Hell Difficulty Tutorial 7: A Lit R.P.G Adventure

Cerim

Summary of Book 6

Book six begins with Nat, the twins, Lily, and Biscuit still on the sixth floor, following a time skip of a few months during which they have remained separated from the rest of group four. We start with the twins' point of view as they sneak into a guild called Gravelhands to…ehm, repossess a few interesting items.

The story then continues with the twins, Nat, Lily, and Biscuit joining an expedition that occurs once every ten years and heads deep into the old mines below the city. One of the members of the quite large expedition is a thylarin woman known as The Witch (according to Nat possibly racist), who does not seem to like the other races very much.

The primary reason for joining this expedition is the possibility that one of the imprisoned Champions of the Astral Prison is located down there in the old mines. To spice things up, we get a P.O.V from The Witch, with P.O.V revealing that she is hearing a mysterious voice in her head.

It takes some time as they navigate through the various dangers, and many members of the expedition die, leaving only the most powerful ones remaining as they reach a zone filled with rivers of molten metal roaring through the tunnels in the walls, generating some sort of field that appears to seal the imprisoned Champion.

Even so, that is not all, because as we reach that Champion, much to Biscuit's joy, it reveals itself to be a huge deer.

(Food.)

The deer is tied there with chains, having acid constantly falling down on it to melt its flesh for who knows how many years. After such torture, not much of its mind remains.

It is revealed that the deer partially controls The Witch, forcing her to return there every ten years after she fills her mana crown on the surface, allowing her to destroy one chain at a time.

Nat, as reasonable as he is, destroys all the remaining chains with his sword called Fracture, which, as much as it damages whatever it touches, also damages Nat. It is a normal weapon for a more civilized age.

As weakened as that deer is after many years in this prison and after the attacks, Biscuit is able to devour it entirely, afterward shifting into the form of a corgi puppy and falling into a food coma. The survivors head back to the surface, with The Witch teaching Nat more about the [Mana Crown] in exchange for his help and allowing them to stay in her introverted house.

After that, the book continues as Nat, Lily, the twins, and the puppy in a food coma rejoin Tess, Min-Jae, and Maya near Mindblender City, and later Sophie, Izzy, and Noodle, who are already in that city.

Sophie is treated as nobility there, but she is constantly in danger of having her mind taken over by more powerful mind mages, though she also remains a threat as a powerful mind mage herself. The entire city operates under this dynamic, led by the Archon and his daughter, Beatrice, both of whom are powerful mind mages.

Izzy's point of view reveals that not all is well, which is something Nat also notices. For a while, he moves around serving as Sophie's bodyguard, getting more presentable clothes, visiting a tailor, and going to dinners.

At the same time, Nat continues to visit his mental space, where he continues to train with Whitey, who continues to prove to be the most talented kinetic energy user he has ever met. Yet, even here, things are not that simple. He receives a warning that Whitey might be trying to rewrite Nat's memories with his own so he can continue to live on by taking over his body, not just as a memory in Nathaniel's mental space.

For some reason, Nat does not seem to care and even tells it all straight to Whitey, who calls him the craziest human he has ever met, though in a much ruder fashion. We get more flashbacks of Whitey's memories as well as more training within the mental space.

Things outside, in the Mind Mage City, eventually reach a breaking point where Nat deals with the mind mage who is sneakily influencing Sophie without her even realizing it. It's happening all to Izzy's horror, as she could not have done anything to prevent things from getting worse.

There is that long, cool scene where Nat follows and tracks the mind mage. The mage does his best to escape Nat while throwing everyone under his control at him, but none of that slows him down as Nathaniel hunts him. In the end, the mind mage dies.

It is revealed that the entire Mindblender City is just a massive array, and the framework the mind mages work on is something akin to software. All of it is meant to remove the spatial locks of another of the Champions imprisoned there. The combined minds of the mind mages and all the monsters and people under their control serve as something like hardware to decipher these spatial locks.

As the spatial locks get broken and the Champion escapes, group 4 ends up escaping as they are still far away from being able to challenge a true Champion. They find themselves in the floating metal cathedral with yet another prisoner. This time it is a vyssari woman who has already met with Tess and who has a suspicious taste in novels.

The vyssari Champion gets challenged by the Champion released by the mind mages, and they begin their fight. At the same time, the Champion trapped in the frozen north joins in with their battle, all of them beginning to destroy the Astral Prison.

During that time, group 4 finally enters the seventh floor.

Another P.O.V follows, this one showing Myrra and Lissandra, who enter their own instance of the Astral Prison floor. As expected, it turns into a total mess as well.

Meanwhile, on the seventh floor, Nathaniel combines [Resonance] and [Infusion], which grants him a new domain skill called [Eclipse]. After some time observing the new floor, he leaves for the Beyond, joining a party with Jean, Spacepup, Luna, and Leticia. They go fishing, and as expected, that part of the story ends with them having to fight another group just to keep their fish. The kind of cute fish with human arms and the size of a truck.

Not long after, Nathaniel finally reaches Level 300 and gets his Primary Class upgrade. It ends up being a unique arcane class called Mana Weaver. With it comes a passive called Mana Wavelength Tyrant and the active skill [Empyrean Lance].

That short Beyond adventure ends with Nat fighting Jean, who has a physique that makes him stronger the more mana is around him, and a build that seems to be made for facing mages.

The fight takes a few chapters with some nice cliffhangers, and after winning, Nathaniel returns to the seventh floor, which setting is: a planet of a race called lumorans that is in a war against mimics. They are hiring mercenaries from surrounding planets, and group 4 ends up being one such mercenary group. They join the Exoria deployment camp that is made to support one of the lumoran Champions on his secret mission that should help the lumorans gain an advantage in the war.

Nathaniel and Sophie work as assistant technicians on the war armors of the Champion Feroy's disciples. These armors being basically mechas powered by mana batteries and mana hearts of their pilots.

One day, one of the disciples returns and brings back a mysterious item before dying. He does it all at the cost of his life, which seems to speed up the progression of the floor.

Through Community chat, Lissandra tells Nat she will be joining them on the floor in one month, and Nathaniel begins to scout out with the lumorans.

One day Nathaniel is identified as a mimic by one of the lumoran arrays, forcing him to escape to the Beyond. To avoid returning too soon, he takes a Beyond quest that leads him to someone called the Warden of the Parallax Eyes. He is one of the oldest and most knowledgeable Absolutes with a special eye trait. The quest involves Nathaniel having to answer Kyralon's curious questions. For each one hundred answered, Nathaniel gets to ask one of his own.

The training within the mind space against Whitey continues as well. Nathaniel continues to admire Whitey's near-perfect handling of kinetic energy and questions what could have been if that demon had not been born crippled.

When the Beyond quest ends, Kyralon still owes Nathaniel an answer to a question. In a fit of petty spite, Nat decides not to ask anything. This causes Kyralon great dismay, as he is not used to such treatment given his incredible knowledge.

Nathaniel returns to the seventh floor to find the Exoria camp destroyed. Buried there, he finds the lumoran, Leth, and a wounded Champion Feroy. Many powerful mimics surround them, slowly moving closer as they wait for the Champion to weaken further.

A few nights follow with Champion Feroy revealing there is an Elder Mimic currently trying to take him over. Nathaniel has a few conversations with him, curious about what makes the Champion push so much and try so hard even as his beloved disciples and people from the camp have died. In his gentle nature, the Champion answers simply:

“Because I am a Champion of my people.”

Not long after, Champion Feroy steps into his war armor, Exoria, and sacrifices himself for his people for the last time. While holding back the Elder Mimic trying to take him over, he fights three mimic Champions so Leth and Nathaniel can escape with important information. In his last fight, he defeats all of the opponents and dies in a brilliant, radiant flash of light.

Returning to lumoran territory, group 4 is put into prison because no one is sure if they are carrying a mimic. Leth passes on the information. During that time, Nathaniel is the most restricted of all. He uses his disciple communication token to meet Vega for some emotional support minion time and to learn what she has been up to.

Lissandra and Myrra finally come to the seventh floor. Lissandra immediately declares a nice valley as her territory. She makes a deal with the Progenitor Mimic and the lumoran Absolute to leave her alone in exchange for her doing the same.

The floor turns into an all-out war, while the group is strangely safe within Lissandra's territory. Even now, neither side is brave enough to mess with her. Because of that, we get the law-required beach episode with group 4 enjoying some relaxing time. Nathaniel almost drowns, only to get a new nickname from Myrra.

During that time, Nathaniel evolves his [Bone Knitting] into [Knitting], much to his happiness. Since Lissandra brought the thermal Champion's heart with her from the Astral Prison as promised, Nathaniel gets to chuck it into his chest. He dramatically evaporates an entire lake in the process of connecting it to his body and gains a new construct called the Sealed Ignition Heart as an incredible source of thermal energy.

Soon after, the second tournament starts with both Myrra and Liss participating as well. To the surprise of everyone, one of the group 4 members stays behind: Tess. The reason why is explained by Lissandra.

“Isn't that obvious?” Lissandra tilts her head. “The system would not allow someone with a mimic inside them to enter the tournament.”

A few more Earth P.O.V's follow before we return back to the tutorial. Lissandra tells Nat that she will help Tess only if Nat wins every event in the tournament and obliterates everyone in his way.

Chapter 1

Start of the Second Tournament

Kim Min-Jae

We've been told over and over that once a mimic gets inside you there's no getting it out. Even Tess kept reminding us like we didn't already know. I still remember those days when we were running from the Second Front. The cold biting at us, her eyes always watching, making sure none of us got infected. She never let her guard down, not even once. That's what I thought.

Even then, I noticed the toll it took on her.

I should have put it together. But I didn't. Not because I couldn't, but because it never even crossed my mind. Any of us could get infected, sure. But her? I thought she was too strong for that. Too smart. Too careful.

And now, I feel like I'm about to break. I don't know if I should cry or just sit down and stop thinking. It feels like the air's been sucked out of my lungs, and I can't do anything about it. I can't lose her. Not Tess. Not another friend.

I look at the others, but no one says anything. No one has to. It's all over their faces. Fear, doubt, that awful sinking feeling that we might already be too late. No one wants to say it, but I know they're thinking it. I'm thinking about it, too.

I wonder if Tess knew. If, for even a second, she realized it before we did.

Then I hear Nathaniel talking to Lissandra, and she makes her offer. She says she can save Tess, even if it means going against the Mimic Absolute. She says it like it's nothing, like it's already decided like she can bend the world to her will. Like she knows everything will go her way no matter what. And for a second, I believe her.

But there's a catch. Nathaniel has to win the tournament.

To win all of the tournament's events.

Against the winners of tournaments from the other rounds.

Against the Beyond attendees like him.

Against the future Champions and perhaps even Earth's future Absolute.

Against the best Earth's First Generation has to offer.

I try to picture it, him standing against all of them. The best fighters, monsters in human form, the ones who also went through the same dangers we did. Even knowing how strong he is, it seems impossible to be sure he can do it. He'll be up against people who've trained for this, people who've struggled through these last two years to reach the top.

People who won't hesitate, who won't care that someone's life is on the line. Because to them, this is just another fight.

I can't even imagine what that pressure must feel like. Knowing someone's life depends on you. It would bury me. It would tear me apart before I even stepped onto the battlefield.

And Nathaniel? He just answers without hesitation.

“Consider it done.”

Same tone as always. Same calm expression. Like it's just another task to check off a never-ending list.

Like he's never even considered losing.

Congratulations, you have fulfilled the requirements to raise the level of your subclass!

[Initiate of Envy] [Adept of Envy]

He makes it look so easy. Like winning is just a matter of deciding to do it.

A shaky breath slips out, unnoticed until now. My fingers tremble, tightening into fists, but the shaking doesn't stop.

What am I even doing here?

Nathaniel moves forward without hesitation, already planning his next step, while everything feels stuck in place. Watching him, it's impossible to tell if it's admiration or resentment that drives me. Maybe it's both.

I can't even be sure which one it is anymore.

Nathaniel

I turn away from Lissandra and look back at group 4. Damn, these guys, they can be scary as fuck, but what would they do without me? They were about to start flailing about like headless chickens; hell, they might even have tried to attack Lissandra.

I mean, I would love to see it, but this isn't the time for that. Maybe later, though.

“Sophie and Maya, you will act as stand-ins for Tess and deal with the other groups and anything else that annoys me.”

“I… Nat, Tess is…”

“Don't worry about it, Maya. I will take care of it, and Lissandra will keep her word, of that I'm sure.”

Sophie steps ahead. “You realize how crazy her demands are, right? That's totally unreasonable! She could have told us something! Or just helped!”

“That's not how she works.” I wave it off. “But don't worry. The moment I even get close to her level, I'll beat the shit out of her for everything. And extra.”

“You are free to try anytime, little pup,” Lissandra answers again with that air of absolute confidence, then taps Myrra on the shoulder.

After Myrra waves to us, they both leave, heading for the top of the huge hill we find ourselves on. There are already a lot of presences in the area farther away from us. Similarly to the first tournament, they also climb toward the top of the hill.

Looking around, I take note of a nearly invisible barrier surrounding the entire hill. It's clearly the system's work, I can tell right away, and it seems like it won't let anything pass through.

As it turns out there are several other huge hills way off in the distance, each rising to large flat areas at their peaks. Smaller hills sit atop that space, along with an array of forests and a vast multitude of houses. They almost seem like perfect copies of the first tournament's common area and our hill. It seems that each round of the tutorial has its own hill, enclosed by a barrier that prevents us from mixing with other rounds for now.

As I start walking toward the top of the hill, the others follow me.

The tournament is a competitive base, but also an opportunity to meet other tutorial attendees from your planet.

The events will begin in one day; please wait in your common area until then.

There are no monsters or natives. This should allow tutorial attendees to greet each other and continue to build on their relationships.

Death is currently impossible on the tournament floor.

Enjoy your second tournament!

Even the notification is nearly the same as before. It would seem the system is being lazy as always. So, just like last time, I check the number of participants in this tournament.

Easy Difficulty - 13,961

Normal Difficulty - 7,021

Hard Difficulty - 2,100

Hell Difficulty - 269

Beyond - 74

That allows for a good comparison to the other rounds, as our fifth round's stats look like this:

Easy Difficulty 1299/2000

Normal Difficulty 853/1000

Hard Difficulty 222/500

Hell Difficulty 36/250

Beyond 10/10

There are two numbers that interest me more than the others. One is the current overall number of people in Hell Difficulty for Earth: 269, nice.

Each round started with 250 people in Hell Difficulty, so overall Earth started with 2,500. Out of that 2,500, only 269 are still alive. Close to 90 percent of the people in Hell Difficulty died. Probably closer to 80 percent, accounting for the people who might not have joined, just like our round is missing some people from Hell Difficulty, that mysterious group or groups.

Our round, the fifth, has an above-average number of Hell Difficulty survivors. If we had to split it evenly, each round should have twenty-seven people at the moment, yet our round has thirty-six.

There is also one more telling number: the amount of people in Beyond. I would have expected it to be around eighty-five to ninety, given the hard limit of ten in each round, but it's lower than that, leaving us at seventy-four.

Myrra and Lissandra are likely counted as Beyond participants, even though they haven't completed their trials yet. That could be throwing the numbers off. But still, the fifth round having more than expected is hard to ignore.

Oh, then there's that guy who started in Beyond. The asshole hogging all the interest from the Rulers. I wonder if he ended up in this tournament if he even can or if he's stuck sitting on his ass in Beyond.

Well, none of it matters that much now.

Knowing I cannot die here, I start doing things with Mana Cycling I've been avoiding until now, or waiting for Lily's help, and then I begin loosening the first seal of the Champion's heart to see the reaction and get used to the output.

It's a strange feeling, knowing there's a limit and intentionally pushing past it. My body screams in warning, but my mind is already set. The next step is clear.

I will remove at least one of the seals during this tournament.

Because of this, I die twice before we even reach the common area.

Some of the people at the top of the hill are familiar to me. I see some memorable faces from Hell Difficulty. I even notice Tacita sneaking around nearby. One of the signatures might be Savant, and another is definitely Gareth with his group. Some guys from Easy Difficulty still have those camping cars with solar panels, and there are already some tents set up and even a decent amount of grilling going on.

Indeed, the true Easy Difficulty experience.

I breathe in the fresh air and once again feel my heart beginning to race. I feel the need to use [Focus] to bring my emotions under control. Like a worm eating at me, that feeling of self-doubt continues to gnaw at my convictions. It whispers that I might fail this time. That it can't be that simple.

That even back during the first tournament, I lost at least one event. So how could I win out now, against all of Earth's best? It whispers that even if I succeed, Tess might still die over the next two weeks we spend here.

I don't let any of this show. Even with how inept I can be socially, I see the others are worried for Tess. So showing them my confident side should help them.

But I'm also getting looks with just the slightest bit of pity.

Do they pity the responsibility I carry now, I wonder?

Taking a few more steps, I find myself reuniting with Channeler. The man is as handsome as before, maybe even more so. He's wearing a clean, fitted, stylish outfit and is smiling widely as if he were filling a role in a toothpaste commercial. There's not really much wind, but his hair still seems to wave as if he were a model in a shampoo ad.

“Noname!” he shouts, greeting me with a smile and shaking my hand.

Almost as if he were remembering something, he immediately lowers his excited voice to a calmer pitch. After all, he's always been like a chameleon, that guy.

I watch as he greets the others, immediately distributing compliments. He notices Min-Jae's muscular figure. He mentions how the twins have gotten taller, which visibly makes them happy. He praises Lily, claiming that she's even more beautiful than before, and does much the same with the others.

I'm curious to see if he will ask about Tess, but even though he must have noticed, he tactfully doesn't bring her up. As expected of such a high-level extrovert.

When it's all done, I gesture to the twins, and they tie him into our Connection.

(Oh, that's new! No one in Easy can do this!) Channeler enthuses, wasting no time in chattering away excitedly in our minds.

(No one should be able to listen in on us like this,) I answer. (So, to start: Tess won't be here this tournament. But don't worry, she's okay.)

(I…I'm glad to hear that, Noname. I won't pry, but if you need anything, I'm here.)

(Thank you. And yes, I will be needing some things from you. But first, has Easy Difficulty begun leaving the tutorial?)

He smiles and gestures for us to follow, and we head toward a few benches seated next to a fountain and take a seat. (Yes, a few months ago, as far as we can tell. The people who wanted to return to their families made groups and went ahead. Some were even talking about looting Earth before the higher difficulties could return.)

(That's dumb.)

(There are a lot of not-so-smart people,) Channeler answers more diplomatically. (I'm on the thirteenth floor at the moment, and we've confirmed that it's the last floor. But I made my group wait so I could speak to you during the tournament, Noname.)

For a while, I just look at him. This guy really knows how to handle things.

(It's good you did. But aren't you afraid you're rushing things too much? You could've spent more time in the tutorial, leveled up, and gotten stronger.)

(I did all that, but Easy Difficulty doesn't offer as many opportunities as the higher ones might. And…with what we've learned here in the tutorial, Earth might go through some changes. I want to get back and make sure my family is safe.)

(Well, in the end, it's up to you. So to start with, my name is Nathaniel, though you should only call me that when speaking through this link.)

(I will do so! Thanks for trusting me, Nathaniel! My name is Rafael Vaughn.)

(Thanks for telling me, too. So it's simple: Sophie and Maya will be stepping in for Tess to deal with people during this tournament. We won't do much else, as I truly do not care about such things. We only have one objective for this tournament, and I don't think anyone in group 4 will disagree.)

As I scan their faces, I catch the small details. The way they shift slightly, the way their eyes focus. A few take measured breaths, steadying themselves.

There is no nervous energy, no lingering doubt. Just preparation.

I turn back to Channeler and continue, (Before the tournament ends, I will make you an Arcane item that will make you the strongest person on Earth, at least until anyone from Normal Difficulty returns, though it's highly possible you will remain the strongest even after that. You might even be able to take on some from Hard Difficulty.)

Rafael's expression flickers, just for a second. Then he laughs, shaking his head. (You really don't do things halfway, do you?)

(If it needs to be done, I may as well do it properly.)

I shift my stance, feeling my mana settle. The first event is coming in a day, but time already feels like it's moving too fast and not fast enough at the same time. There's too much to prepare, too much to account for.

But it doesn't matter.

Because the only outcome I'll accept is total victory.

Chapter 2

Events of the Second Tournament

(Nathaniel, I don't believe it's that easy to make an arcane item. By the way, I know you aren't good with names so you can continue calling me Channeler!)

(It's fine, I can make such an item. It won't be mid-arcane, but low arcane should be doable with a bit of effort. For example, the sword on my waist is mid-arcane and I made it with a bit…well, a lot of help.)

His eyes slide to the sword as expected and then back to look at me. (You don't strike me as someone who really takes to fighting with swords. What does it do?)

(It is annoying, and it sometimes destroys stuff while trying to kill me.)

(Is that some sort of hint that I shouldn't be asking too many questions?)

(What? No. What are you even talking about? Now back to the item. Do you still want to work with me?)

(Of course I do,) he confirms.

(Okay, so I'll make you an item. I'll also be giving you the names and locations of the family and friends of the members of group 4 so you can check on them. Carefully, of course. I don't think you'll be unkillable on Earth, even with the item. Tess wanted to speak with some of the people from Easy Difficulty, but since she's not here, Sophie and Maya will be going over it with you. They have some things in mind and they'll need to work them out with you.)

(Will do!)

(Good. I intend to win all the events in this tournament, and before everything is done here, I'll warn everyone not to pull any kind of funny shit with you, the implication being that I'll fuck them up when I come back to Earth.)

(You… I know you may be strong, but can you actually pull that off?)

(Yes, don't worry about pointless things.)

Rafael Vaughn, aka Channeler

Noname—no, Nathaniel—has changed since the last tournament. I noticed it right away; I remember his bearing, reactions, and all. He's colder now, more domineering, and he has this air of confidence about him.

Some of that I'm sure is a mask he's put on for the sake of his group. I can see it in their eyes. Something must have happened, something very bad, and they keep glancing at Nathaniel as if seeking confirmation that everything will be okay.

I think it has something to do with Tess, but she seems to be alive. Maybe she's gotten herself in some kind of trouble that kept her from joining the tournament? But couldn't she have escaped into the tournament? Maybe she can't?

Has she decided to do some kind of dangerous training instead? Did something stop her? A wound? A side quest? Is she in Beyond?

I know enough to say that it's probably better not to pry, so I stay quiet.

As I walk at his side with the rest of group 4 trailing behind, he glances at me with his eyes having that golden circle around his pupils. He picks a mana stone from his pocket, and after a few seconds, he hands it to me.

Examining it, I notice training instructions much like the ones he gave me before. The ones that made me the strongest member of my group. These new instructions seem to be even more impressive as if he could have assessed my growth by simply observing the movement of my mana.

(Thank you,) I answer simply.

I know he prefers this kind of simple thanks and feels awkward when people show too much thankfulness to him.

Before we reach the center of the Common area where I can already see Gareth, Swordmaster, Samuel, Adam, and others, I reach toward Nathaniel.

I tap on his shoulder to get his attention and feel goose bumps when he turns to me with his usual expression, the one that makes him look disinterested, arrogant, and cold to most people.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I notice little Izabella, and she smiles at me and nods.

(I think you should let me talk instead of you,) I send to Nathaniel through the link they've recently included me in. (And nothing against Sophie, but people don't like her much, and Maya isn't very good at things like this.)

I smile at Maya apologetically and then turn to Nathaniel. (You don't seem to be in a very patient mood now, either, so leaving things to me will probably be for the best.)

He stops to think of it for a moment and finally nods.

I feel a wave of relief as he does so. With the mood he's in, this could have ended very badly.

Nathaniel

Would you like to rent Oakheart Refuge and the accompanying facilities?

1000 shards/day

I confirm, and the house with its facility becomes the new base of operations for our group. Much like the prior tournament, it turns out to be one of the more expensive ones.

It's basically a huge oak tree on the edge of the forest, and the house itself almost seems to be growing out of the tree just as much as it surrounds it. The facilities are separate, built on the ground. The tree itself is taller than any tree on Earth and thicker. But it's one of these things you get used to here in the tutorial.

Leaving Channeler, Sophie, and Maya behind, the rest of us are here depositing our baggage.

I die again, and for a moment I close my eyes, resetting the seal on my heart before making another attempt to loosen it.

“Dennis, Aaron, take all the materials we have out to the smithy outside. Once you're done with that you can take Min-Jae and go out to check on Brainiac and Lootenant. I can already tell you want to.”

“Are you sure? We want to help. We care for Tess just as much as you do, Nat, and…”

I interrupt Dennis, “You'll only be distractions here. If I need anything, I will make sure to ask.”

“Got it,” he confirms as he takes Min-Jae and his brother to start carrying the materials over to the workshop.

Entering the Oakheart Refuge I find the room on the highest floor. It's been entirely formed from the inside of the tree with a huge balcony at the other end and a massive window to let in lots of natural light.

I turn to Izzy and Lily, especially to Izzy. “I might seem a bit colder for a while, so please make sure the others understand.”

“Are you going to be using [Focus] to manage your emotions again?”

“Yes,” I confirm. “Not all the time, but I'll need to if I don't want to be distracted.”

As I talk, I place a few Ley Lines throughout my surroundings and tie a few of them to any members of group 4 that happen to be present. Maya and Sophie already have one.

Looking at a shimmering, pale blue line that may as well be invisible to just about everyone else, I say, “Of course, I will be disabling [Focus] at times. I can use these emotions to push me, but I'm way too pissed off for that at the moment, and I have a lot to do.”

“Lissandra?” Lily asks quietly.

I nod. “Anyway, I'm about to get started. So I'll see you later.”

Sensing the trio of boys leaving the smithy, I teleport over.

The smithy is a smaller house made of a darker sort of wood than the main building, having an appearance almost like metal. The house is circular with a cupola-style roof with an anvil set in the center of the room, next to a fireplace and chimney creating a pillar in the middle pulling any resulting smoke up through the roof.

Kicking my bags aside to open them, I bend and start pulling out materials: voidsteel, endurium, arcanadium, voidcopper, and more besides. And in a separate part of my mind, I begin preparing the base for the item I'll be making for Channeler.

For a moment, I stop and redirect a greater portion of my mental bandwidth to dealing with my heart as a powerful heat wave washes over my body. I use [Redistribution] and push it out toward the fireplace rather than allowing it to simply scorch its way through the area around me. My golden flames immediately start burning along the prepared path, spreading their heat through the building.

Suppressing the heart, I redirect part of my mind to training with it and set another to the task of training and maintaining the arrays in the back of my mind and split off a third part to work on the item whose base I will now be creating.

I won't be able to complete it in one day, but if things go like they did before then, the events shouldn't be announced for the next twelve hours. Until then, I can at least prepare a base for the item.

Taking off Fracture and tossing it into the corner, I grab the materials. Drawing a small amount of thermal energy from the heart, I begin hammering with kinetic energy.

At the expected time a notification pops up.

Events for the second tournament of Earth tutorial have been decided. They are as follows:

1st event - Clash of Rounds

2nd event - Beast Hunt

3rd event - Chronicle of the Past

4th event - Avatar's Gauntlet

5th event - Tyrant's Arena

The first event will start in 12 hours. More information will be shared soon.

I pause my work and reach out through my Ley Line, pulling Fracture back into my hand and proceeding to tuck it into its home at my waist. After that, I leave the item lying there and exit the smithy while reading the notification again and thinking of the events.

So once again we have five events, leaving Chronicle of the Past as the sole returning event. There also doesn't seem to be duels this time, but the last event sounds like it's replacing that.

The second event sounds like some kind of PvE challenge. Maybe we'll be hunting beasts for points? It could be anything, a solo event, a team-building exercise, a competition between the rounds… Hell, it might be a challenge for the tutorial as a whole. Who knows?

Avatar's Gauntlet could make for an interesting event as well, but I can't really say for sure until we see how the avatars will be used.

As for the first event, the name mostly explains it. It will be either round against round or multiple rounds clashing all at once.

I allow myself to slide out of the [Focus], and for a moment I pause to examine my feelings.

Worry. Anxiety. Pressure. And worst of all, doubt. The creeping doubt that I may not really be able to do the thing I've set out to do. It's just a whiff of a feeling. A constant threat lingering in the background and constantly trying to take hold of me.

But there's also anger. And prevalent at that. Part of it is directed at Lissandra. For the sheer fact she would even think to mess with me this way. Using Tess's life to get what she wants out of me. The anger comes from the fact that she didn't do anything to stop it from happening.

But the larger portion of that anger is directed at myself. For not noticing. For not thinking it could happen. Lulled into complacency by that sense of safety in the valley and my single-minded focus on training and the Champion's heart that now lies sealed in my chest.

What a fucking mess.

I teleport through [Ley Line], landing in the biggest room of Oakheart Refuge, where I find the majority of group 4. Izzy, Noodle, and Sophie are the only ones absent, and going by the explosions I can feel going off outside, they are training, readily abusing the fact we cannot die in this place.

The others already seem like they've been through something similar and have seized the opportunity to take a break.

I know I handle deaths here better than most, but from the looks of it, there's no lack of determination. Directing a bigger part of my mind to training, I sit down and grab some snacks from the table nearby.

“Where's the cockroach?” I ask Myrra.

The white-haired lynthari shows her fangs in a smile. “She's probably examining this place, Feral One. She said exiting the tutorial should be nearly impossible for her and me and that she needs more data. From the different floors, the tournament, and Beyond. She wants to examine every facet and come up with the best way possible.”

“So does that mean you're not participating?”

“I will do whatever she tells me to, Feral One. Because without her, I will die.”

“Did you know?” I ask, gauging her reaction.

Myrra stays quiet to that question.

With an annoyed groan, I grab a few more pieces of dried food.

I turn to the twins. “If you haven't already done it, add Channeler and maybe Miwa to our link. Make a secondary one for Gareth, his guild, and any others willing to cooperate.”

Standing up, I turn to Lily. “We might need the others to cooperate at least somewhat as we currently don't know if we can handle the first event on our own. I won't let others put us in jeopardy with in-fighting over leadership or their petty ambitions. Group 4 will be taking the lead, and if anyone complains, kick them around until they agree.

I don't care if it's WhiteWing, TheGuild, I.D.K, Samuel, or anyone else. Can you do it?”

“Absolutely! I'm more than strong enough!” As expected, Lily understands right away and agrees.

“Thanks. I need to make some money for a new passive, so I'll be in the workshop.”

I teleport away without waiting for a response, retreating into the workshop and opening a window.

To be able to sell the items in the tournament shop, register as a seller. Please choose an alias.

It would seem that even this is the same.

Would you like to register as “Tent Creep”?

“Yes,” I confirm.

Congratulations, you have been registered as “Tent Creep.” You may now offer the items you've crafted items for sale.

I then open up the tutorial shop and start buying the necessary materials.

Chapter 3

[King]

What starting price do you wish to set for Manabound Javelin (Upper Epic)?

What starting price do you wish to set for Ironfang Warhammer (Mid Epic)?

What starting price do you wish to set for Bloodtide Cleaver (Mid Epic)?

What starting price do you wish to set for Shardspike Glaive (Mid Epic)?

What starting price do you wish to set for Tethered Bastard Sword (Upper Epic)?

What starting price do you wish to set for Ashenfang Dagger (Upper Epic)?

What starting price do you wish to set for Veinpiercer Spear (Mid Epic)?

Looking at all the items around me, I take a breather and check the timer. Not much time remains until the first event, and we should be getting more information on it soon. As for the items, even I find it amazing that I managed to craft three upper-epic items.

I still remember how much effort it took to make a single one back on the fourth floor. But now? With my experience, skills, my manipulation of thermal and kinetic energy, plus the fact I can push myself to the point of dying, and actually did a few times, it's almost laughably easy.

I set the starting price at 10,999 shards for each upper epic. Then I set 6,969 for each mid epic. I set the duration of the auction at two days. I'll probably get more shards than I asked for, but for now, I may as well lowball them to get as many people as possible to bid on them. If the shop is the same for all the rounds, there should be plenty of people placing bids, and I'll always have the ability to check out the kinds of things the others are selling.

There's just so much to do. Again.

Before confirming the asking price, I look the items over one more time. Of course, my personal experience tells me that they aren't really all that…good looking, but at the very least I can vouch for their performance.

I teleport and arrive at the training circle beside the huge tree. Sophie is still there, with the Golem Heart hovering in the air, resembling a lump of shattered clay. Black smoke drifts around it.

“I'm trying to improve my connection to it through my bond. Blackie should be able to take control and act with a fair bit of independence if I use enough mana,” she explains the moment she sees me.

“I see. Have you taken a look at the barrier around our hill?”

“Yes. We even got Lily to try and damage it, and as it turns out, she can't, and it doesn't seem like the other rounds fared any better. Currently, the system wants to keep the rounds separated.”

“It'll probably come down on its own at some point. What happened while I was gone?”

“Well, Lily killed a lot of people. Some of them multiple times.”

“Anyone important?”

“Samuel, five times, until the guy finally shut up. His guild tried to help, so some of them died, too. Apparently, they thought enough people from Hard Difficulty could just pile on and take her down together. Lily didn't even have to use her mana.”

“That's what they get.”

“I guess. Then she killed Adam, Brainiac, BenDover, and Bard. It didn't even look all that much more difficult to her than dealing with people from Hard Difficulty, Nat. I think she would have done the same to Gareth if Maya and I hadn't stepped in.”

“You should have let her.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“Nat, we are trying to cooperate with these people, not fight them.” She puts whatever she's doing on hold and looks at me.

I return her gaze. “It's okay. Lily and I will be the bad guys while we make you, Maya, and Channeler look all the more level headed. Some of them probably forgot what we were capable of over the last year or perhaps they thought they just grew faster than we did.”

“I know you don't care, but do you want them all to hate Lily?”

Just that much betrays something. I shake my head and grab Golem Heart from the air and put it into her hand. “It seems like I know Lily better than you.”

The first event – Clash of Rounds – will start soon!

In one hour, everyone will be transferred to the event area by round. All difficulties will be participating together. Terrain will be chosen at random from the system's database.

The first round of the Earth tutorial will face the second, the third will face the fourth, the fifth will face the sixth, the seventh will face the eighth, and the ninth will face the tenth.

You, being members of the fifth round, will face the members of the sixth.

The first event will take place over the course of the next twenty-four hours, and the contenders will be rewarded according to their performance, time to victory, and points.

All participants will be granted the same fortress to defend and twelve hours for preparation. The remaining twelve hours will be taken up by the battle.

Your objective is to collect more points than your opponents. The winner will decided in one of three ways:

1st – Having more points than the opponent after twenty-four hours.

2nd – Fulfilling both requirements: taking over the opponent's Throne Room and eliminating their [King].

3rd – Eliminating all of the opponent's forces.

To seize your opponent's throne room, you must occupy the space for one hour. This will net the conquering team 10,000 points.

All winners of their round's first tournaments will be classified as [King]. Defeating the [King] will award you 5,000 points. If the winner of a round's tournament is not present, the position of [King] will be passed to the next in line based on tournament placement.

Points will also be given for defeating your opponents as follows:

Easy Difficulty attendee – 1 point

Normal Difficulty attendee – 5 points

Hard Difficulty attendee – 10 points

Hell Difficulty attendee – 20 points

Beyond attendee – 100 points

After reading it over, I wave at Gareth, who seems to be watching me, then glance at Myrra as she moves among the guys from the lower difficulties. I wonder what he thinks about her being here. I'd be dying of curiosity. How is it possible that a native of the floors could be here? Plenty of people recognize her as the Myrra from their fourth floor.

There are also a lot of Easy Difficulty attendees with phones who ask if she'll take a selfie with them. Myrra, curious, lets it happen and stares at the screen with wide eyes. She then even poses and makes grimaces to the sheer amusement of her fans.

The problems start when some middle-aged guy with a shirt featuring an anime character on it asks her to say, “Nya.” But that I leave for others to resolve as I move toward the main group made up of our strongest members.

Tacita is sitting on a thick tree branch nearby, and even Savant seems like he's decided to attend, though he maintains his distance, quiet, as usual, with the same long black hair tied into a ponytail, green eyes, and mole in the corner of his left eye. But he feels different; it's hard to explain, and even as I look him over with my Mana Wavelength Iris, I find my scans. It's not in the same method Tacita uses; in fact, it seems to be something even more annoying.

Out of everyone here, he's the only one deflecting my probing so easily. Even so, I can tell that his body feels like a mess, the structure is incredibly chaotic, and even more than last time I find myself wondering just how much remains of his original self.

Lastly, his Sword of Aeons seems to be in better condition than before. Once known as the greatest mana battery in all of Eladore, the world where Lissandra ruled as Absolute, the blade is still broken with half of it missing, but the rest of the sword is in much better shape.

Surely at least low arcane, likely nearing mid-arcane. My own Fracture is mid-arcane, but a lot had to be sacrificed to reach that level, while Savant's Sword of Aeons seems to be progressing differently, taking a slower path. Patience subclass indeed.

I refocus on the conversation just in time to hear Sophie say, “I think this event is here to reflect the pairing in a small way. The king is absolute and the throne room is likely Earth itself or some important place it might have now after awakening. The [King]/Absolute having a worth of so many points likely serves to show the importance of that title.”

It's an interesting thought, and I would say I agree with her. In any other situation, I would probably spend more time thinking about the intent behind the event, but I don't really feel the need at this point. Instead, I continue to make my preparations, leaving a small part of me to listen and observe the meeting.

Sophie and Gareth try to take the lead for the most part, as our Hell groups have the most members. Whitewing has seven and group 4 has nine, well, eight since Tess isn't here, but ten with Myrra and Liss. Though knowing that neither of them will be participating, we can scratch that number down to eight.

Even if we had the same number as Whitewing, I wouldn't worry about it. Group 4 is clearly stronger, with more Beyond attendees and Champion candidates. Out of theirs, only Gareth has been declared, and who knows by who.

There's Tacita and Savant, each from their own group. I.D.K, with three members, BenDover included. TheGuild has five; Swordmaster and AnotherOneHere are the most notable. And of course, there's the mysterious missing group.

Then there's the fact that during the previous tournament, we couldn't challenge the avatars of the winner of the sixth tournament since the rounds weren't synced, leaving us with no idea of what to expect.

Obliterate everyone in your way. That's the price Lissandra's named for Tess's life.

And I plan to make that happen.

Min-Jae

We enter and find ourselves in what I can only describe as a throne room. It's massive, and as far as I can see, only the other members of Hell Difficulty are here; the others were likely moved elsewhere.

The throne room is square with four huge pillars supporting it. Each of these pillars is delicately ornamented and inlaid with gold. There's even a thick red-and-gold carpet leading off toward the throne at one end of the room, while the floor itself is white marble with veins of light gray running through it.

While I look around, steps echo through the room as one of the others starts walking.

I turn and watch as Nathaniel walks across the marble floor, steps on the carpet, and heads toward the throne. He takes a step onto the elevated platform and sits on the throne, which, unlike the room, is very simple, a huge block of pitch-black stone that almost seems to absorb the light, with bits of gold-and-copper veins running through it.

There is a simple line of text floating above his head, a single golden word: [King].

Nat sits there as if it were natural, and his lance forms over his shoulder, just a single one. The one with a white-and-golden core, swirling with pale-blue-and-violet hues. That lance seems almost alive, pulsating in sync with something unseen.

The crown that had vanished from his head when we entered reappears. And he just sits there. And no one complains or tries to talk to him.

(Kim, let's go. You will be coming with me. Maya, you can go with Gareth and make sure Samuel doesn't do something stupid, as usual. You can let Samuel lead. People from Hard and Normal Difficulty seem to like him, but make sure he knows his place. Lily, you…)

(I'm sorry, Soph, but I'll be staying with Nat to help with the preparations. I will join you guys later.)

(Okay, do you guys need Dennis and Aaron?)

(Not this time.)

(Good. Dennis, Aaron, you two will be working with me to set up the defenses. Kim, please look around for anything you could throw later. Since we're missing Tess, you will be our sniper and I will be marking the targets for you.)

(Sure! I can do that,) I reply.

We head out, and the door just opposite the throne opens, a massive two-part door made from what looks like a single piece of dark brown wood, as thick as I am tall. Once outside, we move through the hallways for a while before exiting the building.

When I look back, I have a hard time taking in the scale of the massive building we just left, the majestic, towering stone building that seems like it could stand forever.

Passing through the courtyard, we see people from Hard and the other difficulties moving around, and some of us split off to help while I use [Telekinesis] and pull myself to the first of the elevated walkways. It's so tall, thick, and stretches so wide I don't think anything like it could even be possible on Earth.

Underneath, I see another courtyard that is also mostly empty, and looking down the hill we find ourselves on, I see another wall, even thicker and taller than the last. The area we are in is cloudy, and the sun rarely breaches the clouds, like an ugly day from a snowless winter.

I use mana to bolster my sight in a way Tess taught me and observe the exact same place mirroring ours that is a few miles away, also at the top of a hill that is exactly the same as ours.

In between us, there is that empty plain where, once in a while, leafless trees and boulders appear, as well as craters adorning the area. I fly higher and notice multiple expressions of envy from some attendees from Easy Difficulty. It's almost to the point where I can feel it. Flying maybe longer than I should, I reach the highest place I can find and land there.

A ring of communications for private channels sounds to me, and I allow it to connect.

(Kim, Nat says he's going to make some mana projectiles for you. I'll be making some javelins from my bones, so I'll have some of those sent over as well.)

(Thank you, Lily.)

(No problem! They'll probably create a barrier to defend against our attacks, but he said he'll be breaking it, so I'll just have to make sure he doesn't die while doing so. You know him…)

(I'll see it done. If he needs anything…)

(It's okay. Lissandra's requirements are simple and direct, so it's mostly up to him. I already spoke to the others, but please don't be too offended by the way Nat acts during the tournament.)

I move closer to the edge of the wall and sit with my legs hanging over the edge much like Nathaniel likes to do when he finds a high place.

I ask Lily carefully, (Is…is he okay?)

(He is the angriest I have seen him in a long while,) Lily sends back.

(Sorry, I have to go,) I reply and quickly sever the connection.

Next to me sits a beautiful woman with long silver hair and hazel-brown eyes. She lets her legs dangle over the edge as she gazes toward the second fort.

Lissandra remains quiet for a moment, her gaze steady, as if lost in thought. The wind tugs at strands of her silver hair, carrying with it the distant sounds of battle preparations. A faint smile plays across her lips, amusement or…perhaps something else, I can't quite tell.

Then, finally, she speaks, “Envy directed at a single person can be truly powerful, especially if that person is deserving of it. But at the same time, that envy will crumble the moment that person loses.”

She reaches out and taps the tip of a finger against my forehead, observing me like a particularly interesting animal. “People with envy like that either become the best followers, worshipping the subject of their envy until the end of their days, or given the opportunity, they become the worst of all traitors. I wonder which one you will be, little one.”

With that, she leaves as she likes to do.

I think of her words as I watch Sophie, with the help of the others, form the web. Maya, Gareth, and Samuel organize the others; they even make plans with the help of Savant and the rest of group 4.

The doors to the throne room open only once, and Channeler rushes in with a few people from Easy Difficulty, and they start carrying out a vast multitude of items: swords, javelins, spears, orbs, arrows, and others. All made from mana and bone. Much of it is eventually brought to me as well.

While holding one of these orbs, I watch the last minutes tick down. The world feels frozen, the wind barely stirring the dust along the ground. The sky remains an endless gray, the light dim and cold. Even time itself seems to hesitate, dragging out the final moments.

A barrier forms around the other fort. Dark-blue mana coiling tightly, its surface covered in shifting inscriptions that pulse with power. It doesn't flicker or waver. It stands firm like a wall of pure will, likely fueled by the efforts of countless individuals. The sheer density of it makes it feel less like a shield and more like an unbreakable fortress.

While we hole up in our base, the other round sends a few thousand people our way. They now stand, spaced broadly apart, in the great plain surrounding our base. I count thousands, and there they seem likely to attack in one fell swoop.

They are led by two men. Neither one bears the title of [King] hanging over their head, but out of all the people there, they look the strongest. Even if only by the way the others react to their presence.

One of these two men has a [Mana Crown] over his head and a long staff with a big mana stone at the end.

And the other one has a different crown. This one is bigger, rougher, and it looks as if it's made of iron, but I don't think it has anything to do with metal. The crown feels…strong.

That man is also wearing black armor with no contrasting color, and he holds a helmet under his arm. He carries no weapons, but he clearly seems to be the strongest.

Ten seconds remain when the door to the throne room opens once more.

I feel a change in gravitational waves, and Nat lands next to me.

Simple clothes, a calm face, and that lance floating over his shoulder. Just the way the gravitational energy reacts to it sends a shiver down my back.

“Hey,” he greets simply.

“Hey,” I respond awkwardly.

Five seconds remain.

Nathaniel's face grows even calmer, his expression untouched by the tension in the air. Below, the two men glance up at him, their gazes sharp, questioning, but he barely acknowledges them. He just gives them a fleeting look before turning away, as if their presence were meaningless. As if they were nothing.

One second.

The system's barrier around our fortress vanishes, not shattered or overwhelmed, but simply gone, dismissed like an afterthought.

Nat fires a single orb toward the enemy fortress, likely stretching one of his Ley Lines along behind it. The moment it moves, they react. Shields flare, forces surge, and unseen defenses lock into place. The air bends as something fights back against him, a final line of resistance, but none of it matters.

None of it holds, and he simply teleports through.

Over the enemy fortress, beyond the dark blue inscriptions pulsing with unbreakable power, light erupts in gold and white, streaked with violet and deep blue. It flashes only once, a single moment of perfect radiance.

And then, like glass struck at its weakest point, the unbreakable barrier shatters, its intricate inscriptions unraveling into nothing before the entire structure collapses, fading like it was never there.

A notification follows soon after.

Noname (Beyond, King) ⟶ Nova (Beyond) +100 pts

Noname (Beyond, King) ⟶ Rico (Hard) +10 pts

Noname (Beyond, King) ⟶ UltraAlpha (Hard) +10 pts

Noname (Beyond, King) ⟶ Baron (Beyond) +100 pts

Noname (Beyond, King) ⟶ DuskDuke (Hell) +20 pts

Noname (Beyond, King) ⟶ sahgjtxcvdsa (Hell) +20 pts

Noname (Beyond, King) ⟶ CatHater (Hell) +20 pts

Noname (Beyond, King) ⟶ Hellfire (Hard) +10 pts

Noname (Beyond, King) ⟶ SupremeFurry (Hard) +10 pts

Noname (Beyond, King) ⟶ xxx_420_69_420 xxx (Hard) +10 pts

Noname (Beyond, King) ⟶ StormChaser (Hard) +10 pts

Chapter 4

Sixth Round

Nathaniel

Ideflect the attacks shooting toward me and expand [Eclipse], which continues to drain all color from the area.

One of the people in the throne room dodges my projectiles and continues to compress mana for an attack. I reach through [Eclipse], taking over his skill. My eyes feed me all the information I need, I read the movements of his mana, and I find that I don't even need to understand it fully.

I just interrupt the process, seize partial control, and feed the skill with so much mana that the guy loses control and it explodes in his hands.

Noname (Beyond, King) ⟶ Chump (Hell) +20 pts

What a name.

I teleport again and then move once more through another [Ley Line].

Their [King] struggles in a vain attempt to suppress my [Eclipse] and picks up a spear sitting next to him. His mana fills the weapon, and a sickly yellow light rapidly envelopes the blade.

The winner of the sixth round's tournament is a man in his thirties, fit, cleanly shaved, with long black hair that flows freely. He is missing one of his eyes, which has seemingly been replaced with a crystalline prosthesis, entirely covered in its own web of inscriptions.

He levels the tip of his spear at me and disappears. The air around him wavering as he fades from view.

Just before the last shimmering waves are gone, I step into his reach using Wraith Dance. Ducking under the toxic-looking glow of the spear's tip and release a burst of kinetic energy, causing him to stumble for a moment as he rushes to defend himself.

He regains his composure quickly, though, and his spear begins to shrink and expand as he swings it at me, forcing me to dodge once again. He puts some distance between us and tries to make himself invisible again, but this time I read him quicker, and [Eclipse] disrupts the skill.

An arrow from one of his remaining goons rockets toward my head, and I snatch it from the air, even as the lightning around it burns the flesh of my hand.

Without taking my eyes off the King, I emit a burst of mana tracing the path of the offending projectile.

Noname (Beyond, King) ⟶ Oliver Newt (Hell) +20 pts

I form a sword made of mana in my hand and use kinetic energy to charge at the [King]. As expected, he matches my speed using his stats and mana-based reinforcement and swings his spear in an effort to block my sword.

I let the sword dissipate and instead absorb my own inertia, change direction, boost my movements, and slam my palm into his shoulder, sending him stumbling once again.

Grabbing the arm holding the spear, I release another burst of kinetic energy and send the guy flying to crash into one of the white stone pillars. Defending against the attacks of the remaining people here, I finish them with projectiles and bursts of kinetic energy and then grab the spear to throw it at the guy.

Meanwhile, he rises to his feet, his eyes, both normal and crystalline, fixed on me. The flesh around one of the wounds on his arm sizzles with the same yellowish light as his spear, and his arm rapidly regenerates. Before I can react, the spear vanishes from my grip and returns to his hand.

“It won't be that easy,” he says as he brushes the hair from his face with a bloodied hand.

A web of intricate tattoos begins to trace a set of glowing lines across his body, pulsing with pale blue light. The pressure radiating from him is immense, just a step below Jean's. And the yellow light surrounding his blade and spear is anything but reassuring, probably some kind of poison, perhaps even something that hinders healing.

“You won't be able to hold this place for the whole hour. My guys should already be on their way. All in all, I just need to hold you up for a while,” he says while pointing his spear at me.

“I see,” I nod and start walking toward him, “but you are wrong about one thing.”

He takes steps toward me as well, ramping up the pressure around his body.

“I don't give a shit about the throne room. Once I'm done with you, I'll simply wipe out the rest of your round,” I say.

Hearing me, he raises his mana even further, the tattoos even damaging his skin and muscles, and he charges me at incredible speed. He throws the spear, and I barely manage to dodge, only for it to reappear in his hand all over again just for him to throw it once again, forcing me to dodge a third time.

We crash into each other, and [Eclipse] condenses, focusing on the small area around us. And for a moment, the light of his tattoos dims, almost seeming to fade away.

Shock flashes across his face, but he pushes through, forcing the tattoos to reignite, as he strains to resist my [Eclipse]. But even that brief distraction turns out to be enough. I give his chest a tap, releasing a new burst of compressed kinetic energy, blasting him backward with a ragged hole in his chest.

Despite the pain he must be feeling, he twists in midair as his body rapidly regenerates, evading my projectiles and deflecting any oncoming blasts of kinetic energy. Then his spear shoots past me, aimed with incredible precision, almost like a bullet. I dodge, but the blade, coated in yellow light, grazes my leg.

The effects of the poison hit instantly, a mix of mana disruption and searing pain that pushes through my [Focus].

I nearly stumble as I take another step to evade his next attack, the pain threatening to throw me off balance. Keeping my eyes locked on him, I release a wave of thermal energy through my body, forcing it into my leg, scorching my own flesh to fight back the poison.

For a moment, the yellow light resists my golden thermal energy until I push harder, increasing the output and compressing it further. The poison eventually burns away, along with a portion of my leg. Even then, the pain lingers, fading only gradually.

All this from just a scratch.

My mana spins in the crown, and reaching a critical point, it stops. Releasing a disrupting wave I combine with [Eclipse] and reach him using Wraith Dance, each step I take sending pain through my body from where the scratch was.

I feint an attack, shift again, halt my inertia, redirect it, boost myself forward, then teleport through a [Ley Line], to finally appear at his side and unleash a concentrated burst of kinetic energy.

As two halves of his body fall to the ground, I watch his skill struggle to activate, the same sizzling flesh and yellow light trying to heal him. I even lower the effects of [Eclipse] to watch it happen, activating Mana Wavelength Iris to further observe the process and the effects of his tattoos.

The man heals in an instant. His tattoos begin to glow, trying to reactivate, but I've seen enough. This fight is over.

Letting my brain process the information from my eyes, I adjust the frequency of [Eclipse] and shut it down before it can take effect.

He takes a deep breath, coughs out blood, and rushes to get back on his feet.

My kinetic energy blows apart his leg, and he collapses to the ground once again. His skill immediately starts healing him again, and he keeps his spear pointed at me, despite the awkward position.

I slowly walk over to him, pondering aloud as I do, “You know, I used to have so much trouble with people disrupting my mana. And as I'm sure you can see, it's a really shitty feeling. You can have really strong skills, but what can you do if someone takes them from you?”

“You…you fucker, this shouldn't be possible at our level.”

I send another pulse, and the hand holding the spear disintegrates into a fine spray of pink mist, preventing the activation of whatever skill he'd thought to use.

“Unfortunately for you, I'm quite proficient when it comes to dealing with mana. And it seems like I spend more effort making sure it cannot be taken away from me.”

As I speak, he continues trying to activate as many skills as he can. A stronger version of healing, the invisibility he used before, whatever quality linked him to the spear, culminating in a domain of his own. He also skillfully modifies his frequencies, showing clear familiarity with this kind of clash.

But it's all to no avail.

“Thank you. I think I may have actually learned something from you.”

“I will⁠—”

I don't let him finish, opting instead to increase the output of my Kinetic Mana Heart, blasting away the rest of his body and sending the debris littering the room flying.

Noname (Beyond, King) ⟶ Hector Valdez (Beyond, King) +5,000 pts

Congratulations, you have defeated the King!

You are in the throne room.

Time remaining to capture: 58 minutes 21 seconds

I fly up through the hole in the ceiling at the place where I broke the barrier and high into the air.

In the distance, the orange light of [Dawn] surrounds the area. That ever-so-familiar mana radiation stands between me and blocking the way that enemy people might use to return.

Landing near Savant within his domain, I walk and stop by his side. On the edge of the domain, corpses of people pile up, all fallen during [Dawn]. Well, not all; I also see flashes of Tacita hunting down those who try to move around the domain.

“They're quite disorganized,” Savant notes as I stop by him. “They had a decent plan at the start and, according to Soph, even some interesting arrays used to combine the mana of bigger groups into a single powerful bombardment.”

“But?” I ask.

He shrugs. “They panicked after you broke their barrier that was supposed to be unbreakable and from where their [King] was supposed to snipe us and poison our defenses.”

Having said his piece, [Dawn] flickers and disappears, and Savant turns away, walking toward the base of the sixth round. I don't spend time thinking about what he wants to do there; he must have an idea that capturing the throne room isn't needed.

Turning away, I fly again, and mid-flight I stop using kinetic energy, the flight turning into a big leap and inertia carrying me into the middle of the enemy's backline. There are multiple barriers and defenses layered over their formation, but I can see through them all, resonate with them, and pass through easily, landing in the midst of them.

A scream erupts from the people around me after a brief moment of surprise, and a great multitude of people turn to attack me, firing off their skills in unison.

[Eclipse] reactivates and expands over a huge area, draining the colors out of it, and all these weaker, out-of-body skills flicker and deactivate. My mind splits into multiple parts as I identify the stronger ones, and my eyes observe the moment of their mana, adapting parts of [Eclipse] to strengthen the area around these people.

Hard Difficulty or Hell Difficulty, none manage to resist. Their skills explode, filled with my mana. They hit different areas, then change and turn on their casters.

And my heart beats, turning mana into kinetic energy as I charge them all, each of my punches killing someone. Wraith Dance carries me over the battlefield, Breaker Style destroys the stronger ones, and Pulser Stance confuses everyone trying to face me. I show no hesitation at all, and my mind slowly empties until there is only me and my opponents.

I jump back, and the earth implodes in front of me. I locate the Gravitational Primordial energy user, and [Empyrean Lance] breaks through the barriers of everyone protecting him and kills the guy in the process.

A notification.

A punch hits my side. My unique epic passive turns the impact into mana, and my body barely feels it. Using some of that energy, I boost my movements, and my punch explodes his head like a bursting watermelon.

Sensing large amounts of mana gathering nearby, I redirect more of my mind to the location and take over the array, reaching out with a few Ley Lines before expanding on the array and modifying it.

I lift the barrier in front of me, and the array bursts into a fiery explosion instead of a flame ball sent at me.

A dozen more notifications ring out.

Step to the side. Punch.

Notification.

Wraith Dance. An arm is torn free and tossed aside, and I finish the guy off with a javelin.

I teleport through [Ley Line] and deliver a stomp that destroys the attacks from below me. Three javelins break the barrier. A tricolored orb finishes the job.

Another Wraith Dance follows as explosions and screams erupt behind me and pieces of dirt and bodies start falling from the air.

All of a sudden, the movement halts, and I expand my field and start absorbing all the kinetic energy around me. It traps anyone from a difficulty below Hell, and even then not many of those manage to push through.

A few hundred people are held by my skill.

I release all the energy against the man charging me, and he is thrown away, an iron crown over his head and pitch-black armor around his body.

Then I see Lily tearing through the ranks, tracking the very same man who starts running away the moment he catches sight of her, only for Tacita to appear nearby and stab him in the leg, piercing clean through his black armor. Lily catches up to him. She grabs his arm, and despite her petite frame, she lifts his entire body and slams him back into the ground.

The other man with the [Mana Crown] floats lazily in the air and tries to push against my [Eclipse] with his domain. Our eyes meet, and he lifts the staff in his hand as the tricolored, dark blue, light blue, and purple light collects in it, strengthening his domain.

At the same time, he lifts the barrier and deflects projectiles shot by Min-Jae from far away and Sophie's attempts.

And that single moment of distraction is all I need to reach him.

As his eyes turn back to me, he teleports.

I resonate with the signature of his skill, taking over and following him through. As I reappear, I see him smiling, standing right in front of me. His staff is pointed at me, and projectiles swirl around him as well.

The remnants of his teleport around me twist, change, and attack me in a great effort to disrupt my mana, stop my teleport, and halt me, all at once. An incredible construct.

My [Mana Domain] expands further, extending beyond defending my body and blending with [Eclipse]. All the mana around me freezes, halts its movement, and turns against that man. I bend the whole of my [Focus] on the difficult task and succeed. Instead, his mana is disrupted and evaporates in a cloud of sparking blue particles. [Redistribution] then subdues the guy with ease; apparently his physical stats aren't all that great.

I take a step toward him and bury my hand in his chest, pulling it free along with his still-beating Mana Heart. Before the guy disappears, I take a moment to observe the heart as much as I can.

I sensed it immediately, but it's different from mine, and even if I hadn't modified mine to generate kinetic energy, it would still be different. It's likely a pure Mana Heart strengthened by a trait.

After a second, the man disappears along with his heart. People are already surrounding me. I lift off, breaking through defensive arrays and raising a barrier to block any incoming attacks.

Floating there, I start bombarding the rest of the sixth-round attendees. They try to resist, but it doesn't matter. Their formations collapse, their defenses break, and one by one, they fall.

It takes only a few minutes. Soon, they are almost all cleaned out by my and the other's efforts.

One remains, far away, barely visible. Realizing he's alone, for some reason he simply decides to run.

I watch as a huge boulder flies through the air, nearly the size of a motorcycle, gaining speed with every second. The running man notices it at the last moment, hastily raising a barrier and reinforcing his body. But it doesn't matter; the boulder doesn't slow at all. With an audible thump, it slams into him, crushing him instantly. The notification rings out, informing me that we've won the first event.

Only then do I release the hold [Focus] has on my emotions and let the system teleport me out.

Chapter 5

Winner of the Fourth Round's Tournament

1st (7,530 pts) - Noname

2nd (1,031 pts) - Grumpy

3rd (922 pts) - Tacita

4th (799 pts) - Savant

5th (650 pts) - Soph

6th (600 pts) - StrongestOne

7th (498 pts) - Gareth

8th (497 pts) - Izzy

9th (450 pts) - Knight

…

Congratulations, you have placed 1st in the 1st event – Clash of the Rounds – and you have also achieved the high score for the event – 7,530 pts.

You can exchange your points for shards. 1 point = 5 shards = 37,650 shards

The reward for placing 1st overall is an additional 10,000 shards. You will receive an additional 5,000 shards for the fastest win in the first part of the event across all rounds. An additional 5,000 shards will be awarded for your performance.

You may either receive the shards and choose one of three rewards or forfeit them to choose from a selection of higher-quality rewards once the tournament has concluded.

“Ireject the reward, I want to put it all toward my final reward for the tournament,” I say, and with that, the window disappears.

Congratulations on reaching the second round of the first event.

For the second half, the remaining five winning rounds will be placed onto a single map with the same rules and a few slight modifications!

The second part of the event will start in twenty-four hours.

In one hour, the barrier around your area will be removed, and you will have a chance to visit the areas belonging to the other rounds still participating in the first event.

How interesting. So a first round to reduce the number and get us used to the place, see all the entrapments there could be, and then throw us all in for the highest possible chaos?

The fact that we have the chance to visit the other rounds at this point probably means the second event is meant to incorporate an element of politics. Alliances, betrayals, and the like. But that also means a chance to meet Victoria. There's no way her round didn't make it.

The silence becomes more noticeable, and I look up from the notification window. Immediately, some people start avoiding my eyes, and there is also a clear path through the common area for me.

Poor, misguided souls, have they forgotten what this place is all about?

In an effort to avoid causing any more commotion, I ensure that I have my mana well under control and rejoin the rest of group 4. Meanwhile, I take the opportunity to go through the rest of my notifications.

[Empyrean Lance – Level 14 Empyrean Lance – Level 15]

[Empyrean Lance – Level 15 Empyrean Lance – Level 16]

[Empyrean Lance – Level 16 Empyrean Lance – Level 17]

[Perception – Level 58 Perception – Level 59]

[Eclipse – Level 23 Eclipse – Level 24]

[Eclipse – Level 24 Eclipse – Level 25]

[Eclipse – Level 25 Eclipse – Level 26]

It's pretty decent, if I do say so myself.

I proceed to the cobbled area around the fountain when the others finally make their approach. Samuel is there as well, with his signature greatsword on his back. His Hard Difficulty group has the most surviving members out of all the Hard Difficulty groups, and they're all dressed in the same style. Almost as if they had taken it upon themselves to create their own uniforms, and the chain of command is on clear display.

For a moment, I think he might come to me. I even see him taking a step while I tilt my head slightly and watch him, curious what he might want.

His eyes meet mine, and he hesitates mid-step. His pulse changes, and I notice a nervous twitch as I scan through all the little things Whitey taught me to notice with kinetic energy.

In the end, Samuel averts his eyes and heads over to Sophie and Maya, who are already talking with Gareth.

Lily stops by my side. “If the start of each round removes all the healing marks I put on you, we'll have to keep reapplying them whenever an event starts.”

“It also removed the mana from my [Mana Crown]. Surprisingly, it's all back now, so it clearly is just for the events.”

Lily sulks. “Taking away your arms is probably because it considered them similar to my healing marks, but it still sucks.”

I shrug. “That's the system for you. But that's fine; if the rules apply the same way to everyone, I don't really mind so much. Good job out there, by the way. Were their Beyonders strong?”

“Somewhat,” Lily confirms, “but they underestimated me a lot, and I killed some. The one with [Mana Crown] and another one with black armor and that iron crown were actually pretty good.”

“Look at you, already beating the shit out of your fellow Beyonders. I still remember how you used to be such a crybaby.”

“Have you considered that I'm still that same old crybaby? Perhaps I'm just hiding it better,” Lily chirps, smiling brightly. “Was their tournament's winner strong?”

“No idea. I didn't give him much of a chance to show off, probably yes, against anyone else. But I think you and Tess could take him. The others from our group? Probably not.”

Lily sighs in pretend disappointment. “If not for you, I might have been the winner of the fifth round's tournament. So are we going to keep playing the role of bad cop while Sophie and Maya pretend to be reasonable ones?”

I nod. “For now. Tess would probably come up with something better, but the rest of us aren't smart enough for any of that.”

“Do you think we will be able to form an alliance with the other rounds? Fighting all four at once could be difficult.”

“That's up to others. But I know I can get Victoria and her round to join us.”

Lily looks at her feet for a moment before looking back up at me. “You'll get to see her in less than an hour. How…how do you feel about that? You seem to place a lot of trust in her.”

“I'm not certain yet; I'll have to meet her to be sure.”

Then I glance up at the branches of the tree hanging over our heads. Tacita lies there, clearly listening.

ヽ( ಠ_ಠ)ノ

Sure.

I just shoot a few orbs toward her, and she flings them away with her hand coated in a skin-tight mana barrier.

Then Lily notices her as well and shouts, “Taci!”

I could swear the messy brown hair of the silent assassin rises up in a way similar to goose bumps, and she rushes away with Lily following her.

Noticing Min-Jae looking at me, I wave at him, and he waves back awkwardly before I teleport away, taking refuge in my workshop.

I died twice while speaking with Lily.

Thirty minutes after I start working on the item for Channeler, Miwa comes to visit. The same as when I met her the first time and waited for her to finish her work before talking, she also waits for me to finish mine.

I just sense her entering the area around our space and proceed to the workshop I'm in. She does so quietly and takes a seat in one of the manabloc chairs I've made, which retains the design of plastic monobloc chairs.

Ten minutes later, I finish the next piece, pull back the heat I've filled the room with, and let the item cool.

Miwa is sitting there, smiling brightly. Her skin is red from the heat, and she's covered in sweat.

Oh, maybe I should have reduced the output when she entered.

“It's crazy to think that you can work with such high temperatures, Noname,” she says, smiling, then stands and gives me a short bow. “It's nice to meet you again.”

I return the gesture and nod toward Fracture lying in the corner. “You can look at it.”

There is no way I wouldn't notice her gaze locked on the mid-arcane item and the new piece I've been working on. Her smile broadens, and she gives a quick series of nods before rushing, barely hearing my warning not to draw Fracture from its scabbard.

She hasn't changed much. Even though she must be somewhere in her forties, she looks closer to her thirties with that typical youthful Asian face and slim figure. And it even seems like no one's stolen her right arm. Yet. The arm is made entirely out of metal with a pinkish shine and entirely covered in inscriptions. It even moves more naturally than before.

It also might just be me, but it feels almost stronger, as if Miwa had learned to harness more of its power. Maybe it's a sign that I should stea…borrow it for examination. I bet she wouldn't mind. I could let her hold Fracture for a few minutes in exchange.

In the next ten minutes, Miwa moves from Fracture to the unfinished arcane item and even takes a moment to examine some of the materials and items I've started preparing to sell.

“Why did you go with Tent Creep? I was shocked when I saw you on the ranking with that name!” she says, with great difficulty, as she puts Fracture back in its place and turns to me.

With a shrug, I explain, “I just felt like it.”

“You felt like it?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” she asks, not seeming to understand.

“It is silly and lame, but I thought it would help my group feel better. Don't ask why.”

“I… All right. So what did you need me for?”

“Is Adam still trying to get you to work with him, and do you still have a problem with it?” I ask.

I remember from the previous tournament that Adam, a man in his sixties who generally prefers to wear a suit and serves as one of the members of WhiteWing, had a habit of pestering her. The man, apparently some kind of rich German guy, isn't used to being refused.

Miwa confirms, “Yes, he does, and I continue to refuse.”

“Good. I want to give you the same offer, but slightly different. I want to learn more from you, and in exchange, I'm willing to show you all I know and help you as much as I can. I will notify you each time I go to work here so you can come and observe and help, if you want that is. I also want to extend an invitation for you to work with group 4. We would protect you against anyone too annoying, and in exchange… Well, I don't know yet. You can talk to Channeler; we gave him the same offer. Soph and Knight will have more for you.”

The heat is still pretty high and would likely be causing trouble even for most non-specialized Hell Difficulty attendees, yet she handles it much better and carefully thinks over my words.

Her answer is simple. “I will think about it.”

I nod, and as she is leaving, I notice her glancing at Fracture in the corner.

Lily Chen

The barrier has been removed. The following rounds may now visit each other:

1st round

4th round

5th round

8th round

10th round

The second part of the first event will start in twenty-three hours.

Even though they won't be able to participate, the non-participating rounds will be able to observe the event from their respective common areas.

The barrier that even my [Disintegration] couldn't touch disappears.

(Teleporting,) comes the message from Nat.

He does that when teleporting near me, only because I attacked him a few times when he appeared next to me out of nowhere.

Not like he can complain! Everyone would do that, and I even think some part of him is proud of me for that. I think so.

(Sure,) I send back, and he appears next to me.

There is still heat lingering around his body, and his mana is leaking slightly, and even that little is enough for some Easy Difficulty people nearby to be affected.

They have such weak bodies. It constantly reminds me to be careful. Just a playful punch from me would probably be enough to kill a weaker one. But at least we from Hell Difficulty seem to be much better at controlling our powers.

Nat notices it as well, and his heat, as well as his mana, disappears as we watch people jumping or flying from their hills and heading to the unlocked areas that will participate in the second part of the event. These hills are even marked by a huge green orb that floats above us, while those that lost have a red orb floating over the hill. There are even some people heading our way.

Strengthening my sight, I see a figure jump high into the air over their hill, and from her, a few flashes appear, one heading even in our direction.

I prepare to defend in case something happens, but after seeing that Nathaniel doesn't react, I do nothing.

Then a finger plops onto the ground near the center of our common area; some Easy Difficulty people there scream in shock and move away from it.

In a blink, a figure grows from that finger. It materializes with clothes on it as well.

It's a beautiful woman with a calm expression on her face, wearing simple clothes and not seeming to have any items at all. Even her clothes aren't enchanted at all, just simple gray pants and a black shirt with sleeves rolled up comfortably.

From there, I see how she turns to the people around her and calmly addresses them. “I would like to talk with your tournament winner if possible.”

After a moment of surprise, some people around her start looking around, and some find Nat and stare his way. She follows their stares, and the moment her eyes lock onto his, she freezes. Recognition flashes across her face, and I notice her fingers twitch at her sides as if resisting the urge to move.

Then she does.

A blur of motion, far faster than expected. In an instant, she stands before him, searching his face with wide, unreadable eyes.

Her hand lifts, hesitant at first, then steady as her fingers brush his skin, light, fleeting, as if confirming he is real.

The speed she moved at is far quicker than I remember from the first tournament. Much quicker. That image of her is still burned into my mind, along with the pain of being torn apart by her. Now, standing in front of Nathaniel, she watches him closely, just as he does her.

A stunning woman, slightly older than Nat, sharing his slim build and height. Her black hair is identical in color, and one of her brown eyes is a shade lighter than the other. Even their faces carry a little bit of similarity.

Nat, on the other side, has his gray and brown eyes and wears equally simple clothes, black pants, and a white shirt rolled up in the same manner.

As she touches his face, an incredibly gentle expression appears on her own. She whispers something I cannot hear, ending with a question.

Nat nods in answer. Then he smiles at her and whispers something as well.

Victoria Gwyn lets out a brief laugh, a beautiful, genuine sound of happiness.

Another laugh follows, softer, hesitant, and almost shy, as if unfamiliar with the act yet filled with joy.

Nathaniel opens his arms and pulls his sister into a hug, an act of closeness he rarely initiates on his own.

Chapter 6

Sister

“I'm here with my own body now.” Victoria answers my question after she lowers her defenses, and I teleport us to the living room of Oakheart Refuge.

No one else, leaving us a free place to talk.

“What is your skill?” I ask curiously.

“[Duplication], it allows me to create duplicates of my body, but the mind is shared. After I met you, I canceled the ones I sent to the rest of the rounds so I can focus on you.”

“That's a terrible mistake, Vic. You need to talk to these people and make alliances,” I joke.

Victoria turns to me and smiles before looking away from me and exploring the room curiously. “I don't care about these people at all. I have my nosy, curious brother to spend time with.”

She moves through the room and sits in the armchair opposite me. “You didn't seem as surprised as I was.”

“During the first tournament, we challenged the winners of the first to fourth rounds, and I saw your avatar there.”

Victoria tilts her head the way she does when she is amused. “You were always good at abusing the rules, Natty. What floor are you on?”

“Seventh. You?”

“Eighth, starting skills?”

“[Focus] and [Mana Manipulation].”

“[Duplication] and [Intent]. Natty, you seem different and…tense. Has something happened?”

I lean back in my armchair while Victoria waits patiently. She's always been really good at reading me.

“What do you mean by 'different'?” I ask first before answering the question myself, knowing she won't mind.

She pauses for a moment before saying, “You remind me of how you used to be when you were younger, just a little. Do you know what I mean?”

I nod. “A lot of things happened. You, on the other hand, don't seem to have changed much.”

“Didn't you used to say I'm perfect just the way I am?” she says, her calm expression returning. “I'll tell you as much as you want. Don't worry.”

Even though she isn't smiling, and no one else would notice a difference, to me, it feels like she's happy in a quiet way.

“Damn, Vic. It's so nice to see you here. But before we start, do you remember Tess?”

“Young Tess Hansen, smart and a little naïve in an endearing way, pretty blonde? Of course I remember.”

“Well, she is in my group and stayed on the seventh floor. Apparently, there is a mimic inside her. There is someone who can save her, but that person gave me a condition: I need to win all the events of this tournament and…”

“I got it. Don't worry about it.”

“Thanks.” I feel a wave of relief wash over me.

I knew she would react this way. I was absolutely sure, because I know her just as well as she knows me. But hearing her say it out loud…

Victoria is someone I trust completely and love unconditionally. She has always been my older sister who took care of me, always calm, even when she was young, and always taking on so much instead of me.

I owe her a huge debt, but at the same time, the weaker part of me is glad I can rely on my older sister, even if just a little. Even the thought of that brings comfort.

Damn, maybe I shouldn't tease Sophie so much for how much she loves Izzy.

Victoria gets up from her armchair and nudges me aside just enough to squeeze into my seat, wrapping an arm around me before resting her head against mine.

For a while, we stay just like that.

“Who was that pretty petite, black-haired girl, and why did she seem scared of me for a moment?”

“That's Lily, our healer who sometimes doubles as a bulldozer. She fought your avatar in the first tournament, and you tore her apart. Literally, Vic.”

“I see. The way she looks at you…”

“Yeah, I know. It's just a crush because I saved her back on the first floor. She'll grow out of it.”

“Natty, not to insult you, but you're not exactly the most knowledgeable about these things. How long has this crush lasted already?”

“Huh, about a year and a half, probably?”

“You're a disgrace to the family name, little brother.”

“Vic, not to put myself down, I know I'm somewhat good-looking. I take after Mom and my beautiful sister. But I've rejected her a few times, and it's not like a crush can last that much longer.”

“Did you ask her about that?”

“I…uhh.”

She then proceeds to gently slap the back of my head.

Vic and I spend hours catching up. Some of the questions are silly, asked just so we can hear each other's voices. I even notice myself training less. For a little while, I let myself relax.

A few hours later, the living room fills with people. Naturally, the entire nosy group 4 is here. Most of the time, everyone keeps stealing glances at Victoria, their eyes occasionally shifting between me and her.

Victoria listens to their questions politely and patiently. The smile she showed me before is gone, and she once again wears that controlled expression as she sits with her clothes fixed and her stance straightened up.

It feels surreal to see her there, sitting just as she did on Earth, so most of the time, I barely listen to the conversation. Instead, I focus on petting Noodle, whom I stole. I can feel his scales beneath my hand and the pulsating heat of the Fragment of Eternal Fire.

“So it will be just our rounds against the rest?” Sophie asks, surprised.

Victoria nods. “That's what we decided on. Me and Nathaniel will be enough.”

“I don't think that's a good idea. How can you be so sure?”

Waiting for Sophie to finish, Victoria then looks at our mindblender.

That moment stretches longer until I notice Sophie feeling uncomfortable, and after a bit longer, it's Sophie who breaks eye contact and looks away.

“He is my brother,” Victoria says as if that explains everything. “My round will take care of one of the rounds. Your round will face the other two.”

“Well, fuck, I don't even have to ask who came up with that idea,” Maya says, looking over at me with a shake of her head.

I shrug and feed Noodle another mana orb.

Maya sounds even more annoyed. “Are you sure?” she asks me.

“Yes,” I confirm.

“You know what is at stake here, right?”

“Trust me, Maya, I haven't forgotten.”

“Damn it. Fuck that silver-haired bitch. Fuck this situation. If you ever get stronger than her and beat the shit out of her, take a video of it for me.”

“I'll try to. In 4 K. How many times have you died so far, Maya?”

“Five or so? I'm doing that Mana Weaving you showed me and trying to channel and hold bigger amounts of mana. Do I want to know how many times you've died?”

“A few more. I stopped counting after twenty.”

“Monster…”

Sophie interrupts the conversation. “Okay, so it will be the fifth round and the fourth round against the first, eighth, and tenth. Jean, CarrotCake is from the first round, right? Leticia and Luna are from the eighth?”

“Nope,” I shake my head, “Leticia and Luna are from the seventh; Derick and his primordial lightning wifey are from the eighth, but you haven't met them during our expedition.”

“Derick is the tournament winner?”

I nod. “Red hair, tall and slim, has some very good tattoos. It is either a trait, item, or passive; no idea, to be honest. He is very good at close-range combat and disruption. Noelle uses a bow and primordial lightning, but she isn't as dangerous as Tess. Jean has a physique that rejects mana, and it's really difficult to damage him with mana.

Even if you do, that physique absorbs a chunk of that mana and increases his regeneration. Plus, he has a skill that allows him to pull people or himself, likely all in his Strength stat.”

“So we currently only don't know about the tenth round tournament winner.”

Min-Jae jumps in. “We could pretend we're trying to form an alliance with them, observe their people in the process, and learn what to expect.”

“Look, we all know Tacita is likely already moving around the other rounds' hills and stealing shit. Me and Aaron could do the same.” Dennis slaps his fist against his leg and smiles brightly.

Victoria looks at him in a mildly confused manner. “Nathaniel described some people for me. Isn't Tacita the girl up there?”

She points at the ceiling, and all eyes follow her, finally noticing the girl they had overlooked.

Tacita is perched on a timber beam, where she has remained hidden since the meeting began. Now that all eyes are on her, she wears a look that makes me half expect her to hiss. Her gaze darts around, searching for an escape route.

I hear a creak, and all eyes shift to Min-Jae as he slowly opens the door. He shrugs under our stares, but when we glance back up, Tacita is gone. Without a word, he closes the door again.

For a few seconds, no one says anything.

“O-okay, Aaron and I will try to sneak in. Nat, can you put Ley Lines on us? If anything happens, you can teleport us away and come save us,” Dennis offers.

“Sure,” I confirm and make sure these Ley Lines are as undetectable and firm as possible before both of the twins leave outside. I notice they have the box with Lily's [Disintegration] orb with them.

They also cut off the connection to our web, as such telepathic communication links can be tracked more easily than my [Ley Line]. I'm sure they also recreate one just between them.

Then the situation I was worried about happens. Myrra, who is also here, moves closer and sits on the armrest of the armchair Victoria occupies. The tall lynthari seems to enjoy that she is towering over her, even more so when she shows off her height in front of me.

Smiling brightly, Myrra pokes Victoria. “The look in your eyes pisses me off even more than the Feral One's.”

Myrra sniffs and shows her fangs. “Feral One hides a lot of emotion inside him and rarely shows it, and that makes it fun to try to get a reaction out of him. Meanwhile, you seem like you barely have any emotion.”

“Thank you for telling me. I would also like to ask you to please stop touching me and sit somewhere else,” Victoria answers calmly.

I lean back in my chair and observe what is about to happen.

I know Myrra will be pushed by such an answer, and I already know how Victoria will react. I think it also might be the right time for them to get to know each other as well.

“And if I don't?” Myrra asks, as expected.

Victoria glances at me, and I just raise an eyebrow. Then she looks back at Myrra. “I remember you from the fourth floor. Even then, you were acting the same way, and I ended up killing you. I'd rather not do it again, since you're part of my brother's group. So, even though I don't usually do this, I'll give you one more warning: please stop touching me. I really don't like it.”

“I don't want to~”

Myrra barely finishes her sentence before Victoria grabs her hand. Even though she's expecting it, she can't resist. Victoria overpowers her, pulls her in close, and slams her forehead against Myrra's.

The lynthari stumbles back, and Victoria stands up.

Blood runs from Myrra's nose, the wound already starting to heal thanks to the tournament's no-death rule. Victoria pulls her in again and slams their heads together once more, sending the lynthari stumbling back.

Myrra's torn-off arm stays in Victoria's hand, and she throws it on the floor.

“You will have to pay if you break something,” I interrupt as I notice Myrra raising her mana to answer with skills.

Myrra hisses at me, her fangs showing as her tail moves in an annoyed manner before she turns back to Victoria, who just moves and sits back in her armchair after fixing her clothes.

She intertwines her fingers, rests her hands on her crossed legs, and looks at Myrra. “As far as I know, I have shown you no ill will. In fact, I look at all of you favorably because of my brother. As his sister, I love seeing him surrounded by people he cares about.”

As she continues to talk, it becomes clear that her words are not meant only for Myrra but for every other member of group 4.

“I assume we will be spending time around each other due to our shared connection with my brother. That is not an issue for me. Unlike my brother, I also do not mind speaking with people, so if the situation allows it and you would like to talk, I will listen. I do not find it bothersome. Whether we speak frequently or barely acknowledge each other, the outcome is the same for me. I leave it to you to decide how much interaction you prefer. Either way, I will adjust accordingly.”

“Vic,” I call to her.

“Yes?”

“There is no need to be so formal.”

“Nathaniel, some things are better when people understand them properly, so I try to choose my words carefully.”

“It makes you sound incredibly punchable, Vic. I know because people say the same to me all the time.”

“In that case, I would defend myself, Nathaniel. I try not to go out of my way to provoke or attack people. I always try to treat them with reason and without prejudice. It is not too much for me to expect the same.”

“I'm not saying Myrra isn't super punchable or didn't deserve it.”

“I understand. Can I continue?”

“Please,” I answer.

Poor group 4 just sits there, confused, and Myrra, with dried-up blood on her face, still stands.

Victoria addresses them again. “This reminds me of something I read once.”

She adjusts her posture slightly before continuing. “A study on repeated conflict. It suggested that people who engage in small, frequent disputes often build stronger long-term relationships than those who avoid conflict entirely. That tension, when controlled, forces a level of understanding that politeness alone does not achieve.”

She exhales lightly. “It is why people who push against each other often end up working together more effectively than those who avoid confrontation.”

Maya raises an eyebrow. “Are you saying you and Myrra will become best friends if you tear her arm off often enough?”

My precious Victoria takes it seriously, unaware it is a joke, while Maya looks too afraid to explain.

Victoria nods. “If repeated conflict strengthens relationships, then yes, it could apply here. Though I assume tearing off limbs would create a more lasting impression than most disagreements.”

Watching that, I stay quiet and feed Noodle another mana orb.

Myrra sneaks closer and sits on the armrest of my chair. Leaning in, she whispers, “Feral One, your sister might be even crazier than you. I need to see her meet Lady Lissandra.”

I feed Noodle another mana orb, pretending not to hear her.

Somehow, I get the feeling Myrra enjoys the chaos a little too much.

Chapter 7

Come Again?

Out of nowhere Victoria says the last thing I ever thought I'd hear come from her lips, and as she does, never once does she deviate from her usual calm demeanor.

“Come again?” Sophie asks, gaping in disbelief, straining to process the words she just heard.

Myrra pokes me. “Feral One, what are thermonuclear warheads?”

I ignore Myrra and ask, “Where the hell did you get them?”

“One of our Hell Difficulty groups consists of soldiers from a submarine. They got into the tutorial with a bunch of missiles that had warheads on them. Around one hundred twenty warheads in total, but they lost over ninety percent of them on the early floors.”

“Holy fuck,” Sophie mutters.

Victoria glances at her before turning back to me. “They used a few to level up, primarily on the fourth floor against the Colony. But during the tournament, when the system made it possible to die, one of them sacrificed himself and used one in an attempt to kill me. So I took the remaining warheads from them. Currently, there are nine in my possession.”

“You mean to tell us you surv⁠—”

“Feral One, what are thermonuclear warheads? Tell me!” Myrra shouts, interrupting Aaron.

“I will tell you later, Myrra, or ask Min-Jae. He should be able to explain it to you.” I wave Myrra off and turn to Vic. “Can you use them?”

“I cannot. They were several floors in before they found a way to use them. Apparently, the warheads disarm themselves when you remove them from the missiles. There is a built-in detonation system in the missile specialized to arm and trigger it, plus a safety system to prevent misfires. But they found a way around it with some kind of inscription or skill.”

“Nat, do not…” Sophie starts.

I pay her no mind and ask, “Inscriptions, you said? Can you give me one?”

“I will send it to you once I return to my common area,” Victoria confirms.

“As if you even need something like that.” Sophie sighs in defeat, turning to my sister. “Victoria, you said they used one against you?”

“Yes. They didn't like the way I went about things and found themselves incapable of dealing with me any other way.”

“How the hell did you survive that?”

“I apologize, but I see no reason to tell you. I hope you understand.”

“…Got it.”

“Thank you.” With that, Victoria stands up and turns to me. “I will be heading back to the area for my round. Nathaniel, you can visit me anytime, but I understand you are a bit preoccupied at the moment, so I will be stopping by every now and then.”

“I'll see you in the second part of the first event then, Vic.” I stand up as well and open the door so she can exit; we then head downstairs.

“What kind of Hell Difficulty groups did you get in your round?” I ask curiously.

“As I said, those soldiers. Then we got a bunch of professional archers who got taken during their training. Some were apparently preparing for the Olympics. A group of millionaires who were spending their weekend on a superyacht. Some of them even survived. And a few smaller groups that seem content to lag behind on the lower floors.”

“About that warhead…” I start, lowering my voice when we are far enough.

Victoria nods. “Don't worry, I will send two.”

“Love you, Vic.”

She reaches and ruffles my hair and, for a short moment, smiles at me.

As we exit the tree, I see the guy I sensed entering our area. Jean, tall as always and probably even more muscular than before. And that little shit who called himself…Spacepup? Something like that. He's here as well.

The last time I saw Jean, he was pretty close to dying after I beat the shit out of him during our last Beyond expedition, just to make sure he'd have to go through me in the event that he decided to kill someone from my group. So I'm curious how he's going to behave this time around, especially knowing he's following the path of Pride, the same as me.

“Noname!” he shouts happily, the loss he suffered seeming not to bother him. Though he's just as overbearing as before.

Immediately, I feel my energy start to drain away.

“Later then, Nathaniel,” Victoria says, waving to me as she passes by Jean, who tracks her movements until she jumps with incredible force, almost seeming to fly into the air, as she heads back to her area.

Jean just shakes his head in the end and turns back to me. “I came to challenge you!”

“Yeah, no.”

“I won't take that for an answer.”

“You don't have a choice,” I say as I start making my way to the workshop. After a moment of confusion, he rushes to my side and starts keeping pace.

“We made a deal, and I promised to hold up my end of it, and I intend to continue doing so. My requirement…”

“I know,” I concede. “Trust me, beating the shit out of you could be fun and would distract me for a while, but I have much more important things to do now. Why don't you spar with Grumpy?”

“That tiny black-haired girl?”

I nod. “You lost against me, right? And I didn't even go all out, so you have to prove yourself worthy of challenging me. Defeat my underling, and I'll fight you.”

I know this maniac won't miss an opportunity for another fight, so this should be plenty to distract him. And Lily herself said she was curious about how she would handle herself against him.

“Okay!” Jean replies and starts heading toward the tree, calling out “the tiny girl with the huge ax.”

Well, that was easier than expected.

Lucien watches his group member walking off, sighs, and then shudders. As he leaves, I see him shudder again and hear him muttering to himself as he takes a quick look around himself. “Fuck, why do I feel like I'm being watched?”

Having solved things, I send a message to Miwa inviting her to join me, and then I shut myself inside the workshop. For a moment, I sit down on the bench nearby and relax a bit. Doing so, I look at my hands. Both of them are shaking, and the tips of my fingers are twitching. My breathing grows haggard, and I feel like vomiting. That sense of fear, the thought of another death caused by my own training regimen, rises up inside me again.

I feel so tired, not physically but mentally.

Not even three days have passed, and I have already died more times than I did over the entire duration of the week-long first tournament.

The heart, my black mana, Mana Circulation testing, orb training testing, splitting my mind into so many parts. Sometimes, even that kills me. Then there are the movements of kinetic energy I'm testing, so dangerous and volatile that they trash my insides. Testing my abilities while deactivating my mid-arcane passive, storing oversized mana structures in my mind, and more.

I test the limits of my body and mind over and over again. Outside, it would be dangerous, but here, I can do it while only risking temporary death.

And damn, some of my limits reach much further than I thought. I knew I had built an amazing base and that some of my abilities synchronize very well, but even I'm surprised at how far I can push myself before dying.

And that line is pushed further and further with each hour.

I know I handle dying here better than most of the others. Someone from Easy Difficulty wouldn't even think of it. People from Normal might die once and stop, needing days to recover. Someone from Hard might push themselves multiple times during the entire duration of the tournament, and Hell Difficulty might accumulate a dozen or so deaths.

But for me? A dozen deaths is something I sometimes go through in just an hour or two.

Sensing Miwa approaching, I take a deep breath in. A slow exhale follows.

My hands stop shaking, and I stand up and fix my clothes. Then I slide into [Focus] a bit and call for her to enter.

After hours of working on the item for Channeler and creating more mid-epic items to sell, I'm taking a short break.

Close to the end, Miwa started helping more actively, often giving me advice based on her experience as a smith on Earth and the things she learned back on the second floor.

She is polite and puts effort into everything she does. She is also talented and hardworking. From what she told me, she had no problem finding teachers as she climbed the floors with her Hard Difficulty group, often even using her metallic right arm as a conversation starter with the many blacksmiths she's met.

There's also something more interesting she's telling me.

“I can't believe you haven't heard of this. It's already been two years since the tutorial started!” As she talks, I feel like a student being cussed out by their teacher. “And no, I'm not making fun of you or lying. It's just like I said, if you create an item and sell it, or give it to someone and that person kills a monster with that item, you get a tiny share of experience from the kill.”

“Look, I'm too tired to try to excuse myself. How tiny a part of the experience?”

“Very, very tiny. But imagine you make thousands of items, and they get used in combat. Over the decades, it can net you a decent number of levels and might even level up your skills or give you passives or traits.”

“Okay,” I stop her, “imagine you live for two hundred years. You make tens of thousands of items that are then used. Wouldn't that make it possible for you to level up quite a bit?”

“Possibly, but at a certain point it tends to taper off quite a bit. It's hard to imagine someone becoming a Champion this way. But you have to agree with me that it makes a lot of sense. Sure, a lot of crafters level up by buying live monsters from hunters and killing them themselves or hunting on their own, but it's nice that the other option exists, too.”

“Nothing for armor?”

“Nothing, as far as I know. Maybe it influences your passive offers, traits, or skills, but I don't think there's any leveling tied to it.”

While thinking about it, I move toward the table and start heating up the metals I had set out. “So, as always, it's all about killing.”

The molten metal moves through the air, manipulated by my mana radiating and the arms I form with it. “Unsurprisingly, the way of leveling you just mentioned probably doesn't work very well inside the tutorial. You can make a lot of weapons on one floor and sell them for use. But the moment you enter a different floor, that floor will vanish along with your weapons, taking your chance at leveling with them.”

“The alloy you are making isn't merging very well; try to cool that darker metal a bit more. It bonds better with the endurium at lower temperatures. And I agree with you, that's why I made a lot of weapons and brought them here.”

Miwa smiles and moves closer to observe the process. “They might not be as sought after as the ones the great Tent Creep made, but I will sell all of them, and our dear colleagues will help me gain levels.”

After Miwa leaves, I continue for a bit longer before I call it a day and put seven more items into the system shop. Who would have thought that being able to push myself literally to death to make items could shorten the production time so much?

While the workshop cools down from all the heat I generated, I close my eyes and enter my mental space.

This time, I find myself on top of the tallest of the Giza pyramids. Whitey and I are dressed like British adventurers from the turn of the last century. Light colored trousers, sturdy boots, and loose shirts tucked into belts weighed down by pouches. A vest and a wide-brimmed hat complete the look, all kind of clothes once worn by those who looted artifacts for museums and personal collections.

“I don't have much time at the moment, so do you have any fancy tricks you could teach me?” I ask as I plop down next to Whitey.

“A few, but you will need to improve your mastery before I can even show them to you,” he replies, his reaction as usual. “Your output is good; after all, you're a brute and can handle huge amounts of kinetic energy. But your fine control is still lacking, and your movements aren't natural and intuitive yet.”

“I'm just a human, after all.” I sigh.

“A thief, a cheater, and a maniacal little shit,” Whitey confirms.

“Sounds just like me,” I reply and stand up.

To prove my point, I redirect most of my mana toward generating kinetic energy.

The first heartbeat shakes the top of the pyramid we've found ourselves standing on.

The second one sends vibrations through the air, and the sand collecting on the stones rises up.

The third heartbeat makes the air around us vibrate, and Whitey stands up as well.

On the fourth, I actively channel more of my body's mana and reservoir through my heart, damaging it in the process, but it's not like I have anything to worry about here. This mind space and all the training with Whitey, all the deaths, might be one of the reasons why I can push myself so far during the tournament.

A few more heartbeats, and I feel like I can't handle even a drop more. The vast amount of kinetic energy flowing, bouncing inside of me, held at bay by effort alone.

“Fucking brute.” Whitey sighs and jumps back. He doesn't even bother trying to counter it. He cannot handle that much kinetic energy.

I stomp, and the pyramid detonates.

Each stone fractures and shatters midair, flung outward like shrapnel from a bomb. The shockwave ripples through the desert, sending dunes rolling like waves, carving trenches into the sand as if an unseen hand were carving through the landscape.

The sky itself seems to ripple, dust and debris hanging suspended in the air. All that remains of the pyramid is a chaotic storm of stone and dust floating in the air, held in place by my will.

Then I charge Whitey.

Just a short clash before I return to the reality of the tournament.

Chapter 8

Enormous

Back in the living room, I find Dennis and Aaron sitting by themselves. They seem to be working on their training, but that's not what catches my eye. It's the two items on the floor that they've clearly taken pains to keep their distance from, as if they were worried that the slightest misstep might set them off.

A gift from my beautiful sister. Two thermonuclear warheads, each in its own wooden box, each standing around half my height and about the width of my arm.

Glancing at the twins who are carefully watching me, I move toward the box and then kick it.

Immediately, they shudder and leap to their feet.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Nat!” Dennis shouts in a tone I've never heard from him before.

So I kick it again, eliciting the same reaction.

A bit of my stress fades, soothed by seeing their reaction, but I also notice a different part of me, hoping it does explode. Vic said she survived one, right? Could I do the same? I've already thought of a few ways I might be able to face-tank them, but for now, they remain only theories.

“Don't worry. Vic said they weren't designed to be used without the missiles that carried them, and it took months for those Hell Difficulty soldiers to come up with a way.”

“Yup, that didn't help one bit.” Aaron shakes his head.

I shrug and open the box. “How did Lily and Jean do?”

“That muscular Baldie? Well, it ended up 1:1. Lily lost the first one but beat him in the second one. I think she would've won the third bout as well, but that little shit Lucien grabbed Baldie out of nowhere, and they left,” Dennis explains.

Aaron nods. “Lily and Jean totally destroyed the sparring area. I think a dozen or so people from Easy and Normal died from the shockwaves, and they weren't even anywhere close.”

“Did you record it?” I ask.

“Yup!” Dennis confirms. “We did as you asked and bought as many cameras, phones, and memory cards as we could. We even offered a bunch of upper-rare and low-epic items to any people from Easy who still had some, and I could just about swear their eyes almost dropped from their sockets, heh. There was a bit of a problem with Adam trying to do something similar, but Gareth made him stop before Lily could get to him.”

“I'm just surprised they still have any.” I finally get the box open, revealing a compact metallic case. It's made up of smooth, reinforced, thick plating and a lot of warning labels. I try to lift it up, and I can, but it's surprisingly heavy. Probably as heavy as Jean? I can use that man as a metric for weight, right?

I close the box again.

Aaron exhales in relief. “We think most people from Easy Difficulty wanted to keep their phones and cameras, but the further we get into the tutorial, and the more they see of it and the abilities of the people from Hell and Beyond the more it seems like they're trying to create a good impression and join the stronger groups. At least Channeler said so.”

“It makes sense,” I agree. “Do you need more items to trade in?”

“Not for now. We already have plenty, and Channeler got his 'harem' to record everything so he can blackmail our beautiful country when he gets back. Something along the lines of: 'You see this shit? Kill me or mess with me, and this crazy guy will make a living hell out of your existence.'” Dennis giggles.

Aaron smirks as well. “I told him to just give it to the media if our country doesn't want to cooperate, and he said he might 'leak' some things here and there if he feels the need.”

“Sounds good.”

“Nat?” Dennis's voice becomes a bit more careful. “Is there even a need to hide our names anymore? People were recording stuff even during the first tournament, and sooner or later, especially once they get out, I'm sure they'll be able to match our faces to our names.”

“I wouldn't be surprised if it already happened. But we don't really gain anything by going by our real names at the moment, and using aliases will just lower the chances that others find out. I think we should keep them hidden, at least until the end of this tournament, so Channeler and others can have a chance to return and protect our friends and families, and when the third tournament rolls around, you can do whatever you want.”

“Sounds reasonable. By the way, do you want to use a warhead during the tournament?”

His trust in me, believing I can find a way to activate it in just a few days when it took the entire group months, warms my cold heart, but I still shake my head.

“Even if I could, I won't. These babies will be going back with us to the seventh floor for further examination.” This time, I slam the top of the box with my palm, making both twins jump up once again.

While listening to their immediate string of curses and complaints, I can't help but revel in the sound.

The second half of the first event will start in one hour!

The rules will remain largely unchanged. All five rounds will take place on a single map, each with its own fortress to defend.

The event will span twenty-four hours, divided into twelve hours for preparation and twelve hours for the battle.

Your objective is to either eliminate all participants from the other rounds or accumulate the highest number of points.

The winner will be decided in two possible ways:

1st - Only one group remains standing with no other round member alive.

2nd - The group with the most points after twenty-four hours have passed.

Note: Any round that has its King killed and its throne room captured will be eliminated, and its members will be removed from the event.

To take over your opponent's throne room, you have to hold the space for one hour. Doing so will see you rewarded with 10,000 points.

All winners of their round's first tournament will be classified as [King]. Defeating the King will award you 5,000 points. If the winner of the tournament isn't present, the position of [King] will be passed on to the next in line according to tournament placement.

Points will also be given for defeating your opponents as follows:

Easy Difficulty attendee – 1 point

Normal Difficulty attendee – 5 points

Hard Difficulty attendee – 10 points

Hell Difficulty attendee – 20 points

Beyond attendee – 100 points

Just in case, I reread the rules to see if there's anything I'm missing and head toward the center of our common area.

Just in time, a notification that the sale of my first wave of items has ended rings.

Congratulations, your items have been sold through the tournament shop! You have gained 93,264 shards. Ten percent will be taken by the system.

First, fuck the system and its 10 percent cut, and fuck the rule that only lets me use materials from the system shop to sell items.

Second, the next wave of items should bring in similar numbers, and after that, I can shorten the auction's duration.

There seem to be plenty of people interested in my items, and just from checking, there is no one pumping out even half as many of them as Tent Creep. Even Miwa is in fifth place at the moment.

I'm in first, but I'd say it's thanks to the sheer number of items I've produced; the second one is someone called Mateo, and last I checked, he only had four items in the shop, and each of them is upper epic. The last one was placed there, likely a few minutes ago. Unlike me, his auction duration is set for one week.

Curious strategy. I will do something similar with a few of my better-performing items.

“Noname,” Samuel prods, sliding closer to walk by my side, jarring me from my thoughts, “can we talk?”

I glance toward the center where the last meeting is currently taking place, then stop and turn to the former soldier guy.

“If you could be quick about it…” I gesture at him to continue.

“Thanks. I wanted to ask if you could talk to Grumpy. Ever since the start of the tournament, she's been…”

It's at this point that I decide to interrupt. “I know, I told her to do it.”

Samuel blinks a few times. “You…did?”

I nod. “Yup. If it were just up to me, she would be worse. But hey, you can't have everything. Plus, it's good for you as well. If it weren't for her, it would be me.”

“You do realize we have to work together to beat the other rounds, right?”

“Look,” I wave at him and start walking again, “if Sset were here, she would be going about things differently, just like in the first tournament. I would scare people, and she would use me to threaten the others. But I'm not Sset, as you can see. As the twins would say, your wannabe coalition, other groups, and whoever else are all swinging their dicks around to see whose is bigger. But Samuel, group 4's dick is fucking enormous.”

I stop walking. “Okay, that might have sounded weird, but you get the gist of it. You probably have some info on me, and maybe you know a thing or two. But as long as you don't provoke us, I'll just do my own thing, but you should realize that in this tournament, I'm going to be real easy to provoke. It would be different if it were me who was in danger, but this time, it's someone I care about.”

Samuel sighs. “We got it. Your group is pretty tight-lipped, but we figured something had to have happened to Sset.”

“Who knows? Just enjoy your tournament and don't do anything that could cost us the event, and we'll all be good.”

“Sure, we can drop this subject here. I also wanted to give you a warning. Some of my people checked in on the other rounds, and a few have some fairly skilled veterans. They even spotted a highly modified set of anti-materiel rifles, inscribed and made with altered metals; they've likely been enhanced with skills and special bullets as well. I expect that they'll tear through barriers with ease and move far faster than standard ammunition.”

“Got it. Thanks for the info.”

After that, he separates, and I reach group 4, who are slightly to the side, together with Brainiac and Lootenant. Both of them are noticeably stronger than before and even seem a bit older, even though not much time has passed. Especially Brainiac, who actually doesn't feel much weaker than Gareth at this point, likely sitting somewhere around Min-Jae's level.

“Is this the [King] in the flesh?!” Brainiac shouts excitedly, grinning brightly. “How the fuck did you break that barrier? They spent ten hours on it and had dozens of people powering it!”

Acting like his handler, Lootenant pokes the young man, but Brainiac ignores it. Immediately, I can see why the twins, Min-Jae, and these two spend so much time together.

“Trade secret,” I answer.

“Sure. By the way, you remember that thing where we were paying you to teach some of the others from our round, right? I think you wanted ten thousand shards to teach ten people for an hour. Well, I think I could find plenty of people willing to pay now!”

Is he naïve or what? This world is cruel.

I answer, “That was back then. Now I would have to ask somewhere around…” I pause to calculate the value of my time based on the amount of trading and training I could do while giving lessons compared to crafting. Then I also consider the mental damage I would take from said interactions, and the price jumps by a lot.

“Probably around ten thousand shards per person per hour.”

“What the fuck! That's ten times more! Dennis and Aaron said they're getting lessons mostly for free.”

“But you aren't Dennis or Aaron.”

“Fuck. You know what's crazy? I think I still could find some people who'd go for it.”

That makes me shake my head. Just who the hell would pay that much?

“Did you guys learn any info on the remaining tournament winners?” I ask, turning to Dennis and Aaron.

Dennis nods. “Yup! The first round is CarrotCake, obviously. By the way, did you know that even though CarrotCake may be the strongest, he's probably like fifth in rank when it comes to decision-making?”

Aaron giggles. “Even that little shit you call SpacePup has more say in his decisions, though CarrotCake doesn't seem to mind as long as he can find someone to fight. It seems like they have some smart people, or at least people more reasonable than CarrotCake, though that's not exactly a high bar.”

“He and the second [King], that redhead in armor with the giant ax, fought, but he won in the end. She apparently has fairly high strength but seems to have some kind of strange skill. Sometimes it looks like fire, and sometimes it's more like smoke or some kind of liquid. It's blood red and sticky, likely mana-based, and it corrodes everything it touches, and it seems fairly difficult to remove. She also has this extremely fancy suit of armor and collects a lot of equipment. Apparently, she was using axes, bows, swords, and daggers. We're still trying to find out more!”

For a moment, I feel a rush of pride for these two. They truly are good at this kind of thing.

“What about the other rounds?”

Dennis looks around and checks on the barrier I made to keep people from listening in. “Your sister threw one of her fingers into the enemy fortress, captured the throne room, and killed nearly all of their Beyonders and Hell Difficulty fighters by herself. Meanwhile, the enemy [King] was taken down and killed while attacking her fortress, at the same time she attacked theirs. There were rumors about him being tricked or lured into a trap.”

Aaron waves to get my attention, and I turn to him. “It seems like the third round [King], who went against her round, uses void energy, something to do with disruption. It's apparently much stronger than normal mana-based disruption and can even interfere with primordial energies.”

Yup, another thing I want to learn about is disruption that isn't mana-based and can affect primordial energies. Count me in. I want to see that.

Chapter 9

Villain in Your Path

“What about the eighth round?” I ask them.

“Oh, that!” Dennis perks up. “You hadn't told us, but apparently that guy Derick is super strong. He barely uses mana for anything other than body strengthening, and has some kind of strange tattoos that disrupt mana, and they work super well. The guy we asked theorized that tattoos are either from a powerful passive or a trait. There are also rumors that Derick recently acquired a Fragment or Primordial energy of some sort that isn't one of the common five.”

Aaron waits for his brother to finish. “They also said he's really good in close combat and very technical about it. He used to be a top-grade martial artist on Earth or something, and he only continued to improve in the tutorial. He also seems to cooperate very well with his wife, who does nothing fancy, just primordial lightning projectiles and a bow, but at a high level.”

Dennis nods, and both of them fall silent. The mood sours a bit as if they don't want to talk about what comes next.

“Tenth round?” I ask.

Seeing Dennis not answer, Aaron sighs. “We weren't able to get there; they only let tournament winners in, so Jean and Derick went there. Your sister didn't go, and clearly, neither did you. We got killed two times when we tried to sneak in.”

“Happens.” I wave it off. “So Jean, along with the majority of the first round, are Canadian. Second round?”

“No idea, probably Europe or something.”

“Third-round tournament winner is that shadow-skill void energy boy, right?”

“Yup, that round is probably made up of people from Eastern Europe, Russia, and India.”

“The fourth is Victoria, and she said they have people from all over the world. Ours is mostly American. And the sixth seemed like South America.”

“Yes, Tess said she spoke with Leticia and thought that the seventh round seemed to be from Western Europe and that she thought Leticia might be from Spain, but she said there were also people from Britain and Africa.”

“Derick is Irish, so his round could be mostly drawn from the U.K?”

“Likely.” Dennis nods as he turns to look at Sophie.

Sophie, joining the conversation, shrugs. “Derick and Noelle sound like Irish names, but I could be wrong. So it's safe to expect that the ninth and tenth rounds are mostly centered around Australia, China, Japan, and Korea.”

I nod. “Probably, but you can look at our round. Gareth and Whitewing were flying over Europe, and they mostly came from Germany, Poland, and those areas.”

As we're wrapping up the conversation with that interesting fact, I notice Channeler waving at me, so I create an opening in the barrier, allowing him to enter before I redeploy it.

He looks around a bit awkwardly, suddenly finding himself surrounded by group 4, but he quickly regains his composure and smiles.

“I found three people from Hard Difficulty who have a heart-based trait that are willing to let you examine them later,” he says, looking toward me.

Maya glances at me and then at the handsome man. “Really? You needed to tell it to him now, just thirty minutes before the event?”

Channeler does not seem bothered; he smiles playfully, and I notice Maya's heartbeat skips a beat as he does.

It sure must be nice to be so handsome.

So good for him.

Maybe I should send him out to fight an enemy King in the first wave?

“Nathaniel told me to tell him as soon as possible, so I thought I would do just that,” Channeler explains.

“Did you explain them everything?” I ask.

Not skipping a beat, he confirms, “Yes. The examination might include opening up their chest and reopening the wound repeatedly so the system's effects don't out heal it. I also mentioned that we have a healer who can reduce the pain a bit. Of course, most of them refused outright, but when I mentioned you would buy items for them, made by Tent Creep, some of them actually changed their tune and agreed.”

“I see.”

“You know, Tent Creep is getting famous again,” Channeler says with the same playful expression as he watches me. “A lot of people have been saving up their shards in hopes of buying some of their items, but it looks like the other rounds were also quick to notice the items. Unfortunately, and I quote, they're ugly as fuck, like a kid molded them from clay, but their properties are just too good.”

“You asshole, how long have you known?”

“Ever since the first tournament. I have a good memory, and sorry, it's not like you did a very good job of hiding it. Plus, you mentioned making an arcane item for me, you know.”

“Oh, that's true. Well, if this isn't awkward.”

“Nat likes to play around with secret identities. He thinks it's cool.” Dennis smirks.

“Secret identity crafter, and he may have mentioned a secret identity as a melee fighter called Noname in Beyond. There might be a pattern,” Aaron snarks, nodding seriously.

“Sure, sure,” I dismiss, waving them off as I create a manabloc chair to sit in.

The conversation continues without me, and Channeler easily keeps it up. It seems so natural. Asshole.

Izzy moves closer and shyly taps on my shoulder. When I look at her, she smiles softly, pulls a dagger out of her clothes, and hands it to me, making sure the others can't see.

“I made it,” she declares proudly.

The dagger is simple, and I see burn marks from her flames on the blade, which has melted in places. The rarity is mid-rare. I've noticed her trying to make stuff for a while now, but this is the first one she's shown me, despite the many lesser attempts she must have made.

I can tell she's very proud of it, and I can't help but find it adorable as I see the shy expression on her face.

Izabella, despite being able to read others well and know their emotions with an eerie degree of accuracy, even without her skill, is terrible at hiding her own emotions.

“It's amazing,” I say, as I take a moment to look it over. Each second I take makes her happier. When I finally slide it back into its sheath and hand it back to her, she immediately hides it in her clothes.

“I know it's terrible in comparison to what you've been making, but thanks!”

“It is?” I ask curiously. “I don't think there are many people in Hard Difficulty who can make rare items like this, and some of them are super specialized for crafting.”

Her mood improves markedly, to the point that if she were a lynthari, I bet her ears would be twitching.

“Liar,” she snorts.

“Am I? Why don't you check my emotions to confirm?”

“Phe,” she snorts again and leaves without doing so.

So silly.

After a while, I start feeling a bit awkward. I'm the only one sitting, but it's too late to dismiss the chair now, at this point it would just look lame, so I continue to sit there until the event starts.

Then, a few seconds before we get pulled inside, I slide into [Focus].

Appearing inside, I take a deep breath of air, noting the hint of salt on the wind, along with the sound of the sea and waves crashing against the rocks nearby. The throne room is exactly the same as the previous one, aside from a number of large circular holes in the wall.

I lift up, fly, pass through one of them, and rise a bit higher.

Our fort isn't much different from the previous one; it's just smaller and has a huge wall around it. Inside that wall stands a single tall tower, with my throne room at its peak.

Flying a bit more, I land on the roof and look around. As far as I can see, there is only the sea, and in the distance, I can see more forts, each seemingly in the middle of the sea on a not-so-tall rock platform.

After a while, I notice that the waves aren't actually all that tall. Each wave only rises to about half my height, and I can see through the crystal clear water, down to the yellow sand underneath. The sea, if one could truly call it that, probably only rises up to my thighs. Even though this view isn't quite the unearthly vista I've come to expect, it is beautiful, the clear sea stretching on as far as the eye can see, contrasted against the calm sands below and the clear blue sky above.

As planned, I shoot one of my thermal orbs high into the air and let it explode. In a similar way, a yellow orb explodes over another fort to our right.

So that's where Vic is.

Just as before, I form an [Empyrean Lance] over my shoulder and start feeding it my mana while reactivating [Mana Crown]. Even though no mana goes into my crown, having it activated helps me control my mana. Meanwhile, even though I want to create another lance, I cannot. Even the one requires the most of my concentration. It also might be a rule that only one can exist, or it might just be a lack of understanding regarding the skill. Another thing long since added to my to-do list.

I sit down on the roof, and most of my effort goes into the lance while I think.

So, Derick, Jean, and that mysterious mystery guy from the tenth round. I wish things were simple, and I could say each of them was stronger than the [King] they faced, but things just aren't that simple.

You can counter people, you can have your Beyonders help you, so even though they lost and can't participate, I don't think I should underestimate them or the sixth-round [King] I beat.

Plus, there are also people like Tess, Lily, Savant, and Tacita. Each of them is likely strong enough to become a tournament winner if things went their way. And it's very possible the other rounds have [King]-level individuals of their own. Hell, there's always the possibility that the [King] in question hasn't improved very much in the past year, and there are plenty of people stronger than them.

So far, I haven't used black mana. I still haven't removed even one seal on the heart. Even my passive Mana Wavelength Tyrant is still deactivated, and it's been that way for months. That incredible mid-arcane passive I got with my primary class upgrade just sitting there unused, so it doesn't mess with my training and make everything too easy.

Not to forget the all-powerful [Knitting]. Then, I could also use Ley Lines to launch inscriptions in a similar way to how the Eye Champion of the sixth floor did.

It could be said even now, I'm still far from going all out. It's not even close. But at the same time, things feel like they're spiraling out of my control. There is nothing I can do about Tess, who's busy doing who knows what on the seventh floor. I have to rely on Lissandra to keep her word, and there's still the chance of her interfering with the tournament further.

To send away these useless thoughts, I say, “Status.”

Name: Nathaniel Gwyn

Title: Champion Candidate

Difficulty: Hell

Floor: Tournament Floor

Time left until forced return: 2y 361d 23h 54m 1s

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

Level 305

Strength: 240

Dexterity: 231

Constitution: 429

Mana (Stage 1/3 - Vast Mana): 1621 + 1621

Primary Class: Mana Weaver (Unique Arcane)

Sub-class: [Adept of Pride]

Active skills 10 out of 10 Focus - Level 63

Perception - Level 59

Redistribution - Level 59

Mana Domain (Pride) - Level 59

Mana Crown - Level 53

Mana Manipulation - Level 63

Ley Line - Level 49

Eclipse - Level 26

Empyrean Lance - Level 17

Knitting - Level 29

Constructs:

Reinforcement

Mana Regulator

Mana Sovereignty Mantle

Kinetic Mana Heart

Sealed Ignition Heart (Fully Sealed, 3/3)

Passive skills (5/5):

Phoenix Embrace (Mid-Epic)

Mana-Kinetic Conversion Reservoir (Unique Epic)

Mana-Fortified Mind (Low Arcane)

Mental Attunement Loop (Mid-Arcane)

Mana Wavelength Tyrant (Mid-Arcane)

Tokens:

Beyond 3-day stay token

Beyond 3-day stay token

Beyond 1-day stay token

Beyond 1-day stay token

Shards: 384,133

I pull my knees closer to my chest and watch the fortresses over them, as each round starts building up their defenses. Some build things similar to Sophie's web, salting them with barriers and other structures made with the help of items. They really spend a lot of time pouring a lot of mana into all of it, and with the help of my Mana Wavelength Iris, I can see it all. The structure of the defenses, the movement of mana, the more glowing mana, the denser it becomes. I even start to see tiny particles of ambient mana floating around and reacting to their manipulation.

As always, the world I can see through my traits is so pretty and ever-changing. It is a constant stream of information, enough to fry my brain without a lot of help from my passive.

I look to my right and see Lissandra sitting there as well. Her eyes are on me. She feels like a natural disaster to me and always has. A disaster that can destroy an entire planet. But just like a natural disaster, Lissandra isn't cruel; she's just cold, uncaring when it comes to normal human struggles.

“I will kill you one day,” I tell her.

“Have I stepped over the line, little pup?” she asks.

“I wouldn't say a single word if you were just messing with me, but now you're putting someone I care about at risk. I'm not angry because you didn't help, even though you could have. It was our fault and our lack of skill that led to this. What I hate about all of this is that you're holding it over us with every intent of using her as a tool.”

She sits there and listens as the small waves continue moving outside in the wind.

“I do not care if it ends up well or if you did it all with the intention of helping Tess and me grow stronger. If you slip up even once, I will kill you.”

Lissandra's smile lingers, calm and composed.

“Good,” she says, standing while the wind stirs her silver hair around her.

Her tone grows softer, but the weight behind her words doesn't fade. “It's thanks to you that I am who I am. You pulled me out of that rotting stagnation and brought something back to life in me. And for that, I'm grateful. For that, I'll stand as the villain in your path. And for that, if you ever become strong enough, I'll gladly die by your hand.”

As I stare at her, she simply says, “You are not allowed to use your passives during this event.” Then she turns and leaves.

Still watching the spot where she sat, I deactivate my passives one by one.

Phoenix Embrace (Mid-Epic)

Mana-Kinetic Conversion Reservoir (Unique Epic)

Mana-Fortified Mind (Low Arcane)

Mental Attunement Loop (Mid-Arcane)

All get turned off, adding to Mana Wavelength Tyrant, which I had turned off previously.

Then I sit there, gazing into the distance at the other forts as they build up their defenses.

Ours is the only fortress that doesn't set up any defenses at all.

Chapter 10

I Don't Know to Do It Any Other Way

Iuse the following twelve hours to get a handle on my abilities. Without the Mental Attunement Loop, the amount of pressure my mind can handle is severely limited, restricting my use of [Focus] and making it more difficult to maintain Mana Cycling. The first thing I notice is that the mana I'm used to hiding begins to leak out as I redirect my brainpower to different tasks, leaving less available to manage the overflow.

My resistance to mental attacks also drops immediately. And I no longer have the benefits of a passive that absorbs blunt attacks to feed my reservoir with mana. In fact, even the reservoir is gone, limiting me to the mana in my body.

As I handle everything, I think about her reason for placing these restrictions.

When I limit my resources, I tend to push myself harder. I fight more desperately and with more cold cruelty. In these situations, my mind becomes sharper, having no choice but to compensate for the lack of extra resources I sometimes lazily rely on.

From that point of view, one could almost say I'm more dangerous when I've been stripped of resources and forced to use what I have more effectively.

That might be why.

So as the hours tick by and I prepare, no one bothers me, and I don't connect to the link they made. Our plans have already been discussed and are being carried out by people far better and more reasonable than I am.

Finally, the timer reaches zero, and the twelve-hour battle begins.

I boost myself into the air and exit the area surrounding our fort now that the barriers are gone. As I land on the water, I stand on the surface, mimicking the way of doing so that I already saw plenty of natives using. Each of my steps sends small ripples through the water, and the tops of the waves wash against my legs.

Disliking the feeling of wet shoes, I kick them off, pull down the socks, and continue on barefoot.

When something plops into the water in front of me, I reach out and snatch it before it can sink and put it in my pocket.

Our fort empties as well, with everyone splitting into two groups. One is being led by Gareth and Samuel while receiving support from Sophie, Izzy, and Maya. The other is a smaller group with Lily, the twins, and Tacita…probably, heading in the opposite direction. I have long since noticed the way Tacita seems to have attached herself to us. The reason is simple: Lily.

Even though Tacita seems frustrated with Lily's aggressive attempts at befriending her, she doesn't attack her. And damn, how she could. Instead, Tacita simply runs away.

I've seen her kill dozens of people during this tournament who got too close or tried to touch her. She doesn't do that to Lily, likely something to do with the way Lily saved her life after Tacita's duel with Savant nearly killed her, leaving her struggling to crawl back into her hideout with her last breath.

I would call it a silly strategy to befriend that catlike assassin girl. I even mentioned it to Lily.

Back then, Lily just smiled at me and said, “I know how it looks. Grumpy was just like Tacita, and I did the same thing then as I'm doing now. Back then, I was young, and my father told me I needed to give him space and that he would open up to me in his own time. But I didn't. I did it my own way, and I think Grumpy appreciated the effort. Even though he kept hissing, scratching and biting me, gradually, he accepted it and even seemed to enjoy my presence. I got hurt a lot by him, but I think he liked having someone who showed him that they wanted to be with him and was willing to go through so much effort.”

She looked straight into my eyes. “I know there are people who would find me annoying. They'd call me childish, tell me to grow up, and say I bother others and do everything wrong. I tried to change, but I don't know how to be any other way. This is me. Stupid, annoying, naïve, and, as you like to say, bulldozer-like me. Me, Lily.”

And I asked, “As far as I can see, Tacita isn't, in fact, a cat. It might not work on her.”

Her smile changed with confidence shining through. “It will work.”

I remember how those words gave me goose bumps back then, along with the way she looked at me. For a moment, you think you know people. Who they are and why they do what they do, and then they surprise you. Over and over again.

With that fascinating memory, I break into a sprint and head toward the fortress on the left while sliding deeper into [Focus]. To focus more, I filter out useless emotions and extraneous visual details like most colors and some sounds. Pushing deeper, I then suppress the sensation of pain and smell.

A lot of information that my upgraded, far-more-powerful, and sensitive body usually collects is removed to free up processing power for the fight.

In a flash, I spring to the right, dodging a barrage of flaming projectiles that were trailing me, each one piercing the air and heating everything around it. When they hit the water, they explode and sizzle, evaporating into an obscuring cloud of mist. A few domains expand and collide, their clashes seeming particularly wasteful as they act in opposition to each other, even though their main objective is simply to hit me.

I jump into the air, attracting even more projectiles. A water stream, an arrow, orbs, stone-like missiles, pure telekinesis. I boost myself again back toward the water.

As I land, no ripples expand through the surface as I perfectly absorb the impact. Whitey would be proud.

More kinetic energy flows through my body, and I use Wraith Dance repeatedly to avoid more powerful attacks, each one sending a shockwave behind me that propels my body further ahead.

Finally, near the fortress, I shoot [Empyrean Lance].

The spherical barrier, composed of a multitude of hexagonal panels, each a slightly different shade of blue, is pierced, and the lance continues on through, striking several people in its path before crashing into the buildings behind them. It pierces through them as well and exits the barrier on the other side.

This barrier is different from the one in our first clash. A damaged segment disappears, the surrounding segments weaken slightly, and a new one forms in its place.

But before that can happen, my [Ley Line] passes through, and even though the barrier closes, I know I can still use it.

First, I send a tricolored orb through to let it form at the end of the line.

Noname (Beyond, King) to llllllllllllllll (Hard) +10 pts

Noname (Beyond, King) to DoorOfStoneWhen (Hard) +10 pts

Noname (Beyond, King) to Aidan(Normal) +5 pts

…

Then I teleport inside, appearing in the middle of the crater, surrounded by pools of molten stone formed by the explosion and a mass of compressed material created by the nearby implosion. Using Wraith Dance, I move to avoid an incoming attack and actively defend my mind against a series of stun attacks crashing into me. There are attempts to seize control of my mana, but they cannot.

It is, after all, my mana.

Two men standing on a nearby wall fire a series of projectiles at me. To avoid wasting mana, I don't defend against them, only dodge after tracking their trajectory.

Wraith Dance brings me to them.

They react too slowly, noticing me too late. One tries to flee while the other turns to attack, but with a quick strike from Needle Point, both vanish into clouds of fine blue particles.

Noname (Beyond, King) to NotGristletock (Hard) +10 pts

Noname (Beyond, King) to Monsieur (Hard) +10 pts

Ley Lines stretch through the area, where some of the people, likely Beyond attendees, seem to have sensed them. They attempt to tear the lines apart, but all to no avail. I detect the most impressive attempt and teleport through a closed [Ley Line], using Wraith Dance to cover the remaining distance.

I come upon a young woman surrounded by a barrier. Another man with a shield and sword stands beside her.

For a moment, I activate my eyes, adjust my frequency, and then pass through her barrier as if it wasn't there.

The man jumps into my path, slashing his sword at me, but I duck under and throw him off with my movement. Absorbing my inertia, I shift in an unexpected way and make my way over to the woman.

She is painfully slow, but she still has a remarkably powerful mana signature, one of the strongest I've felt from an Earthling thus far. Yet despite her talent at handling mana, her body's movements and instincts are still lacking.

I don't waste mana creating weapons; I simply slam my hand against her head, exploding it and turning her into blue particles.

Noname (Beyond, King) to Eliana Yankova (Beyond) +100 pts

Ducking under the sword, I teleport somewhere else, sensing too many signatures converging on my location.

A group of people appears, screaming as they turn to attack, and I teleport once more, leaving a tricolored orb behind.

Notifications ring.

A group of five rushes my way. I dodge an awkward attack from the first person to reach me and kick him in the chest, sending him crashing into the opposing wall.

Noname (Beyond, King) to Woojoe (Normal) +5 pts

I grab another one's axe, breaking his hand in the process, and swing it at him.

Noname (Beyond, King) to Ellimist (Hard) +10 pts

The woman charging at me screams, mana surging through her limbs as she vanishes and reappears mid-stride. Her spear twists unnaturally, splitting into mirrored afterimages that strike from three angles.

I pivot around the thrusts, absorbing momentum into my stance, and lean just out of reach. I boost up and over, landing behind her. Before she can turn, I grip her spine and snap her forward into the ground with enough force to crater the surface.

Noname (Beyond, King) to Kirin (Hard) +10 pts

The last two nearby try to synchronize and attack me at once, but I dodge both. Each vanishes after a short burst of kinetic energy.

Noname (Beyond, King) to Jtscuba (Normal) +5 pts

Noname (Beyond, King) to Monkeh (Hard) +10 pts

Spotting another Beyond attendee, I head his way before more of them can muster to rush me. There are hundreds of people waiting when I finally arrive.

The Beyonder is a man standing atop the roof of a nearby tower, the same one I sat on while watching the other fortresses. He stands alone, with two daggers in his hands: one radiating a blood-red light and the other black with a hint of purple, infused with void primordial energy.

My senses narrow, with kinetic awareness dominating. I sense the vibrations from his steps and the beating of his heart; I even feel the air reacting as his body moves. Then I duck and sidestep, avoiding two thrusts aimed at me. And though a third comes from an invisible third arm, I dodge it as well.

His void energy pulses in an attempt at disrupting my skills, unlike anything I've sensed before, aimed at disturbing my mana and kinetic energy. It partially succeeds, making my energy more difficult to control.

He strikes out at me again. Once at my head, once slashing for my neck, and once aiming to pierce my heart, and I continue to evade. And all the while, he displays an incredible degree of speed; every movement is deadly.

But he just cannot compare to Tacita.

Instead of dodging the next attack, I let his void dagger pierce my palm and grab his hand, locking the dagger in place.

This disrupts my mana and kinetic energy, giving him an opening to move quickly and finish me off before I can counter. Then I release the thermal energy I've been holding in reserve. It passes through his hand and into his body, with golden flames melting through everything in their path.

He reacts quickly, attempting to escape as his effort shifts from disrupting me to saving himself. As he does so, I use kinetic energy to keep pace and release a stronger burst of thermal energy.

Just a tiny bit, I open the seal on my Ignition Heart, and he crumbles into a fine ash even as he struggles to escape.

Noname (Beyond, King) to Georgiadis (Beyond) +100 pts

I pull the Ley Lines back to me and hurl them out again to avoid the traps they've already started setting.

Releasing kinetic energy through my bare feet, I stomp, breaking a hole through the roof and dropping through to land in the throne room.

Immediately, an arrow made of compressed red-and-white lightning crashes against the tricolored barrier I form, breaking it and slicing my cheek, drawing blood.

Someone tries to enter through the hole I just made, but I fire off a mana projectile that pierces his head and kills him instantly. When another attempts the same, I repeat the process.

Noname (Beyond, King) to Kiara (Hard) +10 pts

Noname (Beyond, King) to William Fairfax (Hard) +10 pts

Then I turn back to my opponents.

“You are bleeding,” says the eighth round's [King] from the throne.

I follow his gaze to my palm, the one that was pierced by the assassin's void dagger. Even now, it continues to bleed, healing more slowly than it should.

There are no healing marks on me this time; even my healing passive is deactivated.

For a short moment later, I watch a droplet of red blood flow down my palm, onto my finger and fingertip, before dropping onto the white marble floor.

“Just a flesh wound,” I answer to Derick Kelley. His wife, Noelle, stands beside him, bow drawn, and its string of mana nocked with an arrow made of primordial lightning.

Then I charge them.

Chapter 11

Five Kings

Observing Noelle and tracing her aim, I predict the trajectory of the incoming arrow. Even so, I remain cautious, just in case she's capable of bending that trajectory.

And she does.

The arrow comes quickly and follows it with a second one at a higher speed, ensuring that both will hit at the same time from different sides.

I release two short bursts of kinetic energy to change their paths just enough to allow me to dodge without having to use mana for defense. As the next three arrows reach me, I do the same.

Just a few steps away from the throne, five arrows reverse course and make their way back at me.

At that moment, Derick moves as well, his tattoos lighting up all across his body. I feel a powerful disrupting effect, especially centered around his fists, elbows, and shins. His mana glows vividly in my vision, separating itself from the stark black-and-white world I see.

He dodges my Needle Point and sends a burst of mana washing over his body to disrupt my attempt to halt his movements.

Next, his fist crashes into my left forearm as I move to intercept his strike and cracks the bone. The disrupting effect on his fist shreds all mana-based defenses in the small area of contact, sending out a powerful, brief vibration that further damages the bone beneath.

Even though it is cracked, I do not worry about it. With [Knitting] strengthening them, my bones will handle much more.

The lightning arrows reach us at the same time, and I teleport away as they pass through the spot where I had been standing, only to reappear in the same place.

I release the collected kinetic energy and take a smooth step toward Derick.

This time, the tattoos on his forearm light up as he projects energy in front of him, forming a shield-like barrier to block my attack.

I immediately switch tactics, grabbing his forearm. Boosting myself, I pull his forearms apart and unleash another quick burst of kinetic energy.

This time, though, he simply redirects it with a smaller shield wrapped around his free arm.

Thermal energy floods into my body as I move to pass it through his forearms, but he reacts quickly. In one incredible movement, he frees himself, takes a long, quick step around me to reach my side, kicks against my shin, and strikes my shoulder. This makes me stumble and nearly fall until I release another burst of kinetic energy to steady myself and throw another punch at him.

He ducks under, delivering two quick strikes to my chest, both landing just over my heart, and shoving me while kicking at my feet again to make me lose balance.

I stagger backward again, dropping the barrier that shielded my heart from an attack that would have surely damaged it. Dodging two lightning arrows from Noelle, I form and boost two javelins in return.

She moves in with quick, long strides even before I release the javelins, effortlessly avoiding both and firing more arrows at me. Each primordial lightning arrow forms in her hand before she latches it onto a string made of mana and releases it at incredible speed.

Derick closes in again to draw my attention while Noelle moves to flank me. He ducks, sidesteps, and leaps over my projectiles, deflecting one of my arms of mana with his glowing tattoos, disrupting a large portion of its structure before it can reach him.

So he prefers making strong attacks over a small area, I conclude.

I duck under his swing and use Steelroot to bolster my defenses as he kicks at my feet, trying to make me lose balance once more.

He clearly likes to use his opponent's inertia against them.

As he shoves me, I absorb my inertia, redirect it into another movement, and punch him as he moves to duck under the anticipated strike. When he takes a step back, Noelle attacks with two quick arrows, once more causing them to arrive at the same time.

I duck under one arrow and grab the second with my bleeding arm.

It also takes a short moment for his tattoos to power up; he clearly can't channel mana as quickly as I can.

I boost my body, redirect my movement, let him land a punch to my side, and swing to stab the arrow in his neck. Derick smiles as the lightning arrow vanishes from my hand, but his smile falters when a mana stake appears, hidden below the arrow until now.

At the last moment, he lifts his glowing forearm to block it. He expects his tattoos to disrupt the mana, but they do not.

My stake buries itself in his forearm, expands, glows, and pierces through the entirety of his arm, heading toward his neck until he kicks me, sending me backward while he also dodges the projectiles I shoot at him.

I have observed his tattoos and modified the frequency of my mana. Even though I am sure he can adjust the effect of his tattoos on the run, I can adapt faster.

The inertia of his kick carries me backward, and I let it happen, even adding to it, heading toward Noelle, whose mana surges in response, and her movements pick up an incredible amount of speed as she fires a dozen arrows within seconds. Not even bothering to avoid them, I teleport through a [Ley Line], placing myself in a location closer to her, lowering my body to further increase my speed as I charge at her.

She drops her bow, and the arrow in her hand changes and twists into the shape of a saber made of primordial lightning.

Derick is close, though, following hot on my heels, threatening to intercept me at any moment.

My mana explodes and expands, creating a spherical barrier around the three of us and trapping us inside. I open my mouth and spit out an orb filled with a mix of thermal energy and mana.

Then I teleport myself out of the throne room.

I once again feel the sea breeze on my skin and smell the air as I wait, but there are no notifications. However, what I find outside is interesting in its own way: most of the people from Easy, Normal, and Hard Difficulty are gone; only a few from Hell and Beyond remain.

And there is another surprise.

Two people have the word [King] over their heads.

When Derick finally exits the tower through the hole in the roof and lands on top, that makes it four of us.

Derick is wounded; burns mark his forearms and face, and in some places, bone shines through the holes in his flesh. Yet he still seems capable of fighting and even wears a lazy smile.

Jean is down there, too, smiling brightly as he shouts, “Noname! I challenge you to a duel!” The maniacal call surprises Derick and the last [King], who had probably made a different deal with him that didn't include a 1v1 fight.

They should have known better than to think he would act according to their plan and wouldn't just try to duel me. Though they probably don't have as much experience with him as I do.

While the tension starts rising again, I observe the last [King], the tenth round's representative. He looks Asian, likely Korean, slim, and tall with black hair. He wears sleek black clothes, and even from here, I sense dozens of mana batteries embedded in them along with a web of inscriptions sewn into the fabric. The whole thing resembles one of the arrays I keep stored in the back of my mind.

One of the Beyonders from Derick's round is here, along with Lucien, and a woman from Jean's round, and two more Beyonders by the tenth round [King]'s side: a young Korean girl, barely twelve years old, and a Korean man in his fifties.

It seems like it's about time.

I reach into my pocket and pull out the object that splashed into the water as I left our fortress.

It is a finger. Specifically, a finger belonging to a woman.

As it hits the ground, a figure emerges from it. Black hair, brown eyes with one of which is a shade lighter than the other, and an expression that I believe fits her more than any human alive.

Victoria stands on a patch of ground near the tenth round's [King] and Jean, but she just glances at them and turns to look up at me.

She asks a single question. “Which one?”

“The bald guy over there, along with the rest of his group, please,” I reply.

Victoria nods and disappears. In the next moment, she crashes into Jean, sending him crashing against the wall and then breaking through it with Jean's fellow Beyonders following close behind.

Before anyone else can react, I teleport over to the Korean [King] with mana oscillating around my hand, taking the opportunity to slash at his neck.

Instead of him reacting, the young Korean girl moves to block the attack. I sense no mana from her, almost as if she has none at all. Instead, she relies solely on her physical stats. As my hand cuts into her forearm, she doesn't even flinch. Her face remains expressionless, the look of someone utterly focused.

So a concentration-type skill?

The older Korean man moves as well, as the area around me begins to grow incredibly cold. Frost forms on my body, and the ground under my feet freezes. My breath puffs out in a cloud of mist.

Derick appears nearby, attacking from the opposite side of the girl. His tattoos glow even brighter with a stark-white light, nearly blinding me through my trait as the intense mana attempts to overwhelm my vision.

I teleport away and launch a javelin toward the tower's roof, where it collides with a lightning projectile. I redirect it just enough that it manages to miss me completely. Noelle stands there, the left side of her body terribly burned, one of her eyes ruined, and her left arm charred. She has discarded her bow, and instead, a circle of lightning that spins on an orbit around her.

Derick moves to my left while the Korean [King] moves to my right. The girl takes the front, and behind me, another man with a powerful signature appears, betraying his status as a Beyonder, likely from Derick's round. The old man who had tried to freeze me stands nearby, ready to jump in.

Then the man behind me swings a staff he is holding, and it touches one of the invisible Ley Lines I've suspended in the air nearby. The staff absorbs a piece of that Ley Line and glows as he slams it against the ground. A field forms within the fortress barrier, and all the Ley Lines I have placed vanish.

Breathing heavily, the man falls to his knees.

I try to use [Ley Line] and find myself unable to. I attempt to radiate heat from my body, but it is actively suppressed by the old man, who already seems to be watching just for that.

“We have made preparations against you,” Derick says as his tattoos shift their frequency again. They change constantly, several times per second, and I can see the strain it puts on him.

I return his gaze. “And you think this will be enough?”

Derick Kelley

Even surrounded by all of us, he shows no sign of nerves. His expression remains as calm as before, even colder than it was during our Beyond expedition. Back then, he gave me goose bumps, and that made my decision clear. Noname needs to be the first to go in this event.

We've collected as much information on him as possible. We paid off as many people from his round as we could to share what they knew, and we came prepared.

Without Jean, Kang Jiwon and I are forced to serve as tanks, while Park Tae-sik is tasked with facing down Noname's fire abilities. Noelle provides support. By sacrificing a powerful item, we even managed to suppress his teleportation, which usually seems nearly impossible to stop.

Noname disappears in a movement that does not use mana and almost resembles teleportation. I follow him immediately, joined by the girl.

He reappears near Kendrick, who is still kneeling, expended after using the staff. Noname grabs the back of his head and smashes it against the ground, turning him into blue particles in an instant.

The girl reaches him sooner than I do, but I dodge to the side as she finds her body being flung past me by his kinetic energy. She still lacks experience, even though her talent is incredible.

I reach him, bracing myself for the impending attack, but it does not come. Noname moves again, and this time, I can follow him better. I observe his body, taking note of the feints he uses most often, and move almost simultaneously with him.

Trailing behind him, I grab his left arm and pull in an attempt to take him off balance and stop his charge, but to my surprise, his arm gives in and remains in my hand.

Did he cut it off? But why? Just to prevent me from stopping his attack?

That momentary hesitation allows him to reach the man shrouded in that intense chilly aura, so cold I would not even dare come near it. But Noname charges in, gold flames blazing around his skin and expanding to fill the area.

I hear a heartbeat, just one.

At the same time, the arm I'm holding starts glowing bright white. I barely manage to raise a shield before it explodes, hurling me against the ground and bouncing me off the wall. As I pull myself back to my feet, I redirect the mana flowing through my tattoos into undamaged segments to keep them active. I strengthen my body, clear my mind, and rush back.

Noname stands where Park Tae-sik once did, and there is no sign of the man anywhere. The area around us is molten, the heat rising into the air, causing it to shimmer with motion. I notice a golden glow in his gray-and-brown eyes.

Baek, the tenth round's [King], finally moves. He sighs in his usual lazy manner and shakes his head. The black clothes he wears seem to move as if they were alive, adorned with blue mana stones that shine like stars as they expand.

A deep blue suit of armor forms around him, taking on an almost metallic sheen. Sleek and dangerously sharp in design, it solidifies around him. A sword materializes in his hand, made from the same dark-blue mana, and gleaming with the same metallic luster.

Baek takes a stance and charges at Noname, swinging his sword just a step away from him.

A field radiates from Noname, draining all color from the area. Only his crown and small flickers of his golden flames remain, while everything else fades to black and white.

The armor around Baek and his sword vanish like a candle being blown out, and his inertia carries him to Noname, who catches him by the neck and smashes him against the ground.

A pale blue mana arm grows from Noname's severed limb, and he drives its fingers down, aiming to stab them into Baek's head.

But Noname stops mid-movement and instead lifts Baek, using him as a shield against the charging girl. As she collides with her [King], Noname releases a burst of kinetic energy, sending them both flying. Between them shines an orb filled with golden flames and pale blue mana.

Noname tilts his head to avoid Noelle's arrow. It hits the ground instead, sending a burst of lightning through it and striking Noname, stunning him for a moment.

As the golden orb attached to Baek explodes, I reach Noname and take advantage of the brief stun to bury my fingers into his chest, aiming for his heart, but I'm too slow with all my wounds, and in the last moment, he shifts his body, causing me to miss.

Up close, he turns to me, his expression unchanged even as blood seeps from his nose due to the strain and from his mouth because of the wound I've just caused.

Then he spits that blood into my eyes. Surprised and blinded, I feel a sharp pain, and I stagger back to gain time. I notice my arm missing, cut off at the elbow.

When I look up, Noname is nowhere to be seen, but a sudden thud in my chest sends me staggering back. As I look down, I see my own severed hand, its fingers piercing my heart. He must have used kinetic energy to boost the throw. The fact that it was my own arm, filled with my mana, likely made me lower my guard, even as I sensed it coming.

I try to move, but after a few steps, I see a haze of blue particles and find myself outside in our common area, fully healed and only now realizing how much damage those attacks caused me.

Looking around, I spot Kendrick and sit on the bench next to him, watching the event on screen with the others already waiting outside.

Chapter 12

Tenth Round's King

Nathaniel

The price to pay for getting rid of Derick is high. A projectile from Noelle pierces my side and burns a hole through me, eating away at the flesh around it. Another one hits the ground at my feet, generating a stunning field around me.

Even though I manage to escape even faster this time, there is enough time for that young Korean girl to reach me and deliver a blow to my head. Only my hastily constructed mana barrier saves me from instant death, but it shatters, and though the damage is reduced, I still take the hit.

It whips my head back and sends my body flying.

I absorb the momentum of my movement, and three lightning projectiles hit where I would have been if I had continued to roll. Then I boost myself to the side to avoid a heavy stomping attack from the young girl, which cracks the floor in the process.

For that short moment, silence ensues as I pull myself to my feet, my body swaying before I force myself to stand tall once more. I take a deep breath, then patch my body with mana as much as possible to stop the bleeding. I knit the wounds closed with mana threads or create patches of mana to keep the larger wounds sealed.

I'm missing an arm, the other is a hair's breadth from being broken. My skull is cracked, and a hole has been torn in my side. Not to mention the hole in my chest that damaged my lungs, among other things.

In that time, the [King] of the tenth round comes closer as well. Like the girl, he shows no visible damage from the blast of my thermal orb. He moves lazily, looks me up and down, then sits on a nearby pile of rubble.

“Kang Jiwon,” he calls to the girl, “this is too much work; it was supposed to be a quick fight.”

The twelve-year-old Kang Jiwon starts tracing out a circular trajectory around me with the same emotionless expression.

She calls to the man, “Master, please take this seriously. That man is dangerous. If you make a mistake, both of us are going to die.”

The man just shrugs and rolls his shoulders. “I can't bring myself to care, Kang Jiwon. It's not like we can actually die here anyway.”

“Please, Master, don't make our round seem like a failure.”

“Sure. Sure.”

I don't interrupt and instead stay quiet, using the time to patch some of my internal wounds. It takes a bit of concentration to keep it all up, but it's better than just letting it be.

When I'm done, he turns to me and smiles. “Ready?”

Before he even finishes his question, he moves. The same dark-blue armor with a metallic shine surrounds him as he appears in front of me using some form of teleportation. Only now do I notice the mark he managed to sneak into my space to allow for it.

Right under my nose, without me noticing.

I use [Eclipse], draining the colors from the area and modifying it against his armor, but this time it doesn't disappear. It resists, and the sword cuts diagonally at me, forcing me to use Wraith Dance to dodge.

The [King] follows behind me, each step of his armor tearing the ground under immense force. The constantly changing frequency of his armor resisting my attempts at disruption. The armor itself deflects my bursts of kinetic energy; even if they push him back, he comes charging at me again.

After dodging another strike, I let my mana seep out, forming a similar suit of armor which grows to match his before compressing even further. Then a sword forms as well, laced with my resonating mana.

We collide, and I get pushed back until I send more kinetic energy through my armor, powering it further and pushing him back.

He nimbly dodges my attack and slashes at my body hidden inside the armor. His sword expands in size and stops only against the arm of my armor. In an instant, his armor shrinks until it's skin-tight, and he leaps onto the chest of my armor and jams his sword into it.

I blink as that sword pierces through and stops only a palm's width away from my eyes.

His helmet disappears, and I can see him smile as he jumps back. The armor around him again expands to five times his height. The design stays the same, slim and deadly, but the sword is replaced by a hammer, which he swings at me.

A burst of kinetic energy slows the hammer, and I absorb the rest of the force, dispersing its impact as it crashes into me. At the same time, a few lightning projectiles embed themselves in my back.

That much should be enough.

I release more of my mana; it seeps out of me, swirls around me, fills my armor, and expands until it stands even taller than the other [King]'s.

While his armor is slim and deadly with a metallic shine, mine is thicker and affected by my pride; it is slightly ornamented, maintaining a pretty yet functional design.

I move quicker than he does, even though I'm still dealing with the greater mass of my armor. My Kinetic Mana Heart beats quickly, converting mana into the kinetic energy I use for movement.

My fist crashes against his head and sends him staggering back. Then my armor disappears, all that mana turning into projectiles that bombard the top of the tower where Noelle is. Dozens, even hundreds of them, tear the roof apart and follow her as she tries to dodge until one hits, and more of them smash into her.

Then the kill notification finally rings.

Floating there, I turn my attention back to the tenth round [King] and weave an [Empyrean Lance]. I shoot it at the spot where I sense his body signature. The lance pierces through the mana of his armor easily and reaches his body before a light flashes, and his figure flies out of the armor and crashes into the wall behind him.

Right away, I sense that he is still alive, and I fly toward him, in my flight avoiding the Korean girl who jumps from the nearby wall in an attempt to stop me.

As I reach the [King], he is already on his feet, still undamaged. In his hand is a sword made of mana. Even though it is cracked, it still holds.

He moves quickly to get out of the field created by my lance centered around its impact crater, and I follow behind him. Only after a few steps does he stop and change direction to rush right at me. The girl does the same, and they attack me from different sides.

In the last few steps, the girl moves quicker than before, pushing her body over the limit and crashing into me at high speed.

As I'm absorbing the force of her attack, the [King] attacks from the other side.

I look toward him and allow my eyes to collect more information, straining my brain as I read his mana fluctuations.

Instead of falling back on [Eclipse], I send a disrupting wave at his mana sword, which disappears mere moments before it can cut into my neck. I twist my body and strike the girl with an open palm, releasing a concentrated burst of kinetic energy as I do.

As expected, she endures the first one, but two more follow in quick succession until they explode a chunk of her body, and she is thrown away. Before I can follow, my foot is cut off, making me fall to the ground. There, I roll to the side and avoid the stab of the sword into my chest before releasing another blast of kinetic energy at him.

He cuts through it with his sword, the same metallic shine surrounding it as his armor did before.

Then the girl is back and strikes against my chest.

I absorb all the kinetic energy from her attack and release it to move faster, stopping just in time to let a sword slash past me and drive my mana-formed hand into his leg. Before I can deal more damage, his sword shortens, and he takes another stab at my head, but I twist my body, and my shoulder takes the hit.

I reach through a mark I placed on his leg when I struck him before and release a good amount of thermal energy, allowing it to envelop him.

The girl reaches me again, and I release a powerful burst of flames, impressive at a glance, but ultimately intended to blind her rather than deal damage. Aiming through the wall of flames, I fire off two mana javelins boosted by kinetic energy, and both of them pierce cleanly through her chest, impaling her against the wall.

Gazing at me and without hesitation, she pulls them out of her body, one after another, and breaks them in her hands. She takes a few steps toward me before coughing up blood and slowing down. She breathes heavily while watching me with that emotionless expression glued to her face.

The man is alive as well, stepping out of the fiery explosion, once more encased in armor, though it's much smaller this time, barely matching the size of his body.

“Are you all right, Kang Jiwon?” he asks.

“Yes. I can attack one more time, Master,” she answers.

That makes him laugh out loud, and he shakes his head. “You cannot. See you in the common area.”

With that, I send a small tricolored orb through the mark I left on her.

The explosion sends both of us staggering, and the system chimes out a notification about the kill.

Finally, I fully break through that annoying field left behind by the item and throw a few [Ley Lines] around the area.

Surprisingly, he can see it, his eyes moving and gazing over the exact places where that shimmering, pale blue line is.

“I'm Baek Kwaneok,” he greets.

“Noname,” I answer back.

“Haaa,” he sighs. “Concentration types, all the same.”

Still looking at me, he says, “I wasn't able to get rid of the mark you placed on me, and I have no intention of cutting off my own leg, so do what you have to do.”

Even as he says that, he charges at me, and reaching through the mark I left on him, I send another tricolored orb, followed by a burst of thermal energy.

The two explosions surround him, but from inside of it, he moves out. Four wings made of the same metallic, shining mana extend from his back, and his leg, where I left the mark, is clearly cut off.

I move to teleport, but I fail to activate it. In a last-ditch attempt, he takes over what remains of the field they created at the start of the fight with that item and reactivates it one more time. Both of his eyes bleed, and his heart skips a beat and sustains damage under the effort he needs to exert.

He crashes against me and attempts to stab his sword through me, but I let it stab my forearm instead and redirect it into the ground as we fall down.

“I lied.” He laughs, and with a huge smirk, he moves to headbutt me, the last of his mana moving to create a sturdy barrier around his forehead.

Instead of targeting it, I release collected kinetic energy in front of me, detonating his body and sending him flying back before he can hit me.

Noname (Beyond, King) ⟶ Baek Kwanseok (King) +5,000 pts

After searching through the area and making sure no one else is present, I take a deep breath and just lie there for a second.

Just one.

Then I patch up what remains of my body and stand up.

I know I'm probably being watched through the screens in the common areas of the other rounds, so I show no hesitation, no weakness. Looking up to where I think the “camera” is, I release my mana, filling the area in a burst reminiscent of a blazing flame that surrounds me and reaches toward the sky.

I modify the way I radiate it and its fluctuation, and just that, combined with sheer pressure, breaks the barrier.

For that brief moment, I let all my mana blaze at full power to send a message. To her and everyone else.

Then I pull it back inside my body and contain it all.

It's my mana, and even after the fight, more than half of it still remains.

Chapter 13

A Payment for a Simple Request

Victoria (Beyond, King) ⟶ Spacewolf (Beyond) +100 pts

Victoria (Beyond, King) ⟶ Maple (Hell) +20 pts

Victoria (Beyond, King) ⟶ CarrotCake (Beyond, King) +5,000 pts

These are some of the notifications I see in my feed. These probably came through a few minutes ago. As reliable as always, Victoria dealt with them and then went on to do her own thing.

Flying high into the air, I observe the battlefield. Now, without the Kings, it should be easy to clean up the rest.

The bulk of the fighting is taking place between the members of our round, the remaining forces that make up Derick's round, and the forces responsible for defending the fortress that my round is attacking.

Down there in our fortress, I can see constant flashes of orange light from Savant's [Dawn]. Our sole defender seems to be fighting someone. The skill, powerful enough at the higher levels to wipe out everyone on Lissandra's home world of Eladore, continues to obliterate a massive number of enemies, as confirmed by the stream of notifications from the kill feed.

On the other side of the battlefield, the strongest combatants are being ruthlessly hunted down by Tacita. Even now, barely anyone has any hope of detecting her, and even if they do, hardly anyone is able to react in time. Not caring about efficiency or collecting points, Tacita just hunts the strongest enemies she can find, swiftly switching between the hoard of daggers in her possession, each with a different effect.

I even notice Noodle, as thick as a small tree trunk and longer than an Olympic swimming pool, slithering around the walls, devouring any barriers in his path, his scales burning with the green, blue, and purple flame of the Fragment of Eternal Fire. Sometimes, I even catch glimpses of Izzy, shooting the same flame from her palms.

Maya, the twins, Lily, Sophie, and everyone else are doing well, but knowing them, it's easy to see that they're still holding back.

It appears they kept an eye on the notifications and know the event is likely won, and I did my part to fulfill Lissandra's requirements. Instead of going all out and collecting a few more points, they seem to have decided to hide the true extent of their abilities. It's something we talked about previously, and they take it seriously.

Passing over that battlefield, I reach the fortress belonging to Jean's round. Unlike Jean, who seemingly agreed to participate in Derick's plan to take me down, they have chosen to take shelter inside. Even now, they work, stacking up their defenses and preparing any number of nasty traps, something to throw at anyone who manages to breach their walls.

And by nasty, I mean really nasty, something powerful enough to wipe out even Beyond attendees.

Their barrier is also two-sided, the front purposely weaker. Rather than being an integral part of the whole, it serves as a secondary barrier meant to be broken, allowing people to enter before the rest of the barrier reactivates to trap them. With certain poisons and collected energies activating, this could get interesting.

Floating overhead, I expand the Ley Lines in the area and twist them, creating a huge circle, which I immediately begin filling with more and more Ley Lines. When I can no longer create more, I weave in dense threads of mana instead. Slowly, I start building up a giant inscription, using all the testing I did previously and the experience I gained with that Bloodroot Devourer on the sixth floor.

I separate part of my mind and, floating over the inscription, form an orb as big as a basketball before slightly opening a seal on the Sealed Ignition Heart. With each beat of my second heart, a small stream of that incredibly concentrated thermal energy flows into the orb, swirling inside it. When the orb looks ready to crack and break, I start spinning the thermal energy. It forms a whirlpool of golden flames inside, drawing in the flames I send to it at increasing speed.

All that mana within me, the thermal energy I now have to control, all with no passive protecting my mind. I push myself to the absolute limit, knowing exactly where it is from all the deaths during the tournament. I walk the edge, fully aware that a single mistake would trigger a backlash powerful enough to kill me instantly.

And that would mean failure of the task Lissandra has set for me.

But I do not fail.

I will not fail.

A high-pitched sound fills my head as mana seeps out of me, passing through the Ley Lines and threads of mana. It lights up and powers the inscription floating in the air above the fortress.

Then silence falls, and the sense of pressure vanishes.

At that moment, I look down and see our round and Victoria's slowly making their way toward the fortress. They wait below like beasts ready to fight, while only small remnants of battle persist within our fortress, with a few smaller fights still going on against what's left of the other two rounds.

The moment passes, and my inscription flares to life for an instant before vanishing. It crumbles away, its threads unraveling into fine particles that drift into the air.

With it, the barrier surrounding the fortress shatters instantly. The disrupting wave from the inscription tears through, completely obliterating the barrier along with any traps or activate skills below.

My thermal orb falls like a meteor, its surface glowing in golden flames as all that energy tries to escape. It crashes in the middle of the fortress and bursts open like a bubble. From it, a massive wave of golden flames surges forward, crashing against the buildings and sweeping through the passages.

Over half of the remaining people from Round 1 die from that single attack.

Then I reach down and pull all the remaining heat from the air back to my body, and, like another wave, Rounds 4 and 5 rush inside to deal with the rest. Turning away from it all, I fly to the side and reach the top of Derick's fortress. There I sit upon the broken roof that sways as if it is about to fall apart.

While waiting for it all to end, I allow myself to slip out of [Focus] and devote my full attention to the process of keeping my body alive and managing my mana.

I shudder as I feel as though I have returned to reality, and then I read the notifications.

[Mana Manipulation - Level 63 Mana Manipulation - Level 64]

[Focus - Level 63 Focus - Level 64]

[Perception - Level 59 Perception - Level 60]

[Eclipse - Level 26 Eclipse - Level 27]

[Eclipse - Level 27 Eclipse - Level 28]

[Empyrean Lance - Level 17 Empyrean Lance - Level 18]

[Ley Line - Level 49 Ley Line - Level 50]

[Knitting - Level 29 Knitting - Level 30]

I thought I would get more, and while this is good, it's not enough to fully satisfy me. As of late, I've been seeing more and more evidence of diminishing returns. It's getting harder and harder to show the system that you have enough mastery for it to register another level up. And I have no reason to think it will be any different in the future.

The rumors that it may be impossible to reach the level of Champion within the tutorial, which I estimate to start around Level 450, are seeming increasingly likely to be true. Maybe at least a decade is needed for it? Maybe two? Probably even longer if you want to become a “proper” Champion, at least by Sandra The Cockroach's standards.

Ten minutes later, I see the strongest flash of orange light yet and turn toward our fortress to see what's happening, only to witness it explode and disappear completely, leaving nothing behind.

What the hell?

I quickly open the notifications and scroll up a little, finding what I was looking for.

Hadwin (Beyond) ⟶ Savant (Beyond)

Savi, my unhealthily patient and cowardly not-a-friend, what could you have possibly done to piss off the Cockroach?

Kang Jiwon

As we agreed previously, both Master Baek and I enter the mountain of the eighth round. Expecting us, the guards let us pass, and one of them leads us toward the big house, a short distance away from the central area and near the edge of the forest.

We enter the same room as before, and while Master Baek takes his seat in one of the free chairs, I remain standing. Mister Kelley and his wife are already there, sitting next to each other on the sofa.

We spend the time in silence, waiting for Mister CarrotCake to join us, along with Mister Lucien.

“Greetings, my evil collaborators!” Mister CarrotCake exclaims with a big smile as he walks in, flopping down and crashing into the seat of the biggest armchair in the room, which still manages to groan under the strain of his weight.

“Jean,” Mister Kelley greets him softly, “I didn't expect you to be so happy after your stunning defeat.”

“It's fine, it's fine,” he says with the same smile, waving it off. “It's all about the process. Just like in the gym, you need to damage your muscles for them to grow. It doesn't matter if I lose once or multiple times. You know what? I think that's what actually makes it more fun.”

“That's an attitude I didn't expect from you, especially with your subclass. So how was she? Were the rumors true?” Mister Kelley asks, his curiosity clear.

With his smile growing even bigger, Mister CarrotCake says, “Oh, they were. Like brother, like sister. Or maybe like sister, like brother? You bunch also got the shit beaten out of you, from what I have heard.”

“That's too harsh, Jean, even if it is true. But did you know Noname was holding back?”

Miss Kelley chimes in for the first time. “He didn't even heal his body, and we saw his incredible healing during the Beyond expedition. Some of his passives also seemed to have deactivated, and he appeared to be handicapping himself and not using most of his mana.”

The room quiets, and I look at Miss Kelley, who meets my gaze with a calm, gentle smile. Master has already warned me that she has exceptionally keen eyes.

Meanwhile, Mister Lucien looks disinterested, as if the only reason he was here was because someone dragged him along.

Mister CarrotCake slams his hand on the armrest of his chair. “Isn't that obvious? He was clearly sending a message, the same way we heard he did during the first part of the first event. It's a shame I didn't fight him one-on-one, but his sister was also fun.”

“Did she live up to the rumors?” Miss Kelley asks.

“She could create clones, duplicates, or avatars of herself. Her physical stats are incredible, and I have no idea how you would even go about killing her. As long as she has a piece of her flesh, she can regrow from it, and I couldn't tell which one was the original. But for now, it seems like the longer these 'clones' stay alive, the weaker they become, as if they degrade over time.

That might change with more levels. She also likely has some physique-related trait and probably an upgraded constitution attribute.”

I decide to join the conversation. “It's highly likely that she possesses a concentration-type skill, like her brother.”

Master Baek reacts for the first time and tilts his head to look at me.

I return his gaze, and he sighs, clearly annoyed.

Mister CarrotCake, unfazed, says, “So the sister is an immortal, emotionless maniac who'll gladly rip your arm off and beat you to death with it, while the brother's constantly zipping around like some glitched-out ghost, spewing mana all over the place and wrecking everything in sight. Got it. And Derick, what happened to that silver-haired chick? Did she tell you anything else?”

The reminder of her involvement pulls my thoughts back to that woman, the one with all-seeing eyes that never seemed to miss a thing, as if she could see everything all at once. Even the way she moved left an impression.

Not long ago, she contacted Derick and offered techniques if he could reel in the other rounds and get them to cooperate.

The samples of techniques she left with Mister Kelley for each of the Kings were so incredible that they even caught my master's interest.

“I would recommend that you never speak to her that way, Jean,” Mister Kelley warns. “And as promised, she left a mana stone with techniques for each of you.”

He carefully takes them from his wife and hands them to Mister CarrotCake and my master. Both accept them with care, immediately diving into the stone with impatience.

A payment for a simple request from that woman. For us to join forces against those siblings.

Chapter 14

Five Beasts

Another notification appears as I get outside, after the event ends. More information on the placement in the event. Another first place and a lot of shards. And my body is healed by the system in that incredible way it does, seemingly manifesting any missing limbs out of the air itself. As before, I postpone my reward to bolster my final reward for the tournament.

The next event is the Beast Hunt, and once again, we now have a twenty-four-hour break before it starts, and we'll get more information in about twelve hours.

Someone tugs on my clothes, and I look to the side, where I find Lily standing next to me.

“What?” I ask.

“They focused on you directly. Why?”

“I have an idea or two about that, but you don't need to worry about it. Did you enjoy the event?”

“A little,” she says, walking by my side as I make my way back to my workshop. “You and Victoria took care of the Kings, but there were still plenty of strong Beyonders and Hell attendees left over for us. The problem was that Tacita was hunting them down, and some of them decided to lead an attack on our fortress, so I had to be quick to get my share.”

I notice Samuel moving in to speak with me, so I put my hand on Lily's shoulder, and she lowers her defenses so I can teleport both of us far enough away to continue our conversation.

Lily continues to talk as if nothing happened. “Sometimes it's scary how defenseless the people from Easy and Normal Difficulty can be when there are no Hell attendees or Beyonders around to defend them.”

She swings her hand in a mimicking slashing gesture. “Just like that, and they're dead. There is no resistance, Nat. I could kill any one of them by mistake, and even if thousands of them were to pile up against me, it would be all for nothing. Only the Hard Difficulty would put up some resistance if they united against me.”

“Is this what people call a humble bragging?” I ask.

“It's not!” she shouts, then quickly lowers her voice. “It just scares me sometimes. Will I even be able to be around normal people? Will I get to the point where I won't want to touch them, for fear of hurting them?”

I shrug. “You're overthinking things too much. To me, it's simple. If you want to do that, find a way to limit your stats or strength to a much lower level, and that's it. But that would probably make you vulnerable, so be careful.”

My answer seems to give her a bit of pause, and she takes a moment to think for a bit, and when we finally come to a stop in front of the workshop, she chuckles softly.

“It's just like in those stories.”

“What kind?” I ask.

“The ones where the gods have to turn mortal to be able to stay among humans.”

With that last sentence, she waves me off and leaves, likely to train.

Ten hours later, I leave the workshop with another wave of items waiting in the auction, and Miwa on her way back to her own workshop. My plan of cooperating with another crafter is picking up steam. Soon, she'll reach a level where people will ask her for items instead of me, hopefully, so I won't have to deal with projects other than my own. Yes, it's all coming together now.

Sensing a familiar signature in our living room, I teleport there, finding Victoria sitting in the armchair and Lily opposite her. They are alone, and Lily looks as if she's in the process of being interrogated.

As Victoria turns her attention to me, Lily seizes the opportunity to escape, after saying a quick goodbye.

“Don't bully my group, Vic,” I complain as I push her over so I can take a seat next to her.

She looks at me questioningly. “I would not do that, Natty. But never mind that. Did things go well for you during the event?”

I confirm, “Yes. I mean, that person didn't come to complain, so that's a good sign at least.”

“Do you want me to speak with her?”

“Please don't,” I quickly respond. Just the thought makes me worry about the problems that would arise if their personalities clashed. I can already imagine what Vic would do.

“As you wish.”

“How was your fight with Jean?”

“That man? He is likely the strongest out of the Kings we have met so far. It took a while to deal with him, but it was nothing I could not handle.”

“I just thought of something, but can you duplicate items?”

“Yes, but only those of common rarity. I should be able to duplicate more powerful ones if I try, but I have decided not to spend time training it, and instead, I am focusing on other priorities for now.”

“It would be interesting if you could do it, Vic, but you have the right of it either way. Items can be taken away, but your power will stay with you.”

“That is true. Use them, but do not rely on them, and be ready to throw them away.”

“Is that why you have no armor or items, just these common clothes?”

Victoria nods. “Yes. It began to annoy me after a while, when I noticed people staring at me, so I learned to duplicate my clothes at the very least.”

“Vic.”

“Yes, Natty?”

“Don't tell me you've been fighting naked.”

“Of course I did. I had to. At the lower levels, my skill would not allow me to duplicate, not even common clothes, and what is there to be shy about when it comes to a death-or-life situation?”

“Who saw?”

“Most of the opponents who forced me to use my skill before I improved it are already dead.”

“Name the remaining ones, Vic. Tell me right now. I will end them all.”

To that, she smacks the back of my head.

As expected, a few hours later, the notification finally comes.

The second event, Beast Hunt, will start in twelve hours!

Everyone will be transferred to a randomly selected map; all difficulties will participate together. The terrain will be chosen at random from the system's database. You will be facing the environment and the beasts.

The second event will take place over the course of the next ten hours, and the placement will be decided according to total score.

You will gain points for hunting and killing beasts. The more powerful the beast, the more points you will be awarded.

Note: A hefty penalty will be incurred for killing another participant.

Note: All points for a given kill will be awarded to the person delivering the killing blow.

Five special-grade beasts will be placed around the map, each within their own territory. Anyone who successfully takes down such a beast will be awarded a huge amount of points.

These five beasts are:

Stormscale Basilisk: A serpentine predator covered in shimmering, conductive scales that generate lightning with each movement. It is capable of releasing explosive electric bursts and paralyzing its prey with its gaze.

Emberhorn Behemoth: A towering, bovine creature with obsidian horns that channel the elemental fury of magma. Its hooves ignite the ground where it walks, and it can unleash devastating gouts of lava.

Nightshade Stalker: A feline predator shrouded in shifting shadows, capable of blending into the dark and attacking from multiple directions simultaneously. Its venomous claws may induce hallucinations.

Onyxscale Hydra: A multi-headed serpent capable of instant regeneration unless its heads are destroyed in a specific sequence. Each head controls a different element. Has a penchant for launching devastating attacks.

Witherclaw: A lanky, fragile creature with thin, splintered claws that break on impact. However, each failed strike and every wound it sustains forces it to regenerate, sharpening its claws and making its body stronger, harder, and deadlier with each battle and the passage of time.

The notification disappears, and another appears in its place.

It is now possible to visit the common areas of all the rounds.

Later, standing in the middle of the room, I patiently wait as Victoria fixes my hair and the collar of my shirt.

She takes a step back and nods, satisfied. “You always were handsome, Nathaniel. You always could pull off just about any outfit.”

Before answering, I take a moment to calm down after another death. Victoria notices, so she waits patiently.

“I don't want to go,” I tell her.

“And you think I do not know that?”

“See? You don't even need me there.”

“First impressions are important. How many times do I have to keep telling you that? If not for yourself, can you do it for me?”

I sigh. “Of course.”

“Good,” she says, ruffling my hair. She starts fixing it again, belatedly realizing what she's done.

At this point, the rest of group 4 are giving me looks that I will need to punish them for later. I still have plenty of conversations I've happened to overhear and little secrets I can throw around to cause them trouble.

“You do not have to worry about anything. I will take care of all the talking. But the two of us going there together will send a powerful message and make things easier in the future.”

“Yes, I know,” I admit, deflating as I do, “but I'm holding you to your word, Vic, only thirty minutes. After that I will fuck the hell off, even if I have to beat the shit out of all of them at once.”

“Mind your language. Those who cannot control their words or actions are no better than animals, and I would be very disappointed if my only brother were to stoop so low.”

“You know why I'm in such…”

“No excuses.”

“I… Okay.”

“Good. Shall we go, then?”

This time, I don't bother checking the expressions of my fellow group 4 members and follow behind Victoria, who also seems to have chosen a bit more formal attire. Nothing too excessive. Where previously both of us wore the kind of clothes you would wear while rolling at home or taking out the trash, we now wear clothes you might put on when going to the city. Well, a medieval age-ish version of that.

We're both wearing white button-up shirts and black pants. Nothing too different from the kind of thing I'd normally wear, though these clothes are made of a visibly superior material that looks nicer and comes with a price tag to match, yet somehow they're just as comfortable.

Victoria, on the other hand, has her hair brushed back and pulled into a simple ponytail, and where her sleeves hang at her wrists, I roll mine up to the elbow when she's not watching. Well, I'm sure she must have noticed but decided to let it go.

Neither of us carries any weapon as I activate [Ley Line], reaching out toward the eighth round's mountain, and teleport us there among the trees. After a minute of walking, we enter a common area that isn't too dissimilar to ours. There are probably even more people from the eighth round than usual, hanging around to watch the people entering their “territory.”

There are cars here as well, along with some modern tents. And is that a fucking tank I see, and what about that helicopter on the edge of the clearing? I also notice multiple drones flying high in the air.

Both of us walk along the clear path set out for us and approach the edge of the common area where we find ourselves looking up at a huge white tent. I observe the inscriptions around it and identify them as those meant to block sound, wind, and something to clean the air? I quickly locate the item they are connected to: some bottle with liquid inside.

I activate my eyes and look at it more deeply. The inscriptions seem to be meant to dissolve whatever liquid is inside. Is it some kind of poison? Or a hallucinogen perhaps?

We enter, and the first thing I notice is the pleasant scent of lemons and freshly cut grass.

Oh.

It's a goddamn scent diffuser.

In the middle of the tent sits a single circular table, quite a large one at that. Ten chairs have been arranged around it, and there are already a few people settling in. They look up from the table, focusing on Vic and me as we make our entrance. Right off the bat, I spot Derick, Baek, and Jean, along with the redhead woman from the second round.

Each spot at the table has a number from one to ten, arranged in a counterclockwise manner. I sit down beside my number, and Vic sits as well, on my left side.

Derick smiles at Vic and looks toward me. “I'm glad the two of you decided to attend.”

“No problem. I've decided to give you a hand.”

It takes him a second or two to catch on, and I make sure to remember the expression he makes afterward.

That's what you get.

Chapter 15

Ten Kings

It takes a few minutes longer, but gradually all of the first tournament winners begin to gather.

Instead of joining the conversation, I listen with one ear and let Vic handle the pleasantries while I observe them one after another.

First up is Jean. And there really isn't much more to say about the guy. With Vic complimenting him and me observing him even now, I consider him among the very top people in Earth's tutorial.

Tacita would probably have an easy time with him, but with whom wouldn't she? Her build is just that oppressive against human-sized opponents.

How about Jean versus Savant? I don't know, really. [Dawn] is pretty busted in its own right and could easily “poison” Jean beyond any hope of recovery.

Savant might be more talented and strategic, but Jean can be weirdly smart when it comes to combat, and with his incredible base, I'd still give him a slight edge over Savant. It's totally not because I like Jean's personality more. Nope.

Then there is the red-haired woman from the second round. Her name is Klara Novak, and apparently, she's from the Czech Republic, having introduced herself without the least bit of concern for doxxing herself. While her avatar from our first tournament wore the armor of the Fallen hero, she's upgraded to a different, even more powerful set. On that armor, I recognize the techniques lumorans like to use, which leads me to think it came from the seventh floor.

She is young, probably somewhere around Vic's age, and has blue eyes that, like Jean's, flick from face to face, giving her a slightly bored look overall.

Then there's the boy from the third round, a child even younger than Isabella. He has short, wavy brown hair and incredibly piercing blue eyes. According to the information I've been able to gather, he combines some kind of shadow skill with primordial void energy. He is from Russia and his name is Maxim Sarov. Unlike most of the others, he sits attentively in his chair and listens to everything said. Even though he's a child, he stays focused without seeming to rely on concentration skill, in truth, it just seems to be part of his personality.

The fourth and fifth rounds are obviously the best overall. Yup.

To my right sits the sixth round's King, a man who goes by the name Hector Valdez in the Community. He doesn't seem too happy to meet me, though he doesn't seem to take it personally or let his anger control him like some second-rate villain.

I would never be able to do that. I'm sure I would've done some petty shit already if I were him, but this guy, it would appear, has a much better hold on his emotions.

The intel we've managed to collect says he's from some country in South America, and rumors claim he and his group are part of some kind of cartel or union of drug dealers. The wilder rumors even say they were smuggling drugs on some kind of homemade submarine.

I really want to ask if it's true.

The representative for the seventh round is a man who's about as tall as I, though his body is much wider. I wouldn't say he looks like he's overweight, just solid and strong. Not in a muscular way like Jean, but strong in his own way. His skin is very tanned, and he has long, wavy hair and a light stubble of a beard, and introduces himself as Monte. All indications say he comes from Spain or one of its neighbors, and rumor has it that he's a shapeshifter.

Out of all of the people here, he appears to be the oldest, somewhere around fifty-five years old, but who knows? He could just as easily have been seventy before he found himself in the tutorial.

Speaking for the eighth round is the organizer of this meeting, Derick Kelley, rumored to be from Northern Ireland or the United Kingdom. He talks more than anyone else and tries to keep the conversation civil.

Poor guy.

Though in my opinion, extroverts like him deserve whatever comes their way.

The ninth King is a woman I'm meeting for the first time. She's Chinese, tall and slim, with a calculating demeanor. Her black hair flows neatly over her shoulders, and she wears a set of expensive-looking clothes with inscriptions woven throughout.

She appears to be somewhere around thirty years old. Her real name is unknown, but she goes by the alias Yama.

Curiously, even though she is a tournament winner, she doesn't claim a chair, opting instead to stand behind it like some sort of bodyguard. Rather, a Chinese girl, probably around eighteen years old, has taken that place, sitting upright in a set of clean, well-fitted clothes.

She listens attentively, but she seems weak, her skill rating Normal to Hard Difficulty at most, but even so, her bodyguard doesn't seem to mind and treats her with a great deal of respect.

And last but not least is the Korean guy I've already met. Baek currently appears to be sleeping, resting his head on his hand, as he slumps over the table. If Victoria wasn't here, I could probably sleep as well.

My observations made, I turn back to the conversation.

“Yes, we are willing to trade information as much as the system's censorship will allow. Even though this tournament is competitive by design, I do not believe it is intended to turn us into enemies,” Victoria says.

Derick quickly agrees, “That's true. We might fight and compete to show our strength, especially with the way this place prevents us from dying, but the true enemies we need to worry about are outside the tutorial. These five years are just the beginning of the centuries Earth will spend in the system.”

“If we won't destroy ourselves before we get that far,” says the eleven-year-old Russian boy, speaking for the first time. He seems to shy away for a moment as all eyes turn to him, but he tries to hide it nonetheless, and he does it well.

“That's true,” Derick says. “We have already seen a number of scenarios that could come to pass, especially on the more powerful planets, those steeped in ambient mana far more dense than anything on our delicate Earth.”

“On Earth, there are currently multiple countries with atomic bombs far more powerful than anything used during either of the world wars, yet we are still here,” the Chinese lady acting as bodyguard says, her voice smooth and soothing as she speaks, almost as if she thought through each word with care before speaking.

“Ha!” Jean snorts but doesn't say anything else. He returns her gaze easily as if challenging her to do something about it.

“It is very likely we will get to that point as the First Generation as well. But do not forget that humans can be highly emotional and illogical at the best of times. It is not unreasonable to expect that some of them may become irrational or begin to act like tyrants once they attain these powers,” Victoria answers with methodical slowness.

She and that Chinese woman exchange a glance, and the other woman nods in agreement.

“Given what we've seen, it generally falls to the Absolute to ensure that such people do not cause too much damage. And further that such tasks should be handled by a powerful Champion until an Absolute can be appointed,” Yama says.

“And what if our future Absolute becomes one of these tyrants?” Derick asks.

Unbothered, Victoria answers, “Then we would have any number of options to consider, one of the simplest solutions being killing such an Absolute.”

Jean interrupts, “And what about you, are you saying you don't want to become our Absolute?”

Once again, she answers without the slightest hesitation. “Currently, I see no need to become Absolute, but it is entirely possible that I may change my mind depending on future circumstances.”

“Decide to become one?”

“Yes.”

“Fucking crazy. Let's go fight!”

“I apologize, but I cannot do that at the moment. You can send someone my way to ask again later. I do not mind the thought of dueling you once I have a bit more time. It should be possible sometime in the next day or two.”

“You, fight me.” Jean turns to me this time; he doesn't shout, and he seems to be lacking energy in his voice. It must be hard to be constantly rejected.

Victoria answers on my behalf. “Mister Jean, for a certain reason, my brother is very busy during this tournament. If you really have to, we can spar right after this meeting, if you will have me instead of him.”

“I can live with that.”

“Thank you, but allow me to give you a warning. This time, I have decided to step back because of the promise my brother made and because I would prefer to have a good relationship with you. I consider you strong and someone who keeps his word, valuable to keep around. But there are limits that I have. If you decide to push this any further despite my warning, I will react appropriately.”

It takes a moment for Jean to process the threat. And the way everyone around the table looks at Victoria makes me want to slam the palm of my hand against the table just to see if anyone jumps in fear.

“Please, let us keep this meeting civil,” Derick says. “Even though we all have our own goals. Some might just want to be left alone and enjoy the luxuries our abilities might afford us, while others might want to influence the trajectory of their country or have their names written in history. But in the end, we're all in this together, especially if our planet finds itself caught up in a Pairing. And we've seen how dangerous that can be. The First Generation must be willing to work together.”

Klara asks, “From what we've seen, Pairings only seem to happen to planets with Absolutes and Champions. If early Champions appear five to twenty years after the tutorial and Absolutes take decades, shouldn't that mean we have plenty of time?”

“It's very likely,” Derick agrees. “But imagine if we all cooperate. Hell Difficulty can take disciples from the lower difficulties or teach the most talented from Earth. Hard Difficulty could train large numbers of people. We can create a system to strengthen our planet or even find a way to travel to others and join a Coalition to help us face our first Pairing.”

“Ask me again closer to the end of the tutorial. I'll know then,” Klara replies. “For now, this is all too theoretical for me.”

“I will,” Derick promises, but it's clear his words are meant for everyone.

Following this, the conversation moves.

It seems like it is the Hell Difficulty attendees' custom to remain mostly quiet to collect information before acting and to avoid accidentally insulting someone powerful. A skill you need to gain in the tutorial if you don't want to end up splattered against the wall by someone strong.

Most of them are quiet. Yama, Monte, Baek, and even I are among the quietest of all. Most of the conversation is carried out by Derick, Victoria, Jean, and Klara.

So many new names, but I make sure to try to remember them all. These people should be among the strongest in the Earth's tutorial and future Champions, so it's worth it.

While they converse, I turn to Hector on my right and ask quietly, “What the hell was that spear of yours?”

He glances at me, leans closer, and lowers his voice. “I found it on the sixth floor.”

“Low Arcane?”

“Yes, your sword?”

“Mid Arcane.”

“Bullshit.”

“I'm not lying. Where did you get the spear? Somewhere further north? Mind Mage City?”

“Mind Mage City? We didn't go anywhere near that cursed place, but yes, it was up north where the snow started appearing. There were ruins of an old castle, and we found a huge labyrinth beneath it.”

“Damn, that sounds cool. I never went there.”

“There are a bunch of places we missed out on. What was that skill that fucked up my mana control? It even disrupted my internal mana. It shouldn't be possible to do that easily.”

“I brute forced it. I won't tell you the name, but it started as [Disruption] and went through a few evolutions and skill combinations. Look, man, I know it's a shitty feeling when someone disrupts and takes over your mana, so I recommend making a greater effort to defend against that sort of manipulation, even if you have to spend months working on it. It's worth it.”

“I guess,” Hector says, looking around as the conversation continues around us.

For a moment, I listen and then hear Derick speaking to the people around the table. “There is a goddamned lynthari moving between the camps and bothering people. She's even been taking a bunch of smaller Earth items from people in the lower difficulties. How is it even possible for a lynthari to be here?”

I filter it out and ask Hector, “And get rid of that invisibility bullshit.”

“No,” he replies, grinning and returning my gaze.

So he has chosen death.

Klara from the second round also raises her voice. “We also had an incredibly quick woman enter our camp. She stole a lot of blankets and a bunch of daggers. She even tried to take one right off my waist.”

I noticed it before, but Klara's voice is energetic and has the tone of a great singer, a mixture of energetic liveliness, contained laughter, and confidence.

I ignore the content of her words and turn back to Hector. “Is it true you used to be a drug dealer and that you guys made your own homemade submarine?”

“What the fuck are you talking about? I ran an import-and-export business,” he says with a deadpan expression.

Someone shoves me from my left, and I turn to Vic, who is making no attempt to hide her actions. Looking up, all eyes are on us.

“Yes?” I ask her.

“Derick was asking what our plans are after the tutorial.”

���What did you say?”

“I said I cannot be sure at the moment, given all the ways things might change by the end of the tutorial. I also made it clear that I won't go out of my way to interfere in geopolitics or spark major conflicts without a very strong reason.”

“Oh, I see.” I nod and address the rest. “I plan to take an island for myself. I don't mind stealing it from some rich guy after threatening him. Maybe I'll make a moon base or create a floating island or something. I fully intend to use my power and that of my group to get some nice things. If we decide we need to keep things 'legal,' our healer could shave a few decades off a billionaire's age for an easy hundred million or two, and we could live off that.”

The others sit in shocked silence, and it's Klara who laughs first, before asking with a big smile, “Do you really think things won't change too much for it to be that easy?”

“You're probably right, but a man can dream.”

“If that moon base happens, count me in for a visit. I want to see the view.”

“No girls allowed in my secret base.”

She laughs again, and Derick takes over the conversation once more.

Chapter 16

A Matter of Control

Derick shakes his head and says, “We can assume there will be more tournaments if the system continues to follow the current schedule. It would be wise to wait until some of us have gotten a bit closer to Level 400 to start making promises and laying out our rules for our return to Earth. The damage we can cause without even actively using skills is far too great to ignore. Even if you aren't a mana-based build, just releasing your mana could easily hurt or even kill a normal human.”

Victoria listens, then leans forward slightly, resting her elbows on the table. “That depends on whether we actually agree on what the limits should be. Or if we decide we want them in the first place.”

Jean scoffs, “Now you sound like some kind of greasy politician.”

“I am being realistic,” she replies. “You cannot expect groups of people thrown into the Hell tutorial, and forced to fight for five years just to stay alive, to come back and simply follow a set of self-imposed rules because it would be nice.” Her gaze sweeps across the table. “Whether we agree then or here and now, how many actually mean to honor it once they make their way back to Earth and realize how much weaker everyone is?”

Klara hums. “That's why nuclear treaties worked. It was mutually assured destruction. If one country used them, others would retaliate. The threat and possible consequences are what kept everyone in check.”

“But we're not nations,” the Chinese tournament winner, Yama, interjects. “No government can force us to disarm. Not the ones who survive the Hell Difficulty tutorial, and certainly not the ones from Beyond. No military can keep us in check—at most, they get lucky and kill some of the more careless ones. Even if we wanted a treaty, who would enforce it?”

Derick exhales through his nose. “That's exactly the problem. There's no higher authority keeping us in line. If someone decides to wipe out a city because they got pissed off, who can stop them quickly enough to matter?”

“The Absolute,” Yama speaks again, her voice composed as ever. “Or our first Champions, at least. The countries that get one first will be the ones to decide the direction our world takes. Of course, only if such people decide to uphold their nationalities and help their countries. If you don't seize control or make an effort to cooperate with those who have, then the control will be imposed on you by force. That's what history has proven over and over again.”

The conversation is getting interesting, so I make sure to listen carefully. While she is saying that, her words seem inconsistent given that she is standing while someone much weaker than her sits in her chair.

At the same time, I get the feeling that she would do exactly as she said, imposing her will on us to control us if we proved ourselves the weaker.

“That's a nice way to describe 'tyranny,'” Jean says as he leans forward in his creaking chair.

“A form of tyranny that ensures our survival. If you're not the one enforcing it, you risk having it imposed on you,” she counters.

“This is all theoretical,” Victoria says. “None of us knows exactly what kind of power levels we will be dealing with. Not to mention how many of us will walk out of here capable of, say, vaporizing entire cities by accident?”

Derick grimaces. “More than a few, I'd say. By the end of the tutorial? Could be dozens.”

“It's not just about a few assholes. Even some of the so-called good people are dangerous. Some will be walking nuclear bombs, and unlike the current models, we don't need silos or launch codes.” As she speaks, something about Klara's tone sounds almost amused.

For a moment, the table falls silent.

Then Hector exhales and grins. “Regulations, restrictions…I don't like the sound of that at all.”

His words also seem like a subtle threat. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would like being oppressed.

Jean tilts his head. “So what are you all suggesting? Some kind of mutually assured destruction pact? 'Break the rules, and everyone hunts you down'? That sounds fun.”

Klara chuckles. “I'd rather not see Earth change too much. Things aren't perfect, but with what we have, we can still get a big piece of the pie and live more than comfortably. Going around fucking with countries, blowing up cities, that'd just turn everything into a mess and mess everything up. I'd rather keep my luxuries than have some asshole wreck everything and drag me into a war. And I don't know about you, but I'm not looking to inherit my country's bullshit or let them turn me into a pawn for their power grabs.”

Baek lifts his head from the table and yawns. “Just don't come to Korea and I'm all good.”

“Are we splitting kingdoms now?” Jean snorts. “Each of us gets our territory, and the others agree not to interfere? Though I could see myself in charge of Canada.”

“There is a lot of good we could do,” Derick says. “With our power, we will have a lot of influence. We could easily use our abilities to get the things we want or use our healers to win favors.”

Yama looks at him in an amused manner. “That kind of thinking is incredibly naïve. None of us has experience when it comes to politics or understanding the balance of power, trade, and geopolitics. And do you think you will be able to control all of the people from your round? The people from Hell and Beyond? What about the people from Easy and the other difficulties who return there before you?”

“She's right,” Klara says. “I've already seen and heard plenty of people from my group planning some wild shit. And if a few strong Beyonders team up, they might still be able to take you down, 'King' or not.”

“And what stops us from grouping up as well?” Derick asks.

“I don't want to.” Jean smiles at him.

Looking around the table, the Chinese King, Baek, the Russian boy, and Vic don't seem all that interested, either.

Derick groans in annoyance and leans back in his chair.

“It's perfectly simple,” I say when no one else is talking, and they turn to me. “If you make yourself strong enough, they will listen, or they will be very dead.”

They still remain silent, so I stand up. “Thirty minutes and two seconds have passed. See you during the second event.”

I wave them off, and when Vic stands as well, she places her hand in mine, and I teleport us away.

The fancy scent diffuser someone put so much effort into vanishes, too, all thanks to the [Ley Line] I quietly hooked to it.

The quiet hum of the workshop feels almost too still now that I've stopped. Half-finished projects sit untouched, tools lie scattered where I last dropped them, and the lingering heat from my skills fills the room.

I lean back, staring at the ceiling for a moment, letting my mind wander. Maybe there's still time to squeeze in a little more training, just a few more minutes to refine things, but I already know that's a lie.

With an annoyed sigh, I push myself up and start putting the last of my things away.

As the time ticks down to the start of the second event, I let out an annoyed groan and put an end to all my training and put the last items away.

For a minute, I sit there and think, looking for excuses.

When I find none, I teleport through one of the Ley Lines I've stretched out into the first round's zone.

Locating Jean's signature, I make sure he's alone and send another line his way, carefully avoiding the defenses these guys have set up around their zone.

After teleporting, I find myself in the middle of a clearing where Jean sits and trains. Even though he is not visibly moving, his muscles seem to twitch and spasm. His skin stretches and tears under the strain, and I could just about swear I heard the snapping of bone.

He doesn't even notice me until I step within his quick-strike range. At that point, he opens his eyes and tilts his head.

“The fuck do you want?” he asks.

In that moment, I almost change my mind, but I force myself to stay and sit on the grass right in front of him with my legs crossed beneath me.

I jump in before I can change my mind. “I broke my word. Well, technically not broke, more like I ignored it. Actually, it's not even my fault. A lot of things have been happening, and you can be annoying as fuck. I don't know, blame the system or something.”

He laughs out loud with a confused expression but doesn't say anything.

What an asshole. I bet he is doing it on purpose just to make this harder on me. I can't even be mad; I would totally do the same thing. That probably says something about me, but that's a thought for later.

“Simply said, I rejected your challenge when you came to our area and later during the event, even though I promised I would face you anytime.”

“That's true.” Jean stops training. “So, given that that's the case, I have to wonder if I should keep my own promise?”

“You have every right to do so.”

“You are really bad at this.”

“Yes.”

Jean laughs, moves closer, and looks at me with curiosity. “Tell me what happened. Your group is missing that blonde of yours, and there are so many rumors making me curious.”

“I don't want to.”

“If you do, I won't hold your rejection against you, just this once.”

For a while, I just stare at him while he returns my gaze, his smile growing ever bigger.

Asshole.

I would totally do the same.

“She has a mimic inside her, but I've been offered a way to save her. To do so, I have to do something I can't really tell you about, given the way it might influence the outcome. So long story short, I'm busy and not exactly in a good mood at the moment.”

“I see. I have noticed. But enough of that. How many times have you died during our conversation?”

“Huh? Twice.”

“I died thrice.” Jean smirks victoriously.

“How many times since the start of the tournament?” I ask.

“I don't know. Likely multiple dozens of times. I stopped counting.”

That surprises me. From what he says, he seems to be handling it pretty well, better than anyone from group 4, other than me.

He lifts his arms over his head and stretches with a long yawn. “Tell me a story about that girl. The first thing that comes to your mind. Don't ask why.”

Surprised once again, I think for a second before I start talking. “We were both younger back then, on Earth, and met for the first time just a few days before. Back then, she didn't really know how to 'officially' make friends. She had never made friends before and didn't know how it worked, so she tried to force it with logic.”

That memory flashes before my eyes. “One day, she just handed me a list. A handwritten list of reasons why we should be friends. It had bullet points. Some of them were ridiculously formal, things like 'Good compatibility score' and 'Both have high intelligence, subjectively speaking.' I kept that paper.”

Jean laughs out loud for a while, shaking his head, then stands up and gestures for me to do the same.

Reaching out with his huge hands, he claps them over my shoulders, almost crushing them in the process, a few times. “You aren't such a bad guy after all. Let's just say I can't kill that mind mage of yours here, so challenging you to get to her wouldn't make sense, right? No promises have been broken this time. Got it?”

“I do.” I think about it for a moment and add, “Thanks.”

Chapter 17

Start of the Second Event

Coming back from a meeting with Jean, all of group 4 gathers in the living room. The two boxes with thermonuclear warheads are piled on top of each other and pushed into the corner. Someone even threw a blanket over them so that they could be used as seating, funnily enough.

I sit on the couch beside Dennis and Aaron and ask, “Are you still stealing stuff from the other rounds and collecting information?”

Dennis lowers his voice. “You bet.”

“You two seem to be doing a good job. Not many people seem to have noticed you. The only people they mentioned in the meeting were Myrra and Tacita.”

“Hehe, did you know Sophie's been finding a number of spies from the other rounds, then pointing them out to Lily, so that she can hunt them down? It's fun to watch.”

“That does sound fun,” I confirm.

Looking around, I notice that the mood seems to have improved since the start of the tournament. For the moment, at least, even though they're still worried about Tess, they seem to trust me. That makes me wonder how their mood would've changed if I had stumbled. That feeling of helplessness would suck ass, I'm sure.

“Did you change your mind, or are we sticking to the plan? We help you locate the boss monsters and then do our own thing?” Sophie asks, moving closer together with Izzy.

I nod. “Yes, as much as possible assuming the setting doesn't screw us up. You could also keep an eye on the other groups, just in case they decide to go after one of the boss monsters. I will attach a [Ley Line] to each of you, and we can all watch one of these monsters while hunting the weaker ones so you guys get some points, too.”

“And Victoria?”

“To be honest, I don't know. If I asked her, I'm sure she would go around and hunt down everyone who could try to take a 'kill' from me and not mind the placements, but that could annoy Lissandra. So I didn't ask her for anything, and Victoria can decide what to do on her own.”

“Speaking of, have you seen her lately?”

“Lissandra? Not really, she just moves around and does her stuff. Myrra said she is busy examining this floor and instance, and trying to grasp how it's made. It should help her escape. I also think she uses inability to die here to level up her skills.”

“I don't think she likes me,” Sophie says.

“Well, no surprise there. For some unknown reason, everyone seems to hate you.”

She looks me in the eyes and, without a smile, says, “Haha.”

“Haha,” I reply.

“Whatever. Do you need help fixing Fracture? It doesn't seem to be in a very good state.”

“Does it ever? And no. I don't think it will survive this tournament, and chances are I only get one or two uses out of it at most, and another patch job won't help. Its base is too deteriorated.”

Aaron seems a bit dejected when he hears that. “A damn mid-arcane weapon, soon to be gone just like that. You think you can sell it before it happens?”

“I would like to think yes and will try it for sure after I use it and before it fully breaks, but the system is cheap. I don't think it will be so easy to trick.”

Dennis also reaches and taps the sword still hanging at my waist. “We can make a better one later, right?”

“Yes,” I confirm.

“I already have a name in mind.”

“Why do I have a feeling I know where this is going?” Sophie asks, but despite her grousing, she waits.

Dennis smiles and looks at Aaron. I bet these two brainstormed the names together.

“Fracture-er,” he says.

“No,” I refuse right away.

“Re-Fracture.”

“Hell no.”

“Splinter Supreme.”

“What the fuck? No.”

“Fracture M.K 2.”

“No.”

“The Throngler.”

“No… Wait. Why?”

“I read it somewhere.” Dennis smirks. “Some dude said that you don't want to be on the wrong end of Dark King Grutmore's Edge of Eternal Torment, but you really don't want to be on the wrong end of something called The Throngler. And I really liked it.”

“I mean…it sounds weirdly logical.” I hesitate.

“See!” Dennis seems happy with my agreement. “But in the end, I really like Fracture, and the name was given because of the effect, right? If we do the same again, the name could be the same. Or you can just call it Fracture, the same way you plan to call your war armor Regalia.”

“I liked Ardenyx, Praxion, and Exoria as well,” Aaron says from the side.

“The troubles you three get into a few minutes before the event.” Sophie shakes her head and stands up, turning to me. “Good luck during the event.”

I nod.

Aaron and Dennis continue to talk about items, war armors, and names while I think about Sophie's wish of good luck.

As the timer starts ticking down, I clear my mind and [Focus] once again to stabilize my emotions.

And even in [Focus], I come to the same conclusion I did before using [Focus].

Luck has nothing to do with this.

As always, we find ourselves being teleported to the event location.

A few notifications pop up in my view, but I only glance over them: the usual warnings and flood of unimportant information.

I send my senses into the area but fail to detect any presence nearby. No one from group 4 is anywhere near me. It seems everyone has been split up.

Continuing to use my senses, I redeploy my [Mana Crown] and start storing my excess mana as I walk through the trees.

Their bark is similar to that of birch trees, and the leaves seem normal, too. The only difference is that these trees are bigger, much bigger. Their crowns thoroughly obscuring the sky from view, leaving the space beneath them noticeably darker than their surroundings, only allowing the odd beam of light to pass through the gaps.

It's also quiet. There are no birds, no wind, no monsters or animals screeching. The air has a weird scent that I find hard to describe: a mix of the usual forest smells combined with the fresh sweetness of fruit. The scent hangs so thick in the air that it feels almost tangible.

I try to open my notifications, but there's nothing to see. No kill updates, no points, nothing.

But at least this time, there are no rules from Lissandra, at least for now.

I boost myself into the air and, through the branches, fly between the leaves and exit the forest, flying high into the air. A vast forest stretches below me, a sea a few miles in the distance, and the humongous floating islands grab my attention first.

The weather is currently sunny, but there seems to be a mass of dark clouds rolling in over the sea and, within them, constant lightning keeps flashing. That storm stretches miles and miles wide.

For the first time, I also detect signs of mana use and fighting in the forest below me, and I notice a few of the signatures flying toward me. I look in that direction to spot a pterodactyl-like monster with the wingspan of a small airplane, exiting the caves carved into the sides of these floating islands.

Three javelins weave next to me, and I shoot each of them with an added oomph of kinetic energy.

Each of the javelins hits and tears a hole through the head of a beast, causing their red blood to spurt into the air as the lifeless bodies start falling back into the forest.

There is no notification, which only worsens my mood.

I can't help but wonder if this setting is designed to put pressure on the participants.

I boost myself further until I reach one of the floating islands, which turns out to be farther than I estimated. Up close, it's even bigger than I expected. The Skyhold Bastion I saw on the fifth floor doesn't even compare in size. Each of these floating islands is large enough to host a city with populations in the hundreds of thousands and still have plenty of space left.

The vibrations of mana I sense from its “engine” send shivers down my skin. The sheer amount of energy needed just to keep it floating is hard to grasp. There's likely gravitational primordial energy involved, so I hope Min-Jae is taking notes.

Up close, I get a better view of the formations I spotted from a distance. Ancient-looking structures, now crumbling, cling to the bottom of the floating island. The island itself is shaped like a half-sphere, with a flat top. From what I saw, the flat top is covered in forest, not dissimilar to the one below that overgrows the ancient-looking buildings.

As for what keeps it afloat, I can see a single humongous purple crystal protruding from the bottom of the half sphere, along with the remains of these structures and similarly huge roots of some tree or plant.

A few more flying beasts notice me moving closer and fly toward me with the same murderous intent as their predecessors. I kill them the same way, flying past their falling bodies as I reach one of the larger caves.

Something inside emits a series of screeching sounds, and I hear the sound of hard claws scraping the floor of the cave as they rush to get out.

After sending out a pulse of energy to scan for the presence of other attendees, I throw a compressed thermal orb inside and seal the exit with a barrier.

In the following seconds, dozens of notifications continue to ring. Yet there is no event kill feed, no placements.

I dislike it. I hate it, and even though I am in [Focus], I feel a wave of frustration trying to wash over me.

Shoving these thoughts away, I fly toward a similar opening and repeat the process a few more times. Only when I still sense life inside one of the caves after bombing it do I enter and reseal the exit with a barrier.

I do not use light to guide my way; instead, I use thermal, kinetic, and mana senses to navigate the huge, dark tunnel. The dark, oddly enough, doesn't make me nervous; rather, it feels calming. Gradually, I pick up speed until I'm running, adjusting as I grow accustomed to the feedback my mana provides, telling me about the structure and paths around me.

I sense an attack forming, a primitive but powerful mana structure of a skill activating and reaching a threshold of mana required to activate.

Quicker than the caster can process, I reach toward that structure, take over, and twist a part of it. Then I add my mana to the mix and activate it.

An explosion shakes the cave as the lightning attack the beast was trying to use explodes in its throat.

The flapping of a huge set of wings fills the cavern, and I weave a javelin out of denser threads than before, making it bigger. Just big enough to handle the monster, whose tattoo-like symbols start glowing across the surface of its skin and lighting up the cave. In a flash, the pale blue javelin pierces the monster's chest and embeds itself deep in the wall behind it.

The beast takes a few more wobbly steps before the light of the tattoos begins to fade and the cave turns dark again.

The [Ley Line] tied to the javelin activates, and the javelin teleports itself back to my side. I shoot it again, but this time it fails to pierce the skin of the beast.

I dodge to the side, and laser-like bursts of lightning continue to track me, crackling and sizzling as they hit the walls and explode, sending chunks of rocky shrapnel flying through the air. I immediately sense the destructive power of the attack and know that it could easily cut me in half.

The javelin teleports back to me, and I use [Knitting] as well, making it even denser as I repair any damage the beast's tough skin may have caused.

For a second, I release a burst of thermal energy, lighting up the cave in its entirety with a brilliant flash of light.

The beast attacking me screeches, its lightning striking wildly as it jerks its head away from the sudden burst of light.

My javelin erupts into the air again, and a blast of kinetic energy pushes me back as the weapon pierces the beast through the chest and pins it to the wall behind it.

The beast thrashes a few times in an attempt to escape or launch a new attack, but it fails to do either.

With a Wraith Dance, I reach its corpse and examine the creature's skin. Even though I boosted the javelin and made it extremely durable, I notice the weapon has taken damage and still failed to completely skewer the beast.

What an incredibly durable skin and body for something that could fly.

I scan my surroundings again, but sensing no new signatures, I turn and head back outside.

Chapter 18

Frustration

Iexit the cave and propel myself higher into the air, rising toward the top of the floating island before coming to a stop near its edge. Gathering a large amount of mana, I unleash a powerful pulse, sending it as far as possible in an attempt to detect any wayward beasts.

I detect them, along with several signatures of attendees, mostly from Hard and Normal Difficulty, along with a few from Hell.

As for the beasts, I find thousands of them, tens of thousands, but most of the signatures feel weak.

Flying into the air again, I collect more mana. It swirls around me and compresses into the shape of an orb that quickly cycles through shades of pale blue, dark blue, and purple, before hovering on the edge of destabilization. I create a few more and compress them further, turning them bright white.

Each of them shoots ahead toward where I sense groups of monsters and no attendee signatures, and I boost myself toward another island with notifications about kills following me.

Even though this time I find stronger beasts, there are still no Special-grade ones, so I repeat the process. Though at some point I grow tired of this, opting instead to raise myself high enough to look down over all of the floating islands, letting the humongous area of the second event stretch out below me.

I activate Mana Wavelength Iris and then compress my mana to the point it collapses into that oppressive, mana-devouring black. I use it to strengthen my body and power my trait.

The pressure becomes incredible, even with my mid-arcane passive protecting my mind. I take in all the information my trait can provide, all those mana signatures, fluctuations, and movements.

I quickly activate [Focus] to filter the information, narrowing it down to mana signatures. My thoughts race at such incredible speed that the outside world feels sluggish. I locate Savant, then Myrra. I find Jean, and I pinpoint every member of group 4. My eyes take it all in, and I track every one of them.

But best of all, I locate three out of five of the Special-grade beasts.

I gather all the black mana coursing through my body and force it out, shaping it into a javelin.

When I stop using kinetic energy to keep myself afloat, I begin freefalling through the air. The wind whistles past me, pressing against my body. I feel it in my hair, whipping against my face and slipping between my fingers. Only when I'm close to the treetops do I boost myself forward, passing through them and into a space that barely qualifies as a clearing. The ground is broken, the trees are scorched, and pools of lava bubble across the landscape.

The air here is blistering, an effect of the heat radiating from the beast nestled in the crater, partially submerged in lava as its body melts the surrounding rock. It shifts, waves of heat rolling off its form. Its obsidian horns pulse, with the glowing veins of magma coursing through them. The ground beneath it cracks, molten rock clinging to its hide.

The Emberhorn Behemoth is a massive, bull-like creature with a thick, cracked, dark hide traced through with glowing veins of magma. Jagged obsidian plates run along its back, radiating intense heat. Its broad head sits low to the ground, crowned with two massive, curved horns pulsing with molten energy. Its deep-set eyes glow dimly, and smoke rises from its nostrils.

Finally seeming to notice me, it shifts, dragging itself from the lava, its hooves sinking into the half-melted ground, with each step sending a spiderweb of smoldering cracks spreading in my direction as the ground buckles beneath its weight.

The heat distorts the air, making everything waver. Its horns pulse brighter.

I don't wait.

The black javelin I created streaks through the air and drives deep into the beast's neck. Compared to its massive size, it looks insignificant, but I know exactly how much mana I poured into it.

With astonishing speed, the javelin starts absorbing the beast's mana and breaks the structure of the skill it was already moving to use. My Mana Wavelength Iris allows me to see how normal mana reacts to it, revealing just how oppressive the black mana is.

Another projectile forms near me, this time forming an [Empyrean Lance] with its core of white and gold glowing brilliantly. Threads of luminous energy weave themselves together, layer upon layer, condensing into a single radiant lance that hums with the immensity of the compressed mana contained within. And just as before, the lance pulses with the heartbeat of a star.

It shoots forth, hot on the heels of the first, and the beast senses it. It stops trying to pull the black javelin out of its neck and instead turns to the new threat. A deep, loud roar vibrates the air, and the lava in the pools surrounding us begins to ripple.

The heat, already overwhelming, intensifies as a concentrated wave of energy crashes into the lance.

It sizzles against the surface of the lance; it burns the mana within and dims the glow of the lance. Even so, whether due to the oppressive nature of the skill or the black javelin lodged in its neck, the beast fails to destroy it completely. The lance pierces through its side, then tears through its entire body, exiting on the other side in a geyser of burning blood that quickly evaporates under the weight of the heat.

The wound scorches itself closed and shivers with the heat as the bleeding comes to a stop.

When its enormous eyes turn back to me, they are full of anger.

Then I teleport, reappearing just over the beast as I step through the [Ley Line] attached to my [Empyrean Lance].

Right away, the heat crashes against my body as the beast lunges, jaws snapping at me. Each movement cracks the ground, sending splashes of lava through the air.

The heat radiating from its skin isn't thermal energy or even a fragment of eternal fire; rather, it's a purely mana-based skill or trait pushed to the extreme. The beast intensifies it even further, causing the lava around it to rise and flow through the air toward us.

[Redistribution] works overtime as I absorb the heat around me and store it in an orb hovering nearby. Simply handling it, absorbing it, and taking control with [Redistribution] converts the heat into thermal energy instead.

Half of my mental capacity focuses on just that to keep myself from being burned alive. The heat surges to an extreme as I ignore the pain of the beast's scorching skin as it sears the soles of my bare feet and move to grab the black javelin, yanking it free. The weapon has grown vastly stronger than the one I originally fired, having absorbed such vast quantities of mana.

I mold and reshape it, forcing it under my control with effort. Then I modify its structure to absorb more mana without destabilizing and transform it into another orb.

Within a blink, all the heat reaching me vanishes, reverting to mana as the black orb absorbs it. Like a whirlpool, the orb pulls everything inside, breaking the skill's structure to restore it to its original form, mana, which it then devours.

The flames and heat from the beast's skill vanish, leaving only a few pathetic remnants behind. Despite its power, the beast is slow, relying on its durable body and the flames and heat it can create. Even the lava it tried to move crashes to the ground, unable to be controlled without mana.

I leave the black orb where it is, and I teleport again, reappearing in front of an eye, which is easily twice my height.

Its pupil dilates as it turns toward me.

Then I grasp the golden orb of absorbed heat, freshly converted to thermal energy. I punch my hand through the eye's surface and release all the heat within the orb.

The pupil widens even further, its surface blistering and warping in an instant. A sharp hiss pierces the air as the eye sizzles, bubbles, and then bursts apart, spraying me with scalding liquid. The thick, red-hot fluid clings to my skin, but I barely register the sensation before the true destruction unfolds.

The heat surges past the ruined eye, racing through the creature's skull and deep into its brain. Flesh sears, nerves rupture, and boiling fluids expand until the entire mass collapses inward, cooking the brain from the inside out.

The enormous body spasms violently, limbs jerking before locking in place. Then, with a final shudder, it topples, crashing into the crater with enough force to send molten rock spraying high into the air. It twitches once more, then goes still, steam rising from the smoldering corpse.

One of the Special-grade beasts has been defeated!

The remaining Special beasts have sensed the Emberhorn Behemoth's fall. Now more alert, they will grow increasingly aggressive toward any perceived threat!

And that's it.

There is no telling how many points I have gained at this point.

Even in my current state, I can't help but deeply resent it, as if another layer of control has been stripped from me.

Not once before now has the system done something like this. Even during previous events, the system has shown us notifications and point totals. And just now, it's decided it doesn't want to.

With anger, I teleport and surround the black orb with [Eclipse] and [Mana Domain]. Then I activate the Mana Wavelength Tyrant. The mana around me freezes in place, all of it, even the ambient mana in the air, along with the beast's lingering energy and my own. It all stops and waits. The black mana resists more than the rest; the more it absorbs, the more difficult it is to control. But it hasn't reached that critical point yet.

I grab the black mana orb and change its shape, turning it into a spear longer than I am tall, and fly into the air, further boosting myself to increase my speed.

After landing on the floating island I visited first, I locate the remains of the ruins I saw with my eyes during the scan.

As I reach the area, some beasts rush at me immediately, but a concentrated pulse of kinetic energy blasts them away. Then I [Focus] once more and stomp, releasing waves of kinetic energy in a series of modified vibrations. It ripples through the surface.

The ground splits open, and rocks push through the dirt to the surface. I repeat the process several times, releasing more and more.

I continue to do this until, in a moment of frustration, I release too much, causing the area around me to explode in a shower of debris and fragmented ruins.

Lighting up a single thermal orb, I jump down and blast away more of the bedrock and enter a tunnel made out of stone. Its walls are covered in long-dormant inscriptions, obscured by roots and an assortment of greenery.

There are beasts, all of which feel ethereal and spread an incredible chill as they move through the air.

Just a bit of the first seal peels away, and I don't bother trying to hold the thermal energy the Ignition Heart generates; instead, I let it immediately seep into the air, blazing through the tunnels and filling them with gouts of golden flame.

The beasts, incapable of resisting or escaping, die even as they rush to flee.

I send multiple pulses of mana through the ruins and locate what I was looking for, confirming what I saw before.

A [Ley Line] stretches out, rushing in the direction I want to head, and I teleport, only to reappear just a step away. The black mana spear I hold interferes with the teleport, disrupting it as the black mana eats into the skill. So I don't bother making another attempt.

Changing my direction, I run through the tunnel until I reach the metal door and blast it away; the metal is as thick as my torso and starts to creak and bend, groaning audibly until it finally gives in and splits, creating a long, ragged split in the once-solid barrier.

I step through and release another wave of thermal energy, killing more beasts along the way.

A bit further ahead, I spot another door, much larger and thicker this time, but without mana powering the inscription, it lacks strength. They resist my blasts of kinetic energy, so instead, I grab hold of the thermal energy and release it in a thick stream, then narrow it until it forms a beam thinner than the width of my pinkie and focus it on a single spot.

The metal around the spot begins to melt and sizzle until, a few moments later, the stream of thermal energy pierces through. Then I move it, carving a circular hole halfway through. Then I stop and release a blast of kinetic energy, bending the half cut metal open like a can.

I enter the massive ruin and find a similarly huge pillar in the middle. It's crystal white and transparent, and inside of it, a heart is located, surrounded by incredibly intricate inscriptions. There are also circuits filled with a substance that resembles blood, sustaining it.

That heart inside is still beating and generating all this incredible amount of mana needed to keep this enormous island afloat.

There are inscriptions taking some of that mana and using it for healing in some twisted way, using pieces of flesh and a cut-off hand, also in the pillar. Other inscriptions supplement the heart with something else, pale blue liquid contained in a nearby tank. There are even secondary inscriptions intended to kickstart the heart if it stops beating, and who knows what else.

That heart isn't even human. It is easily half the size of my entire body.

I glance over the room and take in everything that might be of use, all the inscriptions I can remember. Then I lift the spear made out of black mana and, with a burst of kinetic energy, drive it into the pillar.

The spear pierces through the crystal and stabs itself into the heart, immediately starting to hungrily absorb the immense amount of mana.

The mana that keeps the island afloat doesn't vanish immediately. Other failsafes and mana stores act as an emergency supply, preventing it from falling.

But not for long.

The system doesn't want to tell me how many points I have.

Fine. I'll collect so many that no one else can even come close to first place.

I wonder what an island's worth of beasts is worth.

Chapter 19

This Could Work

The black spear pierces the heart, drawing in its mana. Slowly and almost imperceptibly, the heartbeat weakens, but the heart survives, continuing to feed the spear. The heart produces more mana than even I can generate right now.

The spear pulls mana from farther and farther away, including the nearby mana batteries and the pillar on the opposite side of the room containing its own, smaller heart.

At this point, I'm sure I wouldn't be able to retake control even if I wanted to.

I watch the spear pulse with a grim rhythm, twisting the mana around the dying heart, and the thought of trying to wrest control from that makes my skin crawl. I stand there for a moment, taking in the ominous display, and realize that this mana was never meant for my hands. It is a sign of a power that exceeds my current understanding and something I never could have gained if so many things hadn't come together.

I clench my fists, steady my breathing, and decide to step away. I leave through the same door and hallways as before and reach the surface of the island.

Flying high into the air, I dedicate part of my mind to keeping track of all attendee signatures and then stretch Ley Lines into the area with the most of them. Following that, I tie one line to a javelin that I launch down to the surface miles below us.

Then I teleport through the [Ley Line] and appear near a Normal Difficulty attendee. He doesn't even notice me, fighting for his life against the beast before him.

I steal his kill and use Wrath Dance to reach him. I put my hand on his shoulder, and a pulse of mana breaks through his defenses before he even notices me, and I teleport him through the [Ley Line] I stretched down to the surface.

There is no need for me to collect negative points for killing the other attendees.

I teleport again and appear in front of an Easy Difficulty woman wearing glasses and holding a spear in her hands.

“I…I know you, you're that psy—” Before she can finish, I reach her and, with even more ease than before, send her to the surface.

The next one I reach is a man from Hard Difficulty. He turns to me as he detects my presence, and as I take a step toward him, he steps back.

“Hey… What you… Stop! Stop!” he shouts and swings his mace at me.

I let the mace hit me, and a small trickle of mana flows into my reservoir as my unique passive activates. As with the other two before, I disrupt his mana and teleport him away.

I repeat the process with thirty-nine more people, taking only a few minutes to complete the process, during which I also kill any monster that enters the range of my detection. Even so, thousands of beasts remain, some of which are hidden deep inside the cave system, as well as those lurking in the ruins, and the ones sequestered in the caves at the bottom of the floating island or in the forest.

Before leaving the island, I look with Mana Wavelength Iris toward where I left the black mana spear.

The place seems like a whirlpool, pulling mana from an ever-growing area. And the island is already starting to tilt.

I'm sure that when it falls from its place, hanging in the air, most of the beasts will die. When the black spear destabilizes itself later, it should cause an additional explosion. And I made sure to modify the spear in a way that should cause this sooner or later.

Flying through the air, I quickly check the timer. We have somewhere around nine hours left of our ten-hour time limit.

I move toward the sea, and the storm on the horizon continues its advance: a dark wall of clouds and constant lightning, passing over trees, blanketing the rocky plains, and overtaking a beach full of light red sand. And it's there that I find another Special-grade beast calmly waiting for me.

The Onyxscale Hydra sprawls across the pale red sand, its massive body shifting with slow, deliberate movements. Its deep black scales have a faint sheen, like volcanic glass, their jagged edges resembling sharpened stone. Thick muscles ripple beneath its armored hide, each movement sending a dull grinding sound through the air.

Seven heads rise from its body, each distinct yet eerily similar, their horns curving in different patterns. All of them share the same facial features, differing only in the color of their eyes.

Waves crash against its tail where the sand meets the sea. Lightning arcs through the water where it comes into contact with the beast. In the distance, a storm stretches for miles, its lightning splitting the sky. The hydra remains still, its heads twisting in perfect sync, waiting for something or someone to challenge it.

Landing on the sand, I slow to a walk and reach a group of people standing at the edge of the forest, observing the beast from two miles away.

“Yo,” Maya says, being the first to greet me.

“Hey,” I reply.

“You're bleeding from the eyes,” she mentions.

Rather than respond, I just wipe the blood with the sleeve of my shirt and ask, “Why are you guys just standing here watching?”

I gesture a greeting to the young Korean girl who fought alongside Baek, along with a few people from Hell Difficulty, judging by their signature, and the presence of my old friend BenDover, who moved behind the trees the moment he detected me.

Maya shrugs. “The hydra knows about us, but the fucker is too lazy to attack. We came here just in time to see how it destroyed a group of five people from Hell Difficulty, right, Kang Jiwon?”

Maya puts her hand on the head of the young Korean girl and ruffles her hair.

Kang Jiwon watches her with an emotionless expression but makes no attempt to escape.

“Miss Knight, please stop,” she says.

That only makes Maya ruffle her hair more, and she turns to me. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, no problem.”

“If you need any help…”

“I know. I will ask.”

“Damn Na…Noname, you know how much I hate this situation, right?”

“I can imagine.”

“Anyway, the woman in the yellow shirt is your sister's right hand,” Maya says, pointing at the woman listening to us.

Her signature is one of the stronger ones here. Maybe a Beyonder as well? No, I pause. She's clearly a Beyonder; she's just hiding her mana really well.

Around twenty-five years old, she is short, just slightly taller than Lily. Her eyes are blue, her hair is raven black, and a thin choker rests around her pale neck. I recognize it as an enchanted item, and there are a few more similar items hanging on her wrists.

There is no weapon on her, and as Maya said, she's wearing a yellow shirt. And printed across the face of the shirt is a print of a black cat with a grumpy expression holding a cup of coffee.

It's safe to say that the shirt is from Earth.

“My name is Gloria,” she greets me.

“Hello,” I greet and turn back to Maya. “You should leave this one alone and collect as many points as you can instead. I've attached a [Ley Line] to you, so pull on it if you need help or if someone attacks the beast.”

“You aren't going to kill it now?”

I shake my head. “It's probably too strong for me to kill quickly, at least without making sacrifices. I'll return to it later after I check on the other beasts.”

Before leaving, I take a mental note of the battlefield layout as I survey the group, then I lift off again after sending a small thermal orb in BenDover's direction.

A blast of golden flames erupts, and he immediately dashes deeper into the forest without stopping or looking back.

The hydra is strong. Much stronger than the beast I just killed. The entire time, at least one head watched me, its eyes never leaving my form, not even for a moment. No one here other than Gloria has sensed it, but the hydra has been constantly scanning us, watching our mana signatures, and estimating our power.

And I don't like the fact that it hasn't attacked yet, even though, according to the system message, it should be more aggressive now. I don't like that deep intelligence in its eyes.

While in the air, my eyes rise to a massive island suspended high above, different from the one I came from.

It is floating almost right over where the hydra is.

I see.

This could work.

An hour later, I leave the ruins inside the floating island, using yet another black mana javelin to destroy the power source. As with the previous one, now it starts absorbing all the mana in the area and gradually destroying whatever mechanisms keep it afloat and their failsafes.

The first island I did this to is still in the air, but where it previously floated smoothly, it now rocks from side to side, and the enormous crystal point from its bottom has cracked.

I estimate that it should be another hour before it crashes. A few minutes before it does, I will need to clear the landing area of attendees as much as possible. The island isn't that high in the air, so the impact likely won't be too strong, but it should be enough to kill a lot of the tens of thousands of beasts living on it.

It's highly possible I won't get as many points as I would if I killed them myself. There's also a chance I won't get any points at all, though I doubt that. The system rewards people based on their performance, and it uses that exact phrase pretty often.

It knows how to split the experience when multiple people work together to kill monsters. Even so, this isn't the tutorial floor. It's the tournament, so it might work differently, and it would be foolish to rely on that.

I blast away another beast, a long snake-like creature with a dozen pairs of legs, which seems to like phasing into the ground and attacking from below.

And whenever that king of beasts finally materializes once more, it takes a moment before its defenses reactivate. Creating a short but very fatal moment of weakness.

I reach the side of the floating island and jump off it, flying along the bottom and weaving my way through all the roots piercing the base, seeking out one of the huge crystals nearby. On that side, I form a thermal orb that I stabilize as much as I can and start filling it with thermal energy through just a slightly peeled-off seal on the Ignition Heart. I embed that orb into the rock around it, which starts to melt, and knit a series of heat-resistant threads to anchor it to the wall.

Then I start layering mana threads around it in the form of inscriptions, not dissimilar to the dissipation nodes I have on my palms, soles, and my back, the ones I made in case of extreme buildup of thermal energy inside my body because of the Champion's heart.

I make this inscription powerful enough to last at least a few hours and add some simple controls.

Lastly, I set up defenses around it and barriers to hide its signature, and for a few minutes, I continue to pump thermal energy into the thermal orb and then lock it, to top it off later.

I pause, observing what I've done. The setup is crude but effective, and after a few more checks, I look down at the ground far below, at the pale red sand, the sea with its growing waves, and the black hydra nestled there.

Then I lift off and head toward where I detected the third Special-grade beast.

Chapter 20

Hunt Continues

The third beast I managed to detect is the Stormscale Basilisk. It is serpentine, as the name implies, and it's about the size of a building, and yet it's impressively fast despite its mass.

Its serpentine form carves through the forest, shimmering scales flashing with every movement. Each motion tears into the earth, splintering roots and crushing the undergrowth beneath its weight.

Trees bend and snap as its coiling body smashes through them, sending broken trunks to the ground. Lightning crackles along its hide, leaping outward to strike nearby branches in sharp, blinding arcs that always seem to reach farther than they ordinarily should. Leaves shrivel and blacken, with their edges curling from the raw force of the lightning surging through the air.

The ground trembles as if nature itself were being torn apart. And the beast is currently fighting.

Explosions of fire, mana projectiles, trees bending and trying to hold it, ground around it moving to grab it. There is also a huge golem made of earth in its path, and around that golem, black smoke surrounds it.

Sophie, Gareth, Savant, and Klara are there, fighting it, along with a bunch of guys I do not recognize, but judging by their mana signature, they must be Hell Difficulty at the very least.

A burst of orange light suppresses the lightning and attempts to poison the beast. Sophie and Blackie controlling her golem. Gareth, with a silver crown over his head, enduring the incredible attacks of the beast.

And Klara, clad in armor, lashes out at the beast with a big axe coated in sticky red light. Every time she cuts into the beast, some of that red light, smoke, or whatever it is remains and lingers in the wound until the basilisk envelopes itself in a burst of lightning to burn it away.

Sophie immediately reaches out to me through the link and shouts, (Don't look into its eyes!)

Just in time, I look away.

The Stormscale Basilisk destroys the trees in its path, throws aside the golem, and charges at me, only to be stopped by Gareth, who stands in its way, silver armor and huge shield in his hand, blocking the lightning. The basilisk tries to strike him, but a silver bubble surrounds Gareth. The beast crashes against it, and instead of breaking or pushing him away, the building-sized beast bounces back.

It attacks again with the same result, and the barrier refuses to budge an inch, though it doesn't seem to make sense. It should be torn from the ground and tossed aside with Gareth inside.

(It has some sort of mana-based poison that spreads through its gaze, causing your own mana to paralyze you. And it can do the same thing with its domain to a lesser extent,) Sophie explains.

Klara approaches the beast from the side and leaps onto its back, swinging her ax as she does. All the lightning crackling there channels a path through her armor, and several arcs of lightning lance through the blade of the ax, heating its surface and causing the metal to glow red from the heat. The red-haired woman swings it down, only to make the huge beast spring forward, crashing through a number of trees until it finally shakes her off.

Sophie's mana rises up, and the trees around us bend, extending their branches and trying to grab the beast or slow it down. Her golem shrinks, the dirt falling to the ground, as it abandons its rough humanoid shape into the form of a snake that slithers toward the basilisk.

The golem coils around the basilisk, which keeps moving, tearing up chunks of earth in its rage, as it opens its mouth to release a powerful, stream-like barrage of lightning that sets the surrounding trees on fire and carves chunks out of the ground.

Savant places himself in the beast's path, surrounding himself in the orange light of his domain, and lifts his sword. The broken blade glows with the same orange light as it extends, radiating increasing levels of mana. The light around Savant expands, forcing Klara, Gareth, and the others to move back as it collides with the beast's domain. Lightning crackles and fractures upon reaching deep into [Dawn].

I could join in and get the last attack. I could probably just hunt the other beasts in the meantime and let the others do all the work, just to killsteal this one later.

But at the same time, I know Lissandra is watching, and this is not what she had in mind. Even if I did take first place with that strategy, she would not accept it.

I know because, in this, our thinking is the same.

Just as I'm about to leave, I detect a presence.

Tacita appears out of thin air, standing within Savant's [Dawn].

She smiles widely, untouched by the orange mana radiation that once seemed to cause her so much trouble. Her modified field shields her, countering its effects.

Savant detects her and shifts his body, moving with incredible speed for a moment, just fast enough to counter.

But Tacita accelerates further, circling him with a playful grace that feels almost taunting. Her dagger flashes several times.

Savant loses one of his legs below the knee and is about to lose his arm at the shoulder, but he shifts, and her dagger sinks into his forearm, unable to pierce the bone. I'm sure that bone is not the same as other pieces of his body.

[Dawn] shrinks, and he changes frequency. Just a moment is enough for him to grasp Tacita's field, and with an incredible show of skill, he modifies his domain on the spot to counter her.

But Tacita knows it as well; as a final goodbye, she stabs her dagger with a green blade into his side and slaps him across the face before disappearing.

The Stormscale Basilisk seizes the opportunity, and its lightning presses against the weakened [Dawn] and almost hits Savant, who just barely manages to absorb part of the attack, before Gareth's silver bubble surrounds him, deflecting the rest.

Gareth groans and rushes against the beast in tandem with Sophie's golem, which begins to grow in size as they charge.

I track the shifting air and glance to my left just in time as Tacita appears nearby.

Noticing that I'm looking exactly where she planned to appear, she falters briefly, then shakes her head and disappears.

Before leaving as well, I send a message to Sophie. (Jean is approaching from your right and will be here in a few minutes. On your left is the Chinese tournament winner, but she'll arrive after Jean.)

After delivering the message, I teleport away into the air and use kinetic energy to fly higher.

So that means that the Nightshade Stalker, Witherclaw, and Onyxscale Hydra, for which I have something prepared, remain. Killing two out of the five Special-grade beasts should get me first place, combined with all the other kills. But there is also a chance someone will killsteal the Stormscale Basilisk and another beast and push for the first spot.

My decision not to killsteal the basilisk only puts more pressure on me, but I'm sure I know how Lissandra would feel about that.

I boost myself to the ground where I estimate the first floating island will crash.

The first attendee I meet is some Hell Difficulty guy; he turns his gun and points it at me. It reminds me of a sniper rifle, made out of materials I recognize as endurium and arcanadium. I also sense a bit of voidsteel, likely used for the bullets.

I wonder what he's using to replace gunpowder. Or, for that matter, if he even needs it. If he has telekinesis, he can make it bounce inside the rifle or store momentum to launch the bullet at speed. Maybe there is some inscription that handles the acceleration. Kinetic energy could work here, too, or even some kind of fire skill that would serve to create a small explosion.

I shake my head to put these thoughts away and say, “The floating island will fall soon. I would leave this area if I were you.”

He follows my finger as I point at the island.

“It seems like it,” he says. “I have noticed that fucked-up amount of mana up there. Someone pulled some crazy shit up there…”

Before he can finish, I teleport away.

Moving forward, I come across a pair who feel like they are from Easy Difficulty. They don't even notice me before I teleport them away.

I dash further to the right between the trees and boost myself onto a branch. A Hell Difficulty kid, around fifteen years old, notices my movement as I pass through the leaves. He shoots lightning at me, and I swing my hand, deflecting the lightning with a barrier I quickly create around my hand, and make it hit the nearby tree.

Before he can do anything else, I punch him in the belly to break his concentration and then teleport him away.

I continue doing so for the next ten minutes, cleaning the area of everyone I can, and only then do I lift back up into the air.

Just then, the first floating island plummets, not gradually, but instantly, like a dropped stone. Whatever kept it aloft is gone, taking all the support systems with it, including the fail safes and backup mechanisms.

Even from here, I can see the monstrous pull on the surrounding mana from the island's center, the black spear already on the brink of destabilization.

The sky rumbles with the weight of what's coming. The floating island, vast enough to hold a city, begins to fall in a sudden, violent plunge. The sheer pull distorts the wind, sending shockwaves outward and bending the clouds around it as if the sky itself were being torn open.

From below, it looks like the sky is collapsing.

The forest on top of the island writhes as the falling mass picks up speed. Trees sway violently, and some are uprooted in their entirety, their massive trunks flung into the air like twigs caught in a storm. The ruins, weathered stone structures half-buried in moss, begin to fall apart, the force of the fall shaking them apart before they even reach the ground.

And then there are the beasts. Tens of thousands of them.

Some leap from the edges, trying to escape. Beasts of all kinds, including serpentine, winged, and phantom abominations, all desperately seek the sky. Others, either too stubborn or too oblivious, remain on the island, roaring, screeching, and howling.

As the island plummets closer, the pressure of the air around me changes, so intense that it feels as if the atmosphere itself is being crushed beneath its weight. The ground below begins to react, tremors rippling through the area even before the island reaches it.

Then there is the impact. The ground erupts on contact, in an explosion of dirt, stone, and raw energy blasting into the sky like a volcanic eruption. A shockwave filled with debris erupts outward, leveling everything near the impact.

Trees find themselves obliterated, their remains scattered into the wind in clouds of splinters, leaving a significant portion of the forest altered in an instant.

In addition to the beasts on top of the island, more on the ground find themselves caught in the destruction, reduced to nothing as the sheer force of the impact tears through them. Those lucky or unlucky enough to survive are thrown through the air, with their bodies broken and limbs twisted.

And at the center of it all, the remains of the floating island lie half buried in the ruined landscape, shrouded by a massive dust cloud.

It looks like it's all over, but deep within the shattered ruins, something stirs.

At the island's core, the black spear finally destabilizes.

For a brief moment, everything goes silent. Even the screeches of the beasts around it are cut off.

Then it erupts. The blinding white light fills the ruins, followed by a massive mana disruption pulse tearing through the forest. Everything within a mile or more is affected. Magic flickers and dies. Inscriptions collapse.

Another shockwave hits, and a violent blast rips outward, sending debris in every direction. The nearby beasts that survived the impact are flung like ragdolls. Chunks of rock the size of buildings are sent flying through the air, crashing into the trees of the forest and rolling still further. Some even fly through the air and fall into the sea, sending geysers of water erupting into the air.

The heatwave follows, a wave of searing air that scorches the land and ignites portions of the forest. The following implosion pulls everything into a vortex of crushing force. Dust, flames, even the very air twists and vanishes, pulled into the vacuum.

For a moment, there is again nothing but silence. Then comes the final release. A concussive blast that carves out a deep, empty crater where the ruins once stood.

And the hunt continues.

Chapter 21

Special-Grade Beasts

My mana keeps regenerating, and plenty remains. After the first event, this abundance feels almost unusual.

Finally, I manage to locate another of the three remaining beasts, just as the Stormscale Basilisk dies, fallen at the hands of multiple Beyonders. Yet even there, no one can be sure who got the points in the end.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who deeply despises the lack of information.

Flying over the beach and out to sea, I eventually come to a small island. It's close to the wall of thunderstorms currently on course to buffet the mainland within the next hour or two.

I'm sure that when these lightning storms hit the mainland, the powerful wind and thunderbolts will wipe out most, if not all, Easy and Normal Difficulty participants. And the storm isn't weakening, either. On the contrary, it's growing stronger by the minute. At some point, given the system, I'm certain it will even be capable of killing a few of the people from Hell Difficulty.

Here, on this small island, with the lightning already striking the sea around it, I find Lissandra.

While the wind churns the sea and tears at the foundation of the island beneath her, the area around her remains eerily calm. There is no barrier that I can sense, but when I land beside her, it feels as if the storm never existed. Sounds are muted, the tornado-like wind outside fades into a gentle breeze, and no lightning even comes near.

Yet, I do not feel or see any mana. I absolutely cannot see how she does it.

In her usual calm manner, she makes no move to stop me and observes my reaction while she sits on a nearby boulder.

Next to her stands what I assume to be the Special-grade beast, the Witherclaw. It's not tied up or held in any way; it just stands there, scared for its life and not moving at all, only glancing her way when it thinks she may be distracted.

It shows a hint of aggression when I appear, but Lissandra makes a dissatisfied noise, and the Witherclaw immediately cowers, ending all resistance.

The beast is tall and thin; its body is frail and stretched, with pale, almost sickly skin clinging to its bones. Its arms are long, ending in sharp, splintered claws that look ready to snap at any moment. Its dark, hollow eyes stare ahead, empty and unreadable, though its tense body does give some hint of the emotions it might feel.

It is so weak in comparison to the other Special-grade beasts I have met so far.

“So?” I ask Lissandra.

“I will be keeping this one for now. I'll release it thirty minutes before the end of the event.”

“Why?”

“Because it is getting stronger the more time passes, little pup. One hour before the end of the event, it will be stronger than any other Special-grade beast,” she says, with a bit of disdain, as if she considers that naming silly, “and thirty minutes before the end of the event, you will have five minutes to kill it before it becomes strong enough to kill everyone here.”

“And what happens if I don't?”

“Well, ten minutes before the end of the event, it rises to Champion grade, and thirty seconds before the end, it will be Absolute grade. So, little pup, tell me, don't you think this is a fun little setting the Rulers have prepared?”

“No restrictions for me this time?”

“None this time,” she confirms. “Do whatever it is you want to do, little pup. But save some energy for this one.”

She waves her hand, and my teleportation activates against my will; I find myself being sent through one of my Ley Lines as I appear back on the mainland.

As I rise into the air, even with [Focus], I can't ignore my curiosity and the questions racing through my mind. Most of all, how long will it take for me to learn how to do what she does?

Before the second floating island finally starts falling, I see Sophie die at the hands of one of the remaining Special-grade beasts.

A black panther that seems to have shadows instead of fur steps out of one of the nearby shadows and bites into her neck, ripping out her throat and dispersing her into a cloud of fine particles. Then it disappears again, avoiding a barrage of attacks from Min-Jae and Maya, who immediately rush the beast.

Even I can't track it when it disappears, so I'm sure none of them can, either. I hadn't even sensed it appear before it got to Sophie.

The Nightshade Stalker then starts picking off more and more of the people who've gathered to observe the hydra. It appears again and snaps at Gareth, piercing through his silver armor with ease, tearing into his leg and leaving deep scratches. Some of the people gathered use fire or light skills in an attempt to erase all the shadows in the area, and despite the bright lighting they produce, they can't fully prevent shadows from forming. There's always one or two that survive, and the beast is fast.

And once too many people gather to defend themselves, it vanishes.

For a few minutes, there is an almost eerie silence. Some of the people lower their defenses, thinking it must have moved somewhere else.

These die first when the beast returns.

With the second island beginning to fall, I don't really have time to try and stop it, and I already sense multiple Beyonders coming to the area, organized through the various communication links they've made.

Some manage to deploy barriers, fields, or arrays. Others try to mark the beast and hunt it down. There are even dexterity specialists who make an attempt to match its speed.

Vic is approaching the area as well.

It's the fight I would otherwise like to watch just to learn about the others' abilities, but I cannot.

I teleport into the air next to the island. As before, it starts plunging toward the hydra, but just as I expected, it's not quite close enough.

When I activate the inscriptions I placed on the side of the island, a huge burst of flame erupts from the thermal orb, narrowed into a cone reminiscent of the flames emitted by a jet engine.

Things break, and I start noticing imperfections or mistakes. The output also isn't ideal for what I intended.

On the spot, I make the required change, straining my mind in the process and slightly lifting the seal on the Ignition Heart. The stream of flames shifts, growing more focused and extending further. As the island falls, it gives it just enough of a push to steer it over the beach.

After confirming that it's going in the right direction, I teleport back down and quickly use Wraith Dance multiple times in succession; my control during the series of quick deployments slips ever so slightly, and the movements and kinetic energy itself damage my body.

The Onyxscale Hydra waits there, turning three of its heads toward me, while two turn to watch the attendees nearby, and the remaining heads observe the sky and island as well. The beast is annoyingly intelligent and seems to have noticed.

I use [Eclipse]. It expands into the area, crashes against the beast's own domain, and pulls the colors out of everything but the mana hanging in the air.

As the seconds tick down and the island looms ever larger in the sky, the beast remains unfazed, showing no sign of worry or hesitation.

Slowly, all seven heads turn toward me. Then one of them starts bleeding from the eyes, its skull twisting and bulging until it bursts apart. But the beast pushes through my [Eclipse] and continues to drive my skills back.

Another head starts twisting, its eyes rupturing under the pressure as the beast strains to counter me. I push even harder, channeling a massive amount of mana through my body to fuel my skill and keep the beast from escaping.

[Eclipse - Level 28 Eclipse - Level 29]

[Eclipse - Level 29 Eclipse - Level 30]

And then another head follows; both of them explode in the process of countering [Eclipse]. The beast is pushing its brains to the extreme, overclocking itself just to counter my skill.

The falling island seems so close now that I can feel the pressure and heat generated by the falling mass of rock and dirt.

Just a few more seconds.

Then two more heads explode, and all my Ley Lines are torn apart.

I find myself glued to the spot and unable to move an inch, even as I deploy countermeasures and begin running through a number of methods to break away every second.

The sixth head of the hydra bulges; both eyes explode, the neck cracks and twists, and the head bursts open.

Then the hydra teleports away.

Seeing a way out, I resonate with the beast's mana; I take over and try to follow the monster through the rift.

There, I meet its own countermeasure like a brick wall. A wall I cannot break with my current skill or pass around.

I glance at the island that is about to crash into me, and the entirety of my mana roars in a tricolored display as I start stacking barrier upon barrier around me.

Then the island falls on me.

Channeler

I barely throw myself to the side as a massive rock slams into the ground, as a second massive flying island crashes into the ground, and for a moment, I feel like the entire world is shaking apart beneath my feet.

The heat that follows is suffocating. It rolls over everything like a living thing, igniting the trees around us in an instant. The battlefield erupts into action.

Someone raises walls of earth to cover us. Izzy and her massive snake absorb the worst of the heat. Kim fires at the monsters without hesitation. Even Knight charges in, blade flashing.

Then the shockwave hits. It's like stepping off a cliff. Every skill I have vanishes in an instant, my passives flicker out, and my mana twists in a way that makes my stomach churn. My control is gone. And even when everything settles, a few seconds later, my mana control still feels sluggish.

And then I see it. The Onyxscale Hydra.

It wasn't there a second ago. Now it is, towering over the battlefield, its monstrous body writhing. Its remaining head stands tall as the remaining six begin to regenerate. The moment they return, it moves and starts teleporting around, each relocation causing one of its heads to turn into a bloody mess of flesh, scales, and bones.

It shoots fire, it shoots lightning, and it creates barriers around itself. Within just a few seconds, it kills dozens, and among them are a number of the Hell Difficulty people I've come to know. The beast doesn't slow down, either. Second after second, its skills grow stronger, with more of its heads rupturing and regenerating as attendees try to stop or kill it, only to be killed in turn.

At that point, the black shadow panther appears as well, and things devolve into one huge mess.

The panther is incredibly fast and impossible to detect.

The hydra, between its teleportation, which bypasses all attempts to stop it and its relentless attacks, begins pulling heat from the air. That alone kills any Easy or Normal Difficulty targets in the area, almost regardless of distance.

But then I watch as Victoria appears. Out of nowhere, she stands there as if she had simply sprung up from the ground.

Something about her must have attracted the attention of the panther because it quickly appears beside her and bites into the left side of her body, tearing off her entire arm and most of her chest. More than just a gruesome sight, it sends shivers down my back that she just stands there and watches the panther tear her body apart.

The spooked beast vanishes into the shadows, only to reappear a moment later, crashing into the ground. With something moving inside its mouth. The severed pieces of Victoria's body begin to grow, forming a copy of her body right inside the beast's mouth.

Even so, it is not enough, and the beast's body is too strong, and it closes its mouth, crushing the little that had managed to grow there.

Then I see the most incredible sight. A hand claws its way out from inside the beast's mouth, followed by another. It tears off a finger and throws it deeper into the beast's throat. Then it tears off another finger, and another.

The panther thrashes, its claws still cutting down anyone who gets too close, but it's losing control. It tries to roar, but the sound is wrong. Wet, choked, bubbling with its own blood. It doesn't stop moving, but it's slowing down.

Yet it does not stop. I keep seeing more fingers torn off and thrown into the beast, where a new body attempts to grow from each one. Piece by piece, Victoria forces her way out.

Tears begin to form on the panther's neck, and its mouth stretches open so wide that its jaws dislocate. A sharp crack echoes out, and the beast goes still before collapsing.

Its body starts shifting, accompanied by the disgusting sound of tearing flesh as it continues twitching even after death, with the sort of lifeless movements that I am sure will stay with me forever.

Victoria climbs out, drenched in blood. She wipes her face, barely looks at the corpse, and moves on, vanishing from my sight before I can even register where she's going.

In the space where she once stood, the hydra crashes to the ground and rises with its six heads lifting into the air. It roars, bursting my eardrums, and I feel warm blood flowing from my ears.

Two heads move hungrily downward and start tearing the panther apart, devouring the body within seconds.

Then one of the heads turns to me, and its mouth opens, lightning crackling loudly as it advances.

Out of nowhere, that mouth snaps closed, and all of its heads turn in one direction: toward the fallen remains of the island in the distance, where the sea meets the pale red sand beach.

Something detonates, sending debris high into the air. Even from here, I can feel the massive surge of mana engulfing the area. In some ways, it feels even more dangerous than the seven-headed beast.

A second later, he floats there, right where the hydra is looking. Clothes torn and burned, wounds covering his body, and blood flowing from the side of his head. His crown floats above his head, and golden circles surround his pupils.

Victoria appears by my side. “You are Channeler, right? My brother mentioned you.”

The way she talks so casually, even in this situation, makes me nervous.

“Y-yes.”

“I am glad I remembered you correctly,” she says, looks up, and calls to her brother, “Do you need any help?”

I already know what he will say; I know him too well to be surprised. And as expected, he answers with that same unreadable, infuriatingly calm expression, as if the world itself couldn't shake him.

“This one is mine.”

Chapter 22

One Hour Remains

My mana reserves are much lower now; that is how much it took to survive the island's “landing,” along with the explosions, especially the one caused by the black mana destabilizing.

Still, I'm grateful to the monster for showing me what I can survive, and I thank it for reminding me not to underestimate my opponents, no matter how capable I believe myself to be. As the hydra has proven, I should be assuming that everyone has a trick or two up their sleeve.

One of the heads bursts open under strain as the beast overclocks its processing. The earth beneath it bulges and launches a barrage of stone javelins.

I don't even attempt to block it; instead, I teleport, appearing closer. Another head bulges as the hydra attempts to use that skill to disrupt my ability to teleport and hold me in place, but this time, I've come prepared.

The attempt washes over me and does succeed in restraining me, but I expand my [Mana Domain] and pull [Eclipse] tight against my skin, breaking through to teleport once again, reappearing right in front of the hydra.

Another head explodes, and it teleports again.

Three heads remain, but another one regenerates in the meantime.

I watch it; I estimate the regeneration speed and observe the order in which it happens. I also note that, for some reason, the hydra does not want to let me get close. I follow it on foot, using Wraith Dance multiple times as I weave between the trees, attendees, and the attacks raining down on me.

Lightning, stone spears, ice, and flames. All are massively destructive, ripping the forest apart and killing anyone who gets too close, but the hydra keeps moving further away. It sacrifices multiple heads as it reaches the rough sea and begins to slither across the surface. Lightning from the storm cracks through the air nearby, and rain begins to fall, accompanied by hurricane-force winds.

I form a suit of armor around my body, normal sized this time. I deploy the stored structure and compress it, all the while keeping my eyes on the hydra. I watch every move the beast makes with its mana.

As we face each other, the hydra teleports again, deeper into the storm, and I follow. Lightning strikes my armor, the wind tries to hurl me through the air, and water crashes over me.

I can barely see the hydra through the shadow of the dark clouds covering the sky and the torrential downpour of rain that falls in their wake. But finally prepared, I charge using Pulser Stance, advancing in a series of small leaps as I evade the beast's attacks.

The hydra harnesses the lightning above and directs it at me, then compresses the water around it into laser-like streams to cut me apart.

I move unpredictably, stepping between attacks and extending the reach of [Redistribution] toward the storm. Everything within the spherical area of my influence grows still. The winds cease their rampage, the air growing dead still, while the surface of the sea settles, smooth as glass, serene as a mountain lake on a windless day. It becomes quiet, and the hydra roars.

Two of its heads twist and break apart as it tries to hold me in place again. But this time, I break through immediately, moving closer, taking a series of quick steps that don't so much as stir the water around us.

It tries to teleport, but I release a burst of kinetic energy I had been gathering from the storm's turbulence. This burst strikes the nearest head, which shows signs of being wounded, causing the teleportation to fail. I send two more bursts, detonating the second head with one while the beast fends off the other.

[Redistribution] surrounds the beast, and I amplify it with black mana. This time, I am the one holding it back, nullifying all of its movements.

Three heads remain, and I already know which one to target. Before it can react, [Empyrean Lance] pierces through another head.

My armor expands to match the size of the beast, and I release my grip on the storm. Rain starts falling again, and the wind howls as waves tear through the surface of the sea when I crash into it.

I grab one of the two remaining heads, my heart racing as it converts mana into kinetic energy. I squeeze tightly, crushing the head until it bursts like the other.

Then I grab the last head, but before I can do anything, it explodes on its own. Blood sprays over me, sizzling as it burns through my mana, even as the rain begins washing it away.

It reaches my body, searing my skin and disrupting my mana. My shoulder and back burn as the flesh melts away, exposing bone. It would have spread further, but I disrupt the mana within the blood and break down the structure of the skill. The blood returns to normal, reverting to a simple, if hot, red liquid.

I sense movement behind me and strengthen my armor.

Taking advantage of my distraction, a jet-like stream of water slashes diagonally across my armor, barely stopped by the final layer before it manages to cut me apart.

The regenerated hydra head bites into me, sending constant bursts of lightning through the armor. The storm fuels it, with bolts striking the hydra, surging through its body, and pouring into me.

Locking eyes with that piercing blue gaze, I reinforce my armor. I continue to knit and weave my mana, using Ley Lines to form new layers to redirect the lightning. More kinetic energy builds within me.

At that moment, my mind is clear and calm, leaving no room for anything but single-minded focus on continuing the fight and managing my abilities.

As the tail strikes toward my breastplate, in an attempt to skewer my body, another arm grows from my back and catches it, holding it in place. My other two hands reach for the hydra's head, gripping it from both sides as I begin to squeeze.

The lightning intensifies, surging from the hydra's mouth as it blasts against my armor and reaches for my head. Layers crack and shatter one after another until only the final one remains, barely holding against the assault.

I don't even blink.

The beast's red blood continues to spray against my mana, eating into it and sizzling despite the fierce wind and heavy rain. The lightning intensifies, as the hydra strains in desperation, striking me again and again as I rebuild my defenses.

Control slips from the hydra, and lightning tears into its body. Desperate to escape, it tries to pull away, but I hold tight, squeezing even harder.

Its skull cracks, and the feedback of the kinetic vibrations it creates reaches me. One of its eyes bulges out and bursts open.

With one final push, I power up the armor and slam my hands together, the skull bursting open between my palms in an explosion of flesh, brain, and blood.

Even with its heavy demands on my concentration, I slightly lift the seal around the Ignition Heart, letting it beat a few times. Each heartbeat unleashes a surge of thermal energy, golden flames erupting around me. They fuel my healing passive, evaporate the water collecting on my skin, boiling the sea below me before finally crashing against the hydra's body, scorching the stumps of its seven severed heads, rolling off the creature's onyx scales time and again before finally breaking through.

The fourth Special-grade beast has been defeated. The remaining Special-grade beast has sensed the death of the other four. It will know who killed them and their locations at all times.

I teleport away in a short series of leaps, as the storm hits the beach and continues onto the mainland. Even the islands floating in the sky find themselves forced to move under the oppressive winds. I check the time and confirm the state of the countdown.

Then I take a break from hunting the other monsters. Instead, I fly to the top of one of the islands and, repeating my previous strategy, break into the vault containing one of those huge hearts. Once there, I anchor another Ley Line and make my way back outside, then I continue stretching it over to another island, at which point I make my way to a similar room.

The two Ley Lines connect, and I continue to stretch that line. I start teleporting between the two locations, setting up inscriptions made out of Ley Lines or threads of mana that I weave and knit if I need more flexibility. I even break apart parts of the room and melt the mana-conductive materials, using them to add to the web of inscriptions I'm assembling.

Every few minutes, I check the timer until Lissandra releases the last beast, and at the right time, I create two javelins made of black mana, each of which pierces one of the hearts, only to start absorbing the mana once again.

My inscriptions temporarily prevent it from eating into the web I just made, and the black mana instead targets an easier source: the mana generated by the heart.

A bit over one hour remains, and I'm sitting inside one of these rooms, examining the process: taking notes on the way black mana absorbs other mana, the difference in how it affects me with Mana Wavelength Tyrant on versus how it affects me when it's off, and the way black mana reacts with the current iteration of [Ley Line].

I examine the inscriptions making up the room as well: the ones around the heart, those around the hand, and the set empowering the hand to heal the heart. The two sorts of liquid pumped into the head, one pale blue and the other as red as blood, capture my attention.

There are plenty of materials I don't really know yet and pathways carved in ways I never imagined. It's something I'm sure I could spend days, even weeks, examining and experimenting with.

At some point, I sense a familiar presence approaching, so I stay where I am. It doesn't rush, taking its time to reach me.

It enters the tunnels, passes through them, and sometimes stops for a minute or two to curiously examine something new it finds. There is even a point where it gets distracted and follows the beasts that appear, just to observe them.

After a while, it seems to get bored and turns to head right for me. When it gets close, I switch to my normal sight and watch Myrra enter through the hole I've made in the metal door.

“Hello, Feral One!”

“Hello, Myrra.”

“You don't seem to be having a good day.”

“It could be worse. Are you here with a message, or are you just here to mess around?”

“Hehe, I would say it's more of the latter. Is it safe to come closer?” She gestures at the pillar with the heart and my spear piercing through it.

“If you stay close to me.”

“Got it,” she says, moving quickly in nimble, long steps, and sits on the ground next to me.

For the next five minutes, she stares at the pillar, the black spear, and the huge heart. Her yellow eyes are wide open, as her tail sways from side to side.

“You never asked me for my subclass, Feral One.”

“I've heard from a reliable source that it's super rude to ask that sort of question.”

“But you are rude.”

“…What is your subclass, Myrra?”

“It's greed. Maybe that's why she 'likes' me, if you could call it that. You don't have to tell me yours; I already know.” She flashes me a smile, placing her fangs on full display.

“Okay.” I nod.

Her hand moves up, and with the tips of her fingers, she carefully touches the scar that runs horizontally across her nose and a small part of her face, something I'm sure she could have removed if she wanted to.

In the light down here, the surface of the scar glistens in stark contrast to the rest of her skin. The light makes it appear deeper and redder.

“I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Tess.”

“I understand.”

To my surprise, the response only seems to annoy her, the motions of her tail betraying her emotions.

“I hate it when you use that concentration skill.” She stands up swiftly. “I will see you after the event, and, Feral One…good luck.”

After that, she forfeits the event and disappears to watch from the outside, possibly under Lissandra's instructions.

Her words feel off…as if I missed something important.

Three.

Two.

One.

One hour remains, and for the first time since the start of the event, I receive a notification from the system.

Congratulations! You have survived until the final hour of the event. One hour remains.

The following beasts have been defeated:

Onyxscale Hydra

Stormscale Basilisk

Emberhorn Behemoth

Nightshade Stalker

The Special-grade beast Witherclaw has managed to survive and will now rapidly grow in strength in step with the event's settings!

Thirty minutes before the end of the event, its strength will grow rapidly. Ten minutes before the end of the event, it will attain the rank of Champion and beyond!

Current points awarded for defeating the Witherclaw: 15,000.

Points will increase by 500 per minute until the thirty-minute mark, then by 1,000 per minute.

At the ten-minute mark, they will increase by 5,000 per minute.

At the one-minute mark, they will increase by 10,000 per second.

At the thirty-second mark, the point value of Witherclaw will increase by 100,000 per second.

I reread it a few times before I look at the other notification.

It is now possible to see the rankings of the second event!

Then the current rankings start to appear in the holographic window before me, listing placement after placement.

10th - 5,401 points - Brainiac

9th - 6,120 points - Grumpy

8th - 6,580 points - Tacita

7th - 6,751 points - Renji Hayakawa

Five more placements appear, including a few names I don't recognize. I know not all of the “Kings” are suited for hunting groups of opponents, but it's good to see a Beyonder in the rankings. It clearly means that the top dog of the round isn't fixed; after all, every round should have at least a few people competing for the top spot.

6th - 6,940 points - Maxim Sarov

That Russian boy with shadow creatures and void energy is interesting. I hadn't expected his abilities to be quite so effective against large numbers of opponents.

As more names appear, I find myself thinking of trivial things to distract myself.

5th - 7,050 points - Agni

Another new face.

4th - 7,888 points - CarrotCake

I expected him to be at least that high.

3rd - 16,300 points - Victoria

So it was probably 10,000 points for the Special-grade beast, but then that would mean Victoria earned the rest from the normal beasts?

When the second place appears, I feel myself calm down.

2nd - 19,700 points - Yama

Good.

The last name spot appears. And next to it is a single-word name.

But it's not mine.

1st - 37,600 points - Hadwin

And one more. My placement.

26,576th - 0 points - Noname

Chapter 23

Witherclaw

Staring at the window, I let a chuckle slip from my lips. Another follows, building until it turns into full-blown laughter. I keep laughing for a good ten seconds before finally stopping.

[Focus].

I open the notifications again and start doing calculations.

Thirty-eight minutes from now. Twenty-three minutes before the end of the event, the Witherclaw should be worth somewhere around 38,000 points, enough for me to secure the first spot. Even though Lissandra said that twenty-five minutes before the end, the beast would become strong enough to kill anyone here.

That means it needs to survive for at least eight minutes from the moment she releases it until I can kill it.

I let out a long sigh and rest my back against the wall, tilting my head up to stare at the ceiling absentmindedly. Out of curiosity, I press the tips of my index and middle fingers against the contours of my neck, tracing a path along my windpipe to feel for my pulse. It's quick and erratic, mirroring my heartbeat.

Another chuckle escapes me as I lower my hand.

Then I close my eyes and clear my thoughts.

When it's close to thirty minutes to the end of the event, I stand up and teleport outside, positioning myself on the cliff at the edge of the floating island. The strong wind immediately pushes against my body, and the view unfolds below me. The sea is nearly gone, obscured by dark clouds and a wall of rain and lightning that has already begun its bombardment of the trees in its path. Some of them catch fire only to be extinguished by the rain in the next instant.

All of the remaining islands I can see remain in the air, receiving their own constant barrage of lightning strikes.

With the storm comes a flood of stronger beasts. From behind it emerge hawk-like creatures, their piercing screams cutting through the air, lightning trailing their wings. New beasts crawl from the water, floundering their way ashore and diving straight into battle with the attendees.

Yet the worst is still to come, waiting for the moment the timer reaches Lissandra's appointed moment.

As that time arrives, a powerful mana signature emerges from deep within the storm, and I activate my eyes, tracking it as it moves.

The Witherclaw runs like a wild animal, sometimes on two legs, sometimes on all fours. It pierces through the wall of rain, dodging lightning all the while, and then delves into the forest. Immediately, explosions go off and powerful bursts of mana trigger an array of defenses the attendees have set against the storm and beasts.

I strengthen the shield around me to avoid taking damage from the storm's lightning and continue to observe the beast's progression.

It exits the tree line, holding a man by his leg, and begins looking around and sniffing. The raindrops splash on its pale skin, making its thin, fragile-looking body glisten in the air.

The man being held channels mana and launches a swift, cutting attack at the beast, but the Witherclaw just takes one more step, yanks the man back, and swings his body against a tree. Blood sprays from his mouth, and I am pretty sure his spine cracks, yet he still doesn't die.

The Witherclaw lets him go and moves closer, settling beside the man and staring at him with its empty black eyes as he lies there, dying. The attendee tries to speak, but only frothing blood escapes his mouth, until he finally remembers he can forfeit with his mind, dissolving into pale blue particles.

For a moment, the Witherclaw watches the spot where the man died. Then it rises and turns directly to me, as if it could sense my eyes watching.

Its figure is not that much different from that of a human, though it looks very fragile, pale, and with thin, long limbs. It has a slightly larger head than its body would normally warrant, and its mouth isn't really all that big, but when it opens, I can see multiple rows of sharp teeth.

Yet its black eyes remain empty.

The beast senses movement nearby and, instead of hiding, charges at a group of ten attendees, a mix of people from Hell and Hard Difficulty.

The Witherclaw moves quickly, switching between bipedal and quadrupedal strides. No stun, disruption, or hold type skill seems to work on it, and the Special-grade beast is nimble and perceptive enough to avoid most attacks.

Its claws now glow pale red as it easily pierces through the barriers, items, and skin of the attendees. Even though it looks fragile, the beast is incredibly strong, and its strength and speed continue to increase.

With every fight, the beast learns, adapts, and modifies its movements.

And it likes to play with those it hunts. It almost never kills its opponents outright; rather, it cripples them, severs limbs, breaks bones, and leaves them lying in the dirt while it takes its time with the others. Then it watches as they twitch, struggling to fight back, or slowly die.

If someone seems like they might be able to stand, regenerate, or escape, the Witherclaw turns its attention back to them and breaks a few more bones, in a careful manner that seems almost gentle.

Sometimes, it even looks up at me while doing so or while taking a bite from attendees who hesitate to forfeit.

Seeing that behavior from the beast, many of the remaining attendees simply forfeit and vanish, causing the beast to pause.

It stands there looking almost sad. Then it opens that mouth full of sharp teeth and lets out a sound I have never heard. It is not a screech, nor does it fit with any other sound I recognize.

A low, guttural chuff rolls out, rough and dry, followed by a rapid series of sharp, clicking barks. The sound carries a strange, uneven rhythm like a broken pattern of short, exhales forced through a narrow throat. A deep growl follows, vibrating low in its chest and rumbling just beneath the surface of the beast's flesh.

Then it emits another burst of chattering clicks, each one sharp and deliberate, almost like the controlled rasp of bone scraping against bone. The sound is aggressive and carries the edge of something predatory.

Only when Jean exits the forest does the beast stop.

Fittingly, Jean grins and slams a fist against his chest, the impact sending vibrations I can feel even from up here. The force scatters the raindrops around him, making the rain pause for a brief moment.

The Witherclaw moves faster than before, and both the beast and the man collide in a shockwave that uproots the surrounding trees. Another attack follows immediately after, and the beast goes flying, launched through the air, unable to withstand the incredible strength that Jean possesses.

It crashes through dozens of trees and quickly picks itself back up, shaking its head. But before it can do anything else, it's already being pulled through the air into Jean's huge hand as he grabs its neck and slams its entire body against the ground in another explosion.

Jean moves to do it again but suddenly comes to a halt mid-motion.

The beast is no longer there. Instead, it lands a short distance away, damaged but still functional. Holding the ragged remains of Jean's hand, it looks at him and takes a slow, deliberate bite, tearing off one of the thick fingers and starting to chew.

Unsurprisingly, the huge man smiles brightly, the predatory gleam in his eyes almost rivaling that of the beast's. The pressure around him rises with an audible thump, sending a burst of powerful vibrations through the air.

He takes a step, and the earth explodes; from the air, he grabs stones and hurls them at the beast.

The Witherclaw drops the hand and moves, nimbly skirting the radius of the explosion. Even though its body remains unaffected as Jean strains to pull it, the beast charges at him all on its own.

They clash again, and this time, the Witherclaw comes away wounded as well. The beast is thrown aside with a dislocated arm, and in the process, it leaves a deep set of lacerations across Jean's face.

Fully ignoring his wounds, Jean charges the beast again, only to reach its position and not find it there. He looks around, confused and preparing for an ambush that never comes.

I track the Witherclaw, watching it retreat like a coward. It cradles its broken arm and lets out a series of short, sharp, distressed barks with a deep, vibrating undertone.

At this point, I leap from the island, extending [Ley Line] below before teleporting, just in time to disrupt the dangerous strings of mana reaching toward the Witherclaw.

The beast notices the strings too late and would have fallen into the trap. With its empty eyes, it scans me, tenses its body, and prepares to charge, but then changes its mind. Instead, it bulldozes its way through the dozens of corpses of dead beasts that have risen and been forced to fight. Undead creatures, their eyes glowing with a mixture of blue and green light.

I disrupt another wave of dangerous threads not unlike my [Ley Line] and stand to face Yama, the ninth-round tournament winner.

“Incredible. So far, only two attendees have been able to see my strings, but neither could disrupt them with a simple glance,” she says calmly as she steps out of the tree line.

Behind her, the corpse of Stormscale Basilisk moves with the same blue-and-green light in its eyes and huge, gaping, bloodless wounds marring its body. Even though it is weaker than when alive, it still feels impressive.

“Thank you, I have also noticed you observing my lines,” I answer.

“I couldn't help but admire them. They're different from my own, and yet they're still impressive in their own way. Now I want to ask you, why have you stepped between me and that beast?”

“It's mine to kill,” I say simply.

“It belongs to whoever kills it first,” she counters.

“It's mine.” Then, just as she does, I raise my mana.

Her strings swirl in a huge circle around us, each vibrating at a slightly different frequency, but I know that in the mere moment, I would still be able to disrupt them.

After glancing in the direction where the Witherclaw went, I turn to Yama. “Your group?”

“Yes, along with some friends I made. While I hold you here, they should⁠—”

Instead of letting her finish, I disrupt all the strings reaching toward me, and rather than using the [Ley Line] that I'm sure she tampered with, I use Wraith Dance to reach her.

The undead basilisk and a few of the other corpses rise to attack me, but I maneuver around them and make my way over to the woman.

Her strings are even denser around her; she uses them to move her body, increasing her speed as she pulls and yanks. She does the same with the corpses, which, without the strings, would appear to be pulled by invisible leashes.

I hear the Witherclaw's screech and change direction again, targeting the source, deploying [Eclipse] for a moment to eliminate anything she might use to slow me down.

I blow away a few of the undead monsters jumping in my way and duck under the Chinese man swinging at me with a dagger in his hand. I continue to run as he follows behind me, tall and slim and sending the familiar vibration of kinetic energy rippling outward from his body.

I absorb my momentum and lean to the right, only to have it absorbed again. A burst of kinetic energy surges through my body, and I execute a movement that would normally twist my ankle but instead adds momentum as I absorb the recoil.

The man falters, confused by this series of movements, finding himself thoroughly unprepared as I approach him from his left instead of his right. Even so, he still raises his weapon and blocks the incoming attack with his arm but is too late to notice the Needle Point 1 use to break his kinetic barrier and the follow-up that shatters his feet.

As he loses balance, I punch him, releasing more kinetic energy and sending him rolling through the forest.

Lightning from the undead basilisk strikes my former position, and I use Wraith Dance three times in a row to reach a clearing with the Witherclaw standing trapped at its center. The beast is surrounded by half a dozen attendees, each one of them at least Beyonder or Hell Difficulty. There is a cage made of pale white polished stone around it, further strengthened by the surrounding field.

The man using the stones wears a stone ring on his finger, the signature of which catches my attention.

Meanwhile, the Witherclaw tries to escape. Its left arm remains broken, but it uses its fangs to tear at the cage, which quickly regenerates before it can fully break free.

Three members of the group move to attack me, and at this point, I am sure they are all using something unseen to communicate.

Instead of fighting them, I raise my mana even further, flooding the air with its raw power. The sheer intensity overwhelms their senses, forcing the three men to step back in shock.

Then I form [Empyrean Lance] and shoot it through the cage, the lance tearing through it as if the stone were made of paper.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Witherclaw swings its claws once more at the damaged spot and breaks free.

Panic ensues, but before they can react, the swift beast, now free from the trap, leaps at the man with the stone ring, tears out his throat, and continues to gouge his face with its claws until the man disintegrates into a cloud of blue particles. Without the trap, the men and women stand no chance against the Witherclaw as it tears through them. With nothing to slow it down, no one can match its speed or withstand the swipes of its claws.

Seeing Yama appear, the Witherclaw lets out those predatory noises again and lunges at her. Its speed surges, and with a single swing of its seemingly fragile body, it blows the basilisk's head clean off.

Before it reaches her, Yama attempts to teleport, but the Witherclaw uses its mana for the first time. A flare of energy erupts around its body as it reaches for Yama in the middle of her teleportation. The mana destabilizes her escape, snapping the threads she was trying to use.

She reappears from the failed teleport, her side twisted, torn, and shattered by the attempt.

At that moment, the Witherclaw fails to notice the string coiling several times around its neck. Even in her wounded state, Yama hides it well as she slowly starts pulling, trying to behead the beast.

And she would have succeeded if I wasn't there.

I disrupt her attempt and return her cold gaze.

The Witherclaw realizes what happened, but the emptiness in its eyes remains unchanged. Ignoring a few weaker, mana-based attacks, it swings to kill the undead beasts charging at it, then grabs Yama's leg and leaps onto a branch of a nearby tree.

Even as Yama struggles, trying to strike or injure it in any way she can, the Witherclaw doesn't react. Its immense mana blocks most of her attacks. Still staring at me, it takes a bite of her leg. It reaches for another, but Yama vanishes into a spray of particles, likely having forfeited.

Jumping down from the branch, the Witherclaw steps toward me with the same predatory movement.

I hold my ground as it closes the distance. When it reaches arm's length, the usually hunched beast straightens, standing several heads taller than me, its lanky, fragile-looking body looming overhead. It opens its mouth, releasing a deep, grating snarl while pressing down on me with its mana.

In response, I unleash my own. It surges outward, crushing the air with its weight as it engulfs the area and slams into the Witherclaw's mana. My mana pushes against it, threatening to tear through and completely overwhelm it.

This time, I take a step forward, and instinctively, the Witherclaw steps back, ever so slightly hunching back down.

“Fuck. Off.”

It hesitates for a few seconds before turning away and running toward more signatures.

I check the timer to confirm when I am allowed to kill it and follow behind.

Chapter 24

Hope It's Worth It

Ihelp the Witherclaw break free from another trap set by Leticia and Luna's group. As it charges forward, Monte shifts, growing to twice his height. Dark green scales spread across his body while his face stretches into a lizard-like shape, his movements turning sharp and predatory.

I disrupt their attempts to help their tournament winner as Monte clashes against the beast.

Leticia calls out to me in surprise, but I ignore her call and step aside as Luna, now the size of an elephant, snaps at me with her teeth. The huge golden retriever continues to attack me while Leticia supports her by spreading a web across the area and attacking from a distance.

During the fight, I tear down the web and deflect any projectiles aimed at me. The clash lasts barely thirty seconds. In that time, the Witherclaw grows noticeably stronger. Its mana expands, and it begins using it much more naturally, at which point it begins disrupting skills and applying pressure to the others, even as it strengthens its body with the excess.

Monte, in his current form, has strength nearly equal to Jean's. The green scales covering his body resist mana to an impressive degree, and I can even feel the ambient mana bouncing off of them. The forest ends up being reduced to a crumbling wreck in the wake of his battle with the Witherclaw. Trees are uprooted by the shockwaves, and huge craters mark the ground wherever they land. Both the shapeshifted man and the beast display remarkable physical strength.

In the end, it's the Witherclaw who wins. The beast grows stronger as its mana surrounds it, and it begins to move faster than before. With a sudden attack, it drives its claw through Monte's green scales, and his head falls to the ground.

Then the Witherclaw turns to the rest. It passes by me as it heads to attack Luna and Leticia. Its body remains fragile and its eyes are still empty, but its figure stands taller now, almost as if it had grown during the fight.

Leticia, Luna, and their group die soon after despite all their effort.

So do Baek and his group, and all through the fight, the Witherclaw learns increasingly better ways to control its mana and begins using it more in its fighting style.

Klara, who tries to face it alone, manages to wound the beast a few times.

A group of Beyonders try to attack with rifles and bows from a distance.

Hector, with his invisibility and arcane spear, gets in one powerful attack and even poisons it for a moment. But the beast uses its mana to expunge the poison and attacks the man with the same extreme cruelty as before.

Maxim, using void energy and creatures formed from shadow, cuts the beast off from its mana, forcing it to rely only on its physical abilities to track him as he teleports from shadow to shadow. In the end, the beast breaks through the disruption using a method I know I couldn't replicate, tracks him down, and, with a single blurred movement of its arm, removes him from the event.

Derick and the large group he has collected also fall to the now-too-powerful beast.

Every time I let the beast fight, only stepping in when necessary. During these last few minutes, the Witherclaw would have undoubtedly died multiple times without my help, that much is clear. But gradually, I find myself needing to intervene less and less. The beast adapts quickly. Its strength grows, its mana expands, and it uses everything it has far more efficiently.

Mere moments ago, the beast got scared during the fight with Baek and Klara and ran to me for help while letting out those creepy cries. Now it doesn't really bother, slowly realizing its potential and learning to control the immense power it possesses. But at the same time, as the Witherclaw grows stronger, it becomes increasingly arrogant and more inclined to torture anyone weaker.

It likes to wound people and watch them die. It likes to bite into them while they are still alive.

We eventually run into Savant, who stands rooted in place, orange light radiating from his skin. The green dagger I saw Tacita use is still lodged in his side. Sweat beads on his forehead, and I wonder what kind of dagger it is and what effect it must be having on him.

But even seeing the state Savant's currently in, the Witherclaw hesitates upon seeing him. It sniffs the man surrounded by that orange light and growls.

Savant glances between me and the beast. Absentmindedly, he reaches and touches the handle of the dagger in his side. His expression contorts in pain from that simple touch.

As if he just confirmed something, he straightens up and looks at me. “Unlike somebody here, I know when pushing back is useless,” he says.

After that, he disappears into yet another cloud of pale blue particles.

Barely six minutes have passed since the beast emerged from the island where Lissandra held it. That means only two minutes remain until I can kill it.

Instead of hunting for more opponents, the Witherclaw stops and turns to me. It straightens its tall, lanky figure looming over me and opens its mouth, revealing rows of sharp teeth.

Has it already decided it's strong enough to kill me?

“So you haven't noticed her?” I ask calmly.

The beast tilts its head in confusion, and its pupils expand. It raises its arms in front of its chest just in time to block a dagger aimed straight at its beating heart.

Appearing out of nowhere, Tacita lets go of the dagger without hesitation and pulls out another. She jams it into the Witherclaw's leg and leaves it there, then she pulls out another dagger and circles the beast to stab it again.

After getting over the initial confusion, the Witherclaw reacts quickly and matches her speed. A pale red light glows around its fangs as it clashes with her attacks.

Tacita's messy, blown hair turns her into a blur, but the beast matches her speed. While Tacita runs on wild instinct to maneuver her body at high speed, the beast brute forces it with mana.

They clash across the battlefield, each one gaining the upper hand for moments at a time before the other inevitably catches up.

But gradually it becomes clear that Tacita is reaching her limit while the beast only grows faster.

In the wake of one of their clashes, the mute woman suffers a deep wound. Quick to react, she cuts the Witherclaw's Achilles tendon before leaving. By the time the beast begins to regenerate, she's already gone.

After regenerating the wound, the Witherclaw takes a step to follow her, just as I release my mana.

The beast halts mid-step, turning to me while letting out more of those unsettling noises, then drops to all fours and unleashes its mana. Even crouched, its head sits well above my own.

One last time, I scan the area. I locate Jean far away and sense no one else nearby. I'm also fairly sure that Tacita won't interfere once I start, and I make a mental note to repay her.

Then I tap into the Ley Lines connecting me to two of the remaining floating islands. The crown over my head turns black as I take over the black spears at their cores and absorb all the mana they've gathered into my crown. The inscriptions I've been etching into my skin over the time I've spent following the Witherclaw activate. My entire body has been interwoven with them, and they etch themselves deep into my skin and flesh.

I watch in slow motion as the Witherclaw moves to attack me. It charges on all fours with mana blazing around its body.

A small part of me watches the timer tick down as I wait, holding out for as long as I can.

At this stage, the Witherclaw is not only stronger and faster than me, but it also has more mana. In a few more seconds, I may not even be able to kill it anymore. This is my only chance.

I don't do anything fancy, and I don't attempt to use my skills. I rely on my physique, my circuits, [Mana Manipulation], and all the experience I've gained in my two years of using Mana Cycling.

All that collected mana blazes through my body at once. No other attendee from Earth can channel this much. That I know for certain. When it comes to channeling huge amounts of mana or any other energy, I am one of the best. That is my talent and my gift.

In a single burst, much like the ones Lissandra used to train me on the fifth floor, just with a vastly greater amount of mana, I unleash everything I have at the Witherclaw.

The blast rips forward, erasing everything in its path. The ground shatters; it ceases to exist, torn down to raw nothingness. The air distorts from the sheer force, rippling outward.

The Witherclaw vanishes in an instant, erased without resistance or struggle. It is unable to gather enough mana quickly enough to defend itself. One second, it's there. The next, it's gone, leaving nothing behind.

The destruction doesn't stop with it. The blast carves a deep crater into the battlefield, like a raw wound stretching far beyond. Dust and debris fail to rise, having been consumed before they can even form.

Then there is silence.

All my internal and gathered mana are gone. Even the crown over my head cracks and disappears.

Before me lies a ruined wasteland. The ground is torn open, jagged, and uneven, laced with deep scars where the blast carved through. All that remains of the trees are blackened stumps and uprooted trunks scattered across the field of devastation.

The air is thick with the fading hum of spent mana.

As I stand there, a single thought occupies my mind. I glance at the rankings.

2nd - 37,600 points - Hadwin

And above that is a new placement.

1st - 39,001 points - Noname

Standing there, even [Focus] deactivates because of my nonexistent mana reserves. These reserves start slowly filling up, but I do not bother reactivating the skill. I don't even try to defend myself as the ever-present lightning strikes closer. One of these strikes hits me at some point and, as many of the other attendees have already experienced, turns me into a fine dusting of pale blue particles.

I find myself outside with these people in our common area, watching the huge screen showing the rest of the event. Not feeling like moving, even with my now-restored mana reserves in both body and crown, I simply find a nearby bench and sit down.

“C-Congratulations,” the man I sat next to whispers.

It surprises me. I lift my head to face him. “What?”

“You won…so congratulations. I am sorry if I said anything rude.”

I do not speak the word aloud, silently mouthing it instead. Won. I guess I really did win, but that was always the point.

“Thanks.”

I take note of the way the simple answer calms him down and even makes him smile for a moment. He is just some guy I have never seen before. I choose not to use my mana senses or try to estimate his level through his movements, so he could just as easily be from Hell as he could be from Easy Difficulty.

“That was cool as hell, by the way! My son would probably call it something along the lines of 'absolute cinema' or whatever silly thing the kids are saying nowadays.” He laughs briefly, gesturing wildly. “It looked like you were going to steamroll the event, and then the rankings appear, and your alias is nowhere to be found! What even happened? How could that even be possible? I even asked around, but no one seemed to know who that Hadwin guy was. Did he steal your points or something?”

“Something like that,” I confirm.

“What a dick.”

“Indeed.”

“I don't know about you, but doesn't that make things so much more interesting? All these twists and people with their own goals.”

“Well, any other day I wouldn't mind it at all. But not during this specific tournament.” I shrug.

“It's a girl, right?” he asks out of nowhere with a surprisingly honest smile.

Everyone else around us is focused on the screen, watching the final groups of people trying to collect more points. Mainly Jean, who, as always, manages to put on an extremely impressive performance. Most of the others are so busy talking to each other that it feels almost like the two of us have been forgotten entirely.

“Girl?” I ask.

“People your age usually have one of two problems: money and girls.”

“I don't think I'm that young. I believe most people have a whole different set of problems now,” I retort, gesturing at our surroundings. “The tutorial, the tournament, the floors, their new powers, pairings, skills, rules, and more.”

“So it's not a girl?”

“I mean…”

“I knew it! Now, how about some unsolicited advice from me?”

“Why the hell not? Go on.”

“Most things aren't nearly as serious as they feel in the moment.”

I exhale slowly, letting my head rest against the back of the bench. The guy says nothing for a while and just watches the event play out on the massive screen.

Then he chuckles. “Damn, I sound like an old man.”

“You do.”

He glances at me. There's something in his expression, perhaps curiosity…or perhaps something else. “I am guessing you're the kind of guy to take everything on himself, huh? Even when you don't have to.”

I do not answer, and I don't need to. He just nods.

“Well, good luck with that.” He grins and stands up, stretching. “Hope it's worth it.”

With that said, he leaves me with a quick goodbye and leaves to find his son, who apparently wandered off to bother some Hard Difficulty guys he admires.

Chapter 25

Unofficial Event

Iwatch the man leave. Once again, I feel the urge to probe for his level, but I stop myself and let it be. I turn back to the screen and continue watching the rest of the event with the others. Small groups have formed around the area, and a few players from Hard Difficulty move about, taking the last bets or paying out the finished ones.

A few minutes before the event ends, I stand and teleport over to the fourth round's zone. Victoria is still inside the event, but I decide to wait for her there.

When I arrive, a few guards notice me, but, realizing who I am, they let me pass. I then head toward her place. It is a flat area near the forest with a few small houses and a larger workshop in the center.

Victoria's group is there as well, with an incredible fifteen survivors out of the twenty-five who started in her Hell group. Most are women from the prison Victoria was being held in, but there are also a few men and at least two kids who were visiting their families when they were all pulled into the tutorial. Some are still participating in the event, while others have already gathered outside. I've seen some of them before, and Victoria even introduced me to a few, though many still watch curiously.

I can't help but feel a strong sense of admiration. Isn't my sister the best? Fifteen people in one group from Hell Difficulty survived and made it to the eighth floor. There are even three Beyonders. Victoria, Gloria, and another girl with a weird name who apparently isn't here right now. There are also a few of those fancy nuclear warheads that Vic keeps stashed away somewhere, maybe under the mattress or in some obscure room hidden behind a bookshelf.

Part of me has to wonder what the women in her group must have done to end up in prison, but another part thinks it hardly matters when it comes down to it.

“Hello,” Gloria says, stepping away from one of the gathered groups with an easygoing, if slightly bored air about her.

“Yo,” I reply, noticing that she's no longer wearing the yellow shirt with a grumpy cat drinking coffee. Instead, she wears a gray one with a goose holding a knife in its beak.

“Are you staring at my tits?” she asks as I look back to her face.

“What tits?” I reply, irritated by her tone.

Taken aback, she blinks a few times before clicking her tongue. “Cold. You really are her brother,” she remarks.

I raise an eyebrow. “Because I insult people?”

“Because you don't bullshit them.” She leans in with a smirk. “So what were you staring at, then? My incredible fashion sense?”

I nod and gesture at her shirt. “The goose.”

She looks at it and then back at me. “It represents chaos.”

“Fitting.”

“I thought you'd approve.” She stretches her arms behind her head. “So what now? Are you just going to stand around looking impressed, or did you actually come over here for a reason?”

“I came to see Vic, but I have a question.”

“Go ahead.”

“You seem to have a lot of Earth clothes. This is the fourth or fifth set I have seen you wearing. I want to buy some.”

Gloria smiles again. “If you want my used clothes, all you have to do is ask nicely.”

I roll my eyes. “I meant clothes in general, not yours specifically.”

She chuckles while rocking back on her heels. “Yeah, I figured. Just messing with you. But I do have a stash. I bought a few from groups in the lower difficulties, and a few of my girls have more.”

“I want to buy some,” I say.

Gloria hums while crossing her arms. “I expect you'll be paying in items?”

“Yes.”

She watches me for a moment, then gestures for me to follow. “All right, come on.”

I follow her toward the storage building. I pass by a few of Victoria's people; some glance at me, but most return to what they were doing. The place feels oddly relaxed despite everything.

Once inside, Gloria kicks open a crate and starts rummaging through it. “So what kind of look are you going for? Tactical badass? Mysterious wanderer? Luxury brands? Tank tops? Crocs? Sweatpants? Sweaters? Underwear? Socks? Fanny packs?”

I shrug. “Something comfortable. And…Crocs, I'll take a pair of those, too.”

She smirks and pulls out a plain black hoodie, tossing it at me. “I knew it. Don't forget to put them into sport mode. Start with this hoodie. You want pants, too?”

I glance down at the pants I got on the sixth floor. They aren't as stretchy as I would like. “Do you have sweatpants? Also, some shirts and more hoodies. Oh, and if you have a set of pajamas that would fit me, I'll throw in a little extra.”

Gloria whistles. “Pajamas, too? Fancy.”

I shrug. “Might as well be comfortable.”

She rummages through another crate and tosses a pair of black sweatpants my way. “These should fit. Got some shirts, too. Pick whatever you want.”

I glance at the pile she is making, a few simple T-shirts, a couple of hoodies, and a pair of pajama pants covered in images of a cartoon lizard.

I stare at them. “What is that?”

She grins. “It's a gecko.”

“Why does it look so angry?”

She shrugs. “Maybe it didn't get enough sleep. Fitting for pajamas, don't you think?”

I consider it for a moment and nod. “Fine. Add it to the bill. I'll be taking all the shirts. Actually, you know what? I'll just take everything.”

“Didn't think you were the type to wear women's clothes,” she teases.

“For my group,” I reply.

“Sure. But I can't really sell you everything. This is my pile, so I'll be keeping my favorites, but I should be able to sell you whatever you need. One of our Normal Difficulty groups got teleported here with an entire mall, so they have a ton of stuff. If you want, I can hunt for more.”

“Sounds good.”

Gloria snickers and stacks everything together. “All right, I'll take a few mid-epic items and one upper-epic item for the whole lot.”

“Tell me what kind of item you want and I'll commission something from one of the crafters in our round.”

“Oh? How nice of you. I heard you guys have Tent Creep and Miwa, so I expect quality work.”

“Of course.”

“In that case, since it is personalized, I want one upper-epic item and two mid-epic items, and I'll work on getting more clothes for group 4. What do you think?”

“Works for me.”

“This oughta do,” she says as she tosses me the clothes. “Pleasure doing business.”

I grab them and nod. “Yeah.”

As I turn to leave, she calls out, “And hey, are you sure you really don't want my cloth…”

I ignore that last sentence and make my exit while radiating a bit of mana, which I shape into threads to tie the stacks of clothing together.

Indeed, I remain the most normal person here.

I leave an hour later, having enjoyed the short break, where I allowed myself to spend a bit of time with my sister.

As before, all of my rewards from the second event have been added to the final tournament reward.

While walking back toward our zone, I reread the notification that appeared after the second event formally ended.

The third event, Chronicle of the Past, will start in forty-eight hours.

In the meantime, you have the option of participating in an unofficial event called Clash of the Disciples! Participating yields no rewards, and the event is limited to participants from Hell Difficulty.

Hard, Normal, and Easy Difficulties will have different unofficial events.

If you decide to participate in the Clash of the Disciples, which will start in ten hours, your disciple will receive an invitation and may choose to accept or refuse.

The event will begin right after the disciples join the tournament floor and will last for a maximum of fourteen hours. After the event ends, the disciples will remain for the next twenty-four hours, at the end of which the third event will begin, giving you time to pass on your teachings.

Do you wish to offer your disciple participation in the event?

Yes/No

When that notification appeared, I remember pressing Yes nearly immediately. Now that Biscuit isn't here, I need my Emotional Support Minion more than ever. Plus, seeing her bulldoze through other disciples, how could I miss that?

Returning to our spot, I find group 4 scattered across the property. Maya is sparring with Lily while Sophie is engaged in some kind of experiment with Izzy in the workshop. I meet Min-Jae and the twins in the living room and drop all the clothes onto Noodle, who is already resting on the cushions.

The pile of clothes slowly moves and shifts as the pearl-white head of the snake pokes up with green eyes full of betrayal.

I remember my angry gecko pajama pants and go through the clothes again, piling the ones I don't like on Noodle.

In the end, I find a set of pajamas, some sweatpants, two hoodies, and a few shirts that should fit me. I even take some comfy-looking socks for myself. And of course, I don't forget to separate out a pile for my minion.

“You can choose a few things for yourselves if you think they'll fit,” I inform the boys.

Min-Jae eyes the pile skeptically and glances at the twins. “I'm not wearing anything with cartoon animals on it.”

The twins, on the other hand, don't seem quite so picky. One of them starts rifling through the clothes and pulls out a hoodie with a faded logo. “Doesn't matter. I missed wearing Earth clothes, that feeling of stretchy plastic against your skin, turning yourself into a walking billboard for some random brand after paying them for the privilege. How could I not miss it?”

Noodle slithers his way out from under the pile of discarded clothes and flicks his tongue at me as if he were deeply offended.

Min-Jae sighs and finally picks up a plain black T-shirt, giving it a quick shake before nodding. “Fine.”

I glance at the notification still floating in my vision. Eight hours until the event starts. Plenty of time to squeeze in some training with Whitey, who's honestly been acting uncharacteristically strange lately.

Once again, I find myself waiting in the common area. There are plenty of people from Hell Difficulty waiting for the unofficial event to start. I notice some people are missing. Most are those who either decided to pass on having a disciple or those who lost theirs. Neither twin is here. Dennis' disciple died, and Aaron gave up on the disciple-master relationship in support.

Overall, there are 269 people from the various rounds of Hell Difficulty participating in the tournament. That means there should be somewhere between 100 and 150 disciples. I lean toward the lower end because I've heard there are still people in Hell who chose to remain on the fourth floor after dealing with the Colony and live on as adventurers in Virelia.

There are also quite a few people from other difficulties waiting for the Hell Difficulty unofficial event to start. Many are curious about the disciples they've heard of, while others have either lost interest in their own events or have already completed them.

Just as the timer counts down its final digits, huge screens appear across the common area showing a new environment: an empty city made up of beautiful towers and well-kept gardens. The city is nestled in the hollow of a mountain with a huge lake at its center, with a ship made of pearl-white wood sailing its waters. The only sign of life is the disciples as they begin to appear. There are many humans, feyliths, and lynthari.

Less common are vyssari, thylarin, and velnar. I also see a few less-familiar races, and among them, demons seem to be on the rare end of the scale, featuring relatively few representatives.

All of the disciples seem to be around ten years of age; most are even younger. Children like Vega, saved from the brink of death by the system, offered disciple status and summoned to the fifth floor of the tutorial.

Finally, I spot Vega. She appears near the lake and immediately moves to make herself a harder target to track while scanning the area. I really like that reaction and keep a close watch on her.

Then a notification interrupts me.

Your master has decided to participate in Clash of the Disciples!

Your location has been identified as the tournament floor, indicating your agreement to participate in the unofficial event.

You will now be transferred to the event area.

I feel a pull and suddenly disappear, reappearing in the city in the center of one of the gardens. Opposite me, a young lynthari boy freezes in place. He looks at me with wide eyes and a very, very bristly tail.

Looking at that scared little guy, a thought I often had when I was younger, back on Earth, flashes through my mind:

How many five-year-old kids would it take to beat an adult man?

Chapter 26

Uselessly Handsome Man

Staring intently at the young lynthari disciple, I lift my hand high with my palm open. Above my hand, a golden thermal orb forms from flames of thermal energy blazing across its surface.

Energy floods into it until it expands with an audible thump. It grows from the size of a golden ball to that of a baseball, a football, and finally, a beach ball.

Then it continues to grow even bigger.

It floats above me, scorching the air with its presence as it emits a faint cracking noise and enough heat to make the air shimmer.

In my most ominous voice, I say, “I'm sorry, little one.”

I step forward.

The lynthari screams.

I declare, “I forfeit.”

Before I disappear, I pull all the heat back into my body in case it lingers and ruins the event for the little one. Ignoring the commotion in the common area and the questions being thrown my way, I send out a pulse of mana to scan the area and succeed in locating her only because she allows it.

Finding her to still be in the common area, a bit further away, under the trees, I teleport over to Lissandra.

“You must be thinking that was so damn funny,” I say as I stand beside her and turn back to watch the screen.

“Was it not?” she asks from the side.

I decide not to answer and focus instead on watching my minion's battle with one of the few other demon disciples. It's almost as if she did it on purpose; out of all the signatures near her, she chose to fight the other demons first. And damn if my little half-demon isn't kicking the poor guy's ass.

“Which one is yours?” Lissandra asks.

“Half-demon girl, red eyes, light brown hair. Primarily a user of kinetic energy and mana.”

“Found her,” she answers as she continues to watch with me.

After my minion defeats the guy and he dissolves into pale blue particles, appearing in the common area next to his master, I ask, “How did you get all my points during the event?”

“You really don't have any idea, or is it just that you don't want to believe it, little pup?”

“The latter? I mean, at first, I thought you tampered with my notifications because I didn't see any, but then I thought about it and dismissed that idea.”

“What conclusion did you come to?”

“You can't tamper with the system directly. I don't even think the Rulers could. Besides, you are still considered partially fake and inside of the tutorial, which should make it even more impossible for you to pull something like that off. Any tiny nudges applied to the system around you are done by the Rulers. Some might be doing it for the sake of messing around, others may want to help, while some do it to hurt you.”

“Correct.”

“So the only option left is that, somehow, from that little island in the sea, you were able to kill-steal all the monsters before I killed them. All the Special grade, all the small ones, and all those killed when the island fell. You killed thousands of monsters in a single millisecond before my attacks could reach them, without me even noticing the movement of your mana.”

“Correct,” she repeats.

I look at her to see if she has anything else to say, but the distant smile on her lips tells me she will not elaborate on the subject.

Turning away from her, I can only think about what a monster this woman is, achieving that even in her diminished state.

Actually, at this point, is she really that weak? Isn't it possible she is using inability to die here for some kind of extreme training? Maybe she has already died thousands of times.

“How far away from Champion rank was that beast at the end?” I ask instead.

“Very far.”

Hearing excited shouts from the common area, I look at the screen again, just in time to see Vega boost herself into the air and crash into a feylith floating above her. The feylith girl's hair and eyes turn blue as she struggles to stay aloft with Vega hanging on to her; both find themselves being pulled to the ground.

After landing, the feylith lets out a painful groan. My minion absorbs part of the impact and lands with a somersault to cushion the rest. But she doesn't stop there. The moment she comes to a stop, she charges the feylith.

Getting to her feet, the feylith raises her arms and fires a blast of flames at Vega. Instead of dodging, Vega steps into the fireball and stomps. A shockwave of kinetic energy ripples out from the epicenter and erupts, blasting away the weak, unfocused flames. Before her opponent can regain her footing, Vega rushes in, slams her fist into her face, and immediately drives a dagger into her chest, piercing through her defenses.

She shows no hesitation, and part of me wonders if she ever considered that she might be killing these disciples for real.

But I don't really want an answer to that.

“Little pup.”

“What?”

“Soon after this tournament ends, little kitten and I will be leaving.”

“What do you mean?”

“We will prepare and depart for Beyond, where I will have my only chance to leave the tutorial. There, I will either succeed or fail. So tell me, which outcome do you wish for?”

“Isn't that obvious? I want you to succeed so that Myrra gets out, and so I can find you later to deal with you for all the things you've done. But why leave so early? Don't you want to get stronger? Use the system shop to regain some of the power you lost?”

“As frustrating as it is to accelerate my plans, I have no choice this time. Each time the little kitten and I pass through an instance of the tutorial, we risk being erased. I have also been warned that more Rulers are watching this instance than would be normal. At most, we have a few weeks.”

“How poetic. You're being screwed over in the similar way you've been screwing me over.”

“Amusing, isn't it?”

“Indeed,” I agree.

As she looks at the screen, I glance at her profile, and thoughts race through my mind. Part of me wonders if she isn't pushing me so hard so that I can be her legacy in case she fails.

Shaking off that silly thought, I turn away from her and focus on the screens. In the end, it doesn't matter. Her reasons don't change the way I see her. She chose to be the villain standing in my path, and she succeeded.

I don't ask if she truly believes she can accomplish what the other versions of her in prior tutorials, likely numbering in the dozens, could not. I'm fairly certain those other versions had much the same thoughts she does now.

Lissandra carries herself with such certainty that failure is not even a concept she would acknowledge.

Miwa

Channeler, despite being weaker than me, is respected by everyone in Easy and Normal Difficulty. Even those in Hard and some in Hell Difficulty show him some degree of respect. The reason for that is simple.

What Channeler says often represents the words of group 4.

What we once thought to be one of the strongest groups in our fifth round now seems to be one of the strongest groups in the entirety of Earth's tutorial. Group 4, sometimes also called Angry Kittens.

It wasn't long ago that I even heard someone whispering with respect, “He's one of the kittens.” It was a guy from Hard Difficulty talking about NotAaron. Or maybe it was NotDennis?

After my last question, Channeler sits quietly and continues to stare at the screen, sitting on the bench next to me. I take the moment to reflect further.

Group 4 has Grumpy, the strongest healer Earth currently has, as rumored after people visited zones from other rounds. She is someone I saw regrow the arm of a Hell Difficulty man from the second round in a few seconds. The arm belonged to someone specialized in physical stats, which should make healing much more difficult, and he lost it back on Earth, so the tournament´s healing aura didn't restore it.

There is also a rumor that she can cure illnesses once considered impossible to treat on Earth or destroy a crippled leg to regrow a perfect one before the healing aura of the tournament activates.

I have spoken to a healer from my group, and even she said such feats should be impossible at our current level, at least without risking harm to the patient or killing them outright.

That single person makes group 4 extremely influential, and I can't help but wonder how many people on Earth would do anything to receive Grumpy's services, offering their entire fortunes just to cure their ailments or extend their lives.

But it doesn't stop with her. There's also StrongestOne; even with his silly name, he is someone who can fly, a feat that only a low percentage of even Hell Difficulty can accomplish. Not to mention his [Telekinesis], with which he is able to lift entire buildings.

They've got Knight, too, known for her speed and huge suit of mana-based armor. There are even rumors that she's been recognized by Baek, the tournament winner of the tenth round. Soph, though she hasn't used her ability much lately, can manipulate people, an ability that easily earns its place among the most terrifying; it possibly even qualifies as the most terrifying. Then there's Izzy, with her flames that melt through mana and everything else in their path, and her frankly enormous snake.

The Twins can do something many people from the lower difficulties have generally considered to be impossible, namely, taking over your skill and using it against you while creating lifelike illusions that even those in Hell Difficulty have trouble distinguishing them from reality. And of course, Sset, with her primordial lightning and the ability to kill people from miles away without you even realizing it. I spoke with her a few times during the first tournament and found her truly deserving of admiration.

So the question is: should I accept Noname's offer and work with them? They are clearly one of the strongest groups, but they do not hesitate to use force against others, as Noname clearly demonstrated during the last event. In response to his actions, the other rounds will likely band together to oppose him.

Channeler finally answers as I remain lost in thought.

“I think you should join,” he says.

“Can you give me a reason?”

“I can. As you said, group 4 has a lot of conflicts, but who doesn't? Many groups keep their intentions hidden and wait for an opportunity, but group 4 is, for the most part, transparent and fair.”

Channeler lowers his voice. “And for the record, Miwa, I don't think that Noname even realizes how his actions affect other people most of the time, not to mention the way he tends to scare them.”

He glances around before leaning in. “I talk to many people from all difficulties, and even those from Hell often do not understand some of the things he does. Barely anyone can fly, yet he does so with such ease and speed. I have heard of groups forming that try to devise ways to counter his mana disruption; they just cannot understand how he can pierce through natural barriers so easily and disrupt their skills. He can also teleport in a way that barely anyone can track or interfere with. And he combines it all with such powerful attacks.”

I hesitate, carefully considering his words. “Shouldn't the other Hell attendees figure out how to do that as well, even if it does take them a while? Plus, he has a lot of mana, so it makes sense that he's powerful.”

Channeler smiles, and for a moment, I wonder if he is laughing at me. But instead of feeling insulted, I remind myself that his amusement is more likely to be directed at the absurdity of the situation than at me.

“A lot of mana?” he asks, looking at me with a big smile. “Everyone knows that Noname is an Amplificator, but saying that he has a lot of mana doesn't even begin to cover it. The most talented people here that I have met usually go for one point of Constitution for every three or four points of Mana, even with the bonus they get from the Amplification upgrade. And no one knows how many stats Noname has pumped into mana.”

“Please explain it to me. I rarely talk to Hell Difficulty attendees, so I don't quite understand just how impressive that is.”

“Sure. Simply put, he should be dead several times over. For your body to hold that much mana, you'd need to have a specialized trait, which the others already suspect Noname does have, but that alone would not be enough. You need the Constitution to support it; otherwise, you disrupt the balance, and the mana will constantly tear away at your body. The amount of mana Noname holds, according to most estimates, would only be possible above Level 350, probably higher with the 'proper' stat allocations. There is no way he's even close to that level.”

I pause, weighing his words carefully. “What are you? President of his fan club?” I ask, shaking my head. “I understand that he's powerful, and so is his group, but what worries me are his tendencies. As I said, I need to think about it a bit more.”

“I'm glad to hear that.” Channeler straightens up again and smiles.

“I would have thought you'd be happier if I agreed right away.”

“That's a reasonable thought, but to be honest, Miwa, your careful consideration makes it clear that this decision is important to you and that you don't want to find yourself changing your mind in the future. Don't you think a person like that would be better to work with?”

For a moment, I look at him, and he remains unshaken, smiling.

I find myself recalling Noname's words that day when I observed his work. As he said, Channeler is, indeed, a uselessly handsome man.

Chapter 27

Clash of the Disciples

The minion event, or rather the unofficial event, ramps up gradually. And even though some of the little guys have been ejected from the arena, there aren't many given the size of the event area.

Gradually, monsters start appearing, too, and weather changes begin to influence the battlefield. Now the sunny day has been replaced by a blizzard that causes the lake's surface to freeze over, allowing a grand melee to break out across the ice.

Some disciples fight their way through the buildings while a smaller group has decided to band together to fight off the monsters and other participants. Yet slowly but surely, more and more disciples join groups to avoid being ganged up on or to hunt stronger monsters.

Vega isn't one of them, but her senses are among the best, so she does a good job avoiding the larger groups and doesn't seem to mind playing dirty or ambushing those she catches unaware.

I might be biased, but I would say that she's clearly one of the strongest.

Rooted in place, I continue to observe the event, even though Lissandra has already left. Watching the little guys give their all, pushing their abilities to the limit, and using their cute skills to cause minor damage to the buildings is exciting. I know I've said it before, but scenes like this make me understand how so many people become sports fans.

I find myself glued to the screens every time one of the favorites get into a clash, whenever someone takes on multiple opponents, or anytime a minion turns out to be a clever little shit.

These situations spark shouting throughout the common area. There's a rush of betting, and even fights starting to break out when people start taking offence on behalf of their favorites.

When only half of the disciples remain, the weather changes once more. The blizzard comes to an end, as if it never existed in the first place, only to be replaced with a sandstorm. The remaining snow melts, the ice cracks, and the city and its surrounding areas start filling with yellow sand, which gathers in massive drifts that lean against the buildings. The sun shining in the sky seems to grow larger, and droplets of sweat run down the little guys' foreheads. The previously wild fights begin to cool off, growing more stealth focused as most of the combatants start retreating to the refuge offered by the buildings.

It's amusing to see parts of the crowd fall silent and hold their breath as their favorites sneak through the dark past a larger group of disciples or when a similar group passes by a spot where some lone disciple is hiding.

Myrra joins me during one of the less eventful moments. She watches the screen, and when she realizes that it's still a parade of minions sneaking around and searching for opponents, she, to no great surprise, turns to antagonize me. Like a typical extroverted lynthari.

Maybe the true Hell Difficulty is the extroverts we meet along the way.

“Feral One.”

“Yes, that's me.”

“Your performance during the last event was straight gas. It just hit different. Mad heat and high-key goated. On god, no cap, fr fr.”

“Myrra.”

“Yes?”

“What the fuck.”

“Hehe.”

“Twins?”

“Yes! And the redheaded boy they call Brainiac.”

“I've said it before, I'll say it again: you're way too easily influenced by this kind of thing, you should really avoid those three.”

“Wasn't it you who started it back on the fifth floor? I think you called yourself a cooked goat or something…”

“And there isn't a day I don't regret it. Sandra told me that you guys were planning to leave.”

“Aww, do you miss me already, Feral One?”

“It's sudden. And I was just getting used to your annoying face,” I reply.

Mischief in her eyes, she leans closer instead of answering. Her fangs show every time she experiences a spike of emotion, and her tail sways. As always, it makes me want to grab and pull it.

One day for sure.

“It's fine. I've already reconciled myself with whatever will happen. Of course, I'd prefer if we were to succeed and Lady Lissandra and I make it out, but even if we fail, I'll understand. I've already gotten more time than I should have, and it's all thanks to you, you know.”

“I see.”

“Feral One, why are you looking away? Are you feeling shy? Show me those beautiful eyes of yours. Let me try and read your emotions.

If you want, I can try and force you. Let's fight, no mana or other bullshit, just our bodies like in the tunnels when we hunted the First One.”

“Myrra.”

“Yes?”

“Wait here a moment.”

Checking the screen, I quickly teleport to my place and rummage through the pile of shirts until I find a black shirt with a particular print.

I teleport back and hand it to Myrra. “For you.”

She glances down at it and then back to me, her ears constantly twitching. Then she ties up her white hair, all the while keeping her golden eyes on me, and throws the shirt on over the one she's already wearing.

Looking down at the drawing, she asks, “What kind of animal is this?”

“A possum. It's from Earth.”

“It's screaming.”

“Yes, it is.”

“And the red text below?”

“It says, 'Aaaaaaah.'”

“Are you hinting at something, Feral One?”

“I wouldn't dare.”

“You little shit, let's…”

She stops when I lift a finger and point to the screen. On the screen, Vega finally manages to sneak up on a group of three other minions: two vyssari, who are adorably tiny, and a velnar who towers over them both. The trio is unaware of her and have begun to argue so vehemently that it seems like a fight is about to break out.

Vega readies her dagger and uses more kinetic energy than she can handle. Instead of moving fluidly, her body crashes into one of the vyssari, and they both roll across the floor. My minion is the first to regain her bearings, and her dagger, coated in mana, comes down, stabbing her opponent until a cloud of shining blue particles burst forth.

She boosts herself again and crashes into one of the walls with a loud thump, but it allows her to avoid a lightning strike from the remaining vyssari.

Rising to her feet, the little half-demon smiles with her red eyes glowing dangerously in the darkness of the room as sand covers most of the windows. A little light filters through the dust and sand particles start falling toward the floor. There's blood on the side of her head, but she doesn't seem to notice. A golden circle flashes around the pupil of one of her red eyes, and she charges.

Even though the remaining two put up more of a fight, she still defeats them both. She first takes down the remaining vyssari with a well-timed mana projectile and then defeats the velnar in a one-on-one physical fight, even though the velnar clearly should have higher physical stats.

While Myrra finds herself engrossed, shouting curses at my minion's opponents and praising the “devious little shit,” when Lily appears by our side.

She tries to hide it, but the vibrations from her regenerating muscles tell me enough. Is this maniac trying to mimic my Wraith Dance using only raw physical power?

Surprisingly, Myrra, despite her spicy language, doesn't so much as try to provoke Lily when she suddenly appears. I guess that's what a constant regimen of getting your ass beat by little miss “Iwanttobeabulldozerwhenigrowup” does to you.

“Vega is doing super well!” Lily smiles at me. “And you did well, too, Nat.”

“Thank you. Which one is yours?”

“Pallius is the feylith in the black suit with the adorably serious expression. He's in a group with two thylarin.”

“Found him.”

As Lily said, the little guy has an arrogant, serious expression, and even after so many weather changes, his clothes remain nearly perfect. Only one of his small wings is slightly damaged, but it's healing, and currently, both his hair and eyes have taken on a pale shade of red as the trio walks on the stairs.

“Do you know if Victoria has a disciple?” Lily asks out of nowhere.

That interrupts my train of thought, and after a pause, I answer, “I never asked.”

“What would you guess?”

“Knowing her, she surely does.” I pause as I notice a few presences from group 4 moving closer. “Did you notify others of our location?”

Lily doesn't even try to hide it and nods swiftly. “So we can watch the event together.”

With a sigh, I throw one of my Ley Lines into the distance and prepare to teleport away for some time alone.

Before I can leave, I feel a touch on my hand and look down to find Lily holding it.

“Please, stay with us,” she asks softly, then lets go just as quickly, leaving the decision fully up to me.

I watch her for a moment longer. She meets my gaze without hesitation, without so much as a blush, and smiles.

Instead of leaving, I create a manabloc chair and sit in it, only to find myself immediately being pestered by Myrra, so I create one for her, too, and then it feels a bit wrong to leave Lily standing, so I make one for her as well.

Once I sit down, I glance to my right at Lily, who stares at the screen observing her disciple, and my thoughts begin to wander.

I can see why even her grumpy cat eventually warmed up to her.

Dennis and Aaron do not join a minion-murdering-event watch party, and Izzy stays with them to offer her support. The reason is obvious and unspoken.

There are friendly bets, bickering over whose disciple will win, and even some silly banter. Myrra seems to fit in with group 4 surprisingly well, and the others seem to treat her almost like one of our original members. Later, even Channeler and a few of his friends decide to join in—a group of useful men and women from all difficulty levels who seem happy to listen to him, each of whom I lovingly refer to as members of Channeler's harem.

It's still amusing to watch guys from Hard Difficulty who could kill Channeler with the wave of their hand be so friendly with him, all the while clearly acknowledging him as a leader. And Channeler himself doesn't even seem to think of it that way; he's friendly with everyone and has a seemingly limitless social energy.

Must be some kind of trait or upper-arcane passive.

It's also amusing to watch the expressions of the harem as group 4 starts betting some of the upper-epic items they've collected through the floors. For Hard Difficulty, even a low-epic item is a highly treasured resource. Upper-epic items are something very few of them possess. As for Normal and Easy Difficulty, even rare items tend to be highly valued.

Situations like this always serve to remind me just how skewed our perspectives are, especially when Maya, with a sigh, gives a low-epic protective pendant to a Normal Difficulty woman after losing a bet. The woman spends a few minutes constantly asking if she can really take it and only stops when Channeler assures her that it's fine.

It's unexpectedly endearing to watch the fifty-year-old woman wrap the pendant in cloth, her hands trembling as she hides it from view.

That scene reminds me of a similar situation from my childhood. After our first apartment burned, our father lost his job, and we had to move; my mom came home and called Victoria and me to happily give us our first laptop to share. It was something she bought secondhand with what little money she was able to save.

Back then, I didn't think much of it. That's just how children are. Sure, I was happy, and Victoria and I thanked her, but I hadn't realized the struggle. I might have overlooked the sadness on her face a few days later when she asked how we liked the laptop. Maybe she was hoping to bask in our excitement, to relive the joy her gift had brought.

Such a small detail I had overlooked, and surely just one of many.

It's for that reason that for the rest of the event, half of my focus is on the event while the rest observes the people Channeler brought here. I read their mana signatures, and I examine their bodies and the items they carry. Even the slightest movements of the mana in their bodies, the energy they emit, and the kinetic vibrations surrounding them are enough to suit my purpose.

It's easy for me to do, something I can manage even while observing the event. It costs me next to nothing.

Slowly, I tailor something useful for each of them. A training method, a bit of information, advice on development, things like that. I inscribe these ruminations onto a few mana stones, which I then hand to Channeler and inform him, through our communication link, that he should give it to them later.

All of this happens just as the unofficial event slowly comes to its end. The weather is calm now, and the sky is dark. A blue moon shines in the starless sky, and the remaining disciples stand at the bottom of what used to be a lake, the water having evaporated during one of the weather changes. The bottom of the lake having revealed itself to be covered in pale white mana crystals that emit a gentle light.

Five minions remain.

A demon, a half-demon, a thylarin with six arms, a lumoran girl, and a girl of the same race as Beatrice, the archon's daughter, back on the sixth floor, remain. The girl has pink hair and skin, white freckles, and eyes that are a mix of blue and green.

The half-demon is obviously my minion.

The thylarin and lumoran attack the demon boy together while Vega fights the pink-skinned girl.

Even now, tired and sluggish in her movements, Vega shows no hesitation. She moves with exactly the same aggression and hunger she showed at the start.

For someone so young, the pink-skinned girl shows an impressive degree of control over her mana, which she uses to launch a series of ranged attacks in the form of striking projectiles. But in the end, she cannot defend herself against Vega, who resorts to using her kinetic energy to get close and break through the defenses in her way. The fight is soon decided, and in that moment of victory, Vega indulges a bad habit she never quite managed to shake.

Overcome by the feeling of victory, she glances at the space the pink girl once occupied and, for a moment, stops checking her surroundings.

Her reward for the lapse is the young demon crashing into her and sending her flying, having already dealt with the thylarin and lumoran minions. He doesn't even bother to pursue the attack and stands there with a calm, calculating expression. He looks to be around seven to nine years old, and unlike Vega, his horns are longer and curl slightly, reaching toward the back of his head.

Even though his hair is every bit as white as that of most of the demons I've seen, his eyes are of a different color. They're both purple with a white circle around the pupils.

The common area erupts in commotion as people start shouting. Some curse the guy while others cheer at the screen for Vega as she gets to her feet and wipes the blood from her face.

The demon charges her again, and Vega is sent flying through the air and crashes into the crystal nearby.

She stands up again, but before she can recover, her attack is being blocked, her guard is opened by a well-timed punch, and she finds herself being thrown back once more and left lying there with the wind knocked out of her.

Taking a few slow, deliberate steps, the young demon walks toward her, confident in his own victory, but for a moment, he hesitates as Vega climbs to her feet again.

She looks intensely focused now, staring him down as blood covers her lips and streams from her forehead into one of her eyes.

Instead of waiting, she charges at him. It's not the wobbly movements of the wounded and exhausted. No, she flies through the air like a rocket boosted by kinetic energy.

The demon barely has time to lift his arms in defense as both of them are sent rolling. Vega tries to stab him, but he disarms her and breaks her arm.

Vega screams and smashes her head down, breaking his nose with her forehead and causing the first wound he's accrued since the start of the event.

The entire common area roars in excitement, but the noise cuts off as Vega is blown away by the guy's impressive strength. She crashes onto a nearby glowing mana crystal, its surface covered with splashed blood.

An explosion erupts, but not at Vega. It comes from the demon on the ground, triggered by the orb of compressed kinetic energy she left on his body before being thrown away.

Rubble is sent flying as the blast tears through the ground, scattering blood in every direction. When the dust clears, the young demon remains, his body ravaged by deep, gruesome wounds. He staggers slightly, but his glaring expression is every bit as calm as it was before.

And he still hasn't been declared dead.

The blood dripping from his body stops and is pulled back instead, and his wounds start regenerating slowly the more blood he absorbs. He even takes a step and touches Vega's blood where it's been scattered across the ground, and it seeps into his body and heals him further.

Finally having recovered, he turns to her. Rather than approaching, he calmly grabs a stone from the ground, weighing it in his hand as he prepares to throw it.

The first stone flies toward her head, but as it approaches, it slows down and gently brushes her forehead. The same happens with the next three stones; no matter how much energy he puts into the throws, each of the stones is directed at her head with cold calculation, but Vega stops them with her kinetic energy absorption.

Vega shouts something at him, making him pause. He answers and shakes his head.

Unable to move but having already gathered enough kinetic energy to break free, Vega boosts herself toward him.

This time, though, he expects it and steps aside before she can launch herself forward. Her body flies past him, and he simply watches, expecting her to crash somewhere in the direction she boosted herself.

But Vega absorbs her movement and stops midair as if she hit a brick wall, just an arm's reach from the demon. The mana dagger in her hand extends as she slashes at him.

Even then, his face betrays no sense of surprise. His hand moves, redirecting her force to deflect the attack. With a motion that feels both unnervingly slow and startlingly fast, he steps in and lands multiple strikes. The final blow shattering Vega into a cloud of blue particles.

Someone in the crowd curses loudly, while another bursts into excited laughter, and both are quickly drowned out by the continued chaos in the common area.

Chapter 28

Demon Without Heart

When Vega finally appears beside me, she looks up while I look down at her. Lily stands nearby with her disciple at her side, seeming hesitant. She and the others watched my minion lose in the finals, so she probably thinks Vega will be upset. Perhaps they expect me to say something to the disappointed little half-demon to ease the sting of her defeat.

None of them knows her as well as I do.

My minion shows no hesitation and doesn't even try to mask her expressions, not in front of me. She smiles brightly and lifts her arms, waiting for me to lift her.

It almost feels nostalgic as I do so, and she snuggles to rest against my chest.

“I will get that fucker the next time!” she declares right away. As she shifts, her tiny horns poke the bottom of my chin. Vega has grown slightly taller, so it is more difficult to hold her in her favorite pose.

“Language, Minion; people who can't control their language or actions are no better than animals.”

“But I'm a half-demon.”

“No exc… Huh…that's true.” I pause for a moment and finally declare, “It still applies.”

“Okay! Where did you read it, Master?”

“Read it? Do you think I'm not smart enough to come up with my own?”

“No! I would never! It's just that Master clearly likes to curse a lot. Do you remember when you told me about that cowardly guy you fought? You cursed a lot then.”

“Minion.”

“Yes?” she asks innocently.

“Talk back to me when you're stronger than me.”

“I will, and then you'll have to call me Master Vega!”

She closes her eyes and listens to my heartbeat, tapping my chest with her finger in sync with its rhythm. At some point, her eyes widen in surprise, and for a moment, I almost expect her to gasp in shock.

Vega closes her eyes again and starts tapping my chest with her finger. Then she adds another finger, matching the rhythm of my second heart.

When she stops, she looks up and says, “I want a second one, too!”

“Two hearts are for tournament winners only, Minion.”

“That's not fair. Master is an asshole, and I will beat the shit out of that guy next time.”

“Yup, I'm an asshole. Also, language.”

“I'll totally beat that guy next time! And Master is still an asshole!”

“Yup, I'm an asshole. It's still early for you, but one day, who knows, maybe we'll get you a fancy second heart. For now, will you eat with me, Minion?”

“Gladly!”

I turn to the others, who give me a variety of looks. “We will join you later.”

I glance at some of their disciples who have also arrived, suspecting that Vega might have killed one or two during the event. I'm curious about them, but my E.S.M takes priority.

After that, I teleport both of us over to one of the nicer spots I've found while looking for spaces to train. Once there, I put my minion down and jump up. Without using kinetic energy, I climb a tree to grab a basket with all the things I've prepared, mostly food I bought from the other attendees.

I jump down from the tree and move to a spot where the grass is shorter and all around more pleasant to sit on. Reaching into the basket, I pull out a clean square cloth and lay it on the ground before I start arranging the food.

Vega, excited and silent, sits down and crosses her legs. She watches patiently as I unwrap a chocolate bar. I open a can of soda and pour it into a wooden cup, then take out some smoked meat prepared by an ex-pit-master from Normal Difficulty. I would rather not know which animal he used from the tutorial. Finally, I add in some fresh pastries made by another attendee, served alongside a jam-like spread.

In keeping with our custom, my minion waits and sniffs curiously. She even twitches a few times as she hears the bubbles sizzle in the cup.

Only when it's done do I gesture for her to take the first bite.

She grabs the cup right away, and being the asshole that I am, I let her have a true first experience.

She takes a big gulp, and of course, the bubbles nearly sizzle up her nose, making her eyes water and sending her into a coughing fit. Even while coughing, she keeps the soda from spilling and eyes the cup suspiciously. She sniffs the soda, then leans in and listens to the bubbles fizz. After that, she takes a cautious sip, letting it sit on her tongue before going in for another.

“More?” I ask.

“Yes, please!”

I pour more soda into the cup, and she sips it again before carefully placing it next to her and starting to devour the food in front of her. I watch her wordlessly the entire time, not touching the food at all. I simply pour myself a soda of my own and sip it slowly. Only twice do I stop her so she doesn't try to eat the wrappings as well.

When all the food is gone, Vega takes the cloth, carefully removes the crumbs, and folds it before placing it back into the basket with the other things.

She then moves closer and shamelessly rests her head on my legs, her face turned up toward me. She wears a big grin, so I reach down, pinch her nose, and tap the pointy part of her horns with the tip of my finger.

“Pizza was better, Master.”

“Liar.”

“I'm not lying! We made the pizza together, so obviously it would be much better!”

“Sure.”

“Hehe, did you see me fight? I used everything I've learned from the stone you left me.”

“I watched the entire time. You did very well. There were some small mistakes, but we can talk about them later.”

“Next time, I will do better.”

“I'm sure of that. Do you have anything interesting to tell me?”

“Yes! A lot! Some red-haired woman with yellow eyes keeps bothering me. She keeps talking about an envious guy and calls herself the greediest person who ever lived.”

“Oh, does she now? Did she hurt you or anything?”

“Not at all. She just appears out of nowhere every once in a while. At first, I thought she might try to steal my food, but she never touches it.”

“Biscuit…uh, I mean Minion, most people aren't as normal as I am, so be careful around her and don't trust her too much.”

“Is Master being careful, too?”

“…sometimes?”

“So I will also be careful sometimes!”

I poke her horns a few times and pinch her nose, cutting off her breath. She doesn't even try to push my hand away. Instead, she holds her breath and looks at me with a clear challenge in her eyes.

Such a cute little maniac.

Defeated, I let go of her nose so she can take a deep breath and start absentmindedly tapping her horns while checking the time and planning her new schedule.

Looking into the tall grass in front of me, I ask, “Do you not have a disciple of your own?”

My minion looks up at me, confused, but quickly catches on and looks in the same direction.

Tacita, still sitting there, moves the grass in front of her to reveal herself and shakes her head. Her expression is hard to read, so I can't even guess what the reason might be.

Vega, who seems to remember the incident from the first time she met Tacita, stands up, awakening her inner self as the most powerful shin kicker.

Tacita makes a swishing movement with her hand that turns it into a blur, and all the tall grass around her falls down, cleanly cut apart. Standing there without even raising her guard, she stares down my minion, who obviously chooses to accept the challenge.

A dagger made of mana forms in her hand, and with a burst of kinetic energy, she charges at Tacita, who playfully moves to the side and smacks the back of my minion's head as she passes by.

Unable to control these bursts or properly absorb her inertia, my minion takes a few steps to slow down and attacks again, this time running.

They clash time and again, much the same as they did back in the previous tournament. With each failure, Tacita taps on my minion's horns or gently kicks her in the shin as revenge for their first meeting. Sometimes she even kicks my minion's butt when she makes a big mistake.

She treats all of this like a playful bout, occasionally showing my minion how to hold a dagger properly and how to move while wielding two. When Vega attacks from a bad angle or positions herself poorly, she shakes her head.

As before, Tacita lacks patience. I'm sure she wouldn't make a great teacher, given that even she doesn't fully understand how she does some things. It's her instinct and talent that let her move the way she does and read the fight.

So, just as a year ago, Tacita gets bored after around thirty minutes. She gently kicks Vega's shin, ruffles her hair, and taps her horn one last time before disappearing.

My minion and I eventually find Victoria and her disciple in the fourth round's zone. As expected, they've set up in the training area, and the little guy is just sitting there and carefully listening to her teachings.

“It's him,” Vega hisses in my arms.

“Seems like it, Minion, but like I said, this is my sister, and he's her disciple, so don't make me hand you over to Myrra for the rest of your time here. I already saw the way she was looking at you. It wouldn't end well for you.”

“Can I kill him if he's rude?”

“No killing.”

“What if I just cripple him?”

“Minion.”

“Punch him?”

“Only if he is rude, and Minion, don't try to be tricky with the definitions. I mean rude from a normal point of view, which, for the record, is mine, not yours.”

“I would never!”

“Sure, sure.”

Noticing our approach, Victoria and her disciple stop and wait for us to arrive. Vega jumps down and walks by my side for the remaining distance.

It looks like the winner of the unofficial event is Victoria's disciple, a young demon with white hair and purple eyes, each featuring a white circle around the pupil.

Demons generally tend to be born with something that is later acknowledged as a trait when they join the system. It's often the heart, but as I've heard, some are born with special eyes, physiques, or similar attributes, usually something connected to primordial energies.

The young demon in front of me is a perfect example. He was born with eyes but, surprisingly, lacks a heart to generate one of the primordial energies. In a demon society, where hearts are highly valued, that alone would put him at a huge disadvantage.

It's amusing that I have a half-demon as my disciple while Victoria has a demon without a heart. From some point of view, it seems rather poetic and might actually say a lot about the two of us.

“Nathaniel, this is Velis. Velis, greet my brother. I want you to show him the same respect you show me.”

“Yes, Master.” He nods toward her and then turns to me and bows quickly. “I greet my master's brother and his disciple. My name is Velis.”

“Hello, my name is Nathaniel. This is Vega,” I say as I tap her shoulder.

She flicks her eyes toward me, then back at them. “I'm Vega. A greeting for my master's sister, but not for this coward!”

And here we go.

Chapter 29

Half-Demon's Master

To my disciple's disappointment, Velis doesn't react to her provocations, likely owing his poker face to a combination of natural inclination and the concentration-type skill he almost certainly possesses. Part of me wonders how rare concentration-type skills are in demons. So far, all the demons I've met have been on the more hotheaded side.

Vega tries to say something provocative again, but I halt the movement of her mouth by absorbing kinetic energy.

“Congratulations on the win,” I tell Velis.

“Thank you very much,” he says, bowing again. His tone is polite, but there's still a distance to it.

I glance at Victoria, who just shakes her head and turns to Vega as I let her go so she can talk.

“I really liked your determination during the event, Vega. It reminded me of Nathaniel. He was much the same when he was younger, though I suppose he hasn't changed much.”

Glancing at me, then back to Vic, Vega nods excitedly with a smile. “That's just the start! One day, I'll be stronger than Master!”

“Oh, will you now?” Victoria's eyebrow arches up a bit. “What would you do if you became stronger?”

“Then I would force Master to call me Master Vega and have three meals a day with me! And I would make him carry me everywhere!”

“Wouldn't that be difficult when you grow taller?” Victoria asks.

At that moment, Vega looks shocked, as if the thought had never occurred to her. With a hint of panic, she glances at me, then at her hands, before looking back.

“What do you plan to do?” I ask Victoria, all the while letting my minion experience her moment of existential dread.

“I plan to train with Velis for a while longer before I hand him over to a few of my group members who will cover the areas I lack. Lastly, I might organize some sparring sessions against some of the other disciples or spar with him myself.”

“So, the same as me. I would also try packing some items to send back with him. The system might block them from going with him, but it might not.”

“I already thought of that,” Victoria says as she looks between Velis and Vega. “I thought they could spar together, but your disciple seems too emotional to do it efficiently?”

“Master, did your sister insult me just now?”

“Minion, if I were to let you spar with Velis, how would you behave? Before you answer, you only have two options. Would you spar with the intention that both of you learn as much as possible, or would you spar with the intention of hurting him?”

“Both!”

I look back at Victoria. “I agree with your assessment. I'll do some training with her and then I'll probably take her to meet my group and their disciples.”

“Understood. I'll see you soon, Nathaniel. It was nice meeting you, Vega.”

“It was nice to meet you, too, Master's sister!”

A few goodbyes are exchanged, and I watch Velis as he turns to leave to follow Victoria. His purple eyes meet mine before he turns around with that emotionless expression that's so similar to Vic's.

I think a lot of people might be disturbed by that, but it is something I am very used to.

Looking at the half-demon by my side, I ask, “Minion?”

“Your sister was very pretty, Master! You two seem alike. It's unfortunate she got such a crappy disciple. He doesn't even seem to have a proper heart, so it probably makes sense that he is so weird and cowardly. He did have pretty eyes, but yours are prettier, especially now that one of mine is similar.”

“Are you trying to act all cute in the hope of avoiding punishment for being a little jerk?”

“Master.”

“Yes, Minion?”

“Didn't you say that it was better to be an asshole rather than let people take advantage of you?”

“Did I really say that?”

“Ehm, something similar?”

I sigh and offer her my hand, which she quickly grabs, and I teleport us.

“Let's train for a while, then pick out some clothes for you before we meet the others,” I say, reappearing at my favorite training spot deep in the forest.

“Do we have to meet with the others?”

“Minion, you would say I'm your master, right?”

“Yes…” she says carefully.

“The two of us share a bond, a very powerful one: the bond of master and disciple, which even the system seems to hold in high regard.”

“Y-yes.”

“So, Minion, we laugh together, we spend time together, we eat together, but we also suffer together. Exactly as the system intended. In short, you're coming with me to draw some of the aggro away from me.”

“Damn it.”

Even though she complains, as we walk, Vega moves ahead of me, spinning once on her heel before bouncing back to my side. There's no tension in her, no frustration. If anything, she looks like she's enjoying herself.

“Master, I had a thought,” she says suddenly.

“Lies. In fact, it's been scientifically proven that minions are incapable of independent thought.”

She grins. “That's not true! And it was a good thought.”

“We'll see about that.”

Vega leans forward slightly as she walks. “I was thinking…if I tell people I'm your disciple, do you think they'll be more scared of me or less?”

I glance at her. “Why would they be scared?”

“Well, you're scary, aren't you? It's a good thing!” She tilts her head. “You don't smile a lot, you don't talk too much, and you make people nervous just by looking at them. So does that mean they'll be scared of me, too, if I do the same?”

I hum in thought. “Depends. Do you want them to be scared?”

Vega shrugs. “I don't care. But if they are, it'll make things easier.”

“Easier for what?”

She grins again. “For getting them to fight me, obviously.”

Of course.

I exhale through my nose. “Fear doesn't always make people fight. Some people avoid the things that scare them.”

Vega clicks her tongue. “That's annoying.”

“Poor little you, Minion.”

She thinks for a moment, then brightens. “Then I'll just make them mad instead! If they're mad, they'll fight, right?”

I glance at her. “That's your strategy?”

“It works, doesn't it?” She smirks. “It worked on a few of those chicken wings when they were flying out of my reach.”

Am I to take this to mean that Vega's growing into a professional trash-talker? Though she's not entirely wrong.

“And if it doesn't work?” I ask.

“Then I'll just fight them normally,” she says as if it were obvious. “I don't need tricks, Master. I just think they're fun.”

I shake my head. “You're a menace.”

Vega grins wider. “But I'm your menace.”

She moves ahead again, bouncing on her feet a bit before turning back. “So where exactly are we going?”

“Nothing's changed. We're going to train, and then we'll meet up with the others,” I remind her.

She groans. “Fine. But if they're boring, I'm leaving.”

“No, you're not.”

She huffs but doesn't argue. Instead, she spins on her heel and continues walking.

“Master?” she calls after a moment.

“What now?”

“I bet I could make at least one of them mad enough to fight me.”

I sigh. “Please don't.”

Lily Chen

Nathaniel and his disciple arrive a few hours later near one of the tall trees where we've set up with our disciples. Only the twins are absent.

For some reason, Nathaniel and Vega are wearing matching pajamas even though the fake sun on this tournament floor is still high in the sky. While Nathaniel doesn't seem pleased by it, Vega seems very, very happy, so it's easy to guess whose idea it was.

The pajamas are a set: a long-sleeved shirt embroidered with angry gecko faces, paired with loose, airy black pants patterned in red, gray, and white lines.

“Master, is that Nathaniel?” Pallius asks, standing by my side.

“Yes, why?”

Before I can stop him, he takes a few steps toward them and comes to a stop in front of Nathaniel and his disciple.

“I'm Pallius from Teryth! My father became Champion a few weeks ago and is one of the candidates due to become shadow to the Grand Healer, one whom even our Lord Absolute holds in high esteem. I have decided to let Master Lily become my shadow, and for that, I need you to let her go.”

Nathaniel looks down at Pallius, then at me. His gaze lingers, and for a brief, irrational moment, I wish I looked a little more composed. I can only grimace apologetically.

“Lost your tongue? And do you have no shame? What are you wearing in the presence of my master? Are you not concerned about the way that will reflect on her when she associates with people like you? Even the youngest of children on my planet learn how to dress for events and…”

“I see,” Nathaniel says as he waves Pallius off and then taps his disciple on the back of her head. “Minion, take care of this. No fighting.”

Without engaging him at all, he walks by Pallius, who tries to stop him, only to be shouted at by Vega, “You, chicken wings! I have killed hundreds of your race during the event, so how dare someone as weak as you try to steal one of my master's future underlings, future minions who will one day serve under me?”

“Huh? There were barely two dozen feylith during the event,” Pallius momentarily forgets about Nathaniel and asks, looking confused.

“Y-You counted them?”

“Obviously, I would, as much as I could. Each race has its strengths and preferences, so tracking their numbers allows for better optimization…” Pallius shakes his head. “Why am I even talking to you? I have to talk to that guy and stop him from using Master. She is too nice and innocent to see that she is being used.”

Nathaniel reaches me, glancing at our disciples as they face each other, hurling insults. I hear Vega shouting something about my disciple having a chicken heart, a weak heart, and more besides, all the while Pallius grumbles about maniacal demons and brutes.

I should probably step in before this escalates, but for the moment, I stand by and watch. Nathaniel does the same, his expression giving nothing away.

“Is he still going on about the shadow thing?” Nathaniel asks.

“Yes, and he keeps getting pushier.” I lower my voice. “I think he's become more determined since his father became Champion.”

“Silver spoons.”

“He's a good kid. He's just a bit…eccentric. Why are you wearing pajamas?”

“My minion is a tricky creature and doesn't have the least bit of respect for me. I had to make some sacrifices to secure her cooperation.”

“It looks good on you,” I say, unable to hold back a small smile.

Though his face gives nothing away, there's a slight stiffness in his movements. It's unexpectedly cute, even more so because he did it for his disciple.

“Sure,” he snorts, “it's just for one day, so whatever. Lily, if anyone laughs, I want you to remember their faces and names. I will find them later.”

“Of course,” I answer. “Do you want to meet the other disciples?”

“I guess I might as well since I came here in the first place.” He turns around and calls out, “Minion, don't think I haven't noticed you getting ready to punch him. Get over here.”

Vega, who clearly looks ready to attack Pallius, immediately turns away and reaches Nathaniel in a short series of long jumps.

On her way, her eyes meet mine, and the joy and gentleness that she shows when looking at Nathaniel are gone. Instead, a pair of deep red eyes stare at me in a way that suggests she considers me nothing more than someone she endures, no matter how innocent she acts in front of her master.

When I asked Pallius about the other races, Pallius told me that this wasn't exactly unexpected behavior for demons. They tend to be a race that values strength and the establishment of a clear hierarchy. Competitive by nature, they constantly fight for the position of strongest. However, once they acknowledge someone as superior, they become highly obedient and hold that person in great regard.

Of course, that only applies when they believe the person in question is stronger than them, but the moment they sense any hint of weakness, their attitude shifts.

That is also one of the reasons why their Champions and Absolutes are considered to be such menaces and amongst the most powerful within the system.

Chapter 30

An Offer

Nathaniel

As Lily leads me toward the others, I notice Myrra start sneaking closer, her tall figure looming over the two unsuspecting disciples trailing behind us.

Well, it had to happen.

I hear Pallius shout at the catgirl to leave him alone while my minion starts kicking as Myrra squats in front of her and rubs her cheeks, calling her something silly like Minithaniel.

I think I'm starting to dislike the frequency with which my name is being twisted into random nicknames.

The first disciple I meet is someone I know, a young lynthari boy. And damn, I think I'd probably recognize that bristly tail anywhere.

“At least act like you're ashamed,” Maya berates me, and in support, she puts her hand on her disciple's shoulder.

“I did nothing wrong,” I defend myself.

“You never do anything wrong. But, and sorry here, Enan, it was funny as fuck.”

“A little bit,” I agree but don't mention that it is saved as one of my precious memories. That expression the young lynthari made was glorious.

“Anyway, this is Enan. He is a bit shy, but he's a hardworking little guy, right?” Maya ruffles his black hair and scratches his color-matched ears.

The lynthari's bristly tail sways from side to side as he lets out a grumble of protest, his face flushing.

Maya lets go. “He doesn't talk that much, though, such a silly guy. Now tell me, what's with the pajamas?”

“I lost a bet.”

Instead of asking me again, Maya turns to Lily and raises her eyebrow in question.

“He did it for his disciple.”

I watch in real time as my hard-earned notoriety is destroyed piece by piece. But at least the pajamas are comfy.

Curious and thinking it might improve the look and help me regain some lost dignity, I reach through one of my Ley Lines and summon my [Mana Crown] I had left floating in the living room.

The instant giggle from my side tells me it didn't work. But it's too late to take it back, and sending it away now would look even lamer, so I decide to keep it.

I lower myself, bringing my eyes level with Enan's, and look at him with what I like to think of as a friendly face, reaching out my hand toward him. “My name is Nathaniel, and that's something I only share with a few people, but you are a disciple of one of those people, so I may as well tell you, too. But try to keep it to yourself, okay?”

His gray eyes dart from side to side, seeking out Maya before responding, and only when she nods does he look back at me and nod as well. “I will. My name is Enan.”

He reaches his hand toward me, and I shake it. His voice is very gentle and soft, yet it has a nice firmness to it when he introduces himself.

I stand up again and call out, “Myrra, bring me my disciple, please.”

In the blink of an eye, she's standing next to me, holding my minion in her arms. It almost looks like she's forcing poor Vega to listen to her heart, probably because Vega called it weak when Myrra started bullying her.

“Minion, this is Enan, and he is Maya's disciple,” I say.

“Master, that's too many names!” Vega complains without missing a beat, which makes Myrra giggle and snuggle her even more.

“Feral One, I'll buy your disciple from you. She's just way too cute. It's exactly the way I would have imagined you when you were young. A cute and devious little jerk,” Myrra offers.

“I won't be sold to someone with such a weak heart!” Vega calls.

“Minion, I fixed it for you: 'I won't be sold,'” I correct her.

“That's true. I won't be sold at all!”

“Suuuure,” Myrra says, ignoring the bursts of kinetic energy being thrown at her, either enduring them with her strong body or deflecting them with flashes of Aurora Glass. “And what is up with your clothes, Feral One?”

“I'm going through a phase.”

“I see! How about I take Vega, Pallius, and Enan and make them talk things out? I'll make sure no one gets hurt,” she offers.

“That's very suspicious for you to offer that, but let's first get Izzy's, Sophie's, and Min-Jae's disciples, and let Izzy take some pictures…”

“Okay, then, I'll be holding onto your disciple until then.”

“Master, help.”

“Sure, keep her until then,” I answer to Myrra.

Our weird group moves to the workshop, where we find Isabella and Sophie waiting with their disciples.

Izzy spots Vega and immediately grows curious, joining in. “Hello, I'm Izzy, in case you forgot since the last tournament. It's nice to see you again, Vega. By the way, Nathaniel talked about you a lot.”

“He did?” Vega asks curiously, still trapped in Myrra's arms.

“Yes, he did. Would you eat with me later? I want to talk to you.”

“E-eat with you?” Vega seems a bit confused, as if suspecting something bad might happen. “Should I do it, Master?”

“Why are you asking me? It's up to you. And, for your information, Minion, I wouldn't bring you to people I thought would hurt you, got it?”

Vega nods, and Izzy looks at me with a big smile. As always, she tries to connect with me to read my feelings, but I deflect her attempts. Even so, I know she can still sense them on a superficial level.

What an evil ability.

“This is Seneca, my disciple,” Izzy introduces her disciple.

Seneca, though she's probably just around ten years old, is still a bit taller than Izzy. I don't recognize her race, but as Izzy said before, Seneca has blue hair that reaches down to her shoulders. Well, it would. But instead of hanging down her back, her blue hair floats around her head in a movement reminiscent of a flame.

I feel no heat from them; they simply float without falling onto her face or blocking her view. Otherwise, Seneca is slim, her skin a warm, sunbaked shade of bronze. All of which is complemented by her pale eyes, which shine a strikingly beautiful shade of blue.

Seneca puts her arms around Izzy from behind and looks at us with those piercing blue eyes. “Thanks for taking care of Izzy.”

Maya snorts. “Sometimes I have a feeling it's Izzy who's taking care of us.”

That makes Seneca hug Izzy even tighter. It's an unusual sight, especially since Izzy is so much stronger than Seneca, and given that they're close in age.

“Are we introducing our disciples again?” Sophie asks, stepping in from the side while pushing her disciple forward. “This is Deva.”

Her disciple is a thylarin with six arms, which brings a familiar question to mind.

I glance down as she uses one of them to tuck her black hair behind her ear, and this time I actually decide to ask, “Why do some thylarin have six arms while about ninety-five percent of the others only have four?”

Deva doesn't even wait for Sophie to respond. Instead, she speaks for herself, confident and completely unfazed. “It probably has something to do with an ancient Genetic Lineage, rumored to have been inherited from a long-forgotten ancestor.”

“From before the system?”

“Possibly yes.”

“How did that ancestor travel between planets before the system?”

“That is something even our greatest minds and historians have yet to uncover. But it's an intriguing question. One of our Champion researchers has plans to visit other planets and seek out older beings for answers. Meeting a Ruler is likely impossible, but there are others who might know. The Magi, The Last Elf, or perhaps even The Warden of the Parallax Eyes would be among the few with that knowledge.”

“Oh, Kyralon? I wouldn't be surprised if he knew.”

For the first time, Deva opens her orange eyes wide and takes a step toward me. All six of her arms grab my shirt, and I almost expect her to shake me.

“You know him?”

“Yeah, I met the guy. Velnar, locked away in a tower, all mysterious. Nice to talk to but also an asshole at the same time, you know the type.”

“H-how! You're just a second- or third-year tutorial attendee.”

“Beyond quest.”

This time, she does try to shake me. And while my body isn't all that strong, there's just no way I would be swayed by this kid, so it doesn't move me at all. “There's no way the Warden of the Parallax Eyes would need something from you.”

“Well, he did,” I say, seeing how starstruck she is and deciding to tease her a bit further. “He even poured me a drink and answered a few of my questions.”

Once again, she tries to shake me. That pretentious control is completely gone, replaced by a childlike impatience. For a moment, she seems less like the composed figure she tries to be and more like an eager kid struggling to hold herself back.

“Do you realize that there are Absolutes willing to trade entire planets just to have one question answered by someone like The Warden of the Parallax Eyes?!”

“I also chose not to ask one of the questions I was allotted.”

And she attempts to shake me again. At this point, I'm starting to wonder if it's not some sort of special attack or something.

Before the poor thylarin can do anything else, Sophie grabs her from behind and pulls her away with a firm grip. Deva flails in protest, blubbering something about me being completely insane, her six arms twitching like she's trying to argue her case. Meanwhile, Sophie keeps nodding, looking like she agrees with everything her disciple has to say.

At that same moment, my minion keeps shouting something at Myrra, telling her to let her go so she can punch that handsy blue halfwit.

Seneca giggles on the side, Enan watches in silence, and Pallius tells Lily to leave me alone. He insists that someone like me would never have a chance of meeting the Warden of the Parallax Eyes and that I shouldn't be trusted with my lies.

I let Sophie deal with her disciple, and while my minion keeps shouting for Myrra to let her go, I join Lily. “Will you take care of Vega? Just make sure Myrra doesn't bully her too much. I'll be back soon.”

“Sure, no problem,” Lily answers.

I stop in front of Pallius, whose dark blue hair and eyes momentarily lighten with a mix of yellow as he stares at me. “What does being a shadow mean? Is that something like a bond?”

He shakes his head slightly. “On my planet, the position of 'Shadow' is a formal title granted by members of powerful families. It's not a heavy chain like a bond; it's more like a chosen follower. It means you willingly walk by that person's side, learning and growing with them. If both allow it, it can become as strong as a bond, but at its core, it's about following, not guarding.”

“So it's not like a bodyguard?”

“No,” he replies. “It's a role of trust and choice: a follower, not someone who hides in the background or simply protects.”

“I see. Well, see you later.” With these words, I teleport away and then use Wraith Dance to move further. There, at the edge of the forest, I find a man waiting for me who has recently made his presence known.

As always, Savant looks composed, judging by the way his green eyes watch the area. His now-long black hair is tied at the back of his head and falling down. He doesn't seem like he even minds the waiting he had to do; he just patiently waited for me.

I also had the opportunity to take patience as my subclass, but I don't think I would've liked it. While I understand his behavior, it constantly irks me, and there are a lot of reasons behind that.

“What?” I ask.

“I came to make you an offer.”

“I'm listening.”

“There are three things I need help with. It's fine if you decide to help me with just one or more. For each, I'm willing to offer a trade, be it items, materials, knowledge, or something else.”

“I have a question first.”

“Do ask.”

“Don't you have a disciple?”

“I do not. I have rejected it.”

“I see. So what are these three things?”

“First, I need you to help me with the Sword of Aeons. There's something I've been wanting to do, and I'm currently incapable of doing it myself. Seeing the weapon at your waist, you or your group should be able to help me.”

“Hmm, not gonna lie, I would've agreed even if all it got me was the chance to look at the sword.”

“Still, as I said, I'm willing to pay. The second thing is this.” He lifts his right hand and shows it to me. It looks normal, though maybe the shade of the skin is a bit different. “It's the hand of a lumoran Champion that I absorbed, but I failed to complete the process, and now I'm having trouble with it. What I need is for either you or your healer to help.”

“And third?”

“Third, I have learned by observing you and by using my skill to absorb kinetic energy. You seem to be the most proficient among Earth's tutorial participants, so while I plan to do things my own way, I want to gather more information from you.” He says this without a moment of hesitation, hinting at his skill and capabilities while also throwing it in my face.

“That's quite a shameless request. It will cost you.”

“I'm confident that I can offer you a fair trade.”

Chapter 31

Brave

After working out the details with Savant, I don't return immediately. Instead, I move to my room, where I sit down and enter my mental space.

Whitey waits there, as he always does. This time, he chooses one of these enormous salt mines we have on Earth. The air is thick with the sharp, dry scent of salt that clings to the throat with every breath. Massive pillars of untouched rock salt stretch toward a ceiling lost in darkness, supporting the vast, excavated chambers. The walls glisten in the dim artificial light, their rough, uneven surfaces carved by years of work and the passage of machinery.

Distant machinery hums, alongside the steady grind of drills and conveyor belts echoing through the tunnels, even though I'm sure there's no one here, outside the two of us. And every now and then, a faint tremor runs through the ground.

The floor is uneven, coated in fine white dust that clings to our boots and drifts lazily through the air with each step.

Whitey is currently wearing a set of work gear. Stiff coveralls coated in salt dust, heavy boots crunching against the ground, and thick gloves that seem to make everything feel just a bit clumsier. A miner's helmet sits firm on his head, its built-in light casting a narrow beam into the darkness ahead.

And I still have the pajamas on, as for some unknown reason Whitey has decided that I won't have the same clothes as he does.

Asshole.

“You do know I've never actually been in a salt mine before.” I gesture around. “Yet this smells and sounds real.”

“It's all from your memories and imagination. I wouldn't be surprised if it's fairly far off from reality,” Whitey says as he sits on the ground.

I reply, “That's true. What do you think of my disciple?”

“She is just a half-demon,” he snorts, “but her ego is bigger than some of the demons I've known. Just like her master.”

“Was that a compliment?”

“Compliment your face against the wall.”

“After you.”

“Her heart isn't all that strong, but it could certainly be worse. Supplementing her shortcomings with mana might help her, too.”

“That's the goal. I don't think either of us will ever have a proper demonic kinetic heart capable of generating the output a proper demon could, but supplying it with mana should work. And what do you think of Velis?”

“How the fuck would I know? I've never met a truly powerful demon without a demon heart. He has demon eyes that are likely tied to one of the primordial energies out of the common five, but I have no idea what it is.”

“That healing based on absorbing blood seemed nice.”

“Your healer can already heal herself without needing to do something as convoluted as absorbing blood.”

“That's true, but she might be a special case. I also suspect that Velis's eyes might not be his only trait; he might have some kind of rare physique as well.”

“Without a proper heart, he needs to grow very strong, or no demon will ever accept him. Hell, I knew some who would kill him right away while calling him a cripple.”

“Personal experience?”

Whitey smirks. “What do you think? Funnily enough, no one called me that more than once.”

He stands up in one smooth movement. “By the way, that fossil came here and spoke to me while you were with her and watching the disciple event.”

Starting to stand up, I freeze mid-movement and look up at Whitey.

He sees that reaction and smiles even more brightly. “I also didn't think she could come here without you present. Want to hear what we spoke about?”

“A bit.”

“You fucker, I can see the curiosity killing you. A bit.” He snorts.

Taking a few steps back, he puts some distance between us. “She came here to antagonize me, trying to make me push you more while pretending she was after something else. That bitch might think she can hide it, but she can't escape my senses. I saw it in her movements. And I know she thinks I have no chance. To her, I'm just a tool, not a person.”

Kinetic energy rises around Whitey, his crippled heart generating more as his damaged body channels it. He uses this energy to move at all times, compensating for his injuries. I know this. I've learned a lot from his memories, our conversations, and our sparring matches.

And even though he's not showing it, Whitey clearly dislikes the situation he's been put in. There are only two choices left to him. He can either attempt to kill me and take over while relying on Lissandra to help him survive, or he can just disappear.

Nothing more, nothing less.

But as many times before, I say nothing.

I let kinetic energy build within me, charge at him, and let the fight wipe these thoughts from our minds.

After the fight, I open my eyes and glance down at the pajamas I'm wearing.

I shake my head and stand up to check myself in the mirror. Leaning in closer, I observe the reflection of my eyes and move a strand of hair from my face. Then I take a moment to breathe deeply before teleporting into our living room.

The screams and noises hit me immediately like some sort of sonic attack.

Trying not to stick out too much, I move to my corner and quickly sit down, masking my mana, thermal, and kinetic signatures as much as possible. There is a young human boy to my left who has also taken refuge in my secluded little corner. He looks almost startled and fixes me with big brown eyes. He is very thin, and his curly brown hair is messy.

“I'm guessing that Min-Jae is your master?” I ask quietly.

He nods twice and keeps quiet, making no attempt to continue the conversation.

What a good boy.

Feeling more comfortable with a kindred soul, I cross my legs and observe the room.

Myrra is at the epicenter of everything. She and Maya are currently organizing a vicious, illegal minion fight club. It's all done over the table in the middle of the room where the little guys are being forced to fight for the amusement of group 4 and the golden-eyed catgirl.

The minions are currently being forced to arm-wrestle.

Curiously, it is Maya who explains the rules and makes sure the minions do it properly so as not to get their bones snapped. Sophie has even created and strengthened the wooden table, and Myrra is organizing it all and setting up the matches, all while hyping up the contenders. There is even a nurse in the form of Lily, ready to heal any wounds that might occur, while Izzy and Min-Jae mess around in the background.

I notice most of the group members are engaged in some form of training. Min-Jae is making his body heavier, Izzy is moving the flames of her Fragment of Eternal Fire through her veins, and Sophie is training with the mana orbs I taught her to use, which are floating nearby. It's something I also do and continue to do, even as the world around me turns black for that split second before the system heals my wounds.

During the illegal minion fighting matches, there is an incident where Deva uses more than one arm and complains about rules being set against her race; a part where my minion kicks Enan's shin under the table to gain a quick advantage; or a part where my minion gets into it and trash talks so much that Sophie has to stop her; or the incident where my minion breaks her own arm as she gets into an unorthodox position; or the part where my minio…

Hah. Whatever.

Enan and Vega seem to be the favorites thus far, given that they have somewhat similar physical stats, and while Vega focuses more on dexterity, Enan prefers to lean a bit more into his strength. Even Deva sometimes surprises me with unexpectedly decent body strengthening based on mana.

As I watch the sparring, I create a mana arm that is nearly invisible, made from as little mana as I can, and use it to sneakily take some food off the table.

I start nibbling on the snack from the bowl and even offer some to Min-Jae's disciple, who carefully takes and slowly nibbles away beside me.

“I'm Nathaniel.”

“Irwys.”

I nod in acknowledgement, and the pleasant conversation ends there.

After the arm-wrestling tournament, Maya and Myrra organize a few more illegal events. They move outside for tug-of-war; they do bottle flipping, which Myrra really seems to like for some reason; and at one point, they even have a potato sack race.

At first, I find myself thinking it might be a waste of time, focusing on all of this instead of more training, but after seeing the disciples so competitive and happy, I decide to let it go. They slowly relax and stop acting as cold toward one another. Even Irwys joins in after they keep trying to pull him in.

And of course, Izzy's the one driving it all and seems to have found a way to manipulate Myrra into doing her bidding. And it all hinges on a simple strategy: she just tells her about fun stuff, and Myrra, excited to try new things, does it without even seeming to think about it. But maybe, at least in part, Myrra does it for herself as well, to take her mind off things, the things bothering her.

As for Vega… Well, even though she's still competitive, she stays more distant than the other disciples. She smiles but never too much. Even so, she competes to the end and doesn't cheat. Well, not much, at least.

Slowly, though, our allotted time comes to an end, and the start of the third event draws closer. One hour before Vega is forced to return to her planet and the event begins, a notification pops up.

The third event, Chronicle of the Past, will start in one 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 one challenge, so choose wisely!

Challenged beings will be Avatars, possessing no memories other than those required for combat. They will not possess emotions or the ability to talk, and have no motivations other than defeating the challenger.

Vega is still being held by Myrra and forced to pose for photos, and she even coerces her into cycling through the many sets of clothes I've given her. Myrra even goes through the pile I got and tries to find a matching set for herself to stage her photos.

I myself have barely escaped and now sit far away to the side when Lissandra appears nearby.

“Little pup, during…” She halts her words, and I follow her eyes, looking at my angry gecko pajamas. “Little pup, I have the person you will challenge during the third event.”

“Who is it?”

“Absolute Candidate Ruby.”

“I see. Wasn't she still under Level 300 when I met her on the second floor?” I ask.

I still remember her class and the text I saw back then over her head.

[Phase Warden - Level ??]

“Yes, but do not let that mislead you. She spent years honing herself under my guidance. If you go easy on her, Avatar, you will not get the chance to correct your mistake.”

She turns to leave when Vega, who apparently made her way over at some point, calls out, “Master, is this the person who's been bullying you?”

“Yup,” I confirm.

Lissandra halts and lets Vega step closer until they're just an arm's reach apart. Vega, wearing a daring expression, looks up at the silver-haired woman.

Her tiny heart pounds in her chest, but she refuses to let it show. She stares defiantly at Lissandra, holding her gaze even as she begins to tremble. Her heartbeat is like that of a frightened little bird, and though her hands shake, she clenches her fists and lifts her chin higher. Droplets of cold sweat run down her forehead.

With a quiet surge, Lissandra expands her presence and mana, letting it spread throughout the space. The weight of it presses against Vega, causing her to stumble back with a strained breath. Yet she clenches her fists, plants her feet, and meets Lissandra's gaze once more.

Her heart races as if it's about to explode, and tears well up in her eyes.

Then, after a few more seconds, Lissandra smiles and says, “Good.”

With that, the pressure vanishes, and Lissandra along with it.

I catch Vega before she can collapse, then teleport us back to our training ground. Sitting down against a tree, I hold her trembling body as she starts sobbing, shaking from fear and the experience.

I don't say anything and just let her feel that I'm here.

It takes a long time, but eventually, she calms down. Sniffling, she wipes her snotty nose on the sleeve of my angry gecko pajamas. Just this once, I let it slide, watching with equal parts amusement and disgust.

“I'll get her next time,” Vega whispers in an uncharacteristically quiet voice.

“You better hurry. I already called dibs on her.”

“I will!” Vega grins at me and hugs me tighter, taking the opportunity to wipe her teary face on me again.

For the next few minutes, I give her some last-minute instructions and supplies I prepared. Nothing so powerful that it might slow her growth, but enough guidance and mana stones to help. Some of them might not be allowed to leave with her, but there's nothing I can do about that.

There's also plenty of clothes, Earth food, and other things either I or group 4 got through trading.

Finally, I extend a hand to her. “Now give me the things you stole.”

Vega opens her mouth to protest but, upon seeing my expression, gives up. There's not a hint of shame, just disappointment at getting caught.

She hands over a small upper-epic dagger that Dennis found on the sixth floor and seemed to like because it looked cool, a few orbs made of some kind of mysterious metal Min-Jae uses to train, a bracelet Maya wears sometimes, a beanie with a cute teddy bear Izzy got for herself, and a few more items.

Only when I have them all do I let go and glance at the last few seconds remaining.

“Hopefully, I'll see you in a year, Minion. So don't go dying to some loser or weak-ass monster.”

“I won't! And if I do, it would be the coolest death ever!”

“I bet it would.”

One last long hug, and I reach out, wiping away the last traces of tears from her face with the sleeve of my pajamas. “You were very brave.”

“Yes!” She beams, opening her mouth to ask something.

But then she seems to realize something else and glances at me, then down to my pajamas, then at the sleeve I just used to wipe away her tears. Her eyes widen. was was that the Sleeve I⁠—”

I interrupt, already feeling my lips twist in a smile. “Yes.”

“Assho—” She doesn't get to finish before disappearing and finally returning to her world.

Chapter 32

Start of the Third Event

The third event is going on in the same way as during the first tournament.

Each common area has dozens of dedicated viewing spaces, each centered around its own huge screen. It's a bit chaotic, even more so than before, due to the many challenges happening all at once. And yet the influx of people gathering around the screens doesn't slow, as groups claim their own spaces at the tops of the surrounding hills, waiting for the more notable participants to take on their challenges.

Such attention is primarily reserved for individuals from Hell Difficulty. Whenever one of them steps forward, groups gather round to watch like hawks. Often, it's simply curiosity and free entertainment. In other cases, it might also provide satisfaction, as individuals from Hell Difficulty tend to challenge much stronger opponents in an attempts to learn something new. Watching them get severely beaten is something I find entertaining, and many from lower difficulties share this opinion.

For me, at least, it's fascinating. There are groups of people keeping track of the aliases of everyone from Hell Difficulty. They even have something akin to cards with notes, and copies of these cards are made to be shared, often in exchange for items such as a common dagger or an uncommon cloak.

One of these cards even made its way to me, loaded with details on Swordmaster from the eighth group called TheGuild. According to the card, Swordmaster's level is estimated to be somewhere around 250, and his stat distribution is estimated to be something along the lines of three parts dexterity, two-and-a-half parts strength, two parts constitution, and one to two parts mana.

It's even been rumored that he possesses an upper-epic sword and cloth armor. His attribute upgrade is estimated to be for mana potency, and there are even guesses about his skills, such as [Sword Manipulation], [Quick Step], and [Swish Swoosh].

It is clear that people from lower difficulties have been having some fun with it, but it also shows that when it comes to skills that they don't tend to have the same understanding of the system. Even in Hard Difficulty, people tend to have skills like [Water Bullet] or [Fire Wall], while a person from Hell would have something more along the lines of [Water Manipulation] or [Pyrokinesis].

There are a few rare people from lower difficulties, the talented ones, who, through concerted effort, manage to acquire skills similar to Hell Difficulty. But that's just another place where the difference in capability becomes apparent. For them, these skills tend to be much more difficult to control and level. Their minds and bodies aren't quite as attuned to them, and they generally lack our intuitive use of these abilities.

It is something I am sure they could work on, given time. They can learn, study, develop their own theories, and vastly improve. Given enough time and resources, their abilities could develop even further.

I am sure there will be theories to be discussed, knowledge traded, and disciples to expand upon them. They might even establish schools to exchange and share knowledge, fostering a deeper understanding of their skills.

Meanwhile, in Hell Difficulty, it is just like “I just feel it, bro.”

People, especially from Hard Difficulty, are busy forming theories on mana and other energies and the nature of their influence on reality, or thinking about the ways teleportation twists spacetime. Some have already proposed that subtle shifts in ambient mana density could alter fundamental physical laws, potentially allowing for entirely new interactions between mana and matter.

Meanwhile, we from Hell smash sticks and rocks together just to get a spark out of it.

Just as the system intended.

During the hours leading up to the event, I find myself being joined by Dennis and Aaron, who hand me a card that seems to contain a rough estimate of my abilities.

When I look at the two of them, they simply say, “Just read it. It's funny as hell.”

And so I do as I'm told.

Community Alias: Noname

Appearance: Slightly above-average height, black hair, heterochromia—the right one is brown and the left one is gray. Heterochromia possibly existed before the tutorial, though it may still be some kind of fancy trait.

His eyes are rumored to sometimes have a golden circle around his pupils.

Note: Calm expression perhaps part of a concentration skill? I.D.G.A.F, [Punchable Face], [Concentration]?

Attribute Upgrade: Mana Amplificator.

Note: 100% for sure; the man literally shits out mana.

Note: Lol, yeah, maybe that's how he flies.

Estimated Stat Allocation: 5 mana, 2 constitution, 1 strength, 1 dexterity? Very confusing; it could be more skewed toward mana, but his physical stats almost seem too strong. Trait? Skill? Passive? Possible transfer of mana into physical stats?

Note: No shot this is natural; he's definitely cooking.

Traits: Eye-based trait, possibly indicated by a golden circle around the pupil—theorized to be related to mana.

Second Trait: Roughly theorized to be something to do with mana.

Note: No shit.

Active Skills: Rough guesses: [Mana Manipulation].

Note: No shit.

A concentration skill or a skill allowing for expanded mental capacity, and something enabling flight. He is rumored to possess primordial kinetic energy, which he uses to fly.

Note: Two people from Hell Difficulty shared their expert opinion, noting how “fucking hard” it would be to fly that way.

Often uses “orbs of fucking destruction”—multiple varieties and strengths.

Sometimes uses fire skills. It is believed to be another primordial energy. Two guys from Hell Difficulty were unable to confirm whether it is possible that Noname has two of them—very rare if true.

Teleportation over long distances—often even a mile or more.

Shown to have a moderate capacity for regeneration.

Note: Prefers to replace his missing body parts with mana-based prosthetics.

Note: wtf

Long-range mana projectiles observed—anyone below Hell Difficulty is unable to block them.

Disruption confirmed—capable of piercing even the natural barriers of Hell Difficulty attendees.

Black mana observed—absorbs all surrounding mana? Disruption-based skill? No more information.

Passives: Highly likely to support body and mind. Something turning mana into physical stats?

Level: One of the highest in the Earth tutorial, based on capabilities of large-scale destruction—possibly (while unlikely) over 300.

I look at the two of them and ask, “Who are these two guys from Hell Difficulty who got asked these questions?”

“No idea!”

“I thought so,” I say as I hand them the card back.

“There are a lot of people watching you, and even if these guys were just making these cards for fun, I'm sure people like Samuel and those from the other rounds have much more detailed information, especially after seeing you fight in the events.”

“It could cause trouble during the fourth and fifth events,” Aaron adds.

“Yes,” I confirm, “I've already noticed a few people from the other rounds snooping around; they're probably collecting information.”

“What, really?” Dennis asks, surprised.

“You dumbass.” Aaron shakes his head. “Sophie's got a few guys doing the same thing for us.”

“I wasn't surprised about that! It's just that I didn't even notice.”

I point them out to the two. “The guy on the bench, in the yellow shorts and black beanie. The woman in the group of our Easy Difficulty, wearing jeans and a white shirt, the boy under the trees eating a snack. And a few more.”

“How do you know?”

“If I had to say, it's because they're trying too hard to suppress their mana, they're probably from Hell Difficulty, but I don't recognize them as anyone from our round. There's probably more mixed in with the lower difficulties, not to mention the ones who aren't even bothering to hide their mana.” I shrug. “Honestly, there's not much we can do about it.”

“We could send Lily after the ones we find,” Dennis observes, regarding the people I've just pointed out.

“You or Aaron could take them out yourselves if you really want. I'm also fairly confident that Sophie's detected a few more using the web she's woven around our zone, so go ahead and have fun if you want to.”

“Will do,” Aaron says, grabbing Dennis by the shoulders and pulling him away. “Later, Nat, and good luck; if you need anything…”

“I will ask, of course. See you later.”

Left on my own, I observe more fights while refraining from training for now. At this point, I've thoroughly tested my limits. I know how far I can push myself before my heart bursts and/or my brain melts. I have tested it in so many ways and explored every possible application of nearly all my skills.

So, for the moment at least, I'm focused on coming up with new ways to push myself further, to drive myself past that limit. Perhaps a slightly different rhythm of my heartbeat, just a slight delay between pulses to prevent my body from burning. Maybe I could sacrifice a bit of efficiency and channel my mana through a more durable pathway to allow myself to channel it for longer, with much more force.

Where at the start I just did whatever came to mind, I've steadily grown more deliberate. A small part of my mind serves to take mental notes of all the things I've tested. And every few tests, I review those notes and either continue or change my objectives.

I'm not generally a fan of those methods, but it's going to be necessary to get as much as possible out of this tournament. Especially now that more and more people are getting to know my abilities and working to come up with ways to counter them.

From Victoria, I even got information that a few rounds are working together to take her and me down. Vic, Jean, and I are all considered wild cards. Jean, maybe to a lesser extent, given that he often listens to people from his round, who have shown themselves to be more reasonable.

Victoria has full control over her round, with it being entirely under her command through her power and the power of her group, which has the most members left out of any Hell group in the Earth tutorial. Each of these group members is someone capable of surviving seven floors and is currently on the eighth. So it's no surprise her round is rated as very dangerous.

Our fifth round is also considered threatening. Tacita, for example, was given one of the highest threat ratings, and the same goes for Savant and Sophie. Tacita, Savant, and Lily are each considered to be at the level of kings, and Sophie, in certain situations, can be considered one of the most dangerous people in the tutorial.

There is just so much information being leaked or uncovered about the attendees, and I suspect this might be one of the system's intentions behind the tournament.

Considering that, I continue observing the Challenges. Savant goes in and challenges the same man he did during the first tournament, and just like before, Champion Tristan handles him effortlessly. The only difference is that Savant endures the attack for a fraction of a second longer.

Lily steps up against a Greater Mimic, immediately activating her mantle and blocking its attacks with her bone axe. The fight is impressive, and I watch as she takes damage, only to regenerate in an instant and continue facing down the powerful monster. She combines an incredibly durable body, near-instantaneous healing, and possibly the strongest offensive skill I've ever seen. Her disturbingly high potential is clear. Numerous paths are open to her, any of which could transform her into something extraordinary.

The rest of group 4 steps in as well, and almost all of them choose to face a Greater Mimic. That makes me realize that they're using this as a training opportunity and preparing for our return to the seventh floor. Only Sophie faces a man who I assume is an Archon from the sixth floor, as he resembles Beatrice, while Maya challenges her lynthari teacher, just like in the previous tournament.

Each of these fights is carefully scrutinized, and I notice the dark expressions on the faces of some of the people from Hell when they see certain members of our group fight.

It grows especially interesting when some from the fifth round's Hell Difficulty begin challenging the winner of their round's first tournament.

Myself.

All four who attempt it lose. My Avatar from a year ago tears through them. Injured or damaged, it continues to bite, spit, sacrifice parts of its body, and willingly tanks powerful attacks just to land another strike. The last two challengers are especially fun to watch. Both rely on mana, and they get obliterated almost instantly. However prepared as they might be, the power of my Avatar's disruption takes them by surprise, and when that isn't enough, the black mana it creates leaves them helpless.

And as the timer ticks down, I make my move.

Reaching one of the platforms, I look at the screen and declare, “I want to challenge Absolute Candidate Ruby.”

Chapter 33

Absolute Candidate

Ruby is just as I remember her. She looks barely over twenty, with long red hair and yellow eyes marked by a strange sort of complex pattern. Her skin is slightly paler than the average person, and she wears clothing similar to the sort of things Absolute Lissandra of the second floor used to wear, sleek, suit-like attire more suited to men than women. Like all the avatars I've seen, she shows no emotion. There's simply no life behind those eyes.

The moment both of us appear, my eyes flare into full activation, and I trigger all my passives and prepare my defenses against someone fifty levels lower than me.

Absolute Candidate Ruby moves first, even as I set up my defenses. She manipulates her mana with seemingly incredible ease, and her skill activates before I can grasp its structure, seemingly further powering the domain she's deployed. That domain presses in against me, greedily enveloping my mana and stealing it away.

It only stops when my own [Mana Domain] seeps past the borders of my skin and Mana Wavelength Tyrant activates, claiming the surrounding mana for myself. But the pull remains, ready to take my mana the moment my concentration slips.

My mana surges as an unseen attack hits my barrier, shattering it in an instant. It slices into the side of my neck, nearly severing my head.

Ruby herself vanishes from where she stood.

I track the leftover mana to locate her and succeed in following its trail. However, she isn't there. It's a fake signature meant to confuse me, and so are the others she's created.

Without any warning, something hits me from the left, breaking through my layered barriers and sending me rolling across the ground.

I use Wraith Step a few times and try to rely on my mana senses again, but I quickly realize a field surrounds me, spreading a jamming effect meant to throw them off. It feels like trying to find a feather lost in a hurricane.

Switching to kinetic and thermal senses, I move across the battleground, doing my best to dodge her attacks until I finally pinpoint her location. My Ley Lines spread through the area, and [Eclipse] erupts, pushing against the field and draining the color from everything nearby. I reach out to teleport to her, but all of my Ley Lines fray into nothingness as if they were fuses bursting into flame.

Ruby, standing a mile away at the top of a hill, creates a huge number of mana projectiles and sends them flying out in front of her. The air itself in front of them weaves and twists, and the projectiles teleport through and re-materialize about an arm's length in front of me.

[Eclipse] hums with the mana powering it, and I barely manage to tear through the swarm of projectiles. With great effort, I expand it as far as I can, finally breaking the field surrounding the area.

I boost myself high into the air and then further boost myself to fly toward where Ruby is.

She takes a step and disappears, reappearing two miles away.

I locate her immediately because she has a huge amount of mana gathering over a lifted hand. Flying in that direction, I observe the structure and prepare my countermeasures. Instead of Ley Lines, I create a set of marks on my mana projectiles and launch them in all directions.

But even now, I don't have enough time. Ruby finishes her attack at blinding speed and waves her hand.

And nothing happens for a few seconds.

During that pause, I reach her, and she doesn't move away, likely to avoid overusing her skill and preventing me from understanding her methods.

I radiate more mana from my body as Mana Wavelength Tyrant presses against the area, bending the mana particles within to my will. My heart thumps, strengthening my body and gathering kinetic energy for a possible escape.

I weave an [Empyrean Lance] and shoot it ahead while deploying [Eclipse] in her direction.

Even so, she allows it to proceed.

Just before my lance would pierce her head, she activates her skill; the space in front of her wavers, and my lance appears at my back, flying at the same speed, nearly piercing me with my own attack.

I barely dodge it, and then the skill she used earlier reactivates. The remnants of her field in the distance change and implode in on themselves, creating an audible pop followed by an immense pull that uproots trees, destroys the nearby hill, and still manages to have an effect on the two of us from a mile away and warping our surroundings.

It creates a small, dark center around which the space itself seems unstable.

With all my strength, I push against it and teleport away, but the process gets disrupted as the landing point is forced into the center of the collapsed field.

I force my mind into overdrive, and my mana bursts out. At the cost of damage to my heart and brain, I manage to shift the direction of the teleport mid-cast.

Even then, Ruby is already there, waiting for me.

Up close, a barrage of projectiles slams into my barrier, dissolving into mana particles as I disrupt them.

She gathers the particles and moves them like drifting sand caught in a storm, sending them crashing against my barrier in steady waves. They swirl and grind away at it until I release a powerful burst of kinetic energy to force them back.

I charge at her, but she teleports away again, and I track her more quickly than before, covering the remaining distance with Wraith Dance. I launch a barrage of projectiles in her direction along with two tricolored orbs, yet once again, the air in front of her wavers, and all of them reappear at my back. Even now, I cannot grasp the structure of the skill she's employed.

Protected by my barrier, I launch myself away from the explosion and soar high into the air. As I rise, I extend more Ley Lines throughout the area, firing projectiles marked for teleportation.

For a moment, I look toward the area where she collapsed her field. A mile-wide patch of forest has been totally destroyed, with no tree left standing and no hill untouched.

Ruby gives me no time to rest, keeping up the pressure with skills that activate almost in an instant, paired with the constant, shifting flow of her mana. Her eyes study me just as I study her, and she counters with an ease that can only come from many thousands of hours of practice.

Her projectiles shatter my barrier, a wave of disruption hits me, and I am certain that without my passives and skills, she would have completely disrupted my mana or stolen it all away.

Each attack is fast, precise, and hits with force. No matter how much mana I pour into defense, she keeps pushing me back, causing serious problems, all while using only a fraction of what I'm spending.

I pull all my mana back into my body and send some of it through my heart to convert it into kinetic energy. At the same time, I allow the seal around the Ignition Heart to lift slightly, and golden flames begin to surround me. They crash out from my body, from the exhaust nodes on my palms, the soles of my feet, and the one on my back. These flames gather under my control, forming a circle of rotating fire behind me.

Ruby moves again to put distance between us, but I continue to track her even as she sets up fake signatures to misdirect me. She weaves them in a second, yet each of these signatures is more accurate than anything the twins together could hope to perform.

I catch up to her, launching a laser-thin stream of flames in her direction.

A single pale blue barrier forms in front of her, and the flame stream strains against it. I maintain the flame and continue to increase its output; the point of contact causes the barrier to heat up, taking the color from pale blue to light red as the heat spreads outward. Yet the feeble-looking barrier still holds.

I let the mana in my crown destabilize, and a disruptive attack explodes through the area, breaking the barrier as the stream of flames continues toward her head. But once the main force of the disruptive attack fades, she weaves another barrier that stops the flame in the same manner.

I repeat the process, and so does she. A few barriers finally break, even as she continues to refine them as I focus on my own disruption, until the flame lies stopped, just a hand's breadth away from the center of her forehead. Nevertheless, she continues building up another skill in the background, and so do I.

This time, though, I don't bother to disrupt the barrier. Instead, I release all the flames I had been collecting and move them around me as they pulse out in waves toward her, turning trees to ash and the ground to lava.

Ruby then disappears through her teleportation, but this time I'm successful in tracking it and look up, finding her standing high up in the air.

After all that preparation, a single mana projectile floats over the palm of her hand as she lifts it high. A transparent, pale blue lance shoots toward me. It glitters in the air as it heads down, gradually increasing in speed.

The mana I had gathered inside my body compresses and seeps out, touching my [Mana Crown], which turns black and immediately demands all my focus to maintain control. I shape more of that mana into a black orb and send it flying out ahead, along the path of the pale blue lance.

The world quiets, and the colors lose their vibrancy as the lance reaches the orb.

The lance cuts through it with ease at first. It nearly escapes the pull of the orb before the orb begins to tear apart. But the black mana left behind swirls and consumes. It spins, and its pull drags on the pale blue lance, slowing it down until it stops completely. Blue particles peel away, drawn into the orb until the lance breaks apart entirely.

The black orb expands, growing to the size of my fist, constantly compressing and expanding as if it were fighting to devour the mana around it.

Behind me, Ruby appears, and the palm of her hand moves to strike my back.

Tearing my muscles to move faster, I react by coating the palm of my hand with black mana to meet her blow. That black mana absorbs the deadly attack she hurls at me, but even so, the bones in my hand crack, and some of the attack pierces into my body.

She tries to teleport away, but I empower [Eclipse] with black mana, fully draining the colors from the area in an instant.

For the first time, her teleportation fails. Using kinetic energy, I launch an attack at a speed I'm sure would've even caught Tacita off guard.

But Ruby reacts in time and ducks with a swiftness I never thought she could possess. She uses her mana to strengthen her body with such precision that I start to wonder if facing her at close range was the more dangerous option. But I can see the cost, the tears in her skin, and the twitching of torn muscles.

Her red hair floats through the air as she dodges my series of attacks, only to be caught off guard by Needle Point piercing her foot and causing her to stagger.

Even though my [Eclipse], powered by black mana, disrupts all mana outside her body, that monster still manages to form a skin-tight barrier just in time. It holds against the full force of my golden flames and the blast of kinetic energy that rips through the forest like a living thing.

Trees are torn from the ground and flung aside like broken spears, their trunks split and scattered through the winds. The blast churns up the soil, carving deep gouges into the earth, sending shattered roots and debris flying in every direction. The heat rolls out in waves, warping the air and reducing everything in its path to scorched ruin.

And still, at the heart of it, she stands untouched.

Her body isn't even damaged, nor has she been moved so much as an inch, and she moves with incredible speed once more, tearing more of her muscles in the process. She touches my hand before I can react, and a pulse travels through my body, disrupting my mana and deactivating all my skills for a moment.

She uses that moment to teleport away, leaving behind a tricolored orb on the verge of destabilization and ready to explode. And I note that she managed to recreate it after seeing me use it just once.

I know that if I let her escape now, things will only grow more dangerous. I am certain she will deploy countermeasures to prevent me from closing in again.

My Mana Wavelength Iris activates to the highest degree. One of my eyes almost pops like a squeezed grape as I read the remnants of her teleport and all the countermeasures or traps she left behind.

I resonate with it and pull as much mana into my body as I can. I break through some of the traps while ignoring others, trusting that I will survive their impact.

I follow through and appear on the other side, the black mana I sent ahead absorbing Ruby's attack. Still, a few projectiles slip through before the black mana can consume them, piercing my body as if my defenses, combined with Mana Wavelength Tyrant and disruption, weren't even there.

Regardless, I strengthen my body, even as blood spurts from my torn chest and back. I grab the black mana in front of me and form it into a dagger. With all my effort, I stop another attempt at teleportation. Even with a fifty-level advantage, I have to use the full force of my mana to pull it off.

Then I drive the black dagger into her arm.

Up close, the pattern in her yellow eyes glows as her face moves slightly closer to mine.

Feeling a sharp pain, I glance down and see her hand coated in pale blue mana piercing through my chest and exiting on the other side. In that same hand, she holds my Ignition Heart, its heat burning her hand until only the bones of her fingers remain.

But she sends a pulse of mana into the heart and squeezes. It destabilizes as the seals unravel beneath her mana, and a moment later, the heart explodes.

As if in slow motion, I watch the flames surge toward me. A roaring mass of heat and fury, intense enough to erase everything in its path. A force neither of us can survive.

She tries to teleport away, pushing against the black mana to some extent. She nearly activates her skill until I add disruption to the mix, barely managing to stop her.

I strengthen my body with that same black mana, lean back, and then swing forward to smash my forehead against hers, literally exploding her head.

I can only breathe out slowly, feeling my skull crack and blood flow down my forehead as I reach toward the flames erupting from the heart. Even though I know I don't have a single chance of stopping them, I attempt to do so. With my eyes wide open, I watch as parts of my body gradually vanish in the heat. It doesn't even burn; there are no ashes left in its wake. Anything it touches is simply gone.

The flames burn so intensely that they melt mana itself.

My [Focus] consolidates, and nothing else matters with all my attention driven to that single task.

And for the briefest split of a second, I succeed. The heat and the flames slow down for the shortest moment, and notifications ring in my head just as they did during the fight. For that short, beautiful moment, I can think of nothing but that huge ball of thermal energy.

But then the moment is gone, and the flames surge to devour me.

“Stop.” A single word sounds, and the flames halt.

A field forms around me, and the sensation of being completely cut off from the outside world sinks in. Then, in a blink, my body is fully restored. The sealed Ignition Heart is back in my chest, my mana returns, and the area around me repairs itself.

And yet I'm also cut off from the tournament floor, and I'm certain now that no one is watching my challenge anymore.

Ruby's avatar body, which should have disintegrated into particles the moment I defeated her, stands back up despite its headless state. Her head regenerates, just as my body did, and the avatar stands a few steps away.

And that same avatar, meant only to defeat me and never show emotion, smiles.

Then she says, “It's quite rude to headbutt a lady, Nathaniel.”

Chapter 34

My Master

Ilook at her for a while before asking, “Ruler of Greed?”

“I would prefer that you call me Ruby.”

“The Ruby I knew died. You aren't her.”

“That's true, but I like the relationship you two had. I want it, too.”

“So greedy.”

“Exactly.” She smiles at me. “Your disciple is cute, you know. I made a promise to your duplicate, so I'm making sure Envy doesn't hurt her. He even sent one of his vessels to kill her, but I dealt with him.”

“Thank you for that. If possible, I will pay you back.”

“There is no need. I'm doing it because of the promise I made and because I want to,” she says as if remembering something. “Oh, and Envy also sent one of his vessels to Earth.”

My train of thought stops there. “What? Isn't Earth supposed to be protected while we're in the tutorial? Some of the lumorans also mentioned there's a non-attack phase for ten years after the tutorial starts.”

“That's true, but the vessel Envy sent isn't on Earth. Instead, it sits on your moon and observes the planet. He is a very childish man, isn't he?”

“I can only agree. And since I have you here, I may as well take the opportunity to ask you something.”

“Please do so while we wait for her.”

“Is there a way to transfer Whitey's memories out of my mind?”

She understands immediately but shakes her head. “The rules have already been twisted too much. There is no way to make that happen. As you've been told, the only way is for the remains of the lurker to take over your mind, only to end up the same way as her and that lynthari. But…”

“But?” I ask.

“I like to be honest sometimes, so I'll tell you something: even if there were a chance, I wouldn't do anything to help. Don't ever think of me as an altruist.”

“I know.”

“Good.” She nods, still smiling.

“So we are waiting for her? Can she even get here?”

“Yes, I left a way in, so she should be able to make it. I'd be very disappointed if she didn't.”

Just as she says this, a tear appears in the air. It is long, black, and jagged. From one end of it, the black blade of a dagger sticks out after cutting it open. And a nauseatingly huge amount of mana seeps from within, so dense that it begins to twist the air.

Like some sort of monster, Lissandra forces her way inside, stretching the tear open. Her mana constantly fluctuates, surrounding her like a flame refusing to die in a blizzard. She steps through, and the hole vanishes with an audible thump, leaving the air charged, like a forest after a storm.

Lissandra looks at me, but then her eyes move over and stop at the Ruler of Greed.

“You are late, Fake One,” the Ruler of Greed says, with the same smile plastered across her face as she addresses Lissandra.

“You're calling me the fake one? Ruby once called me Master,” Lissandra states calmly, entirely unshaken by the situation.

And for the first time, the Ruler of Greed shows a negative emotion. The smile on her face cracks, and underneath it, anger appears, a deep, red-hot anger with a strong dose of hate.

“My master died millennia ago in the greatest battle this system has ever witnessed. She fell to the most powerful Ruler of Pride that ever lived, and no one else could've matched her at her peak,” she pauses, greater hatred radiating from her and twisting the space around, “but be sure I will kill that man, and I will do anything to make that happen. And you, Fake One, you are nothing but an inferior imitation.

A pathetic shadow of Master Lissandra's great self. So no, I won't call you my master.”

“Hoo?” Lissandra seems amused, and while the Ruler of Greed shows anger, she remains confidently calm. “Here I might agree with you. The disciple I knew is also dead. I ended her false life by my own hand rather than let her continue to live as a shadow.”

“All of you are just imitations.” The Ruler of Greed pauses. “Yet even Master's imitations used to be so powerful. Fake One, I remember well the day the other Rulers and I tore down the old tutorial floors and raised the new ones in their place. Even back then, Lady Lissandra's imitations began to sense that something was wrong with this place and with themselves. They tended to slaughter all the attendees.

In other cases, they broke free from their floors and tried to escape the tutorial itself. To prevent that, we've had to modify the second floor countless times.”

The Ruler of Greed smiles. She does so proudly, with memories flashing behind her yellow eyes.

“The others wanted to change Lady Lissandra's imitation, to modify it, strip away certain memories, and limit the abilities she possessed. After a few decades, I gave in and agreed, after she came close to breaking into the thirteenth floor. But you know what happened when we modified her imitation?

Those altered imitations would simply sit and watch the attendees, and every time, they ended up destroying themselves while causing as much damage as they possibly could. We lost hundreds of tutorials that way.”

She lets out a short laugh, her smile twisting into something almost unsettling. “It took a lot of attempts to come up with a version that would be even somewhat cooperative. We even changed the second floor itself. We built a setting with gods she believed were real and blocked her knowledge of the Rulers, along with a few other restrictions. And yet, even after all that, she still goes on a rampage from time to time.”

The Ruler of Greed looks at Lissandra. “Back then, I truly wanted to see her again. Maybe I even hoped she would escape when I chose the setup for my floor. Did I hope to have her by my side, or did I want to see her fight and kill the man I still cannot defeat? Did I want to give her a second chance against him?

I was so young and foolish back then. But the more I watched, the more I realized that my master is gone. My master, with whom I spent so many years. My master, with whom I traveled the system, fought wars, explored planets and our abilities, faced the most powerful Rulers and Absolutes, and caught glimpses of beings older than the system itself.

So I was curious what I would feel, meeting you like this. But you are just another one of those pathetic imitations. All high and mighty, without the slightest understanding of your place. A disgusting worm wearing my beloved master's form.”

Lissandra nods and asks simply, “Do you know what subclass I've chosen?”

At that, the red-haired woman meets Lissandra's gaze and nods. “Lady Lissandra used to be Pride, but yes, I know what you've chosen this time.”

Lissandra takes slow steps toward the red-haired woman, staring at her intently. “And do you know why?”

“Because you want to kill me, oh, fake one?” The Ruler of Greed spreads her arms wide in a slow, deliberate gesture of challenge. A hint of her true mana leaks into the air. The ground trembles beneath it, and the space around her strains, as if the very fabric of this place were on the verge of tearing apart under the weight of her presence.

“Yes,” Lissandra nods, “I will kill a disciple of mine who is not truly a disciple of mine. I will punish her for what she has done and for allowing even an imitation of her master to be used this way.”

That makes the red-haired woman burst into laughter, but even that doesn't make Lissandra hesitate. Her determination doesn't waver at all.

The entire time, I sit there ignored, exhausted from the event, and with the confirmation of my fears: the impossibility of helping Whitey.

Yet these two ignore me, facing each other down with animosity clear in their actions.

Lissandra, who took Tess's life hostage. The Ruler of Greed, whose smile I saw when she was talking about Vega. She knows how much I dislike the fact that Vega has been left at her mercy, and even if she did leave Vega alone, that would probably just allow Envy to kill her, and I see how much she enjoys that.

Just as Tess was taken hostage by Lissandra, Vega has been taken hostage by the Ruler of Greed.

The more they talk and bark at each other, the more I feel that anger well up inside me. An anger that's been there ever since the start of the tournament, ever since the fifth floor, where I had to endure all this.

And even now, with the Ruler of Greed merely using this as a chance to speak to Lissandra, something begins to snap as they hurl insults at each other.

“Do you ever stop?” I mutter, mostly to myself. But as they keep talking, I finally snap, my voice rising. “Can't you just shut the fuck up?!”

The conversation ends in a blink, and both of them turn to me with evident surprise as I continue, my voice rising with every word. “I don't know how you guys or that huge, starry-eyed hikikomori asshole in his tower make oaths under the system, but this is mine. If you continue to threaten me or the people around me, I swear I'll dedicate my life to being a dick and doing the exact opposite of whatever either of you wants or hopes for. I don't give a single flying fuck about how I look right now, I don't care how childish I'm being, or how petty it might be. If anything happens to Vega, I swear I will make sure that Pride dickhead lives forever. You said you want to kill him, right?

Yeah, no fucking chance. I will dedicate my life to keeping his ass alive; hell, I will become his best fucking friend, I will learn his favorite colors, and I will call him on the weekends just to spite you. And you, fucking cockroach?

Oh, we are not done yet. You have your word to keep, and I don't care how unfair it might be or whether it's your fault; if anything happens to Tess, I will make sure you pay. Because fuck you assholes.”

Breathe in, breathe out.

“Good? You understand? Great, fuck you. I'm tired of this bullshit. I'm done here. Bye and fuck you.”

I destabilize my mana, and it runs rampant as I allow it to happen and even help until it blows off my head. Then I find myself back out in the common area, feeling no less angry about the whole thing.

“Feral One?” I hear a worried voice ask next to me. Myrra stands there, her Aurora Glass creating a barrier around both of us, glimmering.

Only then do I realize it's my mana seeping out into the air. The mana I raised to the extreme just to endure the pressure radiating off the two women, even as they simply stood there. Beyond Myrra's barrier are dozens of unconscious people and hundreds more dead and regenerated by the system. Even though I can't hear anything through the barrier, I see some of them crying, while others shake or writhe on the ground.

There would be more of them, and only the Aurora Glass barrier around us stops my mana from passing further, and even that barrier has begun to crack.

With a single thought, all that mana stops and freezes, taken back under my will. Then I pull it all back inside myself and start using Mana Cycling again to move it through my body, preventing it from passing beyond my skin.

“Your face, too,” Myrra says.

I reach out and touch it, feeling my twisted expression of anger.

This time, I don't bother using a skill to limit my emotions, refusing to take the easy path for this. I simply take a shallow breath in and force myself to calm down, shoving those emotions back beneath the surface.

Myrra smiles, and her barrier disappears, letting in the sound of people screaming, coughing, and crying, but she forces my attention back to her, “It's back to normal. Do you want to spar, Feral One?”

“I do not. I will be working on some items.” I hesitate and then ask her, “Want to watch?”

“Feral One, is this like when a human invites you in for a cup of coffee late at night?”

“What? No. Where are you even getting all these things from?”

“I'm fairly popular, you know, and people teach me a lot when I ask.”

I lift my hand, and she places hers in mine. I teleport us away. The sounds of the crowd vanish behind us, but my bad mood lingers.

We start walking toward my workshop. Myrra doesn't ask any questions; she just follows me, with her tail slowly swaying from side to side and a gentle smile on her face.

“This place, these people, the system. All of them are very intent on fucking us over, aren't they, Feral One?”

At that, I can only agree and nod.

Chapter 35

Road Trip

Myrra stays with me throughout the entire twelve hours I spend creating items. She's curious but also unusually understanding when I need to focus. A few hours in, I even start talking a bit more, at which point she responds with a barrage of questions.

She even burns her hands a few times while poking at some of the items I've been working with. To her surprise, even using mana to defend herself doesn't stop the burns.

Thankful for her presence, I repay her by creating an item to her specifications. It is a simple bracelet made out of a mix of endurium and voidsteel, and I even put effort into making it look as good as possible. Though I'm still not all that great with the details or working on the finer parts, such as the links I have to string together to make the chains, I do my best, and Myrra seems to be happy with the result. The item is only low-epic grade, but I don't think performance is what she cares about.

She leaves when I'm almost done with my work, and I find myself alone in the workshop, which now looks so big and empty.

I put the pieces of the arcane item for Channeler back into the box, which I lock up and secure with a set of heavy defenses.

Then I open the skill level up notifications.

[Mana Manipulation - Level 64 Mana Manipulation - Level 65]

[Perception - Level 60 Perception - Level 61]

[Mana Domain - Level 59 Mana Domain - Level 60]

[Mana Crown - Level 53 Mana Crown - Level 54]

[Ley Line - Level 50 Ley Line - Level 51]

[Ley Line - Level 51 Ley Line - Level 52]

[Eclipse - Level 30 Eclipse - Level 31]

[Eclipse - Level 31 Eclipse - Level 32]

[Eclipse - Level 32 Eclipse - Level 33]

[Empyrean Lance - Level 18 Empyrean Lance - Level 19]

[Knitting - Level 30 Knitting - Level 31]

[Knitting - Level 31 Knitting - Level 32]

Nearly all of my skills leveled up over the course of that short fight. It barely took a minute, and yet I had to use nearly everything I had, all against someone fifty levels lower than me, and that's with the possibility that she wasn't even at full power. Just as Whitey's lurker was weaker than his “true” self, I think the avatars are weaker as well.

Even with all that, I can't even say I defeated her properly. I just killed her a split second before I would have died anyway, but I guess that is an Absolute candidate for you. With Lissandra being the one behind that declaration, it is safe to say that among the Absolute candidates, Ruby was at the top. It is further proven by her now being the Ruler of Greed.

What a mess. Especially since Lissandra won't tell me if I've fulfilled her requirements. It just adds to my already shitty mood.

I add more items to the system shop and then withdraw all the shards I have made and check my current balance.

Shards: 499,663

Then I check the passive I want to buy, and confirming that not much remains, I close the window.

I watch the timer, and as expected, the notification for the fourth event appears, twelve hours before the event starts.

The fourth event - Avatar's Gauntlet will start in twelve hours.

Everyone participating will be moved to the Great Labyrinth of Xyphos.

All participants will be randomly placed throughout the Labyrinth, the paths will be littered with countless traps, each presenting a threat all its own. Each trap may be defused in a number of ways, giving each attendee a chance to bypass, destroy, or avoid it entirely.

At the same time, the Great Labyrinth of Xyphos will create an Avatar for every person who enters. These Avatars will also be placed randomly within the Labyrinth and will hunt the people invading it.

There are three ways to gain points:

- Escaping the Labyrinth - The first person to escape will gain 10,000 points, the second 9,000 points, the third 8,000 points, the fourth 7,000 points, the fifth 6,000 points, and the sixth 5,000 points. After that, the points will decrease by 100 for every subsequent escape.

- By finding the treasures randomly placed throughout the Labyrinth - Each treasure is an item that can be used over the duration of the event. Points will be awarded upon acquisition. There are:

5 low-arcane items - each worth 2,000 points

50 upper-epic items - each worth 300 points

100 mid-epic items - each worth 100 points

200 low-epic items - each worth 50 points

Note: Points for acquiring an item are awarded only once and will not be awarded upon subsequent acquisition.

- By defeating the Avatars:

Beyond Difficulty Avatar - 1,000 points

Hell Difficulty Avatar - 500 points

Hard Difficulty Avatar - 100 points

Normal Difficulty Avatar - 50 points

Easy Difficulty Avatar - 10 points

Note: You gain no points for defeating attendees.

Note: The duration of the event is set at twenty-four hours.

As always, I reread the notification a few times before moving to the corner of my workshop and settling in.

Then I close my eyes, concentrate, and find myself in my mental space. Whitey waits for me there, but for once he looks confused.

It is because this time our surroundings and clothes were chosen by me.

We're standing in the middle of a desert area. Nearby, there's an old asphalt road, a rundown gas station, and a rusty Toyota Camry that looks like it was made sometime around the year 2000. Cicadas scream in the background, a sound I remember Whitey somewhat enjoyed.

Both of us are wearing casual clothes: shirts and shorts with Crocs. It is uncomfortably hot in the setting I've created, reducing our stats to those of normal humans. Both of us are already sweating, and the air is difficult to breathe.

Of course, this asshole still manages to look cool. With his long white hair tied up and a random red pattern on his shirt matching his eyes, he cuts an impressive figure.

I gesture for him to follow and enter the gas station.

I pull my wallet free of my pocket along with a few thick golden coins, mana crystals, and some billion-dollar bills. I toss them onto the table near the cash register, even though no one's there.

I reach the corner of the shop and open the fridge to grab some chilled sodas, tossing them all into a plastic bag that I also take. Then I throw in some snacks I used to enjoy, along with some other stuff. Whitey watches me and does the same, picking up anything that looks interesting.

Once we're done here, I head outside, open the car door, and get behind the wheel. I glance up, shrug, and open the sunroof. I pull down the sun visor, and sure enough, the keys drop out. I slide them into the ignition, and the engine roars to life.

I lower the window to look out and call to Whitey, “Get in, loser.”

He stares at me intently, likely trying to read my memories to get some idea of what I might be planning, but he can't. I've blocked them all.

With a groan, he throws his bag into the car, and it smacks me in the head. In fact, it's surprisingly painful, sending a burning pulse through my eye.

After getting in, he slams the door closed and looks ahead, avoiding eye contact with me.

I shift into gear and drive us away from the gas station, pulling out onto a long stretch of empty road that disappears into the horizon. I reach to turn on the A.C, but of course, it is not working, so I just lower both windows and turn on the radio, at which point some old-school road trip songs begin to pour from the speakers. When I try to focus and listen to the words, it always turns into random babble, probably because my mind doesn't remember the exact lyrics.

But as long as I don't focus, the music just plays in the background. It's an extremely strange feeling.

It is only getting hotter outside, and the passing air only helps a little, forcing me to drive faster. It is just one of these disgustingly hot days.

Whitey, by my side, takes out one of the chilled bottles and presses it against his forehead for a while before trying to cut it open with kinetic energy.

But he is unable to do so, given that neither of us can use our primordial energies or mana at the moment.

“Motherfucker,” he curses and throws the bottle out of the window.

Then, just a minute later, he curses again, takes out another bottle, opens it normally, and takes a long sip. I do the same as we ride toward a structure a few miles in the distance.

A space shuttle launch pad.

It squats there like an old beast forced out of retirement, all faded white with black scorch marks along the base. It is not one of the sleek, polished sci-fi ships, no chrome, no curves. This thing looks like it was built by a set of stubborn engineers who cared only about functionality.

The shuttle is a fat white hulk, with an orange fuel tank leaning against its side like it's started to rust into the ground, its paint sun-faded and dull. The black nose points upward, and the windows are dusty and cracked. Burn marks streak down its body like someone tried to scorch it out of existence from orbit.

The name “Fuck the tutorial” is etched in peeling paint across the side, barely visible beneath a layer of grime and heat distortion. A set of rusted stairs leads up to the side hatch, swaying slightly in the wind.

Whitey squints at it. “You fucker, knowing you, you want to fly that thing.”

“Yup,” I say, then press the gas.

Dust kicks up behind us. The radio is playing something that sounds like “Country Roads, Take Me Home,” so I increase the volume, which gets me another look from Whitey.

Knowing I hate it, he starts eating snacks and chewing loudly, scattering crumbs everywhere. He even wipes his oily fingers on the car's tape deck, leaving visible marks.

“You're eating chips? In my car?” I call out to him with disgust.

He lifts and licks the salt off his fingers and then, while looking at me, opens a soda and pours a little of it on the floor.

I slam the brake, and, not having a seatbelt on, he moves with the inertia and his head smacks loudly into the dashboard.

While I awkwardly shift gears and get the car running again, he slowly gets back up into a seated position, red eyes shining from beneath the white hair covering his face. There's also a small wound on his forehead, from which a droplet of blood slowly flows.

“You fucking son of a bitch,” he says calmly.

“No, you.”

“Motherfucker,” he exclaims as he attacks me, punching me in the neck and driving a fist into the side of my chest right against my ribs.

Neither of us has any mana or kinetic energy available, so the fight is awkward as I defend myself while he attacks, all while the wheel swings and the car moves from the paved road to a side path made of dirt and dry grass.

“We're going to fucking die!” I shout.

“It's flat fucking ground, motherfucker! There's nothing to hit!” Whitey screams, punching me a few more times for effect before leaning back once more, his hair falling over his face.

With frustrated movements, he brushes the hair from his face, ties it up, and sits up straight, looking ahead at the road.

I almost let it go, but then he snorts, “Bitch.”

So I slam on the brakes again, and he smacks his head against the dashboard once more.

The tires screech against the scorching asphalt as the Toyota Camry jerks to a halt, the entire car rocking from the sudden stop.

The moment the car stops moving, I release the wheel, raising my arms in defense. “I stopped because we're here now!”

Barely containing his anger, he looks out at the space shuttle that is still about half a mile away. I use that short opportunity to exit the vehicle, and a water bottle comes flying my way and hits me in the back of the head, sending me staggering forward, but I take it like a champ and continue walking.

Then the second bottle hits my head, making me let out a painful groan as I rub the spot it struck.

Whitey doesn't say anything. He just joins and walks up next to me, his crocs crunching over the dry grass and cracked dirt. The two of us move forward, side by side, following the faint trail that winds between patches of brittle weeds and sun-bleached rocks. Heat radiates off the ground in shimmering waves, and every breath feels like dragging in air from an open oven.

Even though I'd complained earlier about the car's lack of onboard cooling, and the way it was just blasting hot wind into our faces as we drove, I quickly come to realize just how much worse it is on foot. There's no shade. No breeze. Just the relentless sun beating down on our backs and the distant hum of cicadas buzzing in the silence. But I was the one who picked this “setting,” so I act like nothing's wrong. This was exactly what I wanted. Not that it will do anything to trick Whitey, but it will at least allow me to retain some shred of dignity.

Whitey wipes the sweat from his brow and mutters something under his breath but keeps walking. Neither of us has the energy to argue anymore.

When we finally reach the space shuttle, we see a woman standing in front of it, dressed like a pizza delivery driver. A scooter with a thermal box is parked on the road beside her. She's wearing a red shirt with a company logo, a matching cap, and black shorts.

She's something I created from my memories and twisted to the extreme. I used my experience with Logic Core and my imagination to shape her exactly as I wanted. There is no mind or feeling, only a puppet reacting to its surroundings in the way I programmed. Within my mental space, at least with Whitey here, that much is possible, though it did take a lot of effort and preparation.

But it was worth it.

The woman has silver hair tied back in a ponytail, a red cap on her head, and brown eyes. Her expression, however, doesn't quite match. She looks shy and nervous.

The real Lissandra would never make a face like that.

“Y-your pizza, sir,” she says while handing us two boxes of pizza and looking down at her feet.

I come closer, take both boxes, and open one of them, taking a sniff as I do.

“You call this pizza! I clearly said garlic crust! How could you mess this up?! Even a random lady's pet would be able to remember that!” I shout at her.

“I-I'm sorry! I don't know how it happened!”

Taking a piece, I start eating it and offer the box to Whitey, who also takes one and bites into it.

I turn to the silver-haired delivery woman again. “You call that mana manipulation? I've seen kids with better control of their mana.”

“What, sir? Excuse me, I do not understand,” she says, sounding almost as if she is about to cry.

“Of course you don't. Something, something, you will never become an Absolute; something, something, your limit is Champion.”

“I don't understand,” she sobs, her voice cracking as tears stream down her cheeks. Her hands tremble at her sides, fingers curled slightly like she's trying to hold herself together.

“Blah blah.”

She lets out a sob, followed by a shaky sniff.

I take a step closer, remove her cap, and place it on my own head, turning backward as I do. “I ain't paying shit; that pizza is cold.” I burn my finger as I take another piece of pizza and blow on it to cool it down before taking another bite.

Next to me, Whitey chews with his mouth open. He takes a step toward the scooter, opens the thermal box, and steals all of the boxes inside, holding them in one hand while using the other to feed himself more pizza.

After watching her for a moment, Whitey carefully places the pizza boxes on the ground. Then he grabs the open thermal container from the scooter, a bulky thing big enough to hold a full stack of pizzas, and sets it over her head. Drifting out from inside, we can still hear her muffled sobbing.

“There. Now you are thinking inside the box. That is more your level,” Whitey says.

We leave NPCandra behind and head toward the shuttle.

Chapter 36

Dumb Human, Dumb Demon

As we walk up the metal stairs and head toward the elevator, Whitey lets out a little laugh. Just one, and then returns to stuffing his mouth with more pizza.

We reach the elevator, and I press a single red button, which slowly brings us upward. The higher we go, the better a view he has of the shuttle and the nature of the land surrounding it. It's a dry, mostly reddish, dust-covered, rocky area. And somehow it still has a rough beauty to it.

The elevator shakes, creaks, and finally comes to a stop, and the door opens to a metal mesh ramp. We walk across and make our way into the space shuttle. Even on the inside, everything looks a bit worn, made in a style others from Earth might call nasa punk.

There are a multitude of white, leathery, cushioned panels covering the walls, and numerous important-looking buttons and monitors with green screens displaying white text. There's also a barrage of chimes, beeps, and alerts, and the air is filled with a nostalgic smell.

I glance around, noticing scratches and faded stickers plastered randomly across the surfaces inside, some peeling at the edges. A few handwritten notes are stuck next to an array of buttons, containing warnings and hastily scribbled reminders.

Loose wires stick out from cracked panels at our feet and have been hastily taped over with silver tape. Some buttons are labeled with yellow sticky notes bearing words like “Don't press,” “Maybe press,” or simple question marks. This place feels chaotic but wonderfully alive.

I close the door and lock it just as I would lock the door to my house, with a key and everything. Surely, there had to be places where my imagination took the easy way out.

We continue to the cockpit and take our seats, lying horizontally in the pre-launch chairs, reclining in the chairs, and looking out through windows that are probably larger than anything a normal shuttle would have.

Neither of us bothers to buckle up, and then the countdown starts out of nowhere. Biscuit's voice counting down for us, emanating from the loudspeakers around us.

(Ten.)

(Eight.)

(Nine.)

(Seven.)

(Four.)

(Six.)

(Five.)

(Three.)

(Three.)

(Two.)

(One.)

(Food!)

And I can't help but to say, “Damn, I miss that corgi.”

The space shuttle shakes wildly as we start off, defying logic and physical laws. This is merely an imagination, glued together from memories of movies, random facts, and videos from the internet.

We launch, and our bodies press into the chairs as the shuttle gathers more and more speed. The vibrations seem to pound at us through the air, until I can almost feel my bones shaking as if everything around could break apart at any point.

Outside the windows, the sky quickly darkens, fading from a pale shade of blue to near-black, briefly streaked with fiery oranges and reds. Clouds vanish below us, replaced by the dizzying curve of the planet, creating an image that's both vast and impossibly small all at once. My grip tightens instinctively on the chair's armrests, my knuckles turn white, yet somehow I feel a thrill instead of fear as if my body had already accepted that this isn't quite real and has chosen instead to enjoy the chaos.

It should probably take longer, but in a mere thirty seconds, we're already in space, where the vibrations stop and the fuel tanks fall off, left to their scorching re-entry.

I get out of the chair as a feeling of weightlessness hits us, and we find ourselves floating in the cabin. The shuttle slowly drives itself toward the moon, which honestly seems much closer than it should be.

Hitting the wall, I push myself toward the boxes tied to one of the chairs, take one of the boxes, and start eating the still-hot pizza. I toss one of the boxes over to Whitey, who catches it.

For a moment, I allow myself to float in place, fascinated by the surreal quietness broken only by soft hums and creaks echoing within the shuttle's metal bones. I turn slowly, spinning once, then twice, and taking in the messy and somehow comforting sight of boxes and crumbs floating alongside us, already forming a miniature solar system of pizza debris.

Whitey floats by one of the massive circular windows that shouldn't exist, staring out at the empty space and the Earth below us while taking slow bites.

After a few minutes, he says without looking in my direction, “My name is Lioren.”

“Thank you for telling me, Lioren. My name is Nathaniel.”

Looking ahead, the moon grows rapidly larger, and its surface details sharpen: craters, mountains, and mysterious shadows become visible even from here.

Then silence ensues until the moment we crash into the moon's surface. The front of the shuttle hits it, and the shuttle jolts upward, throwing us against the walls. Gravity, though not as strong as it would be on Earth, hits us again. The shuttle slides for another dozen seconds, hitting rocks, bouncing off bumps in the ground, and emitting a series of loud screeching noises until it comes to a stop.

Lioren steps out first as the door opens, and I follow, jumping down onto the surface of the moon. Neither of us even bothers to wear a spacesuit.

Once outside, we can see a flag firmly planted in the surface, an American flag, in fact. And not far from that is a lunar car and a lunar module.

Nearby, an astronaut is sitting on the edge of a small lunar cliff, legs dangling over the drop. I walk up and take a seat beside the figure.

The astronaut is dressed in one of those old-school Apollo suits, bulky, white, and covered in the lunar dust. The gold visor reflects the curve of Earth and the black void beyond. Tubes cross the chest, and gloved hands rest quietly in the lap.

“Do you know a good pizza spot?” I ask.

The astronaut doesn't answer, just slowly lifts their right arm to point off toward the horizon.

I follow the direction of the gloved finger. And of course, it's pointing straight at Earth, glowing like a marble against the blackness of space.

“Oh, you must think you're being funny, asshole,” I mutter, smacking the back of the astronaut's helmet with the back of my hand.

“I'm sorry, sir,” comes the muffled voice from inside the suit. It's NPCandra, and she begins sobbing quietly, her voice barely audible through the thick helmet.

I'm a bit disappointed to get the same reaction as before, but I guess it makes sense. It's not like I have the experience to “program” anything more elaborate. This is just an imitation, a looping clip of a scene from my imagination.

Lioren walks by without stopping, casually slapping the top of her helmet as well. Then he plops one of the empty pizza boxes on it and says, “You'll have to balance it here for ten minutes, or I'll cut off your air.”

“N-no! I'm sorry!” she whimpers, her voice cracking as she tries to hold still. We keep walking, leaving her behind, arms stretched slightly for balance, the pizza box wobbling on top of her helmet as she sniffles and struggles to keep the box from falling.

We walk away in silence, the moon's surface stretching endlessly around us. Each step feels slow and weightless, our bodies drifting slightly before settling back down, the low gravity turning every movement into a floaty sort of dance. The only sounds are the faint crunch of dust beneath our boots as the Earth hangs in the black sky, distant and quiet, as if it were watching over us.

After a while, Lioren begins to slow down. He stops beside a small slope, brushes some of the dust away with a boot, then lowers himself to the ground.

With a soft motion, he spreads a piece of white cloth over the moon's surface and looks up at me. “Would you eat with me?”

“Gladly,” I say and sit down.

I patiently wait as he sets his feet on the ground. In front of us lies a pizza box, a few cans of soda, some sweets, and pieces of fruit that I recognize as the ones he liked as a young demon.

Above us, the Earth hangs bright, impossibly vivid with its swirling clouds and blue oceans, almost glowing in the darkness. It feels strangely comforting to see it from here, like finding something familiar in a dream. I glance at Lioren, noticing how calm he looks, watching me closely as if he were committing this strange picnic to memory.

Then, while he waits, I devour all the food.

When it's done, I look up and see Lioren smiling.

Then he kicks me out of our shared mental space, and I find myself back in my workshop on the tournament floor, knowing that if I leave things up to him, this will have been our goodbye.

In the last few hours leading up to the fourth event, I sit alone in my room and think. I think deeply and methodically, running through everything I know about Lissandra and her behavior. This time, even though it's not something I'm great at, I try to predict how she'll react to what I plan to do.

But in the end, I stand up, open the door, and walk downstairs to the living room where some group 4 members are waiting, especially Izzy.

“Izzy, do you have a moment?” I ask her.

With her green eyes, she looks up at me from the laptop, where I know she is often editing the videos that she made with the others.

“Sure!” she agrees without hesitation, and as she always does whenever she speaks to someone, her senses reach out to me in an attempt to connect to my feelings.

It's something she does almost instinctively, and it's pretty hard to notice. There are probably only a few people in each round who would even be capable of doing so, and even fewer who can detect her surface scans. I'm not one of those people, even though I'm aware that that kind of thing even exists.

Izzy acts a bit surprised when I allow her to connect, but she follows me out of the house and into the garden.

I sit down with her and explain everything, then I ask about Lissandra. She listens closely, nodding a few times.

I then receive my answer and an unexpected hug.

“If you need help…”

“I know, I'll ask,” I confirm. “It's fine.”

The fourth event starts, and I'm moved into the Great Labyrinth of Xyphos along with thousands more. It appears to be underground, with a wall made of smooth red rock imbued with white crystals that emit light. The walls are made of a pure and stunningly smooth gray stone, as is the floor.

Other than that, I find myself in a single huge room, big enough to easily fit the hundreds of attendees currently surrounding me, and the ceiling itself rises as high as a two- or three-story building.

Then there's the door; there are no knobs or inscriptions, just a single huge slab of black wood. At its lowest point, within reach of a normal human, there's a glowing white handprint.

I ignore the people around me and shut my eyes, forcing my way into my mind space despite a number of attempts to stop me.

This time, it is dark and empty here, and Lioren stands opposite me in the same clothes his lurker once wore.

“Fuck off,” he greets me.

I smile at him and sit down patiently.

He stares me down. “What the fuck are you planning?”

“I've known since the start of the tournament that you were planning to disappear at its end,” I say.

“So what?” He shrugs and sits down. “It's my decision to make.”

“Why only after the tournament, and why not try to take over my body?”

“It's up to me if I want to cut things short, not the tutorial. I've shown you everything I could. Your untalented ass will have to figure out the rest. And look, Nathaniel, you're a fucking mess right now. Disappearing in the middle of that would just be a dick move.”

“I'm fine.”

“Sure,” he snorts, “the real question is, why the hell are you here?”

He avoids answering the second question, unsurprisingly.

“It seems I have to be the mature one here.” I sigh. “So, to say, you could always take over my mind and do it at any time. It would be easy, and the other option for you is to die. And yet you never did. You thought about it, I saw those memories, but you never did it.”

“I just didn't feel like it.”

“I know,” I smile, “but I'm a dumb human with a weak heart and a pathetic talent for kinetic energy.”

“Sounds like you.”

“So, in my human idiocy, I always took it as a token of friendship, the greatest you could've shown.”

Lioren snorts. “Dumb human, indeed. You know I'm just a fake created by the tutorial.”

“Where you came from doesn't matter to me. Now let me finish. You've got a few days left, but I'm an asshole, so I'm asking you to die today.”

He watches me intently. “How cruel. Explain.”

“As much as I dislike it, I know I can't change your mind or convince you to stay longer. I've seen enough of your memories to respect your decision. But to explain myself, compared to some things, my life doesn't mean all that much to me. So, Lioren, to show just how stupid I am for calling a random demon hallucination trapped in my head a friend, and to show just how much I actually trust you, I'm going to give you something I value even more than that.”

I look straight at him. “I will put the life of my friend in your hands, and I will give you an opportunity to go wild one more time and crush the fourth event. I made some preparations. Even as we speak, a part of my mind is deploying the arrays and inscriptions to modify my mana and kinetic flow.

“She won't like it.”

“I'm aware. That'll be something for me to deal with. It will be fine.”

“What was that human saying, famous last words?”

“Indeed. I'll be taking a step back, so please, one last time, show me the proper way to use kinetic energy. You have my permission to break my body in the process.”

“Craziest fucking human I have ever met.”

“I hear that a lot.”

Brainiac

The huge room with hundreds of attendees is full of sound as they party up, plan out things, and examine the area around us.

Not many notice the white palm on the massive wooden door, but I think it might be the key to opening it, possibly leading to another room or the labyrinth proper.

It is not something I worry about too much. Most of my attention is on Noname.

He stands in the middle of the room, eyes closed, mana seeping from his body. I can follow it much better now than I could during the first tournament, and it's not like he's trying to hide it, but damn, if it isn't wild.

The asshole moves his mana around himself, carving inscriptions into his own body, tracing them over his chest, across his hands and arms. The crown on his head flickers until it vanishes. The pressure of his mana builds, and he starts making even crazier changes I can barely follow. Since he's not hiding it, though, I can see more now. The way he moves his mana is chaotic, but there's a clear purpose in it.

It flashes, it beats, it moves, pulling into threads, and the space around him begins to feel oppressive. It flares up only to die off and send pulses of weaker mana through the area⁠—

I don't think I'm that bad at handling mana, but the guy in front of me is batshit crazy. A single slip-up, a single mistake, and the amount of mana he's using would tear him apart. On top of that, he's even suppressing the waves around him so he doesn't kill anybody who might be below Hell Difficulty.

Then his heart starts beating audibly, and more of his mana seeps into the area, forcing those from the lower difficulties to move away from him. That mana fills the room and bounces off the walls before returning to him.

His mana gradually fades as the dense inscriptions across his chest glow briefly before vanishing. I've never seen anything like them, not even on low-arcane weapons.

All of his mana vanishes, followed by an audible thump. Then another, and another, until I realize it's his heartbeat. But that heart doesn't generate mana anymore; it generates something else, using all the mana to do so.

His black hair, drifting around his head in rhythm with his heartbeat, begins turning white at the roots until it's completely bright white. Noname opens his eyes as their color shifts from gray and brown to a vivid shade of red.

To my surprise, Noname smiles brightly and hops in place. He moves his arms and legs like he's testing them, then a satisfied expression spreads across his face. He taps his chest over his heart and nods, smiling even more.

“Such a ridiculously insane output,” he says. “Fucking dumb human brute.”

Chapter 37

Not Noname

P.O.V Brainiac

He is gone in a blink, and I couldn't even hope to track him. There's no movement of mana, no vibrations flowing through the air. Something I've even started to notice with Tacita at times is not even slightly present here.

I hear shouts and look back to see Noname now standing in front of the door with his hand on the white palm symbol. The door starts shaking, dust and dirt falling off the edges as it opens to reveal a similar room. Inside, a single person stands on a small island surrounded by glowing, pale blue water. The huge, square room has the same gray walls, but this time, there are three massive black doors marked with identical white palms.

Symbols cover the area, painted in subtly different shades of black, along with other markings that probably hint at which door to open next.

The person standing on the island floats into the air, and translucent, bird-like wings glow behind her. Her skin is slightly grayish, the same as all of the avatars, and her face holds that empty expression. I recognize her as a Beyonder, one of the top three from the second round.

Noname and the woman disappear from my sight again, only for both of them to crash against the ceiling. The wings on the avatar's back change and turn into dozens of long arms that reach toward Noname, who pins her against the ceiling, neither of them falling, as if unaffected by gravity. All of those arms freeze midair, and the woman's head bursts open before she disappears into a shower of blue particles.

I can barely keep up as Noname suddenly reappears on the ground, right by the first door. He opens it without a single damn concern for any traps there might be or whether it's even the right one. Then the mana-obsessed buffoon with, why the fuck not, white hair, does the same to the remaining two doors, and all of them start to open at once.

One of the doors reveals a cluster of fifty attendees, all trapped within the blazing ring of a firewall. The others swing open to reveal rooms packed with avatars, easily a hundred in each.

From where I stand, I can already feel the pressure radiating from Noname like a tidal wave. Then he moves. No hesitation. No pause. He charges straight in, ripping through them like paper, completely unfazed by the other members of Hell Difficulty or their numbers.

Rafael Vaughn - Channeler

The room is massive, enclosed by the same four gray walls as the last one, but this time we're standing on a vast, grassy field. Towering pillars, each as thick as a sequoia, stretch upward, nearly touching the ceiling.

Two avatars face us, walking toward us at a steady pace. CarrotCake and Klara, both of them winners of their first tournaments.

All five Hell Difficulty fighters on our side are already down, and the rest of us can only watch and wait for it to be over. The two avatars, on the other hand, remain completely untouched.

Then a huge door to the right opens slowly, and a single figure steps through the massive entrance.

The white hair and red eyes are the first things I notice. Then comes the expression, strange enough to throw me off, just long enough for the realization to hit me too late.

I know this person.

Nathaniel Gwyn does not wear his usual calm, distant expression. Instead, he is smiling with a strange, eager intensity. Even his movements are different.

Every shift of his body sends a warning straight to the primitive core of my brain. There's a predatory energy in the way he moves, something sharp and unnatural. It feels wrong, almost like no one should be able to move the way he does.

There is no crown, no mana, no projectiles, no orbs, no golden flames. Nathaniel simply steps into the room without deploying any of his usual countermeasures, even though he must know he's up against two of the best physical fighters in Earth's tutorial.

And he attacks first.

I do not see any movement, but out of nowhere, he's standing in front of me, and CarrotCake is gone. Then Klara disappears as well. A split second later, two of the pillars explode as their bodies crash against them.

“Damn, I knew his output was high, but what is this shit?” Nathaniel says.

The voice is the same, but the tone, pronunciation, and rhythm are very different. When he turns to me and I see those red eyes, it's all I need to confirm that this is not Nathaniel; it has to be someone else.

“I know he keeps comparing us, but I'm more handsome than you,” he says after examining my face.

A pair of shockwaves ripple out from where the ruined pillars are, and both Klara and CarrotCake appear in the air in front of him, stopped mid-strike as if they were being held there by an invisible force. CarrotCake is frozen mid-punch, and Klara is swinging the gladius in her hand.

Nathaniel moves with a speed I can't even begin to follow. One moment he's there, the next he's already confronting the two Beyonders, striking before they can react. The moment they clash, all of them burst into motion, and the space around them erupts with force.

The two avatars and Nathaniel vanish without warning, only to reappear seconds later in a blur of motion, then they vanish again before anyone can react. Their battle rages across the entire field, too fast to follow, too violent to contain. Pillars as thick as trees are shattered like glass in their wake. The ground is torn apart, rent asunder by their stray blows.

Even the attendees caught near their clashes don't stand a chance; some are killed outright, reduced to nothing just for being too close.

It all happens in a matter of seconds. Then Nathaniel is standing beside me, the gladius Klara once held now resting casually on his shoulder. She's gone with no trace of her to be seen.

Only CarrotCake's avatar emerges from the smoke. One arm is missing, his body has been torn through, leaving him riddled with ragged, bloody holes, and half his face has been reduced to little more than blood and ruin. But he still strides forward without hesitation, each step heavy enough to make the air around him hum.

“Do you like it, you asshole?! It's not fun when your opponents don't use mana, right?” Nathaniel shouts at the avatar. Then he vanishes again, leaving only an echo behind.

For a split second, I catch sight of Nathaniel standing right in front of CarrotCake. In one smooth, brutal motion, he slams the flat side of Klara's gladius against CarrotCake's chest, unleashing a shockwave that sends even me tumbling until I crash into a tree.

I lift my head with the taste of blood thick in my mouth. Nathaniel is already gone, leaving no trace. CarrotCake's avatar remains standing for a moment longer, chest ripped open and heart completely destroyed. Then he collapses. His form unravels and dissolves into streams of pale blue particles, rising into the air before scattering like fading embers.

Samuel

The room we're in is filled with motion-activated traps. Even the slightest movement causes mana to gather around the crystal floating high above, and a crystalline projectile shoots out almost instantly. I saw one pierce straight through the barrier of a Hell Difficulty attendee from the first round, and another break through the shield of a Beyonder from the eighth round, even though it was an upper-epic shield.

Even talking sets it off. Fortunately, a few of the remaining Hell Difficulty attendees, like me, have noticed the inscriptions etched into the stone floor and have begun channeling their mana into them.

As in the previous rooms, this one must also have a solution; we just need to proceed carefully. But I have a strong suspicion that if you find a solution, it will only apply to you and exclude you from movement tracking. I suspect this because even the avatars here with us stand unmoving, working through the same process.

At this point, it is a race to see who regains the ability to move first.

This does not mean there are no fights. The avatars and attendees can still use their primordial energies or rely on skills that don't require movement to pepper each other with attacks. Both sides are defending and attacking at all times.

That's when Noname appears in the middle of the room, caught between two fighting factions. For some reason, his hair is white, and his eyes have turned a dark shade of red.

“Damn, what a bunch of losers,” he says simply.

Three crystal projectiles shoot at him, only to freeze mid-movement before they can pierce his body. He tilts his head with curiosity, and three more shoot his way, all of them stopping in the same fashion, just an arm's reach away from his body.

He moves and touches the tip of one of the crystal projectiles, and each movement causes more and more projectiles to rush his way as dozens of them start collecting around him.

Taking one of these crystals into his hand, he twists his body and throws it. The crystal projectile disappears from my sight, leaving just a blur in its wake.

One of the avatars crashes against the wall, a crystal stabbed through its chest. Even that movement causes a few more projectiles to form and hit him on the ground, turning him into a mist of fine particles.

Around Noname, there are already dozens of crystal projectiles, and he snickers deviously, taking them out of the air and throwing them at the avatars. Beyonders, Hell Difficulty, even Easy Difficulty, he doesn't leave anyone unscathed, and quickly clears the room.

He disappears, and the rain of projectiles trails in his wake, slamming against the ground, but they're still too slow to catch up. The next time I see him, he puts his hand on the white glowing palm on the huge wooden door, which immediately begins to open.

Before he leaves, he turns back, and I can feel his red eyes locked on me. Around him, a hundred crystal projectiles hang frozen in the air, with more forming every time he moves. He mouths something I can't hear, and an invisible force pushes against me just enough to make me stumble.

The last thing I see is a dozen crystals speeding toward me from the crystal floating high above. A moment later, I find myself outside, in the common area.

I glance over the area at the crowds already outside the event, watching the screens. Some of my men are already here as planned, the ones who gave up on the event early just to record the fourth event using the cameras we set up.

“How's it going?” I ask as I step up to one of them.

“It's a mess. We haven't been able to locate that silver-haired woman yet, but Noname is on a rampage. He's already hunted down dozens of Hell Difficulty avatars and several of the avatars of the tournament winners. We also tried to track Victoria, but just like during the previous event, she's been holding back. It's tough to properly estimate her abilities.”

“Continue then,” I tell him, and move to my spot to watch the screens.

On them, I see Noname tearing through another room, jumping off the walls to dodge attacks and tanking close-range hits from another physically powerful avatar.

I remember the time his mana destabilized in the common area and wiped out hundreds of attendees. And I wonder if someone like him should even be allowed to set foot on Earth.

But at this point, I have to ask myself if there is anyone who can stop him.

Sophie Martinez

I've seen Nathaniel fight time and time again, and over time, I've come to agree with something he himself admits, though many of the others would say the same. Nathaniel is not among the most talented people here; he is not a genius like Savant, Tess, or Tacita.

Still, out of everyone I've met, out of every attendee, he's the one I want to mess with the least. That guy is harder to kill than a cockroach, and his mana output only seems to increase as a given fight progresses rather than running out.

There is just too much bullshit he can throw around. The last fight against Absolute Candidate Ruby was proof of that. That red-haired woman was one of those rare, talented fighters and beat the shit out of him for most of the fight, but in the end, he still technically won by managing to die just a split second later.

I saw the expressions of people in the common area during that fight, as well as the reactions of spies from other rounds, and it is obvious that the countermeasures they've been preparing against him will only increase in number.

To put it simply, Nathaniel is someone I absolutely do not want to fight or have as an enemy.

Yet here I am, standing against his avatar.

Our group of a hundred attendees is positioned across the massive square room. It has the same gray walls and red ceiling lit by the same white crystals as the other rooms. The rest of the enormous space is filled with buildings reminiscent of the ones the lynthari on the fourth floor seemed to like. There's even a fountain in the center, and the area is large enough to host a small city.

There are four Beyonders I know: Kang Jiwon from the tenth round, some girl from Victoria's round, Leticia, Luna, and one more guy from Jean's round. Then we have ten Hell Difficulty attendees, and I don't even bother to count the lower difficulties.

It could be said that the collection of people here is impressive.

Still, Leticia, standing by my side, whispers, “Should we run?”

Luna, beside us, growls, now at the largest size I've ever seen this golden retriever reach. Her fur stands on end, and her massive teeth are bared.

I look in the direction Leticia has been looking.

Nathaniel's avatar hovers in midair. A pale blue crown floats above his head, and the gray tones of his form make the crown's glow and the golden circles around his pupils stand out even more.

Leticia grabs my arm. “Why isn't he moving?”

He really isn't. Nathaniel's avatar just floats there, dead center of the battlefield, with no attacks, no skill activations, nothing. And yet everyone feels it; the air thickens, and the ground trembles under our feet despite the lack of movement.

I swear I saw Kang Jiwon take half a step back. Just half. Enough to mean something.

His crown pulses once, and mana rises up around him. Someone shouts, and defenses fire up and activate. Left with no other choice, I activate what I have prepared and stack it up around us and prepare to fight.

My attempt to pierce into his mind is deflected as if I were slamming my head into a steel wall.

Again, pressure around him increases.

Ten people disappear. No screams, no impact, just gone, vaporized, or maybe something worse.

Luna lunges forward before I can react. She vanishes.

Leticia shouts and attacks. And all I can do is reach for my mana and hope the next attack doesn't come for me.

Chapter 38

Two Monsters

Isabella Martinez

One of the doors stands wide open, but the other hasn't moved at all. The floor's clear like glass, and whenever we step on it, mana underneath swirls and ripples, almost like water. Surrounding the open door is a barrier that only lets people in. Once you walk through, you're stuck. You can't leave. At the moment, there are about fifty of us in the room.

Some people are still looking around, trying to understand the situation. A few sit in the corners, clearly exhausted or hurt, whispering to each other. One guy with a broken arm keeps glancing at the barrier like he's debating whether or not to continue his attempts to break through.

A few of the others are walking around the edge of the room, checking the walls and looking for clues or hidden triggers, even though it's obvious that nothing's going to work unless we solve the mana part. Some are just standing still, watching Yama's group with the kind of focus you'd expect from the sort of people with no backup plan of their own.

I spot one girl slowly etching lines into the floor with her dagger, probably some kind of inscription, but judging by her expression, she doesn't really know what she's doing.

There's tension everywhere. Not the loud kind. The quiet, crawling kind that builds with every minute that nothing happens.

No one else from group 4 is present, but Yama has already grouped up with some of the attendees from her and gotten to work on opening the locked door by deciphering the movements of mana under the floor and trying to manipulate them to unlock it.

I don't feel movement. It's more like a strong emotion. Whoever's controlling Nathaniel's body stops next to me and looks down, and I look up at him. That's when what Nathaniel asked me to do suddenly makes sense. I can feel the emotions from the thing inside him, and I remember what he told us earlier about the lurker in his mind.

“What is your name?” I ask, not wanting to call him Whitey.

He gives it some thought and smiles brightly. “Nothaniel.”

I can only sense a kind of smug satisfaction from him over the lame joke, and I think I understand why Nathaniel would accept someone like him. Even though I can sense a lot of dark emotions radiating from him, the prevailing emotions for the moment are beautiful and pure.

Excitement radiates from him in waves.

Along with a heavy responsibility that he is happy to bear.

Slight annoyance blended with amusement.

The bravery of walking toward his death, mixed with something so beautiful that it nearly brings me to tears.

“He hates it when people twist his name like that,” I tell him.

“Yes,” he admits, smiling even more.

That expression is so unusual on Nathaniel's face it takes me aback.

“Are you having fun?” I ask while sitting down, and he sits next to me.

“You already know that, and I won't even try to hide my emotions from you. Did you know that you scare Nathaniel sometimes?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Do you wanna hear some of his deepest secrets?”

“Yes! I mean, no! That would be rude.”

“Are you sure?”

“I…n-yes! Don't tell me anything.”

“I can hear your heart and feel your blood and muscles move. So why bother lying, you nosy little thing? But fine, have it your way. Why aren't they unlocking the door?”

“It's very difficult, and they're having trouble deciphering mana locks or something.”

Nothaniel stands up and stretches, enjoying each of these movements. At the same time, Yama finally takes notice of him as she looks away from the inscription that she and her group have drawn on the floor.

He gives her a wave, which leads her to furrow her brow.

“Thank you,” I shout to him before he can leave.

It causes him to stop, and he looks at me with those beautiful eyes. “What for, human?”

“For being his friend and refusing to turn on him. He still doesn't know how to ask for help, and he keeps trying to carry everything on his own.”

“He's a mess, I know, but that doesn't mean he needs anyone fixing him. Don't underestimate him,” he says with a nod, then freezes as I grab his hand.

It's a warm and strong hand, and he looks at me with a flash of awkwardness quickly replaced by surprise and annoyance.

“What?” he asks impatiently.

“I'm sorry he couldn't help you and that the rest of us never got the chance to know you.”

He snorts and pulls his hand away from mine.

Then he gently taps on the floor with his foot. The mana swirling underneath gets pushed aside as if his foot were causing an invisible explosion. He repeats it, but where there was a single shockwave before, now there are five, each one entirely different from the others.

The mana under the surface crashes against itself, battered by the shockwaves and swirling in beautiful patterns until it stops entirely. Then the formerly closed door slowly creaks open.

I look away from them and back to him, but he's already gone, and now standing in front of Yama. She teleports away, only for him to appear in front of her again, wearing that same smile and just staring.

Her strings spiral, move, attack, form defenses, or swing, but he avoids them all with the slightest movements of his body. Every time she teleports, he's already there, within arm's reach, just watching her with that smile. He tracks her constantly, even as she sets up fakes.

The attacks she sends his way stop midair, explosions frozen as if time itself had paused, flames refusing to burn and simply hanging there.

None of the people from her group can move. Ever since the beginning, they've just stood there, unmoving.

In the end, even Yama ends up the same. She's frozen in place, not a single strand of her hair moves.

Her annoyance, which flared into anger and surprise, now barely masks her unease and growing tension.

Nothaniel steps closer and taps her forehead with that devilish smile of his.

“Know your place,” he says.

Then he's gone, and she just stands there, staring at the spot where he vanished. Her face remains calm and composed as always, but I notice the faintest blush on her cheeks and feel her confused emotions.

Dennis Dalton

This room is the size of a small city. It has the same cube shape, gray walls, and red ceiling, but the floor is covered in ankle-deep water. In addition, there are floating droplets of water, thousands of them all throughout the room. Each of these droplets explodes on contact, with a force capable of killing even a Hell attendee.

And they are impossible to perceive with any sense other than sight.

For the last five hours, the event has gone pretty well. Aaron and I were following Derick and Hector, the sixth- and eighth-round tournament winners, having been lucky enough to have been thrown into the same starting room.

So, obviously, we decided to stick to them. Who wouldn't?

Together, they dealt with the Korean King's avatar and a few of the Beyonder avatars. Sometimes it's hard to see because Nat's always beating the shit out of these people, but they are pretty strong in their own rights.

Of course, we still do our part. We even created a few illusions to confuse avatars so that the invisible Hector could snipe them down with his poisonous, self-guided spear. We also created a communication link between the strongest members of our group.

That got us a surprised look, and I think it's because we did it so easily without any need for an anchor, and because the connection is so stable. It's something that group 4 considers normal at this point. We even have countermeasures against people using a similar connection to take advantage of them in combat, and secondary connections hidden below the main one to ensure that the enemy thinks they got rid of everything.

It would be funny to mention to them that between us and Nat, we're probably a few years away from the possibility of sharing mana through that connection and a decade or two from sharing vitality or something similar.

So yes, we did well, things went well, and we've already cleared a few rooms.

Some of them weren't easy. One room had shifting gravity and reflective surfaces that kept bouncing our attacks back at us. Another was filled with some kind of thick fog that messed with sound and made it impossible to judge distances.

We worked well together. It hasn't been perfect, of course, but we aren't just some random group anymore. We were starting to feel like a real team.

Maybe even the best team. Friends for life. Angry Kitten Slayers!

Then Tacita's avatar appeared, and Derick and Hector died within seconds, both of them.

For the first time, I understood why Nat is scared of her and why he kept telling us that when it comes to fighting attendees, Tacita is likely the most dangerous person in Earth's tutorial.

Holding a dagger with a gray blade in one hand and one coated in blue mana in the other, she calmly steps toward us. Pale blue particles still shimmer around her, the last remnants of the two Kings. There are a few dozen of our illusions, but her eyes never leave the spot where Aaron and I are.

I use [Haste] and she disappears. I can't even follow her movement, but the moment she is gone, I exchange places with one of my illusions through [Connection].

When I start looking for her, she isn't there, and in a panic, I do it again, and so does Aaron. Every time, just for a faint moment, I see an attack slash through the place we once stood, but she's quick to catch up, and already we've been reduced to a handful of illusions.

After a quick message, we both prepare, relying on our [Connection], which is much stronger than anything we can create alone, especially in combination with Aaron's dexterity. It's not perfectly efficient, so some of it gets wasted, but in that moment, my speed increases dramatically, and I use [Haste] on my mind.

Aaron disappears, exchanging locations with the illusion we left far behind, and only now do I barely see Tacita's avatar.

Every surviving attendee moves in slow motion, but she still moves incredibly quickly. The water under her feet barely splashes, and she's already far away from that spot.

I barely lift my dagger to block a single attack, and I swing my short sword at her, only to watch my severed arm go flying through the air.

Then I realize she hasn't even been going all out against me and Aaron until now.

What a freak.

Her dagger aims at my heart, but then she freezes, the blade just barely touching my chest.

And behind her stands Nathaniel, just an arm's reach away. He is smiling demonically. Only then do I see his red eyes and white hair.

He mouths something, but the air around Tacita's avatar flickers, and she turns around and swings at his head. She doesn't even bother finishing or attacking me, fully focused on him.

Nathaniel dodges her attack with these erratic, impossible movements that look even more confusing than usual, and Tacita keeps avoiding attacks I cannot see that send shockwaves through the water or cause the water behind her to explode into geysers.

They move all over the place, slipping between the attendees without so much as disturbing the surface of the water. Even with all the effort I've put into overclocking my perception, I can barely track them.

But I notice that even as quick as Nathaniel is right now, he can barely match her. She even seems to be faster than he.

At first, it seems to annoy him, but the annoyance is quickly replaced by a vivid grin.

In a burst of motion, he sends her flying backward, and she slides across the water's surface before coming to a stop.

She tosses aside both of her broken daggers and pulls a new one from her clothes. It's dark red, its glowing tip leaving a trail in the air with every movement. She takes a stance.

Nathaniel mirrors her, taking a stance unlike any I've seen from him before. A deep thud erupts from his body, shaking the massive room and causing all the floating water droplets to explode. Several bursts near Tacita force her to dodge.

He appears at her side. Despite moving at incredible speed, he stops so abruptly that the deceleration alone would've killed any normal person. The red dagger slices through the air, its glowing tip carving a line that just barely misses him. Then he regains momentum and crashes into Tacita with the same force he had before stopping.

Chapter 39

Lioren

Lioren

I'll never understand humans. They're strange and tend to be weak, but every now and then, one turns out to be crazy enough to surprise even a demon.

Adrian used to be like that. He had his own rules, rules I could never understand. Following them, he broke through Beyond floors at a speed that left even the handlers speechless. Nathaniel is similar. He also has that spark that makes me want to destroy him, but even more so, I want to fan it further just to see how brightly it will burn before dying out.

Sometimes, I saw his disciple telling him something, but Nathaniel didn't seem to understand. Especially when that little girl acted more like a demon than many full demons I once knew, and every time it happened, he just seemed confused.

Perhaps he just thought of it as a funny quirk, a simple eccentricity on the part of his disciple, but just as I do not fully understand him, he does not fully understand us demons. But out of all the humans whose minds I could've ended up trapped in, this petty little shit was not that bad.

There's one thing I'll never tell him or let him see in my memories, but sometimes I think he could be more terrifying than any demon I've ever known. And yet, there are moments when he's so soft it makes me want to punch him.

But isn't that why little Vega and I didn't mind becoming his friends? What drew us to the light he keeps hidden inside?

Demons like us aren't used to that. We hate those kinds of feelings. But like everything else among us, strength decides everything. And if he's going to be the strongest, then no demon would ever speak against his rules or behavior, no matter how soft they might seem.

Because the strongest have that right.

Funnily enough, I am currently much stronger than Nathaniel. I have access to more kinetic energy than I've ever held. That disgusting amount of mana is transformed into it immediately, to the point that I have trouble using it all and feel a constant desire to use it wastefully.

My body is healthy and moves the way I want without requiring constant infusions of kinetic energy. And I don't have to worry about my heart breaking apart every time I channel a bit more kinetic energy.

His physical stats are not as high as mine used to be. His strength, dexterity, and constitution are pathetically low, and I have to rely on kinetic energy to enhance them. Even a single hit could be dangerous to me if I were to let it pass. If it were anyone else in this situation, they'd be in trouble.

But not me.

I'm someone who became a Champion candidate barely a few months into the tutorial, even with my fucked-up body. I'm someone multiple Champions said could have become an Absolute candidate, were it not for my broken body.

Using kinetic energy is something I can do very well. And his body helps, too; it almost instinctively channels these huge amounts of kinetic energy without breaking. Every time I reach for more, I do it with hesitation in the back of my mind. I expect something to break or tear. But it does not happen.

I ask for more kinetic energy, I channel it, and I get it. My skill, along with the instinct of this body developed over two years of stopping his insane level of mana from breaking it apart, makes that possible.

He always says there are geniuses he could've never matched without discipline and effort, and he genuinely believes that. But he also believes that if he puts in the work, he can achieve whatever he sets his mind to.

Until now, I've been fighting that mute, nimble girl using only what I'd be capable of even without Nathaniel. But the longer we clash, the more I watch her move, the faster my heart beats. She pushes her speed until I can no longer track her with my eyes, yet another monster from this tutorial.

So I stop relying on sight. I don't even try to follow her movements. I focus on the space around me, on the vibrations and their absence in the areas she passes through with her field.

I move to the side, I dance around her blade, I slow her movement with a spike of restrictive force, and I attack in turn.

She ducks, she jumps, she spins. Her perception turns out to be exactly what you'd expect from someone so new to the system. It's still lacking, and she barely manages to predict my attacks. But she has something else. Instinct. A kind of pulse that tells her to move before her mind can catch up. It's hard to pull off, but she's one of the rare people who can.

I trail her movement and follow behind her, weaving paths between the gathered attendees. Waves of kinetic energy explode out from me, detonating the droplets in her path to direct her movements, and I use even more of that immense kinetic energy currently being channeled through my body.

And that body handles it.

So I use more. And more.

I catch up to her. I dodge under her attacks. My needlepoint pierces where her head was mere moments ago.

More.

I appear in front of her. She seems so slow that, for the first time in my life, my body and my kinetic energy move quickly enough to match my senses, one of my best qualities.

I grab her left arm and tear it off. Something to amuse that guy, I'm sure, is watching.

Her avatar swings at the same time I do. I catch her hand before my other one strikes, punching a hole through where her heart should be. Even then, she rips herself away, leaving her right arm behind in my grasp. Armless, she drops low and charges with incredible speed, nearly headbutting me before I switch to Breaker Style and completely destroy her avatar's body.

I expand my senses and move again. My body pushes me forward, craving more of this feeling.

Rooms flash in front of my eyes as I pass by them. I ignore the attendees, destroy avatars, and make my way deeper into the labyrinth. Each room is different, some are bigger, others are smaller, and each has its own traps. The rooms are indestructible, even to someone of Champion rank. The Labyrinth of Xyphos is a real place that exists outside of the tutorial, something I heard about in Beyond.

Then I reach a simple room. No traps, no avatars, just a hundred attendees trapped inside by a barrier that allows entry but not exit. The temperature in the room keeps increasing while they do everything they can to destroy the door that is slightly different from the previous ones. The “test” here is to destroy the door.

Landing nearby, I slow to a walk. As if knowing my intentions, the heart beating inside this body increases its output. Each heartbeat sends a huge surge of kinetic energy through me and shakes the air. It's audible. It is raw and makes the tips of my fingers tingle.

I wait.

More and more energy courses through me, an amount I have never held in my life, an amount he handles so casually and wastefully at all times.

Then more of it. I grab it, I move it, I feel it.

It's something I feel an urge to do slowly, making sure the guy whose body I currently possess can feel every part of it. So that with his own body, he can remember the proper way to move kinetic energy.

Then I release it toward the door.

There's no shockwave. No side effects to hurt the others in the room. All of it is perfectly directed ahead, not a speck wasted. The wooden door explodes outward, turning into a shower of huge shards, spraying into the room beyond.

I move in, eager as I sense another presence, but then I halt my movement.

A silver-haired woman stands there; the wooden shrapnel from the door is deflected by a short burst of mana. And for the first time, I am thankful it's not an avatar.

She looks at me with that typical expression, but she does not say anything until I reach the door in front of her.

Only then she calls, “I wouldn't open that. My avatar is in there.”

I stop moving, and when I turn back to her, she's smiling. “Run, little demon. You unfortunate Absolute candidate, born only to never reach the true height of your potential. You have three seconds.”

The moment the words leave her mouth, everything shifts. My body reacts before I can think. I turn and explode forward.

Air tears around me. Rooms whip past in a blur. Walls stretch and smear like streaks of paint. My feet hit the ground faster than my eyes can process. I feel the pressure building in my limbs, the force of my speed pushing against my bones. My senses struggle to keep up, and I move on pure instinct, catching only fragments of the things around me.

In the first second, I pass by four rooms.

In the next second, I pass by seven more rooms.

In the final second, I pass by twelve more rooms.

And even there, the mana radiation still reaches me. The labyrinth, impossible to be damaged by any Champion, shakes and cracks. A thousand avatars and attendees are wiped out in a split second as the two monsters begin their fight. The sheer pressure blows dozens of doors open. The otherwise impenetrable barriers vanish, and the rooms themselves break.

I move away from that place for the next few hours, never stopping for too long, and collecting as many points as possible.

I find a low-arcane greatsword that I use for a while before throwing it away. I test the avatars of the other Beyonders. And I move my body and use kinetic energy as much as possible. I revel in that feeling, and I teach the owner of this body by letting him experience it all.

Then, finally, I find him, an avatar with gray-and-brown eyes and a crown floating above his head, guarding the labyrinth's exit.

So we fight.

During that fight, I show him every weakness I have noticed he possesses, as well as those mirrored by his avatar. Some are caused by a lack of experience, and some are due to the bad habits he's built over time and will need to change.

His avatar is the toughest fight yet, even more difficult than that girl. He can fly, is difficult to catch, does not seem to tire, and only grows stronger the longer the fight lasts. His eyes and mind analyze the opponent, creating countermeasures using the multitude of specializations at his disposal to face me.

But at the same time, it's just so easy. So fucking easy.

I unleash the full output of this body and channel it with every trick I know. The mana around me freezes as I bring it to a stop. It doesn't matter how much the avatar releases, I shut it all down.

His crown turns black, but even that is useless against me, because I do not rely on mana. His speed increases, his reactions increase, and his damage increases. And I go all out; I match his output, and even here I show Nathaniel what it feels like to fight against him. He is, at times, a smart human; he will notice even things I might have missed.

In a final spiteful, petty move, the avatar does something Nathaniel had not done until now and fully lifts one of the seals on its Ignition Heart, and the amount of thermal energy he releases matches the amount of mana he currently possesses.

The heat fills the room; the air dries up and cracks as if it were about to shatter. The avatar moves that heat and these golden flames around, manipulating them as if they were water. They are reminiscent of waves, seeping out, crashing, devouring everything in their path, including his body.

I'm sure that if it were not an avatar but Nathaniel, he would be smiling. I can feel the same smile on my face.

I phase through the flames; I even halt their movement for a brief moment, something I did not even think I would be capable of.

Then I defeat him completely, leaving no doubt about who is stronger.

When I stand there, breathing heavily, I unleash that heart once more. Each heartbeat fills me with more and more kinetic energy. It builds up to the point that even this ridiculous body fails to channel it all, but I am cruel, so I push further.

The body finally starts breaking; tears appear on the heart, and the construct etched into it begins evaporating.

And all of that kinetic energy moves around me in a way I have been in love with ever since I was a child. It's this energy that saved my life, that allowed me to live normally even with all the disabilities I was born with, and I have never once stopped being thankful for it.

“Beautiful,” I whisper as I observe that ever-so-chaotic movement one last time.

And in that moment, understanding comes, clearer than ever. With newfound confidence, I reach for it, and as naturally as breathing, I grasp all that kinetic energy like it's the easiest thing in the world.

Then it all unravels. That vast power collapses in on itself, vanishing in a cascading chain of motion, like a castle of sand washed away by the sea.

I think of one last thing I could say to that guy, but only cheap words come to mind, nothing satisfactory. So I just stay quiet and leave behind the memory of a feeling.

My memories and my being start to dissipate as I let go, but I don't hesitate. Without fear, I step toward the door and exit the labyrinth.

This past year…was fun.

Chapter 40

Gray Kitten

Iopen my eyes back in the common area. After glancing over the notifications, I close them all and move the rewards from winning the fourth event toward the final reward.

Only one event remains.

My body is restored to its previous state, and all the changes I made to it at the start of the fourth event are gone. Only a series of memories remains, along with many things I should improve on.

There is also the name of a person I will never forget, safely stored in my mind.

Sensing someone trying to get my attention, I turn to see Victoria standing at the edge of the common area.

With a single use of Wraith Dance, I reach her and meet her gaze. In front of her, I don't try to hide anything or pretend. Just like when we were younger, she reaches out, pinches my nose, and ruffles my hair.

Coming from her, it makes for an incredibly warm gesture.

“I'm going to cook something for you, so come to the fourth zone later today,” she says.

“Vic, you can't cook to save your life, and neither can I.”

“You always liked the pancakes I made.”

“And I would prefer eating them over a Michelin-star meal.”

“So, as I said, come to the fourth-round zone later.”

“I will, Vic.”

“Good. See you later, Natty,” she says as she leaves.

I watch her figure disappear into the forest before she uses more strength and moves in a way a superhero from comics would, something I would consider impossible on Earth. Then a thought hits me: what superhero would someone from Hell Difficulty be able to defeat?

As I muse over the list, I head toward Savant's signature, and seeing me approach, he waits for me. There, I create a manabloc chair and take a seat next to the bench he is sitting on, and look at him. He returns my gaze as well.

“What do you want to start with?” I ask him simply.

He simply answers, “We could start with kinetic energy. Your performance in the last event piqued my curiosity, and I think the process of talking through it will help you understand what you experienced.”

I look at him, thinking about all he would seem to know, but decide not to dwell on it.

“What skill are you using to absorb kinetic energy?” I ask.

“Is it required for you to know in order to help me?”

“Not really, but I'm curious. And it's not like I don't have a general idea, do you agree? One of my skills' names in exchange for yours?”

“I could do that,” he confirms.

“That's surprising.”

“Why?”

“I thought you would be more tight-lipped, given how much of a lone wolf you are.”

“As you said, it's something you likely already suspect. And you might think I consider you all enemies, but that's not the case. I try to maintain a neutral position with everyone here; I harbor neither ill nor good feelings for any of you. In the future, we might even need to cooperate in some limited capacity.”

“So you're building up good relationships?”

“I wouldn't call it that. Things like that require time and effort; all around, it's a hassle I'm not interested in. As for my skill, it's called [Absorption]. As you've likely guessed, it allows me to absorb attacks to release them later or to examine, if I'm capable of doing so. A few weeks ago, I managed to absorb a tiny bit of kinetic energy, and ever since the first floor, I've been able to absorb body parts as well.”

“As you said, our group already had it all more or less figured out. So you have some lumoran Champion's hand, the forearm bone of some kind of tough monster or person, one of your legs also seems to have been replaced, and possibly some of your inner organs? Grumpy also theorizes that one of your eyes, or at least part of it, has been absorbed.”

“I won't answer that.”

“That's understandable. Mine is [Redistribution]. As you probably have guessed, it allows me to absorb kinetic and thermal energy from the area around me. I can't quite use it to turn that energy into mana yet, but I also have a way to transfer my mana into kinetic energy.”

“And that second heart of yours.”

“Just silly rumors.”

“Want to hear more silly rumors?”

“Why not?”

“Two hearts, kinetic and thermal, an eye trait connected to mana, likely a wavelength type, an Amplificator, a concentration-type skill, and an array of self-made constructs etched into your body.” He pauses for a moment. “A stupid thing to do if I have to say so. The mana stone I left with your healer should've confirmed just how risky body modifications can be.”

“Very silly rumors indeed, and I know.”

“Then there's that black mana of yours. Do you know that during our duel in the last tournament, I absorbed a tiny piece of it and examined it?”

That makes my curiosity spike, and I observe him more closely: his heartbeat and the tiniest movements of his body as I try to grasp what he is thinking.

He continues, “I suspect that it's an extremely dense form of mana, the kind of thing you were only able to create because of your high-grade concentration skill, talent in [Mana Manipulation], or some higher-grade version of the skill, and your ability to channel huge amounts of mana so quickly. But that probably isn't all; that would just be too easy. At first, I thought it was primordial void energy, but I've since met users of that primordial energy, and it's not that. Then I theorized it was a different sort of primordial energy, something beyond the common five, and it still seems to be the closest guess I have. It could also be just a rare variation of mana you were able to gain thanks to a series of fortuitous events.”

“I bought it in a system shop sale.”

As before, he doesn't seem amused, so we continue as per our deal, and I teach him some of the basics of kinetic energy. Some concepts I came up with on my own, and some that I got from Lioren.

I don't try to hide things from him, and I don't worry about the possibility of “giving him a weapon that could be used against me.”

Everything I show him, he understands quickly. I watch as he catches on, comes to his own conclusions, and attempts to apply them. Sometimes, he even seems to ignore what I'm saying and continues pushing through his failures as he tries to perform the movement or exercise. It never takes him too many attempts. With his sharp, near-clinical sense, he breaks down everything I've shown him and demonstrates his talent.

I've heard people making fun of his Community alias, calling himself Savant and all. They said he's arrogant, edgy, and all manner of other things. But not once have I heard anyone say that he was wrong. Everyone who meets this guy and sees his understanding and the speed at which he learns and absorbs the abilities shown to him finds it nothing less than impressive.

Of course, it won't stop me from calling him a coward. He might say he's playing the long game and being patient, but I disagree.

After the lesson, I leave so that he can have some time to train on his own for a bit, and I enter the seventh round's zone. People recognize me as I enter their common area, and the barrier they set puts a mark on me that at least some of the people hanging around can track.

Surprisingly, the first one to talk to me isn't human.

“Brother, over here,” the childlike voice calls to me.

I stop and look down at my feet.

“Brother, may I have some food?” asks the little chubby kitten at my feet. It's light gray and perfectly round, covered in soft, fuzzy fur. It looks like a fluffy ball with a chubby face and pale blue eyes that hardly seem to blink.

“What?”

“Have I spoken wrong?” the kitten replies, its mouth moving a beat too late, like it's trying to remember that mouths are supposed to move when speaking.

“Why do you talk like that?” I ask.

The gray kitten tilts its head. “There was a young human who taught me these words, brother. He and others always laughed when I said them and always gave me food. Even now, people do that.”

I squat down. It's hard to tell how strong it is, just like with Noodle. But there's a kind of weight to the kitten, like something heavy is trying to hiding inside something small.

It keeps speaking, unprompted, still staring up with those emotionless eyes. “That boy died on the fourth floor. The Black Ant took his insides, brother.”

Now I notice that no one tries to move closer. In fact, they seem to actively avoid the little kitten. I even sense a hint of fear in the people around me.

Wordlessly, I look into those eyes, and as they look into mine, I'm overcome with a disturbing feeling, as if they're trying to pull me in.

“Brother, where is the one who marked you?” the kitten asks, and for the first time, its expression changes. It looks eager, but I can't guess the intention behind it; it lacks any hint of friendliness. Instead, tiny sharp teeth make themselves visible for longer than they perhaps should be.

“Get away from him!” someone shouts, and I recognize the voice as Luna's.

The golden retriever stands nearby, currently making herself bigger than a horse. She is growling, and her fur is raised as she stares threateningly at the little kitten.

Even then, she doesn't dare to come closer.

That gray kitten returns her gaze without so much as being taken aback and instead stands up to slowly walk away. It glances backward at me once and licks its lips before making its way into the forest.

Finally, Luna steps closer. “Avoid him, crazy human. That thing is no good.”

She shrinks back to her normal size and nudges my side until I pet the top of her head.

“Is it really a little kitten?” I ask.

“No one knows for sure; it's the only one surviving in its Hell Difficulty group. But enough of that creepy thing. What do you want here? Have you come to apologize? Did you know your avatar killed me during the last event? How will you repay me for that?”

“You should have killed him before he could.”

“I cannot fly, unlike your cowardly avatar. How was I supposed to bite him, then?”

“That's true.” I pet her again to get another tail wag out of her. “I came to see Leticia.”

Luna looks at me and squints her eyes before snorting and starting to walk away, and I follow at her side.

“You know what they call you?” she asks out of nowhere as we enter the forest.

“Excuse me?”

“The people from the different zones, I mean. They call you Manahead, Flashbang, The Detonator, Mana Junkie, The Glitch Mage, Mana Daddy…”

“Okay, okay, let's stop there.”

“Sure. Simply put, there is a lot of talk, crazy human. I heard there was even a small group declaring you a messiah, another one was collecting videos and photos of you, and some of them are planning to kill you, saying that you're just too dangerous to be allowed on Earth.”

Luna pauses, and a dry laugh escapes her. “They all used to talk that way about their own tournament winners, but during this tournament, you've attracted a lot of that negative attention to yourself. I even heard some of the other rounds are joining forces to take you down in the final event.”

“Is the seventh round one of them?” I ask.

She laughs again. “Who knows?”

Chapter 41

Facade

“Icame to discuss our next Beyond Expedition. You're the most sociable person in our little group, so you shouldn't have too much trouble planning everything out with the others. Soph and Grumpy can help, too, if you're willing to talk to them. CarrotCake joining could work as well, but I know if I try to speak with him personally, he'll only want to fight me. I would appreciate it if you organized everything and helped us set a schedule,” I tell Leticia after Luna brings me to her.

The young woman sighs. “And I thought you came to catch up and chat.”

“I'm busy.”

“You keep dying, even as we speak.”

“Why is it that everyone can tell?” I complain.

“Not everyone. I'm just that skilled.” Leticia smiles. “But I don't mind organizing things. It is a request from one of Earth's most powerful, so why not, if only to maintain good relationships?”

“Sounds good to me. I'll make sure to pay you back for all the trouble.”

“Well, first, maybe be a bit nicer to us during the events. Luna and I might get traumatized,” Leticia says, looking at the golden retriever, who immediately starts nodding in agreement, before looking back at me. “It's just a joke before you decide to take it too seriously.”

“Got it.”

“You know, you got me all curious. A lot of people know you can use kinetic energy pretty well, but what you showed during the last event…that was something else.”

“It's not something I want to talk about.”

Something in my tone seems to startle Luna. She whimpers softly and, with lowered ears, pokes my side, forcing me to look down at her. She nudges me repeatedly until, with a sigh, I pet her.

Luna said she used to be a guide dog for Leticia, who was blind before the tutorial. Still, isn't she a perceptive little thing?

“Well, I won't press you for information, then. Just a warning, though: there are already other rounds conspiring against you, and…”

“It doesn't matter,” I say as I get up from the chair. “Thank you for the warning, but I don't even care if they come at me all at once. I'll see you later.”

I wave them off and teleport away, finding myself back in my workshop, where I take a moment to think about what I've just been told.

Yes, I don't mind even if the other rounds gang up against me. In fact, in my current state, I would probably welcome it.

Lily, Sophie, the twins, Savant, and I are all sitting in our living room with the Sword of Aeons laid out on the table.

The most cowardly guy in the world is acting like everything's perfectly normal, but he still looks completely out of place sitting here. I've barely interacted with him, and from what the others have said, he rarely speaks to anyone else. Every now and then, he shows up to make a trade, always offering some obscure bit of knowledge or some item he's picked up on the floors.

He never gives anything away for free. He never helps out or throws in anything extra, always sticking exactly to what was agreed. I can't say I mind that. A purely transactional relationship works fine for me.

I still have two more two-hour-long lessons in kinetic energy with him, according to our deal. In exchange, I get mana stones with various bits of knowledge, mainly related to inscribing items and the usage of thermal energy he got from who knows where.

And we're still helping him with the Sword of Aeons as well. He wants us to fix some of the melted inscriptions on the blade. As far as I'm concerned, just having the opportunity to work on the best mana battery on Eladore is enough to be worth the effort. Not that I'm going to tell him that.

Lastly, and this part is mostly for Lily, he needs help with his hand, the one that once belonged to a lumoran Champion. I doubt he absorbed it just for the Champion-grade bones and whatever else came with it. From the way he spoke, I have a strong feeling that he did it to make handling the Sword of Aeons easier, though I still don't understand how. I'm relying on Lily to figure that out.

At first, I thought it might be dumb to rely so heavily on an item, but the more we work and talk, the stronger my suspicion grows. This maniac of a cowardly man seems determined to repair the Sword of Aeons as much as possible for one reason.

To absorb it later.

What a brilliant idea coming from someone so cowardly.

Of course, I'm sure there are things he wants to gain by working with us, beyond the services he's commissioned. The asshole is very, very intently observing everything that happens, and I'm even sure he's planning to absorb bits of Lily's healing to examine later, the same way he did with that tiny piece of black mana.

He's very shrewd, so I observe everything that happens carefully and maintain communication with the others through our link. I have to keep Lily, Sophie, and the twins from giving him too much, after all. If he wants more, he'll have to pay more.

At the same time, I also try to gain as much as possible from him. I keep my eyes active at all times, paying special attention to every time he uses [Absorption] or some other skill.

As for the reward for helping with his hand, I'll leave that to Lily to decide since she'll be the one dealing with it. I just need to make sure our silly terminator doesn't get scammed or choose something that'll end up being a gift for me later. She is very capable in that regard.

Days pass like this. It's the biggest break yet leading up to the last event, and everyone is training or preparing as much as possible.

Lissandra hasn't contacted me since the start of the fourth event. It makes me nervous but also more determined at the same time. While I'm sure that Izzy and I understand her properly and she won't call me out for the way I dealt with the fourth event, but at the same time, both I and our empath are fairly certain that she'll punish me for the offense by making the last event that much more difficult for me.

Victoria visits often now that both of us have a bit more time. It still feels strange seeing her here, but not in a bad way. I can tell she's holding herself back a lot. She and her group should be able to do so much more during the events.

Other than that, Myrra is spending a lot of time here as well. She trains and spars frequently, revealing more and more of her real strength. She's stronger than Maya; she can beat Sophie, the twins, and Min-Jae quite easily. Only Lily causes her trouble.

One day, Jean even comes by, but not to challenge me. He warns me that a bunch of people from his group have asked him to join forces with them to take down group 4, but he rejected it and decided to do whatever he wants. After saying that, he notices Myrra and challenges her to a fight.

Even though it is close, Myrra loses three times in a row because of his ridiculous strength and that physique of his that counters mana users.

Surprisingly, they actually seem to hit it off because of their similar personalities, and despite being surrounded by others, they continue to shout their lame jokes and laugh at the dumbest things they can think of.

The arcane item I've been making for Channeler is nearly finished, and as promised, I've invited Miwa to observe whenever she wants. She's already committed to working exclusively with group 4, and Channeler simply acts as if it were the obvious outcome.

Channeler and Maya are the ones who deal with people most of the time, now that Tess isn't here. They both turn out to be really good at it, and Maya's taken to calling herself my knight and claiming that she has the ability to summon me.

It isn't even entirely wrong, thanks to the Ley Lines I've connected to everyone. Meanwhile, the other attendees avoid Sophie as much as they can, even most of those in Hell Difficulty. She doesn't seem to mind and seems just fine being with her sister and the rest of our group.

Tent Creep is still ranked first among crafters, with some guy named Mateo in a close second. Miwa is now in eighth place, probably dropping from fifth because she spends so much time observing my work. But she doesn't seem to regret it in the least.

A few times, I try to reach the seventh-round zone to find that gray kitten, but I can't find it. It's gone, and no one seems to know where it went. I come across a few more animals in other zones: a horse, a hawk, some more cats and dogs, a few rats, and others. Some of them can talk, others can't, and their strengths vary a lot. A few are on the same level as Luna, but none are as strong as Biscuit or as unsettling as the gray kitten.

I also find out from Lily and Izzy that Tacita will likely be cooperating with the other rounds during the final event.

It seems she wasn't too happy about us working with Savant.

Myrra

The feral one's sister sits there in her usual fashion, perfectly straight, with her clothes neatly arranged and her hands resting in her lap as if she were posing for a portrait or simply pretending to sit like a normal human without really knowing how to pull it off.

While we wait for the feral one to return from his workshop, the rest of his group seems to be handling her with a sort of awkward tension. They try to make conversation, and she follows along effortlessly. She answers questions, asks her own, always with perfectly measured politeness. Not once does she seem annoyed, upset, or bothered by any awkward silence.

I hate it. I hate it so much. It's a facade I can see right through, even if it manages to fool some of group 4's members. She's always polite and pleasant, always knowing exactly what to say or ask.

Then, as if it were planned, she shifts the direction of the conversation. “There is something I felt the need to say if you do not mind.”

“Sure, you don't have to ask,” says the mindblender girl, as the feral one likes to call her, smiling.

“Thank you, Sophie. It is a bit more serious than our normal conversation.” Victoria looks around, as if making sure that everyone's listening, then nods. “This tournament is coming to an end, and I won't be able to see you anymore, so I want to make sure that things are clear. If I come off as offensive, I would only ask that you not take it as a sign of hostility. I just want to make my stance obvious, and you are free to ask me as many questions as you want to confirm it.”

She looks around the room again, and the atmosphere grows colder.

“While I do respect my brother's decision to befriend you all, it is not the sort of thing I think will be ideal or optimal for him, but it is his decision to make. Even though I am personally against it, I still like to see him having fun. To me, he is like a child discovering new things, but unlike him, I do not think this,” she gestures around, “will work out. Not in this place and not in this tutorial. But it is his mistake to make and his lesson to learn, so I will be there for him when it all breaks down in the end.”

Victoria adjusts her already perfect clothes, always so composed and logical.

“Please do not take this to mean that I bear any ill will toward you in particular. While I think some of you may be using my brother for your own safety and would otherwise be dead without him, I also believe you that you are offering him something he thinks he wants in return. Rather than acting as simple parasites, you are living in symbiosis with him. Even though I still think you may be taking more than you give, my brother seems to believe the opposite, so I can accept that.”

No one else speaks as she looks around the room. “I do understand that it might come off as insulting and offensive and that your emotions might lead you to dislike me because of it, but I believe it's something that needs to be said. Simply put, I want my brother to be happy, even if only for a few weeks or months, and I want him to experience the kind of things he missed out on as a child. But I also want to give you a warning: do not abuse my brother's nature.”

She doesn't say what will happen if that were to occur, but the implications are more than clear.

Some of the others look at her as if they're seeing her for the first time. Others glance around nervously as if waiting for someone to say it's a joke. One or two, though, seem like they were expecting this.

I then remember her interaction with Lissandra when they met just a few hours ago. Even then, Victoria didn't seem to hesitate, not even in the face of that woman, going so far as to say, “No, I refuse to do what you ask me to when it comes to my brother. You might think I stand against you so easily because I cannot die within the tournament, but I can assure you I would say exactly the same thing even if real death were possible.”

Lissandra said, “I can see that you aren't lying.”

“I am not. While I do not wish to die yet, I am not afraid of it. Do not think I have not seen what you have done to my brother. I have overlooked it to a point because I believe it will help him to grow stronger and because he has not asked for my help, but at the same time, I cannot help but deeply dislike you, Lady Lissandra.”

“I thought of you as a more logical person.”

“But I believe this is entirely logical. My brother is a person I love deeply. So is it not reasonable that I would see things differently when he is involved?”

“This is something I can somewhat agree with,” Lissandra said as if dissecting a theory. “Protecting someone often requires more than words. I am curious. How far does your logic take you when it comes to removing others? How many deaths would you accept to ensure his safety?”

And back then, with the same calm tone she's always used, Victoria replied, “I do not count things like that. It suggests there is a limit.”

She said this so casually that it took a moment for me to realize what she'd actually said.

Chapter 42

Start of the Fifth Event

Fifth event: Tyrant's Arena will start in one hour! The event will take place in an area selected by the system, tailored specifically for Earth's tutorial attendees.

The event will last one hour.

There will only be one winner for this event—the last person standing at the end. Everyone else will have lost.

Note: It is possible to forfeit the event by simply thinking or saying “I forfeit.”

Note: At forty-five, thirty, fifteen, and five minutes remaining before the end, the barrier surrounding the event area will shrink rapidly.

This event will mark the end of the second Earth tournament. Attendees will then have twenty-four hours on the tournament floor before returning to their respective floors, where the floor quests will continue.

Good luck!

Iclose the window, get out of the bath, and dry myself by channeling thermal energy through my body. I teleport back to my room, wondering, as I do, whether or not this is making me a bit too lazy. Still, I create an arm made of mana to grab a set of clothes from the bed and bring them to me. After putting them on, I use kinetic energy to float over to the mirror and use another mana arm to turn it toward me.

Looking into my reflection, I see myself wearing an extremely comfortable set of black sweatpants and a similarly comfortable pair of running shoes that I'm sure will explode the moment I perform a particularly quick movement. Or maybe not? Perhaps I could use kinetic energy to prevent that from happening? Seems like it could work.

I complete my look with a gray hoodie, decking myself out with the clothing I bought from Gloria, choosing the familiarity of Earth's clothes over the gear I got in the tutorial. The overall effect is weirdly calming and comfortable. I enjoy the feeling of the fabric and its stretchiness. I've even used one of the scent cubes Lily collected back on the sixth floor, so the clothes wrap me in a fresh, citrusy smell.

Another mana arm reaches out to open the door, and I continue to float just slightly above the floor as I make my way out of the room.

Near the stairs, I run into Maya, who stops in surprise, shakes her head in disbelief, and says something about a friggin' ghost.

As we have many times before, we all gather in the living room. Everyone goes through their last-minute checks and takes the opportunity to go over our plans and countermeasures one last time.

As the time grows close, I feel a growing sense of relief. Soon, it will all be over.

Even the passive I bought yesterday, the moment I finally gathered enough shards, seems to have mostly taken effect. It cost 580,000 shards, more than my Mental Attunement Loop, so it better be worth it.

Once again, I reread the description.

Subdermal Combustion Weave (Mid-Arcane) - Beneath the surface, the user's body directs thermal energy into precise micro-combustion patterns. These patterns purge infections, neutralize toxins, and repair tissue through focused heat. Powered by primordial thermal energy, the passive grows stronger the more primordial energy it draws. Harmful substances are broken down before they can spread, and injuries are healed cleanly, leaving no lingering damage. Only total destruction can stop the weave.

Ever since the event was announced, I've had a role planned for this passive, and it should play a major part in the final stage. It works especially well with Ignition Heart. Of course, nothing comes for free, and there is a drawback to this passive, but it's something I'm willing to endure.

As the final minute ticks down, I stand up. A memory of Lioren that stayed with me flashes through my mind, along with the determination he showed as he walked toward his end without a hint of hesitation.

I would like to think I would be the same, faced with my death, and I take a moment to wonder if that's not how my duplicate felt back on the fifth floor when he challenged the Gaiathra.

With that feeling coursing through my body, I look at the other members of group 4 and say, “I know my sister, and I'm sure she said some wild shit.”

Their expressions confirm that, even without words. Victoria was always like that.

“I only have one thing to say to that: if I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be here. As simple as that. Take it as you will,” I tell them.

I check the timer once again, the last seconds ticking down, and say, “But for now, let's kick some ass.”

“All the asses!” Dennis cheers, leading his brother and Min-Jae to join in.

Maya shouts something that sounds suspiciously like, “Fuck Victoria, I ain't no parasite.”

There are a few more shouts, and then we disappear, pulled into the event.

I expect all of us to be separated again, but this time we stay together. We find ourselves surrounded by empty streets and cars, with skyscrapers rising on all sides. The final event seems to have taken inspiration from a city on Earth, or maybe it took features from several of them and created the Tyrant's Arena zone from scratch.

Feeling the connection to my mind, I let it in and accept it, connecting to the web that the twins set. At the same time, I start working on the things I've planned and begin surrounding my Ignition Heart with a series of pre-prepared arrays made of Ley Lines. I redirect a bit of my mana and most of my [Focus] to managing that while keeping some reserved for detection arrays and defenses.

The rest of the group prepares as well. I share some presences through the link, and Min-Jae floats into the air, tearing off some road signs and pieces of the buildings with [Telekinesis] to kill these people right away.

Dennis, Aaron, and Sophie get to work on the web. Noodle expands in size until his body is twice as long as a bus and slithers into one of the skyscrapers, where he crashes into more people. Izzy, Maya, and Lily stay nearby, ready to defend the others.

I continue with my preparations, and once we've cleared the surroundings and had a quick conversation, I teleport all of us to the top of a nearby skyscraper, then move us to the tallest one I can find.

There's nothing else to see, just buildings upon buildings, stretching onward, toward the barrier miles away. Roads, parks, shopping malls, cars, and more fill the space. It looks like a city on Earth, eerily empty and slightly distorted. There are too many skyscrapers, the layout stretches out too far across an unnaturally flat landscape, and something about it all feels off.

Of course, the fights are in full swing with smoke rising between the buildings and multiple skyscrapers already crashing down. Lightning, fire, mana projectiles, and poisonous smoke fill the air.

(Lily, Beyonder, on your eight o'clock; physical stats focused. Maya, two Hell Difficulty and five Hard Difficulty on your six, mage types. Izzy, down on the street, a group of a dozen Hard Difficulty enemies; Kim, there's a group, about a mile away, setting up to observe us.) Sophie continues sharing information.

Each target is quickly dealt with, and once that's done, my companions settle in to wait for more. Soon, the twins complete their part of Sophie's web, so they start working on their own with the help of [Sensory Deception] and then join in on the hunt as well.

During this time, I work on peeling away the seal on my Ignition Heart. The thermal energy inside me keeps combusting, passive activated by the wounds I inflict on myself and the heat seeping into my body in a truly twisted cycle. As I lift the seal further, more thermal energy floods in and harms me, but that also strengthens my healing, allowing the cycle to continue.

The only problem is that it hurts. It hurts like hell. I don't know if it's because my [Focus] isn't high enough to handle this kind of damage, or if it's because the energy is purer now that I'm lifting the seal to this degree. It might also just be how the passive works, a price to pay for tapping into primordial energy at this level, for embracing a form of power that existed before the system.

Of course, it's something I can endure, even as the pain threatens to cloud my mind. I keep going, and more thermal energy gathers inside my body.

Meanwhile, most of my mana is being saved. One reason it hurts so much, and why the thermal energy is causing this much damage, is because I'm holding back as much mana as possible.

(They've found us,) Sophie says out of nowhere, and I can see her manipulating the air in front of her to create some sort of telescopic effect.

At the top of another skyscraper, quite far away, stands a group of people.

Derick, Maxim, Klara, and Hector. In total, four of the tournament winners. Each is accompanied by at least three people, likely powerful Hell Difficulty attendees, most of them probably from Beyond.

(You got them?) I ask.

(Sure, just focus on your stuff,) Sophie answers absentmindedly and continues to give orders.

So I do just that while keeping a small part of my mind focused on the things happening around me.

Sophie's shadow seeps into the area as she deploys her arrays and Logic Cores while activating the Golem Heart. Pieces of the skyscraper we've placed ourselves on twist and bend, metal, glass, and concrete forming into the shape of a huge spider with long legs. Blackie seeps into it and then jumps onto the roof of the building next to us.

Min-Jae floats into the air and leaves with both of the twins, who combine their efforts to hide him.

(Maxim has the weakest mental defenses, so I'll try to get to him before he can use his void energy. If that can be used to defend against my attacks, I'll switch to Hector.) Sophie quickly sends, (Don't hold back, Lily; you will have to handle at least two of the Kings. Maya, focus on defending; Izzy and Noodle will help you. Meanwhile, the boys are going to do some sneaking around.)

Just as we make our preparations, the other side does the same. Not many more people arrive, but even though their group numbers around twenty, they're likely the best they have to offer, each one coming equipped with information detailing our capabilities and strategies.

But we also came prepared, and their problem is that they're likely well prepared for me, but not group 4 as a whole.

Sophie attacks first with a cruelty she hasn't shown since this tournament began.

The eleven-year-old Maxim hesitates for a moment and then lifts his arm. From his side, a huge, shadowy wolf steps out and then bursts open before anyone can react. An impressive disruptive wave washes over the group, and a whiff of it even reaches us where we are, carrying the weird feeling of primordial void energy.

Some of their preparations fall apart, and Maxim raises his hand, drives his fingers into his neck, and tears out a large chunk of flesh in a spray of blood.

Hector shouts something, likely a curse, and slides into a pose to throw the spear in his hands at Sophie. But at the last moment, the anger on his face disappears, and his expression falls blank. He twists and instead launches his spear at Derick at incredible speed.

Derick dodges smoothly, and the spear shoots through several buildings in an instant before slamming into the ground. He then avoids Hector's follow-up attack and grabs him in a chokehold, his forearms glowing brightly for a moment before Hector's expression returns to normal.

As he dies, Maxim lifts his arm one last time, and a dark serpent coils its way from his shadow, slipping past defenses and disrupting mana in its wake. It kills three Beyonders who can barely fight back without their mana, focusing especially on the two trying to heal him.

A few projectiles reach us. Segments of the web Sophie set up ignite with bursts of light as they intercept the attacks, while a swirling flame barrier of green, blue, and purple flares up, burning the rest midair.

Then, like a meteor crashing from the heavens, a firetruck plummets toward Derick and the others. Threads of mana lash out, wrapping around it midair before slicing it cleanly apart. The shattered pieces rain down, flung aside by a force that feels a lot like telekinesis.

Another truck follows, but it's redirected in an instant. The attackers adjust, shifting their focus to a distant zone where I'm sure the twins have scattered decoys to hide Min-Jae.

A quiet moment stretches. The wind shifts slightly, carrying dust across the rooftop.

I let some of my thermal energy seep out of my body, shaping it into a thick, rotating halo of fire that settles into the air above me. It turns slowly at first, pulling in more heat as it moves, the motion steady and controlled. With each rotation, the pressure builds, and the space around it starts to warp from the heat.

There's no urgency, just a lingering sense that things are starting to fall into place.

Chapter 43

Gwyn Siblings

Half of the approaching group splits off and starts heading directly for us. Five of them stay behind to pelt us with ranged attacks while their companions maneuver to flank us from behind.

Just before their vanguards can close in, gray mana blossoms into existence on the roof where the ranged attackers have posted themselves. It seems that the twins used the [Disintegration] orb stored in the box, and they follow up with attacks of their own. Min-Jae joins them, too, effectively cutting off their sniping.

Led by Derick and Klara, the melee attackers finally get in close. While group 4 continues exchanging messages, Blackie, now in a spider golem body made of glass, concrete, and metal, jumps off the roof and crashes into an unfortunate woman. As they fall, his eight legs tear her apart.

Pieces of him explode, and a few legs break, but the golem spider rolls upon falling onto the ground, crashing into another building, which it breaks, collecting more material to repair itself with. Then the huge monstrosity pierces its legs through the glass and into the skyscraper to start climbing up the side at an impressive speed.

Maya surrounds herself with mana, and a huge suit of armor grows around her. Its color darkens as she uses her [Boost], and a shield grows on one of the huge arms she uses to block attacks, even a few arrows made of primordial lightning shot by Noelle.

Lily, with [Disintegration Mantle] floating around her, jumps off the roof to another one, and her huge bone axe smashes against one of the men attacking, who tries to block it with his shield. Gray mana swirls around the blade of the axe, and it pierces through easily, and then through the man as well.

A barrage of attacks strikes out at her, but her mantle swirls around her body defensively, disintegrating them all. Lily disappears with a movement reminiscent of Wraith Dance, and Klara dodges an attack from her. There are tears opening up on Lily's body from the impact of her own movement, but they're already beginning to visibly heal. And she isn't even using her skill; that's just her natural regeneration.

Lily disappears again and swings her axe, while Klara ducks under and, in an impressive display of agility, runs Lily through with her short spear as that red, fluid, smoke-like substance blazes around the tip. Lily, however, simply increases her speed and ignores the wound while she continues to attack.

Vines pierce through the roof, trying to slow her down, but she just tears them apart with the strength of her body. Flames surround her, burning her, but her body restores itself almost instantly.

I notice Derick cursing as he changes direction and heads over to help Klara, but as he's jumping from one roof to another, Noodle explodes from underneath, now as thick as a car and impressively long. Noodle bites at Derick, who twists midair and avoids the bite, only to continue running across the scaly body. Green, purple, and blue flames, fragments of eternal fire, surround Noodle, and Derick's shins start to glow as they become enveloped in that disruptive magic, only for the flames to ignore it entirely and burn the man regardless.

More Beyonders join in to assault Noodle, and even Derick's wife Noelle begins to form a huge arrow out of primordial lightning to shoot at him. But at the last moment, she finds herself forced to move, and an explosion of flames the same color as Noodle's proceeds to melt a huge part of the building around the place she'd been standing, causing it to begin tilting and falling.

Izzy stands there with flames blazing around her. She holds a bow made of the same flames, with a cloud of arrows floating around her. She grabs them from the air and begins firing them at the woman.

A constant barrage of attacks hits our building, but Sophie and Maya manage to redirect or destroy the most dangerous ones before they can land. Sophie even finds time to get into the mind of another Beyonder whose projectile made of light pierces the roof where Lily, Derick, and Klara are fighting. Sophie redirects the attack into their melee without any hesitation, and after the explosion, Derick and Klara step out, singed and facing the direction from which the greatest force of the attack came.

Lily steps out with her body wounded and burned, but she still regenerates incredibly quickly. Her hair shortens, and she disappears again, smashing her axe into the ground where her opponents once stood, and the entirety of the building's windows explode from the resulting shockwave.

Noodle coils around it, the flames surrounding him melting the falling glass into liquid. At times, he consumes the mana-based attacks that hit him while continuing to fight off those who come at him.

I hear a telepathic message exchanged between Min-Jae and Lily, and she nods. Her body cracks further as she slams into Klara. Even at the cost of having her neck pierced by the gladius, the redheaded woman holds. Lily grabs her, and blood bursts from her mouth as Derick dodges her mantle and hits her in the side, likely turning her insides into liquid.

Lily moves her arm in a way that shouldn't be possible. It twists, elongates, and gains more joints as it grabs Derick and holds him still. Her mantle flickers around, forcing her opponents to strain to avoid it.

Some attacks come out of nowhere, likely from a free Beyonder, and slash through the air, cutting off Lily's head. A third arm grows from her back and grabs the head, shoving it back onto her neck, giving it a moment to quickly reattach.

Then the air starts shaking, and everyone looks up. An entire building is floating there, with chunks of debris raining down. Then the building implodes, compressing into itself, forming a dense ball that starts falling down right at where Lily and the two others are.

Their attempts to free themselves escalate, as do Lily's attempts to kill them. But neither side is able to act quickly enough.

Klara's red liquid smoke surrounds all of them, and Derick shouts in pain as the redheaded woman goes all out in the attempt. But Lily holds on, and the huge ball crashes into them.

It doesn't stop at the roof. The impact rips through the structure, obliterating the top floors in seconds. Concrete, steel, and glass are torn apart as it drives downward. Floor after floor gives way, collapsing under the pressure. The sound is deafening, a deep, grinding roar that rolls across the city.

The compressed sphere punches through the base of the building and crashes into the street below, carving a straight path through everything in its way. The road cracks and caves in. Cars flip. Pavement peels back. Water and steam burst from broken pipes, filling the air with steam and heat. The shockwave spreads out from the point of impact, shaking the nearby buildings.

A number of the Beyonders on the rooftops in the area look down, only to lift their heads and see Lily standing there with her axe and a gray mantle surrounding her. They curse immediately and begin to reposition, but the twins step out from behind a chimney and strike. They both choose to attack the same man, moving fast, stabbing him repeatedly before cutting off his head. Without pausing, they shift their focus to the next target.

When attacks reach them, they disappear, exchanging places with another set of their illusions, and the illusion of Lily they created disappears. Izzy's flames hit the buildings, and Maya herself jumps through without fear as they momentarily part in her wake.

Maya lands with a crash, her armor snapping into place as dark blue mana armor forms around her body. Her weapon shifts in her hand, cycling from glaive to dagger to greatsword in moments. Flames from Izzy swirl around her, only to be caught up and redirected by her movements.

A barrage of radiant spikes shoots toward her from the left. She raises her arm, and the armor thickens, absorbing the impact with a burst of heat. A chain of metal flies down from above, trying to bind her limbs, but she slices through mid-spin, her weapon stretching into a multi-hued spear.

The spear contains three different colors of mana: dark blue, blue, and wisps of purple circling inside. It cuts easily through another barrier. It extends to three times its length and stabs into a woman nearby.

It then shifts into a shield. A concentrated flame crashes against it, dark blue with a white core, roaring as it tears through the air but failing to pierce the tricolored shield.

Gravity shifts beneath her feet, mana pressing down to hold her in place. She surges forward instead, slamming her shield into the nearest attacker and crushing them into the opposing wall. Another steps in, black mist coiling around their blade. Maya pivots, deflecting the strike and driving her shield turned sword through his chest.

A whip of molten steel snaps at her neck. She ducks, parries, and counters in one motion. Her expression stays focused.

Calm. The same one I've seen in the mirror. And the enemies, trying to surround him, start taking steps back.

Then she dies, her head separating from her body, as Tacita stands over it. That fragile-looking and thin figure with messy brown hair.

Izzy's flames rage around to attack her, but the air itself seems to flicker around Tacita because of her field, and she takes no damage. She moves again, and one of the twins' illusions disappears, and Min-Jae sends a barrage of attacks at the spot where she stood, only for her to reappear next to him.

He pulls himself high into the air with his own [Telekinesis] and then even higher as he attempts to escape her reach, but Tacita's hand turns into a blur, and a dagger lodges itself in his chest. Right after, Tacita ducks under Dennis's attack, only for him to disappear as he exchanges places with one of his illusions.

The ground shakes, and a huge suit of mana armor walks out from between the buildings. It is much taller than anything Maya can make, but its owner does not seem to be having the least bit of trouble with it. Each step damages the road, and its motions carve a trail of damage into the buildings it passes by.

Baek then looks in our direction and then toward Tacita. A sword made of metallic, shining blue mana grows in his hands, and the speed of his armor increases as he swings it at the roof that Tacita is currently standing on. Half of the building explodes as the blade cleaves it neatly in two and starts collapsing.

A huge fireball hits Baek, shot from a distance by some random Hell Difficulty attendee, and a flash of light and heat expands into the area, but when it is gone, the armor remains undamaged, and he moves again.

Kang Jiwon, the twelve-year-old girl with a concentration skill, crash-lands on a different building, facing Tacita. As before, there's no mana leaking into the air around her, but she moves calmly with incredible speed, destroying buildings as she jumps across their roofs, all the while barely avoiding Tacita's attacks, which almost seem to be toying with her.

Down on the ground, Min-Jae's projectile, the one that killed two Kings, finally cracks, and Lily climbs out. She's missing one of her arms, and her entire body is mangled and damaged. The third arm she formed from her back disappears in sacrifice, and she regenerates almost immediately. Lily retrieves her axe from the debris and jumps up onto the roof.

Tacita locates her and kicks Kang Jiwon away before shamelessly jumping onto Baek's huge suit of armor, running across the surface, and charging at Lily, who throws her axe with incredible force. Tacita dodges, and the axe lodges itself into Baek's armor and makes the huge suit stumble and crash into the building beneath it.

Then a single bone dagger forms in Lily's hand, and she charges Tacita.

It's complete chaos, with people fighting all over the place while I just sit there and do my thing. But I keep at it without a hint of shame. I can guess what Vic must have told them, even if they're too embarrassed to tell me directly. It works out well for them, too, since I'm sure Victoria is watching from somewhere.

Group 4 goes all in, every single one of them, only falling when they encounter another monster like Tacita.

At some point, constant explosions shake the arena in the distance, and a familiar orange field of light begins to spread across a small part of the city. It looks like Savant and Jean are clashing, too, judging by the number of buildings crumbling to dust, the falling skyscrapers, and the surge of intense mana radiation.

Tacita disappears and heads in that direction, with Lily and the twins following close behind. Only Izzy, Sophie, and Noodle stay back, handling the people drawn in by the heat I'm generating.

By now, it's getting hot enough to melt through Sophie's web. The top of the skyscraper collapses into pools of lava, spilling down into the rooms below. I use kinetic energy to stay afloat, since there's nothing left to stand on, and the heat around me continues to spread.

With each beat of my partially unsealed Ignition Heart, more of it spreads into the area. It feels like a ticking bomb, a countdown leading toward something yet unknown, and the barrier around the arena has already shrunk by more than half.

A constant combustion heals the burns inside my body, fueled by the heart, only to burn me once again, feeding into itself in a twisted loop. The first seal on the heart is temporarily but completely lifted, and I begin to open the second one.

Just a little.

Even that much puts the whole thing on a completely different level than the first. The difference can't be compared. The amount of thermal energy seeping out of me now is like nothing I've experienced before, piling onto the huge amount I've already gathered.

The massive, blazing, gold halo above me expands even further. Constructs made of specially modified, heat-resistant Ley Lines barely hold themselves together as I continue to reinforce them and replace the damaged sections. Only [Focus] allows my mind to endure the pain of the flames combusting beneath my skin.

Sophie and the others have already moved away, and even the few powerful attacks that do penetrate their defensive lines melt and vanish before they can reach me, consumed by the sheer heat.

More golden flames continue to flow into the spinning halo above. I fight to keep them there, spinning, burning, to stop them from expanding further as I strain to estimate just how much I'll need.

I ease the second seal open just a little more, and for a moment, everything goes dark. Control nearly slips through my fingers, but I manage to hold it together, just barely.

Then my preparations are complete.

(Done,) I send.

(Well, good luck, then,) Sophie says and then follows up with, (I forfeit.)

(Good luck, Nat! I forfeit!) Izzy says as well.

(I will be watching! I forfeit!) Lily shouts in the middle of her fight and disappears after forfeiting.

Then Aaron and Noodle disappear as well.

Tacita reappears on the roof, looking at me with confusion. Savant is still locked in battle with Jean.

The city is being torn apart, piece by piece, as the attendees continue to fight. Entire buildings are sliced in half by wide arcs of mana, the upper sections crashing down on the streets below and flattening everything in their path. Others are vaporized outright, disintegrating into clouds of dust and fire as piercing beams punch through and keep going, carving deep swaths of destruction into the skyline.

Massive impacts shatter rooftops as fighters slam into each other in midair, sending shockwaves rippling outward to shatter the windows in buildings several blocks away. One skyscraper detonates from within, its core ruptured by a delayed explosion, sending burning debris raining down on the surrounding structures and igniting them instantly.

Chunks of pavement are ripped from the ground as shockwaves slam into the streets, tossing cars aside like toys. A swirling mass of elemental energy collides with a defensive barrier and obliterates an entire intersection, cratering the area and snapping support beams in the nearby towers.

High above, unstable magic detonates in waves, turning rooftops into craters. Flames race over the sides of buildings and burst from broken windows.

The arena is collapsing under the pressure. Too much force, too many skills, too many people fighting without restraint. In a short amount of time, the level of destruction is unreal. Everyone is still far from reaching the level of a Champion, yet the buildings are coming apart like they're made of paper.

I glance at Tacita, challenging her, and she looks like she's actually considering it. The field around her rises, and the air begins to vibrate, almost glitching with the unstable pressure she radiates.

But in the end, she doesn't act on the impulse and disappears again, rushing in the direction of Savant and Jean's fight.

Something hits my chest, and I grab it before it can fall: just a tiny piece of a fingerbone, all that's left after passing through the heat around me.

I smile. Damn it. Fine.

Then I release all the heat I've stored, and the spinning halo shatters with a sharp crack. Flames erupt in a golden tornado, tearing through the rooftops around me and surging outward in waves. Buildings in its path evaporate instantly, reduced to glowing dust before it can disperse.

The fire spreads fast, rushing between structures and down streets. Concrete melts, glass vaporizes, and mana barriers crack and fail. The flames slam into the orange light, held back for the merest of instants. Then they melt through, crashing against that orange light only to extinguish it. For a moment, they are blown back by a shockwave rippling out from Jean. And for a moment, he almost looks like he might endure.

But the pressure keeps building, and after a couple of setbacks, they wash even over him. The golden fire rolls over the battlefield, devouring everything.

Entire blocks vanish. Skyscrapers fall, their frames glowing red before disintegrating, and the air becomes impossible to breathe as it grows thick with heat.

The few remaining presences try to resist but are overwhelmed, each one disappearing in violent bursts of force coming from high in the sky to join the flames. What's left of the city collapses inward, twisted steel and stone breaking apart as the last of the fire passes through.

Amid that destruction, a figure takes shape high above the ruins.

Lissandra descends from the sky into the burning chaos, untouched by the heat, her silver hair drifting weightlessly around her face.

I toss the fingerbone to the ground, and in the blink of an eye, Victoria rises from it. She wears those same formal yet comfortable clothes, carrying the same steady, reliable presence.

My feet hit the burning rooftop, and she moves to stand beside me as we face Lissandra.

The crown over my head turns entirely black, and I pull Fracture from its scabbard, knowing the weapon will break this time. It immediately attacks my flesh, starting to disintegrate and devour it as the unstable forces within it fight to kill me. The effect is even stronger than before, with all the knowledge I've gained from the Logic Core used to make it more deadly rather than improving stability.

Lissandra glances between me and Victoria, nodding. “I shall allow it.”

A loud thud erupts from her, like an implosion, and her pressure diminishes incredibly as she limits herself.

“Come then, Gwyn siblings.”

Chapter 44

2 V 1

There are no words exchanged between us. Vic charges first, only for her body to explode into pieces the moment she gets closer. Each of these pieces grows into another person, and five Victorias charge Lissandra at once.

She kicks one of the Victorias away, the broken body passing by me as it sails through the air. Another two explode into quivering piles of flesh. One of the remaining ones grabs Lissandra's arm, and the last one tears off a finger to throw at Lissandra.

I use Wraith Dance to jump down and lash out at Lissandra with Fracture.

Lissandra ducks under the blade, and a cascading mana attack flows from her hand. Victoria, holding onto her arm, bursts like a bubble.

I catch Victoria's finger midair, pulling it close to protect it as a burst of heat pours from my partially unsealed heart. It scorches everything in the area, leaving the air flickering behind it.

Out of the golden flames, Lissandra emerges undamaged with a pale blue barrier flickering across her skin. My kinetic energy's hold on her is broken through a sheer burst of force, and a sword made of mana forms in her hand, which she slashes at me.

It meets with Fracture, which, incredibly, does not cut through it immediately. The two blades clash. While her sword remains firm and stable, Fracture is beginning to crack, releasing bursts of black-and-gray smoke.

I send a disruptive wave at her, something that would've easily overwhelmed anyone from Earth's tutorial, but she remains unaffected. Instead, she pushes me back, using her mana to reinforce her body.

Circles of flame burst from the exhaust node on my back, tearing through my hoodie. The flames surround me, swirl around my form, and lash out at Lissandra.

She steps forward, forcing me back, and the flames closing in on her are blown away by the pressure radiating from her.

The finger I've hidden within these flames behind her begins to expand, and Victoria regrows from it, only to be kicked away by Lissandra, who doesn't even turn around. Still, Victoria endures and grabs Lissandra's leg, twisting in an attempt to break it.

I seize the opportunity and boost my body to its limit, slashing at her with Fracture once more and finally shattering the sword she's created.

For a moment, that familiar pale blue mana flickers across her palm as she deflects the blade by striking the flat. Lissandra breaks free from Victoria's grip and kicks her again. Then she vanishes, reappearing atop another broken building.

I use the mark I left on her to send a tricolored orb through and then teleport behind her using the same mark. But the explosion I expected never happens. Lissandra stands completely untouched.

With a viper-like motion, she reacts as if she'd seen it coming and grabs me by the neck. She raises her arm to block Fracture, only to realize with slight surprise that it's not there.

Victoria reaches us, holding the sword in both of her hands, which are already more damaged than mine, and slashes at Lissandra, who moves to dodge. I use that brief opportunity to create a nail made of black mana and jam it into her shoulder as she deflects Victoria's strike with Fracture.

I release a burst of kinetic energy at her, and she lets go of my neck to quickly draw a glowing inscription in the air that absorbs all of that kinetic energy and deflects it back at me, forcing me to absorb it in turn.

Lissandra vanishes, even with the black mana nail piercing her, even with the pull of the black mana crown and my attempts at disruption. Her control is so precise that she ignores it all, and I focus on observing how she does it as closely as I can.

I grab Fracture as Victoria throws it to me. Meanwhile, Victoria bites off her tongue, spits it out, and grows another duplicate, with arms undamaged by the strain of holding Fracture.

Both of us jump over the buildings and follow Lissandra, who continues to put up distance by creating shields and shooting projectiles at us that, though weak in appearance, totally obliterate anything in their path.

We chase her across the rooftops as the first projectile lands behind us. The building it touches caves in without a sound, sucked inward before collapsing in a slow, unnatural slumping motion. Windows melt and flow like wax, then burst into steam.

Another shot cuts through the street below. The asphalt warps, buckles, then craters inward. Cars roll over and crumple as if they were made of tin foil, their frames folding into each other before they burst into flames.

One glowing orange spark flies past my face, and the heat alone singes my cheek, leaving a glowing line tracing across the hood of my hoodie. Behind me, it touches the building and explodes into a fiery vortex. Victoria ducks under another, her hair catching fire briefly before she can snuff it out.

Another attack strikes a parked car. It just folds the car inward until it forms a perfect sphere, glowing faintly, then sinks through the cracked pavement like a stone falling through water.

All while Vic seems unkillable. She is quick, she is durable, and no matter how much she gets destroyed, a new version of her always pops up. It seems like these versions are becoming tougher with every attack Lissandra sends her way, likely due to some sort of adaptive resistance, passive, or trait she's acquired.

Lissandra, even though limited, is far stronger than Ruby's avatar. Not because of any difference in levels, in terms of skills or stats, but because of her sheer experience and the level of decisiveness she demonstrates. She knows most of my skills and quickly adapts to Vic's.

Even while holding back and fighting so simply, her style feels like that of someone who had to learn on their own, gathering abilities from different sources and relying entirely on her own personal understanding.

The fight slows down as she retreats to the streets, giving us a few seconds to regroup.

Victoria joins me at my side, throwing down a few pieces of herself that grow into new duplicates. They start walking in from the side and surround Lissandra, who lets it happen without so much as turning to watch them. Fracture vibrates in my arm, breaking, cracking.

No cheesy one-liners are spoken, and I attack. Reaching through a stretched Ley Line, I teleport, only to appear somewhere entirely different than I wanted, coming out somewhere high in the air.

I send a pulse of detection and fly in that direction, altering my course and heading straight for Lissandra, who is locked in battle against Victoria's duplicates.

I crash down like a meteor, with Fracture slicing past Lissandra, mere inches from her body, as she twists out of the way. Immediately, I boost myself with black mana, both in body and mind. The barrier around Lissandra's body flickers as my black crown starts absorbing it, and Victoria moves faster than before and grabs her from behind, locking her in a chokehold as she jams one of her fingers into Lissandra's eyes.

My Mana Wavelength Iris observes Lissandra and the mana moving around her body, and she easily returns that gaze with her one remaining eye. Everything feels slowed down, and I move as if wading through mud, my body struggling to keep up with my perception.

Lissandra increases her speed to match mine. The fading mana around her skin flickers, and she deflects Fracture by striking the flat of the blade with her hand and directing it into the ground. In one smooth movement, she throws Victoria off her, by breaking and twisting my sister's arms.

I boost myself further. I recall the way Lioren moved, and even though I lack his grace, I try to recapture a portion of it, if only for a moment, moving faster, raising Fracture, and thrusting it toward Lissandra.

In response, she slams her palms together, catching the blade between them. Fracture halts just a palm's width from her chest. Even then, it releases bursts of gray-and-black smoke, tearing into her hands and leaving a series of gaping wounds across her chest. The same force hits me as well, and I'm forced to redirect my mana to avoid damage to my circuits.

Lissandra moves to twist the blade out of my hands, but Victoria's punch hits her blind side and sends her flying through the air, rolling across the asphalt, and finally coming to a stop against the side of a bus. Victoria doesn't stop there, though, and charges her, sending the bus rolling across the road as she slams into it with her shoulder, but Lissandra is not there anymore.

Feeling a movement behind me, I release a burst of mana in that direction, a portion of the huge amount I've collected over the course of the fight.

Lissandra, standing there, slashes her arm through the air, and the burst of energy parts, passing by her sides and tearing into the street and buildings behind her. She walks forward, her gaze locking with mine. Mana spirals across her body in a pattern far too complex to be random. My currently activated Mana Wavelength Iris catches it for a moment, then falters. Pain surges through me, and my grip on my mana breaks from the overload of the information.

Even then, I force myself to make an attempt to absorb the kinetic energy of her punch, but I fail and am sent flying back, crashing through the glass window of a small shop nearby.

I boost myself back up only to see Lissandra holding my black crown, which she must have grabbed when she kicked me away. She smiles and throws it far into the distance, only to take another punch from Victoria, who appears nearby. The hit lands, but Victoria's body instantly detonates under the force, torn into flying chunks of flesh and blood.

Another Victoria grows from one of the scattered pieces. She moves the same way, landing a second hit before her body disintegrates mid-strike from the strain. For a brief moment, she's as fast as Tacita and nearly as strong as Jean. The impact sends Lissandra crashing through buildings, and the shockwaves push debris and vehicles down the street.

Once again, from the pieces, a new Victoria appears, charging at Lissandra with her shoulder and sending her into another building that collapses as well. The structure groans under the impact, walls cracking and supports giving way. Before it can fully collapse, however, it erupts in a violent explosion, launching debris in every direction.

Lissandra steps out, with pale mana flickering around her and remaining nearly undamaged.

Victoria charges again in the same reckless fashion, and I try to read her trajectory, predicting where her punch will send Lissandra. I move to intercept, ready to swing my sword as she comes flying toward me.

I move, positioning myself before Lissandra's body reaches me, but a spear of mana forms in her hand. She drives it into the road, slowing her momentum and causing me to miss. She then immediately moves and stabs at my neck, chest, and leg before I break the weapon with Fracture and slash it across her legs, wounding her in the process.

Thermal energy combusts beneath my skin, healing these wounds nearly immediately, and I throw Fracture aside, where Victoria grabs it.

I start channeling more kinetic energy through my body, using mana to strengthen it at the same time, all as much as I can with the entirety of my [Focus]. Thermal energy continues combusting inside me, sending waves of pain through my body while healing the damage I cause to myself. Using my rapidly healing body, I let go of efficiency and devote the entirety of my focus on quickly channeling kinetic energy through myself to match up to my sister and Lissandra.

Victoria unleashes short bursts of strength and speed that tears her body apart with each movement. My own body holds together only because it's constantly burning itself to heal. Lissandra uses some form of overclocking, combined with incredible mana-based reinforcement.

What began as a clash of skills and tricks shifts into a pure, brutal melee as we attack Lissandra together. In terms of stats, she's likely only as strong as one of us alone, and yet somehow she's matching both of us combined.

Lissandra takes wounds and blows, without bothering to heal herself, and continues to fight despite them. Even with just the physical capabilities we possess, she matches us one-on-two, redirecting our attacks, positioning herself better, or exploiting our lack of experience when it comes to fighting as a pair.

We move at speeds that turn my side view into a blur, crashing through skyscrapers and reducing them to rubble. Every step sends cracks racing through the pavement; every missed strike shatters concrete and twists metal. Windows burst from the pressure of our strikes alone, and the ground quakes beneath our feet.

An elbow strike from Victoria sends Lissandra flying through a high-rise, her body carving a jagged path through steel beams and office walls. She crashes out the other side, landing in the middle of a street that's already been cratered by our earlier impacts. I follow close behind, my landing punch splitting the asphalt like dry earth.

The force of my kinetic impact throws parked cars into the air. Streetlights are ripped from their foundations, and traffic signs bend and melt under stray mana discharges.

A single redirected kick from Vic blows out an entire building's facade, raining glass and debris over several blocks.

And yet Lissandra remains unshaken. She meets Victoria's raw power with ruthless timing, slipping past her charges with narrow sidesteps, punishing overextension. And when she faces me, she reads the smallest shift in my stance and parries with perfect counter-movement, redirecting force instead of resisting it. Her body, though wounded, moves without regard for the injuries.

Mana radiates off her like a pulse. Shields flicker and reform between blows. Skills shape and reshape in her hands in fractions of a second. She sends Victoria crashing through an office building, then spins to block Fracture with a blade made of mana. The clash sends both of us skidding backward, tearing up the street in long, burning trails.

Fracture devours the air, cuts through the barriers Lissandra forms, and obliterates the mana weapons she creates. But she knows my plan. She locks eyes with me and changes direction to guide me away from the place she's thrown my black crown, a move I had hoped to counter.

“Give me two seconds,” I shout to Vic as I bury my feet into the broken asphalt and throw her Fracture.

I release a blast of kinetic energy and shoot to the side to avoid Lissandra, bulldozing through the building. She tries to head my way, but Victoria jumps in front of her, only to immediately fall back as her head explodes.

Lissandra tries to pass by, but that body moves, and a hand grabs her, and a piece on the other side regrows as a newly formed duplicate decides to attack her as well.

In that brief movement, I reach the crown lodged deep in the side of the building, and it floats over my head, granting me access to the immense amount of mana it's absorbed from me and stored all this time.

Fracture comes flying, seemingly out of nowhere, and pierces through my leg, pinning me against a nearby wall. Victoria's body crashes next to me, only for her to stand up immediately and turn to face Lissandra, who slowly walks out from between the buildings. She's still missing one of her eyes, her face is bruised, and there are wounds on her body caused by either me or Vic, and even a few caused by Fracture.

Still, against all logic, this Absolute does not heal herself. She didn't even put much effort into dodging; instead, she drags herself down to our level. An Absolute, bruised and wounded by two mere Champion candidates, remains uncaring about image or pride. In fact, she almost seems to be enjoying it.

“Is that all?” she asks, as her mana rises up around her.

Against my will, I let out a short snort. Grabbing Fracture, I pull it out of my leg, redirecting more thermal energy to the wound and nearly entirely burning it, to regenerate it at the expense of great pain. Even then, the damage caused by this weapon remains, and I change the way I channel mana within my body to account for these wounds.

Ding, the notification rings. Something as useless as a notice that death is now possible.

I wave it off, then the second round begins.

Chapter 45

Recognized

Victoria jumps in front of me, only to burst into a shower of flesh, and part of me wonders how much longer she can keep going. The attack that was meant to kill me is diminished somewhat, but it still throws me to the side. With cold, detached curiosity, I watch as the next one carves deep holes into the building next to me.

I could feel no mana, neither in the attack itself nor in the burst of energy when Lissandra used it.

I boost myself into the air and take black mana from the crown and use it to form a barrier in front of me, only for its surface to wobble as it absorbs another invisible attack.

Victoria slowly walks toward Lissandra. She rips off her finger and throws it to the ground, where it quickly grows into an identical copy of herself. Keeping an eye on Lissandra, she plunges her hand into the duplicate's back and yanks it out in a spray of blood, sending the body collapsing to the ground. In her hand, she holds a pearl-white short sword with a very wide blade, made entirely from bone.

She lifts it in front of her, the surface cracking but blocking the attack from Lissandra. Her slow walk turns into a run, and then her speed increases further, each step tearing the asphalt under her feet.

I lift another black shield to block the attack and slip the seals back into place over my Ignition Heart. The incredible healing I had until now is reduced to a fragment, but my mental capacity increases greatly by not having to deal with it. The pain also disappears, making me feel almost lightheaded.

Then it's back to using only mana.

A javelin made of black mana shoots ahead, and it pierces through Lissandra's shield and crashes into the ground next to her, devouring all the mana in the area almost in an instant.

Even then, the monster takes a step and disappears. The space in front of her shrinks and waves in the same way it used to when Ruby used her skill.

Victoria crashes into the ground where Lissandra stood. Passing by the javelin, she pulls it out and throws it my way. Even before it fully reaches me, I transform it into a shield as another barrage of attacks reaches me.

Three, five, ten attacks slam into the shield with tremendous force. Then one gets through, a thin, needle-like mana projectile, no thicker than a nail, piercing a hole about the same size right over my heart.

With my heightened perception, I watch as another similar projectile flies toward my head. I barely tilt it to the side, then block another one with Fracture before it can reach my heart.

Fracture bursts open, releasing all the forces it held: glass made of white sand, [Disintegration], and black mana.

All of it surges toward me, and I know I'll die if any of it hits. Even so, I watch with fascination. Part of my mind registers how many shards I just lost. Another part is amused by the fact. A third focuses on amplifying the effect of my eyes to observe the process.

The most reasonable part of me moves black mana around my body, shielding me from the parts of the explosion I can still block.

As if in slow motion, I shoot my hand into the explosion. I twist it, take the damage I can endure, and snatch the largest fragment of the shattered blade from the air. I boost myself, crash against the road, then use Wraith Dance two times, three times, five times, ten times.

Behind me, the blast zone spreads into something unholy, an eruption that disintegrates everything in its path. White sand grows more charged and pierces through everything in its path, clashing with black mana over the mana in the surrounding air.

I stop using kinetic energy and rely on mana to reinforce my body, trying to mimic the way Lissandra's been using it. Each movement is faster than the last. I don't think much about it; I just let my body lead, drawing inspiration and trying to combine it with the feeling I had when the coolest person I'd ever known had control of my body.

Victoria flies toward me, with one of her arms missing, having been severed by the mana disc now floating over Lissandra's head.

I reach toward her as she passes by, grab her hand, spin around, and hurl Victoria back toward Lissandra. Victoria uses the momentum, lands hard, and keeps running. She reaches into the wound where her arm used to be and pulls out a bone dagger, still slick with blood and strips of flesh.

There are no more duplicates.

The [Empyrean Lance] I've formed shoots forward as Lissandra moves her disc to block it. Both vanish on impact. She slips away again to avoid Victoria, but I track her with my eyes, letting more mana flood into my body as I close the distance.

Another [Empyrean Lance] fires at her just as I focus harder on disrupting her mana. I pour everything I have into it, narrowing my will to a single point and reaching into the flow of her magic. The effort burns through me. It's like trying to stop a river with my bare hands.

I claw at the threads of her mana, pulling them out of sync, twisting them against each other. For a brief second, I feel her falter, something stutters in her casting, but it's not enough.

She exhales, quiet and steady, and her body moves with impossible precision. One arm snatches the lance from the air, and it detonates in her grasp, but a barrier flares to life, sealing the blast. Both the lance and her arm vanish in the blast.

She raises her mana, and I respond in kind. [Eclipse] activates, draining the color from the world around us as we clash.

I give everything I have to smother her power. I force my mana into the space around her, try to unravel her focus, try to overwhelm her with raw interference. I scream inwardly with the strain, feeling my own flow begin to fray.

She pushes back. Calm, steady, unshaken.

And she wins.

Despite everything I do, she cuts through my interference. I grit my teeth and cross my arms in front of my chest, stacking barrier after barrier to brace for the impact.

All of the barriers break at once, cutting into my flesh. The attack breaks through and throws me against a nearby light pole, breaking it, and then into the side of the car behind.

Victoria reaches Lissandra, who throws up a barrier in front of her. It shatters instantly under a punch so forceful that Victoria's hand explodes on impact. She doesn't stop. Even with blood trailing behind her, she charges forward.

Lissandra slips to the side and delivers a precise kick to Victoria's leg. I hear the crack as the bone gives way.

Without missing a beat, Lissandra tilts her head just enough to dodge my next projectile, then disrupts another before I can even release it. The mana I had gathered twists in the air, hijacked by her will. It swells with her mana and detonates beside me, the blast lifting me off my feet and slamming me through the air and down the road.

Before I can get back on my feet, Lissandra is already in front of me. She kicks with brutal precision, breaking both of my hands and shattering the barrier I had just raised while I push myself up on one knee.

This time, I don't get thrown. For a brief moment, I switch back to kinetic energy, absorbing the impact and holding my ground. Standing so close to her, I release everything I have, every bit of mana I've gathered, firing it at her in tightly packed, concentrated bursts.

The air between us ripples and swells as the attack pushes forward, but before it can reach her, it halts. It twists, spins, and reshapes itself into a swirling orb which she catches between her fingers. All that power is now contained in that single, small object.

She moves to return it to me, but I reach out to it as well, fighting against her with all my might.

While we both hold the orb, her strength floods into it. I don't try to overpower her. Instead, I shape my will around her force. I add no extra energy; I focus on changing its structure. I build pressure lines, create absorption paths, and form layered mana anchors, using everything I can manage in the short time we have to fight over it.

She notices. I can tell by the way her grip shifts. She moves to cut off my influence, but I already left my mark.

I destabilize it. Not with simple force, but by undermining it from within.

The orb flickers, folding in on itself.

Her head tilts, and she smiles like she's enjoying the surprise. Not in mockery, but in interest. She laughs and moves to teleport away. While further damaging my broken arm, I move it and stab the remaining shard of Fracture into her collarbone before she can disappear.

This destabilizes her teleportation enough to allow me to latch onto it, and the two of us barely manage to teleport away before the orb explodes.

The destabilized teleportation, straining to carry more passengers than either of us intended, twists, tears, and damages our bodies. Even the direction is messed up, and we end up in the middle of the road, lying on top of each other.

I move my head down to slam it against hers, but she twists and moves, causing me to miss and smash it against the asphalt. With her remaining hand, she punches my chest and releases bursts of mana she quickly collected to throw me into the air.

Before she can do anything else, Victoria is there, armless, with a broken leg, and yet she savagely kicks Lissandra in the head, sending her crashing into what once was the wall of a building.

The wall that was already hanging on by a thread crashes down, and the bricks pelt her prone form, burying her beneath them.

I fan the thermal flames under my skin, the healing fixing some of the damage, but I can barely keep it up. I feel like I could pass out at any moment, and when I try to lift one of the seals, the flames almost burn me without restraint as they flow through me.

A mana projectile comes flying out of the mass of fallen bricks and pierces through my shoulder, sending me staggering back before I can try more. It sends a wave of disrupting mana through my body, deactivating nearly all of my active skills.

I barely manage to pull it out and throw it to the ground. Of course, it destabilizes as I do and explodes, throwing me back once more.

A laugh escapes my lips as I climb to my feet and walk over to Victoria's side. Her leg has partially healed, though she's still missing an arm. She flicks her head to clear the hair from her eyes and straightens her posture, standing there like this is all just part of another ordinary day.

Out of the rubble, Lissandra also climbs. Terribly wounded and damaged, she's still refusing to heal herself. Even the shard of Fracture remains, lodged in her shoulder; the gray smoke and black mana are surely causing her a tremendous amount of trouble.

One of her eyes is gone, her arm is gone, and there are tears all over her body, but she bears the same confidence as always.

With a voice that sounds just the same as it always does, she says, “This reminds me of a time before I became a candidate. Back then, I was even younger than that empath of yours.”

She dusts off her clothes and smiles. “I miss those days. There was so much to learn, so many mistakes to make, and so many dangers that seemed insurmountable.”

“Let's stop here before I get carried away,” Lissandra says, glancing between us with a faint smile that doesn't reach her eyes. “This path requires more than just strength or talent. Out of everyone I've seen in this tutorial, you two have come the closest to understanding that.”

Her presence increases once again, and her wounds heal as she removes the limiters she's placed on herself.

I feel the tingling of the power she radiates prickle across my skin, along with a sensation as if the system itself were listening to her words.

“It's not just the outcome of this fight, either. It's everything I've seen leading up to it. I cannot say whether either of you will reach the end of this path, but there is one thing I can state with certainty.”

That pressure on my skin increases; it feels the same way it did when she declared me a candidate.

So I interrupt her.

“I refuse.”

Lissandra stares at me, her mouth slightly open, before she calmly closes it. The faint disbelief in her eyes makes it clear she hadn't expected anyone to refuse her. For a moment, she pauses, as if unsure of what to say.

“I don't need you to declare me. I don't need anyone to. By myself, I'll make the system recognize me as an Absolute candidate, whether it wants to or not.” I speak the words, knowing the others can hear.

And sore loser that she is, Lissandra disappears. She forfeits the event but doesn't say it out loud; it remains only in her mind.

Before I turn to my right, I hear Victoria say, “I forfeit,” and she disappears as well.

Standing there alone, it seems that the winner of the last event has been decided.

Chapter 46

End of the Second Tournament

So what do you say to tens of thousands of attendees watching you as you stand alone in the ruined area of the last event? You only have a few seconds before the system teleports you back into the common area after your sister forfeited.

Well, obviously, in a burst of pride and with adrenaline still rushing through your body, you shout your real name out loud and follow it with a threat. You tell them how terribly you will fuck them up if anyone ever tries to touch someone belonging to you, whether it is your family, the other members of your group, or anyone who might be working with you. You tell them that what they just witnessed was nothing and that it'll be child's play compared to what you will be capable of in the next three years.

So go on. Try to act smart, have fun playing around on Earth, and hope I die before I can make my return. Maybe I really will die, maybe you have nothing to worry about, and someone as maniacal as I am will crash against the wall that kills me.

But what if that's not the case?

Say you get the clever idea and try to find out more about my background. You already know what I look like; you might even have photos and videos. Some of you could probably figure out who I am even before I gave you my full name. But now that you have both my name and my sister's, there can't be many siblings named Nathaniel and Victoria Gwyn. It should be easy.

So maybe you think it'll be a good idea to locate members of my family, hide them somewhere, and blackmail me once I get out.

To that I say: I have Earth's most powerful healer, and I promise I can keep healing and killing you for years. I can come up with ways to cause you as much pain as possible. I'm petty enough to spend months, even years, making it happen. So I ask you again.

Would it be worth it?

And I say this: try me. Go ahead, if you're really that confident.

“I will fuc⁠—”

Before I can finish that sentence, I find myself outside. Unlike last time, my mana locks itself back under my control immediately, and not a whiff seeps into the area around me.

It might be because my broken body is healed, but it feels lighter as if some sort of weight has fallen away. Even now, I am still strongly convinced I am the most normal one in group 4; I mean, we've all seen Lily elongate her arms and grow new ones from her back, so there is no debate about that.

Maybe I've always been meant to be a little bit of an asshole. Fitting into that place where I “respect” others and “their opinions” just seems silly at times.

Once I locate the presence I've been searching for, I teleport there and place my hand on Channeler's shoulder. For a moment, I consider using his name, but it doesn't quite come to me. Was it Rafael, Raphael, or Ralph? Saying the wrong thing would be awkward.

“My man,” I say.

He shudders with surprise at the unexpected touch but regains control and looks back at me.

“Yes?”

“I have your arcane item.”

We gather under the tree in our area, everyone in group 4, along with Myrra, and Channeler's harem, who watch as he puts on the armor I've made for him. I'm much better with swords and weapons, so this one was very difficult. Unsurprisingly, Miwa's advice helped a lot, as did some of the things I learned as a lumoran technician, well, assistant technician.

The armor covers his entire body, and it isn't even that bulky. Looking at it, you might even expect it to be kind of flimsy. Wrong. The materials I used are top-notch. I used an assortment of metals, alloys, mana stones for the plating, and lined the inside with leather so the raw metal wouldn't chafe and more besides.

The chest plate is a deep matte gray, layered with faint lines that pulse dimly when he moves. Those are the mana inscriptions, woven through the armor like veins. It reacts to his movement, strengthens under pressure, and even has the ability to deflect weaker skills without him so much as having to lift a finger.

And then there are the mana stones. They're embedded deep, locked into the framework of the armor to act like batteries. Each one is charged and connected through its own series of insulated channels.

The armor draws power from them constantly; it uses that mana to strengthen the joints, support his muscles, and prevent the weight from slowing him down. It not only makes him faster and stronger, but it also helps him maintain his speed and protects him from exhaustion.

In theory.

The chestplate is layered with inner supports. Beneath that is a thin core linked to the stones that serves to distribute mana across the suit. It's not really smart tech or anything fancy; it is just built to last and work.

The gauntlets and boots are reinforced. He can block with his arms without feeling the shock, and he can land hard without twisting anything. There are no energy channels, nor is there an accompanying glow, just pressure resistance and weight support.

The only problem is getting in and out of the armor. It takes a few minutes, and he needs several people to help him, so that might be a slight issue. The armor is also quite heavy, and another big problem is going to be charging it. With his reserves, it would take weeks to charge the armor enough to use one hundred percent of its capabilities even for a few minutes at a time.

But I've already thought of that. I may be an asshole, but at least I'm a rich and smart asshole. I went out and bought several extremely high-quality mana stones. Ten of them. And I've been filling each one with as much mana as possible over the course of the tournament, inscribing them so they can be slotted into the armor and exchanged for a filled one.

Each of these mana stones should be able to power the armor for hours. At maximum output, probably for two or three hours, during which time he should be able to wipe the floor with the average Hard Difficulty attendee.

In theory.

With rumors that Hard Difficulty will probably reach the thirteenth floor sometime in the next year or two, Channeler should have plenty of time to become Earth's apex predator, assuming someone doesn't kill him when he's not wearing the armor, though he seems pretty smart.

In theory.

As for the description:

Manabound Frame (Low Arcane) - Forged from reinforced arcane alloys and lined with mana-reactive channels, this armor consumes vast amounts of energy just to remain active. In return, it grants the wearer unstoppable momentum and an immense resistance to both physical and magical assault. Built to function under extreme strain, it demands constant mana input to maintain full capacity. Without it, the armor becomes dead weight; however, when fully powered, it turns the wearer into an unstoppable frontline force.

After putting on the helmet, Channeler takes a few steps toward me and comes to a stop. For a moment, he loses his balance, but the output is currently set below five percent, just enough to allow him to move as he normally would without feeling heavy while keeping some of the defenses active.

“Nathaniel,” he says, his muffled voice drifting out from under the helmet.

“Yes?”

“How much would something like this go for in the system shop?”

“That? Hmm, probably around 200,000 to buy and around 100,000 to sell.”

“Shards?”

“No, pieces of deer jerky. Of course, shards.”

“You're giving me something worth 100,000 shards?”

“It's probably worth a bit more. It has a nice base, and if I could make it so that it didn't rely on mana batteries and change some things that I had to tweak for someone of your power level, I could probably turn it into a mid-arcane item with a bit of help.”

“You're giving me something worth more than 100,000 shards?”

“I would like to say I'm lending it to you so that I could take it back once the tutorial ends, but by then, something like this won't be valuable enough for me to bother with. So yeah, you could say it is a gift. Not for free, of course, you still have to do all the things we talked about and find all the people we mentioned.”

“Of course, I'll keep my word, Nathaniel. I promise.”

“There's no need to be so serious. Also, sorry about the design; I know it's a bit rough.”

“It's ugly as fuck,” Myrra shares her unprofessional opinion from the side.

No one from group 4 raises their voice to defend me, and I make sure to remember that.

I continue, “But the performance is good. I have prepared a manual as well, so you can get some training in for the few weeks before you return to Earth. I'll even try to charge some training mana stones so you can train and save the ten I gave you. Do you still plan to clear the thirteenth floor and head back to Earth in the next few weeks?”

“Yes, I've already made deals with a few of the smaller groups, and we'll be coordinating our returns and make an attempt to organize back on Earth. Samuel was pretty helpful, too; he told us a lot about how the army functions and gave us some contacts, so we'll make an attempt to discuss things with them.”

He removes the helmet, revealing his uselessly handsome face, though determination is etched on it.

“I have a lot of data I can share with them. There are too many people with videos and information on you, so I won't try to hide your capabilities. I think it would be counterproductive. Not to mention that I'm expecting you to grow a lot in the few years we'll have before you return. In the meantime, I'll be using your name a lot, and people from Easy Difficulty are very eager to communicate.”

“Don't take in everyone you meet,” I reply.

“Of course, there will be standards and requirements. By the way, NotAaron said that when we started building our organization back on Earth, we should give it a cool name and mentioned that you would want it to be Angry Kittens.”

Multiple heads slowly turn to look at the twins. It's likely that only Izzy truly knows which one is Dennis and which one is Aaron, but they show no shame and continue to smile in mirrored fashion.

Channeler nods, guessing my answer from the looks we give the twins. “I thought as much; I've collected a few ideas, and if you⁠—”

“Angry Kittens will be fine,” I say.

Just as before, heads turn toward me, one of them with cat ears and a tail swaying from side to side.

“Okay,” Channeler agrees immediately without further questions.

After that, I give him some weapons I made from my mana using Mana Weaving and [Knitting]. Each one should match the level of epic items in terms of sharpness and durability. They don't have any special effects. They're just my mana, compressed, woven, and knitted together, and all around made to last as long as possible. It's similar to my manabloc material and the manabloc chairs. I'm confident most of them will hold their shape for years before the mana inside starts to unravel. I'm also sure they're tough and sharp enough to handle real combat.

There are enough for Channeler and his harem to use, with a few extras left over for trading. And Tess also made some plans for Easy Difficulty to get in touch with some scientists once they returned to Earth. They'd be given items, mana, and other materials to examine and otherwise experiment with.

That should bring in a lot of money, either through selling the items or attracting investments. It could help build the foundation of our so-called “organization” or whatever we decide to call it. I've never cared much about that sort of thing, but I'm sure Sophie and Maya have done their best to make sure it's all being handled.

As for me, I start explaining the armor's hidden mechanics to Channeler. It puts pressure on his body, similar to a restrictive training emblem or burden enhancement inscriptions. The idea is to let him train while wearing the armor, without using up too much mana from the batteries.

It might cause a bit of pain, but I've tuned it properly. Still, I don't like the expression he makes. I was expecting more excitement for such a useful training method, especially one I put so much effort into modifying for him.

I point that out, and he quickly shakes his head, telling me I've misunderstood. So I ask if he's okay with me improving the inscriptions and making a few last-minute changes to increase the training effect.

He gives me one of those brilliant smiles, the kind that looks like it belongs in a photoshoot, and nods in a way that almost seems like he'd rather be shaking his head.

Even though only twenty-four hours remain, a lot happens in the meantime.

My sister is declared the Absolute candidate by Lissandra, who seems to respect her more than me. Unsurprisingly, there is no big fanfare about it since not even Vic wants to make a big issue out of it; she just accepts it in her pragmatic way.

Rumor has it that Lucien, also known as Spacepup, even got kidnapped for a few hours by a silver-haired woman who wanted to study a skill he possesses. This incident may have worsened the P.T.S.D the little jerk already had.

So sad. Poor guy. I just hope that the woman didn't find him only because someone talked to Myrra and told her to ask the silver-haired woman to check on him. He seemed to be trying pretty hard to stay under the radar.

Some people come to visit me, but I don't accept any of them. Derick is one of the more notable ones, along with Yama, who, despite being one of the “kings,” follows that young Chinese girl, almost like she's her personal guard or servant.

Sophie and Maya speak to them briefly before they leave.

The deal with Savant is wrapped up as well. The most cowardly, or perhaps the most patient, man in the world leaves, seemingly satisfied with our agreement. This time, I am, too. Examining the Sword of Aeons gave me a lot of ideas for improving my future items.

After he leaves, Tacita stops by, but only to stand next to Lily and observe her. When Lily shows no signs of resentment or harm from being attacked by Tacita during the last event, the mute woman looks pleased, if only for a moment.

Out of everyone here, she seems to like Lily the most. It's the kind of gratitude an injured animal might show to the human who treated its wounds and fed it while it was weak. That sort of thing. Even though she attacked Lily during the last event, I'm fairly sure that if Lily had been in any real danger of dying, Tacita wouldn't have gone through with it. And I'm just as sure her mercy would only apply to Lily.

After confirming whatever she needed, Tacita vanishes again, but not before drawing an emoji into the air with the tip of a finger glowing with mana.

(´• ω •`)ﾉ

As time runs out, people spend more of it finishing up some last-minute trades and saying their goodbyes. I spend some of that time with Victoria, and we say our farewells away from everyone else. We share a few more pieces of information, advice, and some plans, hoping that we get the chance to meet again in Beyond. I also visit a few other people to make plans for an expedition to Beyond.

Neither of us is good at this kind of thing, so we keep it brief and part ways with a promise to see each other in the next tournament, which will probably happen in a year.

All that needed to be addressed is taken care of just like that, and the tournament finally ends, and we get our final notifications.

Congratulations on completing your second tournament!

The third tournament will occur three years from the start of your tutorial. All rounds from Earth's tutorial will compete together against another planet undergoing its own tutorial.

Congratulations, you have placed first overall in the second tournament of Earth's tutorial. Your rewards have been improved.

Congratulations, you have placed first in the overall crafter rankings of Earth's tutorial. Your rewards have been improved.

You have rejected all event rewards in order to increase your final rewards. Your rewards have been greatly improved.

Please choose two out of five possible rewards:

Three active skills combination token

Passive skill combination tokens (up to mid-arcane rarity) x2

Passive skill (mid-arcane)

500,000 shards

30-day beyond-stay tokens x2

Flashback - Tess Hansen

Everyone except the little puppy in my arms is gone. And a single sentence hangs in the air before me:

Participation in the tournament is not possible in your current state.

With a sigh, I sit down on the ground and look at Biscuit. “There can only be one reason I was forced to stay behind, right? Did you know?”

The speed of his wagging tail increases, and he licks my face before squirming out of my hands. After that, his size increases until he grows into his “adult” form… Obviously, he can do that now. In fact, he probably could have done it before, too, he probably decided to remain a little pup because he enjoyed the attention and had an easier time begging for food.

As he settles into his adult form, his fur ripples along the sides of his head, and a tiny set of budding, baby deer antlers begin to grow.

(Knew. One of us. Help,) he says.

“Aren't you the cutest little thing?”

He wags his tail even faster and moves closer, nuzzling my hand until I pet him.

“I'm probably not a mimic, or it's so fucked up that I am one without even realizing it. I think I could probably use [Declaration] to ensure I die the moment the mimic takes over, but if I do that and I'm not a mimic, it might decide to kill me, knowing I have no way to win.”

(Friend. Still.)

“Oh? So you're saying I'm not a mimic yet?”

(One of us!)

“Your speech is better now. Is it because of these things?” I ask, reaching out to tap his antlers. In response, he woofs at me.

“I see. I'm glad to hear that. I promise I'll tell Nat to feed you a lot and pet you a bit more frequently.”

He barks twice.

“Can you promise me something? I don't want to use [Declaration] because I'm afraid it'll provoke the mimic, but if it does take over, can you kill me?”

(Not one of us. Food.)

For that brief moment, Biscuit seems terrifying.

“Thank you. Lissandra must have known, and knowing her, she'll use it to bully Nathaniel. But Biscuit, who does that woman think I am? Some damsel who'll just sit here and wait for her ex to save her?”

(Damsel? Food?)

“No, a 'damsel' isn't food. It's the word you use to describe a weak woman who would rather rely on others than focus on saving herself.”

I lift him up from the ground. He's a bit heavier now, but he quickly shrinks back to his puppy form, and the antlers shrink dramatically, further adding to the remarkable cuteness of the little corgi.

“I think I have a plan, but I might have to do some bad things. I don't mind, though, and I'll gladly pay the price with my conscience if it means I can see our friends again. And if I fail and die, so be it, as long as it's just me, and only me. Will you help me?”

(One of us,) he says, as a cheeky smile spreads across his puppy face. (Help. Friend.)

“Thank you. Now, let's head to the second front and find some mimics to talk with.”

Chapter 47

Not a Damsel

Nathaniel

We reappear on the seventh floor, in the same place we've spent these months training, preparing, and relaxing at our “beach.”

And here it sits, entirely destroyed. A crater scars the ground where the lake and the building used to be. The nearby cliff is marred, with a single, enormous, building-sized glass projectile piercing through it. There are also bodies of lumorans and mimics scattered all around the place.

Tess and Biscuit are nowhere to be seen, and neither of them has responded in the Community.

Lissandra stands there with Myrra by her side, surveying the damage with eyes that seem to perceive far more than any of us.

Then anger flashes across her face, the kind that only comes from wounded pride and betrayal. The mimics and lumorans had promised no forces would enter her territory, yet everything now lies in ruins.

She rises and flies toward the sky, sending a single pulse of mana from her. It is nearly audible and produces a physical reaction in the area. All the clouds disappear, and the sky turns bright white. All the temporary mana webs covering the area are torn and obliterated, and a wave expands outward with a speed and force that makes it seem as though it could encompass the entire planet.

Her head turns; she looks into the distance for a moment before disappearing in that direction with an audible sonic boom.

Warning! The thirteenth wave is now in progress.

And the floor quest resumes.

Even though I've seen it before, I check the number of people in the Community again, confirming that Tess is still there. But she was still there when she first got infected by the mimic inside her. So what the hell has happened?

What have you done, you silly blonde? Damn, I hope you're safe.

Flashback - Tess Hansen

Two days. That's how long it takes me to encounter a powerful Elder Mimic in the body of a lynthari, either a mercenary who came here to offer their assistance or one of those who was taken over on another planet that had been taken over by a Progenitor Mimic.

It doesn't seem like it took me very long to find one, and I guess having Biscuit with me helps. I also have a strong suspicion that Lissandra left a mark on me. I know I would do something like that if I were her. Having the mimic inside me likely didn't hurt my chances, either.

Facing the body of the lynthari Champion taken over by the mimic, I say, “I want to make a deal with you.”

He looks at me in the same way while glancing toward Biscuit and then back at me. “Return to your territory, human. I won't violate the terms of the deal we made with that woman, but do not push it.”

A smile appears on his face, slightly unnatural, as if his true identity were showing despite the mimic's perfect memory and its ability to copy the body it took over. It almost seems to be hinting at the mimic inside me as if it were telling me to enjoy the time I have left.

“I think I can get you to whatever the lumorans stole from your territory on the second front. I also think I know why the mimic inside me seems so special and can hide from the lumorans' frameworks.”

I dangle the bait like I've rehearsed. The item, the one it hungers for. I don't know what it is exactly, but I know one thing: it wants it more than it wants me. That gives me leverage.

And that gets his attention.

“I have an offer for you,” I say.

I already know what I'm going to do. I'll lead it to what it wants, not because I want to help it, but because I refuse to die with this thing inside me. If it's desperate enough, it will jump to someone else. And I'll make sure it does.

Days later, back in lumoran territory, I finally get a meeting with Technician Leth, but only after multiple checks, some even performed by a lumoran Champion. They run me through purification arrays that burn through my mana reserves, forcing me to stand still as pulse after pulse of detection magic washes over me. Inscriptions crawl over my skin, searing slightly as they scan for mimic residue. My internal mana flow is disrupted and reset again and again, leaving me dizzy and unbalanced.

By the end, I'm drained and shaking, barely keeping myself upright. I rely entirely on my connection to that silver-haired Absolute, the one who appeared from nowhere. That status is the only reason they let me through in the first place.

“It's nice to see you, Tess, but where are the others? Everyone is nervous because that human woman disappeared as well. It just shouldn't be possible after the oath she made,” Leth tells me.

He's not alone in the room, either; Jareth is there, too, Champion Owain's disciple, and even Champion Safie, one of the stronger Champions the lumorans have. It could be said that they are interrogating me.

I pet Biscuit to keep him from trying anything hotheaded. There are still those tiny antlers on his head, but he is quiet.

“She killed Nathaniel and the others, then chose to cooperate with the mimics,” I say.

It is something I have practiced saying for days. I repeated the lie so often, with such practiced grief, that it became part of my truth. Even the mimic inside me has begun to echo those feelings back to me, almost as if it couldn't be sure what was real anymore.

My subclass, my skill, made it happen.

I've already cried over the deaths of my friends more times than I can count. There was an hour when I just sat there, sobbing, remembering those perfect days we spent together. They were the kind of friends I had always dreamed of, people who accepted me despite all my flaws. Each of them had their own imperfections, but somehow that only made them more beautiful to me. As if every flaw only made them shine brighter.

And now they're dead because Lissandra saw them as dead weight, nothing left to gain from keeping them alive. Cooperating with the mimic Absolute will only give her a new chance, a way to improve her odds of escaping the tutorial.

I know these things happened as surely as I know my name. When I speak to the lumorans, I put my whole self into the words. I say it with unwavering confidence and intent.

And they believe me.

Hidden from them, something inside me shudders in a way that almost feels like a laugh.

Nathaniel

Hours have passed, and Lissandra still hasn't returned.

Warning! The fourteenth wave is now in progress.

Warning! The fifteenth wave is now in progress.

Within that short time, two more waves appear, and mimics begin flooding in the area, mainly greater mimics, some in lumoran bodies. They attack us without hesitation, and we fight them in the same way, all the while glancing at the sky in search of Lissandra, who still hasn't returned.

During one of the fights, I wonder what Tess could have done and silently scold myself for not thinking of it sooner. I know her better than this; I should have realized she wouldn't simply sit and wait for us to return.

Tess can be extremely stubborn when she wants to be.

Flashback - Tess Hansen

It takes several more days. The lumorans panic, and they move me multiple times; each time they check over my mind and body for any sign of mimic infection. Yet they find none. The mimic inside me is just too different; it's the spawn of a Progenitor Mimic who used to be hidden deep in the frozen area of the second front, protected by a large number of elder mimics.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about it, and the feelings I get from it confirm that. It explains why it couldn't be found despite all the effort the lumorans put into the process.

I'm still not sure about the item with chaotic mana that the Ardenyx pilot found and took, but it seems to be important to it. I can feel how much it wants the item as if it were the most important thing in the world.

It's desperate to have it.

Maybe it is something that will allow it to grow stronger, a sort of sustenance that enables it to reach its full potential. Or maybe it is simply something they can't allow to fall into lumoran hands for any reason.

Since I realized that the mimic was inside me, it's begun to show its presence more, and I wonder if it was being raised to be implanted into the lumoran Absolute, only for Champion Feroy and his group to ruin it all, albeit at the cost of their lives.

I also know the war has started again. With Lissandra joining the mimics and disappearing without a trace, they have no other choice. Especially if she's strong enough to fake her oath, deceive the lumoran Absolute, and leave the area she said she wouldn't leave.

But part of me also wonders what's left to live for when all my friends are gone. After that question, only one answer remains.

Revenge at all costs. But first, I need to get rid of the mimic.

While talking to me, Leth gestures broadly and says, “Sorry, I can't tell you what that item was for or what Champion Feroy left in me. I barely know anything myself, and it's considered highly classified information.”

As always, when he speaks to me, Champion Owain's disciple is here, keeping an eye on me with that sword resting on his back. That sword seems almost alive.

I force a weak smile, looking tired but thankful, and say, “It's okay. I was just curious. I'm thankful you guys haven't decided to kill me.”

“We wouldn't do that!” Leth exclaims immediately and falls silent when he realizes he shouted. “It's not your fault. That woman is just too strong.”

After a silence meant to create the proper impact, I say, “Leth, I think you should destroy whatever you brought from the second front. They might be after it.”

Something inside me swirls in panic, and a sharp spike runs through my head.

Through the haze, I hear something and turn to the side. Biscuit is sitting there, staring at me with glowing purple eyes. His low growl rumbles through the air, heavy enough to make the ground feel unsteady.

Only then does the pressure in my head begin to fade.

The deal I made with the mimics is simple. The mimic inside me can stay hidden only as long as it hasn't taken control; it's special enough that it shouldn't be a problem. So I will behave in a way that either helps it obtain the item it wants or gives it a chance to go after Champion Owain or the lumoran Absolute. If it finds a host as powerful as one of them, it will leave my body without killing me.

I think the fact that I knew about it surprised them since the mimic is undetectable even by the lumoran frameworks. Maybe they planned for it to jump from me to a high-ranking lumoran once it got the opportunity. Maybe they were crazy enough to hope it could take over Lissandra through some sheer, incredible stroke of luck. Or maybe it was just supposed to stay inside me, gather information on the lumorans, or try to retrieve the item they stole from the Second Front.

Now I'm being held by the lumorans, and I don't know how many days I've been sitting in the room they've locked me in. It is so blindingly bright white that it hurts my eyes and mind. The mana in here constantly probes my body, making it impossible to use my skills.

Something is even blocking my primordial energy.

They have separated Biscuit from me and keep asking me questions. Multiple people, different each time, all powerful enough to kill me with a single swing of their arm, keep probing my mind.

But my story doesn't change. They see what I have seen: an image of Lissandra killing my friends and leaving me alive as a messenger. They also sense my emotions, the sadness I felt when they died, and the rage I feel toward that woman.

Their frameworks scanned me, psychic traces were analyzed, mana flow patterns checked. And all of it aligned with the grief of a girl who lost everything. Even the Champions who doubted me hesitated when they saw no flicker of a lie.

Then I am moved for the last time.

A few hours later, I receive an immediate execution order as I sit, held in a cell hidden in a base that seems to serve as their headquarters. The order comes directly from Champion Owain, who has been stationed here to guard the item they took from the mimics.

And that item is close. I can feel it; the presence inside me grows more and more desperate as Biscuit and I sit alone in the small room, waiting for the end. It has already sent a special signal that can only be detected by the mimics, but it will take a while for them to get here. The only things keeping it from taking over my mind are its fear of being discovered, the oath I made, and its hope that I will do everything I can to stay alive.

Biscuit remains quiet, even with those cute antlers on his head, and continues to keep an eye on me. His eyes grow darker by the second, and with that, their friendliness slowly disappears.

Leth comes to visit as well, slipping in alone despite the rules of my containment, just a few minutes before my executioner is supposed to arrive. I can see how much it weighs on him. For a moment, he says nothing.

I think I've played my part well, no matter how disgusting it felt. I took the fondness he had for Nathaniel and the others and used it. I built the image of a broken, unfortunate girl in his mind.

I tapped into the grief he still carries from losing Champion Feroy, the one he followed, and the friends he fought beside. In his eyes, I've suffered the same loss.

But now his mana signature is thin, frayed. I make note of how tired he looks, how little resistance he must have. A weak link, maybe. Just maybe.

He says, “I'm sorry, Tess, I know it's cruel for them to kill you, but the order came from the Absolute himself. It is to avoid risk and simply remove you. They're worried about the things that woman could have done with you. I'm truly sorry.”

“It's fine, Leth. It's not your fault,” I say with a weak smile, feigning bravery to mask my sorrow.

Slowly, I get to my feet and hold out my hand to Leth for a handshake, saying, “Thank you for everything.”

He hesitates. “They told me not to…”

I pull my hand back with a saddened expression. “Oh, I get it, I'm sorry.” I quickly apologize and take a step, only to let myself fall, seemingly tangled in the chains on my feet and hands.

Leth almost instinctively moves in and grabs my hand to help me stand. “Are you—” His words cut off.

“I'm sorry. Truly,” I whisper.

The mimic inside me moves from my body into his and takes over the moment it does so. It destroys the lumoran technician's mind in a blink, and with it, the oath I made to the mimics disappears, its requirements fulfilled.

The baby progenitor mimic looks at me with Leth's face and expressions, yet somehow it's different, as it begins settling inside him and trying to hide its presence, which should be much harder, if not impossible, now that it has taken over Leth's mind. It can likely still jump into another lumoran, but I don't think it can hide anymore the way it hid inside me, not against serious attempts.

“Useless human,” Leth says. “You couldn't even get me close to the Champion. But as per our deal, no mimic will touch you. The others will be here soon, but I wonder if they'll arrive quickly enough to save you from your lumoran executioner.”

He doesn't even smile, but I can see the strange cruelty in Leth's eyes. Then he turns to leave before the executioner arrives and before its presence triggers any of the defensive arrays.

“A moment,” I call out.

He stops and turns around when I say, “Biscuit, not a friend.”

Then I close my eyes.

That pressure returns, along with that eerie sensation. I hear a scream I never imagined Leth or any mimic could make, followed by a series of loud crunches, and then silence.

When I open my eyes, Biscuit is sitting there, looking at me.

He burps and says in my mind, (Friend.)

When the lumorans rush in, I pretend to panic and shout about a mimic that had been hidden inside Leth. I warn them about the incoming mimic attack he told me about and urge them to check the detection arrays.

Chapter 48

Reigning Dumbass of the Seventh Floor

Nathaniel

The reward for this floor's reigning dumbass goes to Tess, who remains unconscious even with all the work Sophie and Izzy have done for her.

All we know is that Lissandra found her and Biscuit, then knocked Tess unconscious because the blonde kept trying to kill her, screaming all the while. Lissandra also confirmed that there weren't any mimics inside Tess anymore and that she found her deep in underground escape tunnels leading out from a nearby lumoran secret base that had been destroyed.

It seems the blonde somehow got rid of the mimic on her own, and that's definitely going to be a story. After I confirm that she's safe and everyone else does the same, we find ourselves being pushed out the door by an annoyed trio composed of Lily, Sophie, and Izzy so that they can finish examining her. They don't tell us anything, but it seems like Tess may have really done something that was probably pretty dumb, even by my standards.

That also puts the deal I made with Lissandra in a strange situation. All the effort I put into the tournament feels like it was for nothing since Tess handled everything on her own, with a little help from the best corgi of the seventh floor.

The award for best doggo and protector of the dumbest person on the seventh floor, of course, goes to Giga Biscuit.

Once again, Biscuit seems to have eaten something again, just like last time when he decided to nom on that creepy deer; however, unlike before when it shrank him, this time it's made him as big as a horse.

Yup, a corgi as big as a horse.

He is still sleeping, and like the dumbest person of the seventh floor, he hasn't woken up yet. Occasionally, he even burps in his sleep and twitches as if he's managed to upset his stomach.

Cute. I hope he's okay, though.

Another cute thing is that even though he's gotten so big, he's returned to his “adult form” and has the same proportions as a normal corgi. And though those proportions at this size should be unsettling, it just comes across as extremely cute. Taking the opportunity, I lean against his belly, which moves gently in time with each breath as he sleeps. Even the other members of group 4 seem content to climb over him, like they just cannot get enough of this silly corgiant.

Everyone is worried about Tess, but after talking to Lissandra and Sophie, I think it'll be okay.

Sophie probably knows what happened, though she seems to be waiting for Tess to wake up before discussing it further. She also believes that whatever Tess did, she did it in a way that can be reversed by Tess herself, possibly through some sort of double self-hypnosis, if not by the simple passage of time.

In the end, it seems increasingly likely that Tess didn't need any help at all, and that's created some mixed feelings inside of me.

So, although Tess should be fine on her own in a few weeks or months, Sophie and even Lissandra are working hard to shorten that to days. Much of the work is being done by Sophie, while Lissandra helps as much as she can. It is hard to tell since Lissandra keeps her emotions so tightly in check, but I bet it's been just as infuriating for her. She made such grand promises, and now everything's gone to shit because of whatever this dumbass girl did.

Like everyone else, I can only wait for her to wake up. At least I don't break down crying and hugging her unconscious body like Maya did, or clinging to her like a baby koala like Izzy.

Having processed all that, I take the opportunity to clear my mind and check my status for what feels like the first time in a long while.

Name: Nathaniel Gwyn

Title: Champion Candidate

Difficulty: Hell

Floor: 7 - Battlefield

Time left until forced return: 2y 350d 23h 45m 6s

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

Level 307

Strength: 240

Dexterity: 231

Constitution: 429

Mana (Stage 1/3 - Vast Mana): 1627 + 1627

Primary Class: Mana Weaver (Unique Arcane)

Sub-class: [Adept of Pride]

Active Skills (10/10):

Focus - Level 65

Perception - Level 62

Redistribution - Level 63

Mana Domain (Pride) - Level 61

Mana Crown - Level 55

Mana Manipulation - Level 66

Ley Line - Level 54

Eclipse - Level 37

Empyrean Lance - Level 22

Knitting - Level 37

Constructs:

Reinforcement

Mana Regulator

Mana Sovereignty Mantle

Kinetic Mana Heart

Sealed Ignition Heart (Fully Sealed, 3/3)

Passive Skills (5/5):

Mana Kinetic Conversion Reservoir (Unique Epic)

Mana Fortified Mind (Low Arcane)

Mental Attunement Loop (Mid-Arcane)

Mana Wavelength Tyrant (Mid-Arcane)

Subdermal Combustion Weave (Mid-Arcane)

Tokens:

Beyond 3-day stay token

Beyond 1-day stay token

Shards: 39,631

I'm especially happy with [Focus] and [Mana Manipulation]. Even though it's been so much harder to level them recently, I still managed to push myself during the tournament. The memory of the numerous deaths still lingers. It's almost like a scar, except the mark has been left on my mind. Every time I think of these deaths, I cannot help but shudder a little. But at the same time, I know I would do it again in a heartbeat.

[Eclipse] also gained several levels, especially from the last event. [Redistribution] leveled up, too, thanks to the sheer amount of thermal energy I had to channel back there. I believe I leveled it about three times in a row, which is quite incredible considering the high level of the skill.

Of course, [Knitting] leveled up as well, given all the weapons I made for Channeler and the others. But we do not talk about skills with such names. We do not even think of them, because it might normalize the idea, causing me to slip up and say the name aloud. And we certainly can't have that.

Regarding my passive skills, on the other hand, I've been gathering quite a fancy collection: three mid-arcane skills, one low-arcane, and one unique passive. And damn if I don't appreciate that. After all, going by everything I've learned, I don't think there's more than a few people in the entirety of Earth's tutorial who can say they even have one mid-arcane passive, and that's if they're lucky.

Which brings to mind the passive skill combination token the system offered me, which would allow me to combine two mid-arcane passives. Using it for anything lower would be a waste.

I look them over again and consider the potential combinations, and no matter how I combine them, none of the results seem particularly good. If I chose this reward, I would probably need to purchase another mid-arcane passive specifically for the combination. That would require saving up another 500,000 shards, and that could take a while. Therefore, I rule out this reward.

Next, there are some new passive skill options: one mid-arcane reward passive, valued at somewhere around 500,000 shards, and another, which is simply 500,000 shards. Both options are appealing, but they don't really interest me all that much. I don't think I'll be needing the shards at the moment. If I had to pick one, I would probably just take the new passive skill instead. A passive skill reward would probably offer three or five passives to choose from, some of which could be valued closer to 600,000 shards and would have a fair chance of being tailored to me. However, I already have several new passives to manage and training to consider, which might change the direction of my build.

Lastly, we come to the two rewards I'm most interested in: the two 30-day Beyond stay tokens worth 600,000 shards. Admittedly, there are significant disadvantages. It would mean being stuck in Beyond for a long time, especially since I doubt anyone from our “expedition party” could afford to stay that long. There's also a significant risk that I'd wind up wasting part of the token and not being able to do anything while I'm there, which would be a huge waste of time.

Nonetheless, it attracts me greatly. I've been wanting to go and spend some time more or less alone for a while, so I am leaning toward choosing this one, but I'll have to give it a few more days for further thought. I might even wait until the end of the floor and see what rewards it brings before deciding.

Lastly, we have what's clearly the most insane and probably the best reward I've seen yet: a token that would allow me to combine three of my active skills into one.

Ever since I saw it, I've been thinking and theorizing, and my mind remains full of ideas. However, like the previous option, it carries a few big risks. Combining three skills means there is a much higher chance of incompatibility. Worst of all, some of my skills may not be available for combination, which would only result in an inefficient outcome, a wasted token, or possibly forcing me to wait years for another opportunity to combine them. But if it works, the resulting skill could be extraordinary.

It also makes me wonder just how rare this kind of reward is. I haven't seen it anywhere so far, so it might be incredibly valuable. I am quite likely the first person from Earth to get it, while the average Hell enjoyer might never see it. Still, I am a gambler at heart, so I think I'm going to risk it.

I lean back and bury my head in Biscuit's fur, enjoying the feeling of his rising belly. After glancing to my left and watching group 4 fuss over an unconscious Tess, I look away and start thinking again, this time about the way I rejected Lissandra's declaration.

My logic is fairly simple.

There must be a way to become an Absolute without a declaration, possibly even a candidate. Why, though? Well, the First Generation of each planet can only be declared over the course of the tutorial, and I think it would be foolish to rely on that alone.

There might be higher floors where such declarations grow more likely, but I also can't quite imagine a planet going without an Absolute simply because they were unlucky enough not to be declared over the course of the tutorial.

To be declared an Absolute candidate, you need to be vouched for by someone capable of such judgment, and meeting Absolutes and surviving the experience seems to be extremely rare. So I'm absolutely sure there has to be a way.

Another thing, I got a good chance to watch the others during the tournament. Even though I went in with a good bit of hesitation, now that it's over, I can say with confidence that I am strong. Really strong. I was better than any of them, and I've earned that title. Even Lissandra was ready to declare it herself.

But I can also say that was unusual for her, especially after all that talk about me only being able to become Champion at best and her declaration that she'd be the villain standing in my way. I think she must have lowered her standards just to declare me, since she'll be leaving soon, and given that she'll either die or escape the tutorial.

This is not something I can accept. Some time ago, I would have welcomed the handout, just like when I accepted the Champion candidate declaration. But now I've seen what I'm capable of compared to others. So why not push myself just that little bit further and do it on my own?

That also ties into the last part of my thinking: the rewards.

If I can become an Absolute candidate on my own, before my next primary class upgrade or even before I get my third trait, it could turn out to be something truly special. I've known for a long time that the system takes a variety of factors, including my past performance, into account. I also know the next primary class upgrade probably won't happen until I've reached Level 450 and the tutorial ends. But for now, I can channel my inner Savant and just be patient.

And once everything clicks into place, it will all be worth it.

Chapter 49

Nothing I Couldn't Deal With

After a few days, Biscuit starts shrinking from his giga form. It's sad to watch, and I wish he would wake up before he regresses completely, so he could carry me instead of the other way around. But there's nothing I can do. It seems like he ate something and pushed himself too hard trying to avoid slipping into another food coma, which he ended up in anyway, the moment Lissandra found him with Tess.

Part of me suspects he's actually trying really hard to shrink back to his normal size just so he can be carried around again.

Tess, and yes, I mean the dumbest human on the seventh floor, is also awake. She's still adjusting and spending her days with Izzy and sometimes Sophie, in a house that Sophie grew from one of the local trees. There are others, too, housing our individual rooms.

My curiosity is killing me, and I want to pry all the information I can out of Tess, but I get over it and spend time hunting down the mimics that have been appearing in the area.

Currently, it seems Lissandra is letting the weaker ones pass on purpose, not to mention that she disappears every once in a while and does crazy things. Most of the time, I don't even know what it is, but judging from the wavelengths of mana around her and the structure of the skill she activates in the process, it is some scary, scary stuff. Just trying to decipher it makes me pass out for hours at a time.

I think she's still trying to find what exactly happened and searching for the Progenitor Mimic in the process, which is doing its best to hide while throwing everything it can against Lissandra in hopes of distracting her or slowing her down. The waves keep getting stronger, and they're happening more frequently. But I think it's only a matter of time, and knowing Lissandra, she's already cut off any means the mimic had of leaving this planet.

Even if she's not as powerful as she was in her prime, I don't think there's any Absolute out there who could overpower her. Like us, she's been using the regenerative aura of the tournament floor to train and experiment. So while her passives, stats, and traits aren't as impressive as they used to be, I think her active skills are close to the level they were back when she was hunting down Rulers.

One day, she comes across me while I'm training with my Ignition Heart and observing my passive. The way she stands there feels almost awkward, but her words aren't.

“I've already spoken to the blonde,” she says.

“Did she tell you to fuck off?”

“Yes, but she was much more controlled about it. She's perceptive and understood the situation right away when she and your bond stayed behind. Waiting was an option, but she chose otherwise. Her decision was deliberate, driven by a simple reason: her refusal to be a burden. Meant to be a statement that she doesn't need to be saved or protected, and that she won't be used as leverage against her group, even if it means bearing the full weight of the consequences.”

I nod. “I should have known that.”

“Would that have made you behave differently during the tournament?”

“Likely not. So what will you do now? We made a deal, and now I've gotten almost nothing out of it.”

Not even for a moment does she seem taken aback. “I have already spoken to the blonde and shared some information with her, including a technique that will be helpful to her. Even though much like you, she doesn't seem to like me, I don't think she's dumb enough to throw it away. As for you, I agree that I still owe you. I'm sure you've already thought about it and have something in mind for what you want.”

“Yes, it's simple: save Myrra, too.”

“Little pup, that's something I have already⁠—”

At this, I interrupt her. “I know you would throw her away if you thought it improved your chances. I saw you kill your disciple, so I don't have much reason to trust you. I want you to save her, even if it hurts you, no matter the cost. I don't care if it cripples you or makes things extremely difficult or lowers your chances.”

Lissandra looks at me for a while in silence, with a thought flashing behind her eyes.

“Very well, I promise,” she says in the end.

At that moment, she looks as if she is tasting these words and examining the effect of that decision. In the end, she tilts her head and smiles as if amused by it all.

“Do you know the state you're in?” she asks out of nowhere.

I nod. “Yup. I'm… Well, my body is dying. It'll continue unless I increase my Constitution or stop creating new constructs and making modifications to my body. I know it. I've learned enough about body modification to recognize the signs and understand what I'm doing.”

“Yes, but it's something that can be corrected with enough focused effort. Your constructs and the modifications you've made to your body are functional, but they're still far too unstable compared to the system-generated equivalents. If you continue developing along your current path with the same kind of enhancements, I'd estimate ten to twenty years before the structural strain and mana flow inconsistencies either cripple you permanently or trigger cascading side effects beyond your control. That outcome could be fatal. And that's already accounting for your current rate of progress, your healer's improvements, and any external support.”

“I know,” I repeat.

“You won't change the way you go about things?”

“Nope.”

She shakes her head, and I catch the faintest smile on her face. “Little pup, when you make it out of the tutorial, find a way to survive all this. Then, when you're ready, come find me on Eladore.”

“Only if you succeed where every version of you has failed, along with everyone else,” I say.

“Such a useless thought,” she says, with her posture straightening, and as her mana dances across her skin.

A few days later, Lissandra leaves to eliminate the Progenitor Mimic she finally managed to locate. The potentially massive pile of eyes, mouths, and tentacles has probably set traps for her, so the extermination could take some time. It might even end with the planet being destroyed, considering the current state it's in.

Put simply, the situation here is not good. Mimics are everywhere, lumorans are few, and the arrays that connect to the other planets have been destroyed, cutting off any chance of mercenary support.

Part of me wonders how I would handle these mimics if I were an Absolute. Another part thinks that to reach a certain level of power, you need to be as confident and bold as Lissandra. One part of me keeps training, another scans the area, and the last one watches Myrra as she says her goodbyes. She and Liss will leave as soon as the Progenitor Mimic is dealt with. If all goes well, that will mark a successful end to our floor quest.

This floor has been interesting… It's a huge mess, and whatever the system wanted to tell us probably went over our heads because of this walking catastrophe that joined us. That also reminds me that I do now have those thermonuclear warheads my sister gave me. Some brothers might get a pocket knife as a gift, but whose sister gives them a weapon of mass destruction?

“Nat?” a young voice says, pulling me out of my thoughts, and I follow it to look at Izzy.

“Yes?”

“Tess wants to talk with you.”

“Got it,” I say as I move past her and head toward the house where Tess is still recovering. There are no signatures aside from her own.

I move in, and for the first time in a while, I look straight at her. This time she's not unconscious. This time, she's standing proud with her crown floating over her head and already storing primordial lightning, just in case.

I could probably say something about how it's not really the best idea to train right away, but something tells me that would just be hypocritical.

Otherwise, she's wearing Earth clothes, from the pile I bought from Gloria, which the girls immediately seized and must've shared with her. She's wearing a set of gray shorts and an oversized white shirt with short sleeves, as if she just got back from the gym. There's even some sweat beginning to bead on her forehead as she welcomes me with a smile. And her blond hair has been cut once more, styled such that it barely reaches her shoulders, hanging in gentle waves of gold to frame her face.

“Tess, have you been training?”

“Yup. I got rid of Maya and Soph and did a bit of training in secret. I bribed Izzy to keep quiet about it.”

I nod and create a manabloc chair and take a seat facing her.

My reaction must have amused her, as her smile broadens and she takes a step over to me, reaching out to me as she does so.

I grab her hand, and she pulls me up from the chair I just sat in, then, without any warning, pulls me into a hug. With her superior physical stats, she squeezes me quite tightly, and I hesitate for a moment before hugging her back.

After a while, I feel like that's enough and tap her back, giving the universal signal to let go, but she doesn't. Instead, she continues to hold me tighter.

She isn't crying, and her body isn't shaking; my kinetic senses don't detect anything like that. So I just sigh and keep holding her until she starts acting giddy and begins swaying gently from side to side.

Remembering that it is something she likes to do, I match her movement for a while until she lets go of me, steals the manabloc chair from behind me, and pulls it under her to sit in. Instead of fighting her, I make a new one and sit opposite her.

“I leveled up my subclass to Adept, along with a bunch of other skills. By a lot,” she says proudly.

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you. I have heard a lot about the tournament. Sounds like you had it pretty rough.”

“Nothing I couldn't deal with. I heard you had it pretty rough yourself.”

“Nothing I couldn't deal with.” She smiles at me but doesn't expand any further.

I take it all as a signal that she doesn't want to talk about it, so I decide to let it be.

“I also heard you got to see your sister,” she says.

“Yes, Victoria is just as lovely as always; the Cockroach even declared her an Absolute candidate.”

“I always thought she would manage that. I hoped I could meet her, but I guess we'll have another opportunity during the third tournament.”

“She still remembers you and even called you a cutely naïve blonde.”

“Well, I used to be that way back then. Did she bully the others?”

“You know her; there is no chance she didn't say some 'don't take it personally but you suck' kind of things to them.”

“That's true, but it might also make them push a little harder. Maybe that was her real intent all along.”

“Nah, she doesn't care about them. I love my sister, but I have no illusions about how she sees others.”

Tess nods in response, and for a while, we both stay quiet. The whole time, she keeps glancing at me: my face, my neck, my hands, my clothes. I do the same, studying her in return.

The silence stretches on, and I can't help but feel a bit amused by how strange it feels to face her again after these weeks apart and everything we've both been through.

“Welcome back, Tess,” I say in the end.

“You'll need a lot more than that to get rid of me,” Tess says with a smile.

Chapter 50

Freedom

All of us sit around one of my trademarked thermal cubes that, with the help of kinetic energy channeled through fine-tuned internal spaces, emits a faint crackling noise, not unlike a campfire. The heat also fluctuates, radiating outward in waves similar to a real, crackling fire, rather than being a stable source of heat.

Tess lifts her eyes from the cards she is holding. “They really made collector cards for the higher-ranked attendees.”

“Yup!” Dennis nods excitedly. “Aaron and I have probably the best collection out of Earth's tutorial. We even have a shiny Noname!”

I lift my eyes off the orb I'm training with. Shiny what?

Dennis shows Tess the card, which features a drawn sketch of my face, which, for some reason, looks extremely punchable. The artist clearly has a talent for caricatures, since I'm pretty sure my face doesn't actually look like that.

Aside from that, beneath the face is a dense field of text, the same text I saw on my card earlier, with some new additions.

Even the alias “Noname” has been scratched out and replaced with the name Nathaniel Gwyn. The card itself is of much higher quality than the previous version. It's been made from some sort of extremely light metal with edges and a back that shines with a golden, metallic finish.

I hate it.

Meanwhile, Dennis continues to blabber, “The creator apparently only had enough time to make five shiny Noname cards, so it's super rare! Besides that, I also got a Shiny Tacita and a Shiny Derick. Apart from that, I have all the normal ones for all the kings.”

“Dennis,” Tess sighs.

“What?”

“Please never change. Anyway, I already heard a few things from the girls, but I will look over the cards, given that they seem to contain useful information. But…calling him a 'Mana Daddy' might have been taking things a bit too far,” she giggles, “and what kind of 'Note' is: can be lazy as fuck, likes to stay behind, charge his attacks, and then killsteal?”

“That one is very accurate!” Aaron quips, joining the conversation. “I heard the creator discussing it with a pair of experts from Hell Difficulty.”

I turn away from the group and watch as Myrra begins to walk away from the group. She already said goodbye to everyone except one person, and now she's just waiting for Lissandra to return and for this floor to end.

The sky is dark, but high up there, a pale blue color fluctuates through the sky, almost like polar lights. Once in a while, earthquakes tear through the ground, seeming to shake the planet to its core. There seems to be some sort of field protecting us, judging by the way entire mountains crumble and vegetation disappears under the influence of mana radiation mere miles from our position.

Holding Biscuit in my arms, I stand up and head toward Myrra.

As I walk, the corgi in my arms suddenly twitches and opens his eyes. Surprised by the unfamiliar surroundings, he startles and starts squirming to get out of my grip. Then he sniffs the arm I'm using to hold him. Almost instantly, he freezes, and I can practically see him processing the things he's smelling. After a moment, he closes his eyes again and goes still.

His breathing is different now, clearly showing he is awake and just pretending to sleep.

Damn it, Biscuit.

I don't say anything out loud and instead pull him closer to my chest, continuing to hold him while walking toward Myrra.

“Is this my goodbye gift?” she asks, glancing at Biscuit.

“Was the bag of deer jerky not enough?” I ask, and the two of us closely observe the corgi in my arms.

He twitches once, twice, and even his eyelids move as if he were about to open his eyes, and I sense the faintest attempt at telepathic communication, likely to call me an asshole or something worse. But in the end, he continues to pretend to be asleep.

While I watch her curiously swaying tail, I ask, “Listen, Myrra, among lynthari, what kind of gesture is pulling someone's tail, if you were to compare it to human customs?”

I don't tell her, but every time I see it, I get the feeling I need to pull on it. I think that's normal, totally normal. I just can't imagine anyone having a pet and not trying to pull its tail at least once. I pause my thoughts. Not that I think of Myrra as my pet, of course.

The tall lynthari tilts her head and smiles. “I think for a human it would be a gesture similar to this.”

She takes a step around me and then slaps my butt. It is a perfect slap that sends the sound throughout the area. For the briefest second, she leaves her hand on it and even gives it a squeeze before letting go and stepping back out in front of me.

There is no shame in her golden eyes.

“Did you just sexually harass me, Myrra?”

“Did I? Well, don't think I haven't noticed the way you look at my tail. But since we won't be seeing each other for a few years, you can pull on it. I'll allow it this time.”

“I've changed my mind.”

“It's for free.”

“I'm not interested anymore.”

“Come on, Feral One.”

“I'm getting scared. Please stop.”

She laughs in her typical way, and I can tell she's in a good mood by the way her fangs make themselves known in her smile.

But then a notification pops up to interrupt us.

Alert: Narrative irregularity confirmed. Progression has deviated from the floor's designated parameters. Escalation exceeds acceptable thresholds.

The current scenario is no longer compatible with the floor's intended structure. Recorded wave completions have surpassed all historical data. The competition rate exceeds statistical maximums. The floor has been cleared with total efficiency, exceeding the expected range of outcomes.

All Rulers assigned to this cycle of the tutorials have been notified.

Unregistered influence has been identified. Identity does not correspond to any system-approved entity. No matching designations found across current or archived cycles.

Origin point obscured. Interference traces persistent across multiple sectors. Behavioral pattern inconsistent with allowable roles.

Primary reward output has been adjusted and significantly reduced.

Additional interference detected. Initiating further reward reduction sequence.

Unauthorized entity presence is confirmed. Trace patterns do not match any known or permitted variables.

Administrative Rulers have been notified.

Automatic response protocols have been initiated. A containment model is being generated. Observation priority elevated.

System integrity remains intact. The current result has introduced instability into the cycle's progression metrics. An internal audit has been scheduled.

All further actions subject to direct Ruler oversight.

Notice: Despite irregularities, the main quest objectives for Floor 7 have been fulfilled. Completion is officially recognized.

Even more notifications appear after that, all in the same manner, which shows how crazy and unexpected it would be for an attendee to kill an Absolute. More checks run, and afterward, even more appear. As if the tutorial system itself were confused by Lissandra. That also clearly confirms the things she's told me before. It really does seem that her time is ticking away.

Part of me wonders why she even bothered, knowing what would happen, but as I glance at the rewards, I think I understand.

The rewards are incredible. Even after all those reductions, they're still way too good. It's probably her idea of a parting gift, maybe even a kind of apology. It's strange because I'm sure she would still have killed anyone from group 4 if she thought she had to. I'm sure she would have let Tess die, just like she clearly told me before.

Maybe this is just how people work.

Another notification pops up.

Congratulations! You've successfully completed the seventh floor's main quest. An entrance to the eighth floor has been created.

The entrance appears, and behind it lies a grand room, lit by soft, diffused light reflecting off polished marble floors and high, mirrored ceilings. Every surface is covered in detail, the walls are lined with velvet drapes, and carved columns are lined in gold, and chandeliers hang from the ceiling, heavy with crystal.

Inscriptions run across the many surfaces in the space. The walls, the windows. The furniture itself is oversized and sculpted, lacquered and cushioned in rich fabrics.

Tables hold decorative pieces with no clear function: vases, jeweled relics, and small statues carved from gemstone. Each item is expensive if only for the sake of being expensive.

“I have to go now, Feral One,” Myrra says to me, and I follow her gaze to where Lissandra has appeared and is standing, waiting.

Before Myrra can walk away, I call, “It would suck if you just died now.”

She stops for a moment and looks at me. “See you later, Nathaniel.”

I nod. “See you later.”

I then sense Biscuit connecting with her and also sending a message, which makes her chuckle for a moment. With a few nimble steps, she reaches Lissandra and puts her hand on the silver-haired woman's shoulder.

The Absolute doesn't even look my way anymore, and both of them disappear, entering Beyond.

I turn away to group 4, who are already beginning to stand. The barrier Lissandra has put around the area starts crumbling, and the mana radiation that fills the continent, or perhaps even the rest of the planet, begins seeping through.

Looking at me, Tess nods, and together with everyone else, she steps through the portal. Then I do the same and find myself in the same room I observed through it.

Just before I take a moment to reread the notification.

Welcome to the eighth floor: The Academy

For completing the seventh floor, you have acquired:

Passive skill combination token (up to upper arcane)

1,000,000 shards

Communication with your disciple for ten minutes

Send a single item to your disciple (up to epic rarity)

What incredibly ridiculous rewards. I wonder what they would've been like if we had managed to kill an Absolute on our own and the rewards hadn't been reduced.

After confirming that everyone's here and that we're currently alone in the room, I open up the new floor quest. I'm eager to see what this floor, called The Academy, contains.

Floor Quest:

Locate and protect the Ruler candidate

Rewards:

???

Two 14 Day Beyond stay tokens

100,000 shards

Trait strengthening token (up to second stage)

Warden of the Parallax Eyes, Kyralon

One of the oldest velnar in the system straightens without warning. His black eyes, shimmering with starlight, drift across unseen paths as he rises from the low table. Passing by, he selects a single oval-shaped mana stone from the countless others arranged on the shelves and walks toward the balcony.

There, he sits in his chair, as the mana stone in his hand unfolds, expanding into the shape of a transparent blue book. He reaches into a hidden pouch with the faint symbol of a black palm on its side and draws out a wooden pen that otherwise looks entirely mundane.

If any knowledgeable Absolute were to see it, they would recognize it instantly. They would realize that it's been made from wood of a remarkable tree that no longer exists. The pen itself holds enough value to be traded for a smaller planet.

Kyralon comes to a halt. A layered field unfolds around him, enhancing the precision of his trait. His gaze remains fixed on the sky above.

Then he begins to write.

10:03 – A rogue imitation of one of the most powerful combat specialized Absolutes to ever live, Lissandra Hawthorne, entered Beyond alongside a fake Champion candidate from the fourth floor, Myrra. The handlers and Rulers overseeing this cycle were informed of their presence immediately.

10:04 – Ten handlers, all ranked Absolute, joined forces to prevent the two intruders from reaching the first floor and deployed spatial locks to contain them on the surface.

The imitation of Lissandra Hawthorne broke through the spatial locks and, along with the Fake Champion Candidate Myrra, reached the Entrance Floor before proceeding directly to the First Floor of Beyond. She then used [Spatial Leap] to appear at the center of the floor. Drawing on her mana, she created an array that covered the entirety of the First Floor. Its sole purpose was to threaten the lives of all attendees present, numbering in the tens of thousands.

10:06 – All attempts by the Handlers to contact or restrain the imitation of Lissandra Hawthorne were halted. Additional Rulers were informed of the situation. The Rulers assigned to this cycle of the tutorial have convened: the Ruler of Diligence, the Ruler of Envy, the Ruler of Greed, the Ruler of Kindness, and the Ruler of Wrath.

10:07 – The Ruler of Greed, the Ruler of Kindness, and the Ruler of Wrath have acted to prevent any further interference. It has been determined that, even with her powers restricted, the imitation of Lissandra Hawthorne could cause catastrophic damage before being neutralized.

10:18 – While remaining on the First Floor, the imitation expanded the killing array into the Second Floor. By breaking additional spatial locks and combining [Control] with [Spatial Leap], she reconstructed the same array below, increasing the number of hostages and beginning to push into the territory of the Third Floor.

Further discussion and voting took place among the Rulers present. Only the Ruler of Greed and the Ruler of Kindness opposed direct action. In conclusion, the Ruler of Envy was dispatched to eliminate the imitation, with authorization to use the main defensive array of Beyond to aid him.

At that moment, Kyralon pauses. The pen nearly slips from his fingers. A flicker of shock crosses his face. His eyes remain wide as they stare into what to everyone else would only be a starry sky.

Then he begins to write again.

10:18 – The imitation of Absolute Lissandra Hawthorne issued a challenge to the Ruler of Envy. The terms were clear: she and a lynthari would be granted freedom, with all present Rulers being required to intervene to ensure the terms were upheld. In return, she wagered her complete understanding of the skill [Control], along with the safety of the Beyond attendees and the structural integrity of Beyond itself.

For only the fifth time in recorded history, the system judged an individual capable of directly transferring their understanding of an Active Skill. The Ruler of Wrath and the Ruler of Greed accepted the terms of the challenge. The Ruler of Kindness and the Ruler of Diligence cast their votes in opposition.

Kyralon looks to the sky once more. The anger surfaces. For a moment, it seems like he may stop writing entirely, but in the end, he continues with a clenched hand.

10:18 – The Ruler of Envy initially intended to reject the challenge and deploy Beyond's defensive array against the imitation. However, another Ruler intervened. The Ruler of Pride appeared briefly, issued a single instruction to the Ruler of Envy, and then departed without further involvement.

After a slight modification to its terms, the challenge was accepted, and both the Ruler of Envy and the imitation of Lissandra Hawthorne were transferred to the Eleventh Floor of Beyond, where the battle commenced. In accordance with the Ruler of Pride's instruction, the defensive array was not employed by the Ruler of Envy during the confrontation.

10:21 – The Ruler of Envy has died.

10:22 – The Ruler of Patience, the Ruler of Chastity, the Ruler of Temperance, the Ruler of Humility, the Ruler of Lust, and the Ruler of Gluttony entered Beyond. Their vote was unanimous: the imitations of Lissandra Hawthorne and the Fake Champion Candidate Myrra were not to be permitted to leave.

To avoid violating the previous vow, it was decided that, through a loophole, Myrra would be killed, while the imitation of Lissandra Hawthorne would be granted “freedom” by being relocated to the Twelfth Floor of Beyond, a floor that even the Rulers have yet to clear.

The imitation of Lissandra Hawthorne requested that Myrra not be executed, but instead be permitted to join her. A coalition of Rulers agreed, on one condition: Lissandra must cripple her own mana heart and relinquish the dagger she carried.

Without hesitation and without protest, the imitation of Lissandra Hawthorne destroyed her mana heart and surrendered the dagger, solely to allow the Fake Champion Candidate Myrra to survive.

10:23 – Spatial locks were applied to the twelfth, eleventh, and tenth floors to prevent further movement between those floors. The imitation of Lissandra Hawthorne and her now-disciple, Fake Champion Candidate Myrra, remain confined to the twelfth floor of Beyond.

Chapter 51

Ultimate Goal

Your performance up until now has been judged, and your role for the eighth floor has been assigned.

You have been assigned as Assistant Professor to Professor Elian.

And that's it. The notification disappears, and there is no more information. No goddamn map, no more details or anything. The only thing that changes is my clothes, which go from a comfy white shirt and sweatpants to a black suit with a black shirt, jacket, and pants, paired with a light blue tie.

Before I start complaining, I decide to take a quick look around. Everyone else is wearing different clothes as well and seems to be taking a moment to reread the message, scan the area, and simply get used to the feel of the new uniform.

“Assistant professor as well?” Sophie asks, coming to a stop by my side.

She's wearing the same style of black clothes, with a pale blue sweater instead of a tie. Understanding her logic, I look around, and it seems like only the two of us are wearing this particular combination of colors.

As we start sharing information, it becomes more obvious.

Sophie and I as assistant professors.

Tess and Maya are due to serve as guards for some of the more important noble students visiting the academy and have therefore been dressed in a simpler set of clothes than Sophie and I. Their attire is similar in style, though it's less luxurious overall, and gray seems to be the prevailing color.

The twins, Izzy, Min-Jae, and Lily, all as Academy students, are each dressed in white jackets and pants with a black shirt or sweater underneath. In a grand insult to all sensibility, to the point that it's more like a colossal slap to the face, Biscuit doesn't get his own set of clothes. The best doggo of the seventh, no, the eighth floor, doesn't get a cute suit or a tie.

And I ask myself: what the hell kind of setting is this?

After an hour of planning, we finally leave the room, bringing all of our stuff with us, yes, even the thermonuclear warheads. There's probably a joke to be made about bringing weapons to school, but I'm already too exhausted just thinking about this setting.

As we exit the room, the space opens up into a huge, beautiful garden. There are fruit trees, beautiful flowers, and a number of fountains that I am sure took more time to create than some skyscrapers on Earth. The artwork and the inscriptions that guide the water flow are simply dizzying.

All around us are small groups of students, all wearing the same clothes as the students in group 4. Most of them are humans, but I do see some thylarin, as well as a few representatives of whatever race Beatrice and her father, the Archon, used to be, pink hair, pink skin, white freckles, and eyes containing an odd mix of greens and blues.

Upon seeing them, we also notice a significant difference to the previous floors: no one has that text above their head indicating their level or class.

We've decided to let go of our constant wide-range scans, which almost everyone in our group has some version of. There would seem to be a high possibility that, much like our experience on the second floor, something like that could be taken as an insult in a “civilized” nation. So everyone sticks to surface observations.

As we look around, I try to compare it to the second floor, Lissandra's Eladore. The level seems somewhat similar in terms of inscriptions, but back when we were still on the second floor, none of us got the chance to visit any of the capitals for a better comparison. Still, currently, I go with the idea that they are somewhat similar, especially after recalling the current floor quest. Just how can something as ridiculous as a Ruler candidate need protection, much less exist?

Slowly, everyone separates and heads off in their own directions, keeping an eye on the countdown timer to meet again at the scheduled time later. There is no connection between us currently, as in an advanced area, it should be easily detectable by someone and could raise questions. It is a weird feeling after months of being so used to it.

I look down at the two huge boxes containing the gift from my sister and some of my other stuff, and I sigh. What now?

Then a voice calls from behind me, “Assistant Professor Gwyn, may I ask you where you have been all this time?”

I turn around and immediately know I will hate this guy.

He is slightly taller than I, with hair an even more vibrant shade of blond than Tess's, while also managing to be longer than her current style. His eyes are violet, and a golden circle shines around his pupils, a clear sign of Mana Wavelength Iris, the same trait I possess.

The man is wearing a suit in a style not dissimilar to mine. Unlike my all-black attire with a pale blue tie, he has gray pants and a vest, and there is a round golden pin on his jacket.

“This is your first day, and yet you've already managed to be late by slacking somewhere in the gardens. And may I ask you what all this garbage is?”

After gesturing at my stuff, he continues to let out a stream of very interesting and sometimes indirectly insulting words, and I take notice of the way he does so just loud enough to keep his voice from carrying too far, and only after making sure no one happens to be around to see or hear him. There is even a weak barrier that's currently flickering around us.

He lowers his voice further as a group of students passes by, and he greets them with a brilliant smile. A few girls in the group blush and start giggling, and a boy bows slightly, looking at him with clear admiration.

That smile remains only until they are gone, then he turns to me. “Do you not know how to talk?”

I simply shake my head and reply. “I apologize. I got lost.”

He shakes his head in turn and snaps his fingers, creating a fluctuation of very low-frequency mana that quickly spreads throughout the area. And just a few seconds later, a man appears, bowing and barely lifting his head from the ground.

The man is clearly a servant and asks politely, “What can I help you with, Professor Elian?”

“Pick up all this stuff and bring it into Assistant Professor Gwyn's office. And you,” he says, turning back to me, “I will see you later.”

With that, he leaves.

I allow myself to observe the servants that appear next to the first one as they efficiently collect my baggage to bring to the office I apparently have.

And I ask myself again: what the hell is going on with this setting?

Earth

A man in an airtight suit enters the glass room. At the center of which sits a sterilized stainless steel table holding the corpse of an animal. An unusually large brown wolf.

“So what do you have so far?” the man asks.

The other two men in the room stop what they're doing and look up. Next to them is another table cluttered with various tools: broken scalpels, saws, knives, and an electric cutting saw.

“Yeah, we broke almost every saw, knife, and tool we had. The skin is far more durable than it has any right to be, and the bones are incredible. The muscle tissue is much denser than anything I've ever seen, and the organs are like nothing I've seen before,” one of them says.

“Do you have the results from the scans we did earlier?”

“Not yet. But I have to ask, sir, how the hell did someone manage to kill this thing?”

“That? They poisoned the corpse of an elk and left it nearby for the wolf to eat. Apparently, they used enough poison to kill an elephant, maybe more, and it still took hours. But never mind that. We have another one slated for you tomorrow.”

“Oh? What is it this time?”

“One of those huge ants that have started spreading across Africa.”

“Well, I won't complain, sir, but I'll need a bigger budget, better equipment, and more staff.”

“You'll get whatever you need. Don't worry about the budget.”

Earth

“Have you seen? Out of nowhere, the Moonster started curling up and twitching like it was dying.”

“I don't think there's anyone who hasn't seen it; there are livestream telescopes focused on that spider twenty-four-seven. Didn't it have those spasms for days?”

“Yup, poor little girl.”

“Hehe, sure, so what did you want to say? What conspiracy are they passing around this time?”

“Nothing! I got a notification just a few hours ago, and it seems like she's okay now and has started wrapping herself in some sort of web.”

“She?”

“Well, Luna, now the Moonster, everyone calls her a 'she.'”

“Damn it, man. By the way, have you seen all those crazy A.I C.G videos? People flying around, shooting flames from their hands, and throwing lightning and stuff?”

“Yeah, but they keep taking them down. And aren't these guys saying everything in the videos is real?”

“They are. And some of the clips are wild.”

“…Man, I just wanted to watch cat videos.”

“Same. Now I'm out here questioning reality because some guy lit up like a lightbulb and started floating up into the sky.”

“And no one's talking about it on the news.”

“Of course not. They're still busy covering that senator that got caught cheating on his wife and that huge sinkhole that opened up in Texas.”

“Priorities, man.”

Earth

A group of boys sits around a table in a friend's house. The mood is light as they get caught up in all their joking around, just a bunch of friends with a common sense of humor and interests.

One of them coughs and straightens, taking on a more serious tone. The others follow suit, putting on their most serious faces.

“My fellow men of developed taste, it is my pleasure to say that we have come one step closer to one of the ultimate goals of the human race,” he says with complete sincerity.

One of the boys almost breaks, his eyebrow twitching, as he nearly bursts into laughter, but he holds it back, and the other boy continues.

“After decades of hardship and a life void of all meaning, we are now one step closer to that ultimate goal.”

He pauses dramatically, and the silence stretches on far too long, and breaking that silence, he speaks in a deep voice with fanatical light shining in his eyes.

“Catgirls. Yes, my friends, you heard that right. It might not just be a distant dream, not something for our descendants to experience, but something we might live to see ourselves.”

Someone lets out a laugh but quickly falls silent as the others look at him. The first boy takes his tablet from the table and unlocks it to open a U.R.L he has saved. That done, a video starts playing.

A young woman in the video smiles brightly, recording herself in selfie style as she walks through the city. The architecture around her is vastly different from anything on Earth and looks far too realistic to be cheap C.G.I.

She says, “So this is my favorite floor so far for sure! Virelia is so beautiful, and look!” She turns the camera, and a tall woman passes by, several heads taller than the girl recording, with black hair, matching cat ears, and a long tail.

The tall woman with cat ears even stops and looks at the girl. “What are you holding, human?” she asks, voice full of curiosity.

The human woman smiles brightly and stretches her arm farther so they both fit into the frame. “It's a smartphone! Smile for my friend; I want to show them everything I've been recording!”

The tall woman with cat ears just shrugs and smiles in an easygoing manner.

“F-Fangs, even!” one of the boys blurts out, unable to hold it in.

The video ends, and another begins to play, all of the boys watching as the one holding the tablet grins widely.

Earth, Rafael Vaughn, aka Channeler

It has already been two days since I returned to Earth, and since then, I've kept the armor Nathaniel gave me. Part of me wants to worry about the guns being carried by the soldiers around us, but at the same time, I also know the armor is capable of resisting them. Even so, I expect much more hidden weaponry.

So far, I have no reason to act with aggression, so I continue to follow their protocols.

When my group of ten returned, there were already soldiers waiting, connected to a higher-ranking soldier who flew here by helicopter and arrived at our location in no less than thirty minutes. We found ourselves in a small field on the outskirts of a small city where we were recording scenes for a T.V series; most of us were extras or lesser-known actors or cameramen, and the like.

Of course, they tried to lowball us, immediately hoping to bring us under their control, and I am sure they put a lot of work into creating protocols for that purpose. Honestly, it would have been strange if, after encountering those who returned before us, they hadn't thought to search for places where large groups of people disappeared and wait for them to show up.

To make sure someone higher up talks to us, I shared some information. I gave them one of the U.S.B drives we brought. It contains a number of videos we collected back in the tutorial, including footage of the destruction that took place during the tournament, recordings from the different floors, and messages from people confirming their support. Nathaniel's message in particular should carry the most weight.

The recordings of his performance include him melting the city and wiping out thousands of attendees, surviving a floating island falling on his head, and his movements that time his hair turned white, in particular the way he maneuvered at speeds the cameras could barely follow, not to mention the way he faced down all those powerful monsters. I even asked an attendee who used to be a professional editor to put together a proper cut for us.

After that comes the video Izzy recorded. I still remember being there when she did.

In it, Nathaniel turns to the camera and says, “What? You want a message from me for the people from Earth?”

“Yes! For the soldiers, maybe even the president!” Izzy's young voice says from behind the camera in her hands.

Nathaniel shrugs and looks right at the camera. “Channeler, the dude in the fancy armor with a uselessly handsome face, is with me. He represents me and, to a lesser extent, my sister.”

“That's all?” Izzy asks in surprise.

“What else is there to say? Assuming they aren't all dumb fucks, they'll understand the implications.”

“Oh, that's true, you mean bombing them and stuff,” she calls happily.

“Why would I cause myself trouble by hurting innocent people? I'll just find whoever gave the order and kill that guy. I don't think anyone can stop me, even if it does turn out to be the president or something.”

The way he said it wasn't even meant as a threat, and he likely didn't even realize it. But these words, in the video that Izzy recorded from her height and spoken in his calm voice, bear more than a terrifying implication.

“That seems smart!” Izzy says with her youthful voice, her agreement adding to the meaning.

So I remain confident and wait, refusing every offer they throw our way. I ignore emotional blackmail, hints that we could be heroes to our country, our responsibility, and everything that comes with it.

Then, just a bit later, a new helicopter appears, all black and very quiet. It looks almost like something from a sci-fi movie. A man in uniform steps out and heads toward us with confident strides, and after exchanging a few words with the leader of the group of soldiers, he moves closer.

He shows no worry, and his face remains calm.

“It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Jonathan Kane, U.S Army Colonel, and I have been authorized to enter negotiations. I have carefully reviewed the videos and read the files you shared with us, and the soldiers stationed here have shared your requirements with me.”

He speaks smoothly, and unlike almost every soldier here, he doesn't seem to be nervous. Either he hides it well, or he has an overwhelming confidence that we won't be starting anything too erratic.

“As a show of our goodwill in these negotiations, we're willing to share information about the locations of the individuals you mentioned. I want to make it completely clear, and I want to strongly emphasize this, that we will not use them in any way to influence, pressure, or manipulate the situation.”

“Sir, how…” the soldier next to him calls, but the colonel simply lifts his hand, and the soldier falls silent.

“Sergeant, please don't interrupt the negotiations. Am I speaking with Mr. Rafael Vaughn?”

“Yes, it's nice to meet you, Colonel Jonathan Kane,” I say. “So what are the terms on your side?”

“I would prefer for it to be our side, at least for now. As you surely realize, the following years will be anything but simple. For now, we honestly can't say and have yet to decide how we will be dealing with this situation. We're creating new protocols as we go. So far, we've been resorting to the tactic of throwing money at returnees like you, or offering them something of similar value.”

“I can imagine that works pretty well.”

“Most of the time.”

“What happens when it doesn't work?”

“I'm sorry, I cannot share that information with a civilian.”

“I understand. I will take your show of goodwill and would like to contact all the people on my list to inform them of their family's status and ensure that they remain safe. After that, we are willing to negotiate.”

The colonel smiles. “Negotiate is quite an amusing word. The current situation is that you will get almost anything you ask for, to be honest.”

“Very well. The first name on the list is Thalia Gwyn. You've seen the files on Nathaniel Gwyn and Victoria Gwyn, and I want to confirm that she is safe. Her son also told me to ask you to send her, and I quote him: 'Send my mom at least fifty million dollars to her account or something, and tell her not to buy stocks or any bullshit like that. Oh, and make sure she doesn't get taxed on it or anything like that. She should spend it quickly before the economy goes to shit. Maybe she could build a bunker. Min-Jae, how much do you think a really kickass bunker would cost?

Actually, scratch that. Channeler, tell them to make it at least one hundred mil and help her get a bunker somewhere on an island with nice weather.'”

I stop myself and look at the colonel.

“I…I am already acquainted with Miss Thalia Gwyn,” he says.

“Good, then there's a cat called Grumpy; it's very important⁠—”

I continue to give them our people's names and even share estimated locations. I recite all of it from memory, and the colonel listens patiently the whole time, while a man next to him writes everything down. It's all going very smoothly, and they seem quite reasonable at the moment, which is more or less in line with what I expected. The desperation will come later, when the stronger ones start to appear.

???

“We've succeeded in learning more about the planet we've been paired with, my lord. It appears that the earliest attendees are already beginning to return, and the awakening process is underway. I will share more detailed information with you later. As you ordered, we've also been trying to determine how such a young planet could have been paired with us, despite being in its non-attack phase. So far, we haven't found an explanation. As far as we know, such a Pairing should not be possible. I've consulted our historians, and the idea of a planet without an Absolute being selected is beyond the pale.

It almost seems to go against the very design of the system. More interestingly, we've confirmed that one of the Ruler of Envy's vessels has been stationed on the moon orbiting the planet.”

“Does that mean it's under his protection?”

“We cannot say for certain yet, but the vessel placed there is Champion grade on its own.”

“Interesting. First, the Ruler of Greed interferes with Pairings, and now the Ruler of Envy is showing interest in a newly added planet. There are even rumors that the Ruler of Pride has emerged from his seclusion and begun to interfere. This is deeply concerning. Go to the Palace. Tell them to uncover as much as possible, even if it means calling in our favors.”

“I will see to it immediately, my lord.”

Chapter 52

Professor Elian

At least my office is awesome. It isn't all that big, but it is located in one of the Academy's towers and therefore has a pretty nice view. This tower is entirely reserved for professors or something. Which raises the question: how the hell do you teach people who might not even have the same kind of skills you do?

So I pause to think about it for a moment.

Oh, could it be that each of the professors has a high level in some valuable skill, prompting people and organizations to send students here to acquire desired skills and learn how to level them? Maybe professors are of a higher level, or maybe they only have a higher level in that skill, while young students have no skill at all. Combine that with knowledge about the skill, someone willing to teach and share that knowledge, and you can plan out your growth quite nicely.

You spend years learning a skill, then spend a few years with an assortment of personal tutors to learn different skills that could lead you to certain classes, after which you level up.

With the right application of knowledge, you could optimize your growth. Since there are only ten spots for skills, you could avoid picking useless ones. You could aim for a certain class whose requirements are known, just to get a particular active or passive skill.

The same idea could apply to traits, tempting people to attend the Academy to learn more about their quirks and applications.

Of course, something like that is probably extremely expensive, given the extreme value of such information. Students here must be well off, or from powerful families, perhaps including the descendants of surviving members of the First Generation, scions of prominent clans, or people with connections to a Champion or other powerful individual.

Hmm, wouldn't a Champion have better resources than this? But as I think of it, even if your father is a Champion, wouldn't it still be worth sending you to such an academy to create contacts with rich kids of important people? Stronger people often live hundreds of years, and Absolutes go into the thousands, so a few years here isn't much. Plus, maybe there's a bored professor who has an especially fancy skill you might want to acquire.

Eventually, I cut those thoughts short and take another look around.

There is a huge window nearby that offers a view of the Academy buildings: the pearl-white ornamented towers, a set of cathedral-like structures nearby, a lake and a huge bridge spanning its shores, a lot of gardens, and some kind of forest in the distance.

Everything is vibrant and beautiful, with things jutting out at angles that shouldn't be possible. A tower that defies the laws of physics, trees shaped in ways that don't make sense, massive windows that should lead to their buildings collapsing, and more.

Surprisingly, I don't see anyone flying around, nor do I sense many powerful mana signatures washing over the area. I suspect flight might even be banned in the vicinity, or it is considered rude, together with large-scale scans.

It is hard, but I restrain my instincts and instead rely on detecting vibrations sent through the air by the movements of people and objects around me.

Again, I cut off my thoughts and examine my office once more.

There's the main desk, then there's another one covered in inscriptions. There are a few cabinets and shelves in the corner covered in various items, all in that same grand style, leaving everything a step away from looking over the top, yet it's still nicely balanced. It looks expensive, but it's also kind of cozy and has a high-quality appeal. The colors are nice, and the materials are as well.

I have already taken apart a few of the items from the shelves and, unable to put them back together, have hidden the broken pieces behind one of the cabinets.

Absently, I lean back in the chair and put my legs up on the boxes containing the thermonuclear warheads.

Then I finally choose my rewards. “I'll take the three active skills combination token and two 30-day Beyond stay tokens.”

As I open my status I can only say that damn, my tokens and shard balance really does look nice right now:

Tokens:

Beyond 3-day stay token

Beyond 1-day stay token

Passive skill combination token (Upper Arcane)

Communication with your disciple for ten minutes

Send a single item to your disciple (up to epic rarity)

Three active skills combination token

Beyond 30-day stay token

Beyond 30-day stay token

Shards: 1,039,631

Given where I am, it might be a bit irresponsible to combine my skills right away, not that I'm exactly the responsible type. But maybe I could gather some useful information first. It's not like I'm in any rush to use it.

There's also a bit of interesting information included with the active skills combination token.

This token allows you to combine three active skills into one. One skill is designated as the main skill, and the other two function as supportive skills. These are then combined into a new active skill.

Just that short explanation. It is almost unusual, and even though it's brief, it's better than nothing. But I guess when you have something that rare, the system gives out a bit more info.

As for the skills available for combinations, [Focus], [Redistribution], [Eclipse], and [Empyrean Lance] are missing. As annoying as it might be, it clearly shows these skills are a cut above the rest. Even though I wouldn't say that about Focus, it is missing as well. Mr. Focus has served me well ever since the first floor, and I'm sure the two of us will pull through until the end of the tutorial.

As for the rest, [Perception], [Mana Domain], [Mana Crown], [Mana Manipulation], [Ley Line], and [Knitting] remain. With that interesting setting of one skill being the main one, I'm currently thinking of either picking [Ley Line] and combining it with [Mana Manipulation] and [Knitting], or, and this is a spicy one, choosing [Mana Manipulation] as the core skill with [Mana Domain] and [Knitting] acting as the supporting components.

Of course, that does leave the option of setting [Mana Crown] or [Mana Domain] as the main skill and combining it with [Mana Manipulation] and something else for support. Hell, even [Perception] could fit nicely as a supportive skill with certain combinations, maybe if I set [Mana Domain] as the main component.

There are just way too many options. It's just like going into a store with shelves and shelves of snacks and standing there looking for the perfect one you are in the mood for, until you notice the saleswoman watching you, as if she thinks you're going to steal something.

Then that leaves the dilemma of the passive skill combination token being upper arcane. I mean, I'm not complaining. I'm fairly rich, and that thing is very good. Maybe even too good.

The problem is that the cheapest upper-arcane passives start at around 2,000,000 shards, and the better ones trend even higher. So I bet that thing is going to sit there for quite a while if I even get an opportunity to use it before the end of the tutorial.

It's insane to give that to an attendee, and once again, I wonder. This is what I got when Lissandra was doing stuff—like killing an Absolute, and decimating record numbers of waves. Just how much would I have gotten if I were the one who'd somehow killed the Absolute? Ten million shards instead of just the one? One hundred million shards? Damn, who knows?

Anyway, it's good stuff. I like it. Gimme more.

I then spend a few hours going through the pile of documents on the table. Most of them seem like lesson materials, all written in that pretentious mana science bullshit talk I dislike so much. Still, as I have many times before, I force myself to work through this glut of information, picking up things useful to me and taking notes along the way.

Then, remembering Professor Elian, I store some of the information in the back of my mind and practice a bit. The entire time, I find myself wondering how the hell I ended up as an assistant professor.

Lastly, there's another big change. The current number of Beyonders from the fifth round of Earth's tutorial now shows 8/10, instead of the 10/10 it was showing not that long ago.

I've been keeping an eye on it, and the number changed about fifteen minutes after Lissandra and Myrra went to Beyond.

This could mean a few things. They might have succeeded and left the tutorial, or they both could have died. There's also the chance something else happened, but I don't have enough information to build a theory around that.

Still, I'm definitely hoping for one of these options over the others.

Following behind the blond professor, I head toward the class hosting his lesson. Part of me is curious about how it might look. I'm also curious about the man himself.

There must be a reason I was designated his assistant rather than someone else. Plus, we share the same eye trait, so maybe there's something I can learn from that.

The hallways are empty, and our steps echo through them as we reach the class. Professor Elian enters without hesitation, and the noise inside stops immediately.

I follow behind him to a small podium set in front of a huge blackboard. There are some unknown inscriptions diagrammed on its surface.

As for the students, there are around thirty of them seated at sloping tables. All of them wear the same white uniforms embroidered with golden ornamentation and black shirts or sweaters. None are carrying weapons, and the students are mostly humans, thylarin, and that strange pink race. Though there are occasionally students from another race.

Some of the students sit to the side with guards standing beside them, wearing the same clothes Tess and Maya wore. These guards stand there, eyes scanning the surroundings. Though, as far as I'm concerned, it seems to be more of a way to flaunt one's status and maybe sneak in an attendant to annoy others than an actual defensive measure. Who knows how rich people think?

There are also a few familiar faces in the class. The twins are sitting with three other students, and they seem to have formed a band, having taken the opportunity to joke around just before we came in. I'm not surprised. Aaron and Dennis are cheerful, easygoing, and easy to like, so it makes sense that they would quickly find people to team up with.

As Professor Elian starts his lesson, he activates the blackboard. Thin strands of pale-blue mana crawl across the surface, forming clear diagrams with annotations.

“Today we'll continue with theory, focusing this time on layered feedback control in active states,” he begins, speaking without looking at the students. “If you submitted your last assignment correctly, you should have already identified the stability breakpoints in the triple-loop model.”

He pauses for a second, then draws three intersecting circles on the board. “For those of you who substituted direct feedback with modulated resistance, I hope you enjoyed your oscillation failures. If you are still experiencing overcorrection at phase shift two, consider recalibrating your buffer delay.”

Has there ever been a man as confused as me at this moment?

Some of the students shift in their seats. A few proceed to nod like they understand. One guy near the back lets out a quiet sigh and flips to a blank page in his notebook.

“The purpose of this structure,” Elian continues, tapping the diagram for emphasis, “is to allow simultaneous manipulation of flow density and shape modulation. Without them interfering. If your mana pool cannot segment cleanly under artificial compression, you are not ready for this.”

He must be bullshitting, right?

The professor begins to demonstrate. His hand rises, and a ribbon of mana appears midair, flat and pulsing evenly. He twists his fingers slightly and the ribbon splits, one part twisting into a helix while the other flattens out.

“If you cannot isolate three active commands in less than two seconds, stop wasting time and return to dynamic shaping.”

Everyone remains quiet.

Understandable.

Some students glance at each other. One girl starts shaping mana on her own, gets halfway through, and then lets it fall apart. No one comments on it. Elian doesn't even look at her.

I stand quietly off to the side, just observing. That's my only task for today. He doesn't call on me, doesn't ask me to assist.

Still, these brave little souls pretend to understand all this bullshit. Notes are taken. Heads nod.

The twins are smart enough to hold back instead of trying to show off and stand out. We've talked about it, and right now, everyone in group 4 is trying not to show much, at least for now.

The lesson continues, and Elian teaches like the sort of man who assumes you already know most of the things he's talking about. He also really seems to like using all kinds of fancy words.

I still don't think I like this guy, but at least he doesn't pull some third-rate villain stunt just to punish me or something. Like making me teach the lesson in his place. To be honest, I had expected something like that to happen.

When the lesson nears the end, he introduces me very briefly to the students, and then we leave. Something about the students' reaction to me and his introduction feels off, and as we walk the hallway, the professor turns to me.

“I hope you've learned your lesson. I don't want you causing trouble again, like showing up late, or I'll have to take away your chance to assist in class again,” he says, as if it were the worst thing that could happen.

As he leaves, acting like he just punished me and taught me a lesson, I can't help but wonder.

What the fuck is this setting?

Chapter 53

Problem Students

Imake my way to the garden where we first appeared to meet the others at the scheduled time. Exactly a day has passed since we split, and I've already gathered a little bit of information. Well, most of it comes from stuff I've managed to overhear or notice on my own. It's not like I actually talked to anyone.

Tess appears first, holding Biscuit in her arms, who apparently has decided to stay with her for a while. The corgi is probably protecting her while acting as emotional support. Even though he's only awake for one or two hours a day with the food coma he keeps falling into, she doesn't seem to mind.

“I only have ten minutes before I have to go guard that girl again,” she says right away.

“Someone interesting?” I ask.

“Human girl, a bit older than Izzy. Extremely bratty. Descendant of a powerful family with ties to one of the Champions of this planet.”

“That's all?”

“You don't think that's enough? Nat, there are currently nine Champions on this planet, and an Absolute living somewhere in seclusion. Even having ties to a single Champion means a lot.”

“Huh, I would've expected more from a planet at this stage of development. Didn't Eladore have more?”

“I think Eladore had somewhere around twenty, even though the Mind Mage Emperor called his Champions Paragons instead. But I wouldn't use Eladore as my standard. Plus, sometime in the last fifty years, there were some wars that culled their numbers, so that's it.”

I nod and notice Maya making her way over to us, so we wait. She's dressed in the same gray clothes as Tess and, when she finally reaches us, lets out a long sigh.

“Fuck, I hate that girl. Can I smack her?” She groans, clearly complaining about her ward.

“Why not? Do it,” I say.

“Absolutely not, don't do that,” Tess answers at the same time.

Maya sighs again. “But I want to. That little brat keeps talking shit just because she has some rare trait and her fiancé happens to be a Champion's disciple who's supposedly next in line to become one himself.”

“What trait?” I ask.

Maya looks me up and down. “Damn, these clothes really suit you. Why the hell do you dress so lazily most of the time? Such a waste. And it's some sort of powerful physique or something; that little shit keeps blabbering about it but never goes into the details. Also, I spoke to Sophie, and she won't be able to join us. She said Izzy and Lily won't, either, because they're in class.”

“Heyoo,” Dennis calls as he and Aaron come out from behind the fruit trees to join us. Even after just a day, their uniforms look messy as if they were only half-awake when they dressed themselves. They're both grinning like they don't have a care in the world. Which honestly makes me think those of us with student roles might be enjoying this place the most.

“Kim won't be coming. He's got class,” Aaron adds before stopping.

Dennis shakes his head. “He seems like he's way too into this place. He started studying right away. What a nerd.”

I interrupt before they can fully rant. “So I guess no one managed to locate the Ruler candidate.”

“No way,” Dennis says right away. “We asked sneakily, but people just laughed at us. They even called us stupid for thinking something as ridiculous as a Ruler candidate could even exist.”

“Kim said he was going to check out the library. But he also asked some old professor about random stuff, then started theorizing and sneaking in questions about the candidate thing. He asked if there was any chance of something like a Ruler candidate. That old guy nearly choked on his tongue and said that in his four hundred years or so, he'd never once heard of a Ruler candidate.”

“Well, that makes for a more interesting setting, doesn't it? It's even possible that the person we're looking for is one of the current Rulers,” Tess muses.

Maya crosses her arms over her chest. “So in the real version of this world, someone else was acting as the Ruler candidate's guardian and now that person has been removed so that we could step into the role?”

“Possibly.”

“It could at least tell us who the candidate is.”

“But the system is an asshole.”

“I know, Nat, damn it.”

“Don't forget.”

“I haven't, and I won't,” Maya promises. “So the candidate could be one of the students. Some of them are ten, while others are in their twenties, and no one even knows what the criteria are. Or…damn it, it could be one of the professors, or even some random animal.”

“They'll probably be someone weaker than us,” Tess theorizes. “Most of us are over Level 250, and we seem to be well above the average level of Hell Difficulty attendees. So the average level of attendees coming to this floor could be Level 230, meaning that the Ruler candidate is likely weaker than that. There's also the possibility that it's a 'fake' Ruler candidate, kind of like how Myrra was a 'fake' Champion candidate on the fourth floor.”

“A weak Ruler candidate,” Dennis says with an amused tone. “Aren't the strongest Absolutes generally capable of destroying an entire planet, like complete destruction, not just whatever life happens to be on the surface? Wouldn't a Ruler be capable of more?”

“Not necessarily,” Tess disagrees. “We know that the original Lissandra had a habit of killing Rulers, so the difference between a weak Ruler and a powerful Absolute probably isn't all that big.”

“So you become Ruler just for a fancy title?” he asks.

I answer this time. “Chances are that the fourth stage of a subclass is reserved for a single person in the entire system. With it comes some access and the ability to slightly interfere with the system, tutorial, Beyond, and stuff. Maybe you get some fancy unique passive tied to that fourth stage as the only person in the universe, or maybe an active skill.”

“Or maybe you get your own kingdom. The system's declaring you a Ruler, isn't it? A Ruler needs something to rule over,” Aaron interrupts.

For a moment I want to disagree, but as I think about it, it makes a bit of sense. Maybe instead of a kingdom, you get some sort of extremely powerful domain?

“Whatever it is, search carefully. Don't let your guard down. We know the start of the floors is usually the safest, but there's always the possibility that one of us dies in a stroke of bad luck, so keep that in mind and don't push too hard. It's okay for you to sit back and enjoy your school life a little,” Tess warns him.

“You bet I will! Aaron and I already found a bunch of cool guys. I mean, they are a bit snobbish, but they're otherwise fun guys.”

Seeming lost deep in thought, Aaron says, “It makes me wonder how things are going to look on Earth once some time passes. People here would proudly walk around, telling you that some Lord Champion passed a mile or two from them. So how important will we be if Nat becomes an Absolute? You think my kids will be as snobby as these guys, talking about the time their dad was in the same group as the Mana Daddy Absolute?”

“First,” I say, and they turn to me, “possibly yes, give it a few decades. Second, say Mana Daddy one more time and I will make sure to spill all the details about a certain 'Miss Tutorial' magazine you guys have been working on with Brainiac and Lootenant.”

“Yo, yo, yo! Let's all just calm down,” Dennis sputters, interrupting me as soon as he can and pulling himself closer to me with his hands on my suit, almost as if he intends to shake me. “It was just a joke, hehe. No need to be petty.”

“He is the Ruler of Pettiness,” Aaron whispers. “You shouldn't forget that.”

“Oh, come on.” Dennis smiles and looks up at me. “Me and Nat are buddies, right?”

I stay quiet, which seems to make him even more nervous.

Good.

Tess, from somewhere behind Dennis, says, “I've also heard some rumors about this planet's Absolute. Supposedly, before going into seclusion, he left behind a powerful weapon, and no one knows who has it now.”

“What weapon?” I ask, ignoring Dennis.

“I don't know yet. But apparently, it's strong enough to kill even a Champion.”

“Could the Ruler candidate have it?” Maya joins the conversation.

I think for a moment. “Maybe? Assuming the Absolute knew about the candidate and left it for them. Or maybe it has nothing to do with that. I'll try to ask about the weapon, too, but I have to go now. I won't be able to join you tomorrow, so we can meet the day after that.”

“Sure,” Tess agrees, and the others say their goodbyes.

Before leaving, I make sure to poke the sleeping Biscuit's belly.

Of course, Professor Elian's office is much nicer than mine. It has more windows, letting in more natural light. The defenses here are also likely to be better than those one could find in some fortresses. Part of me wonders if it is something he's made himself or if it's a product of the Academy.

Even though he lets me in, he ignores me for a few minutes and continues writing on a sheet of strange blue paper with a pen that leaves a tracery of white lines across the page. Every so often, he adds symbols and inscriptions. In the quiet of the room, the scratch of the pen on the paper actually sounds kind of nice.

Someone else would probably be annoyed by being treated this way, but I use this as an opportunity to examine the room, the professor, and the fancy items lying all around the place.

Only after around five minutes longer does he stop, carefully puts down the paper, and leans back in his chair.

“May I ask something of you, Assistant Professor Gwyn?”

“Sure, please do,” I reply, deciding to be polite until I learn more about this floor.

“There have been rumors about an Underground Dueling Network, so please, if you notice anything odd, make sure to investigate. We've also been having problems with certain classrooms taking ranking competitions a bit too seriously. I have been notified that some of the students have been planning to blackmail or even wound their competitors, and that is not something we want in the Academy.”

“I will keep my eyes open.”

“Thank you. Do so, and I'll forget your breaches of protocol from your first day. Now, I've been assigned two students, but I don't have time for them at the moment, so I'm asking you to supervise them. There may be more coming as well. One of the servants will bring you the documents so you can look them over later. And finally, on an administrative note: the head accountant asked me to find out if you have an account you want your salary sent to or if you'd prefer to receive it in person on a weekly basis.”

“In person is okay.”

“Understood. You can go, then.”

The sound of the pen scratching on the paper sounds again, and the door opens by itself and closes quietly as I leave.

An hour later, I get the documents and, giving them a once-over, make my way to the classroom mentioned. I also finally find out that the main specialization of Professor Elian is his particular combination of the [Mana Manipulation] skill and his Mana Wavelength Iris. The man also seems to be a descendant of someone from the First Generation, so there's apparently a lot of prestige that comes with that.

I even discreetly ask one of the servants about any rumors involving Professor Elian. Whether it's just the kind of thing people normally speculate about or because of the authority I've been given, the servant tells me it's been theorized that Professor Elian has [Mana Manipulation] at a really high level. Apparently, even a Champion was impressed, especially considering Professor Elian's age.

From what I've heard, Champions usually have skills in the 80s, and Absolutes tend to sit somewhere in the 90s. So maybe mid-70s or higher? That would be quite high, especially since his current level feels somewhat similar to mine, around 300.

He might look like he's under thirty, which is young, but he could easily be one hundred or older.

Thinking of these things, I open the door and step into the small classroom.

It's a bit later in the day, and the weakening sunlight filters through the windows, casting a warm glow over a dozen tables and smaller blackboards. Even this room carries a certain air of luxury.

Inside the classroom, two students I assume are problem cases wait: a thylarin girl with six arms and a human boy with his guard, a young man standing quietly behind him.

The thylarin girl has the usual pale blue skin, orange eyes, and brown hair. She looks at me with curiosity in her gaze but sits slightly apart from the boy. The boy, legs crossed, is clearly bored. He has curly brown hair and a noble-looking face.

His human guard stands behind him, dressed in the same gray uniform as Tess. He's unarmed, but one sleeve of his suit is completely missing, revealing a slim, muscular arm covered in tattooed inscriptions. His long red hair and blue eyes give him an odd presence.

Both the girl and the boy seem to be somewhere around fifteen years old.

“Huh, where is Professor Elian?” the boy asks.

I wonder what the protocol is for this. Am I supposed to greet him? Should I be the one to speak first after entering? Was his manner of address rude?

Not knowing, I just shrug it off and move to the desk, sitting on top of it. “Professor Elian is busy and has asked me to take care of this.”

“You?” the boy asks with clear disdain, looking me up and down. “My parents didn't pay a ridiculous amount of money for me to be taught by an assistant professor. Let's go, Melo. We're leaving,” he says to his bodyguard.

It is so cliché, I almost want to laugh. Almost.

I say nothing as he passes by me, and I only speak when he is about to open the door.

“I bet noble ladies' pets have better [Mana Manipulation] than you.”

Chapter 54

Kays and Ari

“What did you say?” The human boy seethes, coming to a stop and turning back to me.

“Look, I'm not the type to beat around the bush. Apparently, you're a problem student or something. I haven't read that far. I don't know if the professor sent me because he doesn't want to bother with you or if he's just really busy.

I could probably tell him you threatened me or something and left the lesson, and that I, as an assistant professor, didn't have the guts to stop you. So you can just leave if you want. Oh, and this isn't reverse psychology, either.

You can do whatever you want. Really, the only reason I mentioned the thing about the noble ladies' pets was because it seemed like a good opportunity.”

He takes a few quick steps and opens his mouth, but I speak before he can. “Let me guess. Do you even know who I am? Or who do you think you are? Maybe do you know who my dad is?!”

Even without saying anything, he closes his mouth and looks at his guard, who patiently waits nearby but does not interfere.

“Kays, just sit back down. I want to see if he is all talk or if he actually has some skill,” the thylarin girl calls out, as she taps the table impatiently with an impish expression on her face.

She's barely moved since this all started and continues to watch, like a cat watches a mouse move across the room, considering whether to eat it or leave it alone, both options seem equally likely.

“Shut up, Ari. I do what I want,” the boy, apparently called Kays, shouts at her before turning back to me.

As I watch him, I think: would someone like him survive the Hell Difficulty tutorial? I mean, he probably has some talent, but does he have the personality and instincts everyone in Hell seems to have, the ones where you bite, scratch, and grow accustomed to death and blood? I try to estimate his level and search for weak spots as I have gotten used to doing.

Something in my eyes probably disturbs the guard, who steps closer. When I look at him, he continues to stare at me as if prepared to fight.

Unintentionally, I feel the urge to fight him. Just a little bit, to prove to myself that this floor is dangerous as well, and not just some safe-haven school. It makes me nervous and overly paranoid.

Before anything can happen, Kays just moves past me and sits behind the table right in front of me. His guard watches me a bit longer, then slowly moves back to his usual position behind the boy.

“So, what now?” I ask.

“What the hell? Shouldn't you be doing the teaching?” Kays asks in disbelief.

“I'm new.”

“Are you kidding?” he asks.

Somewhere from the back row, Ari laughs briefly before standing up and moving to the table closer to me. “Assistant Professor, today we were supposed to study Interference and Disruption.”

“Oh, I see. So, basics.”

Kays groans again. “What the hell do you mean by 'basics'? It's one of the advanced techniques.”

“Huh? Really?”

Kays groans, something I notice he likes to do, and Ari laughs again. She seems to be having a lot of fun.

“Okay, okay, before we start: why do some thylarin have six arms but most have four?” I ask her.

She doesn't show any surprise; the same amused smile dances on her face. “It is rumored to be a genetic inheritance from a powerful ancestor.”

Hmm, the same answer I got before. It seems my curiosity won't be sated that easily.

“Well, anyway, just create some mana orbs, and I will show you some disruption. Then you can try to mimic it,” I tell them.

“Mana orbs?” Kays asks.

“Yeah, like this.” A bit of my mana seeps out, and I shape it into a perfect orb. Almost absentmindedly, I create one of my training models, version 3.0, very distantly inspired by Liss', whose variations once made me pass out every time I looked at it.

Seeing the wide eyes of the two students, I realize my mistake and quickly dissolve the orb into something akin to mana smoke. Then I spin the smoke to create another orb.

“C-crazy,” the boy whispers, and for the first time, even the girl is quiet.

“Look, as I said, I'm new. Ignore the previous orb and try making something like this,” I repeat.

“That's not what I meant…”

“Sure, sure. Orb, now.”

Finally, the two of them each create an orb, similarly sized and pale blue, even though Ari's seems a bit more stable.

Satisfied, I send a disrupting wave at it, and they both disappear, particles and all.

“Good. Now try to defend against my disruptions.”

“We did,” Kays says.

“What?” I ask.

“We're expected to defend our creations against disruption during this kind of exercise and lesson, so we did try to defend against you.”

I almost say it out loud, but I stop myself at the last second to avoid depressing the poor kids. What I really wanted to say was, Why the hell was it so easy, then?

“I see,” I say. “So you were in this class because you were lagging behind the rest of the class and⁠—”

“No,” Ari interrupts in the same mischievous manner. “Kays and I are both at the top of the class, and according to the other students, we're even rumored to be Champion candidates. The rules of the Academy state that we were to be given separate extra lessons by the professor.”

She is smiling again, her orange eyes shining with amusement, while Kays looks as if he has never seen a dumber person than me.

Once again, I stop myself from saying something rude and think, Dennis, Aaron, Min-Jae, Izzy, and Lily will traumatize the fuck out of the students at this Academy if they're not careful.

“Okay, let's try something else. I'll make an orb, and you two will try to disrupt it so I can see what you can do.”

Saying that, I form a single orb and send it a bit closer to them, then wait.

And wait.

And wait.

“You can start,” I remind them.

Once again, Ari laughs, and Kays seems even more annoyed. He speaks again: “Aren't you too dumb to be a professor? Are you one of those meatheads who became a professor only thanks to combat ability, despite lacking the capacity to teach? We've been trying this whole time; your orbs are just difficult to disrupt.”

Hearing that, I examine my orb closely, just in case they're making fun of me. But it's just as stable as before, and its structure isn't being influenced at all. I actually have to look for it to even notice their efforts to affect the construct. Waves are radiating from them toward my orb. Ari even syncs hers with Kays's, trying to make them stronger using some kind of fancy cascading technique.

So is it their lack of skill, or have I just gone so overboard with my anti-disruption measures that they can barely touch it? Is there even such a thing as overkill when it comes to that? Maybe it's also the difference between kids raised in safety and those of us who've had to use everything we could just to survive.

Or maybe they're just holding back and phoning it in.

Watching them, I lower the integrity of my orb, and when nothing changes, I do it again. Then I do it again. And then once more.

Only then do I notice the edges start to fray and slight disruption at the surface.

At this point, both of them look to be in pain, their foreheads scrunched from all the effort.

“F-finally,” Kays breathes out.

Both of them look at me as if expecting a reaction. Still surprised by my findings, I just mumble absentmindedly, “Good job.”

“So what level are you, Assistant Professor Gwyn?” Ari asks, leaning back in her chair.

“Isn't that a rude question?” I ask her.

“Some people like to show off, and others will lie about their level.”

I snort. “As if levels were that important. I'm just a bit over three hundred.”

“That isn't that bad. How old are you, somewhere around fifty?”

“What the hell, you brat? I'm not even twenty-four.”

For the first time, she shows genuine surprise. “Assistant Professor, are you from a powerful family or something?”

“Do I look like I've got a silver spoon up my ass?”

“So you must have served in the army, or as a mercenary, guard, enforcer, cleaner, or exterminator. Or was it something else?”

“Something like that. Aren't you nosy? And I'm an assistant professor, so show some respect.”

Kays, next to her, snorts. “Assistant professor my ass. I bet I know more about the Academy and how it works than you.”

“Talk shit to me when your attempts at disruption get better than some noble lady's pet.”

“What does that even mean?! And you're in a prestigious academy. Even if you're new or a fake assistant, show some dignity!”

“I don't give a fuck.”

“What the hell!”

“If any of you tells on me or I hear rumors, I'll fail you for the grade or something.”

“Melo, do you see this?” he says in desperation, turning to his bodyguard, who remains quiet and bows slightly.

“Assistant Professor Gwyn is being rude, Sir Kays, but you are the one who started it and have been equally rude,” his bodyguard says in a quiet, calm voice.

“At least be on my side for once!”

“I'm on your side, Sir Kays. I would even put my life on the line for you if it came to it, but I don't think lying to you would do you any favors in this situation.”

Ari ignores both of them and asks me, “What is your highest skill level?”

“Not telling.”

“Are you a candidate?”

“Not telling.”

“What traits do you have?”

“Not telling.”

“What was the highest-level monster you fought against?”

“A weakened Champion. I got my ass kicked.” I decide not to mention Lissandra with her powers restricted.

“Bullshit!” Kays calls out before Ari can react.

I ignore such an outburst. “Anyway, I could probably be an ass and give you homework, but I won't do it. I won't even report you to Professor Elian.”

I take a step away from the table and reach my hand out toward Kays. “Your hand.”

Something in my tone makes him listen. He reaches out and places his hand in mine.

I don't even use my eyes; my senses are enough as I examine his mana flow and send my mana through his hand. Then I create a short disrupting pulse. He twitches from surprise and almost pulls his hand back, but I hold it. I expand my domain around his hand, rely a bit on the Mana Wavelength Tyrant passive, and use [Eclipse] to resonate with his mana and take control. I repeat the process, sending the same disruptive mana through his hand and, after examining his mana flow again, move his own mana to create a similar wave.

“Good, I got it. Don't use your eyes; use your senses and watch,” I tell him as I create another mana orb, making sure to weaken it.

Then I force his mana to move again, sending a disruptive wave that makes the orb's surface flicker.

“Did you catch that?” I ask.

With his eyes wide open, he nods very slowly.

“Good. Try it on your own, okay? And continue until I tell you to stop.”

He nods quietly and attempts it, the experience of me moving his mana seeming to make the process easier. It's something I have tried with the twins a few times. It is useful in certain situations despite being completely useless in others.

Kays continues to try to mimic the way I moved his mana, and I examine the parts he gets right and adjust my influence accordingly. When he improves in other areas, I weaken my influence there as well.

[Mana Manipulation - Level 66 Mana Manipulation - Level 67]

[Eclipse - Level 37 Eclipse - Level 38]

It takes around ten minutes, but he succeeds and, under his own power, sends out a disruptive wave that barely makes the orb shake. It's much better than his previous attempts.

“See? It's easy. You just move your mana this way, then that way. No triple loop layered lattice recalibrated buffer delay flow density manipulation bullshit.”

I move to Ari and say, “Hand.”

The thylarin teenager smiles widely and places all six of her hands on mine.

“Damn, you've got all those fingers to count with, and you still suck at basic numbers. I said 'hand,' singular.”

“I was surprised by your differently colored eyes, Assistant Professor. Is that a trait?”

“Yeah, it allows me to see through people's bullshit.” I shake and pull five of her hands away, then repeat the same process I did with Kays.

In the end, she turns out to be a bit quicker than he is, but I think that's because she got to observe what we did. Both of them seem to have a similar level of talent. Well, at least from what they've shown me so far.

Satisfied with the lesson, I stand up. “That should be all. Don't forget to leave a good rating.”

Before I leave, Ari calls through the door, “Assistant Professor Gwyn, you might want to be careful about showing these things to others. What you just demonstrated usually requires [Mana Manipulation] at least around Level 60 or higher, and combined with your young age, it could attract a lot of attention. And I mean A Lot of attention,” she emphasizes.

One more time, I look at her, and amused flames dance in her orange eyes before I close the door.

Chapter 55

Walk Around the Academy

These kids…it's almost like dealing with Aaron and Dennis. Maybe I'm truly getting older and grumpier, but when I was younger, we knew how to show respect to a teacher, or we got slapped on the back of the head. I mean, for some reason it happened to me a lot, but that's not important right now.

I would lament the fact that they can't all be like Izzy, but that might not be fair. Izzy's almost thirteen years old, and as she grows taller, she also changes a bit. I mean, she is still the main source of emotional support for group 4 and the primary therapist for our guys, as funny as it sounds. But as of late, she's been more rebellious and stubborn at times.

Min-Jae has been acting strangely ever since the first event of the second tournament. Apparently, Lissandra had a talk with him, and whatever she said, or whatever conclusion he came to, has made him act…well, strange. It's hard to describe.

Indeed, even after two years and seven floors, I remain the most normal person in this group, and if that isn't worrying, I don't know what is.

To add to my mood, I got lost again, and these damn rules stop me from doing wide-range scans or floating into the air. Maybe my stubbornness adds to it as well, but it's not like I have anywhere to be.

So I walk through the Academy, which is huge. It's like a mix of the Palace at Versailles, Hogwarts, some kind of expensive private university back in the U.S, and God knows what else.

In some ways, I like it, it looks new, nice, and it's interesting to explore. The gardens, hallways, all these towers and buildings that should have fallen in on themselves, but manage to stand either because of the weird materials that make up their frames, or whatever inscriptions they have doing the heavy lifting. That also means there's probably a Core somewhere, along with a control room, multiple mana batteries, countermeasures to people trying to locate it, and all that fun stuff. I wonder: Could I get through all that without anyone noticing?

Is it merely rude, or is it actually illegal? If it's only rude, I could totally do it. It's not like I care about my reputation.

I step into another garden, this one filled with incredibly detailed animal statues that make me wonder if they were once real creatures that have been turned to stone. That's when I see Lily.

She and a few other girls and boys are seated on a blanket near the fountain and seem to be having lunch. Each student has a personal guard standing just a few steps away, alert and watchful. Nearby, servants move with practiced grace, refilling cups and handing out napkins as if these teenagers were royalty. There's an air of quiet luxury and control, like everything around them has been carefully choreographed to ensure maximum comfort.

Even though she's in the middle of socializing, Lily is very aware of her surroundings, and I'm sure she's even training while these guys slack. Of course, she notices me right away.

Her neutral face brightens into a huge smile, and without any concern for how it might look, much less any other thought, she gets to her feet.

One of the boys says something, but she ignores him, so he reaches out to grab her hand, and she swats it away like an annoying fly. Even then, it's a surprising amount of force, and the boy, or young man, I should say, clutches his wrist, which seems to be broken.

Oh boy.

With a few smooth leaps that, even without using mana, show the strength of her body, she reaches me and stops just before crashing into me.

“Yo!” she says with that bright smile.

“Aren't they going to think it's weird that you came to greet the assistant professor out of nowhere?”

“It's fine. Tess said if that ever happens, I can just say you're a family friend or something, and leave it at that without explaining anything else about my background.”

Damn, Tess, have you already predicted Lily would do that and come up with an excuse for her? How scary.

“Well, that's fine, then. Are these guys healers?”

“Kind of.”

“Kind of?”

“Yes. They're better at healing others than themselves, and most of them are scared of getting hurt. They can't even regenerate limbs quickly.”

“Well, aren't healers supposed to be like nobles? Kept safely on the back lines to heal and extend the lives of important people and that kind of stuff?”

“That's dumb,” she says.

“Yup,” I agree with her, “I mean, isn't it an insane advantage to heal yourself during combat? I would expect most healers to go that way.”

“Me too! But they said healing skills tend to be very rare, so it's not worth losing a healer in combat. There's more value in saving multiple strong people of a similar level to the healer, rather than allowing the healer to fight at that level and risk dying.”

Once again I shake my head and lower my voice as I see one of the boys coming closer, the one whose wrist Lily broke. “So dumb,” I say.

Lily nods, and the boy, well, young man, honestly, joins us with his guard. He has eyes that smile on the outside but seem like they're ready to stab you in the back at a moment's notice. At least he can do some healing, given the way his wrist is already recovering.

“Lily, who is your friend?” he asks with that forced smile.

“Fuck off, Walric,” Lily answers without hesitation.

Both the man and his guard stop, surprise washing over their faces.

“E-excuse me, Lily?” he asks as if he doesn't believe the words that have come from her mouth.

“You have five seconds, and then I'll do the same thing to you as I did to Xara and Melori.” She faces him, and even though she's a head and a half shorter than him, the man backs away.

As he leaves, he doesn't forget to shoot me that cliché look that clearly blames me for his departure.

When he's far enough, I ask, “What happened to Xara and Melori?”

Lily shrugs. “We, the ones with student roles in our group, are kind of like transfer students, and they tried to pick on me because I'm new or something, so I… Well…yes, I defended myself! Of course, nothing too extensive! They're just kids, after all!”

“Aren't they the same age as you?”

“They feel like kids, Nat,” Lily says, deflating. “It's so dumb how sheltered these people are. I know they're here to learn and pick up some skills before being thrown into fights with monsters, but damn, it really gets annoying.”

“So it sucks? Dennis and Aaron seem to be having fun.”

“It's not all bad. My room is huge, the bed is amazing, and I even have my own massive bath and training area. There are servants everywhere, ready to do anything I ask. And Nat, the food is so goddamn good.

I can also eat so much of it without getting fat, I cannot believe it. Some of the students are nice, snobby, but still nice. So yeah, it's fun, but I think I'll be bored of it in a week or two.”

As she talks, I remember my small office, and even though it's nice, it sounds like hers is even better. Damn healers, they sure do have it nice.

“Sounds good so far. Aren't you worried about dear Walric?” I gesture toward the boy, who has awkwardly sat back down with the group.

Lily glances over and then back at me. “Not at all! His uncle is the disciple of a Champion or something, but that's all. I think I could easily beat his guard, too, if I wanted. He tries to act like he fell for me and makes all these weird faces, but in reality, he's sleazy and wants to 'charm me' just in case. All only because I let it slip that my healing skill is [Reconstruction] and it's apparently a very good skill.”

“Well, just be careful.”

“I will. See you later! And talk in Community sometimes. You're the only one who doesn't do that much.”

“I will, I will. Later then.”

She leaves to return to her group, and out of curiosity, I open the Community.

NotAaron (Hell, group 4) - nerd

StrongestOne (Hell, group 4) - I'm not a nerd! It's just that there is so much information in the library!

NotDennis (Hell, group 4) - neeeeerd

StrongestOne (Hell, group 4) - Do I have to give up and be dumb just to get you to leave me alone?

NotAaron (Hell, group 4) - NotDennis does it without trying.

NotDennis (Hell, group 4) - That's just natural talent. Can't teach it.

StrongestOne (Hell, group 4) - Incredible. Truly an inspiration.

NotAaron (Hell, group 4) - Don't hype him up. It only makes him stronger.

I close it again. Maybe I'll check again later.

But before the window closes for the millionth time, I start to wonder if NotDennis is actually Aaron and NotAaron is truly Dennis? Or maybe it's the opposite; after all, they must have known it would be our first thought. Or maybe they knew we would think it would be too simple and think the opposite. But what if they knew we would think that they knew we would think that and did the obvious to seem unpredictable, knowing it would feel too obvious? Or maybe they went even further, thinking that if they did the obvious, people would think it's a fake-out of a fake-out, and so they'd come all the way back around to assuming the names are reversed, which means they're not.

The worst part is I'm sure even if they tell us which it was, they'd just lie. Or maybe they'll tell the truth because we'll think they might lie. Or maybe they'll lie knowing we'll assume it's the truth because they expected us to think they might lie, but not actually expect them to lie about it.

These thoughts continue to go through my mind as I continue my walk. The longer I walk, the more surprised I am by the size of this Academy and its facilities. There's an auditorium big enough for thousands of people, each row filled with luxurious seating and enough space for servants to move about freely.

Then there are training halls with fancy sparring circles and training weapons and some elaborate exercise machines.

There are swimming pools, wellness buildings offering saunas, massages, and whatever other magical wellness things they've decided to include.

Barbers, hairdressers, shops, tailors, restaurants.

Some buildings are well guarded, locked, and extremely mysterious, too.

Overall, I'm sure a person could live here their entire life without wanting for anything.

Done with my examination, I turn and start walking back along the pathway between the buildings and the garden, which looks more like a forest. The sun is already setting, and some lamps on the side light up with a cozy glow. Well, not like they can compare to my thermal cubes or pyramids.

I walk for a while, and after a few turns, I notice a presence behind me.

Observing the waves and vibrations the person sends my way, and the length of their steps, I identify it as a woman. She seems to be just about as tall as Tess, but I estimate her strength stat is lower. Dexterity and constitution are hard to gauge just from the surface kinetic senses I'm using.

After a few more turns, that person is still walking behind me, and I detect another presence, much smaller and barely moving, sticking close to the woman in question.

I stop.

She stops as well.

I start walking.

She starts walking, too.

This level of shamelessness is almost admirable.

Out of curiosity, I stop and stand in the middle of the pathway for a full five minutes.

She does the same, stopping in the middle of the path, not seeming to care how weird it must look.

And I still refuse to turn around or use more senses. It takes five more minutes before I finally reach my rooms, and the pathway splits. For the first time, my stalker heads in a different direction.

This time, I turn around and watch her, and our eyes meet.

The woman is wearing clothes that identify her as a professor, and on top of her head sits a big, pointy hat with a wide brim, reminding me of every witch illustration I've ever seen. She also wears a long black robe over her clothes.

On her shoulder sits a tiny brown owl with huge eyes that seem to be watching me as well. Its body isn't moving at all, but its head turns like a human would twist their neck.

That tiny owl is very cute.

My stalker finally disappears from sight, and I decide to visit my office to grab a few things before heading to my room.

Even before I reach it, I know something is wrong. The locks I added in addition to the original ones are gone. Well, maybe “gone” isn't the right word. They are still there, they're just a tiny bit different, as if someone removed them and then attempted to replace exactly the same ones, which shouldn't really be all that difficult since I didn't put much effort into them, not having expected something like this in the least.

I unlock the room and enter, only to immediately notice the change.

One of the two big wooden boxes my sister gave me is missing.

Someone has stolen my thermonuclear warhead.

Chapter 56

Lessons and Sandwiches

Sset (Hell, group 4) - So someone stole it?

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Yup, it's gone.

NotDennis (Hell, group 4) - Holy fuck. Should we bail from the Academy?

Noname (Hell, group 4) - It is fine. Vic said the previous owners spent a long time figuring out how to use them. Apparently, they're nearly impossible to detonate without a special mechanism, so they spent months trying to inscribe them.

Sset (Hell, group 4) - Previous owners… So you really think there's no one in the Academy who might recognize what it is, someone who's far more skilled in inscriptions than a bunch of Earthlings with barely two years of experience?

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Nah. There's definitely someone who could do it in days rather than months.

Knight (Hell, group 4) - I can't see your face right now, but Nat, are you happy? I bet you are. I'm sure you are.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Stop doxxing me, Knight.

Knight (Hell, group 4) - It was you who blabbered your full name for everyone to hear!

Sset (Hell, group 4) - Okay, let's calm down. I know you well enough, and there's no way you didn't mark the warheads.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - All the marks are gone: the fake ones, the decoys, the hidden ones, and even the hidden hidden ones below the hidden ones.

StrongestOne (Hell, group 4) - Can't you ask the servants who was on your floor or near your office? They have systems for that.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - I already did. I even told the tower butler that something was stolen from me, and we checked the presence detector and the list of people who entered that floor. We found nothing. Well, anyway, it'll probably be fine. See you later.

With that, I close the Community and lie on my back.

Looks like someone wants to play. Fine, I'll give them a few days. If I don't catch them by then, I can use my secret weapon.

As much as I'd like to test myself against the thermonuclear warhead, I'm not willing to risk the others' lives as well.

But if I were alone…

“Assistant Professor Gwyn, may I ask for your assistance?” Professor Elian asks suddenly, turning away from the few dozen students in front of us to address me in the middle of his lesson.

This is the second lesson I've had with him, and it's the first time he's done that since the first lesson, when he punished me so terribly.

I answer and take a step closer toward him. “Of course. How can I help?”

“You're an Amplificator, if I'm not mistaken, correct?”

“Yes,” I confirm, seeing no reason to lie.

His Mana Wavelength Iris flashes once as he observes me, the glow pulsing faintly before fading. Then he nods with an unreadable expression.

“That's perfect. What I want you to do now is start releasing your mana. Do it slowly and steadily. Raise the pressure bit by bit and let it spread through the room. I want the students to feel the shift for themselves, to understand what it means when someone like you stops suppressing their presence.”

I nod once and begin to release my mana. I shift the flow of Mana Cycling carefully, keeping it steady as I lower the effect of Sneaky Mode, which I've been using the entire time. My mana starts pushing out from my body into the surrounding space.

“Now, listen carefully,” Professor Elian says, facing the students. “Assistant Professor Gwyn's mana stat is probably extremely high. You can tell just from what we've seen so far. His presence alone makes that clear. There are signs I'm not going to explain just yet, but I'll ask you about them during our lesson three days from now. That should give you plenty of time to think it over.”

I increase the flow just a little. The pressure in the room responds accordingly.

“You're not feeling any sharpness. That would indicate a high Mana Potency upgrade. Amplification doesn't change the nature of the user's mana, only the amount the body contains. As we know, the first stage of Amplification doubles the mana stat. When someone with high amplification stops restricting their output, the environment usually saturates very quickly.”

More students begin reacting. Some shift, adjusting their posture. A few instinctively form minor reinforcement layers along their skin as my mana seeps into the room.

“Good. That's the expected response. When the ambient mana density increases faster than your body's buffer tolerance, your nervous system reacts before your conscious mind does. This is how we measure baseline sensitivity.”

I release more, curious how long he expects me to push it.

“Notice that Assistant Professor Gwyn is not using any external technique, yet he releases his mana with a high degree of stability, even as the volume increases. This clearly demonstrates an impressive ability to manipulate large quantities of mana, something that most skilled Amplificators learn. There is currently no shaping taking place, no direction, just an unstructured release. This is important. Amplification makes a difference even without manipulation. The effects you're feeling now are due to the rapid increase in the volume of raw mana around you.”

He pauses to let them sit with the discomfort for a moment. A few of the weaker students start to grow pale, appearing to be on the verge of vomiting. Others clench their teeth.

Some of the bodyguards look slightly confused, uncertain whether to interpret this as an attack. A few glance at Professor Elian, seemingly waiting for a signal.

Yet Professor Elian continues, completely unbothered.

“In technical terms, you're experiencing localized mana compression. Ambient density is rising beyond your natural internal mana pressure, which creates an external-internal imbalance. Your natural barriers are being forced inward ever so slightly. Of course, it is possible to defend against this. It's just that you lack the experience to do so. On top of that, Assistant Professor Gwyn appears to have an unusually large mana pool.”

I hold the pressure steady and controlled and do not stop.

The whole time, I'm wondering how far he's going to take it.

“If he had Potency instead,” Elian continues, “you wouldn't feel this kind of field compression. You'd feel more of a piercing effect. That's how mana with a Potency upgrade behaves.

It interacts with the walls of your natural barrier and forces a reaction from your nerves, not your structure. Meanwhile, a restoration upgrade would feel more rhythmic. You'd feel pulses, and the local field would fluctuate instead of building steadily.

Obviously, that's only if you happened to be sensitive enough to observe that kind of change.”

I raise the output again.

“Now we're entering what I like to call the threshold. Most of you should already feel some shortness of breath or tightening in the chest. That's because your own flow is being passively throttled by the ambient saturation.

Any more than that and the first among you will start to vomit and pass out. If I were to ask Assistant Professor Gwyn to push further and increase the speed of this process, the mere release of his mana would kill most of you sitting here with the raw pressure alone. And it wouldn't even require the use of a skill, passive, or trait. As I have said, Assistant Professor Gwyn possesses an impressive amount of mana even for an Amplificator.”

Our eyes meet for a moment, and he observes me with his Mana Wavelength Iris, the golden circle glowing around his black pupils and inside his violet eyes. I don't think I've ever seen him with the trait deactivated.

“That's enough, Assistant Professor Gwyn. Pull it back,” he says calmly, unfazed by the dozens of students on the verge of passing out or the sudden flashes of mana as some of them make feeble attempts to defend themselves.

I cut the flow and draw it back into my body. The pressure vanishes almost instantly. Some students let out breaths they didn't realize they were holding.

“This is the simplest form of mana exposure training, and it makes for a good experience to prepare you so that it doesn't surprise you in the future. There are animals and monsters who can generate an even more impressive field of pressure, as they have more powerful bodies capable of storing more mana,” Professor Elian says. “Understanding how different mana attributes behave in isolation is the first step on your path to mastery. Next time, we'll introduce controlled shaping and observe how attribute combinations affect natural barriers.”

With that final demonstration, the lesson ends.

My current thief suspects are the pink witch with the pointy hat, and the adorable owl professor, of course, Professor Elian, and maybe Ari. Could she have used a servant or a guard, or perhaps someone from her family, to check my room?

It could be the butler as well, someone in charge of the tower and its wards, who could also delete all signs of someone visiting. Maybe that asshole healer that was hanging out with Lily wanted to take revenge after she broke his wrist?

Kays is also an option, but he didn't seem like the type. Sure, he complained a lot and threw a lot of insults my way, but nothing felt serious or mean spirited. Even while complaining, he listened and went along with the lesson and didn't once seem truly angry.

I put my thoughts on hold and reach into the basket next to me to pull out a sandwich and take a bite.

So good.

I take another bite and sip some grape-like juice. The bottle is still chilled, marked with a few simple inscriptions. Out of boredom, I quickly think over no less than three ways to turn it into a bomb by altering the inscriptions and adding a bit more mana, then return to my sandwich.

It really does taste like a tuna sandwich.

Thankfully, I found a small garden that people seem to avoid, and now I'm enjoying the quiet, sitting on a bench and ignoring the people passing by. The weather is nice, and as I have many times before, I wish I could wear my Earth clothes. Thankfully, no one has stolen them. It might be weird, but I think I'd have been more angry if someone had stolen them than I am about the thermonuclear warhead.

Sure, it was a gift from my sister, but she would understand.

“Assistant Professor Gwyn!” I hear a familiar voice.

Still, I ignore it, don't look up, and continue to enjoy my sandwich.

That seems to make that damned impish thylarin even happier, and Ari giggles deviously. I can almost hear the expression I'm sure her face is making.

I hope my precious minion won't end up like her, and for the love of god, I hope Izzy doesn't, either.

Ari stops in front of me, and a boy stands by her side. He also happens to be a thylarin, but this one only has three arms: two on the left and one on the right. This second thylarin is quiet and quickly avoids my gaze as I look up from my lunch. He has the normal brown hair and orange eyes that thylarin usually have.

“His name is Tyven. He's a bit shy but very kind and intelligent. Come on, Tyven, greet Assistant Professor Gwyn,” Ari says, introducing him.

“H-hello, Assistant Professor Gwyn,” Tyven says quietly, his eyes meeting mine for only a moment.

He glances over at the location of my Kinetic Mana Heart, over which my Restrictive Training Emblem sits, then just as quickly to the other side of my chest where my Sealed Ignition Mana Heart is, and lastly not into my eyes, but at them. And just as quickly, he looks away.

Ari teases me briefly, reminding me that we have another lesson with Kays in the sensory deprivation tank in a few days. Then she pulls her friend along, and they rush off to their next class.

I finish my sandwich while sitting there and increase the difficulty level of my active Restrictive Training Emblem. It continuously damages my body, along with the waves of combusting thermal energy I generate in small amounts to heal myself passively, causing a constant stream of pain that I must constantly filter out.

Then I check my Sneaky Mode and Mana Cycling and conclude that it should be very difficult to notice any of what I'm hiding.

Chapter 57

Helping

Today is my sixth day in the Academy, and so far it's been uneventful. There is nothing on my schedule, and I don't even know what assistant professors generally do in their free time. I bet it is something like socializing.

Losers.

Anyway, locking myself in my room and checking the Community every so often turns out to be a fun way to pass the time. Even though I almost went to the library with Min-Jae, who's been spending his free time locked up there. I just hope he's not just reading some spicy novels instead of gathering knowledge that could be useful to him.

Well, it's not as if he's not old enough to do whatever he wants. He'll just have to deal with the consequences if Tess or I decide that he's gotten too weak. In that case, we'd have to put him through some extra training to get him caught up.

An interesting event is scheduled to occur on the seventh day, which is tomorrow. That is when one of this planet's Champions will visit the Academy to give a short lesson.

Apparently, he's an alumnus of this Academy, so he does it once in a while, whenever he feels like it. Normally, if you wanted to entice anyone even close to the rank of Champion, you'd actually have to be able to offer them something truly tempting. Cool items, knowledge, connections. So it's pretty strange for him to be doing this all for free.

So, of course, I intend to go tomorrow if only to check him out. His lesson is set to take place approximately six hours before my third session of helping Elian with his lessons, so I should have plenty of free time.

Annoyingly enough, though, I don't think I'm the only one interested, and it is highly likely that most of the Academy will try to attend.

Damn, maybe getting personalized lessons from Sandra the Cockroach was actually pretty valuable. Just from hearing the other assistant professors talk, I bet they would sell their Mana Hearts just for a chance to talk with the Champion “only” for a few minutes.

They talk like the Champion walks on molten gold. You'd think the guy cured mana poisoning with his tears or something. One assistant professor even got misty-eyed describing a battle he'd never seen but swore was “life-changing.” It's honestly kind of creepy. There's the desperate reverence in their tone, like they'd auction off their lineage just to shake the guy's hand. Some of them probably would.

Or as Dennis has said in the Community, “They would sell their own balls just to be able to sniff the air in a room the Champion farted in.”

Where did it go wrong with the twins, and why on earth did Izzy laugh so much at that? Has she reached the age where she appreciates lame jokes? Sophie should be worried enough to do something about that. I will observe the results of her attempts and take inspiration for how to deal with my minion when she reaches that age.

But as odd as it sounds, Dennis isn't really wrong. Champions here are treated as the highest-grade celebrities, the best athletes, the richest people, and God knows what else, all combined into one to demonstrate the prestige of these titles.

Then there's the fact that they represent the greatest tactical weapons in each country's arsenal. A weapon that can, in hours, or even minutes, be anywhere on the planet and cause incredible damage, while even attempting to stop them will only cause more damage.

The others talk about it a lot in the Community, that if a weapon that is a Champion were to be used to its full potential, millions would die at the very least, either in the attempts to stop them or in some desperate act of revenge.

There's only one being on this planet capable of reining them in: an Absolute, capable of shutting down any given Champion and punishing the nation they came from. There are rules that even Champions obey, and the Absolute is the undisputed top dog here.

Though I think a powerful Champion could cause plenty of damage in just a few seconds or minutes, even before the Absolute reacts. A powerful Champion might even cause some damage to the Absolute, but the current consensus is that this planet's Absolute is way too strong for any such attempt to be worth it.

I also wonder: What would happen if multiple Champions joined forces? What if a Champion challenged the Absolute for the spot? What advantage does having the title of Absolute give you?

Tess has a few theories, based on the knowledge we've collected over the last six days, that the title of Absolute brings an assortment of benefits, but this information is not freely available. So, of course, we don't know what they may be.

Their overall strategy for avoiding a constant state of war seems to be focused on balancing power and culling any Champions who could pose a threat: those who are too maniacal or unwilling to follow the stated rules are therefore killed by the others to prevent greater trouble, sometimes even before they officially become Champions. Along with the constant displays of power, there's also no end of careful politicking, and saber rattling rather than open combat, with Champions as the primary deterrents.

It is fun to think about all these scenarios and imagine how I would react in different roles: as a chump from a country whose Champion nuked a neighboring city, as a Champion plotting to kill the Absolute, or as the Absolute trying to slack off while being annoyed by these pests.

There is also a bit more information about some kind of weapon the Absolute left behind for someone. Apparently, it could've easily fallen into the hands of a Champion, but it could just as easily have ended up with some random servant. Min-Jae, it would seem, discovered this in the library.

Apparently, the weapon has been passed around for the past one hundred years. There have apparently been several wars waged over it, and it's already killed two Champions: one thirty years ago and another forty-five years ago.

Its description is nowhere to be found, just a rumor that there's a set of rules that must be followed when it comes to its use and that it's connected to some kind of web or array that the Absolute placed around the entire planet.

This planet's Absolute seems like a total weirdo, and we're still not sure how much we can trust the rumors circulating around the Academy. Teenagers are not exactly the most reliable source of information, in my opinion.

I'm sitting at my new spot, since Ari has found my previous one, and Izzy finds me anyway. I'll have to check again later how she's able to trace people by the “emotional wavelength” they give off, since I haven't sensed anything myself.

This spot is also in one of the smaller gardens, between a set of trees that emit a pleasant scent and have a kind of exotic look to them, not unlike the so-called dragon trees we have on Earth.

As Izzy sits next to me, Noodle slithers out of her sleeve and moves toward me, expanding until he's about as thick as my arm, then politely waits. He even nods in greeting.

Biting into my sandwich again, which this time tastes like it has chicken meat, I create two mana orbs made of a mix I know Noodle enjoys and send them to him.

“Did you know that before being let into the Academy, you have to pass tests and prove you can control your powers enough not to kill students by mistake?” Izzy asks out of nowhere.

“First time hearing it.”

“It's true. And we, the attendees, are the only people in the Academy who entered without those tests. Some attendees could easily end up there, kill a bunch of students by mistake, and spend the rest of the tutorial in prison on this floor or fail the quest to locate and protect the candidate,” she says seriously.

“If you're that bad at controlling your powers, you kind of deserve it.”

Izzy seems to contemplate this and then nods once. “Maybe. By the way, my class will be getting a transfer student in a few days.”

“Why are you telling me? Do you suspect it's going to be the Ruler candidate?”

“I don't know. They say she's incredibly talented and that she's almost Level 350 at only ten years old.”

“That is surprising. Reaching such a high level… For us, it is possible because of the tutorial and everything, but for a random girl?”

“I know, right? I have noticed that some of my professors seem to be scared of her anytime she's mentioned. It's hard to explain; it wasn't even that they thought she might kill them, it's something else, perhaps her potential, or something about her background? The professors might know more than we do, and Sophie's been looking into it.”

“Sounds good. Found anything on Ari, Kays, or Tyven?”

“Not that much. Tess and Sophie did manage to dig up a bit, but Ari is possibly one of the best talents here at the moment, and no one knows what family she's from or how she got in here. Kays is from a family closely tied to a Champion and has a rare skill, and Tyven is also unknown but spends a lot of time in the library. Min-Jae says he's seen him around a few times and even talked to him. He seems like a quiet guy. Why didn't you ask the others in the Community and instead asked someone to meet you and share the information in person?”

“I barely have any time left for today and am almost out of my Community daily limit.”

“Didn't our daily limit go up when we completed the seventh floor? What did you do?”

“What do you mean, what did I do? I, just out of curiosity, joined the Hard Difficulty Community, and there are some guys also on their version of the eighth floor, so I spoke to them a bit.”

“It's pretty unusual for you to talk to people. Let me check!” Izzy looks at the screen in front of her and takes a moment to, I assume, read through the Community. She does this for exactly one minute before she stops and turns to me.

“What?” I ask. “Why are you giving me that look?”

“Nat, did you spend most of your daily limit going over the history of conversation they had about their floor and their version of the Academy, picking apart what they wrote, and trashing their use of 'mana sciency bullshit terms'?'”

“Yup.”

“But why?”

“I was helping.”

Izzy looks at the screen and reads again, directly quoting what I wrote. “I've read cult manifestos that made more sense than what you just wrote.”

She glances at me again, and I remain silent.

Izzy continues to quote me. “You wrote a twelve-paragraph post to say, 'I think magic goes boom and then it goes boom.'”

She gives me another look, and I keep silent.

“Just say you don't know how it works instead of inventing the 'Mana Thermal Rebound Loop.'”

This time I say, “That one was really egregious; even Elian wouldn't say such nonsense.”

“If I had a mana point for every time someone used the word 'resonance' without knowing what it means, I'd be a Champion by now,” she reads.

“It's true,” I defend myself.

“I'm convinced some of you are just rearranging words until they sound magical.” She gives me another look. “Wasn't that harsh?”

“I'm helping.”

“Sure you are. So what is this? 'This isn't a mana hypothesis. It's fanfiction with equations.'”

“Okay, that one may have actually been rude, but I apologized and offered the guy some advice when we meet during the third tournament. He was very happy and even thanked me.”

Izzy sighs. “And this one? 'Here's my feedback: Don't.'”

“Oh! Here, I strongly disagree with you! That crazy girl wanted to make a permanent modification to her mana flow after saying she thought I had done something similar. I saved her life.”

Izzy eventually stops reading and just says with a big smile, “Just don't get banned,” before heading off with Noodle after she gives me a quick hug.

I finish what's left of my sandwich and glance at the timer for a moment before closing the window.

The wind moves through the garden, and I close my eyes for a moment to enjoy the scents it carries.

Maybe tomorrow will offer something less idiotic than the “Mana Thermal Rebound Loop.” Maybe not.

Chapter 58

When Rules Stop Applying

Okay, maybe I underestimated the popularity of Champions, or at least the popularity of this specific Champion. Forget what I said about them being a mix of celebrity and god knows what else, and all that about high-level prestige. At this point, I am sure Dennis was right: these people would squander whole fortunes just to be in the same room the Champion farted in.

I'm not surprised by the excitement of the students; it is, after all, a good opportunity to take their minds off their studies for a moment. But the assistant professors? Some of them are acting like grandmothers willing to slit your throat in the mall just to get their hands on the last discounted Cinnabon roll.

At least the professors act a bit more dignified; the others should consider taking notes. Some of the students' families are even in attendance. Overall, it turns out to be a huge event.

I hate it, and the fact that I am part of it.

We assistant professors are on the same floor as the professors, arranged on a huge, wide balcony overlooking an amphitheater below. There are a few higher floors above us, reserved for the more senior professors, and further above that is an assortment of powerful families and Academy leadership, mingling with senior professors and families.

(The fact that you're attending this event, combined with your continued dismissal of the fact that a thermonuclear warhead has gone missing, is making me nervous, Nat,) Sophie complains next to me, naturally having been stationed on the same floor, given that she's an assistant professor herself.

(Look, if there is no one capable of launching an attack of that magnitude and they need that warhead, they are incompetent and pose no threat,) I reply, looking down at the thousands of students and other attendees.

This place is huge, and there are so many people.

I hate it.

(Could you create an attack comparable to it?) Sophie asks.

(I have considered it and, possibly, I could. I would need materials and inscriptions to construct a similar bomb, or I could work out an array to collect and channel sufficient mana and thermal energy. But it is hard to say; I have not witnessed a thermonuclear explosion yet, so I have nothing to compare it to,) I answer.

(You just used a word that concerns me greatly,) she says.

(Is it 'yet'?) I ask.

(Yes,) she replies.

(I see.)

(Don't “I see” me, damn it.) She groans and leans on the railing. (And still no sign of the Ruler candidate or the “fake” Ruler candidate as you theorize. If we at least knew their subclass, it could help.)

(This is an academy, meaning this is a place of study—so maybe it's diligence?) I suggest.

(By that logic, it could be lust, because this place is full of horny teenagers,) Sophie counters with a snort.

(Well, never mind, then. Have you found anyone suspicious?) I ask.

(There was that thylarin girl, Ari, who takes classes with the professor I assist. You mentioned her as well,) she says.

(Why her?) I ask, genuinely curious.

(She's shockingly perceptive and intelligent. Apparently, she attends so many classes that even the professors have taken notice, and she excels in all of them,) Sophie explains.

(She didn't really seem that good when I taught her,) I admit.

(Nat, you were almost declared an Absolute candidate by one of the most powerful Absolutes to ever live. Sorry, but at this point, I do not trust your judgment,) she retorts.

(I understand, but if you suspect her as the Ruler candidate, should she not have incredible talent?) I object.

(She does have incredible talent. Another factor to consider is that she might be hiding most of it. Another thing—your favorite “fake” Ruler candidate theory could also explain it,) Sophie muses.

(If you think that way, it could apply to almost any student,) I protest.

Sophie exhales. (Yes, and that is what annoys me. The problem is that it doesn't even have to be a student. It could be one of the professors. It could be the Champion we're waiting for, and who is already late by the way, but the people here would probably apologize to him before they even thought about complaining.)

(Well, it seems like you summoned him,) I say as the crowd falls silent.

No one speaks anymore as the lights go off and a single beam shines on the podium, where the pink-skinned, pink-haired, white-freckled man appears out of nowhere.

(What is even the name of that race, by the way?) I ask Sophie.

(Selari. You should know that by now,) she answers.

Then we watch as that selari Champion smiles brightly, taking in the applause. But after a few seconds, he lifts his arm, and silence ensues.

The selari Champion pauses for a moment, not for effect, but as if he were measuring his thoughts before speaking. As he speaks, his voice echoes throughout the hall, as if he were standing directly in front of me.

“Let us discuss something they will not teach you here,” he says, his tone light but distant. “Not because it is forbidden or dangerous, but because no one wants to admit how little control there really is once certain lines are crossed.”

He takes a breath, then continues, speaking deliberately.

“When two Champions fight, the entire world watches. But I have always wondered: What exactly are they watching for? The techniques? The scale? Maybe. But if you look too closely, you will see that it is not a fight but a collapse. It is the moment all the rules stop applying.”

He speaks as if he were explaining a concept he's considered all too often.

“Even the strongest formations and arrays, even our reinforced cities, despite being designed to survive right on the edge of the battlefield, all of it becomes irrelevant once both sides stop holding back. The ambient mana alone begins to rewrite the terrain. Not intentionally, just as a byproduct of who we are.”

He glances upward briefly, then back ahead, looking between a few people in the dead silent crowd.

“There is this idea that a fight between Champions is a contest of wills. It is not. In my opinion, it is a contest of consequences. It is a show of how much destruction one side is willing to tolerate for the sake of victory.”

He takes a few steps that seem to echo much like his voice.

“I used to think the danger was the violence itself: the cities falling, the land splitting, the disruptions to the weather, not to mention the permanent environmental changes, leaving entire continents uninhabitable. But as I've grown older, I've begun to think the real danger is how quickly everything breaks down once a Champion stops caring about the cost. Because the other one must match that disregard just to survive.”

Those last two sentences resonate in my mind. There is something about them I know I will remember for later reflection.

The selari man's eyes narrow slightly, his expression thoughtful, though not unkind.

“You can prepare for the arrival of a Champion. You can build defenses. But what do you do when two of them treat the battlefield itself as expendable? When mana stops flowing around the world and starts carving paths through it?”

He lets that question hang without rushing to fill the silence.

“That is what they do not teach you here. It is not because it is too advanced, but because there is nothing you can do about it. There is no defense; you can only delay. There is no victory, only a lesser loss. At least, that is what I think, for whatever it is worth.”

He pauses, then finally adds, “So, if you ever hear that two Champions are fighting, do not think about watching. Do not analyze. Just ask yourself one question: how far are you from the epicenter?”

And with that, he falls silent, his expression unreadable, and very slowly, he smiles. It is a tired but somewhat gentle smile.

He then speaks further about his travels, interactions with other Champions, and similar topics, but none of it sticks in my mind like that beginning.

Barely a few hours after the visiting Champion departs, I find myself standing behind Professor Elian during our third lesson together.

Even as the professor instructs me to provide orbs for all thirty-eight students present, my thoughts remain elsewhere. I observe Elian and wonder why he feels so similar to that Champion. Is it just a mask he wears, an aura cultivated by the scions of powerful families? Is it an arrogance rooted in his skills? Is he hiding something?

“Assistant Professor Gwyn, may I ask you to lower the difficulty of the orbs you've created for the students so that they can practice?” his voice scolds, bringing me back to the class.

I examine my orbs and observe the students. Although thirty-eight orbs hover in the class, and all the students give their utmost effort, not a single orb wavers under their disruption attempts.

Apologizing, I lower the difficulty as requested and refocus on the lesson.

Later that day, as we talk in the Community, Izzy chatters away about the transfer student. As she mentioned before, the student is a ten-year-old human girl and, as rumored, she is strong, possibly approaching Level 350.

All that without the help of the tutorial… I pause my thoughts. Or maybe not? What if she came from a different planet that just ended its tutorial, making her part of the First Generation? What a fascinating thought.

I mention my theory in the Community, and some of them seem to find it as fascinating as I do. Yet still, Izzy warns me not to rush into anything. As much as there are rules in the Academy, they are worth nothing if somebody breaks them and kills you before you manage to file a complaint.

So another person gets added to the mix. Tyven, Ari, that human girl, Elian, and god knows who else.

I also notice an unusual rush as a number of servants move through the Academy. They try to avoid notice, but something about them feels off, if only from their twitchy movements and erratic heartbeats.

When I mention it in the Community, Izzy confirms it as well. She doesn't probe too deeply, but something seems to have happened.

A bit later, despite the rules and possible breach of decorum, multiple powerful, large-area scans sweep across the entire Academy and likely reach much farther. In addition, I notice a few flying figures, resembling search helicopters, scanning the area around the Academy.

Observing them, I head to the offices to meet the head accountant, who doesn't make me wait long. Soon, I enter a very nice office, where I am offered something to drink and snacks as I sit in a very comfortable armchair and wait for just a few seconds while a short man with a well-kept beard goes through the documents.

“Here it is! Assistant Professor Nathaniel Gwyn. As per your instructions, your salary is to be paid weekly, in person, and as you have noted, it just happens to be payday.”

“Seems like it,” I confirm.

“Well, give me a moment, then.” He uses his mana to create a difficult, quickly changing mana pattern that unlocks a smaller safe behind him.

Reaching inside, he withdraws a small metal disc and hands it to me. “May I ask you to channel just a tiny bit of your mana into this?”

I do as I am told, and the thing lights up.

“Great, your identity has been confirmed. Now, as an assistant professor under Professor Elian, you are to be paid…” He quickly reads the document. “Exactly eight obsidian drachs per week.”

He turns again, reaching into another safe that seems to be even more secure. From it, he draws a set of tiny, obsidian-black rods of metal. He counts eight of them, places them into a nice pouch, then closes it and sets it on a silver tray laid out on the table, and moves the tray over to me.

“May I ask if everything is in order with your salary, Assistant Professor Gwyn?”

“Yes, it is,” I confirm and stand up.

Still extremely nice and polite, he follows by my side, not attempting small talk, and walks with me until we exit the offices, where he wishes me a nice day.

Not caring that much about how it might look, I pick one of the tiny black cylinders and examine it a bit before throwing it back inside the pouch.

Before I even reach my rooms, I find out the reason for the erratic mood the Academy seems to have fallen into.

The selari Champion has been found dead on Academy grounds.

Chapter 59

Inseparable

Imust admit, this floor is growing increasingly intriguing. First, we have the missing thermonuclear warhead, which I still haven't located, the mystery of the Ruler candidate, and now the Champion's died without even destroying the entire Academy or the continent in the process.

Just a few minutes ago, passing by one of the glass statues, I noticed my reflection in it, and my lips twisted into what almost looked like a wide grin. Most other people might miss the change, but I see my, as some would say, punchable, face often enough to recognize the difference.

The feel of wanting to fight, to level up, and battle monsters or people has been replaced by sheer curiosity and intrigue. Fuck the system and tutorial, but sometimes the floors can be very interesting. It makes me wonder if this is all we get or if there will be more twists to come.

Even the thought of heading to Beyond leaves my mind, and I decide to devote my full attention to this floor.

As I make my rounds through the Academy's halls, surreptitiously searching for the missing thermonuclear warhead, I observe an extremely erratic mood. It is something you can almost feel in the air and see in the movements of the people around me. The Champion is dead. He was one of nine Champions of this planet and likely one of the ten most powerful people to walk its surface.

Just like that, with no fanfare, only for his cold body to be found by the staff.

I still haven't managed to pick up any additional information. I am curious about his condition, what killed him, where he was found, and dozens of other questions. But the information has not been shared at all. It is impressive that news of his death even managed to leak at all; I would have expected them to keep it secret. That's what I would've done, given how massive the consequences of his death are likely to be.

One thing I know, and that surprises me, is that I would have expected them to lock down the Academy so no one could enter or exit. Instead, they locked the entire region, dozens of square miles, and everyone inside it.

There's already a huge barrier set up around the entire area, and it's been said that two Champions are standing guard just outside the barrier.

And despite all that, life in the Academy goes on. Visits to nearby cities or smaller villages are still allowed; they do not seem to care about that kind of movement at all.

I'm also surprised the Champions aren't here, inside of the barrier, and searching for the killer. What could be the reason? Politics? Are they scared of whoever or whatever managed to kill the Champion so easily?

The whole thing brings to mind the rumored weapon the Absolute left behind, said to be capable of killing even a Champion. Could it be? If so, what kind of maniac is the Absolute to simply leave such a weapon behind for anyone to use?

This is way too much fun.

Heading back to my office, I meet an interesting man.

We've already collected information on some of the more famous professors, and the man I bump into turns out to be one of them. I've already forgotten his name, but I remember his appearance for a simple reason: he's a demon, one of the very few demons in the Academy and certainly the only demon professor.

His horns are black with that typical texture I've observed in Vega and Lioren. They also curve backward, but in a manner entirely different from Lioren's.

He appears older, maybe around forty years old. He has the same white hair and red eyes that most demons have. His hair is on the shorter end and carefully styled into what is probably a fashionable hairstyle. I am not exactly an expert in style. Tess could probably tell, given how often she likes to change up her hairstyle.

Another detail that interests me, and the whole reason I remembered him, is that he is rumored to possess three primordial energies, with void being confirmed and the other two left as the subject of rumor. Even here, it's viewed as something exceedingly rare.

As I notice the beat of his heart, he becomes aware of mine, and we both stop and stare at each other. So void, and on top of that…definitely kinetic energy. I can tell right away from his pulse.

I spent nearly a year with the best and coolest kinetic energy user to ever live. It would be weird for me not to notice.

But he can probably discern the same information from mine. He is a demon, after all, and these guys are attuned to hearts to such a high degree it's unhealthy.

He keeps looking at me, and I keep looking at him, both of us grasping the other's power just from these small signs, but not pushing further. For a moment, his red eyes seem to gain that shine, and I almost expect him to smile in that demonic, maniacal way and start talking trash about my heart or try to get into a fight.

Instead, he nods just once and then continues on his way in a very undemonic display of behavior.

I place back the seal on Ignition Heart that I partially lifted and also stop generating kinetic energy, something I had almost not realized I was doing.

Back in my office, I sit in the chair and put my legs up on the remaining box containing the thermonuclear warhead. Then I open my status and choose a three skills combination token.

I could probably be more patient, but after nine days here, I feel like I've already gathered plenty of information, especially with the help of the others. Plus, I would've just ended up doing it my way anyway, so there's no real reason to wait any longer.

“I want to use my three skills combination token.”

You have used an active skill combination token. Please pick three from the following to combine.

Warning: Combining three skills will reduce the level of the acquired skill.

Warning: A combination of incompatible skills may result in inferior skill.

Warning: After combining the skills, it will become extremely difficult to acquire the skills used for the combination.

Please select the main skill of the combination and two supportive skills.

List of available skills to combine:

Perception - Level 62

Mana Domain (Pride) - Level 61

Mana Crown - Level 55

Mana Manipulation - Level 67

Ley Line - Level 54

Knitting - Level 37

“[Ley Line] as the main skill, [Mana Manipulation] and [Mana Domain] as supportive.”

Congratulations, you have successfully combined [Ley Line], [Mana Domain], and [Mana Manipulation]! A new skill has been created.

You have acquired [Ur Line].

[Ur Line - Level 0 Ur Line - Level 9]

The active skill affected by the effect of your subclass (Pride) has been removed. Please choose an active skill to apply it to.

“Apply it to [Eclipse],” I say, and the effect is applied.

Lately, [Mana Domain] and [Eclipse] have started to feel really similar to me—the only difference seems to be that [Eclipse] is clearly a higher-tier skill—so I've been wanting to get rid of [Mana Domain] for a while. It will be more difficult to handle my mana without it, but it'll still be doable.

Before I examine my new skill, let's try this.

I create a single evil orb 3.0, inspired by Lissandra's, and then modify it to the point where I begin practicing mana shaping, which even now gives me trouble.

Let's see how long this will⁠—

Congratulations, you have acquired a new skill!

[Mana Manipulation]

[Mana Manipulation – Level 0 Mana Manipulation – Level 61]

Welcome back, my precious. It seems like the two of us are inseparable. Nothing pleases me more than giving the middle finger to the system.

Difficult to relearn? Yeah, no. I call bullshit.

Even now, I remain unstoppable! I have experience with the skill, and soon I will catch up and level it back up. I just need to prove my mastery to the system.

Growing impatient, I use [Ur Line] for the first time, and the feeling isn't much different from [Ley Line]. Externally, I observe it slightly without digging too deep, but for now, it's hard to even perceive, and I am the one who created it.

It might be the effect of the skill, or it might still be low level, but it is my line, so it is there. Its color is not that pale blue shimmer as before, but something difficult to describe. I wouldn't exactly call it colorless, but I also can't say it has any color I know. It seems to shift, while at the same time, it doesn't quite feel like it's transitioning through any other colors.

Well, let's examine this baby. I activate my Mana Wavelength Iris to the maximum and look into the area occupied by the short line I've created.

Then I pass out.

I open my eyes, confused, staggered; it takes me a few seconds before I remember what happened.

What nonsense.

I activate my eyes to the maximum and raise the mana flowing through my body. I check just in case, and my passives are active, all of them. Then I look at the same place.

The world turns black.

Once again, I open my eyes, staggered and surprised.

Right away, I activate my Mana Wavelength Iris, and a bit of my mana compresses and turns black, just enough to support my body and mind.

Then I look at the line. And it is beautiful: a short line barely the length of my arm, wavering in the air, unseen and undetectable to anyone without a high degree of skill. The mana around it twists and weaves. Mana wavelengths and ambient mana react to it in such an erratic way that it seems almost impossible to understand or predict. The line itself feels unearthly.

Colorless, yet beautifully enchanting. I am not a poet, so simply said, it is pretty and it looks cool.

Then I pass out again.

When I wake up this time, I keep my eyes deactivated and instead use only [Perception] to examine the line, and unsurprisingly, I do not pass out this time. My body does not shut down to protect me.

As expected, the problem turns out to be my Mana Wavelength Iris and the amount of information it can gather and my inability to process it all. With my other weaker senses, it is fine.

The line is not as pretty, and I barely see the wavelengths. Seen this way, it looks almost like [Ley Line], to the point that it feels almost exactly the same.

Next comes some testing. I stretch it across longer and longer distances. I send mana through, teleport, and perform the basic functions I usually use it for. For now, I decide not to try materializing it. Everything I've seen thus far with my trait suggests that it would be a very, very bad idea.

After a few hours, I also conclude that [Ur Line] handles anything I throw at it like a champ. Even this lower-level version can transmit almost the same amount of mana as before.

It could probably be used to stun any more perceptive types trying to observe me: just form it in front of me and then watch it overwhelm their senses. That could be fun.

I'll also have to do some testing with Sophie and the twins to see how well others can perceive it. It is fairly difficult, even for me to notice, so it's bound to be better hidden than [Ley Line]—if I decide to keep it that way. I already know how to make lines more noticeable to others if I so choose.

It seems like a straight upgrade of an already ridiculously powerful skill. There is also a feeling that there's something else the skill may be hiding, but I can't quite perceive it without passing out.

Anyway, I'll get around to it later. But my idea of surrounding the entire Earth with permanent lines to create my own personal teleportation network still stands.

Chapter 60

Eleventh Day

It's our tenth day at the Academy, and I find it strange that the other Champions have yet to enter the area and investigate the cause of death. Min-Jae thinks they might be preoccupied with maintaining the barrier to contain the possible killer while acting as guards to prevent other Champions from entering. The current geopolitical situation is likely quite unstable.

Additionally, since the Academy doesn't belong to any nation, allowing Champions from one country to enter and threaten important individuals from other nations is probably out of the question. Or perhaps they're just afraid of whatever killed the selari Champion; at least that's what Maya and I think.

Although it could just be that this floor's settings, unlike the previous floors that encompassed entire worlds, has been limited to a specific region: the Academy, just one or two nearby cities, and a few villages.

Despite all of this, the studying continues. When these students have children of their own, they'll have every right to say, “You don't want to learn because there's a little snow between you and the school? When I was young, we studied even after the Champion died, leaving us under threat of world war!”

Or something of that nature. A trump card for the ages.

Of course, the search continues along with the Academy-wide scans. Every so often, someone finds themselves being stopped by polite men in uniforms for a few questions and occasionally called in for further questioning. I'm also fairly certain that some of the rooms are being searched as well.

If they search mine, I just hope they don't find the thermonuclear warhead hidden under a blanket with a few pieces of clothing tossed on top.

However, the day is pleasant, and my mood has been greatly improved by the presence of the puppy-sized Biscuit, whom I currently find myself carrying in my arms. He is still sleeping, still as cute and fuzzy as ever. Occasionally, he growls in his sleep, although it might simply be his stomach.

According to Tess, he only ever seems to wake for an hour per day before succumbing to his terrible food coma once more. Apparently, eating the special experimental Baby Progenitor Mimic created by the Progenitor Mimic has caused the same kind of trouble that eating the creepy, weakened deer Champion did.

Part of me wonders if his giga form was a side effect of eating that mimic, and if so, what exactly did he get from the little abomination and the deer? Tess knows, but she's been refusing to tell us. With that all-knowing smile of hers, she brushes us off and just tells us to wait, likely so she can enjoy our surprise.

What an asshole.

I would totally do exactly the same.

With Biscuit, I reach the building where I have a lesson with Ari and Kays. Both of them are already waiting, along with the redheaded guard, Melo.

“You're late,” Kays complains immediately.

“I was stopped and questioned by the detectives,” I reply.

“What? Really? They suspect you?”

“No, I lied, I just almost forgot we had a lesson.”

“What the fuck!” Kays shouts in his usual manner.

“So, what is it today? After the last time, I realized I don't have to study for the lesson with you two, and now I only know it has something to do with a sensory deprivation tank.”

“Melo, please tell me you're hearing this shit, too.”

“I do, Sir Kays.”

“Should we report him?”

“If you do, I'll fail you for the grade or perhaps claim I saw you sneaking around the palace where the Champion died before he did, or something,” I say, pulling Biscuit away from Ari, who reaches out for him with three of her six arms.

“I want to pet it!” she complains.

“And I want to triple my mana. So what?” I say, taking another step back and heading inside the huge building. The inside is shaped like a large black cube. There are no windows, and the walls appear to be composed of hundreds of thousands of tiny hexagonal tiles.

The three of them follow behind me, and as we enter, the door closes behind us. In that moment, it's almost as if the world outside does not exist. The ambient mana, the arrays placed all over the Academy, the mana seeping from people or inscriptions, all the sounds and smells: everything is gone.

I walk up to a man behind the counter within, as he glances at Biscuit before looking at me. Even as I hand him the document confirming our reservation, he continues to glance at Biscuit rather than at the paper.

Once everything is confirmed, he shows us the way, and I head to the room marked with the number 3. Unwilling to let go of the corgi or disrupt his sleep, I create arms from my mana and use them to open the door and enter.

Once all of us make our way inside and confirm that we're alone, I look around before moving toward the control panel in the middle of the room. The room itself has no furniture, just thousands of hexagonal patterns covering the walls, all in matte black.

I don't even ask what we should be doing, as I am too curious. I quickly find a multi-setting control on the panel and activate the first option. With that, the world blacks out. My sight, smell, sense of taste, and even hearing all disappear at once as I allow the effect to take hold.

Through my kinetic senses, I notice surprised twitches and movements from Ari and Kays, who look around with what feels like a moment of panic. Melo just continues to stand there, but I'm sure he's examining the area as his body continues to face me, even as I stride across the room.

It feels extremely strange to walk around without so much as the sensation of my feet touching the floor or the vibrations running through my body. Without my kinetic senses, I wouldn't even know that I was in motion.

Lastly, I observe Ari, for whom this should be the first time in a sensory deprivation tank. Her reaction is much the same as Kays's: initial confusion, followed by her senses probing the area. I cannot discern anything remarkable.

There is no instantaneous display of extraordinary perception. However, one thing does greatly bother me: her actions closely resemble those of Kays, as if she were limiting herself to his level or merely imitating him after some initial observation.

I take a few steps and stop in front of Kays, under the watchful eyes of his guard. It takes Kays a few seconds to sense me before he steps back. I reach out my hand toward him and tap the top of his head. He doesn't seem to sense anything, but this time he reacts faster and moves his hand toward mine, but too late.

Then I do the same with Ari, who detects me more quickly and even attempts to avoid me, but in the end, I still succeed in tapping the top of her head.

Taking a few more steps, I move and come to a stop beside Melo, whose head continues to follow me. From that distance, I create two fist-sized mana orbs of not too high density and turn to him, in what I assume is a questioning manner.

Even though he cannot see or hear me, and I cannot feel his mana, he seems to understand, and I sense him nodding.

Then I shoot an orb at Ari and Kays, striking their legs with the same amount of force as if I threw a tennis ball. Of course, they cannot sense the pain, and I did not use much force, but I am certain that the more I strike them now, the more it will hurt when their senses return.

I mean, I would prefer something like an arrow to heighten their sense of danger to encourage a quicker rate of improvement. Maybe I can bring the twins here later, or something. I quite like this room, and I already feel the need to examine it further so I can construct something similar in the future.

After my orbs strike them a few more times, Kays and Ari seem to understand and do their best to dodge.

Each time they seem to have adapted, I make the orb more difficult to detect and continue my barrage. When they try to cheat by detecting my position, I create fake mana signatures of myself around the room. Something I picked up from the twins, though I'm not at their level, but they're certainly good enough to trick someone less perceptive.

At the same time, I train as well. I keep switching between sensing heat, kinetic energy, or mana, exploring their differences and advantages. I also make a number of attempts to pierce the shielding of the room and sense signatures outside, but it feels nearly impossible, and I don't even manage to get close.

I also tweak my Mana Cycling and attempt to use other skills. Without the ability to feel pain or my body at all, it is somewhat worrisome. I could have made a mistake while Mana Cycling, and my body might be suffering damage from mana spiraling out of control, and I wouldn't even notice due to the absence of pain and my other senses.

After a while, I become bored and touch the control panel again, causing our senses to return in an instant.

Ari and Kays groan in pain, holding the areas where I struck them multiple times when they weren't improving quickly enough. There is some talk of abuse, a few threats, and even the rare card called “I will tell my dad!” is mentioned.

So, to make them happy, the next round focuses on them trying to detect and attack me. I am about to make an offer, a reward if they manage to hit me at least once, but they do not hear it, too excited over the chance to harm me.

What vile creatures.

In the end, neither of them can hit me, and neither notices the smaller orb I use to continuously strike their backs at the same spot. After we end, this prompts another round of complaints about rule breaking, despite the lack of clear rules, and allegations of student abuse.

They call this abuse?

With that, the lesson ends, and I head to meet the others, accompanied by the best doggo of the Academy.

On the eleventh day, we decide that none of us is going to join the trip being offered by the Academy. While it has its advantages, it also comes with responsibilities. Despite everything happening, some students choose to go, but we decide to stay here, just in case.

If the opportunity arises, though, I'll go along next time. There are two options: travel by magic train or magic airship, both of which are certainly intriguing. Perhaps I've simply found myself missing the Deathtrap. That old, rusty thing was cool, too, wasn't it?

Lost in thought while walking through the hallway, I blink and suddenly find myself in a different place. I have not used teleportation, nor have I sensed anyone trying to move me, but out of nowhere, I find myself standing in the same room we appeared in at the start of the floor.

Every member of group 4 is here as well, looking around in confusion.

“What just happened? Last I knew, I was guarding that little shit,” Maya asks, being the first to speak.

The others quickly exchange words while I keep quiet and begin scanning the area around us and the room for mana, arrays, and inscriptions. I activate my eyes and search for traces of forced teleport. I activate my Mana Wavelength Tyrant passive and so forth.

I even use black mana to boost my processing speed, but I find nothing. There is no sign I can pick up on, which leaves only two possibilities: either someone extremely powerful did this and moved us here for unknown reasons, or the system itself did.

But what purpose could moving us here serve? Could it just be for shits and giggles?

I glance around the room and the items around us. Then I check my status. Both leave me even more confused.

Leaving the others behind to talk, I allow Sophie to add me to her web and head outside despite their protests.

The room I exit leads to the same beautiful garden as before: fruit trees, flowers, fountains. Scattered around are small groups of students, each wearing the same attire as those in group 4. They act as if they were unaffected by what just happened to us.

Everything appears normal. There is no threat I could sense, no wide-range scan going on.

Then a voice calls from behind me, “Assistant Professor Gwyn, may I ask where you have been this entire time?”

I turn around and find myself looking at Professor Elian.

“Why do you look so confused? This is your first day, and yet you are already late and slacking off in the gardens,” he says.

He continues with a stream of intriguing, and at times subtly insulting, remarks, spoken just loud enough not to carry far and only after making sure no one is watching or listening. A weak barrier flickering around us.

As a group of students passes by, and he lowers his voice further and greets them with a brilliant smile. A few girls in the group blush and start giggling, while one of the boys bows slightly, clearly admiring him.

That smile remains only until they have passed, and then he turns to me: “Do you not know how to speak?”

I answer, “I do. I apologize; I simply got lost.”

He shakes his head. “I will see you later. I hope you manage to be more punctual than you seem to be now.”

With that, he leaves.

Not bothering to examine further, I head back to the room. After inspecting our belongings again, I realize that all our items are here, just as they were when the floor began. Even both of my thermonuclear warheads.

Lastly, I open my status screen, confirming that my newest skill is gone and the token is back.

Otherwise, my stats are exactly as they were when the floor started.

Chapter 61

Many Questions

“Have we been sent back in time?” Maya asks as we take a moment to regroup in the room that is now closed, locked, and reinforced with a few barriers for good measure.

“The timer hasn't been reset, and it continues to tick down; whatever happened, it only seems to have reset the floor and our stats.” As he likes to do, Min-Jae is touching his lips while thinking. And all the while, he's staring into the empty space in front of him.

I can almost hear his brain trying to process it all.

Meanwhile, I sit in my manabloc chair, which I turn into a rocking chair, and start to rock back and forth while holding Biscuit on my lap.

Maya looks around at us. “So outside of the tutorial, this original planet, Academy, whatever was turning back in time?”

“We don't know if it'll happen again; maybe this was the only reset, and the floor will continue normally now,” Min-Jae answers.

“Was it the Ruler candidate that made it happen? The Absolute? A passing Ruler?” Aaron asks.

“I don't think it's actually possible to travel back in time, Aaron,” Tess says calmly. “I don't think even the Rulers are capable of that. What do you think, Nat?”

“Yup, I agree.”

Dennis chuckles for a moment, confusion nearly audible in that laugh. “So maybe fake Ruler candidate floor and fake time travel? But even our stats have gone back to what they were when we entered the floor, so how is that possible?”

I scratch Biscuit behind the ears and turn to the bolder of the twins. “Why wouldn't it be possible? Back during the tournament, we were reset to our original state whenever we died. Granted, that original, healthy state only dated back to just before the event, but it still proves it can be done. And yes, our skill levels remained unchanged during the tournament, but that only shows it should be possible to do the modifications to allow for something similar.”

“Okay,” Dennis turns to me, “so let us say this happens again and our time 'resets' or whatever. Our stats revert back to their state at the start of the floor, but our knowledge will remain, and it will be easier to regain those skill levels. However, if we leveled up by killing monsters, we would need to kill them again.”

“Possibly.”

“Don't you think that's bullshit, then?”

“Why?”

“I leveled up my skills during the time here, and now I need to do it again?”

I snort. “Don't be dumb. We'll figure out how it happened. Plus, you will regain them faster, but Dennis, my friend, my buddy, my man, aren't you hoping it'll happen again? Every one of you got one million shards after the last floor. So why not experiment?

If the reset repeats, you can, with every reset, buy a different set of passives and experiment with them. Maybe you can combine different active skills if you still have an active skill combination token, as some of the others. Maybe you can buy a skill upgrade token, upgrade a skill, train the upgraded part, and then when it resets, you'll learn how to do it even without the upgrade if you're truly capable.”

I feel my excitement grow as the thought of how much this could be abused if there are more resets. Who cares about having to level up skills again and similar things?

Looking at Dennis, I continue, “You could spend all the shards and then get them back again during the reset and spend them again to maximize your gains. Or, given that you now know what's going to happen over the next few days, do not tell me you cannot come up with a way to use it to your advantage, even if it's just for a bit of fun?”

That shuts the blond boy up for a moment, and I can see him starting to turn things over in his head. And I see everyone else following suit.

But then Tess ruins it. “I would advise against being too rash, just in case it doesn't happen again. Even if it repeats a few times, we cannot be sure it's not going to just stop out of nowhere. So I would very, very strongly recommend always choosing an option that can be fixed later or that you won't regret in the future.”

“We know the Champion's going to die on the ninth day. Should we save him?” Min-Jae asks out of nowhere.

“That's not that dumb, right? If we help him, it could earn us some really nice rewards,” Maya jumps in, seeming excited at the thought.

Tess ruins the mood again. “Do we really want to mess with someone who can kill a being incomparably stronger than us, especially when they did so without destroying half the continent in the process?”

Once again, everyone falls into a deep state of contemplation.

Then Sophie comes to a conclusion of her own. “Question: forget for now that we do not know what causes the reset, but if we reset, did the Ruler candidate reset as well, or is it just us, with our status as attendees reset? Another question: is this a setting of the tutorial, and the reset depends on the floor quest of the eighth floor and was added because of the tutorial, or is it part of the original Academy, where someone seemingly reset time?”

At this point, some of the group seem pained by thinking. There are just too many options, with no information, only speculation. The main point of speculation being the reset. I like how quickly everyone jumps to the idea that it'll continue to repeat. Maybe they're just hoping it'll happen again.

Something like that just seems too good not to hope for. But at the same time, it could be dangerous.

Another question that I've found picking at my brain is the thing Sophie mentioned. If we are really resetting, and it might happen again, is the candidate resetting as well? If so, is it just the candidate and no one else? If so, what do we need to protect them from, if it is only the candidate? If that's the case, is this a setting of the floor?

If not, is it something an Absolute or Ruler managed to do outside the tutorial? How would something like this even be possible?

I filter out the others and think. Let us say it is not unlike how the tutorial can store and restore our bodies when we die during the tournament, except that here, the condition for triggering the reset is something other than death. If that were the case, I would say it'd have to be the work of a Ruler; after all, I don't think an Absolute would be capable of imitating or using the structure of something implemented by the system.

Especially when it involves something on the scale of an entire planet and… I stop my thoughts.

Is it the entire planet? I don't know how useful that information would be, but if it is the entire planet, I would have to suspect it's a mechanism implemented by the tutorial. If it were a smaller area, then that would make it possible that a Ruler did it in the first place using the original Academy and that the system just copied their work to use it for this floor.

Someone else arrives at a similar conclusion. “How about this time we act as carefully as before and just intensify our attempts at locating the candidate? I would also like some of us to examine the boundaries of the floor,” Tess says.

“I'll do it,” I say. “I can quit my job. Worst case, they fire me before I do. And I'm taking Biscuit with me.”

“What about your nukes?” Maya asks.

“I don't know. Just let them steal them again or something.”

“Sometimes the words that come from your mouth make me want to punch you, Nat.”

“Sounds reasonable. Why don't you try it?”

“Nah, you'd just kick my ass. I ain't doing that shit.”

“Understandable.”

“Yes.” She nods.

I stay a bit longer to listen to the others and their plans and then head out to leave after sharing some of my ideas.

Taking a few things with me, I combine my skills the same way I did before, in case the “reset” does not happen again, regaining [Ur Line]. Then I head toward what I expect to be the professors' headquarters, where, after explaining what I want, I meet with the vice director of the Academy.

Entering the huge, round office at the top of the tower with floor-to-ceiling windows covering half the room and offering an incredible view, I stop and wait.

The vice director turns out to be someone I know, a selari woman dressed in a pointy hat, robe, with a cute owl on her shoulder.

Instead of greeting me, or saying anything else for that matter, she asks, “Can I pet your bond?”

Hoo, hoo!

The tiny owl shouts next to her and pecks the woman on her shoulder with its tiny, cute beak.

“No,” I reply.

“I see. Assistant Professor Gwyn, may I ask why you find yourself wanting to leave the Academy mere hours after stepping onto its grounds?”

“Professor Elian is a dick. I do not think I'll be able to work with him.”

“Understandable. Are you aware of the penalty for breaking the contract you've signed with the Academy?”

“Not really.”

“If I recall correctly, the fine measures out to one year's salary, coming out to a total of three ivory drachen and eighty-three obsidian drachen in total.”

“That sounds like a lot.”

“It does, does it not? Have you changed your mind?”

“When do I have to pay it?”

“What an unusual question. As with all legal documents, you are required to pay your fine within thirty days of breach, after which it will increase by one hundred percent for every week until another month passes, and the authorities will be notified.”

“Sounds good. I'm still quitting.”

“Understood. Before you leave, though, I have to tell you that I am willing to pay fifty percent of your fine out of my pocket if you would be amenable to letting me hold and pet your bond for five minutes.”

“No.”

“Very well, it was nice meeting you, Mister Nathaniel Gwyn.”

“Goodbye.”

For the next seven days, I take my time traveling around the region. I go on foot, fly when possible, and occasionally make use of the trains or airships that serve as public transportation here.

Of course, I don't really have any of the local currency, so I always barter some item, or a technique I've inscribed, or some stuff I buy from the system shop.

Twice, I find myself having to refuse to sell Biscuit.

Biscuit, when he wakes up each day, refuses to fly around or move at all; instead, he makes me carry him and keeps asking for food.

This floor, at least as far as I can tell, suffers from a severe lack of high-quality deer jerky, so I offer him some other meat I manage to buy or steal to sate his hunger. It is a cheap price to pay to keep him from devouring this world.

(Food?)

“No, that huge lizard pulling on the carriage is not food.”

(Food!)

“Now that just doesn't make any sense. What do you mean by: why is it food shaped, then? Where did you learn that? Have you been spending too much time with the twins? Have they managed to ruin you?”

(Friend!)

“Yes, I know you've been with Tess. Good job, by the way. She told me about the promises she made to you, and I'll make sure to fulfill them all as soon as possible.”

(Asshole.)

“Yes, I know you would have done it anyway, but are you going to refuse?”

The corgi seems to be seriously thinking about something, but the answer comes just as expected.

(Food!)

“I thought so. I like that approach. By the way, don't think I don't see you watching that huge lizard a bit too intently. I am serious; please do not eat it.”

To avoid answering, he starts blinking and yawns and pretends to slowly fall into yet another food coma. As with many of the things I've encountered on this floor, even this is just a fake food coma.

And we continue to travel for another seven days.

During that time, we pass the eleventh day, when the reset happened before, and it does not occur again.

In that time, I move slowly to make sure to enjoy my travels. I visit several different places and spend a few days training or simply walking through smaller villages. I spend several days on an airship and take some time to travel by a low-class train powered by something I still do not understand.

The area surrounding the Academy is pleasant, and the weather is so consistently good that I begin to wonder if some of the webs I've seen around the region aren't simply there to maintain it. It should be possible to set up weather-controlling arrays like that, create a few logic cores to set the parameters, like creating rain when they detect a need for rain, or blocking sunlight when things need to cool off, or remove the clouds for a nice sunny day.

I believe someone smart enough, given enough time, would even be able to create storms, violent winds, and all sorts of destructive weather if they really wanted to.

In the end, I also find out that the edges of the region form a near-perfect circle around the border, which includes the Academy and its surroundings.

None of the natives seem to realize it, and none of the natives, as far as I can see, enter or leave the region surrounding the Academy.

That region is a few dozen miles wide. And the Academy sits right in the center, with a small city placed nearby and six villages spaced throughout the province.

But that's all.

There's already a barrier in place when I reach the border. It existed long before the selari Champion died again and the two incoming Champions supposedly created the barrier around the region.

A few times, I ask the natives about the places beyond this region; they talk about it and seem to have a lot of knowledge about the surrounding areas. But no matter who they are, they have no idea about the field I've perceived around the place.

I even offer five low-arcane items I bought from the system shop to a smaller group of natives in an attempt to get them to leave. They agree, but when it comes to leaving, they just stand a few steps before the barrier starts and then return with these blank expressions and not remembering anything. That likely confirms my suspicion that the region affected by the “resets” is just the Academy and surroundings and not the entire world.

That also more or less confirms that it has to be the work of the Ruler who made use of some system mechanism to create it and not “just” the setting of the floor.

It also makes me ninety percent sure the reset will happen again, even if it's a bit late this time.

With that comes a question: where did the selari Champion come from? If my theory is correct, he couldn't have come from outside, meaning he was in the region since the start of the “loop” and just didn't come to the Academy until the ninth day.

I think of exploring the barrier myself, but this barrier or “cutout” of the world is beyond anything I understand. It's clearly been set up by someone much more powerful than me.

Honestly, I think I'll just die if I try to pass through. No, I am almost sure of it. It's just that scary.

Over the next few days, I set up a camp near it, observing it and testing stuff. They turn out to be surprisingly nice and calm days, and I enjoy spending them with Biscuit very much.

While observing it one day, I blink and find myself back in the room surrounded by the other members of group 4.

I glance outside, and the park I remembered earlier looks exactly the same. This time, I even see Professor Elian in the distance, speaking with another professor.

The second reset has finally happened.

Chapter 62

Even More Questions

“So, the first reset happened on the eleventh day. The second reset happened on the fifteenth day. Does this mean the length of the⁠—”

“Loops!” Dennis shouts, interrupting Tess.

She looks at him and then shrugs. “Length of the loops is either increasing or they're random? It's also possible they're being triggered by an event we don't know about. The important question is if the Ruler candidate is in the loops with us. If yes, another question is how they would react to that. Would they try to kill us or contact us? If they're in here with us, it's highly possible that they've already realized we're 'looping' with them. It's even possible that they noticed during our first loop.”

Sophie joins in, “But we still have to protect the candidate. Wouldn't that imply that they're caught in the loop as well and should have realized what's going on? Or will we keep getting looped until we protect the candidate? And what do we need to protect them from?”

“Assassins?” Dennis replies, drawing more attention to himself. “Maybe they're after the candidate? So perhaps that means the candidate is hiding?”

(Food?!)

“No, he wasn't talking about hiding food,” I inform Biscuit.

“Unfortunately, our shards have been reset as well,” Min-Jae says from the side. “Otherwise that would allow Nat to track down all the best materials, sell an item, then in the next loop find the same materials and sell the same item again, but quicker. But with the way our shards keep resetting, it's not possible.”

“Shame, isn't it?” I complain.

Tess chimes in. “We still can't be too greedy. We don't know if there will be a third reset or, if yes, how many there will be, so…just be careful. All of you. I know some of you, Nat, will probably want to do a bunch of risky things, but don't push things until we find out a bit more.”

“Did you mention my name by mistake, Tess?”

“Did I?”

“Anyway, you already have all the info I collected outside, so I'm going to go get insulted by that douche Elian.”

With that, I leave, and the others follow soon after. It might be me, but some of them seem way too excited for all of this.

After hearing the same words again from Elian and watching servants carry my things to the office, I sit there, putting my legs up on the two boxes.

Looking at them, I wonder if I should try a more thorough method of securing them or simply wait for the thief. Though maybe I should ignore them entirely. Maybe I could sell them for information because it looks like knowledge is the most valuable thing we'll be able to get here. Of course, with all of this, we cannot forget the Ruler candidate, whoever it might be.

I grab a piece of paper from the table and start writing down all the important events I know will happen.

day 1 - Professor Elian dissing me

day 2 - Free day, meeting Maya, Tess, and the twins, while the others are busy—if we decide to follow the first loop's schedule

day 3 - First lesson with Elian—getting “punished,” Meeting Lily and other healers during her picnic, if I walk around again, and if she goes on a picnic again

day 4 - Ari, Kays lesson 1 on basics, thermonuclear warhead stolen, meeting the vice director if I follow the schedule

day 5 - Second Lesson with Elian—mana releasing stuff, meeting Tyven and Ari if I eat at the same place

day 6 - Min-Jae mentioning meeting Tyven in the library—possibly going as well if I want to check on the guy

day 7 - selari Champion visiting and having a talk, third lesson with Elian—a bunch of students trying to disrupt my orbs

day 8 - Transfer student in Izzy's class, claiming my salary—8 obsidian drachen

day 9 - Meeting the primordial energy demon professor, if I follow the schedule, selari Champion found dead in the Academy

day 10 - sensory deprivation tank—Ari, Keys lesson 2

day 11 - train or airship trip

Of course, that's not all. I also did some other things for fun, like exploring the facilities around the Academy. But these are the things I feel are the most important. The question is how much I should follow this. What would be the best way to abuse this mechanism this time?

Of course, I already have a pretty good idea.

You have used an active skill combination token. Please pick two or three from the following list to combine.

Warning! Combining three skills will reduce the level of the acquired skill.

Warning! A combination of incompatible skills may result in a worse skill.

Warning! After combining the skills, it will become extremely difficult to acquire the skills used in the combination.

Please select the main skill of the combination and two supportive skills.

List of available skills to combine:

Perception - Level 62

Mana Domain (Pride) - Level 61

Mana Crown -Level 55

Mana Manipulation - Level 67

Ley Line - Level 54

Knitting - Level 37

“[Knitting] as the main one, and [Mana Manipulation] and [Mana Domain] as supportive ones.”

Congratulations, you have successfully combined [Knitting], [Mana Domain], and [Mana Manipulation]! A new skill has been created.

You have acquired [Framework].

[Framework - Level 0 Framework - Level 8]

Okay, next step.

I create a mana orb, concentrate on it and⁠—

Congratulations, you have acquired a new skill!

[Mana Manipulation]

[Mana Manipulation - Level 0 Mana Manipulation - Level 61]

Suck it, system. I will never get tired of this shit.

Now I have almost two days before my first lesson with Elian on the third day. Out of curiosity, I give [Framework] a once-over, and to be honest, I like the name a bit more than [Ur Line]. Having a bit of a sense of how the system names stuff and after seeing those lines with my trait, I still think [Ur Line] will probably turn out to be the rarer skill. Buuuut, and just maybe, it will be a worthy sacrifice to get rid of [Knitting], plus I will try more combinations later and will pick the one I like the most.

So far, [Framework] seems to retain the effects of [Knitting]; it allows me to knit threads of mana together while maintaining flexibility. It's something I can still apply to [Ley Line] as well as my javelins, shields, and basically all of my creations. As I've come to learn, doing it this way makes them much more durable and resistant to disruption. Currently, I can even do it nearly reflexively without thinking too much.

[Framework] takes that even further. The connections between threads are stronger and denser. At some point, it even seems like they're being pulled toward each other, and whenever they take damage, a bit of mana seeps into them from the surrounding threads to fix them.

I get the feeling that I can use the skill on my body as well, and not just to create stronger armor, but as something to build on, like some sort of base or frame to tie my creations to, or almost inscribe new pathways into said frame. I suspect at higher levels, it may be possible to maintain such frames indefinitely or at least on a semi-permanent basis. It seems to synchronize exceptionally well with my way of storing arrays, inscriptions, and information in the back of my mind.

It is fascinating and somewhat elusive, but I like it a lot.

Damn, deciding which skill to pick will truly be difficult.

Next, I go to the system store and, spending a total of 900,000 shards, I buy two mid-arcane items. One defensive amulet and a bow. Of course, first, I carefully observe them. I even use them and activate my eyes to learn as much as possible for my future crafting.

Then I head to the head accountant's office and enter. In this loop, he hasn't met me yet, but he acts in the same polite manner, likely already knowing who I am.

I put the two mid-arcane items on the table in front of him.

“I want to sell these to the Academy.”

He blinks, looks at me, and then back at the weapons.

“May I request the registration documents for these items? As you are undoubtedly aware, all weapons of epic rank and above, particularly those classified as arcane or higher, must be properly registered prior to being brought onto Academy grounds. I will also require a proof of ownership certificate.”

“I don't have it. I just made them today.”

“Assistant Professor Gwyn.”

“Yes, that's me.”

“If I am correct, it is your first day at the Academy, and you say you've already created two mid-arcane items?”

“Yes.”

“If I consult the head of the Crafting Zone, will they be able to confirm that you were present there and that you produced these items on-site?”

“No, I made them in my office.”

“So, if I submit an inquiry to the Tower Butler regarding your recorded movements, will the log indicate that you were already present in your office at that time?”

“I meant that I made the items in one of the gardens.”

“I see. Can you wait a minute before I contact Professor Elian so we can continue this conversation?”

Well, fuck.

“I don't know if you are aware, Assistant Professor Gwyn, but you just said that out loud.”

“What I meant to say was, sure, call him.”

He politely agrees, but he's probably hitting the panic button as we speak, and I sense the powerful signature of a set of guards approaching as defenses rise in response, ready to activate at a moment's notice. It is all done politely, but I notice.

Five minutes later, I'm sent to wait outside the room as Professor Elian passes by. His violet eyes stare at me, pupils surrounded by a golden circle, as he closes the door behind him.

Meanwhile, I sit on the chair nearby and think of how unaccustomed I am to this kind of formality. Is this normal on the “civilized” floors? I mean, mid-arcane items are powerful, likely very, very enticing even to a person sitting somewhere around Level 350-380-390? And even though the ones I bought were cheaper, they could easily be considered heirloom-grade items that would be passed down in some families.

Well, in the next loop, I will do better.

Barely two minutes after entering, Professor Elian exits holding only a defensive amulet. The bow is gone. Before handing the amulet to me, he looks at me for confirmation that I understand.

It seems the price for overlooking this is a mid-arcane item, which is an absolutely insane cost. Maybe I should hold off a bit longer before I start selling thermonuclear warheads.

I nod, and only then does he hand me the amulet.

“I am very disappointed in your lack of forethought,” he says, then leaves without another word.

As he walks downstairs, I knock on the door again and open it, where the head accountant looks at me in a confused manner.

“You don't want to buy the amulet?” I ask before he can react.

Five minutes later, I leave with a pouch full to the brim with ivory white drachen and even a few gold drachen, all likely worth as much as decades of my salary here.

Before I leave, I ask the head accountant for rules and for a list of items that are allowed and not allowed to be brought to the Academy without registration or proof of ownership. Then I ask him for estimation of prices, sliding a few obsidian drachen to him as a courtesy.

As he talks and explains, I go through the system shop to pick the best options to sell next time.

Lastly, I ask him about professors willing to hire themselves out for private lessons, and unsurprisingly, it turns out to be fairly common. Powerful families, as it happens, tend to hire tutors or pay professors to give a bit of extra attention to their family members in the Academy.

Some professors offer multiple lessons for a set price, while others only provide small-group sessions. A few demand more drachen than I will likely ever possess. The most expensive professors likely set their rates not only based on lesson quality but also as an informal bribe to foster connections with them. Those charging the highest fees are typically professors at or near Level 400, with decades or even centuries of experience. Fewer than five of them are currently living at the Academy.

With Champions likely starting at around Level 450 to 500, it might not seem that far off Champion rank, but there is a Huge difference when it comes to having an extra fifty to one hundred levels once you reach the 400s.

Not because of extra stats, but because of time. Leveling once you hit Levels 300 to 400 slows down a lot; at that point, a person needs to fight exceedingly powerful monsters, not to mention the difficulty in finding them in the first place. Even then, it takes a long time, so by that point, you're likely to be fairly experienced and powerful, with multiple skills over Level 75.

As I walk to my office, I also think about whether or not I should reveal my black mana to the professor I hire, and which professor I should choose for lessons.

Chapter 63

Fellow Enthusiast

The more I play around with [Framework], the more I like it. It helps me with the structure of mana creations, including arrays and inscriptions. It also has a mental component that allows me to store frameworks for said arrays more effectively in my mind.

It will be difficult to decide between keeping it and [Ur Line], and probably a few more skills I might explore later, but that is a problem for future me. Screw that guy.

As for the drachen I've earned, they're all gone, kaput. The head accountant, after taking a cut, of course, was able to secure lessons for me from one of the five people in the Academy rumored to be somewhere around Level 400 if not just over that threshold.

It all happens surprisingly quickly, but when I hear who agreed, I understand why, having dealt with them in my previous loop. The requirement they impose to hold these lessons also explains a lot. It's simple, but it still reveals much.

Bring your bond to the lesson.

All the money buys me three lessons. Just three for a mid-arcane item. I mean, how crazy is that? It makes for an extremely poor financial decision on my part. I know that logically, even if the person in question is pretty highly leveled, items like that have enormous value.

But overall, I just don't care all that much. I'll have the shards back by the next loop. And let us not consider the option that this is the last loop.

Hehe.

Please don't be the last loop.

All things said, I find myself meeting up with the vice director on the second day of the loop, in one of the private training grounds, the ones they keep the servants out of. There are five of these high-tier training grounds in the Academy, each one very different from the last.

For example, one of them is a huge underground chamber, and I mean huge huge. From what I have heard, it's a massive cube-shaped room underground with walls that have been reinforced by a Champion at some point. This “cave” supposedly borders on indestructible. Sometimes, there are even duels held there.

But that's not the one I'm heading to now. My destination is a hemispheric cupola on the surface, its walls covered in small black hexagonal pieces similar to those in the sensory deprivation tank. It's also quite large, on top of the additions they've made to keep it from being an eyesore. A few splashes of color, a huge tree nearby whose branches have clearly been shaped to lean over the cupola, and a dozen similar details beside. In the end, it makes for quite a pleasant view.

There is no guard at the entrance; instead, I place my hand on a nearby panel and send my mana through, allowing it to verify my signature. Only once my reservation is confirmed am I allowed inside.

Biscuit, in a rare burst of energy, decides to leave my arms and float like the tiny, burrito-shaped airship he is. Lately, he seems to have been staying in his puppy form most of the time, and part of me strongly suspects it is because he receives more food and pets this way.

A part of me also hopes he doesn't ever realize that in his giga form, he would probably be able to eat even more. But who knows? Even in puppy form, we have yet to find a limit to his hunger.

The interior of the training ground is quite pretty all on its own. The flooring is made of simple white stone, and the walls of the sphere are lined with a display seemingly created through some form of illusion or projection, showing clouds and a bright blue sky from the point of view of someone flying through them.

The vice director stands there, rocking her big, tall, and pointy, wide-brimmed hat like something out of an old fairy tale, and a robe. Her tiny owl sits on her shoulder, glancing between me and the floating Biscuit. For some reason, it even hoots and pecks the selari woman's cheek a few times.

As I saw before, the vice director lets it happen without even trying to defend herself.

“Greetings, Assistant Professor Gwyn.”

“Greetings, Vice Director.”

“Greetings, great bond.” She chirps, greeting Biscuit with markedly more enthusiasm than she had for me.

The corgi quickly tilts his head in a confused manner, causing his ears to flop to the side.

Tuu-tu!

The tiny owl shouts, pecking the selari woman three times in response.

“Assistant Professor Gwyn,” the vice director says.

“No,” I answer.

(Food?) Biscuit says, floating over to me and booping my cheek three times with his nose as if he were mimicking the owl bond's pecks.

“Vice Director, may I ask what your specialization is?” I ask, holding Biscuit to prevent him from escaping, as I boop/peck his cheek three times in response with my own nose.

In a terrible arc of revenge, he starts wagging his tail, floats higher, bites into the hair near my temple, and starts pulling on it, leaving saliva on it and pulling some out.

Kwit! Kwit!

The tiny owl pecks the vice director five times.

Only then does the selari woman answer: “It is rare for people to spend so much on lessons from a person whose specialization they don't even know. Very well. I rarely teach, but before I joined the Academy, my specialization was in Continental Infrastructure Destruction and Large-Scale Containment Operations.”

“You served in the army?”

“I used to lead a unit that operated directly under one of our Champions, Angar. Our work was, as I mentioned, focused on independent operations and the creation of protocols and arrays to be used on a mass scale with additional personnel or individual Champions.”

“Sounds important. Is Champion Angar the one coming to speak at the Academy in the next couple of days?”

“Champion Angar is dead. He was the leading candidate to become the Absolute, but in the end, he died at the hands of the man who became our current Absolute. We, as his subordinates, were given the option to serve or die.”

“And that's how you ended up in the Academy?”

“Correct. Now, Assistant Professor Gwyn, may I ask what your specialization is so we can proceed?”

“It is hard to say. I would say it revolves around large-scale attacks that might require some preparation. Also channeling large amounts of mana. I am also decent at mana disruption. There is primordial energy I have and⁠—”

“Two energies. There is no need to lie to me. So it seems like your skills are built around Grand-Scale Destructive Assaults, judging by your mana levels, then High-Capacity Mana Channeling and Wide-Area Mana Interference.”

“Does everything need to have such fancy names?”

“I apologize, but I've grown accustomed to the protocols and jargon we used in the military. As for the lesson, I've generally found that what helps my students the most is pointing out the mistakes in their approach and the ways I would counter them. It's something I'm quite good at, as shown by my experience leading a unit directly under a Champion. How about I ask you for a small sample of your capabilities, and I'll point out how I'd go about countering them in combat so that you can work on those areas?”

“That sounds good.”

“Very well.” She turns her head to the side to look directly at the tiny owl and whispers in a very gentle voice, “Lulu, can you stop limiting my mana, please?”

Hoo!

There is no change I can see, but immediately I can feel it. The pressure surrounding the selari woman increases multiple times, to the point where the mana radiating around her forms huge pulses that flow rhythmically into the area.

“Now then, Assistant Professor Gwyn, as a fellow Amplificator, there is a lot I can show you. Unlike you, I was never great at handling the sheer quantity of mana I possess, and so I've always had to rely on my bond and other methods. Therefore, I ask you: please be very careful and try not to die in the event that I find myself lashing out against you by reflex. Please start with mana interference.”

Glancing at her, I activate my eyes and at the same moment deactivate them, taking notice of the instant reaction from her mana and the way it starts to fluctuate.

She just tried to make me pass out from information overload the moment she noticed my eyes. She must either know about the trait or suspect it.

How annoying; that means it could happen in the future. Liss already used it against me during the fifth event, my new skill, now her. I'll need to do something about that.

I also move my mana and raise it. The surroundings start shifting their colors as I activate [Eclipse] and gradually strengthen it.

Then she does something interesting. The best way I can describe it is that she starts creating “sacrificial” structures that she modifies and places in my skill's path. None of them contains all that much mana, but each manages to be complex and present enough for my skill to target them first.

These structures are deployed multiple times per second with minimal quantities of mana and very little effort. Even though she puts herself down, she demonstrates an impressive degree of control over her mana.

As I raise my mana, she raises hers as well, and for the first time in a while, I've encountered someone with a larger mana pool than mine, outside of those at Champion level or higher.

She's probably a “mere” seventy to ninety levels higher than me, but her mana completely overwhelms mine, something I wouldn't have thought possible unless she'd been investing in it in a manner similar to mine.

While I deal with my mana through my talent in mana channeling, containment, and using Mana Cycling, she has her bond to help her, along with a number of other things I can't quite perceive yet.

We face each other, raising our mana to the utmost degree.

The shift is subtle at first. The air grows thicker, not from pressure, but from the sheer saturation of our mana leaking into the environment. Colors dim. Sounds grow muffled as if we were underwater. Dust on the floor begins to tremble and rise into the air. My mana slides against hers, the edges clashing in overlapping frequencies just barely out of sync.

Gradually, it reaches the point where I have to devote my entire [Focus] to handling it and sending it crashing into hers.

As if we agreed on it, I drop [Eclipse], and she stops bothering with sacrificial structures; her bond is the only thing helping her handle all that mana.

At this point, both of us forget about everything else, and it turns into a mana-measuring contest.

For the first time, she begins to smile ever so slightly as her robes and pointy hat flicker around her from the sheer pressure of her mana.

Indeed, an Amplificator and fellow mana enthusiast.

Then she forgets to hold herself back; the mana around me is instantly overpowered by hers, and I find myself being thrown against one of the walls, fracturing most of the bones in my body.

Her pressure disappears, and a look of sudden concern flashes across her face, making it clear that this was not done by intent.

As I slide down the wall, the blood trail stays behind, and I activate multiple healing marks Lily left on me, healing myself and realizing for a moment how close I was to dying.

Then my mana rises again. I channel it much quicker than she can raise hers again. She herself told me she cannot channel as swiftly as me.

My mana collides with hers and sends her crashing to the ground, causing her to slide until she crashes against the opposing wall. Her hat falls off, and her bond lifts up, circles once in the air, then lands back on her shoulder.

Even during all of that, her mana pressure continues to rise, less instant and more gradual than mine, but she overwhelms me entirely and sends me stumbling back until I cannot move, pinned against the wall, as her mana constantly disrupts my attempts to overcome the effect.

The vice director stands, picks up her hat, dusting it off as she does, and slowly sets it on her head before turning back to me.

She's wearing a wide grin.

Then I start feeling a tightness in my chest; I grow lightheaded and feel as if I am about to vomit. Funnily enough, it reminds me of the lesson I gave that class of students with Elian. But I refuse to give up. I fight back as long as possible, trying my best, using all the mana I can gather and channel. At this point, there's already so much filling the room.

I use Mana Wavelength Tyrant, I rely on my Mana Physique, I use my reservoir, and I weaken my constructs just to bring the entirety of my mana to bear. And all the while I push my mental passives to their limit.

But the gap in skill, levels, and mana capacity is far too wide.

In the end, I throw up, and just before the world goes black, I feel my head slam against the floor.

What a great training session, I think with satisfaction.

Chapter 64

Murder Birb

Iwake up lying on my back, pulled away from the mess I made. I still feel a tightness in my chest, and as my sight clears, I realize it's just Biscuit lying on my chest, protectively facing the vice director.

The woman is holding one of her hands, which seems to be bleeding for some reason, and she keeps staring at Biscuit.

Checking the timer, I confirm that I've only been passed out for a few minutes, yet it still feels awkward. Lately, this seems to have been happening quite a lot, even with my powerful mental passives. I wouldn't even say it's the passives' fault or that they're lacking rarity; it seems more likely that I keep jumping into situations where they can't really do much to help. A normal Hell Difficulty or even Beyond attendee probably doesn't do this kind of thing very often.

Cowards.

“Who's a good boy?” I ask. Without turning around or breaking eye contact with the selari woman, Biscuit's tiny tail begins to swing wildly.

Then he woofs.

“Yes, you are!”

The speed of his tail wagging increases even further, to the point that I begin to worry he might lift off like a helicopter.

As I move to stand, he floats into the air, maintaining a position where his front legs rest on my shoulder.

“Again?” I ask the vice director.

“One more time, and afterward, I'll provide feedback,” she agrees.

Our mana rises again, and I have difficulty not compressing mine to the point that it turns black. Maybe next time, but first I need to learn more about her.

After passing out once more, I wake to find the vice director once again holding a bleeding hand, this time marked with tiny bite marks from a sharp set of teeth.

After that, I receive detailed, well-organized feedback along with a list of potential mistakes she thinks I may be making.

I consider all that feedback valuable, as she even tells me about methods she and her unit would use if forced to face a Champion with capabilities similar to mine, if on a much grander scale. It's all very fascinating: the arrays she mentions, inscriptions, items, materials, special metals to be used for shielding, and so on.

Just by listening, I can tell the depth of experience she has when it comes to facing much stronger opponents and the methods she had to develop just to be able to contest them. At first, I also thought she might have a concentration-type skill, but in the end, I concluded that it's probably just part of her personality, laid back and only rarely showing interest. Years on the battlefield, never knowing when a Champion could appear and wipe them out, could cause that.

Of course, one thing raises my opinion of her more than anything else: she probably invested every possible point into mana, to such an extent that when she was still somewhere around my level, she probably had only slightly less mana than I do now.

There is a slight difference, too. While I do it mostly out of fascination, stubbornness, and future planning, I think for her it was more logical and calculated. It was probably a decision she came to after bonding with Lulu, who seems to be helping her limit and control that mana of hers, and likely provides additional abilities the tiny owl has yet to reveal.

Such a cute, silent murder birb.

Back in my room, I wash up and change into a clean set of clothes. It is still a suit because apparently, assistant professors are expected to wear one at all times, for some supposedly important reason involving prestige and representation.

Biscuit climbs onto my lap without waiting for permission, and I let him.

My body still feels off. Not weak, just out of sync. Like some part of me is lagging behind, still stuck in that moment when her mana spiked and mine tried to match it.

I look at the floor for a while, steadying my breathing, and think about what she showed me. About the things I failed to notice until it was too late. Her movements were not fast, but they were modified to interrupt mine, to force me into a series of knee-jerk reactions instead of a state of control. I made her job easier by relying too much on my “scripted” frequencies.

That much is fine. I can adjust.

I should also test a few new interaction types between my support passives and focus on how my mana behaves at different stages. There is one twist to Mana Cycling I've been ignoring for a while because it messes with my sensory balance, but maybe I should give it another try. If I start slowly, I can manage the side effects and get used to the change.

“What do you think?” I ask the corgi.

Biscuit makes a soft growling sound, which I take as a sign of agreement.

We stand up together and leave the room without speaking. I head to the garden, where I meet up with Maya, Tess, and the twins, just like we did on the second day of our first loop.

So far, everyone is more or less keeping to the schedule we had during our first loop.

Even before we start talking, I notice something about Maya. It is quite a big change to her mana, and I am sure she's chosen not to hide it on purpose, just to show off in front of me.

“What did you buy?” I ask, already knowing what she wants to hear.

“I am testing a passive that makes my mana creations stronger and passively compresses them, and then another that does something similar. I want to see how they stack up.”

“Rarities?” I ask.

“Both mid-arcane. All my shards are gone.”

“Damn, I see you've gone all in with testing.”

“You bet. And I have about ten more passives I want to test during the next few loops. You have to meet up with all of us sometime. We've been holding these special dark-brotherhood-style meetings where we sit around candles and theorize about the best ways to use our shards.”

“Are human sacrifices involved?”

“We sometimes kick Dennis when he gets too annoying.”

“Sounds good, I'll try to join the next one.”

Tess, seeing that we're done talking, asks, “So how was the vice director?”

“Quite strong. I think she could have beaten all of us at once in direct combat, but assuming we had time to prepare, I believe we could take her down. Then again, if she also had time to prepare, it would only make things more dangerous.”

“That strong?”

“Yup, and she's still hiding most of it, but I noticed some strange fluctuations in her mana. I'll share the details later, but I don't think she is a candidate, nor do I think that she's the one who stole the thermonuclear warhead. But she could be involved in the Champion's death, or at least she will be, since it hasn't happened yet for this round. You know what I mean.”

Tess smiles. “No need to explain. But it surprises me. From what I heard, she seems fairly loyal to the current power structure.”

“Probably, but she could be pretending. Apparently, she worked directly under a Champion who was fighting for the title of Absolute, and when he died, she was given the option of serving here or dying herself. There could be a bit of ill will there.”

Raising her eyebrow, Tess says, “It's been almost two hundred years since Champion Angar died. If she kept her mask on for that long and continued to plan, I would be very impressed.”

Maya shoves Tess playfully. “Are you sure she isn't one of those spiteful ones?”

“I also know a few women like that,” Aaron mumbles quietly at my side.

Before any of the girls can react, his brother says quickly, “We found one of the richest students in the school and made a plan to steal all his stuff, along with some things belonging to a few other people.”

Oh boy.

“Did you think it through?” Tess asks.

“Sure. Worst case, we get thrown in prison until the next reset, right? Before we end this floor, we plan to steal all we can, make a pile, and then leave with it after we figure out the floor quest and stuff with the loops. There are mid-arcane items, materials, information, and much more. We can sacrifice a few loops, practice, and even pin it on someone else if we try hard.”

Ever the bad role model, Maya says, “Grab something nice for me as well.”

“Of course! We thought about selling it to the system shop to get rid of the evidence if we needed to, but we don't know when the system will judge that we've taken 'ownership' of an item. Maybe it'll take a week, or perhaps we'll need to bring it to the next floor or remove it from the Academy. Plus the system shop only gives us between ten and twenty percent of the value, damn it.”

“Be sure to think it through and decide whether it'll be worth it in the end,” Tess warns him again.

“No worry,” Dennis says. “If we find no low- to mid-arcane items, we'll drop it. It just wouldn't be worth it. Besides, it's probably a better plan than Min-Jae's. He wants to steal the whole library.”

That's when I join in. “Tell me more.”

This time, Aaron answers. “He wants to be in the library at the end of the floor, possibly in one of the sections we're not allowed to enter. Then he will adjust gravity so all the books fall through the entrance to the ninth floor and use [Telekinesis] to help it along. He also said something about asking you to help with breaking the library's defensive arrays. Unlike Dennis, I respect it. Just imagine yoinking an entire library belonging to the top Academy in the world.”

“Aren't the defenses too good?” I ask.

“Yup, but he's planning to rely on the fact that every time a floor ends, everything goes to hell and the likelihood that there's going to be some huge fight or some other catastrophe, forcing people to ignore the library. Nat, I think part of the reason he's counting on that is because he knows you and because he saw how little you cared about thermonuclear warheads being stolen.”

Rather than reacting to his accusations, I decide to stay quiet.

After giving me a funny look I do not deserve, Tess turns to the boys and reminds all of us, “Please consider the possibility that if we fail this floor quest, we might be stuck in this loop until the end of the tutorial. While that might sound ideal, think about how limiting it could be for our growth.”

As she speaks, I immediately think of the opportunities it would provide first. Three years here would allow for so much exploitation, especially with the occasional trip to Beyond. But what would happen if I went to Beyond, leveled up, then returned? Would my stats reset with the loop? And if they reset, would they reset to the new version or the “original” version from the start of this floor?

An unsettling option comes to mind. Would fully exploiting the opportunities here be more valuable than advancing through the remaining floors? After thinking it through, I reach the same conclusion Tess likely has.

I don't think it would.

Maybe I should take this floor quest a bit more seriously, which seems to be exactly what Tess wants. Rather than constantly lecturing us, she's been nudging us just enough to reach the conclusion she wants us to reach.

I meet her eyes and see tiny sparks dancing in her gray irises.

Not much later, I sit in my office, still thinking over it all. The conclusion remains the same, and so I speak.

“I want to use a one-day Beyond Stay token.”

A notification pops up.

Impossible to enter Beyond at the current time.

That settles it. The system is still an asshole, and Tess is right. This floor, for all the opportunities it offers, is just as unforgiving as the others. You can grow here, sure, but the tradeoff would be huge, especially when it means missing out on Beyond and the other floors entirely.

I am not even factoring in the mental strain. Spending three years here, stuck in the same ten-day cycle, give or take, would probably wear down the majority of people eventually.

At least the tournament still seems accessible, since Victoria told me she was on the eighth floor before entering. I'll have to ask her how the system handled her absence when I see her again. Two weeks is a long gap.

I close the notification window and start reassessing my priorities. The floor quest is back on the menu. Not the top concern for now, but close. I should also check the Academy's secondary facilities. I ignored most of them last time because they seemed unimportant, but there might be something interesting to find.

Min-Jae will probably want to talk soon, and I should check on Dennis and Aaron before they drag us into another problem.

As always, there's still plenty to do.

Chapter 65

Fake A.F

It's the fourth day, and in an effort to keep things running smoothly on this floor, I follow my schedule. That means I do as Professor Elian asks and head to the lesson with Ari and Kays.

Fixing up my clothes, I arrive just in time, and my entrance causes all conversation to stop. Ari, Kays, and Melo all turn to look at me as I move to stand behind the desk at the front. I stop there and face them.

“My name is Nathaniel Gwyn, assistant professor under the tutelage of Professor Elian. A pleasure, I suppose,” I say, mirroring the formal introduction I once observed from that insufferably self-assured blond professor.

I continue, “Today's lesson concerns basi…advanced topics.”

My suit is immaculate, as is my hair, which I had styled earlier. My tone is calm, though I make a deliberate effort to sound authoritative. And I deliberately let a bit of mana seep into the room, just enough to show off.

I take a few steps and come to a stop in front of Kays. “Your name, if you would.”

“K-Kays,” he stammers.

“Good. Now then, Kays, you suck.”

“What?!” he shouts, then quickly lowers his voice. “What?”

“From the moment I entered this room, I've been interfering with your mana, and you've failed to notice. I didn't even have to put all that much effort into it,” I say, lowering my voice and narrowing my eyes at him. “In a real battlefield scenario, you would've already been dead.”

Whatever complaints he had vanish. I pause dramatically, taking a moment to come up with more nonsense to amuse myself, all the while remembering the way Kays treated me in the first loop.

For the next twenty minutes, I make him try to detect the methods I'm using to disrupt his mana until he starts sweating. The whole time, I find myself surprised by how different his behavior is from the first loop. The only thing I can think of to explain it is my grand entrance and faked confidence.

I guess first impressions really do matter.

When I leave him, he sits down, breathless and clearly relieved to be left alone.

I stop in front of Ari, who's been watching me with an expression of interest flickering behind her eyes. “Your eyes are pretty, Assistant Professor Gwyn. Is it a trait?” she asks, smiling even more.

“Yes. It allows me to see through other people's nonsense,” I reply in the same authoritative voice I've been using from the start.

Then, for another twenty minutes, I do the same to her as I did to Kays. I use it as a chance to form a better evaluation of the overall power level and talent among the students.

I also try to make her slip, just in case she happens to be looping, too. Unfortunately, I notice nothing. Either she isn't looping, or her mask is flawless.

When the lesson ends, both of them leave ahead of me. I stay seated behind the table, looking out the window, thinking and planning. The thermonuclear warhead should be on track to be stolen today. And I'll let it happen; I won't even watch or try to stop it. I've already made that decision.

Tomorrow is the lesson where Elian is going to ask me to release my mana. I might release a bit more or play around with it to see how he responds and test the students' reactions. The day after that, I might go to the library to meet Min-Jae, and possibly Tyven, who Min-Jae said should be there.

Then the day after that, the Champion will visit. I need to decide what to do about that.

Done thinking, I get up and head outside. I've already sensed her signature, so I'm not surprised to find Ari waiting by the door, leaning against the wall.

“Assistant Professor Gwyn, isn't it rude to make a young lady wait this long?”

I slide back into Professor Mode and give her my best annoyed-professor look. “How may I assist you?”

She giggles, covering her mouth with two of her six hands. The whole time, joyful flames flicker in her eyes.

When she lowers her hands, she's grinning. “I liked you more during your first loop.”

In a second, dozens of thoughts flash through my mind.

Maybe I should pretend not to know. Maybe I should play dumb, like some of the natives do when anyone brings up system-related stuff. Maybe I should act like a grumpy professor.

None of those fit me.

“Let's talk somewhere else,” I say.

“I can't,” she says, shaking her head with a hint of a smile. “But I bet you're curious, Assistant Professor Gwyn. I'll answer one of your questions for free, so go ahead and ask.”

“How many loops?” I ask.

That question appears to amuse her, and she imitates my manner of speech. “That reveals quite a bit about you. You choose to indulge your curiosity before anything else. You must be an exceptionally inquisitive individual.”

She nods seriously, but at the same time, it looks playful. Then she answers in a quieter voice, “Over one hundred.”

Oh boy.

“Surprised, are you? We can speak more later. For now, I must take my leave. After our next lesson, we shall continue this conversation,” she continues in the same style.

“You said that again. Why do you have to go?”

She turns to leave, and that impish expression returns to her face. I can tell she is about to drop something big.

“If I break my schedule, the others will find me.” She locks eyes with me. “I hope you didn't think I was the only one looping.”

Then she's gone, and I'm left with even more questions spinning wildly in my mind. At this point, I don't even know what the hell is happening.

I fucking love this floor.

When I try to share the information I just acquired in the Community, most of it gets censored. That hasn't happened since we started the floor, and there can only be one reason it has now. Someone else from the fifth round must have cleared the seventh floor and entered the eighth.

Good things never last.

I toss a few insults in the Community, mostly aimed at Savant, who I expect to have made it through. Of course, he stays silent. Then I leave my room so the thermonuclear warhead can be stolen without interference.

Along the way, I run into the twins. I fill them in so that they can pass the information on to the others, along with my theories and many questions. I also ask them to quietly involve others in tracking Ari's schedule, but I emphasize that they must avoid bringing too much attention to themselves or Ari. I repeat that until I can be sure they'll be extremely careful.

Later, as night settles, I break whatever rule of the Academy bar flight and lift myself to the top of one of the tallest towers in the Academy.

Its roof is open and clearly serves as an observatory, having been set up with an array of tools for watching the night sky. I climb onto the wall, let my legs hang over the edge, and watch as soft lights slowly switch on all around the Academy, illuminating the paths and any rooms that happen to still be in use.

It's peaceful, unlike my mind and all the thoughts running through it.

Accompanied by one of the evil orbs, I sit there and continue to take in the view as the night progresses and lights take over the role once held by the sun. Even now, there are people walking around, those who, like me, don't tend to sleep much. But almost as if they had some particular respect for the night, they remain quiet, with a solemnity that's clearly absent during the day.

Out of boredom, I quickly attempt to estimate the length of time Ari could've been looping. Assuming each loop averages ten days, my rough calculation puts it at around three years.

There's a lot I want to ask her.

As always, there's much to be done in the following days. Lessons to attend, floor mechanics to exploit, shards to spend, skill combinations to explore, mysteries to uncover.

A demon professor to challenge to a fight. A library to explore. The Crafting Zone to check out.

A fellow mana Amplificator, and her pet with the ridiculously adorable name Lulu. At this point, are we not best friends? Two brilliant minds who clearly think alike?

I lean back, gaze straight up, and use mana to enhance my sight as Tess taught me, observing the night sky. It's almost funny to see it that way, especially knowing that it is fake and that just a few miles above, there's probably a barrier marking the edge of the floor.

It's fascinating that someone managed to create this. I don't care if they are a Ruler or used some kind of limited system access to hijack parts of its mechanisms. It is still incredible. The sheer amount of energy, mana or not, required to sustain it must be astonishing.

And then there's the system itself, with a tutorial that incorporates entire planets and beings such as Absolutes. At some point, we have to admit that these powers are truly godlike.

I want them. I want to be able to do this sort of thing as well.

And one day, I will.

Earth

A few shouts ring through the bar, and conversations end as most of the patrons turn toward the T.V, and the barman raises the volume.

Displayed on the screen is a live broadcast. A female reporter, seated inside a helicopter, speaks directly into the camera. The wind buffets the aircraft, and her voice comes through slightly shaken.

“We are currently flying over what used to be a remote stretch of savannah in northern Kenya,” she says. The camera shifts to the window beside her. Below, the plains seem to stretch on endlessly, dotted with massive structures.

The ground is peppered with anthills.

Not the small, dirt-covered mounds one might normally see. These ones tower as high as trees, some of them reaching two or three stories tall. Their surfaces are hardened with a texture reminiscent of ancient clay and riddled with twisting entrances.

Giant ants move across the savannah in endless trails. Each one the size of a small dog or large housecat, their carapaces gleam dark brown with a chitinous sheen under the sun. Thousands march together in long, flowing lines, moving with a coordination that looks almost unnatural.

A zebra tries to run across an open space, already wounded, and the camera zooms in just as a group of ants take notice of its passage. In seconds, they break formation and chase her. The zebra's efforts are pitiful, and the ants catch up to her, surrounding her in seconds, and start crawling over her body, burying the beast in a mass of shifting legs and biting mandibles.

The zebra screams one last time, and then there is only the rustle of clicking insect limbs.

The reporter's voice returns, strained now. “I have to admit…I am not feeling well. I've had no issues with food or water, but something is wrong with me. Since I came here, I've been seeing things. Screens appear in front of me, almost like video game pop-ups. It's been happening to our entire crew.”

Her hands are visibly trembling. She presses her fingers against her temples.

She pauses to take a breath. The camera briefly pans over to the pilot, his expression cold and focused as he controls the helicopter. Light spills into the cabin before the cameraman turns back to the reporter.

“We're seeing more movement to the south,” she continues. “Another mound is opening up. More of them are coming out. At this point, we estimate there to be upward of thousands of ants, and they just keep expanding. There are no signs of them stopping, and rumors of planned bombardments are already circulating.

The borders of the region have been heavily militarized, and lethal force has been authorized to prevent any spread. Unconfirmed reports suggest that several allied major powers are providing satellite support, using their military assets to track the movement of the Colony.”

Her voice drops. “I don't think this is a local phenomenon anymore. There are reports coming in from all over the world about strange animals. A moose the size of a small house was seen near the Yukon, and wolves in the Carpathians are being reported at twice the normal size, along with crocodiles in the Nile dragging entire boats under.

Elephant herds in central India have started to act with military coordination. Something is changing, and I don't even need to talk about all the new kinds of metal or incredible trees we've been discovering just these last few weeks, and…”

Her voice cracks on the last word. The broadcast lingers on her face for a second longer than it should, then cuts back to the studio. After a moment, the network shifts to a still image of the African plains with a brief message at the bottom:

Coverage will resume shortly.

Back in the bar, no one speaks for a while. A glass clinks against the counter. Someone clears their throat.

Then the sound returns. Conversations resume, if a little quieter than before.

Earth

“Colonel Jonathan Kane, we have completed our testing, and I've brought you the report.”

“Stand at ease,” the colonel says, taking the thick file. It's heavy with printed documentation, mostly photos, thermal scans, sensor data, graphs, and hastily written analysis. He begins flipping through the pages without looking up. “What conclusions did you come to? Talk freely and briefly.”

“The individual code named Channeler demonstrated impressive capabilities. Surprisingly, he did not object to any part of the testing process.”

The colonel raises an eyebrow. “Of course he didn't. He knows exactly what he represents. The more we see, the more impressed we are, and that works in his favor. He's shrewd, no doubt about it.”

“I agree, sir. He makes a very strong candidate for controlled exposure to the public, if we decide to distance the army from everything that's been happening.”

Kane closes the folder and taps a finger on the cover. “Unfortunately, I suspect he's already taken. Now tell me, how does he compare to the returnees we've profiled so far?”

The officer straightens his posture slightly before answering.

“He's far beyond anything we've seen so far. His armor is fully powered by mana and integrates seamlessly with his body. We haven't encountered any other returnee with equipment this purpose-built or stable. In terms of speed, strength, and defense, he outperforms every known returnee by so much it's not even funny. At this rate, we expect his advantage to hold for at least a year, possibly two.”

He pauses briefly.

“He was clocked running at sixty miles per hour on flat ground without strain, and it didn't even seem to be close to his limit. He flipped over a ten-ton transport vehicle as part of a stress test. Our scientific observers suspect that the armor's performance adjusts itself automatically depending on the user's intent.”

Colonel Kane remains silent for a few moments, absorbing the information.

“And his weaknesses?”

“None that we could confirm, at least not physical ones and certainly not while he was wearing the armor.”

Kane leans back in his chair and sets the report down, murmuring to himself, “To create a suit of armor like that after only two years in a tutorial that's meant to take five…”

“Sir?”

“Never mind. You're dismissed. And check on Miss Thalia Gwyn. Make sure she's…” He pauses, then shakes his head. “Forget it. I'd rather handle it personally.”

Channeler

“Rafael, are you sure about this? The army might not like it,” Anna asks, turning to me with that worried expression she always makes.

I smile at her in a way I know will calm her down. “It's fine. I've thought it through. There are already too many reports coming out of the other countries. It's becoming impossible for anyone to hide this anymore. We should start now. It will make things easier later.”

She nods. “If you think so.” Then she picks up her laptop and leaves to upload another set of videos across a multitude of platforms. Most get taken down, of course, but we've hired people to help manage that. Friends, family members of the group, and a few more useful contacts are helping on the side.

I stand up, grab a drink from the fridge, and head over to the living room. I drop onto the couch and set my laptop up on my lap.

In the corner of the room, my armor rests on its rack. I stare at it for a while.

Couldn't he have made it just a little better-looking?

I sigh, unlock the laptop, and one of Isabella's short videos starts playing. It is one of her best. I doubt the others have noticed yet, but she has this hidden, devious streak. I could tell how much fun she was having just from the subtle shifts in her expression while she edited the videos.

The video starts with a young man, a pale blue crown floating over his head, two differently colored eyes glowing faintly. There's a confident, arrogant presence in the way he stands. He has that confident, arrogant air around him, and his every movement radiates with it.

In the first cut, he glances at the camera like he's staring into your soul. The shot zooms in as golden rings form around his pupils. The screen glitches, then starts to shake, and one of those bass-heavy hype songs kicks in.

With each beat drop, the screen flickers and shifts to a new scene. In the next wide shot, he lands hard on a scorched patch of ground, golden flames flickering around him, scorching the air with every step. Another cut shows him rising into the sky in that unnervingly stable way that makes it look less like he's flying and more like the world is shifting around him. Behind him, a barrage of blue projectiles takes form and launches forward, each bolt sending out a shockwave to ruffle his hair.

Afterward, a few more quick cuts follow. Some are wide-angle closeups, some have been taken from a distance, showing the scale of the damage he leaves in his wake, and others zoom in on him or the monsters he faces.

It then ends on the final shot.

He stands perfectly still, eyes closed. His hair slowly fades to white, and the music continues to build. At the crescendo, his eyes snap open, but this time they're blood red, and for the first time in the video, he smiles. Then the video ends.

I hit replay. Probably for the tenth time today.

Nathaniel's going to hate it. And even more so, he'll hate the comments this video has already picked up:

@maddiek47: This is C.G.I, right? No way this is real

@burner acc99: I don't care if it's fake, he's hot

@realist2345: weird flex but ok. also fake

@sm1le4mepls: that Smile at the End??? I'm dead

@himbo spotted: not me pausing every time he smirks…send help

@jadedpilot22: lol this is fake af, nice editing tho

@bloodcrow: remind me to never piss off a guy with two eye colors

@thirst_trap division: I volunteer. For whatever. Anything.

@hisoka: y'all simping for a war crime waiting to happen

@true returnee69: Noname's gonna lose his shit over this lmao, R.I.P whoever did this

@pixelforgeFX: High budget fan film? The V.F.X is clean but nah

@brickenthusiast94: fake, cringe, overedited trash

@reel_truth now: You sheeple still think this is C.G.I? Open your eyes.

@ufowatcher666: Saw some weird stuff in Brazil last week. I'm telling you it's happening

@hotnconfused: idc if he's fake or not. he could ruin my life, and I'd thank him

@bunkersoonpls: government is definitely hiding something

@catgirlcentral: i can fix him

@staticdancer: this isn't cgi. I work in cgi. this is something else.

@burnallphantoms: tell me why this has more plot than half of Netflix

@midnight404: not fake. my cousin came back home after two years and told me so. she won't talk about it now.

He'll hate it so much.

I take another sip of my drink, glance at the armor in the corner, then back at the screen. I read a few more comments and then close the laptop and lean back.

Let the chaos begin.

Hell Difficulty Tutorial will continue in Hell Difficulty Tutorial 8!

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