Chapter 8 – New Gear

“My friends,” the old man said as the three walked up to him, as if approaching a God was the most normal thing in the world. “You do not need to go searching for my home if you wish to speak with me. How may I help my Champion and his protectors?”

As the God spoke, he did so with a warm smile and his hands spread wide in a benevolent gesture.

Titus stared at the God of Balance, not entirely sure what to make of his appearance, but Petra had no such qualms.

“So, you’re just listening to our conversations all the time? Watching us?” Then she turned to Titus. “Are either of you getting creepy old-man vibes from this one?”

“Petraaa,” Jordan urged, almost in a hiss.

“No, no,” Julius replied, “it’s quite alright. Of course, I have taken a bit of an active interest in you three, given who you are. I was merely interested in what you thought of your fight and happened to overhear your plans to find me. A great coincidence, no?”

“No,” Petra replied flatly. “I’m sticking with the creepy old-man assessment.”

“Fair enough,” the God of Balance said with a smirk. “In any case, it sounded like you had questions for me?”

“Forgive us,” Jordan replied quickly before Petra could speak again and provoke the God into doing something none of them wanted. “We were just talking about the new format, about how many Contestants have been killed. We know it’s not what you would’ve wanted, but it does seem like... a lot.”

Julius gave Jordan a weak smile. Titus could see that the God was pained by the question, and he hoped that whatever he had to say next would clear all of this up.

“The Arena is... uh, somewhat autonomous,” Julius replied. “Essentially, the Grandmaster does have the final say in how things work, and rewards are based on the difficulty of the battles.”

“So you’re washing your hands of this?” Petra asked, taking a step closer to the God, who smirked and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“Not washing my hands of this,” Julius replied. “I am merely telling you that the Grandmaster – one, Mr Valeri - is the one in charge of the nitty-gritty. What I will say, though, is that you do have to break a few eggs to make an omelette. You do understand the analogy, yes?”

Petra turned bright red, and her voice rose before Titus or Jordan could stop her.

“And that’s all we are to you? Eggs?” she growled.

The God of Balance linked his hands before him and smiled warmly.

“Of course not. It is simply an expression,” he explained. “But it is rather pertinent to our current situation. The Grandmaster is someone with control over the Arena, and he will do what he thinks is right to protect the City and everyone who resides within.”

“Have you seen what he’s doing?” Petra asked. “There aren’t going to be any Contestants left at this rate!”

“That is not entirely true,” Julius replied. “You three managed to escape your last fight with your lives, and with new levels, stats, and abilities. Don’t you think that could mean that because of this fight, you are all better off? It could also be argued - and I assume the Grandmaster would make this argument too - that the Arena is better off when the weaker Contestants fall. After all, a team is only as strong as its weakest member, is it not?”

“What the hell…” Petra started to explode, but Titus managed to get a hand on her shoulder before she went full-on.

“Petra…” Titus said softly. “I know it’s bad, but what he’s saying is that he doesn’t make the rules. Valeri does. If we want to change something around here, we’re talking to the wrong person.”

“But he just said... he called...” Petra struggled to get her words out, and her face was getting redder and redder.

“I know,” Titus said flatly, and he stared at the smiling God of Balance. “I think he’s just telling it how it is, without taking sides. But he should learn some manners if talking to people is something he wants to keep doing.”

Julius nodded. “Indeed, our Capacitor is correct. I do not take sides in this matter and make my comments from a point of neutrality and balance. I truly do not have a say in how your Arena is run. Although I do create rewards and punishments where I see fit to maintain balance, the day-to-day running of the place is not my concern.”

“Then why did you come to speak with us?” Petra asked.

“Because you were going to come and find me, and I wanted to save you the trouble.”

“Why?” Petra asked.

“Because, on balance, now that I have done something akin to a favour for you, it is within reason that I may ask something of you, is it not?”

“Oh, here we go!” Petra threw her hands up in the air like she’d been expecting this all along, though Titus could see that Jordan was staring at the God like he was awaiting a divine quest or something.

“I would like to request that you do not come looking for me again. I will show myself to you if the need arises. Furthermore, I would like to request that you tell nobody of our meetings. It has taken a long time for me to cultivate my standing here in the City, and there are many things I have orchestrated that I would prefer not to be undone. Having said this, I do appreciate that I am asking two things of you all, so I am willing, if you accept, to give you one more boon.”

“Give us one good reason why we should…” Petra started, but Jordan interrupted her.

“Because of the boon, you idiot,” the Paladin practically hissed. And then he did something that neither Titus nor Petra had been expecting. Jordan lowered himself onto one knee and bowed his head.

“We will do what you ask, my... uh... Lord.”

“Oh, come now, there’s no need for any of that,” Julius said, ushering Jordan to his feet. “And if you really don’t want anyone else to know about me, then kneeling before me really isn’t going to work now, is it?”

Jordan immediately stood up straight, and Titus could see that his friend was mortified he’d done something wrong.

“Now, listen,” Julius said. “Here’s the deal: don’t tell anyone about me, and I’ll give you some advice.” The God looked directly at Titus when he said those words, and Titus knew that whatever this boon was, it was going to be for his benefit most of all.

“When you level up next, Titus, you’re going to have five Ability Points, aren’t you?”

Titus nodded, though kept his mouth decidedly shut.

“Great,” Julius said knowingly. “Now there has been good reason for you not to have any new abilities available to you each time you’ve levelled up recently. I wanted you to fully grasp what your Class means. Do you know now, Titus?”

Titus thought for a long moment before he replied, not wanting to say the wrong thing.

“I... I’m supposed to work like a kind of storage box, aren’t I? Like I hold onto people’s Mana and can distribute it out to the rest of the fighters when they need it the most. It was what Torres had been saying in class: that Mana management was the most important thing for a Spellcaster to master.”

It was what Titus had been thinking for a long while but had never relayed to his friends. He knew that his fireball spell was incredibly powerful - too powerful by most accounts - but deep down inside, he knew he was much more of a support than a fighter, and that’s exactly what he was supposed to be doing. Only, so far, his team hadn’t really had any use for Mana, so he’d been using it himself.

The God of Balance gave Titus a wide smile. “You are observant beyond your years, my young champion,” he said. “I worried that being able to empower your fireball would’ve thrown you off the true scent of your Class, but you seem to have grasped it nonetheless.”

“What‽” Petra replied with her eyes wide. “The hell is that supposed to mean?”

Titus turned to his friend with a rather sheepish look on his face.

“It’s... something I’ve been thinking about,” he said slowly, biting his lip. “I’ve never been a fighter. If anything, I should’ve been a healer, but somewhere along the way all that got screwed up. I was thinking that my Class... it couldn’t be just that I can cause more damage than anyone else with my fireball - what would be the point in that? So I started thinking about how that Mana Resonance thing really works. I can send Mana both ways, Petra. And that’s what I’ve wanted to do since I met you guys and first fought in the Arena: I want to help my friends... The problem was that neither of you use Mana when you fight, so I’ve been left to either fight with you or do nothing.”

“That’s not... you’re not...” Petra spluttered, but it was clear from her inability to respond that she couldn’t come up with anything to counter Titus’ assumptions. In the end, she settled for, “You aren’t useless.”

“No, I’m not,” Titus agreed. “I have the fireball spell, and that’s kept me level with you guys. And I get the feeling that if I was in a different team, with friends who did use Mana to fight, then my path would’ve been different.”

Titus raised his eyebrows at Julius as he spoke his last sentence, and the God nodded once, smiling.

“You see, Titus,” Julius said, “you aren’t alone in this. Your friends aren’t just there to protect you and help you along your path. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. You all fight together, and through this cohesion, you are stronger, better in fact. That is why I made sure that you had an offensive spell to use. It is just kind of… nice… that you managed to figure out how to use this gift properly.”

“Oh, you mean the thing that makes him stronger than everyone else?” Petra asked.

“Titus has the ability to grow and grow to unparalleled levels. But you must have seen already that his abilities aren’t without their drawbacks,” the God of Balance replied. “For example, if Titus had taken to the sands alone, what do you think would have happened?”

“The spiders...” Jordan said, finally joining the conversation, and he shuddered. “He could’ve taken a few of them, no doubt... but multiple targets? He wouldn’t last a minute.”

Julius smiled.

“I knew that I chose well in giving you three alone my divine attention.”

“Yeah, well sometimes it’s nice to be asked before you’re forced into playing a part in some all-powerful God’s plans, you know?” Petra replied.

“And sometimes it is better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission,” Julius replied.

“Don’t listen to her,” Jordan said quickly before Petra could leap back onto her high horse. “We are grateful for the gifts and the wisdom you share with us.”

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Petra moaned.

Jordan looked up at Julius with sorrow in his eyes.

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Julius said. “I am not easily offended. My counterpart is the God of Chaos, don’t you know?” Then he added, “But I’ve already taken up so much of your time, and I get the feeling that you each have a new wealth of coin to fit yourself out with, don’t you?” He gestured toward the Merchant Hall, and the three friends followed his hand, remembering that indeed they were richer than they’d ever been before.

“What do you think we should...” Titus started to ask, but when he turned back to Julius, the God was gone without a trace.