PoV Valis.
I was woken up by the smell of fish sticks.
When I got up, I immediately felt pain in my neck due to bad posture. I slept on the couch in Diego's apartment. Folarin was there too; I fell asleep after watching the season finale of a particular drama. The TV was still playing some random show that Folarin must've watched after I fell to sleep.
'Fish sticks in the morning? Who the hell would eat such a thing this early in the morning?!'
I opened the door to the kitchen and took a first look inside. It had a very spacious room with a white table in the middle, many shelves full of spices and other ingredients, and in the top left corner, near the door that led to the corridor, there was a pair of fridges.
In the middle of the room stood Forren, heating up some frozen fish sticks in a pan. He had taken out a loaf of bread, tomatoes, canned tuna, two onions, oil, sugar, and some sauce I couldn't recognize.
"What are you doing?" I asked him while checking to see if Folaring was showing any signs of waking up.
"Making breakfast, obviously." He answered while turning the fish sticks in the pan.
"Yeah, I can see that, but what are you doing?"
"Oh, you mean what I'm preparing? A rich sandwich to accompany my fish sticks."
When I got closer, I saw he was cooking 12 fish sticks.
"Are you going to eat all that?"
"Of course."
He then took a second pan, put the fire on low, and started cutting the onions. Once the pan was heated, he poured the chopped onions in with oil and sugar, and in the meantime, he took the fish sticks out and ate one.
He offered me one, but I refused.
Instead, I took out a moka pot and started making some coffee for both me and Folarin.
Shortly after, while Forren was toasting his buns, Diego came into the kitchen, probably lured in by the smell of the coffee. Folarin also woke up shortly after due to the smell of coffee in the morning.
It was relaxing to see everyone at the table enjoying their breakfast. It reminded me of more peaceful and happy days with my own family. We would often have large breakfasts, and my father would often try to spark a conversation with us, talking about things he read on many news outlets and...
"Have you guys decided on what you want to buy? A parachute is about 1400 points; that leaves less than 100 points to survive. Me and Forren don't need one, but what about you?" Diego asked as he took over the moka pot and later began serving us coffee.
"Why does it cost so much?" I asked.
"The gods probably thought it was fair; if you find the cannon, you can keep the free points given to you; otherwise, well, you spend the coins and pray to whatever gods you believe that 100 coins will be enough to survive for a whole month. And since this island is being carried by the wind, if you're unlucky, you may die before even getting the chance to fight, especially if you land on the floating ocean." Responded Diego.
I saw Folarin take a sip of coffee and then get visibly disgusted by it. I passed her the sugar bowl, and she put seven teaspoons of sugar in it.
"Ah, yes, I too like coffee-flavored sugar." Diego laughed at her.
After her coffee, Folarin started rummaging through the various shelves and managed to find some chocolate croissants, bringing one to each of us.
"Yesterday I healed, or at least I tried my best to alleviate any strain on your muscle. Can someone please explain to me why Forren was perfectly fine yesterday?" Folarin asked us.
"Thanks, then… uhm… What was your name again?" Diego's expression did not change.
'How could you even forget her name? How insensible do you have to be? She's the one who brought you back to life!'
"Thanks, Folarin." I basically shouted her name for him to remember, or at least memorize.
"Thanks, Valis. Anyway, how much can you heal with your magic?" Diego asked her, ignoring her previous question.
"I don't know; small injuries are fine, but for more serious ones, I'll probably only be able to provide a small amount of first aid." She responded while looking down in shame.
"That's a shame; if you need a target to practice on to improve, feel free to ask Forren." Diego said this before finishing his breakfast.
During our training, he started practicing with his sword. We had to move out of the way because, while practicing his swings, sometimes his weapon would slip away, and one time it flew very close to me. Once the training was finished, Forren and Diego started roaming around the resort while we were resting. We managed to drag ourselves towards the main building where the buffet was being held. The main hall was almost empty.
"Why are we here?" Folarin asked me.
"I hoped we could've met that actor-" As I was speaking, they entered, crushing the doors and calmly walking in like they owned the place.
One of them was still half asleep and was being dragged in by two of his comrades. I noticed that this time they were wearing proper clothes instead of just whatever they had yesterday. The actor was wearing a brown shirt with "The Best" written on it and black shorts. He also had running shoes and some golden earrings. The earrings had a small red gem embedded in them.
The one being carried was wearing a degenerate shirt with many female faces drawn on it, all drawn with a lewd expression on their face. He was also wearing some dark jeans, many golden bracelets, many thick rings with many different gems, and lastly, his skin color changed as well as his eyes. He was completely white with red eyes.
'They sure are a peculiar race if they can turn into what looks like an albino whenever they want.'
He wasn't an albino, though, because his hair, eyelashes, and eyebrows were still black.
The ones that were carrying the fake albino looked pretty beat up, with black eyes and purple spots all over their bodies. One of them had his face swollen.
The one on the right was wearing a white tank top, followed by some blue shorts, blue crocs, a black hat, and some sunglasses.
The one on the left was wearing a pink shirt with long sleeves with "Husband Material" written on a big white heart, short jeans, and sandals.
'Shit! I forgot to change myself. Do I smell?'
Was the first thing that came to mind, and thankfully I wasn't the only one. Folarin was also checking on herself.
"Do you think we have enough time to..." I tried to ask.
"Most likely not." She looked defeated, and her voice was resigned. She was ready for what could probably be described as one of the most embarrassing moments of her life.
"Do you have the courage to go like this?" I asked.
'Why did I have to twist the knife? Why am I so dumb?'
She did not respond.
The two beaten guys then got up and started preparing the meal for the group. They stopped at the table with carbonated drinks and took four bottles of cola with them.
The tank-top guy then started taking a bite out of everything he could get his hands on. After taking a bite of two entire tables, he filled the first plate with only juicy pieces of meat, potatoes, and a weird, pulsating purple fruit. The second plate was made out of cakes. There was a red one with red jelly on top and some cream, a chocolate cake, and a yellow cake as well.
Husband Material instead had some yellow cubes and some weird fluorescent flowers. The flowers were blue with some red patterns in them. The second plate had some sweet snacks and milk.
The plate full of cakes went to the white boy; the pulsating fruit went to the actor; the flowers went to the tank top, etc.
'Why is everyone here so weird about their breakfast? Can't they just get a coffee and maybe a croissant? Why meat and potatoes?'
After a single bite, the white boy whispered something to the guy with the tank top, and after a short pause, he simply nodded.
The guy with the tank top then put himself in the very center of the hall.
"Ahem." He made sure he was loud enough for everyone to notice, but he got ignored.
"I have an important announcement to make, please-"
He was ignored again. It was at that moment that his tattoos started disappearing. He raised his leg and kicked the ground with enough strength to make the ground tremble, and the sound echoed out all throughout the hall, silencing everyone.
"Our leader is currently in a bad mood and doesn't want to eat in the same room as some of you disgusting-looking creatures. If the groups I will now point at leave quietly, we promise not to harm you; otherwise, we won't have any problems throwing you out of the island."
At that moment, he started pointing at any creature without any human-like traits.
I noticed four black rings floating over his head.
"The one I just pointed at, please leave the hall quietly." He then shouted.
A couple of groups of creatures left without saying a word, but some tried to fight him, and it didn't end well for them.
He wasn't exactly fighting; he stood still while various limbs were coming out of those rings, grabbing the attackers, and throwing them out of the windows. At one point, one of the creatures tried to attack his back but was stomped almost to death by a foot that appeared from the black rings.
When everything was over, five groups were thrown away, and eight were left on their own.
"After this demonstration, it's easy to say that they might be the strongest group that's participating in this trial." I commented. Folarin nodded along in approval as she was getting fired up with new excitement.
'I mean, I'm not wrong. I may be able to do something on a similar level, but I'm the only one in my group with such magical powers.'
How do we approach them now? If we go now, they might think we only approached them because of their power, which is partially true, but...
We waited till they sat down and got comfortable again before approaching them.
Folarin immediately went for the actor, while I froze up when they noticed us.
"Excuse me, are you, by any chance, Maxim Giova from Timeless Love?" She sheepishly asked
"Yes? That is me. Perhaps you are from one of the allied nations? I never heard of a beautiful-looking race such as yours."
His voice was a little deeper than it was in the drama. The rest of his body was exactly the same. He had a muscular body, but among his group, he was probably the smallest in terms of muscle mass. I was a little surprised to realize his beauty was, for the most part, natural. There was no make-up on his face, yet he was undeniably the most handsome, cool-looking person I had ever seen in my life.
He was extremely relaxed, to the point of lying down on the table while stretching.
"No I'm not. We managed to look at your drama on the screen in our teammate's room." After that, she awkwardly paused, forgetting about the photo part.
"So, what did you come here for?" He asked, seemingly annoyed by this interaction.
"We just wondered... If you c-could please take some pictures with us."
"Sure, no problem. You don't mind if I finish eating my breakfast first, do you?" He asked sarcastically, but Folarin didn't get the message and calmly waited for him to finish up his plate.
After he finished his plate, he got closer to us, put his arms around us, and started making the peace sign while smiling.
Folarin channeled a bit of mana in her hands, and suddenly the tablet appeared. The others were mildly impressed, but none of them bothered to say anything about it.
We took a couple of photos with him, and after we finished shooting the photos, he gave us both a kiss on the cheek before returning to his team.
"Would you ever consider teaming up with us?" Asked Folarin before he could sit again.
"If you manage to survive till stage 50! Then we'll consider it." He jokingly said:.
"Got it; then, once we reach that stage, we'll return here, and you'll decide whether we're worthy or not." She insisted.
"We'll see, we'll see." He responded while obviously trying to get rid of us.
After that, we went back to our seats. I noticed them talking a lot, so I guessed they were talking about Folarin's proposal.
"Why did you make that proposal?" I asked her.
"I mean, it's better to try and get rejected than not try and miss an opportunity; who knows, maybe we'll encounter them in the future, and if they'll remember this friendly interaction, maybe they'll change their minds." She explained. I couldn't argue with that, so I remained silent.
"How about we buy some weapons since the others want to complete the first stages as quickly as possible?" She then quickly changed the topic.
"Annoying meatheads…" I said it out loud by mistake.
Folarin ignored my statement and went right into the shop, searching for any magic-related weapon.
It was at this point that I realized that this trial could be much, much harder than I thought.
The weapons listed on the front page were extremely expensive; some were listed for over five million points. Since they were extremely pricey, you could obtain a special discount by hunting some mythical creature in this world.
The ingredients for such weapons were absurd: the eye of the sky dragon, the liver of an abyssal nurefish, Garonn's hearth, and various other items.
I froze at that moment. Garonn is a mythical creature with no real form that my mom always told me about when I was younger.
He is a demi-god that would always shape-shift into the same form as his enemy's; he would then humiliate them by beating them with the same fighting style and ultimately killing them. In his story, he was killed by a group of heroes that were extremely talented in magic and found out about one of his weaknesses.
"Folarin, that Garonn is..."
"I know... to think he really existed..."
It was the first moment when I felt so insignificant. I was never proud of my powers since they were so strong that they led to my downfall, but compared to those things, my power could very well be considered child's play.
"Valis! I want to get done with this as fast as possible; it's useless to get demoralized now."
With just a couple of taps, she sorted the list of items from cheaper to more expensive, then started scrolling to try to find something suitable.
I noticed a cheap magical pen that was made for drawing magic constructs and a book with a list of them. The pen cost somewhere around 45 points, while the book cost 599.99 points.
"Do you know how to summon the tablet?" She asked me with a straight face.
"Nope." I responded-
"You just need to inject some of your mana behind or something; I don't remember correctly, but once you've done that, you can summon it anytime, anywhere, just by thinking about it." She explained.
"Ah."
"I recommend you do it. It'll make transporting it much easier since you don't have to physically hold it all the time." She suggested it as we were making our way back to Diego's dorm room.
I sighed.
'I'll do it later. Now let's see what we can buy.'
After getting some drinks, I went back to my room and did as told. Strangely enough, I immediately forgot what I needed to do with the tablet, but it also felt extremely familiar and easy to comprehend. I bought the items that had caught my interest earlier, and what I got was very different from what I had imagined.
First of all, I learned that magic constructs do not use the magical power of their users but rather that of the environment around them. Second, magic constructs are drawn in mid-air and follow pretty strict rules that the book isn't teaching. It just had a bunch of those drawn and gave instructions on how to draw them and what effect they had.
The information I gathered just by watching different formulas is that every magic had to be contained in a shape, and each shape had its own properties; for example, triangles were the fastest but could not hold any complicated magic, hexagons were extremely good at multi-step magic and could hold a lot of magic power, and circles could hold the most power but were extremely slow in charging up.
Each magic was determined by something written inside the shape; the words were complicated but seemed to be split in two, kind of like fractions, but instead of numbers, there were those weird signs.
'I bet this could be useful to Folarin. If I tell her, will she be offended by it? I mean, I'm basically telling her, "Since you're not at my level, why not use this to even things out?"
"No armor, huh. And what's with that book?" asked Diego, while curiously checking my book.
"It had my interest, so I bought it." I responded.
"Oh, and tell me, what percentage of coins do you have left?" He asked again.
"About 60%"
"Nice! Then how about Folarin?" He said this while giving me a pack of cookies he found in his kitchen.
"I bought this staff because it can store a good amount of magic power." She responded.
"And how much did you spend on it?"
As he said that, he got closer to her, inspecting the staff.
"About 700 points."
I noticed she also had a backpack with her.
She was clearly uncomfortable with having him so close.
"That seems a bit much, doesn't it? I hope it will turn out to be a worthwhile investment." He said this while repeatedly patting her left shoulder.
"Forren! Why have you chosen a shield as your weapon?" Diego seemed confused and kept staring at his shield.
"I figured I should protect them since they don't seem as experienced as us, at least until they get used to fighting." He cheerfully answered with a warm smile on his face.
Diego remained silent, looking at him. Then he started scrolling through his smartwatch, and after repeatedly pressing some buttons, a golden door appeared in front of us.
Once inside, we found ourselves on a spacious floor with some stairs around a huge pit in the middle of it. You could also see 10 other floors in that bottomless pit. Each floor had 10 doors, and as of now, only one was lit up; the rest were dark. A pretty straight-forward introduction to the stages.
Once we got inside the only available door, we found ourselves inside a graveyard. A thick fog covered the area, making our surroundings barely visible. A night sky covered in dark clouds, the ruins of a castle barely visible in the distance, and the fog helped create an ominous atmosphere.
A notification popped up on every smart watch. "Objective: neutralize 220 demons in the area." was written in the notification.
'Wait, when did I put this on?' I thought while looking at the foreign object that appeared on my wrist.
"I'll go scout the surrounding area; Forren will take care of them in my absence. If you "said Diego
"Wait, I don't think splitting-" It was too late; Diego ignored Folarin's voice and left the group. He then quickly disappeared in the middle of the fog.
"Do any of you know of a way, maybe a spell, to illuminate this place? We can't stay much longer in the dark with minimum light." Asked Forren
"I have the tablet with me; we can use the torch, but I don't know how long it'll last." Said Folarin while searching through her backpack.
She managed to use the torch on the tablet while the sound of footsteps could be heard in the distance.
The sound of footsteps was getting closer and closer. They belonged to various zombies; they were in a horrible state, and it seemed a miracle that they were still able to move. They were dragging rusted weapons with them.
Forren got close to one with his shield on his left hand, blocked his attack with the shield, grabbed the creature's weapon with his free hand, and pulled it away, ripping his fingers off his hand.
He immediately proceeded to swing the stolen weapon at the zombie's neck, decapitating it. He then quickly swung the weapon at a zombie on his right side and bashed it on his left with the shield. The weapon was a rusty morning star.
In the meantime, Folarin had created four discs using most of her mana and started making them spin at high speed while I started drawing the circle for the thunder rain.
The main shape was a circle, and it was the most complex formula in the book. The main formula was divided into three sections of equal area; each area had a hexagon in it that occupied most of the space; each hexagon had a square in it; and each square had a triangle. Although I botched most of the shapes, thankfully I managed to successfully copy all the signs around each shape.
When I was done with the formula, I pointed at the sky, and it quickly started to absorb all the mana in the surroundings.
'Fuck it! Let's inaugurate this pen by using the strongest spell.'
That was what I was thinking at that moment. This was one of the dumbest decisions of my life.
The light produced by Folarin's tablet revealed a lot more soldiers ready to charge at us; this time they had some resemblance to armor, and their overall physical condition was much better compared to the previous ones.
"Don't use too much magic; don't waste your energy on it."
Forren was interrupted by the sound of an explosion, but there was no flash and no shock wave, followed shortly after by a series of the same explosions.
"Ignore those explosions; the boss is probably dealing with them; I need something to break their formation now!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.
Folarin discs then flew towards the many zombies and easily cut their way through them all while Forren cycled through the many weapons he could get his hands on.
The many weapons he got could last only a few swings before breaking. Probably due to his strength, each swing was extremely heavy and would always destroy the opponent's head.
Forren used the opportunity created by Folarin to charge with his shield at the group of soldiers; he managed to decapitate a couple of them with one of the swords he picked up from the ground, and he was then impaled by a couple of soldiers on both sides.
He managed not to get stuck by spinning around and hitting every close enemy with the pole of the spears. Once enough space around him was cleared, he removed the spears and started using them instead.
I noticed that as soon as the spears were removed, his wound started regenerating.
He was making his way through his enemies, swinging those spears while also bashing everything that came too close or managed to actually hit him.
Me and Folarin were stuck together, focusing mainly on defending ourselves since the man who was supposed to protect us decided to fight in the front line as far away from us as possible.
Folarin was making those discs fly around, cutting the zombies' limbs away, while I was feeding my mana to the circle.
Suddenly, Forren got his right arm cut off by what seemed to be a naked human with no armor equipped with a scimitar.
Meanwhile, three huge hexagons appeared in the sky, and they started sucking up every bit of mana in the environment, including Folarin's discs.
She responded by fragmenting her discs, and the fragments flew like blades at high speed, hitting and destroying most zombies in their path. They also decapitated Forren.
Thankfully, his head did not fly off and managed to regenerate without any inconvenience.
"What is wrong with you?" She shouted at me.
Before I could respond, the sky got filled again with an absurd amount of squares.
My instincts told me that this was dangerous, so with all the mana left in my body, I created a crystal dome made out of pure aura to shield us from what was about to come down, and even as I was creating that protective shield around us, the weird spell in the sky was trying to absorb it.
"What's with this outrageous spell?" I shouted while trying to avoid having my mana stolen by the spell I created.
Once the spell activated, lightning rained down endlessly for a couple of minutes, turning everything in that stage to ash.