wall where someone stronger faces the monsters that were following them.

And the entire time, I keep working on the ax in my hands.

More time passes, and three hours remain.

Easy difficulty has been mostly wiped out, though a few members still remain contributing with a ranged attack every now and then, unable to do more.

The second wall has already been surrounded and battered by the endless hordes of monsters, we’ve even seen a new type. An octopus-like monster that crawls over the ground, always surrounded by dozens of other monsters which move to protect it.

Their role is simple, getting close to the barrier and slowly corroding it with the cooperation of others of its kind. The method of attack is surprisingly effective, and quickly drains the barrier.

That's when Hell difficulty decides to move, throwing ranged attacks at the monsters while letting Normal and Hard difficulty mop up the rest with the natives.

Once again, everyone knows the difficulty is increasing, so they are saving their mana, only using amounts they know will regenerate quickly.

After another thirty minutes, the Quake Serpent moves. The giant monster stands up, the immense mass of its body moving alone threatening.

Pausing my work, I turn my attention down to the others and do it just in time.

The crown floating around Tess's head shines brighter, white and red lightning surrounding her and an epic javelin hangs in the air at her side. She makes an inaudible declaration, lightning seeping into the weapon. All eyes are on her as she stands on the second wall, her golden hair floating, lightning cracking around and through it.

She grabs a javelin and takes a stance, her leg moving back as she twists her body, the wall cracking around her. Then she throws the weapon.

Like myriad birds chirping, the lightning crackles as it passes through the air. Its flight accelerates half way through, having been boosted either by Min-Jae or Tess herself.

The lizard doesn’t even have time to react, and the javelin lodges itself deep into its eye, disappearing somewhere inside its head.

As it does so, the monster starts thrashing around while emitting a scream that I feel in my bones. The monster releases the energy it was collecting, in an explosion with itself at the epicenter shaking the earth, creating holes in the ground, and even without being aimed correctly it manages to damage the wall.

The monster twists, twitches, scrambles, scratching its own head into a bloody ruin in an attempt to get rid of the piercing pain of Tess's attack and the lightning that now burns within its skull.

More and more mana radiates from the monster until the lightning stops. The lightning that flickered in its eye is now gone, drowned in the monster’s mana.

The silence is almost eerie, followed only by the sound of falling debris caused by the thrashing of the wounded monster.

Then the lizard turns its remaining eye toward the source of the attack. Its tongue flicks out a few times, and something changes. The scales of the monster change color. From dark gray, they turn lighter, and like a wave, a shockwave radiates from the monster at the center. The attacks landing on its body now barely damage it, either sliding off or dispersing upon impact. Like pebbles thrown against a wall.

The attack has clearly revealed something about the monster’s skills. I don’t think Tess actually made an earnest attempt at killing it. They would have used Lily otherwise. This was just a probe to see what they were facing. They are unwilling to give their all, as they have a growing suspicion that the Quake Serpent won’t be the end of it and might just be the start.

They could throw their might into trying to kill the giant monster quickly so they have fewer opponents to deal with later, but they can’t be sure the monster doesn’t have some other trick to play. It does have three question marks after all, the thing’s over level 300. And there might also be another enemy waiting just for that.

Using the distraction, someone touches Sophie and the twin’s web. It's a sharp, smooth movement. Hard to notice, clinical, using the fact that nearly everyone was focused on the lizard.

(Was this you?) a message sounds in my head. Sophie obviously noticed it as well.

(Nope.)

(I thought so, this felt different. Someone absorbed a small part of my web, creating a weak connection to it. It was him, right?)

(Probably.) From where I sit, I track the person who did it.

Savant, noticing the touch of my mana, pushes against it, a gentle orange light radiating from him. But before he does that, I notice that he is doing something with the broken blade he brought here. He seems to be preparing something as well.

I could stop him. I could even fly down there and forcibly take the sword off him. He would probably leave the event rather than let me, but even that could be a win for me.

What stops me is simple curiosity.

I want to see what he can do with the [Restriction] he placed and with his skills and the sword. I already have a suspicion of what the latter is.

So I just let it be and sneakily, to avoid leaving any tracks for Sophie, I clear the parts Savant messed up so she can't cut him off easily.

Then after seeing that the giant lizard doesn't attack, I return to the ax on my lap.

Two hours remain, and I have a theory.

As the natives said, there is a group of people attacking who specialize in taming. That group is controlling the Quake Serpent and using it only to destroy the walls when they are weakened.

This could be a setup made by the system or the fact that the group just doesn't want to throw the Serpent into an attack against the nearly level 300 human who defends the Aether Keep, who would probably kill it with his advantage as a defender.

So currently, it's a game of chicken, one side waiting for another to make the first step while weaker forces fight each other.

Moving for the third time, the Lizard destroys the second wall and, once again, stronger monsters start rushing out of the tunnels. Many of them are over level 150, ants, spiders, octopuses, and now even termites, in huge amounts.

Once again, the strongest people participating in the tutorial hold back and wait.

Hard difficulty people are fighting now, along with a few of the people from Hell difficulty, for the first time a large amount of mana blankets the area, and high damage skills start activating.

I observe things for a while, curious to find out what level the others are operating at and the kinds of skills they use. As I do so, I continue to dabble with Sophie's web, watching what Savant does to it. I find it interesting, and some of these things inspire me to the point that I decide to change my plans a bit.

Savant's interactions with the web feel clumsy but the progress and improvement he shows is nothing less than amazing. His clumsy first attempts quickly become much more confident and sneaky as he analyzes parts of the web and, while he’s hiding from Sophie, he manages to absorb parts of it.

That's what they call a genius.

Some of the things he does are eye-opening, in ways I haven’t even thought of, honestly, it’d probably take me dozens of attempts before I had the same idea. And he’s doing it all with such a severe [Restriction].

But even then, he’s far below my level and if I used my [Focus] and eyes, I would blow him out of the water easily. My skills and traits are just so much better when it comes down to it, and I'm sure they would continue to be so even if we were at the same [Restriction]. Even so, I'm not blind enough to not accept a simple fact: Savant is more talented than me.

However, it's something I never cared too much about. I've seen people like him my entire life. People born with talent, people born with stronger bodies and other advantages. In the end, it's about who is crazy enough to push themselves further.

Standing up, I stretch and take a glance at the fight taking place down there. Thousands of monsters are climbing over the destroyed walls, throwing themselves against the people standing their ground under the final barricade or those shooting from the top of the wall while the barrier flickers around, being attacked by the octopus-like monsters.

Screams, cries, and noises of skills burning through the air fill the area as blood is spilled.

Two hours remain until the end of the event, but my preparations are already done.

To be honest, watching them fight down there is getting annoying. It's frustrating to see how hesitant and careful they are. Sure, there's some logic to it, but if it were up to me, the giant lizard would have been nuked out of the event the moment it appeared. That would probably screw things up, and I would end up losing a limb or two, but it would feel more satisfying.

So while others are having fun, let's check on the Aether Keep.

(Have fun,) I send through the connection kept up by the twins and head towards the mines.

Chapter 350 - Without a single speck of doubt

Landing on the balcony, I encounter very few people. Everyone from the tutorial is already fighting down there, and the explosions can be heard even at this distance, and I can feel the tremors in the ground, the vibrations shaking clouds of dust from the ceiling.

Once inside, I meet very few guards, only the bare minimum, along with some people in the uniforms of different workers. Further deep inside, the civilians lie in hiding.

Pushing through them all, I slowly pass by the rooms, scanning the area.

Like the exterior, the inside of the Aether Keep feels rough, yet it gives the impression of solidity and safety. There is a cozy feeling inherent in the tons of tough stone blocks surrounding us and the flickering orange light playing across the walls.

After a few minutes of walking through empty hallways, I pass through the door leading to the mines, and the atmosphere changes. The walls become rougher, the tunnels narrower, the lights brighter and the air isn't as well ventilated either.

After some time, small crystals seem to start growing from the walls, along with thin veins of mana-conductive metal. All mere chaff, left behind, not worth bothering with in comparison to the larger deposits deeper in the tunnels.

Surprisingly, the mines are constructed in the same pre-industrial style we once had on Earth, and probably still do in some places. To be honest, I expected something different.

Sure, the walls are rather smooth, compared to those on Earth. The light is sharp and emits no smoke. Even parts of the tunnels were probably constructed much quicker than their counterparts on Earth. There is also no need for wooden supports, it's all been reinforced with the help of skills. And the ventilation works surprisingly well.

Yet… I don't know what I expected. Wouldn't a single high-level individual be able to do this much, almost, on their own? That probably creates its own issues but it also raises more questions.

Is mining just a task reserved for low-level workers, leaving higher-level individuals with greater degrees of freedom, or do they spend all their time fighting? But that can't be it; there has to be money to be made, surely enough to tempt even those with a high-level.

Maybe they have regulations to prevent materials from being mined too quickly, and flooding the market?

That is more likely.

How interesting.

The more I learn, the more I find out how little I know. An entirely new world is constantly being opened up to me.

I expand my domain and place an anchor further ahead to which I teleport, and then repeat this multiple times in quick succession.

In a few seconds, I pass a much greater distance than I did in ten minutes of walking, and I continue until I reach the smaller cave that seems to serve as storage.

There are massive and, from testing, extremely heavy iron boxes. After cutting them apart, I find them to be full of chunks of the mana-conductive metal arcanadium. Something I have some experience with.

In its rough state, the metal is darker, and there are imperfections in it, unlike the ingots I found in the bunkers on the 5th floor.

(You are not going to join? I thought Tess wanted you to be flashy?) I hear Sophie say through the connection made by twins.

Holding a chunk of arcanadium in my hand and examining it, I answer, (You guys have some fun. I’ll do something flashy after you all die.)

(You better not regret it when we kill the serpent and you don't get any points. Check the leaderboard; you are dead last.) After that, Sophie cancels the connection.

I do not even bother checking it and send another pulse into the area.

Locating another stockpile, I move there with a few teleports, and this time open a box containing ethercrystals, a material capable of absorbing mana in its vicinity when properly prepared. A sword I once had on the 4th floor and the ax I found in the 1st event were made of the same material. Both weapons turned absorbed mana into physical enhancements.

As with the arcanadium before, the ethercrystal here hasn’t been processed, a number of the crystals are milky, cracked, or are simply an inferior product. It also seems to make them less receptive to mana.

The ground under me shakes, and dust falls from the ceiling, and the roar of the monster reaches me even down here. A loud crack erupts, and I teleport away as the place I stood ends up buried under a mass of stones.

I teleport a few more times, finding a cache of mining tools. Clothes, masks, and tools suitable for excavation.

Once again the ground shakes and the dust starts falling from the ceiling as if it intends to fall on me, but this time I create a barrier and support the walls, stopping the stones from burying me.

Then I continue to examine the inscriptions on the tools. They’re really simple, yet there is beauty in their simplicity. A great deal of focus seems to have been given to improving their efficiency and reducing mana consumption.

The protective gear is similar. Some parts of it even have inscriptions to keep you warm when fueled by mana. The inscriptions on the clothes have been woven from threads containing bits of conductive material that I have a hard time identifying.

Putting it away, I sit on the ground and look at the barrier holding up the stone around me.

It's a shame that the shop is locked; I could sell a lot of stuff. It's also a shame we can't take items from the events, we’ve known that since the 1st event. But I guess it would be too much if someone took a low arcane item out of an event or tons of materials from the mines.

I release the barrier and watch as the stones start falling, about to bury me there, and at the last moment, I use the anchor I left outside and teleport to it.

Appearing at the tower behind the last standing wall, I sit at the top looking down upon the pandemonium.

The Quake Serpent is now shining a brilliant shade of white, though one eye is still blind. But the monster is moving extremely quickly, belying its size. The lizard rushes towards Lily who avoids its attack, and once in a while, a burst of gray mana pours out from her. She’s still carrying the bag of our limbs on her back.

Great holes have been rent in the monster’s flesh, eaten away by [Disintegration]. Even the monster's head hasn’t come away unscathed, signs of a failed attempt at destroying the brain I would imagine.

Chunks of metal the size of large cars fall from the sky, pulled by an invisible force, striking the monster and dumping an immense amount of kinetic energy from the sheer speed and weight.

I locate Min-Jae who seems to be controlling them. His attacks do cause some damage, but not enough. There is also Brainiac who keeps taking potshots at the lizard’s good eye with his invisible projectiles.

With a horrifying noise, three javelins come flying down, burrowing into the Quake Serpent's head, immediately followed by red and white lightning crashing from the sky and flowing into the weapons.

The monster roars again, thrashing around, killing any monsters and people that get too close.

Even so, there’s not much in the way of damage. The monster still moves, quickly approaching the wall, only to be stopped by a man with a silver barrier surrounding him.

The earth shakes, and the wall is cracking and about to break apart when the strongest native finally moves. His mana surrounds him like a cape and he draws a sword wrapped in a brilliant light as he enters the fray, confidently facing the monster.

The monster rears up, towering high in the air, its white scales seeming almost indomitable.

That's when purple tentacles explode from the ground, each as big as the monster, crawling over its body, tying it down, surrounding it, the tips piercing into the lizard's body.

The monster roars, falling to all fours as the tentacles envelop its face, hooking themselves to its maw and forcing it open.

There Biscuit floats nearby, a purple ball of mana floating over his form. The orb destabilizes, turning bright white, only to be shot into the monster's mouth just before the tentacles weaken and disappear.

Biscuit starts fluttering in the air about to fall down when Min-Jae reaches him and pulls him into his arms, flying away as quickly as he can with his clumsy method.

As the monster tries to spit out the orb, it explodes from within, its jaw reduced to a bloody mess. Blood drips from the gaping hole, and the moment that blood touches the ground it melts the stone, creating a toxic mist.

Even that kills multiple people, even a few of those being protected by Gareth's silver light.

The native knight attacks next, his sword extending much further as he thrusts the blade at the Quake Serpent.

The ensuing fight goes on for quite a while.

Natives, and the people of Hell difficulty come together to defeat the Quake Serpent. More monsters appear to help, separating the groups and forcing them to deal with weaker monsters as well.

Isabella unleashes the orbs she’s been charging all this time, the two of them manage to consume one of the Quake Serpent’s legs in its entirety, taking a big chunk of the beast’s torso with it. The sheer heat generated by the skill kills some of the defenders and forces Lily and Gareth to heal a few of the more important fighters.

The web covering the entire Aether Keep activates finally, strengthening Sophie's skill and its reach. Thousands of ants turn against each other, tearing their fellow attackers apart, some even start crawling up the giant lizard.

And then she takes over more ants. And more. Between the web and her cooperation with the Twins, Sophie controls thousands of monsters, forcing them to fight their own forces, defending even against the opposing army’s attempts to wrest them from her control.

With one final burst, Tess releases a stream of lightning into the giant lizard's head, and finally, the giant beast stumbles.

Its body crumbles as its maw continues to move, trying to bite at something, anything, its toxic blood splashing over the ground, the fumes killing indiscriminately.

The survivors stare, unmoving, not knowing how to react as the massive creature falls.

There is silence that slowly breaks into a loud shout, the ones remaining celebrating the victory.

The monsters taken over by Sophie through her and the twins' web turn to attack again, clearing the remaining forces. Gradually, others join the fight.

An hour remains.

Tacita and Savant are nowhere to be seen, and under Tess's orders, group 4 goes to rest, preparing for what is surely to come.

Thirty minutes remain. The silence is unnerving, and some natives disperse, celebrating already with their families hidden in the mines.

Lily refuses to heal, conserving her mana and the bag of limbs on her back. An army of a few hundred ants stays off to the side, under Sophie’s control, and Isabella is once again charging her fireballs. The silence is eerie, the wind quietly blowing over the battlefield.

Twenty minutes remain and nerves are frayed, some of the surviving tutorial attendees quarrel with each other, constantly looking for a danger that they can't see or feel.

A few smaller fights erupt, but neither Tess nor Gareth can be bothered to interrupt.

Everyone is saving their energy and when some of them look towards me with nervous expressions, I return their gaze.

Fifteen minutes remain and one of the corpses on the battlefield starts twitching. A big spider with a myriad of symbols all over its skin. The corpse moves from inside, skin stretching and limbs bending until the chitin splits, and another form crawls from the dead monster.

A domain envelops the area and the remaining members of Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulty die nearly instantly, their bodies turning into shiny particles.

As they die, the monster covered in blood and gore from the spider stretches. A human-like figure with eight eyes. Its skin seemingly replaced with a black carapace and two additional pairs of spider-like legs protrude from its back.

[Rotweaver - lvl ???]

It’s somewhere between levels 320-340. If I had to guess.

In that moment, multiple things happen.

Savant takes over the web, the gentle orange light of his domain surrounding the area and pushing against the monster’s domain while attacking it at the same time.

After a long while, Tacita also appears. Out of nowhere, she is just there, standing by the Rotweaver's side, her dagger coated in mana.

The monster moves, reacting to her but it's too late. The dagger in Tacita’s hand turns into a blur, and green blood explodes into the air. The severed head and limbs of the monster fall to the ground and silence ensues.

Tacita disappears again and at the same time another corpse on the opposite side of the battlefield starts moving, twisting, and from its inside, the Rotweaver steps out. Before the monster has even fully emerged, Tacita is already there, a hand turning into a blur and its head flies off.

The Rotweaver dies and another corpse moves.

When Tacita reaches it this time, her attack deals no damage, spraying sparks into the air as the dagger skids off the carapace.

Swiftly changing posture, Tacita stabs instead, her dagger burrowing into the monster's mouth and she moves her hand, cutting the head open.

A new corpse twitches. Then another and another. A dozen corpses move.

The others join in this time, fire raining down, lightning erupting, and a mental attack probing here and there, but to no avail, there are too many corpses and the Rotweaver stands up again and again.

Its domain expands, as Savant's shrinks, unable to resist the monster any further. Gareth is forced to surround his team with silver light to fight its influence, and Tacita is gone again, waiting for an opportunity.

Thousands of corpses left outside start twitching. Natives, monster corpses, all of them get back on their feet. No matter how damaged the monster is. It doesn’t matter how many of their limbs are missing, or if the head is gone, or if half the body’s been destroyed. All of them rise at once, reanimated by the Rotweaver.

At last, even the corpse of the Quake Serpent stands up, both of its eyes missing, covered in wounds. The ground shakes under its feet.

The fight starts anew.

Sophie fights, trying to maintain control over her ants while Savant decimates the enemy forces with the help of his domain and the web he’s partially absorbed, even with his [Restriction].

Tess, Lily, and Gareth face the Rotweaver. Tess supports the duo from a distance, Gareth tries to take as much attention off them as he can, and Lily finally sacrifices the limbs in the bag, her speed equalling Tacita's, and her gray mana obliterates the monster.

The monster is powerful, but not that powerful. Its strength lies somewhere else. No matter how many times they kill it, it always pops up anew, growing more resistant to their attacks and learning more.

Others fight the giant lizard and thousands of monsters radiating an energy that seems to make the domain of the Rotweaver even worse the more monsters surround them.

10 minutes remain when Swordmaster dies along with a few people from the other groups.

9 minutes remain when Bard and AnotherOneHere die under the assault of the Quake Serpent.

8 minutes remain when Sophie and Isabella disappear, killed by hundreds of monsters, drained of their energy and their blue flames dying out.

7 minutes when a few members of Gareth's group disappear.

6 minutes when Min-Jae and the twins get overrun after Min-jae deals significant damage to the Quake Serpent.

5 minutes and Tacita appears again, in quick succession killing the Rotweaver five times. Then dying as the monster’s domain focuses on her.

4 minutes and Savant’s domain disappears and immediately after most of the remaining members die, Savant is one of the first.

3 minutes and Gareth runs out of mana, his silver light and crown disappearing. Tess disappears too with Biscuit who was trying to help her, dozens of purple tentacles tearing monsters apart and his gentle purple light pushing against the domain.

Lily, now with one arm remaining, falls to the monster as well, her mana gone and the domain taking its toll on her.

2 minutes remain as Rotweaver pulls out the heart of the strongest native, the man unable to do anything.

Rotweaver increases its output, the monster seemingly much stronger than it was when the fight started. Growing stronger as the end of the event closes in.

Terribly wounded, Quake Serpent moves quickly, a charge collecting in its body and animated corpses of humans and monsters crawling all over the battlefield, a sickly light radiating from them.

The Rotweaver eats the still beating Mana Heart of the knight it just killed, and its eight eyes turn to me.

It’s dark outside.

One minute remains and I stand up, my domain expanding as I take over the remains of the web, using it in the same way as Savant, something I learned from his example.

My Vortex Core empties, thermal energy flowing into the damaged arcane ax, and the crown over my head starts flooding my body with mana.

This won’t take long.

POV Channeler

The fight taking place on the screen in the common area is hard to comprehend. I knew the people from Hell difficulty were strong, but this is too much. Facing monsters stronger than anything I knew could exist, they hold their ground, using skills in a way I can't imagine.

I and everyone already outside are once again reminded of the sheer difference between us. It's not only stats or skill levels. It's also the way they fight.

People from Hell difficulty are hungrier, wilder, and more aggressive. From the way they’re fighting, it almost feels like it’s just another day for them. They do not hesitate when that powerful monster attacks, throwing everything against it.

The silence that fills the common area is eerie, and through the screen, we can even feel a portion of the pressure being generated by the monster. It's not quite like a monitor, it’s more like a screened window allowing “air” to flow through.

Though the system is limiting it, I feel myself getting sick just from the mana being released by the monster.

Even being so strong, people from Hell difficulty die one after another, all of them appearing in the common area, their bodies restored, clothes fixed, and mana replenished. None of them seem satisfied like they’re eager to jump back in and face that horror inside.

So this is why they are where they are.

When a minute remains, I check the leaderboards.

1st (689 pts) - Soph

2nd (576 pts) - Savant

3rd (553 pts) - Sset

4th (551 pts) - Tacita

5th (501 pts) - Grumpy

6th (490 pts) - Gareth

7th (471 pts) - Brainiac

8th (469 pts) - TheStrongestOne

9th (401 pts) - NotAaron

10th (389 pts) - FoodFood

And there is one name right at the bottom

2357th (-99 pts) - Noname

The last remaining person inside the second event finally moves, seemingly unaffected by the pressure that caused the others so much trouble.

Noname is wearing simple, almost casual clothes; he wears no armor, and no visible equipment other than the ax and a weird blade on his belt. Standing there, he seems out of place, careless even. He moves his hand, sweeping the hair from his eyes, and I can see the gold circles appear around his pupils on the screen.

Even now, he maintains his neutral expression.

Some people start talking, complaining about why he hasn’t helped until now, but an orange light radiates from a single man, the pressure bringing the babbling masses to their knees.

“Shut up,” the man says simply, his eyes glued to the screen.

Noname, as if he knows we’re all watching, stretches, and for the first time since I’ve met him, a smile overtakes his face. It's an eager smile, careless, and full of honesty.

He is happy, and it is terrifying.

Noname floats into the air in that unnervingly stable flight of his, almost as if the world is moving around him rather than him moving through it. The ax in his hand glows brighter, and I can swear I feel the heat radiating from the system’s window.

Rotweaver screeches for the first time, the sickly aura it radiates tries to expand again but it can’t, held at bay by something else, something even stronger.

As he swings the ax, golden flames explode. Like a wave, they pour from the weapon’s blade. Small at first, but quickly expanding and crashing into the monster below.

The stone burns red now; corpses are set ablaze, burned to ashes nearly immediately. The flames reach the Quake Serpent, setting even this monster ablaze. They climb up its massive body like a living being.

20th (299 pts) - Noname

Quake Serpent roars soundlessly, a shockwave exploding through the earth as it rushes towards Noname who isn’t even flying all that high, about to take a bite at him.

Something black moves around Noname, and inconceivably the monster freezes in place, its mangled bloody maw wide open around him.

With calm movement, he lifts the ax and once again the flames explode, flowing right into the monster's face and mouth, burning it from inside. The flames feel alive as they eat the monster, turning its giant body into a charred husk while it can't even move.

6th (499 pts) - Noname

The air around him flickers from the sheer heat and the remains of the monster get blown away.

Rotweaver screeches again, the limbs behind its back weave and glow, a more sickly aura radiating from the monster. The remaining reanimated corpses move as one in their offensive.

The ax swings again, the rest of the monsters burned by a flame that envelops the entire area. At the same time, Noname lands on the ground, all around him his golden flames burning, the ground cracked and turned into magma.

Wounds cover his body, but they are slowly healing. The flames closest to him get pulled into the ax.

1st (798 pts) - Noname

After a few steps, he stops, a silence so deep the only sound is the breathing of the people in the common area. All gazes are on the screen as that man stops in front of the monster, surrounded by that hellish landscape. It’s dark and only his flames serve to light the area.

The Rotweaver is burned, the left half of its body missing, three of its eyes are burned out and the aura it had radiated so intensely is just flickering. There are no more corpses to escape to.

On its own feet, the monster tries to run, but with a speed that rivals Tacita's, he reaches it. He grabs the back of its neck and burrows the monster's head into the molten earth.

The smile on his face grows even wider as the crown over his head loses most of its shine, mana flowing into an orb the size of a basketball. The floating orb changes colors in quick succession, from pale blue to dark blue, then gets streaks of light blue and purple all over, and then starts shining bright white with a shimmering of golden light. The sheer amount of mana it contains is hard to imagine.

“That dumbass,” someone whispers, and when I look up I notice it's Sset. “That fucking dumbass,” she repeats.

As if hearing, Noname blinks, a bit of his usual casual face returning, and he glances towards the Aether Keep just nearby.

“Oh,” his mouth moves as if he just remembered something.

But it's too late and the orb explodes, instantly evaporating what remains of the monster.

1st (1298 pts) - Noname

A burst of flames erupts from the center of the ball, in a shockwave sending the remains of the wall and earth into the air. They expand at great speed, destroying everything in their path.

As they are about to reach the Aether Keep, they freeze. The flickering air immolating everything in its way stops, and the heat disappears. The shockwave, nearly visible, flickers in the air.

All of this held at bay by that single body that produced it all.

In that moment I realize that it's only been one year since the tutorial started and that nothing will ever be the same, even if we return to Earth. Our lives have changed, and the Earth will change, all because of him and people like him.

Noname, looking like he is about to break apart, finally disappears, appearing in the common area. With his clothes, and mana restored.

The living weapon and winner of the second event without a single speck of doubt.

Chapter 351 - Hey babe, are you a nuke?

Holy hell, that felt satisfying, and it was surprisingly easy. Sure, I would have probably died if I had done that outside the bounds of the tournament, but it's totally fine. Sooner or later, I will get to the point where I can pull off stunts like that with impunity.

The amount of black mana I used to keep my body from breaking apart as I channeled all that mana was enough to kill me. However I was able to hold on until the end, and the system ended the event before I crumbled. I don’t think the others even saw that.

I need some time to think over my actions. The inscriptions and the black mana strengthening my body helped me channel the force of my mana. I’m surprised how close I am to being able to pull that off even without the black mana to strengthen my body.

My Mana Circuit is really pulling its weight. The new eyes are helping and my passives are helping too. So maybe I should strengthen my Mana Circuit again? A few more rounds of active tempering after we leave the tournament? A few more levels in my skills?

But damn, the [Mana Crown] is really good. I love that thing. Keep doing a good job. I also love the ax, good stuff. It handled all of that mana like a champ, without picking up a single scratch.

Anyway, it's time to check my rewards.

Before opening the notification, I make sure to act strong and slowly walk through the crowd.

At some point, a group of people from the lower difficulties starts to cheer, “Noname! Noname! Noname!” the chant carried by dozens of voices.

It's surprisingly disturbing, especially seeing the expressions they are making.

Are they not ashamed? Weirdos.

Well, it's better than having them shout Tent Creep, so I place an anchor far away and teleport a few times, reaching our house and taking my favorite spot in the armchair near the window.

Congratulations, you have completed the 2nd event - The Siege of Aether Keep in 1st place and you have taken 1st place in terms of points collected - 1298 pts.

No [Restriction] was placed therefore no bonus has been awarded

You may exchange your points for shards. 1 point = 5 shards.

Your reward for taking 1st place overall comes out to 5 thousand shards.

You may choose to receive the full allotment of shards (11,490) and pick one of three rewards or forfeit the shards to increase the quality of your options.

It’s here that I hesitate. Eleven thousand shards is a lot and it would be a nice bump to my current total. I don't think I’m going to get an arcane passive anytime soon, but that amount could help a lot.

Yet I still have to question how these shards will actually improve my rewards. Maybe it’ll be enough to net me an upper tier epic passive? It could be a high grade epic item again, perhaps it’ll be a bit better? I already have a few good passives that fit me, so it would be hard to change them.

Well, let's take out the shards this time.

“I want to receive shards,” I state, and the balance of shards I hold increases.

Shards: 77,644

I’m still short but I will get there, and when I do, it will be glorious.

Now then, let's check out the rewards.

Please pick one of the three following rewards!

10 levels, skill upgrade token

Epic grade passive skill

Epic grade item

Well, nothing for my minion, but that’s okay.

My first complaint is that I should be getting these 10 levels anyways; I killed a shitload of enemies, even two of the stronger ones, so why’s the system cheaping out... the fuck am I even thinking, it's the system we're talking about here.

I give the window the bird and check the rewards again. Once again, I’ve been offered an item and a passive. Maybe they are really good? Upper epic grade?

Whatever, I’ll check them out later if I get another offer after the remaining events, but there is one thing I still want to try.

“Can I forgo my reward to improve my final rewards for the tournament and the last event?”

It is possible to forgo rewards to improve any future rewards.

And you didn't tell me that?! This asshole of a system needs a manual. If I had known that before, I wouldn’t... never mind, I would have still taken the summoning token for my minion even if I had known. Haaaa... I'm too old for this crap.

“I want to save my rewards and improve my final rewards.”

There is no other notification, and the window disappears. Then I check other notifications that flooded my inbox after I completed the event.

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 38 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 39]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 39 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 40]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 40 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 41]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 41 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 42]

[Redistribution - lvl 45 > Redistribution - lvl 46]

[Redistribution - lvl 46 > Redistribution - lvl 47]

[Mana Domain - lvl 36 > Mana Domain - lvl 37]

[Mana Crown - lvl 17 > Mana Crown - lvl 18]

[Mana Crown - lvl 18 > Mana Crown - lvl 19]

[Mana Crown - lvl 19 > Mana Crown - lvl 20]

Good stuff, I should do stuff like that more often. Damn though, isn’t [Mana Manipulation] about to reach the level it was before I used it in that skill fusion? The next time I get a skill combination token, I will have to seriously consider using [Mana Manipulation] in the mix. I really might be able to get it back again.

Screw you, system.

Done with the rewards, I stretch and start replaying the fight in my mind when group 4 rushes into the house.

“Holy fuck, what are you, a nuke?” Maya calls from the door.

“That's a weird pickup line,” I reply.

“Hey babe, are you a nuke? Because you've blown me away,” Dennis says in response to my quip, and the three boys laugh together.

"Are you a volcano? Because you just melted through my heart." Aaron adds to another wave of laughter.

"Is your name Atomic? Because you just split my heart in two." This time it's Tess piling on with a cheeky expression.

That makes the boys laugh even more.

"Do you work at a nuclear facility? Because you’ve just caused a meltdown in my heart." Min-Jae also joins.

Do they wanna get beaten?

"Is it hot in here, or is that just the nuclear fusion between us? It’s fusion, right?" a quiet voice joins in.

“Damn it, Lily.”

“Yeah! Damn it, Lily!”

“Shut up, Maya! You too, Dennis! I will beat you up!”

(Food! Food!)

Go and get them, boy! Defend your friend!

“Okay, okay, this is enough. Let's stop before we cause pun-tamination.”

Damn it, Tess. Damn it.

At least Biscuit rushes into the room and floats into my lap, looking at me with a curious expression. I return his gaze, and for a moment we look at each other.

In the end, he just woofs once and lies down so I can pet him.

Do I look like a villain, sitting in an armchair with my legs crossed and the best doggo of the tournament floor in my lap instead of a white cat?

“Izzy, take a pic!” Lily calls.

“Yes!” cries the 11-year-old girl with the smartphone I bought, as she pulls it out of the dresser she stored it in.

She then cleans the lenses and takes a pic before I can protest.

Quickly running to me on her short legs she shows me the photo, “Look!”

I am indeed a villain. But damn, Biscuit is really photogenic. Then I look at my face and freeze.

What is that expression?

“I’m going to take pictures of others too!” Izzy shouts happily, rushing back into the room to do just that. Some members of our group even pose for group photos.

The atmosphere is nice, my people are happy with the results of the event, and not the least bit surprised by my actions, unlike the others. But I guess it’s not the first time they’ve seen me do something like that.

Tess moves in closer to speak, “Good job out there. You made the right decision, waiting until the end. People could see us struggle to fight the monster and the others from Hell could feel how strong it was. While you wiped it out just like that.”

“I will be relying on you to keep the people at bay,” I respond simply.

“No problem. You’re mine too, so I have to prevent any poaching.” She smiles, then looks up and calls, “Izzy! Can you take a picture of me and Nat?”

“Coming!” Isabella shouts and quickly takes a few more photos of Noodle hanging around Maya’s neck, while Maya pretends to be strangled and Noodle is clearly not impressed.

Tess plops down on the armrest of my armchair and smiles while Isabella takes a photo of us. That prompts the others to rush in and take a few more photos against my will. There’s one with Lily, and the boys surrounding me. And another of Maya forming a victory sign with her fingers.

Some of them notice my growing annoyance and that only seems to egg them on as they continue to bully me.

Biscuit is woofing, and they start talking about rewards, Isabella finally stops taking photos, and Tess and Maya fight over the phone, each wanting to play a song they like from its library.

Lily starts telling me about her experiments with the remains of the Champion’s heart. She becomes instantly interested when I show her a bone from the Champion’s finger I retrieved from the 5th floor. We make plans to try something together before the tournament ends. There’s a lot of testing to be done, after all, we can’t die.

The twins then proceed to ask about the coordinates to Lissandra’s home world, Eladore, while telling me about the conversation they had with Sophie during the assault. They offer me a nice cut, so we agree to do that sometime after the tournament and put our time here to better use.

At this point, I’m beginning to suspect that the people here are taking advantage of my good mood to get their way and my eyes naturally slide to Tess who suspiciously averts her gaze.

I knew it.

I will let it pass for today, I’m still in a good mood after the event. Even though I almost obliterated the Aether Keep along with the Rotweaver.

A small mistake. A tiny one.

Could have happened to the best of us.

Against my will, I also learn rumors about a guy from Easy difficulty who’s reached the highest floor of anyone here. The rumors also say he killed the other 199 people from his group.

At some point, Izzy proudly presents me with a smartphone, and judging by Sophie's look of shame, I can only guess that she somehow has something to do with this. Probably some form of coercion on the part of her little sister.

Isabella shows me a video of myself. It looks like she recorded it from the giant screen during the event. In the video, I’m floating in the air, with a golden circle appearing around my pupils and the crown glowing over my head as I lift the ax.

The video has a number of glitchy effects layered over it and she even added filters, along with some kind of Phonk music playing in the background, trying to make the video’s contents, and me by extension, look cool.

Please help.

Should I destroy the hellish device? We haven't seen any smartphones on the other floors yet. Not even on the super developed 2nd Floor. So maybe they shouldn't exist. It only cost me a few rare items, so I could easily do it; it's a cost I'm willing to pay to put an end to this. It seems like Isabella’s just getting started and who knows what else she’s going to get up to.

She even happily chirps that she saw someone with a laptop while sitting on my lap, her objective clear. Even Noodle’s been roped into helping, poor little disgraced guy. Poked and prodded by Izzy, as he slithers closer, the entire time glancing at Biscuit who keeps a close watch on him.

Noodle acts cute, Isabella acts cute. In an attempt to make me buy the laptop for her. She says she could make even better videos for me as if that were something I would want.

Hell, I am willing to pay if she doesn’t make them anymore.

With a sigh, I agree to buy it if she promises to be nice to Vega when I summon her here and let me do some small tests on Noodle. She agrees right away.

Poor Noodle.

Vega is still only around level 40 while Isabella sits somewhere over 150. But their ages are fairly similar, and I remember the stories Vega told me. It would be nice if she could have fun with Isabella at least for that one day.

When the snacks start appearing on the table and everyone takes a short break before doing their tournament stuff, I decide to do the same.

I just move to my quieter corner and stay there while experimenting with my mana.

Chaper 352 - The rules of the third event

Tess, Sophie, Gareth, his right-hand man Adam, Samuel, and I have gathered in the living room, sitting together in awkward silence, but I'm enjoying it.

Everyone else is outside doing their own thing and having fun, but I'm stuck here helping Tess. Though I am eager to learn what kind of silly things they have to say.

Adam, who I remember wanting to have a conversation regarding some of the things that occurred at the end of the first event before the start of the 2nd, is looking at me. Even now he wears the same suit, the older man sits ramrod straight. He seems to be somewhere around 60 years of age going by his face, but none of that shows in his movements.

He moves with as much energy as any young man. That in itself has some interesting implications. How might the system influence someone, let's say, 100 years old?

Just throwing a few levels and stats into boosting their constitution would probably go a long way toward improving their life. Even Lily alone is more than capable of making some level of improvement. In the end, even an old man could be brought back from the edge of death and fully rejuvenated.

Now that I think about it, could Lily heal things like cancer and HIV? What about genetic diseases and PTSD? Wait, wouldn't Sophie be better for mental problems?

It's an interesting train of thought.

Now back to the present, I meet Adam’s gaze. According to Tess, Adam is one of the richest men in Germany or something like that. Who cares, I bet I have more shards. And it's not like money will be all that useful when we return to Earth.

“Sset, I would like to ask you to reconsider once again. I know you don’t like Samuel, but I do not think he is wrong,” Gareth says.

“No, I’ve said it all before, Group 4 isn't interested in following your stupid rules. I know what Samuel is trying to do and what he’s hoping to accomplish with this petty show of authority, it won’t end with the tournament,” Tess answers in a calm tone.

Gareth smiles patiently, “This isn’t about what comes after the tournament, this is…”

“I know,” she cuts him off. “But you need to stop acting like an idiot. And you, Samuel,” she turns to him, “you’re too weak to be ordering our group around.”

“Yeah, Samuel, don't do that,” I add.

“Noname, this is serious. We need to establish some kind of order here. It’s calmer now, but we still have problems that need to be solved. We need to have rules in place when we return to Earth. Even the slightest touch of our mana has the potential to kill a lot of people.” I don’t like Samuel's tone of voice. As if we should follow his orders because that’s all he’s ever known. He’s the kind of person who always has to do things by the book.

“Why bother? We can leave that for future tournaments and our return to Earth. Some of us, not you Samuel, will be powerful enough to give orders to those from the lower difficulties if you want to keep order.” I say.

Isn't it simple?

“But what about Hell difficulty and Beyond?” Adam asks for the first time, his calm eyes on me.

Tess continues instead, “We’ll deal with that as we go. We might not have a Champion before the tutorial ends but we should have a few candidates to set some ground rules. Plus, we’ll learn more from our experiences in the tutorial; that's what it’s there for, right?”

As the conversation continues, they seem to be taking her more seriously. Tess is only around 20 years old, so even though they’re trying, it's going to be hard for Gareth, Samuel, and Adam to take the young woman seriously right away.

Yet, Tess and, by extension, group 4 cannot be ignored. We have three people in Beyond. We have Sophie and her mind-blending. Now that I think about it, Lily’s a Beyonder too but she’s also the strongest healer in our round of the tutorial, and I don't think that will change. We have Biscuit and Noodle too, and best of all, we have me, hehe.

Group 4 is scary indeed.

“See you later,” I say, already bored of the conversation, and teleport to the anchor I placed on the roof. There I meet Lily, who holds a twisted chunk of flesh, with a finger bone next to it.

“Have you gotten bored already?” she asks.

“Samuel was about to start talking about great responsibility coming with great power. Or call me a teleporting atomic bomb or some other ridiculous thing.”

She smiles, “He’s not so bad, just uptight.”

“Obviously, he would be nice to you, you are very important. But you should watch how he treats people from lower difficulties. The man would be happy to declare martial law if he could. But he’s weaker than us so he has to tread carefully when we’re around.”

“The people from Hard difficulty aren't that weak.”

“They’re very weak, Tacita here has already killed Samuel once or twice when he bothered her,” I gesture.

“Tacita here?” Lily turns to the side to find Tacita sitting beside her. She almost jumps out of her skin, surprised by the girl who’s clearly been sitting there for who knows how long without being noticed.

“H-how long…” Lily whispers.

“She was there when I got here,” I say and wave at Tacita who returns the gesture while looking at the bone and scrap of heart Lily’s been experimenting with.

“You can't do that! You have to at least let me know when you are nearby!” Lily complains.

Tacita quickly carves her response into the roof.

ʕ◉ᴥ◉ʔ

Well, it’s not like I don’t understand her reaction, “Learned anything interesting from the bone? The guy used to be pretty tough.” I ask Lily.

Lily's eyes shine excitedly as she turns back to me, “Yes! That bone is perfect!" She pauses before asking, "Should I talk in front of her?"

"It's too late for that, she knows a lot of things and already knows most of our names from all of her sneaking around. You guys didn't notice her most of the time."

"Oh..."

Tacita's hand turns into a blur and she carves something else into the roof.

(；☉_☉)

"It's fine, just don't spread it around."

(￣^￣)ゞ

I gesture at Lily to continue.

"I’ve been having some trouble with the heart though, it's a lot more complex, even as damaged as it is. But with the heart, I could maybe help you with your Therm… with your heart. Not now, but sometime in the future, when we don’t have to deal with that annoying healing aura from the tournament grounds.”

That sounds really promising, it should be possible to upgrade my heart with Lily's help, but I don’t really know how much we can influence my mana generation, honestly, it would probably be at least as difficult as using ambient mana. But maybe we could get it to compress my mana a bit more. Even now it's only around 10 to 20%.

“But the bone is much better,” Lily continues. “It’s fairly compatible with my skill so I should be able to make my bones even stronger. And I should be able to do the same for you. It will take some time given your garbage Constitution, I mean I don't want to hurt you, but we can make it work.”

“There is a question if I want to. I saw some interesting traits that influenced skeletal framework and making them stronger could make it more difficult to use them.”

“We can try to do both, but not here. The healing aura is annoying and heals me before I even make proper changes.”

I start thinking, “Maybe we will be able to make some nice stuff for group 4 together. We can try to give one of my eyes to the others. If it’s too strong, we can dampen the effects and let them ‘awaken’ gradually. It will probably never be as strong as the original, but a healer on the 5th floor did the same thing for my disciple.”

“That sounds difficult. Oh, I also tried to create a mark to leave on people so that they could heal as needed. The one you told me about. It's really bad right now, but in a few weeks, I should be able to create stronger ones.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“No problem! You can get rid of your pathetic healing passive and I will give you a lot of marks.”

My healing passive is trying its best!

While pinching Lily’s nose to punish her, I turn to Tacita, “Do you need something?”

She shakes her head.

“Just hanging around?”

A nod.

“Well, I will leave you guys so you can have some fun together,” I then place an anchor and teleport to the workshop where Isabella’s already waiting.

The little empath stands in the corner over a table, her blue flames melting the metals I gave her and trying to make things from them.

I head over to my table without disturbing her. It's time for me to make a few more items.

In the end, I create five more items over the next few hours, and set the starting price higher at 500 shards each, even though the materials for each item only cost me about 50 shards.

I set the auction’s duration at an hour and close the window.

After a bit of waiting, a notification pops up.

The 3rd event - Avatar Confrontation will start in 12 hours!

Everyone from Hell difficulty will have the opportunity to create an Avatar, for which they may set a [Restriction]. The Avatars will be placed in separate arenas.

Hard, Normal, and Easy difficulties will then be able to challenge these Avatars. Each difficulty will have to pay a different amount of shards to challenge the Avatar.:

Easy difficulty - 5 shards

Normal difficulty - 10 shards

Hard difficulty - 30 shards

The Avatars won't have emotions and won't have any memories beyond those required for combat and managing their abilities. The only goal of the Avatars will be to defeat their challengers.

For defeating the Avatar, the challenger will receive suitable rewards according to their performance and the strength of their opponent.

Note: There will be no cap on the number of participants in a challenge.

Note: A Hell difficulty attendee can create a single Avatar, with any [Restriction]. The Avatar in question can be challenged three times at most.

Note: If an Avatar defeats the challengers, the creator of the avatar will receive rewards as well as all the shards paid for the right to challenge the Avatar. The system claims 10% of these shards.

Note: The creator of the Avatar can add additional rewards for beating the Avatar to entice more challengers. The additional rewards can be shards or items. The additional rewards will be lost in case the Avatar is defeated and split among the challengers according to the challengers' performance.

The Avatars can be placed in 12 hours and it will be possible to challenge them during a 24-hour timeframe.

Okay, that's a lot.

Opening the notification again, I jump up to take a seat on the table I’ve been working at and read it again. I'm glad the Avatar won't possess any of my memories or emotions. If it did I don't think I would be willing to set one, not after the 5th floor.

This is not the kind of event I would have expected but it sounds fun enough. The most important things are, Hell difficulty people will place Avatars so there can be 31 Avatars at once, with or without [Restriction]. Each Avatar can be challenged three times, which means people from other difficulties can join up to 93 fights against someone from Hell difficulty.

The interesting part is the lack of restrictions on group size. This means that over 2 thousand people can challenge a single Avatar at the same time, provided each of them is willing to pay.

That makes deciding the level of [Restriction] a bit more fun. Alone, no one from Easy difficulty would be willing to challenge someone like Tess or Lily, but if they create a big enough group and the girls place the right [Restriction], they might get some challengers. Placing additional rewards could also help.

However, there is a bit of a problem for me. A very big one.

Is there going to be anyone dumb enough to challenge my Avatar? Especially after the last event?

Damn.

But it's too soon to give up already. I already have an idea. It's time to make use of the group 4 psyops unit and the uselessly handsome man. Reaching out, I touch the web covering our house and Sophie responds.

(What?) she asks.

(I need you to get the twins and connect with Channeler. Tell him to come here and to bring as many of his friends as he can. Useful ones only.)

(Will do. But what are you planning? You saw the notification, right? You’re screwed.)

(Worry not. I just need you guys to help me with a disinformation campaign.)

This is gonna be fun.

Chapter 353 - I want him dead

The living room was too small, so we decided to meet in the garden. It's a nice change of pace, seated at a group of tables loaded with snacks, surrounded by a variety of lovely shade trees, and vibrant green grass, with a nice breeze to bring it all together.

Even Biscuit’s in attendance, floating around and sniffing at the gathered people. Some of them almost seem to be terrified; I guess they saw his performance in the prior events. Now that I think about it, didn't Biscuit kill a bunch of people from Easy and Normal difficulty during the 1st event?

As for the people milling about, we’ve managed to gather about twenty men and women from Easy and Normal difficulty. Channeler, Dennis, Aaron, Sophie, and Izzy are also here. Off to the side, there’s Tacita, sitting on a branch high up in a tree, nomming on some kind of snack she’s stolen and observing us down here. I don't think she’s been noticed by anyone other than Sophie and I.

I’ve already brought Channeler up to speed on the situation, so he starts, “So, the goal is simple. We need to make Noname look as weak as possible.”

Someone giggles before being silenced by two of her friends

“Good fucking luck with that,” I hear before they cover her mouth.

Channeler, unbothered, smiles at the gathered people, his handsome face projecting a calming aura.

As he continues, even I find myself starting to believe his words, “You guys have got it all wrong. During the second event, Noname waited for the others from Hell to weaken the monster so he could steal the rewards.”

“No one’s going to believe that!” someone shouts.

“Why not, Eve? We all saw it. Noname used an item, that’s the only reason he was even capable of defeating the monsters. It is a powerful item he stole like a coward on one of the floors, that’s the only reason he’s gotten so far.” He looks at Sophie, Izzy, then the twins. “Even his own group has been complaining about how much they’ve had to carry him.”

That… that sounds reasonable, doesn't it?

“Plus, Noname’s Avatar won’t have the ax,” Channeler adds.

Someone else asks, “What about the first event? He didn’t have that ax then and he almost won!”

The handsome man shakes his head, “Once again, Noname was lucky, he even got his hands on an arcane item that’s why he got so far. It's insane how lucky this guy is. Even then, he lost against Savant.”

“Didn't Savant have the arcane glove?”

Channeler looks confused, “Has anyone confirmed that? Savant won’t deny it, he’ll pretend he did because he’s trying to hide his true power until the duels, right? In truth, Savant fought with skills alone.”

This time a small group of people starts mumbling among themselves.

(That guy is good,) Sophie sends.

(He’s mine,) I return.

After waiting for everyone to quiet down, Channeler continues, “Obviously, we’re going to lead by example and challenge Noname. Don’t worry about the shards. Noname promised to reward us accordingly. Each of us will get an uncommon item and we get five rare items. But,” Channeler lifts his finger, “The items are from Tent Cre... from Fuckyouintentbitch, and Noname was able to buy them. He might throw in some extra if we do well.”

A few people giggle and Tent Creep gets called out a few times.

Maybe I should beat them up.

They do seem more enthusiastic after hearing that though. It looks like the performance of my items has spread.

Continuing, Channeler explains, “Noname will place a high [Restriction] on his Avatar and place a few decent rewards. Of course, the first few groups of challengers will probably lose. We need to be in those groups to downplay it as much as possible. Then for the third challenge, we’re going to get as many people as possible. I will take time with each of you to go over the things we expect people to say and our excuses.”

Watching everything go down, I almost feel like a villain and I love it, it’s like having my own minion to enact my evil plans. The group asks a number of questions and Channeler answers each with patience and a smile. He even knows all their names and after watching them I'm sure half of the people here are only helping because they’re into him, men and women.

(Handsome people sure have it easy,) I send through the twins' link.

(I wish women would look at me the way they look at him,) Dennis sighs.

(Maybe we can have Lily use [Plastic Surgery] on our faces to make us look better,) Aaron tries.

(You guys are all dumb, none of you are that bad looking.) Sophie replies as she observes the crowd while testing a few adjustments.

She seems to make a bit of progress, so I ask, (Well?)

(I could probably influence people from Easy, without being noticed, normal too if I push it. But it wouldn't be all that strong, just the tiniest poke towards them deciding to challenge you, nothing more. It would be like a friend giving you advice. People from Hard difficulty would notice that and it wouldn't affect them. It would cause more trouble than it’s worth.)

(Fair enough. Let's not do that then. How about you?) I turn to the twins.

(No problem, boss!) Aaron sends with a smile. (We’re happy to trash you a lot. We’ll even see if we can get Brainiac to help. It's good you didn't call Kim, he is terrible at lying as is Lootenant.)

(It will be easy, but you have to teach us coordinates on the 6th floor in exchange, without taking too big a cut!) Dennis reminds me.

(As promised,) I agree.

For a while, I watch Channeler and while some of the things he’s saying kind of annoy me on an irrational level, I appreciate the effort. Not only that, but he’s making Savant look that much stronger, maybe that will keep people from challenging the guy and stop him from earning any rewards, that would be a nice bonus.

I don't really think it will help very much. People aren't that dumb, but it is fun to watch.

I spend one hour crafting the items to serve as rewards for the people Channeler managed to rope into helping. Yet I still think it will be worth it.

To avoid connecting my name with Fuckyouintentbitch, I've already hinted at buying some. For the rest, I'll drop a few clues and leave it to their imagination, I’m hoping they'll think I know the guy.

After finishing my crafting, I walk through the common area, heading towards WhiteWing.

Surprisingly, I can already see some people looking at me. Some try to hide their laughter while whispering some private joke to the person next to them. It's not many, but it’s already spread enough to be noticed, and every once in a while, I see some of Channeler's helpers going around and talking to people. He really picked some good helpers, they don’t hesitate in the least as they strike up conversations.

Is this the true power of people from lower difficulties?

No one from the higher difficulties is quite that friendly, though we did have to get used to floors where people were ready to stab you in the back at any time.

As I approach the big house Gareth's group has been using, I stop to look at it for a while. It has multiple floors, their yard is bigger than ours though they don’t have a workshop.

Our house and the view it provides are definitely better. Group 4 wins once again.

“Noname, you’re slow as hell. But I guess that's why you’re in Hell difficulty,” Brainiac says welcoming me with a lame joke.

I ignore him and proceed to enter the house, and he quickly follows behind, “And what the hell are these rumors I’ve been hearing in the common area? I’ve already had like five people ask if it's true that you got an arcane item during the 1st event and that I beat you in a duel.”

“What did you say?” I ask instead of answering.

“It sounded fun so I said I beat you three times in a duel and the arcane item was found by someone from Easy difficulty and you still almost died while stealing it,” he says with a bright smile.

Nice, free labor.

“Ask the twins if you’re interested; they’re in on it and wanted to speak to you anyway. But if you do anything to ruin my plan, I will find you.”

“Sure, no problem! Gary and Sset are already waiting, so go upstairs; I’m going to find Dennis or Aaron!” Once again, he’s ditched his responsibilities in the pursuit of fun and leaves the house. I can’t hate him for it either; the guy clearly has his priorities straight.

As I’m walking upstairs, I detect three mana signatures in the room and knock before entering. There in the small room, I find a man tied to a metal chair. With a weaker version of the Null Collar around his neck. It’s not epic, it’s probably rare at best. It clearly won’t allow him to use his mana.

Even that is enough, this guy’s clearly from Easy difficulty. Though a short examination tells me that he’s probably the strongest person from Easy difficulty I've met. Hell, he’s probably stronger than most of Normal.

The more I observe him, the more interesting it is. Maybe he’s stronger than some of the weaker people from Hard difficulty?

The man tied to the chair is around thirty years old. He has a short beard and brown hair and a wild expression in his gray eyes. He is of average height and quite muscular. Meanwhile, Tess sits in a chair nearby, and Gareth stands in the corner of the room.

“So that's the guy?” I ask.

“Yes,” Tess nods.

“So what if I am? You can't do anything. Once the tournament’s over, I’ll be freed, and you won’t be able to reach me,” the man's voice is calm, despite his wild expression.

There is something chilling about the way he looks around and speaks.

“That would be quite a wasted tournament for you,” I mention.

“I can live with it,” he responds coldly.

“What’s the name of your skill?” I ask.

“Noname, you can't be serious!” Gareth says, speaking for the first time, and the usually calm and compassionate man sounds like he’s on the edge. “This isn’t the time or place for that.”

“Does it matter?” I step closer and send mana to the man, forcefully overwhelming him and breaking through his natural barrier. Sending my mana through his body, I examine it and his mana.

Other than a token attempt at the start, he doesn't bother trying to defend himself and watches me with eyes that tell me he would stab me if he could. Or something much worse.

Such an amusing guy.

“So how many?” I ask Gareth.

Tess answers instead, “It's hard to say exactly, but we think he killed all 199 members of his group, sometime during the 1st Floor.”

“How did he do that? It couldn’t have been that easy.”

“We don’t know for sure,” Tess says, shaking her head. “Maybe he poisoned them. He seems to have the skills for it. We spoke to a few of the people he defeated in the 1st event, and they seemed to confirm that he had some kind of poison smoke and acid that melts through low density mana. Both of them cause a lot of pain as well.”

“Maybe he just poisoned their water or something and killed them slowly,” I ponder as I examine his body.

Other than being surprisingly high-level, it seems normal. I'm not an expert, but there is nothing remarkable. The guy just seems to be some kind of sociopathic mass murderer. Maybe he wanted to level up or take their equipment. Or maybe he’s just a murderer and a twisted person who found himself in a place without any rules.

I stop using my mana and look at him. The entire time, and now even more so, he watches me with those eyes of his. I've met plenty of psychos but this one seems to be a special case.

“Any idea what floor he’s on?” I ask.

“If he went no [Restriction], then he’s made it to the 11th floor, that's what a few guys saw,” Gareth joins.

“Oh? Isn’t that the highest floor out of anyone here?” I ask.

“Yes, and before you ask, yes, we’ve tried to get info out of him, but he refuses to cooperate and the system censors everything else as always,” Tess leans back on her chair.

Such an interesting situation. So, how do you deal with a murderer like that? Do you even want to? He can't be killed during the tournament. Sure, he can be fake killed, even tortured, but after a few more days, he will be back to doing whatever he wants.

Even if he goes back to the Floors, anything he does will be limited to fakes created by the system not actual people. The question is if Gareth and Tess want to punish the guy for what he has done. More interestingly, do they even have the right to decide that?

Curious about what they’ll do, I turn to them.

Gareth is silent and indecisive, unwilling to show his darker side, which I'm certain he has. There is no way the guy looking like a hero, with shiny armor, healing skills, and speeches about protecting others isn’t evil.

Tess, on the other hand, returns my gaze easily, her eyes unwavering as she declares simply, “I want him dead.”

That's why I like her.

Chapter 354 - Expectations and consequences

"Are you sure?" I ask Tess, my curiosity growing. I want to see how she responds.

"Yes," she says simply.

"Do you have the right to decide that?" I ask though I don't care what happens to the guy. I want to know what the young blonde in front of me is thinking.

"Who cares if I have the right?"

Ok, that’s a good answer.

So I ask again, pushing her, "I killed a real human, I threw that guy on the 1st floor to the Cinderbear."

"Yes, you did."

"Soph and Hadwin also killed the guy who wanted to kill Soph after his friend died."

"Yes, they did."

"And Izzy probably burned a group of people from Hard difficulty who entered Hell difficulty back on the third floor. Are you going to punish all of us as well?"

"I will not." A simple answer.

"That's hypocritical."

"Yes, it is."

"So you want others to follow your rules while acting as judge, jury, and executioner without following the rules yourself?" I continue to push.

"It's not about rules I want them to follow. As I told you before, I will be leading this round of the tutorial. I will take over so our group will be safe when we return in four years. Yes, it's still far off but it will be better to start right away."

Gareth is just listening and the murderer tied to the chair is forgotten. Only when the bound man tries to say something do I hold his mouth shut with [Redistribution].

"No one will want to follow a woman who sets rules she won't follow herself," I note.

"They will have to," another simple answer I like.

"So this man is an example?"

"Yes, we will make an example of him. A lot of them think they can do anything they want during the tournament because they can't die. A lot of them also know about this murderer, rumors have been spreading for a long time and he even bragged in Community."

"Sounds good," I can’t help but be fascinated by this version of Tess. And yet that can't be all there is to it.

Her subclass is Chastity and now here she is, greedily trying to pull everyone under her control. Gareth, other difficulties, and even the people from Hell. All in the name of protecting her friends and maintaining the camaraderie she’s always wanted. It feels greedy but pure at the same time. Such a twisted combination.

So I don't mind helping, "I could forcefully inscribe a construct inside of his body. The kind that would trigger gradually a few days after he leaves the tournament. I could make one that constantly disrupts his mana or one that will make his heart explode. Something impossible for someone of his level to deal with. With a bit of help from Grumpy or Soph and some testing to learn what the system will allow, I should be able to do it fairly easily."

"We can't do that," Gareth finally joins in. "I know where you’re coming from, Sset, but this, this is too much. You won't fix anything if you become a murderer as well."

"I’ve told you before Gareth, but you’re too soft. We saw it all over the previous floors, there was always someone strong keeping the others in check. The second floor had the Champions. The third floor had a king. On the fourth floor, the lynthari kept the order and no one dared to step too far out of line. Even what we learned about the fifth, the Absolute, the Champions, and their powerful guilds," she gestures around.

"I know where you are coming from. But there has to be another way."

"Probably? Maybe we’ll find a utopia on one of the higher floors. But Gareth, Soph and I looked into his mind, albeit briefly. I felt flashes of his emotions when he killed people. This man is nothing more than a rabid dog to be put down."

She takes a step towards the bound man and looks down at him, her voice turning darker, "We’ve all done things we’re not proud of and I'm sure we will continue to do so. And probably worse. We will kill natives, we’ll even kill people from Earth. Hell, some of us might end up like this man. But right now I want him dead because of the things I saw in his memories. Later I will learn more about the way I want to walk. Then I might regret it, or maybe not."

Instead of talking to Tess, Gareth turns to me, switching his strategy, "And how about you? Have you accepted the idea of killing him so easily?"

"I have," I affirm.

"Would you kill so easily no matter who asked?"

"I only agreed because Sset is the one asking," I clarify. "I trust her," I say, focusing on Gareth, and returning his gaze.

The man seems to be distraught. But he doesn't feel weak or indecisive. It's like he’s honestly trying to find a better way.

Gareth takes a step closer to me, his voice more urgent, "What if she’s lying? You only have her word, and it's a big decision. You should think this over. What if she’s using you or intends to in the future? Perhaps she’s twisting the truth to make you do what she wants."

"I'm not entirely sure, but I think I might kill her."

That shocks Gareth into stunned silence. He keeps looking back and forth between Tess and I.

When I look at the blonde, she is smiling at me, gentle and understanding.

"How can you say that so easily, isn't she your friend?"

"It’s not easy," I tell Gareth. "Isn’t a betrayal of that magnitude a good enough reason on its own?"

"Even though she’s your friend?" Gareth asks, refusing to let go.

With a sigh, I continue, "Wouldn't that just make it that much worse? I do things she asks of me without questioning her. I gave her my trust and she knows it and can make use of me. But that comes with expectations from my side and consequences should she betray them."

Stepping closer to the bound man, I collect my mana and touch his head, sending it through his natural barrier. I break through easily and place an anchor directly on him, infusing it with enough mana to last for days. It might disappear if he enters the event, but I’ve remembered his mana signature so I should be able to find him quite easily.

Turning to Tess, I reach to the anchor I placed in the common area, "I will return home and will come up with something later."

"See you later," Tess says.

"Sure," I activate the anchor and disappear, appearing in the middle of a crowd.

My sudden appearance makes some people jump, while I continue towards the house where I felt Min-Jae's signature. Walking for a minute I reach the patch of trees and start cycling mana to hide my presence. Min-Jae has become better at detecting people lately.

Silently I enter a small patch of trees and when I hear his voice I slow down, carefully stopping as the view opens up. There I can see him. Min-Jae is around 16 years old I think and at the moment he’s facing down a few men from Hard difficulty. Three to be exact.

Lootenant is with him or Jakub if I want to use the name Gareth doxxed.

The Korean boy seems to be excited about something, though Lootenant looks like he doesn't want to be there.

"We told you you’re wrong," one of the men from Hard difficulty tells Min-Jae threateningly. "We cursed at that lightning bit... woman, but so does everyone else. So what do you want?"

"I don't like that you call her that. She is my friend," Min-Jae doesn't seem to be impressed at all and faces the three men easily.

I'm sure he wouldn't be able to do this without the powers he now possesses. Thanks to them even a thin boy can face three adult men.

They seem to realize it as well. They aren't exactly weak, but people from Hell difficulty are just different so they hesitate.

"Look," their leader says in the end, "I got it. I'm sorry, okay? I understand that she is your friend so I apologize." The man is surprisingly reasonable.

Min-Jae, on the other side, seems to be disappointed. I can see how he watches them. The stance he takes is something that reminds me of mine and I could swear the expression too. He is even releasing a bit of his mana.

I can see a thrill in his eyes as three much older and bigger men apologize to him, but immediately I can tell it won't be enough. I've known people who acted the way Min-Jae is now.

"That's not enough," Min-Jae calls to them as they turn to leave.

His skill activates and his gravity field surrounds the men, slowing them down as they fight to keep standing.

"Enough Kim, we don't…" Lootenant tries to stop him, but Min-Jae shakes him off.

Taking a few steps towards the men he says, "I don't think you were honest enough. As you said, she’s my friend." Even as he is saying so, I can see a tenuous smile on his face.

That smile and the way he pushes away their efforts to escape his gravity field tell me enough. I don't even have to watch as he uses the excuse of defending his friend to put these men under his boot. Especially now that he is also angry because they insulted Tess and probably called her even worse names. I already know the reputation she has.

As Tess said before, Min-Jae is young and because of his past, it's no surprise he turned out this way after getting all these powers.

Having seen all I wanted to see, I use an anchor I left in the common area to teleport away. There, I start walking around and checking for some things I could buy. Maybe some interesting stone that would prove to be a damaged arcane item, a ring with the personality imprint of someone powerful, or a talking sword.

Bored and wanting to take my mind off my useless ponderings, I gesture for a young boy who’s watching me from a porch nearby to come closer.

"Do you want something?" I ask. The boy was following me for a good minute.

"Are you Noname?" he asks.

The boy sounds even younger than Isabella, and he feels much weaker. Easy difficulty probably.

"Yes," I say.

"The Cheater Noname?" he asks curiously.

Damn, some people just really lack survival instinct.

"Why do you think I’m a cheater?" I ask just in case, knowing it's most likely the result of Channeler's efforts.

"I heard your group got an arcane item and you stabbed them in the back to take it for yourself. And even then you lost to Savant who was tired because he already defeated like 20 people from Hell difficulty."

Oh. My. God. I love you, Channeler my dude.

The boy doesn't let my silence stop him, "During the second event too! You have some leech skill you used to steal mana from other people. Mom said it would be impossible to have so much mana otherwise! You also stole mana from the mines and the natives. All while you waited for the others to weaken the monsters and because you were scared!"

"Be careful," I add with some urgency in my voice. "I don't want people to know about my cowardly [Mana Steal] skill," I say, stealthily handing him some candy I traded for a common item.

"I knew it! A nice lady was telling my father about it and I overheard! Is it true that you also have an item higher than arcane, but to use it you have to sacrifice 10 years of your life?"

This is getting ridiculous.

The boy doesn't stop, "And you are such an asshole that you are sacrificing the life of your group instead!"

There I pause him, "Kid, wanna learn something funny?"

The weird kid nods and steps closer.

How the hell can you talk about me in such a way and then just listen?

I lower my voice to add more dignity, "There is one word I heard the most powerful Absolute I’ve ever met say. That word bought her the respect of her enemies and the love of her friends."

His eyes expand, "There is such a word?"

"Yes," I gesture for him to come closer and whisper. "Don't tell anyone. You promise?" I hand him another candy.

"I promise! My dad said to never break a promise!"

I nod and look around, like I’m making sure no one’s listening, "That word was 'nya.' She added it to the end of every second or third sentence she said, gaining the respect of everyone who heard it."

Then, unable to resist, I flick his nose and teleport away.

Silly kids.

Chapter 355 - Miwa

I teleport back after the auction ends, I check the result and receive just over three thousand shards for the five items. The tournament shop has already covered our rent for the house and workshop, and a few days still remain.

It's not as good as looting the Veil Ignition Station, but it's good enough that I should be able to make a few thousand extra shards before the tournament ends.

As I check the crafter ranking, I'm still first, with the second person being someone called Miwa and even Adam is there. For a moment, I consider buying their things to examine them but then decide not to. Looking at my results and 1st place, it's obvious I'm doing better. So, there probably wouldn't be all that much I could learn from them. I still might do it before the tournament ends.

Sensing a few signatures on the roof, I boost myself into the air and land on top of it. Lily and Tacita are still in the same spot, and Maya and Sophie seem to have joined them. The women observe Tacita while talking to Lily.

Maya is closer to the mute girl. Maybe too close. Unlike me, she doesn't seem to notice the tension in Tacita's body every time someone moves too quickly, gets close, or speaks too loudly. It's obvious to me after dealing with her for a bit, but Tacita seems to be about as twisted as the rest of us.

Maya, being as straightforward as she is, smiles and holds out her hand by way of introduction.

When Tacita ignores her, Maya makes a bit of a mistake. She presses closer and reaches out to her with a kind word.

In a flash, her hand is severed, and Maya staggers back, a dagger sprouting from her neck. She coughs, blood spraying from her mouth and soiling her clothes.

Maya doesn't panic and her face takes on the deep calm of the skill we share. Before Lily or Sophie can move, Maya puts a hand on the wound after pulling the dagger free, blood seeping between her fingers. A blade made of mana extends from the stump of her severed hand. Even bleeding, her expression turns dangerous.

Lily lets go of everything and moves at a speed rivaling Tacita's, reaching Maya and putting a hand on her to heal her quicker. She heals her even before the tournament healing aura activates, the wound closing within a blink.

Then the three of them stand there, skills at the ready to launch an attack on Tacita.

On the other side, the mute girl is calm, her slim body relaxed, arms hanging along her body, and fingers slightly bent. Her feet are placed just so, priming her for a sudden burst of speed.

Not to escape, but to attack. Even facing three powerful members of Hell difficulty, Tacita doesn't hesitate.

It might be sociopathic, but I want them to fight. I bet Sophie and Maya would go down, almost without a struggle, and only Lily could defend herself. However, the knowledge of our immortality in this space takes the sting from such thoughts.

But I don't forget to warn them, “If you damage the house, I will expect an item equal to the damage caused.”

Tacita lifts her hands and gestures at the trio opposite her after meeting my eyes.

“You too, I don’t go around destroying your stuff, so I would expect you to extend the same courtesy.”

That causes her to deflate a bit, and her stance becomes more relaxed.

"You saw what she did to Maya," Lily says through clenched teeth. Maya, unlike her, maintains a mask of calm, her eyes on Tacita.

Have they forgotten who this girl is? She’s been solo climbing the floors, the same as Savant. She has time and again proved herself to be an extremely dangerous individual and she’s unstable to boot. Maybe the way she acted made them forget? Tacita's behavior tends towards the playful, most of the time, not to mention the silly emoticons she uses instead of speech.

It's amusing, to be honest. How little it takes for people to let their guard down. Just a few smiles, a bit of childish behavior, and an innocent face.

Unlike them, I strengthen my body every time I see even a shadow of Tacita and keep a barrier under my skin, ready to activate. Not even once have I forgotten to do so.

I also know that Tacita has taken notice; she knows that I'm ready to fight her anytime. But being twisted as she is, she doesn't mind my lack of trust. No, it almost seems like she prefers it, she’s actually more comfortable when I try to keep her at arm's length.

Tacita looks down on those who’ve grown complacent. But I guess that's the inevitable result of her climbing the floors alone and being on constant guard.

So I just tell Maya, "Dennis told me you know about someone who can make pizza."

While keeping her eyes on Tacita, Maya says in a calm tone, "Yes, I’ve spoken with her already and can arrange a meeting."

"Sounds good. Can we go?"

Maya glances at me and then at the mute girl. Her expression slowly returns to normal, and she examines her bloody clothes. Her expression clearly shows that she realized she made a mistake and that she’s really dissatisfied with the result.

Cursing, Maya says, "Yes, just let me change clothes." She then jumps off the roof and enters the house.

For a while, I sit there observing the standoff between Sophie, Lily, and Tacita, but in the end, it looks like there will be no fight.

"Boring," I mutter and jump off the roof, and take a seat on one of the benches outside, waiting for Maya.

Maya and I enter the common area and only then does she turn to me, "I fucked up."

"A bit," I nod. "Do you know where?"

"I thought of her as harmless and allowed myself to get lulled into a false sense of security by the safety of the tournament."

"I agree, you have [Focus] too so you should keep it running in the background constantly. Use it to keep your strengthening just a blink from activating or to monitor your surroundings. Whatever you like."

We pass through the plaza as she leads us through the crowds.

After a while, she asks, "Would she still act this way outside the tournament? If there was no field preventing us from dying?"

"Yup," I say.

I know that without a speck of doubt. Tacita’s actions would be the same even out of the bounds of the tournament. Whether it be a native or a real person. It doesn't matter. That's how she is.

My answer seems to strike the usually straightforward and talkative Maya silent, as she retreats deep into her thoughts.

I, on the other hand, try to look as weak as possible. There are even a few people trying to probe my mana, in an attempt to scan me with their skills. Even Maya notices them, but I act as if I haven’t and merely reduce the amount of mana leaking from my body.

All in an effort to help the disinformation campaign.

It’s in this fashion that we reach a smaller house, carved deep into a nice grassy hill, covered with colorful flowers. Outside of that house is a small workshop, issuing the constant ringing of a hammer striking iron, along with a lot of heat.

"Let's wait outside, apparently she’s sensitive about being interrupted," Maya says.

Though it leaves me curious, I plop down on a stone nearby and Maya does the same, and we wait.

I do not send my mana sense toward the blacksmith Miwa’s workshop. She is the second ranked crafter in the tournament shop and it looks like she may be the person I need to help me make pizza for my minion.

It takes about an hour and in that hour, I die four times. All caused by black mana turning my brain to mush as I experiment with it. It's mostly part of my experiments with [Focus], It’s either that or direct infusions into my brain. All the while I keep a field around me to stop mana from seeping into the area, keeping as much as I can inside of my body.

At this point, I start thinking that before the event ends I will have to be a bit more careful and stop relying on the passive healing of the tournament. It would be unfortunate if I tried something like this outside.

Anyway, I'm learning a lot and the control I’ve refined with the help of my Duplicate improves even further. Now even more so than before, I realize how much time experimenting with him saved me. Months, half a year, maybe even a year that I would’ve needed to practice on my own, slowly to avoid blowing my head off.

Maya also trains as she sits next to me, a focused expression on her face while she moves mana through her body.

Another hour passes before a woman in her forties finally exits the workshop. She has a youthful face and seems to be Asian, Japanese if I had to guess. The heat seems to radiate from her skin while she wipes the sweat from her brow and glances at us, then taking a few steps she greets us with a nod.

A few seconds later she coughs and tells me, “Hey, my eyes are up here.”

Maya seems to be shocked for some reason and pokes me.

I lift my eyes from her right arm, which is made entirely of metal. It’s clearly some sort of heavily articulated prosthetic, covered in delicate inscriptions. Looking up at her I ask, “You didn't make it, where did you get it?”

The metal itself is an alloy I do not recognize. Possessed of a silvery color with a pinkish luster.

The arm is beautiful and I'm unable to take my eyes off it.

She looks at me, “I'm Miwa, I would like to hear your names first.”

“Noname.”

“Knight, nice to meet you, Miwa.”

Miwa nods, “Thanks, even if they are aliases. Now then, I thought you wanted help with pizza, offering an epic item in exchange?”

“I have a healer in my group. She can restore your flesh and blood arm. I will add two epic items in exchange for your metal arm,” I offer.

“I apologize, but no.”

“Five epic items and my healer will make your new arm stronger than the original should be.”

“I already said no,” Miwa repeats decisively.

Should I try to steal it later? I mean, she’s only in Hard difficulty, it should be easy enough. It might be worth the hell Tess would raise or Gareth's complaining. I’ve seen a few prostheses, but this arm is something else, there’s only one floor where she could have gotten it.

“You got the arm on the second floor, right?”

Seeing no reason to lie, Miwa nods, “I got it from a man called Keiron.” She lifts her arm, it moves perfectly, fingers reacting immediately and nimbly as their natural counterparts. Even the metal seems to bend slightly at the required places.

The arm is a masterpiece and more so having been given by Champion Keiron. Maybe he was nerfed on Hard difficulty or not, no matter what it's not something to ignore. More so him being a descendant of Lissandra.

I want to offer another trade, but Maya pokes me before I can and when I look at Miwa I do realize that if I ask again she will send us away. Even now, this polite reception is little more than an act.

I will think of something later.

“Yes, we came here because of pizza. Apparently, you can make one.”

Miwa gestures to us to follow her and heads towards the house, “I like to cook so when we reached the common area I traded with other people and got a lot of ingredients. With what I have, I should be able to make pizza as well.”

We enter the hallways at which point she takes off her shoes and puts them to the side. We follow her example and wait for her to invite us in.

She leads us to a small but lovely kitchen, and the woman, still in her work clothes, starts preparing tea, her metal arm moving as nimble as a normal one. Me and Maya both sit there awkwardly. Even Miwa seems to be somewhat cold because of my offers.

Well, I think I know what will make her more friendly.

“I can give you an item for the pizza, but what do you think about this instead?” I put a few pieces of metal on the table.

Turning back to us, Miwa sighs, “Please, do not try to change…” she cuts off. Miwa quickly puts the kettle away and takes a quick step towards the table from which she grabs a small piece of metal.

It's voidsteel, not a blade, just a few pieces of the metal I found in the Veil Ignition Station.

As expected, the woman seems to be even more interested now. Voidsteel is extremely expensive in the system shop and is mostly sold in ingots for one or two thousand shards. Then there is the problem that they are difficult to work with, especially for us from Earth with only a year of experience. So the pieces I gave her should be even more enticing given the way they should allow her more freedom to experiment.

Then I decide to push more, “I also have a damaged arcane grade item.” I lower my voice, trying to make my offer sound as enticing as possible. “I will let you look at it if you let me look at your arm.”

Chapter 356 - Just give me the goddamn robotic arm

After being told to fuck off, we leave the place. It's the nicest way anyone’s ever told me to fuck off, and I don’t realize what's happening until we’re already outside, and she throws our shoes out behind us.

HOW! How is she not enamored by the chance to examine an arcane weapon? Just show me the goddamn robotic arm!

"Maya, I'm annoyed," I complain to the woman next to me.

"You should run [Focus] in the back of your mind to…" Maya swiftly dodges my mana projectile and deflects another by creating a barrier over the back of her hand.

She smiles playfully, "Just let it be before you make it worse. We can ask Tess or Channeler to talk to Miwa and at least get you your pizza."

"But the arm…"

"Oh, come on! What's even so fascinating about it?"

"It was made by Champion Keiron, the dude with the [Avatar] skill and the descendant of Cockroachsandra. That alone makes it interesting."

Her eyes burn on my skin as she asks, "Please tell me you are not planning on stealing that arm."

"Borrowing. I can give her both of my arms if she wants. They’re good arms."

She snorts, "Only Lily has any use for your arms, please act like a normal human. You shouldn’t be so laidback about losing an arm. I mean, what are you, a lizard or something? Having Lily on hand is making you even worse."

Grabbing my hand, she pulls me away from the house, "You have that arcane alloy you keep babying. Maybe she would like to examine that more, she seems like a blacksmith."

She lets go of my hand and I shake my head resolutely, "She would want a piece of it. I know that. I'm not willing, not even if she offers to give me the arm."

"Is it that good?" Maya wonders.

"Yes. It was made by someone who worked with the Champions on the 5th floor and was rewarded for it by their Absolute. His life’s work."

"But it's only arcane." She pauses, giggling. "Only arcane," she repeats. "You already have a damaged arcane ax."

"That's not how it works," I offer my hand to Maya and she puts hers onto it. Then I teleport both of us, appearing near our house, and I continue, "It's arcane even in its raw form. If you have, let's say, upper rare materials like metals or stones you can, with a lot of work, create low or maybe even mid epic items."

She pauses me there, "But I saw arcanadium, endurium, and some other metals and that’s not including the rare crystals she had, some of them were even epics.."

"Yes, that's the difference in the purity of the material. I don't know that much about it, but these metals are rarely found in their pure state, so they usually need to be purified. Nevan told me about a method he had to categorize the different grades of ore, but I ignored it back then."

"So that arcane alloy can be turned into a mid or upper arcane item?"

"Probably? There is a low chance that I may even be able to make something better than arcane, but probably not. Even Champions tended to carry arcane weapons and items. If the system hasn’t been reducing the grade of these items, then it means that mid and upper arcane are usually what the new and weaker Champions would have."

"And the system’s already been putting low tier arcane items in the tournament?" she asks unbelievingly.

"If I'm right, there is a huge difference between grades within arcane." It makes a lot of sense, in my opinion. As the rarities will grow, the difference between low, mid, and upper will only increase.

Maya smiles out of nowhere, "When you have the funds, buy me some arcane armor or something. I’ll be your personal minion if you do. We [Focus] holders have to stick together, right?" she pokes my side.

In retaliation for her shameless declaration, I ask, "So what level is your [Focus]?"

That silences her for a moment, and she sighs, "That skill is scary to level. Anyone who makes it to the higher levels can't be normal," she says, repeating her favored excuse.

"But I turned out just fine," I say, in defense of my favorite skill, and myself by extension.

She doesn't answer, so I turn to her.

Huh? Why is she looking at me like that?

A few more hours remain until the start of the third event when I notice Biscuit returning from outside. It seems like he’s been doing that lately, going out alone to do Biscuit stuff somewhere in the common area.

At this point, I’m more worried about the people than the little corgi, but so far there have been no complaints, so we let him do whatever he wants.

Most of the group are outside, around a campfire they’ve set up. A few trees have been felled as a sacrifice, so we probably aren't good renters, but screw the system.

They’re roasting the marshmallows I bought along with some other things, like meat from some of the higher-level animals they fought on the 5th floor. Even Brainiac and Lootenant are here, leeching off us once again. They seem to have really hit it off with our boys and can often be found hanging around. The atmosphere seems to be cheery and very noisy. Ew.

It’s at this point that Biscuit floats in through the second story window.

Activating my eyes and crown, I observe him, wondering what he’s been up to. I do have to be careful to avoid his detection; he’s getting better at it. Biscuit moves from room to room and for a while, he even stops next to Noodle; I can sense their signatures close to each other.

The future Danger Noodle is sleeping there on the couch and Biscuit floats over him. He does something and then leaves the snake alone, entering my room before leaving after a moment.

He floats at his terribly slow speed out of the window to rejoin the others while shouting something about sustenance. I'm just happy he got bored of shouting “bitch,” I was worried it was going to be his new favorite word.

Placing an anchor, I teleport into my room and look around the place where Biscuit stopped. The sounds of people sitting around the fireplace are muffled and fade into the background, and there on top of the nightstand, I find a small piece of dried meat. It is clumsily wrapped in wrapping from the candies we’ve eaten. Biscuit must have seen how much we liked eating the cheap candy after a year in the tutorial, so he thought the jerky would taste better for us if he wrapped it.

Did he also carefully collect all the wrappers?

In quick succession, and ignoring the privacy of Min-Jae and the twins I check their rooms. In each, I find the same. A small piece of dried meat clumsily wrapped in pink wrapping.

For a moment, I imagine the little corgi using his mana tentacles to do that.

Teleporting to the living room with Noodle, I find him in his usual spot on the couch. And sitting there, in front of the little snake, is another wrapped hunk of meat and there is a blanket awkwardly thrown over his body unlike when he first went to sleep.

Noodle isn't sleeping anymore, and when I enter the living room, he looks at me and then at the candy wrapping and the blanket.

These two cute animals often clash, fighting for dominance. So the awkward form of affection on the part of the silly dog seems to surprise the white snake.

Noodle looks at me again with his green eyes, as if trying to understand the meaning of all of this. Why would the corgi do that?

"Figure it out on your own," I tell him before leaving the house.

Instead of teleporting, I walk over to the campfire where the others have gathered. The fake stars are in the sky and the night air is refreshing and warm accentuated by the crackling of the fire.

I pass by Brainiac, who is once again hitting on the girls, and bend down to pick up Biscuit.

(Asshole!) the corgi shouts, surprised by my actions, moving his paws and twisting his body in an attempt to escape.

Holding him under his front legs, I straighten up my arms, Biscuit's hind legs hanging and swinging slightly, the corgi turned towards me.

(Asshole!) he repeats in my head.

As a reward, I shake him slightly, but the doggo seems to be enjoying that.

I lean closer and touch his cold nose to mine, much to the corgi's surprise. But he quickly gets out of it and licks me while repeatedly shouting his first and favorite word.

(Food food food!)

Only an hour remains until we get the notification for the third event. It's still night, yet from the hill where our house is, we can see thousands of lights shining in the common area. People moving around, lights of the houses, campfires set.

Nobody here is a normal human anymore, and that applies even to the weakest among us. Even a few levels are enough to put the average person on a footing with those who’ve trained their whole lives.

We are stronger, we can move faster, and our stats make us more resilient. It's easier to go without sleep for some time, and after the body upgrade, a lot of us require less food, water, and rest.

Even with that, only a few things would change if we returned to Earth. But it doesn't end with this.

Some people lack the proper scope. They see people from Hell as tactical weapons of mass destruction. Weapons to be used as deterrents by their respective countries. But that's straight up silly.

We’re in the process of the Pairing, we will be forced to fight a whole other planet and face its natives, who are likely to be much more experienced than us and have had more time to build their forces.

We’ve just been introduced to the system, everyone in the tutorial is our First Generation. People who went through the tutorial while learning as much as possible. The goal here seems obvious now.

We’re being groomed to lead, protect, and set the order once we return to Earth. Some of us will need to serve as teachers.

Every time I think about it, I feel the excitement in my chest. The boring life I had on Earth has been left behind, replaced by something new and grand. The pursuit of power in the name of taking on opponents who want to see me dead, and the opportunity to explore the powers we’ve received.

Champions, Absolutes, and their Disciples, Rulers, and maybe something over that? The mystery of what happens after reaching level 99 in a skill. The final Beyond trial and Beyond itself. And more.

Thinking on too small a scale is straight up stupid. This won’t end with Earth.

Back in the common area, I examine the window that pops up announcing the event.

Please, create your avatar. You can decide the severity of your [Restriction] as well as any additional rewards.

Warning, if your avatar gets defeated, the additional rewards will be split between the challengers.

Warning, once you set a [Restriction], it can't be changed.

Looking at the window, I think of the love and hate relationship I have with the system and the tutorial. From a certain point of view, it also makes sense that Savant thinks that the system is fair.

But, the system is still an asshole.

I set my avatar and look around the common area, Lily next to me has finished setting up hers as well.

Then after a minute a notification appears for the difficulties under Hell and everyone starts scrolling through their windows. Then like clockwork, a conversation starts. Slowly growing shocked calls and hundreds of people looking around, some people look almost like their eyes are bulging out of their heads.

Some of them find me, poking their friend, and like that, hundreds of pairs of eyes are looking straight at me.

The reason is obvious, a simple small window they’ve all been shown.

Avatar: Noname, group 4

Restriction: 3rd Floor

Additional rewards: 80,000 shards

Chapter 357 - Pump these numbers up

For a short moment, I bask in the gazes of the people, but when Brainiac comes rushing, screaming about where the hell I could have gotten so many shards, I teleport away.

I appreciate [Tether] more and more, the way it allows me to avoid people is amazing.

Through the [Connection] the twins set up I receive a call from Channeler, (Boss! Good job with the shards! I don't know how you tricked the system, but that’s going to help a lot!)

(Tricked the system?)

(The amount of shards. Did you bug it out somehow? We could use it maybe or…)

(I didn’t have to. I have the shards.)

The silence that ensues is quite long, but it warms my cold heart.

Actually, can I even say that? My heart can generate a lot of heat, so maybe it's not all that cold.

(Are you serious?) Channeler's voice is quiet.

(Yup.)

(Are you maybe dumb?)

Okay, someone's asking for a beating.

Before I can send a message, Channeler adds, (Do you realize what you have done?! With such a high reward, I wouldn't be surprised if over a thousand people challenge you at once!)

(That would mean thousands of shards for one challenge, after the system's cut. That's not bad.)

(Noname, please… you set a 3rd Floor restriction! I know you’re strong, but your restricted Avatar can't defeat hundreds of people from Hard difficulty!)

(It’ll be fine.)

(It won't be fine! You’re going to lose all those shards. So many!)

(Channeler, my dude. Don't worry, just keep to the plan and let me know when people challenge someone interesting so I can come and watch.)

(Will do,) Channeler says, sounding deflated as he does, and I end the conversation.

It's a bit after midnight, and yet the common area is lively enough for me to take notice even from afar. A giant screen dominates the center. Well, not one. Four of them, arranged in a cube for people to watch from every direction. So far, there’s not much to be seen, and it seems like only one Avatar can be challenged at once.

That's interesting and it adds a degree of complexity, given the 24 hour limit. Still, with 31 Avatars that leaves room for 93 challenges. Joining all of them would cost a massive amount of shards, so I don't think anyone is going to be joining all of them. Especially if they’re from Easy difficulty, they usually have 50-100 shards at most. The fact that Channeler has 150 is a feat in and of itself.

Now that I think about it, I should probably feel bad for trying to get shards out of these people.

Nah, screw them. Anyone fighting my Avatar is after my shards, so I have no need to pity them. Plus, I can always think of it as a form of patronage, after all these shards will go a good way towards making myself stronger, which will, in the end, help the people of Earth.

Probably.

I still haven't decided what to do once we get out, but I don’t think I’ll like whoever winds up attacking us in the pairing, so I’ll probably join the fight. Even if it’s only to level up and acquire some nice loot.

Pushing these thoughts away, I place a few more anchors, and teleport until I reach our house. Once there I sit on the roof and wait for Lily. We’re meeting to collaborate on a few experiments. We’ve decided not to sleep for the next 24 hours, and we shouldn’t have any problem staying up for that long. Plus, I don't want to miss any interesting Avatar fights, so I maintain an open connection with Channeler and the others so they can continue to feed me information.

It takes a few more minutes but Lily appears on the roof with a big smile on her face, “Thanks for the warning! You were right, Savant and others were extremely fun to watch when they learned about your additional rewards.” She laughs, a memory flashing behind her eyes. “Brainiac even started calling you sugar daddy Noname and insulted us for keeping you to ourselves.”

Lily plops down on the roof next to me, a smile still on her face. Her eyes seem to glow. “Dennis said Savant looked like someone told him they pissed into his drinking water for days.”

Oh boy, maybe I should have stuck around longer.

“Tess said Gareth and Adam think you managed to bug out the system.” She stretches and lays on her back, “I haven't laughed so much in so long! Seeing the expression on Savant’s face was priceless.”

“Screw that guy,” I note.

“Yeah, screw that guy!”

I give myself time to enjoy the image of the pissed-off Savant, and silence ensues.

Quietly after a minute, Lily breaks the silence first, her words careful, “Nat, I can fix your arm. Make it so it isn't pale anymore.”

As she says so, I glance at my left arm which is pale no matter how many times I restore it or how much sun it gets. Lily´s left arm shares its pallor. She probably could have fixed it at any time, at least I think so. It’s obvious why she hasn’t. But her decision to make the offer has left me curious.

“Why?” I ask, turning to her and our eyes meet as she lays there.

“I…” she starts and falters, “I’ve been speaking to Tess, Sophie, and Maya a lot and I think I was wrong to push that on you.” She looks at me as if waiting for a response, but I stay quiet.

So Lily continues, still somewhat awkwardly, “It was unfair of me and I shouldn't have tried to force myself on you that way. The girls told me they were surprised you hadn’t been more upset.”

At this point, her emotions may as well be an open book. The more time I spend with group 4, the easier it is to understand them. The same way they’ve learned to understand me. The experience is interesting.

"So I'm sorry," Lily finally gets out, sulking over my silence and finding it increasingly difficult to speak.

But I think it's important for her to say this in her own words. Sometimes it can help one understand their emotions better.

While she waits for my answer, I notice that even as she said so, she seems worried. This black-haired healer of ours is still scared of being abandoned. It doesn't matter that she understands that it won't happen or that making my arm pale hasn’t changed anything.

For her, it's a connection she bears to me, and like the rest of us, she can’t help but be scarred inside by her past traumas.

"I see," I say simply.

Lily nods and reaches, "Then I will fix it."

"I see, but I refuse," I say, pulling my left arm back, much to her surprise.

While she stares at me with her big eyes, I say simply, "I like my arm the way it is. I think it looks cool."

That silly healer of ours looks like she is about to cry.

"You’re going to like my minion, she’s a crybaby too," I note.

"I'm not a crybaby," Lily says, quickly wiping her eyes.

"Something in your eyes?"

"Yes, the dust. This tournament floor is terrible."

"It really is."

A slightly longer silence ensues and I add, "Don't misunderstand."

At that, Lily only nods, "I know."

Looking at her and remembering the way she was a year ago, I can see that she’s really changed and grown up. But who among us hasn’t? And going through all of it together has somehow brought us closer together.

Thinking about it, it was the start of the 4th Floor where I decided to give this group a chance and I still remember the conversation I had with Lily. Even then she almost cried. Crybaby indeed.

As I thought it over, I don't think it was a bad decision, it’s not bad at all, being surrounded by this far from normal group of people. At times and with limitations, of course.

Weirdos, all of them. And poor old me having to deal with them.

Anyway, I turn to Lily, "Let's try cutting my chest open and see what we can learn about my heart before the system heals the wound."

We have to give up after an hour of testing and a few lame jokes about Lily being close to my heart or holding my heart in her hand.

Not because of jokes but because of the healing of this floor. No matter how hard we try to slow it or keep the wound open by stopping it from closing, it always heals after a few seconds.

According to the severity of the damage, it can be nearly instant or slower when the wound isn't severe. Me or Lily causing it doesn't change anything, the healing is the same in both cases.

Well, it's not like I didn't expect that. This healing aura is also the reason why Active Tempering won't work here. For it to work, my body needs to be infused with a special frequency of mana and get damaged. Any sort of healing prevents Active Tempering from doing its work.

It's almost like working out. You need to lift enough weight, enough times to damage your muscles. Then, while you sleep or rest, the damaged parts heal and become stronger provided they have the nutrients to do so. Well, it's not exactly that, but it's similar to Active Tempering.

So, cutting my chest open, I was able to see my heart for the first time. A beating Mana Heart, slightly modified to serve as a medium to generate thermal and kinetic energy in exchange for mana.

The heart was surprisingly normal. It didn't glow. There was no change in appearance.

Sure, there was some mana radiation as if the chest cavity were acting like shielding, and each beat of the heart creates mana, but that's probably all that’s different. Other than the inscriptions surrounding it from my constructs, it was almost normal if you can call it that.

At least it allowed me to gain a bit of knowledge I can use in the future when I try to upgrade it again.

(Noname, they’re challenging your Avatar!) says a message from Channeler.

How interesting. Was it the additional rewards and severe restriction? Or do I have the rumors to thank?

“Somebody’s challenging my Avatar, wanna watch?” I ask Lily, who’s returned to studying the Champion’s bone.

Hearing me, she quickly puts it away, “Yes!”

I offer her my hand, and after a bit of hesitation, she takes it in hers, and I teleport us away. Like most of the people from Hell difficulty, Lily is more than capable of enduring the process with her enhanced body and mind well adapted to powerful skills.

Appearing to the side, we move even a bit closer.

(Your Avatar is the first to be challenged,) Sophie sends through the web with the aid of the twins’ connection.

She has chosen to sit with some of the other members of group 4 and Hell difficulty taking up benches around the central plaza of the common area. Some of them have occupied the terraces with drinks and food close at hand. It's all being treated like an event to be enjoyed.

(I would expect them to test it out on someone else, no matter how much we tried to make me look weaker,) I reply.

(Eighty thousand shards is a lot, Nat,) Lily says, joining the conversation. (A lot,) she repeats.

(Lily’s right. Plus, it's not that expensive for Hard difficulty, so even if they die, it's worth trying once.)

(So how many of them are going in?) I ask.

(They’ve gotten greedy, so only twenty members from Hard difficulty. The group is being led by Samuel of all people, would you believe that.) I can hear Sophie smile through the link. (He threw his weight around and tried to limit the number of people who could enter.)

(How does it work exactly?)

(One person challenges the Avatar and a countdown starts. The countdown is 15 minutes, and within that time, anyone can join the challenge, and then they enter together. At first, there was only Samuel and his handpicked group, but the more time passed, the more people joined. You should have something in your notifications. It's as much our event as it is theirs.)

(You’re right,) I reply while checking the window.

Challenge 1/3 - 9 minutes remaining until the start

Number of challengers:

Easy - 10

Normal - 26

Hard - 33

Collected challenge fees: 1300

We’re going to need to pump these numbers up.

Chapter 358 - This one is for you

It really looks like a fun event. Seeing so many people all around, some of them sitting on the grass in groups like they’re on a picnic, others occupy the benches surrounding the plaza, while still more watch from the terraces of their houses.

The four screens are more than big enough to see what's happening from that distance.

It’s just after midnight, and yet I don't think many people are sleeping, not with all the excitement over the event. It's an opportunity to compare themselves against others in the same situation. To group up and challenge them together without needing to worry about dying.

Maybe they can win and stomp in the face of some person from Hell difficulty that managed to annoy them. Maybe they can earn enough shards to buy a higher grade passive.

I can totally understand that.

(What have people been saying?) I ask through the link.

This time Dennis answers, (They are excited and worried. I don't think many people intend to challenge you, and Channeler and his harem are being careful, I think they’re saving most of their persuasive efforts until the third challenge.)

His brother follows, (They also know the challenges will be there later so they don't mind watching others try it first before wasting their shards.)

(Are they not worried about some early bird beating my Avatar?)

(Not that much,) Sophie notes. (Isabella checked the emotions around and most people are still scared of you, even with everything we tried. But the fear of missing out will probably kick in by the third attempt, and with a bit of help from our side, a lot of people will try.)

(You might lose! What level were you at the end of the third floor?) Aaron asks.

(Around 120, I think.)

(What? Are you serious?)

(Yes.)

(What the fuck.)

(Yes, what the fuck!) Dennis follows it. (There are people from Hell on the 5th floor who’ve barely reached 150, and you were 120 during the third floor?)

(Did you think I lost all those limbs just for the fun of it?)

(Do I have to answer?)

Little twerp, just wait.

(Anyway, I can't imagine my avatar losing, even if they have a few hundred people challenging me,) I say.

(But there are 231 people here from Hard difficulty, your avatar might not be able to face them all. They don’t have a [Restriction] and some of them are decent,) Sophie notes.

(It will be fine.)

(If you say so...)

With about Five minutes until the start of the challenge, the screens flicker before lighting up. A forest appears on the screen, pocked with a multitude of big clearings. The trees of the forest seem to be fairly normal in size, with vibrant green leaves, all the same variety of oak.

It's a bright day with few clouds in the sky.

My Avatar finally appears in the shot, standing in one of the clearings, unmoving, devoid of expression, though it feels different from my usual self. As if there were no glimmer of life behind his eyes.

The most interesting part about him is the colors. He looks as if he’s been drained of all vibrance. His skin, clothes, and hair look grayish. Only his glassy eyes retain their color.

So, third-floor.

Back then, I still didn't have my subclass and I didn't have my skill upgrades removed. I only had the Mana Circuit trait and my mana stat was around 400, and then doubled by my attribute upgrade. There was no [Regalia] or [Mana Domain] or [Infusion].

If I remember correctly, I had [Focus], [Mana Manipulation], [Perception], [Redistribution], [Armament], [Mana Surge], [Mana Infusion], and [Resonance].

As for my constructs, all I had were my Kinetic Mana Heart, Reinforcement, and Mantle. And most importantly, no epic passives.

It's interesting, I'm fairly certain there won’t be anyone in Hard difficulty at that level. There is something I think will happen after reading the rules of this event and if all goes as planned, I have no need to worry at all.

Three minutes remain and too many people start moving around, so I offer Lily my hand and place an anchor, before teleporting us onto the roof of a nearby house.

More lights appear around the common area. Some from skills, some from items, even some normal lights powered by batteries. Though we've been here for a few days, it still feels weird seeing the latter here in the tournament.

The chatter is playful and groups of people are fixing their clothes, doing stretches, and preparing weapons. Some are even seemingly planning formations.

On the screen my Avatar stands in place, unmoving.

When just a few seconds remain, I end my conversation with Lily. We can work out the process of giving me a second heart later.

I check the notification.

Challenge 1/3 - 5 seconds remaining

Number of challengers:

Easy - 31

Normal - 41

Hard - 80

Collected entrance fees: 2,965 shards

That's a lot more than I expected for the first challenge. Not like I’ll complain. Their entrance fees will be mine and they will get a lesson in greed for going after my shards.

No lesson for me, but that's fine after all I’ve been put through by the system and past Nat, screw that weirdo.

All of the challengers disappear as the event starts and the common area grows quiet, people starting to whisper as all eyes turn to the screens.

The moment they enter, my Avatar uses his kinetic energy and lifts himself high into the air. I know he is using [Perception] to judge the danger.

Afterward, he returns to the ground, finding no reason to waste mana on flying. He moves with calm determination, emotionless with a single objective in mind.

On the other side, the group of just over 150 people quickly splits into multiple smaller groups and starts using their detection skills.

I find myself unable to take my eyes off the screen and continue to watch.

Back on Earth, I was never a fan of sports like football or hockey. I didn’t find it interesting and didn't understand what brought so much joy and frustration to so many people. Yet, right now, I feel like I might understand, if only partially.

Watching my Avatar walk under the trees while knowing they’ve found and surrounded him excites me even though I’m not the one fighting. It has nothing to do with the shards at stake. Just being around so many people and seeing the challengers at the ready allows me to take in some of their emotions and excitement.

As they are about to surround him fully, my Avatar sets the forest on fire. A burst of thermal energy explodes outwards with him at the center, burning dark yellow.

The challengers, knowing what he is trying to do, have groups dedicated to jamming any method of scanning they think he might have and push themselves to rush him all the quicker.

Like a flamethrower, my Avatar pours flames on his surroundings as he moves through the field.

When the first person attacks, my Avatar doesn't hesitate at all, launching an orb through the head of a challenger from Normal difficulty who appears outside. The challenger curses but quickly joins a group of his friends in the common area who laugh shortly and turn to the screen.

In quick succession, ten more challengers, all from Normal and Easy difficulty, appear. Lashing out with grape-sized orbs, my Avatar spins around himself while setting the forest on fire. The heat doesn't touch him at all, on the contrary, I know it only serves to fuel his flames.

“Pyromaniac,” Lily whispers nearby.

“Back then I really liked my thermal energy,” I note.

When I think about it, back then I also liked making use of the upgraded form of [Redistribution], Symbiotic Transference, to use kinetic and thermal energy to strengthen my body. And that’s without throwing in the stuff from [Armament], my experiments with disrupting mana, and some early testing with the thermal orbs.

Damn, I’ve grown quite a bit. The third floor Weirdthaniel was quite scary, experimenting with his heart, but in comparison to me now, he feels so weak.

But even that seems to be enough to trouble the challengers. My Avatar is picking them off one after another, the flames growing bigger and hotter, a huge patch of the forest has been set ablaze, and that seems to cause trouble for anyone caught without good perception skills and those found lacking in their physical stats.

Once in a while, my Avatar absorbs heat from the flames, turning them into speed and strength, brutally smashing the heads of his challengers with a mace-like weapon of his own creation.

As the system said, my Avatar's single objective is to defeat opponents as effectively as possible, so he does just that.

When a group of 10 Hard difficulty challengers find and attack him, he ignores their attempts at slowing him down and disrupting his mana. The Mantle takes care of that easily.

Flames close to him weaken and disappear and he moves at a much higher speed. The mace in his hand turns into a sword, the blade resonating and cutting through any barriers they make. It doesn’t matter if it was made from mana, stone, or wood.

Their skills fail to damage the Avatar as he disrupts them or blocks them with armor made of mana. Even now, he’s not going full out, he’s saving most of his mana, while he steamrolls through the attacking group.

Ten Hard difficulty challengers appear outside.

They launch their strike at range, bombarding him with attacks, but they’re either too slow or too inaccurate with all the smoke, then my Avatar rushes them. The flames in the forest die off as he passes by, his speed increasing further, as he pushes himself to the limit with kinetic energy.

He disrupts the barriers they try to stack, his flames rushing ahead. He concentrates them more and a laser-like stream moves through the battlefield, cutting multiple people apart.

Someone attacks him up close only for my Avatar to sling orbs he’s been spinning around himself at the attacker. A few of them get blocked, but the skin of the attacker is unable to endure more, and he soon succumbs to the barrage.

The following fight doesn't take that long, and my Avatar hunts down the remaining challengers, without once going full out, nor examining opponents' skills, or trying anything fancy.

Just like a machine, he mows through them, and then the last one appears outside.

The screen flickers, settling on one last shot of my gray Avatar standing in the burning forest before the screen turns off.

Channeler and some of his group were inside, also challengers, and now they move around, laughing and waving their hands, downplaying what my Avatar did.

They do it carefully, and I feel a bit of admiration. I think after a minute of that I would be drained of my social energy. Hmm, maybe there is a primordial version of it?

(I keep forgetting how scary you can be,) Dennis notes.

(You dumbass, he just nuked an army of monsters during the second event, how can you forget,) his brother replies for me.

(But look at him. You can’t feel any mana coming from him and other than looking around like a cat, he seems like a grumpy grandpa rather than a walking bomb. Then he does all this weird shit like the thing with Tent Creep. The more you know him, the more he feels like a very very grumpy grandpa who has trouble showing his emotions. That, or a cat.)

(Dennis,) I call.

(You fucked up, you dumbass,) Aaron immediately pokes.

(Yes?) Dennis asks carefully.

(This one’s for you, little jerk. Sophie?)

(Don’t you pull me into this, Nat. I'm not interested in childish…)

(A few days ago, Dennis said you have a smaller ass than Maya, but that he would let you squish his head in your thighs or something like that. I listened with only half an ear because I was practicing.)

Someone tries to destroy the connection with a very strong hint of panic. Over and over again, attempts are made to disconnect, but Sophie pushes them away, keeping the web and her connection to it alive.

I continue, (He also said group 4 girls have disappointingly small chests with the exception of Maya and maybe Tess.)

The attempts increase.

(Oh, he did?) Sophie's voice is cold.

(Yes.)

After that, the connection cuts off, the web having been silenced by its creator.

When I look to the side, Lily is staring at me with big eyes, “You are evil.”

“I didn't lie. They often sit around in the living room with Brainiac and Lootenant and forget that I'm there training. So I tend to catch a thing or two. You would be surprised to hear the things I’ve heard.”

Then I check the rewards.

Congratulations, your avatar was victorious in the 1st challenge! You have received 2,668 shards. The final reward will be delivered at the end of the 3rd event!

Not bad. Is this what they call passive income?

Chapter 359 - Hypothetically

Over the next few hours, there are three more challenges.

One of them is against little Isabella. A group of people from all three difficulties, around 60 people in total, most of them from Hard.

They enter expecting an easy win against the kid but get welcomed by unrestricted Isabella.

Within seconds, blue flames devour them all, burning through their barriers, and heating up the environment enough that some people die from that alone.

The girl easily dodges their attacks. Her Avatar predicts who will attack and when by tracking their emotions through [Empathy].

To be honest, it's not even close, and Isabella cheers for her own Avatar the entire time. There is no shame to be found and when the challengers get out one after another she makes fun of them.

That's something I can get behind, it’s entertaining to watch all these adult men and women avoiding her gaze. They can't even say anything back, just her Avatar was enough to show them a clear difference in their power levels.

The next challenge is against the lightning man from Gareth's group. I think his name was Ghast. A group that attacks him does so because one of their members is capable of redirecting lightning with some sort of metal manipulation, using it to create lightning rods.

Obviously, that group doesn’t fare much better.

In the end, the effort appears to have been a playful lark by a group of curious people willing to spend some shards on a challenge. Even though they lost, they seem to be satisfied and often laugh.

For their last challenge, they’ve decided to take on someone from BenDover’s group, only to lose once again.

Then they stop, leaving a few people behind in case there is a challenge so they can inform their groups, and the remainder slowly goes to sleep.

Before leaving, I take a moment to listen in on Channeler and his group. The uselessly handsome man is aware that a few people have already connected him with Group 4 so he lets his friends talk most of the time, only joining the conversation when necessary.

"Strong?!" he laughs pretentiously while talking to someone from Easy. "He clearly abused the fact there was a forest and burned it down around us. Had we been fighting on an empty plain, we would have probably won. He probably has some kind of passive or trait that makes him stronger around the fire," he postulates.

The woman from Easy difficulty says something and he smiles at her sweetly.

"Of course, I'm helping group 4, they’re paying me." He leans closer and whispers, "Most of them have no idea how much shards are worth so they tend to be ridiculously generous. Noname is also less than... bright, so I got a lot from him."

Dude. I know you’re just trying to help, but you didn't have to go quite that far.

Another man shoves Channeler and throws a few insults at me while he’s at it, catching one of Channeler's helpers in the crossfire.

Channeler just nods in response, saying, "We just need better terrain, maybe a few more people and it should be doable."

The conversation quiets down and they disappear into the distance.

Lily and I move to the side, to join Tess, the twins, and Sophie.

I feel my cold heart warm inside when I see how awkward Dennis is around Sophie and Tess, unable to look up. His brother seems to be enjoying the situation as well, but he doesn't dare to push it for fear of retaliation. I know he said some interesting stuff himself, back when they were showing off for Brainiac and Lootenant.

"Do you think anyone will really fall for it?" Lily asks when we join them.

Tess answers for me, "People aren't that dumb, Lily. Some of them might, but the rest will likely be acting on their greed. Nat offered a LOT of shards as additional rewards so it's worth the gamble even if the chance of winning is low."

"But Nat and Channeler spent so much time preparing, he’s even paying them in items. Is it all for nothing?" Lily asks, looking up at Tess and I.

Knowing me, the lightning blonde smiles, "That's just how Nathaniel has fun. He just likes messing with people."

I mean, she is not wrong. It's annoying, but there is a lot of humor in watching others make sad attempts at trash talk. Even though I don’t expect it to do much, it's worth it just from an amusement perspective.

"You’re weird," Lily notes and I shrug, copying Tacita. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite have the same effect.

Walking under the dark sky lit by stars, the sound of conversation fades away, and we find ourselves at our house, with only the six of us for company.

"How do you know that maniac so well, Tess?" Sophie asks and yawns. She seems bored, but I’ve noticed the way she enjoys gossip.

"We used to date on Earth," Tess says, carelessly dropping a bombshell of a revelation.

That gets any number of interesting expressions from others. Especially the twins and Lily.

Seeing that, Tess smiles, "We were both really young. He was my first boyfriend."

I stay quiet.

"Then after a few weeks, he tried to use me as an alibi." Tess stretches, a slight smile still on her face. "Back then, it really broke my heart. Did that handsome bad boy date me just so he could use me later? Did he even care about me?"

The others are stunned into silence, and we continue to walk in awkward silence.

"Now that I think about it, you never apologized, did you, Nat?" Tess asks.

"I did not," I agree.

"Fuck, that's brutal." Sophie breathes out finally.

"Right?" Tess turns to her. "Poor innocent me betrayed by the first boy she ever liked."

"You said alibi, what happened?" Lily asks quietly.

"That's not something for me to say," Tess says clearly, and a few of them turn to me.

For a moment, I have an inkling of an urge to say something. To explain what happened and share it with the others. I almost open my mouth to say it, but in the end, I stay quiet. When my eyes meet Tess’s, she returns my gaze calmly.

I know what she is trying to do, and she isn't even trying to hide it.

Still, in the end, I stay quiet.

A few hours later, I'm finally done crafting the items for Channeler and his group. Even though they aren’t helping much, I don't mind. I honestly think of it as an investment, Channeler recommended them and that’s enough for me to think that they might be useful in the future.

Biscuit, who’s been lying on the table, and watching me the entire time, stretches, reaching out his tongue, which I grab and give a tug.

I totally deserve the look he gives me, but I don’t mind. When I let go of his tongue, he continues to stretch.

I boop his nose and show him the last item I made. Biscuit sniffs it and loses interest because it's not food.

"One day I might make you some equipment as well."

(Food?)

"Not food."

(Asshole.)

"Am not."

(Friend.)

"Don’t try to blackmail me!"

(Food!)

"You just ate!"

(Food, food!)

"You’ll get fat."

(Sustenance.)

"You won't die from not eating for a few hours."

(Asshole.)

"I'm not letting you die of hunger. How can you say that!"

(Sustenance.)

"For fuck's sake, okay. Maya’s in the house, she knows where I'm hiding the deer jerky."

(Food!)

"Just go, damn it."

When Biscuit floats away like a burrito-shaped blimp, I sigh. I miss my minion; she listened to me most of the time. Meanwhile, dealing with Biscuit is like dealing with a kid. A terrifying kid who can create mana bombs.

It's not my fault.

"You’ve been feeling weird for the past few hours," Isabella notes from her corner as she continues trying to melt the metal I’ve been giving her. She seems to be really enjoying it.

I run a quick check, just in case, but she isn't connected to me with her skill, nor is she reading my emotions.

The little girl smiles, her green eyes shining, "I'm getting better at my skill. I can feel a little even without connecting to you."

That’s a scary thought. I will have to come up with ways to counter it.

"Are you okay?" She jumps my way a few times, bouncing on her short legs. "I’ll be happy to listen. I promise not to tell anyone, not even my dumb sister Soph!"

"It's fine," I wave it off.

She hugs me shortly, "If you say so. But please be careful with that skill. Don’t overuse it."

As if, [Focus] is too good to let it waste away on the sidelines.

"You’ve already told me that, more than once," I note and push her away.

"And I’ll keep saying it because you do not listen. Any more and you’ll be dumber than Soph! At least she listens to me sometimes."

"So anyone who doesn't listen to you is dumb?"

She looks at me, somewhat disappointed, "Dumb people are dumb, not just the ones who don’t listen to me," she says as if it's obvious.

I see, makes sense.

No, it does not. I do not understand how kids work.

"Do you enjoy melting stuff?" I ask.

"I'm not melting stuff! I'm practicing smelting!"

"I see."

"Don't laugh!"

"I'm not laughing."

She kicks my shin in response, dealing no damage, "I can feel your emotions."

"Yes, yes." I pause for a while. "I wanted to ask you something."

Isabella's face turns serious and she sits in the chair nearby, her full attention on me. It's quite funny seeing the serious expression she is trying to make.

What I want to ask her is a bit silly and may be the result of my own cowardice. I could also ask someone else, but there aren't many people I feel comfortable enough around to ask for advice.

So yeah, better to ask an 11-year-old girl, right?

Maybe I really am dumb.

"So, I did something bad to someone I know. It was a long time ago, but lately, around a year ago, I met that person again. Oh, it's all hypothetical. So let's say, hypothetically I met that person after a few years, just a year ago, hypothetically."

Isabella just nods and waits.

"So how… what should… I…"

"Just apologize," Isabella interrupts me.

"It's not that simple."

She shakes her head like she’s dealing with an idiot, "It's simple!"

"There is no way it is that easy. She probably hates me for it even if she’s not showing it. Hypothetically, of course. Betrayal is one of the worst sins you can commit, especially when someone trusts you and never wished you any ill."

"Just apologize."

"I mean, betrayal like that is beyond pathetic. Sure there might have been a reason and it was always part of my plan long before I ever met her, but who would have known that person would prove to be so important to me."

"Apologize!"

"Back then it wasn't even something I would have thought about, but in the past year, still hypothetically, a lot of things changed. So how to say it? It feels right to do something about it?"

"Dumbthaniel."

"I’ve decided to make some changes and set rules for myself, to avoid being a savage. I know now that what I did isn’t something I can abide by. Not long ago I threatened to kill someone if they did the same."

Isabella stands up and starts kicking my shin and I strengthen my body further.

"I even said it in front of her. Damn, do you think she smiled because she remembered what I did? Did she get pissed off because I did something to her, that I had just said I would kill her for? Is that why she mentioned it in front of others? Oh, and don't misunderstand, Izzy, it's all still…"

"Still hypothetical!" She kicks me, blue flames creating a small explosion at the place of impact.

"Yes, still hypothetical." I pause and then look down at Izzy who, at this point looks like an angry kitten.

She isn't an ESM, but she’ll do.

I cradle her in my arms, putting her in a similar position to the one my minion likes. Ear against my chest and her tiny horns poking the bottom of my chin.

Isabella struggles, trying to get away, but in the end, it's not quite right, and I let her go.

"Thanks for the help, Izzy," I tell her, ruffling her hair.

She pushes my hand away and while I head out she shouts something about all the dumbasses she has to deal with.

Chapter 360 - Challenging the Avatars

Sitting on the roof, as I observe the group of poor guys who thought it was a good idea to challenge Lily's avatar.

Lily decided to go with a mere 4th floor restriction, and it's fun to watch as she tears through men who are probably thrice her weight and twice her size. She takes them on in a style similar to the one she used to fight the Fallen Hero.

Her Avatar is using its [Sacrifice] to boost its movements and it doesn't bother wasting any mana on [Disintegration]. The sheer strength of its body is enough to allow it to go berserk.

The event is fun for us and an interesting learning opportunity for those from other difficulties. For them, there’s a difference between seeing people from Hell doing all these things and then having to face them.

Sure, they got a taste during the 1st event, but they still thought they might stand a chance in a group only to fail regardless.

Each Avatar can be challenged 3 times, and 1st and 2nd challenges are mostly limited to smaller groups, hoping to get a better reward.

No one from Hell difficulty interferes, and the remaining attempts are slowly getting more organized, and bigger groups are being put together, a lot of planning and information sharing is going on. Samuel, being the annoying guy he is, is behind most of it, and he even has a few more guys to help him.

In the end, it seems like the first 2 challenges are to test the Avatar, and they are saving the last ones for their real attempts.

Tess’ Avatar is challenged as well, and the group gets wiped out before they even reach her.

Gareth is attacked by dozens of people and still takes no damage.

Even Min-Jae, the twins, Brainiac, Lootenant, Adam, Maya, and others take easy wins against the smaller groups.

The restrictions are mostly around the fourth floor, Tacita also being fourth. But there is that one annoying guy who’s restricted himself to the 3rd floor as well.

Savant.

His Avatar has five epic items and 20 thousand shards offered as additional rewards, and other than my Avatar, his seems to be the most frequently eyed one.

My Avatar still got challenged only once, and his Avatar not even once. Channeler told me that there are a few dozen people going all over the common area, trying to look for anyone who’s faced me, in an effort to gather information on my abilities.

It's entertaining to watch. They’re taking it much more seriously than I thought they would, and a big part of it probably has something to do with Samuel.

Seeing how effective he is, I guess it makes sense that Gareth’s been keeping him around and to a certain point, Tess as well. He seems like a useful guy.

What's also fun is that the murderer guy from Easy difficulty is also accepting some challenges and entering the arenas to face the Avatars.

After each attempt, they take him away, tie him up, and put the null collar back on his neck. Yet the guy seems to have a decent amount of shards and accepts nearly every challenge, joining with all challengers.

Seeing others having to keep grabbing him because the system is teleporting him away is amusing enough.

I also watch as he generally tries to take advantage of his stealth in an attempt to damage the Avatars with his poison-like attacks.

The guy clearly thinks a lot of himself and sometimes he gets into clashes with other people; in one situation, he even attacks and kills one careless guy from Hard difficulty and multiple people from Normal.

It's like he’s doing it on purpose just to make fun of us. Especially when in the challenge against BenDover's Avatar he just attacks the other challengers immediately, standing there and smiling while they scream in pain from his poisonous attacks.

He gets outside and it's Tess who pacifies him, grabbing him by his neck and pulling him away like a dog while he tries to attack her.

Then, when thirty minutes later another challenge starts, he accepts it again and this time attacks other challengers right away.

While others expected that, some people seem to have a lot of trouble dealing with his poisonous mist, not to mention how quick and hard to catch he is. Even though he's from Easy difficulty, he has to have some degree of skill to have made it to the 11th floor, so there must have been some decent rewards.

Samuel, the killjoy, takes him out with a swing of his giant sword and the murderer appears outside, laughing as Gareth approaches him with a dark expression.

"The system does allow some changes, I can probably make his heart stronger. The system might even consider it beneficial. But it will continue to get stronger and stronger and once he’s out of the tournament, it will explode in a week or two," Lily says with a surprisingly angry tone.

"We can give it a try," Sophie nods.

She, Min-Jae, and Biscuit are sitting on the roof with Lilly and I as we watch the event.

"I could give him a [Geas] that would suppress his survival instincts. Or if the system allows it, I can ensure that he decides to end it on his own. Sophie offers"

Only Min-Jae seems to have any doubts regarding the topic of our conversation. "Is he really that bad?" he asks carefully.

"Imagine the worst you can and then double it. That's what that man is. I saw hints of his memories when we were looking into whether or not he really killed all those men, women, and children. He’s the lowest of the low." Even Sophie, who usually only cares about her sister, seems determined to end him over what she saw.

I, on the other hand, watch a group of 100 people face down Biscuit.

Some of the Easy and Normal difficulties still remember him tearing them apart during the 1st event so they are careful. However, Biscuit has no restriction, and even his grayed-out version looks cute. It even moves like the original, slowly wobbling on its short legs.

Avatar Biscuit doesn't really hesitate much, and it creates two purple orbs which turn bright white, before shooting off towards a group that gets in his way.

Their attempt is good, and it even seems like they might be able to pull it off, but that's when tentacles form around Biscuit, extending to the length of a football field. They whip through the air in a blur of motion, cutting cleanly through a huge patch of trees.

When the tentacles crash into the group’s barriers, they either slice through without resistance, or shatter them with sheer force, and concentrated fire.

Biscuit also uses a mental attack to scream directly into their heads, as it turns out most of the challengers aren’t quite skilled enough to block it out.

The orbs explode, wiping out half of the group. A few mana projectiles snipe the injured members and tentacles finish off the rest.

"Good boy," I say, looking over at Biscuit and handing him a piece of deer jerky.

He tilts his head, slightly confused before he quickly noms the offered treat. The defeated challengers meanwhile group together once they’re outside and start trading notes.

"Nat," Min-Jae says, interrupting my musings, so I return my focus to the conversation they’ve been having.

"Yes?"

"Should we really kill him?" he asks carefully.

Even though he’s well on the way to becoming a bully himself, killing a real human still seems to disturb him deeply. It's not hard to understand why. That’s how normal people should act. It's just some of us who are a bit twisted.

"I don't care," I stretch and yawn.

Even though the guy seems super annoying, it's interesting to watch others struggle to figure out what to do with him. In the past few hours, I also have to wonder if I’m only helping Tess and doing the things she asks of me just because she’s the leader of the group and picks up my slack. Or is it because I’m trying to atone?

Every day I learn a bit more about myself, and I wonder if it's the same for others. Am I just so dumb that I’m forced to slowly discover these things, or is this their normal as well?

Well, it doesn't really matter all that much. I already know what I intend to do. It's useless to hesitate any longer, and it just doesn't fit me. I just need to find the right time.

As for the murderer from Easy difficulty, I haven’t even bothered to remember his name. He’s just a small fry and he’ll be dead soon. There is only one interesting thing that came out of this.

If he reaches the highest floor of the tutorial and clears it, will he get teleported to Earth?

Until now, we’ve been running with the theory that everyone will return at the same time and we’ll probably continue to think that. If he could return after clearing, then there’s probably going to be people from the first round on Earth by the time anyone from the 5th round makes it out.

Oh, or it could be that by the time we got in no one from the first round had even gotten close to clearing the tutorial. If our theory is right then the 1st round started 4 weeks before ours so they wouldn't have had a chance.

"They’re challenging Savant," Lily points out at the same time I notice it. Savant’s Avatar appears on the screen, in the same area as the other Avatars. The same forest and a 15-minute countdown starts during which anyone can join.

It's the 1st out of three challenges, so not many people from lower difficulties bother to join. Savant being the winner of the 1st event and with his selection of rewards, around 100 people from Hard join in.

"Would be funny if they killed him," Min-Jae notes with a smirk, "just imagine."

I'm glad group 4 seems to have the same distaste for the guy as me. Well, it’s not so much that I dislike him, he just annoys me and I think it would be fun to see him struggle. Otherwise, I would say my relationship with him is neutral.

But I do not think they will be able to challenge him. He cleared the 3rd Floor alone. He dealt with the Last King and his warriors and then put the Saint to final rest. A bunch of people from Hard difficulty won't be enough.

When the challenge starts, it is as I thought. Savant's Avatar uses his domain, even though it’s not as strong as it was in the 1st event it is still capable of quickly killing the weaker challengers with the mana radiation alone.

The domain doesn't use a lot of mana as I don't think he invested that much in that stat. Yet it's still capable of doing so. It’s something I’ll have to look into. There might be something I can use to improve on my own domain.

Savant even manages to extend his domain across a huge area. After all the weaker challengers die off he starts shrinking it and targeting Hard difficulty, they finally locate him, destroying the tree he’s been standing on.

That's when he shows off that weird skill of his. He absorbs fire attacks, mana projectiles, ice cones, water blasts. It doesn't even seem to cause him that much trouble.

Smoothly and with an emotionless expression, the Avatar uses that single skill for defense and offense, turning their own skills against themselves.

He’s meticulous when he does too, finding weaknesses and using the right attacks against people who are either incapable of defending or those who find it draining to do so.

As for close-range combat, even third-floor Savant is quicker than any of them. He uses bursts of mana with perfect timing and amazing efficiency to boost his movements only when he needs to.

He deprives them of their weapons, using them in brutal melee attacks and as throwing weapons. He runs away, repositioning, and using his domain before continuing to absorb their attacks and fight.

And none of this even seems difficult to him; the Avatar is clearly not going all out.

When I turn to the side, I notice Min-Jae's clenched fist. The boy must know it the same as I do. Even on the third floor, Savant would have been able to defeat him if Min-Jae got careless.

It's not just stats or levels. Currently, Min-Jae is higher level than Savant was on the 3rd Floor; his main skills are higher leveled too, along with his passives. Yet, it's clear to see in the way Savant fights. The same as it is for Tess or Tacita; Savant is clearly a cut above the normal Hell difficulty enjoyer.

Well, the duels will be interesting, that is for sure.

Losing to Savant's Avatar, the challengers crash out. Then, an hour later, they challenge my Avatar again.

At this point, plenty of them know that I'm watching the event from our roof with some of the other members of group 4, so some of them glance towards me as they wait to enter.

In the end, the group is bigger than the first one. just over 120 people from Hard difficulty, which is more than half of them, and there are plenty from Normal and Easy difficulty as well.

My Avatar waits for them once the countdown finishes and all of them make it inside. Just like before, my Avatar flies up, counting the number of opponents he has to face. And as before, he fights the same. This version of my Avatar also starts setting the forest on fire.

This time they’ve come prepared, a few groups peel off to fight the fire. Either by trying to put it out, weaken it, or cut off its access to fuel.

It is somewhat effective, severely reducing the number of trees that burst into flame.

If it were me, I would probably destroy the forest just to get rid of everything the Avatar is trying to set fire to. But they don’t have the mana to spare.

A group of sneakier people attacks while two groups attempt to distract the clone and two more try to defend against the flames.

Unsurprisingly, my Avatar sees through the various sneaky bullshit skills. My hatred for invisible enemies and anything with 'phantom' in the name shines through brightly and I start liking the Avatar as he mercilessly murders the wannabe sneaks.

Good job, king! Go and get them!

"Fuck, he tore his head off."

"He killed him with his own leg."

Even some of my fellow members of group 4 seem to be appreciating the show.

As they push him further, my Avatar absorbs the heat from all the flames he can reach, creating a fire orb that floats beside him, and he keeps feeding it more thermal energy as his heart beats strongly.

He only uses that energy as he needs it, to strengthen his form. Blades oscillate, as they cut through armor and barriers alike, and [Armament] absorbs a lot of the incoming damage.

When someone tries to use sleeping gas, a poison attack, or blind my Avatar, he simply creates a helmet without a visor, relying solely on [Perception] to bolster his awareness.

Then, the Avatar detonates the flame orb.

The challengers were expecting him to shoot it at them, having been warned by the more mana-sensitive among them, who surely know the amount amount of energy contained within. They are constantly aware of that and being unable to cancel it they’ve prepared for the Avatar to shoot it at them.

But nope, the Avatar detonates it right next to his own head after charging into the biggest of the surviving groups.

The flames wash over the forest, setting it ablaze, reducing the forest to ash and baking the ground. There is a hint of gold in these flames and no one is capable of stopping them as they devour most of the group.

Then from the center of the explosion, my Avatar steps out. The helmet around his face is destroyed and half of his face is burned terribly, bone showing through.

All the flames die off, pulled towards him, as he ignores the wounds. Then he attacks again.

The rest of the challengers die in a minute.

Just over five thousand shards flood into my account. Of course, that’s only after the system takes its ten percent cut.

Anyway, Avatarthaniel did a good job once again.

"Who do you think would win? 3rd Floor me or Savi guy?" I ask.

"Neither of your Avatars went all out, so it's hard to say," Sophie states while observing the group that, straight out of the lost challenge, starts brainstorming.

"I would win," I say confidently.

"Famous last words," Sophie pokes. "I'm more curious how they will challenge you in the final attempt. Channeler said they plan to go against you with probably over a thousand challengers, even people from Easy are willing to gamble 5 shards to do so. The thought of you losing almost an arcane item's worth of shards is as painful as it's funny."

"It’ll be fine," I say, waving my hand.

The challenges continue to the point where a lot of people from Hell get challenged twice with the last challenge remaining.

I also realize that within 24 hours, they do not have time to challenge every Avatar three times. Since only one Avatar can be challenged at once, and there is a 15-minute waiting period followed by the time spent facing the Avatar. So they are a bit more selective.

Every Avatar gets challenged at least once, but some of them do not get challenged a second time.

Tacita is a menace, killing the group that challenges her with such efficiency they wind up more scared of her than anyone else, Biscuit included.

Isabella gets called a crazy kid.

Even after challenging her a second time, they don’t even find Tess as she snipes them from afar.

Gareth endures combined attacks from dozens of members of Hard difficulty. His damage output isn't all that high, but just by having a stronger body than them, he slowly takes them down, in the end, he’s not even tired and he hasn’t a single wound on his body.

The twins and Min-Jae do well, winning the first two challenges. The twins use [Sensory Deception], causing their challengers to attack each other and moving at high speeds with their [Haste]. They also launch a number of mental attacks that seem to disrupt most of the casting of their opponents.

Min-Jae uses [Gravity Well] and [Telekinesis] mainly. Small stones turning into bullets, easily killing people or forcing them to waste mana on maintaining their defenses. The projectiles are much heavier than they should be, causing a surprising amount of damage.

But even without the overt use of our skills, there is a clear difference between Hell and other difficulties. People from Hell move their mana quicker, skills are activated faster and are more powerful. Their body strengthening and senses are much better. Even people from Hard difficulty can't compare.

It's interesting and I expected the difference to be smaller, but in the end, maybe people from Hard difficulty just aren't that strong. Or are people from Hell just that much stronger?

Only three out of the 31 people from Hell difficulty managed to lose in the first two challenges and none of them came from group 4.

Overambitious restrictions were probably the cause of the losses in question.

Maya's Avatar, using armor and weapons made of mana, cuts through them. Her technique with weapons shows as she restricted herself to the 4th Floor where she paid some people to give her lessons. She really looks like the knight she named herself for in the Community.

Sophie, with the same 4th Floor restriction, is also scary. Even then, she was capable of getting into the head of The First One and holding him down. So what are some challengers from the tutorial in comparison?

Her Avatar is ice cold as it takes over a group of people from Easy who start stabbing each other. Anyone who gets close to her freezes just for a moment which she uses to stab them somewhere vital. Her [Manipulation] interrupts castings, causing attacks to explode in the middle of their groups.

Those with weaker defenses die just from the pressure of her mental attacks. Then she easily manipulates the mana around her, redirecting the attacks being thrown at her or disrupting them outright. She manipulates stone as well, spikes made of the stuff impaling multiple people. The branches of trees twist and bend around people. It's not the kind of combat she prefers, but she wins nonetheless.

When about five hours remain, my Avatar gets challenged for the third time. The first Avatar out of all.

It's not because of Channeler and the disinformation campaign we did. No, the cause is exactly what we expected: simple greed.

It's like a lottery. You know you’re probably going to lose, but what if...?

I watch as the number of challengers grows until there are five seconds left until the start.

Challenge 3/3 - 5 seconds remaining until the start

Number of challengers:

Easy - 1021

Normal - 755

Hard - 212

Collected entrance fees: 19,015 shards

My Avatar appears in the arena for the last time. The same empty expression as before and grayish in color. With close to two thousand people arrayed against him.

The common area becomes eerily empty, just a few remaining people remain, mostly from the lower difficulties, and us from Hell. For the first time ever since the start of the tournament, it’s grown quiet.

The following slaughter takes barely two minutes.

Chapter 361 - Gareth

My Avatar does exactly what I thought he would when faced with a large group of opponents that he couldn’t face head-on.

That beautiful bastard just flies straight up.

Yup, it's that simple, yet it still gives him a huge advantage.

It's like introducing a helicopter with machine guns and rockets into a conflict between people fighting with muskets. And it isn't pretty.

Once he’s out of range, the people below struggle to detect him and a few of them do manage to reach that far, warning the others of the upcoming attack. But it's all to no avail.

Five seconds pass.

Ten seconds pass.

Nothing.

People from Easy difficulty, nervous and more sensitive to the fluctuations, are already starting to feel his mana concentrating high in the air.

Fifteen seconds pass and a number of fairly decent barriers form over a number of groups.

Thirty seconds pass and Samuel shouts, causing people to scatter and spread out over a wider area.

Then my Avatar attacks. Like a crashing meteor, he slams into the ground where the greatest concentration of people from Hard difficulty are, and like an EMP, a disrupting wave explodes from him. It spreads over a huge part of the forest, weakening barriers, canceling skills, and straight up disrupting them.

He then lifts off as quickly, a single orb left in his wake. A thermal orb as big as an orange. It shines an intense golden color, the immense heat being released causing the air around it to waver.

Golden flames explode into the area and with this, dozens of people from Hard difficulty start appearing outside.

And more follow.

One after another, their hastily recreated barriers, their armors, and skills fail to resist the brilliant golden flames. Bodies melt, charred to the point the system pulls them out.

Being charged by so much thermal energy, the orb envelops a huge area, killing hundreds of people.

When it looks like it's the end, from high up in the air, an orb lands in the middle of another group. A tricolored orb that turns bright white, exploding into heat, a shockwave, and following with an implosion.

Then another tricolored orb lands somewhere else, and a third one too.

The explosions are changing the landscape, tearing the trees from their roots, sending huge chunks of the ground flying through the air, and flinging human bodies around, burned and crushed before disintegrating into a cloud of shiny particles.

There is no sight of my Avatar, as he hangs safely in the clouds. It's an efficient and smart choice.

Down below is pandemonium. People are burning, the ones not dead have been left with terrible wounds and missing limbs. Some of them scream, most of the leadership is already dead and safe outside in the common area.

As I thought, my Avatar seems to have run low on mana and there are no more big explosions. Instead, a rain of orbs as big as grapes falls to the ground, each of them letting out a whistling noise as it passes through the air.

Some of the survivors try to hide under trees or block the attacks. A few even attempt to shoot something towards where the orbs are coming from. But it's to no avail. The Avatar focuses his attacks on people who have been weakened or occupied with fighting against the forest fire.

Just ten seconds is enough to finish the rest of Easy and Normal difficulty. Tens, hundreds of people decimated by an Avatar with most of its mana depleted.

The surviving members of Hard difficulty shout and hurl insults at my Avatar. Every single one of them finding themselves frustrated with their inability to reach him with their attacks.

Obviously, the Avatar doesn't care at all. Not even a little bit. I love the guy.

On the screen, his face shows for a moment. Calm and expressionless while he forms some larger mana projectiles around himself, compressing them. Using natural gravity and his kinetic energy to launch them at the remaining challengers. Unable to use the flames the challengers just put out, he simply smites them from up on high with mana projectiles.

It's quite shameless.

“Why do you not fight like that? It looks so easy!” Min-Jae comments, watching the screen with big eyes.

“Because it would be boring,” I respond.

I figured this fighting style out a while ago. Most of the people around my level or higher can't fly. That's something kinetic energy allows me to do. Having air superiority and being able to launch ranged attacks without worrying about retaliation is truly powerful.

Maybe it is even the most optimal way to fight for me, seeing the Avatar fighting that way.

But it's so boring.

If I fought like that I wouldn't be in danger. I wouldn't gain more experience. I wouldn't see the skills of the people I’m fighting. I wouldn't learn what is possible and how people tend to fight.

I could, but I don't want to fight that way because I don’t think I’ll get any stronger doing so. It’s as simple as that.

Still, knowing that I could fight that way, I wasn't worried about them defeating my Avatar, and Avatarniel didn't disappoint.

Such a cowardly little prick. Good job! You are making Papa Nat very rich!

The last remaining group gives up and leaves the event rather than wait for the Avatar to kill them.

Just like that, in under two minutes, my last challenge is won, my restricted Avatar, the bane of almost two thousand people.

Congratulations, your avatar emerged victorious in the 3rd challenge! You have received 17,113 shards. The final event reward will be given after the end of the 3rd event!

It physically hurts me how much the system took with its 10% cut, but there's nothing I can do about it. But damn, an arcane passive might not be all that far off. Most likely not during the tournament, but maybe sometime during the 6th or 7th Floor.

“Fricking monster,” Brainiac lands on the roof near us.

“I won't give you any shards,” I say before he can continue. They’re mine. My precious!

My Avat… no, I worked hard to get them.

Brainiac snorts, “Not even I’m that shameless.”

“So what are you doing here?” I ask as he sits down next to me and the other members of group 4.

“I had to get away from Gary, the old man can be annoying sometimes.”

“You should beat him and take over as leader of WhiteWing,” Aaron jokes.

“Only if you take over Group 4,” Brainiac sighs, “Even if all of WhiteWing attacks him together we have no chance against Gary.”

“He doesn't seem that strong,” Maya mentions with interest.

“Gary is crazy strong.”

“Sure he is.”

“I'm not joking!”

“He just looks like he would fit better as a pastor or the director of an orphanage.” Maya snorts.

“I know what you mean,” Brainiac nods. “But that's only because we’re real people from Earth.”

The conversation is getting interesting so I listen. At the same time, Gareth's Avatar appears on the screen and a 15-minute countdown starts.

“What do you mean by that?” Min-Jae asks, moving closer while sipping on his drink.

“I mean exactly what I said. Gary is nice only to people from Earth and no matter how trashy they are, he always gives them a chance. Only once he really believes they are beyond helping will he become ruthless.”

I knew it. The paladin of justice is secretly evil. Right now Brainiac might think the Earthlings are being protected by Gareth, but I'm sure his dark secrets will spill. There is no way someone acting so nice to people isn't evil.

Brainiac lowers his voice, “On the third floor he killed a hundred or so natives. Women, and children too, no hesitation at all. We needed water and food and they had it. So he just took it on himself and murdered them all. After that he smiled, saying to us to not worry and that he would protect us and take these sins upon himself.”

I watch Gareth's Avatar. Restricted to the 5th floor, it stands there below the trees. The chiseled face of a 40 or 50-year-old man waiting for his challengers.

“Gareth hasn’t gotten angry with us, not even once. He never shouts, he never despairs, he never hits us or anything, and often takes hits instead of us. Not once in the past year did I have a worry that he might hurt me,” Brainiac says, his usually cheeky expression serious.

“You shouldn't underestimate him just because he acts silly sometimes or seems nice. He’s in Hell and in Beyond for a reason,” Tess warns the other members of our group.

“He is,” Brainiac nods. “You know what's funny? He’s at his strongest when he is alone. Fighting with us, he holds back a lot to protect us, but the moment he’s alone his fighting changes. Just wait and see.” He points at the screen where the Avatar waits for the challengers.

A few minutes later Gareth’s Avatar’s 3rd challenge starts with over a thousand people inside.

Right away the man starts moving towards the group of challengers and a silver crown floats over his head.

Once again, I have to wonder what his crown is called. Other than me and Tess, he is the only one so far that has one. That offers another question, are crowns rare? Are they considered powerful or important?

Getting closer and seeing the first people from behind the trees, Gareth starts radiating silver light from his skin. Maybe light is the wrong word, it's more like silver smoke seeping through his pores.

In his hands, two maces form, each of them with a few nasty spikes, and both weapons probably as long as my arm. Over his shoulders, two silver orbs float.

Combat opens with Gareth slamming a mace into a melee attacker from Hard difficulty.

Not even for a second is the man capable of facing Gareth's strength, his arms cracking and the mace piercing the skin-tight barrier and turning the man into shiny particles.

A group launches ranged attacks at him and whether they bombard the ground around him or his skin he doesn't bother to create armor around himself. He faces them all easily with just the sheer strength of his stats and enhanced body.

One of the orbs shoots ahead with surprising speed and reaches a group of twenty ranged attackers. Before they can move, the orb expands, in the blink of an eye, almost like a bubble, and each of them finds themselves inside of that bubble. The bubble stops expanding and then changes color to a darker shade of silver.

The group finds themselves unable to get out. Their bodies slam against the inner walls of the bubble and their weapons fail to pierce it. Before they can try more, the silver bubble starts shrinking as quickly as it expanded before.

All twenty people are caught in that. From the size of a small house, the bubble shrinks to the size of a small room and then to the size of a basketball, and finally to the size it started at. Everyone inside it, unable to escape, is squeezed and killed.

Attacks start anew. Gareth is bombarded while moving almost lazily from group to group, no one manages to endure more than one attack from his mace. The two silver bubbles move around, enveloping groups of people and turning them into shiny particles.

Outside of the tournament, the result would be more gruesome. A bunch of people reduced to a compressed bloody paste.

The forest exploding around him from the challengers' attacks doesn't cause him much trouble. He seems capable of going on for days.

Shadowy attacks fail to slow him, fire causes him no trouble. They can't disrupt his mana and they even fail to pierce the orbs. Anyone who winds up inside one of those silver bubbles dies without exception.

When they start moving out of his reach or the range of his bubbles, he changes strategy. The crown over his head disappears and the silver smoke stops leaking from his skin. Instead, armor forms around his body.

His armor isn't bulky or impressive. It seems almost skin-tight and dense. At the same time, the maces in his hands dissolve, and Gareth dashes, the ground exploding under his feet.

In a blink, he reaches another group, gloves forming around his hands as he delivers a shattering blow to someone’s head, reducing the man from Hard difficulty into particles. Gareth twists his body and grabs the poor man's sword in his hand as he kicks another assailant, caving in their chest, and dispersing them into a haze of silver particles.

Like Lily, Gareth uses the strength of his body and armor to go wild and tear the remaining people apart.

“Gareth is really bad at doing multiple things at once,” Brainiac sighs. “But when he doesn't have to focus on healing, teleporting, and keeping our marks active he can be really scary.”

Nice. First, Gareth doxxes the real names of everyone from his group, and now here’s Brainiac giving us exposition on his abilities.

What a group.

“So what are the names of his skills?” I ask.

“Not telling!” Brainiac answers.

Well, maybe they aren’t that stupid.

“It's fine, I might ask Tacita, I'm sure she already knows the names if you guys talked about them sometime during the tournament.” While I say it I glance back to the top of the chimney where a thin girl with messy brown hair sits.

Her eyes meet mine and her expression seems to be surprised and in quick succession a weird field she generates changes a few times. But each time I change my detection as well, allowing my senses to pierce through.

Only her last attempt succeeds at confusing me for even a moment longer and then she stops when I see even through that.

Tacita seems dissatisfied, annoyed even, her eyes turning dangerous as she examines me, studying the way I’ve been detecting her.

I hope you didn't think you could keep hiding from me forever.

Chapter 362 - Challenges

During the next few hours, as we watch the challenges, Tacita and I play a game.

As she sits on the chimney, rooted within her barrier, her skill, trait, or whatever it is, keeps changing. She alters it rapidly as she figures out my methods for detecting her.

Sometimes it takes me a few seconds to pierce through, sometimes it takes thirty minutes. She’s really good at it, and it's intriguing to observe. She’s not like Savant or Tess, with their genius level use of skills, they’re both quick to learn and grasp new concepts. She’s not even like me with my abuse of skills to push myself further than others while trying to scam the system.

What Tacita is doing is mostly based on wild instinct. Like a bird thrown out of the nest, forced to learn to fly by instinct rather than rote learning.

And damn, does she seem to be getting annoyed. Her penchant for stealth seems to be an important part of her identity. The way she gets twitchy when people get too close, it's no surprise.

Yet I refuse to take that into consideration. No, I even resort to using my eye trait when I have trouble piercing through her hidey barrier.

The longer this goes on, the more dangerous she feels. The playful mood is gone, and her eyes are glued to the back of my head. I can nearly feel that gaze burning me.

I also keep my body strengthened, while preparing to empty my Vortex Core, and funneling a large amount of mana to my Mana Regulator for Reinforcement.

It's a clear challenge to her, and I might be playing with fire, but I can’t bring myself to care. I don’t like having her sneaking around and appearing out of nowhere. I’ve had a deep hatred for such tactics ever since my experiences on the 1st floor. It's not to the point of trauma anymore, but I still find it deeply unsettling.

So we either set some rules about that or we will fight. That's my message to her.

Meanwhile, the remaining Hell difficulty Avatars go through their third challenges.

After being beaten by me and Gareth, they challenge a few of the weaker-looking ones. Just like before, they continue in groups of anywhere from a few hundred to one thousand. I turned out to be the exception with close to two thousand. They even win some of them.

BenDover gets tired out and hunted down once he runs out of mana. Brainiac fails to reposition quickly enough and gets surrounded, as they use the forest to their advantage, limiting his ranged attacks.

Lootenant is more defense based, so he finds himself lacking in means of attack.

Aaron and Dennis get tired out, neither of them capable of sustaining long combat against that many people who are getting better and better organized. They are also weaker on their own and separated from their twin.

The murderer from Easy difficulty is also joining a lot of these fights, often getting in a few nasty attacks during the challenge only to be pulled away once he reappears in the common area.

At this point, around 150 people from Hard difficulty create a core that goes around challenging Avatars one after another. They are the main forces the others join and follow their lead. That group of 150 people has gotten quite efficient at this point. There's a ranged unit, a melee unit, a unit of scouts, defenders, and a few really weak healers.

They protect each other, their members switching places to keep their mana topped up and stamina fresh. Once again, they’re being led by Samuel and the other soldiers from his group. Once they’ve seen how well they do, the others seem to have an easier time trusting his lead and following orders.

They defeat another Avatar from WhiteWing and another from BenDover’s group.

“Would be nice to see them beat your Avatar, Tess, especially given the way you’ve been putting Samuel down,” I note.

Tess doesn't flinch, her bearing confident and carefree. “If anyone from Beyond lost, I would be deeply disappointed,” she says.

“I still want to see them beat Savant,” I sigh while looking on as they make preparations in the common area. The next Avatar is Tess, restricted to the 4th Floor.

“Maybe if he went for a 2nd Floor [Restriction],” Tess states, watching the proceedings with interest as they split into groups, having received final orders. “I regret not going for 3rd. I was too careful.”

“Scared.”

“Careful.”

“Sure.”

“Has anyone told you that they would like to punch you?”

“Yup, I heard it constantly on the 5th floor. He was a handsome lad with a very punchable face himself.”

“I see. By the way, can you stop playing with Tacita? You’re starting to scare people.”

“Hell no.”

“Sometimes I forget how stubborn you can be once you’ve made a decision. Anyway, I spoke to Miwa. How did you make her so angry?”

“He wanted to steal her arm,” Maya says, nomming on snacks that she shares with Biscuit sitting next to her.

“It's still an achievement. Miwa is an extremely polite, patient, and reasonable person. Anyway, she’ll still prepare a pizza, salami with some extra cheese. A few of the ingredients are old, but they should be fine. The price is an epic item and a single mid-sized piece of voidsteel.”

“What? We said epic item only.”

“That was before you decided you wanted to steal her arm and kept pestering her for it.”

“Okay, okay, but the pizza had better be good.”

Tess shakes her head, “You know you could find a better use for an epic item, right?”

Ha! Better than feeding my ESM? No way. I already have plans to take plenty of pictures of the little half demon.

Now that I think about it, demons are indeed dangerous. Just a few weeks and she’s got me acting like this. Am I really so weak or are the people around me just scary?

“I still have a few and I should be able to make them on my own soon. So I wouldn’t worry about it,” I tell Tess.

“Truly you are the sugar daddy of group 4.” Maya says, turning to me, “When you summon your disciple, I fully intend to watch and learn from her. Then I’ll be your minion and you’ll make epic items for me,” she jokes.

“What? I can't hear words of people with a [Focus] below level 40.”

“It’s starting,” Sophie says, interrupting us and nodding at the screen.

Tess's avatar stands alone, with a shine in her eyes as she activates her skill, she quickly spots the challengers. Her crown forms above her head in an instant, white and red lightning cracking in a halo of energy. Then her avatar moves away from the groups attempting to locate her.

While her Avatar runs, stones lift from the ground, floating after her. She imbues the stones with lightning and leaps through the trees, cutting a few branches loose with her bare hand before shaping them into javelins.

In a few minutes, she has a decent number of projectiles floating around her, lightning crackling through the airborne arsenal. The Avatar does all of this while keeping the challengers in her line of sight, and collecting information.

So when she attacks, it's no surprise that she kills Samuel first.

The man dies in the middle of a sentence, a stone the size of my fist tearing through him from over a mile away.

Before the challengers can even react, five more die, each one the leader of their respective units, and none are able to endure the attacks. The Avatar made sure they were strong enough. With her eyes, Tess can see really far away and she can see a little bit of mana too. Not enough to use for detailed analysis like my eyes, but it's more than enough to detect mana signatures and large surges of mana.

The challengers start repositioning and strengthening the barriers. A few seconds later ten more attacks kill ten more people. And this time the attacks are coming from the opposite side, the Avatar moving quicker than they could ever have expected.

There are 196 people from Hard difficulty and each of them dies before the Avatar touches anyone else. Not a single Hard difficulty challenger endures the attack. They are all perfectly timed and unexpected, hitting weak spots with enough force to kill. Each with just the right amount of lightning.

Once she’s taken care of them, she changes her strategy. She uproots trees from the earth and flings them into the remaining groups, before following up the attack with a barrage of stones the size of motorcycles.

And the entire time they can’t even locate her precisely enough to attack.

“Why are you so cool, Tess,” Maya asks, sighing with her eyes glued to the screen.

I mean it might be cool, but all she’s doing is flinging junk at them from a distance. It must be boring as hell. Let's ignore the fact my Avatar did the exact same thing.

Anyway, to no one’s surprise, Tess's Avatar wipes out the challengers and Tess scrolls through a window to see how many shards she got. It won't be as much as I did, but it’s a nice amount for sure. Probably enough for her to buy an epic javelin.

The epic items start at 4 thousand shards, but some of them cost multiple times that. There is definitely a difference between low, mid, and upper, even if the difference isn’t as noticeable as it would be for an arcane item.

When the challengers return brainstorming starts and most of the challengers don’t really seem all that disappointed. As if they got the result they were expecting and they’ve chosen to take it as a learning lesson. Though I mostly get that sense from Hard difficulty.

That makes me reconsider a few things. Lately, I’ve been thinking of them as weak, how could I not? Even restricted members of Hell difficulty can wipe them out with ease, but maybe I’ve just been lacking perspective.

It's not like Easy has a power level of 1, Normal has a power level of 2, Hard of 3, and Hell of 4. It's more like Hell difficulty is a few stages above.

Yet, Hard difficulty isn't that bad. Logically they shouldn't even be, the tutorial must be… well, hard, for them as well. They’ve shown me a hunger for improvement that’s a cut above the people in Easy and Normal who seem to take things at a more relaxed pace, more like a hobby.

When the tutorial ends, I can certainly imagine a few people from Hard growing strong enough to destroy a small city on their own. Maybe even a bit more when it comes to the stronger ones. But for the moment that’s mostly speculation on my part.

It's fun to think of the differences between us.

Oh and now that I think about it, don’t the strongest people tend to be loners? Actually, it might be half and half.

Currently, we have 6 people from Beyond here. Tess, Gareth, and Lily are on the more sociable side while Tacita, Savant, and I seem to be more introverted. Though I'm sure our trio of introverts would win. Yup, screw those extroverted weirdos. I bet they’re fine talking to people, even the moment after they wake up. Creepy.

I also decide to ignore the fact that we three introverts are certainly weirder and bigger assholes than our counterparts. But it's not like they’re normal either. Everyone in Beyond is a bit twisted.

When I finally crack through the change Tacita made in her field, I turn back to the screen. That one was difficult, it took me the longest time yet to pierce. Tacita can be surprisingly stubborn, it seems. Ever since we started, she hasn't moved from her spot or stopped staring at me.

The next avatar they challenge is Min-Jae. They don’t even go in with that many people, below 500 even.

I already suspect the result, but Min-Jae gets defeated. He takes out a bit more than half of them and they have trouble catching up to him. The Avatar even uses the eye he got on the 4th floor as it precedes the restriction.

In the end, it's not enough and his attacks gradually weaken as they catch up to him. Current Min-Jae would wipe them out easily, yet the [Restriction] he chose is too severe. The young boy is too proud to go higher than 4th.

The result is a celebration among those excitedly discussing the fight. The one who did the most walks away with the better part of the two thousand shards Min-Jae offered as an additional reward and an epic item he got from the 5th floor. He did set it up after he saw me creating my Avatar and the result is what it is.

If Tess knew, she would’ve probably stopped him. Even the twins would’ve done that. But Min-Jae did it all on his own.

Even before his Avatar was defeated, he disappeared from the roof.

When Lily's Avatar appears on the screen, I stand up and detect where Min-Jae went. I don't even have to watch this challenge as I'm sure Lily will wipe the floor with them with her surprisingly low [Restriction], the 5th Floor. But that's just her. I'm sure she would be able to do it with the 4th Floor one but she doesn't seem to have the confidence.

I stop in front of Tacita, “I have to go now. But let me tell you one thing. I’ve humored you sneaking up on me for a good while, but I don't appreciate it.”

Even back on Earth I had bullies trying to ambush me in groups. I spent three days fighting for my life, being hunted by Phantom Goblins only to be stabbed every time I faltered.

It's not something I can help, even if there’s no malice in it, even if it’s just playful teasing. I don’t trust Tacita the same way I trust group 4. And even though I can't die here, I can’t bring myself to allow it.

Just for once, I’m going to be nice and try to solve things by talking instead of fighting, “Do you know what I mean by that?” I ask.

Her eyes shine below her messy bangs, giving me a long appraising look. Her expression changes a few times until it lands on one of understanding.

A few seconds later, she nods.

The field around her changes but this time it's more akin to a playful attempt to hide and catch someone off guard to laugh at them later. Like a game.

She looks at me with a question and tilts her head. Her own warning to me, to avoid pushing her any further.

“This much is okay.” I also change the way I detect her to match her change.

From now on, it's a fun way to keep ourselves sharp rather than anything more sinister.

A bright smile appears on Tacita's face and she waves as I use one of my anchors to follow Min-Jae.

Chapter 363 - Kaboom!

I reach Min-Jae just as he catches up to a smaller group of people. Once again I hide my mana and watch from a distance.

Without hearing their words, I can only guess at their conversation, but it's not all that difficult. The people he’s confronted seem to be from Hard difficulty, specifically from the group that challenged his Avatar just a few moments ago.

At first, Min-Jae seems non-aggressive even though I can sense his wildly swirling mana and see his clenched fists.

The situation escalates after a short exchange, and the group ends up easily pushed to the ground by a gravity field. Yet even then, the boy seems confused. There is none of the satisfaction he expected, just a dirty feeling, I would think.

It's hard for me to guess because I'm just an asshole who doesn't care about anyone outside of his own family and friends. If someone had asked me one of those trolley questions like, "Would you rather save 1 friend or a million people you don't know?" I would let the strangers die. Without hesitation.

Of course, the situation would be shitty and I like to think that I would feel something, but I have my priorities straight. That's one of the main reasons I want to be so strong. So things like that won’t happen to me, leaving me to do whatever I want.

Min-Jae, on the other hand, is young, troubled, and had a difficult childhood, forever caught in the shadow of his siblings. You can even see it in his choice of subclass, Envy, and the ways he’s been trying to emulate me.

I don’t think it's too big of a problem. Min-Jae will grow and change, and these experiences will serve to guide him in the future. He is still young, and looking for his place in this world.

So for now, I don’t bother to intercept him even as he waves his hand, uprooting and crushing a few of the surrounding trees. He stomps angrily, causing more trees to fall under the resulting gravitational waves.

Then he almost seems to flee from the people at his feet, with an indescribable look on his face.

(They’re about to challenge Savant,) Sophie says over the web some time later.

(I see. I won't be watching this time,) I answer and then disconnect from the web. Keeping an eye on the man in front of me, I create a chair from mana and take a seat opposite him.

“You didn’t watch my Avatar fight. Why?” I ask Savant.

Sitting in a cheap camping chair, he returns my gaze.

“It cost me a few uncommon items,” he says in lieu of an answer as he touches it carefully. “It’s only been a year, but I have this weird feeling of nostalgia seeing these items from Earth.”

“It’s just a chair.”

“Yes, it’s just a chair.”

He stands up and throws a few logs into the fire he’s built nearby, over which hangs an iron kettle with water coming to a boil inside. Nearby, he has a glass with a tea bag prepared.

“I wanted to observe everyone. To collect some information I could use during the Duels,” he says.

“But?”

“I changed my mind. It was mostly thanks to you. I still think my way is better, but watching you during the 2nd event, I came to the question - why am I being so timid and nervous?”

When the water starts boiling, he pours it into the glass and then leans back in his cheap camping chair, his eyes turning back to me.

“I’m stronger than any of you.” He declares like he’s speaking an absolute truth. “The moment I entered the 2nd Floor, Champion Tristan took an interest in me. Through my talent, I became his disciple and grew quickly. Before he died, he declared me a Champion candidate. I am strong,” he repeats.

Silence fills the small camp Savant has set up in the forest. A spoon clinks as he starts mixing the water in his glass.

In a quieter voice, he continues, “I don’t need to see more, learn more, prepare more. I will win even without the effort. I want to confirm that.”

“So you're second guessing yourself and want to prove that you are the strongest? How human,” I reply.

“It’s highly possible. I'm human too in the end. So what’s your reason, why aren’t you watching my Avatar fight?” He asks.

“Same here. I mean, if I thought you were going to lose your additional rewards, I would probably watch, just to laugh, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. Plus it wouldn’t be as satisfying to beat you.”

“Pride?”

I nod, “Patience, Diligence, or Pride?”

“Patience.”

“I see.”

“Yes.” Taking a sip, he looks at me, “You haven’t been declared Champion candidate yet, right?”

“Nope, but I might try to have someone declare me an Absolute candidate.”

He swirls the tea inside of his glass and nods, “I see.”

“So, is that the damaged Sword of Aeons?” I ask, gesturing at the broken sword on his hip.

“Yes.”

“The best mana battery of Eladore?”

“Yes, though I think it’s weaker than it should be. The system is probably limiting items and the like to arcane at maximum within the tutorial.”

“That’s unfortunate. Still, I will buy it from you. 100 thousand shards.”

“No.”

“You could bet it. I’ll throw in my ax and shards and you bet your broken, and certainly useless-to-you, sword, winner takes all.”

“No.”

“Are you worried?”

“No.”

He seems to be getting a tiny bit annoyed. It's quite fun. Is that how people feel, teasing me when all I want is to be left alone? I think I understand a little now.

Out of nowhere, I feel a ping at the edge of my detection as Tacita enters the area. She is still hiding, but after our standoff, it doesn’t feel as annoying as before. The girl is surprisingly understanding. As long as I try not to trigger her, she tries not to trigger me.

I mean, she will still try to stab me in the neck if I cross that invisible line, but as weird as it sounds, I think that's fine.

A bit later, Savant takes notice as she passes through his domain which he keeps activated at all times. Of course, it's not at its full power, but it seems to be enough to detect Tacita, who hasn’t been making the greatest effort. Still, [Dawn] seems like a really good skill.

“You are not going to watch them challenge you?” I ask Tacita.

She shakes her head and sits on the ground to my left side and Savant’s right.

The fire crackles and the man sitting in the camping chair sighs.

Tacita’s hand moves and she uses a stick to draw on the ground.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

“I mean, yeah, they’re probably going to lose, but won’t it be fun to watch? You could also watch them challenge this guy here and use the information to beat him later.”

( •̀ - •́)ᕤ

“She says she can take you on easily,” I translate for Savant’s benefit.

“I think at this point it's obvious that the winner of the 4th event is going to be one of us.” He pours more boiling water and then adds another tea bag. Then he opens five packages of sugar and pours them all in.

My teeth hurt watching that.

“There is Gareth, Sset, and Grumpy, but none of them are likely to win,” he says, thinking aloud while stirring his tea with his spoon.

His green eyes seem to shine in the light of the campfire, “Sset is strong at the range, but other than a few surprises, she can't take any of us up close. Not without a degree of preparation she won’t have. Gareth lacks damage output. He is also too slow to catch anyone here.”

Savant takes a sip and then adds two more packages of sugar, “Grumpy will probably win the duels during the second tournament if she grows properly. But right now she is lacking.”

(•̀ - •́ )

“Tacita disagrees.”

“She could still win, of course. But Grumpy will be very dangerous in a few years.”

As if I didn’t know that.

“What do you think?” I ask Tacita.

乁(ツ゚)ㄏ

“Yeah, same.”

“So what are you doing here?” Savant asks me.

“I was curious,” I say honestly. There is nothing more behind it. I just wanted to talk with this man who reached Beyond so early. Well, other than the one who started there.

Even now, he doesn’t feel that strong, to be honest. I know most of his favorite skills and I nearly beat him once. Yet I still get the same unnerving feeling every time I go over the fight and imagine it continuing with the new information I have.

It's exciting, and out of everyone here, he is the one I want to fight the most. Even more than Tacita, more even than Tess and Lily.

“And you?” Savant asks Tacita.

ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ

“I see.” He nods.

Unlike other people, he doesn’t do sudden movements while Tacita is nearby. Even his voice is calmer and softer. He also doesn’t get closer to her when he throws a piece of wood into the fire.

And his behavior towards me isn’t any different. I can’t bring myself to be annoyed by his actions, and I'm sure it's calculated on his part. He is clearly reading and observing me the same way I am him.

Having seen enough, I stand up, turning to him, and say, “You really need to lay off the sugar,” and with that last sentence, I use [Tether] to telepo…

Huh.

I use [Tether] to teleport away.

…

I use [Tether].

…

(≧▽≦)

I find myself unable to teleport within Savant’s domain. Somehow, sneakily, he cut off my connection to my anchor right when I was about to disappear.

( ´ ▽ ` )

Well, there goes my cool exit.

Savant, to make it worse, doesn’t even say anything, sipping on his glass of sugar as he watches me.

I sit back down. ”Do it again,” I say as I examine his domain and the way it sneakily blocked my skill. Right away, I activate my Mana Wavelength Iris and try to examine it deeper.

While Savant starts saying something, I create an extremely small anchor near one of the legs of his chair and start sending vibrating mana through it, stealthily weakening the leg.

After some time, I leave, Savant unwilling to show me how he cut off my access to my anchor. It's not surprising, but he’s still an asshole.

At least he didn't notice the damage I did to the leg of his precious chair. Unfortunately, it didn't break while I was watching, but it will probably happen sometime soon in the future. That's what he gets.

With people from Group 4 nearby, a notification finally pops up.

Congratulations, you have placed 1st in the 3rd event - Avatar Confrontation.

You may choose one of the three rewards if you decide to accept.

“I want to use them to enhance my final reward,” I say right away and the screen disappears.

At the same time, the four giant screens disappear as well.

As expected, Savant, Tacita, and Lily were not defeated. Sophie survived too, and from one point of view, I think people are scared of her more than anyone else.

I can see it in the way they look at her and the way they avoid her. Even some members of Hell difficulty seem to share in the sentiment. Mind manipulation seems to be just that despised, even among people who have very little experience with it.

Izzy and Maya both lost. Izzy was defeated by the strategy they tried to use for me and Maya lost when they tired her out. It could be different if they chose no restriction, and the challengers seem to realize that even as they defeated the Avatars.

But overall the mood seems good in lower difficulties, the event was fun for them even though they didn’t get the most juicy additional rewards.

Honestly, it's surprising considering that most of them died multiple times in the process. The reason might be the difference between how “death” feels during the event and in the common area. Having some experience with that, I would say that death in the common area feels much, much worse, and certainly feels more real.

It's possible that that’s the system at work.

The 4th event, Duels, will start in 24 hours. The 5th day of the tournament affords the opportunity to take a break and get to know your fellow tutorial attendees.

You will receive more information as the duels approach closer.

Well, it's time.

“Use minio… disciple summon,” I call.

The invitation was sent to your disciple. If accepted, your disciple will join your side for the following 24 hours!

“Where is she?” Tess asks curiously.

“She needs to accept the invitation.”

“That makes sense.”

I nod and then we wait. We're soon joined by Lily, Maya, and the rest of group 4 now that I think about it. It's kind of weird, to be honest, and I hope they don’t spook my disciple. At least we’re off to the side of the common area, far from the noise of others.

Your disciple has accepted your invitation. Creating an entrance!

A few seconds later, Vega steps out of a door we can't see.

Seeing her face carefully looking around and blossoming into a big smile as she spots me, hits surprisingly hard. The end of the 5th floor was just a short time ago, so why? I bet it’s because she is a kid. I can't bring myself to be mean to kids. Probably a result of my past. Well, I don't think that’s a bad thing, so I won't try to change it.

But damn, Nathaniel Gwyn, you are getting soft with some people. I need to beat up BenDover to feel manly again. That reminds me that I once again forgot about him. I wonder if he is sitting somewhere, scared, expecting me to come for him.

“Master!” Vega shouts and comes running on her short legs. I notice she glances at group 4, but once she sees me acting normal, she decides to ignore them as she comes to a stop in front of me. She lifts her arms so I can pick her up. Then she nestles her ear against my chest where my heart is.

“Minion,” I say seriously.

“It’s Vega, master!”

“Why do you feel stronger? You left close to level 40, so why are you 50-60?”

“Kaboom!”

“Don’t ‘kaboom’ me!”

At that moment, I hear shouts and screams nearby and sense a powerful presence appear in my domain. When I turn around, I find a giant wolf.

The wolf is pitch black and taller than the tips of the trees nearby. The golden eyes shine with surprising intelligence, and he is looking in a single direction.

At Biscuit, who is in Isabella’s arms.

(Human…no, Asshole! Let go of my master right away!) the powerful, and young voice shouts in our heads and probably those of everyone nearby.

Even though people around are panicking and preparing to fight, Biscuit doesn’t seem bothered in the least. He simply allows himself to be held by Isabella. As he does, with his legs hanging down and his tongue lolling, he almost looks as if he’s smiling with a cheeky look in his eyes.

Chapter 364 - A demon and a wolf

The panic erupting around us is glorious. Hundreds of people from the lower difficulties turn in flight as they spot the black wolf from a distance.

I admit that I might have underestimated their survival instinct. I halfway expected them to stand around taking photos of the giant wolf snarling at Isabella and calling her an asshole.

But well, some of them faint just from the pressure of the wolf's telepathic messages, so maybe I shouldn’t get my hopes up for their abilities.

(Let go of my master! How dare you, human! Master, this is such a disgrace! Please, I beg of you, let me avenge you!) he shouts telepathically. Yet the wolf still doesn’t attack.

Knowing where to look, I can sense his telepathic connection to Biscuit as they communicate.

Unsure what to do with the unmoving potty-mouthed wolf, we opt to stand there and wait it out. One thing is for sure: if he so much as moves in an aggressive manner, he’ll have a few dozen members of Hell difficulty piling up on him in moments.

Like Vega, he doesn’t have any text floating over his head. Vega used to have the title of [Disciple] over hers on the 5th Floor, but it was gone when she returned after her week off. It hasn’t returned either. Does that mean we won’t have access to this information after we leave the tutorial? Is this a tutorial thing only?

“Master, I want to pet him! Can you hold him down like you did with that Ashenwolf?”

I ignore my disciple and keep my eyes on the giant creature. This situation, especially the reactions of the people around me, has become highly entertaining. Once again, something new has been thrown our way, an unexpected situation caused by a single blimp-like doggo. This burrito-shaped corgi is always doing stuff like this.

Damn, I love that silly little animal.

“Biscuit, is this your disciple?” I ask, it’s the only sensible thing I could think to ask.

“There is no way…” Maya tries to say.

(Friend!) Biscuit interrupts her, speaking into our minds.

Oh boy.

“Sophie, please tell the others from Hell to calm down. Group 4 will take care of Wolfy,” I tell her.

Sophie acts immediately, without asking questions, and relays the message. With Vega in my arms, I use kinetic energy to push myself through the air and land in front of the black wolf.

The creature is massive about the size of a building. His mere presence feels overwhelming, not to mention the sheer weight of him as he shifts his body. His golden eyes shine dangerously as he bares his teeth, each one longer than I'm tall, and he lowers his head.

(Asshole, I have not attacked because my master doesn’t wish for me to do so, but I refuse to watch the disgrace he is being subjected to. Tell that young female to let him go! Right away!) His voice sounds like that of a young boy, and the thought that he might be little more than a pup comes to mind.

Just how big must his parents be? How powerful is the wolf? He doesn’t feel as strong as Gaiathra nor as strong as a Veil Weaver. Maybe he’s around the level of a Veil Guardian?

I want to fight him and test him out. He is the first monster I’ve met with human intelligence and capable of speech. Actually, is he considered a monster or an animal?

(Friend,) Biscuit says, relaying the message through the common area.

It feels like the declaration was mostly meant for me, almost as if the corgi knows what’s going through my head.

Damn it, okay. I won’t bully the wolfy.

Biscuit floats from Isabella’s hands and slowly flies over to me. Then he looks at the wolf who lowers his head in response, like a child expecting a spanking from his father.

(Friend!) Biscuit tells the wolf and floats over to Vega who I hold in my arms and sniffs at her curiously.

“Master, are these people and creatures your minions?” Vega asks, her eyes ticking between Biscuit, the wolf, and the others.

“You could say that,” I reply.

“Were they your minions even before I became your disciple?”

“You are my first minion,” I respond, knowing what she wants to hear, much to the happiness of the red eyed half demon.

She shifts in my arms, clearly satisfied, her tiny horns poking the bottom of my chin. “Then as First minion and First disciple, I outrank them and they have to show me respect!”

(It’s you who will be showing respect to the master, youngling!) Wolfy complains.

“Just wait until the master holds you with his powerful skill, I will pet you for hours!” Vega threatens.

(WHAT!?), the young black wolf seems genuinely shocked. (My lineage is that of an ancient wolf who devoured planets. I will not allow myself to be petted by a weak girl smelling of those maniacal demons!)

“Your heart is weak!” my minion shouts back as if it’s the worst insult she could come up with.

Then Maya says what I can only believe everyone’s been thinking, “What the fuck.” She is almost laughing, in shock and sheer disbelief at the situation we’ve found ourselves in.

As threatening as the Wolfy Boi looks, he doesn’t cause any trouble. Having been reined in by Biscuit, he obediently follows his master’s orders, and when we move on to our house, he lays down nearby, crushing part of the forest as he does so.

I notice that everyone from Group 4 is weirdly stiff, bodies ready to explode into movement and fight. It’s as if they were yanked out of the playful mood engendered by the tournament and into a life threatening struggle. They stay like that even as Biscuit explains everything with Isabella and myself to translate.

The young wolf calls us assholes multiple times and I don’t even have to think for a second to know where it comes from.

Goddammit, Biscuit.

The future animal Absolute, Overlord of Earth, Archmage of the tutorial, and deer jerky addict, just floats between us and his disciple. Proud as he tries to introduce both sides.

I bet the corgi saw me summoning my disciple and did the same. Something he probably managed with one of his rewards from the events. So far, no one else seems to have received the same reward.

(Food,) Biscuit declares stopping in front of me.

When I grab his cheeks and squeeze them and then hold him to boop his nose 50 times, the black wolf shifts in his position, golden eyes watching the disgrace I subject his master to.

“Master, you can do that to my nose too!” Vega fights for my attention.

Instead, I let go of Biscuit who floats to the black wolf who's conversing with Gareth and Tess. Then I grab Vega’s horn and pull her closer.

“‘Kaboom’, you said.” I shake her head.

“Kaboom!” she answers happily.

“Tell me what you’ve done.”

POV Aaron Dalton

(Fuck, this is creepy. That guy almost seems to be smiling,) Dennis tells me through the link we’ve kept separate from the one integrated into Sophie’s web.

(He isn’t.)

(Just look closer, the corners of his lips are twitching up, and look at the way he’s holding that girl. What the hell, isn’t he just a mana maniac? Why does he look like her older brother now?)

(More like a dad.)

“Kaboom!” the girl smiles as she replies to Nathaniel.

She’s even younger than Isabella but at the same time, I feel nervous just seeing her. Every time Nathaniel looks away, her expression grows cold.

I’ve never seen a child like that before.

For a moment my eyes meet hers as well when Nathaniel turns to the side to say something to Kim sitting next to him. Her red eyes are devoid of expression, just like Nathaniel on the 1st Floor.

It reminds me of the mana rain, of us fighting to survive as the drops pierced our skin and Nathaniel coldly massacred the monsters. She’s just like he was then.

But that expression disappears the moment Nathaniel starts turning her way. She smiles at me and even waves, but it feels fake. Her eyes only seem to light up again when Nathaniel turns his attention back to her, a big smile overtaking her face.

Through our link, Dennis can feel my emotions and I can feel his, and we are of one mind when it comes to the little girl.

(She’s a demon,) Dennis says.

Tiny pointy horns, deep red eyes. She looks like she is ready to start a fight at any moment and will try to bite out your neck if she has to.

(Izzy, what do you think of her?) I ask, adding her to the conversation. At the same time, Aaron adds Sophie.

(She is scary!) Isabella shouts the moment she connects to the web.

(She is just a girl, she’s probably been through a lot,) Sophie tries. (Is there a chance it’s that? Nat said his disciple had a harsh life.)

(It could be…) Isabella hesitates. (But she is scary! Even the pretty wolf feels less dangerous!)

(Well, fuck,) Dennis sighs.

(Don’t curse in front of Isabella!) Sophie warns. (What emotions do you feel from her?)

Isabella is silent for a while and then says, (She is very happy and really likes Nat! But she doesn’t like us.)

(Maybe she’s jealous, maybe she thinks we’re going to take Nat from her,) I offer as we observe the little girl.

“I found a nest of gray lizards, a LOT of them. The gray lizards I told you about, and they really were tasty and their limbs really do grow back. Maybe I can get you one sometime so that you can learn to regrow your limbs faster!” Nathaniel´s disciple looks at him and studies him seriously, “How is Bambi’s curse? Did it get better?”

What are they even talking about?

(She is not worried about us taking him,) Isabella disagrees. (At least not much! She just doesn’t care about us. She got very scared when she appeared here and saw us all, but the moment she noticed Nathaniel she calmed down.)

That is surprising. Other than the few glances Dennis and I’ve caught she seems normal. Even now she is smiling happily while talking to him and when Nat introduces people to her she greets them. She seems friendly, almost like she’s just a kid, scared of meeting a lot of new people out of nowhere.

But I just can’t help but feel nervous when her eyes change just a tiny bit every time she looks at anyone other than her master.

(She is really good at detecting mana too,) Sophie mentions. (She’s had her mana senses up the entire time, constantly checking for danger.)

I didn’t notice anything.

(The hell, really? I can’t sense anything either!) even Dennis seems to be as shocked as me.

(Try to focus on it a bit more, like this,) Sophie implores as she shares her method for detecting the interference and I feel it too.

Only then do we notice. The faintest touch of her mana senses.

(Oh and by the way, what she’s doing feels extremely similar to what Nat’s been doing. It’s just that I can’t even sense Nat doing it most of the time. But I’m sure he’s expanding his senses around himself even now.)

(He’s happy,) Isabella says out of nowhere and with Sophie’s help she shares what tiny bits of feelings she can detect through Nathaniel’s defenses.

It’s so weird. Even though his face stays nearly the same as always, he seems more lively, even his movements are quicker, as if his whole being has been affected. He doesn’t even seem to mind as she snuggles up to him, her head pressing into his chest. As if it were routine.

But then Nathaniel seems to notice something and mid sentence, his eyes light up with a golden circle around his pupils. He turns to us and I feel him take over a section of the web as if it were nothing. No matter how many countermeasures we’ve placed to limit this kind of influence.

(Izzy, I told you to stop doing that,) his voice admonishes through the link. (But anyway, my minion sensed you guys probing so at least come and greet her. You’re acting like a bunch of creepy stalkers.)

Then his presence disappears.

Looking towards us, one of the red eyes of his disciple changes too, the faintest hint of a golden circle appearing around the pupil.

The girl younger than Isabella smiles at us, but I still feel like a bug in her eyes.

Chapter 365 - Sold for Jerky

It doesn’t seem like my minion cares much for the people I’m introducing her to. I can feel the tension in her posture and I see it in the way she’s constantly monitoring them.

Well, it’ll be fine. She’s just shy around new people. She even gave Nevan a chance and she liked Duplicaniel because he looked like me. Vega’s a good girl! They will not become friends in the 24 hours we have, but she will bear with it for my sake.

But damn, as I listen to her telling me how she found a lair of gray lizards and spent a day collecting kinetic energy to collapse the roof on top of them, I can’t help but be moved. She is indeed a good disciple.

“So where are you currently in your world?” I ask her.

“I left the village after beating the snot out of a few people! I know master told me to lay low, but I couldn’t help it. Plus, I didn’t even tear their limbs off, and their broken bones will heal soon enough,” she declares somewhat satisfied. “You said you would do much worse, but I held back!”

I wish Sophie and Maya wouldn’t look at me like that.

“It was also really easy to steal from them. The locks were easy to break and no one used any mana-based defenses! After an hour, I left half of the things I stole behind because they were too heavy to carry with me.”

Just how much did she take?

Minion continues, “I tried to steal as much as I could, just like you showed me in that bunker! You know, ‘take and sell anything that’s not glued to the floor’!”

Nodding at her statement, I look away from the rest of Group 4. I don’t think I deserve the looks they’re sending my way.

Vega’s eyes shine as she happily describes how weak-hearted most of the people from the village were and how easy it was to deal with the monsters and animals further from the village.

It looks like she’s been having fun even though she is on her own now. Well, it’s only been a few days, so she might get bored after a while. But so far this minion of mine is happier than she ever was in the village. It’s certainly not something she would have been able to achieve without getting stronger.

“Wanna check on the wolf?” I ask when she finishes her story.

“Yes!”

With her answer, I stand, and Sophie, Maya, the twins, Izzy and Lily follow us to the rest of Group 4 with Biscuit and the black wolf.

“So your name is Vega?” Lily asks with a soft voice and gentle smile, in a clear attempt to be friendly.

The other members of Group 4 seem to be curious though they view her with a sense of caution. That tracks given that I haven’t really told them much regarding Vega.

My minion glances at me then our black haired healer and nods while answering Lily’s question, “Yes. Vega is the name master gave me! He said I’m the brightest star of his tutorial. That in the darkness of the tutorial, he found…”

I quickly cover her mouth with my hand, but the expression she makes tells me that she knows very well what she is doing.

Little devil.

As a punishment, I flick her nose.

Tess, seeing us coming, leaves Gareth with the others who’ve gathered around the wolf, to meet us. She surrounds us with a barrier to keep anyone from listening in, and Sophie supplements her efforts by jamming any foreign mana with the aid of her web.

“Are you going to introduce us?” she inquires.

“Sure. Vega, this is Tess. Tess, this is my disciple Vega.”

“Hello!” Vega says simply, and Tess smiles at her understandingly.

Probably by intention, she doesn’t pressure my minion, knowing the little half demon will be happier that way, and turns to me instead. “Did you know about this?” she asks, gesturing behind her at the giant black wolf.

“All I knew was that Biscuit liked his disciple,” I say watching as Biscuit floats out of our house.

In one of his tentacles, he holds a piece of deer jerky he clearly stole from the sealed cupboard I was hiding it in. He sets the small piece of jerky in front of his disciple.

The giant wolf looks at the ground where the small piece of deer jerky is and then at Biscuit, who floats proudly.

“Anyway, he seems surprisingly reasonable. And not just because of Biscuit, he just seems to be like that,” Tess continues. “He knows about the tutorial and tournament, but some kind of custom or rule seems to be preventing him from acting in aggression while he’s here. Though I suppose it could just be an aspect of his personality. He is surprisingly naive.”

The black wolf lowers his maw and sticks out the slightest hint of his tongue to lap up the jerky along with a few stones and some dirt. Yet he doesn’t seem to complain and eats it all while thanking his master.

“I’m lost here,” Tess sighs. “All of our disciples were so much weaker than us. The others seem to be the same, and yet Biscuit’s is so strong. I bet he could take out most anyone from Hell difficulty with ease. We are trying to get information out of him, but he refuses to share anything of use, and he doesn’t want to tell us his name. He just says that there are some things he doesn’t want to say and that the system will censor the others.”

“Of course, it would.” The system is an asshole.

“He also said that we should just be patient, that most things will be revealed in the course of the tutorial,” Tess mentions. “He’s placed a lot of trust in the system and the tutorial.”

“Master, I want to pet him! Like the Ashenwolf!”

“Soon, minion, soon.”

“I’m Vega, not a minion!”

“You just said you were my First minion and that other minions had to listen to you.”

“I’m Vega!”

Nice strategy, acting dumb while looking cute. Classic minion.

“Maya said you spoke with Miwa?” I ask, turning to Tess.

“Yes, just visit her at her house. I was able to make another deal. You’ll see when you speak to her, consider it a small surprise from me.”

“What have you done? Tess?”

“You’ll see.”

Haaa. Bullied in front of my minion. My image will never recover from this.

(You, Asshole with too much mana and a weak body!) shouts the telepathic voice of the wolf.

Surely he isn’t speaking to me? My body’s gotten quite a bit stronger, and my passives and traits are helping a lot, so I wouldn’t consider it too much mana. Actually, I’m sure I can raise it even more. It’s been too long since it threatened to break my body.

But the glances being thrown my way as the wolf speaks tell me more than enough. Well, no worries, I will convert them soon enough.

“If you don’t want to share information about the tutorial, the system, and stats, I don’t know what we could be talking about.” I say, coming to a stop at Gareth’s side in front of the giant wolf.

Biscuit is already sitting on top of his head. It’s nice to see minions respect their masters.

(My master has summoned me for only 12 hours, asshole. In that time, I have decided to observe you and the other assholes to see if you are a fitting company for my master!)

The way he speaks it’s almost like Biscuit’s some kind of mystical guru, and the respect he gives him makes me curious. I just wish he wouldn’t talk to us like that.

“So you want a fight?” I ask.

(Great! It’s good you understand! Yes! I will fight you and…) then he stops mid sentence, his golden eyes looking up at Biscuit, (But master! I promise I won’t hurt him… much!) he complains.

Even though Biscuit doesn’t say anything, I can see bits of his mana flickering around his body.

The ensuing messages exchanged between wolf and corgi alone, and after a minute, the black wolf turns to me again. (Asshole with too much mana. Surprisingly, my master is worried that you might hurt me, rather than me hurting you. I do not understand; you feel weak.) The giant head lowers, as the black wolf sniffs me.

His head alone is as big as a bus.

“Ten pieces of jerky if you let me fight him,” I tell Biscuit.

(Food!)

“I don’t have that many. Twenty.”

(Sustenance!)

“You won’t die of hunger, but okay, thirty.”

(Friend.)

“I won’t hurt him, don’t worry. He is your disciple after all.”

(Food!)

“Okay, deal.”

The black wolf seems to be shocked. (M-master, did you just sell me out for a measly…)

I ignore the wolfy and turn to Tess, “Can you take care of Vega for a bit? I will go to Miwa to get the stuff.”

“I wanna meet minion Miwa too!” Vega in my arms says.

“It’s a surprise for you. And you should get to know the others at least a bit. I’ll be back soon enough.”

“It’s not a problem. I’ll keep her safe, and we’ll send you a message if anything happens,” Tess smiles at Vega. “You can call me Sset in front of the others.” She says gesturing at Gareth.

The definitely-secretly-evil man looks at Vega with a weird expression, especially at her red eyes and horns. I wonder what’s going through his head as I remember everything Brainiac told us about Gareth during the Avatar challenge. That also makes me wonder about Gareth’s disciple and how Gareth sees him.

Damn, I love this place. So many interesting things to see and think about.

Anyway, “Minion, if anyone attacks you, fight back. Use the kick or kaboom. Otherwise, you can trust Sset and the others, and I will leave an anchor on you.”

Then I turn to Biscuit’s minion, “See you soon, wolfy. We will fight before you leave.”

The giant monster just snorts, putting its massive head on the ground, and looks around while communicating with Biscuit.

I create an anchor and then fly for a short moment, stopping in front of Miwa’s workshop. As one might expect, heat pours from within alongside the ringing of iron.

I have to wait ten minutes before the second ranked craftsman calls for me, “Just come inside and don’t touch anything.” Then the clanging continues.

“Already preparing the pizza?” I ask, trying to lighten the mood as I enter the smithy.

The place isn’t that big, but there is a massive anvil in the center, and just a step away from it are a few tables bearing inscriptions, a wall covered in tools, and a floating stone that radiates a lot of heat, while being powered by Miwa’s mana.

Miwa doesn’t seem to be amused. “I picked out the items you offered. I want that small dagger made of voidsteel and a mid-sized piece of broken voidsteel blade. For that, I will make the pizza you want and add in some extra ingredients.”

“Deal.”

Miwa, holding a silver hammer in her hand, smashes it into a piece of mystery alloy a few times, working it on the anvil while feeding more mana to the floating stone. The heat spikes, and she redirects it towards the anvil which absorbs it and then emits into the metal being worked.

While it is heating up, she turns to me, “I’ll also show you this arm.” She lifts her right arm made of a silvery metal with a slight pink luster. Even with all the heat in here, it doesn’t seem to have absorbed any. It’s just as cold as it would be outside. And that just seems to be a property of the metal, not the inscriptions within the arm.

“So what do you want?” I ask.

Tess is really good at dealing with people. I could get used to such surprises.

“Sset told me you know somebody I want to meet.”

Huh, I don’t know all that many people. Tess could probably do the same, so why bother me?

Miwa continues before I say anything, “I’ve been wanting to meet that person ever since I bought one of their items.” She gestures at one of the darker corners of the room.

As I look I notice a number of items laying on the table. Items I immediately recognize. None of them are pretty but they apparently perform fairly well. And Miwa has more than half a dozen of them.

“I want to meet Tent C… Fuc… the person who’s taken first in the crafter rankings. Sset said you could connect me with them.” Miwa seems to be ashamed to say those words, but her expression changes for the first time.

She ignores the metal on the anvil as it starts to melt, and a deep look of interest takes root in her eyes. Nearly a creepy amount of interest.

Is it how she saw me looking at her arm?

But now I also know why Tess seemed to be having so much fun. Damn it.

Chapter 366 - A bit weird

If I tell her it’s me, will Miwa expose my identity as Tent... the top-ranked craftsman? She wouldn’t, right?

But damn, she looks creepy. It's almost like she’s about to start drooling at the thought of meeting the 1st ranked craftsman in the tournament. Is she a stalker? Is that why she bought so many of my items? Was she driving the prices up?

Miwa, noticing my gaze fixed on the ugly items, smiles, her face taking on a manic cast.

She takes a step closer to them, “I bought as many as I could! I even got a few of the members of my group to chip in. I owe them, but it was worth it!”

Miwa takes two items: one is a dagger I made, and the other was made by someone else, likely Miwa herself.

She confirms it soon, “I made this dagger. The system rates it at mid-rare.”

The dagger she is showing me is beautiful, and even though it's pretty, it doesn't feel weak. The inscriptions are a bit clumsy, but she did a good job shaping the metal, compressing it, and making the result pleasant to look at without sacrificing the performance.

Next to her dagger is one of mine, and as they both lay there, the difference is stark. My dagger is much rougher, a mere chunk of dagger shaped metal. There are imperfections; it's ugly, and even my inscriptions feel less delicate.

Miwa picks up both of them and sends her mana through the blades. Then she swings them against each other.

With a clang, her blade is sundered, and my dagger comes away whole, despite suffering a tiny chink in the blade.

“This dagger,” she lifts up the surviving one with a smile, “is barely rated mid-rare, bordering on low-rare.” Her voice has more emotion in it, and she talks quickly.

Like someone finally receiving permission to talk about their hobbies and obsessions.

“So I want to meet him or her. I will let you examine the arm if you promise not to damage it. Sset said you bought items from them and can contact them.”

She takes another step closer to me, and I hold out my arm to keep her at bay. “Okay, okay, let’s calm down.”

Finally coming back to herself, Miwa blushes and quickly takes a step back with an apologetic smile on her face.

She bows quickly, “I apologize for my behavior!”

“It’s fine, just let me think about it, ok? And give me some space.”

I quickly teleport to an anchor I left in my room and take the dagger she wants and a good chunk of voidsteel. Then, I return to the anchor I left behind.

“For now, take this for your help with the pizza. I’ll talk to Fuc… to that person, and get back to you soon.”

“Please do so and thank you!” Miwa takes the epic dagger and the metal and carefully puts them away. “Should I start preparing it?”

“Maybe in an hour or two?” Then I get an idea, “Actually, I will come to you in about a day, and we can make it together. Would that be fine?”

“I don’t mind, but I can’t guarantee the result if anyone else is involved.”

I wave my hand, “That is fine. So tomorrow?”

After she nods, I quickly teleport away. Dealing with the drooling fanboys is a problem for future me to deal with. Screw that weirdo.

Appearing on the roof of our house, I scan the area.

As expected, there are hundreds of presences gathered around our lodgings. It’s no surprise people from other difficulties are intrigued, and the giant black wolf can be seen even from afar. Focusing on one presence in particular, I place a couple of anchors and find Channeler at its source.

“Hey.”

He stumbles back, almost collapsing in shock. I forgot some people aren’t that good at detection or surprises.

“You can’t keep doing that to me,” he complains as I help him back to his feet.

“Shouldn’t you be used to it by now?”

“Give it a few dozen more tries,” he jokes weakly, nodding at the wolf visible even from here. He asks. “Is that your new pet?”

“Biscuit’s,” I reply.

Seeing that I’m not joking, Channeler only laughs, “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“There is no need to worry; he won’t do anything. And even if he did, we can’t die here, so it’s fine.”

“You could defeat him?”

For a moment, I think of it, remembering the sheer weight of the wolf, the feel of his mana, and his childish yet dangerous eyes. The wolf isn’t weak, no, even though the mood around him has been light, he’s still dangerous.

“Yeah, I could,” I admit.

“How strong is he in comparison to the things you’ve fought on the other floors?” Channeler asks.

“Honestly? I’m not sure about our current floor, but I’ve met stronger beings before and fought some of them. Make sure to look at him properly. Monsters as big as that wolf probably won’t be anything rare once our round of the tutorial ends.”

“Are you referring to the Pairing?” he asks, looking in the direction of the black wolf.

“Yes.” is my answer.

“And you’re already fighting beings as strong as that wolf.”

“Hell difficulty has been feeling easier lately, as we’ve gotten stronger, but there are always surprises and fuck-ups. So yeah, it’s not all that rare. Why do you think only 38 out of the 250 people who started in Hell difficulty have survived?”

“Honestly, Noname,” Channeler says carefully, “you’ve been so easygoing about it, that it’s never really felt like you were struggling, it’s like nothing’s too dangerous for you.”

“It’s not that bad.”

That blonde and uselessly handsome man just smiles and shakes his head.

What is he, posing for photos?

“Lately I’ve been noticing something.” He says.

While he’s grasping for the right words, I die. Black mana tearing my heart apart as it gets too close. Still, I maintain composure and slightly modify my attempts. Once again I’ve managed to confirm that too much mana, too close to my mana heart is less than a good idea. I clearly need to make some changes.

“You, Savant, Tacita, Sset. Everyone from Hell really. You all seem…”

“A bit strange?” I offer. I’ve noticed that too.

“Something like that. At times, this something shines through that makes it obvious why you ended up in Hell, and I’m not trying to insult you or anything. I just can’t help but think that it would probably take someone like you to endure it all, and none of the Hell difficulty attendees exactly seem like they were exactly happy with their normal lives back on Earth.”

“Can you give me an example?” I ask, gesturing for him to continue, curiosity getting the better of me as I move my mana through my body.

“I have a friend who trained as a professional psychologist, and he said that Tacita seems to demonstrate a lot of the signs associated with someone who’s experienced a lot of deep emotional pain. He can't be sure but said that she might be a patient from a psychiatric hospital or a domestic abuse survivor, maybe even sexual trafficking. Savant and Gareth both seem like sociopaths and likely you as well —either that or Asperger's syndrome. It's hard to say confidently, so these are only guesses. Then I heard Kim talking about his family, and he seems to be happier here than he ever was back home. Dennis and Aaron also seem to have experienced some form of domestic abuse, apparently, they’ve been passed around by their family ever since their parents died and they’re constantly changing schools.”

“You know their real names.”

“Yeah, they told me, so did Tess. So my point is that I have spoken with the others. Brainiac, Lootenant, Adam, AnotherOneHere, and that’s the one thing you all share - you like this world. Almost like you were missing something back on Earth.”

“That sounds right.”

“So how is it for you, Noname? Are you the same?”

“Maybe. What else does your psychologist friend think of me?”

“He thinks you might have had a messed-up childhood, probably something to do with your parents. That seems to be the most common issue. He sees something that suggests deep emotional scars.”

“Interesting. He seems to know a lot.”

“Yeah, he’s a bit weird. He’s got an eidetic memory and a habit of watching people.” Channeler says nodding.

“Anyway, it's not something I want to talk about. Can you get me a few people who are willing to fight? Easy, Normal difficulty, and maybe one or two from Hard.” I ask, changing the subject.

“I could try. What do you want them to do?”

“Just a bit of light sparring. No worries, their opponent won’t be from Hell difficulty.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem. You won’t need to offer any rewards. There are plenty of people who just want to get close to you guys, so I can use that, so long as we remember that person in the future.”

Damn, is this what a high-level extrovert is capable of? It seems so easy when he says it.

Then I remember something and pull a small mana stone from my pocket, “I prepared this for you. It should help you practice moving your mana. I modified it so it should be perfect for you.”

Channeler takes the stone, and as expected, he ignores me for a moment, examining his new toy. I don’t even mind; it’s nice to see someone with similar interests to mine.

“Don’t ask,” I warn him, “try to examine it on your own and come to your own conclusions. It will help you more if you do. I’ll give you some more before the end of the tournament, at least if you do a good job with this one.”

“In that case, I’ll just accept the gift.”

“No problem. I’ll see you later.”

After I teleport, I think for a moment. Should I wait for a response? Are there any customs or rules regarding etiquette when it comes to teleportation, are there places and situations where it might be considered rude to do so?

Lately, I’ve been getting used to my instantaneous mode of transport, but I should probably ask Min-Jae to let me train under his increased gravity field so I don’t get too lazy. It’s been a long time since I pushed my body with proper exercise.

As I arrive I find myself welcomed with an unusual sight. Tacita standing across from my disciple and staring at her. Tess and Lily are standing nearby, and I can almost feel their skills on a short trigger and mana hum under their skin. The girls are about as far away from Vega as Tacita, though they certainly realize how terrifyingly fast the girl with messy brown hair can be.

Tacita must have appeared there out of nowhere, surprising them and cornering Vega.

(It’s fine,) I say sending a message to Tess through Sophie’s web. If they do something stupid it might trigger Tacita.

“She is my disciple,” I tell Tacita, as she looks from me to Vega.

Even as quirky as she is, she can be startlingly intelligent at times, that sentence alone will surely tell her a lot - the meaning of Vega to me and what will happen if Tacita tries to hurt her. Yet, at the same time, that sentence feels empty. Tacita is faster than me, and she is closer. If she decided to do anything, I probably wouldn’t be able to stop her in time.

And the same as me, Tacita realizes that Vega might not be included in the “can’t die during the tournament” part of the message. Something I failed to think of in my stupidity.

I act as calmly as I can and take a few steps closer, as I feel my heart pounding in my chest.

A few more steps, and I’m almost within reach. A black mana orb forms deep inside my body, ready for absorption, to strengthen my body to the fullest. The anchor I left on Vega is ready to be activated at any moment.

Then Tacita moves her hand, and I almost attack her. But her movement is restrained, and I hold myself back through clenched teeth. She looks her over without malice, and slowly, gently, she reaches a hand out towards Vega.

She looks at me, her hand stopping mid-air, and when I don't react, she continues and gently touches Vega’s pointy horn with the tip of her finger.

Tacita then smiles brightly, her eyes devoid of ill will, and I feel myself calm down.

Then my minion kicks her in the shin.

Chapter 367 - Horns

As the kick lands, Tacita turns away from me to look at Vega, a look of sheer surprise on her face.

And Vega kicks her again. The second kick lands as well, which Tacita surely allowed again.

(Don’t) I warn through Sophie’s link as Tess and Lily move to intervene. Yet I still take a few steps closer, ready for anything.

Displaying an unusual degree of care, Tacita puts her finger on Vega’s forehead and pushes her away, causing the young half demon to stumble.

As I catch Vega’s gaze, I can’t help but think “Oh no”.

It’s like Vega is confirming I’m nearby to help, as she forms a dagger in her hand to stab Tacita with, as she taunts Vega by standing too close.

“Don’t ever touch my horns!” my minion shouts, her voice trembling with anger.

The silent assassin dodges swing after swing with ease, her expression overcome with mischief. Her hand darts out in a blur, knocking the pale blue mana dagger from Vega’s hand.

Before my minion can continue, Tacita gestures for her to stop. She takes a step closer and presses her own dagger into Vega’s hand, closing her fingers around it. Then, unsatisfied, she pries the minion’s hand open, shifting her hold on the dagger, until it settles into a more natural state.

Tacita then gestures for my minion to attack again.

For the following few minutes, my minion tries to stab her as Tacita avoids Vega’s attacks and corrects her form. A poorly positioned blade here, a wrong step there, an overzealous swing. Tacita somewhat impatiently corrects it all, with a slightly annoyed expression, as if not understanding why the minion is that bad at trying to kill her.

When Vega does anything too bad, Tacita flicks her tiny horns.

(She appeared here out of nowhere, right in front of Vega. Not even Sophie’s web detected her. Sophie couldn’t even feel Tacita’s mind.) Tess says carefully, speaking directly into my mind.

(And then she touched Vega’s horns?) I ask.

(Yes), Tess nods. (Vega didn’t seem to like that very much and shouted at her just a moment before you showed up. They seem to be sensitive and when you showed up Tacita touched them again.)

As we talk, I watch as Vega opens her mouth launching a thin, needle-like projectile of mana at Tacita’s face.

Even then, her attack is easily dodged, though it still makes Tacita smile brightly.

As is the proper reaction to having someone try to kill you.

Over and over again, Tacita corrects my minion, who just refuses to give up. Watching it all go down, I find myself counting the ways my minion has improved while leveling her skills.

Vega always did prefer fighting at close-range, her style aggressive, not unlike Tacita’s, honestly I can’t bring myself to think of the experience as anything but helpful, so I let it happen. Still, I don’t forget to make my presence known, as a reminder to Tacita to step lightly.

Either because of my warning or, more likely because she’s taken a liking to Vega's personality, Tacita makes sure not to push her too far. Though she’s fully capable of doing so. And that’s just knowing how many times she’s killed Samuel alone.

But damn, swindling a free lesson out of one of the most powerful people in Hell difficulty. My Minion is truly a cunning little creature.

As I watch, I check my own notifications. I’ve managed to level a few of my skills thanks to all my training in the common area, especially my [Perception] thanks to the staring contest I had with Tacita.

[Perception - lvl 43 > Perception - lvl 44]

[Perception - lvl 44 > Perception - lvl 45]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 42 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 43]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 43 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 44]

[Tether - lvl 35 > Tether - lvl 36]

[Infusion - lvl 28 > Infusion - lvl 29]

[Mana Crown - lvl 20 > Mana Crown - lvl 21]

Not bad at all for a few days. Especially given that my higher level skills have been getting harder and harder to level. I could probably get more out of skills with lower levels, but I would be stupid not to seize this opportunity.

I already lost count of all the times the system decided I was dead, each time I’ve made huge improvements when it comes to handling black mana and the higher frequencies of kinetic energy. And yet it still feels a bit off.

Sure, I can push myself further and learn more, but there’s still something missing. That feeling of danger and death if I slip up is gone. And with it, at least subconsciously, I’ve lost my drive to give my all. My mind has dulled, and I find myself failing to push my limits.

Actually, it’s hard to describe it properly, and despite my efforts to fix it, I find myself at a loss. It’s not like it’s ruining my plans, but it’s still something I need to consider.

“This is what I expect of my minions,” I tell Maya, who’s been watching from the sidelines.

She did say she wanted to become my minion to get free items, didn’t she? I can’t help but enjoy watching her expression as she witnesses Vega’s assault on Tacita.

At this point in the fight, Vega is tired. She’s expended a decent chunk of her mana, and her body’s been injured by her own careless manipulation of kinetic energy and mana. My minion is bleeding from her eye too. A faint golden circle etched in her iris.

Yet she continues to push herself, improving at a terrifying speed, not a speck of her aggression has been expended, and her attacks retain their enthusiasm.

I think Maya, and the twins, and a few of the other members of our group are starting to be surprised that I’ve let things get this far. After all, I summoned Vega to have a nice time and share my favorite food with her, like I promised back on the 5th Floor.

Instead, here she is now. Stumbling, injured under the weight of her own powers, her tiny hand barely holding on to her dagger.

But my minion is smiling.

Vega seems to be having fun right now, learning things from Tacita that I could never teach her. So in the end, I can’t stop her, because it’s something she wants to do.

I wait for her to stumble, on the verge of collapse, before I move in to catch her before she hits the ground. And before I can stand, Tacita’s vanished, leaving me to look at this silly minion of mine. She’s breathing heavily lying in my arms and trembling from the pain of her wounds.

“Did you have fun?” I ask as I take her over to Lily.

“Yes!” Vega says, nodding as her brow furrows, “But that human touched my horns, master! And I couldn’t hear her heart at all. Is she sick?”

I respond in an attempt to answer my confused minion, “We humans don’t care about hearts quite as much as demons do, minion. As far as we’re concerned, they’re little more than hearts. And I think she has a skill or trait for the purpose of hiding it.”

“Humans are weird, master. But not you! You feel more like a real demon! Thank you for letting me have fun.”

“Yes yes, but you should lower your barrier now, okay? Lily’s going to heal you, so be nice.”

“I will…” Even as dissatisfied as she is, she complies, and Lily touches her for a few seconds, closing her wounds, and leaving my minion refreshed as all the pain disappears.

Confused, Vega blinks a few times and looks at Lily while mumbling, “I will really have to get a healer of my own...”

“Thank you, Lily,” I say, in my ungrateful minion’s place.

“No problem! Vega’s very cool, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a brave young half demon.” Lily says trying to be sneaky, though it’s easy to see through her intentions.

There is no way my minion will fall for that.

When I look down, Vega’s face seems normal. Her expression is neutral and her eyes full of curiosity. Yet I can feel her heartbeat quicken.

“Just a few years and she might be able to beat Tacita with ease,” Lily says.

The half-demon’s tiny heart beats even quicker, and I can see how hard she works not to smile.

Minion…

Once inside our house, Vega looks around full of curiosity. She seems to like the furniture; even the smallest things are new to her. But most of all, she enjoys sweets I saved up from my shopping spree. She seems especially fascinated by the smartphone.

“Master! What kind of item is this, did you make it?” She asks while holding the phone gazing at the picture I took of her.

“It’s a device made on my planet. There was no magic or mana involved in its production.”

Vega shakes the phone, only to be surprised when the picture doesn’t fade. Though she drops it, surprised as the screen darkens, slipping into battery conservation mode.

I grab it before it can crash to the floor, “Don’t worry, you didn’t break anything. It also can’t hurt you.”

“That’s weird, master. Humans are weird.”

“I guess they are. Now smile,” I point the camera at her, ready to take another pic.

“I don’t want to, master. I already did it a lot of times! I even let you take a picture of me with your minions! I don’t…”

“One more of that fruity candy you liked. I hid it before you ate them all.”

Immediately she smiles brightly, and I take a picture. When I look at the screen, it’s indeed the best one yet.

“Good job, minion,” I say, and pull the candy from my pocket and give it to her. Though this time, she takes care not to bite into the wrapping, carefully extricating the sweet before consuming it with joy.

“I’m worried about you, minion; It’s too easy to manipulate you with gifts,” I tell her.

“It’s only that way with master!”

“Sure.”

“It is!”

“You took sweets from Tess, Lily, and Maya. You even let them pinch your cheeks and hug you.”

“Master always said to get as much as possible from dumb people! I gained amazing items in exchange for that short hug. I scammed them!”

“That’s true, minion, but did you even think to ask for more?”

“More?” she asks, tilting her head.

“Yes, more. You accepted the first offer they gave you, but you should always ask for more, go back and forth, and meet somewhere in the middle. Watch.” I say turning to Lily. “You gave Vega one candy for a ten-second hug. Wouldn’t you pay three times that for the same hug?”

“Yes!” Lily answers happily.

Minion seems to be shocked, “N-no way.”

“It’s you who got scammed, minion. You might be cunning, but my group is full of weirdos, so you can’t let your guard down.”

“What should I do now, master?”

“Well, if someone scams you with the intention to hurt you, you can hurt them back; that much is obvious. If you were stronger, I would tell you to beat Lily and others, but as you are now, you would lose.”

“I could stab them when they aren’t looking or prepare an exploding orb for them!”

“That would be going too far. I know you don’t care about them, but they’re members of my group.”

“Nat, your disciple is a bit extreme. I’m not sure if I can get you to accept me as your minion like this,” Maya sighs from the couch, nomming on our snacks as always.

“That’s the problem with you. Why would I accept you as a minion with such poor resolve, right, Vega?”

“Yes! Her heart is also weak!”

“Little demon, why are you so obsessed with hearts?" Maya asks. "Why do demons like them so much?”

I catch a glimpse of the annoyance on Vega’s face before she puts on the fake smile again, “I’m half demon and half human. And a stronger heart means a stronger demon,” she says as if that should explain everything.

“Demons are usually born with a 4th trait, most of the time it is some sort of modification to their heart. The stronger the heart, the stronger the demon and they seem to prefer being around strong people,” I say, explaining to Maya and the others listening in.

“What if there is someone powerful without a strong heart?” Maya asks, teasing my minion.

But Vega doesn’t hesitate, stating that “You can’t become truly powerful without having a strong heart.” as if it were a fact.

I leave them to their fight walking into the kitchen with Sophie, Izzy, and the twins. Izzy tried to make friends with my minion, but after no end of trying, she left, tired.

“So what was the problem, Izzy? You can be honest with me.” I ask, stopping next to her.

The 11-year-old empath sighs before responding, “I had to stop using my skill around her. She is constantly ready for an attack, and I keep feeling spikes of anger from her. She’s probably imagining methods for attacking us.”

“Isn’t that normal? I used to do that all the time.”

“Yes,” Izzy agrees. “But it was much harder to detect from you! I’m at a higher level than her, so I can feel a lot even without trying. I need to level up my skill and improve my control.”

Sophie puts her hand on her sister’s shoulder and continues in her place, “Vega doesn’t trust us at all. Whenever you’re not in the room, she puts on that fake smile. And it’s almost creepy how nice she is when you are there, then she borders on clingy.”

Well, it’s not like I can refute that. She might be even more picky with people than I am. She’s reluctant to trust anyone other than me, and she only seems to respect people on the stronger end of the spectrum. Plus, Vega isn’t human, so can we even judge her with our normal human thinking?

I wave a quick goodbye and head back to my minion, who’s sitting in my armchair and poking at the armrest.

“Minion, let’s check on wolfy.”

Immediately her uninterested expression changes, a smile blooming across her face.

Dealing with other people is so much work. The trouble I’m having with Tess. Lily and her insecurities. Min-Jae and his delinquent phase. My minion, clinging to me, even as she sees the others as bugs. And right when I thought that most of my troubles were over, new ones popped up almost immediately.

Walking outside, I absent-mindedly reach down, ruffle Vega’s hair, and prod her tiny, prickly horns.

Vega smiles at me, and I can’t help but think about how different her response is. Not that long ago, she was willing to stab Tacita just for touching them.

Chapter 368 - Looking for a fight

To break the silence, I ask, “Have you been leveling your [Concentration], what about your [Mana Manipulation], and [Kinetic Barrier]?”

“Yes! All of them! [Mana Manipulation] the most. I practice every day with the mana stones you gave me.”

“Hardworking as always, minion.”

“I need to get stronger.” Vega nods seriously.

As we approach the forest, I notice a bunch of kids nearby, standing behind a fence and staring at the giant black wolf. They do seem to be scared though their curiosity has clearly won out. Most of them hail from Easy difficulty. They appear to have been accompanied by a few adults, who honestly don't seem much better.

Even from this distance, I hear one of the kids shout towards the wolf, “Nya nya nya!”

“Oliver, I told you to stop saying that!” The man, probably the boy's father, shouts before slapping the back of his head.

“You got it wrong, Oliver! You should only be adding it to the end of the sentence because…” the second boy doesn't finish because the man slaps the back of his head as well.

We don’t hear much more as their conversation fades from the range of our hearing. I turn to Vega, “Minion, have you given any consideration to saying nya at the end of your sentences? Long ago, it was some…”

“I won’t do it!”

I see. Humanity is doomed.

Lynthari and human 0, half demons 1.

“So how are things going?” I ask as we approach Tess and Gareth, who are still conversing with the black wolf, patiently sitting nearby with Biscuit on his head.

“He’s been surprisingly nice,” Gareth says.

“We’ve gotten a few “tiny” bits of information,” Tess adds.

“Anything fun?” I ask.

“We were right, there are 14 Rulers. One for each Radiance and Blight. Each one is usually much more powerful than a given Absolute, and most of them used to be Absolutes. The number seems to have been limited by the system itself, and there can’t be more than one for each Radiance or Blight.”

“We expected that much, didn’t we?”

“Yes, but it’s nice to have it confirmed. What is fun is that in some very rare cases, a powerful Absolute can potentially defeat and even kill a Ruler and take his place. Sometimes the title of a Ruler is hereditary, an Absolute can receive the ruler’s powers via a ceremony. In some cases you need to kill them or have a better handle on your Radiance or Blight, it differs from Ruler to Ruler.”

“That’s kind of unexpected but not that surprising if you think about it,” I say.

“Yes, it also seems like being called Absolute isn’t just for the sake of it, and some Absolutes are much more powerful than others. We tried to get more, but the system censored a lot. Floors, Rulers, Absolutes, information on future tournaments, the System, Pairing, factors outside the scope of the tutorial.”

(It’s still too early for you, human. Just trust in the system, and gradually everything will be revealed.) The black wolf snorts, his breath bending the grass in its path like a strong wind.

“I don’t want to,” I tell him.

(It matters not what you want or do not want, human.)

Well, if this young wolf isn’t just as cheeky as his master. Still, I have to wonder why someone as high-leveled as the wolf needed a master. Him becoming a disciple can mean only one thing: he was about to die. Like every other disciple, he was saved from death by being sent to the tutorial, at which point he became a disciple, after being picked by the system due to their similarity to a participant.

“So how did you become Biscuit’s disciple?” It's simpler to just ask than stress over it.

(Master possesses the same primordial energy I do, and even though master isn’t as high-leveled yet, his mastery over it is much greater than mine.)

Biscuit, you cool little thing.

Sensing my pride, he lets out a gentle woof from atop his disciple’s head.

“What kind of energy is it?”

(Human, this is not the kind of information to be shared. The primordial energy my master and I possess is extremely rare, more so than the five that are usually known. You also seem to possess primordial energy, I can smell it.)

“Maybe, maybe not. So, is your primordial energy really that powerful?”

(It’s rarer than most. As with the others, its power relies on its bearer. Human, you are indeed stupid and ill-informed. That much should be basic knowledge, you should already know if you reached the first tournament.)

“Sure. You said your predecessor was an ancient wolf and devourer of planets. Was he a Ruler?”

(My predecessor was the first in our line to possess the primordial energy my master and I share. He was one of the most powerful Absolutes to ever live, human. Even Rulers shook in fear of his blinding power!)

The wolf seems simple. He likes to trash-talk, but he is weirdly naive and likes to show off. From a certain point of view, he may as well be similar in age to Vega. That reminds me that I have a promise to fulfill to my minion.

“Biscuit, can my minion pet your disciple?”

(I will not be pet by one of those crazed demons!)

(Food.)

“Of course, I will. I’m sure we will find more deer sooner or later.”

(Food!)

“Thank you.”

As I pick up Vega to boost ourselves onto the wolf’s head, I hear Gareth ask, “Sset, am I the only one who is taking this seriously?”

Landing on the top of the giant wolf’s head, I stride over to Biscuit and put Vega down. My minion quickly drops to her knees and burrows her hands into the the black wolf’s thick fur. Judging by her smile, I can only guess that she came to like petting dangerous animals after her experience with Ashenwolf. Nice, another person converted.

Meanwhile, Biscuit’s disciple is suspiciously quiet, and for some reason, I find it funny. It’s almost like I’m teasing a little kid.

I sit down next to Vega, and Biscuit floats over to my legs so that I can pet him.

After the end of the 5th Floor it feels nice to have some time to relax and spend at least a week in a safe place. Maybe that’s part of the system’s intent, letting people unwind and interact with others from Earth so that they can have some fun before being thrown back to the floors. Just a week of that.

From my previous conversations with the others, I’ve found that most of the people from the other difficulties aren’t that hostile or suspicious. Everyone here is going through the same situation, so we share that experience with each other. That seems to build a relationship between us pitting us against the tutorial, bringing us closer together, and smoothing over petty differences.

Of course, there are exceptions, like the murderer from Easy difficulty, BenDover from Hell, and a few more people I don’t even know the names of. But I know Tess and others are dealing with them.

That’s another reason for me to keep an eye on Vega. It is possible that she can’t die here, the aura might just be an area effect. But there is also the possibility that its effect only applies to people from Earth. So it would be stupid to risk it. Tacita has shown me how little it would take. So at all times, Vega will be either near me or with Tess, Lily, and Soph.

Still, there are Savant and Tacita to worry about. The only people capable of doing anything to her even with others protecting her. I don’t think they would try anything, but I’m an untrusting person, so I need to prepare for anything.

“Wolfy, what’s your name?” I ask him.

(I won’t be telling you my name, human.)

“So stubborn,” I say tapping on the top of his head, something I’m not sure he even felt. Then I watch as Vega moves closer and stops just an arm’s reach away from Biscuit, who eyes her curiously.

Vega carefully reaches her hand and touches his nose with her pointing finger. She does it extremely carefully and gently, something she saw me doing.

Biscuit lets it happen, watching her with his intelligent eyes. He then licks her finger, and she pulls her hand back quickly in response, surprise overtaking her face.

Her eyes jump from Biscuit to me and then back to Biscuit, and she reaches again. This time she lets him lick her hand, and surprised by her own reaction, she giggles.

Biscuit woofs at her, and Vega moves closer and touches his forehead, his cheek, and then carefully and slowly puts her small hand on top of his head. When she starts caressing him, Biscuit closes his eyes, patiently enduring her clumsy attempts at affection.

“What do you think?” I ask, leaning back to watch as she pets him.

“It’s weird, master. I know he is smarter and stronger than me, but I don’t feel like I need to worry about him hurting me. And it’s not just because I have you here with me.” As she speaks, she stops petting Biscuit, until he chuffs at her, leading her to quickly continue.

In response I ask the black wolf, “Did you hear that? Why can’t you be more like your master?”

The black wolf decides to keep his dignity and stays quiet.

“Maybe you would master your primordial energy as well as Biscuit if you behaved like him.” I tease.

Silence.

“I bet that ancient predecessor of yours wasn’t so uptight like you. He probably...”

(Human.) He interrupts me finally, (If you are looking for a fight, let’s fight.) As he growls, I feel its deep rumble in my bones and the ground beneath me. It reverberates in my chest as we square off.

“Let’s do it.”

We face off against each other, having moved to the edge of the common area, relocating to a big clearing surrounded by trees on three sides. Far enough away to avoid causing any damage to the common area at large, not to mention the houses, and camps there. I think. Details… who needs to care about such little things. I just know I’m excited.

This tournament is fun and all, but at the same time, it feels fake, no real danger has been presented to me. It’s almost to the point that I can’t wait to return to the floors to experience some real danger, and yet even though this is just as fake, it feels more real. It feels strange to say, but that’s the only way I can describe the sensation.

Nearby, I see Tess with the rest of group 4 and Vega in between them. They’ve learned from our previous experience and so they’ve taken greater precautions, going so far as to set a barrier in advance. It’s not like they are close; actually, they are pretty far, but better safe than sorry.

The wolf in front of me stretches and shakes, his teeth bared in imitation of a smile. He doesn’t say anything, the kind and boyish atmosphere around him is gone. Instead, every one of his movements feels dangerous, like that of a predator, and his golden eyes take on a vicious glow.

I can already feel my heart pumping madly, so I better calm down so that I don’t hurt him too much. We still don’t know if our disciples can die here, and I promised not to hurt him. I know there are even more people than Group 4 watching. Some of them are curious, and others are bored and hoping for an exciting fight.

At this point, there is no sense in hiding anything. Of course, I fully intend to hold back, I don’t want to hurt him after all, but I don’t exactly need to hide my abilities either.

The first to attack is the black wolf. One moment he stands there, a towering giant. In the next, his body shrinks to half of his original size. Though it’s still massive.

His maw snaps shut around the space I formerly occupied and he charges me again, moving so quickly just with the sheer power of his stats.

I dodge again, black mana seeping into my body from an orb embedded inside me, as I match his speed, opening our battle with a hit and run game of tag.

He lashes out with a paw, mana trailing his claws. He snaps his maw shut, sending a small shockwave through the air. I retaliate by shooting a mana projectile at him, and he dodges, only for his senses to pick up a concentrated blast of kinetic energy, which he dodges as well. Nimbly moving on his legs, he keeps his golden eyes on me, his speed increasing as his body continues to shrink, leaving me struggling to avoid him. The stalemate continues as each of us waits for the other to use any other skill beginning to fight in earnest.

I see amusement in his eyes as I let my [Mana Crown] form over my head so I can flood my body with more black mana from the orb inside. His amusement quickly disappears when armor surrounds my body and becomes denser and bigger, creating a mech made of mana.

[Redistribution] holds him down for a moment, and the massive arm of my mana mech grabs hold of his shrunken body.

There are no more childish screams or complaints anymore; instead, he shows me all of his teeth, bearing his fangs in all their terrible beauty.

Through my Mana Wavelength Iris, I watch his mana swirl, as his body grows to its original size.

But my mana mech grows with it, my crown serving to keep the mana I’m releasing under control, with some assistance from [Mana Domain] and [Mana Manipulation]. The armor surrounding me matches his rate of growth, gradually turning a lighter shade of blue until I use [Redistribution] and [Infusion] to shore up the gaps with mana.

The wolf is now the same size he was before and a bit more, and my armor equals his size, dark blue mana surrounding me.

Finally, he gets away from my hand and jumps back, the ground exploding under his feet as he lowers his body and charges at me.

I take a wad of kinetic energy I’ve been compressing in my Vortex Core and use it to help maneuver the mana armor surrounding me, and we clash into each other.

Instead of a clash of wit and attempts to take each other down smartly, it turns into a brawl between two equally stubborn individuals.

Chapter 369 - Hide it from others

Moving the huge suit of armor takes time, but it's fun, and I had already decided that I would need to practice against an opponent like this. The ones I wouldn’t be able to damage with ranged attacks and would need to engage at close quarters.

The wolf bites into my side, and my arms move, grabbing him around his neck. But there’s another factor at play. There’s some kind of weird field around his body that disrupts and absorbs mana anywhere it comes into contact with him.

It isn’t quick nor is it all that strong; rather, its effects manifest as a gradual and unstoppable pull. It continues even as I tighten my hold on my mana by expanding my domain and adding my crown to the mix.

Just like that, it eats my mana. Not unlike Savant’s penchant for absorbing attacks to store for later use, but the wolf seems to be… eating and transforming it? It’s not even like what Noodle’s been doing and I can’t really grasp the difference.

My leg moves, and I slam my knee into his head before letting go, causing the giant beast to stumble back and shake his head. I follow through immediately, closing the distance while keeping an eye on my mana reserves.

Once again, the wolf fails to dodge and lets me slam into him, his teeth burying into the mana of my mech and tearing out chunks that I have to reform at an exorbitant mana cost.

As a reward, I punch him in the head, getting a growl from him before punching him again.

He jumps back, mana surrounding his body, preparing to activate some kind of skill. As he does, I turn and tear a few trees from the ground complete with roots, and throw them at the wolf. Each one hits, dirt pouring from the roots.

Boosting my armor with what remains in my Vortex Core, I charge him again, each step shaking the earth.

Again, he waits for me, but this time, before we clash, his head and mouth become much bigger. A shadowy aura of eerie mana engulfs him, and his expression grows darker.

Like a horror existing only to consume everything.

The giant maw is about to snap around the entirety of my armor in a single bite when I let go of it, ejecting myself from the wolf while taking as much mana and kinetic energy as possible with me.

Reduced to my original size, I crash into the ground and watch as that giant maw gulps down what remains of my armor and the black wolf returns to normal. Almost normal anyway, he’s still enveloped in that same eerie mana.

A deep growl reverberates through the clearing, almost like a laugh, as the black wolf licks his chops. His eyes narrowed in a cruel expression, full of ill intentions as he takes a step towards me.

I float into the air to meet him, my body rising to the height of his head.

His maw is open, fangs bared, body lowered into a predatorial crouch, and he keeps his steps soft as if he were stalking unsuspecting prey. The golden eyes are squinted into a dangerous expression.

For a moment, we face each other down, and then with a deep growl, he bites at me.

Black mana seeps into my body, much more intensely than before, and the crown over my head shines brighter. I use [Redistribution], and the black wolf halts his movement, maw open ready to strike, yet the giant body fails to move.

I convert more of my mana into its black variant, making use of [Focus], [Mana Manipulation], and [Redistribution], powering the skill holding the black wolf.

There was a time, not so long ago, that the amount of kinetic energy flowing through my body would have been enough to disintegrate me on the spot, and yet now it’s doable. I make that kinetic energy my own, change its frequency, and release it all in a single powerful blast that sends the wolf’s huge body flying.

The wolf crashes to the ground, rolls a few times, and bulldozes through the forest, bowling over dozens of trees.

Before he can stand up, I’m there, floating over him and grasping him once again, holding him in place despite his struggles.

Finding himself unable to move anything but his mana, tendrils as black as his fur extend from his body, their length extending multiple times beyond that of the wolf´s body. They swirl around, destroying the ground and the trees before they thrust towards me.

I create a black orb in front of myself, absorbing the mana constructs rushing towards me with ease. It pulls the moment they enter its range, devouring the black tendrils, sucking them in, and growing more powerful in the process.

(That mana!) His voice rumbles in my head, for the first time since the battle started.

Once again, the field around the wolf changes, eating away at the mana I’m using to power my [Redistribution], as he attempts to escape my hold. Before he can do that, I reach out to the black orb that absorbed his attacks and touch it, forcing it to elongate into the form of a javelin twice my height.

Just as the wolf is about to escape, the javelin made of black mana embeds itself deep within his hind leg.

He attempts to turn his head to pull it free, but he freezes mid-movement, and his eyes shift back to me.

There I float in front of his head, a tricolored orb floating over the palm of my hand. Filled with my mana, ready to explode. Just a little push is all it needs.

I watch as he growls, his teeth snapping right in front of me out of anger, all while the black javelin devours his mana faster and faster.

“Do you know anything about that mana?” I ask him, gesturing at the javelin sprouting from his leg.

I can’t help but find his expression amusing, so I reach out and boop his nose which, now that I look, is almost bigger than me. After reabsorbing the mana from the tricolored orb I fly over to the javelin and pull it free while boosting my body.

Right away, it starts trying to devour my mana, and though it once again fries my brain, killing me in the process, I manage to put it under my control. It seems like I’ve grown careless within the common area, and the tournament as a whole. It also absorbed a lot more of the wolf’s mana than I thought.

Well, it’s not really a problem; I wouldn’t have even died if I hadn’t lost my concentration.

When I fly over to the black wolf and show him the javelin, he stays quiet.

“Is it some kind of secret?”

He growls, (I don’t know how much I should tell, so I’d rather stay quiet.)

“Is it rare?” I wave the javelin, which is growing more annoying by the second as it threatens to subvert my control.

(Extremely rare, human. You shouldn’t have it. Hide it from others.)

“I was already told to hide my eyes and my primordial energies. It’s annoying. What now? Do you mean to tell me that I can’t make use of any of my abilities?”

Following my lead, his mana calms down, and he settles into a less aggressive stance, as his eyes regain their usual shine.

(This is different from traits, primordial energies, or even bearing powerful passive and active skills, human. People might want someone with a powerful trait to try to steal it or breed with you in hopes of securing it for their own lineage.)

W-what?!

He takes a moment to sniff at the black javelin. (Primordial energies are also rare, and their holders can be kidnapped to learn from them or for the purpose of experimentation on bodies capable of containing primordial energies. Sometimes they are enslaved. But none of that really matters human. No matter what you do, there will always be more beings lusting for power. It doesn’t matter if it’s a skill, a passive, mind control, healing, primordial energies, or a powerful trait.)

The black wolf then pulls away from the black javelin and looks at me instead, (I’ve never seen it with my own eyes, but even still I’ve heard about it. There have only been four beings in the last few millennia that have possessed it. Each of them…)

The rest of the words get censored to my surprise, and the wolf notices it as well.

This is unexpected. I could understand information on Pairing and the First Generation being censored as they are about the system, but this? Did the Ruler’s intent interfere again? Was it the Ruler of Greed or is this somehow connected to information the system doesn’t think I should have access to? Another thing to add to the ever-growing list of mysteries.

“You held back during the fight, why?”

(Human, don’t make me call you stupid again. You and your group belong to my master’s pack. And unlike my master, I'm not as good at controlling my primordial energy, so I didn’t want to hurt you. And you held back for the same reasons. I can see that crazed look in your eyes when you fight, I can smell it pour off of you, and see it in your movements. You and that little demon are the same.)

“I will have to take that as a compliment.”

(Do as you wish, asshole human! We will fight the next time we meet. But for now, I need to receive feedback from my master and his teachings. I don’t have much time left here.)

His wound has already begun to close, as he walks back through the wreckage of what was once part of the forest.

Now that he’s no longer surrounded by that eerie primordial energy, he once again feels like a bratty young boy. A giant bratty young boy with fangs as long as I am tall, yup.

Well, it was a nice warm-up, but it doesn't feel satisfying, so I just have to pin my hopes on the two remaining events. The Duels and the Chronicle of the Past, whatever that means.

Sitting on the terrace of our house, I’m taking a moment to enjoy the soft breeze in my hair and the sweetly scented air, it smells like summer. As I have many times before, I take a deep breath in and take a sip from a bottle of sugary soda from Earth that I bought for two uncommon items. I even used my skill to absorb its thermal energy, thus chilling it to just the right temperature.

Off to the side, Izzy is showing Noodle to Vega, the kind pyromaniac girl still trying to make friends.

Biscuit floats in the air in front of his disciple and dispenses his wisdom to the giant wolf.

Between them and the other members of Group 4, there aren’t many people around. They’re all engrossed in cooking meat on the fire, talking, sparring, and practicing their skills.

There were some complaints after my light spar with wolfy. A few dozen people from Easy difficulty lost consciousness. Again. At this point, I can’t help but be reminded of those fainting goats I once saw on TV.

Some people even complained, but it's not like anyone asked them to watch. At least most of them were smart enough to stay quiet. Channeler said that sooner or later people might start screaming and running away or kneeling in worship at the sight of me. I deeply despise either option.

Wanting to change my thoughts, I look at Tess who has taken the opportunity to steal my other can of soda and is now sipping on it, just opposite me. She, more than anyone, seems to be enjoying this, even though all she’s doing is sitting to the side and watching everyone have fun.

I guess a big part of all of this is thanks to her. I don’t think Group 4 would be as close as we are otherwise.

Tess Hansen is slightly taller than me. Her blonde hair now ends just below her shoulders, once again she’s gotten a new haircut. Her gray eyes are calm, but her face freely displays her emotions. She is only 20 years old, two years younger than me. Yet she did all of this.

And it's not like I can ignore it. Even the duplicate's last wish was a request for me to let them in and accept them as my friends, not to mention the apology I owe my mother. I do not take these words lightly, so even though I'm not fully feeling it, I am willing to accept the fact that the duplicate, knowing he would die, knew best the kinds of regrets I would have.

“I’m sorry.”

Tess turns to me, for a moment confused, but she quickly comes to understand. She examines me and I let her by returning her gaze.

“Apology not accepted,” she says with a soft smile.

“I see.” It’s the obvious result. If I was in her place, I can only think that my choice would be the same.

“Was this how you meant to apologize?” Tess asks.

“No. At first, I wanted to give you some items. Maybe make a weapon for you, a few epic javelins. Or I could buy anything you want from the shop with my shards.”

“So why did you change your mind?” She asks, propping up her chin with her hands as she stares at me.

“For a while, I thought that giving you something of value would make it easier. Like I’d be paying you back. To show my intentions and willingness to sacrifice my own possessions to make amends.”

She nods, “That sounds like you, but you didn’t do it in the end.”

“No. I did not. I thought you would prefer an honest apology to being bought off.”

“You are right,” she agrees.

“But you rejected it.”

“I rejected it because I don’t think you fully mean it yet. I can see a hint of true honesty, but you’re not quite there yet.” She leans back in the chair and takes a sip, enjoying the taste of the sugary soda in her mouth. “It's close, but there's still a little bit missing.”

“Got it.”

“So just this once I’m going to be petty, Nat. I’m going to let you apologize to me a few times. I will let you feel the full breadth of these confusing emotions and I will have fun while doing so. Watching you squirm, so close to understanding but not quite there.”

“That sounds like fun.”

“For me, for sure. For you, it will be a bit worse.” Her smile shows her teeth.

Well, it's not like I don’t understand. Nothing is ever that simple. But I will stay the course my duplicate has set for me until I understand things properly.

Chapter 370 - Cruelty in you

Just a few minutes remain until the black wolf returns home. Biscuit's token only afforded them 12 hours, rather than the 24 granted by mine. However, in that time we did manage to get some information out of him and he got to continue his training with Biscuit. Somehow.

It’s still an interesting sight to see a burrito-shaped corgi floating in front of a giant wolf who quietly listens and nods along. I bet if he could, he would be taking notes. He has that much reverence for Biscuit.

The black wolf was about to die, then he was saved by the system and summoned to be Biscuit's disciple. Right away, he understood the majesty of the jerky addict Biscuit and his control over the primordial energy that they share. Even though his level is higher, just knowing that he was willing to learn from Biscuit and even revered him as his master shows quite a bit about his personality.

At the start of his visit, he complained and growled at us a lot, but towards the end, he closed his eyes as Vega and the other members of Group 4, gathered to pet him.

Obviously, he still complained about the wound to his dignity, but it’s not like it changed anything.

There are even a few dozen photos in Izzy’s smartphone gallery, mixed in with pictures of Vega and our group. The smartphone is being kept charged by solar panels running campsite chargers. That smartphone is now on the table nearby, playing cheerful J-pop. Tess’s favorite.

It took a while for Vega to get used to our style of sorcery, but now I notice her humming along with the phone when she thinks no one’s watching.

While others wait in the clearing, I’m sitting off to the side, moving mana inside of my body. Compressing and decompressing it, testing the limits of my body when it comes to using black mana to power my skills. It’s something I’ve been doing almost constantly here in the common area.

I’m sure I would make better progress training outside, with real danger, even so, it helps to know my limits.

How much black mana can I use to strengthen my body and how much will kill me? How long can I keep it under control? If I generate too much too quickly, how much abuse can my body take? What passive is helping the most when it comes to handling it and what happens when I turn off this or that passive? Can my epic healing passive keep up with black mana damaging my body? If so, to what point?

And there are always more questions. Testing my eyes, my strengthened mana circuit.

[Redistribution - lvl 47 > Redistribution - lvl 48]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 44 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 45]

[Mana Domain - lvl 37 > Mana Domain - lvl 38]

[Mana Crown - lvl 21 > Mana Crown - lvl 22]

The process of leveling my skills has been going pretty well, and from what I've seen, I’m not the only one from Hell difficulty taking the opportunity to train, I’m not even the only person in Group 4.

Then there are those from Hard difficulty who seem like they want to move up to Hell. There aren’t many of them, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they use it after the tournament. Samuel is not one of these people, preferring to stay with his group and grow stronger as a unit.

Everyone is also using this opportunity to plan, and it might have been part of the intent behind the tournament. even the system told us to take the opportunity to speak with the other attendees, the First Generation of Earth.

The black wolf stands up and looks down at Vega, tapping on his front paw.

(Master is smart indeed, assholes, all of you,) he seemingly can’t help but say.

But that’s when Biscuit returns from the house, two purple tentacles holding a small bag which he places in front of the young black wolf after wobbling over on his short legs.

(Food.)

The curious black wolf creates two shadowy tendrils of his own and opens the bag. Inside, there are dozens of pieces of deer jerky. The ones I used to bribe Biscuit into letting me challenge the black wolf, and even more from the ones the corgi was saving up.

With his pink tongue lolling from his mouth, Biscuit's expression has all the charm of a cheeky smile.

(Master… I can’t,) the wolf sounds moved.

(Food!) The corgi’s tentacles move and slide the bag close to the wolf. his voice is firm.

In response, the black wolf lowers his head, dozens of times bigger than Biscuit. Biscuit floats into the air, lifts his front right paw, and boops his disciple’s nose.

(Thank you, master.)

Only a few seconds remain.

“I will see you soon, Wolfy! Next time, I will be stronger and I’ll make you my minion just like your master is a minion to my master!” Vega is smiling as she says so. “So get stronger so that I don’t have to be ashamed of you!”

(Crazed half demon,) the wolf snorts.

“Thank you for all the help and for enduring it all. It was nice meeting you.” Tess says, giving a small bow which the black wolf returns.

“Take care, wolfy!” Lily shouts.

“I hope you get even bigger! As big as a city!”

“But don’t forget us! I’m going to brag about meeting you .” The twins shout, seizing the opportunity to toss in their two cents, as does the rest of the group.

Just before the wolf disappears through a door we can’t see, his golden eyes find me sitting on the roof of our house.

(Asshole human, take care of my master. He is too nice for his own good as are some of the human members of your pack. You and I both know that mere strength is insufficient, sometimes you need to make hard decisions and be cruel.)

I nod.

(I saw that cruelty in you and it will help you. But, human, get stronger. Get someone to declare you a Champion candidate and find yourself a good master. You are powerful and prideful, I agree, but don’t be too stubborn to receive guidance from those you deem worthy. Like I did.)

“I’ll think about it,” I whisper.

Afterward, he turns away and takes one last gentle look at Biscuit and nudges him carefully with his giant nose.

Then the wolf disappears, returning to his world.

Isabella and Vega are watching as I craft an item. It’s just a simple dagger with the simplest of inscriptions.

I even let them try it on their own while I offer them advice.

The results are terrible, but Isabella keeps jumping up excitedly when she does something correctly.

Vega gradually changes her bearing and manages a few genuine smiles. At least they feel more honest than before, even given the presence of another.

I watch as Vega attacks Tacita again, the mute girl appearing out of nowhere for another round of teasing my disciple.

Once again, Tacita takes a harsh stance, shaking her head every time Vega takes too long to complete a task.

Vega spends the next two hours being mentored by Tacita, who seems to have taken a liking to the daring girl and for some reason seems to be fascinated by her horns.

Each time Tacita touches her horns Vega attacks her all over again, growing more aggressive with each prod.

After some time, Tacita grows bored with the exercise and leaves after touching Vega’s horns one last time.

In the living room, the twins and Min-Jae sit opposite Vega, taking a short break for some food.

When Min-Jae slides some sweets he hid toward her, Vega takes them shamelessly and quickly eats them as if she was worried he was going to take them

The young boy watches with a smile as she stuffs her cheeks while the twins make fun of her.

“You should thank him. Min-Jae was saving these sweets for himself,” I tell her.

“Master almost never thanks anyone!”

The twins stop laughing when I look at them, and Min-Jae hides his smile.

As a reward, Vega gets an extremely sour candy from me.

I watch her face scrunch and her eyes squint. I’m sure she knows why it's happening, yet the little half-demon refuses to give up even on very sour food and still eats the candy.

“Can I take him with me?” Vega asks while holding Noodle, her hand moving across his scales, savoring the sensation.

“Noodle is mine!” Isabella shouts, indignant.

“You said you wanted to be friends? Aren’t friends supposed to give each other gifts?” Vega asks innocently, but I can see her red eyes shine and the corner of her lips lift.

Even Isabella must feel her emotions.

“You… you!”

“I think you lied then.” Vega hugs Noodle and continues to pet him.

The white snake with emerald eyes just looks at me almost as if he blames me for his current situation.

Sorry, bud.

“You feel strong, you just need a better heart,” my minion says seriously.

“I already have a plan in place to make that happen. Nat, and I are going to work on some modifications. I experimented with the remains of a Fallen Hero’s heart and learned more from a Champion’s body, and Nat’s heart,” Lily declares with cheer.

“Tess, Nat is continuing to ruin poor Lily,” Maya shouts in the direction of the living room loud enough to be heard from the kitchen, where we’ve set up shop.

“Lily’s already a lost cause,” Tess shouts back.

“You are probably the smartest of master’s underlings! The gray smoke you showed me felt really strong. I’m sure it’s a skill some powerful demon created long ago. If you get a powerful heart, you will be strong!”

“I’m already pretty strong.”

“But your heart is weak,” Vega says, confused.

(Nat, can you come here for a moment?) Tess sends through the link.

(Sure.)

Leaving Lily and the minion to argue, I head to the living room and then follow Tess outside, onto the terrace.

I strengthen the field around us that makes it impossible for others to listen, and both of us disconnect from the web.

“The murderer from Easy difficulty is gone,” she says seriously.

I quickly check the anchor I placed on him, and find the connection severed.

Right after, I check our surroundings and Vega, but I sense nothing. I repeat it a few times to the point that not even Tacita would be able to escape my senses, but there is nothing.

“He’s not here,” Tess shakes her head, “he left the tournament.”

“I thought it wasn’t possible to leave the tournament.”

“Yes, we thought the same thing. We even paid someone from Easy to try to leave as the tournament started and he couldn’t. But you should check the Community numbers, Nat.”

Something in her tone makes me do just that.

Easy difficulty: 1319/2000
Normal difficulty: 862/1000
Hard difficulty: 241/500
Hell difficulty: 39/250
Beyond: 7/10

Oh. That’s interesting. Easy difficulty has one less attendee and Hell difficulty’s gained one.

“It’s possible that he got a reward from the tournament before he left, he did pretty well during previous events. Maybe it allowed him to enter Hell difficulty even though it was only possible to jump on a level higher or lower before.”

“Or he had help from our nosy friend. It sounds like something the Intent would do.”

“Yeah. That’s an option.” She says, nodding solemnly. “We wasted our opportunity to get rid of that man.”

“That’s not like you to be worried over some weak guy.”

“I know, but you could say that I’ve grown paranoid. If the Intent that’s been messing with this tutorial was willing to risk angering the Ruler of Greed and did that, he must have had something in mind. And I don’t think it was anything good for us.”

“Don’t expect it to get any better,” I say.

“What do you mean?”

“The Intent is here because of the guy who started in Beyond. The Intent is probably a fragment of a Ruler, and the Rulers have a bit of sway over the tutorial even though it seems like Ruler of Greed has primary control of our if not all tutorials. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the other Rulers come crawling out of the woodwork to watch the guy and mess with us in the process.”

Tess sighs, “That’s just great.”

“There’s nothing we can do about it. We will deal with it when we come to it. Just make sure the others are training as hard as possible when they’re in the common area. If we can get stronger, we will have more leeway.”

“They’re already doing so much, Nat. Sophie weakened some of their memories so they can continue to train and die. I know, I know. Don’t look at me like that. Not everyone can handle dying here as well as you do. But we will be ready when the 6th Floor comes. But I need to ask you once again to keep your distance so they can face real danger and improve on their own.”

“Sounds good. Gather the others so they can say goodbye to Vega and I’ll take her to Miwa and Channeler. After that, Vega is going to leave”

I’ve only got a few more hours with my minion, and after that, it’s two more days of the tournament. Then it's back to the Astral Prison.

Chapter 371 - Sparring

The first stop is Channeler, who I’ve had preparing a few opponents for Vega from the lower difficulties. In part, so that she can gain some experience in a relatively safe space, though I mostly want to see how these guys handle the little half-demon.

I locate one of my anchors opting to fly over instead of teleporting. I head over to the anchor until I reach Channeler who’s surrounded by almost a hundred people.

"Sorry, they were curious and wanted to watch. Most of them have been cooperative," Channeler says by way of greeting.

"That’s fine," I tell him before turning to Vega to get one last confirmation. "Are you ready, minion? The plan is for you to fight until we find someone about as strong as you, and then for you to spar with them."

"Can I stop holding back? Like with that girl where I couldn't hear her heart?"

"Sure, go all out. I’ll interfere if it's going to be too much."

Having her answer, Vega stretches in imitation of me, staring in the direction of the hodgepodge of people from Easy, Normal, and a few curious individuals from Hard difficulty that Channeler’s managed to round up.

"We can start with George and Susan; they are both from Easy difficulty."

"Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea," I say, examining them.

"I know it’s going to be two versus one, but they won't hurt your disciple. They’re quite..."

"That's not what I meant."

"Oh," his expression turns serious. "Then give me a moment."

While Channeler goes to the group of people, I turn to Vega, "Change of plans, minion. Start slowly, and if they are weak, stop fighting. Find out if they can keep up before putting in too much effort."

"Why? If they’re really that weak, they need to know!"

"Channeler spent a lot of effort pulling these people together, and I don't want them to think he did this just so a 6-year-old girl could curb stomp them."

"Minion Channeler should just be happy that master keeps him around!” Vega says.

"I know where you are coming from, minion, but try to think about the future. If I cause too much trouble for him, he’ll find someone else to work for."

"You should let him if he’s really that dumb,” she says, “there’s no reason for you to work with people like that!"

"Minion, you’re being too naive. There are situations where you want something, and you can't avoid people. Having someone who understands you and deals with them in your place is invaluable."

"Is that true?" Vega asks, seeming to suspect me of lying.

"It’s true, minion," I say, ruffling her hair out of habit. "So respect these people and keep them close. They won't work for free, so make sure to make it worth their time. Otherwise, they may leave you in the lurch at the first opportunity."

"Demons wouldn't do that! They only follow the strong, so I need to become strong enough that they don’t leave!"

"That may be minion. But I still want you to think about it, okay?"

After my minion nods in agreement, Channeler comes back, just in time.

"We’ve decided to start with George and Susan from Easy. I already explained everything to them." He says.

"Sounds good."

I give Vega a push, and she steps forward, even now I’m keeping my full suite of senses focused on her. I might really be paranoid.

Once the woman and man from Easy difficulty finally square off against her, the fight starts.

It's Vega who attacks first, and 5 seconds later, the man and the woman roll on the ground. Nothing seems to be broken, except maybe their pride.

Good minion, she did what I asked her to.

"Please, Noname, can you tell your disciple to hold back a bit? I didn't know she was that strong," Channeler whispers, coming to me after checking the man and woman over for injuries.

"She did hold back. A lot." I whisper in response.

"But you said she was level 62."

"Yes."

"But... okay, forget about it. Let's try Jon from Normal. He is one of the stronger ones there and should at least be higher level than she is."

After I agree, the short, muscular, and wide man moves to face Vega.

There is already a weak, almost transparent mana armor around his body with a deeper shade of blue around his forearms. The palms of his hands are darker yet, covered in a strange form of mana.

Once again, Vega charges first, not even creating a dagger in her hand.

She dodges under the man's kick altering her speed multiple times in quick succession in an effort to confuse the man and throw him off. She then closes in on him, burying her knee in his crotch in one smooth movement.

Unfortunately for the man, her knee sends a weak burst of kinetic energy through. The mana armor around him flickers as he almost loses control over his skill, and with a groan, Jon stumbles back.

Before he can say anything, Vega kicks him again hammering away at the same spot, breaking through the stronger armor around his forearms and piercing his last defense.

For a moment, I think she might attack again, but she stops and looks down at the adult man rolling on the ground with a confused expression on her face.

"Master, he isn't even hurt that much. It's just a little pain. Why is he lying down? He would be dead if this was a real fight." She asks, turning to me.

While Channeler rushes to the man, she rejoins me, and I quickly create a barrier around us to keep anyone from hearing her and thus preserve what remains of the man's dignity.

"He is older than me and has more mana too. But he’s weak and slow. And he gave up so easily. I didn't even use the kick at its full power so it couldn't have hurt that much." Vega sighs disappointed.

Even though she tries to hide it, I notice a hint of a smug smile on her face as she watches her defeated opponent.

Damn it, minion.

The last hope of protecting the tutorial attendees' dignity is the man from Hard difficulty.

Well, there are three of them, but Channeler only picks one while the remaining two talk and laugh.

I think I heard something interesting, so I try to strengthen my hearing in that way that some members of my group can. But I'm only able to hear bits and pieces of their conversation. Being able to listen to others isn't an ability I’ve ever found to be worth the time investment.

In the end, I turn back to Vega and her opponent as they take their place. His level should be closer to 100, so he should have a good shot at defeating my minion.

Unlike the others, he also radiates more mana, and his body strengthening seems better. Another melee build, seemingly, though he does seem to have a weak sheet of weak lightning arcing across his body as he seizes the initiative.

Vega waits until the last moment, and with her body boosted by kinetic energy, she dodges to the side, launching a single mana projectile at the man who dodges it and charges her again. Vega creates a dagger in her hand, and the man also radiates more mana, the lightning around him flickering even beyond his body which he uses to ward her off.

The minion used to melee range, doesn't seem to like it. It’s clearly a barrier between her and the kind of fight she enjoys.

Even so, she doesn't hesitate and releases more mana, forming a weak imitation of mana armor.

With a strong push of kinetic energy, she reaches the man even as his kick lands on her arm, leaving a scorched mark behind.

For a short moment, the man looks towards me, expecting me to stop the fight. It almost costs him, and he barely blocks the kick aimed at his nether regions.

As an answer, a burst of lightning shoots towards Vega, and the armor around her body moves, all the mana concentrating on her forearm which she uses to block it.

She launches another orb of mana, boosted by her kinetic energy at the man who hastily avoids it, only for Vega to use the opportunity to close distance, with a knife in hand. The move seems to be an imitation of Tacita's style, with a hint of my minion's aggressiveness and her skills as a crutch to get her out of any tricky situations she happens to land in.

But before she can even connect, the man moves at a higher speed, and his kick sends Vega rolling on the grass as she clumsily tries to absorb her own momentum.

The man once again checks with me, and seeing that I don't mind, he sighs. Then he follows my gaze and notices a mana knife lodged in his calf.

An expression of surprise is quickly replaced by pain, and he pulls it out, the mana dissolving once Vega’s dismissed it.

Getting back on her feet, my minion smiles with determination, despite the burn marks on her skin, and the scratches covering her body. Her shoulder also seems to be dislocated.

So cool.

"Minion, say 'I can do this all day.'"

"I can do this all day!" she shouts and charges the man again.

They clash shortly multiple times, leaving another small wound each time, barely a nuisance to the man in question, and more burns for Vega. But my minion keeps coming back for more.

The man isn't even holding back, and despite being at a higher level, he seems to be having trouble dealing with the nimble half-demon, who’s been using kinetic energy to move erratically and weaken his physical attacks.

It goes on for a minute or two, but at some point, the fight starts getting too heated, so I decide to interfere.

"That should be enough," I call.

Vega refuses to stop, continuing to charge the man who stopped the moment I called.

So I use [Redistribution] and grab hold of my silly minion, who freezes mid-air, moving slowly toward her opponent. A wild expression has overtaken her face, and in each hand, she holds a dagger. The daggers at this point are nearly transparent, a clear sign of her depleted mana.

I boost myself closer with my kinetic energy and poke her nose a few times, my minion locked in place.

"Thanks for helping," I tell the man from Hard difficulty. "My disciple seemed to be having a lot of fun."

Unlike Vega, the man has already healed. A result of the healing aura in the common area. Vega’s state only serves to confirm my suspicions regarding the protections afforded by this place.

"It's fine." The Hard difficulty attendee says smiling weakly and turning to my minion. "She’s very strong. Your name is Vega, right? Thank you for the duel."

Vega still doesn't move as I hold her in my skill.

"She won't answer. I need to punish her for being so stubborn. Can you thank Channeler for me as well? I’ll meet up with him sometime in the other events."

"I’ll pass it along."

I touch Vega and transport us both to one of the more private spots I discovered. It's a clearing pretty far away from the common area, surrounded by trees and a small stream of clear water passing through.

It's comfortably quiet here.

"Do you know what you did wrong?" I ask her.

Vega blinks a few times, still bound in the air. She can’t defend herself even as I touch and push the tip of her nose, tilting it upwards, "I wouldn't expect such a dumb way of fighting from someone with [Concentration]. Do you agree?"

Silence.

"I mean, some aggression is fine, but to go to the point of acting more like an animal than a thinking human? Isn't that too much? If you want to be aggressive, go into it with some strategy in mind or at least be strong enough to get away with it."

I give her some more boops on the nose and move her hair, covering her face until she can barely see me through it. Then I tickle her.

"Some opponents are weak against rapid attacks and aggressive opponents. Others are weak against ranged attacks. Another group isn't good at physical combat. Yet I have noticed that my silly disciple still fights the same. No matter how much I try to change it."

I pull a patch of grass from the ground and put it on her head.

"I wouldn't say anything if you were strong and excelled at a single type of combat. In that case, you might be able to make it work. But minion, you aren't there yet."

Lastly, I move her body over the stream of water and release my skill, leaving her to fall into it.

She quickly jumps out spitting water and sputtering like an angry kitten, shaking and letting out a series of hissing noises. Then she stands there, angry, wet, and wounded from the duel.

"Have you any defense, minion?"

When she stands quietly, I move closer and touch her, teleporting us over to Lily, who didn't expect to see Vega after already saying goodbye. And especially not in such a state.

Before we return to Miwa, Vega changes into new clothes and gets fully healed.

Then I teleport us back to Miwa. Between my experience using [Tether] and Vega’s improved level, I clearly don’t have to worry about hurting her anymore.

Chapter 372 - What were you talking about

"Hello, I'm Miwa," the woman says, introducing herself to Vega with a small bow.

"I'm Vega!" Vega replies.

"It's nice to meet you, Vega."

My disciple and I look around the small but cozy kitchen of Miwa's house. Unlike the smithy she’s rented out and shares with several people from Hard and Hell difficulty to use at set times, the house we find her in now is hers alone, and spread out on the table in front of us are the ingredients she’s prepared.

Vega’s already been told what her surprise will be and seems all the more excited for it. After saying goodbye to group 4, she was overcome with joy the moment she heard what we would be making.

Meanwhile, group 4 got only a few short words, Biscuit and Noodle being the only exceptions. Though maybe Tess and Lily were exceptions as well, after all, Vega seems to have recognized them as the top dogs of our pack.

"We will prepare the dough first. Do you want me to do it, or do you want to do it yourselves?"

"We’ll do it. Vega, sleeves up, and let's wash our hands before we start."

"Yes, master!" The little half-demon says, washing her hands as I lift her up to the sink, and then I do the same, waiting for Miwa's instructions afterward.

I'm a terrible cook, it's not really something I generally enjoy, but here, in this moment it seems like a fun idea.

"See the bowl I prepared? Add a bit of sugar and yeast and mix it with warm water. Then we let it sit for anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. The yeast might not be very good anymore, so the dough may not turn out all that well. But there is nothing we can do."

"Not a problem, you already warned me. Vega, you’re in charge of mixing, okay?"

"Yes!"

I take the yeast and sugar and put them into the bowl with warm water following Miwa’s instructions.

Vega gets off to a clumsy start, so Miwa steps in and guides her hands in a more stable motion. She then has to stop Vega from eating the raw dough.

Once she’s done mixing the dough, Vega washes her hands again, making me lift her up to the sink, and Miwa covers the bowl with a towel.

"While we wait, you should add flour and salt to a bowl and we’ll blend it with the dough when it's done." Miwa gives Vega the proportions, though Vega manages to spill some flour on the table.

When the dough is ready ten minutes later, I take it and add to the bowl with the flour and salt.

Vega sits on a chair, watching nearby, fixated on my every movement as I blend it all together with some oil. The mood between us is still a bit awkward because of what happened during and after her sparring match, but being so young, she quickly shrugs it off and starts enjoying herself in fairly short order.

This time it’s my turn for Miwa to teach me the proper methods, and I knead it on the table which she coats with a dusting of flour to make it less sticky.

Somehow I can’t help but find it relaxing, I even take a small chunk of dough and fling it at Vega.

The little half-demon giggles and shoots a mana projectile at my face which I disrupt. Though playful, her attack is strong enough to kill someone from Easy difficulty.

I continue kneading for 5 minutes, and Miwa corrects me multiple times, even asking how it's possible to make a dough so stiff and ugly. Behind her back, Vega furrows her brows and forms more projectiles, but I disrupt them before she can send them rushing at Miwa.

Next, Vega oils the bowl, and we put my kneaded dough inside, cover it with a damp cloth, and put it near the heated oven so it can rise. This will take an hour or so.

While we wait, Miwa talks to me about crafting, her expression extremely lively as she speaks. Meanwhile, Vega noms on some kind of snack she found and now that I think about it, probably stole from Miwa.

***

An hour or two later, we are done and the pizza is finished, and we have the result we expected: the Perfect Pizza.

"Master, should it be so black on the bottom?"

"It should not," Miwa says carefully.

My minion and I made this pizza. We topped It with cheese, a few pieces of salami, and a tomato sauce base. It was Vega's idea to use my flames to cook it, so I tried to mimic the temperature of the oven-like thing Miwa set up with a few mana stones inscribed to produce heat.

I just surrounded the entire pizza with the heat while keeping it afloat with an arm made of mana.

The result is impeccable.

"Master, it's very crunchy." Vega says as she bites into it.

"If you’re not careful, you’re going to break your teeth," Miwa warns.

I never made pizza before, but my first attempt turned out much better than I expected. Maybe it is because I had my minion to help, and a tiny bit of assistance from Miwa, yup.

"Master, why are you not eating?"

"You shouldn't be eating it either," Miwa says, pointing out useless things.

In response, Vega scoots over to me and offers me a bite of her pizza, which I accept. That makes her smile, so I take a piece off my plate and eat it as well.

While devouring the crunchy pizza, Vega makes satisfied noises and wears a smile even more radiant than the one she wore when she was eating candy back in our house. It's the same smile she wore when I invited her to eat with me for the first time. I did invite her to eat with me even now to Miwa's confusion and Vega's happiness.

Yes. The pizza might be somewhat lacking. Some of the ingredients are a bit stale, especially the cheese. There’s not a lot of tomato sauce, and the salami is too greasy, not really suitable for use as a topping. The dough is pretty good, but it didn't rise enough, so the pizza is dense and now burned as a result of my inexperience.

But at the same time, it's a meal that Vega and I prepared together, and that seems to make the little half-demon happier than if it was a perfect meal.

Together we devour it all, and when we are done, we leave, saying goodbye to Miwa.

"How long?" I ask, walking side by side with my minion.

"Five minutes."

"I see. Take this." I say, pressing a small bag of inscribed mana stones into her hands.

Most of them are basically a series of ciphered trials; she’ll only be able to access their contents if she can solve the intricate inscriptions I prepared and fix the parts I blocked.

It's a form of training that will serve to improve her control and open up new lessons to help her on her way as she’s ready to master them. Most of the stones are tiny, smaller than my pinkie nail. It's the stones we got off Nevan's dead friend in the Veil Ignition Station, and I still have a lot of them. Their size will make it simple for her to smuggle them as needed.

Vega freezes on the spot, and I follow her gaze.

There at the treeline is Savant, casually passing through. His long hair tied into a ponytail, his green eyes fixed in their typical expression. Clinical and sharp as a scalpel.

At that moment, he notices my signature and looks towards us. At me and then at Vega.

My minion stiffens and moves behind me, her arm reaching out and grabbing the hem of my shirt. I can sense her heart beating wildly out of fear.

Savant turns his eyes away and disappears into the trees, and only once she’s sure he’s gone does Vega relax a bit. An expression of shame mars her face as she realizes what she’s done.

"Are you fine?"

"Yes, master, but that man... he is..."

"It's fine. Just another person I need to deal with."

"Is he?"

"Yes, it’s nothing you need to worry about." I place my hand over hers, and she lowers her natural barrier, allowing me to teleport us further away. We reappear in a place with a nice view of the entire common area.

We wait in silence as her timer ticks down.

"Thank you for inviting me here, master. I know you could have gotten more training if I hadn’t been here."

"It's fine. I still got plenty of training even with you here."

"Is it really ok?"

"Yup, it was me who invited you here so why should you be worried? I’d rather you tell me how you liked the other members of my group and my favorite food?"

"Pizza was amazing."

"Liar."

"It was! As for your group, I liked Biscuit, and wolfy was fun. Maybe Lily was ok too; she would be a great demon."

"Possibly yes but don't say such scary things."

"But I'm happy that my master seems to have people they can trust and that you are doing well in the tournament. You have to win the remaining events and then the entire tournament."

"That's the plan." I grab one of her horns and shake her head gently, "This time it’ll probably be a while, years maybe until we see each other again. I might contact you or send a message when I get the 6th-floor rewards, but until then, do your best."

"I will be much stronger the next time we meet."

"Kaboom?"

"Kaboom!" Vega nods happily.

"Sounds like a plan."

In response, Vega turns her eyes to the side, and I know she is looking at the portal back to her planet.

Minion rushes to me and gives me a quick hug, squeezing as hard as she can. When she lets go, there is a bright smile on her face.

"Master is the first person who ever missed me. You even summoned me so early... Thank you. Now you have to win the tournament, and I have to get stronger. I’ll make sure to find a good healer and reliable minions, just like you!"

"I wish you all the best, minion. Take care."

"Yes!"

With one last bright smile, she disappears, passing through the portal.

After she does, I reach into my pocket and pull out a folded piece of paper she must have placed while she was hugging me. Slowly I unfold it, revealing a clumsily drawn picture. An image of several stick figures standing next to each other.

One of the figures has two big red dots instead of eyes and is seemingly standing on the body of a giant black something. Probably a wolf. With a pool of red around it, probably meant to represent blood.

And off to the side, stands another stick figure. This one is much more delicate and detailed, showing off the time she must have spent on it. It has black spaghetti-like hair, and by way of eyes, it has two dots, one brown and the other gray.

Yellow flames burn around it as it stands in a heroic pose. There is even something floating in the air next to it. A burrito-shaped blob.

Well, I guess I know what Isabella and Vega were spending so much time working on in secret.

Very carefully, I fold the paper and put it back into my pocket.

Now then, I have someone I need to speak with.

I activate an anchor I left on one of the men from the Hard difficulty group Channeler invited to the sparring match. When I appear beside him, I find him in the presence of the other Hard difficulty attendees from the match with Vega.

"Hey," I greet them.

None of the three seems to have sensed my anchor or my use of the skill, so they jump in place. Their expressions change from smiles to nervousness.

"Hello."

"Oh, hey."

I ignore them and turn to a quiet man who appears to wear the most nervous expression, "What were you talking about during the sparring matches?"

"I... ehm... just about people we know."

"Were you? Who exactly?"

"You heard, right?" He laughs awkwardly.

All trace of the bravado he had while Vega was fighting dissipates, and his arrogant expression has faded, and the man grows extremely tense.

"Go on, tell me," I invite.

"I... I was telling Blue and Jai about how your teammate, that Korean boy, how he atta... spoke with us after the 3rd challenge against his Avatar." He shifts from foot to foot, and unconsciously, he moves mana inside his body.

I laugh, "Oh, I saw it too. It was quite pathetic, right? He almost cried after losing those items."

The man’s expression warps into a look of pure shock.

"I’ve been keeping an eye on him for a while, and he’s always like that. Wallowing in confusion and trying to imitate the people around him. Then acting like a little kid anytime something goes wrong. And damn near constantly comparing himself to the others. It’s pathetic, isn't it?" I say, smiling at him.

"Yes..." The man laughs awkwardly, but I notice that he is calming down.

The smile he gives me is more honest now as he continues, "Man, I didn't know you had the same experience. But it makes sense seeing how you deal with other people. Of course, I don't mean it as an insult!"

"It's fine. I guess it does make sense others see me like that. I don't like people all that much. Well, most of them."

"Yes. But it was amazing what your Avatar did, even though it lost me some shards." He laughs, and his expression reverts to the expression he wore while talking about Min-Jae, "And that boy, yes, such a crybaby. Man, I swear we laughed at him for an hour..."

His body turns into shiny particles as he dies.

Reappearing a few steps away, he has a confused expression and throws up right after. Cold sweat pouring down his forehead.

Hyperventilating, he falls to his knees with a pained expression on his face.

"F-fuck... what..."

"I killed you," I say, coming to a stop in front of him. It's interesting that Hard difficulty attendees endure it so terribly.

"What?! But why!"

"Well, 'killed' might be the wrong word since you can't die here, but you know what I mean." I take a step closer, and he turns into a cloud of shiny particles once again, reappearing a bit further away.

I place an anchor through my extended domain and teleport in front of him.

Just like he did before, he throws up and falls to the grass, shaking and squirming in pain.

"Man, this is pathetic. It's not even that bad, so man up or something, okay?"

"P-please, stop. What did I do!? Tell me!" he coughs.

"Nothing terrible, really. Min-Jae kind of deserved it. But something about the way you’re trashing him pisses me off. Anyway, I have to go. After I kill you the third time, the system’s going to teleport you much further away, and I'm too lazy to look for you. But if you want me to find you again, keep talking shit."

I don't even wait for his answer, and I release another highly concentrated kinetic energy from my Vortex Core tearing his body apart and he explodes into a cloud of shiny particles.

Using one of my anchors I teleport away and watch the countdown until the start of the fourth event.

The 4th event - Duels will start in 1 hour!

Participants will be sorted into 16 groups. 12 containing 148 participants and 4 containing 147 participants.

The winner of each group will advance to the final round, and have a chance to be crowned winner of the 4th event.

Note: No [Restriction] can be placed during this event.

Note: It's possible to forfeit your duel by giving up or focusing on the command "Forfeit."

Finally, the duels are starting soon, and I decide to check my stats one last time.

Name: Nathaniel Gwyn
Difficulty: Hell
Floor: 6 - Astral Prison
Time left until forced return: 3y 359d 23h 58m 51s
Traits (2/3): Mana Circuit 2/3, Mana Wavelength Iris 0/3

Lvl 237
Strength: 113
Dexterity: 110
Constitution: 268
Mana (Stage 1/3 - Vast Mana): 1015 + 1015

Primary Class: Focused Channeler (Epic)
Sub-class: [Initiate of Pride]

Active skills:
Focus - Lvl 49
Perception - Lvl 45
Redistribution - Lvl 48
Resonance - Lvl 45
Mana Domain - Lvl 38
Tether - Lvl 36
Infusion - Lvl 29
Mana Crown - Lvl 22
Mana Manipulation - Lvl 45

Constructs:
Reinforcement (Construct)
Thermokinetic Mana Heart (Construct)
Mana Regulator (Construct)
Mana Sovereignty Mantle (Construct)
Vortex Core (Construct)

Passive skills:
Mana Reservoir (epic)
Arcane Resilience (epic)
Phoenix Embrace (epic)
Mana Overload Absorption (epic)
Cognitive Fortress (epic)

Titan's Backbone (epic) 1/3

Shards: 123,129

Chapter 373 - Start of the 4th event

A new window opens up to me, and in it, I can see all 16 groups. The 2356 tournament participants have been separated into groups of either 147 or 148. I belong to a 148-member group, and after searching, I don’t find any of the other members of group 4 in it. There isn’t anyone from Beyond in my group either.

However, I do find one interesting face in my group: BenDover.

That reminds me that I forgot about him again, so it’s nice to see him here.

Then there’s Brainiac, Adam from WhiteWing, and Samuel in another group. Miwa is in their group too, along with a few others from Hell difficulty. Otherwise, it seems like a boring group. The more interesting one is the one containing Tess and Lily, the two of them will probably find themselves jostling for a place in the top 16.

Tacita’s group has both Sophie and Isabella in its ranks. Savant got a few people from WhiteWing, Channeler, and Maya. Biscuit’s group has Aaron and Ghast, the lightning guy from WhiteWing.

Min-Jae meanwhile has found himself in a group with a few people from Hell difficulty I don't know.

I spend my time focusing my attention on the others from Hell difficulty and ignore the rest, it should be fairly obvious who’s going to be coming out on top of their respective groups.

Instead of returning to the house, I lay on the grass and stare at the sky. It’s nice to have some quiet after all these busy days full of people. But overall, it was my decision, so it’s obvious who I have to blame. Past Nathaniel of course, screw that guy.

Even so, I’m glad I summoned Vega. Sure, we just said goodbye to each other less than a week ago, and I could have used the token later. But knowing the tutorial, there’s no telling when I’d have found a safe enough time to do so? It just seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I stretch and yawn. The grass is thick and nicely soft, the ground embracing me in a comfortable chill. Lying there, I feel myself start to calm down. The need to move and fight I felt since the moment the duel’s countdown was displayed begins to fade.

While I wait for the countdown to start ticking down. I sit on the ground and watch the window.

To win your group, you will need to win 8 duels! Your mana and stamina will be restored after every duel.

When there are 8 participants remaining in each group, you will be moved to a common area where you may choose to watch the remaining group matches.

Good luck!

I feel a pull on my body, and as always, I try to follow along watching how and what the system is doing, and yet, I still find myself unable to do so.

After being moved, I open my eyes and find myself in the middle of a huge clearing. The floor is made out of gray stone, and the weather is clear, without a single cloud to mar the clear blue sky.

There is even a soft breeze, and other than the two of us, there is no one to be seen.

“Fuck’s sake. Fuck’s sake. Fuck’s sake. What the fuck have I done,” my opponent curses.

Such a beautiful day.

“Wanna forfeit?” I ask BenDover.

He doesn’t answer, but before he can use any of his skills, I reach through my domain and place an anchor on him.

Sensing it, he tries to remove it, but he is too slow, and I send kinetic energy through. Just a little to throw him to the ground.

I raise a barrier deflecting his ranged attacks.

His wounds aren’t healing, though I shouldn’t be surprised given the state of current events, and I can’t think of anything else I would want to examine, so I just send much more energy through, emptying half of my Vortex Core. It explodes a huge chunk of the floor, sending debris flying through the air.

Congratulations, you have won your 1st duel!

After that, I appear outside and observe my Vortex Core. It seems to have been refilled. So it seems like the system has no problem replenishing the more obscure reserves as well.

My second round is against a young woman from Normal difficulty.

“So that’s it,” she sighs. “I forfeit!”

Congratulations, you have won your 2nd duel!

I appear back outside, and soon after, I get summoned back in.

“I forfeit!” The man, feeling like a member of Hard difficulty, shouts.

Congratulations, you have won your 3rd duel!

Another match.

“Fuck, not him! I forfeit!”

Congratulations, you have won your 4th duel!

Standing back outside, I feel the calm mood I had before slowly eroding away.

Another round starts.

“Don’t just immediately forfeit, damn it,” I say before the woman can say anything.

“W-why?” she asks. She’s from Hard difficulty for sure.

“I mean, at least try to fight,” I beg.

“Will you hunt me outside in the common area if I don’t?” She asks while taking a few steps away from me.

“Not really, but…”

“I forfeit!” She shouts and disappears.

Congratulations, you have won your 5th duel!

Appearing outside, I release a chunk of kinetic energy from my Vortex Core and stomp, detonating the soft grassy ground I laid on before.

Congratulations on your placement in the top 8 of your group! You will now be moved to the common area.

The scenery changes again, and I find myself in the common area surrounded by a few hundred people, with more appearing as their groups work their way into the top 8 as well. Being surrounded by the noise of so many people only serves to add to my already sour mood.

Stepping away to catch a break, I boost myself into the air and land on the roof of the tall house we used to watch the other events. As if we had planned the meeting, the remaining members of group 4 follow over the next few minutes.

“Has everyone made it into the top 8 of their groups?” Tess asks.

And everyone responds, issuing their affirmations.

“Good job, I guess we were lucky to not get strong ones right away.”

“Or it was planned,” Maya sighs. “But why did I have to get into the group with a member of the weirdo trio.”

“You can do it, Maya! Just imagine how shocked Nat would be if you beat Savant. So give it your all and don't be such a scaredy cat,” Dennis says with a smirk.

“You can do it too! Maybe Sophie will do you and your brother a favor and squish you between her thighs if you take first in your respective groups.”

What a terrifying counterattack. It seems to cause a lot of damage. The result is immediate impenetrable silence from the twins and Min-Jae as well.

“Oh, come on, Dennis, why don’t you say anything?” Maya seems to be enjoying every moment. “Aaron, why don’t you help your brother? And you, Kim? We don’t know anything about what you said, so why are you so worried? Are you hiding something?”

Nice combo indeed and the boys, smartly I might add, decide to keep quiet.

In the end, Maya sighs, “Boring.”

The first out of us to get summoned inside is me.

Finally, I’m facing another person from Hell. Someone from group 8, TheGuild. A man I haven’t met before.

The area we find ourselves in is different this time too. A floating island high in the sky, and I move to the edge of it and look down in an attempt to sate my curiosity and find myself gazing into a never-ending blue sky as far as I can see. A few clouds move lazily through the sky beneath us, and yet the floating island doesn’t seem to have any inscriptions that I can find, nor is there any mana powering it. It just floats, probably to make the event more interesting to watch.

I wonder if it’s for participants only or maybe even the Rulers themselves, should they decide to watch. Or maybe it’s possible for other beings to watch. Should I wave my middle fingers at the sky?

Creating a barrier in front of me, I block a barrage of invisible slashes. The attack feels like an extremely sharp breeze, invisible to the eye, leaving me to rely on the movement of its mana to betray its trajectory. It’s not bad at all, though it’s lacking in oomph.

Above my palm, I create a single mana orb and compress it until it turns dark blue.

More attacks surround me, swirling like a tornado, slashing, trying to tear through, but to no avail.

Reaching into my Vortex Core, I use a stream of kinetic energy, boosting the orb such that it disappears in the blink of an eye.

Even though he was surely expecting my response and after creating some sort of wind barrier, the man is unable to defend himself, and the orb, moving at high speed, pierces through his chest.

Congratulations, you have won your 6th duel!

Back on the roof, Tess sighs, “You could be more considerate. I know the guy, trust me, he’s a really nice person.”

That makes me snort, “Maybe to the women. He attacked me while I was examining the arena.”

“Did you consider that ignoring them and examining the arena during a duel might piss them off?”

“Not really.”

The screen lights up before Tess can say anything else that makes no sense, and two figures appear on the display: Samuel and Brainiac. The redheaded Brainiac that our boys have befriended and some other military guy from Hard difficulty. The result seems to have already been decided.

On the screen, a few sentences are exchanged, the sound enveloping the common area from all sides, making it possible to hear even over the noise of two thousand people.

Brainiac teases the man. In much the same way I do, he seems to dislike uptight military men who are good at organizing, but to some of the more free-spirited Hell difficulty attendees, it all feels too stuffy.

The projectiles Brainiac likes to use shoot from his body are invisible, and Samuel barely manages to deflect the attacks with his giant sword.

From below, the sound of the crowds cheering explodes, as people hype each other up in support of their personal favorites.

“A few groups have started going around and setting up bets. Mana stones, magical items, food, and items from Earth. They take and write down anything. They bet on winners of groups, winners of duels overall, and a few other things,” Sophie clarifies, reading my expression, as she follows the path of my gaze.

“Damn, they act quick.”

“Yes, and some have started selling snacks too. I think Adam’s been helping them quite a lot. Even here, he is trying to make as many shards as possible. But I guess that’s why he is in the top 5 of the crafter rankings.”

“Who has the best odds of winning the duels?”

Sophie falls silent for a bit, a stiff expression taking over her face as she concentrates.

“There are four people with a few small differences between them. But Tacita comes just slightly ahead. They say that her speed is the biggest advantage when it comes to fighting humans versus humans. You seem to be a bit ahead of Savant, who is third, and they’ve placed Tess in 4th.”

“Poor Gareth and Lily didn’t even get on the list,” I say, being sure Lily is listening.

“I will beat Tess, and they will see! I bet they only picked her because she goes around zapping people, the guys from Hard difficulty are just more scared of her. If I did that too, they would place me there instead!” Lily complains.

“So what’s your plan for fighting Tess? She’s probably going to keep a distance and pick you off from afar,” I become a bit curious.

I wonder how I would fight Tess if I were Lily. Using [Sacrifice] to get as close as possible in an attempt to end it all in a single [Disintegration] attack. But Tess then again would be expecting that, and unlike Lily, she can fly.

Sure, Lily can use some ranged attacks, but they can’t compare to Tess’s range.

“As if I’d say any of that to her face,” Lily snorts much to Tess’s amusement.

“I’m already excited for the fight, Lily,” Tess smiles at her.

With that, the duel between Brainiac and Samuel comes to an end, Samuel loses, unable to get too close even after using his body strengthening and some sort of movement skill that caused his feet to glow and slide across the ground like an ice rink.

Brainiac displayed a great sense of positioning and managed such a massive and consistent barrage of attacks that he seems to have been able to launch almost infinitely.

The next match takes place between a couple of people from Lily’s group. It’s a mixed gender pair from Hell difficulty. Their arena turns out the same as mine and Brainiac’s. A great floating island where they fight for over 10 minutes, trying to tire each other out. Both of them are extremely careful and swift to dodge. A woman with a bow, using projectiles created out of pale blue mana, that move almost as if they have a mind of their own.

The man uses his skill with mana to compress the orb into a disc shape with sharp edges. He then proceeds to move it with the power of his mind alone, the disc easily cutting through trees and stones, and tilting at times to block the arrows.

Yet, in the end, the man loses. An arrow that missed him and got stuck in the tree moves out of nowhere and takes the man in the back. The ordeal proves just enough to distract him, and causing him to take a hit by a few more attacks. The woman then takes the opportunity to attack more aggressively, wearing him down quickly and winning the duel.

“That wasn’t that bad,” Tess says. “Sophie, what’s her name?”

“I think it was Alaine from TheGuild. I think she and Swordmaster are married.”

“Swordmaster is a nice guy too. They fit well together.”

Sophie nods, “Yes, TheGuild so far seems to consist of quite the number of decent people.”

Petting Biscuit, I listen with one ear and nibble on some snacks I stole from Maya. Surprisingly, she doesn’t complain too much. Maybe she still harbors the hope that I will sell her my ax one day.

This isn’t really all that bad. How could a football or hockey match compare to this? Watching people use interesting skills, fighting, and giving their all. Truly, not bad at all.

Soon after, Isabella disappears, a thin figure appears alongside her on the screen, facing her down.

Sophie, who’s been speaking with Tess up until now, grows quiet, and I see her clench her teeth, her eyes becoming much colder.

Tacita on the screen tilts her head in surprise and looks at Izzy opposite her.

Chapter 374 - So that’s why they call you...

Blue flames surround the young girl, not as an attack but in an effort to create an area around her that’s as hot as possible.

I can see Isabella staring at Tacita, seemingly in an attempt to read her emotions, something I don't think she’ll be able to do given the effects of Tacita’s field. But Tacita seems to appreciate the effort and smiles at the girl.

Isabella moves her hand and a dozen thin threads of fire lash out around her, like whips extending to assault Tacita.

The mute girl just takes a nimble step and dodges the first, tilting her head to avoid another, and leaping playfully over another. Her movements are smooth and playful while the environment around her burns and cuts to pieces. Thin blue threads of fire cut through stone, trees, and the ground leaving deep gouges in their wake.

The fire intensifies, and with it, so too does the heat around Isabella. The air flickers and the surface of the stones start to glow an angry orange color with the heat.

Even so, it's not enough. Tacita disappears, her immense speed removing her from sight, and when she appears again, she is standing in a different spot, dagger in hand, its blade covered in blood.

Slowly, Isabella reaches towards her neck finding a long scratch, a whisper of blood flowing from the wound.

Tacita waits until Isabella looks at her and gestures at her, the meaning clear, Forfeit.

Instead of that, Isabella wipes the blood into her clothes, rolls her sleeves up, and slaps her palms together. The veins in her arms become visible through her skin. Glowing with a blue luminescence that seeps through the muscles and skin. The effect slowly traveling up the length of her arms, past her elbows.

In response, the heat radiating from Isabella increases several times over. The blue flames crash into each other, violently lashing at the air as if they were caught in the winds of a storm.

The ground continues to absorb the heat until the girl finds herself standing in a pool of magma and fire, her shoes dissolving in the heat and the edges of her clothes beginning to catch fire. Yet the flames leave not a single burn on her body, not a single hair left out of place by that heat.

Dozens of threads of fire, like burning ropes, spin, burn, and thrash around as she faces off against Tacita.

And in that moment, the smile fades from the mute girl's face, replaced by a look of simple acknowledgment. The dagger in her hand visibly vibrates, falling under the effect of her skill.

Once again, Tacita disappears, and when she comes back into view, she finds herself having to dust off her clothes and put out the fire on her sleeve, and glancing down at the burn left on her forearm.

The dagger is gone, stabbed through Isabella’s eye who a split second later turns into shiny particles.

“I’m fine, Soph,” Isabella says the moment she appears outside. Even so, she lifts her arm and carefully touches her eye. Her hand is shaking and so is her voice. It’s obvious she felt a bit of pain before the system bailed her out.

Curious, I look over to Sophie who stays quiet, moving to be closer to her sister. Her expression right now tells me that things are going to be interesting if she ever gets to face off against Tacita.

Out of everyone from Hell difficulty who isn’t already in Beyond, Sophie is the one I think would be the best fit for the other weirdos in its ranks. The only thing holding her back is her little sister.

“Izzy, were those blue veins of yours a trait?” I ask her.

“Yes, it’s called Burning Blood.”

“Damn, sounds cool. Is it a boost to your fire-related abilities? Does it buff your heat generation? Or is it your storage capacity?” I try to guess.

“All of the above!”

“That’s even cooler than I thought. Give me.”

“No! But it’s still cool, right? Though I still want to have floating blue hair like Seneca’s.”

“Was that a trait your disciple had?”

She shakes her head and I notice she is getting calmer, “It was more like Vega’s horns.”

“Maybe you can work something out with Lily, she likes to play around with that kind of stuff.”

“Only for training,” Lily corrects.

Isabella says something to Lily and they start a conversation, no doubt hashing out details and I turn back to the screen. Though before doing so, I glance over at Sophie who still wears an expression of cold rage, even stronger now that Izzy’s been distracted.

On the screen, Savant faces Pumpkin, a melee attacker from WhiteWing.

The fight opens with Savant using his domain and the time starts ticking down. Without a good defense, Pumpkin will quickly find himself poisoned by mana radiation and I'm sure Savant is concentrating on making it worse for him.

As the gentle orange light shimmers around them, the two men rush together in combat, Savant showing himself to be surprisingly at home with melee combat.

Though as watch, I figure that it’s probably a mix of things he saw back on Earth and the lessons he received on the 2nd and 4th floors. Even so, Savant combines these moves together really well and if he makes a mistake, he quickly realizes it and doesn’t repeat it a second time.

Even so, Pumpkin is faster and very flexible, he’s dual wielding daggers, each moving like it has its own mind. His skin is coated in something like scales that seem to add to his defense without restricting his movement. For a while, he even manages to push Savant back and gradually uses more of his mana as his movements become more and more aggressive.

He is clearly dominating the extremely talented and less experienced man.

Savant's eyes bear a curious expression, but they are otherwise not very lively. It’s like he is dealing with an annoying child and soon he reaches the point where he’s seen everything he needs. Seemingly oblivious to Savant’s tricks, Pumpkin uses his trump card. Two more arms grow from his back and extend to grab Savant.

The limbs are very thin, and longer than normal arms, moving at a speed he thought his opponent wouldn’t be able to dodge. Or, and I think this is the more likely option, he knew Savant was playing with him. He must have seen the guy's performance during the previous events just like I did. So he’s decided to give it his best shot.

In reaction, Savant’s domain shrinks back in the blink of an eye and from that energy, he creates a sword with a thin blade.

That makes me focus on him with much more interest. Using a domain that way is not something I’ve seen before.

The broken Sword of Aeons in his left hand and the newly created sword in his right. He moves more of his mana to enhance his strength and movement speed increasing them exponentially. At the same time, the sword created from his domain seems to cause Pumpkin visible discomfort. He has trouble breathing and even moving as burn-like wounds blossom across his skin, caused by the concentrated radiation pouring off the orange sword.

Four scaly arms are sent flying before the sword made of orange light pierces through Pumpkin´s chest, his movements bearing a clear similarity to Pumpkin’s own.

Then in a shower of particles, his opponent disappears and Savant with him.

There is an excited conversation going down in the common area as people rush to place bets. Group 4 also starts commenting on that, but I filter it out while I replay what I just saw over and over again in my head.

As I do so, the duels continue and some of them are interesting enough for me to watch. It’s interesting to see the kinds of abilities people have developed during their time in the tutorial.

Maya wins her fight against her opponent, a man with a weird combination of body armor and mental attacks who chooses to fight her at melee range. His mental attacks do not seem to work all that well against Maya whose [Focus] and [Armament] is on a much higher level than his. She quickly shifts between spear, sword, and dagger, and even shoots a bow a few times. Her ability to create mana-based weapons is exceptionally fast.

Then there is Biscuit who made the top 8 of his group.

Obviously.

He faces the lightning mage from WhiteWing, someone called Ghast. Unlike people before, Ghast attacks Biscuit without any hesitation, ignoring his cute appearance. The lightning the man creates crashes against purple tentacles extending from Biscuit’s back, while the tentacles either disrupt or absorb it.

I almost start smiling when Biscuit starts running while barking at the man. He doesn’t float, no, he just runs on his short legs, jumping over the debris on the ground. The purple tentacles elongate and swirl around his petite form, defending him while two purple orbs float at his side.

The man has no shame or concern for his image and tries to run away and reposition when that cute dog rushes him. But before he can do so, the ground under him cracks and a single purple tentacle grabs his ankle.

Ghast creates a lightning bolt, which he attempts to send through the tentacle, either to destroy it or to reach its creator, but to no avail. Biscuit’s creations are shockingly dense and the tentacle holds the man solidly in place.

Looking up, Ghast sees one orb turned projectile shoot at him, elongated into the shape of a spear.

Ghast crosses his arms, and an image of a shield made of lightning forms in front of him blocking the blow. He then extends one of his arms releasing a rain of small lightning bolts, which roar through the air like a minigun emptying its magazine in a fraction of a second.

The ground around Biscuit explodes, dust and earth flying into the air under the weight of his barrage.

When it dissipates, Biscuit is still there, undamaged.

A mental attack hits Ghast and with it, a purple orb turns bright white which explodes soon after defeating the man, Ghast having found himself trapped in the grasp of the purple tentacle which held him in place.

Indeed he is a merciful future Absolute. Even letting a lowly human show some portion of his skill before showing him his place.

I pet Biscuit who appears back on my lap, “Good job.”

(Food!)

“Yes.”

(Food.)

“We will see.”

(Food food.)

“It’s possible.” I boop his nose and turn back to the screen where two lucky members of Hard difficulty merrily beat the shit out of each other. Lucky because they got so far without facing anyone from Hell difficulty.

At the same time, a notification rings about three more items that have been sold, bringing me all the closer to having two hundred thousand shards. It looks like my rank as 1st crafter has been cemented just like that. What remains is to find out if the reward is worth it. Even if it’s not, I don’t think I will complain that much, just having the shards is nice enough.

It takes a bit longer but the fight finally ends, the woman who won standing there, bloodied and tired, screaming at the sky from sheer exhilaration.

“Sometimes I think it’s more fun watching people from lower difficulties fight,” Maya notes, “There is something eye-catching about seeing them give their best.”

“I agree,” Tess chimes in.

Finally, it’s Min-Jae’s turn to be summoned inside, and he finds himself facing off against someone from Hard difficulty. The huge muscular man with a hammer that is probably heavier than Min-Jae. Surprisingly, the man is calm after finding out who he’s been pitted against.

Unlike him, Min-Jae smiles brightly. He is looking around as if trying to find the “camera” that shows it all in the common area. Then he offers the man the first attack, promising to only defend once.

“That dumbass…” Maya sighs.

And as expected, the man seizes the opportunity. He lowers his stance and over one minute his body shines slightly, muscles not bulging quite as much, and an interesting amount of mana surrounds the hammer.

Even so, Min-Jae doesn’t seem to be worried and his left yellow eye shines.

The man from Hard difficulty attacks and at that moment the field around Min-Jae activates an immense pull of gravity slowing the man to a crawl after a few quick steps. But that doesn’t seem to be his intention and instead of just blindly charging, he throws his hammer.

Min-Jae reaches his hand in its direction, mana swirling around him as he uses either [Gravity Well] or [Telekinesis]. He doesn’t even put that much effort into it, not expecting much from someone from Hard difficulty.

But surprisingly, just once, the hammer flashes, disrupting for a second Min-Jae's grab and emptying the mana collected inside of it in the process.

Unable to react in time, the hammer smashes into Min-Jae's left side, breaking his bones and throwing him rolling on the ground.

From there, the boy lifts his head, groaning in pain, and the skills he was using deactivate. His eyes open up in panic as he sees how close his opponent is, just two steps away.

Min-Jae clenches his teeth and his left eye glows, the man’s chest caving in, compressed by immense gravity and turning him into shiny particles.

When our teammate reappears outside, no one says anything but I look at him with interest, curious to see what reaction Min-Jae will have.

He catches my gaze and turns away. Was that shame I saw in his expression? Anger? Annoyance?

A few more groups fight and I finally get summoned back inside. Only 4 members remain in each group. After this fight, it will be the group finals. My opponent this time is a guy from Hard difficulty.

“Fuck man, I thought I would climb higher,” he sighs. One of Samuel’s cronies. I think he’s an ex-marine or something like that.

I find it interesting. Wouldn’t people with that much experience, real combat experience be more fitting for Hell difficulty?

“Are you going to forfeit?” I ask.

“I mean, probably.”

“Would you mind if I try something?”

“Your special attack or what? Will it hurt?”

“I don’t know, but if you agree I will have a bit better opinion of you. I will also remember you agreeing to this.”

“What’s my name?”

“...”

“Yeah, I thought so. I’m Matthew, remember it. And go ahead. If it’s some kind of torture or other bullshit I will forfeit.”

“I might forget your name so talk to the Channeler or Sset. They are good at peopley stuff.”

“Man… okay, damn it, just do it.”

I nod and my [Mana Crown] forms over my head. My [Mana Domain] expands and I use black mana to strengthen my body, something I’m starting to grow quite proficient at, I can even manage to keep it going for up to ten seconds with barely any aftereffects.

Then, having my body strengthened with black mana to endure the strain, I start releasing my mana and filling my domain with it. Like a broken dam, it floods into it, filling the area with more and more of my mana. It floods from my reservoir and my body mana. There is no skill here, just me emptying my reserves.

I barely get started when the man stumbles, his face pale.

A few seconds later, he falls to his knees, seeming to be having trouble breathing.

“So that’s why they call you a goddamn mana maniac.” Even as he says so he clenches his teeth, trying to endure as much as possible.

I barely start releasing mana from my Mana Reservoir and even that seems to be too much and the man faints, soon turning into shiny particles.

Congratulations, you have won your 7th duel!

Chapter 375 - Want to spar for a moment?

After reappearing on the roof I start replaying the events of my last match. I knew that too much mana could make people with high sensitivity faint and that enough could overwhelm even the stronger ones.

I'm almost certain that I could create what I’ve heard called mana radiation at a high enough level. And I could probably accomplish the same effect with less mana with the right combination of skills, like Savant’s [Dawn] and my [Mana Domain] if I try to learn it. I’ve already seen Savant using it a few times so it shouldn't be all that hard for me to replicate.

With a high enough concentration of mana, mana radiation can be created even without having access to a skill. As for how much it would take, it's difficult to guess. I'm sure Champions and Absolutes are capable of it, after seeing zones like the Valley on the 5th Floor.

As of now, I have yet to fully understand the effects. Does it just overwhelm people killing them once the mana density exceeds their body's resistance to the pressure? Does it act like some sort of poison? Does it affect animals or monsters?

More fun stuff to experiment with.

“Congratulations on making it to the finals of your group,” Maya says.

“I’m not selling you the ax.”

“Douchebag.”

Another fight starts, flickering into view on the screen. Adam vs Miwa, who got surprisingly far.

They face each other. Adam in his clean suit seemingly unarmed and Miwa with her pink tinged silver arm and a katana. She gives Adam a bow which he awkwardly returns.

“Adam’s been trying to hire Miwa for a while and he refuses to stop looking for the real identity of Tent Creep. Miwa has to refuse him constantly, decrying him as a fake who cares only for money rather than the art of crafting,” Tess informs me as she ties Maya's hair into a braid.

“Hehe, Tent Creep,” Maya giggles and looks back at Tess who smiles at her.

“For some unknown reason, the price for the ax just went up by 20 percent,” I state, as I turn my attention to the screen.

Purple mana surrounds Adam, much as it did in the second event. It moves and looks like waves, surrounding and crashing against him.

Opposite him, Miwa tightens her grip on the katana and takes a well-practiced stance. That katana, held in her prosthetic arm, takes on the same pinkish hue as her arm and she charges, swinging her weapon.

She cuts an opening in the purple wave of mana with her weapon and tosses a metal cube on the ground in front of her absorbing another attack from Adam.

Even so, it's not enough and the man just releases more. The wave-like mana crushes and grinds away at anything it touches.

“I thought she would do better, having that arm from the Champion and all,” Maya states.

“She’s from Hard difficulty. The Champions there probably weren’t as powerful as they were on our floors,” Tess points out as she finishes working on Maya's hair. “She is also a crafter and she spends most of her time on that so it makes sense.”

“The arm is upper epic at most,” I say, joining the conversation.

“Huh, you have plenty of items like that so why do you want her arm so much?” Maya asks me.

“I believe it can be upgraded to arcane. The base of the arm is amazing, everything from the material, to what I saw of the inscriptions. It wouldn’t take much work to push it over the line.”

I would need to examine it a bit more but I'm fairly sure that I'm right. The arm reminds me of the unfinished upper rare items I found in the Veil Ignition Station and upgraded to sell.

Even so, Miwa doesn’t seem to be that disappointed when she loses. Her movements are smooth and elegant and the weapon, strengthened by her arm, does surprisingly well when faced with someone from Hell difficulty.

Still, the fight ends with her loss and a few fights later Lily faces Alaine, the woman archer we saw not that long ago.

After exchanging a few words with her opponent, the length of Lily’s hair shortens and she dashes. Three arrows rocket towards her, each intercepted by Lily’s hand, only to be eaten away by [Disintegration]. Lily boosts her movement further, bulldozing through the stone rather than moving around it. A huge chunk of stone just disappears, eaten away by her skill.

Alaine tries to keep her distance and slow Lily down, all to no avail. Lily reaches her and ducks under the last two projectiles. She tanks the last one as it pierces through her neck, only for the wound to immediately close.

The arrow in Alaine’s hand contracts into a palm-length blade, which she thrusts at Lily, who makes her arm disappear with a simple touch, almost as if it had never existed in the first place. Then Lily strikes out again, boring a huge circular hole in Alaine’s chest before she explodes into particles and both of the women reappear outside.

Now that both of them have made the finals for their group, Tess and Lily exchange competitive looks. That duel will be fun to watch.

Sophie goes next, facing a woman from Hard difficulty and the fight barely takes a few seconds. The woman’s mental barrier breaks nearly immediately and she fails to stop her hand from stabbing her in the neck with her own dagger, causing her to forfeit nearly immediately.

That gets Sophie into the finals against Tacita and when she gets out she has the same expression she did when Tacita defeated Izzy.

In the remaining fights before the group finals, Gareth defeats his opponents, while Biscuit, and Dennis defeat theirs as well.

Then Min-Jae’s up. The duel in question deciding who will go into his group finals. His opponent is the scrawny man from Hell difficulty, and unfortunately for Min-Jae, his opponent seems to have a solid counter for him and more combat experience to boot.

The man disappears taking advantage of his assassin-build, either becoming transparent, going invisible, or making use of some kind of camouflage.

Min-Jae tries to counter it with a gravity field centered around his person and his metal orbs proceed to spin wildly around his person. Each of the orbs in question is quick enough to tear the man apart the moment he moves closer. That’s just how dangerous they are.

At this point, it should be easily winnable for him. He just needs to reduce his output. Even half would be enough to deal with the guy and allow him to save his reserves. But unfortunately, Min-Jae doesn’t do that.

Shaken by the result of his last fight, Min-Jae is more worried than he should be, he’s focusing on useless stuff, and draining his mana quicker than he should. He seems to realize it after some time as well and finally lowers his output and starts randomly moving a few orbs further in the distance, trying to blindly hit the man he can't seem to locate, not even by using his eye to watch the surrounding gravitational waves.

The reason seems simple enough to me and I stare into the air high over Min-Jae. Maybe he saw the perfect opportunity or maybe he’s running out of mana, the scrawny man appears in the air, with some kind of weird platform made out of mana under him.

That platform disappears and pulled by the heightened gravity, he falls at high speed, crashing into Min-Jae and likely breaking a few bones in the process. But even so, he stabs Min-Jae about a dozen times, reducing the surprised teen into a cloud of fine particles.

When Min-Jae appears on the roof and then leaves without saying anything, I place an anchor on him and turn back to the screen. But there are still a few fights I don't care that much about before the finals of the groups, so I guess I have some free time now.

“I’ll check on him,” I tell Tess, who seems like she is about to follow Min-Jae.

To be honest, it’s getting on my nerves seeing him act like this. I know I said he is still young and dumb, but this?

“Don’t be too harsh,” Tess says.

“Sure.” I use the anchor I left on the 16-year-old boy and teleport directly to him.

His reaction time is decent and he senses me even before I appear and his skills crash into me before he realizes who I am.

I deflect the attacks and face him. “That was kind of disgraceful.”

He blinks a few times and I can see anger behind his eyes, but he holds it back. “Yes. I fucked up.”

“Quite a bit. Want to spar for a moment?”

The silence stretches on for a bit longer.

“Nat, I don’t know what you are trying, but please, I’m really not in the mood.”

“Just for a bit.”

“I’m sorry but no.”

“A short spar, come on.”

“I said no!” he screams. “Do you not have enough?! Did you not enjoy seeing me fuck up everything I could since the tournament started? You’re always watching, looking, without saying anything and now you want to spar?! No fucking thanks! I’m not in the mood to take another beating.”

“If you don’t, I will just attack you.”

“Fucking do it then! Beat me up! I hope you have fun doing so like everyone else. Maybe even mention how easy it would be.”

“I mean, after seeing today’s matches I could use 1st Floor [Restriction] and win. It would be easy, even back then my mana orbs were decent and I could sling them fairly quickly. You tend to get impatient and careless against weaker opponents, so I would take advantage of that, taunting you into making a mistake and then I’d shoot an orb through your legs. Your defenses tend to be a bit weaker around your feet.”

I take a step closer and look down at him, “My body strengthening was decent too so I could use your arrogance to get in close. Then I would let you hurt me, maybe tear off my arm or a leg, or blind one of my eyes. After that, I would push through and cut your throat.”

I mean what I'm saying. Even though it might have cost me my life, I can't imagine failing to kill Min-Jae before dying. Of course, I would probably run away and try to continue the fight in a way that would allow me to survive, but in a fight to the death, Min-Jae would lose to 1st Floor me.

“Nat, I don’t know why you’re…”

I don’t let him finish and send a burst of kinetic energy at him, sending him staggering backward and almost falling down.

Even through all that, he uses gravity, and the next two orbs I shoot at him crash to the ground at the places he marked.

“Fuck, what…”

More of my mana orbs fly in his direction and he redirects each of them and when I jump back he increases gravity under me. Stones shoot up from the ground to fly at my face. In response, I coat my palm in mana and let them crash into it.

Min-Jae senses me creating anchors behind and above him. His body becomes lighter and he pulls himself with [Telekinesis] just in time to escape a burst of flames and kinetic energy. A dozen orbs pour from his pockets and proceed to spin around him whistling through the air.

He parts the yellow flames I send his way with [Telekinesis] leaving them to flow harmlessly to either side of him.

Every time he tries to say anything or stop the fight, I push more.

Another orb, a javelin filled with thermal energy, an anchor nearby. My attacks do not give him time to think and I push him deeper and deeper into the forest where he resorts to throwing trees at me and changing the gravity around them so that they find themselves pulled toward me.

He levitates into the air but my bombardment continues, yellow glowing orbs and flames exploding all around him, forcing him to land, increasing gravity as I step closer.

Even using [Telekinesis] to move his body he barely manages to dodge my attacks. He knows I’m far from going all out. But he has no time to do anything about it.

I know his skills well. I’ve seen him fight many times, and I know where he’s lacking, and what I need to target in an attack. So as we clash I fight in a way that allows him to utilize his strengths. I let him use the environment against me, I use skills I’m sure he can counter and I poke at his weaknesses, forcing him to react.

Like that, the fight becomes faster and faster. Min-Jae knows the attacks I’m using and I can read the movement of his mana with my eyes so I allow him to use everything he can.

An orb nearly kills him but he redirects it at the last moment, a look of sheer surprise flickers across his face, caused by his own reaction.

My flames surround him and I see him debate running away, but I don’t give him the opportunity and he uses his skills to redirect them around himself and push them away. And a smile climbs its way onto his face as he succeeds.

At close range, he keeps escaping my anchors and the explosions that rock the environment in their wake, he’s getting better at sensing them as his mind relaxes. He allows his instincts to take over and guide his reactions, allowing him to respond quicker than standing in place nervously.

And as the fight goes on and his reserves drain he smiles more and more. There is no other thought in his mind outside this fight. I don't allow it. He doesn’t think of useless stuff like worrying about losing, people looking, or what others might think.

We simply fight for the sake of it.

He finally stumbles and falls to his knees and even then it’s not over. He pushes himself back onto his feet, gathering the last bits of his mana he bombards me with the deadly orbs he’s bonded to himself.

After I block even that attack, he tries again, but there is nothing left.

Min-Jae stands there, breathing heavily, sweat wetting his hair and making it stick to his face. He is looking at me, wanting me to say something.

I send a soft burst of kinetic energy at him, just enough to make him fall on his ass. Then, while he is looking up at me, I teleport away, leaving him to reflect on his own.

Chapter 376 - Tess vs Lily

I return just in time to be summoned for my round in the finals. My opponent is Mari from WhiteWing. She uses a dagger and short sword, falling back on her high dexterity and mana. And she tends to use said mana to further enhance her damage output and speed.

“Being in the top 32 isn't that bad,” she notes.

“There are only 31 people from Hell difficulty here in the tournament.”

“You sure know how to ruin the mood.” Mari lowers her stance and more mana floods into her weapons.

At the same time, lights start glowing under her skin in whorls and patterns reminiscent of tattoos.

There’s a short burst of mana and a flash of light as she strikes her sword with her dagger. The effect of which serves to blind me and disrupt my senses.

[Perception] seems to be confused by that, so I fall back on my primordial energies to track her heat and kinetic energy, while boosting my body with normal mana.

She lashes out at me with a thrust, which I avoid with a step to the side, coating my blade in a layer of resonating mana and retaliating with a downward slash, severing her arm.

Mari spins on the spot, adjusting her grip on the dagger, and lashing out at me again as she avoids my follow up strike.

Her dagger lets off a flash of light and disruptive mana, but this time I’m prepared, and move to counter it while dissecting the skills involved. Then I send her flying with a burst of kinetic energy, followed by yellow flames to box her in.

She creates a barrier around herself and endures the flames for a while before I infuse them with [Resonance] to break through her defenses.

Congratulations, you have won your 8th duel and ranked first in your group! You have qualified for the finals. The finals will take place one hour after all finalists have been declared!

Once I’ve returned I take the opportunity to find a more secluded place so that I can focus on my training. I still watch the fights since they are interesting enough, but I can’t forget that the tournament will be ending soon, so I need to maximize my gains.

I keep my crown over my head while feeding it bits of black mana in an attempt to find the tipping point.

So far, I have learned that the crown helps me improve my control over black mana. The real problem arises when the crown turns black. Then it just starts absorbing all the mana it can touch.

My theory is that the black crown doesn’t have any stronger mana-absorbing properties than black mana. The reason why its pull is so strong is because it quickly absorbs so much mana. An amount I never use when compressing my mana to create a black orb.

So, for example, if I use 50% of my mana to create a black orb, it will be as strong as feeding the black crown 50% of my mana.

The main difference is that the black crown bears a connection to me that allows it to empty my reservoir, making it more difficult to fight its pull. On the other hand, the black crown tends to crumble faster than the orbs.

Thankfully, there are advantages even though they are theoretical for now. The crown bears a stronger connection to me than the orb. That means it should be easier to use than a black orb. Of course, that only really applies if I can solve the control issues. Right now, it’s more difficult to use the black crown than the black orb.

At first glance, it doesn’t seem to make much sense, but there is a bit of twisted logic behind it.

My goal is still to make the black crown into a tool to absorb the ambient mana around me and make it my own.

It sounds straight-up broken, too strong, and a project for the far future, but it also sounds like something that should be possible, that’s why I’m taking the opportunity to train here. When the tournament is over, I will train something else, maybe I’ll find a way to better utilize my massive reserves of mana. That sounds like it’ll be important. Constantly growing my mana is nice, but I need to be able to use it in the first place.

I need more skills that increase my damage output. Maybe even a signature move that doesn’t require charging or preparation. A single target high damage strike would be nice too, something for the stronger opponents.

There I pull myself from my thoughts as one of the more interesting fights starts. Damn, am I starting to turn into a sports fanboy? Do I need a beer and a hotdog to eat during the fights?

This fight in particular will decide the finalist for their group, Tess against Lily. I have a winner in mind, but it will be entertaining to see it happen.

And it starts strong.

Instead of putting distance between them, Tess stands in place, causing Lily to falter as she moves to charge after her with everything she’s got.

Tess can see her surprise, and it only serves to amuse her. A crown surrounded by red and white lightning forms over her head, and her blonde hair starts shining like gold as beautiful armor surrounds her body. Sleek and functional at the same time, with lightning crackling around the edges.

The sky over the floating island they stand on starts turning darker.

Lily lets it all happen, and like me, she must know why Tess has done this. It’s simple. The blonde has decided to indulge her pride and show Lily, who’s been getting very confident lately, why she’s the leader of the group and assert her strength in the process.

Lily is shorter than Tess. Her eyes are brown, unlike Tess’s gray, and while Tess seems to be releasing light, Lily seems to be absorbing it. That dangerous gray mana seeps out of her like a cloud of deadly smoke capable of destroying anything. A gray dagger forms out of it, and Lily’s hair starts shrinking, her waist-length hair seemingly retracting into her head until it stops at her shoulders.

Tess simply watches as Lily sacrifices her hair, a few of her organs, a bit of flesh, and most likely some senses too.

Both of them attack at once.

Before they crash, lightning roars through the sky and hits Lily head-on, destroying her leg and burning half of her body.

Without blinking, Lily takes a step, her wounds healing in a flash. She swings her dagger, and smoke seeps out of it, devouring Tess’s primordial lightning.

Tess moves to the side, looking more like lightning given form than a human, and Lily follows matching her speed, bolstered by her sacrifices.

Tess pelts Lily with large stones, each one the size of a car. She also pulls trees up by the roots, and a constant barrage of lightning tracks Lily as if it were being pulled by a string.

Like an unstoppable nightmare, Lily passes through it all, her flesh healing with terrifying speed. [Disintegration] devouring lightning as if it were nothing, while she nimbly dodges oversized projectiles and cuts through them with ease.

I can see the surprise in Lily´s eyes as Tess stops dodging and crashes into Lily head on, her lightning zaps the girl, causing her to freeze for a moment.

Lightning spears appear from behind Tess’s back and pierce through the black-haired healer, then Tess’s armor disappears, collapsing into a spear of red and white lightning before piercing Lily’s neck.

Yet, the healer doesn’t vanish in a cloud of particles.

Gray mana explodes around her, devouring everything: air, lightning, Tess’s leg, and the ground she stands on. A big chunk of the area around her disappears, leaving a smooth surface.

And Lily stands there, her wounds fully healed and hair even shorter, even one of her arms gone, sacrificed.

Once again, a gray dagger forms in her hand, but before she can take a step, two stones as big as buses crash into her from the sides, squishing her in between. Still, she almost dodges the blow, only her lower body managing to get caught in between the stones.

Lily swings her arm, cutting herself off from what remains of her body. Then she stumbles as her body regrows, one of her eyes disappearing, and she seems to have gone deaf, sacrificing her hearing.

Tess, standing on a single leg, still dodges Lily, using a lightning-based prosthesis instead of her leg to move. She destroys Lily’s leg and dodges a strike from the dagger made of gray mana along with its follow up.

Lily charges her, letting go of the dagger, and strengthening her body instead, but one last bolt of lightning falls from the sky, damaging her even further, her wounds seeming to heal slower as a result of dwindling mana reserves.

Tess hasn’t even used her [Declaration] and even chose to fight up close, giving a huge advantage to Lily.

But now, a barrage of projectiles and spears hits Lily for the last time. The black-haired healer continues to push through, her grey mana devouring the attacks and her limbs regenerating, though more slowly now.

Step by step, she moves closer with determination on her face, but to no avail. Lacking mana reserves and running out of things to sacrifice, she hits her limit, which becomes even more noticeable due to her inexperience, impatience, and overreliance on two powerful skills. So, Tess wins.

The black-haired girl disappears in a burst of shimmering particles even as she sacrifices more parts of her body in an attempt to heal.

Under the dark sky, the lightning crown over Tess’s head finally flickers and disappears. Even tired, wounded and with her golden hair plastered to her face Tess looks very regal right now.

She then disappears, teleported by the system, returned to the roof with the rest of group 4.

Lily and Tess, fully healed, face each other, but before anything can be said, Maya jumps on Lily from behind, hugging her and calling her terminator. Tess also smiles and compliments Lily, while giving out a few pointers.

Lily doesn't seem too happy about it, but she can use it as fuel for her determination to improve. That and she needs more mana, yup.

The next fight is Brainiac versus Adam. The tall redheaded boy quite easily beats Adam. Both clearly know each other’s skills, and Brainiac shows surprising skill not fitting his nosy and extremely cheery personality. He fights cleverly, using ranged attacks that have clearly improved since the second event. As per my advice, they are smaller, sharper, and contain less mana, making them harder for Adam to track.

Brainiac fights from a distance, shooting them through the trees even as they pierce easily, leaving finger-thick holes. Gradually, he tires out the older man, emptying his reserves, and takes the win.

Biscuit is in the finals against Aaron. The best doggo of the tournament floor shows no mercy from the start, bombarding Aaron with mental attacks and tentacles that extend a great distance.

Aaron is quick, often leaving very convincing afterimages of himself that even contain mana, heat, and the feeling of weight.

For Biscuit, they are easy to destroy, but it takes some of his reserves while Aaron moves around, blending with his surroundings by using [Sensory Deception] and relying on [Haste] to move quickly.

That way of fighting has helped him so far, easily dealing with hard difficulty and even one guy from Hell difficulty. He can also use mental attacks, but they don’t really seem to work all that well on Biscuit, who merely responds by shouting louder the moment someone tries to connect to his mind.

In a last-ditch effort, Aaron dodges through the tentacles and mana projectiles and reaches Biscuit, only for it to be revealed as a projection, and the real one attacks from the side, a dagger in his hand.

Even so, Biscuit reacts in a flash and envelops him in his purple tentacles.

The gentle corgi then shakes Aaron until the boy forfeits, Aaron surrenders to escape and to avoid throwing up from all the shaking before appearing outside. There, he curses under his breath while Biscuit leaves my lap, wobbles up to him, and nudges Aaron with his small head until the boy relents and pets him.

Gareth faces Dennis in the finals, the second twin sharing a combat style with his brother.

I think it’s great they got so far, only losing against strong opponents. But both of the twins are much stronger when they can fight together. When they fight alone, it’s like most of their skills can’t be used properly. It's a weakness they need to work on.

Gareth, having some knowledge of Dennis, acts gentle but firm and allows some attacks to hit that fail to damage him at all before changing his armor, moving quickly, and defeating the second twin.

Then Sophie disappears with Tacita, and the two women face each other on the floating island. The common area becomes eerily quiet for a moment before the conversations resume at a much quicker pace. People bet as quickly as possible, trying to guess the winner of the fight.

Sophie has a terrible reputation as a mind manipulator, and Tacita is a crazed girl, barely even a young woman, who kills people if they get too close.

Tacita’s nonchalant bearing changes one second after the duel starts. Before she even moves, blood seeps out of her eyes and ears, and her arm moves. Tacita stabs at her own neck, only managing to redirect the dagger at the last moment and burying it just over her collarbone.

It becomes quiet once again as Sophie’s green eyes shine coldly and a swarm of dozens mana constructs surrounds her.

Chapter 377 - Sophie vs Tacita

Sophie loses control as Tacita changes her field, and the mute girl disappears.

Even while that is happening, Sophie keeps her hands moving as she sets up her web. She works quickly, creating floating constructs the size of bees that roam the battlefield in a chaotic fashion, drawing nearly invisible threads of mana behind them.

Sophie detects something and waves her arm, causing the ground to bulge a few steps away from her before bursting into a large spike and piercing high into the air. She spins swiftly causing another three spikes to burst from three more points.

It’s almost impressive to see how little this distraction seems to trouble her as she continues to build her web and more constructs.

For a moment, Tacita appears, dried blood under her nose, ears, and eyes, and the skin over her collarbone bleeding down her shirt. She stands there calmly, dagger coated in her own blood. Did Sophie just force Tacita out of her stealth skill?

Changing her grip the mute girl takes a step.

A dozen or so constructs take off after Tacita, each one its own, self contained trap, ready to trigger their effect the moment it’s destroyed. The arm holding the dagger turns into a blur and all of the constructs disappear, each of them having been cut to ribbons in the span of a second.

When the spikes pierce the ground, Tacita avoids them gracefully, jumping from side to side, avoiding them with ease, even while dancing between the threads of Sophie’s web.

Every second she is moving closer to Sophie, who continues to throw everything she can against her. Her web, constructs, earth spikes, wind slashes, and even the air over Tacita changes, attempting to focus the light and burn Tacita like an ant under a magnifying glass.

And every time Sophie tries to use her mind manipulation, Tacita creates a short dagger out of mana and throws it at Sophie in a beautiful straight line. The dagger leaves a trail of blue mana in its wake, forcing Sophie to defend herself as it pierces through multiple barriers with ease.

When Tacita gets just a few steps away, Sophie shrinks her web, pulling the constructs into a tighter perimeter, before spinning a number of threads together, and attacking the mute girl.

The web actually seems to affect Tacita’s movement now, hampering it, as it pulls oxygen out of the air, restricting her ability to breathe, hell it even seems to be altering the temperature, and density of the air.

Seeing all this, Tacita continues to walk slowly, playfully dodging her opponent's attacks as needed, her arms the only parts seeming to move, her speed causing them to vanish in a blur as she deals with each attack. She looks angry as she does. The angriest I’ve seen her yet.

One step away from Sophie, she moves her arm and jams her dagger into Sophie’s neck.

Sophie tries to grab Tacita´s arm, which would improve her manipulations, but Tacita pulls the dagger free, before removing Sophie’s entire arm and taking a step back.

Then they face each other. Sophie, bleeding from her neck and the stump of her arm, and Tacita watching and waiting for her to die.

There is an invisible fight we can’t see or sense, but I’m sure [Manipulation] and Tacita’s skill or trait are clashing even now.

Gradually, Tacita squeezes her dagger, blood once again flowing from her eyes as her hand moves. Turning the dagger against herself, the tip of the blade pierces the skin over her heart.

Then the movement stops, and in a lash-out-like movement, the arm swings, sending Sophie’s head flying and reducing her into a cloud of shiny particles.

Soon after, Tacita also gets teleported outside.

The crowd under the screens becomes extremely loud, with different groups of people chanting the names of the girls. Some erupting in celebration, and others complaining as they rush to check their bets.

Sophie doesn’t seem to be happy but quickly finds herself drawn into a conversation with the others, all the while trying to keep her sister from noticing, though I'm sure she can still feel it.

As I wait for the next fight to start, I create a black orb over the palm of my hand and, as always, it tries to fight back while I shape it, creating a projectile, dagger, and other constructs. I’ve found that Mana Cycling helps here a lot too, though I probably should have expected that from a technique left to me by that cockroach-like Absolute. Not to mention all the progress I’ve made with the aid of my duplicate and all the training I’ve been doing here.

As we approach the end of the tournament, I plan to continue my testing. In particular, involving the combination of black mana and my [Mana Crown] and trying to use it to power my skills in interesting ways.

The result will probably be… well… explosive. Excited as I am, I figure I’ll need to put it off to work on improving my control, just a bit more before moving on with the attempt.

Lately, I’ve thrown a lot of effort into trying to master black mana and I can’t shake the feeling that my basics are still lacking. It might not be a bad idea to slow down a bit and work on the basics. In the long term, I’ll be better off than I would rushing to use powers I barely understand.

Then there is also Miwa and her arm and her desire to meet Tent… the first-ranked crafter, damn it.

“Maya’s up against Savant,” Izzy pokes me, jolting me back to focusing on the screen once she’s done speaking with Sophie who she still calls dumb.

“Why is Noodle growing so slowly, it seems like he eats a lot of mana,” I ask as I turn to the screen.

“I told him to not grow too quickly so that I can continue to carry him around and pet him! He’s cuter at this size.”

I see, that makes sense.

Poor danger noodle.

Meanwhile, back on the screen, dark blue armor starts to surround Maya, and before the helmet can cover her head, I take notice of the cold and focused expression on her face. She must know she doesn’t have much of a chance, but that won’t stop her from trying.

Maya activates her [Boost], and her high dexterity increases even more as she charges Savant, short swords in hand.

This time, Savant doesn’t use his domain and pulls out the broken Sword of Aeons instead, not seeming to care that it only has half a blade. He uses it like a long dagger or a very short sword.

His strengthening combined with the short bursts of mana he uses to reinforce his body are nearly perfect. Better than anyone from Hell difficulty, he strengthens his body with his mana. In very short bursts, he becomes almost as quick as Tacita.

He avoids her attacks with extreme accuracy, sometimes by a hair’s width, merely by stepping to the side or jumping back, occasionally moving so little as to simply tilt his head.

He matches Maya’s speed, and each time their weapons clash, he uses the bare minimum level of force, preferring to absorb the excess with his skill. He even manages to make use of the absorbed energy and releases it as needed to strengthen his attacks.

I think his skill is probably something along the lines of [Absorption], [Counter], or [Redirection], or something with a similar name. Though the skill allows him to absorb attacks and store them for a while, it likely comes at the cost of his mana. The longer he stores it or the more powerful the skill is, the more it’s going to cost him.

His skill must be really good too, given the way it was even able to store [Disintegration]. Either that or it was a higher level than Lily’s skill and required Savant to use a lot of mana.

It doesn’t worry me that much. With my reserves, I should be able to overpower it quite easily. There is no chance he can endure it with his pitiful reserves.

Savant dodges and lashes out with his sword, the blade’s edge glowing in the gentle orange light of his domain. It easily cuts through Maya’s armor and causes a serious wound.

Without hesitation, Maya creates a patch made of mana to stop the bleeding, and instead of using [Boost] to enhance her healing, she uses it to attack again. She keeps changing her weapons, switching from daggers to hammers to swords, all in an effort to catch Savant off guard.

At times she even creates additional limbs made of mana from her back and attacks with them instead.

It still isn't enough and the fight ends a minute later with Savant barely warmed up and Maya's armor flickering as she starts to lose control. At that point, Savant ends it with a few swift swings of his sword, slicing through Maya's creations like nothing.

“So who do you think is stronger, Nat or Savant?” Aaron asks Maya when she gets out.

Maya, in a state of deep concentration, takes a moment to jolt back to reality, and then a few more as she stares at the blonde boy.

“Savant may be ridiculously skilled, but Nat is crazy to the point of being suicidal.”

“So Nat?”

“It’s hard to imagine Nat losing, but I don't think that Savant showed everything he can do, so I would expect him to have some nasty surprises in waiting.”

“So Savant is the smart kid who finds it easy to study while Nat is just a dumbass spending his nights brute-forcing the lessons?”

“No, Nat sets the class on fire and then uses the distraction to cheat while getting terribly burned.”

“The fuck?” Aaron shouts, stealing the words from my mouth.

For now, I may as well ignore the pokes at my surely normal personality.

On the screen, the scrawny man who beat Min-Jae wins his fight, becoming the finalist for his group. I think he’s from BenDover’s group. A similar assassin build, but unlike the 30-something BenDover, the scrawny man must be over 50, though it’s not like it matters that much anymore with the benefits granted by our stats.

A few fights later, and the group fights end, leaving us with our 16 finalists.

Congratulations on becoming the finalist for your group. The finals will start in 1 hour!

Group 1 - Swordmaster

Group 2 - Noname

Group 3 - Brainiac

Group 4 - Bard

Group 5 - Gareth

Group 6 - FoodFood

Group 7 - Wanderer

Group 8 - Zenith

Group 9 - Savant

Group 10 - Rook

Group 11 - Meridian

Group 12 - Sset

Group 13 - Tacita

Group 14 - Vesper

Group 15 - Luminary

Group 16 - AnotherOneHere

Having seen the groups in their full glory, I can’t help but think about just how unlucky Group 4 was. A lot of them met someone from our group or Beyond, preventing them from making the finals.

There are even two people from Hard difficulty who were lucky enough to get groups without anyone from Hell in them, Zenith and Meridian.

The duels are announced as well, while the participants are split into two groups.

Group 1 - Swordmaster vs Group 2 - Noname

Group 3 - Brainiac vs Group 4 - Bard

Group 5 - Gareth vs Group 6 - FoodFood

Group 7 - Wanderer vs Group 8 - Zenith

Group 9 - Savant vs Group 10 - Rook

Group 11 - Meridian vs Group 12 - Sset

Group 13 - Tacita vs Group 14 - Vesper

Group 15 - Luminary vs Group 16 - AnotherOneHere

It looks like I need to win against Swordmaster, followed by either Brainiac or Bard. Then that leaves either Gareth or Biscuit. The winner of this mini-group will go against the winner of the other mini-group. Likely Savant, Tacita, or Tess.

“Are you happy with your group?” I ask Tess as we read from our system windows.

“Well, I need to win my fight and then I’m up against Savant. It’s a shame, I wanted to fight Tacita, but there’s nothing I can do.”

“Already giving up?”

“Of course, I will throw in my best, but I think out of everyone you’re the only one who can reasonably face the guy.”

“He hasn’t shown off much. He got an arcane weapon during the first event, and had a high [Restriction] during the second and third.”

Tess chuckles in response, “That’s more than enough for someone like us to make a judgment, right?”

“I guess.” I sigh.

Then I look at the mana stone I’ve been keeping in my pocket. It's the one Savant gave to Lily in exchange for restoring his arm. The stone contains research on healing made by Hella, a disciple of Champion Tristan.

Knowing Savant had it since the second floor, it's obvious that he saw the research as well. There’s a lot here about body modification, more than there is about healing wounds or regrowing limbs and organs.

Things like taking parts from someone else and making them your own by “healing” them into place, and simply making your body accept them.

Every bit of it is nasty, descriptions of taking the corpses of long-dead Champions and trying to use them. Changing limbs, transplanting the hearts and flesh of more powerful humans, even body parts containing traits. It also talks about the risks inherent in such procedures. Rejected traits, the body fighting back against foreign organs. Such procedures are extremely dangerous should the new part be rejected.

And I wonder how much of this knowledge that guy has used and how much of that body is still his own.

Chapter 378 - Terrifying predator

Min-Jae returns to the rooftop just as the hour-long rest is reaching its end. He’s quiet and there’s still an aura of disappointment hanging over him. But who the heck knows, it's hard to deal with people. Why can't everyone be as simple as my minion and our future animal overlord? Things would be simpler then.

“Such a good boy.” I rub Biscuit's belly. The best-looking corgi that ever existed looks back at me, seemingly confused, but like the perfect being he is, he just accepts it and starts wagging his short tail. Emotional Support Corgi sure is a nice competition to ESM.

“Nat…” Min-Jae wants to say something but I interrupt him.

“You are young and dumb. But it would be nice if you stopped caring about useless stuff. And get yourself together, before the tournament ends, I have questions about your eye.”

“O-okay.”

I wave and then vanish into the Arena to face Swordmaster. This time the arena has changed once again. We find ourselves in the middle of a huge field covered in grass, tall enough to reach the middle of my shin as it sways in beautiful green waves with the motion of the ever present wind.

However, the stone pillars all over the place do serve to break up the scene somewhat. Some of the pillars are as big as buildings, while others are shorter than me. The sky has a slight orange tint to it, like on Earth just before sunset. There are no clouds but the sky makes it look like there is a ring around the planet, like those around Saturn.

“It's pretty, surely the nicest arena so far.” Swordmaster, like me, is looking around, neither of us willing to start the fight quite yet. The man didn't attack me while I was looking around so that's a point for him.

“Wanna bet this place actually exists outside of the tutorial? You might have a chance to visit it if you are lucky.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be quite so easy.” He shakes his head, “Even our closest star to us is lightyears away.”

“Not with that attitude it won’t.”

“I just swing my sword. Space travel is not for me.”

As he speaks he pulls out his sword, its beautiful blade formed of ethercrystal. It’s not difficult to guess what kind of abilities the weapon will have, or that it’s surely an epic grade item.

My opinion of the man having been thoroughly bolstered, I decide to mirror his approach somewhat. My mana seeps into my hand, extending and creating a sword. I push further, compressing it until it turns dark blue with swirls of light blue and purple inside. My Mana Regulator redirects a big part of my mana into Reinforcement and we face each other.

Swordmaster attacks first, silent, the grass around him barely reacting.

When I use kinetic energy to dash, a shockwave erupts in my wake, creating a ripple in the green grass. The grass loses some of its color and the wind becomes more distant as I slide deeper into [Focus].

The air reverberates as our weapons slash, just a single exchange making it clear that he is much more skilled when it comes to handling weapons. I, on the other hand, am stronger and faster thanks to the huge amounts of mana coursing through my body.

Swordmaster soon starts dodging my attacks, trying to predict and read them instead of barely blocking them.

We attack each other, the collisions between our weapons creating small shockwaves, while invisible slashes follow our blades, and sparks of mana explode into the air.

We find ourselves constantly repositioning and using the pillars as cover and angles of attack, we fight simply. Without relying much on mana and skills.

I find myself enjoying this even caught in the depths of [Focus]. There is something satisfying about moving my body and simply reacting to the movements of my opponent while he does the same. Swordmaster is very talented, also realizing that this could have ended long ago, so at times it feels like a lesson as he focuses on my weaknesses. When I fix them at least a bit, he focuses on another one.

Even so, ten minutes later, he jumps back a few times. More mana seeping into his transparent blade as it starts to shine while seeming to ignite the mana around him.

More kinetic energy flows out of my Vortex Core, and we dash at each other, the last exchange reducing him to white particles as the system teleports him out, and I follow soon after.

It takes me a few minutes to replay our fight and I feel my mood improve slightly. That duel was fun, with all this mana I almost forgot how much fun it is just to move my body.

The next duel is Brainiac against Bard, with Brainiac winning, and catapulting himself into the top 8 with me.

After that, it's Biscuit´s turn. Before he disappears, I wish him luck and promise a lot of jerky if he wins.

They wind up in the same arena, as I did, leaving a corgi and Gareth to face each other. The grass bends gently under the wind as Biscuit floats into the air.

“This is awkward. I’m going to feel terrible fighting you,” Gareth sighs.

Even so, Gareth still covers his body in a suit of silver armor as a crown of the same color forms over his head. Two orbs form over his shoulders. He doesn't seem to be underestimating his opponent this time around.

Dozens of purple tentacles shoot out from Biscuit, surrounding and grabbing Gareth, who tears some of them just with the sheer strength of his body as he cuts through others with weapons of his own creation, setting himself free.

But that little time is enough, and the orb Biscuit was preparing is ready. It's bigger than any I’ve seen him create before, the purple color starting to turn bright white. It seems like he’s decided to put everything into this single attack.

Biscuit falls down from where he was floating, tired. Every ounce of his mana concentrated in the orb making its way towards Gareth, who just got out of the tentacles.

Gareth groans in surprise, the crown over his head shining brighter. Gareth´s two silver orbs form into a single one and shoot towards the bright white orb, surrounding it.

As Biscuit´s orb explodes, Gareth keeps layering barrier over barrier until his crown starts to flicker, but it stays. The silver light of his barrier surrounding the orb extends further. The explosion stretches, making the barrier bigger before it weakens and Gareth compresses it.

In the end, the light of the explosion inside the orb dies off, and Gareth launches it far away, where it bursts open, and the intense heat scorches a huge part of the field.

Taking a few slow steps, Gareth stops in front of Biscuit, who can barely move, and looks up at the man.

“That was a very strong attack, I have only a tiny bit of mana left,” he says, clearly very tired, as he gently reaches out his hand towards Biscuit, who lets the man pet him.

Gareth smiles gently, “Can you please forfeit? I don't want to hurt you.”

Rather than complying, Biscuit moves quickly and bites Gareth´s hand.

At first, Gareth laughs it off, calling it cute, but soon a shocked expression appears on his face, and he jumps back, blood dripping from his hand before it heals over. His extremely durable body, damaged like that by a simple bite.

Biscuit shows his teeth, his usually gentle brown eyes glowing with a hint of purple. The shadow behind him expands, seeming much bigger than it has any right to be, a myriad of tentacles swirling inside.

Licking his lips for another taste of Gareth's blood, Biscuit seems much bigger than before, even though nothing has changed. His cute little mouth feels more enormous than even his disciple's and his teeth more dangerous.

The sound coming from him has a haunting and primal quality to it. Like the raw snarling of a terrifying predator.

Gareth doesn't get a chance to attack, and Biscuit disappears, forfeiting this duel.

Biscuit appears back in my lap, lying so that I can't see his expression or eyes. I can only see the shape of his body and the back of his head.

Slowly he turns around to me, and I get to see it.

His face is back to normal, a cheeky glint sparkling deep inside his eyes.

(Food!)

I quickly take what few bits of deer jerky I have on me and feed them to Biscuit.

Leaning up to his ear, I whisper, “I don't mind if you start eating planets or something. But try to avoid eating humans. They are dirty.”

We don't want him to get a taste of that. If he develops the same addiction to people that he has to deer jerky, it could be very dangerous.

(Food!) He shouts, his tone sounding disappointed. How could I dare think that he would eat anything other than high-quality deer jerky?

In the next fight, Wanderer beats Zenith, the lucky or unlucky Hard difficulty member.

Savant defeats Rook easily, and Tess beats Meridian, who is also from Hard difficulty.

Tacita faces Vesper, the scrawny man who beat Min-Jae. From the start, she seems to hold nothing but disdain for the man just from the way she looks at him. When he blends with his surroundings, she just lifts her eyebrow, and her eyes continue to move, clearly tracking the man who thinks he is invisible.

Cursing, he appears again, and she dodges a few thrown daggers before disappearing.

Vesper, with sweat rolling off his brow, continues to look around, swinging his dagger, and trying multiple skills, yet he finds himself unable to do anything.

One of his fingers falls off, followed by his ear, then a leg. All in quick succession, Tacita takes each piece without the man even noticing.

It's clear he is about to forfeit, but before he does so, Tacita appears, standing in front of him, her dagger sprouting from his neck.

Both of them disappear, the victor having been decided.

And once AnotherOneHere wins his duel against Luminary, the top 8 has been decided.

Group 2 - Noname
Group 3 - Brainiac
Group 5 - Gareth
Group 7 - Wanderer
Group 9 - Savant
Group 12 - Sset
Group 13 - Tacita
Group 16 - AnotherOneHere

Warning. It is now possible to die inside the Arena.

Then there is no other message, but even that single sentence is enough for my mood to change. The vague boredom that’s plagued me up till now vanishing into the ether.

Just how much can you be excited for a fight if you know that there will be no consequences? No death, no real danger. Sure, it is fun to be able to go all out without worrying about useless stuff like breaking your body or having your brain melted under the pressure of your own mana.

But this? I really like it. This is much better.

Once again, the system gives us an hour before the next duel will begin, but I already feel myself getting giddy.

“Please don’t kill Brainiac, he is a dick sometimes, but he’s still a nice guy,” Dennis says moving closer and nudging my side.

Aaron joins in as well, “I mean you could beat him a bit, the guy deserves it for sure, but killing him would be too much.”

“Sure, sure,” I say, waving my hand dismissively. These little jerks just love that kind of joke. Or at least I think they’re joking. They don’t actually think I would kill the guy, do they? I mean, there is no real reason to, and even though he’s annoying at times, Brainiac isn’t that bad.

Noname vs Brainiac

Gareth vs Wanderer

Savant vs Sset

Tacita vs AnotherOneHere

Soon the event will be over, we just have a few more fights.

The Arena for the quarter-finals is different once again. This time it takes the form of a lake the size of a tournament city for sure. That lake is perfectly calm and the water at its deepest barely reaches my ankles.

The calmness of the lake leaves it almost like a mirror, the surface perfectly reflecting the blue sky. And there, far, far in the distance, stands a giant tree. I can’t even guess how tall it is, but it has to be a few miles high at least.

“Want to go check the tree before we fight?” I ask Brainiac, who is already opposite me.

“I don’t know, man, it seems really far off, and how long do you think the system will let us stay here?”

“We can test it out. You’re going to lose anyway, so you can forfeit in the worst case.”

“Ouch… you don’t have to be so direct.”

“So?”

“Damn it, fine, let's check the tree.” He sighs.

I float into the air and stop near him, grabbing him with one of my mana arms. In front of us, I create a pointy barrier and behind us, I leave an anchor to estimate the distance. Then I start releasing the kinetic energy stored inside my core while replenishing it through my thermokinetic heart.

Gradually, I increase the speed of our flight, ignoring the complaining Brainiac at my side. I continue to fly like that for a few minutes, but the tree doesn’t seem to be getting closer at all. I even use my eyes to check it, but I can’t detect any problem, and when I check my anchor, I land with a sigh.

Turning around, the anchor is just a few seconds of flight behind us.

“See, it’s the same in the games, you can’t leave the area.”

“We could,” I correct, disagreeing with him. “The system isn’t the problem, it’s this place. The lake seems to be causing this, and I can’t disrupt the effect or see through it. If I could, we would be able to reach the tree.”

“So it’s not the way the arena’s been set up? It’s just an effect of the place the system picked for our arena?”

“Yup.”

“Whatever, why are you so interested in that tree in the first place?”

“I think it might be alive like The Living Tree on the 4th floor, so I wanted to take a look. But it doesn’t matter if we can’t reach it.” I take a few steps, each sending ripples across the shallow lake and destroying the reflection on its surface, then I stop and face Brainiac.

He quickly catches on and takes a few more steps back as well, settling at the distance most comfortable for him.

The water around him ripples slightly, and a dozen or so projectiles rocket through the air, directly at me, each one the width of my pinkie and extremely sharp. There are even a few smaller and weaker ones mixed in, in a clear attempt to hide them.

All of his attacks seem to be made of wind, or compressed air now that I think about it, I mean it’s either that or something similar. Maybe vacuum now that I think of it?

I tilt my head to dodge two and step to the side to avoid a few more. I let three crash into my forearm without much in the way of strengthening, and blood is drawn, the projectiles nearly piercing through the limb entirely.

When I check the projectiles stuck in my forearm, I find that they do have some weight to them after all, and a sense of mass. Still, I can’t quite decipher what they are.

The projectiles that missed me are now returning behind me, and I send a disrupting wave toward them. Half of them disappear, and the other half ignore it. There is no mana on them anymore, and they fly just by their momentum alone, seemingly made out of solid matter in their own right.

I dodge and examine the attack for a bit longer, sometimes letting some hit me to examine them. There are a few more surprise skills Brainiac uses, but these projectiles are what interest me most so I take some time.

When I have had enough, I send a strong disrupting wave and then let a huge amount of golden flames seep out of my core.

At the last moment, I remember something, increase my control and stop the flames mid-air, the water under them sizzling and evaporating.

“D-did you just almost kill me?”

I quickly lower their power, the golden color turning yellow, and reduce the stream to a quarter of its size.

“Noname! Did you fucking forget we can die now?!”

I let the flames continue with a much slower speed toward Brainiac, and after cursing, he forfeits.

Outside of the arena, no one says anything, but Maya chuckles until Tess gently slaps her in the back of her head.

Chapter 379 - Before the finale

Gareth scores an easy win in his next fight. Even though it’s possible to die now, neither seems to hold back much. The fight still seems dangerous, but also like friendly sparring.

Wanderer is a petite woman using shockwaves. She uses them to attack, reposition, and mimic flying for a second or two. Sometimes she even concentrates them much like I do, but they lack the damage output required to hurt Gareth.

When Gareth wins, there is barely any sign of the fight on his body.

As I wait for Tess and Savant to enter the field, I try to figure out the system’s intent behind allowing us to die within the Arena at this point in time. Even during the start, the system said that it was impossible to die during the tournament. Does it mean the rules changed or was this always the plan? Am I just paranoid, thinking some sliver of intent from the Rulers would bother to mess with us?

Either option could be true, though it’s not hard for me to imagine the system doing this on its own to shake up the final matches. Whatever it is, it can wait as the two people enter.

Tess with a dozen javelins floating behind her back, wearing armor she got on the 3rd Floor from Edwal and had improved and fitted on the 4th. The javelins are a mixture of a few epic ones with the rest being rare. Mostly made out of endurium.

Savant is wearing a chestplate I’ve seen him wearing on a number of occasions, a light weight and well fitted scale mail cuirass. Other than that, he enters with a bracelet on his wrist, a necklace, and the damaged Sword of Aeons on his waist.

This time, Tess takes a more mobile approach and rushes to put more distance between Savant and herself. Her [Storm Crown] is already in place and she even uses [Psychokinesis] to move herself faster.

Her opponent doesn’t react and stays rooted in his starting position. The orange light is already starting to seep out around him, and he holds the Sword of Aeons in his hand.

Once she thinks she’s far enough away, Tess makes her [Declaration], the air itself vibrating as she forces the world to obey her will. What she said, I don’t know, either I lack the capacity to understand, or she’s chosen not to let anyone know, or perhaps the declaration doesn’t quite make the transition from the Arena. But the result is obvious.

The crown over her head grows in diameter, doubling in size, as the lightning lashes out at the air chaotically.

The first javelin to sail through the air is an epic grade artifact. In the blink of an eye, it reaches its target, leaving a trail of red and white lightning behind it.

Instead of piercing his chest, it slows as it gets closer, either the pressure from Savant’s domain or some unseen ability slowing it down and weakening the lightning. In the end, he grabs the javelin depleted of its lightning and, after examining it curiously, he lets it fall.

Before that javelin even touches the shallow water of the lake, five more pass through the air, each of them at different speeds and all of them focusing on the same spot.

The result is the same, the five weapons devoid of lightning falling from the sky to sink down into the water.

Seeing that, Tess sighs and drops all but one of her javelins, and all the lightning from her crown and other weapons flows into it over the next ten seconds. The javelin cracks under the amount of energy stored in and surrounding it and Tess launches it directly into the air.

Once again, Savant lets it happen. His eyes watch her like a tiger standing to the side, ready to pounce on its prey.

After a while, that javelin starts falling down like a meteor, lightning cracking all around it as it shines like a solitary star. Its falling speed is further increased by Tess’s skills.

Without even attempting to dodge, Savant’s posture straightens, and lightning starts flowing from his hand and crackling around the Sword of Aeons. Shining red and white, like the one he absorbed before. It blisters his arm, eats into his flesh, and a few bolts lash their way across his cheek, causing a burning scar. Even so, he somewhat forces it under his control and slashes at the falling javelin.

The water from the bottom of the lake explodes into the air, as the sheer force of the impact causes a large quantity of water to burst into steam. The displaced water rapidly makes its return to earth, falling like rain and rippling out across the lake. Somewhere within the area of impact, Savant remains, hidden by the cloud of vapor, a bit of red and white lightning continuing to arc through the fog.

Tess moves her arm, and the javelins in the water lift into the air again. There is no lightning crackling around them this time. But before she can attack, a javelin flies from the point of impact at a speed nearly equal to that of her last attack.

Even though Tess is not expecting to react, she sends a strong push in an attempt to stop the attack.

A single thump sounds, and shocked, Tess looks down at her chest. There she finds a huge hole piercing through her body, big enough to see through. Clearly a mortal wound.

“I forfeit,” she says, evacuating as quickly as she can while her body sways from blood loss, her eyes losing focus and becoming more and more distant.

When she appears outside, the wound is gone, and her clothes and mana are restored. Tess gasps for air.

If she had hesitated a bit longer, she would be dead.

If Savant aimed any higher, she would be dead.

That much is obvious.

So that’s how we play.

I filter out the conversation of my group and watch the next duel. Tacita against AnotherOneHere.

After the last duel, Tacita seems to share my feelings, and the moment the fight starts, she disappears.

Before her opponent can even react, he finds himself staggering back, her dagger piercing deep into his chest, slicing through his armor and ignoring any other defenses he may have had. A mercy I’m sure he knows. That dagger could’ve easily been placed in his eye and killed him before he could forfeit.

“Thanks,” he mumbles while the blood flows from his wound.

He disappears, and a new notification pops up.

Congratulations! You have placed in the top 4 of the Arena of the 5th round of the tutorial. The fights will continue immediately with the final duel happening one hour after.

Death is still possible within the Arena.

Note: The remaining competitors will not be healed by the system after the duel ends, only mana and stamina will be restored.

The duels are as follows:

Noname vs Gareth

Savant vs Tacita

Someone from the group says something, but I feel myself pulled inside and rush to find my bearings within the new Arena.

This is the 1st floor. The clearing we’ve appeared in is set under a dark sky lit by the northern lights. Blue, green, and pink, they shine vibrant in the sky. Unlike in my memories, this place is eerily quiet, not even the sound of leaves moving in the wind. Nothing is moving; as if we were frozen in time.

“Forfeit.” I give a single warning to Gareth.

“No.” He answers simply.

Both of our crowns appear at the same time, and he shoots a few of his orbs at me. They reach me quickly and expand, trapping me inside of a bubble as it tries to shrink, crumpling me up inside.

But it doesn’t move, the sheer pressure of my mana holding it at bay.

My eyes activate, and I decipher the frequency, using [Resonance] to step through the bubble.

Gareth reaches me quickly, his slim armor covering his form and dagger in hand. For a second, I grasp him with [Redistribution], add that energy to my own, and release a burst of kinetic energy from my core.

The earth in front of me explodes, sending the man flying through the forest and breaking the trees in his path. I use the anchor I placed on him, and after creating a tricolored orb, I send it through.

Far in the distance, an explosion rocks the forest, followed by two more as I send out more orbs. Then my anchor disappears, crumpling under the amount of mana I’ve sent through and because I didn’t have time to make it stronger.

The explosions stop and a few seconds later Gareth stumbles into the clearing, his body bloody, mangled, and burned. A silver light shines around his body as it heals him and his armor surrounds him again. Huge parts of the forest behind him have been left in a state of disarray not to mention the fire.

I compress a javelin over my shoulder and fill it with thermal energy before launching it at him. As flames explode around him, I use an anchor I placed on the javelin and appear right in front of Gareth.

While he swings his silver mace at me, I absorb the flames around us and release more thermal energy from my core. That forces Gareth to stop his attack, and a shield nearly as big as him embeds itself in the ground as he blocks the attack. The golden flames slide across the barrier, scorching the earth at his side and heating up the air.

Taking a bit of black mana I created, I boost my [Resonance] and disrupt his shield, which causes him to cross his arms in front of his body to block them.

Even so, the ridiculously resilient man endures them, his armor failing in the heat and starting to melt at the edges.

Another disrupting wave powered by black mana dispels his armor, and he continues his attempts to hold the flames at bay with his body alone. His flesh melts away, leaving his bones exposed while his body continues to regenerate.

Gareth takes a step towards me.

Then another as a silver mace forms in his hand.

Before he can take a third step into the flames, a compressed javelin as thick as my leg appears behind him, I launch it at him, boosting its motion, piercing his belly, and anchoring him to the ground.

Exhausted, Gareth moves to get rid of it but then notices the javelin turning bright white.

His eyes glance from it to me.

“I forfeit,” he says with a smile and disappears before the javelin explodes.

Appearing outside, I let my replenished thermal energy flow through my body to activate my passive and heal the small wounds I have taken. As the system said, they haven’t been healed, only my energies and mana have been restored. Even so, I’m not worried about Gareth. The man will surely be able to heal wounds of that level.

I use [Focus] and force myself to calm down.

While watching the screen, I continue to work on my Flamebearer, the damaged arcane ax. It’s something I’ve been working on ever since the end of the second event. The goal is to create temporary inscriptions like I did back then. Until now, I haven’t had a reason to take it into the duels with me, but that’s about to change.

Tacita and Savant both appear in the Arena clearly modeled after the 1st floor.

The mute girl takes a deep breath, pulling out a second dagger. Both of the weapons are of epic grade. The first one is shorter and with a wider blade, made out of silver metal. The second dagger, which she’s showing off for the first time, is made of black crystal. It looks brittle as if a single attack would break it.

Releasing her held breath, Tacita blows a strand of hair from her face. All her attention is concentrated on what I guess is as quick a movement as possible.

[Dawn] surrounds Savant close to his skin, the orange light radiating like armor.

Mana coats the two daggers, and Tacita disappears.

When she appears again, she’s only holding one dagger; the black one is gone. Tacita looks at her arm which is quickly changing colors, an orange light spreading from her hand and reaching higher.

Without hesitation, she swings her dagger and removes the arm at the elbow, after that the field around her changes slightly, likely in an attempt to counter or weaken the effect the next time she attacks.

Savant is standing there, a black dagger piercing through the palm of his hand, the attack stopped before going through his eye.

Tacita went for a kill. There was no hesitation at all.

Looking at the black dagger, Savant watches as it crumbles, turning into dust. His arm starts turning black and then crystallizes, and it spreads quickly. If he doesn’t do anything, I’m sure that attack will leave his entire body like that.

He pushes at the encroaching crystal with his domain, countering the effect somewhat, and as the orange light seeps through his body, it seems to be reverting it to some extent. Aware of his reserves, he doesn’t push more to remove it and decides to save his mana; he just keeps it at bay.

When Tacita attacks again, targeting his head, he barely manages to parry the strike with the Sword of Aeons, and Tacita reappears further away.

It takes a huge toll on him, I can see, but for really short moments Savant is almost capable of matching her speed. Almost.

Once again, Tacita´s body is poisoned by his domain. Each clash costs her, even the short exchange they just had was enough to leave her affected. Not showing any hesitation, she charges again, attacking from the side, her arm becoming a blur.

Savant barely covers his vitals, and the dagger stabs him three times: striking his arm, his knee, and the right side of his chest.

Tacita pays a high price for the exchange though. Blisters form all over her body, and her breaths are quicker and shallower. One of her eyes seems to lose its sight.

“You will die if you don’t forfeit,” Savant says as he shifts his weight on a different leg.

A bit of mana glows at the tip of Tacita´s dagger, and she swings it, creating an image in the air just from the afterimage of the glowing mana.

乁(ツ゚)ㄏ

A crazed smile climbs its way onto Tacita’s lips, and more mana seeps into the dagger, its surface vibrating visibly, cracks forming across the surface of the weapon. Her feet bury themselves in the ground, and she lowers her body. The mana poisoning reaches further, blinding her other eye as well, and she just closes her eyelids.

The orange light of his domain dances across Savant’s skin, flickering like flames.

Tacita reaches him in a blink and nearly severs his arm, the bone serving to stop the slash that was meant to separate his head from his neck.

I can see how much it surprises Tacita that his bone stopped her attack. She tries to dash back but finds herself unable to. She falls to the ground, her chest barely moving. Her skin starts shivering, and some of her hair falls out as her limbs thrash as they cramp.

Savant watches her. He doesn’t attack, but he doesn’t take down his domain and Tacita is slowly being poisoned to death.

Then she forfeits and disappears.

For some reason, I realize that I'm about to stand up, grab Lily, and teleport somewhere. It's a surprising reaction for multiple reasons, but I stop myself and wait.

The reaction I expected to happen comes quickly.

“Nat, we need to help her!” Lily shouts, grabbing my shoulder and shaking me.

“We need to?” I ask curiously.

“Yes, we need to!”

“She is unstable and dangerous. She could kill any one of you at any moment, so I don’t think we need to.”

“Nat?” Lily cries, shocked.

“Yes?”

“I thought you were friends, I thought you…”

“Lily, I’ve only known her for a few days. Don't misunderstand, I care about our group only and I will kill anyone who tries to hurt us. As for Tacita, I don’t mind being neutral with her, but we aren’t friends, and she doesn’t belong to this group.” These words are meant as much for me as they are for Lily.

“Please...” she whimpers.

I look at her. Lily is almost crying.

“Even though you don’t know her?” I ask with interest. It's a question I want to ask myself as well.

“Please. She’s dying. I don’t think anyone’s going to help her.”

“Okay then if that’s what you really want.” I put my hand on her shoulder and teleport to Tacita’s lair. It’s deep in the forest, a small hideout built around a fallen tree.

There, hidden inside, lies Tacita, curled up, shaking, and clearly dying.

I watch as Lily rushes towards her, immediately using [Sacrifice] and sending a burst of healing through the girl.

I don’t mind helping Lily. She’s a member of my group, someone who’s helped me over and over again. Someone I want to call a friend in the future.

But Tacita? There are things I like about her, but there’s a lot I don’t. And I know she wouldn’t hesitate to kill me or anyone from group 4 if she thought it was necessary.

Why would I want to help such a person? Out of some sense of petty sympathy? Because of pity?

“I can’t help her fully, Savant’s poisoning is too deep. I can’t use [Disintegration]; I would probably kill her.” Lily is desperate, and her constant healing is the only thing keeping Tacita alive. The mute girl is on the brink of death because of what [Dawn] did.

With a sigh, I concentrate my mana through [Focus] and force it into the shape of a small black nail. I lower my head and pass under the fallen tree.

In this tiny hideout, a single large blanket full of holes lies, most likely an item from Earth, judging by the design. A few stolen items are strewn about as well, some of them are even ours, Earth food I bought that disappeared. In the corner of this small place, a few daggers lie, all of them extremely clean and well taken care of. Laid out and organized like treasures.

Lowering my hand, I pierce the black nail into Tacita’s chest, and for a moment, she opens her eyes that are already healed by Lily. They meet mine, and I can see the stubbornness in her gaze. A strong will clinging to life.

"It wasn't my idea. It was hers." I gesture at Lily.

The black nail starts absorbing the mana that’s poisoning her and some of Tacita´s own as well. I try to control it so it absorbs only Savant’s and I succeed only partially, but it’s the best I can do.

When all of the mana poisoning is gone, I remove the nail and turn it into an orb. I will need to get rid of this somewhere.

Lily touches Tacita again and starts healing her. Tacita’s breathing steadies, her convulsions subside, and color gradually returns to her face.

The entire time Tacita holds a dagger in her shaking hand. Even in the state she is in she is ready to fight back. It's something I'm sure Lily didn't notice.

Chapter 380 - Final duel

We stay a bit longer and I keep an eye on Tacita and the knife she has hidden behind her back.

She is like a wounded animal, growling, and showing teeth, but knowing she is getting help and not biting because of that. I can’t help but find it amusing to watch her face while Lily works on healing her, at this point Tacita’s probably finding herself feeling even better than she did before the duels.

As we leave she doesn’t bother to draw anything for our benefit. She just watches us, clearly having us so close is making her nervous.

Giving her one last glance, I teleport us away and let Lily deal with any questions our group might have. I, meanwhile, take the opportunity to stretch and return to sitting in the spot I abandoned before. I still have some time before my final duel with Savant, so I may as well work on Flamebearer.

I replay the events of the 1st event in my mind, paying special attention to Savant’s use of the arcane glove he found there. Back then I wasn’t taking anything too seriously, but arcane weapons are probably difficult to control. Very difficult.

Flamebearer is like that even with my temporary inscriptions. It's hard to say how much more difficult it is to control a fully powered arcane weapon.

To hear Savant tell it, the glove tended to guzzle mana, and yet he made decent use of it, even with his paltry reserves. And the restriction he had in place only makes his feat even more impressive.

Hell, he demonstrated his prowess again during his duel with Tess when he managed to force her primordial lightning under his control. I think his skill gives him an edge when he needs to manipulate an ability that he’s absorbed.

That explains why he couldn’t control her lightning before absorbing it. Even so, the fact that he was able to do as much as he did says a lot.

Then there’s his duel with Tacita. I'm not worried about his domain or poisoning as I can counter it with mine. Actually, he should probably be worried about my domain. No, the interesting thing is that his bones were capable of resisting Tacita's attacks.

Tacita showed a rare expression of surprise when he did that. Connecting it with the mana stone he gave to Lily and the knowledge it contains, it's possible he made some modifications.

The question is if he replaced all of his bones or picked and chose. If I had to guess, I would say he went with the latter.

(Would you mind if I asked you something?) Sophie probes, connecting to my mind.

(Go ahead.)

(While you were playing with your ax, Lily explained what happened with Tacita. She tried to not show it, but she was disappointed and surprised.)

(Makes sense. So what’s the question?)

(I'm surprised by your reaction. I think it’s out of character,) she says.

(Is it?)

(Yes, I would have thought you would try to help just to get her on your good side, it wouldn’t have even cost you anything. You already seem to have some small connection with her, and she seems to respect you.)

(Weren’t you trying to kill her earlier?)

(A bit, but that was just in the duel. I don’t think I truly wanted to kill her if you know what I mean. So can I have an answer?) Sophie pushes.

(I'm an asshole, simple as that.)

(Were you waiting so that Lily could take the blame? Why would you do that? Why…)

(Anything else?) I snap, interrupting her.

(Just one more. I noticed a weird feeling a few times during our conversation, but did you die?)

(Yeah, once or twice.)

Sophie cuts off for a long moment and when she continues, her tone cautious, (Nat, others are coming to me to weaken their memories so they can keep dying while training. Yet you died at least two times during our conversation and who knows how many times before. Are you sure…)

(It’s fine. A bit of training didn’t kill anyone… well, you know what I mean.) Having had enough, I just cut off the connection.

Two times? It was twice as much.

I'm using this opportunity to examine my heart as much as possible, even cutting it apart inside of my chest to examine its pieces. So of course, there are some risks.

It would probably be safer if I didn’t work on Flamebearer at the same time, but it’s fine.

As for Savant, I'm curious how he will heal. At the start of the tournament, he appeared missing an arm, which Lily restored, but I can’t help but wonder if he did it on purpose so he could examine her healing. Maybe he even absorbed some? What an annoying guy.

Either way, I’m certain that he has some plan to heal the wounds Tacita inflicted. The weird effect produced by that dagger can probably be removed if he’s willing to sacrifice a decent chunk of his mana to fuel his domain.

As for me, I don’t think the duel will last very long. I plan to go all out fairly quickly and I have no qualms about using the last charge of Titan's Backbone. It already proved itself in my fight against my duplicate.

Once again, I feel myself getting giddy.

Soon.

POV Brainiac

I poke Gary and gesture at the screen. The old man finally stops talking and focuses his attention.

After he got his ass kicked by Noname, he seems even more interested in this fight. He may be trying to hide it, but I can tell that he is deeply dissatisfied with being subjected to such a one-sided defeat.

Well, it’s not his fault. Noname—that guy is bonkers, even the twins and Kim can’t say any different.

The screen displays an image of the final Arena, where the two stand, face to face. The setting appears to be a generic city from Earth.

They’re surrounded by skyscrapers and the sun sits high in the sky. Down on the streets, cars, bicycles, and a myriad of other vehicles stand parked. But not a single human can be seen.

Though the setting is familiar, I can’t help but find the image of a city without its multitude of bustling inhabitants disturbing.

“Hey, Adam, know what city it could be?” I ask.

“It looks like somewhere in North America.”

“How lazy can the system be? It could have at least set it in New York, Paris, or San Francisco. That’s where all the big disaster movies take place, right?” Mari asks, giggling.

“Well, the two of them are definitely going to cause a catastrophe.”

I watch as Savant leaps to the top of a skyscraper in a few bounds, his path up the building, marked by a trail of crumbling glass and concrete. Meanwhile, Noname is already waiting at the top. As always, he wears that same punchable expression that’s so emblematic of his personality. The one that makes it seem like he is looking beyond you like you’re just a bug in his way.

Granted, having known him for a bit, it’s probably not intentional, but damn, I would love to punch him. If he was at least a bit less good looking… if he smiled a bit, I bet all the girls would be all over him. Even so, I don’t know how big a chance they would have with that mana maniac.

The fight doesn’t start immediately. For a moment, they face each other, neither of them using their skills. They are measuring each other.

A few seconds pass and not a single word is exchanged. Then the fight starts.

Noname takes a step forward and mana roars from his body as that pale blue crown appears taking its place over his head and golden circles form in his eyes. He stomps and the entire skyscraper cracks and starts to collapse.

Orange light flows from Savant and crashes into Noname’s mana and for a moment they seem to push against each other, though the blue mana starts to take over as Savant jumps to another skyscraper.

Like a predator pouncing on its prey, Noname charges him and swings that ax of his with both hands.

Golden flames devour the area, burning between the buildings, cracking glass, and reducing the cars below into molten heaps of slag.

Another swing and more golden flames explode into the area.

And then a third evaporates the building Savant was standing on, the man surrounded by his orange light and holding that broken sword in front of him.

Slowly the flames die off, leaving burning streets, destroyed buildings, and molten metal in their wake.

“Well, I had hoped it would do more damage, but at least it depleted a lot of your mana,” Noname says as he floats in the air. Without any hesitation, he throws the ax aside, leaving it buried in one of the buildings.

“Your ax’s output was unexpectedly high.” Savant nods.

Both of them are weirdly calm.

This time it’s Savant who makes the first move and the orange light he’s been radiating increases. It expands further and further, lighting up the sky, like the breaking dawn. It pushes against Noname’s own light and rapidly approaches it, eager to make contact and poison him just like Tacita.

“Sword of Aeons was the best mana battery on Eladore, wasn’t it? I wonder how much mana you stored to push me like that.” Noname inquires, seemingly unconcerned, even as the orange light reaches him.

Blisters start blossoming across the surface of his skin but he seems to be examining them instead of trying to fight back. More and more orange light exerts its pressure on him, surrounding his body like it means to devour and drown him, while it slowly forces him to reduce his mana expenditure.

“Well, not like it matters.” He says, the serenity in his voice making me shiver.

It’s like he doesn’t even care that he can die now. He acts no different than he did when he was invulnerable. On the contrary, he’s even more daring now.

Noname lifts his arm to the sky and one of those scary black orbs forms in the palm of his hand. It grows more and more until it’s the size of an orange and then elongates into the simple shape of a sword.

Immediately, all the orange light surrounding them gets pulled inside. It doesn’t even touch Noname anymore, it just flows into the black sword like water down a sinkhole.

Noname floats into the air again, holding the black sword which absorbs any mana close enough to reach him. His blue crown slowly spins over his head.

Then he starts releasing his own mana seemingly unaffected by his terrifying black sword.

Every time I think he might reach his limit, he pushes more and more mana from his body.

And then more.

And more.

“Fuck… just how much…” Mari sighs.

And more.

Gareth keeps his eyes glued to the screen and I realize that calling Noname a mana maniac was an understatement. How is he not dead? Did… did he invest all… of course… of course he did. He was always telling us in the Community, we were fools to think he might be joking.

What a monster.

Everything is fine, it’s even running smoother than expected.

Savant’s [Dawn] can’t do shit against me. The black sword just absorbs any of his mana that reaches me. It sucks it in like a black hole. Sure I could make it easier to upkeep and maintain the black mana as an orb, but the sword looks cooler.

My training also paid off and with the help of my eyes and [Resonance] I can change the frequency of black and normal mana so they do not affect each other. It’s extremely difficult and I'm sure the aftereffects will be severe even with Titan's Backbone. Though I can’t keep it up for long, which may be a problem in the near future, but it should be fine for now. No, it’s more than fine.

Most of my primordial energies are gone but I can still use all of the mana I’ve pushed into the surroundings to pressure Savant, his domain is already dissipating and he turns it into that orange sword that seems to be trying to fight it. So far he’s enduring pretty well even under all of the mana I’m radiating, an attempt at mimicking his domain and mana radiation.

Seeing as he’s not trying to poison me anymore, I split the sword into three parts, forming each one into a javelin before launching them at him.

Each one crashes to either side of him, pulling on his mana and devouring it gluttonously.

I reach towards all the mana within my [Mana Domain] and shape it. I send it his way in the form of tricolored orbs, javelins, mana wires, and mana orbs. Each attack pierces through a skyscraper as Savant jumps from one to another and I force the black javelins to follow him.

We destroy the city so similar to the one I grew up in, leaving everything trashed. The choice of this Arena is a clear message from the system.

Look and see what you could do to your planet and cities.

Buildings crash. Roads get torn apart, cars bowl over. I unleash flames that melt the concrete and kinetic energy reduces large statues and telephone poles into dust.

Savant dodges, the orange sword made of his domain flickering under the constant pressure applied by my orbs and mana. Yet he still manages to absorb some of my attacks. Some fire disappears here, and a pulse of kinetic energy doesn’t hit him as strongly there, and tricolored orbs fail to explode.

His heart beats. At this point, I'm sure it’s not the original. Neither is his right arm, one of his legs, and one of his eyes. All of these parts came from different beings, all of them more powerful than his own and absorbed into his form.

So I'm not surprised when all the attacks he absorbed get released, compressed into a single orb, not dissimilar to my own. His poisonous domain, my fire, and kinetic energy, my tricolored orbs and javelins, all of it merged into a single orb, which he sends my way with perfect timing.

Even before it explodes, the orb releases immense heat, setting nearby buildings on fire and collapsing the road under it.

I move one of three black javelins and shoot it through the orb, the black weapon sucking in all that mana, leaving only primordial energies behind, which I reabsorb into my Vortex Core.

The attack disappears as if it never existed.

I move my arm and the three black constructs fly back to me, all of them contained within my domain. In my hand, they connect and reclaim the form of a sword. Moving them now is much more difficult, but they are also so much more effective.

Boosting my body, I reach Savant who meets me head on, his orange sword clashing with mine.

I watch as his sword tries to poison me, to take over black mana. The domain is extremely concentrated in that weapon. But it can’t do anything. The black sword just absorbs it all with ease and it doesn’t even seem to have enough to resist.

“You won’t be able to keep it up for much longer so that’s why you are pushing me,” he says as if it’s a fact.

“Yup, soon it will start wrecking my body. How much more mana do you have stored in that sword?” I ask, gesturing at the Sword of Aeons.

“Enough to keep resisting your domain for another ten to twenty.”

I shoot a pulse of kinetic energy at his head only for it to be absorbed, and returned immediately. He does the same with my fire, javelins, and the tricolored orbs I form over our heads. All of it taxes him, I can see that.

In the last attempt, he finally pulls out his trump card. He absorbs his left arm, the one Lily restored at the start of the tournament.

His sword made of his domain disappears with it. The wounds on his body heal, the arm most likely containing some of Lily’s healing powers and his strength and speed increase likely enhanced by the biomass he absorbed from his arm.

The orange light ignites again. A light shines from the broken blade, extending it and giving it the look of a normal sword. His domain taking the place of the missing mana.

Savant then powers his sword with the mana remaining in his body and the Sword of Aeons itself.

It’s scary how much comes through and some of his domain even pushes through the black sword I made, for a moment escaping its reach and affecting my body. The damage reaches my heart even though my domain and all my other defenses. It pierces through my mantle and spreads through my circuits.

Even then, it’s not enough.

It’s far from enough.

My heart thumps and I compress the mana flowing through my body. I throw the black sword far away and I grab hold of Savant´s hand, holding his sword in place. Then I push further, I compress more and more until all the mana currently flowing through me becomes tricolored before resolving into that mysterious black mana.

In a blink, it devours my mana poisoning and threatens to tear me from inside, until I push it out. Ignoring the damage it causes I form a big nail out of it, the same kind I made during the 1st event.

I then jam said nail into Savant’s chest, making sure he understands the message.

He tries to absorb it, he tries to work around it, but he can’t. Not currently. With his body in tatters from our bouts and the sheer amount of mana we were channeling and our abuse of powerful skills, he looks at me.

I'm ready for anything. My mind is sharp, my heart is beating wildly, and the world feels so colorful, so alive.

Show me what you can do when pushed to the brink.

“I forfeit,” Savant says simply and disappears.

For a moment I just stare into the air and at the destroyed city all around me.

What?

I appear outside in the common area, to the sound of people shouting my username down below.

What just happened?

Some members of my group rush to congratulate me but I don’t hear them.

Did he give up just like that? Just because I had an advantage?

I feel myself clench my teeth and my now restored mana starts seeping from my body.

Is he messing with me?!

I send my senses through the common area in one strong pulse and fail to locate him. I can't sense him at all.

As my mana starts to build up I glance at Lily and Isabella who are smiling. Izzy is even holding my hand and I'm sure she can feel my emotions right now. I once again look at the crowd down in the common area, most of them shouting my nickname, happy and celebrating the end of the event.

When I glance at Izzy again, she smiles at me and taps my hand.

Feeling extremely frustrated I sigh and seize control of my mana. I start cycling it again before it can start to leak and reach the people down below.

This doesn't feel satisfying at all.

Chapter 381 - It’s you…

Congratulations, you have won the 4th event - Arena!

Do you want to accept your reward or would you like to forgo receipt to improve your final rewards?

Your reward for winning the 4th event is:

Passive skill combination token (low epic)

“I would like to use it to improve my final rewards.”

The window disappears and I look at the palm of my hand, clenching it into a fist and then opening it.

What a cowardly little bitch.

Sure, he was about to lose. He gave his all, and I overwhelmed him. But still! What the hell. Fight me, show some pride, and don’t just look at me like that! Goddamned Patience, is it his subclass, is that why?

Savant my ass.

I don’t remember the last time I felt so frustrated. He’s more talented than me, he has some amazing skills, he was mentored by a Champion, and declared a Champion candidate. Yet he thinks so logically. It's as if he’s weighing everything, without taking any joy in the fighting.

And now he’s hiding. I went looking for him. I’ve scanned the entire area of the tournament, but I couldn’t find him. So I can’t even try to punch him to vent.

As has become my custom whenever I’m annoyed, I pull Biscuit closer to my chest.

We are alone in the living room in the huge armchair I’ve reserved. Biscuit is quiet, and I have a suspicion he is sleeping off a large quantity of meat he found somewhere.

His small body is soft and warm, and I can sense his heart beating calmly and hear his breathing. The fur on top of his head is pleasantly soft as I pet him.

I wonder if I should start referring to him as an ESC, emotional support corgi, or ESFA, emotional support future absolute, or ESAO, emotional support animal overlord? It could be something to think about in the future.

I pull up my status and check the skills that leveled up after I left the Arena.

[Resonance - lvl 45 > Resonance - lvl 46]

[Mana Domain - lvl 38 > Mana Domain - lvl 39]

[Mana Domain - lvl 39 > Mana Domain - lvl 40]

[Mana Crown - lvl 22 > Mana Crown - lvl 23]

[Mana Crown - lvl 23 > Mana Crown - lvl 24]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 45 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 46]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 46 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 47]

At least the rewards are nice, damn it.

Once this tournament is over I need a break. Somewhere with fewer people. Maybe once we get the twins out of that Black Tower I can disappear for a bit and do some hunting on my own. Staying with them all the time could also slow their growth and mine as well if the danger isn’t high enough. It sounds like a good plan, I would think.

But for now, I have a few hours before the last event, so I may as well visit Miwa and check out her arm.

Before that, I can put the items I made into the store.

I open the interface, and as I do, I put in twenty mana stones. Each of them qualifies as a rare quality item, and they shouldn’t sell for too high a price. But I’ve inscribed each one personally, making the same sort of exercises for mana manipulation that I gave Vega and Channeler.

I’ve already tested them to my satisfaction. Vega and Channeler have certainly made some decent progress. So I set a starting price of 300 shards and time of auction until the end of the tournament.

I won’t complain about an extra few thousand shards before it's all said and done.

I find Miwa in her workshop as always. She almost seems to live there.

After a minute or two, she emerges, and her expression isn’t quite what I remember. It's hard for me to guess what emotion she is feeling. Maybe she watched the duels or maybe she heard something?

“So, about the guy. You know, the number 1 crafter…” I start carefully.

The moment I mention that person, her eyes light up, and her stance opens a bit. She may still be hesitant, but she definitely has a strong interest in hearing me out.

“Can you bring me to them? My offer is still on the table, I’m willing to let you examine my arm.”

“Well… about that…”

“Oh, did they refuse? I can add ten rare grade items I made. I can throw in some of the ones I made for my group members too. I will owe them, and it will be a lot of work to make new ones, but I can do it.”

“It’s not that. Let me show you something.” I request, walking past her and into the workshop.

Inside, I find a corner with a metal table covered in inscriptions. After grabbing some low-quality mana conductive metal from a nearby pile, I start releasing mana, suspending it in the air.

Thermal energy flows from me, and I surround that metal, imitating a furnace and keeping the heat even. I gradually increase the intensity, and as it starts to melt, I move my mana to mix it evenly.

Miwa stands somewhere off to my side, at first seeming like she wants to interrupt, before settling in to watch.

I stoke the heat, and my golden flames envelop it as I cut off the air. Continuing an experiment I’ve been working on in an effort to learn how it might change the result. As it reaches the proper temperature I begin to release kinetic energy to hammer the metal.

As time goes on, I slowly start absorbing heat from the dagger. It took me some time to get it right, and even then, there are imperfections. Cooling it down too quickly will only serve to ruin the final product.

Of course, it could always be worse. I could use water to cool some parts, there are alloys, and oils I could have added into the mix, I could have tried layering the metal, heating it to different temperatures, and heating it for longer. I’m certainly not starved for options and I definitely have plenty of room to improve in the future.

But for now, I just let it cool as I work on shaping the molten metal into a bracelet as thick as my pinkie.

At the same time, I use my skills to engrave inscriptions across the surface of the item and lace some more along the inside. It would definitely work better with a different alloy to serve as the base, but then it would take longer as well.

The process still takes over 2 hours, and Miwa silently watches without saying a single word the entire time.

When it's all said and done, I let the bracelet drop to the table with the clang of colliding metal.

I check the results Identifying it as a low rare artifact bestowing an effect that will allow its owner to endure high levels of heat as it absorbs the excess and redirects it away once the storage reaches capacity.

“It’s you…” Miwa says, finally breaking the silence.

“Yup.”

“You…why would you call yourself that… never mind, forget I said anything! You should have told me earlier! I’ve been admiring your items for a while.” Miwa gushes, picking up the bracelet and smiling brightly, showing me the item, “They are ugl… that is to say they lack aesthetic appeal, the metals are often a mess, having been worked at excessively high or low temperatures. They are clearly amateur work.”

“Uh, okay?” Is she trying to start a fight?

“But at the same time, I can feel the enthusiasm and the raw talent. And the inscriptions are amazing! I don’t think there is anyone from our round of the tutorial better at working with them. And even on the floors, people like you were rare.”

Miwa continues to talk and talk. She talks about the item and the materials it's made of. She asks about inscriptions, and she points out mistakes I made.

Without hesitation, she presents me with a notepad full of notes on crafting. There are experiments she performed, alongside their results. Along with a few methods of smelting from Earth. Methods for working metals and more.

The notepad alone is extremely valuable, but she even gives me a pair of mana stones with more information. One she got from the second floor and one from a blacksmith who worked under Champion Keiron.

There is no hesitation at all. She only tells me she already read and memorized it all dozens of times over.

In her group, there is no one she can talk with about crafting properly, so she is happy.

So I tell her about Nevan and his alloys and the things he showed me. I show her the arcane alloy he made, which I keep on me at all times. I even let her see Flamebearer.

Miwa seems like she’s going to pass out from excitement at any moment, as she jumps from item to item, peppering me with questions.

In the end, I show and tell more than I had planned. But she reminds me of Cael, the craftsman from the 4th floor, a bit too much honestly. There is not a single sign of greed in her actions, and I just can’t see her selling the items I leave her with for simple profit. All I see in her is a pure love for the act of creation, nothing else.

She also shows me the arm, and I examine it and the way it's connected to her body. I examine the material and inscriptions. I even copy most of them into one of the many mana stones I keep on me.

I make Miwa move the hand, send mana through it, and activate the various inscriptions. We even activate some she didn’t know about, like one particularly efficient example that serves to make her arm even stronger, and a few more she will have to examine on her own. The arm seems to have been shielded from examination by anyone other than its owner, so it's difficult to parse even as she allows me all the time I need.

Still, I learn a lot and I believe that knowledge will stay with me, add to what I currently have, and allow me to create better things in the future.

Unfortunately, she still rejects my offer to buy her arm. She doesn't care about the possibility of receiving a new arm, courtesy of Lily.

I could offer to rent her Biscuit for a few hours, but something tells me she wouldn't accept, and I have nothing more valuable than that so I give up.

Lastly, I inscribe a mana stone for her. Miwa has a skill that allows her to manipulate flames, but the inscriptions I created should allow her to practice and improve that skill. Maybe even evolve it.

She is probably happiest about that part.

When I finally leave, she thanks me repeatedly and bows profusely, her behavior having done a complete one-eighty over the course of my visit.

I wonder if she saw something in me when I was crafting, just like I saw in her when she spoke about her love for the art of creation.

I spend some time with Min-Jae and examining his eye. It works very well, and I don’t find any problems.

When Vega was still here, I also checked her eye. I might have gotten a bit paranoid after reading the contents of the mana stone that cowardly asshole Savant gave to Lily. Thankfully, it seems like everyone did a good job, and Vega's weakened Mana Wavelength Iris fits her well.

I wonder if I might be able to sell my eyes sometime in the future, perhaps I could even give a few away, weakened versions of course. Just pull it out, have Lily or another healer weaken it with my help, and then fit it to another person, and sell it.

Logically, it shouldn’t affect the trait itself, at least I don’t think it should. I’ll definitely need to learn more before going through with it.

Min-Jae is still acting embarrassed, and it's fun to see. Just that short spar won’t change much, but he is a smart boy, so he should be fine. He will probably get his ass kicked a few times before that, but that's to be expected.

To be honest, if I see him doing it again, I might beat him up. I dealt with a lot of bullying growing up, people called me the brother of a murderer or poked fun at my mother.

Of course, I’m a hypocrite too and I bully others as well. BenDover is an example, or to a smaller extent, others. But at least I’m an asshole who has enough power to be an asshole without getting killed by some vengeful chump. Meanwhile, Min-Jae is weaker, and it could cost him his life later. He can mimic me once he gets stronger.

With little more than an hour until the last day of the tournament, we get a new notification.

The 5th event - Chronicle of the Past will start in 1 hour!

Everyone will have the opportunity to engage in a 1v1 combat challenge with one being from the database of the Earth’s tutorial. Beings such as natives from the already completed floors.

Every participant will be given 1 challenge, so choose wisely!

Challenged beings will be of the same quality as an Avatar, possessing no memories other than those required for combat. They do not possess emotions or the ability to talk and have no motivations other than defeating the challenger.

Note: There will be no rewards for the 5th event. Your performance will be included in the calculation of your final rewards instead.

Chapter 382 - Chronicle of the Past

“Hey,” Tess says, moving closer to me.

“What is it this time?”

She chuckles, amused by my reaction, “I wanted to confirm something. Lily seems disappointed with you over that thing with Tacita, but I can’t help but wonder if that’s all there is to it.”

“What do you mean? I’m an asshole. It's simple.”

“Really? Why then, was your first reaction to grab Lily and teleport to Tacita? I saw it, I have good eyes. I sensed you preparing to teleport.”

“You must have seen wrong.”

“Did I?”

“Yup, it was all Lily’s idea.”

“Are you worried about Tacita becoming attached to you?”

“Are you crazy, Tess? That girl is bonkers. She isn’t attaching herself to anyone.”

“You’re lying. But I wonder why. Would that really be so bad? Does the idea scare you? Having someone like her attached to you? Maybe you just like acting like an ass so people will leave you alone.”

“Totally. Anyway, did you see the last event? What do you think?”

Tess looks at me for a bit and then lets go of the previous subject, “I will be challenging The First One. Lily will probably go against The Fallen Hero. Sophie is also going to pick The First One for obvious reasons. The rest still isn’t that sure. Have you made a decision?”

“Yes, but I’ve got a few ideas about that. Could you get Channeler and a few people from Easy difficulty? I’ll give them some items if they use their challenge the way I want.”

“Sounds intriguing. I’ll give him a call. And don’t forget to set something aside for Channeler, he was helpful most of the time.”

Who does she think I am? I’m already preparing some nice stuff for my future PR guy. Enough to make him the most powerful Easy difficulty attendee.

I spend half a day training with Lily, trying to beat some sense into her and improve her efficiency. She tends to use too much mana and needs to invest more into her reserves, as the result of her duel with Tess demonstrates.

Using a lot of her stats for constitution is nice as it means better body parts to [Sacrifice], but even that consumes mana. She also spends a lot of mana regenerating her body, which now costs more because of her high constitution.

Her ideal strategy would be avoiding injury and taking advantage of her tough body through [Sacrifice], but Lily seems to like cosplaying a bulldozer during fights.

In the future, the power of constitution and some additional traits could make her investments more viable, but that’s going to take a while.

Then I spend a bit of time with Izzy, demonstrating a few better ways to use her flames. Sophie helped her a lot with that, and Izzy herself is pretty good, so it's just a nudge towards a different direction.

As always, I remind Maya to not be a scaredy-cat and level her [Focus] more.

So far, no one from Hell difficulty has chosen to issue their challenge for the 5th event. We have people monitoring the auditorium, once again set up in the common area, with multiple screens displaying each challenge.

Some of the people from Hard have chosen to challenge powerful monsters they met on previous floors and couldn’t defeat. Others challenge humans they want to learn something from, stretching fights out as long as possible.

Challenging to learn is the way to go, I think. Yes, some want to overcome their trauma and near-death experience, but that’s not for me. My challenge has already been decided, and I will wait for the end. Not like it is that far, just a few more hours.

When people from Hell difficulty start issuing their challenges, I teleport to the common area.

It’s a bad day for ants as I watch both Sophie and Tess obliterate the First One.

Something nearly snaps in me as I see that black ant again, standing there like it had never died even while seeming like an empty husk.

Tess is usually quiet about this kind of stuff, but I think The First One was something she sees as her big failure. Even though she doesn’t talk about it or show it to others, I’m sure it bothers her a lot.

As I watch her fight that ant, I think I can understand that, at least partially. Even though it won’t be a satisfying form of revenge and it won’t change anything, it will be a step forward. She might need this more than any prize she could have gained.

Her fight isn’t even that difficult. Without the support of his [Hive Mind], the First One is weaker, and the much stronger Tess defeats the black ant.

When Tess gets out, Maya makes sure the others leave her alone, and Tess sits to the side of the roof near us. There is a solemn mood around her as she sorts through things in her head.

Sophie also gets in and it’s even worse for the First One´s Avatar. He just freezes on the spot as his skill and Sophie´s [Manipulation] clash. He stays like that for the rest of the challenge. Sophie just holds him there, tearing as much knowledge as she can from his usage of [Hive Mind] as he tries to use it to counter her skill.

Where Sophie failed back then, she succeeds now and holds him in place with ease. But I don’t think she feels as satisfied as she would have hoped. The First One is an Avatar and without his Colony may as well be a weaker version of himself. One thing I can say, even hating the ant as much as I do. He was truly formidable back then.

The Challenges continue, and at some point, Savant reappears as well. He says a name and appears inside, facing a young-looking man. The ten-second countdown starts, and Savant starts his preparations to face him.

“Champion Tristan, he said,” Sophie, who’s recently reclaimed her space on the roof, mumbles.

That makes me check the man again.

Tristan has a young, friendly looking face. He is slim, and his blonde curly hair makes a nice contrast to his simple black clothes decorated with a few subdued golden ornaments. His eyes are sharp and have a slight orange hue to them. He looks very dignified even for the Avatar he is now.

Back on the 2nd floor, I heard multiple people say that Champion Tristan easily classified as the closest being to attaining the title of the Absolute from the entire world Eladore. Even closer than Champion Keiron or the mind mage emperor. And that man took Savant as his disciple for some reason, even declaring him a candidate.

Now they face each other, Savant radiating as much mana as he can, focusing it all on defense. To stay alive for as long as possible and learn from the man who took him in.

When the countdown stops, the duel doesn’t even take a second. Tristan barely moves, and Savant dies.

Appearing outside, Savant doesn’t seem to be dissatisfied, and I see the calculations going behind his cowardly eyes. Maybe he came up with better ways to forfeit duels that just started. Maybe he learned to say the word “Forfeit” much faster.

Maybe… I shake my head and sigh.

Biscuit’s challenge is a huge deer with white glowing antlers. The deer is extremely majestic, each step he takes makes him look like a being from a fable. Like the kind of spirit our ancestors would have worshiped as a god in ancient times.

The deer dies almost immediately in a single hit that seems to avoid damaging the body. Before Biscuit gets teleported out, tentacles surround the deer as he tries to bring it out with him.

Appearing outside without his prey, Biscuit seems extremely confused and disappointed.

(Food!) he shouts.

His head moves from side to side, and he even tries digging into the rooftop with his front paws, while sniffing at his surroundings.

(Gone!) He cries, with pain in his voice.

I pick him up, and while he keeps complaining over and over again, I feed him pieces of my decreasing reserves of deer jerky.

“Hang in there, buddy,” I say trying to comfort him.

I think Biscuit was a 2-year-old corgi when he entered the tutorial with us. On the 1st floor, he “awakened” for lack of a better term. He still could be considered a kid, a child, even younger than my minion or Izzy.

However, I find his naivety extremely endearing. His attempt to pay for stolen meat with pieces of glass he thought were the same as the mana stones they used as currency. Packing up pieces of meat with candy wrappers, thinking it might make us happier because he saw how much we enjoyed them. And more.

His worldview is simple, and even most of his abilities were gained just to get more food. Tentacles to reach the places we had hidden food, telepathy so he could ask for more food.

“You are one cute little thing, aren’t you?” I whisper, making sure no one hears, and boop his nose a few times.

(Gone!)

“We will get you some later, don’t worry. And where did you see that deer? Did you face a monster like that on the 5th floor?”

(Food!) He confirms.

Receiving a Notice from Sophie, I look at the screen to see Min-Jae facing down a monster I haven’t seen yet. It's bipedal with human-like features and four arms. Its skin looks like it is made of metal. Maybe it’s something Min-Jae met on the 5th floor?

Soon the reason for this challenge becomes obvious as the monster seems to possess a skill similar to [Telekinesis].

Min-Jae, like people before him, uses this to observe the monster and try to learn as much as he can. There also seems to be a hint of fear and hatred directed at the monster. Maybe it caused him trouble before.

In the end, the boy wins. It's still not fully satisfying, but his fighting feels just a little bit less tense. At the end of his challenge, he even seems to enjoy it.

The twins go one after another, both of them summoning the same monster. A small blue one with a huge head and a thin body that keeps creating illusions. That monster seems to be much stronger than they are able to handle, and after a while, they both lose. Even so, I can see their excitement as they exchange their wordless conversation.

The next member of our group to fight is Maya, and she faces a female lynthari I don’t know. The warrior is wearing simple armor and wields a longsword.

“It’s Maya’s teacher from the 4th floor. One of the best sword masters of Virelia. The lynthari liked Maya and taught Maya when she asked for lessons. She agreed and in exchange, Maya had to accompany her when she went to the city and shout vulgar stuff at people who tried to talk to her teacher,” Tess explains with a giggle.

“Typical lynthari.”

“I know, right? Still, Maya was rather fond of her and learned a lot. She didn’t have time to say goodbye, and I think she wanted to see her one more time. Maybe even learn a thing or two or see how much stronger she has become.”

To watch the scene play out on screen, I can’t doubt what Tess said. Maya is getting pushed back by an extremely skilled lynthari. I recognize parts of her move set that Maya seems to have adopted into her own style. The lynthari also likes to quickly switch between a number of weapons created from mana. She uses a shield, then she switches to a spear, then a dagger, and finally back to a sword.

The style looks extremely confusing and very versatile. It requires a lot from its user, but the result seems to be worth it.

Maya holds back and focuses on her technique instead of exploiting her higher level. And because of that, she loses, but she doesn’t seem sad at all. Instead, she smiles proudly, satisfied with her growth.

“Can you connect me to Channeler?” I ask Dennis, and with a nod he does.

(You guys can do it, I will pay as promised if it works.) I say, sending it through the connection.

(Sure thing! The guys are excited!)

Then I watch the scene down below, as one man separates from his group and heads towards one of the screens. I’m too far off to hear what he said, but I know the words. They are the words I told them to say.

“I want to challenge the winner of the 1st round of Earth's tutorial's 1st tournament.”

The man then disappears, teleported inside the arena to face his challenge.

The event is called The Chronicle of the Past after all.

Chapter 383 - Bloody brawl

An Avatar appears before the man from Easy difficulty. An Avatar of the man who won the 1st tournament of the 1st round of Earth’s tutorial.

The rumor spreads quickly, and before the countdown ends, signaling the start of the duel, all eyes have been glued to the screen, examining that man.

He is very tall and muscular, the build you would see on strongmen. He’s bald, has a bushy black beard, and looks to be in his thirties. He wears simple clothes and seems to be unarmed.

When the duel starts, he takes a few steps and stares down at his challenger. It’s just a moment, but even that seems to be enough to unsettle this particular member of Channeler’s group.

Then the Avatar swings his arm, and the upper half of his opponent's body disappears, and just like that, the challenger reappears outside.

“Did you see that? That one swing left a massive crater,” Aaron says excitedly.

“High strength?” Min-Jae guesses.

“That dude was massive, and probably as heavy as the two of us and Min-Jae combined,” Dennis says, staring at the now blank screen with his eyes wide open.

“But it seems like you were right, Nat! We really can challenge the winners of the previous tournaments.”

“It’s not like it’s all that useful, but it’s going to be nice to see some of the other tutorial attendees. We might even find out how many rounds our tutorial has,” I inform Min-Jae.

“The next challenge is beginning,” Sophie says, and we turn back to the screen.

The 2nd round winner of the tournament is a young redheaded woman with a long scar on her cheek. She is wearing simple, well-made armor, which I recognize as the armor of the Fallen Hero. Her only weapon is a huge ax with two blades.

Even so, she doesn’t bother using her weapon and nonchalantly kicks a stone off the ground towards her opponent. It speeds off like a bullet and kills the man from Easy difficulty.

“Hot.”

To my surprise, it’s Maya who says that. She gets a few surprised looks, and I can see the twins want to say something, but neither is brave enough to do so.

The winner of the 3rd round’s 1st tournament is a child. A boy looking to be even younger than Isabella. He has brown curly hair and deep blue eyes. Very deep blue, likely a result of one of his traits rather than anything approaching his natural color.

As ten seconds pass, the boy’s shadow expands, and two pitch-black wolves rise from its depths, as if they were made of ink. They attack at once, dashing at the challenger who quickly dies at their hands.

The two black wolves turn into a liquid-like substance and seep back into the boy’s shadow which quickly returns to normal. The entire time, his blue eyes seem to shine.

Then the time comes for the winner of the 4th round’s tournament.

It’s a 27-year-old woman. Most people would probably find her attractive. Her eyes are both brown though one of them is slightly lighter in color than the other.

She’s wearing simple clothes. Black pants and a gray shirt with long sleeves. The design seems to originate from the 4th floor. Her black hair is pulled back into a simple ponytail, clumsily done, she never was any good at doing it herself.

Even as an Avatar, confidence and grace radiate from her as she stands waiting with perfect posture.

“Nat…” I can hear Tess say quietly.

“Something happened? Why is your voice like that, Tess?” Maya asks, voice full of concern.

“That woman, she…” Tess hesitates, unsure what to say.

“She is my sister,” I answer in her place.

I watch the screen as Victoria takes her first steps. Her movements are so familiar. The Avatar moves just like her. Confident and daring. It's as if she is daring the entire world to throw everything it has at her. And I’m sure if that happened, she would endure it all without complaining. That's how she is.

The challenger dies with a single swing of her arm.

When she disappears, I can only stare at the place where she stood.

(Boss, we tried to challenge the 6th round winner, but it didn’t let us. The same goes for higher numbers. It seems like we can challenge only rounds below the 5th for some reason.)

(I see. How many guys do you still have?)

(We have five left. They can challenge…)

(Tell them to challenge the winner of the 4th round tournament. One after another. Don’t ask why.)

(I… I understand. Can do!)

These five guys from Easy difficulty die one after another. Each of them receives some mana stones with inscriptions from me. But at the moment, I don’t care about the cost.

The thought of testing who this event would allow to challenge disappeared from my mind the moment Victoria appeared.

Each challenge gives me 10 seconds in which I can see the Avatar of my sister and then a few more seconds as she calmly reaches her challenger. A few of them try to run away, but she catches up to them quickly and finishes it.

Group 4 is quiet, likely in an attempt to give me space after a quick exchange in the group chat.

When it’s all over, I find myself staring at the screen.

“Won’t you challenge her? You could see her longer…” Maya tries, and her voice is unusually soft.

“No, I will never fight her.”

Just the thought of hurting Victoria, even in the event of a sparring match, disgusts me.

She is someone who cared for me for so long. Who took so much on herself and suffered on my behalf. There is no way I will hurt her, not even for a friendly sparring match. Not even if it’s only an emotionless Avatar.

Never.

But there is someone with a different idea, a silly and petite black haired girl who moves impulsively and probably thinks she is helping me. She even wastes her challenge.

Lily appears inside facing Victoria, and she turns towards the “camera” and smiles. I know she does it for me.

What a dumb girl.

For ten seconds, Lily and the Avatar face each other. Then the fight starts.

Unlike before, Victoria’s Avatar acts differently. Her posture changes, and as she charges, even her speed is much higher.

She and Lily clash against each other, Victoria easily dodging Lily’s strikes and hitting her a few times in retaliation. Lily takes two blows to the face, two to the neck, and a stronger one to the chest.

Lily staggers back, her tough body enduring it so far. Out of everyone from the 5th round, Lily has one of the highest physical stats, and with the addition of [Sacrifice], probably the highest. Yet Victoria matches her.

Another exchange sends Lily rolling on the ground as Victoria pounces on her. Even in a fight, she seems so collected.

Finally, Lily is forced to use [Disintegration].

Victoria shows incredible reaction time and jumps back. She glances down at the missing piece of her shoulder and, for a moment, I can see her calculating her next move. Then she attacks again. She uses more of her strength and mana while dodging Lily’s burst of [Disintegration].

But then, to Lily’s surprise, Victoria gets hit by a series of strong, slow bursts of gray mana, and her entire body disappears. Only a finger remains, plopping to the ground behind Lily.

Lily stands there more shocked than anyone watching.

“That was unexpected,” Maya mutters.

But Lily doesn’t find herself teleported outside; the duel doesn’t end.

In a blink, Victoria regrows from her finger. The flesh extends from the finger, along with bones, nerves, organs, and skin. It happens extremely quickly, and Victoria grabs Lily’s arm.

Lily, who was looking around at that moment, starts pulling her arm back in shock, but Victoria pulls harder and tears Lily’s arm from its socket.

That makes Lily stagger back, a short scream of pain escaping her while her arm starts regrowing.

Before it’s restored, Victoria takes a step swinging Lily’s severed arm. She lands a blow on Lily’s face, striking with great force, sending her staggering with a broken nose. And then she advances with another quick step and swing, making Lily stumble even more.

Before the third hit lands, Lily uses [Disintegration], lashing out at Victoria.

Victoria swings, deflecting the gray mana with Lily’s own arm. As the arm of a person who possesses that skill and uses it often, it only makes sense that it should be able to endure it. The only sign of damage on the arm is the ragged skin at the stump and a few disintegrated pieces of flesh.

Lily continues to attack, and every time, Victoria uses her arm to block her gray mana. After a while, all that remains is a jagged bone, and Victoria attacks head-on.

She spits, and I can see a bloodied piece of something fly over Lily.

“Was it her tongue? Did that crazy woman bite off her own tongue and spit it behind Lily?!” Maya says in shock.

The moment that piece of tongue lands on the ground, another Victoria grows from it just like she did from the finger. A perfect copy of the original.

That copy quickly moves and puts her arms around Lily from behind while the original uses the bone jutting from Lily’s severed arm to pierce Lily´s chest, aiming for her heart.

A whip-like burst of gray mana is sent from Lily, both versions of Victoria getting hit. One loses both arms, another one its legs under the knees.

From these cast-off limbs, three more Victorias quickly regrow.

Victoria, missing her arms, knees Lily in the chin, and the one without legs grabs one of Lily´s arms.

The other three Victorias each grab a limb and start pulling.

Lily screams as they tear off her limbs, and another burst of gray mana devours everything around it in a wide area, and all the Victorias with it.

Still, they had time, and further away, two bloodied fingers make their landing. From each finger, one Victoria regrows.

Lily sways a bit but straightens up as they attack her relentlessly. They are much more confident now, better at dodging [Disintegration], and after a while, one of them bites off her finger and spits it out.

The finger spawns a third Victoria. After dodging, she swings her arm and punches Lily in the jaw, staggering her and almost causing her to lose consciousness as the powerful blow shakes Lily's brain. All three of them seize the opportunity and attack Lily. Two start pulling her arms, and the third one grabs Lily’s head after punching her again in the same spot.

Lilly’s bursts of [Disintegration] gradually weaken, still damaging them, eating away at their flesh, and blinding them, but they still continue to pull.

In the end, Lily´s head lets go before the limbs, and they pull it free, dangling her spine behind it.

Finally bursting into a cloud of particles Lily reappears on the roof.

The result is a total shitshow.

She wanted to help, to have a duel so I could see my sister for just a bit longer, and yet it ended like this.

A total, absolute shitshow.

Instead of fighting with her to allow me a longer glimpse of my sister, it ended with them getting into a bloody brawl.

But I do understand. I tend to screw things up when I try to help, making them worse instead. It caused my sister so much trouble back then.

There was no ill intention from Lily, none at all. In her own naive way, she just wanted to help, without thinking it through at all. It's almost silly. What did she imagine would happen?

Lily tries to get out of the rooftop, but I move to her and grab her arm. I patiently wait until she lifts her head from the ground and looks at me.

“Thank you,” I say.

Chapter 384 - The end of the tournament

The remaining challenges of the 5th event continue, but other than a few of the more powerful members of Hell difficulty, we don’t pay them much attention. Also, Channeler is already trying to get some last-minute people to challenge a few individuals and beings we wanted to try to challenge before I made them go against Victoria.

“So Nat, your sister…” Maya starts carefully.

“Yes?”

“She seems … nice. Hehe.”

“I see.”

“But damn, why do you both have to fight like that? What kind of combat even was that, regrowing her body and tearing limbs off? She beat Lily down with her own arm.”

“It makes sense if you think about it. Lily’s arm should logically endure [Disintegration] at least a bit, so she used it as a shield.”

“That’s the problem with you, Nat. You don’t even see anything wrong with that. Tess, you said you met his sister a while back. What kind of person is she?”

Tess takes her eyes off the screen and turns to Maya, “She is very polite.”

Maya blinks a few times and gestures wildly at Sophie, who also shakes her head.

I let them talk and jump down to the common area. Upon reaching one of the terminals to start the challenge, I stop and look at the screen. There are so many options for me to challenge, but at the same time, there is only one. The only person I feel anything like admiration for.

“I want to challenge Lissandra Hawthorne, Absolute of Eladore.”

Feeling myself pulled, I do not even examine it and find myself inside the arena. Like everyone else’s, mine is unique. It is a clearing with vibrant grass and purple flowers that cover it in its entirety. A few pillars stand in the distance, crumbling under the weight of their age, and off to the side, stands the ruins of a building that must have been glorious once, long, long ago.

The Absolute Lissandra stands opposite me, just a few steps away. She is as I remember her. Tall, in a black suit that would be more fitting on a male. looking to be around 60 years old, and her hair is gray. But most importantly, there is that absolute confidence of hers, evident even in the form of an Avatar.

A ten-second countdown starts and black mana from an orb I create seeps into my mind, the world starts feeling as if it has slowed down. My Mana Wavelength Iris activates as well, and in this state, I stack layers upon layers of barriers around me, using all of my body’s mana.

Once I’m done with that, I reach into my reservoir and start using that as well, and a third of my reservoir disappears like that.

The second third powers [Redistribution], which I’m ready to use at any moment to defend myself.

The last third I use to further power my mind and eyes while keeping a single black orb in front of me, one last attempt at defending myself.

In these ten seconds, my body gets ruined beyond measure. I’ve used too much mana too quickly and recklessly. All my reserves are emptied in mere seconds. But I just need to endure for a moment.

Ten seconds pass.

Lissandra looks at me and then takes a single step. The step resounds in a seemingly infinite echo, and I feel myself stumble and fall to my knees, barely able to keep myself from fainting.

Another step and the echo continues, but I hold on and force myself to keep my eyes and mind in one piece, staring at the most powerful being I have met so far, not counting the Rulers.

Lissandra stops holding back her mana, and it radiates from her. It moves like a wind that, without any effort, blows through all of my defenses. It’s not even an attack, just the sheer pressure of her unrestrained mana.

All of my efforts are nothing in front of this Absolute.

Then the black orb absorbs some of her mana, and bursts open like a bubble, unable to contain the overwhelming force.

I find myself back outside and for a long moment, I stand there, replaying what happened and trying to decode what my eyes saw. I still have a long way to go, but I don’t feel quite as hopeless as before. I have seen her move her mana, and with it came a tiny bit of understanding.

This kind of knowledge I value more than any reward, more than any item.

In the remaining few hours, we try to challenge the 1st Beyonder, but his Avatar fails to appear. We make multiple attempts, but no combination of words seems to work. Even the Intent or Rulers refuse our summons, but that’s only to be expected.

I also catch Channeler and force him to accept a few upper rare items, making him by far the strongest and richest member of Easy difficulty.

I notice a few members of his group giving him some interesting looks, so I mention that if something happens to Channeler, I will find the one responsible. I make sure this message spreads.

We don’t want my PR guy to get hurt.

Then my mana stones sell, the last few shards trickling into my account from the tournament shop.

Congratulations, your items were all sold in the tournament shop! You have gained 10,346 shards. Ten percent will be taken by the system.

The bidding still went even higher than I could have expected.

There are a lot of goodbyes, many people making friends in the week we’ve had here, that’s far from normal in my book. It takes me months to get used to waking up 30 minutes earlier or later than usual and these people made friends.

Humans can be scary indeed.

Gareth, Brainiac, Lootenant, and even Samuel come to say goodbye. I also notice Tacita standing in the distance. She stares at Lily for a while, but she does take a moment to glance at me. Then she disappears as she is used to do.

We also say goodbye to the twins, who will be separated from us the moment we exit the tournament. They still have wounds on their bodies, something they’ve had to endure the entire time they’ve been here.

As our time approaches its end, I move to the side where, for one last time, I make use of our immortality in this space. I create a big orb of black mana and feed it to my crown.

The result is the same as before. Despite all my training, experience, careful thinking, and inscriptions, none of these help me control it.

After disconnecting from the crown which still manages to steal almost all of my mana, it crumbles and explodes in a shockwave that washes over the entire common area, giving one last scare to the people around us.

A small goodbye from me to them.

Congratulations on completing your 1st tournament! The second tournament will take place 2 years after the start of your tutorial.

In the second tournament, all rounds of the Earth’s tutorial will participate.

Congratulations, you have placed 1st overall in the 1st tournament of the 5th round of Earth’s tutorial. Your reward has been improved.

Congratulations, you have placed 1st in the overall crafter rankings of the 5th round of Earth’s tutorial. Your reward has been improved.

You have rejected multiple event rewards in order to increase your final reward. Your reward has been improved.

Please pick 2 out of 5 possible rewards before you are transported back to the 6th floor where your Floor Quest will continue.

Rewards to pick from:

Passive skill combination token (upper epic)

Trait strengthening token (2nd stage)

Passive skill (upper epic)

Item (upper epic)

15,000 shards

“I want the passive skill combination token and the trait strengthening token.”

Passive Skill Combination Token (Upper Epic) - Allows you to combine two passive skills up to upper epic rarity. The resulting combination will be a unique skill that cannot be obtained otherwise. Passive Skill Combination Tokens cannot be bought or sold in the system shop.

Trait Strengthening Token (2nd Stage) - Allows you to strengthen your trait by one stage, either from the base to the 1st stage or from the 1st to the 2nd stage.

After that, the scenery changes and I find myself where I was before we entered the tournament.

Both Aaron and Dennis are gone, the lush grass is replaced by rocky ground and we stand beneath a dark sky with a nebula shining across the bulk of its expanse.

We are back on the 6th floor.

I open my system and check, confirming my suspicions. the system seems to have chosen to feed me just a bit more information on passives:

Name: Nathaniel Gwyn
Difficulty: Hell
Floor: 6 - Astral Prison
Time left until forced return: 3y 357d 23h 59m 21s
Traits (2/3): Mana Circuit 2/3, Mana Wavelength Iris 0/3

Lvl 237
Strength: 113
Dexterity: 110
Constitution: 268
Mana (Stage 1/3 - Vast Mana): 1015 + 1015

Primary Class: Focused Channeler (Epic)
Sub-class: [Initiate of Pride]

Active skills:
Focus - Lvl 49
Perception - Lvl 46
Redistribution - Lvl 48
Resonance - Lvl 45
Mana Domain - Lvl 40
Tether - Lvl 36
Infusion - Lvl 29
Mana Crown - Lvl 24
Mana Manipulation - Lvl 47

Constructs:
Reinforcement (Construct)
Thermokinetic Mana Heart (Construct)
Mana Regulator (Construct)
Mana Sovereignty Mantle (Construct)
Vortex Core (Construct)

Passive skills:
Mana Reservoir (upper epic)
Arcane Resilience (mid epic)
Phoenix Embrace (mid epic)
Mana Overload Absorption (low epic)
Cognitive Fortress (mid epic)

Tokens:
Beyond difficulty entrance token
Passive skill combination token (upper epic)
Trait strengthening token (2nd stage)

Shards: 135,369

I guess we’ve unlocked a bit more of the system. The Item in my hand is no different.

Flamebearer (low Arcane, Damaged) - Flamebearer held dominion over fire, with a mere swing capable of igniting the horizon. This ax’s blaze once burned with immense fury. Despite the damage and its weakened flames, moments of intense heat surge through its blade, offering a glimpse into its fiery past.

But before I can really think about it another window pops up.

You have been invited to become a disciple.

If you decide to accept, you will be summoned to train and study under your master for 2 weeks.

If you choose to reject, there will be no consequences.

You have 10 minutes to decide.

Do you accept?

Yes/No

Well, this is unexpected.

Three minutes later, each member of group 4 present takes a seat in silence, each processing the news of the invitation I got.

“I think it’s an additional tournament reward. You said you rejected event rewards multiple times, so I think this is part of it,” Tess says.

"It could be it. The message seems to be nearly the same as the one my disciple received before she entered the tutorial," I answer.

“Didn’t you want to enter the third Beyond trial?” Min-Jae asks.

“I wanted to go to trial, get Aaron and Dennis out of the Black Tower, and do a lot of other things. This message has ruined all of my plans.”

“Maybe you’ll get another chance if you reject it now,” Sophie muses. “Or maybe it’s a one-time thing. And what does this even mean? Will you be leaving the tutorial, or will your master be one of the tutorial’s natives?”

“We can’t rule out the possibility of interference on the part of the Rulers either,” I say, shrugging my shoulders.

“I think you should accept it. If the tutorial can be trusted, your master may be able to help you a lot. You might even get someone powerful enough to declare you a Champion candidate, whatever that means.” Tess seems to be pushing the most.

She knows just as well as I that they will face greater challenges if I leave, yet she still does it.

She seems to read my mind for a moment, saying, “Don’t worry about us. We will get the boys out and wait for you to complete the Floor Quest.”

I wonder, is it worth it to push back the next trial of Beyond anymore than the tournament already has? But I have to agree with Tess. The rewards I picked for the tournament are more than amazing, but it makes sense for this invitation to be part of it. There is a weird twisted logic to it.

If I get a capable master, it has the potential to make me more powerful than any other reward I could get. And who knows how much information I could collect? I might even get summoned out of the tutorial.

At least I don’t need to worry about group 4, well, not much. They have a few monsters in their ranks, and Tess will make sure to keep them all alive.

Okay, I guess I’ll just have to follow my gut on this one.

“I’m going to accept,” I tell them.

Then after retrieving a few things from our hidey-hole and leaving the rest with them, I prepare to leave.

I do not use the passive skill combination token as I have a great plan for it but I don’t have enough time to work out all the potential kinks. As for trait strengthening, it’s still too soon to strengthen my eyes. Mana Wavelength Iris is just too powerful as it is.

So just like that, we find ourselves being separated again. Both sides wishing the other luck and telling a few lame last minute jokes.

“I accept,” I say and once more feel myself pulled away.

POV Earth

“Professor, w-we have a problem.”

“Go on, Liam, don’t make me pull it out of you. You young folks are supposed to be direct. Leave the pointless tiptoeing around to oldtimers like me.”

The young man by the name of Liam gulps, “We… we found a spider on the moon.”

“Oh, you did? Maybe it’s just some kind of contamination left over from the moon landings? No, wait, since when do we have telescopes that powerful?”

“Professor, we didn’t use a telescope...”

“Excuse me? Liam, I don’t know if this is your idea of a joke, but if so I’m deeply disappointed in you.”

“We didn’t use any of our telescopes, Professor. It can be seen with the naked eye.”

Silence ensues, and the old man bursts out in a boisterous fit of laughter, but as a minute passes and he sees the unchanging face of his student, his laughter tapers off.

With a serious expression, Liam continues, “The spider in question is the size of the entire state of Colorado.”

POV Nathaniel

I immediately recognize the place I find myself in. The poisonous lake nearby, the weird inscriptions covering the sky. I even recognize the forest around me.

I’ve clearly found myself back on the 5th floor, and by the looks of it, the Veil is in the same state I left it in. It might even be the same instance.

But there is one thing that shocks me more than any other. There are three presences beyond the trees on a small clearing near the lake. I can’t see their owners yet, but I recognize their signatures.

One of them is the murderer from Easy difficulty. The other is a tall lynthari woman and the last…

“Little pup, are you going to come out or do I have to grab you by the scruff of your neck and drag you out myself?”

We were wrong. This was never part of my rewards.

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