Chapter 136—A Reminder of Priorities

AG. Happy New Year everyone. I wish you health, happiness and fulfillment.

As he always did when entering this room, he took out his Danger Sense disk.

This was an upgraded version, as he had amended key parts of the design to reflect his improved understanding. The combination of investing fate and supervision by experts meant he was a hundred percent confident in the changes that he had made.

It was more powerful than it had ever been and would make sure he didn’t get tricked.

He flipped it in his hand as he considered the pattern he was going to apply today. Success criteria, he decided, would be ten alternating heads and tails, starting with tails. Statistically, it was a harder test than what he was doing earlier, but seeing the continuous change made the outcome seem more natural. Providing he didn’t write down the combinations, anyone looking in from the side should see his flips generating mostly random numbers. Most of the time, what he chose was significantly less symmetric than the current combination.

The ability to be flexible in his desired pattern was supported by a skill.

Skill: Minor Perfect Memory – Tier 0

Simultaneously perfectly remember 4 sequences that are up to twenty units long.

It was the core skill he had gotten from a quality of life pack that had cost a single coin. The certainty it provided for this test made the cost worth it. The other skills he got were non-combat staples like Cut Hair, Clean and Sterilize Water. Eventually, they would be useful, but while he was in the orphanage, they weren’t doing anything for him.

With the success criteria set, he started flipping.

The result of each toss perfectly mirrored the simple sequence he had set up and so he went through the door that would leave him with no shield.

You are fighting a representative of WADOR. It has 0 confirmed incapacitations and 0 kills.

Tom nodded appreciatively at that message. Facing a non-serious opponent was a relief. It was likely that he would be facing an enemy operating under a full GOD’s shield in which case it would allow him to go all out and hopefully seize a quick win. A bit of light stress relief.

The emptiness dissolved around him, and he found himself standing on rough dirt.

Instantly, he smiled.

I can work with this, he thought to himself pleased.

The arena was a large cave the size of two basketball courts next to each other. It was a smaller space than most of the open terrains provided, but it still supplied plenty of room to manoeuvre for what was only a two person battle. The roof was a variable height above them, ranging from three to six metres high but excluding the space between him and his opponents it was all filled with stalactites and stalagmites that were packed densely enough to be called a forest. They were everywhere, filling the space so completely that mini ones grew on top of the larger versions. The sections of true cave floor were few and far between and when they occurred, they were rarely larger than the size of a dinner plate and Tom couldn’t see anywhere apart from the starting location where he could stand and not be able to touch a stalagmite if he stretched his arms out.

His mind highlighted the tactical advantages of the layout. Even the smallest of the stalagmites were a resource. They might only come up to his chest, but they were thick enough for him to hide behind if he crouched down. On the other end of the spectrum, there were ones that went all the way to the ceiling and were as thick as an old growth tree. They would provide significant cover but might become a negative if they interfered too much with line of sight.

Given his newly acquired Earth Manipulation ability, the terrain was almost perfect.

With the first step of his assessment completed, he turned his attention toward his opponent and then cursed at what he saw.

Its front two arms held out a flag with a silver cross on it.

There would be no safety net. They had both entered without a GOD’s shield.

The only way one of them didn’t die was by mutual agreement of submission. The large hoofed person who was clearly ill suited to being underground was waiting for his reaction.

Mentally, Tom cursed again and then embarrassed at his own tardiness hurriedly produced his own flag to match the one his opponent was displaying.

The creature continued the ceremony by leaving its weapons at its side and raising all six of its arms straight up so that it touched the roof that was three metres above it.

Internally Tom whistled, impressed by his opponent’s raw size and he was very thankful for an environment that clearly suited him more than it did his adversary. It was a juvenile for its species, and he wondered what the adults looked like. He figured they would be slightly larger than an elephant and he was sick of facing such massive creatures, but he guessed it was just a function of the champion’s trial. It made sense that all the titan species, with their natural physical advantages qualified more regularly for the trial than others. It would be nice to fight something smaller than him, but he knew the futility of wishes.

His opponent jiggled its raised arms like fans yelling at a stadium did, and Tom duplicated with his two arms. The mimicry was a sign that the silver X had been recognised.   

The countdown finished, and Tom immediately leapt into action. Lightning Javelin formed even as he threw himself sideways to reach the safety of the stalagmites. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw his adversary charging. Its speed was breathtaking, and he realised how much the battleground was going to benefit him with the small spaces it presented versus the massive size of his opponent.

Then he was amongst the stalagmites. There was a crash behind him. The hoofed monstrosity had already crossed the distance that had originally separated them. It had landed in perfect striking distance of where he had originally stood. If he had stayed still to cast a spell, the contest would have been ended right then. 

With a flick of his mind, the fully formed Javelin was launched at it. Power Strike’s shield breaking magic accompanied the strike, and it went through the magic barrier that flared to stop it without losing momentum. Its tip dug into the skin on the creature’s haunch and then the true payload, the electricity, was discharged.

Tom expected it to spasm and collapse, but he was experienced enough not to rely on that outcome, so he kept fleeing, weaving through the stone columns.

Completely unhindered, the closest three arms lashed out at him. They crashed into pillars that were far more fragile than their rocky exterior had implied and so under the blows they shattered. The sharp sting of shrapnel from the busted pillars pelted him and he was forced to speed up an act that finally allowed him to get a finger on what its attributes were. Strength was unknown, but the speed boost he was receiving placed it at around rank ten. That meant even with his strongest burst setting, enhancing his attributes, Tom barely had an advantage and once you considered its size he was definitely losing on the strength aspect.

As he dodged behind a particularly thick pillar, he finally gained a moment to focus on something other than running.

Spark crackled out and there were no magic shields to stop it. Electricity coursed over its body. Lines of energy that should have shocked it into submission failed to find purchase.

It roared in response and then leapt at him. It picked a path through the pillars which matched the locations where its weapons had already softened the rock up. The reason why became immediately obvious.  There technically wasn’t enough room, but when its weight hit the damaged rock, it crumbled and created space.

In moments, despite the advantageous conditions, it was upon him once more.

Earth Manipulation strengthened the extra-large stalagmite that was protecting him. The club that had smashed through every other one effortlessly, bounced away, and Tom took the opportunity to jab the spear forward.

The weapon slashed through the arm, shearing a fist size chunk of flesh out. But there was no bleeding visible, nothing that could be called muscles or tendons were revealed. Mana leaked out of the wound.

Tom grimaced even as he sprinted away again. Behind him, the stone that he had reinforced to weather the first couple of blows collapsed into rubble as it was struck simultaneously with three weapons.

The injury he had inflicted, unfortunately, told Tom a lot about what he was facing. It was a magic gestalt as in a singular whole formed of magical infused mass. It wouldn’t possess nerves, muscles, tendons, bones or any of the other vital biological components you would normally expect to see.  There might not even be a brain to target, as these things could have a diffuse intelligence or be driven purely by the soul.

Given its nature, this battle had switched to one of attrition rather than a focus on targeting weaknesses. No matter where he cut all he would discover was the same slightly spongy soft material.

Its biology unfortunately was closer to that of an elemental than a human. 

He risked a peek backwards and noted clinically that the injury had not closed and there were no signs of healing.

He dodged backwards as more stone went flying and then his Spark sensing domain flared in warning, and he threw himself flat as an axe smashed past him to embed itself into the cave wall. His sense of excitement quickened. A touch of its handle and a deft application of Earth Manipulation and it was freed from the rock and disappeared into his inventory. In these long battles, every small win counted.

“Hey that’s mine.”

Tom ignored it and kept running even as two hammers crashed into the wall, demolishing more of the stalagmites as they went past..

Without hesitation, he doubled back, and a feint made it pull up momentarily as it instinctively flinched back to prevent more damage. He followed through with further lightning-fast blows that it chose to parry and concentrated on his footwork, that allowed his foot to brush over the first and then the second.

They both vanished instantly.

“Hey!”

Tom didn’t wait. It had already recovered from his flurry of blows, and it was taking all of his skill to match it as it switched to a counteroffensive. He focused on a stalagmite that was behind the creature and at the limit of his ten metre range and imagined targeting it. Briefly, it was the deadliest enemy in the cave.

Time froze as his skill took over. There was little flexibility in this state. Magic was beyond him, and it basically forced him to run up to the target and make the thrust, but because he had shaped it from scratch, it allowed a limited level of manoeuvrability. He couldn’t affect the terrain that he walked over and if it was a surface that wouldn’t normally allow him to traverse it then the ability would fail. He could walk on water, providing it wasn’t more than knee deep and he could stride on top of grass, if his leg wouldn’t sink in to below the shin.

The rules were complicated, but at a base level the terrain had to be something that allowed only moderately restricted movement. If it was something that was a struggle to walk through like sticky webbing, then lunge would fail. He sprinted forward, driven by the skill, and wove between the densely packed obstacle and then, when he reached his target, he pulled back his spear and thrust with everything he had. 

His weapon tip smashed into the centre of the rock, and it shattered. Shards of stone travelled for over twenty metres. While to him, he had sprinted across, for everyone else, the movement had been as good as instant.  

“Nice escape skill. But can your return my weapons?”

Tom turned to face it and was unsurprised to see it stood where he had just been. An unbroken sea of stalagmites separated them. The six primary weapons it had held at the start had been reduced to three, but he noted knives filled the other arms, so its deadliness hadn’t decreased. Tom grinned and winked. “I don’t know about that. If you don’t want to lose them, don’t throw them away.”

“I would like to have them back. Knives just aren’t the same, but as you can see, I don’t need them.”

“I’m no thief and I’d return them, but I suspect you just want them so you can hit me more easily.”

It jumped up and down on the spot, and Tom assumed it was this creature’s version of laughter. Most species expressed that particular emotion with some sort of rapid physical movement.

Once it finished, it extracted itself from the dead end against the wall. It retreated along the path of destruction it had already created rather than blasting a new path. The fight had not been going long, but it was obvious that by the end of the contest everything in the room would end up shattered, but it clearly wasn’t in a rush to expedite that.

“Should we discuss rules of engagement?” Tom asked.

“It won’t hurt,” his adversary acknowledged.

“I’m fragile. I’m willing to go to first blood.”

“I’m not.”

Tom recoiled slightly at that unexpected response. “You’re not! But. But what about the agreement?”

“Sorry, that didn’t come out right. I meant that I’m not fragile, not that I won’t compromise on win conditions. And also you may not have seen it, but I don’t have blood.”

“I noticed.”

“So, a first blood condition makes no sense.”

Tom rolled his eyes, risking the disrespect because he was confident the person wouldn’t understand it. “Sorry I’m not up to date on protocol in these. You might not realise it, but this is my first death match against someone friendly.”

The other person jumped rapidly up and down on the spot again a motion he recognised from earlier. It was laughing at him. “That’s clearly not true. You’ve killed eleven MAKROS and FAMES representatives, so you must have faced as many SUPREME, WADOR and GOBUS fighters and haven’t killed any of them. I think you’re lying to me.”

“I wish,” he retorted not questioning how the other person was so confident he had no neutral species kills. There were skills that could do that, and it clearly possessed one of them. “I assure you that I haven’t fought any neutrals in a death match. Yes, it seems statistically impossible and probably is. The reason it’s happened is because The GODs have had their finger on who I fight. I swear it.” He added as an afterthought.

Neither of them received the specific certainty that would accompany a GOD’s oath, but his words were close enough to the line that if he was outright lying, they probably would have reacted.

His adversary suddenly seemed more cautious, going as far as shuffling backwards. “Am I hearing you correctly? Are you claiming that your fights have been influenced by the GODs? That’s a big assertion and is close to blasphemy.”

Tom smiled at that. It was something he could work with and made the rest of the discussion easier. “Agreed. But I haven’t been struck down, which lends credence to my words, and I have a title to prove that I’m right.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” Casually Tom materialised its giant hammer out of his spatial storage. It must have weighed over thirty kilograms and only the super strength that his title was supplying let him toss it back to the creature. He still barely made the distance.

“What’s this for. Have you cursed it?”

“I swear on the GODs that this is not intended to harm you.” This time, the certainty settled over both of them, proving the sincerity of his gesture. Internally, Tom sighed in relief, knowing that the confirmation would help soothe suspicions. “I had two of them. I was hoping you could gift me one of the swords.”

It seemed confused, and ready to reject the request, but Tom could feel his title working and a moment later it tossed the sword to him. “I gift this to you.” It said formally.

“Thank you.” Tom said. The weapon, a short sword for his opponent but when adjusted for his height was closer to an extra thick great sword disappeared into his inventory. The moment it was safely locked away Tom could feel its nature being changed by his title as its tier was improved.

Privately, he smiled.

The weapon was not perfect for him, but the addition of a high tier weapon to his inventory could only be a positive.

Weapon: Solid Sword – Tier 3.

Providing you possess the raw strength to wield it, this weapon, from a physics perspective will act as if it was five times lighter than it is. Then when it strikes its target, it hits with eight times its natural mass.

The weapon must have weighed thirty kilograms by itself, which was more than him. Without that physics line, using it therefore would have been near impossible.

Wielding a sword that massed as much as he did was impossible. It would be continuously pulling him off balance if not completely off his feet. Without dedicated skills like the innate one in this sword, there was no point in even trying. Even a weapon weighing a fifth of what he did would require a massive adjustment to his fighting style where he would have to flow with the weapon’s momentum rather than seeking to dominate it.

The last sentence was also useful. When this sword hit something, it would be like it weighed over two hundred kilograms. If he got it swinging through the air with sufficient speed that was a lot of stopping power. If it was a hammer, it would be enough to stop a rampaging cow as it was he would probably just cut it in half which was impressive in of itself.

Magic that messed with mass was amazing.

“What’s the point of this? These weapons are from the armoury. They are worthless and you can collect as many as you want from there.”

“You gifting me that was an example of my title at work.”

There was a pause as it examined the interaction. “I see. Something definitely influenced my actions. But it was still an even exchange of value. So pointless. Does this title actually do anything useful?”

“Yes, it does. There’s a lot of good stuff working in the background that I’m not allowed to share. In any case we should discuss ground rules for this fight.”

“If you wanted that, the discussion is supposed to occur before we started. You weren’t supposed to drop the flag.”

“I wasn’t aware of that stipulation. But relatively speaking, I am very fragile. For this contest, if you hit me or need to pull a swing, I’ll consider it my loss. How about you? I don’t want to risk killing you by accident.”

“You won’t.”

“What happens if I cut off your head?”

“I can fight without eyes and ears.”

“So I can go hard.”

“Until I go comatose. Then you stop. It’ll be very obvious.”

“Deal. Shall we continue?”

“Indeed, we should.”

Both of his opponent’s middle arms threw knives. One went to his left the other to his right.

Tom ducked to his left, and Danger Sense twinged. Instinctively, rather than going over the thrown knife he went under. As he did so, the third dagger flashed over the top of the first. The creature had waited until he committed a direction before throwing the last weapon.   

It charged him at the same time, veering into the stalagmites to carve a direct line toward his new position. Once more, Earth Manipulation came up trumps as he reinforced the nearby stalagmites and made its strikes rebound on it instead of shattering them. This time, he didn’t disengage. He held his spot and burned mana on stopping it from breaking the stone that restricted its attacks so much. It threw caution to the wind as battle lust consumed it. He lashed out continuously, scoring strike after strike and punishing it for its lack of defence.

Chunks fell off its body.

When his mana became diminished, he moved to a new defensive location by abusing lunge. Basically, he kited it slowly around the room and when things were desperate, a Lunge would extract him to safety.

His attacks were making progress. An area larger than Tom had ninety percent of the skin carved off it, and some of the wounds were deeper than a human’s head. Three arms were disabled as they fought everywhere in the cavern. By the time the last of the stone columns were shattered, it was moving slowly enough for him to fight it directly. The whole time it was being whittled away it desperately tried to land a blow on him and only Danger Sense allowed him to stay a step ahead.

“I submit.” It called out finally.

Tom immediately disengaged. “Do you need healing?”

“No, I’ll restore myself within a day. This. I have to say was a good fight. Also, if it helps you, take these?” It threw all of its weapons, including the knives, so they clattered at his feet.

Tom stared at it in surprise. “Um, thank you. That’s very generous.” The weapons disappeared into his inventory. “I too thought it was a great fight. If the arena hadn’t been so heavily in my favour, it would have been a different outcome.”

“Yes, it would have. You would have been crushed if it were a more open space. Don’t take that to heart. You’re a good fighter and I only possessed the advantage because I hard countered your lightning abilities.”

Then, with it having submitted and acknowledged his victory and Tom being happy to end the fight the arena broke apart into fragments that evaporated into nothing and then suddenly, he found himself back in the DEUS gathering area.