"Oh? Smarus, where are you going?" Lily looked up as I stood up.
"I have business to attend to. I'll be back in time for the final match," I told her.
"That's a lot of time…" Irene chimed in.
"I'm aware," I began to walk away.
"I'll tag along!" Arlo shot up. Before he followed me, he turned to his wives. "Vida, Gricelda, this is a good chance to make friends."
He smiled and then turned around. As we exited the coliseum, I looked over my shoulder.
"I don't require your assistance," I muttered.
"But it would be much more fun with two people! So where are we headed?"
I shook my head and gave up. Arlo was impossible to talk to most of the time. Was this how Donkor felt when he talked with me?
"We're going to the nurse's office first. I'm sure Duke will be there since he was badly burnt," I informed him.
"And what do you plan to do about the nurse?" Arlo smiled since he knew that I needed him.
"I suppose you can… distract her," I sighed.
"Roger!"
We walked around the building to the exit near the nurse's office.
"There's a window in the office. That's where I'll sneak in while you distract her. She seemed to be interested in marriage and love when I last came here," I explained the plan to him.
"It almost seems like I am the perfect candidate," Arlo snickered.
"Just move it."
Arlo hummed a tune as he walked back inside to the nurse's office. I waited a few minutes before I walked towards the window. I looked around to make sure no one was looking before slowly and quietly opening the window. I hopped inside and hid behind one of the curtains near a bed. I was able to hear their conversation.
"I see… It's remarkable that you guys were able to salvage your marriage," Arlo sounded sympathetic.
I didn't know this idiot was capable of having a serious conversation… or empathizing with someone.
"I'm not sure you can salvage… It left a huge impact on our marriage… on our kids," Lizbeth looked down.
I was able to get the gist of what their conversation was about, but that wasn't the reason I came here. I looked around for Duke. There was one bed that was completely surrounded but curtains, so I assumed that was where he was. I snuck into the curtain, but it made a small sound as I moved it.
"What was that?" I heard Lizbeth said.
"I was sure it was nothing. After all, this building is practically a relic!" Arlo jokingly said.
"Yeah, it sure is," Lizbeth laughed with him.
There was an eerie feeling in the room. Their previous conversation held a heavy weight to it, so I wanted to finish this as soon as possible.
I looked down on Duke. He was sleeping, and he was wrapped in bandages. I used Meditation to sense that there was magic infused with the wraps. I was willing to bet that if I wasn't careful, Lizbeth would be alerted. I pulled a small knife from my inventory and looked for the spot with the weakest concentration of magic.
The area with the weakest concentration of magic was his left shin. Coincidentally, it was one of the few spots that wasn't burnt. I smiled. I pricked Duke's leg and licked the blood off of my blade. The taste of iron filled my mouth as I forced it down. I hoped that I would never get used to this process, since I wanted to keep my humanity.
Once the conditions were met, I raised my right hand to his face. I took a deep breath.
"Satisfied Glutton: Incomplete void," I whispered the chant.
Once again, time seemed to freeze. The barely visible hand reached out towards Duke and grabbed him. I tried to focus on his class skills this time around instead of locking away his stats. Since this was still an incomplete version, I wasn't sure how many skills I could take or even how potent the skills would be. The more potent they are, the higher the degree I could master them.
Congratulations! You won using Incomplete Glutton's Void.
Rewards: Summon, Contract!
Can I really call it a win if the man was already down? A part of me felt like a cheater. Oh well, that part can just suck it. Duke mumbled and shifted, but he didn't wake up. It was like he only felt a slight discomfort. I snuck back towards the window. I looked back and made eye contact with Arlo and gave him a thumbs-up. He winked at me and continued his conversation.
"I know when my wives get angry at me, I tend to try to spoil them to make it up. Small things like doing household chores, cooking meals, and messages. That always worked for me!" Arlo was now giving advice?
"R-right! I'll try that!" Lizbeth sounded determined.
I snuck back out the window and sighed. Mission complete. Take that off the bucket list… Now I just need to learn how to summon things. My workload only increased. I walked back to the spot where Arlo and I parted ways.
"What do you saayy?" Arlo was proud of himself.
"I'm not thanking you," I sighed. "But good work."
"I'll take it!" He laughed. "Where to next?"
"I plan on sneaking into the Board of Education's office. I need to see the true purpose of this tournament," I explained to him.
"Hmm… That's a tough one. Do you know where it even is?" He tilted his head.
"I know where it's not. The campus map shows just about every building that the students need, so we'll just search the places that aren't marked," I smiled.
"Your smile scares me. It just screams that you have a hidden agenda," Arlo shivered.
"Rejoice then. You aren't on the receiving end," I chuckled.
"Good thing you're my best friend," Arlo sighed.
We began our journey to the few locations that weren't marked on the map. This was one of the few times that I had no idea what to expect. The Board of Education was never mentioned in the game, and they definitely never cooked up any schemes. This world never failed to keep me on my toes. The first two locations we checked out were a bust.
One location was just a warehouse for the school. It had materials, food, magical scrolls, and books. The second location was just a mock warehouse. I found it suspicious that it was just an empty building, but I marked it on my map anyway. One thing I knew was that no one ever does anything on a whim. Especially people who run a large organization. The only exception might actually be Arlo. The third place looked like a boss-level dungeon. It was a two-story building with a fence surrounding it, and guards at every entrance. It gave off an evil vibe to it. I wondered how a building this big never caught the attention of students. Arlo whistled.
"Wow, take about hardcore. How do you plan to get in?" He looked at me.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out," I sighed.
"I guess this is just another reason you needed me," He poked my shoulder.
"What is it you have planned?" I was getting annoyed.
"Look over there," He pointed to the roof. "Unlike the rest of the roof, that area is flat. I'm willing to bet that there's an entrance up there, and without guards," He smiled.
"And how do we get there?" I crossed my arms.
Arlo wrapped his arm around my shoulders and turned me to a hill that was behind the building. It wasn't towering over it, but it wasn't small either.
"We jump," He answered.
I followed him as we dodged the surveillance of the guards. He explained his plan.
"You can steal all the skills you want, but you will never be able to master them to the degree that people who took the time and effort to learn everything about their skills," Arlo was serious again. "Build up was never a skill of combat, but one for movement. It's rumored that Dragoons developed this skill since they lost the ability to fly due to the less concentrated amount of dragon blood."
I listened to his explanation. He was right that I was only piggybacking off of other people's hard work, but it still rubbed me the wrong way.
"Our bodies were still durable enough to handle the momentary strain of exhorting more force than normal. We have other skills that are used for movement, but I'm sure you'll find a way to get to the roof!" He smiled as he started jumping in place.
I mimicked his movements and felt energy rising in my body. Since kinetic energy wasn't magic, I couldn't tell exactly what Arlo was doing or where he was storing his energy. I had to think about the mechanics of jumping. Before, I focused all of my energy on one point, which caused my entire arm to be injured. My right hand was still wrapped in bandages. This time, I tried to evenly spread the kinetic energy.
"Ready?" Arlo smirked at me.
"Yeah," I nodded my head.
Arlo ran up the hill and jumped. He soared in the sky, and when he reached the climax of his trajectory, he sprouted what looked like magical wings. He glided down and landed without so much a sound. I took a deep breath as I ran up the hill.
I had Feather Falling and Shock absorption, but I had no way to move mid-air. I prayed that I predicted the distance correctly as I jumped into the air. Unlike Arlo, I was falling at a much faster rate, and I could quickly tell that I was gonna miss.
I used Shadow Arts to cast a water ball and a fireball. Two small orbs formed in my hands, so I cupped them together. The small exit point from my hands caused the water and fire to mix and create pressure. As steam blew from my hands, I was able to slightly correct my path, and barely landed in the landing zone. I burnt my hands in the process, so I cast Lesser Heal.
"Good work, my best friend!" Arlo patted my back. "Now, shall we explore?"
"We might as well since we're this far," I looked up at the door on the other side of the roof. "Let's stay on guard," I warned Arlo.
"Yeah yeah, what's the worst that can happen?" He shrugged.
"We get expelled," I sighed.
"Oh… right."